MLC 105 - How Immersion Helps to Learn a Language

[Shir Bodner]

While much of the research I have previously read emphasizes that learning languages is much more easily adapted by younger children, it does not surprise me that an adult can process a new language and adapt to using it as a native speaker does. However, I disagree that when the skill of a language is not used the process of learning the language can still improve. My main support for this assertion is my experience with learning Arabic. When living in Israel, I was required to study Arabic in day school for four years. While I only started in the fourth grade, I accelerated in the language learning even beyond my peers who had been learning it since the first grade. However, as soon as I moved back to the States and no longer saw or had the need to employ my knowledge of Arabic, I became less confident in it and slowly forgot vocabulary, writing, and eventually understanding words and topics that I was previously quite proficient in. I am embarrassed to say that I can no longer even recall the alphabet, although I once kept a daily journal in the language. I attribute the difference between my experience and the Georgetown study written about in this article to the fact that they used an artificial language of only 13 words. To me this seems quite simple in comparison to reality when it comes to language learning, even in a setting of immersion. I was impressed, however with the results and their connection to people who have experience traumatic brain injury and would be interested to read about case studies related to their recuperation using the immersion methods.