Benny Lewis's Blog, page 17

July 25, 2022

70 Terms of Endearment from Around the World (for Those You Love)

Let’s talk about terms of endearment.

No, not the 1983 movie starring Jack Nicholson that you probably haven’t seen (me neither). I’m talking about the affectionate words that people use with their friends and loved ones. You know, like “sweetheart”, “baby”, or “honey”, “mate”, “dude”, or “buddy”.

English has many terms of endearment. Other languages are full of them too.

In this article I’ll list some of the more common and interesting terms of endearment from different languages and dialects around the world. These include terms of endearment for lovers, and for friends.

English Terms of Endearment1. Baby

This is a common way to address a romantic partner (male or female). It would be weird if you said it to someone you’re not in a relationship with.

Sometimes this is shortened to “babe”. However, “babe” is also a slang term for an attractive woman.

2. Sweetheart

A very affectionate term for a loved one or romantic partner. “Sweetie” is also common.

3. Sugar

Another term of endearment that plays on the theme of sweetness. As we’ll see, this is a common theme in terms of endearment around the world.

4. Dude

“Dude” is an American word that’s becoming more and more common in English speaking countries all around the world. You can use it to address your male friends. Some people also use it to address women, although this is less common.

Incidentally, I once had the following exchange with a German friend:

Me: “Dude” is more of an American word than a British one.
Her: But what about that Beatles song “Hey Dude“?

American Terms of Endearment5. Buddy

“Buddy” is an all-purpose American term of endearment, usually for a male friend.

6. Honey

Yet another sweet term of endearment, “honey” often abbreviated to “hun”.

7. Son

“Son” is common in the American south, especially when said to a younger male.

8. Bae

“Bae” is an abbreviation for “babe”, popularised by hip-hop and R&B lyrics. It’s sometimes understood to mean “before anyone else”.

Fun fact: “bae” is also a Danish word for “poop”.

British Terms of Endearment9. Love

This is sometimes written “luv”. You don’t have to be in love with someone to use this word – it’s a more general term of affection, usually said to a member of the opposite sex.

In some parts of the UK people might also call you “my love” or “my lover” – even if they’re not literally your lover. Needless to say, this sounds strange to American ears.

10. Pet

Some find it weird or even offensive to be called “pet”, but in the northeast of England this is a common term of affection, especially among the older generation.

11. Duck

“Duck” or “my duck” is a term of endearment used in some regions of England, and especially said by older people. It’s thought to be a mutation of the word “duke”, rather than referring to the quacking bird.

Australian Terms of Endearment12. Mate

I could have included this one under “British terms of Endearment”, because it’s very common in the UK as well. But for some reason the word “mate” is stereotypically associated with Australians, as in the classic Australian greeting “g’day mate”.

13. Possum

A possum is a smallish marsupial mammal that’s native to Australia. The word “possum” is also, strange though it may seem, a term of endearment that’s native to Australia.

14. Cobber

Not to be confused with “copper” (police officer), “cobber” is a generic Australian term of endearment that’s similar in meaning to “mate”.

Old-Fashioned Terms of Endearment

Terms of endearment are apparently as old as language itself. For some reason, humans have never had a big thing for calling each other by their real names.

With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at some (English) terms of endearment that aren’t so common anymore.

15. Bully

That’s right: “bully” used to mean something quite different to what it means today.

According to Oxford Dictionaries, in the sixteenth century “bully” was a compliment. To call someone a “bully” was somewhat like calling them “darling”.

Nowadays, a “bully” is someone who intimidates or exploits the weak and vulnerable. That’s a pretty major shift in meaning!

16. Cinnamon

Yet another food-related term of endearment.I’ve never heard anyone be called “cinnamon” in real life, but it may have been common in the 14th century.

That’s when Chaucer published The Canterbury Tales, which includes the following snippet of dialogue:

“What do ye, honeycomb, sweet Alisoun?
My faire bird, my sweet cinamome”

17. Chuck

Nowadays “chuck” is a verb meaning “throw”, an abbreviation for “woodchuck”, or a male first name that originated as a nickname for “Charles”.

However, in times gone by, “chuck” was also a familiar term for a romantic partner, child, or anyone close to you. It’s one of many examples of a term of endearment that has fallen out of use. Although, as this article is hopefully showing you, new terms of endearment are invented as fast as they’re forgotten.

(Linguistic trivia: among U.S. Marines in the Vietnam War, “chuck” was a non-derogatory slang term for a white marine. The equivalent term for an African-American marine was a “splib”.)

Spanish Terms of Endearment

Oh, Spanish, romance and romantic language. Do you know how to share the love and say “I love you” in Spanish?

18. Tío/Tía – “Uncle/Aunt”

Time to move on to another language. In Spain (but not in Latin America), it’s extremely common to address your friends as tío or tía.

These words mean “uncle” and “aunt” respectively, but they’re not exclusively for relatives. It’s like calling someone “dude” or “mate” in English.

19. -ito/ita

When I speak my native English, I sorely miss a few features that are common in other European languages. One such feature is the “diminutive” suffix.

You know how “kitty” is a cute and affectionate way of saying “cat”? In Spanish, you can make the same change to practically any noun by adding –ito (for masculine nouns) or -ita (for feminine nouns) to the end.

It’s hard to give an exact translation for these suffixes. Most literally, they mean “small” – so casa means “house” while casita means “a small house”. But they also imply familiarity and affection, and add some implied extra charm to the thing you’re describing.

So a playful way to address your esposa (wife) would be esposita. Better yet, you can add the same suffixes to someone’s name – so Jorge becomes Jorgito. It’s cute, endearing, and common.

19. Cariño – “Darling”

Cariño is a very common word that you’d use for a romantic partner. It translates roughly as “dear” or “darling”.

You can use cariño to address a man or a woman.

20. Bebé – “Baby”

Remember we covered the English word “baby” earlier? In Spanish, bebé is used in the same way. As in English, it literally means “infant” – but you can use it to address a loved one.

21. Cielo – “Sky”

Cielo literally means “sky”, but you can call someone cielo – or mi cielo (“my sky”) to express your affection.

To make it cuter, you can say mi cielito – an example of the diminutives that we already discussed.

22. Dulzura – “Sweetheart”

Perhaps it should be unsurprising that terms of endearment in different languages tend to play on the same few themes. Dulzura is the Spanish word for “sweetness”, and if you call someone dulzura it’s like calling them “sweetheart” in English.

23. Amor – “Love”

Amor means “love”, and like in English, you can call a Spanish speaker mi amor (“my love”).

24. Corazón – “Heart”

Here’s a lyric from the Manu Chao song Me gustas tú (“I like you”):

¿Qué hora son, mi corazón? – “What time is it, my heart?”

Chao isn’t singing to his cardiac muscles: mi corazón (“my heart”) is another way to address a loved one.

Mexican Terms of Endearment25. Vato – “Guy”

Vato is a Mexican slang term for “guy”, similar to tío in European Spanish.

26. Mijo/Mija – “My Son/My Daughter”

Mijo and mija are contractions of mi hijo/mi hija (“my son/daughter”). They’re both endearing terms for a loved one that you’ll hear all throughout Central and South America.

They’re sometimes written as m’hijo and m’hija. Coincidentally, the noun mijo also means “millet” (a type of cereal.)

French Terms of Endearment

For many people, French means France, and France means Paris… The city of love! If you’re into being romantic in French, check out this post on how to say “my love” in French.

When you’re done, come back here to discover more French terms of endearment!

27. Mon cœur – “My heart”

Remember mi corazón in Spanish? Mon cœur in French means the same thing: “my heart”. You can say it to someone you’re in a loving relationship with (male or female).

It’s also common for French parents to say mon cœur to their children.

28. Mon amour – “My love”

Unsurprisingly, the word amour (“love”) also appears as a term of endearment. Use mon amour (“my love”) in the same way you’d used mon cœur.

29. Mon bébé – “My baby”

Another term of endearment that can be translated directly from English (and Spanish). Mon bébé means “my baby”.

Remember that bébé, amour and cœur are all masculine nouns. That means you must always say mon amour/cœur, even if you’re talking to a woman.

The feminine form of mon is ma, but this word must have the same gender as the noun being described, not the person being referred to.

30. -et / -ette

We’ve also seen the Spanish diminutive suffixes -ito and -ita. French has the same concept – they call it le diminutif. Except this time around the suffixes are -et (masculine) and -ette (feminine).

Note that the “t” in the masculine version is silent, but the “tt” in the feminine suffix is pronounced.

31. Mon chou – “My cabbage”

Another food-related word. But for once, this doesn’t refer to a sugary treat. Mon chou literally means… “my cabbage”. Yes, French people really say this to each other.

So, about that diminutif. You can say mon chou to a guy or a girl, but if you want to make it cuter, change it to ma choupette. (This version can only be said to a girl.)

Other variations include mon choupinou (said to men) and ma choupinette (said to women). You can also say mon petit chou (“my little cabbage”) to a man or young boy.

32. Mon trésor – “My treasure”

In France, you don’t have to be a pirate to care about treasure. Mon trésor means “my treasure”, and can be said to a man or a woman. Think of it as calling someone “precious”.

33. Ma moitié – “My half”

In English, you can refer to your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend as your “other half” or “better half”. In French, you can simply say ma moitié – “my half”.

34. Mon chéri / ma chérie – “My dear”

Can you think of a French speaker whom you _cheri_sh? If so, maybe you should call them mon chéri (if they’re male) or ma chérie (if they’re female). It roughly translates as “darling” or “dear”.

Note that, despite the difference in spelling, chéri and chérie are pronounced identically.

German Terms of Endearment35. Schatz – “Treasure”

By far the most common term of endearment in German is Schatz, which literally means… “treasure”, yet again.

Remember that nouns in German are always capitalised, so Schatz is written with a capital “S” even when it’s not at the beginning of a sentence.

36. -chen / -lein

Once again, German has diminutive suffixes that can be added to any noun or someone’s name.

In Spanish, you had to pick the right diminutive ending to match the noun’s gender. German doesn’t quite work like that.

Recall that German has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Regardless of a noun’s gender, you can add -chen or -lein to the end.

There’s no real difference in meaning, but -chen is more common. This now changes the word’s gender to neuter, if it wasn’t already.

You usually need to stick an umlaut onto the new word too – so der Hund (the dog) becomes das Hündchen (the little dog, the doggy.) Note that we now use das instead of der because the gender has changed from masculine to neuter.

Alles klar? Once again, you can use the diminutive form of someone’s name to sound more endearing. For example, someone called “Fritz” could be referred to as “Fritzchen”.

(Incidentally, you know the character “Little Johnny” who appears in many jokes in English? In German the same type of jokes are told about a boy called Klein Fritzchen – “Little Fritzie”.)

37. Liebling – “Favourite”

The most literal translation of Liebling is “favourite”, but if you address someone as Liebling, it can also mean something like “darling” or “dear”.

The clue is in the first syllable – Liebe means “love”.

38. Süsser/Süsse – “Sweet”

Here we go again. Süss in German is an adjective meaning “sweet”. Would you be surprised if I told you it can also be used as a term of endearment?

The catch is that to use süss in this way, you have to turn it into a noun. Say Süsse to a woman and Süsser to a man.

39. Maus – “Mouse”

The German word Maus is pronounced very similarly to its English translation: “mouse”. But it doesn’t just refer to rodents and/or computer apparel – Maus is a common term of endearment that a man might say to his wife or girlfriend.

You can also say Maus to a small child – although in this case it’s more common to use the diminutive, Mäuschen.

40. Perle – “Pearl”

You may have noticed that most of these terms of endearment fall into the same few categories. Behind “sugary food” and “cute animals”, the third most popular trope is “valuable objects”.

In the latter category, we’ve already seen Schatz. A similar German term of endearment is Perle, meaning “pearl”. Call someone your “pearl” or your “treasure” – it’s definitely a compliment.

While Schatz is common all over Germany, Perle is a particular favourite in the Ruhr Valley.

41. Hase – “Bunny”

Back to the cute animals. Hase means “bunny”, and in Germany you don’t have to be a Playboy to call your sweetheart by this name.

Hase is more commonly used for women than for men. The diminutive, Häschen, also works well.

42-45. Extra Long (Compound) Terms of Endearment in German

Of course, we can’t talk about German without looking at some compound nouns.

German is famous for its long words, formed by mashing nouns and adjectives together where in English we’d separate them with a space.

Here are a few such compound nouns that you might hear used to address a loved one:

Knuddelbärchen – “cuddle bear”Mausebär – “mouse bear”Mausezähnchen – “little mouse tooth”Honigkuchenpferd – “honey-cake horse”

Yes, all of these words really exist – that’s German for you.

Korean Terms of Endearment

Sharing love in Korean is a bit tricky: you need to know how to do it right. However, there are plenty of nice terms of endearment to use once you know how to do that appropriately.

46. 애인 (ae-in) – “Sweetheart”

애인 is a common gender-neutral term of endearment in Korean that roughly translates as “sweetheart”.

47. 여보 (yeo-bo) – “Darling”

If you’re married, you can say 여보 to your husband or wife. It means “darling” or “honey”.

Some other terms of endearment you could use for a female lover (whether or not you’re married) are 공주님 (gong-ju-nim, “princess”) or 우 리강아지 (u-ri gang-a-ji, “my puppy”)

A word you could use for your boyfriend or husband is 왕자님 (wang-ja-nim), which means “prince”.

48. 오빠 (o-ppa)

Traditionally, 오빠 is a polite word that a woman might say to her older male friends or to an older brother. Increasingly, however, it’s used as a romantic term of endearment from a woman to her husband or boyfriend.

Japanese Terms of Endearment

Are terms of endearment really used in Japan? Not in the sense you might be used to from the rest of this article.

