:Article Marketing At Its Best

If we continue to allow over 1 million illegal aliens and illegal immigrants into our country each year then we must start teaching Spanish and make it a requirement to all in our schools. Since our nation is predominantly English speaking, yet we have currently 24 million illegal aliens in our nation of which 82% speak Spanish and 60% speak Spanish only we simply cannot operate our nation without being able to communicate between us you see?

Language and Communication Issues are serious and we need to do something. Either we require that all illegal aliens, illegal immigrants speak English or We Must Make Spanish Mandatory in All Schools and we must do this now.

We simply cannot run our nation in the future with 50 million people or one in 7 people speaking Spanish only. It is going to be a major dilemma and if these folks refuse to learn English or simply cannot due to the difficulty of the language then we all must learn Spanish so we can communicate.

Failure to communicate will lead to massive disruptions and inefficiencies in Business, Government and society. You cannot run a civilization if the humans in it cannot communicate with each other and if we continue to allow this massive illegal immigration then we must worry about the future. Please consider all this in 2006.

Comments Off

Oh yes, it is possible. Let me show you some of the ways.

First of all commit to enjoyment and make the decision that it’s going to be fun. Look for ways of making it pleasurable. Tell people what a great time you are having. Believe it and enjoy. The above could apply to anything of course. It might be another learning situation, a new job, helping at a jumble sale, organising a coach trip for your son’s football team.

Secondly - be positive. Remarks like “I’m hopeless, I’ll never learn this” tend to be self fulfilling prophesies. Better to say something like ” I am getting better and better at learning words”. Stop yourself when you hear yourself saying, ” I can’t ” about anything. Change it to a positive affirmation in the present tense. “I am becoming more and more confident at speaking”.

Thirdly try out some of these activities:

Use colour when writing words i.e. one colour for masculine words and another for feminine words, another colour for verbs, another for adjectives etc. This helps them to stand out and stay in your memory.

Start drawing and don’t say, “I can’t draw”. Everybody can in some form or other and “practice makes perfect”. Make the drawings funny, make them silly, laugh, have fun, show them to your friends. Be inventive. The act of drawing and thinking what to draw will help you recall these words later. And you never know you may discover hidden talents!
Plan what you are going to do. How much time can you spend? Five minutes a day is better than 30 minutes before your next class. How many words are you going to learn? Be reasonable. Make it possible. One word a day learnt thoroughly is better than aiming for 10 a day and never achieving it. Set yourself up for success.

Word association can help too i.e. el gato is cat in Spanish. Think of a cat sitting in the middle of a cream gateau.

Music is an aid to learning. Baroque music is particularly helpful. Or dance round the room chanting sentences or verbs (close the curtains and make sure that you’re alone in the house maybe!).

Last but not least find ways of listening to the language even if you cannot understand all or much of what is said.
Speaking another language means that you can talk to people more easily. You will find it opens doors in many ways and helps you learn about other people. It’s exciting. It’s fun. Enjoy.

P.S. Learning a language? Any problems or difficulties contact me and I will help you.
Anne V. Taylor
Director
Languages for All Ltd

Learning languages in a way that is fun and effective

27 Romany Road

Rubery
Rednal
Birmingham
B45 0LG
Tel. 0121 453 9969
e-mail:- anne.taylor@languagesforall.co.uk

Anne Taylor taught languages for eight years in a state school towards the end of her long career in teaching. Increasing frustration with both the content and the methods of teaching languages led her to set up her own business Languages for All.Here languages are taught in a way that is fun and effective leading people to learn more easily. She is now expanding the business to include products that will assist people to easily add to their learning.

http://www.languagesforall.co.uk/

Comments Off

As in many aspects in life, Second Language Acquisition is part of a process that may extend for several years. How funny and ludicrous it is to find language courses that offer what we would all like to hear, that we can master a new language in only 30 days!

Some of these course providers even go one step beyond and raise the ante by promising students to speak a language with native- like pronunciation in this span of time.

Simply put, this is a blunt lie. Even for people living abroad in a foreign country, it may take several years for them to master the new language, let alone sound like native speakers. All this in spite of being immersed in the best setting for language acquisition to take place. After all, they are surrounded by native speakers of the language for most part of the day, unless they simply stay at home all the time, of course. Every single contact they have with people forces them to interact in the target language in order to get their message across and understand their interlocutors. Every interaction revolves around truly communicative situations (i.e. no one in the street will come to you and ask you: “what are the rules to form the ‘imperfect subjunctive?’”

