Problem
How do I remember them? I started testing myself on Duolingo's Tinycards, but this was tedious as I did not yet know the countries. I thought, first I need a map.
Answers
I looked in Wikipedia for a map, and found one but it was just geographical contours.
However, Wikitravel provided the perfect map with good colours separating each country from the next.
Most of the countries speak Spanish as a first or second language, including Venezuela, a favourite for Americans from the USA, probably because it is nearest, being the furthest north (apart from a finger from Columbia on the left of Venezuela).
The two I could remember most easily were, Venezuela, on the Northern coast near American, and Brazil, the big one, on the right, which unlike the others, has Portuguese as a first language.
The countries, listed alphabetically, are :
Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, (British) Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay. The mainland countries are fourteen, plus the islands: Eastern Island; Falkland Islands, sixteen.
I memorised some of them alphabetically going anti-clockwise.
B - Brazil
Brazil is the biggest. B for Brazil and b for biggest. If you need another reminder, the second letter or Brazil, is r for right.
A - Argentina
Also large is Argentina. Don't cry for me Argentina, as the song says, because I am also pretty big.
A-B-C - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia
Swinging north from A to B, we have a conveniently alphabetical progression of Bolivia next to big Brazil, then anti-clockwise, the letter C for Colombia.
CO - O
I keep typing the letter U but Colombia has the letter O twice.
ABC-E - Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador
No country starts with letter D. However, but the next letter is E, for Ecuador. The country's name, Eduador, means equator, which sounds similar to The Equator. You can see Eduador is bulging out to the west (apart from a finger coming up from larger Peru).
PC - Peru, Chile
Next down the coast is big Peru and long legs Chile. Think of PC, politically correct.
A-B-C Argentina, Bolivia, Chile
Or go anticlockwise from Argentina via Bolivia
P - O
P and O, like the P and O shipping company, Paraguay and Uruguay rhyme. Poor Paraguay is landlocked and doesn't have a beach. You and I will go to Uruguay (rhyme) first, because it has a beach, a coast, on the East.
How do I remember them? I started testing myself on Duolingo's Tinycards, but this was tedious as I did not yet know the countries. I thought, first I need a map.
Answers
I looked in Wikipedia for a map, and found one but it was just geographical contours.
However, Wikitravel provided the perfect map with good colours separating each country from the next.
Most of the countries speak Spanish as a first or second language, including Venezuela, a favourite for Americans from the USA, probably because it is nearest, being the furthest north (apart from a finger from Columbia on the left of Venezuela).
The two I could remember most easily were, Venezuela, on the Northern coast near American, and Brazil, the big one, on the right, which unlike the others, has Portuguese as a first language.
The countries, listed alphabetically, are :
Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, (British) Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay. The mainland countries are fourteen, plus the islands: Eastern Island; Falkland Islands, sixteen.
I memorised some of them alphabetically going anti-clockwise.
B - Brazil
Brazil is the biggest. B for Brazil and b for biggest. If you need another reminder, the second letter or Brazil, is r for right.
A - Argentina
Also large is Argentina. Don't cry for me Argentina, as the song says, because I am also pretty big.
A-B-C - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia
Swinging north from A to B, we have a conveniently alphabetical progression of Bolivia next to big Brazil, then anti-clockwise, the letter C for Colombia.
CO - O
I keep typing the letter U but Colombia has the letter O twice.
ABC-E - Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador
No country starts with letter D. However, but the next letter is E, for Ecuador. The country's name, Eduador, means equator, which sounds similar to The Equator. You can see Eduador is bulging out to the west (apart from a finger coming up from larger Peru).
PC - Peru, Chile
Next down the coast is big Peru and long legs Chile. Think of PC, politically correct.
A-B-C Argentina, Bolivia, Chile
Or go anticlockwise from Argentina via Bolivia
P - O
P and O, like the P and O shipping company, Paraguay and Uruguay rhyme. Poor Paraguay is landlocked and doesn't have a beach. You and I will go to Uruguay (rhyme) first, because it has a beach, a coast, on the East.
Map of South America from Wikitravel.
Paddington Bear statue on Paddington station, London, England.
Useful Websites
Duolingo For learning Portuguese and Spanish.
Language learning books and CDs from
Paddington Bear toy from
http://www.harrods (About £53)
http://www.johnlewis.com/clearance (About £13)
Paddington Bear books such as A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond from
Film / Movie
Paddington bear trailer on youtube:
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Next post will cover what to see in South America. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts. See my other posts on languages and destination on this blog and my other blog:
No comments:
Post a Comment