Starting Spanish

Italian flag

 I switched from learning Spanish on Duolingo to learning Italian for a year for a trip to Italy which was cancelled. Now I have just finished learning the Italian from the Duolingo course and I have gone back to Spanish.

This time I am more methodical. A few days ago I wanted to say goodnight to my husband in Italian and could not rmember the Italian for good night. He was astonished and said, "After a year of Italian, you still can't say good night!" 

I wrote down the Italian for good night on a piece of paper and put it by his bed on the bedside talbe (which Americans call a night stand). I wrote it again for myself, to go on my bedside table. 

When I switched to Spanish, I wrote the Italian for good night, and good morning.

Italian - English

ciao - hello/goodbye

buon giorno - good morning (literally good day)

buona notte - good night

Spanish - English

hola (silent h)  - hello/goodbye

buenas noches - good night

buenos dias - good day/morning

I think of Spain, Espana, with  the letter s. Add s for plurals, like Los Angeles, the city, which means the angels. 

Dia is day and dias is days. Day has the letter A second in Spanish.

Now, as soon as I think of good night or good morning in English, either the Italian or Spanish for good night or good day will pop into my head. How do I remember the difference is spelling of the word good for night and day, and which is Spanish and which is Italian.

I thought I'd check out the Portugese. Very close to Spanish. In spelling and pronounciation.

Handy in both Europe, in Portugal, and in South America in Brazil

Portuguese - English

olá - hello

Your next steps

Useful Websites Languages For Travellers

Duolingo.com

wikitravel phrasebook Italian 

wikitravel phrasebook Spanish 

wikitravel phrasebook Portuguese

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Italian words - back to basics

 My husband claimed to have managed a week in Italy with just half a dozen basic words. Here are some common ones.

Flag of Italy

Italian - English

arrivederci - goodbye

buon giorno - good morning 

ciao - hello

grazie - thanks

per favore - please

non - no/not/don't

prego - not at all / you're welcome

si - SÌ- yes

English - Italian 

goodbye - arrivederci

good morning - buon giorno

hello - ciao

no - no

Please - per favore

thanks - grazie

yes - sÌ (with a downward accent on the i)

Useful Websites

Wikivoyage Italian phrasebook

Duolingo

Please share links to your favourite words

A few words for the Philippines

 The national language is Tagalog which includes a few words of Spanish and Malay. Emphasize the middle syllable of TaGAlog. Like AH in the middle.

English - Tagalog

Good morning - Magandan(g) umaga sound like mag-an-dumb, ooh, ma, gar as in garden

good afternoon - magandang babi

thank you - salamat (like salaam, or shalom, arabic and Hebrew for peace, as in the word Jeru-salem

help - tulong

are you okay - okay ka lang (ka is you)

I am okday - ayas lang ako

goodbye = paalam (like b for 'bye turned upside down, followed by salaam with the s at the start

breakfast - agahan

lunch - Tanghalion

I am looking for the words for please, dinner, and good night. I expect to find them in the phrase book in Wikivoyage, if not in Translate Google.

Useful Websites

Translate Google

wikivoyage phrase book  Philippines

Please share links to your favourite posts

How to say good morning in Chinese, already

Flag of China.

I went to a bilingual Mandarin-English toastmasters club in Singapore. I heard the convener saying what sounded like, 'knee how?' and everybody replying, 'How!'

I asked what that meant and a new friend told me, "It is a greeting. 'Knee how' is 'you good' and 'how' is 'good'."

What was easy to understand and remember. It stuck. the equivalent of the English, 'how are you?', and the reply, 'fine, thank you,' or, 'good, thank you'.

This week I met a Singaporean lady who knew Mandarin. I said to her: "Good Morning. Knee how!"

She replied, "Woe how!'

Ah! I remembered that wo means I in Mandarin. Chinese sentence construction is very simple and succinct. Chinese is hard to pronounce with unfamiliar words, but a little vocabulary goes a long way.

