Common Error: "Earn," "Win," and "Beat"

Good afternoon, and welcome again to Mistake Monday! I've been busy traveling the last few months, but I'm back in Costa Rica now, so I'll try to update the blog more frequently again. Today I want to look at another Common Error. If you're not sure what kinds of errors I'm talking about, look here for a list of previous errors we've looked at on the blog.

Monopoly (or "Monopolio," as it's called here in Costa Rica) is one of my favorite board games. I don't always win, but I often am able to beat my opponents by buying as many properties as possible. (Photo by Ryan Sitzman)

Today's error is found often when talking about sports or other types of contests. It's also confusing for Spanish speakers because one Spanish word (ganar) can mean all three of the English words. Let's have a closer look:

Common Error: Earn, Win, and Beat
DON’T say this:	"She wins a lot of money in her job." "Saprissa won La Liga in last night's soccer game."
WHY?	-Earn refers to the money a person receives for doing work or a job. For example, you can say: "Pablo earns 5,000 Colones per hour working for the phone company." "I'd like a job where I can earn enough money to support my family." In most cases, you can also use the word make instead of earn. ("Pablo makes 5,000 Colones..."). -Win (past tense: won) means that one person or team defeats or conquers another person or team. The opposite is lose (past tense: lost). When you use these words, you usually mention the competition or contest, but not the opponent: "Jenny was the winner of the poker tournament. She won $50,000!" "Spain won the World Cup in 2010." The team with the highest score is the winner, and the team with the lowest score is the loser. Also, you can win a contest or competition unexpectedly (like the lottery or a raffle, for example): "I hope I win a free car in the supermarket raffle!" -Beat: Finally, beat is similar to win, but it's used a little differently in a sentence. You have to indicate both the winner and the loser (opponent) when you use the word beat: "Terry beat Tommy in the video game, but Tommy beat Terry playing soccer."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"She earns a lot of money in her job." -"Saprissa beat La Liga in last night's soccer game." OR -"Saprissa won last night's soccer game."

Hopefully you understand. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Are We All "Americans"?

Hello! It's been a while since I've written on this blog, but I've been on a long trip. I finally have a little time to blog again, so I'd like to talk today about the use of the word "American." 

Two flags, but are they two American flags? Photo by Ryan Sitzman.

Who or what can be considered "American," at least in English? This is one of the most common questions/complaints I get in my English classes. As you probably know if you have friends from the USA, we often refer to ourselves as "Americans." I was recently listening to a Grammar Girl podcast that talked about this very issue. You can see the transcript or listen to the podcast here. The episode is great listening practice, of course, but some of the English is a bit advanced, just so you know.

In the USA, as well as much of Canada, Europe, and other regions, we learn that there are 7 continents, and that North America and South America are two different continents. However, in Latin America, schools teach that North and South America are combined, and that the continent is called "America."  As a result, in Spanish you can refer to anyone or anything from Alaska to Argentina as (an) "americano/a." This is a small difference in names, but it can cause bigger problems in cultural communication. 

If I refer to myself as an American in a class in Costa Rica, some of my students complain and say something like, "We are Americans, too." Sure, that's true. But they're also Costa Ricans. Or in South America, they're also Argentinians, Venezuelans, Peruvians, etc. The USA is at a bit of a disadvantage because there's not a word that can describe the people from the country, at least not in English (estadounidense works OK in Spanish, but there's not an equivalent in English).

Another issue that comes up in classes is the use of the word "North American." In Costa Rican Spanish, "norteamericano" is often used to refer to Americans and Canadians, but only sometimes Mexicans. It's a confusing term, especially if you're talking to a person who learned that Central America is part of the North American continent. I tell my students that according to geographers in the USA, Costa Ricans are also "North Americans"! Even if you eliminate the "norte," it doesn't necessarily make things less confusing or controversial. Just try calling a Canadian or a Mexican an "americano" and you'll see what I mean.

