More Albanian - needs on arrival and getting about

 

Flag of Albania.

I made lists of words I thought I would need to use or recognize when travelling, common words and useful words.

Words which are the same or nearly the same are hotel and farmaci.

Common words

and - dhe

danger - rreziku

the -të

or - ose

you - ju

warning -paralajmërim 

dhe - and të - the ju - you

ose - or paralajmërim - warning

rreziku- danger

You may need 

Linking words English - Albanian

at/beside - në/përkrah

from - nga

to - te

right/left - djathtas /majtas

yes/no po/jo

please/thank you - ju lutem/faleminderit

hello/goodbye - përshëndetje / mirupafshim

boy/girl - djale vajze

man/women - burrë/grua

Albanian - English (alphabetically) 

burrë/grua - man/woman

djale vajze - boy/girl

djathtas majtas - right/left

ju lutem/faleminderit - please/thank you

në/përkrah - at/beside
nga - from

përshëndetje / mirupafshim - hello/goodbye
po/jo - yes/no
te - to

Countries

Albania/Albanian

England/English

America/American

London/Londoner

Germany/German

Shqipëri/shqiptar
Angli/Anglisht
Amerikë/Amerikane
Londër/Londër
Gjermani/gjerman

Albanian - English

ajo - she

ju - you ( similar to the French tu, two letters, but more like d'you, to remember the j, I think you juvenile)

bar/snack bar/coffee shop/bistro/cheap restaurant/fine restaurant/local style restaurant/national food

From Maps

bridge - urë

cafe - kafene

car park - parkim makinash

city - qytet

drinking water

drug store - farmaci

entrance - hyrje

exit - dalje

free - falas

hotel - hotel

urë - BRIDGE
kafene- CAFE
parkim makinash - CAR PARK
qytet - CITY
ujë i pijshëm - DRINKING WATER
farmaci - pharmacy (UK) drug store (USA)
hyrje - entrance
dalje - exit
falas - free
hotel - hotel

Useful websites

wikivoyage

Why do you need to know Chinese?

 

Why do you need to recognize Chinese signs even if you cannot speak a word? So you can identify the correct sex of toilets in China, Hong, Kong, Taiwan, China (same writing symbols), or a rest room in a restaurant in Chinatown anywhere in the world.

I went into the Gents in China.

Chinese writing is easier than you might think. Do you know Roman numbers? One, two, and three. Uprights. Like holding up your fingers? What about Chinese?

Chinese is not the same as Roman writing. The exact opposite. The Roman numbers one to three  are vertical. The Chinese numbers one to three are horizontal.

Useful Websites

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Italian words easily learned from art Works and Art Museums; house, museum and more

Italian flag

It is easy to learn Italian words for foods from menus in restaurants or online and from recipes and good sold in supermarkets.
Another fun way to learn Italian is by looking at list of works by your favourite Italian artists. I just looked at works by de Chirico.

Some Italian words translated

Italian - English

A
amore - love

anatomico - anatomical

anniversario - anniversary

autoritratto - self-portrait

B
bagno - bath

bagni - baths

biscotti - biscuits

busto - bust

C
casa - house
cavalli - horses

con - with

D
del - of the

di - of

donna - woman

due - two

F
frutta - fruit

I
interno - interior

L
le - the

M
mare - sea

maschere - mask

metafisico - metaphysical
museo - museum

mysteriosi - mysterious

N
nudo - nude

P
principe - prince

R
rimorso - remorse
riposa - rest

ritratto - portrait

T
test - head

triangolo - triangle

English - Italian

Some Italian words translated

love - amore

A
anatomical - anatomico

anniversary - anniversario

B

bath - bagno 

Baths - bagni 

biscuits - biscotti 

bust - busto 

F
fruit - frutta

H
horses - cavalli
house - casa

I
interior - interno 
L
love - amore

le - the

M 
mask - maschere 

metaphysical - metafisico 
museum - museo

mysterious -  mysteriosi
N

nude - nudo 
O
of - di
of the - del
P
portrait - ritratto

prince - principe 
R
remorse - rimorso 

rest - riposa 

S
sea - mare
self-portrait - autoritratto

T
the - le
test - head

triangolo - triangle

two -due

W

with - con

woman - donna

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

wikipedia

wikivoyage


Author
Author, Author! About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.)
Author of twenty books including: Quick Quotations; Who Said What When.
See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon, such as Wedding Speeches & Toasts. Also watch videos on YouTube.
See other posts on singers and statues and languages and destinations.

