Hey everyone and welcome back to the understandable English podcast.
Today we are going to be talking about English language immersion.
Don't worry if you don't understand exactly what that means.
I will explain in just a second.
Studying English can be a truly challenging task, especially if you don't have access to native English speakers in your daily life.
But don't worry if this is the case for you.
You can immerse yourself, surround yourself, in the English language, wherever you are, from your home or your own country.
English language immersion is when the language learner surrounds themselves entirely with the English language.
This can usually be done through living in an English-speaking country, joining a language exchange program or simply increasing the amount of time that you speak and listen to English on a daily basis.
However, with the power of the internet, you can do this from your home.
You don't need to move to another country or place.
And today I am going to give you some tips for how you can improve your English language immersion.
So the amount that you're surrounding yourself with English To start with you should decide how much you want to do this.
For some people.
They want to surround themselves in English every single day, whether that is only reading in English for pleasure, only watching English TV shows, for example.
Or perhaps you want to pick one day per week or two, perhaps at the weekends, where you only consume, so you only use English media.
When I say media, I mean TV shows, movies, books, anything that you are consuming with information.
On these days or every day.
If you want to do a little bit every day, you should also try to force yourself to think in English.
Make thoughts in English and think about what you're doing, what you want to do.
At first, this may seem very difficult, but it will help you so much.
As I mentioned, the simplest way for immersion.
I always start with watching TV shows and movies in English.
Now, I am sure that you already do this to an extent.
I mean, almost every day most of us watch some TV or movies.
And changing these so you are watching more English movies is a fantastic way to surround yourself and immerse yourself in the culture.
Make sure you're watching movies from the country that perhaps you want to visit or move to.
For example, if you want to come to the UK, try to watch a little bit more of British shows and movies.
That way you will be hearing British accents and British dialects.
British phrases, stuff that you won't really hear in American shows.
So that might help.
The next way to immerse yourself in your daily life this is another simple basic point is listening to English language music and podcasts.
You're already listening to this podcast, so well done, that's a good step.
But if you love listening to music, why not try to listen to some more English music?
And when you're doing so, look at the lyrics, the words of the song.
Open them up while you're listening and then the next time that you listen, you may be hearing the same words much better and you never know, you might learn some new words through this process.
Okay, So the third tip and these are a little bit more specific, going forward.
I told you the first two were simple because, to be honest, most people already do these tips to an extent.
But our third tip today is reading news articles in English.
Often we will check the news or maybe see an article on social media about something that has happened.
Why not try and read some English language news sites instead of reading your usual news?
There is a big variety and you can read small articles daily which are very relevant about today's topics.
This can help you with your speaking practice and give you topics to talk about which are relevant and not simple or old.
Or simply with reading.
One area that most people forget about or don't use enough is selecting articles or websites related to something that you're interested in in your daily life.
For example, if you like playing video games, read some articles about the latest video games, video game reviews, etc.
In English.
It's a good way of spending your time on something you already enjoy, but also improving your language skills and understanding.
Okay, so now I'm going to share a tip with you which I think is fantastic.
And not enough people do this.
And that is to use English social media.
And it doesn't mean exactly what you might think.
You might be saying, Oliver, I already use YouTube.
I already use Instagram.
I already use all of these services.
But what I'm saying is make a new social media account.
So if you like YouTube, for example, I would recommend signing up for a new YouTube account and using it to watch videos in English.
Do not watch videos in your native language on this account.
YouTube will then begin to only recommend you videos in English, and this exposes you to countless English videos, comments and interactions.
You can even try engaging with native speakers in the comment sections there.
The point of this tip is it exposes you to more and more English without showing you video options from your native language.
So if you're trying to almost force yourself to watch more English, to click the English options.
If you have a separate account for learning you won't have a choice.
All of your recommendations and everything will be in English.
And my final point for today is quite a simple one.
Practice speaking with native speakers.
I can see the audience demographics for this podcast and we have people from over 112 countries around the world.
I can guarantee you that there are English speakers out there on the internet that want to learn your language or are trying to learn your language.
And all you need to do is find them and communicate with them and exchange language.
And as a result, you will get free English speaking practice.
There are many wonderful apps and services out there, such as Tandem which, by the way, is completely free to use.
This isn't a sponsorship.
I used Tandem before as well to practice Russian language.
So why not try and sign up to one of these applications and do a free language exchange?
It's a great use of your time and a good way to get to know different people.
You never know, you might meet a lifelong friend or someone that you can visit when you go to that country.
I have with multiple people and it is a fantastic experience.
So that's everything for today.
Don't make excuses when you might think I can't visit an English-speaking country.
It's so hard to practice because it has never been easier.
With access to the internet and all of the options that we have today, in 2020, free.
It has really never been easier, and we are so, so lucky as language learners.
I wish you all the best with your language learning and your English language immersion.
And I hope to see you in the next episode of Understandable English.
I'll see you soon.
Have a wonderful day.
