How to Learn a Language with Immersion and Formal Study

By Sindya N. Bhanoo

April 2, 2012

Learning a foreign language is never easy, but contrary to common wisdom, it is possible for adults to process a language the same way a native speaker does. And over time, the processing improves even when the skill goes unused, researchers are reporting.

For their study, in the journal PloS One, the scientists used an artificial language of 13 words, completely different from English. “It’s totally impractical to follow someone to high proficiency because it takes years and years,” said the lead author, Michael Ullman, a neuroscientist at Georgetown University Medical Center.

The language dealt with pieces and moves in a computer game, and the researchers tested proficiency by asking test subjects to play the game.

The subjects were split into two groups. One group studied the language in a formal classroom setting, while the other was trained through immersion.

After five months, both groups retained the language even though they had not used it at all, and both displayed brain processing similar to that of a native speaker. But the immersion group displayed the full brain patterns of a native speaker, Dr. Ullman said.

He and his team used a technique called electroencephalography, or EEG, which measures brain processing along the scalp.

The research has several applications, Dr. Ullman said.

“This should help us understand how foreign-language learners can achieve nativelike processing with increased practice,” he said. “It makes sense that you’d want to have your brain process like a foreign speaker.”

And though it may take time, and more research, the work “also could or should help in rehabilitation of people with traumatic brain injury,” he added.

Total immersion. This is a major part of the strategy used by educators when children enter their schools and speak no English. Of course, they are given supplemental help to learn a language as well. But the research does show that putting these kids in regular classes promotes language proficiency better.

Granted, kids are faster to pick up another language than adults, but the total immersion method is a good one, at least for conversational goals. So, if you are decided that you want to learn a language, go to where it is spoken and immerse yourself. Here are some tips to help you along the way.

Related Post: 7 Habits of Effective Language Learners

1. Before You Go

Take some lessons. These do not have to be in-person lessons. There are plenty of online courses that focus on conversation, and some in which you can actually practice, via Skype, with a native of the language. It helps if you want to learn a language to be able to at least ask where the bathroom is when you land in that country!

This type of pre-travel practice also lets you get used to the sounds of the language so that your pronunciation will be better.

2. If You Have a Choice of Destinations

If you go to major cities, you will always find those who speak at least a little English. You will be tempted to use them, and they may want to use you to improve their English. This is not a good environment to learn a language. Youth hostels where everyone speaks your language are not good environments either.

Instead, go to the rural areas and small towns. Necessity will force you to converse in the language, even if you do have to do a lot of pointing and arms gesturing! Gradually, you will pick up more and more and really begin to learn a language of your choosing. The more you travel to these less populated areas, the more you will be forced to converse.

In some places, you will be able to find host families rather than hotels or hostels. These are great environments to learn a language if they do not speak English. It’s like having a live-in classroom.

Related Post: 6 Travel Abroad Learning Styles: Best Way to Learn a New Language

3. Be an Active Listener

It’s hard to focus when you have no idea what is being said. But if you want to learn a language, focus you must. As you focus, you will pick up small pieces of vocabulary that you remember. You will also be able to pick up phrases that use these small pieces of vocabulary and patterns that are repetitious. All of these things will help you learn a language.

The other benefit of active listening is that you can then mimic what has been said, something that cements meaning and pronunciation. It’s easy to zone out when you don’t understand what is being said. Just don’t do it.

4. Be Like a Child

Remember when you were a child? You had very few inhibitions and were not bothered by what you did not know or by mistakes you made. As an adult, you have a tendency to hide your weaknesses and your lack of understanding.

If you are going to learn a language in a foreign land, you have to get rid of your inhibitions and be a little humble. Consider this: would you laugh at or criticize someone who was trying to learn a language or would you be empathetic and helpful? People are the same the world over. No one will think less of your for being a newbie to their language.

So, get out there, make mistakes, learn from them, and move on.

