Reading and its Relevance in Learning a New Language

No language can be fully understood or properly learnt unless  one can read it  effectively, pronounce  words correctly and write it well.

How to enhance the process of learning a language?

It is  really simple. The answer to this question is- READ.

It is extremely important that a person who is engaging himself / herself in learning a new language reads texts in that language. It increases his/her vocabulary and helps  understand the usage of grammar pertaining to each language.

It helps more if one reads a story they’ve read before in a language they know in the language they’re pursuing. For example- if you are learning Spanish, it will help if you try looking up a simple story like, Little Red Riding Hood in Spanish, and go through the story. It gives you an idea of sentence formation, usage of words and grammatical knowledge of the language.

Now a days it is simpler still to punch in a topic you would like to read about, and come across blogs which can be read. This, however, requires discretion of websites one looks up, but blogs can turn out to be a good source of reading for people.

The gist of the matter is that reading is a crucial step in the process of learning a language well.

So, read up!

To learn a new language enroll at SIFIL ELTIS- http://www.eltis-symbiosis.org/SIFIL.html

Misspelled words

Many people say: English is not an easy language to learn.

Do you think so? If yes, why?

If you do not think so, is it because you can speak, read and write in English? Well, the fact of the matter is that learning a language is a little difficult than most people think because everyone does not learn the correct usage, at least as far as spellings of words go.

There are some words in English that are commonly misspelled-

(Misspelled- there’s a double ‘s’ and a double ‘l’.)

Their, They’re, There- The most common mistake. “Their” means belonging to a group of people. “They’re” is a contraction of “they are” and “There” is in reference to a place.

‘Your’ and ‘you’re’- “Your” means belonging to someone in the second person. “You’re” is a contraction of “you are”. This is the most commonly misspelled word.

People seem to face problems where there are double letters. The trick is to pronounce the word and spot the places where the syllables are stressed. This makes it easier to spell words correctly.

Another area where people tend to botch up is in the usage of ‘i’ and ‘e’. There is a rule to remember which order to use these letters in- “i is always after e, except after c”. For example- the word believe is written with the letter ‘e’ after the letter ‘I’, whereas the words ‘receive’ and ‘deceive’ see the letter ‘e’ before the letter ‘I’.

Let us study some more examples-

Lose- the verb form of the word ‘loss’. The opposite of the word win
Loose- not tight

Its- an indicator of possession
It’s- the contracted form of “it is”

Definitely- it is NOT spelled with the letter “a” as in definately’

Weather- snow, rain, sunshine, humidity, are types of weather
Whether- a word used as a substitute of “if”

A lot- it is NOT a word

Then- used to specify a particular time
Than- used for the purpose of comparisons

These are few of the commonly misspelled words in the English language. But these are only a few. The best way to avoid spelling mistakes is to read a lot. Have fun working on your spellings!

To learn good English enroll at ELTIS- SIFIL:  http://www.eltis-symbiosis.org/SIFIL.html

Hospitality and Festivals of India

It is no covert that people enjoy the culture of India  through its festivals. Indian festivals not only signify joy and laughter but also illustrate colour and light.

What is interesting to notice is  the easy way  in which a foreign tourist is welcome into the festivities that surround India at any time of the year. It is as though for a moment, all differences are kept aside and the people are more than welcome to be a part of the festivities.

It is obvious that people plan their vacation to visit India based on the festival calendar of the country.  Thus, India sees a large number of tourists around the time or when festivals like Holi , Diwali   Navratri are round the corner. The idea is to give them a taste of the Indian celebration. Because of this , India seems to be more hospitable than ever during these  festivities.

People who really benefit and enjoy are NRIs. They come back home on these occasions and  meet all  whom they miss while they are away. . Indian traditions are magnified at the time of festivals and this somehow fills any void that NRIs might be feeling away from home. The music, the food, the dresses, they all scream Indian festivals and people need that when they come back home after a long time away!

The best thing, however, is that families  get  much time to be together.  Grandparents meet their grandchildren, cousins meet each other and that in reality is what makes the festivals of India so memorable for NRIs. Family and festivity  becomes   a good combination there !

To  know more about Indian culture and festivals, enroll at SIFIL-ELTIS- http://www.eltis-symbiosis.org/SIFIL.html