This transformation is a combination of the inherent drive twards speech competence, which your child was born with, and the stimulation and encouragement you provide for her. No matter what age your child is, the more you talk to her, discuss with her, ask her questions, and listen to her stories, then the more likely  she is to have good speech and language development. Bear in mind that after the babbling stage, your child's receptive language (the language that she understands) is always ahead of her expressive language (the words she is ablt to say), which means she understands much more than she can put into words.

The stages in acquiring speech

• Around 12-15 months: Your child may be able to use up to three or four clear words, although some children don't reach this stage until months later. She will also be able to follow basic directions. Hearing is usually sharp at this stage.
   
• Around 18-24 months: She uses around 50 different words, either singly or combined into two-word phrases. Most words are nouns referring to specific familiar objects or to people whom she knows well (e.g. her siblings, her pet dog, her friend).
   
• At 2-3 years: Vocabulary is almost 200 words now, and although mainly still nouns, many of them are general rather than specific (e.g. 'car', 'doll'). She also uses pronouns. However, she still makes minor errors such as "tat" for "cat".
   
• At 3-4 years: She uses upwards of 1,000 words, and understands a lot more than this. Sentences are longer, containing many verbs and adjectives. Most of the earlier "baby" mannerisms have been dropped. She asks many questions.
   
• At 4-5 years: Your child has spoken vocabulary of approximately 1,500 words. Her speech begins to resemble adult speech in the way it communication her feelings and ideas. She usues the past tense and other word endings. your child should speak clearly enough so that an observer who is listening closely can understand most of what she says.

Simple speech

Simple speech is the stage of development when a child not only says her first words, but is able to string two or three words together to make a phrase. There is a very wide range of ages over which it develops. For instance, around half of all infants have chieved theri first words by the age of 12 months, and most have attained this by the age of 15 months. There are many children who do not make real progress in language until well past their second birthday. In general, how well your child understands is a better indicator of lauage development than her actual spoken words. talk to your family doctor/pediatrician if you are concerned about speech delay, but in some cases all your child needs is more time for her speech to develop. often these children are referred for speech therapy, they then go on to make normal progress and quickly catch up with their peers.