If you look up words like “darling” or “sweetheart” in an English-Japanese dictionary, you’ll find entries like ダーリン (“darling”) and スイートハート (“sweetheart”).

But these aren’t real translations – they’re just the original English words transliterated into Katakana. You’d get funny looks if you used them in Japan in the same way they’re used in English.

So how can you express affection or at least familiarity in Japanese? One way is to use the right “honorific”. These are suffixes like -san or -kun that get added to the end of someone’s name.

In English you might address someone as “Mr. Smith”; in Japanese you would call him Smith-san.

-San is used in formal and polite situations, so it’s hardly a term of endearment. Two common informal honorifics, on the other hand, are “-chan” (used more often for females) and “-kun” (used more often for males). You can use these with your friends and relatives.

Use the Power of Nicknames

If you really want to express affection, however, a more common approach in Japanese is to give someone a nickname, as explained :

Say the name of this other person is Natsuko Yamamoto. When I first meet her, I might call her Yamamoto-san. The use of the last name and the suffix would show that I maintain a proper distance (and respect) for her. If I’m a school friend with her, I would start calling her Yama-chan (more informal suffix) or Natsuko-san (the first name is for closer relationship.) If I’m a really good friend with her, this might further change to, say, Nacchi.

And for the kind of relationship where one could say “my love”, I’d come up with another name altogether. Often it still has some sound of the original name left, like maybe Naah or Kocco, but it could also be completely unrelated phonetically and come from some shared experience only she and I would know. One usually keeps this class of names secret from other people, and to do so, they are not used in front of other people.

As you can see, Japanese does things differently from the other languages on this list!

If you want to learn more about sharing love in Japanese, head to this post.

Italian Terms of Endearment

Many say that Italian is the language of love. If you already know how to say “I love you” in Italian, you might want to impress your loved ones with a few terms of endearment.

50. Dolcezza – “Sweetness”

I hope you have a sweet tooth, because we’re far from done with the sugar-related terms of endearment. In Italy you can address your lover as dolcezza – “sweetness” – just like the Spanish word dulzura.

51. Amore – “Love”

Like the Spanish use amor, Italians use amore as a cute romantic nickname. You can make the term even stronger by saying amore mio (“my love”).

If you want to stay in theme, you can use il mio innamorato (masculine) and la mia innamorata (feminine). They roughly mean “sweetheart” or “lover”, although they’re rather formal.

52. -ino / -ina

It’s time to introduce the Italian diminutive suffixes. Like -ito and -ita in Spanish, diminutives in Italian can be formed with -ino (masculine) and -ina (feminine.)

Like in other languages, you can add these suffixes to someone’s name – or you can use them to make a regular “sweet” word sound more endearing, as in some of the following examples:

53. Fragolina – “Little strawberry”

“Honey”, “sugar”, “sweetheart”, and now another sugary word: in Italy the word fragolina (“little strawberry”) is used as a term of endearment. It’s the diminutive form of fragola.

54. Stella/stellina – “Star”

Stella is more than just a brand of beer – it’s the Italian word for “star”, and a term of endearment you can call your Italian lover.

55-57. Tesoro/Cuore Mio/Amore Mio – “Treasure/My Heart/My Love”

We’ve seen these before in other languages:

Tesoro – “treasure”Cuore mio – “my heart”Amore mio – “my love”

Use them like you would in the languages already mentioned above.

58. Microbino mio – “My little microbe”

Now this is one we definitely haven’t seen before! In Italian you can affectionately call someone microbino mio – “my little microbe”.

Strange though it may seem, this is a real term of endearment in Italian.

Need more Italian cute nicknames? Find a whole lot of them in this post.

Russian Terms of Endearment59. Милая моя / милый мой – “Sweetie”

Another sugary term of endearment. Милая моя and милый мой mean “sweetie”; say the former to a woman and the latter to a man.

You can also say любимая моя (f.) and любимый мой (m.) to mean “sweetheart.”

60. солнышко моё – “My little sun”

If your lover burns brightly in the sky above you, call them солнышко моё – “my little sun”.

Other gender-neutral terms of endearment in Russian include радость моя (“my joy”), ангел мой (“my angel”), жизнь моя (“my life”) and душа моя (“my soul”).

61. котёнок – “Kitten”

This word means “kitten”, and can be used as a term of endearment to a man or a woman. You could also call them котик, which is the diminutive form of “cat”.

Portuguese Terms of Endearment

If you want to learn how to say “I love you” in Portuguese, head to this article.

62. -inho/inha

Once again, Portuguese has a system of diminutives. Where Spanish uses -ito and -ita, Portuguese uses -inho and -inha for masculine and feminine nouns (or names) respectively.

So if someone is called Amanda, you could affectionately address them as “Amandinha”. Or “Felipe” could become “Felipinho”.

If the word ends in a stressed vowel, put a “z” before the suffix – so for example “João” would become “Joãozinho”.

63. Amigão – “Big Friend”

So far we’ve seen many diminutives in many different languages. A cool feature of Portuguese is that it also has the opposite of diminutives, called augmentatives.

Where the diminutive version of a noun implies smallness, the augmentative version implies bigness. So for example, while livro means “book”, livrão means “big book”.

The augmentative suffix for masculine nouns or names is “-ão”. Feminine words use “-ona”.

And like diminutives, augmentatives can be used to make a word sound more affectionate.

So while amigo means friend, and you can certainly address someone as amigo, you could also call them amigão. It means “big friend”, but don’t think about it too hard – the person doesn’t have to literally be big. It’s just a friendly, endearing way to call someone your amigo.

64-66. Alemão/Polaco/Negão

Finally, some words that are commonly used in Brazil, strange though they may seem to a native English speaker.

If you’re a pale-skinned gringo like me, travel to Brazil and you might hear people calling you Alemão (“German”) or Polaco (“Pole”). No-one is making an assumption about your nationality – these are just common, friendly ways in Brazil to address someone with light skin.

(Note that the “-ão” in “Alemão” isn’t an augmentative; it’s just part of the normal, unaltered word. The augmentative version would be “Alemãozão”)

In a similar vein, a friendly way to address a black male in Brazil is “negão”, which roughly translates as “big black guy”.

Despite the English word which it sounds like, negão is generally considered to be inoffensive (although of course you might offend someone if you said it in an obviously hostile tone.) You can hear the characters address each other as negão, for example, in the classic Brazilian movie Cidade de Deus (City of God).

Irish Terms of Endearment67. Mo Chuisle – “My Pulse”

You may recognise this term of endearment from the movie Million Dollar Baby. It means “my pulse”, and it’s a shortened form of a chuisle mo chroí (“pulse of my heart”).”

You can also call someone mo chroí (“my heart”)

68. A Leanbh – “My Child”

This one literally means “my child.” In Irish songs, it often gets transcribed as “alanna”.

69. Mo Stoirín – “My Little Darling”

This means “my little darling”. “Stór” is the Irish word for “darling”, and changing it to “stoirín” makes it diminutive, and thus more affectionate.

Mo mhuirnín is also similar in meaning to mo stoirín, and can be used to mean “my darling” or “my sweetheart”

Another version is mo mhuirnín dílis, which means something like “my own true love” or “my faithful darling”.

70. Wee

This one isn’t from Irish, but from Irish English, AKA Hiberno English, the dialect of English that’s spoken in Ireland.

We’ve already looked at diminutives in many other languages. As we saw, they can be a cute and fun way to modify words. Sadly, English doesn’t have diminutives – at least not in most of its dialects.

In Ireland, however, there is a kind of diminutive – the word “wee”. You can stick “wee” in front of a noun – e.g. “the wee baby” or “the wee girl” – and it functions roughly like the -ito/-ita suffix that we’ve already seen in Spanish.

“Wee” is also commonly used this way in Scotland.

Love and Language Learning

If you’re in the mood for more blog posts about language learning and love, check these articles out:

28 Beautiful Words for Love from Around the World – and Their Literal Translations into English “My Love” in Different Languages – 77 Weird and Wonderful Romantic Names How Speaking from Day One Helped Me Conquer Love and The Spanish Language A girl in every port? An honest account of a long-term traveller’s search for love on the road

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Published on July 25, 2022 04:00

July 22, 2022

The Beginner’s Guide to Language Islands [All the Answers + Examples]

Language islands are a powerful tool to reach fluency faster in your target language. But how can you become an expert at using them?

In this complete guide, I’ll answer all your questions about how to create and use language islands. I’ll also give you 30 topic ideas, and detailed language island examples.

Let’s get started!

Table of contentsWhat Are Language Islands in Language Learning?How to Build Effective Language Islands Step 1: Choose the Right Topic Step 2: Treasure Hunt Vocabulary Step 3: Practise Are Language Islands Really Helpful to Become Fluent Faster?30 Topic Ideas – What Language Islands Do You Need to Reach Fluency Faster?Examples of Language Islands Example 1: Language Island About Cooking Example 2: Language Island About Movies How Else Can I Help You Get Fluent Faster? Let Me Know!What Are Language Islands in Language Learning?

In language learning, language islands represent specific topics that you’re very comfortable talking about in your target language.

Imagine you’ve just started learning your new language. It’s like being lost at sea, you don’t have anything to grab onto. Are you going to try to find an entire continent, this would be you speaking the language fluently?

It’s much easier to make a little language island that you can feel comfortable on. There, you will have the time and confidence to keep building other language islands.

Eventually, there won’t be water for you to drown in.

Benny relaxing sat at a table in shallow sea water because he knows language islands help him learn faster

Visual representation of how language islands help you be more confident in your language learning.

Language islands are a technique we come back to quite often with participants in the Fluent in 3 Months Challenge, which is all about learning to speak your target language from day one.

Note: The term “language islands” is also used to describe “language pockets”. These are places where a certain language is spoken which are surrounded by an area where another language is predominant. You can learn more about them here.

Language islands as we use them are a technique explained by Boris Shekhtman in his book How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately.

Now, each language learner can adapt this technique to their needs and preferences. So how can you use language islands in your language learning strategy?

How to Build Effective Language IslandsStep 1: Choose the Right Topic

Language islands are your lifeline in a conversation in your target language. The more comfortable you are with the topic, the better!

I always try to work on things that I would talk about in my native language. My language islands have to be relevant to my situation, so that might be:

My travelsMy workMy studies in electronic engineeringMy passionsMy hobbies

A good way to choose a topic for your first language island is to think about what you’re passionate about. Talking about something you like a lot makes you more enthusiastic!

(Don’t panic if you’re not sure what topic to choose. I’ve written a list with 30 topics to inspire you. You can find it at the end of the post.)

Step 2: Treasure Hunt Vocabulary

Once you’ve selected a topic for your language island, it’s time to start building.

What goes into a language island?

Any vocabulary related to the topic you chose can go into your language island. This includes:

PhrasesExpressionsIndividual vocabulary (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.)

As a beginner, start with the most basic vocabulary

Where can you find vocabulary for your language islands?

PodcastsYouTube channelsOnline searchesBlogsBooksMagazinesTextbooksMoviesDocumentariesTranslation appsWikipedia articlesTutoring sessionsLanguage exchange sessions

Language hacker tip: As a beginner, look for short content or content aimed at learners or native-speaking children. As an intermediate or advanced learner, you can get much more out of content made for native speakers.

For example, I like to follow technology YouTube channels in my target languages. That way, I can stay on top of technology trends and build my language islands.

How can you store vocabulary for your language island?

First, it’s important to have a place where you can collect all vocabulary related to your language island. I call these “vocab vaults”. Make sure it’s something you can always have access to.

Here are a few options:

Google Spreadsheet (my personal favourite)AnkiA notebookA notes app

Now let’s say you’re watching a video about gardening in your target language, and “gardening” is one of your language islands.

When you notice a new word that is important for this theme, add it to your vocab vault for that language theme.

In my case, I might come across something related to computer terminology, or the latest gadgets coming out. Whatever it might be, I decide that it belongs to my technology language island.

How much vocabulary do you need on your language islands?

Aim for a base of twenty words and phrases when you start building a language island.

As you go on and get more exposure, keep adding vocabulary to your vocab vault. An efficient language island is made up of as much vocabulary as possible!

Step 3: Practise

Practising using language islands can come in a variety of ways. Here are some ideas:

Use your language islands to build conversation scripts, or a language learner’s “cheatsheet”.Discuss your language island topics with a tutor or language exchange partner. That’s also a good idea to get more vocabulary.Record yourself talking about the topic.Write blog posts related to your language island.

Are Language Islands Really Helpful to Become Fluent Faster?

It feels so intimidating looking at fluency from an absolute beginner’s perspective. But getting there is a collection of small steps forward.

I like language islands because they give you something achievable. When you pick these very narrow specific things that you can learn it feels like you have a finite amount of vocabulary to learn. It’s way less overwhelming!

Plus, language islands allow you to focus on the vocabulary you will actually use because you choose it yourself.

I highly recommend you think about that rather than trying to be fluent in every possible concept. Try to be very confident about one specific thing. Eventually, you will be able to consume content related to the language islands you build and be able to talk about them.

Even better, your inability to communicate will start to disappear when your language islands start overlapping. Imagine common words between language islands as little bridges connecting topics to each other.

Language islands are so useful that we recommend them to our Fluent in 3 Months Challenge participants in order to achieve having a 15-minute conversation in 90 days.

30 Topic Ideas – What Language Islands Do You Need to Reach Fluency Faster?TravelingLanguage learningYour studiesYour jobFamily and family historyYour childhood and originsYour plans and dreamsFruitsVegetablesDomestic petsWild animalsWeatherHouseHistoryTechnologyGeographyPoliticsScienceReadingMoviesClothesVacationsCollectingGardeningSportsPodcastsMusicBeauty and skincareCulture (like the Kawaii culture from Japan)PoetryExamples of Language IslandsExample 1: Language Island About Cooking

Topic: Cooking

Where to look for vocabulary: Recipe books, food blogs, cooking YouTube channels, recipes in magazines, etc.

