Harry Potter

My mother brought me the last Harry Potter book - "Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows" in English last year. I didn't want to read it then, since I haven't read "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" yet but two days ago the temptation got too big and and I grabbed the book and I haven't let go of it yet. *lol* I should have done so many things today. Instead, I spent most of the day in my PJs, curled up on my bed, reading... *lol*

I just LOVE Harry Potter!!! I think J.K. Rowling is a brilliant writer. I've read some of the books in Swedish, in Spanish and in English and they are just great in any language. I prefer to read them in English actually, because of the british accent that somehow gets lost in translations. I'm glad I have three languages to chose from when reading because that way I have a bigger chance o read the book in it's original form. Translating a novel is much more difficult than people normally imagine. That's one of the reasons I became an interpreter instead. As an interpreter you just need to pass on the general idea of things, it doesn't matter if not every single word is perfect. Being a translator is much more precise and whatever you write will remain written and people will read it over and over again and have opinions about your work.

I will have to buy the remaining Harry Potter book, because there are several things I don't understand in this one, because the writer keeps referring to things that happened in the previous book. So now you know what I'll be doing next week.*lol* That's right, reading Harry Potter.....

My little Japanese boy

Do you remember the song "little Chinese Girl" by David Bowie? Well, I have a little Japanese boy at home. *lol* My son, B, is absolutely crazy about everything Japanese right now. He even studies Japanese on his own! Yes, that's true. He knows how to write a lot of signs and is able to read things he sees on TV and in manga books. It's incredible! He's only 10 years old and he is learning Japanese. A friend of mine, who's also studying Japanese, gave him Japanese flash cards and other things for Christmas and he was the happiest boy on Earth when he opened his gifts. And he is learning... Right now he's studying 7 languages. And he doesn't mix them up or anything. Isn't that amazing?

This is a picture of B eating pizza with chop sticks!


My brother and his girlfriend took the boys out one day during Christmas. First they went to the movies and saw a Japanese film. Both my boys loved that movie and they talk a lot about it. Then they went to a book store that sells manga books for all ages. B got a book about Keroro, a frog from outer space. Then they went to a toy store so G could pick out the lego he wanted (that's his cup of tea, he's not into Japan and Japanese). After that they went to a Japanese restaurant and B had sushi for the very first time. And he LOVED it! So now he wants me to learn how to make sushi.... I'm sorry but I don't think so. *lol* Unfortunately there are no Japanese restaurants around here so he'll have to wait until we go to Spain (the mainland) next time.

My chop stick boy

My son B loves everything Japanese. He knows how to eat with chop sticks and does so every time he gets a chance. He even eats macaronis and cheese with chop sticks! He would eat noodles every day if he got to choose. ;-)

He is actually studying Japanese. By himself. I've downloaded some information from the net and some dialogues in Japanese and whenever he has a chance he listens to that. And he always watches TV with a note block and a pen close by, in case there's some written Japanese he can copy. I think it's pretty amazing that a 10 year old boy can decide to study something as difficult as Japanese and he is actually learning. He knows how to write and pronounce several of the signs and he's able to write some names in Japanese. Do I have to say that I'm very, very proud of my son?

Daarija

Daarija is the name Moroccans use when they talk about the language they use every day. Actually it's a sort of Arabic, but mixed with lots of local words (Spanish, French, Berber, etc) so for people outside of Morocco it's hard to understand. There is no written Daarija yet, it is still not considered a language of its own, so people try to write it using the Arabic alphabet. But Daarija has lots of sounds which Arabic doesn't, like "p" and "g". Someone speaking Arabic from another part of the Arabic world would probably say "Bark your car" whereas a Moroccan would say "Park your car". That makes it difficult to write Daarija using the Arabic alphabet because they have to invent new letters.

