Lesson 102 Part I

Lesson 102

Part Ⅰ Warming-up Exercises

Note-taking: Language and People

Training Focus:

Note-taking: important facts: 1. names of languages 2. numbers

Directions: You are going to hear the names of some languages and the numbers of people who speak these languages. Listen carefully. Write down the languages and numbers.

Key:

Do you know what are some of the languages which have more than one million speakers ?

Chinese has the largest number of speakers, more than 1,031 million. Next, English is spoken by 386 million people. The neat on the line is Russian, which has more than 265 million speakers. Number 4, Spanish is spoken by 245 million people. Next comes Hindi, the language spoken chiefly in India, which has 237 million speakers. Arabic is next on the line and it is spoken by 147 million people. Number 7, Portuguese is spoken by 145 million. Next, German has 119 million speakers, while fapanese has 117 million. We have French on the list with 103 million, and it is followed by Urdu, which is spoken by 68 million people. Number 12, Italian is spoken by 61 million and Korean is spoken by 58 million. Number 14, which 43 million people speak is Turkish, while 42 million speak Vietnamese. Next, we have Polish on the list and it has 38 million speakers. Polish is followed by Thai, with 37 million speakers, who mainly live in Thailand. Next comes Persian, the language spoken in Iran, and it has *27 million speakers. Creek has 1C' million speakers, and last, Swedish is also spoken by 10 million people.

*On the tape this number is misread as 38.

Lesson 102 Part Ⅱ Why Learn Foreign Languages ? ( Ⅰ )

Lesson 102

Part Ⅱ Why Learn Foreign Languages ? (Ⅰ)

Ex. Ⅰ

Directions: Write down the essential points of the questions raised by the first speaker and the answers given by the second speaker.

Key: (see tapescript)

Ex. Ⅱ

Directions: Decide whether the five statements are true or false according to the views and opinions of the second speaker.

Key: 1. T 2. F 3. T 4. T 5. F

Tapescript:

Why Learn Foreign Languages ? (Ⅰ) (2′ 12 ″)

Matthew: Chris, why is it that there are so many different languages, and that in Europe certainly if you travel more than a hundred miles, you're likely to find people speaking a completely different language to your own?

Chris: Well, it's true to say that there are er … hundreds and hundreds of different languages. It's perhaps um … however, more interesting and more informative to say that there are several different groups of languages er … Most European languages, with the exception of I think Finnish and er … Basque and … Hungarian I  believe, belong to the Indo European group of languages um … I'm not very sure myself of the … the actual details of the history of these languages, but you can be very sure that er … most of these languages, say Latin and Greek and our own language and er … German and er … French and … all the others, are connected. The reason why you can travel from one village to another in Switzerland and er … from one area to another in England and find different dialects, if not different languages spoken, is that um … several hundred years ago communication was by word of mouth. Word of mouth meant that people had to move; if people were to move they needed roads and there were no roads.

Matthew: Do you see any chance for a universal language like Esperanto ?

Chris: Not for an artificial er … language, no … I suppose the Roman Catholic Church used Latin, but Latin had a … a particular religious basis and this is probably why it was therefore chosen. I don't see very much chance for Esperanto; I think it's an awfully good idea but I don't believe that language works like that. I think people will probably er … work towards the most convenient language to use. They will not set out to learn a new language. It seems to me that er … either English, Russian or Chinese, perhaps Japanese, will be the languages of the future er … My bet's on English.

Lesson 102 Part Ⅲ Why Learn Foreign Languages ? ( Ⅱ )

Lesson 102

Part Ⅲ Why Learn Foreign Languages ? (Ⅱ)

Ex.Ⅰ

Directions: Write down the essential points of the questions raised by the first speaker and the answers given by the second speaker.

Key: Q 1: Why so few Englishmen / speak / second language ?

A. 1: Dead occupation / difficult to stimulate interest among school children / traditionally thought foreigners always spoke English.

Q. 2: Gone abroad / learnt language ?

A. 2: Yes / secretary / Geneva / 2 years, French learnt at school / pick up the language.

Q. 3: Learn another language / problem ?

A. 3: At beginning, yes / after 1 or 2 years / know system.

Q. 4: English humour ?

A. 4: Long time to understand.

Ex.Ⅱ

Directions: Complete the summary according to the information you hear on the tape.

Key: (see tapescript)

Tapescript

Why Learn Foreign Languages ? (Ⅱ) (3′24″)

Matthew: Maggie, why do you think it is that so few English people speak a second language ?

Maggie: I think when you learn a language at school i … it tends to be rather a dead occupation, and it's very difficult to stimulate any interest among school children. But when you actually go to the country and you spend say a month when … in … in an exchange visit when you're a schoolgirl, or a schoolboy um … then you suddenly become more interested because you … you want to communicate with people when you're actually abroad, and it's not safe to rely on the fact that most people speak English when um … in foreign countries. Mm … I think English people traditionally thought that … that foreigners always spoke English, and a lot of foreigners do, but there are people that you meet in the street or you want to take a bus somewhere, then you find that you need to speak the language and it's very unnerving to be in a situation where you can't communicate with people when you do want to travel around.

Matthew: Have you ever gone abroad and learnt er … a language in the country ?

Maggie: Yes, well when I was a secretary I er … went and lived in Geneva for two years, and I learnt French at school but I … I really didn't speak it at all. I knew it theoretically but I wasn't able to communicate with people. But I was in a situation where if I didn't speak French, then I would not have been able to do my shopping and buy food, and so I picked the language up and I made friends with French people … Swiss French people, and I found that if I wanted to communicate with all … all the people that I met, then I had to learn French, and I think it's the best method of learning because you're in the situation. It's very hard at times ---- you can sit through dinner parties and not understand what … what's going on and you think everybody thinks you're stupid because you can't communicate with them, but it's … it's the hard way but I think it's the best way to learn.

Matthew: Elfriede, you come from Austria and yet you've been living in England now for the last three years. Has having to learn and speak another language created great problems ?

Elfriede: Um…  At the beginning, yes, it was rather difficult for me to get the right job … um. After you've lived here for one or two years you get to know the system and then that's quite good. You know how to use libraries and well… you get to know where to um … call in emergencies; um… you get to know … er … trying to get a radio and understand the radio and all the …  programmes they have … um and when they're on and the little stories.

Matthew: Um … What about English humour on the radio ?

Elfriede: Um … I think that takes a very very long time to understand and I'm sorry to say that I haven't managed yet to understand it completely, but er… I find it very interesting to speak other languages um… because English people have different er … have a different mentality, and have a very different character and a different temperament and it is fascinating for me to talk to them um… and also for myself to be able to express myself in a different language and to communicate with them.