(목요모임) [20 Dec 2018]Thursday meeting topic

[주영이]

안녕하세요, 잉글리쉬홀릭입니다. (오늘 토픽은 Jake님이 제공 해 주셨습니다.)

연말을 마무리하고, 새해를 시작하는 의미에서 우리가 왜 사람들과 같이 모여 영어를 공부하는지 다시 되새겨 보고자 아래와 같은 토픽을 준비해 보았습니다.

이는 2019년 새해부터는 조금 더 다양한 시사/세계이슈들을 보다 다양한 관점에서 영어로 배우고 이해하기위해 오거나이저주디, 수잔 외 다양한 다른 분들께도 토픽 요청을 드리기 위함 이기도 합니다.보다 많은 분들이 적극적으로 참여하고 보다 정확하게 영어로 구사할 수 있는 모임을 만들고자 하오니 많은 협조 부탁드리겠습니다.

First Impression (첫인상) - 자기소개편-

회사동료를 처음 뵙을 때, 영어면접에 갔을때 자신을 어떻게 소개하시는 지요?
오늘은 회사에서 외국인 동료를 만나거나 영어면접에서 자기소개를 조금 더 세련되게하거나 어필이되면서 심플하게 할 수 있는지를 소개하고자 합니다.

학교/직장/모임에 처음 왔을 시
첫 입학/출근/모임 참석에서 새로운 사람들을 만났을 때에는 오늘이 처음이라는 것을 또는 최근이라는 것을 언급함으로써 사람들과 조금 더 가깝게 지낼 수 있다.
   Hello, This is Sam, I'm new here. (안녕하세요, 샘이구요, 최근에 입사/입학/모임에 조인 했습니다)
   Hello, This is Sam, This is my first day today. (안녕하세요 샘이구요, 오늘이 첫출근/방문 이예요)

친구/회사 지인에게 자신을 소개할 때
학교/직장/모임에서 지인 또는 회사를 통한다면 아래와 같이 설명할 수 표현할 수 있다
   Hello, This is Sam, Jay's college friend. How are you?
   Hello, My name is Sam, Jay's high school friend. How are you doing today?
   Hello, I'm Sam, Jay's friend from work. How have you been?
   Hello, It's Sam from the marketing department. How is it going?

여러분들도 위에 기재된 표현들을 이용하여 스스로를 새로만난 외국인들에게 자신있게 소개해보세요~

2. English In Our Life (우리는 왜 영어를 배우는가?)

1. English is one of the most widely spoken languages

Although it comes second to Mandarin in the total number of speakers, English is the language you’ll be able to use most widely, as it’s spoken in more countries than any other language. That means that English is the language that will give you the best return for your efforts; after all, intellectual challenge aside, there’s little point putting a huge amount of time and effort into learning a language that you’ll hardly ever have the opportunity to use.

As well as the UK, a whopping 60 of the world’s 196 countries have English as their official language:  the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, to name but a few. It’s the language of diplomacy and the official language of the European Union, the United Nations, NATO and the European Free Trade Association, not to mention many Commonwealth countries. What’s more, English is the commonly adopted second language of people in a great many more countries, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Holland. In total, around 1.5 billion people speak English worldwide – and another billion are in the process of learning it. Will you make this number even bigger by learning it yourself?

2. English will open up more opportunities for you

Being able to speak English allows you to communicate effectively in numerous countries, and this opens up lots of possibilities for you in terms of the countries you could choose to seek work in one day – not to mention travel to as a tourist. You won’t have to worry about getting lost when you travel to an English-speaking country, as you’ll easily be able to ask for directions, and taking guided tours, ordering food and chatting to the locals will no longer be a source of stress.

What’s more, careers that involve lots of travel or international exposure, such as the airline, tourism and film industries, use English as their official language, and many employers in these sectors are likely to require evidence of a certain level of proficiency in English before they will consider employing you. This means that if you can speak English, you’ll find that you have a greater number of possible careers to choose from after you finish at university.

be a source of stress.

What’s more, careers that involve lots of travel or international exposure, such as the airline, tourism and film industries, use English as their official language, and many employers in these sectors are likely to require evidence of a certain level of proficiency in English before they will consider employing you. This means that if you can speak English, you’ll find that you have a greater number of possible careers to choose from after you finish at university.

3. English will make you more desirable to employers

Being fluent in a second language clearly demonstrates a powerful brain and reflects someone who has put in the huge amount of time, resources and commitment needed to master another language. But while being bilingual is impressive full stop, no matter what combination of languages you speak, adding English to your CV will be particularly useful. Not only is it an especially complex language to get to grips with, a fact that reflects well on you for having mastered it, but as we’ve seen, it’s also an incredibly useful language to learn because so many countries speak it. You’ll be in a much stronger position to apply for jobs overseas if you’ve reached a good level of fluency in English.