What is more, after a hard-day’s work with full interaction in the second language, they get home and plan to relax, turn on the TV and there it is again: the foreign language is right there waiting for you! There is no escaping from it! You can run but you can’t hide. It’s at home on the radio, TV or the Internet, when you talk to your neighbors or the mailman; it is on your radio when you go to work, it’s ever present at work, when you go to the market, to the bank, when you eat out etcetera, etcetera and etcetera. This is total and absolute immersion and even in this heaven for the person eager to acquire a second language it may take at least four years for a learner to master this language, and especially in adults, native-like pronunciation is very difficult to acquire.

It is obvious that it is not always feasible or practical for us to leave everything behind and pursue this quest for learning a second language. Does this mean that we are doomed not to ever learn another language? Could we in any way infer that there is no hope of ever mastering a second language? Of course NOT. There are some awesome language courses and programs out there which are based on sound pedagogical principles. However, we must be realistic and objective about our second language learning. Whenever we hear about “the ultimate language course that can gain us proficiency overnight” we should be absolutely skeptical. More often than not, these self-proclaimed “ultimate solutions” are nothing but well-designed marketing ploys aimed at getting as much money from students as possible, in the shortest possible time.

Not surprisingly, they cost an arm and a leg, not because they are good, just because they sell hope; they sell what we want to hear, the magic pill that could make our dreams come true effortlessly. Who wouldn’t like to achieve in one month what’s taken others a lifetime to obtain? I would! However, pragmatically speaking, that is utterly impossible! Being a rather sedentary person with some extra weight, I must admit that I would love to be in very good shape. Nevertheless, I must acknowledge the fact that even if I hired the best personal trainer in the world and went to the best gym in the universe and trained my very hardest and dieted along the way, all of this for a whole month with the supervision and guidance of the best in the field, and even if I quit everything to pursue this objective, the plain and simple fact will remain that I would still not be able to participate in the Olympics after just one month of this severe training.

It would be ridiculous both to expect this to happen and to offer this. After just one month, how could I compete or even train at the same level of world-class athletes who have devoted their entire lives to get ready for that moment? The mere idea of this is just nonsensical! Ironically enough, this is often what second language programs offer and people simply fall for them time and again. What is more, the ones who design these programs are by no means “experts in the field” but just ruthless cunning businessmen who want quick profits by selling sand castles no matter how much pain and frustration they will eventually cause.

My humble piece of advice to any serious second language learner or learner-to-be is to be cautious and skeptical whenever tempted by such appealing offers as the ones already mentioned. As in the fable “The tortoise and the hare,” remember that “slow and steady wins the race.”

Julio Foppoli is a teacher of English as a Second Language and a teacher of Spanish as a Second Language. He is the creator and owner of http://www.esaudio.net/Spanish/online_classes.html, an online educational website with a technological edge, specialized in the teaching of Spanish as second language via audio-conference to native speakers of English from all over the world.

The website offers free listening comprehension activities with Spanish from all of the Spanish speaking world.

Comments Off

Frankly speaking, it is highly essential to know the language for communication. In general, the most popular language is English. In this computer age, English is the only language that any one can understand. So to say, it has become as an ideal language for expressing our feelings. First, we have to learn the language and then we have to gain fluency in the language. Unless we have the fluency in English language, it would not be possible to work with the computer. If you do not know English, then you would be in need of a translator to do the job.

The first stage of learning this language would be very interesting. Once you are fluent with the alphabets, slowly you can learn many words. It would always be better to follow the method of reading first, then writing. You can use the picture books for this purpose. When you feel that you are familiar with the words, you can form sentences. This is the most interesting stage to learn. You just think of a sentence in your mother language, and try to write the same sentence in English. There could be some mistakes. But you should not bother about it. But, you have to write the same sentence using many different words till you are satisfied with your sentence. If you follow this way, very soon you can create sentences of your own.

