Spanish Words - Secrets To Remembering Them

 How to remember Spanish words? Find similar words in English with letters in common.

Spanish - English

bonita - pretty / beautiful b for beautiful, bon for good, it sounds like the ett in pretty)

cafeteria - cafeteria

diario - diary

entrar - to enter

el examen - the exam

hoy - today (OY hOY tOdaY)

invitado - guest (INVIT .DO INVITaDoO - INVITeD persOn)

llamaste - you called (double ll in both words, a in both words, S for Second person Singular, the same as Latin amo amas amat where amas is you love. ending e for the past, as in the English ed, called)

mercado - market (MERcAdo MAR K E, c and k sound alike, so do d and t)

la musica - the music (add a in Spanish)

muy - very - muy looks like MUch and verY

oceano (oh say arn oh, upward forward diagonal accent on the e) the ocean

roto - broken (letters RO ROto bROken)

ciencias - science (Science is a plural word in Spanish. Move the s from the start of the word to the end.

Useful websites for learning Spanish

duolingo.com

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

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Some Singlish Sort Of English - to baffle Brits, amaze Americans and embarrass or enlighten English speakers

When I first arrived in Singapore I was often confused.

A lady on the Singapore airlines plane to Singapore told me, "I live in a house with a garden which is good because of have tree children." 

I wondered how many children she had, and if they were all tomboys who liked climbing trees. 

I asked, "Boys or girls?"

She replied, "Two boys, one girl."

I exclaimed, "Three children."

She agreed, "Yes. Tree children."

Then I understood. Three.

She told me, "My brother is in Australia. He has tree houses. He lives in one, rents out the other two."

For an instant I had visions of her brother building a tree house, very big, like Robinson Crusoe. Must be in construction. Building a tree house as a home or guest house. Then renting out two more. Interesting business developing. Then I realized he was the owner of three houses. He was probably well-to-do, but not the eccentric millionaire, the ecologically minded man I had imagined.

I phoned my other friend in Singapore and asked, "When can we meet?"  

He replied, "I'm having an off day." 

I said, "I'm a bit jet lagged, not feeling too good either, so we would only make each other miserable. Why don't we meet when you are feeling better. Tomorrow?"

I was really worried when he said, "I want to meet you to die."

He meant today.

I eventually heard, "I am not working to die. To die is my off die. I am working tomorrow."

 

Another friend met me at a shopping mall and called a taxi to take us elsewhere. She said to him, "Thank you, uncle."

Afterwards I said to her, "I didn't know your uncle was a taxi driver. Did you call him specially, or was it just luck that your uncle picked us up?"

She looked puzzled, "I don't have an uncle who is a taxi driver."

I said, "But you were chatting away to him and when we out, you said,'Thank you, uncle!"

She told me, "We say auntie or uncle to strangers of an older generation who are friendly."

"Ah," I answered, "In England we do that when we are children. But not from one adult to another."

Here are some phrases you may think you hear, and what the speaker means

Phrases and Pronunciation

Singlish - English

cannot = I can't / you can't / it can't be done / it's not possible/ no/ nope

drop off = drop out (of an online event)

even = even if

kampong = (Singapore) village (primitive - cleared by government upgrading, but friendly, remembered nostalgically by residents now living in modern skyscrapers)

Kiasu - competitive, getting ahead, pushy, fear of being left behind eg getting first into lift, overtaking and pulling ahead into your lane on the near empty motorway, determined to be first

la = (exclamation) yeah/ yup / really/ is that so/ definitely/aren't you/ isn't it/don't you think so/amazing/hilarious

loyal = royal

off day = day off

off the light = turn off the light

team = theme

tree = three

uncle = friendly person of an older generation, not related

English - Singlish

bad hair day = bad day

day off = off day

drop out = drop off

even if = even

I can't = cannot

off day = bad day

one-upmanship = kiasu

royal = loyal

team = theme

turn off the light = off the light

three = tree

uncle = brother of your mother or father

village = kampong

Useful Websites

https://singlishbible.fandom.com/wiki/Genesis_1

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is British and a Singapore Permanent Resident. 

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is Vice President Public Relations of Braddell Heights Advanced, and Tampines Changkat Advanced,  speakers training club which are part of Toastmasters International. The USA has several Spanish speaking as well as the English speaking clubs. You can pick up Spanish from buying or reading online their Spanish clubs welcome pages and manuals. 

In The USA, UK, Singapore and worldwide, there are many clubs which are English speaking, as well as Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Tamil, Malay.

The inauguration of Tampines Changkat Advanced was Tuesday 29 2021, online on  zoom. Their meetings are on the fourth Tuesday evening of the month. They hope to hold meetings with a few people meeting physically, the others online, as soon as the Covid-19 conditions allow.

You can find the club through their facebook page as well as through Toastmasters International find a club. 

https://www.facebook.com/tampineschangkatadvTMC

The meetings are free for visitors. Visitors can watch, and join in speaking by introducing themselves and volunteering to do a 2 minutes impromptu  speech in table topics.

If you wish to join for a year, it costs about 190 US dollars, to have monthly meetings online, a mentor, a magazine, and one of the 11  Pathways, consisting of 14 projects. Each project starts with 3 speeches of your choice of subject, lasting 4 to 6 minutes, then 5 to 7 minutes. The Pathways include the most popular Presentation Mastery. I chose  humorous speaking as my second Pathway, costing 20 dollars. Then my third was a leadership course. Come and see for free.

The club also has meetings in person in Singapore

You can also contact my other club, smaller Braddell Heights Advanced, which is a cosy little club with more chances to speak.

Login through bha.learncool.sg/meet/bha 

That will link you through to Zoom or googlemeet. 2 pm to 5 pm.

