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A frantic agenda often makes it troublesome to get around to reading all the books you would like to. Long journey times to the office and day-to-day chores could eat up enormous portions of day without you recognizing it. Making a living, taking care of children or even housework can all cut back the free time available for your hobbies. If you are a keen book enthusiast who finds it hard to fit it in, your commute may be a chance to enjoy listening to an audio book. With user friendly downloads, it’s easy to relish Arrogance by Bernard Goldberg by Download Audio Book Online, or audio books told beautifully by David R. Portney without even flipping a page.

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Making the most of your day has become a way of life these days. Audio books such as Pimsleur Ingles - English for Portuguese Speakers I Part 1 by Dr. Paul Pimsleur by Download Audio Book Online occupy the squandered time in life, it may be time spent waiting at the dentist’s surgery or grocery shopping. A tremendous selection of audio-books may be downloaded right now in mp3 format including Murder Unprompted by Simon Brett, and if you have an iPod or another mp3 player you have the chance to listen to a best seller or a great novel, such as audio-books written by Oliver Green without hauling a heavy book with you. The benefits of audiobooks include the opportunity to rent or purchase many titles and peruse them at your leisure. Want to study a new language? Why not give audiobooks a try? It’s easy to review modern business trends, you may even explore the paranormal.

A huge choice of literary genres and titles are available. Whether you love natural history, or if you are nuts about politics or even interested in personal development, it’s simple to download many titles immediately. Numerous programs are open; you can easily take a subscription to a program and rent or else buy what interests you. Passionate readers can always find a time to enjoy a book, however audiobooks offer a wonderful alternative. A narrator can enhance the experience of most novels. Reading a title is not quite the same experience as listening to an audio title recounted by Jerry Stearns & Brian Price, including subtleties given during a rendidtion. Listening to audio-books performed by Clayborne Carson and Peter Holloran can supply more depth to your enjoyment of reading and go much deeper the written words.

So remember audiobooks when you next consider purchasing books, audio-books can be wonderful means of fitting all the studying you would like to do into your hectic routine.

A frantic agenda makes it challenging to fit in all the books you might like to enjoy reading. Extended journey times to work and other activities might take up sizable portions of your day everyday. A job, caring for children or housework all reduce the time available to persue your hobbies. It’s easy to simply utilize the hours you spend commuting to catch up on novels you don’t have time to read. Using user friendly downloads, you can enjoy Rich Dad’s Advisors: The ABC’s Of Getting Out Of Debt by Garrett Sutton available from Download Audio Book Online, or audio books brought to life by Erik Bjork when you are busy doing other things. In the modern hectic environmant multitasking is essential. Audio-books such as Final Truth by Mariah Stewart by Download Audio Book Online occupy the dead minutes in life, it may be time passed waiting in a doctor’s office or grocery shopping. Many audible books are immediately available for download in mp3 format these include Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell, so if you’ve got an iPod or other mp3 player and earphones and take the opportunity to discover a best seller or a great novel, for instance audible books written by David R. Portney without dragging cumbersome books with you.

The many benefits of audible books include the opportunity to rent or buy many titles and peruse them at your own pace. Need to learn a different language? Try an audiobook! Maybe new commercial strategies interest you, you can even find out about religious or spiritual trends.

A massive selection of genres and titles are obtainable. It really doesn’t matter if you like travel writing, nuts over politics or even interested in personal development, most are available through online downloads. Choices are wide open; you can subscribe to a rental plan or instead make a purchase.

Reading enthusiasts will always seek out a way to read, even so audiobooks offer a great alternative for active individuals. Numerous stories, such as audiobooks recounted by Andy Guides, can be more enjoyable when recounted by the writer or an actor. Just reading a novel isn’t the same as savoring an audio book recounted by Karen Marie Moning, including refinements established during a performance. The depth of your experience can be increased by listening to audiobooks such as Storming Las Vegas by John Huddy and go far beyond the words on a page. The next time whenever you are considering buying a volume you will probably not find time to read, be sure to think about audio books as a different alternative.