LANGUAGE TEACHER/TRAINER
If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,
Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, London.
Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations
lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product-21713991
drink
Other posts about Italian food, drink, restaurants and artists and museums and destinations.
Previous post on de Chirico.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Further Spanish words - my name, wife, son and so on

People
English-Spanish

the boy - el nino

the girl (is) - la nina ...

English

my wife

my husband

my son

my daughter-in-law

his fiancee

my name is

his name is

her name is

Spanish

mi mujer (Mujer is woman, which is apparently the ok translation for wife in economical Spanish but in English it sounds rude to call your wife 'my woman'.)

mi esposo (The Spanish word esposo sounds like the English word spouse. Note that o for man and a for a woman.)

mi hijo

mi nuera

su prometida (like the English word promised)

Me llamo

se llama

su nombre es

I picked out a series of sentences I wanted to say in Spanish and ran them through Google Translate (which is translate google in the search).

I laboriously copied each translated word. On returning to a set which I had not yet matched up, I found it interesting to test whether I could translate back from the Spanish to the English and vice versa. So I have decided to leave the untranslated version so that you can read down and go back and try doing this until you know every word or most words.

About The Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, blogger, author of 20 books including an ebook on Improve Your English, from Amazon, and teacher of English and Business English and other languages to individuals, colleges and companies. For more information on learning languages see the previous posts. For information on sites to see in Spain and Portugal see the other posts. Please bookmark your favourite posts and share the links with your family, friends and colleagues.

Yet more Spanish words: mother, man, waiter, Spanish, American

My name is .. ..........

a woman - una mujer

a man - un hombre

mother (see below)

the mother

the waiter

the waitress

Me llamo ............

 madre

La madre

El camarero

la camarera

National Origin/Residence/Work

I am - yo soy
English - Inglés (Remember the department store in Malaga, Spain, called El Corte Inglés) 

Are you Spanish?

From which city?

I am English /American -

Origen nacional / Residencia / Trabajo

¿Es usted español?

¿De que ciudad?

Soy inglés / americano - yo soy

Claiming A Reserved Table

I have a reservation/reserved - a table for  - yo tenga una reserva - una mesa para 

one,two,three - uno, dos, tres

four/five/six/seven/

eight/nine/ten - 

Can we sit over there?

I need a plate / another plate

I need/we need another glass

Reclamar una tabla reservada

Tengo una reserva / reservada - una mesa para - yo tengo una reserva - una mesa para

uno, dos, tres - uno, dos, tres

cuatro / cinco / seis / siete /

ocho nueve DIEZ -

¿Podemos sentarnos allí?

Necesito un plato / otro plato

Necesito / necesitamos otro vaso

Agua Y Vino, Vasos Y Vajilla

Me gustaría / un vaso de agua - un vaso agua (vaso es vidrio no florero)

Water And Wine, Glasses & Crockery

I would like / a glass of water - un vaso agua (vaso is glass not vase) 

I am going to order - voya pedir

bottle of wine - botella de vino

This is red wine -

I need  - yo necesita

Do you have a wine list?

Do you have wine by the glass?

Ordering - words and phrases

I don't eat pork

I am allergic to shellfish

May we order

I need a menu

Do you have a wine list?

Do you have wine by the glass?

Voy a ordenar - voya pedir

botella de vino - botella de vino

Esto es vino tinto

Yo necesito

Ordenar - palabras y frases

Yo no como cerdo

Soy alérgica a los mariscos

Podemos ordenar

Necesito un menu

¿Tienes una carta de vinos?
....... ... .... .. .... (You fill this in!)

