Writing Challenge #8: English Mania (NEW quiz and challenge)

NEW: Take the English Mania Quiz.
Update: I have now added an advanced challenge in the comment section. Find it on page 5 of the comments. (Don't look ahead until you try it. Answers on page 6.)

On Twitter today I came across a link to a speech titled "English Mania". In his speech, Jay Walker poses this question:

"Is English a tsunami washing away other languages?"This month, let's practise expressing our opinion. Since you are all learners or teachers of English I'm interested in knowing your thoughts on the question above. If you have time, please watch the video below first.In your response try to:1) State your opinion2) Give reasons and examples for your opinion3) Conclude or summarize your opinion*Please come back often to read and comment on the opinions.Stating your opinion:In my opinionIf you ask meTo be honestTo start...I agree thatI disagree thatFrom my perspectiveIn my country/culture/familyI firmly believeStating reasonsThe reason whyMy beliefMy feeling is thatFirst of allGiving more reasons and examplesFurthermore...In addition...Another reason...Likewise...Second of allConclude or summarize your opinion:In conclusionAs a resultAs mentionedAs I said (suitable for speaking)In the endAll in allOther useful expressions when expressing opinion:to be honestwithout a doubtmerelyin some casesit's conceivable thaton the other handcontrary to

Image Source: Creative Commons Flikr user watch4u

I firmly believe that there is no language suitable for anyone other than her mother language and i totally disagree with the statement. Well almost all language are somehow mother languages to somebody and we get it as we have different cultures. Every culture has its own style, own language to communicate and to communicate with people with other culture we need a mutual language. Here comes the necessary of English as it is an International language and most of the schools/colleges/universities have this as subject or medium of instruction. I also believe that nobody feels comfort to speak English with his friends/families except using her native language. but yes it is English which is the only language whenever u foreigners as you might not what it her native language but surely English will be her second language or third language or whatever.

In the end, i would like to say that English is absolutely essential for all but not as a first language. It should be the second language and its impossible to wash out other languages.

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Comments

seyed amin tajer December 17, 2009 13:43

i found it very useful , specialy for new cummer like me .
Tara Benwell November 12, 2009 20:21

Great writing Sarah! I'm so glad you joined this discussion.
Expector Smith November 12, 2009 11:00

Hi Tara,
I'm so happy to be here again. Sorry for my absence, during which something was wrong with my computer. I'll catch up with you all. I have read the new "Question of the month" you mentioned and found that the answers are beneficial to learners.
Tara Benwell November 11, 2009 18:33

Hi expectorsmith,
It's so great to see your name again. I hope you'll read the new "Question of the Month" in ESL magazine which talks a bit about the "time and pain" of learning English that you mention.
Expector Smith November 11, 2009 15:54

I'd say it's still an interesting topic, which might lead to the answer to some questions about whether we need to learn English. As you know, it's not easy to learn a foreign language - it really takes time and pain. But, once you've realized the importance of learning English, you'll know it's worth it. We are all doing the right thing here.

Incidentally, I'd like to thank Tara for the correcting - I saw my errors be corrected. Thanks again.
sarah November 4, 2009 10:01

From my perspective, learning a new language washing away other languages as you can see now a day’s people try hard to learn one or two more languages so whenever day want to speak their own language , they automatically use some new word which recently has been learned ,My feeling is that this just happen because the world is under pleasure of learning a new languages ,Furthermore parents push their children to learn at a low ages to different language school also adult are really interested to learn , In conclusion, learning a new language such an English must be in a very rich environments what I mean is that must be teach very clear and useful in order not to wash the own language .to be honest this is very hard and need a brilliants idea.
juan carlo luna October 15, 2009 14:40

From my perspective the English language is not a tsunami that washes away other languages. First of all why do people study the English language? One WORD oppurtunity. Oppurtunity for a better life, a job, to be able to pay for school or put better food on the table. Take it from my country the Philippines! As proclaimed the Philippines is the third largest English-speaking country in the world. In fact it is indicated in our constitution that "For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English. People from my country starts studying the English language at the age of 4 up to college. So why do we study the language? well may be because of several decades of American colonial rule. As mentioned because of OPPURTUNITY our country is a Business Process outsourcing hub, there are more than 130 contact centers here in our country that employs hundreds of thousands of Filipino (call center agents) who are good in English.
Shaymol October 2, 2009 12:13

I firmly believe that there is no language suitable for anyone other than her mother language and i totally disagree with the statement. Well almost all language are somehow mother languages to somebody and we get it as we have different cultures. Every culture has its own style, own language to communicate and to communicate with people with other culture we need a mutual language. Here comes the necessary of English as it is an International language and most of the schools/colleges/universities have this as subject or medium of instruction. I also believe that nobody feels comfort to speak English with his friends/families except using her native language. but yes it is English which is the only language whenever u foreigners as you might not what it her native language but surely English will be her second language or third language or whatever.

In the end, i would like to say that English is absolutely essential for all but not as a first language. It should be the second language and its impossible to wash out other languages.
Ronni Bala August 24, 2009 6:37

Hi Tara,

Thank you very much for your corrections. It is really usefull. I am sure that I have my limitation in writing; however I will write to improve it and I know through your dedication, you will help to improve my English writing.

Once again, thank you very much and best regards,
Ronnie
Tara Benwell July 16, 2009 16:00

You can now take my English Mania quiz here.

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