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NDN’s Simon Rosenberg discusses President Obama’s approval rating with National Review’s Rich Lowry on FOX News

NDN’s Simon Rosenberg discusses President Obama’s approval rating with National Review’s Rich Lowry on FOX News

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Tags: Approval, discusses, Lowry, National, NDN's, News, Obama's, President, Rating, Reviews, Rich, Rosenberg, Simon

What Second Language Should You Choose? Rating the 14 Most Popular Course Offerings

After hearing all the scare stories about years spent in a language classroom that led nowhere, students are understandably uneasy about language choice. However, a little time spent considering all the factors can make all the difference. There are three main factors to consider: linguistic ease for English speakers, accessibility and personal motivation. This article looks at the fourteen most popular university level course offerings and ranks them according to linguistics and accessibility. The personal motivation, however, you will have to gauge for yourself.

Which is the best language to learn? Which is the easiest?
Two different questions, often uttered in the same breath. But that’s okay, because there will be only one answer. Whichever language you wholeheartedly choose to study will be both the best and the easiest. However, here’s some help choosing.

The choices.
Here is the Modern Language Association’s 2002 list of the most commonly studied languages at university level in the United States. I have not included ancient languages like Latin, Biblical Hebrew, or Sanskrit, special purposes languages like American Sign Language, or U.S. heritage languages, like Hawaiian or Navajo since the choice of those languages follows a different dynamic.:

1. Spanish
2. French
3. German
4. Italian
5. Japanese
6. Chinese
7. Russian
8. Arabic
9. Modern Hebrew
10. Portuguese
11. Korean
12. Vietnamese
13. Hindi/Urdu
14. Swahili

Difficulty, according to Uncle Sam.
First, consider some cold facts. The U.S. State Department groups languages for the diplomatic service according to learning difficulty.:

Category 1. The “easiest” languages for speakers of English, requiring 600 hours of classwork for minimal proficiency: the Latin and Germanic languages. However, German itself requires a bit more time, 750 hours, because of its complex grammar.

Category 2. Medium, requiring 1100 hours of classwork: Slavic languages, Turkic languages, other Indo-Europeans such as Persian and Hindi, and some non-Indo-Europeans such as Georgian, Hebrew and many African languages. Swahili is ranked easier than the rest, at 900 hours.

Category 3. Difficult, requiring 2200 hours of study: Arabic, Japanese, Korean and the Chinese languages.

Will you get a chance to practice this language?
Now, consider another important factor: accessibility. To be a successful learner you need the chance to hear, read and speak the language in a natural environment. Language learning takes an enormous amount of concentration and repetition, which cannot be done entirely in the classroom. Will you have access to the language where you live, work and travel?

The 14 most popular courses according to a combination of linguistic ease and accessibility.

1. Spanish. Category One (600 hours). The straightforward grammar is familiar and regular. It is also ubiquitous in the Americas, the only foreign language with a major presence in the insular linguistic environment of the U.S. Chances to speak and hear it abound. It is the overwhelming favorite, accounting for more than fifty percent of language study enrollment in the MLA study.

2. French. Category One (600 hours). Grammatically complex but not difficult to learn because so many of it’s words have entered English. For this vocabulary affinity, it is easy to attain an advanced level, especially in reading. It is a world language, and a motivated learner will find this language on the internet, in films and music.

3. German. Category One (750 hours). The syntax and grammar rules are complex with noun declensions a major problem. It is the easiest language to begin speaking, with a basic vocabulary akin to English. Abstract, advanced language differs markedly, though, where English opts for Latin terms. It values clear enunciation, so listening comprehension is not difficult.

4. Italian. Category One (600 hours). It has the same simple grammar rules as Spanish, a familiar vocabulary and the clearest enunciation among Latin languages (along with Romanian). Italian skills are easily transferable to French or Spanish. You might need to go to Italy to practice it, but there are worse things that could happen to you. It is also encountered in the world of opera and classical music.

5. Russian. Category Two (1100 hours). This highly inflected language, with declensions, is fairly difficult to learn. The Cyrillic alphabet is not particularly difficult, however, and once you can read the language, the numerous borrowings from French and other western languages are a pleasant surprise. It is increasingly accessible.

6. Arabic. Category Three (2200 hours). Arabic is spoken in dozens of countries, but the many national dialects can be mutually incomprehensible. It has only three vowels, but includes some consonants that don’t exist in English. The alphabet is a formidable obstacle, and good calligraphy is highly valued and difficult to perfect. Vowels are not normally written (except in children’s books) and this can be an obstacle for reading. It is ubiquitous in the Muslim world and opportunities exist to practice it at every level of formality.

