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February 15, 2017

Travelling Corner: My 5 Best of Prague

Prague, my dear Prague… I always experience a whole load of feelings here: from laughter, disgust, admiration, astonishment or surprise; it’s true, you can be amazed and rationally challenged everywhere. Example one: When I arrived in Prague, I wanted to buy a weekly ticket for public transport. The middle-aged saleswoman was switching between several languages so easily (those I could hear were Czech, Russian, English & German) and managing to answer some very difficult questions without any hesitation (!). Example two: I stayed in a relatively old building which surprisingly had a super-modern lift with touch-screen buttons and glass walls, but the lift stopped between floors so you still had to walk up some stairs (?). Example three: You can find bars where your chosen meal options will be charged by weight (tip: choose lighter dishes to pay less!). Example four: As the Czech Republic is a small country, there are certain customs based on trust, e.g. there are no tube barriers in Prague, but obviously, you’re still obliged to buy your commuting tickets! Example five: We visited Prague in December. The city was beautifully decorated and some squares (including the main square) had nativity scenes, but with real animals, e.g. sheep, goats and a pony.

Personally, I love those paradoxes, but now let’s move to my 5 best of Prague.

Josefov & Španělská synagoga

Josefov. The Old Jewish Quarter. I’m in love with this part of Prague. It’s magical, charismatic and has amazing architecture. It’s a perfect location for wondering around and admiring the beautiful buildings.

If you’re in Josefov, you may want to visit the Old Jewish Cemetery and the synagogues. The Spanish Synagogue Španělská synagoga stole my heart. It isn’t so well presented form outside, but inside it has a breath-taking interior.

Theatre Stavovské divadlo

Prague has many cultural pearls: the Národní divadlo National Threatre, the Rudolfinum Concert Hall, the Klementinum Old Library, and amongst others, the Stavovské divadlo theatre situated in the Old Town. Established and working since 1783, this theatre has an impressive design, both interior and exterior and the great repertoire on offer makes it a perfect place to visit. Interestingly, the premières of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and La Clamenza di Tito took place in this very theatre where the Czech director Miloš Forman also filmed the concert scenes of his Oscar-winning film Amadeus.

Klášter sv. Anežky České

Prague has many art galleries, but I was truly amazed by the Convent of Saint Agnes Klášter sv. Anežky České, a gallery with medieval art and an impressive collection of artefacts. The gallery is located in one of the oldest Gothic buildings in Prague, the monastery of Poor Clares of the Order of Saint Clare and Franciscans which was founded in around 1231.

Public transport

I was so impressed by the public transport in Prague! It was punctual, clean and amazingly connected between train, tube, bus and tram. I bought a three-day pass and could travel with no limits for 72 hours in the city centre. If I wanted to go to the zoo, for example, I took a tube train and then a bus and the bus stop was situated just by the tube station and the whole journey was super short. Very efficient!

Svařený jablečný džus

If you go to a cafe you might be surprised by the wide offer of beverages you can have. I visited Prague in winter, so there were many hot drink options (both alcoholic and non-) to taste. I particularly enjoyed the warm apple juice with spices: pressed apple juice, ground spices & cloves; simmer all for a few minutes until hot, done!

Have you been to Prague? What were your favourite spots? Please share in the comments below.

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February 1, 2017

Learning a Language: Is Individual Tuition Really for Me?

When we decide we want to learn a new language, we want to find a suitable tutor or a course to guide us through our journey of learning a foreign language. When is it right to have individual lessons? Let me share with you some ideas:

LANGUAGE SPECIFICATION You might want to learn an unusual or specific language, dialect or register, e.g. legal French or business Japanese.

GOAL You might have a specific goal, e.g. you want to sit an exam in 6 months.

TIME You might need to make progress within a time-scale, e.g. you have 3 months to learn communicative Spanish and you want to study every day at 7am.

BUSY You might have a busy work/life schedule, e.g. you only have time very early in the morning or at lunch-time.

TRAVEL You might travel frequently. Travelling may make studying difficult so it is important to plan your lessons in advance.

SELF-STUDY You might only need a little guidance, as you are studying on your own, e.g. help with pronunciation, specific grammar points or detailed questions.

PERSONALITY Being shy, introverted or individualistic may mean that you’ll be more active and you’ll use the language more frequently when having 1-to-1 lessons.

I believe these might be the common reasons for choosing individual tuition. What is your opinion or experience? When do you think we should have 1-to-1 lessons? Please let me know in the comments below.

