How many words do you need to know to speak a foreign language? There is no magic number. Whether you can hold a reasonably fluent conversation depends, on the one hand, on the vocabulary you have learnt and, on the other, on your individual ability to use and understand the words in the appropriate context. In an everyday conversation, it will probably be of little use to you if you learn a thousand words about plants.
It is important to learn a wide range of vocabulary that is used most frequently in everyday life. While the vocabulary in the phrasebook may be enough to get you through your holiday, you need a minimum of 10,000 words for a more in-depth conversation. In general, you can say that you "speak" a language when you know 25,000 to 30,000 words, depending on the language.

Learn a language through interesting material

You don't need to go to great lengths to search specifically for frequently used words. As they are "frequently used", they occur often enough in normal learning texts. You should therefore also look for learning material that you enjoy. If the content interests and appeals to you, it is much easier to learn than a dry factual text.
The more you engage with interesting reading and listening material in the language, the easier it will be for you to pick up the vocabulary used. And the more vocabulary you acquire, the easier it will be for you to build on it.

Learning by practising

If you have acquired a simple basic knowledge, you don't need to sit down and study with endless lists of vocabulary. Read through the material and try to understand the content from the context. You can look up words that you don't understand. But the best way to learn is to read through an easy story, for example, and learn as much as you can from the context.
Gradually you will internalise the recurring words in their various grammatical forms and be able to tackle more difficult material.
To speak a foreign language, take the opportunity to speak to a native speaker as soon as you have a basic understanding. Ask the person to speak slowly and clearly and to repeat or paraphrase words if necessary. Strict study is not the best way to learn a language, but practical application.

Speaking activates the vocabulary learnt from interesting content

There is no easy alternative when learning a language, it always involves work. But as long as learning is fun because you choose interesting material, you will make progress. Once you have learnt a minimum amount of vocabulary, you will have the opportunity to speak to other people in this new language, and the more you speak and practise, the more the passively learnt vocabulary will be activated in your memory.
With a basic vocabulary of only a few hundred words, it is unfortunately not yet possible to have an interesting conversation with someone in this language, because you do not understand what this person is saying and it is difficult for this person to adapt their language level to yours. However, passively learnt vocabulary is stored in your memory, even if you have never used it before, and it will come in handy at the right moment in the conversation.

How many words do you need to know to speak a foreign language?

First of all, you need to learn a sufficient vocabulary, and unfortunately this is only possible through persistent, passive input. But your efforts will be rewarded, because all these passively learnt words are stored in your head and are activated through conversation. Don't be discouraged if words and expressions that you have used in conversation before suddenly slip your mind the next time. This is completely normal and even happens with frequently used words. Keep your motivation and believe in yourself.

The most important temporal adverbs in the English language

Foreign language with accent

A good website translation determines how well customers find their way around the homepage in the respective languages. Every company lives on communication. Communication is the most important thing in every organisation and in every company all over the world. Communication exists not only between the company and its customers, but to a large extent through business relationships between different companies.

Communication in different languages brings with it a great responsibility. It is not only about product information, but also about internationally used documentation, which is becoming increasingly important due to global cooperation. That is why the demand for professional translation services has increased extremely in recent years.

For certain industry sectors, good translation and translation management makes a particularly big difference. These are primarily companies involved in tourism, marketing, healthcare and law, whose customers need to be able to rely on an accurate translation.

What are the advantages of a good translation service

Every company, even small and medium-sized ones, can benefit from offering at least one additional language. Unfortunately, however, not enough emphasis is usually placed on communication in other languages and strategies are lacking. Many small businesses may also not know where to start.
Here are the main reasons why a business can benefit from website translation:

More web presence through search engine optimisation

The Internet is growing by several million pages every day. In order for search engines to offer visitors the most relevant web content possible, they need to "understand" all these websites. Search engine optimisation (SEO) ensures that your content can be better interpreted. If someone wants to reach their readership, they must ensure that the content can also be found by search engines.
Obviously, you can reach many times more readers by translating your web content into different languages. Automatic software translation is usually not good enough, because it is not just words that need to be understood, but the actual meaning of the message.

