Afandi English
The song is from ...
Hm, looks like you need to learn more about your neighbouring countries!
👎 Tajikistan: Yes, the language is a match but the style of music sounds nothing like that of a former Soviet republic. Just a feeling.
👎 Pakistan: Close enough but it would have to be some minority language in Northern Pakistan rather than the national language Urdu or the majority language Punjabi. And there is no element of Indian-ness in this song. Culturally Pakistan isn’t really any different from India. Only religion separates the two.
👍 Afghanistan: Bingo! The language is Dari, the Eastern Persian spoken by the majority of people in Afghanistan.
👎Yemen: If you said Yemen you’re pretty far off. Even if the style of music could be similar the language is no match at all. Yemen speaks Arabic.
👎 Tajikistan: Yes, the language is a match but the style of music sounds nothing like that of a former Soviet republic. Just a feeling.
👎 Pakistan: Close enough but it would have to be some minority language in Northern Pakistan rather than the national language Urdu or the majority language Punjabi. And there is no element of Indian-ness in this song. Culturally Pakistan isn’t really any different from India. Only religion separates the two.
👍 Afghanistan: Bingo! The language is Dari, the Eastern Persian spoken by the majority of people in Afghanistan.
👎Yemen: If you said Yemen you’re pretty far off. Even if the style of music could be similar the language is no match at all. Yemen speaks Arabic.
#38 Our favourite mistakes: Vocabulary
▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Ketdik kafega, mening qornim och.
❌ Perhaps you think it is:
Let’s go to the café, I’m hungry!
✅ Well, it should be:
Let’s go to the café restaurant, I’m hungry!
❓Why?
❗️ Internationally, a café is a place where you can have a drink and talk with your friends or colleagues or someone you need to talk to but don’t want to invite to your house. After all, “café” means “coffee” in France, the home country of café culture. Only in countries of the former Soviet Union a “кафе” is a place where you primarily eat.
❗️ In English even a small restaurant is still a restaurant. If it’s fast food we would just say the name of the fast food restaurant rather than the word “restaurant”. What you mean when you say “ресторан” is more like a “fancy restaurant” in English.
👉@afandi_english👈 #mistakes #vocabulary
▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Ketdik kafega, mening qornim och.
❌ Perhaps you think it is:
Let’s go to the café, I’m hungry!
✅ Well, it should be:
❗️ Internationally, a café is a place where you can have a drink and talk with your friends or colleagues or someone you need to talk to but don’t want to invite to your house. After all, “café” means “coffee” in France, the home country of café culture. Only in countries of the former Soviet Union a “кафе” is a place where you primarily eat.
❗️ In English even a small restaurant is still a restaurant. If it’s fast food we would just say the name of the fast food restaurant rather than the word “restaurant”. What you mean when you say “ресторан” is more like a “fancy restaurant” in English.
👉@afandi_english👈 #mistakes #vocabulary
#12 YouTube Channel Recommendation: Langfocus
⛓ Link: www.youtube.com/channel/UCNhX3WQEkraW3VHPyup8jkQ
📊 English Level: Upper, some technical terms
🔤 Subtitles: Usually available
💬 Topics: Languages, linguistics, language learning, culture, geography, history
💡 Content: This channel is a great source of knowledge for those interested in languages. Paul, the host of the channel, patiently and competently explains characteristics of languages and presents lots of interesting and weird facts about them. You learn a lot about different countries and cultures in the process. There are also language comparisons and language learning tips – all in all a good range of videos.
👉@afandi_english👈 #youtube
⛓ Link: www.youtube.com/channel/UCNhX3WQEkraW3VHPyup8jkQ
📊 English Level: Upper, some technical terms
🔤 Subtitles: Usually available
💬 Topics: Languages, linguistics, language learning, culture, geography, history
💡 Content: This channel is a great source of knowledge for those interested in languages. Paul, the host of the channel, patiently and competently explains characteristics of languages and presents lots of interesting and weird facts about them. You learn a lot about different countries and cultures in the process. There are also language comparisons and language learning tips – all in all a good range of videos.
👉@afandi_english👈 #youtube
#5 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Keep the right distance
Riding my bike through the Uzbek countryside I noticed that distance road signs are not exactly exact. I mean I’m perfectly okay with a slight deviation but when I’m promised to reach my destination after 25 kilometres and then have to ride more than 30 kilometres I do feel a bit cheated!
