Theme: The role of foreign language in our lives

Theme: The role of foreign language in our lives.
Questions:
1. Foreign languages in the world.
2. Types of foreign languages.
3. Why is important foreign languages for people?

1. While many believe that the number of languages in the world is approximately 6500, there are 7106 living languages. Language is an essential form of communication. So the more languages we speak, the more friends we have. My parents have always wanted me to know several languages. I am learning English. Learning a foreign language is not an easy thing. It is a long and slow process that takes a lot of time and efforts. Nowadays it is especially important to know foreign languages. Some people learn languages because they need them for their work, others travel abroad, for the third studying languages is a hobby. Everyone, who knows foreign languages can speak to people from other countries, read foreign writers in the orginal, which makes our outlook wider.

It is not surprising that many intellectual and well – educated people are polyglots . I study English. Nowadays English has become the world’s most important languages in politics, science, trade and cultural relations. Over 300 million people speak it as a mother tongue. The native speakers of English live in Great Britain, the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand. English is one of the official languages in the Irish Respublic, Canada, the South Africa Republic. English is one of the official languages of the United Nations Organization and other political organizations. Half of the world’s scientific literature is in English. It is the language of computer technology.
To know English today is absolutely necessary for every educated person, for every good specialist. The English language is a wonderful language.
They also define a foreign language as a language which is not the native language of large numbers of people in a particular country of region, is not used as a medium of instruction in schools and is not widely used as a medium of communication in government, media, etc. They note that foreign languages are typically taught as school subjects for the purpose of communicating with foreigners or for reading printed materials in the language.
A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at school, self-teaching or attendance of language courses, for example. A foreign language may be learnt as a second language, but there is a distinction between the terms, as a second language may be used to describe a language that plays a significant role in the region where the speaker lives, whether for communication, education, business or governance, and therefore a second language is not necessarily a foreign language.

Children who learn more than one language from birth or from a very young age are considered bilingual or multilingual. These children can be said to have two, three or more mother tongues, and so again these languages would not be considered foreign to these children, even if one language is a foreign language for the vast majority of people in the child's birth country. For example, a child learning English from his English father and Irish at school in Ireland can speak both English and Irish, but neither is a foreign language to them. This is common in countries such as India, South Africa, or Canada due to these countries having multiple official languages.

In general, it is believed that children have advantage to learning a foreign language over adults. However, studies have shown that pre-existing knowledge of language and grammar rules, and a superior ability to memorise vocabulary may benefit adults when learning foreign languages. English of William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, Walter Scott, Charles Dickens. The great German poet Goethe once said, “ He, who knows no foreign language, does not know his own one” . That is why in order to understand oneself and environment one has to study foreign languages.

2. There many are types of foreign languages: the hardest and easiest languages, the most spoken languages, the oldest languages and etc.

There are the most spoken languages in the world:

• 
  English – 1 121 million speakers.
  
• 
  Spanish – 512 million speakers.
  
• 
  French – 284 million speakers.
  
• 
  Portuguese – 234 million speakers.
  

What is the hardest languages?
Generally, if we’re English speakers with no exposure to other languages, here are some of the most challenging and difficult languages to learn:

• 
  Mandarin Chinese.
  
• 
  Arabic.
  
• 
  Vietnamese.
  

What are the easiest languages?

• 
  NORWEGIAN. Grammar, syntax and word order are all similar to English thanks to shared North Germanic roots.
  
• 
  SWEDISH.
  
• 
  DANISH.
  
• 
  SPANISH.
  
• 
  PORTUGUESE.
  
• 
  ITALIAN.
  

So, Sumerian can be considered the first language in the world, according to Mondly. The oldest proof of written Sumerian was found on the Kish tablet in today’s Iraq, dating back to approximately 3500 BC.
But, the No 1 language in the world is English. English (1132 million speakers). According language in the world for both native and non-native speaker.
How many languages can you speak? British people are generally not very good language learners. In a recent survey, 62 per cent of the population only speak English! Brits are famous for not speaking foreign languages. According to a survey published by the European Commission, this bad reputation is totally justified. The results of the survey state that the British are officially the worst language learners in Europe! Let’s look at some statistics:

62 per cent of people surveyed can’t speak any other language apart from English. 38 per cent of Britons speak at least one foreign language, 18 per cent speak two and only 6 per cent of the population speak three or more.The European Union average showed that 56 per cent speak at least one foreign language, 28 per cent speak at least two and 11 per cent speak three or more. The survey confirmed that English was the most widely-spoken foreign language. 51 percent of EU citizens can have a conversation in English.

