Who teaches which languages? Spanish and others. How to Record Your Sources

I started learning several languages in Duolingo. I finsished Grman and Esperanto and am now onto Spanish daily and Chinese intermittently (using Chineasy physical flashcards instead). 

Whether you are interested in one language or several, it is handy to keep a list of all the places to go to learn your favourite language or languages. You can do this on your mobile phone. 

Use a spreadsheet in Excel (which is a brand name, known generaically as a matrix, or series of columns divided across). 

Or write on a page in an A4 notebook. Put a sticker on the front of the notebook recording Language Learning and the page number. (You will have to number the pages of your notebook in the top right. I do this wiht all new notebooks.)

Keep updating as you find new sites, or when you want to add a new language. You can also keep a column for your own language if you are teaching English to foreigners or doing a language swap. Here is my work in progress. First I listed the languages. Then I went to the websites of my favourite places, starting with duolingo and Memrise. At the start it is quite time-consuming if you are checking several languages. But once you have the basics it is much faster.

Arabic

Chinese

Danish

Esperato - Duolingo

French - Duolingo

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hindi

Italian

Japanese

Korean

Latin

Norwegian

Polish

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Spanish 

Swedish

Ukrainian

Vietnamese

Welsh

Languages I am not learning on Duolingo include Klingon.

You can also learn Dutch, Malay and Urdu, a total of 75 languages, on langmaster.

Here's another. their welcome page was all in Spanish with a testimonial in Spanish. I could understand most of it and put it into Google translate to catch the couple of words I had missed.

https://www.deliberatespanish.com/

Useful Websites

English

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

Indian government program

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_English_(government_program)

Tamil

https://www.wikihow.com/Learn-Tamil

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

https://digitaldefynd.com/best-tamil-language-courses/

https://www.livinglanguage.com/languagedemo/tamilflash/11930/essential-saying-hello

duolingo in January 2021, The Tamil course is 75% complete.

Langmaster

http://www.langmaster.com/lmcom/com/web/en-gb/pages/free-language-online.aspx

Spanish

http://download.langmaster.cz/grammar/en-gb/spanish1/grammar/les01/g05.htm

Duolingo 

Languages available

Chinese, German, Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Welsh, Ukrainian

Memrise

Languages available

Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Turkish

Mango

mangolanguages.com 

(see next post)

 

Other Language Websites From Wikipedia's List

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_self-study_programs

Flashcards List of Sources from Wiki

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

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

What To See In Cyprus, Land of Eternal Love

Flag of Cyprus



Cyprus, Land of Eternal Love! that has a good future, a good omen. For happy holidays and happy honeymoons. Where Aphrodite fell in love with Adonis. It has history. For history buffs. A past. Tell me more.

First, the flag of Cyprus is easy to identify. In the centre of the flag is the shape of the island which looks like a swordfish.

Where is it? In the Eastern Mediterranean sea. East of Greece, near Turkey. Like many Greek islands. Like many islands, it is or was owned by one country, whilst near to another.

Now it is divided between Greece and Turkey.

Location
When you see how near Cyprus it is to Israel, which used to be surrounded by hostile countries, which the Israelis would not or could not visit, you can see why Israelis went to Cyprus on holidays and honeymoons.

Horrid History and Happy History
Cyprus also has a long British history. British visitors have got over the blips. Many Brits are keen to visit, and keen on Greek culture. We already know Greek and Turkish food.

Delightful Food and Delightful Drinks
I am keen on Turkish coffee and Turkish Delight. Oops. On my last visit I discovered that on the Greek side the coffee is Greek coffee, and the sweets are also known by a Greek name.My family say, not even Greek coffee, Cypriot coffee.

Turkish Delight
Fry's Turkish Delight is a brand name very well known in Britain and around the world. Rose flavoured, covered with chocolate, is the familiar one.

In addition to the big brand, most local versions, in Greece, Cyprus and other countries, come covered with white icing sugar. Otherwise they would be too sticky and stick to the wrapping and plate and box and your fingers.

After the exotic versions a plain version seems dull. But the rose flavour is delightful. Other countries also have their specialities. I like lemon flavour, and pistachio nuts to take off the sweetness and provide protein.


Turkish Delight. From Wikipedia article fo the same name.


Other Favourite Foods
As in Greece: rice wrapped in vine leaves. Adds a touch of vegetable to the starch.

Greek Language
Hm. The language on the Greek side of Cyprus is, as the saying goes, 'all Greek to me'. At least it was. Good news about learning Greek later.

Wine and Walking
I have been to Cyprus before. But for my next trip I am planning walking and wine, with a group and with family.

Next question is, how long do we need? How much is there to see? How far apart? When to go?

Season
You either choose to go when you are free, national holidays (yours and theirs) or off season, or when the weather is warmer and less rainy, or cooler. February to May is cooler than June, July and August. Check the weather and your schedule and prices.

Distance
The distance tip to tip is over a hundred miles and whilst that would be fast on a motorway, in the USA or Europe, in a little hire car, on tiny humpy bendy roads, with stops for photos and drinks and toilets, and sightseeing, not so fast.

Visas
Also the country is divided into Turkish half and Cypriot half, so you might needed visas. We looked at visas for Brits going from the Greek side to the Turkish side. You can order visas online.

One half of my family says, wait, we can buy on line later if we need it. My view is get them now, you might decide to go in a hurry and not want to waste half an hour, nor give out your passport and password details online at a foreign destination, nor risk being in a mountain or hotel with no internet connection. Do paperwork at home in advance and not waste time at the last minute.

Learning To Read Greek & Turkish Signposts and Road Signs
Time to start learning or brushing up your Greek and Turkish. If Greek is all Greek to you, have a go.
I remember thinking I could not read a word of Greek. In Greece I saw a repeated sign to Athens. It started with letter Theta. I was amazed how quickly and instantly I could recognize the word Athena and the letter Theta.


Duolingo



Wines
Numerous wineries. Red, white and sweet dessert wines. Award winning wines.
Places to visit in or near the centre of the major cities. Wineries are on the Greek side for Geographical reasons and because the Greek culture is in favour of drinking wine and the Muslim culture does not favour growing grapes to produce wine and alcohol, only dessert grapes.

Retsina, based on the resin used to seal the pots in the old days, used to be nasty stuff in the nineteen sixties.  However, retsina now refers to wines ranging from the admittedly awful to the delightfully delicious.

Useful websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_delight

About the Author
Angela Lansbury

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.

Pronouncing Turkish words, why and how?

Problems
How do you pronounce foreign words? How do you read foreign languages? How do you recognise which language a word is written in?

Answer
Just look them up and record only the ones you need to know in the back of your new year's diary.

Stories
I was on the BBC online website and I saw the listing of foreign languages. My first thought was: All foreign. No use to me. My second thought was: I wonder what languages they are? I saw a word which looked like Turkish. It started with the letters Tur. I checked. Sure enough, it was. Step one accomplished. They say, Confucius said, A Journey Starts With One Step. I had made the first step.

The next step was to check Turkish pronunciation online. Why? Why not? I have no plans to visit Turkey. But I visited it in the past and might go again. Meanwhile it's interesting.

Turkish Pronunciation
Turkish has only about six little signs you need to remember. Two are on vowels and two are on consonants. Once you have solved this simple mystery, you can read Turkish words aloud, to yourself, or say them to other people, and recognise them when you hear them. I recall that they add a sound, make one letter SH, and another adding a Y sound as in yellow.

Looking at it again I learn:
C
If you want a hard c as in the English word Cat you use the letter K as in the English word kite.


The same principle applies to other languages.
http://turkishbasics.com/grammar/alphabet.php
You will need this site as well to show you a few examples of words you might get wrong. it reminds you to say every letter, especially h, as in the name Ahmed.
http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/details/LanguageGuide/Pronunciation.html

Author
Angela Lansbury

Billingsgate Mural and Lunch Time Offers In Hatch End

Hatch End - restaurant capital of North West London. What's the latest. I noticed a mural of Billingsgate market inside Sea Pebbles which serves take away fish and chips as well as sit down meals. They are now open seven days a week and have a sign saying Gluten free Mondays.

From Costa, an offer of cake for £1 with certain drinks.

