Reading the news overseas in Simple Spanish, Swedish, Malay and Esperanto

El Mundo, Spanish for the world, is the name of a Spanish newspaper.

 When you are overseas, you can gain confidence and have fun everyday picking up a new language. The easy languages are in groups. 

Romance Languages

If you speak English as a first or second language, you will find it easy to pick up a group of classical, or romance, or Germanic languages. Easy languages, taking fewest hours, in the sunny south are Spanish, with Portuguese being similar, as well as Italian. 

How do we know how long it takes to learn a language? Look in Wikipedia and it will tell you. Wikipedia refers you back to other sources. The American military trains interpreters and translators. Staff are sent on courses. Language schools also know how many lessons are needed to get a class of pupils up to different levels, basic conversation, intermediate and advanced, fluent, bilingual.

Spanish And Related Romance Languages

The romance languages come from Rome and Romans, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French. 

The Spanish for hello, reverse the sounds of the vowels and you get Hola. Remove the H and you get the Portuguese Ola. 

Look at the newspapers in Spain every day and you will quickly pick up or be reminded of half a dozen words.

American and Spanish Place Names

If you recognize the city name, Los Angeles, which means the angels, you already know the word for 'the'. In English we add s for plurals. The same goes in Spanish. Notices the  s in las Palmas the palms, or es in Los Angeles. A is the feminine ending, like the name Maria, and O is used for masculine, as in the name Mario. You have now learned, and can teach family and friends, three words and one grammar rule.

Swedish, Scandinavian and Germanic Languages

The easy languages are Swedish, similar to Norwegian. Or Dutch (used in The Netherlands and Belgium). 

Asian and Oriental Languages

In Asia the easiest languages are Malaysian and Indonesian, which are the same basics with slightly different added vocabulary, like England and American English. 

Japanese and Chinese use the same traditional writing. 

Classical Languages

The classical languages are Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Many medical terms are Greek. Many plants have Latin names. The Bible was written in Hebrew. The Christians introduced the New Testament, and renamed the bible The Old Testament. Priests would learn and teach Hebrew to read the Old Testament, Greek to read the new Testament, and the Romans adopted Christianity and used Latin in church services. A Priest called Cyril combined Hebrew and Greek letters to make an alphabet for Russian speakers, so their alphabet, called Cyrillic after him, and used in Russia and with a couple of different letters in Bulgaria.

Hebrew, Arabic and Malay

Hebrew is written right to left. So is Arabic. The words for hello are peace, Shalom in Hebrew, Salaam in Arabic. Selamat in Malaysian. Notice the same three consonants, S/SH - L - M.

Hindi

Hindi and Urdu are another pair of languages which overlap. Hindi and Tamil have very pretty writing, but involve more effort, unless have Indian family which is an incentive and an aid. However, I recently discovered a YouTube video which tell you 100 English words used in Hindi. 

Esperanto

If all this is still too challenging, the easiest language is a more recently made up language, Esperanto, which means I hope. It is a bit like simplified Spanish. You can stay for a couple of days in homes of other Esperanto speakers worldwide. It is popular in countries whose languages are not spoken by many others, offered as an A level to schoolchildren in Hungary. 

Spanish Newspapers

El Mundo

El Pais

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Learn The Arabic Alphabet | For Kids | الحروف العربية

Visuals and repetition here help you to recognize and memorize the alphabet. You may notice that a few words are similar to Aramaic, Hebrew and Indonesian. The language teacher's greeting. Salaam peace, has the same three letters, consonants, S/SH L M, as salaam (Arabic) shalom (Hebrew) and selamat (Indonesian). 

Malyaisna and Indonesian are very similar, with a few vocabulary changes, like American and British English, so the Malaysian for good morning is selamat pagi, literally peace morning. Just as the Hebrew shalom means hello and goodbye, selamat in Indonesia and Malaysia will be understood to mean hello or goodbye.

Arabic, Hebrew, Cyrillic

If you learn a few Arabic letters you are part way to learning Hebrew letters. The priest Cyril combined the Greek and Hebrew letters used to write the old and new Testaments for the Christians to create the Russian and Bulgarian alphabet named after him, Cyrillic. so Arabic is like a hand with fingers pointing you to understanding, recognizing and learning other languages.

