Category: Languages

Interesting Facts about Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu

The most important languages of the Malay Peninsula and the vast, scattered Indonesian archipelago are Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia. They are both based on the language of the Malay people who today live in Malaysia, Singapore, and parts of Western Indonesia. The two languages are almost so similar that a Malaysian from Ipoh in North West Malaysia would easily be able to communicate with a Timorese from Kupang in Indonesia, despite differences in vocabulary and pronunciation. The differences between the two languages are more like the differences between Castilian Spanish and the Spanish of many South American countries.

The word ‘Bahasa’ means ‘language,’ hence Bahasa Indonesia, is the ‘language of Indonesia.’ Until recently, Bahasa Melayu was more commonly called Bahasa Malaysia, although the term ‘Melayu,’ meaning Malay, (rather than the nation-state of Malaysia) was always more common in Singapore and Brunei. Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia are often just called ‘Bahasa’ by locals.

History has shaped the emergence of the two languages

Both these two languages, whatever their origin, have become important unifying influences in the two neighboring countries of Malaysia and Indonesia. Malaysia and Singapore have been strongly influenced by British colonialism and a short, but bloody period of Japanese occupation in the Second World War.  The colonial period meant that the indigenous Malay people were forced to share their territory with significant populations of ethnic Chinese and Tamil Indians. Although English has had a strong influence on both Malaysia and Singapore, the modern nation of Malaysia has adopted Bahasa Melayu as the official language of the country and is the main language of government and education. Nonetheless, Chinese and Indian Malaysians commonly speak at least three languages, their language of birth, (Chinese or Tamil) as well as Bahasa and English.

The word ‘Malaysia’ by the way is a combination of Malaya (the old British colonial name) and Singapore. Each country went its own way after a brief episode of federalism. Singapore’s national language is Malay (Bahasa Melayu) but has four official languages: English, Malay, Tamil, and Mandarin. Singaporeans themselves often say they speak ‘Singlish,’ a unique version of English with its own intonation and smatterings of other languages, including Bahasa.

Indonesia is even more diverse than Malaysia. It was colonized by the Moghuls who used Arabic and then by the Dutch. It is far larger and more diverse and complex linguistically than Malaysia. The modern nation-state of Indonesia emerged from the Dutch colony, a bloody war of independence giving Indonesia “Merdeka” after Indonesians had had enough of being pushed around. To unify this vast scattering of islands with its variety of indigenous languages, cultures, religions, and beliefs, Bahasa Indonesia became the official language. Just about every Indonesian apart from some remote tribes’ people (especially in the disputed territory of Irian Jaya) speaks Bahasa Indonesia as well as their native language. Bahasa Indonesia is consequently the language of government, education, and commerce.

Far-flung language family

The two ‘Bahasa’ are relatively easy languages to learn. A form of Arabic writing, Jawi, is long gone, although still seen in old literary works and religious scripts. There are Arabic words in both languages as well as many other loan words, especially in English. More interestingly is the little-known link between the Malay family of languages and those of the Pacific. In Bahasa, the word for fish is “ikan.” In Fijian, Tahitian, and Maori, the word for the same item of food is ‘ika”. There are important linguistic similarities in the wide-ranging family of languages called Malayo-Polynesian, although a Malaysian or Indonesian would find it impossible to understand a Samoan, Hawai’ian, or even a Malagasy or Filipino.

There’s English and Spanish, but What on Earth is Spanglish?

Languages are never fixed in time. They evolve and change. When people moved far less than they do today and most grew up in a defined locality talking to those who spoke the same language or dialect as they did, then there was little change. Dialects evolved due to geographical separation or isolation over time. Colonization or invasion often meant that there were two or more primary languages, one of the dominant or more powerful occupying group and the other the oppressed. That’s when the purity of a language began to change.

Kids grow up speaking both languages simultaneously and combining words and phrases to make new combinations. Globalization and the growing importance of English as a global lingua Francia often lead to changes in a language. These can work both ways, with words introduced from one language into another and new words and phrases being created from a combination of both.

Spanish is one of the world’s most spoken languages. In its purest form, it is spoken throughout the Iberian Peninsula apart from Portugal. Even there, there are regional dialects, as well as totally different languages like Basque (Catalan has strong similarities to Spanish). When the Spanish formed colonies in the Caribbean, Central, and South America, colonizers established their language as supreme amidst a huge number of largely forgotten indigenous languages. To the North, lay English speaking USA and Canada, to where eventually many Spanish speakers migrated. The juxtaposition of majority Spanish and minority English has given rise to “Spanglish,” a sort of creolized melee of both languages.

Where is Spanglish spoken?

