Set 7 Handy Albanian words - Getting around, bills and payment

 

MAPS & SIGNPOSTS - Hartat dhe shenja

BEACH - plazhi

old city - qytet y vjeter

old - e vjetër

new - i ri

city/town - qytet

quarter - tremujori

village - fshati

street - rrugë

north - veriu

south - jug

east - lindja

Useful Websites

Why is North in the north on maps? Who decided? Is it always that way?

 

I researched left, right and centre, as the saying goes for the answer. North, South, East and West. I thought I read on Wikipedia or somewhere else about the man I had never heard of who established north on maps in Europe. My second search showed that Ptolemy has north on maps in ancient times, and European maps put north in all sorts of places until am copied the older system from elsewhere and much later his version was copied onto printed maps in Europe. 

Then I discovered something fascinating. Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer living in Egypt, put north at the top because he started writing at the top. But also from the top left. 

But why north? Because of the north star - but that was done by people living in the south, down under.  Maps were printed with the west at the top by another culture which made their city the most important place in the universe - but why put north at the top and not in the centre. 

China

The Chinese call their country centre, a square with a line through it. I learned that from looking at signposts in Hong Kong.

Sailors, North and South

Another theory goes that sailors were following the stars. 

Or South was at the top of the page, because in Egypt the Nile flows north to the Mediterranean sea.

Mecca and Jerusalem

Then the Arabs lived north of Mecca which was in the south. (But graves of Muslims and Jews in Europe face East towards the holy lands and places, Jerusalem and Mecca.)

Vienna, Austria

We drove around Vienna in Austria arguing about whether to go left or right because my husband was driving, watching the signposts, but I was reading the nap which had south at the bottom of the page following ...

The north pole is at the north. But ...

"You could turn the piece of paper round," my husband suggested. 

 I retorted, "But then the writing is upside down. I could stand on my hands and read it that way. Or place a book on a lazy Susan." 

It is a convention. Sometimes. But not always.

The English write North, South, East and West starting with capital letters. 

Swedish North is north

The Swedish language does not use capital letters. You just have to go with the flow.

Australia

And don't get me started on the way the water runs down the plughole in the bath in Australia. 

Or Christmas in June.

Useful Websites

https://www.geospatialworld.net/blogs/why-maps-point-north-on-top/

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

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/07/travel-myths-backwards-water/

How To Remember City, Place and People Names with Magic Memory Aids - Vietnam, Saigon, Ho Chi Minh

CITY NAMES AND MAGIC LETTER MEMORY AIDS
I have just named this system Magic Letter Memory Aids. If you use this title please quote Angela Lansbury's Magic Letter Memory Aids. If I find that it is popular I shall add more city memory aids.
You can do the same trick with people names and place names letters to help remember place names of cities you are visiting or plan to visit.

Hanoi - Magic Memory aid
For example
HaNoi in the North of VietNam.

HA ha - HA-Noi in the North. NOrth.
Where? Oi - HanOI is in the nOrth. Last letter Is I.

Saigon / Ho Chi Minh city - Memory Aid
Saigon is in the South (of Vietnam). S for south and S for Saigon.

How do you remember which name was previous and which is current? The Saigon name has gone.

Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh city. (The c in city resembles the sound of the s in Saigon and the South. 

How do you remember Ho Chi Minh?  Ho ho ho, I'll check in a MINute, Ho ho ho. HO, ho, ho, not CHInese but VietnaMese in the south of Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh - MINd How you treat Him with respect - remember the H at the end of min. His name starts and ends with H.  Ho Chi MinH! He is the national Hero.

See Ho Chi Minh sites in the north, in Hanoi, and in the South, in Ho Chi Minh city.
Ho Chi Minh was the northern revolutionary leader. The family name is Ho, a common name in the country. Chi means will, Chi - remember chI - in English is will wI - ll. Minh is translated into English as light, which also has a silent h. A minute of light or in a minute we will have light.

How do you remember the two major cities in Vietnam? Both start with the letter H. Hanoi in the North, Ho Chi Minh city in the south.

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Vietnam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh_City

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

Learning Chinese From Mahjong Tiles

Problem
I was trying to learn and teach the Chinese characters for 1-10 and NSEW. I gave a talk on this to a mixed audience of Europeans and Asians and an American.

Answer
One of the audience suggested that you could learn or practise while playing mahjong. Also you need the characters to recognize the pieces in mahjong.


