Why learn English

Learning to speak English well may be the best thing you can do to improve
your life.

That’s right. Do you think it would be fun to have access to information that other people can’t get? Talk and write
letters to interesting people that others can’t communicate with? Impress people around you whenever you
opened your mouth? Make big jumps in your career, leaving
others miles behind?

You can get all this if you speak English well.

JEFF: Seulement 8% de la planète maîtrise réellement l’anglais.
Signifierait-il que 92% des "Terriens" soient ignorants et malheureux parce
qu’ils ne parlent pas couramment l’anglais? Quelle affirmation mensongère et
méprisante de la part de ces auteurs.

Get access to knowledge

What are you interested in? Is it science? Music? Computers? Health?
Business? Sports? Today’s media – such as the Internet, television, and the
press – give you almost unlimited access to knowledge about your favorite subjects. After all, we live in
the information age, don’t we?

There’s only one problem. Most of this knowledge is in English.

JEFF: Complètement faux! On mélange ici quantité et qualité. Cela
se peut qu’on trouve plus d’ouvrages en anglais que dans une autre langue mais
est-ce nécessaire d’avoir cent livres différents sur un sujet
donné lorsqu’un ou deux suffiraient?

Au Québec, on a plus de chaînes de télévision en anglais qu’en
français. Par contre, la télévision francophone y est aussi bonne.

Here are some examples of knowledge you can use if you know English:

• 87% of all pages on the Web. That’s over a
  billion (1,000,000,000) pages of information! It’s amazing that learning just one language
  gives you access to almost all knowledge on the Internet. (source)
  JEFF: Ce n’est plus vrai. De plus en plus sites sur la toile se
  trouvent dans d’autres langues; on estime en 2002 que seulement 62% des
  sites ne sont qu’en anglais; et ce chiffre est à la baisse! Les élèves
  de l’école où je travaille sont capables de faire leurs recherches en
  français.
• Books – on any subject,
  from all over the world. Read books by British or American authors, and
  books translated from other languages. Whatever you’re interested in, you can
  read about it in English! JEFF: Je ne savais pas que des librairies
  françaises, espagnoles… ne sont pas très bien garnies. Quel commentaire
  gratuit!
• The press. Only English-language magazines
  and newspapers can be bought in every part of the world. You don’t have to
  search for Time, Newsweek, or the
  International Herald Tribune! JEFF: Malheureusement, je n’ai
  jamais mis les pieds en Europe ou en Asie pour confirmer ceci. Par contre,
  c’est possible de trouver des documents en français au Yukon!
• Science. English is the key to the world of
  science. In 1997, 95% of the articles in the Science Citation Index were written in English. Only about 50% of them
  were from English-speaking countries like the USA or Britain. (source)
• News reports. Watch international television
  networks, such as CNN International and NBC. They broadcast news much faster, and more
  professionally, than smaller, national networks. And you can watch them
  everywhere in the world. JEFF: Le moral de l’histoire, sauf pour les
  états-Unis, le reste du monde n’est que des républiques de bananes!

Communicate with people

We like to call English "the language of communication". Why? Because it
seems all the people in the world have agreed to use English to talk to each
other. JEFF: Archifaux!

• About 1,500,000,000 people in the world speak English. Another
  1,000,000,000 are learning it. (source)
  JEFF: Selon l’université de Washington en 1999, environ 500 000 000
  personnes parlent anglais contre plus d’un milliard d’interlocuteurs
  mandarins.
• 75% of the world’s letters and postcards are written in English. (source)
• Almost all international conferences and competitions are
  conducted in English. For example, the Olympics and the Miss World
  contest. JEFF: On oublie que le français est aussi souvent employé
  dans des organismes internationaux.
• Diplomats and politicians from different countries use English to communicate with
  each other. English is the main language of organizations like the United
  Nations, NATO, and the European Free Trade Association. JEFF: à
  cause de qui?

If you can communicate in English, you can:

• Contact people from all over the world. Talk
  about your ideas and opinions on Internet discussion groups. Send e-mail to
  interesting people. Learn about their life and culture.
• Travel more easily. Communicate with people
  wherever you go – English is spoken in more than 100 countries (source).
  Ask directions, have a conversation, or… ask for help. Who knows,
  maybe English will save your life someday! JEFF: Wô LES MOTEURS!!!
  On charrie ici. Quelqu’un m’a déjà dit que si on ne parle pas l’allemand, la
  vie se complique en Allemagne.

Push your career forward

If you want a good job in business, technology, or science,
get out of that armchair and start learning English now! (If you already
have a good job, start learning before you lose it!)

