Books and Resources For Teaching and Learning English

 I was in an online Toastmasters International meeting on Zoom, talking about learning the English Language. 

My project was a question and answer session.

One of the audience asked me

1 How do I improve my English?

For American English, watch Friends with subtitles, several times, until you know the lines by heart (meaning you can remember the lines and repeat them or guess them after hearing the start of each sentence). 

For British English watch traditional British films such as

The Ladykillers, a black comedy, starring Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers.

My Fair Lady, starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.

a) Listen to the BBC. 

b) Listen to recordings of speeches such as the Christmas message, by the British royals. In time order, Queen Elizabeth II, the late (i.e deceased) mother of King Charles III, and speeches by King Charles III.

c) Listen to the news on the BBC.

b) Read English newspapers such as The Times and The Sunday Times. Read technical and scientific journals on subjects which interest you.

2 Where can I find out about alliteration, similes and metaphors? 

I have written a book on alliteration. It is humorous, and alphabetical. From book titles such as Famous Five, and film stars such as Marilyn Monroe, from awesome angels, to zany zebras.

For similes and metaphors, see Rhetoric in Wikipedia.

3 Where can I find idioms? 

Books. Numerous books on Amazon, in big bookshops such as Foyles where you can pick one the right price, and with large enough print for you to read easily without getting tired. 

Online. 

4 Why is my 10-year-old son at school having to learn words which he finds difficult and abstract, words like noun and adjective, when I picked up the language without knowing any of this?

Firstly, these are labels which help the teacher to quickly explain grammar. You can tell children that walking is a doing word, and a walk is the name of the activity, but it's quicker to write and say that walking is a verb and walk is the noun. 

Secondly, to find out whether a child has understood, you can ask, which is the noun? 

Think of it like symbols in mathematics. Firstly, it's quicker to write a plus sign and an euqal sign for '2+2=4', than to write out, 'add two to two together and you get four'. Also, in a mathematics exam, a pupil is asked to show the the addition signs in the working, not just give the answer, which could have been copied from the anwer page at the back of the book or copied from somebody else's homework.

Finally, many parents think they speak perfect English when they are making errors all the time. 

Errors can cause confusion. I was too polite to tell my Chinese friend that she is confusing the words lend and borrow. One day she phoned and asked if she could lend me an English-Chinese dictionary. I said yes. 

She was surprised when I didn't bring it to lunch. I was expecting her to lend me a book. I didn't realise she wanted me to lend her one of my books. 

In Chinese they have one ambiguous word which means both lend and borrow. (Ambiguous means having two meanings.)

'Having two meanings' is three words. The label 'ambiguous' is one word. 

1 Can you recomment a grammar book? The classic book is Fowler's.

2 Can you recommend a dictionary, English and American?

British English = The Concise Oxford Dictionary. Or any etymoloiicla dicitonary. An Etymological dictionary give you the language origin and meaning of the root of the word. This makes it eassssier to understand and remember words and spellings. For example, ager is Latin for field. The word agriculture is to do with farming. Hortus is Latin for garden. So horticulture is to do with gardening.

American spelling

Webster's Dictionary. Noah Webster was a publisher who produced dictionaries and school books.  He simplified spelling to make it easier to read and write, for immigrants, as well as children born in the USA.

3 How can I learn spelling? (I get confused between English and American.)

If you are academic and scientific and like to know the origins of words, learn British English. However if you simply want to learn to read and write English fast, learn and use American spelling. It was simplified to help learners like you.

4 Which is more useful, British or American English? If you are in America or selling to Americans, stick to American English. If you are liing in the UK or your job involves UK citizens, use British English. Simply looking at statistics, there are more Americans than British people.

If you want to know how many poeple speak English as a first or second language in individual countries, and the whole world, and how long it takes to learn a language, check Wikipedia.

5 Which is easiest to learn, British or American English? American English. 

However, if you simply want to communicate with lots of people around the world, consider learning Spanish, Swedish, or the made up language Esperanto.

What language was spoken before the Romans invaded Britain? Celtic.

