Benny Lewis's Blog, page 21

Talk About Family in French – A Guide to French Family Vocabulary [with Audio]

If you’re learning French, you should learn how to talk about family in French. That’s because family is an important topic that often comes up in conversations. In this article, I’ll share the words you need to know, with audio recordings from myself, a native French speaker.

Allons-y! Let’s get started.

Table of contentsFrench Words to Talk About Your FamilyHow to Say “Family” in French: FamilleThe Different Types of Family in FrenchRules of Gender, Number Agreement, and the French Family Member CollectivesFrench Terms of Endearment for Family MembersHow to Write About Your Family in French – Some More VocabularyFrench Cinema and Family – A Few Recommendations1. Qu’est-ce qu’on a fait au Bon Dieu ?2. C’est quoi cette famille?!3. Il a déjà tes yeuxYou’re All Set to Talk About Your Family in French!

Psst… Do you like French cinema? Stick around until the end of the article for French movie recommendations that revolve around family!

function runSplitTest(){var randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1console.log(randomNumber)var copy = "";if (randomNumber == 1){ copy = '<i>A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away in Italian for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. <b><a href="https://fluentin3months.com/challenge... this link to find out more.</b></a></i>'} else { copy = '<i>Before we get started, if you’re looking for an online Italian course, here’s the course I recommend: <a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/olly-... Uncovered - Learn Italian Through the Power of Story</b></a>, a course with a fascinating new method by my friend Olly. You can try it for free for 7 days!</i>'}console.log(copy)var copyToChange = document.querySelector("p.copyText").innerHTML = copy;}runSplitTest();French Words to Talk About Your Family

“Family” in French is famille‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎.

To say “family member” in French you would say membre de la famille‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎. You can also say parent‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, which also translates to “parent”, as in father or mother.

If you want to talk about family in French, you will need to know the appropriate words to describe the different liens de famille (“family relationships”).

Immediate family:

la femme ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ or  l’épouse‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the wife” le mari ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ or  l’époux‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the husband” les parents ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the parents” la mère ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the mother” le père ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the father” les enfants ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the children” la fille ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the daughter” le fils ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the son” la sœur ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the sister” le frère ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the brother”

Extended family:

la tante ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the aunt” l’oncle ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the uncle” la nièce ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the niece” le neveu ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the nephew” la cousine ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the cousin” (feminine) le cousin ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the cousin” (masculine) la petite-fille ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the grand-daughter” le petit-fils ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the grandson” la grand-mère ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the grandmother” le grand-père ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the grandfather” l’arrière-petite-fille ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the great-granddaughter” l’arrière-petit-fils ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the great-grandson” l’arrière-grand-mère ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the great-grandmother” l’arrière-grand-père ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the great-grandfather”

All of these form les proches ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“close relations”).

Since this is a lot of information, you can download this chart to keep it for further studies:

Step-family:

la belle-mère ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the stepmother” le beau-père ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the stepfather” la demi-sœur ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the stepsister” or “the half-sister” le demi-frère ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the stepbrother” or “the half-brother” la belle-fille ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the stepdaughter” le beau-fils ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the stepson”

In-laws:

la belle-mère – “the mother-in-law”le beau-père – “the father-in-law” la belle-sœur ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the sister-in-law” le beau-frère ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the brother-in-lawla belle-fille – “the daughter-in-law”le beau-fils – “the son-in-law”

It might also be useful for you to learn the members of the “godparent family”:

les parrains ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the godparents” la marraine ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the godmother” le parrain ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the godfather” la filleule ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the goddaughter” le filleul ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the godson”How to Say “Family” in French: Famille

As I mentioned above, “Family” in French is famille ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎.

Famille is a noun, so you will often see famille coming after an article or a pronoun.

The most common ones are:

La famille – “(the) family”Une famille – “a family”Ma famille – “my family”

Let’s pause for a second and take a look at how similar famille is to “family”. These words are cognates: even though they’re from different languages, their spelling and pronunciation are similar, and they have the same meaning.

Cognates help you start learning a new language by giving you an instant vocabulary base. One of our favorite courses at Fi3M, French Uncovered, teaches you to recognise French cognates from the very start of yourjourney learning French. It’s a great way to feel more confident in your knowledge and less intimidated by your target language.

(Remember, at Fi3M we’re all about simple language hacks like this that help you learn a language faster 😉.)

The Different Types of Family in French

Once you’ve mastered how to say famille, you can go a little more in-depth and learn the different types of family categorization in French:

la famille nucléaire‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ or  la famille traditionnelle‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “immediate family” la famille monoparentale‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “single-parent family” la famille recomposée‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “stepfamily” or “reconstituted family” la famille élargie‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ or  la famille étendue‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “extended family” la belle-famille‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “in-laws” la famille adoptive‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “adoptive family” or “foster family”Rules of Gender, Number Agreement, and the French Family Member Collectives

French follows rules of gender and number agreement. This means that if a noun is feminine, the article and adjective(s) that describe it will also be feminine. The same goes for when a noun is singular or plural. This is important to know if you want to describe your family members, for example.

Let’s look at how the agreement rules work.

While we’re looking at the plural forms of French family members, let’s talk about the collective terms for family members. These are words like “the parents” or “the siblings”, which describe the whole group of family members with the same titles, regardless of their gender.

Here are the most common:

les parents – “the parents”all other terms with parents in them, such as les grandparentsles enfants – “the children”all other terms with enfants in them, such as les petits-enfantsles cousins – “the cousins”

For the other collective terms, you would mention the plural of both the masculine and femenine members. Here are some examples:

les frères et sœurs – “the siblings”les oncles et tantes – “the uncles and aunts”

When you’re referring to several members of the same gender, for examples “the sisters”, you would use the plural of the term, so les sœurs.

French Terms of Endearment for Family Members

When I’m speaking French with my parents, I don’t call my them * mère (“mother”) and
père (father).

For parents, the most common terms used in French are:

la maman‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the mom” le papa‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the dad”

There isn’t a collective term for parents other than parents in French, you would simply say maman et papa (“Mom and Dad”).

Grandparents too have their own terms of endearment:

la mamie‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “the granma” le papi‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (sometimes also spelt papy) – “the grandpa”

You might also hear mémé‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“grannie”) and pépé‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“granda”), although they are more old fashioned words. My grandmother has never wanted her grandchildren to call her mémé; she says it makes her sound too old!

For siblings, adding petit(e) or grand(e) does the work:

petite sœur – “little sister”petit frère – “little brother”grande sœur – “big sister”grand frère – “big brother”

When it comes to the rest of the family, oncle has a more tender version: tonton‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“uncle”). In some places, tante also has a sweeter version in tatie‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎. In Guadeloupe, where I grew up, children use tatie as an affectionate term for women, even if they aren’t their aunts.

How to Write About Your Family in French – Some More Vocabulary

You’ve learnt the basics of French family vocabulary. Now are you ready for some more specific phrases?

Here are a few phrases you might want to know to talk or write about your family:

J’ai une grande famille – “I have a big family.”J’aime ma famille – “I love my family.”La famille d’abord – “family comes first”La famille pour toujours – “family forever”

Depending on how deep you get into conversation about your family tree, you might want to know how to say just that. In French, “family tree” is arbre généalogique, which literally translates to “genealogical tree”.

French Cinema and Family – A Few Recommendations

French cinema likes to focus on family. Extended families, reconstituted families, adoptive families… All of them can be the foundation of great French comedy!

As promised at the beginning of the article, here are some of the most popular French films about family.

1. Qu’est-ce qu’on a fait au Bon Dieu ?

Qu’est-ce qu’on a fait au Bon Dieu ?, or “Serial (Bad) Weddings” in English, is a comedy that features an extended family.

Claude and Marie, a Catholic bourgeois couple from a small village in the north of France, see their conservative views challenged by the marriages of their daughters. The three eldest have married men of different ethnic origins and religious beliefs, so their hopes for a Catholic son-in-law rest with their youngest.

This movie and its sequel, which both star some famous French comedians, is a window into complex French modern culture.

2. C’est quoi cette famille?!

C’est quoi cette famille?!, or “We Are Family” in English, focuses on a reconstituted family.

After several marriages and divorces of both his parents, thirteen-year-old Bastien finds himself part of a very big reconstituted family. Tired of being moved from house to house for shared parenting, the many “half-siblings” decide to live together and have their parents move houses instead.

Even though this movie exaggerates for the sake of comedy, it taps into the reality of reconstituted families, which are very common in France.

3. Il a déjà tes yeux

Il a déjà tes yeux, “He Even Has Your Eyes” in English, is the story of a black couple who can’t have biological children and decide to adopt a baby. The baby is four-months-old, and white. Several people around the couple refuse to accept the adoption.

There is also a mini series whose events take place after the movie.

You’re All Set to Talk About Your Family in French!

You can now shop at the père et fils business and listen to your B&B host’s story, and understand everything! Well, at least the part about the family.

If you’re looking for more vocabulary to learn, you could start by checking out this guide to 27 French colors (with audio).

If you’re ready for something else, try working on grammar! French pronouns are a good starting point.

Or maybe try some of these articles:

How to Speak French: The Faster Way to Learn FrenchFrenchPod101 Review: 30 Days with FrenchPod101111 Core French Words — The Most Commonly Used Words in FrenchAn In-Depth Review of the Staircase Method — Learn a Language through Story30+ Free Online French Classes and Resources (Only the Best!)

The post Talk About Family in French – A Guide to French Family Vocabulary [with Audio] appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

Is Turkish Hard to Learn? Why Turkish Is Easier Than You Think

Is Turkish hard to learn?

I’ll answer the question with this post about my summer spent in Istanbul. How? I’ll simply list some summary points of the Turkish language for you!

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Table of contentsLearning Turkish in a NutshellA Few Things to Know Before You Start Learning TurkishTurkish Is Easy to ReadYou Already Know Some Turkish VocabularyTurkish Suffixes Are Easy to LearnCreating Words and Sentences Is StraightfowardGrammarMentality Is EverythingHow Long Does It Take to Learn Turkish?Learn Turkish: My Favourite Resources

It won’t be as detailed as my usual language summaries, since I ran into a few (nonlinguistic) problems during my time in Istanbul.

However, I learned enough to definitely get by in Turkish and have a great understanding of sentence structure and how the language works from my part-time studies.

Learning Turkish in a Nutshell

Related Learning: How to Learn Turkish: An Introductory Guide for Beginners

As always, my stance is to stand by the certainty that there is no such thing as a hard language, once you have the right learning approach and attitude.

Very often, I hear learners complain that their target language is the “hardest language in the world”. After hearing that for over a dozen languages, it starts to get quite tedious, as well as dreadfully illogical.

In fact, I had to disprove this myth for:

HungarianGermanCzechFrenchand Spanish

among other languages.

A Few Things to Know Before You Start Learning Turkish

Here’s a good thing about Turkish: locals are extremely encouraging when you try to speak their language, even just a little. They are a proud people, and usually only refer to the “gossip” case to prove that the language is hard, and will be thrilled to see you trying to speak it.

As well as this, many features of the language are very logical and consistent. (Even if they are of course different enough to make you feel the language is weird at first glance.)

In this post, for example, I explained how rephrasing Turkish sentences is quite logical indeed.

Having said this, Turkish is not linguistically related to anything I had learned previously.

This means there will indeed be a bit more work involved as you learn more vocabulary than other languages would have in common with yours. You will also have to get used to new grammatical structures.

But a language is different for a reason. If everything was the same it wouldn’t be a foreign language, would it? 😉

Because the Ottoman empire had such an extensive reach over the centuries, there was definitely some influence from Hungarian in the language (and vice versa) that I could recognise easily.

Some features may have been similar by coincidence (simply because it’s the opposite way in many European languages). For example, Turkish uses postpositions (instead of prepositions) and the agglutinative nature for word-formation.

Even some Hungarian vocabulary is the same in Turkish. One word that stood out for me was elma (alma in Hungarian / “apple”). Although, as shown below, this is eclipsed by other borrowings.

But generally Turkish is a very unique language, and is very interesting to learn because of this!

Turkish Is Easy to Read

The first thing to point out is that Turkish is a phonetically written language and uses the Latin script. Up until Atatürk made some revolutionary changes to the language in the last century, it was written using Arabic script.

Each letter has one sound, and there are no confusing double consonants (like sh, ch, ght and so on), so each letter is pronounced separately.

The pronunciation is as you would expect, except for the following:

c is pronounced like an English “j” (in “jam”). So sadece (“only/just”) is pronounced sah-deh-jeh.ç is pronounced like an English “ch” (in “charge”), not “s” as in Latin-based languages.ğ is silent, it elongates previous vowel sound.ş is “sh”.ı looks like an “i” without the dot. Confusingly, when capitalised it is I (English “i” capitalised), but Turkish i capitalised is İ (so the city I was living in was actually İstanbul, not Istanbul). ı is pronounced as schwa.Umlauted ö/ü vowels work as in German.

After learning these differences, you can read Turkish immediately, although natives may pronounce things slightly differently. I found that e sounds in words were pronounced as a by many people for example.

You Already Know Some Turkish Vocabulary

I was very happy to see that there were lots of familiar words I recognised instantly.

As with all languages, you tend to start off with a base of thousands of words before you even begin. Turkish uses many brand names, and technology terms from English, as most other languages would.

But from this I found it curious to see that Turkish had a huge amount of loan words from other languages, the most surprising (and helpful for me) being French.

One source I found cited 5,000 Turkish words come from French.

As a comparison, 6,500 come from Arabic, 1,400 come from Persian, about 600 are cited to come from Italian, 400 from Greek and 150 from Latin.

Often, there is a Turkish equivalent that has become favoured for standard use. In other cases, the loan word is the one in standard use. Sometimes they use both (like şehir & kent for “city”, where şehir is the “non-Turkish” word).

Some French loan words I personally came across include kuaför, şans, büfe, lise (lycée), bulvar, asansör, aksesuar, kartuş, ekselans, sal… and I’m sure there are many more.

Of course these are written phonetically in Turkish, but once you pronounce them they resemble the French versions. Even if you don’t speak French, you will definitely recognise many of these words, as in many cases they were loaned to English too.

Interestingly enough, I even recognised a Spanish word, banyo, in the language!

For the non-loan words, you can learn them quickly if you simply apply some image association techniques or download Turkish decks of essential vocabulary to a spaced repetition system.

