Learning German Through Traveling

Let's be honest: German is not the easiest language to learn, in fact, despite the similar roots to the English language, German won't be a walk in the park even for the most experienced polyglots. But this doesn’t mean that you cannot do your best to improve your conversational skills at least. Even if you are not able to write very good, because it’s indeed complicated, we will try to give you some hints on how to be able to have a conversation in German.

I strongly believe that the easiest way to improve your German language is to plan a trip over there! Germany is a great place to visit, there are some wonderful things to see: castles, gothic churches and domes, historical sites and so on. Once there, don’t be afraid to use your conversational guide and start pumping up your vocabulary.

Germans will honestly appreciate your effort to talk in their own language (even if you may mess up every now and then) and they will help you so that you get the right pronunciation or will teach you new words to improve your vocabulary. One of my funnies days spent in Germany was when we visited The Village Titisee, in the Black Forrest Mountains. There was a group o students singing around the fire, when they understood I was really doing my best to learn German, they wrote me the lyrics of the song so that I could sing along. It was not only funny but a good lesson of reading and pronunciation. And you know what they say, when you have fun learning something, it sticks!

Also, traveling in Germany will give you the opportunity to converse with a native speaker. The advantages for this are multiple: not only they tell you the proper way to pronounce words, but they give you immediate feedback, so that you don’t perseverate in your mistakes. Plus, it’s a known fact: learning along with people is a far better way then learning by yourself, while reading a book. The social aspect of learning is important for it relaxes you and creates the proper climate to assimilate new language. Besides, you won’t find the slang and the colloquial usage of German inside the conversational guide, will you?

In order to improve your reading skills, I strongly advise you to read and type the text that you encounter. Since you’re traveling and visiting all sorts of locations, take the opportunity to read directions, info panels, brochures on all the sites. I remember I was so willing to learn German, that I ever read the door signs. I still remember the “druken” for push and the “zien” for pull on the door of each shop. Never let any detail slip by you, it's the only way you can truly increase your German vocabulary.

Last, but not least, remember that your trip is not just a study tour, but also a holiday, so try to relax as much as you can, don’t ever be embarrassed to talk in German and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Each one of us needs to make mistakes in order to learn by correcting them. Always remember how easy it is, for a prescholar, to learn a foreign language! Because he is not ashamed to mispronounce, because he repeats words exactly as the teacher says them (your teacher for the trip is any native speaker you meet) and because he has a lot of fun during the whole learning process.

In order to make the whole lesson fun, don’t forget to sing the world renowned preschool song and do your best to understand them:
“Ich bin Schnappi, das kleine Krokodil.
Komm aus Ägypten, das liegt direkt am Nil.
Zuerst das ich in einem Ei,
dann schni-,schna-,schnappte ich mich frei”

The Best Language Learning Practices - Divide and Conquer

The Roman Empire’s battle philosophy was that no war should be fought heads-on, but rather the territories that were about to be conquered, or the forces that were about to be taken on should be divided and conquered separately. Well, language learning might not necessarily be a war, but it’s definitely a battle with a force to be reckoned with. Many people quit after the first months, or even weeks after starting a language course, because they’re overwhelmed by the complexity of this task. Obviously, it can and WILL get overwhelming if you take a language heads-on, that’s why the Roman tactic of divide et impera is a great way to get a hold of it.

First off, you should break down the language you’re trying to learn in components. Not all languages will have the same components and not all components will have the same difficutly. For example, learning Japanese will obviously have more elements than learning French, because you’ll have to learn the alphabet, gender structure and writing style in addition.

Some common language components include:

Grammar – the glue that keeps a language together. Learning grammar is a structured process and leaves less room for natural assimilation.

Common Nouns – A good part of a language’s alphabet is made of common nouns. People only use around 10% of a language’s vocabulary and most of these are nouns: common nouns.

Common Phrases – this part of the vocabulary is something that could really get you started in a new language. Oftentimes, we start our learning process by memorizing simple phrases like “hi, how are you”, “thank you”, “what’s the time?” and the likes.

Numbers – numbers are another good way to start off and they have the advantage of being memorized in a particular order, making them easier to remember, through association.

Alphabet – even sister languages might have alphabet differences and it’s important to learn of these small variations right off the bat. Obviously, trying to learn german and it’s few new letters won’t be nearly as tough as learning Russian, or Chinese; languages with a completely different alphabet, with completely different sets of rules.

So, take each of these components one step at a time and handle them individually and you’ll notice it makes a world of difference. The trick is that while learning one individual component, you’ll also be practicing several others, so you’re attacking your objective on several levels. Good luck, soldier!

5 Ways to Improve Your Vocabulary

I won’t give you the whole “each word in a language’s vocabulary is a brick that works towards building up the entire structure” kind of speech again (I did it in another post on the blog), but I have to emphasize on the fact that without a proper vocabulary base, it’s a lot harder to learn the other components of a language: grammar, syntax and even spelling and pronunciation. Since a lot of modern courses and exercises (including some that you can find on www.internetpolyglot.com ) focus on vocabulary so intensely, I thought about making a list of 5 of the most important techniques that you could use to increase your word count and make your vocabulary in a foreign language flourish.

Repetition

Our memory can be quite a rudimentary process at times and the only way we can get things (literally) in our head is by repeating them over and over again. Repetition can be helpful for assimilating harder words that you wouldn’t be able to pick up from context in a sentence, or if you’re using the phonebook method (having a list of words that you want to learn and trying to memorize them top to bottom).

Contextual Assimilation

Whenever you read a text in a foreign language that you’re studying and you find a word that you don’t understand, try to pick up its meaning from the context it’s placed in. The same process can be put to work when watching a TV show in that particular language.

Personal Relevance

Our memory, again, works in very mysterious was sometimes. It seems that the memory has an internal parsing process that blocks out information that is not personally relevant. For example, if you’re not especially interested in koala bears, watching a show on Discovery about them won’t allow really get you a lot of information, because the subject is not personally relevant. However, seeing Rex Hunt’s Fishing Adventures (with you being a huge fishing fan) will stock in a lot of information on the subject because, you guessed, this time it’s personally relevant. If you can make words personally relevant, you’ll also learn them better. This is where association and mnemonics kick in.

Visual Imagery

We store information a lot faster if it is transmitted to us via a visual signal than if it’s written or heard. Some may argue that in fact writing makes use of visual memory, since the characters you use in writing are graphical symbols. True, but it’s better if you associate words with objects that can be traced with more ease. Use flash cards if needed with this learning technique.

Word Games

Did you know that children learn words almost 30 times faster than an adult? That’s because children, at an early age, are actually “forced” to learn new words, in order to communicate. Obviously, as an adult, this need slowly fades away, which also degrades the word assimilation process. In order to hasten up your language learning, you could try and go back to being a kid and play some word games. These include puzzles, translation games, scrabbles and many others. You can find a lot of these fun word games at www.internetpolyglot.com .

Best Languages to Learn as an English Speaker

I’ve read some authors that bragged about how they can learn any language they set their minds to, regardless of cultural background, in a matter of months. While this seems unreasonable solely on the fact that it’s impossible to actually KNOW a language in that short a time span, the most outrageous fact that they claim is that they can learn languages at the same pace, regardless of what they’re actually learning. This means that in a few months, you could learn French and in that amount of time you could also learn Chinese. This is a rather silly thing to say come to think of it, since any language that isn’t at least related to English, not to mention having its own alphabet, scripts and specific grammar rules, will be tough as hell.

Ok, so we’ve established that languages like Chinese, Japanese, Russian or Arabic are hard to learn because they don’t use many of the values that Western languages abide by. But which languages are easiest for an English speaker to learn, in contrast? Let’s take a looksie…

German

German is by far the easiest language to learn if you’re already familiar with English, since the two are closely related, having the same Anglo Saxon ancestry. Many German words are very similar to English ones (haus – house, maus – mouse, etc) which makes it a lot easier to understand the German vocabulary and also pick things up from the context they’re placed in. However, one of the biggest problems with learning German (actually this is probably the ONLY problem) is the word combinations that are usually formed in conversational German. To give you an example of what I’m talking about, here’s one of the longest words in German and its meaning:

Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz means “Beef labeling oversight transfer law”. Admittedly, it will be hard to spot the actual words in there (beef = rind, fleisch = meat, etikettier = label, etc) but believe it or not, for a German that actually makes sense. I could hurt your eyes even further with worse examples, but I’ll just keep it at that.

French

Well French is considered a language that’s easy to digest by many cultures, not just by English speakers. French has a lot of influences from English but in turn, it influences it back. The numerous wars between France and England throughout history sparked this cultural exchange. Although English has an Anglo-Saxon background and French is mainly a Latin language, there’s still a lot of resemblance in the two, as they share the same language layer created by nomadic tribes like the Celts or Gaels.

Spanish

Spanish might not have that much in common with English as the above mentioned languages, but it’s easy to learn because it’s an international language that can be picked up from the TV, music and newspapers. In addition, if you’re an American, you’ll have a lot of Spanish-speaking neighbors that you can engage in conversations with and that will help you out when learning this new language.

How to Learn French the Easy Way

French is one of the easiest languages to learn as an English speaker. Is it? At least that’s what all the experts are saying, but on the other hand, not everything that applies in general is bound to apply to you. Some have it easier learning Japanese than French, simply because they can’t stand the language’s “softness”. If that’s not your cup of tea, then I suggest that you step off the French course and hop on to a Russian or German one, as those languages are definitely tougher and more rigid.

One of the first things you need to do in order to learn French properly is immerse yourself in the language. By spending more and more time reading in French and listening to French words, your brain will automatically try to mimic the informational input that it’s getting. Just like a baby, you’ll need to adapt to the new language, memorize the words and try to reproduce them. Can you say Ma-Ma? Don’t worry, you’ve been through this process before when you were a child and although adults lose their ability to learn languages as they grow older, you’ll still have the advantage of being there before.

From a grammatical point of view, French is not all that much different from English or any Western culture language (Latin or Anglo Saxon). Just like with German, French and English have several look-alike and sound-alike words, called cognates. Admittedly, the number of cognates in French is not as big as in German, when relating to the English language, but still, the few that are there make for a good building point.

One of the biggest problems that English speakers stumble upon when learning French is word pronunciation. Like I said earlier, French is a “smooth” language, words are pronounced in a much softer way than in English. It’s usually rather difficult for an English native to adapt to these pronunciation rules, so you’ll require a lot of practice. And don’t be content with the fact that you’re listening to French words being pronounced; you should also voice them out yourself. Don’t worry; no one will think you’re crazy if you talk back to your TV, if it’s for the purpose of learning French.

My suggestion is this: find a great online French course to work with, try it out for a couple of weeks and see where your starting point is. Are you a complete French newb that needs to take things slow in order to understand things? Or are you the type of learner that can skip a few chapters and still learn the language properly. Once you’ve settled this out, you can start with increasing your vocabulary (you can find several methods to do so at www.internetpolyglot.com ) . Good luck!

The CUTE Way of Learning Languages

In a guide written by Greg Thompson and his family, they talk about 4 main principles that make learning languages a lot cuter. The CUTE technique is called so because the acronym stands for 4 of the most important elements that come into play when learning a new language:

- Communing
- Understanding
- Talking
- Evolving

Let’s see what Greg was talking about and how you can benefit from these CUTE principles.

Communing

Communing refers to working with others towards learning a specific foreign language. This principle is based upon the belief that a language is not something that can be studied scientifically, but something that can be grown organically and only in collaboration with other flesh and blood people.

I agree that a foreign language cannot always be learnt by reading textbooks. However, while learning organically does have certain advantages, you can easily go overboard and get used to a lot of common mistakes that people usually slide by in conversations.

Understanding

This might seem like a no-brainer (and it is!). Of course understanding what people say will help you learn a language faster. The trick is to “understand” words that you don’t actually understand. Confused yet? What I’m talking about is picking up new words from sentences that you understand and deducing them from their context. For example, if someone says “words are harder to remember because they are long” you will have learnt a new word, by deducing what adjective means from the context. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Just make sure the context processing mechanics are well in place for when it does work.

Talking

This third principle is actually a third step in language learning. After understanding and being able to “think” in a foreign language, it’s time to start talking. You’ll be surprised to find out that it’s actually harder than it sounds in your head. Many times, when you’re faced with the need to speak in a foreign language without prior practice, you’ll think that it won’t be a problem, because in your head, you can “talk” perfectly. Your mouth and your brain will think otherwise when you’re actually going to start talking.

Evolving

This is not necessarily a requirement in learning a language, but rather a requirement if you want to keep up with that language and where it’s heading. A language is organic in nature, it changes, it adapts to current social standards, and it metamorphoses along with its speakers. Knowing how to evolve at the same pace with the foreign language you’ve studied is important, although not as CUTE as the other three factors I mentioned above.

Obviously, these principles need to be backed up by months, if not years of practice, exercises and studies. A language can’t be learnt in 10 days, despite what all those crappy language guides say. At least not if you’re serious about it and want to have control over that language, not just learn the basic vocabulary and be off to something else.

Finding the Time to Learn a New Language

I can’t stop smiling every time I browse the Internet or visit a local book shop and see those “Learn Chinese in 10 days” types of guides. It’s just silly, but people still fall for it, because learning a new language is a rather time consuming project and we’re all looking for ways to make it shorter. But seriously, 10 days? Anyway, if you’re looking for methods to cut down your learning to a couple of weeks, simply don’t. There are none. Your best bet is to try and structure your time so that you can learn over a longer period of time.

I’m a strong believer in online learning (obviously, otherwise we wouldn’t have started www.internetpolyglot.com ) and from the perspective of time consumption, it’s probably the best you’ll get. Sure, face to face language courses can be very useful, but they require you to relocate and for the most part, you can’t set your own time schedule. It’s difficult if you have to go all the way to a course when you’re feeling down and you’re not in the right move to learn. With online learning, you can simply put down the mouse and pick up from where you left earlier when you’re in the right mood again.

My suggestion is to break down your learning session in short chunks, over a longer period of time. Instead of hauling all that new information in your head 6 hours each day for a month, you’re better off taking smaller bites, say 1 hour each day, for 4-5 months. If taken in smaller chunks, information can be stored more easily and you won’t have to worry about learning saturation, tiredness or information overload. Don’t subestimate this aspect, having fun (or at least not feeling stressed out) during the learning process can do wonders.

At Internet Polyglot, we also focus on the fun aspect of language learning as a means to get information across and stored. Anything that’s fun in learning can be done in 10-15 minutes, such as playing a short word game, vocabulary quizzes, using some flash cards or playing language related puzzles. If you don’t have a lot of time at hand or if you’re just not feeling in the mood to start with an online course, those 15 minutes of playing during your lunch break will still be helpful. Obviously, the learning frame will be longer, but then again, it’s not like you put a lot of work into it :).

The only disadvantage of Internet language learning from a time-wise perspective is the many distractions that can appear on a computer. Instant messaging, online flash games, social networking sites and whatnot. They can all be very time consuming and they can easily redirect you from learning to wasting time. My suggestion is that whenever you start learning, regardless if you plan on doing it for 15 minutes or 1 hour, you turn off everything that can be a distraction. Close all tabs of addicting websites and try to fight to urge to “just check up on them” for the next hour. Close MSN, Yahoo Messenger or AOL so that no one bothers you. Myspace, Facebook and hi5 won’t miss you if you’re gone for an hour either :)

5 Advantages of Being a Polyglot

I read on someone’s blog a while back a few journal pages where the owner made a sort of wish list for the next 5 years. Her main wishes were to learn 5 languages in the next 5-10 years, including Arabic, French, German, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. When someone commented on the post, asking why she wants to be such a big polyglot, she simply replied: to be a citizen of the World.

I agree that the only true way we can be citizens of the World is by knowing each other, our languages and our cultures but I’m sure there are many other reasons an individual would want to learn a foreign language or two and become a polyglot. Here are mine:

1. International Business – I-business is more common than ever nowadays, with the Internet allowing us to outsource, freelance and close deals overseas without too much trouble. Being a polyglot and being able to speak in the language of the person you’re working with, or the person you’re working for weighs heavily in how the deal will end. Remember, not everyone knows English and you shouldn’t expect others to speak your language if you don’t put at least some effort to speak theirs. Check out these free online courses if you’re planning on learning a new language.

2. Travelling Opportunities – How many times have you thought about travelling to a remote, exotic country, but worried that you’ll have a hard time there due to lack of communication? It happens everywhere, regardless if you’re going to a country in Africa, or somewhere in Europe. If you can’t talk their language and they can’t talk yours, you’d best learn body language. Or, you can take up these free language courses.

3. Personal Impression – Let’s face it, when you hear a foreigner coming to YOUR country and speaking YOUR language, I’m sure it tickles your ego a bit. The same thing would happen if you would travel to another country and the natives would hear you speaking their own language. It can really bump your image (positively) in a native speaker’s eyes.

4. Social Status – Does making a lot of money automatically make you a great person? No, because money can be the result of luck or theft. Does knowing 3-4 different languages earn you this social status? Yes, because being a polyglot is clearly the result of some hard work and you can tap in on that aura that you’ll be surrounded with, regardless if it’s simply to gain an edge in society, in business or at work.

5. Explosive Learning – Learning a new language is a tough process that involves both short and long term brain cells to work full time. The reason the first language is hard to learn is that we’re not used to the learning process itself. Most polyglots will find that it’s easier to learn their 3rd or 4th language than the first ones, because by the time they reach number 4, their language learning process is already in full motion and is capable of assimilating information much quicker, through the patterns you already established with the other languages.

Are these reasons enough to become a polyglot? I hope so. But even if it’s for one of the above reasons, or just for the heck of it, becoming a polyglot is a great achievement and something that is heightening for any human being. So if you want to become a better human and a true citizen of the World, start by learning a few languages to back you up.

Dutch Audio Lessons

A good friend and active supporter of Internet Polyglot Baggeroli did a great job in creating audio files for Dutch lessons. The quality of sound and the voice are amazing! So if you learn Dutch, go ahead and visit http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lesson-2002101130, click on the "Play" button (green button with white triangle) and enjoy learning Dutch pronunciation!

New Language Lessons: Hebrew

New language lessons have been uploaded today to the Internet Polyglot site. This time the new addition is Hebrew lessons. So if you are interested in learning this ancient language, please be very welcome to http://www.internetpolyglot.com/lessons-he-en .

History of the Hebrew Language



Hebrew is one of the world oldest languages and it’s one of the few languages that kept its composure and structure for the most part, since it is written and spoken today almost the same way as it was more than 2,000 years ago. For example, the style and structure of the Hebrew language that is used today in most books, newspapers and magazines published in Israel is very similar to the one used in the Bible. A strange fact in the history of the Hebrew language is that it ceased to exist as a spoken language for almost 1,700 years ago, being reborn as a modern language around the 19th century. Nowadays, Hebrew is the official language of Israel and it is spoken in the large Jewish Diaspora.



The comeback of Hebrew as a spoken language in the 19th century is often attributed to the name of Eliezer ben Yehudah. Eliezer was a visionary linguist and polyglot that devoted his entire life to the revival of his ancestors’ language, adapting it to the rigors and rules of modern society as well as allowing a substantial vocabulary increase through foreign words. Following Eliezer’s efforts, Hebrew gradually came to use among Jewish settlements around Palestine and when the State of Israel was created in 1948 it became its official language.



Tips and tricks for learning Hebrew



One of the fastest ways to learn Hebrew is over the Internet (for example, on Internet Polyglot Hebrew Lessons), where you can find a lot of free Hebrew lessons online to start off with. If these don’t cut the mustard for you, you could always try a local “Learn Hebrew” course or start studying it from a course book. However, these methods should only be considered a starting point to help you grasp the basic notions of Hebrew and help you improve vocabulary. Direct communication is always a great teacher, so you can try finding a Hebrew conversation partner to help you out, or even try out learning through video conferences with an online teacher (they could cost quite a bit though).



The grammar of the Hebrew language is usually considered easy to understand by most students, however the major problem is spelling and pronunciation of words. These can be improved through several of the above mentioned methods, but if you find those too boring or stressful, you might want to try out a few Hebrew vocabulary games that you can find in books, on audio tapes or over the Internet. These games improve both spelling and pronunciations and they will also allow you to memorize words easily.



Take note that these tips and tricks don’t apply STRICTLY to Hebrew, as they can be used in studying a number of other languages. Remember that learning skills grow up directly proportional with language skills, so the more you learn of a language the better you are at learning a different one in the future. Once this happens, becoming a true polyglot is only a matter of time and ambition.






You can also read about Hebrew in these articles in different languages:

History of the Hebrew Language (in English)
Lengua hebrea (in Spanish)
Hébreu (in French)
Hebräisch (in German)
Ebraico (in Italian)
Hebreeuws (in Dutch)
Hebrew (in Portuguese)
Limba Ebraica (in Romanian)
Полезные советы изучающим иврит (in Russian)
تأريخ اللغة العبرية (in Arabic)

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)

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

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.

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)

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.

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:

По рзелуьататм ислсдеоавинй одного бриатснокго униеврисетта, не иемет знчаения, в ккаом порядке рсаополежны бкувы в слвое. Глваное, чотбы преавя и полсдеяня буквы были на мсете. Остланьые бувкы моугт слдеовать в плоонм бепсродяке, всё-равно текст чтиеастя без прбоелм. Прчиниой эотго ялвятеся то, что мы читаем не кжадую бкуву по отдеьлности, а всё слвоо цлеиком

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)

Italian Lessons

Today I have loaded Italian Lessons to Internet Polyglot.

Ah, Italia! Who wouldn't want to this beautiful country with its sun and the sea and famous Italian food?! But does it make sense to go there without knowing at least the basic vocabulary: greetings, hellos, goodbyes? Don't miss your chance, learn these words in this lesson: Saluti, Richieste, Benvenuti, Addii.



Facts about the Italian Language



Italian could probably be considered the direct descendant of Classical Latin spoken in the Roman Empire, at least in terms of vocabulary. Although there are a few other Latin languages that could very well contest this title (such as Romanian, which kept the closest declension rules as Classical Latin or Sardinian which kept most of the phonology) Italian remains the leader of the pack in what regards Latin languages.



Spoken by over 70 million people worldwide (most of them Italian natives of course) the Italian language consists of several dialects which are very close in vocabulary and grammar, but differ slightly in phonology. The Italo-Dalmatian dialect from Southern Italy, the Tuscan dialect or the Gallo-Italian dialect from Northern Italy are 3 such examples.



Learning Italian online



The Internet provides a large variety of sources where you can learn Italian from, including free Italian online lessons, live Italian language videoconferences, downloadable books or “Learn Italian” courses and so for. Depending on the level of difficulty you need, you might want to search out some of the sites offering these services but be aware that the quality level of the lessons also varies dramatically. You’ll be better off studying all your options thoroughly rather than simply charging into the first site you find on Google for the keyword “learn Italian course”.



You should set a few priorities for yourself when looking after one of these sites. First of all, determine how much time and money you can spend on their services. Learning takes quite some time and the prices may vary a lot. For example, a video conference lesson will obviously be more expensive than your average downloadable “How to Learn Italian” course book.



It’s best to scoop around and try to find people that have used a particular site’s services before actually buying them yourself. Just because the site says that you’ll ”receive quality courses” doesn’t mean that it will actually go down that way. If another one of their users could enforce those promises, then you might want to try out their services.



Alternative ways of learning Italian



Another way to increase your Italian language learning speed other than taking free Italian lessons online or subscribing to the many „Learn Italian” courses that you can find on the World Wide Web, you might want to try some slightly more relaxing alternative learning methods. For example, vocabulary games can be a great way to boost your Italian word pool and playing them could also prove to be a means of relaxation. Although their main purpose is to improve vocabulary, you will also get a better grasp on Italian spelling and possibly pronunciation as well and we all know that when we learn something for fun, we learn it better and faster.





Articles about Italian in different languages:

Facts about the Italian Language (in English)
De lengua italiana (in Spanish)
De langue italienne (in French)
Italienischsprachig (in German)
Di lingua italiana (in Italian)
Italiaanse Taal (in Dutch)
Língua italiana (in Portuguese)
Limba Italiana – Istorie si statistici (in Romanian)
Сведения об итальянском языке (in Russian)
الحقائق حول اللغة الإيطالية (in Italian)

Ta-da! German lessons at last!

At last long awaited German lessons has been completed and loaded to Internet Polyglot!

This was a true collaborative effort which involved , except your humble servant Misha, four people. All of them worked very hard and did their best to make it possible today for people of the world to learn German on Internet Polyglot.

These heroes are:

Baggeroli
wagnerm
Introscop
Ralf

The story with German lessons is quite adventurous. First we talked with Introscop in December and he started the translation to German in the winter. Baggeroli has joined later. Both of them did a great job. Unfortunately neither of them is native German speaker and one of the main strategies of Internet Polyglot is to verify and double-verify what we are going to present our users. So after a while wagnerm volunteered to do the verification of a hefty part of the translation and Introscop found a guy from his work Ralf who also verified the rest.

And now please visit German lessons at Internet Polyglot and start practicing it right away.

Willkommen!


Things worth knowing about the German language before you start learning it




As with any learning process, it’s good to set up a base ground and find out more information about what you’re trying to assimilate. For that reason, we’re going to start with a short lesson in German language history in order to understand why learning it is important and also why it’s considered one of the easiest languages to learn once you’re familiar with English.



German is considered one of the World’s major languages, although it cannot compete to other languages such as Spanish, French, English, Chinese or Hindu in what regards the number of its speakers, German is important due to the economical and political power of German speaking countries. Most German speakers are concentrated in Central Europe, in the following countries: Germany, Austria, Poland, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg and some parts of Switzerland, Belgium, Romania and Italy.



So why is learning German considered easy?



If you simply start a “Learn German” course or take up on a few free German lessons online, you’ll beg to differ the fact that German is an easy language to learn. The famous “long words”, the extra 3 umlaut vowels used by the German language as well as a certain roughness to its phonology might scare you off at first. However, if you take your time to study it you’ll notice that it’s actually quite easy once you’ve mastered English (even easier if you’re a native English speaker).



The two languages have been in a constant “collaboration” throughout time, influencing one another. The fact that they share the same West Germanic layer and Latin influences makes them even closer to one another. A lot of words look alike in English and German, which makes it easier for English speakers to memorize words and improve vocabulary in German. These words are called cognates and there are three major categories of such words that you can identify:




True cognates – these words have exactly the same form and the same meaning in both English and German, making them extremely easy to use from both sides. True cognates also sound alike and are spelled alike in both languages. They make up for a good starting point in the learning process and can help you build up your German vocabulary increase. Examples of such true cognates include: butter, finger or winter.



Close cognates – this group of cognates includes words that share the same meaning but have slightly different phonology or spelling. This particular group is the biggest of all cognates, containing hundreds of words such as (German version – English version): Bett – Bed, Bier – Beer, Gott – God, Haus – House, Maus – Mouse, Katze – Cat, Lachen – Laugh, Sommer – Summer, Wetter – Wheather and so forth.



Fake cognates – the last group of cognates can give people that are fresh to learning German a hard time. A lot of “Learn German” courses and free German lessons online will have special, focused chapters dedicated to fake (or false) cognates due to the ease with which a fresh student can get confused. Fake cognates are words that look and/or sound alike in both languages but their meaning is totally different. Examples include (German word – English word – English meaning): baum – beam – tree, gift – gift – poison, knabe – knave – boy, kopf – cup – head, stadt – stead – city. It’s extremely important to memorize words that are tagged as fake cognates as to not use them loosely in conversations, placing them in the wrong context.



Articles about German in different languages:

The German Language (in English)
El de lengua alemana (in Spanish)
De langue allemande (in French)
Deutschsprachig (in German)
Di lingua tedesca (in Italian)
Duitse Taal (in Dutch)
Língua alemão (in Portuguese)
Limba Germana (in Romanian)
Что хорошо было бы знать о немецком языке (in Russian)
أشياء مهمة يجب معرفتها حول اللغة الألمانية قبل البدء بتعلّمها (in Arabic)

Polish lessons are loaded

Thanks for strumien for translating the lessons file to Polish. The job is done very thoroughly and now we all can enjoy a new language in Internet Polyglot: Polish.

Poland is a country in Eastern Europe with a long and great history. A nice article about Poland can be found in Wikipedia's article on Poland.

Please welcome the new valuable addition! Joanka, great job!

Polish lessons on Internet Polyglot can be found here.


Roots of the Polish Language



From a historical point of view, Polish is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavonic group. The first Slavonic tribes settled in most of Central and Eastern Europe, occupying the lands between Elba to the west, the Balkans to the south and the Volga river to the east. From hereon, the tribes started constantly building their own identity, forming the three main groups of Slavonic, based on geographical delimitations.



Truth be told, neither of the three Slavonic groups has evolved to a state where it is completely different from the others. The three have a shared cultural subset and most importantly a lingual one. Polish is no exception and even though a Serbian for example, might not fully understand what a Polish speaker is saying without proper study of the Polish language beforehand, it is a lot easier for them to learn the language. If we were to make a comparison, Polish probably resembles Czech and Slovak the most and inhabitants of these countries can easily understand each other without too much trouble. Subsequently, if you learn Polish, you will be able to understand and learn Czech, Slovak as well as most of the other Slavonic languages a lot easier, becoming a polyglot of the Slavonic world.



What are your options for learning Polish?



Same as with most other languages, the Internet is a good place to start searching if you want to take up the task of learning Polish by yourself. Free Polish lessons online can easily be found and used, some being more useful than others. It will be your call to decide which ones of these courses you take upon as well as whether or not you complement them with a practical exercise book or a “Learn Polish” course. This combination usually does the trick for language starters, so you might as well try it out.



One way of doing things is to start by improving your vocabulary through constant text reading. Even if you don’t understand all the words and phrases yet, take up some Polish texts from the Internet or from local books and start parsing them. Whenever you hit yourself to a word that you don’t understand, look it up in a dictionary (make sure it’s used with its intended sense though!) and memorize that word.



Once you manage to improve vocabulary a bit and can handle yourself through the Polish language, you can start up on learning grammar rules and structure, which are relatively easy to understand from the point of view of most Western languages. Don’t neglect your vocabulary increase during this period though. Either keep up reading new texts in order to memorize words, or play some vocabulary games to help you do so. Regardless of which method you choose, what counts is that at the end of the day, you are a few words richer.





Articles about Polish in different languages:

Roots of the Polish Language (in English)
Lengua polaca (in Spanish)
Langue polonaise (in French)
Polnische Sprache (in German)
Lingua polacca (in Italian)
Poolse Taal (in Dutch)
Корни польского языка (in Russian)
Língua polonesa (in Portuguese)
جذور اللغة البولندية (in Arabic)
Radacinile limbii Poloneze (in Romanian)

Romanian Lessons Are Loaded

Romanian lessons are now available online! Huge kudos and thanks to Monik and Mihai who made it happen!

As you may already know Romania is a East-European country and you can read about it a nice and very useful article from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania.

So please please visit Romanian lessons on Internet Polyglot - enjoy the new language!

And, as usual, if you see any discrepancies and incorrect translations - shout out loud here or on the forum.


History of the Romanian Language



At the beginning of Christianity, the land that is now the country of Romania was occupied by settlements of Geto-dacians, an indo-European family of tribes. With the Latin expansion from Central Europe and the Greek influences from the South, the Geto-dacians would make contact with the two great civilizations through trade and of course, wars. Roman writings attest that geto-dacian traders around the Danube were polyglots, being able to speak several local dialects, Latin and old Greek. It’s from this combination of cultures that the Romanian people and language were born, although in today’s language the predominant reagent is Latin.



Actually, of the old Geto-Dacian dialect only around 100 words are left, the others being either assimilated by the Latin language or simply replaced. The Greek influence can be seen mostly in the lower part of Romania and is not very large, but mentionable. At the same time, other nomadic influences can be spotted in the Romanian language, most of which are attested to the Goths.



Learning Romanian



Learning Romanian is as easy (or well, as hard) as learning any other Latin based language such as Italian, French or Spanish. Actually, if you already know any of these languages, learning Romanian will most likely be a walk in the park, since they have several shared words, grammar structures and pronunciation rules.



Although you won’t find them with the abundance you would for English, Italian, French or some other languages, “Learn Romanian” courses and books can be downloaded from the Internet, or bought from local libraries in case you thought of starting learning by yourself. Another great source of learning material can be found on the many sites that offer free Romanian lessons online all across the World Wide Web.



And if these aren’t enough for you, feel free to try and improve vocabulary through the numerous Romanian vocabulary games that can also be found online. These vocabulary games will help you memorize words and improve your spelling and pronunciation skills. Although you can’t simply learn Romanian by yourself through simple vocabulary games, they’re a great addition to any free Romanian online lessons or “How to Learn Romanian” courses that you might be following.



From a grammatical point of view, Romanian shares the same set of rules as Italian (after all, both languages are considered to be the direct descendants of Latin). Romanian nouns for example are inflected by gender (feminine, masculine and neuter), case (nominative/accusative, dative/genitive and vocative) and number (singular and plural). The articles, as well as most adjectives and pronouns, agree in gender with the noun they reference.




Articles about Romanian in other languages:

History of the Romanian Language (in English)
Lengua Rumana (in Spanish)
Langue roumaine (in French)
Rumänische Sprache (in German)
Lingua rumena (in Italian)
Roemeense Taal (in Dutch)
Língua Romanian (in Portuguese)
Istoria limbii Romane (in Romanian)
История румынского языка (in Russian)
تأريخ اللغة الرومانية (in Arabic)

Japanese And Hindi Lessons

Today I have loaded a new huge bunch of lessons: long awaited Japanese lessons and Hindi lessons.

Japanese is one of the most popular languages in the world. Besides, Japan is one of the most advanced economics so learning Japanese will be beneficial for anyone who is going to work with Japanese customers or partners. Don't miss the most important, though fun lesson: Greetings, Request, Welcomes and Farewells. Just working with this lesson will tremendously help you if you go to Japan even for a couple of days.

Hindi is a language spoken by enormous number of people. India is a very large country in South Asia with more than a billion people. Not all those people speak Hindi, there are very many local dialects though Hindi is one of the official languages in India. Nowaday it is very popular among western businesses to outsource some of their development and production to India so no harm in learning Hindi. And this is the link to the Greetings, Request, Welcomes and Farewells in Hindi lesson.

Please enjoy learning Japanese and Hindi. If you see any discrepancy or incorrect translation - shout out loud.


Tongue of the Rising Sun



Japanese culture holds a very strong fascination potential for the rest of the World because of its uniqueness and beauty but also because of the country’s economical power. This has lead many people in pursuing the study of the Japanese language for either business reasons, career improvements or simply to satisfy their own curiosity regarding Japan and its language. And let’s face it; the awe-factor from your friends and newly met people is a lot larger if they hear you talking Japanese than say, French or Spanish, which are more common languages. If you do manage to learn Japanese (which to be honest is not the easiest of tasks) then the other languages will prove to be a breeze and you’ll be regarded as a true polyglot in no time.



Difficulties in learning Japanese



From a Westerner’s point of view, learning Japanese is quite difficult because of the rules that the language enforces in terms of grammar, politeness rules, writing (using a combination of three scripts – Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana) and so forth. These rules are not that hard per say, but it’s quite hard for us to put aside the system that we normally take for granted and replace it with something radically different.



Another showstopper when it comes to learning Japanese is that the language is an agglutinative one. What this means is that it’s a “synthetic” language where each affix represents one unit of meaning rather than have the root of the word change. This concept is not easy to understand, or at least not until you get used to it. Most “Learn Japanese” courses try to avoid making a comparison between Japanese and any other Western languages, simply for the fact that doing so would do more harm than good to the learning process.



Learning Japanese Online



Although the recent craze for learning Japanese has brought forth a lot of institutions and companies that set up organized Japanese courses, you can also learn it online, at your leisure and usually without spending too much money in the process. There are virtually dozens of companies offering free Japanese lessons online and these are a great way to start learning. Another option would be to try out some vocabulary games, despite the fact that they won’t be as useful as a full lesson course. Still, you can try them out since you might memorize words with more ease and improve vocabulary over night.



Last but not least, if you already have a basis to work with, you could try reading translated texts and making a correlation between the two versions to spot new words, determine politeness forms and so forth. After a while, combining all these methods will dish out a noticeable vocabulary increase and you’ll be awing your friends with your Japanese language skills in no time.




Articles about Japanese in different languages:


Japanese: Tongue of the Rising Sun (in English)
Japonés (in Spanish)
Langue japonaise (in French)
Japanische Sprache (in German)
Lingua giapponese (in Italian)
Japanse Taal (in Dutch)
Língua japonesa (in Portuguese)
Limba Japoneza (in Romanian)
Язык Восходящего Солнца (in Russian)
لسان الشمس المتصاعدة (in Arabic)

Hindi – history and properties



From the perspective of the number of its speakers, Hindi is considered the third language in the world (next to English and Mandarin Chinese) with a rough count of 600 million speakers worldwide. Although Hindi has several hundred dialects, most of them resemble one another, similar to the main Chinese dialects. Most of the Hindi speakers are concentrated in South Eastern Asia, although the Hindi Diaspora is also quite well developed.



From a historical point of view, Hindi is considered the direct descendant language of Sanskrit and is a part of the Indo-European language family. Several lingual influences have been made throughout time on the Hindi language, the most important ones coming from Persian, Farsi, Arabic, Portuguese, Turkish and of course, English, which brought a huge vocabulary increase. All these have left their mark to create the Hindi language spoken today and they helped tighten up the resemblance between it and other languages in the area such as Urdu (official language of Pakistan) for example. So if you’re planning on becoming a South Asian polyglot, learning Urdu or any other language or dialect in that particular geographical area, it will be of great help if you already know Hindi.



From a learning perspective, Hindi has some very interesting properties. Hindi pronunciation is quite easy, since the letters are always pronounced exactly the way they are written, unlike most of the western languages. Most “Learn Hindi” courses will start off by saying that there are no particular difficulties in the study of the language other than maybe the slightly harsh grammar rules.



Learn Hindi at home



If you don’t have time or the possibility to participate in organized local “Learn Hindi” courses, you’re probably considering doing so on your own, at home. You have several options, from buying a Hindi language course book, getting some free Hindi lessons online, paying a video conference Hindi teacher or even by playing vocabulary games, either online or offline.



Hindi vocabulary games can be extremely fun and they can very well prove to be a great learning method. Not only will they help you improve vocabulary and memorize words, but they can be a great alternative to the stressful, “serious” lessons out there. Still, vocabulary games can only do so much for you and some of these serious lessons will be required as well. If you manage to complement the two and balance out the learning process between sweat and fun, you’re well on your way to becoming a future polyglot.



In conclusion, whether you’re trying to learn Hindi for business means or simply because you’re fascinated with the language, feel confident that it’s not as hard as it might first look and that there are hundreds of sources you can learn from. As with all other languages, make sure you keep practice constant and you dedicate at least 3-4 hours per week to studying this beautiful language.




Articles about Hindi in different languages:


Hindi – History and Properties (in English)
Hindi (in Spanish)
Hindi (in French)
Hindi (in German)
Hindi (in Italian)
Hindi (in Dutch)
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Per aspera ad astra. Latin lessons.

Per aspera ad astra - what does it mean? It means "through difficulties to the stars" in Latin. Doesn't it describe the human's life now as much it described it two millenia ago?

Time has come. Classic is eternal. Our ancestors weren't stupid - they learnt Latin and knew that this knowledge isn't just some freaky eccentricity. And today we are proud to announce that zhukant has completed translation of a full set of Latin lessons. This invaluable contribution is going to be remembered for all ages ahead - now not only students from coutries with Latin-based languages will be able to learn this beautiful and elegant language. No, now students with native languages of all language groups - Slavik, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese - all of them will be able to learn Latin words with Internet Polyglot.

Thanks to zhukant again - this is an enormous addition to the site.

Now please be cordially invited to Free Online Latin Lesson to Increase Your Latin Vocabulary.

P.S. I hope you didn't forget that "English-Latin Dictinary" should be written as "English-Latin Dictionary"? Hehe, :))


The root of civilization



The Roman Empire is considered by many historians as the cradle of modern civilization and one of the most invaluable reagents in European culture. As with most hegemonies, the Roman Empire could only survive and prosper by extending its reach and civilizing new places, a process often called “Romanization”. This Romanization was done with the help of the Latin language, which was used at that time for commerce, international affairs and so forth.



Although born around the foothills of Rome, the Latin language quickly spread throughout neighboring city-states and eventually became the official language of the area. At its peak, the Roman Empire stretched from the Middle East all the way to the Iberian Peninsula and at least in its western part, the language was established so well that its roots remained solid even after the Empire fell, allowing new languages based on Latin to form up.



The use of Latin as the official language of the Catholic Church later on was also decisive in increasing its role in Europe and making it a language that stood the test of time even though the Empire that used it fell. There was a time when a person could simply not have been regarded as a true polyglot unless his repertoire included the Latin language.



Even though the Latin language is nowadays widely considered to be an extinct language, since the number of fluent speakers is extremely low (and there are no native speakers either), it has applied a major influence on many other languages that are still thriving. In addition, the Latin language is primarily used in fields such as science, academia, and law.



Learning Latin



Learning Latin is a double edge sword in what regards the ease with which you can practice it. On the bright side, the rules of the Latin language are quite structured and very easy to follow and understand. Every “Learn Latin” course in the world will start by stating this fact. However, the ease with which Latin can be learnt is hindered by the lack of good teachers. Since it’s not a spoken language per say and there are no native speakers that could teach, Latin teaching is left in the hands of persons that studied it rigorously but might still not be able to judge the language as a native would.



An alternative you could take is to try and take some free Latin lessons online. Although learning off the Internet is not comparable to learning with a tutor or in class, it’s still a great way to start off the learning process. Once you’ve zeroed in on the major grammar rules and learnt a few sentences it’s time to improve your vocabulary. This can be done by either reading a lot of texts in Latin (it might not be the case at this point though) or playing some vocabulary games such as puzzles, quizzes and so forth. These help you memorize words quicker and will prove to be quite an importance vocabulary increase.





Articles about Latin in other languages:


Latin: The Root of Civilization (in English)
Lengua latina (in Spanish)
Langue latine (in French)
Lateinische Sprache (in German)
Lingua latina (in Italian)
Latijnse Taal (in Dutch)
Истоки цивилизации (in Russian)
Língua Latin (in Portuguese)
جذر الحضارة (in Arabic)
Latina – radacina culturii si a civilizatie Romane (in Romanian)