Word for the Travel Wise (11/16/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Don’t know how long ago this happened, but it looks as if the Bangla Bazar found on Virtual Bangladesh has teamed up with Amazon to help interested patrons with a desire to hear music from the country purchase it right from their site. This news might be centuries old to some folks out there, but seeing how I don’t frequent Virtual Bangladesh too often it is all new news to me. Anyhow, picking up a CD or two might help in learning the language. This method has assisted me many times in the past in learning a handful of new words. If you’re really interested in knowing what all the lyrics mean right away, you’ll need someone to translate them for you. In that event let them know you’d like their help and toss out this word.

Today’s word is a Bangla (Bengali) word used in Bangladesh:

ohnubad – translate

Web resources for Bangla are few, but you can pick up quite a few words reading (not skimming) through the Wiki and from this Bangalinet site which has a small tutorial on how to write in the script. Beyond those two I’m sure there are others, but as I mentioned above it was like pulling teeth to get this word. With that being said class is dismissed.

Past Bangla words: bhromon, shobbho, nir dohsh

Word for the Travel Wise (11/15/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Australia may be considered a land ‘down under’ and far out from most, but that doesn’t mean it is keeping people from spending their savings to travel that way. Should you arrive in Sydney or Melbourne and find it way too touristy for your liking ask around to find a more remote area also known as the word found below.

Today’s word is a Bush word used in Australia:

backblocks – a remote area

Hiroyuki Yokose does a great job outlining Aboriginal words used in Australian English like our vocab words from the past. For additional words you may wish to check out his findings. The Bangerang Cultural Centre is one of the first Aboriginal museums in the country and has a list of words online from this particular tribe. Wiki lists a large number of tribes and languages found in Australia which if you already haven’t set your mind on one in particular you can try picking one off their list. Try Lonely Planet’s Outback Australia guide for additional offline reading and trip planning.

Past Aboriginal/Australian words: cooee, yabber, bush telly, duffing

Word for the Travel Wise (11/14/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Okay, hmm… I went to check out the Poland tourism site to see if there was any kind of cool event to tie into the word piece tonight and the first thing that pops out at me is the emergency hotline for travelers. What’s that all about Poland? Is something going on over there the curious vagabond needs to know about? For those who get stuck or in a bind while in Poland, this word is for you…

Today’s word is a Polish word used in Poland:

pomoc! – help!

Interested parties can further their skills by visiting this Skwierzyna site for an Adobe PDF filled with excellent info and dictionary of Polish facts. Additional sites include Anglik for very basic info, Skwierzyna.net for additional links, and Angielski to learn Polish in Poland. Recommended pocket guides can be purchased at Lonely Planet. Download the word above and more at BBC languages quick fix.

Past Polish words: doswiadczenie, witamy, do widzenia

Word for the Travel Wise (11/13/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Every time I hear Amel Larrieux sing how she’s got to get to Congo I somehow fix myself to thinking I need to get there too and the Congo is really a place I’m in no rush to see. Still, I don’t mind picking up a few words should I manage to find myself there one day. As mentioned before I’m limited to good language sources for this particular tongue, so I’m reaching back into the English to Tshiluba quiz found at the Internet TESL Journal. Try this one and then sample Amel Larrieux’s music for yourself.

Today’s word is a Tshiluba word used in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

kulela – colors

Tshiluba is a Narrow Bantu also known as Luba-Kasai and Luba-Lulua. It is an official lang of the DRC in addition to French. Approximately 6,300,000 people speak the lingo and additional web resources are scarce. Feel free to leave a comment with any extra resources that could help others learn a bit more than what I’ve noted. You can continue learning the words for your own favorite colors by taking this English-Tshiluba quiz online. Chances are you’ll get all of them wrong, unless you’re an extremely talented guesser. After enough trial and error you’ll eventually be able to ramble off all the colors of the rainbow and have no one to tell them to, except in the Congo.

Past Tshiluba words: manimani, kalabi

Word for the Travel Wise (11/12/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

It’s a quiet day around my way and quite peaceful to say the least. Not a whole lot to report, so I’m making my word selection based on my mood. It’s not exactly the word for peaceful, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy trying to find ways to use this one while in the P.I.

Today’s word is a Tagalog word used in the Philippines:

kapayapaán – peace

Tagalog is one of the major languages in Central Philippines and part of the Austronesian language family. For some reason I was surprised by the number of free GOOD resources available to prospective Tagalog student. Wikipedia has great background info on the lingo as well as related languages, Bikol, Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, and Cebuano. Mongabay pretty much covers all the really good, up and running links to sites that help teach Tagalog, after checking out a few I’ll do the favor of pointing the best out. The first is an interactive language and Filipino culture resource site tools are provided for both teachers and students. A pretty intense breakdown on local slang and how it is derived can be found here. Travel Lang has word and phrase generator that spits out all the basic words you’d use while visiting.

Past Filipino/Tagalog words: taon, kalye, alak, masarap, sayaw