Language acquisition and usage is very important. To begin to learn and use a new language, start with the following:

1. Select a phrase you really want to know.

Some good choices:

• Learn how they greet each other the first time they meet and casually. Is it "How do you do?" "Hi!" "Are you happy and healthy?" or "Where are you going?"

• Try out some personal sharing and questions. "My name is Scott." "I was born in Arizona, in the United States." "I have two brothers and a sister." "I'm teaching English at the language school." "What's your name?" "How old are you?" That just may be a polite question, so find out what people like to talk about when they first meet.

• Get the essentials. "Where's the toilet?" "Thank you for the delicious meal!" "How much does this cost?" "Sorry, but I don't eat pork (or dog, etc.)!"

• Learn what you will use and remember the phrases you wished you could have said, then go learn them.

2. Pick a native speaker to be your helper.

3. Have your helper say the phrase for you.

• Listen to him say it slow to catch the right sounds.
• Listen to him say it fast to catch the right inflections.
• Record the phrase on tape for later review.

4. Write down what you hear in your own phonetics so you can easily repeat it.

Dew U rite lyk wrdz sownd?

5. Speak the phrase out loud asking your helper to correct you.

Be patient! You may think you sound just like him, but if he doesn't think you're clear, nobody else will understand you either.

6. Practice the phrase with your helper or on your own until it's memorized.

7. Go OUT and say the phrase to thirty people.

Find people in shops, in front of their homes, on buses and by schools. Offer to trade English speaking for practice.

8. Repeat the cycle with a new phrase or learn new words to add to or substitute in your old phrase.

For example, once you've learned, "I am going to the market." In place of "market" substitute "school." In place of "going" substitute "passing by." Add words such as "after lunch."

Extra Hints for Success

• Keep a learner's mentality – eager for new words, humble under correction.
• Have a notebook or note cards on a ring that you always keep with you and in which you write down any new word or phrase you learn. Small pieces of paper are too easily lost.
• Set goals for learning such as, "I will learn a new phrase, or at least a new word, every day."
• Choose a partner and hold each other accountable, quizzing each other once a week.
• Review the phrases you've learned once a week.