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Even if you don’t know a single word of German, you can probably read and understand the following German text. Did you know that English and German descended from the same language? (Proto-Germanic) Many words in both languages are the same or similar.

A link to this story’s translation will be provided at the end of this article.

* GERMAN STORY *

Guten Tag! Mein Name ist Monika. Ich bin Autorin. Ich habe einen Bruder namens Bob. Bob ist auch Autor. Ich bin Bobs Literaturagentin. Er schreibt interessante Artikel und Bcher. Er schreibt nun ein neues Buch. Der Titel ist: Das Telefon klingelt fr Dich. Letztes Jahr hatte er 2 Bcher auf der Bestsellerliste.

Bob lebt in Kanada - in Montreal. Er ist 30 Jahre alt, mit blondem Haar und blaue Augen. Er hat ein altes Auto. Freitags geht er mit dem Auto zum Supermarkt.

Im Supermarkt findet er Kaffee, Tee, Mineralwasser, Milch, Zucker, Butter usw. fr Mutter. Er findet auch Frucht wie Bananen, pfel, Orangen usw. Dann geht er zur Bank und wartet eine Weile fr Mutter. Er geht nchst mit Mutter zu Hause und parkt sein Auto.

Das Haus ist wei und blau. Es hat einen Garten mit wundervollen Blumen und luxurisem grnem Gras.

Im Haus sitzt Bob auf dem Sofa und trinkt oft ein Glas Bier oder Wein und hrt das Radio (laut). Mutter sagt: Bob! Das Radio ist zu laut! Bob lacht und geht in den Garten.

Im Sommer, wenn die Sonne scheint, sitzt Bob im Garten. Wenn Mutter will, mht Bob das Gras.

Im Winter schaufelt er den Schnee oder sitzt im Haus beim Feuer.

Meine Mutter hat eine Katze namens Lwe. Lwe ist braun, grau und orange. Sie miaut, wenn sie Bob sieht, springt auf Bobs Knie und schnurrt laut. Mutter hat auch einen Hund - namens Br. Br ist ein Dachshund.

Ach! es ist spt - Mitternacht. Ich muss zum Bett gehen. Gute Nacht! Ich schreibe mehr morgens.

* MORE EXAMPLES *

Winter kommt im November.

Sommer kommt im Juni.

Die Toilette ist beige.

Das Papier ist wei.

Mein Hand hat zehn Finger.

Mein Arm ist gebrochen.

Wir haben eine Party!

Bring den Salat hier!

Der Mann tanzt und singt.

Der Wind ist eisig.

Die Tomate ist reif.

Das kostet 5 Dollar.

Komm hier!

Er hat Hunger und Durst.

Der Film beginnt um 8.

Sie fotografiert die Familie.

* HOW DID IT GO? *

Maybe you didn’t understand the German text completely. Read it a second - and then a third time.

If you are observant, you will notice a few details:

*German usually uses a ‘K’ instead of a hard ‘C’: Canada=Kanada, Monica=Monika.

*The English ‘ph’ often becomes ‘f’: telephone=Telefon.

*Nouns are capitalized: fruit=Frucht, milk=Milch, butter=Butter, sugar=Zucker.

*Possessives are not formed with an apostrophe + s: brother’s=Bruders.

*The English ’sh’ becomes ’sch’: shines=scheint, shovels=schaufelt.

*Many words are exactly the same: Winter, November, Finger, Party, Wind, Hunger, Film.

Now that you have a few hints, you can probably read the German text again and understand even more. Think of the words in context, and allow your mind to fill in the blanks.

Related words, like the ones above, with common ancestral roots are called ‘cognates’. There are many, many more than those presented here.

Over the years, however, many words that used to mean the same thing in both languages have evolved and have acquired different connotations. For example, the old German word for ‘wife’ - ‘Weib’ is nowadays generally applied in a deprecating manner. It might be used in a phrase that means ‘you crazy woman!’ or in instances where an English person would say ‘broad’ or ‘dame’.

The German word ‘Gift’ does not mean ‘gift’ - it means ‘poison’.

The point that is being made here, however, is that you should actively search for similarities. Over time you will discover the exceptions. You will feel comfortable with the similarities and form a foundation on which you can build. The learning task then becomes less daunting - and even enjoyable.