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January 25, 2017

Language Learning Tips: How to Use Your Language Skills Daily

What happens to a skill that you don’t use in a while? You will be familiar with the phrases, “I’m out of practice” or “I’m a bit rusty…”. It is a well-known fact that if you don’t keep up a skill you can forget it or it won’t come as naturally as it once did. Well, it’s the same with languages. Any linguist will tell you that it is very important to keep practising your languages, because you can lose fluency very quickly if you don’t. As they say, ‘use it or lose it’!

So how can you keep up your new language(s), especially if you don’t live in a country where it is/they are spoken? To keep your skills alive, you should try to use them as often as you can, even every day if possible. So how do you do that? Here are a few tips on how to use your new language every day – for the fun of it too, not just to make sure your skills stay intact.

Read

You could try to read the news in your chosen language when you start your day or when you have a break, or read a novel in that language before going to bed. Reading helps keep your vocabulary and grammar intact, and reading aloud helps you keep practising your pronunciation and helps your mouth stay used to making the sounds. Try and read a variety of different styles so you remember what their registers are like.

Speak

If you want to keep up your speaking, you could join a MeetUp group or a conversation club, or you could look for a language partner online. Otherwise, you can put up an advert asking for language exchange partners in your community centre or on one of the many Facebook groups for different language communities living in your city (in Bristol there are ‘Italiani a Bristol’, ‘Españoles en Bristol’, ‘Nederlanders in Bristol’, ‘Français à Bristol’, and the list goes on…).

This may sound strange, but another way to keep up your speaking skills is to talk to yourself. Of course this is not always easy but if you are in the car or in the kitchen, or somewhere else where it’s just you, you can go over what you have to do that day or describe what you can see out of the window (or other things!) out loud to yourself in your chosen language. You can easily fit this into your daily routine so you don’t need to make extra time to practise. See our previous post on studying every day for more tips on how to do this.

Listen

You can listen to your chosen language on the radio when you have things to do around the house. It is a good way to keep your mind occupied when you are doing things that don’t require language, like hanging the washing out or doing the ironing. You can also sit down and listen to radio documentaries or the news that require more attention. You can listen to music as well, which you can also do on your mp3 player whilst out for a jog, or in your car.

Watch

When you relax in the evening you can watch a film in your new language, or if you have a subscription, watch TV in that language. There are lots of news bulletins, documentaries and interviews to watch online as well. This is a good way to maintain your listening skills and keep up to date with the latest events in the country (countries) where the language you are learning is spoken.

Contact your friends

Do you have friends who speak your new language? These days it is very easy to stay in touch with them, by text message, on Facebook or on Skype. Just drop your friends a message or ring them on Skype to have a quick chat. If you prefer writing longer texts, you can always write them a letter, which will help you keep up your writing skills. You can ask your friends to correct you if you like. And of course, it’s important to stay in touch with your friends, whichever language they speak!

Written by Suzannah Young

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January 18, 2017

Travelling Corner: My 5 Favourite Places in Belgium

Belgium is an interesting country with three different languages, five parliaments and 1150 different types of beer! There is a lot to see there too. I used to live and work in Belgium and spent six years in the country in total, three in Brussels and three in Antwerp. In that time, as well as learning Dutch and improving my French, I got the opportunity to travel around quite a bit, on the (very affordable) train and by bike! Here is a breakdown of my five favourite places in the country. Perhaps it will inspire you to take a visit!

Magritte Museum

One thing that Belgium is famous for is its love for all things surreal. René Magritte, one of the most famous surrealist painters, was from Lessines, in the French-speaking part of Belgium. His work is celebrated in a new museum in the heart of Brussels. It is possible to visit the museum in several different languages, including three sign languages.

The Red Star Line Museum

From 1871 to 1935, the Red Star Line, which had ports in Antwerp, Southampton and Liverpool, took European emigrants from many countries by boat to North America. Two million passengers travelled on the ships, including some people who were to become famous. The Red Star Line museum in Antwerp celebrates the stories of some of the passengers and reminds us that migration has always been and always will be part of the human experience.

Ghent (Gent)

Ghent is one of the main cities to visit in Flanders. After Antwerp, it is the biggest city in Belgium, and is the capital of East Flanders. It is built on a series of canals and is a port city. It also has a prestigious university. It is famous for its ten-day-long annual Gentse Feesten (Ghent Festival), which receives about 1-1.5 million visitors every year.