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A few words

THE SAME!

bank - bank

mall - mall

supermarket - supermarket

Arabic - English

ana - I

English - Arabic

I - ana

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.

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THE ALPHABET EXPLAINED: The origin of every letter

Flashcards and trilingual books for learning languages

I bought a set of 11 language cards from OOOZU. 

this weekend I was looking for a background for a zoom meeting with Hapy Birthday in multiple languages. 

Useful Websites

https://chrikarublog.wordpress.com/multilingual-flashcards/

Chineasy

ooozu.com

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Language-Cards-OOOZU-Lightweight-

trilingual Books

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trilingual-English-Arabic-Illustrated-Vocabulary/

Yiddish Words - German with a bit of Hebrew

 Yiddish is mainly German vocabulary. A few words of Hebrew. Written in Hebrew.

Carried around the world. Dropped into the local language in New York, London, and worldwide.

Yiddish - English

ganif - thief

machataynim - in-laws

mishpocha - family

oy veh - oh dear/goodness gracious/well, I never

kaput - broken, not working

l'chaim - to life (used repeatedly in song in Fiddler on the roof)

shlemiel - idiot?

shnorrer - beggar, person looking for a freebie, hustler?

shobbas - sabbath, Saturday, shabbat(Hebrew)

shpiel - game

tuchus - bottom, behind, fanny

yomtov - religious festival day, holiday (Hebrew day-good)

English - Yiddish

god willing

good health

cheers/(literally to life) - la-chaim

oh dear - oy veh

Please God by you

I wish you well to wear it 

On Amazon books, and in big bookshops, you will find several amusing books on Amazon the Uk version ending co.uk and the US version.com,, as well as straightforward dictionaries, and phrase books, and teach yourself books.

Duolingo has Yiddish.

Useful Resources - Books

Oy Vey

The Joys of Yiddish

-ends-

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How to type Hebrew and other foreign languages in Duolingo when you have only an English keyboard

 How do you fill in the blanks in Duolingo when it tells you to type in Hebrew, or another language you are learning, and you don't have that keyboard. 

First, try to copy the word.  I used to try this without success. When you move your mouse down away from the English to over the Hebrew pop up the pop up vanishes. The trick is to move the mouse slowly.  Then you can past the word, the next time you are asked to do that exercise again.paste the word, 

Sometimes you copy one word, but the next question asks you for two, such as red dress, when you have copied only the word red. The solution for this is to click on make easier. That asks you for one word instead of two making up the sentence. 

Useful Websites

https://www.wikihow.com/Install-Hebrew-Keyboard-on-Windows

https://support.google.com/gboard/answer/7068494?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid

https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-write-Hebrew-alphabet-in-Duolingo#:~:text=Duolingo%20does%20not%20offer%20a,copy%20and%20paste%20your%20text.

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How the Hebrew Alphabet is related to English, Cyrillic, Aramaic, Arabic, Ladino, and Yiddish

Arabic and Hebrew

Hebrew and Arabic are both official languages of Israel. You can speak Arabic in many more countries. Why learn Hebrew?

Wy Hebrew?

Why learn to read or write Hebrew or study Hebrew? To read the bible in the original language - not only one of many translations - some of which are wrong or disputed. 

The original Hebrew words may have other meanings, or ambiguous meanings, or be metaphors, or have numerical meaning, of interest to people who are scholars or superstitious.

You might want  Arabic and Hebrew are both national languages of Israel which has Hebrew speaking and Arabic speaking populations. Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is still spoken by small groups in Israel and Syria. You can read Arabic and Hebrew on on kosher and halal food in supermarkets and online. 

Here is the Hebrew written left to write.

Alef	Bet	Gimel	Dalet	He	Waw/Vav	Zayin	Chet	Tet	Yod	Kaf
א‎	ב‎	ג‎	ד‎	ה‎	ו‎	ז‎	ח‎	ט‎	י‎	כ‎
										ך‎
Lamed	Mem	Nun	Samech	Ayin	Pe	Tsadi	Qof	Resh	Shin	Tav
ל‎	מ‎	נ‎	ס‎	ע‎	פ‎	צ‎	ק‎	ר‎	ש‎	ת‎
	ם‎	ן‎			ף‎	ץ‎

Vowels

The aleph is silent and used as a hanger for the vowels written underneath as dots or a short dash like a hyphen.

