Cool Mango

Intro of Italian Language

Italian (italiano or lingua italiana) is a Romance language. By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is an official language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City and western Istria (in Slovenia and Croatia). It used to have official status in Albania, Malta and Monaco, where it is still widely spoken, as well as in former Italian East Africa and Italian North Africa regions where it plays a significant role in various sectors. Italian is spoken by small minorities in places such as France (especially in Corsica), Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and

Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages. Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world.

Italian is a major European language, being one of the official languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and one of the working languages of the Council of Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers (13% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 14 million EU citizens (3%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland and Albania) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million.

Italian is the main working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and opera. Its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world.

Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was also influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent, by the Germanic languages of the post-Roman invaders. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian. Unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latin's contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive.

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2017-02-21 17:15

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Introduction of Dutch Language

Dutch (Nederlands) is a West Germanic language that is spoken in the European Union by about 23 million people as a first language—including most of the population of the Netherlands and about sixty percent that of Belgium—and by another 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after English and German.

Dutch has developed over the course of 15 centuries. Old Dutch developed from Frankish, as it was spoken by the Salian Franks in the fifth century. Middle Dutch began in the late 11th century with the proliferation of a Medieval Dutch literature. Modern Dutch began in the late 15th century when the first attempts for a Standard language were made. Despite the worldwide influence of the Dutch Empire, modern Dutch spread only moderately around the world from the 17th to mid-20th centuries. Outside of the Low Countries, it is the native language of the majority of the population of Suriname, and also holds official status in Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, which are constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Historical minorities on the verge of extinction remain in parts of France and Germany, and in Indonesia, while up to half a million native speakers may reside in the United States, Canada and Australia combined. The Cape Dutch dialects of Southern Africa have evolved into Afrikaans, a mutually intelligible daughter language which is spoken to some degree by at least 16 million people, mainly in South Africa and Namibia.

Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English and is said to be roughly in between them. Dutch, like English, has not undergone the High German consonant shift, does not use Germanic umlaut as a grammatical marker, has largely abandoned the use of the subjunctive, and has levelled much of its morphology, including most of its case system. Features shared with German include the survival of three grammatical genders—albeit with few grammatical consequences—as well as the use of modal particles, final-obstruent devoicing, and a similar word order. Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and incorporates more Romance loans than German but fewer than English.

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2017-02-21 17:06

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The Four Mandarin Tones

Practice Using the Four Mandarin Tones

Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language, which means that different tones can change the meaning of a word, even if the pronunciation and spelling are otherwise the same. It is essential to learn the different tones if you wish to speak Mandarin Chinese correctly. Mandarin Chinese has four main tones, as follows:

The first tone is a high, flat tone. Your voice stays flat, with no rise or dip in the way it sounds. Using the word "ma" as an example, the first tone is indicated using the symbol above the letter a: "mā".
The second tone is a rising tone. Your voice rises from a low to middle pitch, as if you were asking someone to repeat something by saying "huh?" or "what?" The second tone is indicated using the symbol "má".
The third tone is a dipping tone.The pitch goes from middle to low to high, like when you say the letter "B". When two third tone syllables are near each other, the second one retains its third tone sound while the first takes the sound of the second tone. The third tone is indicated using the symbol "mǎ".
The fourth tone is a lowering tone. The pitch goes rapidly from high to low, as if giving a command e.g. stop! Or as if you're reading a book and have come across something new and interesting and are saying "huh". The fourth tone is indicated using the symbol "mà".
Easy enough? If not, don't fret. It's definitely recommended to hear the tones demonstrated by a native speaker, since it's hard to get an idea of what they sound like purely through text.

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2017-02-15 20:39

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How to Learn English

This page is for people who already know some English, and can read a page like this written in basic English. It shows you how to organize your learning for maximum results. You may also want to read these 5 tips for learning English later.

Where do I start?