Over the centuries the world has become a melting pot of cultures and languages. Many words and phrases have crossed borders. Globalization - spurred by newspapers, radio, TV, the internet, and jet travel - has accelerated the process. We often use foreign-derived words without even realizing - angst, soup du jour, cafe au lait, poltergeist, bona fide, carte blanche, nom de plume, savoir-faire . . .

Every time you come to a new text passage, scan it to find what you already know (or can guess) for a general sense of what it means. Then tackle the unknown parts.

Your learning will progress more quickly as a result.

Author’s Note:

*The German passage is presented in parallel translation at A-Language-Guide.com.

*You will also find more German-English texts and some helpful language articles.

What is more frustrating than not having language translation abilities? It could be that you think you have found them and find out down the line that they are nowhere near as good as you needed them to be. Regardless of why you need language translation services, there is no doubt that you need high quality products and services to use. You don’t need someone with broken language skills to do your translation work for you. The problem often is that you will not realize the quality of your language translation until you have had the ability to converse with the individual or company one on one. Most of the time, this is too late though.

So the question is then, how do you find the right language translation products and services that you need and that you can rely on? While this is difficult to give a clear cut answer to, it helps to know someone well enough on the other side. The good news is that those who speak other languages tend to know English anyway, so they can help in telling you if what your language translation services provide for you was accurate and that it made good sense.

When you begin your search for language translation, make sure that you consider several things. That old saying of, “You get what you pay for” rings quite true here. If you find that something is less than high quality, you are going to get burned later on. In other words, take the time to find the right options for your language translation before it gets too far down the road. Language translation can be done in many ways. For example, a real person could do the work for you. Or, you can find quality language translation software programs as well. Then, of course, there are all the other options in between to consider as well. And, do just that, consider them. Language translation is key to your success after all.

For more information please see www.language-translation-help.co.uk

Many people consider it one of globalisation’s greatest inequities that English, one of the world’s hardest languages, has become the international one. Few languages of any type have a grammar as complicated as English’s, and English - which, like so many of the world’s other languages, stems from a number of distinct linguistic lines - adds to the grammar rules a catalogue of exceptions that’s enough to make new learners despair.

But, fortunately, languages are more than their grammars, and the upside to the situation is precisely that English is almost everywhere. Anyone who really wants to learn English - and it’s one of the best-kept secrets of the teaching of English that only those who really want to learn the language, for its own sake, have much of a chance - can gain exposure to the language in a variety of ways, many of them fun.

Finding places to store all the baggage of English in your brain is always time well spent, but what’s more important is to get the music of English in your ears. Having a large English vocabulary and strong command of standard word order and sentence structure is generally helpful, and almost enough to get most students through the things they need to read. But if that reading includes fiction, new problems may emerge. In English, fiction writing often reflects and even mimics the spoken language, making knowledge of how English sounds when native-speakers use it essential understanding.

Understandably, students think that reading and writing are the essential English skills, and they are - while you are a student. But once you enter what English speakers like to call “the real world” - or if that’s the only place you need English, as is the case with most people who work in the world’s largest industry, hospitality and tourism - it’s listening and speaking that are likely to be the most important.

It’s the rare new learner of English who isn’t shy about speaking the language - often remaining stuck in that shyness for long periods of time. Given how far English is from being a phonetic language, that’s completely understandable. Groups of letters that are pronounced in one way in a certain word are spoken using completely different sounds in another. Few people want to be heard making a pronunciation mistake and being laughed at. Yet, like most everything else in life, it’s mistakes that people learn the most from.

So, people who really need or want to use English as a communication tool learn early to overcome their inhibitions and start speaking out, fearless of the consequences. One of the first things most of them learn is that native English speakers are, overall, a forgiving lot. If they can understand what the speaker is trying to say at all, they’re most likely to overlook errors of pronunciation. At most, they’ll correct them, but they’re unlikely even to do that (unless they’re asked to). The truth is, most native English speakers don’t speak another language, for the simple reason that they don’t have to, and consequently they are both self-conscious about their own language limitations and appreciative of the trouble other people go to trying to communicate with - and usually help - them.

