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Immersion from scratch | ||
Tags: Immersion | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6584 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 1 of 15 07 January 2010 at 12:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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So the point of immersion is that you get to encounter the language every day and get lots of practice, yeah? But that sort of implies that you already know some of the language, so that you can start getting your practice on right from the start. In fact, I think that immersion is best used when you've already got a solid base in the language.
But what if you don't? What if you're going into an immersion environment with zero or almost-zero knowledge? Could you guys share your experiences, tips and ideas? Please note that this thread is not intended to be about communicating when you don't know the language, but rather about getting as much learning as possible out of your immersion experience. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| The Real CZ Senior Member United States Joined 5651 days ago 1069 posts - 1495 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 2 of 15 07 January 2010 at 12:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's good for listening and getting used to the sounds of the language. That's about it if you start from scratch. You can do immersion while studying (aka when you're not studying your language, use native media, etc.)
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| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6013 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 3 of 15 07 January 2010 at 4:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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I personally can't stand having to work out everything as I go. There's too much to process and I find I don't know where to start. I freeze up and I just end up wanting to go home.
But give me a decent set of lessons in Lionese before you throw me into the lions' den and I'll happily start a chat and learn the rest of the pride once I'm in there. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| wildweathel Newbie United States Joined 5565 days ago 32 posts - 71 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Japanese | Message 4 of 15 07 January 2010 at 7:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't have any experience with macro immersion, so I can't comment on it.
If you can accept not understanding everything immediately, micro-climate immersion is awesome (I'm listening to a Japanese podcast right now). If, on the other hand, you absolutely must take every apart with a dictionary and a grammar book and won't rest until you understand everything, micro-climate immersion will be exhausting and frustrating. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5969 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 15 07 January 2010 at 7:52pm | IP Logged | ||
I tried that and it was the worst, most absurdly stupid language-learning thing I ever did. Actually it was just semi-immersion, because I was with other English-speaking students, and it wasn't for a long time, but enough to be traumatic. I can't understand why I did it. I did learn, but I think I've repressed the memories as much as I can! I was only seventeen at the time and just not prepared for it at all. I think I'd handle it much better as an educated adult, but still--never, never again! Or, I should say, not without at least some basic knowledge of a language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Woodpecker Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5813 days ago 351 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian) Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 6 of 15 07 January 2010 at 8:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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This is what I'm doing right now with Arabic, because the scholarship and the gap year were both there, so I figured I might as well go far it. It's certainly not ideal. At times it's very frustrating to have been in Egypt for five months and still not be close to fluent. I wouldn't honestly recommend it, if only for efficiency's sake. I study much more effectively in my little Midwestern town than I do in Cairo. However, it does of course have a lot of benefits. My understanding of the language in terms of the overlying culture, in terms of humor, slang, body language, and in general in terms of the reality of the spoken language is obviously much better than it would be if I was at my desk at home; and as such my motivation to study and my love for the language are both much greater. If you have a long period of time, hell, spend it in an immersion environment. It's less efficient, but it's way more fun. If you don't, use immersion the way most people do, to fully automatize conversation.
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| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5587 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 7 of 15 07 January 2010 at 11:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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I wouldn't say it's less efficient, I spent a month around Spanish speaking students at my school and I learned more in a month than I did in a YEAR of studying. When I'm placed in that environment I learn much much faster. I would love to be in one. However, I think everyone is different, and you need to experiment. Starting out in a language with no previous study and immersing yourself might be very difficult. I have a good grounding in German and Spanish, which is what I immerse myself in as much as I can. Having a base will make the immersion much much more efficient. :)
Best of luck! -Jordan 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Woodpecker Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5813 days ago 351 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian) Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 8 of 15 08 January 2010 at 7:49am | IP Logged | ||
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It probably also does depend on the language. Immersion in general is just going to be more helpful earlier for a language with a lot of cognates and a related grammar because it's easier to infer things. Arabic has almost no cognates and until you are at a pretty high level, it's impossible to infer word meaning from context in most cases.
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