Speak a language
When living in or traveling to another country a problem with allowing yourself to be immersed in the language is that many people like to practice their English with a native English speaker. Therefore real immersion does not occur unless you are strong. You have to not be shy or intimidated nor moved by their excitement that they show when they speak with a foreigner, i.e. you.
This is what you need to do, when people start to speak English, reply back in their language even if you know only a few words and your grammar is bad. they may laugh, which they do and I think is rude, but look them right in the eye and keep speaking your target language. Speak even if you need to mix it with English words. I have been in long conversations where I speak Polish and they speak English. You could just ask them to speak your target language, but actions speak louder than words, pun intended.
Do not feel you need to explain yourself, as with anything in life if you want to do something or do not want to do something, just do it. As soon as you start to explain yourself you open yourself up to counter arguments. Further, when you get into the whys it starts to dissipate your momentum. So be if you want to speak a language, speak it and do not think about it.
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