Advantages and Reasons of Being Bilingual

Advantages and Reasons of Being Bilingual Saunders (1988) states that Fishman, a well-known writer in bilingualism, declares that more than half of the worlds population today uses more than one language while engaging in activities basic to human needs (Saunders 1988 p.1). Numerous causes contribute to the emergence and dominance of bilingualism. There are various optional or compulsory factors. Immigration is a major factor of being bilingual, whereas Immigrants move from one country to another, because of various reasons. For example, some of them escape from wars or poverty in their countries to search for better life in foreign linguistic communities. As a result, they will be forced to learn the language of the host countries and become bilingual in order to have wider contact opportunities and getting jobs. According to Saunders (1988), most immigrants speak the language of the new culture and environment. In Australia, for instance, 86.3% of immigrants speak their second language more than their home languages. Geogr aphical proximity of two countries is a possible factor of being bilingual, where people of the two communities need the communication among each other for different purposes like trade and other social relations like marriage resulting in bilingual families. Saunders also states that commerce and trade are critical factors motivating people to acquire a second language. Most economic business and commercial markets involve bilingual individuals to deal with customers from multicultural areas. 2.3.1 Education as a great reason of being bilingual: Education is one of the most fundamental factors pushing or motivating individuals to learn a second language. Being bilingual through education can be optional or obligatory. I notice that, in all Arab Gulf countries, most school students become bilingual due to their learning of English as a compulsory subject. However, there are some students, including colleges and universities students, who learn their second language English as an optional subject. The learning of English in these countries seems to be the result of the international relations between them and the United Kingdom. It is worth mentioning that the main focus of my research paper is being bilingual due to education. According to Baker (1988), bilingual education refers to any program aiming to teach students a second language besides their mother tongue at school. It takes various classifications based on the following factors. First of all, bilingual education is classified to elitist bilingualism and folk bilingualism according to the incentive of being bilingual. Elitist bilingualism is regarded as a reward offered to certain special individuals by government. Some students, for instance, are rewarded by being allowed to study abroad or study in prestigious universities in their countries. On the other hand, folk bilingual education is deemed a crucial need people have to meet in order to remain alive. When immigrants move to a new place, they acquire the language of that place so that they can interact with people there. Bilingual education is also categorized into immersion and submersion bilingual education based on the use of both languages in learning. In the immersion education, student s are allowed to speak their mother tongue while experiencing their subjects and communicating with teachers. They learn the second language gradually as time goes by. In contrast, students are not allowed to speak their home language in the submersion bilingual education. They are taught all their subjects in their second language. According to the major used language, bilingual education can be also categorized into transitional and maintenance or enrichment bilingual educations. Transitional bilingual education essentially aims to develop and make students fluent in one language only, which is the majority language. Therefore, this bilingual education focuses on the bilingualà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s first language in the learning procedures with few extra classes to learn the second language. For example, in the USA and Europe, the minority of languages are taken into account and cured in order to make the minority groups to be able to continue the education in English or other majority languages. Huddy and Sears (1984), state that bilingual education is improved in the United States by the Bilingual Educational Act in order to meet the needs of children who speak minor languages (Huddy and Sears 1984). On the other hand, maintenance or enrichment bilingual education aims to teach children their subjects with both languages to guarantee that children get good levels of proficiency in both languages. Baker indicates that some students are taught some subjects such as grammar in their native language, while mathematics is learned in the second language. Consequently, students master both languages, and the two languages are developed simultaneously. This type of education is used for example in Canada and Wales as Baker shows that à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"English speakers are taught French or Welsh to enable them to be fully bilingualà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  (P, 47). I assume that maintenance or enrichment bilingual education refers to th e same kind of education used in Oman but, here, the government uses the term dual education to refer to it.