Sir Winston Churchill once observed that Americans and the British are ‘a common people divided by a common language’ …

Never was that as true as when describing the Cockneys.

You’ve certainly heard their accent, made famous in everything from movies based on Dickens and George Bernard Shaw novels to computer-generated gekkos telling real gekkos how to go forth and sell car insurance. The Australian accent has its roots in Cockney culture, as they comprised a large percentage of prisoners who were shipped there by the British when they viewed the Land Down Under as an ideal penal colony. Cockneys are the crafty characters from east London who admire those among their lot who can make a living simply by ‘ducking and diving, mate,’ which is their version of wheeling and dealing on a working-class level.

To be a ‘true’ Cockney, one must be born ‘within the sounds of the Bow bells.’ That’s a reference to the St Mary-le-Bow Church in the Cheapside district of London ‘proper.’ Their sound carries to a distance of approximately three miles, which defines the Cockney digs better than any zoning ordinance could do.

The term ‘Cockney’ first appeared in the 1600s, but its actual origins are vague. Its first known reference was related to the Bow bells themselves in a period satire that gave no reason for the association.

Some believe that ‘Cockney’ came from the second wave of Vikings, known as the Normans. These were descendants of the Northmen (’Norman’ was the French word for ‘Viking’) who settled in that part of northern France that came to be known as Normandy when King Charles the Simple ceded it to the Vikings in exchange for ceasing their annual summer sackings of Paris. William the Conqueror was a Norman, and when he took England in 1066, a considerable amount of French influence permeated the Anglican language.

Normans often referred to London as the Land of Sugar Cake, or ‘Pais de Cocaigne,’ which was an allusion to what they saw as ‘the good life’ that could be had by living there. Ultimately, this gave rise to a term for being spoiled, ‘cockering,’ and from there, Cockney was a short derivative away.

Cockneys are famous for dropping the ‘H’ from the start of words and infamous in the mind of every grammar teacher for their coining the word ‘ain’t’ to replace the formal contraction for ‘is not.’ However, their most unique feature is their distinctive and catchy rhyming slang.

Legend has it that, during the course of their ‘ducking and diving,’ they would occasionally run afoul of the law. It was not uncommon for groups of Cockneys to be transported together to and from custody and courtroom, obviously in the company of policemen. So that they could speak openly to each other and deny the officers any ability to understand what they were saying, Cockneys devised a word/phrase association system that only the truly-indoctinated could follow. This became known as their rhyming slang.

It’s simple, really. For example:

Dog-and-bone = telephone
Apples-and-pears = stairs
Troubles-and-strife = wife

So, if a Cockney wanted you to go upstairs to tell his wife that there’s a phone call for her, he’d ask you to ‘take the apples and tell the trouble she’s wanted on the dog.’

As a general observation, their technique is that the second word of a rhyming phrase is the link between the ‘translated’ word and the first word in the rhyming phrase, which becomes the word used when speaking. Sometimes, though, to emphasize the word, the entire phrase might be used. Thus, if you are absolutely exhausted and want to make a point of it, you would exclaim, ‘I’m cream crackered!’ This is because ‘knackered’ is an English term for being tired; cream crackers, incidenally, go well with tea.

There are even dictionaries for Cockney rhyming slang, from pocket versions tailored for tourists to online listings. Two good sites for the latter are London Slang and Cockney Rhyming Slang. As with most slang, its vibrance is cause for constant expansion and/or modification of terms, so the Cockney rhymes are always a work in progress.

One note of caution: nothing sounds worse than a visitor attempting to over-Cockney their speech. If you’re thinking of touring an East End market or pub and want to pay your respects by using the local vernacular, be prepared with a few simple terms and deploy them with a smile only when the occasion permits. Otherwise, not being sure if you’re ‘taking the Mickey’ out of them or just ignorant, the Cockneys will most likely view you as a ‘right Charley Ronce’ and turn away.