5. Access Local Media

During non-contact time , watch local television, pick up local newspapers and magazines, and listen to music. Of course, you will not understand at first. In the beginning, though, you can find programs with subtitles and focus on active listening.

Non-English speaking students look for the best websites to help them learn a language. You are now a student of a foreign language. Find websites in the local language; read and listen.

Related Post: 7 Brand-New Reasons You Need to Learn a Second Language

6. Keep it Simple

In your native language, you have an extensive vocabulary. You studied grammar for years, you use the right verb tenses, and you speak and write in complex and compound sentences. When you learn a language for the second time, you must consider your goals.

• If you have as your goal an eventual career position that will require full fluency in the language, then you will far more than learning the language in the environment. You will be in coursework studying grammar.
• If your goal is to learn the language so that you can navigate the country and its society, and converse with natives in an understandable fashion, you work will entail immersion rather than formal study. You can keep is simple. No one will care if you know the future-perfect tense of a verb. You will be understood. And vocabulary depth will be much less than the career aspirant’s.

7. Stay Strong

The temptation to use your native language will be very strong, especially if there are locals who want to practice their English or who already know English and are happy to accommodate you. Don’t succumb to this temptation. It will only slow you down when you learn a language. Insist that the locals speak to you in their native language.

8. Socialize with Natives

You may not be on anyone’s invitation list for a social event. But you can find places to be social. Go to a bar and buy a drink. Strike up conversations with those others at the bar. You can perhaps do the same at coffee shops and marketplaces in some countries, but a bar seems to be a good place for informal one-on-one conversations. There’s no better way to learn a language than to talk freely to its speakers!

Learn a Language Through Immersion

The overriding concept when you want to learn a language through travel is commitment – commitment to immerse oneself, to listen and focus, to dwell in places where English is not spoken, to take risks, and to keep it simple. The big benefit? Travel!

Intensive Language Immersion Programs

If you are contemplating studying abroad and open to the idea of learning a new language quickly, you might be the ideal type of intellectually passionate person for intensive language immersion programs. By keeping your brain stimulated and mind sharp, your experiences may lead to curiosity about other matters such as cultural exchange, art, and music.

Language immersion programs may provide fewer chances to slip back into the safety net of your native tongue. You may gain the most from language courses abroad when you only speak the new language. The inability to converse in your familiar language forces your mind to think in the local language first and discover new pathways to convey what you want to say. It familiarizes you with the patterns, tendencies, structures, and verbal signs of the language.

Enhance Your Language Skills with Abroad Language Programs

A student may tend to concentrate on the intensive element of intensive language immersion programs learning, but learning a new language is the real focus. If your goal is to improve your language skills, language study abroad may be the way to go. It may require more homework and classes, but the result may be a newly acquired fluency. Many programs accommodate students at all levels of language proficiency. Courses may focus on the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students may be in class with other international students, the majority of whom are locals. You may make remarkable advances in your fluency skills, even as a complete beginner by taking a full course of classes taught solely in the native language.

The World as Your Classroom | Learn Language Abroad

Attending classes is only part of the education. Living in lively and exciting cities around the world provide a great environment for you to practice your language skills while immersing yourself in the local culture. Language immersion programs may enable participants to gain a level of understanding and appreciation of culture and language that isn’t normally available when learning a new language. For instance, many programs provide networking, cultural, and social events with other students from all around the world. Students could choose to learn Spanish in Barcelona, Japanese in Tokyo, or German in Hamburg. The world is really at your fingertips.

Potential Advantages of Intensive Language Programs

The principal advantage of language study abroad programs is chronological repetition by practicing the language more frequently and immersing yourself in another language and another culture. In intensive language learning, the shortened cycles between classes may equip you with the benefits of a truly holistic educational experience. You may volunteer with local organizations, live with host families, study with native students, explore the language through cultural excursions. In essence, the community may become your classroom to help you develop fluency in a second language while heightening your perception of a different culture and its people.

