Why do you need to know Chinese?

 

Why do you need to recognize Chinese signs even if you cannot speak a word? So you can identify the correct sex of toilets in China, Hong, Kong, Taiwan, China (same writing symbols), or a rest room in a restaurant in Chinatown anywhere in the world.

I went into the Gents in China.

Chinese writing is easier than you might think. Do you know Roman numbers? One, two, and three. Uprights. Like holding up your fingers? What about Chinese?

Chinese is not the same as Roman writing. The exact opposite. The Roman numbers one to three  are vertical. The Chinese numbers one to three are horizontal.

Useful Websites

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Vital Products from Vitafoods: The Exotic Jute Ashwagandha Bag and Its Erotic Promises

Singapore flag.

The show is about manufacturing and marketing healthy foods and products from packaging and sales of ingredients to finished products. On day two of the Vitafoods Asia show I arrived early and in time to get the jute bag donated by Ashwagandha.

I had missed out on getting the bag on day one.

The bag says:
Clinically Proven to Help
Reduce Stress ... (The previous day I could have done with that)
Improve Memory ... (I could have done with that)
Improve endurance ... (Yes, I needed that)
I was about to ask if they could prove all this when I read the last on the list:
Enhance Sexual Function ... and testosterone in Men

I decided not to go back to their stand and ask for proof.

The show was all about food, fortified food, nutrition, health and wellness.

Next year's show in Asia is 23rd and 24th September 2020. If you are looking to promote your product, find a distributor, source a service or select packaging, this is the place to be promoting your product or service on a stand or go as a visitor looking for potential partners.

Over in Europe:
Vivitafoods Europeta Foods Europe
Tuesday to Thursday 12-14 May 2020
Palexpo, Route Francois-Peyrot 30
1218 Le Grand-Saconne
Swisse (Switzerland)
email:info@palexpo.ch
Tel:+41 22 761 11 11

Useful Websites
www.palexpo.ch
https://www.vitafoodsasia.com/en/welcome.html
singaporeair.com

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

Greetings and conversation in German (and other languages) at the airport

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 shall start by spending ten minutes on the German, as I already know German. I need to practise saying these sentences so I can not only understand but speak.

Read the English, then the German / other language. Come back to the English and see if you can remember the German / 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
Take care
Look after yourself
See you soon
See you later
Goodbye

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

Romanian words you will recognize

Flag of Romania

Problem
On a video about a bear attack in northern Romania and the relocation of the bear, I saw a sentence which I half understood. I translated it and could recognize half or more of the words. To instantly forget them was a wasted opportunity. So I have collect them here to look at again and again later.

I saw a video on learning languages which said you learn quicker if you read about subjects which interest you. I've been hiking in Romania and was alarmed by all the signs warning about bears and not feeding them, nor leaving litter such as food or food wrappers lying around because that could attract bears.

Two sentences read in translation:

Aggressive bear will be carried to the reserve.
Bear from Tusnad which attacked two men will be relocated to Zarnesti.

The adjectives come after the nouns. In English we would say aggressive bear. In Romanian they say ursoaica  agresivă
(The bowl shape diacritic (accent) should be over the a. I don't have it on my keyboard so I have copied it.)

Answer
I find Romanian very easy, similar to Italian.

Romanian - English
agresivă - aggressive (matching female word)
barbati - men
care - which
de - of
din - from
doi  /două - two
dusa - carried
fi - be
în - in
la - to
mutat - moved
relocata - relocated
reservati - reserve / reservation
ursoaica - bear
va / voi - will

English - Romanian
aggressive - agresiv (masculine) / agresivă (feminine)
attacked - atacat
be - fi
bear - urs
carried - dusa, transportate
from - in
in - in
in the
men - bărbați (I could not get the cedilla under the t and had to copy the whole word)
moved - mutat
of - de
relocated - relocata
reserve / reservation - reservă / reservare
to (the) la
two - doi
which - care
will - va

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Three New Japanese Words and How to remember them

Problem
Today I read three new Japanese words. But how do I remember them?

Japanese - English
man - (not man but 10,000 - think of ten thousand Japanese men - only one steps forward and takes 10.000 steps)
po - steps - P like pedicure, foot
kei - meter - (kay looks like key - the key to measuring)

English - Japanese
meter - kei
steps - po
10,000 ten thousand - man

Keep saying new words three times, every hour today and for a week and then write it in your diary and look at it on your daily commute. (Like a gym or aqua class instructor shouting at you to repeat: " One, two, three - last time!" - shout at yourself.)

1
man - (not man but 10,000 - think of ten thousand Japanese men - only one steps forward and takes 10.000 steps)
po - steps - P like pedicure, foot
kei - meter - (kay looks like key - the key to measuring)

2

man - (not man but 10,000 - think of ten thousand Japanese men - only one steps forward and takes 10.000 steps)
po

- steps - P like pedicure, foot
kei - meter - (kay looks like key - the key to measuring)

3
man - (not man but 10,000 - think of ten thousand Japanese men - only one steps forward and takes 10.000 steps)
po - steps - P like pedicure, foot
kei - meter - (kay looks like key - the key to measuring)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42864061#_=_ (Story of 10,000 steps, and the 3 Japanese words)
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/polyglot-poem-by-angela-lansbury.html
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-to-remember-23-portuguese-words-or.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, learner and teacher of languages.

How the Hash organises the jungle run trails

You may have heard of the Hash, who do jungle runs and running all over the world. They started in Malaysia in WWII. In Singapore the men run a more strenuous run on Monday nights, mixed sex on Friday,  families with children - just type kiddie hash, at the weekend, and there's a run with dogs.

The Singaporean hashers think they have the best runs, because they go through jungle. On the other hand it's hot and humid. If you are in America or Australia you can join or start a hash in all sorts of climates and terrains.

I asked somebody who runs every week about how the hares set this trail for the other runners. Do they start on one side of a park or field or jungle or area and come back to the same point for the exit or go across it and emerge the other side?

Given a choice, they think it's more interesting to start one point and end at another. But if there's no exit on the other side (eg if its a cliff by the sea, a reservoir, an airfield, a banned military site, or a housing estate or private land, what do they do?

They have a choice. One is to have the start and end nearby. Leave the end few yards unmarked. Bring people back to end within sight of the road (and the parked food trucks with supper which have not been there when the run started at six pm on the dot, but arrived about 8 for 8.30 supper.

You put a sign, on on home. The runners know just to keep running in the same direction to the main road where the end point will be obvious from the trucks and signs of the earlier runners.

You don't want the out and back signs in the same place.

The alternative is for the two or more hares (usually two, three or four) to wait until the runners have set off. Then to add the signs nearby for the return.

For more information look up the Hash in Singapore or the inter hash event and you'll find the general website.

You will find nearly a hundred runs just in Malaysia. You will find runs in west Java in Indonesia, in  Hong Kong and many more worldwide.

Angela Lansbury, B A Hons, CL, ACG, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.