The Story of English: An etymological journey by Raymond Goslitski

Join us for an entertaining presentation to uncover the fascinating reasons behind English spelling and pronunciation. Despite evidence to the contrary, there is a reason for the way English is spelled and pronounced as it does. To understand this we must journey back in time, as far as 1600 years!

There will be four parts to the talk: The historical context, Characteristics of English, English as the village language, and the language as spoken today.

Get ready to learn about things they don’t teach you on apps or in the classroom!

1. Where did English come from? How did it look at various points in the past?

2. What distinguishing features does English have? Why do spelling and pronunciation often seem not to match?

3. Why might it be wrong to call English the World Language? Why is it a Germanic language?

4. What traces of the past still remain in English today?

About Raymond Goslitski

Raymond is an experienced linguist, adviser and author. With his diplomas from Wolverhampton, Lancaster and Cambridge Universities, he has spent two decades at the European Union headquarters in Brussels and Luxembourg.

There, he has been training interpreters, advising auditors, coaching judges, instructing press officers, and refining the skills of dozens of administrators. His knowledge of a good number of European languages has helped him most to relate to people how best to improve and perfect their English skills.

His first book is to be published in the coming months, and he is currently working on a comedy-drama podcast. In Luxembourg, his dynamic and entertaining presentations were extremely popular, and now he is bringing his unique style of coaching to Vortex Playa.

About tickets

• Price: 5€ including drinks during the event
• Vortex members can get complimentary tickets using their members code (if not sure what the code is, ask the Vortex Team)
• Places are limited, book yours quickly!
• NON-VORTEX MEMBERS: After the workshop, our monthly World Tour of Valencia dinner will take place at Mehfil restaurant, a short walk away. You are cordially invited to join us. If you are interested in coming along, please check the box in the booking process. There is no obligation to come, but it would help us make an estimation of numbers.

Details