Along with the other things it is, speaking is a muscular activity. Like a sport, it needs to be practiced to get the complete physical apparatus - tongue, lips, throat and mouth cavities, nose, even sinuses - to perform properly. Unlike most sports, however, once the physical effort of getting the sounds correct has been mastered, it doesn’t require practice anywhere near as intense to maintain. Once learned, an English phoneme, or basic sound, is seldom forgotten.

The real fun, though, is in listening practice. The sources of good listening exercises are virtually innumerable. Oddly, the less effective ones are the more academically oriented tools such as cassette tapes, CD-ROMs, and listening-oriented videos. The problem, not obvious at first, is that their content is limited in scope to a particular situation or set of circumstances. In short, they never change. As a result, the student who uses them learns what a particular set of words means in an even more particular context. What’s missing is the flexibility that is the lifeblood of any language. The student learns only “canned” responses to highly specific groups of words - and then in a particular order. There’s not much gain for the pain, to return to the sports-training analogy.

But almost everyone - certainly anyone who needs to learn a second language - owns a radio, the most basic source of English as actually spoken by native speakers. And most people own or have ready access to a television and some kind of VCD or DVD player. With those basic pieces of equipment, you can gain virtually unlimited access to the sound of spoken, vernacular English. There’s simply no substitute for hearing native speakers use their language in the full range of ways they actually do in real life to “get an ear” on English.

Listening to English for which there is no accompanying printed text is initially frustrating for most learners. But the feeling that listening to foreign sounds unaided is a pointless waste of time usually disappears quickly, as patient listeners begin to pick up repeated word patterns, the rise and fall of the actual sounds of English sentences and questions, and words and phrases they have encountered in other contexts (just not with the sounds associated with them).

Still, probably the least appreciated language teaching tool in the world is the subtitle. Being able to read the words while hearing them (whether in English or in the student’s native language) offers the best possible chance of coordinating comprehension with real-time exposure to the spoken sounds. The specific learning opportunities are countless.

At the most obvious level, there’s vocabulary, which is absorbed most quickly in context. But beyond the meaning of individual words are all the ways of using them that together constitute what linguists mean by the “idiomatic” use of a language. At the most obvious level, that means “slang,” the way people speak when they’re not necessarily attempting to speak correctly. But it also has to do with the use of actual idioms - words that have one meaning when taken individually but an altogether different one when used in other combinations - and even proverbial ways of speaking (which are used far more often in “common’ speech than most people realise). Simply learning how to understand English when it is not being spoken in complete sentences, as it typically is not in conversations, can be an ear-opening experience.

What’s far too seldom noted is that when people starting getting English “in their ears,” they also start making fewer errors in speaking and writing. Especially in matters such as articles - about which there are rules, although many and confusing - it’s when learners start to say and write what “sounds right,” rather than what conforms to a learned rule, that they more often get it right.

Getting to know how characters in English TV dramas and action film stars speak - and what the things they say mean - often “back-translates” into better academic English as well. Learning to understand Superman can help your English take tall leaps forward.

Hugh O’Connell is a business owner and university lecturer. He is a director of Plan-it Consultants Limited, Thailand and UniRoute Limited, Hong Kong. Plan-it provides off line resources to students wishing to study overseas: study abroad program. UniRoute offers online advice on study abroad and study UK. Currently Hugh resides in Thailand and is working towards his doctorate.

The Hawaiian language is an Austronesian (or Polynesian) language that is the ancestral tongue of the Hawaiian Islands, which lie in the Pacific Ocean. The Hawaiian language is the official language of the State of Hawaii. It is an endangered language, meaning that it is no longer spoken officially on any of the populated Hawaiian Islands. The native language was supplanted by English many years ago. There is one Hawaiian Island, Ni’ihau, where the Hawaiian language is still predominantly spoken. This island is privately owned, and tourism there is rejected in favor of a traditional way of life for its inhabitants. Though English is spoken by Hawaiians in order to conduct business and for political and educational purposes, the Hawaiian language remains in the souls and memories of all native Hawaiians, and connects them to their heritage.