Basically, this is my message to my Costa Rican students and other readers in Latin America: If a person from the United States of America calls himself or herself an "American" when speaking in English, please don't take offense. They're not saying that you aren't Americans, too, but there's just not an English word that lets us describe our nationality in another way. If both English and Spanish speakers keep this in mind, it can help us avoid some cultural and linguistic misunderstandings.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Sense Vocabulary: "Bad Touch" Words

Good evening! Tonight we'll look at our last three words related to the sense of touch. In our last post we talked about "neutral" touch, and today we'll talk about "bad" touch, which are words that are generally used in a negative way.

What is this woman doing? If you don't know, read on to find out!
(Image by Jonathan Pankau, used under a Creative Commons license)

Today's words are generally used when talking about touching humans, not objects. The words are:

Slap, Punch, and Molest: "Neutral" Touching

Slap

Technically, a high five is a kind of slap, since you need to have an open hand to do it. I know a high five is usually "good" touching, but I had trouble finding a picture of someone slapping another person in the face. (Image by Ingorr, used under a Creative Commons license)

"Slap" is to use your open hand to hit a person. Many times this is used to describe a hit to the face:

"Mark often says offensive things to women, so women often slap his face."

A synonym of slap in this case can often be "smack." The main thing to remember is that with this action, your hand is open, not closed.

Punch

If you're good at boxing, you can make a lot of money by using your fists to punch other people! (Image) 

"Punch" is another type of hitting (and that's why it's generally "bad" touching). It's different from slapping because if you punch someone, you hit them with a closed hand. In fact, there's a special name for a closed hand: a fist:

"The two drunk men at the bar used their fists to hit each other like boxers. They punched each other in the head and stomach until they got kicked out of the bar."

Molest

Be very careful with this word! In Spanish, molestar means "bother" or "annoy" in English. But in English (especially American English), "molest" generally means to touch someone in a sexually inappropriate way! Unfortunately, it's often used with children, but not always (and you can understand why I didn't include a picture for this word!)

"The criminal was put in jail for abusing and molesting a child."

So, that's it for now. I hope you rarely have to use these words, but they're still important to learn to increase your vocabulary. If you have any questions ideas, please feel free to leave a comment! Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!


(Answer from Monday's post: The problem is the word the. It's not necessary before "Istanbul," but it is necessary before "The United States." Thanks for checking it out!)

Senses: Touch and Feel

Hello, and welcome again to Mistake Monday! It's been a few weeks since we looked at a Common Error. Today's is actually not very common, but I still wanted to mention it briefly.

I've never seen this game before, but somehow it still reminds me of my childhood.
Image by Axel Tregoning, used through Creative Commons license.

Remember that we were talking about the Five Senses, and that we still had one more to talk about: touch. When we experience this action, we also often use the word feel. This can get complicated, so we'll look at more vocabulary words related to these topics on Wednesday. For today, let's see quickly how to use these words:

Not-Very-Common Error: Touch and Feel
DON’T say this:	"She feels herself bad." "I want to learn to touch the guitar."
WHY?	Hey, I admitted that the errors weren't that common. Anyhow, here are a few tips: -Touch usually means to use your hands or fingers to make physical contact with an object or other person: The crazy man on the bus screamed, "Don't touch me, you aliens!" "Can you close your eyes and touch your nose? If not, you may be drunk." As you can see, touch is normally used as a verb, but there are also cases when you can use it as a noun. -Feel (past tense: felt) is closely related to touch. In fact, you can normally say that a person who touches "does" the action, and the person who feels "receives" the action: "Did you feel that tremor? It wasn't an earthquake, but I still felt the room shake a bit." "I went to the dentist and they gave me anesthesia. I can't feel my tongue when I touch it." -Feel is also commonly used with temporary physical states and emotions (but it's not reflexive like in Spanish or some other languages): "I feel really hot-- do you think you could open the window or turn on a fan or something?" "I felt really sad when my cat died." As you can see, feel is a verb. The noun form is feeling. BONUS: -Touch is not used with musical instruments (unless you only want to touch it... but most people prefer to play an instrument): "In the past I could play some songs on the piano and the saxophone, but I've forgotten how to play them."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"She feels bad." -"I want to learn to play the guitar."

