Peep this. So I’m in Vancouver. And I’m hungry for something awesome to put into my mouth. So I go into this Persian bakery, because that’s a good place to find awesome things to put into my mouth. So I’m walking in and guess what I see?
- A Persian bakery, with
- Very good-looking Persian people in it
- Including a gorgeous young woman (typical college age?) manning the till…well, the entire store, really
- Persian music playing, and
- A guy at a table reading a newspaper — in Farsi!
…And you still wonder how people can have accents (including the young person)?
Let’s review. The people at this bakery were doing full spectrum Persian immersion — no cross-language multiplexing. They were:
- Hearing Persian,
- Reading Persian,
- Speaking Persian, and
- EATING Persian
Now imagine this happening every day for 20 years…
Where’s your critical period god now, skeptics?! Huh?!
My point here is: children aren’t magical. They’re just bad at immersion; they’re bad at controlling their environment. Children don’t even get to choose what to eat and when to sleep. Adults are amazing. Adults can re-create one country inside another. Reminds me of the American parties with American food and American people playing American games that I go to in Japan. Adults rule. Literally.
So next time you want to know how to do immersion, do it like a Persian 
. Also, visit your local Persian bakery, coz…dayom.