"Immersion" is a tricky word that I don't feel comfortable using without qualification. What I like to do is spend at least an hour a day reading, listening to

"Immersion" is a tricky word that I don't feel comfortable using without qualification. What I like to do is spend at least an hour a day reading, listening to podcasts and audiobooks, or watching videos. A good day for me is a day when 100% of my media consumption for entertainment purposes is happening in my target language. And that really is it. I don't really bother soliciting explicit feedback. I suspect that it's potentially harmful because it can trigger the affective monitor. I've also encountered some SLA researchers saying the research indicates that it's not actually helpful. I'm becoming increasingly enamored of Bill VanPatten's conceit that, in a language learning context, there's no such thing as errors, there are only differences between the learner's interlanguage and their target language. Which is something that should be embraced as a natural and essential part of the process rather than a problem that needs explicit correction. So what I do instead is just pay attention to whether successful communication has happened. When getting input, that means I'm focused on whether I understood the content or not. I want it to be a little bit difficult, enough so that I'm not getting bored, but not so difficult that I feel I'm really straining to comprehend. (There's nothing scientific to that, it's just personal taste.) When I'm having a conversation with somebody, I'm just interested in whether or not I am having a successful interaction. In a sense, what I'm trying to do is set up a feedback loop that optimizes for pure enjoyment, which, for me, seems to be a very good proxy for learning effectiveness. To that end, I don't really intend to shit on Duolingo and practice exercises and whatnot. A lot of people enjoy those approaches to language learning, and the single most important thing is that you enjoy what you're doing.