Hi everybody!
I'd like to thank you all for showing your support for Internet Polyglot, for using it for your language learning and just for your many feedbacks. It was very exciting year for us and for the site - it grew from 15 visitors a day to 1100 visitors a day and keep growing. More and more language learners find this method of memorizing words useful and start playing with our games.
I would cordially like to wish you happy Holidays, peace in the whole World, love to you and your family. And of course, Happy Language Learning with Internet Polyglot!
Now it's time for some fun. These videos virtually made my month! They can be even considered a language learning videos, hehe :)
Let's start with Learning Dutch. Hilarious girls teach us some useful Dutch words and phrases: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGzwZH03QLE
Learning French? Here some funny guys from Russia will sing you a very popular song by one of my favorite singers In-Grid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGJRTpgE0dY
And here is the transcript for this song:
Tu m'as promis
et je t'ai cru
Tu m'as promis le soleil en hiver et un arc en ciel
tu m'as promis le sable doré j'ai reçu une carte postale
tu m'as promis le ciel et la terre et une vie d'amour
tu m'as promis ton coeur ton sourire mais j'ai eu des grimaces
tu m'as promis
et je t'ai cru
tu m'as promis le cheval ailé que j'ai jamais eu
tu m'as promis le fil d'Ariane mais tu l'as coupé
tu m'as promis les notes de Mozart pas des plats cassés
tu m'as promis d'être ta reine, j'ai eu pour sceptre un balai
tu m'as promis
et je t'ai cru
tu es foutu
tu-tu-tu...
tu es foutu
tu-tu-tu ...
je ne sais pas ce qui se passe
mais je sais pourquoi on m'apelle mademoiselle pas de chance
Learning English, huh? Yeah, me too :) Have been learning English for almost all my conscious life, hehe. Here is a fiery Irish song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6A-ucLv44Y
And finally, here is a Holiday song for all of you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owK5tHjL0aE
Happy Holidays!!!
Friday, December 22, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
World Map of Internet Polyglot users
I have configured a world map of Internet Polyglot users. Now if you are an Internet Polyglot user, you play with its games, learn languages using its lessons, you can add yourself on the world map (if you don't see the map, go here):
This page is also added on Internet Polyglot here. The permanent location of this map is here. When you go to this map you can add your shoutouts, your pictures, chat with other Internet Polyglot users. Have fun!
This page is also added on Internet Polyglot here. The permanent location of this map is here. When you go to this map you can add your shoutouts, your pictures, chat with other Internet Polyglot users. Have fun!
Monday, November 20, 2006
Learning A New Language Makes The World Seem Smaller
The Internet is becoming a massive force in the lives of many people around the world. It is used to connect to the world at large, to communicate for the purposes of business, family, and friendships, as well as to find entertainment. The Internet is quickly replacing the television as the preferred medium of entertainment around the world as well as opening doors to new cultures, ideas, and beliefs as well as new opportunities.
As a result of this, we've seen an abundance of people interested in learning new languages as they meet friends and build relationships across the cultural and language barriers that once seemed so much larger than they are today. With the global community literally at your fingertips it is great to know that you can get free language lessons online or that you can easily find courses and books to help you skill up in a foreign language, regardless of its popularity across the Globe. You'd be amazed to find out how many sites offer such great services for free. Not only are these lessons free, but you can also find programs that offer fun matching games, flash cards, and word game worksheets to help you build your skills.
Not only will you learn the basic vocabulary of other languages, but also how to improve your existing vocabulary skills in your own language. You will study language arts activities, pronouns, adjectives, and common slang terms of the language you are studying. You will be able to travel with the ease of a native without the worry of needing translations of road signs and simple instructions thanks to flash cards, and free language lessons online.
When used alone, the results of this will be slow and not provide a comprehensive learning experience, but when you combine the power of such an interactive site with your other language courses, you will be amazed at how quickly your progress and even advance in your studies. Play games designed to improve vocabulary while receiving a top-notch foreign language education. In fact, you have the ability to teach yourself at your own pace and learn far more than you would ever learn in a traditional classroom. It is well known that learning through entertainment is the easiest and most effective way of dealing with any given subject, even more so with a foreign language, since it requires a lot of assimilation to be done.
After completing your lessons you should be able to speak your new language like a native while having a better understanding of how your own language works. Perhaps what you learn about yourself and the language you know already is worth just as much if not more than the priceless gift of learning a new language and opening a window to the world.
Articles about English in different languages:
English Language (in English)
Historia de la lengua inglesa (in Spanish)
Anglais. (in French)
Englische Sprache (in German)
Lingua inglese (in Italian)
Engelse Taal (in Dutch)
Língua inglesa (in Portuguese)
Limba Engleza (in Romanian)
As a result of this, we've seen an abundance of people interested in learning new languages as they meet friends and build relationships across the cultural and language barriers that once seemed so much larger than they are today. With the global community literally at your fingertips it is great to know that you can get free language lessons online or that you can easily find courses and books to help you skill up in a foreign language, regardless of its popularity across the Globe. You'd be amazed to find out how many sites offer such great services for free. Not only are these lessons free, but you can also find programs that offer fun matching games, flash cards, and word game worksheets to help you build your skills.
Not only will you learn the basic vocabulary of other languages, but also how to improve your existing vocabulary skills in your own language. You will study language arts activities, pronouns, adjectives, and common slang terms of the language you are studying. You will be able to travel with the ease of a native without the worry of needing translations of road signs and simple instructions thanks to flash cards, and free language lessons online.
When used alone, the results of this will be slow and not provide a comprehensive learning experience, but when you combine the power of such an interactive site with your other language courses, you will be amazed at how quickly your progress and even advance in your studies. Play games designed to improve vocabulary while receiving a top-notch foreign language education. In fact, you have the ability to teach yourself at your own pace and learn far more than you would ever learn in a traditional classroom. It is well known that learning through entertainment is the easiest and most effective way of dealing with any given subject, even more so with a foreign language, since it requires a lot of assimilation to be done.
After completing your lessons you should be able to speak your new language like a native while having a better understanding of how your own language works. Perhaps what you learn about yourself and the language you know already is worth just as much if not more than the priceless gift of learning a new language and opening a window to the world.
Articles about English in different languages:
English Language (in English)
Historia de la lengua inglesa (in Spanish)
Anglais. (in French)
Englische Sprache (in German)
Lingua inglese (in Italian)
Engelse Taal (in Dutch)
Língua inglesa (in Portuguese)
Limba Engleza (in Romanian)
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Do you like Internet Polyglot? Then vote for it!
My dear language learning friend! You've been working hard on learning your language and I hope Internet Polyglot has been helpful for you all this time. If you like Internet Polyglot now you can help us too!
Here is what you can do: just click on the following link and vote for Internet Polyglot by Digging it!
Please note that if you don't have an account on Digg you'll have to register there in order to vote for Internet Polyglot.
We'll greatly appreciate your vote, it'll help us immensely to improve Internet Polyglot's visibility in language learning community. Thank you!
And to make your life funnier here is the daily joke:
Speed Trap
A state trooper spied a car puttering along at 22 MPH. So he turned on his lights and pulled the driver over. Approaching the car, he noticed that five old guys were inside, and they looked wide-eyed and terribly pale.
The driver pleaded with him, "Officer, I don't understand, I was doing exactly the speed limit! What seems to be the problem?"
"Sir," the officer replies, "You weren't speeding, but driving slower than the speed limit can also be dangerous."
"I beg to differ, Officer, I was doing the speed limit exactly: twenty-two miles an hour!" the old man said.
The trooper, chuckling, explained to him that "22" was the route number, not the speed limit. A bit embarrassed, the man grinned and thanked the officer for pointing out his error.
"But before I let you go, Sir, I have to ask... Is everyone in this car ok? These guys seem awfully shaken."
"Oh, they'll be all right in a minute," the old man said. "We just got off Route 119."
Enjoy your day folks and don't forget to vote for Internet Polyglot and after that visit Internet Polyglot for language lessons!
Here is what you can do: just click on the following link and vote for Internet Polyglot by Digging it!
Please note that if you don't have an account on Digg you'll have to register there in order to vote for Internet Polyglot.
We'll greatly appreciate your vote, it'll help us immensely to improve Internet Polyglot's visibility in language learning community. Thank you!
And to make your life funnier here is the daily joke:
Speed Trap
A state trooper spied a car puttering along at 22 MPH. So he turned on his lights and pulled the driver over. Approaching the car, he noticed that five old guys were inside, and they looked wide-eyed and terribly pale.
The driver pleaded with him, "Officer, I don't understand, I was doing exactly the speed limit! What seems to be the problem?"
"Sir," the officer replies, "You weren't speeding, but driving slower than the speed limit can also be dangerous."
"I beg to differ, Officer, I was doing the speed limit exactly: twenty-two miles an hour!" the old man said.
The trooper, chuckling, explained to him that "22" was the route number, not the speed limit. A bit embarrassed, the man grinned and thanked the officer for pointing out his error.
"But before I let you go, Sir, I have to ask... Is everyone in this car ok? These guys seem awfully shaken."
"Oh, they'll be all right in a minute," the old man said. "We just got off Route 119."
Enjoy your day folks and don't forget to vote for Internet Polyglot and after that visit Internet Polyglot for language lessons!
Friday, November 10, 2006
Google Helps Learning Words [New Feature]
Today I deployed a new version of http://www.InternetPolyglot.com - it has some nice improvements like better positioning of popup images so that they don't disappear under the bottom of the browser window.
Another one is a new page that describes how you could help Internet Polyglot - if you like it, of course :-) . So if you do like Internet Polyglot - please visit this page: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-helping-internet-polyglot.html and decide what you can do to make our life happier. Anything you do from this list (placing a link on your web site, telling about us on your favorite forum or newsgroup, simply bookmarking us with del.icio.us, and, well, ghm..., donation) will be greatly appreciated!
But the main improvement of this version is adding Google Search capabilities for words that you are learning. The word/translation list on lesson detail pages now has a new icon, move your mouse over it and you'll get Google's search results for this word: web sites, videos, blogs. I expect it to be a very useful new feature of Internet Polyglot - it should help learning words in context. Just go ahead and play with this new capability, I think it should be fun.
Below is a screenshot that I made on one of the French-English lessons :
As you can see mousing over the "G" icon next to "un employé" display a popup window with Google search (web, video and blog) results for this word. Now just use any of those results and increase your knowledge of what "un employé" means.
Happy languge learning with Internet Polyglot !
Another one is a new page that describes how you could help Internet Polyglot - if you like it, of course :-) . So if you do like Internet Polyglot - please visit this page: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-helping-internet-polyglot.html and decide what you can do to make our life happier. Anything you do from this list (placing a link on your web site, telling about us on your favorite forum or newsgroup, simply bookmarking us with del.icio.us, and, well, ghm..., donation) will be greatly appreciated!
But the main improvement of this version is adding Google Search capabilities for words that you are learning. The word/translation list on lesson detail pages now has a new icon, move your mouse over it and you'll get Google's search results for this word: web sites, videos, blogs. I expect it to be a very useful new feature of Internet Polyglot - it should help learning words in context. Just go ahead and play with this new capability, I think it should be fun.
Below is a screenshot that I made on one of the French-English lessons :
As you can see mousing over the "G" icon next to "un employé" display a popup window with Google search (web, video and blog) results for this word. Now just use any of those results and increase your knowledge of what "un employé" means.
Happy languge learning with Internet Polyglot !
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Free Language Lessons Online
Learning a new language is never easy, despite any common roots that your mother tongue and the language you want to learn might have. If you've recently moved to a new country, the learning curve will be a lot faster than if you would try to learn that particular country's language at home, since no lesson can compensate for the benefit of being constantly surrounded in people speaking that foreign language. Still, since most people will want to start taking language lessons from the comfort of their home, so they can be prepared when they move or visit a foreign country, we'll focus on them and offer you some tips on how to get free language lessons online.
Whether you want to learn English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic, Latin, Hindi, Polish, Romanian, Turkish, Czech or Ukrainian, there's a site out there that can fulfill your lingual learning needs. www.internetpolyglot.com is a compilation of free language lessons that can be taken online, through an intuitive and easy to use system.
Actually, when learning a new language with Internet Polyglot, you get to create your own lessons, focusing on what you need more: expanding your vocabulary, memorizing words, pronouncing words, learning the common acronyms of communication, avoiding syntax errors in second language learners, learning that particular language's slang and so forth. This way, you can make up your own strategy for learning a foreign language and effectively learn in the rhythm that you see fit, instead of getting overfed with all sorts of bits and pieces of new information about that language.
