Spanish words to learn from signs

 

I am learning Spanish using Duolingo to prepare for a holiday in the Spanish speaking Canary islands.  I have already filled one A5 lined notebook with Spanish words, mainly from Duolingo. I then tried adding words to an A5 diary, but the diary page filled up too fast and I want to keep my Spanish words separate. So I have now started a new A5 notebook. This will be too big, bulky and heavy, to carry in my carry on luggage on the plane, and on outings, hiking, but I shall make a second smaller notebook for my pocket when out and about. I shall note down words from bilingual signs.

From the bilingual sign above I have noted these words:

I have included the common words I already know. In fact, I find it easier to start with words I already know. It gives me confidence, motivation, enthusiasm, gets me started on the task.

Spanish - English

A-D

agua - water

contra - against

corriente - current

de - of

E-K

escaper - to escape

L-R

la - the

muy - very (starting with m like the English words most, and multi)

nader - to swim

nunca - never

no - don't

para - for

peligrosa - dangerous (feminine adjective ending in a to match a feminine noun ending with a, like Maria or Mama, or e like the French madame)

resaca - rip tide / rip current

S-Z

seguridad - safety

si - if

solo - alone

su - your

una - a / one

y - and

English - Spanish

A-D

a / one - una

against - contra

alone - solo

and - y

current - corriente

dangerous - peligrosa (adjective ending in a to match a noun ending in a)

don't - no

E-K

(to) escape - escaper

for - para

if - si

L-R

never - nunca

of - de

rip current / rip tide - resaca

S-Z

safety - seguridad

(to) swim - nader

the - la (feminine) el (masculine)

very - muy

water - agua

your - su

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Spanish words on maps, signs and photos - 21 handy words

 Spanish is handy in Europe in Spain, and all over South America.

Spanish Word Meanings

Spanish is easy. Many words have Latin roots, like English. 

Spanish - English

1 Buena - good

2 cerro - hill/mountain

3 con - with

4 cristo - Christ

5 de - of (the same word as in French)

6 del - of the

7 desde / desde de - for, from, since

8 en - in

9 estatua - statue

10 iglesia - church

11 mapa - map

12 Olimpico - Olympic

13 nocturna - nocturnal/at night

14 rey - king

15 santa - saint

16 teatro - theatre

17 torre - tower

18  universidad - university 

19 valle - valley

20 ventura - fortune

21 vista - view

English - Spanish

Christ - Cristo

church - iglesia

good - buena

hill/mountain - cerro

in - en

king - rey 

map - mapa

nacturnal/at night - nocturna

of - de

of the - del

Olympic - Olimpico

saint - santa (as in Santa Claus which means Saint Charles)

statue - estatua

theatre - teatro

tower - torre

university - universidad

valley - valle

view - vista

with - con

English - Spanish

Warnings Against Feeding pigeons - or disturbing wildlife

Warning of fines for feeding pigeons. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I saw this sign warning of fines for feeding pigeons. The sign was in Little India, Singapore.

Julie commented on my photo, "Flying rats. They make a mess everywhere. And they multiply."

Over in the USA, apparently a girl was told to leave the beach, after a sea-lion was woken by items thrown at it. Several commentators saw the link between the words sea=lion and lion and said, what would have happened if the girl had thrown items at a lion. I noticed four different themes amongst the commentators.

1 Children should be taught not to disturb wildlife, but instead to be kind to animals.

2 Children should beware of disturbing wildlife for their own safety. 

3 Children who torment animals go on to attack people.

(Does this mean we should identify them and watch them? Or prevent cruelty to animals in the hope that this will stop matters escalating. Prevention or detection after the event?

4 Fines and Signs

Fines should be imposed and Signs warning about signs should be displayed.

Useful Websites

Sea-lions in California 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11828303/Lifeguard-orders-girl-California-beach-threw-sand-ROCKS-sleeping-sea-lion.html#newcomment

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_not_feed_the_animals

Learn A New Language - For All Travellers, For Stopovers, Holidays, Business or Being An Expat

Flags of Europe from Wikipedia

Flags of Asia from Wikipedia

Which languages should you learn and why? Where are you likely to travel on holiday or business in the next five years? If you have no concrete plans, which languages are closest to your language? Since you are reading this in English, I shall relate languages to English, but also look at groups of languages, so that if you have learned or plan to learn another, you can add an extra language more easily.

