Learning Latin, Korean and Japanese

 LILT is the polyglot club, for those aspiring to be bilingual, muktilingual or just to learn a few useful words for when traveling. Or for those who wish to buddy up.

Japanese Food

At our meeting on Japanese online on Zoom on Sunday 18th Feb 2024, we discovered that three people, Caroly, Langeline and Clement are keen on eating Japanese food. Langeline likes to eat Japanese food every week. A recommended restaurant in Singapore is a possibility. This was one of our hopes when starting the club, to help learners of the language to buddy up in pairs or more to talk about the language, speak the language, learn new words and discuss and eat the food.

Our original plan was to look at English and a European language one week, and an Asia language the following week. Now I think we should do both languages in each meeting, to keep everybody coming to every meeting.

Weekly Meetings

The point of having weekly meetings is triple. It is easy to remember the day of the week when meetings are held, and you don't need to know whether it is the first or second, thrid or fourth or fith or any combination. it is always in that tday of the week. Secondly, you form a habit of blocking that time. You have another meeting while you still remember the previous one and feel enthusiastic. You meet often enough to establish camaradeire, and rapport.  And to feel under an obligation or goodwill to help out. You meeti often enough to feel free to speak.

Future Meetings

Our meeting on Sunday Feb 25th 2024 will include speeches on Latin, Korean and  a recap of Japanese learned last week.

To give you some preview.

Latin Language

Latin is the basis for many short and long words in English and the related romance langues of Italian, Spanish and French and Portuguese. For example, our English word agriculture comes from the Latin word for field, ager. Horticulture comes from the Latin words hortus for garden.  Latin is used in names for plants.

Latin is related to Italian but you can only read Latin on Roman archeology, in Roman museums, places like the Colosseum and Pompei, formelry in Italian churches and sevices worldwie. It is still used in legal terms. We still say etcetera and vice versa.

Latin uses the roman or western alphabet.

Japanese - easy or difficult?

The Roman or western alphabet can be used to learn to speak Japanese, but Japanese offers another challenge, whte writing system in symbols.

Japanese writing

Japanese, unlike Latin, is spoken in Japan and by Japanese people. You won't find a Latin restaurant service dormice. You can find a Japanese restaurant with a Japanese menu and often Japanese speaking staff.

Japanese can be written in sign or symbols, the same as Chinese. If you learn Japanese symbols you can read the Chinese ones and vice versa. Two languages learned from the time spent on one.

You can also read the sounds of the words spoken, transliterated into the Roman or western alphabet.

Japanese is used for foods such as suchi (rice with a protein such as raw fish), and Kobe beef from a place called Kobe. 

Clothes such as the kimono.  Or a yukata.

Japanese martial arts.

Popular places include the capital Tokyo, and means of transport the bullet train.

Korean

Korean is a challenging style of writing, not related to any other. Korean was devised by a king who wanted a written language. The shapes of the letters echo the shapes formed by your lips. 

The food includes kimchi (pickles). 

Teachers of English are now in greater demand than previously. Korea has switched over to teaching in English at university because so many scientific and internatioanl research papers are written in English. The cost of Korean translation is so high, that it is better to teach Koreans to read the English. (They can also then write papers in English, instead of paying for translation.)

So, learn Korean in order to teach English to Korean students. Either visiting the country or online. More Koreans will be able to talk to you if you are looking for a Korean speaker who is keen to buddy up in a win win language pairing.

Japanese - English

aligato/arigato - thank you

konneecheewa - hello

sayonara - goodbye (longterm) / farewell

English - Japanese

goodbye (longterm) - sayonara

hello - konneecheewa

Thank you - arigato/aligato

Latin - English

ager - field

hortus - garden

English - Latin

field - ager

garden - hortus

To keep words in your mind, for frequent repeition, credit card size laminated cards by ooozu.com are handy.

I initially bought a card with Greek on it for a trip to Cyprus. Then I bought a second card with Spanish on it for a trip to Spain. Then the system noted me down as a buyer and sent me an offer to buy 11 cards at a slightly reduced rate. I thought that was a good idea, because I am orgnaizing LILT language club meetings and want to open each meeting with hello in that week's featured language or languages.

Useful Websites

ooozu.com

Please share links to your favourite blog posts.

Language learning - the first step - in Italian

First steps to learning a language? Let's take Italian 

 1 Going on holiday in the country 

2 Going to a restaurant 

3 Looking at an Italian film - La Strada - the street 

4 Reading an Italian website 

5 Buying an Italian dictionary 

6 Subscribing to an Italian newspaper - such as .... 

7 Hearing Italian songs 

8 Translating a restaurant name - Tia Teresa (Aunt Teresa); Tia Maria (aunt Maria drink); tia is aunt 

 Today's Italian words, found in English, for example in newspapers or conversation: 

