Professor Ernest Watson was answering questions on a radio phone-in programme on the subject of learning a foreign language.

Listener: Hello, Professor, can you hear me?

Prof W: Yes, we can hear you fine.

Listener: My name is Humphries, Albert Humphries, and I live in Balham, in London.

Prof W: Yes, good evening Mr. Humphries. What is your question?

Mr. H: I've been studying Spanish for some years. I go to Spain on holiday sometimes. I've learnt quite a lot of grammar and vocabulary. But I find it very difficult to speak, and when I went to Spain this summer, I couldn't understand the Spanish people at all. I got really disheartened.

Prof W: Yes, it is a problem. How long have you been studying Spanish?

Mr. H: About four years.

Prof W: Yes, how exactly? Going to an evening class, using tapes ...?

Mr. H: I've been going to an evening class and I've watched quite a lot of the BBC television programmes.

Prof W: Oh, yes. They're very good. Did you buy the BBC book?

Mr. H: No, we use a different book in the class. But I watched the programmes.

Prof W: Yes, I see ... Mr. Humphries, I always think that learning a language is rather like learning to drive. Now, you couldn't learn to drive a car by sitting in a classroom or watching television. I think what you need is a lot of practice in using the language.

Mr. H: That's all very well if you live in the country where they speak the language but I don't.

Prof W: Yes, I understand the problem. Though even if you live in the country where the language is spoken, you have to reach a certain standard before you are able to have conversations with the natives. I was thinking perhaps you might arrange with another student or students to have regular conversation practice.

Mr. H: But the other students make the same mistakes as I do.

Prof W: I think you're confusing learning with practicing. Remember what I said about driving a car. Learning to speak means being able to put together the right groups of words and to say them in a reasonably accurate way.

Mr. H: And what about learning to understand real Spanish?

Prof W: Well, again, you need practice in hearing the Spanish language spoken by Spanish speakers. There are Spanish speakers in London. Get one of them to read some extracts from a Spanish newspaper onto a cassette. Have you got a cassette recorder?

Mr. H: Yes.

Prof W: Then you want to listen and listen and listen to the recordings until you almost know them by heart, just as if you were learning to drive, you'd practice parking the car, over and over again, till you could do it perfectly. Learning to speak a language is a very hard business. You don't need a huge vocabulary. You need a small vocabulary that you can use really efficiently, and to be able to do that you need lots and lots of practice.


Woman: Good morning.

Librarian: Morning, can I help you?

Woman: Yes, I'd like to join the library. We're new to the district you see.

Librarian: Certainly. Well all we need is some sort of identification with your name and address on it.

Woman: Oh dear. We just moved, you see, and everything has my old address.

Librarian: A driving licence, perhaps?

Woman: No, I don't drive.

Librarian: Your husband's would do.

Woman: Yes, but his licence will still have the old address on it.

Librarian: Perhaps you have a letter addressed to you at your new house?

Woman: No, I'm afraid not. We've only been there a few days you see and no one's written to us yet.

Librarian: What about your bank book?

Woman: That's just the same. Oh dear, and I did want to get some books out this weekend. We're going on holiday to relax after the move, you see, and I wanted to take something with me to read.

Librarian: Well, I'm sorry, but we can't possibly issue tickets without some form of identification. What about your passport?

Woman: What? Oh yes, how silly of me. I've just got a new one and it does have our new address. I've just been to book our tickets so I have it on me. Just a minute. Here you are.

Librarian: Thank you. Well, that's all right. Now if you'd like to go and choose your books your tickets will be ready for you when you come back to the desk to have them stamped out.

Woman: Oh, thank you. Er, how many books am I allowed to take out?

Librarian: You can take four books out at a time and you also get two tickets to take out magazines or periodicals. Newspapers, I'm afraid can't be taken out; they have to be read here.

Woman: Oh that's fine. We have our own daily newspaper delivered to the house. Oh, do you have a record library? Some libraries do, I know.