Given that ‘ponce’ is common English slang for a fool — which had its origins in describing a ‘fancy man,’ now known as a ‘pimp’ in modern times — you may first need a ‘British’ translator to tell you what word the Cockney was using. By that time, you’ll no doubt agree that Churchill wasn’t ‘alf Pete Tong (ie- wrong).

In fact, he didn’t even need to refer to another country in order to be right.

J Square Humboldt is the featured columnist at Longer Life’s website, which provides information designed to improve the quality of living. He’s at longerlifegroup.com/cyberiter.html

Are you guilty of any of these erroneous practices in ELT or language teaching? Any one of them can easily derail the students’ efforts in language acquisition and learning or cause them grave problems. So, review these areas, make any needed adjustments to your teaching practice. Don’t you be a stumbling block to your learners’ progress.

1. Don’t adapt materials to the learning style and characteristics of the students.

Unfortunately, the learning style most reflected in the classroom is that of the teacher. It is paramount that concepts and material be presented in a way most suitable for the learners. Jack C. Richards, principal author of the widely popular Interchange textbook series said, “Student learning styles may be an important factor in the success of teaching and may not necessarily reflect those that teachers recommend.” Why? Because teachers use their own preferences in the class room, not necessarily those of the students. Do an analysis of your class group’s learning characteristics, then apply the results to your teaching.

2. Follow the course book

A course book is usually not intended to be a “bible”, but all too often teachers follow it “religiously”. They do nothing else, nor include outside materials in their teaching. If you read the teacher’s notes that typically accompany an English or language text, you’ll most likely note that the course book is intended to be a guide for teaching with supplementary materials widely used to expand, deepen or reinforce presented materials and themes. Use the course book sequence as a guide. Freely supplement its exercises and course materials with your own creations or at the very least with materials adapted from other sources. As mentioned in point number one, plan your lessons and materials to meet the needs, learning styles and characteristics of your learners.

3. Don’t encourage and promote language practice outside the class room

With an alarming number of schools and institutes decreasing student to teacher classroom contact hours per week it is essential for learners to receive additional practice and input. There are requirements of as little as four hours per week or even less in many publicly or government-funded educational centers. Can a student really learn a language in only 45 hours? Or put it this way, is it reasonable to expect mastery of any sort in a language after six or seven days in a foreign country where that language is spoken? Spread that contact intensity over a six-month period; does that make language learning and acquisition better or worse? Now, throw in the learners using their first language half of each day of language learning and you have a situation degraded to a nearly impossible state.

Finally, factor in class and semester breaks of several weeks per year and it’s certainly no wonder Jorge, Chen Shen or Efrosini can’t hold even a basic conversation after studying English (or another foreign language) under these conditions for two, three or even more years. Encouragement and promotion of foreign language practice outside the class room is absolutely vital to the success of the learners.

So again, don’t you be a stumbling block to your learners’ progress. If you are guilty of any of these erroneous practices in ELT or language teaching, make any needed adjustments to your teaching practice ASAP. Then watch your learners grow, improve and practice their new language like never before. Please feel free to contact me with your questions, comments or requests.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an expert author and photographer offering Web Content Writing Services for top-quality articles on: Education, Language learning, Salt and Fresh water fishing, exotic foods, South American travel and culture, Ethnic issues – Blacks, Latinos, Indian native tribes, Health, Internet business resources and more … His work has appeared in Transitions Abroad, South American Explorer, Escape From America, Mexico News, Brazil magazine and hundreds of sites online. For fr*e*e sample articles and available web content e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

As a native English speaker hearing non-natives (especially Asians) trying to speak the English language I sometimes can’t help but chuckle, or cry, over the way they slaughter the words. As I presently reside in Japan and understand the Japanese writing system I have come to understand, in one word, why they tear apart the English language… Katakana!

Katakana is one of the four Japanese writing systems. The other systems being Kanji (the characters ((not cartoon)) you see on tattoos), Hiragana, and Romaji (the Roman alphabet). The early Japanese written language came from China. This system is called Kanji. Through the development of the Japanese language it became necessary to implement Hiragana which is used for words of Japanese origin and Katakana to help in the pronunciation of Kanji.