The next step is learning the grammar of the language. It is quite simple and very systematic compared with other languages. There are certain rules and regulations for each and every topic in grammar of this language. As long as you follow the rules and regulations, it would be a difficult task to make mistakes. You would gain that much guidance from the grammar.
The presentation is the most important factor in communicating your feelings. So, naturally you must be sure while you are presenting. what you really wish to say. At any point, do not try to write or speak, beyond your capability. Even if it is a small and simple sentence, it would reach the receiver perfectly. This is our basic idea. Slowly, you can improve the standard of your language by practice. If you know to form the sentences, it is more than enough to go deep into the subject. Though this only an article about the importance of the English Language, we have to learn some of the basic points in presenting the sentences.
There are three different types of sentences: They are,
1. Statements. 2. Interrogative sentence. 3. Imperative sentence. 4. Exclamatory sentence. To begin with, you must know the difference between a phrase and a sentence.

Phrase is a group of words, which gives meaning, but not complete meaning.
A sentence is a group of words, which makes a complete sense.

1. Statement: The sentence starting with nouns or pronouns is known as statement.

Example: Rome is a church city.

2. Interrogative sentence: There are two types of interrogative sentences.

a. “wh” type question. The sentences starting with the following fords are “wh” type question. What, When, Where, Who, How many, How long and etcetera.
Example: Why did you come late? 2. What are you doing there?

b. “yes or no” type question. For which sentences you get the reply either with yes or no they are called yes or no type question.
Example: Is your father a doctor? The answer: No sir.

3. Imperative sentence: The sentence that gives command, request, and advice is known as Imperative sentence. Example: Walk on the pavement. 2. Eat regularly.

4. Exclamatory sentence: The sentence that expresses the sudden feelings or strong emotions is known as exclamatory sentence.

Example: Alas! He is dead. 2. Oh! What a beautiful sight.

When you are familiar with the above points, it would be very interesting to you to create many wonderful sentences.
In general, the sentences are divided into three different kinds. They are,
1. Simple sentence. 2. Compound sentence. 3. Complex sentence.

Though it very essential to have knowledge in handling the above sentences, we have to study them separately. In this essay, we are talking about the importance of the language.
Many people make mistakes even with the usage of articles. It is a pity that even scholars may make mistakes. So, you should not get dejected with your style of writing.

There is a lot of difference between these two. 1. a few 2. few
When you want to say that you have friends, you have to say that,” I have a few friends.”
When you want to say that you do not have friends, you have to say that, “I have few friends.”

This is the opposite meaning of the word, many.
Apart from these, there are many points to be discussed later.
When you feel that you are already strong on the above subjects, you can develop your knowledge for betterment of your knowledge. As long as you educate yourself, you will come across many new things. There is no end for learning. All the above points are used in the normal usage of English. The literature value of the English Language is entirely different and should be dealt separately.

Comments Off

Yokoso!

Welcome to my Japanese Lessons.

Have you ever watched an old Japanese samurai movie on the late show? Chances are you thought that everyone was always angry at everyone else and spent a lot of time yelling in monotonous staccato tones. I felt the same way. It was all unintelligible blabber, not a real language. Well, guess what? It is actually possible to make some sense out of the nonsensical language that you hear on Japanese movies, etc. With a little understanding of how the language works, you will be on your way to sounding just like those yelling, sword-swinging samurai of yore.

What I would like to do is provide you with a basic understanding of the Japanese language. It is not meant to replace formal study at an institute of higher learning. Not everything can be covered, but I will do my best to provide language tips that will help you develop your Japanese language skills.

I will be working mainly with “conversational” Japanese in nature; something that you can use right away in certain situations. Learning to read and write can take years.

Of course in order to truly become fluent in any foreign language it is always desirable, if at all possible, to immerse oneself in the language and culture (like what I did - threw away a life in biotechnology for a brave new world). Coming to Japan will do wonders for your language ability if you ever have the chance. I understand that this is not feasible for most people, so I will strive to do my best to provide you with current lessons and examples for study.

Pronunciation in Japanese

Maybe you have recently had a phrase translated for you with the corresponding pronunciation written in roman characters. Or how about a tattoo in kanji (Japanese characters)? That is rather popular these days. But how do you pronounce it so it sounds close to natural? Fear not for help is on the way! In this lesson you will learn a bit about the history of the language and how the language sounds. So sit back, take out your notebook and enjoy the first lesson Japanese Lesson series.

Let’s get down to business.