Spanish

I remember speaking to a friend, Peter, who was planning to buy a property in Spain and move there for part or all of the year. He had started learning Spanish at a local evening class. He met a girl at the Spanish evening class - and married her. 

My parents also bought a property in Spain so they could spend winter there. I did not make any conscious effort to learn Spanish, which was a pity. But when driving around I noticed the words villa and casa and banco and decided to list the number of Spanish words I already knew and recognized. I thought there would be 5 to 10 words. I listed the words as we passed signs. To my amazement, in only a weekend I had a list of around thirty words. 

Much later, when Duolingo came along, and I could learn for free, I started learning Spanish in a system which taught whole sentences and basic grammar as well as wider vocabulary.

French

 I grew up in London, England where I went to a girls' grammar school, and I wanted to learn Spanish and German at school. Unfortunately, the timetable was arranged so that my class learned Latin and French. My parents were happy that I was learning French. France was a nearby country. Postwar, WW2, my parents thought it was better to travel to France than to Germany, so recently at war with us (not once but twice in their lifetimes). French was the language of menus in restaurants, more useful. They didn't know, or didn't say, but German was more challenging grammatically.

When I was doing O level, my parents sent me on the summer holiday to a Frnech course in France. (I met a Swedish boy.) Later I went on holiday touring Greece with a French group. I made lists of French words in a small vocabulary notebook. I liked mackerel and discovered that the French word was similar, maquereau. That was easy. I didn't learn all the names of the other fish.

On holiday, a boy sitting beside me asked if I like fish. I replied, in French, I like mackerel. 

He gasped in astonishment at what he assumed was my extensive vocabulary, and told the others, 'I asked her if she liked fish and she replied she liked mackerel!'

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

Delights and Dangers of Wildlife - Safety in Northern Australia, South Africa and Singapore's Safari, and food, fur, and fashion in the USA and worldwide

 

Back garden in Hatch End, London, England, with two foxes. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Cahill crossing in Australia is notorious for its crocodiles. Just looking at the pictures puts me off. They are building a better crossing but meanwhile people are ignoring signs.

Looking closer, I see it is not a riverbank at all. It is a low crossing, a bit like stepping stones pushed together, enough for a tough car to drive acrosss, slowly.

Apparently one can got trapped in the river and the occupants had to swim past the cross to safety on dry land. Safety  from water the minute you are out of the water. But safety from crocodiles - only if you stand well back from the river!

In the UK earlier this year we received a parking fine, a sign hidden behind wheelie bins, in a road where other people parked. My husband had said: 'Everybody else is doing it.'

That doesn't defend one person from being endangered - or all of them.

Signs are not enough. Firstly, not everybody can read English. 

Secondly, not everybody can read. 

Thirdly, people think they can jump back, or believe crocodiles stay in the water and the edge. Children and adults don't realize the reptiles jump onto land. 

Fourthly, time to put up a barrier. If it is costly, find sponsors. 

It is natural to lean over water to have a look. Build viewing platforms with binoculars back from the edge. To make signs more effective, display statistics of people killed. Make fines for standing by the edge.

The signs don't protect you, if there is nowhere to retreat or stand safely. 

I walked along a boardwalk pier in Singapore. At intervals there were places where you could stop and look out. But crocodiles or other creatures could leap up. I never did that again. 

I can entertain myself, and grand children, eating ice cream or fruit and watching films. We don't need to run around crocodiles playing dare.

Eating Funny Food

I have eaten lots of funny food. Crocodile. In the USA . Was it the USA.  Yes, now I remember - they gave me a certificate to prove it!

Wichetty Grup In Australia

I tried wichetty grub soup  in a restaurant in Perth. Its selling point was the unusual foods.

South African Safari & Lion Park

I have been on a late evening Safaris (South Africa) where you see very little in the twilight.

At a lion park we were warned not to get out of our car. Afterwards, I researched.  I learned that a Japanese family had got out of their car to pose their children next to baby lions. Resulting in a human fatality.

Singapore farmed Crocodiles

I have been to a crocodile breeding farm in Singapore.

The Night Safari in Singapore is a compromise. The animals can roam freely. The pedestrian visitors are separated by a deep gorge. The travelling vehicle visitors are kept in moving and camouflaged trains. 

