English Today

The Value of Learning English

First of all, let me thank you all for your visits during the summer break. It's been terribly rewarding. There are only a few minor changes on the page. Lesson titles will correspond to subject not level as, I think, this will be easier for you to find what you are looking for. Levels will appear in the tags and in Categories at the bottom of each posting and at the sidebar. But most importantly, I hope that this page will help you improve your English. Even if you are advanced learners of English, there is always room for improvement.

Improving your English is not a luxury. It's a necessity. Learning to speak English well may be the best thing you can do to improve your life. That's right. Do you think it would be fun to have access to information that other people can't get? Talk and write letters or emails to interesting people that others can't communicate with? Impress people around you whenever you opened your mouth? Make big jumps in your career, leaving others miles behind?

1. Get access to knowledge

What are you interested in? Is it science? Music? Computers? Health? Business? Sports? Today's media — such as the Internet, television, and the press — give you almost unlimited access to knowledge about your favourite subjects. After all, we live in the information age, don't we?

There's only one problem. Most of this knowledge is in English.

Here are some examples of knowledge you can use if you know English:

•Most pages on the Web. That's over a billion (1,000,000,000) pages of information! It's amazing that learning just one language gives you access to almost all knowledge on the Internet.
•Books — on any subject, from all over the world. Read books by British or American authors, and books translated from other languages. Whatever you're interested in, you can read about it in English!
•The press. Only English-language magazines and newspapers can be bought in every part of the world. You don't have to search for Time, Newsweek, or the International Herald Tribune!
•Science. English is the key to the world of science. In 1997, 95% of the articles in the Science Citation Index were written in English. Only about 50% of them were from English-speaking countries like the USA or Britain. •News reports. Watch international television networks, such as BBC, CNN International and NBC. They broadcast news much faster, and more professionally, than smaller, national networks. And you can watch them everywhere in the world.

 2. Communicate with people

We like to call English "the language of communication". Why? Because it seems all the people in the world have agreed to use English to talk to each other. (see photo above)

•About 1,500,000,000 people in the world speak English. Another 1,000,000,000 are learning it.

•75% of the world's emails, letters and postcards are written in English.

•Almost all international conferences and competitions are conducted in English. For example, the Olympics and the Miss World contest!!
•Diplomats and politicians from different countries use English to communicate with each other. English is the main language of organizations like the United Nations, NATO, and the European Free Trade Association.

 
If you can communicate in English, you can:

•Contact people from all over the world. Talk about your ideas and opinions on Internet discussion groups. Send e-mail to interesting people. Learn about their life and culture.
•Travel more easily. Communicate with people wherever you go — English is spoken in more than 100 countries worldwide. Ask directions, have a conversation, or... ask for help. Who knows, maybe English will save your life someday!

 
3. Push your career forward

If you want a good job in business, technology,science or...almost ANY career, get out of that armchair and start learning English now! (If you already have a good job, start learning before you lose it!). English Today is here to help you for free and answer your questions. 

4. Knowing English will let you:

•Put "excellent knowledge of English" on your CV. Get your dream job, and earn more money.
•Gain technical knowledge. English is the language of technology, especially high technology like computer science, business administration, public relations, and most importantly the tourism industry.

 If you're going to read about technology, you'll probably have to do it in English.
•Learn computer science. Read technical articles without difficulty. Or write your own articles!
•Be a world-class businessman (or -woman). It's simple. International business is done in English. And all business today is international. So if you want to play, you have to know English — to contact other businesspeople, go to conferences, read international business newspapers and magazines, etc.
•Become a better scientist. Contact scientists from other countries, go to international conferences, visit academic centres abroad. Learn about new scientific discoveries by reading papers, books, and magazines.
•Use your computer more effectively. Most computer applications are in English, so you will understand them better — and become a better employee.
•Learn new skills for your job.

 

5. Enjoy art like never before

English lets you feel the culture of the world like no other language. With a good knowledge of the English language, you can do wonderful things, such as:

•Watch American and British films in the original. Once you try it, you'll never go back to dubbed versions!
•Read great books. Every famous book was written in English or it was translated into English. There is an amazing number of titles — from classic plays like Hamlet to modern thrillers like Jurassic Park.
•Enjoy English-language music more. Believe me: music is much better if you can understand the words.

