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As adults we tend to forget how we learned our first language. A baby that begins speaking say, a year after birth, did not all of a sudden learn the language and begin to speak. Since the day he/she was born she began "hearing," speech. Words and sentences. Over relatively short period of time these words and patterns of speech are filed away without a conscious effort on the part of the baby. As the weeks and months pass by, the child begins assigning meanings to these words - still without a conscious effort.

It would not be an exaggeration to claim that the brain of a child during her first two years acts like a sponge, soaking up everything it senses. Maybe a video camera is more accurate a comparison. The fact is, that a child learns to speak without a conscious effort. Which, BTW, allows a young child to learn several languages if given optimal conditions.

What does this have to do with an adult learning to speak English? Well. The same rules apply to adults as they do to children, not that an adult will learn to speak without conscious effort, but if one keeps in mind the aforesaid natural learning principles of language we are all born with it can and does help one to learn to speak.

Above, I stated that the first step a baby takes in learning language is "hearing." Unfortunately for an adult that has to be changed to "listening" which is an effort. But before an adult can pronounce a word, he first must hear it (BTW it is possible for a person to read and understand a language perfectly without knowing how to speak it).

A person living in an English speaking country has a much easier job than one living in a country where there is no English. In the States for example, one must just open the door in the morning and begin speaking to everyone. Make a list of questions to ask people, even beginning with a vocabulary of half a dozen words - "where is the bakery"?, "what time is it"? Writing everything down and regurgitating it, using it on the next "victim."

The greatest obstacle to learning to speak a language is EMBARRESSMENT. That will hinder progress until done away with. Perhaps the best way to learn to speak if you are not in an English speaking country is to READ ALOUD to yourself, or an audience (if it makes you feel more comfortable). It does not matter that you are not carrying on a conversation (listening comprehension is another issue wherein a dialogue is necessary). Your mouth is pronouncing words and sentences regardless if you are speaking to a person or reading aloud.

Vocabulary of course is important. If possible, it is always best to learn vocabulary by -associating words with "things" whether they be nouns, verbs, adjectives. Associating words with things rather than words - translations from the student's first language - is by far a faster and more productive system of learning vocabulary. The problem is that it is much more difficult to find or create such a situation.

Learn more about this author, Humphery Shipless.
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