About The Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, blogger, author of 20 books including an ebook on Improve Your English, from Amazon, and teacher of English and Business English and other languages to individuals, colleges and companies. For more information on learning languages see the previous posts. For information on sites to see in Spain and Portugal see the other posts. Please bookmark your favourite posts and share the links with your family, friends and colleagues.

What's Your Name In Chinese? How to Read Accents. (My name's An -Ji La, An for peace)

Flag of Singapore.


Flag of Japan.

The same symbols are used for writing in China, Japan and Singapore.

My name is Angela.

I thought you must be able to translate this phonetically, as An something, because in the centre of Singapore is a buidling called Ng Ann City. A college is called Ng Ann ... after the benefactor.

That gives me Ann or Ann Ng.

I asked a lady in the swimming pool who speaks fluent English as well as Mandarin. She said she would ask the teacher who teaches Mandarin to her grandson.

A few days later she handed me the translation. It started with the symbol for An which means peace. She said that would be a positive and propitious, auspicious or favourable symbol, bringing good fortune or good luck.
The symbol for peace shows the symbol for roof above the symbol for woman.
安

The whole name is
Angela 安吉拉 (Ān jí lā)

Afterwords is the pinyin or pronounciation of a Chinese word shown in English or Roman alphabet.

The horizontal accent just means no tone. You see this at the start and end of the name Angela.

For a long time I found the accents hard to understand.
 When I learned French I learned the French word for pupil, eleve.
In French with the accents it is

élève
Then I realised that the upward accent in Chinese is the same as French. Ay like Hey!

A dipped or bowl shape accent is down and up, like asking a question in English, such as ending a sentence with your voice going up on the last word, as in a sentence ending with the word 'real-ly?'

Finally, the downward accent is low and emphatic, like saying NO! to a naughty child or dog. Or ending a sentence emphatically, with a low voice.

I later found the an symbol for peace in my Chineasy flashcards.

Now at last I have found a website which translates names.

So how do I remember how to write my name? One commentator says that Chinese parents have to consider both the meaning of the name and how easy it is for their tiny child to write his or her own name. The same goes for adult foreigners. You want a name which is easy to rmember and write.



Websites Translating Names
https://www.chinese-tools.com/names/list.html?n=ana

Angela

Angela 安吉拉 (Ān jí lā)

Angela Lansbury

Learn the Chinese words for Male and Female Toilet - and avoid embarrassment

Problem

I wanted to learn the Chinese words for ladies toilet.
I found the ladies toilet and copied down the word.
However, next time I tried to follow the sign, I found myself in the gents.

Answer
I went back to the guide and asked her to translate what I had written. I had written the word for toilet!

Read down the right hand column under simplified and find the sign for woman.

How to Remember Basic Brazilian Portuguese Words

Problem
It's easy enough to see that o menino is a boy and mulher is mother when I am reading, but how do I remember the Portuguese when I want to say something?

I learned these words six months ago. It's a lot quicker this time. But I still have to remind myself the first time I do the exercise and get it all wrong, or take ten second to think. When you are talking, you want the words to flow out automatically, not keep people waiting whilst you hunt for words and construct a sentence.

Answers
At first I had trouble remembering which endings went with which word, feminine and masculine. But it's pretty easy. The prepositions and adjective match the nouns. Think of it like matching colour on a string of beads. All the blues for boys on one side for one bracelet, all the pinks for girls on the other side for another bracelet. One you have got an o or a ending for the first word, the next word matches it.

o menino - boy , like the Buddy Holly song, "Oh, boy, oh boy ..."
a menina - girl

Oh - boy.
Ah - a girl. Girl may be written with the letter I, but the sound is a or er.

Portuguese - English
o homen - man ( I remember: Oh, ho, men. No just one man.)
a menina - girl
o menino - boy
a mulher - woman (looks like mother, every woman is a mother, but how do I remember U L? You love every woman?
voce - you (like the French vous which is you plural or you formal to a stranger)

English - Portuguese
boy - o menino
bread - o pao
girl - a menina
man - o homen
milk -
woman - mulher

you - voce

STOP - I haven't finished this post or put in the accents. I'll come back later. Go to next post!

