It is easier today to learn English as a second language than at any other time in our recent history.

English is the language most commonly spoken in diplomatic and International circles and is an essential requirement for anybody who wishes to earn an income by Internet Marketing.
If travelling around the world today it is a great advantage to be able to write and speak English. Many school children learn to read and write English in school but this is not usually sufficient to speak English proficiently in International circles so further study and practice of the English language is needed.

Mother teaching Child

Learning how to speak English is best learned by speaking it conversationally. That is, by talking with someone in English rather than by speaking with someone who is not a native speaker of English.

The first language we all learn to speak is what we call our ‘mother’ tongue. This is usually the language that our Mothers first speak to us in.

It is the language we all first learn to understand the meaning of words. So to learn English as a second language can often be difficult; but is far from impossible as millions of ESL speakers can attest to around the world today. It requires practice and perseverance.

Learning to read and write English as a second language in school is an excellent start to learning the language. Once you are able to read, then you can educate yourself by practising. The best practice that you can do is to actually practice speaking the language.

At first effort, your words will sound very weird. This is understandable when you consider that many of the written words are pronounced quite differently to the way they are spelt.
Then there are the different spellings between US English, U.K. English and even Australian English.

English today has many accents and spellings and is not an easy language to speak. The words and the spelling don’t often match up with words that have “ph” and pronounced as an “f”. These language characteristics must make pronunciation of words confusing for any ESL person trying to have a conversation with someone in English.

Many native English speakers will argue that the correct English is “The Queen’s English” as this is the country that all of the English language originates from. This is why the Oxford dictionary is considered an authority on the subject and this is historically correct.

The Queen’s English may be the first spoken English language but even in the UK there are different dialects of the language spoken. Someone from Wales will speak quite differently to someone from Manchester.

What is a Dialect?

The Oxford English Dictionary (circa 1964) describes ‘dialect’ as:

Dialect: n. Form of speech peculiar to a district, class, or person. Subordinate variety of a language with distinguishable vocabulary, pronunciation, or idioms. Dialectical a.; dialectically adv.; dialectology, dialectology,nn.

So now that you are familiar with the variations in the language, it is perfectly understandable that anyone wishing to know how to learn English as a second language (ESL) will need to practice speaking the language frequently.