Pronunciation Diary 2 - Intonation

Chosen pronunciation model: British English


In order to improve my intonation I have been listening to the podcasts of the British Council. I liked these podcasts very much, as besides the interesting topics they offered a great opportunity of spoken input too.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/professionals-podcast-english-listening-downloads-archive.htm

My next - supposedly long term - aim is to acquire the musicality and rhythm of the English language. In order to do so, I have started listening to http://www.ted.com/
where I not only find very interesting lectures, speeches and interviews but I can also study the transcript and with the Ben Franklin method I can learn how to use my voice when speaking in English. Apart from this, I have read that exaggerating the stress and the intonation can be very helpful for beginner pronunciation learners, so that they get used to the proper sound of the language, so I decided to give it a try.


As I have been searching for pronunciation exercises, I encountered some really funny tongue twisters provided by the British Council. They are quite a challenge and worth trying!
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/tongue-twisters

Though the best pronunciation challenge is definitely the poem The Chaos by Gerard Nost Trenité. I know this amazing poem from grammar school, where I attended an English drama club. We divided the poem into smaller sections and performed it on a Talent Day. It was great fun practising it and we were so proud of what we learnt of the English pronunciation!

Pronunciation Diary 1 - Sounds

Chosen pronunciation model: British English

My pronunciation problems might stem from the problem that when I started to learn English, acquiring the right sounds and learning the exact position of the tongue and lips when producing them was never really explained to me. 

As time went by, I managed to master the pronunciation of most consonants. However, I still have some serious problems with differentiating vowels, such as:
/æ/ cat, /e/ met; /ə/ away, /ɒ/ rock, /ɔ:/ call

I have been practising them with the help of the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/), though me producing these sounds is still far from perfect.

What I find especially complicated is pronouncing the words beginning with 'e-' or 'ex-'.
For example /ɪɡˈzɑːmpl/, extreme /ɪkˈstriːm/, exfoliate /eksˈfəʊlieɪt/ are all pronounced differently.


Concerning consonants, I had not been sure how to distinguish between 'V' and 'W' but since I watched Ronnie's video about it, it causes no problem any more.

I found Rachel's video concerning the 'TH' sounds also very helpful, as it explained the differences perfectly.

Pecha Kucha Experience

“the Process”

Although I have prepared numerous Power Point and Prezi presentations so far, Pecha Kucha differs considerably from them and requires slightly different skills too. First of all, it was quite a challenge to structure the text of our presentation into 20 units and to condense the content of one subtopic into 20 seconds. It was a great advantage that the scope of our topic was not too small or specific and we could freely decide how to process the great amount of information we gathered. What I really enjoyed was the quest for the perfect pictures, which had to be both of high quality and had to express the main point of that specific 20 seconds. Giving a presentation in pairs also requires more responsibility. However, it has not caused any problems in our case. I was lucky to have Harald as my assigned partner since he is not only creative but also very dutiful. Pecha Kucha is not only about writing a well-constructed text and choosing the right pictures but also about timing. As a result of all these features, Pecha Kucha requires more practicing and more considerate preparation.

“the Product”

I really liked listening to the presentations of others. Almost without exception everyone prepared very well. However, after seeing the presentations, I came up with a short list of Pecha Kucha no-nos. First of all, timing should be really taken into consideration. Continuous speaking which is not in harmony with the pictures can be very disturbing. Secondly, too much information on the slides is quite distracting. Finally, only reading from the paper and not keeping eye contact is not a positive feature either. I hope we are doing more PKs in the future because it was certainly a very interesting experience!

Group Work: Germany

• Each group member’s name:

• Orsolya Csizmár
• Katrin Wiesinger
• Macarena Morilla Dominguez
• Antonio Luis Verde Lopez

• Original text (red: corrections/suggestions from the other group) 

...