Final Letters

Hebrew has final letters, like Arabic and Greek.

If you show the Hebrew alphabset written downwards, that avoid the problem of confusing or misleading the reader or learner.

Arabic and Hebrew - Differences

Arabic is cursive (joined up writing). Hebrew is written in block letters (seaparate letters). 

The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea scrolls, now in a museum in Jerusalem, are not one document from one era, as I thought, but many scrolls from different eras, in several languages, including Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. The first scrolls were found by Bedouins, not in one cave, but a series of caves, eventually archaelogists found about 40 caves hollowed out by humans.

Hebrew and English

If you use the English alphabet, you already know the word derived Alphabet. The word alphabet is derived from the first two leters of the Hebrew alphabet. Aleph. Bet.

Hebrew and Bamitzvahs

A 13 year old boy marks his coming of age at his 13th birthday by reading the day's passage from the Hebrew bible which is still written by hand on a scroll. (Therefore extremely expensive to make.)

Hebrew and Yiddish

Hebrew is used to write Yiddish (which is derived from spoken German),

 Hebrew and Ladino

and Ladino (which is derived from spoken Spanish).

Hebrew and Arabic

A few Hebrew and Arabic words are similar. For example, the words for peace, Hebrew Shalom and Arabic Salaam.

However, another greeting in Arabic is marhaba.

The words for two numbers are similar. 

the word for God is sinilar. In Hebrew it is pronounced El, in Arabic Allah.

Hebrew and Arabic are the national languages of Israel.

Some of the Hebrew letters are similar to the derived Greek and Russian letters.  

Hebrew and Arabic are both written from right to left. Books written in Hebrew and Arabic open from  right to left. If you go to a Jewish wedding or festive meal you might be given a prayer book or song book opening from right to left.

Aramaic

Jesus probably spoke Aramaic to other people in the stree, assuming he was a real person, not a fictitious person, and one person, not two or more people from different times, or a  series of people, or a conglomorate character describing several people, such as the holder of an office, such as a teacher or rabbi or high priest, most likely spoke aramaic, but lived in the time attributed to him, born around the first year A.D. 

He would have spoken and/or read Hebrew in the temple. Just as Italians would speak Italian to each other but classical Latin in church.

the Jewish kaddish (praise of God) is said in Aramaic as part of synagogue services, as well as a mourner's kaddish, recited after a death, to show that despite death one still believes in and praises God.

Marriage Contracts

In modern times a Jewish marriage contract given to the bride is often in Arabic, but may be multilingual. It is written in Aramaic, sometimes also in Hebrew and English. The basic contract from a synagogue might have only the synagogue symbol or logo. However, it is common for the couple to order an ornate marriage contract with a decorated border or flowers or others symbols in colours and gold for display in a frame in the home.these are sold on the internet at various prices. You get what you pay for, as the saying goes. They vary from the simplest and smallest to the largest and most elaborate.

Arabic Alphabet

Wiki reminds us> 'The Arabic alphabet is an abjad that is used to write several languages of the Middle East such as Arabic, Persian, Pashto and Urdu.

Checking Languages

I checked Wikipedia because it gives references to different sources. Wiipedia articles on these languages are long and complicated. If you just want a quick overview or a picture of an alphabet, Simple Wikipedia is useful. it does, however, write the Hebrew alphabet left to write, which is absurd. I have never seen this before.  I have several books for adults and children on learning Hebrew and they have the alphabet written the way a teacher of Hebrew would show the alphabet, written from right to left.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_language

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language#/media/File:Israel_in_Hebrew.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_Scrolls

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_marriage_contract

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketubah

On Amazon.

How to be a Polyglot (meaning multilingual) - learn Chinese, Dutch, Hebrew, Spanish, Swedish

I am learning several languages on Duolingo. When I get tired or bored, I open another language. I read the introductory page, why I should learn it, a couple of grammar rules.

Why should you take advice from me? Because, according to Duolingo's end of the year summary, I am one of the top 4% of learners of several languages, maybe all.  

Where do I get the time? I am retired, although very busy with Toastmasters International, often grammarian or language evaluator at meeting. (Plus managing inherited property, seeing friends and family, tidying, writing poetry, writing blogs, writing books, travelling.)

