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Three ways to create language immersion with Lionel from I'm Polyglot.
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Today, the host of the I'm Polyglot podcast, Leonel Junior, joins us to share three ways you can create language immersion in English wherever you live.
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Welcome, everyone.
Hello, Lionel.
We are so excited to have you on the podcast.
Let me introduce you first so that listeners know who you are.
Lionel is a French language enthusiast who studied English philology, sociolinguistics and second language acquisition.
He moved to the USA after his degree and then settled in Barcelona Spain, where you are now correct.
Exactly.
It's been about 12 years now.
Oh, amazing.
You've lived there sometime.
I love Barcelona.
It's one of my favorite cities.
I don't know if listeners know this, but I was supposed to spend two weeks traveling in Spain and Portugal when I was 18.
And I went to Barcelona first and I never left.
I was in Barcelona for two weeks and I have not seen the rest of Spain and Portugal, because I love Barcelona so much.
I mean, there's so many nice places over there, but Barcelona is pretty much...
To me, it's my favorite city in Spain.
It's amazing.
I know many of you listening have been there and would agree.
If not, you have to go.
But also, Lionel is the creator of the podcast I Am Polyglot and Le Brocast.
So I'm excited to hear more about those.
For anyone out there learning French I love I Am Polyglot and I know you would too but we're very excited for you to share today three tips that I heard on I'm Polyglot that I loved for creating language immersion wherever you are.
This was really key for me to realize I don't need to be living in Belgium or Quebec, where I experienced that immersion, to create that immersion for myself.
So I'm excited.
This whole idea of redefining immersion and creating it wherever you are.
Lionel, this is going to be awesome.
First, thank you for having me.
I'm sure that we're going to have a blast.
Immersion.
The concept is key when you want to learn a language.
I think that exposure is the main thing about learning the language.
Unfortunately immersion, as we define it, most of the time, is just traveling to the country for a long period of time and stay there and hope that the magic will happen and that it's like a magic pill and you're going to get fluent very fast.
The thing is, I think that sometimes we take immersion as being something too magical.
It's not that easy.
There is no magic pill.
That does not exist.
Exactly.
There's no shortcuts.
So you need to put in the work at some point.
Even if Language learning can be fun and should be fun.
You need a bit of work.
It's not going to happen just on its own.
And we all know people that go abroad, you know, for work and they spend, I don't know, like 10 years in China and they don't speak a word of Chinese.
So that happens as well.
Yes.
And I know a lot of our listeners do. don't live in an English-speaking country.
I just spoke yesterday actually with one of our students who teaches English to children in Asia, but she really struggles because she's not able to have conversations with them and she never meets anyone else who speaks English, or not, easily.
She's having to create that for herself.
And it's difficult.
You have to really put yourself out there absolutely, absolutely it's not.
It's not uh, all black or white.
You know, with the immersion it's not like a guaranteed success.
That that's what i meant.
So the good thing though, is because immersion, as we just defined it, is not very accessible, like it's very like very, very few people can actually uh, afford going to a country for six months or a year.
You know, what do you do, like if you have a job, if you have kids, if you have family, if you're like That ship has sailed maybe.
Yes, exactly.
Maybe if you're a teenager and you have the opportunity to do a gap year and travel, that's great.
But if you can't, it doesn't mean that you're never going to be able to reach a high level of proficiency in a language or fluency in a language.
Let's say
So the good thing is that now immersion can be redefined and very accessible to everyone, thanks to the internet.
Right, when you're home, you can create your sort of artificial immersion, let's say so.
You have your bubble that you create and it's not that complicated.
I think that the only downside you're gonna have is you need a bit more discipline, because the language is not gonna come to you like it would if you were living in the country.
Right, because you just go out and you hear the language.
That's the plus of being immersed in the country.
You can be lazy about it.
Just go get a coffee and you're going to hear English.
Exactly.
You don't need to make any effort.
It's going to come to you.
But here, it's not going to come to you.
So you need to take some steps to create your bubble.
So, I mean, I guess everyone heard about the classics, right?
You need to set your phone's language into your target language.
You need to watch movies and shows, listen to podcasts.
All of that is the basics and it's great.
But it's not enough if you want to go to a higher level, I think.
And it's very passive.
That's the problem as well of consumption.
If you're exposed to the language but you're very, very passive, you're going to get to a point where maybe it's going to take you from a beginner's level to an intermediate level.
But then if you want to go higher, you're going to have to adapt a little bit and add a few steps to your recipe.
Let's say
Yes.
I think that to be a bit original, I've tried to come up with three things.
And I have a little bonus at the end.
Oh, amazing.
Three plus.
So one thing I don't know if you've used that, but one thing that I've used when I started learning Spanish was the sticky notes at my place, you know, in my apartment.
So every time I would open the fridge, you know, I would have like sticky notes saying...
Like in French, for instance, le frigo, le refrigerateur.
Or if you switch on the light, you can have a sticky note saying la luth in Spanish.