Word roots tend to be short, and this really helps to make them easier to learn.

Turkish Suffixes Are Easy to Learn

I found that I could de-construct any large Turkish words very easily once I understood more of the language’s structure. In this way, vocabulary and grammar are quite intricately tied together.

You cannot look up most words in a dictionary directly. However, if you recognise basic grammatical structures, you’ll instantly see what the root is.

One of the quickest ways to expand your vocabulary quicker is to learn some standard suffixes.

Here’s some things suffixes do:

Turning nouns into adjectives (or vice versa)Turning nouns into verbs (-mek/-mak ending being infinitive, and conjugations being very regular)Expressing a person with a profession like -ci/-cı (öğrenci = student from öğrenmek)

Another one is the possessive (or simply “of”) that is used for word combinations. You see it everywhere, and it makes more sense once you recognise it.

For example, Istiklal is the name of a major street/avenue “cadde” I lived near, so the street is called Istiklal caddesi. The ‘si’ suffix here just means ‘of’, and Istiklal means independence.

In the same way all the universities (üniversite) in the city have üniversitesi in their title.

They are otherwise natural parts of sentences that would be separate words in other languages, such as the possessive (-m for mine, -n for yours etc.) or the negation, etc.

One thing with all suffixes and words in general that does take some getting used to is vowel harmony.

I came across this in Hungarian too, and it works similarly in Turkish. It’s something we don’t have in other languages, so you have to train yourself to apply correctly.

Like many aspects of the language, it’s actually straightforward. It just requires time to get used to using the right choice (which is always obvious). When speaking, you may make mistakes with this initially, but people will still understand you in most cases.

Creating Words and Sentences Is Straightfoward

One point that requires some sentence rephrasing in your head (as explained here) is that there is no verb for “to be” or “to have” in Turkish.

This may sound intimidating, but the rephrasings are surprisingly easy to get used to. You would say it as you would in English without is/am/are etc. or “my car exists” instead of “I have a car”.

Another “weird” aspect of this language is the word order. For example, verbs tend to go to the end of sentences. So you say Türkçe öğreniyorum for “I am learning Turkish”.

I like to think that this is actually smarter than English’s order as the most important word in the sentence is what you are learning. This is then followed by the fact that you are learning it.

It’s important to remind yourself of this rather than give in to becoming a crybaby that the language is different in the first place.

These kinds of differences are explained very well in any course, and will very soon become second nature to you. When you think about certain phrasings for a moment it makes perfect sense, and soon you won’t have to think much about it.

For example, Nerelisin(iz) means “Where are you from?” Breaking it up you have Ne-re-li-sin(iz): –sin = “you”, -siniz = “you” (polite/plural), -li = “from”, -re = “place suffix”, ne = “what” (or simply nere= “where”).

Since no “to be” is required, each individual component of the word contributes to the meaning.

In the same way, nereye means “Where to?” (nere + e [to] and ‘y’ to connect vowels).

Grammar

After this, I found that Turkish grammar was incredibly logical. There are few exceptions, conjugation and word formation are very consistent, and there are no complicated temporal additions to get used to.

There is a nice past tense, two present tenses, future, etc.

One use of the present case, using the present -er ending for example, with the verb dönmek (“to turn”) is the familiar third-person singular conjugation döner (“it turns”) that the Turks are famous for.

Yes it is different, but based on my experience with other languages there are way fewer annoying exceptions and pointless structures to deal with.

There is no grammatical gender, no complex cases like in Slavic or Germanic languages, and no definite or indefinite articles (“a” & “the”) to worry about.

There are also no irregular plurals. In many cases, you don’t even have to add the plural suffix -ler/-lar if it’s clear from the context.

The only case that could cause you some problems initially is the accusative. I could never quite figure this out when I was learning German in school because it was not very consistent.

In Turkish, you can be more confident of when to use it, since it’s only a noun issue and very logical.

If the idea of accusative is confusing to you, I highly recommend you learn Esperanto for a few weeks. It helped me understand the accusative better than any technical explanation, as it’s almost the only different/“complicated” grammatical feature of the entire language.

Use of Esperanto’s ĉu also helped me intuitively understand Turkish’s question suffix/particle mi/mı/mü. This term is added in for yes/no questions where we would simply indicate it with intonation in English.

This is actually very easy to understand, but tricky to get used to, so learning it in an easier language first for just a few weeks can really help give you a boost.

For example, you have çalışıyor (“she works”) and çalışıyor mu? (“does she work?”)

Mentality Is Everything

You could reply to this post with a list of reasons why Turkish could be hard. However, when reframing things it’s very easy to decide if you will be an optimist or a pessimist.

The latter approach has no use whatsoever to language learners. Demotivation never does.

When you go into learning with a “my language is half full” mentality, you’ll always learn quicker thanks to this positivity!

You can accept that the language is different without having to give in to believing that it’s difficult. Hopefully some of these tips from my short number of weeks in Turkey can help a little too 🙂

How Long Does It Take to Learn Turkish?

You can learn enough Turkish to have a conversation with a native in just 3 months.

That’s what the Fluent in 3 Months Challengers do with their target language!

Obviously, you need a good mindset, a strategy adapted to your learning needs, and appropriate learning resources.

Learn Turkish: My Favourite Resources

I browsed some materials for a few days in Istanbul. The winner hands down was Colloquial Turkish: The Complete Course for Beginners. It explains Turkish in the clearest and best-presented way

Here are some of the things it does best:

Presents useful vocabulary in the best orderHas you reading entire passages in TurkishMixes vocabulary and grammar in a nice balanced wayManages to still be interesting 🙂

As well as this, it focuses on Turkish spoken in the street, as well as a beginners’ book can do, rather than formal Turkish.

Answers and translations are not always given once it has already been explained, and this encourages the learner to use what (s)he has already learned to start thinking independently. I’ve recommended Colloquial before as a general learning tool, but it was my favourite learning material out of everything I used for Turkish.

If you want to check out more options, here is the list of my favourite resources out there to learn Turkish.

The post Is Turkish Hard to Learn? Why Turkish Is Easier Than You Think appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

10 Chinese Jokes to Make Your Chinese Friends Laugh

What’s your go-to Chinese joke?

Although humor is different from culture to culture (not to mention from person to person), jokes are a great way to break down barriers and make new friends. In a situation in which you’re hoping to practice more in your new language, making people laugh is all the more important!

Some people believe that humor is an important skill for advanced language learners. The ability to crack a funny joke in a different language demonstrates a high ability. And not just in a grammatical or lexical sense, also in understanding that culture’s humor.

It’s not always evident to come up with jokes on the spot, even less in a foreign language! If you’re learning Chinese, you might want to arm yourself with a couple of funny stories.

If you’re looking for the basics on how to greet someone, start here. Otherwise, keep reading to learn the funniest jokes in Chinese!

function runSplitTest(){var randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1console.log(randomNumber)var copy = "";if (randomNumber == 1){ copy = '<i>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. <b><a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/ch?sr... this link to find out more.</b></a></i>'} else { copy = '<i>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. <b><a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/ch?sr... this link to find out more.</b></a></i>'}console.log(copy)var copyToChange = document.querySelector("p.copyText").innerHTML = copy;}runSplitTest();Table of contentsChinese Jokes: Can They Work Well for English Speakers?1. There Is a Joke on Traditional Chinese Medicine vs. Western Coffee?2. You Can Make Fun of Spiderman and His Hilarious Homophones in Chinese3. Another Chinese Joke Spiderman’s Second Hilarious Homophone4. If You’re Looking for Chinese Couple Jokes, Here’s a Great One5. “Where, Where”… A Chinese Joke Lost in Translation?6. Learn About a Typically Mandarin Misunderstanding…7. Have You Ever Heard a Joke About Donating Blood?8. Some Chinese Humor That Wouldn’t Make Your Teacher LaughOrigins of This Chinese Joke9. And If You Wanted Another Joke Involving Teachers and Students, Here’s One10. Here’s How to Joke About Getting Married for the Right Reasons in ChineseYou’re All Set to Be a Comedian in Chinese!Chinese Jokes: Can They Work Well for English Speakers?

I recently met a Taiwanese French teacher. We were chatting in Chinese about Taiwanese food. We got on the topic of 臭豆腐 (chòu dòufu), or stinky tofu, a popular dish in Taiwan.

He told me that there were mainly two types of stinky tofu:

臭豆腐主要有两种。/臭豆腐主要有兩種。(Chòudòufu zhǔyào yǒu liǎng zhǒng)
“There are generally two types of stinky tofu.”

I, not being a huge fan of stinky tofu, responded so:

两个都不好吃。/兩個都不好吃。(Liǎng gè dōu bù hǎochī)

Thankfully, others thought my joke was funny, and I got a laugh. I felt happy to be able to translate my humor into Chinese, a humor that tends to be a bit more on the “dry” side!

While humor is highly influenced by the cultural context, you don’t have to give up your own sense of humor when you learn a new language.

In this article, I’ll be discussing five funny jokes you can tell in Chinese to break the ice and practice your humor in a new context – and, of course, to make your friends laugh!

For each joke, I’ll provide simplified characters, traditional characters, pinyin, and a translation. Then, I’ll give an explanation regarding the cultural context or the humor involved.

But first, here’s a way you can start the conversation:

你想听笑话吗？/ 你想聽笑話嗎？(Nǐ xiǎng tīng xiàohua ma?)
“Do you want to hear a joke?”

笑话/笑話 (xiàohua) – Here, literally “laugh speech,” is the word for joke!

Now here’s a list of Chinese 笑话/笑話 to make your friends 爆笑 (bàoxiào, “laugh out loud”)!

1. There Is a Joke on Traditional Chinese Medicine vs. Western Coffee?

小时候每当我感冒的时候，妈妈都会为我冲一杯咖啡。她温柔地说：“外国人都是这样的。”可我总是害怕咖啡的味道，酸甜苦涩交错。如今我走遍所有的咖啡馆，都见不到小时候喝过的那个牌子，只记得它有一个很洋气的名字：板蓝根！

小時候每當我感冒的時候，媽媽都會為我沖一杯咖啡。她溫柔地說：“外國人都是這樣的。”可我總是害怕咖啡的味道，酸甜苦澀交錯。如今我走遍所有的咖啡館，都見不到小時候喝過的那個牌子，只記得它有一個很洋氣的名字：板藍根！

Xiǎoshíhou měidāng wǒ gǎnmào de shíhou, māma dōu huì wéi wǒ chōng yī bēi kāfēi. tā wēnróu dì shuì: “ Wàiguórén dōu shì zhèyàng de.” kě wǒ zǒngshì hàipà kāfēi de wèidao, suāntián kǔsè jiāocuò. rújīn wǒ zǒu biàn suǒyǒu de kāfēi guǎn, dōu jiàn bùdào xiǎoshíhou hē guò de nàge páizi, zhī jìde tā yǒu yī gè hěn yángqì de míngzi: bǎnlángēn!

“Every time I caught a cold as a kid, my mom would pour a cup of coffee for me. She would say gently: ‘Foreigners all do this.’ But I always hated the taste of coffee, the mix of sour, sweet, bitter, and astringent. Today when I go to coffee shops, I can’t find the brand anywhere! All I remember is the Western-sounding name: Banlangen!”

The joke here is that 板蓝根/板藍根 (bǎnlángēn) is a traditional Chinese herb used to treat colds. It has a bittersweet taste, which explains why the child in the joke describes the “black coffee” they drink as sweet!

Coffee is not a traditional drink in China, but it has become popular in recent years.

2. You Can Make Fun of Spiderman and His Hilarious Homophones in Chinese

问：谁最知道猪？
問：誰最知道豬？
Wèn: shéi zuì zhīdào zhū?
“Question: who knows pigs best?”

答：知猪人！
答：知豬人！
Dā: zhī zhū rén!
“Answer: Mr. Knows pigs!”

答：蜘蛛人！
答：蜘蛛人！
Dā: zhī zhū rén!
“Answer: Spider-man!”

Here, 知猪人 and 蜘蛛人 have exactly the same pronunciation. While 蜘蛛人 is the Chinese word for “Spiderman”, “知猪人“ takes 知 from 知道, “to know” and makes a word that sounds like “Knows-pigs-person.”

3. Another Chinese Joke Spiderman’s Second Hilarious Homophone

问：谁是最坏的超级英雄？
問：誰是最壞的超級英雄？
Wèn: shéi shì zuì huài de chāojí yīngxíong? 
“Question: who’s the worst superhero?”

答：失败的人！
答：失敗的人！
Dā: shībài de rén!
“Answer: A loser!”

This joke, like many Chinese jokes, plays on homophones, or characters that have the same sound but a different meaning.

Here, shībài de sounds like the Chinese transliteration of “Spider” followed by 人，”person”; however, 失败人/失敗人 means “loser.”

4. If You’re Looking for Chinese Couple Jokes, Here’s a Great One

This joke doesn’t deal with any homophones, but rather its humor is based on the interaction between this couple.

有一对夫妻，他们出去吃饭，妻子突然大叫：「啊！我忘了关瓦斯，可能会发生火灾！」
丈夫却安慰她说：「没关系，反正我也忘了关洗手檯的水。」

有一對夫妻，他們出去吃飯，妻子突然大叫：「啊！我忘了關瓦斯，可能會發生火災！」
丈夫卻安慰她說：「沒關係，反正我也忘了關洗手台的水。」

Yǒu yī duì fūqī, tāmen chūqù chīfàn, qīzǐ tūrán dà jiào: “ Ā! wǒ wàng le guān wǎsī, kěnéng huì fāshēng huǒzāi!”
zhàngfu què ānwèi tā shuì: “ Méiguānxi, fǎnzhèng wǒ yě wàng le guān xǐshǒu tái de shuǐ.”

“A couple was out to dinner when the wife suddenly called out: ‘Oh dear! I forgot to turn off the gas! There could be a fire!’
The husband comforted her and said: ‘It’s okay, in any case I also forgot to turn off the water faucet.’”

5. “Where, Where”… A Chinese Joke Lost in Translation?

