The role of a foreign language and ways to learn it

Therefore, its modern significance is due, first of all, to the unprecedented growth of the population in this region. Let's look at the features of the English language, thanks to which it can rightfully be considered "the language of the world»:

• 1)    Simplicity in old English, as in Greek, words had a whole system of endings that showed grammatical categories of number, tense, person, case, and so on. However, over time, the system of grammatical forms has become much simpler, and today verbs have only a few endings, and, for example, adjectives do not agree with nouns grammatically.

• 2)    Universality as a result of the loss of endings, the English language has become very universal over the past five centuries. For example, quite often an English word can move to another part of speech without visible changes. For example, this happened with the words swim, drink, kiss, smile. We can say water to drink and to water flowers; time to go and to time a race; a paper to read and to paper a bedroom. Adjectives can act as verbs: we warm our hands in front of a fire (we warm our hands around a fire), and if clothes are dirty, they need to be cleaned and dried (if clothes are dirty, they need to be cleaned and dried). Prepositions are also "easy to use". For example: A sixty-year old man is nearing retirement (Every

man who is sixty is approaching retirement age); we can talk about a round of golf (we can talk about a round of Golf).

• 3)    Open vocabulary This feature of the English language implies unlimited borrowing of vocabulary from other languages and ease of formation of derivative and complex words. At the time, many languages contributed to the creation of the lexical base of modern English. However, today this process is already going in the opposite direction, although many supporters of the purity of languages such as French, Russian, and Japanese, try to resist the penetration of English words into them.

• 4)    the Future of the language in terms of coverage of territories where native speakers live, English ranks first, and in terms of the number of speakers it is second, after the Mandarin version of Chinese. This is the language of business, technology, sports, and aviation. In General, the political, economic, scientific, and sporting life of the entire world "flows" in English. English is the official and working language of The United Nations. All kinds of summits and meetings of heads of state, signing of laws and decrees, negotiations and debates - all this is conducted in English. International trade, the banking system, and the transport system on land, at sea, and in the air are conducted in English. This language is a living communication tool for academics, doctors of science, and scientists around the world.

After all, international conferences, the study of world experience and the exchange of information of scientific minds takes place only with the use of English. What can I say — the Olympic games and various competitions between countries have chosen English as the official language. The modern language in the British Isles is not static at all. The language lives, neologisms constantly appear, some words go into the past. However, the difference between English and many European languages is that there are no static norms in the UK. On the contrary, various dialects and dialects are in great use. Not only do the pronunciation of words differ on the phonetic level, but there are also completely different words that denote the same concept. The media and government members communicate in British English. But the most popular is American English. There are also Australian English, canadian English, and many other dialects.

On the territory of the UK itself, there are several dialects spoken by residents of a particular province. As we can see, the English language has preserved its traditions of "mixing languages" even today. The popularity of the English language was greatly promoted by the colonial policy of great Britain, the colonization of Australia and North America. After the Second World war, the importance of a country like the United States increased, which also helped to popularize the English language. In the modern world, the Internet community, people of science and culture mostly communicate in English. The exact number of people who speak English in our time is difficult to name. The results of various studies differ by tens of percent. The figures are 600 million and 1.2 billion people who speak English can be divided into three groups: native speakers, for whom it is their native language; bilinguals, who know it as a second language; and those people who have to use it for practical purposes (while studying or working).

Every seventh inhabitant of the Earth belongs to one of these three categories. The importance of English in the modern world is so great that its knowledge is not a privilege and luxury. Once, computers, as well as mobile phones, could only afford people of a certain social stratum. Now such things are essential items. The same can be said about English. It is taught everywhere: in schools, universities, and courses. There are many ways to learn foreign languages. For self-study, the Internet offers us a wide range of educational materials, online courses, smartphone apps, training channels on youtube, special social networks, etc.

In addition, every city is seeing an increase in the number of language centers with qualified local as well as foreign teachers. It is assumed that any educated person is simply obliged to speak English, since it is his key to further selfeducation and self-improvement. This is why there are so many organizations offering to teach you English. However, do not think that this is so easy to do. Learning any language is a long process that requires certain costs, both mental and financial. Since the development of mental activity is an integral part of the process of mastering both native and foreign languages, training should not be based only on mechanical memorization of structures, phrases, speech patterns and rules.

The implementation of this task in practice is carried out through the introduction of the principle of cognitive training. One of the first to formulate a prototype of the cognitive principle of learning, Leo Tolstoy: "you cannot force explanations, memorization and repetition to teach pupils against their will language. It is almost always not the word itself that is incomprehensible, but the pupil does not have the concept that the word expresses at all. The word is almost always ready when the concept is ready. At the same time, the relation of word to thought and the formation of new concepts is such a mysterious, complex and tender process of the soul that any interference is a rude, clumsy force that delays the process of development… But to consciously give the pupil a new concept and form of the word... is just as impossible and futile as teaching a child to walk according to the laws of balance. Any such attempt does not bring the disciple nearer, but removes him from the proposed goal, like a rough hand of a man who, in order to help a flower to blossom, would begin to unfold the flower by its petals and crush everything around it."

Psychological research and training practices show that learning is successful when the brain creates its own mental structures, and it slows down if ready-made structures are imposed on it. Therefore, it is necessary not to impose linguistic knowledge, but to help it to be born and develop it. It can be born out of the need for communication and self-expression. In this case, learning foreign languages or improving them through watching movies or TV series in the original language is one of the most effective, because it is learning through perception. First, a person passes a lot of correct sentences through their head, then they can reproduce them and build their own sentences. This method can be divided into several stages:

Stage 0 - viewing with translation into your native language. This stage can be called an introductory one, since there is a direct acquaintance with the plot. If you want and have a certain level of knowledge of the language you are studying, you can skip this stage.

Stage 1-viewing with translation in your native language and subtitles in the original language. At this stage, you can expand your vocabulary and improve your grammar.

Stage 2-viewing with translation in the original language and subtitles in the native language. Here you get used to the sound of foreign speech, the way the characters talk, and the accent.

Stage 3-viewing with translation and subtitles in the original language. At this stage, not only the language and individual words are perceived, but also there is an understanding of what exactly is being discussed, while the spelling of words is remembered.

Stage 4-viewing in the original language, without subtitles. It is often impossible to understand and translate even familiar words in the flow of speech, since they are not perceived by ear. After this stage, it will be much easier to understand the person you are talking to in real life. Watching movies in the original language as a way to learn a foreign language will increase the level of knowledge of the pupil.

Since most often the choice in favor of this method is made consciously, the benefit will be significant. In addition, movies allow you to learn slang and informal words that are not yet in dictionaries, and improve your pronunciation. Clearly, English is the most important means of communication in the modern world.