I spend a minimum of just 5 minutes a day. We all take breaks from other activities. Over coffee. After coffee. If I get up early. If I can't sleep. If I want a break from upsetting news, to de-stress, clear my mind, bore myself with repetition. Instead of reciting mantras, I practise vocabulary.

A few words from each language. 5 minutes a day on each language? At least five minutes a week on each language. And five minutes a day on one language. Usually two. Here's what I learned today.

Flag of Republic of China

CHINESE - ENGLISH

gong xi (she) fa tai (tie) - Happy (Chinese) new year

hau (how) - good  (reply to how are you)

ma - (question word)  really? / is that right / is that so?

ni (pronounced knee) - you

Ni hau + literally you good  = how are you ? / hello

shan - hill / mountain

ENGLISH - CHINESE

happy (Chinese) new year - gong xi (she) fa tai (tie)

Hill / mountain - shan

hello / how are you - ni hau

good - hau

really? is that right? / is that so? - ma?

you - ni

Flag of the Netherlands.

DUTCH

boterham - sandwich, not necessarily ham

brod - bread

de - the

en - and

een - a/an (just change the vowel and it is almost the same as English)

het - the or it

ik - I

jullie - you

krant - newspaper

melk - milk

menu - menu (the same word, how easy is that!)

of - or

rijst - rice

vrouwen - women

water - water

we - we

Words  which are the same in both Dutch and English, menu, water, we.  However, like German, the written w is pronounced v. 

Confusion Cleared

Je is not I but you, prnounced more like yay. Jullie is not Julie but you. I remember, Jullie, it's you. The month of July is juli. Een is a but en is and.

Flag of Finland

FINNISH - ENGLISH

ja - and

kiitos - thank you

kippis - cheers

no - well

paljon onnea - congratulations

tervetuloa - welcome

ENGLISH - FINNISH

and - ja

cheers - kippis

congratulations - paljon onnea

thank you - kiitos

welcome - tervetuloa

well - no

FRENCH - ENGLISH

(un) accord - an agreement

aire de joux pour enfants - childen's playground/ play area

acheter - buy

acompte - deposit

agent immobilier - property agent (US) estate agent (UK) (property - something immobile)

(un) bail - a lease

bilan - survey

caution - gurantee/security deposit

flcons de neige - snowflake

frais - fees

locataire - tenant

logement - accommodation

(le) loyer - the rent

mensuel - monthly

moulin rouge - red windmill (note that the adjective is second place)

non - no

oui - yes

piscine - swimming pool

ENGLISH - FRENCH

accommodation - logement

activities - activités

buy - acheter

children's playground

children's swimming pool / paddling pool

condo - co-ownership - co-propriete

family friendly - conviviale et familiale

a lease - un bail

fees - frais

Jacuzzi ' spa bath - baignoir/bain balnéo

monthly - mensuel

red windmill - moulin rouge

the rent - le loyer

rent - louer

security deposit - caution

serviced apartment - appartement avec services

shop - magasin

shop on site - boutique sure place

swimming pool - piscine

swimming pool for children - children's pool - piscine pour enfants

survey- bilan

Flag of Israel.

HEBREW - ENGLISH

baruch - bless(ed)

ben is son, as in the name Benjamin.

Beth lehem, means house of bread, or bakery.

ha - the

Shalom, meaning peace, is hello and goodbye, as in the city name Jerusalem, city of peace. 

ma? - what

ma zeh - what is this?

sheve/shiva - seven (as in 7 nights of mourning for post-funeral prayers, and Beer Sheva the town, probably originally an oasis of seven wells)

tov - good

ENGLISH - HEBREW

bless(ed) - baruch

bread - lehem

good - tov

hello/goodbye/peace - shalom

house - beit (beth)

son - ben

the - ha

this - zeh

what? - ma?

what's this - ma zeh?

In Duolingo, you don't have to worry about clicking on the wrong word becuase nothing happens until you click on submit. When you clock on the forign language word, either it automatically pronounces it for you, and you can repear it aloud, or you can click on the microphone or loudspaker symbol. So you can click on the four alternatives offered and learn four words, four vowels or consonants, per question, instead of just one.

