English: present and future of a language

English is becoming the most spoken language in the world, partly thanks to the Internet. It is true that there are more people in the world who speak Chinese or Spanish as a mother tongue, but the revolutionary thing is that English is becoming the second language of almost every country in the world. In the 21^st century the future of English is extremely promising. Internet has played a decisive role in the development of English as a global language, and that is because most of the electronic information is stored in English. Chinese and Spanish are the languages spoken by thousands of millions of people in the world, but English is turning to be the common language in every field of knowledge: science, arts, education, medicine, technology, etc. According to the latest estimates, there are around three hundred million of native speakers of English, and more than five hundred million people have English as a second language and speak it with fluency. That sum is changing, since little by little more and more people are studying English as a foreign language, which is turning English into a source for communication in the whole planet.

Never is too late to learn a foreign language

Never is too late to learn a language! If you are fifty or older and you would have loved to have studied a foreign language at the age of 20, why don’t you start learning it right now? To speak a language you only need to feeling like learning it, putting in a lot of effort day after day and having discipline. The age does not matter at all. For that reason, we suggest several steps you could do for your possible learning process:

1- Do homework and study for exams day after day. 

2- Read books or short stories with audio CD and better if they are written in easy English. First thing, read the book, annotate words you don’t know in a vocabulary notebook. And then, when the book is read and you already know all the words you have annotated, listen to the audio book and try to understand what it is being told.

3- Try to practice oral English, with your children, your grandchildren or any native person you could meet from your city or even people you may meet thanks to the Internet (chats, Skype, etc.).

4- Watch films with English subtitles and have your vocabulary notebook close to you to annotate every single word you don’t know from the film. That practice will help you a lot with grammar and vocabulary.

5- Listen to songs in English and search the lyrics of the songs on the Internet.

And that’s all. We congratulate you if you have started an English course. And if not we cheer you up to start working in a language very soon. Good luck!

Healthy effects of learning a language

Learning a foreign language, like English, for example, is not only important to find a good job or to travel abroad, but some scientists have proved that learning languages has strong effects on our brain. Recently, some English scientists examined a group of bilingual people and detected that knowing a second language modify positively the brain structure, to be more specific, the brain area which processes information. This is good because it helps to have a better memory and better learning processes.  Learning a language is also important because it helps to delay Alzheimer; a study done some months ago showed that people who speak more than a language have Alzheimer symptoms four or five years later than people who are monolingual. And that is not all, it is observed that children who learn more than a language have great power of concentration, and they can better ignore interferences which may distract them from what they are studying or doing. Do you feel like learning English now?

 

Descargue el número de mayo de la revista Formación Universitaria Digital

La formación continua es la clave para obtener el éxito profesional en cualquier sector y, además, otorga la seguridad necesaria para afrontar los cambios que se vayan produciendo en el camino. El número de mayo de la revista Formación Universitaria Digital profundiza en conceptos como “lifelong learning” y señala algunos elementos de interés para mejorar la búsqueda de empleo.

Este último número pone a disposición de los lectores información sobre las profesiones con más futuro para el año 2013 e incide en el poder del intraemprendimiento en las empresas. Los trabajadores activos, con iniciativa y capaces de aportar soluciones que hagan mejorar la empresa son los más valorados en la actualidad.

Si desea consultar la revista de forma completamente gratuita pinche aquí ¡No se la pierda!

Importance of getting an English certificate

Certifying a good level of English is becoming more and more important nowadays. Let’s imagine you have just finished secondary school and you have thought you want to study to be a music or art teacher; the first thing you have to do is study several years at university until you have your teaching certificate. But then, before working in a school you will have to ‘compete’ and pass a selection procedure to get a position as a teacher. Do you know that in order to apply for the selection procedure you have to prove you have at least a level B1 of English (or another foreign language, such as French, German or Italian)? Yes, you are required to speak English even if you are specialized in music or arts, because the Spanish government wants to turn every school and secondary school into bilingual centres, that is to say, subjects would be explained both in English and in Spanish. This is done in order to help students to study a foreign language and to have as good level of English as the rest of European young people have. But in Spain children and teenagers will not have a good level of English if their teachers at school do not know that language. It is just for that reason why certifying a level PET or a B1 of English is compulsory to anyone who is thinking about becoming a teacher.