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Photo: Lots of Language

October 10, 2011 By Danny

Our first morning in China started before dawn when our bus pulled into a hotel parking lot – not a bus station – and told us to beat it. We were dazed and confused – and a bit frazzled from a stressful border crossing – but eventually managed to find our way downtown. We spent most of the day walking the streets of Urumqi while waiting for our next bus that afternoon to take a few hours onward to where we’d be spending the night.

While walking around it was quickly apparent what a strange place Urumqi was. It is something of a silk road city and is filled with Muslim Uyghers. The Uyghers are clinging to their roots as best they can as the city grows through an influx of new Chinese Han residents. We took this picture of a sign above a store because we found it so interesting how there were three languages present, yet the local language is the most difficult to see.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

IF YOU GO: Urumqi is not easy to get to and on a visit to China is not typically common to go and visit. If you are coming from Almaty, Kazakhstan as we were there are overnight buses that depart each day and these are actually quite comfortable…in addition to being faster and cheaper than the train. If you’re coming from more typical Chinese locations you are probably better off flying as it is a VERY long train ride. We used it as a jumping off point to visit the Dunhuang Grottos.

Review: Jammin’ to a new language

January 19, 2011 By Jillian

When we were approached about reviewing this smart phone application, I was excited. There are tons of applications out there to help travelers learn European languages, or even a few words of Cyrillic or eastern languages, but I find most of them lacking. The idea with Earworms Musical Brain Trainer is that listening to the language downloads will put words and phrases into your long-term memory, so you can actually recall it when you need it. The lessons are put to music or rhythms which improves the brain’s recall function. Given that epic stories from thousands of years ago, like the Odyssey, were put to music so a poet could remember the whole thing, I think the creators on to something here…

I love languages and to be completely honest I speak three of them, but as I learned on the road, that wasn’t enough. To try out this app, I wanted to put it through the ringer so I chose two languages that are considered difficult to learn: Russian and Arabic.

Getting Started: It was easy to download the different languages on my iTouch. You have to buy each language individually and most languages come in a few volumes- beginners should start with volume 1 with introduces a traveler to the key phrases for getting around: hotels, restaurants, etc… Along with the audio, you can read the phrases on your smartphone with the lesson.

How it Works:

For volume 1 downloads, each language come with 10 modules: 1) I would like, 2) To order, 3) Have you got?, 4) To the airport, 5) Numbers, days and time, 6) Where is there..?, 7) Directions, 8) Where, when and what time?, 9) Problems, problems and 10) Do you speak English? Unlike other language applications, there isn’t a cutesy little travel story along with the lesson. It’s a simple repetition of the phrases, by a native speaker and an English speaker. They chat a bit, but it’s clear that the focus is on getting the rhythm in your head. The whole volume was a little over an hour.

The directions suggests you to listen to the whole download on the first day and then regularly listen to the modules over the next few weeks.

My Thoughts:

I listened to the Russian and Arabic modules on and off for a few weeks, usually while running. I actually enjoyed the melodious repetition. Certain phrases, even with just my casual use of the modules, have really stuck in my head. I would definitely recommend these modules to traveler’s looking for an easy, relatively fun way to learn the basics. Plus listening to a native speaker is going to give you a much better accent.

Will it get you speaking fluently? No, but it does give you enough of a basis to be able to formulate phrases on your own. Although it doesn’t teach you to conjugate verbs, it does give you some verbs that you can use to make your own sentences. I also really appreciated the written text which gives a literal translation of some phrases and some grammatical tips, especially for Arabic, this gave me a real sense of place and culture.

Pros: Listen and read at the same time. Hear a native speaker and an English speaker in quick succession. Upbeat and easy to listen.

Cons: The price is overall a little steep, so use the free demo downloads on their website to try it before you buy it. I think it’s worth it!

Price: $9.99 But check their website for coupons and offers!

Disclosure: We were provided free downloads in exchange for reviewing this product.

Where are we from?

August 19, 2009 By Danny

A recent post of ours, about going to Colombia, said how excited we were to visit our first new continent together. A reader of ours pointed out that we were wrong…that we were still on the same continent, that of America. As it turns out the number of continents in the world depends on where you went to school. In the USA we are taught that there are 7 continents but in other places there can be as few as four. The Americas can be combined into one continent (as is taught in Latin America) and Europe and Asia can be combined into another. A few people will even group all of Eurasia and Africa together as a single continent. The only places that are undeniably continents are Australia and Antarctica.

We encounter the same problem every time someone asks us our nationality, where we come from. If we answer “Americans” we’re not lying…we are Americans, but we’re also being insulting. Everyone, ever person from Canada’s arctic north to the southernmost tip of Patagonia is an American. If someone asks us our nationality and we respond Americanos we are being insulting to the person asking…implying that we are somehow more American than they are. In English, our nationality is American…we have no other word to call ourselves. In Spanish, we are Estadosunidenses; we are Americans too but no more than anyone else in North, Central, or South America.

Even saying that we are from the United States, which is how we generally respond, can be construed as an insult. We’ve traveled to United Mexican States. Perhaps we should just call ourselves Norteamericanos and leave it there? If there is one thing we’ve learned though it is never to call a Canadian, an American.

Photo: Lots of Language

Review: Jammin’ to a new language

Where are we from?

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