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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An easy language for travellers - ten words which are almost the same

 

Swedish - I wish I had started it earlier. It is like a cross between English and German. 

Look at these words

Swedish - English

är - are

bruna - brown

cat - katt

dotter - daughter

kaffe - coffee

katt - cat

sommar - summer

son - son

syster - sister

tomat - tomato

vinter - winter

English - Swedish

are - är

brown - bruna

daughter - dotter

coffee - kaffe

sister - syster

son - son

summer - sommar

tomato - tomat

winter - vinter

I could not find how to change to Swedish in blogger so I copied the letter a with the two dots above it from translategoogle.

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

https://translate.google.com/

Handy tips which make travelling easy and fun from Angela.

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The easiest language to learn - over is over!

 Swedish is the easiest language to learn if you speak English. Even easier than Spanish and the made up totally regular language Esperanto.

Look at these words. The initials are often the same. Everything is so similar.

Writing down the words I have just learned in alphabetical order will help me to remember them.

Swedish - English

at (with a circle over the a) - at (pronounced ought - that is what the circle is for)

bakom - behind (like at the back of) (pronounced bokom

bredvid - beside or next to, (vid sounds like see in video)

(the) dog - hunden (the hound)

du - you

flyger - flying

framat (with a circle over the a) - forward

Hasten (with two dots over the a) - the horse (the horse hastens, or hastens you, that's horse power) 

over (with two dots over the o) - over

renarna - reindeer / renen - the reindeer

sitter -  sitting

star (with a circle over the a) - standing

This lesson is over. The Swedish for over is over.

Useful websites

duolingo.com

Help with from Facebook on learning Swedish on Duolingo

 I reached a certain level of my Duolingo Swedish course and the system asked me if I wanted to share an announcement on Facebook about my achievement. I did.

The Duloingo system put up a picture not saying the language but listing words I had learned.

This forced me to check whether I could still remember them. I could, six out of eight, and in context I can turn them into English. But the word endings were a puzzle. Was it book or books? To laugh, I laugh? I went into translate Google to check the Swedish English and turn the results back English to Swedish and again reversing. Here are the results.

Swedish - English

1 flicka - girl

2 morgon = morning, like the German, morgen

3 bocker looks like bok which is book - is bocker books?

Yes. Add two dots over the o and add two letters of the alphabet and you have the plural, books.

4 Kommer looks like come and sounds like come. It translates as comes. 

5 fragar with a circle above the first a, ask?

fraga is ask. fragar (with a circle above the first a) is questions

6 skrattar - laughing

7 hastar with two dots over the first a is horses

Simple Wiki explains the pronunciation

There are three characters in the Swedish language that are not used in English. These are å, ä and ö. The letter å is a vowel sound between [a] and [o], similar to the English word awe. The letter ä is a vowel sound similar to [ɛ], like in the English word bed. The letter ö is a vowel sound between [o] and [ɛ], pronounced [øː] like the u in the English word burn. These characters are also used in the Finnish language, while Norwegian and Danish languages replace ä and ö with similar characters æ and ø.

Swedish also has some important differences in grammar. Definite articles are suffixed onto the end of their nouns, so ett hus (a house) becomes huset (the house). Also unlike English, Swedish uses two grammatical genders called Common and Neuter. Nouns of the Common gender are sometimes called "en words", and many words for living (or once-living) things are "en words". Nouns of the Neuter gender are sometimes called "ett words".

Swedish	English
Ett/En	One
Två	Two
Tre	Three
Fyra	Four
Fem	Five
Sex	Six
Sju	Seven
Åtta	Eight
Nio	Nine
Tio	Ten
Ja	Yes
Nej	No
Jag	I
Du	You
Mig	Me
Han	He
Hon	She
Vi	We
De/dem	They/them
Jag är	I am
Sverige	Sweden
Hus	House
Hem	Home
Väg	Way
Björnar	Bears
Hjälp	Help

Basic Swedish Expressions

God dag/Hej	Good day/Hello
Hur mår du?	How are you?
Jag mår bra, tack	Very good, thank you
Tack	Thank you
Tack så mycket	Thank you very much
God morgon	Good morning
God eftermiddag	Good evening
Hej då	Goodbye

Useful websites

Swedish and other languages to learn

duolingo.com

Swedish language in Wikipedia

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Swedish is so easy!14 instantly recognizable and memorable words you can use in four countries

 Swedish is simple. 