1 aficionado - follower, devotee 

2 piano - adjective (soft or) quiet 

3 forte - strong or loud 

4 la dolce vita - the sweet life 

5 virtuoso - expert 

6 maestro - master 

7 mio / mia - my 

8 tia - aunt 

9 ponte vecchio - old bridge 

10 casa - house 

 Words which sound similar: 

bank - banca 

bar - bar 

beefsteak - bistecca 

beer - birra 

bottle - bottiglia 

cafe - caffe 

centre - centro 

cinema - cinema 

city - citta 

coffee - caffè 

cold - freddo (like freezing) 

costa - cost 

credit card - carta di credito 

data - date 

dessert - dessert 

difficult - difficile excellent - eccellente 

excuse me - scusi 

flask - fiasco (i is elongated to become an l in English) 

fruits - frutti (but frutti del mare is seafood, fruits of the sea) 

good / OK / fine / all right - bene (as in beneficial, benefit), buon 

hotel - hotel 

name - nome 

numero - number 

olive - olive(s) 

order - ordinare 

passport - passaporto 

perfect - perfetto 

pizzeria - pizzeria 

problem - problema 

restaurant - ristorante 

risotto - risotto 

salad - insalata 

speciality - specialità 

taxi - taxi tea - tè 

theatre - teatro train - treno 

 Goodbye - Ciao. See you again soon. 

Useful Resources and Websites

 Earwormslearning.com 

Earworms from Berlitz is in: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek; Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish 

About the Author

 Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, speaker and author, teacher of English for foreigners, and foreign languages. Lessons on Skype available.

Translate For Fun - Hotel de Ville in France

After WW2 French was once of the most popular languages. In earlier times is it was German.

GERMAN

My father learned basic German at school. 

FRANCE

 I earnestly learned to sing Frere Jacques in primary school but that was not much help to us when we wanted to find a hotel in France. Frustration In France My first experience of misunderstanding languages, nowadays called Lost In Translation, was when my parents took a trip from England to Northern France by car. We drove around looking for a hotel. 

 The Word Hotel The word hotel is the same in English and French, and most of the world. Even in Japanese it is h o t e r u. (The Asians have difficulty saying the letter L.) So, in France, where the letters for hotel are identical (never mind the added accent in French) what could possibly go wrong? 

 Hotel De Ville In the centre of the town was a big sign on a large building: Hotel de Ville. it was a large place, and we feared it might be expensive, but first chance to ask somebody for help. The lights in the building were blazing but the light in the sky was fading, time to stop for dinner and find a bedroom. 

So we drove around hoping to find an entrance, with all the innocent expectation of British tourists abroad. The Hotel De Ville Had Shut Unfortunately, by the time we found the entrance, the lights had all turned off. The sign was lit but the gates were locked. Why? Was there another entrance? Had the place gone out of business? Were the lights simply to deter burglars? 

 Eventually we found a passer-by who spoke some English. They directed us around the corner to a nearby hotel. When we reached our small hotel, we asked why the Hotel de Ville was closed. 

The receptionist burst out laughing. Why? 

The Town Hall 

Hotel de Ville means town hall. 

Eventually we unpacked, found our dictionary and looked up hotel de ville. Then we started laughing. Hotel de Ville is town hall. I now watch out for words which sound similar. Are they really the same? 

If so, that's easy. I love translating: - The ingredients on chocolate bars, wine labels. - On the coach or bus or car or train, sign posts on motorways in foreign cities, graffiti. - Speeches of thanks, and toasts, at a wedding. - Newspaper headlines in supermarkets and airport lounges.

 I love stories of disasters from misunderstandings. In the last year I have been learning or learning about (alphabetically): American English Australian and New Zealand English Arabic Chinese (Mandarin) French German Greek Hebrew Indonesian Italian Romanian Russian S i n g l i s h (spaced to correct the autocorrect which inserted signalise) South African English Spanish Swedish Tamil Welsh Yiddish Borrowed Words In English I also list words in English which are derived from other languages. 

For example, yacht is Dutch. Safari is Swahili. 

 Translating French I have translated French into English at conferences and press trips in France and India. I start with fluent French, French A level. I have translated English into French for packaging - then got asked to translate the same material into Spanish and German when mockups were needed in a hurry for a presentation and no other translator could be found quickly. 

 Teaching English 

I have taught English language and literature, first in a Grammar School in England, later English language and literature as a home tutor, then to foreign parents and schoolchildren, singles and groups, ages ranging from five year old Japanese children sitting beside mother or on her lap, Sri Lankans, and intermediate English in four schools in Singapore, plus volunteering in a Singapore state secondary school coaching pupils to pass English O Level. 

 Speeches 

I visit Toastmasters International speakers' groups in Europe and Asia, speaking, training speakers, and judging speech contests. Singapore has several bilingual clubs.

Duolingo

I have been learning other languages on Duolingo, by watching foreign language films with subtitles, translating. I hope you will enjoy my posts and find them a help in learning languages and adding new words to your vocabulary, just for fun. 

 Every restaurant outing is a language trip. I pick up the takeaway menu and business card to translate. I listen to the waiters calling to each other.

 I sit in the sauna at a gym or club and ask other people about their language, their second language and what they find difficult or easy about pronouncing and speaking and learning English. Learning languages is a daily joy for me and I hope you will find my posts on language a daily amusement.

 Helpful Websites 

TRANSLATION

google translate 

translate Google

duolingo.com (free) 

 CDs Earworms: I have French, Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish. You can buy one disc or two, new or secondhand from Ebay. If buying secondhand, make sure your disc comes with the booklet. 

About the Author

 Angela Lansbury, language teacher.

Please share links to your favourite blogs and individual posts.