*To view language courses links please click here*
If you look at it people who know a Romantic language would have alot better understanding if their mother tongue was one of the romantic family. So as you can tell English is a member of another family the Germanic one. Chances are we would been in more familiar grounds with learning German than say French or Spanish. Too bad chances the first second language odds are greatly in their favor that it would be a romantic lanagauge like for example, Canadian? You would learn French or American the odds are more learned towards knowing Spanish. But you know one thing once you learn a Romantic language doors would fly open to learn another language of the same family.
Why? Cause of their historic roots on where they evolved form which is latin so there are a number of words would sound the same or if not be exactly the same and or/with really similar grammar structures. That’s ok, if you are reading this chances you are already learning and practicing a new language or are willing to consider the task. But just keep in mind one thing once you master a new language of the Romantic family the others to learn would be sooo much less painful especially if you were to read the words.
I realized this once when I saw a movie in Italian, even though I never took a course of the language nor am I that interested at this moment to learn it and use it but I had a basic grasp of understanding it like I had been taking a class for about 2 months into it, really cool and nice to know if you ask me, another one would be Portuguese spoken formally a piece of cake, I would say that 70 percent(not sure but just my educated guess) of the words between Spanish and Portuguese are exactly the same so I consider myself to be fluent in Portuguese by default since I already knew and spoke really well Spanish when I went shopping in Brazil, but I confess I would be sometimes be lazy and just speak Spanish and still they would understand me just fine, it was kinda of unique experience for me something that would never happen between a English and Spanish speaking in their native tongues and have a mutual understanding unless they spoke the others langauge in the first place.
So English would be compatible to other germanic languages like German or Dutch but so dramatic like Spanish and Portuguese but still similarities would arise, think about it, if you had went to Amsterdam on some vacation why would you think that many over there despite their possible funny accent speak English just fine? The problem between English and other Germanic languages I noticed was the grammar settings wouldn’t be so closely related together such the ones in the Romantic, but even English would have some ties with the Romantic languages like French if you know your history would is a good thing as well.
The point of this all this? Learn a language and many more doors would open for you to become trilingual or maybe quadlingual, thanks to this I do consider myself trilingual up to this point.Know spanish to learn better italian, know english to learn better dutch etc.
If case you don’t know what faux pas are they are the unwritten social rules and we follow by in everyday life, like for example addressing your folks with their first name instead of the usual “mom” and “dad” or talking with your mouth full. So now must be aware of them by now but what about the other kinds of faux pas that exists in other locations on earth that aren’t consider offensive in your own neighbourhood? Well you may be surprised at some of them but they are what they are in their local customs. Consider reading and remember these when you are about to travel to that certain place in the world. Or else you might unintentionally cause some offense and you won’t even know why they are mad in the first place. Now lets take a look at some of them right now.
GREECE:
You all know that gesture when you show the number 5 with your whole hand or better yet known as “talk to the hand,” well did you know that in greece that is actually considered really offensive to the locals. To us it’s nothing, we would just shrug it off but not to greek. The part that is appalling to them is when your palm faces the person would is taken on disrespect.
SOUTH AMERICA:
I briefly discussed this in my fire vs. ice article in my blog but not acknowledging a presence of a certain individual in a group of people interacting, simply but not greeting the person nor saying good bye when you leave, in north america this can exist but it is way more relaxed. I myself am guilty of this in the past, before I usually don’t think this a big deal but I have learned to get offended by this myself as time passes while living here in South America.
JAPAN:
There are quite a number for example, at family/social dinner pouring your own drink instead of having someone pour it for you is tagged a faux pas, chances are you know of bowing as a greeting which is taken anything lightly over there in their own culture, it is a MUST especially if you meet someone more elderly and of a higher social status.
KOREA:
Much of the same faux pas applies to Japan, but another one can be writing someone elses name in red, now why is that? Because in their culture red symbolizes DEATH!
THAILAND:
I have heard of this one a long time ago when a talked with someone who has travelled to thailand. According to her, the touching of the head of another person which the head is sacred, also another one you must know that you must not step over their currency since their money contains the images of their king.
INDIA AND PAKISTAN:
The eating and shaking hands with the left hand, I should watch myself with that since I am left handed, also the addressing the informal “you” instead of the traditional formal “you” to elders is also considered a faux pas.