Joining the EU was the best move that Germany ever made. Germany is, together with (alongside) Belgium, France, Italy, Luxemburg and the Netherlands a founding member of the European Union. One of the most important individuals for the foundation movement was Konrad Adenauer, the first Chancellor of Germany. He changed the European history more than any other person did by being was responsible for reconciliation with France and signed, together with the French general Charles de Gaulle, a treaty of friendship. This treaty became a milestone for integration in Europe. The reasons for creating the EU were manifold (correct???) but one of the most important aspects (aims/purposes) was to prevent that the disasters of the first half of the 20th century, namely World War I and II, could repeat. (too long)

…

Germany is Europe’s largest economy  ("Germany's economy is the largest economy in Europe and the fifth greatest....") and the fifth largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. It is the only big euro zone country with a nearly balanced budget. An important factor (cause) for this was the creation of a low-wage sector and a flexible labour market. The rate of youth unemployment with 8.1% is low in comparison with other EU countries such as Greece with 55.3%. Germany is competitive in world markets and a leading exporter of vehicles and machinery. Every year about 70 billion euros is spent on research. This is more than any other European country. Although the German economy is very powerful, the country suffers from serious problems such as low fertility rates and a declining net immigration. These facts mentioned above show that Germany is economically the strongest country in Europe.

When the EU was established it was particularly important for Germany to improve its reputation by belonging to (becoming member of) the European Union rather than being defined by its history. Germany´s situation has changed tremendously since then ("Ever since, Germany's Situation has ..."/"Germany's situation has changed tremendously ever since...") as it has become one of the main driving forces behind the EU both in economic and political terms. Although the peripheral countries of the euro zone are facing hard times, Germany - thanks to its economic stability - does not have to suffer ("does not necessarily have to suffer..."/"will not necessarily suffer from") from serious losses. Unlike Brits, the majority (57%) of Germans would vote to stay in the EU in case of a referendum according to a recent poll, whereas only 25% would vote to leave the EU. Another interesting statistic is (shows) that almost two thirds (59%) of Germans consider their country influential in the EU. Concerning the future of the European Union, not only Brits but also Germans are rather pessimistic, as (can be misunderstood) more than a half (54%) of those surveyed Germans claims to see a negative future ahead of the Union.

...

• Feedback summary from other groups

The feedback from the other group (Lisa and Vanessa) consisted of various suggestions. Their comments were really helpful and we realized that most of our mistakes could be connected to the inappropriate use of words due to improper register, false collocations or word repetition. Besides, we also had problems with the logical structure, as some of the sentences were too long, caused misunderstanding or they were not linked correctly. Creating a proper topic sentence and concluding sentence was also problematic sometimes. But apart from mistakes concerning the use of language and structure, our main weakness was supporting the basic statement with all paragraphs. Unfortunately, it did not turn out early enough. We did our best to improve and rewrite the text but it did not work as good as it could have been.

These mistakes can be mostly attributed to our problematic group work. Sadly, not all group members attached the same significance to the work and the miscommunication has also caused problems. It can always be difficult to work in a group with people who all have different opinions but this time it was more than challenging. What we have learned from this group project is  the crucial importance of communication.

• Submitted version of text

Joining the EU was the best move that Germany ever made

The purpose of this paper is to argue that joining the EU is the best move Germany ever made. Germany is, alongside Belgium, France, Italy, Luxemburg and the Netherlands, a founding member of the European Union. Concerning history, after World War II Germany´s aim was to line up the  peaceful  European countries.This dream of solidarity between European nations came true  in 1952. One of the most important individuals for the foundation movement was Konrad Adenauer, the first Chancellor of Germany. He changed the European history more than any other person did by being responsible for reconciliation with France. He and the French general Charles de Gaulle signed a treaty of friendship in 1963. This treaty became a milestone for integration in Europe.  In 1992 the Maastricht Treaty, which led to the euro, enabled the already powerful Germany  to extend its power and leadership over a politically united Europe.

