FOLLOW ME

terça-feira, 7 de abril de 2020

5 RAZÕES CIENTÍFICAS

5 razões científicas para aprender outro idioma

Estudos comprovam os benefícios cognitivos de quem é bilíngue

  • HUMBERTO ABDO (REVISTA GALILEU)
 
 
https://revistagalileu.globo.com/Sociedade/noticia/2016/12/5-razoes-cientificas-para-aprender-outro-idioma.html


Pesquisas científicas conduzidas nos últimos anos têm confirmado a importância e os benefícios cognitivos de aprender novos idiomas. Além de poder assimilar outra linguagem e sua cultura, as vantagens de estudar idiomas envolvem o desenvolvimento da memória, habilidades de tomar decisões com mais rapidez e ainda ajudam a atrasar algumas doenças, como o Alzheimer. Confira cinco motivos pelos quais você deve começar a aprender uma nova língua:

1 - Você desenvolve melhor as suas habilidades multitarefa
Pessoas que sabem falar mais de um idioma, especialmente crianças, conseguem “deslocar” facilmente a atenção entre dois sistemas de fala e escrita. Um estudo da Universidade Estadual da Pensilvânia, nos Estados Unidos, sugeriu que essa habilidade ajuda a desenvolvermos a capacidade de conciliar várias tarefas ao mesmo tempo, já que o cérebro passa pelo exercício de revezar entre diferentes estruturas linguísticas.

2 - Os riscos de ter Alzheimer ou demência diminuem
Vários estudos sobre o assunto foram conduzidos e os resultados demonstram que, para adultos que só falam uma língua, a idade média para os primeiros sinais de demência começarem a se manifestar é 71,4. Entre adultos que falam duas ou mais línguas, os sintomas só começam aos 75,5. As pesquisas também consideraram fatores como escolaridade, nível de renda, sexo e saúde física, mas esses aspectos não alteraram os resultados.

3 - Sua memória também é fortalecida
Um estudo publicado em 2011 pela Academia Americana de Neurologia mostrou que aprender novos idiomas ajuda a “proteger” nossas memórias, mesmo depois de adultos. Entre os voluntários do estudo, os pesquisadores descobriram que falantes de quatro ou mais idiomas tinham cinco vezes menos chance de desenvolver problemas cognitivos em comparação com quem falava dois idiomas; para os que falavam três línguas, a chance era três vezes menor. Os resultados consideraram a idade e escolaridade dos participantes.

4 - Melhora a capacidade de tomar decisões 
Publicado pelo periódico Psychological Science, um estudo da Universidade de Chicago sugere que o processo de raciocinar em outro idioma ajuda a diminuir inconsistências cognitivas e melhora o processo de tomada de decisão: ao usar seu idioma estrangeiro, as decisões passam a ser mais sistemáticas e menos baseadas em fatores negativos, processo mental que seria comum ao usar a língua nativa.

5 - Sua percepção fica mais aguçada
Uma pesquisa da Universidade de Pompeu Fabra, na Espanha, revelou que pessoas que falam mais de um idioma são mais observadoras e capazes de manter o foco sobre informações relevantes, filtrando o que não for tão importante. Também demonstram melhor desempenho para identificar informações erradas — o personagem Sherlock Holmes não era um poliglota por acaso.




segunda-feira, 6 de abril de 2020

QUESTIONS FOR CONVERSATION CLASS







THE LIFE OF DEATH



The Life of Death (also known as Death and the Deer) is a short film by Marsha Onderstijn. The short follows Death and his place in nature who befriends a Doe and their time throughout the season



The Life of Death:

  • Big Sleep: When Death touches the bird, wolf, and a rabbit, they close their eyes as they die and looks as if they're falling asleep.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Death, for the a long time, managed to understand life and gets a friend for the first time in his long existence, however, while that does happen, he still has the natural order to keep.
  • Don't Fear the Reaper: This has a rather bittersweet but very heartbreaking twist on it.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: See the "Final First Hug" below
  • Environmental Symbolism: Usually, when Death is present and when something dies, the colors are usually darkened or muted, however, when something is alive, they are usually shown in light.
  • Final First Hug: Death can't hug anything normally, as anything he touches would die, so, when the Doe he befriends is too weak to keep up with her herd, she gives Death one, dying in his arms.
  • Mayfly–December Friendship: Death and the Doe, as the latter eventually dies, while Death will continue, well, "being".
  • Mime and Music-Only Cartoon: We have the characters interacting in silence with music in the background.
  • Non-Malicious Monster: Death certainly means no harm and what he does is what's to come with the territory, however, he wants to connect but, because of what he is and his purpose, he can't without anything dying.
  • Odd Friendship: Death and the Doe
  • Rule of Symbolism: According to Marsha, the Doe symbolizes life and how it contrasts to Death. In much a vein, we have the colors serving as a symbol, as when things are alive, they are bright or, to very least, somewhat vibrant, however, when they are are close to and are meeting their deaths, the colors the are muted. This is especially the case with ending when the Deer dies, as when Death hugs her, the colors start to dim before darkening (possibly signalling nightfall), as he lays her on the ground.


