Spanish Words - Fifty Handy Words For Welcoming, Chatting And Saying Goodbye

Spanish - English (memory aids in brackets) 

Español - Spanish

Inglaterra - England

Inglés - English

Británico - British

Accents simply tell you which syllable to emphasize.

1 ahora - now

2 bar - bar

3 clase - class

4 /5/6 cómo le va / 7/8 qué tal - how's it going 

9 ¿Cómo estás? how are you (upside down question mark starts sentences as well as ending them in Spanish)

19 dedo - finger

20 documentos - documents

21 /22/23 en la escuela - in school (add e before S like the word 

24 España for Spain and

Español  for Spanish 

25 26 27 en un momento - in a moment

28 29 espera aqui - wait here

espera un momento - wait a moment

30 la fiesta - the party

31 32 los insectos - insects

33 (la) invitación - (the) invitation

34 juguete - toy (juggling your toys)

35 36 ese libro - that book (like library)

37 28 39 mediodia - noon (media - middle, dia - day)

40 el oso - bear (Not el orso)

41 momento - moment

42 perdido - lost (perdition)

43 Siéntate - sit down

44 Siéntate aquí - sit here 

45 ven - come (as in the English words venture and adventure)

ven aqui - come here

46 47 48 ven conmigo - come with me (con - with, like Latin cum, mi - me)

You have learned, or already know, 48 words. Add

49 es - is / it is 

50 51 ¿Dónde está? Where is it?

52 Dónde están?- Where are they? (add n, like the m on the English word them for the plural)

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Spanish words which sound similar to English

 I have been re-learning, revising, Italian which I learned two years ago on Duolingo, but using Spanish as which I have been learning for 6 months, as the instruction language. A huge number of words in Spanish sound similar to English. Once you have learned the correct translation, the Spanish words is easy to recognize.

Here are the ones I have found.

Spanish - English

acerca de - about (think of encircled by)

ahora - now (now is the hour, as the old song said, on the hour) (not to be confused with allora, Italian for now, let's go, then)

allegra/o - lively

amatista - amethyst

ascenso - ascend/rise

asi - so (ah - see, so)

borrar - delete (brush off, rub out)

clic - click

descenso - descent

describir - describe

division (accent on the o) - division

empleo - employment

escribe - write/inscribe

estado - status (in Spanish the letter e often goes before s at the start of the word, like the name of the country, Espana, escuala - school)

felicidades - congratulations (felicitations)

gramaticales - grammatical

impresionante - awesome/impressive

legas - leagues

minutos - minutes

perfecta - perfect

practicar - practise

reportar - to report

terminos - terms

utilizar - to utilize

zona - zone

verdad (Spanish)/vero (Italian) - true (like the English word verify)

 

Malay and Indonesian words

Malay / Indonesian

Singapura - Singapore

Orang Singapura - Singaporean (s)
Penduduk Singapura (Singapore residents)
tidak - no
untuk - for
yang - that
saya - I
bagaimana - how
adakah - is there
meningkatkan - improve
peluang - opportunities
pekerjaan  - work
maju - advanced
dalam - in
kerjaya - workout
kop - head
kopi - coffee
tanyalah - ask
d i k e m a s - packed
kini - now (letter n in both words)
pada - on
februari - February

Singapore
Singaporeans
Singapore residents
no - t i d a k
for - u n t u k
that - yang
I - saya
How - bagaimana
is there - a d a k a h
improve - miningkatkan
opportunities - peluang
work - pekerjaan
advanced - m a j u
in - dalam
work out - kerjaya
head - kop
coffee - k o p i
ask - tanyalah
packed - dikemas
now - k i n i (remember keen to do it now)
on - pada
February - f e b r u a r i

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages.
See my other posts on Malay in this blog.
More posts on travel in my latest blog on website:
http://luxurytravelforless.co.uk

German Pronunciation Simplified

Problem
How do you pronounce German words?

Answers

AU is OW as HOW NOW BROWN COW
I had a friend whose surname was Blau (rhyming with now) meaning blue.
frau - woman - think of a frowning woman with brows in a brown dress , pronounced f r o w,

IE
i e pronounce the second letter W i e n e r - p r o n u n c e d v e e n e r

V and W
W is v as in the German word for sausage: w u r s h t (pronounced v e r sh t).
So now you can recognize it when a German speaker talks about a sausage from Vienna.
You can also recognize what sounds like v e e n e r schnitzel.

Frequent use of W pronounced as V
was - (vas or vuss) what
wie - what
German wir - we pronounced veer

German - English
was - what (vuss as in fuss)
wir - we (veer)
wie - how (vee)
wieviel - how many (vee feel)
w i e v i e l u h r ist es (what time is it - v e e like the letter vee, feel, i s t e s s as in yes)

German J is Y
jung - young pronounced y o o n g , the vowel as in cook


English - German
we - wir (pronounced veer)
where

Finally, when writing, go back and check you have capital letters for all the words describing things. In English we save a capital lesson for a specific name of a person, Mr Blue, but in German the word man it would be Mann.

Tips
I suggest you get a notebook or diary and write down a key to the ones which puzzle you on one page with a key word in English for the pronunciation.
Left column for the sound as it is written in German, second column for the word in English.
I shall do this and take a photo and add it later.

Websites
Wikipedia give a complete guide, letter by letter, including variations for Switzerland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Standard_German
It is so long and complicated that it's hard to find the sounds you need and remember them.

For more tips on pronunciation:
http://www.fluentu.com/german/blog/how-to-pronounce-german-words/
Long and chatty. The opposite of Wikipedia.

duolingo.com
The first page of any of their dozen or so languages gives you a guide to grammar and pronunciation of the language you have chosen to learn. Even if you are not learning, or have finished the course and want a reminder, it's worthwhile going to their page one. Notes are at the bottom of the screen and easily missed so if you are on a small screen scroll down for them.

You might like to look at my other posts on German, French, Romanian, Italian and other languages. I also have travel articles in this blog on my trips to Italy (a press trip, covering Umbria and Francis of Assisi) and Cambodia (Ankor Wat temple). I also have several posts on Singapore and restaurants in London, Central London and Hatch End and Harrow. Other blogs cover etiquette, humorous poetry and my books. I am also you YouTube, linkedIn, Facebook, Lulu.com books and Amazon. If you meet me at a meeting of Toastmasters International clubs (UK, USA and Singapore) I am a chatty person. I am always delighted to talk about travel and culture and please to meet a fan and if you want to buy a coy of one of my books I'll sign it and write you a personalised message, motivation quote or a couplet based on your name. Happy reading.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phgotarpheer, author and speaker. Please share posts.Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection
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