Why do you want to learn English?
Before you begin, or go back to, studying English, ask youself one question. Why do I want to study English? Is it because you want to, or because someone else wants you to? Like every decision in life, studying English must be something you want to do.

Set goals
If you know why you want to study, setting goals is easy. For example, maybe you want to travel to an English-speaking country. Great. Your goal might be to learn "Survival English". Perhaps you already know many useful phrases, but you want to improve your listening skills and pronunciation. Whatever your goals are, write them down.

Make an agenda
How long do you need to study to achieve your goals? This answer is different for every student. The important thing is to be realistic. If you work 60 hours per week, don't plan on spending another 40 hours a week studying English. Start off slow, but study regularly. Use material that is challenging, but not too difficult. Find out what works for you. After you have studied for a few weeks, adjust your study schedule accordingly. Do you study best at night, or on the bus on your way to work? Do you like to study alone in a quiet place, or with friends and background music? Click here for a sample 4-week self-study agenda.

Make a commitment
Learning English requires a lot of motivation. Nobody is going to take your attendance when you aren't in class. If you are sure you are ready to begin studying, make a commitment. Click here to sign a learning contract with yourself.

Have fun learning English!
The things we do best in life are the things we enjoy doing. If you aren't having fun learning English, you're not studying the right way! You can be a serious student who has fun at the same time. Make up your own rewards program to give yourself incentives to stay on task.

Study a Balance of the Four Key Skills - listening, speaking, reading, writing

Most students want to communicate better in English. If this is one of your goals, it is important to study a balance of the four major skills. Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing are the main (macro) skills you need to communicate in any language. Being very good at only one of these skills will not help you to communicate. For example you need to be able to read well before you can write well. You also need to be able to listen before you can speak. It helps to think of these communicative skills in two groups.

INput <<<

Listening (in through your ears)
Reading (in through your eyes)

OUTput >>>

Speaking (out through your mouth)
Writing (out through your hand)

It's simple. Think of it this way. First you have input. Next you have output. First you listen to someone ask you a question. Second you speak and give them your answer. First you read a letter from someone. After that you write back to them. These are examples of communicating.

Input and output don't necessarily go in a specific order. Sometimes you speak first and then you listen. Sometimes you write about something you hear. During communication, the person you are communicating with uses one of the opposite skills. Therefore, in order to understand each other, everyone must be skillful in all four areas.

Some students want to know which skill is the most important. Since all of the skills rely on each other, they are all important. However, to communicate we do use some skills more often than others. For example, about 40% of the time that we spend communicating we are simply listening. We speak for about 35% of the time. Approximately 16% of communication comes from reading, and about 9% from writing. These statistics are for an average communicator in English. Depending on someone's job or situation, these numbers may vary.

Each of these main skills have micro skills within them. For example, pronunciation is a type of speaking skill that must be practised in order to improve communication. Spelling is a skill that makes understanding the written word easier. Grammar and vocabulary are other micro skills. Micro doesn't mean they are unimportant. Macro skills such as listening are very general, while micro skills are more specific. More about input and output

For the best results, create an agenda that combines all four areas of study. Allow one type of studying to lead into another. For example, read a story and then talk about it with a friend. Watch a movie and then write about it. This is what teachers in an English class would have you do, right? EnglishClub.com has lessons in all 4 key skills (and all minor skills), as well as many outside links to help you study further. ESL Internet resources

1. How to learn LISTENING

Listen to the radio
Don't always have a pen in hand. Sometimes it helps to just listen.

Watch English TV
Children's programming is very useful for ESL learners.
Choose programs that you would enjoy in your own language.
Remember that much of what you hear on TV is slang.

Call Automated Answering Machine recordings
You can find these numbers at the front of telephone books in many English-speaking countries. Before you dial, make sure that you are calling the free numbers.

Watch English-language movies
Choose ones with subtitles, such as from ESL Videos. Watch the movie without writing anything down.

Use Internet listening resources
Every day there are more and more places to listen to English online.

