Foreign language music

By Simon

Listening to songs in languages you’re studying, learning what they mean and how to sing them are great ways to practise various language skills.

One of the first things that got me interested in Portuguese, Spanish, Irish and Scottish Gaelic was listening to songs in those languages. This also helps to sustain my interest in them. Since I started learning Welsh I’ve also become a big fan of Welsh language music. Before that I was only vaguely aware that there was a Welsh language music scene – it’s a bit like discovering a whole new country. I quite like some Mandarin and Cantonese music as well.

I’ve learnt quite a few songs in Irish, plus some in Scottish Gaelic and Welsh. I’d like to learn songs in other languages as well at some point. I find it quite difficult to memorise the words, but easier if I understand what they mean and can picture the things and events described in my head.

The other day I looked at my music library and discovered that the language in which I have most songs is Irish, followed by Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese and Cantonese. I also have a few songs in Latin, Taiwanese, Japanese, Manx, Breton, French, Cornish, Bulgarian, Serbian and Tibetan.

Do you listen to songs in languages other than your own? Which languages do you listen to?

How long does it take to learn a language?

By Simon

There is no definitive answer to the question posed by the title of this post. It all depends on the following factors, among other things:

How much of the language do you want to learn?
If you want to become proficient in all aspects of the language, then it’s going to take a lot longer than if you just want to learn enough to ‘get by’ when you visit a country or region where the language is spoken

Which languages do you already know?
Learning a language related to your native language and/or another language you know will probably take less time than learning an unrelated language. There will be a lot of vocabulary you recognise and the grammar will be similar.

How will you be studying?
Studying on your own and/or with a private tutor might be quicker than studying in a class because you can go at your own pace. If you study every day, even for only short while, you’ll probably make better and faster progress than spending a few hours a week in a class. You might make even more progress if you combine studying on your own with going to a class or having individual lessons – the class/lessons will give you the opportunity to use your language with others, and to get advice, guidance and feedback from a teacher/tutor, while studying on your own enables you to work on aspects of the language that interest you and practise the bits that you find difficult.

How motivated are you?
To continue studying for as long as it takes to learn a language, you need to be well motivated, and also focused and dedicated. To motivated you are, the quicker your progress is likely to be.

According to ALTA Languages Services, it takes about 300 hours for someone to go from beginner to advanced level. This works out as around a year and eight months of studying for half an hour a day, or ten months studying for an hour a day.

It took me five years of fulltime study to learn Chinese, a year and a half of which I spent in Taiwan. French and German took me seven and six years of regular study (a few hours a week) respectively. After four years studying Japanese fulltime, including four months in Japan, I could speak it fairly well, though not fluently. I’ve been learning Spanish and Welsh sporadically for about eight years and have a fairly good command of the latter, but only a fairly shaky grasp of the former. After two years of studying Irish I have a good knowledge of the language and can speak it quite well.

Word of the day – 嵐 (arashi)

By Simon

嵐 (arashi), noun = storm

Examples of usage

嵐が来そうです (arashi ga kisō desu)
It looks as if a storm is going to come

嵐が治まりました (arashi ga osamarimashita)
The storm abated

男たちは嵐の夜に出てきました
(otokotachi wa arashi no yoru ni detekimashita
The men went out on a stormy night

This character is a compound of two characters: on top there’s a mountain (山 – yama) and under that there’s the character for wind (風 – kaze). Storms are common in the mountains, so this combination makes sense. Knowing the meanings of the individual parts of compound characters like this can help you to remember them.

In Mandarin this character is pronounced làn means mountain mist, mountain haze, mountain vapor or mist.

Another, more common, Japanese word for storm is 暴風 (bōfū)

The power of words

By Simon

More or less every area of human activity involves a different range of specialised vocabulary, otherwise known as a linguistic register. Knowing the vocabulary associated with a particular activity isn’t essential, but without it you will probably find yourself using complex, convoluted descriptions, which can be frustrating. Once you learn the relevant words, you can talk about the activity with confidence, and those involved with the activity will be more likely to believe you know what you’re talking about. Of course it helps considerably if you know what the words mean as well.

If your car breaks down, for example, and you have to take it to a garage, knowing the words to describe what you think is wrong and being able to discuss possible solutions will signal to the mechanic that you about cars. As a result, he will be less likely to slip some extra unnecessary work onto your bill. By this I’m not implying that all garage mechanics would stoop to such practices, but these things do sometimes happen, apparently.

Motivation

By Simon

Motivation is very important when learning a language, or indeed anything else. Without motivation it’s difficult to continue studying for very long.

An enthusiastic teacher or tutor can really help, as can learning materials at the right level, i.e. one that stretches you, but not much. Setting yourself targets and goals, and rewarding yourself when you achieve them can also help. Another good way to motivate yourself is to spend time studying the language in a country or region where it’s spoken.

Way back in 1988 when I first tried to teach myself languages, I found it very difficult to continue studying for more than a few weeks. My lack of motivation was the main reason. Since about 1998 though, I’ve been studying various languages more or less continuously. Motivation seems to come more easily to me these days.