The trust of customers and visitors is increased

Even if the website visitor has found his way to a particular company in a language other than his mother tongue, he usually feels more comfortable when he can read his own language. In this way, the reader feels more connected to the company and thus gains trust.
Typical translation tools cause more confusion due to incorrect translations and can do more harm than good.

Greater global reach through good website translation

Accessibility and reachability are becoming increasingly important as web content grows. Localised content not only increases your readership and therefore the reach of your business, but also ensures that readers understand the content in the best possible way. Whilst English is one of the most widely used languages on the internet, you also need to consider the large number of readers who do not speak English as their first language.
Languages other than English that are increasingly used on the Internet include Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, French and Russian. Although these languages are far from representing every target audience, website translation into these important languages greatly expands the potential readership. In addition to web content, expanding readership through translation also includes materials such as brochures, magazines, restaurant menus, email newsletters and more.

Translation for private projects

Not only companies benefit from translations, it can also pay off for private projects. Anyone who has built up a considerable readership through their blog can potentially double it by having the content translated into another language. Suddenly they not only reach their fellow countrymen, but also people in other countries who are looking for content in that language. The more readers the blogger reaches in total, the higher his blog can rise in the page ranking.

Language country codes for Facebook Connect and other websites

How can I translate websites?

Why do you need to learn Esperanto? This is a question many people have when they hear about Esperanto. Find out more about the personal, linguistic and social benefits of learning Esperanto and whether it makes sense for you to learn Esperanto.

What is Esperanto?

Esperanto is an artificially constructed language that was created by Ludwig Zamenhof in 1887, is easy to learn and has a very regular structure. Zamenhof lived in a culturally diverse city and had the dream of uniting people through a common world language alongside their mother tongue.
The language itself is designed to be easy and quick to learn, so that it can act as a bridge between people with different mother tongues. Most people think that one month of intensive learning of Esperanto is enough to have everyday conversations and make new friends.
Although Zamenhof was not able to achieve this goal, as this artificial language was not able to establish itself as a general world language, the language at least fulfils a similar function today, as the Esperantist society is very open to foreign cultures and other languages. But Esperanto can also be very useful for learning other languages.

Why you should learn Esperanto

Learning Esperanto is fun and because it is a simply constructed language spoken by people of different linguistic backgrounds around the world, it is relatively easy to learn. Just as learning Latin is a help when studying other languages, Esperanto also provides a good basis, with the difference that the language is still in use.
Making it easier to learn other languages is one of the main advantages of Esperanto today. First and foremost, the learner's self-confidence is boosted immensely when they learn to speak a completely new language fluently in a short space of time. When you learn a language in no time at all and can use it to speak quickly, you overcome the inner inhibitions that try to convince you that this is too difficult. It removes the mental block that some people can feel when learning languages.
Similar to Latin, Esperanto provides basic grammatical knowledge that is very helpful when learning other languages.
Esperanto introduces a minimum grammar that changes words when they appear in the accusative case. If you have no experience with languages that have such word changes, you will learn the principle in a simple and logical way and without irregularities. However, it is interesting to note that despite this, some people who learn Esperanto still find the accusative ending difficult, even though they speak far more complex languages.

A small addition to this point is that learning a language, however simple it may be, is also character building. You develop intellectually and create consistent habits for yourself that also have an influence on other situations in life.
However, many people who have learnt Esperanto find that the grammatical advantage is quite limited. Grammatical understanding alone does not seem to be enough reason to learn Esperanto.

Case study: Learning Esperanto dramatically improved results for French students

The value of learning Esperanto for learning other languages has been proven by several studies. One well-known example saw students with one year of Esperanto followed by three years of French. The results were then compared with a control group who had four years of French instead of Esperanto.

Conclusion: In summary, it was found that among the less intelligent students, those who had learnt one year of Esperanto achieved better results after three years of French, without devoting additional learning time to this language during their three years of study.

Disadvantage: Esperanto is not useful in everyday life

If you already speak two languages, Esperanto won't cost you much time. In contrast to a national language, however, this does not open a big door, but rather many small doors. In every country you will find a handful of Esperantists who would be happy to meet other Esperanto enthusiasts. It's a kind of hobby. Finding them is another matter: you will hardly meet anyone by chance on the street, but almost exclusively through the Internet in targeted groups that share the same interest.
Esperanto is for people who see themselves as citizens of the world and want to get to know other like-minded people. At the moment, the language is just as "useful" as Latin for everyday communication.

