What is immersion?
There are probably a million different ways to learn a language, but if you want to learn one effectively, immersion is probably the way to go. Immersion is the process of surrounding yourself in your target language and actually using it, instead of just learning it.
Immersion can show itself in many ways, such as listening to music, watching a show, speaking to someone, or even just thinking in your target language. If you think about it, the people who live in a country for a couple years or even a couple months where they speak a different language, are often much more fluent then people who stick to traditional language learning.
Why is immersion so effective?
People often compare immersion to they way we learn our native language, and that’s by growing up around it and hearing it everywhere. Since this is the method we used to learn our first language, it is the method you know the best.
Immersion also forces you to learn the language if you want to know what is being said or what to say. You’ll also be hearing your language exactly how it is used, instead of learning useless sentences that no one says in their daily life.
How can you practice immersion?
Here is what makes immersion even better: it is completely free! If you want to start being immersed, a good place to start is listening to music, watching movies or shows, and even watching the news in the language you are learning.
Here’s a couple ideas that you can start today:
- Start a show or watch a movie in your language
- Find a playlist of music in your language
- Start thinking in your target language about what you are doing
Finally, writing in the language you want to learn can be a big help. Journaling and talking about what you did during the day will train your mind to start thinking about your life in the language you are learning. Free tools like Jarggin are great for this. On Jarggin, after you submit your journal you are given instant feedback and helped on areas where you can improve.