Learn Spanish a quick, easy, fun way - and read new words to banish fear of flying!

 

A new way of learning languages came to my attention. Called toucan. Free. That's good. Nothing to lose, except a little wasted time. I thought, try anything once.

I installed it. It's wonderful! You install the app. You choose a language. 

I thought of installing two or three. But that might confuse it. And me. Stick to one. I chose Spanish.

You can apply it to websites you read regularly, which in my case in mainly the news.

So up come my regular news pages. In the second or third story, a word or two are changed into Spanish, in blue. From the context, most of the Spanish words' meanings are obvious.

It was only a day later that I discovered that when you click your mouse on the blue word, up pops the translation. You can use that to translate a word whose meaning is not obvious. You might want to check you have understood correctly, or for a similar sounding word to the translation you have chosen if there are several synonyms in English. 

For example, I saw the word enorme and translated it as enormous. The translation which came up was huge.

Below are some similar sounding words I learned today.

What is the point of it all? So that even if you don't make time for a daily Spanish lesson, when indulging in time-wasting web page browsing or reading the news, you are learning some Spanish.

Pro and Con

But it is only teach vocabulary, not grammar! Maybe, but with a huge vocabulary, growing, that leaves you more time to spend looking at grammar. Since Spanish Grammar is similar, most romance languages are Subject-verb-object, it is not hard to read a Spanish sentence if you know vocabulary.

The vocabulary you learn is from the sort of sources you want to read. In my case it is for reading newspapers, current affairs, health pages and travel pages.

You do learn a little vocabulary. For example, when an adjective is after the noun in Spanish, when the adjective would be first in English. Take the Spanish for mental health. 

carrera  entera = entire career

Today I went back to the login page and discovered you can save words you want to remember by clicking on a little icon. 

That is ten words learned today. All recorded on a page for revision. 

Language Notebook For Revising When Travelling

You could also keep a notebook with the words in Spanish and English starting on the first page, and English Spanish on the right hand page of the double page spread. 

Label the front of the notebook. Leave it open to glance at when waiting for meals, drinking coffee, or waiting for a train, bus or plane. To calm yourself when on a plane waiting for take-off, look at your list of Spanish words.

Here are some of the words I learned to recognize and guess today:

Spanish - English

1 carera - career

2 carera entera - entire career

3 en - in

4 enorme - enormous/huge

5 entera - entire

6 fraude - fraud

7 (el) gobierno - (the) government

8 noche - night

9 presidente - president

10 ya - already

English- Spanish

already - ya

career - carera

enormous/huge - enorme

entire - entera

entire career - carera entera

fraud - fraude

(the) government - (el) gobierno

in - en

night - noche

president - presidente

P.S.

You can also visit meetings of Spanish speaking Toastmasters club worldwide, in Spain, Spanish islands, and South America. If you are still a beginner, try reading their welcome pages first.If you want to hear Spanish, listen to their meetings. When you are reading to speak, you can join a club, pay the membership, be granted a speaking slot at a meeting to give  your first 4 to 6 minute speech about yourself in Spanish.

Useful Website

https://jointoucan.com/welcome/[step]?step=overview

Author of this post

  

The Author

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

 

Seeds as a Go-ing Away Gift for Guests At A Wedding or Forget me Not At A Funeral

Wildflowers montage from Western Australia. 

By raygday in Wikipedia Commons.

At this week's reception after a funeral, I sat next to former neighbours who, like us, had travelled from a distance. After we had reminisced about our times together, twenty years ago, and discussed the doves released at our mutual neighbour's funeral (described in my previous post) they told us about another funeral novelty, flower seeds.

Poppy Seeds

My former nearby neighbour said: 

'"We went to a funeral where everybody was given a packet of seeds at a funeral, 'so that when the flowers grow you will remember me'. It wasn't planned by the surviving relatives but by the deceased person themselves. They must have put it in their funeral plan which they had arranged in advance some time before they died. 

"We had a packet of seeds which just said, flower seeds. We didn't know what they were. We just threw them out in the garden over some soil which I had dug up. That was lucky. We were amazed when the flowers came up next spring in brilliant colours, They were poppies. We didn't bury them, just threw them out, scattered them. Poppies like newly dug earth. That's why they grew so well, everywhere, after WWI, over the dug up soil, for trenches and burials and so on."

