Frequently-used words

By Simon

One piece of language learning advice that is quite widely preached is that you should concentrate on learning the most frequently -used words in a language at first, before learning less common words. By doing so you should have enough words to be able to understand and talk about everyday kinds of things. The advice on how to learn the words varies. I tend to absorb them through extensive reading and listening, but others like to use flash cards.

I was thinking about this today and realised that the words and phrases that I use most frequently might not be the same as the ones you use. We will probably have a shared core of words, but beyond that the list for each of us is likely to be different. Lists of frequently-used words are available for a variety of languages and are useful, but it might also be useful to think about what you as an individual most often talk about and to learn how to say those things in the language(s) you’re learning.

One way of finding out which particularly words and expressions you use most often would be to record your conversations for several days or even a week, and then to analyse the recordings. If you have a recording function on your phone, or a small recording device, this could be done discretely. As well as finding out which words and expressions you tend to use, you would also find out the typical topics you talk about. Once this has been done once, the results can be used for any language you’re learning.

Have you ever tried anything like this?

Clwb Iwcwlili

By Simon

Roedd pedwar ohonon ni yn y clwb iwcwlili heno – tri myfyrwyr a fi. Mae myfyrwr, o Loegr, yn medru canu’r iwc yn dda, ac mae dau arall, o Tsieina, wedi dechrau canu’r iwc yr wythnos diwethaf. Mi wnaethon ni canu caneuon eithaf syml dan ni i gyd yn gwybod heb gormod o gordiau. Roedd y grŵp iwc yn cyfarfod un waith yr wythnos, ond mi wnes i awgrymu cyfarfod arall ar nos Lun ar gyfer y rhai sy methu dod ar nos Iau, ac ar gyfer y rhai sy’n eisiau canu iwcs dwy waith yr wythnos.

There were four of us in the ukulele club tonight – three students and me. One student, from England, can play the uke well, and two others, from China, started playing the uke last week. We played fairly simple songs that we all know without too many chords. The group was meeting once a week, but I suggested another meeting on Monday nights for those who can’t come on Thursday nights, and for those who want to play ukes twice a week.

Grawnwin Digofaint

By Simon

Heddiw mi wnes tipyn bach o waith a mi wnes canu’r gitâr, y piano a’r chwiban tun. Heno mi wnes i i’r prifygsol i weld y fflim ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ o 1940. Dw i ddim ‘di darllen y llyfr, a dyma’r tro cyntaf i mi gweld y ffilm. Roedd yn ddiddorol ac yn drist, ac mae llawer o’r trafferion yn y stori yn dal i fodoli heddiw.

Today I did some work and played the guitar, piano and tin whistle. Tonight I went to the university to see the film ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ from 1940. I haven’t read the book, and this was the first time I’ve seen the film. It was interesting and sad, and many of the problems in the story are with us today.

Afalau a chaneuon

By Simon

Fel arfer, mi wnes i gweithio ar fy wefan y bore ‘ma – heddiw mi wnes i rhoi tudalen newydd efo manylion am fath o Aramaeg arno (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic). Ar ôl cinio mi wnes i stiwio afalau o fy afallen efo syltanaiaid a thipyn bach o fêl, ac yn y grŵp sgrwsio amlieithog, mi wnaethon ni siarad am y Wyddeleg, a chaneuon yn y Wyddeleg yn arbennig.

As usual, I worked on my website this morning – today I added a new page with details of a type of Aramaic (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic). After lunch I stewed some apples from my apple tree with sultanas and a bit of honey, and in the polyglot conversation group we talked about Irish, and particularly about Irish songs.

Digonedd o gorau

By Simon

Y bore ‘ma mi wnes i tipyn bach o waith, ac yn y prynhawn mi wnes i canu yn y côr MS. Gyda’r nos mi wnes i canu yn côr gwirion, ac roedd aelod newydd yna – ffrind i mi o’r grŵp sgwrsio Ffrangeg. Mi wnaeth o dysgu ni cân yn yr Almaeneg, ac mi wnaethon ni mwynhau ein hunain yn fawr.

This morning I did a bit of work, and in the afternoon I sang in the MS choir. In the evening I sang in the crazy choir, and there was a new member there – a friend of mine from the French conversation group. He taught us a German song, and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Attitudes of minority languages speakers to learners

By Simon

A friend of mine posted an interesting question on Regional, Minority & Indigenous Languages group on Facebook:

“Has anyone ever experienced rejection or hostility from a minority group for learning their language?”

This generated a lot of discussion.

Sometimes when I speak Welsh to people in shops in Bangor they will reply in English. I don’t know why they do this, but it is a but frustrating. That is the only negative experiences I’ve had with speakers of the minority languages I speak or am learning (Welsh, Breton, Irish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic and Manx).

I have only met a few young Breton speakers, and they were happy to talk to me in Breton, but I understand that many older native speakers of Breton are not willing to talk to learners, partly because they find them difficult to understand as they speak a standardised form of Breton with lots of neologisms.

If you are studying or have learnt any minority/endangered languages, have you had any problems with being accepted by their speech communities?

Ffrangeg a Iwcailis

By Simon

Ro’n i’n ar fin mynd i’r grŵp sgwrsio Ffrangeg heno pan ges i neges testun o’r hogyn sy’n rhedeg y grŵp iwcalili yn gofyn i mi i helpu efo gwers iwcalili yn y prifysgol. Felly es i yno ac mi wnes i helpu tipyn bach. Roedd y gwers yn Siamber Cyngor y prifysgol – ystafell grand iawn. Ar ôl hynny mi aethon ni i’r tafarn Groegeg lle mi wnaethon ni parhau i ganu a sgwrsio. Dydy’r grŵp mewn trefn da ar hyn o bryd, ond mi wnaethon ni mwynhau beth bynnag.

I was about to go to the French conversation group tonight when I got a text from the lad who runs the ukulele group asking for help with a ukulele lesson in the university. So I went there and helped a bit. The lesson was in the university’s Council Chamber – a rather fine room. After that we went to the Greek and continued to play, sing and chat. The group isn’t very well organized at the moment, but we enjoyed it anyway.

Sesiynau

By Simon

Roedd sesiwn da yn fy nhŷ y prynhawn ‘ma efo tri ohonon ni yn canu’r cymysgedd arferol o gerddoriaeth o Ynys Manaw, o’r Alban ac o Iwerddon. Ar ôl canu yn y côr cymuned yn yr hwyr, mi es i adref, ac ro’n i’n meddwl am fynd i sesiwn cerddoriaeth yn y Skerries, tafarn fach rownd y gornel o fan hyn, ond mi wnaeth hi’n dechrau bwrw glaw trwm a mi wnes i penderfynu aros gatref.

There was a good session in my house this afternoon with three of us playing the usual mixture of tunes from the Isle of Man, Scotland and Ireland. After singing in the community choir in the evening, I went home and was thinking about going to a music session in the Skerries, a small pub round the corner from here, but it started to rain heavily and I decided to stay at home.

Twitterizing

By Simon

Today I finally got round to signing up for Twitter, something I’d considered for a long time, but didn’t do anything about – this is often how I do things, or rather don’t do them. I’ll be tweeting as @Omniglossia as someone else is using @Omniglot. I plan to use to as a place to post sentences that I’ve put together in languages I’m learning. I try to make them memorable by adding unusual, silly and funny elements along with the ordinary words I want to remember. Your corrections, comments and suggestions are always welcome. I’ll also use it promote stuff going on elsewhere in the Omniglot realm.

Do you use Twitter as a tool for learning languages and/or for practising languages?