Random Thoughts From Marybeth

Spring Break

Next week is my kids' spring break from school. Wheeee!

Thinking about spring break has made me contemplate running away from home travel. If I were to go somewhere where English isn't the first language the BBC has just the thing to help me prepare, free online language lessons in French, German, Spanish, and Italian. There are also sections on UK languages (Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, and British Sign Language), Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese, and key phrases in 30 languages.

The section of key phrases is printable so you can know how to ask where the restrooms are in languages from Albanian to Ukranian. (My daughter seems to have made it a personal goal to visit every public bathroom. No matter where we go, within five minutes of getting there, she asks to go to the bathroom so you can understand why I find this phrase particularly useful even though I hate public restrooms.)

Another section that's interesting is a list of which languages are spoken in which European countries. There is also a chart showing the relationship of the various languages.

If you are interested in words, the oddities section is worth reading. These are reader contributions of things like words that look or sound the same in two languages but have different meanings:

Ever wanted to call your cat "puss"? Well in Swedish you would have to say kisse. Do you want to give someone a kiss? Well, you have to give them a puss in Swedish. Even more confusingly the word kiss in Swedish means urine! So don't put a kiss at the end of your love letter!

There are long words:

I love long place names and was amazed to find this place in Wales: Gorsafawddachaidraigodanheddogleddolonpenrhynareurdraethceredigion, meaning "the Mawddach station and its dragon teeth at the Northern Penrhyn Road on the golden beach of Cardigan bay." I would love to see that in German! ;) Of course that Welsh placename is a nineteenth-century fabrication, adopted to look good on their railway place boards, whereas a Maori name for a hill in New Zealand is genuine and was in general use. It has 85 letters: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronuku-pokaiwhenuakitanatahu, meaning "The brow of the hill where Tamatea, with the bony knees, who slid and climbed mountains, the great traveller, sat and played on the flute to his beloved". New Zealand broadcaster Henare Te Ua says the word celebrates the prowess of the great Maori chief Tamatea who possessed enormous personal power and could eat mountains.

And phrases:

English - I have other fish to fry! French - J'ai d'autres chats à fouetter ! I have other cats to whip!

The cats have been naughty today (as usual) so that last one was particularly appealing.