I think it's very interesting to live in Morocco at a time like this, especially when you look at life here from a Linguistic point of view. we are actually living the same language evolution as with Latin, when Latin became Spanish, French, Catalán, Romanian, Portuguese, etc. I think it's really exciting and I wish my Daarija were better. I still speak it very, very badly and I need to practise a lot. Hopefully I'll be able to go to class next year,so I can learn the grammar. The problem is, that since the language is changing there are no fixed rules of grammar. It makes it very hard to learn to speak properly. I will have to spend more time with my mother in law, she's very patient with me and she enjoys helping me learn.

Are you studying Spanish?

I have an idea. I am Spanish as you probably know by now, which makes me a native speaker. I'm going back to school to study Spanish from a more academic perspective. And I love to teach! So I have got this crazy idea of starting a blog for Spanish students. What do you think? Do you think that's a good idea? Reading books is good when you are learning a language but sometimes the language in the books is not what people use in their everyday life. So there you have the idea behind another blog. *lol*

I'm thinking about explaining grammar, write about words (like the word of the week or something like that), about books and movies, about what's going on in Spain and what people talk about, Spanish culture and history. In English of course.

What do you think? Could that be of interest to you, your kids or someone you know? And what would you like me to write about?

Tech Tags: Spanish Spain study school tutorial blog

I should be studying Latin...

And NOT be blogging right now. But it's Monday, I'm tired, I've been thinking about my classes most of the day and I have a headache. So no, I don't really feel like studying Latin right now. Besides, the book my boss gave me is for people who already have some knowledge of Latin and it's way to difficult for me. Oh boy, this is going to be sooo hard! I need to learn the 5 conjugations in less than 2 weeks.

I'm going to the university on Wednesday to do the registration but I don't even understand the registration form! I've been staring at it for most of the day but it's like reading Chinese, I just don't get it. I feel really stupid. :-(

I've been looking on line to see if I can find some Latin tutorials or something, because I guess I'm not the only one in the world trying to learn Latin. Not much luck just yet, but I'll keep on looking. At least for a while. And then I might take the night off the computer and go and watch my favorite series "CSI" on TV. I usually fall asleep on the couch on Mondays because they broadcast all the different CSI:s in a row, so it's like 4 hours... And then I'm like a zombie on Tuesday mornings.

Raising a multi-lingual child

I read some very interesting posts about bringing up children with more than one language at Don´t eat my Buchela and wanted to share my 2 cents about it.

My husband and I are multilingual. I speak Spanish, Swedish and English and my dear hubby speaks Moroccan Arabic, Spanish, French and Swedish. Long before we had kids we decided we would give them all our cultures and languages so when oldest son, B, was born I spoke to him in Spanish only and hubby in Moroccan Arabic. My parents spoke Swedish with him. We did the the same with youngest son, G,when he arrived 2 years later. I was a SAHM for 4 years so B was 4 years old when he started nursery school and G was 2. Until then they had mostly comunicated in Spanish. It took them a few months to switch to using Swedish at school and Spanish at home. My hubby worked long hours so he didn´t get to spend so much time with the boys and therefor their Moroccan arabic was almost non existing, but they understod a few words here and there.

By the time the boys started school (at age 5 and 6) in Sweden they spoke better Swedish than Spanish but still used only Spanish with me and Spanish most of the time with their dad. When we moved to Morocco, in June 2005, the boys were almost 6 and almost 8. Their Moroccan Arabic was a disaster but their Spanish was still acceptable. They go to a Spanish school and they play most of the time in Spanish. Their Spanish is now just as good as that of any other Spanish child, born and raised in Spain or maybe even better. Their Moroccan Arabic is getting better and they also study Classic Arabic one hour a day. Their Swedish is still more than okey, almost like a kid in Sweden, in spite of not using it at all here. They read quite a lot in Swedish and watch Swedish movies and of course, they chat with their grandparents in Sweden. So my children use 4 languages on a regular basis. And on top of that they study English and French at school and watch TV in Portuguese and German as well. Yup, lots of languages!!! *lol*