Assimilating Vocabulary Into Your Daily Speech Fairly recently I decided, as a South African citizen and nativie English speaker, to pack my bags and head to tropical South East Asia, or more specifically, Thailand. On landing and spending my first three months here all alone, without the help or support of parents or friends, I had no idea just how large a factor language was going to play in helping to survive in a life on my own. So, as a curious mind does, I saught a solution to my problem and frequented a book store, looking for something to help make my stay a little more traveler friendly and manageable. On looking through a few of the rows of books, I noticed the travel section, so I headed over. It did not take me very long to find a little book that read: THAI Phrasebook and Dictionary. It was then that I had the feeling that I had just found my new best friend, as I was not going to part ways with this little book (which I still own and use today) in a long time. On opening this little 260 page phrasebook, the very first thing I noticed was that on the inside of the cover was a heading, aptly named: Survival Phrases. A good place to start I thought. Okay, so I would be learning Thai to stay afloat, this can't be too difficult I thought. I took language classes in school and never had any trouble learning of them, so this is going to be just like that right? Wrong! Learning a new language, particularly a new language like Thai where there are 44 consonants and 24 vowels, is not the same as being spoon fed sounds and worksheets in school. If one is to succeed in becoming bilingual and truly assimilating a new language i.e. alphabet, vocabulary and grammar, into your daily speech, it takes a little more than that. So what does it take you may ask? Well, that answer depends on the individual, but I can provide some pointers. First, keep a book with a list of new words and try to add 10-20 words every day or every other day. Then learn each word by learning both the English word, karaoke (or phonetics) and then practice writing the word in the native alphabet itself e.g. Thai in my case. I find this really helps in staying motivated and the words are absorbed quite quickly, and it won't be long before your vocabualry begins to grow. Okay, so where to after this? Well, the learning never stops. That is the great part about learning a new language. You can learn in your time, at your own pace, with others or alone. It is all about finding what works for you! Best of luck and adieu! :)