Learning a foreign language is not a popular option at school in Britain. In UK schools it is common for children to start studying a foreign language at the age of 11 and many students give up languages completely at 14. So why don’t young people continue with languages at school? Research suggests that students think that it is more difficult to get good grades in languages than in other subjects such as science or history. The British government is now looking at different ways to improve language learning at school. One idea is to start much younger; there are plans to introduce foreign languages from the age of five.
Another plan is to give school children more choice. The languages traditionally studied in British schools have been French, Spanish and German. Now the government is encouraging teachers to expand the range of languages taught to include Arabic, Mandarin Chinese and Urdu.

Mandarin is predicted to become the second most popular foreign language learned in UK schools. It is already studied by more children than German or Russian. Only French and Spanish are more popular. Gareth from Wales says ‘I am learning Chinese, and find it fun’. Another student, Thomas from London, says ‘Just telling people that I learn Mandarin impresses people. Even having a very basic level gives you an advantage’. Brighton College has become the first independent school to make Mandarin a compulsory foreign language. Its headmaster Richard Cairns said, ‘One of my key tasks is to make sure pupils are equipped for the realities of the 21st century. One of those realities is that China has the fastest-growing economy in the world’.

3. The study of foreign languages teaches and encourages respect for other people: it fosters an understanding of the interrelation of languages and human nature. Foreign languages expand one’s view of the world, liberalize one’s experiences, and make one more flexible and tolerant.
Foreign languages provide a competitive edgein career choices: one is able to communicate in a second language. Foreign language study enhances listening skills and memory. One participates more effectively and responsibly in a multi – cultural world if one knows another language.
The goal of foreign language is to develop student’ communication abilities such as accurately understanding and appropriately conveying information, ideas, etc., deepening their understanding of language and culture, and fostering a positive attitude toward communication through foreign languages.

Learning foreign languages is a strong requirement of modern life. Every educated person should be able to speak at least one foreign language – English, German, French, Spanish, Italian or any other one. There are many reasons why we begin the study of a foreign language. One of them is to be able to communicate with other people who use this language. If we know the language of a foreign country, we can talk to its people and understand what they are saying to us. It is interesting to read and understand foreign newspapers, magazines and books in the original. We can also see and understand films in foreign languages without any help.

Knowledge of a foreign language is truly something that opens up the whole new world to the one who possesses it. It is like the ship bearing explorers to new continents. And it is not surprising that a lot of intellectuals all over the world want to know as many foreign languages as possible. But the study of foreign languages is not only the sign of intellectual vitality. Nowadays it becomes an absolute necessity for any good specialist, working in any branch of science, to read much of a special scientific literature in foreign languages to be well informed in his field of knowledge.

Making business nowadays also means knowing foreign languages because of the growing international business contacts.

Learning foreign languages is compulsory in all secondary and higher schools in our country. We study English. It’s a very popular language and one of the major languages in the world. English is spoken and studied all over the world by more than 700 million people.

And today it is impossible to imagine that in Shakespeare’s time only a few million people spoke English and it was unknown to the rest of the world. English has become a world language because of its establishment as a mother tongue outside England, in all the continents of the world. This exporting of English began in the 17th century with the first settlements in North America and continued by massive immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. This growth of population in the United States has given the English language its present standing in the world.

People who speak English fall into one of 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 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, but 75% of the world’s mail and 60% of the world’s telephone calls are in English. English has become the language of international communication, international business, business correspondence and literature, diplomatic relations and education, and so on. Nearly 80% of scientific writing is in English and it is the international language of pop culture. Good knowledge of English can help us get a good job in many fields, such as science and technologies, foreign trade and banking, international transportation, government, teaching, etc. With English you don’t lag behind the time and feel quite well in today’s multilingual society.

The study of foreign languages enhances listening skills and memory, increases analytical abilities, and builds aptitude in problem solving and working with abstract concepts. It has been shown to enhance the study of other subjects. Abilities in math and English increase, and creativity grows.