A listener named Eric in the US recently got in touch with an interesting question. While in college, he got a minor in Russian. Now, 40 plus years later, he wants to pick it back up again.
A friend of his is learning Spanish and spending the summer in Costa Rica taking Spanish classes during the morning and doing homework in the afternoons.
Eric was considering doing something similar – heading to Russia for a language immersion programme, taking classes there.
His question was simple: what do I think about these programmes?
It's a great question, and one that deserves a thoughtful answer. Because the truth is, a language immersion programme can go either way – it really depends on what you make of it.
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Table of Contents
What's The Best And Worst Case Scenario?
Let's talk about the best and worst case of going abroad on a language immersion programme.
We'll take for granted that you're probably going to spend a lot of money – two months in Moscow would cost a fair bit because it's an expensive city, plus you'd have to pay for the immersion school as well. But let's assume that's not an issue.
The best case scenario is that you go there and:
- you study in the morning,
- you have activities in the afternoon,
- you make a lot of friends,
- you're speaking Russian for two months,
- you have an amazing time,
- and you come back with your Russian at an upper level.
That's the dream.
The worst case scenario is that you go there and:
- you have language lessons in the morning (which you could be having at home).
- In the afternoon you're either by yourself or hanging out with other English speakers on the same programme, speaking English, and finding it very difficult to get any meaningful Russian practice because of the language barrier in social situations.
This is the thing with learning languages abroad – it really can go either way, so it's not necessarily the best way to learn a language fast.
The Only Way To Judge A Language Immersion Programme
From a purely linguistic perspective, there's only one way you should be judging a language immersion programme: how much contact do you get with native speakers of that language? That's it. How much meaningful contact will you have during that time?
Take the Middlebury Language Schools, for example. They're three to four-month programmes where from dawn till dusk you're surrounded by the language, with your whole day structured for you.
You're speaking the language constantly. That strikes me as being a very good idea because someone's taking care of the challenge of structuring all your time for you.
So when you're evaluating a language immersion programme, you've got to try to honestly assess how much practice you're actually going to get.
In Eric's case, he mentioned studying in the morning and having homework in the afternoon. If what you're going to a language school in the morning for a few hours and then you're left to your own devices for the rest of the day, you've got to think carefully about that. What happens for the rest of the day?
It's not practical for most people to go around day after day in a foreign country just talking to people. Who are you going to talk to? People are working, they're busy, they're out with their families. What are you going to do – just sit down and start talking to strangers?
You can have a few conversations, of course, but it's relatively little. To justify picking up and going across the world under the guise of practising your language, you need to recognise that it's really difficult to create a situation where you're speaking that language all the time.
Those three hours you have in the morning at a language school? You could do that at home with an online tutor. The rest of the day is going to be down to you whether or not you get meaningful practice.
How To Engineer Your Own Language Immersion
If you're really serious about making the most of a language immersion programme, then the approach I would take is to actually get in touch with locals, language tutors or conversation partners in advance and arrange to have speaking sessions with them.
I've never actually done this, but it's something I've often thought about and would definitely do in the future if I went on such a project again. Basically, you'd hire friends for the time you're in a place.
Because if you're just turning up somewhere, it is difficult to very quickly make friends. And even if you can, you can't spend all your time with them.
So I've thought about finding a local tutor and saying: “Look, can we spend a few hours together every afternoon? I'll pay you properly for your time. We'll walk around the city, go to museums, and talk in Russian.”
I did something like this when I learned Thai in two weeks in Thailand and worked with a teacher daily. My friend Jan went one step further, getting a haircut and having a conversation with the barber with just 150 Thai words in his repertoire!
Then I think you're getting towards the kind of experience which you could actually justify being called immersion – because you're actually speaking the language.
You've got to aim for that kind of thing if you're looking to really make the most out of an immersion trip. Otherwise, you're just not getting immersion.
What you need to do is start by thinking about what schools and what programmes you have your eye on, then really investigate them and figure out what's involved. What do you get?
Try to make sure that either the language immersion programme is providing the immersion for you, or think about how you would be able to engineer that by yourself.
The Expat Bubble Trap
I have a friend who went to France last year. She was really excited about going and said she loved France and was going to spend six weeks in the south of France over the summer. She was convinced her French was going to be so good by the end.
