Five Steps to Self-Immersion In Your Target Language
Three years ago, I set out to do something I’d so far spent my life failing to do: learning a second language. I picked up a little Spanish in high-school and a good bit more in college, thanks to my amazing Barcelona-native teacher. I subsequently lost all of it in the four years of grad school and work that came after. The old adage “you don’t use it, you lose it” is especially true of your second language. I’m not sure I ever learned enough Spanish back then for it to count as a real second language, but I knew enough to get by in Spanish-speaking locales. However, when my spouse and I took a trip to Puerto Rico at the end of 2016, and I couldn’t even remember enough to tell the gas station attendant how much gas I needed, I decided my days of being monolingual were over.
However, I knew that the formal classes I took in the past never really got me to the level of fluency I wanted, no matter how great my teacher was. So my first step was to figure out where I’d been going wrong. I started by talking to my spouse, who learned to speak perfect English as an adult. He told me his formal ESL classes never taught him much of anything and that he never really started to pick up English until he read English books, watched English news, and, of course moved to an English-speaking country. Permanently relocating abroad wasn’t a realistic option for me, but that didn’t make it impossible to practice some level of immersion, so I set out to make myself a viable substitute for Spain or Latin America. This ultimately resulted in much more success than my past failed attempts at formal classes. I have achieved near-fluency in Spanish and have begun to learn what I hope will become my third language: Arabic.
If you’re also looking to learn a second language, self-enforced immersion is the second-best option to the real thing. My go-to method is to find interesting entertainment in my second language, immerse myself in it for a few hours, and let my brain’s natural ability to absorb take over. The idea that it’s impossible to learn a language through absorption as an adult is a myth — it’s actually better if you stop consciously trying and start passively absorbing. Sure, you’re not as adept as when you were a little kid, but your brain still retains a high level of plasticity throughout your adulthood, even if you do have to put more effort into maintaining it.
If you’re brand new to your target language, you will probably need to spend a little time consciously analyzing it so that you have a basic grasp of the grammar and a foundational vocabulary, but I’ve found that the less time I spend intentionally trying to learn and the more time I spend simply entertaining myself in my target language, the more I pick up. To put it simply: it’s best to learn without knowing you’re learning. With that in mind, here are the five steps I went through to gain and keep proficiency in my second language.
Mastering the Basics
This is where the formal courses come in. They say they’re intermediate, but they’re not. They’re usually pretty basic, but if you’re just getting started, that’s what you need. There’s also tons of great language-learning apps out there now like Duolingo and Babbel. Duolingo was my go-to for a refresher course in Spanish, and it really helped me recall all the things I forgot from high-school and college. It’s not just for people who’ve had previous courses, however. I’m also finding it more effective and less frustrating than formal lessons to learn the Arabic alphabet.
Duolingo’s my favorite app, but it doesn’t have to be the one you use. At this stage, whichever method works best for you is the method you should stick to, whether it’s Babbel or Rosetta Stone or Duolingo or whatever. If you like formal courses, these can also be effective if you treat them the way they should be treated: as a method for learning the basics of a language rather than a method for developing a high level of proficiency. Always remember that apps and classes aren’t there to get you fluent; they’re there to get you started. When you complete them, you’re probably not going to be all that proficient; you’re only going to be aware enough to move on to step two.
Reading
The second step is the one that is really going to solidify your new language in your mind and help get those neural pathways open through repetition. Reading is the most conscious, most focused way to practice your new language, which is why it’s an important step to prepare your brain for less intentional practice later. It allows you to visualize the words on the page and process the language at your own pace. It’s also a great way to introduce yourself to new vocabulary and see how the grammar and syntax you learned in your basic training functions in the real world.
