20 The importance of learning foreign languages
20. The importance of learning languages
The importance of learning foreign languages
It is said that the more languages you know, the more of a human you are. And it is absolutely true, especially nowadays. With words or phrases from foreign languages (mostly English) you already encounter from early childhood on every single step, for example on toys, clothing, games, TV, advertisement, movies, computers etc. and it‘s influence is also obvious in spoken language. And finally it is highly requested when you are applying for a job. English is necessity now.
Language studies in Czech schools and experience
In my opinion it is better to start with learning foreign languages in earlier age, than later. Because it is more natural for you. You can easily build up warm relation to the language. What is really important by this time is good first teacher, who form your foundation, who can simply turn the education into a game.
In the Czech Republic the first contact with foreign language for pupils is in the 4th or 5th class of a grammar school and then it continues. I think it is too late and teachers are hardly ever first-rate. On the other hand it depends on student personal attitude to the education. So the ideal solution is attend to a special language school beside, where professionals and native speakers teach. The choice of the proper age is up to you.
Where can you learn languages?
As I said before, you can learn language in a grammar or a secondary school like a part of a normal education, but the level is not always quality. Advantage of these schools is that you don’t have to pay tuition, because it is always paid by state. While on a private language school you must pay tuition, which is generally quite expensive.
What helps you best in learning languages?
I’m sure you will agree when I will say it depends on every each. Someone like learning language by his/her own, somebody likes to be in a group, somebody wants to speak with another students and somebody wants to do the exercises. From my point of view the best way to gain confidence in foreign language is to travel where the language is spoken and live there for more than 3 months. You can easily get quite good sureness in that language if you want.
What do you find most difficult?
Let’s say we can divide every language into five different parts as an English FCE or CAE exams do, it is: reading, writing, English in use, listening and speaking. For me, the worst part is writing. It takes me ages to write a page.
English
English is the mother tongue (native, first language) of people in Britain, Northern Ireland, USA, Canada, Australian, New Zealand and the white minority in the Republic of South Africa. It is also the official language there and in many other countries, e.g. Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Pakistan. People in the above mentioned countries use English because they have no single language to cover the whole country.
English is the most important and the second most widespread language in the world. It is used in many spheres of international communication: in politics (by statesmen and politicians), in business (as the language of commerce), technology, science, education, computing science, international mass media, in transport, music (language of pop songs), etc. Sometimes it is called the Latin of our age.
Today, when English is one of the major languages in the world, it requires an effort of the imagination to realize that this is a relatively recent thing - that in Shakespeare’s time, for example, only a few million people spoke English, and the language was not thought to be very important by the other nations of Europe, and was unknown to the rest of the world.
In 17th century, when the first settlements came in North America, was the beginning of exporting English. Above all, it is the great growth of population in the United States, assisted by massive immigration in the 19th and 20th century, that has given the English language its present standing in the world.
People who speak English fall into one if three groups: those who have learned it as their native language; those who have learned it as a second language in a society that is mainly bilingual; and those who are forced to use it for a practical purpose - administrative, professional or educational. One person in seven of the world’s entire population belongs to one of these three groups. Incredibly enough, 75% of the world’s mail and 60% of the world’s telephone calls are in English.
Geographically, English is the most widespread language on Earth, second only to Mandarin Chinese in the number of people who speak it. It is the language of business, technology, sport, and aviation. This will no doubt continue, although the proposition that all other languages will die out is absurd.
History of English
English is of Germanic origin and developed from Anglo-Saxon. It comes from 3 different languages: German, Old Norse and French. The English tribes came to Britain in the 5th century. They spoke a kind of German. So most ordinary word (man, house, and) comes from German. Later Vikings from Scandinavia brought Norwegian words: the verb to get and words beginning with „sk“. The Normans spoke French and brought word like language, parliament. But English has also taken words from other countries and languages.
The basic characteristic of English
Old English had many inflections to show various grammar forms (sg, pl, forms, tense, person). Over centuries word have been simplified and the language has very few inflections now. But pronunciation and spelling are more difficult now. Many words can be used as different parts of speech and many meanings can be expressed by phrasal verbs and idiomatically.
English is open to new words not only from other languages, but also ready to reflect new things of modern life. Most world languages have contributed some words to English at some time, and the process is now being reserved. Purists of the French, Russian, and Japanese languages are resisting the arrival of English in their vocabulary.
Flexibility - As a result of the loss of inflection, English has become, over the past five centuries, a very flexible language. Without inflections, the same word can operate as many different parts of speech. Many nouns and verbs have the same form, for example swim, drink, walk, kiss, look, and smile. We can talk about water to drink and to water the flowers; time to go and to time a race; a paper to read and to paper a bedroom. Adjectives can be used as verbs. We warm our hands in front of a fire; if clothes are dirtied, they need to be cleaned and dried. Prepositions too are flexible. A sixty-year old man is nearing retirement; we can talk about a round of golf, cards or drinks.
Differences in English depend on a place where is spoken
Although everybody speaks English in the United Kingdom, it is not the same language. Even people living in the U.K. don’t speak the same kind of language. There are local varieties of English, special accents and dialects. The Southern English dialect (accent, pronunciation) is generally accepted to be the most easily understood, and is usually taught to foreigners. It is know as RP (Received pronunciation) of BBC English or Oxford English, and Standard English. There are local dialects in Liverpool, Newcastle, Birmingham, etc. One of the most difficult to understand is Cockney, a London dialect with characteristic pronunciation and rhyming slang (apples and pears are stairs).
There are differences between British and American English and English spoken in Canada, Australia and New Zealand has also developed under local influences.
American English
Oscar Wilde: „Britain and American are two nations separated by a common language.“
There are some differences in vocabulary: in spelling:
American English British English American English British English
automobile car check cheque
cab taxi color colour
drug-store chemist’s defense defence
elevator lift dialog dialogue
fall autumn jewelry jewellery
garbage rubbish theater theatre
highway main road realize realise
mail post favorite favourite
and in grammar:
1. American English often uses the past where British English uses the present perfect:
U.S. - Did you eat yet? G.B. - Have you eaten yet?
2. American English sometimes uses the verb ‘to have’ differently from British English.
Do you have a problem? Have you got a problem?
3. The past participle of ‘get’ in American English is ‘gotten’. In British English it is ‘got’.
We’ve never really gotten to know each other. We’ve never really got to know each other.
4- There are lots of small differences in the use of prepositions.
check something out check something
do something over do something again
fill out a form fill in a from
meet with somebody meet somebody
stay home stay at home
Monday thru Friday Monday to Friday
5. On the telephone.
Hello, is this Susan? Hello, is that Susan?
The future is in English.
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