Immersion: how to immerse yourself in a language when you donât live in that country
By someone who spends their life trying to convince themself they live in Norway
Put on background noise in your TL. Stick the radio on while youâre studying, listen to a podcast while youâre doing housework, listen to an audiobook while on the bus, whatever. Donât worry about understanding it all - heck, you donât even have to pay full attention. Even passively listening will improve your comprehension skills as you get used to the languageâs melody (and also find yourself catching the occasional word/phrase).
Change the language of all your devices to your TL. Personally, I donât recommend doing this until youâve got a good grip on your basic vocab because getting a pop-up message on your phone that you donât understand at all can be quite alarming! At least learn how to say confirm, cancel, delete, share and save.
Set your homepage to a news or webzine in your TL. I have NRK as my homepage, so whenever I open my browser I can read the headlines (and then maybe an article).
Watch the news in your TL. I highly recommend watching the news because then you get to know what issues are current in that area of the world, so then youâre learning about the culture too. (Itâs also really interesting to see how world events are reported on in other countries and cultures!)
Follow people on social media who post in your TL. Not sure who to follow? News sites, TV show accounts, musicians, actors, athletes etc are always a good starting point. Also search hashtags in your TL (eg #gymnastikk #sminke #treningsglede or whatever youâre interested in)
Music. Find a playlist on spotify of your favourite genre and get listening (do the search in your TL - so for example, if you type in ânorwegian rockâ you may get a mixture of Norwegian and English songs by Norwegian bands, but if you type in ânorsk rockâ youâre more likely to get songs in Norwegian)
Video games. If you play âem and you have the option, change them into your target language!
Find recipes in your TL. Bonus points if theyâre traditional recipes from that country because then you get to learn about the culture too! But anything that looks interesting/tasty is good.
Write lists in your TL. I write most of my shopping lists and to-do lists in Norwegian (and sometimes I post them to my blog so I can get feedback). Then, while Iâm at the shop, Iâll think to myself in Norwegian: âwhere is the cat food? There is the cat food. Now I need soap. Where is the soap? Oh no, the soap is sold out!â Or while Iâm doing my chores Iâll try to think, ânow Iâm washing my clothes. Next I need to clean the kitchen, and then Iâll make lunch.â
Read books. Childrenâs books are a good starting point if youâre a low level. Also books youâve read in your native language, especially if you still have the original copy. (Tip: donât get bogged down trying to translate every word you donât know. If you can work it out from context, leave it. If youâre unsure about it and it keeps cropping up, look it up. If the sentence doesnât make sense without it, look it up. If you wanna note down useful phrases do it, but donât do it for every new word/phrase)
Find youtubers who create content in your TL. Again, do the search in your TL. So instead of typing ânorwegian makeup videosâ search for âsminkevideo norskâ
While weâre talking about youtube, try to find grammar videos in your TL, searching in your TL rather than in your native language (eg instead of searching âpresent perfect spanishâ try typing âel prĂ©terito perfecto españolâ)
Watch TV shows and movies in your TL. You can start by watching with subtitles in your native language, then move to subtitles in your TL, then eventually switch them off. (tip: watch with subtitles in your TL and then note down words/phrases that recur or words/phrases that you like. As with reading, donât bother noting down everything you donât know - just the odd one or two here and there that youâre like âoh hey thatâs useful I wanna remember thatâ). You can use the Language Learning With Netflix browser extension, or google news stations in a country where your TL is spoken if you donât know where to start.
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