| > Seems like all the current research is that "immersion" in the target language is critical This, a hundred times this. Immersion is not only effective in getting you used to the language, but also really helps you solidify what you've learned, and is extremely motivating. Virtually all of the people that I know in the Japanese learning community who learned the language really fast heavily immersed in a lot of content. In my own language learning app that I'm making I'm explicitly targeting a feedback loop which looks something like this: 1) You pick an easy show/book/etc. to consume. (I have a list ranked according to difficulty, generated through machine learning.) 2) You prelearn the vocabulary used within using an SRS. 3) You consume it. 4) You continue maintaining your vocabulary through SRS, so the app knows which words you're supposed to know. 5) The app recommends you the next show/book/etc. to consume based on what you've already learned. 6) Rinse and repeat. Gradually the whole thing snowballs and you have to learn less and less for each new work you consume. I personally believe this to be the most effective way of learning a language, and I'm already seeing some of my users having a lot of success with it. |