Aramaic, Arabic and Hebrew - which languages are related and easy, especially for Arabic Speakers - and the Polyglot Page On Facebook

I find daily entertainment and enlightenment from the polyglots page in Facebook. Somebody asks which language is easiest for Arabic speakers. Suggestions are Hebrew, Maltese, Turkish, Farsi - and English because it is learned in school.

ARAMAIC
Somebody mentions Aramaic, the source of Hebrew and Arabic. Another reader asks, what is Aramaic?.

Aramaic was the spoken language at the time of Jesus; in the area where he lived according to the New Testament.

 Aramaic, spoken language at the time of Jesus (when I presume many were illiterate - could not read). Spoken Hebrew and Arabic came later.

Aramaic, according to the Wikipedia article, was the language in which Roman historian Josephus wrote, later translating his writing into Greek and Roman. Josephus was the defector who switched allegiance to the Romans.

ESPERANTO
Esperanto is the easiest language, especially if you already know English or one of the Romance languages such as Spanish or Italian. Like Aramaic, it is spoken by a relatively small number of people. (So is Hebrew, so is Maltese.)

VOCAB VERSUS STRUCTURE
Some comments point to vocabulary, others think grammar structure is more important. Others go for the ease of reading the written capital letters. Others go for understanding speech.

For me the language easiest to learn is the one on Duolingo the free language learning online website. Duolingo has easy Esperanto, as well as Arabic and Hebrew.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_of_Jesus
www.duolingo.com

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

Luxury and love in Georgia? And the Farsi Language used in Iran.

Flag of Georgia. From Wikipedia.

Problem
Georgia? Where is it? I've been to Atlanta, Georgia, in the USA. But not Georgia over in Eurasia.

Answer
I had just finished an aqua class in London, in Harrow, a very cosmopolitan area. In previous centuries immigrants arrived by boat in the East End of London. Nowadays they arrive at Heathrow airport and live nearby in Harrow.

A dark-haired, brown-eyes lady accidentally bomped me on the head with a sponge noodle. "I apologise!" she said. We locked eyes and smiled several times. When the lesson ended, she and her friend were talking in the water and I went to join in.

She is originally from Iran and speaks Farsi. That language is also spoken in neighbouring Afghanistan.

She recently returned from a holiday in Georgia with family from the UK, USA and Iran. When some of the family can't get back to Iran, it's easy to meet up in Georgia, which was formerly part of Russia but now independent. Currently (November 2017) you can enjoy luxury hotels at low prices, she says. She stayed at the second best standard hotel, because her group wanted enough bedrooms for all of them in the same hotel, in summer, which is high season there as it is elsewhere in the world.

I asked, "What is a well-known landmark which everybody should see, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris?"

"The animated statue of the lovers," she said. "It's a giant statue. The boy and girl move backwards and forwards, towards each other, away, then back again. It's based on the (true?) story of lovers, Christian and non-Christian, who had to part.

"It's not in the centre of the capital city, but the seaside, very nearby."

The statue is called The Statue of Love, or Man and Woman, 8 meters tall, in the seaside of Batumi, inspired by the story of Ali and Nino.

"What about the Farsi language?" I asked. Now I know that it's useful in more than one country, I am more interested. I heard an amusing talk about the Iranian language, Persian, at a Toastmasters meeting in London. We have had two memorable members, charismatic characters, who were originally from Iran.

I thought I would start by learning a useful and an easy word, used in English, and universally. Taxi.
"Is taxi the same word in your language?"

"Yes, we say taxi in Farsi."

I told her that my third level of learning languages will be Arabic and other languages with 'difficult' script. I already speak English and fluent French as a second language. I am learned Latin at school so Italian, Spanish and Portuguese are relatively easy, just a matter of putting in the time. After that, German and Scandinavian languages and Dutch.

I am learning the Cyrillic alphabets for Russian and Bulgarian. I am also learning Greek, and Hebrew which is like Greek, with one of two letters reversed right to left such as the Gimel. (In Greek alpha beta gimel delta; in Hebrew alef, bet, gimel, dalit). The gimel looks like an r in Greek but like a 7 in Hebrew.

I told her that Romanian is similar to Italian (Romania means under the rule of the Romans) with a few French words, such as Mersi for thank you.

"Mersi is also thank you in Iranian!" she said.

My family and a group of friends are already planning a trip to either Madeira (for which I need to learn Portuguese) or Bulgaria (for which I need the Cyrillic).

So now I can say taxi and thank you in Farsi. So can you.

I now have my eyes on learning Farsi, and visiting Georgia. What was previously just a name on a map, is one step closer.

If you are interested in learning languages, a free ap is Duolingo.

