Spanish people and their English

The following topic is usually discussed by native English speakers, however, I would like to share my own opinion on this.

It is true that the English language in the past centuries has spread to all parts of the world very quickly so that it has become one of the most important languages in our world. Especially in Europe and economically strong Asian countries like India, China or Japan the English language has become a regular feature in their education. Nevertheless, it is often said that countries like Spain or Italy do not have a good education due to the English language, which makes me coming back to my mentioned topic: “Do Spanish people hardly speak English? If so, why?”

First of all, I want to admit that I can only refer to my experiences I have made with Spanish people in Spain while living there and in Poland by talking to the Erasmus students. Now, I cannot generalize my opinion but my experience was:

1. Spanish people do hardly speak English and in comparison to students from other countries their English is worse.

2. To my mind, one of the greatest problems due to this issue is that Spaniards dub everything so that they rarely come into contact with the English language.

3. Another experience I have made is that Spaniards hardly ever leave their country. A lot of Spanish students I have met rarely leave their village much less their region or country. On the other hand, they do not need any English in Spain because everything is translated or dubbed except the tourist industry, which again is very popular especially in the south of Spain.

4. Last but not least I would like to point out that, although English is taught in Spanish schools, it is not uncommon to find it being taught by teachers who cannot really speak English. Not only in schools but also at the university the teacher’s English skills are poor even though they may know the grammar rules.

To sum it up, it may be true that Spanish people hardly speak English but do they have to? English has become a world language and it is important to have a global language to communicate with all people around the world but by teaching it one also introduces the English/American culture. And isn’t it more valuable to maintain one’s own culture? There is a lot more behind this topic to talk about. Finally I would like to mention the artificial language “Esperanto” created by scientists, which ought to be easy to learn without including any one group’s culture. Maybe this is going to be the next revolution or maybe it was just a nice idea?!

Last weekend I took advantage of the additional holiday (“Święto Państwowe”) on Friday so that I could spend some more time with my family.

Due to the upcoming marriage of my brother almost everything is in a mess at home. Normally I should already have been accustomed to these circumstances with regard to the marriage of my sister a few years ago. However, it is very exciting to see how many things one has to take into account when getting married. Obviously every marriage is unique because my brother’s problems are totally different from those that my sister had.

Anyway, I tried to help to organize a few things but with every move I made my brother felt uncomfortable so that I decided to study for my upcoming exams – which finally resulted impossible in this mess. But what in the first place seemed to be a totally wasted weekend finally resulted at least as a little help for my own marriage one day, which definitely will be a lot more organized than those of my siblings.

What I have learned from that organization can be put into one simple word: endless.

Cordoba and its weaknesses

Hi there!

In my first post I described my Erasmus experience in Cordoba. Now I want to tell you something more about this city, but this time something more about its weaknesses that some tourist can notice immediately.

In the first place, there is to mention the public transport. Although Córdoba is a quite big city with its population of 312 thousand inhabitants, there are neither trams nor metros. The only public transport the city is offering their inhabitants are buses, which never arrive on time. To most of the places, which are worth seeing, you simply have to walk. With regard to the flying opportunities in Córdoba you neither find an airport, which makes it more difficult for the tourists to visit the city.

Talking about the public transport one has to add that Córdoba neither offers discounts for young people  not even for students. That is the reason why one always needs to take into account the high costs of the expensive national trains and coaches when coming from other big cities.

Due to the tourism in Córdoba its greatest weakness to my mind is the missing access to the sea or the ocean like it has Malaga or Cádiz. Lots of foreigners go to Spain to take advantage of the brilliant weather at the beach, which, unfortunately, they cannot find in Córdoba. Furthermore, there is also missing a viewpoint or a lookout tower to enjoy the panorama of the city.

Apart from that, tourists who don’t speak Spanish probably are going to have problems to communicate due to the fact that there are only a few people in this region of Spain who speak English.

English sayings

Learning the English language with its grammar one might already have enough difficulties. Anyway, one also crosses with frequency common English sayings that don’t seem to make much sense and cause confusion. Therefore, I’d like to list some English sayings I found in the Internet and explain their meaning so that you are prepared for the next time when you come across one of the following sayings.

“When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane”. Sometimes in life you may feel absolutely exhausted by all the things you have to go through at once. Nevertheless, it may not be your bad luck but more the wrong things you choose to do that have brought you into this situation. In this case the saying would fit perfectly.

“To bite off more than one can chew”. This saying with its metaphorical character can be easily understood. It means that one might agree to do a lot of things without finally being able to accomplish them. During my studies I’ve noticed that this quote perfectly fits…

The last saying I want to present you today, which many of you probably encounter from day-to-day, is:

“Beat around the bush”. Most of the people have already made this experience but as non-native speaker the saying may not sound familiar to them. When a person beats around the bush, the person fails or avoids confronting a subject directly because the subject is related to something unpleasant.