BRAZIL:
One that can be unexpect to you in brazil is the inverted “ok” gesture which represents to the brazilians as an anus.
FRANCE:
One of their faux pas would be asking for cheese after finishing their dessert and asking others directly for their full names and what their jobs are.
MIDDLE EAST:
Showing the soles of your feet which is consider private to encouraged from public view, much like our attitudes to the crotch and for women the breast area.
EASTERN EUROPE:
Giving someone who is alive an EVEN number of flowers is consider rude since they would do that only in funeral services, I am sure there would be some over analystical people who would count the flowers so be “careful” on that one.
Fire vs. Ice
May 3, 2007
Ok before I moved to South America, one of the main things and aspect I noticed about the latino culture from tv was their love for the rhythm of their music to the likes of samba or salsa. Music that just gives flavor and life the parties. That just sets in my head about the people that would ignite the wonder of how these people would to be generally in real life.
Technique I should know… I myself am latino of decent with both my parents being from Paraguay, a small nation in South America. But there is one factor here, I was born in Canada and lived there for pretty much my whole life, where my parents left me with little teachings on where I came and other kinds of things such as my family history or the full detailed aspects of the Paraguay culture, or latin culture in general. So you might say that I can be ignorant towards my peoples history, that is til one day I made a big decision that would change my life.
I moved in with my mom to Paraguay after my folks divorced and I was in my middle teens at the time. So here I am with a particular mindset and way of being vs. a foreign atmosphere where I had little education about it prior. Over the years I had many friends from being the locals, to some various exchange students over the time.
But one reoccurring theme as come to mind, despite the different in appearance was the difference in character traits.
To speak in a broad sense, the americans and even europeans has more of colder traits than the latino counterpart, over here for example would be a common known faux paux where if you do not greet one when you enter a group of people then the person in question would take much great offense than one would in a similar situation in a north american setting. The latinos are known to be considered a warm people where they greet someone, even if they don’t them very well they would greet them anyways with a more forward approach, so you can say that the latinos would be more friendly in that major form of human interaction. However you the reader wouldn’t be as colourful to others if you don’t know them very well. I am speaking in a general sense remember, I don’t refer you the reader as an individual but as a whole in the american, british canadian etc. population.
Life here in south america can have it’s advantages if you want to make alot of friends easily for instance the “clique” subculture seems to be virtually non-existent in their school systems and I have heard about many testimonials from the exchange students (nearly all of them) saying that it is def. easier to talk to people and have an overall great time down here and never want to leave.
Family is another very important aspect to the culture, whereas the sense of a true family unit is greatly more extended and reconized with a thicker sense of loyal to the family. That would be one of the reasons that I moved here since ALL of my family resides in this country, over the years I have learned to greatly appreciate them more so than ever, unlike from living in Canada where I felt lonely and was very far from my true family so I wouldn’t get alot of unconditional support I do here in Paraguay.
If you are one that ends up marrying someone of the latin race please keep in mind their strong affection for family and respect that by being respectable towards them. Should be easy since they are generally as I said a warm people would then see as truely part of family.
Other more common traits with the latinos can be how they are more comfortable with taking louder, exaggerated gestures and lots physical contact between each other, which contributes to their “fire” persona.
So we go back to their music, I say that the music is a great representation and reflection as a latin culture as a whole which tend to be warm and upbeat in nature mixed in other types and common traits like modesty for example.
For the last 5 years I have been living in South America with my family and of course I had to learn Spanish from scratch, which is easier than you think, since you constantly are practicing it everyday as you hang out with the local people who don’t know english and eventually make friends with some of them. Now to this spanish comes natural to me, for instance I can think and dream in spanish almost everyday.
But what about you guys? Ever thought of learning spanish yourself? Take a look around you, in the last few years you notice the spanish speaking culture has been making it’s presence in the mainstream media and the way of everyday life more so than ever. Some aspects more obvious than others like reggaeton trend in mtv being set in with others like hip hop and crunk.
Main Reasons to learn Spanish today.
1.The women: Yea why not talk to them in their native language? It shows compassion for them as you speak to them or at least try too. By doing this you should win a couple of points in their books if you when converse in spanish instead of english. Works well on other women since they will see you as intelligent and cultured.
2.As goodwill: Since the ever growing number of latinos are making an impact in the US culture as a whole wouldn’t it be nice to at least get use to it and learn spanish so you won’t see as more close minded to other cultures.
