Across the Aisle - Is Language Immersion Effective?

Photo by Andrew Steinberg

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People often ask me if language immersion programs are effective. My answer is always the same. Of course they are! I am a living proof. I initially moved to the United States from Mexico with the hope to get a higher education. Moving to the United States and enrolling in a university implied many sacrifices and challenges. You see, my problems were twofold, I was already 21 years old and I only had taken basic high school English classes in Mexico.

I clearly remember, the first six months in the USA were trying. I had to learn English in less than a year to be able to take the university’s entrance test. So I began my learning process with a course of English as a second language. The classes were interesting, but not for long. I became extremely impatient with the process and so I decided to get some English lesson tapes that you could check out from the public libraryOnce my morning English class was done, I returned home to listen to the English tapes that unfortunately only put me to sleep. I was aware that learning English in a classes setting was extremely important to learn the structure of the language.

However, I was missing the magic touch which was to practice with the locals. At the beginning, I must admit it was intimidating to walk up to someone who would say to me “How you doin?” instead of “How are you doing?”. Silly me, I thought everyone should speak clearly and correctly for me. Despite my fear, I did not give up and I finally allowed myself to jump in the water head first and actually immerse myself with the locals.

Ah! Those days were amazingly funny. I remember trying to push myself to talk without really understanding the language well enough. However I decided if I was to learn English I needed to be exposed to terribly uncomfortable situations. My motto became “No pain no gain”. I also realized mistakes were par for the course and people were going to laugh, and so they did.

Needless to say, I entertained people quite often. I remember one particular anecdote because it was one of the most embarrassing moments in my life up to that point. I was explaining (or trying to) to a group of friends about a problem I was having with breathing. Everyone in the room thought I was about to tell them a personal problem until a courageous friend corrected me. He said very politely “I believe the word you are tying to say is breathing and not breeding”. Unfortunately my pronunciation problems still arise from time to time, which my friends find quite entertaining. I hope.

Sure it was all fun and games but truly my head was about to burst the first year. It was an extremely demanding process for my poor brain. In addition to the fact that dealing with the jokes became more of a chore. However, I have nothing but fond memories. It was worthwhile. I was able to take the language proficiency test and was able to enter the university.

One final comment: Learning another language in an immersion setting can be tough. However, it is so rewarding because it opens the door to a new world, another culture.