How To Write An Unsent Letter

The unsent letter is a journalism tool often used when you, the writer, have something you want to say to someone and are unable to tell them directly.  Whether the person is physically absent from your life or there are other extenuating circumstances, an unsent letter can help diffuse the negativity of holding something inside.

What are some of the times you might choose to write an unsent letter?

• When the person you want to write is not able to listen.  (The person is dead or in a coma or otherwise completely beyond your voice’s reach.)
• When the person you want to write is not willing to listen.  (The person no longer wants a relationship with you or you are still in a relationship but know from past experience that there are certain things they will never hear due to their own denial.)
• When what you want to say may be more hurtful than helpful.  (You are so angry or hurt by the other person that you need to get that raw emotion out on paper or you will be eaten up by it.)
• When what you want to say is something you don’t necessarily want the other person to know at this point in time.  (You have a personal confession to make but are not ready to fully disclose yourself to the other person.)

The purpose of the unsent letter is to afford you the opportunity to say it all, everything from pain to rage, without fear of reprisal.  You can tell someone to take a long trip off a short pier or confess that, even though they have moved on with their lives, you are still very much in love with them.  You can tell a parent how much their neglect and abuse damaged you; or tell your rebellious child how painful it is to watch self-destructive patterns repeat themselves from one generation to the next.  You can tell a teacher what you really think of the grade you received or your boss what you really think about your job.  The unsent letter can be as rich or frivolous as you need for it to be.

Before you begin to write your letter, set aside a block of uninterrupted time for the actual writing.  Allow at least thirty minutes but be prepared to spend more time because it is not unusual to find yourself pouring out more than you had initially anticipated writing.  It is also not unusual to find that the emotion with which you started writing changes as you write.  I have begun an unsent letter furious with anger and have the letter shift into a compassionate confession where I try to understand why something happened.  Then again, you may find yourself filling pages with vitriolic accusations and never stray from that fury.  There is no right or wrong when writing an unsent letter and very few rules apply.  In fact, there are only three.

One
When writing the unsent letter the first thing you want to do is to date your letter, just as you would any other journal entry or letter you would write.  You want to date your unsent letter for your own purposes.  A year (or ten) from now, if you should reread your letter, you may be surprised by how much your personal attitude towards the person or situation have changed.  This is to be expected but you won’t be able to fully appreciate how far you have come if you don’t know when you were at this place emotionally speaking and needed to write the letter to begin with.

Two
Write honestly and without hesitation. Do not stop to revise yourself.  Above all else, do not censor yourself.  Nobody is going to read what you write.  You are not going to send this to the person.  You don’t have to worry about anyone judging you for being too angry, too weak, too pathetic.  Let everything pour out onto the page, whether you compose it with pen and paper or on a keyboard.  Give yourself to be as transparent as you can be.

Three
This should be obvious but do not send the letter.  Sometimes it is tempting to do so, especially if the person you are writing is still alive.  The consequences of sending the letter are manifold.  If you go into writing this letter without the intention of sending it, you are likely to say things that the other person is not prepared to hear.  Yes, you may want to tell your former lover how much their absence grieves you but it is unlikely that you will receive any sympathy after your letter is read.  If anything, he or she may think you are trying to be manipulative. 

Writing the unsent letter is not meant to be an opportunity for you to tell anyone else what you need to say; its purpose is to afford you the opportunity to say what you want and need to say in spite of the other person’s willingness or ability to listen.  This journalist exercise is incredibly powerful and, although it seems simplistic and may even appear to be useless, the truth is I know of no better way to express yourself honestly and without concern for repercussions than by writing unsent letter.  If you simply must have someone read it afterwards, you can always share it with a friend or you can post it anonymously on the internet. 

The unsent letter is an opportunity to give yourself closure where none is offered and the benefits may not be fully appreciated when you first undertake writing one but you can and will benefit from it in the long run. 

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How To Write an Essay

The formal essay is a fundamental in education. A formal essay is the best way to share knowledge on a particular topic and is a very popular form of exam. An essay can be personal or research based, but an essay generally follows the same format.