SPANISH - ENGLISH

angeles - angels, plural. Note the letter s for plurals, like in English. As in the Californian city, Los Angeles, meaning the angels.

camarero(s)- waiter(s)

dos - two

el - the (masculine, singular)

ensalada - salad

feliz navidad - happy Christmas

Los - the, plural, as in Los Angeles, the city in California, USA

mes - table

una - a/one

para - for

pescado - fish

por favor - please

ENGLISH - SPANISH

chicken - pollo

for - para

Happy Christmas - feliz navidad

please - por favor

salad - ensalada 

table - mesa

Flag of Sweden. From Wikipedia.

Swedish looks like simplified, shortened English.

SWEDISH - ENGLISH

April - April

dag - today

det - it

eftermiddag - afternoon

i - in

Ja - yes

juni - June

jag - I

kall - cold

November - november

somrarna - summer

vi - we

vintern - winter

ENGLISH - SWEDISH

afternoon - eftermiddag

April - april

cold - kall

I - jag

June - juni

in - i

it - det

November - november

summer - somrarna

today - dag (very similar to the English word day)

we - vi

winter - vintern

yes - ja (same as German)

Useful Websites

duolingo.com (Languages include Dutch, Finnish, French, Hebrew, Spanish, Swedish

wikivoyage phrasebook 

https://swissfrenchschool.ch/blog/en/french-vocabulary/real-estate-vocabulary

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Arabic alphabet songs from the quick to the easy, and the whole alphabet written out

 I thought of asking the Facebook's polyglot pages members for recommendations for alphabet songs. Then I thought of just googling it myself. Up came lots of answer.  Thry two or three. Then when you like one, pin it.

The first one I tried went fast through the.

I found the constant injunctions to follow Allah were irritating. If you are a devout Muslim, and teaching your own childen, you might be delighted. If you are an adult, it is a distraction to keep going off away from task in hand.

I then went back into wikipedia and found a helpful chart. If you know either Hebrew or Greek, the Arabic suddenly starts to make sense. A, b, t, g, h, ... Now I can go back to Duolingo and make much fast progress. Especially if I print off a chart of the Arabic alphabet.

My memory aids are, start with alif, just a straight line, like the number one. Next is ba,  like an empty bowl or basin, with a teeny foot supporting it on the table. Then thirdly, ta, equivalent of gammal, ta, a tea cup with tea inside, or thanks for the tea, two eyes.  Fourthly, da, do I want some more yes I do, three eyes. Fifth is gim, give me some more, table and hand. Ha, table and hand but nothing. Ha with a dot on top is stranger.  Dal is like a door opening. 

Useful Websites

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Holocaust Memorial in Tirana, capital of Albania

 

Holocaust Memorial. Tirana. Albania. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The memorial is in three languages, Albanian, Hebrew, English.

How to learn Hebrew

• 

  alef

 
• 

  bet

 
• 

  gimel

 
• 

  dalet

 

• 

  he

 
• 

  vav

 
• 

  zayin

 
• 

  het

 
• 

  tet

 
• 

  yod

 
• 

  final kaf

 
• 

  kaf

 
• 

  lamed

 
• 

  final mem

 
• 

  mem

 
• 

  final nun

 
• 

  nun

 
• 

  samekh

 
• 

  ayin

 
• 

  final pe

 
• 

  pe

 
• 

  final tsadi

 
• 

  tsadi

 
• 

  qof

 
• 

  resh

 
• 

  shin

 
• 

  tav

This is the Hebrew alphabet written from left to right.

im is the ending for plural words. As in cherubim and seraphim.

Also collective nouns might end in im.

ani - I

brokoli - broccoli

ba- layla - att night

ha-ze - this (the this)

he -the

ha- shana the year

im salat - with salad

layla - night

o - or

shel - of

shevua - week (literally 7 for seven days)

toster - toaster

utu (or written as atah) -you

ve - of

 Useful Websites

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_letters

Blessings for Friday Night candle lighting, wine, bread

https://reformjudaism.org/sites/default/files/ShabbatFridayEveningBlessings_1.pdf?_gl=1*1uhrd82*_ga*MTgzNjU3MDI2LjE2ODIwNDk1Mzc.*_ga_6WX143SJW5*MTY4MjA0OTUzNy4xLjAuMTY4MjA0OTUzOS4wLjAuMA..

Hebrew101

https://www.hebrewpod101.com/hebrewpod101-vs-duolingo

Learn words being spoken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRqSxy6pwyg