Book is bok and mouse is mus, rhyming with moose. If I wake in the night I can use the time usefully learning words of Swedish.

Anka is duck. I found that difficult at first. How do you anchor a duck? Then I realized that both the English and the Swedish contain the letter K. Reindeer is even simpler and shorter, ren. A bit like texting. 

Swedish - English

anka - duck

bok - book

doktor - doctor

fisk - fish

gav - gave

glas - glass

hus - house

ja (pronounced ya) - yes

mus - mouse

polis - police

ren - reindeer

stol - chair

stopp - stop

taxi - taxi

English - Swedish

book - bok

chair - stol (like the English word stool)

doctor - doktor

duck - anka

fish - fisk

gave - gav

glass - glas

house - hus

mouse - mus

police - polis

reindeer - ren

stop - stopp

taxi - taxi

yes - ja (pronounced ya)

But where can you use it? Not only in Sweden. It is one of the two official languages of Finland, which has a large Swedish speaking population. It is also mutually intelligible in Norway and Denmark. It is one of the official languages of the European union.

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

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

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Swedish_phrasebook

 

 So many Swedish words are similar to English. Here are a few which I have learned this week using Duolingo on the train and 

whilst waiting for friends.

Revision

English - Swedish

1 a/an - en

2 barnet - child (like the Scottish bairn)

3 book - bok 

4 Lemon - citron

5 Man - man

6 meny - menu

7 Pepper - peppar (Both words start the same, but Swedish changes the second e to an a)

8 rice - ris 

9 Salt - salt

10 The - et (two letters from the word the; also et looks like it)

11 we - vi

12 You - du

Now let's try it the other way around.

Swedish English

1 barnet - child

2 bok - book

3 citron - lemon

4 du - you

5 en - a/an

6 et - the

7 man - man (NB men and man look the same but one has a double dot about the a to make the sound change)

8 meny - menu

9 peppar - pepper

10 ris - rice

11 salt - salt

12 vi - we

Just an update on this article from 2019 which Google found for me. Since the time of writing Duolingo has introduced the feature which asks you to repeat the words and gives you feedback on whether you have pronounced the words correctly or should try again. duolingo also offers two buttons, to listen to the words said at normal speed or hear phrases and sentences said slowly and distinctly so that if you miss one essential word you can hear it again.

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/04/smarter-living/500-days-of-duolingo-what-you-can-and-cant-learn-from-a-language-app.html

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Simple Swedish words - learn to recognize 12 similar words

 So many Swedish words are similar to English. Here are a few which I have learned this week using Duolingo on the train and 

whilst waiting for friends.

English - Swedish

1 a/an - en

2 barnet - child (like the Scottish bairn)

3 book - bok 

4 Lemon - citron

5 Men - man

6 meny - menu

7 Pepper - peppar (Both words start the same, but Swedish changes the second e to an a)

8 ris - rice

9 Salt - salt

10 The - et (two letters from the word the; also et looks like it)

11 we - vi

12 You - du

Now let's try it the other way around in the next post.

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Polyglot progress; learn languages while travelling (secrets of Swedish unlocked)

I have signed up for several languages on Duolingo, as well as on Memrise. I have a cupboard full of dictionaries and grammar books in various languages, mostly saved from trips. I have found a useful double use of languages such as Portuguese, used in Madeira. Russian is used in Bulgaria, which uses the Cyrillic alphabet. Greek is used in Cyprus - and Turkish in Northern Cyprus. Chinese is used for writing Japanese. Malaysian and Indonesian are almost interchangeable, except for some vocabulary, like British and American English. 

I tried some of the Filipino language, Tagalog. But I don't even need to find one of my dictionaries or books. Nowadays everything is online. If you have a mobile phone, you can learn a language while travelling.

Tamil and Urdu

Yesterday I looked at which new languages had appeared on Duolingo. I thought I would try Tamil or Urdu. Tamil is one of the four official languages of Singapore. However, Urdu is more widely spoken. Maybe that is why it is on Duolingo, whilst Tamil is not yet available.

Hindi is written using Devanagari, (shown at the top) whereas Urdu is written using a modified version of the Arabic script (lower right of the picture), each of which is completely illegible to readers literate only in the other.

I tried the Indian language, Hindi, on Duolingo. You start with the alphabet. It looks pretty. However, it is hard to learn so this is boring and challenging. I would rather start with a couple of easy words for conversation, with a picture.  