3.Opportunities: Do you have some business of some kind? Want to expand? Well why not learn spanish to better the opportunity to serve your clients and get more offerings not from the just english speakers businessmen but other prestigious spanish speaking ones as well.
4.Better communication: Can range from wanting to know what they are singing about in those reggeaton songs or in overseas travels when you could be lost and the only one to help you and give you directions only speaks spanish? Or want something specifically done to your hair when you get it cut during your vacation in Cancun. Yes, a lack of communication with the last one can have its unwanted results.
So just learning spanish can be fun and more easier than you think since alot of the words can be similar. Hell it even improves your understanding of english also!
Example, the simple Spanish word for wrong is “equivocar” but there is word in English that not many would understand which is equivocal, that can define as “of doubtful nature or character; questionable; dubious; suspicious: aliens of equivocal loyalty.”
One can just put two and two together.
Now obviously since you are reading this, you are fluent in english but as a native speaker you fail to realize the complex language that it really is until you move to another country in south america and have no choice but to learn spanish. At first I was thinking how would I be able to master a language? It must take at least 2 years to be speak fluently, but that wasn’t the case it only took me about 6 months.
Now do one thing, I know you must at least one person where english is his second language. Now you should do is put yourself in his head and how he must of felt when he was just starting out, the difficulties he must endure when trying to scramble for the words instead from his head to spit out the next phrase which would come out understandable or just plain crap that was makes heads turn and then say “what?” You might think that they have it tough which is true. But if you consider learning spanish he here is a short list on how it would be easier for you than the other way around.
Advantages for learning spanish:
1.Words are spelt as how they sound
The main one, one new to english would think that the words “done” and “tone” would rhyme but then they would be corrected soon afterwards, english is infamous for having many separate worlds of the same being read and said out loud very differently. But in spanish every word is spelt out how it would sound said out loud don’t you think that makes a hell of alot more sense?
2.Less confusing letter combos
You those “th” and “ph” we have floating around there, well those are them letter combos that would confuse the common foreign getting to know english and english has quite enough of those I think we should take up spanish example and limit those letter combos. I mean some of them are pretty useless, can’t we just spell out telephone as telefone? Never see a problem like that in spanish.
3.More common word structure endings
Ever read the spanish text? Doesn’t look intimidating since most of the words end with “o” or “a” This is what spanish gives a personality for me with the certain sounding of words and spelling combos that I see very uniform and easy to follow but on the other hand you get words in english like “shin,” hmm sounds chinese to me.
4.Less rule breaking
You know those little pointless rules we have to absorb due to the history of the language such as the plural of deer is not deers but just… deer, however for one than more of beer it would be beers. Huh? Thank god for spanish were I didn’t have to deal with that the fraction of the time I would have to deal if the situation was vice verse and I was learning the ropes of english.
I don’t speak german but I love the music of Rammstien, I have never taken a german for german but there are many words of theirs I can understand and say, hell I can even form a few basic sentences in german, they may not be perfect but at least the native speaks would get an idea what I am saying.
All this and I don’t really have a keen interest in studying the language at all. No it’s all thanks to Rammstien and following their lyrics and being able to sing along to them sometimes. I have in the past been researching and reading their lyrics on text and finally finding the english translation to it. Well now knowing what the words and phrases mean in english now I can store them in my mind and have them in reserved in case I find someone german to use them on.
This applies to any language, another example is raggaeton. Now I don’t like the genre to much but it’s on the radio, on tv, well everywhere. You hear words like “culo” “culo” sung over again by lil jon well at first you don’t know what he is talking about but then you find out it means ass. You may be a fan of the music and you listen to it alot and eventually you get to sing along with it just fine but chances you don’t know what they mean or even sing properly. But that’s ok because it’s implanted in your head and all you have to do is go online and find it’s translated equivalent and there you go.
It pretty funny that they should consider making a music and lyrics studies in spanish or german classes and just play some music for you to hear and it would actually make it easier to absorb into your brian when it’s sung instead of being spoken. Don’t you think?
