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Insights:
- IMMERSE truly captures the essence of language immersion.
- If you have a meaningful connection with a language, it will sustain your motivation long enough for you to become fluent.
- Being active in the IMMERSE community can speed up your language learning by helping you find opportunities to hang out with other people and practice French, Spanish, or English.
We think IMMERSE is great, but we like to find out what our members value most about virtual reality language learning. In this post, we interview Victor, a polyglot who’s been an IMMERSE Member since March 2023. Read on to learn how he became a polyglot, his tips for learning a new language, and his advice on making the most of learning a language in IMMERSE!
You’re kind of famous around here as a polyglot.Tell us about your background and what languages you speak.
I grew up in the USA. Despite Spanish being my mother tongue and the language in which my parents talked to me, the importance of English in my everyday life after I joined kindergarten caused it to dominate my brain and push out Spanish. Ever since I entered the public school system, English became my native language, and I forgot how to speak Spanish. People used to make fun of me for being latino and not knowing how to speak “my language”.
It wasn’t until I was 18 that I re-learned Spanish. I lived in Mexico for two years. The environment forced me to learn Spanish again. However, now I have a Mexican accent when I speak Spanish even though I have a Colombian background. Today, I communicate with my parents mostly in Spanish so that I can maintain it and not lose it.
Portuguese was the first language that I really put effort into learning on my own. At my university, I studied French and German to an intermediate level. I studied 9 months of Russian although I’m still limited to beginner phrases. I did study Mandarin for my last semester, but that was over a year ago.
How did you become interested in learning so many languages?
Growing up as a minority has exposed me to great friends from different cultures. One day I overheard my Brazilian friend talking with his mom in Portuguese and was surprised to understand a few words. Then one day, when I was bored, I decided to download an app to learn Portuguese. I was amazed at how similar it was to Spanish. It only took me a few months to become conversational. And I remember thinking to myself, “If I can teach myself Portuguese, what other languages can I learn?” This is what drove me to take French at my university. After that I was hooked! I saw great progress and casually continued forward with other languages.
With the addition of every new language, I saw that I was becoming a world citizen. My dream is to be able to use my language skills to help those in need and to bridge together people from different cultures.
You’re a very active Member of IMMERSE. What is it that you like about IMMERSE and how do you think it helps you learn?
I really enjoy the feeling of participating in a tight community with similar ambitions. Making friends and taking classes with them is what holds me accountable to continue studying French. On the VR side, the app truly captures the essence of immersion. It really feels like I’m physically in another setting. The movements I make in each class help solidify vocabulary into my brain.
Do you have a favorite moment in IMMERSE that you could share?
I took a class that was held in a virtual hotel. We had to roleplay as a customer and concierge. We would pretend to have issues in our room and we had to figure out how to ask for help and describe the issue we were experiencing. We had to do all of this in French!
What’s your secret to learning languages? Do you have any tips for Members who dream of becoming polyglots?
I think that it is important to have a meaningful connection to a language. If one is learning a language because one has to, whether for school, work, or assimilating to a new country, then one may or may not learn a language after many months of practice. But if one has a true desire to learn, whether it be for pleasure or necessity, then one’s desire and connection should be sufficient motivation for learning a language. This connection could help make the task more enjoyable and lessen the time it takes to become fluent.
Tips:
● Practice Often. 5 minutes a day is not enough to get you far. 30 minutes a day can help you maintain a language. 1 hr a day or more will help push your brain to hold new information.
● Create a schedule. Dedicate a specific time of the day for your language study and stick to it.
● Diligence: Progress may seem slow for the first few months. Try creating a before and after video to gauge your progress. You could record yourself reading a short text or poem on the first day of your language journey and every month you can create another video of yourself reading the same text or poem. Compare the videos to see if your fluidity and accent are improving.
● Find a language partner: Find a native speaker of your target language. Ask them to help you learn their language. Commit to having a phone call once a week in your target language. Offer to help them with your native language as a form of compensation.
● Learn a language with a friend: Having a friend with whom you can learn another language can create an environment of competition and accountability. Check on each other to make sure everyone is progressing.
How do you think a new Member should approach using IMMERSE to help them get fluent in a new language?
I think the community that is established in Disord can greatly impact a Member’s progress. Join the Discord server and ask if there is anyone who would like to take a class with you. For a more casual approach, you can also ask on Discord if anyone would want to chat with you in the Commons area or Explore area.
What language do you have your eye on learning next?
I just started learning Japanese from scratch with a group of friends. We are doing this in anticipation of IMMERSE dropping a Japanese language course.
Anything else you would like to say about IMMERSE or language learning?
Come look for me on the Discord server if you want to have a chat! My username is Vidder (.vidder)
Today I work in Dallas, Texas as an ESL teacher for adults who are international students. I use the languages that I know to communicate with my students and build a connection with them. In the past, I did some work with the IRC (International Rescue Committee) as an ESL teacher. Now I am saving up to pursue a joint masters of art in Conference Interpretation/Translation and Localization Management (CI/TLM) at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.I want to be able to help refugees and immigrants that have recently moved to the USA.