Spanglish is spoken in Puerto Rico and many parts of North America where there are large Hispanic communities. It is not a uniform language by any means. Even back in the 1930s, what we now refer to as Spanglish was called Espanglish or Inglañol. The former was mostly Spanish and the latter more English than Spanish. Puerto Rico is probably where more Spanglish is spoken than anywhere else, partly because it is the only part of the world where both Spanish and English are joint official languages. Puerto Rico is a U.S. dependency and there are millions of Puerto Ricans who live in the U.S., so it is not surprising that it has become widespread in use there.
There are now over 50 million Hispanic people living in the U.S., the largest ethnic minority in the country. Many in the Hispanic community grow up with Spanglish, although they may also be able to speak pure Spanish and English depending on the context as well.

Spanglish may be the preferred language to be used in many Hispanic communities in places like Miami, California, Texas and New York. There are so many variations of what could be termed Spanglish such as the creolized language used by Afro-Cubans who live in Florida, called Cubonics from Cuban Spanish and Afro American slang.

Spanglish has also become established in places where the two languages mix in other parts of the world like Gibraltar, Belize and the ABC islands of the Caribbean, together with other creole languages like Papamiento.

Japanese Culture and Language Explained

Introduction
If you intend to visit Japan (after the coronavirus is defeated, of course!) for any length of time, then it is a good idea to become acquainted with the Japanese language and Japanese culture. This article is intended to provide a few facts about the Japanese language and culture to get you started. There are 125 million Japanese and their economy, while perhaps not as strong as it once was, is still an extremely important one on the world economic stage.
Sadly, if you thought your visit would coincide with the Olympics, you will now have to reschedule your visit to 2021, due to the threat to athletes and visitors alike from COVID-19. The postponement of the XXXII Olympiad, now officially renamed Tokyo Olympics 2021, has been met with a huge disappointment in Japan, but the reaction to the postponement does indeed teach the outsider or Gaijin about the Japanese character and the pride they have in their nation.

Is Japanese a tough language to learn?
It’s probably fair to say that Japanese is a tough language to learn, whoever you are (unless you are Japanese, of course!). Part of the reason for that is that Japanese is unlike any other language on Earth. Geographically, Japan is closest to Korea and China and there are many superficial similarities between Japanese, Korean and Chinese. There are some definite similarities too, particularly the use of kanji (Japanese), or hanja (Korean), which are the characters used in Japanese, Korean and Chinese writing. There is some overlap in the vocabulary, partly because of possible, but not proven ancient linguistic links and partly because of occupation by the Japanese prior to the Second World War, but basically these three languages are mutually unintelligible. A Korean or Chinese person who cannot understand Japanese would probably try using another language like English to communicate.
This is a very different situation to other parts of the world, although Turkish and Greek, although close geographically is quite different. So is Finnish quite different from all other Scandinavian languages? Think how similar many Latin languages are to each other – Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and French. They may still find it difficult to talk to each other, because of accents and dialects, but they can probably have a very good stab at understanding each others’ printed words.

Interesting facts about Japanese culture
One of the most notable features of Japanese culture is that the Japanese population is surprisingly monoethnic, especially compared to other western nations. Nearly 99% of the population is Japanese, with a small smattering of Koreans, Chinese and other nationalities. Of course, major cities like Tokyo have a relatively small population of foreigners who come to study, teach, work in business or arrive as curious tourists.

Like any other large population, it is not safe to assume that the Japanese are all the same culturally. There are some stereotypes that may ring true for some Japanese, but there are many Japanese who don’t fit into these stereotypes.
Here are some interesting facts about Japanese society and culture

Most widely practiced religion or belief: Shintoism and Buddhism;
Saving face, or maintaining one’s own pride and self-esteem is important;
Japanese traditional food is centered on rice and fish;
Japanese tend to prefer to keep their own personal space,(probably very wise in these days of avoiding the coronavirus!);
Gift-giving is an important part of the culture;
Business or work dress tends to be conservative: dark suits for men and dresses for women;
Use purpose-designed slippers while using the toilet;
If invited to a Japanese dinner or meal, there is a protocol that is important to know about it.
How Japan compares technologically to other countries
Japan is an advanced Western country with a sophisticated and well developed technological basis. It wasn’t always like that. Japan took off industrially well before the Second World War and came to dominate much of East Asia, including the Korean Peninsula and much of China. Imperialist Japan felt it needed to expand its borders to find the resources to feed its growing industrial base and compete with the West. Post WW2, it went through a very rapid phase of development and filled the place in terms of industrial output and manufacture that China is now filling. Japanese technology is for that reason on a par with other comparable western nations. The country’s manufacturing base is now centered on heavy machinery, automobiles, and electronic products. Many Japanese companies are household names around the world.
The country’s technological prowess and confidence took a big hit in 2011when the tsunami offshore from Fukushima killed thousands of people and several nuclear facilities were breached. Japan’s economy nosedived further at the time and hasn’t fully recovered. To date, Japan remains behind in the search and introduction of renewable energy technology although it has rolled out some of the cheaper EV cars on the world market.