Fun facts about famous cities

By travelling around cities and reading about their characteristics, most famous places or other sights that are worth seeing, I also came across some very ridiculous facts.

New York, Rome, London, Paris or Brussels – a lot of holidaymakers know these cities like the back of their hands. Whether it’s the Buckingham Palace in London, the taste of the famous Belgian chocolate or just the fact that New York is also called the “Big Apple”, there is nothing new about these information. Time to discover something new! 

Every city has its secrets! Therefore I’d like to list a few fun facts for you: 

Starting with the City of Love – Paris: It’s the only place in the world where you’ll find the “M” of McDonald’s written in white instead of yellow colour. The city council insisted on this change because they found the yellow colour tasteless.

Next interesting fact about the city of Oslo: Who believed it? Oslo remains the world’s costliest city for holidaymakers beating London, Paris, Zurich and other cities in the ranking. A night out in the city, including one night at a four-star hotel, a short taxi ride and cocktails and dinner for two, was found to cost 2135 Złoty.

Another fun fact about the city of Bangkok: Being the capital of Thailand it also is certified as the longest place name in the world:

"Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit”.

What it means is “The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (unlike Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn”. 

The city with the last fun fact for today – New York: With the length of 10,000km its road network is the longest in the world. Not only the average running time but also the running time for commuter seems record-breaking: almost two hours daily!

The significance of music in my life

The today’s blog is about one of my passions I have not mentioned yet. In addition, there is an uncountable number of people listening to it at home, at work or in their cars every day of the week so that it seems to be something usual. However, I would count “music” to one of my great passions.

To my mind music represents a lot more than just some sounds entering someone’s ears and causing some vibrations. Especially during the last week I have noticed the importance of music in our lives. It is music that evokes feelings of great joy or great depression as well. Rarely people think about what the lyrics of a song wants us to tell but doing so you will soon realize that it is about a lot more. I often find songs fitting perfectly with my current situation or mood. Sometimes it helps me to reflect better about the things that happened and other times it feels like a great support that makes you focus on other and more important things in your live making you feel happier.

Furthermore, music can also be seen as a kind of identification in our society and on the other hand you can easily travel with your imagination to a marvelous place you have visited just by listening to a certain track. Last week I made use of it by listening to some tracks I have listened to during my stay in Cordoba. I began to feel the sun shining on my skin and taking all the worries from me for a moment. These moments are like magic and I can just recommend to each and everybody to also make use of these magical moments. ♫♫♫

Magic show :)

Recently I went to a magic show with my family. It was a Christmas present from my older sister, who heard about the magician or rather the illusionist.

At the beginning, I was very skeptical whether it was a great or a worthless present because frankly speaking: Who believes in magic? Nevertheless, I was curious and went with my whole family to the event.

The night of the magic show: The lights turn off, mysterious music starts to play and you hear footsteps on the stage. Then, silence… suddenly the magician was lit by bright spotlights and the show began.

Starting with some “simple” tricks like pulling a scarf through the microphone stand or turning a 50 Złoty note into a 100 Złoty note, the show became more and more interesting. Indeed, it were not only the tricks we got to see but also the words and the way of thinking that still makes me think about this evening. The illusionist, a globetrotter who spends his holidays every year in another place getting to know the foreign people and become part of their culture, seemed to have perfect abilities of reading people. Above all, it was India or rather its people who impressed him doing some new magic tricks and keep on focusing on different aspects in life or what would be more striking: focusing on the same aspects in life but with a different perspective. Therefore, it is necessary to break out of your comfort zone, e.g. going extremely slow to work and start realizing things you have never realized before. Afterwards you will notice how less you perceive by following your routine. Furthermore, this is just one of the first steps to achieve the abilities of perception like the magician, however, that is not what most of the people are aiming for.

Anyway, since then I started to reflect more about all the impressions, which I am exposed to in my every day life. Moreover, I absolutely recommend going to a magic show if you have never gone before and be the “witness of the impossible” yourself. 

Semestral break

It is almost time for that long-awaited winter respite in February. As soon as you get final exams, projects and presentations out of the way it is important to prepare for some time away from university.

Pursuing my favorite hobby - travelling - I am going to spend my vacations again in Germany. There, I will support my boyfriend in the final phase of his semester with his studies so that we can spend more time together afterwards. Although we have not planned any trips in particular so far, we want to visit some cities around Marburg. Places like Frankfurt or Kassel could be some of our future destinations.

