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Sunday, July 23, 2017

Why Learn Languages? People Make Such Awful Mistakes!

Problem
It's time consuming. I can't get the accents right, or roll my rs.

Answer
Learn through duolingo.com. Just do five minutes a day. By the end of the year you should have a vocabulary of about 100-200 words, enough to get started and feel confident and ahead of all those people who don't know one word.


Story
A friend says it's hard to master Welsh.

I am not planning to master Welsh, not this year, not yet. I admire my friend's aspiration to do so. All I want to do in year one of learning Welsh is read the signs on stations and shops and say please and thank you and good morning if I hear somebody in a cafe speak in Welsh. 

I want to understand what the Welsh male voice choir is singing. I generally smile, but wonder if smiling is appropriate. Are they are singing, 'I love the world,' or, 'my true love has died'? 

Also I want to understand what the restaurant is saying about me. I always hope it's: 'Give that dear little lady an extra large portion of chips.'

Tips

Listen to the sound of words of country names in Wikipedia.


Author
Angela Lansbury, teacher of English and other languages.

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