How to Use Chopsticks with Elegance

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Chopstick

Can you use chopsticks? Do you think it’s hard to eat with chopsticks? Well, if you hold and use them correctly, chopsticks are actually very versatile. You can even pick up things that are too small or too thin to pick up with a fork.

Using chopsticks correctly is also an important table manner. It just looks elegant. Incorrect chopstick usage is not visually pleasing to others. I have to confess — I once went out on a dinner date with somebody, and the way he was holding his chopsticks was a big turn-off!

I found a good tutorial video, which I post below. Even if you think you know how to use chopsticks, I recommend you take a look and make sure that you’ve been using them correctly.

One thing I want to add, which is not mentioned in the video, is that a common mistake is to hold chopsticks too low. You should hold them within the top half. Holding chopsticks high actually gives you a better control.

You can proudly show off your chopstick skills at a Japanese restaurant after practicing with the video, but did you know that it’s actually fine to eat sushi with your bare hand? In fact, real sushi connoisseurs would eat sushi without chopsticks! Well, there’s a whole thing about how to eat sushi with your hand with elegance. So I’ll save that topic for later…

 

How to Make A Long Distance Relationship Work: German Edition

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Every relationship has its challenges.  Having a long-distance relationship with someone overseas, let’s say in Germany, can be exciting, but simultaneously very frustrating.

Based on my experience, I can recommend the following communication tools:

  • Video conference calls, on Messengers such as Skype, MSN or Yahoo can be your lifesaver (or relationship-saver!)
  • Due to the time differences, it might be difficult to schedule a time for both of you to be on the computer. If you are based in Germany you have the following two options:  (1) You can make free calls from the website: www.peterzahlt.de  (Please note that you need a land-line for this)  (2) Calling from a German land-line is cheaper than you think. On the following website you can find phone providers to make calls to the U.S. for as low as 1 Euro cent per minute! More info: www.billiger-telefonieren.de
  • If you are based in the U.S., many phone providers offer international calls including free text messaging. However, most of those providers offer those minutes to landlines. Unfortunately, in Germany there is a huge difference between a land line and a cell phone line. Calling a cellphone in Germany costs an average of 16 cents per minute, so make sure you read the fine print when you sign up for a international plan.  I still prefer traditional phone cards for international calls.  With the following phone card provider, you do not have to purchase a physical phone card; it’s all digital nowadays: www.sendglobal.com
  • From time to time, you will have to get on the plane to meet your loved one. The best site I can recommend are www.expedia.com, www.vayama.com  for flights from the U.S. to Germany. Sometimes, it’s worth it to browse through the websites of the airlines. I once got a deal for almost $400 for a round trip! (That was maybe six years ago!)

 

I personally believe that technology can make many things for us easy. All you need are tools — and there are more out there — and use your imagination to make the relationship work. And if it does not work out for you, then maybe the distance was not the reason for it.

Origins of the Most Popular Italian Word

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So, as I am sure you all know, Ciao means “Hello/Hi”.  It is possibly the most known and most used Italian word. But do you know its origin? Likely not, and it is quite interesting.

So the origin of Ciao is from the Venetian dialect/language word “sciavo”, which mean “slave”, which in turns comes from thev Latin “Slavus” — which by the way is also the word/adjective used even today, Slavo, to indicate Slavic people. So, during the peak of the Venetian Republic in the 1400s, when Venice ruled most of the commerce in the World, most slaves were, well, Slavic.

In short, the origin of the greeting is an extreme form of submission to the person you run into: it mean something like “at your service”. With centuries of usage, Sciavo became Sciao and the latter became Ciao. Needless to say that the racial and social connotation of the word Ciao have long been lost.

Art Nouveau in Paris

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 Art Nouveau was a sudden and relatively brief artistic movement of the late 19th century, in reaction against the sprawling industrialization. It is characterized by its curved lines, colorful ornamentations, nature motifs, and dense, arabesques forms.

The French term Art Nouveau imposed itself in English countries, and the influences of the movement reached across the world; in the U.S for example, Art Déco presents a more geometric, often monumental style.

Although works of Art Nouveau are found in greatest concentration in other cities of Northern Europe, Paris boasts a rich number of buildings, public structures and interiors displaying this remarkable style, using technologies new at the time, with shiny mediums like ceramic, glass, metal and wood.

