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Learning Foreign Languages
The great German poet Goethe once said: He who knows no foreign language does not know his own one. Learning foreign languages is especially important nowadays. Some people learn foreign languages because they need them in their work, others travel abroad, for the third studying languages is a hobby. Every year thousands of people from Russia go to different countries as tourists or to work. They can not go without knowing the language of the country they are going to. A modern engineer or even a worker can not work with an imported instrument or a machine if he is not able to read the instruction how to do it. Ordinary people need language to translation the instruction or the manual to the washing-machine or a vacuum-cleaner, medicine or even food-products. Some people are as a rule polyglots.
Historian’s diplomats need some languages for their work. If you want to be a classified specialist you must learn English, the language of international communication. English is one of the world languages. It is the language of progressive science and technology, trade and cultural relations, commerce and business. It is the universal language of international aviation, shipping and sports. It is also the major language of diplomacy. Hundreds and hundreds of books, magazines and newspapers are printed in English, most of the world"s mail and telephone calls are in English. Half of the world"s scientific literature is written in English. English is spoken by more than 350 million people. Geographically, it is the most widespread language on earth, second after Chinese. It is the official language of the UK, the USA, of Australia and New Zealand; it is used as one of the official languages in Canada, the South Africa. Millions of people study and use English as a foreign language.
In our country English is very popular. It is studied at schools, colleges and universities. Learning English is not an easy thing. It is a long process and takes a lot of time and patience. But to know English today is absolutely necessary for every educated person. I want to know English because it"s interesting for me to know foreign countries, their cultures and tradition. English will be of great use in my future profession connected with computers.
И бесплатно это сложная, но посильная задача. Причем очень часто у тех, кто хочет иностранный язык, спрашивают о том, зачем он вообще нужен, и как происходит обучение. Поэтому этот мы решили посвятить ответу на эти вопросы.
Learning the English Language
If one knows only one foreign language it is not enough to success nowadays. People need to know at least two foreign languages due to globalization to feel free in other countries. And the first language to learn is English.
Why is it so? The main reason is that English is globally spoken. It is also called international language. According to statistics more than one milliard people can speak English as a foreign language or as mother tongue.
For usual people it is needed to feel freely abroad. It is much more comfortable if you understand what is written in , on signs, in booklets. It also helps if you are lost in unknown city.
However, English is also the language of business. Each international contract must be translated in English, so if you don’t speak it you won’t get what conditions are in the document. It is also used during negotiations. If you want to success in international company then the ability to speak foreign language is needed. Without it your career wouldn’t grow up.
We also think that English itself is not enough nowadays. Depending on your future plans there may be also needed German, Spanish, French. By the way, experts think that Chinese is the language to be learnt after English.
Изучение английского языка
Если кто-либо знает один иностранный язык, то в наши дни этого уже недостаточно для успеха. Людям нужно знать как минимум два иностранных языка вследствие глобализации, чтобы чувствовать себя свободно в других странах. И первый язык для изучения это английский.
Почему так? Главная причина состоит в том, что на английском говорят повсюду. Его также называют международным языком. По статистике свыше одного миллиарда людей могут говорить на английском как на иностранном или родном языке.
Для обычных людей он нужен для того, чтобы спокойно чувствовать себя за границей. Это намного удобнее, если вы понимаете, что написано в меню, на знаках, в буклетах. Он также помогает, если вы потерялись в неизвестном городе.
Однако английский это еще и язык бизнеса. Каждый международный контракт должен быть переведен на английский, поэтому если вы не говорите на нем – вы не поймете условия, которые содержатся в документе. Его также используют во время переговоров. Если вы хотите преуспеть в международной компании, то умение говорить на иностранном языке необходимо. Без него ваша карьера не сможет расти.
Мы также считаем, что английский сам по себе сегодня недостаточен. В зависимости от ваших будущих планов может также понадобиться немецкий, испанский, французский. Кстати, эксперты считают, что китайский это язык, который следует учить после английского.
