I'm not entirely sure that immersion is a myth.
It might be that I have a bigger language reserve (bi-lingual since childhood and had french at school*)but being in a country often did help me figure not just differences in words but seeing the context in which these and phrases were applied as well as the accompanying body language.
*Take for example my experience with french:
I had bullshit 3 hours per week classes for five years in high school, I wasnt taking seriously but my understanding of english gave me an edge ofver my class mates since english uses a lot of french words I could relate to. The fifth year I actually took private classes with an old friend of the family,which was frankly exxagerated (we would spend 2 to 4 hours per day ,4 or 5 times a week).
Fast forward 7 years I'm in france and I can barely connect words and sentences, and when I manage I sounded so goddamn formal most people had no idea what i was saying.
8 months later after having been up and down the place, often with no grounds to use either of my other two languages I became fluent albeit still with my signature horrible accent and quite fond of using (southernish) slang.
Had a similar experience with German, which I'm still learning.
I associated more the words and phrases with context which eventually allowed me to further understand the mechanics once I did get some formal lessons. Ironically I confirmed that my old french teacher was right when he tried to explain to me how similar the synthactical construction of german and spanish is
It might be that I have a bigger language reserve (bi-lingual since childhood and had french at school*)but being in a country often did help me figure not just differences in words but seeing the context in which these and phrases were applied as well as the accompanying body language.
*Take for example my experience with french:
I had bullshit 3 hours per week classes for five years in high school, I wasnt taking seriously but my understanding of english gave me an edge ofver my class mates since english uses a lot of french words I could relate to. The fifth year I actually took private classes with an old friend of the family,which was frankly exxagerated (we would spend 2 to 4 hours per day ,4 or 5 times a week).
Fast forward 7 years I'm in france and I can barely connect words and sentences, and when I manage I sounded so goddamn formal most people had no idea what i was saying.
8 months later after having been up and down the place, often with no grounds to use either of my other two languages I became fluent albeit still with my signature horrible accent and quite fond of using (southernish) slang.
Had a similar experience with German, which I'm still learning.
I associated more the words and phrases with context which eventually allowed me to further understand the mechanics once I did get some formal lessons. Ironically I confirmed that my old french teacher was right when he tried to explain to me how similar the synthactical construction of german and spanish is
We move between light and shadow, mutually influencing and being influenced through shades of gray...