Category: Language

Learning a new language is always challenging, and it can be especially difficult for children. As a parent, you play a vital role in helping your child learn a new language. If you’re looking to help your child learn Filipino, there are several tips that can make the process easier and more enjoyable. Here are five tips for parents to help their kids learn Filipino. 

1. Start with basic words and phrases 

One of the best ways to help your child learn Filipino is to start with basic words and phrases. This can include everyday words like “hello” (kumusta), “goodbye” (paalam), “please” (pakiusap), and “thank you” (salamat). By starting with these simple phrases, your child will quickly build confidence and feel motivated to learn more. 

2. Incorporate Filipino language into everyday activities 

To make learning Filipino more fun and engaging, incorporate the language into everyday activities. For example, you can label household items in Filipino, such as “mesa” (table) or “silya” (chair). You can also sing Filipino songs, read Filipino books, or watch Filipino movies together. This will help your child learn new words and phrases in a more natural and enjoyable way. 

3. Use Filipino language learning apps 

There are many language-learning apps available that can help your child learn Filipino. These apps are designed to be fun and interactive, with games and quizzes that make learning the language more engaging. Some of the popular Filipino language learning apps include Duolingo, Babbel, and Rosetta Stone. By using these apps, your child can practice their language skills anytime, anywhere. 

4. Find a Filipino tutor or language exchange partner 

Another effective way to help your child learn Filipino is to find a Filipino tutor or language exchange partner. A tutor can provide one-on-one instruction and personalized feedback, while a language exchange partner can give your child the opportunity to practice their language skills with a native speaker. You can find a tutor or language exchange partner through online platforms like italki or Preply, or through local language schools or community centers. 

5. Make learning Filipino a family activity 

Learning Filipino shouldn’t be something your child does alone – it can be a fun family activity. Encourage your whole family to learn the language together by setting aside time each week to practice. You can play Filipino language games, have conversations in Filipino, or even cook Filipino dishes together while speaking in the language. By making learning Filipino a family activity, you’ll create a supportive and motivating environment for your child to learn and grow. 

In conclusion, helping your child learn Filipino is a rewarding experience that can bring you closer together as a family. By starting with basic words and phrases, incorporating the language into everyday activities, using language learning apps, finding a tutor or language exchange partner, and making learning a family activity, you can help your child develop language skills that will benefit them for a lifetime.

A language that has been around for hundreds or thousands of years can already be difficult to master, but what about those that have only been around for a handful of decades (if not less)? Thanks to pop culture, there have been a lot of new languages that have been created from scratch, ranging from the world of literature to video games, and from movies to television.

 If you’re looking to pick up a language that can help you communicate with some of the most hardcore fans in existence, try picking up one of these five well-known fictional languages.

Klingon

The first fictional language is one of the most expansive and oldest in popular culture, pulling from the “Star Trek” franchise. The Klingon species was introduced in the original television series which aired in 1967 and instantly became a staple of the franchise. Author and “Star Trek” fan Marc Okrand took it upon himself to create an entire Klingon language, publishing “The Klingon Dictionary” in 1985.

Not only did Okrand create words for the language, but also made sure tha the grammar had a set of rules. The book received an expansion in 1992, with Okrand adding more words from the “Star Trek” films that were released throughout the 1980s and in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. With nearly 200 pages in total, there are thousands of people who are able to communicate exclusively in Klingon.

Dothraki

The popular television series “Game of Thrones” is based on the book series “A Song of Ice and Fire” and aired on HBO from 2011 until 2019. “Game of Thrones” contained several fictional languages, with the most popular of them being Dothraki. While Martin had started the language in his book series, conlanger David J. Peterson developed the entire language for television use with nearly 3,200 words.

Dothraki could be learned by anyone that wanted to, and Peterson says that it’s structured much like Elvish (which we’ll get to in a minute). Peterson had also created languages for “The 100”, “Dune”, and “Thor: The Dark World”, showing off his versatility. Still, it’s the Nomadic Dothraki language that people have come to know and love from him the most.

Elvish

Not to be confused with Elvis, the Elvish language isn’t quite as old as you might think. Elves have been part of stories for ages, but it wasn’t until J.R.R. Tolkien wrote “The Lord of the Rings” series that it really started to take off. Tolkien began creating the language for his characters to use throughout the book series, including several offsets of the base language known as Primitive Quendian.

The final languages include Quendya, Exilic Quenya, Telerin, Sindarin, Nandorin, and Avarin. Over the years, several other Elvish languages have been introduced into pop culture (many of which are by David J. Peterson), but it’s the Tolkien version that people remember the most. In one part of Sweden, there are thousands of people who can speak Elvish.

Minionese

Believe it or not, there’s an entire language devoted to the Minions characters from the “Despicable Me” series of films. Also known as Banana language, Minionese takes words from most of the major languages around the world and gives them their own meaning, with many of them pertaining to food. Originally, Minionese didn’t mean anything, according to director Pierre Coffin.

“It’s gibberish,” he said. “It’s a mixture of all the languages of the world and it’s about finding a particular magical rhythm and melody that makes the nonsense make sense.” As the films continued, though, Minionese started to make more sense and has become a full-fledged language of its own that somehow we all understand. “They emote with so much emotion that the language barrier doesn’t exist,” said star Sandra Bullock.

Huttese

It should come as no surprise that there are languages that exist in the “Star Wars” universe, especially after we discussed the Klingon language from “Star Trek”. There are a ton of “Star Wars” languages, with the most in-depth being that of Huttese. Spoken by characters including Jabba the Hutt, many of the “Star Wars” characters are able to speak, read, or at least understand the language.

There have been many people translating English into Huttese over the years, with the language continuing to expand. While there isn’t a dictionary that’s as structured as Klingon, the Huttese language does make sense to people who learn it. Since characters that range from Din Djarin (“The Mandalorian”) to Anakin Skywalker can speak Huttese, it makes sense that they put so much care into the language.

There are some words that we simply can’t spell or pronounce, even if they’re shorter ones. Then, there are monstrosities where you stare blankly at them and don’t even bother to come up with a pronunciation. The English language is filled with them, with some reaching over two dozen letters in length. Let’s take a look at 10 of those longest words in the English language and what they mean.

Thyroparathyroidectomized

This one is fairly easy to comprehend when you break it down, actually. Thyro, of course, has to deal with the thyroid, and that shows up twice in this lengthy word. To be ectomized is to be removed, so this word is for the surgical removal of not only the thyroid gland but the parathyroid gland, as well.

Honorificabilitudinitatibus

While this word is part of the English language, it’s completely derived from Latin words, leaving it hard to decipher for English speakers. Loosely, it translates into meaning ‘having the ability to achieve honors.’ Interestingly enough, this is by far the longest English word that alternates between consonants and vowels throughout and was used in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” by William Shakespeare.

Eellogofusciouhipoppokunurious

Now we get into the slang part of things, starting with this piece that first went into print back in 1934. While it doesn’t show up in the actual dictionary, it’s apparently one that got popular enough in certain parts of the country. Containing 30 letters in total, the definition is extremely simple as it means “very good.”

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Out of all of the words on this list that you have a chance of saying correctly on the first try, it’s this one. That’s because the word was used in the song of the same name in the 1964 Disney film “Mary Poppins” starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was a catchy piece that all of us could sing, and while it’s a nonsense word it was accepted as an English one. What’s the true meaning? Well, when you break it down, it turns out to be “Atoning for being educable through delicate beauty.” Simply put, “All is good.”

Antidisestablishmentarianism

After Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, this is probably the other word that you can say off the top of your head. That’s because when we’re young, we’re typically taught that it’s the longest word. Based on how you determine the validity of word length, there’s truth to that. Antidisestablishmentarianism isn’t a scientific word, so it gets more recognition for its length, and it means to be in the thought that a church of the state should keep receiving “government patronage.”