Do you have any questions? Remember that on Wednesday we'll look at more vocabulary related to this sense. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Common Error: "Hear" vs. "Sound"

"Behind the Scenes at Sitzman ABC": Sitzman ABC has a dedicated team of sound mixing technicians that spend hours and hours getting the sound perfect for each post on our site.

Just kidding. This is just a picture of a guy at a sound board, probably in a recording studio. (Image)

Hello! It's Mistake Monday again, and we're continuing with our series about senses in English. This week I want to talk about the sense of smell, but I don't have a Common Error related to smell. So, for today I decided to do one more post related to last week's topic, hearing. Then, for Word Wednesday we'll continue with vocabulary related to smell. 

How does that sound?

I hope it sounds good, because that's how it's going to be, haha! In fact, that's today's Common Error: 

Common Error: Hear vs. Sound
DON’T say this:	"The music hears excellent." "Celine Dion sound herself very bad."
WHY?	-Remember that last week we talked about the difference between hear and listen. Those are two verbs that we can use when we receive and process sound in our ears. -Sound is used to describe when we produce sounds. It's a bit complicated because "sound" can be a verb ("sonar" in Spanish) or a noun ("sónido" in Spanish). -As a verb: "This music sounds great! What exactly are you listening to?" -As a noun: "It was so quiet in the house that you couldn't hear a sound." Note: It's also common to use "sound" to express your opinion about an idea or some general information, and is often followed by "like": -"That sounds like a great idea!" -"Based on your description, Rodrigo sounds like a very nice person."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"The music sounds excellent." -"Celine Dion sounds very bad."

That's it for today! If you have questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Senses: Hearing, Part 1

A chart showing the way our bodies hear sounds. (Image)

Hello, and welcome to Mistake Monday! Last week we looked at different words related to the sense of sight, and this week we'll examine the next sense: hearing. This is the sense that you do with your ears; it's also referred to as "listening," but what's the difference between the words "hear" and "listen"? That's a good question, and it's actually a common error that I notice in my classes. So, here is a re-posting of one of our first Common Errors to help explain the difference:

Common Error: Confusing "listen" and "hear"
DON’T say this:	I'm sorry, but I wasn't hearing to you. Hear! I think I listen a car coming! Did you listen that noise just now?
WHY?	Much like the difference between "watch," "see," and "look," the difference between "listen" and "hear" has a lot to do with intention: -You naturally hear things; "to hear" is to perceive sounds that reach your ears by using your sense of hearing. You normally don't plan to hear: it's spontaneous. -To hear of/about something means to have knowledge related to that thing. -If you listen, you carefully or continuously hear something. You have to pay attention to listen to something. If you have an object that follows the word "listen," be sure to add the word "to." -Additionally, "listen" can be used as an interjection, but "hear" generally can't.
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Listen to this CD. It's great!" -"Sorry, but I didn't hear what you said. I wasn't listening." -"Have you heard about Pete? He got fired for always coming to work late!"

Many people, especially as they become older, have trouble hearing and need to use hearing aids to help them hear. (Image)

So, I hope that helps a bit. On Wednesday we'll look at more words related to the sense of hearing. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Fun Friday: The History of English

I've recently come across two videos that talk about the history of the English language, so I thought I'd share them with you here today.

My friend Juan Guillermo showed me the first one. It's pretty fast and it's funny, also. However, that may mean that it's a little difficult for English learners to understand. That's OK, but just watch it and try to see how many words you understand:

The second video is older and the speech is also clearer and less difficult. It also gives many examples of loanwords in English. You may remember that we talked about loanwords a few times (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).

So, I hope you liked the videos and that you learned something new! Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

Common Error: "High" vs. "Tall"

Welcome again to Mistake Monday! Today we'll talk about when to say "high" and when to say "tall." Today's Common Error can actually be funny sometimes, but that's a good reason to be careful when saying these words. 