From Chuck, delivery from Deliveroo.

From Izgara, Turkish, and Mosfilo, Greek, more offers.

Finally, Fellini, open all day seven days a week.

And that's just one side of this section of The Broadway.

More restaurants further along the road past Grimsdyke Road towards the station. Cross over and more coming back on the other side of The Broadway.

Billingsgate Fish market
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/business/wholesale-food-markets/billingsgate/Pages/default.aspx

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
type in Angela Lansbury, author or travel writer or poet. Fortunately there are only four people with my name. Most people I look up on Facebook and google and linkedIn have twenty namesakes worldwide. As for people called Patel, Cohen and Levy, Singh - several million of those.
Follow me on Facebook and like my pages here and there and everywhere including linking to me on LinkedIn, Watching me on YouTube

Sitting Outside A Restaurant In Summer

Izgara Restaurant in Hatch End, N W London, has decorated their seating area.Isn't this delightful, original, different.

Their phone number is clear on the awning:

tel: 020 8421 1525.

Booking email: info@Izgara.uk

More information from: izgara.uk

See my previous posts on Izgara and other restaurants in Hatch End. Izgara is Turkish for grill.

Photographs by Angela Lansbury 2016. Copyright.

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

Italian Coffee? Can you name a Coffee? Espresso. Lavazzo.

Can you name an Italian coffee? Espresso. Lavazzo. Lavazzo is the one I have seen most often advertised by their signboards on the pavement (US word sidewalk) outside coffee shops in NW London. At the Business Centre near the Angel station in Islington, one of the sponsors of the event was Lavazzo and they held tasting events in one of two talks areas.

Registering and Seating Mistake
My business partner and I arrived too early to register. After registering I wanted to take my place early, knowing that on previous occasions I had arrived late and got no seat. I made the mistake of allowing myself to be persuaded to use my time going to see a few stalls, and wandered like an arrow away from the  area instead of circling it and watching as the seats filled up and going in when half of them were full.

Although my business partner wanted to save me a seat, two people from the Lavazza company or area took seats which the organiser had allocated to guests. Despite registering, that was not enough effort on my part. The limited number of seats went to those registered on a first come first served basis. My partner phoned me but by the time I raced back along the hall no seats were left. I tried to ask a nearby stall holder if I could borrow a seat. He said he needed it for anybody who turned to talk to me. But I could sit on it until somebody turned up. I thanked him and sat down.

I had a seat. But I was too far to hear the speaker. So I went and stood on the side of the workshop.

Entertaining Talk Mentioned Croissants
I enjoyed the talk. I already knew the story of the Turkish invaders, who were supposedly discovered tunneling into Vienna, and thwarted, and the bakers celebrated by baking a croissant, in the shape of the crescent on the Turkish flag. (If the Turks had won, perhaps the canny bakers would have sold the croissant for the opposite reason. Since many people say the story is a myth, as somebody once said to me, quoting a common quotation phrase, why let the truth get in the way of a good story.)

About half way through this entrancing  entertainment my colleague signalled to me to swap places. As he left he told me that he was annoyed that the drinks were supposed to be paired but that was not happening early enough, nor in time to serve hot coffee with the food selection offered.

Hot and Cold Coffee
The solo drinks machine served three cups at a time, so the tables were given drinks one table at a time. It took at least ten minutes to serve all the tables.  (It was in plastic disposable containers the size of espresso cups and half full as is normal size for espresso in Italy.) By the time the speaker finished his lengthy introductions and suggested matching the first set of coffee with the food the coffee of those served first had gone cold.

Food Pairing
The food selection was liquorice, figs, milk and dark chocolate. The two big surprises for me were the food and the coffee.

I Applaud Iced Coffee
By the time I arrived the first three coffees, black coffees, originally hot drinks had been drunk by my colleague. What I got was a later serving of an iced milky coffee which seemed to have a frothy top. It was delicious. And it went perfectly with the liquorice. The liquorice was in cylinders like the sort which used to come in L i c  o r i  c e Allsorts.