Vocabulary list: food, knife, chef, to chop, to heat, water, pan, vegetable, dessert, table, cutting board, to mix, dish, a pinch, to salt, sweet, thick, stir until, add the remaining…

How to practise: Mini-mission: create weekly recipe videos. Prepare a conversation script with the new vocabulary you gathered over the week, and get filming!

Example 2: Language Island About Movies

Topic: Movies

Where to look for vocabulary: run an online search for “movie vocabulary”, TV magazines, streaming platforms, movie review videos on Youtube, movie review blogs, etc.

Vocabulary list: camera, actors, movie theater, to record, to set up, genre, adventure, comedy, rating, film crew, credits, interesting, boring, two-hour long, to be set in, script, soundtrack, special effects…

How to practise: Write movie reviews in your target language! They can be as short or as long as you want, and you can post them on forums. If you get replies, that’s good feedback and more vocabulary!

How Else Can I Help You Get Fluent Faster? Let Me Know!

Language islands are only one of my language learning tools, there are so many more.

I love writing guides like this to help you learn more about language learning techniques and become fluent faster. It’s also the focus of my podcast, the Language Hacking Podcast.

In fact, this post is based on one of my Ask Benny episodes (find it here), where I reply to questions you ask me about language learning.

If you are interested in any other topics, I’d be more than happy to explain them. Find me on Instagram (@irishpolyglot), TikTok (@irishpolyglot), and Twitter (@irishpolyglot), and ask away.

You can also browse these other Fi3M articles related to language learning:

How to Learn a Language in 2022 – Ultimate Guide with 35+ Language Hacks The 4 Essential Language Skills – and How to Improve Them Is Babbel Any Good for Language Learners? I Speak 4 Languages Fluently, Here’s What I Think [Babbel Review]Magnetic Memory Method: An In-Depth Review from a Language Learner What Language Should I Learn? The Bulletproof Guide

The post The Beginner’s Guide to Language Islands [All the Answers + Examples] appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

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Published on July 22, 2022 04:00

July 18, 2022

10 Awesome Japanese Video Games to Make Learning Japanese Easy

If you think learning Japanese has to be boring, think again. What if you could learn Japanese by playing Japanese video games?

It’s totally possible to level up your Japanese from video games! Learning Japanese from games will engage your mind in a whole new way.

Table of contentsHow to Use Video Games for Learning Japanese Keep Your Brain Switched to “On”Look Up Words and Patterns You Don’t Know Practice Speaking the Words You’ve Picked Up Practice Kanji for Reading Use What You’ve Learned Even When You’re Not Playing Try Out Shadowing 10 Awesome Japanese Video Games to Learn Japanese 1. The Tales Series 2. Disgaea 3. Pokémon 4. Persona 5 5. Steins;Gate 6. Fire Emblem Warriors 7. Ni no Kuni 8. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 9. Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland 10. Xenoblade Chronicles Check Your Favorite Games for a Japanese Language Setting

I’ll show you some of the best Japanese video games for language learners (these are some of my favorites!). But first, how should you go about using video games to learn a language?

How to Use Video Games for Learning JapaneseKeep Your Brain Switched to “On”

When you’re playing video games in Japanese, it’s all too easy to switch your brain off. You’ll ignore the Japanese because you know what to do, or rely on subtitles. Don’t fall into this trap of passive learning!

While it can be frustrating to play and not understand, you won’t learn unless you stick with it in Japanese. And as you get going and start to spot common words and patterns, it becomes more and more rewarding.

Look Up Words and Patterns You Don’t Know

As you play, keep a notebook handy. Write down any words or grammar patterns you don’t know or understand as they come up.

Once you’re done playing, look up their meaning and add them to your Anki deck or study notes. That way, you can have fun going through the game without constant pauses. And you’ll still learn and remember the things you need to work on.

Of course, if you get hung up on what to do in the game, look it up as you go. But for one or two words, write it down and keep it fun.

Practice Speaking the Words You’ve Picked Up

Once you’ve picked up new words from playing video games, use them! Try building sentences with what you learned.

And don’t forget to practice speaking them out loud with a language partner.

Learner tip: find a language exchange partner who loves video games as much as you do, and enjoys talking about them.

If you can’t slip your new vocabulary into natural speech, practice describing the game and how you learned it. You’ll be sharing something you love with your language partner, and they may have advice or more knowledge about the words or grammar.

Practice Kanji for Reading

US video games often have three options: Japanese audio, text in kana, or kanji without furigana. (Furigana is the kana reading written in small characters next to the kanji).

If you aren’t focused on reading and writing right now, then focus on games with audio only. But if you want reading practice, you need to know some kanji or be ready to pick apart kana sentences.

Kanji can be a crutch. You may not know enough kanji to read everything, but you rely on it to get the gist even if you can’t pronounce it. This is because kanji translates as a word, not a sound, so you know the word and get the idea.

But if you don’t know enough kanji, games only in kanji without furigana will be a huge challenge to read through. Practice kanji to prepare. Anki has excellent Japanese kanji decks to help you learn fast.

If the game has a kana-only option, that presents another challenge. Using kanji helps break up words and particles in a sentence when reading. So unless you know a lot of vocabulary, it can be difficult to tell where a word begins and ends.

But this is how Japanese children first learn to read, so it’s still doable.

Use What You’ve Learned Even When You’re Not Playing

Just because you’re playing a video game doesn’t mean you get off easy with your speaking practice. To make full use and actually learn while you play, you need to keep up your practice outside the game.

Video games are great as supplementary learning, but won’t teach you everything. Make sure to use what you learn by communicating with others.

Try Out Shadowing

If your game has Japanese audio, turn this on while playing. Then listen to the dialogue and shadow it.

Shadowing is a technique to learn how to speak and sound like a native. All you do is follow along with the speaker and copy what they say, either at the same time or right after.

It helps you catch each word and remember it. It also helps you pick up the cadence of the language, if you have trouble sounding like a native.

10 Awesome Japanese Video Games to Learn Japanese

Here are some amazing Japanese video games you can use to learn Japanese.

1. The Tales Series

The Tales series is a fantasy and action RPG game.

You journey with a cast of characters in a mystical world inspired by real-world conflict. The latest game in the series, Tales of Berseria, has you exploring the world as a young woman trying to overcome trauma. She joins a crew of pirates in the kingdom of Midgand.

The games feature emotional and epic storytelling as you fight your way through.

Tales features Japanese language audio with English subtitles. So you don’t fall back on the subs, try looking at the characters and listen to the dialogue first before reading along. Get ready for action-packed vocab, including pirate speak.

Arrrrr, matey!

2. Disgaea

Disgaea is one of the mainstay video games in Japan. It’s a tactical RPG that takes place in the Netherworld. Morals are the opposite of the human world and you defeat enemies with chess-style strategy.

The game features a wide range of characters, personalities, and extremes. Disgaea is a cult favorite because of its insanely high levels (it’s over 9000!), exploding penguins, and witty banter. In the latest game, Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance, you lead the main character on a rebellion of revenge.

Disgaea features Japanese audio with English subtitles – so practice that shadowing technique and speak along. Keep an ear out for Japanese-style humour, and how speech patterns change between gender, age, and status.

3. Pokémon

One of the most famous Japanese video games of all time, chances are you know this one well.

A light-hearted catch-em-all RPG, Pokémon is one of the easiest Japanese video games to learn from. When you start a new game, it gives you the option to choose your language. Once you do that, the game has two settings for reading: kana only, or kanji (without furigana).

While the name changes of most Pokémon may throw you a bit, the game includes a lot of English loan words. You’ll learn onomatopoeia, and words repeat often enough to memorize them.

And because you probably know the game as well as Pikachu knows Ash, it will be easy to pick up from context.

Plus, you can play Pokémon Go in Japanese, too. Take your Japanese studies on the go, and switch your phone’s language to Japanese. Once you do that, your apps – including Pokémon Go – will switch to Japanese.

Go on, Catch ‘Em All!

4. Persona 5

Insanely popular, Persona is a turn-based RPG set in a Tokyo high school.

Persona has fun music, a unique storyline, and detailed connections between characters. The game is so in-depth, that exploring Tokyo in-game is a near mirror image of the streets in real life.

You’ll play as young high school characters, so you’ll hear tons of slang speech. With the new maid feature in Persona 5, you’ll also get exposed to keigo (respectful speech).

Persona 5 has the option for Japanese audio with English subtitles. Pay attention to grammar, new vocabulary, and rich conversation exchanges between characters.

5. Steins;Gate

Steins;Gate is a visual novel video game, so it has less gameplay and focuses on the story and text. It’ll certainly put your Japanese to the test.

Play as a self-proclaimed mad scientist who accidentally invents a time machine – with his microwave. The story follows the consequences of time travel, and allows you to make decisions altering the course of events.

The audio is only in Japanese, with English text. Because it focuses on time travel, you’ll learn science-related words and verb tenses.

6. Fire Emblem Warriors

The legendary Fire Emblem series now has a Japanese-language download pack. Take command of a legion of new and old favorite characters, battling against armies and monsters to save your kingdom. Each map has missions you must beat, and you order the characters according to your strategy.

Fire Emblem features a lot of complex grammar and vocabulary. It ranges from some older, warrior style language to military and magical terms. You’ll also get the chance to hear keigo, commands, and humble speech.

7. Ni no Kuni

Featuring artwork by Studio Ghibli, who wouldn’t want to play this game?

Ni no Kuni is a beautiful RPG featuring a young boy’s adventures in an alternate universe. Follow his journey as he tries to bring back his mom from the dead. Magical visuals and storytelling draw you in and keep you engaged with the dialogue.

Ni no Kuni has the options for both Japanese audio and subtitles. All the main characters are young, so you’ll hear how kids speak and different usages of words.

8. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Of course you’ll want to play Legend of Zelda in Japanese!

In the latest game, Link awakens from a century-long slumber to prevent the destruction of Hyrule from Ganon. The game is open-world, meaning you get to go at your own pace and make your own choices.

Zelda is rich with detail and imagery, with many options for side journeys and stories.

You can download the Japanese audio pack, and practice your listening skills.

9. Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland

A fun shoujo game featuring a princess who becomes fascinated by the art of alchemy. After convincing her father, she becomes an alchemist to better her world.

Develop your kingdom by completing missions and defeating monsters. Try synthesizing and scoring more XP to move the story forward.

The game allows you to have Japanese audio. It has lots of cutesy speech patterns like Japanese-style nicknames and feminine speech.

10. Xenoblade Chronicles

Xenoblade Chronicles is an action-role-playing odyssey with an open-world design. You play as Rex, a young scavenger who wields the living blade Pyra. You visit different Titans, large beings that make up the landmasses in an endless sea of clouds. Each Titan has a distinct culture, so you’ll learn various dialects and vocabulary.

Download the Japanese audio and listen to the action-packed dialogue. Don’t forget to write down words you don’t know, especially from regional dialects.

Check Your Favorite Games for a Japanese Language Setting

This Japanese video game list includes some of the most popular games. But many Japanese video game companies are including the original Japanese as an option now. So check your new games!

Many of the latest games and consoles are region-free. You can order Japanese games online from Japan for both Japanese audio and text, and be able to play them on your US console. Most new games have a Japanese language pack you can download as well.

Keep in mind older systems or handhelds, like the Nintendo 3DS, are still region-locked. So you can only play US games or download the language pack.

And if video games are not exactly what you want to learn Japanese? Here are some more recommendations:

How to Read Japanese Manga [+ 10 Easy Manga Series for Beginners Learning Japanese]Innovative Language Review – Complete Pod101 Language Course Review (with Screenshots and Video Results)Japanese Learning Hub 150+ Japanese Words and Phrases You Need to Start Speaking Now Japanese Uncovered Review: Is the Force Strong with This One?

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Published on July 18, 2022 04:00

July 15, 2022

Chinese Tones: All You Need to Know (Complete Guide)

Learning Chinese tones can seem like a big challenge. Chinese is already considered one of the hardest languages for English speakers to learn, and English doesn’t really have tones in the same way Chinese does.

So how can we learn Chinese tones in a way that helps us start speaking Chinese fast?

Well, it may come as a surprise but – tones in Chinese are easier than you think!

If you’re wondering, “How many tones in Chinese?” Be glad to know there are only 4 tones and one neutral tone you need to learn!

Compared to other languages with more (even Cantonese has 6 tones), it’s not too rough, right?

But when you’re new to the language, it can seem like every word blends together and you can’t pick out the tones.

That’s where we come in.

We’ll break down the 5 tones of Chinese (including neutral) so you can learn to recognize them. Then, we’ll share ways you can improve your Chinese tone pronunciation.

function runSplitTest(){var randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1console.log(randomNumber)var copy = "";if (randomNumber == 3){ copy = 'A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away in Chinese for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. <a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/ch?sr... this link to find out more.</a>'} else { copy = 'A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away in Chinese for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. <a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/ch?sr... this link to find out more.</a>'}console.log(copy)var copyToChange = document.querySelector("p.copyText").innerHTML = copy;}runSplitTest();Table of contentsWhat Are the 5 Tones of Chinese?Tone #1: Flat Tone, ā or a1 Tone #2: Rising Tone, á or a2 Tone #3: Dip Tone, ǎ or a3 Tone #4: Falling Tone, à or a4 Tone #5: Neutral Tone, a What Do Tones Mean in Chinese?How Tones Impact Pronunciation of Syllables How to Memorize Tones in Chinese Speak Now, Imperfectly Chinese Tones Practice: Mimic What You Hear Practice Lots of Tone Combos Listen – A Lot!!Find a Tutor To Help You Master Chinese Tones Toned Out to Toned InWhat Are the 5 Tones of Chinese?