Useful Listening links:

2. How to learn SPEAKING and pronunciation

Talk to yourself
Talk about anything and everything. Do it in the privacy of your own home. If you can't do this at first, try reading out loud until you feel comfortable hearing your own voice in English.

Record your own voice
This might feel very uncomfortable, but it will help you find your weak pronunciation points. Listen to yourself a few days later. Which sounds do you have difficulty hearing?

Use the telephone.

Participate in class

Learn common idioms

Understand the sounds that your language doesn't have
For example, many languages don't have the "r" sound. These sounds require extra practice.

Recognize that teachers are trained to understand you
When you get out into the real world, average people will have a more difficult time understanding you unless you practise speaking slowly and with proper pronunciation.

Practise minimal pairs

Study word and sentence stress

Practice tongue-twisters

Useful Speaking links:

3. How to learn READING and vocabulary

Read something every day
Children's books, simplified readers (Penguin), newspapers, magazines, Internet sites, novels, and much much more...

Read what interests you.
Remember that you learn better when you are having fun.

Read at the appropriate level
You want to learn new vocabulary, but you also want to understand what you are reading. If you are looking up every word, the reading is too difficult.

Review Who, What, Where, When, Why for each story you read
You can do this for almost any type of reading. Who is it about? What happened? Why did it happen? Where did it take place? When did it take place? This is very useful when you have no comprehension questions to answer. You can write or speak your answers.

Always have an English-English dictionary nearby
It is a bad habit to always rely on a translation dictionary or electronic dictionary.
Think of your English-English dictionary as your life line.
Use online dictionaries when you are using the Internet (keyword online dictionary).

Record vocabulary in your "personal dictionary"

Keep this notebook separate from other work. Record vocabulary in alphabetical order (an English address book works well because it has letters of the alphabet). Record the part of speech (sometimes there is more than one). Write a sample sentence for yourself (don't use the one from the dictionary). Review your personal dictionary (especially new entries) every night before bed.

Useful Reading links:

4. How to learn WRITING and spelling

Keep a diary/journal
Don't always pay attention to grammar. Free-writing can be very useful. It can show you that writing is fun. Have fun with the language.

Write emails in English
Stay in contact with teachers or other students.

Rewrite your local news in English
This is another exercise that can be done on a daily basis. Remember that regular activities are the best ones.

Learn important spelling rules
Remember, you won't always have a dictionary or a spell-checker handy, especially when you are writing a test. Even native English speakers need to review the spelling rules from time to time.

Learn commonly misspelled words

Learn about confusing words

Learn common English errors

Get an ESL penpal

Useful Writing links:

You may also like to check out these 5 handy tips on learning English.

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2017-02-15 19:16

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101 Ways to Learn English

1. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Be confident. People can only correct your mistakes when they hear you make them.

2. Surround yourself in English. Put yourself in an all English speaking environment where you can learn passively. The best way to learn is through speaking.

3. Practise every day. Make yourself a study plan. Decide how much time a week you are going to spend studying and stick to it. Establish a routine.

4. Tell your family and friends about your study plan. Get them to push you to study and also don’t let them interrupt you.

5. Practise the 4 core skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. They all need to be worked on for you to improve.

6. Keep a notebook of new words you learn. Use them in sentences and try to say them at least 3 times when you speak.

7. Visit EC’s free learn English website at least once a day and complete a lesson.

8. Memorisation of lists is one of the most common ways of learning vocabulary for a test. It's only a good exercise for short term studying because you often do not retain the information that you have learned for a test.

9. Use your body clock. If you’re not a morning person, study in the afternoon.

10. You will find words easier to remember if you try to remember an example sentence using that word rather the word on its own.

11. Plan to take a test. You’ll find that you work harder when you need to study for something.

12. Saying that, it’s better not to study just to take a test. Think of the bigger picture. What can you do when you have a good command of English? How will the quality of your life improve?

