Sentence Mining
In modern language learning communities, the biggest trend these days is focused on what they call “comprehensible input.”
The idea here is that the best way to learn a language is to make gradual progress from one level of sentence to another. It’s sort of like learning how to swim by gradually moving deeper and deeper into the pool instead of jumping in all at once.
It’s an interesting idea, and I have some sympathy with the idea. However, I don’t think it’s great.
In my experience, the best way to achieve fluency in a foreign language is to work on truly immersing yourself. And, as I describe above in today’s video, mining sentences from native content is an extremely effective way to simulate that kind of lingustic immersion.
There’s unfortunately no substitute for using the language on a daily basis in an environment where you simply have to speak the language. For example, I was able to naturally achieve a relatively high level of fluency in German as a missionary in only two years. This happened in large part because I spent an extensive amount of time every single day speaking German with native German speakers in German speaking countries.
If you can’t move, the next best thing is to find native speakers of your target language who live closer to you, make friends with them, and speak your target language with them. And, if that part doesn’t work, your next best option is to consume native level media in your target language.
Of course, there’s always a worry that you’re not going to be able to understand much, especially at first. I know that worry well; in fact, I go through the same anxiety every single time I start to learn a new foreign language.
However, I can assure you that the pain of beginning does not last long, and will actually be easier to stand if you start deliberately spending time interacting directly with the foreign language at a native pace. As nice as textbooks are, there really is no substitute for listening to the pace and rhythm of a language authentically spoken by native speakers in an authentic setting.
When I studied Korean at the Foreign Service Institute about 15 years ago, I considered myself somehow intellectually above watching Korean dramas and truly immersing myself in the language. I thought that reading textbooks and messing around with dictionaries would be good enough. And, as an unfortunate result, my stubborn adherence to doing things the “right way” did nothing but delay my development in Korean.
The truth is that there’s no reason to wait until you’ve reached a certain level to do what you want to do in the target language. In fact, I’ve learned this as I’ve jumped into the deep end of Dream of the Red Chamber. The best way to read a difficult novel like this is to simply read the novel, even if it’s difficult. After all, there’s nothing that can prepare yourself for a certain book quite as well as actually reading it.
Languages are the same way. Instead of reading and talking about how you might learn a language, just go straight for it. There’s no need to delay.