Saturday, 2 February 2013

Words out of nowhere



Foreign words are like cat eyes peering at us from a hidden place
Appear to disappear in an instant
Sometimes pop up out of nowhere, but exactly in the right time
When needed the most
Even if under the disguise of mystery
Seem unknown to us as a stranger...
That can become our friend


By this little piece of writing I would like to begin my today's post on the  blog. I would like to start a discussion about some phenomenon. I do not know if it happens to you while learning foreign languages, but... let's continue. Sometimes when speaking or writing I have an impression to have used some words, vocabulary that I did not learn consciously. You may ask what I mean by it? It is simple. I know, I did not study them... but they just pop up. Maybe it is because I heard them or read in some newspaper...or maybe a book without noticing it. Eventually, maybe I am weird ;)? 


Has it ever happened to you?


Thursday, 10 January 2013

Regular verbs in Portuguese and Spanish – present tense


Portuguese and Spanish are quite similar. That is why, I like to compare both languages from time to time. I am aware of the fact that it may be considered weird. However, I believe that people who speak more than two languages that are related, use this method to memorise quicker....and achieve their goal, which is fluency.

Today, I would like to show you how similar those two really are. At least, when we take the present tense into account. We have to bear in mind that we speak only about regular verbs. So, let’s start.


-ar
falar vs hablar

eu fal-o     yo habl-o
tu fal-as     tú habl-as
ele/ela/você fal-a     él/ella/usted habl-a
            nós falamos-amos     nosotros/nosotras habl-amos
                                      vosotros/vosotras habl-áis
   eles/elas/vocês fal-am     ellos/ellas/ustedes habl-an


-er
comer vs beber

eu com-o    yo beb-o
tu com-es    tú beb-es
ele/ela/você com-e    él/ella/usted beb-e
               nós com-emos    nosotros/nosotras beb-emos
                                    vosotros/vosotras beb-éis
  eles/elas/vocês com-em    ellos/ellas/ustedes beb-en


-ir
-partir vs vivir

eu part-o      yo viv-o
tu part-es      tú viv-es
ele/ela/você part-e      él/ella/usted viv-e
                   nós part-imos     nosotros/nosotras viv-imos
                                      vosotros/vosotras viv-ís
   eles/elas/vocês part-em     ellos/ellas/ustedes viv-en


P.S. We do not use vós (=you in plural) in Portuguese. Instead we apply vocês.

Monday, 31 December 2012

Wishes



I wish to all my readers a wonderful New Year full of good moments and positive emotions.

Friday, 21 December 2012

Merry Christmas!


Merry Christmas! Feliz Natal! Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noël!

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

H muet ... h aspiré


Do you remeber your first French classes? When you were struggling for a decent pronunciation and rules of grammar, though, not easy, seemed not that complicated at all. That were probably the happiest moments.... times when one starts discovering a language. It is like falling in love. We have passion and motivation. And it goes well, we conquer...we are kings of the hill.
It comes with hours of learning, we realise it is not that easy. It is not a walk in the park. We need a lot of preserverance and hard work to learn a language properly (not mentioning fluently). And there come to light all the nuances that earlier seemed not existing or not that significant.

Today I would like to write few words exactly about such kind of problem. As we know it from the start we do not pronounce “h” in French. But at the beginning we do not distinguish the two types of “h” that do exist in that language. To those disbelivig....yes, yes we have exactly two of them!!! Grammatically speaking.
Before we continue let me just remaind you the basic terms of the french grammar  – liaison and élision. The first, describes the way we link the words. The one that goes in the second place and begins with vowel or “h” , is linked withe the enging of the previous one.

Example:
Les_hommes
Les_enfant jouent.

The second, élision,  – is this “l’” sign that we put before words starting with vowel or “h”.

Example:
l’homme, l’humanité, l’ami
L’espagnole n’est pas si facile.

That leads us to the main problem stated here. Two types of “h” and two dissimilar ways to applay them correctly.

H muet
we do not pronounce it, but we apply liaison and élision.

H aspiré
we neither pronounce it nor apply liaison and élision.

Mamam, je veux un hamster! Le hamster é tout petit...Achète-moi un, s’il te plaît!

Few words with “h aspiré”

Le hamster - hamster

Le haricot - bean
Le hibou - owl

La haine – hatred/hate
La harpe - harp
Le hérisson - hedgehog

P.S. We have also some other words in Franch that do not require élision. The bad news is, you must learn it by heart. As they are not distinguished by any particular feature. At the same time, the good news is, the are marked in the good dictionaries, so you can check it.



Friday, 14 September 2012

How to introduce yourself in Russian


Hi,

You possibly know I am learning Russian. This time I would like to write how to introduce yourself. I won’t be any kind of advanced, but I hope it will help you. So, let’s start with a basic vocabulary around the topic. Primarily, we should know how to greet each other. It is good to know when we meet somebody for the first time.

Привет – hi
Доброе утро - Good morning
Здравствуйте  - hello
Добрый  вечер – Good evening
Спокойной ночи – Good night
До свидaния – Goodbye

Now let’s go back to the main point. That is, how to give basic information about yourself (eg. name, place of residence etc.)

Как Тебя/Βас зовут ? – What’s your name?
Меня зoвут... – My name is...
Откуда Ты/вы? – Where are you from?
Я из.... – I’m from...
Сколько Тебе/Вам лет? – How old are you?
Мне ... лет. – I’m ..... years old.
Как дела? – How are you?
Хорошо – good, fine
Плохо – bad
Спaсибо – thank you


Attention: Ты – is informal “you”
                  Вы – is formal “you”


And here how it looks....

Меня зoвут Агнешка. Я из Польши. Мне двадцать девять лет. Я говорю на польском, англииском, французском и португальском языках.

What means:

My name is Agnieszka. I am from Poland. I am 29 years old. I speak Polish, English, French and Portuguese.


Here you can listen to some common phrases. Enjoy!






          

Friday, 10 August 2012

My Russian - up and running?

Привет,

What we can say about Russian that we can be sure of? My answer to it: Russian's alphabet is completely different from the latin one (and consist of 33 letters). That is why, can be perceived as the first (and the most important) hindrance for a person who would love to learn the language. I admit, I have been somehow defeated  by it.... However, I am not saying I deserted. On the contrary, I still fight and I know I will manage to remember it (know a lot so far ;))

One funny thing, when we compare Russian and Polish alphabets is: the same letter, may be different one in both languages. What I mean by that? For example, letter that 


looks like "polish" B is actually V in Russian
looks like C is actually S
looks like P is actually R
looks like H is actually N

However, there is also a group of letters that are exactly the same. Hooray! 

А, К, М, Т, О

There is only 24 left to learn ;)
(just kidding... I know most of them already)


What are your first impressions about Russian? 
Any Russian learners here?
What, in your opinion, is the most difficult to learn?