“哪里哪里”连起说就是自谦，这是一般中国人都知道的，平时也常用。但初通汉语的外国人W先生不理解。一次，W先生参加中国人的婚礼，他很有礼貌地赞美新娘漂亮。一旁的新郎立即代表新娘表示感谢，“哪里哪里。”W先生觉得挺不好意思的，以为未说到具体地方，便用生硬的中国话再说——“头发、眉毛、眼睛、耳朵、鼻子、嘴都很漂亮！”

“哪裡哪裡”連起說就是自謙，這是一般中國人都知道的，平時也常用。但初通漢語的外國人W先生不理解。一次，W先生參加中國人的婚禮，他很有禮貌地讚美新娘漂亮。一旁的新郎立即代表新娘表示感謝，“哪裡哪裡。“W先生覺得挺不好意思的，以為未說道具體地方，便用生硬的中國話再說—- ”頭髮，眉毛、眼睛、耳朵、鼻子、嘴都很漂亮！“

“Nǎlǐ Nǎlǐ” lián qǐ shuō jiùshì zìqiān, zhè shì yībān Zhōngguórén dōu zhīdào de, píngshí yě chángyòng. dàn chū tōng Hànyǔ de wàiguórén W xiānsheng bùlǐ xiè. yī cì, W xiānsheng cānjiā Zhōngguórén de hūnlǐ, tā hěn yǒulǐmào dì zànměi xīnniáng piàoliang. yīpáng de xīnláng lìjí dàibiǎo xīnniáng biǎoshì gǎnxiè, “ Nǎlǐ nǎlǐ.” W xiānsheng juéde tǐng bù hǎoyìsi de, yǐwéi wèi shuō dào jùtǐ dìfāng, biàn yòng shēngyìng de Zhōngguóhuà zàishuō — “ Tóufa, méimao, yǎnjing, ěrduo, bízi, zuǐ dōu hěn piàoliang!”

“Nǎlǐ Nǎlǐ (“where where”) is a modest response to a compliment; Chinese people understand this, and it’s a widely used phrase. But Mr. X, a foreigner just beginning to study Chinese, does not understand. Once, Mr. X went to a Chinese person’s wedding. He politely complimented the new bride and groom. The couple said “where where,” meaning to express their thanks. Mr. X thought it was quite embarrassing and thought erroneously that he had failed to mention a specific place, so he clarified and said: “Hair, eyebrows, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, everything is beautiful!”

This joke is based on the idea that “哪里哪里/哪裡哪裡”, literally meaning “where where,” actually is a polite response to a compliment. It’s a bit like saying “don’t flatter me” or something like that. But the foreigner in this situation took the words for their literal meaning and responded so.

I’ve seen quite a few Chinese jokes that are based on foreigners misunderstanding Chinese, which I think is an interesting thing to note.

6. Learn About a Typically Mandarin Misunderstanding…

以前剛進公司時，聽到同事們叫另一個女同事小姨，就連老闆也一口一個小姨的叫她，我心想我一個新人可千萬不能得罪了她，說不定她真是老闆的小姨呢，所以在她面前我一直畢恭畢敬……直到有一天，我在人事部看到了她的資料，才發現她有一個特拽的名字……肖怡！

以前刚进公司时，听到同事们叫另一个女同事小姨，就连老闆也一口一个小姨的叫她，我心想我一个新人可千万不能得罪了她，说不定她真是老闆的小姨呢，所以在她面前我一直毕恭毕敬……直到有一天，我在人事部看到了她的资料，才发现她有一个特拽的名字……肖怡！

Yǐ qián gāng jìn gōng sī shí ， tīng dào tóng shì mén jiào lìng yī gè nǚ tóng shì xiǎo yí ， jiù lián lǎo bǎn yě yī kǒu yī gè xiǎo yí de jiào tā ， wǒ xīn xiǎng wǒ yī gè xīn rén kě qiān wàn bù néng dé zuì liǎo tā ， shuō bù dìng tā zhēn shì lǎo bǎn de xiǎo yí ne ， suǒ yǐ zài tā miàn qián wǒ yī zhí bì gōng bì jìng …… zhí dào yǒu yī tiān ， wǒ zài rén shì bù kàn dào liǎo tā de zī liào ， cái fā xiàn tā yǒu yī gè tè zhuài de míng zì …… xiāo yí ！

“Once when I went into work, I heard my coworkers call a female coworker ‘auntie,’ even the boss called her that. I thought that as a new employee, I really didn’t want to offend her, she could really be the boss’s aunt! So in front of her I was always totally polite…then one day, in the human resources department I looked at her information, and found out that she has a unique name…Xiao yi!”

So here, something similar is happening as with the Spiderman jokes: the humor is to be found between two similar sounding words with two meanings.

In this case, 小姨（xiǎo yí）and 肖怡（xiāo yí）do differ in the tone of the initial xiao, but they are close enough to cause an understanding.

As a bonus, this joke includes a 成語/成语（chéngyǔ), or a four-character idiomatic phrase. 畢恭畢敬/毕恭毕敬 (bì gōng bì jìng) means “respectful” or “respectfully” depending on how it is used.

If you can tell a joke in Chinese and throw out a chengyu here and there, you’re already halfway to fluency!

7. Have You Ever Heard a Joke About Donating Blood?

一天在路上看到捐血车，旁边挂着牌子，上面写：
捐250cc送牛奶面包
捐500cc送手表
我问护士
那捐1000cc送什么？
护士说
会送急诊。

yī tiān zài lù shàng kàn dào juān xuè chē ， páng biān guà zhuó pái zǐ ， shàng miàn xiě ：
juān 250cc sòng niú nǎi miàn bāo
juān 500cc sòng shǒu biǎo
wǒ wèn hù shì
nà juān 1000cc sòng shén me ？
hù shì shuō
huì sòng jí zhěn 。

“One day I saw a blood donation car on the street. On the side I saw a sign on which it said:
Donate 250cc, get milk and bread
Donate 500cc, get a watch
I asked the nurse: ‘if I donate 1000cc, what do I get?’
The nurse said, ‘A visit to the emergency room.’”

The cool thing about this joke is it demonstrates two different meanings of the word 送（sòng). On the one hand, it can mean to give a gift, like in the case of the rewards given for donating blood. On the other hand, it can mean “to take,” as in to drive someone to the hospital or to the airport.

So this joke is based on these two different meanings!

8. Some Chinese Humor That Wouldn’t Make Your Teacher Laugh

弟弟說當他上數學堂的時候，老師問學生A：1+1是多少？
學生A想了好一陣子也不懂，就說：老師！我不懂！
老師好生氣的說：你真是一舊飯！臉這麼簡單的題目也不懂。
我再問你：例如我加你是多少呢？
學生A即刻講：這個我知！兩舊飯！

弟弟说当他上数学堂的时候，老师问学生A：1+1是多少？
学生A想了好一阵子也不懂，就说：老师！我不懂！
老师好生气的说：你真是一旧饭！脸这麼简单的题目也不懂。
我再问你：例如我加你是多少呢？
学生A即刻讲：这个我知！两旧饭！

Dì dì shuō dāng tā shàng shù xué táng de shí hòu ， lǎo shī wèn xué shēng A：1+1 shì duō shǎo ？
Xué shēng A xiǎng liǎo hǎo yī zhèn zǐ yě bù dǒng ， jiù shuō ： lǎo shī ！ wǒ bù dǒng ！
Lǎo shī hǎo shēng qì de shuō ： nǐ zhēn shì yī jiù fàn ！ liǎn zhè me jiǎn dān de tí mù yě bù dǒng 。
Wǒ zài wèn nǐ ： lì rú wǒ jiā nǐ shì duō shǎo ne ？
Xué shēng A jí kè jiǎng ： zhè gè wǒ zhī ！ liǎng jiù fàn ！

“My little brother told me that when he was in math class, the teacher asked student A: ‘what’s 1+1?’
Student A thought about it for a while and still didn’t understand, so he said: ‘Teacher, I don’t understand!’
The teacher said angrily: ‘you really are stupid! Even this simple question you don’t understand. I’ll ask you again: for example, you and I together equal how much?’
Student A responded immediately: ‘Oh, I know this one! Two idiots!’”

Origins of This Chinese Joke

This is a joke from a Hong Kong website, which is why the original version is written in traditional characters, just like in Taiwan and Macau.

Although the joke is written in Mandarin, the humor mostly comes from the phrase 一旧饭/一舊飯 (yī jiù fàn), which is from the Cantonese dialect spoken in Southern China and Hong Kong. It is an insult to describe someone as stupid or unintelligent.

An interesting aspect of this joke is the presence of some incorrectly typed characters. English native speakers on Facebook often confuse “there/their/they’re” in their written forms. Well, Chinese speakers also sometimes write incorrectly.

For example, the most standard and correct way to write 生氣的說 (shēng qì de shuō) should be 生氣地說 (same pronunciation). This 地 is used to connect an adjective acting as an adverb to a verb. 的 is used for possession.

Additionally, the person types 臉這麼簡單的題目也不懂 (liǎn zhè me jiǎn dān de tí mù yě bù dǒng), where the first 臉 should actually be 連 (lián). This comes from the grammatical pattern 連。。。也/都(不)。。。

我吃全素，连起司都不吃。/ 我吃全素，連起司都不吃。(wǒ chī quán sù ， lián qǐ sī dū bù chī) ”I’m a vegan, I don’t even eat cheese.”

他生气了，一整天一句话都没说。/ 他生氣了，一整天一句話也沒說。(tā shēng qì le， yī zhěng tiān yī jù huà yě méi shuō) ”He’s mad; he hasn’t said a word all day.”

This pattern is used where “even” is used in English, or for some sort of emphasis. As can be seen from the two example sentences, either 也 or 都 can be used in the second half of the sentence.

9. And If You Wanted Another Joke Involving Teachers and Students, Here’s One

老师家访，问学生：你们家幸福吗？学生骄傲地答道：幸福！父亲过来给了他记耳光“小子，谁让你改姓的！

老師家訪，問學生：你們家幸福嗎？學生驕傲地答道：幸福！父親過來給了他記耳光“小子，誰讓你改姓的！

Lǎo shī jiā fǎng ， wèn xué shēng ： nǐ mén jiā xìng fú má ？ xué shēng jiāo ào dì dá dào ： xìng fú ！ fù qīn guò lái gěi liǎo tā jì ěr guāng “ xiǎo zǐ ， sheí ràng nǐ gǎi xìng de ！

“A teacher on a home visit asked the student: ‘is your family happy?’ The student proudly answered: ‘We’re happy!’ The father came over and slapped the boy saying, ‘Boy, who told you to change your last name!’”

This one is hard to understand through the translation alone.

This joke is based on the similarity between 幸福 (xìngfú, “happy”) and 姓 (xìng), the verb used to describe one’s last name: the father, having misheard, believes that the son is describing his last name as 福, not saying that he is happy.

This joke, fortunately, uses 地 correctly, in the example 学生骄傲地答道/學生驕傲地答道 （xué shēng jiāo ào dì dá dào）, the student “proudly” responded. “Proudly” is simply “proud” (骄傲) with 地, which turns it into an adverb.

10. Here’s How to Joke About Getting Married for the Right Reasons in Chinese

一个小伙子向姑娘求婚，姑娘说： “不过，我们相识才三天呐，你了解我吗？”
小伙子急忙说：“了解，了解，我早就了解你了。”
“是吗？”
“是的，我在银行工作三年了，你父亲有多少存款，我是很清楚的。”

一個小夥子向姑娘求婚，姑娘說： “不過，我們相識才三天呐，你了解我嗎？”
小夥子急忙說：“了解，了解，我早就了解你了。”
“是嗎？”
“是的，我在銀行工作三年了，你父親有多少存款，我是很清楚的。”

Yī gè xiǎo huǒ zǐ xiàng gū niáng qiú hūn ， gū niáng shuō ： “ bù guò ， wǒ mén xiāng shí cái > sān tiān nà ， nǐ liǎo jiě wǒ má ？”
Xiǎo huǒ zǐ jí máng shuō ：“ liǎo jiě ， liǎo jiě ， wǒ zǎo jiù liǎo jiě nǐ liǎo 。”
“Shì má ？”
“Shì de ， wǒ zài yín xíng gōng zuò sān nián liǎo ， nǐ fù qīn yǒu duō shǎo cún kuǎn ， wǒ shì hěn qīng chǔ de 。”

“A young man proposes to a girl. The girl says: ‘However, we have only known each other for three days. Do you understand me?’
The young man hurriedly says, ‘I do, I do, I have known you for a long time.’
‘Yes?’
‘Yes, I have worked in the bank for three years. I know how much your father has in savings.’”

This Chinese joke doesn’t rely on any double meanings or homophones! It’s just a joke based on someone getting married for some interesting reasons…

You’re All Set to Be a Comedian in Chinese!

I hope that when you get a chance to try out one of these jokes, they will impress your friends and make them laugh! If you want to check out some other Chinese jokes, you can try out this website.

If you’re looking for another way to impress your Chinese conversation partner, check out this list of proverbs to make your speech more natural.

Best of luck!

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The post 10 Chinese Jokes to Make Your Chinese Friends Laugh appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

Learn the Russian Alphabet: How to Quickly Master the Cyrillic Alphabet

If you use the right approach, you can learn the Russian alphabet in a few hours!

When somebody asked me what my major at university was and I told them that I studied Spanish and Russian, they often replied “What? Russian? Isn’t that difficult? They (the Russians) write differently!”

There are some tricky things about Russian, but the alphabet, a.k.a Cyrillic script, is definitely not the hardest part of the language.

But it’s the first difference to our own language we come across when we get in contact with this language. And since the script is (somewhat) unknown to us, it gives us the impression that Russian is difficult.

But once we get familiar with the unknown script and get over this first barrier, we can dive into the language and enjoy it like every other language.

In this post, I want to give you some advice about how you can easily tackle this barrier and get familiar with the Cyrillic script.

function runSplitTest(){var randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1console.log(randomNumber)var copy = "";if (randomNumber == 1){ copy = '<i>A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away in Russian for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. <b><a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/ch?sr... this link to find out more.</b></a></i>'} else { copy = '<i>A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away in Russian for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. <b><a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/ch?sr... this link to find out more.</b></a></i>'}console.log(copy)var copyToChange = document.querySelector("p.copyText").innerHTML = copy;}runSplitTest();How do I learn the Russian Cyrillic alphabet?Is It Important to Learn the Russian Alphabet (A.K.A. Cyrillic Script)?Get in the Right Mindset: It’s All About the LettersPlay With Your Detective Skills by Decoding WordsDon’t Ignore the Importance of Reading & ListeningYour Language Exchange Partner Can Help YouLet Go of the Fear and Use the Russian KeyboardHow Long Does It Take to Learn the Russian Alphabet/Cyrillic Script?