Evaluation of Mother-Women in Chopin’s The Awakening :: Chopin Awakening

Evaluation of Mother-Women in Chopin’s The Awakening In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The mother women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels. (p.29) She was fond of her children in an uneven, impulsive way. She would sometimes gather them passionately to her heart; she would sometimes forget them. The year before they had spent part of the summer with their grandmother Pontellier in Iberville. Feeling secure regarding their happiness and welfare, she did not miss them except with an occasional intense longing. Their absence was a sort of relief, though she did not admit this, even to herself. It seemed to free her of a responsibility which she had blindly assumed and for which Fate had not fitted her. (p. 40) Reading the above two passages it is clear that Mrs. Pontellier feels she is different from other mothers. She is not a "mother-woman". Those maternal beings are "angels" who "flutter" about and protect their children, even if they are in no danger. They are not flesh and blood women with lives of their own. Surely they must have begun life that way, but the passage claims that as they "minister" to their children they "grow wings and become angels. Mrs. Pontellier's use of words such as "minister", "angel" and "worship" must mean that she thinks of motherhood as a religion. While the description of these "mother-women" might imply that they are angelic and selfless, in reality their identity (and existence) depends upon their husband and children. They exist only in a familial context. Without their children they would be nothing. If their children are in no real danger, then the "mother-women" must imagine a threat in order to justify their existence. The use of the word "efface" i s strong and telling. It literally means "to remove the face". The reader gathers that neither Mrs. Pontellier nor Kate Chopin admires this type of woman. In order to be socially acceptable in Kate Chopin's time, one certainly needed a husband to have children. Neither of these passages directly refers to Mr. Pontellier. However, since Mrs. Pontellier is not a "mother-woman", the reader can assume that she does not therefore "worship" her husband.

