What is language immersion? (And can I do it at home?)

Language immersion is a way of learning where you use a new language (your "target language") to live, work, and communicate, rather than just studying it as a school subject. In a traditional classroom, you might do grammar drills. In immersion, you use the language to do things—like ordering food, working, solving problems, or making friends.

Types of Immersion

Researchers usually group immersion into four main categories:

What type of immersion you use depends on your situation and your goals. I am learning Japanese. I live in New Zealand. I have Japanese co-workers. In my case, I have two-way, partial immersion. We speak a mix of Japanese and English at work, and I spend some of my time in Japanese.

You can definitely get language immersion at home. If you are serious about learning your language, you should!

Key Concepts: How Our Brains Learn

Before talking about immersion, we should look at 4 important concepts in language learning. Understanding these ideas means you will get the most out of learning a language. It will mean that you learn faster and more efficiently.

1. Comprehensible Input (i+1)

Dr. Stephen Krashen created the most famous theory in this field. He says we "acquire" language naturally when we understand messages. He calls this i+1. This is a technique we use here on The English Farm when we teach.

• i is your current level.
• +1 is information that is just one small step above your level.

For this to work, the language must be comprehensible (understandable). If you don't understand most of the words, your brain gets tired, and you stop learning. That means you need content that is two things:

1. fun and interesting—if it's boring or not useful, you will give up.
2. comprehensible—you have to understand most of it or you will get tired and/or bored.

Self check: 

1. Do you consume content in your target language?
2. Do you do that every day?
3. Do you understand most of it?

If you answered "yes" to these questions, you are on the right path! If you answered "no", then start looking for some good content you enjoy (I am watching Demon Slayer with my kids to keep my Japanese active) and can mostly understand.

2. The Affective Filter (aka. the Stress Wall)

Have you ever felt so nervous that you forgot how to speak? Or even so nervous you couldn't take a language lesson? This is your Affective Filter. If you are bored, tired, or afraid of making mistakes, your brain "blocks" the language. 

Immersion works best when you are relaxed and interested in the topic. That's why your emotions are so important when you learn language. You should feel comfortable. You should not feel nervous about speaking your target language. If you do feel nervous, the faster you learn how to deal with that, the better. Usually, that means having positive and fun experiences in your target language. The Stress Wall is usually the biggest barrier for adults to language learning success. You have to have teachers or language partners you vibe with. Look around for teachers that have the same interests as you. Find someone you connect wtih who helps you relax and feel confident.

Self check:

1. Do you feel confident when you speak your target language?
2. Do you speak more than your teacher in one-to-one lessons?
3. Do you add information when your teacher asks questions to keep the conversation going?

If you answered "yes" to all these questions, then great! If you answered "no", you need to find a way to get over the Stress Wall. Talk to your teacher about it or reserve a free 15-minute call with one of our advisors to get some advice.

3. Interaction and Negotiating Meaning

Learning isn't just listening. Researcher Michael Long says we learn by talking. If you don't understand something, you should ask, "What does that mean?" or "Can you repeat that?": this is negotiating meaning. This back-and-forth helps your brain notice how the language really works. It helps you use the language and do something useful with it.  Long's idea is that you learn a language faster and better if you spend more time with input, interaction, and output—talking to people! 

Conversations in your target language are even more effective if the person you talk to grades their language. This is what language teachers do. We know what you know, so we are always introducing new words and grammar that are a little step above your level (i+1). This gives you confidence (Bye bye, Stress Wall!). It gives you the chance to negotiate meaning. It means you build your ability to communicate well and fluently much faster than other methods alone.

Self check:

1. Do you ask lots of questions about meaning in your language classes?
2. Do you have conversations in your target language every day?
3. Do you understand most of the conversations?

If you answered "yes", then you have good learning habits. If you answered "no", think about ways you can change your actions or habits to get the most out of your speaking opportunites.

4. The Power of Pushed Output

You've probably heard that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else. A Canadian researcher called Merrill Swain noticed that some students could understand everything but still made many grammar mistakes. She argued that we need output (speaking and writing). 

That's why good teachers will ask you lots of questions. Explaining details forces you to improve your language skills. When you are pushed to explain a difficult idea, you realize what you don't know yet (so does your teacher—then they know what to teach you next!).  That also implies that learning a language needs to be effortful. It needs to be work. If a method is described as being 'easy' or 'fast' then it probably will be much less effective. It also means the less you say in class, the less progress you make. Lean into the work of learning, and you will learn faster.

Self check:

1. Does your teacher encourage you to say and explain more about your ideas?
2. Do you teach your teacher things you know a lot about (your hobby or work etc.)?
3. Do you get enough feedback and corrections on your output?
4. Do you feel a bit tired at the end of a language lesson?

If you answered "yes" to these questions, then you are making the most of your output. Otherwise, have a chat to your teacher about how you can change your language class to include more pushed output.