Meeting with other students day-to-day may offer a plethora of new vocabulary and grammar and a chance to master the intricate grammatical compositions that distinguish a native-sounding speaker from an amateur. This potentially once in a lifetime experience may be a highly challenging way for the dedicated student to perfect a second language.

Types of Study Abroad Language Immersion Programs

Most intensive language programs compress one to two semesters of language study into an eight- or 10-week format, although the length may vary depending on the program you select. They may provide an excellent means to help students to prepare to pursue careers, graduate school, internships, study abroad experiences, or expanded career opportunities.

The ability to derive profound personal meaning from the nuances of learning a new language may be an amazing experience. Speaking multiple languages may open up myriad professional and academic opportunities. When you learn languages abroad, you may give yourself an edge when it comes to international abilities and personal skills with language study abroad. Feel free to browse our directory of intensive language programs below or visit our Resources section if you need any more help.

Programs

A language immersion program is one in which the children spend all or a large portion of their day learning, in a natural way, a particular foreign language.В The immersion approach to teaching a second language maximizes the time the children get to practice the language they are learning. Children in a language immersion program work toward fluency in the foreign language; the method of teaching revolves around conversations.

Spanish Language Immersion at CLC

As early childhood educators:

• We support the building of a community of inclusion. We know that the young child’s developmental needs are paramount; we want the language immersion process to be fun and to compliment the young child’s development.
• We seek to utilize the unique window of opportunity for learning languages that young children possess by exposing the young child to the rhythm, sounds and culture of another language.
• We strive to foster an appreciation for a multilingual and multicultural nation by making natural connections through literature, actions, relationships, inquiries, opportunities, and repetition.

At CLC some of the children in the Program are new to the foreign language, while others come from households where family members are bilingual or even multilingual; however, all young children are still in the process of acquiring language skills. Our Program is designed to help the child easily transition into the language of the classroom by participating naturally in the language. They can use, practice and rehearse the foreign language in an emotionally supportive environment that stimulates all their senses.В The children are assessed two times a year for receptive and expressive vocabulary recognition using the Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody (TVIP).

For parents of a young child learning a new language:

• Continue to give consistent exposure to and support for your “home language” with your child: the stronger the development of the native language, the greater the proficiency in the immersion language.
• The key principal of immersion education is to add knowledge about a new language and culture while building upon the native language: take advantage of cultural events, cuisine and the arts both locally and in your travels.
• Always keep in mind your child’s individual personality, learning style and temperament: each child will embrace the new language at their own pace.

Alex Gentry

Mar 23, 2017 · 5 min read

You want to learn a language fluently and you’ve already been learning it for some time. You’ve had your triumphs and struggles with learning your language in the process.

You believe in breaking down barriers between cultures.

You probably think the only way to learn a language very fluently is to travel abroad and immerse yourself in the language, and you probably think that going over to the country that speaks your language will magically make you fluent.

In my experience, I ha v en’t been abroad in any country for an extended period of time yet but have been abroad to both Europe and Asia. However in the past ten and a half years that I’ve learned foreign languages, I learned several of them, particularly Spanish and Portuguese, to conversational fluency without leaving the United States.

The main point is if you’re motivated and willing to put in the effort and have the resources, you can learn a language well even if you’re not able to go abroad.

Here are 10 ways that you can become fluent in a foreign language without going abroad.

Conversation groups are fundamental to attaining foreign language fluency. It is one of the best ways to practice speaking your foreign language because in a group you can all hold each other completely accountable for anything you say. Join Meetup.com or Couchsurfing to go to meetups where you can practice your foreign languages. In my experience Couchsurfing groups have been an excellent way to practice all of my languages with various travellers and students.

First of all you need to ask yourself WHY you want to learn a foreign language. What is your motivation for learning a foreign language in the first place? As Simon Sinek always says, “start with why”.