The speakers' wife added:

"We also went to a wedding where we were given seeds. They were meadow flowers. Nowadays you would call them weeds. Wild flowers. Nowadays they are rare and in demand. The bride wanted something that would last and grow, like the marriage, she hoped."

Useful Websites

UK

https://www.wildflower.co.uk/products/wildflower-seed-mixtures/100-wildflower-seed-mixtures/

About the Author

Angela Lansbury was born and bred in Britain, and has lived in the USA and Singapore. Her family has worked in or lived in Spain and Switzerland. 

She is the author of several book on public speaking and quotations.

She is a member of Toastmasters Clubs meeting on Zoom with visitors from the UK and USA, India, Sri Lanka, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Through the Toastmasters mentoring program Angela has connected with individuals in Vietnam and Romania, and Belize, a different connection each month. Please come to the next BHA Toastmasters meeting on the 3rd Saturday afternoon every month.

Angela is a member of Harrovian Speakers, London (two Monday evenings each month (BST or GMT) currently part in person and part on Zoom, and VP PR for BHA (1st Monday evening and 3rd Saturday afternoon Singapore Time; and TCA, one Tuesday evening a month, both currently on Zoom, as well as secretary for Singapore Online Dynamic which is online only and always, Friday evening 9.30 pm Singapore time.   

Please share links to your favourite posts.

How To Remember Portuguese Colours Easily

Problem
How do I remember the colours? Rosa is pink, not red. Preto is black, no relation to any other word.

Answers
Portuguese - English
amarelo - yellow - both end with the sound 'ello'; both have e and letter l and o in the spelling but not that the Portuguese has only one l
descolore - (she) bleaches (discolours, de-colours)
col - colour (like an abbreviation of colour, just the first three letters)
colorido - colourful (coloured)
cores - colours
morena - brunette (a for the female gender)
moreno - dark hair (on a man o for the male gender)
preto - black (pull the p upright, day to night, p to B, t is an upright letter like t, last letter o as in negro - tinto negro, the red grape of Madeira, name of grape, black or red grape for red wine)
rosa - pink (think of rosy cheeks)
roxa - purple (red and extra blue makes purple)

English - Portuguese
bleaches - descolore
brunette - morena
colour - col
colourful - colorido (coloured)
pink - rosa
purple - roxa (red and extra blue makes purple)
yellow - amarelo
white - branco (like white branches, blanc)

Portuguese - English nouns
relogio - watch or clock (think of a Rolex)
roupas - clothes (robes, what you keep in wardrobes)
sandálias - sandals (accent going up and forward on the second a in Portuguese; add an i to sandals in Portuguese - the Portuguese are eyeing your sandals)
vestido - dress (not just a vest but a complete outfit, like a priest's vestments); vest like vest but more than a vest, d as in dress

English - Portuguese nouns
clothes - roupas
dress - vestido
sandals - sandálias
watch - relogio

How to remember some simple Portuguese words for food, plurals

Portugal

Portuguese flag

Brazil

Problem
The Portuguese is similar to English - but different. How do I remember?

Answer
Note the differecet or similarity. Practise noticing the difference or similarity. You only need to say it or see it about three times for it to stick. The exercises in Duolingo will usually show you each word three times.

English - Portuguese
meat - carne (as in the English words carnivore and carnivorous)
pepper - pimenta (almost pimento, but ends in the sound a which is similar to the end of pepper)
pork - porco
potato - batata
rice - arroz (think of a round of rice, double r, o for a circle, when the rice is served in a mound) ice and oz sound similar, s-z
salad - salada (letter a three times, like three tomatoes)
sandwich - sanduiche
soup - sopa
strawberry - o morango
tomato - tomate

the strawberry - o morango (o is masculine the) the word looks like orange. A strawberry is orange shape. The M at the start is like the W in strawberry turned upside down. Repeat the o from the beginning of the word at the end. o morango.

Portuguese - English
arroz - rice
batata - potato
carne - meat
o morango - the strawberry (for the plural add an s like in English: os morangos)
pimenta - pepper
porco - pork
salada - salad
sanduiche - sandwich
sopa - soup
tomate - tomato

So now you can look at a menu and find a snack of a sandwich and salad including tomato, check if it is meat or pork, ask for soup, meat and potatoes, or rice, and finish with strawberries.


