Easy Spanish Signs

 

Contenido - content

Spanish - English

A bordo - on board

Danza - dance

De - of (the same as French)

estudio - studio (the letter e goes in front of S at the start of Spanish words)

Garaje - garage

Isla - island

Nacional - national (the adjective follows the noun in Spanish, like French)

Parque - park

Policia - police

Servicios - services / toilets

Bilingual videos on Fred Olsen ferries:

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Italian words

Italian - English

cinema - cinema

danza - dance

dentista -dentist

galleria - gallery 

 poeta - poet

poesia - poetry (I think of poetry and prose to rmember to add the letter s to distinguish the word fro what is written from the person doing the writing)

Useful websites

duolingo.com

Symbols in Indian Paintings

When I took my first trip to India in Bombay (now renamed Mumbia) I was entranced by an Indian paiting over the bed in the hotel. It depicted Rasleela, a dance.

I bought a painting.

Years later an Indian friend in London explained to me that my paintings were all of religious subjects, depicting the Hindu Gods and events in stories from the classical myths depicting classical themes such as love and devotion and the battle between good and evil.

Krishna and the gopi girls or milkmaids, or shepherdesses carrying pots for water (I assumed milk but wiki said water). Krishan's beloved was one of the gopi girls. But the painting has more than one depiction of the figure in blue which means a god (like our English phrase blue blooded). All sorts of other symbols are in the paintings.



Useful websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_American_and_British_English
https://context.reverso.net/translation/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/polyglotcommunity
https://translate.google.com/

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

I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a travel writer and photographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a language evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am Immediate Past President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting on Zoom the first Wednesday of the month but  the third Saturday afternoon and occasionally on other Wednesdays our workshops are on app learncool.sg 

Incoming president Faith from July 1st 2020 could change dates and platforms so please contact the club.

learncool.sg

Or quicker to type and easier to remember: 

 tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

For language lovers:Useful Websites

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

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

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

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogs
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-to-say-thank-you-in-several.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/05/introducing-yourself-in-english-spanish.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/01/second-set-of-portuguese-words.html Please share links to your favourite posts
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
translate.google.c

Cultural Tour Of Sofia, Bulgaria's Capital, Recommended

We went for the 'free' walking tour of Sofia. But because the Jewish tour was only on certain days we opted for that first and went back for the free tour later. We were so pleased with the tour that we then invested in the paid for Cultural Tour which is about 24 lev reduced to 22 if you hae already taken the free tour. The price included a pastry and local drink at a bread shop, a strong spirit shot and a cheese salad at a second stop, and rose tea at the last stop.

It was a hot day in June and I was not sure I wanted to do the dancing and hesitated to do that tour. However, in the event the guide decided not to do the dancing because the weather was too hot. I was disappointed because I wanted to see a demo of the dancing called Hora to see if it was like the Israeli Hora. When I asked to see the dancing at the end of the tour, instead she demonstrated the one person dance, which involves hands on hips and four steps.

So I posed with hands on hips for our final group photo in order to remember it, and as I would have looked daft being the only person in the group standing hands on hips I asked her to mirror image me.
If we had stayed longer we might have taken more of their tours.

On the so called free tours you are supposed to give a tip if you enjoyed the tour. We certainly did. The guides spoke excellent English and were clear and loud. I made a point of choosing the guide with the loudest voice.

Useful Websites
https://365association.org/tours/culture-tour/
https://www.facebook.com/365-Culture-Communist-tours-373912509481928/
sofiagreentour.com
https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/
skyscanner.com

About the Author - Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English and other languages. Please share links to your favourite posts.

See the Giant Puppets At The Sultan Hotel in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia

Indonesia map from Wikipedia.


Photos by Trevor Sharot.
 http://trevorsharotphotography.com
..............

Photos from Wikipedia

Jakarta's nickname is The Big Durian.

Durian is called the king of fruits. The name durian comes from the Indonesian and Malay word for thorn because of the skin.

Durians are for sale in Indonesia. (Also sold in Thailand and Malaysia.) Whilst I cannot eat the strong smelling and slimy durian fruit, I love tasty durian ice cream and durian cake, and white or yellow durian sauce, which reminds me of thick egg custard or egg yolk with the flavour of chestnut.

Author of photo, ProjectManhattan in Wikipedia under Durian.

Durian is available in season in Singapore. but banned in the Singapore MRT (train system) and buses and taxis.

Jakarta's motto is Jaya Raya which is Sanskrit for victorious and great. ( I know several people called Jaya.)

Museum in Jakarta.

Photo from Wikipedia: Gunawan Kartapranata - Own work

The parade of Ondel-ondel on main street of Jakarta during car-free day.  The Ondel-ondel (a repeated hyphenated word is a plural) was originally a symbol of an ancestor protecting a village from calamity and danced in the street. In modern times the Ondel-ondel is the symbol of Jakarta and dances to entertain in streets on festive occasions, and at weddings and openings of buildings and events.

Watch a pair of them performing in pairs in a street on Youtube. Notice the musicians in the background.

Ondel-ondel puppets in Wayang Museum, Jakarta. Photo author Taman Renyah, in Wikipedia. These puppets appear in pairs, the red face being male and the female with a white face. The head-dress is made from strips of coconut leaves wrapped in coloured paper. The light bamboo body is lifted by a person standing inside who dances, twirling on the spot, or dancing and hopping around the partner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT0Vtacah7k The puppets dancing.



Transport in Jakarta. Blue three-wheeler is a taxi.
 Picture from Wikipedia.

Useful Websites:
https://www.indonesia.travel/uk/en/home
Wonderfully engaging website pages with great pictures and helpful captions

http://trevorsharotphotography.com
Some serious photography here. Great subjects, great composition and great colours.

Author

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