The Burj Khalifa skyscraper (formerly known as the Burj Dubai). Should you say it's the tallest or the highest building in the world? Read on to find out! Image by Leandro Ciuffo

Common Error: High vs. Tall
DON’T say this:	"Shelly is a very high girl." "When I was a boy, I wasn't high enough to ride the roller coaster." "The airplane is very tall in the sky."
WHY?	-High and tall are essentially synonyms, but they're used for different cases. They both can describe the height of someone or something. The opposite is short. -High is generally used with objects, and it indicates a vertical distance that is far away. Common examples are: "The father put the cookie jar on top of the refrigerator so that it would be too high for the children to reach." "When space tourism starts, passengers will fly high in the atmosphere." -Tall can be used with objects OR people. The word indicates a lot of height: "The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest building in the world." "I don't think I'm very tall, but I'm taller than most of my students." -CAREFUL! If you use the word "high" to describe a person, you're generally indicating that he or she is on drugs! "The musician was so high that he couldn't even play his guitar for the concert."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Shelly is a very tall girl." -"When I was a boy, I wasn't tall enough to ride the roller coaster." OR -"When I was a boy, I was too short to ride the roller coaster." -"The airplane is very high in the sky."

This dog may be short, but he still looks suspiciously high (on drugs!) Image by Cissurz

That's it for now! If you have questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Common Error: "Contamination" vs. "Pollution"

Welcome again to Mistake Monday! Today we'll at a Common Error that's easy to correct. We'll examine when to say "contamination" and when to say "pollution."

Is this river contaminated or polluted? Or is it both? Read on to find the answer! (Image)

Common Error: Contamination vs. Pollution
DON’T say this:	"There is a lot of contamination in the streets of San José." "Don't contaminate! Put your trash in the trash cans!" "I wasn't wearing rubber gloves in Biology lab, so I may have polluted our experiments."
WHY?	Contaminate is often used in a technical sense. For example, if you're in a Chemistry class, you may talk about a sample of a liquid being contaminated. In this case, contaminated means impure, and is often used to describe liquids or things that are not clean, but the effects are often invisible: "I need to go to the doctor to give another blood sample. The first one got contaminated in the lab." "The water in some countries is not potable; That means it is contaminated, and you need to boil water or drink bottled water." "The passengers on the cruise ship got food poisoning. They got sick when they ate contaminated steaks." If there are visible substances in liquid, or even if there is just trash in an area, it's more common to say that it's polluted. The verb is pollute, and the noun is pollution. It's similar to contamination, but when something is polluted the effects are usually visible: "We really need to stop polluting so much before the trash problem in this city gets out of control." "The tire factory emits a lot of pollution into the air." "Yuck! Look at all those plastic trash bags and other trash in the river --it's really polluted!"
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"There's a lot of pollution in the streets of San José." -"Don't pollute! Put your trash in the trash cans!" -"I wasn't wearing rubber gloves in our Biology lab, so I may have contaminated our experiments."

What about you and where you live:
Is there a lot of pollution in your town or city?
Can you think of any examples of types of pollution?
Does your country have more air pollution or general trash?
What is the most polluted place you've been to?
Is the water where you live potable, or is it contaminated?

Please feel free to answer any of these questions in the comments section below!

A photo of the former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, taken from the town of Pripyat. In 1986 there was a meltdown at the power plant, which spread radiation over the town of Pripyat and over many thousands of kilometers. Today Pripyat is an abandoned city, and still dangerous due to radiation. Radiation is one of the most dangerous kinds of contamination (radiation could also be considered "pollution," but since it's invisible, "contamination" is a more appropriate word). For more information about Chernybyl, click here. (Image)

So, that's it for today. If you have questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Common Error: Downtown

Hello! Welcome again to Mistake Monday! Today we'll look at another Common Error that's pretty easy to correct. But first, I have a question: Where do you live? If you said something like "San Ramón downtown" or "Palmares center," then this post is for you!

Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh is one of my favorite cities. (Image)

Common Error: Use of the word "Downtown"
DON’T say this:	"I live in San José downtown." "When we're visiting New York, we'll be staying in the center." "I live in Palmares center."
WHY?	"Downtown" is certainly a word, but it's normally not used in this way in English (click here for more general information about the word). Downtown normally refers to a large city's historical and/or commercial core. In other words, it's a way to describe part of the city, which makes the word work like an adjective. Therefore, it should normally go before the city's name, along with any other words that describe an area in a city. For example: Downtown New York City is amazing on New Year's Eve. He moved to East Saint Louis. It's not safe to walk around downtown San José at night. You can also use the word by itself: We need to take a train or a taxi to go downtown. Also, notice that I said it's normally used with large cities. Palmares may be a nice town, but it only has one stop light in the whole town. To say "downtown Palmares" just sounds strange. You could say "I live in the center of Palmares," but it would be clearer to say the name of your neighborhood or district. You can also describe the location, especially in small towns. In Spanish, a similar concept is "centro," or the center of the city. But in English this sounds strange sometimes. If you do say "center," it usually indicates a building or complex, or possibly the geographic center of a place: We went to a performance last night at the Lincoln Center. Madrid is in the center of Spain, but Barcelona isn't.
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"I live in downtown San José." -"When we're visiting New York, we'll be staying downtown." OR -"When we're visiting New York, we'll be staying in (name of neighborhood)." -"I live in Palmares, near the bus station."

So, that's it for today. If you have questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

A map of downtown Denver, Colorado. Denver is nice, but it's confusing to drive downtown, since all the streets are at 45-degree angles from the surrounding roads. (Image)

The United Kingdom, Ireland, Britain, England, and Other Confusing Geography Concepts

An administrative map of the British Isles. Click here for a full-sized view.

Hello, and happy Friday! Last week we talked about confusing capitals in English-speaking countries, and I mentioned that today I'd talk about England and Ireland, since that part of the world is even more confusing. It's important for English learners to understand at least a little about that part of the world because England is obviously one of the places where the English language came from, and many resources you find online may use British English.

First, if you want to understand why these geographical and political place names are so complicated, you can check out this video (the speaker talks very quickly, but if you click here you can find a script for the video and read along):

That's obviously a lot of information and it goes very fast, even for a native speaker like me. But the point is, that part of the world is very confusing politically and geographically. The capitals aren't as confusing, though.

Road signs in Ireland, some of which are in English and Irish. (Image)

For the Republic of Ireland, the capital is Dublin, and the residents are called "Irish." The two main languages spoken there are Irish English and Irish. Many signs are written in both languages.

The United Kingdom coat of arms. It's pretty awesome that it has a unicorn! (Image)

For the United Kingdom (as the video says, the full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), the capital is London. Most people there speak British English, but there are some people who speak Scots, Welsh, and other minority languages. As the video mentions, the UK is also divided into different countries, and each of those countries has a capital. The four countries in the UK, along with their capitals, are:

England - London

Scotland - Edinburgh

Wales - Cardiff 

Northern Ireland - Belfast

The adjective for each of these places can be "British," but each country also has its own adjective, like "English," "Scottish," "Welsh," and "Northern Irish."

Here are a few examples:

"Princess Diana was Welsh, since she was from Wales."
"I often have trouble understanding some dialects of Scottish and Irish English."
"There are many differences between British and American English, but if you understand one, you can normally understand the other." (Read here and here for more information)

That's it for today! If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

Common Error: Phrases For Introductions

What phrases should these people use to say their names? (Image)

Welcome to Mistake Monday! Today's Common Error is short, but it does cause problems. I used to work as an English teacher in a call center, and believe it or not, the phrase we'll look at today caused many communication problems between agents and callers:

Common Error: Phrases For Introductions
DON’T say this:	(Answering the phone): "Hello, I am Ryan." (Introducing someone): "She is Jenny. She's my sister." "Yesterday in class I introduced me."
WHY?	These phrases make sense if you translate them from other languages, but if you're introducing or presenting someone, normally we use different phrases. Normally, if you're answering the phone and want to identify yourself, say: "This is (your name)." If you say "I am (your name)," it sounds strange to many people, and even though it's good English, it can cause confusion. If you're introducing a person, it's most common to say: "This is (person's name)." Don't say "She/he is (name)," since it also sounds strange to many people. Finally, if you're introducing yourself, it's best to say: "My name is (your name)." If you use the phrase "I am ____," it's normally connected with professions or personal characteristics, but not names: "I am a teacher," "I am tall," "I am optimistic," OR "I am 31."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-(Answering the phone): "Hello, this is Ryan." -(Introducing a person): "This is Jenny. She's my sister." -"Yesterday in class I introduced myself."

How do you answer the phone or introduce people in your country or language?
Is it similar or different from English?

If you have questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Confusing Capitals

Get ready to use your brain.

POP QUIZ!

Answer the following questions-- you have 3 minutes, and you can't use the internet.

1. What is the capital of The United States of America?

2. How many capitals does South Africa have, and why?

3. What's the capital of Canada?

4. How many states are there in the USA?

5. What's the largest city in New Zealand?

6. How many provinces and territories are there in Canada?

7. What's the capital of California?

8. Fill in the blank: Toronto is the capital of ______ . 

9. Fill in the blank: Sydney is the capital of ______ .

10. What's the largest city in British Columbia?

OK, time's up! Pencils down! You can read this post to find the answers to the quiz.

Today we're obviously going to talk about capitals. I know that this topic is technically geography, not language, but geography is related to culture, and culture is related to language. Plus, I really like capitals, for some reason. I guess I'm just a nerd.

I wanted to talk about this because many English-speaking places have "strange" or unexpected capitals. This isn't the case in many countries. In lots of places, the largest city is also the capital: think of Berlin, Germany; Paris, France; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bangkok, Thailand; San José, Costa Rica; and many other examples. Today we'll look at a capitals in English-speaking areas, including many places where the largest city isn't the capital. Next Friday we'll continue this topic and look at the British Isles, since they're a lot more complicated than the countries we'll look at today. 

I'm from the U.S.A., so we'll start there.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The largest city in the U.S. is New York City, New York, followed by Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Houston, Texas; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, none of these cities is the capital of the country, and none of them is the capital of their state, either! In fact, the capital of the U.S. is only the 24th largest city in the country.

Washington, D.C., with the Washington Monument and the White House. (Image)

If you've been studying English for a while, then you probably know that the capital of the U.S. is Washington, D.C. ("District of Columbia"). Washington, D.C. is a city, not a state, but people often confuse it with Washington state. Washington, D.C. is on the east coast between the states of Virginia and Maryland, and Washington state is on the west coast, between Oregon and Canada. Washington, D.C. is home to the federal government, and it's where there executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government have their main offices.

STATE CAPITALS

Casa Bonita restaurant in Denver, Colorado. This isn't the official capitol building, but it should be.

In addition to having a national capital, each of the United States' 50 states also has a state capital. For example, I used to live in the state of Colorado, and the capital of Colorado is Denver. Denver is also the largest city in Colorado, but in many states (33 to be exact), the largest city isn't the capital. You can look at the lists in the links above to find more information about each state. By the way, I mentioned the country's five largest cities above, and said that they weren't state capitals. The capitals of each of those states are Albany, New York; Sacramento, California; Springfield, Illinois; Austin, Texas; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

A panoramic view of Sacramento, the capital of California (Image)

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

These two countries are often grouped together because they are close geographically, but don't forget that they're two separate countries!

Australia's national capital is also commonly mistaken. Many people think it's Sydney or Melbourne (Australia's two biggest cities), but it's actually Canberra. Australia is made up of 6 states and two territories, and each state and territory also has a capital. The biggest difference here is that in each of the states and territories, the capital city is also the largest city in that area.

New Zealand's capital is Wellington, but its largest city is Auckland.