Camouflage clothes

Wearing Wild Animal Clothes

Useful Websites

Australian Museum Wichetty Grubs

The Fun Way To Teach And Learn Foreign Languages At Home: English, Chinese, Japanese and more

A Foreign Language
Everybody can do a foreign language on Duolingo. Learners who want the simplest language, or teachers who are not confident, can do Esperanto, a made up international language with simple rules.


Esperanto flag

Other fun way to learn languages is to read signs. The signs in Chinese and Japanese are the same. Just as we have a cigarette crossed out for no smoking.


Chinese sign at bus terminus in Singapore.

The third sign like a T means down. the line at the top is ground.

The fourth sign means carriage or transport. think of the parallel lines as a road or railway line, with a vehicle shown by the 4.

Or set up a twinning between your pupils and those in another country to learn and teach the two languages.

Useful Websites
duolingo.com

Braille Signs In Your Lift - and Braille in Singapore, France and the USA

Many lifts when upgraded have added the Braille signs.


Singapore flag

Braille signs in lift (US elevator). Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Here are the ones from Cashew Heights in Singapore, a series of skyscrapers 12-16 storeys high, 30 years old, with apartment units up to four bedrooms often containing one or more residents over 50.

The couples with small children are often visited once a year or more by elderly relatives from overseas.

The point is that not only the residents but any visitors can find out where the lift is going and register the floor they are visiting and check if they have stopped at the right floor. The lifts also have robotic voices announcing the floor number on arrival.

The first thing I noticed in the lifts, before the Braille was installed, is the strange way, strange to me from the UK, of ordering the lift buttons. I would expect the buttons to go up in a line. But two is to the right of one. All the odd numbers are on the left. All the even numbers are on the right.

More About The Invention Of Braille
Braille was a blind teenager at school near Paris when he started workign on his system to communicate with his schoolfriends. He adapted his raised dots for the blind from a system used by the military at night. When they could not see at night, before the days of electricity and battery torches, they would use raised dots. Another reason for using dots, was that you did not want to speak at night and give away your position to the enemy.

Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille.

Braille experimented as a child at school with communicating with his friends. The sighted teachers did not want the pupils to have a secret way of communicating not known to the teachers. But eventually Braille's system caught on amongst the blind school age pupils and adults so the sighted people had to learn it and could see that it was a success.

Now there is an increasing campaign to get sighted people to learn sign language and Braille in order to communicate with blind people. Learning sign language and Braille when you are young has a second advantage for the learner. It also means that if you lose sight later in life you already have the language at your fingertips, literally, and have less of a challenge learning and can cope immediately with daily life.

Places where you can see and learn more about Braille
1 Braille Museum in France, east of Paris.
2 The American Printing House For The Blind Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
3 Lifts in Singapore and other countries.

Useful Websites

USA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_the_American_Printing_House_for_the_Blind

Picture of Braille bust in French library. Public domain from Wikipedia.
See my other post on Braille.

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

Are you living or working in a high rise building? Have You Checked Your Fire Escape?

Fire service saves houses in London, England. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
A woman in London writes to her friend in Singapore, 'What's it like living in a skyscraper?' Some cities are full of skyscrapers. Is the balcony a means of escape from a fire, or an additional hazard? Does your holiday home or second home have sprinklers? Do you know which fire escape has roof access? Can you count the doors to the fire escape door in the dark? Is the internal fire escape secure?

Even on the fourth floor, you have trouble delivering a grand piano or four poster bed or even a double bed up the stairs unless the legs can be removed and stored inside. I don't trust delivery over a balcony. In London, England, a Polish worker was killed when a piano fell from a balcony which collapsed.

In the USA a group stood on a balcony at a party. I always wonder about overloading balconies. Too many people? Too many heavy plant pots?

I regularly visit offices. The signs on the lifts say Do not use lifts in case of fire. In the Singapore underground, MRT, an arrow points to your way of escape. But in many buildings you are told not to use the lifts but have no idea where to find the staircase.

What can you do if you work in health and safety or admin or an architects office? Consider how people would get out in a fire. I don't like buildings which have solid walls up one side, the side adjacent to the pavement - no way to shout for help, wave, signal, no way out, no way for a fire engine to park and get in.

This door won't shut. It seems to have warped of slipped out of alignment so the top half won't shut and this leaves a gap for smoke and heat and fire at the bottom.

No roof access. That's useful to know. No point running up - must run down.

