Friday Language Rant

Why do the languages of the world have to have such complicated sounds? In English we have the famous "th" sound that children and ESL-ers alike have difficulty pronouncing. In Spanish I struggle daily with the "rr" sound. Oh, it's easy, everyone tells me. Just pretend you are riding a motorcycle and make the sound with your tongue "rrRRrrRRrrRRrr". No, not that easy. Really. I also have problems with the "l". I think sometimes I wasn't to roll my l's. I don't know why. It's something that my tongue does with my brain telling it. In German, I also work hard to say the r's because they are tapped, not rolled, or barely pronounced like English. And the ö? Wtf is that? It sounds like someone hit you in the stomach "öh!"

Maybe, what I'm getting at is the basis for the accents we carry in a particular language. Our pronunciation affects everything. It affects how people understand us, and how well we understand others.

Would it be easier if there was a language that consisted of, say the easiest sounds ever? We could do away with the rr's, the ö's and the th's of the world and exist in more pronounceable world. Obviously, I'm dreaming, and venting a little.

What do you think? What are the hardest sounds for you to say in a given language?

Word Buzz Friday: Top 25 German Words

Hello everyone! I hope your week has been a little less hectic and chaotic than my own. I was just thinking recently that the last time I was in German was exactly two years ago. While I wish I could travel there more frequently, I will just have to settle for German online for now. That is why I discovered this list of the top 25 German nouns. Can you see how many of them are cognates? (Remember my last post?) For more German words click here. Bis Bald!

1. das Jahr, -e year	14. die Leute (pl.) people
2. das Mal, -e time (as in number of times)	15. die Arbeit, -en work, job
3. das Beispiel, -e example	16. das Prozent, -e percent
4. die Zeit time	17. die Hand, -¨e hand
5. die Frau, -en woman, wife, Mrs.	18. die Stadt, -¨e city
6. der Mensch, -en human being, man	19. der Herr, -en man, gentleman, Mr.
7. das Kind, -er child	20. der/das Teil, -e part
8. der Tag, -e day	21. das Problem, -e problem
9. der Mann, -¨er man	22. die Welt, -en world
10. das Land, -¨er country, land	23. das Recht, -e right, law
11. die Frage, -n question	24. das Ende, -n end
12. das Haus, -¨er house	25. die Million (Mio.), -en million
13. der Fall, -¨e fall, case

Language Learning Issues

As most travelers and expats know, language is very important. Maybe you already speak the language of your host country, but some of the words are different, like the difference between American and Australian English. Or maybe you know nothing. Not even "hello", "goodbye" or "please" and "thank you". Language can really make or break your experience because it's so vital to our everyday lives. One small slip up can be the difference between a friendly smile or a cold shoulder.

To make matters worse, many times there are words that you think you know because they appear so similar to your native tongue. But, be careful of these false cognates. Here are some in Spanish as provided by www.spanish.bz.

spanish word	actual english definition	how to really say English version
actualmente	at present	actually - la verdad es que
asisistir	to attend	assist/help - ayudar
carpeta	folder	carpet - alfombra
chocar	to crash	choke - ahogar/sofocar
embarazada	pregnant	embarassed - avergonzado
éxito	success	exit - salida
largo	long	large - grande
parientes	relatives	parents - padres
realizar	to actualize	realize - darse cuenta
recordar	remember	record - grabar
sensible	sensitive	sensible - razonable, sensato
soportar	put up with	support - mantener
últimamente	lately	ultimately - al final
vaso	drinking glass	vase - jarrón

Here are some false cognates in German from www.learnenglishonline.yuku.com.

(D for Deutsch or German, E for English)

D - handy = E - a mobile phone

E - handy = D - handlich

D - Bad = E - bath

E - bad = D - schlecht

D - blamieren = E - embarass

E - blame = D - Schuld

What has your experience been with false cognates? Do you know any embarrassing ones?

Word Buzz Friday

Yesterday's post was all about the one millionth word of the English language. Today's word buzz will be similar with some more of the newest words to make it into the Oxford dictionary as supplied by www.askoxford.com.

aerobicized or aerobicised

adj. (of a person's body) toned by aerobic exercise: aerobicized Hollywood women.

agroterrorism

n. terrorist acts intended to disrupt or damage a country's agriculture.

– derivatives

agroterrorist n.

blowback

n.

