Language Exchange User Posts

Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by approximately 130 million people in the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. Punjab literally translates to “five waters" and refers to the five major rivers found in the formerly-united Punjab Territory. In addition to being spoken in West Punjab in Pakistan and East Punjab in India, Punjabi is also spoken in large Punjabi communities in the United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Australia.

This native language of the Punjabi people is closely related to the Sikh religion. In fact, Sikhism and Punjabi are often seen as part of a common identity in India. Sikhism’s Holy Scripture, the Shri Guru Granth Sahib, is written in a Punjabi script known as Gurmukhi. Punjabi is additionally written in the Shahmukhi script. Now, Punjabi is known to be a tonal language meaning that various tones are used to differentiate words. These tones are known as high-rising-falling, mid-rising-falling, and low-rising. In order to speak Punjabi correctly, the pronunciations of these three different tones must be mastered.

If you plan on living or visiting the Punjab region of Pakistan and India, learning Punjabi would be very beneficial. Knowing Punjabi would also be useful if you are interested in studying or practicing Sikhism. Being able to speak Punjabi would also be helpful for people doing trade or business in these areas. If you are interested in learning Punjabi, here are the top websites online to do so.

1. Omniglot – Punjabi Phrases https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/punjabi.php
   This site is an ideal resource for learning common Punjabi phrases. Omniglot offers the English to Punjabi translation in how the word is pronounced and how it is written in Gurmukhi script. The site also allows the option to download audio files so you can hear the pronunciations of the phrases.


2. Raj Karega Khalsa Network – Punjabi (Obsolete)
   This link offers a number of Punjabi language lessons in the alphabet, word structure, and vocabulary. The site shows letters, words, and phrases written in the pronunciation translation and Gurmukhi script. The site also conveniently allows you to click on the symbols so you can hear the correct pronunciations.


3. iLanguages – Learn Punjabi https://ilanguages.org/punjabi.php
   This interactive site makes learning Punjabi easy! The lessons are broken down into vocabulary, phrases, and grammar which clearly show the translations, pronunciations, and the way it is written in Gurmukhi script. An audio option allows for words and phrases to be heard. Flashcards and quizzes are also available so you can practice and test your Punjabi skills and knowledge.


4. Let’s learn Punjabi – https://learnpunjabi.org/intro1.asp
   Learn Punjabi offers detailed Punjabi lessons in the alphabet, numbers, words, vocabulary, sentences, grammar, etc. The site also explains the different tones of Punjabi, gives examples, and allows you to hear what the tones sound like. The site also has a number of quizzes to test what you have learned in each category.


5. Punjabi with Hardeep Singh – https://www.youtube.com/user/hardeepsingh83/videos
   This YouTube channel offers a variety of video lessons teaching Punjabi through English. Hardeep Singh focuses on teaching basic Punjabi vocabulary such as numbers, weekdays, time, verbs, phrases, and more. The videos show words and phrases in English and pronunciation translations in Punjabi. Hardeep reads the translations allowing you to hear how the words and phrases are correctly pronounced.

Photo Credit: Dennis Jarvis

Spanish is the fourth most widely spoken language in the world. Along with 330 million native speakers, there are about 100 million speakers who speak Spanish as a second language.

As the population of Spanish speakers continues to grow, many non-Spanish speakers are becoming interested in learning the language, but what many people don’t realize is that there are opportunities online to score free lessons with qualified Spanish instructors. If you are looking to learn Spanish at no cost with the help of a Spanish speaker, two great sites to look at are YouTube and Lrngo.

If you feel like you learn better by being taught by a teacher, YouTube is a good starting place to find one. ButterflySpanishola, LearnSpanish1, and SpanishDict are only three of the many YouTube channels that are solely dedicated to teaching Spanish. The numbers speak for themselves: With over 26,000 subscribers each, these numbers show that the provided lessons are successful to many eager students. All the teachers on these channels focus on teaching specific words, phrases, grammar, and pronunciations. One of the perks of free online video instruction for a language is that you are able to correctly see and hear how words and phrases are pronounced. Overall using online YouTube videos is a much better strategy than trying to self-teach the language with textbooks and feeling unsure about what you have learned or guessing on pronunciations.