By the way, you don’t need to speak Russian to make use of these tips!

Is It Important to Learn the Russian Alphabet (A.K.A. Cyrillic Script)?

This question always comes up when a language is written in a script other than the Latin one.

Of course, learning the script is an extra effort. Everybody needs to decide if it’s necessary to make this effort to reach their personal goals.

In my opinion, it’s important to learn Cyrillic script when you learn Russian (or any other language using this script).

Even if you only focus on speaking, the script could still be important to you. For example, there are some phrasebooks available that provide a transcription for all words and phrases, of course, and you could learn from these.

But when you are serious about Russian, I guess it will be very difficult to avoid the script completely.

Most dictionaries or grammar books don’t offer a transcription and I don’t know any Russian publications that use the Latin script instead of Cyrillic.

Also, if you plan to visit Russia as a traveler, it could be very helpful to know how to read the script.

Even in the big cities, you often find Cyrillic street signs only. When I was in Moscow in 2013, I met many travelers at a hostel who complained that the underground stations are written in Cyrillic only.

Many of them regretted that they hadn’t learned a bit of the script because Moscow is an international city. They feared that the “script situation” might get worse once they travel to smaller towns.

So even if you don’t plan to learn Russian itself, I highly recommend getting familiar with the Cyrillic script if you plan a trip to Russia. All you need is a rainy weekend and a positive mood!

Get in the Right Mindset: It’s All About the Letters

The Russian Cyrillic alphabet comprises 33 letters – that’s 7 more than the Latin alphabet.

Many of these 33 letters look very familiar to what English speakers are used to:

A – E – K – M – O – T .

These letters look like their Latin equivalents and have exactly the same meaning. Therefore you are already able to read words like мама or томат.

However, there are a few letters that look like Latin letters but have a different meaning.

В – Н – Р – С – У – Х

For example, the word нос looks very familiar to us and we are tempted to read hoc. But the letters here actually signify nos, which means nose.

I would say that these are the six trickiest letters in the Russian alphabet because we associate a different sound with them.

But this shouldn’t discourage you. After a few exercises, you will get used to reading them correctly.

The remaining letters are alien to most of us:

Б – Г – Д – И – Й – Л – П – Ф – Ц

Ж – З – Ч – Ш – Щ – Ё – Ы – Э – Ю – Я

Ъ – ь

Just because the letters look different doesn’t imply that the meaning behind them is different. Most of them represent sounds for which we either have a letter in the Latin alphabet itself or at least use the sound in our phonetic system. For example, ю represents the sound of you.

You might wonder now, How do I memorize these new Russian letters?

In my opinion, it’s enough to practise intensively for a short period of time, then continuously focus on reading while studying.

It’s like learning the Latin alphabet back at school. At the beginning it takes you about 20 seconds to read a word, later on you will be able to read it at first sight.

However, many people like to work with mnemonics.

You can find several ones others have found useful on Memrise for instance, although I personally prefer to come up with my own memory hacks.

Now it’s time to practise!

Play With Your Detective Skills by Decoding Words

Do you like crosswords or other kinds of puzzles? Then you will love this method. No one said you couldn’t use fun to learn the Russian alphabet.

Get some words written in Cyrillic and try and decode them letter by letter. This exercise is a lot of fun when you work with words whose meaning you will know once you decode them.

For example: go to the Wikipedia article about the cities and towns of Russia by population and you will find a list of the biggest Russian cities in both English and Russian.

Cover the English column (maybe print out the list before) and try to decode the Russian cities. Then you can easily compare it with the “solution”.

(And you don’t only practise reading, you also learn something about Russia.)

Or use the Russian article about the Oscar-winners. You can then try and decode the names of the famous actors. Sometimes, it’s really funny how a famous name looks when written in Cyrillic.

You can work with any article. If you find it difficult to find Russian articles, simply open up a Wikipedia article in English and switch to the Russian version (which you can find in the left navigation column).

Don’t Ignore the Importance of Reading & Listening

It’s easier for us to retain things that we read AND hear. So when we hear a word or a text while we read it, it’s easier for us to remember.

You can find hundreds of thousands of words pronounced by native speakers on Forvo. By comparing the word and the audio file you can get a better feeling for how each letter sounds.

You don’t need to know how to type in Cyrillic at this point.

You can easily copy the words you worked with from your decoding list. Or enter an English word into Google translator or any other online dictionary and copy the Russian translation. You could also work with frequency lists.

If you want to work with random words, Forvo also offers a nice tool. When listening to a word, check out the bottom of the article. At the lower left corner, there is a small line that suggests a random word in the language you are currently listening to.

Your Language Exchange Partner Can Help You

If you have a language partner who speaks Russian, they can help you learn the Russian alphabet in many ways.

For example, they could type easy words into the Skype chat and you try to read them aloud. It’s easier when you work with international names, like famous singers. But you could also work with real Russian words that are appropriate for your learning level.

After you read out the word, your partner can provide you with the English translation. This way, you not only improve your reading skills but also make progress in the language.

Your language exchange partner could also send some sentences or even short texts in Cyrillic via the chat function. The clue: the text is in English but transcribed into Cyrillic.

This is more motivating than actually writing Russian sentences because you can be sure that you understand the meaning of the sentence once you read it out correctly.

But, of course, you could also work with real Russian sentences or texts. You can read them out loud and your language exchange partner can correct you if you read out any letters incorrectly. Just make sure that you don’t worry too much about understanding the text at this point.

And if you don’t have a language exchange partner, you can find a great online language tutor who can help you in the same way!

Let Go of the Fear and Use the Russian Keyboard

As we have practised reading, the next step would be writing.

There are some discussions on various language learning platforms about whether it’s necessary to learn the handwriting of a language. The point is that we mostly use computers or other devices for writing.

It’s a legitimate question, and I guess it depends on your personal goals and your attitude. I, for example, like to work with pen and paper, so I often use handwriting.

So although I think the usefulness of learning handwriting can be debated, I find it crucial to learn how to TYPE the Cyrillic alphabet. It’s not very difficult, and it saves you a lot of time when you want to look up words or send an email to a friend.

There are some software solutions out there that make typing in Cyrillic really easy. I’ve never used one of them because, to me, the most natural way is simply using the regular keyboard and switching languages.

Yes, it might take you a couple of hours to get familiar with the arrangement of the keys. And, at the beginning, you will type slower. But eventually it pays off. You don’t rely on any software and you can use any computer.

Then find a picture of the ‘Russian keyboard’ on the internet and you can see the arrangement of the keys. Now, you can start typing in Russian.

At the beginning it feels a bit awkward and might feel a bit like the first IT-lessons in school (for those of who are older than 25…) when our teachers taught us how to type. But you will get faster and faster.

If you are more tech-savvy, I’d suggest going to Keybr.com, clicking settings, changing the layout to Russian, and practising away!

How Long Does It Take to Learn the Russian Alphabet/Cyrillic Script?

I would say it takes you a few hours to get started with the script. The rest is continuous practise that will happen naturally when you study the language.

If you have a free afternoon or a weekend, grab a big cup of tea (or maybe even some Russian sweets) and just do it.

Once you get started with the exercises, you will see the progress really soon. I promise!

Maybe even ask a friend to join you. Everybody can learn the alphabet, even if they don’t learn the language itself. And it can be really nice and funny to share the struggle of reading and writing like a six-year old school kid.

Don’t forget to share this article with them! 🙂

Original article by Daniela Maizner, updated by the Fluent in 3 Months team.

The post Learn the Russian Alphabet: How to Quickly Master the Cyrillic Alphabet appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

Korean Grammar for Beginners: An Easy Guide for Getting Started

Diving into Korean grammar may seem like a big undertaking when you’re starting to learn Korean.

You’ve probably heard that Korean is one of the hardest languages for English speakers to learn. So you may naturally wonder to yourself, “Why is Korean grammar hard? Is there a way to learn Korean grammar easily?”

Yes, there are some difficult things to wrap your head around in Korean. Yes, you have to learn how to write in Korean.

But there are a lot of things that actually make Korean easy. Even when it comes to grammar.

So don’t worry. I’m going to make it as easy as possible for you to start grasping Korean grammar — right now.

function runSplitTest(){var randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1console.log(randomNumber)var copy = "";if (randomNumber == 1){ copy = '<i>A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away in Korean for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. <b><a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/ch?sr... this link to find out more.</b></a></i>'} else { copy = '<i>A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away in Korean for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. <b><a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/ch?sr... this link to find out more.</b></a></i>'}console.log(copy)var copyToChange = document.querySelector("p.copyText").innerHTML = copy;}runSplitTest();Table of contentsIs Korean Grammar Hard?What is Korean Grammar Called in Korean?Korean Grammar Rules: Understand the BasicsKorean Grammar Rule #1: Korean Verbs Always Come at the End of the SentenceKorean Grammar Rule #2: Korean Pronouns Aren’t Usually NeededKorean Grammar Rule #3: Korean Words Don’t Have a GenderKorean Grammar Rule #4: Korean Conjugation is ConsistentKorean Grammar Rule #5: Age Plays a Huge Role in Politeness and GrammarConjugating Korean Verbs in Present TenseForming a Negative VerbHow to Ask a Question in KoreanKorean ParticlesHow to Study Korean Grammar: Best Resources and Textbooks to Continue LearningNew Level Unlocked in Korean!Is Korean Grammar Hard?

How hard is Korean grammar? Or is Korean grammar easy?

Like any language, it’s a bit of both.

For starters, the Korean alphabet, hangul, was actually created to be easy to learn. Hangul was invented with the purpose of increasing fluency in Korea.

I know looking at hangul, it looks like complicated characters you have to memorize like Japanese or Chinese. But that isn’t the case.

Hangul is created by forming blocks with a set alphabet of characters. And you can learn the characters in about an hour. No, seriously!

I highly recommend reading this article and learning how to read and write hangul first. You’ll need it to be able to conjugate later in this lesson.

Besides that, Korean is phonetic and the sounds are pretty consistent. That means when you learn how to read hangul, those characters always sound the same.

There’s no confusing “short vowels” or “long vowels” or how “c” can sound like both “k” and “s.” So you have a major advantage here compared to Korean natives learning English.

Now, Korean grammar gets tricky because there are a lot of ways to conjugate both verbs and adjectives. And the sentence structure is reversed from English (more on that in a minute).

And Korean is a hierarchical language, where you have to conjugate differently depending on who you’re talking to and how polite you have to be.

So it takes a bit of time to adjust your thoughts to forming sentences that way.

That said, Korean grammar is very structured and has rules that are pretty consistent. So once you learn them, it gets a lot easier to see the patterns.

What is Korean Grammar Called in Korean?

So what is Korean grammar called in Korean?

“Grammar” in Korean is 문법 (munbeob). Specifically Korean grammar is 한국어 문법 (hangug-eo munbeob).

한국어 (hangug-eo) is “Korean language.” Whereas “English language” is 영어 (yeong-eo).

This will pop up if you use native resources or textbooks to start learning Korean grammar. But it’s actually most helpful to know when you start trying to Google patterns or double check your work.

Because then you can look it up in Korean and compare it with native text on Google and see if your sentence sounds natural or not.

Korean Grammar Rules: Understand the Basics

Before we start looking at the individual grammar patterns, let’s start understanding some of the Korean grammar rules.

Here are some of the most important things to know that differ from English:

Korean Grammar Rule #1: Korean Verbs Always Come at the End of the Sentence

Korean sentence structure is in a different order than English, so let’s start here.

In English, we form our sentences in an SVO pattern like this:

I eat pizza.
Subject – verb – object

This is true for a lot of other languages too, like Spanish and French. So this is probably what you’re most used to.

But in Korean (as well as Japanese), sentences are formed in an SOV pattern, like this:

나는 피자를 먹어요.
na-neun pija-leul meogeoyo.
I (subject particle) – pizza (object particle) – eat
Subject – object – verb

It can be difficult to start thinking in this order when trying to create sentences, but remember this key Korean grammar rule:

Korean verbs always go at the end.

Korean Grammar Rule #2: Korean Pronouns Aren’t Usually Needed

Unlike Romance languages and even English, you don’t have to conjugate differently depending on what pronoun you’re using.

For example: “I do” vs. “she does.” In Korean, it’s always just 하다 (hada, “do”).

In fact, Korean sentences often don’t even need a pronoun.

If the subject is understood, you can leave out the pronoun altogether.

Going back to our last example, “I eat pizza.” A common question to be asked in Korean is:

밥 먹었어요?
Bab meogeosseoyo?
“Did you eat?”

This is a friendly and affectionate phrase that’s even used as a Korean greeting. Koreans love to make sure you’ve eaten and you’re taken care of.

So if someone asks you, 밥 먹었어요? Then you could reply:

네, 피자를 먹었어요.
Ne, pija-leul meogeosseoyo.
“Yes, (I) ate pizza.”

The pronoun is implied. We know you meant “I” because you were asked the question. So it’s not needed.

Pronouns are mainly used when switching subjects and whenever the person you’re talking about isn’t clear.

But one important note is that Korean does have pronouns based on formality, so sometimes you need to use formal ones. This isn’t as important as a beginner, but something to keep in mind down the road.

Korean Grammar Rule #3: Korean Words Don’t Have a Gender

That’s right — there’s no gender to words in Korean.

So you don’t have to worry about matching gender up like you would in Romance languages. No la manzana or las manzanas like in Spanish and whatnot.

So you don’t have to worry about changing verbs for pronouns, and you don’t have to worry about remembering gender.

All you have to do is conjugate for the correct tense and meaning.

Korean Grammar Rule #4: Korean Conjugation is Consistent

As I mentioned, Korean grammar rules have a consistent structure to them, and always follow a similar pattern.

In Korean, adjectives also conjugate like verbs, and there are lots of ways you can conjugate them to create different meanings. (Conjugation isn’t just for past, present and future tense!)

Once you know the rules of a certain grammar pattern, there are very few exceptions to the rule.