Esperanto language course

How many words do you need to know to speak a foreign language?

How important is good translation

Reaching a global audience

High-quality language translation closes a communication gap and helps companies to reach a global audience, as the customer can better identify with the company in their own language. It doesn't matter whether it's a traditional company or an online business. Customers often need their own language to build trust. Translation services combined with the growing online population offer a lucrative market that was not possible 20 to 30 years ago. This is the reason why people have discovered the importance of high-quality translation in the age of globalisation.

The role of translation in our society

The growth of multinational companies

Translations are extremely important for organisations that operate in multiple countries and frequently need to share and receive information from different global offices. In such cases, the shared information needs to be translated into a locally preferred language so that everyone involved understands the content and no details are lost.

Cultural exchange

Music, literature, films and various other art forms cross global borders because they are effectively translated to reflect local languages and feelings. Translated and subtitled films are now generating more revenue than ever before for the global film industry. And it's not just the film industry that has benefited from translation, as translated music and literature allows artists to earn more royalties and international fame and recognition as an added bonus.

Foreign affairs of a country

Today, international diplomacy is the most important aspect of a country's foreign affairs. Be it a global summit or a new economic agreement, diplomats and world leaders always present their ideas and thoughts in a language they feel comfortable with. It is very important that these ideas are translated in an expressive, non-committal and precise manner to avoid problems between diplomatic relations.

Accurate transmission of messages

If not translated properly, world news is nothing more than gibberish when received by news agencies. Whether it's news from local authorities, regional centres or even countries with strict news censorship, translation is an effective tool without which the news would be ineffective and unreliable.

Boost in tourism

Translation can effectively help solve one of the biggest tourism dilemmas. At the same time, translated tourism materials not only help tourists feel welcome in an unfamiliar country, but also promote the country's popularity as a tourist-friendly destination, resulting in significant tourism revenue.

The need for outsourcing translations

As mentioned above, an inaccurate translation can affect a company's intended image and potentially have a negative impact on operations, especially in a new country. When establishing a foothold in a foreign country or expanding a business globally, it is important to create an identity for the company and work with a translation partner.
For many companies, the biggest question is how to outsource translation services. Outsourcing not only offers a cheaper and more effective alternative to traditional translation services, but also provides access to the expertise and technical resources that translation requires.

How important is good website translation for a company

Translation Studies: Interpreting and Translating

How to motivate and work with home-based workers: Managing home-based workers, i.e. employees who work from home, often requires extra work, but is definitely worth it in the end for the employer.
Contrary to the trend towards "collaboration" in open-plan offices, market research shows that employees are happier and more productive overall when they work mainly from home.

However, working from home does not work automatically. If employers and managers want their companies and teams to succeed, they must learn to motivate and engage remote workers.

How to motivate and work with home workers

Challenge for the leaders

Unlike employees who travel to and from work every day, employees who work from home are less influenced by the behaviour of their colleagues. They may not be inspired by good role models, but they also do not adopt bad habits from colleagues.
The lack of pressure to conform means that managers need to take more responsibility for ensuring that homeworkers are connected to organisational goals and expectations. This is especially true for organisations where successful behaviour is normalised.

Regular meetings

If possible, home workers should come to the office at least once a week to keep the inner connection. Only about one third of all employees who work full-time directly in the company feel defined by belonging and responsibility through the company. But the same is true for home workers who only ever work from home.
The sense of belonging is highest among employees who come to work one or two days a week and work from home the rest of the week. They stay connected but retain their independence.

Regular checks

If the home worker lives too far away to come to work occasionally, schedule frequent work meetings, provide coaching and give the worker a sense of priorities and how things work or change within the organisation.
As a manager, it is important to remember that home workers do not know what they do not know and therefore cannot judge when to connect.
95 per cent of communication between managers and home workers can be done by email and mobile phone. Video conferences are usually not necessary. It is only important to stay in touch regularly.