I noticed that when she spoke to me in English, she kept ending sentences with the English word already. I thought, that must be a direct translation from Mandarin. Shopkeepers often say, "No more already" when an English shop assistant would use the phrase, "Sorry, we've sold out,' or, "We're out of stock''. So I reckoned that already is a handy word to either use of recognize, because it crops up so often.

Wo how means I good.

English - Chinese (Mandarin)
I - wo
you - ni
good - hao
how are you - ni hao
I am fine (thank you) - wo hao
I put the thank you in brackets because it is not in the Chinese, so a direct translation would not include the thanks. but if any Chinese readers wants to know the correct English, they should be aware that it sounds polite to add thanks, and rude to fail to do so.

Mandarin - English
wo - I
ni - you
hao - good
ni hao - how are you (literally 'you good?')
wo hao - I'm fine/well/good

Good morning
morning
already

早上好
早上
已经

Zǎoshang hǎo
zǎoshang
yǐjīng

The z in when said by my new friend 'Maggie' sounded like sz, like Suzie without the u.
The first time I repeated the word as sow-shang, she told me, "If you say it like that, people won't understand you."

So I repeated the word, more like Z at the start.
better. but she repeated the vowel.

I adding the dipped vowel sound, a bit like asking "really?", with your voice going low and then up at the end of the word.

That seemed to do the trick. Once you know the sound to listen for, you can listen to other people talking. or practise with every person you meet, until the pronunciation becomes automatically correct.

If I were to learn just one word a day, that would be about 300 a year. After three years I would know 900 word. In ten years I would know 3.000 words.

Chinese is spoken in China, Taiwan and Singapore. (Hong Kong, more Cantonese.)


Flag of Singapore.

Just 150 words learned if we are stuck at home for 6 months. Or stuck at home for 14 days and get in the habit of learning a word or two every day. The same applies to any other language you care to learn.

With many people stuck at home because of the coronavirus, a great opportunity to learn a language. So that when we are able to travel, we enhance our enjoyment with our command and understanding of another language.

Useful Websites
google translate
duolingo

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Teacher of English and other languages

Translate into Spanish - words at the airport, hotel,

Problem
Next year I am taking a holiday with a group of ex-pats who speak English, Indonesian, German and Dutch. We will be in Bulgaria. So I need to brush up on the basics of sentences in four languages, enough to grasp what they are saying. I have chosen half a dozen vital sentence which I will learn in each of the three languages.

I also go to a Toastmasters group where two people speak Spanish, one from Spain, another from Venezuela. Although I can read Spanish, when I was asked, in Spanish, 'do you understand Spanish,' I was flummoxed because I could not immediately summon up the reply, only a little. So I am collecting the phrases one might need, which I habitually need, in three of four languages which I will be needing when checking into airports and accosting strangers who speak assorted languages. Here's the Spanish.

I started by spending ten minutes on the German, as I already know German. That is in another post. I need to practise saying these sentences so I can not only understand, but also speak!

Read the English, then the German / Spanish / other language. Come back to the English and see if you can remember the German / Spanish / other language.

ENGLISH
AIRPORT
Excuse me - do you speak English / German / Dutch / Indonesian / Malaysian?
No, sorry. / Yes, I do. I am English!
Only - a little. Slowly, please!
Can you write it down?
I have a dictionary - can you Google translate it?

1
Airport
Good morning / Good afternoon / Good evening
Welcome
Excuse me
Can you help me?

2
Where is the check-in? Where is the Lufthansa / KLM desk?
Where is the lounge?
Where is the toilet? The ladies / The gents /
Men / Women/ Boys / Girls/ male / female
And - What time is the shuttle bus?

3
It's due now /
in Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes,
in half an hour, every hour, on the hour
Sorry - it does not run on Sunday / the evening / bank holidays
If you can't wait, how about a taxi - over there

4
Where is the bus stop?
Where is the car park?
We are in a hurry. We are late!
You are late. You must hurry!
Calm down. You are in good time. You've plenty of time.