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

Malay and Indonesian - practical words from school to sea

Problem
I pick up leaflets in a Singaporean Community Centre. By mistake I have picked up the Malay version.

Solution
Later I find an English version. By comparing the two, or copying words from the Malay leaflet into Google translate, I can find words on subjects which interest me and are practical.

Spelling and Pronunciation
Double words are plurals. For example, anak is child and anak-anak is children. There are no double letters. Every vowel is pronounced.

Malay - English
a i r / a y e r - water
anda - your
bank - bank
dan - and
i n s u r a n s - insurance
 j a n u a r i - January
Kredit - credit
laut - sea
p o l i t e k n i k - polytechnic (looks like polite  - k - nik !)
p r o f e s i o n a l - professional
p r o g r a m - programme
sekolah - school
skim - scheme
u n i v e r s i t i - university
w a n i t a - woman

English - Malay
and - dan
bank - bank
credit - K r e d i t
Politeknik - polytechnic
programme - p r o g r a m
sea - laut
university - universiti
water - a  i r / ay e r
woman - w a n i t a
your - anda

AUTHOR
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages.

German Pronunciation Simplified

Problem
How do you pronounce German words?

Answers

AU is OW as HOW NOW BROWN COW
I had a friend whose surname was Blau (rhyming with now) meaning blue.
frau - woman - think of a frowning woman with brows in a brown dress , pronounced f r o w,

IE
i e pronounce the second letter W i e n e r - p r o n u n c e d v e e n e r

V and W
W is v as in the German word for sausage: w u r s h t (pronounced v e r sh t).
So now you can recognize it when a German speaker talks about a sausage from Vienna.
You can also recognize what sounds like v e e n e r schnitzel.

Frequent use of W pronounced as V
was - (vas or vuss) what
wie - what
German wir - we pronounced veer

German - English
was - what (vuss as in fuss)
wir - we (veer)
wie - how (vee)
wieviel - how many (vee feel)
w i e v i e l u h r ist es (what time is it - v e e like the letter vee, feel, i s t e s s as in yes)

German J is Y
jung - young pronounced y o o n g , the vowel as in cook


English - German
we - wir (pronounced veer)
where

Finally, when writing, go back and check you have capital letters for all the words describing things. In English we save a capital lesson for a specific name of a person, Mr Blue, but in German the word man it would be Mann.

Tips
I suggest you get a notebook or diary and write down a key to the ones which puzzle you on one page with a key word in English for the pronunciation.
Left column for the sound as it is written in German, second column for the word in English.
I shall do this and take a photo and add it later.

Websites
Wikipedia give a complete guide, letter by letter, including variations for Switzerland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Standard_German
It is so long and complicated that it's hard to find the sounds you need and remember them.

For more tips on pronunciation:
http://www.fluentu.com/german/blog/how-to-pronounce-german-words/
Long and chatty. The opposite of Wikipedia.

duolingo.com
The first page of any of their dozen or so languages gives you a guide to grammar and pronunciation of the language you have chosen to learn. Even if you are not learning, or have finished the course and want a reminder, it's worthwhile going to their page one. Notes are at the bottom of the screen and easily missed so if you are on a small screen scroll down for them.

You might like to look at my other posts on German, French, Romanian, Italian and other languages. I also have travel articles in this blog on my trips to Italy (a press trip, covering Umbria and Francis of Assisi) and Cambodia (Ankor Wat temple). I also have several posts on Singapore and restaurants in London, Central London and Hatch End and Harrow. Other blogs cover etiquette, humorous poetry and my books. I am also you YouTube, linkedIn, Facebook, Lulu.com books and Amazon. If you meet me at a meeting of Toastmasters International clubs (UK, USA and Singapore) I am a chatty person. I am always delighted to talk about travel and culture and please to meet a fan and if you want to buy a coy of one of my books I'll sign it and write you a personalised message, motivation quote or a couplet based on your name. Happy reading.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phgotarpheer, author and speaker. Please share posts.Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection
or reload the browserDisable in this text fieldRephraseRephrase current sentenceEdit in Ginger×