Huy

Huy is a town in the south of Belgium. It is home to a huge ‘citadel’, an 1818 fortress that towers over the town. The ‘Mur de Huy’ (Huy Wall) is a 128-metre high slope that is a feature of many cycle races in the country, including the Flèche Wallonne (Walloon Arrow), of which it is the finishing climb. Every seven years, a religious procession commemorates the ending of a drought in 1656. The last one took place in 2012.

Béguinages / Begijnhoven

A beguinage is a building or series of buildings built to house beguines: religious women who lived in a community but did not take vows or retire from the world. Belgium boasts a number of impressive and beautiful beguinages built around courtyards. They are very peaceful places and offer a welcome (and surprisingly quiet) respite from the hubbub of the city. This is a bit of a cheat because there is more than one beguinage but I couldn’t choose just one to mention!

I hope you enjoyed this whistle-stop tour of some of the sights Belgium has to offer. Why not visit the country and send us a list of your favourite places?

Written by Suzannah Young

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January 11, 2017

Book Review: My reading companions to Crete

What did I read when I travelled to Crete? A rather eclectic selection of travel writing, which I enjoyed reading and from which I learnt a lot more about Crete.

Greek Islands, Lonely Planet

I think I have a good relationship with the Lonely Planet guidebooks. I’ve been using them for a while and find them easy to use and follow, but I must mention that I only read their sight-seeing suggestions, I don’t check their recommendations on restaurants or accommodation.

Xenophobe’s Guide to the Greeks by Alexandra Fiada

If you read this blog, you will know I love this series and I adore the Xenophobe’s Guide to the Greeks written by the Athens-born Alexandra Fiada. The author introduces her culture with all the quirkiness it brings and entertains the reader with many examples of the funny habits, customs or obsessions the Greek have. A very pleasant read.

The Greek Islands by Lawrence Durrell

First published in 1978 and even now The Greek Islands by Lawrence Durrrell still gives us a flavour of the Islands. The chapter on Crete is a 50-page-long description of Cretan life, character, scenery and associated myths (with particular attention to the Minotaur: a half-man, half-bull creature). It is an informative, interesting read with some thought-provoking questions which Durrell himself attempts to answer.

The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller

Henry Miller was a very good friend of Lawrence Durrell, so I decided to also read about Miller’s travels to the Greek Islands in 1939. It is a beautifully written story of his life on the Greek Islands with some philosophical digressions here and there, like “I was never more certain that life and death are one and that neither can be enjoyed or embraced if the other be absent.” An excellent read, to be enjoyed on a deserted beach, perhaps?

What are your favourite reading companions to Crete? Please let me know in the comments below.

Written by Kinga Macalla

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January 4, 2017

On Languages: Russian

What do we know about the Russian language?

Russian is the 5^th most widely spoken language in the world with 277 million speakers. Russia itself has 142 million native speakers and is the world’s largest country. Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Due to the size of the Soviet Union a significant part of the world understands Russian.

Russian comes from the Slavic group of the Indo-European languages. Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian languages form the East Slavic part of this group.

The difficulties of learning Russian

The difficulties of learning Russian alphabet are often exaggerated. Though the Cyrillic alphabet is based on Greek, it still has a resemblance to Latin. There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet, most of which are pronounced and read in words the same way as they are in the alphabet. You will be surprised how easily you can read Russian aloud once you have mastered the alphabet.

Russian words have one stressed syllable. The stressed syllable is longer and articulated more tensely than the unstressed ones. Unstressed vowels in Russian lose their full value. An unstressed word without any syllable accented will still be perfectly correct and understood, especially when spoken by a foreigner.

A little bit about Grammar

Russian nouns have 3 genders: masculine, feminine and neuter, which are distinguished by the gender endings
there is no article in Russian: “the table” and “a table” are both translated “стол”
auxiliary verbs are hardly used in Russian, the present tense of “to be” is not used as it is in English, for example: He is here– Он тут
Russian is a language with a case system. Nouns appear in different cases, indicated by different endings, according to the role they fulfil in the sentence. There are 6 cases in Russian: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental and prepositional.
Each verb in Russian is conjugated based on person, number, tense and gender

It is important to know that the main difference between Russian and other languages is in the way of thinking: in the philosophy of the language. Understanding the mechanism of developing the language structure, including Russian word-building based on the semantic connection within groups of words which bind themselves to various aspects of life helps to reveal the philosophy of Russian and other Slavonic languages. Once this is understood, the language is not difficult.

Start reading as much as you can as soon as you master the alphabet.