2. chiefly US the unintended adverse results of a political action or situation.

celebutante

n. a celebrity who is well known in fashionable society.

– origin 1930s: blend of celebrity and debutante.

crunk

n. a type of hip-hop or rap music characterized by repeated shouted catchphrases and elements typical of electronic dance music, such as prominent bass.

adj. US, chiefly black slang (of a person) very excited or full of energy.

– origin 1990s: perh. an alt. past part. of crank¹ or a blend of crazy and drunk.

elephant

– phrases

the elephant in the room a major problem or controversial issue which is obviously present but avoided as a subject for discussion because it is more comfortable to do so.

Yogalates (also trademark Yogilates)

n. a fitness routine that combines Pilates exercises with the postures and breathing techniques of yoga.

– origin 1990s: blend of yoga and Pilates.

zombie

n.

3. a computer controlled by a hacker without the owner's knowledge, which is made to send large quantities of data to a website, making it inaccessible to other users.

Have a great weekend!

One Millionth Word

Wow. I'll bet you never knew English had such an extensive vocabulary. Or if you did, pat yourself on the back.

This is what Yahoo Tech had to say about the new addition to our ever expanding language:

A U.S.-based language monitoring group crowned Web 2.0 as the one millionth word or phrase in the English language on Wednesday, although other linguists slammed it as nonsense and a stunt.

The Global Language Monitor, which uses a math formula to track the frequency of words and phrases in print and electronic media, said Web 2.0 appeared over 25,000 times in searches and was widely accepted, making it the legitimate, one millionth word.

It said Web 2.0 started out as a technical term meaning the next generation of World Wide Web products and services but had crossed into far wider circulation in the last six months.

Other linguists, however, denounced the list as pure publicity and unscientific, saying it was impossible to count English words in use or to agree on how many times a word must be used before it is officially accepted.

There are no set rules for such a count as there is no certified arbiter of what constitutes a legitimate English word and classifying the language is complicated by the number of compound words, verbs and obsolete terms.

"I think it's pure fraud ... It's not bad science. It's nonsense," Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguistics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, told reporters.

Paul JJ Payack, president of the Global Language Monitor, brushed off the criticism, saying his method was technically sound.

"If you want to count the stars in the sky, you have to define what a star is first and then count. Our criteria is quite plain and if you follow those criteria you can count words. Most academics say what we are doing is very valuable," said Payack.

He has calculated that about 14.7 new English words or phrases are generated daily and said the five words leading up to the millionth highlighted how English was changing along with current social trends.

This list included "Jai Ho!" an Indian exclamation signifying victory or accomplishment, and "slumdog," a derisive term for children living in the slums of India that became popular with the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire."

The list also included "cloud computing," meaning services delivered via the cloud or Internet, "carbon neutral," a widely used term in the climate change debate, and "N00b," a derogatory term from the gaming community for a newcomer.

"Some 400 years after the death of the Bard, the words and phrases were coined far from Stratford-Upon-Avon, emerging instead from Silicon Valley, India, China, and Poland, as well as Australia, Canada, the U.S. and the UK," said Texas-based Payack.

(Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Word Buzz Friday: Wine Vocab

This Friday's word buzz has been on my mind a lot as I have been sampling more than my fair share of the delicious Chilean wines. Obviously, there is much more wine vocabulary as entire books have been written on the subject, but this is your weekend crash course. (The vocabulary was taken from http://www.wineschool.com/vocabulary.html.)

Aroma: that portion of the smell of a wine derived specifically from the grape variety,such as Cabernet-Sauvignon or Chardonnay, as opposed to that portion of the smell derived from other sources (see Bouquet).

Balance: a balanced wine is one whose constituents--sugar, acids, tannins, alcohols, etc.--are evident but do not mask one another. A young red wine--tannic and acidic-- is not considered balanced because these two characteristics mask the other flavor elements of the wine, which, given time, may display themselves.

Body: English wine authority Michael Broadbent puts it well in his Wine Tasting: "the weight of the wine in the mouth due to its alcoholic content and to its other physical components. These in turn are due to the quality of the wine, to the vintage, its geographical origin, and general style. Wines from hotter climates tend to have more body than those from the north (compare the Rhône with the Mosel, for example)."

Character: a wine of good character is one which doesn’t just slip down the throat and say "bye-bye"; it says "stop a while, friend. You have just come upon an above-average liquid. Think on it".

