Tag: language learning
When asked about my hobbies I like to say learning for me is a hobby. I enjoy learning new stuff about my own profession and also about other topics just to widen my knowledge. When I took my teacher training courses at university (so I can teach social sciences), life long learning was a relatively new concept. Since I always loved to learn, I immediately embraced the idea, even though it was so foreign to what I knew and grew up with. Being a first generation university graduate, although there were lots of books and reading in our household (which…
Happy Sunday, Everybody! This was an eventful week in a lot of ways. The reason I chose this photo to define it is in part because I am such an admirer of traditional protocol, of which there is no greater source today than royal events as such. The other reason is a personal one, during the summer I started to up my Spanish skills with an intensive training, and I was so proud of myself listening to and understanding most of King Felipe’s state banquet speech! And also the gowns and tiaras, but that’s like an obvious reason, not to…
It’s been a long time since the last time when I could not manage to post anything between two Sunday Smacks, sorry about that. Amazingly enough, although I have even failed to mark yesterday’s International Mother Language Day, this post of mine from two years ago got very popular yesterday. Thanks to everybody for still keeping it in circulation! Now let’s see a couple of interesting posts from not so far back. The Budapest Memorandum and Beyond: Have the Western Parties Breached a Legal Obligation? The Ukrainian crisis looks even more troublesome when international treaty interpretation comes into play. The…
As promised, here are some interesting facts and quotes about learning foreign languages: “Language is the only thing worth knowing even poorly." /Kató Lomb/ According to experts, at this moment there are more than 5000 languages spoken around the world. The 12 most widely used represent approximately ¾ of the world’s population, and the 30 most principal ones are spoken on more than ¾ of the world. ”Those who know no foreign language know nothing of their mother tongue.“ /Johann Wolfgang von Goethe/ English is the most widely published language and also the language spoken by the greatest number of non-native…
From 2000 February UN promotes linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism on International Mother Language Day. While among many related issues UNESCO focuses this year on the efforts towards a multilingual internet, it is also important to draw attention to the importance of multilingual education, teaching children to understand what might not be provided to them in their mother language. I for one cannot imagine my life without the ability to speak and understand other languages besides my mother tongue. One of those other languages being English, the most widely used language of the world surely has quite a lot…
Hoy es el día de la lengua española en las Naciones Unidas Today is the day of the Spanish language at the United Nations! Spanish is one of the six official languages of the UN and the second most spoken language in the world! This day, while celebrating Spanish language, is also about promoting multilinguism and multiculturalism! Así, viva la lengua española! Y todas las otras lenguas del mundo! 🙂
Every year, 26 September is the day we celebrate Europe’s rich linguistic heritage – the EU’s 23 official languages, the 60 or so regional/minority languages, and the languages spoken by people who’ve come to Europe from other parts of the world. As Italian director, Federico Fellini put it: "A different language is a different vision of life.“ To learn more about European Day of Languages and find language learning resources, click on the following links: European Day of Languages homepage European Commission’s page on Languages Council of Europe’s page on Language learning