In Japanese there is no clear stress on syllables in words as there is in English. A non-Japanese speaker would pronounce the city of Yokohama as “Yoko-HAA-ma” and the family name Yoshida as “Yo-SHEE-da”. In English, stress tends to be placed on the second last syllable of longer words. Not so in Japanese. All syllables are spoken with equal strength and length. A Japanese speaker would say “Yo-ko-ha-ma” and “Yo-shi-da” without stressing any parts.

Try saying the following words without putting any extra strength or stress on any of the syllables:

1. Yokohama 2. Kawasaki 3. Nagasaki 4. Hiroshima 5. Amerika

6. Osutoraria 7. koohii 8. Nippon 9. beesubooru 10. koppu

Some texts say that there are long and short syllables in the Japanese language. I disagree. In most cases the longer sound of a syllable is due simply to an extra vowel placed after the previous syllable. For example Tokyo is actually pronounced like To-u-kyo-u and Kyoto is Kyo-u-to (note here that the final to in Kyoto sounds shorter than the middle to but it is just because it lacks the additional u which makes the sound appear to be longer. Pronounced carefully, the “long” syllable takes twice as long to pronounce as the “short” syllable.

Practice these sounds:

1. biiru 2. biru 3. konpyuuta 4. konpyuutaa 5. koka koora

6. Toukyou 7. Kyouto 8. suteeki 9. ginkou 10. waapuro

There are five vowels in the Japanese language: A, I, U, E, O. These vowels have one sound apiece. Unlike the English “a” which can have the sounds found in cat, crawl, cape, the Japanese A sounds like the vowel found in the word cup. And as a matter of fact, all of the syllables in Japanese are very short and clipped (Suzuki sounds more like S’z'ki). Remember that whenever you see a vowel in a Japanese word it will always have the following sound:

Vowel: a i u e o
Sound: up heat soup left slope

Most consonants sound as they do in English with a few exceptions worth noting: K, G, S, Z, D, T, P, B do not have the puff of air that is associated with same consonants in English. The N is also a very unusual sound as it can actually take on four different sounds, depending on where it is found in the word.

If it precedes a vowel (as in no) it has the normal N sound found in English. Before t, ts, d, n, ch, j it also posses the normal n sound.

If it is found before p, b, m it takes on an m sound.

If it is found before k and g it sounds like ng as in finger.

If it is found at the end of a word, or before all other sounds, it has a nasal sound, similar to the French n as in pain (bread).

There is one other sound that we need to discuss. It is the most difficult sound for foreigners to pronounce correctly. It is the R sound. This sound is not found in the English language. It is a somewhere between the English L, D, R and is a rather short, chopped sound. In this case the tongue quickly flicks the roof of the mouth just in front of the soft upper pallette. This sound takes a lot of practice to get right and in order to pronounce it correctly you need to hear it to be able to reproduce it.

The following chart shows all the possible combinations of consonants and vowels in the Japanese Language. Note that in almost every case (except for n by itself) all consonants are followed by a vowel. This makes the language very easy to pronounce.

a ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa wo n

i ki shi chi ni hi mi - ri - - -

u ku su tsu nu fu mu yu ru - -

e ke se te ne he me - re - - -

o ko so to no ho mo yo ro - - -

There are some other sounds which are not quite as common, but are actually a slight variation of the main sounds.

They are the Secondary Sounds:

ga za da ba pa

gi ji - bi pi

gu zu - bu pu

ge ze de be pe

go zo do bo po

There are situations where two consonants are together with a vowel.

They produce the following Tertiary Sounds:

kya gya sha ja cha nya hya pya bya mya rya

kyu gyu shu ju chu nyu hyu pyu byu myu ryu

kyo gyo sho jo cho nyo hyo pyo byo myo ryo

Now that you are armed with the correct sounds for the language, why don’t you pull out your Japanese Name or Phrase and give the pronunciation a try? with a bit of practice you should be able to get the sounds just right.

One last thing to mention that I found really helps with getting the pronunciation right. Almost all of the sounds can be said without the use of the lips. Think of yourself as a ventriloquist, speaking from a puppet. Don’t move your lips, and keep them relaxed. It should help. And practice.

