Posts Tagged ‘English’
Scholarships for Studying in Germany
Among other European nations like UK and France, Germany has emerged as a promising destination for higher education. The German expertise in engineering and automobiles is well known and what can be better than picking up the skills from Deutschland itself? More and more students are heading to Germany every year for engineering, management, law, science and education courses. To make matters easy for Indian students, The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) offers a variety of scholarships for students who want to pursue various graduate or research programmes in Germany.
If you are planning on going to Germany, it might be a good idea to learn German so that it’s easier for you to find your way around. There are plenty of English speakers though, and some courses are also offered in English. Universities are also known to conduct crash courses in German for students coming from foreign shores. The advantage of knowing German is that it will be easier for you to get part-time jobs there and fund your study.
For information on study and courses in Germany, visit this link. For the DAAD scholarships, check this out.
ETS Scholarships For Indian Students
To those of you who want to pursue higher studies abroad, ETS (Educational Testing Service) must be a familiar name. For a long time, ETS has been successfully conducting online tests such as GRE, TOEFL and GMAT which are mandatory for students to take especially if they are planning to head to top Universities in the US. Apart from USA several more countries like UK, Australia, Singapore and other popular destinations for Indian students accept GRE and TOEFL scores.
Now ETS is offering more than tests that can get you a place in top Universities, it is offering to fund your education as well. ETS has recently announced attractive scholarships for Indian students going over to the US, UK and Canada. There are three scholarships worth $10,000 and four worth $5000. The scholarships will be offered under the TOEFL India Scholar Programme which is aimed at “recognizing students with high academic achievement who have demonstrated leadership skills, innovative ideas and an outstanding ability to communicate in English”.
If you have secured admission to an University in any of these three countries and have not managed to secure funding as yet, this should be great news for you. Apart from an impressive TOEFL score you have to submit a 2000 word essay. For more details, visit ets.org
Learn English Online
There is nothing better than to learn English through regular practice. However not all of us might have access to English schools or a circle of people to converse with in English. In that case online learning resources can come in handy . The advantage here is that there is plenty of material out there on the web and all major aspects of communication (listening, speaking, reading and writing) are covered. The icing on the cake is that they come to you for free and you can access them anytime according to your convenience.
Online resources provide you plenty of choices. It is easy to find material suited for all levels so you just need to try and figure out which exercises will be suitable for you and then get started on all that the resource has to offer in that category. Some websites offer you trial tests as well so that you can assess your competence from time to time. Since all the exercises are online, the fear of making mistakes in front of an audience can be ruled out and you can feel free to take the listening and speaking exercises that are on offer.
From time to time I will provide links to learning materials online. You can access a good source here.
British Council Launches New Courses
The British Council has been instrumental in launching several effective English courses in addition to providing guidance and training to students who want to head to UK for higher studies. Putting their great experience and expertise into practice, they have come up with three new English courses. The courses being offered are English Impact, English Evolution and Business English. Looking at the titles, it is quite clear that the courses will be extremely useful for candidates who want to make it big in corporate communications. Admission to the courses will be through a written test of 90 minutes. This will enable the instructors at British Council to determine which course will suit which applicant.
Introduce English but don’t Impose It
Andhra University has recently decided that students will no longer be allowed to write their exams in Telugu and have to use English. This decision has been troubling a significant section of the students and they are resorting to protests. However, the V.C, B. Satyanarayana is adamant on the issue of students using English. He reasons that the lack of English skills is the reason many students are falling behind in the competition and therefore, students should necessarily take to English.
While it is true that one of the primary reasons behind the failure of a lot of students to secure a good job is their inability to communicate efficiently in English, an University cannot take such a strong decision without implementing proper training and facilities for the students. A lot of students coming from a vernacular medium of education find it difficult to suddenly switch to English for higher studies. It is vital that the Universities recognize this problem and introduce courses or set up coaching classes and training centres so that stuents can enroll and work on mastering a new language.
While many people might term this move as progressive/revolutionary, we need to see whether the institution is offering proper encouragement and support to the students wanting to learn English. If that is not being done then it becomes just a forceful imposition and fails to serve any purpose.
Use Words Carefully While Learning English
All of us get excited at the prospect of learning new words. In the process of learning a language we are asked to improve our vocabulary. The more words we know, the more our command over a language will increase. While learning new words can be fun, we also need to be cautious about their usage since many words have multiple meanings and connotations.
If you look closely at your mother tongue, you will identify several words which are used in various situations and which carry various meanings. Change of context often alters the meaning of words and depending upon culture, humour and other factors, words get associated with various things. Apart from its common meaning, the word “egg”, for example, is used to describe encouragement and support. Also a lot of words and expressions that we use in our respective languages have no English equivalent and vice-versa.
When you come across a new word, make sure you find out more about it before beginning to use it on a regular basis. Usage of certain words can hurt the sentiments of certain people and land you in trouble. It is also important to know whether a particular word has any special meaning in a cultural or religious context. Keep a good dictionary handy and look up references.