Introduction

If you intend to visit Japan (after the coronavirus is defeated, of course!) for any length of time, then it is a good idea to become acquainted with the Japanese language and Japanese culture. This article is intended to provide a few facts about the Japanese language and culture to get you started. There are 125 million Japanese and their economy, while perhaps not as strong as it once was, is still an extremely important one on the world economic stage.
Sadly, if you thought your visit would coincide with the Olympics, you will now have to reschedule your visit to 2021, due to the threat to athletes and visitors alike from COVID-19. The postponement of the XXXII Olympiad, now officially renamed Tokyo Olympics 2021, has been met with a huge disappointment in Japan, but the reaction to the postponement does indeed teach the outsider or Gaijin about the Japanese character and the pride they have in their nation.

Is Japanese a tough language to learn?

It’s probably fair to say that Japanese is a tough language to learn, whoever you are (unless you are Japanese, of course!). Part of the reason for that is that Japanese is unlike any other language on Earth. Geographically, Japan is closest to Korea and China and there are many superficial similarities between Japanese, Korean and Chinese. There are some definite similarities too, particularly the use of kanji (Japanese), or hanja (Korean), which are the characters used in Japanese, Korean and Chinese writing. There is some overlap in the vocabulary, partly because of possible, but not proven ancient linguistic links and partly because of occupation by the Japanese prior to the Second World War, but basically these three languages are mutually unintelligible. A Korean or Chinese person who cannot understand Japanese would probably try using another language like English to communicate.
This is a very different situation to other parts of the world, although Turkish and Greek, although close geographically is quite different. So is Finnish quite different from all other Scandinavian languages? Think how similar many Latin languages are to each other – Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and French. They may still find it difficult to talk to each other, because of accents and dialects, but they can probably have a very good stab at understanding each others’ printed words.

Interesting facts about Japanese culture

One of the most notable features of Japanese culture is that the Japanese population is surprisingly monoethnic, especially compared to other western nations. Nearly 99% of the population is Japanese, with a small smattering of Koreans, Chinese and other nationalities. Of course, major cities like Tokyo have a relatively small population of foreigners who come to study, teach, work in business or arrive as curious tourists.

Like any other large population, it is not safe to assume that the Japanese are all the same culturally. There are some stereotypes that may ring true for some Japanese, but there are many Japanese who don’t fit into these stereotypes.
Here are some interesting facts about Japanese society and culture

  • Most widely practiced religion or belief: Shintoism and Buddhism;
  • Saving face, or maintaining one’s own pride and self-esteem is important;
  • Japanese traditional food is centered on rice and fish;
  • Japanese tend to prefer to keep their own personal space,(probably very wise in these days of avoiding the coronavirus!);
  • Gift-giving is an important part of the culture;
  • Business or work dress tends to be conservative: dark suits for men and dresses for women;
  • Use purpose-designed slippers while using the toilet;
  • If invited to a Japanese dinner or meal, there is a protocol that is important to know about it.

How Japan compares technologically to other countries

Japan is an advanced Western country with a sophisticated and well developed technological basis. It wasn’t always like that. Japan took off industrially well before the Second World War and came to dominate much of East Asia, including the Korean Peninsula and much of China. Imperialist Japan felt it needed to expand its borders to find the resources to feed its growing industrial base and compete with the West. Post WW2, it went through a very rapid phase of development and filled the place in terms of industrial output and manufacture that China is now filling. Japanese technology is for that reason on a par with other comparable western nations. The country’s manufacturing base is now centered on heavy machinery, automobiles, and electronic products. Many Japanese companies are household names around the world.
The country’s technological prowess and confidence took a big hit in 2011when the tsunami offshore from Fukushima killed thousands of people and several nuclear facilities were breached. Japan’s economy nosedived further at the time and hasn’t fully recovered. To date, Japan remains behind in the search and introduction of renewable energy technology although it has rolled out some of the cheaper EV cars on the world market.

Is There a Limit to the Number of Languages You Can Learn?

There are some common denominators around language learning. Firstly, it’s far easier for learning languages when you are young. Secondly, people learn languages primarily because they are motivated to do so. How many languages can you learn at any one time? There are unsubstantiated records of some exceptional people who have been able to speak 40 or so different languages, but that is probably unlikely. Before there are any answers to the question in the title of this article, it must be defined what ‘learning a language actually means.

Monolingualism is the default

Someone who only understands and speaks a single language fluently is called monolingual. The stress is on the word ‘fluent,’ so if someone can say a few words in another language and guess what a sign is in a language other than his / her own, then that doesn’t classify as ‘fluent.’ It has been estimated that just over 40 percent of the world’s population is basically monolingual.

Bilingualism is commoner than you might think

If you are genuinely bilingual, you are fluent in two different languages. This would be a common development for anyone born to two parents whose native languages are different and who has had some immersion in countries where these languages are spoken. It is also a common phenomenon in countries that have more than one official language. Many Welsh speakers, for example, are genuinely bilingual, as they also speak English. Bilingualism is typical of people whose native language is a minority language in a country where it may have official status but is far less used or useful.

Many Europeans in countries where the native and official language is spoken only by a few million inhabitants are also often bilingual. For example, many Scandinavians understand and speak English very well indeed.

Many migrants to a country where their native language has no useful role apart from within their own particular migrant community also develop bilingualism quite quickly.

Perhaps surprisingly, there are thought to be more genuinely bilingual speakers than monolingual speakers, with the former percentage at around 43% of the world’s population.

13% of the world’s people are trilingual!

Far fewer people can speak three languages fluently, but it’s still a healthy number. People who live surrounded by countries that have a strong influence on them but speak a different language are often candidates for trilingualism. Many Dutch people, for instance, are fluent in Dutch, English, and German. The three languages have similarities but are still different enough to be worth the effort of learning them. Travelers and people who work with refugees and migrants have an incentive to learn several different languages, but whether they develop true fluency is another question.

Reaching the limit at a dozen?

About 3% of the world’s population is thought to be able to speak more than three languages fluently. They are called ‘multilingual’ although there are other terms that have been coined for even more language proficiency. Polyglots are those who can speak five or more languages and there is even a term for those whose language proficiency is almost stratospheric and probably reaching the absolute upper limit of language fluency.

The so-called hyperpolyglots have been credited for speaking as many as 12 languages proficiently.

Is there a limit to how many languages you can learn?

We can probably reasonably conclude that there is a natural limit to the human ability to learn languages fluently. It drops off markedly after 3 or 4 and is probably a maximum around the low teens. The reason for the limited number of languages is twofold: most people find it hard to learn a new language when they are older, so their upper limit is probably determined by what they are exposed to when young. Also, most people apart from a few, have no real reason to learn more than two or three languages well.

The effects of globalization tend to make an international language, like English, become the main language of communication, or lingua franca when people who don’t otherwise understand each other wish to communicate. In other words, when Germans meet Italians, or Indians meet Argentinians, it’s easier to stick to English, rather than learn a whole new language. That might also explain why an unhealthy percentage of monolinguals are native English speakers –they think they don’t need to bother learning another language, and unfortunately arrogant presumption.

The French Language Around the World

French is often called the love language. Because of its close association with Paris, it creates the image of a romantic cobblestone narrow alley lit up with the softly glowing iconic Parisian street lighting. French does, of course, originate from France, but it has spread throughout the world, and today there are several French variations some of which are indistinguishable from standard French while others have developed their own idioms and nuances.

Standard French from France

This French variety which is spoken throughout France is called le français neutre, meaning neutral French”, and it can be heard spoken by 50 million-plus people both in and close to France. It is heavily influenced by the Académie Française, the main official administrative body which makes most of the grammatical and lexical decisions about what should be included in the French language and is found in dictionaries. Standard French is the French that is typically taught at language classes throughout the world.

Canadian French and Quebec French

It might be a surprise to know that there are 6.2 million people who speak French who live in Quebec and more than 700,000 speakers in other parts of the country. Montreal uses French in several contexts including in the media, education and the government. Canadian and Standard French isn’t different but is much the same language, meaning that speakers of both the two supposed dialects can easily understand one another. However, there are a few important differences in vocabulary that you must get right. For example, in Canadian French, the word plein(e) as an adjective means “full up with food”, while in France its meaning is “pregnant.”

African French

There are actually more people who speak French who reside in Africa than in Europe. There are some countries in West Africa that have French as either the official or joint-official language. Overall it is estimated that there are 120 million individuals in Africa who speak French. They are not all exactly the same as standard French. In Abidjan which is Ivory Coast’s economic capital, there are many loanwords which come from Mandinka such as une go, that means girlfriend or just girl, and the phrase un bra-môgô, that means  “dude.” In a few more urbanized areas there is a new type of French evolving which is called Français Populaire Africain. It was, to begin with, associated with the lower classes, but has recently been adopted as the preferred language among the upper classes, and is now socially accepted.

Belgian French

French is typically the 2nd most common Belgium language and is spoken as a native language by about 4.5 million individuals which are 40 per cent of the country’s population. Belgian French mimics Standard French with just a few rather subtle vocab. differences. One clear example in standard French is the word “potatoes” which are pommes de terre but in Belgian French they are patates. Also in standard French, a “sofa” is canapé but in Belgian French, it refers to a divan.

From the continent of Europe through to Africa and North America, French is growing rapidly as a popular global language. From this, there is developing several versions of French accompanied by unique accents, vocabulary and idioms. Much of today’s French slang originates from North African Arabic, which is spoken in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Some slang is used among friends and families who come from the outside of the vast French cities.

The best way to learn French is in a country where you are likely to stay the longest. You can learn from a native speaker so that when you speak your new language you will sound more like a native than learning Standard French in a classroom in France.

The Indonesian Language is Easy to Learn

The Global Reach of Bahasa Indonesia

Bahasa Indonesia, or Bahasa Melayu, usually just called Bahasa, has 200 million speakers throughout the world which makes it one of the ten most spoken global languages. Its speakers live in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand, and the Philippines Sulu archipelago. It has a useful characteristic and that is it’s one of the simplest languages to learn.

The Language’s Accessibility

This is partly due to the fact that over the years some spoken words in Indonesian have been officially accepted into the English dictionary. This includes words like gong, sago, kapok, and sarong. However, there are other suggested reasons why learning Indonesian is not that difficult.

A Non-Tonal Language

It isn’t a tonal language, which for speakers who don’t know much about tonal languages, listening to Bahasa for the very first time makes the language appear quite straightforward and direct. It is quite easy to pronounce and imitate and still be understood. It is even easier for people from parts of Africa and Asia as there are similarities in sentence formation and pronunciation. There are also some words that have been borrowed from Arabic, Dutch, and even Sanskrit.

Agglutinative Nature

Bahasa is often referred to as “agglutinative.” This basically means that it uses many suffixes and prefixes. It is so easy that some basic words only require affixes to change the meaning of the word.  This is easy to adapt to English speakers.

Flexible Grammar

Bahasa’s grammatical rules are not too difficult and even if you don’t follow the standard rules in grammar for forming sentences you should be understood. Even if you put sentences together which aren’t grammatically correct as long as there are some keywords in them you should still be understood.

Importance of learning Indonesian

Whether you wish to travel to either Malaysia or Indonesia the two languages are pretty well much the same. So you can use your hard-won Bahasa Indonesia in Malaysia as well. You will without a question be understood. You will find when visiting either country that English isn’t necessarily widely spoken but you can throw in a few words into roughly formed sentences in Indonesian and you will be understood. More and more businesses are selling their manufactured products to Malaysia and Indonesia so if you work for these companies just a smattering of Indonesian will help you establish a good reputation for yourself and your business.

Some people say if you buy a dictionary or even use an Indonesian language app and memorize a lot of words and keep practicing with the locals you will soon get a good understanding and feel for the language. There are no complicated verb forms to worry about in Indonesian. The past tense is created by adding other words to the main verb. There are some pronunciation rules worth knowing like “C” is pronounced as CH in Indonesian.  If you see the letter “nga” in a word you may have trouble pronouncing the word. It is pronounced as “NNGGG,” such as pengacarra, meaning lawyer, and lapangan, meaning meadow. There are lots of words like this. There is the letter “a” to consider as well which is pronounced like the British pronounce it and that is “ah.” It is very easy to communicate by just putting the words together. The local Indonesians will think you are clever / “pintar” if you can put words together when holding a conversation with them. They will probably ask “Dimana belajar Bahasa Indonesia?” which means where did you get to learn our language, Indonesian? The normal reply is “Saya members kamus, (I purchased a dictionary) saya belajar banyak kata2, (I taught myself many words from it) and dan saya latihan dengan laki-laki di panti, (I practiced talking with young men while relaxing on the beach”). They would be so impressed. It is even better if you can learn some humorous phrases as they just love to laugh.

Here are some surprising Indonesian phrases and their English translations.

  • An Indonesian isn’t ever “two-faced.” S/he is a “sheep with make-up.” In Indonesian that is kambing dibedakin.
  • Indonesians are not “coy,” but they’re “shy-shy kitten.” In Indonesian that is malu-malu kucing.
  • Indonesians never “get sick” or “catch a cold,” but they “enter wind.” In Indonesian that is masuk angin.
  • Indonesians never have “beauty marks,” but they do have “fly poos.” In Indonesian that is tahi lalat.
  • An Indonesian won’t tell you that s/he “is not feeling well,” but s/he will say that s/he is “not of the delicious body.” In Indonesian that is gak enak badan.
  • An Indonesian never “loses interest” in his/her passion, but s/ he gets the ”warm-warm chicken shit.” In Indonesian that is hangat-hangat tahi ayam.
  • An Indonesian will never tell you that s/he is feeling “tired,” but s/he may say that s/he has “5 watts left.” In Indonesian that is tinggal lima-watt.
  • Indonesians never order eggs “sunny-side up,” but they have what they call “cow’s-eye eggs.” In Indonesian that is telur mata-sapi.

 

Keep Focused When Learning a New Language

Communication has become faster, easier, and at a lower cost than it has ever been. This doesn’t mean all communication overseas takes place in your own language. You have to think carefully if you want to travel and be part of the global economy and consider learning a second language. To be able to master a foreign language requires effort, dedication, patience, time, and self-belief. You need to have the correct mindset if you wish to achieve your goal and this is the best way to learn a new language.

13 hints on the best way to learn a language

  • You must be clear to yourself why you want to learn a new language. You should answer certain questions such as will learning a new language help you with your job or will it help to ensure you will get more enjoyment when visiting a new country. You may have friends who speak a second language so learning it yourself may help to improve your relationships.
  • Commit yourself once you have made the decision to learn a new language. Once you begin to learn the new language, have the confidence to persevere so that you can achieve your goal. If you are older but wish to begin traveling you still have a high chance of mastering a new language.
  • Time is an important factor in learning a new language. Don’t expect to become fluent overnight but some hardworking language learners can reach a reasonable level of fluency within 12 weeks.
  • As you proceed through the language learning process make sure you set attainable goals as this will help to keep you focused and on task.
  • Immerse yourself in the new language. That means eating with and sleeping with the language meaning you should engage yourself as often as possible with speakers of the language.
  • If necessary, enroll in a language school that has a 5-star reputation for success which is based on excellence in language learning.
  • The internet is a proven language learning tool and is one of the best ways to learn a language. You can link up with speakers of your second language through social media which will keep you talking 24/7.
  • Watch foreign-language movies and television shows (preferably where subtitles are used) and tune in to podcasts and radio stations that broadcast in your chosen second language.
  • Seek out all available language learning resources such as foreign language books, newspapers, and magazines
  • The key to learning a new language is keeping yourself absorbed in the new language by making use of as many resources as possible to help you in language processing.
  • Try to understand and appreciate the people who speak your chosen second language. This includes their culture and history.
  • Don’t be too serious when studying a second language. If you make a mistake laugh at it and correct it but don’t feel ashamed of it as it happens to everyone.

Be bold when engaged in language learning you will achieve your goal faster and gain confidence in speaking the language far faster than being intimidated by the task.

One important thought to remember is if you make any mistakes don’t let it get you down otherwise you may fall down completely and lose track of your goal of learning a new language. Getting back on track is the best way to rebuild your confidence in learning a new language. You will get there in the end and it will open a completely new perspective on the world.

Interesting Facts About the French Language

French rivals English as a truly international language, and to be honest, the ascendancy of English over French has only come about in the last two or three decades. French remains a very important international language and not just for the millions of people around the world who use it as their primary or native language.

Here are some Interesting Facts about the French Language

1. Learning French gives you Maximum Insight into France and the Francophone Countries

One of the most important facts about France is that French people prefer to talk in French! If you want to know how to learn the French language or actually live or work in France or any other of the 53 odd Francophone countries, it is best to at least learn basic French language.

2. The capital of the Republic of the Congo is the Second-Largest Francophone city!

Rather amazingly, there are more French speakers in Kinshasa, the huge, sprawling capital of the Central African country of the Congo than in any European city except Paris. And that’s despite the fact that the larger of the two Congos was actually a Belgian colony in the past and not a French one!

3. France is the Most Visited Country in the World

Over 70 million visitors go to France for one reason or another every year. That’s more than any other country. France can take it better than some other countries because the visitor to resident ratio is still a lot less than the equivalent ratio for countries like Croatia, Iceland or Malta. Still, the fact that you might be planning a visit to France must make it an important stimulus for French language learning.

4. French is spoken all around the World

France, like Britain, was an important colonial power and at one time controlled vast swathes of the planet. It left its influence in every one of its former colonies, and many of them either use French still like an official language or it is used in the courts, business or in education. Even in many old British colonies, there is often a combination of English and French spoken and used. Examples of bilingual nations who owe their official languages to past colonisers include Canada, Mauritius, Vanuatu, Cameroon and Seychelles.

5. French and English share a lot of Common Vocabulary

Although English speakers battle with French pronunciation, in fact, a lot of the vocabulary in English is shared with French. Both languages have had periods of history in which one or the other has had a predominant influence. One of the more interesting French language facts is that many English words are recognisably French in origin, such as restaurant, café, bourgeois, chic, depot, chauffeur, brunette, etc.

