Learn languages and expand your horizons

                 Taken from the Guardian, Education/ Languages  

I have been learning languages since the age of 10, when I started French at junior school – and I’ve never looked back. Learning French led to learning Latin, then German, then Spanish and then even some Italian. It has helped me to make wonderful friends in this country and abroad, and given me a first-class university education, ... a knowledge of other countries and cultures, a love of wine and food and indirectly of classical music, art and heritage – and an ability to communicate with people at all levels. 

In spite of the undoubted importance of English internationally, other languages still matter at the local level and for a whole host of other reasons. 

A lot of smart organisations favours job applicants with language skills because they are clever, flexible and able to think outside the box, in addition to the obvious benefits of being able to communicate with speakers of other languages. 

         Andrew Smith - Altrincham, Cheshire 03/09/2017

TASK- Read ONE of the following links and  write a summary (150 words) for next day 

1  The cost of Britons’ failure to learn foreign languages

Native English speakers can’t simply rely on the rest of the world’s desire to learn their language, say Gabrielle Hogan-Brun and Jennifer Jenkins, while Jane Sjögren quotes Nelson Mandela on the importance of linguistic skills and Trevor Stevens says learning a foreign language should be compulsory at GCSE 

    2  Just speaking English won’t get us very far in the world

Language learning is inextricably bound up with history, culture, business and economics. It is also a mental exercise that delays dementia – and many children find it fun, too. Readers’ responses to Simon Jenkins’ claim that modern language classes in schools are irrelevant 

3  Ignore the panic. There’s little point learning languages at school 

Pupils are not stupid. They take subjects they find relevant to their future lives. European languages are not that. Europe is universally adopting English as a lingua franca. Continental universities are increasingly English environments. In addition, translation, spoken as well as written, has (like maths) proved susceptible to computerisation.

4   'Southern' English language course for foreign teachers –  Historical archive, 1922

If Chaucer could come back to earth and attend the vacation course in English phonetics for foreign teachers of English which commenced at University College to-day (1922) he would probably understand less of the explanations than say, the visitors from Egypt and Czecho-Slovakia, who are attending in force. Professor Daniel Jones, head of the Department of Phonetics at the College, has often explained how changes affected society. 

      BONUS:     

Jokes and American Language variation.... 



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PRODUCTION work.

SAMPLE WR summary. by Carles Dueñas   C1-A

1  The cost of Britons’ failure to learn foreign languages

The article deals with the lack of language skills of Britons, along with its costs, difficulties and possible solutions. Four people give their opinions about the different aspects of this topic.
To begin with, Gabrielle Hogan-Brun, author of Linguanomics, claims that British businesses are relegated to trade only in the zone of European linguistic proficiency, missing important markets as China, Russia and other developing countries, as a consequence of the inability to speak foreign languages of their workforce. Moreover, this incompetence with languages has a cost of £50bn a year in failed contracts.
In addition, Professor Jennifer Jenkins, focusses on the Britons’ necessity to learn how to master English as a lingua franca. That is because the English of British speakers is not the English used by the vast majority of the world’s English users.
Likewise, Jane Sjögen quotes Nelson Mandela on the importance of commanding the native language of our interlocutors.
Finally, Trevor Stevens argues that the solution lies in a drastic change in educational policy. He states that it is time the Brits made learning a foreign language compulsory at GCSE.