The Outline:

A well written essay can easily be tied back to an outline. It is heavily framed than then fleshed out with details. An outline for a classic five paragraph essay looks like this:

I. Introductory Paragraph

II. Main Idea #1

a. Detail about Main Idea #1

b. Detail about Main Idea #1

c. Detail about Main Idea #1

III. Main Idea #2

a. Detail about Main Idea #2

b. Detail about Main Idea #2

c. Detail about Main Idea #2

IV. Main Idea #3

a. Detail about Main Idea #3

b. Detail about Main Idea #3

c. Detail about Main Idea #3

V. Closing Paragraph and Summary

Introductory Paragraph:

The introduction to your essay should contain your thesis statement. This is the one sentence that summarizes your entire paper. All supporting paragraphs will provide details about this statement, so it must be broad enough to say your complete message, but it also must make a solid point. Generally the thesis statement is the first or last sentient of the introductory paragraph.

Body Paragraphs:

Each of the body paragraphs in an essay makes a point. Each paragraph should follow the same format as shown by the outline above. The first sentience of each is the topic sentence for that paragraph. The topic sentence should contain only one supporting point, such as “The French Revolution was disappointing to many of the French peasants of the time.”

Then, each of the remaining 3-4 sentences should give details and proof as to how and why the peasants were disappointed. Each paragraph should make a different point with at least two supporting statements and details following the topic sentence. You can have as many body paragraphs as you do points to make.

The Closing Paragraph:

After you have introduced your topic and stated your point using your thesis statement, you offer support. Your body paragraphs offer supporting statements and details that show your thesis statement to be correct. Finally, you must wrap up your support and close the paper using a powerful ending.

The closing paragraph restates your thesis and ties in the supporting statements. Ideally you should have a powerful final statement that will linger in the mind of your reader and help cement your point. In some cases, the closing paragraph could be shortened to a single sentence and tacked onto the end of the final body paragraph, but it is cleaner to simply add a final paragraph.

Essay Overview:

From a very high perspective, an essay is clean and tidy. You first introduce your topic and tell the reader what you are about to say. Then, you say it. Finally, you wrap it up and tell the reader what you just said. There is no room for extra items or long drawn out side stories.

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How To Write A Short Story

While the correct length of a short story is up for debate, generally, a short story is no more than ten pages. This does not leave the writer much room for major plot points and character development. Twisted plot lines and overlapping themes have their place, but are often too much to fit neatly into a short story. The ideal short story contains a single plot line, moderately developed characters and no extra leads or fluff.

Short Story Frame:
The frame of a short story appears much like a mountain. At the lowest point, the beginning of the story, characters are introduced and the setting is laid out. Limit characters to only those necessary to the basic plot line and avoid unnecessary descriptions. Hair color and the style of clothing matters only if it has bearing on the outcome of the story.

Once everyone is introduced, the story begins to pick up speed. The problem is introduced. The problem, or conflict, in a story is usually one of three types. The main character conflicts with another character, battles natural elements or struggles internally. The correct literary terms for these conflicts are Man v. Man, Man v. Nature, or Man v. Himself. Obviously these problems are not restricted to male characters.

As the plot thickens, the main character faces the problem and finally things climax. The physical fight takes place or he reaches his breaking point. This is the peak of the mountain, and also the peak of the action. Picture it as the dramatic battle sequence in the movie.

Everything following the peak is the resolving action or resolution. How does your character respond to the climax? Is there a lesson to be learned? Does love blossom, or does the character find inner strength?

Finally, the last bit of the story should be resolution. All open plot points should be tied up and there should be no characters or storylines left dangling. Contrary to popular belief (and modern movies) “to be continued” is NOT a suitable ending.

Engaging Short Stories:
Once you have a framework laid out, your actual short story can start at any point along the frame. In fact, many of the most interesting short stories start at the end of the plot and work backwards or begin in the middle with time spent developing the history before moving forward.