6. French and France Remain an Important Part of the E.U.

France was one of the original 6 countries in Europe that formed the trading and political block formerly known as the “Common Market,” which became the “European Community’ and then the “European Union” (E.U.). France remains an important part of the modern E.U., despite misgivings about the relevance of the E.U. to some within the country. French is one of the most important languages in the E.U. and its institutions like the European Parliament.

7. French is spoken in Several other European Countries

Although there are more French speakers in France than anywhere else in the world, it is also an official language in Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco and as has already been mentioned in many other parts of the world where France was an old colonial power. French is also the official language in French territories and overseas dependencies overseas, such as Martinique, French Polynesia and New Caledonia.

8. France and the French people have had an Enormous Influence over the World

French people have had a huge influence in practically every human endeavour, including in culture, music, film, clothing, literature, political and economic philosophy, science and technology. From the French space base in French Guiana to Cannes where one of the world’s most important film festivals takes place, France has had a leading role to play in human society.

How Many Languages are Spoken in China?

The official language and most spoken language in China is Mandarin, which originates from the Han, one of China’s main ethnic groups originating in the north of the country. This is spoken by 910 million people. Another important language, the Wu language, has 77 million speakers, the Min language, which has 70 million speakers, and Cantonese, which has 71 million speakers and is also a language used in China.

What are the Top 3 Languages Spoken in China?

The top three languages spoken in order of the number of speakers are:

  • Mandarin
  • Wu
  • Min.

Mandarin makes up a group of related Chinese languages spoken in southwestern China and northern China. This includes the Beijing dialect which is the foundation of Standard Mandarin. With its 910 million speakers there are 200 million who speak it as a second language. Its language families are the Sinitic languages and Sino Tibetan languages. The writing system is Chinese characters both simplified and traditional.

The history of the Chinese language modern Wu comes from ancient Wu and Yue, which today is spoken in northern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu. Suzhou was likely to have been the 1st place where Wu was developed, as the Suzhou dialect is the best example of Wu. The Wu that was developed in Shanghai led to the forming of standard Shanghainese. Shanghai is an important economic center and has the biggest number of Wu speakers.

Min, or Miin, is a group of Chinese languages with 30 million speakers spoken in the Fujian province and 45 million descendants of the Fujian province who moved to Guangdong in the Chaozhou-Shantou and Chaoshan areas, the Leizhou Peninsula and Hainan, and three counties in South Zhejiang, some of Zhongshan and off Ningbo in the Zhoushan archipelago, some communities in Liyang in Jiangyin City in the Jiangsu province, and in Taiwan. The name originates from the River Min in Fujian. Speakers of Min dialects can’t understand one another or any other Chinese language. In southeast Asia, amongst the Chinese migrant population, Min can be heard spoken. Some of the Min languages resemble Old Chinese.

How Many Different Languages are Spoken in China?

China has at least eight linguistically different language groups and literally hundreds of dialects. Usually, they aren’t mutually understandable. Mandarin is considered to be the official language of both Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China. It is an official language of the United Nations and also in Singapore.

Why is the Chinese Language Spoken Most in the World?

Most people still think that the English language is the most widely spoken language in the world today, but in fact, Chinese is the most commonly used language. There are a large number of native speakers as well as many who speak it as a second language. Mandarin and Cantonese are the two most dominant languages and Mandarin has the status of being the predominant spoken language, while Cantonese is spoken throughout China and in Hong Kong and Macao.

Cantonese resembles more the earlier forms of the language and is considered to be a conservative Chinese language. It has nine tones: three with short syllables and six with regular length. Mandarin isn’t like Cantonese at all and includes four tones and a neutral tone. The Chinese language is widely spoken and Chinese words have been imported into Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese languages, and these days comprise more than 50 percent of their vocabulary.

The percentage of vocabulary with a Chinese origin is more prevalent in abstract, technical, or formal language. In Japan, Sino-Japanese vocabulary accounts for about 35 percent of the words found in entertainment magazines, more than 50 percent of words in newspapers, and 60 percent of words used in science magazines. Today written Japanese is made up of Chinese characters called Kanji and kana. Korean is written in North Korea with Hangul, and Chinese characters called Hanja can be found in South Korea. Vietnamese today is written using the Latin alphabet.

Overall, due to the large population in China and neighboring countries, Chinese is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.

What Languages Are Spoken In Australia?

The Australian national language is English and it is this language that is spoken freely as a first language by the majority of the country’s inhabitants and is the official language of government and education. There is no need to translate English to Australian as there is no significant difference between the English of Australia and that of England. English started to take over from aboriginal languages after the country was systematically colonized by the British in the the1780s. Today, English still dominates but there are some aboriginal languages that still exist, albeit only in small isolated pockets in more remote parts of the country.

