私の日本語 10ヶ月間前日本語の勉強を始めました。大変難しかったと思いましたが、すっごく楽しくて、面白かったです。先生と友達はたくさん手伝っていただけています。７月に能力試験が合格しました。合格しても、まだ下手なんです。毎日勉強していったら、よく話すと思いましたが、ダメです。文法や言葉などすぐ忘れてしまいました。それから、今月日本へ行くんです！京都に住んで、紅葉を見たいです。そして、日本へ行くとき、日本語を磨きたいです。行くの前に、お土産を買っておきないといけないんですが、日本人にロシアのお土産あげたら、何がいいか教えていただけませんか。

In the 21st century, friends are new family. Are there many extended families living together or at least close to each other? According to recent research people prefer change their location when they have their own families. Many people move from countrysides to towns, as well as they move from small towns to big cities. When you live in New York and your parents live in London it isn't easy to have a family get-together even on Christmas eve. However, all humans are presumed "social animals", so we need society to support us, to share our wins and losses. We all need someone to cheer us up, someone to spend the whole evening doing nothing, or, conversely, doing something really important. Also, we need someone to share common interests. There is a gap between our generation and the generation of our parents. The world around us changes so quickly, that it's becoming hard to keep on for elder people. Can you imagine talking about "Pokemon Go" game with your grandma? Or would you enjoy talking about knitting, gardening or whatever like that with her? Want it or not, we are completely different people, like aliens to each other. Thirty years ago, sixty years ago world wasn't so fast and running, people prefers live near their families to have someone close. In our days we need friends to be "on the same wave", to be understood and supported, and, of course, to understand and support, to share someone's interests too.

IELTS I decided to attempt the IELTS exam this autumn. I'm not sure if I'm ready enough, but I need to know my current level so as I am able to move forward with my language skills. I've been learning English for many years by now, so maybe I have a chance to succeed with the exam. The problem is that I learnt English all by myself mostly, so I have no confidence in my English skills. Who has any experience in IELTS? Was it horribly difficult or just difficult? What did you do to revise for it? Have any advice where to start?

Is it possible? I could never expect this, but I need German. I have no idea where to start because I hardly know any word in it, and it's doesn't look really familiar to any language I learn or know. I have something about three or four months to get the basic knowledge.

Bilingual people A few days ago I bought "Fry's English Delight" #8 to have some pleasure of listening to my favourite show. The topic of the last discussion was dedicated to bilingual people. I'd never known that there are two kinds of such people: so-called "early bilingual" and "late bilingual". Late bilingual are really rare, because most people have few opportunities to use two (or more) languages every day for communication and work. Usually bilingual people have a more flexible mind as they understand from their own experience that there are more than the only way to express thoughts and feelings, that some facts or ideas might be described completely different ways, thought initially they are the same. Once I asked a bilingual girl "What language do you think in your head?".She stared at me and had nothing to say. "I'm thinking the language I'm talking at the moment" she said. Now I can understand her as I had no need to think in Russian before the English talk. That's because I'm that lucky one who has to communicate in two languages every day, sometimes I need English more than I need Russian as I work with our foreign branch offices. I noticed an interesting thing: these days I can easily explain something to my Malaysian colleague while I'm writing something to our Russian developer in Skype (in Russian, of course). I'm not saying that my English is perfect, it's just good enough to use it without "sentence-by-sentence" translation. Occasionally funny things happen, for example, I start talking or write having two languages completely messed up. Usually it happens in the evenings after I have the especially difficult days. So, my next goal is Portugues, even though I hardly use it these days.

Useful Language CV Starting and ending your letter Dear Mr /Mrs /Ms ... Yours sincerely, Dear Sir or Madam, Yours faithfully, I look forward to hearing from you. Introductory sentence I am writing in response to… I am writing to apply for… I would like to apply for… I am interested in the position of… as advertised in… Personal information Currently… enthusiastic / professional / hard-working / energetic / helpful / (highly) motivated / outgoing I am keen on… / I am enthusiastic about… Experience and qualifications I was in charge of… I worked closely with… I am a confident user of… I work well with other people / as part of a team. I am used to… Why you are suitable I believe I would be suitable for this post / position because… Final paragraph I would welcome the opportunity to join your company. I attach a full CV. (email) I enclose a full CV. (letter) I would be grateful if you could send me…