What was no. 1 on the day you were born? Find out which song was on top of the charts the day you were born! (English)

Baby Monkey! Going backwards on a pig... (English)

Inspirational Speeches. 2 Minutes of inspiration! (English)

Mexican Wrestling! Kemonito kick!! (Spanish)

Frequently I come across the following questions:

- Is it difficult to learn Portuguese?

- Should I learn Portuguese from Portugal or Portuguese from Brazil?

For me to answer these questions, it is necessary to distance myself from my own mother tongue (Portuguese) and analyze it from an overseas’ point of view.

Remembering about grammatical cases, spelling exercises and syntax, I come to the conclusion that, indeed, it is not simple or easy to learn Portuguese. It is certainly easier to speak it instead of writing it – it is when we start to write in Portuguese that doubts arise and the grammar is tried. However, these peculiarities are pitched to the native speakers. The question “whether it is easy or not to learn Portuguese” is geared to beginners or those who are still considering whether to jump or not into Portuguese lessons!

So for beginners: What is your mother tongue? If you speak one of the Latin languages (Spanish, Italian or French) the chances of easily learning Portuguese are higher, after all these languages are similar. To those who descend from Germanic or Nordic languages, I must say that learning Portuguese will require a little bit more effort. You will have to understand the different “logic of the language” and when I mention that, I mean to understand what comes first: position of subjects, verbs, adjectives, prepositions (this is what I find difficult when learning German, for example). I believe that those whose mother tongue is a tonal language will face the same difficulties they face in learning any other language.

Regarding pronunciation, the particle "-ão" seems to be a challenge to everyone! In fact the nasal sound is not easy to learn and, to the misfortune of students, is very present in the Portuguese vocabulary. I recommend calm and practice! We also have the character "ç" that might confuse many people since its sound is similar to the sound of the letter "s" and the digraph "ss" in many words. Even native speakers face spelling difficulties and all we can do is to memorize the spelling, or its rules.

About the eternal fight between "Portuguese from Portugal or Portuguese from Brazil", no answer at all. They are the same language with some variations in pronunciation and spelling, such as American and British English. Moreover, with respect to writing, the last Portuguese spelling reform worked to soften the differences and it is already enforced. Therefore, I recommend you to learn the Portuguese that is closer to you.

Despite the difficulties, it is a beautiful and rhythmic language that served as a great tool for writers, both Brazilians and Portuguese! One last important note: in Brazil we speak Portuguese and not "Brazilian" after all "Brazilian" is the one who was born in Brazil.

[Português]

If you speak Spanish, you probably speak more Arabic than you think you do. It's not "real" Arabic you're speaking, but rather words that come from Arabic. After Latin, Arabic is probably the biggest contributor of words to the Spanish language.

The Arabic influence on the Spanish language has been significant due to the Islamic presence in the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) between 711 and 1492 A.D.

Modern Spanish (also called Castellano in Spanish) first appeared in the small Christian Kingdom of Castile in northern Spain during this period of Islamic domination over most of the Iberian Peninsula. As a result, the language was influenced by Andalusi Arabic practically from its inception. The Arabic influence on the language increased as the interaction with Muslims extended, Castilian had never been spoken in the southern area, while Arabic was the dominant language. Although the degree to which Arabic percolated the peninsula varied enormously from one area to another, it is generally agreed that Arabic was used among the local elites (both Muslims and Christians) as the language of science.

Most of the Arabic influence upon Spanish came through the arabized Latin dialects that were spoken in areas under Muslim rule, known today as Mozarabic. This resulted in Spanish often having both Latin and Arabic derived words with the same meaning.

For example:

Aceituna:، الزيتونة

Ajarafe: ، الشرف

Alacena: ، الخزانة

Acatar: قدر ،

Abatanar: بطن

The imprint of Mozarabic and Arabic is evidently more noticeable in the southern dialects of Peninsular Spanish than in the northern ones.

[اللغة العربية]

At the end of each year, the Swedish language council conducts a list of words that have been invented or increased in use during the year. A glance through the words and their explanations is always a nice way of recapping the year that has passed and all of its events. For a Swede, the recognizing factor makes this an entertaining read and for a foreigner it shows what goes on in Sweden and what our take on international events is. So, what’s in 2011’s list, you might ask. Well, just sit back and I’ll share my favorite new Swedish words from 2011 with you!