So, what is basic Korean grammar? Here are all the Korean grammar rules to learn as a beginner:

Polite present tense: Verb stem + 아요 / 어요Informal present tense: Verb stem + 아 / 어Formal present tense: Verb stem + 습니다 / ㅂ니다Negative form: 안 + verb, or verb stem + 지 않다Making a question, formal: Verb stem + 습니까 / ㅂ니까Polite past tense: Verb stem + 았어요 / 었어요Informal past tense: Verb stem + 았어 / 었어Formal past tense: Verb stem + 았습니다 / 었습니다Polite future tense: Verb stem + ㄹ/을 거예요Informal future tense: Verb stem + ㄹ/을 거야Formal future tense: Verb stem + ㄹ/을 겁니다Continuous form (-ing form): Verb stem + 고 있다“Want to” form: Verb stem + 고 싶다

A note here: polite tense will be the one you’ll use the most and is safest to use in all situations. So start here as a beginner.

I’ll dive more into present tense, negative form, and forming a question in a moment.

But first, there’s also three really important verbs that end up playing a grammatical role. They’re Korean copulas, and they’re irregular verbs:

Am, is, are: 이에요 / 예요 (polite), 입니다 (formal)To be, to have: 있다To not be, to not have: 없다Korean Grammar Rule #5: Age Plays a Huge Role in Politeness and Grammar

Did you notice above how there were 3 levels of conjugating verbs? Polite, informal, and formal.

That’s because Korean is a hierarchical language, where age and social status play a big role in how you speak.

If you’re speaking to someone older than you — even by just a year or two — you should use more formal speech.

If you’ve ever watched a Korean drama, then you may have heard a character complain, “Why are you speaking to me so informally??”

This is a common trope where the male or female lead will speak informally out of insolence to the other lead character. They inevitably fall for each other later, though, so I guess the insolence pays off!

In general, the polite level of speech is appropriate for most situations.

Conjugating Korean Verbs in Present Tense

Okay, so let’s look at the most basic Korean grammar conjugation: present tense.

First we need to identify the verb stem. The verb stem is found by dropping the final 다 of the verb.

먹다 → 먹
meokda → meok

Now let’s start with formal polite tense. If a verb stem ends in a vowel, we add ㅂ니다 to the stem. If it ends in a consonant, we add 습니다. Like this:

먹다 (meokda, “to eat”)
먹다 → drop 다 → add 습니다 → 먹습니다

가다 (gada, “to go”)
가다 → drop 다 → add ㅂ니다 → 갑니다

Easy enough, right?

Now, for polite present tense. This one is a bit trickier.

If the verb stem’s last vowel is ㅏor ㅗ, you’ll add 아요. If it’s anything else, use 어요.

먹다 (meokda, “to eat”)
먹다 → drop 다 → final vowel isㅓ, so add 어요 → 먹어요

살다 (salda, “to live”)
살다 → drop 다 → final vowel is ㅏ, so add 아요 → 살아요

If the verb stem ends in a vowel, you’ll combine it with the previous vowel, like this:

보다 (boda, “to see”)
보다 → drop 다 → final vowel is ㅗ so add 아요 → final two vowels combine → 봐요

가다 (gada, “to go”)
가다 → drop 다 → final vowel is ㅏ so add 아요 → final two vowels combine (they’re the same, so it stays the same) → 가요

Now, present informal tense is easy. It’s exactly the same as above, but leave off the 요.

먹다 (meokda, “to eat”)
먹다 → drop 다 → final vowel isㅓ, so add 어 → 먹어

살다 (salda, “to live”)
살다 → drop 다 → final vowel is ㅏ, so add 아 → 살아

보다 (boda, “to see”)
보다 → drop 다 → final vowel is ㅗ so add 아 → final two vowels combine → 봐

가다 (gada, “to go”)
가다 → drop 다 → final vowel is ㅏ so add 아 → final two vowels combine → 가

Forming a Negative Verb

There are two ways to make a sentence negative.

The first is adding 안 (an) before the verb. This doesn’t work for the verb 있다 (itda) though because it’s negative is 없다 (eopda).

So it’d look like this:

가요 (gayo, “to go”)
가요 → add 안 before the verb → 안가요

Now when it comes to 지 않다, -ji anta, we add it to the verb stem. Like so:

자다 (jada, “to sleep”)
자다 → Drop 다, add 지 않다, → 자지 않다

When should you use which negative conjugation?

Well, the short form, 안, is a bit more casual. 지 않다 is more formal. But this is one of those nuances where the longer you study and listen to Korean, the more you’ll naturally understand which to use.

This also works the same way for conjugating adjectives in Korean!

How to Ask a Question in Korean

Asking a question in Korean is super simple.

If you’re asking in polite or informal form, you’ll simply raise the intonation of the question. In writing, you’ll add a question mark.

먹어요?
meogeoyo?
“Eat?”

For formal situations, you’ll change the ending of the formal verb conjugation from 다 to 까.

먹습니다 → 먹습니까?
meokseumnida → meokseumnikka?
“Eat” → “Eat?”

Korean Particles

Last thing I’ll explain here: Korean particles. What are they?

Well, I showed you a couple way at the beginning of this lesson:

나는 피자를 먹어요.
na-neun pija-leul meogeoyo.
I (subject particle) – pizza (object particle) – eat

는 (neun) and 를 (leul) are both Korean particles.

Korean particles work a lot like prepositions in English. They let you know what is the subject, topic, and object of a sentence. But they also express things like “in,” “to”, and “at.”

I wrote a whole guide to Korean particles here. But here are a few key ones to know:

Topic marker: 은 / 는Subject marker: 이 / 가Object marker: 을 / 를Possessive: 의Time / Location: 에, 에서

You’ll use them after the word they’re marking grammatical function for:

나는 오전 11시에 가요.
na-neun ojeon sibilsi-e gayo.
“I go at 11am.”

This sentence has the topic marker, 는 (neun), after 나 (na, “I”). And 에 (e) to mark the time 11시 (sibilsi).

How to Study Korean Grammar: Best Resources and Textbooks to Continue Learning

We’ve knocked out a lot here! But of course there’s a lot more Korean grammar to learn.

So where do you go from here?

Well, I have a few recommendations for you to learn Korean grammar online.

First up, is 90 Day Korean. It’s what I have used to help me learn Korean, and I absolutely love their course outline. It’s easy to follow, and you start learning how to speak the language right away.

90 Day Korean is by far my favorite language learning course, and I highly recommend it.

As far as textbooks go, I’ve also used Korean Grammar in Use with my Korean tutor YeonHee-ssi from iTalki.

I found this textbook insanely helpful and simple to follow, and it’s a great price. Korean Grammar in Use covers a wide range of grammar and vocab to learn. I do think, though, that its lack of audio to practice pronunciation would be a bit difficult to get correct without a tutor.

And if you want a Korean grammar check, I recommend Dongsa Korean Verb Conjugator. Punch in a verb, and it’ll show you all the ways to conjugate it and the conjugation pattern to figure it out on your own. Just don’t rely on this to cheat your way through conjugation.

New Level Unlocked in Korean!

You’ve taken a major step toward speaking Korean with ease. Learning Korean grammar isn’t easy (when is grammar ever easy??), but it’s worth it to go from Tarzan-speech to fluency.

Now that you’ve learned the basics of Korean grammar, here’s some ideas for next steps:

Innovative Language Review – Complete Pod101 Language Course Review (with Screenshots and Video Results)101 Must-Know Korean Verbs67 Practical Korean Phrases for Your First ConversationHow to Learn a Rainbow of Colors in KoreanHow to Learn Korean Through Music

The post Korean Grammar for Beginners: An Easy Guide for Getting Started appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

The French Alphabet: A Guide with Audio [It’s Easier Than You Think!]

If you thought learning the French alphabet would be complicated, think again!

In 1066, William (or Guillaume in French), the Duke of Normandy, invaded England and took possession of the crown of England.

As a result of the Norman invasion, the French language began its own invasion of the English language (called Anglo-Saxon or Old English). That’s one of the reasons why English and French have so much in common, even though they don’t belong to the same language branch.

In this guide, I will cover the French alphabet and all-important rules related to it. The audio will help you learn correct pronunciation!

function runSplitTest(){var randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1console.log(randomNumber)var copy = "";if (randomNumber == 1){ copy = '<i>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. <b><a href="https://fluentin3months.com/challenge... this link to find out more.</b></a></i>'} else { copy = '<i>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</b></a>, a course with a fascinating new method by my friend Olly. You can try it for free for 7 days!</i>'}console.log(copy)var copyToChange = document.querySelector("p.copyText").innerHTML = copy;}runSplitTest();Table of contentsFrench Alphabet 101French ConsonantsFrench VowelsThe Unique Features of Written French that You Can’t Find in the AlphabetFrench Alphabet and French Pronunciation: It’s Not Always What it SeemsL’Accent AiguL’Accent GraveL’Accent CirconflexeLe TrémaLa CédilleThe Rare Joint Letters æ and œA Quick Guide to Learn the Basics of French PunctuationFrench Keyboards: How to Type the French AlphabetThe French Alphabet is Perfect for Making Lots of MistakesFrench Alphabet 101

There are 26 letters in the French alphabet.

French and English share the same Latin alphabet, but the letters make different sounds in each language. I’ll get into that in detail below.

First, here’s how to pronounce of each of the letters of the French alphabet:

A‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, similar to the vowel in “cat”.B‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, pronounced like “bay” without the y sound.C‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, pronounced like “say” without the y sound.D‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, pronounced like “day” without the y sound.E‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, similar to the English word “a”, or that “euh” or “er” sound you make when trying to think of what to say. If you want to sound more French, round your lips and move your tongue a little bit more forward.F‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, pronounced exactly like the English letter F.G‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, pronounced like the last syllable in “negligée” or “protegé” (both loanwords from French, as a matter of fact!).H‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, similar to ash.I‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, sounds like the “ee” in “bee”.J‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, sounds like the “gi” in “regime” (also a French loanword).K‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, similar to the “ca” in the word “cat”.L‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, sounds just like the English letter L.M‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, sounds like the English letter M.N‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, exactly like the English N.O‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, much like the English O, but round your lips more.P‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, pronounced like “pay” without the y sound.Q‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, a K sound followed by the French vowel u (see the letter U for more information).R‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, ah yes, the infamous French r! It’s pronounced a lot like the word “air” but with the French r sound at the end. If you struggle with this sound, the best piece of advice I can give you in just a line or two is to practise hawking. You know, the disgusting sound someone makes when clearing phlegm from their throat? Try doing that! Practise a little every day, and eventually you’ll get to a French r.S‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, sounds just like the English S.T‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, like “tay” but without the y sound.U‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, this one is tricky. Start by saying “ee” as in “bee”. Then round your lips as if to say an “ooh” sound, without moving your tongue. That’s the French letter U.V‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, sounds like the final syllable in “convey”, but without the y sound.W‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, literally double V. In French, it sounds like  doo -bluh vay.X‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, like “weeks” without the w.Y‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, in French (and most other Romance languages) is called “Greek i”. It’s pronounced “ee-grec” in French. Don’t forget to pronounce grec with the French r sound!Z‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, exactly like the English letter Z – if you’re not American, that is! Sorry, my American readers, this letter is pronounced zed, not zee, in French.

As you can see, the letters of the French alphabet are exactly the same as those of the English alphabet. But it’s also clear that not all the letters produce the same sounds as their English counterparts.

That’s why a word like jury ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, which is spelled the same way and means the same thing in both French and English, sounds so different in each language.

The good news is, most of the letters in the French alphabet make the same sound as their English equivalents.

Here are the letters that sound different in French and English:

French Consonants

G and J

First, the easy rule: a hard G sounds identical in French and English. So in the English word “garden” and the French word garçon‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, the G sounds the same.

A soft G, on the other hand, is a bit different. In English, a soft G, as in “giant”, sounds just like an English J. And in French, a soft G, as in genre‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎, sounds just like a French J, as in jambon‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎.

But an English soft G (or J) sound is different to a French soft G (or J). Not much different, though!

I used the French word genre in my example of a soft French G above because it’s also a word in English – loaned from French, of course – so you probably already know how to pronounce it. You can also find this sound in many English words that end in -sion, like “vision” or “intrusion”. That’s what the French soft G, and J, sound like. Easy, right?

H

There’s not much to say about this one. In English words, the H is sometimes pronounced, as in “Harry”, and sometimes it’s silent, as in “honour”. But in French, it’s always silent. Don’t you love rules that have no exceptions?

R

As I mentioned earlier, the French R is definitely different to the English R! Practise really exaggerating that French guttural R sound in the back of your throat, and soon you’ll be able to pronounce it with very little effort (and without sounding like you’re getting over a bout of pneumonia).

Hang in there!

French Vowels

U
In English, the U can make three different sounds. It can sound like “yoo”, as in the word “cute”, “uh” like in the word “cut”, or “oo”, like in “flute”. (For the sake of argument, let’s ignore the other sounds it can make when followed by certain letters, such as in the word “urge”).

In French, it only makes one sound. As I mentioned earlier, that sound doesn’t exist in English. It’s a lot like making the “ee” sound while your lips are formed into an O shape.

Other French Vowels

Just like in English, there are a lot of different ways that French vowels can be pronounced. Most of the sounds that French vowels can make (except the pesky U, above) have a similar or identical sound in English, so it’s really not so hard. I’ll get into that a bit later.

And that’s it! Those are the only letters in the French alphabet that sound different than the same letters in English. I told you the French alphabet was easier than you think!

However, there’s a little bit more to French letters than you’ll see in the 26 letters of the alphabet…

The Unique Features of Written French that You Can’t Find in the Alphabet

The letters of the French alphabet can have a few unique features: vowel accent marks, a symbol named the cédille ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (which changes a “c” to a ç). There are also the joint letters æ and œ which aren’t even listed in the alphabet.

Let’s start with the accents.

There are four different types of accents in the French alphabet:

L’accent aigu‏‎ ‎‏ , found only on the letter e: é. L’accent grave‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ , which can go on the vowels a, e, and u: à, è, and ù. L’accent circonflexe‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – sometimes called le chapeau (“the hat”) in French – which can be found on all five vowels: â, ê, î, ô, and û.
Le tréma‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ , sometimes called les deux points (“the two dots”) in French. You’ll find it on the vowels e, i, and u: ë, ï, and ü. (You’ll occasionally see it on a few other letters in loanwords from other languages – ä, ö, and ÿ.)

