How to remember 23 Portuguese words - or any foreign language

Flag of Portugal. From Wikimedia Commons.

Problem
I am learning Portuguese. I need a working vocabulary of about 300 words, which I can do in a month if I learn ten a day. I need to practise every day or I will forget the words.

Answer
The simple solution is to keep the word list on a page in my diary. I write the foreign word first, then the English translation.

Alphabet Letters
I list the letters of the alphabet down the left hand side. How many lines do I have? I have 26, enough for one line per letter of the alphabet. (In theory if I know there are few words, an few I need to know, starting with x, y, z, or any letter that language does not use, I could drop that letter or put two on one line, leaving space for a each use letter, such as c in French or S in English.

I started with the letters of the alphabet at the beginning of the line, but I was short of space. So I wrote over the letters, making the initial letter in the margin. When I started the next page, for German, I had the system more condensed.

Margin
Now the initial letters are in the margin. I write as close as I can get to the edge of the page.

Saving Space
I started by repeating the letters, leaving the initial letter separate. However, now I use it to start the first word.  So instead of
A agua - water
b boa / bom - good
c carta - letter

I write
agua - water
boa / bom - good
carta - letter

Save Space With Dots
The hyphens between the Portuguese and the English were taking up too much space. I changed the line for a dot.

agua.water
boa.good
carta.letter

In this blog post I am not so short of space. I also want to make the words easier to read. Therefore here I am sticking to the hyphens.

If the word is the same in English I write the letter s in brackets.
pizza (s) 

Why Not Capitalise Initial Letters?
I could write
Agua
Boa
Carta

However, I have been trained as a sub-editor to use small letters to start words in dictionaries. That way the reader knows when a word always starts with a capital letter.

Folding
The page is narrow and I need all the space I can get. I fold the page in half vertically and then in half again. So I now have four columns.

Four across by 25 down makes space for 100 words on a page.

Here are my first 23 Portuguese words with my memory aids:
(Only 20 are listed in this blog post under labels because the limit is 20 labels)

agua - water (like aquaduct)
abacaxi - pineapple (P and B sound and look almost the same. AP - pineAPple - apple pine, pine apple, cut it down with an axe - ee! I might not remember translating from English to Portuguese, but I am well on the way to remembering it when I see it written on a menu in Portugal or Madeira)
boa / bom - good (As in Bombay. Good bay. How do I remember it's good and not beautiful. If it's beautiful it's good.)
carta - letter, a carta or uma carta is a letter. (How do I remember 'a carta', feminine? I visualise a lady writing a letter.)
com - with / to / by
de - of
é - is
ele - he / him / it
eles - they
eu - I
falamos - we speak
gosto - (I) like
jornal - newspaper (o / um jornal) (like the French journal but drop the u, just as the Americans drop the u from British English c o l o u r and make it c o l o r.)
lê - you read
leio - I read (I remember: Add i for I, + O for I as in Latin Amo amas amat meaning I read, you etc)
livro - book
menino - boy (I remember men, but little ones, o as in boy for masculine)
mulheres - women
nós - us / we
um - a / one / some
você - you (I remember vous with v in French. V looks like Y.) 

Other useful posts:
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/port-and-portuguese-wine-labels-and.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-to-ask-for-food-and-drink-in.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/learn-your-first-ten-words-in.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-do-you-say-please-in-portuguese-is.

visitportugal.com

visitbrasil.com

http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/homepage

duolingo.com

earwormslearning.com

http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/polyglot-poem-by-angela-lansbury.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, learner and speaker of many languages (a polyglot). Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts. I have several more on Portuguese, Spanish, German, Chinese, Hebrew and other languages and countries.

How To Read Your Own Handwriting From Your Last Trip - and reach today's destination

Problem
Nothing more annoying than coming home from holiday with indecipherable notes. What was the name of the restaurant? How do you spell it? What did I say about it at the time?

Answers
Take self-captioning photos as soon as you reach a destination:
The welcome signpost of the city.
The hotel name on the door.
The menu in the restaurant.
Your new friend's business card.
Their name surreptitiously written on the corner of the paper table napkin.
If you can't spell their name, ask them to write it and keep the paper.
Label photos with names at the time or the same evening.

On the plane or the way home, go through hand-written notes and write any unclear words and proper names in capitals above the lower case handwriting.

As soon as possible, type up your handwritten notes.

Reading Handwriting
Join up the writing. Dot the 'i's and cross the 't's.

Keep a record of your own handwriting common confusions. For example, here are mine in alphabetical order:
First is what the letter looks like, then what I actually meant to write

h=k
i=t
l (looped) = u
l (short) = r
l = uncrossed t
m=n or ni or in with the dot missing
n=o
n=m
r=t
u=o
v=i
w=rs (yourself looks like yoivself)
backslash is r
forward slash is r or t

Able label used to have a guide to how you should write letters when ordering address labels. A common mistake was ambiguous letters and number, failure to distinguish 6 from L and so on.

