Is immersion SLOWER than other language learning methods? - Ask Ethan

[@MisterGames]

The other thing is, the ability to learn will also depend on how much anxiety the person has in their life, about anything not just language learning. The higher the anxiety the lower the learning.

[@Matt-jc2ml]

4:25 guy on the left is in Mexico city 😂 anyone who's lived there recognizes the "lavadoras! Colchones! " 😂😂😂

[@pohlpiano]

Once you start reaching true mastery of anything, that is when you start to understand that perfection does not exist. Getting very far in foreign language also allows you to look at your own language in another way, and see the wolrd behind it.

[@Alec72HD]

You can never get very far in a foreign language. That language has to become your second language to get "very far". In other words, if you have no need for a second language, you will never get very far.

[@oscarflorez2011]

Thanks for your videos❤

[@Hil_u12jsjdj]

Do one of you guys live in Mexico I can hear the classical “ se compran lavadoras , estufas from people buying junk “ in the background 😅

[@Refold]

👀 Perhaps... Or perhaps I just have it on a random timer in the background to throw you off 😄 - Ben

[@iancardenas-spanishbutcomp4074]

😂

[@kaythia-s9h]

Hey! If I may ask a question - when sentence mining, should I be making sentence cards for sentences that have slurred or difficult-to-understand enunciation? If it's a matter of waiting until later, when should I start? I'm an upper-intermediate Chinese learner and I find that sort of language to be my Achilles heel.

[@jibrintumaka3478]

What is the best to start emersion with. Should one start emersion with something like TV news, news papers, documentaries or one should start with something kids videos and anime

[@coscorrodrift]

regarding the 100% thing, to me "fluency" is able to use target language sources to learn about target language (i guess private tutor who will dumb everything down doesn't count). Like, if you're watching netflix in the target language and you get 98% of the words and have to look up 2% on the target language dictionary, that's aight and expected. Not sure how low the % can be but i assume that if it were like 30%, you wouldn't be able to understand the 70% remaining using a dictionary. But maybe sth like 85% if it's a topic you're not familiar with, like politics of the target country or whatever for example i was watching a video about advanced music theory in english and i didnt understand shit lmao but after a couple of wikipedia lookups i kinda got it. that's different from not understanding "slice of life" stuff and having to look up stuff on a dictionary, but while learning english i had to look up a ton of stuff on the "urban dictionary" just to keep up with shit, but i considered myself "fluent" by then

[@shamicentertainment1262]

I’d consider you fluent, I didn’t realise it wasn’t your native language until you said so lol. Not capitalising i, saying like and lmao. I reckon you’re at a c4 level. Also I find learning German easier than music theory lol. I got into a bit though, and what I do remember is still quite helpful

[@SimplyChinese]

I wonder what he meant by “2000 hours of interactive learning hours of Chinese”.

[@jonathanlazarte5975]

I though on something but, is a bit confusing the term

[@jukeClassic]

If I remember correctly, interactive immersion is like time that you spend with the language trying to understand everything and doing lookups of words or grammar when you don't. This is in contrast to something like watching a show in your target language and just absorbing what you can without pausing. I don't know how common the term is outside of Refold.

[@SimplyChinese]

@@jukeClassic got it! Thanks!

[@GCSE_TUTOR]

Great video thank you ❤

[@shamicentertainment1262]

A bit off topic, but are you guys gonna make more German refold cards? I’ve gotten so much use out of them, I’ve almost finished the 1000 words. I also add in extra example sentences and colour in the different noun genders. I’ve started making my own from words I’ve come across but I probably shouldn’t record my own audio for the word and example sentences lol, better a native speaker does it. I swear I saw a 4000 word deck from you guys before but now I cannot see it anywhere

[@Refold]

We don't have any plans for more German cards. We don't have a 4k deck, so you might have seen a recommendation from the community. We don't think it's worth making decks for cognate rich languages beyond the first 1k since so many words are cognates. And then beyond the first 5k words of a language (give or take), the domain you explore becomes more and more important to determine which words are actually needed. I home that makes sense 😅 But I'm thrilled you liked the German deck! Keep going with sentence mining. The options for audio are: ASBplayer, TTS or you can use this tool to make good audio quickly: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4TKnaeEeLh2kM0. Like you said, you'd want/need a native speaker to record it, but you could make a deal with a German speaking English learner or something like that. I hope this helps! - Ben

[@paulwalther5237]

I have been a big fan of Refold because I was a fan of massive input going way back but I never understood this idea of achieving perfect native output by simply delaying doing output. I saw on the discord not too long ago that they would start allowing people to practice their target language as long as they sounded like a native. I almost ditched this community on the spot. Making mistakes is such an important part of the learning process and the Refold didn’t get this at all. Anyway. I saw online somewhere that FSI gives you the equivalent of a strong A2 or low B1 level. And by strong I mean that the knowledge isn’t just passive. It’s very active. Most people who are A2/B1/B2 etc are giving themselves a lot of credit for their passive knowledge but they can’t output all the grammar and vocabulary that they’ve studied yet or if they can it’s really slow and awkward. But their passive vocabulary is not so impressive (yet). If they have conversations the native has to grade their language etc. But since they’re using the language for their work they can really focus on common scenarios or scripts they know they will use over and over. It works really well. Let’s keep in mind they go to the target country to live and work there after they graduate too. So they will definitely do lots of immersion. Just later. I don’t see how it’s possible to duplicate this method as a self learner. You would have to hire an expensive private tutor with lots of experience or go to an intensive full time language school where students aren’t slacking or being tourists but studying like their job depends on it. I think the best option if you really want to go this route is the Middlebury language school in Vermont. It’s not cheap. 😂

[@Refold]

Hi there! Sorry that was your experience! We disagree with that take and want to make sure it isn't happening in our servers. Each server has a slightly different take on the "delay output" idea. The English server, for example, you'll find many people outputting in English out of necessity as it's the language connecting everyone. And in our Spanish server, we encourage members who are comfortable to output and share the level of corrections they'd like to receive from native speakers. I want to personally apologize that you had that experience on a Refold server. If you're willing, I'd really appreciate it if you reached out to a member of the team ([e-mail] is my email) and helped us make sure no one else has this experience in that server again. Our philosophy is that you should refrain from outputting until it's "comfortable." However, we acknowledge that everyone has different goals for learning their language; for some, speaking earlier might even be necessary! We also don't expect our learners to wait until they are perfect to begin speaking. Speaking for many people requires conscious, focused effort and lots of practice. Usually, this practice is more comfortable once you're fluent in "listening" so that you're not struggling to understand your language partners. ~Bree

[@kartinacapital]

What happened to Matt?

[@Refold]

Hey there! Matt is one of Refold's co-founders and he helped created the company. His main role was as a successful language learner and having a media presence. However, in early 2022 he stepped away from Refold to pursue other interests and is no longer involved. Most of the team, besides Ethan, has never actually met him. I hope that clears things up!