How Spanish Immersion Is the Answer You’re Looking For!
Immersion in Spanish is one of the most effective techniques to learn Spanish successfully and quickly. Chances are that in order to learn your native language, you were immersed in a capsule—home, school, family—where people spoke, read, and listened to it constantly. That’s how we are programmed to understand and internalize languages.
A natural method like immersion in Spanish always pays off because it will help you learn faster and better. This comprehensive technique is intensive and interactive and mimics learning processes that you already master, maybe even without knowing. It has plenty of benefits—I listed 10 for you—but one of the most crucial ones is the fun you can get out of it as opposed to the boredom that regular classroom methods imply.
Throughout this post you will learn what immersion in Spanish is, why it is so talked about, what are the specific benefits of applying this approach and how to use it in your daily life. Read ahead to discover if this method is right for you and your family and how to start speaking Spanish right away!
¡Vamos a sumergirnos por completo en el español!
Let’s get a full immersion in Spanish!
What Is Immersion in Spanish?
What does immersion in Spanish mean? Remember how they told you to jump into the pool when the water was cold instead of slowly going in? Well, that’s exactly what happens when you immerse yourself in a new language. It is the most natural, and intense, method that requires you to expose your senses so you get used to different sounds, grammar, conjugations, idioms and more.
When you were a child, you would hear the repeating sounds of different words until you could replicate, contextualize and use them. The associations kids form with new words are not school-taught, they are made naturally.
So it makes sense that you learn a new language as a kid, teenager or adult the same way you learned your first one. It will be like riding a bike.
What Are the Benefits of Immersion in Spanish?
1. Pick Up Words and Phrases by Yourself
Spanish language immersion offers countless benefits. A true total immersion in Spanish surrounded exclusively by people who speak it encourages you or any student to pick up and piece together words and phrases quickly rather than learning them by heart with unlikely example scenarios.
2. Experience and Communication, Not Memorization
Learning a language with this experiential method makes you focus on communication and function instead of memorizing definitions, translations and examples.
Immersion in the Spanish language is challenging at first but do know that the younger you start the faster you can learn it. The more you experience it, the more it sticks to you and the easier it becomes to apply it in your day-to-day life.
Using memorization, a traditional classroom method, you will know the exact meaning of words but will be unsure as to where and how to use them. You won’t be able to form sentences and phrases and therefore will not get your message across.
3. Immediate Application
You can apply your newly acquired knowledge almost immediately because you know how to use it and bring new words up in conversation casually. Teachers who master immersion in Spanish will be able to encourage you to speak it and to practice what you just learned rather than speak in a monologue way during the whole class and pressure you to memorize information.
Participation is one of the most distinctive characteristics of this experiential method.
4. Immersion in Spanish Makes You Feel Comfortable
Also, learning a new language is about how comfortable you are swimming in new waters. When you are in a classroom full of other people that are in the same situation as you, suddenly it stops being such a Spartan task that you have to face alone.
Losing inhibitions and gaining self-confidence as you advance in your learning process is a big part of the immersion experience. Taking risks, making mistakes and learning from them will become easier each day and as a result you will be less self-conscious.
5. Enhance Social Abilities
Supportive and welcoming environments are always better for someone that is trying out new things and that can feel exposed by that. When people feel connected by something-in this case their level of Spanish knowledge-they tend to be friendly and willing to connect more even when they do not share the same linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
6. Step-by-Step
While immersion in Spanish is an abrupt experience, you will be able to piece things together step-by-step in a very organic way. First, you will pick up some words and build up your vocabulary, then learn how to use them and to formulate sentences that are grammatically correct. You will quickly get used to how they sound, its grammar and conjugations as you go and as needed.
7. Self-Confidence and No Fear of Making Mistakes
Self-confidence also comes from not being afraid of making mistakes or what others might think. Mistakes actually become an input as students learn from each other. When you are in a group where everyone has the same goal and interest but at the same time share your expertise level, you will learn from different perspectives instead of only the teacher’s. This experience is parallel to how you learn your first language.
The self-confidence you get from immersion in Spanish goes beyond feeling comfortable when speaking a new language. It also promotes self-motivation and leads you to learn even after successfully achieving communication.
8. You Are Already Doing It in Your Own Language
Even as an adult you keep learning new words every day. Their definition is something you get from contextualizing most of them rather than pulling out a dictionary to check what they mean. If you are already doing it almost on a daily basis, you can clearly face the challenge that immersion in Spanish is.
9. It Helps Your Cognitive Development
Learning a new skill is good for your brain. It will remember old skills and gain information as you go. But when you are learning a new language, many little and big abilities come into play. Internalization, contextualization, memorization, association, mistake making, learning from others, practicing and conversing are just some of the things you will experience during your immersion in Spanish adventure. They all will stimulate different parts of your brain and of your learning process.
10. Culture Awareness and Tolerance
Language experts that teach immersion in Spanish normally include complete sessions or chunk bite sizes of information of the culture whose language you are learning.
Learning other people’s history, customs and traditions often leads to emotional intelligence development and tolerance towards other cultures. You will be close to what they go through as a society and will be able to understand their process as a country or region.
Get ready to learn fun things such as Latin American birthday songs, the traditional Mexican Day of the Dead, Mayan festivals of Guatemala, Spanish Flamenco dance and more topics like these.
How Can You Use Immersion in Spanish in Your Day-to-Day Life?
How to become fluent in Spanish with immersion? Besides attending an immersion in Spanish school, there are many things you can do on your own to practice on a daily basis. Remember that this method is about exposing yourself to a new language. You can do it through:
- Listening to podcasts
- Watching YouTube videos
- Reading literature
- Watching TV shows and movies
- Following native speakers on social media
Start Speaking Spanish Today!
Now that you know all about the effectiveness of the immersion in Spanish method, get ready to take the next step! Spanish is a powerful tool that will open more doors for you than you think. Imagine getting access to a language that has the world’s most native speakers after China—roughly around 500 million—.
As you learned through this post, there is no better way of learning a new language than to practice it with a native speaker. Here at HSA we offer tailored Spanish packages in order to meet your goals and interests. Acquire this amazing life tool whether you are learning Spanish because:
- It will open job opportunities for you as interpreters and translators are two of the fastest growing occupations according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- You will earn from $50,000 to $125,000 extra by speaking a foreign language according to The Economist
- You are interested in talking to more people. According to CNN there are around 41 million native Spanish speakers in the United States alone.
- You can make your family bilingual. It is always easier to reach a goal when you have a partner. Partner up with your kids or other members of your family and become fluent together.
- You will travel easier to Hispanic countries.
- Or improve your cognition and decision-making abilities
Become part of our +24,000 student community that actively enrolls each month and trusts our decade of experience. Check our affordable pricing and flexible programs. Start speaking Spanish with one of our native Spanish-speaking teachers from Guatemala by asking for a free trial class today!
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