I have had a few disasters with the wrong days and dates.
The first mistake was with French.
Flag of France.
When I was at school I learned French for O level and A level. My mother who was keen on my learning French sent me to France on holiday.
I booked a ticket to see a French play at the theatre, a play on my A level syllabus. When I arrived, the lady in the ticket office said the performance was already over. I had mixed up mercredi, Wednesday, and vendredi, Friday. A waste of money and a waste of time, stressful. An expensive way to learn. But now I know.
Both words end with redi. both have e as the second letter. Now, looking carefully, I see that f and v, for Friday and vendredi, are similar sounding. M and W, are the same letter upside down, Wednesday and mercredi.
I was reminded of my mistakes in the past. The modern way to keep up morale is to say, there are no failures, only lessons learned.
Chinese dates present yet another situation.
I thought of that today when I went to correct a sentence on the meeting programme sheet for Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Club in Singapore, meeting online every Wednesday.
Chinese
In Singapore, our agenda read:
'we meet every 3 day of the week'
I read this as intending to mean, 'we meet every third Saturday of the month.
(The club meets every Wednesday evening and every third Saturday each month.}
I asked two different people to change the phrase to each month and got no response from them.
Then I was sitting thinking about the French Mecredi for Wednesday. the Chinese for Wednesday is day three! In Mandarin, Monday is day one, tuesday is day two, Wednesday is day 3. So easy - until you translate into English.
The Chinese is very logical, very clear, but strange when you start looking into the weekend. In Chinese Saturday is day 6 and Sunday is day 7. Fine. If you have a five day working week, Monday to Friday, then day three is Wednesday.
But what if you have a seven day week? The Chinese count Saturday as six and Sunday as 7. In the bible it says, on the 7th day he rested. The seventh day is Sunday, isn't it.
Maybe not. For Jews the Sabbath is Saturday. For Moslems it is Friday.
If you look at diaries, and the weekly planners you can download from the internet, some start with Monday. Others start with Sunday.
We had long discussions about this when we wanted to produce a calendar to promote our writing circle.
Wikipedia says:
While, for example, the United States and Japan consider Sunday as the first day of the week, and while the week begins with Saturday in much of the Middle East, the international ISO 8601 standard has Monday as the first day of the week.
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Week
Days of the week in French (Just the days of the week in English and French - no other words)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc7wjOm7Anc
Author, Author! About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.)
Author of twenty books including: Quick Quotations; Who Said What When.
See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts. Also watch videos on YouTube.
See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.
Online Toastmasters International Meetings
If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,
Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=braddell%20heights%20advanced%20toastmasters
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, Toastmasters Club, London.
Tiarel.toastmasters club, Singapore.
Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations
lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product
.
The first mistake was with French.
Flag of France.
When I was at school I learned French for O level and A level. My mother who was keen on my learning French sent me to France on holiday.
I booked a ticket to see a French play at the theatre, a play on my A level syllabus. When I arrived, the lady in the ticket office said the performance was already over. I had mixed up mercredi, Wednesday, and vendredi, Friday. A waste of money and a waste of time, stressful. An expensive way to learn. But now I know.
Both words end with redi. both have e as the second letter. Now, looking carefully, I see that f and v, for Friday and vendredi, are similar sounding. M and W, are the same letter upside down, Wednesday and mercredi.
I was reminded of my mistakes in the past. The modern way to keep up morale is to say, there are no failures, only lessons learned.
Chinese dates present yet another situation.
Flag of Singapore.
I thought of that today when I went to correct a sentence on the meeting programme sheet for Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Club in Singapore, meeting online every Wednesday.
Chinese
In Singapore, our agenda read:
'we meet every 3 day of the week'
I read this as intending to mean, 'we meet every third Saturday of the month.
(The club meets every Wednesday evening and every third Saturday each month.}
I asked two different people to change the phrase to each month and got no response from them.
Then I was sitting thinking about the French Mecredi for Wednesday. the Chinese for Wednesday is day three! In Mandarin, Monday is day one, tuesday is day two, Wednesday is day 3. So easy - until you translate into English.
The Chinese is very logical, very clear, but strange when you start looking into the weekend. In Chinese Saturday is day 6 and Sunday is day 7. Fine. If you have a five day working week, Monday to Friday, then day three is Wednesday.
But what if you have a seven day week? The Chinese count Saturday as six and Sunday as 7. In the bible it says, on the 7th day he rested. The seventh day is Sunday, isn't it.
Maybe not. For Jews the Sabbath is Saturday. For Moslems it is Friday.
If you look at diaries, and the weekly planners you can download from the internet, some start with Monday. Others start with Sunday.
We had long discussions about this when we wanted to produce a calendar to promote our writing circle.
Wikipedia says:
While, for example, the United States and Japan consider Sunday as the first day of the week, and while the week begins with Saturday in much of the Middle East, the international ISO 8601 standard has Monday as the first day of the week.
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Week
Days of the week in French (Just the days of the week in English and French - no other words)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc7wjOm7Anc
Author, Author! About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.)
Author of twenty books including: Quick Quotations; Who Said What When.
See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts. Also watch videos on YouTube.
See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.
Online Toastmasters International Meetings
If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,
Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=braddell%20heights%20advanced%20toastmasters
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, Toastmasters Club, London.
Tiarel.toastmasters club, Singapore.
Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations
lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product
.
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