1 I cross a seven, European style, to distinguish it from one.

2 I trained as a sub-editor, and in proof-reading, so I am used to underlining capital letters.

3 I write the surname in capitals. This is helpful in Asia where the surname comes first. I also write the surname in capitals. LEE Kuan Yew tells me that his surname is Lee. Lee is not his first name.

I often accidentally write phone numbers with the zero with a gap in the top so it could be a six. To avoid confusion, I go back over a number and check with the original and then make the number clearer.

4 I make a point of joining up a zero at the top.

5 I join up the six with a small circle at the bottom and a large semi-circle on top.

6 You could alternatively write a dot under a six and a line above a zero.

7 Nowadays I often find email addresses won't operate because you have typed in an elongated zero 0 instead of a wider capital O or vice versa. If website addresses don't link up, check your typing.

8 Writing slowly helps. I often write fast when I am not in a hurry and when it is more important to get the number right.

9 If you are rushing to get off the train and say goodbye, say the number out loud, keep repeating it to yourself, then check your writing after you have waved goodbye.

10 Copy handwritten notes on names, addresses and phone number into your phone immediately. Don't rely on hand-written notes in your pocket, often lost amidst other bits of paper. List the day's contacts from the agenda in your mobile phone.

I do this, mainly so that if I get lost en route, I have the name of the club president to phone and check directions.

Ring Tom
I once spent hours wondering who I meant by an instruction ring tom. Who was Tom? I did not know any Tom. Maybe it was Tim? I solved the mystery when I wrote the same thing again later in the day. Ring tom was an abbreviation for ring Ring tomorrow.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In.

How do I remember names of capitals of Iran and Iraq?

Problem
How do I remember the countries and capitals of places I have not yet visited?

Answer
For many countries and capitals in all parts of the world you can make up sayings. For example:

IRAN - TEHRAN is the capital
 such as I ran to Tehran in Iran.

IRAQ - BAGHDAD is the capital
My Dad's in Baghad; he is irate in Baghdad in Iraq. Using the letters IR.

Depending on whether you say ark or ack, you could make up a sentence rhyming with park or dark. I shall to a park in Iraq.  Or my Dad's in a park in Iraq.
Or I shall pack for Iraq; my Dad's going to pack for Iraq.
For books on remembering, go to

https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Remember-Almost-Everything-Ever/dp/1910232246

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

Capital cities - alphabetically - and the largest cities - would you have guessed?

Problem
Which are the capital cities?

Answer
https://www.countries-ofthe-world.com/capitals-of-the-world.html

Wiki tells you which capital cities are not the largest cities.

As I thought,
AMERICA
New York is larger than Washington DC.

CHINA
Shanghai is bigger than Beijing.

AUSTRALIA
Sydney is larger than Canberra.

CANADA
Toronto beats Ottawa.

UAE
Dubai is larger than Abu Dhabi.

TURKEY
Istanbul is bigger than lesser known and less visited Ankara.

INDIA
Mumbai (previously called Bombay) is bigger than the capital, New Delhi.