Characters should be simple without a lot of description or drama to avoid dragging the story down. If the character is battling inner demons, he will obviously have more development than a simple character struggling to survive a wildfire. Elaborate your characters and setting only as much as necessary. Many short stories are timeless as the setting can be anywhere at any time.

Write the story first without regard to grammar or sentences. After you have completed the story, go back and read through it to find extra fluff or plot points that don’t close. Revise and rewrite the story until you feel it is as tight as possible while maintaining interest and its message. Then, go back and find grammatical mistakes and correct awkward phrasing.

A true writer is never finished with a piece as it can always be revised, but reach a place you are comfortable with, and call it complete. Then share your story with others and enjoy their praise.

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How To Write A Love Poem

Writing a love poem is both the easiest and also the most difficult thing to do in poetry.  It is easy to write a love poem because writing about something that feels so good simply comes easily.  Certainly easier than writing a poem about something painful or even grievous.  However, writing a love poem is also difficult, especially if you aspire to write something interesting.  Trite love poems are ubiquitous.  A quick search online will immediately pull a wealth of poorly written love poems praising the charms of the beloved using phrases and metaphors which are not unique let alone interesting.  The primary goal of someone writing a love poem should be to write a poem that rises above the banal.

So ,although writing a love poem can be easy because you know what you are feeling, trying to write a poem that expresses your love in a new and exciting way may not come as easily. Even the most masterful poets struggle with writing love poems.  I confess to not only writing but publicly sharing some admittedly horrid love poems.  I say this to encourage you not to get so caught up in the suggestions which follow that  you never write a love poem.  I hope that you will, however, at least try to write something that will reflect the most essential experience of your emotion for your beloved.  And to this end, I offer the following  exercises.

The first exercise I would recommend is to write a love letter instead of a poem.  In the letter, write directly to the person describing how you feel about them and why.  Or you can write a letter to someone else, telling them how you feel and why.  It is not enough to say what you feel because the truth is that we all experience the feeling of love in similar ways–the excitement of seeing the one you love, the "butterflies in the stomach," the breathlessness.  By saying "why" you feel what you feel, you are taking your emotions to something more personal.  Is it the way the person dances?  Not everyone dances.  Does the person you love make you breakfast in bed?  These are the details which make your relationship and what you feel and experience different from everyone else’s. 

Another way to approach a love poem is to make a list of things you love about the person.  Many love poems and songs are simply a list of things the the lover/writer loves about the other person.  Elizabeth Barrett Browning counted the ways she loved her husband Robert Browning in a sonnet.  You can do the same.  I would even challenge you to try to make the list as long and as detailed as possible.  The longer you can make your list, or letter, the more details from which you will be able to draw when it comes down to writing your poem.

As you are writing the letter and/or the list, do not discard anything as being too trivial or unimportant.  Remember that your goal is to celebrate your relationship and the qualities of your love which make it different from anyone and everyone else’s.  For this reason, you want to include the things about your relationship and the person you love that define what the two of you share.   Do not be  afraid to celebrate the trivial aspects of your love because these, ironically, will elevate your poem above the trivial and typical love poem.

After you have written the letter and/or the list, you should have plenty of information from which to draw and write a poem that is emotionally relevant to you and your beloved.  Poetry is an ideal means of communicating familiar emotions because the abbreviated lines and careful choice of words allows the poet to take the mundane and make it profound.  As you read through your writing, look for those things which jump out to you as interesting.  The things that jump out may be physical or personality traits, things the two of you share in common, and experiences that the two of you have had together.  The goal here is not to highlight everything but to choose the highlights of your emotions and experience.  These are the elements you will want to weave into your poem. 

How you choose to write the poem, whether you choose to write a form poem (ie. a sonnet, vilanelle, et al) or free verse is completely up to you.  You might want to write more than one poem, using more than one form.  While I realize that this sounds like an awful lot of writing, look at it as an opportunity to celebrate your relationship, to explore the things about it which make you happiest, to not only relive the best but also immerse yourself in the experience of being in love with this other person.  (You may even want to save what you don’t use this time and share it at some future time.)