The mechanism for shutting the door has detached. Exposed wires on the right of the door. 

It would also be interesting to check how long it takes you to descend the staircase. Have your phone with you at all times, even if just popping out to the shops for five minutes. Have the number of the management office and the lift emergency service in your phone. The numbers are inside the lift. If you are outside and somebody else is inside, you may want to phone on their behalf.

To end on some reassuring notes:
1 At ground level if you look inside the lift shaft you might see a large spring designed to cushion the landing if a lift falls.

2 You can buy signs saying Fire Door Keep Shut.
However, if you work in an admin department which has printing and laminating, it is probably quicker and cheaper to print your own signs. You can also translate them into other languages for those who live in or work in your building.

3 One of the fire service safety sites says that in London, England, there have been no fatalities (in the last year or ever?) in buildings with sprinkler systems.

Useful websites
https://www.redboxfire.co.uk/news/Why_Fire_Doors_Are_Labelled_Keep_Shut.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_safety

http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/FireSafety.asp 
(Section on fires in flats)

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/a-minute-later-we-wouldnt-have-made-it-grenfell-tower-blaze-survivor-relives-miraculous-escape-

Travel Websites

visitbritain.com

visittheusa.com

visitsingapore.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Disaster Signals

Problem
How do you find out about potential or ongoing disasters? How do you tell rescuers where you are?

Answers
Currently many beaches fly flags telling you when a beach is dangerous. I saw flags in Asia. They don't say what the flags mean. I thought they were just welcoming national or local flags. When I asked, I discovered that they were warnings that it was dangerous to swim.

In Bali I saw signs directing you which way to go in the event of high water.

Singapore
The train stations are well organised. Emergency action videos run constantly and there are posters everywhere about reporting suspicious object and how to get out of the train in an emergency. Signs in stations show the way out in an emergency and if an underground railway station is to be used as a refuge. Plus a handy list of alternative means of transport if for any reason trains and/or stations cannot be used.

All building sites have panels showing who to call in an emergency.

A new ap is being developed for disaster signals.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-39948626#_=_

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my previous post about getting out of a building in an emergency. Please share links to useful and interesting posts.

Safety On Escape Staircases In Skyscrapers

Problem
Could you get out of your building in a fire or other emergency? What do you need to know and why?

Answer
An investigation into the strategy of people who survived a train accident discovered that the survivors were in a carriage where a man had checked the method of escape. (He escaped through the train window, and got himself and others in that carriage out immediately.)

The first week, ideally the first hour, the first minute, in any building, a restaurant, train, conference centre, bedroom block, you should be checking the fire and emergency escape.

Have you checked the fire escape staircase in the block where you are living or staying? Have you reported any problems?

A member of the family is training for a climb up a volcano by running up and down the seventeen stories of a skyscraper or tower of a multi-tower condo in Singapore. He discovered that doors were propped open.

Adult bikes. Children's bikes. Broken bikes. Numerous bicycles and boxes created obstructions.

Foam and paint pots would create flammable materials and toxic gases.

He reported this to the management. They said that every few months they checked the stair wells and if they found a blockage, they sent a circular to every flat in the block saying the owners had three days to clear their possessions, otherwise the objects would be removed.

Doors should be marked with the words: FIRE EXIT and KEEP SHUT.

The other information you need is your gathering point. Many buildings such as conferences and hotels like to keep a log of everybody on the premises. The fire brigade needs to know if anybody is unaccounted for. Some conferences and holidays ask if you are hard of hearing or have mobility or sight problems and would need help in an evacuation.

As always, better safe than sorry.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Translating Signs - Danger in Malay and Indonesian

I saw a sign warning pedestrians to keep out and wondered what the words meant, in case I saw them again without the translation.

Problem
What do the words actually mean?

Answer
The English says
Danger keep out

The Malay says
B a h a y a jangan dekat (I had to insert spaces because the automatic spell checker prefers the more frequently used word b a h a s a which means language

The Malay language is very similar to Indonesian with a few words different, just vocabulary. The language is easy to read because it is phonetic - the letters convey the sounds. (Phone is Greek for sound.)

Google translate tells me the translation is:

B a h a y a - danger / hazard
jangan - do not
dekat - get close

I shall eventually use Duolingo, a free website, to learn the language.