The current political situation of Germany is undoubtedly determined by Angela Merkel. The first German Chancellor, born after the Second World War, is the most powerful woman in the world and matters more to the future of the European Union than most other politicians do. She is different from any other leading German politicians and unlike any previous leaders of Germany. Due to her political influence and attitude she has not only supporters but also some outspoken critics. Sometimes she is even called the “New Iron Chancellor” because of her determination to impose fiscal discipline on countries with weaker economies as a result of the financial crisis. The euro zone crisis has been the most dramatic challenge for post war Europe and started when Greece revealed an enormous public deficit. Angela Merkel acted accordingly to her quote “if the euro fails, then Europe fails”. She decided to bail the Greek economy out though she made sure that they accepted strict fiscal conditions. Because of this decision she became Europe’s de facto leader. Angela Merkel  is a powerful political leader  of both Germany and the European Union who does not compromise on the future of Europe.

In terms of economy Germany is nowadays one of the leading industrial powers in Europe and the world's second largest exporter.  By being such an influential country it is Germany's economy that has diminished the euro zone´s recession and thanks to its  wealth Germany contributes to stabilizing the euro. Germany has profited greatly from the euro. With the adoption of a much weaker currency than the deutschmark  a huge rise to German exports was provided. In Germany the level of private debt is relatively low. As a result of higher inflation, some countries such as the UK, Italy, Spain and Portugal, have been obliged to borrow money. However, Germans are uncomfortable with the concept of taking out loans and prefer to live within their own resources. A strong employment protection legislation and trust on behalf of the workforce meant that the Social Democratic government was able to use its close ties with labour unions to push for moderation in wage inflation. While  the number of unemployed across Europe and the US  increased dramatically during the global recession, the unemployment rate in Germany remained relatively low. A fundamental labour market reform was set in 2003 due to the excesses of post-unification wage increases.  These facts mentioned above show that Germany is economically one of the strongest countries in Europe.

When the EU was established it was particularly important for Germany to improve its reputation by becoming a prominent member of the European Union rather than being defined by its history. Ever since, Germany´s situation has changed tremendously as it has become one of the main driving forces behind the EU, both in economic and political terms. Although the peripheral countries of the euro zone are facing hard times, Germany - thanks to its economic stability - will not necessarily suffer from serious losses. However, public opinion does not seem to appreciate this fact unanimously. According to a recent public opinion poll, in case of a referendum the majority (57%) of Germans would vote to stay in the EU, whereas only 25% would vote to leave the EU. Another interesting statistic is that less than two thirds (59%) of Germans consider their country influential in the EU. Concerning the future of the European Union, Germans are rather pessimistic: more than a half (54%) of those surveyed Germans see a negative future ahead of the Union. These facts show that the results of the public opinion polls and Germany’s achievements are not necessarily in accord.

In spite of this progress Germany has made over the past decades, public opinion on Germany’s situation in the European Union is not unanimous. The purpose of the essay was to demonstrate the fact that Germany has benefited tremendously from participating in the foundation of the European Union. Since the beginning of the past century, Europe’s most powerful nation has achieved outstanding success at economy.   Although the residents are not not always in favour of the European Union, Germans know that they by remaining in the European Union they will be able to proceed with prospering their economy. German economic model seems to work because of  Germany's faith in social market economy and in its historical but useful fear of borrowed money. Because of its strong leaders, Germany  is often regarded as “teacher of Europe”. The best strategy for Germany is undoubtedly to stay in the European Union.

[904 words]

• Corrected version of Essay
• New group members:
• Katrin Wiesinger
• Orsolya Csizmár

To be added due Thursday 14:00, as agreed in class.

 

Joining the EU was the best move that Germany ever made

Germany benefits greatly from its membership of the European Union for various reasons. This country has been the driving force behind the EU for more than 60 years and contributed to the foundation of the EU in order to pool the coal and steel resources and to prevent future conflicts on the continent. The Union has played an important role in the consolidation in Europe after World War I and II. Creating the European Union did not only help European integration, but also has had positive effects directly on its member states, especially on Germany. Joining the EU was the best move that Germany ever made, apart from the traditional EU benefits Germany received, it also developed economically, especially due to the introduction of the euro as a common currency of the EU.