Think about the difference between want and need concerning your language learning journey. Want is more influenced by external motivations, in essence something that’s “nice-to-have”, whereas needs are influenced by internal motivations, something that’s “must have”.

Bruce Lee once said “Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own.” Language learning is too often approached with the intent to memorize grammar rules and vocabulary. At the end of the day though, no matter how many times you try to memorize anything in a language, it does no good unless you constantly expose yourself to the language. To really learn a language well you need to absorb it into you, not memorize it, and it’s better to do this slowly and gradually.

Where is the place you spend most of your time? Your house (other than the workplace)! Why wouldn’t you want to use sticky notes or post-its to decorate your house (and your pets if you want, though I wouldn’t recommend it!)? Labelling objects in your household is an easy task that isn’t too time-consuming and really fun and easy, and in addition, by seeing the sticky notes every day until you’ve mastered the content in your target language, you’ll constantly bombard your brain with new information. Be careful not to sit on them though!

You might write about daily happenings or important events in your life in a journal, and if you don’t it’d be a good suggestion for you to start today right after you read this! Journaling is one of the best ways to practice a language as it forces you to be on a regular writing schedule and to keep your accountability in check.

In language learning, nothing can truly be accomplished alone. Having people to practice your language with is essential, but it’s often very hard to find conversation partners especially if your language is hard to find. One of the best tools I’ve tried is italki and that’s a resource I’d really recommend for you as well to get started.

Everybody likes entertainment, you who’s reading this included. So why should language learning have to always be studying? You know you don’t always want to study and you’re too tired. A good suggestion is for you to indulge yourself in entertainment, but make one small change: change it to your target language. A great resource I can recommend is Viki, a global TV website where people watch and subtitle primetime shows and movies in over 200 languages. You can also find plenty of foreign language entertainment on Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube. Make sure to find programs with subtitles (on YouTube the quality of subtitles varies greatly so be careful on YouTube, you might not always get good subtitles!).

Do you enjoy reading? Ever wanted to read Cervantes, Dante, or Dostoyevsky in the the original? Wanted to read manga in Japanese? News and politics in Chinese? Sports articles in German or French? There are many reasons and motivations for you to read and a infinite amount of resources out there to get started with reading. Unless it’s a less common language with fewer resources I wouldn’t start a language without first going into graded readers to help with developing your reading skills in the beginning after you’ve mastered the basics, and then get into children’s books, young adult novels, nonfiction books, and literature in that order and also depending on your interests.

If you go onto iTunes, Google Play, etc., you can find all kinds of different podcasts for all kinds of languages from nearly every country in the world. You name it, they’ve got it. Podcasts provide lots of free audio material that you can work from and many podcasts include transcripts, some that are free and some that cost money. I’ll do more research on radio, but a really good source for you to get started with is Radio Garden, which has radio from all over the world in all kinds of different languages.

Learning your foreign language can be made even more fun when you cook the cuisine of the foreign country where your language is spoken. Learning the names of cuisine is a great way to get acquainted with the culture of the foreign language you’re speaking.

So now that you’ve learned that it is indeed possible to learn a language to fluency without traveling abroad, it’s time to get out there and start learning it.

More language articles are coming soon!

When talking about the most efficient way to learn a new language, there is one word that always pops up: immersion. You may have seen this in studies, articles and discussions related to language learning and the best way of learning languages. But what does it actually mean?

As a teaching method, immersion means that the instruction is given in a foreign language. Meanwhile, in the context of gaming, immersion means strong psychological connection to the game world, a kind of submerging into the virtual reality of the game.

When it comes to language learning, immersion usually means learning a new language in the most natural way possible – in practice, being in a country where the language is spoken. This is also known as in-country immersion.

However, it’s not always possible to travel to or live in another country, whether due to career, family, financial or other practical reasons. But don’t worry! You can immerse yourself in another language in your hometown and your own home as well.