Thousands of people travel to the island paradise of Hawaii every year. It’s beautiful beaches, terrific surfing, and breathtaking vistas make Hawaii one of the most common vacation spots on the Earth. The residents of the islands share a real sense of history and community, and consider themselves to be ‘ohana, or family, with one another. Hawaiians love to share their interesting history, vibrant culture, and the beautiful poetry of the Hawaiian language with visitors. When visitors arrive on the Islands, they are often greeted by native Hawaiian ladies who present new guests with a kiss on each cheek, a friendly “aloha!” and a beautiful and fragrant lei, or garland of indigenous flowers from the Islands.

Today, there are many words from the Hawaiian language that are still used conversationally and informally by the Islands’ inhabitants. We all know the word “aloha”, which has a myriad of meanings including hello, goodbye, and love. There is also hula, which is a very common Hawaiian dance that you often see at lu’aus, or traditional Hawaiian feasts, where ukulele music is played along to meles (traditional songs and chants), and tradition Hawaiian foods such as poi are served.

Today, the Hawaiian language is enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Native Hawaiians looking to reconnect with their ancestral pasts are learning the traditional native tongue. And children are also being educated in the Hawaiian language, as a means of teaching them the history and legacy of their people. The Hawaiian language is being taught in public schools on the Islands as a second language alongside English.

For tourists, there are Hawaiian language books available that can provide lessons in the basic Hawaiian language. Also, computer software can provide a fun and interactive experience for a person who is interested in learning the native tongue of the Hawaiian Islands before embarking on a vacation there. There are also websites available that offer free, accelerated lessons in Hawaiian. Learning the basics of a language like Hawaiian will provide tourists with an opportunity to gain more understanding of a fascinating culture that thrives still today. Though there will not be any real language barriers for tourists when they visit Hawaii, learning some of the ancestral language will also serve as a history lesson, which will allow tourists to appreciate the culture that they are being exposed to so much more.
Traveling to the tropical paradise that is the Hawaiian Islands is a chance of a lifetime. Experiencing the sights, the sounds, the people, and the exotic surroundings is likely to broaden anyone’s scope of the world.

Though the Hawaiian language is not widely spoken any longer, its concepts remain in the hearts and souls of the people who inhabit the idyllic and ancient oasis, and they relish the opportunity to welcome their visitors in the true spirit of ‘ohana. www.foreign-languages-school.com

Find the essential information on where and how to learn a new or second language at Hawaiian Language

John is a director of numerous Internet companies and is a published author. Many articles have been produced on a variety of subjects with excellent content and depth. All his articles may be reproduced provided that an active link is included to www.foreign-languages-school.com

Language Schools

You have decided on teaching abroad so you are off on the job hunt. Aside from the obvious considerations such as what country to work in and what training/qualifications to obtain; there are other things a teachers should consider when looking at potential job offers.

There are many factors a teacher considers which will affect whether they accept a position. The most obvious factor would be the content of the position. What is the school asking of you as a teacher? You must ask yourself if the job is interesting and fits into your career plans as a teacher. The person you will be working for is also an important consideration so you must take the time to talk to them either via email or phone. It would also be beneficial to ask to speak to other teachers from the school to find out their impressions. Knowing what the job is and whom you will be working with are the first step in deciding whether to pursue it further.

Some may say that the most important consideration would be salary and benefits but these should be a secondary consideration to what you want to do and who you will be working with. Regardless of the salary paid, most people will not stay at a position where they feel unsatisfied or have no growth. In addition, the people you work with or for have an enormous impact on your job satisfaction. However, when considering salary and benefits, do not focus as much on the starting salary but rather on the potential for growth and increases. Does the school have growth potential for you as a professional? Do they spell out cost-of-living increases and meritorious raises? Benefits are other areas that can supplement a position where the starting salary is not as good as you would have wished. Get a list of benefits from the company and formulate any questions you may have regarding them so that you can better discuss the position with management and other teachers at the school.

Another factor that may come into play with many teachers when evaluating a position is the resources provided by the school. Teachers spend a large majority of their time preparing for upcoming lessons. This requires readily available resources such as teacher books, computer, printer, internet access, and preferably a reference library. In addition, there should be a work area set aside for teachers to plan and prepare. You should also look at whether the school already has a set curriculum/syllabus and student books because you may be asked to help to create these resources for your school year if they are not provided. I have known many teachers that have felt the need to move on because of the demands of planning for a school year without adequate resources.

