# Immersion total or full immersion



## Elysium

Hi guys,

I'd like to translate "immersion total" or "full immersion" to Latin. The translator gives me "immersio plenum"...is that correct?

Thanks for the help in advance.


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## Scholiast

salve!

This illustrates the pitfalls when one relies on electronic "translators".

The ecclesiastical term for this is _immersio totalis_, but this is of course a post-classical usage. If you need the phrase in a context other than that of religious baptism (say that of teaching people to swim), then perhaps you could supply some more precise contextual information.


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## Elysium

Scholiast said:


> salve!
> 
> perhaps you could supply some more precise contextual information.


There is no contextual information. It is simply the term that refers to one who totally dedicated time and energy to language learning using the method of immersion.
Scho, thanks for the reply.


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## Scholiast

salve tu quoque

That _was_ precisely the context I was looking for.

An "immersion course" is precisely, for example, teaching completely in the target-language.

I remain curious to know why you needed the _Latin_ for this. Are you trying to "immerse" pupils into Latin? This would be known in English paedagogical method-lingo as "Direct Method". And by heavens, it has its merits.


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## lacrimae

I propose
 Immersio plena
 or
 Immerge te totum (submerge you totally )


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## Elysium

Scholiast said:


> I remain curious to know why you needed the _Latin_ for this. Are you trying to "immerse" pupils into Latin? This would be known in English paedagogical method-lingo as "Direct Method". And by heavens, it has its merits.


Because I am writing an article on immersion and I'd like to refer to the term -full immersion- using the Latin translation. Hope it makes more sense now?!
Thanks for the help guys (@ Scholiast and Lacrimae)


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## Scholiast

Dear Elysium



> Because I am writing an article on immersion...



Why not then just use the English (at least if your article is to be written in English)?

But if you insist on Latin: with all due respect to lacrimae (#5) I would then still maintain that _immersio totalis_ is what you are looking for. "_immersio *plena*_" is to my Latin ear an oxymoron, as the adjective _plenus_ does not mean "whole" but "full", as a bottle or glass may be full, rather than "complete" or "unadulterated".

Other Foreasters may dispute this, and I am very willing to be corrected, but I cannot think of a comparable instance of _plenus_ in classical Latin.

I was, incidentally, inaccurate myself in my previous post (#4): an "immersion  course" involves teaching (say) Biology or History in (say) English to  German-speaking students.


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