Sheila had spent five lovely years in the south of France. Lovely for her, but not quite so enjoyable for her husband and kids. She’d settled in straight away, having always wanted to live there and being able to speak the language fluently. Her husband, however, had a very limited knowledge of French and found it harder to make friends and find work, and the children still missed their friends from back home. When they´d moved to France in the first place, they´d all agreed that if anyone was unhappy, they´d all go back to the UK together rather than anyone being miserable living in a foreign country. So, being completely outvoted, Sheila had to concede and they had all moved back to the UK. At least she´d had those five lovely years and the memories of the experiences that went with them.
One thing didn´t change on her return to the UK, however, and that was what she´d been doing for a living in the south of France. Before they´d emigrated, Sheila had qualified so that she could teach the expats living in France how to speak French from the most basic of phrases to complete fluency. She´d built up regular clients over the years and always felt a sense of pride and satisfaction when her students no longer had a look of panic or embarrassment when speaking, and actually initiated the conversations themselves instead.
The location was different but the job was the same, and Sheila had quickly set up her own language course for people wishing to learn French in the local towns surrounding her hometown. One of the things she liked to do was to meet her students in a local French bistro. It gave the lessons a more relaxed and authentic feel and she always found that she got better results from her students in this type of atmosphere rather than in formal surroundings. Besides, she couldn´t give up all of her favourite French pastimes!
This week has seen the release of GCSE results all over the UK. It´s been a mixed time for students with feelings of nerves, excitement, disappointment, relief and happiness. The subject of the GCSE grading this year has been under controversy due to the new tougher grading system put in place mixed with an increasing re-sit culture and more pupils being entered for their GCSEs a year early.
Teachers, parents and employers disagree with this new system as, instead of promoting higher grades, the new system caters for a certain percentage of passes (40% of students must achieve 5 GCSEs including English and Maths in grades C or above), without fairly grading all students across the board in comparison with previous years. Students this year are not necessarily getting the grade they deserve or expect as lower grades are being handed out in contrast. Teachers feel that accurate comparisons cannot be made with the levels of students´ capabilities from year to year, employers believe that pupils´ employment prospects are being damaged, and parents are now encouraging their children to do resits in order to obtain the grade they need.
This year’s results have seen a 1.3% decline in A*-C grades since last year, the biggest decline in grades in the 25 years that the GSCE system has been in place. Many students have been left feeling disappointed with their results and believe, as do their teachers, that their grades would have been higher had the new system not taken affect.
It´s not all bad news, however. Reports show that in this new system of learning, and possibly due to the introduction of the English Baccalaureate, the level of candidate entries for modern languages has increased significantly. The increase of students taking French rose by 15.5% and German increased by 9.4%. The entry levels for Spanish, however, had a whopping rise with 25.8%. So, despite other dips in the GCSE debate, languages are proving to be increasingly popular with pupils, and that will open numerous doors in their futures!
Andy had applied for a transfer at work. Having worked in the finance department for over five years, he knew the job inside out, but felt it was time to move on and utilise his talents. The foreign investment department had an opening, and he intended to fill it!
Having been brought up in Spain during most of his childhood, Andy had attained a high level of fluency in the language. His new job role would involve handling the accounts for the Spanish clients which meant he would be speaking to them on the phone as well as with written communication. He’d moved back to the UK some years ago but his knowledge of Spanish was still firmly in his head. He just needed to polish up his linguistic skills in the business sector and he´d be all set for the new position.
He’d got the job! Now he just needed to prove he could do it. Andy signed up for a refresher course in Spanish both to train his hearing to become accustomed to the Spanish accent again with the help of his native Spanish teacher, and to learn some financial terms that he would surely come across within his new job. Armed with his new financial jargon and tuned in to the speed and tone that Spaniards are noted for speaking with, Andy was ready to liaise with the Spanish investors and was ready to show his new bosses that they’d made the right investment in him!
The art of a good conversation is knowing what to say, when to say it and how to say it. That’s not always easy as people often mean one thing but say another, try to discuss subjects they´re not fully clued up about, blurt things out in a tactless manner, speak too quickly for others to understand or go off at tangents. All of these things can lead to confusion, disgruntled feelings and mixed messages, which makes having a good conversation in a foreign language even more challenging!
Trying to find the right words and expressions in your own language can be hard enough, but scratching around in a foreign vocabulary to make yourself understood in the way you intended to be is even harder. Confidence is the key; that mixed with a bit of patience and persistence. Be confident that you are speaking the right words in the right way and you´ll carry your conversation off without anyone realising that it involved a little guesswork or that you were unsure of yourself. Don´t worry about the thought of being ridiculed if you get something wrong; on the contrary, people will admire you more for trying. And don´t give up if you can´t think of how to say something straight away, just take some time until it becomes clear in your mind and you´ll find that, after that, the words will flow easily so that you can carry on with the conversation.
No matter what level of lingual ability you´re at, everyone has the same angst when learning and speaking a new language, so be persistent with your studies and be brave at your approach, and you´ll soon find that you´re enjoying a very good conversation!
As a child, Peter had loved scuba diving and spent as much time as he could in the water looking at the colourful scenery beneath him and learning to spot different types of coral, fish and other marine life.