I assure you, if you take the time to do these things you will be able to present your beloved and the world with a wonderful gift–a synthesis of your love in your words that only you can offer.  I hope you will share them with me if this article has helped.  I would love to celebrate your love with you and know that this article helped you do the same.

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How To Write A Haiku

The haiku, because of its simplicity, is one of the few form poetry styles with which most poets experiment.  However, simplicity can be deceptive and it is the very implication that a haiku is "easy" to write that invites so many poets to write technically poor haiku.

Haiku has a long history and although most people are not familiar with the tradition behind haiku poetry nor make the correlation between spiritual practice and haiku, even less people are unable to define it.  A haiku is a seventeen syllable poem made up of three lines.  The first and third lines are five syllables each making a 5-7-5 syllable three line poem.  If a haiku were only this, a three line poem composed of seventeen syllables, then any seventeen syllable sentence would suffice and qualify as a poem.  In my article, How Not to Write a Poem, I give an example of a haiku composed of a simple sentence.

I hate you mostly
when I talk to your wife on
the phone as she cries.

This meets the definition most people use to define a haiku but falls so far short of a true haiku that to label this a haiku is an insult.  It fails to meet the other criteria which are often overlooked.

A haiku is not only a three line poem but it also includes an allusion to nature.  This can be seen in the haiku of the masters, such as Bassho and Issa, as well as others.  From a particular species of plant or animal (a cherry blossom, a hawk, a cicada, a chrysanthemum) to a clear season (harvest moon, snow, summer’s sun), there is supposed to be some allusion to the natural. 

However, sometimes this is a subtle allusion.  Your seasons will differ from those of other nations and traditions. In my home, growing up, we had a fake Christmas tree that stayed up year round so referencing a decorated tree had no seasonal meaning.  But had I referred to a particular block party in the streets of Manhattan, anyone who grew up in my home would recognize the time of my haiku.  Be aware of your own seasons, think beyond those obvious four seasons that dominate the thinking of society.  Adopt and adapt your seasons to infuse your poetry with a subtlety that may elude most readers while infusing your writing with something intrinsic, personal, and potentially profound.

Haiku is intimate, a highly personal form of poetry, that is easily recognized for its immediacy in the predominance of the present moment.  Some haiku may be written in the past tense, very few are written in the future tense, but most haiku is undeniably set in the present.  Because of this, haiku have an emotional integrity that is often overlooked by the poet who is assuming that the haiku is an easy poem. 

I learned this lesson when not writing a haiku a long time ago.  I had been experimenting with sumi-e brushwork and was trying to copy the drawing of a hawk standing on a rock looking over its shoulder.  Each drawing I made seemed devoid of something I could not define.  The brush strokes were carefully performed, allowing for control within the freedom of the ink’s flow.  My frustration grew as I tried again and again to recreate the image I had before me. 

Then I stepped away, looked at the original from which I was trying to draw inspiration and wondered to myself what the hawk was thinking and feeling.  In my mind it seemed to be saying it wanted to be left alone, not documented in ink.  I returned to the paper, meditating on this feeling of isolation, of wanting to be alone and undisturbed.  Nothing else changed.  My strokes were the same, the ink I used not watered down in any way, but this time the image that I created had an energy that the previous attempts had lacked.

This should be true of your haiku; you must first feel the moment before you can write about it.  You may write about something only moments passed or decades old.  By drawing on the past moment, placing it into the present tense, you draw yourself and your reader into the haiku’s moment, bridging a distance between yourself and the moment and your reader so that the three become one.  Honor the emotional moment and trust your reader by being subtle in how you expose yourself in the delicate lines.  The very brevity of a haiku, the seventeen syllables, will force you, as a poet, to synthesize a moment into a concentrated form, condensing the emotion so that it has the same weight as it did when experienced.

For instance, I wrote a poem, Poetic Bugaboo, about a moment I experienced while frustrated with myself as a poet.  The same theme could have found its way into a haiku because the insect meets the criteria for having something of nature in the poem.