All About Proofreading Jobs
As indicated in a previous post, i am putting this one up to share a few details about publishing houses and what you can expect as an editor/proofreader. From my experience of working for a prominent publishing house, I can tell you that simply a command over English will not do. Proofreading involves more than spotting spelling and grammatical errors and requires you to be familiar with some technicalities of publishing.
Since the requirement of rectifying spelling and grammar is well known, i will talk more about the aforementioned technicalities. To work in a publishing house, you will need to be familiar with a few symbols and abbreviations that editors use to describe several functions. You can see a list of commonly used symbols and abbreviations here. However, symbols and abbreviations may vary from publisher to publisher and you will have to get the hang of using them pretty fast. While proofreading, you will have to observe the flow of arguments and overall coherance of the piece. If there are illustrations accompanying the text, look closely whether they correspond to what is being said. You need to keep an eye on the colours and make sure there is no spillage. Also check if the font and it’s size is the same throughout the piece. Headings and important points could be of one font (or font size) and the rest different, so observe closely.
Finally,while proofreading a book, you need to check whether the page numbers correspond to those mentioned in the contents page and whether all pages have been numbered. If the book is a textbook and contains exercises then you might have to solve them to see if they work and if the answers given (if any) are correct. You might also be asked to comment on the layout and the cover pages.
Proofreading involves all of this and when it comes to editing a raw manuscript, it is all this and some more. Details of that will follow in another post.
Exploring Technical Writing Jobs
Time to look at another prominent and attractive opening in the domain of language and communication, namely, technical writing. A basic research reveals that almost all big and small companies in the industry have requirements for technical writers. So if you happen to be good with the English language and are looking for a job that involves writing and also exposes you to cutting edge technology and latest products launched by different companies then technical writing could be a profile you will enjoy.
Most companies would require you to write about their products, launches and other news related to their research. So you will be writing user manuals, designing brochures and working closely with the development team to form a good understanding of the offerings of your company. As a technical writer, you will be catering to all the users of your company’s products and that can be a big number. You need to remember that your audience will consist of people with and without an understanding of technology so your writing should explain things in a clear and straightforward manner.
People generally get put off by a lot of text so you will have to cultivate a skill for designing. If you take a look at the user manuals of products launched by some big names, you will see almost every page carries pictures, illustrations and the text is arranged in short paragraphs. Often buletted points are used so that the main features get highlighted. If you are trying to explain to your clients how to operate a product, it is important that you show the various processes through pictures in addition to writing the steps down. Using different font colours and formatting will make your work visually appealing. You can consider using different background colours for different sections. Needless to say that a good knowledge of MS Office and a few photo-editing software will be an added advantage.
As for the origin of technical writing, I got a surprising piece of information in the process of finding out more about it. According to Wikipedia, the practice of technical writing can be traced back to ancient Greece and the Renaissance (fourteenth to seventeenth centuries). However, the full fledged utilisation of it came into being during the first world war when a lot of technical documentation was required by the military,manufacturing, electronics and aerospace industries.
Figuring The Nuances of Jobs
This post is a continuation of an earlier post in which i had mentioned that professional life requires you to be an altogether different creative writer by and large. I thought of sharing some of my experiences of writing in the professional sphere. I plan to put up several posts on general as well as specific requirements.
I always wrote long sentences while writing answers or essays for my courses and in examinations. I had to ditch this habit and concentrate on making my sentences short and crisp. Long sentences often tend to get confusing where you are required to put things across as clearly as possible. This applies to lengthy business proposals as well. Though it will unavoidably be lengthier than blog posts or web content, you need to keep your language simple, your sentences short and make every effort to give maximum information using less words. In other words, you will need to get straight to the point.
It is a good idea to include pictures or sketches while trying to write about a place or a product instead of trying to describe everything elaborately in writing. A picture, as it goes, is worth a thousand words.
Keeping your English correct and keeping an eye out for errors will help you in copy editing, proofreading etc. I will put up a separate post to discuss the nuances of editing for a publishing house or other concerns.
It is important that your writings have some visual appeal as well. Split your article into several short paragraphs. Using numbers or bullets to highlight points will make your article eye catching and your readers will be able to easily spot the important points.
Make Learning Fun
As English is being looked at as a language of opportunity, more and more people are flocking to various training centres and colleges to hone their English skills. As someone proficient in English, this opens up new opportunities for you as a language trainer. The demand for English language trainers is high not only in India but across various countries where English is not the first language. Needless to say that to make the most of this lucrative opportunity, you need to have a good command over English. However, we have seen several times that learned men do not always make good teachers. So before considering a career in language training you need to work on your teaching abilities as well.
In a training institute or college, you will come across students who can speak English but suffer from lack of fluency, confidence and so on as well as students who have to be taught from scratch. It is important to identify the various levels and assign different time slots so that you can give every level the necessary attention. However what is most important according to me is that you need to ensure that your students are having fun while learning. Abstain from making your sessions resemble grammar schools or dull English classrooms. Think out of the box and come up with word games, contests and creative activities (such as composing slogans, poems etc) which will make your students look forward to attending your session.
There is nothing like learning through fun. Picking up a language, or any skill for that matter, becomes something to enjoy and makes the teacher immensely popular and successful in the process.