13. Give yourself a long term goal. Focus on working towards it.

14. Give yourself short term goals too and reward yourself when you achieve each one.

15. Create an atmosphere in which you want to learn, not because you have to. You’ll learn more when you’re learning because you want to.

16. Know what works best for you. Think about what methods have been successful for you in the past and stick with them.

17. Figure out how you learn. It can be by memorising, reading, speaking, summarising or other methods. Find out how you study best. It can be in a quiet place by yourself or with a group.

18. Get help! If you don’t understand something you’ve got to ask someone. Ask your teacher, classmates or friends for help.

19. Review! Review! Review! Make sure that you take the time to review things you have studied in the past.

20. It’s not a good idea to study on your own for more than 30 minutes at a time. Take regular breaks, get some fresh air and stretch your legs.

21. Don’t be in such a hurry to move up a level. Concentrate on the level you are at now.

22. Watch DVDs rather than TV. It’s better to use something that you can watch over again to catch information you might have missed the first time.

23. Watching TV only gives you the chance to hear something correctly first time. This is better for high level students. It can be great practice for speaking to native English speakers so you don’t have to ask them to repeat themselves!

24. Read graded readers. These books are especially written for your level. Read a whole novel. You can do it! You’ll feel great afterwards.

25. Children’s books have easier words and are a good alternative to graded readers.

26. Newspapers are a good place to find passive constructs. Read through an article and see if you can find the passive sentences.

27. Read for the general meaning first. Don’t worry about understanding every word, then go back and look up new words.

28. For a word you don’t understand in a sentence, look at the other words around it. They will give you a hint. Try to guess the meaning from the context.

29. Learn root words. They’ll help you guess the meaning of words. For example: scrib = write, min = small

30. When you learn a new word, think of all its other forms: Beautiful (adjective), beauty (noun), beautifully (adverb).

31. Learn prefixes (dis-, un-, re-) and suffixes (-ly, -ment, -ful), these will help you to figure out the meaning of words and build your vocabulary.

32. English, unlike Japanese or French, uses word stress. For new words, count the syllables and find where the stress is. Only one stress per word and always on a vowel. Two syllable verbs have a stress on the second syllable (beGIN). 2 syllable nouns (TEAcher) and adjectives (HAPpy) stress the first.

33. Use English whenever you can. It’s as simple as that!

34. Don’t translate into English from your own language. Think in English to improve your fluency. Talk to yourself…but not on the bus otherwise people will think you have gone crazy!

35. You can’t learn English from a book. Like driving a car, you can only learn through doing it.

36. The most natural way to learn grammar is through talking.

37. Keep an English diary or journal. Start by writing a few sentences a day and then get into the habit of writing more.

38. Why not start an online blog and share your writings with the world?

39. To become a better writer brainstorm as many ideas and thoughts onto paper without worrying about grammar or spelling. Then think about the structure. After that, write your piece using good grammar and spelling. Finally, read it through or give it to someone else to check for mistakes.

40. Keep an eye on your punctuation as it can totally change what you’re trying to say. Check out the difference in meaning between these two sentences: “A woman without her man is nothing” and “A woman: without her, man is nothing”.

41. Sing your heart out! Show the world your beautiful voice! Learn English songs and sing along with them to improve fluency and intonation… anyone for Karaoke?

42. Get a penfriend or use chat-rooms, forums and community sites. If you can’t speak to someone in English, this is the next best thing.

43. Shadow English CDs. Listen to a few sentences then repeat what you heard. Focus on the rhythm and intonation.

44. Have English radio on in your house. Even if you are not actively listening to it, you will still be training your ears.

45. Mirror CDs. Read out loud along with a CD. Again, this is great for intonation, pronunciation and rhythm.

46. Dictation. Listen to a CD or friend and write down what you hear.

47. Nobody likes to hear their own voice, but be brave and try it! Record your voice and listen to your pronunciation and intonation. It will help you to identify your problem areas.

48. Ask your helpful teacher if you can record his lesson. This is a great way to review. You can also listen to your teachers speaking speed and intonation.