First off is the verb “appa” which means to play around with the apps on your cellphone. This word is funny because it’s one of those that all the Swedish parents probably will start adopting at the end of this year, which will then “force” all the kids to call it something else.

We also had translations of the terms for the totally viral social media phenomenons: owling and planking (“uggling” and “plankning” in Swedish). For those of you who didn’t know, they refer to the practice of squatting like an owl respectively lie down like a plank on hard-to-reach places, taking a picture of it and then posting it on Facebook. Just for fun I compared the 2011 list with its predecessor from 2002 and I can say that some 2002 people's eyes would pop out at the mention of these phenomenons. I mean, they had their share of peculiar expressions back then, like the mad potato chips disease (galna chipssjukan) and to make a whole poodle (att göra en hel pudel) but nothing quite as odd as these.
While on the technical terms, I should also mention the verb “padda”. It refers to the usage of an iPad but it also means toad.

Flipperförälder is also a word that increased in use during 2011. It translates into pinball parent and is the opposite of the previous word curling parent (curlingförälder). While curling parents look after their kids like hawks and at some point carefully let them face the real world, like letting go of a curling stone, the pinball parents just shoot their children away into the unknown like a pinball (i.e. let them be independent).

Tjejsamla is a word that has caused some commotion in Sweden. It translates into “to girlcollect” but it’s not as bad as it sounds. It means to collect like a girl, inclining that girls (women) don’t collect things (DVDs, video games, cards) as devotedly as boys (men) do. This has lead to the suggestion that the word “Killstäda” should also be introduced, which means to clean like a man.

Finally, my favorite word of 2011 is “retronym”. A retronym is a new word for something old that is replaced by something new. Confusing, I know. An example is that TVs now are generally referred to as "tjock-TVs" meaning fat-TVs, due to the introduction of flat-screen TVs.

That was my list!. The complete New Swedish Words List 2011 can be seen on the Swedish language council’s homepage.

[Svenska]

Before the Danes became Christian in 966 under the rule of King Harald Bluetooth, the main religion of the north was the Norse mythology. Much like the Roman and Greek mythologies, Norse mythology provided a set of rules and explanations for the world and things like the weather, the origin of man, and death and the afterlife.

According to Norse mythology, the world is built up around Yggdrasil, the tree of life, and consists of nine different sub-worlds. The three most important of these are Asgard, Midgard and Jotunheim. As the name indicates (“mid” means “middle”), Midgard is in the centre of the three worlds and is also the world of the humans. On one side of Midgard is Asgard, the world of the Æsir (gods), and on the other side is Jotunheim, the world of the Jötnar (giants). Connecting Midgard and Asgard is the rainbow Bifrost, which serves as the bridge between the world of man and the world of the gods. When a man is killed in battle, he crosses Bifrost into Asgard, where he joins the other fallen warriors in the castle Valhalla.

The ruler of Valhalla and head of the gods is Odin, the eldest and wisest of the gods. Odin got his wisdom from drinking from Mímir’s Well (Mímisbrunnr), a well at the roots of Yggdrasil guarded by the head of the æs Mímir. In order to be allowed to drink from the well, Odin had to sacrifice his eye, which is now lying in the well, allowing Odin to literally keep an eye on the world through the waters of wisdom.

Some of you have probably heard of Thor – the god of thunder. When Thor drives his goat-drawn cart across the sky, while brandishing his hammer Mjölnir, thunder and lightning appear on the sky. Mjölner is also the most powerful weapon of Asgard: When Thor throws it; it will always hit its target, and always return to Thor’s hand.

Even today, Norse mythology is present every day in the lives of every Dane – in the names of the days of the week. Tuesday is tirsdag – Tyr’s dag (Tyr is the god of war), Wednesday is onsdag – Odin’s day, Thursday is torsdag – Thor´s day, and Friday is fredag – Freya’s day, named after the goddess of love and fertility.

If you would like to learn more about Norse mythology, I highly recommend the Danish comic book series ”Valhalla”. Every album tells a different story, for example about the time Mjölnir was stolen by the Jötn Udgards-Loki and Thor had to dress up like a woman to retrieve his beloved hammer, or about the time Odin left Asgard and his crazy brothers Vile and Ve took over power. In Denmark, Norse mythology is still practiced as a religion, and approximately 600 Danes are part of the neo-pagan community Forn Siðr.

