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Languages - English
Modern English is sometimes described as the global lingua franca. English is the dominant international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment and diplomacy.
Because a working knowledge of English is required in certain fields, professions, and occupations, English is studied and spoken by up to a billion people around the world, to at least a basic level. English is one of six official languages of the United Nations*.
My knowledge of English
Thanks to old family ties to the USA, I have always been interested in the English language. When I was five years old, my parents took me on a trip to the US, where I was first immersed in an English-speaking environment. When I was eleven years old, I received my first official training in the English language at school. This training lasted for nine years (until 1998), when I passed my Abitur (roughly equivalent to British A-levels) with English and German as my two major subjects. For the whole of 1999, I traveled through India, Nepal and Thailand, where I was once again immersed in an English environment.
In 2000, I enrolled in Translation Studies at the School of Applied Linguistics and Cultural Studies of Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz (FASK Germersheim), where English was my main language. During my university studies, I attended courses, seminars and lectures on British and American literature and history, as well as English pronunciation, writing skills, grammar, phonetics, etc. My focus for the final exams was on Louise Erdrich, Amy Tan, as well as Chinese immigration into the USA.
*Quoted from Wikipedia.