so if you want to know more about this
topic stay with us
[Music]
so right now I'm doing like a language
immersion here in Colombia so I'm
staying at Maria's uh mom's house here
in Colombia and nobody here speaks
English so it's just an immersion cuz I
have to speak Spanish cuz that's the
only way I can communicate
[Music]
our first tip is don't be afraid to
speak fear will keep you from wanting to
talk to these native speakers or to
really get the most out of your
immersion
and this is something that really kept
me when I was living here in Colombia
from getting the most out of it because
I was always afraid to talk to people I
was afraid to say something I was afraid
they wouldn't understand me I was afraid
they were going to make fun of me so
like fear kind of took control of me but
if you want to get the most most out of
your emerging experience Don't Be Afraid
number two it kind of coincides with
number one but you're going to mess up
it's going to happen you're not a fluent
Spanish speaker you will mess
up I've messed up a lot too while I've
been here and I've said a lot of wrong
things it's been I've embarrassed Maria
I've embarrassed myself I've had a lot
of people laugh at me but it's all in
good fun and that's just kind of part of
the the learning process you know I've
actually one of the things that I messed
up was I said I was going to eat a
grandfather Yeah so I was I was actually
trying to say a Buell but I said
so you're going to mess up so just move
on and get over it
[Music]
and this is something that I'm taking
advantage of now while I'm here this
time you know when you watch TV
everything's in Spanish uh when you
listen to the radio everything's in
Spanish so you can really pick up on
some words and you can help expand your
vocabulary by doing active listening
when I was here before this is something
I didn't do I just kind of zoned out I
didn't take it it was just oh it's
Spanish and I zoned out whenever we
would watch TV or something like that or
I would I would try to search for
English channels where they were showing
like stuff in English but like with
Spanish subtitles or something like that
and then I didn't even pay attention to
the Spanish subtitles so to get the most
out of your experience you really need
to try to do active listening it's a
great place when you're in your
immersion experience to really really
put to work that those active listening
skills
like what is
this
uh what is that in English how do you
say yeah how do you say or k KS what is
this or what what is I use K say a lot
to ask Maria how to say a bunch of words
so if you have somebody who speaks your
language like especially if it's like
Spanish if you're trying to do Spanish
why wouldn't you be doing Spanish this
is a Spanish Channel anyway you would
say say that is like the word that the
the question that like helps me the most
and I use that the very
often
do how do you
pronounce how do you
write how do you
read and people are really willing to
help you too that's one of the things
that a lot of people think that when you
go into another country and like a
language immersion that it's going to be
like scary and people are going to be
mean but even when I've went out by
myself and I've spoken Spanish everybody
has been very helpful nobody's been mean
or rude I mean they could be if they're
in a hurry maybe but for the you know
the majority of people are going to be
really nice and really helpful and try
to you know help help understand you and
maybe help you
[Music]
out
for for
yeah and this is another thing that I
totally did not do when I lived here
before I just surrounded myself with
like an English bubble I found um
English friends or english- speaking
friends uh they spoke Spanish but we
only spoke English while we were here I
also found um like when I actually
worked I worked as an English teacher so
my students would always spoke English
never really any Spanish even when I had
basic students we only spoke English so
yeah uh if you want to get the most out
of this you need to avoid speaking your
language which is something we you know
that I've done this time and I've spoke
Spanish all while I was here while I'm
here and it's definitely helped my
Spanish improve in this short little
time that we've been here so yeah if
you're going to get the most out of your
language immersion experience do not
speak your native language totally just
speak what the language is that you're
trying to learn okay our last tip is to
take breaks now I know we said that you
need to speak the language all the time
but trust me eventually your head is
going to be pounding like mine has been
here and it hurts I mean because you're
having to think so much about what you
want to say and maybe you're even
translating words and stuff in your head
and sentences in your head and you're
going to need to take some breaks and
it's okay I'm not saying take a a long
break but maybe take like a you know
some minutes to collect your thoughts
and stuff or maybe take time to watch
something in your own language to give
yourself a little break but it's really
important to take little breaks so you
don't get overwhelmed
[Music]
just don't do like me and take a break
for like a year like your the whole time
you're here is a one big break don't
don't do that or I mean you're going to
look back on it and regret it trust me
so make sure you just take a short break
and get back in there and start trying
to learn this learn the language
[Music]
and we hope you liked it and if you have
any questions about like language
immersion or anything like that uh let
us know in the comments below because uh
I have for sure done all the mistakes I
think you can possibly make in a
language emerging so we can definitely
help you out if you have any questions
how to get the most out of it thank you
for watching and make sure to subscribe
and remember if you are going to learn a
language Spanish
[Music]