How To Practise Speaking Foreign Languages: American and British English, Chinese, Greek, Italian and more

From Wiki article on speech. Click to see the mouth and tongue and throat move.

On the 'Polyglots (The Community' page in Facebook, somebody asked for recommendations on how to practise speaking a language.

Powerpoint Presentation
I have written an introduction to myself in powerpoint, with English in the left column and Chinese (Mandarin) in the right hand column. I shall practise it and eventually deliver it at a bilingual Mandarin-English Toastmasters club in Singapore.

Each slide is a simple sentence which I would use to introduce myself to a Mandarin speaker if we met. For example, My name is ...;- I am a teacher - of English; I am British; I live in London, England; I also live in Singapore.

My aim is to read this every day, once or twice a day, perhaps first thing in the morning if I wake early, over coffee, or last thing at night, and read it aloud.

Earworms
Another system good for spoken languages is Earworms. The vocabulary is great for travellers. You hear simple sentences you might say on a plane and around a city you visit.

You could keep it on your laptop. Or play it in the car. Or play it as you fall asleep.

Duolingo
Duolingo is also good. It is multiple choice and has symbols you can click on to hear the word said. Listen and say the phrase aloud three times. At the end of each exercise click on the review button. Even if you got all the words right when it comes to recognizing them, use this exercise to read the words aloud.

If you are not sure about your pronunciation, ask in the forums.

Skills Future
The Singapore government subsidises skills course for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents. Courses include languages such as Spanish.





Tinycards
Language cards, which say aloud the words so you can copy them. From the Duolingo people.

Wikipedia
When looking up the cities you will be visiting on your next trip, click on the sound button in the Wikipedia article about the city. The sound button is after the name.

You could try reading Wikipedia in your target language, such as French or Spanish or many other languages. Check the list of available languages in the left hand column of your wiki pages. Read the English version and then the other language and read that aloud.

Google Translate
You can also put the names of cities into Google translate. I type in 'Google translate' every time but the website is 'translate google'.

Learn With Buddies
If you want to practise speaking, find a buddy.
Online through Polyglots on Facebook.
In person through Meetup in your city.

You can list your interests on Meetup and attend meetings organized by others. Alternatively pay to organize an event or series of events on Meetup. Or list events in Facebook Events on a suitable page.

YouTube
Type in the language you want and the word learn and you will find several options. FluentYou has videos from native speakers and offers one month free trial. that is handy if you are going on holiday in a month's time or less or just want to get started with the right pronunciation. If you are on business with an expense account or think language is vital to negotiating, you might later use their paid for version.

Useful websites (listed alphabetically)
CONVERSATION
https://www.conversationexchange.com/



Duolingo.com

Earworms
https://www.earwormslearning.com/

Eurolingo
https://www.eurolingo.sg/spanish/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/polygotcommunity

FluentYou
https://www.fluentu.com/en/

Google Translate
https://translate.google.com/

Greek
https://www.iamgreece.org/culture/language/you-speak-greek/

Meetup
https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/start/organizing

Pronunciation of Single Words and Placenames
https://forvo.com/word
For the country name Cyprus pronounced in Greek
https://forvo.com/word/%CE%BA%CF%8D%CF%80%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%82/

Pronunciation in Dictionaries Online
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/british-and-american-pronunciation.html

Simple Wiki - see Wiki below

Skills Future
https://www.eurolingo.sg/spanish

Tinycards (Italian an an example and link)
https://tinycards.duolingo.com/decks/Q6xStDM/how-to-speak-italian?lesson=0


Translate - see Google above


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

Tripadvisor
You can ask questions.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g190372-s604/Cyprus:Important.Phrases.html

YouTube
Try FluentYou - see above

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation

Simple Wiki
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet

About the Author
Angela Lansbury
travel writer and photographer
teacher of English and other languages. I have many more posts on language learning and destinations. Please share links to your favourite posts.

How to learn the Flags of Europe

Flags of Europe on the map of Europe

The Flag of Europe



How do you remember the flags of Europe?
I used the tinycards by duolingo. In a notebook I drew oblongs for the flags with horizontals or verticals and labelled the colours. I looked for links between the country name and the colours.

UK
The United Kingdom is easy, uniting three flags of England, Scotland and Wales, three crosses of different colours.


England
Separate them and what do you get? The red cross of England, you may recognize from the football team. Church of England, plus sign red cross.

Scotland


Scotland is blue. We would be blue if Scotland separated from England. Blue cross. Cross and blue, x for not wanting to stay in the UK, although they voted to do so.



Wales
Welsh dragon. It was George who slew the dragon, George's cross symbol of England, but Wales still has the dragon.

Austria



Belgium
Belgium has a black section, B for Belgium and B for black.


Author of Belgium flag superimposed on map of country, PavelD in Wikipedia. Creative Commons licence.


Croatia


Denmark
Denmark has the red and white. 


Estonia

Finland


Sweden
Sweden has e for yellow.

Romania
Romania i vertical (upright) lines, red, blue and yellow. R for Romania R for red.