Today’s life is all about new technologies and rapid development of other areas of life. The difference between the past and the present is obvious.
A few decades ago only few people had higher education, but today higher education is as important as school education. The same thing one can say about foreign languages. With the cultural integration and globalization our society gradually becomes international.
Who needs to know foreign languages?
Most of us learnt foreign languages at school. Today there is hardly anyone who hasn’tcome across a foreign language in their life. With the development of social networks, many of us got an opportunity to practice our knowledge online with our foreign friends.
Students in different universities study terminology not only in their native language. Employees, who are able to communicate in a foreign language, have a higher chance of going abroad on a business trip.
Why do we need to study a foreign language?
Foreign languages connect us with other cultures. Boundless opportunities open to those ones who know them.
Some dream about reading the classics in the original. Others like talking to local residents when travelling. Somebody else work hard building a multinational corporation. Whatever the reason is, the knowledge of a foreign language is a certain advantage.
Жизнь в современном обществе
Сегодняшняя жизнь – это время новых технологий и бурного развития других сфер жизни. Разница с прошлым очевидна.
Несколько десятилетий назад, образование в университете было доступно лишь немногим, сегодня высшее образование так же важно, как и школьное образование. То же самое можно сказать и об иностранных языках. С глобализацией и слиянием культур наше общество постепенно становится интернациональным.
Кому нужно знать языки?
У большинства людей знакомство с иностранными языками началось еще в школе. Сегодня трудно найти человека, который так или иначе не сталкивается с иностранными языками. С развитием социальных сетей у многих появилась возможность практиковать свои знания с друзьями-иностранцами в режиме онлайн.
Студенты различных специальностей знакомятся с терминологией не только на родном языке. Работников предприятий, способных общаться на иностранном языке, с большей вероятностью отправляют в зарубежные командировки.
Для чего нужно изучать иностранные языки?
Иностранные языки – проводник в другую культуру. Благодаря им нам открываются безграничные возможности.
Одни мечтают прочитать классиков в оригинале. Другие любят общаться с местным населением во время путешествий. Кто-то еще трудится над созданием многонациональной корпорации. Как бы там ни было, даже простое знание еще одного дополнительного языка является достоинством.
We know a legend about the Babylonian Tower: once people decided to build a tower which would be so high that it would reach the heavens. Certainly, to build it lots of people gathered together. All of them were able to understand each other because one language was spoken then. The work was being done successfully but God became angry about it and punished the builders: he created lots of languages. The people lost contact with each other. The work couldn’t be completed.
These legend makes us think about the importance of languages and ability to understand each other. Actually, we take the language we speak for granted — it seems to be just a means of communication. But once we are in other countries, we are baffled because we can’t explain what we need! Using gestures can be fun but certainly it takes a lot of time and it’s often imprecise.
So here comes the question: how could all people understand each other? Probably, one language should be chosen to be learnt by everyone?
No one chose English to be that one but, nevertheless, we must admit that English nowadays could be called a world language. Here are facts which prove it:
— geographically, English is the most widespread language on Earth, second only to Mandarin Chinese in the number of people who speak it;
— it’s the official language of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the United States of America, of Australia and New Zealand;
— English is used as one of the official languages in Canada, the Republic of South Africa and the Trish Republic;
— another 100 million people chiefly living in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and in many African countries speak English in additional to their own language;
— 75 % of the world’s mail and 60 % of the world’s telephone calls are in English;
— it’s the language of business, technology, sport and aviation.
We see that it’s a must to know the English language nowadays. Perhaps, that’s why English is the most popular language taught at school in our country. Many pupils start to learn it at the age of six. I assume that it’s good — it’s a well-known fact children can master a language more easily in comparison with adults. And it takes much time to do it: in order to have perfect knowledge you are to learn all aspects of English: grammar, vocabulary, phonetics. Four activities: speaking, listening, reading, writing — will lead you to mastering the language.