How do I learn so many English words? Just keep on leaarning, every day. That's what everybody has to do. New technical terms and brand names come along all the time. 

Words have been changing since Shakespeare's time, and before.

If you like musical languages, learn Welsh or Italian. Italian is the language of opera. If you want to write songs and rhyming poetry, Italian is a good language with so many words ending in o and a. 

However, if you want lots of words giving you a choice of long or short words from many languges, learn and use English.

The French have tried to protect and preserve their language, through the Aliance Francaise. They fought against the introduction of the phrase le weekend. I think they lost that battle, and have finally conceded.

English took from William the Conqueror and his Norman buddies (friends) words such as beef from boeuf, which is French for cow. It bit mispronounced and changed over time. 

Banquette, bouquet, chauffeur and cul-de-sec, another 500 words. See Wikipedia for loan words from other languages, borrowed by the British. 

 English has adopted words from Greek, Latin, French and around the world. The word sputnik is Russian. Yacht is Dutch, Kindergarten is German. Safari is Swahili. 

From the bible we adopted many words and names. Cherubim and seraphim use the Hebrew im for plurals. An annotated bible given you the origin of some of words and names. El and Jo or Ya are names for God. El as in Elizabeth. Joel combines both. Ben means son of. Benjamin, son of my right hand. Reu-ben, see a son.

America is increasingly influenced by Spanish. New York has many Yiddish words, which are German, written in Hebrew. Keep shtum means keep quiet.

Looking up words in a dicitonary, and compiling lists of words in English from your favourite foreign languages, is an endless education and entertainment.

Of course, the best way to lear a language is by immersion. You can find language courses, and TEFL courses for learning to teach English, attached to colleges and universities in many foreign cities. Then you can travel overseas and teach English.

Please share links to your favourite posts.

 

Do you need to explain the moral of a story to a modern audience of several nationalisties?

Whether you are speaking in person or online, you often have people of different ages and nationalities in the audience. I am a member of a Toastmasters clubs in the West and in the East.

I am a member of a club in London, England, called Harrovians. Harrow is an area with a large immigrant population, Europeans and Indians.At my London club, I have also met three Chinese people.



I am also a member of three clubs in Singapore and a Singaporean online club with speakers from the USA, Europe, India and China.

European folk tales are familiar to us in Europe. But not to others. Unless they have seen the Disney version of Cinderella.

The majority of the population in Singapore is ethnic Chinese. I belong to the English language Toastmasters clubs.

1 Cinderella And Glass Slippers
In Singapore at a Braddell Heights Advanced speakers club workshop, I referred to Cinderella, sugesting the audience should take turns telling the story. Which everyone in Europe and the USA would know.

But a Chinese listener said, 'I have never heard of Cinderella.'

The Frenhc version was written by Perrault. Most English people would greet that information with blank looks.
Disney produced a film of Cinderella in 1950. Before most of my audience were born.

I asked, 'Name a story about a girl which Chinese children would know."

Chinese Folk Tales
She said, 'I grew up knowing the story of Mulan.'

The Chinese folk tales are all totally different. A Western audience, especially the older ones, won't know them. Unless they have seen the Disney version of Mulan.

You can amuse a foreign audience with a story which will strike them as totally new. But you have to explain everything.

What is a glass slipper? A glass flip-flop? A Chinese listener is trying to work out whether it is a day shoe or a pair of evening shoes, dance shoes, ballet shoes, and what is the significance of glass?

You need to explain the moral of the story.

Indian Folk Tales
I have listened to several Indian folk tales and completely missed the moral which was obvious to the Indian listeners. Jokes and cultural assumptions can be completely different.

2, Gravestones
I ended a talk with Spike Milligan's joke on his gravestone, "I told you I was ill."

Aftereards I asked for questions. An Indian asked, 'What's a gravestone?'

He didn't understand. I xplained, 'When you bury a dead body, you mark the place with a gravestone.'

He looked puzzled. He said, 'In my part of the world we don't bury people. Mostly we have cremation. Near the Ganges they put bodies in the river."

They don't have gravestones marking non-existent graves.

Indians grown up hearing Indian folk tales.