 
6. English is easy to learn

English is not only the most useful language in the world. It is also one of the easiest languages to learn and to use:

•Simple alphabet — no special symbols such as é,è,ê à, ô or ä. Type in sweet, part, film on your computer. Now try süß (German),  (Polish),  (Russian). Which is easier?
•Easy plurals — simply add -s to a word. One car, five cars; one telephone, two telephones... There are very few exceptions.
•Words are easy to learn. In French, it's la fille and le chien. In German, it's das Mädchen and der Hund, in Greek it's το κορίτσι και ο σκύλος. In English, they're just a girl and a dog. And that's all you need to know.
•Short words. Most of the basic words are short: run, work, big, go, man. Long words are often shortened: sitcom = situational comedy, fridge = refrigerator, OS = operating system. Speaking English saves you time. :-)
•Words don't change. But in many languages, one word has many forms:
English: The man is blind.
German: Der Mann ist blind.

English: This is a blind man.
German: Das ist ein blinder Mann.

English: I see a blind man.
German: Ich sehe einen blinden Mann.

Hmm...you may just as well say...yes but no other language has got phrasal verbs! What a pain in the neck! But once you revise them often, they're easy to learn!

•Call everybody "you". You can say "Do you speak English?" to your friend or to your teacher. In other languages, you have to use the right word for the right person. In English, everybody is equal. :-)

•English is everywhere. You can easily access English-language television, music, websites, magazines, etc. You don't have to learn from boring textbooks. You can learn and use your English at the same time. Using your English is especially important because it increases your desire to learn.

 
6. Get satisfaction

English is not only useful — it gives you a lot of satisfaction:

•Making progress feels great. You'll never forget the moment you discovered you could communicate with English-speaking people! 
•You will enjoy learning English, if you remember that every hour you spend gets you closer to perfection.
•Using English is fun, too, because every sentence you speak or write reminds you of your success. 
English makes you a more powerful, happier person. It is not difficult to imagine some situations where knowing English gives you a great feeling.

For all those reasons mentioned above English Today would like to help you for free to improve your knowledge of English.

Also, do not hesitate to contact me either through comments or through email should you have any questions. I promise to reply to every single comment or email. Finally, kindly bear in mind that I don't do translations online. And ...I do not correct school work!!! 

The Light Bulb

Two factory workers are talking.
The woman says, "I can make the boss give me the day off."
The man replies, "And how would you do that?"
The woman says, "Just wait and see." She then hangs upside-down from the ceiling.
The boss comes in and says, "What are you doing?"
The woman replies, "I'm a light bulb."
The boss then says, "You've been working so much that you've gone crazy. I think you need to take the day off."
The man starts to follow her and the boss says, "Where are you going?"
The man says, "I'm going home, too. I can't work in the dark."

The Ninth Letter of the Alphabet

Teacher: Tell me a sentence that starts with an "I".

Student: I is the...
Teacher: Stop! Never put 'is' after an "I". Always put 'am' after an "I".

Student: OK. I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.

The same student said years later : " I were a teenage drop-out and now I are a millionaire!"

drop-out = someone who leaves school before finishing it

Jokes....

joke (noun): something said to make somebody laugh; a trick played on somebody for fun

to joke (verb): to make jokes; to be not serious

PHRASES

to tell a joke= to tell someone a funny story

to be no joke= to be a difficult or serious matter/ to seriously mean what you say

to be beyond a joke= to be worrying

Boy:    My mother and father are in the steel and iron business.
Friend:    Really?
Boy:    Yes, my father steals, and my mother irons.

Why can't a man living in Paris be buried in the South of France?

Because he's still living!

Say Cheese!

Question : What cheese is made backwards?

Answer: Edam!

Time and Space

Definition of Time: Time is what allows two objects to occupy the same space.

Definition of Space: Space is what allows two objects to exist at the same time.

The Power of Punctuation!

An English teacher wrote these words on the whiteboard: "woman without her man is nothing". The teacher then asked the students to punctuate the words correctly.

The men wrote: "Woman, without her man, is nothing."

The women wrote: "Woman! Without her, man is nothing."

The Longest Word.....

Question : What is the longest word in the English language?

Answer: "Smiles". Because there is a mile between its first and last letters!

Quantifiers......and Modals!

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.