Among these free online language lessons, you will be able to find some that come under the form of games and fun activities. These are aimed for children learning new languages but they can also be helpful to adults that have just started learning one. Actually, scientists agree that it's a lot easier to learn a language if its lessons are presented under a fun, enjoyable wrap, rather than if you would have to sit down at a table or in front of your PC and simply start memorizing, getting you utterly bored in a matter of hours probably.
Last but not least, www.internetpolyglot.com offers the possibility for simple surfers that had success in learning a new language, to post their own lessons on the site, helping others in their learning process. Of course, what might have worked for someone else in matter of learning speed might not be totally appropriate for you, or at least not in the same manner. But most of these users will offer interesting alternative learning methods that you should at least take a look at, since they might prove to be just the boost you need to your language learning efforts.
Visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com for free online language lessons.
Whether you want to learn English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic, Latin, Hindi, Polish, Romanian, Turkish, Czech or Ukrainian, there's a site out there that can fulfill your lingual learning needs. www.internetpolyglot.com is a compilation of free language lessons that can be taken online, through an intuitive and easy to use system.
Actually, when learning a new language with Internet Polyglot, you get to create your own lessons, focusing on what you need more: expanding your vocabulary, memorizing words, pronouncing words, learning the common acronyms of communication, avoiding syntax errors in second language learners, learning that particular language's slang and so forth. This way, you can make up your own strategy for learning a foreign language and effectively learn in the rhythm that you see fit, instead of getting overfed with all sorts of bits and pieces of new information about that language.
Among these free online language lessons, you will be able to find some that come under the form of games and fun activities. These are aimed for children learning new languages but they can also be helpful to adults that have just started learning one. Actually, scientists agree that it's a lot easier to learn a language if its lessons are presented under a fun, enjoyable wrap, rather than if you would have to sit down at a table or in front of your PC and simply start memorizing, getting you utterly bored in a matter of hours probably.
Last but not least, www.internetpolyglot.com offers the possibility for simple surfers that had success in learning a new language, to post their own lessons on the site, helping others in their learning process. Of course, what might have worked for someone else in matter of learning speed might not be totally appropriate for you, or at least not in the same manner. But most of these users will offer interesting alternative learning methods that you should at least take a look at, since they might prove to be just the boost you need to your language learning efforts.
Visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com for free online language lessons.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Drunk Driver
Aren't you getting fed up with all this serious stuff that you receive from InternetPolyglot on a regular basis? Here is some joke for you so that you don't get too bored :)
A policeman pulls over a driver for swerving in and out of lanes on the highway.
He tells the guy to blow a breath into a breathalyzer.
''I can't do that, officer.''
''Why not?''
''Because I'm an asthmatic. I could get an asthma attack if I blow into that tube.''
''Okay, we'll just get a urine sample down at the station.''
''Can't do that either, officer.''
''Why not?''
''Because I'm a diabetic. I could get low blood sugar if I pee in a cup.''
''Alright, we could get a blood sample.''
''Can't do that either, officer.''
''Why not?''
''Because I'm a hemophiliac. If I give blood I could die.''
''Fine then, just walk this white line.''
''Can't do that either, officer.''
''Why not?''
''Because I'm drunk.''
A policeman pulls over a driver for swerving in and out of lanes on the highway.
He tells the guy to blow a breath into a breathalyzer.
''I can't do that, officer.''
''Why not?''
''Because I'm an asthmatic. I could get an asthma attack if I blow into that tube.''
''Okay, we'll just get a urine sample down at the station.''
''Can't do that either, officer.''
''Why not?''
''Because I'm a diabetic. I could get low blood sugar if I pee in a cup.''
''Alright, we could get a blood sample.''
''Can't do that either, officer.''
''Why not?''
''Because I'm a hemophiliac. If I give blood I could die.''
''Fine then, just walk this white line.''
''Can't do that either, officer.''
''Why not?''
''Because I'm drunk.''
Learning A Foreign Language Will Open A Window To The World
If you've ever had the urge to travel around the world, visiting exotic places, and ordering authentic local cuisine, then you've probably considered the fact that it might help if you were able to speak the language. Even if only to read the menu at your favorite French Bistro or Italian Restaurant, it is amazing how much more of the menu you will understand simply by learning a few key phrases in a foreign language.
Learning a new language is almost always a thrilling prospect, even better when you can learn a new language for free. In fact, at this price why on earth would anyone stop at just one language? Many of these online language programs are not intended to work as a sole source of language education, but when used in conjunction with other language learning programs can produce amazing results.
If you use the flash cards and matching games that are available on this site, you will be speaking your new language like a native in no time, better yet, you will understand it like a native as well. Have you ever envied those that speak several languages with as much familiarity as their own mother tongues? Be jealous no longer. Apply these lessons, study diligently and you will notice a significant improvement in your vocabulary.
Learn an Arabic language conversation free with lessons online. In fact, learn a few. Take a look at the free online "Learn Spanish Video" and see how many new words you can learn in a short period of time. Take lessons with a friend and have competitions to see who has learned the most new words. Playing games is a great way to learn and still have fun being competitive with one another.
Remember though that the overall goal is learning a new language. Whether your goals are Russian, Hungarian, English, French, or some obscure tribal language on the moon, you might be surprised at the selection available. You can even use this program to help you avoid the syntax errors in English second language learners. This will make an incredible difference in how you are accepted globally as well as corporately.
There are several sites out there that deal with teaching a foreign language and you're bound to find something suitable for your needs even after a few minutes of electronic surfing. Although most will focus on popular languages such as English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian or Portuguese, other "smaller" languages are not left out in the cold either. Regardless of what language you're aiming for, chances are that you can find a site that covers it and offers some learning courses for it.
For free online language courses visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com
Articles about Spanish in different languages:
The Spanish Language (in English)
Las raíces de la lengua española (in Spanish)
Langue espagnole (in French)
Spanische Sprache (in German)
Lingua spagnola (in Italian)
Spaanse Taal (in Dutch)
Língua espanhola (in Portuguese)
Originile limbii Spaniole (in Romanian)
Learning a new language is almost always a thrilling prospect, even better when you can learn a new language for free. In fact, at this price why on earth would anyone stop at just one language? Many of these online language programs are not intended to work as a sole source of language education, but when used in conjunction with other language learning programs can produce amazing results.
If you use the flash cards and matching games that are available on this site, you will be speaking your new language like a native in no time, better yet, you will understand it like a native as well. Have you ever envied those that speak several languages with as much familiarity as their own mother tongues? Be jealous no longer. Apply these lessons, study diligently and you will notice a significant improvement in your vocabulary.
Learn an Arabic language conversation free with lessons online. In fact, learn a few. Take a look at the free online "Learn Spanish Video" and see how many new words you can learn in a short period of time. Take lessons with a friend and have competitions to see who has learned the most new words. Playing games is a great way to learn and still have fun being competitive with one another.
Remember though that the overall goal is learning a new language. Whether your goals are Russian, Hungarian, English, French, or some obscure tribal language on the moon, you might be surprised at the selection available. You can even use this program to help you avoid the syntax errors in English second language learners. This will make an incredible difference in how you are accepted globally as well as corporately.
There are several sites out there that deal with teaching a foreign language and you're bound to find something suitable for your needs even after a few minutes of electronic surfing. Although most will focus on popular languages such as English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian or Portuguese, other "smaller" languages are not left out in the cold either. Regardless of what language you're aiming for, chances are that you can find a site that covers it and offers some learning courses for it.
For free online language courses visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com
Articles about Spanish in different languages:
The Spanish Language (in English)
Las raíces de la lengua española (in Spanish)
Langue espagnole (in French)
Spanische Sprache (in German)
Lingua spagnola (in Italian)
Spaanse Taal (in Dutch)
Língua espanhola (in Portuguese)
Originile limbii Spaniole (in Romanian)
Monday, October 30, 2006
Language Learning Key In Higher Education
Learning a new language can be frightening, exciting, fun, and unfortunately sometimes boring. Taking free language lessons makes the boring part of that equation obsolete by using games, flash cards, and word scrambles in order to help you memorize words and learn vocabulary. It's not that hard to prove that if you're learning something by having fun, you will assimilate a lot more information (in this case grammar, spelling, vocabulary, etc) than if you would simply learn it "the hard way".
Having fun while learning is a great way to build your marketability, not only in the career world but also the collegiate world. You will qualify for far more study abroad programs if you can speak the language of the land you will be visiting for a semester or summer term of your educational experience. Taking free language lessons online through many of the great language learning programs available can also help you brush up on your vocabulary and memorize words by having you play educational games and use flashcards. This is better than taking a new course in a language simply to improve your existing skills or walking around with a dictionary handy at all times.
In addition to study abroad programs, language skills are necessary for entrance into many graduate school programs. Some programs, even require fluency in not one, but two foreign languages. The good news is that once you've learned one new language, learning another language is easier. If the two languages share a common lexical foundation (such as Slavic, Latin, Anglo-Saxon languages) then it will be even easier to "jump" from one of them to the other. The even better news is that with these free online programs you can learn as many new languages as you would like.
If you are planning to take your LSAT online, free practice tests can be found here as well as. You can also find bilingual legal dictionaries on CD format if you know where to look. This will help those who are learning English as a second language and hope to attend law school as well as those who simply need to learn American laws for the sake of legal work they are doing in other countries.
For the sake of education, learning a foreign language is becoming less of an option and more of a requirement. In addition to learning about other languages and cultures during the course of studying new languages, you also learn a great deal more about your own language and culture as well as how the world views you, often by default. There are very few things you can learn that will have as great of an impact on your life as a new language.
For free online language lessons visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com
Articles about French in different languages:
The French Language (in English)
La Lengua Francesa (in Spanish)
Langue française. (in French)
Französische Sprache (in German)
Lingua francese (in Italian)
Franse Taal (in Dutch)
Língua francesa (in Portuguese)
Limba Franceza (in Romanian)
Having fun while learning is a great way to build your marketability, not only in the career world but also the collegiate world. You will qualify for far more study abroad programs if you can speak the language of the land you will be visiting for a semester or summer term of your educational experience. Taking free language lessons online through many of the great language learning programs available can also help you brush up on your vocabulary and memorize words by having you play educational games and use flashcards. This is better than taking a new course in a language simply to improve your existing skills or walking around with a dictionary handy at all times.
In addition to study abroad programs, language skills are necessary for entrance into many graduate school programs. Some programs, even require fluency in not one, but two foreign languages. The good news is that once you've learned one new language, learning another language is easier. If the two languages share a common lexical foundation (such as Slavic, Latin, Anglo-Saxon languages) then it will be even easier to "jump" from one of them to the other. The even better news is that with these free online programs you can learn as many new languages as you would like.
If you are planning to take your LSAT online, free practice tests can be found here as well as. You can also find bilingual legal dictionaries on CD format if you know where to look. This will help those who are learning English as a second language and hope to attend law school as well as those who simply need to learn American laws for the sake of legal work they are doing in other countries.
For the sake of education, learning a foreign language is becoming less of an option and more of a requirement. In addition to learning about other languages and cultures during the course of studying new languages, you also learn a great deal more about your own language and culture as well as how the world views you, often by default. There are very few things you can learn that will have as great of an impact on your life as a new language.
For free online language lessons visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com
Articles about French in different languages:
The French Language (in English)
La Lengua Francesa (in Spanish)
Langue française. (in French)
Französische Sprache (in German)
Lingua francese (in Italian)
Franse Taal (in Dutch)
Língua francesa (in Portuguese)
Limba Franceza (in Romanian)
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Building Up Your Vocabulary In A Foreign Language
You can't say you have a solid grasp on a foreign language unless you have a solid vocabulary to back your claims up. Grammar, spelling and pronunciation mistakes might slip every once in a while, but if you're reading a text or listening to a conversation and can't understand a third of the words used there, what's the point? There are several techniques that are used in building up your vocabulary in a foreign language and we'll try to cover some of the most common, which you can practice without spending too much or looking too far for them.
Reading new texts and their translation
A lot of language learning books rely on this technique to get the student's vocabulary up and running from the first lessons. The students are given a rough text in the foreign language (the difficulty level of the test is dependant on the level the student is considered to having reached so far) containing some new, more complex words with each sentence. Below the text, an exact translation is given, with contextual annotations if it's the case. After the translation, the words that are being considered as "new" are usually given a definition of and if they are used in a specific context in the above mentioned text, this is also mentioned.