3.The Brothers Inheriting The Seeds
I heard an Eastern story about two brothers. Both were given a seed by the dying father.

One brother planted the seed given by the father expecting it to grow. The other brother didn't plant, but kept the seed in a box.

Who was the son who cared most for the father? Which son did the father praise?

However, the punchline praise went to the brother who did not plant the seed.

Everyone applauded. Everyone nodded. Everyone agreed it was the best story of the evening. The story teller won the prize ribbon for best speaker.

I was puzzled. I thought, the audience is over-polite. The story teller has mixed up the names of the brothers.

I afterwards asked the storyteller the point of the story. In my mind, the story was similar to the biblical story. I was sure that the moral was either: you should plant seeds, work hard, or, plan for the future.

A suitable story for gardeners, investors, entrepreneurs. For parents with lazy children.

But the storyteller said the moral was: don't be materialistic. The love of the father's gift was more important than its value.

I thought, no wonder they are starving in India. That was not the thought I was supposed to take away. The moral is, try out your speech. Make the message clear at both the start at the end. Check that the foreigners have understood the characters plot, and moral and call to action.

About the Author

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

I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a trave writer and phtographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a langauge evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting every Wednesday, on zoom the first Wednesday of the month but the other Wednesdays are workshops on app learncool.sg

Or quicker to type and easier to remember:  tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

Useful Websites

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogs

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-to-say-thank-you-in-several.html

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/05/introducing-yourself-in-english-spanish.html

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/01/second-set-of-portuguese-words.html Please share links to your favourite posts

https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club

translate.google.com

duolingo.com

The Samaritans, Jewish Food Laws And What You Eat In Restaurants Today

Problem
Who are the Samaritans, and how do their rituals relate to what happens worldwide today?

Answer
I just read an article about meeting the Samaritans in the 21st century. Most entertaining and enlightening.

Edkaprov (Edward Kaprov) - Own work

Samaritans at Mount Gerizim, West Bank, during a Sukkot pilgrimage. (Wikipedia)

A Samaritan synaogue can be seen in Holon:

I was very happy reading the newspaper article all about the Samaritans until I got to the part about the lambs being sacrificed in the street. This tradition recalls Abraham sacrificing a lamb instead of his son at Passover.

In the UK animals for food are killed in abbatoirs which are subjected to health and safety inspections. I was asked in Singapore if Jews in London sacrifice animals in the temple. Certainly not! The idea of blood running in the temple, or even in the streets, sounds like a health risk in London in the 21st century with global warming and city rats. Perhaps on a mountain in the West Bank the concerns of city dwellers from Europe do not apply.

Milk And Meat
I thought one of the ancient rules of Judaism was that no animals should see another being sacrificed, which is which eating milk and meat together is forbidden. This prevents the calf being sacrificed in front of its mother.

Jordan's Favourite Foods
I thought this was far-fetched. Until I went to Jordan and discovered that a popular dish, perhaps a national dish, is meat cooked in milk. It pops up regularly on the menu in a lunch-time café or a restaurant. I remember sitting in a café in Jordan and seeing it on the menu. Nobody else was surprised, excited, bothered, phased. Most chose other dishes anyway. But you have to try the national dish, the local dish, don't you? Yes, unless it goes against your own dietary laws, if you are orthodox Jewish or vegetarian.

Jewish Restaurant Rules
In modern times, in the restaurants you might encounter in America, say New York, or Europe, if you stop by a Jewish or Jewish style deli or lunch place, or evening restaurant, that ancient rule from Leviticus in the Bible, known as the Old Testament for Christians, leads to not mixing meat wtih milk.

How does that affect you as a person wanting a sandwich, or sit down meal? That is why no milk is served in your coffee in a kosher (meat) restaurant. I recall the embarrassing moment when I asked for milk in my coffee at a kosher-style deli. Kosher restaurants serve either milk or meat traditionally.

One deli in my area has lots of non-orthodox Jews sitting eating, whilst lots of people of all religions and none are stopping at the deli counter to buy salt beef sandwiches.