More on all these accent markers, plus the cédille and the letters æ and œ, below.

French Alphabet and French Pronunciation: It’s Not Always What it Seems

Related Learning: French Accent Marks: The Ultimate Guide

You may already know that French is not a phonetic language. What you read is not necessarily what you say. There are a lot of silent letters in French words. Sometimes accents give you clues about the pronunciation, and sometimes they don’t.

Check out our in-depth guide to French pronunciation for a look at some of the finer nuances of pronouncing words like a French speaker.

L’Accent Aigu

This is the easiest of the French accents. It can only go on one letter: E. And it sounds the same every time.

The sound that the é‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ makes is pretty easy for English speakers to say. It sounds close to the -ay sound in the English word “clay”, but without the “y” sound at the end.

The “y” in “clay” adds this extra “ee” sound to the word, so it ends up sounding like “cleh-ee” when you say it. If you drop the “ee” and just say “cleh”, that’s the French word clé‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“key”)!

Any time you see an é in any French word, it will always be pronounced like this.

L’Accent Grave

L’accent grave is the most frequent accent in French after l’accent aigu. Three letters can wear it: A, E and U.

L’accent grave on the letter a is most often used to distinguish different words, such as:

a, as in il a (“he has”), and à (“at”),la (“the” for feminine nouns) and là (“here” or “there”).

On the letter E, an accent grave changes the pronunciation to a short “e” sound, as in the English words “elf” or “let”. It’s often needed in certain verb forms, to denote the proper pronunciation.

For example, acheter‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“to buy”) in the je form becomes j’achète‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎. Without that è, it would sound more like “j’ashte”, and that just sounds wrong.

L’accent grave on the letter U is found in only one word in the whole French language! The word où‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“where”) is the only word with the letter ù. Ou, without the accent, means “or”.

The pronunciation of ou and où is exactly the same (“oo”).

L’Accent Circonflexe

This accent serves a few purposes. In many words, it’s a remnant of Old French, where l’accent circonflexe began to replace the S in certain words.

That S usually still exists in the corresponding English word today. Think of the words hôpital (“hospital”), arrêt (“arrest” or “stop”), prêtre (“priest”) or forêt (“forest”)

In other cases, l’accent circonflexe on an A, E or O slightly changes the pronunciation of the word. An â becomes more “open”, to give an “aww” sound. An ô sounds more “closed”, to give an “oh” sound. The difference is subtle though, so there’s no need to worry too much about it.

Finally, like with l’accent grave, l’accent circonflexe can be used to distinguish the spelling of some words that would otherwise look identical. For example:

du (“some”) and dû (“due” or “owed”)sur (“on”) and sûr (“sure”)croit (“believes”) and croît (“grows”)

There was a reform of French spelling in 1990. L’Académie française (the French Academy, the institution in charge of the rules regarding the French language) decided to forget l’accent circonflexe in most words where its presence didn’t change the meaning of the word.

Le Tréma

I think you’ll like le tréma. You’ll find it in a few words to remind you to pronounce a certain vowel following another vowel or a consonant (instead of the sound created by these two letters put together).

English used to have a tréma. Until pretty recently, we spelled “cooperate” as “coöperate” and “reenter” as “reënter”, so we’d remember not to pronounce them like “coo perate” and “reen ter”.

You still see it occasionally words like “naïve” or the name “Zoë”, but it’s pretty much fallen out of use.

Unfortunately, it’s mostly fallen out of use in French, too. A pity, since it’s such a great clue to pronunciation! Only a very few frequent words have a tréma. Because of the 1990 reform, some words that had a tréma now wear l’accent circonflexe instead.

A few examples of words with un tréma:

maïs‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“corn”). The tréma is needed here to tell it apart from mais, which means “but”. Mais is pronounced /mɛ/ (something like “meh”), and maïs is pronounced /mais/ (something like “ma-ees”). The word maïs should receive an award for being one of the only French words where you pronounce all the letters, including the final S! ambiguïté‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“ambiguity”), pronounced fairly close to the English. Without le tréma, it would sound like “ambi-gee-té” (where the G is a hard G).

You can also find le tréma in loanwords from Germanic languages. For example: maelström (“maelstrom” in English). But the spelling maelstrom is also accepted.

You might have guessed, this kind of word isn’t very common in French.

La Cédille

Here’s another useful symbol: la cédille (“the cedilla” in English). It’s like a hook that you put under the letter c to get the letter c cédille: ç.

I say “useful” because its pronunciation is always the same. You pronounce the letter ç exactly like the letter s. And that’s all you need to know about this nice letter.

No sneaky pronunciation trap à la française.

A few words with la cédille:

ça‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ is the short form of cela, which is French for this or that. You almost never hear cela in spoken French. déçu ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“disappointed”) unaperçu ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“a glimpse”)The Rare Joint Letters æ and œ

There are two more symbols in written French that we haven’t seen yet: æ and œ.

You pronounce Æ (that’s the upper case version of æ) like un e accent aigu (é).

You can find it in words like exæquo‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“joint”, “tie”, “equally ranked”), etcætera‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“et cetera”), or curriculumvitæ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (“résumé” or “curriculum vitae”).

The æ is falling out of use these days in French. The spelling ex aequo and et cetera are more frequent. And very few people will use the whole word curriculum vitæ. The abbreviation CV is much more common, as in English.

Œ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ (the upper case version of œ) is still pretty common in French. It has a similar pronunciation as the French letter E on its own.

You can find it in words such as:

œuf‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “egg”œil‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “eye”bœuf‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “beef, bull, steer”sœur‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “sister”cœur‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‎ – “heart”

Note that it’s common to write œ as the separate letters “oe”. But thanks to autocorrect, I don’t think you’ll see œuf written as oeuf online very often.

If you’re wondering what the names of these joint letters are, I doubt most native French speakers could give you an answer! It’s frequent to say “O E collés” (“O E glued”) for œ. And nothing for æ, since it’s almost nonexistent.

Now you know all the symbols of the French alphabet. You just need to get used to the strange French punctuation before you can write Les Misérables better than Victor Hugo.

A Quick Guide to Learn the Basics of French Punctuation

So you thought you knew everything about the French language’s weirdness? Think again!

OK, this isn’t strictly part of the French alphabet, but French punctuation is a bit different from English. Even after you master French spelling, there are a few rules you’ll need for your written French to be sans défaut (“flawless”).

France is one of the only countries to use a space before the punctuation marks ?, ! and :. Not even Quebec French has this rule.

The French also write their numbers differently. In English, we generally use commas to separate three-digit groups of numbers. Sometimes we use a space.

For example, the number twenty-three thousand would look like this in English:

23,000 or23000

In French, there would never be a comma in the above number. There would either be a space:

23 000

Or nothing if the number is between 1,000 et 9,999:

5 0005000

Why no comma, you ask? Because in France (and many other countries) the comma is used before the decimal part of the number. In English, we always put a period in that part of the number.

For example, the number 3.5 (“three point five”) in English would look like 3,5 (trois virgule cinq – “three comma five”) in French.

Keep this in mind when looking at prices in France!

French Keyboards: How to Type the French Alphabet

The French keyboard has several peculiar characteristics:

It’s one of the only AZERTY keyboards in the world.There’s a key for l’accent grave `, even though there are also keys for the letters è, à and ù.There’s a key with ù even though this letter appears in only one word in the whole French language: où (“where”).

If you ever need to type in French, here are two ways:

You can set up your keyboard as a French keyboard. Look into the language or keyboard settings of your computer or smartphone.Or you can use a website that gives you the special characters, such as Lexilogos. You just have to type the character(s) you need, and then copy and paste.The French Alphabet is Perfect for Making Lots of Mistakes

French is infamous for the number of silent letters in its words. And while this can easily seem discouraging for any language learner, you needn’t worry. French spelling can be mastered with a little extra effort! Learning the French alphabet is the perfect place to start, because once you realise that it’s easier than you thought, French spelling becomes easier too.

Sure, you’ll make mistakes along the way, but you know me: the more mistakes you make, the better. (I aim for 200 mistakes a day when I’m learning a language.)

If you want to apply what you’ve learnt in this post to your written French skills, you can listen to the audio in this post on French colors and try writing the words down.

Original article by Akita Ropiket, updated by the Fluent in 3 Months team.

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How to Improve Your Communication Skills When Living Abroad

It takes a lot of courage to leave behind all that is safe, comfortable and familiar to build a life in another locale; especially one where you may speak the language only to some degree.

That would be textbook language, not any dialect.

There are lots of courageous people in this world. Whether for business, economic/political reasons or retirees looking to make the most of their savings, people are increasingly on the move. Not just to a new house across town; to different countries entirely.

Are you contemplating such a move?

Whatever your reasons for doing so, you’ll have to be able to communicate with your new neighbors, shopkeepers and government officials.

Even though English is the world’s lingua franca, the degree to which English is spoken (or accepted) in your new home may not be very high, so it’s best to learn how to speak and understand the local language.

Besides, you could hardly consider yourself an adventurer if you don’t fully immerse yourself in society.

Let’s take a look at ways you can improve your communication skills before moving and while living abroad.

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Table of contentsBefore You MoveTake Language ClassesSing Along to MusicResearch the CultureOnce You LandListen to Passers-byPractice Talking with the LocalsBe Confident!Before You Move

You’ll have a lot on your plate in the run-up to relocation; running your administrative life is a complex undertaking. You have to decide on everything from what to do with your possessions to how you’ll manage your financial affairs, including taxation.

If your family is moving with you, you may have to consider your children’s education abroad or, if there are more senior members in your group, what healthcare and leisure options they might have.

In short, moving abroad doesn’t happen on the spur of the moment. It takes careful planning and plenty of administrative wrangling to make your move successful, so you should give yourself plenty of time to settle your affairs before your proposed moving date.

You should also look ahead to what your new home country requires: visas? Immunizations? A stash of cash?

While you’re managing all of these facets, there are a few practices you can embrace to better help you prepare for your move.

Take Language Classes

Whether you won a coveted spot in your company’s international division that will see you living abroad, or you’ve made the decision to move on your own, you have to know at least the rudiments of the language before you leave.

Some companies treat their employees to intensive language courses in the months ahead of their relocation. If this is you, consider yourself lucky that you don’t have to cast about for the ideal learning situation. Nor will you have to pay for your lessons.

If you’re one of those aforementioned adventurers, the onus is on you to find the right language courses for your needs.

You might search for family language courses if your entire clan is relocating, or you might choose lessons for your children and separate courses for the adults. The latter choice might be the better one because the lessons’ focus would be different – business and conversational for adults, while the younger members’ classes would lean more towards language mechanics.

Obviously, the cost of lessons will be a factor, so you might consider alternative learning methods like online lessons with a private tutor or downloading a language learning app.

Indeed, you should consider such an app download in all cases, particularly if your kids have their own devices. Apps like Duolingo and Memrise are free and they both have a substantial catalog of languages to study:

FrenchGermanItalianSpanishDutchMandarinKoreanJapaneseand many others

Other language learning apps such as Babbel and Rosetta Stone cost money, though they both offer an initial free trial. (Rosetta Stone has a free app, but it only teaches basic language.)

Sing Along to Music

You might enjoy singing as a matter of course, but have you tried singing along to music in your target language?

Music is an effective tool to help reinforce the learned language. Listening to songs in your target language tunes your ear to how native speakers use their language – dialect, accent and common phrases.

Singing along gives you a sense of the rhythm of the language; its pattern and flow, even if you don’t get all the words quite right in the beginning.
.
Another bonus: as you intone, you’re training your mouth to form sounds that may not exist in English, like the R-sound in Mandarin or the ‘ch’-sound in German. They’re much easier to master if you just relax and let your natural linguistic ability take over.

As you go about routine tasks around the house, tune in to internet radio broadcasts from your new home. Even if you don’t focus on the music or what the announcer is saying, just having it on in the background provides an immersive effect.

Making music a part of your language learning process is even more effective.

Plenty of websites show the songs’ lyrics as they’re being sung; indulging in a few minutes of musical learning while following along with the text gives you a one-two punch to get the day’s lessons going.

Or give them a nice conclusion.

Research the Culture

You might be tempted to reserve cultural exploration for when you’re settled into your new home. After all, it’s hard to capture the feel and the flavor of your destination unless you’re there, right?

You should reconsider that idea.

At the very least, you need to know what’s socially acceptable before you land. For instance, Asian cultures generally consider eye contact rude so, if you’re moving to China, South Korea or Vietnam, don’t expect anyone to meet your eyes.

Keep yours averted, too, lest you be found rude and aggressive.

You’ll also want to avoid finding any of your new compatriots’ actions off-putting. In some cultures, smacking your lips and slurping as you eat demonstrates that the food is tasty and appreciated. Such table manners would be looked down on, where I am from.

All such cultural mores are essential knowledge before you depart from familiar shores. No matter where you’re headed, learn everything you can about your host culture before you leave.

Once You Land

Finally, your adventure feels real! You’ve just landed and, while collecting your luggage, you hear voices speaking in the native tongue.

That doesn’t dim your enthusiasm one whit. In fact, it’s the first of our tips for learning how to communicate once you’re in-country.

Listen to Passers-by

Eavesdropping is unsavory but you’re not taking the practice that far; you only want to test your ability to pick out words you know. Listening to the people around you will help you further train your ear to the unique pattern of your new home.

You’ll likely not understand everything everyone around you says until much later but you’ll quickly be able to internalize their speech patterns and pick up on how they use tone and stress to communicate.

As much as possible, try to imitate those features when you speak in your adopted language.

Practice Talking with the Locals

As long as it’s socially acceptable, you might try conversing with your neighbors, shopkeepers or people on the bus. As you enjoy a day in the park or idling in the local coffee hotspot, cast about for people who appear open to talking.

Keep an eye out for community announcements of gatherings you might participate in. If you’re in a place that doesn’t feature such activities, you might check Meetup for any groups that share your interests.

In short: take any (socially acceptable) opportunity to talk with people around you.

Be Confident!

No matter how fervently people pursue a life abroad, there’s always a measure of culture shock to deal with before their new existence becomes truly great. They have moments of self-doubt and times when they feel the weight of being an outsider far too keenly.

Especially if you’re doing everything on your own – you don’t have a company sponsoring you, the weight of your decision will only be felt once you start settling in. At times, it can feel unbearably heavy. Stop!

