Effectiveness of immersion?

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Aprender
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Effectiveness of immersion?

Postby Aprender » Mon Aug 08, 2016 8:46 pm

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I've been learning Spanish for the past few weeks using resources like Assimil and Memrise. I hope that by mid-October, I'll have reached an upper-beginner level. So, in a couple of months time, I'd like to spend 6 to 8 weeks in Spain in order to immerse myself in the language and culture. I have a few questions and I'm hoping those more experienced would be able to offer me some guidance. Would an 'immersion experience' be beneficial to someone at my level? How much of an impact will 6 to 8 weeks in Spain likely have on my command of Spanish?
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Re: Effectiveness of immersion?

Postby YtownPolyglot » Mon Aug 08, 2016 9:02 pm

Maybe it won't be quite as helpful as it might for someone at a low intermediate level.

However, it's more important to think about how you plan to use this time. Lots of students from my country go to Europe to be immersed in a language and only hang around other English-speakers. Obviously, that is a waste of time, money and more. If you go into this experience determined to use only your target language (in this case, Spanish), you'll come out better for it.

If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times that the Spaniards speak too quickly. I only spent a few days visiting a Spanish-speaking friend near Barcelona, and I learned that it is helpful to smile and say "Despacio, por favor" as often as needed. Don't pretend you understand when you don't. And keep talking to and listening to Spaniards even when (especially when) you get discouraged.

Finally, be good to yourself. It's tempting to try to see everything and do everything and eat everything and drink everything and not get enough sleep and ignore proper nutrition, etc. Tell yourself "I shall return." I got sick in Spain as part of my first solo adventure in Europe and being sick far from home is never fun. It doesn't help you learn, either.
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Re: Effectiveness of immersion?

Postby Elenia » Mon Aug 08, 2016 9:45 pm

I agree with YtownPolyglot wholeheartedly. Immersion is much more helpful at a later stage. Also, being one of those students who went to study in a TL country and only hung out with English speakers, I can tell you that you get out of immersion roughly the same amount you put in. I put in just enough to pass my classes, and I did. I came out with an amazing ability to follow a three hour lecture on 18th century literature, and an amazing inability to have a normal conversation with native speakers of my own age.
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Re: Effectiveness of immersion?

Postby blaurebell » Mon Aug 08, 2016 10:42 pm

I actually did immersion with Spanish myself starting out at total beginner level. I had 3 hours of classes each day in a good school and lived with a woman who didn't speak any English. After 10 weeks I could read Harry Potter pretty much without a dictionary. I tried to speak as much Spanish as possible and actually did my homework when other people were just hanging at the beach and partying all night. Depending on how much time you put in now and when you're there, you can expect to have simple conversations, understand TV and probably read if you really apply yourself. There is one factor I've noticed though: English speakers who have never learned another language before progress more slowly than the average reasonably motivated language learner I met in those immersion classes. They usually had to retake the first couple of weeks and then still struggled further down the line because of the grammar. I stayed in that school for 5 months and this wasn't just a fluke, it was pretty consistently every English speaker I met there who was learning Spanish as their first foreign language. So, careful with estimates people might give you here, including the one I gave you just now. Before I learned Spanish I learned English, some Latin in school and Italian, so I was faster than others. A couple of girls who started with me began to read 2 weeks later than I did and seemed to struggle a bit more.

I loved the experience by the way and can only recommend it. It's pretty difficult *not* to pick up the language if you sit in a good class every day. By the way, if you don't know which school to choose, I could recommend one in San Sebastian.
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Re: Effectiveness of immersion?

Postby tarvos » Tue Aug 09, 2016 6:32 pm

I've never had problems using immersion at any level. The key is to be consistent and determined.
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Re: Effectiveness of immersion?

Postby James29 » Wed Aug 10, 2016 1:13 am

Aprender wrote:Would an 'immersion experience' be beneficial to someone at my level? How much of an impact will 6 to 8 weeks in Spain likely have on my command of Spanish?


Yes. It would be beneficial. However, be careful not to think immersion is magic. It is not.

In 6 to 8 weeks you could advance quite a bit - if you take it seriously and do what the other posters suggest. Be sure to have some sort of study time every day... it can be a self study course or a formal course or tutoring. You will definitely advance, but I'd bet after the 6-8 weeks you will feel like you did not advance as much as you thought you would. That's just the nature of learning a language.

I did a few two week immersions and I took them very seriously. If I was not with my one on one tutor I was talking with my host family or reading a book in Spanish. In the big picture of my Spanish journey those 6+ weeks did not really make too much of a difference in my level of Spanish. I valued my immersion trips much more for the experience.
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Re: Effectiveness of immersion?

Postby yong321 » Wed Aug 10, 2016 2:45 am

A friend of mine is the president of a small private language study school in China. She told me that her students used to demand that the teachers be all native speakers. A few years later, that attitude changed, because they found that not knowing enough of the language being studied and being taught in that language slows down the study. Of course, that's not real immersion. But the same logic applies. Immersion has the greatest benefit if (1) the learner is young (say before 7 years old), or (2) the learner is almost fluent in the language.
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Re: Effectiveness of immersion?

Postby s_allard » Wed Aug 10, 2016 1:39 pm

Really, what is there to discuss here? This is a no-brainer. What could be better than studying a language in the country where it is spoken? Sure, a couple of weeks in a country won't make you a native speaker and there are all kinds of caveats. So what. Just hearing the language spoken in context is exciting. And what's the alternative? Sitting at home trying to do the same thing by watching youtube videos on the Internet? Or a boring language class at a local institution? Or spending 10,000 USD for a six-week intensive course at Middlebury College in Vermont, USA, where you have to take a language pledge that you will speak only in Spanish when on campus?

There's nothing to think about. Just go.
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Re: Effectiveness of immersion?

Postby sfuqua » Wed Aug 10, 2016 5:02 pm

In Peace Corps I found immersion worthless. I was unprepared to take advantage of it. I was at a very low level in my L2, and I kept waiting for the "magic of Immersion" to make me "fluent". I got tons of incomprehensible input. All it produced was headaches.
Immersion isn't magic; you need to be properly prepared mentally.
At its best immersion is massive "time on task."
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Re: Effectiveness of immersion?

Postby tomgosse » Wed Aug 10, 2016 7:25 pm

I took an immersion course many years ago. It was described as a course for complete beginners. The one thing I realized is this: the teacher needs to be ready to deal with students that have no experience in the target language. My teacher did not have the patience for this. My thoughts are this: immersion works best when you already have learned the basics of the language.
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