If you are interested to get your ‘feet wet’, then I would suggest the following:

1. You would be using IBM Cloud Services. Get a FREE IBM ID.

To get a free IBM ID: Go to https://console.bluemix.net/
Choose “Create a Free Account”. Follow steps.
I opened my account with my Gmail account. It works fine. I have not tried with other email services.

2. Join the FREE Course “Build Your own Chatbot” at cognitiveclass.ai

Go to https://cognitiveclass.ai/
Choose login (top right corner) -> Choose Login using IBM ID (3rd option)

Do the usuals: Add country name, Accept Terms and Conditions, proceed.

In the top Menu, go to “Courses” -> In the list of courses, in the 3rd row from top, choose “Build your own chatbot”. When you enroll, you will get an offer in the right column (Utilize it, it’s a good one).

Once you start the course you will be told to Sign up for a free Watson Assistant account. Do follow the link. Choose the default options, and click the big “CREATE” button at the bottom right.

3. There are five modules in the course. In the 3rd module you would be learning the following terms:

• Intent
• Entities

In the 4th Module, you would be learning

• Dialog

In the 5th Module, you would learn to host your Chatbot. You better have a WordPress site, for, in that case, you can use the extension [Watson Assistant] to embed your chatbot into your WP site.

The chatbot on this site is made using this approach.