Librarian: Yes, we do. You have to pay a deposit of ￡5 in case you damage them. But that entitles you to take out two records at a time. We also have everything available on cassette if you prefer it. Cassettes seem to be much more popular than records lately.

Woman: Oh yes, as a matter of fact, I would prefer cassettes but I won't take any out today. I'll leave it until we come back from our holidays. Could you show me where your history and biography sections are, please?

Librarian: Yes, just over there to your right. If there's any particular book you want you can look it up in the catalogue, which you'll find just round the corner.

Woman: Thank you. Oh, and how long am I allowed to keep the books for?

Librarian: For three weeks. After that you must telephone to renew the books if you wish to keep them longer. Otherwise we charge 20p a day fine for each book.

Woman: Oh dear. We're going away for six weeks. Can I renew them now?

Librarian: I'm afraid not. You must do that at the end of three weeks. Someone else might want them you see. And in that case we have to ask you to return them.

Woman: You mean, if someone wants them after my three weeks are up I have to bring them back?

Librarian: Yes, but just telephone and we'll see what we can do.

Woman: But I'm going to Tahiti. It would cost a fortune.

Librarian: Well ...

Woman: Oh, never mind. I'll leave it until we get back. It's not worth all the bother. I'll get some paperbacks in the airport. Well, thank you. I'm sorry I've been such a nuisance. Good morning.

Librarian: Not at all. Good morning.


Receptionist: United World Colleges. Can I help you?

Julian: Yes, I'd like some information about the colleges, please.

Receptionist: Hold the line. I'll put you through to the International Secretary.

Creighton: Good morning. Robert Creighton speaking.

Julian: Good morning. My name's Julian Harris and I have a friend in Spain who's interested in applying for a place at one of the colleges. There are one or two questions which she'd like me to ask you.

Creighton: Go ahead.

Julian: Thanks. The first one is: what language is used for normal lessons?

Creighton: Well, the main language of instruction in all the colleges is English. But at Pacific College in Canada some subjects are taught in French, and at the College of the Adriatic some may be taught in Italian.

Julian: Right. Her next question is about fees. Is it expensive to go to one of the colleges?

Creighton: Students' parents don't have to be rich, if that's what you mean. There are scholarships for all colleges, but we do ask parents to help by paying what they can afford.

Julian: Good, she'll be glad to hear that. Now she wants to know something about getting into a college. Does she have to get high marks in her examinations?

Creighton: Ah, yes, well she will have to do well, but academic ability is not the only thing that's important. We also look at personal qualities.

Julian: What sort of things do you mean?

Creighton: Maturity, the ability to get on well with people from different countries, that sort of thing.

Julian: Of course. I understand what you mean. Her last question is about her other interests. Can she do painting and modern dancing, for example?

Creighton: Yes, probably. It depends on the staff at the college she enters. Each college has its own special activities, such as theatre studies or environmental work, in which students can take part.

Julian: Good. I think that's all. Thank you very much for your help.

Creighton: You're welcome. I hope your friend sends in an application.

Julian: I'm sure she will. Thanks again. Goodbye.

Creighton: Goodbye.


Grace: It's so great seeing you guys again.

Curtis: Yeah.

Martin: I agree.

Grace: I can't believe it's been twenty years since we were all in college together.

Martin: You know something, I remember it as if it were yesterday.

Curtis: I do ... (Yeah.) I was just going to say, as if it were yesterday.

Martin: Incredible.

Grace: Martin, what do you remember most about our college days?

Martin: Oh, I remember most?

Grace: Uh-huh.

Martin: Curtis's hair ... down to his waist.

Curtis: Now, I remember how Grace looked. (Wha ...) She always had a flower painted on her face, remember that?

Martin: Oh, yes. I remember that.

Grace: Now wait, wait. Let's not forget about Martin and his air-conditioned blue jeans. I never saw anybody with more holes in their jeans than Martin.