Currently (nov 2016) you can learn:
Chinese (hatching - in preparation - maybe you or a friend can help
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English (for speakers of various other languages)
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
(Hindi - hatching ie in preparation, maybe you or a bilingual friend can help)
(Indonesian - hatching ie in preparation, maybe you or a bilingual friend can help)
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian
Portuguese
Polish
Romanian
Russian
Spanish
Swahili
Swedish
Turkish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese
Welsh

USEFUL WEBSITES
www.duolingo.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV9cNxfwfDQ Video of Man and Woman sculpture by Tamara in Batumi, seaside of Georgia.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English and other languages.

Printing alphabets and Keyboard stickers in Greek, Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, French, Arabic, Korean, Thai and more

How do you print out keyboards?
The foreign language keyboard is not in alphabetical order but jumbled up, as is the English layout QWERTY.

For Hebrew I found this site:
http://www.qsm.co.il/Hebrew/keyboard.htm
It shows the Hebrew letters on the English letters. For example the Hebrew better l or lamed is on the English letter K key. So if I want to touch type the Hebrew letter L called lamed I can do it with taking my eyes off the print just by typing the english letter K.
http://www.qsm.co.il/Hebrew/keyboard.htm

Another way would be simply to type all the letters in Hebrew in bold. (All you need to do is run a fingertip or fingernail along all three rows of English keys, after clicking on the Hebrew letter symbol for the language you have installed - with the symbol now at the top right of your screen - on mine left of the date.

You then print that off.

If you are not sufficiently au fait with your computer or laptop to do a screen capture, print the foreign alphabet. Photograph it on your smart mobile phone. Load the picture onto your laptop. If you are using an Apple laptop such as the MacBook Pro, you can crop the photo in iPhoto to show just the screen. Then either paste it into your diary, or onto a triangular stand.

I do not need a stand because the paper seems to stand of its own accord.

How do you make a triangular stand?
Take an out of date of wanted flip over calendar with a firm cover. Pull off a piece of thick card. fold the card in half longways.  Turn the calendar open with the spiral binding at the top so it forms an A shape on your desk. Stick tape or glue the piece of card to link the two sides of the A and form a base. If you have taken a piece of card from the calendar, it should be the same width. Alternatively cut a piece from a cereal box.

Your printout of the alphabet in the foreign language on a keyboard can stand against the A frame, or be stick taped to it for a permanent aid.

Photo
Alternatively photograph your qwerty keyboard. Print onto white paper. type out the foreign symbols for each letter on your laptop or computer screen. Copy the foreign letters onto the printed sheet alongside the corresponding key. Use a coloured marker for the second alphabet.

Post it or mini sticker for keys
If you are bilingual or working with two languages all day, it might be worthwhile to print off the alphabet and stick a tiny letter on each key. I suspect if you use post its your fingers will soon slide if off. On the other hand if you use a glue, you risk getting your keys stuck down and making a mess, getting glue on your fingers. It depends how neat a person you are.

http://www.qsm.co.il/Hebrew/keyboard.htm

Somebody on a Duolingo forum suggested I should buy 'keyboard stickers'. I looked them up on the internet and immediately found them on eBay in several languages and colours. I would want a different colour from my keyboard as contrast.

I presume these stickers are ready gummed and the sort of gum which is suitable and won't melt or slide and a suitable size. You must check what is available in your location and if they would suit your situation. You could even leave them as a sign on the table without sticking them onto your keyboard.

Russian Keyboard Stickers
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RUSSIAN-KEYBOARD-STICKERS-TRANSPARENT-SUPER-DURABLE-NON-FADE-various-colours-/151785029563?var=&hash=item235717bfbb
The price for these is £1.99 (my eBay site is set to record that I am in the UK so the price appears in pounds sterling).

Greek Keyboard Stickers
See through stickers sounds good idea. On Amazon I found this set, prices quoted in dollars, American dollars I presume, $2.36 plus $4.49 to post to the UK. A bit dearer, but if you are buying them for business use and claiming them as a business expense I presume you will want the most suitable product, smart in appearance and quick to stick, rather than the cheapest.
https://www.amazon.com/KEYBOARD-STICKERS-TRANSPARENT-BACKGROUND-LETTERING/dp/B002FYFU8Q

The stickers are very reasonably priced. They come in various colours. If you have a white keys on your keyboard you will want to use any colour except white, preferably different to the colour of the English. If you have a black keys, you will want any colour except black, and probably a contrast to the white letters of QWERTY.

You can also buy stickers for other languages such as Arabic.
Or Hebrew and Arabic.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAC-ARABIC-HEBREW-ENGLISH-KEYBOARD-STICKER-NON-TRANSPARENT-BLACK-FOR-COMPUTER
From the USA. $6.85 (approx £5.20 depending on exchange rate) plus postage and packing $3.99, approx £3.03.

Check that you are buying stickers which are for your size keyboard and positioning of letters.

Other languages available in stickers are French, German, Korean, Spanish, Thai, Farsi and Persian.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, language teacher.