49. Use an English/English dictionary as it will help you to keep thinking in English and not translating.

50. If an English/English dictionary seems scary, there are learner’s dictionaries for English students of your level.

51. Don’t become too reliant on your dictionary. Your dictionary should be an aid, not your main teacher. Try to guess the meaning of words rather than going straight for your dictionary.

52. Don’t give up! Stay positive! Sometimes you will feel that you aren’t learning quickly enough. Everyone feels like this, don’t worry about it. You’ll get there in the end.

53. Enjoy it! We learn more when we are having fun!

54. If you get nervous when speaking, take two deep breaths before you say something. You’ll speak better when you feel relaxed.

55. Keep yourself motivated by looking back at the textbooks and CDs you used in the past. You’ll be surprised at how easy they seem to you now! Congratulations, your level is improving!

56. You are never too young or too old to start learning English. Don’t make excuses not to learn. What are you waiting for?

57. Procrastination can stop you from being successful. To stop procrastinating, it's important you understand if your procrastinating is to avoid studying, or if it is your bad habit.

58. If you haven’t gotten the results you wanted yet, it’s not because you’re bad at languages, it’s because you haven’t found your own special way of learning yet.

59. Use resources which match your level. Don’t use texts/listening exercises which are too difficult or too easy. Use materials which challenge you but don’t frustrate you.

60. Don’t worry about making your accent perfect. It’s an important part of your cultural identity to keep your accent. Native English speakers enjoy hearing English spoken with an accent.

61. There are many types of English: British, American, South African and so on. None of these are wrong or not as important. English is English.

62. Instead, be aware of the differences in American and British English and use your words accordingly. For example: Elevator (US) / Lift (British).

63. Carry cue cards with you. These are small cards which you can write new words on. You can pull them out and look at them whenever you a free minute.

64. Use post-it notes and stick them around your home. You can use them to label things. Stick one on your pet dog!

65. You can’t ignore phrasal verbs (two words verbs), there are hundreds of them in English and they’re widely used. The more you focus on their meaning, the more you’ll be able to guess the meaning of new ones. You’ll start to recognise their patterns.

66. Use your intuition. Go with your gut feeling, you’ll be surprised how often your first guess is the right guess. Like we said before, be confident.

67. Gather your thoughts. Take a second to think about what you’re going to say. You know the grammar, but maybe you don’t use it correctly when you speak.

68. Meet new people. Make the effort to mix with English speakers in your town. You could join a club or go to bars where foreigners hang out. Buy one a drink, they love that!

69. Be the person to start conversations in English. Try to keep the conversations moving and use listening words (‘really?’ / ‘go on…’/ ‘what happened then?’) Don’t wait for others to speak to you. Get in there!

70. Debate. Discuss topics in a group. Each person should choose a viewpoint (even if you don’t agree with it) and debate it within the group. Make sure you get your point across. Learn to listen actively. Active listening will help in the classroom and it will help you get more out of, and contribute more to, group study sessions. Focus on the person who is talking. Don’t fidget or become distracted by other people or events. Concentrate on the speaker with your ears and eyes. Follow the movements the speaker makes in an effort to hear more. It may help to repeat what you hear others say in an effort to understand their thoughts.

71. It’s not enough to only learn English words. You can teach a parrot English words but that doesn’t mean it can speak English! You still need to have an understanding of grammar.

72. Verb tenses are used by English speakers to talk about the timing of actions. You might not have the same expressions in your own language. It’s important that you know these tenses and when to use them.

73. English has many irregular verbs. You should drill yourself on them.

74. Keep it up! If you take a break from speaking English, you will find that your level decreases and all your hard work has been wasted.

75. Don’t be put off by a bad test score. Sometimes students have the ability to pass an English test, but can’t communicate well with English speakers. If you can speak freely in English, you should be proud of yourself.

