A beginner cannot learn from material made for native speakers: at the start, authentic media is noise.

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• In tension with

  There is no threshold of vocabulary to cross before speaking begins; the change is a decision, not a level reached.

  Kaufmann says authentic material is noise to a beginner, so the start has to be graded input. Lewis says there is no threshold to cross before speaking begins and that the change is a decision rather than a level reached. Both are about the very first weeks, and only one of them has a stage that must be got through first.

Shared subject first, then similar wording. They may agree or disagree.

• A language is a set of skills to be built, not a body of facts to be known. LLLuca Lampariello19 Aug 2021language learning
• A person who studies a language for years and cannot speak it was taught the wrong method; it is not a failure of talent or of effort. SKSteve Kaufmann13 Apr 2026language learning
• A teacher who does not insist on the target language is a bad teacher. BLBenny Lewisby 12 Oct 2012language learning
• Conversation with native speakers teaches a language far better than a classroom. DPDavid Perell24 Sept 2021language learning
• Displaying a moral code that carries no meaning is like hanging a poster in a foreign language DADan Ariely13 Jul 2024language learning

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