English investigation Essay

Introduction: For this project I am going to analyse how women and men behave when using language in casual situations? There have been many previous research finding and conclusions about gender and conversational behaviour. For example Jennifer Coates identified two approaches, which she describes as dominance and difference. Jennifer Coates was a writer to wrote about the language differences between men and women. Dominance argues that because women occupy a less powerful position in society than men, their constitutional behaviour is less assertive and less confident. Men are dominant within society, so it is not surprising that they tend to dominate mixed sex conversations. Women are said to be used to male dominance, and as a result of social conditioning will often be polite and respectful when speaking to men. Whereas the idea of difference is where the focus is more on differences in male and female attitudes and values, that are said to be inculcated from childhood, when we form, and are influenced by, single sex peer groups. Studies of children’s play have found that in boy’s games there is more emphasis on competition and confrontation, while girl’s games are more cooperative. In adulthood, women’s talk often focuses on personal feelings and problems and this helps to explain why their approach to conversation is more sympathetic and supportive. Also this Description of Data: My data consists of three transcripts; one, which took place in a college canteen between four girls meaning it, was very informal and casual. My second transcript took place on a college field while three boys were watching a game of football played by fellow peers. They discussed the game and also had background conversations. My third transcript is of three girls talking about the world cup football match very briefly while talking more about football and surrounding topics. I felt that my first transcript I recorded was not sufficient enough to be analysed well and in detail, I therefore recorded a further transcript to increase my data and to make a more intricate analysis. Aims: The aim of my investigation is to find out to what extent are there significant differences in the ways that men and women behave on conversation. Methodology: For my investigation I collected three transcripts; I did this, as this is the most effective way of collecting sufficient data that I would be able to analyse for my specific subject. I am going to look at how women talk in casual situations looking at aspects that expert researchers have found such as Jennie Coates, she found two approaches based on the ideas of dominance and difference which I will look at and try to find out to what extent do my transcripts prove this. I will also look at cooperation and competition as the experts have found that boys seem to be more competitive when using language whereas girls seem to be more co operative, even though this research was proved by using children as examples I would still like to see if it is still the case when men and woman are older and to what extent they still either are competitive or cooperative when using language. As well as looking as what the experts have found I am also going to look at the role played by the speakers in my transcript and relate it too attitudes and values as well as educational background, which is pretty much the same for each speaker as they all go to the some college. I will also look into the social class of the speakers. I will look at the status, purpose, context and audience for each transcript and analyse each topic accordingly. I am also going to look at the 6 frameworks – lexis, semantics, phonology, graphology, grammar, discourse, pragmatics and the sociolinguistics which has been defines as the study of language in its social context. Analysis: First of all I am going to analyse the context of my data. The first transcript is between four friends occasionally five when they contribute to the conversation. The conversation is very informal and very casual with no real meaning or purpose except for socialising during break time, which means the conversation is quite forced to some extent even though they were talking about what they liked to talk about. All the women contributed equally I would say; to the conversation. Although women are characteristically and socially known for being quite capable and good at making conversation there is not a lot of prove from the experts or researchers that suggests that males do not make conversation or are any less capable. Therefore when looking at the men’s conversation I saw that they were just as able and good at making conversation. The men’s conversation was between three people occasionally four or five when they contributed to the conversation. This conversation was also very informal and casual and was also something that the men wanted to talk about. In the conversation you can see that between them there is one more dominant male who tends to initiate conversation and interrupt or overlap other speakers also could be know as holding the floor. However I researched about dominance in conversation and read, â€Å"you just don’t understand- men and women in conversation† by Deborah Tanning and she said â€Å"claiming that interruption is a sign of dominance assumes that conversation is an activity in which one speaker speaks at a time, but this reflects ideology more than practice. She also said that she recorded conversations in which many voices were heard at once and it was clear that everyone was having a good time. She then asked people of their impressions of the conversation and they said they had enjoyed themselves. However when she played the tape back they were embarrassed about their conversational style. Which suggests that when people being female or male do dominate the conversation they maybe don’t realise they are doing it. I also found that in my other female conversation between three girls there was one slightly more dominant participant mainly due to her personality, however it was also in most cases successful cooperative over lapping as the over lapping is positive and as Deborah tanning says in her book † the overlaps are cooperative because they do not change the topic but elaborate on it. However in my male conversation there is unsuccessful cooperative overlapping as for example when a participant says he had England trials† (referring to a friend out side the conversation) another participant says â€Å"yer but don’t he look like peter pan† which is quite negative and stops the conversation which is a negative response that does not enable the conversation to carry on without changing the topic. In one of my transcripts where the four or five female participants are talking on participant says, â€Å"Err she looks really bad† (referring to a celebrity in a magazine that looks rough) by saying the word â€Å"really† she is intensifying what she is saying. In my other transcripts there are two examples of women using intensifiers, one where a participant says, â€Å"she’s really pretty† and another when a participant says â€Å"well I think peter crouch is actually quite really cute† Robin Lakoff published an influential account of women’s language. In a related article she published a set of basic assumptions about what marks out the language of women. Among these assumptions were the use of intensifiers especially the words ‘so’ and ‘very’ for example † I’m so glad to see you† I found intensifiers within my female transcripts but none in my male transcripts. However as my transcripts were quite short and the time I had to collect my data was limited if I had more data I could have compared this more fairly to get better and faired results. Zimmerman and West (1915) taped informal conversations between students in coffee bars, shops and other public places. They found that women talk about ‘feelings’ whereas men talk more about ‘things’. Women conversation is often focused on personal experiences, relationships and problems. The topic of male conversation tends to be more concrete, relating to information, facts objects and activities. And from my own experiences these finding are accurate but also my data could also suggest this as well, for example in my females transcripts there is reference to a personal experience that doesn’t really play a part in the structure of the conversation, it is quite random. The participant says † Rory always corrects my spelling its well annoying on msn he always like types things in a little star and then says correct spelling† the participate gets interrupted while saying this as it is nothing to do with the conversation. Also in my transcript I can see that men use more taboo language than women do for example in my male conversation one participant says â€Å"fucking legend† whereas in my female conversation there was no swearing words used. However as my transcripts were quite short they do not relate to all females.

