Álvaro Torres Vicente

DISCUSSION ESSAY

We live in a world that due to the internet and advances in technology is becoming more globalized, therefore, speaking more than one language is very useful. It only brings advantages the fact of being bilingual?

The main benefit of being bilingual is being able to communicate with people from another country and translating information from one language to another. Speaking English is really useful for me when  traveling and  even when searching for information to do a school work.

Another positive point is that it rises the chances of getting a job, especially in multinational companies that look for people who talk a popular foreign language apart from their own.

On the other hand, to be bilingual you have to dedicate many hours to learn another language, as in my case, studying English at school and going to an academy in my spare time. Moreover, when you know more than one similar language is easy to confuse how to write some words as it happens with Catalan and Spanish.

Summarising, from my point of view the disadvantages of being bilingual are insignificant next to all the advantages that it brings, hence I think it is something essential for today's modern society.

Discussion essay

It is known that we are way more connected with people all around the globe nowadays than we were fifteen years ago, being able to talk instantly with anyone, anywhere. That has brought our society to a change, being obliegated to adapt to other cultures and languages. It is common to know people that are bilingual but, is this an advantatge or a disadvantage? 

On the one hand, knowing more than just your mother tongue it's very usefull, allowing you to comunicate with people from other countries or to stay informed about news from all the world and from more sources, In my case, eventhough my native language is Catalan, being able to understand and speak English has been hugely helpful and now I mostly consume English content. 

On the other hand, speaking more than one language could eventually lead to mistakes while speaking due to the fact that you are influenced by your other languages. Also, according to some people, globalization is only boosting a few languages, like english and chinese, and therefore less uesd languages could disappear. 

From my point of view, knowing more than one language is nothing but an advantage, it allows you to comunicate with a lot more people and improves your possibilities of having a higher qualified job. Nevertheless, little-used languages should be protected in order to mantain diversity within the unit. 

Opinion essay

It is generaly agreed that internet makes our social life poorer. However, some people thinks that internet can help people to stay in contact or make better our social life.

It is clear that internet has made people able to stay in contact without considering the distance between them. For example people can use video-calls to see each other like if they were together.

Furthermore, I personally think that as a consequence of the facilities to contact with other people, internet makes easier to know new people. For example, there are social networks like twitter or instagram which let people to see profiles of other people and contact them using messages.

All in all, a French writer said that the best things that people have made are all things that bring people together. I think that this statement is really true and it seems to me that internet is one of this things. This not let people to be together physically, but it's faster and cheaper than travelling.

Interview

Journalist: Good evening Ron.
Ron: Hello!
Journalist: I am today in Brussels, Belgium to talk to Ron, an active member of the United Nations and European comissioner. Could you tell us a little bit more about what you do?
Ron: As you said I am an European comissioner and I am focused on the protection of minority languages. We work in several countries that are starting to lose its native language due to globalization triying to protect them.
Journalist: I see you have good intentions but what exactly do you do to prevent those languages from disapearing?
Ron: Firstly we look for languages that could be in danger, once we locate them we start working inside the country, we mostly raise awareness about the problem and offer solutions, and very often the country itselve works in order to save the language.
Journalist: It seems like a very satisfactory job to do...
Ron: Indeed it is, mostly when you see all the people that gets involved.
Journalist: Well thank you for your time Ron, apreciate it.
Ron: Thank you, by.

INTERVIEW

Today I am interviewing Alan Miller, an European commissioner for the protection of minority languages.

Journalist: Hello, nice to meet you.

Alan: Hello, it’s nice to meet you too.

Journalist: Well, first of all I would like you to introduce yourself and talk a bit about your job.

Alan: I am Alan Miller and I have been an European commissioner for the protection of minority languages for 10 years. My job consists in doing research about the less talked languages in Europe and do everything possible to avoid its loss.

Journalist: An unusual job but necessary. How do you manage to maintain these languages?

Alan: This task is not done only by me and of course it is not easy. Actually the European Union is trying to promote the use of the small linguistic groups and also protect the rights of those by doing events around those languages and translating books and movies into those languages. Thanks to this and more things some of these languages have ceased to be in danger and have become more popular.

Journalist: That is incredibly good. I find this topic very interesting. It has been a pleasure to be able to interview you Mr. Alan.

Alan: The pleasure is all mine.

Black mirror opinion essay. Dídac Alonso

The third episode by netflix of the serie black mirror have make people think about this technology and the consequences that it can have.

It seems me that the device could make people get crazy. In the episode the protagonist start looking all the details because he is jealous. He gets crazy, but if the dispositive hadn’t existed he wouldn’t have destroyed his life and his relationship with his wife.

Moreover, I feel that if the device exists, the people won’t live the present. This is because people wouldn’t live the present, they will be trapped revising the things that they have done constantly.

In addition to that, the people who uses this technology will regret about his doings. For example is someone do something wrong, he probably will revise it a lot of times and he will regret a lot. Also, people can blame people for things that they have done in the past and this can make people regret.

All in all, this device can sound as a good idea, but if we analyze all the problems that it might have it may not seem such a good idea.

Black Mirror opinion essay

Black mirror is a series that shows us the life of the main character called Liam who lives in a future in which almost everybody have a device behind their ears that allows them to store and visualize when they want all their experiences along their lives. This makes us think how would be our lives if life-replay technology was available, could we really be trusted not to drive ourselves mad with it, like poor old Liam?

Chiefly, our personality would be quite different, we would be more meticulous with what we say or do when other people were watching us, because everything could be analysed leading to unwanted conclusions.  Probably we would also be more distrustful because we would give too many turns to the moments lived, as shown with Liam.

Secondly, If we had a partner, being used to this technology, confidence would not have to vary to the current relationships because this is something basic for the proper functioning of a relationship.

Having in account everything said, I reckon that we could trust in our couple without any inconvenient but it’s evident that If we had very clear signs of infidelity, this technology would make it much easier to discover infidelity.