...French Introductory Course Michel Thomas Learn another language the way you learnt your own Michel Thomas, 1914–2005 Michel Thomas, the internationally renowned linguist and language teacher, who was awarded the Silver Star by the US Army for his bravery in the Second World War, died of heart failure at his home in New York on 8th January 2005. He was 90. To find out more, please get in touch with us For general enquiries and for information on Michel Thomas: Call: 020 7873 6354 Fax: 020 7873 6325 Email: mtenquiries@hodder.co.uk To place an order: Call: 01235 400414 Fax: 01235 400454 Email: uk.orders@bookpoint.co.uk www.michelthomas.co.uk You can write to us at: Hodder Education, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH Visit our forum at: www.michelthomas.co.uk Unauthorized copying of this booklet or the accompanying audio material is prohibited, and may amount to a criminal offence punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment. First published in UK 2000 by Hodder Education, a division of Hachette UK, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH. Copyright © 2000 Thomas Keymaster Languages LLC All rights reserved. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or under licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Further details of such licences (for reprographic...
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...every night during the week. 2. For facts. * The President of The USA lives in The White House. * A dog has four legs. * We come from Switzerland. 3. For habits. * I get up early every day. * Carol brushes her teeth twice a day. * They travel to their country house every weekend. 4. For things that are always / generally true. * It rains a lot in winter. * The Queen of England lives in Buckingham Palace. * They speak English at work. Verb Conjugation & Spelling We form the present tense using the base form of the infinitive (without the TO). In general, in the third person we add 'S' in the third person. Subject | Verb | The Rest of the sentence | I / you / we / they | speak / learn | English at home | he / she / it | speaks / learns | English at home | The spelling for the verb in the third person differs depending on the ending of that verb: 1. For verbs that end in -O, -CH, -SH, -SS, -X, or -Z we add -ES in the third person. * go – goes * catch – catches * wash – washes * kiss – kisses * fix – fixes * buzz – buzzes 2. For verbs that end in a consonant + Y, we remove the Y and add -IES. * marry – marries * study – studies * carry – carries * worry – worries NOTE: For verbs that end in a vowel + Y, we just add -S. * play – plays * enjoy – enjoys * say – says Negative Sentences in the Simple Present Tense To make a negative sentence in English we normally use Don't or Doesn't with...
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...The Role of Translators-Interpreters in Contemporary Society in the US and in Europe: Luxury or Necessity? Dr. Eduardo González University of Nebraska at Kearney Judging by appearances, the US has everything it needs in terms of meeting present-day requirements for language services in all spheres of modern life. There are immigrants from everywhere, millions of bilingual or polyglot people, excellent universities and colleges and so forth. However, the results as to having qualified translators and interpreters fall quite far from the possibilities. This work will attempt to give a general view of the problem and a brief analysis of possible solutions. The Past First England, then the US, have been for at least the last three centuries the most powerful countries in the world. England had a very early Industrial Revolution and its development of machines and ships led to its vast overseas empire. Even during the centuries when Spain was the most powerful nation and its ships traveled the entire world, its war crafts and equipments could not match the British fleet and armies. For a while there was France, with its beautiful Revolution for liberty, equality and fraternity, spreading the power of the bourgeoisie all over Europe. Then arose Napoleon, the Revolution’s emperor, trying to conquer new lands and colonies for France. In the long run, he was no match for the British power either. His ships were blockaded and destroyed at sea and his weary armies were finally crushed at...
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...believe high schools should be required to take a foreign language class. There are no logical reasons behind being forced to learn a foreign language. People do not remember anything taught in their foreign language class, foreigners already know your language living in your country, some people cannot afford or do not want to travel, so it should not be a requirement to learn a foreign language before graduating high school. Others may argue that taking a foreign language before graduating should be forced upon students. Yes, some may need to know a foreign language for emergencies. Although, there are translation apps for smartphones to use in that situation. To think learning a completely different language might be useful, one might realize only the “small talk” phrases are important. However, a specific occupation, like being in the military, would be only one of the few reasons a person would have to learn an entirely new language. The majority of people that took a foreign language class in high school do not recall what they learned from it in the first place. Less than one percent of students acquire fluency in high school. (www.econlog.econlib.org)...