[Dansk]

Fun Theory? Having fun works everytime! (English)

P.S.- I made this... I see it. I like it. I make it. (English)

Bridget Jones's hilarious attempts at speaking German (English/German)

Who's Your Favourite? (English)

Why are buchty (Czech cakes) called Buchteln in Austria? And why is the Czech feast called vídeňský řízek (Wienerschnitzel)? And why do the Austrians never harvest Johannisbeeren (currants) but Ribisel? In this article you will discover how Czech food got to Austrian German.

Let´s begin with side dishes:

• Brambory (Czech) – Bramburi (Austrian German) – Kartoffeln (German) – potatoes

• Knedlík (Czech) – Knödel (Austrian German) – Kloß (German) – dumpling

And what about vegetables?

• Křen (Czech)– Kren (Austrian German) – Meerretich (German) - horseradish. The Czech name probably comes from the word kořen (root).

• Celer (Czech) – Zeller (Austrian German) – Sellerie (German) – celery. The Austrian-German word has the same pronunciation as the Czech one.

There are also “language siblings” among fruits:

• Rybíz (Czech) – Ribisel (Austrian German) – Johannisbeeren (German) – currants

• Švestky (Czech) – Zwetschken (Austrian German) – Pflaumen (German) – plums

The Czech language enriched the Austrian-German particularly in the area of sweet dishes:

• Povidlové buchty (Czech) – Buchteln (or Wuchteln) mit Powideln (Austrian German). Povidlové buchty are traditional Czech cake with plum sauce inside. Look at the working procedure and try them on your own! The best link to the recipe for povidlové buchty with demonstrative pictures is peculiarly in German.

• Lívance (Czech) – Liwanzen (Austrian German) – Fladen (German) – pancake

• Palačinky (Czech) – Palatschinken (Austrian German) – Pfannkuchen (German) – crepes

• Koláče (Czech) – Kolatschen (Austrian German) – Kuchen (German) – cake

However, the most famous among the foreigners is obviously alcohol:

• Plzeň (called Pils in German) is a Czech city, where the most popular Czech beer is brewed – Plzeňský prazdroj. “Pils” is a German equivalent for ale beer and doesn't even have to come from Plzeň.

• Slivovice (Czech) – Slibowitz or Sliwowitz (Austrian German) – Pflaumenschnaps (German) – plum brandy.

Well, so what is the reason for the penetration of big German language with the small Slavic language? The Czech and Austrian people used to live hundreds of years together in the Habsburg Monarchy. Czechs used to go to Austria for journeyman years, especially to Vienna. Vienna was closer than Prague for many people from Moravia. It is said, Czech cooks and craftsmen were sought-after. So it’s no surprise that during so many years both languages were intertwined. And not just languages – also the tastes: one of the most popular dishes in the Czech Republic is the Wienerschnitzel. Wienerschnitzel is made with boneless meat thinned with a mallet (escalope-style preparation), coated in bread crumbs and fried. You can find it in every Czech restaurant!

Of course, there are also a lot of German words, which became naturalized in Czech. Let's mention for example Strudel (German) – štrůdl (colloquial Czech) – závin (standard Czech), Erdäpfel – erteple (colloquial Czech) – brambory (standard Czech) or other words not connected with gastronomy. However, that could be a theme of the next article.

PS: I'm looking forward for your comments about your experience with buchty!

[Čeština]

If you are planning to go abroad for a long period of time, it’s advisable to create a list with all the documents and pending issues that must be solved before our departure. From canceled bank accounts to lost documents such as the insurance, traveling is full of both good and bad experiences and we must be ready for them!

No matter where you are heading to, it is essential to check and finalize what comes next:

1. University Degree and diploma: Don’t ever leave home if you don’t have your university diploma. Most of the time, university requires our signature to authorize any other activity related to our degree. If possible, make sure that your parents or any other family member, will be able to conclude our applications or receive your diploma. Leave all documents they might need ready and organized and explain in detail to your family what will they have to do and when.

2. Photos: Make sure you have photos in different sizes and try to wear formal clothes when you take them. Take half of them with you and leave the rest at home. We are never 100% sure that we’ll not need them for transport ID’s, paperwork, applications, etc. There are some cities where you won’t be able to go unless you have a visa and sometimes you can only get it once you are in the country of interest.