Clear instructions

As there are no visual cues to assess emotions in written correspondence, employees working from home can easily worry about a reaction from the manager. Often a written comment, for example through text message or email, is interpreted differently than it is meant because the visual context is missing. Such misunderstandings can distract from the work.
The easiest way to avoid this is to create an atmosphere of openness and quick response. When homeworkers know they will get feedback when something is wrong, they are less likely to have problems that don't exist.

Punctual and reliable payment

Many companies put freelancers, who usually work from home, at the bottom of the payroll. Not being paid on time means that home-based workers are not really part of the team and their contribution is not valued enough.
If a company has financial problems, the burden should be shared among all, not just affecting the homeworkers. If there are no financial problems, there should be no excuse for not paying homeworkers on time.

How my father ruined my career

15 jobs from home

Encourage a growth mindset

A growth mindset is when you realise that you have room for more, no matter where you are in your career.

Inculcating the philosophies of a growth mindset allows them to reach for new training programmes and open up new opportunities for your home office staff - both personally and professionally.

This is particularly motivating for a home-based workforce as it focuses on their performance goals as well as their personal development and reinforces the company culture.

Email marketing is more than just sending emails to potential customers. In the daily flood of emails, you want your email to stand out and capture the customer's interest. The most important thing is to get the customer to open the email. After that, it's a matter of engaging and convincing them. How to make email marketing successful?

What should you avoid

Too formal a form of address

It often works better if the marketing email starts with the first name of the prospect, followed by a comma. Refrain from using honorific titles, but don't get too personal either. Never use "Dear/Dear...".

Inappropriate intimacy

Phrases like "I hope you have a great summer" not only come across as dishonest when coming from a complete stranger and anonymous person, they also take up unnecessary space that is needed for the teaser (see below, "the first 20 words").

No abstract expressions

Statements like "save money and time" or "increase productivity" are too colourless and vague, so they fade into the background. Instead, use a vivid example that the customer can identify with.

What you should look out for in email marketing

Keep the mailer list short

In email marketing, it is not the quantity of email addresses in the list that is decisive, but the quality of the recipients. The more concise and targeted the list, the higher the percentage of potential customers who will buy. Delete the addresses of recipients who never open these emails and make it easy for them to unsubscribe if they are not interested.

It is better to send e-mails outside business hours

Numerous studies have shown that marketing emails are less likely to be answered or acted upon if they are sent at a time of day when prospects are inundated with daily emails. This usually happens during normal working hours.

Write a short, relevant subject line

Studies have also shown that emails are more likely to be opened if the subject line is no more than 3 words long, rather than a complete sentence. Ideally, the teaser (the first 20 words of the email) should complement and reinforce the relevance of the subject line.

The first 20 words must contain all the benefits

In most email readers, the inbox display contains the sender, the time sent, the subject line and the first 20 words (give or take) of the email. Recipients only open an email if they see something interesting in these four elements.

Why is your product unique?

The email must give the impression that it deserves to be read. Find something about the product or company that is uniquely interesting or irresistible to the customer.

Write from the client's point of view

The recipients of the email are primarily interested in themselves, their own career, their own business and their own customers (in that order). They ignore any message that is primarily about you, your business, your product, your enthusiasm or your opinion.

Show the uniqueness of the product

The email must give the impression that the product is worth the prospect's personal attention. Find something about yourself, the product or the company that might be uniquely interesting or compelling to the prospect.

What is Modern Marketing?

Email Marketing for Beginners

Finding a new job is difficult and the path is littered with obstacles. When looking for a new career, the same doubts usually arise. Here are the most frequently asked questions about your job search:

How long should a CV be?

The CV should be long enough to explain concisely and factually why you are the right candidate for the job, without superfluous explanations and paraphrases. With the usual font size and spaces, the CV should be at least one and at most two A4 pages long.

What is the most common CV mistake?

The longer your work experience, the longer the list of jobs on your CV. Add to that personal achievements and references, and the CV mutates into a gobbledygook that is not always understandable. Unfortunately, it's no longer enough to develop a standard CV and use it for every job application. If you really want a job, you should highlight the relevant points of your working life to show why you are particularly suited to the position. Less relevant events and achievements can be summarised to avoid making the CV too long.

Do hobbies belong in the CV?

