Part 2. Thomas

Ex.1. Read the text and pick up the terms referring to the topic.

There are many very good reasons to learn other languages. Very little clear, detailed communication can occur between people who don’t have a common language. Learning the languages of others helps in talking to people, reading and writing things, and in understanding the TV and films from other countries, and opens up a much wider range of sources of information.

When travelling and when you want to see the world, you can manage a lot better if you under­stand the signs that you read around you, and if when you meet people and want to ask questions, if you can speak to them in their own language, they’re often a lot more friendly and helpful than if your first question is: “Do you speak English?”. If you’re working in a field where inter­esting things are happening abroad, like science, business or medicine, and you want to be up to date with progress in that field, you can’t always wait for the latest reports to be translated into your own language, as this often doesn’t happen for some time, especially if you speak a language like Hungarian where there are only a limited number of translators, who are often expensive, and so only selected information is translated.

I think it’s very valuable and helpful in learning languages if you start from an early age. Many people can learn the best up to about the age of 20, as they have a lot of time for it which later, with family and work, often isn’t possible. Maria thinks that learning a language after the age of twenty or so needs a lot of enthusiasm, and more time, as the learning process is generally a little slower for older people than for people with young impression­able minds. After twenty, it’s very difficult to learn more languages if you’ve not already learned one before, as it’s a special way of learning. It’s not like learning maths or science − instead it involves a different way of thinking. You have to learn to think in another lan­guage. This is like music, maybe. You have to learn how to learn another language as well as learning the grammar and vocabulary involved, so if you’ve learned one extra, language already, it’s easier to learn more. I think that for many multilingual people, the second language is a lot easier than the first.

I think that the learning process really starts to work when you feel that it’s important and that you have a reason to learn it − if you can find the language useful, not just part of a school curriculum. For example, if you learn English and you are confronted with it on the radio, on TV, and if you listen to music with English words.

The knowledge becomes a lot more thor­ough, if you don’t just learn from lan­guage books but also other sources. When you realise that there are many sources from which you can learn a lan­guage and you really use them, for example when you listen to songs with words in that language or watch tel­evision programmes in the language and try to understand, or talk to people who speak that language and also read books in that language, then you really can start to make progress. If you’ve been learning a language for a few years, it can really be a push to spend time in a country where that language is spoken and where native speakers are living.

People who learned a language for many years in school and were very successful with it often find that when they go to a country where that language is spoken, although they can understand a lot, they really can’t say very much. They don’t usually start by using very complex tenses and phrases, even if they have learned many, but instead begin by using simple struc­tures. It takes a while hearing people around you using more complicated grammatical structures, before you start to make nice sentences yourself. If you’re with native speakers or if people are speaking a language a lot around you, you learn phrases, words and expressions and even sometimes start using them without even recognising that you’ve learned them. In other countries, you pick up a lot of vocabulary without even realising it.

I don’t speak Hungarian very well, but when I’m here in Hungary, my vocabulary becomes greater every day, as I’m confronted with more things and find out the names for them by listening to people or asking. For example, sometimes I have to find out the names for things in shops in order to purchase them. I think it’s such a great help to start with a foundation of grammatical structures and rules, into which you can put all the little things, the words, phrases and structures that you pick up.

I’ve found that from the little French I learned in school. On spending periods of time in France, I found that I had a basis upon which to build, and because of this foundation, I could extend my knowledge and understanding quite rapidly, whereas I’ve been in many countries where I really didn’t know anything about the language and it took a very long time to start being able to communicate even minor things in that country’s language. A good example of this is that I only learned maybe fifteen words in Hebrew during six months in Israel, because I had no knowledge of the sounds and the characters which are used to make up the words, or of the grammar.

When learning in school, it’s very impor­tant to have a good teacher, and not to change teachers too often. If that teacher has a system, and you learn under his system for years and it’s a good system, it can be very good for language learning. It’s also important to have regular les­sons, if not every day, then at least twice a week, to become proficient at a significant rate. It’s also important to have a balance between learning grammar and practising the language. It’s good to be taught at least part of the time by a native speaker, and to read books, listen to tapes and watch videos, so that your pronunciation of the lan­guage doesn’t only come from copying one teacher, but you’re given some perspective of the different ways that people say things.

