Page 41 - DENG102_COMMUNICATION_SKILLS_II

Communication Skills-II

notes Questions
1. What are the benefits of having English as a national language?

2. Do you think, we can consider making any other foreign language one of our national
languages?

Source: http://www.usingenglish.com/comprehension/9.html
mandarin

Mandarin is basically spoken in Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore. With approximately
1,372,226,042 speakers, Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world. The spoken language
is not as hard as people would think. The grammar is about as complex as in English, but the
vocabulary takes more effort to learn, since it is not related at all to the English vocabulary.
Learning Chinese, you understand better why linguist speak of a language as the spoken part
only: there’s no relationship whatsoever between what you hear (the word) and what you write
(the character). This is why it is considered by many as the most difficult language to learn.

Did u know? It takes three to four years at least to learn to read, but you can speak in one
year!!!
For many people, this is also the language of the future, with China becoming more powerful
every year and a huge economy that buys and sells all over the world.
french

French, as the name suggests, is the native language of France and many French colonies.
Speaking French will be very useful in many countries besides France, such as North Africa,
Québec, and in many “black” African countries.

Did u know? There are about 75 million native French speakers, but a further 55 million
know it as a communication language.
French will open you one of the world’s largest economies, France, and allow you to do business
in various North African countries where French is the lingua franca of the business intelligentsia.
Also, France is the most visited country on earth, so knowledge of the language will come in
handy while travelling to France.
French is not very difficult to learn and speak. It will take around 10-12 months to learn, if you
dedicated an hour to it every day.

Task Translate the introduction portion of this unit into French. Use a English-French
dictionary/grammar book and internet for help.

German

German, as the name suggests, is the native language of Germany. Apart from Germany, it is
widely spoken in Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and in regions of Italy and
Belgium. There are approximately 94,842,656 German speakers in the world. If you deal with
Germany or Austria, either as a tourist or for business, speaking German is a key asset.

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