image copyright Cardiff University/Cardiff University School of Physics & Astronomy 2008.
Welsh Phrase Of The Day
Thank you to Kate M for requesting a "Welsh Phrase Of The Day" post on this blog. Here's today's Welsh phrase:
Esgusodwch fi!
English: Excuse me
Click here to go to omniglot.com and hear the audio version of this phrase.
Click here for The Learn Welsh Podcast
Click here for Cadw Swn Learn Welsh course
URDU PHRASE OF THE DAY:
images and content copyright BBC Online 2008
Urdu:
image copyright The Times/The Times Online 2008.
Learn French With The Times: To be fair, I was ill and waiting for my new bed to be delivered last Saturday so I can be forgiven for having missed this offer in the UK national newspaper (also sold outside the UK) The Times.
I don't have a copy of any of the CDs and I have no further information about this offer but it looks like a great way to help your child/children to learn their first few words in French.
There are free resources on the website for your to download and the CDS are available each day for the rest of this week when you purchase The Times in WH Smith stores in the UK (I have no details or information about whether this offer is available on an international basis).
image copyright survivalphrases.com 2008
Learn Swedish:
Way back in 2000- before the wonderful autumn descended, queues formed at petrol stations across the land as the fuel ran dry and the trucks blocked the roads and before the rain fell from the sky and I arrived in Wales to begin an amazing chapter of my life- I visited the wonderful country of Sweden.
I saw the Vassar sitting in the dark, patiently waiting to pound the waves once again. I saw the culture museum, I went on a trip on the water and enjoyed walking around the wonderful city of Stockholm.
Of course, back then, I had no knowledge of the language (I've only just started learning it now) but the people were very friendly and I had an amazing time.
My quest to become multilingual has never been about "showing off". Ok, so being able to say "please could you turn off your cellphone" in several languages is a neat little party trick and you can impress people by ordering a pizza in Italian but that really isn't the point. The point is, for me at least, to meet new people, make new friends and discover more about the world.
So, grab your MP3 player (or just download the podcast onto your PC or listen to it online) and start learning Swedish. I know what you're thinking: "But I don't know anyone who is Swedish...." That's just it: you don't know anyone who is Swedish YET.
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Barlcays logo design copyright Barclays 2008
Image from mobiletor.com.
Where Do Your Parents Work: Every two weeks, one half of my French GCSE class would offer up a collective moan to the four winds as those rose from their seats to face the dreaded French oral teacher. You'd tell her your name a thousand times but she'd still insist upon calling you Luke. Of course, not all French oral teachers are alike but I always got the sense that the majority of my class would rather have had double maths than endure fifty minutes of the dreaded French oral teacher.
Given that I am currently trying to learn as many languages as possible in just 1 year, you'd be forgiven for thinking I must have been a bit of a swot in my FrenchGCSE class. Surely, I was the pupil who could count to 100 in French in record time and produce an hour long speech on the latest developments in French art. Well, not exactly...
As a class, we worked together. When the teacher asked us to describe the local cinema, we'd simply answer "Bof" (so, so) and that would be the end of the matter. And another trick we learnt was to pretend that each one of our fathers worked in a bank. We'd all worked out how to say that our father worked in a bank and- even if he was actually a painter or decorator or a highly respected patent agent and attorney- we all colluded in the great pretence that our father worked in the local bank. The French oral teacher- not yet wise to ourmalevolence- assumed that the local bank only employed local people or else was the largest bank on the face of the earth.
The one week and one day challenges are coming up very soon and perhaps it really is time for me to learn how to say what my Dad really does for a living in French.
Note: Join Martin is not affiliated with Barclays Bank and other banks are available.