After many happy holidays abroad, and now an adult, he´d decided to take his hobby a step further and become a diving instructor. He´d lived and worked in Greece for a couple of years, initially training with a diving school for his PADI instructor certification, and then to gain experience at earning a living as an instructor. It was invaluable for the amount of knowledge he´d learned, not only about the fascinating underwater life but also how to be a guide. The work taught him how to deal with different people and how to adapt the dives to different levels of capabilities.
A couple of years later, he put this knowledge to good use when an unexpected move took him to Spain and he joined a renowned dive centre. Dealing with locals as well as tourists, Peter gradually picked up the language and this helped greatly with the training classes and put people at ease straight away. He relished the dive excursions where they explored the colourful reefs, abundant with rich and diverse marine life. He enjoyed wreck dives, making underwater discoveries, watching the inquisitive fish and sometimes even feeding them, with great opportunities for underwater photography shots. The spectacular undersea scenery never failed to amaze him.
Unfortunately, Peter had had to return to the UK to deal with unforeseen family matters but still went diving whenever he could and planned to go back to Spain eventually to continue with his dream job and lifestyle. To make sure he didn´t waste a moment of his time, he had enrolled in Spanish lessons to keep the language active in his mind as he intended to carry on exactly where he left off on his return to Spain. With more pressing matters to hand in the meantime, he contented himself with his memories of the magical underwater world of the Mediterranean.
Martin was ready to pack up and set off again. As part of a band crew, he travelled a lot, staying away from home for long periods of time and touring to different destinations; and he loved it!
Martin had been working in this profession for twenty years and never tired of it. Travelling with different bands and crews made each job exciting and challenging. The hours were long and he was used to living out of a suitcase but the buzz of the concerts at the end of each night which reflected on all of the crew´s hard work was fantastic.
Travelling to different locations was the added bonus and, between sets, he would explore each city with other crew members and take in the atmosphere and sights around him. He´d travelled on tour to cities like Milan, Berlin, Seville, Lisbon, Paris, Amsterdam and Prague, and many more besides. Each tour took his job to new cities and he looked forward to whenever he´d get a chance to get to know the areas.
Of all the places he´d travelled to, his favourite country was Italy. Each city was so different with diverse landscapes and a fascinating culture. The locals were always friendly and welcoming, and he had a particular fondness for Italian food! His freelance work usually took him on European tours so, more often than not, he´d be pretty sure to end up in an Italian city at some point. He´d picked up lots of words and phrases on the way and had even taken up Italian language lessons back home. Although his work schedule was very irregular, his language course was flexible enough to cater for this and he was able to continue his studies from where he had left off the previous time without having to skip chunks of lessons.
For now, it was back to work and the hard graft of the behind the scenes crew. Soon the stage would be set, the lights would go up and the crowd would go wild!
Have you ever considered the origins of languages? How did they start, where did they begin, how have they changed and been influenced over the years?
Our modern day European languages belong to the Germanic family of languages which originated in Europe and include about 60 languages and dialects all originating from Proto-Germanic, which was spoken in Iron Age northern Europe. As the Germanic tribes moved southwards from northern Europe, different variations of Germanic sprang up.
Three main groups occurred: the West Germanic languages, North Germanic and East Germanic languages. The North Germanic branch consists of Danish, Swedish and Norwegian, amongst others. The East Germanic languages are now extinct. The West Germanic languages, however, are the most widely spoken of the Germanic family of languages and include the two most popular ones of English and German as well as other major languages, including Dutch and Afrikaans.
The English and German languages of today occurred due to shifts in speech patterns resulting from influences such as the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons which led to the demise of Old English grammar and the start of Middle English in the 12th century, and to the High German consonant shift which resulted in Upper German, Low Saxon and Central German strains.
Our languages are still evolving today with the integration of popular foreign words and phrases from other languages. Languages are intriguing, from their concept, to their development, their usage and their ever-changing form. So be intrigued: get back to your linguistic roots and learn a new language from the Germanic family tree!
Chris had spent a few years in his late teens and early twenties living in Germany, in the army barracks where he served. After his tour had ended, he moved back to the UK with his German wife to start a family. They had a beautiful baby boy called Sam and life in the UK was good for a while.
But, as sometimes happens, life changed course and Chris and his wife sadly decided to end their marriage. She moved back to Germany with their young son while Chris stayed in the UK. His ex-wife soon remarried and started a new family, and gradually it wasn’t just the distance which kept Chris apart from his son as she cut all forms of communication with him.
Years later, having never given up searching, Chris found his son again. Now a teenager, he still lived in Germany but with his girlfriend rather than his mother. Sam spoke good English but, having lived in Germany for so long, often lapsed into German without thinking. Chris still remembered bits of German but his memory of the language was vague since his army days. As an effort to show willing and an understanding for Sam´s life so far in Germany, Chris enrolled in a German language course to refresh his memory and to make quick progress so that he could speak to his son properly.
A year later, they are still catching up and getting to know each other, albeit by speaking in an amusing form of Denglish! The separation of time and distance may have been long, but the bond between father and son has been mended in no time at all.