My name is Anastasia. I am 19 years old. I was born and have grown in the Altai Republic (Gorno-Altaisk). At present time I am a third-year student of Barnaul Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. I am a cheerful, sociable and active person. I have always been interested in foreign languages because I am absolutely sure they help people to understand the literature and culture of other nations. I even studied English with a tutor and it was very interesting and informative. I try to keep improving English every minute when I have free time because my training is very difficult and tough. Some of my friends live abroad and when we meet during vacations, we try to speak English, thereby we exchange personal experiences and share information. Generally, cadets take English classes two or three times a week. We read and translate texts on routine police work, law enforcement agencies and training police/militia officers in Russia and English-speaking countries. We also watch American and British movies and discuss various topics presented in the films which improve our listening and speaking skills. I am truly interested in English and that’s why I decided to take part in this competition. I like being in shape and I prefer active style of life. I took part in many sports contests e.g. long-distance race, basketball, ski-running and sports orientation. Personally I believe that a healthy way of life is a pledge of the successful work. If the weather is fine my friends and I are often be out of town and we play volleyball or ski in the forest. I adore playing volleyball because it is a team play. When I entered Barnaul Law Institute, I became interested in scientific activity. I like reading scientific articles and conducting research work in the field of the legislation. I have a lot of ideas and plans to carry out.
The XXI Century – the Century of Polyglots
Language is an integral part of any culture. Each person during his or her life gets an opportunity to “cooperate” not only with the culture of his or her own country, but also with the cultures of other countries and nations. It does not matter, whether the person lives in the 21st century or lived in the 12th century. People always understood the value of foreign languages in the life of society and well-educated people. Any language is a way of communication between people of various states, nations and races. The ability of foreign language speaking provides you with knowledge in the different fields of life and also brings you wit and wisdom of other cultures. Moreover, the learning of several languages is a necessary condition for getting a good education in the contemporary society.
People with exceptional linguistic abilities who can speak or write in several languages are named polyglots. According to the academic dictionary of foreign words a POLYGLOT (from Greek polyglottos – “multilingual”) - is a person who knows many languages. They lived many years ago and there are many of them nowadays. It is very difficult to explain the nature of such extraordinary linguistic abilities. Nobody can establish precisely how many languages a person can learn. The examples from the history and life show that there were people who could express their feelings and thoughts using both their native language and foreign ones.
The 21st century was proclaimed by UNESCO the Century of Polyglots. It is quite obvious that people all over the world try to unite and communicate and they need know languages for better understanding one another. To my mind, people from various countries realize the necessity for the further development of societies, for effective activity of persons in modern conditions. The knowledge of foreign languages is indispensable at present time.
Actually, the human communities belonging to different nations, countries and continents are not isolated anymore. The general interests of the survival on this planet unite different countries and cultures. The modern world is political processes and economic interaction, association of efforts, mutual understanding and cooperation.
Everybody knows that the Internet allows to resolve many of everyday problems. Using various websites and writing letters to our friends or business partners we often use and check our knowledge of foreign languages.
Today it is impossible to work or study properly without knowing any foreign language. Foreign languages have been taught since childhood at schools, then at Universities. The specialized English schools have become very popular. Besides, there are many methods, forms and techniques of quickly improving different language skills (reading / writing / speaking / understanding) in the modern teaching field. It is possible to study languages by taking classes at the language center or sitting at home with headphones and listening to tapes. One can also take computer educational classes, Internet courses or study individually with a tutor. There is also a possibility of studying abroad taking part in exchange programs.
If a person has a strong desire to master and improve his / her language skills, any process of training can become accessible. But whether these modern techniques are capable of “creating” a polyglot, that's the question. Why are polyglots met so rarely even at such highly-developed societies? Logically they should be met everywhere but they are so unique. I feel very strongly that motivations of an ordinary person studying foreign languages do not always coincide with the motives of the polyglot.
For a polyglot learning a foreign language is enrichment of his or her private world, expansion of his / her cultural experience. Society always needed people who could speak different languages. When the borders of the states were being enlarged sometimes citizens were forced to change the state language. This political process also resulted in using several languages for communication. As an example, let's remember that even the Roman Empire adopted the Greek language, or that French became the language of the elite of all European countries, and now English is one of the most popular languages in the world. It is absolutely true that a polyglot has natural extra-abilities but in my opinion nowadays any person has a lot of opportunities to know more foreign languages without having special aptitudes for it. Each person, irrespectively of the social status, gets language education during his entire life. It is necessary to mention that communicative function of language plays an important role now. Travelling abroad rate and interaction between states have increased; these changes might also result in high motivation of language learning.
It is impossible to disregard the fact that some scientists speak about disappearance of some languages in the 21st century. Scientific researches confirm that about 200 languages have already disappeared on Earth over the last three generations. Some people are predicting the disappearance of more than half of spoken languages in the world by 2050. It is a fact that a language can vanish, when its last user passes away… but it is a question of time.
There are many languages that people use for their aims and purposes and languages still “live” in our life. For example, Hebrew had been considered a dead language till the 18th century, but in the 19th century it has been revived and it has become the state language of Israel.
Probably we cannot declare that our century is rich in polyglots because such people are unique and they are like a phenomenon. And we always admire their extraordinary and inexplicable abilities. Our time is time of multi-language communication, development and support of national languages. These aspects show the importance of practical mastery of languages for the achievement of mutual understanding between people in the modern world. Learning languages provides many advantages, both for young people and adults. It is never too late to study a language and to take advantages of being able to communicate with representatives from different cultures. It is a way helping us to understand each other better and to overcome cultural obstacles which can divide people.