Useful Websites
Free internet learning for Portuguese and other languages
https://www.duolingo.com

A disc I bought from Earworms to play in the car. You can also download it onto a laptop. I bought volume 1 and then volume 2.

http://www.earwormslearning.com

Travel websites
https://www.visitportugal.com/en

http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/homepage

visitbrasil.com (NB They spell it with an s!)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have several other posts on learning Portuguese and other languages, and sites to visit. Please save and share links to your favourite posts.

Portuguese Daily Words to learn for trips to Portugal, Madeira and Brazil

Problem
How do I remember Portuguese words?

Answer
Look for links. Look for linking letters. Keep repeating them.

Portuguese - English
almoço - lunch (both words contain the letters l and c)
bolo - cake (made in a mixing bowl - oh! delicious)
cenoura - carrot (both words start with c and contain the letters a r and o)
cerveza - beer (both words contain letter e twice, letter r and b for beer is followed by c for cerveza)
garrafa - bottle - (like carafe)
lata - tin (both words contain the letter t)
manteiga - butter (both words contain the letters te)
pão - bread (turn the letter p upside down and you will see the letter b, then two vowels)
pimenta - pepper (both words start with p, include an e, and end with an er sound)
queijo - cheese (how do I remember if it's ei or ie in the middle. Think of que - ijo)

English - Portuguese
beer - cerveza
bottle - garrafa
bread - pão
butter - manteiga
cake - bolo
carrot - cenoura
cheese - queijo
lunch - almoço
pepper - pimenta
tin - lata

Where can I use my Portuguese? In Portugal, Madeira and Brazil

Handy Websites

visitportugal.com

visitbrasil.com

http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/homepage

duolingo.com

earwormslearning.com

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

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 To Remember European Capitals

The capital of Spain is  .......................................... Madrid

The capital of France is ...................................................................................Paris

What are the capitals of Finland, Croatia and Estonia? Georgia? Iceland?

Problem
How do you remember European capitals? I was doing an exercise on capital using Duolingo tiny cards - I'll give you the link at the end. I thought, I'd better record my system for remembering.

Answer
Use letter links. This is my system. I am Angela Lansbury.
OK - let's go!

Country - Capital * Memory Aids and Letter Links
This is how you do it.
France - Paris - * F R AnCe P A RiS

Paris, France and Paris, Texas are easy to remember, no problem for me because I grew up in Europe and lived in the USA.  But I can imagine that somebody from China or Africa or a child under ten might have a problem. Who else would need help remembering Paris, France? People developing Alzheimer's, drunks doing a quiz might have a blank moment. If you are ever teaching, or learning it is a good exercise to show you how to remember by linking words.

What do Paris and France have in common as link letters?  Paris has the letters AR and France reverses the letters as F  RA.  Think of pARis fRAnce.

The initial letters are linked. F and P are both uprights with two horizontals. join the two horizontal bars in the F and you have a P. So thin of  P ar is F ra nce.

paParis ends with a S sound. So does France, although the letter C is used instead. Once you have grasped the fact that English uses an e after C to make the S, sound, in words such as place, palace, police, it is easier to remember that Russian used C on its own as an S sound.  So the Russian word for Russia has the letter C more than once.

You could, of course, just keep repeating: Paris-France, Paris-France. France-Paris. France-Paris. For some reason I find it easy to recall Paris, France, than France, Paris. that's probably because I have heard Paris, France so often but rarely hear France, Paris.

Now, if you are a teacher in a primary school, you can teach your class or an individual who needs help. The same goes for teaching as a home tutor to a Japanese or Korean or Chinese seven year old, a refugee, or anybody.

Now, we are confident that we can teach ourselves and anybody else one common pair, let's look at harder ones.

I woke up tired this morning and before a glass of water I was blank on even things I knew well because my mind was on more serious problems in the day ahead.