7. Portuguese. Category One (600 hours). One of the most widely spoken languages in the world is often overlooked. It has a familiar Latin grammar and vocabulary, though the phonetics may take some getting used to.

8. Swahili. Category Two (900 hours). It includes many borrowings from Arabic, Persian, English and French. It is a Bantu language of Central Africa, but has lost the difficult Bantu “tones”. The sound system is familiar, and it is written using the Latin alphabet. One major grammatical consideration is the division of nouns into sixteen classes, each with a different prefix. However, the classes are not arbitrary, and are predictable.

9. Hindi/Urdu. Category Two (1100 hours). The Hindustani language, an Indo-European language, includes both Hindi and Urdu. It has an enormous number of consonants and vowels, making distinctions between phonemes that an English speaker will have difficulty hearing. Words often have clipped endings, further complicating comprehension. Hindi uses many Sanskrit loans and Urdu uses many Persian/Arabic loans, meaning that a large vocabulary must be mastered. Hindi uses the phonetically precise Devanagari script, created specifically for the language. Predictably, Urdu’s use of a borrowed Persian/Arabic script leads to some approximation in the writing system.

10. Modern Hebrew. Category Two (1100 hours). Revived as a living language during the nineteenth century, it has taken on characteristics of many languages of the Jewish diaspora. The resultant language has become regularized in grammar and syntax, and the vocabulary has absorbed many loan words, especially from Yiddish, English and Arabic. The alphabet has both print and script forms, with five vowels, not normally marked. Vowel marking, or pointing, is quite complex when it does occur. Sounds can be difficult to reproduce in their subtleties and a certain amount of liaison makes listening comprehension problematic. It is not very accessible outside of a religious or Israeli context.

11. Japanese. Category Three (2200 hours). Difficult to learn, as the vocabulary is unfamiliar, and the requirements of the sound system so strict that even the many words that have been borrowed from English, French and German will seem unrecognizable. With three different writing systems, it is forbiddingly difficult to read and write. Also, social constraints may impede useful interaction.

12. Chinese. Category Three (2200 hours). Whether your choice is Mandarin or Cantonese (the MLA survey does not make a distinction, oddly enough). It is the most difficult language on this list. It includes all of the most difficult aspects: unfamiliar phonemes, a large number of tones, an extremely complex writing system, and an equally unfamiliar vocabulary. Personal motivation is absolutely essential to keep the student on track. On the positive side, it is easy to find, since Chinese communities exist throughout the world, and Chinese language media, such as newspapers, films and TV, are present in all these communities.

13. Vietnamese. Category Three (2200 hours). This language belongs to an unfamiliar family of languages, but it does borrow much vocabulary from Chinese (helpful if you already speak Chinese!). It has six tones, and a grammar with an unfamiliar logic. It’s not all bleak, however, Vietnamese uses a Latin derived alphabet. The chances of speaking this language are not high, though there are 3 million speakers in the USA.

14. Korean. Category Three (2200 hours). Korean uses an alphabet of 24 symbols, which accurately represent 14 consonants and 10 vowels. However, the language also includes 2000 commonly used Chinese characters for literary writing and formal documents. Speech levels and honorifics complicate the learning of vocabulary, and there is liaison between words, making them hard to distinguish. The grammar is not overly complicated and there are no tones. It borrows many Chinese words, but the language is unrelated to other languages of Asia.

The most important factor of all: personal motivation.
The third, most important factor is up to you. The easiest language to learn is the one that you are most motivated to learn, the one you enjoy speaking, the one with the culture that inspires you and the history that touches you spiritually. It is useless to try to learn a language if you are not interested in the people who speak it, since learning a language involves participating in its behaviors and identifying with its people.

So, consider all three factors: motivation, accessibility and linguistic ease, in that order, and come up with the final list yourself. The bad news is that no language is really easy to learn, but the good news is that we humans are hard wired for a great amount of linguistic flexibility, as long as we know how to turn on the learning process. If the rewards and benefits of the language are clear to you, you will be able to get those rusty language synapses sparking in your head and start the words rolling. Bonne chance!

Tags: Choose, Course, Language, Most, Offerings, Popular, Rating, Second, Should

Obama’s Approval Rating Drops Below 50% on Key Issues Such As Healthcare

Public support for Barack Obama is slipping on the major issues likely to define his presidency, particularly healthcare reform with approval dropping below 50% for the first time.

According to a Washington Post poll published today, voter confidence in Obama on other key issues, such as the economy, unemployment and the huge budget deficit, is also slipping.

The president’s overall rating remains strong with 59% of those polled generally approving of his leadership. Nonetheless that is six points down on a month ago.