The most tangible benefits Germany obtained by joining the European Union are the four freedoms. This expression comprises the free movement of people, goods, services and capital across the Union’s internal borders. Thanks to these benefits all German nationals, as well as all other EU citizens, have the right to reside, work, study and retire in each of the 28 EU member states. Besides, it has also become easier and cheaper to do business with other member countries. Finally, one of the greatest advantages for EU member states, and especially for Germany, is the fact that EU treaties eliminate obstacles in the intra-Union trade and thus imports and exports are not restricted. Consequently, national markets became one single market. As a result, EU citizens have access to a wider choice of products and to goods with lower prices due to higher competition between the states.

Although these general advantages of being an EU member state are not negligible, Germany’s greatest benefit of joining the European Union is undoubtedly the fact that it has managed to sustain its rapid economic growth. After Germany recovered from World War II it has become Europe’s largest and most important economy. Besides, it is also the continent’s most industrialised nation, being a major player in industries such as automobile manufacturing. Since Germany’s economy is strongly export based, it has profited greatly from the Schengen Treaty. Thanks to this treaty the European Union became a single territory without internal frontiers in terms of trade, since the agreement stipulates the free movement of both people and products between the member states. As a result of this integration the intra-European trade has intensified and, according to the website called Statista, today 57 per cent of Germany’s exports are delivered to EU member states. In the era of European integration it has become essential for Germany to play an active role in the trade of the European Union in order to sustain its successful economy.

German economic growth does not only benefit to a considerable extent from being a member of the European Union, but also from being an integral part of the eurozone. With the adoption of a much weaker currency than the Deutschmark, German export to other eurozone countries started to increase. This phenomenon can be attributed to the removal of the fluctuating exchange rates, which led to a reduction in transaction costs. Another advantage of the euro for Germany is the high price transparency in the eurozone, which fosters the competitiveness of German exports. Consequently, cross-border trade has been flourishing. Although the single currency has had a positive impact on Germany’s economy, the majority of the country’s population thinks that their country would be more successful without the euro. However, a projection model by Prognos AG illustrates that Germany’s GDP would be about 0.5 percentage points lower per year, due to the transaction costs, if the country decided to introduce a separate currency.

Germany is often referred to as Europe’s industrial powerhouse or the continent’s biggest economy. In order to maintain this status, it was necessary for Germany to find suitable markets and to create better living and working conditions for its citizens, since these aspects influence and require each other. Joining the European Union was the only option for Germany to earn more space in economic terms and to ensure the welfare for German citizens. Thanks to the free movement of goods and the removal of internal border control due to the Schengen Treaty, Germany’s economy was able to prosper. Since the adoption of the euro, the country has become more competitive in Europe and has also saved considerable transaction costs. Given all these facts it can be deduced that joining the European Union was the best move Germany ever made.

[797 words]

  

Improving my Vocabulary

My vocabulary notebook

How the entries in my vocabulary notebook usually look like

As I'm a visual learner, for me one of the most important tools for learning – and especially for vocabulary learning – is using colours. I've created a complex system for myself which helps me find certain pieces of information quickly. As the pictures show, I use different colours for the word itself, its word-class, its important grammar features, synonyms and antonyms, pronunciation, explanations and example sentences or collocations. In case of complicated words I even add a German or Hungarian translation. Sometimes I even draw illustrations for the word or expression, so that I can combine more types of visual input.

Illustrations

My strategy

I usually collect the definition and example sentences of a word from different sources. One of my best sources is my Oxford Advanced Learner's Monolingual Dictionary, which has an electronic and an online version too, so it's easily available wherever I am. I often use Vocabulary.com as well, especially in case of the Porter words. I like that all words are gathered in one place with plentiful explanation and numerous examples. I also use Vocabulary.com to test myself.

