Let's have a quick look at the Spanish expression: Que tengas ... (May you have ...) It's a set phrase and it's used frequently in daily conversation.
In English, when you say to someone: "Have a good day!" you're not ordering them to have a good day, you are expressing a wish: "I hope you have ...." or "May you have ..."
When you wish someone a good day, etc. in Spanish, you are saying something similar: "¡Que tengas un buen día!" (familiar) and "¡Que tenga un buen día!" (formal) both mean "[May you] have a good day!"
The verb form that is used in such wishes that start with "Que tengas ..." is the subjunctive mood.
Look at the difference in the following Spanish expressions: •Tienes un buen día. - You are having a good day. (a statement) • ¡Que tengas un buen día! - Have a good day! (a wish)
Note: The combination "que+subjunctive" implies "may ..." or "I hope that ..."
A few other common wishes in Spanish:
• ¡Que tengas una buena estancia! - Have a good stay! • ¡Que tengas suerte! - Good luck! (May you have luck!) • ¡Que tengas buen viaje! - Have a good trip! • ¡Que te mejores! - Get well soon! (May you get better!) • ¡Que (te) vaya bien! - Good luck (to you)! / I hope it goes well (for you)! • ¡Que aproveche! - Enjoy your meal! (Spain)
Getting the feel for the context in which the subjunctive is used (rather than learning a bunch of rules) is a good way to start learning this verb form. ¡Que te vaya bien!
Curious about the Italian words "magari" and "mica"? Often when I'm in the kitchen preparing lunch, I'll grab my iPad and put on an Italian soap. For me it's a good way to sharpen my Italian listening skills.
As the conversations fly back and forth, I keep hearing the words "magari" and "mica," both of which are integral features of casual Italian conversation.
To understand their meaning you have to also understand the context in which they are used.
MAGARI
"Magari" can have different functions in a sentence (adverb, conjunction, interjection), and its meaning varies by context. • magari - maybe, perhaps [adverb] • Magari c'è un altro motivo. - Perhaps there's another reason. • magari - if only [conjunction] • Magari fosse vero! - If only it were true! • magari - I wish!, Yeah, right! [interjection, a little scarcastic] • Hai vinto qualcosa? - Did you win anything? • Magari! - I wish! / Yeah, right! • Magari! - you bet! [interjection, positive response] • Ti piacerebbe andare in Italia? - Would you like to go to Italy? Magari! - You bet! / I certainly would!
MICA
"Mica" is typically used as an adverb, for particular emphasis. • mica - at all [adverb] • Mica male questo vino. - This wine isn't bad at all. • non mica - not at all [adverb] • Non sto mica bene. - I'm not well at all. • Non ci credo mica. - I don't believe that for a minute.
Expression
Non sono mica nato/a ieri. - I wasn't born yesterday. (m/f) Meaning: I know a thing or two ... I didn't just fall off the turnip truck.
How can you start using "magari" and "mica" in your own Italian conversations? Begin by paying attention to these words when you listen to Italian. And when you speak, just slip them in casually. Will that work? You bet! Magari!
Bio: Ulrike Rettig is the co-founder of GamesforLanguage.com. She is a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, the Netherlands, and Canada. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact.
Arriving at one of the world's great cities is always a thrill. If, in addition, you've made some effort to learn some basics of the local language, you'll have added another dimension to your experience.
And while you're exploring the city, you can continue to engage with its language. Here are 4 easy ways to keep on learning. I tried these out while recently visiting Oslo, Norway's capital. (image of Oslo's stunning new opera)
1. DECODING SIGNS WHILE EXPLORING ON FOOT
Oslo's Karl Johans gate (right) is a pedestrian way that sweeps through the city from Sentralstasjon (central station) to Slottet (the royal palace). It is lined by cafés, shops, office buildings, and is always bustling with activity.
As you stroll along this street, you meet a constant stream of visual language: signs on buildings and apartments; signs regulating car and bicycle traffic; advertising signs in stores,etc.
Some of these are translated into English, but many are not. It's fun to guess the meaning of these signs, and armed with a small dictionary, you can decipher many of them.
Since many words and phrases pop up in various locations, you'll start to recognize and learn them.
For understanding Norwegian, knowing another Germanic language (such as English, Dutch, or German) is helpful.
An ad on a tram (right) reads: "ring billig til utlandet" "ring" (American: call); "billig" (same word in German: cheap), "til" (to/until); "utlandet" (close to German "Ausland" or Dutch "buitenland," meaning "abroad.") So we figured that the cell phone company advertised: "Cheap calls abroad".
Sometimes though, you have to chuckle at the shift in meaning. For example, a sign at an Oslo Parking garage (right) reads "LEDIG" (Vacant), That's harder to figure out: the German word "ledig" means "unmarried", and the Dutch word "leeg" means "empty".