Delights of Soft Liquorice
The brand name for the UK confectionary should be L i q u o r i c e  All sorts (only one space before the capital A). I am using spaces to defeat the spellchecker which despite my ignoring suggestions which flash up and flash off before I can click on the x to reject suggestions, has once so far succeeded in changing the word to Louise when I was not watching.)

Unlike the UK confectionary, which had hard liquorice, the one served by Lavazzo was sort. Unlike the hard one which I did not like, the soft one was wonderful. I would like to know where to buy it. When I find out, I shall tell you in a post on this website Travel with Angela Lansbury on blogger.com

Look for Lavazzo Cups
My colleague had noticed and taken a goodie bag under the table containing information on Lavazza, samples of coffee and one small porcelain coffee cup, Italian espresso size. I was disappointed not to get a complimentary cup. It means at a break from work only one of us gets the cup, or we use it in succession. But he said he likes a larger espresso serving anyway.

Espresso All Day in England
Another interesting finding from the talk by the chef promoting Lavazzo, was that although in Italy it is still the fashion to have espresso only as an after dinner pick me up in the evening, in the UK espresso in drunk earlier in the day, after lunch and even at breakfast time. (In coffee shops as well as at home.)

Coffee Shops Make Good Business
We also heard the history of coffee shops. When they started, as is often the case now, people met to have business over coffee. One of the coffee shops, Lloyds, became what is now still the biggest insurance company in the UK. Another coffee shop became Sotheby's selling, auctioning antiques and high price furniture and furnishings.

Coffee Eclipsed By Tea
Tea was introduced and took over as the drink of choice, as you will see in British WWI and WWII films where in time of trouble or dramatic comedy the heroes and heroines of the day sit down to chat and recover over a 'nice cup of tea'. But in our era coffee has again become a favoured drink after dinner and throughout the day.

Coffee Revival
To my surprise I did not like any of the sweet chocolate or fruits with a strong coffee. They seemed to me to match a sweet coffee. You should try this at home. Match up your dark and light and strong black or weak, sweet white coffees with dad and light chocolate and figs and soft liquorice.

To sum up, the things I learned were:
1 The Italians still drink espresso after evening dinner in tiny cups. Lavazzo produce small Italian size espresso cups so look for them when Lavazzo put on a promotion.
2 The croissant is supposedly an imitation of the crescent on the Turkish flag when Viennese bakers celebrated surviving a threatened invasion.
3  Arrive early at workshops.
4 Look around or ask for a take home 'goody bag'.
5 Taste and buy soft liquorice.
6 Make at home or order in coffee bars and restaurants a cold, frothy sweet white coffee made from Lavazzo coffee.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Izgara Restaurant, Hatch End, address and postcode

I looked everywhere for their address and postcode. Their website is still under construction. Eventually I tracked down the phone number from the fascia and the address from the previous restaurant at that site.

So here it is folks:

Izgara Turkish Grill Restaurant
302 the Broadway,
Uxbridge Road
Hatch End
HA5 4HR
Tel:020 8421 1525
website: www.izgara.uk
The menu is outside so you can check it out earlier in the day before they open.
They are open seven days a week.

Lots of vegetables.

Clean new toilets.

Decor.

Winter lights.

See my previous posts for more details about the people and food.

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

Izgara Turkish Restaurant in dining capital of London

Izgara Turkish restaurant has opened in Hatch end. One of our local papers described Hatch End as restaurant capital of London. How many restaurants? About 18 and you can walk up and down and check the menus in the windows in a distance of about 500 yards in less than 5 minutes, if you are quick. Alphabetically: Ask, Casa Mia, Coriander, Fellini, Orama, Mosfilo, Sea Pebbles, Zia Teresa, and more, plus the places in the supermarket and arts centre. Cuisines are Greek, Indian, Italian and now Turkish at Izgara.

Will another rival restaurant cause any worries to the existing restaurants? I don't think so. The more the merrier. Another opportunity will attract more diners to the area, and offer more choice to those wondering whether to go elsewhere or stay nearby.

Izgara opens lunch time today (Monday 30 Nov 2015). It is open to the public every day including Monday when you struggle to find a restaurant open. Noon until 11.

