> In my opinion -- this is only my opinion -- immersion by living in a country is overrated as a technique. It helps for sure, but it really isn't necessary. The elements above are what are needed -- without these, even immersion is ineffective. I've met Irish guys living in Barcelona who couldn't speak any of the local languages. I've first hand experience living in several places where I never learned the local language because there was always a way around it.

Immersion works when there's no other way around it. In particular for native english speakers, you'd have to be in a situation where either most people you interact with don't know enough english for communication to be effective, or (and this is very rare in my limited experience) you would have to make an effort to stop using your native language altogether, even when locals address you in it. It also helps when there aren't any family/friends/compatriots around so you can't really "cheat" and you won't be able to function on a daily basis unless you learn and practice the local language.

I agree -- physical immersion can work (the power of a physical-social environment is quite palpable) but I merely wonder if it's sufficient or necessary.

Being immersed with no alternatives does force one to learn simple phrases to get by but it seems quite possible that you'll never have non-trivial conversations with locals until you have enough vocabulary -- and locals won't have non-trivial conversations with you unless you have enough vocabulary. Also native speakers are often loathe to correct you when you make mistakes, so the feedback loops is often broken. To get out of this chicken and egg situation, it seems to me that some amount of focused study is required, and whether that is done in the country or outside doesn't seem to matter (especially with sites like iTalki or others).

As an example: I have friends who taught English in Korea for years (where English isn't widely spoken). They were able to function for years with a few choice phrases and never needed to go beyond that.

Sometimes even at significant levels of immersion, it's possible to not be able to speak the language beyond the basics. I have friends who attended German universities, in German, but have trouble speaking German. Likewise in the US there are many international students attending college in English, do fairly well in school, but struggle greatly to converse in the language.

I think immersion is merely a tool: the underlying driving force really is "intention". With intention, it's possible to go much farther even if immersion was not a tool at one's disposal.

The positive thing about physical immersion is that it provides lots of practice opportunities as a simple consequence of daily life. It’s not as helpful if you create a comfortable bubble and refuse to venture out. Sometimes it means rejecting invitations from classmates and seeking local experiences instead.

Another nice thing about immersion is that you can engage with cultural events that may not be present in your own country, and gain a deeper understanding of the natives themselves, which ties straight back into the language.

Depending on the country or your living situation it can be really hard to branch out... learning while living in a student dormitory was great because I was forced to express myself, even if I was sick, felt less motivated, missed home, etc.

Steve Kaufmann is a flim-flam artist. While not an outright fraud like some of the polyglot community, I would not consider him a credible source on anything except how to make money from uninformed people.

I'm curious how you arrived at that conclusion?

Just by observing his work within the polyglot community. He sells a self-published book called "The Way of the Linguist" that promises to teach you deep wisdom on language learning. But the initial part of the book is exaggeration about his own knowledge of language learning. Much of the latter half of the book is just completely random anecdotes about his travels in Europe that have nothing to do with language learning at all. Again, this man is obviously no authority on anything but how to be successful in self-publishing and "sign up for my course!" scams.

I see. Well, I'm not as inclined to use uncharitable labels such as "scams" and "flim flam" though you are certainly entitled to your opinion based on your own values.

My view is that he has his own methods which clearly work for him, and he has achieved a level of fluency that I can confirm is quite good (I speak several of the languages that he does), so there's something there.

I think his general prescriptions are correct and track with my language learning journey. As to the specific prescriptions he makes, like the use of mini-stories on LingQ, I've not found them to work for me. Or his prescription to read and listen a lot before attempting to speak -- I don't agree with that, though it seems to work for people with his cognitive style (i.e. more introverted rather than extroverted). I don't think either of these detracts from the points I made above though.

As for self-published books, I'm not sure I have such expectations of self-published authors that I would be affronted if they didn't deliver on their promises, but I haven't not read anything by him so I can't assess.

He has a business (LingQ) but I don't get the sense he's really peddling it any more than any other business (most YouTube creators do the same -- self-promotion on YT is just part of the game), but I guess perceptions differ. Again you're entitled to your opinions, but I do feel they are rather strong compared to my own assessment.