The age-range of the books you start out with depends on your comfort level. I liken it to growing up all over again. In your native language, you’re an adult, but in your second language, your ability to express yourself and process information is on par with the abilities of native-speaker children of similar competence to you. For example, if you have a vocabulary of 10,000–15,000 words and a moderate grasp of grammar, you should be reading books for children ages 7–10. If your vocab is only 5,000 words and your grasp of grammar is tenuous, it’s better to stick to books for preschoolers and kindergartners. The point is to begin at the level you are, and then work your way up to the level you want to be. I started with the Spanish translations of Clifford the Big Red Dog and Curious George, moved up to SpongeBob SquarePants, then to the Harry Potter series, and finally to adult books written originally in Spanish rather than being translated, though I initially stuck to easy-to-read genres like adventure and mystery. I didn’t just jump from Harry Potter to Cien Años de Soledad.
A good trick to use is to initially read books that you’ve already read in your native language. That way you know what happens in the story, and you can focus more on the words and the grammar than finding out what happens. You can read those page-turners once you’re comfortable enough in the language that you don’t need to stop to look up vocab or read a sentence three or four times to catch the meaning.
Another trick I love is using e-readers rather than physical books. My Kindle/Kindle app have been great for helping me increase my proficiency because they have a built-in dictionary, encyclopedia, and translator. This means I can press and hold a word, find out what it means, and move on without having to spend time putting down the book to find the word in the dictionary. I can also use the translate feature to help me with whole phrases I’m having trouble with. If you don’t already have an e-reader and don’t want to spend the money on one, their corresponding apps are usually free. You can download the app to your phone and use it in the exact same way you would use the e-reader. Then you only need to buy the books and not the device. A lot of times you can find e-reader books for a couple bucks or even for free.
Television
TV is a great way to transition from the total visual learning reading provides to the total auditory learning you’ll get to when you start listening to straight audio in the next step. It lets you hear the words of your second language without taking away all the visual cues that help you discern what’s happening in the story. So once you’re comfortable with your reading level — and there’s no real timetable for when that’s supposed to happen; it’s just based on your own summation of your proficiency — you can add shows and movies to your practice routine.
A lot of the same concepts we went over in the reading section apply here as well. It’s important to start off with kids’ shows appropriate to your level of proficiency and work your way up from there (remember that your listening proficiency and reading proficiency will likely not be the same or even close). As with reading, translations of English shows and movies you’ve already seen before are helpful for your initial watching exercises. If you’re working on Spanish, there are a lot of options in that area. Disney actually has Spanish dubs for a lot of their animated movies. On Netflix, The Magic School Bus is a great starter show to get you used to watching TV before you move on to adult programs. One of my personal favorites was South Park en Español, which is still on Hulu at the moment, because the dubs are fairly simple, and I’ve seen all the English episodes a million times (it’s also a great way to increase your repertoire of bad words). Whatever shows or movies you were into as a kid, see if they have a dub in your chosen language. If not, you may need to Google for alternatives, such as children’s shows originally in your target language.
Once you feel comfortable moving on to TV created for adults and/or originally recorded in your chosen language, one suggestion I would make is to have the closed captions on. Having the subtitles on in your target language helps you avoid missing big chunks of dialogue and also allows you to visualize each word as its being spoken, preparing you to graduate to purely auditory mediums just as reading prepared you to graduate to TV.
If your target language is Spanish, some of my favorite grownup shows to binge watch are Netflix’s Casa de Papel, Elite, Vis a Vis, and Catedral del Mar, as well as Isabel, which is free to stream on Amazon Prime. If you picked another target language, a quick Google search should help you find some shows to watch that will keep you both engaged and learning.
Audio
After you get comfortable with adult TV shows, it’s time to move up to pure audio. I like audiobooks the best, but that’s not anywhere near the only thing out there. You can listen to the news on the radio, and there are likely tons of podcasts in your target language, whatever it may be. Even instructional videos, like cooking shows, can count as audio practice because there’s not a lot of visual stimuli to give you clues as to what’s being said.
As with reading and TV, my suggestion is to start out with kids’ material and things you’ve already heard before. I’m a big fan of the Harry Potter series for language learning because most people already know it, it’s translated into a ton of languages, it’s easy to follow, it’s repetitive, and, perhaps most importantly, the series “grows up” in the sense that each book gets progressively more challenging to read/listen to. The first book is for ages 7–10, but by the time you get to the last book, it’s squarely in the YA camp. This allows you to gradually increase your comfort level without leaving your comfort zone altogether.