A view of Wellington, New Zealand. (Image)

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa is a very interesting case, since it technically has three capitals. The largest city in the country is Johannesburg, but it's not one of the capitals. Instead, each of the three capital cities houses a specific branch of the government. Cape Town is the home of the South African parliament, and is therefore the legislative capital. The judicial capital is a city called Bloemfontein. Finally, the executive branch is in Pretoria, which also makes the city the de facto national capital.

CANADA

Oh, there's Ottawa! It's even got the little star and everything!

Canada, the world's second-biggest country in terms of area, is made up of ten provinces and three territories. The three largest cities in the country are Toronto, Ontario; Montreal, Quebec; and Vancouver, British Columbia; but the national capital is actually Ottawa, the fourth-largest city in the country. Of these four cities, only one is a provincial capital: Toronto. The capitals of Quebec and British Columbia are Quebec City and Victoria, respectively. You can check out the list of other provincial capitals and the largest cities. In most other provinces and territories, the largest city is also the capital.

This is a picture of me in Vancouver. It's the largest city in British Columbia,

but not the capital. That would be Victoria.

So, that's it for now. I hope this post was interesting for you. I'm personally a big geography fan so if you ever want to talk about capitals and countries, send me an email!

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend! 

False Friend: Costumbre vs. Custom and Costume

This is one of my favorite costumes: I just put on glasses and a wig, and Ryan Sitzman instantly becomes "Bryan Fitzman," Ryan Sitzman's Bizarro-style arch-enemy and nemesis!

Hello! It's been a long time since we looked at a False Friend, so I wanted to talk about one that I noticed in two of my classes recently. But first, if you're not sure what a False Friend is, check out this introductory post. Today we'll look at the difference between costumbre in Spanish and the words "custom" and "costume" in English. Let's take a look:

False Friend: costumbre vs. custom and costume
This SPANISH word...	Looks like this ENGLISH word...	...but they are DIFFERENT because...
costumbre	custom & costume	In Spanish, a costumbre is a habit or a custom. It is something that you are used to doing, or something that you do frequently. In English, if you do something frequently, you can say it is a habit or a custom, or that you are accustomed to doing something. For example, you could say: "When she's nervous, she has a habit of spinning her hair and biting her fingernails." OR "I am accustomed to studying English at least one hour per day." The word "costume" in English has a completely different meaning. It's like a disguise, or some clothing you put on so that you look like someone or something else. For example, many people wear costumes on Halloween. The equivalent Spanish word would be "disfraz." "Costume" can also refer to traditional clothing in a region, but this meaning is less common.

One more note: the pronunciation of "custom" and "costume" is a bit tricky for some students. If you click on each word, it'll take you to dictionary.com, where you can hear their pronunciation.

So, I hope you make it a habit to read my blog. If you want, try reading Sitzman ABC in a Superman costume --I heard it's 50% more interesting that way! Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Yiddish Loanwords in English

A bus stop sign in English and Yiddish, in the U.S.A. (Image Credit)

Hello, and Happy Friday! Today I wanted to talk a little bit about loanwords. You might remember that a few months ago we talked about loanwords in English. Basically, a loanword is a word that starts in one language, and eventually is adopted into another language. Examples include words like:

*cotton, hashish, and sheikh (from Arabic)

*gung-ho, feng shui, and kung fu (from Chinese) 

*gulag, samovar, and babushka (from Russian) 

And there are many, many more examples of loanwords from many other languages. In this blog we looked at some examples of English loanwords from French, Spanish, and German, and today I want to talk about another interesting language that provided quite a few loanwords for English: Yiddish. 

Yiddish is a language that is closely related to German in many aspects, and it was originally spoken by Jewish people in central and eastern Europe. Immigration to the United States in the last 100 or more years also increased the number of people there who spoke Yiddish, and there are now a few hundred thousand people who speak Yiddish in the U.S.A. 