Country - Capital (Letter links) (Twice is British English for two times.)
Andorra - Andorra La Vella (AND it's the same word twice, the country and the capital.)
Austria - Vienna (austrIA - vIennA )
Belgium - Brussels  (B E L g i U m - B r U s s E Ls - common letters B E L . . U . Eating Brussels sprouts in Belgium)
Belarus - Minsk ( B - M - I was beaming in Belarus in Minsk)
Bulgaria - Sofia (bulgar IA - sof IA)
Corsica - you won't find this listed in countries because it is a French island. The capital is Ajaccio.
Croatia - Zagreb (croAtia - zAgreb)
Cyprus - Nicosia (Common letters are C and S and  i looks and sounds like y, CS CypruS niCoSia.)
Czech Republic - Prague (Common letters are ERU: czEch REpUblic pRagUE
Denmark - Copenhagen (Initial letters D and C: Washington DC; D enmark C openhagen)
Estonia - Tallinn (Double l and double n. estonNIA - tAllINn I estimate they are tall in Estonia)
England - London (e n g L  a N D - L.ND..)
Finland - Helsinki (fINLand - heLsINki - common letters INL LIN . If I use a dot for the missing letters I see .INL... ..L.IN..)
France - Paris (common letters RA - AR)
Georgia -Tbilisi (Repeated letter I.)
Germany - Berlin (gERmaNy bERliN - common letters are ERN)
Greece - Athens (GrEece AthEns)
Hungary - Budapest (common letters are .U..A.. .U.A....)
Iceland - Reykjavik (Spelling of capital is Y and then J. Letters common to country and capital IA.)
Ireland (Eire) - Dublin (I r e L aN D - D u b L i N)
Isle of Man - Douglas (Common letters are S L O A, iSLe Of mAn - dOugLAs.)
Israel - Jerusalem (But you will probably fly to Tel Aviv.) Common letters iSRAEL jERuSALEm)
Italy - Rome (The Romans roamed from their home in Italy.)
Latvia - Riga (A-A - LatviA- RigA, or IA  IA l a t v I A - r I g A)
Lithuania - Vilnius (N - N; or LI UN - l I t h U a NI a - v I l NI u s)
Malta - Valletta (Double L and double T. Common letters ALT, vowel A twice in the country and twice in the cApAtal; m A l t A, v A l l e t t A, l and t once in the country but twice in capital)
Netherlands - Amsterdam (nethERlANDs - amstERDAM land and dam sound similar; the Netherlands has lots of dams - the capital is Amersterdam)
Northern Ireland - Belfast (northErn Ireland bElfast)
Norway - Oslo (nOrway Oslo - in Norway the pace is slow and the capital is Oslow, or Nice and Slow in Norway and Oslo)
Poland - Warsaw (I went to Poland and saw the war-torn Capital, Warsaw.)
Portugal - Lisbon (Last letter of Portugal is L; first letter of Lisbon is L.)
Romania - Bucharest (After roaming wearing my Roman robes and I needed a rest in Romania)
Russia - Moscow (Common letter S. RuSSia. moScow. The letter s is used twice in Russia, whilst the letter o is used twice in Moscow.)
Sardinia - another popular holiday spot, not a country but an Italian Island. The capital is Cagliari.
Scotland - Edinburgh
Serbia - Belgrade (sERBiA - BElgRAde. I want to be in Belgrade in Serbia.)
Slovakia - Bratislava. (The spelling SLOV or Slav is in the country and the capital. Common letters SLVIA. The Slovaks or Slovakians are going back to Bratislava.)
Slovenia - Ljubljana 
(Common letters are LNN: sLoveNiA and LjubLjANA. Now I can see why I mistyped the capital and put an ia at the end because the country ends in ia but the capital is merely a at the end. The capital has LJ twice. That is legitimate. LJ. However the j is more like a y or a u.  lyublee- arna.
How do I distinguish Slovenia from Slovakia? The first alphabetically is Slovakia with AK in the middle. Slovenia has EN in the middle, both letters later in the alphabet. The capital of )
Spain - Madrid (spAIN - MAdrId)
Sweden - Stockholm  (SS Sweden-Stockholm)
Switzerland - Bern (Mutual letters ER and N. switzERlaNd bERN.)
Turkey - Ankara (but you are likely to fly to Istanbul)
Ukraine - Kiev (Letters K i E in both words u K r a I n E  and KIEv)
United Kingdom - London - United KingdOM - LondON)
Wales - Cardiff - (Common letter is A. We drive by car to Cardiff in Wales where we have a whale of a time because everything is different.)