A survey showed that in the USA more American Jews are liberal than Orthodox, so there is a demand for food like mother made it, from customers who probably think, "I am happy to visit places run by, who cares -I don't want to starve on Saturday want to eat on Saturdays."

No butter is on the bread of meat sandwiches. You pop into a Jewish-style deli, run by Greeks who used to work in kosher restaurants. They open on Saturday so they can't get a  kosher Beth Din licence in London.

What might you try on holiday in the Middle East or Europe or The USA? Apart from seeing the ban on milk and meat in the Jewish-style or kosher restaurants, you might come across camel. That's a novelty.

Camel Meat Ban
However, the Samaritans don't eat camel. They say it's even worse than eating pig meat. Again that rule has a practical advantage. You don't eat your camel, beast of burden. Nor will your servant, enemy, neighbour, or passing thief.

Protecting Camels
How many people would sneak up and capture your camel to eat or sell? Far-fetched? In the UK and worldwide there's concern about the capturing of pet dogs. You may have seen YouTUbe videos of thieves attempting to capture dogs. Some will be sold as pets, others eaten.

Arabian Camel in Sinai. Photo by Florian Prischl from Wikipedia.

Ban On Eating Camels
Let's go back to the Samaritans. Absolutely fascinating to read about them. They are opposed to eating camel. That has a certain logic. The Indians don't eat beef, protecting the valuable working cow.

The British don't eat horses, which use to be the means of transport until cars. Nor do the British eat dogs, which are guide dogs, guard dogs, used in packs to chase and kill foxes (which would kill your chickens which were the source of your Sunday dinner and daily eggs), and companions.

Lots to think about.

So where can you learn more about the Samaritans?
1 Israel - Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Mosaic from Samaritan synagogue.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mosaic_from_Samaritan_synagogue.jpg

Websites For Travellers and Armchair Travellers
Samaritans article from newspaper
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180828-the-last-of-the-good-samaritans

Samaritans in Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Good_Samaritan

Mosaic in Israel Museum
https://www.itraveljerusalem.com/ent/the-israel-museum/

Travel to Israel
Travel to UK and Europe (Jewish delis and restaurants)
Travel to USA (Jewish delis and restaurants)

Jewish and Muslim Forbidden Foods
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-camel-meat-forbidden-for-Jews-but-not-for-Muslims

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

How learning Spanish Helps Everyday Life

Problem
I started learning Spanish because it was an easy language. The easiest language is the made up language, Esperanto. If you already speak French or learned Latin in school, Spanish vocabulary is easy which is a good start. but if you don't plan to visit Spain or a Spanish speaking country, why waste times?

Answers
Eventually you will probably visit a Spanish-speaking country. You need to start practising now. It only costs a little time because Duolingo and Duolingo' Tinycards online or on your phone apps make learning language easy and can be done when you are just sitting waiting for a bus or train or passenger or driver.

Pronunciation
I went to a Toastmasters International speakers club in London, England and the
Toastmaster of the Evening Jesús P, from Venezuela. I knew that Jesús was pronounced 'hay-zoo-ss' with emphasis on the second syllable.

Pronuuncing the man's name the Spanish way has several advantages. He feels more at home and at ease. You feel more in control. In an English speaking coutnry, where the Jesus in the bible is pronounced Jee-sus, with emphasis on the first syllable, you can make a distinction between when you are talking about the biblical Jesus and when you are talking about the perosn int he room or member of your club.

I have had one or two odd moments where I heard somebody say sentences such as, "I am going to call on Jesus." "Please be silent for Jesus." "I am going to ask Jesus for the money". For a moment or two, I was not sure whether the speaker was going to pray, or ask a member of the committee. For a visitor to the club, or a stranger, it can be equally confusing.

How do I know about the correct Spanish pronunciation? Because whilst I had been discussing Spanish with my husband Trevor earlier, Trevor had pointed out that in Spanish the accent is not about pronunciation but tells you on which syllable to lay the emphasis.

I was delighted that learning Spanish had helped me immediately, at Toastmasters International Clubs, long before a trip to Spain or any Spanish-speaking country, such as South America and Mediterranean islands.

