Are you learning French, Spanish, Italian or Portuguese? If and that are easy and hard to remember in these languages

French -If -Si?

 I learned French at school. The English word if, in French is si. 

That, as in I know that (not that one over there) is que. After a verb, que or that is an adverb. That when pointing to something can be a pronoun, or determiner.

French & Spanish Links

French and Spanish are nearby languages, physically as well as metaphorically. Think of the southern border of France being next to Spain. When it comes to learning Spanish, the same words are used for if and that, si for if, que for that (after a verb such as know that).

Italian - Se and Che

However, when learning Italian on Duolingo I kept making mistakes. I kept typing si for if. But the Italian for if is se. The Italian for that is not que but che. It sounds the same, but is written differently. I am now trying to remember the right word using the words of the hit song che sera sera, whatever will be will be.

Italian and Portuguese

I thought I would check on two similar languages, Italian and Portugese. It turns out that in both the constructions, using if or that, French and Spanish are a pair. The other two romance languages, Italian and Portugese, are different, but paired with each other.

So for me it is easier to learn French and then Spanish. Then Italian and Portuguese. Or if I learned French or Spanish first, just remember that Italian and Portugese are different.

I checked the two versions of Portuguese, used in Portugal in Europe, and Brazil in South America. They are a match with each other.

Yes - Si

Yes in French is si. Yes in Spanish is si. Yes in Portuguese is sim. Yes in italian is si.

I was using Translate google. 

To make it clear, here is a list

English - French - Spanish - Italian - Portuguese

if - si - si - se - se

that - que - que  - che - che

yes - oui/si (emphastic) - si - si - sim 

Useful Websites

Duolingo (to learn online, for free, French, Spanish, Italian and Brazilian Portugese)

Translate Google (to translate words, phrases and short paragraphs) French, Spanish, Italian, Portugese used in Portugal and Portuguese used in Brazil)

Please share with friends the links to useful posts on my blogs.

Chinese for Children and Adults: pointing, wanting, food and hotel

Problem - Teaching Children and Adults
I found a website for parents who speak Chinese to teach their children to be bilingual. Lots of amusing ideas, about starting with nouns, and simple verbs, but not one word of any use to an adult who speaks English and wants to learn Chinese. (Although the Chinese symbols would be meaningful to bilinguals, nothing useful for beginners.)

Answer
However, this search led me on to some really handy YouTube videos for adult tourists.

First Words For Pointing To Food
The first video teaches you the words you can use for pointing:
this
that
I
want
I want
I don't want
I don't want that
I want this

Signs and Tones
I had already learned that wo means I. the teacher in the video explains how the signs over the letters gives you clues about the tone of voice, the same as French signs. The bowl shape means the sound goes down then rises up again.

The website also gives you some amusing word breakdowns giving insights. Who would have known that the Chinese word for restaurant is the combination of the two words food shop! Who would have guessed that the Chinese word for hotel is alcohol shop!

Useful Websites
Diana Ser for children of Mandarin speaking parents
http://www.dianaser.com/how-to-us-eenglish-books-to-learn-mandarin/
http://www.dianaser.com/script-to-play-and-say-in-mandarin/

Emma on greetings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1LWu81kWqE

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.