Word for the Travel Wise (11/28/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

No real rhyme or reason for picking today’s word other than I stumbled upon it over at the BBC in their cool French section. It was part of a longer phrase, but I think this one word is enough for now.

Today’s word is a French word used in France:

cafard – cockroach

French is the third largest Romance language in the world in terms of native speakers according to the Wikipedia and is the official language of 29 countries. There are a number of places to learn French abroad which include Canada and Switzerland in addition to France. Amerispan offers immersion programs in all three of the countries and more info can be found by clicking here. Search other study abroad programs at some of these sites here: Coeur de France, Accord French Language School, and Transitions Abroad to name only a few. Swing over to My Language Exchange where you are sure to find someone willing to exchange their lingo skills for some of your own. Free online sources for learning French include France-Pub, French Assistant, and the BBC Languages.

Past French words: confiture, difficile, frottis, ma reum (mère), pensées, vélo, croire, neige

Word for the Travel Wise (11/27/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Well it’s been months since I’ve tossed out an Azeri word and my lack of doing so is a result of few online English to Azeri resources. Not wanting to fail you or anyone out there with a remote interest in this far out foreign lang, I went back to Azeri.org where I managed to pluck this easy word out of a few others. Hope it helps someone out there.

Today’s word is an Azeri word used in Azerbaijan:

romanlar – novels

Azeri, also known as Azerbaijani, Azari, Azeri and Azeri Turkish is he official language of the Republic of Azerbaijan. However, Iran is home for a majority of the Azeri speakers in the world. It is spoken in Russia’s Republic of Dagestan, south-eastern Georgia, northern Iraq, and eastern Turkey. I wanted to present you with a better word for the first lesson and second lesson in Azeri, but there are several with that upside down e and other characters and for me to try to give you one of those without the right character would cause too much confusion. Wiki has the lang background info and Azeri.org has some online lessons.

I’ll be patrolling the web for more online sources.

Past Azeri words: babatdir

Word for the Travel Wise (11/26/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

I’m going to continue riding on the idea that many of you went shopping this weekend and had a grand old time doing so. Perhaps some of you are overseas and found many good gifts to wrap and ship back home. I don’t know what your story is, but if you’re broke and out of cash then this phrase may also be for you…

Today’s word is an Italian word used in Italy:

sono al verde – I’m in the green. I’m broke.

Seeing how popular the language is there isn’t much difficulty finding learning resources on the web. I’m a little unsure about what’s going on with this June29 site, but they have three very simple lessons to get your learning motors going. You might find the BBC your one stop shop in handling your needs. Dictionaries, lessons, audio, and slang are all included. Distance learning is always recommended in my book. Check out some of these programs abroad where you can study in various cities across the country and even Lugano, Switzerland. A few links to study abroad are as follows: Amerispan, World Link Education, and ILUSS. Head over to this Italian Book Store for suggested text.

Past Italian words: qualcosa, dov’é, congratulazioni, un riccone/una riccona, sono strafelice

Word for the Travel Wise (11/25/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

This weekend is one of the craziest for shopping of the entire year and when you’ve reached your max or find you went far or over your spending limits it might be time to use this phrase heard in Sierra Leone…

Today’s phrase is a Mende phrase used in Sierra Leone:

Ngii loni a hani weka gbi. – I don’t want anything else.

Mende is going to be yet another toughie to learn online. For now I suggest going through this Mende Phrasebook published by the Bumumbu Press during colonial times to help Mende speakers learn English. In turn it can help you learn Mende in modern times.

Past Mende words: Nya sinjii ve, wa mu li na, nyaa fisama

Word for the Travel Wise (11/24/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Whether you’re in search of postage in Nicaragua to send a postcard back home or surfing the web for some new stamps to add to your collection here is a Spanish word that might make your hunting easier. That is if the person you’re dealing with doesn’t speak English or your native tongue.

Today’s word is a Spanish word used in Nicaragua:

timbre – postage

Amerispan, Cactus Language and IMAC are all good starting points to learning abroad. A free membership at Spanish Unlimited gives you the opportunity to learn a new word everyday by email, gain pen pals and hear audio of the words. Their website is actually a good resource tool for many different Spanish related topics. I won’t even begin to list some of the texts out there that could further your studies because there are entirely too many. If you know of some language books that would be useful please feel free to list them.

Past Spanish words: escalar, cercano, realidad, enfermo, jalar, isla