Leisure activities should only be mentioned if they are in some way relevant to the job advertised. Companies usually look for multi-talented employees, but not necessarily those who have too many other interests.

How important is a cover letter?

In the past, a cover letter was necessary to differentiate you from the other applicants and to highlight why you are suitable for the job, because the same CV was used for each application. Nowadays, however, since the CV is prepared individually for each application, such a cover letter is superfluous.

How does social media affect my job search?

Social media encourages sharing and posting, especially of provocative comments. You can be sure that your social media profile will be checked by your potential employer, so either delete any risky posts or reduce your privacy settings to friends and family before job hunting. Also, please make sure your profile photo is presentable.

Who should I give as a recommendation?

Referrals are good from clients, supervisors and colleagues. If you ask for recommendations, ask for them in an email or in any other written form, because that way no one can back out.

Why don't I get a reply for my applications?

You can expect to receive at least one formal letter in response to your application. However, many employers save themselves the trouble if they get lost in a flood of applications. So don't take it personally.

Do I have to tell my boss that I am looking for a new job?

No, you don't have to. You just have to observe the usual notice period. Basically, you should be as open with your boss as he or she is with you. So if you have always been treated fairly, it would be fair to tell the boss well in advance of your job search.

How can I hide the fact that I am looking for a job from my boss?

When it comes to recommendations, ask your current colleagues, but those who no longer work there. Do not tell anyone at your workplace that you are looking for a new job. Only use personal contact details, not a company email or phone. Make it clear that you are working full time, so are limited with the times you can be interviewed.

Should I go to the interview even though I don't know if I really want the job?

Absolutely! You can always turn it down. You will only know for sure whether you want the job or not after you have had a personal interview. Each additional interview is an important experience for you.

Job dissatisfaction: What you can do about it

Job search done right

Are open-plan offices bad for productivity?: Many companies swear by open-plan offices because it is economically more rational to put all employees in one large room instead of having to offer several offices. However, anyone who has ever worked in an open-plan office knows that they make productive work much more difficult.

To what extent are open-plan offices bad for employee productivity?

Bad for your health

The more people there are in a closed room, the higher the risk of catching a cold. This is particularly true for open-plan offices that use air conditioning systems instead of windows for ventilation.
In addition, employees are not only distracted by the constant noise level, but are also exposed to increased stress. This constant stress often leads to high blood pressure, stomach ulcers and migraines in the long term.
To block out the constant background noise, open-plan office workers tend to listen to music through headphones. but if they listen to music too loudly every day, this can impair their hearing.

Unpleasant working conditions

Body odours accumulate over the course of a working day. The bad breath and sweat of many people in a room combine to form an unpleasant soup that reduces the ability to work.
Open-plan offices are often so badly designed that you can hear every movement of the employees. Workers get up and go to the washroom several times a day, disturbing the concentration of others. Depending on how close the employees are sitting to each other, conversations between them or phone calls can also significantly disrupt their concentration on work.
The fact that every word disturbs the employees prevents many of them from talking to the person sitting next to them in a relaxed manner or having a laugh. This of course significantly reduces the enjoyment of work. Even if work is not really fun, a minimum of personal development is part of making the working day more enjoyable.

Less collaboration

The atmosphere of the open-plan office means that employees have less personal contact with each other. With less personal contact, loyalty among employees also decreases; people help each other out less.
When employees know each other less well, communication no longer works efficiently. The lack of a familiar tone among colleagues delays interaction and makes workers more dissatisfied.

The quality of the work suffers

A lack of concentration and frequent distractions interrupt the flow of work, you lose your train of thought and take longer to finish a task. In order to still meet deadlines, tasks are completed more carelessly.
The increased spread of infectious diseases mentioned above inevitably means that employees are absent more often and the same work has to be shared among fewer colleagues. Of course, this ultimately affects the quality of work and means that open-plan offices are bad for productivity.

Can open-plan offices be productive?

To make open-plan offices truly productive, organisations need to encourage new forms of interaction rather than relying so heavily on faceless digital communication such as email or instant messaging. This is particularly important in larger organisations where not everyone knows each other personally. Just sitting in the same office with someone doesn't develop a strong relationship, either personally or professionally.

