I was intrigued to read recently that the bus company in the Isle of Man is called Bus Vannin (in English), Barroose Vannin (in Manx Gaelic). Vannin is a form of Mannin, the Manx name for the Island. The change from Mannin to Vannin is evidently an instance of a process called initial consonant mutation,…… Continue reading Consonant mutation in Manx
Tag: Textbook
Basque or Slovene?
A surprising statement on the back of Colloquial Basque. “By the end of this rewarding course you will be able to communicate confidently and effectively in Slovene in a broad range of everyday situations. “
Good course, bad course
I recently made a surprising discovery. A very good course for independent language learners and a very bad one were both written by the same person. A very good course In the mid 80s, my wife gave me Colloquial Hungarian, by Arthur H Whitney. This was a 1982 reprint of a course book first published…… Continue reading Good course, bad course
Italian tongue twister
Trentatré Trentini entrarono a Trento, tutti e trentatré, trotterellando Meaning: thirty-three people from Trento (northern Italy) entered Trento, all thirty-three trotting. I first came across this tongue twister in the mid 1990s in an excellent BBC Italian course Italianissimo. Sadly, this no longer seems to be available.
Scandinavian language challenge day 6
Today I worked through the first chapter of Norwegian in three months. This chapter introduces: articles and nounsplurals of nounssubject pronounsthe verbs to be and to haveeveryday expressionsother words Articles and nouns There are two genders: common and neuter, though sometimes common gender is split into masculine and feminine colloquially (and especially in Nynorsk). The…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 6
Scandinavian language challenge day 3
Today, I started the Norwegian part of my Scandinavian language challenge. I am using Norwegian in Three Months (1989), published by Dorling Kindersley under the Hugo imprint. This book contains an introduction preface, a guide to pronunciation (and spelling), 12 chapters, a key to the exercises, an appendix on Norwegian spelling, a mini-dictionary and an…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 3
Scandinavian language challenge day 2
I am continuing the Scandinavian language challenge I started yesterday. Today, I started Swedish. I am using Swedish in Three Months (1998), published by Dorling Kindersley under the Hugo imprint. This book contains a preface, a guide to pronunciation (and spelling), 12 chapters, reading practice (4 pages) a key to the exercises and drills, a…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 2
Scandinavian language challenge day 1
I have set myself a language challenge. I will work through basic introductory language courses on Danish, Swedish and Norwegian, working each day on one of the languages. I’ve picked these languages because: I first started looking at these 3 languages (together with several other languages) around 45 years ago when I first got into…… Continue reading Scandinavian language challenge day 1