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...Motivation 1 Motivation and Its Role in Language Acquisition Robert A. Cote SLAT 596Y Dr. Linda Waugh December 15, 2004 Motivation 2 “Motivation represents one of the most appealing, yet complex, variables used to explain individual differences in language learning” (MacIntyre et al. 2001, p. 462). These words succinctly describe the multifaceted issue that researchers, classroom instructors and language learners themselves have faced since Gardner and Lambert brought to light the complexities of motivation via their studies in the late 1950’s. The number of factors involved in motivating persons to acquire a foreign language has increased tremendously during the past four decades and attempting to address all of these components in one paper is impractical. The author will therefore attempt to present a limited overview of motivation, supporting research from both inside and outside of the classroom and views challenging its validity. Prior to exploring motivation and its function in language acquisition, one must first understand the term in its general sense. MacIntyre et al. defined motivation as “an attribute of the individual describing the psychological qualities underlying behavior with respect to a particular task” (2001, p. 463). This goal-directed behavior shows itself through distinct actions of the motivated individual. Dörnyei described this explicitly when he wrote the following: The motivated individual expends effort, is persistent...
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...Hispanic American Diversity When you think about Hispanics you might think that it is one ethnic group, however there are many ethnic groups incorporated under the heading Hispanics. For my topic today I am going to cover Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans and people from Colombia. While they are all Hispanic they have different languages, traditions and family makeup. In this paper we will discuss the differences and the similarities of these diverse groups of people. It is amazing that although they cover such a vast amount of land geographically, there is so many things that they have in common. Mexican Americans are people of Mexican decent that have either been born here in the United States or became a United States citizen after immigrating here. A lot of people that believe that Mexican Americans work at jobs here in the United States that natural born citizens will not do, such as harvesting crops, bussing tables in restaurants and general labor positions. They take these jobs and are not paid a competitive wage. It seems to stand to reason that if they would not take these jobs, the employers would be forced to increase the salary, and they would not have to work for such substandard wages. While they come to this country with Spanish as their primary language, many immigrants learn English and it becomes their primary language. While it is harder for the older people to master English, when their children are enrolled in public education it is easier...
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...Rest of the sentence | I / you / we / they | speak / learn | English at home | he / she / it | speaks / learns | English at home | The spelling for the verb in the third person differs depending on the ending of that verb: 1. For verbs that end in -O, -CH, -SH, -SS, -X, or -Z we add -ES in the third person. * go – goes * catch – catches * wash – washes * kiss – kisses * fix – fixes * buzz – buzzes 2. For verbs that end in a consonant + Y, we remove the Y and add -IES. * marry – marries * study – studies * carry – carries * worry – worries NOTE: For verbs that end in a vowel + Y, we just add -S. * play – plays * enjoy – enjoys * say – says Negative Sentences in the Simple Present Tense To make a negative sentence in English we normally use Don't or Doesn't with all verbs EXCEPT To Be and Modal verbs (can, might, should etc.). * Affirmative: You speak French. Negative: You don't speak French. You will see that we add don't between the subject and the verb. We use Don't when the subject is I, you, we or they. * Affirmative: He speaks German. Negative: He doesn't speak German. When the subject is he, she or it, we add doesn't between the subject and the verb to make a negative sentence. Notice that the letter S at the end of the verb in the affirmative sentence (because it is in third person) disappears in the negative sentence. We will see the reason why below. Negative Contractions ...