terça-feira, 3 de dezembro de 2019

BURNISTOUN - VOICE RECOGNITION ELEVATOR IN SCOTLAND

                           
         Burnistoun is a sketch show for BBC Scotland by the Scottish comedians Iain Connell and Robert Florence. The show is produced by The Comedy Unit.                           
Some time ago I went to Edinburgh to do a course for teachers. I spent about a fortnight enjoying the city and struggling to understand Scottish people.
I remember that on my last day there was a girl on Princess Street, which is Edinburgh’s main street, trying to sell flowers. She was shouting, like mad, two or three words. I stopped and decided not to move ‘till I could grasp what she was saying. It was important for me at that time.  I can’t tell you, without running the risk of lying, the time I spent staring at her mouth trying to see what my ears couldn’t hear but in the end, I convinced myself that she was saying something on the line of “three for a bunch” , but to be completely honest, I think I tricked myself into believing I could finally understand the Scottish accent!
Why is it so difficult to understand Scottish Pronunciation? To start with, English has 5 more vowels sounds. Scottish people don’t pronounce the schwa as English people do, for example, the pronunciation of the vowel in “the” is the same as the one in “sit”; they don’t make long /o/, for them, “cot” and “caught” are both pronounced with short /o/. What is more, the diphthong in “coat” is also pronounced as /kot/ and the vowel in “heard” is the same as the vowel in “bet”. There is no /æ/-/ɑː/ distinction so bath, trap, and palm have the same vowel
And finally /ɪ/ may be more open for certain speakers in some regions, so that it sounds more like [ɛ] Other speakers may pronounce it as [ɪ], just like in many other accents, or with a schwa ([ə]) quality. Others may pronounce it almost as [ʌ] in certain environments, particularly after /w/ and /hw/. ( from Wikipedia)
And now, after this boring explanation, watch this hilarious clip in which two Scottish guys get stuck in a lift which uses voice recognition for selecting the floor
The video - Should you have problems understanding the accent, read the transcript below.
Iain Connell:     Where’s the buttons?
Robert Florence:    No, no they’ve installed voice recognition technology in this lift. 
I heard about ‘t.
Iain Connell:     Voice recognition technology? In a lift? In Scotland? Ever tried voice recognition technology?
Robert Florence:     Naw
Iain Connell:     They don’t do – Sco’ish accents
Robert Florence:     Eleven
Elevator:     Could you please repeat that?
Iain Connell:     Eleven
Robert Florence:     Eleven…Eleven
Iain Connell:     Eleven
Elevator:     Could you please repeat that?
Robert Florence:     E-le-ven
Iain Connell:     Whose idea was this? You need to try an American accent. Eleven…Eleven.
Robert Florence:     That sounds Irish, no’ American
Iain Connell:     No, doesnae. Eleven.
Robert Florence:     Where in 
America‘s tha’, Dublin
?
Elevator:     I’m sorry. Could you please repeat that?
Robert Florence:     Try an English accent, right…Eleven…Eleven
Iain Connell:     You fae the same part o’ 
England
 as Dick Van Dyke!
Robert Florence:     Let’s hear yours then, smar’ arse.
Elevator:     Please speak slowly and clearly
Robert Florence:     Smart arse
Iain Connell:     E-le-ven.
Elevator:     I’m sorry. Could you please repeat that?
Iain Connell:     Eleven. If you don’t underston the lingo, away back hame yer ain country.
Robert Florence:     Oh, s’tha talk nae is it? “Away back tae yer ain country”?
Iain Connell:     Oh, don’t start Mr Bleeding Heart – how can ye be racist tae a lift?
Elevator:     Please speak slowly and clearly.
Robert Florence:     Eleven…Eleven…Eleven…Eleven
Iain Connell:     Ye’r jus’ sayin’ it the same way
Robert Florence:     I’m gonnae keep sayin’ it until it understons Sco’ish, a’ right?
Robert Florence:     Eleven…Eleven…Eleven…Eleven
Iain Connell:     Oh, just take us anywhere, ye cow. Just open the doors.
Elevator:     This is a voice-activated elevator. Please state which floor you would like to go to in a clear and calm manner.
Iain Connell:     Calm? Calm? Where’s tha’ comin’ fae? Why’s it tellin’ people ‘e be calm?
Robert Florence:     Because they knew they’d be sellin’ this tae Sco’ish people who’d be goin’ aff their nuts at it.
Elevator:     You have not selected a floor.
Robert Florence:     Aye, we hav –  ELEVEN!
Elevator:     If you would like to get out of the elevator without selecting a floor, simply say “Open the doors please”
Iain Connell:     Please? Please? Suck ma wullie.
Robert Florence:     Maybe we should have said please.
Iain Connell:     I’m no begging that fer nothin’.
Robert Florence:     Open the doors please.
Iain Connell:     Please..pathetic.
Elevator:     Please remain calm.
Robert Florence:     Oh fu……wud ye let me up tae that… get me up there…right, jus wait fer it tae speak…
Elevator:     You have not selected a floor.
Robert Florence:     Up yours, ye cow! You don’t let us out these doors, I’m gonnae come tae America, I’m gonnae find whatever desperate actress gave yer voice, and I’m gonnae go tae the electric chair fer ye.
Iain Connell: 
Scotland
, ye bastards.
Robert Florence: 
SCOTLAND
!
Iain Connell: 
SCOTLAND
!
Robert Florence:     SCOOOOTLAND!
Iain Connell:     FREEDOM!
Robert Florence:     FREEDOM!
Iain Connell:    FREEDOM!
Doors open. People standing outside waiting.
Iain Connell:     Goin’ up?

BERTRAND RUSSELL'S MESSAGE TO THE FUTURE GENERATIONS


                            Bertrand_Russell_legendado_-_Entrevista_Face_Face_BBC_-_1959

ARE YOU LOST IN THE WORLD LIKE ME?


Think about it!