Tiếng Việt & Español

Buenas tardes mis amigos?!

Tonight, I'm happy to say that I accomplished the monster that I owe you all. Annnnnnd I decided to double up for you for the hell of it. Yes...I know you love me.

Spanish is up first. I've been studying Spanish since I was in the 9th grade. Because of the sheer amount of time that I have been exposed to the sexiness that is Spanish, the words that are supposed to be "new", that of course would be for a newbie, were usually nothing more than review for me. I'm almost on Unit 2, and I have only picked up maybe a few things I didn't know from before. However, I do think everyone should learn Spanish because the Hispanic population is becoming more a force each day. The upside: the language is easy...The downside: there isn't one! Learn it.

I always imagine myself in the position of one of those guys from this hybrid car commercial where they start a language course and are barely speaking Spanish, and by the end, when they pump gas, they're speaking it fluently.

Now...For what you've all been waiting for..Vietnamese..

A: I feel better about it.
B: It's still pretty damn hard.

Vietnamese is like Thai, Cantonese, and Mandarin, in that it's a tonal language. Meaning that an incorrect tone can give a word a completely different meaning. The upside is that they generally use the same letters that we use in the English alphabet. The downside to that is that there are lots of little dots and lines that can go above or below certain ones that alter the pronunciation.

The only resource I had to help me write was Google Translate. If it weren't for that, I would never have known where the modifiers for letters went. Aside from that, it wasn't so bad. It's just going to be tough charging it all to memory because there are lots of little words and the grammar can get awkward at times. It's not easy, but I think it's definitely worth learning. I even used some earlier today when I went with my girlfriend to the nail salon!

Adios,

Your Favorite Polyglot
Twitter: @mistercapoeira

Polski

Dobranoc!

I'm not going to lie. I was a little disappointed with my Polish lesson tonight, but it's for reasons that I should be proud of. I learned about zero new things...The most important was how to use the word "but" (ale). The only other things I learned were how to say I'm Polish for a man and woman.

Polish is already easy because I've had experience with Serbian and Croatian. All of the languages of that area sound pretty similar. Croatian, Serbian, Czech, Polish, and even Russian...They all borrow words from each other.

Pimsleur, I love you to death, and I know this lesson was super easy for a reason. Maybe Polish is going to get really rough and they want me to go into it with more confidence, or, rozumiem  po polsku bardzo dobrze.

I will say though...I love Polish..If it remains this easy, then I will undoubtedly become fluent in it..Some words get complicated (spelling-wise) because there are words with major lacking of vowels, like "przepraszam", which is how you say "excuse me". It looks like gibberish, but it's surprisingly easy to spell.

Don't let Polish terrify you. It's really easy. Go learn it!

I didn't need any dictionaries or anything because I had my notes from a previous lesson, so I know how the phonetics work!

If the lesson gave me more, I'd be able to give you more..But this lesson was basically a quick way to kill a half an hour.

Do widzenia,

Your Favorite Polyglot

Русский + Ελληνική

Τι κάνετε?

I doubled up again for you all tonight! Two of my favorite languages!

Drumroll........Russian and Greek!

I love these languages...In all honesty, I never thought that I'd be learning these two (or anything other than Spanish) 
because I'm from Nowhere, USA. No one really cares about foreign things there. 

Let's begin with Greek. Tonight's lesson was lots of review, but I got to learn some important words, like when (pote) 
and now (tora). I'm surprised that I did as well as I have since it's been a while. For anyone thinking of pursuing Greek,
don't be afraid. The only think you'll have to worry about is the alphabet, but even that isn't as hard as it seems 
because each letter is phonetic! So once you know what sounds each letter makes, you are GOLDEN. Lots of the 
letters look similar to the ones we use in English, with the exceptions of a few, but they take no time to get down.

Tonight, I also decided to try something that I never have done before..I left out the English pronunciation totally. I 
stuck strictly to the Greek alphabet. Nothing more. It was easy because I knew the sounds, but I know it will only
make my Greek stronger without having to picture the English pronunciations in my head.

Greek is an awesome language...You truly are speaking the language of the gods.

Onto Russian.