Remember that you had reasons for relocating. Recall the excitement you felt when envisioning all the good things that could come from your move. All of that has yet to come your way.

Furthermore, you didn’t decide to leave your home because you’re self-doubting; your idea was fueled by the knowledge that, whatever you encountered, you could overcome.

That supreme confidence in yourself and your abilities landed you in your new home. Why would you let it desert you now?

Trite as it might sound, being confident in yourself and your abilities to build a life in a new place will power your desire and capacity to communicate with the people living there.

Instead of shying away from talking with people, let your confidence lead you to engaging conversation.

Speaking with locals may just be the best part of your adventure!

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The post How to Improve Your Communication Skills When Living Abroad appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

What Do Indians Speak and Why Can They Speak Multiple Languages Like a Dream?

What do Indians speak? Why can they often speak several languages? And speak them well?

Picture India in your mind’s eye and you will most likely see the following:

Lots of colour. Narrow lanes. Unimaginable traffic. Spicy food. Thousands of cuisines. Seven-star hotels. Slums next to them. Religious processions. Stunningly beautiful temples. Sweltering heat. Mind-blowing history. Over 500 languages. Yoga.

Beneath all this colour and noise, India hides an unquestioned acceptance of the amalgamation of thousands of mini-cultures. India quietly and unassumingly uses her languages as a mega-unifier of her people!

India can really blow your mind in a lot of ways. Understanding her rich heritage of languages could be just one step in getting closer to admiring this truly amazing land.

So how come most people in India speak multiple languages? What’s their secret?

Let’s take a look at what makes it easy for Indians to be multilingual.

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Table of contentsWhat Do Indians Speak? Each State has its Own LanguageTwo of the World’s Oldest Written Languages Are from IndiaMost Languages in India Follow the WYSIWYG PremiseIndian Languages Are Highly VersatileMany English Words Are Borrowed from IndiaEnglish Is Spoken Widely Across IndiaSchools Make Indians MultilingualIn India, Inclusiveness is a CultureWhat Do Indians Speak? Each State has its Own Language

While most countries in the world have one national language, India has a different language for each of its 29 states.

Hindi is recognised as an official language and all Union Government Records are written in Hindi and English. Other State Governments have records written in the State’s official language and English.

On top of that, there are dialects that change in every region. If you are in, let’s say Karnataka, a state in the southern part of India where the primary language is Kannada, you will see a variation of this language in North and South Karnataka.

What’s more, in regions close to the borders of particular states, there are completely unique languages or dialects, influenced by neighbouring states. That means, you will hear people speak a totally different language called Konkani on the border of Karnataka and Maharashtra. The primary language of Karnataka is Kannada and that of Maharashtra is Marathi.

In India, language is how you connect with people. The variation in the intonation, the pitch, the way certain sounds are dragged or stressed is how people decode it and bond with other ‘natives’ in another city or town.

Not surprisingly, so much variety makes it unremarkable for an Indian to have native-level fluency in languages other than their own native tongue.

What’s the lesson here? If you want to learn a language, make it part of your identity. Decide who you’d like to connect with – then learn a language to connect with them.

Two of the World’s Oldest Written Languages Are from India

Linguistic researchers have found that two of the world’s oldest written languages are from India: Sanskrit and Tamil.

Sanskrit heavily influenced many European languages. Some written records in this language date back to 3000 B.C. The Vedas (Hinduism’s cornerstone scriptures) are written in Sanskrit. The Vedas are considered by some historians to be the first-ever written literature.

Sanskrit is also one of the most scientifically developed languages. Unlike in many other languages which are predominantly made of words (English has some 50,000 words), Sanskrit has 700 Dhatu (root verbs), 80 Upasargas (suffixes, prefixes), and 20 Pratyaya (declensions).

Using these basic constructs as a foundation, Sanskrit can provide an infinite number of words, each of whose meaning is easily decipherable based on the root words and grammatical constructs.

Sadly, Sanskrit has gradually fallen out of everyday use.

What Do Indians Speak? Old Sanskrit Manuscript

The other surviving classical language, Tamil, boasts records dating back to 5000 B.C. Unlike Sanskrit, Tamil is still in everyday use with many newspapers circulating in the language. However, the original structure of Tamil is slowly giving way to modern vernacular usage.

How are these old languages relevant to modern language learners? With Sanskrit, you learn a new system, and one that underlies many modern languages. Learn the basic roots of words and some rules in Sanskrit and – boom! – you can suddenly make sense of many more words in many other languages.

It’s easier than most people imagine.

Most Languages in India Follow the WYSIWYG Premise

In a language like English, there are words that are spelled similarly but pronounced differently. Same for French.

Consider “but” and “put”. At face value, they should rhyme. But they don’t. The same holds true for many French words.

However, all Indian languages are phonetic. That means you can pronounce any word just by seeing it written. In every major Indian language, each syllable has a unique representation in script. It is truly “What-you-see-is-what-you-get” for the Indian language.

What’s more, many Indian languages share the same script (the written alphabet). For example, Sanskrit and Hindi are written in the same script – Devanagiri – but are still very different.

As Indian languages are phonetic, once you’ve learned one, the others are ridiculously simple to learn. There is a very systematic approach to learning them with the added advantage that you never have to wonder if you are saying it right!

Indian Languages Are Highly Versatile

Most Indian languages have the luxury of being correct with multiple constructs for sentences. Below is an example of a simple sentence written in multiple ways in Tamil – and still being correct in each of those constructs. Compare it to only one correct sentence structure in English.

What do Indians speak? Example of language versatility of Tamil

The takeaway? There is really no reason to freak out on “propriety”. Odds are that you will be right most of the time while speaking in an Indian language.

Many English Words Are Borrowed from India

India has often loaned words to Western languages. Way back in 1886, two India enthusiasts, Henry Yule and Arthur C Burnell, compiled and published the book Hobson-Jobson: The Definitive Glossary of British India. This was a complete glossary of Indian words that became a permanent fixture in the English dictionary.

From words like ‘loot’, ‘shampoo’ and ‘sherbet’ to popular names of spices and fruits like ‘ginger’, ‘indigo’ and ‘mango’, to recent additions like ‘guru’, there has been a steady supply of words to the English dictionary from India.

English Is Spoken Widely Across India

Despite having many languages of its own, India still harbours a place for English. English is widely spoken. So much so, that there is a whole new word that describes the way English words creep into the local vernacular: Hinglish.

In fact, India is the largest English speaking country in the world

As India has so many native languages of its own, there are many different flavours and accents to the English that’s spoken in India. It all depends on which part of the country the speaker comes from.

There are several words still in use in India that are phased out in the UK, as remnants of British colonisation in India. One example is ‘stepney’, which means a ‘spare tyre’.

Indians do not just sprinkle English words into everyday sentences. English words are remixed, refreshed and reinvented within a whole new context.

One of the primary influences in this Englishisation of India is the mega film industry, Bollywood. Many movies have titles mixed with English words, and the songs have a fancy re-mix of English phrases.

This love affair with English is not just romantic. It’s also highly practical, and has been counted among India’s major economic strengths. It has led to thousands of jobs being created in tech and customer services.

That doesn’t mean there’s no conflict about it. Knowledge of English is seen as a major factor for the wide gap between the haves and have-nots in the country. The poor see the opportunity to learn English as the ticket to a good life.

This means that being an English-speaking tourist in India, you’ll fit in with any community. The urban classes will take you in because they identify with you and can rival your fluency in English. The rural will defer you with special status because you speak English!.

What’s more – you will probably go home with a slew of Hinglish words in your kitty!

Schools Make Indians Multilingual

Most private schools in India encourage students to learn multiple languages even from the first grade. Public schools teach in the vernacular but there is growing focus on access to the English medium of instruction.

However, even when the major medium of instruction is English, there are at least two to three choices given to students for “second” and “third” languages. Typical choices include Hindi (considered the national language), the local state language and/or a foreign/ancient language like French or Sanskrit.

Children in India typically grow up with parents coming from different language backgrounds, or in a community with neighbours coming from the far-end of the country speaking an entirely different language. Most children in India attain native-fluency levels in other languages simply because they have friends speaking other languages.

Anytime you’ve got a language related question in India, you can always ask a kid. You will get your questions answered and some great insights about the kids’ fantasy superheroes!

In India, Inclusiveness is a Culture

Tim Ferris, the author of the now famous The 4-Hour-Workweek states that the entrepreneurial abilities of the Indians has consistently amazed him for years.

An indian shop with colorful items

Most travellers to India can vouch for the same experience.

Most of this entrepreneurial ability goes back to the fact that Indians can absorb diversity like a sponge. A roadside hawker in India may speak only broken English to attract customers, but speak he will! He will also go to great lengths to learn the language of his customer and speak to him in his language, albeit at an amateur level. The culture of inclusiveness is so prevalent that no language or culture surprises Indians.

Seriously, by now you should be convinced that learning a language in India isn’t that big of a deal. All you have to do is attempt it and I promise you: everyone will chip in to help you!

Original article by Devishoba Chandramouli, updated by the Fluent in 3 Months team.

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The post What Do Indians Speak and Why Can They Speak Multiple Languages Like a Dream? appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

Days of the Week in Korean: A Simple Guide

안녕하세요, annyeong haseyo! Welcome Korean culture lovers, KPop stans, and newbies to the language. In today’s lesson plan, we’re learning how to say the days of the week in Korean.

The days of the week in Korean hangul are:

Monday: 월요일 (wollyoil)Tuesday: 화요일 (hwayoil)Wednesday: 수요일 (suyoil)Thursday: 목요일 (mogyoil)Friday: 금요일 (geumyoil)Saturday: 토요일 (toyoil)Sunday: 일요일 (illyoil)

Learning the days of the week in the Korean language is one of the best places to start if you’re new to the language. It’ll allow you to talk about time, make plans, restaurant reservations, and write your schedule in Korean.

You’ll use them all the time, so you’ll pick them up fast.

But that’s not all we’ll cover today.

I’ll also show you what the day’s name in Korean means, which will help you remember them. And we’ll go over other common words you need to know, like week, month, year, and more.

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A quick note before we get started: I strongly suggest you learn how to read Korean hangul first. Hangul is actually super easy and quick to learn. (I know it doesn’t look like it, but you’ll be surprised. It’s nothing like Japanese kanji or Chinese hanzì.)

Some of these words are a bit tricky to pronounce at first. Especially if you’re trying to pronounce them based on their romanization rather than the hangul itself. So, do yourself a favor, make your whole Korean language learning journey easier by learning hangul first.

Okay, onto the lesson!

Days of the Week in Korean

“Day” in Korean is 일 (il) while “day of the week” is 요일 (yoil)

Once you know that, the rest is easy.

Each day of the week in Korean ends in 요일. So you only have to remember one syllable, or one hangul block, for each day.

To help you remember which is which, let’s look at the day’s name meaning in Korean and some mnemonics we can use.

“Monday” in Korean: 월요일

Monday in Korean is 월요일 (wollyoil).

월 (wol) in Korean means “moon.” So Monday means “moon day.”

This is the same as English! Monday also comes from “moon.”

Pay attention to the pronunciation here: the “l” at the bottom of the first block makes a flicked or double “l” sound and gets blended into the second character block.

So it sounds like: wol-lyo-il. Not “wol-yo-il”.

“Tuesday” in Korean: 화요일

화요일 (hwayoil) means “Tuesday”. 화 (hwa) means “fire” in Korean.

So, fun fact I learned when I studied days of the week in Japanese, that apply in Korean as well: in most languages, the days are associated with celestial bodies or Norse and Roman gods.

So like how Monday is associated with the moon, Tuesday is associated with the planet Mars. In Korean, it’s 화성 (hwaseong). Fire planet.

In Roman mythology, Mars is the god of war. In Norse mythology, the god of war is Tyr. And that’s where Tuesday comes from: Tyr’s day.

I love astronomy and mythology, so I find these little insights helpful. I use them to create mnemonics between languages.

If you know Japanese, it’s also easy to jump from 火曜日 (kayoubi) to 화요일 since they both mean “fire day.”

“Wednesday” in Korean: 수요일

For Wednesday, it’s 수요일 (suyoil).

수 (su) means “water” in Korean. The water planet is Mercury, 수성 (suseong), and Mercury is also the Roman god equivalent to Norse god, Odin. If you’re a Marvel fan, you probably know of him.

He’s sometimes called “Woden” and that’s where we get Wednesday from.

“Thursday” in Korean: 목요일

Thursday is 목요일 (mogyoil).

In English, Thursday comes from Thor, God of Thunder. (Sorry Loki fans, there’s no day named after him.)

In this case, 목 (mok) means “wood” and is associated with the planet Jupiter, 목성 (mogseong). Thor’s equal in Roman mythology is Jupiter.

“Friday” in Korean: 금요일

Friday is payday, amirite? So this one is easy to remember: 금 (geum) in 금요일 (geumyoil) means “gold.”

So it’s literally “gold day.”

But in case you were curious, continuing on with our planets and mythology… The golden planet Venus is 금성 (geumseong). Venus is the Roman goddess of love, beauty, and prosperity.

Her Norse equal is Frigg, Odin’s wife, and that’s how we get Friday.

Another fun fact: Korean’s love to shorten and combine words together for new slang meanings. One such example is 불금 (bulgeum).

불금 combines 불 (bul), another word for fire, and 금 (geum) from 금요일. Together, 불금 means “Fire Friday” and refers to partying after work on a Friday night. It’s used like TGIF (“Thank God It’s Friday”) in English.

“Saturday” in Korean: 토요일

Time for the weekend! Saturday is 토요일 (toyoil).

토 (to) means “soil”, and the planet Saturn is 토성 (toseong). Why soil? Because the Roman god, Saturn, is the god of harvest.

I think you can probably tell, but “Saturday” in English also stems from “Saturn.”

“Sunday” in Korean: 일요일

How do you say Sunday in Korean? It’s 일요일 (ilwoil).

일 (il) means “day” but it can also mean “sun.” So, like Monday, it’s easy to remember and is the same as English.

Now I gave you some examples of how to remember these words by tying them to English – and that’s how I remembered them going from English to Japanese.

But Japanese and Korean are identical in meaning (and even some sounds), and the days of the week in Korean hanja are exactly the same as Japanese. (Hanja are Chinese characters in Korean writing. They’re not used as often as in Japanese, but they’re still used sometimes.)