Squashed gnat between the
lines of a poem written
with no real passion.

It is possible, maybe even likely, that most readers would not understand the frustration I was feeling with myself as a poet but a haiku trusts the reader to sit with the poem, meditate upon its meaning, discover the emotion of the words, and in this way writing a haiku and reading one can become a form of spiritual practice. 

Most writers have learned the five W’s and an H rule:  Who?  What?  Where?  When?  Why? and How?  In writing a haiku there is a similar, often overlooked rule.  Each line of the strictly traditional haiku will ideally fall into the following pattern: 

Line 1:  Where?
Line 2:  What?
Line 3:  When?

Before you balk at the strictness of this, arguing that poetry is about breaking with tradition, I offer this challenge.  Try to conform to the strictest definition of the haiku, rise to the occasion and allow yourself to write a haiku that conforms to these rules, dare yourself to find freedom within the strict rules.  Write seventeen syllables, broken into three lines, include a natural element, and then answer the three questions (Where? What? When?) In precisely those three lines of five-seven-five syllables.  Find the freedom in the form and conformity.  Trust yourself to be in the moment, write from the moment, and dare yourself to write a true haiku.  And if you fall short of the purest form when writing your haiku, welcome to the club.  Trust me; you are in very good company.

alone in my bed
no wishes left or dreams, dark
clouds hiding the stars

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How To Not Write a Poem

The following is a list of the mistakes immature poets often make. The truth is, even practiced poets will make these mistakes. Nobody is immune to lazy writing. But if you want your reader to realize that you are not a talented poet, that you have nothing new or interesting to say, then be sure to include one or more of the following things in your poetry.

1. Use archaic language.

Once upon a time when people spoke, they used such words as "thou" and "methinks." A lot of poetry was written at this time and we are still reading these poems today even though we no longer talk that way. Contemporary poetry should be written in contemporary language. When Shakespeare wrote, "Methinks thou doth protest too much," this is actually how people spoke in his day. When you choose to use archaic language for the sake of sounding poetic, you only make yourself sound like an amateur.

2. Use cliches in your writing.

Cliches are useless unless you are writing about cliches. If you fall back onto cliches you reveal yourself as a lazy writer. If you describe someone’s eyes as being deep as the ocean or your love being like a rose or any of the other typical metaphors, your reader will quickly lose interest.

3. Rhyme for rhyming’s sake.

There are many people who write form poetry which usually means lines of verse that have end rhymes. When done effectively, some of the most brilliant poetry will rhyme and rhyme well. However, too often it is done poorly. If you have to invert sentences to force a line to rhyme, revise the poem until you can do it without compromising your syntax. My son likes to mock certain rappers for making rhymes out of nonsense words or, worse, rhyming the same word with itself. If you can’t rhyme creatively, better to just not rhyme at all.

4. Be vague and abstract.

Henry Miller says that he always set aside his writing for a year. I have done this and been surprised to find a poem I wrote was utterly meaningless to me. It sounded lovely, used typically poetic language with metaphors, allusions to literature. But when I try to get to what the poem means, all I see are pretty phrases with no substance.

5. Stop reading poetry.

If you want to write bad poetry, you either need to expose yourself to only bad poetry. The problem is that if you read any poetry you risk reading good or even great poetry so it is probably best to read no poetry at all. If you simply must read poetry, only read poetry that was written over 500 years ago. You wouldn’t want to read anything contemporary, anything written in your vernacular. Better yet, try to read poetry written by people with whom you have no connection. Most older poetry is written by highly educated, wealthy, white men. If you are none of these, you won’t be able to identify with them as poets and what you write will lack authenticity.

6. Read books about poetry–all of them, all of the time.

Rather than actually write poetry, spend your time reading about writing poetry. Memorize everything you can about meter, be ready to define any and all formal poetry types from haiku to vilanelle, and memorize not only the difference between a Shakespearean sonnet and an Italian sonnet. If you can actually quote from memory examples of all of the above, that is even better. The time you spend learning all of this information could have been spent writing poetry and that is not what we are trying to do here.

