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?
The first question someone usually asks me after learning that my bachelor's degree is in German is: "So you're fluent?" My answer is usually, "No." But I had a very interesting conversation some months ago with man from Scotland, who challenged my idea of what it means to be fluent in a language. I do not consider myself to be fluent. I understand a good deal, I can write in German, but I am not an eloquent speaker by any means. I can, however, think in German - that is, understand something said or written in German without having to translate it into English in my head. And this, he said, was being fluent in a language. Would you agree?
At the time I had this conversation, I was only in the beginning month of my Spanish instruction. I am now in my second semester. When the professor speaks in Spanish, I have moments of being able to know what is being said without doing any translating into English in my head. Am I on the road to fluency so early in the game? I am not so convinced. But because I want to teach abroad in a Spanish speaking country eventually, I am hopeful.
Dictionary.com defines fluent as, "spoken or written with ease" and "able to speak or write smoothly, easily, or readily." I feel that this is close to what I believe fluency to be, though this dictionary definition lacks one very important component of fluency – comprehension. While fluency does not mean understanding every single word that is spoken or written, it does mean being able to understand the vast majority of what is conveyed, as well as being able to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words based on context. What do you think fluency in a language is?
I found this page called "How to judge your foreign language fluency" which breaks down fluency into four parts: the understanding and expression of information presented orally and in written form. You can then rate your own foreign language fluency based on four questions, one for each aforementioned parts (also: are four questions enough to judge fluency?). When judging my German skills, I found my score to be relatively accurate. It is interesting to note that the way fluency is rated it is impossible to be 100% fluent. If you know a foreign language, trying rating your knowledge. Do you think your score accurately represents your level of fluency?
Also! Don't forget to take our current poll located to your left: How many words does it take to read a newspaper or magazine in English fluently? Stay tuned for the results! They will be posted on Saturday.
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...
On Twitter* I follow germanlanguage, which is an extension of German Words of the Day. Each day, a new German word is posted with its English translation. Occasionally, links to their blog entries will be posted. A few weeks ago, a link to Zungenbrecher, anyone?was posted, and being the curious person I am, I had to read it. Zungenbrecher is a German word meaning tongue-twister, though literally translated it means tongue breaker (which is an interesting spin on the concept, I think). As I was reading the entry, I found a version of the tongue-twister we recited in the Ausspracheübungen (pronunciation practice) class I took while studying in Germany. My interest was piqued and the idea for this post was born.
To be quite honest, up until this point, I have never been much of a fan of tongue-twisters. My writing has always been far better than my speaking skills - and it shows - so I have never felt it necessary to throw tongue-twisters into the mix. I can twist my tongue on my own, thanks. But the more I searched the Internet for information about tongue-twisters, the more I came across non-native speakers using tongue-twisters to learn pronunciation of their target language. A couple things clicked in my brain at this point. 1) It explained why my Ausspracheübungen teacher had us recite a Zungenbrecher. And it was not, as previously believed, to make things as difficult for us as possible. And 2) as a future ESL teacher, I was curious as to whether using tongue-twisters as an aid to teach pronunciation actually works. This question was never really answered, so I pose the two-part question now to anyone who is an ESL (or EFL or whatever) teacher: Do you use tongue-twisters to help with pronunciations? If yes, do you think it works?
One thing I wanted to find out was what makes a tongue-twister a tongue-twister? Besides the obvious "It's really hard to pronounce this danged thing!" of course. An important feature of tongue-twisters is the alternation of similar sounds within a phrase. Take the Pearls Before Swine comic for example: the sounds /s/ and /sh/ are used in "She sells seashells by the seashore." Said quickly, it is easy to mix up the sounds. Tongue-twisters can also consist of rhymes and alliteration. "Say that three times fast!" is a common statement used when a phrase is difficult to pronounce and these difficult phrases are often tongue-twisters.
Did you know they also have naughty tongue-twisters? There are some twisters out there specifically designed so that a mispronunciation or mistake will result in a swear word or something of that sort. Take a moment to ponder the phrase "Pheasant plucker" and how it could be messed up.
Now onto the tongue-twisters!
Three English Tongue-Twisters --->She sells seashells by the seashore
--->Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
--->The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick (this is supposedly the hardest tongue-twister in English - what do you think?) _____________________________ A German Zungenbrecher
The above tongue-twister is the one I recited in my Ausspracheübungen class. It basically means: Fisher's Fritz fishes for fresh fish, for fresh fish fishes Fisher's Fritz. For more Zungenbrecher check out Zungenbrecher, anyone? They have a couple other German tongue-twisters, as well as a fun video from a German game show of a man reciting a bunch of tongue-twisters in one minute. ____________________________
Dos Trabalenguas in Spanish
Thanks to CancunCanuck for suggesting: --->Yo vi en un huerto un cuervo cruento comerse el cuero del cuerpo del puerco muerto. (I saw in an orchard a bloody crow eating the hide of a dead pig's corpse)
Both Sara and CancunCanuck suggested versions of: --->Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal en tres tristes trastos. (Three sad tigers swallowed wheat on three sad platters) ____________________________
What are other tongue-twisters? Which is your favorite? Which never fails to trip you up? Please share! And you can also click here for a list of tongue-twisters.
*Don't know what Twitter is? Twitter is an awesome social networking tool which allows you 140 characters to answer the question: What are you doing? In addition to me, Sara, Tasha and even CancunCanuck are all on Twitter! Kyle is too, but he doesn't update his, so he doesn't get a link (sorry Kyle). Check us out, say hi, and don't worry, we're friendly. :)
For all of you Spanish speakers out there you must know the word ardilla. It is translated as squirrel in the dictionary. But wait, say that you get curious one day and you want to look up the word "Chipmunk", you will also see ardilla.
This was brought to my attention when the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks came out and my friend G. was referring to it as Alvin and the Squirrels. She insisted that a squirrel was the same a chipmunk and that I had it wrong. You see, in Spanish Alvin and the Chipmunks is ALVIN Y LAS ARDILLAS!!!
Anyways, here is the difference between a squirrel and a chipmunk. G. claimed that the only reason I saw any difference at all between the two fuzzy rodents was because I'm from Minnesota and we make weird distinctions for animals. So. Not. True. They are different! Right?
I go back to Chile in about 13 days. Yes, I started counting down weeks ago. There's just one little thing that worries me. My Spanish has been sucking something fierce. I was thinking yesterday, that I probably haven't spoken so little Spanish in a two month period since I started learning it, or at least since I've become more fluent. The only time I've been speaking-speaking is when I talk on Skype with L. He doesn't correct me much when I speak, but I notice the little errors as soon as they're out of my mouth. Then, in emails he sends me back the corrections.
It's not such a big deal, except that I am going to get SCREWED OVER by the taxi drivers. Especially because a typical response to "Take me to X place" is "Como? No teentiendo." (What? I don't understand you. To which I most always reply "Of course you understand me. I'm speaking to you in Spanish. Let me out!"
I just know that when I get to the airport I might have to haggle for a ride. I've had then down to 9,000 pesos before, which I think is good, but with this gringa accent thing I have going on now it's going to be 15,000.
