JourneyEtc

You may be feeling like like your sponge next to the kitchen sink, trying to absorb all the new words for the new language your are trying to learn. All praises to you for the effort and for being open minded.

Learning a language is like going through a cultural immersion or more aptly termed, adventure. You need to be brave enough to pronounce the new words and it can be quite a danger especially for beginners.

Here are some words that you might want to know. They are pretty much innocent for one language and spells trouble if you are in another country:

• Bimbo – In Italian, this simply refers to a baby. Try using it in English and say “hey, bimbo!” and you will not be getting a giggly reaction but a slap on a face since it means a sexually liberated girl in English.

Not the sponge type when it comes to foreign language? No need to worry if you are planning a trip abroad and you do not have an idea about the local tongue. People from wherever you are going may not understand you but that is the reality that you have to face. You do not have to be afraid of language barriers if you really want to travel. It does not have to be your unconquerable wall that blocks you from exploring the world around you.

You will experience a certain language gap even within the same continent. English, for example, sounds different in the US, England, and in Asia. In countries like the Philippines, an archipelago made up of more than 7,000 islands, people from one province has a different language compared to another province which is just a few miles away.