Complex: a complex wine is many-faceted; it contains not only acids, alcohols, tannins, etc., but more. Each sip brings another flavor, reveals another nuance.

Legs: a wine’s body or viscosity can be determined, often, by the way rivulets (or sheets, or "tears") of wine descend the inner glass after swirling. It has to deal with the surface tension and other technical stuff; but a look at the legs will give you tips on the wine’s nature: in a dry wine, slow falling legs indicate a full-bodied-wine; quick-falling indicate a light wine.

Tannin: a natural constituent of wines, especially reds. It is a bitter-tasting material which is partially responsible for preserving wines during their sometimes long aging periods. Bite a grape seed to experience the flavor of tannin or have a cup of tea, neat.

¡SALUD! CHEERS! PROST!

Word Buzz Friday: Hot For Words

Hey Everyone! Happy Friday, or maybe if you are reading this from Australia, it's already Saturday so you're one up on me.

Today for your weekly word buzz, I am posting two videos from the Youtube made famous Marina Orlova who appears scantily clad on her website and Youtube channel to teach people like us new vocab words. She even takes requests. Here are her definitions for swine flu and antidisestablishmentarianism.

Antidisestablishmentarianism:



Swine Flu:



Peace out language nerds!

The Foreigner Card: When to use a bad accent?

I was just browsing through some of my fellow gringo-in-Chile blogs and I read this post by Margaret. It's terrific. She brings up a good point. There are some people who will actually fake a bad accent, or horrible Spanish to get out of a tricky situation. I may have even done it on occasion when walking through a market place with a throng of annoying men pestering me to buy their fruits and vegetables. Generally their English is limited to "boo-ti-fuul gee-rul" so that's not a problem, or they just shout out all the random English words they know like "RabbitBatMonkeyApplePoop" (Thanks to Lydia for bringing that to my attention!)

Now, I take particular offense to people speaking to me in English. It's like they are insulting my Spanish (or German teehehehe). Hello, I didn't go for four years to a crazy liberal arts school and study abroad in three countries for this! So, I might be a tad arrogant, too.

Anyways, all bantering aside, when do you think it's best to fake a bad accent, or fake that you don't know what's going on when you really do?

I would maybe consider doing it to get out of a parking/speeding ticket or for some other such offense. I have once done it to avoid standing in the eternal line of bureaucracy hell that is otherwise known as where you have to go to return crap at a local department store. I simple smiled at the lady with my cutest, most convincing gringa smile, and said "NO.ENTENDER." She huffed off and returned my garment for me. Perfect.

But, is it fair to always play the foreigner card when traveling or living abroad? Have you ever done it in your own city? (I may have also done that once, but I'm not sure I want to brag about it here).

Word Buzz Friday: Learn A Language

Instead if the normal vocab today, I decided to try something new. I found these videos doing a simple search on YouTube. They are a bit slow, but the pronunciations are easy to follow. Here's you chance to try your tongue at a new language when you have nothing to do this Memorial Day Weekend!

German



Japanese



Italian



Portuguese





Spanish



Turkish

American vs. British Slang

Hey! I found this video on You Tube. If you are like me, maybe you have wondered at some point about the strange words in the British vocabulary (or American ?) then this is for you. It's Hugh Laurie from the popular TV show House. He's discussing slang with talk show host Ellen. Well... just watch it already!

Word Buzz Friday

Bet you never heard of some of these ones before. Or, if I am underestimating your intelligence, let me know. My vocabulary has been sadly waning in Chile, maybe do to the fact that I speak either Spanish or my own version of Spanglish everyday. Suerte!

bivouac \BIV-wak, BIV-uh-wak\ , noun:

1. An encampment for the night, usually under little or no shelter.

intransitive verb:
1. To encamp for the night, usually under little or no shelter.

"Rob had made his emergency bivouac just below the South Summit."
-- David Breashears, "Death on the mountain", The Observer, March 30, 2003

coruscate \KOR-uh-skayt\
1. To give off or reflect bright beams or flashes of light; to sparkle.
2. To exhibit brilliant, sparkling technique or style.

"They pulled up at the farthest end of a loop path that looked out over the great basin of the Rio Grande under brilliant, coruscating stars."
-- Bill Roorbach, "Big Bend", The Atlantic, March 2001

thaumaturgy \THAW-muh-tuhr-jee\ , noun:
The performance of miracles or magic.

