Today I will be introducing Annie, she is an expert language teacher, who has experience in teaching Mandarin and English. She will be writing a post in our blog once every two months, so that we can have accurate and helpful information regarding learning languages.

Also, we will be writing articles in her blog about learning spanish, if you are interested in any of these languages it will be helpful to follow these sessions.

Author: Hanifa (Annie) Cook

The pleasure is mine. I have always thought when you start to learn languages, the entire world population is your community. You will meet people from all walks of life. You willfid yourself immersed in the wonder of human existence because the languages they speak shape their civilisation. My journey to explore the world of languages using the internet as my vehical for transport, has now reached Honduras, Spain on this site where Paul spends most his time.

I come from Singapore and I speak 4 languages, Mandarin, English, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu. I also speak Hokkien, a Chinese dialect. These languages have been with me for as long as I have lived; I started learning them since I was a toddler. The Asian culture is rich and diverse. There are so many ways to approach learning about Asia that foreigners who intend to come to Asia find themselves preparing months ahead of their travel to get acquainted with the language and culture from numerous books.

It will be my great pleasure to give you tips on how to approach dealing with the Asian languages principally Mandarin, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu. I will be writing every two months on this. Asia is emerging very quickly in the world economy. Singapore has the world best airport and seaport; China is the world’s most populated country with India coming in 2nd; Malaysia, Thailand and many more countries are coming together more quickly because of globalisation.

Singapore’s national language is Malay and the first language of the people is English, which is also used as the state language to administer the country’s day to day activities. The education system is one of the most successful in the world today. Why? It will take months if not years to discover the secrets behind the success of one of Asia’s best. In this regard, I will focus on language works.

When we work with Asian languages, we need to have to first strike a good balance in our learning skills. You have to start to slow down and work with the pace of the language because Asian languages are poetic, passionate and bound with traditions. Unlike English where a few simple words such as please and thank you can switch a sentence from being direct to formal, the Asian languages attach a greater meaning when these words are used in their language. If you are intrigued with Asian languages, you will have to explore the formal and informal greeting phrases and common expressions. Asian people do not take these phrases and expressions casually; you notice Japanese people bow to one another when they greet, Thai people put their palms together and bow lightly too, Malay Muslims kissed the hands of their elders and those they respect etc. No wonder when you want to travel to Asia, you have to prepare yourself months ahead of your travel!!

I would therefore like to begin writing about greeting phrases in my next article. Please do not hesitate to offer your suggestions and leave your comments! Sampai Kita Berjumpa Lagi. (Until we meet again next time.)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Learn Languages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.