the.com/immersion
The art of forgetting you're trying to learn something while learning it anyway.
means The state of being completely absorbed or submerged in something — a language, a culture, an experience — until it surrounds you on all sides.
from From Latin 'immergere' — 'in-' (into) plus 'mergere' (to dip, plunge, or sink) — the same root that gives us 'merge' and 'submerge.' Originally and still literally about dunking something in liquid (baptism by immersion is the oldest English sense), the word slid naturally into metaphor: if you're dunked in water, you're surrounded by it with no dry corner to retreat to — exactly the feeling of being dropped into a language or culture with nowhere to hide back in your native tongue.
- fastest acquisition
- kids absorb language without ever studying grammar
- the catch
- discomfort is the mechanism, not a side effect
- myth busted
- living abroad alone does not guarantee fluency
- neuroscience
- context-rich input builds memory better than flashcards