Yiddish loanwords are often found in entertainment like movies and TV shows, but there are also some words that many people use commonly, without knowing they're from Yiddish. When you say something is "schmaltzy," you mean that it's overly sentimental. If you call someone a "klutz," you mean that he or she is uncoordinated and clumsy. And if you eat a "bagel" with "lox," you're eating a type of round bread with some salmon inside. All the words in quotes came from Yiddish. Also, since Yiddish is closely related to German, it's possible to see similarities between the two languages (for example, "schmaltz" in Yiddish is "Schmalz" in German, and "lox" in Yiddish is "Lachs" in German).

A Yiddish sign in the U.S.A. from World War I. It tells people to not waste food. (Image Credit)

There are many Yiddish loanwords in English, but not all of them are very common. You can see lists here and here. Here are

Ryan's Top Five Favorite Yiddish Loanwords in English:

5. schmaltzy: As mentioned above, this means something is overly sentimental or "cheesy." "Schmaltz" actually refers to chicken fat used for cooking, so the word just seems gross in general. Example sentence: "I got my girlfriend a big bouquet of roses and a really schmaltzy card for Valentine's Day."

4. chutzpah: Apparently it's not very positive in Yiddish, but in English it generally means super-confidence or arrogance, but it's not always negative. Example sentence: "Jenny told her boss to her face that she didn't feel like working because it was Friday. She's really got a lot of chutzpah!"

3. klutz: As mentioned before, it's an uncoordinated or clumsy person. Example sentence: "I was a waiter but I got fired because I dropped four plates in a single week. I guess I'm just a big klutz."

2. schlock: Usually used to refer to something that is cheap or of bad quality. Example sentence: "My parents went to Paris and all they brought back was this schlocky plastic statue of the Eiffel Tower." 

1. schlep: This means to carry something heavy, annoying, big, or difficult over a long distance. Example sentence: "I thought I would need my laptop while I was on my trip, so I had to schlep that heavy piece of schlock all over the place with me."

Do you know of any other Yiddish loanwords in English, or in other languages? If so, feel free to leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

A Few Internet Resources For... Chinese??

Yes, Chinese! As you may know, I recently started a Mandarin Chinese course. It's enjoyable but also pretty difficult! My teacher is nice and patient, and the materials she's given us are good, but I've also been searching around for some additional resources to help me learn. I found a few sites on the internet and I thought I'd mention them here, in case any of you are interested. Best of all, they're all FREE! Additionally, if you know Chinese or someone who speaks it, and you have any tips or resource suggestions for me, I'd love to hear them!

Here are a few sites I've found so far:

Chinese With Mike

This is a series of videos done by a Chinese teacher named Mike. The style is a bit goofy at times (it's shot in his garage and he tends to wear strange shirts, hats, and/or sunglasses), but he seems to genuinely know what he's talking about when he teaches. He's able to make the 10-minute video lessons interesting and entertaining, and he does a good job explaining details about the language. The best part is each video also has a transcript you can download, and together the transcripts form chapters of a book. Especially considering that it's a free site, Chinese With Mike is a pretty great resource for people wanting to start learning Chinese on their own.

BBC Languages - Chinese

I'm a big promoter of the BBC's offerings for English learning, but they also have good sites for other languages. The Chinese learning site isn't very extensive but it does have a good variety of activities and articles, including games for tones and characters, sample dialogues, cultural information, and language guides. It would be interesting even for people who are just curious about the language, but don't necessarily want or need to learn it.

Live Mocha

Angela recommended this site after using it to practice some of her new German vocabulary. I think it's good, but it may a bit difficult for Mandarin language beginners to use. All the language courses on the site start off the same way, introducing basic phrases like "Good Morning" or "I don't feel well." That's OK for a non-tonal language that uses the Roman alphabet (like English, German, French, etc.), but for Chinese it's a bit difficult to just jump into it, without even mentioning tones or the writing system at the beginning. It can be good to listen to and identify vocabulary, but it's a bit lacking in terms of additional information.

I also downloaded a few programs and Chinese learning games to my iPod touch. If any of them turn out to be useful, I'll be sure to mention them here. 

Thanks for reading, and if you have any comments, suggestions, or language tips, please leave a comment below. Have a great day!