CorieHens

I happened to meet a colleague from Zamboanga in one of our work assignments in Cebu. She is good in English so her Chavacano is only for our amusement. But I find that Chavacano has many words that are similar to Spanish. But I find it a beautiful language with that mix of origins.

I was in Vietnam a few days ago and naturally I would want to learn some bits of their language. Unfortunately, the moment I speak (in English) it seems that the people are turned off. The only ones who cooperated were the staff in the hotel where we stayed. But outside, the Vietnamese seem to abhor the English language.

That is still one of the best ways for one to learn a new language and this includes your twelve year old son. Another way to best learn the language would still be to have him speak with a native language speaker and in this case, swedish men or women or children that can speak the language.

I agree with this. I also think that the best way to learn a language, particularly for the children is to talk with a native speaker. When we were in Vietnam last weekend, I was able to befriend the owner of a boutique shop so I had learned to say a few phrases like CAM ON to mean thank you.

I have just got back from my trip to Vietnam and the only phrase I had learned is CAM ON which means thank you. However, most people there know the phrase thank you so it seems that it is a useless phrase to learn. By the way, Vietnam is a good place, clean nice people although sometimes I don't feel safe.

Although not seriously, my target language is Vietnamese which I have zero knowledge. I know there are sites that offer free tutorial but I am still so busy with my work. My reason for learning Vietnamese is our trip to Vietnam on Sept 25, yes, later this month. And since it is only for a tour so my needs would only be conversational Vietnamese like greetings and other simple and basic sentences and terms.

Here in our country, Philippines, the primary medium of instruction for most schools is English. I would love to study other languages though such as French and Japanese.

We used to have Spanish subjects in college but it was taken off the curriculum some decades back. From what I know, Spanish is still an elective subject, meaning you can take those subjects and earn units for your course. In the years before I was born, Spanish was prevalent and spoken by many. But it was overshadowed by English particularly because English was the medium of instruction in schools.

In grade school, English was the medium of instruction in school so it is understandable that we had a difficult time in the first years of our schooling since Filipino is our native language. What gave us problems was the pronunciation of the TH, F, and the A syllables. Thought, fourth or forth, worth, those are difficult words to pronounce. The simple word data was taught to us as day-ta but in the later years we pronounced it dae-ta and again in the digital age it was back to day-ta.

In your second language, what difficulty have you encountered?

It depends on the language to study because like English, I would prefer to study it offline because there are so many materials online already. Now I am trying to learn a little Vietnamese for our trip to Vietnam this month and the only resource available is online. If only I know a Vietnamese here, I would ask for help because my only needs are simple conversational Vietnamese.

This may sound funny but this is a true story. We have what we call English carabao where the speaker is not well versed so he commits mistakes in grammar and pronunciation. That was common in people in rural areas. One actor named Joseph capitalized on that and he pretended that he speaks real English carabao. He became popular with that gimmick until his movies were all hits. His full name is Joseph Estrada. He became the president of the Philippines in 1998 and now he is mayor Manila.

I actually have no experience in learning a language seriously but I have a close friend whose business is teaching English to Koreans. They are planning to put up a website that would provide tutoring. It would have syllabicated English words for easier reading with a corresponding audio for the pronunciation. But they want it to be a membership site that charges a fee. Their reason is the quality of teaching they will provide. Fair enough.

In the middle east, the hiring of a domestic help is primarily for the house chores but most of the housemaid from the Philippines are also being used as tutors for English. It is a neat scheme of getting 2 in one package. And the best thing is that Philippine housemaids are good in English because it is their second language.

I am guilty of using loan words when speaking in Tagalog. I do not bother checking the dictionary if there is a Tagalog equivalent to the word I am going to use. I just use loan words because everybody else can still understand what I am trying to convey.

Anyway, I found a list of words that are added to the Tagalog dictionary. Here are some of the words:

- pantablay

  This translates to charger.

- sulatroniko

  This translates to e-mail.

- pook-sapot

  This translates to website.

Do you know any new Tagalog words?