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

Help! Learn Chinese Translation Of Emergency Requests and the words North, south, east and west

Problem
My previous post was about why you need to know another language and the problem you might meet en route. I translated into several languages and it got so long I've added the Chinese (meaning Mandarin) here.

English Translation

Russian - English

I have lost my group

They speak English.

Where is my train?

Where is the restaurant?

Can you phone for me?

Can you make an announcement that I'm lost?

('Wo' is I or my.
English reverses 'you can' to make a question, 'can you...?'. However, Chinese question sentence structure is' You - can do / other verb, is that so?
'Ni' is you. 'Ma' is a Chinese question word, equivalent to: 'is that so,' or, 'is that right,' or, 'tell me'.)

Èyǔ - yīngyǔ
wǒ shīqùle wǒ de xiǎozǔ
tāmen huì shuō yīngyǔ.
Wǒ de huǒchē zài nǎlǐ?
Cānguǎn zài nǎlǐ?
Nǐ kěyǐ gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà ma?
Nǐ néng xuānbù wǒ mílùle ma?
>>>
俄语 - 英语
我失去了我的小组
他们会说英语。
我的火车在哪里？
餐馆在哪里？
你可以给我打电话吗？

你能宣布我迷路了吗？


Jiékè yǔ - yīngyǔ
xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ?
Bówùguǎn ménpiào duōshǎo qián?
Rènhé jiǎnshǎo?
Yǒu jǐ gè bówùguǎn bǐjiào piányí ma?
Shénme shíhòu jiéshù?
Wǒmen kěyǐ zài zhèlǐ chī wǔcān ma?
Wǒmen kěyǐ mǎi piào, qù chī wǔfàn, huílái ma?
Cèsuǒ
piào
bówùguǎn
cāntīng
xièxiè (shay shay - thank you)
Fānyì chéng xībānyá wén - yīngwén
nǐ xiànzài bìxū líkāi chēzhàn. Shì jǐnjí zhuàngkuàng.
Gàosù wǒ zài nǎlǐ.
Gēnzhe wǒ.
Tīng.
Xièxiè.
Líkāi
jí
yǐncáng
pǎo
gàosù
bāng bāng wǒ
děngdài
méiguānxì
nǐ kěyǐ zǒule.
....

Zhōngwén hé mǎláiwén (Chinese and Malay)
dǎ diànhuà gěi jiùhù chē.
Bàojǐng.
Wǒ jíxū yīgè diànhuà.
Yǒurén zài lùshàng shòushāng
kuài.
Shì jǐnjí zhuàngkuàng.
Yǒurén shuō yīngyǔ ma?
Mǎ lái yǔ

zhōngwén (Chinese)
wǒ shīqùle wǒ de jiàoliàn - jiǎng yīngyǔ de rén.
Qǐng gàosù wǒ fāngshì.

俄语 - 英语
我失去了我的小组
他们会说英语。
我的火车在哪里？
餐馆在哪里？
你可以给我打电话吗？
你能宣布我迷路了吗？
>>>
捷克语 - 英语
洗手间在哪？
博物馆门票多少钱？
任何减少？
有几个博物馆比较便宜吗？
什么时候结束？
我们可以在这里吃午餐吗？
我们可以买票，去吃午饭，回来吗？
厕所
票
博物馆
餐厅
谢谢
......

......
翻译成西班牙文 - 英文
你现在必须离开车站。 是紧急状况。
告诉我在哪里。
跟着我。
听。
谢谢。
离开
急
隐藏
跑
告诉
帮帮我
等待
没关系
你可以走了。
....

中文和马来文
打电话给救护车。
报警。
我急需一个电话。
有人在路上受伤
快。
是紧急状况。
有人说英语吗？

马来语

中文
我失去了我的教练 - 讲英语的人。
请告诉我方式。

..............

>>>

Czech - English

Where is the toilet?

How much is a ticket for the museum?

Any reductions?

Is there a cheaper group for several museums?

What time will it close?

Can we eat lunch here?

Can we buy a ticket, go for lunch and come back?

Toilet

ticket

museum

restaurant

thank you

.....

Translate into Spanish - English

You must leave the station now. It's an emergency.

Show me where. 

Follow me.

Listen.

Thank you.

leave

emergency

hide

run

tell

help

wait

It's ok

You can go.

.....

Chinese and Malay

Phone for an ambulance.

Call the police.

I need a phone urgently.

Somebody's injured in the road.

Quick.

It's an emergency.

Does somebody speak English?

Malay

Chinese

I have lost my coach - English speaking people.

