The most effective language learning method is perhaps what the Mormon Church does to train their missionaries. They have traditional lessons and live in the language village where they do daily stuff in the target languages.
The whole method is to associate the words with the contexts. So when they are in the context, the words appear, or they think of the words.
The major problem the average language learner faces is being unable to think of the appropriate words or phrases for the context or scenario they are in, even when they actually have those words and phrases in their brains.
I suspect that is because their brains don't associate the words with the context.
So, I propose the average learner has to actively try to connect the language with the contexts.
However, of course, no normal language learners can afford to do those language boot camps. But just think of the mechanism behind them. They are a process that can be easily replicated.
I think, unlike the computer, our brain responds and produces words according to the input or prompts it gets (can be literally language or the scenario). So, even though we have a large vocabulary, we can't just search the words and expressions and such. Instead, we recall them when the context appears. Words kind of conform to the previous words and flow together.
We don't seem to think in the language, and we seem to think in ideas and use language to represent them.
Therefore, I have been training myself to speak foreign languages, Japanese and English, not by listening to native content but by doing sight interpretation of sentences.
I have bilingual texts on cards. I look at my native language and then just try to express that idea in my target languages. Not word by word translation. But I still check the exact corresponding words in my target languages on the back.
By doing that, I have become good at expressing my ideas in the languages, especially when writing. And in terms of speaking, I will talk about it.
My theory is that we can train to become able to recall the words by having our native language as the prompt or input like I mentioned and match the foreign words to our thoughts. So I became expressive.
Talking is a bit more complicated. I also became very fluent in English and Japanese. Able to carry conversations in English about most things.
Speaking is instantaneous. There is almost no time to think in the native language and then translate it into the target languages while you can do that when writing. Does that mean the sight interpretation method doesn't help speaking? I think it still helps. I express my thoughts by taking my time and talking in my native language and then expressing them in English. If it is a thought I have trained using the sight interpretation method, I can easily say them, but if it is a difficult abstract idea I don't know the right words for, I use whatever words I know to express it by doing the matching exercise I usually do during the sight interpretation method. I found this has greatly made me a better speaker because when I talk about things I have talked to myself about, I am able to say them easily when I need them. I think this is because the brain has associated thoughts with the language, and when the scenario comes up, the brain responds with the thought that has been associated with the useful words and phrases.
This is just like the language boot camps do to help you. The app I have been training with is Anki.
So, I kind of attribute my success to this sight interpretation method. But I want to know whether this way of learning is legitimate and founded. I have always been learning like this and using it as a main part of my language learning.
I have also found that imagining the scenario where you might need to use the expressions when doing sight interpretation makes it easier for me to say them when I am actually in the same scenario.