Don’t you think you should just endure the boring langauge course you probably take now and then go out and buy or download any music sung in something other than english and listen to it softly before you sleep. Yes another innovated way to not only learn another language but explore the world of musical artists you may never thought would of existed. Hell I can name a swedish rock song I don’t understand at all but I listen to anyways cause of their sound and flow. Don’t only check out foreign music cause I am telling you to if you want to improve your german or spanish but just check out music for the sake of checking out music but sung in another language. It’s win win for you (you get better at the language and also you find yourself to be a fan of some band you probably would never find out otherwise.)
For me, I like rock but my passion of music would be hip hop, in countries like Chile or Spain is just thriving with a viberate hip hop community where I found 90 percent of artist lyrically and flow wise better than the MTV rappers they have out there now.
Foreign films can be your friend
May 2, 2007
So chances are you are taking some course on a certain language you would like to master and how you know it is, they teach you the grammar structures and pretty only the formal way of talking. Yea you would know if took a spanish or french class while you were in school. But don’t just stop there, there are many other ways of bettering your speaking skills, how about next time you rent out a movie for you and your family/girl friend and instead of renting out the typical blockbuster hit why not try out a foreign movie?
Just make sure it to your taste and you may be presently surprised on the hidden gems out there due to lack of attention in the US. Take Cidade de Deus (City of God) for example. Now why should you seek out foreign films? Well one thing for the subtitles and/or the dubbing. What better way to learn more about spanish, portuguese or whatever you choose to learn than the actors performing in their native language.
Using the subtitles to spot the spelling and how the words form together while set dubbed to english or do it vice verse, listen to pronunciation for the words while you follow along reading the enlgish text. Maybe the translation isn’t word for word but is one thing they don’t teach about in the classrooms. THE IDIOMS… very important to know about the idioms about the language and watching foreign films is the way to do it although sometimes on in while there are unnecessary mistranslation to appear.
So instead of rehearsing the same generic “where is the libary aunt gloria?” cliche lines they give out there learn to embrace the concept of watching foreign films as their actors engage in natural dialogues (unless they are bad actors) with the flow and style you should hear if you visited their country. That is simply something you can’t seem to duplicate while practicing conversing with other students also having the same troubles while in class.
Also try logging on youtube or other video sites by using foreign words as tags to your search to view the locals with their videos spoken in their language or how about visiting foreign network social sites or forums where they discuss their issues. This is the internet age and live in the information age so take the the information on learning a new language but algo keep in mind web 2.0 where the internet also is socialized so you can see the discussion flow of the language on discussion forums and youtube has I just said.
Note that if you should at least have the basic grip of the language if you search for foreign spoken video submissions since they don’t provide subtitles.
rocket language courses
May 2, 2007
Here is the list of avilable Rocket languages course I recommend to help you in get started on mastering or improving certian langauges for whatever. Please take your time to read their pages if you feel that it is right for you.
Rocket Spanish (Native: 364 million/Total: 400–480 million)
Rocket French (Native: 80 million/Worldwide Total: 175 million to 500 million)
Rocket German (Native: 100 million/Worldwide Total: 120 million)
If the langauge you wish to learn is not listed, then it is not avilable with the rocket band.
If you find one with positive rep. and results (doesn’t matter if from a different brand) please contact me at haste85@gmail.com
It isn’t always about the lankmarks.
May 2, 2007
So you plan to travel on vacation? But where? Paris? The Bahamas? Or maybe to Rio in Brazil? Where those can be a hell of great spot to start with but don’t ever consider enjoying your vacation to the max.? Ever wonder if you knew a few basics to the local language, how much it could change your whole vacation experience?
Chances are you don’t. But that’s ok, it’s nice to go on a vacation with your family or friends and only with your family or friends without mixing in with the locals, it can be done. But why not mix with the locals?
There are a whole bunch of interesting people you could meet in this world of 5 billion but sadly if you only speak english you are only allowed to speak to around 600 million of them. That’s like little over 10 percent of total population but I am sure you never thought it like that way, am I right?
Not saying that MUST AND HAVE TO learn a second language but at least take consideration in learning the basics, it would be useful to know… especially the one… spoken in the country you plan to visit. It’s all about the little things like knowning how to say “Where’s the bathroom” could spell the difference between finding it or losing it all over inside your pants.
Welcome to Bloglingual
May 2, 2007
I made this blog to help others who want help in learning a different langauge or simply want to improve their communication skills when travelling overseas. I will plan to add alot of FREE content/advice in the future, so just stay tuned.
