The main advantage of the natural method is its easiness. Babies are doing nothing but sitting among their toys; nonetheless they learn.
Why does it work so well?
A child is ready to learn any language. We say "learn" because we are used to calling it so, but a child does much more: he analyzes the language he is learning.
How do we know, since no one can remember how he did it himself?
Thanks to the mistakes!
Without an analyze, no kid would ever say: "Yesterday, Mum gived me a cookie." But because he knows the pairs walk-walked, work-worked, and so on, he is able to deduce the existence of the pair give-gived. The fact that the analysis is wrong does not change the fact that there is one.
Analyzing their own language, children establish its laws. The "page" they write on is blank. Children who are lucky enough to learn two (or more) languages at once divide the blank page in as many parts as needed and write down the laws of each language separately.
Why does it work only once?
Be the linguistic laws written for one language or several, once they are written, they become the references. We have no longer a white page ready to accept any linguistic law. Once we know that the warm and hairy thing we play with is called "a dog," it will never be that "warm and hairy thing" again. The word "dog" will always come first.
We are an intellectual species: the words overcome what they indicate. And when we learn a new language (after the engraving of our mother tongue(s) has been made), we have to translate "dog" and not to label "warm and hairy thing."
Any new language rule we learn will have to fight against those we have previously internalized.
The easiness of the natural method is its main and obvious advantage.
Its drawback is that it is a full time job for three years, only to be able to say elementary sentences about elementary things. Most people who learn a foreign language not only do not have so much time, but also want more than merely speak. They want -and need- to read and write as well.
Nevertheless, the natural method for learning languages remains the easiest one. So, if you have time, you can sit among your technological toys and watch -and listen to- movies by the dozen. Or you can settle in the country whose language is the one you want to learn... and go to the movies.
At some point, you will figure out what is going on, be it on the screen or the street. At some other point, you will be able to repeat, then to ask and answer. Of course, you will learn quicker if someone plays Mummy's role and makes you repeat.
The "page" you will get will not be as right and precise as the one you got when learning your mother tongue, but you will be able to internalize many rules; that is to say: you will be able to use them without having to think about. You will use them NATURALLY.
But again: it will take three years, full time, and you will not master everything.
People who tell you that their language method is a natural one, either do not know how we acquire our mother tongue, or are plainly lying.
Language learning methods meant for grown-ups cannot achieve more than a few per cent of the results the natural method gets. Nevertheless, if easiness does not bother you, put at work what can still work, even if you are no longer a child.
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