Immersion is…
living.
Yes, living. Exploring. Learning. Being. Enjoying.…
It’s doing all those things you usually do in your own language; living life as you normally do only through another language, not necessarily in another place though for sure, it’s better to learn a new language while you travel.
Can you imagine waking up in a different country, enjoying the sunrise from a charming small town with a good cup of coffee in hand ready to start a new day of learning, practice, and exploring?
.
Depending on the country we visit, (Guatemala, México, Costa Rica, or Ecuador) we’ll study history, politics, culture, nature and the arts of each country.
By immersion, we mean that you will be able to learn Spanish through hear, speak and learn the language in authentic everyday contexts and experience it in our classes and surroundings. Our goal is that you learn Spanish as naturally as possible, without any pressure or vocabulary stress. As receptive skills increase and reading and listening comprehension improves, you gradually absorb the new language, isn’t it great?
BENEFITS
1. Open your mind
Keep in mind that by learning a new language, you might get a better understanding of the people who speak it and their culture. For instance, you will learn what kind of food they eat or how the notion of respect is expressed etcetera. Learning a language can be daunting, but it’s an important way to connect with people from different countries and cultures.
Learning a language, therefore, is not only learning the alphabet, the meaning, the grammar rules, and the arrangement of words, but it is also learning the behavior of the society and its cultural customs.
.
2. Understand the culture
It’s great how a particular language points to the culture of a particular social group. Understanding culture allows you to give the right meaning to each word, in the larger context, because you’ll be able to think in Spanish.
There are concepts you can express in a specific language, but you couldn’t say in any other language with a word-to-word translation. By understanding cultural differences while learning a language, you’ll find new ways to express these things.
Culture is essential when studying languages because understanding cultural background art, literature, lifestyle helps you reach language proficiency and really live the language while you learn.
3. Interaction with native speakers
In a conversation with a native speaker, you will hear different accents, depending on the country and even the region of the country you are visiting.
I would say that this is the biggest advantage of conversations with a native speaker. When learning a native language, they adapt to a specific way of speaking, thanks to variants of the language of locals from different countries. With a native speaker, you can learn idioms and colloquial language. Here is an example of the expression “How cool” in different countries of Latin America:
México - “¡Qué chido!”
Guatemala - “¡Qué chilero!”
Cuba - ¡Qué chévere!”
Costa Rica - ¡Qué tuanis!”
Ecuador - “¡Qué bacán!”
See? Although those expressions are all in Spanish they have their variants depending on the country, these are known as regionalisms.
.
Our immersion trips goal is for you to live the experience as much as possible, in a wide way. These level-specific trips allow you to practice your Spanish in the classroom each morning with our certified bilingual instructors, before putting all the knowledge into practice during interactive tours and activities where you can engage in conversation with native speakers.
You can immerse yourself in language and culture on Heart of Travel’s signature immersion trips. We already have over 55 people signed up to join us on an adventure in 2022 🥳
Comments (0)
Back to News