Trevor had learned Spanish pronunciation so he could pronounce Spanish words and names correctly when buying Spanish wine such as Rioja and meeting sellers of wine or managers and owners of wine cellars and vineyards.

So there you have three reasons for learning Spanish:
Spanish is an easy language.
You will learn how to pronounce the names of people you meet in your home country
You will be able to pronounce the names of wines, and recognise the pronunciation of street names and landmarks on maps, and in news stories.
You will feel more in control and at ease when meeting Spanish speaking people in Spain, Latin America or island such as Majorca and Minorca.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please see my other posts on learning Spanish, Esperanto, and Spanish-speaking destinations. Share links with your friends and family and colleagues.

Abilene, Texas - What More Is There To See: statues galore and museums, literature,

Problem
Abilene, Texas is a two and a half hour drive from Fort Worth. Last time I was in Texas I did a two cetnre tour of Dallas and Fort Worth. Is it worthwhile going to Abiline to the Ciliex Museum. If there's more to see should I stay overnight, or make a long weekend of it?

Answers
https://www.nccil.org
Firstly, the Childrens Art and Literature museum is closed on Sunday and Monday, so you want to be going up on Friday, or starting very early on Saturday if you are driving over.

Is it worth a special trip? Most people love it.

A few were disappointed to see an exhibition on only one author/illustrator.

Bookshop
Some loved the bookshop which contains a few signed books. Others thought it was small.

The exhibitions, usually three a year, concentrate on all the illustrations from a book or books by a particular illustrator. The drawings are often larger and more detailed than they appear in the final version of the book. If you live in the area, and many do because Abilene is larger (in population - more populous is the correct term), then you may find that visiting a free museum three times a year is worthwhile and satisfies your desire to learn about more than one author/illustrator.

Multiple Authors?
If you want a museum which covers lots of authors and books, consider the Museum of American Writers in the USA. It opened in 2017. It was inspired by the writers' museum in Dublin, capital of Eire. (That's only about Irish writers).

Back to Abilene. What else might you include on your trip?

Texas and Pacific Depot, Abilene, Texas, now Tourist Information Centre. Photo by Billy Hathorn in Wikipedia article on Abilene.

Pick up a map at the visitors centre in a converted, restored old railroad building. By the railroad on the South blvd is Everman Park.

 Or print off a map which can be found online.

Look for six Dr Seuss statues on N 1st.and statues of Guardians, 3 Little kittens, 3 Little Pigs, Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and quotations from books.

Storybook Garden
Adamson-Spalding Storybook Garden, 1008 N 6th Street, number 1098 Abilene, Texas 79601 5151.
Also see the giant dinosaur. Plus the VW Beetle on the Grace Museum.

Buffalo
My favourite statue is the big buffalo at Frontier Texas, 625 N 1st Street. (Oddly, the statue of the bull at the Bullring in Birmingham, England is also rated highly, though the nearest beef is in supermarket sandwiches.)

When to go? Festival Time!
Second week of June every year. CALF, Children's Art and Literature Festival.

Military Museum
The military museum got very favourable reviews. People loved the tank at the back (Americans say out back, which to me sounds like the Australian phrase Outback, which means not the back yard, but the wilderness).

Parents and grandparents said children loved the area of the toys for children to play with. It's all family friendly, except you are warned that in the WWII section the Holocaust room might not be suitable for children of all ages.

Discovery Centre
The Discover Centre is not like the Discovery centres in many other cities which are based in science.  This takes the bible as a starting point. Abilene takes its name from the Hebrew bible. See reviews on TripAdvisor. You might discover that others don't believe what you believe.

Abilene is nicknamed The Key City, and The Friendly Frontier. Now you know why.

Useful Websites For Travellers
www.visittheusa.com
https://www.traveltexas.com/#/
visitbritain.com
http://visitbirmingham.com
http://www.abilenevisitors.com
https://www.visitdublin.com
https://www.ireland.com/en-gb/
https://www.nccil.org

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other reviews on Abilene; Birming, England. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Learning Foreign Alphabets - Hebrew for Mazel Tov

Problem
How do you learn a foreign alphabet?

Answers
Keep looking at the entire alphabet every day by printing it out and sticking it on the fridge door.
Do a course on Duolingo.

Stories
I have signed up for Greek, Hebrew and Russian. Today on Facebook I saw this picture. The message with it was Mazel Tov. I looked at the letters, wondered what they meant.

I remembered that Hebrew letters go from right to left. You write from the right. You read from the right. You can tell by the exclamation mark on the far left that the sentence or phrase ends on the left. Therefore it starts on the right.

The upright letter in the middle, ending the first word is an L. The first letter on the far right looks like a quickly written M with a line underneath. M.L! Suddenly I saw that the words read Mazel Tov!

Mazel is luck. Tov is good. Good luck, but the same words also do for congratulations and well done.

When might Hebrew be useful to you?

1 FOOD LABELS

Reading labels on food and drink in supermarkets. It's handy to be able to recognize the word Kosher, 

K - SH - R on a cake or bottle of wine, not necessarily in the kosher section, when going to a party, or entertaining somebody who might be keeping kosher, or organizing a large event

2 GREETING CARDS

Finding congratulations cards for a friend or when invited to a wedding or barmitzvah - and what not to send by mistake as condolences to a funeral.

3 GRAVESTONES, MODERN MONUMENTS 

Gravestones of family, ancestors and famous people. Monuments such as Holocaust memorials worldwide. Synagogues in cities.

4 PICTURES ON HISTORY WEBSITES

5 PHOTOS of ISRAEL 

Pictures of tourist sites in ISRAEL.

6 NEWS STORIES

Street names and traffic signs in news stories.

7 TRANSLATING BIBLE STORIES

Finding what the original words were before translation into Greek, Latin and English. For example, was the word translated as virgin meaning, in that era, or that context, young girl, unmarried girl, novice or what?

8 HELP WITH OTHER LANGUAGES

Hebrew has letters similar to Greek and Cyrillic (used for Russian and Romanian). 

Tips

www.duolingo.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Traveller on the internet. Author, writer, speaker. Teacher of English and other languages. Please read my other posts on travel and learning languages, Greek, Hebrew, Cyrillic, Romanian, Russian and more. Follow me, bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.

Why You Should Learn Another Language or Practise Those You Know

Problem
I already speak one other language fluently, French. I would like to keep up my French, and learn another language, Spanish. I would also like to be able to read words in Greek, Hebrew and Russian. (And eventually Arabic and an Indian script for H i n d i, Urdu and Tamil.)

Answers
LEARNING ALPHABETS
I have signed up on Duolingo for Greek, Hebrew and Russian to learn the alphabets. When more become available I shall add more, Arabic and an Indian language.

Wikipedia has long explanations, too long for my purpose. I shall look in the simplified Wipkepedia next.

LEARNING LANGUAGES
I started learning Spanish on Duolingo, but switched to Italian after I went on a holiday to Italy courtesy of the Umbrian tourist board (seeing Perugia and Francis of Assisi sites). Read my previous posts after you've read this one. I thought learning Spanish and Italian at the same time might be confusing, although it might also make it easier to learn similar words.

Stories
I go to two Toastmasters International speaking groups and a book group in London as well as Toastmasters International meetings all over the world from Singapore, Thailand and China to the USA.

At a book group in London, over tea and coffee after discussing books we were discussing learning similar languages and getting confused between Portuguese, Spanish and Italian. One of my friends said,  "Isn't d o v e where in Spanish but d o n d e where in Italian?"

One solution would be to learn - and SPEAK Spanish. If you are alone, speak to yourself, reading aloud a card of the day's words displayed on your breakfast table - print it out the night before.

Then switch to Italian as if you have gone out to a restaurant over dinner in the evening. Maybe French or Portuguese at lunch time. Look up the words for the food you are actually eating, because that may be what you want to ask for in a foreign country.

If you are retired or unemployed you could do this more easily. When you go for a job interview and you are asked about your hobbies or successes you can talk about learning languages.

Prepare a couple of sentences ready to speak. Place a phrase book in your pocket ready to pull out and show. Write on the back of your address card, (easy to find instantly in your right hand pocket) with the name of the language website you recommend.)