Notables examples include: entrances of the métro; interiors of famous restaurants like Maxim’s and Lucas-Carton; some graves in the Père-Lachaise cemetary; storefronts, hotels and other private facades.

Czech artist Alfons Mucha lived in Paris from 1887 to 1906 painted mostly works with women as a main subject, for public posters, Parisian music-halls, or for brands like Moët & Chandon champagne.

A. Mucha-Moët & Chandon, Crémant Impérial (1899)

 

Italian Business Etiquette Part 2: Communication, Appointments, and Time

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Communication: Italians are extremely expressive communicators. They tend to be wordy, eloquent, emotional, and demonstrative, often using facial and hand gestures to prove their point.

Appointments: They are mandatory, must be in writing (in Italian), and be scheduled one to two weeks in advance. Reconfirm the meeting by telephone or fax in Italian.

Meetings/Time: It is common to be interrupted while speaking or for several people to speak at once. In the north, punctuality is viewed as a virtue and your business associates will most likely be on time. In the north, people are usually more direct and get down to business after only a brief period of social talk. In the south, people take a more relaxed approach to life and business. People often raise their voice to be heard over other speakers, not because they are angry. So, take it easy. :)

Living Language Apps are NYT and Wired Approved!

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The reviews are in: Living Language apps are fun, easy-to-use, and effective for learning new languages. Recently the New York Times and Wired praised the app for its overall quality, innovative games, and comprehensive instruction.

Bob Tedeschi of the Personal Tech section of the New York Times called the Living Language Italian app “nothing short of delightful” with a “consistently good experience” (as compared to competition) and “a range of surprising and engaging exercises and games that test and build knowledge.”

Tedeschi also complimented the app’s design, saying “The app’s developers evidently obsessed over little elements, like the way the software responds to the touch. The typeface design and color scheme, too, are friendly to the eye.” Overall, the review was positive and the minor technical glitches he mentions are currently being worked on by the Living Language team.

Just this past week, Melissa Wiley of the column “Geek Mom” at Wired.com wrote a review of the German iPad app, which she used with her 11- and 13-year-old daughters. Her bottom line? “My kids enjoy it and they’re learning a ton.” Wiley likes the “easy functionality and plentiful games” as well as the “seamless integration of grammar and vocabulary, especially the emphasis on useful everyday phrases.”

She also points out that the “typing exercises require the student to enter words manually; this is an important component of fluency, and the way it works in this app is smooth and simple.”

We’re thrilled by these raves, but would love to hear feedback from YOU! Check out our apps in iTunes and Android stores and tell us what you think!

 

Toasting To Mom In Multiple Languages

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This Sunday, May 13th, we’ll be celebrating Mother’s Day here in the U.S. Since we have our mothers on the brain, we asked our e-tutors how they greet their moms. Perhaps you’ll greet your mother with one of these beautiful sayings on Sunday.

German: Alles Gute zum Mutterta

Translation: Happy Mother’s Day!

French: Bonne fête, maman!

Translation: Happy Mother’s Day!

Spanish: iFeliz día de la madre!

Translation: Happy Mother’s Day!

You can also say: Madre no hay más que una.

Translation: Mom, there is only you.

Japanese:  We don’t say “Happy Mother’s Day” in Japanese. Instead, here’s what we say on Mother’s Day: お母さん、いつもありがとう。

Pronounced: Okaasan, itsumo arigatoo.

Translation: Thank you Mother, for always being there.

Arabic:  عيد سعيد يا أُمي

Pronounced: Xiid saxiid yaa ‘ummii.

Translation: Wishing you a blissful day, Mom.

What do you have planned for Mother’s Day?

If you have a foreign language question, our e-tutors are ready and waiting to help. Join our online forums or take an online course.

Alles Gute zum Muttertag: Happy Mother’s Day in Germany

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Mother’s Day is celebrated in many countries in the western world, including German speaking countries such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Many famous German poets and authors have written something about Mother’s Day or maternal love such as Goethe, Kurt Tucholsky and Erich Fromm to name only a few.

So, how do Germans celebrate Mother’s Day? It would start early in the morning, by waking up your mom with the words: “Guten Morgen, Mama! Alles Gute zum Muttertag!” (Good morning, mom. Happy Mother’s Day) Ideally, you would have prepared already breakfast for your mom, so the plan is to pamper your mom for one entire day. You would offer her “Nein Mama, ich mach das schon! Heute spüle ich ab” (No mom, as in leave it, I’ll get that. I will do the dishes today.) Aftwerwards you would take her out either for brunch, lunch or dinner or maybe for all three meals! During any of your meals, you would hand over your Geschenk (your gift) along with a nice Grußkarte (greeting card) which might include a poem as this one:

Erich Fromm, from the book The Art of Loving,1956

“Mutterliebe ist Frieden.
Sie braucht weder erworben,
noch verdient zu werden.”