Here are a few simple sentences that you can use for pronunciation practice and begin to memorize for your future use:

Practice Sentences:

1. Watashi no namae wa Ken desu. (My name is Ken.)

2. Kono biiru wa ikura desu ka? (How much is this beer?)

3. Toire wa doko desuka? (Where is the toilet?)

4. Mata ne! (See you later!)

5. Ohisashiburi desu ne. (Long time no see.)

6. Ohayou gozaimasu. (Good morning.)

7. Konnichi wa. (Hello.)

8. Konban wa. (Good evening.)

9. Oyasumi nasai. (Good night.)

10. Koko wa doko desu ka? (Where am I now?)

—————————
The Culture Pocket: A Brief History of the Japanese Written Language

Most scholars believe that prior to the introduction of Kanji from China, there was no formal written language. No one is certain when the script first came to the islands but some believe that it could have been around the first century AD. In the early third century, artifacts have been recovered that depict some form of writing.

Kanji was first used as a system of writing sometime in the late 5th century or early 6th century. It is difficult to set an exact date because of the writings being based on the Chinese calendar which is difficult to interpret. More than likely, Chinese or Koreans who came to the islands to live began using the characters.

In the beginning kanji was more than likely used to represent sounds (phonetics) for loan words from other cultures. Also, the introduction of Buddhism into China and eventually Japan prompted translations of the scripts using the script. Buddhism probably had the greatest influence on the development of the language due to the huge influx of people from the mainland to build temples, translate documents, make statues, tiles, copy sutras, etc.

Around the seventh century it seems that the Japanese people began mastering the language themselves and started to do some work of their own. The language began to make some changes as it took on more than just a phonetic reproduction of foreign words (KUN reading). Eventually it began to be used to represent ideas and concepts.

Chinese and Japanese are completely different. In terms of structure, Chinese is actually closer to English than it is to Japanese. And yet, the Japanese, in their amazing ability to adapt things to their own ideas, were able to take the Chinese and add marks so that it would conform to the Japanese word order. Then the kanji began to take on a second reading, known as the ON reading, as mentioned above. It may be that the Korean language had influenced the development of the Japanese language as both have similar word orders and also use honorific auxiliaries.

In the Nara period (710-784) there was an explosion of Japanese literature. It seems that much of the oral tradition of passing on history was translated into script for the future generations. The language began to become more and more complex.

Hiragana began to be developed around the Nara period as well. It has its roots in the simplification of a cursive-style of writing kanji. This cursive style was mainly used privately among individuals to make notes, letters and other personal documents. For about 1400 years the hiragana had a very large set of letters. In 1900 it was standardized in brushwritten and woodblock-printed forms, mainly for artistic purposes. Because of this, hiragana tends to have a roundish, flowing style and shape.

Officials and scholars continued to use classical Chinese for their work for many hundred years. As the language developed, it became necessary to add notes next to the text to aid in the reading of the texts. This began in the Heian period (794-1192). Because space was limited, scholars began using a shorthand version of the kanji used for pronunciation. This was the beginning of Katakana. In the beginning it was not entirely different from hiragana but over time developed a more square appearance, more scholarly. Eventually the katakana script evolved such that it began to be used solely for writing foreign loan words, or concepts that did not exist in the native Japanese language.

Reference: Japanese Correspondence Course for JET Participants, 1993

- Cameron Switzer, Fukui, Japan

Cameron Switzer has lived and worked in Japan for over 15 years. He is fluent in the language, the culture and business.

To visit his personal site, please go to http://www.japanippon.com/ where you can learn a lot about life in Japan and have a great time while doing it!

If you would like to continue studying the Free! Japanese Lessons, please visit:
http://www.japanippon.com/japanese/classroom.htm/ today.

For assistance regarding business related to Japan, please visit Cameron’s business site, Intrmarket Solutions, at:
http://www.intrmarketsolutions.com/ today.

Comments Off

When a business goes global, there is a risk of being not properly understood in other languages, or, even worse, misunderstood. That is why, when you are going to expand your business, your success can depend on the person who translates your website, documentation, ads and so on.

Don’t insist on translating your text word-by-word or sentence-by-sentence. Contrary to the popular belief, the translation won’t be more accurate this way. Just the opposite is true: a translator who translates word-by-word is a BAD translator, or a mediocre one — at the most.

A MEDIOCRE translator will diligently substitute words, word-combinations and idioms of one language for those of another language. He searches piles of dictionaries for various lexical units. He will be really proud of the result. Don’t blame him — he probably is conscientious and hard-working.

The only drawback is that his translation won’t work.