Show me the way, please.

............

You could do a similar translation of the words and phrases you are most likely to need on your trip, depending on whether you are walking, cycling, driving yourself, in a taxi, in a coach, on a bus or on a plane.

Most people in Singapore speak English as a first or second language or Singalist. However the bus drivers often don't speak English. They are introverts, and have to watch the road and keep to time. So if you have a question about the road or where to get off, you will proceed faster if you can speak to them in thier language, Mandarin, Tamil, or whetever they speak, or have a simple translation such as:

Can you help me, please?

I am going to this Community Club NORTH - SOUTH  - EAST - WEST .

Can you call me when we reach my stop.

.....

I want to get off at the nearest MRT station. 

Thank you - for helping me.

Goodbye.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Nǐ néng bāng wǒ ma.
Wǒ yào qù zhège shèqū jùlèbù běi - dōng - nán - xī.
Dāng wǒmen dàodá wǒ de zhàndiǎn shí, nǐ néng gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà ma?
.....
Wǒ xiǎng zài zuìjìn dì dìtiě zhàn xià chē.
Gǎnxiè nǐmen duì wǒ de bāngzhù.
Zàijiàn.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

你能帮我吗。

我要去这个社区俱乐部北 - 东南 - 西。

当我们到达我的站点时，你能给我打电话吗？

.....

我想在最近的地铁站下车。

感谢你们对我的帮助。

再见。

Wo is me in Chinese. (Easy to remember, from the Shakespeare play expression: 'Woe is me!'

I suggest you get my translation checked. You must have seen some weird Chinese translation into English!

This website give you the Chinese characters for Beijing.

https://dictionary.hantrainerpro.com/chinese-english/translation-beijing_beijing.htm

You will also see the characters in the Wikipedia article on Beijing.

Bei-jing means northern capital.

The Chinese characters 北 ("north") and 京 ("capital") together mean the "Northern Capital". The name was first used during the reign of the Ming dynasty's Yongle Emperor, who made his northern estate a second capital along with Nanjing (南京, the "Southern Capital") .
The word for noth looks like parallel lines in the middle representing a road leading north. The word for capital looks like a little crown on the head of a king, controlling three areas below in three directions, three legs supporting the capital, or all roads lead up to the capital.

North

South

East

West

Běi
nán
dōng
xī

Remember Words For N S E W

北 - Bei - north as in the capital of China, Bei-jing (which used to be called Pe-king).

南 - south - Nan as in Nan-king

东 - east - dong (think of a bell in an oriental temple)

西 - west (she, being shy, she went home to the West)

Say these words four times, pointing your fingers up, down, right and left, remembering the mnemonics or memory aids.

In Singapore it is important to tell the bus or taxi driver or passenger or passer-by whether your Community Club is North or East or South or West, because often two Clubs are within walking distance of your destination bus stop.

How do I remember the symbols for north, south, east and west?

North Chinese Symbol
The Chinese symbol for North looks like it has the letter t on the right-hand side. (And the letter K reversed on the left.)

South Symbol in Chinese
South looks like a cross with a downward spike pointing south to the busy south, and three legs walking south.

East Symbol in Chinese
You might think the top line looks like the top of the letter E.

East - looks like a whirling Dervish dancer, pirouetting on a pole from West to East, skirt flying.

West Symbol in Chinese
West - looks like a window, a window on the west (alliterative) with curtains and a shady ledge above the window for flowerpots.

Author

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

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Chinese words from maps for travellers

China - the exotic east, source of paper and gunpowder and lots of words you didn't realise you already know. A vast land where a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, although nowadays, with most tourists having more money than time, best not to travel the continent by foot, especially if you don't speak the language(s). You would be advised to take a ship or plane from a city such as Shanghai to Beijing. Here are some handy words and translations.

Beijing - north capital -
Shanghai - shang means above; hai is sea. If you look up meaning of shanghai in a cautionary online you find it is a verb meaning to force somebody onto a ship. Shanghai is a huge port.
Canton - Portuguese pronunciation of Guang-dong
Guang - vast/expanse (huge!)
dong - east
xi - west
Guangdong - literally expanse east, or as we would say in colloquial English, Eastern area

Frankly, I learned all these years ago but they never stuck in my mind. So I have to type them out again to remind myself and you.

If you type in translation you are given links to translation services. The word you need is etymology meaning origin of words.

Some gems I found on the internet:
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/04/24/beijings-subway-stops-literally-translated/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer.