Set 7 Handy Albanian words - Getting around, bills and payment

 

MAPS & SIGNPOSTS - Hartat dhe shenja

BEACH - plazhi

old city - qytet y vjeter

old - e vjetër

new - i ri

city/town - qytet

quarter - tremujori

village - fshati

street - rrugë

north - veriu

south - jug

east - lindja

Useful Websites

Why is North in the north on maps? Who decided? Is it always that way?

 

I researched left, right and centre, as the saying goes for the answer. North, South, East and West. I thought I read on Wikipedia or somewhere else about the man I had never heard of who established north on maps in Europe. My second search showed that Ptolemy has north on maps in ancient times, and European maps put north in all sorts of places until am copied the older system from elsewhere and much later his version was copied onto printed maps in Europe. 

Then I discovered something fascinating. Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer living in Egypt, put north at the top because he started writing at the top. But also from the top left. 

But why north? Because of the north star - but that was done by people living in the south, down under.  Maps were printed with the west at the top by another culture which made their city the most important place in the universe - but why put north at the top and not in the centre. 

China

The Chinese call their country centre, a square with a line through it. I learned that from looking at signposts in Hong Kong.

Sailors, North and South

Another theory goes that sailors were following the stars. 

Or South was at the top of the page, because in Egypt the Nile flows north to the Mediterranean sea.

Mecca and Jerusalem

Then the Arabs lived north of Mecca which was in the south. (But graves of Muslims and Jews in Europe face East towards the holy lands and places, Jerusalem and Mecca.)

Vienna, Austria

We drove around Vienna in Austria arguing about whether to go left or right because my husband was driving, watching the signposts, but I was reading the nap which had south at the bottom of the page following ...

The north pole is at the north. But ...

"You could turn the piece of paper round," my husband suggested. 

 I retorted, "But then the writing is upside down. I could stand on my hands and read it that way. Or place a book on a lazy Susan." 

It is a convention. Sometimes. But not always.

The English write North, South, East and West starting with capital letters. 

Swedish North is north

The Swedish language does not use capital letters. You just have to go with the flow.

Australia

And don't get me started on the way the water runs down the plughole in the bath in Australia. 

Or Christmas in June.

Useful Websites

https://www.geospatialworld.net/blogs/why-maps-point-north-on-top/

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

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/07/travel-myths-backwards-water/

A traveller's sukkah which fits in the trunk of your car

You can buy a ready-made sukkah.

Learn something strange every day. You can buy a fold-up safari sukkah which fits in the trunk of your car. I suppose this would be really handy if you were a single son visiting your Auntie Rachel and wanted to put up a two-person sukkah in a hurry. This is from the UK, from a company with offices in three areas of London plus Manchester.

In the USA you can buy a pop-up Sukkah.

Schach - Roof

The website said it comes complete with a schach. I had to look up that word. As I suspected, it is Hebrew and means roof. Now here's the odd thing. It has to be made of something that grows, not a fabric tent. More like twigs. 

After I saw huts at harvest time in India, in the middle of fields, as a temporary shelter for the worker guarding the harvest, the bales of crops, I wondered if a shelter was the idea behind it, or the origin. However, far from protecting you, it has to be open so you can see the sky and it must let in the rain!

I knew it had to be open to the sky. I knew that, because last year I read that if you build one on a balcony, as is done on many apartment blocks in Tel Aviv, it is only authentic, no, that's no a strong enough work, only valid, if  it is open to the sky, not a balcony completely covered by another. 

One year I went to a Sukkah ceremony at the Northwood and Pinner Liberal synagogue in Northwood. I met people who were not Jewish. For example, from the Methodist church next door. The event was also advertised in the local library and assorted free local newspapers and magazines. Other visitors were from multi-Faith organizations such as the Three Faiths organization, uniting Jews, Christians and Muslims. We had honey and apples to eat. Like at Jewish New Year.

Etrog - Citrus

I later visited the Sukkah of a neighbour who was a lay rabbi. He showed me the etrug. (A lemon or symbolic citrus fruit, often in a lemon shaped box.

Lulav

And a frond with four parts. Wave the lulav around, and say a prayer. (In Hebrew.)

You must turn to face north, east, south and west. Not just Jerusalem. Incidentally, Jerusalem is not always east or west. It depends which part of the world you are in. If you are in the west (of Jerusalem), then Jerusalem will be to your East. But if you are East of Jerusalem, then Jerusalem will be to your west. I suppose the same applies to saying prayers, building a religious building, and orienting a gravestone.