7 ways to create an immersive environment at home

For example, if you want to learn Spanish, do at least the following:

1) Change the language of your phone to Spanish.
2) Listen to Spanish radio online.
3) Watch a movie in Spanish.
4) Listen to a Spanish podcast.
5) Look up a recipe in Spanish and cook the food.
6) Exercise with the Comprehensive Spanish course package 15-30 minutes every day.

All that said, true immersion can’t be achieved all by yourself.

Yes, it means you have to pick up your courage, go out and find people you can really speak Spanish with. The best way is to 7) meet up regularly with a tutor or a language buddy.

Weekly meetings with a tutor or a language buddy will make your studying more efficient and motivating. You will also have that certain feeling of accountability, which encourages you to keep going and study regularly. What’s more, studying with a buddy or a tutor is like a safe practice environment where it’s okay to try putting words together, be unsure and make mistakes.

The best places to find tutors and language buddies are university noticeboards and the internet. Look up ”language buddy” or ”language exchange” and your location. There are also websites, such as Tandem and My Language Exchange, just for the purpose of finding language buddies.

Many places also have language clubs, where you can practice together with other learners and native speakers. Check Meetups for any activity in your location or look up ”cafe lingua” or ”language cafe” in your city.

National Red Cross/Red Crescent societies also organise international friendship activities and language cafés where you can help others learn your language and learn their languages at the same time.

Director, Learning Material & Customer Relations

Language loving coffee addict and communications professional haunted by eternal wanderlust.

When Louise Harber started her foreign language immersion business in the 1970s, “immersion” meant traveling to another country to submerge oneself in its culture, reading its local papers, going shopping at the local markets and eavesdropping on conversations.

But now, anyone can travel virtually – to a supermarket in Italy, or a department store in Mexico, or a toy store in France – and for those who can’t move abroad that’s a great thing.

“There are so many materials around, you just have to surround yourself,” said Harber, who advises students to get to know local trends and try to learn vocabulary they can use in daily conversation. “Learning a foreign language is about everyday things.”

The key to immersion learning – rather than poring over textbooks and memorizing vocabulary words – is being in an environment where you are exposed to the new language in everyday scenarios, because “you’re forced to learn,” she said. “It works because that’s the way you learn your own language.”

Research suggests immersion learning may be more effective than only learning with more traditional classroom methods because of how our brains process grammar.

In a study published in 2011, scientists from the Georgetown University Medical Center tested two groups of participants using a traditional classroom teaching model for one group and an immersion model for the other. They discovered that the students exposed to the immersion-based instruction processed the information differently.

“Only the immersion training led to full native-like brain processing of grammar,” Michael Ullman, one of the researchers, told ScienceDaily.com in 2012. “So if you learn a language you can come to use native language brain processes, but you may need immersion rather than classroom exposure.”

The researchers in the Georgetown study – who arrived at their conclusion after measuring participants’ retention of a made-up language (to ensure they’d had no prior exposure to it) – did not specifically describe what teaching methods were used in the immersion training, nor suggest why immersion learning may have led the brain to store the information differently. But another study, which looked at how students interacted with Yabla’s own foreign language website LoMásTv (now Spanish.Yabla.com), which features video clips of native speakers, found that most participants were excited about this teaching method and reported it was engaging.

“CALL Evaluation: Students’ Perception and Use of LoMásTv,” which was conducted at Iowa State University from 2007 to 2009 and included about 540 students who were studying Spanish, grew out of an effort at the university to “integrate culture and language instruction and increase students’ listening competence,” writes the author of the study, Cristina Pardo-Ballester. The study found that the majority of students remembered more vocabulary words when studying with computer-assisted language learning (CALL) materials such as the LoMásTv video and audio clips.

Most of the participants reported that LoMásTv content was particularly useful for becoming acquainted with the Hispanic culture they were studying – for learning accents and slang, and becoming familiar with various cities. In conclusion Pardo-Ballester said research suggests that the web-based, video-learning model does improve students’ listening and speaking performance.

