This and That

Long time, no write.  I'm not very good at this "updating my blog" thing, but I'm still learning languages - that's something I'll never stop doing.  I've bought a ton of used (and a couple new) language books from Amazon, as well as a few from Etsy.  I love old language books, even if it's a language I'm not learning.  I recently ordered an old Teach Yourself Russian, as well as a Bulgarian-English dictionary from Etsy.  Can't wait to get them.  They're probably overpriced, as many things on Etsy are, but I just think they look cool and am glad I snatched them up before someone else did.  ;)  

As for what I've been up to in the world of language learning...over the last couple days, I've been focusing on my Bulgarian.  A long time ago, I made individual blogs for each of my languages, but haven't posted anything to them.  I'd like to change that and start using them, so I'm going to try to add something short and sweet to my Bulgarian blog (keli-na-balgarski.blogspot.com), because as they say, Опитът прави майсторa.

In the meantime, here are the books mentioned above that I ordered.  Love the color of the Russian one, and can't wait to make use of the Bulgarian dictionary.  Who knows, maybe I'll give Russian a try afterall, though I definitely don't need to add a 10th language, and seeing as Bulgarian is supposed to be easier for English speakers, I'll most likely stick with that as my Cyrillic language of choice (along with Serbian.)

I'll put up some more pictures of the books I've purchased over the months in upcoming posts. The oldest is a Dutch-German dictionary from the late 1800's, but most are from the 1940's on.

Seeing Cyrillic

Stole this pic from my older sister's blog.  I thought it was cool how it looks like Bulgarian in the reflection: NORTH > НТЯОИ.  Not saying it means anything, just looks like Cyrillic.

The Sounds of Danish

I've been all into the show Borgen lately, which is a Danish political drama.  This evening while catching up on an episode my mom said, "That's a very unpleasant language.  It sounds like they're about to throw up at any moment."  :D  I don't think Danish sounds *that bad.*  It kind of reminds me of a cross between French, German and English. 

Watching that show and hearing all that Danish makes me want to try harder at mastering Norwegian pronunciation, as well as become more confident with that pesky pitch accent thing.  You know, that up-and-down sing-songy lilt of the Scandinavian languages.  Danish doesn't have this feature, but Norwegian and Swedish do.

Anyway, it's a good show and easy to get caught up in.  It went on for three seasons, and I'm about done with the first.  I just wish there was an equally good show in Norwegian that I could watch.

Sistah Robi

I used to love singing along to Robi Kahakalau (still do.)  It made me feel like I could speak Hawaiian, which I think is a really pretty language.  Not saying I'm necessarily good at it - sometimes I stumble over those bursts of short words and the glottal stops throw me off on occasion, but it's fun to try.

The only reason I know what she's saying is because the lyrics are translated in the CD liner notes.  I don't really know the connection between the English and the Hawaiian, just the overall message of the song.

During my early years of language learning, I considered studying Hawaiian, but there wasn't much material to work with, so instead I came to consider Hawaiian (and Tahitian) strictly to be enjoyed through music.  :)

  
"Himene Tatarahapa" ~ Repent Hymn [Tahitian]

The First Few

Here are some basic expressions in Lithuanian.  This woman has many other videos dedicated to teaching Lithuanian, so be sure to check them out.  :)

I Love You

My older sister posted this on her blog.  It says "I love you" in 12 languages.

Let's see if we can figure out what they are...

1. Kuv hlub koj. - Hmong

2. S'agapo. - Greek

3. Negligevapse. - Inuit

4. Take a wild guess!  :)

5. Szeretlek. - Hungarian

6. Te amo. - Spanish

7. Jeg elsker dig. - Danish

8. Je t'aime. - French

9. Mo ni fe. - Yoruba

10. Yes kez sirumen. - Armenian

11. Ne mohotatse. - Cheyenne

12. Wo ai ni. - Mandarin

If I were to make my own, not using the above languages or languages I'm learning, I think I would include (thanks to Omniglot)...

1. Basque - Maite zaitut.

2. Turkish - Seni seviyorum.

3. Greenlandic - Asavakkit.

4. Swahili - Ninakupenda.

5. Guaraní - Rojhayhû.

6. German - Ich liebe dich.

7. Vietnamese - Em yêu anh.

8. Catalan - T'estimo.

9. Korean - Sarang hae.

10. Sioux - Techihhila.

11. Albanian - Të dua.

12. Elmer Fuddish - I wuv you. ;) 

What languages would you use?  It's kind of fun deciding.

Thanks a Lunch

Had Valentine's lunch at the local Chinese buffet today, and the old guy sitting nearby was teaching his granddaughter how to say "thank you" in Dutch and Chinese (Mandarin.)  Just a little language moment for the day.  :)