TV can be vice, or it can be a blessing depending on how you use technology. When is it a vice, and what it is a blessing?
Watching TV becomes a vice when you watch too much of it. Many people watch TV because it’s just a habit to them. They come home from school or work, and immediately switch on the TV without thinking. Then they watch TV programs that doesn’t require them to think much, like game shows, and other pop culture television shows. Not that these programs are bad, but they are meant to provide entertainment. So if you need the entertainment, watching these shows will be nice.
Watching TV also becomes a vice when there is too much of it. This is particularly true for students and teenagers. They haven’t learnt to control and manage their time wisely, so they spend way too much time in front of the television. Notice how each show says something like, “Up next, we have the most exciting show for you…” The TV stations know that it’s easy to get glued to the TV. So they deliberately aired some teasers before the end of each program to encourage people to stay glued to seats. And it works! The viewers will be caught thinking, “Wow, that’s exciting. I MUST watch this.” And on to the next television show. Meanwhile, the hours went by without the viewing noticing. That can’t be good.
But that’s not to say that watching TV is all bad. The key is to be discerning when watching TV. Too much of anything will always lead to something bad. For example, too much violence, too much pop music, etc. So if a viewer spends two hours each day watching just violent shows, it’s certainly not the same as spending that same two hours, watching one violent show and several other documentaries.
So you see, the television can become a blessing, especially when we think about how to use the technology to our advantage. Recently, there have been an increase in popularity of free-to-air TV, which is a system that allows the TV owners to tune in to thousands of TV programs. These programs include foreign language programs, documentaries, variety shows, game shows and many other interesting programs. Now watching a local game show and watching foreign game show is, in itself, very different. That’s because when watching a foreign game show, the viewer has a chance to experience and learn more about the different cultures. So with thousands of foreign programs made available, it is now possible to see and learn about the rest of the world. That is how we can benefit from technology, and certainly benefit from the wide variety of foreign language TV programs.
Finally, when it comes to installing a free-to-air TV system, make sure you do your homework and check out the latest technology that is available in the market. Request for product catalogs, and talk to sales representatives. Choose a product vendor who is able to offer you great products at great prices, and at the same time, also offers great support.
By: Gen Wright
Posts Tagged ‘Foreign Language’
Wondering “why learning foreign languages?” – Here’s with 10 Benefits of learning foreign languages that your just cannot ignore
December 30th, 20091. Emigration
When you move to a different country or region, learning the local language will help you to communicate and integrate with the local community. Even if many of the locals speak your language, for example if your L1 is English and you move to the Netherlands, it’s still worth your while learning the local language. Doing so will demonstrate your interest in and commitment to the new country.
2. Career or Business Benefits
If your work involves regular contact with speakers of foreign languages, being able to talk to them in their own languages will help you to communicate with them. It may also help you to make sales and to negotiate and secure contracts. Knowledge of foreign languages may also increase your chances of finding a new job, getting a promotion or a transfer overseas, or of going on foreign business trips. Many English-speaking business people don’t bother to learn other languages because they believe that most of the people they do business with in foreign countries can speak English, and if they don’t speak English, interpreters can be used. The lack of foreign language knowledge puts the English speakers at a disadvantage. In meetings for example, the people on the other side can discuss things amongst themselves in their own language without the English speakers understanding, and using interpreters slows everything down. In any socializing after the meetings, the locals will probably feel more comfortable using their own language rather than English.
3. Study or research
You may find that information about subjects you’re interested in is published mainly in a foreign language. Learning that language will give you access to the material and enable you to communicate with fellow students and researchers in the field.
4. Travel
Many English speakers seem to believe that wherever you go on holiday you can get by speaking English, so there’s no point in learning any other languages. If people don’t understand you all you have to do is speak slowly and turn up the volume. You can more or less get away with this, as long as you stick to popular tourist resorts and hotels where you can usually find someone who speaks English. However, if you want to venture beyond such places, to get to know the locals, to read signs, menus, etc, knowing the local language is necessary. A basic ability in a foreign language will help you to ‘get by’, i.e. to order food and drink, find your way around, buy tickets, etc. If you have a more advanced knowledge of the language, you can have real conversations with the people you meet, which can be very interesting and will add a new dimension to your holiday.
