Learning is a process that involves receiving information again and again, the same information, so that we become familiar with it. When we use that information successfully we develop the confidence to use it again. In language learning, this information might be a word, a phrase or some grammar, for example, which we can use in a conversation and get a good result. We need good quality information sources that we can trust, of course, or we can learn the wrong things, make mistakes, not get the results we want and undermine our confidence.
We need to choose the right information for each situation and this can be quite complex in business settings. There are many possibilities including sales, purchasing, recruitment, customer service, shipping, consulting and even more general language which is often called ‘smalltalk’. This can include talking about the weather, asking someone how their family are, if they enjoyed their holidays, their new car, almost anything.
Repeated use which brings familiarity and confidence is the key to the whole process, whether learning to speak a language, play a musical instrument or even to ride a bicycle.