3.4.2. Incorporating heavy duty two-way communication into your daily language learning

Let's assume that you have spent a month concentrating mainly on learning to understand the language, and now you are starting some serious speaking. It is time to increase the number of people you regularly talk to. After all, you can use several hundred basic vocabulary and many basic sentence patterns, perhaps somewhat brokenly. Increasingly you will want to spend part of your “work day” in informal visiting. You might visit your LRP's friends or family. Or you might visit neighbors or people with whom you have done business. Don't be embarrassed to tell them that you are looking for opportunities to converse in the language. This may cause people to interpret conversing with you as doing you a favour. That is exactly what it is at this point. Believe me, it is work for them. You will probably end up owing some favours in return.

Something else I would urge you to strongly consider at this point is hiring a second LRP, this time one who does not know English (or any other language that you know well). You might then have two sessions per day, one with your first LRP, and one with your new one. This will allow you a lot more opportunity for conversational practice in the security of your nest.

Subsections

3.4.2.1 Some techniques to help you keep talking