76. Remember that as long as you have tried your hardest, you have succeeded!

77. Learn English with a friend. You’ll have someone you can practise with and you can motivate each other to study.

78. Remember, the way we write English is not the same as how it’s pronounced. For example ‘Ough’ has over 6 pronunciations. Familiarise yourself the Phonetic Alphabet. It will help you correctly pronounce words in the dictionary.

79. Get used to the ‘schwa’ sound [ə] - an unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound. ‘Schwa’ is the most common vowel sound in English. For example, the 'a' in about and the 'u' in supply.

80. Keep in mind that it takes longer to improve when our level is high. Usually the fastest progress is made when we are beginners. Don’t think that you’re suddenly not learning anymore, it’s just a less noticeable progress.

81. Make sure that your English matches the occasion. It’s OK to use slang with friends but not in a business meeting. Decide in which situation it’s appropriate to use the words and phrases you have learned.

82. Textbook English is often different from the way we casually speak. To learn casual ‘slang’ watch movies.

83. Idioms can be difficult to memorise, but they are great fun to use and they’ll make your English more colourful.

84. When talking we usually link words together so that two words can sound like one. Simply put, we link words ending with a consonant sound to words beginning with a vowel sound (consonant > vowel). We link words ending with a vowel sound to words beginning with a vowel sound (vowel > vowel). Practise these to improve your listening and pronunciation.

85. Make use of the internet. It’s full of resources to help you learn: BBC Learning English ; learnenglish.ecenglish.com

86. Think about your strong and weak points. Write down which areas you want to improve on and work on improving them. Of course, don’t ignore your strong points. Congratulate yourself on how well you’ve done!

87. Unlearn your mistakes. You probably make the same grammar mistakes over and over again. Use English tests results as a study tool. Go over your mistakes and choose one or two that you want to focus on. Use your favourite grammar book to check rules.

88. Use the correct article (a/an, the). Be aware that there is more to this rule than a/an= non specific, the=specific. For example: A university (not an university because it begins with a consonant sound). An hour (not a hour because the ‘h’ is often silent).

89. For fluency, try image training. Before you go to that restaurant think through what the waiter is likely to say to you. Think of what phrases you are going to use.

90. Much communication comes through body language and gesture. These can be different between cultures and countries. For example, the two-fingered "V" for victory symbol is fine palms-out. If you make it with you palm facing toward you, you'll offend a British person. It means…well, you ask a British person and find out for yourself!

91. The easiest one - Sleep! You’ll learn more after a good night’s sleep. You’ll be able to concentrate more.

92. Take an English course in an English speaking country.

93. If you studying abroad, mix with people from other countries not only people from your own country. It’s not a good idea for you to live in a shared house with people from your own country. Enjoy a more cultural experience by spending time with other nationalities.

94. Have you thought about getting a job or doing an internship abroad?

95. Get yourself a qualified teacher. Who wants to learn wrong things?

96. Nobody can learn all of the English language. No need to worry about trying. A useful shortcut to learning is that in English we have lots of words that have the same pronunciation, but a different spelling and meaning. For example, ‘come here’ has the same pronunciation as, ‘I can hear the birds’. You might find it easier to build vocabulary by knowing the different meanings.

97. Once you have a basic level of English explore the different ways you can say the same thing. This makes your English more interesting to the listener and it shouldn’t be too difficult for you because you already know the basics. For example, how many ways can we say, ‘Goodbye' in English?

98. When you are on your English course, be prepared for your class. Do your homework as soon as possible and hand it in on time. Review your notes and your last lesson a few minutes before the class. Doing this will refresh your memory and you'll be warmed up for lesson.

99. Don't get distracted in class. Focus on the lesson, don't stare out of the window. Don't be late, arrive a few minutes before the start of the lesson. Don't sit next to people who won't speak to you in English. Switch off your phone. Be organised, remember to take your textbook, notebook and pen.

100. Find a comfortable, peaceful place for quiet study. You need somewhere where you can focus 100%.

101. Last but not least, learn English with Cool Mango!

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2017-02-15 19:05

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