3. Insurance: Leave copies of all the insurance documents! Show your parents or siblings the exact place where they’ll find everything. In case of emergency, it’ll be easier for them to find whatever they need.

4. Traveling tour or home address: Get copies of your tour so your family is aware of the places you’ll visit and when. This is just a precaution, remember that even the best plans have failures and it’s never wrong to provide more information than needed and especially to your parents. If you are going on exchange, look for the address of the dorms or flat you’ll be staying at and once again share it with your family.

5. Bank Accounts: In case you’ll carry your current credit cards, make sure they have enough money! If you are planning to stay abroad for a long time then it’s better to cancel your accounts by yourselves and avoid leaving troubles to your family. Make sure you’ll be able to use your credit cards in any country and the amount of money you’ll have to pay regarding the exchange currency. Most banks require paying some kind of fee for withdrawing money abroad! If you got a special bank account for the trip, remember to activate your card!

6. Passport and visa: What if you find an interesting job offer or study program? It’s always good to check if our passport or visas will be valid for more than 3 years or enough time to reach our goals. Getting a new passport in a country that is not yours could be quite complicated and time will be essential.

Once you are sure that your family will be able to deal with any issue, it’s time to finish your trip schedule and planning! There are many blogs that offer tips for travelers in order to have a great experience. Write down everything you need to do before, during and after your trip to avoid setbacks that might ruin your planning. This blog published once an article related to the most common travel mistakes, check it out!

[Español]

Lexiophiles and bab.la invite you to vote for the best blog of the IX12 ‘Top 100 International eXchange and eXperience (also known as IX) Blogs’ competition. Give your vote to the most exciting, inspiring, open-minded blogger writing about his or her experience abroad.

Voting will be open to anyone until February 12th, winners will be announced on February 14th (more information here). Get the voting button for your blog here.

We broke last year’s record of 220 blogs, counting a total of 239 blog nominations! You will find blogs from all over the world, written in English, German, Polish, Portuguese, Czech, Swedish, Danish... Now it’s time to vote for your favorite blog!

How to vote?

It’s easy: Search for your favorite blog (blogs are sorted from A to Z), click on it and then hit the vote button on the bottom of the list.

Remember: You can only vote once!

Follow @babla on Twitter (official hashtag #IX12) or like our Fan Page on Facebook to get the latest updates about IX12.

Actually, Modern Standard Arabic belongs to the Semitic language family and is the definitive form of written Arabic. Modern Standard Arabic provides a universal form of the language that can be easily understood despite the fact that it is more than one and a half thousand years old.

The rise of this language is inextricably intertwined with the rise of Islam as a major world religion; some practices can not be done without mastering the Arabic language as it is the language of the Quran.
The Arabic language has many unique specificities that differentiate it from all the spoken languages worldwide.

Among these differences:

Parsing

Parsing is a feature of this language, which includes all the terms like the doer, the verb, prepositions, ect… And despite the fact that parsing is present in some other languages such as Hindi, Hebrew, Ethiopian, Germanic… it is rather a partial parsing. For instance, a word like (علم) whose racine root includes the letters “A”, “L” and “M” can be read in seven different ways, each having a distinct meaning; “alima”, “olima”, “allama”, “ollima”, “alamon”, “eelmon”and “olim”.

Phonetic distinction

Modern Standard Arabic has the widest articulatory ladder among all languages. In other words, all of the articulatory organs participate in the creation of sounds from the lips to the glottis. Unlike other languages -that may contain more letters- Arabic sounds are balanced and distinct from each other. That’s why there are not many allophones to the same phoneme, but rather each phoneme is distinct and has its own particularities which creates harmony in the Arabic speech.

Arabic Calligraphy
The hand-writing of the Arabic letters is an art in itself. Letters in Arabic are so flexible that they can cope with the aesthetic of each period. Thus, numerous styles were created using the Arabic script such as, the Kufic style, the Cursive style, the Maghrebian style and the Karawian style…These Arabesque motifs were not only used in books, but to decorate the walls and ceilings of mosques as well.

Colloquial Arab dialects

Arab colloquial dialects are generally only spoken. A colloquial language is used in daily conversation, but in a situation calling for greater formality, Modern Standard Arabic is usually used. Standard Arabic is more or less the same throughout the Arab World, while there are wide differences between the various colloquial dialects.

[اللغة العربية]