Immerse yourself at home

If you want to immerse yourself in your target language, the easiest and most effective way is to get on a plane and go to a country where they speak that language. Then use it and study it every day. But not everyone can do that. However, you can create immersion for yourself at home. It's easier and cheaper! Here are some ways for you to do that. If you have other ways to immerse yourself at home

Switch your target language on

The fastest way to create an immersive environment is to get as much of that language into your daily life as you can. How you do this depends on your situation and what you like to do. Here are some ideas (they are all free!):

• Watch content in your target language every day—it's go to be interesting and fun first, so you keep doing it. Like I said, I am watching anime in Japanese every day. Don't worry about the topic. It doesn't have to be "useful". And you can turn on the subtitles. As long as you pay attention to the language, there will be a benefit to any content you you watch. Do shadowing too!
• Put your target language on in the background while you do housework or exercise—find a podcast that has the style of language you want to learn (it could be conversational, business, or it could be an accent you want to copy, like American Standard English). You don't need to pay attention, but for an extra benefit do shadowing.
• Change the language on your devices—this will force you to read and think about the language you a learning. You will get comfortable with your target language faster.
• Read something out loud in your target language every day—this is best if it is something useful and/or interesting. If you have kids, read to them in your target language: it will be helpful for them and kids' books are great ways to revise simple grammar (like articles and verb tenses). It's also great speaking practice. But you have to read out loud!
• Talk to yourself as much as you can. For best effect, speak out loud (if you don't mind looking like a crazy person). 

The key here is to create an atmosphere in your target language. You need to turn it into something you use and enjoy, rather than something you study. 

Make a promise

A simple way to create language immersion is to make a promise to yourself. I used to have a Japanese roommate. We made a promise that we would speak English in the kitchen and Japanese in the living room. We both got practice, and we both improved our target language. Your promise has to be realistic. Start small and build on it. Here are some ideas:

• I promise to read out loud every day for 10 minutes.
• I promise to watch an episode of my favourite TV show in my target language every week.
• I promise to speak with my colleague every day in my target language.
• I promise to listen to content in my target language when I exercise.
• I promise to write three sentences in my target language before I go to sleep.

Keep these promises small. Start with one promise and add a new one every week or month. Soon you will build some strong learning habits and create an immersive environment. 

Connect your target language to another habit

You need chances to speak and use your target language. But sometimes we just forget. We are too busy living our lives. It seems like we cannot fit it in. But there are different ways to add your target language to your life. It depends on your situation. Here are some ideas:

• Make friends with a native speaker who has the same hobby as you—this can be difficult. Remember that if someone is in your country, they might prefer to speak your language. Take it slow.
• Listen to your target language when you commute to and from work. For example, when you ride on the train in the morning, listen to the news or music in your target language. Make sure you pay attention! Don't zone out.
• Watch content in your target language at the gym. That way you will get fit and improve your language skills!
• Put new words on the mirror in the bathroom so you can revise new vocabulary when you brush your teeth.
• When you get home from work spend 10 minutes on your favourite language app.
• Set a reminder on your phone to do 5 minutes of shadowing before you go to sleep every night.
• Write a summary of a movie after you watch it. 

This is James Clear's idea of "habit stacking" from his book Atomic Habits.  It's a really powerful way to create new, good learning habits.

Study abroad vs. learning at home

People always assume that learning abroad is better than learning at home. This is not completely true. Study abroad has different benefits to learning at home:

• Study abroad: This is better for speaking speed, slang, and listening to fast speakers. You get good at understanding things. You build your confidence. You are forced to speak with good pronunciation. But you can develop lots of bad habits. if you are not getting feedback and corrections, those habits are hard to fix!
• At-home immersion: Often better for writing and learning things like vocabulary and grammar. If you can add chances for output and LOTS of input, the results can be as good as study aboard. 

The key difference though is how much time you spend with the language. When you are abroad, your target language is everywhere. You cannot escape it. At home, it is easy to fall back to your native language. For at home immersion to be effective, then increase your contact time with the target language as much as you can. Are you inspired to make some new habits to create an at-home immersion in your target language?

What about my native language?

There is a big debate when it comes to how much you use your native language when learning a second language.

1. The Monolingual View: You should never use your first language. It is an "escape hatch" that stops you from working hard in the new language. This has been a popular approach for a long time.
2. Translanguaging: This is a newer idea. It says using your first language to understand a hard concept is actually helpful. It acts like a "scaffold" (a support structure) to help you reach the next level.

Your native language can act as a short cut. Using your first language can make learning a new one easier. However, you have to make sure you are not using your time learning about a language. In the end, the more time you spend with input and output in your target language, the faster you will reach your langauge goals.

At-home immersion is possible. In fact, if your target language is important to you, and you are serious about learning, you should use at-home immersion. Start with small changes. Make sure that what you are doing is fun and interesting. Remember that sleep is key; research shows that our brains "sort" new language data when we sleep. If you study hard and then sleep well, you will remember more! Make sure you are doing something every day. Focus on output that is effortful. Get lots and lots of input. Be an active listener and an active learner. Use your time in the language, not learning about it. 

What changes will you make today to immerse yourself in your target language?