Which translates to:

Motherly love is Peace.
It does not need to be deserved or
to be acquired.

The best way to seal this moment is by giving your mom a hug and a kiss and saying:

Du bist die beste Mama! (You are the best)

Ich hab’ dich liebe! (I love you!)

 

“Latin America’s Literary Outlaw,” Roberto Bolaño’s Best Novels Found Post-Mortem

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The summer of 2003 was a sad time for Spanish literature lovers; Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño sadly left us. He spent his last days in Spain in a small town near Barcelona, the setting of one of his last books, The Third Reich.

Roberto Bolaño was born in Santiago de Chile in 1953 and fought actively against the dictatorship. He was eventually taken prisoner until an old high-school classmate recognized him and freed him. Bolaño eventually left Chile and traveled to Mexico, El Salvador, and finally Spain, where he and his wife lived until he passed away awaiting for a liver transplant in Barcelona. Many of his unreleased novels were found after his dead between his manuscripts.

His well known novel Savage Detectives (Los Detectives Salvajes), a non linear portrayal of young, bohemian artists, brought him recognition and multiple awards in 1998. Several critics compared “Savage Detectives” to the novel “Rayuela” (translated into English as “Hopscotch”) by Julio Cortázar.

He worked on his novel 2666 until his last days, which was finally published in 2004 after his death. 2666 is a detective novel featuring a character from Savage Detectives as the narrator. The novel follows four professors who are searching for lost loved ones while also trying to find a homicidal serial killer.

Read more about 2666 in the following links:

Time, “Bolaño’s 2666: The Best Book of 2008″

The New Yorker, Books Briefly Noted, “2666″

New York Times’ Sunday Book Review, “The Departed” 

The Guardian,  “Latin America’s Literary Outlaw”

 

Best Roberto Bolaño’s Quotes

“I kept having dreams all night. I thought they were touching me with their fingers. But dreams don’t have fingers, they have fists, so it must have been scorpions.”

― Roberto Bolaño, The Savage Detectives

“The world is alive and no living thing has any remedy. That is our fortune.”

― Roberto Bolaño, The Last Interview and Other Conversations

“So everything lets us down, including curiosity and honesty and what we love best. Yes, said the voice, but cheer up, it’s fun in the end.”

― Roberto Bolaño, 2666

 

Ten Survival Phrases for Travel to Japan

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If you find yourself looking forward to a trip to Japan but feel anxious about speaking the language, here are ten absolutely essential phrases to help you have a great time!

  1. Hai. (Yes.)
  2. Iie. (No.)
  3. Konnichi wa. (Hello.)
  4. Konban wa. (Good evening.)
  5. Sayoonara. (Good-bye.)
  6. Arigatoo gozaimasu. (Thank you.)
  7. Sumimasen. (Excuse me./ I’m sorry.)
  8. X onegai shimasu. (I’d like to ask for X.)
  9. X arimasu ka? (Is there X? / Is X available? / Do you have X?)
  10. Eego wakarimasu ka? (Do you speak English?)

These should allow you to engage many different people under a variety of different circumstances.

Phrase #8 is especially versatile:

Use this to make a variety of requests. If you want to order food or make a purchase, simply point to something and say “onegaishimasu”. If this is not working, try injecting English; “ticket, onegaishimasu”. “sandwich, onegaishimasu”, “single room, onegaishimasu”, “no smoking, onegaishimasu”. Another acceptable use case? You can also bring your purchase to a store cashier and say “onegaishimasu” when you place the item on the counter. You will make an extra pleasant impression if you toss out a #6 before you leave the store. Nicely done!

Normally, in #8 – #10, this grammatical thing called a particle follows a noun (i.e. X or Eego), but don’t worry about it! You will have no problem making yourself understood.

If you can ace these ten phrases, you will be able to engage people without having to fumble through a phrase book. Ultimately, you will see and learn more about Japan and Japanese culture if you feel comfortable communicating with people. Even a little bit is good. Have fun on your trip!