Searching for a position is difficult. After spending many hours on a search, making a careful decision regarding a job offer is important. Getting an offer does not necessarily mean you should take the job. Most employers will not expect you to make a decision on the spot. You will probably be given a few days to a week to make up your mind. If they are unable to provide you with the time to make a decision then you should not consider this as a viable position. On the other hand, if you decide to go with a school without finding out the proper information, don’t blame the school when the position turns out not to be what you expected or wanted. Weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the job will help you make a more informed decision, rather than deciding on impulse.

To help you find that perfect (or near perfect) job, you should ask these questions to all prospective employers:

1. What is the salary?
2. How many months is the contract?
3. Do/Can you sponsor me for all paperwork, including teacher’s license, work permit, and visa extension?
4. How soon can you get this paperwork processed?
5. How many hours will I be teaching?
6. What kind of insurance is on offer?
7. When are the starting and ending times for work?
8. About how many events a month are teachers required to attend outside normal working hours (teachers’ meetings, parents’ meetings, school festivals, seminars, etc.)?
9. Does the school have/provide books?
10. Does the school have whiteboards or chalkboards?
11. Does the school provide all teaching materials needed? What are the items provided?
12. Does the school require that I attend/teach a summer camp?
13. Is there a discipline policy? What is it and how is it enforced?
14. What are the details of contract “extras” such as:
• Resigning bonuses
• Biannual or annual plane tickets to visit home
• Housing allowances (if no housing allowance then ask about help finding accommodations along with cost in the school area)
• Internet access both in and outside the school
• Raise schedules

Michael Hines is the founder of http://www.TotalESL.com, a free resource helping the ESL/EFL community in Asia and the Middle East for jobs, resumes, schools, resources, yellow pages, classifieds, information and lessons.

As globalisation alters the way business is conducted, the accurate communication of information across languages takes on an increasing importance. When a foreign client or customer’s impression of you is solely dependent upon your company’s literature, it is critical that this literature is as well written in their native language as it is in yours. You want the message to read the same way in both languages so that there is no room for misunderstanding, but you also want to feel confident that your message is delivered as accurately and professionally in their language as it is in yours. Naturally, since you are unlikely to know the language you are wanting your literature to be translated in well enough to be able to do it yourself, you enter into a position of trust with the company you have given the job to. This article assists you in making the decision of which company to entrust the work to.

The first thing to determine is whether the translation company has enough translators in the mother-tongue you want your work translated into to be able to do the volume of work you require to a sufficiently high standard. Bear in mind that translation can often be done in stages, with an employee whose mother tongue is the same as yours doing a rough translation into the foreign language, followed by a rewriter whose mother tongue is the language into which the article has been translated editing the translation so that it reads accurately and fluently. Depending on the specific nature of the work, you might also require this rewriter to have a specific knowledge of a designated country or business field. For example, if you are an IT company, it is worth checking whether the translation company has translators skilled in writing IT related copy, and if you wish legal documents translated, it might be an idea to ask whether the company has any translators who specialise in legal translations.

Another thing worth considering is whether the translation company can offer a one-stop, single-source solution to all your translation needs. Perhaps you want to translate the literature into ten different languages, or need slightly different translations in the same language for different markets (the grammar and spelling of American English is slightly different from British English). Can the company handle these requirements? How many languages does it cover and how many in-country specialists does it have? It is possible that the company keeps a database of several thousand freelance mother-tongue linguists on its books who specialise in particular industries or writing in different styles. If so, ask questions about how your translation work will be managed and whether you will be able to do background checks on the specific translators who have been chosen for your needs. Also what vetting processes and standards of excellence do the translators have to pass in order to work for the company.

Different cultures have different standards of what is culturally acceptable, and what is taboo in one culture can be socially acceptable in another. The last thing you want to do is cause offence, so ensure there is somebody in place after the copy has been translated to check on such things, in addition to tailoring the copy so that it reaches the target audience and appeals to local advertising sensibilities. In order to carry this out to the standard you are expecting, it is possible your marketing department will be drawn into the process to evaluate any local documentation and make the necessary changes themselves. The document should also be checked to ensure that the various concepts which form an integral part of the message are conveyed in the translation. This is particularly important for marketing or advertising text, where the ideas conveyed and the vocabulary used may not be so easily translatable.

