The biggest lie in language learning

Hey KoreKara Squad, 

I wanted to share something strange I’ve noticed since starting the podcast and interviewing tons of language learners. There is this pervasive idea in the language learning community that is often talked about like common sense, yet I’ve almost never seen it work in reality.

And that is.. Passive Immersion.

💡 Tip of the week

Passive immersion is made out to be this “hassle-free” method of acquiring a language without even trying.

In class? Just listen to Japanese in one ear.

Doing the dishes? Pull up an audiobook which you can barely understand.

In my opinion, Passive immersion makes you feel like you might be making progress when in reality, you’re not going anywhere.

People define passive immersion differently, but at the end of the day, it means you are not paying attention to your Japanese content. Your ears and brain may oscillate between attending to your Japanese and whatever else is going on. Your attention could be as far gone as essentially white-noising hours of Japanese while you go about your day.

I would categorize immersing in incomprehensible input as passive immersion. This effectively leads to no progress. One common mistake I’ve noticed from talking to people who failed at learning Japanese is that there is an expectation that they might acquire a language just by listening and doing nothing else. Yes you might get more “used” to the language, but it’s not going to push you to fluency.

The thing is, there’s not enough information for you to acquire the language. A baby doesn’t acquire a language “purely” through listening through headphones. They have the context of the world around them, and adults constantly interact with them, introducing new words by pointing to objects. Slowly their input becomes more comprehensible, then like an avalanche whole sentences suddenly start to make sense. This is what happens when you immerse with comprehensible input.

Acquisition demands attention, that’s why Krashen emphasizes compelling and not only comprehensible input.

I would even go as far as saying that paying attention for 1 hour would be better than 5 hours of passive immersion. Attention is a necessary condition for acquisition. Rather than throwing on random audio for several hours while you do other things, try to embrace a more holistic approach to acquiring Japanese. Watch a little anime, do some reading, make some friends, and start speaking.

If you do these things and enjoy your time with Japanese you’ll stay engaged and you’ll have incidentally acquired the language.

I’ve actually set up a little place where people who want to get fluent in Japanese this year can come and meet like-minded individuals. Everyone can come together, share resources, discuss their own personal journeys, and hold one another accountable.

You’ll also get access to the new KoreKara Method course where I share the most efficient methods to learning Japanese and passing the JLPT N1 in record time. (Based on my personal experience and also from interviewing literally 100+ experts.) We also do monthly calls so everyone stays accountable and can ask questions.

🗣️ Join the KoreKara Club

It’s called the KoreKara Club. (Beta)

I mentioned this in last week’s newsletter but if you’re interested in joining, here’s what you can expect in there!

• 🙋‍♂️ Monthly Q&As

• 💬 Monthly accountability Q&A Zoom calls (w/ me hosting)

• 🤝 Community of likeminded learners

• 💻 Immersion resources masterlist

• 🎤 All Podcast exclusive clips & raw episodes (previously Patreon only)

• 📕 Access to my course “How To Learn Japanese in 1 Year”

I made a quick 1 min video showing what’s inside. (watch at 1.5x speed)

KoreKara Club - 27 January 2024 - Watch Video

You can check the community out here.

Hope to you in there soon!

Eric