Martin: They're a classic. You know, I still have those blue jeans. (Oh.)

Grace: Still have them? I don't believe it.

Curtis: Oh. Incredible. I don't either.

Martin: And I still wear them, too.

Curtis: You know, I was just thinking the other day—it's funny-about that worst ... worst thing that happened in college.

Martin: The worst thing?

Grace: What was that?

Curtis: Yeah. The time we were driving home from college for a spring break, remember? (Oooh.) (Ooh. Yeah. Oooh.) It was a holiday, and every gas station was closed. And that darn gas gauge was on empty.

Martin: And (We were desperate.) we stopped at that gas station and tried to get some gas out of that pump.

Grace: And the neighbours saw us and called the police. We almost got arrested. (Oooh.) Gosh, I was scared stiff.

Martin: You were scared stiff? I was petrified. And—but, you know, it was a lot different from the time we actually did get arrested.

Curtis: Umm.

Grace: Yeah. You know, that's my best memory. That peace demonstration. (Yeah.) You know, somehow getting arrested for something you believe in isn't ... isn't scary at all.

Curtis: No, it isn't at all.

Martin: You're right.

Curtis: But it did help that there were five hundred other students getting arrested along with us.

Martin: That was a great day, though.

Grace: Hey, hey, you all remember our last day of college?

Martin: What, you mean graduation?

Curtis: Graduation, what's to remember? None of you went to graduation. I didn't go.

Martin: Do you regret that, that ... that after all these years you skipped out on the ceremony?

Grace: Not me. Hey, I've changed my mind about a lot of things in twenty years, but I don't think we missed anything that day.

Curtis: No, nothing at all. And that picnic that the three of us had by the stream, remember? (That was great.) (Oooh.) Drinking wine, playing guitar, singing. Oh, that was worth more to me than any graduation ceremony.

Martin: That was (Mm-hmm.) the best graduation ceremony there could have been.

Curtis: Mm-hmm.


1. Most of the subjects of the enquiry think that nearly every word in English has just one meaning.

2. While it's true, of course, that many words in English do have only one meaning, it can easily be shown that the majority have more than one.

3. The third important misconception on the part of the students is their idea that a word can be used correctly as soon as its meaning is known.

4. English has a larger vocabulary than any other language. The reason for this, of course, is that it has been influenced by several other languages. It has, in fact, borrowed words from many sources. It is, therefore, particularly rich in synonyms.

5. Perhaps more important is a grammatical matter, namely that some words which mean the same can only be used when certain other words are present.

6. Unfortunately, when many students pick up a book to read they tend to have no particular purpose in mind other than simply to read the book.

7. The result is that students frequently don't have an overall view of what they're reading; also, they tend to forget fairly soon what they've been reading.

8. One reason for poor comprehension from reading may be that students fail to make notes or to ask themselves questions about the text.

9. If the reading material was broken down every twenty-five pages by short tests, reminding him what he had read, he could go on without fatigue or loss of efficiency for periods of up to six hours.

10. If he can increase his reading speed without loss of comprehension, then he'll have become a more efficient reader.


Credit Cards
Many businesses, such as department stores, restaurants, hotels and airline companies, use a credit system for selling their products and services. In a credit system, the seller agrees to sell something to the buyer without immediately receiving cash. The buyer receives the goods or services immediately and promises to pay for them later. This "buy-now-pay-later" credit system is quite old. People have been buying things on credit for centuries. But nowadays people use credit cards. There are two types of credit cards. One type is issued directly by a store to a customer. Many large department stores issue credit cards to their customers. The store credit card can be used to make purchases only at a particular store. The other kind of credit card is issued by a credit company. Credit cards from credit companies can be used to buy things almost anywhere. If you have a major credit card, you can buy airplane tickets, stay at hotels, and eat at restaurants with it. Most large credit companies are connected to large banks. So if you want a credit card from a credit company, you generally have to make an application at a bank. After an applicant receives a credit card, he or she can make purchases, using the card.