Foreign Language Fun » Maltese http://foreignlanguagefun.com Where Language Learning is Child's Play Tue, 31 Aug 2010 03:20:53 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 How to Say Chocolate in Fourteen Languages for Valentine’s Day http://foreignlanguagefun.com/2009/02/how-to-say-chocolate-in-fourteen-languages-for-valentines-day/ http://foreignlanguagefun.com/2009/02/how-to-say-chocolate-in-fourteen-languages-for-valentines-day/#comments Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:55:38 +0000 Diane http://foreignlanguagefun.com/?p=2912

In honor of Valentine’s Day–February 14–let’s learn fourteen ways to say that magical word:  CHOCOLATE!

French:  chocolat

Spanish:  chocolate

Italian:  cioccolato

German:  Schokolade

Dutch:  chocolade

Portuguese:  chocolate

Esperanto:  cokolado

Danish:  chokolade

Polish:  czekolada

Swedish:  choklad

Indonesian:  coklat

Maltese:  cikkulata

Norwegian:  sjokolad

Finnish:  suklaa

Be sure to check out a unique download for Spanish Learners:  The History of Chocolate for Spanish I Students:  Spanish I students in grades 7 to 12 will love learning about chocolate’s fascinating history while they learn or practice preterite, past tense verbs. This unit fuses the ACTFL C’s of culture, connections, & communication. Included are a bililngual vocabulary & verb list, a short Spanish reading on chocolate’s origins, post-reading activities, student to student conversational activities, writing activities, and internet video and site recommendations.

Happy Chocolate Day!

Photo Credit: by Linnell Esler at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/452631


]]> http://foreignlanguagefun.com/2009/02/how-to-say-chocolate-in-fourteen-languages-for-valentines-day/feed/ 2 Say Thank You in Many Languages This Thanksgiving http://foreignlanguagefun.com/2008/11/say-thank-you-in-many-languages-this-thanksgiving/ http://foreignlanguagefun.com/2008/11/say-thank-you-in-many-languages-this-thanksgiving/#comments Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:44:13 +0000 Diane http://foreignlanguagefun.com/?p=2086  When I think of Thanksgiving, my mind goes to turkey and pumpkin pie, parades and football.  Of course, the real reason is to give thanks to God for all that He has given us.  On this special holiday, I’d like to say Thank You in as many ways and as many languages as I can.  I’m sure to leave out many languages, so please comment with additional ones and continue the list of thanks!

 

Dankie (Afrikaans)

Shukran (Arabic)

Dekuji (Czech)

Tak (Danish)

Dank u wel (Dutch)

Dankon (Esperanto)

Kiitos (Finnish)

Merci (French)

Danke (German)

Mahalo (Hawaiian)

Toda (Hebrew)

Shukriya (Hindi)

Takk (Icelandic)

Grazie (Italian)

Arigato (Japanese)

Grazzi (Maltese)

Xie xie (Mandarin Chinese)

Dziekuje (Polish)

Multumesc (Romanian)

Spasibo (Russian)

Gracias (Spanish)

Ahsante (Swahili)

Tack (Swedish)

 

Photo Credit: by cidinha28 at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/772189

]]> http://foreignlanguagefun.com/2008/11/say-thank-you-in-many-languages-this-thanksgiving/feed/ 0 Learn Animals in Maltese http://foreignlanguagefun.com/2008/10/learn-animals-in-maltese/ http://foreignlanguagefun.com/2008/10/learn-animals-in-maltese/#comments Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:06:44 +0000 Diane http://foreignlanguagefun.com/?p=1544 My 5 year-old is now 6. I’m beginning to understand that all-too-common cliche uttered with a sigh, “They grow up so fast.” I mean, seriously, didn’t I just have the kid? I haven’t even gotten back to my pre-baby weight yet. Sigh. So fast.

We celebrated the big boy’s birthday last weekend with close family . . . about 20 people in all. After pizza and cake at the house, we all headed out to a farm for an evening hayride and bonfire. The 6 year-old declared it “Awesome!”

The “official” birthday was low key—cookies at school and a trip to a new and very cool local toy store. My boys became fascinated with a vast display of Playmobil toys. We picked up a catalog and I discovered that there is a Playmobil FunPark in Malta.

Malta!

Why, many of those 20 relatives at my house last weekend are of some sort of Maltese descent. My boys are 12.5% Maltese, and I have yet to include the Maltese language on my site. My bad!

My husband and I have been talking about traveling to Malta for some time. The Official Tourism Site for Malta describe these Mediterranean islands as “mythic”. The Maltese language is descended from Arabic, with a lot of borrowed words from Sicilian, Italian, and English.

In honor of my family’s recent trip to the farm—and longed-for trip to Malta—let’s learn how to say some animals in Maltese:

qattus – cat (Check out that lucky qattus in the photo of Malta at the top of the post!)

kelb – dog

fellus – chicken

baqra – cow

papra – duck

ziemel – horse

fenek – rabbit

ghasfur – bird

You can practice your new vocabulary here with free online games from digitaldialects.com.

A fun way to play with new vocabulary words in any language is with a communicative tic tac toe game. Check out the animal tic tac toe games available from Foreign Language House.

Narak iktar tard! That’s “See you later” in Maltese :-)

Photo Credit: by Fritz Beck at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/23136

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