The most efficient method for me is combining the words with certain pictures – usually with mental ones. I try to associate the word with a scene, with people or with little stories or memories. This way I stimulate more parts of my brain when recalling these memories. It's a very entertaining way of memorising things.

Example

Let me show you an example, but please don't laugh!

Let's take a word from the Porter list I have never heard of before:

cogent = clear and persuasive

Cogent looks like 'agent' and reminds me of the word 'Kojak'. Now let's imagine that the good-looking Lieutenant Kojak steps in front of you, looks at you in a persuasive way and gives you a clear argument for lollipops being healthy.

Now you remember exactly what exactly a cogent argument is: clear and persuasive. Isn't this method fabulous?

Academic Paper Project

The problems I faced when writing the paper

The biggest problem I had when writing my paper is that I was so afraid of how to start the work that – to avoid the problem – I simply didn't start it in time. I'm aware of the fact that it doesn't make any sense putting off all the work but there were so many other exams, papers and exercises that I just postponed this paper, which, now I see, was a big mistake. As soon as I overcame my fear (and of course, the deadline was coming as well), I realised that the whole work is not that difficult if I do everything step by step. My first difficulty was finding a topic which could be connected to the EU, which I find interesting and to which sources could be found. As I managed the first step, I collected plenty of sources to my topic and did a little brainstorming. I was very proud of myself and stopped with the work, which I shouldn't have done. Though, I had great luck in the library that I found all the books just a week before the deadline. What's more, I even found very useful websites and statistics available online, of which I haven't thought earlier. Unfortunately I had relatively little time to spend with the actual writing. It took me more time to collect the relevant information and to order them logically. What I didn't expect is how much time the formatting takes. Now that I've finished writing the longest academic paper in my entire life I have ambivalent feelings about it. On the one hand, I'm relieved that I managed it despite being unable to manage my time properly; on the other hand, I'm sorry I didn't devote more time to it. I found the whole (pre-)writing process very interesting and I hope, next time I can manage my time much better.

EU Language Quiz

Just imagine that Europe contributes with 11% (740 million people) to the world's total population.
(data from 2011, http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/world_population.htm)
In Europe 234 living languages exist which is a really huge number.
http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/languages.htm
I'm just fascinated by the diversity of languages in Europe and I find it amazing how many languages developed throughout the centuries, sometimes even in geographically small areas.

Dear Frank, thanks for recommending this language quiz, it has just made me even more conscious of how much I'm fascinated by the phenomenon of languages.

How do you sneeze in your mother tongue?

So, after doing (the first half of) the quiz here are my results and the most important things I learned:

Number of questions answered: 30
Number of correct answers: 21 (though some of them only for the second time)
Score: 175
http://ec.europa.eu/languages/quiz/quiz_en.htm

Did you know that...?:

• Mark Twain had troubles with learning German, he had been suffering with trying to master the language for 20 years! He complained that sometimes he would need a telescope in order to find the verb at the end of the sentence. Mark Twain claimed that Friedrich Schiller was able to put the whole history of the Thirty Years' War between two parts of a separable verb.
  (I know exactly what Twain meant... :)
  
  
• The saunas in Finland were not only used for relaxing but also for healing the sick and for giving birth because that was to most hygienic place on a farm. The mothers stayed there for a couple of days with their newborn babies.

• Latvian and Lithuanian are the only Baltic languages and they are among the oldest Indo-European languages. Lithuanian is also called "the dinosaur of languages" because it's so archaic.
  
• The word 'robot' was first used by a Czech playwright in the 20th century.
  (I though it was much older!)
  
• Slovene poetry is pretty romantic! Slovenian has a rare grammatical form referring to exactly two entities, thus making it easier to express love.