Still further into the evolution of the Japanese written language, Katakana started being used to help Japanese people pronounce borrowed words from other languages. At this time, the language which has the most borrowed words transcribed into Japanese is English. It is important to note that the Japanese language does not contain the sounds “L”, “R”, “V”, “Si” (as in “See”), “Hu” (as in “Hoop”), “Th” (as in “Thank”), and “Zi” (as in Zebra). There are a few other phonetic sounds that are not originally contained in the Japanese language, but through the further development of the Katakana writing system the Japanese people are able to pronounce the foreign sounds almost like a native speaker.

Another point worth noting is that the Japanese system phonetically combines two of our English sounds per character with the exception of the “N” sound. As an example of this let’s take my name “Scott” and assault it with the Katakana system. “Su Ko Tto” is the basic end result of my name in Japanese. You can see the extra “U” and “O” have been added because of the two sounds per character from the Katakana writing system. Actually if I am to say my name as it should be pronounced the Japanese perceive it as the word “Skirt”. Yes, many young children have had their fun with my name in this respect.

You may think that the Romaji system would save the Japanese from needlessly abusing the English language but it does not. Though Japanese children are taught the Roman alphabet at a fairly young age, their school teachers almost always teach them the alphabet’s pronunciation utilizing Katakana because 1: it is easier to teach the children that way and 2: the Japanese teachers are not able to make the correct distinction and pronunciation themselves.

As children grow up without knowing the correct phonetic pronunciation of the English words they gradually lose the ability to hear and differentiate between them. Soon enough words like “Rice” and “Lice”, “Sip” and “Ship”, “Than” and “Dan”, become the same to the Japanese ear. Though the famous tongue twister may be difficult for us, hearing a Japanese person saying “She shells she shells by the she shore” over and over again (and thinking they are saying it properly) is quite humorous.

What should we do about this? Put an end to English words being transcribed by the Katakana writing system. Have well qualified and preferably native English speakers teach Japanese children the actual sounds of the Roman alphabet. If we work together we may just be able to put a stop to the Japanese abuse of the English language.

Scott Brady works for a translation company in Fukuoka, Japan. He works under http://www.translators.jp and manage http://www.samurai-translators.com

Spanish is undoubtedly the growth language in the world at the moment; it is now spoken by an estimated 352 million people as a first language (with a further 417 million speaking it as a second language) making it the second or third most widely spoken language in the world. Hispanic nations are also showing strong economic growth so the potential for work opportunities in Spanish speaking countries for those learning Spanish, is increasing everyday. Spanish is now arguably the second most influential language in the world behind English and in all is spoken in 21 countries around the world. South America, with the exception from Brazil, is entirely Spanish speaking, as well as areas of Africa, the Caribbean and an ever growing Hispanic community in the USA. Which such a huge and diverse Spanish speaking world community, it’s without a doubt one of the most useful languages to learn – a Spanish language course could open up many opportunities in terms of work and travel throughout the Spanish speaking world.

Spanish language schools in Spain and South America offer students more than just the opportunity to study Spanish in the classroom. The concept of cultural immersion encourages students to extend their learning to outside the classroom. Students get the chance to interact with locals in everyday situations whether it’s simply ordering some food or attempting a full-blown conversation on the day’s issues. This is also a great help in giving students a solid cultural grounding, many language schools in Spain offer extra-curricular activities and excursions to assist with this process. The whole experience of a foreign country adds to the excitement, not only do you get the chance to learn Spanish but you also get the chance to discover beautiful cities (like Barcelona, Madrid or Seville), sample the joys of Spanish cuisine first hand and experience the warmth and good nature of the Spanish people.

Language schools such as Babylon-Idiomas (http://www.babylon-idiomas.com/eng/htm/learn-spanish-spain.htm) offer learning centres in four major Spanish cities (Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Valencia) as well as in Costa Rica and Argentina as well – all very diverse and extremely different environments in which to learn a language and all with their own cultural nuances and wonderful sights to offer; from the eco-tourism and amazing wildlife of Costa Rica, to the majestic architecture of Gaudi’s “Sagrada Familia” in Barcelona.