Holidays and Business Travel
Why learn languages? It is good for going on holiday: French in Canada, France in Europe, French speaking islands (see Wikipedia for a list) and French restaurants worldwide. Spanish in the USA, South America, Spain in Europe. Portuguese in Portugal, Macau, South America. Italian in Italy and Italian restaurants.

Study Latin
Latin - similar to Italian, basis for many other languages such as Spanish Portuguese; Romanian - similar to Italian;

LATIN helps with English - language worldwide. English is the universal language of pilots. See Latin on Roman constructions, ruins worldwide, everywhere from UK, England, Wales (Caerleon museum just across the border, Scotland (Hadrian's Wall), and Italy, and all over the Middle East.

Recognize Greek
Greek, is spoken in Greece, written on road directions signs. See it on Greek planes making the exit looking like Exodus. Notice bible book names (Leviticus is laws) . Greek is used in maths and science. Wartime cemeteries worldwide have Latin inscriptions - pro patria - for the fatherland.

Hear Hebrew
Hebrew, which you hear in Israel and news reports with subtitles. Hebrew is the basis of sentence construction in the English language used in the King James Bible. (For example: Thy god, my God. NB no verb, balanced construction. You also see it on walls of synagogues and gravestones, USA, UK, Jewish tour of Prague, either on visits, tourist websites and videos, or in encyclopaedias.)

Social Reasons
Learning a language is sociable. You can make friends. One friend of mine met his wife through Spanish classes in London, England.

www.duolingo.com
Author
Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. Please read my other posts on Romania, Romanian language and other languages. Please share links to posts.

More Americanisms: baby Daddy, badass, bible

Problem
The list of Americanisms is so long I get tired reading it. Interestingly, get tired and get tired of mean different things.

Answer
Start a second list of Americanisms. Here it is.

Americanism - British English (alphabetical)
baby Daddy - short for baby's Daddy, child's father
badass/career criminal - a baddie, tough, a toughie, intimidating, a villain with a bad attitude, a nasty piece of work, looking for a fight, up to no good, somebody you wouldn't want to meet on a dark night, a suspicious character, somebody you wouldn't trust further than you could throw him, one of the usual suspects
fix breakfast - make breakfast

British English - Americanism

baddie - badass

biological father - baby Daddy

make breakfast - fix breakfast

Biblical English
I like the King James bible because the quotations from it are popular and recognisable even if the English is old-fashioned.
Whither thou goest I will go ...

However, you can read a modern version:
NIVUK stands for New International Version UK.


An American Catholic version:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/

British English - Americanism

Many people find that variations on their home's version of English grates. ."They hate us because they ain't us."

However, the very fact that I am writing this post shows you that I am fascinated by different words in different languages.

My last translation from English to Americanism:
I have finished - I am done!
translate english to american english

Tips
I have written my favourite Americanisms, which I can use in speeches, in a notebook.
wiki americanisms\
 (Dictionaries of Americanisms include Bartletts's.

Useful Websites

https://www.bible.com/versions/113-nivuk-new-international-version-anglicized

Catholic

http://www.usccb.org/bible/

Author
Angela Lansbury, author, lived in Rockville, Maryland, USA, and North West London, England. English teacher and learner and teacher of languages.
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Horses Statues in Haymarket - horses, history, and Harrow

London has lots of equestrian (horseback) statues but one which I have seen several times from passing buses in the horses statue on the corner of Haymarket. Four horses.

Often from the bus you see the horses. Or when walking past on the other side of the road towards Trafalgar Square you see the horses, the base half obscured by tourists enjoying a photo opportunity underneath the massive statue.

I thought they were new. I googled horses and Piccadilly and was astonished to see in Wikipedia that they had been there since 1992 - more than twenty years ago!

When I talked about the horses to family, they immediately said, "Four horses of the Apocalypse?" No. That is from the bible.

These horses are the four horses of Helios, Greek god of the Sun. In those days you kept horses in pairs to pull large chariots.

