I was a student in a language immersion class from kindergarten to 5th grade. I learned to speak Spanish just after I began to speak English. I hated it. I hated Spanish being spoken to me under the assumption that I would simply understand it because it was being spoken at me. Even at 5 years old, I was enraged at the idea of someone my age being forced to learn a language before I even really understood English.
If memory serves, I was a couple months into Kindergarten the first time I really understood a word. Alfombra. Carpet. I was reading one of those books where the plot is something like “Pat had a cat who sat on a mat.” The main character had just sat on the carpet, and the moment it occurred to me that I knew that word, I had to let everyone around me know, tugging on their sleeves and exclaiming:
“I know this one I know it!”Â
By the time I was 8 years old, I was fully fluent. I didn’t learn math in English until 6th grade, at which time I was also required to take a foreign language. I was sick of Spanish and too naive to think I could ever lose it when I already knew it so well. I decided on French, instead. Â
There was nothing more foreign to me than a 6th grade language class that began with the conjugation of verbs in French. I couldn’t understand what it had to do with the language at all. I couldn’t wrap my brain around what conjugating a verb even meant. Including high school, I ended up taking 3 full years of French. I don’t remember much more than Bonjour. Well, and the verbs. I can still conjugate the verbs.Â
The main thing immersion gave me that I truly don’t believe is attainable any other way is the ability to know what another person is trying to convey, even if I might not remember half the words they’re saying. Of course, I’ve never been fluent in a language that wasn’t taught to me through immersion, so I don’t know what it’s like, but I can only assume this is a skill that comes hand in hand with the experience of suffering through learning what 2+2 is as “dos mas dos” at the age of 5. To this day I often end up doing math in my head in Spanish.
When you’re listening to someone speak and are able to focus on what they’re saying without worrying about translating every word or answering with properly conjugated verbs, it ends up being so much easier. Even if it comes out in a clunky American accent with improper grammar, at least you’re having a conversation. I know it’s not easy to go and immerse yourself in a language, but if given the opportunity, do not pass it up. There’s something about the helplessness of having no clue what’s going on that will force you to discover what is going on.