Thursday, November 18, 2010

The future status of English as the global language is assured

These days, it seems to be a truism that English is the global language. But how about its future? Will English continue to dominate as the major medium of communication in the era of the Internet? Although there are many challenges the English language might face in the future, English will still definitely be the global language in the next several decades.

Opponents of English as the global language in the future claim that some language can replace English as the global language. However, the argument is inconclusive. One language starts to thrive only when the country gains prosperity and power. There is no valid evidence to prove that the English-speaking countries, specifically the U.S., will lose their power in the future. There is also no valid evidence to prove that some other country will gain more power than the U.S. in the next decades.

Some people might argue that even no other-language-speaking country will in power in the next decades, some other language still might rise with migration. A long time ago, England had colonies all across the world. All these colonies obviously would speak English. So English was easily able to spread around the world. Now, China has the most population in the world. With migration, almost all the countries in the world have Chinese speakers. The influx of many Spanish-speaking immigrants to the U.S. also increased the number of Spanish-speakers in the U.S. But without enough the economic and political power of its country, Chinese or Spanish still can not replace English as the globle language in the world. In order to live in the new country, the migration has motivation to learn English or local language.

Opponents also refer English is a difficult language, and will be easily replaced. Unfortunately, there is not yet a valid method to determine whether one language is "easier" than another. One language may seem easier to somebody, but more difficult to others. Therefore, the argument of English will be replaced in the future because it is difficult to learn is vulnerable and can not be established.

In a word, there is no efficient and effective proof or measure to be sure English will lose its current status.

The Future of English as the Global Language Is Assured (Julia)

Many developed countries have English as their first mother language.
Some people disagree with English as the future global language, but I agree with English as the global language in future.
There are some reasons that those people disagree with English as the first language in future.
First, they think the English is not easy to learn because the English words frequently change .For example, the word of ‘toilet’ was meaning of lady’ a large bowl with a seat, or a platform with a hole, which is connected to a water system and which you use when you want to get rid of urine or faeces from your body. But now it is meaning of bathroom for man and woman.
Second,According to Korean, some of them think Korean should be the first language. hey argue that the Korean language is proved as very scientific and practical language.
The last reason is that those people don’t like to study English, and they feel English is difficult to learn.

However, I prefer that English as the global language in future.
There are three reasons why I agree with English as the global language in future.

First, Many countries know how to speak and write English and English has become important of their society.
Many of country have been taught English since they are child.
For example in Korea, from kindergarten to college, it is mandatory to learn English. So we have class of English and exam of English.
Also, in Korea, to get a job, every department required the English degree. That is, good at English means you will be succeed. TOFEL score and TOEIC score is biggest thing that it is included in the resume. If it doesn't include or doesn't get a good score, they are not selected by employer and they lost the job they want. So it is very important in our society.

Second, Many changes in English make people learn English more easily and fast.

The last one, America is the strongest country among many other countries in many ways.
Nowadays, English is the most of part of our lives. All over the world, we can easy to find English anywhere. For example, in Asia such as China, Japan, South Korea, they prefer English at the signboard instead of their own language. Also, English is the international language of diplomacy, business, science, technology, banking, computing, medicine, engineering, tourism. And these day is global world, it is important for economy to export or import product. But they should trade with only English which is official language.

In Conclusion, although many people think English cannot be the global language in future, but I believe English will be the global language in future. Because, English already become one part of our lives. Without English, we cannot hang out these days. People learn English now because they believe English will be the global language.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

English is not only easy to learn, but also difficult to master. most of all international people might be agree with this sentence.
Nowaday, english is the most of part of our lives. Without english , we cannot hang out these day. All over the world, we can easy to find english anywhere. English is the international language of diplomacy, business, science, technology, banking, computing, medicine, engineering, tourism, Hollywood films and arguably the best pop and rock music in the world. For instance, the music of such stars as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and Madonna has encouraged fans to speak the language of their idols.
For these reason, many of country have been taught english since they are child.
For example in Korea, from kindergarten to college, it is mandatory to learn english. So we have class of english and exam of english. to get a job , every department required the english degree. That is , good at english means you will be succeed.
Because of we have been taught since we are kindergarten, it is easy to learn english. But it is still difficult because of some reasons. English is unique among the world's languages in that there are a number of things within the language that have no real purpose. For instance, it is commonplace for a word like gnome or knife to have a letter at the front that is not pronounced. Another reason is that English has many homonymy.
(http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julie_L._Coleman )
English is easy,but difficult to master. English is very easy to pick up at the start. It needs not to study for a long time to start speaking English and express using it. English has a lot of words that are made up by only 3 or less letters. So it is easy to memorize new vocabulary. Genders are also simple in English(Economist). But if you wish to master it, it gets a lot harder. It has an enormous vocabulary,irregular verbs,and complex grammar. Even some native speakers have difficulty to use it sometimes(Economist). Some simple words have different meanings in different context(Economist).

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The common language used as international idiom is English. Most of the countries use this language as a way of communication with different countries that have different idioms. The reason why English is the “universal language” is because is considered as an easy language to learn. Also, in many countries kids begging to learn Basic English words since they are in kindergarten, for example, in Venezuela and another countries English is a mandatory class since kindergarten until high school, and is optional in the university. An online article in the British magazine says that learn is easy but controlling professionally is the hardest part. Not only grammar but also pronunciation is the main reason why English can turn complicate it. The grammar has rules but also has exceptions; it is similar with pronunciation where vowels can have different ways to pronounce. English is the language used all over the world for business, political reasons, or just as an international way of international communication, has its complications but still is the easiest to learn. (P 1,2)

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Living at home and living away from home

When people finish the high school face several decisions, one of the most important is what we do with our lives, if we want to study one professional career or get a job and earn our money. When we decide about that, we have several consequences about our option for example if we want to live at home or live away from home, and these two options carry different life styles, at home we live with our parents and in the other we live alone.