Picking words out of the context
Oftentimes, you'll be reading a text or listening to someone speak in a foreign language that you know and spot a word that you don't understand. Focusing on the context in which it is told however, will often give you a clue about what it means. If this doesn't happen and you're totally in the dark about what that particular word means (oftentimes convoluting the entire context too) you can look it up in a dictionary.
Visiting the native speakers
Nothing will boost your vocabulary faster and better than a visit to a native speaking country of the particular language you want to expand in. Even a one-week trip will teach you more new words than an entire course in that language, not to mention spending a few months out there with the natives. This obviously perfects your grammar, spelling and pronunciation of words together with your vocabulary, which can only be beneficial. The only problem might be the costs such a trip would take and the amount of free time you will need for it.
This said, feel free to skim the Internet for any sources that can help you expand your vocabulary in a particular foreign language. After all, you can't simply take the dictionary and start learning new words by heart; you need to learn them naturally, out of their context. Even if you learn one new word per day this way, in the long run you'll surely feel the difference.
For building your foreign language vocabulary visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com.
Reading new texts and their translation
A lot of language learning books rely on this technique to get the student's vocabulary up and running from the first lessons. The students are given a rough text in the foreign language (the difficulty level of the test is dependant on the level the student is considered to having reached so far) containing some new, more complex words with each sentence. Below the text, an exact translation is given, with contextual annotations if it's the case. After the translation, the words that are being considered as "new" are usually given a definition of and if they are used in a specific context in the above mentioned text, this is also mentioned.
Picking words out of the context
Oftentimes, you'll be reading a text or listening to someone speak in a foreign language that you know and spot a word that you don't understand. Focusing on the context in which it is told however, will often give you a clue about what it means. If this doesn't happen and you're totally in the dark about what that particular word means (oftentimes convoluting the entire context too) you can look it up in a dictionary.
Visiting the native speakers
Nothing will boost your vocabulary faster and better than a visit to a native speaking country of the particular language you want to expand in. Even a one-week trip will teach you more new words than an entire course in that language, not to mention spending a few months out there with the natives. This obviously perfects your grammar, spelling and pronunciation of words together with your vocabulary, which can only be beneficial. The only problem might be the costs such a trip would take and the amount of free time you will need for it.
This said, feel free to skim the Internet for any sources that can help you expand your vocabulary in a particular foreign language. After all, you can't simply take the dictionary and start learning new words by heart; you need to learn them naturally, out of their context. Even if you learn one new word per day this way, in the long run you'll surely feel the difference.
For building your foreign language vocabulary visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Adjusting To The Cultural Shock Of Moving Abroad
Whether you're going to move abroad for a fixed amount of time for school education, business issues or simply for a better/new type of lifestyle, you're going to be hit by what most people call the "cultural shock". This involves hitting yourself to a new lifestyle, new ways of handling issues, sometimes a new type of currency, but most importantly, a new language. Actually, the biggest shock will be this language barrier, especially if you're moving to a country where the mother tongue is no where near your own language's lexical foundation. For example, switching from an Anglo-Saxon based language to a Slavic, or Latin one (or vice versa) can be extremely unpleasant, since you won't be able to understand any bits of a conversation. What this article will aim for, is try to give you a few tips and tricks on how to start learning this new language faster and how to adjust to the new culture through language.
Let's say your native language is English and you move to Germany (the German language is of the same lexical foundation as English). Even though you might not know the slightest thing about the German language when you move there, you will still be able to take out bits and pieces out of writings, conversations (well admittedly, maybe less from conversations, at least not until you get used to the local accent, talking speed, etc). The reason for this is that many words are quite common in both German and English. Take "house" for example, which is translated as "haus". Although the spelling is slightly different, the pronunciation and the morphosyntax are almost the same for these particular cognates.
The first thing that you could do in this case is grab a list of English - German cognates off the Internet and give them a read-through so you can recognize them in a text or spot them in a conversation. This will also help in dealing with the so called "false cognates". False cognates are words that look alike and sound alike in both languages, but actually have a different meaning. For example: the German word "eventuell" might seem like the English word "eventually", however the meaning in German is quite the opposite. Eventuell means "possibly" or "perhaps". Another good example of these false cognates is "brave" - "brav". You would thing that the German "brav" means "brave" in English, however its correct meaning is "well behaved". The German word for "brave" is "tapfer".
As you can see, this is a starting point for your cultural shock adjustment in what regards the language of the foreign country. Of course, the example above is very particular, but it applies to many other situations. And since language is such an important step in understanding a new culture and adjusting to it, it is advised that you start learning it even before you move abroad if possible. Even if you don't have time to take some local courses, the Internet can be a good source to start learning. There are several learning websites out there that can help you do so and some of them offer quality free online language courses that can give you a heads up on a language in a matter of days.
To reduce your cultural shock long before visiting another country visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com for fun and efficient language lessons.
Let's say your native language is English and you move to Germany (the German language is of the same lexical foundation as English). Even though you might not know the slightest thing about the German language when you move there, you will still be able to take out bits and pieces out of writings, conversations (well admittedly, maybe less from conversations, at least not until you get used to the local accent, talking speed, etc). The reason for this is that many words are quite common in both German and English. Take "house" for example, which is translated as "haus". Although the spelling is slightly different, the pronunciation and the morphosyntax are almost the same for these particular cognates.
The first thing that you could do in this case is grab a list of English - German cognates off the Internet and give them a read-through so you can recognize them in a text or spot them in a conversation. This will also help in dealing with the so called "false cognates". False cognates are words that look alike and sound alike in both languages, but actually have a different meaning. For example: the German word "eventuell" might seem like the English word "eventually", however the meaning in German is quite the opposite. Eventuell means "possibly" or "perhaps". Another good example of these false cognates is "brave" - "brav". You would thing that the German "brav" means "brave" in English, however its correct meaning is "well behaved". The German word for "brave" is "tapfer".
As you can see, this is a starting point for your cultural shock adjustment in what regards the language of the foreign country. Of course, the example above is very particular, but it applies to many other situations. And since language is such an important step in understanding a new culture and adjusting to it, it is advised that you start learning it even before you move abroad if possible. Even if you don't have time to take some local courses, the Internet can be a good source to start learning. There are several learning websites out there that can help you do so and some of them offer quality free online language courses that can give you a heads up on a language in a matter of days.
To reduce your cultural shock long before visiting another country visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com for fun and efficient language lessons.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
[New feature] Words With Sounds - Practice Pronunciation
Today is a new milestone in the history of Internet Polyglot. With a huge help of our old friend Baggeroli (he is the author of Dutch lessons and some of German lessons) I added a new very interesting and useful functionality: sounds. I have been oftenly asked why Internet Polyglot doesn't have a way to teach language learners pronunciation? Why doesn't it have word transcriptions? And so on.
And look at it now! Visit http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lesson-1202101200 - this is one of Arabic-English lessons. You can see a green button next to each Arabic word.
And look at it now! Visit http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lesson-1202101200 - this is one of Arabic-English lessons. You can see a green button next to each Arabic word.
Click this button and you'll hear this word pronounced in Arabic. Of course you need to wear headphones or have your speakers on. Do you like it? These words were pronounced and recorded by a native Arabic speaker, so if you are learning Arabic then you'll be able to hone your pronunciation against these records.
At this moment Arabic is the only language that was recorded for Internet Polyglot lessons as a pilot project. We expect that eventually all languages that have lessons in our site have their words pronounced, recorded to sound files and placed to the site. Stay tuned!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Internet Polyglot News: Site Is Translated to Greek and Arabic
The site has been translated to two new languages: Greek and Arabic. So if you are a native Greek or Arabic speaker you can enjoy visiting and learning new languages in your native language.
To see the site in Greek: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/greek/mainMenu.html?locale=el
To see the site in Arabic: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/arabic/mainMenu.html?locale=ar
To return to English: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/mainMenu.html?locale=en
Just as a reminder: you can switch between languages using the links right under the Internet Polyglot logo:
To see the site in Greek: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/greek/mainMenu.html?locale=el
To see the site in Arabic: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/arabic/mainMenu.html?locale=ar
To return to English: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/mainMenu.html?locale=en
Just as a reminder: you can switch between languages using the links right under the Internet Polyglot logo:
Language Lessons Get Your Trip Abroad Off To A Great Start
Start your dream vacation experience early with language lessons. Many of us spend a good portion of our lives dreaming of that one huge trip abroad that will take us too many places and expose us to many new people and cultures. However, we often fail to see how important knowing the language of the lands we are visiting is to our overall vacation experience. Even the most basic needs we have while vacationing can be negatively impacted by having no understanding of the language: hotel check in, taxi rides, directions, and fares, ordering food, and getting from one place to another.
One of the biggest mistakes that English-speaking people do is assume that they will have no trouble finding someone that speaks English where they are going. Although English is the most commonly spoken language right next to Spanish, you can't assume that (or ask of) the natives will be able to communicate with you in your own language. That's why you need to make the first move and start learning theirs.
Language lessons are a great way to improve your understanding of the native language of the places you will be visiting. You can take language lessons online. These lessons are not meant to replace traditional language learning processes but to enhance the learning experience by using games, flash cards, and word scrambles to teach you the vocabulary of the language you are trying to learn and helping you to memorize words.
It doesn't matter if you want to learn French, Hindi, Russian, or improve your English skills, there are wonderful lessons and games that will help improve vocabulary while building strong language skills. You will enjoy your vacation so much more if you have at least a basic understanding of the language. I recommend at least being able to ask and understand directions, order food, and find a restroom in addition to having a basic understanding of the local currency and basic counting (this lessens your risk of being taken advantage of by not so honest vendors).
We rely on our language skills for the most basic of tasks each and every day. If you've never been in a situation where communication was impaired by a language barrier, then it is nearly impossible to explain how difficult it can be to find your way around, get food and water, and deal with monetary transactions. Knowing the language also means you can read the signs to get where you're hoping to go, find neat little places along the way you didn't know about, and have a greater overall enjoyment of your vacation experience. It's also great fun to be able to talk to people in their own language while vacationing in order to really have an authentic travel experience.
Please visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com for free language lessons online.
One of the biggest mistakes that English-speaking people do is assume that they will have no trouble finding someone that speaks English where they are going. Although English is the most commonly spoken language right next to Spanish, you can't assume that (or ask of) the natives will be able to communicate with you in your own language. That's why you need to make the first move and start learning theirs.
Language lessons are a great way to improve your understanding of the native language of the places you will be visiting. You can take language lessons online. These lessons are not meant to replace traditional language learning processes but to enhance the learning experience by using games, flash cards, and word scrambles to teach you the vocabulary of the language you are trying to learn and helping you to memorize words.
It doesn't matter if you want to learn French, Hindi, Russian, or improve your English skills, there are wonderful lessons and games that will help improve vocabulary while building strong language skills. You will enjoy your vacation so much more if you have at least a basic understanding of the language. I recommend at least being able to ask and understand directions, order food, and find a restroom in addition to having a basic understanding of the local currency and basic counting (this lessens your risk of being taken advantage of by not so honest vendors).
We rely on our language skills for the most basic of tasks each and every day. If you've never been in a situation where communication was impaired by a language barrier, then it is nearly impossible to explain how difficult it can be to find your way around, get food and water, and deal with monetary transactions. Knowing the language also means you can read the signs to get where you're hoping to go, find neat little places along the way you didn't know about, and have a greater overall enjoyment of your vacation experience. It's also great fun to be able to talk to people in their own language while vacationing in order to really have an authentic travel experience.
Please visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com for free language lessons online.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Early Language Learning Is Best
We all know the importance of play in early childhood and research shows that childhood is the best time to learn new languages. For this reason alone, the Internet has a great deal to offer young children developing foreign language skills. By using flashcards and matching games, children are able to build their vocabulary skills and memorize words according to the picture they belong to. Children love to play games and education can go hand in hand with the games they play. This is indeed a great combination of factors that can lead to a solid foundation for a child's language learning skills.
You cannot simply learn basic language concepts - learning to read is an added bonus. By reading recreationally in another language you are building, perhaps the greatest skills in that language and fostering a love of reading at the same time. The best of all worlds really as so much gets lost in the translation of great literature. Reading in and of itself is a great vocabulary builder in any language. As you come across a word you don't know the meaning of, look it up in the dictionary. You've just improved your vocabulary without even going to too much effort. Even if you can't be bothered to look up its exact meaning, you will be able to deduce it from the context on most occasions. This is even more important to children, who will form up a solid vocabulary early on (they'll improve their native language vocabulary at the same time as they improve the foreign language one).
You can find free online courses in many different languages. While these courses are meant to be used along with formal language lessons, they are still a great source of knowledge and education about other languages. I highly encourage you to take it one step further though and actually study the culture of the people whose language you are learning. It is so much more interesting when you can put faces to the words you are hearing.
Childhood is by far the best time to learn a foreign language. By teaching and encouraging your child about other languages and cultures you are opening the doors of the world of learning and understanding to them. Take care that you make the process fun and game like so they will wish to continue their language studies and perhaps some day surpass the lessons you are able to provide them with. If you can give your child one gift a love of learning is the best gift you can offer. Foster it early and promote it often. Your child should be successful in every endeavor with these early lessons.
You cannot simply learn basic language concepts - learning to read is an added bonus. By reading recreationally in another language you are building, perhaps the greatest skills in that language and fostering a love of reading at the same time. The best of all worlds really as so much gets lost in the translation of great literature. Reading in and of itself is a great vocabulary builder in any language. As you come across a word you don't know the meaning of, look it up in the dictionary. You've just improved your vocabulary without even going to too much effort. Even if you can't be bothered to look up its exact meaning, you will be able to deduce it from the context on most occasions. This is even more important to children, who will form up a solid vocabulary early on (they'll improve their native language vocabulary at the same time as they improve the foreign language one).
You can find free online courses in many different languages. While these courses are meant to be used along with formal language lessons, they are still a great source of knowledge and education about other languages. I highly encourage you to take it one step further though and actually study the culture of the people whose language you are learning. It is so much more interesting when you can put faces to the words you are hearing.
Childhood is by far the best time to learn a foreign language. By teaching and encouraging your child about other languages and cultures you are opening the doors of the world of learning and understanding to them. Take care that you make the process fun and game like so they will wish to continue their language studies and perhaps some day surpass the lessons you are able to provide them with. If you can give your child one gift a love of learning is the best gift you can offer. Foster it early and promote it often. Your child should be successful in every endeavor with these early lessons.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Greek Lessons
If you are learning Greek, we have a good news for you. Now you can learn more Greek words on Internet Polyglot: visit http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lessons-el-en and start memorizing new Greek words!
The fascination for Greece and the Greek language
The history, landscape, culture and people of Greece all have their fair share of increasing our fascination with this beautiful country. The same goes for the Greek language, which was once one of the sturdiest „lingua francas” (dominating languages). For a large period of time starting with antiquity, a true polyglot was only considered that if he knew Greek to perfection.
Comparing it to other languages Greek is not as large or widely spoken, the number of total speakers reaching somewhere up to 11 million, most of which are the native inhabitants of Greece and around 80% of the entire population of Cyprus. So despite the fact that in terms of number of native speakers the Greek language doesn’t rank to high among other languages, culturally it scores a lot of points. As the language of classical Greek philosophy and literature and, later, as the language of the Christian Gospels and the early Church it has profoundly shaped Western thought.
Learning Greek through free Greek lessons online
Despite its cultural importance, Greek is still not widely spread among organized education centers, so your best bet is to try and learn it on your own. For this, you may want to check out a few free Greek lessons online before diving into more complicated „Learn Greek” courses or books that could cost you quite a penny.
Speaking of your standard „Learn Greek” course, in the past most of them focused intensely on teaching grammar rules to the students, neglecting other aspects of the Greek language. This produced generations of so-called polyglots that would know every detail of the Greek language but whose reading, writing and speaking skills were only slightly above average. For this reason, in the latter half of the 20th century, most of these courses tried to open up the variety of exercises the students would have to complete, focusing on other aspects of the Greek language such as vocabulary increase, spelling and pronunciation.
Alternative ways of learning Greek
Besides taking free Greek lessons online or subscribing to the many „Learn Greek” courses out there, you could try some slightly more relaxing alternative ways of learning this beautiful language. Vocabulary games can be a great boost to your Greek word database and playing them could also be a means of relaxation between some work sessions. Although their main purpose is to improve vocabulary, you will also get a better grasp on Greek spelling and possibly pronunciation as well.
Articles about Greek in different languages:
The Fascination for Greece and the Greek Language (in English)
Lengua griega (in Spanish)
Langue grecque (in French)
Griechische Sprache (in German)
Lingua greca (in Italian)
Griekse Taal (in Dutch)
Греция и греческий язык (in Russian)
Língua grega (in Portuguese)
Fascinatia pentru limba Greaca si cultura Greaca (in Romanian)
The fascination for Greece and the Greek language
The history, landscape, culture and people of Greece all have their fair share of increasing our fascination with this beautiful country. The same goes for the Greek language, which was once one of the sturdiest „lingua francas” (dominating languages). For a large period of time starting with antiquity, a true polyglot was only considered that if he knew Greek to perfection.
Comparing it to other languages Greek is not as large or widely spoken, the number of total speakers reaching somewhere up to 11 million, most of which are the native inhabitants of Greece and around 80% of the entire population of Cyprus. So despite the fact that in terms of number of native speakers the Greek language doesn’t rank to high among other languages, culturally it scores a lot of points. As the language of classical Greek philosophy and literature and, later, as the language of the Christian Gospels and the early Church it has profoundly shaped Western thought.
Learning Greek through free Greek lessons online
Despite its cultural importance, Greek is still not widely spread among organized education centers, so your best bet is to try and learn it on your own. For this, you may want to check out a few free Greek lessons online before diving into more complicated „Learn Greek” courses or books that could cost you quite a penny.
Speaking of your standard „Learn Greek” course, in the past most of them focused intensely on teaching grammar rules to the students, neglecting other aspects of the Greek language. This produced generations of so-called polyglots that would know every detail of the Greek language but whose reading, writing and speaking skills were only slightly above average. For this reason, in the latter half of the 20th century, most of these courses tried to open up the variety of exercises the students would have to complete, focusing on other aspects of the Greek language such as vocabulary increase, spelling and pronunciation.
Alternative ways of learning Greek
Besides taking free Greek lessons online or subscribing to the many „Learn Greek” courses out there, you could try some slightly more relaxing alternative ways of learning this beautiful language. Vocabulary games can be a great boost to your Greek word database and playing them could also be a means of relaxation between some work sessions. Although their main purpose is to improve vocabulary, you will also get a better grasp on Greek spelling and possibly pronunciation as well.
Articles about Greek in different languages:
The Fascination for Greece and the Greek Language (in English)
Lengua griega (in Spanish)
Langue grecque (in French)
Griechische Sprache (in German)
Lingua greca (in Italian)
Griekse Taal (in Dutch)
Греция и греческий язык (in Russian)
Língua grega (in Portuguese)
Fascinatia pentru limba Greaca si cultura Greaca (in Romanian)
Arabic Lessons Are Loaded
Please visit http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lessons-ar-en to see the whole new set of cross-language Arabic lessons.
Arabic is spoken by roughly 270 million people in many countries mostly in the Middle East and Nothern Africa.
Translation for these lessons was done by a Syrian so some dialectic particularities may be encountered. Enjoy your language learning with InternetPolyglot!
A short history of the Arabic language
The Arabic language is spoken by roughly 220 million people spread along more than twenty two countries, from Iraq to as far south as Somalia, Sudan or on the Northern African shores of Morocco. Arabic is the language of Quran (which is the Holy book of Islam, an equivalent to the Christian Bible if you wish) and it is considered as an official language in Muslim states throughout the world. The history of the Arabic language starts in Saudi Arabia in pre-Islamic times, from where it spread hastily across the Middle East, Northern Africa and other locations where it is still spoken today.
Linguists have separated the Arabic language into three major categories. These are the following: classical or Qur’anical Arabic, formal or standard Arabic, and spoken or Colloquial Arabic. Among the three, classical Arabic is the form of Arabic that is literally found in the Qur’an, hence the category’s name. Quranical Arabic is only used in religious institutions and sometimes in education, but is not spoken in general. Formal Arabic on the other hand is the official language of the Arabic world and it is used in non-religious literature, institutions and so forth. Lastly, colloquial Arabic is the “slang” of the language, spoken by the majority of people as their daily dialect. Colloquial Arabic is different from area to area, more or less like any similar dialect of any other language.
Learn Arabic course
You can find a huge amount of free Arabic lessons online, as the fascination for this language has made many westerners interested in studying and teaching it. Most lessons will start off by teaching you basic sentences, how to write, how to count and with a scaling introduction to Arabic grammar. If you're absolutely fresh to Arabic, don’t fall in the trap of trying to learn too much at the same time. Take it slow as the Arabic language is not one of the easiest around to grasp. Focus on pronunciation and basic language rules first and then, if you think you got to a point where you can handle it, try what is perhaps the most fun part of learning Arabic: learning how to write.
If you want to try out a “Learn Arabic” course, you should complement it by finding a native Arabic speaker and asking him to help out with short conversations. Large Arabic communities can be found in most areas of the World and with Arabic being one of the official languages of the United Nations, there are more and more polyglots around that can speak it to perfection and help you out.
Improve your vocabulary while having fun
The technique of improving your vocabulary through fun games such as word games, puzzles, quizzes or language exercises can be applied to most languages and Arabic is no exception to the rule. Playing vocabulary games is a great way to memorize words and it also makes the overall learning process much easier. However, take note that improving your vocabulary skills requires constant attention so make sure you get a steady vocabulary increase each day.
Articles about Arabic in different languages:
Arabic Language (in English)
Una historia corta de la lengua árabe (in Spanish)
Langue arabe (in French)
Arabische Sprache (in German)
Lingua araba (in Italian)
Arabische Taal (in Dutch)
Língua árabe (in Portuguese)
O scurta introducere a limbii Arabe (in Romanian)
Краткие сведения об арабском языке (in Russian)
Articles in Arabic in dirrerent languages:
تأريخ اللغة الإنجليزية
جذور اللغة الإسبانية
عالم الفرانكوفوني
سحر اللغة الصينية
أشياء مهمة يجب معرفتها حول اللغة الألمانية قبل البدء بتعلّمها
لسان الشمس المتصاعدة
الحقائق حول اللغة الإيطالية
اللغة الهولندية، من بدايتها حتى اليوم
تعلّم الروسي - كيف و لماذا؟
نظرة خاطفة إلى تأريخ اللغة البرتغالية
السحر لليونان واللغة اليونانية
مختصر تاريخ اللغة العربية
تأريخ اللغة العبرية
جذر الحضارة
هندي - تأريخ وخصائص
جذور اللغة البولندية
تأريخ اللغة الرومانية
الحقائق التأريخية حول اللغة التركية
جذور وفروع اللغة الأوكرانية
Arabic is spoken by roughly 270 million people in many countries mostly in the Middle East and Nothern Africa.
Translation for these lessons was done by a Syrian so some dialectic particularities may be encountered. Enjoy your language learning with InternetPolyglot!
A short history of the Arabic language
The Arabic language is spoken by roughly 220 million people spread along more than twenty two countries, from Iraq to as far south as Somalia, Sudan or on the Northern African shores of Morocco. Arabic is the language of Quran (which is the Holy book of Islam, an equivalent to the Christian Bible if you wish) and it is considered as an official language in Muslim states throughout the world. The history of the Arabic language starts in Saudi Arabia in pre-Islamic times, from where it spread hastily across the Middle East, Northern Africa and other locations where it is still spoken today.
Linguists have separated the Arabic language into three major categories. These are the following: classical or Qur’anical Arabic, formal or standard Arabic, and spoken or Colloquial Arabic. Among the three, classical Arabic is the form of Arabic that is literally found in the Qur’an, hence the category’s name. Quranical Arabic is only used in religious institutions and sometimes in education, but is not spoken in general. Formal Arabic on the other hand is the official language of the Arabic world and it is used in non-religious literature, institutions and so forth. Lastly, colloquial Arabic is the “slang” of the language, spoken by the majority of people as their daily dialect. Colloquial Arabic is different from area to area, more or less like any similar dialect of any other language.
Learn Arabic course
You can find a huge amount of free Arabic lessons online, as the fascination for this language has made many westerners interested in studying and teaching it. Most lessons will start off by teaching you basic sentences, how to write, how to count and with a scaling introduction to Arabic grammar. If you're absolutely fresh to Arabic, don’t fall in the trap of trying to learn too much at the same time. Take it slow as the Arabic language is not one of the easiest around to grasp. Focus on pronunciation and basic language rules first and then, if you think you got to a point where you can handle it, try what is perhaps the most fun part of learning Arabic: learning how to write.
If you want to try out a “Learn Arabic” course, you should complement it by finding a native Arabic speaker and asking him to help out with short conversations. Large Arabic communities can be found in most areas of the World and with Arabic being one of the official languages of the United Nations, there are more and more polyglots around that can speak it to perfection and help you out.
Improve your vocabulary while having fun
The technique of improving your vocabulary through fun games such as word games, puzzles, quizzes or language exercises can be applied to most languages and Arabic is no exception to the rule. Playing vocabulary games is a great way to memorize words and it also makes the overall learning process much easier. However, take note that improving your vocabulary skills requires constant attention so make sure you get a steady vocabulary increase each day.
Articles about Arabic in different languages:
Arabic Language (in English)
Una historia corta de la lengua árabe (in Spanish)
Langue arabe (in French)
Arabische Sprache (in German)
Lingua araba (in Italian)
Arabische Taal (in Dutch)
Língua árabe (in Portuguese)
O scurta introducere a limbii Arabe (in Romanian)
Краткие сведения об арабском языке (in Russian)
Articles in Arabic in dirrerent languages:
تأريخ اللغة الإنجليزية
جذور اللغة الإسبانية
عالم الفرانكوفوني
سحر اللغة الصينية
أشياء مهمة يجب معرفتها حول اللغة الألمانية قبل البدء بتعلّمها
لسان الشمس المتصاعدة
الحقائق حول اللغة الإيطالية
اللغة الهولندية، من بدايتها حتى اليوم
تعلّم الروسي - كيف و لماذا؟
نظرة خاطفة إلى تأريخ اللغة البرتغالية
السحر لليونان واللغة اليونانية
مختصر تاريخ اللغة العربية
تأريخ اللغة العبرية
جذر الحضارة
هندي - تأريخ وخصائص
جذور اللغة البولندية
تأريخ اللغة الرومانية
الحقائق التأريخية حول اللغة التركية
جذور وفروع اللغة الأوكرانية
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Learning A Foreign Language
The speed and consistency at which you assimilate a foreign language depends on a lot of factors, including:
1) Whether or not your mother tongue and the foreign language you're learning have a shared lexical family and glossary (Latin or Germanic languages for example)
2) Your own ability to assimilate new words and think in the new language, rather than translate everything in your mother tongue, translating everything to the new, foreign language afterwards
3) The amount of contact you're receiving with that particular language, externally (for example, English is a lot easier to learn than other languages for most foreigners, since they receive a lot of external contact with it from movies, computer activities, commercials and so forth).
Regardless of the fact that the language you're trying to learn fits into any of the above categories, make no mistake about it, every language is learnable if you follow a few important steps and if you invest a constant stream of time in the learning process. Taking medium to long breaks from learning will be extremely negative in the long run, since it will be harder to get back on track and "re-learn" what you've once assimilated. Think of learning a foreign language as taking care of a huge furnace. You need to place a huge amount of coal in it in order to get it started and then you need to keep the fire burning by constantly shoving medium amounts of coal. If you stop shoving and let the fire go out and the furnace go cold, you'll have to invest almost the same amount of work to get it back on.
So you might be wondering how to start learning a new foreign language, what should be the base point for the learning process. Well, some basic vocabulary will get you started with understanding and pronouncing the language as well as give you something to work with later on. Language learning games are extremely useful in this first stage, since the correlation between images and words will get them to print easier in your mind. Using flashcards is also a good option and although learning what "duck" is in German for example, might not be that satisfying, think about the fact that the whole game thing has a higher purpose. And if you're an adult, try getting past the inherent awkwardness and silliness of this first learning stage as it is proven to be one of the most efficient yet. And who knows, you might even have some fun while you're at it :).
After you're familiar with the new language, after trying out pronouncing what you've seen on the flashcards, or in the game (by the way, always keep a "mother tongue - foreign language" dictionary close to you, since you'll want to check on pronunciations often) you should start off with a couple of translated texts that you can compare. Don't worry about the subject, reading "Little Red Riding Hood" with the annexed translation will be equally helpful as reading a technical view on computer architecture with the relevant translation (actually Little Red might be even more useful, since it will be easier for you to relate the words). Try reading the foreign text, sentence by sentence and then re-reading it in the translation. While doing so, try and spot the similarities in grammar and sentence structure and focus on noun gender, and plurals. It's extremely helpful to get used to the new language's gender and plural system early on or you might get the "habit" of mixing them up, sounding funny at best.
The above-mentioned method of learning a foreign language might not necessarily be the one most appropriate for you. Still, it simulates the way we learn our mother tongue, which makes it easier for us, your brain adapting easier to the new learning process since you've "already been there and done that" once. If you're looking for alternative ways of learning a foreign language, be it Spanish, German, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish, Hindi, Polish, Greek and many more, you could look up one of the many sites out there offering free or paid lessons and tutoring services.
1) Whether or not your mother tongue and the foreign language you're learning have a shared lexical family and glossary (Latin or Germanic languages for example)
2) Your own ability to assimilate new words and think in the new language, rather than translate everything in your mother tongue, translating everything to the new, foreign language afterwards
3) The amount of contact you're receiving with that particular language, externally (for example, English is a lot easier to learn than other languages for most foreigners, since they receive a lot of external contact with it from movies, computer activities, commercials and so forth).
Regardless of the fact that the language you're trying to learn fits into any of the above categories, make no mistake about it, every language is learnable if you follow a few important steps and if you invest a constant stream of time in the learning process. Taking medium to long breaks from learning will be extremely negative in the long run, since it will be harder to get back on track and "re-learn" what you've once assimilated. Think of learning a foreign language as taking care of a huge furnace. You need to place a huge amount of coal in it in order to get it started and then you need to keep the fire burning by constantly shoving medium amounts of coal. If you stop shoving and let the fire go out and the furnace go cold, you'll have to invest almost the same amount of work to get it back on.
So you might be wondering how to start learning a new foreign language, what should be the base point for the learning process. Well, some basic vocabulary will get you started with understanding and pronouncing the language as well as give you something to work with later on. Language learning games are extremely useful in this first stage, since the correlation between images and words will get them to print easier in your mind. Using flashcards is also a good option and although learning what "duck" is in German for example, might not be that satisfying, think about the fact that the whole game thing has a higher purpose. And if you're an adult, try getting past the inherent awkwardness and silliness of this first learning stage as it is proven to be one of the most efficient yet. And who knows, you might even have some fun while you're at it :).
After you're familiar with the new language, after trying out pronouncing what you've seen on the flashcards, or in the game (by the way, always keep a "mother tongue - foreign language" dictionary close to you, since you'll want to check on pronunciations often) you should start off with a couple of translated texts that you can compare. Don't worry about the subject, reading "Little Red Riding Hood" with the annexed translation will be equally helpful as reading a technical view on computer architecture with the relevant translation (actually Little Red might be even more useful, since it will be easier for you to relate the words). Try reading the foreign text, sentence by sentence and then re-reading it in the translation. While doing so, try and spot the similarities in grammar and sentence structure and focus on noun gender, and plurals. It's extremely helpful to get used to the new language's gender and plural system early on or you might get the "habit" of mixing them up, sounding funny at best.
The above-mentioned method of learning a foreign language might not necessarily be the one most appropriate for you. Still, it simulates the way we learn our mother tongue, which makes it easier for us, your brain adapting easier to the new learning process since you've "already been there and done that" once. If you're looking for alternative ways of learning a foreign language, be it Spanish, German, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish, Hindi, Polish, Greek and many more, you could look up one of the many sites out there offering free or paid lessons and tutoring services.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Learning A Foreign Language Through Educational Games
If you have children of your own, or if you have a little brother or sister that you've watched growing up, you might have noticed how they started learning your native language. The first words they usually speak out are the ones that they come into contact the most often, usually the name of their parents, parental appellatives such as "mama" or "papa" or "dada" and so forth. Later on, as they are encouraged to express verbally, their vocabulary base will consist of words that they meet in their "daily activities", which for most children simply include eating, sleep and... playing. This is where I actually wanted to bring the discussion to, learning a language through playing and especially through educational games that are specifically aimed for this purpose.
Since most children follow the above mentioned pattern when learning their native language many scientists claim that simulating the process at an older age can produce the same learning effects with a foreign language. The reason for this is that the brain already got used to that specific type of learning and it will adapt easier when confronted with a similar situation later on in life. That's why learning a foreign language through children's games has become increasingly popular among adults, despite the slight awkwardness of the situation. Flashcard games are such an example, a flashcard being a small piece of material with a picture of an item printed on it and a related word (or small text) describing the picture. The image-text correlation is extremely potent when having to memorize words. Using flashcards is a good way to start building the basic vocabulary for the language you're learning and it gives you a first contact with the language pronunciation (you'll need a dictionary for this of course).
Another great way to learn a foreign language is by playing computer games. Although most games are in English (and if you're reading this, you already know English I assume...) some computer games have translated versions for specific languages (mostly German, Spanish, French or Italian). If you can get a copy of one of these translated games it could be a great way to start learning that specific language and have fun at the same time.
A study exists in this sense, where a young English boy that couldn't speak any language but his native one was invited to play a popular online PC game on a French server. Although he was extremely confused at first, the constant contact with the other human players in the game, combined with a natural correlation between what he saw on the screen and the game chat gradually helped him understand the French language. The game experience was almost like throwing him in the middle of say, Paris, with no knowledge of the French language. After living in a foreign environment, hearing and reading a particular language at all times and instinctively correlating words with actions and images one actually starts learning that particular language, a fact proven by the above experiment. This just proves that online educational games (well not necessarily educational ones, but simply "games") may yet become the future language learning centers of tomorrow. To the same extent, millions of players all around the world learn and perfect their English language skills while playing the numerous online games available today.
Of course, there are still "classic" educational games out there that you can try out. Some sites offer several such educational games for languages ranging from English, German, Spanish or Italian to Polish, Romanian, Turkish or Ukrainian (and many more). If you're thinking about beginning to learn a new language, these educational games might prove to be starting point that you need. Some are actually fun and quite addictive and they are a surefire way towards boosting your vocabulary in that particular language.
Since most children follow the above mentioned pattern when learning their native language many scientists claim that simulating the process at an older age can produce the same learning effects with a foreign language. The reason for this is that the brain already got used to that specific type of learning and it will adapt easier when confronted with a similar situation later on in life. That's why learning a foreign language through children's games has become increasingly popular among adults, despite the slight awkwardness of the situation. Flashcard games are such an example, a flashcard being a small piece of material with a picture of an item printed on it and a related word (or small text) describing the picture. The image-text correlation is extremely potent when having to memorize words. Using flashcards is a good way to start building the basic vocabulary for the language you're learning and it gives you a first contact with the language pronunciation (you'll need a dictionary for this of course).
Another great way to learn a foreign language is by playing computer games. Although most games are in English (and if you're reading this, you already know English I assume...) some computer games have translated versions for specific languages (mostly German, Spanish, French or Italian). If you can get a copy of one of these translated games it could be a great way to start learning that specific language and have fun at the same time.
A study exists in this sense, where a young English boy that couldn't speak any language but his native one was invited to play a popular online PC game on a French server. Although he was extremely confused at first, the constant contact with the other human players in the game, combined with a natural correlation between what he saw on the screen and the game chat gradually helped him understand the French language. The game experience was almost like throwing him in the middle of say, Paris, with no knowledge of the French language. After living in a foreign environment, hearing and reading a particular language at all times and instinctively correlating words with actions and images one actually starts learning that particular language, a fact proven by the above experiment. This just proves that online educational games (well not necessarily educational ones, but simply "games") may yet become the future language learning centers of tomorrow. To the same extent, millions of players all around the world learn and perfect their English language skills while playing the numerous online games available today.
Of course, there are still "classic" educational games out there that you can try out. Some sites offer several such educational games for languages ranging from English, German, Spanish or Italian to Polish, Romanian, Turkish or Ukrainian (and many more). If you're thinking about beginning to learn a new language, these educational games might prove to be starting point that you need. Some are actually fun and quite addictive and they are a surefire way towards boosting your vocabulary in that particular language.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Some nice pictures
Hey! Since we have pictures on Internet Polyglot I thought you'll like some of them. Here are my favorites (so far):
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1060140
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1060250
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1060270
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1060370
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1010260
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1010300
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1060140
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1060250
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1060270
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1060370
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1010260
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-image.html?imageId=1010300
[New feature] Chat page
A new addition to the collection of Internet Polyglot features. If you like online chatting and also think that it can improve your language skills, please be welcomed to the Internet Polyglot chat page: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/public-chat.html
Sunday, August 20, 2006
More images! Random word on home page.
A new feature has been added today: a random word on the home page. When you press an icon with two green triangles pointing to the right you see a randomly picked word in all languages of InternetPolyglot. And it has a picture too! It looks like this:
Now you know what is "to be sleepy" in many languages :) . Press the "Next" icon, learn another word and enjoy a fine picture.
Now you know what is "to be sleepy" in many languages :) . Press the "Next" icon, learn another word and enjoy a fine picture.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Images in Lessons
Now some of the language lessons have images in them. There are only a few now but their number started growing and very soon almost all of them will have pictures that will help visualizing your learning process and make it more fun and efficient.
To take a look at the pictures go here: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lessons-es-en or any other list of lessons and move your mouse over one of the icons of a photocamera. Voila, you'll see something like this:
It means that this lesson has images associated with its word translations. If you click on the large image that is opened in the popup, you'll enter the lesson. For example this one: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lesson-4602101010 and you will see that all words there have this camera icon. Move your mouse over it and enjoy high quality pictures that, we are sure, will improve your abilities to memorize more foreign words.
To take a look at the pictures go here: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lessons-es-en or any other list of lessons and move your mouse over one of the icons of a photocamera. Voila, you'll see something like this:
It means that this lesson has images associated with its word translations. If you click on the large image that is opened in the popup, you'll enter the lesson. For example this one: http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lesson-4602101010 and you will see that all words there have this camera icon. Move your mouse over it and enjoy high quality pictures that, we are sure, will improve your abilities to memorize more foreign words.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
How to Memorize Words
One of the first steps we take when learning a language, be it our mother tongue as children, or a foreign language later on in life, is expanding our vocabulary by memorizing words (usually nouns and adjectives at first). Memorizing is done naturally when we're living in an environment that forces that particular language on us (such as our homes as children, or as visitors in a foreign country) but it can also be "forced" through several methods. The following article will try to present some of these methods that could help you learn how to memorize words faster when learning a foreign language.
Flashcards
Flashcards are the basic tools for word memorizing and although they are used mostly with small children, they can also be useful for grown-ups when learning a new foreign language. Basically, a flashcard is a piece of carton containing an image of a noun (usually nouns, although they can oftentimes contain colors, actions and so forth) with the appropriate word describing it and possibly, a small text that explains what the object is. They are a good way to take your first step into the vocabulary of the foreign language you are learning and they can be fun to use together with your children.
Using Mnemonic Links
A mnemonic is generally described as an abbreviation or a symbolic representation that helps humans memorize a certain "something" easier. Mnemonics are used to enhance and develop the assimilation of data into memory and there's no better use to them than in learning a new language. Since when you're gradually building your new vocabulary for the new language you will inevitably translate and think those words out in your mother tongue, you can use such a mnemonic to make this translation easier to memorize. For example if you've just learnt how to say "seaside" in the foreign language you're studying, imagine a picture of the seaside and then switch back between the native and foreign language words of what you're seeing. The image, which is easier to remember than a word, will act as an intermediate between the two languages.
Memory Enhancement Medication
There are several natural supplements out there that help you memorize stuff faster and for a longer period of time, as well as help with concentration during the learning process. Some of the herbs that are known to have a memory enhancing effect include Ashwagandha, Reishi, Ginseng, Bacopa, Mucuna Pruriens or Fo-Ti. Ginseng is one of the most popular in the list and it is widely used as a supplement in language learning classes as well as generally used by students before exams or during the school year. There are no side effects to these herbs but you might be allergic to one, so it is best if you visit your medic before taking any of them, asking if you are allowed or not to start a long or short-term memory enhancement plan.
There are also several vitamins and nutrients that could help out with memorizing new words, the list including: carnitine, lecitine, carnosine, choline, inositol, tyrosine and several others, but these are not the point of our discussion.
Visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com for word memorizing lessons and games.
Flashcards
Flashcards are the basic tools for word memorizing and although they are used mostly with small children, they can also be useful for grown-ups when learning a new foreign language. Basically, a flashcard is a piece of carton containing an image of a noun (usually nouns, although they can oftentimes contain colors, actions and so forth) with the appropriate word describing it and possibly, a small text that explains what the object is. They are a good way to take your first step into the vocabulary of the foreign language you are learning and they can be fun to use together with your children.
Using Mnemonic Links
A mnemonic is generally described as an abbreviation or a symbolic representation that helps humans memorize a certain "something" easier. Mnemonics are used to enhance and develop the assimilation of data into memory and there's no better use to them than in learning a new language. Since when you're gradually building your new vocabulary for the new language you will inevitably translate and think those words out in your mother tongue, you can use such a mnemonic to make this translation easier to memorize. For example if you've just learnt how to say "seaside" in the foreign language you're studying, imagine a picture of the seaside and then switch back between the native and foreign language words of what you're seeing. The image, which is easier to remember than a word, will act as an intermediate between the two languages.
Memory Enhancement Medication
There are several natural supplements out there that help you memorize stuff faster and for a longer period of time, as well as help with concentration during the learning process. Some of the herbs that are known to have a memory enhancing effect include Ashwagandha, Reishi, Ginseng, Bacopa, Mucuna Pruriens or Fo-Ti. Ginseng is one of the most popular in the list and it is widely used as a supplement in language learning classes as well as generally used by students before exams or during the school year. There are no side effects to these herbs but you might be allergic to one, so it is best if you visit your medic before taking any of them, asking if you are allowed or not to start a long or short-term memory enhancement plan.
There are also several vitamins and nutrients that could help out with memorizing new words, the list including: carnitine, lecitine, carnosine, choline, inositol, tyrosine and several others, but these are not the point of our discussion.
Visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.com for word memorizing lessons and games.
Friday, August 11, 2006
New button in the menu
I've just placed a new button at the bottom of the left menu. The button looks like this:
My dearest Internet Polyglotter, if you like the site, if you think that using Internet Polyglot helped you in your language learning endeavor, if your vocabulary increased because of using of Internet Polyglot, you know what to do, right? :D
Let me tell you how your donation will be used:
1. We have long lasting plans to place pictures on the site so that words and translations have colorful, eye-pleasing images.
2. We want to have sound in our lessons.
3. We want to improve the game statistics - organize contests.
And lots of other cool things are waiting to make your language learning more efficient and fun. This donation will help make it possible.
My dearest Internet Polyglotter, if you like the site, if you think that using Internet Polyglot helped you in your language learning endeavor, if your vocabulary increased because of using of Internet Polyglot, you know what to do, right? :DLet me tell you how your donation will be used:
1. We have long lasting plans to place pictures on the site so that words and translations have colorful, eye-pleasing images.
2. We want to have sound in our lessons.
3. We want to improve the game statistics - organize contests.
And lots of other cool things are waiting to make your language learning more efficient and fun. This donation will help make it possible.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
How to Improve Your Vocabulary
Picture learning a new language as building a house from scratch. You can't wait to handle the design, buy the furniture or decorate the rooms, but first you need to go through the hard process of actually raising it from the ground. The vocabulary of a language is both its foundation and it contains the words that you will have to use as "bricks" when building it and although it's not crucial to have a huge amount of bricks, the more you have the bigger the house, hence the higher the comfort. Actually, taking the discussion back to the linguistic field, studies have shown that we only need 100 or so "core words" from a language's vocabulary in order to be able to handle basic communication. But that's comparable to having a single room apartment, when you might need a 2 story villa, so we need to see how we can improve the number of bricks we can use :).
I'm presuming you already have a relatively solid grasp of the basic vocabulary of the language you're trying to enhance, or we wouldn't be talking about "improving" one's vocabulary but rather on how to learn it from scratch. If you've learnt the language from a course book or with the help of some online lessons, you probably have a limited amount of basic words, since these courses focus on a little bit of everything, including spelling, grammar, pronunciation and so forth, leaving little room to concentrate strictly on your vocabulary.
Reading and listening are two of the most important ways of increasing your vocabulary in a specific language. Whenever you have the chance to listen to someone speaking that language, or if you get your hands on some article written in it, make sure you do your best to understand it, focusing on the words that you don't know. If you can't "guess" them out of the context, have a dictionary near you to help you out with these new words. Especially if you're reading instead of listening, make sure you get the pronunciation right for the new words (dictionaries usually offer the pronunciation of the word besides its translation).
Another good way to increase your vocabulary is to engage in interactive activities in that particular foreign language. Educational games can be a fun way of expanding your word pool as well as playing a computer game in that language, trying to relate what's happening on the screen with what you're reading/hearing in case you stumble on some new words.
Last but not least, you could practice what language courses call the "A new word each day" game. Make it a habit to look up a new word in the dictionary each day and memorize it. Of course, you shouldn't stop at rare, practically useless words; instead, focus on commonly used words that are new to you, words that you actually have the chance of using in day-to-day conversation. If you combine this method with other vocabulary improvement ones, the daily amount of new words will probably be high enough to make it count, but small enough to not overload your memory with stuff that you are just going to forget the next day.
Increase your foreign language vocabulary at http://www.InternetPolyglot.com by playing online games. The site contains thousands of lessons in different languages from English, Spanish, French, Russian to Hindi, Turkish, Ukrainian and many others.
I'm presuming you already have a relatively solid grasp of the basic vocabulary of the language you're trying to enhance, or we wouldn't be talking about "improving" one's vocabulary but rather on how to learn it from scratch. If you've learnt the language from a course book or with the help of some online lessons, you probably have a limited amount of basic words, since these courses focus on a little bit of everything, including spelling, grammar, pronunciation and so forth, leaving little room to concentrate strictly on your vocabulary.
Reading and listening are two of the most important ways of increasing your vocabulary in a specific language. Whenever you have the chance to listen to someone speaking that language, or if you get your hands on some article written in it, make sure you do your best to understand it, focusing on the words that you don't know. If you can't "guess" them out of the context, have a dictionary near you to help you out with these new words. Especially if you're reading instead of listening, make sure you get the pronunciation right for the new words (dictionaries usually offer the pronunciation of the word besides its translation).
Another good way to increase your vocabulary is to engage in interactive activities in that particular foreign language. Educational games can be a fun way of expanding your word pool as well as playing a computer game in that language, trying to relate what's happening on the screen with what you're reading/hearing in case you stumble on some new words.
Last but not least, you could practice what language courses call the "A new word each day" game. Make it a habit to look up a new word in the dictionary each day and memorize it. Of course, you shouldn't stop at rare, practically useless words; instead, focus on commonly used words that are new to you, words that you actually have the chance of using in day-to-day conversation. If you combine this method with other vocabulary improvement ones, the daily amount of new words will probably be high enough to make it count, but small enough to not overload your memory with stuff that you are just going to forget the next day.
Increase your foreign language vocabulary at http://www.InternetPolyglot.com by playing online games. The site contains thousands of lessons in different languages from English, Spanish, French, Russian to Hindi, Turkish, Ukrainian and many others.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Home Versus Travel-based Language Learning
When you’ve set your mind on learning a new language, you are in the position to choose how to start learning it. You basically have three options: starting a practical home-based language learning course (possibly an online one), starting a so-called “travel-based” learning experience that would have you travel to a country speaking the language you intend to learn for at least a couple of weeks, or a combination of the two. We’ll try to dissect these two language learning methods and compare them to see which one is best (or which one is more appropriate for you).
First of all, home-based language courses have two great advantages: they’re cheaper and they’re more comfortable. Regardless of the language you’re learning, you’ll most likely find dozens of “Learn it yourself” course books as they are in high demand. If they’re structured correctly, these courses can actually build a solid foundation for the foreign language you’re learning if you can spend enough time and energy to truly focus on each lesson and tackle any problems you might be hindered by.
If you prefer, you also have the option of taking a free online language course provided by one of the many sites focusing on language learning (such as Internet Polyglot for example). These free online courses are even more comfortable (and cheaper of course) than if you would learn from a course book but they can sometimes be less structured, which makes it extremely important to focus on finding an excellent course to take on, rather than simply start with the first one that turns up in your search engine for the phrase “free online language course”. If possible, find an online language course that offers both written lessons and spoken ones (through E-media). They are extremely useful in correlating spelling with pronunciation and generally getting you used to the language you’re about to learn (not to mention that stimulating two senses, hearing and seeing, doubles the effect of the learning process).
Travel based language learning methods on the other hand are definitely more expensive and they might disrupt your daily routine. They are usually taken in vacation periods, but if you work online for example, you might even set up a small “office” in the country you’re aiming to learn the language of. This way you can keep to your daily duties and start learning at the same time.
The advantage of a travel based language is obvious. By getting plunged straight into an oasis of foreign words, your brain will focus on adapting and understanding the new language a lot better. Correlations between images and words are made a lot easier in this case and even a short trip to the supermarket for example, will get you to learn a few words and get you used with the new language. In a couple of weeks, you’ll already be able to say some of the basic words and some phrases and if the travel period is longer you have every chance of being able to conduct a short conversation with basic words successfully.
To conclude, it must be said that neither of these methods can guarantee you’ll be a fluent speaker of the new language after they are “complete”. Their purpose is solely to create a basic foundation for the new language, a foundation that will be useful later on if you want to further focus on the language and actually learn it in detail. Each method has some strong points (grammar and spelling for home-based, pronunciation for travel-based) and some weak points (pronunciation for home-based and spelling for travel-based for example), which may lead to the idea that a combination of the two is the best way to go, since they complement each other quite well.
First of all, home-based language courses have two great advantages: they’re cheaper and they’re more comfortable. Regardless of the language you’re learning, you’ll most likely find dozens of “Learn it yourself” course books as they are in high demand. If they’re structured correctly, these courses can actually build a solid foundation for the foreign language you’re learning if you can spend enough time and energy to truly focus on each lesson and tackle any problems you might be hindered by.
If you prefer, you also have the option of taking a free online language course provided by one of the many sites focusing on language learning (such as Internet Polyglot for example). These free online courses are even more comfortable (and cheaper of course) than if you would learn from a course book but they can sometimes be less structured, which makes it extremely important to focus on finding an excellent course to take on, rather than simply start with the first one that turns up in your search engine for the phrase “free online language course”. If possible, find an online language course that offers both written lessons and spoken ones (through E-media). They are extremely useful in correlating spelling with pronunciation and generally getting you used to the language you’re about to learn (not to mention that stimulating two senses, hearing and seeing, doubles the effect of the learning process).
Travel based language learning methods on the other hand are definitely more expensive and they might disrupt your daily routine. They are usually taken in vacation periods, but if you work online for example, you might even set up a small “office” in the country you’re aiming to learn the language of. This way you can keep to your daily duties and start learning at the same time.
The advantage of a travel based language is obvious. By getting plunged straight into an oasis of foreign words, your brain will focus on adapting and understanding the new language a lot better. Correlations between images and words are made a lot easier in this case and even a short trip to the supermarket for example, will get you to learn a few words and get you used with the new language. In a couple of weeks, you’ll already be able to say some of the basic words and some phrases and if the travel period is longer you have every chance of being able to conduct a short conversation with basic words successfully.
To conclude, it must be said that neither of these methods can guarantee you’ll be a fluent speaker of the new language after they are “complete”. Their purpose is solely to create a basic foundation for the new language, a foundation that will be useful later on if you want to further focus on the language and actually learn it in detail. Each method has some strong points (grammar and spelling for home-based, pronunciation for travel-based) and some weak points (pronunciation for home-based and spelling for travel-based for example), which may lead to the idea that a combination of the two is the best way to go, since they complement each other quite well.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Site translated to Italian
Is your native language Italian? Or maybe you are learning or interested in learning Italian? In both cases check out Internet Polyglot in Italian! Here is how you can switch to Italian in the Internet Polyglot menu:
Benvenuto!
And as usual, our joke of the day:
The Mystery of Childbirth
A boy was assigned a paper on childbirth and asked his parents, "How was I born?"
"Well honey..." said the slightly prudish parent, "the stork brought you to us."
"Oh," said the boy. "Well, how did you and daddy get born?" he asked.
"Oh, the stork brought us too."
"Well how were grandpa and grandma born?" he persisted.
"Well darling, the stork brought them too!" said the parent, by now starting to squirm a little in the Lazy Boy recliner.
Several days later, the boy handed in his paper to the teacher who read with confusion the opening sentence:
"This report has been very difficult to write due to the fact that there hasn't been a natural childbirth in my family for three generations."
Benvenuto!
And as usual, our joke of the day:
The Mystery of Childbirth
A boy was assigned a paper on childbirth and asked his parents, "How was I born?"
"Well honey..." said the slightly prudish parent, "the stork brought you to us."
"Oh," said the boy. "Well, how did you and daddy get born?" he asked.
"Oh, the stork brought us too."
"Well how were grandpa and grandma born?" he persisted.
"Well darling, the stork brought them too!" said the parent, by now starting to squirm a little in the Lazy Boy recliner.
Several days later, the boy handed in his paper to the teacher who read with confusion the opening sentence:
"This report has been very difficult to write due to the fact that there hasn't been a natural childbirth in my family for three generations."
Thursday, July 27, 2006
5 Reasons Why You Should Learn a Foreign Language
During the modern age, with globalization at its height, knowing one or two secondary languages has become more than a simple feat of high class and intelligence but also a strict requirement in many occasions. Whether it’s for professional, social or personal reasons, learning at least one foreign language is a must for anyone that wants to keep his or her head up high in today’s society. Let’s take a focused look on 5 of the main reasons that should turn you towards learning a foreign language.
- Professional Requirement
This is probably the main reason for which one would learn a foreign language. Many professions require the knowledge of at least one or two foreign languages, depending on the field of the job. Most jobs may ask that you know an international language such as English, French, Spanish or German or a business-specific language such as Chinese, Japanese, Russian and so forth. If you’re a native English speaker you may have it a bit easier, since English is the main international language (and one that is present the most often in job descriptions) but knowing a secondary might also prove vital.
- Social Bonus
Yes, knowing a foreign language (or more) is definitely a social bonus. There’s definitely a steep hill to climb between being presented as someone that doesn’t know any foreign language whatsoever against being presented as a polyglot. Another case when knowing a foreign language can be literally a social blessing is when meeting a foreigner whose language you can speak. They’ll be extremely impressed by your ability to talk with them through their own native tongue, although you’re on home grounds and this fact can single handedly create a great impression around you. If the foreigner happens to be part of a business meeting, this impression can turn to a successful business partnership, bringing you both professional and social satisfactions.
- Family Communication
It’s often the case where a couple formed out of persons of diverse nationalities understand each other through a commonly known international language such as English. However, they’ll soon want to start learning the other person’s mother tongue, not only for a better communication, but also out of respect for them.
- Personal Satisfaction
Learning a foreign language is one of the highest intellectual goals that one could have, on a personal scale. Think about a difficult puzzle, or math problem that takes months if not years of constant studying in order to be solved. The process of solving it may be a hard, arduous one but the yell of joy at the end is well worth it. It’s the same case with learning a foreign language: the learning process is not easy and you’ll have many small issues and problems to tackle along the way. You’ll have to focus on various aspects of the problem, such as spelling, grammar, reading, pronunciation and so forth. If you keep the problem in sight however and if you don’t lose interest in it, the chances of solving it are extremely high and the intellectual fulfillment that you get at the end is incomparable to anything else.
- Keeping Your Mind Healthy
It’s been scientifically proven that by learning a new language, the process stimulates your brain in such a way that it will make you more keen on understanding and learning other subjects, including “real” disciplines such as math, physics, chemistry and so forth. Learning a new language requires the memorizing and understanding of several thousand new words and concepts, which offers your brain a good training for future occasions where memorizing is a must. After studying a foreign language you’ll have better results with studying for exams, with information assimilation and generally, with keeping your mind healthy and “active” even at older ages.
For more information, visit http://www.InternetPolyglot.comWednesday, July 26, 2006
[New feature] Dictionary popup window
On the Internet Polyglot you can use a new small improvement that allows you to open Google translator. This way you can translate foreign words to your native language and vice versa (of course if Google translator has your language). To open the translator window click on the "Dictionary" link on the left menu. Here is the picture of how you can use it:
And as usual, our joke of the day:
A man was riding in the back of his limousine when he saw a man eating grass by the roadside. He ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate.
And as usual, our joke of the day:
A man was riding in the back of his limousine when he saw a man eating grass by the roadside. He ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate.
"Why are you eating grass?" he asked the man.
"I don't have any money for food," the poor man replied.
"Oh, please come to my house!"
"But sir, I have a wife and four children..."
"Bring them along!" the rich man said.
They all climbed into the limo. Once underway, the poor fellow said, "Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us in."
The rich man replied, "No, you don't understand. The grass at my house is over three feet tall!"
Monday, July 17, 2006
Ukrainian lessons
Our volunteers have always been our strength. A huge portion of all Internet Polyglot lessons has been created by them and we are all very grateful to them. Today I have loaded new, Ukrainian lessons and they are now available for the public view.
These lessons are a product of the best example of team work. They were created by my good friend Jenia, and her friends from Ukrain Tatiana and Slava. Great work, guys! Your contribution to the world language learning community is priceless! Thank you from the bottom of our heart.
Now I would like to write a couple of words about the Ukrainian language and Ukraine. Ukrain is an East-European country located on the North of Black Sea bordering Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova and Hungary. Its capital is Kiev. Formerly, until 1991 it was a republic of USSR. Historically, it is considered the craddle of the Slavic civilisation - Kievan Rus existed in the Middle Ages.
Ukrainian language (украї́нська мо́ва, ukrayins'ka mova ) is one of the Slavic languages most close to Russian, Belarus, Polish. The alphabet is cyrillic. There are about 40 million Urkainian speaking people in the world. Except Ukraine it is also spoken in Russia, Polan, Belarus, Canada, Moldova, Brazil and several other countries.
Ласкаво просимо! Welcome!
And now our usual joke of the day:
A man is driving down the road and notices a car in the ditch. He doesn't usually help many people so he drives on by. Then he notices that a pretty woman is the driver so he goes back to help.
Roots and branches of the Ukrainian language
Slavonic languages are usually split up by linguists into three main groups, determined by their geographical position: Western, Southern and Eastern Slavonic. Despite sharing the same ethnical foundation and several linguistic similitudes there are also a number of easily spottable differences between these three main groups. It should be noted though, that regardless of the category their language is set under, Slavonic speakers can, for the most part, understand each other without the need of an interpreter. Even more so, once you’ve learnt a Slavonic language it will be extremely easy to pass onto another and become a true polyglot in no time. That’s why learning Ukrainian is also important if you’re planning on learning another language from the Eastern Slavonic language tree, such as Russian or Belarusian.
Statistics and properties of the Ukrainian language
The number of Ukrainian speakers is somewhere around 51 million people, of which 90% are concentrated in Ukraine. The other 10% make up the Ukrainian Diaspora, which is spread along several countries all across the World, such as Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia and the United States.
From a structural point of view, Ukrainian resembles Russian mostly, from all the other Slavonic languages. Of course, this is also an effect of the Russian dominance over Ukraine as well as the constant influence of the Russian trade and migration in the area. Most linguists will agree that once you know either Russian or Ukrainian, it would only take a couple of months and a solid course to learn the other language. Therefore, it could even pass on as a waste not to learn the “complementary” language once you’ve already studied one of them.
Learning Ukrainian
If you’ve decided to start studying Ukrainian on your own, from the warmth of your home instead of taking an organized “Learn Ukrainian” course or something similar, there are a few methods at your disposal that can come in as rather useful. First of all, remember that the Internet is your friend and you can easily find free Ukrainian lessons online, some of which may prove extremely useful while others will prove to be a waste of time. Don’t start one of these lesson courses before you make sure it’s exactly what you’re after and maybe scooping around to see what others have to say about them first.
Your second option is to start learning through some lighthearted vocabulary games. Vocabulary games are a good choice for newcomers to the Ukrainian language that don’t have a basic set of known words already and want to have a foundation to improve vocabulary upon. These games will help you memorize words easier and some of them can help you out with spelling and even pronunciation, so you will hit more than one rabbit from one shot.
Articles about Ukrainian in different languages:
Roots and Branches of the Ukrainian Language (in English)
Lengua Ucraniana (in Spanish)
Langue ukrainienne (in French)
Ukrainische Sprache (in German)
Lingua ucraina (in Italian)
Oekraïense Taal (in Dutch)
Língua Ukrainian (in Portuguese)
Radacinile si ramurile limbii Ucrainiene (in Romanian)
Корни украинского языка (in Russian)
جذور وفروع اللغة الأوكرانية (in Arabic)
These lessons are a product of the best example of team work. They were created by my good friend Jenia, and her friends from Ukrain Tatiana and Slava. Great work, guys! Your contribution to the world language learning community is priceless! Thank you from the bottom of our heart.
Now I would like to write a couple of words about the Ukrainian language and Ukraine. Ukrain is an East-European country located on the North of Black Sea bordering Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova and Hungary. Its capital is Kiev. Formerly, until 1991 it was a republic of USSR. Historically, it is considered the craddle of the Slavic civilisation - Kievan Rus existed in the Middle Ages.
Ukrainian language (украї́нська мо́ва, ukrayins'ka mova ) is one of the Slavic languages most close to Russian, Belarus, Polish. The alphabet is cyrillic. There are about 40 million Urkainian speaking people in the world. Except Ukraine it is also spoken in Russia, Polan, Belarus, Canada, Moldova, Brazil and several other countries.
Ласкаво просимо! Welcome!
And now our usual joke of the day:
A man is driving down the road and notices a car in the ditch. He doesn't usually help many people so he drives on by. Then he notices that a pretty woman is the driver so he goes back to help.
As he is hooking his truck to her car he says, “You know, you are the first pregnant woman I've ever helped out of a ditch.”
“But I'm not pregnant,” she says.
“Well, you're not out of the ditch yet,” he says.
Roots and branches of the Ukrainian language
Slavonic languages are usually split up by linguists into three main groups, determined by their geographical position: Western, Southern and Eastern Slavonic. Despite sharing the same ethnical foundation and several linguistic similitudes there are also a number of easily spottable differences between these three main groups. It should be noted though, that regardless of the category their language is set under, Slavonic speakers can, for the most part, understand each other without the need of an interpreter. Even more so, once you’ve learnt a Slavonic language it will be extremely easy to pass onto another and become a true polyglot in no time. That’s why learning Ukrainian is also important if you’re planning on learning another language from the Eastern Slavonic language tree, such as Russian or Belarusian.
Statistics and properties of the Ukrainian language
The number of Ukrainian speakers is somewhere around 51 million people, of which 90% are concentrated in Ukraine. The other 10% make up the Ukrainian Diaspora, which is spread along several countries all across the World, such as Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia and the United States.
From a structural point of view, Ukrainian resembles Russian mostly, from all the other Slavonic languages. Of course, this is also an effect of the Russian dominance over Ukraine as well as the constant influence of the Russian trade and migration in the area. Most linguists will agree that once you know either Russian or Ukrainian, it would only take a couple of months and a solid course to learn the other language. Therefore, it could even pass on as a waste not to learn the “complementary” language once you’ve already studied one of them.
Learning Ukrainian
If you’ve decided to start studying Ukrainian on your own, from the warmth of your home instead of taking an organized “Learn Ukrainian” course or something similar, there are a few methods at your disposal that can come in as rather useful. First of all, remember that the Internet is your friend and you can easily find free Ukrainian lessons online, some of which may prove extremely useful while others will prove to be a waste of time. Don’t start one of these lesson courses before you make sure it’s exactly what you’re after and maybe scooping around to see what others have to say about them first.
Your second option is to start learning through some lighthearted vocabulary games. Vocabulary games are a good choice for newcomers to the Ukrainian language that don’t have a basic set of known words already and want to have a foundation to improve vocabulary upon. These games will help you memorize words easier and some of them can help you out with spelling and even pronunciation, so you will hit more than one rabbit from one shot.
Articles about Ukrainian in different languages:
Roots and Branches of the Ukrainian Language (in English)
Lengua Ucraniana (in Spanish)
Langue ukrainienne (in French)
Ukrainische Sprache (in German)
Lingua ucraina (in Italian)
Oekraïense Taal (in Dutch)
Língua Ukrainian (in Portuguese)
Radacinile si ramurile limbii Ucrainiene (in Romanian)
Корни украинского языка (in Russian)
جذور وفروع اللغة الأوكرانية (in Arabic)
Thursday, July 13, 2006
New feature: popup window with list of word translations
Today I implemented a new nice feature that will allow you to browse the lessons more efficiently. Here is the picture how it works:
You no longer have to click on lesson name and enter the lesson detail page just to see what's inside of this lesson. Just navigate your mouse over the icon next to the lesson name and voila - you get a pop-up window with the content of this lesson. Neat, huh? Just visit any list of lessons, such as Turkish-English lessons and move your mouse over this icon. Enjoy better browsing!
And, as usual, the joke of the day:
There was a tourist on a farm and he asked the farmer why one pig had a wooden leg.
The farmer said, ''That pig is the bravest pig I ever saw.''
''So why does he have a wooden leg?'' the tourist asked.
''Well one night our house caught on fire. And he came into our house and he woke us all up.''
''So,'' the tourist asked again, ''why does that pig have a wooden leg?''
''Well, a pig that brave you can't eat all at once!''
You no longer have to click on lesson name and enter the lesson detail page just to see what's inside of this lesson. Just navigate your mouse over the icon next to the lesson name and voila - you get a pop-up window with the content of this lesson. Neat, huh? Just visit any list of lessons, such as Turkish-English lessons and move your mouse over this icon. Enjoy better browsing!And, as usual, the joke of the day:
There was a tourist on a farm and he asked the farmer why one pig had a wooden leg.
The farmer said, ''That pig is the bravest pig I ever saw.''
''So why does he have a wooden leg?'' the tourist asked.
''Well one night our house caught on fire. And he came into our house and he woke us all up.''
''So,'' the tourist asked again, ''why does that pig have a wooden leg?''
''Well, a pig that brave you can't eat all at once!''
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Portuguese Lessons
Today Internet Polyglot received a new important addition: Portuguese Lessons have been loaded to the database and now are available for Portuguese language learners.
Portuguese is a Romance group language that is currently spoken by about 220 million people in Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and some other countries. The lessons were created by a Brazilian person so they are using the Brazilian dialect of Portuguese. There are some differences between the dialects, for example, bus in Brasil is ônibus and in Portugal is autocarro
Of course these differences are not very significant.
And as usual, the joke of the day (one of my favorites):
A small peek into the Portuguese language history
At its roots, Portuguese is a Latin language, having several over-layers of nomadic influences as well as native ones from the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula. Of all the other Latin languages, Portuguese resembles Spanish the most, as the two languages have risen from similar cultures and had almost the same influences throughout their history. Actually, a Portuguese speaker can easily understand what a Spanish speaker is saying and vice versa, although there are some obvious differences between the two languages, especially in what regards pronunciation of words, spelling and so forth.
The similarities between Portuguese and Spanish don’t stop here. Both languages had their Golden Age during the colonization era, where explorers from both countries set foot in the new lands of Southern America and established large communities there. The Spanish colonized areas such as those that form up today’s Argentina or Mexico, whereas Portuguese colonists set foot in what is today’s Brazil. Therefore, Portuguese is still the official language of Brazil nowadays, making the language hold the title as the second largest Latin language worldwide, with approximately 180 million speakers in Portugal, Brazil and several other smaller areas.
Characteristics of the Portuguese language
Oftentimes Portuguese is regarded as a “melodic” language, due to its slightly funny pronunciation of words and sounds. As with most other Latin languages, Portuguese is less blunt as say, Germanic languages and its grammar rules are very similar to anything you’ve learnt in Spanish, French or Italian class. Most “Learn Portuguese” courses and books will emphasize on the fact that the language is an analytical one, having abandoned its declensions, at the same time remaining dynamic and soft. Vocabulary, grammar and orthography are easy to understand and grab a hold of even if you’re not very familiar with any other Latin language.
Actually, one of the main benefits of learning Portuguese is that it allows you to easily gain access to other languages from the Latin family tree. Once you got your Portuguese act together, there’s nothing stopping you to becoming a true polyglot, as you can easily pass on to Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian or any other language that has basic Latin roots.
So where do I start?
Like with most languages, when starting to learn Portuguese your first target will be to improve vocabulary. Find some translated texts and try reading both versions, trying to spot the similarities and use a dictionary if you’re uncertain of how a particular word got translated. Don’t start with any random text on the Internet though, they will prove too complicated for you. There are several free Portuguese lessons online that provide such texts for newcomers and that could be a possible starting point for you.
When you got to a point where you can parse a text and extract the main ideas from it, you can move on to more complicated issues such as grammar, orthography, pronunciation and such. However, don’t neglect your word base. Although a natural vocabulary increase will take place during the learning process, you can always enforce it by reading a lot in that language or by playing some fun and relaxing vocabulary games that can help you memorize certain words or phrases.
Articles about Portuguese in different languages:
A Small Peek into the Portuguese Language (in English)
Lengua Portuguéa (in Spanish)
Langue portugaise (in French)
Portugiesische Sprache (in German)
Lingua portoghese (in Italian)
Portugese Taal (in Dutch)
Língua Portuguese (in Portuguese)
Limba Portugheza (in Romanian)
Краткий обзор истории португальского языка (in Russian)
نظرة خاطفة إلى تأريخ اللغة البرتغالية (in Arabic)
Portuguese is a Romance group language that is currently spoken by about 220 million people in Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and some other countries. The lessons were created by a Brazilian person so they are using the Brazilian dialect of Portuguese. There are some differences between the dialects, for example, bus in Brasil is ônibus and in Portugal is autocarro
Of course these differences are not very significant.
Portuguese was developed from Latin which was brought to the West of Iberian Peninsula by Roman soldiers and colonists. It makes Portuguese derive almost 90% of its vocabulary from Latin. During the colonial activities of Portugal this language was adopted in many other countries.
And as usual, the joke of the day (one of my favorites):
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Awesome Eh? :)
I know it works for Russian so if you know Russian please enjoy too:
A small peek into the Portuguese language history
At its roots, Portuguese is a Latin language, having several over-layers of nomadic influences as well as native ones from the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula. Of all the other Latin languages, Portuguese resembles Spanish the most, as the two languages have risen from similar cultures and had almost the same influences throughout their history. Actually, a Portuguese speaker can easily understand what a Spanish speaker is saying and vice versa, although there are some obvious differences between the two languages, especially in what regards pronunciation of words, spelling and so forth.
The similarities between Portuguese and Spanish don’t stop here. Both languages had their Golden Age during the colonization era, where explorers from both countries set foot in the new lands of Southern America and established large communities there. The Spanish colonized areas such as those that form up today’s Argentina or Mexico, whereas Portuguese colonists set foot in what is today’s Brazil. Therefore, Portuguese is still the official language of Brazil nowadays, making the language hold the title as the second largest Latin language worldwide, with approximately 180 million speakers in Portugal, Brazil and several other smaller areas.
Characteristics of the Portuguese language
Oftentimes Portuguese is regarded as a “melodic” language, due to its slightly funny pronunciation of words and sounds. As with most other Latin languages, Portuguese is less blunt as say, Germanic languages and its grammar rules are very similar to anything you’ve learnt in Spanish, French or Italian class. Most “Learn Portuguese” courses and books will emphasize on the fact that the language is an analytical one, having abandoned its declensions, at the same time remaining dynamic and soft. Vocabulary, grammar and orthography are easy to understand and grab a hold of even if you’re not very familiar with any other Latin language.
Actually, one of the main benefits of learning Portuguese is that it allows you to easily gain access to other languages from the Latin family tree. Once you got your Portuguese act together, there’s nothing stopping you to becoming a true polyglot, as you can easily pass on to Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian or any other language that has basic Latin roots.
So where do I start?
Like with most languages, when starting to learn Portuguese your first target will be to improve vocabulary. Find some translated texts and try reading both versions, trying to spot the similarities and use a dictionary if you’re uncertain of how a particular word got translated. Don’t start with any random text on the Internet though, they will prove too complicated for you. There are several free Portuguese lessons online that provide such texts for newcomers and that could be a possible starting point for you.
When you got to a point where you can parse a text and extract the main ideas from it, you can move on to more complicated issues such as grammar, orthography, pronunciation and such. However, don’t neglect your word base. Although a natural vocabulary increase will take place during the learning process, you can always enforce it by reading a lot in that language or by playing some fun and relaxing vocabulary games that can help you memorize certain words or phrases.
Articles about Portuguese in different languages:
A Small Peek into the Portuguese Language (in English)
Lengua Portuguéa (in Spanish)
Langue portugaise (in French)
Portugiesische Sprache (in German)
Lingua portoghese (in Italian)
Portugese Taal (in Dutch)
Língua Portuguese (in Portuguese)
Limba Portugheza (in Romanian)
Краткий обзор истории португальского языка (in Russian)
نظرة خاطفة إلى تأريخ اللغة البرتغالية (in Arabic)
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