From Wikipedia I checked Helios and discovered: "Helios was described as a handsome titan crowned with the shining aureole of the Sun, who drove the chariot of the sun across the sky each day to earth-circling Oceanus and through the world-ocean returned to the East at night. In the Homeric hymn to Helios, Helios is said to drive a golden chariot drawn by steeds (HH 31.14–15); and Pindar speaks of Helios's "fire-darting steeds" (Olympian Ode 7.71). Still later, the horses were given fiery names: Pyrois, Aeos, Aethon, and Phlegm."

A few paragraphs on, about Helios, up pops another story about the horses: The son borrows Dad's car, in this case a chariot, and can't control it. (So - what's new! 'Nothing new under the sun,'we say.

The horses are shown rearing up on their hind legs. That makes room for you to stand underneath for a photo with the legs forming a frame overhead.

The statue looks black. That is fitting to show black horses. Black will not show marks and rain like white horses. It was a surprise to me that the material is bronze.

The plaque underneath was a bit hard to read. But If you enlarge the picture you can see the details.

My research in Wikipedia revealed whole sections of tables of columns divided horizontally showing facts and photos about statues around London and historical statues in London by Borough. Also listed are organisations connected with plaques and monuments.

Still at the back of my mind is a hope that one day we will have statues to Mrs Beeton and Heath Robinson.

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

Yes, you do speak HEBREW !

Shalom - peace or hello, same root in Aramaic as the Arabic salaam.  Do you know the names Bethlehem and Elizabeth, Benjamin, Reuben, Joseph and Joel, ?  And the words seraphim and cherubim? The plural in Hebrew is im.

Bible
cherubim seraphim

Placenames
Beth is house
Bethlehem is house of bread

Personal Names
Elizabeth - beth is a building or house. Modern Hebrew would be Beit. T or TH?
Ben is son of
Benjamin son of my right hand. You will find this noted in the small print at the bottom of the page in many annotated copies of The Bible. (Also known in the Jewish community as The Hebrew Bible, and to Christians as the Old Testament.)
Reuben - see - a son!

Ja or Jo is one of the old names of God. Hence Jaweh, and Jehovah, as in Jehova's witness.
Many names begin with Jo.
Another name is El (as in Allah)
So Joel combines both versions of the Lord.

Seeing, Translating and Learning Hebrew
Where can you hear modern Hebrew?
In Israel. Songs on discs and YouTube.

Where can you hear ancient Hebrew?
In synagogues worldwide.

Where can you see Hebrew?
 In prayerbooks in synagogues and libraries. On the walls of synagogues. For example, UK, Spain. On street signs in Israel. In Jewish cemeteries. On Jewish tours in cities in countries such as: Warsaw, Poland; Amsterdam in the Netherlands; Ireland; London, UK; New York, USA.

Where can you learn Hebrew?
Work on a kibbutz in Israel.
In the UK and USA Rabbis and other Teachers of Hebrew who coach Barmitzvah boys. Ask for group lessons or individual coaching at the nearest synagogue.

From the web.
Online teachers of Hebrew, based in Israel.
Jewish graves in Find a grave.
Websites about travel and monuments in Israel.
Note that the language is written from right to left, and books are reversed and start with the first page at 'the back'. The same applies to arabic. An Arabic speaking Moslem friend of mine was amazed and amused to find that Hebrew was 'just like Arabic'.

Related Names


Easy Placenames
Tel Aviv - tel is hill and Aviv is spring.
jerusalem - salem/shalom/salaam means peace - city of peace

Some more place names
Tel Aviv
Tel is hill. Aviv is spring.
Beer Sheba. Beer is well. Sheba or seba is seven. Seven wells.
Count 1-4: echad, shtaim, shalosh, arba.
If you ever learned Israeli dancing, the caller will count 1-4 in Hebrew.

Jerusalem
City of Peace. (If only!) Salem or Shalom, like the Arabic Salaam, means peace.
The author Sholom Aleichem - his name means Peace Be With you. You might know the song, Jerusalaim, shel bahav. Jerusalem, city of gold.
See my blog on Yiddish.

Wikipedia has the Hebrew alphabet.