5
I don't know
I am also looking for it
No idea
I'm a stranger
Ask over there

6
Ask him / her / them
Come with me
I'll show you
Thanks
Bon voyage / have a safe journey

7
Mind out! Watch out!
Take care / Look after yourself
See you soon
See you later
Goodbye

AEROPUERTO
Disculpe, ¿usted habla inglés / hablas alemán / holandés / indonesio / hablas malayo?
No, lo siento / Sí, lo hago. ¡Soy Inglés! Soy alemán, soy indonesio, soy holandés
Solo un poco. ¡Lentamente por favor!
Puedes escribirlo?
Tengo un diccionario. ¿Puedes traducir Google?

1
aeropuerto
Buenos días, buenas tardes, buenas tardes
Bienvenido
lo siento
¿Me puedes ayudar?

2
¿Dónde está el check-in? ¿Dónde está el medidor Lufthansa / KLM?
¿Donde está la habitación?
¿Dónde está el baño? Las damas / caballeros /
Hombres / mujeres / niños / niñas / hombres / mujeres
Y, ¿a qué hora es el servicio de autobús?

3
Es debido /
en cinco minutos, diez minutos, quince minutos,
en media hora, cada hora, cada hora a cada hora
Lo sentimos, no se ejecuta los domingos / noches / días festivos
Si no puedes esperar, ¿qué piensas de un taxi?

4
¿Dónde esta la parada de autobus?
¿Dónde está el estacionamiento?
Estamos en apuros. ¡Llegamos tarde!
Llegas tarde ¡Tienes que darte prisa!
Cálmese. Usted está allí a tiempo. Tienes mucho tiempo.

5
No lo sé
También lo estoy buscando
Ni idea
Soy un extraño
Pregunta por allí

6
Pregunta pregunta
Ven conmigo
te mostrare
Muchas gracias
Buen viaje / viaje seguro

7
¡Cuidado! ¡Cuidado!
Cuídate)
Hasta pronto (Literalmente en español Adiós por hoy)
Nos vemos más tarde
Adios que Te Vaya Bien

GERMAN
FLUGHAFEN
Entschuldigung - Sprechen Sie Englisch / Sprechen Sie Deutsch / Niederländisch / Indonesisch / Sprechen Sie Malaysisch?
Nein Entschuldigung. / Ja, mache ich. Ich bin Engländer! Ich bin Deutsche. Ich bin Indonesisch. Ich bin Niederländisch.
Nur ein bisschen. Langsam Bitte!
Kannst du es aufschreiben?
Ich habe ein Wörterbuch - kannst du Google übersetzen?

1
Flughafen
Guten Morgen / guten Nachmittag / guten Abend
Herzlich willkommen
Entschuldigen Sie mich
Kannst du mir helfen?

2
Wo ist der Check-in? Wo ist der Lufthansa / KLM Schalter?
Wo ist die Lounge?
Wo ist die Toilette? Die Damen / Die Herren /
Männer / Frauen / Jungen / Mädchen / männlich / weiblich
Und - Um wie viel Uhr ist der Shuttlebus?

3
Wo ist die Bushaltestelle?
Wo ist der Parkplatz?
Wir sind in Eile. Wir sind spät!
Du bist spät. Du musst dich beeilen!
Beruhigen. Du bist rechtzeitig da. Du hast viel Zeit.

4
Ich weiß es nicht
Ich suche auch danach
Keine Ahnung
Ich bin ein Fremder
Frag dort drüben

5
Frag ihn / sie / sie
Komm mit mir
Ich werde Ihnen zeigen
Vielen Dank
Gute Reise / sichere Reise

6
Pass auf
Sich selbst versorgen
Bis bald
Bis später
Auf Wiedersehen

***

English - German
AIRPORT
Airport
Good morning / afternoon / evening
Welcome
Excuse me
Can you help me?