So I actually use Japanese to help me remember Korean.

My point is, you can do that too. If what I shared here doesn’t help you remember it… well, at least you learned some planet names too and killed two birds with one stone!

But make it work for you. Come up with other ways to remember them. If you know other languages, see if you can make a connection between languages learned rather than your native language.

Get creative! With time, you’ll practice them enough anyway to not need to think of memory hacks anymore.

Days of the Week in Korean Song

One other great tool to learn with is song. Kids do it all the time, so why not try it too?

Here’s a song for the days in Korean:

Other Vocab Related to the Week in Korean

Now that we’ve learned the days of the week, let’s go over some similar words: days, weeks, months, years, seasons!

Days in Korean

We already learned that “day” is 일 (il) while “day of the week” is 요일 (yoil). But how do you say “4 days” in Korean, and things like that?

When counting days, you’ll first want to understand Korean numbers and how there are two ways to count (up to 100).

For counting days, we use the Native Korean number system:

One day: 하루 (haru)Two days: 이틀 (iteul)Three days: 사흘 (saheul)Four days: 나흘 (naheul)Five days: 닷새 (datsae)

You’ll use these to say things like:

All day long: 하루 종일 (haru jongil)3 days off: 사흘 연휴 (saheul yeonhyu)

And as for saying the dates of the month… Well, that’s super easy.

You just use the Sino-Korean numbers + 일 (il):

1st: 1일 (일일, il-il)2nd: 2일 (이일, i-il)3rd: 3일 (삼일, sam-il)4th: 4일 (사일, sa-il)5th: 5일 (오일, o-il)10th: 10일 (십일, sib-il)15th: 15일 (십오일, sibo-il)20th: 20일 (이십일, i-sibil)31st: 31일 (삼십일일, samsibil-il)Week in Korean

How do you say “week” in Korean? It’s 주 (ju).

So if you want to say things like “one week” or “three weeks”, you’ll need to use 주일 (ju-il), which means “weeks.” You could also use 주간 (jugan) which means “weekly” or “weeks time.”

One week: 일 주일 (il juil)Three weeks time: 삼 주간 (sam jugan)

When talking about Monday – Friday, you can use 주중 (jujung) for “weekdays.” Or 평일 (pyeong-il) for a single weekday.

“Weekend” is 주말 (jumal).

Months in Korean

What are the months in Korean?

They are:

January: 일월 (ilwol)February: 이월 (iwol)March: 삼월 (samwol)April: 사월 (sawol)May: 오월 (owol)June: 유월 (yuwol)July: 칠월 (chilwol)August: 팔월 (palwol)September: 구월 (guwol)October: 십월 (sibwol)November: 십일월 (sibilwol)December: 십이월 (sibiwol)

Just add the Sino-Korean number of the month to 월 (wol, “month”)!

Year in Korean

“Year” in Korean is 년 (nyeon).

When forming dates in Korean, it looks like this:

YYYY년 MM월 DD일

So if you wanted to write out a date, it would look like:

2021년 11월 14일
i-cheon isibi nyeon sibilwol sibsail

My birthday this year!

Seasons in Korean

“Season” in Korean is 시즌 (sijeun).

The four seasons in Korean are:

Spring: 봄 (bom)Summer: 여름 (yeoreum)Autumn: 가을 (gaeul)Winter: 겨울 (gyeoul)Bonus: Telling Time in Korean

Telling time in Korean can be just a bit tricky, because you’ll use both Sino-Korean numbers and Native Korean numbers.

You’ll use Native Korean numbers (hana, dul, set) for the hour. Then you’ll use Sino-Korean numbers (il, i, sam) for the minutes.

Hour: 시 (si)Minute: 분 (bun)Half: 반 (ban)1 o’clock: 한시 (hansi)1:30: 한시반 (hansiban)2 o’clock: 두시 (dusi)2:15: 두시 십오분 (dusi sibobun)3 o’clock: 세시 (sesi)3:45: 세시 사십오분 (sesi sasibobun)AM: 오전 (ojeon)PM: 오후 (ohu)

When using AM and PM, it goes before the hour, like: 오후 세시 (ohu sesi, “3pm”).

Write Out Your Schedule in Korean!

You’ve learned all the essentials for talking about days in Korean. So now you should be able to practice writing out your schedule, planning your calendar, or making appointments with friends!

Practice by writing it out. “Class: 3pm Tuesday” or “Work: 9am Monday” for example. Schedule out your week and write the days, dates, and time.

The more you practice, the better you’ll get!

Ready to learn more? Check out these other Korean lessons:

Innovative Language Review – Complete Pod101 Language Course Review (with Screenshots and Video Results)90 Day Korean Inner Circle: An In-Depth Review101 Must-Know Korean Verbs to Boost Your VocabularyKorean Particles Guide: How to Use Korean ParticlesHow to Learn Korean with Korean Songs: Learn Korean Through Music

The post Days of the Week in Korean: A Simple Guide appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

A Guide to Arriving in Amsterdam: Language, People, Culture, and More!

Have you thought of going to Amsterdam for the language, the culture, or the people?

My experience in Amsterdam was amazing, educational, frustrating, active, disappointing, eye-opening, cultural, beautiful and real.

When I arrived with the mission to learn Dutch, my priority was always to get to know the Dutch people. Doing so through their own language, and focusing on spending time with them despite the vast numbers of other foreigners in the city has made my experience so much richer, while also creating new challenges in simply being able to socialise with any consistency.

After spending two months there, I can’t say that I had as much fun as other foreigners with ample party opportunities would have, but I feel like I had a unique experience and managed to understand Dutch residents of Amsterdam to a deeper level than many passing tourists would.

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Table of contentsAmsterdam’s Language: Learn Some Basic DutchFamous Dutch Tolerance: You Don’t “Need” to Speak the Local LanguageIn Amsterdam, the Mindset Seems to Be to Let People BeLiving Apart Together: Creating Lasting Relationships Is TrickyThe People in Amsterdam Are Very Social, in a Different WayThe Dutch Have a Busy AgendaOnce You Are with Them, the Dutch Are Honest and Generous PeopleA Final Word on Amsterdam and the Dutch Language, Culture, and PeopleAmsterdam’s Language: Learn Some Basic Dutch

As a general rule, I always advise travellers to learn some basic local vocabulary. First, not everyone speaks English or your native language. Second, locals appreciate when travellers make the effort to speak their language. It’s a good way to start a pleasant interaction!

Here are some important Dutch words and phrases to learn for your visit to Amsterdam:

Hoi / Hallo – “hi”Goedemorgen – “good morning”Goedemiddag – “good afternoon”Goedenavond – “good evening”Alsjeblieft – “please”Dankjewel – “thank you”Graag gedaan – “you’re welcome”Ja – “yes”Nee – “no”Ik heb honger – “I’m hungry.”Ik heb dorst – “I’m thirsty.”Ik heet… – “My name is…”Ik ben… – “I am”Spreek je Engels? – “Do you speak English?”

(Note: If you know me, you know I would discourage you from using the last phrase. In order to learn a new language, you have to speak it from day one! So try to avoid asking locals if they speak English, or another language you know. But it’s good to know the phrase for emergency situations.)

Famous Dutch Tolerance: You Don’t “Need” to Speak the Local Language

I was told that 30% of Amsterdam is foreigners.

Amsterdam had one of the strongest expat communities I’d ever seen in almost a decade on the road. So much so that you can live in the city for years, and learn no Dutch and even make no Dutch friends. Some people do.

The vast majority of other foreigners there were content in their English speaking “bubble” and had created full lives for themselves within that. And the Dutch have no problem whatsoever with it.

In fact, they almost encourage it!

The Dutch are famous for how tolerant they are. A large part of their history involves welcoming foreigners to the country and allowing them to continue living lives as they chose. In old times this was freedom in religion, and nowadays, it shows up in acceptance of cultural background, sexual orientation, etc.

Such values surely inspired those who aspired for similar things in the new world as the first pilgrims for America sailed from Leiden, not far from Amsterdam, towards what is now New York, which was appropriately called New Amsterdam first for quite some time.

Even to this day I find that the Dutch sense of samenleving (“community / living together”) has great respect for an individual’s freedom to live life as they choose; much more so than in other countries, including those that claim to be the freest in the world.

“I am-sterdam” sign in Amsterdam in English languageIn Amsterdam, the Mindset Seems to Be to Let People Be

There is one consequence of this open-mindedness. To allow people to do as they please, sometimes you should leave them to it.

This other side of the respect coin seems to create a big divide between the Dutch and the foreigners in the city. Huge communities of foreigners exist in the city, and they almost never interact with the Dutch beyond necessity.

To give people total freedom, it seems like you have to take away any encouragement to integrate. Throughout Dutch history there was no pressure on foreigners to learn Dutch, both officially (to live there) and in social interactions.

This means that many Dutch people have no problem speaking to you in English. Some foreigners misinterpret this as meaning that the locals won’t speak to you in Dutch, not realising that it’s entirely their own fault.

If you try a few things, you can encourage them to help you learn their language.

This means that foreigners tend to stick together and never make many local friends, a vicious cycle propagating itself. There is a great balance in Amsterdam and it’s working so people keep it up.

The Dutch are used to not interacting so much with foreigners, and the foreigners are used to not interacting with the locals. So when they come together, they may not get any further than superficial pleasantries.

Living Apart Together: Creating Lasting Relationships Is Tricky

But it goes deeper than that.

Dutch people are incredibly friendly and would always ask me with genuine curiosity what I was doing in the Netherlands. They gave me the time and patience to help me with their language.

They never switched to English when they saw how invested I was in speaking to them, despite my poor level at the start, and asked me many interesting and intelligent questions.

And then, unfortunately, most of the time it would end there. They would look at their agenda (“diary”) and see that they had no time if I requested to meet up that week again.

As well as this, after showing me respect and hearing that I would be leaving soon, it just seemed impractical to try to create a deeper relationship. Why would you when the person is just passing through?

When you think about this, I suppose it makes sense. It’s hardly something to criticise, but it was terribly frustrating for me of course. Someone suggested to me before I came that the Dutch were not so friendly, and I disagree.

They are just more practical than other cultures.

The People in Amsterdam Are Very Social, in a Different Way

While it has serious disadvantages for me personally as a passer-through, I can see how this can be a smart choice. In a sense, you have a select number of friends who you hold very dearly and who you meet frequently and have very deep relationships with.

I personally don’t relate to a way of life that excludes being open to making new friends so easily, but it’s not my place to judge others.

While I can complain about this, and whine about the Dutch being “closed off”, I don’t tend to travel to new countries to investigate reasons to complain about why they aren’t like other ones (well, _almost _never…) I prefer to try to see the positive in everything, and I can indeed see that in the Dutch.

Despite difficulty in making friends with them, I’d actually argue that they Dutch are more social than most of us. And this is encouraged from an early age.

One thing I found quite strange, for example, was that while my flatmate left the door on the street open so he could move things in and out, some children from the neighbourhood I had never seen before ran in, ran up the stairs, barged into my room and demanded I give them some sweets. Amazingly, this happened twice!

A fear of strangers just isn’t Dutch. They are encouraged to get out of the house and do things as much as possible. As a result of this, they are generally way more at ease in social situations than other cultures and are great at making conversations in a relaxed manner.

The Dutch Have a Busy Agenda

Dutch people are so social in fact, that they need to organise themselves to make sure they can fit everyone into their active weeks.

And this leads to the agendas issue that drove me so crazy. I suppose the rest of us are “less” social, so we have room to be spontaneous and meet up with someone immediately. However, the Dutch (at least those I met) would have social events, dinners, coffees, walks, clubs, excursions, sport, family events, nights out and everything else after work programmed in advance.

When you have so much to do, you live life to the fullest!

This is great and it’s something that I feel I have taken a little of with me, after finally embracing the agenda lifestyle out of necessity to socialise on the Dutch’s level. I did indeed eventually arrange to meet people several weeks in advance so that we could hang out.

There’s a certain advantage to being organised in this way: it forces you to be more social and interact more. Most of us in the western world lose time with TV nights in, hours spent surfing online, and lack of coordination with those we want to see properly.

Although I also have a great love for serendipity and spontaneity, so I’ve tried to leave my immediate calendar open when living among other cultures.

Once You Are with Them, the Dutch Are Honest and Generous People

It was quite a struggle to have people in Amsterdam squeeze me into their agendas.

I went as far as coming up with unique ideas to get some Dutch practice time like going on 25 speed dates.

(In case you are wondering how it turned out; I eventually got 3 “ja”s, and after a lot of e-mail exchanges, one of them finally agreed to have our second date three weeks from then. But the date she proposed was the day after I left Amsterdam, when I was already over 5,000 miles away. I never did get to discover that other type of deep relationship with a Dutch person…)

Once I stopped fighting the very idea of organising far in advance and learned to go with the flow, I did get into their agendas. I had to work hard to convince them that I was worth getting to know, but I was successful and through this, I can now call several Dutch people good friends of mine.

They were always straight and honest with me. This stood out quite a lot!

While the lack of spontaneity killed my social life a bit, Dutch people were always true to their word and invited me out if they said they would. They also talked to me with a no-bullshit frankness that I don’t get from oversensitive other cultures. This meant that I had a greater chance to build on the few relationships I did start having with locals.

Speaking the language definitely enriched my experience there. It showed them that I was serious about getting to know them, and then perhaps it was worth investing time in finding out more about me too.

In many places, people casually say that we should meet some time. Numbers are exchanged, but it’s not always serious. With the Dutch, when someone was my friend, they really were one. It’s a sort of extreme where superficial and deep friendships are in much greater contrast to most places I’ve lived in.

So I did finally make some good friends, several of which I was sad to have to say goodbye to.

A Final Word on Amsterdam and the Dutch Language, Culture, and People

I’ll take what I learned from this experience with me as I move on to other cultures.

When I think back on Amsterdam, yes, I’ll remember the beautiful canals, I’ll miss bikes as being the main means of transport quite a lot, I’ll recall the incredible balance they achieved as a melting pot of many cultures.

However, most of all I’ll think about those couple of friends I’ve made and be very glad that I tried so hard over several weeks to understand the culture so that I could nurture these friendships.

Thanks Amsterdam. It was only two months, but I feel a little part of me can now say I amsterdam.

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