The advantages are different between one and other, for example if I live alone in other city and I am going to my house at night and I want to eat something, if in the morning before I left the house I didn’t prepare something, I won’t have food for eat when I come back at night, on the other hand, If I live with my parents I am most likely to have it. In the same way we can seek a lot of examples about amenities and its benefits.

In spite of these differences, we have to know about the earnings when you live alone, because you can develop other experience and other things, for example you need to know how you can management your house through bills, cleanliness, and order. And all of these generated growth as a person.

However you have to know that any of these is not better than other, the difference is in the development of people’s characteristics.

Monday, November 8, 2010

American and Korean school life ( Julia)

Most of people have been taught at the school. All of the countries have institution which is called school. Thanks to school which many people learn at, human can distinguish from animals as a " educated living thing".
At school, we can learn not only knowledge , but also society, human relations and manners. That's why it is easy to classify the person who didn't have opportunity to go school and the person who have been to school.
Every countries have school, but their school lives are totally different. There is example of difference of school life; American school life and Korean school life.

One obvious difference is their elementary school life.
In America, they regard that leisure and activities are important than theory.
But, in Korea ,we regard that theory is more important than activities. So we have many institutions which America have few of it.

Other thing of difference between America and Korea is middle school and high school life.
In America, they don't have custom for school uniform. And at high school, they have many parties such as prom and there are many activities.
Their school schedule is simple. It is start at 8:00 am , finish at 3:00pm same as elementary and middle school. After class, they have their free time they don't have academies which is called " secondary school".
They don't go to school at weekend. Weekend is the time they can enjoy free time and enjoy with their family.
In contrast, Korean high school doesn't have parties because we think that high school students must be concentrate their study for the entrance exam of college.
So we doesn't have our free time. According to Korean high school schedule, it start at 7:00am, finish at 11:00pm. It makes students stressful.
Actually the class finish at 6:00pm and from 7:00 pm to 11:00pm. It is self study time. literally, study alone without teacher at the school. After that we have to go another institutions to learn more. And also we have to go school at weekend.

In spite of these differences , they share several things.

In case of physical things, both have same subject and same context which learn at school. Also, both have same organization such as principal, teacher, student.

In case of psychological things, both country students have same duty of students. Also their responsibility of students is same.
In addition, All senior students are worrying about their future and their entrance exam of college.

Korea and America; different, yet alike.
Although the two policies different in many ways such as elementary, middle, high school, they share same things such as duty of student, friendship, subject which learn at school.
We can not judge as which is good, which is bad. They have their own advantages and disadvantages. So we should respect those two policies.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Raising Child in China and U.S: Different

Raising a child is one of the most rewarding experiences one can ever have, but it also can be huge different from China and U.S.

One obvious difference is the academic. In China, children's academic performance is very important for most of parents. They usually spend lots of time to help their children learning and teach advanced knowledge every week since the children are born. Most children know over hundreds Chinese characters when they are three years old. And for that age children, they usually begin to learn the simple addition. But in U.S., the preschool teacher only teach from number 1 to number 5 in three years class.

With over 1.3 billion people, top schools are extremely competitive in China. Almost every Chinese parents want their children to go to top schools. But in U.S., going to the best university of their state is already good enough for many American families.

Another different field is children's social development. In China, the single-child policy has had a dramatic effect on the socialization of children. Only one child is allowed per healthy family, hence the child is the focal point of two parents and four grandparents. There is the likelihood of "spoiling" the child.

In China, when many kids play together, the tradition is the older child looks after the younger one and the younger one respects the older. In U.S., parents usually think the older kids and the younger kids have the equal rights.

China and U.S. are totally opposite on children's athletic development. The Chinese emphasis on athletic development, at the early ages, is to teach skills, not competition. Chinese parents usually allow their children to pursue the professional athletic careers only if their kids are not good at academic. While most American athletes don't move out of the house until they finish at least high school, many professional athletic kids in China are moved before they're 10.

Although the two societies differ in many raising-child practices areas, they share the same goal: raise a good child.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Different countries with similar culture

United States is a big country in North America knowing for almost all countries as the powerful country in the world. Venezuela is a little country in South America knowing for some countries for its oil production. Each country has its own culture and traditions, but what people do not is that these countries have some similarities as well.

One obvious difference is the food, the ingredients and the way to cook is totally different in each country. For example in Venezuela fruits are eating most of the time with each meal like a dessert or especially like a juice. In United States the main drink is soda, which is drinking with the meal or at any time. Also, in the United States fast food is really common to eat almost every day especially in the week. In Venezuela is totally the opposite many people even the one that work all day prefer to eat at home or bring their own food to work, because fast food is more expensive in Venezuela than in the U.S.A, so people go sometime in weekends.

However even that these countries are far away and have differences in culture, also they have some similar traditions.

Both countries, for example, are consumer society in holidays. In Venezuela Christmas is really important, there are big stores that open just in this season with all kind of accessories for the event, also people prepare a lot food and family get together. Venezuelans love to expend money to decorate the houses and to give gift to the people. In the United States people love as well to buy for holidays; stores have thousands of accessories for the holidays and all the different prices and sales. Also for example in Thanksgiving people prepare a lot food and get together with family and friends.

In conclusion many countries can have different traditions and be separate by a short or long distances, but in little details almost all of them have some things in common like holidays or people.