“Watching the segments of a video in which speech acts appear and incorporating a role play, such as greeting, asking for information or arguing, provides practice for customary interaction Spanish-speaking populations would consider routine,” she writes. “These videos could also serve as a tool to frame communicative classroom-based discussion.”

Harber, whose company ‘Foreign Language Immersion & Cultural Immersion’ sends people to places as varied as China, Spain and United Arab Emirates, said students’ motivation for studying foreign languages has shifted since she started her business. While before, people would try to learn a foreign language in an effort to appear more educated and cultured, she said the global nature of our society means language learning is now more business-driven.

“I believe we have to change the way (we) teach foreign languages,” she added. “Now you have to see it more as a tool, as a necessity.”

It seems the idea is resonating with educators across the United States, as more K-12 schools incorporate immersion curriculums, whether to help students better understand other cultures or prepare them to compete in a global economy.

In Utah, immersion education is thriving after a lawmaker who had recently returned from a trip to China – and worried that American students would have trouble competing with their peers internationally – introduced a bill to fund foreign language education in public schools.

“Monolingualism is the illiteracy of the 21st century,” Republican State Senator Howard Stephenson told Public Radio International in March. “As many nations are rearing children with bi- and trilingual abilities, we need to step it up because we’re in a world competitive arena.”

9 Ways to Bring Immersion Learning to Your School By Samantha Cleaver The research is clear: Immersion programs, in which students spend at least 50 percent of their time learning in a second language, work amazingly well in developing students’ […]

9 Ways to Bring Immersion Learning to Your School

By Samantha Cleaver

The research is clear: Immersion programs, in which students spend at least 50 percent of their time learning in a second language, work amazingly well in developing students’ fluency and skills. And even if your school does not have a full immersion program, you can make a difference for your students by doing some immersion work in your class.

For example, when students come to the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academies—held at sites across the United States and the world—many are barely able to introduce themselves in French, Spanish, or Chinese—much like any student new to a foreign language.

By the end of four short weeks, however, these middle and high school students have often made more progress than those in a traditional classroom year. They’re able to converse, watch television shows and read books in the new language, and are on their way to becoming proficient in a second language.

The key to the students’ success is the full immersion approach to language learning. Middlebury Language Academy instructors operate with the understanding that, in order to learn a language, students have to use it in a meaningful, real-world way. That means learning the language through culture, art and music with less emphasis on more common teaching methods like rote vocabulary memorization.

More and more schools are considering immersion as a way to develop students’ second language skills. Some K-12 programs are using their own curriculum, while others are implementing online and blended learning solutions such as those offered by Middlebury Interactive Languages, the world language education-technology company that hosts the Language Academy every summer.

Martha Abbott, executive director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), sees a growth trend in language immersion programs. Currently, Delaware and Utah are leading the way with state-wide initiatives. The idea, says Tara Fortune, Ph.D., Immersion Project Coordinator at the University of Minnesota Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, is that bilingual students will be better able to compete in the global marketplace.

What Is Immersion Language Learning?

Immersion programs, which include developmental bilingual and other dual language programs, are characterized by an instructional day that includes at least 50 percent spent in the non-English language. “We have been most successful in developing academic language and literacy in English and non-English when we provide a minimum of 50 percent support over a longer period of time,” says Fortune. Younger students spend the majority (80-90 percent) of their time in the non-English language, while older students may spend more time working in English.

Teachers use modeling, manipulatives, and explanations to teach students academic content in the target language. As students learn content, they also receive instruction on how to use the language in each subject. The ultimate goal is biliteracy: the idea that students can completely understand, speak, read, and write in both languages.

The Benefits of Immersion

In addition to the benefit of bilingualism, learning a second language activates different parts of the brain, says Abbott, and students who participate in language immersion programs get a cognitive boost. The advantages to providing kids with quality language immersion programs are labor intensive, says Fortune, but they also produce results. As students learn two languages, they develop advantages in their ability to break apart words, identify sounds, and listen. Bilinguals, says Fortune, also outperform monolinguals on tasks that require them to pause and make a decision between two options.