Capital - Country
Andora Le Vella   - Andora
Amsterdam - Netherlands
Athens - Greece
Belfast - Northern Ireland
Belgrade - Serbia
Berlin - Germany
Bern - Switzerland
Brussels - Belgium
Budapest - Hungary
Bucharest - Romania
Budapest - Hungary
Cardiff - Wales
Copenhagen - Denmark
Edinburgh - Scotland
Ireland - Dublin
Kiev - Ukraine
Lisbon - Portugal
Lithuania - Vilnius
London - England
Madrid - Spain
Minsk - Belarus
Moscow - Russia
Nicosia - Cyprus
Oslo - Norway
Paris - France
Prague - Czech Republic
Reykjavik - Iceland
Riga - Latvia
Rome - Italy
Sofia - Bulgaria
Stockholm - Sweden
Tallinn - Estonia
Tbilisi - Georgia
Valletta - Malta
Vilnius - Lithuania
Zagreb - Croatia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_national_capital_and_largest_cities
If you want to buy a book on memory, you will find lots on Amazon.com
http://amazon.co.uk.
http://amazon.com Type in books.
I just found a book on remembering which I don't' know but it looks good:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Memory-Illusion-Remembering-Forgetting-Science/dp/184794762X
https://tinycards.duolingo.com/decks/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have several posts on languages and destinations. Please share links to your favourite posts.

How to remember and recognise Welsh words for butterfly, see and swim - Revision

Problem
How do you remember Welsh words?

Answers
Find similar sounds, spellings or sentences mixing Welsh words and English words.

New Words

Welsh - English
g w e l d - to see (Remember, your spectacles are welded together.  G starts a verb, like the German past tense)
n i  - we (Combine the N of the French word for we, Nous, and the EE sound of the English We.   Turn the n upside down and you have the start of the letter W for we.)
nofio - to swim (Remember: I am not afraid to swim.)
pili-pala - butterfly (Remember a butterfly with double letters, L, will fly from pillar to pillar, and be your pal.)

English - Welsh
butterfly -  p i l a - p a l a
(to) see - g w e l d
(to) swim - nofio
we - n i

Revision
Welsh - English
oren - orange
soiled - chocolate

Tips
duolingo.com (free on line learning website for many languages from English and from several languages to learn English)
google translate
http://mymemory.translated.net/en/Welsh/English/mae%27r

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages. You will find several more posts on learning Welsh and other languages. Please share links to your favourite posts.

How To Learn Welsh words for: pig, snake and tiger!

Croeso - Welcome
Welcome to my blog and page on learning welsh.


Problem
How do you recognize Welsh words when reading them?

Answer
Make up a sentence from the letter.

Welsh - English
mochyn - pig (M u n C H e s   any Y t h i N g;  Muddy not eaten by MOslems nO)
neidr - snake (Remember No I Do not Run, or N o t an a D d e R I hope)
teigr - tiger -(same letters mixed up, only the letter e is moved to make teiger; Gr! remember TeIGR, TeIGR, buRnInG bRIghT in the foREsT of ThE niGhT. )

English - Welsh
pig - m o c h y n
snake - n e i d r
tiger - t e i g r

Welsh - English
mochyn - pig
neidr - snake
teigr - tiger

Pronunciation
GOOGLE
Go to Google translate:
type in Google translate and up pops translate.google.com
Type in the word in English. Click on Welsh in the other box.
If you are translating from Welsh, click the reversing arrow at the top.
Click on the symbol for sound.
If I am typing in a lot of words and I am in a hurry I just type in the word No in English and up pops dim in Welsh.
After I have used this website several times, it remembers and the Welsh language appears second on the list across the top of the box.

DUOLINGO
If you want to learn Welsh pronunciation, you can find the pronunciation and hints on grammar and learning any language on the first page of Duolingo for that language by signing up for that language.

Snakes and tigers are scary, but you don't often see them in Wales except at a zoo, or in the books on Jungle in a bookshop in Fishguard.

What I find scary is the picture of people standing on a ledge which looks like a see-saw in Snowdonia.

Author
Angela Lansbury
Please share links to my posts.

Learn Welsh words for animals: bear, bird, elephant, horse, sheep

Problem
How do I remember them?

Answer
By similar letters.