I talked to her before she went and said:
“Just be careful you don't fall into the expat trap. If you get there and start going to expat meetups, it can be difficult to get out of that because it's comfortable and easy. Also, if you're away for a couple of months, you can start feeling lonely. You're going to want friends, and sometimes the allure of just being around other people who speak English is hard to resist if you're feeling a bit homesick.”
She was confident she wouldn't fall into that trap. She wasn't going to go to meetups and stuff – she was just going to speak French.
When she came back after six weeks, I asked how it went. She said she'd just been in an expat bubble, an English bubble, for the whole six weeks. She basically didn't speak a word of French.
This is actually the reality. This experience is the default, I think, unless you clearly think through ways of getting around it by creating your own immersion.
It's Not Just About The Language
Having said all of that, let me get to what I think might actually be the most important point. For a trip like this, it's probably not just about the language.
I suspect that behind Eric's question is actually a desire to just go to Russia, spend some time there, and have the experience of being there. Am I right?
Certainly when I go on trips abroad, obviously the language is part of it, but I also want the experience. I want the life experience. I want to meet people. I just want to be in those surroundings. We shouldn't discount that.
It's all very well talking about the merits or otherwise of different language schools or immersion programmes. But we shouldn't discount the fact that if there's something you want to do in your life, if you want to spend some time in a certain place, you should go and do it.
Don't try to out-engineer yourself out of a trip that you really want to make for your own satisfaction and enjoyment.
If you feel this pull to go and spend time there, I would suggest just go. If you've got the means, if you've got the time, then go.
It's a life experience and something you'll remember for the rest of your life. If you've got the opportunity to do it now, I think that's probably more important than anything else.
But obviously, within having made that decision to go, there's a lot you can do to try and engineer the best result from a language perspective as well.
Plan Your Time In Advance
In my experience, the most difficult thing to get right – the thing you really have to think through in advance – is not so much the language, but what you're going to be doing with your time.
- Who are you going to be spending time with?
- Who do you want to spend your time with?
Try to organise and arrange activities in advance because it's going to make things so much easier than trying to figure out what to do once you get there and you're doubting yourself and asking questions.
If you're considering an immersion trip, speak to friends who've done similar things as well. Ask them what it was like and if they would do anything differently – they may well have thoughts on this topic.
Language Immersion Programme FAQ
What Is The Language Immersion Program?
A language immersion programme is a learning method where students are surrounded by the target language in daily activities.
Lessons, conversations and tasks are done mainly or entirely in that language. This approach helps learners develop natural fluency, listening skills and cultural understanding more quickly.
Do Language Immersion Programs Work?
Yes, language immersion programmes work very well for most learners. They help you develop real-life fluency, strong listening skills, and natural pronunciation through constant exposure.
Immersion is most effective when combined with active practice, feedback and regular use of the language.
What Is The Most Common Language Immersion Program Used In Schools?
The most common language immersion programme used in schools is dual-language (two-way) immersion.
In this programme, students learn academic subjects in two languages, usually English and a partner language like Spanish or French.
It helps both native and non-native speakers develop bilingualism, biliteracy and cultural awareness.
What Is The Best Age For Language Immersion?
The best age for language immersion is early childhood, usually between 3 and 7 years old. At this age, children pick up pronunciation and grammar more naturally.
However, language immersion can be effective at any age with consistent exposure and practice.
Language Immersion Programme: The Bottom Line
So, are language immersion programmes worth it? The honest answer is: it depends entirely on what you make of them. The programme itself – the morning classes, the homework – is only a small piece of the puzzle.
What really matters is how you spend the rest of your time and whether you're genuinely immersed in the language or just geographically relocated while still living in an English bubble.
If you're considering a language immersion programme, do your research. Find out exactly what's included and how much of your day will be structured.
If the answer is “just the mornings,” start planning now for how you'll fill those afternoons with meaningful practice.
Arrange conversation partners, hire a tutor to explore the city with you, or find activities that force you to use the language.
But above all, if you feel that pull to go somewhere and experience life in another country, don't let the pursuit of perfect language outcomes talk you out of it. Sometimes the life experience itself is reason enough.
Olly Richards
Creator of the StoryLearning® Method
Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.
Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.
When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.