What surprised me the most:

• The Wiener Schnitzel actually comes from Milan! It's called cotoletta alla Milanese and the difference is that the Italian version contains the bone. There are different theories how it came to Austria but none of them is sure.

And last but not least, the easiest question (at least for me):

• Hungarian is the only language in Europe which places the family name before the given name. The reason is that the family name is usually a description, such as a personal feature (Kis Anna = Anna Little), original nationality (Német Anna = Anna German) or profession (Kovács Anna = Anna Smith) and these descriptions are always before a noun - or a name, in this case. It was really strange for me here in Austria to get used to the 'general' European way. Apart from Hungary this type of name order is used in some parts of Africa and Asia, for example in China and Japan.

Suggestions to a Summary

Summary of „Europe already has one foot in ,Japanese‘ deflation grave“ (the apostrophe should always be like this: ' or ", but never ,)

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, in The Telegraph of October, 23 ,(the commas are not necessary because these are important information) 2013 analyzes Europe‘s debt crisis. Evans-Pritchard mentions two main problems, namely the risk of deflation and policy errors. The first problem is considered dangerous as debt can become wayward (I think it's only used of a person) and expensive to repay. The only real but unpopular way out is by cutting spendings. (uncountable) This problem face many countries such as France or Greece. (Many countries face this problem...)

The latter problem, videlicet (is it Spanish?) policy errors, means that different countries have different expectations. That makes it problematic to settle on a viable solution such as inflation. The author mentions Germany, which refuses to agree to it, as the Bundesbank worries about the consequences like the rise of estate prices. Therefore Germany threatens to retrogress (or return) to the D-Mark should Europe opt for inflation. However, Germany is soon likely to face deflation too as there has been no inflation since March.

The author proposes a strategy to enforce (the) said solution. Evans-Pritchard claims it would be best if all the Club Med members rallied and stood up to Germany and force its acceptance for this way out. This is how Europe would be able to avoid a major debt crisis like the one Japan had to endure.

[200 words without the title]

Nice logical structure and compact thoughts!

Group work analysis – EU Citizenship

Group work analysis – EU Citizenship

 

Revised version:

Every citizen of an EU member country is automatically an EU citizen. However, being an EU national does not replace national citizenship but can be seen as a supplement to it. There are various ways to obtain EU citizenship, namely acquisition by birth, descent, marriage or naturalisation. The latter necessitates spending at least a certain amount of years in a EU country legally. Being an EU citizen has important advantages. One of them is the right to move and reside freely within the European Union under the protection of the diplomatic and consular authorities of any EU country. Another positive aspect is that EU citizens are enabled to influence European politics either by voting in the European elections or by standing as a candidate.  

Apart from these clearly positive aspects, there are also a few disadvantages of EU citizenship. One of the most significant downsides is overcrowding, which economically stronger states might have to deal with as a result of free migration within the European Union. While authorities of host countries struggle to master this challenge, the local citizens might see immigrants as scapegoats for taking their jobs. As a result, many migrants might have to face  racism and prejudice every day. Being a European citizen has benefits as well as disadvantages but the positive aspects prevail as being part of the EU can grant you rights which are only available by being a member of this union.

[238 words]

EU Individual Paragraph

European Court of Justice

The European Court of Justice is the most significant judiciary body of the European Union. Its primary responsibility is the strict application of the EU laws in all member countries. Furthermore, the task of this Luxembourg-based institution is to settle legal problems not only between the governments but also between the institutions of the European Union. Besides these highly significant bodies, also individuals, companies and organizations can ask for the judicial help of the European Court of Justice. To ensure the fair representation of the entire EU, this body is made up from judges from all member countries. Their tasks are very diverse. First of all, they are responsible for the right comprehension of the EU laws, since some countries might interpret the regulations differently. Secondly, in some cases the EU governments do not intend to apply the laws at all. Finally, certain laws violate the EU treaties or fundamental rights of the people. The European Court of Justice has to interfere in all of these above listed issues, as it embodies the jurisdiction of the whole European Union.