And so I think that that's great, especially because those are objects that you need.
It's very useful vocabulary, vocabulary that you have at your place.
And I've learned that the hard way because of my studies.
When I studied English philology at university, I realized when I moved to the States then that I could do an essay on I don't know, like on Shakespeare.
But there are so many words that I didn't know in my daily life, you know, and important words.
And you feel a little bit like, you know, like I'm supposed to be super good at English and I'm not.
I should know these words.
Exactly.
It's very frustrating.
So the sticky notes, easy, but it's really, it has an impact.
It has... a long-lasting impact on your memory, I think.
It reinforces the vocabulary in context and vocabulary that actually matters.
That's the thing.
Absolutely.
And then we know one of the good ways to train yourself to think in French is if, or in English...
Is that where you have had those sticky notes.
Then, once you remove them, your brain is just remembering those.
You're saying them in your mind.
You're narrating your thoughts in English.
You're saying everything that you see in English to keep those in your active vocabulary.
And it starts with those post-its, those sticky notes often.
Exactly, exactly.
And the visual has a very important role here, because you create the connection between the object and the words that you actually see every day.
So those are, I don't know, like I'm not a brain specialist, but those create neurons connection, you know, like I don't know.
But yes, exactly.
No, exactly.
It's that connection between the neurons in your brain where you then see it.
You remember that post it.
There's that connection and the vocabulary comes to you.
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Yeah, so that's the first tip.
And very easy to put into place.
It's very like everyone has sticky notes at home.
You can do that, especially on the words like the objects that you struggle learning.
You know, like if you if you always get stuck on that specific word, well, use a sticky note.
And after a week or so, you'll be able to learn the word without any problem.
You know what I love about this, too?
For anyone out there who has children, or maybe roommates, but especially children.
They are also going to learn those words and they're going to see you prioritizing language learning.
I really always wanted to try and teach my children and help them be bilingual.
And I need to do that.
I need to have these sticky notes everywhere to help them learn as well and show them the importance of learning languages.
I totally agree.
That's such a bonus.
And as well, here you're creating it's easier for them because you're the one creating that immersion for them, right?
So they don't have to do anything in the end.
Right, exactly.
I love that.
And I think about these changes with, you know, now AirPods can translate.
And I worry that younger generations will give up language learning because technology might be so efficient.
But the value of actually being able to have a natural conversation without waiting for a translator will never go away.
And so I need to help instill that love of language learning in my kids.
We all do anyone out there who has children.
I think that's a great message.
I mean, we could talk about that in a future episode maybe.
Yes, right.
Maybe.
We'll do a follow-up.
Exactly.
But yeah, I mean, tech is going to be there.
So I guess that for some people, it's going to be a great thing to use that AirPod functionality, especially for people that just need the language as a communicative tool.
Exactly, or for travel.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
But then if you truly want the connection with the language and the culture and the people, you're always going to have to learn it yourself.
There's nothing that's going to replace that, I think.
Absolutely.
I might be wrong.
No, I think you're right.
I believe that is correct.
Okay, so let's move on to your second tip.
I love the first one.
Second tip.
So very simple, but I think that it's important mentioning it again find content that you actually consume in your native language.
So the point here is don't try to copy anyone else when it comes to picking your material.
Don't force yourself through boring news if you wouldn't listen to it in your native language.
The goal to me is to forget that you're studying. uh always find something that you're really excited to consume you know so for instance if you find a creator online try to find someone that truly when you get the notification that he published a video on youtube you really want to watch it you know like whether it's uh i don't know like if you're into cooking or sports or whatever but find something that you truly want to consume and like that it doesn't feel like a chore it doesn't feel like work you know And I add to that because it's very easy to fall in the trap of just listening to podcasts or watching movies and shows read.
I think that reading is probably the most important aspect of the language to me.
You know, like having the visual on the words and the way you spell things.
It has a very good impact on the way I memorize the vocabulary, because you can hear it and it's fine.
And there's a lot of people that like learning by hearing and I think it's great, but don't do just one thing.
You need to be complete.
And so always have a material of each type at all times.
So always have a novel, a show whether it's a show on whatever streaming platform or YouTube, a podcast.
But try to vary everything.
So have a bunch of material that you love and try to use them every single day.
We're not perfect, but I think that every single day, you know, you can do like maybe five minutes of a podcast or read one page.
You don't have to go through the whole chapter, you know, but read one page, one paragraph.
Everyone can do it, you know.
Absolutely.
This is such good advice.
And I have found in my own life, I've made mistakes.
Like, for example, I chose Don Quixote as this book that I was going to read in Spanish, which was so far above my level.
So I dreaded reading it, was not spending the time, right?
I needed a novel that I would look forward to reading that was closer to my level.
And the same with TV shows and movies.
It's so important that you're choosing something you look forward to watching or listening to or reading, so that you look forward to doing it just like you would in your first language.
Otherwise, you'll avoid it.