Or, you have to be beware of out-and-out false friends: Norwegian "barn" means "children" in English.
2. LISTENING TO ANNOUNCEMENTS ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Oslo has an excellent network of buses, trams, subways (T-bane), ferries and local trains that take you to practically any point in the city and to many towns in the surrounding county Akershus.
A 7-day all-inclusive pass helped us round out our sightseeing.Just for a start, we took the T-bane to the Holmenkollen hopp (ski jump); the tram to Vigelandsparken, an amazing open-air sculpture park (see a sculpture by Gustav Vigeland, left); and the ferry to Nesoddtangen (a village 4 miles south of Oslo).
Stops on trams, buses, subways, and trains are shown visually, but they are also announced aloud in Norwegian.
For me, this was a fun way to learn the correlation between spelling and pronunciation. Norwegian has many silent letters, plus a few letter combinations that are totally unpredictable for a native English speaker.
Listening to the names of stops, as well as to lengthier general announcements is a good way to get the music of the language into your ear. Moreover, everything is spoken in Norwegian first, and then in English, allowing you to double-check that you've really understood the meaning.
3. READING DUAL-LANGUAGE TEXTS IN MUSEUMS
Oslo offers a host of interesting museums, some housed in spectacular buildings, others tucked away in formerly private apartments.
Each exhibit provides well-constructed, colorful background stories - in Norwegian and English. As you read about the artists, the individual works of art, the history of the city, etc., you can have a language lesson to boot. From dual-language plaques, we learned about Munch's lengthy stays in Berlin and Paris and his bohemian life there (Munch Museum).
We read that Ibsen had lived abroad for 27 yearsand the reasons why he did his best writing outside of the country (Ibsen Museum).
We discovered that, when in 1905, the Danish Prince Carl and his British wife became King Haakon VII and Queen Maude of Norway (Hollenkollen Museum), they and their children became avid skiers (see the royal family, right)
To find out how a Danish Prince and his English wife become the founders of the current Norwegian Royal House, read our blog post Language Politics).
4. SPEAKING THE LOCAL LANGUAGE
Last but not least, it was fun to try out our practical, phrase-based Norwegian. We are far from fluent, but every time we made a purchase, ordered food or drinks, bought tickets, or asked for directions, we practiced the language we had so far acquired.
Waiters in cafés or restaurant were usually multilingual and when our Norwegian didn't suffice, they joined us in language-switching back and forth between Norwegian, English, German, and sometimes Spanish and Italian.
When you think about it, a city offers a lot of free and fun resources for language learning. You just have to become aware of them and use them as they come up. Keeping a 3"x5" spiral notebook with you to write down any new words or phrases you see or hear, will help you remember and learn.
More and more online language learning sites are adding games or game-like features to their course repertoire. And that is for good reason: Making language learning more entertaining can also produce better results.
All four language skills – listening/comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing - can be practiced with interactive games or lessons/exercises that have game-like features.
Some baby boomers and older learners may not (yet) be as used to learning with games as generation X, Y, Z, but it seems inevitable that the trend of learning with games will continue.
Clearly, Gamesforlanguage.com was created with the idea that learning a language with games can be fun and effective. But we have also learned that players should observe a few "rules" or practices to get the most out of our games. Here are our five (5) tips which are based on our own experience and on comments from our users. We have also incorporated them into our list of suggestions: “How to play and learn?”
1. Be mindful and pay attention to the spelling
When new foreign words first come up, take a moment to study them and memorize their typeface/appearance, especially when special foreign letters, accents, umlauts, etc. are involved. You'll have to recall the specifics later when you have to write them.
2. Limit the new vocabulary you learn daily to 15-20 words
It's easy to be carried away by easy games and just move on to the next set of new words. However, our brain is only able to handle so many words or expressions a day and move them from short-term to long-term memory. The number of new words one can learn a day may vary, but we suggest a range of 15-20.
3. Repeat the native speaker's words and phrases whenever you can
Learning to speak a new foreign language requires pronouncing the foreign words. This may feel awkward and strange at the beginning, but you have to do it as often as you can.
Some online language programs have recording features and you are asked to emulate the native speaker (see also 5. below). But don't even wait until you can record. Take every opportunity to repeat a foreign word, phrase or sentence, right from the start.
4. Play some games every day
Especially at the beginning it's important that you get into a learning habit. Set a time that fits best into your schedule. Just 15-20 minutes for 5 or 6 days in a row will be better than an hour or two once a week!
The daily practice will have you soon naming objects and activities in your new language. This way you are sure to move the new vocabulary into your long-term memory.
5. Record your voice and compare yourself to the native speaker
We have not been able to make recording your voice into a game. Some language courses are using voice recognition and voiceprint spectrograms to compare your voice to the native speaker's voice. This may be fun to watch, but can also be frustrating, especially at the beginning.