Greece



Iceland

Luxembourg
Luxembourg has white in the middle, letter e in the middle of Luxembourg. Letter b for blue at the base or bottom of the flag. The letters e and r are also in the name Luxembourgh and appear in red at the top.

Bulgaria


Czech Republic
Czech has red, e in Czech and RE starting the word Republic.



Germany


Germany has black, red and yellow from top to base, letter er in Germany.
Black forest for the black at the top.

Belarus
BElaRus has a Big REd section at the top.

And a fancy pattern down the side. Bella, bella, belle of the ball, Belarus.

Croatia
Red white and blue from the top down, but in the middle of the white section is and Croatia's noughts and crosses.
See above.

France



Hungary


Iceland


Italy


Italy has the tricolor, which you often see on Italian restaurant menus, green, whit,e red, avocado, white cheese and tomato.


Netherlands


Poland


Not to be confused with Singapore, which added the Crescent and five five point stars.



Nor with Indonesia


Portugal



Spain




Ukraine



Lastly some more unusual ones:
Albania


Andorra


Armenia


Bosnia (and Herzegovina)


Cyprus

Easy peasy. If only all countries did this.

Latvia







Lichtenstein



Lithuania



Luxembourg


Monaco


Vatican City


As you might not be able to see the white flag against a white background, I include a photo of a table flag.



Their flag shows the keys to the city.

https://tinycards.duolingo.com/decks/9bruoMoN/flags-of-every-country-in-europe

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and teacher. Contact me for entertaining and informative workshops for colleges and schools.

Yes, You Do Speak Spanish - Words you already know and where to find more for free

Spanish Flag

My most popular post is the one on learning Spanish, which I wrote on Saturday, March 8, 2014. I have updated it here by adding memory aids, words, logos, and websites.

Yes, you do speak SPANISH

If an earthquake strikes when you are living in a Spanish speaking country such as Chile, or visiting on holiday or business, you will either follow or lead the crowd, adults and children, locals and foreigners. You will be glad to recognize a sign saying
ZONA DE SECURIDAD which means safe zone.

Here are some more handy words, separated to make it easy to follow:

adios - goodbye
amigos - friends
el aeropuerto - airport
el - the
el avion - plane

el banco - bank
el biblioteca - library

bodega - wine
credito - credit
favorito - favourite

zona - zone
de - of
securidad - security/safety
mañana - tomorrow
Mayo - May

menu - menu
mi - my
bien - good / well
bienvenido - welcome
fruta - fruit

buenos dias -  good day / good morning / hello (d for day, d for dias, note the plurals)
buenos tardes - good afternoon, good evening (tardy - afternoon)
buenos noches - good evening / good night (n for noches, n for night, notch up another 24 hour day)
hola - hello (like the verb to hail, also letters h and o and l in the English and Spanish words)
momento - moment

Noviembre - November
numero - number
Octubre - October
padre - father (paternal, and padre in the Catholic church)
parador - guest house run by the government in renovated ruin to promote tourism

pasaporte - passport
patatas - potatoes
persona - person
por - for
por favour - please (for a favour/US favor, like the phrase: do me a favour)
hotel - hotel

hora - hour
libreria - bookshop (like library)
libros - books (items you find in a library)
gracias thanks (like the English word grateful)
grande - big, large

gran problema - big problem
mañana - morning (yes the same word for tomorrow, short for tomorrow morning)
mermelada ( not marmalade but jam)
profession - profession
restaurante - restaurant

salmon - salmon
securidad - security/safety
Septiembre - September
si - yes
sombrero - hat

sopa - soup
vigilante - watchman (holding a vigil or watch)
vistas - views
senor - sir
señora - madam

senorita - miss / young lady
supermercado - supermarket
si - yes
no - no or not

MENU
azucar - sugar - think of it as a sugar, s turned into Z, c turned into g

HANDY, HARD TO RECOGNIZE WORDS
breakfast - desayuno (I remember ''Dessert, at breakfast time, yes I'll have one.)

You have now learned more than 60 words just by reading this post.

Spanish is spoken in Spain, North America, South America (e.g. Chile), and Mexico.

To learn Spanish:

Useful Websites
Earworms Spanish in 2 vols 200+words (buy on ebay). Disc and phrase books. You can buy vol 1 or vol 2 or both. I bought both.
www.linguaphone.com

For children an easy start, fifty flashcards with pictures on one side. £5.99. 

You might also join or start a Spanish speaking Toastmasters International public speaking club. Google the website for Toastmasters International Find a club. Toastmasters International has speakers' manuals in several languages including Spanish.

Also see

Duolingo websites for learning languages

To get you started, two websites have free material which you can see online or download on your phone, Duolingo and Memrise. You will also find help on Wikipedia and simple Wikipedia.

Other Useful Websites

duolingo.com

https://duolingo.fandom.com/wiki/Tinycards

memrise.com

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. I have more posts on Spanish and other languages and Spain and other destinations. Also see my books on Amazon and lulu.com Please share links to this and your other favourite posts and my other pages.