How Many Different Languages are Spoken in Australia?

 

There are several other languages spoken in Australia apart from English. The way that government authorities determine what main languages are spoken in Australia is from census information provided by those living in the country at the time of the census, which takes place every 5 years. Over the last 15 years, there has been some change in what are the languages spoken in Australia and the most spoken languages in Australia. In 2001, 80 percent of the population indicated that the main language they spoke at home was Australian English. By 2006, which was the next census, this had dropped to 79 percent, while by 2011 the English-speaking number had decreased further to 76.8 percent.

By 2016, the census showed that 72.7 percent of Australia’s population spoke English as their main or native language. This trend is due to immigration changes in the country. Previously most immigrants came from New Zealand and the United Kingdom but this trend is starting to change. Out of the 6,163,667 people in the country who were born overseas, almost one in five, or 18 percent, had entered the country since the beginning of 2012. The 2016 Census revealed that 67 percent of Australians were born in the country. Almost half, 49 percent, had been either born abroad, or 1 or both of their parents had been born abroad.

 

The immigration trend has now changed to the extent that English is slowly losing its importance and other languages are replacing it. This doesn’t mean that immigrants don’t speak English, as they have to pass English tests before they are allowed to migrate into Australia. In the early stages of the life of an immigrant, their native language would accompany them and would continue to be used in the family environment until children have passed through the Australian education system, where the only language used is English. Unless a language is actively maintained by the family and the country they live in the native language will start to lose its importance, but that can take several decades.

The other languages spoken in the country depend on which countries in Australia people come from. The top countries are Arabic-speaking countries, China, Italy, Vietnam, and Greece.  Second to English is Mandarin with 2.5 percent of Australia’s population speaking the language, followed by Arabic with 1.4 percent speakers; thirdly Cantonese with 1.2 percent of speakers and Italian and Vietnamese attracting 1.2 percent. Greek is also spoken too, but Greeks were early migrants to Australia and the language does not have so much importance today. Added to this percentage is the 1 percent of the population that speak indigenous languages, of which there are at least 50 languages spoken in Australia today.

Top Languages Spoken in Australia

 

The Other Top Languages Spoken in Australia Include:

● Nepali

● Malay

● German

● Spanish

● Hindi

● Filipino

● Spanish

● Korean

● Punjabi

● Afrikaans

● Malayalam

● Fiji

● Dutch

● Min Nan

● Sinhalese

● Tagalog

● German

● Indonesian

● Afrikaans

● Japanese

● Polish

● French

● Thai

● Urdu

What Does Diversity of Language Mean to Australia?

 

In 2016, more than 300 languages were identified as being spoken in Australian homes. More than 21 percent of Australians spoke at home a language that’s not English Tasmania had the greatest number of people who only spoke English in the home, with 88 percent, and Northern Territory had 58 percent, which was the lowest. Language is something you can’t remove from people as it allows for effective communication of the beliefs and values of a particular culture.

This diversity of language is an asset to Australia as it helps to foster international ties and trigger cultural exchanges. It’s useful to have people living in a country who naturally speak another language apart from the national language of the host country. They can act in bilingual situations when their skills may be needed to facilitate trade agreements or to engage in communication between countries that have diplomatic ties with Australia. They can act as interpreters or translators in court cases or in medical situations where those involved don’t have full command of Australian English.

Australian Aboriginal languages

 

In the later part of the 18th century, there were 250 Aboriginal social groups and they shared around the same number of aboriginal languages. By the 21st century, there were fewer than 150 Aboriginal languages still used on a daily basis. Most are today likely to disappear completely, except 13, which are still taught to children and are only found in the most isolated areas. Out of the 5 which are least endangered, four belong to the Ngaanyatjarra grouping in Western Australia who are found in the Central and Great Victoria Desert. North East Arnhem land in the Northern Territory still teaches Yolŋu languages to children as part of bilingual education programs. Tiwi, Warlpiri, and Murrinh-path, also in the Northern Territory, have from 1,000 to 3,000 speakers.

For the time being English is still the dominant language in Australia and embedded in it is Australian English, which even though is clearly recognizable as English today, has absorbed words, phrases, and idioms from North America. In fact, there are many ways that Australia resembles America, particularly in the design of its towns and cities which both follow post-colonial lines and lack historical buildings and quaint villages and towns you find in England. Some Australians are quick to mimic American English they hear on mass media and words like ‘truck’ and ‘guys’ are embedded in Australian English. Australian English also has a whole vocabulary that has developed in isolation and is recognizably ‘Australian.’ While it would be pushing it too far to say that Australians speak Australian, they certainly can be recognized by their accent, which is recognizably distinctive.