5. Studying abroad
If you plan to study at a foreign university, college or school, you’ll need an good knowledge of the local language, unless the course you want to study is taught through the medium of your L1. Your institution will probably provide preparatory courses to improve your language skills and continuing support throughout your main course.
6. Secret communication
If you and some of your relatives, friends or colleagues speak a language that few people understand, you can talk freely in public without fear of anyone eavesdropping, and/or you can keep any written material secret. Speakers of such Native American languages as Navajo, Choctaw and Cheyenne served as radio operators, know as Code Talkers, to keep communications secret during both World Wars. Welsh speakers played a similar role during the Bosnian War
7. Culture
Maybe you’re interested in the literature, poetry, films, TV programs, music or some other aspect of the culture of people who speak a particular language and want to learn their language in order to gain a better understanding of their culture. Most people in the world are multilingual, and everybody could be; no one is rigorously excluded from another’s language community except through lack of time and effort. Different languages protect and nourish the growth of different cultures, where different pathways of human knowledge can be discovered. Perhaps you enjoy the food and/or drink of a particular country or region and make regular trips there, or the recipe books you want to use are only available in a foreign language.
8. Religion
Missionaries and other religious types learn languages in order to spread their message. In fact, missionaries have played a major role in documenting and devising writing systems for many languages. Others learn the language(s) in which the scriptures/holy books of their religion were originally written to gain a better understanding of them. For example, Christians might learn Hebrew, Aramaic and Biblical Greek; Muslims might learn Classical Arabic, and Buddhists might learn Sanskrit.
9. Linguistic interest
Maybe you’re interested in linguistic aspects of a particular language and decide to learn it in order to understand them better.
10. To help understand what other people think
Language influences culture, so learning a language helps you to understand how other people think, and it also helps you to get a general understanding of our world and the many people and cultures that inhabit it.
By: Bindas Bol Institute Mumbai
Russian Language Available to Anybody Thanks to the Study Holidays in Moscow
November 29th, 2009Because of continuous expansion of Russia, which is slowly growing in the world economic chart, learning Russian today means enlarge your own cultural and linguistic borders, which is a point in your favor in the world of international work.
Staying for a while in wonderful Russia is a good reason to start the study of the language of this country so, why don’t you choose Moscow – the political and economic capital of Russia – for your studies and learning vacation?
With its 11 millions inhabitants, Moscow is the most populated city in Europe, rich of cultural and social events, it is the favourite aim of thousands curious people from the whole world.
To learn Russian, first of all means to live a beautiful and interesting experience and you will be supported by the most qualified professional men in the area of the Russian teaching as a foreign language.
The seat of Moscow of the Russian language school Liden & Denz is the best institution you can rely on if your desire is to learn Russian.
Member of IALC, association authorized to prepare students for the state exam TKRI (Test of Russian language knowledge as foreign language), the school proposes a large variety of courses in Moscow which are organized for students of any age, with differents needs and goals to reach. In fact, there are courses for adults, like the “Russian standard language course” or the “Academic Year in Russia”, which are courses tailored on students not ready for an intensive learning program, yet and many other special courses which combine study and discipline to amusement, like for example “Russian along the river”, a particular course of Russian which takes you by cruise along the river from Moscow to St. Petersburg and viceversa.
Moreover, students will be free to choose their accomodation: they can stay with one of the families carefully selected by the schools following strict seriousness and cordiality criteria (it is the most used accomodation), or they can live in shared flats or hotels, if preferred.
Studing Russian in Moscow is absolutely a training experience, which puts students in touch with culture and traditions of this country, giving them the right tools to communicate and know people, to face every situation and daily activity and to take part to the several cultural activities organized by the school.
There are so many reasons to spend a learning vacation in Russia, and there are furthermore many reasons for choosing to learn such a useful and interesting language.
If you think that studying Russian is too much difficult, think about the fact that Moscow will make everything more interesting, simple and funnny!
By: Learn Languages Abroad
