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Many scientists believe that knowledge of another language can boost your brainpower - so what are we waiting for - we should all be learning another language. But that's easier said than done as acquiring this new skill can be hard. 6 Minute English looks at the reasons for learning a new language and hears from an expert who has a tip for making it easier.

This week's question:

Approximately how many languages there are in the world altogether? Are there...

a) 70

b) 700

c) 7,000

Listen to the programme to find out the answer.

Vocabulary

master
learn thoroughly or learn well

fluent
speak well and without difficulty.

frequency
how often something occurs

inflections
changes to the basic form of words to show changes to the way they are used in a sentence

lemma
the simplest form or base form of a word

Transcript
Note: This is not a word for word transcript
Rob
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English- the show that brings you an interesting topic, authentic listening practice and vocabulary to help you improve your language skills. I'm Rob...

Neil
Watashi no namae wa Neil desu. And that means 'my name's Neil'.

Rob
So Neil, here's a question for you - can you speak any languages other than English of course? I think you can!

Neil
Un poco de español that means a little bit of Spanish. Some Japanese, which I tried at the beginning and also a bit of Czech language - Dobrý den, jak se máš?

Rob
Very impressive. So what tips can you give for learning to speak another language?

Neil
Well, practise, practise, practise - and don't be afraid of making mistakes as I no doubt have.

Neil
Muy bien! Well you're not alone. A survey by the British Council found learning a language is a new year's resolution for about one in five Britons in 2018. So learning Spanish is a good start Rob but do you know approximately how many languages there are in the world altogether? Are there...

a) 70
b) 700
c) 7,000

Rob
Well I know there are many but surely not 7,000 so I'm going to say b) 700 - but don't expect me to learn all of them.

Neil
I won't Rob. But I will give you the answer later. So, we all know learning another language is a good thing - it brings us many benefits.

Rob
Yes, we can communicate with people from other countries and when we're travelling we can understand what signs and notices say. So we don't get lost.

Neil
That's right - but many scientists also believe that knowledge of another language can boost your brainpower. A study of monolingual and bilingual speakers suggests speaking two languages can help slow down the brain's decline with age.

Neil
Well this depends on your mother tongue. In general, the closer the second language is to the learner's native tongue and culture in terms of vocabulary, sounds or sentence structure - the easier it will be to learn.

Rob
But whatever the language, there is so much vocabulary to learn - you know, thousands and thousands of words.

Neil
Maybe not Rob. Professor Stuart Webb, a linguist from the University of Western Ontario, may be able to help you. He spoke to BBC Radio 4's More or Less programme and explained that you don't need to do that...

Rob
Right, and frequency here means the number of times something happens - so the important words to learn are the high frequency ones - and how many are there exactly?

Neil
Here's Professor Stuart Webb again...

Professor Stuart Webb, linguist, University of Western Ontario
For example, with English, I would suggest if you learn the 800 most frequent lemmas - which is a word and its inflections - that will account for about 75 per cent of all of the English language. So that learning those 800 words first will provide the foundation for which you may be able to learn the lower frequency words.

Rob
Fascinating stuff. And good to know I just need to learn about 800 words - or what he calls lemmas.

Rob
Thank goodness I am learning just one new language!

Neil
But how many languages could you potentially be learning Rob? Earlier I asked you, approximately how many languages there are in the world altogether? Are there...

a) 70
b) 700
c) 7,000

Rob
And I said 700. Was I right?

Neil
No Rob, you were wrong. There are around 7,000 recognised languages in the world but UNESCO has identified 2,500 languages which it claims are at risk of extinction.

Neil
To master a new skill, in this context, means to learn thoroughly or learn well. "Rob hopes to master Spanish before he starts a new job in Madrid."

Neil
That just leaves me to remind you that you can learn English with us at bbclearningenglish.com. That's it for today's 6 Minute English. We hope you enjoyed it. Bye for now. Na shledanou. Hasta luego. Ja-ne.

Rob
And in English, goodbye.

Neil
Goodbye.

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BBC Learning English - 6 Minute English / How do you learn to speak a language?

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Learning to use common idioms and expressions will make your English sound more native, so it's a good idea to master some of these expressions. The tables below are organized by how common the idioms are in American English. You can start by learning the very common English idioms, since these are the ones you'll encounter regularly watching American movies or TV, or visiting the United States. When you've mastered those, move on to rest. None of the idioms on this page are unusual or old fashioned, so you can be confident using any of them with native English speakers from all English-speaking countries.

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These English idioms are used quite regularly in the United States. You may not hear them every day, but they will be very familiar to any native English speaker. You can be confident using any of them when the context is appropriate.

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These English idioms and proverbs are familiar and easily understood by native English speakers, but they are not usually used in everyday conversation. If you haven't mastered the more frequent idioms yet, they are a better place to start, but if you're already familiar with those expressions, the idioms below will further spice up your English.

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