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Six quick ways to start learning Portuguese, Spanish or any other language

You could speak British English in England and American English in America.


Either one will do in most of Canada and South Africa and Australia and New Zealand.

American flag


Australian flag

But in parts of Europe and South America and islands it is handy to have a few words of other languages. Spanish is becoming the favourite second language in the UK.

When travelling it's no good simply speaking English and louder English. How do you learn to read maps and street signs quickly?

1 Maps, Real Or Online For Placenames
The first way is to pick up a real map or online map. You should find at least ten words for:

cathedral,
road,
river,
mountain,
square,
sea,
north,
south,
east,
west.

You might find another ten for:
church
hospital
park
bridge
new
old
King
Saint
hotel
taxi


Flag of Spain

SPANISH
catedral,
la carretera,
río,
montaña,
cuadrado,
mar,
norte,
sur,
este,
Oeste.

Puede encontrar otros diez para:

Iglesia
hospital
parque
puente
nuevo
antiguo
Rey
Smo (I would expect Spanish for saint to be San as in San Francisco)
hotel

Taxi

If you need to look up the words, write down the translations on a space on the map or on a black page at the start or end of a notebook, travel journal or diary.

Spanish is helpful in Colombia

Flag of Colombia

And Peru

Flag of Peru


And Mexico

Flag of Mexico

PORTUGUESE
Catedral,
estrada,
Rio,
Montana,
quadrado,
mar,
norte,
sul,
Leste,
Oeste.

Você pode encontrar outros dez para:

Igreja
hospital
Parque
ponte
Novo
velho
Rei
Santo
hotel
Táxi

Portuguese is also helpful in
Brazil

Flag of Brazil

and Mexico

Flag of Mexico

2 Streetview Signs
Look at streetview and start learning the signs and buildings' names and business in Portuguese or any other language.

3 BBC Foreign Language News
One way is to go to a BBC news website in Portuguese or the language you wish to learn or practise or revise and revive.

4 Local Newspaper
Go to an online newspaper of the capital city of the country you are visiting.

5 Bilingual Tourist Website
Go to the website of the country you are visiting and read the page in their language, then flip back to English, then back to the other language.

6 Go to Wikipedia and pick the language you wish to learn.

About The Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, blogger, author of 20 books including an ebook on Improve Your English, from Amazon, and teacher of English and Business English and other languages to individuals, colleges and companies. For more information on learning Spanish and other languages see previous post and posts. Also see other articles such as Botero statues in Colombia. Please bookmark your favourite posts and share the links with your family, friends and colleagues.

Famous Tamils Why Would Anybody Want To Learn Tamil - I've Never Heard of or seen anybody who is Timail - of have I

Problem
Why would I want to learn Tamil? I've never heard of or seen anybody famous who is Tamil, or have I?

Answer
Yes, I have. On Wikipedia none of the names of famous Tamils grabbed my attention or stuck in my memory. However, I just checked online again and found photos and descriptions on quora and realised I've seen two on TV.

George Alagiah
George Alagiah, OBE, BBC newsreader. He is so sympathetic and soft-voiced. He was born in Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon.

After the Asian tsunami he went back to Sri Lanka and reported on the damage. He found his ancestral home, even finding a well he remembered.

And over on Channel 4, never realised I watched it, but I certainly recognize the face of their presenter.

From the USA, I recognize the face of a comedian, although I could not have named him. He is Aziz Ansari.

In Singapore we have, and have had, a few Tamils in government. I recognize the name S R Nathan, President of Singapore 2001-2011. I knew he was Indian, didn't know the detail of Tamil.

Plus a few Nobel prize winners. Very worthy. They actually impact many people's lives.

Also the CEOs of Pepsi - and Google!

Now I've a topic of conversation when I meet Tamils, in the UK, USA, Singapore, or a Tamil speaking country such as Sri Lanka.

https://www.quora.com/Who-are-some-famous-Tamils-around-the-world
To learn Tamil see my previous posts and
memrise.com

Where to practise your languages?

TRAVEL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka
https://wikitravel.org/en/Sri_Lanka
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g293961-Activities-Sri_Lanka.html
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/SmartDeals-g293961-Sri_Lanka-Hotel-Deals.html
https://www.srilankaimmigration.org/faq/how-it-works

Official Tourist Board
http://www.srilanka.travel
Tour operators


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