Language Is A Funny Thing

My wife and I like traveling and living in different places. Thanks to the internet, we can run a business from anywhere in the world. Well, almost.

If you want to travel or live in different places, you need to be able to communicate in the native language of that area. English may be widely spoken but not everyone speaks it as well as you would expect.

To communicate is not just being able to speak but to read and hopefully write in a foreign language. Trust me, you don't know what you are missing out unless you communicate in a foreign language at a respectable level. Don't get me wrong, you don't have to master a language. You just have to be able to communicate at a level where you can easily and comfortably converse with the people around you. It makes everything less stressful.

Don't a worry about what some articles say about kids pick up languages faster than adults. I think I wrote something about some studies supporting that statement a while back. However, new studies have shown that adults can pickup languages just as fast and maybe even faster.

The trick to this is the attitude and the method of learning.

Our Methods
My wife and I use a simple albeit unconventional method to learning a new language that works for us. When we wanted to learn Spanish, we started by watching Spanish foreign language DVDs with English subtitles. This enables us to familiarize ourselves with the language and accents used and the subtitles helps us to understand the context although we have no idea what the actual meanings of the words are. You could say this practice preps us for the upcoming learning process proper. 

As I may have mentioned in other posts, we also use language learning software to help us get started on the actual learning of words and phrases. Software has come along way since the earliest language learning software which I used in the mid 90s.

We sometimes take beginner language classes especially we have trouble finding a native speaker to practice with.

Since learning languages isn't a new thing to us, we are already mentally prepared. We already know how to learn new languages. Just like kids, after hearing something long enough, you would be able to grasp the meaning of it and the next process is to repeat it. Although kids usually repeat things they don't understand. Oddly enough, these words are usually consists of 4 letters and they are the ones you prefer kids not repeat.

When Portuguese Isn't Portuguese
The largest population of native Portuguese speakers is actually in Brazil, not Portugal. The funny thing is those in Portugal can understand Brazilian Portuguese but it does not work vice versa.

There's an interesting explanation to this. You see, Brazil is famous for its many soap opera series. And Portugal is a major importer of Brazilian soap operas. So many in Portugal have become accustomed to Brazilian Portuguese.

It much easier with other languages like English or Spanish where the accents are the tricky parts. 



So before you go ahead and learn a language, do a little homework first before you sign up for any lessons or purchase any language learning material.

Learning Foreign Languages When Time Is Short

Some of us do not have the luxury to take a 6 month language course taught by a proper language tutor. For instance when my wife and I won tickets to watch the Champions League final all the way in Istanbul, Turkey many years back, we only had two weeks to learn what we could.

So we got the necessary materials - Turkish foreign language learning software, some language learning DVDs and a dictionary. We got them all from our usual source - www.wor.com aka World Of Reading.

Mind you, since we were on the fast track to learn Turkish, we decided to get some materials meant for kids with the idea that they would be easier to digest. So we ended up learning a few Turkish songs along the way. It was fun and I think it really helped.

The good thing about the new language learning techniques used is that they teach you to listen and repeat sentences which you would most often use. So you can put them into practice as soon as you learn them. This makes memorizing them less of a chore.

I remember 20 years ago, this wasn't the case. We had to memorize words and grammar before we could use words in a sentence. It was very unnatural. This made learning a new language very cumbersome and tie consuming. Fortunately, studies have shown that the best way to learn a language is by listening and mimicking, like how children learn languages.

Since my wife and I were short of time, we learned only the essentials and we carried a cheat sheet and a dictionary just in case. This saved us a heap of time.  

Scoring Concrete Floors Will Be My Next Project

I was introduced to the idea of stained concrete floors a couple of months back while visiting a friend's house. I've always used tiles or natural stone but after seeing that the finish can look quite impressive, I might want to explore this method of floor decoration.

As I was saying, I visited a friend's place a few months back. My wife and I thought he had a professional do it so we were quite surprised that he and his wife did the job all by themselves. They did everything from the application of the acid to the application of the sealer. I must say that they did a fantastic job.