Auto Pact essays

Auto Pact essays In May of 2000 the World Trade Organization (WTO) ended the Canadian made Auto Pact. The Auto Pact was an agreement constructed by Pierre Trudeau in 1965 that allowed companies to bring auto parts and vehicles from anywhere in the world into Canada without any tariff, but with two conditions. One condition was a requirement of commitment to jobs in Canada, manufacturers had to produce one car in Canada for everyone they sold. They also had to maintain a Canadian Value Added (CVA), which basically means no depreciation on Canadian made machinery and that parts in assembly were also made in Canada. Automotive trade markets are among the most open in the world. They maintain no tariff barriers. This treaty kept North America happy however; the overseas companies were left with the shorter end of the stick. This caused the fall of the Auto Pact. The Auto Pact is too important to Canada, and Canada will suffer extreme losses.(reword) (give the main points) The 1965 Auto Pact is Canadas most successful trade agreement. We should be kissing his ass, says the wise yet youthful Jon Cooper as he refers to Trudeaus ingenious scheme. It is a building block of Canada. Since signing the Auto Pact, the Canadian automotive industry has enjoyed enormous growth. Production and automotive manufacturing employment have increased 200% and automotive shipments grew from $2.2 billion in 1964 to $70.5 billion in 1995. The main two focuses of Trudeaus were exports and employment. Trudeau increased the automotive sales from a once scarce Canadian industry into its top export. His other concern, creating employment doubled. Without the Auto Pact enforcing these numbers they will fall. The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) president Buzz Hargrove said at the Caw Joint Council meeting in December 2000 that the Auto Pact was: A trading pact that has meant so much to the growth of the...

Conflict Resolution essays

Conflict Resolution essays Throughout ones life, one establishes many relationships. Some are built upon, and become strong and unshakable, some are broken and left to dissolve. While some are paved slowly and with love, blossoming to become something wonderful, others are blown apart - the pieces scattered, never to be put back together again. Though these relationships vary, from professional to personal, they are all prone to encountering some form of conflict. John Dewey has designed a problem solving sequence with 6 (six) steps, listed and explained below, to facilitate resolution of these conflicts. Since the way one deals with conflict within the relationship will affect how the relationship progresses, it is vital that one posse all the necessary skills to resolve conflict in a way that brings satisfaction to everyone involved. Deweys steps provide a clear outline of exactly what needs to be addressed when dealing with conflict. This allows for effective time management and allows all parties to be on the same track or in synchronization about what has to be done. They also assure a fair and even discussion of the problem and allow all parties to play an active role in the finding of a solution. Often times, when one is in a conflict situation or in a position of having to deal with a problem, the parties involved are affected by the problem. These emotions, or the stress of either risking loss or profit, could cause the parties to have different views or perceptions of the problem. This step allows both parties to have the same definition of the problem and to be aware of the exact implications of this problem. Example: George, a co-owner of a small coffee shop has noticed that there are fewer customers coming in to his store. He is worried about his profit, and is reluctant to change anything about the store due to the cost. Max, the other owner, is more conce ...