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

Country	Capital	Population	Largest city	Population	Ratio	Note
Australia	Canberra	390,706	Sydney	4,921,000	12.6	Although Canberra has been Australia's Capital City since circa 1913, the national parliament met in Melbourne, Victoria until 1927. Melbourne is Australia's 2nd most populous city (4,529,500)
Belize	Belmopan	16,400	Belize City	70,000	4.27	Belize City was the capital until 1970.
Benin	Porto-Novo	223,500	Cotonou	761,100	3.4	Cotonou is the de facto capital with seat of government. Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area
Bolivia	Sucre	259,388	Santa Cruz de la Sierra[1]	1,453,549	7.1	La Paz is the de facto capital with seat of government, is the third largest city of Bolivia and is the center of the second metropolitan area.
Brazil	Brasília	2,557,158	São Paulo	11,150,249	4.55	Brasília is a planned city, inaugurated in 1960, and serving as the Brazilian capital since then. Rio de Janeiro, the former capital, was the capital of Brazil from 1763 until 1960 (and largest city in Brazil from 1654 to 1954). São Paulo has never been the capital, but became the most populous city in Brazil in 1954, a position it has held since then. As of the 2010 Brazilian census, Brasília is the fifth most populous city in Brazil, and the seventh largest metropolitan area.
Cameroon	Yaoundé	1,430,000	Douala	2,000,000 +	1.4	Yaoundé is the second largest city of Cameroon.
Canada	Ottawa	812,129	Toronto	2,503,281	3.08	Toronto was the capital of the united Province of Canada from 1849 to 1852 and 1856–1858.
China	Beijing	22,000,000	Shanghai	34,000,000	1.55	Beijing is the second largest city of China by a relatively small margin. Shanghai is the largest city proper in China and the world.
Côte d'Ivoire	Yamoussoukro	200,659	Abidjan	4,348,000	21.7	Abidjan was the capital until 1983.
Ecuador	Quito	1,397,698	Guayaquil	2,600,000	1.86	Quito is the second largest city of Ecuador.
Equatorial Guinea	Malabo	187,302	Bata	250,770	1.34	The capital Malabo is the second largest city of Equatorial Guinea and has the specificity of being located on an island even though the country possesses mainland. It is about to be replaced by the planned city of Oyala, currently under construction.
Federated States of Micronesia	Palikir	5,000	Weno	13,000	1.4	Palikir is the second largest city of Micronesia.
India	New Delhi	249,998	Mumbai	12,442,373	49.77	New Delhi is part of the Delhi metropolitan area which has 21,753,486 inhabitants (the Mumbai metropolitan region has 20,748,395).
Kazakhstan	Astana	743,014	Almaty	1,450,095	1.95	Almaty was the capital from 1927 to 1997.
Liechtenstein	Vaduz	5,109	Schaan	5,806	1.14	Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area
Malta	Valletta	6,000	Birkirkara	21,000	3.5	Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area
Morocco	Rabat	627,000	Casablanca	4,150,000	6.62	Rabat is the second largest city of Morocco.
Myanmar	Naypyidaw	925,000	Yangon	4,346,000	4.7	Yangon was the capital until 2006. Naypyidaw is de facto mainly rural county rather than contiguous urban area
New Zealand	Wellington	405,000	Auckland	1,495,000	3.69	Auckland was the capital 1841–1865, and Russell in 1840–41.
Nigeria	Abuja	778,567	Lagos	7,937,932	10.2	Lagos was the capital until 1991.
Pakistan	Islamabad	1,740,000	Karachi	24,300,000	13.97	Karachi was the capital from 1947 to 1958. Islamabad is part of much larger Rawalpindi-Islamabad metropolitan area
Palau	Ngerulmud	271	Koror	11,200	41.32	Koror was the capital until 2006.
Philippines	Manila	1,780,148	Quezon City	2,936,116	1.67	Quezon City was the capital from 1948 until 1976. Both cities are in the Metropolitan Manila region with Quezon City bordering Manila on the northeast.
San Marino	San Marino	4,211	Serravalle	10,601	2.52
South Africa	Pretoria	2,345,908	Johannesburg	3,888,180	1.66	Cape Town (pop. 3.5 mln) and Bloemfontein (pop. 370,000) serve as legislative and judicial capitals, respectively.
Sri Lanka	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte	115,826	Colombo	642,163	5.54	Colombo was the capital until 1982.
Sudan	Khartoum	2,207,794[citation needed]	Omdurman	2,395,159	1.08	Wikipedia articles on Khartoum and Omdurman contradict this. Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area
Switzerland	Bern	138,041	Zürich	397,698	2.88	Switzerland in its nature as a country with in every dimension decentralized political power actually doesn't have a capital (just as it doesn't have a head of state or prime minister). Bern has been designated as "federal city" with the seat of the two parliament chambers in 1848, when for the first time the independent Swiss states established standing federal authorities. Today, important federal authorities are also located in Lausanne (most notably: the Federal Supreme Court), Zürich, Lucerne, Bellinzona and St. Gallen. Until 1798, the council of the Swiss states met in various places - most frequently in Lucerne, Zürich, Baden and Frauenfeld. Between 1798 and 1803 there were three subsequent cities of government: Aarau, Luzern and Bern. Between 1815 and 1848 the meeting place of the council changed every two years between Zürich, Bern and Lucerne.
Taiwan	Taipei	2,650,968	New Taipei	3,916,451	1.48	Both cities are in Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area with Taipei surrounded entirely by New Taipei, which was Taipei's suburbs before its comprehensive development.
Tanzania	Dodoma	324,347	Dar es Salaam	2,497,940	7.70	Dar es Salaam was the capital until 1974.
Trinidad and Tobago	Port of Spain	49,000	Chaguanas	67,400	1.37	Both cities are part of the same metropolitan area
Turkey	Ankara	5,150,072	Istanbul	14,377,018	3.4	Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1453 to 1922.
United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi	896,751	Dubai	2,262,000	2.52	Abu Dhabi is the second largest city of United Arab Emirates.
United States	Washington, D.C.	672,228	New York City	8,550,405	12.72	New York was the capital 1785–1790 and the largest city in 1790 (narrowly edging out the next capital, Philadelphia, which served as capital from 1790 to 1800). Philadelphia was the nation's second-largest city when it was the capital.
Vietnam	Hanoi	6,500,000	Ho Chi Minh City	7,123,340	1.1	Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, was the capital of South Vietnam prior to reunification.

See also[edit]

• List of second cities
• List of national capitals and largest cities by country
• List of largest cities and second largest cities by country
• List of capital cities by relative size

References[edit]

1. Jump up ^ "Decreto Supremo Nº1672" (PDF). doctoraedilicia.com. Retrieved 2013-05-31.