English has been referred to as “the language of business”, and it’s not hard to see why. If you have ambitions to become an international businessperson, it’s essential that you’re able to speak English fluently; business conducted internationally is done in English more often than not. Even if you’re not thinking of living and working abroad, that doesn’t mean you won’t find English a helpful language to put on your CV. There may well be plenty of English-speaking multinational corporations with offices in your home country. What’s more, English skills are just as desirable to employers in your own country and language as they are to employers in English-speaking countries. Here are just three examples to give you an idea of the kind of situations in which English may come in useful in your own country:

• Business meetings – being able to speak English puts you in a position to be able to attend or hold international business meetings. Where several languages are represented, the chances are that the meeting will be conducted in English – and if you’re the only one in your team who can speak English, you may find yourself being put forward to attend important meetings, advancing yourself up the career ladder in the process.
• Customer service and sales – you’ll be able to help with any English-speaking customers your employer may have – and sell to them. This gives you the chance to build relationships with overseas customers, and the ability to build relationships is an important business skill that puts you at an advantage over non-English speaking fellow employees and makes you more valuable to the company you work for.
• Marketing and communications – if the company you end up working for markets its products or services to English-speaking countries, or releases other sorts of communications such as press releases to these countries, your knowledge of English may come in handy for translating marketing materials or communications with customers or sales prospects. The cultural knowledge you’ll acquire through learning English may also come in handy in knowing how to pitch products and ideas to English-speaking nations.

4. English gives you access to some of the world’s best universities

English is widely regarded as the language of higher education. Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and MIT are just a few of the famous universities that occupy the lofty heights of the top of the world education league tables, and you’ll need to speak English fluently for access to any of these, as they’re all English-speaking. It goes without saying that if you are able to study at one of these institutions, you’ll start your career with an illustrious name on your CV – and the benefits of that speak for themselves. If English isn’t your native language, you’ll need to take an English test during the admissions process to prove that your level of English is up to scratch for the demands of the academic environment. If you have your sights set on a top university, the effort you put in to study English as early as possible in your school years will be rewarded when it comes to the choice of universities to which you can apply.

5. English is the language of some of the world’s greatest literature

If you learn English, you’ll be able to enjoy works by some of the world’s most famous writers, in the language in which they were intended to be read or heard. The works of Shakespeare will take on a new meaning when you’re able to speak English, and you can look forward to enjoying such influential classics as Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and her sister’s Jane Eyre, George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and many, many more. Translation rarely does a writer true justice, so the only way to appreciate a classic literary work properly is to read it in its original language. Even better, through doing so, you’ll deepen your knowledge of English by enriching it with new words and sentence structures.

6. English allows you to get more from popular culture

The world’s highest-grossing movies are made in Hollywood, and needless to say, they are made in English. How many times have you been to see an American blockbuster and been frustrated by having to keep up with fast-paced subtitles? And how many times have you hummed a favourite pop song, but not been able to sing along because it’s in English and you don’t know the words? There’s a solution… Kiss those annoying cinema subtitles goodbye and get more out of the music you enjoy by learning English.

7. English allows you to attend international conferences and events

Major sporting events such as the Olympics are held in English, and so are international conferences, so competitors and delegates will need to be able to speak English to be able to get the most out of taking part. You may find yourself needing to attend conferences as part of your chosen career, so learning English now will be of enormous benefit to you in years to come. Not only will you be able to understand the talks, but you’ll get a lot more out of the networking opportunities that come with such events if you can talk effectively in English. You never know – there may be a new employer or client among the crowds of fellow delegates, so make sure you can communicate with them!

8. English has a simple alphabet and everyone’s equal

The English alphabet is straightforward, making it easier to master than the symbols or pictures that make up some languages. If you’ve struggled to learn more complex alphabets, you may find you make more progress with English, which shares an alphabet with many other languages.

There are no complicated symbols and characters to get to grips with in English, either; even in French, which essentially uses the same alphabet, there are several accents used on certain letters that alter the pronunciation. Not so in English. Furthermore, not matter how important they are, everyone is addressed as “you” – there are no polite and informal variants to agonise over (as there are in French with “tu” and “vous”, for instance), so you won’t need to worry about inadvertently creating social awkwardness by being overly familiar. And unlike many European languages, there are no masculine and feminine words to remember – it’s “a dog”, not “le chien”.

9. English gives you wider access to knowledge

Did you know that 55% of the world’s webpages are written in English? This absolutely dwarfs that of any other language, with the next most widely used language on the internet being Russian (which constitutes just 6% of pages). Knowledge of English therefore allows you to tap into far more of the world’s intellectual resources.

