Why is it important to speak English?

Speaking English allows you to actually broaden your world, from job opportunities to the ability to relate to people from every country.
Knowing the language makes it much more interesting every trip.
Anywhere you want to go in the world you can find someone who speaks English. If we account only the country where the English language is the official language, the United Kingdom, Australia, U.S.A., Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the Caribbean countries, there are more than 400 million native English speakers.
Simply put, we must recognize that English is an international language, the main language of this planet.
The statistics reveal that more than a quarter of the world’s population speaks English that means that about 1.6 billion people understand and relate with the help of the language of Shakespeare. To not mention that most of the films are in English, the largest film industry, Hollywood, is produced in English.
It is true that in the world are more than 3 billion people who speak Chinese, however it is very unlikely that in addition to the mother tongue there is someone else who wants to learn Chinese characters.
Most of the international trade agreements are concluded in English, and is the most widely used language for international business meetings.
Good English is not only classy but a possibility to continue studies and specializations in the best universities in the world, which are in fact, in countries where they speak English.
Education is very important to improve yourself but learning English also improves the quality of life. You have access to jobs that you could not even take into consideration, you can evaluate an international career and you can live in many countries with the ease of being able to go shopping or negotiate a rent for the house.
The benefits they bring in the life of a person’s knowledge of the English language are countless. What is important to understand is that the English language is able to knock down a lot of barriers, including cultural ones.
Knowing the habits and customs of other countries allows us to understand ourselves and others. By better understanding our fellow man around the world we are always surprised at how we are different and similar at the same time.
The English language allows us to relate and therefore to understand each other.

Marcella Tunariu

General English Evening Course student

Why English is important to me? / What learning means to me?

Learning, for me, is an opportunity to use what I’ve learned, and, to broaden my horizons and to improve the best version of myself. Learning, helps me discover my hidden talents, and helps me to overcome the fear and obstacles. I feel that the more I know, the more I am capable of accomplishing what I want, without fear of others’ judgment. Learning is life, and life is learning.
Life offers various challenges and we cannot let fear stop us from learning. I decided that I had to take a stand and be brave. I was sick and tired of not finding the correct words when trying to have a conversation in English. It’s really frustrating, not remembering the right words to express oneself. It breaks my heart when I look back and feel sorry for myself, that I allowed my fear to concur and stop me from fulfilling my dreams. If only I had believed more in myself, I would have succeeded like the rest of my classmates.
The lack of knowledge of the English language, and not being fluent, always kept me back from participating, and from applying for courses. There were times when I felt unworthy, and I had a very low self esteem. But I learned that, with a bit of goodwill I can do it. There was a point in my life, when I felt that I was no longer growing. I was relating perfectly to that expression, “If you’re not growing, you’re dying.” So, I dug deeper in my thoughts and decided that it was never too late. I won’t let my age stop me from learning. Apart from learning English, I must say that I’m enjoying the company of my foreign friends. Although the majority of the students are much younger than I am, they are making me feel I am still that adventurous and challenging person that I was. The fact that we all are on the same boat helps me go all out, speaking my mind without any fear at all.
Apart from my self-esteem, learning English will open more opportunities. However, the English Language plays an important role in our life. It is understood by many people around the world, since it is the most spoken language. It is essential in our education. Big companies hire professional staff, soon after making sure that the people they are employing are good in English.
The English Language helps us to communicate with nearly all the people around the world, even through the internet. After all, no man, or woman is an island.

Odette Spiteri

General English Evening Course student

Why English is important to me? What learning means to me?

I grew up hearing over and over how important learning is. I used to have good marks at school, but even less free time.
As time wore on my achievement at school became even more important because to be admitted to a university is only possible through good scholastic records. I think that as teenagers we learn more because of the expectations of our parents or other people, and it takes time to understand that being well educated and qualified is important for us.
How I remember at the beginning of the university studies, almost all of us thought that after six, ten or twelve semesters we can say Goodbye to learning. It’s true that graduating or rather achieving a Doctorate means that we can forget the exams, the essays, but not the learning at all.
Learning as activity, as a way of knowing and understanding, is permanent. It should be a kind of daily routine which is for life. At school I used to have different subjects like foreign languages, such as German and Italian. I remember that we always had the most fun at the language lessons.
The atmosphere of a language class is different from anything else. Teaching and reading languages could be very creative, relaxed and humorous. Especially in the last decade – thanks to Technology – there are even more ways and methods of language teaching, for example through online lessons. In addition – thanks to Politics – it becomes even easier and common to look for a language school abroad.
Nowadays language schools are quite popular, they usually offer a wide selection of foreign languages with English in the focus.
Why is it like this? Why is playing English such an important role? As I see it English is the “new Latin”, a kind of “mediator language” as Latin was in the past. You only have to learn one language and you will be able to communicate with people from all over the world. English is the language of our international communication in all areas, such as politics, science, media or art and it is often the language of the entertainment as well as socialising.
Having a good command of English helps us to have more opportunities in life, first of all our career. We are likely to have more chance of finding a good job or to get our business of the ground.
The latest world news and discoveries, the most important scholarly discussions and the various fields of art – like books, movies, music – are firstly or just available in English. The language of technology (the computers, the iPhones) is also written in English. English became part of our daily life, no matter in which country we live. Nowadays countries are getting more and more multicultural. Sometimes understanding and acceptance – as well as peace – between people, only depends on communication, which is almost impossible without a common language.
I’m from a quite small, Central European country. For us it is essential to speak foreign languages. We cannot translate everything because it will be too expensive and first of all because it takes time. If I want to be well informed, up to date and modern, I have to speak the language of
modernity.