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Aprender Inglés: Compararse con Otros

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Grave error pero uno muy común. Usted no debe comparar su progreso en el de idioma con el de alguien más porque siempre habrá otra persona que lo haga mejor y más rápido. El ver que los demás van más adelante cuando tal vez todos comenzaron al mismo tiempo es sólo indicativo de una cosa: usted es diferente a ellos. La verdad es que del mismo modo que no nos vemos o actuamos iguales tampoco aprendemos al mismo ritmo o con los mismos resultados. Comprender esto nos permite entender muchas cosas, entre ellas, el por qué hay personas que se destacan en un campo pero no en otro y por qué a usted  le es fácil recordar una secuencia numérica pero le cuesta estructurar correctamente una simple carta.  Acepte sus limitaciones y entienda qué tipo de aprendizaje es el más adecuado para usted. ¿Canta cuando se ducha? ¿Sólo se concentra en su trabajo si escucha sus canciones favoritas? ¿Al levantarse lo primero que hace es prender la radio? Probablemente usted es un estudiante que...

Krishnamurti: Truly a Brilliant Mind

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We, Occidentals tend to believe that the greatest minds of our time are precisely Occidental, but that is not necessarily so. Take for example the man who is central to this article: Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986), an Indian philosopher who was called "World Teacher". His unassuming appearance was exceptionally deceiving: testimonies of those who met him usually mention there  was something about Krishnamurti´s presence that inspired respect but also great peace.  Early in his life he bagan spreading his vision of the world and the fundamental problems that overwhelm mankind. One of his messages was that in order to follow the Truth we should not follow anyone because then we were not truly following the Truth but that person instead. He called for an elimination of Fear as one of the primary purposes of men if we wanted to grow in any manner. Krishnamurti had in his philosophy several recurring themes and one of them was "being creative". He claimed that only...

How do you say MODALES in English?

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Well, the term MODALS does exist in English but it refers to something else entirely (not behavior regulations). A Modal in English is a a type of verb, an auxiliary verb of some kind to indicate permission, necessity or to give opinions or suggestions. Can, Must, Will or Should are examples of modal verbs .  Modal verbs are necessary because there are relatively few verb forms in English (there s not a future form of verbs for example). Modals as the social conventions that regulate our behavior is not the right word. MANNERS is. You show good manners if you say Hello and Thank You, if you say Please or Have a Nice Day. So BUENOS MODALES is GOOD MANNERS and MALOS MODALES  is BAD MANNERS.  In fact if you want to say someone is EDUCADO you say he or she is WELL MANNERED.                       

Zombies are Real

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Are zombies for real? The answer is yes, absolutely. There are (or have been) zombies only not the zombies we get to see in the movies. Originally zombies were part of the voodoo folklore. Voodoo followers are famous to have knowledge of the power of certain herbs. Some voodoo practitioners are considered to be sorcerers of sorts with a dark aspect: they tend to make slaves of normal unsuspected people to whom they give secret potions that cause a state of apparent death. The victim is then buried and later on quietly unburied by the Vooddo priest that gave him /her the potion. Once this individual is unburied the priest reanimates him somehow taking him/her out of the apparent death state, but the victim is now under the voodoo priest's command because he or she has lost all willpower and is now only a mindless slave. Cases have been reported of missing people in Haiti returning to their homes after unexpectedly recovering from the mindless condition caused by the potion. As...

Aprender Inglés: ¿Por qué?

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Esa es la pregunta que usted tiene que formularse antes de comenzar su aprendizaje. Si va usted a embarcarse en esta aventura (eso es lo que realmente es) debe tener sus objetivos claros. Por ello no lo haga si... - lo hace porque los demás lo hacen. Aprender un idioma no es una moda ni debería serlo. El hecho de que los demás hagan algo no quiere decir que usted deba hacerlo también. Tome una decisión de esa importancia sólo si siente que es necesario, o le gustaría, hacerlo. - quiere prepararse para algún examen para el cual falta poco tiempo. Tengo amigos que han perdido becas en el extranjero por no saber Inglés y también tengo amigos que han perdido su tiempo tratando de aprender Inglés en períodos muy cortos. Eso es simplemente imposible (a menos que usted tenga un talento natural para aprender idiomas). Aprender algo tan extenso y complejo como otra lengua requiere tiempo y dedicación. Yo mismo aprendo algo nuevo cada día y probablemente lo seguiré haciendo hasta el fin de...

After

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The use of the preposition After can also be another headache for both EFL teachers and students (Spanish speakers that is). Quite often the problem is evidenced in two cases. The first is using After at the end of sentences since we can do that in Spanish with DESPUES, and therefore it is logical to assume it can also be done in English. This is not necessarily true since the word AFTER requires being followed by another word, e.g. After dawn...After class...After the end of the ceremony...This rule makes impossible to put at the end most of the time unless it is part of a phrasal verb, e.g. Who are you Looking After? The second case is attempting to use of following the word After, e.g. After of all that, they were very upset. Again the problem is with Spanish because we say DESPUES DE as in "Después de todo eso, ellos estaban molestos." But the use of of is not necessary in English and adding it is a mistake.  The best thing to do is to offer other options to the ...

The King's Speech

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Whoever said a big budget is necessary to make a good movie is obviously wrong.  Whoever said having as central theme a profound and complex existencial problem is necessary to be awarded an Oscar does not know what he is talking about. Whoever said you need an all-star lineup in order to impress the audience and also make sure the interpretations are well done is sorely incorrect. The King's Speech is proof of all that. No bulking budget, no deeper than deep human condition based plot, and no major names in the cast of actors with the exception of Geoffrey Rush ( Colin Firth was partially unknown and Helena Bonham Carter's most popular role was that she played as a a witch in the Harry Potter series). The story, based entirely on real life, goes like this: after the major trauma that the World War I meant to everyone Europe was moving to an even worse event. In England, George V occupied his throne feeling that darker times were approaching. His two sons were per...