What are the different tones in Chinese?

Well, in Chinese, 4 tones change their pitch and one tone remains neutral. There are two ways to romanize the Chinese tones: with numbers and with Chinese tone marks. Take a look below:

One thing to know is: anyone can make tonal inflections! In fact, you do it in English all the time when you talk, it just doesn’t change the meaning of the word.

You don’t have to be able to carry a tune or hold a pitch. Pitch and tone are two different things. Pitch is hitting a certain note, and tone is how you hold a sound with your voice.

So don’t worry! You can do it.

Tone #1: Flat Tone, ā or a1

This tone is more high-pitched than the rest. You start high and keep the tone even. It’s also a bit drawn-out or long.

In romanized writing, this would be marked either with a tone mark such as ā or as a1 to mark the number.

Tone #2: Rising Tone, á or a2

Tone number 2, á or a2, is a rising sound. You start at a middle pitch and rise higher.

Tone #3: Dip Tone, ǎ or a3

The dip tone is one of the harder ones to get right starting out. This tone starts low, dips lower, and rises.

As a stand-alone sound, it’s pretty easy to hit the inflection. But when it’s in a word or sentence blending together? It can feel hard to get that inflection right!

In those instances, you can shorten this sound to a low, level tone when you’re speaking the tone within a word at a normal pace. But more on that below.

Tone #4: Falling Tone, à or a4

This tone starts high and lowers, or falls, hence its name.

Tone #5: Neutral Tone, a

This tone isn’t marked with any inflection, so it isn’t really considered a true tone. When saying this one, keep it neutral by matching the tone of the syllable before it and keep it short.

What Do Tones Mean in Chinese?

If you’re totally new to the language, you may wonder how tones in Chinese play a role and how important they are.

Well… They’re very important.

I’m going to show you the example that everyone uses because there’s a word – ma – that depending on the tone, means completely different things.

Tone 1: 妈 (mā), “mom”

Tone 2: 麻 (má), “hemp seed”

Tone 3: 马 (mǎ), “horse”

Tone 4: 骂 (mà), “to scold”

Tone 5: 吗 (ma), question particle

As you can see, the word means completely different things based on the tone!

The Chinese tone marks show how you should pronounce the word to say it correctly. Because obviously you don’t want to call your mom a horse by accident!

It takes quite a bit of practice to master, both listening and speaking. But with time you’ll become more and more comfortable with tones.

How Tones Impact Pronunciation of Syllables

Chinese pinyin (the romanization of hanzi characters) is made up of syllables, and these syllables have three parts:

InitialsFinalsTones

For example, 你 is written in pinyin as nǐ. The “n” is the initial, the “i” is the final, and the tone marker making it the 3rd sound “ ǐ ”.

One way tones impact pronunciation is how they pair up! So here’s a rule to know: If you have two 3rd tones (dip tones) back-to-back, the first one will change to a 2nd tone (rising tone) and the second will stay as a dip tone.

The most common example is 你好, “hello.” The first character, 你, is read nǐ and the second character, 好, is hǎo.

But put together, they become ní hǎo.

And when the 3rd tone is paired with anything else, it’s often shortened to a low, level tone rather than the whole dip. Only when it’s said in isolation is it normally said with the full dip tone.

Another example: 不, bù, is in the 4th tone and means “do not/does not/no/not.” When it comes before another falling tone, it changes to the 2nd tone: bú.

There’s also the common word 一, yī, which means “one” or “first.” It’s said with the 1st, flat tone when isolated.

But when it’s followed by a 4th tone? It becomes a 2nd tone. Any other tone it’s paired with? Say it with the 4th tone.

There are more – but these are some of the basic ones to know.

One more note: some of these changes are not marked in the pinyin. It’s something you just have to memorize.

How to Memorize Tones in Chinese

Still thinking about how to master Chinese tones when it’s so different from what you know? Don’t stress. Pinyin tone marks are here to help.

We’ve already talked about how you identify tones in Chinese – by looking at the tone mark above the vowel when written in pinyin.

And the handy thing is, these tone marks directly reflect the way you’re supposed to use your voice for tone.

Tone 1 is flat, and has a flat line on top. Tone 2 starts at the bottom and rises. Tone 3 starts up, goes down, and comes back up again. Tone 4 starts at the top and goes down. Tone 5 (neutral tone) has no tone at all and picks up from what’s around it.

The tone marks themselves tell you what to do! So memorizing tones in Chinese is easy.

The hard part is getting it right. So here are some strategies to improve your Chinese speech and tones.

Speak Now, Imperfectly

I have a saying that I like to use: “imperfect consistency.” I apply it to my fitness, but it works here, too.

It’s better to use what you learn and try your best. Don’t be scared of making mistakes – you’ll never learn if you don’t speak!

The good thing is, as a beginner, most of what you’ll be able to say is predictable. Mandarin speakers will be able to grasp it through context, even if your tone is off.

So don’t fret. Try your best.

Chinese Tones Practice: Mimic What You Hear

Whenever you learn a new word, aim to hear it spoken by a native speaker and mimic what you hear.

One great way to get started mimicking is to use online dictionaries with audio.

You want one that will let you listen to a real speaker (not an automated one) if possible. Whenever you learn a new word, search, listen, and repeat.

Here are some suggestions:

Pleco LINE dictionary ForvoPractice Lots of Tone Combos

As I mentioned above, some tones change based on how they’re paired.

But besides that, making your speech sound smooth takes effort. So one of the best things to do is practice saying lots of different tone pairs.

This way you get used to how the tones flow like riding a wave and aren’t just overemphasizing isolated tones.

Try going through the 100+ core Chinese words with this in mind.

Listen – A Lot!!

Listening in Chinese, even passively, can help you get more used to hearing and identifying tones. So listen all the time!

A great way to do this is with TV shows and Chinese movies. You could also use music, podcasts, or any other listening resource.

The point isn’t to understand everything. It’s to get used to the cadence of the language.

Find a Tutor To Help You Master Chinese Tones

You can find a reasonable tutor on sites like italki who will help you improve your speaking skills.

Here’s a guide on how to find the best online tutors for you. Make sure to find one who gives you good feedback on your pronunciation.

While most good tutors will, you’re also more likely to get a lot of praise when speaking and some people may be hesitant to point out your flaws. So make sure it’s a good fit and you’re getting the feedback you need.

If you can’t get a tutor right now, try looking for Chinese language exchange partners online or in your community.

You could also try recording yourself and comparing your speech to native speakers.

Toned Out to Toned In

I hope this beginner’s guide to Chinese tones helps you understand what they are and feel more confident in using them.

Don’t be scared to start speaking Chinese! The more you practice, the better you’ll be.

Now that we’ve discussed tones, why not move on to your next Chinese lesson?

How to Learn and Memorize Simplified Chinese Characters Counting in Chinese from 0 – 100+110 Useful Chinese Phrases for Your First Conversation Innovative Language Review – Complete Pod101 Language Course Review (with Screenshots and Video Results)Chinese Learning Hub

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Published on July 15, 2022 04:00

July 11, 2022

How to Learn French Fast: The Step-by-Step Guide For Your First Month

So you’re wondering how to learn French fast? Très bien !

French is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, being official in 29 countries. These include Canada and Haiti in North America, French Guiana in South America, more than a dozen African nations, five European countries, and Vanuatu and several French overseas territories in Oceania.

French is beautiful, popular, and very useful.

Yet, despite what some native French speakers would have you believe, there’s one thing that French definitely isn’t: difficile.

In this post, I want to help you adopt a strategy that will increase your success with French learning.

function runSplitTest(){var randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1console.log(randomNumber)var copy = "";if (randomNumber == 3){ copy = 'A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away in French for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. <a href="https://fluentin3months.com/challenge... this link to find out more.</a>'} else { copy = 'Before we get started, if you’re looking for an online French course, here’s the course I recommend: <a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/olly-... Uncovered - Learn French Through the Power of Story</a>, a course with a fascinating new method by my friend Olly. You can try it for free for 7 days!'}console.log(copy)var copyToChange = document.querySelector("p.copyText").innerHTML = copy;}runSplitTest();Table of contentsYou Will Learn French Faster With the Right Mindset How to Speak French Fast: Let’s Talk Equipment and Time Optimizing Your First Hour of French Learning Will Set You Up For Success The First Day of French Learning Will Take You Out of Your Comfort Zone During the First Week, You Will Start Talking to a Native French Speaker Prepare For Your Week 1 Conversation During Your Second Week of Speaking French, Use Flashcards to Better Learn Vocabulary Take a Step Further and Start Reading in French During the Third Week, You Will Find Out What Learning Schedule Works For You Maintain Your Efforts Constant During the Fourth Week to Learn French Fast To Sum It All Up: 11 Steps to Learn French Fast in Your First Month How to Speak French Fast: Month 2 and Beyond

Let’s go!

You Will Learn French Faster With the Right Mindset

French might have a reputation for being incredibly difficult for non-natives, but I can tell you from experience, this isn’t true.

I actually found Spanish to be more difficult. That was mainly because Spanish was my first foreign language – so I made lots of mistakes in how I learned Spanish. But by the time I got to French, I’d discovered the best ways to learn a foreign language.

Approach French the right way, and avoid the mistakes that many first-time language learners make. You’ll find that French isn’t nearly as difficult as you’ve been led to believe.

While you certainly won’t master it in three months, especially if you can only put a few hours a week into it, you can make sure to be more efficient by following an initial plan of action.

Let’s take a look at what you should do in the first hour, first day, first week and first month of learning French. From here you’ll have the start you need to keep your momentum going and keep learning!

How to Speak French Fast: Let’s Talk Equipment and Time

Before we begin, you will need the following:

NotepadPenComputer or tablet with internet connection

Optional extras:

French phrasebook$10 – $20 per week to spend on language teachers

To follow this guide, you’ll need to set aside around four hours each weekend (I recommend scheduling out Saturday mornings), plus around 45 minutes per day on weekdays.

I also suggest you start at the weekend to give yourself a “first day” boost.

Here’s where to start on that first day…

Optimizing Your First Hour of French Learning Will Set You Up For Success

Your first step in learning French is to create a personalised French phrasebook.

Why do this? In my approach to learning French, you’ll focus on learning French that’s relevant to you, your life, and your reasons for learning French.

Get a fresh notebook, and a pen, and write “My French Phrasebook” on the cover.

This notebook will contain the French phrases that you need to know, rather than the one-size-fits-all phrases found in most French courses and phrasebooks.

Let’s get that first page filled!

Go to the Omniglot.com French phrases page and search for the phrases you use when you meet someone for the first time.

Here are the phrases I’d look up:

“Hello”“My name is…”“What is your name?”“Nice to meet you”“Goodbye”

Write down each word or phrase along with its English translation. Click on each phrase in Omniglot to hear its pronunciation by a French speaker, then speak out loud what you hear.

Repeat this until you’re comfortable with creating French sounds in your mouth.

The First Day of French Learning Will Take You Out of Your Comfort Zone

What should you do with the rest of your time on day one? Continue using Omniglot to collect French phrases and questions that you would use when talking with a native speaker for the first time.

These will be the same phrases that you would use when meeting a speaker of your native language for the first time:

“Where are you from?”“I’m from [country or city of origin].”“What do you do?”“I’m a [job title].”“What do you do in your free time?”“In my free time, I like to…”

If your job title and hobbies aren’t listed on Omniglot, use Google Translate to translate them.

The phrases you collect now don’t have to be grammatically perfect. The aim is to be able to say basic things about yourself, using what I call “Tarzan speak”.

For example, I might learn how to say, “Je Benny. Je irlandais.” Sure, it’s far from perfect. But you get the point. And so will your first conversation partner.

Write down the phrases with their translations, then say them out loud.

Do your best to commit them to memory – but don’t spend too much time on this. You can always keep your notebook handy when you have your first conversation.

Besides, you’ll be using these phrases almost every time you encounter a new person, so you’ll learn them by heart soon enough.

Don’t be too fancy. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself. Just learn these few phrases and worry about elaborating later.

As you’ll have noticed by now, French pronunciation is very different from English. It will take time to master. You might feel silly trying to say the above phrases while trying to get the R just right, or figuring out which letters are silent.

Don’t sweat it! It’s only your first day. Do your best, repeat after the recordings, and worry about the rest later.

During the First Week, You Will Start Talking to a Native French Speaker

Very early in your first week (even on your first day!) you should head over to Preply and schedule your very first conversation with a native French speaker. Schedule it to be seven days from when you started learning French.

Speaking is by far the best way to learn a language.

There’s no feeling quite like the rush you get when you say something to a native speaker using your target language for the very first time, and the other person understands you. You’ll feel empowered to continue using the language, knowing that you can use it to connect with another person.

I recommend that you schedule your first conversation to be with a French teacher rather than find a conversation partner. Lessons do cost money, but the prices are generally very reasonable. Tutors also offer free trial lessons on Preply.

And remember what I said about how global French is! If you restrict your search to only those in France or Europe, it may indeed be more than you can afford. But if you look all over the world, then you will definitely find someone who fits your personal requirements.

Why a teacher? Teachers will have experience of working with other language learners. When you’re a beginner, it’s important to have a teacher who’s supportive and patient. Teachers also know the best way to help you progress – pushing you hard enough to keep you learning, but not so hard that you feel overwhelmed.

You’ve scheduled your first conversation. The rest of your first week should be spent preparing for this conversation.

