Блог кафедры иностранного языка

  Recently I read  Nineteen Eighty-Four , a dystopian novel by George Orwell set in a totalitarian state where even the language they use is controlled. Adjectives are forbidden and instead they use phrases such as 'ungood', 'plus good' and 'double plus good' to express emotions. As I first read this I thought how impossible it would be in our society to have such vocabulary. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realised in its own way it's already happening. I type messages to my friends and alongside each is the obligatory emoji. I often use them to emphasise something, or to not seem too serious, or because this specific GIF conveys my emotions much better than I ever could using just words. And I wonder, with our excessive use of emojis, are we losing the beauty and diversity of our vocabulary? English has the largest vocabulary in the world, with over one million words, but who's to say what it'll be like in the future? Perhaps we wi

  Here are the top ten things I've learned from living in Germany and Austria this year. 1. Taking a chance will be the best thing you've ever done! I was feeling unsure about moving from Cologne (where I was in my first semester) to Vienna (where I spent my second semester) as I thought it can't get any better – but really it did. 2. The weather in England is a joke! I didn't realise how bad it was until I now have this incredible European weather to compare it to. 3. The more you do, the easier it becomes! At first I found listening to or speaking German all the time exhausting, but the more I did, the less tired I became. 4. You appreciate your home cuisine so much. The phrase, 'You don't know what you've got till it's gone', is so true. I found myself dreaming about classic English foods like Marmite, Yorkshire puddings and Cadbury's chocolate. 5. Finally hearing your native language sounds magical. Even hearing the self-checkout voice in Eng