It's not always what you think it means

Before my trip to Munich, Germany, a friend posted this picture on Facebook. He was warning all of us non-German speaking friends not to be confused when entering the restroom. (If you know just a little bit of German, you will probably be wondering what the fuss is all about.)

To him, "Damen" means Gents because the German word contains "men".

"Herran" would then mean Ladies because the German word begins with "her".

Dead wrong!

It is exactly the opposite! "Damen" is German for Ladies, while "Herran" is German for Gentlemen.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I suddenly remembered that "dame" is a lady and "herr" means Mister. Would I have been confused with the signs anyway? Yes. It has been way too long for me to make sense of the words quickly. At the art museum in Munich, the toilet signs read "D" and "H". Which one would be for me?

My travelling companion said that on her previous trip, she actually waited outside the toilet for someone to come out, just so she would not enter the wrong toilet!

Thankfully, many of the newer toilet signs show the universal picture of a man or a woman - no words to cause confusion.

One final thought: if someone from Hawaii looked at these signs, he would automatically think that "Damen" is the Gents. In Hawaii, "damen" would be pronounced "Da Men"!

Have fun with languages!

New Year, New Language

What's the best way for my daughter to learn Chinese?
What's the best method to learn English?
There must be some method or technique to learning languages!

I have been asked this question too many times. Yes, I market language learning tools! Yes, there are lots of different books and packages out there for you to choose from. What's the best?

My advice is to get as many different books or packages that you can afford to buy and use them altogether. Get learning any way you can, that's what my English Literature teacher told us 17-year-old students a long time ago. Something will stick one way or another.

So, here's my recommendations of top selling software packages:
Fluenz - top of the line interactive software. Not cheap, but excellent for the English-speaking learner of a foreign language. Instructors have all learned the language themselves and are therefore qualified to teach it. Provides a good basic foundation in the language. Available languages: Mandarin, Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), German, French and Italian.

Pimsleur - rated as one of the top 10 language learning methods. Reasonably priced. Uses both book and audio. Has interactive software as well. Instructors are native speakers of the language. Pace is fast, but challenges the learner to "get moving". Available in 50 languages.

There are so many good packages out there. Come visit Fun Language Tools today! Pick up a new language for the new year!

Happy learning!

Fun Language Tools