The growing political fight over healthcare reform appears to be taking its toll on Obama’s ratings as support for him on the issue fell to 49% from 57% in April. Opposition to his proposals rose sharply, from 29% to 44%, as accusations that the president’s plan for comprehensive access to health insurance amounts to socialism that will lead to the government choosing people’s doctors, more taxes and increase the national deficit have had an impact. However, health reform is still strongly backed among Democrats and those earning less than $50,000 a year.

There has also been a major shift since Obama took office in January against the government attempting to spend its way out of recession. At the beginning of the year, a little more than half of voters supported federal spending to revive the economy. That has fallen sharply, to 40%, while a significant majority now believes it is more important to avoid increasing the budget deficit.

The increased spending has also undermined Obama’s attempts to portray himself as a new type of Democratic president. Four months ago, two out of three Americans saw him as careful with the public’s money and a break from the old-style tax and spend Democrats. Now, the numbers are much closer with only 52% having such confidence.

Tags: Approval, Below, Drops, Healthcare, Issues, Obama's, Rating, Such

Poor Credit Rating Bank Account: Helps To Makes Your Poor Credit A History

You may have experience rejection fro the bank account over the past few days, weeks or months. Nobody likes rejection but individual’s bad credit history becomes the reason fro rejection. In such situation, you may be happy to know that now you can have the account without any restriction through poor credit rating bank account. This account not only helps you to manage your finances but also assist you in taking the loan amount for your personal purposes.

Bad credit history, bad credit rating, foreclosure, arrears, debt, bad credit score or even bankruptcy is no a problem with this account. Most of the high street banks and banking service provider offer this account with no credit check and guaranteed acceptance. This account is open for every citizen of United Kingdom.

With this account bank provide the personal money manger that helps you to manage your funds and regain your financial position in the market. He/she assist you in fulfilling your financial commitments so you can rebuild your credibility and make your bad credit a history.

Poor credit rating bank account provides all the basic banking services to the account holder. This account works like a normal account and provide you all the basic facilities and services. With this account banks provide you the debit card and cheque book so you can withdraw cash and make payments at time. It also allows you to transfer you income directly into the bank.

Through this bank account you can make almost all sorts of transactions such as pay in cash or via cheque and even standing orders to pay your bills. With this account you can enjoy services like online, telephonic and SMS banking facilities. Overdraft facility is also provided and that without charging any unauthorized fees.

One can also apply for this bank account from the convenience of their home by filling one simple application at service provider’s website. On net you will find numerous service providers’s that assist you in opening poor credit rating bank account with maximum facilities and services.

Tags: Account, Bank, Credit, Helps, History, Makes, Poor, Rating

New Approach For Rating Home Biz Opportunities..;;!

Type “home biz opportunity” into Google’s search engine and you will get about 10 Million entries. Also, there were 409,212 searches using the search term “home-based business.” This new approach to rating “home biz opportunities” is based on 11 objective major criteria and 7 minor criteria. There are no web sites that only rate home biz opps, only those that review some opps only to point you to their specific opportunity.

Each major attribute can earn 7 points, and each of the 7 minor attributes can earn 3 points each. Ratings will be: Excellent, Good, Average, Poor, and Scam. Excellent requires a score of 90 or above, Good requires a score of 70 or above, Average requires a score of 50 or above, Poor requires a score of 30 or above, and Scams get no score at all. The score totals mentioned above are for all 11 major attributes and the 7 minor attributes. The perfect home business opportunity would score a 98 using these criteria. However, there are no perfect home business opportunities, no matter what the promotion brochures say for a specific opportunity.

Some of the many questions or considerations involved in rating a home business are-

How big is this market?
What is the industry trend?
Is the industry expanding?
What is the nature of the product or service?
Is the product consumable?
How is the product delivered to the customer?
Is there a proven business system?
Is there a good support system?
Is the company well respected?
Will you be ahead of or behind the trends?
Are you early or late in the product and industry cycle?
Do the products provide value for the cost to the end user?
Does the company have any exclusivity or patents?
Regarding the competition, who are you marketing against?
Are there good profit margins?
What is the payment or commission scheme?
What are the sales methods involved?
Is the company “On the Net” and are they E-Commerce enabled?
What level of administration is required?
Is training available from your up line?
How great is the potential to make money in this business?
Do you know someone with experience in this business?
Do you have to do all the work or can you earn overrides?
What is your gut feeling?
Will the company train you?
How soon will my investment come back to me as profit?
Can I work this business at my own pace?
How long has the company been in business?

As you can see from just the limited set of questions above, there are a lot of things to consider before you decide to invest your time and/or money in any home business opportunity.

THE NEW OBJECTIVE APPROACH

This system used to rate home biz opps is based on 11 primary considerations and 7 minor considerations. They are-

Primary
1. Product or service
2. Product price and market competition
3. Company
4. Proven business system
5. Available support system
6. Available training and resources
7. Compensation system
8. Profitability
9. Costs involved – both startup and recurring costs
10.Will I have full control over my business
11.Can I work this business at my own pace

Minor
1. How is the product delivered to the customer
2. Does the product/service have an automated delivery capability
3. Is the company “On the Net” and E-Commerce enabled
4. Are you supplied with business tools to make your live easier
5. What level of administration is required
6. Consider whether you will be ahead of or behind the trends
7. How great is the potential to make money in this business

Using these objective factors will save those looking for home biz opps a lot of time and many dollars that would otherwise be wasted.

Tags: Approach, Home, Opportunities, Rating

Credit Rating Improved In 30 Days

Did you know you can improve your credit rating in 30 days? Most people don’t know what to do to get their rating up quickly. There are some tricks you can do to your personal credit report to increase your credit score with ease. In this article I am going to discuss how you can do this within 30 days. Keep in mind while you are doing this process I am about to discuss make sure you are not charging up your credit cards, and make sure you are not late on any of your obligations that report to all 3 credit bureaus.

Paying down credit card debt
Since amount owed on debt that reports to credit bureaus accounts for 30% of your overall credit score, this is what we will attack first. This is the quickest way to increase your credit rating if you are about to make a purchase and need that credit score higher. If you have some money in savings, take that money and pay down any credit cards that are above 30% of your allowed credit limit. If you can pay them off, your credit rating will sky rocket. Let’s assume you can’t pay them off, make sure you pay down the credit cards that have the highest balance owed.

Increase your credit card limits
This is a little trick that I have done for myself. I have increased credit limits at times when I did not have the money to pay down my debt at the time. The trick is to get your credit card balances below the 30% allowed credit limit threshold. Typically when you do this you will see about a 20 to 30 point increase in your overall credit rating. I know it sounds crazy to increase your credit limit on credit cards to get your score up, but it will do the job.

Get a letter to delete collections from creditor
If you have not done a credit check lately go ahead and do so. Once you have got a copy of your credit report with all 3 credit scores, look at it and determine if you have anything that has gone to collection. Always start with the most recent collections and small balances owed first. Typically medical and apartment collections are the easiest to get removed from a credit report. The reason is the collection companies usually are more willing to give you a letter once paid or settled to remove any record from TranUnion, Equifax and Experian. Once you have paid in full or settled on debt, make sure the collection company gets you a letter to delete. After you receive this letter you send a copy of the letter to all three credit bureaus to remove any record of the collection. This process will increase your credit rating around 10 to 15 points, depending on how many collections you get a letter for.

Once you have gone through this entire process make you do a credit check to see where you stand after 60 days. The results will surprise you because you will have an increase in your overall credit rating.

Tags: Credit, Days, Improved, Rating

Unsecured Loans Bad Credit-bad Credit Rating Is Not A Problem

You are having bad credit ratings due to certain past defaults like missed payments, deferred payments, arrears and so on. You are seeking an immediate financial help as your expenses are still unpaid and you are empty handed. Here you can find the swift and exactly suitable loan option for you in the name of unsecured loans bad credit. As its name says, this loan is free from any collateral. Thus, you do not have to anxious about arranging a physical asset at all. Whenever you fall in instant financial and suffering from bad credit, this loan is for you.

With unsecured loans bad credit, any of the borrower can avail financial help with bad credit record such as CCJ, IVA, late payments, foreclosures, bankruptcy, insolvency and so on. Plus, now you do not need to fear of repossession of your property as this is collateral free loan for you. Moreover, there will not be any kind of hassle and inconvenience for you. It takes away all the hassle of long and messy collateral assessment process.

Here, lenders allow you to avail the loan amount ranges from £1000 to £25000 with the flexible repayment period of 14 to 31 days. There can be innumerable expenses that one can fulfill such as:

-Pay off previous debts
-Go for exotic tour
-Higher education funding
-Purchase a car
-Meet your luxurious desires
-Start a new venture etc.

To get the approval of unsecured loans very bad credit, you need to meet the following terms. The borrower should be a permanent citizen of UK and should be an adult with the age of eighteen years or more. He should be holding a valid and active checking account not more than 3 months old and be in regular employment.

Get all the loan proceedings done with the ease of online method. Search the affordable deal by making thorough online research. Compare interest rates and quotes of various online lenders. All these steps will help you to find the best loan deals.

Tags: Credit, Creditbad, Loans, problem, Rating, Unsecured