Even if you know very little, it can be very helpful to go to see movies with subtitles. If you see translated what the people are saying in a film, you understand more of what you hear. Language schools can be very helpful, especially if you attend very frequently. Maria attended a summer course in German, which was very intensive, for three weeks. They were having lessons 5 hours a day and only speaking in German, and after this she became very proficient in German very quickly. I think it was also a great boost for her to go to Germany immediately afterwards for a while, to be able to use and practice the knowl­edge that she gained.

One thing about language schools is that large groups can be difficult, as people have different backgrounds, different degrees of knowledge and differ­ent reasons for going there, whereas in a normal school everybody wants to pass exams to get into University, and everybody is learning at pretty much the same rate. In a language school, people have very different reasons for going. Some examples: one person is sent by their parents, one wants to go to visit another country and so wants to speak in the language and have the practical knowledge of the language, another needs to take an exam in a few weeks for something completely differ­ent, and it can be difficult for these people to work together.

It helps people to learn languages more thoroughly if they’re pushed a little. If they have to pass exams at the end of a course, of course, they put more time into learning towards the time of the exam and this time spending many hours a day learning something is very good for the comprehension and ability in using a lan­guage. It’s important to learn lots of words and expressions, and for this a degree of patience is required. I think it’s good if every week you have a little exam or test on the new words that you learned that week at school or in a language school, and this is quite easy to revise for, because you can learn words on the bus or while listening to music, whereas more intensive study requires a clearer mind and more focused attention.

It’s quite good to make people write essays in order to learn languages, to use the knowledge as fully as possible. For example, writing about a topic makes people use as much of their grammatical knowledge as possible and tests the person’s vocabulary in a spe­cific field, and teachers can see very clearly from reading an essay how developed some­body’s knowledge is of a language. Also, grammatical exercises can be very useful, changing the tense of a sentence, changing a sentence into a question, or making it negative.

My own experience of learning languages is very limited, for some reason. Even though I travelled a lot and spent significant periods of time in many coun­tries, I feel that I’ve been very lazy about learn­ing languages. Maybe this is because I’ve got used to being in countries where I don’t speak much of the language, and have learned to get by without speak­ing much. Maybe it’s possible that I felt that to spend a lot of time learning a language such as Greek or Italian wouldn’t be so profitable as to spend time learning new music. So, I’ve not really put much time or effort into learning languages, especially in countries which I didn’t imagine myself spending a lot of time in, as I felt that when I left the country it would be of little use.

I think English people generally speak foreign languages more poorly than other nations because everywhere they go people want to speak English with them. English seems to be becoming quite an international language, and people in many countries are very enthusiastic to learn English. So we find that it’s not often necessary to speak another language, as there are normally people around that want to improve their English and do speak a little bit of English. So, English people have a bit of a reputa­tion for being lazy about language learn­ing. I think, for this reason, when I attempt to speak, for example, Hungarian or when an English person does reach a high level in Hungarian, Hungarian people are very happy about it, and very friendly, as it’s not so common for English or American visitors to speak to them in their own language.

Maybe my poor linguistic abilities are due to my early unsuccessful experiences of trying to learn a foreign language. I became very downhearted about my ability in this respect. We had French lessons for a couple of years at school, but at the time when I changed from sec­ondary school to high school, I found myself a real beginner in a class with many others who had stud­ied French for a lot longer than I had, and who knew a lot more than me. I was always behind them. In fact, the only exam that I failed at high school was in French. Now, saying that, I’ve found that what I did then was useful, and I hope that if I spend more time in France in the future, which I would like to, I could one day become quite fluent in French.

