aira

"Kilig," which is now in Oxford English Dictionary, did not seem to have a direct translation before. But now, Oxford described it as "thrill." But then, it is not just some kind of thrill, as kilig is much related to love matters.

Oh! I love "That Thing Called Tadhana" too! I think it is one witty rom-com movie of the year! Though Mace and Anthony were just eating and talking for the most part of the story, their chemistry was nice. There were lots of hugot lines too. I also like the anecdote about the arrow and the heart. That was just so cute. I recently do not like romantic hugot lines anymore, but Tadhana's hugot lines always get to me. About Anthony's line on why women choose Baguio, that is just so witty! I mean, yeah, why Baguio? Is a woman's life lost in Baguio? That cracked me up. I like his frankness in the situation too.

The Filipino language is not melodic in itself. It's just the people are in high spirits, and can lighten up even in adversity. It may be the reason why most Filipinos love to sing. Singing can uplift us and those around is, which is why there is never a fiesta or a big celebration without music. It could take form in karaoke, videoke, or well-wishers singing for a bride and groom in a wedding. Also, even in ordinary days, people go to videoke after work or when getting together with friends. Music is just around us because we love to sing.

Wow! I never knew Math, Physics, Trigonometry, and Chemistry have Filipino equivalent! Do you have other examples? I am very curious. I have not encountered someone say something in deep Tagalog. If I would hear someone saying it in daily life, I would kowtow to that person. No kidding!

I use Spanish and English when counting time and money. I find it rather long if I say "May limampung piso po ako," in real life situations. I would sound like someone from a commercial if I count in Filipino for money. (Apat na pung piso nalang ang Crispy Chicken Sandwich ng McDo!) For other things, I count in the Filipino language or in dialect. Also, I would also like to cite an experience about kids misinterpreting Spanish count words for Filipino. It happened once with my niece. She said she had a hard time counting in Tagalog, but she mentioned "uno, dos, tres," so I corrected her gently and told her it is from Spanish.

Using of polite words in our language is a bit mild compared to Japanese and Koreans, who must learn a lot of ways to address those who are older or superior to them. Like in the Koreans, the longer the conjugation of the verb, the more polite it is. Learning ho/oho and po/opo is all right. We cannot do away with words pertaining to respecting those older than us because they came ahead of us. It's better to err on the side of caution and use po/opo, and reserve the ho/oho to those who we deem are of the same rank as us.

I have the same problem as you do. I am also anxious in conversing in a new language. But my technique is just to speak it anyway. As I speak, I try to also remember the rules. Should I mispronounce it, you can just say that you are just starting to learn the language, and that you are asking for their understanding. For me, that only applies to new friends. I also ask for feedback so I can learn.

There are some special things in my mother tongue, which is Filipino. For one, there are certain particles that are "abbreviated" so as not to confuse with some words in terms of spelling. For example, the word "mga." "Mga" is a particle that denotes plurality. It is placed before a noun if we want to express the plurality of nouns. The word is pronounced as "manga." It is different from the Filipino spelling of the English "mango," as the Filipino term is "mangga." It's as if we pronounce most of our words syllable by syllable. It's not also to be confused with the Japanese manga, you know, the comics. Another is "ng." It is pronounced as "nang." It is a bit similar to "of" in terms of usage. The reason why "ng" is spelled as such is because there is also another word "nang," which is used in adverbs. Another is the syllable "ba." "Ba" is used as a syllable in words, or as a standalone word when asking questions. The reason why I include it here is because there are foreigners who are amused in the "ba," such as the anecdote below: There were three people waiting for the elevator. One was a foreigner, the other two are Filipinos. The setting is in the Philippines. One of the Pinoys asked if the elevator will go down by asking his friend, "Bababa ba?" And the other replied with, "Bababa." The foreigner was amused because it seems that we can understand one another by using just one syllable. Here's the thing in said anecdote. The term "baba" (spoken fast, with an accent at the last vowel) means "to get down." There are rules in future tenses, but to make the long story short, the future tense of the "baba" is "bababa." Then the last "ba" is a word denoting a question. That also makes our language quirky.

For me, Hangul is the most beautiful script. I find it easy to write in Hangul (Korean script). It took me only a week to learn writing in Korean compared to learning kana, which took me a month. I love kana too, but it became difficult for me. Until now, I have difficulties in reading kana. Hangul also looks cute, and it is easier for me to remember that a syllable consists always of consonant-vowel or consonant-vowel-consonant. It was easy to remember.

I cannot recall exactly at what age I was interested in learning a new language. All I can remember is that I had been interested in learning Japanese when I was in grade school. But because I don't have lunch money, I didn't have savings to buy even a decent book. My dream came true when I was sixteen, when a classmate of mine gave me a Japanese book during exchanging gifts in a Christmas party. It fueled my passion to learn Japanese, but I skipped and halted a lot of times because I prioritized my college degree.

If I remember my dreams, I am usually speaking in my native tongue when I dream. The only time, I think, when I spoke a different language in my dream was when I dreamed of CN Blue. Because Lee Jonghyun is my bias, I dreamed talking with him more than all the other three members. I spoke some Korean in my dream, but most of it were just laughter. I also remembered shipping Jonghyun and 2NE1's Bom in my dream when they met in the beach resort. I remembered talking to them a bit in Korean, but I could not recall talking to them in English.

Learning Kanji in two months? I find it impossible in my case. I have a work schedule that drains me. However, it is not an excuse not to learn it. I just learn at my own pace because if I cram all 2,000 Kanji in two months, I might not appreciate the stuff that I am studying. I take my time so that I can savor each word and relate it to certain characters or figures or drawings so that I can remember it easily.

The decision to that is exactly up to you. You mentioned that your brain says French, but your heart says Japanese. What pulls you the most regarding that matter? Is the pull of gravity towards Japanese stronger compared to French? Learning numbers and their numerical system frighten me more than Kanji, but I still study it because I love Japanese language. If you really love Japanese despite the difficulty regarding Kanji, I am sure you can find a way to master it, like associating a certain character with a drawing or a figure. If there's a will, there's a way. You just need to trust your instinct.

There are a lot of quotes that I love, but most of them come from "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Here are some: Filipino high school students are required to read Jose Rizal's "Noli Me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo." Here are my two favorite quotes from "Noli Me Tangere."

Google translate can be useful at times. I use it when checking for Korean or Japanese words. Sometimes, to check if my spelling in Korean is correct, I use it to translate a word from Korean to English. If it gives me a word that is not in English, I know that I misspelled the word. However, Google Translate is NOT always accurate. There are times when my friends would be sharing hot news about Korean stars dating. For example, the news on Dispatch about Lee Jongsuk and Park Shinhye caught "dating" at night. The source I had was in Korean, but when I copied the contents to Google Translate, some of the words I got are romanization of the Korean word. I could not understand the whole point so all I got was the gist. And I had to wait for news from Soompi or allkpop. Also, sometimes, Google Translate from English to Tagalog (Filipino) is not accurate. I had experienced that a few times, though I cannot remember the words I searched for.