In order to accelerate the translation process for specific markets it is likely that the translation company has an archive of glossaries for specific countries and manages a database that enables the redeployment of text segments from previous translations. This has the double benefit of saving costs and increasing familiarity within a particular market by developing an identifiable style of copy.

Other factors that you should take into consideration include the way the translation is managed. For instance, it is worth checking whether each project will have a project manager in overall charge of the work who will be able to give you regular updates. And check the degree of flexibility that the company has with regard to your requirements. For instance, does the company offer overnight and weekend translations and any additional services, such as the provision of interpreters for business trips. Ask about their privacy standards too, with regard to how confidential the information they translate for you will be and what measures they take to protect any privileged information that is gained through access to your business.

Keeping the points raised in this document in consideration during the selection process for a translation company should ensure that you do not overlook any important issues and choose a company that suits your needs. Now all you have to do is start looking. Good luck, or, as they say in Japanese, ganbatte!

This free advice has been kindly provided by the ApprovedIndex. If you would like to get free Quotes from muliple Translation Companies visit: http://www.approvedindex.co.uk/indexes/Translators/free-quote.aspx

I live in Caracas, Venezuela and spend my entire day speaking in English. Sounds bizarre right; I live in a Spanish speaking country and speak English all day. Well as an English teacher it is my job and one I don’t really mind. The only problem is that after three months here my Spanish is still only mediocre at best and that is probably being generous. I finally got myself a tutor and that seems to help, however before that I had actually resorted to trying to learn Spanish on line. Yes I was that girl in the internet café taking notes in her little notebook. The people around me (all of whom I am sure spoke Spanish) would glance at my computer screen or my notebook and then give me weird looks. Apparently it is a little uncommon to be studying Spanish in an internet café in a Spanish speaking country; I guess I missed the memo.

When I decide to learn Spanish on line I did a search and was quickly inundated with thousands of sights most of which ended up being irrelevant. However after a frustrating afternoon of trying to figure out which sites were actually helpful I came across one that seems to know what it is talking about and provides a wealth of information for free. LearnSpanish.com has been extremely helpful. Of course its ultimate goal is to sell you a product the free information is quite extensive and very well explained. There are numerous very good examples that are well explained and following the lessons there are free quizzes to test your knowledge.

There are numerous sites like this, and I am sure some of them are equally effective and well done. However most will want to sell you a product, probably a home study kit, and the information on the site is simply to help you enough to entice you into buying the kit.

Gregory Newell is a web author who’s written about hot to learn to speak Spanish. If you want to learn Spanish on line then you might be interested in reading more.

The beautiful language of Latin has been undergoing an incredible revival of interest lately. Why has this formerly moldy language acquired a new luster?

What constitutes a “revival of interest”?

Last year 148,000 students applied to take the National Latin Exam, according to their website (www.nle.org). In North Carolina there was a 156% increase in the number of students taking the exam, in Nevada an 84% increase. You didn’t even know there was a National Latin Exam, did you? Get with the times! What’s old is new, and Latin is cool again.

Pop-culture has had a big hand in this. The Harry Potter books and movies — insanely popular with adolescents — feature Latin prominently as the language of magic. There is even a complete Latin translation of the first Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone. If your child is reading “Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis” you can feel pretty confident about the quality of instruction they’re getting at school.

The more serious side of Latin has been in the movies recently, too. Mel Gibson’s controversial film The Passion of the Christ featured actors speaking in Latin and Aramaic. Although the Bible was not originally written in Latin, Latin became the language of the Roman Catholic Church. Consequently the Latin Vulgate served as the standard Bible for centuries. Inspired by The Passion, many Christians have begun learning Latin so they can read the Vulgate directly.

Resaerch has shown that students who take Latin score higher on their SAT’s, a big incentive for parents. Latin specifically improved English comprehension scores and was shown to sharpen language skills in general.

The study of Latin has significant benefits, and despite (or because of) its arcane reputation it is becoming more common in schools and universities. If you aren’t curious about it now, you will be when your children ask you to read them Harrius Potter at night.

Daniel Detlaf has been infected with Latin-mania — if you are bitten by him you will likely contract this dreaded disease as well. For more information on the study of Latin, including verb conjugations, noun declensions, and basic grammar, visit: www.latin-nerds.com