Russian literature is best read in Russian to gain the full benefit of the richness of the language. Dostoevsky (Crime and Punishment), Tolstoy (War and Peace), Pushkin (Eugene Onegin), Gogol (The Nose) and Chekhov (The Cherry Orchard) are all writers of international prominence and form just a small selection of the great Russian writers.

Written by Natalia Adkins

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December 21, 2016

Merry Christmas | Joyeux Noël | Fröhliche Weihnachten | Feliz Navidad | Veselé Vánoce | Wesołych Świąt

As the year is officially coming to an end, many of us will reflect back on the past twelve months and make plans for the upcoming year. Do you already have a list of New Year’s resolutions? Will you want to learn a new language or improve your skills in 2017?

I definitely want to maintain my language skills in Czech and improve my French. I’m trying to implement this rule to have a 5-minute activity with each language every day (similar to these ideas). Do I want to learn a new language? That would be very exciting, I’m thinking of Russian, but will let you know more once some progress has been made.

As for the blog, I’m planning to research interesting subjects and write inspiring articles (ambitious, I know!). I’ll look for some beautiful scenery to take photos and videos of. I’d also like to invite inspiring professionals to share their wisdom and knowledge on our blog. Would you find that interesting? What would you like to read more about?

As the festive time is approaching, myself and my colleagues would like to wish our readers a very Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël, Fröhliche Weihnachten, Feliz Navidad, Veselé Vánoce or Wesołych Świąt. We hope that you enjoy your festive break!

Written by Kinga Macalla

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December 14, 2016

Travelling Corner: My 5 Best of CRETE

“The truth is that the Cretans are the Scots of Greece; they have lived through countless crises to emerge always just as truly themselves – indomitable friends or deadly enemies” Lawrence Durrell writes in The Greek Islands. Alexandra Fiada in the Xenophobe’s Guide to the Greeks points out that ‘[t]he Greeks come second only to the Japanese as far as cleanliness is concerned. Home scrubbing is a point of honour.” What a mixture… You feel exactly that while being in Crete; everything is perfectly in order yet so chaotic: it’s sunny, yet so windy, it’s modern, yet so old fashioned, and the list goes on. But still, my trip to Crete was amazing. Below you’ll find my 5 best of Crete.

Elafonisi Beach

Paradise beach. One of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever been to. It has a shallow sea shore (safe for children) and a deep part, too. The colours are spectacular, from light blue lagoon to turquoise green and deep dark blue. It has a flat, sandy beach with pink sand. You can easily spend hours in the sea, relaxing and admiring its pure beauty.

Chania

Charming town. The old Venetian harbour is beautiful; you can walk amongst colourful houses surrounded by the sea and the old port which is several kilometres long. I enjoyed wondering the small streets, visiting museums and churches, having a few stops for coffee and a sweet or savoury Cretan delicacy. Even though it was low season, the town was quite crowded, particularly in the cafes and restaurants. The supervised parking experience was quite interesting; they took our keys and re-parked our car in our absence, then delivered it to the exit when we were back. Scary, but convenient!

Grammero Camping

Seaside camping with private access to the beach. Sounds amazing? Yes, it truly was. The campsite is not far away from Paleochora and is situated just on the beach. It is a relatively small site, clean with plenty of shady pitches. The internet connection is excellent. Be aware that the mountainous wind can be quite strong at night, so fasten your tent well. It’s amazing to be able to see the sun rise or set, or go for a jog or swim whenever you fancy!

Food

The taste, the colour, the price! Yes, food in Crete is delicious: olives, feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh bread, olive oil, honey, oranges, oregano… do we actually need anything more? It’s a feast in its pure form; it’s simple, tasty and pleasant. You can buy kilogrammes of tomatoes and create the most scrumptious stew. It’s best to find a local fruit & veg shop or a side-road stall and buy fresh, ready-to-eat food; I would avoid bigger shops or hyper-markets. If eating in a restaurant or café it’s good to choose one that many Cretans eat in (for better prices and food) and if you hesitate, the waiter will quickly give you some recommendations. Then when you nod, he’ll take it as a ‘yes’ and disappear to bring the most delicious meal!

Kindness

Have you ever met a Greek who wasn’t nice to you? I haven’t. Cretans are the same; they’re kind, smiling, positive people who enjoy life to the full. They may drive a bit too fast at times and serve you a Cretan salad with a fag in their mouth… But still, I love them and love their hedonistic approach to life, it’s refreshing.

Have you been to Crete? What was your experience? Please share in the comments below.