A GOOD translator will care for the MESSAGE of your text. He realizes that good translation isn’t just finding right words. He will try to find right linguistic means to convey your message; what’s more, he will leave your style intact. He will be proud of the result, too — and he has the reason to think so. Your message will be conveyed — in every respect. Will it work? That’s another question.

The difference between a GOOD and an EXCELLENT translator is the following: an EXCELLENT translator will care for the GOAL of your message. Before he stats the work, an excellent translator
asks himself simple questions: does your message fit into this particular culture? Will the audience accept it? If the answer is “no”, he will always warn you about it.

Will you appreciate his advice? You’d better do. It might be not too pleasant for you to learn that your text is not perfect (especially if you thought it was). Of course, you can put this smart Aleck down. You are the Client, so you’re always right. He will translate the text he is given the way you want. As a result, you will get the very thing you ordered — a MEDIOCRE translation.

That is why it is reasonable to listen to an expert (an excellent translator will always serve you as an expert on the culture of your target audience — even if you haven’t asked for it and are not going to pay extras for such a consultation.) Sometimes these advice might seem a bit odd to you; that’s because such a translator is able to think like a person who will be visiting your website.

Be prepared to throw some expressions, phrases, or whole paragraphs away or re-write them - working perfectly in one language, they won’t do in another. Be ready to change photos and illustrations, sometimes redo the graphics and alter the whole style of your website if necessary.

Cooperate with your translator — it pays. Do this work now and you’ll be rewarded with success of your business in a foreign country.

Linguist by profession, Alexandra Gamanenko currently takes part in a design studio project. It offers localization and translation of websites into Russian and Ukrainian, as well as lots of other useful services.

Learn more — visit the website http://www.clever-crayon.com

Comments Off

Studies have shown that how you learn a foreign language impacts whether or not you will actually follow through it. Obviously, if you get bored before you’ve put in the required time and effort, you’re not going to learn much of the language at all. So let’s address the facts that help determine whether you’re going to stick with your goal of learning a foreign language or not.

First things first, you are going to need positive feedback. That means you need a way to measure your goal of learning the new language. Whether this includes tracking your progress or actually trying to speak the language with someone fluent in it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you have a way to gauge that you’re really learning. Otherwise you may get frustrated and give up long before you get anywhere at all.

Secondly, you need to follow a step-by-step course that progresses from easy to hard. It should also do this slowly. Again, the reason you want to learn a foreign language in this manner is so you do not get too frustrated.

The problem with early frustration is that it steers people toward giving up. If you don’t see any progress in the early stages, you may not feel like you can accomplish your goal at all. Obviously, if you don’t think your goal is achievable after all, chances are good you’ll give up.

So minimizing the amount of frustration (especially early on) is a big part of learning a foreign language. On another note, you want to make learning a foreign language as interesting as possible.

As I’m sure you’ve experienced, learning from a textbook can be monotonous. Not only is reading from a textbook boring, but your chances of sticking with it are slim to none. Besides, merely learning vocabulary and grammar is not going to prepare you for a real-life conversation in a foreign language.

Interaction is the best way to learn anything. You can’t just passively read, listen or watch as someone explains everything to you. You need to get involved.

By turning learning a new language into a game, you’ll stick with it and actually remember more of what you learn.

You need to actually listen (not just read from a book) and then speak lots of foreign words and phrases. Turn the words into something familiar by associating them with their actual meaning.

You need to practice the new language with fluent speakers, all the while listening to it as it’s properly spoken. Many foreign languages are spoken very quickly, therefore you need to make sure you can keep up with the pace and actually hear it spoken correctly.

Test drive an interactive Spanish course. Learn to speak Spanish naturally in less than 3 months. Or learn French if you prefer!

Comments Off

Try to locate a person in your school or area that is a fluent speaker of English, and ask that individual to meet with you on a regular basis in order to practice your English. You will have the chance to ask this native speaker questions about English grammar and pronunciation, while speaking about issues that both of you have an interest in. Bring a pen and a note pad with you so that you can write down any words that are unfamiliar to you. When you return home you can use your English dictionary to look up the meaning of these words, if your English language buddy has not already helped you to understand the meaning of these words. It is a good idea to make the person that you are practicing with someone who does not speak your native language. I know that it is quite tempting to practice English with a person who speaks your language, but this is not the best thing because you want to learn to think in English. It will be harder for you, but also better for you to pick someone who must help you in English only because they do not speak your native language. If your English speaking friend does not speak your native language, you can help them to learn it also. I am sure they will really appreciate this assistance from you as much as you appreciate you appreciate their help.