Let me first say, that Russian was brutally intimidating to me before I ever got started it way back when I was on 
lesson one. It had a weird alphabet, super-long words, and all of the "Mother Russia" jokes that are associated 
with a great country. I didn't know where to start. That was twelve lessons ago. I still am not totally solid on the
Azbuka (alphabet), but I have a good idea of what letters make which sounds, and I can even read a little bit, 
even if I don't know the words yet. I can sound it out like I'm in kindergarten again.

Tonight, I began to get into some bigger numbers, ranging from tens up to thousands, in order to be able to handle
myself in situations where I need to buy something. I also learned the national currency of Russia, which is the Ruble!
Everything else was review (things like telling time), and that was surprisingly easy, yet refreshing, also. Russian is
a really good asset to have. Just make sure you can understand the alphabet too!

For resources on both, I just used notes from the past and Google Translate. I had two dictionaries sitting next to me
which I've never opened, and they remained that way tonight. I didn't need them at all. I think that shows a TRUE
sign of progress and skill. 

This whole polyglottal "journey" I'm on isn't just something that's limited to me. ANYONE can do it. You just have
to go for it. 

I'm sorry this one is a little lackluster as far as detail goes, but look at the time. It's late, and I'm tired. 

I promise I'll do Vietnamese tomorrow! 


до свидания,

Your Favorite Polyglot

Nederlands

Goedemorgen! Hoe gaat het met u?

I tackled Dutch tonight..And in all honesty, it wasn't even tackling..More like mauling, destroying, obliterating, vaporizing, or basically choking it out.

Dutch has by far been one of the EASIEST languages to pick up, and here's why: it has some Germanic roots. Don't know any Germanic languages? No? You're lying. If you can understand what you're reading right now, then you definitely know a Germanic language, because English is one!

Also, let me clear something up, because I used to be in the same boat. Dutch is spoken as the official language of The Netherlands. There is no country called Dutchland. Norwegian is spoken in Norway, Danish is spoken in Denmark, and Flemish in Belgium. Got it? Heel goed.

Tonight's lesson dealt with greetings, such as "How are you?", "very good", and basically anything to get me in and out of a short casual conversation. But I really wanted to focus on how easy it was. Because English is Germanic, and because Dutch has Germanic roots, a lot can be understood just because some words look and sound the same.

For instance:

English - I speak.
Dutch - Ik spreek.

English - Thank you.
Dutch - Dank u.

English - Not so well.
Dutch - Niet zo goed.

See where I'm coming from? There are differences when it comes to pronunciation, and there is the breathy 'g' sound for words like 'goed', but it's nothing that's impossible to anyone. It almost felt like I was a child in nursery school learning to speak English all over again. Dutch = Super easy. Learn it.

Resources to help me spell: None except Google Translate. Once you understand the sound words make with a "oe" and with a "g", you really barely need to use it. A lovely language from what I am sure are an equally lovely group of people. Can't wait to learn more.

And before you say anything...Yessssss I know I need to do Vietnamese for y'all...It's coming..It's coming..Chill.

Tot ziens,

Your Favorite Polyglot

Tagalog

Magandang tanghalian!

I was feeling froggy, so I wanted to give you another one tonight.

Soooo...Remember how I said that Tagalog was a monster? And how scared I was of it? Man...I almost slapped myself at how wrong I was. This was superrrrr easy. Maybe it's because I'm still in the beginning stages, but if apprehension is easy now, it should remain that way later on right?

Let's hope so.

Anyway...Tagalog is the language of the Philippines..So if you have any Filipino friends, this might be something to look into. It might sound a little like Spanish because there are some loan words like "Ingles", "Nakakaintindi" (Entender), and "Amerikano".

I attribute the fear to my stupidity and not paying attention the first time I tried Tagalog. And I wasn't writing what I learned either. Once I solidified the word order and what each word really means (I was under the impression that nakakaintindi was at least three words), I was golden.

No dictionaries for this language yet. Just Google Translate, which did a good job of giving me the word I needed the spelling for!

Tagalog by FAR, has my favorite way to say yes: Oo. That's pronounced oh-oh.."Oh" as in the "au" sound in "automobile."

Tagalog, you're cool.

Paalam!

Your Favorite Polyglot

Double Whammy (Português and Հայերեն)

Oiiii! Tudo bem, meu amigos? Espero que tudo esta bem com você!

I wanted to have some form of compensation for the delay, so I decided to give you TWO language updates in one. I know you love me for it.

First up, I'll take care of one of the, I guess, minor languages as far as popularity, and that would be Armenian. I always had the impression that the language would sound like a mix of Turkish, and I was partially correct. It sounds like a hybrid of Turkish AND Hungarian, even though Hungary is not too close to Armenia.

Since it was my first lesson, I got the basics. You know..Excuse me...I'm American...Do you understand English/Armenian...Etc. That stuff I got down no problem. The wrench that got thrown in my gears is the fact that Armenian has its own alphabet. When I found that out (because I write in whatever language I'm studying), I was like, "What the hell, man?" I thought that because it would sound like Turkish and Hungarian, that it would have at least semi-Romanized letters. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.

The Armenian alphabet system is made up of alterations and adjustments to the letters T and U (uppercase and lowercase). Sometimes you'll need to add a little marker to a letter to give it a different sound, and quite frankly, it looks...Well..Weird. I've never seen any kind of alphabet system like that, nor have I tried to write it in, and believe me, I've seen a ton of systems.

There isn't much more to say about it. It's a cool language, one which I'll keep studying. We'll see where it goes.

Nowwwwww...For what I really wanted to talk to about. POR-TU-GUESE! Excuse my language, but I fucking LOVE Portuguese. Not only because I teach the Afro-Brazilian martial art of Capoeira (Shout outs to O Grupo Floreio Fenix), but because the language just sounds so engaging. I love Spanish too, but Portuguese just sounds much smoother with its -zh and -ch sounds.

I'm currently at a point where Portuguese is not hard at ALL. I think this is what it feels like when you're close to fluency. I ripped and tore through my lesson, barely pausing and barely writing notes because I knew how to spell and sound out everything, even when I learned a couple of new words. I don't know what it is...I just took to Portuguese like a fish to water.

One day I'll be like this with every language I know, but for now, this is DEFINITELY my strongest language. I love it so much. I'm planning on taking my girlfriend and I to Rio in 2016 to the Olympics. It will be a BLAST to finally get to speak Portuguese basically all the time. I'm confident that I can survive and then some. My lovebug even speaks a little (she really doesn't have a choice, lol..she lives with me, and also does Capoeira).

Portuguese WILL be my second fluent language. I promise you. If you don't know any, learn some. I guarantee you will never ever go back. It is my favorite. I curse in it, teach in it, converse with my Brazilian friend in it, and attack any opportunity to use it with gusto.

That's all for tonight...I think.

Maybe I can knock out another one for you..Tagalog? I know I still owe you!

Boa noite,

Your Favorite Polyglot

日本語

こんにちは！

Let's get down to business. Japanese kicked my ass tonight.

I don't know if it was because I haven't done it in a while, or what, but it was rough. Some of the things in the lesson were NOWHERE in the preceding lessons, so I was super confused.

You'll have to forgive me if this one is a little short...I'm kind of discouraged.

I took phonetic notes, and wrote in the Japanese script, but I'm going to wake up tomorrow and, for lack of a better phrase, talk to myself. I was sooooo good in the beginning, but tonight...I was just off. It doesn't help that Japanese is a weird language anyway.

I had some help with the writing. I've got the Random House Japanese-English/English-Japanese Dictionary. It is a BEAUTIFUL piece of work. Of course all of the conjugations aren't there, but once you learn how to write 'imasu ka' and 'desu ka,' everything begins to stick, and it becomes a matter of "copying and pasting". Some of those characters took FOREVER to build. I don't know the proper way to write them just yet (stroke orders and whatnot), so tonight, it was as if I were drawing lots of pretty pictures.

Japanese is just like Thai. Don't look for many spaces. Look for lonnnnnnng lines of characters.

Tomorrow I deserve a break. I'm thinking Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and/or French. Romance languages all DAY.

さようなら,

Your Favorite Polyglot