Prepare For Your Week 1 Conversation

Review your conversation phrases from day one every day this week. If you can say them quickly and easily, then start adding some more phrases. These can be anything you want, but make sure you pick phrases that you’ll use often.

Considering that you’ll be chatting with a native speaker soon, phrases you’ll use a lot will be:

“Please, speak more slowly.”“Could you say that again?”“Please, write that down.”

These can all be found on Omniglot, and will help you keep your first conversation in French going for several minutes. Remember to listen to the Omniglot recordings so you know the correct pronunciation.

Nearing the end of your first week and still too nervous to schedule a conversation with a French speaker? Sign up for my free Speak in a Week course! I will help you develop the confidence you need.

During Your Second Week of Speaking French, Use Flashcards to Better Learn Vocabulary

By now, you’ll have had your first conversation with a native French speaker! (If you haven’t, go on Preply right now and schedule it).

You probably won’t have to worry much about motivation this week after your first conversation. But any time you do feel yourself struggling to stay motivated from now on, book another conversation with a teacher, tutor or language partner. You’ll come out of it feeling refreshed and ready to keep going. I recommend having a minimum of three conversations a week.

Breaking out of your comfort zone is exactly what you need to start the best journey towards fluency! That’s what what the community of Fluent in 3 Months challengers do, and it takes them to have a 15-minute long conversation after only 90 days.

Once you’ve got a conversation under your belt, this week is about making sure that the words and phrases you learn stick in your memory. For this, I recommend using virtual flashcards, which you can create with Anki.

Remember the list of personal phrases you started creating on your first day, and then added to throughout your first week? You can import it into Anki to make your very own flashcard deck to practise French with.

Now you can review these phrases anytime you want.

Anki’s SRS algorithm will automatically have you spend more time practising the phrases you’re less familiar with, and less time on the ones you know well. Practise your flashcards for at least fifteen minutes per day.

When you start to get really good at the phrases, add more. A French phrasebook is a good reference if you’re having trouble thinking of phrases you want to learn.

Take a Step Further and Start Reading in French

It’s a good idea this week to start learning to read in French, beyond the simple words and phrases you’ve learned so far.

You’ll be well-aware by now that French reading isn’t quite as straightforward as other Romance languages you may have studied, or heard of. Until you get the hang of it, you can’t rely on the spelling of French words as an indicator of pronunciation. There are too many silent letters, and multiple spellings for a single sound.

The sooner you master the basics of reading, the sooner you’ll be able to use French literature as a study tool.

To start reading French, check out Languageguide.org’s Beginning Readings page.

Click on any link to view a short French excerpt. A recording will begin to play so that you can listen to a native speaker read the text as you follow along. Clicking pause will highlight the word where the recording stopped. Hover your mouse over the punctuation mark at the end of any sentence to see its English translation.

By the end of this week, make sure to have at least one more French conversation with a native speaker. You’ll be able to see your own progress in the language, and it will give you the push you need to move on to your third week.

During the Third Week, You Will Find Out What Learning Schedule Works For You

Week three is a good time to evaluate what’s worked for you in learning French, and what hasn’t worked so well.

That is, if you’ve kept up your practise. Have you?

Chances are you’ve had some days when you felt super motivated, and some days when life happened and you didn’t do any language learning.

If you feel like you’ve stalled, this week is the time to put things right.

Here’s something I’ve learned over the years in my many language missions: it’s far more effective to distribute your total weekly study time over every day of the week, than to do all of your studying in one or two days.

Studying less often means you have to spend more time in each study session reviewing what you learned last time. You also risk falling out of your routine and giving up on your language mission.

So keep up the daily studying! Even if you can only commit to a few minutes each time.

Your main task this week is to create a study schedule that works for you.

Aim to set aside time every day to study, even if it’s just ten minutes per day during the week, and longer on weekends.

Throughout this week, keep reading, keep scheduling conversations, and keep building your Anki deck. No matter what else might get in the way of your studying, you can always find a few spare moments to check in with your Anki deck.

Make sure to schedule at least two conversations with native speakers this week. If you’ve only spoken with teachers so far, consider chatting with a conversation exchange partner instead.

Chatting with a language exchange partner is a very different experience from chatting with a teacher. It’s more relaxed – a bit like hanging out with a friend, and the conversation can go anywhere. As an added bonus, it’s free!

Maintain Your Efforts Constant During the Fourth Week to Learn French Fast

This week is all about maintaining the healthy study habits you set up last week. Follow the schedule you set for yourself, and see how it works.

What if you find you’ve been too ambitious?

Tweak your schedule so that it works for you. The important thing is that you study every day, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Set your sights too high, and you’ll overwhelm yourself and end up quitting.

Here’s what to focus on this week:

Keep adding to your French Anki deckListen to a French podcast or radio show (we’ve collected some of the Internet’s best French listening resources). Don’t stress about understanding what you hear, just treat it as an immersion experience.Find a French song that you enjoy. Write out the lyrics then sing along.Most important of all: aim for four conversations with native speakers this week.

Need more help finding native speakers? Depending where you live, there may be a French language Meetup group in your area. Take a look on Meetup.com for groups in your town.

Making friends in person with native speakers will let you combine language learning with social activities. This will give you a bigger purpose to your French learning – and a motivational boost.

To Sum It All Up: 11 Steps to Learn French Fast in Your First MonthStart with the right mindset: French is easier than you thinkCreate a personalised phrasebookPractise reading your personalised phrases out loudFind a native French tutorPrepare an outline script for your first French conversationSchedule weekly conversations with your French tutorUse flashcards to better remember your vocabularyStart reading longer textsUse your experience so far to create a weekly learning scheduleFind more native French speakers to have conversations withKeep up the great work! Be constant in your learning and it will pay offHow to Speak French Fast: Month 2 and Beyond

So you’ve spent a month learning how to speak French? Great job! Now it’s time to look back and see how far you’ve come in just a few weeks.

Even if you weren’t able to study as much as you wanted, as long as you studied consistently and didn’t give up, you’ll be amazed by your progress. You’ll find it hard to believe that at one time, you could barely pronounce Bonjour.

Throughout the past month, if you found that any part of your study routine didn’t work for you, then ditch it and find something else. How you study is far less important than studying often and consistently.

Keep learning every day, and keep using your French by speaking as often as possible, and fluency will come sooner than you think.

The post How to Learn French Fast: The Step-by-Step Guide For Your First Month appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

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Published on July 11, 2022 04:00

July 8, 2022

Japanese Punctuation: Everything You Need to Know

Why are there so many types of punctuation in Japanese?! While there are similarities between Japanese and English, Japanese punctuation definitely has some unique features.

If you’ve ever used a Japanese keyboard, you’ll have seen an endless amount of Japanese punctuation marks compared to the 14 options in English.

function runSplitTest(){var randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1console.log(randomNumber)var copy = "";if (randomNumber == 3){ copy = 'A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away in Japanese for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. <a href="https://fluentin3months.com/challenge... this link to find out more.</a>'} else { copy = 'Before we get started, if you’re looking for an online Japanese course, here’s the course I recommend: <a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/olly-... Uncovered - Learn Japanese Through the Power of Story</a>, a course with a fascinating new method by my friend Olly. You can try it for free for 7 days!'}console.log(copy)var copyToChange = document.querySelector("p.copyText").innerHTML = copy;}runSplitTest();Table of contentsJapanese Punctuation: 約物 (yakumono)Japanese Period Punctuation: 句点 (kuten)、まる (maru)Japanese Quotation Marks: 鍵括弧 (kagikakko) and 二重鍵括弧 (nijukagikakko)Japanese Comma: 読点 (touten), 点 (ten)Japanese Question Mark: か (ka), 疑問符 (gimonfu), はてなマーク (hatena ma-ku)Japanese Exclamation Point: 感嘆符 (kantanfu) or ビックリマーク (bikkuri ma-ku)Japanese Parenthesis: 括弧 (kakko)Japanese Possessive Punctuation: の (no)The Japanese Interpunct: 中黒 (nakaguro)The Japanese Wave Dash: 波ダッシュ (nami dasshu)Japanese Ellipses: 三点リーダー (santenri-da-)More Punctuation and Kana Phonetic Marks Japanese Letter Spacing Japanese Punctuation Alt Codes Don’t Forget Your Japanese Punctuation!Japanese Punctuation: 約物 (yakumono)

You may even have questioned, “Does Japanese use punctuation?” at all because it’s traditionally written vertically.

Some of those marks adapt to the writing style – horizontal or vertical. But this is a fair question because Japanese didn’t always have punctuation.

If you look at Japanese history and its impact on the language, you’ll find that the Meiji period introduced modern punctuation. Emperor Meiji was a great lover of the arts and literature, and these fields flourished during this time. His love of Western culture and books is what introduced Japan to punctuation marks.

Punctuation was officially added to Japanese only as recently as 1946.

But the thing is, outside of some of the basics, Japanese punctuation isn’t even taught that much in textbooks. And that can lead to some confusion as you become more advanced in the language.

There’s a lot to know – so let’s dive into the marks and nuances.

Take a look at the chart to get a feel for the punctuation we’ll be looking at, including Japanese punctuation names:

Punctuation marks in Japanese have similarities to English, but some are quite different. So let’s look at each one.

Japanese Period Punctuation: 句点 (kuten)、まる (maru)

Does Japan use periods? Yes! They just look a bit different.

A Japanese period looks like this: 。

It’s a small circle! That’s why it’s also called まる (maru) which means “circle.”

Use this just like a period in English. Even if written vertically, you’ll add it at the bottom of the vertical sentence after the last character.

You don’t need to add a space between the period and the next sentence though. The space is built-in when typing thanks to full-width spacing (more on that below!).

Example sentence:
名前はケイトリンです。
Namae wa Keitorin desu.
“My name is Caitlin.”

Japanese Quotation Marks: 鍵括弧 (kagikakko) and 二重鍵括弧 (nijukagikakko)

How does Japanese use quotation marks? Well, it seems pretty different at first, but it’s really not!

In Japanese you have singular quotation marks, called 鍵括弧, kagikakko: 「」. These are like “ ”.

And double quotation marks called 二重鍵括弧, nijukagikakko: 『』. These are like ‘ ’.

And they’re used exactly like in English, we just use single and double backward. So like how double quotes “ ” are used to mark dialogue and quoting something, Japanese uses 「」.

And how when we quote someone within a quote, we use ‘ ’, Japanese uses 『』.

Sometimes they’re also used to mark unique or unusual words or names for things, especially in manga when they’re first introduced.

For example, in Sailor Moon, whenever the Silver Millennium Crystal is mentioned in Japanese, it’s marked with double quotes: 『幻の銀水晶』 (maboroshi no ginsuishou).

Now if you’re new to the Japanese keyboard, you may wonder how to type Japanese quotation marks.

bracket keys will then become 「」keys. On Mac, use Shift + [ ] to get the double brackets 『』. On Windows, you’ll have to type 「」and hit the space bar until it changes to double brackets.

One last note: When writing vertically, these do shift with the text to be above and below the letters rather than to the side. The short end will be to the right on top and to the left on the bottom.

Japanese Comma: 読点 (touten), 点 (ten)

A comma in Japanese is like English: 、

It’s just angled a bit more and has full-width spacing. Since Japanese sentences don’t have the same word spacing, commas are often used to mark a pause or break up a sentence and they have fewer rules than in English.

Example Sentence:
昨日忙しかったので、今日は行くよ。
Kinou isogashikatta node, kyou wa iku yo.
“Since I was busy yesterday, I’ll go today.”

Japanese Question Mark: か (ka), 疑問符 (gimonfu), はてなマーク (hatena ma-ku)

Question marks are a bit different in Japanese depending on the setting.

Traditionally, Japanese didn’t use question marks. Sentences were written ending in the particle か (ka) to mark a question, followed by the period 。

In spoken language, like English, the question is marked by raising the inflection at the end.

But, more recently, the question mark ？ has been used (which looks just slightly different from our question mark and has wider spacing on both sides). This is most common in informal speech (such as on social media) and manga.

Example sentences:
何歳ですか。
Nansai desu ka.
“How old are you?”

このレストラン、美味しい？
Kono resutoran, oishii?
“Is this restaurant good/delicious?”

Japanese Exclamation Point: 感嘆符 (kantanfu) or ビックリマーク (bikkuri ma-ku)

Exclamation marks in Japanese are also pretty straightforward like question marks: ！

You would use them exactly like in English. You’ll also see cute versions when typing on your keyboard like ❣ with a heart!

By the way, this mark is also called ビックリマーク (bikkuri ma-ku) which means “surprised mark.”

Example sentence:
来週末には楽しみにしてる！
Raishuumatsu niwa tanoshimi ni shiteru!
“I’m looking forward to next weekend!”

Japanese Parenthesis: 括弧 (kakko)

Standard parentheses, which are called 丸括弧 (marukakko) in Japanese, are used just like in English: ()

There’s no difference here between the languages, so let me show you the other variations of parentheses.

There’s 墨付き括弧 (sumitsukikakko) which are thicker parentheses/brackets 【】, and 山括弧 (yamakakko) which are angle brackets, 〈〉.

These parentheses are used like the 丸括弧, and don’t have just one usage or set of rules. They’re often used to put emphasis on something, like a song or movie title or list, definitions, or specific text.

Japanese does have regular brackets, too, called 角括弧 (kakukakko): ［］

And 波括弧 (namikakko), which are ｛｝.

These are used like in English and aren’t very common.

Japanese Possessive Punctuation: の (no)

So in English, we use the ‘s to mark ownership or possession, right? And that requires punctuation and the letter “s.” But Japanese ownership punctuation is a particle: の (no).

