Because IELTS is a difficult test. While most agree that IELTS is a reasonable test, it is generally regarded as one of the most challenging tests of its type. Because IELTS has question types peculiar to it. Among the ten or so question types IELTS commonly uses, about half are used only by it or in ways unique to it. In particular, the Reading Task questions about identifying the writer's point of view is unique to IELTS and particularly challenging,... Read More
Part 1 of this series covered the language and language families in general for the Asian languages. Part 2 will cover the social conduct that is seen throughout Asian countries.To begin, the social structure in Asia, and especially East Asian countries, stems from Taoism and Confucianism philosophies.Confucianism Confucianism has played a big role in setting the social structure in Asia and has more influence than any other belief or philosophy has. Now before I begin, keep in mind I am... Read More
Spanish is a very useful language to learn as it is the world's second most popular language.Outside of the popular coastal tourist resorts a basic knowledge of Spanish is invaluable. Even in the tourist resorts you will find the Spanish will not go out of their way to speak English to you. If you try a few words and get stuck you tend to find they suddenly can speak a bit of English!The bottom line is that if you are... Read More
The Chinese Language and dialectsEach province, each city and even each village speaks their own dialect. There are hundreds of Chinese dialects in China so much so that each dialect speaker is not likely to understand another dialect speaker from another village or city. Fortunately, Mandarin, the official dialect, is understood by all dialect speakers.Let's learn a few useful basic and common Mandarin words and phrases that will help you break barriers with your Chinese friends.How are You? -Ni Hao... Read More
I watched the British version of 'Big Brother' recently. That's the television show which is a human hamster cage. Viewers go 'ooh' and 'aah' over the one they like or dislike, and vote to decide who leaves the house. In the interim, the contestants do tricks for the amusement of the public. The last man in gets £100,000. The production company makes millions. All contestants lose any shred of dignity and anonymity.The 2005 version had an Essex boy and Essex... Read More
Why an EarlyAGE 2nd Language?Research indicates that from ages 1 through 8 is the best time to introduce a new language to a child. If the 2nd language is introduced early in life children will learn it faster and retain it longer. Being exposed to a 2nd language offers numerous benefits to young children including an improved ability to communicate, better cognitive development, richer cultural awareness, improved academic performance, superior educational opportunities and, ultimately, better jobs. The earlier a child... Read More
I realize that we here in the United States consider ourselves at the top rung of the educational ladder, if only for the fact that so many foreign language students are breaking their necks to come here to both study and live English.But, on second glance, we should not deceive ourselves. On this board, we read one teacher complaint after another pertaining to the impossible conditions of Asian ESL schools, while we fail to remember ? or, perhaps, admit ?... Read More
Imagine the following scenario: You wake up one morning and instead of speaking English, everyone around you--including your family and friends--is speaking Hungarian. This is a problem because you don't speak Hungarian and you don't have a clue what they're saying. You become frustrated. The people around you become frustrated, too, but instead of switching back to English, they speak Hungarian more loudly.Somebody gets the bright idea of writing you a note. You take the note in your hands and... Read More
Relationship: Here is a word that is used to qualify, justify and honey coat just about every nefarious, sleazy or reprehensible union between almost anybody and anything. Recently on an edition of the Jerry Springer show a guest was about to be interviewed who was getting it on with a very close relative. Heckles, and murmurs flowed through the crowd from the moment they entered the room and much of the way through the interview. Everything quieted down instantly when... Read More
The main feature you have to master, in order to call yourself a ventriloquist, is to speak without moving your lips. It is not that difficult. There is a trick, of course. The sounds M, B and P make your lips move, as make the sounds V and F but in a lesser way. So, in order to be a ventriloquist, you should ban any word with m, b or p inside and avoid to pronounce f-v words. If your... Read More
In a previous article, you read that to establih your own lists was the best way to learn vocabulary as fast as possible. Let's study what an effective list looks like. Among prejudices about languages, there is the following: you need to establish huge lists in order to acquire as many words as possible. WRONG ! The most effective list contains 5 to 6 words at a time. Yes! Your larger list contains 6 words. Are you... Read More
There is a lot of talk about making English the official language of the USA. That would stop the need to spend so much money printing out things like drivers license, tax, voter registration and other official forms in so many languages. If people come here, they will simply have to learn English. However, is it really that simple? English is anything but a virgin language. It has roots in the tongues of many nations and one word can mean... Read More
English is an international language. It has so many grammar rules and each rule with many exceptions. Usually, we write English without paying much attention to these rules and exceptions. But, its good to know as much as grammar as possible especially the exceptions. In this article, I am mentioning some of these unusual facts and rules of English language.1. A word starting with letter 'Q' has 'u' as its second letter.2. If abbreviation ends with same letter as the... Read More
Nothing can be more frustrating than to be in France and not been able to speak their language. For, I remember the days when I was among people chanting around in a language totally alien to me, and me, trying to bring a smile in my face while shaking my head from north to south doing as if I am getting everything what they are speaking about, and waiting impatiently for my French wife to do the translation - and... Read More
So, you have always been fascinated by Asian culture have you? Maybe you are someone who loves the martial arts; kung fu, tae-kwon-do, or karate. Perhaps you are interested in the cool oriental stores and like to buy many things from them to decorate your house. Maybe you like the peaceful society you see depicted in some Asian films. Or maybe you are just incredibly in love with the Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.Whatever your interest is... Read More
In Japanese Kanji Learning: Short-Cuts to Rapid Mastery Part 1, we looked at mnemonic methods devised by James Heisig and Kenneth Henshall to speed-up kanji acquisition. We saw how their techniques activate the imagination by assigning different meanings individual elements of each kanji. But perhaps these methods do not work so well for you. If you are more of a visual learner, what are your options for rapid kanji assimilation?Visual learners, you are so lucky! If your are a visual... Read More
What? Kanji can be learned quickly? This seems an impossible dream to many students of Japanese who come from a non-kanji language culture. Even hiragana and katakana seem impossibly hard to the average beginner, so remembering kanji, with all their intricate strokes and multiple readings, can appear to be beyond the abilities of the human mind.But don't give up hope just yet! There are tools that can transform you from a kanji klutz to a veritable genius. That does not... Read More
Imagine a child sitting in front of a desk, his head in his hands, and mumbling various lists of words over and over. Does this child remind you of your own experience? If yes, I bet that "list of words" does not sound appealing to you. You are almost ready to swear that they do not work. Before you mortgage your part of paradise, it may be wise to make sure you are right.You can open a dictionary and begin... Read More
This is an issue many Japanese learners come up against, particularly if they live outside Japan. After all, If you are not in the country, it seems difficult to justify the huge amount of time that learning Japanese characters seems to require. So what are the problems in using Romaji (Roman letters, like the characters you are reading right now) for studying Japanese: 1. Mother-Tongue Conflict The associations your brain will... Read More
The employment situation can be quite uncertain for newcomers to Greece and therefore many people choose to try teaching English as a foreign language, on a full or part-time basis. It can bring in a good income whether it is your preferred career choice, or you wish to do it short-term until another career choice pans out. Qualifications and Experience There are many language schools or frontistiria in Athens and all over... Read More