Remember to start out within that comfort zone and work to slowly leave it. If something is too far above your current level, you won’t learn anything from it because you won’t actually pick up enough words to understand what’s being said. This is why the common advice “listen to music” doesn’t really work. Music, poetry, and other forms of art that play with words, including literary prose, require a deep command of the language that intermediate learners just don’t have. You must progressively increase your understanding of your target language before you can count listening to music as audio practice. If you start listening to music too soon, it won’t help you increase your ability. It’ll just fly over your head.
I’m a big fan of using audiobooks for passive learning. Unlike TV shows, you don’t have to put all your focus into an audiobook. I listen to them while I’m gardening, cooking, cleaning, and even when I’m going to sleep. It’s amazing how falling asleep listening to audiobooks can increase your proficiency by hitting your brain with your target language when it’s more open to suggestion. I even started dreaming in Spanish once I made a habit of listening to it when I was falling asleep. On thing to note is, if you’re going to try passive learning, keep the audio simple and easy to follow. I don’t listen to complicated audio when I can’t focus entirely on it (i.e. while you’re cooking dinner, don’t listen to Pride and Prejudice, do listen to Harry Potter). Also note that passive learning, while effective, should never be your only method of practice. It’s a supplement to keep information already in your brain, not a primary tool to acquire it.
Real-World Practice
While some people say you should speak your target language from day one, if you’re easily embarrassed or introverted, that might not be an option. In fact, it might be a good way to make yourself quit. I had to get good at thinking in Spanish and having conversations with myself out loud before I could talk to another person. And yes, it’s important for you to voice your thoughts in your second language rather than just thinking them because it helps you hone your accent by getting your muscles in shape to pronounce things properly. As an adult learner, you’re always going to have an accent, but if you practice speaking on your own, it doesn’t have to sound like a cartoon.
Once you’re ready to start practicing, there are tons of options for language learners to converse in their chosen tongue. If you picked a common target language, finding a Meetup shouldn’t be difficult. In bigger cities, there will probably be more than one. If you’re learning a language that isn’t as commonly chosen, you might have to look for some alternatives like online communities, pen pals, and social media. I set up a Spanish account on Facebook and spent hours arguing about politics and current affairs with native speakers from around the world — it’s amazing how effective a form of practice that actually turned out to be because it exposed me to regional slang, non-standard dialects, and other real-world “noise” that you won’t find much of in entertainment mediums like TV.
Writing in general is a great way to practice, whether it’s journaling, blogging, fiction, etc. However, if you’re going to use this method, it’s important to have a more advanced or native speaker look at your work so they can catch any habitual mistakes in your writing. If you practice something the wrong way, you can accidentally trick your brain into thinking it’s the right way because you repeated it, which is much harder to correct than just learning and reinforcing the right way to begin with.
Final Thoughts
I’m sure now you’re wondering how to keep your fluency once you’ve gained it. The short answer is practice every day of the week, without exception. I make it a rule to do at least an hour of Spanish a day, whether it’s listening to an audiobook, reading a novel chapter, watching new episodes of whatever TV show I’m into, or even chatting online. If you find entertainment you can get into, it doesn’t feel like practice; it feels no different than reading a couple chapters in the tub or wasting an evening binge watching a new show. I can’t even remember the last time I watched a TV show in English. I’ve kind of lost interest.
However you practice, you have to eventually put forth the effort to make some friends who are native speakers of your chosen language. That’s perhaps the ultimate point of learning a new language: to connect with the people who speak it and learn about their homelands, their histories, and their cultures. Acquiring the language is only one part of getting to know the places and people to whom it belongs, but it is perhaps the most important part because it allows you to communicate about everything else. Learning a second language doesn’t just make you smarter; it also connects you to people with different perspectives than you, opens your mind to ideas previously outside your wheelhouse, and fosters greater understanding and empathy, making you an overall better person.
