The Power of Immersion: Best Technique or Completely Overrated?
The most common language learning advice might be dead wrong.
Immersion doesn’t work.
Not how it’s described at least.
Before the internet, people said the best way to learn a language was to move to a country. Now, the talk of the town is what’s called “virtual immersion.”
Virtual immersion is all about creating an environment at home where pretty much everything you do is in your target language. The goal is to live as if you were in the country where your language is spoken, even though that’s not actually the case.
I did something similar to master English 15 years ago and it worked wonders so why am I here telling you immersion is overrated?
Because all the advice you read overlooks tons of important pitfalls.
My experience with virtual immersion
I used to be an average French dude who couldn’t speak English. In high school, I met a guy whose English accent and ease with the language blew my mind.
When I asked him how he had done, he told me about a simple system he had used years prior: watch TV series with French subtitles for a while, switch to English subtitles for a while longer, and then take them off. His process had taken him 3 years.
I went all in and watched over 700 hours worth of TV series in the following year. The first two months, I used French subtitles. I switched to English ones for about 3 months and took them off.
Each switch brought my comprehension down to some 30% of the shows I was watching. It was frustrating but I kept going.
By the end of the year, I could have any conversation I wanted in English.
I attributed my success to this single method for years but I now realized I overlooked one crucial matter.
I had already taken 6 years of English classes.
Immersion can’t teach anything
Most people get immersion wrong. They think they can “absorb” the language by getting tons of it. The more the better.
If they can get their hands on what Stephen Krashen calls “comprehensible input,” then they’re golden. Learning the language will be a piece of cake.
Except it won’t.
The problem with how people speak about immersion is their comparison with how we learn our native language.
They compare this system to a baby listening to thousands of hours of the language with parents repeating words, articulating, showing what they talk about, and so on, for every waking second of the children.
You have a life to live, friends to see, work to do, and clearly nobody who will hold your hand every moment awake to teach you the language.
Learning a language as an adult is not like learning as a child.
And that’s a good thing!
You can use your knowledge of the world and your own native language to make the process faster.
While a baby may take up to 14 months to say their first meaningful words and 2–3 years to create complete (yet often incorrect) sentences, you could have real conversations within a year.
What comes before immersion
Don’t get me wrong. Immersion is a great tool for language learners. You should definitely have some sort of immersion on your journey but that shouldn’t be what you focus on first.
Immersion is like watching a swarm of bees in your mind. At first, they may seem chaotic and disorganized, but as you observe and interact with them, you begin to see the patterns and connections that bind them together, until the hive becomes a cohesive, buzzing whole.
It takes the pieces of a language flying in your brain and makes you realize the connection between them.
And to make those connections, you first need to have that knowledge in your brain.
If you have no idea how verbs are conjugated, how the words are ordered in the language, what some basic keywords like and, or, after, before, since, but, because, etc. are, then the language will only sound like gibberish.
Can you learn the language through immersion either way? Sure. Will it be frustrating? Most definitely. Could it make you give up early? Absolutely.
Get some basics down.
Flashcards are even more overrated in immersion
Now, immersion addicts may jump on me to say all these problems can be solved with flashcard softwares like Anki, Quizlet, Memrise, and so on.
These softwares are what we call Space-Repetition Systems (SRS). An algorithm determines when each flashcard should be shown to you again to help you remember it best.
The idea is incredible. The application is awful.
First, creating cards is a repetitive task that doesn’t bring much. Some say the time needed helps with remembering the word/pattern better but the reality is that every flashcard user has a system to make this process as short as possible, therefore just keeping the boring part and reducing the worthwhile one.
Second, it often lacks context. Entering words found in movies and shows is a great idea but what about the story that made the sentence be brought up? New users often put one single word. Experienced users rely on sentences.
And yet, having used Anki for years, I know the review process often ended up being me recognizing the beginning of the sentence and knowing it by heart. Not knowing the word itself. Even though that was the entire goal!
And finally, the biggest problem with flashcards.
Flashcard systems forbid you from taking days off.
They rely on you doing your “reps” every single day. Missing a day means having those reps pushed to the next day.
While this may be fine if you have 20 cards. Think about what happens when you have hundreds or thousands. Go on holiday for a week and you’ll come back to a mountain of cards to, painstakingly, review one by one.
What happens then? You dread your reviews and push them back further.
And the vicious circle worsens.
The best solution is never all or nothing
Immersion is not a one-size-fits-all.
All this talk online about how immersion is the holy grail is actually hurting countless potential new language learners. They think they can’t go as hard as those like MattVsJapan who spent his entire life in Japanese while living in the States.
They have a tough job, live with a family, want to spend time on other hobbies, and, you know, want to enjoy that little thing we call life.
Immersion is a good tool to have in your toolbox but you shouldn’t rely on it alone.
Instead, learn some basics in your target language by using some apps (not Duolingo though!), textbooks, and YouTube videos. You can even use a tutor on Italki or Preply to make this part faster.
While you do this, start watching shows and listening to music but don’t expect yourself to learn much. Get a feel for the language’s rhythm and enjoy the content for what it is.
As you improve outside of your “immersion” times, don’t hesitate to put double-subtitles where you can, such as on Netflix with the Language Reactor extension.
And make your own repetition system by using one of the following methods:
- Rewatch your favorite shows/movies
- Read a book based on a movie/show you’ve seen or the other way around
- Dig into the community talking about your favorite shows/movies
- Write about your favorite shows/movies (reviews/comments) and get corrections for free on HiNative or Journaly.
Keep going and you’ll get there.
You don’t have to suffer through hundreds of hours of content without subtitles or thousands of boring flashcards.
Adapt the journey to your needs. Take breaks if need be too.
The only thing that matters is to not give up.
Good luck!
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