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...In the mid 1980s, Disney turned its attention to Europe, and specifically to France. When word got out that Disney wanted to build another international theme park, officials from over 200 locations around the world expressed interest. But Disney settled on Paris, largely because about 17 million Europeans live less than a two-hour drive from Paris. Another 310 million can fly there in the same time or less. In addition, the French government seemed like a willing host and offered Disney more than $1 billion in various incentives, all in the expectation the project would create 30,000 new jobs. Unfortunately, from the beginning, the project was troublesome. Negotiations with the French government were difficult. Disney committed a string of cultural miscues. There was a backlash in France, particularly from Parisian intellectuals, who attacked the transportation of Disney's dream world as an assault on French culture. French farmers used the opening of the park as an occasion for staging a protest against the U.S. government for its insistence that French agricultural subsidies be cut. In addition, there were operational errors. For example, Disney thought that Monday would be a light day for visitors and Friday a heavy one and allocated staff accordingly, but the reality was the reverse. Disney also miscalculated the length of time that people would stay at the theme park and adjacent resort. As a result, its new hotels stood half empty most of the time. Eventually, Disney...
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...As a young child growing up during the Cold War, I never would have imagined that I would ever travel to the Soviet Union, let alone receive any type of education there. I was brought up with learning about how bad the Soviet Union was, how the Russian people want to destroy the United States, and that if you go to the Soviet Union, they will send you to a Gulag and brainwash you with Communist rhetoric. Needless to say, the 1980’s painted the Russian people, and their government as an “Evil Empire” that was ready to destroy the United States in an instant. During my senior year of high school, there was an opportunity for me to learn a foreign language. My high school in Texas, offered a few languages to study. There was French, Spanish, German,...
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...Imagine being raised in a Native tribe off the East Coast of America. The year is 1398, surrounding you is a rich abundant land full of wild plants and animals. A close knit family where everyone shares, and greed is almost non existent. Day to day survival is what keeps the mind going, but it is never threatened. As you grow up you learn only of your people, and how the world was made for you and you must return the favor with respect. No one tells you your right or wrong, and there is no doubt in your beliefs being false. On a morning just like any other, you take to your hunting trail. It is very common land and you can walk this with your eyes closed without running into vegetation. The birds whistle a common tune, and you can feel and understand what kind of mood they are in. It is quite, but you can still hear and comprehend so many things as the world talks to you. Movement catches your eye and suddenly a great whitetail bucks jumps across the ravine in a non challant manor chasing does. This buck is known in the tribe, and a kill would bring great spiritual power to the people. The buck pauses as he encounters a new scent, thus creating a opportunity to srike. The crisp red oak bow bends to a rate of optimal power, the arrow which took a day to create is perfection as it sits on the stand. The release is smooth and the feathers cut through the air speeding to the target. It is a clean kill, a sacrificed to be made that does not go un appreciative. The 180lb animal...
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...community and serve the everyday functions of that community perfectly well.’ Communication is the most important aspect of a language. If a language serves this purpose it is good enough. 2. Myth 5: "English Spelling Is Kattastroffik" by Edward Carney Edward Carney believes that people shouldn't blame the English spelling system just because there are more speech- sounds than letters in English spelling. It is important to separate sounds and letters in English spelling. After studying Phonetics, spelling and pronunciation became easier for me. I learnt that one speech-sound can have different spelling and that one spelling may stand for different speech-sounds. Sounds very complicated at first, but after a while I started to understand why. This made spelling a lot easier for me. I agree with the fact that English spelling is complex at first sight, but I disagree that it is kattastroffik. English spelling has to cater for a wide range of English accents to prevent people to spell the words as they speak it. That would be truly kattastroffik! 3. Myth 6: "Women Talk Too Much" by Janet Holmes I was pleasantly surprised to read that...