What is the difference between a sukkah and Sukkot? A sukkah is the temporary building. Sukkot is the festival.

Useful Websites

https://sukkahmart.co.uk/pages/about-sukkot

https://sukkahmart.co.uk/products/safari-sukkah

https://amenvamen.com/sukkah-kit-reviews

Sukkah kit

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264476751808?chn=ps&norove

Learn another Chinese Sign, for East in Chinese - using the railway station map

Singapore flag.

Singapore is a great place for learning Chinese (Mandarin). As I walked from the Yio Chu Kang bus station towards the Grassroots Community Club Building, I passed a sign which said in English, For Alighting Only. So you could get off the bus, but not onto it.



The last of the four signs looks like a letter 4 with other lines around it. It means car or carriage, in this context bus.

Afterwards I went back and checked another sign which looks like the number 4.

Check Your MRT Map
On the MRT map showing the railway lines you will see the English on the map.
Legend
East West Line (green)
North South Line  (red)
North East (purple)

Then look at the Chinese on the next concertina fold.
You can check the signs for East and West against some of the station names such as Jurong East - which is in the west! (Station 24 on the East West line, marked EW24, but also NS1, North South 1 or first station.)

Then look back at the names for the lines.
The Chinese sign for the East-West line is in the same order as the English, East first on the left.

Nearby on the page on the left is the Tuas West Road MRT station, EW 32.

However, two other signs for the train lines are in a different order. East North. South North. Instead of the English which is North East and North South.

East Symbol in Mandarin
Let us go back to East West. The sign for East has only one horizontal line above the four. The downward line of the four curves like a J. Two samll lines diagonally and separate at lower sides of the J point in different directions like a boat rowing to the East thought the many islands of Indonesia and to the island of Singapore.

The one which looks like it incorporates the number 4 means East.
What's the difference between the two signs containing what looks like 4?.

The 4 above meaning car or carriage has two parallel lines the same as the bar on the four, one above and one below. Like the roof and floor of the railway carriage or car or bus.

The sign for East



Useful Websites

You can learn Chinese (Mandarin) on Duolingo.
Duolingo
duolingo.com

Travel
singaporeair.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts. The previous post tell you what the other three signs mean.

Learning Chinese From Mahjong Tiles

Problem
I was trying to learn and teach the Chinese characters for 1-10 and NSEW. I gave a talk on this to a mixed audience of Europeans and Asians and an American.

Answer
One of the audience suggested that you could learn or practise while playing mahjong. Also you need the characters to recognize the pieces in mahjong.


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

Help! Learn Chinese Translation Of Emergency Requests and the words North, south, east and west

Problem
My previous post was about why you need to know another language and the problem you might meet en route. I translated into several languages and it got so long I've added the Chinese (meaning Mandarin) here.

English Translation

Russian - English

I have lost my group

They speak English.

Where is my train?

Where is the restaurant?

Can you phone for me?

Can you make an announcement that I'm lost?

('Wo' is I or my.
English reverses 'you can' to make a question, 'can you...?'. However, Chinese question sentence structure is' You - can do / other verb, is that so?
'Ni' is you. 'Ma' is a Chinese question word, equivalent to: 'is that so,' or, 'is that right,' or, 'tell me'.)

Èyǔ - yīngyǔ
wǒ shīqùle wǒ de xiǎozǔ
tāmen huì shuō yīngyǔ.
Wǒ de huǒchē zài nǎlǐ?
Cānguǎn zài nǎlǐ?
Nǐ kěyǐ gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà ma?
Nǐ néng xuānbù wǒ mílùle ma?
>>>
俄语 - 英语
我失去了我的小组
他们会说英语。
我的火车在哪里？
餐馆在哪里？
你可以给我打电话吗？

你能宣布我迷路了吗？


Jiékè yǔ - yīngyǔ
xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ?
Bówùguǎn ménpiào duōshǎo qián?
Rènhé jiǎnshǎo?
Yǒu jǐ gè bówùguǎn bǐjiào piányí ma?
Shénme shíhòu jiéshù?
Wǒmen kěyǐ zài zhèlǐ chī wǔcān ma?
Wǒmen kěyǐ mǎi piào, qù chī wǔfàn, huílái ma?
Cèsuǒ
piào
bówùguǎn
cāntīng
xièxiè (shay shay - thank you)
Fānyì chéng xībānyá wén - yīngwén
nǐ xiànzài bìxū líkāi chēzhàn. Shì jǐnjí zhuàngkuàng.
Gàosù wǒ zài nǎlǐ.
Gēnzhe wǒ.
Tīng.
Xièxiè.
Líkāi
jí
yǐncáng
pǎo
gàosù
bāng bāng wǒ
děngdài
méiguānxì
nǐ kěyǐ zǒule.
....