It is important to remember, however, that spoken Spanish is not identical in the different regions of the Spanish state. In fact, its pronunciation and lexical characteristics can vary to a very significant extent from one place to another. However, the maintenance of a unified, standard, version of the Spanish language and of its written form is guaranteed by the Real Academia de la Lengua Española. The Academia sets the rules to follow in order to speak and write in a way that is accepted by all the different Spanish speakers.

Mike McDougall has five years experience working as a travel writer and marketeer. He is currently working to provide additional content for Babylon-Idiomas (http://www.babylon-idiomas.com/eng/htm/learn-spanish-spain.htm) , a Spanish language school with an excellent presence in Spain and Latin America.
This work is covered by a creative commons licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/uk/

Quick question:
Is tabemasu a verb?
If you said yes: congratulations - you’re about to defeat your second myth of learning Japanese Verbs.

I bet, if you’re anything like me, you probably started out learning all kinds of Japanese ‘verbs’ like the above tabemasu.

One of the first sentances I learned in Japanese was:
Nani o tabemasu ka?

What are you eating?

At the time, I figured (logically) that tabemasu was the verb in the sentence. Worse, to an extent, it is the verb of that sentence. It does everything a verb should. It creates action in the sentence. It shows ‘what’ someone or something is doing.
So why does believing that tabemasu is a verb make your life difficult?

Imagine you are an alien who lands on Earth and beams into a Halloween Party to ask for directions. The person who opens the door is wearing a black cloak, bone white face makeup, platform shoes, red contact lenses and Dracula teeth. Behind him/her is a host of other people dressed like the living dead. You’ll form some pretty quick (and possibly gruesome) impressions of the people on this planet.

Why shouldn’t you?

How are you supposed to know (without turning on your super space-aged scanning equipment) that the natives are in costume?
It’s the same with Tabemasu. Tabemasu is a verb in costume.
And as with people, it is a bad idea to form your real impression of a verb based on it’s costume.

The first step to really knowing your verb is to take off the costume it is wearing.

Tabemasu is wearing a very common costume generally called the masu form.

This costume is very easy to put on, and relatively easy to take once you know how it is put on.

So let’s get dressed:

First, start with the real/naked verb. The best way to find naked verbs is to look them up in the dictionary. The naked verb is just the dictionary form of the verb. It is also called the plain form, or the infinitive.

This is an ichidan verb. You can easily recognize ichidan verbs because they always end in iru or eru. If your naked verb ends in either iru or eru, 98% of the time it is an ichidan verb.

Other fun ichiban verbs include:
Iru – to exist (animate objects)
Dekiru – to be able to do
Uragiru – to betray
Eru – to gain/get
Tsutomeru – to work for

The other type of verbs are called godan verbs. If you see a plain verb and it doesn’t end in eru or iru, it is a godan verb (with the exception of Kuru (to come) and Suru (to do), the only two really irregular godan verbs)

Godan verbs come in nine flavors:
RU – eg: Odoru – to dance (note – this ends with oru NOT eru or iru, hence a godan verb)
SU – eg: Hanasu – to speak
KU – eg: Iku – to go
GU – eg: Oyogu – to swim
MU - eg: Yasumu – to take a break/vacation
BU – eg: Yobu – to call (out to someone)
NU – shinu – to die (often Romanized Sinu)
Vowel + U – Eg: Warau – to laugh

Occasionally, a godan verb will look exactly like an ichidan verb. The three most common examples of these are:
Hashiru – to run
Kaeru – only when it means to return home/to your place of origin
Hairu – to enter
Highly Irregular: (You have to memorize these)
Suru (to do) and Kuru (to come)

When learning verbs, is vitally important to learn the naked/plain form of the verb and form all of your conjugations from there. The plain form is the center of your wheel of conjugation. The masu form of the verb is one of many, many spokes that come from this plain form of the verb. It is one of many costumes.