While there is a lag in initial student proficiency in school-based language programs, students do catch up. “The longer you have the immersion in the classroom,” says Abbott, “the greater the yield in proficiency should be in the performance of the kids.” Students generally meet academic targets by 3 rd or 5 th grades and many ultimately surpass the achievement of their peers.

Getting Started: 9 Tricks From the Immersion Classroom

Even if your school has not fully committed to an immersion approach, say experts, there are techniques you can borrow to make your foreign language instruction more effective:

Learning a new language can be a difficult process. Languages constantly change, with new words and phrases being added all the time while others become dated and fall out of use. This can make it seem nearly impossible to learn a language without taking part in at least some form of immersion. Most learners, once they reach a certain point in their studies, consider immersion, or intensive language courses, as the next big step in the process. As with anything, immersion programs can have plenty of advantages, but also quite a few cons. So if you’re on the fence regarding whether or not to sign up for an intense language immersion program, these pros and cons might help make that decision a little easier!

Pro: Faster Progression

The most obvious, and biggest pro to language immersion programs is that you’ll acquire new language skills at a far more rapid pace than if you stick to your regular weekly classes. When I studied Mandarin in university there tended to be miles of difference between the language abilities of students who only took language classes at the school, as opposed to those who spent a semester abroad in China enrolled in an immersion course. Because you are spending all day every day speaking the language, of course your skills in every aspect are going to rocket forward and a faster stride!

Con: Greater Stress

Most immersion programs function in a similar way; from the moment the course begins, you are only allowed to converse and use the target language. Some even find creative ways, like fines, to prevent you from reverting back to your native tongue. Learning a new language in a more casual classroom environment can already be a stressful experience, so you can imagine that stress levels increase substantially when you’re thrown into a situation where you feel you can’t adequately express yourself. The frustration can build up, especially if you see other students adapting quicker than you are. If you plan on signing up for immersion language study, just be sure to prepare yourself mentally for the stress you’ll face—especially in the first few weeks.

Pro: Faster Thinking

While learning large swaths of vocabulary and complicated grammar is a pro of an intensive language course, those aren’t the only useful skills you’ll acquire. Students who take part in immersion programs tend to develop a greater ability to think on their feet. You’ll be able to carry out conversations in your target language with more ease because your brain has learned to familiarise itself more rapidly with the overall context of what’s being said. So, even if you don’t understand every word, your brain has been trained to pick out those you do and to formulate a quick response based on the context of the conversation. You do develop these skills with regular classes, but you won’t be able to react nearly as quickly as someone who has been through an immersion course!

Learning a new language? Take a free placement test to see how your level measures up!

Con: Greater Commitment

One of the bigger cons of intensive language courses is that they require far more commitment than your average line of language study. While we all might wish we had the time (and money) to traipse off to a foreign country and spend six months to a year immersing ourselves in the local language, the reality is most of us simply cannot. Jobs and other responsibilities tend to get in the way and immersion courses are rarely flexible to the daily grind of our normal lives. Of course that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to speak a language, and speak it well! You’ll just have to find other ways to do it that don’t involve the type of commitment immersion study does.

Pro: Faster Assimilation

Immersion training isn’t all about spending time studying a language, it also offers you the opportunity to submerge yourself in the local culture. Cultural experiences are an essential part of learning a tongue as culture and language go hand-in-hand. You’ll never fully conquer a language unless you understand some about the traditions and way of life of the country where it’s spoken. With an immersion course you’ll have the chance to be in-country and to change your world view as you gain a greater knowledge of the local language and culture. You’ll be forced to push your boundaries, but it will make you a more global, flexible individual too!

What do you think are some of the pros and cons of signing up for an immersion course? Have you done it? Share some of your experiences with us!