If you do not know where to go with your new English friend, you can try the grocery store. No matter where you are from, you must eat. In your country going to the grocery store may not be an exciting activity, but in a new country it can be quite fun. You should ask you English speaking friend to let you practice your English by asking for things in English. For example, you can ask the grocery store employees where the meat is, which aisle the soda is in or other other food related questions. Before you go to the store itself you should have a written list of items that you will need. This is something that your friend can help you with in advance. After you have bought the things that you need from the grocery store you can invite your friend to dinner. You should both be very hungry at this point.

Much Continued ESL Success,

The creator of ESL Free Lesson

The “ESL Free Lesson” website is an incredible resource for ESL students from all over the world . This report is only one of 7 tips that you can get Free at eslfreelesson.com. To get your other 6 fantastic ESL tips and your “Free bonus Ebook” to help you to earn more money enroll now at:

www.eslfreelesson.com

Comments Off

The Greek language is over 3,500 years old, though it has evolved through the years. Over 15 million people worldwide speak Greek. It is the official language of Greece and Cyprus, and is spoken natively by immigrants living in many countries around the world. The Greek alphabet is considered the first real alphabet, and was a predecessor of the Latin alphabet, and eventually our own alphabet. The Greek language is one of history and passion, and is an ideal representative of the people who speak is fluently. If you are interested in learning a second language, consider Greek.

Learning the Greek language might seem intimidating. The alphabet doesn’t look exactly like the English alphabet. The word pronunciation sounds totally different as well. But there are several ways you can go about learning it, and several benefits to doing so. One option is to attend college, and study the language extensively. You have the choice of studying the Ancient form of Greek, or the Modern language. Learning Ancient Greek is useful if you plan to study Ancient Greek art, archaeology, literature, or history, and you intend to pursue this scholarly field. Earning a college degree in Modern Greek will provide you with a thorough written and conversational knowledge of the language that is spoken today, and gives you career options down the road. Having the ability to speak more than one language can have many advantages for you professionally. If you are fluent in the Greek language, and have some expertise in another field such as law, medicine, or business, you can be certified as a foreign language translator. This stimulating career prospect is one that offers you several options. As a certified translator, you can work full-time for a foreign language translation firm, translating business documents, web pages, and other types of communication for global corporations or for small firms looking branch out. You can also do freelance translation work, where you have the ability to be your own boss, and make your own schedule and set you own workload. Yet another career opportunity open to you as a bilingual professional is to teach English as a second language to Greek students in Greece. By knowing English and Greece, you will be able to live and work in Greece, and have no problems communicating there.

Another means by which you can learn the Greek language is by enrolling in an accelerated course that is available online. By learning Greek in this way, you will gain knowledge of a very basic foundation of the language. Learning Greek through an accelerated online course is a rather quick and convenient way to learn a second language. It is ideal for you if you are interested in traveling to Greece, and you want to be able to communicate in a basic way with the residents there. You will find that you will enjoy your travels much more if the stress of a communication barrier is not there.

An ideal option for learning the Greek language is through an immersion program. This is a perfect option for students who are looking to study abroad for a semester, or for bold travelers looking to experience Greek culture in a new and exciting way. You will not only learn the Modern Greek language, but you experience the vibrant and historic Greek culture. Learning Greek in Greece, where our own language and history has its origins, you will learn the language quickly and easily. You will learn the conversational and informal styles of the language by interacting everyday during your adventure with people who are native Greeks, who probably won’t be willing or able to communicate in English. You will be absorbed into the dazzling everyday life of the Greek people, its sights, sounds, and smells. You will gain knowledge and appreciate the storied Greek culture: the history, the art, the architecture, the food, and the people. As a part of the immersion program, you will attend courses in which you will learn the Greek alphabet, how to read, and how to write in Greek as well. Learning the Greek language as part of an immersion is a superb way to experience a new culture.