Launch of the Camera Phone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Launch of the Camera Phone - Essay Example Promotional activities like advertising, marketing collaterals, personal selling and promotional activities should be all done in alignment with the goals and objectives of the company. Media should be managed and used to company's benefit and sales promotions should be used to attract people to new product and create market penetration. The camera phone is a 3G Smartphone which is a superior phone with an integrated camera. It has 100 hours stand by battery time and 20 hours talk time. It has all the functions of a phone including audio video conversation, organizer, text and picture messaging. It has an MP3 player and a 5 mp camera which ensures great result of pictures and movies. It has access to internet and has word processing applications. It can store up to 1000 contacts and messages. It has an internal built in memory of 2 GB and is priced at $ 320. Marketing Analysis is done to determine how attractive and receptive the market will be for this product. (McQuarrie, 2005)It also analyses the opportunities and threats of the market that may result in strength and weaknesses of the product. The target market of this phone is upper middle class, who need functionality, style and entertainment all in one phone. In the world today there are 4.1 billion subscribers of cell phones (Sachoff, 2009) , every 1 out of 5 phones sold is a 3G phone which makes the market size of 3G phones around the globe around 0.8 billion. The market growth in 2008 was approximately 14% this year it is estimated to be 13% even after the global recession. The camera phone industry in nowhere near the decline and it still has a lot of growth potential. (Palenchar, 2009) All the major competitors in the market like Nokia, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson are showing 18% -25% of net profit so market profitability can be assessed to be around 20% for this phone. This also indicates that the buying power of the buyer allows him to buy the phone easily. The supply needed for the making of the phone is easily available, in most countries barriers to entry are very low, only in highly developed countries there are some legal implications. The camera phone had to constantly redefine itself and innovate as it may be substituted by other products. The competition is intense and rivals are working day and night to achieve a new universal selling proposition daily. (Glader, 2006) According to the current market trends a mobile phone should be able to provide basic functions of the phone that is voice conversation and text messages. (New smart phones can be a smart buy, 2006) Along side this people want their mobile phones to have cameras and mp3 players and the capability to enable video conversations. Bluetooth connectivity, organizers, e-mail facilities , instant messaging, games, radio, infrared and ability to watch streaming video and download video for, wireless modems and wireless accessories, memory cards are becoming the essential demands of customers. The makers of this phone have kept in mind the changing market trends and made sure that their phone attracts a large number of people through its functions. The distribution channel used for this of phone is shown below: The manufacturers in this market select

Securitisation of Bank Loans and Reasons Why Banks Securitise Some of Essay

Securitisation of Bank Loans and Reasons Why Banks Securitise Some of its Loans - Essay Example 11) further describe securitisation as a financial practice which involves pooling together the various types of contractual debts for instance commercial and residential mortgages, automobile loans or credit card liability obligations and marketing the combined debt as bonds, securities or collateralized mortgage obligation to various investors. The principal and interests accruing from the debt and the underlying security is paid to the investors on regular basis. Securitisation has also been defined by (Samantha, 2005, p. 1) as the process of converting the existing assets or future cash flows into marketable securities. Converting existing assets to marketable securities is known as asset-backed securitisation while securities supported by the mortgage receivable are known as mortgage-backed securities (MBI) (Samantha, 2005, p. 1). Securitisation can help improve the liquidity, reduce risks associated with credit and interest rates; supplement fee income and boost the leverage ra tios. Despite these gains, some financial institutions are reluctant to securitize their loans given the disadvantages of this practice. This paper will first assess the process of securitisation and then make a study into the reasons why banks securitize their loans (Altunbas, Gambacorta and Marques, 2007, p. ... This reduced the available funds thereby limiting the ability of banks to meet the growing demand for loans and could only raise the additional funds from the market. However, securitisation provides a way for unblocking those funds and freeing them to be loaned to customers. The process of securitisation starts with the bank putting together a collection of loans it plans to issue to investors as collateralize notes (Simonson, 1995, p. 77). He asserts that the loans must be homogenous as regards to the underwriting standards of the issuing bank and should have a fixed maturity and in the case of credit card; a fixed revolving balance. Moreover, the pooled loans should have the same risk profile. After the loans have been bundled, the issuing bank comes up with a special purpose trust which acquires the bundled loans. Generally, the trust procures credit enhancement from a third party in the form of assurance in the portion the possible losses. Thereafter, the trust gets into a conta ct with an underwriter who issues the notes; usually at a high rate against the loans (Simonson, 1995, p. 77). Institutional investors are the ones who usually buy the notes as the bank continues the servicing the loans. To understand securitisation, (Simonson, 1995, p. 77) gives an example of a bank, ABC that gives out loans and these are maintained on the balance sheet as its assets. The bank therefore has a pool of funds that are locked up as loans. The customer who has been loaned by the bank is known as obligors. To unblock those funds, the assets have to be reverted back to the originator (ABC bank holding the assets) to a special purpose vehicle (SPV). SPV is also known as the issuer and is usually