Miss-Verständnis » Mister-S.

The Korean teacher is not fat but very intelligent

Mister-S. — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 09:27:55 +0000

During the first six months of 2007 I was an exchange student in South Korea. First of all I must say that I had a great experience there. The people, the culture, the food; I loved almost all aspects of the country. Inevitably however, while being Swedish, I was bound to experience some cultural clashes during my exchange semester. Some of which I could laugh about afterwards and some that I’d rather just forget. If I were to tell you about all of them it would probably take up every post from now until the end of the year. Therefore, I will focus on one experience in particular, namely learning the Korean language.

I ended up in the late class, made up chiefly of Indonesian, Malaysian and Chinese people. The Europeans all had Korean in the morning when I had Psychology, a subject that only I and one other exchange student took.

Anyhow, when I first stepped into the classroom I noticed a sturdy, stern looking woman in her sixties standing by the chalkboard. She was our Korean teacher and a good one at that, I later came to think. I soon realized that she didn’t speak a word of English but would use gestures and draw pictures on the board to make us understand. This worked amazingly well. Our first homework was to learn the Korean symbol alphabet “the Hangul” (한글). It’s not an alphabet too difficult to learn since it only consists of 24 different symbols. Even so, one week was a bit scarce to do so. Our Korean teacher really set the pace right from the start and I could get a hint of what was to come.

I did learn the Hangul in a week though and it almost became an addiction to become as quick at deciphering it as possible. We had a lot of fun, getting tasks to go to the campus store to buy things in Korean, role-playing and using vocabulary to come up with sentences of our own.
During one such occasion, to my huge embarrassment, I actually managed to say that our teacher was fat. What I meant to say was that she was intelligent. Before you judge me you must know that these words are rather similar in Korean. Tuk-tuk han (똑똑한) is intelligent and tung-tung han (뚱뚱한) is fat. Son saeng nim (선생님) means teacher. So what I said was “Son saeng nim tung-tung haejo”. She stared at me then with those stern, icy eyes of hers and while the whole classroom held its breath she said: “The teacher is not fat. But she is very dangerous”. And then she laughed, long and hard and all of us students joined in.

She was really a character, that one. From then on I took a habit of saying at least once each lecture that “the teacher is not fat, she’s very smart”. Feel free to call me a suck-up but as a result that one sentence lingered in my head and while most of my Korean skills have faded over the past four years I can still tell any Korean teachers that I might come across that they are not fat but actually really intelligent.

Should my little story get you in the mood for learning a foreign language you could always visit the site of ESL – Language studies abroad to appease your appetite. They offer language trips to 140 destinations in over 40 countries and in more than 10 languages.

Why translate to or from German?

Mister-S. — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 08:55:54 +0000

Why translate to or from German?
•   Around 100 million people in the world use German as their native language.
•   The German economy is one of the strongest in the world. Germany imports and exports a wide range of products to countries worldwide and this key economic sector will continue to grow in years to come with the continuous expansion of the European Union.
•   German is one of the main languages used today in business, engineering, technology and sciences. German companies produce thousands of documents which need to be translated into a variety of languages.
•   Germany was the first nation to recover from the 2008 economic crisis. The spectacular economic recovery observed in Germany has been impressive. Germany achieved a growth of 3.6% in 2010 while they experienced a growth of -4.7% in 2009
•   Germany enjoys one of the strongest purchasing powers in the world. In order to collaborate with German companies, translation to German is an absolute must. You should be able to communicate with your clients or partners in their native language whenever possible.
•   German is the language of business and commerce within the European Union.

Study Abroad Opportunities

Mister-S. — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:45:12 +0000

Today more and more students are taking advantage of study abroad programs because of all the benefits that such experience holds. With all the colleges and independent companies offering these services you will want to enroll with a company that knows what they are doing.

Nacel International is a leading language course organization providing study abroad programs in more than 40 destinations for you. Nacel was founded by two French teachers back in 1957 when they began organizing summer sessions in England for French students.

Since then, Nacel International has provided young people with the opportunity to discover new things about themselves and the world around them. Their programs bring people together to enhance cultural and linguistic awareness as well as to promote international friendship and harmony.

Nacel has a diversity of programs available in order to fit student’s needs. Their language courses abroad are totally flexible; you can choose the dates and activities you prefer. The host families are visited and carefully selected.

This company is also known for their transparency, they believe in a clear presentation of program costs, that way you won’t have any bad surprises during your study abroad time. They tell you exactly what is included and what is not in the program you buy.