Though lots of people claim that the English language is an easy one, there are its own difficulties. Like articles, for example. For us, who speak Russian as a mother tongue, articles have often been a problem. Tenses usually confuse learners, too. And I suppose the most difficult things in English are prepositions and set expressions — only by learning them by heart you will master them.
Naturally, there are lots of pluses of English. For instance, verbs have rather few inflec¬tions, and adjectives do not change according to the noun. English is a very flexible language: the same word can operate as many different parts of speech. For example, we can water flowers and have water to drink; time to go and to time a race; a paper to read and to paper a bedroom. Moreover, English has a very open vocabulary (this involves the free admission of words from other languages and the easy creation of compounds and derivatives). Most world languages have contributed some words to English at some time, and the process is now being reversed. Purists of other languages are resisting the arrival of English in their vocabulary — too many English equivalents started to substitute original words.
Another aspect of English which is not considered to be simple is pronunciation. Lots of words in English are written in the same way, but they are pronounced differently. There are even some funny poems about it.
Think of comb and tomb and bomb,
Doll and roll and home and some.
And since pay is rhymed with say,
Why not paid with said I pray?
Think of blood and food and good;
Mould is not pronounced like could.
Why is it done, but gone and lone –
Is there any reason known?
A moth is not a moth in mother
Not both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and bare.
We should bear in mind that a language is not simply words: it’s part of culture. A word, its pronunciation and spelling can tell us a lot about the past of a country. We can notice that frequently words from different languages are similar. What historical information can this fact give us?
Well, let’s take a look at the history of English.
When Julius Caesar invaded Britain in BC 54-5, the ‘Celtic’ tribes lived on the British Isles. Their Celtic languages still survive as ‘Gaelic’ in Scotland and Ireland, ‘Welsh’ in Wales, and ‘Manx’ in the Isle of Man, as well as ‘Breton’ in France.
So, the Romans brought Latin to Britain, but even before them the tribes from the East (the territory which is now known as Germany) had brought different dialects of the Germanic language in there. That’s why modern German and English have many similar words.
Later, the Vikings brought the Norse language, and the Normans from France (led by King William the Conqueror in 1066) brought the Old French language.
What is known as Middle English is the mixture of Old English and French. Nowadays even for native English speakers it’s very difficult to understand.
When the Renaissance came in Europe, English was not very different from the English used today. And the most famous writer of that time is William Shakespeare. Today we use lots of sayings Shakespeare gave us, and often we don’t realize that they came from his plays and poems. Probably you know some of these: «All the world’s a stage», «All’s well that ends well», «Love is blind».
As settlers from Britain moved across the world, English continued developing. First of all, it borrowed lots of words from other languages. Secondly, English started to fall into categories: British English, American English, Australian English and the like. Though the differences between them are slight, they exist.
Certainly, the fact that English is so widespread, has a very rich vocabulary and is comparatively easy to learn contributes to the popularity of this language. But, of course, not everyone is satisfied with the primary position of English. Actually, why not any other language be a world one? Does it mean that English is better in some way? People from France still can’t put up with the fact that French is no longer as popular as it used to be. And it’s bad that native speakers of English sometimes feel superiority: they needn’t take pains to learn other languages.
We know that there was an attempt to create an artificial language. It was called Esperanto. It would be a very good idea to use this neutral language as a world one. Moreover, it’s said to be very easy to learn and, at the same time, you can express the most sophisticated ideas with the help of it. Though Esperanto nowadays is not extremely widespread, its popularity is growing.
Anyway, I’m sure English will remain to be a very important language. Surely people will continue to learn it because it’s very pleasant both to speak and to listen to English. The rich vocabulary enables you to describe the slightest changes of emotions, the most exact thoughts. Famous writers entertain and amaze you and the convoluted history of English itself attracts more and more people to start learning this language.