When I started learning Turkish, I struggled to find a way to get that vital “information”. I would define “input” simply as “correct phrases and sentences in the native language”. This distinction, while simple, has two key parts:

The first part is that the input must be “correct”. People learn languages ​​by building what could practically be considered a database of correct words and phrases. If you want to speak to someone in that language, access this library of phrases. When you hear or read something in the language, you subconsciously compare it to the current repository; if it matches something you’ve heard before, it sounds “correct.” If it doesn’t go with something you’ve heard before, it may sound “wrong.” Every once in a while, you can’t even tell precisely why something sounds completely wrong or right. The truth is, in your native language, you most likely won’t be able to trace it back to that exact grammar rule. Even if you can’t, you’ll still have a strong opinion about whether what you just heard or read is right or wrong.

The second part is that the language must be complete sentences and sentences. An initial strategy I took when trying to learn languages ​​to begin with was to memorize the meanings of individual terms. While this got me to a good place, it never got me to fluency. That is because individuals do not speak in individual words. They communicate in phrases and sentences. If you can’t begin to see the most common ways words are used with each other, how they are normally conjugated, what words go together, it will be difficult to understand the language and even more difficult to produce sentences that will sound good to native speakers.

The final part is that it must be in the native language. Now, it becomes an important distinction. I spent years learning to speak Spanish in a classroom in the United States. Although this helped me get far, if I were to meet your native speaker every day, it would be extremely difficult for me to understand. Why? Because I had gotten used to the accent of my gringo educators. I had gotten used to his choice of words. I had become familiar with his gestures. I had become familiar with all the things that were quite apart from what a native would actually do. That’s why, whenever possible, you should ensure that the input you receive is coming from a native source, rather than a non-native source.

Let me describe in future articles the best ways to obtain information that satisfies these three considerations.