These days it’s all about video. We live in a visually oriented culture, glued to the screens of our desktops, laptops, TV sets and mobile devices. Video also features prominently in most language courses, whether online-, CD-ROM- or TV-based. But not in the Internalization Method. The Internalization Method has no use for video at all. But you would guess it from its name, wouldn’t you? (Video is external in the sense that it always needs a screen; audio can be ‘internal’ when you use, e.g., a BT in-ear earpiece, which fits snugly and invisibly into your ear and becomes a voice in your head). Neither does it have grammar or any other textbooks, formal exercises or any of that boring stuff. What it does have is audio. Audio takes centre stage in this method, be it in the form of audiobooks, podcasts, songs or live conversation.
So why no video? Because video is not effective in language learning. To be sure, it is very effective when you learn your first words, using pictures, or with young children, particularly under-threes: you just park them in front of a telly and let them soak it all up. This is what we (my wife and I) did with our children at that age: we let them watch the BBC’s children’s programming for hours on end every day – to great effect. It also does the job if you have lots of time on your hands and are prepared to spend many hours like a couch potato watching videos – you’ll get there eventually. However, if you don’t have time to spare or simply don’t want to vegetate in front of a TV, there are more effective ways of going about it, and the Internalization Method is the best route to take. Just to dot my i’s and cross my t’s, I’ll explain what is wrong with video as a vehicle for learning languages.
1. Your brain processes visual stimuli differently from auditory ones, with your auditory inputs relegated to a second plan, making it difficult for you to focus on audio content. Sometimes we instinctively close our eyes to hear better, don’t we? 2. There is usually a lot happening on the screen all at the same time: there are images that grab your attention, music that captivates you, and sound effects that rock you (figuratively or literally when explosions put your home theatre system through its paces), leaving you with very little bandwidth for speech processing or simply unable to hear the dialogue for the noise. 3. Videos only expose you to basic conversational language, often ungrammatical, with lots of slang (totally unsuitable for learners) added to the mix. 4. They confuse you with a great variety of accents, making it impossible for you to choose one for practice purposes. 5. There are no ‘graded’ (i.e. adapted for different stages in language learning) TV shows or movies. You learn at your best when processing material that is just above your current level. So unless you’re an advanced student, watching video content meant for native speakers will often leave you frustrated, discouraged and may put you off your target language altogether, making your goal of language competency appear out of reach.
Now, audio, on the other hand, is free from all of the above shortcomings. Namely: 1. It feeds your brain with pure language via more basic channels (research has shown that we start hearing and processing sounds and learning language while still in the womb). 2. There is nothing else competing for your attention, which allows you to focus totally on what you’re hearing to the exclusion of everything else, thus improving your learning capacity. 3. The language it offers you is usually of far greater quality and variety: in audiobooks, e.g., you are exposed to narration, description, dialogue, monologue etc. in the literary form, which is the best style for you to mimic. What is more, the delivery is usually superior, too: each word is enunciated clearly and with proper inflexion, making it easy to understand, and is never slurred, mumbled or otherwise mispronounced (unless for effect); sentences are fragmented and intoned as they should be for clarity and dramatic effect, providing perfect models for you to learn and use in your own speech. 4. The reader, usually a professional actor, uses mostly his or her natural voice, offering you a consistent model to follow (but may modify it to give each character their own unique voice, easily recognizable with the best readers such as Stephen Fry, Frank Muller or Stefan Rudnicki). Once you’ve found a reader you like, you can follow him or her from book to book. 5. There is a wealth of graded audio content, available online free of charge on sites such as english-e-books), which you can leverage for your purposes.
To be sure, there is still place for video in your studies along the Internalization Method. You can use it for relaxation and entertainment, watching TV shows and movies you are already familiar with, having seen them dubbed - this time with the original soundtrack, enjoying them the way they were meant to be and hearing the real voices of the stars, without making any effort to understand every word. You can certainly have subtitles on, too, either in the original or your native language, but I don’t recommend it in this context: you already know the story, and having to read the subtitles will detract from the pleasure of watching your favourite titles. Borrowing and paraphrasing the mantra of the "all Japanese all the time" method of Japanese language learning, the Internalization Method applies it to any language you learn, so if you enjoy watching videos, it’s OK to do it. You can, e.g., first watch a foreign film dubbed, then in the original language with subtitles in your language, then in the original with subtitles in the same language, and finally just with the original soundtrack. It’s all good. Remember, there is no ‘wrong’ way of learning a language; it’s just that some methods are more effective in general and some for certain people.