Living in Hungary now I find that my vocabulary is expanding at quite a quick rate, but as I don’t have any grammatical grounding in Hungarian, I find it difficult to say very much even though I understand more and more every day. Hungarian is a very difficult language for me because the grammatical structures, the way of saying things, even the way of thinking about things and the perspective of the people are very different to England and the English language. I’m hoping that with more time here and a few lessons, I can change this situation. I’ve been more interested in learning, Hungarian since I met my girlfriend Maria. Now I really have a reason to learn, not just to be able to buy things in shops and order concert tickets.

My friend Anita is really amazing linguis­tically. She started to learn in school along with everybody else, but found that she had a natural propensity for learning languages and quickly became fluent in English, German and Russian, all of which she is now very proficient in, and which she can use and understand a lot of synonyms and idioms in. She also went to a language school to learn Chinese, and is now able to simultaneously trans­late between all of these languages and her native language Hungarian. Because of this, she’s offered very good jobs in this field, both as a personal trans­lator and as a group translator, but she finds it very tiring and prefers to work with writ­ten material, often translating academic texts or busi­ness documents which demand a thor­ough knowledge of the languages con­cerned. She often says: “It is never possible for someone who’s learning a language to have as thorough a knowledge of it as a native speaker”, so sometimes she asks me to help her with explaining some difficult terms or checking over her translations. I find that, considering her age − she is only 23 now and that she’s never been in an English-speaking country, she makes very few mistakes.

Another quite remarkable person in this respect is Maria’s aunt in Prague. When she was over 70, she was still teach­ing languages privately. She is very fluent in 6 languages and at the age of 75 she started to learn another, Swedish.

Maria’s family all speak English, so during the first few times we spent together, their knowledge of English was good enough that it wasn’t uncomfort­able for them to speak to me all of the time in English, but now they are really trying to encour­age me to learn Hungarian, and so they speak in Hungarian a lot more.

Ex.2. Suggest the Russian equivalents to the English ones.

To be amazing linguistically, grounding, to have a natural propensity for, to have unsuccessful experiences, to become very downhearted, to be behind somebody, to require more focused attention, a degree of patience, pretty much the same rate, to be a push, selected information, to be up to date with progress, detailed communication, to open up a much wider information, impressionable minds, multilingual, to become a lot more thorough, to be confronted with something, without realizing something, to pick up a lot of vocabulary, minor things, to become proficient at a significant rate, to tend, to go to see movies with subtitles, to be a great boost, significant periods of time.

Ex.3. Suggest the English equivalents to the Russian ones.

Иметь природную склонность, иметь неудачный опыт, быть пессимистом, терпение, послужить толчком, выборочная информация, идти в ногу с прогрессом, многоязычный, сталкиваться с чем-либо, попытка, пробовать, расширять, в этом отношении, происходить, дополнительный, программа обучения, источник информации, воодушевлять, выражение, посещать, меняться, выяснять, быстро, приобретать, стать профессионалом, практическое знание языка, практиковаться, для того чтобы, объяснять.

Ex.4. Fill in the gaps in the sentences.

1. Thomas thinks that … you feel that it’s important and that you have a reason to learn it.

2. It can … where that language is spoken.

3. It takes … before you start to make nice sentences yourself.

4. In other countries … without even realising it.

5. Thomas’s vocabulary becomes greater every day as … by listening to people or asking.

6. Thomas thinks it’s such a great help to start with … you pick up.

7. Thomas found that he had a basis upon which … he could …

8. It’s good to be taught by a native speaker, so that your pronunciation of the lan­guage … copying one teacher.

9. It helps people … if they’re pushed a little.

10. Thomas has got used to … where he doesn’t speak much of the language, and has learned to…

11. Thomas’s poor linguistic abilities are due to … to learn a foreign language.

Ex.5. Complete the sentences.

1. Very little clear, detailed communication can occur between people who…

2. Travelling you can manage a lot better if you…

3. It’s very difficult to learn more languages as…

4. If you’re working in a field where inter­esting things are happening abroad…

5. Learning a language after the age of twenty or so needs…

6. Learning a language involves…

7. If Thomas didn’t know anything about the language and it took a very long time to …

8. It’s also important to have regular les­sons to …

9. If people have to pass exams at the end of a course they …

10. Anita was offered very good jobs in …

Ex.6. Are these statements true or false?

