Spanish words for writing, reading, printing, communicating

  

Countries where Spain is an official language.

Spanish - English

arreglar - to fix

candidato - candidate

capitulo - chapter (not capital letters)

chatear - to chat

comunicar - to communicate

conciertos - concerts

en persona - in person

escritor - writer (like the words scribe, and script and manuscript)

firmar - to sign (confirm)

gol - goal

grupo(s) - group(s)

historia - history

libro - book

novela - novel

politica - political

problema - problem

vegano - vegan

English - Spanish

book - libro

chapter - capitulo

to sign - firmar

You fill in the rest.

Useful Websites for translating and learning Spanish

duolingo.com

translate google

wikivoyage Spanish phrasebook

-ends-

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German Language Insight, Useful in Austria, German and Switzerland -Schubert and other names

 

Flag of Germany

Names starting with Sch

Schubert, the family name of composer Franz Schubert, means shoemaker or cobbler. Schubert was German speaking, as you might guess from the spelling of his name. He was actually Austrian. German is spoken in Germany, Austria, and parts of Switzerland. 

Schneberger

I started researched names starting with Sch because I have a blouse with the label Schneberger Gruppe. 

Schneberger Gruppe Classic Clothes

 It is vintage and I found blouses, jackets, long jackets or coats, dresses and skirt suits, with this label on ebay at prices from affordable seven pounds to twenty pounds and upwards. 

Berger - Meaning Mountain

The name berger means person from a berg or mountain. This ending comes from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 

Schnee - Snow

Schne could be a variation on or shortened form of schnee which means snow. That might help you to remember or recognize the company name and to type it correctly. 

Bürger - Citizen

Not to be confused with burger with the unlaut or double dot over the u. That spelling is a word which means a citizen or city dweller. It can also mean freeman, or free man.

Think of two brothers. One lives on a snowy mountain. The other lives in a city. You meet their two grandsons. The family names indicates where their ancestors used to live.

These translations help you to remember the names of new friends or business contacts or shopkeepers or travel guides you meet on your travels, as well and shop names and street names.

German SCH

When typing, also remember that in English we use the letter combinations sh and ch, but in German they use sch. 

I looked up names starting with Sch and found several more, some of which were famous people.

Schwarzkopf - black head

Schwarzkopf meaning black head, was a name often given to people with black hair, and was the family name of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, who was an opera singer. 

Schmidt - Smith

The family name smith is derived from the German word for smith which was given to a blacksmith.

Schneider - sewer

A schneider was a sewer, a seamstress, a tailor. 

Learning And Speaking German

I learned German on Duolingo.  A quick guide to everyday phrases is in wikivoyage under phrasebook. You can copy it and print it off, or bookmark it on your laptop.

Useful Websites for learning German

Duolingo.com

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/German_phrasebook

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Spanish words - easy new words and reminders

 

 Duolingo teaches Spanish as spoken in South America, but the Spanish of Mexico and Spain is very similar.

Let's look at some easy to recognize and remember words. I am learning on Duolingo. I have paid to get the version without advertising. I am learning for an hour or so every day, so it's worthwhile to be comfortable.

Spanish - English words

Those in bold are new today. Those words not in bold are reminders from yesterday.

A

actor - actor (male). actriz - actress. actores - actors. agosto - August. ayer - yesterday (ye in both words)

B

barco - boat (embark on a boat). blanco - white (like a blank piece of paper).

C 

conflicto - conflict. copas - cups or glasses

D

datos - not dates but facts, data . Fecha - date.

 dias - days. diente - tooth (like the English word dentist, or dental floss, or dental work). dificil - difficult. drama - drama. durante - during.

E

 (la) escena - (the) scene. escuela - school. estadio - stadium.  excepto - except. Estados Unidos - United States.

F 

febrero - February. fecha - date. final - final.  fotos - photos. fresco - fresh.

frio - cold (like freezing)

G

 grupo - group

H

 helicoptero - helicopter. historia - history. hobby - hobby. hola - hello. horas - hours/time.

I

 idea - idea. invitadas - guests. invited people. idioma - language.

J 

jirafa - giraffe. julio - July. junio - June.

K 

(for borrowed words from other languages)

Karaoke - karaoke

kilo - kilo

kiwi - kiwi

L

 lago - lake. libro - book (think of library book)

M

mangos - mangoes. (The Spanish for mangoes drops the e, like the plural of the in Los Angeles.) mayo - May. maestro - teacher. minutos - minutes. mojadas - wet (think of moist). Motor - engine. (Motor car is carro.)

N

necessito - I need (think of it is necessary). noviembre - november. nuevos - new (plural adjective, of is masculine plural like los angeles)

O

 opera - opera. Note the accent in the Spanish.

P

pantalones - pants (US. UK trousers.) por - for. programa - program.

Q

quieto - still or calm

R

romper - to break (like rupture)

S

silencio - silence.

 sucias - dirty (like stained)

T 

taxi - taxi. teatro - theatre. tranvia - tram (UK) /streetcar (USA). tren - train. el tren - the train. los trenes - the trains. turista - tourist

U 

util - useful (like wartime WW2 utility furniture)

V 

viago (accent on the o, emphasized) voyage or travel 

W

 (for words borrowed from other languages)

web

whisky

X

 (For words borrowed from other languages) 

xilofono, accent on the first letter o to show the syllable to emphasize)

Y

 ya - already yo - I

Z

zona - zone. zoo - zoo. zapatos - shoes.