Floccinaucinihilipilification

Have you ever had the feeling that typically comes with depression where everything seems worthless or unimportant? There’s actually a word for that, and it’s floccinaucinihilipilification. Since it’s not cited as a medical term, though, there are many that call this the longest word. There is some debate, as some attribute this to mental health, while others say it’s just a string of Latin stem words created just for its length.

Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism

Now we get to the medical portion of the list where things get really interesting, starting with pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism. Most people know that pseudo means fake, and it’s interesting to see it used back-to-back in this lengthy word. The overall definition, though, is that it’s a condition where you’re short, have a round face, and have short hand bones.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

We’re sorry if we startled you by including this word in the list. If you were startled, that’s because Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is actually the term for the fear of long words. While many are off-put by long words, the amount of people who have a phobia of them is almost none.

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Certain words were made up simply to be long, and this is one of them. Everett M. Smith came up with this word while president of the National Puzzlers’ League as he wanted to come up with the longest possible that could have an actual meaning. Simply put, it means to contract a lung disease of fine ash and sand dust. It’s the longest word in the English dictionary.

Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl…isoleucine

The reason why we didn’t type this whole word out is because it would take days to do so and even hours just to pronounce. This one stands at a total of 189,819 letters and represents the chemical composition of titin, the largest known protein to man.

When learning a new language, you begin with that more accessible phase of starting to understand some of the words and start reading or writing at an entry level in that language. Then, there’s the advancement into the conversational phase of language that allows you to speak multiple sentences at a time. For those that are learning, this is usually where they end up.

There’s a massive plateau where it’s hard to make that jump from conversational to fluent, and it can be frustrating. If you find yourself as one of the millions that have been stuck here and are trying to become fluent, here are five tips that can help you reach your goals.

5. Think

There are some rough estimates that only around half of people have the ability to do an inner monologue. This is when you can hear your own voice in your head without actually speaking, leading to extensive lines of thought. For almost everyone, this inner voice comes from our native language, but it can be trained to mix things up.

Try using that voice in the language that you’re trying to become fluent in. You’ll be able to spot your errors without saying anything out loud. Being able to correct yourself before saying anything will lead to a more advanced grasp of the language and everything will flow much better in conversation.

4. Stop Using the Same Sentences

When many of us are learning a new language, we tend to stick to some familiar phrases. For instance, those that are learning Spanish might think of “Donde esta la biblioteca” or something along those lines. These familiar pieces of dialogue only serve as a crutch to use when you can’t think of anything else.

The best course of action is to forget these pieces of familiar grammar or dialogue exist and instead try to get out of your comfort zone. You’ll eventually learn when and where to use these new pieces of dialogue and you’ll become fluent in the language. To practice this, try writing down the new things that you’ve learned.

3. Use Your Ears and Eyes

You could learn how to write in a language and become an expert at it in just a short amount of time, but that doesn’t always translate into being able to speak the language. The vice versa of this is true, as well. Instead of focusing on one at a time, try to increase your verbal and written aptitude at the same time.

To do this, listen to audio where a transcript in the same language is available. If you’re reading what is being said at the same time, your brain will get a firmer grasp of the language overall and how it’s used. Once you get the hang of things, you can simply listen without needing the transcript.

2. Take Tests

Thankfully, there are many options to take proficiency tests in just about every language around the world. You can do these practice tests to see where you’re at in your learning while also finding out where your trouble spots are. A lot of people give up on becoming proficient because they don’t know what they’re doing wrong.

Practice tests are a window into your knowledge, and once you know where to improve, you can tackle that area of language. You may find that you’re getting your verbs wrong or perhaps the emphasis. Either way, knowledge is the most powerful tool, especially if it’s knowledge of how to improve.

1. Use Varying Sources

When you’re speaking in English and interacting with people that have different dialects and accents, you’ll pick up on the full scope of the language better. The same is true for every language, so it’s important to not use just one source. Education tools for language are often monotone and really only give you one way to speak.

Interacting with people with different accents and watching different videos in that language is a great way to mix things up. Not only are you picking up on different forms of dialect, but it’s also far less boring than the standard educational tools that are commonly used.