Written by Kinga Macalla

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December 7, 2016

On Languages: Dutch

The Dutch language is a West-Germanic language (others in this family include English, Frisian, German and Luxembourgish) and its use goes back to the fifth century. Modern Dutch (Nederlands) is spoken by about 23 million people as a first language in the European Union —including most of the Netherlands and Flanders in the north of Belgium – and by another 5 million as a second language. The Dutch Empire took the language around the world from the 17th to mid-20th centuries. It is the native language of the majority of the population of Suriname, and also holds official status in Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. There are Dutch-speaking minorities in France, Germany and Indonesia and up to half a million native speakers are spread across the United States, Canada and Australia.

There are several regional variations in spoken Dutch, the most significant of which is Flemish (in Belgium), which is spoken by around ten million people. Standard Dutch (Standaardnederlands or Algemeen Nederlands) is used for public and official purposes, including in schools and universities. A wide variety of local dialects are used in informal situations.

Most Dutch vocabulary is Germanic but also has loans words from Romance languages like French (and Latin). It has more of these than German but fewer than English. Because of contact between the Netherlands and Belgium and English-speaking countries throughout history, there are a lot of words in English that are of Dutch origin, especially names for everyday things like fruit and vegetables or colours. This can make it easier for English speakers to remember Dutch vocabulary because a lot of it is familiar to them. Some examples of English words of Dutch origin are ‘cookie’, ‘coleslaw’, ‘luck’, ‘mannequin’ or ‘Santa Klaus’.

Read more about the Dutch language on the BBC website and a comprehensive history of the language on the Dutch literature digital library.

How the language works

Dutch spelling is phonetic so you can tell how a word is pronounced by looking at it, and you can spell words easily if you listen to them! Some sounds are a bit tricky for English speakers to pronounce, especially vowel sounds, but get easier with practice. Examples are the ‘g’ sound, which is a bit like ‘ch’ in ‘loch’ and ‘ui’, which is a bit like ‘owe’ but not quite! Learn more about the Dutch alphabet, spelling and pronunciation here.

Dutch grammar is similar to both English and German grammar. Like English, it is simpler than German grammar, especially as it does not really use cases. Features shared with German include three genders and a similar word order, such as putting the verb at the end of the sentence. Learning how to speak Dutch is thought to be easier than learning German for English people because of its simpler grammatical rules. I wouldn’t go as far as some people do who say that Dutch is the easiest language for English speakers to learn, though. I think that can also be a potential pitfall because the languages are similar but are not identical, so it can be tempting to use English grammar in Dutch but that doesn’t work! Also, the supposed simplicity of Dutch is deceptive: there are two articles for three genders (‘het’ for neuter and ‘de’ for masculine and feminine nouns (but you still have to know whether the thing you are talking about is a ‘he’ or a ‘she’)), and there are a few exceptions to rules that you learn. Also, academic and literary Dutch has a very high register and is quite stylised.

Why learn Dutch?

There are practical incentives for people from the UK to learn to speak Dutch. The Netherlands is a major trading partner of the UK and there are Dutch and Dutch-speaking businesses in the UK. The Department for International Trade (DIT), that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy, is based in Belgium. Belgium is the UK’s sixth-largest export market, worth £10 billion a year. The UK is Belgium’s fourth-largest export market with two-way trade worth in the region of £22 billion. Learning the language can also help you on your travels. Nearly a million Brits go on holiday to the visit our Netherlands every year and Brussels is reachable from the UK by train (the Eurostar). For fans of cycling, canals, tulips, chocolate, windmills, beer, and European history, the Netherlands and Belgium are great places to visit. Dutch and Belgian writers and film-makers also produce some hard-hitting work.

Where can I learn Dutch?

There are many ways you can learn Dutch. If you want to learn the traditional way, you will find a long list of Dutch textbooks at the European Bookshop. You can choose from monolingual (Dutch only) or bilingual (Dutch and English) books. If you like to learn online, you can start with this introductory class on FutureLearn. There are also lots of free YouTube videos that explain the finer points of the language. If it’s vocabulary (woordenschat, literally ‘word treasure/riches’) you’re after, Taalklas (language class) is an online series that helps you learn Dutch vocab through videos and exercises. They also have YouTube videos. You can also stock up on lexicon using this free online dictionary. If you prefer classes, some language schools offer Dutch classes. Lastly, why not look for a language partner, perhaps through the ‘Nederlanders in Bristol’ Facebook page?

Veel plezier! Have fun!

Written by Suzannah Young

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