Today's Dose Of Spanish Words - road, street, and more

Spanish Age

In Spanish you have age, like in French. In French you would say, J'ai vingt ans, literally, I have twenty years. Once you speak French fluently, you don't even have to think about it. The correct phrase just pops into your brain and out of your mouth. I hope that eventually the same will apply to Spanish which I am learning with the help of duolingo, which I have installed on both my laptop and my mobile phone.

Spanish - English (easy words)

ambos - both (like the English word ambiguity)

amigo - friend

calle - street (city street, between buildings)

camino - road (between cities, in countryside)

de verdad - really? truly

ejercicios - exercises

ella / el - she / he

el gimnasio - the gymnasium

espalda - back from Latin for flat, like spatula In Spanish add e in front of an initial s, like Espana

en - in

exercises - ejercicios

comienza - (she) commences / starts

indicador - indicator

lenguas - languages

memoria - memory

raro - rare

señal - sign (the Spanish word looks like the English word signal)

señal de calle - (street) sign

teorias - theories

tranquila - calm down (be tranquil)

treinta - thirty

vieja/o - old / age(d) (from Latin, like the English words veteran and vintage, but the Spanish has both vowels, i and e, i before e)

English - Spanish

calm down - tranquila

gym / gymnasium - gimnasio

friend - amiga / amigo

he - el (with an upward accent on the e. el without an accent is the)

in - en

indicator - indicador

languages - lenguas

memory - memoria

noise - ruido (like the French word bruit)

rare - raro

really? - de verdad?

road - camino

sign - señal

street - calle

street sign - señal de calle

she - ella

theories - teorias

thirty - treinta

vieja / a - age(d) / old

Challenging Spanish - English words

asi - so

a lo mejor - maybe

entonces - then

la espalda - the back (of a person)

Lo olvidé - I forgot it

me duele - (it) hurts me

menor - less than (like minor)

olvidaste - you forgot?

otra - another

otra vez - again

pero - but

porque - because

piernas - legs

porque (accent on the e) - because

rodilla - knee

ruido - noise (like the French word bruit)

tambien - also

una vez - once

See how many words you can translate from this website, wikipedia on |Spain

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espa%C3%B1a

Useful Spanish & Other Languages websites

duolingo.com

translate google

https://translate.google.co.uk/

wikivoyage phrasebook Spanish

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Spanish_phrasebook

http://wikiphrase.org/ (Has Portuguese, German, Hindi, but I did not find Spanish.)

https://www.vocabulary.cl/english/street-road-difference.htm#google_vignette

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Remember Spanish Words

How to remember Spanish, if you are learning Spanish, or teaching others.

arroyo - stream, like a little river, or rivulet, variation on rio which is river

ayuda is aid

calle is street, bigger that an alley, more like a cariiageway, combination half way between the two, calle

centro - centre

Fumar is to smoke.

No fumes. If you smoke, they will be fuming.

mill is molina in Spanish, like moulin in French

pastel is pastry, pastries, cake

 Ruido is noise. A rude noise. Ruido.

Spanish - English

Arroyo - stream

bien organizado - well arranged/organized

calle - street

centro- centre

Cerca de la estación de tren - near the railway station

un club - a club

comodo - comfortable

fumar - to smoke

el molina - the mill

pastel - cake

¿Puedo ayudarte? - can I help you?

ruido - noise

espacioso - spacious

English - Spanish

cake - pastel

centre - centro

a club - un club

comfortable - comodo

the mill - el molina

near the railway station - Cerca de la estación de tren

noise - ruido

(to) smoke - fumar

spacious - espacioso

stream - arroyo

street - calle

well arranged/organized - bien organizado

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Did you put on weight on holiday, or the business trip? How to find out

Weighing machine. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

You can tell if your buttons are popping. Your clothes are tight.  

What about the fact that you weight yourself naked at home?

Simple. Weight yourself fully clothed in your commonly worn travlling outfit before leaving home. Do it the day you leave or the day before. That is your first day weight.

But dare you weigh yourself.?

1 Pharmacies. In italy and other countries there are weighing machines. You may have to pay. They could be free.

2 Any time you go to the doctor for anything the doctor's prmises or nurse's room probably has a weighing machine.

3 Many hotels and hostels have a large weighing machine for weighting large luggage. This is to help guests find out if their luggage is over weight before leaving for the airport.

4 Some countries in Asia have street vendors who sit with a wighing machine at their feet and make their lving by charging you a small fee, or accepting a donation, from passers-by who wish to weight themselves.