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...Lisa Mojsin, M.A. Director, Accurate English, Inc. Los Angeles, CA Acknowledgments This book is dedicated to my accent reduction students who came to the United States from all parts of the globe. Their drive to excel, passion for learning, amazing work ethic, and belief in the American dream have inspired me to write this book. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” Thanks to all of the supportive and extremely professional people at Barron’s: Dimitry Popow, my editor; Wayne Barr for seeking me out to write this book; and Veronica Douglas for her support. I am enormously grateful to Lou Savage, “The Voice.” His is the beautiful male voice on the recordings. He was also responsible for all of the expert audio engineering and audio editing. Thank you, Lou, for being such a perfectionist with the sound and insisting on fixing the audio “mistakes” I couldn’t hear anyway. I am also grateful for the contributions of Maryam Meghan, Jack Cumming, Katarina Matolek, Mauricio Sanchez, Sabrina Stoll, Sonya Kahn, Jennie Lo, Yvette Basica, Marc Basica, and Laura Tien. © Copyright 2009 by Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. Address all inquiries to: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. 250 Wireless Boulevard Hauppauge, NY 11788 www.barronseduc.com...
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...Foreign Language Annals Á vol. 43, No. 1 27 Language-Learning Motivation During Short-Term Study Abroad: An Activity Theory Perspective Heather Willis Allen University of Miami Abstract: This study investigated the development of language-learning motivation during short-term study abroad (SA) for six intermediate-level students of French. Taking an activity theory perspective, findings demonstrated that one of two orientations motivated participants to study or continue studying French at the college level: linguistic motives or career-oriented motives. The choice to study abroad was seen as either a critical step to achieving fluency or a means of travel and cultural learning. Enhanced language-learning motivation emerged to varying degrees for participants with linguistically oriented motives for learning French who viewed SA as a languagelearning experience but not for participants with primarily pragmatic reasons for learning French and participating in SA. Implications of the study include the need for curricular intervention in student learning abroad. Key words: French, activity theory, learning motivation, second language learning, self-regulation, study abroad Introduction From the 1960s through the mid-1990s, research on study abroad (SA) largely supported the notion that it is an ideal means of learning a foreign language. Moreover, foreign language professionals often impart this view to students, typically based on their own successful if not life-transforming...
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...First, a few basics on Hangul (Don't worry! You will be reading in Hangul perfectly extremely soon!). Hangul is an alphabet, just like the Roman alphabet English speakers use. The only two differences are Hangul blocks syllables, and there are no lowercase or capitalize letters in Hangul. The letter is always written the same, no matter when it is used. Characters will be stacked into squares to form each syllable. For example ㅎ, ㅏ, and ㄴ are three separate characters. But, as they would form one syllable, they would be written 한 instead of ㅎ ㅏ ㄴ. ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ= 한 want another example? ㄱ + ㅡ + ㄹ = 글 We then combine syllables to form words, just as we do in English. 한 + 글 = 한글 Recognize that word? That's right! It's Hangul . It consists of han (한) and gul (글). Two syllables. Six characters. As you begin to learn all the different characters, you will see how to construct the syllables properly depending on which character you are using. Just keep this one thing in mind. Every Korean word, syllable, anything...begins with a consonant. A vowel will always follow it, either positioned to the right of it, or below it. With each vowel, I will tell you where it should be positioned. Also, there will be 2,3, or rarely 4 characters in a syllable. 한 is one way of stacking, having the vowel to the right of the first consonant, with the third character under those two. 글 is the other main way of stacking, where the vowel falls below the first consonant, with the third character below...
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...School Should Start Later I think that kids need a break from school, because this generation is full of stress and I think that one of the main reasons is because of school. At least once a week like Fridays we should have a shorter day in school. I have a couple of reasons why we should have a shorter day on Friday and some expert opinion on why we should start later. What CNC says about stress in school. CNC says that Young people experience stress at a high rate, and females more than males, an extensive Associated Press/MTV survey shows. A similar divide exists in terms of fears and safety: Girls and young women are less likely to feel safe in their neighborhoods and in school. The source of stress changes as we get older, the survey...
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