Prosper-Ase Language Centre

8 Surprising Facts About British Tea Traditions

8 Surprising Facts About British Tea Traditions There's hardly a more British custom than a nice cup of tea. This magical elixir helps Brits get through the day and seems to make problems disappear ... at least temporarily! It is said that

Make time for reading on World Book Day!

In 1995 UNESCO decided that the World Book and Copyright Day would be celebrated on 23 April; April 23rd was chosen because that is the date when Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, Vladimir Nabokov, Maurice Druon and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died.

So,World Book Day is a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.

The date of World Book Day changes every year.
In the UK and Ireland, World Book Day is on the first Thursday of March.

The event celebrates books and offers a chance for children to dress up as their favourite characters and play games linked to their favourite stories.

WORLD BOOK DAY:CULTURE EXPERIENCE IN SPAIN

The celebration of World Book Day is the perfect opportunity to meet your favourite author, give the gift of literature or buy that novel that you've always wanted at an attractive discount.

What's more, librarians, museums and other cultural institutions usually organise special activities to mark the occasion (round tables, book signings, lectures, guided visits, children's workshops, storytellers, concerts, public readings, etc…). An invitation to experience the world of letters in a different way.

World Book Day, 23 April, in Spain is Culture

17 March : St.Patrick's Day

What is St Patrick’s Day?
St Patrick’s Day was originally a religious feast day for St Patrick – the patron saint of Ireland and a Christian missionary.

St Patrick, the son of a deacon and the grandson of a priest, was actually not born Irish but Scottish.
However, he is said to have spent many years in Ireland converting the pagans to Christianity before his death on March 17 in the fifth century.
Despite its origins, St Patrick’s Day has since grown into a global celebration of Irish culture, with festivities (usually, involving a fair bit of drinking) held throughout the world.

The day is celebrated as a national holiday in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
However, it is also widely observed across the globe, especially in the UK, America, Canada and Australia.

The theme for the Festival 2018 is 'HOME'.

The Festival Parade in Dublin takes place at 12 noon on March 17 and will weave its way through the heart of the capital city in a flourish of colour and flair. 500,000 people are expected to come out on the day to enjoy it.

Community groups and pageant companies from all over Ireland will come together to celebrate the parade theme 'Home Is Where the Heart Is'.

Game Of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham will take on the role of Grand Marshal for this year’s parade.

The Dublin native, who hails from East Wall, was chosen in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Irish acting both at home and around the globe.

Star Wars actor Mark Hamill has also been revealed as the International Guest of Honour at this year’s St Patrick’s Day Festival.

The 66-year-old American, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the iconic movie franchise, will jet into Ireland to view the National Festival Parade in Dublin.

Hamill is the first ever International Guest of Honour and will look on from the Presidential stand.

13 other things you probably didn't know about St Patrick's Day

13 things you probably didn't know about St Patrick's Day Where was the first parade? What other country has a national holiday today? And where is the world’s largest shamrock?

28 common Latin phrases you really ought to know

28 common Latin phrases you really ought to know | Every Word Counts Make sure you get top marks next time you drop these common Latin phrases into your writing or conversation by checking they mean what you think they mean.

English Tenses Timeline Chart English Tenses Timeline Chart .

DO YOU KNOW...?
* how many words are in the English language?
* how many words the average person knows
* which language has the most words

Many people estimate that there are more than a million words in the English language. In fact, during a project looking at words in digitised books, researchers from Harvard University and Google in 2010, they estimated a total of 1,022,000 words and that the number would grow by several thousand each year. When you see a massive number like this, though, it’s important to remember that this includes different forms of the same word. It also includes lots of words that we could call archaic (they are not used in modern English).

In the second edition of the Oxford English dictionary, there are approximately 600,000 word forms defined. Again, this includes many old-fashioned words that are not in common use any more. The dictionary also expands every year to keep up with new words that are invented to describe the world around us, or to include new meanings for words that already exist in English. A more useful number from the Oxford English Dictionary would be the 171,476 words that are in current use.

That’s still a lot of words, though, and doesn’t reflect the number of words that English speakers actually use. For that number, let’s look at a recent study by the people at testyourvocab.com who say that most adult native-speakers of English have a vocabulary of 20,000-35,000 words. Obviously, these are not the same words and everyone’s vocabulary will include different words according to their career, education and interested.

So, let’s look back at the question. If we want to talk about how many words there are in English, there are three key numbers to remember: more than a million total words, about 170,000 words in current use, and 20,000-30,000 words used by each individual person.

Source: https://englishlive.ef.com/blog/language-lab/many-words-english-language/

How many words does the average person know?
Robert Charles Lee, a published writer, answers this question on Quora. He writes that 3,000 words will cover 95% of everyday writing — common texts and speech like newspapers, blogs, most books, movies, etc.4 Out of those 3000 words, only the first 1,000 words are used in 89% of everyday writing.4 R.L.G at The Economist states that based on test results at TestYourVocab.com, most adult native test-takers range from 20,000–35,000 words.

Other Languages
Now, let’s compare English to other languages to see which language has the most words. English has always been influenced by other languages. It originally shared much of its grammar and basic vocabulary with Dutch and German.Later on, it took words from French and Latin. Per the Linguistic Society of America, there are about 6,909 distinct languages in the world. Most of those languages belong to groups of languages that can be shown to be genetically related to one another. English belongs to the Indo-European family. Other languages in this family include Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, and French.5 There are more, but for now, we’ll compare English to those five

- ITALIAN: has 270,000 in the Grande dizionario Italiano dell’uso
- RUSSIAN: 200,000 words exist in the Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian.
- GERMAN:has about 135,000 words in the Der Duden dictionary.
- SPANISH: there are about 100,000 words in the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.
- FRENCH: 100,000 words, but 350,000 definitions in the Le Grand Robert de la langue Française.

(https://wordcounter.io/blog/how-many-words-are-in-the-english-language/)

English mysteries: how many words are in the English language?

Language quiz

Think you know a thing or two about languages? Test your knowledge with the European languages Quiz.

Language quiz - Education and training - European Commission Language quiz - Supporting education and training in Europe and beyond

How to Use Modal Verbs in English - ESL Buzz

Common Business and Finance Abbreviations You Should Know

Common Business and Finance Abbreviations You Should Know - ESL Buzz