Knowing English will let you:

• Put "excellent knowledge of English" on your
  CV. Get your dream job, and earn more money.
• Gain technical knowledge. English is the
  language of technology, especially high technology like computer science,
  genetics, and medicine. If you’re going to read about technology, you’ll
  probably have to do it in English.
• Learn computer science. Read technical
  articles without difficulty. Or write your own articles!
• Be a world-class businessman (or -woman).
  It’s simple. International business is done in English. And all business today is
  international. So if you want to play, you have to know English – to contact
  other businesspeople, go to conferences, read international business newspapers and magazines, etc.
• Become a better scientist. Contact
  scientists from other countries, go to international
  conferences, visit academic centers abroad. Learn about new scientific
  discoveries by reading papers, books, and magazines.
• Use your computer more effectively. Most
  computer applications are in English, so you will understand them better –
  and become a better employee.
• Learn new skills for your job. The section
  "Get access to knowledge" explains how English helps you learn. JEFF:
  Variations sur le même thème!

Enjoy art like never before

English lets you feel the culture of the world like no other language. With
a good knowledge of the English language, you can do wonderful things:
JEFF: Quel narcissisme.

• Watch American and British films in the original.
  Once you try it, you’ll never go back to dubbed versions! JEFF: Un film québécois doublé en anglais est
  aussi décevant.
• Read great books. Every famous book was
  written in English or it was translated into English. There is an
  amazing number of titles – from classic plays like
  
  Hamlet to modern thrillers like
  Jurassic Park.
• Enjoy English-language music more. Believe
  us: music is much better if you can understand the words. JEFF:
  Blablabla!!!

English is easy to learn

English is not only the most useful language in the world. It is also one
of the easiest languages to learn and to use:

• Simple alphabet – no special symbols such as
  é or ä. Type in sweet, part, film on your
  computer. Now try süß (German),
  
  (Polish),
  
  (Russian). Which is easier? JEFF: Qui a inventé ces claviers peu
  receptifs envers d’autres langues?
• Easy plurals – simply add s to a
  word. One car, five cars; one telephone,
  two telephones… There are very few exceptions. JEFF:Feuilleter une bonne grammaire anglaise en
  prouve le contraire.
• Words are easy to learn. In French, it’s
  la fille and le chien. In German, it’s
  das Mädchen and der Hund. In English, they’re just
  a girl and a dog. And that’s all you need to know.
  JEFF: L’anglais c’est un million de mots, chacun avec un accent tonique et
  une orthographe particuliaire. Le français, c’est environ 100 000 mots et un
  accent tonique régulier!
• Short words. Most of the basic words are
  short: run, work, big, go, man. Long
  words are often shortened: sitcom = situational comedy,
  fridge = refrigerator, OS = operating system.
  Speaking English saves you time. 🙂 JEFF: Essayez de comprendre le
  suivant et dites-moi si on gagne vraiment du temps avec l’anglais: I’d
  like some OJ, A.S.A.P. (orange juice, as soon as possible).
• Words don’t change. But in many languages,
  one word has many forms:

  English: The man is blind.
  German: Der Mann ist blind.

  English: This is a blind man.
  German: Das ist ein blinder Mann.

  English: I see a blind man.
  German: Ich sehe einen blinden Mann.

• Call everybody "you". You can say "Do
  you speak English?" to your friend or to your teacher. In other
  languages, you have to use the right word for the right person. In English,
  everybody is equal. 🙂 JEFF: Aux états-Unis, il y a 20 000 000
  d’analphabètes ou semi-illettrés; toute une égalité!
• English is everywhere. You can easily
  access English-language television, music, websites, magazines, etc. You
  don’t have to learn from boring
  textbooks. You can learn and use your English at the same time.
  Using your English is especially important because it
  increases your desire to learn. JEFF: L’anglais est-il rendu
  une panacée à tous nos maux? Quelle prétention!

Get satisfaction

English is not only useful – it gives you a lot of
satisfaction:

• 
  Making progress feels great. We’ll never forget the moment we
  discovered we could speak with Americans or watch TV in English.
• You will enjoy learning English, if you
  remember that every hour you spend gets you closer to perfection.
• Using English is fun, too, because every
  sentence you speak or write reminds you of your success. JEFF: J’ai eu la même sensation en
  apprenant le français.

English makes you a more powerful, happier person. It is not difficult to
imagine some situations where knowing English gives you a great feeling.
JEFF: à vous d’en juger.

We hope that, with our help, your progress in English will soon give you a lot of
satisfaction, too. Many people have followed
our methods and watched their "English power" grow very quickly. You can
read about these people in the Successful English
learners section of Antimoon.com.

Questions? Comments? Read how to contact us.