Zhōngwén hé mǎláiwén (Chinese and Malay)
dǎ diànhuà gěi jiùhù chē.
Bàojǐng.
Wǒ jíxū yīgè diànhuà.
Yǒurén zài lùshàng shòushāng
kuài.
Shì jǐnjí zhuàngkuàng.
Yǒurén shuō yīngyǔ ma?
Mǎ lái yǔ

zhōngwén (Chinese)
wǒ shīqùle wǒ de jiàoliàn - jiǎng yīngyǔ de rén.
Qǐng gàosù wǒ fāngshì.

俄语 - 英语
我失去了我的小组
他们会说英语。
我的火车在哪里？
餐馆在哪里？
你可以给我打电话吗？
你能宣布我迷路了吗？
>>>
捷克语 - 英语
洗手间在哪？
博物馆门票多少钱？
任何减少？
有几个博物馆比较便宜吗？
什么时候结束？
我们可以在这里吃午餐吗？
我们可以买票，去吃午饭，回来吗？
厕所
票
博物馆
餐厅
谢谢
......

......
翻译成西班牙文 - 英文
你现在必须离开车站。 是紧急状况。
告诉我在哪里。
跟着我。
听。
谢谢。
离开
急
隐藏
跑
告诉
帮帮我
等待
没关系
你可以走了。
....

中文和马来文
打电话给救护车。
报警。
我急需一个电话。
有人在路上受伤
快。
是紧急状况。
有人说英语吗？

马来语

中文
我失去了我的教练 - 讲英语的人。
请告诉我方式。

..............

>>>

Czech - English

Where is the toilet?

How much is a ticket for the museum?

Any reductions?

Is there a cheaper group for several museums?

What time will it close?

Can we eat lunch here?

Can we buy a ticket, go for lunch and come back?

Toilet

ticket

museum

restaurant

thank you

.....

Translate into Spanish - English

You must leave the station now. It's an emergency.

Show me where. 

Follow me.

Listen.

Thank you.

leave

emergency

hide

run

tell

help

wait

It's ok

You can go.

.....

Chinese and Malay

Phone for an ambulance.

Call the police.

I need a phone urgently.

Somebody's injured in the road.

Quick.

It's an emergency.

Does somebody speak English?

Malay

Chinese

I have lost my coach - English speaking people.

Show me the way, please.

............

You could do a similar translation of the words and phrases you are most likely to need on your trip, depending on whether you are walking, cycling, driving yourself, in a taxi, in a coach, on a bus or on a plane.

Most people in Singapore speak English as a first or second language or Singalist. However the bus drivers often don't speak English. They are introverts, and have to watch the road and keep to time. So if you have a question about the road or where to get off, you will proceed faster if you can speak to them in thier language, Mandarin, Tamil, or whetever they speak, or have a simple translation such as:

Can you help me, please?

I am going to this Community Club NORTH - SOUTH  - EAST - WEST .

Can you call me when we reach my stop.

.....

I want to get off at the nearest MRT station. 

Thank you - for helping me.

Goodbye.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Nǐ néng bāng wǒ ma.
Wǒ yào qù zhège shèqū jùlèbù běi - dōng - nán - xī.
Dāng wǒmen dàodá wǒ de zhàndiǎn shí, nǐ néng gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà ma?
.....
Wǒ xiǎng zài zuìjìn dì dìtiě zhàn xià chē.
Gǎnxiè nǐmen duì wǒ de bāngzhù.
Zàijiàn.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

你能帮我吗。

我要去这个社区俱乐部北 - 东南 - 西。

当我们到达我的站点时，你能给我打电话吗？

.....

我想在最近的地铁站下车。

感谢你们对我的帮助。

再见。

Wo is me in Chinese. (Easy to remember, from the Shakespeare play expression: 'Woe is me!'

I suggest you get my translation checked. You must have seen some weird Chinese translation into English!

This website give you the Chinese characters for Beijing.

https://dictionary.hantrainerpro.com/chinese-english/translation-beijing_beijing.htm

You will also see the characters in the Wikipedia article on Beijing.