"Of course, none of these improbable meetings ever took place in reality. But within the realm of showbiz thaumaturgy, they're perfectly acceptable examples of latter-day digital compositing, wherein it's possible to have anything share a frame of film or video with practically anything else."
-- John Voland, "Prez presses tech buttons", Variety

umbrage \UHM-brij\ , noun:

1. Shade; shadow; hence, something that affords a shade, as a screen of trees or foliage.
2. a. A vague or indistinct indication or suggestion; a hint.
3. b. Reason for doubt; suspicion.
4. Suspicion of injury or wrong; offense; resentment.

Burr finally took umbrage, and challenged him to a duel.
-- Richard A. Samuelson, "Alexander Hamilton: American", Commentary, June 1999

The source for today's words is http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/.

How do you teach a bad word?

Last night I was out with my boyfriend L., who wanted to practice his English. We started talking and I was surprised that I didn't have to speak as slowly as I did in the past. Our conversation flowed normally, like I was talking to a friend back home.

He was explaining a project they are working on in his company. The project is abstracting uranium from a country in Africa. I wasn't paying too much attention, maybe I was watching the amber liquid in my glass vibrate as the people walked by, but all of the sudden I heard it. The N word.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Apparently they have lots of uranium," he went on without noticing my pause.

"No. Stop. What country did you say?" I asked again.

He looked confused. Then said it. There it was again. The N word.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. How do you spell it?"

He wrote out in his notebook n-i-g-e-r. (Note: pronounced /niːˈʒɛər/ or /ˈnaɪdʒər/)

"Oh! Niger! Okay... Whew... Now, I'm going to explain something to you."

I told him that the N word in English is right up there with some of the most offensive words ever. No one should use it. Sometimes rappers use it in songs, but besides that no one says it.

He looked confused again. I realized right away we were having a cultural misunderstanding because Chile is not the most pc country ever and while I may not have an emotional response to Chilean swear words like culiar, probably no one will look at me sideways if I all the sudden start saying it. However, in the case of the N word it is much different. People will not care where you are from. If you say it, it is offensive.

After a few minutes of my explanation he nodded in agreement, "Alright. I won't say it. But, I should probably tell my coworkers because they all say it too."

*****

Now, I ask myself, how do you teach bad words to someone who is learning ESL? What do you say to them? Do you give them a list of the words and say "You should never say these words, but in case you hear them, this is what they mean"? What would you say?

Word Buzz Friday: Swine Flu Edition

Hey all! I hope you are staying warm (for those of you here in the southern hemisphere) and staying cool for those of you in the northern hemisphere ;). Speaking of cold, and colds and well...flu (plural of flu=flus??). I hope you all have been avoiding the swine flu...or wait the "H1N1 Influenza A" (can't call it swine flu anymore according to the WHO). Who the h--- is going to call it that, I don't know. That brings me around to my new vocab today:

Ms. Piggy Flu:
A suggested name for the "swine" flu.

Dr. Google:
A person medically qualified by Google's search engine to diagnose symptoms of sickness.

Mrs. Smith: My son has the swine flu. I searched it on Google.

Dr. James: Really? That's what Google says? Send him to emergency immediately!

Dr. James: *note to self* Mrs. Smith's Son is fine. Mrs. Smith however has a case of Dr Google.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse here comes....

Swine Mono:
The mono you get from pigs.

Dude, Madelyn got swine mono from Chris.

Have a great weekend!!!

Word Buzz Friday

Hey Language Nerds!

I don't know if you are as obsessed with twitter as I am, but did you know there is a name for what your friends who constantly tweet celebrities? Yes. That's right there it. Maybe now, it will become a disorder like Facebook addiction. Only time will tell.

Tweet Dropping:

When a twitter user has a one-way conversation with a celebrity so that to the users followers, it seems like they are talking to a celebrity and thus are instantly über-cool in the eyes of their followers, when in fact they are a loser with nothing better to do than have a fake conversation with themselves.

Similar to name dropping IRL, but even more annoying and even less likely to be true.

Tweet-Dropper: @BritneySpears How did the barbecue go? I heard Justin Timberlake was there too >.< awkward?

Tweet-Dropper (A few minutes later, without a reply from Britney): @BritneySpears Haha yes, I suppose after a while it got pretty normal for both of you, you must go to loads of the same things!

Have a great weekend! I'm outta here!

