One common question asked by people wanting to teach English abroad is, “Do I need to speak the local language?” “I’m going to teach English in Korea – do I need to speak Korean?” “I’m going to teach English in Greece – do I need to speak Greek?” “I’m going […]
Continue ReadingMonthly Archives: January 2021
Cantonese (Chinese) vs English
There is not one single Chinese language as such but several varieties which are more or less mutually understandable. In all, these are spoken by over 1 billion people (making it more popular than English). Of the different varieties of Chinese, Mandarin is the most widely spoken version with over […]
Continue ReadingAzerbaijani vs English
Azerbaijani or Azeri Turkish has over 30 million speakers based in both Azerbaijan and the surrounding countries. It’s closely related to Turkish and is, to a certain extent, mutually understandable. Although there are a couple of major varieties (Northern Azerbaijani and Southern Azerbaijani) and many local dialects, they do not […]
Continue ReadingArabic vs English
Arabic is spoken in various forms by more than 250 million people as a mother tongue throughout the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. Because there are strong regional variations in Arabic, the notes below will not necessarily apply to all Arabic speakers. Pronunciation /p/ and /b/ Because in spoken […]
Continue ReadingVarieties of English
Varieties of English are the different kinds of English used around the world. Often these are geographically based. The varieties are more or less similar and while most English speakers can understand each other, there are occasional problems. The four people in the picture (Whoopi Goldberg, Kylie Minogue, the Queen […]
Continue Reading