After a couple of hours I had managed to get through the first two exercises of matching up the letter sounds to shapes, is this ga or gha, more through process of elimination than by recognizing the shapes.

Easy Spanish

I gave up. I decided to try something easier. Such as Spanish. 

But I felt like tackling something new. How about Swedish? 

Swedish Novelty

So I started Swedish. Swedish is not much use to me. But after a couple of hours I had in my brain words which will stick forever. Salt is salt. Papper is pepper. Man is man. Flicka is girl. Apple is spelled the same, but with a double dot over the a in Swedish. And the le is prounounced with the e accented, like the French word le. 

Flickr was a challenge at first. Then I noticed that the l is in flicka and girl. A young teenage girl is flirting and self consciously flicking her hair. The vowel sound er in Swedish, spelled a, and ir in girl sound similar. G and CK are similar. Flickr, girl. Flickr, girl. Girl - flickr.

Achievement

At last a feeling of achievement. Starting a new language. Being able to recognize a couple of words. 

I can now practise my Swedish on the train. Later on a plane. An end to the stress of travel. A distraction. No more wasted time. A feeling that I have done something useful with my day, even before I reach my destination. A flicker of achievement. For a flickr.

Useful Websites

Duolingo.com

Interlingua Festival June 24th and 25th in Lido Tegelsee, Berlin, Germany

 

English version below   Hallå, namaste, sawubona! Wir können es kaum erwarten – in 10 Tagen startet das EXPOLINGUA Festival im Strandbad Tegelsee!   Am 24. und 25. Juni von morgens bis abends erwartet Dich ein vielfältiges Programm, u.a.: Korean in a bubble, Chinesische Kalligraphie, Encuentro Hispano, Berufsbild Übersetzer, Darbuka Trommel Workshop, Sumo, Jobsuche in Deutschland, Co-creative Haiku Poetry Workshop, Meet&Greet with famous Content Creators, Workshops für Sprachlehrer*Innen, Arabisch, Dänisch, Griechisch, Persisch, Schwedisch, Tschechisch, und das ist noch nicht alles!  Das Programm wächst noch immer jeden Tag!   Das alles Open-Air und gut erreichbar mit EXPOLINGUA-Shuttle-Bussen vom U-Bahnhof Alt-Tegel und S-Bahnhof Tegel oder alternativ mit den Öffis!   Sichere Dir hier Deine Freikarte – wir freuen uns auf Dich! ­ ­ Zur Anmeldung für eine Freikarte ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ENGLISH VERSION:   We can hardly wait: in 10 days the EXPOLINGUA Festival will start at lido Tegelsee, Berlin!   A diverse program awaits you on June 24th and 25th from morning to evening, i.a.: Korean in a bubble, Chinese calligraphy, Encuentro Hispano, job profile translator, darbuka drum workshop, sumo, job search in Germany, co-creative haiku poetry workshop, meet & greet with famous content creators, workshops for language teachers, Arabic, Danish, Greek, Persian, Swedish, Czech, and that's not all!   The program is still growing every day!   Open air and easily accessible with EXPOLINGUA shuttle buses from the Alt-Tegel underground station and Tegel S-Bahn station or alternatively with public transport.    Grab your free ticket here: we look forward to seeing you! ­ ­ Register here for a free ticket! ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Unsere Partner: ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­

­ ­ ­ EXPOLINGUA Scharnhorststr. 24, 10115, Berlin

Useful Websites

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

https://www.facebook.com/blauhomine/

All Things Swedish: See the Strindberg Museum

Sweden is connected to Denmark.

See the Strindberg Museum. It's in a building he called the blue tower. You can see why from the picture.

I applied to study Swedish at university. I was interviewed by two people. One of them asked me, "What do you know about the Swedes and the Norwegians? What's the difference between them?"
I replied, "The Swedes are jolly. The Norwegians are more morose."
My interrogator grinned, "Yes, you are right. I am Swedish. My colleague here is Norwegian."
Oh, dear.

The museum of Strindberg is top of my list.

They had sent me a reading list and asked me to read the book, Miss Julie, a play by Strindberg, to discuss at the interview. Hence my interest in Strindberg.

Miss Julie is a play about love and sex and power, the main characters being the landowner's daughter Miss Julie, and her servant. It is the Swedish Romeo and Juliet.

Top attractions:
strindberg Museum.
Ice hotel in season. Rebuilt each year in the cold north.