Word Buzz Friday: Scrabble Edition

I've decided to take a different approach to the Word Buzz today. Today is the Scrabble (or Literati) edition! What to do with those hard to use letters? Well now, I have your solution. The good part is that these words actually exist and they won't leave you scratching your head while you try to explain to your friends that you are just sure you've seen the word "qwobyx" before. (Although it if it did exist you would have 10+4+1+4+8=27 points at least!)

I did the digging for you in the Dictionary of Difficult Words. The points are as follows:

• 2 blank tiles (scoring 0 points)
• 1 point: E ×12, A ×9, I ×9, O ×8, N ×6, R ×6, T ×6, L ×4, S ×4, U ×4
• 2 points: D ×4, G ×3
• 3 points: B ×2, C ×2, M ×2, P ×2
• 4 points: F ×2, H ×2, V ×2, W ×2, Y ×2
• 5 points: K ×1
• 8 points: J ×1, X ×1
• 10 points: Q ×1, Z ×1

Some of my favs are:

1. Quaff (10+1+1+4+4= 20 points at least):
v.t. drink deeply; drink in long draughts; n. a long draught.

2. Quixotic (10+1+1+8+1+1+1+3=24 pts at least):
a. idealistic; altruistic; unpractical. quixotism, quixotry, n.

3. Kabbadi (5+1+3+3+1+2+1= 16 at least):
n. Indian game of tag, played by two teams.

4. Jalousie (8+1+1+1+1+1+1+1= 15 at least):
n. blind or shutter with slats slanting upwards and inwards.

5. Xenogamy (8+1+1+1+2+1+3+4= 21 at least):
n. cross-fertilization. xenogenesis, n. production of offspring unlike the parent. xenograft, n. heterograft. xenolith, n. rock particle included in another rock. xenomorphic a. with a form not its own.

6. Zollverein (10+1+1+1+4+1+1+1+1= 21 at least):
n. 'customs-union' as organized by Prussia in the 1830s.

7. Zymosis (10+4+3+1+1+1+1= 21 at least):
n. fermentation; process resembling fermentation in development of infectious disease.

Now go forth and kick some buttocks (2+1+1+1+1+1+5+1) at Scrabble!

Uruguayan English Ads

These are two ads I saw for English Classes in Montevideo, Uruguay. I love how they use the vos (like the tú form, but used mostly in Argentina, Uruguay and El Salvador...not sure where else) form of the command venir= to come. ¡VENÍ!

Word Buzz Friday

I was writing something last week on Twitter, I believe, when I used the word snarf without thinking. Amanda responded that she liked the sound of it. What did it mean? I replied that it must mean throw up or vomit, because that's the only context I've ever heard it used in. She twittered back that it looks like sneeze + barf= snarf. Genius!

Then, I did some research and found this. However, if you are like me, you rarely ever click on links. So the best of the definitions is here:

snarf

/snarf/ 1. To grab, especially to grab a large document or
file for the purpose of using it with or without the author's
permission.

See also BLT.

2. (Unix) To fetch a file or set of files across a network.

See also blast.

3. To acquire, with little concern for legal forms or
politesse (but not quite by stealing). "They were giving away
samples, so I snarfed a bunch of them."

4. Synonym for slurp. "This program starts by snarfing the
entire database into core."

5. (GEnie) To spray food or programming fluids due to
laughing at the wrong moment. This sense appears to be
widespread among mundane teenagers - ESR.

6. This term was mainstream in the late 1960s, meaning "to eat
piggishly". It may still have this connotation in context.

7. A creature on the Thundercats, fond of eating, usually
covertly.

Who knew that snarf had sooo many meanings???

Word Buzz Friday

Hey everyone! I'm back to add a few new words to your vocab like I do every Friday!

Okay, admit it. We all have that one friend where it seems no matter what we do we will never have as many friends as they do on Facebook. Face it, they have over 1,000 and you just aren't sure if your "friend" even knows all of those people. Maybe your "friend" is you. There is a word for that. Facebookemon March 23

The term used for the collection of people, on your Facebook friends list, that you don’t actually talk to or know in real life. Related to popular tv program and game Pokemon, where the aim is to collect as many different Pocket Monsters as possible.

Dave - "Hey, my friends collection is getting up to two hundred"

Steve - "How many do you really know? go admit it, most of them are Facebookemon"

John - "Gotta catch em all, gotta catch em all"

This next one was said to me by a friend after I told her how much time I had recently spent with a special someone.