Paragraph brainstorming

- Luxembourg-based institution

- EU laws - same way everywhere

- legal problems: 1) EU governments 2) EU institutions

individuals, companies, organisations <-> EU institutions

- 1 judge/country

- a) interpret EU laws

- b) EU govs not applying

- c) violation of EU treaties

Feedback summary 1 (Topic Sentence, Register):

Firstly, I was given a very positive feedback concerning my topic sentence and concluding sentence. Secondly, in terms of register we thought of changing the word 'besides' to 'apart from', though according to dictionary entries it is not obvious, which one is more formal or appropriate in this case. According to the COCA I decided to leave ´besides´. Last but not least, there was a smart suggestion regarding a too short sentence, which could be nicely linked to the previous sentence.


Revised paragraph 1:

The European Court of Justice is the most significant judiciary body of the European Union. Its primary responsibility is the strict application of the EU laws in all member countries. Furthermore, the task of this Luxembourg-based institution is to settle legal problems not only between the governments but also between the institutions of the European Union. Besides these highly significant bodies, also individuals, companies and organizations can ask for the judicial help of the European Court of Justice. To ensure the fair representation of the entire EU, this body is made up from judges from all member countries, who hold diverse tasks. First of all, they are responsible for the right comprehension of the EU laws, since some countries might interpret the regulations differently. Secondly, in some cases the EU governments do not intend to apply the laws at all. Finally, certain laws violate the EU treaties or fundamental rights of the people. The European Court of Justice has to interfere in all of these above listed issues, as it embodies the jurisdiction of the whole European Union.

What to Write About in an Academic Paper...

...when the topic is the EU

The European Union is a massive topic, which does not make it easy for me to decide, what to write about in 1,500 words. In this blog post I am going to try to crystallize, which topics I would like to be pleased to research and put down in words.

1. Language Policy (between 2005 and 2009)

In my opinion the language policy of the EU would be a brilliant topic to write about. The reason of which is that this is an actual issue, which might influence our life as well in terms of language learning. Moreover, as future translators and interpreters it would be highly recommended to be up-to-date end really well-informed about the planned measures in this field, as it might have an effect on our future jobs. 

2. What are the adoption requirements within the EU?

Despite adoption being a sensitive topic and often a taboo subject, I am convinced that this is an interesting area to research. This broad topic could be narrowed down geographically and in time (such as the Situation of Adoption between Hungary and Austria in the 1990s). As not many people know exactly, how an adoption works in practice and what are the requirements, I would be interested in writing about it. This could be a perfect example of how the EU affects people's life.

3. Financial support for the EU members

One of the biggest advantages of the EU for the economically less developed countries is that they are financially supported by the more developed countries. As I come from Hungary, I can clearly see the results of these loans but what we do not know is what happens, when we have to pay back this help. A thought-provoking title could be something like this: How much money did the EU invest in Hungary in the last 10 years? Such a title could be followed by a writing, which explains, how this support within the EU works.

4. Brussels Declaration on Sign Languages in the EU (2010)

I am convinced that many of my fellow students are interested in writing about the situation of translators or interpreters in the European Union. That is the reason, why I decided to choose a quite small part of this field, which is hopefully not that widespread: the sign languages. I would gladly write about the history of sign languages in the EU, and how they became officially acknowledged (e.g. in conferences).

5. Requirements for becoming a member state (in terms of a specific country)

Croatia has just joined the European Union, but not many people know, what a country has to achieve in order to receive the EU membership. It is a current issue, which could be very well presented. An interesting question would be examining, what the inhabitants of a country think and how much they are aware of the procedure what happens.

Although I came up with a couple of ideas, I think the best way would be to start a real research into all of the chosen topics and only that would tell me, which is the most interesting and suitable one for me personally. It is quite a hard decision to determine, with what I want to spend the next couple of months writing about.

I am looking forward to hearing your feedback!