If you dread it, you won't do it.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
And to me as well.
You know it goes with the fact that, for instance, Stephen Krashen, what he talks about with the comprehensible input is great and it totally works.
But I think that there's one thing, thing that's really fundamental, and it's the fact that you need to love the material, and that's something that he doesn't mention.
But obviously, for an adult, and especially a beginner, you're sometimes you don't want to go through the books for kids, you know you want to.
I don't know um, You want to read a novel by your favorite author, you know, and even if it's too complicated, if you truly want to use that material, you're going to be able to find a way to use it.
It's not going to be perfect, but at least you're very like you enjoy the process.
You know, if you take a material that corresponds to your level but you don't love it, you're not going to use it in the long term.
And I mean, it's very cliche what I'm going to say, but language learning is a marathon.
It's not a sprint.
You need to be able to maintain that in the long term.
It's a way of life.
So it's not just hitting the gym for the first few weeks in January and then you stop.
No, you can't do that.
So it's easier to go slow and do a little bit every day with some material that you actually like, rather than trying to force yourself into a recommendation because it's good for your level.
I love that metaphor.
And there's a reason that cliches become cliches.
We hear them a lot and say them a lot because they're so true and they make sense, right?
So yeah, definitely.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
I love it.
Okay, let's get into your third tip.
And then I'm going to go and find a book in Spanish that I enjoy reading because... Love it.
So...
The third one is set your inner monologue to the target language.
And I'm saying that because probably the one skill that's going to be complicated to practice is speaking, especially when you're not in the country where they speak your target language.
So if you speak to yourself in your target language, you're going to develop that instinct and that reflex of just using the language.
So I mean it's when you think, for instance, I don't know like I need to go to the store, consciously rephrase it into the language you're learning.
And at first it might be exhausting, but it's incredibly powerful.
Um, and the same goes, for instance, for when, when you need to write something uh, the grocery list write it in your target language and, like this, you will have to search the vocabulary, you're gonna have to look up for words, because there's a lot of stuff that you use and buy and do in your daily life but you never ask yourself do i know how to say that in my target language?
And by doing that, you're gonna be facing those problems, what you lack in the vocabulary.
And you're going to have to look for the words.
So every time you think especially if you're alone at your place, you know you're cooking try to think of what you're doing.
Everything that you're doing while you cook, try to say that in your target language.
So right now I'm chopping the veggies.
How do you say that?
Oh, je coupe les legumes.
And so on and so forth.
So you try to ask yourself how do I say what I say in my native language?
How do I say it in my target language as well?
So that's what I call the inner monologue.
I mean, I'm not the inventor of that, but that's the thing.
Yes, that makes so much sense.
And then eventually you find it is easier.
And eventually, instead of thinking of it first in your first language, you're immediately thinking of it in English, in your target language.
And you realize like oh, my inner monologue is actually in this language, as if I lived in an English speaking country, right?
And these three tips.
The other thing I love is that They're useful for everyone learning English, everyone listening, whether you live in an English speaking country or not, because often you may still have friends where you live that speak your first language.
It's easy to still not challenge yourself.
Even if you're living English in Canada, New Zealand, an English-speaking country, you still might need these three tips to continue improving learning vocabulary and, you know, giving yourself the confidence you need to have those conversations with someone you might bump into at the coffee shop.
Absolutely.
And those are active exercises.
You know like it's not a lot of work, but at least you're actively taking steps towards having a better level, you know, in the language.
You can't just rely on Um.
I always say, you know, like when you get to an intermediate level, it's also a comfort zone where you're able to navigate the problems you have in the language.
So if you want to say something that's very precise in your native language, but you don't know how to say it in your target language, you're going to have enough knowledge to navigate the problem.
But the problem is with that you stagnate.
And so if you want to go a little bit further in your learning language, you need to actively find ways to force yourself to face your problems.
And actually just take one thing.
Today I've learned one more thing that I didn't know before.
And so it's a long journey, but little by little you feel more and more confident and you speak more naturally as well.
It becomes more I don't know, an instinct to convey your message.
Absolutely.
I am very motivated by these tips.
I am the poster child of stagnation in French, as I've replaced it with Spanish, and I want to continue improving my French.
I need these tips.
Everyone out there listening, Like Lionel said, choose one thing.
Don't get overwhelmed.
One thing at a time so that you see progress and you can move past that stagnation if you have plateaued or just continue to improve.
Such great tips.
Thank you for joining us today.
And can you let all of our listeners know where they can find out more about your podcast, about everything you do?
Well, thank you so much.
It was a great conversation, Aubrey.
I would say well, the easiest is to go on.
I'm Polyglot, just I'm polyglotcom, and you have all the links to the podcasts and so on and so forth.
Okay, perfect.
Awesome.
Thank you again for joining us today.
I'm excited for all of you to check out I'm Polyglot.
And yeah, thanks Lionel.
We'll see you next time.
Thank you so much.
Bye.
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