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Speak and Understand The Italian Language

December 26th, 2009

Spoken by over 60 million people, Italian is a romance language that hosts a large number of cultural works known worldwide. Considered to be the closest living language to Latin, Italian's grammar is considerably simpler than its ancestor's.

Reasons for learning Italian range from preparing for a trip to Italy to retiring on the Italian coast. Many others learn Italian because their ancestors came from Italy or because they want an advantage in applying for jobs. No matter what your reason may be for learning Italian, learning a new language is a very rewarding process.

Knowing another Romance language already can greatly speed up your Italian studies. The grammar between Italian and other romance languages like Spanish and French is very similar and almost exactly the same in many cases. If you studied a romance language even in high school, you will find many similarities to help you.

English speakers worldwide think of Italian as a very beautiful language. Unlike English, Italian puts a lot of emphasis on vowel sounds and many Italian words have vowel sounds at the end.

Tricky Italian points for English speakers include determining gender for nouns since words are either of the masculine gender or of the feminine gender. Additionally, verbs are conjugated with very different forms depending on the subject of the sentence.

Similarities, however, include word order. English and Italian have very similar word orders and both are considered to be subject-verb-object languages. You will find that it is very easy to start making Italian sentences even as a beginner.

Italian is a popular language to study so there is no shortage of materials to use for learning Italian. You can choose from computer software programs to traditional style classroom classes. Depending on your ultimate goals, you will want to find the tool that makes most sense for you.

Before you begin learning Italian, you should remember to sit down and make a serious commitment to learning the language. It can be a tough process but if you stick to it, you will be greatly rewarded. On the other hand, don't just simply do grammar exercises and read textbooks, you should also enjoy yourself in Italian, too! Watch an Italian film or buy an Italian language CD. You will find that these activities can be some of the most rewarding when learning Italian.

Author Robertson Kunz has a language learning guide: learn a foreign language fast. Italian learners: learn fluent Italian in 3 months.

Thailand: My First Night in Pattaya

December 23rd, 2009

It was seven-ish and I was sitting in a pleasant-enough room overlooking the front entrance to the pub above which I had just moved in. The pub was the Pig and Whistle on Soi 7 in Pattaya. Across the lane was a large hole, which they were hoping to build a hotel in and next door to that, just opposite me, was a tiny bar with one woman sitting on a stool outside it. Not that there was a wall there, it was open on two sides. The Soi was nice and peaceful, I thought. I also thought that I might go and sit in that little bar and talk to that woman, if my friend was late, because I would surely see him arrive from two metres away, the width of the Soi.

So, I went to the bar in the pub at 19:15 to await my friend who said he would arrive at 20:00. It was much busier than thirty minutes earlier but not noisy and I sat at the bar. The first thing a barmaid did was say hello, give me a menu and step back. I did not really want to eat, I only wanted a beer as I assumed we would be eating together later, but I wanted to read the menu anyway.

'A pint of Boddington's', I said. It arrived and the girl began laying a setting for me. I tried to explain that I was not hungry, but it was no good. Like in Spain, most people eat and drink at the same time. All the while the girl was smiling at me. Then she said: 'You live upstairs? My name Charli. What you want to eat?'. So, I gave in and ordered something and rice.

'You first time in Thailand? You no can eat. Too spicy', she said with a smile. 'Oh', I replied, 'but I want to try. 'I put only 50-50 for you', she declared and went.

I struggled through that meal and it took a Boddingtons and a bottle of water. Charli had been right, it was too hot for first-time foreigners and she had reduced the chilis by 50%. I have always listened to a Thai's guidance on food ever since.

I moved to by the window to see what was happening as it was dark by 19:30 and I was curious. Within thirty minutes Soi 7 had changed completely. I could see hundreds of girls and tourists milling about. I wanted to go out and join in or at least sit in the quiet bar across the way, but I'm ashamed to say that I was too frightened, so I sat put, rivetted to the Pig like a rabbit in a hunter's beam.