What we can do is improve the working environment of open-plan offices through acoustic treatment. Our systems work to reduce office distractions, increase privacy and improve the overall comfort of the office. These factors are all seen as disadvantages of open-plan offices, but our work can offset these to create a much better working environment.

Lack of privacy

Personal space and privacy are seen as key factors that negatively impact communication, collaboration and productivity in open-plan offices. People instinctively enjoy having control over their environment, and open-plan offices limit employees' ability to set up their workspace the way they want it. A lack of privacy can also force employees to withhold their true thoughts and opinions when calling or talking in the office because they don't want to be judged by their colleagues. This contributes significantly to the fact that open-plan offices are bad for productivity.

How to reduce the noise level in an open-plan office

The open-plan office

A renowned multinational company based in the Spanish province of Málaga is urgently looking for work-from-home employees. On offer is a job as a customer service representative for incoming calls and for customer support.
The job is working from your own home office at home, yet employees should be resident in Málaga or the surrounding area.

What qualifications do you need for this job?

Impeccable and fluent written and spoken English are essential. Knowledge of Spanish is not required but would be an advantage. You should have the ability to work independently from home on the telephone and PC.

These are the duties of the Customer Service Representative position

You take incoming user enquiries by phone or email and enter the details into a management system. Response and problem handling or resolution are logged and tracked by you.
You strive for the highest level of customer satisfaction by actively updating customer status and reports.

This is offered to you

You will have a full-time contract for 39 hours per week with regular working hours. The gross annual salary is 16193,36Euros + up to 2.400Euros bonus. You can become part of an international team and still have the convenience of working from home. There are several vacancies, but make up your mind quickly and send us your application today.

You can find more information about the job offer here

Customer Service Representative in Málaga

We hear the term marketing so often these days in relation to many different aspects of business, but the business world is always on a metamorphic march forward through globalisation and online technology, so it is time to ask the question again: What is Modern Marketing?

Marketing covers a wide range of topics and processes. To do justice to the question, one could fill books, but for modern companies it is first important to examine the necessity of marketing and the types of modern marketing methods.

A marketing plan is necessary

As a starting point, all marketing activities carried out within a company should be part of an overall strategy, which in turn should be part of a company-wide business plan.

Remember the old adage: "Failure to plan is planning to fail";

Then there is tactical marketing, which normally applies to short-term activities, and strategic marketing for medium to long-term activities.

It's common for small to medium sized businesses to look at individual tactical marketing activities rather than the overall marketing plan or strategy, for example via local advertising or social media posting, but sometimes it makes sense to take a step back and think further ahead to a coherent and intelligent marketing approach.

With all the technology and platforms available today, as well as extensive analytics and advanced reporting, modern marketing needs to be part of the overall business strategy more than ever before to deliver both tactical and strategic success as a planned, focused and targeted approach.

Modern marketing should increase sales!

Marketing activities are primarily intended to increase a company's sales and profitability, so they should always be at the forefront of an approach to marketing as a business generation process.

Advances in technology and in particular internet and mobile technology have led to a significant shift from older and more conventional outbound marketing processes such as media advertising, mail shots, cold calling etc. to newer inbound marketing activities largely centred on organic content, content distribution, social media marketing and SEO.

Create organic marketing content

Organic content is one of the most cost-effective ways to manage inbound lead generation and marketing itself, as the costs are significantly lower compared to traditional marketing activities. 

Creating interesting and relevant content for online marketing can raise your online profile as a product or service company. Knowing how to optimise content for search engine rankings can give you an edge over the competition and ensure you are at the top of Google searches. This applies to products or services marketed locally and internationally.

Find a professional marketing partner

One of the downsides of modern marketing is that the level of professionalism, reduced regulation and lack of professional training has made finding a quality marketing agency for all types of marketing activities a potential minefield.

Everyone considers themselves a social media expert these days, so it becomes difficult for those who know little about these topics to recognise the level of expertise of the potential marketing services expert. 

A professional marketing and advertising agency adds immense value to the business through graphics, web and creative design, business branding and identity, smart marketing strategies, content and social media marketing, Google maximisation or videos, so it's important to find a partner with the right background knowledge and experience along with a dose of fresh and creative ideas.