Thursday 30 May 2013

Basic Lesson #1 - Holiday Vocabulary

Basic lesson #1

Hi everyone,
I’ve decided it’s time for a lesson, and I think we’ll start nice and easy with just a bit of vocabulary.
Since the summer is now in full swing, what better subject to focus on than
the holidays/vacation.

So let’s start with a bit of basic vocabulary with a vacation theme;

Italian

The Vacation – La Vacanza
The aeroplane – L’aereo
The flight – il volo
Money – soldi
The passport – il passaporto
The beach – La Spiaggia
The Sea – Il Mare
To swim – Fare il Bagno / Nuotare
The mountains – Le Montagne
Hire a car – noleggiare una macchina
Foreign country – paese straniero/Estero
Foreign language – Lingua straniera
Communicate with the locals – comunicare con la gente del posto
Food and drink – cibo e bevande
Order food – ordinare del cibo
Local customs – costumi locali
Sightseeing tour – visita guidata
Return trip – viaggio di ritorno
The hangover – la sbornia

French

The Vacation – Les vacances
The aeroplane – L'avion
the flight – le vol
the Money – l’argent
The passport – le passeport
The beach – La Plage
The Sea – La Mer
To swim - Nager
The mountains –Les Montagnes
Hire a car – louer une voiture
Foreign country – pays étranger
Foreign language – Langue étrangère
Communicate with the locals – Communiquer avec les gens du coin
Food and drink – Alimentation et boissons
Order food – Commander un repas
Local customs – Les coutumes locales
Sightseeing tour – visite guideé
Return trip – Voyage de retour
The hangover - La gueule de bois

Spanish

The Vacation – las vacaciones
The aeroplane – el avión
 the flight – el vuelo
the Money – el dinero
The passport – el pasaporte
The beach – La Playa
The Sea – El Mar
To swim - Nadar
The mountains –las Montañas
to Hire a car – alquilar un coche
Foreign country – país extranjero
Foreign language – lengua extranjera
Communicate with the locals – comunicarse con la gente del lugar
Food and drink – alimentos y bebidas
Order food – ordenar comidas
Local customs – costumbres locales
Sightseeing tour – recorrido guiado
Return trip – viaje de regreso
The hangover –la Resaca

German

The Vacation – Der Urlaub
The aeroplane – Das Flugzeug
the flight – Der Flug
the Money – Das Geld
The passport – Der Reisepass
The beach – Der Strand
the Sea – Das Meer
To swim - Schwimmen
The mountains –Die Berge
to Hire a car – ein auto mieten
Foreign country –  Ausland
Foreign language – Fremdsprachen
Communicate with the locals – Kommunizieren mit den Einheimischen
Food and drink – Essen und Trinken
Order food – Essen Bestellen
Local customs – Lokale Bräuche
Sightseeing tour – Besichtigungsreise
Return trip – Rückfahrt
The hangover – Der Kater

Portuguese

The Vacation – As férias
The aeroplane – O avião
the flight – O vôo -
the Money – O dinheiro
The passport – O passaporte
The beach – A Praia
the Sea – O Mar
To swim - Nadar
The mountains – Os Montanhas
to Hire a car – alugar um carro
Foreign country – País estrangeiro
Foreign language – Língua estrangeira
Communicate with the locals – Comunique-se com os moradores locais
Food and drink – Alimentos e bebidas
Order food – ordenar comida
Local customs – Os costumes locais
Sightseeing tour – A excursão turística
Return trip – O vôo de volta
The hangover - A ressaca


I’ll go a little more in-depth in certain lessons and themes and provide a narrative in whichever language is the focus of the particular lesson, I just wanted to keep it basic for now.
If you have any requests for a particular theme or language or any specific lesson type; vocab, grammar, prepositions etc, please contact me and i'll try to tailor-make a lesson for you.

Until next time,
Enjoy your holidays
Buone vacanze
Bonnes vacances
Felices fiestas
Frohe feiertage
Boas festas

Monday 27 May 2013

Croatian - Hrvatski

I wanted my first real post to be about the latest language I've just started on, rather than the ones I've been using for years, simply because it's current for me, is first and foremost in my mind right now and I must admit, I'm really enjoying it.
That language is Croatian and I decided I'd start studying it a few months back.
Croatian is going to be the next language to become an official EU language due to Croatia's accession to the European Union on 1 July this year. But that wasn't my only reason for wanting to learn it, it just gave me a bit more impetus.
I choose the languages I will study for a number of reasons; will I get the chance to use it? On holiday or at work? Are there many speakers of it in this city to practise with? Are there many sources for learning material on the Internet? And probably above all others; do I like it and enjoy studying it?
That last one is perhaps the most important one to me personally, in some cases it has justified me learning some more 'obscure' languages.
I've done some work alongside the EU Commission so the fact I could potentially use Croatian for work, added to the fact it's one I really like was the deciding factor for me.
It's a beautiful and rich language, beautifully expressive and more musical than some of it's other siblings and cousins within the Slavic family. It combines some aspects of Latin languages (predominantly Italian) with the grammar and lexicon of the Slavic languages.
It is very closely related to Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin and Slovene, all of them being the languages of the States of the former Yugoslavia. Due to their linguistic closeness, a knowledge of any one of them will give you a base from which to learn the others and by all accounts this is a beautiful part of the world (and this i intend to find out for myself) so well worth learning. It's also related to Polish, Czech and Slovak, though not as closely. Then a little further away on this branch of the family tree is Russian. Croatian is supposedly the easiest of the Slavic languages to learn, from an English speaker's point of view anyway so it is an easily accessible doorway towards learning any of the others I've mentioned, although I'm studying it for it's own merits.
I'm really enjoying learning it and I fully intend to reach fluency pretty quickly, liking it makes this goal somewhat easier to reach.
The chance to use it in an official capacity with the EU Commission is something I'd relish.
Let me sign off by saying I'd like to welcome Croatia into the European Union.
Želio bih pozdraviti Hrvatsku u Europskoj uniji.


Hello - Introduction

Hello to all.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. This blog is brand new and so this is the first installment.
Basically all i'm trying to achieve on this is convey my passion for languages and language-learning (mostly European languages) and our fair continent of Europe in general. If i can generate any interest for people in learning a new language then all the better.

I'm a Linguist/Polyglot/perpetual language learner. I'm pro EU and I love all things European. I like to share tips on Language-learning and European culture.
Any comments/questions/tips are relevant and welcome. I'm also on Twitter @theeurolinguist I tweet in English, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Dutch and Swedish. Currently fascinated by Turkish. Always learning...