To use this, you’ll add の between two nouns, like this:

私の犬
Watashi no inu
“My dog”

大学の学生
Daigaku no gakusei
“University student”

It connects two nouns either by possession or where it “belongs,” like in the case of a student who belongs at the university.

The Japanese Interpunct: 中黒 (nakaguro)

There are a few more punctuation to cover that operate a bit differently in Japanese.

First is the interpunct: ・

This is called 中黒 (nakaguro) and you can type it by hitting the / key when on the Japanese keyboard setting. Its purpose is usually to break up foreign words, specifically ones written in katakana. This is to help make foreign words easier to read in Japanese, like:

ケイトリン・サカサス
Keitorin Sakasasu
“Caitlin Sacasas”

It’s also used in place of the / mark in Japanese sometimes. You can also use it for lists and to break up Japanese words where the meaning could be confusing, such as a cluster of kanji.

The Japanese Wave Dash: 波ダッシュ (nami dasshu)

The wave dash, called 波ダッシュ (nami dasshu) or 波形 (namigata), is this: ～

It’s most often used to show a time range, in place of a colon : or to draw out a word to sound cute. It can also be used in place of the straight dash – , because Japanese uses those for phonetic reasons and not as punctuation. (Don’t worry, I’ll explain that in a minute, too.)

Japanese Ellipses: 三点リーダー (santenri-da-)

Ellipses are called 三点リーダー (santenri-da-) or 点線 (tensen) which look like ．．．

And while their purpose is like English, they’re used ALL THE TIME.

Feeling awkward? Ellipses. Pausing or emphasizing a pause in writing or manga? Ellipses.

Silence or delayed thought (mostly in manga)? Ellipses. Time going by? Ellipses.

More Punctuation and Kana Phonetic Marks

Lastly, let’s talk about a few common marks that aren’t punctuation per se, but are important to recognize.

The elongated dash, – in English, is written a bit longer as ー in Japanese and is used to mark a long or double vowel for katakana words. We’ve even seen some used in this article already but take a look.

Example:
デパート, depa-to, “department store”
ジョーカー, jo-ka, “joker”

You’ll also notice in those examples there are some small marks there. These are phonetic markers that change how we read certain kana characters. I explained these more in-depth in this article about Japanese kana, but here’s a quick breakdown:

Dakuten ゛: These two lines (that look a lot like quotes!) tack onto the k, s, d, and h rows of kana to change them to g, z/j, d, and b respectively.Handakuten ゜ : This small circle attaches to the h row of kana to change the sound to p.Small っ / ッ (tsu), called 促音 (sokuon): This adds a glottal stop to a word, usually marked as a double consonant, such as いっしょ (isshou, “together”)々, called 繰り返し (kurikaeshi): A bonus one that isn’t phonetic with kana but rather a kanji that marks repetition. It’s used in common words like 人々 (hitobito, “people”) and 色々な (iroirona, “various”).Japanese Letter Spacing

If you’ve used a Japanese keyboard before, you may have noticed that when you use punctuation, they leave a huge gap.

That’s because Japanese uses full-width spacing. This means the punctuation leaves as much room around it as the other Japanese characters do. So a “space” is automatically added.

Besides that, Japanese is actually written with a bit more spacing than English characters. That’s because we use half-width spacing. Check out the difference:

I am 30 years old.
私は３０歳です。

The spacing is a lot wider! Highlight that 句点 (kuten, “period,” remember?) and notice the space it takes up.

So in most instances, you don’t need to add space between words or sentences. The spacing is already there.

If that seems confusing, don’t worry. With time, telling where Japanese words begin and end becomes easier. (Pro tip: it’s usually marked by a Japanese particle.)

Japanese Punctuation Alt Codes

Now that we’ve learned about Japanese punctuation, you may be like – “But wait! How do you write punctuation in Japanese on a keyboard?”

I mentioned this a bit above, but one way to do it is to download the Japanese keyboard option on your phone or computer. Then, when you switch to that keyboard option, you can easily write Japanese characters.

But if you’re someone who prefers things like alt codes or Unicode, then I would recommend these resources to learn:

This article about Japanese punctuation alt codes This Wikipedia page with Japanese punctuation and unicodesDon’t Forget Your Japanese Punctuation!

This was quite a technical lesson, but I think we can all agree that proper punctuation helps make reading and writing so much easier. So don’t forget it in Japanese.

It takes practice to get a firm grip on it, so go out and write – a lot!

Ready for your next Japanese lesson? Check out these articles next:

Japanese Honorifics: How to Show Respect in Japanese Japanese Uncovered Review: Is the Force Strong with This One?42 Great Japanese Books to Learn Japanese Faster Innovative Language Review – Complete Pod101 Language Course Review (with Screenshots and Video Results)Japanese Grammar Made Easy: A Step-By-Step Guide

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Published on July 08, 2022 04:00

July 4, 2022

How to Become Fluent in Spanish: 5 Steps to Conversational Fluency in Spanish

Wondering how to become fluent in Spanish? Here’s how you should do it:

function runSplitTest(){var randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1console.log(randomNumber)var copy = "";if (randomNumber == 3){ copy = 'A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away in Spanish for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. <a href="https://fluentin3months.com/challenge... this link to find out more.</a>'} else { copy = 'Before we get started, if you’re looking for an online Spanish course, here’s the course I recommend: <a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/olly-... Uncovered - Learn Spanish Through the Power of Story</a>, a course with a fascinating new method by my friend Olly. You can try it for free for 7 days!'}console.log(copy)var copyToChange = document.querySelector("p.copyText").innerHTML = copy;}runSplitTest();Table of contents1. Find Your Real Passion for Speaking Fluent Spanish 2. Create Your Own Spanish Language Phrasebook 3. Learn Spanish Conversational Connectors 4. Chat with Native Speakers to Become Fluent in Spanish 5. Focus on the Easy Parts of Spanish Spanish is Phonetic There Are No Cases in Spanish There Are No Tones in Spanish Cognates: There Are Thousands of Spanish Words You Already Know Why Conversational Fluency is What Really Matters Remember, It’s All About Your Mindset

Spanish is the language that started off my lifelong obsession with language learning, so it holds a special place in my heart. Thanks to Spanish I was able to discover what was holding me back from becoming fluent in any language.

My road to fluency in Spanish was messy, full of false starts and bad methods. But I learned from that, and can share what I learned with you.

In this post, I share the five steps to take you from beginner to conversationally fluent in Spanish. This post is for beginners, or anyone who has been thinking of getting started in a new language, but hasn’t yet pulled that trigger. It’s time to get moving!

Of course a single blog post can’t provide a full Spanish language course. There are plenty of Spanish courses out there anyway.

Instead, these are the strategies and mindsets you can use to become a Spanish speaker sooner rather than later.

Ready…?

¡Vamos! (“Let’s go!”)

1. Find Your Real Passion for Speaking Fluent Spanish

Related Learning: Ask WHY First (Not How or What)

Learning to speak fluent Spanish can be way easier than a Spanish teacher will ever admit.

Even so, there will still be times when it’s a struggle. You’ll only push through this if you have a good reason for learning Spanish. I like to call this your passion.

Everyone’s reason for learning Spanish is different. For me, I was committed to proving that I wasn’t “destined” to be bad at learning languages. I was passionate about proving a point and showing what perseverance and hard work could accomplish.

For you it might be different. Maybe you have a love interest who is a native speaker, or perhaps you want to pursue a career that involves the Spanish language.

Literature, travel, adventure, hobbies — they can all fuel the motivation you need to keep you pushing forward with your studies and practice.

By exploring your real reason for learning Spanish, you have a better chance of keeping your motivation high as you progress. Whenever you feel stuck at Spanish, go back to the reason you picked it up in the first place.

That’s what will keep you strong.

Bonus Tip: Don’t limit yourself to just one passion. Learning because your grandparents speak Spanish? That doesn’t mean you can’t also pick up a Spanish-related hobby, learn songs in Spanish, or start reading Spanish literature.

2. Create Your Own Spanish Language Phrasebook

Most Spanish phrasebooks will provide you with hundreds or thousands of words and phrases. Chances are, at least 70% of them will be useless to you.

You can get around this by creating your personalized Spanish phrase book and vocabulary list. These are the words and expressions you will use all the time. Focusing on these is the fastest path to conversational fluency.

When starting off, make sure to come up with a list of words and expressions that deal with your life. Here are some topics to get you started (and some examples of what I might say):

Your life and experiences (“I have been traveling non-stop for 12 years.”)Your family and relations (“I just got engaged!”)Your hometown and country (“I’m from a small town in Ireland.”)Your hobbies and interests (“I’m a vegetarian.”)Your school and studies (“I studied engineering.”)Your job or profession (“blogger”, “polyglot” or “online business”)

Does that mean you won’t learn the same vocabulary as other beginners? Probably. But a true language learner is not a walking dictionary, as I explain in this video:

As you try to speak with others in Spanish, you’ll naturally encounter other words or phrases that you will want to add to your list. You’ll also be able to check your initial attempts at translating it, to getting it right.

Bonus Tip: Frequency word lists are a great resource. But rather than take the list as it is, go through and select those words that you know you will use on a consistent basis. Usually after the top 100 words (the, to, yes etc.) you need to focus on words more relevant to you.

Think of it like a “you filter”, where you’re filtering the list to narrow down those which are most relevant to you and your life.

3. Learn Spanish Conversational Connectors

Fluent Spanish speakers don’t talk like a book. If you try to talk the same way people write, you’ll wind up sounding like a robot.

Spoken Spanish has elements that allow you to bridge ideas and phrases, or add space to the conversation where your mouth can catch up with your brain (or vice versa). I call these “conversational connectors” (hat tip to Anthony Lauder who introduced them to me).

They are one of the keys to creating a more “fluent” sound in Spanish.

There are 10 main categories of connectors that I focus on:

Apologising — (“don’t be upset, but …”)(Dis)Agreeing — (“most certainly”)Closing — (“to sum up …”)Filler — (“well, as a matter of fact …”)Elaborating — (“to be more precise …”)Opening — (“that is a good question …”)Passing — (“and what do you think?”)Qualifying — (“to tell the truth …”)Quoting — (“recently, I heard that …”)Switching — (“by the way …”)

Conversational connectors bridge the gap between written and spoken Spanish, so they’re a big help in developing conversational fluency.

Bonus Tip: Don’t try to memorize all the Conversational Connectors at once! Pick a few and use them as quickly as you can.

This is the fastest way to ingrain them into your memory. You only need one or two to start, and then you can add to your repertoire as you gain more experience and confidence.

Here’s a video that can help you with learning new vocabulary:

4. Chat with Native Speakers to Become Fluent in Spanish

This is where you truly hit the ground running!

To reach conversational fluency, it’s best to speak Spanish on a daily basis. Your goal is to use as much of the language as you can, as often as you can, wherever you can.

Location is no excuse. I’ve talked at great length about how learning online is better than in-person, and even shared methods for finding the right teachers on Preply and how to use Skype to learn languages.

So, finding opportunities to speak shouldn’t be an issue.

Even if you are one of those rare people with no Internet, no native speakers in your city, and no resources, there is still a way to speak Spanish all the time:

Speak to yourself!

All the normal self-talk that you do in your head during the day can be done in Spanish! For example, instead of thinking “Boy, I’d really like to go for a walk”, think it to yourself in Spanish instead.

This might sound silly, but this type of “internal” training can do wonders to increase your fluency in Spanish by helping you to at least get used to thinking in Spanish.

You’ll also need to listen to spoken Spanish. So be sure to check out my list of Spanish language resources, including podcasts, videos, online services, and more.

Bonus Tip: When using listening materials, don’t just listen passively, but actively study what you hear. Listen and then listen again. Work for comprehension and try to duplicate the sounds you hear.

This sort of active study of what you hear will increase your ability to speak like a native.

5. Focus on the Easy Parts of Spanish

In any language learning project, you can easily get overwhelmed with all the things about the language which are challenging. In fact, it seems this is the first thing many beginners do.

So, why not try a different approach? Mindset and your approach to learning a language can be one of the greatest determiners of success. That’s why I recommend looking at all the ways Spanish is actually easy.

I’ve written previously about how understanding spoken Spanish can be easy. In my guide, Why Spanish is Easy, I go in depth with methods for simplifying your approach to Spanish.

I share over 60 pages of techniques in the guide, but here are a few specific things to keep in mind to understand why conversational fluency in Spanish is certainly achievable.

Spanish is Phonetic

Reading Spanish is MUCH easier than reading English (mainly because English is so weird).

Once you learn the pronunciation rules (which take very little time at all) you will be able to say anything you can read! That makes pulling out a dictionary to find the right word a breeze!

There Are No Cases in Spanish

Did you know there are fourteen ways of saying pretty much every word in Czech? Many Slavic and Germanic languages have noun cases which can make learning a word like “house” a chore.

In Spanish “casa” is always “casa” no matter if you are in the house, going to the house, talking about the house etc. You learn a word and it’s that way for good.

There Are No Tones in Spanish

If you’re learning Chinese, Punjab or Thai, a word with the same consonants and vowels can mean something completely different depending on if the tone is high, low, rising or falling.

While Spanish has a different accent and musicality to English, the intonations are very similar (for example, when you ask a question).

It’s a lot more familiar than you think!

Cognates: There Are Thousands of Spanish Words You Already Know

Thanks to the occupation of England by the Norman French, we ended up with many French words in the English language. Fortunately many of these are very similar to the same words in Spanish!

Changing just the ending of words can give you dozens if not hundreds of words in Spanish.

For example, changing the “-tion” ending to “-cion” gives you words like “asociación” or “instrucción”. Learning these “cognate” rules instantly gives you an expanded vocabulary you never knew you had!