English is also the language of science. If you learn English, you won’t just have access to a greater proportion of the vast amount of knowledge available on the web; you’ll be able to educate yourself still further by being able to read scientific books and papers. English is, of course, essential if you intend to pursue a scientific career. Within the Science Citation Index, compiled by the Institute for Scientific Information, an estimated 95% of articles are written in English despite only around half being from English-speaking countries. According to the Open University, “At Oxford University two thirds of post-graduate students come from outside the UK. The students in the university’s chemistry research lab admit that working in English is a key attraction.”

10. English is a fantastic intellectual challenge!

English is undoubtedly one of the harder languages to learn. Full of nuances, unexpected pronunciations, odd rules and infuriating exceptions to rules, it takes dedication and perseverance to reach a good level of fluency. If you’re on the lookout for a new challenge, learning English may be just what you’re after. Not only that, but because it’s so widely spoken, it opens you up to a huge number of new cultural experiences, which will help you develop life skills, meet new people and grow your confidence in handling new situations.

Have we convinced you yet? 

Questions.

1. Why should you learn English?What English is so important in your life?

2. Do you speak fluent English with confident? If not, why not?

3. How can Englisholic to help you for improving your English skill?

Topic) What are your top five fears?
A YouGov survey has identified the top five phobias of British people. Unsurprisingly they include heights, snakes and spiders. Tell us your worst fears

A YouGov survey of 2,000 people has ranked the things that British people are most afraid of. The survey asked people to rate a list of 13 phobias, and asked them to describe their fear levels for each one. Here were the top five things that terrified us:

Heights

 

Aerial views from a helicopter show six women climbing the Shard in protest of Shell's proposed Arctic drilling Photograph: Sang Tan/AP   

Unsurprisingly, a fear of heights tops the list. We're not a nation of skyscrapers and vertiginous mountains. Most of us would rather not look over the edge of the Grand Canyon or climb a unsteady pylon for the rush of it. And given that vertigo gives some people the urge to jump, a healthy fear of heights seems completely sensible to us.

Snakes

 

A snake striking at the camera. Photograph: Alamy

Since our rainy island doesn't welcome the deadliest types of snake, it's somewhat odd to see this phobia so high up on the list. We don't have to deal with the Black Mamba, a deadly snake which can move at speeds of over 12mph. Sure, you might see the odd grass snake or adder in the countryside, but you're unlikely to meet a boa constrictor on a cool spring night as you pop down to the pub. So why the fear?

A fear of public speaking

 

President Barack Obama in full flow. Photograph: Brooks Kraft/Corbis

This one is understandable. Gazing out on a sea of expectant faces would give anyone sweaty palms. There is an entire industry devoted to helping people who cannot face speaking publicly, so we won't try to give you too much advice. But have you tried imagining the crowd naked?

A fear of spiders

 

A false widow spider (Steatoda nobilis) found in West Sussex. Photograph: Alamy

As with snakes, the UK isn't exactly overrun with poisonous, fanged arachnids. But the recent panic about False widow spiders, and the oft repeated myth about eating spiders in your sleep might have contributed to a slight shiver in our collective consciousness. Are you feeling something crawling up your arm right now?

A fear of small spaces

 

A group of people stuck in a lift. Photograph: Getty

This doesn't only apply to the shoebox sized living spaces we can barely afford thanks to the housing shortage, but to the primal fear of not being able to escape a confined place. No wonder some people over the years have devised 'safety coffins,' which have bells and breathing tubes installed just in case the departed haven't departed all the way.

The rest of the list comprised of a fear of mice, fear of needles, fear of flying, fear of crowds, fear of clowns, fear of the dark, fear of blood, and a fear of dogs. Tell us what you'd add to the list. What are your top phobias? Come and scare us in the thread below.

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Questions

Q1 : What springs to mind when you hear the word 'fear'?

Q2 : What are you most afraid of and why?

Q3 : Are you afraid of public speaking?

Q4 : How can we help people over come these phobias?

• Public speaking / • Heights / •  Flying

• Spiders / • The sight of blood /  •  Injections 

Q5 : What is the most scary thing ? Rank these keywords. Put the scariest at the top.

• horror movies / • the dark / • cyber-stalkers / • ghosts
• rollercoasters / • exams / • public speaking in English / • health checks

Q6 : Why are we afraid of things that are not dangerous?

Q7 : What was your biggest fear when you were a child?

Q8 : Have you ever overcome a fear?

Q9 : Are people in different countries afraid of different things?

Q10 : What do you do when you are really scared?

Q11 : How could you get over one of your fears?

Q12 : Is fear healthy?

[Scarlet]

Judy and Jake ! Thank you for your dedication on the articles !