Besides, I will try to improve my knowledge of the German language, which I have neglected in the past time. Anyway, words like “Wintersemesterferien”, winter semester break, I have not missed that much. This enormous number of letters makes me laugh over and over again. Furthermore, I will try to take some time reading a new Spanish book. Honestly, I cannot remember when it was the last time I read a book on my own without any pressure due to its connection to some classes. But this semester break I will use to read a book thoroughly forgetting about the hectic life that daily surrounds us. In addition, it seems to me that nowadays we spend more and more time trying to collect or rather absorb lots of pieces of information instead of focusing on one specific topic and thinking about it conscientiously.

I do not want to wait no longer but first, I need to handle the most exhausting time of each semester. So I can just say to myself:

“Take a deep breath and get to it!”

Happiness

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” (Aristotle)

    While doing some research for a birthday present I came across this quote a few days ago. Unless I generally do not see me as a philosophical or pensive person, I sometimes do like to reflect on several things. Especially when I feel lightly exhausted by the stress of exams and other obligatory stuff I need to do for the university, I start reflecting about my aims in life and other things which cross my way.

    Thus, I tripped over this quote from Aristotle about happiness, a word open to a huge field of interpretation like the meaning of life. Or do those two things are accompanied by one another? This is exactly what Aristotle delivers us with his quote. In addition, Aristotle regards happiness as a central purpose of human life being the goal itself. Furthermore, who would not agree that happiness is all we need? However, it is easy to realize that most of the people desire money or a high reputation believing that these goods will make them happy. All other goods are a means that help them obtaining happiness, although happiness can always be seen as an end in itself.  Apart from that, I do fully agree with Aristotle’s understanding of happiness. Especially due to the fact that Aristotle does not see happiness as something that can be gained or lost in a few hours, but as something greater, something that refers to your whole life you have lived including all the activities you have done.

    So what teaches us this quote for our own lives?

In my opinion it means that every person that shows his good moral character throughout his whole life can achieve happiness. A good moral character represents an active state that leads you through health, friends, knowledge, etc. to the ultimate goal in life – the happiness itself.

New Year’s resolutions

    Today I want to treat a completely different topic in comparison to those I have already talked about beforehand. It suggests itself dealing with the New Year’s resolutions in 2015 or their general understanding and treatment.

    Every year a lot of friends of mine try to achieve their new goals based on their New Year’s resolutions. In the following I want to name only the most popular New Year’s resolutions like: losing weight, quit smoking, getting a better job, getting fit or saving money.

Indeed, who does not want to fulfil these great intentions?

    However, most of my friends fail already in the first months. Unfortunately, New Year’s resolutions for the most part fail with their mentioning. To my mind, people see them as unattainable dreams, impossible being realized. Nevertheless, failure does not seem to me being the consequence of flawed intentions. Failure rather happens because the process is flawed. In addition, each year there are some people who prove us that we are wrong by realizing their resolutions. It is truly admirable.

     But how do I finally achieve my own goals without stagnating after the first intents?

     I have come to the conclusion that whatever goal you want to achieve you need to write it down. Writing it down also includes that you have to explain why – why have I chosen this goal and what makes it so important in my life? Now, how can I achieve this goal?

     Therefore, it is necessary to write down subgoals, a lesser goal that forms part of my great goal, and setting a deadline for them. Following these first steps I am convinced that everyone realizes the goal’s importance in one’s life and starts living one’s dreams. I only can say that I am happy and that I am enjoying my life and living my dreams. 

France

    My last trip in 2014 and first trip in 2015 lead me to France to go skiing in the Alps. It has not been a more interesting or special stay in France in comparison to other trips, but what makes me feel so enthusiastic telling the story of this trip is the drive to get there.

    We started planning the journey without any longer pauses or spending a night in another place. Finally, with regard to the distance we decided to rest at halfway in Freiburg, close to the border with France. Then on the next day something unexpected happened – traffic chaos in French Alps because of an enormous amount of snow and we were right in the middle of it. On Sunday about 15,000 people stranded by snow and forced to seek emergency shelter. Due to the fact that many cars were not equipped with snow chains despite official warnings the chaos increased. Even one young man died on that night when his car left the main road and fell 200 meters down a mountainside.

   Consequently, we started looking for the closest emergency shelter, which unfortunately already was overcrowded.  Totally exhausted and annoyed we decided to stay on a parking space close to a hotel to spend the night in the car because all the hotels were overcrowded as well. Then suddenly a ray of hope came up when the owner of our accommodation called us and told us that we could stay at his grandparent’s house.

    With new élan we went to the house and spent a fabulous and unforgettable night with one of the most hospitable grandparents we have met so far. On the next day we reached our destination when the chaos was brought under control and enjoyed our stay in the French Alps.