I don't know
I am also looking for it
No idea
I'm a stranger
Ask over there

Where do I check in?
Here / Just there / Over there
On the right / left
Upstairs / downstairs
Up the stairs / up the escalator

Through the doors
At the far end
Where is the exit?
Where are the taxis?
Is there a cheap bus /shuttle bus?

Where does it go?
Does it go into the city / to my hotel
Where is the tourist office?
Can you point (to it)?
I see it!

I can't see it
Thank you
You're welcome
I need water
I would like a cup of coffee

We have black coffee
We only have tea
That's fine
No thanks, I'll leave it
Sorry, I haven't time

How much is it?
Is that the right money?
Do you take Euros?
Yes/no
Is that right?

Is that the right money?
Just right / That's it!
Nearly / almost
Another 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Where's my change?
Keep the change
Where's my change
The bill, please
Keep the change

What time is check in?
They are calling my flight!
I have to go!
Please hurry!
Can I get past?

You have time - plenty of time
Please sit down and wait
Can I sit down, somewhere?
Where can I sit?
I'll be over there

Hotel
Welcome to our hotel
Here is your key
Please fill in this form
We need your name
Write it here

We need a credit card?
Do you have another credit card?
We do not take American Express
That's fine / ok
Just a moment / minute!

We need a signature
You must sign it
Cash will do
Do you take credit cards?
I need a taxi

I need a toilet
Where are the toilets:
Over there
To the right
To the left

See the sign
You can't miss it
Is that everything?
Yes, we're finished
You may go

Later post - Restaurant

Later post - Friends

Earworms has recordings of sentences for these situations
You can buy from Berliz direct and through Amazon and ebay

Useful Websites
Berlitz / Earworms
Amazon
Ebay

Author
Angela Lansbury, please save and share links to your favourite posts.

First Words in Welsh For Greeting and Thanking

Story
In Fishguard at the Fishguard Bay Hotel, I picked up the 2107 edition of tourist newspaper promoting Pembrokeshire. It contained a beginners ' guide to Welsh.

English - Welsh
Good afternoon - Prynhawn 'da
Good morning - Bore da
Good night - Nos da


Welsh - English
Bore da - good morning
Nos da - good night
Prynhawn 'da - good afternoon

Tips
You can download the free app at www.pembrokeshirecoast.wales
www.saysomethingin.com/Welsh

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See other posts on Welsh, visiting Wales, and destinations worldwide. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Learn A Little Hebrew

Problem
I am travelling down in a gondola at a resort in Romania and I ask a couple of ladies what language they are speaking. Hebrew. Alas, I struggle to red Hebrew, despite attempts to learn the alphabet (which is slightly similar to both Greek and Russian).

Answer
However, I have five minutes confined to a cage with them. If they are willing I can learn ten, twenty, even thirty words of common, everyday conversational useful Hebrew.

Story
I decided learning a few words was a great idea. It was too good an opportunity to miss.

Besides, it is much more interesting to engage one or both in a session about language, than for me to stay silent.  I hate standing like an unwanted idiot whilst two strangers converse together in a language which I do not understand.

Here are my results at translating:

Hebrew - English
(ch is a harsh ch sound like Scottish loch, or clearing your throat.)
Arochat boker - breakfast
boker - morning
boker tov - good morning
litrahot - goodbye or see you soon
maher  - hurry
layut-layut - slow down
kamer - how much?
Anglia - English
Ivrit - Hebrew

The Israeli girl told me: "The quickest way to learn a language is to be in the country and hear people speaking the language. If you want to learn Hebrew, volunteer to work on a kibbutz."

I'd heard of working in a kibbutz as a way of earning a free holiday, or learning about life on a kibbutz. Now there's a much better reason. To learn to speak Hebrew.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have written other posts on learning Hebrew,  Greek, Romanian and  RussianPlease read and share links to my other posts.