How do you motivate yourself to study?

Name the language

By Simon

This week we have a recording of a mystery language. Can you identify it? Here it is.

A few clues: this language is part of a large, widely scattered language family and is spoken mainly on a group of quite remote islands. This language has a regular spelling system devised by a missionary during the 19th century.

The recording is a news item from an online radio station. I don’t understand it, but I think the story has something to do with Walmart.

Definite countries

By Simon

Only a few country names are accompanied by the definite article in English. These include the UK, the USA, the Netherlands, the Gambia, the Sudan, the Ukraine and the Lebannon. In some cases the definite article is only used occasionally – Sudan and Lebannon, for example, usually manage perfectly well without it. Why some countries are more definite than others is a bit of a mystery. Any suggestions?

In Welsh only some of countries have the definite article, though not the same ones as in English. Examples include yr Ariannin (Argentina), yr Aifft (Egypt), y Ffindir (Finland), yr Almaen (Germany), yr Eidal (Italy), yr Iseldiroedd (the Netherlands), yr Alban (Scotland), y Swdan (the Sudan), y Swistir (Switzerland) and yr Unol Daleithiau (the United States).

Most countries have the definite article in Irish, with the exception of Alba (Scotland), Ceanada (Canada), Cúba (Cuba), Gána (Ghana), Iosrael (Israel), Lucsamburg (Luxembourg), Meicsiceo (Mexico), Maracó (Marocco) and Sasana (England)

Accelerating fuzziness

By Simon

Words are notoriously slippery customers. They might start life with one or two well-defined meanings, but they often take on additional meanings, and in some cases come to mean the opposite of what they meant originally. This process is referred to as “accelerating fuzziness” by Geoffry Finch in Word of Mouth – A New Introduction to Language and Communication, an interesting book I’m reading at the moment.

Here’s probably the best-known example of an English word that’s undergone accelerated fuzziness:

Nice, which originally meant foolish, currently means pleasant, commendable, kind, friendly, good, satisfactory, subtle, delicate, discrimminating, precise or skillful, is sometimes used to mean fastidious or respectable, and used to mean delicate, shy, modest or wanton. That’s a lot of meanings for such a small word! This is a word I was discouraged from using in English lessons. According to my teacher, nice is far too imprecise because it can mean so many different things. Sometimes there’s no harm in a bit of imprecision though, particularly when asked to give your opinion on something about which you don’t feel strongly either way.

Nice comes from the Old French nice (simple, silly), from Latin nescius (ignorant), from nescīre (to be ignorant).

On an unrelated matter, what non-English-speaking photographers ask people to say when taking a photo? English-speaking photographers often ask people to say “cheese!”, a word that makes you smile when you say it, thanks to the ee sound. What about in other languages?

More on names

By Simon

When you go to a language class, quite often the teacher will give you a name in the language you’re learning, which might be the equivalent of your name in that language, or a name with a similar sound.

The French and German versions of my name are spelt the same but pronounced differently, while in Spanish my name is written Simón. The Irish equivalent of my name is Sím, while in Scottish Gaelic it’s Sìm. One of my Chinese teachers gave me the Chinese name 安斯韦 (Ān Sīwěi), which I later changed to 革賽門 (Gé Sàimén) – 不確定那一個名字比較華式的，但是我猜第一個是比較好的．有沒有什麼意見？

Most of my friends from Taiwan and China have ‘English’ names. Some of them were given these names by their teachers, others chose their own names. In some cases they went for quite unusual names, including Dual, Van (from Van Gogh), Rainbow, Stone and Pencil.

I suppose if call yourself by a different name when you speak a foreign language, you are, to some extent at least, adopting a different persona. This gives you opportunities to say things and perhaps to do things you wouldn’t normally do when speaking your mother tongue.

Do you behave differently when speaking in foreign tongues?

The Seven Simons

By Simon

In my class at school I was one of seven Simons, hence the title of this post. The name Simon seems to have been particularly popular in the UK in the sixties and seventies – not sure why – any suggestions? I was born in 1970 and often meet other Simons, quite a few of whom are roughly the same age as me. In fact I know at least five other Simons in Brighton.

There are fashions in names, as there are in many things. Lists of the most popular names are published in newspapers annuallly and prospective parents peruse them with interest. You can see some examples here. In 2005, for example, many parents in the USA gave their sons biblical names, with Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Matthew, Daniel and Joseph were among the top ten.

Opinions about names seem to be based, at least to some extent, on the people you know with those names. If you like and respect the people you know with a particular name, then you may well think of it as a pleasant and respectable name. Although if you meet somebody you don’t like with that name, your opinion might change. When considering names for your offspring, you may be inclined towards names of people you respect and/or admire.

Which names are popular in your country or region at the moment?

I heard that in some countries (Spain and France I think) there are lists of approved names you can choose for your children. If you want to call them something else, the authorities will refuse to register them. Is this true?