Welsh - English
arth - bear ( Think of ARth beAR or Arth(ur) the bear)
aderyn - bird (Think of a b(c)de - ryn
ceffyl - horse (think of see 2 foals grow up to be horses c e f f y l)
eliffant - elephant (think of  eliFFant and ElEphant double f in the Welsh, twice E in the English)
dafad - sheep (think of the double e in the English and daft sheep with double letters a and d)

English - Welsh
bear - arth
bird - aderyn
elephant - eliffant
horse - ceffyl
sheep - dafad

To learn how to pronounce Welsh words, go to
www.duolingo.com

For information on Wales see my previous posts and
www.visitWales.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, language teacher. I have more posts on the Welsh language, visiting Wales and other languages. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Welsh Word For Today

Red dragon, symbol of Wales. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

Problem
The dragon is the symbol of Wales. The Welsh and English words both begin with dra, but are pronounced differently. How do I remember how to say a Welsh Word? (Draig for dragon is pronounced Dry - g.)

Answer
When you see a double vowel, make up a sentence using the pronunciation.

For example

English - Welsh - Pronunciation of Welsh - Sentence
dragon - draig - dry-g - drag a dragon but dry a Welsh dragon's eye

Where did I learn the pronunciation? From Duolingo. The voice is computer generated. I learned that from a forum.

More transalations and pronunciations from:
www.duolingo.com
googletranslate

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Teacher of English and other languages.

Writing Rhyming Couplets About Your Holiday, Capturing the Moment, and Captioning Photos

I took a trip to Singapore, liked what I saw and wanted more

Problem
You can't remember the places you visited. You spend a lot of time waiting around on stations and at airports.

Answer
Write rhyming couplets about your holiday. You can turn them into a poem or a rap song. Or just use them to remember vital information or amusing information. You can also use a poem for a wedding speech - or even a funeral.

Story
I went to Harrow Writer' Circle summer party. We had prosecco and home made sandwiches and cakes and salads provided by members and circle funds. Members read their work.

Member Alan read out a series of rhyming couplets about his holiday in America. I thought that was a great idea I would copy.

A member of my family told me to take a book next time I go on a journey which is long or likely to involve changes and delays. I don't need a book. I just need a notebook. Then I can write down rhyming couplets about my journey. I can list the place names, such as stations, airports, landmarks, restaurants.

Tips
You can find rhymes in a rhyming dictionary or on line.
Cover your notebook with a duplicate or no longer needed map of the destination.

Use a favourite pen.

Angela Lansbury with caricature of William Brougham. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Author of: Poetry Workbook. Poetry Pets and pests. An extract from Alan's poem is in my next post. 

Useful websites

Travel diaries online from Amazon, stationery shops

Blank notebooks - Daiso / supermarkets

Rhyming dictionary or Thesaurus from Amazon and big bookshops

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This week's words in the Romanian Language: small, sweet, girls, not, bad

Problem
How do I remember words in another language?

Answer
Look for similarities.

Romanian - English
d u l c i - sweet (like dulcet tones, sweet tones)
mici - small (think of microscopic)
nu - not (letter n followed by a vowel)
fete - girls (like females, letter fe ...e; how do you remember the t? think of femme fatale)
rele - bad (like rascal, letter r....l, or really bad)

English - Romanian
bad - rele
female - fete
not - nu
small (think of microscopic, and mini) - mici
sweet - d u l c i (like the Italian film, La dolce vita, The Sweet Life).

Tips
www.duolingo.com
http://romaniatourism.com

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher or English and other languages.  Please bookmark and share links to my posts.

Fruit is Fruit - and Five More Easy Romanian Words For Food

Problem
How do you remember them?

Answer
Look for similar letters.

English - Romanian
and - si (note cedilla or comma shape which should be under the s converts the sound to sh)
banana - banana
coffee - c a f e a
fruit - f r u c t (plural is f r u c t e )
knife - c u t i t (looks like cut it!)
with - cu (short version of the Latin word for with, cum as in magna cum l a u d a an academic term meaning with great honour)

Romanian - English
banana - banana
c a f e a - coffee
cu - with
c u t i t - knife (spell checker preferred cutie)
f r u c t - fruit

For more see www.D u o l i n g o .com (no spaces)
www.romaniatourism.com
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and speaker and teacher of English and learner of languages such as Romanian.
I have several more posts on Romanian, French, Italian, German, Hebrew, Greek and other languages. Please share posts.

