English Language

Why is it that Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese students of English can read English texts quite easily, the more highbrow the better, but have problems when it comes to talking about simple everyday subjects whereas German, Dutch and Scandinavian students learn to talk relatively easily but have problems understanding difficult written texts? The answer lies in the history of the English language which, by the way, is not a very long one, in fact English is the youngest language there is and the only one of which a date of birth is known or, more precisely, the date before which it didn’t exist. Let’s go back to the time when Germanic tribes, the ...

I have read many reviews on dooyoo about The English Language, and have been inspired enough by the complaints to take a few potshots myself. It's a dangerous thing for a foreigner to do when every sentence is a trap, but my experience is that foreigners often have better grammar than native speakers, because they have scrutinised it more carefully, being more afraid of making mistakes. Native speakers take the language for granted, so they don't think too much about it. Where foreigners are most often caught out is not so much in grammar but in idiom. And sometimes when we make mistakes it brings to light certain odd things about the English language which make it a ...

I’m not too sure what Dooyoo expects in this category. The heading ‘English Language’ might refer to the current English Language exams in schools, English language Degrees, English as a foreign language, or even our changing language! So, I have decided to give my view on the changes there have been in the last fifty years. Oh yes! I know what I’m talking about. I’ve lived them. Have you seen the programme on television about 1950’s education? The one that puts a group of teenagers into a school that is run the old fashioned, 1950’s way. (Can’t remember the name of the programme as I’m not really a tele-bug!) In this programme almost all the ...