My friend arrived on time and after we had been chatting for an hour, he said: 'Drink up, I have someone I want you to meet'. This was it, we were going into that mele. A waitress held the door for us and the noise and the heat were tremendous. Especially the noise. Every metre at least two or three girls would yell: 'Hello, sexy man, you want a drink'. Trying to say no courteously to each call was impractical, so I just stuck close to my pal.

Luckily, we only had about fifty metres to stroll and we sat down in another bar. My friend said hello to several ladies and then said, this a girl I have been going out with for some time. I was astounded as I had never heard him talk about her, ever. She was gorgeous, but could not speak English, so I sat in the din in silence. Not for long through, as my friend said, I have a blind date for you and he introduced another girl to me who was equally beautiful, but with whom I could speak a little. She was captivating and I was captivated. The pandemonium seemed to pass away, but it was only because I was concentrating on my new friend. The four of us had the best time and the best food I had ever had in my forty-nine years of existence.

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How I First Came To Thailand

November 24th, 2009

I first came to Thailand in 2004 and I arrived here more of less by accident. I had travelled a lot in Europe: Russia, Western Europe, Scandinavia, North Africa and north South America, but I had never found the time to travel to Asia.

One night, I was talking to a friend who had travelled extensively throughout the world and he was telling me about his favourite country, to where he had been returning year after year for fourteen years. Knowing my friend's experience as a traveller, I was very surprised to hear that he had been choosing to go to the same place in Asia for fourteen years.

I had to ask him which part of huge Asia held such an attraction for him and he said Thailand. I knew practically nothing about Thailand, except that I had had a few meals at a near-by Thai restaurant over the years. I also knew from collecting stamps as a boy that it used to be called Siam. Anyway, my friend asked me if I'd like to go. I said that I would 'one day' and meant it.

He surprised me by saying that he was going for a month soon and that I was welcome to go with him. I answered that I had a few jazz festivals to go to soon and maybe I would, if there was at least a month between them and if I could get a flight and if... I could hear myself putting him off, but I did not know why.

A number of hours later, I went home and being a keen Internet surfer, I checked out a bit about Thailand on the travel brochure sites. It looked really fantastic. The prices were good too except for the flights. Hotels were cheap to reasonable and food and drinks prices were insignificant compared to where I lived. So, I checked the dates of the two Jazz festivals and they were thirty-three days apart. Now for the flight. I spent well into the next morning checking flights and found one for the day after the first festival leaving from our local airport. It was not the cheapest flight, but it gave me more time.

In a reckless moment I booked it there and then online. I then found an inn with rooms to let online that my friend had said he went to on quiz evenings and guessed that they would be open by now serving breakfasts. I sent them an email and a response came back twenty minutes later. I had been lucky again. The boss was in the middle of checking yesterday's figures, when he saw my email come through. However, not sure of his Internet ability, he asked me to phone him right away. I checked my watch, it was still 4AM so I phoned.

He took my booking on trust and so I did not have to make a payment. I had heard about Thailand, made up my mind to go and booked the flight and room all within five hours and I could not wait for nine o'clock to come to inform my friend that I would be going too.

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On Learning Japanese

November 22nd, 2009

What are some of the reasons that one might want to take a look at the Japanese language? For one, anime is a great cultural item that has become particularly big in many parts of the world including the United States.

Japan is also liked by many people because it has a strong traditional culture and a very strong business culture which has promoted Japan to being the second largest economy in the world.

Japanese is a language like any other foreign language in its approach but we also must remember a few things if we want to be successful in learning it.

For English speakers, Japanese is a more difficult language to learn because it does not use the roman script and also because there are few cognates.

Spanish or French, on the other hand, use the same script as English and also share many words because English borrowed a great number of words from these languages and other Latin influences thus resulting in many cognates between the languages. This means that you can pick up a great number of words simply because they are very similar to the English equivalents.

This does not mean that learning Japanese is impossible, but rather that it is a bit more difficult to learn.

What this truly means is that you must have a strong desire to learn that Japanese language if you are going to be successful in becoming proficient in it.

If you really want to get to that high level in Japanese, you have to make sure that these reasons are foremost in your heart.

This can either be your interest in something like anime or it can be something like a business investment for your future.