Wifed up

When a man (or woman in my case) is held down or in check by a female (*ahem* male in my case) counterpart so as to not engage in social situations with other members of the general public.

Our good buddy John is wifed up this weekend and can't come out with the guys.

What she actually said was "Oh, I forgot that you've been wifed up recently."

There you have it folks! Two new words to add to your slangcabulary. Have a super awesome weekend!

Word Buzz Friday

Hey all!

Time for another word buzz! It looks like POP! (that along with "my favorite isn't listed") happened to be the favorite onomatopoeia from last week. I wonder why I didn't put "buzz"?

Today's word is:

Zombie Company

1. A technically bankrupt company that is kept alive with large infusions of government money for the sake of "stability" in the U.S. financial system. 2. A large financial company with negative net worth that continues to operate, despite having no clear path to solvency. 3. The UnDead of Wall Street.

"AIG is the premier example of a zombie company -- kept alive only by $120 billion in federal bailout money. Apparently, it's considered too large to fail."

Haha! I haven't heard this mentioned on CNN. Actually, I haven't been watching so much CNN since I can't figure out what channel it's on this cable plan in Chile. Oh well...

Anyways, Happy Friday!

Internet Spanish Lessons

You can find anything on the internet, as every single one of you already knew and I am just discovering (So what? I'm a little behind! Give a girl a break!). However, did you know that you can even find free Spanish lessons? That's right, no need to buy any of those expensive CDs (if you are a beginner that is). You can discover just about everything you need on YouTube.

They wouldn't let me embed the code, but here is the link for a lesson que mi daba mucha risa. It's romance vocabulary for beginners! For those moments when you find yourself at a tapas bar in Madrid, or a coffee shop in Buenos Aires and that über-hot chico walks over to you and says "Tienes los ojos más lindos que he visto." Then, you discover that he's a multi-millionaire with a private jet waiting to take you all over the world. Only one problem: El chico guapísimo no habla inglés! (You hottie doesn't speak English). What!!? Was that only my fantasy? Alright... I'll stop.

Here are some more romantic things to whisper into your amor's ear. It works even if they are of the non-Spanish speaking variety. It's just that pretty...

Romantic Spanish Phrases
Spanish	English
¿Tienes novia(o)?	Do you have a girlfriend (boyfriend)?
¿Estás soltera(o)?	Are you single?
He estado pensando en ti.	I've been thinking about you.
Pienso en ti todo el tiempo.	I think about you all the time.
Sólo puedo pensar en ti.	I can only think of you.
Desde que te conocí no hago nada más que pensar en ti.	Since I met you I do nothing else except think of you.
Soy muy afortunado(a) de conocerte.	I'm very fortunate to know you.
Eres muy linda(o).	You are very pretty / lovely.
¡Qué linda(o)!	How pretty / lovely you are!
Eres muy sexy.	You're very sexy.
Me gustas (mucho).	I like you (a lot).
Me haces (mucha) falta.	I miss you (a lot).
Te extraño (mucho).	I miss you (a lot).
Me vuelves loco(a).	You drive me crazy.
Estoy loco(a) por ti.	I'm crazy for you.
Te adoro.	I adore you.
Te deseo.	I want / desire you.
Eres divina(o).	You are divine.
Eres espectacular.	You are spectacular.
Tienes los ojos más bonitos del mundo.	You have the prettiest eyes in the world.
Tienes una sonrisa muy hermosa.	You have a very beautiful / lovely smile.
Eres la persona más maravillosa del mundo.	You are the most wonderful person in the world.
Me encanta saber que estás conmigo.	I love to know that you're with me.
Tu ternura me encanta.	I love your tenderness / softness.
Cada hora que paso contigo me parece un segundo.	Each hour that passes with you seems like a second.
Una sonrisa tuya me hace inmensamente feliz.	A smile of yours makes me immensely happy.
No puedo esperar a verte.	I can't wait to see you.
Mamacita rica	A very pretty (and hot) girl
Papacito rico	A very handsome (and hot) guy
Mi princesa	My princess
Mi príncipe	My prince
Mi tesoro	My treasure
Mi cielo	My heaven
Corazón	Sweetheart
Cariño	Honey / Dear
Nena	Babe (girl)
Nene	Babe (guy)
Besos	Kisses
Abrazos	Hugs

Some help on pronunciation can be found here. Suerte!!!