If you feel like online videos are not enough and that you need a tutor you can actually talk to, Lrngo is the place for you. Lrngo is a website that facilitates free learning and language exchange with others. By typing in your zip code, city, or country of residence, you can find hundreds of people who are willing to teach certain subjects and who want to learn other subjects. By sending a person a message, you can agree to have a free language exchange lesson. For example, if I see a profile of a person who can teach Spanish and wants to learn English, I can send that person a quick message saying I can teach English and want to learn Spanish. From there, we can agree to have an hour lesson teaching each language for free. With Lrngo, you can meet people around your area at the public library, park, or university for a lesson. A person who lives too far away is not necessarily a problem because lessons can be easily given through online face-to-face video chats such as Skype, Oovoo, or Google Hangouts. With this convenience, you can always be guaranteed to find a free Spanish tutor or teacher anywhere whether locally in person or halfway around the world online.

If you are looking to learn Spanish for free with a tutor or teacher, YouTube and Lrngo are two sites you definitely want to visit. YouTube offers ready-made lessons by teachers with the click of a button, and Lrngo gives the opportunity to interactively learn from Spanish tutors and practice with Spanish speakers online or around your area. Before you think about needing to pay to obtain a Spanish instructor, first utilize these online resources and take advantage of what these resources are freely willing to offer.


Photo Credit: Tulane Public Relations

Looks like you’re headed to the land of berets, baguettes, and the Eiffel Tower! France is a beautiful country, and your journey is sure to be filled with countless adventures, but in order to get there, you might want to brush up on your French conversational skills.

There is nothing more embarrassing than saying the completely wrong thing in a foreign language, creating an awkward situation and revealing your "foreignness". Lucky for you, you will have been forewarned about some of the tricky words foreigners tend to stumble upon.

Baiser
Wait a second, you say. You’d consider yourself a pretty decent looking guy, and you’ve been dancing with this girl at the club for half the night. It’s been a nice time, and you finally get up the courage to ask if you can kiss her—you don’t want to be rude or pushy—and instead of the smile you had been expecting when you ask "est-ce que je peux te baiser?", her eyebrows crease as she dishes you an angry "excusez-moi" and slaps you before she storms away. If she didn’t want to kiss you, she could have just said no, right?

Well, you’re on the right track. Un baiser, a noun, is a kiss. Unfortunately for you, baiser the verb translates to the oh-so courteous "to f***".

Try the verb "embrasser" for better results.

Excité
You are totally pumped to meet your French BFF’s long-term boyfriend, so to express your enthusiasm you blurt out "je suis très excité de lui rencontrer!"

Your friend stares at you, obviously a little uncomfortable but you’re not sure why. Was it something you said?

The translation for what you said happens to be something along the lines of "I am very sexually aroused to meet him". Yikes.

Next time use words like "heureux" or "enthousiaste", and save a friendship.

Chatte
You’ve just met a new friend and she’s invited you over to her place for movie night. Earlier she had mentioned that she had a super lovable female cat, and you’re looking forward to seeing her, so you say "je suis heureux voir ta chatte".

Suddenly, you find that you have been uninvited to movie night.

Perhaps your new friend thought that you had been referring to her genitalia. That’s right, the ever-so-classy term "pu***" exists in French as well.

To avoid this awkward moment, just use the male term "un chat".

Sucer
A bunch of you are going out for the night, but your friend’s sister said she’s too tired. You’re a bit disappointed, but it isn’t that big of a deal. You jokingly say that "elle suce"—she sucks.

If everyone is looking at you in shock, and if your friend whose sister you were reffering to looks pretty upset, that would be because English slang doesn’t translate. You essentially just said that she sucks d***.

Try "ça craint" to say "it sucks" instead.

Preservatif
You’re on the raw diet and are trying to avoid those nasty preservatives that are in a lot of foods. You begin to raid your host’s kitchen, stumbling upon some bread. You ask your host "est-ce qu’il y a les preservatifs dans le pain?" To which your host responds by spitting out the water they were in the middle of drinking.

That would be because you just asked if "there are any condoms in the bread". The word you’re looking for is "conservateur", honey.

If you’re looking for a way to remember not to say these tricky words, check out What Not to Say in French’s tumblr, which features adorable animal memes to illustrate these offenses.


Photo Credit: Moyan Brenn
Text overlay added
Brightness and contrast edited