This will ultimately keep you going on the long journey that studying Japanese entails. So, make sure that you are able to stay strong when studying and keep going no matter what. Just remember your reason for studying Japanese every time that you feel you are beginning to falter in your studies.

Author Robertson Kunz has a language learning guide: learn a foreign language fast. Japanese learners: learn fluent Japanese.

Learn Spanish Today

November 21st, 2009

Spanish is a language that has in recent years interested many in its study. Spanish is a common choice to learn for foreign speakers. In high schools today, Spanish is quickly becoming the language of choice to learn for students.

In the United States in particular, Spanish communities have grown greatly in recent years leading to an even greater demand for Spanish speaking skills.

If you are thinking about learning to speak Spanish, maybe you are doing so because you want an advantage in your job or current occupation. Or, perhaps you just want to make better friends with your co-workers or clients.

Whatever the case may be, learning a new language can be a rewarding endeavor. This is not to say that it is an easy one, it can be very difficult to learn a foreign language. However, there are a few tips you can be aware of in order to improve upon the process.

If you are trying to learn a new foreign language like Spanish, it is best to study a little bit each day instead of a lot at one time and then not much for a while.

The reason for this is because the longer you wait between study periods, the more you will forget and the more time you will thus need to spend reviewing instead of gaining new ground in the material.

This process also has the added benefit of conditioning your mind to the foreign language, in this case, Spanish, so that you are able to adapt better to the new sounds, grammatical structures and more that occur in it.

So, for whatever reason you are studying Spanish, I wish you good luck in your studies! It is a great language to learn and can provide you with many rewards if studied properly.

Robertson B. Kunz is the author of a language learning guide to help you get fluent in a foreign language faster. Visit his website to get more great information on learning languages. Also, find more great information on learn Spanish articles.

Learn Fluent Italian In Under 3 Months

July 22nd, 2009

If you are thinking about studying Italian, you are probably wondering how long it is going to take you to achieve fluency. In this article, I will explain how you can achieve basic fluency in Italian in 3 months or less by following this plan.

Many people end up taking foreign language classes for years and still cannot hold a basic conversation in Italian. On the other hand, I know of many people who have become fluent in Italian and a variety of other foreign languages in less than 3 months.

Before I reveal this plan, I should note to you that if you already are fluent in another romance language like French or Spanish, you will find this much easier to achieve. Even if you have only studied a foreign language but not necessarily a romance language, you will still get an extra boost. On the other hand, if you have never studied a foreign language before, you may find this a bit hard at first because you are not used to learning foreign languages.

The bottom line is that it is possible to learn fluent Italian in 3 months but it will require a commitment to studying each day.

Let's go over some basic numbers so that you can see for yourself what is required to get to the basic fluency level in Italian.

Many language experts say that in most European languages including Italian, the 1000 most commonly used words make up 85% of common speech while the 3000 most commonly used words make up 95% of common speech. For our basic fluency goals in Italian, we will want to hit the 3000 word mark.

Also, many language experts tell us that in order for an English speaker to learn a European language like Italian, Spanish or French, it requires about 200 hours of active study time.

If you study Italian for 3 months, that means you get 90 study days. Since our goal is to learn 3000 Italian words, that means 33 new Italian words per day. If you study Italian every day for 2 hours, you will get 180 hours of Italian study by the end of 3 months which basically meets the 200 hour mark.

You may believe that learning 33 new Italian words per day is too difficult. However, remember that you have 2 hours of active study each day which means you only have to learn 16 new words per hour. This translates to 1 word every 4 minutes.

Take into consideration the fact that many cognates exist between Italian and English like the English word "international" being "internazionale" in Italian and you will see that you will be able to pick up many Italian words in less than 5 seconds.

Of course, you'll probably have a little less time to study vocabulary since you will want to devote time to reviewing words that you learned on previous days and also look into practicing forming sentences and making sure your grammar is correct. All in all, you should have enough time to reach your basic fluency goal in Italian.