Spanish Uncovered is a Spanish course for beginners that takes advantage of this language hack. It focuses on using cognates to unlock tons of vocabulary.

Why Conversational Fluency is What Really Matters

You’ll notice that I said “conversational” fluency, and not just “fluency” in this post. Here’s why:

You have to speak. Speaking is by far the most important part of developing your language skills. Most of us learn a language to connect with others. If you can’t say anything, you miss that connection.You won’t get stuck on perfectionism. Getting caught up with the idea of being able to read, write, listen and speak perfectly will overwhelm you and cause inaction. Aiming for conversational fluency gives you a stepping stone on the path to full fluency (including reading/writing) and then mastery.Remember, It’s All About Your Mindset

Your ability to become conversationally fluent in Spanish has nothing to do with whether or not you are “gifted” or the specific rules of Spanish itself. It is really all about your mindset and approach to learning the language.

Back when I started learning Spanish, I stumbled across a totally new philosophy which has fueled my study of languages from that day forward.

And that is: I could only learn to speak Spanish if I spoke Spanish.

These five steps are a road map to help you move forward on your path with Spanish. But regardless of the course materials you use or the method you employ, if you want to be conversationally fluent in Spanish, then you need to actually converse.

It essentially boils down to getting out there, opening your mouth, and making some friends. So, what are you waiting for?

Spanish Learning Hub The 10 Best Ways to Learn Spanish (Be Fluent Faster!)Benny’s Top Resources for Learning Spanish 97 Common Spanish Phrases to Start Speaking Spanish Right Now 20+ Resources for Spanish Reading Practice (Beginner to Intermediate)

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Published on July 04, 2022 04:00

July 1, 2022

How to Speak English Like the English

I’ve heard people talk about “British English” often, and there’s quite a few things I want to say about that. But let’s start by the beginning, shall we?

Two of my favourite articles on Fluent in 3 Months are Benny Lewis’s classics How to Speak English Like the Irish and its sequel Advanced Hiberno English.

So, being from England, I’d like to share some thoughts on how to speak English like the English.

Here’s what we’ll talk about:

Table of contentsMyth 1: British English and the British Accent Myth 2: The United Kingdom and England are the Same Thing Myth 3: English Citizens Speak the Original Version of English English vs. American English – What’s the Difference?1. The Rhotic Accent 2. Vowel Sounds 3. Vocabulary What About the Different Accents You’ll Find Inside England?We’re Only at the Tip of the Iceberg, and it’s Time to Go Swimming Speak English Like the English

Ready? Let’s go!

Myth 1: British English and the British Accent

I need to clear one thing up. There’s no such thing as a “British accent”.

We Brits rarely use that term ourselves, and we tend to roll our eyes when we hear it used in American TV shows.

It’s far more common in the UK to be specific and talk about English, Welsh, Scottish, or Northern Irish accents, the four of which are very distinct from each other. These four accents still only represent broad categories that can be subdivided further.

If you get a tutor on italki who is from the U.K., ask them where which part of the U.K. they’re actually from.

Myth 2: The United Kingdom and England are the Same Thing

To those who don’t understand the difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England – or where other places like Scotland fit into all of this… look it up.

Seriously, it’s not that hard to understand. This video does a neat job of explaining.

Myth 3: English Citizens Speak the Original Version of English

Do English folk really speak the “original” version of English?

It’s actually a dubious claim.

Linguists agree that over the last few hundred years, the accents and dialects of Britain have changed more than the American dialects they gave birth to. In other words, modern American speech is closer to the way British people spoke in 1776 than modern British speech is.

This is how I imagine it sounded.

Suffice to say that I’m from England—specifically, I grew up in Oxfordshire.

I can tell you a little bit about the way they talk in the other three Home Nations (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), but this is an article about English English, one of the oldest dialects of the world’s biggest language, and the one that gave it its name.

English vs. American English – What’s the Difference?1. The Rhotic Accent

How exactly have our accents diverged since the Boston Tea Party?

Many books have been written about the precise phonetic details of different English dialects, but for now I’ll stick with just one: rhoticity.

If you have a “rhotic accent”, that means you pronounce the letter “r” every time it’s written, and most American dialects (along with Irish and Scottish ones) remain fully rhotic.

In England, on the other hand, most of us at some point in the last few hundred years stopped pronouncing the letter “r” when it comes before a consonant (or is at the end of a word). For example in my own name, George, which I pronounce like the word “jaw” with an extra “j” sound on the end, no “r” to be found.

In most parts of England (the main exception being the West Country), people pronounce “father” identically to “farther”, “pawn” identically to “porn”, and “panda” identically to “pander”, while to most Americans and Canadians those word pairs are all distinct.

Non-rhotic accents can be found outside England too, particularly in places that we colonised more recently than North America like Australia and New Zealand. They can be even found in a small number of places in the U.S., most famously in Noo Yawk.

But rhoticity remains one of the clearest, most prominent dividing lines between different varieties of English.

2. Vowel Sounds

Vowel sounds have shifted a fair bit over the years.

In many cases, sounds which used to be pronounced differently are now pronounced the same, or vice versa. But the merger or split only happened on one side of the Atlantic.

I pronounce “cot” very differently from “caught”, but to many Americans they’re homophones. Similarly with “merry”, “marry”, and the name “Mary”, which are three distinct words in British speech, but sound the same in most American accents.

In the other direction, I’d pronounce “flaw” identically to “floor”—there’s that lack of rhoticity again. However, in American English those words are usually separated not just by an “r” but by two noticeably different vowel sounds.

3. Vocabulary

Where things start to get really confusing is with vocabulary, and I’m not just talking about slang.

In Britain, the Royal Mail delivers the post, while in the U.S.A. the Postal Service delivers the mail. Confusing, huh?

Many of our vocabulary differences are totally arbitrary: if I did something on Saturday or Sunday, I’d say that I’d done it at the weekend. An American would talk about having done it on the weekend.

Other differences allow for extra shades of meaning.

For example, Americans only talk about being “in the hospital”. British English retains a distinction between being “in the/a hospital”, which just means you’re literally inside the hospital building, and “in hospital“, which heavily implies that you’re in the hospital as a patient.

It’s like the difference between being “in school” and “in a school”… except Americans use the word “school” slightly differently too.

In the U.S., “school” refers to any educational establishment including college. In the U.K. it’s only used to refer to primary and secondary education: the school that you do before going to “uni”, a British abbreviation for “university” that Americans don’t use.

To add to the confusion, “public school” means something completely different here. For historical reasons, a “public school” in the U.K. is a type of very expensive and exclusive private school, whilst a free, government-funded school (what Americans call a public school) is a “state school.”

Do you follow?

If you’re from America, you may have raised an eyebrow at my frequent use of the word “whilst” in this article. This word sounds very archaic and old-timey to American ears, but it lives on in the U.K. as a synonym of “while”.

The verb “to reckon” is also alive and well in the British Isles, while in the U.S. it’s not really used anymore, except stereotypically by rural moonshine-drinking folks from the South: ”I reckon this here town ain’t big enough for the both of us!”

Then again, I find it weird when Americans say “I wish I would have”. This construction sounds just plain wrong to me. In England we say “I wish I had”.

There are so many of these, I could go on for pages.

What About the Different Accents You’ll Find Inside England?

So far we’ve just been looking at the differences between American English and English English. I’ve barely touched on the enormous regional variations that you’ll find within England: from the town I live in, I could drive two hours in any direction and be somewhere where the people sound completely different.

If you needed one more explanation as to why the “British” English accent isn’t a thing, that’s a good one.

The stereotypical “posh” (upper class) accent (often called “received pronunciation” or RP) is generally only found in the south. But it’s only the most formal form of southern speech; many shades of variation exist.

Up north, people sound very different not only from southerners, but from each other too.

For some reason – probably the fact that the north historically has had a lower population density and so the towns have been more isolated – there’s much more regional accent variation in the north.

You can generally pinpoint where a northern person is from from their accent with a higher degree of accuracy than you can a southerner. Liverpool and Manchester are 90 minutes’ drive from each other, and yet the people in each city sound completely different.

We’re Only at the Tip of the Iceberg, and it’s Time to Go Swimming

If a Brit got too plastered (drunk) last night, he might be hanging (hungover) the next morning and have a lie-in (he stayed in bed later than normal).

When his friends ask him what he did last night, he’d tell them that he’d gone out on the piss (gone out drinking), or maybe even on the pull, which means that he wasn’t just drinking last night but looking for a fit (attractive) girl to take home.

Now it’s the morning, but maybe today he’ll skive school (skip class), or, if he has a job, pull a sickie (call up his boss and pretend to be ill so he can get the day off). If his boss realises that he’s talking rubbish (lying, bullshitting), he might give him the sack (fire him).

Our British friend isn’t really ill (sick), he just can’t be bothered to go to work.

I’ve never been able to precisely explain “can’t be bothered” to Americans, but it’s an extremely common expression in the U.K., used when you don’t want to do something because it’s too much effort and/or you’re lazy.

If you want to be more vulgar, you can upgrade to “can’t be fucked”, a phrase which shouldn’t be taken too literally. A happy halfway point is “can’t be arsed”: a fine example of the British spelling and pronunciation of the American “ass”.

(“Bum”, by the way, is another word for “arse” here, unlike in the U.S. where a “bum” is a homeless person, known in the U.K. as a “tramp”.)

Then you have “sod”. This ubiquitous British insult refers to an unpleasant or disliked person (see also “wanker”) and is considered mildly rude on roughly the same level as “crap” or “damn”. It can also be used as an exclamation (“sod it!”) or an intensifier (“that sodding wanker”).

To my astonishment, while researching this article I learned that the word “sod” originated as an abbreviation for “sodomite”. I’ve been using this word my entire life, and I apparently never even knew what it meant. Sodding hell!

Speak English Like the English

I’ve only scratched the surface here – I could write far more about the many peculiarities of English English, and the above is just a taster.

If I’m being honest (another British turn of phrase – Americans more naturally say “to be honest”), I didn’t really think about most of these things until I started travelling, meeting people from all over the world and finding that many of the expressions I thought were international are in fact uniquely English, or vice versa.

How to Learn English Fast: The Language Hacker’s Method Benny’s Top Resources for Learning English Rocket Languages Review: Can It Launch Your Language Skills To the Next Level?Here’s an English Poem to Show How Crazy English Can Get Innovative Language Review – Complete Pod101 Language Course Review (with Screenshots and Video Results)

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Published on July 01, 2022 04:00

June 27, 2022

What Language Should I Learn? The Bulletproof Guide

“What language should I learn?”

When I first started this blog, I presumed most readers would have pretty solid decisions of what languages they were learning, but the several emails I get everyday seem to say otherwise!

So many people are asking me what I think they should learn. After debating with myself briefly about whether I should abuse this power and create my own army of Na’vi speakers just for the hell of it, I decided to be helpful instead 😉

Table of contents“Should I Learn the Language With the Most Number of Speakers?”“Should I Go For the Language That Will Look Best On My CV/Resume?”What Really Matters: How You Plan to Use the Language My Preference to Choose a Language: Cultural Reasons What Languages Will I, Benny, Learn Next?

There are so many criteria for picking a language. Once again, I’m going to have to say that so many of them that people typically look at are wrong, similar to the criteria for what makes a language hard.

I’m not going to tell you which language to choose, but I am going to suggest ways to avoid making the wrong decision.

“Should I Learn the Language With the Most Number of Speakers?”

Any language pissing competition almost always includes the statistic of the most number of speakers of any given language.

Most spoken languages in the world Chinese 1.1 billion speakers English 983 million speakers Hindustani 544 million speakers Spanish 527 million speakers Arabic 422 million speakers Malay 281 million speakers Russian 267 million speakers Bengali 261 million speakers Portuguese 229 million speakers French 229 million speakers

This is a bad way to decide which one to go for.

Two of the major “languages” in the list for example, Chinese and Arabic, aren’t even languages for practical purposes. The dialects are so vast that even native speakers have a difficult time understanding one another when speaking, or are sometimes completely unintelligible.

Even a language like Portuguese has to be somewhat relearned if you move from Brazil to Portugal.

But forgetting that for a second – let’s imagine you did go for a language because it has half a billion speakers. How does this actually help you? Do you plan to visit all the villagers speaking that language?

Looking at “most speakers” in terms of making a decision sometimes comes down to nothing more than ego. You get more “points” for the bigger number.

Even if you go live in the country, you’ll be unlikely to visit more than a handful of towns and come across the same number of speakers as you would in any other country. Then when not in the country, it depends on how much that culture travels.

For example, I’ve met way more Israelis than I have Chinese/Russians etc. when travelling in Brazil (of all places).

In most cases you will speak with such an infinitesimally small percentage of the total population of speakers that basically any language will give you more than a lifetime’s worth of conversations and new people you can meet.

I’m not trying to discourage people from going for the big languages – but just make sure you are picking them for the right reasons.

Even a language like Irish has enough speakers to keep you busy if you really dive into it.

“Should I Go For the Language That Will Look Best On My CV/Resume?”

Picking the most “spoken” languages isn’t even that great a career choice, because so many other people do that too. You aren’t necessarily distinguishing yourself from the noise.

I worked as a translator for several years. From seeing how the industry works, I can tell you that the best paid and most in-demand translators are those with less common language combinations.

The “most spoken” language also depends entirely on where you are.

If you are in Europe, then knowing German will help secure you a job much quicker than others in the tourist industry (apart from English). in many parts of the United States, that would be overshadowed by Spanish in terms of immediate practicality.

In most jobs that don’t require you to actually speak other languages, having any of them on your CV is impressive to employers. (Or it depends on the employer’s personality.)

