Read the questions below, choose at least two of them, and write your reflections in the comments area.
- How did you start learning English? Did you find it easy or difficult?
- Do you agree with Fernando's opinion (first video)? Why or why not?
- Do you think it is possible to live in another country without speaking its language? Explain.
- Do you agree with Donna and Darryl (second video)? Why or why not?
- How important is it to you to be able to speak a second language?
I started learn English a three years ago, at first I tougt it would be easy, but after all I thing it's a sophisticated and difficult linguage. I think if you start learn in your first age it's ease, bus as adult it's more difficult. To leave in another cowtry you need to comunicate with people, so you need to understand their language. I study for pleasure and to maintain my brain in order.
ReplyDeleteI think it's essential to practice the language that you're learning, it doesn't matter wich one or where you are. And not only when you're in class. Practicing english with movies and musics at home, for example, helps a lot to improve the vocabulary and understanding, among others factors. But there's nothing better than learning the language with the natives, speaking it constantly.
ReplyDeleteIn these days, in the globalized world that we are living, a second language is very useful, especially if you want to grow in your carrer or maintain different social relationships.
I started learning English when I was a child. I found it easy and always liked it. It is really easier when you are younger. I agree with Fernando's opinion. It's much more difficult to learn if you do not practice, if you don't use the language in your routine. Although, it is possible to learn a second language from your own country. You just need more effort, like searching for books, movies, people to speak and everything that can help your improvement. It depends a lot on you and on your interest. If you are in another country, it's much easier to learn their language, because you practice all the time and learn not how the books teach, but how people really speak. Sometimes it's very different. But I know some people that live in Brazil for many years and still don't speak Portuguese. So it's possible. But I think it's very important to know other languages. If I had free time, I'd like to learn a lot of them. I feel it's like a puzzle, and I love puzzles. I plan to improve my spanish and learn french.
ReplyDeleteI started learnig English when I was 8 years old and sometimes I was forced to go to the English course, but I found it easy because I played and learned.I agree with Fernando's opinion when he says that you have live in the country to learn more about the second language because when you are there you have to communicate with others natives and it is necessary to talk their language.In other hand, I believe too that is not impossible learn a second language in your own country.
ReplyDeleteI started learning English when I was 17 years old. I studied in a conversation course. It was easy to me because I do love studying English. About Fernando's opinion, I agree with him when he said that we really learn better a new language when we live with native speakers. But I disagree his opinion that here in Brazil we can not learn English. We can learn, but now the way we could living in an English town. I think we can live in another country without speaking its language. We won't “die”, but it means we will feel lonely and depressed. A person who makes it needs to be strong and very courageous. Darryl’s opinion makes sense. He expressed that the problem of native USA people is the disinterest of learning a second language and study about another races and cultures. According to Darryl, this cultural problem is due a thought that Americans don’t have to expand their horizons because they are the best country and culture of the world. Darryl said that people who learn a second language gain a greater understanding of the world. I agree with him. Donna spoke without strong arguments. When she said the ancestors had to learn a new language, she was talking about a different subject. And when she argued that learn a second language should be an option, I believe absolutely that things already works like that! Who doesn’t want to learn a new language knows that chose to lose great opportunities for self-development. To be able to learn a second language is important to be successful in life and it shows intellectual maturity.
ReplyDeleteI studied English in 1998 until 2002. After that I stopped to study during a time. Now I have been started again in 2008. But I agree with Fernando´s opinion because if you want to learn you should be speaking all the time. I think if you live in another country you need to speak the local language because you need to communicate !!! I believe that if you in your country you have the option to learn another language or not, but when we are talking about 'work' you should think about learn how to speak another language, so I dont´t think like Donna and Darryl. It´s very important nowadays for your professional development to learn how to speak a second language.
ReplyDeleteRicardo: Hi! I started learning English in public school, when I was younger, so much younger than today (oh, this looks familiar….). English was just part of the schedule and teachers didn’t use a good methodology for that. Grammar was the most important. English was around, as well as today, in movies and specially in songs, but teachers didn’t use it on classes. So, they weren’t nothing but boring classes to teenagers. People used to study English in specialized schools, like today, but I didn’t. Many years after that time I started to take pictures and read about cameras and photographies. Unfortunately good magazines were in English. So, I started to read them, using a dictionary when necessary. Very often. I used to mark new words and look for them in the dictionary. And my reading skill was improved more and more. It became important in a few years, when I started to study security management and become a member of an international association of security professionals. Since 97 I took private classes a few months with some colleagues and also studied at Berlitz a few profitable months. In Brasilia I studied in Natural Englis almost an year, in 2008. I absolutely agree with Fernando, you need a strong contact with the language in order to use it in a fluently way. And I think that is very important to have a second language and, more than that, understand a bit of other languages too. With a bit of French, Italian, Spanish and German you can at least read the front page of newspapers, understand warnings and menus and buy subway tickets.
ReplyDeleteI think it´s important to learn a second language because it helps us to widen our horizons and understand other cultures. Language, for me, is not only the way people communicate, it expresses how they see and how they interact with the world around them. Learning another language allows us to enjoy movies, books, conversation, etc., without someone intermediating.
ReplyDeleteThe ideal situation is what Fernando did. When you dive in another culture you can learn much more than language, you can live their lifestyle and also taste the culture. Sometimes, for brief moments, is possible to see the world through their eyes.
I started to study English when I was very child. I did many English courses, but unfortunately I didn't learned yet ... I think like Fernando, to learn English it's necessary to live in another country to speak and listening a lot. To live in another country without another language it is very difficult but not impossible. With time and troubles certainly the person will learn. Unfortunately learn English and Spanish it's necessary in the labor market.
ReplyDeleteIt is great to see so many opinions here. And I believe you all agree, even though not expressed explicitly in your comments, that one thing is necessary in order to learn English - motivation. And motivation can come through games in the classroom, through a subject you enjoy and want to learn about, through the desire to grow professionally or to interact with different people and learn different cultures. And only you can find what drives you to learn English. Thank you all for your active participation.
ReplyDeleteI started to learn English when I was 11 years old, at first I thought it'd be easier than it realy was. I had many problems to get the information in a conversation, but I'm always working it to get better results. And I don't agree with Fernado, because he said that we can't learn a second language in your own country, because I believe that if you really want you can learn it anywhere. Of course that if you are in country that you would speak the second language with frequency you would be fluent easier and faster than in a country that you'd speak it sometimes.To learn English you have to practice it.
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