Bei-jing means northern capital.

The Chinese characters 北 ("north") and 京 ("capital") together mean the "Northern Capital". The name was first used during the reign of the Ming dynasty's Yongle Emperor, who made his northern estate a second capital along with Nanjing (南京, the "Southern Capital") .
The word for noth looks like parallel lines in the middle representing a road leading north. The word for capital looks like a little crown on the head of a king, controlling three areas below in three directions, three legs supporting the capital, or all roads lead up to the capital.

North

South

East

West

Běi
nán
dōng
xī

Remember Words For N S E W

北 - Bei - north as in the capital of China, Bei-jing (which used to be called Pe-king).

南 - south - Nan as in Nan-king

东 - east - dong (think of a bell in an oriental temple)

西 - west (she, being shy, she went home to the West)

Say these words four times, pointing your fingers up, down, right and left, remembering the mnemonics or memory aids.

In Singapore it is important to tell the bus or taxi driver or passenger or passer-by whether your Community Club is North or East or South or West, because often two Clubs are within walking distance of your destination bus stop.

How do I remember the symbols for north, south, east and west?

North Chinese Symbol
The Chinese symbol for North looks like it has the letter t on the right-hand side. (And the letter K reversed on the left.)

South Symbol in Chinese
South looks like a cross with a downward spike pointing south to the busy south, and three legs walking south.

East Symbol in Chinese
You might think the top line looks like the top of the letter E.

East - looks like a whirling Dervish dancer, pirouetting on a pole from West to East, skirt flying.

West Symbol in Chinese
West - looks like a window, a window on the west (alliterative) with curtains and a shady ledge above the window for flowerpots.

Author

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

Please share links to your favourite posts.

New Bridge From England to Edinburgh in Scotland on the Firth of Forth

Problem
Which bridge goes where?

Answer
The new road bridge is the Firth of Forth road bridge. A firth is an estuary. The alliterative Firth of Forth. (The Firth, not the fifth, and the Forth, not fourth meaning four.) It is the estuary blocking the way from England to Scotland to Edinburgh on the East.

How do I remember Edinburgh is in the East of Scotland? I visualise the map. I live in England and look at the map of Britain quite often.  But if you are not familiar with the map, if you are in America or Asia, remember that the capital, Edinburgh, capital E, is in the East, capital E.

Glasgow is to the West of Edinburgh.

The Firth of Tay is the estuary of the Tay river, Dundee.

Confusingly, to the English, Aberdeen is on the Tee. Tea in Aberdeen with the Dean.

Let's go back to the new bridge. It's not a replacement bridge but an additional bridge. The old bridge had to be closed in bad weather. Like what? I suppose winds and waves too high. The new bridge will stay open all the time. The old bridge will be a supplement in good times when the roads are busy.

However, websites currently say that initially drivers will be directed to the new bridge open officially this month, initially to pedestrians, then to road traffic.

Sounds like they want everybody to get used to the idea of the new bridge.
The Old Queensferry Road Bridge
The old Queensferry Road Bridge.

Photo by KlauswithK. In Wikipedia.


The old bridge is apparently going to be temporarily converted just to pedestrians, then later opened up again to buses. Hm. I suspect plans will change.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-40972881
Tourism Websites
www.visitbritain.org


The Railway Bridge. Forth Bridge.

Photo by Andrew Shiva from Wikipedia.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I am also a teacher. I teach English and other languages. How did you guess? See my other posts on languages and destinations. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Chinese words from maps for travellers

China - the exotic east, source of paper and gunpowder and lots of words you didn't realise you already know. A vast land where a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, although nowadays, with most tourists having more money than time, best not to travel the continent by foot, especially if you don't speak the language(s). You would be advised to take a ship or plane from a city such as Shanghai to Beijing. Here are some handy words and translations.

Beijing - north capital -
Shanghai - shang means above; hai is sea. If you look up meaning of shanghai in a cautionary online you find it is a verb meaning to force somebody onto a ship. Shanghai is a huge port.
Canton - Portuguese pronunciation of Guang-dong
Guang - vast/expanse (huge!)
dong - east
xi - west
Guangdong - literally expanse east, or as we would say in colloquial English, Eastern area

Frankly, I learned all these years ago but they never stuck in my mind. So I have to type them out again to remind myself and you.

If you type in translation you are given links to translation services. The word you need is etymology meaning origin of words.

Some gems I found on the internet:
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/04/24/beijings-subway-stops-literally-translated/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer.