Three Principles in Fast-tracking Foreign Languages

Facility Principle

What you don't have to do is always easier than what you do have to do.

In other words, the less you have to think about in learning a language, the more rapidly you will learn it. And the fewer mistakes you will make. As I will demonstrate below, French has certain features and characteristics that make it dramatically easier than English. Take advantage of them.
Here is the second principle that can smooth your way.

Familiarity Principle

Familiar habits and patterns of thought are often hard to break.

Paradoxically, some of the aspects where another language is easier than English at first glance appear unfamiliar - and therefore falsely difficult. Although it may take you some time to accept them, once you begin to think in the language, you will rapidly come to appreciate them and enjoy their benefits.

Here is an anecdote to illustrate the point.

One time I was talking with a Dutch-speaking friend. He agreed that English is fundamentally simpler than his own language; nevertheless, he complained that he just couldn't get used to English's simpler sentence structure. In certain instances, Dutch grammar requires the order of the words in the sentence to reverse; this never happens in English. Objectively, then, English sentence structure should be easier than Dutch. But to him, not reversing the word order just didn't seem natural.

Here is a third principle you will find extremely useful.

Context Principle

By themselves, words and sentences have little meaning; often they can be understood only in relation to other words and sentences.

This is very reassuring. It means that even if you say something incorrectly, in general people will still understand you because of the context in which you say it. Likewise, even if people say something to you using unfamiliar grammar or vocabulary, in general you will still be able to understand them because of the context in which they say it.

In short, you don't have to approach perfection in a language in order to use it effectively.

By: Philip Yaffe (http://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=1295292)

World Languages Translation Inc.

I Love You... in Different Languages

In the spirit of the love month, it seems romantic to grace the occasion in an Elizabeth Barrett Browning fashion. Just like in her poem “How do I love thee? Let Me Count the Ways,” let us not only count the ways but also say I Love You in Different Languages:

Foreign Language	Translation
Afrikaans	Ek het jou lief / Ek's lief vir jou
Albanian	të dua
Arabic (Egyptian)	To a man - (ana uħibbuk) ٲنَا ٱحِبُّك To a woman - (ana baħibbik) ٲنَا بَحَِّك
Arabic (Modern Standard)	To a woman (uḥibbik ) To a man (uħibbak) أحبك
Armenian	Սիրում եմ քեզ: (Sirum em kez)
Azerbaijani	Mən səni sevirəm
Belarussian	Я цябе кахаю (Ja ciabe kakhaju)
Bulgarian	Informal (Обичам те (Običam te)) Formal (Вас обичам (Vas običam))
Catalan	T'estimo
Cebuano	Gihigugma ko ikaw
Chinese (Mandarin)	我爱你 (Wo ai ni)
Croatian	Volim te
Czech	Miluji tě
Danish	Jeg elsker dig
Dutch	Informal ( Ik hou van je ) Formal (Ik hou van jou / Ik hou van u)
Estonian	Ma armastan sind
Faroese	Eg elski teg
Fijian	Au domoni iko / Au lomani iko
Filipino (Tagalog)	Mahal kita
Finnish	Rakastan sinua
French	Je t'aime
German (Standard)	Ich liebe Dich
Greek	Informal ( Σ΄αγαπώ (S’agapó)) / Formal (Σας αγαπώ (Sas aghapó))
Hawaiian	Aloha Au Ia 'Oe, Aloha No Au Ia 'Oe
Hebrew	(Ani Ohev Otach - to a woman) אני אוהב אותך (Ani Ohevet Otcha - to a man) אני אוהבת אותך
Hindi	मैं तुम्हैं बहुत चाहता हुँ (Maiṅ tumhaiṅ bahut cāhatā hūṅ) - Male मैं तुम्हैं बहुत चाहता चाहती हुँ (Maiṅ tumhaiṅ bahut cāhatī hūṅ) - Female
Hungarian	Szeretlek
Icelandic	Ég elska þig
Ilocano	Ipatpategka
Indonesian	Cinta kamu / Saya mencintaimu
Irish	Gráím thú
Italian	Ti amo
Japanese	愛してるよ (aishiteru yo)
Javanese	Aku tresnasliramu
Korean	사랑해 (sa rang hae)
Latin	(Te amo) טי אמו
Latvian	Es tevi mīlu
Luxembourgish	Ech hunn dech gär / Ech si frou mat dir
Malay	Saya sayang kamu / Aku cintakan kau
Maltese	Inħobbok / Inħobbok hafna / Jien inħobbek
Mongolian	Би чамд хайртай (Bi chamd khairtai)
Nepali	म तपाइलाइ माया गर्छु। (ma tapainlai maya garchu)
Norwegian	Jeg elsker deg (Bokmål) / Eg elskar deg (Nynorsk)
Persian	(asheghetam) عاشقتم In poetry and songs - (dūset dāram) دوست دارم
Polish	Kocham Cię
Portuguese	Amo-te, Eu te amo, Eu gosto de você, Eu amo você
Romanian	Te iubesc
Russian	я тебя люблю (ja teb'a l'ubl'u)
Serbian	Волим те (Volim te)
Slovenian	Ljubim te (m/f), Rad te imam (m) Rada te imam (f)
Tamil	நான் உன்னை காதலிக்கிறேன் (nān unnai kādhalikkiren)
Thai	ผมรักคุณ (phom rak khun) - m ฉันรักคุณ (chan rak khun) - f
Tongan	'Oku ou 'ofa 'ia koe
Turkish	Seni seviyorum
Ukranian	Я тебе кохаю (Ja tebe kochaju) Я тебе люблю (Ja tebe liubliu)
Vietnamese	Em yêu anh (m) Anh yêu em (f) ; Tôi yêu bạn
Yiddish	(Ikh hob dikh lieb) איך האָב דיך ליב (Ikh libe dikh) איך ליבע דיך
Zulu	Ngiyakuthanda

Whatever the occasion is, let the other person get your message correctly and accurately.

Visayan jokes are green!

By:Composed Gentleman

Note:

Lexcode Philippines  translates from one regional language to another.  So if you want to understand the humor of this blog article, contact Lexcode Philippines


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Bisayang Dako (Bisdak) jokes are mostly green, don't you notice it? I would suggest not to take each seriously, besides that is what jokes are all about -- more "green", much "funnier".

Here is a set of Bisaya/Cebuano/Bisdak/Visayan (what ever you call it) jokes to cheer up your day.

Ang bitin

Anak nakaabot sa ginikanan nga nag-iyot.
Anak: Ma, nganong gilingkoran man na nimo ang atubangan ni Papa?
Inahan: Naa man goy bitin Dong, akong patyon.
Anak: Mas isog si Yaya Ma, iyang gikaon ang bitin.

Large nga kondom

Bayot: Miss, naa moy large nga kondom?
Tindera: Naa man, pilay imo?
Bayot: Aw, di ko mopalit. Maghuwat-huwat lang ko og naay mopalit.

Kabaho ka?

Duha ka bayot, nanglakaw sa Colon.
Darna: Yadz, kabaho ka?
Ding: Unsa man yadz woi?
Darna: Karon ba? (dayong lihok-lihok sa iyang simod) Bahong utin woi!
Ding: Ako yadz woi… mitug-ab! Kivirr!!!

Binahinay

Managtiayon nag-away, nagkasabot nga magbulag.
Asawa: Ako ang yuta!
Bana: Ako ang balay!
Asawa: Ako ang kotse!
Bana: Ako ang drayber!

Di diay ka mousab?

Babaye: Huhuhu, di na ko birhen. Imo kong gihilabtan, kaduha pa gyod!
Lalaki: Paghilom diha, kausa ra gani.
Babaye: Di na diay ko nimo usban?

Tapolan nga bata

Bana: Day, iniggawas ani ni Jr. ato ning padarohon.

Napulo na lang ka bulan…
Bana: Ga, ako na lang ning bulikaton ang imong bilat kay di man gyod mogawas si Jr.
Jr: Atay, kinsa man kunoy ganahan mogawas kon inyong padarohon!

Silence please!

Polis: Pagkadaghan man untag tawo sa library, nganong wa man ka mosinggit dihang gi-rape ka?
Gi-rape: Dako man god kaayo ang sign nga “Silence Please” Sir!

Unya na

Alas nuybe…
Bana: Sige na Ga.
Asawa: Unya na god.

Alas dose…
Bana: Sige na Ga.
Asawa: Unya na god.

Alas tres…
Bana: Sa mosugot kag sa dili Ga, ibton ko na ning akoa kay mopahulay na ko!

Unsa, ATM?

Bana: Ga mag-iyot ta.
Asawa: Paghilom diha daghan na baya tag anak.
Bana: Ayaw kabalaka ako lang widrohon.
Asawa: A, unsay pagtuo nimo sa akong bilat, ATM?

Sabaw-sabaw lang usa

Dihay nanglili sa ilawom sa balay. Si Inday gihubo ang panty ug nangihi sa salog nga kawayan. Si Ondoy gisalo ang ihi ni Inday sa usa ka baso unya gihumol ang iyang utin ug miingon, “Sabaw-sabaw lang sa ta karon kay wala may karne.”

Philippine Brand of English: An Indicator of a Living Language

Whenever you hear a Filipino speak in broken English, or a version you are not used to hearing, do not laugh nor correct him. Don’t you ever have the notion that the English language might be evolving? Just as there is American English or Canadian English or Australian English, there is also Philippine English.

When Bb. Pilipinas 2008 Miss World, Janina San Miguel answered this way: “I did not expect that I came from, I came from one of the top 10. Hmmm, so, but I said that my family is the most important persons in my life”, this probably is part of the Philippine evolution of English. Though this is not exactly what poet Gemino Abad proudly declared that Filipinos have "colonized the English language", this somehow points to the situation that Filipinos are slowly making its own English language adaptation.

The Filipino English is a culture in itself. It is a dialect that has its own right, just like all other English languages in the world. The standard American English that Filipinos are forced to learn in school may not be the only one kind of English language in this world after all. According to Isabel Pefianco Martin, president of the Linguistic Society of the Philippines (LSP) and a member of the International Year of Languages Committee Philippines, all languages are equally perfect and complete from the linguistic standpoint. In other words, no language is inferior to the other. This includes our so-called “carabao” English.

But who are we to decide what is correct and wrong English when all that Filipinos want to do is merely transform the language into a form with Philippine prestige? So what if "every now and then" means “often” to us when in standard American English it means "occasionally"?

Filipino English is correct here in the Philippines, just as American English is correct over there. The ownership of the English language is already shared across continents and cultures. Nobody owns the language anymore. In fact, in reference to Isabel Pefianco Martin’s article, “non-native” speakers of English are beginning to outnumber “native” speakers in the world today. In international English Language Teaching circles, academics do not talk about English in singular terms anymore. There is widespread recognition that several Englishes exist around the four corners of the world.

Many foreigners observe that Filipinos are better speakers than Americans. We say English more clearly than any other non-native English-speaking countries. We understand English-speaking visitors better than they understand us because we are used to hearing different forms of English. The complexities of hearing and saying the English language have given birth to our own version, which should never be measured as second-rate.

The outburst of Filipino English in society is not restricted to the ‘less educated’. Even in Filipino educated circles, the expressions, which are neither American nor British versions, are acceptable and frequently used. The hundreds of Filipino professional bloggers are into this Filipino English culture as well. Nobody is complaining. The reason is simple: if enough educated elites in the blogosphere ‘commit’ these errors, then these errors in effect have been accepted by the blogosphere as the standard, as highlighted also by Teodoro Llamzon in Standard Filipino English (1985).

Nanette Fernandez, assistant professor of English from the Ateneo de Manila University and a founder of the Ateneo Center for English Language Teaching, said, the 'nativized' form of English that Filipinos speak is correct even if it is different from the English spoken in other parts of the world.

Yes, Filipinos have their own our brand of English language that is a valid and colorful. And Filipinos must regard that with confidence and pride. What is the use of our being the third most populous English speaking country in the world if we do not have our own variety?

Finally, when someone tells you: “You are like a Balikbayan box, because I get excited when you arrive.” You can answer this way: “You are like constipation, because you take my breath away.” Funny? Yes, and will always be. Welcome to the quirks and twists of Filipino English!

by: Jeffrey Salas (Certified World Languages Translation Staff)