Are you learning a new language and longing for the immersion experience? Learn how to immerse yourself in a new language without leaving your home town.
Why Immersion Works
If you're reading this, you're living proof that language immersion is an effective learning tool--because that's how you learned your first language. As a baby you didn't have a ready-made language to translate to and from as you learned words for things and how to string them together. You had to learn from scratch, connecting each new word you learned directly to its concept, then struggling to equate concrete vocabulary with abstract concepts as your comprehension developed.
The much vaunted immersion technique for language learners works in much the same way. Ideally you should be plunked down in a foreign country with--hopefully--a basic knowledge of grammar and survival vocabulary, then left to learn. Given that the vast majority of people around you will speak their language, not yours, you'll have no choice but to sink or swim. You may even find that you thrive on the experience.
Finding the Immersion Experience
If you can't afford to travel to a foreign country for any length of time, if travel isn't safe or if you just plain don't want to, there's another option: Local immersion, or finding pockets of community in your own area that speak the same language you're trying to learn.
Local learning actually trumps total immersion learning in a foreign country on more than one level:
- It's cheaper.
- It's often much safer.
- Commuting across town is faster and cheaper than traveling to a foreign country.
- You might make friends that you can connect with every day instead of just on occasional trips.
Where to Immerse
There are a few places you're more likely to find opportunities for local immersion than others. These include community centers and social occasions such as:
- Churches
- Dances
- Culture clubs
With that being said, don't take a single step away from your computer until you've read about basic local immersion etiquette.
How to Behave
How, you might wonder, does one immerse oneself in a local community without becoming "that" obnoxious foreigner?
Carefully, and with consideration for said community's customs. Treat each visit as if you were in fact visiting a foreign country. You may find different norms for interaction between men and women or adults and children; the meanings of common body-language gestures may be vastly different; and you may even find that there are certain times and places where you should maintain a respectful distance. Use the following tips as general guidelines:
- Ask first, whenever possible. This is the best way of being sure you don't accidentally cross boundaries.
- Listen and watch. Remember, you're in the middle of someone else's culture: Respect it by paying attention and adapting to its norms as appropriate. Listening and watching is the best way to pick up on subtle social cues and make sure you're not treading where you shouldn't.
- Be sincere and honest about what you're doing. It can be assumed that if you're trying to learn a new language, you have some interest in both that language and the culture behind it. Sincerity and honesty will let that interest shine through.
- Be open to connections--you might be able to help somebody in the community that wants to learn English, for example, or once you've developed some facility in both languages you may even be able to volunteer to help with translating or interpreting for those in need.