Pardon me for saying this but some wise guys try to invent words and pass it off as traditional when in fact they are not. Those terms may be in the dictionary but who is the authority on dictionary?

You will be mocked if you are going to use those invented terms. Do you know pook-sapot? Pook is place or site and sapot is spider's web. So technically that is correct but I assure you that pook-sapot is not a legit term.

Isaac Asimov is my husband's favorite author. He would gobble Asimov's books in the bookstore although he hesitates when the price is quite high. For me, I prefer easy and light reading like the literature of old. I still remember the story of Satan and Sam Shay which is a comic story and funny character but with depth.

With stories, I still prefer the printed form like books or magazines. I usually read at home when I have nothing else to do like on a dog day afternoon. But most often, I read at night before bedtime. One book lasts for months with me since I am a busy person with a daytime job and a home to care for at night.

A child learns language the fastest because he has focus and good memory. As any subject of learning, the easiest way to learn is to practice. You cannot learn how to ride a bicycle unless you have tried it. So for language, it is the same technique - use the language, converse using that new language and you will learn fast.

English is my second language. Maybe I can help you with the accent. But my question is how do I do it, by recording what I would say? Oh my, I haven't done recording yet and I'm not sure if I have a microphone for that purpose. Besides, I do not know what software to use in recording. I have no skype just to let you know.

I have been into into forums just a few months ago and my main objective is to enhance my written English. My first foray was the blog but it is not that easy because a blog requires a long writeup. With forums, I felt at home and I learn as I read the post and compost my reply. I'd say the internet is one good educational tool for learning a language.

Our trip to Vietnam is next month already and I still have to learn a word of Vietnamese. I wonder why there are no vietnamese in this site. Maybe we have to invite them so they come to teach us, hahahaaa. But seriously, I don't want to be a stranger in Vietnam, a  tourist with no knowledge of their language.

Writing down words and phrases and even sentences is one way of aiding your memory in retaining what you are learning. Writing is also the best way to remember the correct pronunciation. Like in Nihonggo, there is a word that is spelled SUKA but they pronounce it sa KA only. But still, we have to write Suka so as to retain the correct spelling.

I'm kind of struggling with motivation right now because I don't really know where to start with learning more Japanese. Yes - I know there's a ton of resources online, but I find "teaching myself" hard. I don't have the time to go to a class, with a baby and a husband that works long hours it's hard to even get normal stuff around the house done some days.

I wish I had the opportunity and time to attend a physical class - something about the presence of others and physically writing stuff down, reading, having worksheets and homework - it all motivates me.

It looks to me like you have no focus hence the motivation is not strong. First, why do you need to learn Nihonggo? Second, what are the secondary reasons for learning the language? If learning Nihonggo is just for added knowledge, your objective is weak hence the motivation is also weak. Just my thoughts, no offense.

Based on my logic, writing is just like reading because all you need to memorize are the characters that are actually the letters. In speaking, there are unique ways of pronunciation for each language and dialect. Like the word MA in Chinese, I think there are 10 meanings depending on how you pronounce it.

When we were in Beijing, I was very disappointed because Facebook was banned likewise with Google. They have their own version of social media and search engine. And since there was no Google Translate, we didn't have a chance to speak Chinese words except Shishe which means thank you.

We had been to Beijing last January and it's a shame that I only got to know this site last week. It would have been great if I had learned a little Chinese so I could somehow converse with the vendors of the people on the streets. But I know I can still learn because in October we are going to Hongkong.. nihawma again.

From what I know, Chinese is the most spoken language. With the large population of China and add to that the Chinese-speaking Chinese outside of China, there's a lot than English speakers. Most countries I know have Chinatown like the Philippines, US, even in London there is Soho. So I really think that Chinese speakers are the majority in the world.

I had been to Hongkong first in 1994 then in 2012 twice, 2013, 2014 and this year we have a trip again in October. You can say that I am a habitue of HK. So maybe it is about time that I learn some Chinese. The only words I know are:

1. Nihaw - to mean hello

2. Sheeshe - to mean thank you

It's really a shame that I have been going to HK every year but I have nothing to show except those 2 words.