I was looking for the Spanish spelling of the Spanish word for tramway, when I was directed to the film A Streetcar Named Desire in Wikipedia in Spanish. I was pleased to find a large number of words which are almost the same in both languages. 

Try reading the article and write down the words which you recognize. You could write the words you don't know on another page. To start your daily repetition of words, begin with the easy ones, to gain confidence and feel encouraged.

You can switch between the English and the Spanish. At the top of the page is a little notice which says the number of languages. 46 Languages.

 Click on that and a list of languages appears. Click on espagnol (with the sign over the n) to get Spanish, then back to English. You can also translate into simple English, but when you go back into the Spanish, you are back in the long version, not simple Spanish.

Useful Websites on Spanish Letters and pronunciation

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un_tranv%C3%ADa_llamado_Deseo_(pel%C3%ADcula_de_1951

https://blog.duolingo.com/spanish-alphabet-pronunciation

https://quillbot.com/blog/word-finder/spanish-words-that-start-with-g/

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Learning Albanian For Your Holiday, Work, Fun, Curiosity: 10 handy words

I took a Lonely Planet guide with me to Albania. It has several languages and is small but quite thick and heavy. I considered cutting the spine in half. 

I did not want to spoil the book. It seems sacrilege to spoil a book. I did not want it to disintegrate. I might need to use it again. 

But it had not cost much. I had bought a cheaper second hand used copy. 

I then realized I could cut out the Albanian pages, which were first in the book, which had arranged the languages alphabetically.

I cut out the pages and stapled them together. I had too many for one staple. So I used two for two sections. i could have made a cover for the new mini book, in thicker paper to protect it, but I just put it in a see through zip lock bag.

The print is small, hard to read at night in a hotel bedroom, but handy in a restaurant and outdoors in daytime. The guide is something to read when waiting for other people, or for a table in a restaurant, or for your meal to arrive.

Many Albanian words are similar to English. The next challenge is how to pronounce each word, and how to pronounce the letters which have accents. The ling app is good because you start with one word or small groups of two or three words and learn the roounciation by hearing it straight away.

You see lots of English words and brand names.

Same Words

bar

hotel

spa

Similar words

1 agroturizem - agro-tourism

2 grupi - group

3 klient - client

4 ministria - ministry

5 objekt - object

6 recepsion / recepsionit - reception

7 republika - republic

8 restorant - restaurant

9 kafe - coffee (not eating place)

10 ora - time (like hour)

Useful Websites

https://play.ling-app.com/learn/unit/1/lesson/1

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Albanian_phrasebook

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Live Poetry Readings On Zoom

 

You can join poetry readings on Zoom. Each poet is allowed 2 poems, about five minutes in total. The convenors like to have your name and someone to vouch for you.

The theme was love.

I hunted through my poetry worksbook for a poem on love.

I could only find a limerick.

Jill wrote to me by direct message in the chat

Jill Sharon Kimmelman wrote

Outstanding inking Angela

I especially enjoyed the first limerick/light-hearted poetry.

P Suvarna wrote to everyone about me

Love is a link which saves life 

Love is great 

Great poem, Angela, madam 

The convenors and others comment and praise the poems.

That was awesome lucilla

Lantern Carrier  to  Everyone 22:55

Lucilla> 'in the narrow hours of sunset, nothing else matters.' Your words and images are so beautiful!!! Amazing!! - Lantern

One poem went: 'I had no idea ....' as a refrain repeated at the start of each sentence.

A commentator said: "You said, 'no idea' - but you had many ideas!"

I wrote

That was awesome, Lucilla'

Lantern Carrier  to  Everyone 22:55

Lucilla> 'in the narrow hours of sunset, nothing else matters.' Your words and images are so beautiful!!! Amazing!! - Lantern

The groups I went to had many poets, 18 to 36, all reading two poems, then the convener asking for verbal comments in addition to the Zoom chat comments.

The theme was Valentine's. 

Dramatic Dress

I was already wearing a blouse with pink hearts.

I noticed on zoom the hearts looked very small. You need one large heart.

You could draw a heart on a white tee-shirt. Make a template or stencil.

You will find lots of poetry groups though Facebook.

Please share links to your favourite posts. Please add me to the whatsapp groups of poetry readings.

Useful Websites

Facebook.com - Angela Lansbury Poetry which rhymes

The fertile brains

Captions and copyright for business and holiday photos

To add captions and copyright notices to photos, you can use Photoshop. This is handy when captioning names on a group of people. You don't have to keep adding the words 'left' and 'right', nor top row and bottom row, nor wonder if you have to change bottom to lower, as we used to when sub-editing women's magazines in IPC. Just place the name over the chest of the relevant person.
  I went onto the photoshop page. If you are in business I understand it is great, but I cannot justify spending on it. They offer various discounts for students and teachers amongst others.
Angela Lansbury B A Hons, author, travel writer, photographer, speaker.