Here is how you dress your naked verb up in the masu form:
For Ichidan verbs:
1. Take your base verb.
2. Drop the RU.
3. Add masu.
That’s it!

EG:
1. Taberu
2. Tabe
3. Tabemasu

For Godan Verbs:
1. Take the last U of your verb
2. Turn it into an I
3. Add masu

That’s it!

EG:
1. Hanasu
2. Hanashi (remember, there’s no SI in the Japanese Alphabet, so SI is pronounced SHI)
3. Hanashimasu

How about this one:
1. Warau
2. Warai
3. Waraimasu

Easy isn’t it?

Lastly, the two Irregulars: (there is no rhyme or reason to these, just be glad there’s really only two of them)

1. Suru (to do) = Shimasu (this looks exactly like what would if you just put SU ending of a Godan verb into this masu form. Scroll up and take a look. That is the best way to remember how Suru conjugates in this form)
2. Kuru (to come) = Kimasu (Other than the fact it sounds like Shimasu – a little – you just have to memorize this)

What’s even better is that you can attach more than just masu to the step two of this conjugation.

For example, what if you want to say, I start to speak:
1. Start with Hanasu (to speak)
2. Take it to Step 2 of the Masu shift = hanashi
3. Add hajimeru = hanashihajimeru

If you want to continue doing something, try tsuzukeru.

I continue to speak = hanashitsuzukeru.

You can combine tons of verbs using the base just before where you usually put the masu.

That’s because, in reality, the familiar masu form is just one of many endings you can attach to the STEP 2 base conjugation of your naked verb.

So, make sure to get your verbs naked before you have fun dressing them up.

Part 3: How to Conjugate

About The Author
Minna Shiawase is an avid Japanese student and fan of Japanese culture. Read more about Japanese grammer at her blog, AI Love Bunpou.

Attributing flowers with hidden meanings and using them to express feelings and sending messages is an ancient tradition and even the old Greeks used flowers in this manner. Cleopatra used to shower her lover Marcus Antonius in rose petals to express her love for him. During the 17th century B.C. the Turks developed a large flower language that soon spread and gained popularity all over Europe. During the strict Victorian era, conveying messages in the form of flowers experienced a new boom and secret lovers sent seemingly innocent flower bouquets to each other.

The Elizabethan period is usually considered as the height of the Victoria era and one of the harshest periods from a moral point of view. This naturally formed a rich breeding ground for hypocrisy and ways to go around the austere official codes of behavior – especially for the upper and middle classes. It was also a period when the romantic love was highly sought for and the flower language contains both these components; romantic gestures and the idea of true love conquering any obstacles and strict rules.

During the Victorian era several different flower dictionaries were published that helped to spread the knowledge of the ‘secret’ flower language. It was common to fabricate poetical explanations to the shapes and colors of flowers. One popular myth claimed that the red rose came into existence when a white rose blushed in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve’s ate the apple. Virtually any type of message could be transformed into a beautiful flower bouquet since a whole sentence could be conveyed in a single flower.

Since several different flowers could have almost the same meaning, it was usually not hard to construct a good looking bouquet with matching flowers for each message. The flower language even had a type of basic “grammar” since messages could be altered depending on how the flowers where arranged and combined. A red rose combined with white rose buds would for instance mean a different thing than a single red blooming rose. Scents, sizes and even the position of the giver when bouquets were delivered directly would affect the message. The receiver could also take the opportunity to send secret messages to the giver. Accepting a flower or floral bouquet with the right hand was generally perceived as a “Yes” while the left hand indicated “No”. A flower held upside down when presented would literary turn the message upside down and the message should be interpreted as the total opposite of the normal meaning of the flower. Giving a lady or gentlemen a red rose that had been turned upside down was a very strong sing of rejection.

Flowers has always been used to decorate rooms and to mark important occasions, but during the Victorian era the natural world became highly fashionable since it was linked to the new romanticisms, a reaction to the scientific ideals of the 16th century. Floral arrangements was frequently enfolded in satin and received as wrapped gifts. Every room should ideally be decorated with flowers and the Victorian women devoted their time to the construction of highly sophisticated and very beautiful floral arrangements. The flower language was not only used in bouquets sent to lovers; the flower language would affect everything from centerpieces to wedding bouquets. Understanding the floral language became and imperative part of Victorian life.

Visit our site to read more about the flower language and about the meaning of flowers. You can also visit our site that is special devoted to the flower language for roses and the meaning of roses.

Paris the most beautiful city in the world, was captured and frozen in time by the great master of photojournalism, Henri Cartier-Bresson, who brought beauty and a new dimension to an ordinary street scene. Photography, he once wrote is a spontaneous impulse which comes from perpetually looking, and which seizes the instant and its eternity.

Henri elevated “snap shooting” to the level of a refined and disciplined art. He exclusively used the Leica 35mm rangefinder cameras equipped with normal 50mm lenses or occasionally a telephoto for landscapes. He was one of the first photographers to shoot in the 35mm format and helped to develop the photojournalistic “street photography” style that influenced generations of photographers to come. He was the father of “the decisive moment,” when everything in a picture was entirely balanced.

He often spoke of the geometry of photography. “Change your position by a millimetre and the geometry changes,” he said. “This cannot be calculated but needs to be instinctive, when I start thinking, everything’s lost. What counts in a shot is its plenitude and its simplicity.”

During his boyhood, Henri experimented with a 3 X 4 view camera. However, his main interest lay in painting. When he was 19, he went to study painting with Andre Lhote, the Cubist master. There he learned about angles, walls and the way things tilt. His still-lifes and Paris street scenes are indicative of his subtle and sensitive eye for composition.

In 1931, at the age of 22, Cartier-Bresson spent a year as a hunter in the West African bush. Catching a case of backwater fever, he returned to France to convalesce. It was at this time, in Marseille, that he first truly discovered photography. He obtained a Leica and began snapping a few pictures, and within a decade, he was famous. “The only thing about photography that interests me is the aim, the taking aim.” “Nothing is lost,” he says. “All that you have ever seen is always with you.”

After World War II, he resumed his career as a photojournalist and helped form the Magnum picture agency in 1947. Assignments for major magazines would take him on global travels, across Europe and the United States, to India, Russia and China. Many books of Cartier-Bresson photographs were published in the 50’s and 60’s, the most famous being ‘The Decisive Moment’ (1952). A major milestone in his career was a massive, 400-print retrospective exhibition, which toured the United States in 1960.

As a journalist, Henri Cartier-Bresson felt an intense need to communicate what he thought and felt about what he saw, and while his pictures often were subtle, they were rarely obscure. He had a high respect for the discipline of press photography, of having to communicate a story meaningfully in one picture. His journalistic grappling with the realities of men and events, his sense of news and history, and his belief in the social role of photography all pushed his work beyond the usual boundaries.

His work and his approach have exercised a profound and far-reaching influence. His pictures and picture essays have been published in most of the world’s major magazines during three decades, and Cartier-Bresson prints have hung in the leading art museums of the United States and Europe (his monumental ‘The Decisive Moment’ show being the first photographic exhibit ever to be displayed in the halls of the Louvre.)

No one captured the language of Paris so profoundly. The incredible grace and movement he bestowed on all his subjects, his attention to detail and powers of observation all came together in one ‘defining moment.’ Photographs of men in bowler hats, the abattoir workers, the lovers, the drunks, the refugees, the tarts, the judges, the picnickers, the animals and the kids. “Not art,” he once commented when someone referred to him as an artist, “just gut reactions to moments happened on.”

You can capture the language of Paris through the Bilinguagroup, a professional translation & interpreting service. Their team of multilingual professionals are consistently praised for their speed and efficiency of service by their clients based in Paris and all around the globe. From Farsi to French they are there to help you all the way – call them in any language and judge for yourself!