Adults may learn a language more like a native speaker in an immersion setting than by taking classes, according to a first-of-its kind series of brain studies by researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC).

The latest study was published online in yesterday’s PLoS ONE by scientists at GUMC and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“Only the immersion training led to full native-like brain processing of grammar,” says Michael Ullman, a GUMC professor of neuroscience and the studies’ senior investigator. “So if you learn a foreign language as an adult you can in fact come to use native language brain processes, but you may need immersion rather than classroom exposure.”

Native Brain

In the last few years, Ullman explains, research has suggested that adults learning a foreign language can come to rely on the same brain mechanisms as native speakers of a language.

“That might be true even for those parts of a foreign language that are particularly difficult to learn, such as its grammar,” the professor notes.

A Small Language

Ullman and Kara Morgan-Short (G’07) from the University of Illinois, who worked on the research with Ullman while she was a graduate student at Georgetown, first tested whether it matters under what conditions people learn a foreign language.

To test their theories, the researchers made up a very small language comprising 13 words.

The scientists found that after a few days, adults reached high proficiency at speaking and understanding the language, whether they had undergone classroom or immersion training.

But only the immersion group showed what Ullman calls “full native-like processing” of grammar in the brain.

Language Consolidation

Five months later and without having warned their study participants beforehand, the researchers called them back in for another round of brain scans.

“To our surprise, the participants actually became more native-like in their brain processing of grammar,” Ullman says.

Ullman believes that, over time, memory of the language “consolidates” in the brain, probably through the same mechanisms that also underlie native language.

He says the process is probably similar to the consolidation of many other skills, such as learning to ride a bike or play a musical instrument.

Brain Changes

The participants showed neither improvements nor loss of proficiency during the same five-month period, even as their brains became more native-like, Ullman says.

The scientists say it is possible that proficiency changes might have been observed with more precise measures, or that improvements had occurred some time after training but were gradually lost in the absence of practice during the five-month period.

Ullman says that even without any observed changes in proficiency, the brain changes are important.

“Native language brain mechanisms are clearly well-suited to language, so attaining their use is a critical achievement for foreign language learners,” Ullman says. “We suspect that this should lead to improved retention of the language as well as higher proficiency over time.”

Whether you’re learning a language for the first time or you’ve had years of classroom instruction, studying abroad invites you to take your language abilities to the next level.

Your professors and IES Abroad Center staff are excited to help you reach your language goals, so bring your willingness to practice, practice, practice! You’ll be surprised how little time if will take you to feel comfortable speaking the language when you’re using it every day.

As recent alumni, IES Abroad Ambassadors shared their advice on maximizing language immersion while studying abroad.

“Set clear goals and follow through; I told myself that I needed to have at least one complete conversation in French every day with someone who was not my host mother, which was a good prompt to try to talk to new people or say something more than just my order or ask how much something cost.”
– Rachel I. (IES Abroad Nice, Fall 2017 | Swarthmore College)

“Talk to your host parents as much as you can. They are willing to help you out, so this is the perfect place to try, fail, and learn! I talked to my host parents every night at dinner. They loved it, and I learned so much (because I sort of knew they couldn’t get rid of me!) I asked a lot of questions when I didn’t understand, and they were so patient!”
– Jessie D. (IES Abroad Buenos Aires, Fall 2017 | University of Virginia)

“My host family was a resource I used a lot. Having conversations with them about what I did each day, asking questions about objects and food in the room, and just conversing about the news greatly improved my confidence and skills.”
– Emma D. (IES Abroad Salamanca, Summer 2017 | Gettysburg College)

“I lived with a homestay mother who didn’t speak a lick of English, so I was forced to improve my Spanish conversational skills quickly! I loved living in a homestay for this reason. The first few weeks were challenging – I played a lot of charades and formed extremely broken sentences, but by halfway through it became a lot more natural.”
– Isabella C. (IES Abroad Barcelona, Fall 2017 | University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill)