summary comparison

Hey everyone! My new blog post is about the two summaries we had to write for English class.

1st summary

The first summary is about a video we watched in English class. The video is about the financial crisis of 2008. This is a before-and-after blogpost based on the summary I wrote about the video. The second summary is the corrected version. 

1. first version:

The Crisis of Credit Visualised:

The video explains the world-wide financial crisis and how it affected the economy and therefore, the whole population. There are two important groups of people, the homeowners and the investors. Homeowners apply for mortgages given by the investors. The investors get their money from large institutions such as, sovereign, pension and mutual funds. To get more money they would buy treasury bills from the US Federal Reserve. As a result of economic crises and terrorist attacks, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates to keep the economy working. The following cheap credits facilitated borrowing money resulting in banks going crazy with leverage. Banks started to connect investors to homeowners through mortgages. Due to investors craving for more money, they began taking risks by giving mortgages to homeowners that were less likely able to pay them off, called subprime mortgages. Subsequently, several homeowners default on their mortgages. The bankers’ monthly payments turned into houses. More and more houses were on the market creating more supply than demand.  This resulted in houses losing their value and even homeowners who were considered prime mortgages left. The brokers could not sell their houses anymore as everyone was bankrupt. In the end the financial system froze.

2. version (corrected):

The video “The Crisis of Credit Visualised” from the website crisisofcredit.com explains the 2008 world-wide financial crisis and how it affected the economy and population. There are two groups of people that were brought together by the credit crisis, the homeowners and the investors. Homeowners apply for mortgages given indirectly by the investors. The investors are large institutions such as, sovereign, pension and mutual funds. To get more money they used to buy treasury bills from the US Federal Reserve. As a result of economic crises and terrorist attacks, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates to keep the economy working. The following cheap credit facilitated borrowing money which made rendering treasury bills unattractive and resulted in banks wanting further money. 

Banks started to connect investors to homeowners through mortgages. Due to investors urging for more money, they began taking risks by giving mortgages to homeowners that were less likely to pay them off, called subprime mortgages. Subsequently, several homeowners defaulted on their mortgages. The bankers’ monthly payments turned into houses. Ever more houses were on the market creating more supply than demand.  This resulted in houses losing their value and even homeowners who were considered prime mortgages left as they weren’t willing to pay more money than necessary. The brokers could not sell their houses anymore as everyone was bankrupt. In the end the financial system froze.

2nd summary:

1. version:

Great Profits During The War:

The article discusses the question whether innovators should profit from warfare or act from pure patriotism instead.
Before World War One, which is also called the Great War, Britain had no military-industrial complex to facilitate warfare. Scientists would risk their lives because of sole patriotism. Not only patriotism was a reason for industrial activity in wartime, also financial rewards that were awarded after the war ended in November 1918. When Britain entered the war on the 4^th of August 1914, the Marconi Company offered wireless operators and training. They helped to facilitate the armed services’ use of wireless communications without demanding payment. Telecommunications had been very important during the war. The Fullerphone, invented in 1916, was of great importance as well. Despite this, the inventor was less rewarded for it than he had hoped but later was able to reach the rank of a major-general. As Marconi played a major role in supporting the British government, they also wanted a large refund for their industrial contributions. This caused a post-war dispute between the British government and the company. Although the exact amount of the refund is not officially known, the company was able to become a telecommunications giant now called “Cable and Wireless”.
So did those innovators just want to take advantage out of warfare, or did they really donate their all to the cause?

2. version (corrected):

The article in “The Guardian” from the 28^th of October 2013 by Elizabeth Burton and Graeme Gooday discusses the question whether innovators should profit from warfare or act from pure patriotism instead.

Before World War One, Britain had no military-industrial complex to facilitate warfare. Scientists would risk their lives for sole patriotism. Patriotism was not the only reason for industrial activity, but also financial rewards that were awarded after the end of the war. When Britain entered the war in 1914, the Marconi Company offered wireless operators and training. They helped to facilitate the armed services’ use of wireless communications without demanding payment. Due to the fact that France and Britain were scientifically ahead of Britain, it established the Department of Industrial Research in 1915. Telecommunications had been very important during the war as it helped to intercept the enemy’s communication. The Fullerphone for example, invented in 1916, was of great importance. Despite this, the inventor was less rewarded for it than he had hoped but later was able to reach the rank of a major-general. As Marconi played a major role in supporting the British government, they also wanted a large refund for their industrial contributions. This caused a post-war dispute between the British government and the company. Although the exact amount of the refund is not officially known, the company was able to become a telecommunications giant now called “Cable and Wireless”.
So did those innovators just want to take advantage out of warfare, or did they really donate their all to the cause?

What I need to work on:

In my first version of the 1st summary I used too many informal words. In order to improve my summary writing skills I need to work on my register. 

To improve my  first summary, I had to take another look at the video itself as my first text included some wrong information based on a misunderstanding of the video. 

What's more, in the first as well as in the second summary I forgot to mention the source of the text as well as the title and the author.

It will be necessary for me to read more newspapers as they contain articles that will help to improve my academic vocabulary and register. 

How are YOU going to improve your treasury of words?! vocabulary #1

Hey guys!
I know it’s been awhile since my last post but I am back with a hopefully helpful  topic. 

As year two is well underway, it's high time to intensify on efforts to boost our vocabulary. I’ve realized already that this year will require a more concentrated effort and it is absolutely necessary to keep on improving our treasury of words. Well, I have given some thought to the various strategies I use to boost my vocabulary and would like to share some of them with you.

I usually always have a vocabulary book with me where I can write down all the words and phrases I am unfamiliar with which come up in an English class or in one of the articles I read during the day.  I started using this method last year when studying Spanish. It was unquestionably necessary to write down every Spanish word I heard as my vocabulary was as tiny as a grain of rice. Haha! 

So write down all the unfamiliar words that may come across you during the day and read through them again before you go to bed. This helps memorizing it better. 

What I find helps me remember new words or phrases is creating funny or even ridiculous sentences containing those phrases or words. This way you will never forget them again and studying vocabs may even become an entertaining exercise. At least it might.
Some people find it more helpful to construct example sentences that are true or relevant to your life as this creates a personal connection to the new word. Your choice!

I bet every one of you is listening to at least one English song per day, right? Well, you might have realized (like I did!) that memorizing lyrics is so much easier than memorizing stuff you need to know for uni/school. Annoying! But why not combine music (which is fun!) with studying (which is not so much fun)? All the more when you study foreign languages. So why don’t just look up the lyrics of your favorite song and see if there is any vocabulary you are unfamiliar with (and there are for sure a couple of words as it is sometimes hard to understand the sinders). If so, write it down! Then, As I  listen to this song many times (as I like it), the words I looked up usually get etched onto my brain. Try it out!

Another trick I have is writing vocabulary on post-its and putting them in plain view everywhere around my flat. This forces me to look at them nearly every day and it doesn`t take long until I have memorized whatever is on them forever. 

As every language learner should know by now, there are plenty of books and tools on the internet to boost your vocabulary. One book we are using at university is the David Porter book for Academic English. After doing a few exercises i could tell it is going to be helpful! Many of the words in this book were new to me so I had to look them up in an online dictionary before doing the exercises. Each unit has five exercises. The ones I find most challenging are the b-exercises where you habe to decide which one of the two words given is more suitable. The words given have very similar meanings that's why you need to know the exact definition of each one. The very last exercise (the f-exercise) of each unit is difficult too as you need to know certain collocations. The only thing I would criticize is that they do not provide a German translation of the words. I personally always need German translation in order to completely understand a word. 



I would also advise you to sign up at the website vocabulary.com. There you can find plenty of vocab lists created by teachers and other users, plus you can create your own lists which is very helpful too. Additionally, there are quizzes for every vocabulary list which will help you to really get to know a certain word.



I am not totally convinced yet by the corpora websites. Many of them are just very confusing and difficult to navigate through. What's more, the long example sentences provided (i.e. at just-the-word.com) are sometimes very difficult to understand and often the website does not even provide full sentences.


One website I use very often, however, is thesaurus.com. I love this one and can really recommend it as it shows you plenty of synonyms for every word. This definately helps to broaden your treasury of words! Of course I would recommend using monolingual dictionaries such as Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (OALD) which provides fantastic explanations of each and every word as well as useful example sentences. 

Anyway, extending your vocabulary will always be a strenous process. It's time-consuming and a lof of hard work but with the right techniques you will soon see progress! :)

Have fun trying out the very different methods of boosting your treasury of words!

(This is already the corrected version!)

Culture Days

Now that the Culture Days are over, I am going to blog about ten I went to. I have to say that there have beena number of culture topics I really wanted to listen to but due to exams as well as other classes I only got to see 14. Among them, there were three Irish topics and 11 American. Seeing some presentations on Monday just made me even more nervous than I already was of giving my own presentation. Everyone did a very good job!  

The first one I had seen on Monday morning was from Julia “Irish Intelligence at its peak”. As this was the very first presentation I went to, I didn’t have any expectations. I think she did a very good job and she has a very good pronunciation. I have to admit that when I read the title, I couldn’t really imagine what this topic will be about. As far as I can remember it was about Michael Collins and the War of Independence. As we had to fill in a feedback sheet as well as a handout, it made it hard for me to concentrate on her topic and to fully understand it. So during the next presentation I filled them in afterwards. 

The next presentation I went to was an American one. Sophie gave a presentation about great American entrepreneurs. As with the topic before, I couldn’t really imagine what she will be talking about. The title didn’t say a lot and I hadn’t it expected to be that interesting. Her pronunciation was really good and she I liked it that she was interacting with the audience. It was a very current topic as it was about the men that invented Google, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram for example. 

After Sophie it was Klervie’s turn. She talked about the TV show Homeland. I have heard about this show before but I have never watched it. It sounded really interesting and I think it gives a very good insight in America’s security system. I really liked her prezi but she should work on her pronunciation as it was hard to understand her with her French accent. 

The last presentation I went to on Monday was from Vid. He talked about the role of religion in the US education system. Although I am not that interested in religion, I know that in some parts of America religion plays an important role. I have to admit that I haven’t understood a lot of Vid’s presentation. It was very difficult to get the words he said because he talked very fast. He seemed nervous – which I couldn’t really understand because I know that his English is very good! 

The rest of the presentations I went to were held on Tuesday. I had seen three presentations before I had to give my own. 

The first one on Tuesday was from Cordula and it was about the Cuban Missile Crisis. I have only heard of this topic before because I mentioned it in my own presentation as JFK was president in 1962. She seemed very confident and well-informed about her topic. 

 

The next presenter was Tanja. She talked about the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. She has a very good pronunciation and seemed confident as well. (and I got more and more nervous!!!)

The next presentation was from a very good friend of mine, Beatrice. I have been listening to her topic the day before about 3 times as we were practicing a lot. In my opinion, she had a very interesting topic with a lot of new information. For example, I haven’t heard of a city called Palo Alto before. I know there is a movie called Palo Alto, but I didn’t know that this is a city in California. And Palo Alto is considered the most livable city in America. Although I know that se was very nervous, she seemed confident and spoke very fluently.

Then it was my turn. As I have mentioned in a blog post before, I talked about the Kennedy brothers, in particular, about Robert and Edward Kennedy. 

The next presentation was about some great African Americans and their speeches. The presenter was Sarah. Her pronunciation was impressive. She used easy and therefore, it was easy to understand her. I was interested in her topic, because I did some research myself on Martin Luther King as I showed a part of a speech during my presentation where Bobby Kennedy was announcing the death of MLK. 

This was a real culture presentation-marathon I had on Tuesday. The next one was from another very good friend of mine, Annina. As with Beatrice’s topic, I have heard it a couple of times before. In my opinion this is a very important topic and there were some information which really surprised me. I cannot understand why sex-education is not provided in every state?! As there is no cure for AIDS so far, it is essential that everybody is informed about it! 

The last American culture presentation I went to was from Sabrina. She talked about the origin of the Chinese American Culture. It was quite interesting although it Sabrina seemed as if she herself was not that interested in her topic. In my opinion, she should have shown more enthusiasm because that would the audience as well make more interested in her topic. Other than that, she did a good job.

All in all there were a number of interesting presentations which gave a great insight in American as well as Irish culture. 
  

Topics for the KGP:

HIV and discrimination: I chose this topic because I think that this is a very current topic and it is important to know about it!

Livability in America: Very interesting to know what contributes to the quality of life. Moreover, I am really into geography.

Flappers - the roaring '20s: Although I haven’t been able to watch this presentation, I have read through Julia’s topic in class. As I am a woman, I think that is a great topic to study.

Guantanamo: Nearly everybody had heard of the name Guantanamo but only a few people do know what’s happening there. I haven’t watched the presentation but as I was very interested in this topic I’ve read through it and some information was just shocking!

Great American Entrepreneurs: This would be a totally differtent topic to the others. It is about technology.What's more, it is a very current topic because all these inventions affected our lives.

finally... AMERICA!!!

Hey guys!

I just want to remind you that university is nearly finished and  that summer holidays are coming closer. :))) Well, I guess everybody needs to keep on studying though to keep track of their languages… Plus, of course, WORKING! My summer job starts on the 7^th of July.  I wanted to work as much as possible as I’d like to spend the last month of our holidays (September) traveling. 

And finally one of my dreams is coming true, because I will be in AMERICA from the 5^th of September until the 24^th :))) Can’t wait!! 

This last year I was learning so many things about the US without even being there once! I had to listen to other students talking about their adventures in America. Some of them had spent a couple of months there or even a whole year working as an au pair for example. The decision of going to America was very spontaneous. At first, I wanted to visit a friend of mine who will be in Africa for about three months to do some voluntary work. But the more I thought of going to Africa, the more I realized that there are other destinations and countries that are further up on my bucket list. It wasn’t an easy decision, as this friend, who is going to Africa, usually is the one I am always traveling with… my travelbuddy. But then I realized that it’s about me and what I want to do and I definitely want to see America first. It was not hard to find someone who also wants to visit the USA (because, seriously, AMERICA!?!). I end up going with a friend from Germany, who I have met during my travels in Australia. There are numerous cities I’d like to see in America, but for me, the most important ones are Miami and New York!! As my friend (her name is Melanie by the way) has never been to the US either, we easily agreed on our destinations. Not only will we see Miami and New York, but also the Bahamas!!! It’s gonna be an amazing trip! 

GET COLORED!

Hey there! 

Today I want to tell you something about the popular HOLI FESTIVAL. As it took place last Saturday on the 14^th of June here in Graz. It was the first time I’ve been there and it was great fun! I have actually heard about this festival when I was in Australia last year. Some people were talking that there will be a holi festival somewhere in down under - but unfortunately it didn't happen. As soon as I had seen the pictures of this spectacular event, I knew that I have to go there :D it just looked like so much fun! And it was! 

For those of you who do not know what this whole festival is about (I myself didn’t have a clue when I heard of it the first time), let me tell you the story behind it :) 

Because it actually is a very important Hindu religious festival in INDIA. The spring festival is also known as the festival of colors or the festival of love. Instead of Holi it may also have different names in different parts of India, for example Phagwah.
Usually it is celebrated at full moon, but the date varies every year. Most of the time, it takes place in March or sometimes even in February and lasts for two to ten days. The festival has different meanings, it may for example signify the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter and for many it is just a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive.  

The second day has a very specific meaning. On this day, the caste-system is no longer valid. For this reason, all people are wearing white clothes (showing that all people are equal) and color each other with dry colored powder and colored water. They may even start water-fights using water guns and colored water-filled balloons. Anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or poor, man or woman, children and elders.

Outside of India, the Holi festival is just another reason to party. There are musicians and DJs to entertain the audience ..and, of course, alcohol. So far, the festival is celebrated in Austria, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom and even in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Moreover, it takes place in Tunisia, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, New Zealand and in the United Arab Emirates.

I really enjoyed this festival because it was something different that I haven’t known before. Throwing around with various colors and don’t have to think about how you look (as everyone is colored and it doesn’t matter how your hair looks or your make up) was just awesome! I have been there with many friends of mine and we had a great day. I would definitely go there again :) (although it was a little bit expensive)

Check out the video!