Basically, if you can study Italian for 2 hours every day for a 3 month period and learn 3000 Italian words during that time, you will achieve your goal of basic Italian fluency! Remember that in order to achieve this goal, you will need to stay committed and keep making progress day after day. If you can stick with your plan, then you will be insured Italian fluency success.

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50cc Scooters

July 19th, 2009

50cc scooters have an engine capacity that classifies them as small motorcycles or mopeds at the limit between the vehicle category and moped classes. Regulations differ in many countries of the world, when it comes to the right to drive 50cc scooters with or without a driving license and common laws are seldom achieved. For example, in some EU countries you can ride such motorcycles without a driving license. The exceptions are France and Italy, where you must have a car driving license to ride vehicles up to 125cc. There is a fairly big level of legal ambiguity for the definition and classification of scooters and mopeds.

Restrictions and licensing fees are a lot smaller for 50cc scooters and they are not legally considered as motorcycles. This definition is applied to vehicles above an engine capacity of 50cc. However, an intermediary definition or class has been defined by some countries. Therefore, between 50 and 150cc, vehicles are referred to as motorized bikes. In other parts of the world, 50cc scooters and above, are described as motorcycles.

Hence, the terms of such a vehicle's classification vary from state to state and cannot be discussed as if they are interchangeable. Consequently, when you shop for a scooter or you are searching for information, you need to take these details into consideration as well in order to understand everything properly.

As for technical features, 50cc scooters are among the smallest and best designed on the market. People love them because of their low cost, the reduced fuel consumption and the possibility of being used by teenagers and adults alike. They are chic and sporty at the same time, so such a vehicle is considered a trendy alternative to public transportation.

You can nip about with a scooter or moped, avoiding the traffic jams of heavy traffic. Even though they have a rather small cylinder capacity, 50cc scooters have four stroke engines with a high performance for various mobility and transportation uses.

However, 50cc scooters share similar features with the larger models, because the design lines are usually kept similar by manufacturers. Therefore, there is an electric start and a kick start mode, the brakes and exhaust come in sports variants and they all have some form of storage space beneath the seat.

Before purchasing a small motorcycle, you ought to learn something about the certification for registration, the guarantee, the fuel consumption and the technical limitations of the model. However, the same advice hold true for larger designs too.

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Speak and Understand The Italian Language

May 25th, 2009

There are many foreign languages to learn but if you are considering Italian, great! Italian is the descendent of Latin but is considered to have much simpler grammar than its ancestor. Additionally, Italian is used by over 60 million people so you will have plenty of people to practice with.

Many people learn Italian today for many different reasons. Getting an edge in the job market by learning Italian or learning simply because one has Italian ancestry are two of many reasons. Many people learn Italian for an upcoming vacation or intend to retire to Italy. In any of these cases, learning the Italian language can be a great experience.

If you already speak another romance language like Spanish or French, you will find that Italian is very similar. Many linguists estimate that the lexical similarity between Italian and French is 89% while the lexical similarity between Italian and Spanish is 82%. Even if you have only studied Spanish or French in high school, you will find that the grammar is quite similar and easy to pick up.

Italian is considered to be a very beautiful language. English speakers know that Italian has much emphasis on vowels including the fact that many, many Italian words end in vowels.

Some differences in Italian from English include the fact that there are two genders for nouns: masculine and feminine. It will be necessary to learn which gender a noun is everytime you learn a new noun. You will also find that Italian verbs conjugate quite differently based on the subject.

Word order, however, is quite similar between Italian and English. Both languages are subject-verb-object languages and because the syntax is similar, it will be very easy for you to start putting together your own sentences in Italian even as a learner.

Because so many people are interested in learning Italian, there is a great variety of Italian language learning programs for you to choose from. From audio programs to traditional textbooks, you will never be at a loss for materials to learn from.

Whatever your Italian language goals may be, remember that to succeed in learning any foreign language, you should make a commitment to learning the language everyday and continue to apply effort to your studies for as long as it may take to reach your goals, even years if you are aiming for fluency. But don't forget to have fun at the same time! Make sure to enjoy Italian by listening to Italian music and watching Italian films. These cultural elements can be the most fun and most rewarding parts of learning Italian.

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