BHA meets the first Wednesday evening each month, starting at 7 pm Singapore time. 

Then an extra meeting on the 3rd Saturday afternoon, starting at 2 pm Singapore time.

To check your time zone,  

https://24timezones.com/difference/singapore/ 

Meetings will be on Wed July 7th and  Saturday July 17th.

Contact either of these or other clubs through Toastmasters International Find a Club.

When can you see New Year's Eve in Sydney and Worldwide on TV?

New Year's Eve at home. Just us and the cats. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
I want to watch the New Year's Eve celebrations on TV as soon as they start. When do they start in Sydney?

Answer
Go to SydNYE - a clever pun on Sydney and New Year's Eve.
Their website gives you a countdown a few hours ahead.

Sydney is
three hours ahead of Singapore
ten hours ahead of London
fifteen hours ahead of New York.

Top sites for celebrations include:
New Zealand - lights from the tower
Sydney, Australia - fireworks and lines of lights along Sydney harbour bridge
Hong Kong
Japan
Marina Bay, Singapore
Gibraltar
London, England - see Big Ben clock chime
Edinburgh, Scotland (where New Year is a bigger celebration than Christmas) backdrop Edinburgh Castle
Rio, Brazil
Las Vegas, USA - pedestrianised centre street party
New York, USA

Singapore
In Singapore the big celebrations are around Marina Bay over the water and you can see from skyscrapers in the Downtown (also the name of a stop on the MRT railway) and Central Business District (CBD for short).

The local newspapers, which you can read online, such as The Straits Times, and Today, report on closures of roads to car and bridges to cars and pedestrians. The police also warn that to prevent overcrowding on platforms you may experience delays when attempting to get home. So you won't necessarily be able to get into a station at ten or twenty past midnight. In London, England, the year before last, we went to the station, saw snake barriers and went back to the bar-cum restaurant and had more food and drinks. The latest trains home are posted on stations.

Free
Many local suburban areas have fireworks displays in parks near centre which are free. For example Woodlands, in the open area near the MRT station and bus station.

Rain
It rained most of the day in Singapore and was overcast, a disappointment to photographers. A complete torrential downpour at 7.40 pm. You can hear the rain pelting down.

I also wondered whether grassy areas might be muddy. So I have asked my family to watch on TV and send me photos. You will also probably be able to see photos on Facebook and other sites. Rain won't dampen our plans.

Plans
Plan your outfits, drinks and glasses - and new year wishes. If you are in Australia or Singapore you can continue watching all over again as the New Year is welcomed all over Asia, Europe and the USA.

I found it best to turn out the lights around the screen.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Useful website
You tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ajEkB3zzuk New Year's Eve

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

One Welsh word for today: tomorrow

Problem
My word of the day is Yfory which is Welsh for tomorrow - how do I remember this? Look for letters in common.
Y fory remember the F - in Future

Welsh - English
yfory - tomorrow

English - Welsh
tomorrow - yfory

Tips
Duolingo.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. I have other posts on Duolingo, English, Italian, Spanish German and other languages and destinations around the world. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Storing Travel Brochures and Video CDs In Shoe Boxes With Labels

Problem
I have a stack of brochures from a trip to Italy but they are creating a clutter. They slide off the table onto the floor. I put them in a plastic bag. Disaster. Too many bags. I'll never be able to find them.

 I pack them in a shoe box. Now I have them neat but I still can't find them.

Answers
Shoe Box Labelled with Pen
1 You can write the name Italy on the end of the shoe box in pen. Yes, I do that. It does not look tidy, organised, professional. Besides, the writing is too small and I still can't find it.

I have not taken the time to do what I was advised by a much-moved mother in Rockville, Maryland. She told me, when moving house, label every box on all six sides, the four sides and the top and bottom. That way, however the boxes are stacked, you can sill see the label from every angle.

I could then use a black felt tip pen. It would not look tidy, even if I used a ruler to keep the bottom of letters straight, drew a faint pencil line an inch above, marked the spacing of the letters with dots.

Better to print. I could print out the word Italy in large black type, by enlarging the font to the largest size allowed. But that takes a lot of ink. I then have to fix the flimsy paper onto the box.

I get out a brochure entitled Umbria to read and put it back down on top of the box. The width is just the right size. I could tear off the cover and stick it down.

I don't like to destroy a brochure - even though I often have two copies of brochures. Besides, I don't have time.

I reach for a long elastic band, the sort you get on parcels held together by the postman. (In the USA you would say mail man). You find elastic bands on the ground everywhere, all over the world. I have seen them in Italy and Singapore. Lets over the whole top. Find another brochure.

My first effort was simply to leave the brochure on top of the box, attached with a big rubber band. That worked very well when the shoe box was on a long table.

But sideways on, the original shoe box name on the lid is a distraction.

My next effort was to look for other items to stick on the sides.

You can also make a collage of travel brochures. All from one country, or from several. This works on a small box, a shoe box.

Of course the answer for a DIY or craft enthusiast is to completely cover the box with a holiday theme. Stick on duplicate photos. (I have loads from America in the late 1900s.) Print pictures from the computer, maybe print from my own photos on the laptop or mobile phone.

Or cover a box with Xmas birthday or gift wrapping paper. Add a window in the centre with the word Italy.

Or cover a box in white and draw a freehand sketch. Add large curly calligraphy of the country name. Make six matching boxes from different states of the USA. Or stack boxes for countries in South America, Europe or Asia, Russia or China and satellite countries.

I hate cardboard boxes. yet they are too good and stiff to throw away. They keep dust off the contents. They group things together. They stack neatly.

For more details on Umbria:
www.umbriatourism.it

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share posts.