5 Some large deaprtment stores stock weighting machines. Some may be in packets and won't work until you remove the packaging or insert a battery or turn them on. However, look around, you might find one which works. If you smile and chat up a bored assistant, they might help you.  

6 Carry a tape measure. Measure your waist. 

Sometimes the scales tell you mystery numbers.

Just google it to find the conversion.

Useful Websites

https://coolconversion.com/weight/kg-to-stones-pounds/_56.4_kg_in_stones_and_pounds_

Set 7 Handy Albanian words - Getting around, bills and payment

 

MAPS & SIGNPOSTS - Hartat dhe shenja

BEACH - plazhi

old city - qytet y vjeter

old - e vjetër

new - i ri

city/town - qytet

quarter - tremujori

village - fshati

street - rrugë

north - veriu

south - jug

east - lindja

Useful Websites

Safety in Shopping Malls And Streets

The world has many fabulous shopping malls. Jewel at Changi Airport, Singapore, has a multi-storey waterfall in the centre.

With winter weather affecting many cities, and Christmas coming, many of us will be going into malls.  You are protected from the weather and traffic. I know many wonderful malls. In the centre of Singapore Orchard road underground railway links you to department stores and shopping malls containing shops, offices, cinemas an aquariums and a fountains. 

Ion Mall, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

 Ion is impressive. A basement walkway leads you under Orchard Road, past an aquarium, under other shopping malls, ending by a fountain and the wonderful Takashimaya in impressive Ngee Ann City. But how safe is a shopping trip. London has Brent Cross and Watford and other areas have more magnificent malls. 

America has malls with theme parks attached. 

In Singapore and South Africa you can stay in hotels attached to shopping malls, sheltered from the weather.

What about safety? I always wonder how to get out of large malls in a fire.

1 Malls should be designed so that you can escape quickly in a fire,

2  And not fall or be thrown off a balcony, internal wall or escalator. 

In Singapore we had an accident from a boy who jumped onto what looked like a marble ledge but it was trompe l'oeuil. In the UK and the USA we have had children thrown over walls by strangers. Architects please take note. With millions of people in malls every day, somebody somewhere will be drunk, sit on a ledge or low wall, sit a child on a ledge, throw themselves off a ledge, or throw off somebody else. It is predictable and preventable. How can you rectify the problem? Install glass walls, barriers, stepped atriums, awnings or hammock style nets under all ledges and low walls. 

Andorra Mall, previous Xmas. Sharot family photo.

Jurong Point Shopping Mall, Singapore.

Safety Tips

Don't put your wallet in your back pocket.

Know the exits.

Be aware of people around you.

When possible stand with your back to a wall and not looking over a balcony.

Consolidate multiple bags into one or two.

Have your car key ready so you don't stop to look for it in a car park.

Useful Websites

Dangers

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11505367/Mall-America-settles-lawsuit-family-boy-5-thrown-balcony.html#newcomment

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046333/Grandmother-guilty-throwing-toddler-death-bridge-shopping-mall.html

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/06/teenager-jonty-bravery-who-threw-child-from-tate-modern-balcony-admits-attempted-murder

Safety Precautions

https://www.cornwallsecurity.com/safety-tips-parking-lots-shopping-malls/#:~:text=In%20the%20Mall,friends%20or%20family%20whenever%20possible.

https://stmartinsheriff.org/safety-tips-mall-shopping/

Child Escape From Stalker - Into Shop

https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/woman-boy-pennsylvania-escape-abduction-b2227144.html

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Food and Colours In Local Singapore Street Names

Street names tell you the history of the area, what can be gown in the local soil and climate, and handy words in local languages.

Food
Orchard Road.
The centre of Singapore's shopping. The Orchard has gone.

Dairy Farm - near Hillview MRT.
No more dairy.

Lorong Lada Hitam - Black pepper lane - near Holland Village MRT (train station)
Lorong is Malay for Lane. Hitam is black. Lada is pepper. Pepper black because in Malay the adjective comes second.

Cashew Road, Cashew Heights, Cashew MRT station
Yes, the cashew trees are still there, two on the Cashew Heights condo estate. But not for eating, just decorative.

Colours
Jalan Merah Saga
Jalan is journey or road. Merah is red.

Useful Reference and Websites
Book:
Street Names of Singapore by Peter Dunlop.
Google Translate.
Wikipedia.
Duolingo - to learn languages for free online. Includes Chinese.

