Word for the Travel Wise (08/13/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Today’s word is also a word used in the land of Ethiopia to describe an event happening in just seven days from today. During the festival young boys will call at homes, sing, jostle and disturb the peace until fresh dough prepared for baking is given to each. Later in the evening bonfires are lit outside each home, where I assume the dough is either baked in an open fire or used in some other method. Buhe falls on August 21.

Today’s word is a Amharic word used in Ethiopia:

buhe – fresh dough

Amharic is the second most Semitic language in the world after Arabic. It is the official working lingo of Ethiopia and spoken in such places as Egypt, Israel, and Sweden by a number of emigrants. The writing system called abugida is based from the now extinct Ge’ez language. In addition to Amharic other widely spoken languages in the country include Tigrinya, Somali, and Arabic to name a few. Wikipedia has good background information on the lang if you’re at all interested, but for those ready to dig in here’s a couple of places to learn online.

Ethiopian Restaurant dot com was kind enough to include some basic Amharic to use while in a restaurant from which I pulled our word for the day. This a great starter to days of the week, numbers, asking for your bill and other small useful phrases. Listen online to KFAI radio for Amharic broadcast out of Minnesota. Check their schedule for program times and listen daily as a self-learning tool. African Language has Amharic software for purchase and Amazon has a number of books for purchase including the Amharic LP phrasebook.

Past Amharic words: qurse, shuruba, ameseginalehu

Word for the Travel Wise (08/12/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Why I never thought to throw this word out in the open – I don’t know. There are far too many Americans not quite in-the-know and unhip to everyday American slang. I remember casually saying the vocab bit you’ll find below in just a few seconds in a conversation and found there were several folk bewildered by the terminology.

Today’s word is an English slang word used in the U.S.A:

hater blockerz – shades, sunglasses

Let me explain this one for all who don’t already know. Ever been to a nightclub and notice an obnoxious amount of people wearing sunglasses on the dark, dimly lit dance floor? Most of us are probably wondering what the heck they are hiding from or why on Earth some people make such poor fashion statements. Well my dear friends I don’t have a good answer for you. Maybe they’re hiding from you? Perhaps you were staring too hard at their entire being. Could be it be they’re an outlaw on the run who desperately needed to dance, but couldn’t drop the disguise? Better yet – they’re probably just a victim of not-so-trendy trends. Your guess is as good as mine.

Past English words: agro, elope

Word for the Travel Wise (08/11/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

I don’t believe this was included in my highlighted areas below to learn Korean online and it comes right off the pages of Korea.net. The Let’s Speak Korean section has 30 lessons which look to have audio and some video. Be sure to bookmark this one if you haven’t already.

Today’s word is a Korean word used in Korea:

hullyunghan – wonderful

My past lessons focused a little more on Korean dining which can be consumed about anywhere though finding a good restaurant might be tricky. For more vocab words found on the menu check out Korea infogate. Several more words in the Korean alphabet with excellent pronunciation guides can be found at Mr. Oh’s Learn Korean website. It’s a fun place to start to learn the basics. KBS World Radio has a three part, 30 chapter online learning guide all for free. I can’t get the Hangul text to show up, but they’ve got sound clips of all the sample conversations available. Learn Korean dot net has most of the aforementioned along with a forum to meet other speakers both fluent natives and beginners. For a list of Korean language programs in the country click here.

Past Korean words: shik-sah, sollongtang, yuh heng, mollah yo

Word for the Travel Wise (08/10/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Vacationers flying into Tahiti for the month of September and on should take a peak at this cool website I just happened to fall upon this evening. The Tahitian Traveler has a good listing of things to consider beyond sunbathing on the beach all day. World Tourism Day is held sometime in the month of September as is an annual arts and crafts fest. Although Tahiti is well-known as a vacation getaway for newlyweds if you’re a lady going solo in the month of October you may wish to check out the Mister Tahiti contest. Not that I’m suggesting you spend all your time drooling over hot Pacific Islanders, but some added eye candy to the tropical settings around you won’t hurt anything. And mind you – I said eye candy.

Today’s word is a Tahitian (Maohi) word used in Tahiti:

tamaaraa – feast

Tahitian is one of the two official languages of French Polynesia with the other being French. There are approximately 120,000 speakers through the Polynesian Islands. Head to Wikipedia for the background details as always. After you’ve gotten your history fix go to the tourism site for a small useful list of words to help get you by on the islands. Tahiti Explorer looks like it has the small list of words with a few more added on and a nifty pronunciation guide. The same thing goes for the list of words on the Tahiti Traveler without the pronunciation guide, so it’s really up to you to take your pick. Lonely Planet has a guide which probably has the same amount of words in the back of the glossary. Still – better to know a few than none at all.

Word for the Travel Wise (08/09/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Inspiration can come from just about anywhere. It can come from a Discovery Channel program, a nature hike through a famed national park or from the entrance of a local store. This is a word most of you have probably seen at one point or another, but never took much time to sound out or ignored completely. (The English speaking mind can do that with ease sometimes.)

Today’s word is a Spanish word from Mexico:

jalar – pull

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