Learning the Greek language, though seemingly intimidating, can have many benefits for you. Knowing a second language gives you the potential to further develop you career by working abroad, or as a translator. Learning the Greek language will make you a better traveler as well. You will be able to communicate with the Greek people, and you will enjoy your adventures in Greece so much more. Learning Greek is a great way to open your eyes to a new (and ancient) culture. www.foreign-languages-school.com

Find the essential information on where and how to learn a new or second language at Greek Language

John is a director of numerous Internet companies and is a published author. Many articles have been produced on a variety of subjects with excellent content and depth. All his articles may be reproduced provided that an active link is included to www.foreign-languages-school.com

Language Schools

Comments Off

Current System of Listening Comprehension Laboratory Attendance

In the current IDI, or Institute of Languages of the Santiago de Cali University system “independent” EFL students, that is those learners who are not registered in a university career program, are “exempted” from listening laboratory attendance. In my opinion, this is a serious error that negatively impacts on the English language skills of registered university students and independent English as a Foreign Language students alike. Listening comprehension is a language skill which cannot be explicitly taught as elaborated on in “What Makes Listening Difficult?”. (Lynch, 2005) This also ultimately results in several ongoing problems.

• Students are given the message that laboratory attendance is unimportant

• Students do not actively pursue any form of development of their listening comprehension skills

• Students undergo increasing difficulty with listening comprehension in class, on quizzes and exams

• Student do not feel a need to practice listening skills using the cassettes or CDs when outside the class environment

• Students often arrive at intermediate and upper levels with woefully inadequate listening comprehension skills

• The quality of English language learning is moderately to severely impacted by students’ decided lack of listening comprehension skills

• Since speaking skills and listening comprehension skills are inter-related, albeit disproportionately, speaking skills development can likewise be negatively impacted, under-developed or otherwise diminished in capacity

Due to these aspects, among others, I disagree with the policy of automatically “exempting” independent IDI students from listening laboratory attendance. It may be better perhaps to implement the following strategies into current IDI policy.

Possible Solutions for Independent Students

In consideration of the fact that often independent students may be time-pressured due to employment, family responsibilities, health and other commitments solutions could be to:

• Encourage listening laboratory attendance upon early arrival , or if possible, on another day

• Schedule special listening comprehension practice sessions in the laboratory or library at the request of the students

• Allow listening laboratory attendance sessions to be conducted during class hours - i.e., for a Monday, Wednesday, Friday class a portion of Friday’s class could be held in the listening laboratory

For a Tuesday / Thursday class a portion of Thursday’s class would be held in the listening laboratory

• Allow for listening comprehension practice sessions using lab materials in class by special arrangement thus aiding in lowering of the students’ Affective Filter (Krashen and Terrell, 1993)

Listening Comprehension Study Results

Studies conducted over a period of five semesters, two and a half years, from the three partial exams given during each semester clearly demonstrate that students who regularly attend the minimum required number of listening laboratory hours (four per partial exam period and a total of 10 for the semester) achieve consistently higher listening comprehension scores than students with little or no listening laboratory attendance.

Those students who attend a disproportionately higher number of listening laboratory sessions consistently have the highest scores on the listening comprehension portion of the partial exams. During the last, and previous semesters, students have attended as many as 35 listening laboratory sessions on their own time during the course of the semester. Independently conducted studies during the 2003B, 2004A, 2004B, 2005A and 2005B semesters have unequivocally borne out these results. (Lynch, 2004)

The graphed results of mean and mode listening comprehension exam section results clearly indicate three distinctive trends:

• Series 1 Blue - higher general scores for students with higher than average listening comprehension laboratory attendance

• Series 2 Purple - a broader range of exam scores than the blue series but with few failing students and no students with excessively low scores

• Series 3 Orange - a full range of listening comprehension exam section scores with scores from all correct down to zero, or none correct. In addition, about half of the students have failing scores.

This being the case, it appears to be obvious that mandating listening laboratory attendance across the full spectrum of IDI students would result in benefits for both the quality of learning and the English language skills of the students. Especially in the listening comprehension skills of a large percentage of LEP, or Limited English Proficiency, students who are now enrolled in English classes. By effectively addressing the listening comprehension skills of EFL students, any language institute can inherently improve the basic English language skills of its students.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is a bi-lingual copywriter, expert author and photographer specializing in business, travel, food and education-related writing in South America. His work has appeared in Transitions Abroad, South American Explorer, Escape From America, Mexico News and Brazil magazines. He lives in Colombia and teaches at a university in Cali. Want lots more free tips, help and information on learning English or another foreign language? Go now to: http://bettereflteacher.blogspot.com.

Comments Off