Author
Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages.
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Plastics? Leave Only Footprints

I  won through the first level of the contest of a speech about the environment. Then the second level.

Later I was called to speak on stage at a training for would be entrepreneurs to demonstrate the ability to speak in public to raise awareness for a cause or charity.

I said:

When I walk around a room like this or the street in a city, I notice all the debris that human beings leave behind, on tables and under chairs and in wastebins. We are like snails which leave behind slime, a trail of evidence of where they have been.

It doesn't have to be like that. You must have seen pictures of the debris left behind after a major event such as a rock concert in a field. Piles of trash left behind. It doesn't have to look like that next day. Every monring you can walk into Disney World and the place is pristine clean, because a group of poeple have cleaned up.

Seeing the place look clean has encouraged everybody to keep it clean. In Canada they found that even two pieces of litter on the ground was enough to make others think everybody was dropping litter and it was OK to do so. So do your bit.

If a million people in a city all drop litter we have a mess, and clutter in the ocean. If a million pople use recycling bins or better still take litter home, which everybody does in Japan, we would have clean cities and clean oceans. You can pick up a piece of litter dropped by somebody else.

When I walk past a shopping mall I see beautiful bags discarded in bins next to the smart shops. Big tote bags with lovely handles. If the bags are pretty and clean I rescue them. They can all be reused.

Most of the things we throw away could be reused. A discarded t-shirt which is old or stained or no longer wanted because it has last year's date could be made into a tee-towel. Clothes which don't fit can be changed. A top which is too tight can be slit up the sides and made into a tabard or tunic.

When I walk around the ground floor of both public housing and provate condos, I see large items of furniture abandoned by the bins. Chairs and tables have a missing leg or are chipped or need repainting.

Singapore flag

A Singapore resident told me that Singaporeans like to throw out the old and buy new. But those items, if taken to Malaysia would be used by poor people or owners of second hand shops. Old TVs and screens would be fixed.

All the small items could be reused in our homes. In the Sixties it was fashionable to conver a glass bottle into a table lamp and you could buy a top to fix to the bottle. A plastic or glass bottle can be cut in half and made into a flower vase or a  pen and pencil holder.

A cardboard cereal box can be cut diagonally and turned into a magazine holder. At Chrsitmas I have seen ceral boxes advertising that the box can be flattned and reused as a board game which is printed on the reverse of the box. I hope that one day we will all be able to reduce the mount of waste from a house or building to only the contents of one small box a year, as has been done by at least one family who experimented to see if it was possible. Yes, it is. That is my vision for my future, and yours and ours.

Author
Angela Lansbury.

Learn Easy Spanish From Place Names And Signs

Spanish flag

Spanish - English
Costa del Sol region, El Corte Ingles department store - here are the word by word translations.

SPANISH - ENGLISH
angeles - angels
arte - art
avenida - avenue
calle - street
casa - house
corte - corner
costa - coast
del - of (the)
el - the
ermita - hermitage


Spain in Europe.


España - Spain
exposicion - exhibition or display
Iago - James
Ingles - English
la - the
libertad - liberty
los - the (plural)
miniaturas - miniatures
museo - museum
Plaza - place or square
san - saint
siglio - century
sol - sun
via - way
y - and

Useful Websites

duolingo.com
www.spain.info

You will find Spanish very useful in Spain, the USA, and South America.

Easy, isn't it!
However, wikipedia warns:

Many English words have their origins in Latin, which makes it easy for English speakers to guess the meanings of many Spanish words. However, Spanish and English also have a number of false cognates that one needs to be aware of to avoid embarrassing mistakes. -embarazada - pregnant; not embarrassed 
-suburbio - slum; not suburb 
-preservativo - condom; not preservative 
-bizarro - brave; not bizarre

Author
Angela Lansbury

Problems Caused by Screaming in the Streets and Pools, Shouting and Playfighting in Public Places

The Problem
On public transport all over the world I am distracted by the sounds and movement of families, especially children.

Whilst I am trying to read, I hear babies and toddlers shrieking.

Sudden movements catch my eyes and distract me. It is teenagers or siblings jumping around, dodging behind their parents - playfighting.

You always have to be alert on public transport, to be prepared for pickpockets, drunks, beggars, falling elderly people, or dangers.

 Sudden movements must distract security staff to anybody monitoring building cameras. People in the swimming pool are constantly shrieking. You would never know if there was a real problem.

   Drunks shout on the way home. After murder cases you hear local people say: "People shout all the time. I thought it was a domestic."

Solution
I think supermarkets and trains should have warning signs.

Signs in public places should say:
                        When standing in one place - Keep still.
                        Keep quiet.
                        No playfighting.
                        No shouting.

                        Then when there's an emergency, we can quickly spot the problem.
What do you think?

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Tampines West Street lights

Strips of coloured light near the Downtowm line MRT train station in Singapore.

Miniature Mobile Library - what it could do for your community and others

Would you believe it - this is a mobile library in Singapore. I saw it in a Community Club. I love it. 

I think you can wheel it around the building - maybe deliver books to classes and courses and lessons. 

You could wheel it down the street to a housing development and up in the lift in a block of flats. A cheap delivery system for the housebound. Can be wheeled by volunteers.

A great option in poor countries where schools don't have libraries or classrooms. For emergency use in evacuation centres in hurricanes and floods and other events to entertain the stranded, the children, the elderly, families, singles, the bored, to take their minds off their troubles. Escapism. Hope.

DIY instruction for emergencies, cost saving tips. Home schooling. Endless opportunities and uses.

I photographed this one in Tampines community Club. I have seen other similar ones in other community clubs in Singapore. Please copy this idea.

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Learn some Malay-Indonesian and Understand and Remember Slang

Lots of Indonesian is easy. Ticket is tiket.
Tiket Harian Berjaminan, literally: Daily Ticket with Guarantee (a seven day ticket).
Jalan is street. You see this word all over the place, on street signs and maps.

However, after you learn to read Malay/Indonesian, you find that in Indoneisa they speak slang, a bit like the British shortening words, saying yeah for yes.
Wikivoyage gives a handy phrase list and I have added my own aide-memoire (French for memory aid):

How to speak prokem like a Betawi

The everyday speech of Jakartans (Betawi) is liberally laced with slang (prokem) expressions. Like any slang, words come in and out of fashion with bewildering rapidity, but some features can be distinguished:

• f becomes p
• z becomes j
• The prefix me- for verbs becomes ng-
• The suffixes -i and -kan turn into -in

A short glossary of common Jakartan expressions:

no 

tidak → nggak/kagak/gak/ogah/moh

I 

saya/aku → gua/gue

you 

kamu/anda → lu/lo ('A n d a' is you, which you see on signs in Singapore. For the written word, I think of 'and you'. I had to insert spaces because the spell checker thinks I have mistyped the word and. For the spoken word, think of you and lu.) 

sorry 

maaf → maap

to come up 

menaik → naek

to take 

mengambil → ngambil

to look 

melihat → ngeliat

to use 

memakai/menggunakan → pake/make/ngegunain

to visit 

mengunjungi → ngunjungin

what are you doing? 

kamu sedang apa? → ngapain?

to pay 

membayar → bayar/ngebayar (The shortened version is simpler and easier to remember. B a y a r for pay her. 'ow much am I gonna pay 'er, gebayar, meaning to pay.)

how much is it?

berapa harganya? → berapaan nih? (How do you learn this phrase? Think of pan as pay. Think of nih is you as in the Chinese greeting nih how - how are you.

Keep pointing at items on the table or in the room and asking, 'berapaan nih?'. Think of if as 'how much as you asking,' or 'how much would I pay you for this?' Think of it as: 'how much would I pay you for bread?' Berapaan nih? Berapaan nih? Berapaan nih? How much could I bear to pay you for bread? Berapaan nih?

If you have trouble saying it, don't say it. Ask somebody else (preferably somebody Indonesian) to say it. Just listen to them. Three times. Berapaan nih.

Glossary - means a short list of word explanations, like a short dictionary

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Language teacher, English and other languages.

How To Learn Malay From Government Leaflets In Singapore

Problem
I often pick up a government leaflet in Singapore and find half of it is in Malay. Is this a waste of my time?

Answer
No. After I have read the English, I have a chance to learn some words of Malay, which they call Bahasa (language) Malay Language. Presumably as opposed to Malay race or nationality.

I can immediately recognize several often repeated words, plus one of two which are similar to the English.

Malay - English
air - water
anda you/your
bar - bar
besar - bazaar
dan - and
Gratis - free
Ingrisjalan - road or street
jalan -street
jalan jalan - walk about, journey, Stroll
Juni - June

Kartu - card
krim - cream
lokal - local
makan - food
Mei - May
orang - person / adult
restoran - restaurant
Tarif - tarif / fare /price
tiket - ticket
tradisional - traditional

Useful Websites
LANGUAGES
amazon - books including phrasebooks and dictionaries from Berlitz, Lonely Planet and others.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=malay+language
This is the UK website. You may find different books and prices and postage on
Amazon.com
Duolingo - free language courses and discussion forums
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/20796214/Malay-Basics-1
Duolingo also have tinycards. These flashcards reverse when you click and then ask you to select from three multiple choice answers.
https://tinycards.duolingo.com/decks/Seft5g/malay?lesson=1

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-malaysian/one_1

TRAVEL

visitsingapore.com
singaporeair.com (Singapore Airlines)
visit-malaysia.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Teacher of English and other languages. Home tutor and workshop leader. Contact me if you or your college or business would like lessons.

Translating German From An Email Address

Problem
I see a lot of German words on an email. What do they mean? What can I learn easily?

Answer
I run the words through a translation service and get this:

German - English
Deutschland - Germany
dorf - valley
strasse - street
sitz - seat or base
Registergericht - register court
persoenlich - personally
Gesellschafter - shareholders
eingetragen - registered (like the words in - scribed)
ihre - its
im - in
umsatzsteuer - VAT
identifikationsnummer - identification number

English - German
Germany - Deutschland
identification number - identifikationsnummer
in - im
its - ihre
personally - persoenlick
river - floss
stream - strom
street - strasse
valley - dorf

Author
Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Italian Words From Maps and Streets Translated

Italian - English
dove - where is
museo - museum
via - street

English - Italian
museum - museo
street - via
where is - dove

Tips
https://dreamdiscoveritalia.com/2015/06/23/italian-101-how-to-ask-where-is-the-toilet/

(I got interrupted - More later)
Author
Angela Lansbury

Easy Romanian Words

Problem
How do you learn simple and useful words fast? D u o l i n go does not start with the basic conversational words.

Answer
I searched online for easy everyday phrases and up popped the Wikitravel site.
From this I selected those words which are similar to English and easy to remember.

English - Romanian
pharmacy (UK) / drugstore (USA) - farmacie
doctor - doctor
food - alimentara
hello - salut (looks like salute)
no - nu (pronounced n o o)
police - politie
street - strada
theatre - teatru
train line - metro
toilet - toaleta
yes - da (same as the Russian)

Romanian - English
alimentara - food
da - yes
doctor - doctor
farmacie - pharmacy / drugstore
metrou - train subway (similar sound and spelling to the French Metro)
nu - no
politie - police
salut - hello
strada - street
tetra - theater
toaleta - toilet / w.c. (USA bathroom or restroom)
Sunday
duminică (doo-MEEN-ee-kuh)
Monday
luni (loohn)
Tuesday
marţi (mahrtz)
Wednesday
miercuri (mee-EHR-coor)
Thursday
joi (zhoy)
Friday
vineri (vee-NEHR)
Saturday
sâmbătă (SUHM-bah-tah)
Months[edit]
January
ianuarie (ya-NWAH-ree-eh)
February
februarie (FEB-RWAH-ree-eh)
March
martie (MAR-tee-eh)
April
aprilie (ah-PREEL-ee-eh)
May
mai (my)
June
iunie (YOO-nee-eh)
July
iulie (YOO-lee-eh)
August
august (ow-GOOST)
September
septembrie (sehp-TEHM-bree-eh)
October
octombrie (ohk-TOHM-bree-eh)
November
noiembrie (noy-EHM-bree-eh); alt. novembrie (no-VEHM-bryeh)
December
de
http://wikitravel.org/en/Romanian_phrasebook

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker, teacher of English and other languages. Please share my posts.

How streets, roads, and avenues are different

I thought I knew most of these, such as avenues having trees. I was not aware that the American Beltway is what in England would be called a Circular Road (like the North Circular).

North and South Circular
In London, as you drive around the North Circular, it disappears and you are on the South Circular, same road. This once confused me, when somebody said they lived on the North Circular, and they were actually a few streets into the South Circular, but hadn't thought to tell me that the street changes names and carry on until you reach their house.

Oxford Street
Americans should watch out for the fact that you must use the word street after a street name. In London one of the main streets is called Oxford Street. Why? Because it eventually goes to Oxford - at least it used to do so. However, if you are looking for Oxford Street, and you ask for Oxford, you may get sent to the nearest railway station instead.

Parkway
In America a Parkway has nothing to do with parking. It was originally or is still a road with a park or green garden-like area alongside.

Median (Strip)
What the Americans call a median strip, in England I would call a central reservation.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.