Stories
Always use anything free as soon as you find it, because you don't know how long it will remain free. When ISBN numbers first came out they were free. I could have applied for ten or even 100 ISBN numbers. Now they cost of money, a lot of money if you want to keep publishing books.

Tips
I write down Malay words in the back of my diary.
I shall eventually use Duolingo, a free website, to learn the language.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer

Safe fire exit from hotel buildings and bedrooms

After a fire in a holiday hotel I started trying to book rooms at hotels and conferences on the ground floor (which Americans call 1st floor) or the 1st floor (which Americans call second floor). 

Since that time, smoking had become illegal in bedrooms in UK hotels and although originally you had separate rooms reserved for smokers indoors, now smoking is forbidden in most public places where people work or pass though. Major causes of fires are kitchen fires and smoking, especially smoking in bed, when the smoker is likely to fall asleep leaving a cigarette burning in an ash tray or waste paper bin. So the ban on smoking in bedrooms benefits everybody.

1 Check fire escapes.

2 Check fire extinguishers and smoke alarms and gas leak detectors.

3 If needed, buy fire extinguishers or alerts or fire blankets for kitchens and bedrooms for your own rent-out property (or home swap).

4 Note assembly areas in the nearby car park. (I have always wondered whether a car park is a good place to stand in a fire. Ok if it's empty. 

(We once drove out of a car park in a hurry on New Year's Eve, I think it was in Prague, when cars in a large car park were crammed close together and several people started letting off rockets and sparklers near our car and other car engines.)

After

It is a surprise to me to see smoking on balconies banned. I did see recently that somebody was send off a ship after smoking on a ship's balcony. The problem with smoking on balconies whether on a ship or in a hotel is that a gust of wind can send the smoke into nearby windows where people inhale it and worse still carry a lit, half lit or supposedly stubbed out cigarette in through a nearby window or open door where it can start a fire.

Exit Directions

On the back of a bedroom door in hotels in the USA, UK and Europe and most parts of the world you are likely to see either directions as to what to do, how stop stay put and signal to attract attention,  and / or how to get out in the case of a fire. (In some areas you will also see directions on what to do in the case of a flood or tsunami, or just any emergency.)

Advice I have read includes:

Take your door key in case the star or exit is blocked or smokey and you need to return to your room. (You also need to get back in if it's a false alarm and reception is busy helping others.)

You are usually advised not to delay your exit by gathering valuables. I leave the door key by the door. Some hotels handily have a slot or hook by the door handle containing the key or key card. If not, I put the key on the floor where I will tread on it on exiting. I also like to keep my shoes or slippers either under the bed at the pillow end or by the exit.

Advice on staying in the room might include:

Check the door handle to be sure it is not hot before opening to be sure the fire and smoke are not too near.

1Block the gap under the door with a rolled up towel to stop smoke getting in. 

2 Soak towels and bedding with water to make them less combustable and a flexible shape to block holes which might let in smoke.

3 Removing sheets to make ropes for climbing.

4 Throwing out cushions or mattresses to create a softer landing.

5 Writing a notice in big letters in black felt tip pen (or pen, paint, shoe polish, lipstick, eyeliner, nail varnish, whatever you can find, on white paper, A4 sheets taped together, white pillowcases, saying help, SOS, or an appeal for help in English or another language. You could also draw the number of people in stick figures. 

Exit Map

The map may helpfully mark your hotel bedroom in colour You can then count the number of rooms to the dire exit. I looked and noticed a slight step up between my room and a fire exit. If i had to get out in a hurry in darkness, or smoke, I might trip, so it was a good thing I was aware of that hazard. 

You could also try walking to the exit with your eyes shut or wearing a blindfold (with somebody watching as you do it to stop you if you veer towards an obstacle or to the top of a flight of stairs. You can also note when the fire drill is due to take place.

If you are making an announcement in a hotel or conference you might want to warn people of the regular fire drill at, for example, 11 am on a Monday or a Friday. You might also add that any fire alarm outside these times is not merely a drill but the real thing.

Although a drill might be simply to test that the bells are working, often it is to check that all guests as well as prominent and temporary staff are familiar with procedure. Knowing what to do also helps in a real emergency to keep people calm because they have taken the route before and to save confusion and speed the process. 

It also teaches you whom is in command, who needs help, and what you need to take with you.  

Read up on the latest information from fire brigades, hotels, transport and websites in your area.

You can buy folding rope fire ladders to fix and carry with you in your luggage.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.