However, you can make your own game out of imitating the native speaker by acting the part with gusto. And you should really focus on listening and hearing the difference between your pronunciation and that of the native speaker. That is a sure way to improve.
Games for learning languages are evolving. There are many gaming features that can make them more challenging and exciting. Not all of them are make learning more effective, but more research will be needed to understand what the trade-offs are.
During our recent trip with the Hurtigruten Line along the Norwegian coastline from Bergen to the Northcap (picture left) and Kirkenes, on the Russian border, we had an opportunity to learn much about Norwegian language and history.
Yes, the Vikings were a frequent topic of conversation and the focus of a few excursions. Between the late 8th and the middle of the11th century, Vikings had ruled the North Sea and had even ventured into the Mediterranean Sea.
Also, there's evidence that they had reached Iceland and Greenland. Leif Erikson may well have been the first European to set foot on mainland America. But we also found the more recent history of Norway and especially the role of the Norwegian language quite interesting.
And, if you'd like to learn about the best ways to experience the Northern Lights - which we witnessed several times - click on the link!)
Nordic Languages: Danish - Norwegian - Swedish
Although friends had told us that these Nordic languages are quite similar to German, my one-month Swedish course did not yet make this obvious to me. And sitting at a dinner table with four Swedes every night, I never caught any part of their conversation - except if they switched to German or English for our benefit.
From Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes on the ship we learned that they can generally understand each other's language, but that regional dialects can pose a real problem.
In Norway, the two official forms of written Norwegian are "Bokmål" (book tongue), used by more than 86% of the people, and Nynorsk (new Norwegian), used by 7.5%. But as this Wikipedia link further explain, the language situation is quite complex.
Nynorsk – a newly created language
As we inquired further into Nynorsk, we learned that this language was created by Ivar Aasen in the middle of the 19th century from old Nordic dialects. One would ask: why create a new language? For Norway, language was a way to reinforce a distinct Norwegian identity, as the nation strove for and then acquired, in 1905, its independence from Sweden.
Some Norwegians suggested to us, however, that with Norway's affluence and growing national confidence, the movement for popularizing Nynorsk may be slowing down.
The benefits of a second national language taught in school are being questioned as other languages become ever more important. (I am leaving out of this discussion any local dialects and the distinctly different language of the Sami, the indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting the northern part of the Scandinavian peninsula.)
A little more Nordic History
After the end of the Viking era (around 1050), Norwegian tribes and communities were ruled for centuries by Danish and then by Swedish kings. Nation states as such only developed in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, often after considerable strife.
It was therefore surprising to some, when in 1905, Sweden accepted the plebiscite of the Norwegians, and agreed to release Norway from the joint kingdom of Norway and Sweden.
The story of the peaceful dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden makes interesting reading for history buffs, who also may be intrigued by the people's election (!) of the Danish (!) crown prince as their new king.
Politics, Dialects, and "standard" language
In the past, political leaders have often tried to impose new languages on their people. When the Normans won the battle of Hastings in 1066, French became the language of English nobility.
Although French certainly influenced and modified the language of English peasants and commoners, it did not replace it. (Read more in our blog post: The French Connection) French became the language at many European courts in the 18th and 19th centuries and many French words found their way into the various European languages.
In the region of Catalonia, which includes the second largest city in Spain, Barcelona, the local language is Catalan. Catalan is both a spoken and a written language. As Castilian Spanish is taught in schools, most Catalans are indeed bilingual - although traces of animosity towards Castilian seem to remain, even, surprisingly, with some younger people. (Read more in our blog post: In Barcelona Learning "Spanish" is Not Enough)
Switzerland has a somewhat different situation. Spoken "Swiss German" or "Schwyzerdütsch" is the common language in the German-speaking cantons, although there are noticeable dialect differences among them.
However, "High German" or "Schriftdeutsch" (Written German), as the Swiss call it, is taught in schools. It's the printed language of newspapers and is used by all Swiss Germans to write. With very few exceptions - see picture at right - Swiss German is not used for writing or print. (For a translation of the above sign and the French version see our post: 11 Language Clues from German and Swiss Signs.)
The Norwegian Language and National Identity
Clearly, language plays an important role in a people's identity. In the case of Norway, it will be interesting to watch whether Nynorsk will survive and prosper alongside Norway's presently more dominant language, Bokmål.
Postscript: In March 2019 the Norwegian Academy (a Norwegian language learning site) published a post on the question whether to learn Nynorsk or Bokmål. They conclude: "So it comes to your preferences and your place of living. It might be hard to learn writing Bokmål in an area where everyone uses Nynorsk." And, if you happen to be relocating to Norway, a localization service can be very helpful.
Let's have a quick look at the Spanish expression: Que tengas ... (May you have ...) It's a set phrase and it's used frequently in daily conversation.
"Swiss German" or "Schwyzerdütsch" is the common language in the German-speaking cantons, although there are noticeable dialect differences among them.