7. Throw out all spelling and grammar rules.

Whitman and Dickinson started it and then came cummings, who wouldn’t even capitalize his own name. With modern poetry came a wave of waving goodbye to the conventional rules of spelling and grammar. These genius poets paved the path. No longer were poets confined to conventions. Not only did lines not have to rhyme but now poets didn’t even have to capitalize a proper name or follow the most common grammatical rules. The problem is that these people who most perfectly ignore the rules first mastered them which is why they break them so beautifully. They don’t break the rules for the sake of breaking them, they break them to say something more meaningful than conforming to the rules would have afforded them the opportunity to do.

8. Avoid yourself as a poet.

If you are writing poetry then you are probably comfortable with a certain style of writing. Perhaps you are comfortable with free verse or you may prefer for your poems to have a tight rhythm with carefully chosen end rhymes. Neither choice is better than the other but if you write other styles of poetry then you risk actually growing as a poet. Stretching creatively beyond your personal comfort zone will likely result in your becoming a better poet. I caution you to find your one style and stick to it no matter how boring your poetry writing may seem.

9. Mistake prose for poetry.

This offense occurs most often in haiku where someone writes a seventeen syllable sentence and breaks it into lines of five/seven/five and declares themselves the writer of a haiku.

- I hate you mostly
- when I talk to your wife on
- the phone as she cries.

Technically, this meets the haiku standard for line breaks but offers nothing else. It lacks the emotional subtlety of a true haiku. Any poet who would dare to proclaim this a haiku only shows their ignorance of what a haiku should be.

10. Be afraid to break the rules.

Although you definitely want to break the grammar and spelling rules (as mentioned in rule seven above), you want to be careful to the point of paranoia when doing so. Consider all rules sacred. If you do this then you are more likely to write in a very formal tone, using those archaic words that are no longer a part of your natural vocabulary, and you will do whatever it takes to make that line rhyme the way it should.

If by some chance you are reading this article because you actually want to write a good poem, maybe even aspire to write some great poetry, and wanted to read some rules of things to avoid, then you would do well to follow number ten closely. Even these ten points are not sacrosanct. You can and should have the courage to do whatever you must to make your poem as powerful and potent as you can. If that means using archaic language or a cliche, manipulating a line so that the rhyme works, etc., by all means do it. But only do it if it is truly effective and there is no other way to make your poem relevant.

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How To Learn a Foreign Language

You can enjoy greater personal power in a foreign country when you speak the language. Without leaving your own home town, you can enter into the literature and culture of another country when you can read a foreign language. You will feel greatly empowered asking for directions, inquiring about places to visit, and making new friends and acquaintances in the language of your host country. You will also expand your business and employment opportunities.

Anyone Can Learn a New Language

Like many complex skills, learning a foreign language is much more a matter of daily effort than ability. In fact, scientists that study the human brain have discovered that parts of it are specialized for learning and using language. Except for a few people in special circumstances, virtually every adult human speaks at least one language.

Learning a New Language: Basic Principles

The most important principle to learning a new language is regular use. It is much easier to learn a spoken, living language than a "dead" language. You can study a foreign language in many ways and the more the better, but the best way is by immersion. Practice with native speakers as often as possible. If you can’t find native speakers, then find others who are trying to learn like you. Your local university or college may have a language house, such as a Spanish House, a French House, or a Russian House. If you attend the school, you can ask about living there. If you don’t, you may still be allowed to visit and practice the language with the residents. The internet also provides access to groups for people who want to practice a foreign language. Check newsgroups, Yahoo Groups, or MSN groups. You can practice listening to the language by watching a film or DVD in that language. Foreign films are also a great way to learn more about the culture that speaks your chosen language.

Foreign Language Study Material

In addition to practice, you need to have a source of study material.  The source can be a textbook or one of many language-learning books sold in bookstores and online.  If you take a course at a school, the textbook will be designated by the instructor.  You may also choose to hire a native speaker who will teach you one on one.  It is also possible to find language courses taught online, although these may not be able to replace hearing a native or proficient speaker live in person.  Your local library has many language learning books that you can use for free.  The great importance of study material is a progressive guide that leads you from most basic concepts to more advanced skills in a language.