Having simply learned a foreign language seems to have become a badge of honour in some places. In this case the actual language itself makes little difference.

What Really Matters: How You Plan to Use the Language

Number of speakers or misleading career advantages are empty reasons for picking a language. You have to ask yourself why you really want to learn a language.

Do you want to be able to read literature in that language? Attend Italian Operas? Embrace your German heritage?

Are you sure you really want to speak a language?

This is a social undertaking, not an academic one. Spending all your time with books or courses may help a little, but unless you are willing to make mistakes in front of people, you won’t get far on improving your spoken abilities. ✓

If you want to just “know” a language, then reading and listening a lot might be all you actually need. Many people enjoy this academic side of it. That’s great, but it’s better to be clear about your goals from the onset!

If the idea of speaking “a” foreign language is all that tickles your fancy, you have to realise how much time needs to be invested in the project. Try Esperanto first to see how it feels.

Learning a language for no work is a pipe dream – going into it half-assed won’t give you anything tangible – you can spend years on a language and get nowhere, or you can spend just a few months on it and speak it well if you are passionate about it.

My Preference to Choose a Language: Cultural Reasons

There are dozens of good reasons to pick any particular language. My own depends almost entirely on the culture of the people who speak it.

I get emails every day suggesting that I should take on language-X because my current list of European languages (although I’ve since expanded it to include other languages like Chinese) isn’t impressive enough.

Impressing people is a pathetic reason to choose to devote months of your time to something.

People think that being a polyglot may perhaps give you instant rockstar status. I can tell you that, while it piques people’s curiosity at first, after 20 seconds you have to rely on your own personality if you want to make new friends, no matter what your achievements are.

In those situations, one particular language is always more than enough. I learn languages because I intend to use them, not so I can wear them as a badge.

I can tell you right now that my own decisions to learn languages have little to do with impressing linguists. If I decide to learn yet another Romance language (Romanian is the only one I haven’t touched at all) because I want to, then I will. Protests from people calling me lazy are irrelevant.

Then, on the other hand, Chinese, Japanese etc. don’t “scare” me one bit in terms of being harder. My choices thus far have been because I know I’d enjoy myself living in that culture.

European and South American culture has a lot to discover, but I’m always up for something new and you can bet I’ll be diversifying my language families a lot.

What Languages Will I, Benny, Learn Next?

Don’t take the title of this post as an invitation, I’m not really asking.

I will never be taking surveys or votes for which language I should learn next. This is not a democracy: I am the dictator, king and overlord of next-language-choices and all decisions are final 😉

Most people who email me to tell me to start this or that language next give completely irrelevant reasons to me.

How complex the grammar would be, as a nice challenge. Yawn, that’s not a language, that’s as good as a sales pitch for a mathematical theorem.How impressive it would be. If I want weak validation from people, I’ll learn how to juggle fire-breathing monkeys.Or that they really, really want me to. Nicer, but still not quite convincing!

My choice is always based on the culture of the people who speak the language itself and my interest in getting to know that country.

How much fun would I have going out and socialising with them? What is day-to-day life like in that country? How easy is it to make new friends in that country? Or is it worth the challenge of attempting to break down people’s stereotypes of that?

I know a lot of people reading this blog are linguists, but I’m a traveller. Speaking languages is just a natural consequence of wanting to get truly immersed in cultures and expand my horizons.

Languages are just a means to an end for me. They are not the end. PEOPLE are the channel that languages come out of. If you don’t use the language to communicate with human beings, then it’s just a faceless list of grammar rules and vocabulary tables.

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Published on June 27, 2022 04:00

June 24, 2022

70+ Ways to Say “Beautiful” in Different Languages

I’ve always felt like saying “beautiful” in another language expresses the feeling even better.

A lot of words in English mean “beautiful”. You can tell someone they’re cute, pretty, elegant, handsome… So many synonyms for the same word, and new ones popping up and fading out all the time (like “looking fly” or “on fleek” as examples).

Yet, I don’t know about you, but I get a bit bored using the same words all the time. That’s part of the appeal of learning so many languages. You can learn how to express yourself in new ways, and many languages have unique words that aren’t translatable. I love that.

There’s definitely no shortage of words for “beautiful” in different languages from around the world. Here I’m sharing how to express beauty in 15 languages, so you can choose the word you prefer to enrich perfect moments!

Here’s a quick preview of the most common words to say “beautiful” in the 14 different languages I’ll cover in this post.

Masculine Feminine Spanish hermoso hermosa French beau belle German schön schön Korean 아름답다 아름답다 Japanese 美しい美しい Italian bello bella Mandarin Chinese 美丽美丽 Russian красивый красивая Arabic جميل جميلة Portuguese bonito bonita Dutch mooi mooi Irish Gaelic go hálainn go hálainn Esperanto bela bela Greek πανεμορφη πανεμορφη

Keep reading for more synonym words and expressions!

1. “Beautiful” in Spanish – Hermoso / Hermosa

In Spanish, you say hermosa or hermoso when you want to call someone “beautiful” or “gorgeous.” But there are tons of ways to express the same feeling in Spanish.

Hermoso/a is a little on the formal side, so here are some more words to say “beautiful” in Spanish:

bello/bella – “lovely”guapo/guapa – “handsome”bonito/bonita – “pretty”

Reminder: Words ending in “o” are masculine, and “a” are feminine. Make sure to use the correct ending based on who you’re talking to, or what gender the noun is that you’re describing.

You could even have a bit of fun and describe someone as “tasty” or “dreamy like cheese” with estar como un queso.

(And if you want to be romantic with other words, here are 50+ Spanish phrases and words to share your love.)

2. “Beautiful” in French – Beau / Belle

“Beautiful” in French is either beau (masculine) or belle (feminine). As with Spanish, French has genders for words.

To simplify it, you could say magnifique (“magnificent”), which is used to describe something or someone as very beautiful or striking. Flatter your significant other with Tu es absolument magnifique (“You look absolutely stunning.”)

You could also tell someone they are joli (masculine) or jolie (feminine, “pretty”).

3. “Beautiful” in German – Schön

In German, you can use schön to tell someone they’re “lovely” or “beautiful”. But it’s also common to say it with more intensity: wunderschön, or “very beautiful”. Du bist wunderschön means “you’re very beautiful!”

You can also tell someone they’re “pretty” with hübsch, or “cute” or “sweet” with süßes. Plus, German is full of fun, …

4. “Beautiful” in Korean – 아름답다 (Areumdapda)

In Korean, there are two main words for “beautiful” – 아름답다 (areumdapda, “beautiful”) and 예쁘다 (yeppeuda, “pretty”).

While you can use both to describe most anything of beauty, 아름답다 is usually too strong to use with people, especially to compliment young women. So 예쁘다 is more common when talking about people. 아름답다 is best for things like scenery.

Of course, there are varying levels of formality in Korean.

If you want to tell someone you’re very close to (like your significant other) that they’re looking very nice today, you say 예뻐 (yeppeo) or 이뻐 (ippeo). They both mean pretty, but 이뻐 is more slangy. 아름다워 (areumdawo) is the more informal version of 아름답다, but it’s still not used often for people… even your girlfriend.

5. “Beautiful” in Japanese – 美しい (Utsukushii)

美しい (utsukushii) means “beautiful” in Japanese, but it’s a bit “intense” to say to other people.

So, there are many variations. Often, you’ll hear beautiful described as “clean” with 綺麗な (kirei na). You’ll hear 素敵な (suteki na, “lovely”) used more commonly in place of beautiful, especially when describing beautiful clothes or a beautiful woman.

Especially glamorous boys (think the boy band type or the hero in girls manga) would be 美少年 (bishounen, “beautiful youth”). But most girls use かっこいい (kakkoii, “cool” or “good-looking”) to describe an attractive guy.

Girls are usually called 美少女 (bishoujo, “beautiful girl”) or 可愛い (kawaii, “cute”).

Fun fact: Kawaii culture is quite popular in Japan. You can learn more about it in this post.

6. “Beautiful” in Italian – Bello / Bella

In Italian, “beautiful” is bello/bella. You can also describe someone as “very beautiful” or “gorgeous” by using bellissimo (masculine) and bellissima (feminine).

Italian continues the theme of gender-based words here! You’ll see this in a lot of languages.

In the Romance languages, it’s not unusual to describe men with the same words as women. Still, it’s more common to use bella for a woman, and less common to hear bello for a man.

You could also say someone is attraente, or “attractive”. This word is gender-neutral, so you don’t have to worry about what gender you pair it with.

7. “Beautiful” in Mandarin Chinese – 美丽 (Měilì)

In Chinese, the single character 美 means beautiful. But it’s almost always combined with 丽 to form “beautiful”, 美丽 (Měilì), to describe things. 美 on its own is a more intense, lasting beauty, while 美丽 is more common to describe beauty in day-to-day life.

Besides 美丽, you can also use 漂亮 (piào liàng), which translates closer to “pretty”. It’s used to describe objects, people, scenery… anything, really. The two characters mean “elegant” and “bright”, but 优雅 (yōuyǎ) is the more accurate translation for describing someone as elegant.

Fun fact: Since Japanese takes some of its characters (kanji) from China, you’ll notice that the first character in 美丽 is the same as 美しい from Japanese – although the reading is different.

8. “Beautiful” in Russian – красивое (Krasivoye)

Like many of the other languages, “beautiful” in Russian changes based on what you’re describing. красивое (krasivoye) is gender neutral. To say, “beautiful” to a woman, you would use красивая (krasivaya), and to a man, красивый (krasivyy).

Милая (milaya) means “pretty” and it’s used affectionately, almost like “sweet girl”. You could describe someone as “charming” with очаровательная (ocharovatel’naya). Both of these are in the feminine form, so make sure to change them if you’re describing a neutral or masculine noun or a man. You would usually use these words for women, though.

9. “Beautiful” in Arabic – جميل (jamil) / جميلة (Jamil)

In Arabic, you can use جميلة (jamila) to tell a woman she’s beautiful, or جميل (jamil) for a man.

You can also say وسيم (wasim) to describe a man as “handsome” or “good-looking”. ملفت للانتباه (mulifat lilaintibah) can be used for either a man or a woman to say “attractive”. If someone’s glamorous or alluring, you can use فاتن (fatan).

Besides keeping an eye out for the gender of the words, you’ll also notice these Arabic words change quite a bit based on the region it’s spoken in as well.

Fun fact: This happens with other phrases and expressions as well, such as Arabic greetings, which are different based on where they are used in the Arabic world.

10. “Beautiful” in Portuguese – Bonito / Bonita

Portuguese words for beautiful are similar to Italian and Spanish. Like in Spanish, bonito and bonita means “beautiful” or “pretty” for masculine and feminine nouns respectively. You can also say belíssimo for “stunning”… almost the same as Italian.

Other words you can use are belo for “lovely”, formoso for “handsome”, and gracioso for “gorgeous”.

As with other Romance languages, you’ll need to follow gender rules here too, with “o” being the masculine ending for adjectives, and “a” being feminine.

11. “Beautiful” in Dutch – Mooi

To tell someone they look beautiful in Dutch, you can say mooi, which means both “beautiful” and “handsome”. But most of the time you would use knap for “handsome”, typically for men.

Other ways you can express someone or something’s beauty:

schoon – “clean” and “beautiful”heerlijk – “lovely”fraai – “fine” or “handsome”fijn – “nice” or “elegant”

If someone asks how they look, you can say Gewoon mooi!, (“Simply beautiful!”) Or you can change mooi to its superlative form: Mooiste! (“Most beautiful!”)

12. “Beautiful” in Irish Gaelic – Go Hálainn

This is also spelt as álainn when used to describe something as beautiful. For instance, “beautiful woman” is bean álainn, but “The woman is beautiful” is Tá an bhean go hálainn. A small difference, but something worth noting.

Another word for beautiful is taibhseach, which is more like “gorgeous” or “stunning”. You could also say galánta to describe someone as an elegant beauty.

13. “Beautiful” in Esperanto – Bela

Bela is a catch-all Esperanto word for many similar words in English and does not change based on gender. It means “beautiful”, “pretty”, and “lovely”. You could also say eleganta for – you guessed it – “elegant”, or glamorosa for “glamorous”.

Esperanto is an incredibly easy language to learn. It’s a constructed language meant to bring people together from across the world. So you’ll notice a lot of words in Esperanto are similar to others on the list, or English words.

14. “Beautiful” in Greek – πανεμορφη (Panemorfo)

In Greek, you can say πανέμορφο (panemorfo) to say “beautiful” or “exquisite”, but when describing something or someone as beautiful, you use όμορφο (ómorfo). So to say “beautiful girl”, you would say όμορφη κορίτσι (omorfi korítsi).

You can also describe men as όμορφος (omorfos), or use ωραίος (oraíos, “good-looking” or “nice”). In Greek, the endings change based on gender, but it’s a bit different than the other languages we’ve looked at. So here, “os” is the masculine form, “i” is feminine, and “o” is neutral.

Bonus: “Beautiful” in American Sign Language

For “beautiful” in ASL, you can check out this short video that gives a great demonstration:

An easy way to remember it: the whole face is so beautiful, it pops… It sticks out from the crowd, it’s very striking. You start with your thumb pointing at your chin and roll your fingers around the front of your face.

Abundance of Beauty

Now you can compliment someone on their beauty in 15 different languages!

You can surprise your significant other by calling them beautiful, stunning, elegant, handsome, lovely, or attractive in all these languages… or you can practise with your pet.

Just make sure before you go saying any of these to strangers, you understand the cultural nuance (like I mentioned with Japanese and Korean!).

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The post 70+ Ways to Say “Beautiful” in Different Languages appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

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Published on June 24, 2022 04:00

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