Word for the Travel Wise (10/07/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Vacationing in foreign places can be the most exhilarating high times experienced by all men and women. From the flight over to adjusting to culture shock, it’s quite easy to get wrapped up in the good, the bad and the ugly of any place. However, if while in South Africa you hear today’s word being offered to you, make sure you don’t mistake it for a dinner dish. Unless, maybe – you like that sort of thing.

Today’s word is an Afrikaans word used in South Africa:

dagga – marijuana

For learning Afrikaans online check out this Afrikaans.us site and Ominglot guide with additional links. Aviva has a nice list of words with their translations you may hear most commonly during your visit in the country. Parties with some knowledge of the language may wish to do some reading over at this blog all in Afrikaans. I haven’t a clue what the content is about, but it could come in handy. Note that the name Afrikaans is simply the Dutch word for African where Afrikaans is the African form of the Dutch Language.

Past Afrikaans words: bly stil , plakkies, woestyn, dof

Word for the Travel Wise (10/06/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

After several very long hours of driving down the wide-open road, I am going to leave you with this Persian piece of vocabulary before retreating to bed. My apologies for the short blurb, but I am truly in a state of delirium.

Today’s word is a Farsi (Persian) word used in Iran:

khastam – I am tired

Excellent sites for learning Persian online include a personal favorite called Easy Persian and Farhangsara. Both sites have an excellent beginner’s guide into the language and use images, sound and music to assist you in the process. Check out Lonely Planet’s Farsi (Persian) Phrasebook for a shorthand guide at the ancient lingo.

Past Farsi words: be salamati, toot farangee, kheyli golabi, tazeh, dovidan

Word for the Travel Wise (10/05/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Looks like we’re a day late and a dollar short of visiting the Sinanggiyaw Festival held in Dumanju, Cebu (Philippines), but with careful planning you should be able to catch this annual event and celebration of planting, harvesting and thanksgiving next year. Sounds like a real colorful and exciting time for the both the natives and a wandering tourist.

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

sayaw – dance

Seeing how I normally point to Tagalog words when heading to the Philippines for the language feature I’m going to keep the information on Tagalog below. As for Cebuano, it is spoken by approximately 20,000,000 people, most of which are inhabitants of Cebu, Bohol, and Negros Oriental as noted in Wikipedia.

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

Word for the Travel Wise (10/04/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

After checking out the Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center the other day it feels like a given to provide you with this nugget of Norwegian knowledge.

Today’s word is a Norwegian word used in Norway:

hjemkomst – ( pronounced yem-komst) homecoming

Norwegian is a Germanic language spoken by some 4.6 million people in Norway. It is closely related to Swedish and Danish. There are two form of Norwegian; book language or Bokmål and new-Norwegian or Nynorsk. To learn Norwegian online go to Wiki for background details; then head off to Omniglot for a brief look at the alphabet and pronunciation guide. The link here provides you with a number of web resources for learning the language of Norway. Their list includes, Web TV, audio, colleges, etc. BBC Quick Fix has some of the basics with audio. Pimsleur Language CD’s are great if you have the extra cash to spend, otherwise pick up the Lonely Planet phrasebook before you take off.

Past Norwegian words: hoytid / selskap

Word for the Travel Wise (10/03/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

It’s quite obvious Malta isn’t one of our most blogged about places, but I do my best with this word feature to make sure it gets some of the action. However, I have been providing with you baby talk. It’s time to rev up our language motors and really start talking Maltese. Now hit the gas and GO!

Today’s word is a Maltese word used in Malta:

Jien jisimni… – My name is…

BBC Languages Quick Fix allows one to download essential holiday phrases like this to store in your mp3 player for the big trip ahead. You can hear audio of some very basic words on their site as well. For a full run down on the history and a thorough section on survival Maltese head over to aboutmalta.com. I’m not too certain how much the survival Maltese will be needed considering the country’s other official lang happens to be English and they happen to have around 40 English learning language schools.

Past Maltese words: Fejn huma t-tojlezz?, sahha, xorb