Speaking a Foreign Language

A French instructor once said about participation in her class: “It’s okay to lie, as long as you’re grammatically correct.”  This is probably not a good idea in most situations, but it works great as practice in the right setting.  Whenever possible, learn about words and sayings that have to do with your own interests.  If you like sports, learn the words for ‘team,’ ‘ball,’ ‘player,’ ‘score’ and so forth.  If you like cooking, learn the words for cooking.  This is also a good idea for any field of business you would like to undertake in the chosen language.  Practice conversing in the language about the subject that interests you.

Read a Foreign Language

In addition to spoken language, you can practice reading the language.  Beginning books can be found that will allow you to cut your teeth on the new language.  As you become more advanced, you should try more difficult reading materials.  Many bookstores and larger libraries offer newspapers and magazines in foreign languages.  If your chosen language is written with a non-Roman alphabet, like Greek, Russian, Arabic, or Chinese (characters), you will need to devote a good deal of effort to learn the writing system which will include a good deal of writing it.  It is possible, however, to learn to speak a language without learning the writing system.  For example, many people learn to speak Chinese and write it in pinyin which simply adopts the same alphabet as the English language (Roman Alphabet) to spell Chinese words.

FEEDBACK:

Feedback enables you measure your progress and correct any errors in pronunciation or grammar that you make.  Formal instruction in a class or a private tutor will provide you with feedback.  You can also examine your own progress by quizzing yourself with tests in books.  If you wish to improve your pronunciation, you can even record your own voice and play it back to yourself.  Listening to a recording of your voice allows you to focus on what you hear more than when you hear yourself as you speak.

VERBAL and WRITTEN:

Verbal
Speaking, understanding, and otherwise conversing in the language are all skills that pertain to the verbal area.  Most people find the passive ability to understand a language easier than speaking it, although this is not always so.  Typically, your passive vocabulary is much broader than your active vocabulary in any given language.  In other words, you understand far more words than you actually use to express yourself.

Written
Reading and writing the language are both skills involving the writing system.  Reading is the passive aspect, while writing is the active aspect.  Again, reading is easier than writing the language.  A good way to practice spelling and your ability to hear the language along with writing is to do a ‘dictation.’  For this activity, you write down what you hear in the appropriate language.  High School and college courses often use this technique.

BASIC PARTS OF A LANGUAGE:
This is very simplified and applies to all languages.  Of course, some languages do not have a writing system.

• Pronunciation (Phonology):
• Words (Vocabulary)
• Word Forms (Morphology)
• Grammar (Syntax)
• Spelling (Writing System)

Pronunciation is the way you use your mouth to speak the language.  Hearing is an important component with pronunciation.  A foreign language will have some sounds that are familiar to you and quite few that are unfamiliar.  German has rounded vowels made in the front of the mouth that don’t sound anything like English.  Arabic has different forms of ‘s,’ ‘d,’ and ‘th’ that require learning a new pronunciation skill.  Chinese has tones. Remember, the distance between two languages is the same in both directions.  The English ‘th’ sound is a breeze for most Arabic speakers but challenging for speakers of German.  Become familiar with all the sounds of the given language and realize that some will take ongoing practice to say correctly.

Words are the building blocks of a sentence.  Most people find learning lists of words boring.  There are words basic to any language that you need to learn.  For example, it is impossible to speak standard English without words such as ‘I,’ ‘and,’ ‘to,’ ‘the,’ and ‘a.’

Word Forms are the ways in which words are made in the language.   This is how pieces of words are put together. 

Grammar is rules for putting words together to express the language.  Many people find grammar a challenge.  Like arithmetic, grammar builds upon basic skills.  Speaking a language is a particularly good way to help learn proper grammar. 

Spelling or more properly, the writing system, is the way the language is written or printed.  Some languages do not have a writing system at all.  These languages are generally not spoken by a large group of people. 

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