They didn't just do the driveway, mind you. They took a few weekends to complete their DIY stained concrete floor project which also included the kitchen floor and garden walkway.

What got my attention was a certain technique that was used to add texture or rather, designs to the concrete finish. The technique is called scoring and you can create all sorts of patterns on your concrete floors. Scoring is basically scratching or cutting the surface of the concrete. Apparently, this is quite common and my friends were a bit shocked that my wife and I did not know about it.

Anyway, scoring concrete can create a wide variety of patterns. The concrete can be scored either prior to staining and sealing or after. If the scoring is performed prior to staining and sealing, the score lines will be stained with the rest of the floor.

Apparently, scoring concrete is done when the concrete is fresh. Sawcut lines are done after the concrete is hardened and can be straight or diagonal to the edges of the concrete or bands. Diamonds, stars, rectangles and even circles can be saw-cut or grinded into the concrete. I will still to straight lines for now although I have been told cutting circles is not as challenging at it sounds.

After you have decided on a pattern, mark the design onto the floor using a chalk (never use red chalk as it is a permanent marker). Then, using a straight-edged object, cut the lines with the circular saw.  Once all the cutting is over and done with, remove the concrete dust by cleaning the concrete surface with soap and water. Allow the surface to dry completely before applying the stain and thereafter, the sealer. Leave it to dry for at least 24 hours.

You can get all the supplies and tools for staining and scoring concrete floors at http://concretecamouflage.com.

Brief View Of Tea Culture Around The World

Tea drinking is a big deal, especially in Asia. East Asia and probably England.

If you were born in the 70's, you would have watched at least one of the original Karate Kid movies. Those are the ones without Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. In Karate Kid 2, there's a scene with a Japanese tea ceremony which back then was the most romantic thing ever shown on the silver screen...according to a few female friends of mine.


In Chinese communities all over Asia, tea is the standard drink when having dim sum. A person or family honors a guest by serving them tea.

I learned that there are many types of Chinese tea which is prepared at different temperatures and served using different tea pots. Tea serving customs depend on occasion and clan practices.

In England, tea is served in cups. In Asia they are served in small cups, bowls and even bamboo. When I was in Morocco, I was served tea in very ornate and beautiful Moroccan tea glasses. In India I was served tea in stainless steel cups...and sometimes plastic ones too.


In Malaysia, the Indian-Muslim community have a special way of preparing tea. They use a big stainless steel mug and a serving glass to mix a milk-tea concoction so that it is served with a froth.

I've heard that this method of preparing tea originated in India and Sri Lanka.

Just like there are many types of coffee, so to are there many types of tea. 

Are Foreign Language Learning Books Better Than CD-ROMs?

In my opinion, from someone who was fortunate enough to have traveled and lived in many countries all over the world, I think learning a foreign language requires many tools. Some techniques and tools work better for some people than others.

So, when I was asked if foreign language learning books are better than CD-ROMs, I have to say that it depends when you use those tools.

You see, you can't start out with language learning books because:
a) You won't understand the foreign language
b) Even if the instructions were in a language you understand, you would not know how to properly pronounce the foreign words.

The only time I ever used foreign language learning books when I was just learning a language was when I took Mandarin classes. Of course there was a teacher around to help us through everything.

The good thing about taking lessons and using books is that you get to revise anytime you like, without the need for eBook Readers, tabs, laptops and so on.

So in short, if you want to use language learning foreign books, use them with an appropriate learning strategy in order to fully make use of it's benefits. Once you've got your basics covered, you improve your foreign language vocabulary with more foreign books.

CD-ROMs are great if you don't have a teacher around and the best thing is, you can move at your own speed. But it would be better if you could practice once a while with a person who speaks the language your are trying to learn fluently.

You'll find that speaking with someone makes you more confident as you improve your grammar and pronunciation.

You can get loads of foreign language books at this site http://www.wor.com/cat-foreign-language-and-esl-books.cfm