Yes, it is a new addition to the Hatch End restaurant scene, Izgara, Turkish for grill. I confess I have struggled to remember and spell Izgara. At first I thought is a guru. Wrong.  Not two Us. Two As. Think A star, twice. The last letter is A.  So I made myself a memory aid (mnemonic). IZ G rill  A nd Really Appetising. I Z G A R A.

Izgara. Open noon Monday 30th November 2015. From noon to 11 at night. Run by the same owners as Izgara in Edgware and the team who operate the other two restaurants. 

The Hatch End manager told me his name is Shukur. Pardon, how do you pronounce it? He smiles because he's been asked before, and he has a ready answer. He says think of pronouncing it like sugar.

Where is Izgara? Two doors along from Fellini, the big indoor-outdoor Italian restaurant curving round the corner. Izgara replaces Zaza, another Italian restaurant, from the Italian group which has a restaurant in Pinner, if you are looking for them. I looked at the Zaza restaurant website to get the street number of Izgara for you but the Zaza restaurant website already says they've closed their Hatch End branch.

I'll send somebody out to stroll around Hatch End and get Izgara's street number, as I haven't time to keep researching restaurant numbers. Anyway, Hatch End is a small place. Just walk along the station side between Pickwick Walk on the corner towards the traffic lights where you cross the road and you'll find Izgara.

If you like Mediterranean food, you will like this. If you can't tell Turkish food from Lebanese, Greek, Israeli, that's fine.  You'll recognise kebab, cubed chicken and lamb, hummus (chickpeas), pink dip, tabouleh, rice, tomatoes, aubergine. 

Here's the owner  of Hatch End Izgara (right) with keen customer from Edgware branch who popped in to see the new Hatch End branch, as he was passing the night before the opening when the owner and his partner and their family were celebrating.

I'd been watching that sign, 'Izgara, Hatch End, coming soon,' for days. 

They serve Turkish coffee, Turkish wine, and a yogurt drink. I tried the Prosecco. In my opinion you can't go wrong with Prosecco.  (Ok. It's not Turkish it's Italian. But it's popular. Like cola.) Where wine is concerned, I'm not mad about dry reds and whites but if you are interested here's what the Turkish red and white wine bottles look like.

I love the lights and the ceiling.

Candles at night. Proper sea salt and peppercorns.

Here's a Turkish yogurt they use in their yogurt drink, which must be the same concept as lassi which I love in Indian restaurants. I'm always trying to add milk, yogurt and cheese to my diet to keep my teeth while and hopefully keep my bones strong.

Izgara Website

www.izgararestaurant.co.uk

And if you see what looks like a spring roll in Izgara, it's a blini, a rolled up thin pancake, with the ends folded in, filled with soft cheese.

See more pictures and facts about the food in my previous posts.

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

See my other posts, always offbeat and entertaining, humorous, well-researched. Books on etiquette and comic poetry and more on Lulu.com and Amazon and ebooks coming soon.

Izgara Restaurant, Hatch End, Preview of the new Turkish restaurant

The outside at night.

The decor is lovely. 

Here's the savoury food laid out buffet style at the back.

This white tree trunk effects separates the kitchen at the back.

Fresh salads.

Two kinds of rice.

Toilets? Where? Behind the glass mirror (door - push) by the bar. 

As you see, all new, modern and clean. I couldn't take a picture of the mirror behind the basin or I'd shown myself several times in one of those multiple reflection effects.

For the Edgware branch menu see
izgararestaurant.co.uk

More to come soon.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, speaker.

.

Izgara Restaurant Hatch End, opening Monday 30th November 2015

Opening Monday 30th 2015, the long awaited Izgara Turkish restaurant in Hatch End. So I was told by the jolly and friendly manager Shugur. Think of the word sugar, he told me.

I got a good impression of the place even before it opened. He jumped to his feet and came to the door when I stood outside. He didn't want me to take a photo until it was looking right and the windows were cleaned.

The website will be ready soon.

They are opening Monday 30th November 2015, at mid-day, until 11 pm. From then on they expect to be open the same times seven days a week.

See my previous post about the meaning of the name of the restaurant and what is on the menu at their other branches.
See my next posts for pictures of inside, food and wine, and owner.

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