German language - solving how to remember

Problem
How to remember German verbs and words?

Answer
Create sentences and phrases

Story
LOSEN
For example the German losen is not lose but solve. How do I remember? German lose a problem - they solve it. The first three letters of the German word LOSen and the start of the English word SOLve.
Beachten is German for consider. So I recall beaChteN means CoNsider. Con or even CN will remind me.

Tips
German - English
beachten - consider
eklare - explain (like the French word eclair, as chocolate eclair, make clear, explain which you are eating a chocolate eclair)
losen - solve

English German
consider - beachten
explain - eklare
solve - losen

Author
Angela Lansbury, teacher of English language and languages.

Instant Indonesian and Malay - numbers one to five

Problem
How do you remember the numbers in Malay and Indonesian languages?

Answer
Look for similarities to the English words.


English

1 One - Satu (S for Single on a Saturday night and Satu)
2 Dua - Two (DU for dual and duo and dua)
3 Tiga - Three (T for Three and Tiga)
4 Empat - empathy EMPAT a foursome with empathy, like the US TV series Friends
5 Lima - five l-I-m-a - second letter is I and first letter is an upright

Now look at the words again
Malay /Indonesian - English
satu
dua
tiga
e m p a t
lima

Read the reminders again

1 One - Satu (S for Single on a Saturday night and Satu)
2 Dua - Two (DU for dual and duo and dua)
3 Tiga - Three (T for Three and Tiga)
4 Empat - empathy EMPAT a foursome with empathy, like the US TV series Friends
5 Lima - five l-I-m-a - second letter is I and first letter is an upright

If you are in either Indonesia or Malaysia whenever you see or hear the numbers one to five you should be able to remember or work out what they mean.

0 - nol (Indonesian)
The Indonesian word for zero is easier to remember than Malay. The Indonesia number for one is NOL, looks like nul - nul and void, or nil (for example scoring in a tennis match 'another number-nil'). N O L starts with the letters NO - no number, nobody on the grassy knoll.

0 -

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher of English and other languages, author and speaker.
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Confusing Foreign Words in German, Italian and Malay

Problem
You see word in a foreign word which looks like English but the two words are not related.

Answer
You have to learn the correct word through repetition or make aug a memory aid.

Story

Tips
German - English
Das Kapitel - the chapter (not the capital - remember the chapter is capital)

English - German
the capital - die Hauptstadt

Italian
Ricordare is not record but remember. More like recall. You could make up a memory aid sentence such as 'hard to record in your brain and remember'.

On the other hand it is easy to remember that difficile is Italian for difficult.

Malay
ayer - pronounced air means water
remember the place name Telok Ayer means water

I was about to say that water is a more common name than air (I was thinking of the English place name Virginia Water) when I thought of Buenos Aires which means good air in Spanish

duolingo.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, teacher of English and languages. See my books on Amazon.com and Lulu.com

Learn a few Italian words easily

I like words which look similar to English or French. Italian is derived from Latin which I learned at Grammar School. Italian is also similar to Spanish and Portuguese and sometimes French.

You probably know that the film title La Dolce Vita translates as the sweet life.

La Dolce Vita in Hatch End.

Gelateria - ice cream shop

caffe café or coffee shop (or tea shop)

pasticceria - pastry shop / confectionary

borsa - handbag (I was struggling to remember this one. Then I saw it begins like bag with a b, and ends with RS like purse. B.RS. Like so many Italian words you add a on the end. But the other letter is a modified a, an O. Borsa. Borsa. Borsa.
cane - dog - (like English canine teeth)
Cappotto - coat (like cape, the little kid looks cute in his cape and Otto is cute in his cappotto)
dolce - sweet - (like dulcet tones and la dolce vita)
la - the
mangio - I eat - (like French manger to eat)
riso - rice (sounds and looks similar to the English)
vino - wine (like vineyard and vine)

How do you remember plurals? Squash the last vowel. So o becomes i, and a becomes e.
ragazzo - boy
ragazzi - boys
ragazza - girl
ragazze - girls
stivali - boots (I was struggling to remember this until I thought of stirrups. My memory aid sentence is: You need stirrups for your boots to ride up the valley.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, Language teacher and tutor.