Immersive Environment

[DarrenDaka]

Hi guys

I have been attempting to create an immersive environment in the languages i'm learning but I am finding this difficult. I live in the UK and my native language is English. Despite what I do English always seems to find a way in. Even when I am watching movies/programs etc English is always somehow there.

I am wondering if it is actually possible to create a truly immersive environment in your home country and if so , how? I have tried everything but as usual English dominates. I am attempting to gain as much input as possible through immersion but can't escape how "Anglicised" everything has become.

Any experiences,hints,tips or effective methods are greatly appreciated.

[Sayonaroo]

I don't get what you mean. It's so easy nowadays with the mp3 player, smart phone, internet, youtube, online shopping. The easy things to do are to change your phone to your target language and to listen to your target language.

It's 2018!!

[iguanamon]

Yes, it is difficult to put one's self in a completely immersive environment in a TL, living outside a TL country. I can't do it because I work in English and my family and most of my friends are monolingual. There are some things you can do for yourself. You can get all your news from TL, of course, this will be international news. When you need to research something online, try to do it in TL. Set all of your devices' interfaces to TL... if those devices support your TL. Stop reading in English and switch to TL. You can at least change your interface language on the forum to Italian... but not to Polish. Whenever I go to the ATM (Cashpoint- UK), I choose Spanish as an option. Since you live in the UK, it's probably possible to switch to Polish or Italian at the ATM but make sure you know the vocabulary first! Listen to TL audio or TL music in the car, at home and on your devices. Watch TL movies or television or internet video. Research in TL wikipedia and TL google. Lastly, try to switch your inner voice to TL- it can be done, but it's not easy. Some people have gone as far as translating their home/office/room furnishings to TL, writing them on post it notes and sticking them where they belong. I don't know how it would work if you are learning two languages simultaneously. You can't completely do without English when living and working in an English-speaking country, but it is possible to get a lot more TL in your life, especially if you're willing to sacrifice some things. It's been a long time since I've read a book in English. 95% of all the music I listen to is in a language other than English. My news mostly comes to me in TL. I don't consider it to be a sacrifice at my level, but it would be at below B levels. Still, it's pretty neat what happens when a learner gets more TL in their life.

Here's what Khatzumoto of AJATT (All Japanese All The Time) said about immersion

...Here’s how you do immersion.
Take a day in your life. Not my life. Your life.
During the parts that your eyes are open, make it so that Japanese letters 2 enter your eyes. You don’t have to understand them, they just have to go into your eyes. See Japanese. Eyes open? See Japanese.
Do you look at computer screens? Are Japanese letters showing on them? Make it happen.
Do you look at walls? Is Japanese stuff on them? Make it happen.
Do you look at pieces of paper with ink on them? Do the ink patterns spell out Japanese letters? Make it happen.
During the parts that you are able to hear sounds, make sure that Japanese sounds dominate your hearing. You don’t have to be listening. Just let Japanese sounds enter your ears. Hear Japanese. Ears working? Hear Japanese.
Do you use headphones? Do Japanese sounds come out of them? Make it happen.
Do you use speakers? Do Japanese sounds come out of them, too? Make it happen.
Do you interact with humans? Find the kind that make Japanese sounds. If in doubt, pinch to confirm. Sounds should be forthcoming.

[Axon]

One thing that can actually make a lot of difference is radio. Android has a great world radio app called Radio FM that I use at the gym all the time.

I used to plug my phone into my charger, connect to wifi, and have it play radio in different languages all day. This was a little better than doing it on my computer because on the computer I'd have to find the window and pause the radio whenever I wanted to watch a video, but if it was coming from my phone I'd just put in my headphones. When I took out the headphones again, I'd already be hearing the target language.

That automaticity, having immersion be the default option, really does have an effect. My browser new tab page has been a random German Wikipedia page for six years, starting when I barely knew a hundred words in German. 95 percent of the time I don't spend more than three seconds on that page before going to what I was actually looking for. But over six years, how many hundreds of thousands of tabs have I opened? It's no surprise that reading Wikipedia is easier for me in German than in any of my other target languages.

[Random Review]

One thing that can actually make a lot of difference is radio. Android has a great world radio app called Radio FM that I use at the gym all the time.

I used to plug my phone into my charger, connect to wifi, and have it play radio in different languages all day. This was a little better than doing it on my computer because on the computer I'd have to find the window and pause the radio whenever I wanted to watch a video, but if it was coming from my phone I'd just put in my headphones. When I took out the headphones again, I'd already be hearing the target language.

That automaticity, having immersion be the default option, really does have an effect. My browser new tab page has been a random German Wikipedia page for six years, starting when I barely knew a hundred words in German. 95 percent of the time I don't spend more than three seconds on that page before going to what I was actually looking for. But over six years, how many hundreds of thousands of tabs have I opened? It's no surprise that reading Wikipedia is easier for me in German than in any of my other target languages.

How do you do that?

[Axon]

You go to your target language wikipedia and right click on the "random article" link. The link is usually above the "donate to Wikipedia" link. In German it's Zufälliger Artikel, in French Article au hasard, etc.

Copy that link address and then go to your browser settings. Find where you set the home page or new tab page, and paste that link in. There you go!

[rdearman]

In Firefox you can open multiple tabs at the same time. So here is the syntax for the random French page, and the normal blank page with your most used pages, etc.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sp%C3%A9c ... _au_hasard | about:newtab

EDIT: You can open as many tabs as you want in firefox, just put the | symbol between the URLs. This goes into Options->Home Page (on windows)

[Cavesa]

I find this to be a very valid question. It is not easy to replace everything, especially if you don't want to get rid of your family and friends.

I would never question Khatzumoto's advice, it is very good and proven to be working. But if you don't need to progress THAT fast, a partial immersion works just fine. That means switching all that you reasonably can switch. Books. Movies. Tv series. Computer games. Textbooks (to a large extent). Websites about tons of stuff (but here, it depends on the kind of stuff).

So, I wouldn't see it that tragically. Don't beat yourself up for having to use the language of the country you live in to some extent. But you can definitely change a lot, for example the things you mention in your post.

How comes this:

Despite what I do English always seems to find a way in. Even when I am watching movies/programs etc English is always somehow there.

??? Does it find a way in or do you let it in? Unless you have to do something English (stuff ordered by your employer or a teacher), there is no reason to allow this stuff in. Sure, I watch some stuff in English too, despite the fact I shouldn't, but it is on purpose and a free choice. It has some quality that outweights the fact I am losing time I could spend in a target language, and I am not complaining about my choice.

You are learning Polish and Italian. There are tons of original media in each of the languages. And there are tons and tons of translations and dubbings (of various quality, but you can find lots and lots of high quality ones), you can get almost anything in your target languages. English is not somehow finding a way in, you are letting it.

[Lawyer&Mom]

I agree that partial immersion is totally okay. I don’t watch any TV in English, but I do have English websites that I enjoy and I’m not willing to part with. I think it’s more important to affirmatively schedule your immersion experiences. I listen to a podcast the same part of my day, every day. I watch an episode of my series every night. By having a set routine, (partial) immersion happens.