You can also visit other countries which have ice hotels in the depths of their winter. Canada has one. Sweden claims the credit for being the pioneer, the original, the first, first in the world. I expect others cliim to be the first, too, probably legitimately if you read carefully, first in something, as well as the only one, first in their country or continent, or first in the year, or first or only one to have a bar or restaurant.

SWEDISH
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsburg,_California
https://www.duolingo.com/course/sv/en/Learn-Swedish
Official website
https://visitsweden.com/
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Sweden
https://wikitravel.org/en/Sweden
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/SmartDeals-g189806-Sweden-Hotel-Deals.html
https://www.cheapflights.com.sg/flights-to-Sweden
All things Norwegian next post tomorrow.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please contact me if you would like a speech on travel, preserving the environment, or any other subject.

Learning languages: Tips. I am now learning not four but six: German, Hebrew, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish

Studying Languages
I've been studying Spanish, Italian, German and Russian daily on D u o l i n g o . (Spaces inserted to prevent changes by Predictive text.) I am keenly waiting for the website to add Greek. 

I have registered an interest in Greek and a couple of other languages and they will notify me when the course is completed. Today I checked all the available languages, just in case a new one was available. I found that Hebrew had been added. So I started that. 

I looked at several other languages. Dutch is similar to German - and Afrikaans. Dutch is spoken in half of Belgium. 

But Swedish links with Norwegian and Danish, countries nearer to the UK, so I have started Swedish. Besides, I like the sound of Swedish. 

When I went to France as a schoolgirl to learn French in my holidays to improve my A levels, I met a handsome Swedish boy. (Harry Sandberg.) I applied to do Swedish at university. I ended up choosing philosophy instead. I now regret not doing Swedish, which would have been more useful as a career choice, as a translator or interpreter or English teacher, and on holiday.

Tips on Alphabet and Grammar
At the start of a new language on Duolingo there is a slide-up set of notes on the first page.

On my screen sometimes the tips on page one disappear which makes the first lesson challenging. Once you know that the tips on the unfamiliar alphabet are always handy with a click for reading the letters, you make faster progress.

My first four languages are this year's basic task. The other two languages are a bonus. An extra, when I am tired of the other four.

Good Use Of Time
I am no longer wasting time waiting for transport. I am never bored.

I no longer get impatient when waiting for a train. I can fill in time waiting at an airport to board a plane. If I am awake on a plane I can make good use of my time.

When I put a text into Google translate I can tell at once what is wrong with the translation. I have the confidence to read on through the apparent gobbledygook because now only one or two words have a changed meaning.

Watching Films With Subtitles
When travelling, films in foreign languages will gradually become easier to follow, as well as providing the bonus of helping to reinforce and expand my vocabulary in foreign languages.

On Singapore Airlines I saw a film which I watched in Spanish with English subtitles. It is a film made in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. Subtitles were challenging.

I hunted for the title for weeks. Later, I found it on the page of the in-flight magazine which I found. In future I shall take a mobile phone photograph of the write-up of the films I watch.

El Espejo - Translated
The film I enjoyed was called El Espejo De Los Otros. Google translates by giving me the word mirror, nothing more. I translate the title as The Mirror of Other People. 

The implication is both that other people mirror us, as individuals. Also, or instead, other people are a mirror showing us another view of the whole world. 

Do others mirror us, as the Scottish poet Robert Burns (author of Auld Lang Syne) said: "Would that God the gift ee gee us, to see ourselves as other see us." In modern English I translate that as: I wish/if only/ God the gift would give us, to see ourselves as others see us. The original rhymes, which is why the old style language and Scottish dialect is usually preserved in the quotation.

Now let's go back to the Spanish film or movie title.
el - the
espejo - mirror (think of similar words from the same root: spectre, spectacle, expect, spy, espy)
de - of
los - the (plural, masculine or inclusive of male and female)
otros - others

Joys Of Translation
For example, further on in the brief summary of the plot. a wall is described in English as tasteless. That makes no sense. The Spanish word is i n s i p i d o . I would translate that in context as unremarkable or inconspicuous or even 'a wall which a passer-by might not notice'. A translator could add their own embellishment, the implication:

inspido

A plain wall. 
An undecorated wall. 
An unadorned wall. 
A wall with no sign indicating what is beyond.  
A wall which does not suggest what is beyond, leaving you to imagine and invent your own scenario.

Translating is a wonderful word game. A skill. A source of pride. Creative.

Angela Lansbury, author, travel writer, English teacher and speaker.