Who is Ade?
I'm Ademola, Ade for short. I built Immersed and Aim. I learned Korean from my room in Maryland, mostly by watching, listening and reading the real thing, and I tracked every hour of it.
Read my whole story, with the photos →
The short version
- Why Korean. Mrs. Jeon, my 9th grade Algebra II teacher. She's the reason I went all in.
- How. Tutors and apps first, like most people. Then full-on immersion: shows with no subtitles, podcasts all day, cards made from things I loved. I gave myself eighteen months of it.
- Tracking. After a Korean YouTuber asked how many hours I'd done and I had to guess, I started tracking every single hour: which activity, and the exact show or channel. Every hour is still there.
- Howard. Getting into Howard University in 2020 is when I started thinking hard about who I wanted to be and how I'd get there. I studied political science and psychology, and I'm a Howard graduate.
- Korea. I studied at Yonsei, the only foreigner in my politics classes, and played on a Korean basketball team.
- Capitol Hill. I worked in a U.S. senator's office, on foreign relations.
- Migaku. I did work for Migaku, the people whose tools I used every day.
Why I built Immersed
After Korea I started getting on the phone with language learners every week. I've talked with hundreds of them, and I watched the same thing happen again and again: a great plan, and then nothing. The gap between a plan and a goal is action.
So I made a free calculator that turns your goals, your life and your level into a plan. That calculator grew into Immersed: the free blueprint, then the timeline, sessions, Discover and Growth. The little pink guy is Aim. My mission is to turn a million language learners into language immersers.
Where can I read the whole story?
On my story page: day 1 in my room in Maryland to day 1,073 in Seoul, and how Immersed started, with the photos.
Good to know
- Say hi. I'm in the Discord, and a real person answers there. That's me.
- What is Aim? See What is Aim, and who is it for?.