1. Thomas thinks there is no need to learn other languages.

2. Thomas thinks you can start learning languages from any age.

3. Maria considers people at a ripe age master a language better.

4. Thomas thinks that you can force a language down somebody’s throat.

5. You can succeed in learning a language from language books.

6. Learning languages involves in different way of thinking.

7. If you have been learning languages for some years it is a real push to spend time in a country where native speakers live.

8. You can become very proficient in a language if you study a language on your own.

9. Language schools are good for learning a language.

10. It is very helpful to go to see movies.

11. A great boost in learning German for Maria was to go to Germany.

12. You can learn languages more thoroughly if you are not made to do it.

13. You can learn new words without any efforts.

14. As Thomas has traveled a lot he has good experience of learning languages.

15. English people are very enthusiastic to learn foreign languages.

16. Thomas’s linguistic abilities are due to his early unsuccessful experience of trying to learn a foreign language.

17. Thomas was inspired with his linguistic abilities.

18. Thomas’s vocabulary is expanding at quite a quick rate.

19. Thomas’s grammatical grounding is excellent.

20. Thomas’s friend Anita has a natural propensity for learning languages.

Ex.7. Answer the questions.

1. What should a man do if she (he) wants to have any idea about the language?

2. What opens up a much wider range of sources of information?

3. When are people from other countries a lot more friendly and helpful?

4. What is valuable and helpful in learning languages?

5. Why is it difficult to learn more languages after twenty?

6. What does learning languages involve?

7. When does the learning process really start to work?

8. When does the knowledge become a lot more thorough?

9. When can anybody really start to make progress?

10. What can be a push in learning languages?

11. What problem do people find when they go to a country where that language is spoken?

12. Why does Thomas’s vocabulary become greater every day?

13. What is important to have for learning?

14. Why is it difficult to study at language schools?

15. What is good for comprehension and ability in using a language?

16. How can you prove that writing essays is good to learn languages?

17. Why is Thomas’s experience of learning languages very limited?

18. Why do English people generally speak foreign languages more poorly than other nations?

19. Why does Thomas have poor linguistic abilities?

20. Why is Thomas’s vocabulary in Hungarian expanding at quite a quick rate?

21. Why is it difficult for Thomas to say very much?

Ex.8. Translate the sentences into English.

1. У него природный талант к живописи.

2. У нас неудачный опыт общения с нашими деловыми партнерами.

3. Мэри пессимистичный человек. Она часто впадает в депрессию.

4. У моего мужа мало терпения.

5. Это событие послужило поводом для встречи.

6. Джон прочитал статью и отобрал нужную информацию.

7. Каждому человеку необходимо идти в ногу с прогрессом.

8. Франция – многоязычная страна.

9. В прошлом году Боб столкнулся с трудностями при поступлении в университет.

10. Когда я пытаюсь заговорить на языке, я испытываю определенные трудности.

11. Студентам следует расширять словарный запас английский слов.

12. В этом отношении она была не права.

13. Когда это произошло?

14. Многие студенты нашей группы решили изучать дополнительный иностранный язык.

15. Программа обучения не была совершенной.

16. Студент пользовался многими источниками информации при написании научной статьи.

17. Ее мама всегда ее воодушевляет.

18. Учитель велел нам выучить новые выражения наизусть.

19. Тим не посещал занятия, а поэтому не сдал экзамен.

20. Погода часто меняется осенью.

21. Встреча с ним изменила её жизнь.

22. Вы выяснили, где проживает незнакомец?

23. Постарайтесь выполнить это задание как можно быстрее.

24. Он приобрел большой опыт, работая за границей.

25. Вы должны много трудиться, чтобы стать профессионалом в своей области.

26. Она живет в Америке уже три года, и у нее практическое знание английского языка.

27. Ваша поездка за границу поможет Вам попрактиковаться в языке.

28. Мы пошли в магазин купить немного хлеба.

Ex.9. Give a summary of the text.