As well, for any emergencies that may occur while abroad Nacel has a 24-hour emergency phone number which guarantees constant service and commitment.

Learn Spanish in Spain and Mexico | donQuijote.org

Mister-S. — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 07:46:17 +0000

Interested in foreign languages and Spanish in particular? There’s no better to learn a language than a visit to or a stay in the country where it is spoken. So what about an adventure in the country of don Quijote or Speedy Gonzales, “The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico”?
Learn Spanish with don Quijote Spanish language schools. We offer Spanish courses in Spain and Mexico. Study Spanish with us!

SIE SIND NEU IN DEUTSCHLAND?

Mister-S. — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:12:45 +0000

Hello everyone, I got a request from a company looking for people from all around the world who have moved to Germany recently. They want to make a serious TV documentary about their new life in Germany. Sounds cool, maybe some of you would be interested? Please read the ad below:

SIE SIND NEU IN DEUTSCHLAND?

DANN SUCHEN WIR SIE!

Für eine TV-Dokumentationsreihe suchen wir Menschen aus aller Welt, die sich in der neuen Heimat Deutschland mit der Kamera begleiten lassen. Uns interessiert, wie SIE Deutschland erleben!

Die seriösen Dokumentationen werden in einem öffentlich-rechtlichen Sender ausgestrahlt.

Wenn Sie Lust haben, Ihre Geschichte im TV zu erzählen oder jemand aus Ihrer Familie oder aus Ihrem Bekanntenkreis bald neu in Deutschland ankommt, dann melden Sie sich bitte bei uns.

Wir freuen uns sehr auf das Gespräch mit Ihnen!

Kontakt:
Jörg Hartema
Multipass Media GmbH & Co.KG
Otto-Schott-Straße 9
55127 Mainz
Tel: 06131-600-2830
Fax: 06131-600-2825
Mail : joerg.hartema@multipassmedia.de

English and gymnastics of the mind

Mister-S. — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:20:23 +0000

Learning English? Well, we all know that English is gymnastics of the mind and can be quite tricky. But, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. You cannot expect to learn a language by just waiting for the words and idioms to enter your mind and by opening a grammar book every now and then. Finding the right method is obviously quite a challenge, but nowadays we are lucky to have many tools at our disposal, especially thanks to the Internet. If you really want improve your English, there is, without doubt, a lot you can do. First, you really need to focus. If you admit that you are a bit lazy and easily distracted, maybe learning a foreign language on your own is not the best idea. You might need some help and someone to assign you daily tasks, otherwise you will probably quickly lose interest. This way you won’t feel like you are in a hurry and therefore take short cuts.

You need to learn at your own pace; you obviously won’t become bilingual within a few days, so just take the learning process step by step, by studying topics according to your level. You need to work on your vocabulary, and you need to listen – a lot. And, essentially, you need to practice by putting yourself in real-life situations, because it is common knowledge that a grammar book won’t take you anywhere once you decided to travel to an English-speaking country.

Amongst the tools available on the Internet, you can check out the Gymglish website, which does a daily follow-up of your progress. There you will find personalized English lessons according to your level. Thanks to Gymglish, you will be able to widen your vocabulary range and benefit from many learning tools and features. Your work will be corrected so that you don’t waste your time during your learning process. And remember, the important thing is to maintain your level and not go backwards when learning a foreign language!

Learn French in France

Mister-S. — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:40:06 +0000

Created in 1985 “Centre International d’Antibes” is nowadays the main premiere school for the teaching of French to foreigners. The school is located in Antibes, French Riviera (15 minutes from Nice and Cannes).
During the year the school welcomes around 5000 students originating from throughout the world. The premises are exceptional, in a quiet environment surrounded by gardens with a panoramic sea view (http://www.cia-france.com).

We offer courses all year round and accommodation for all ages and budgets.

Official recognitions: We have been awarded the Quality French as a foreign language label (government-regulated recognition of French-as-a Foreign-Language schools in France). We are members of SOUFFLE, a French Association, which offers an excellent choice of carefully selected member-schools all teaching French to Foreigners chosen for the level of their standards.
Moreover, the Centre International d’Antibes is now fully recognized by EAQUALS quality label. This prestigious European organization promotes the teaching of languages with a constant concern to maintain a good quality of training.

Contact us:
Tel France : +33 970 407 434
Tel USA: +1 202 470 6659
Skype cia_antibes
www.cia-france.com