Read this post in Russian here, watch the original presentation here.
So why no video? Because video is not effective in language learning. To be sure, it is very effective when you learn your first words, using pictures, or with young children, particularly under-threes: you just park them in front of a telly and let them soak it all up. This is what we (my wife and I) did with our children at that age: we let them watch the BBC’s children’s programming for hours on end every day – to great effect. It also does the job if you have lots of time on your hands and are prepared to spend many hours like a couch potato watching videos – you’ll get there eventually. However, if you don’t have time to spare or simply don’t want to vegetate in front of a TV, there are more effective ways of going about it, and the Internalization Method is the best route to take. Just to dot my i’s and cross my t’s, I’ll explain what is wrong with video as a vehicle for learning languages.
1. Your brain processes visual stimuli differently from auditory ones, with your auditory inputs relegated to a second plan, making it difficult for you to focus on audio content. Sometimes we instinctively close our eyes to hear better, don’t we? 2. There is usually a lot happening on the screen all at the same time: there are images that grab your attention, music that captivates you, and sound effects that rock you (figuratively or literally when explosions put your home theatre system through its paces), leaving you with very little bandwidth for speech processing or simply unable to hear the dialogue for the noise. 3. Videos only expose you to basic conversational language, often ungrammatical, with lots of slang (totally unsuitable for learners) added to the mix. 4. They confuse you with a great variety of accents, making it impossible for you to choose one for practice purposes. 5. There are no ‘graded’ (i.e. adapted for different stages in language learning) TV shows or movies. You learn at your best when processing material that is just above your current level. So unless you’re an advanced student, watching video content meant for native speakers will often leave you frustrated, discouraged and may put you off your target language altogether, making your goal of language competency appear out of reach.
Now, audio, on the other hand, is free from all of the above shortcomings. Namely: 1. It feeds your brain with pure language via more basic channels (research has shown that we start hearing and processing sounds and learning language while still in the womb). 2. There is nothing else competing for your attention, which allows you to focus totally on what you’re hearing to the exclusion of everything else, thus improving your learning capacity. 3. The language it offers you is usually of far greater quality and variety: in audiobooks, e.g., you are exposed to narration, description, dialogue, monologue etc. in the literary form, which is the best style for you to mimic. What is more, the delivery is usually superior, too: each word is enunciated clearly and with proper inflexion, making it easy to understand, and is never slurred, mumbled or otherwise mispronounced (unless for effect); sentences are fragmented and intoned as they should be for clarity and dramatic effect, providing perfect models for you to learn and use in your own speech. 4. The reader, usually a professional actor, uses mostly his or her natural voice, offering you a consistent model to follow (but may modify it to give each character their own unique voice, easily recognizable with the best readers such as Stephen Fry, Frank Muller or Stefan Rudnicki). Once you’ve found a reader you like, you can follow him or her from book to book. 5. There is a wealth of graded audio content, available online free of charge on sites such as english-e-books), which you can leverage for your purposes.
To be sure, there is still place for video in your studies along the Internalization Method. You can use it for relaxation and entertainment, watching TV shows and movies you are already familiar with, having seen them dubbed - this time with the original soundtrack, enjoying them the way they were meant to be and hearing the real voices of the stars, without making any effort to understand every word. You can certainly have subtitles on, too, either in the original or your native language, but I don’t recommend it in this context: you already know the story, and having to read the subtitles will detract from the pleasure of watching your favourite titles. Borrowing and paraphrasing the mantra of the "all Japanese all the time" method of Japanese language learning, the Internalization Method applies it to any language you learn, so if you enjoy watching videos, it’s OK to do it. You can, e.g., first watch a foreign film dubbed, then in the original language with subtitles in your language, then in the original with subtitles in the same language, and finally just with the original soundtrack. It’s all good. Remember, there is no ‘wrong’ way of learning a language; it’s just that some methods are more effective in general and some for certain people.
Read this post in Russian here, watch the original presentation here.
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