Compare this to Japan. I took the picture above a few years ago at some metro station in Tokyo. You can see that the distances shown are 105 and 255 metres. Would you notice a difference of 5 metres when you walk a hundred metres? Not even Japanese people would, but they just love the precision.
In the end I really think Japanese should become a little more Uzbek and Uzbeks should become a little more Japanese!
----------Vocab----------
📍not exactly = not really, not actually📍sb is okay with sth = sb can accept sth📍slight deviation = little difference from a correct number📍precision = being precise, very exact or correct
👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan
Riding my bike through the Uzbek countryside I noticed that distance road signs are not exactly exact. I mean I’m perfectly okay with a slight deviation but when I’m promised to reach my destination after 25 kilometres and then have to ride more than 30 kilometres I do feel a bit cheated!
Compare this to Japan. I took the picture above a few years ago at some metro station in Tokyo. You can see that the distances shown are 105 and 255 metres. Would you notice a difference of 5 metres when you walk a hundred metres? Not even Japanese people would, but they just love the precision.
In the end I really think Japanese should become a little more Uzbek and Uzbeks should become a little more Japanese!
----------Vocab----------
📍not exactly = not really, not actually📍sb is okay with sth = sb can accept sth📍slight deviation = little difference from a correct number📍precision = being precise, very exact or correct
👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan
#19 Spot Afandi and his donkey: Afandi enjoying a late summer day in a pomegranate tree
❓ Can you spot Afandi and his donkey in this picture?
❗️If you can, follow the instructions in #1 (see pinned message) and win 5,000 Paynet-soums!
👉@afandi_english👈 #spot_afandi
❓ Can you spot Afandi and his donkey in this picture?
❗️If you can, follow the instructions in #1 (see pinned message) and win 5,000 Paynet-soums!
👉@afandi_english👈 #spot_afandi
#13 Learn how to learn: Reading
❓ How can you improve your reading skills?
A lot depends on your habits and lifestyle. But here are a few things to keep in mind:
1️⃣ Read silently. When you read aloud you’re not only annoying people around you, you also pay too much attention to pronunciation. Plus it’s really slow.
2️⃣ Read for gist. You can read long texts in a short time if you focus on the most important things only. Challenge yourself – how fast can you read while still understanding?
3️⃣ Read for grammar and vocab. Texts not only give you information; you can also find a lot of new words, collocations and grammar structures. Keep an open eye for those!
4️⃣ Read for pleasure. Developing reading skills doesn’t have to be painful if the topic is interesting. News and novels are equally good for this.
5️⃣ Read for knowledge. “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader” – you can find a wealth of knowledge in books and that can really make a big difference in your life.
👉@afandi_english👈 #learn2learn
❓ How can you improve your reading skills?
A lot depends on your habits and lifestyle. But here are a few things to keep in mind:
1️⃣ Read silently. When you read aloud you’re not only annoying people around you, you also pay too much attention to pronunciation. Plus it’s really slow.
2️⃣ Read for gist. You can read long texts in a short time if you focus on the most important things only. Challenge yourself – how fast can you read while still understanding?
3️⃣ Read for grammar and vocab. Texts not only give you information; you can also find a lot of new words, collocations and grammar structures. Keep an open eye for those!
4️⃣ Read for pleasure. Developing reading skills doesn’t have to be painful if the topic is interesting. News and novels are equally good for this.
5️⃣ Read for knowledge. “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader” – you can find a wealth of knowledge in books and that can really make a big difference in your life.
👉@afandi_english👈 #learn2learn
#6 Featured article: Why we get along with some people
📍 This article describes the surprising psychology that decides whether we like a stranger when we first meet them. It’s not so much about the way they look but, hey, read and find out for yourself!
⛓ https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200917-what-makes-strangers-click
👉@afandi_english👈 #article #psychology
📍 This article describes the surprising psychology that decides whether we like a stranger when we first meet them. It’s not so much about the way they look but, hey, read and find out for yourself!
⛓ https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200917-what-makes-strangers-click
👉@afandi_english👈 #article #psychology
Bbc
What makes strangers click?
Conventional wisdom says people are drawn together when they’re most similar. But how you navigate the world together might actually be what ignites the spark.
#3 Afandi Quiz: Cultural Misunderstanding
Today’s quiz is about a cultural misunderstanding in the following situation:
▶️ An 🇺🇸American backpacker (=traveller with a big backpack) in 🇹🇭Thailand feels hungry late in the evening. So he goes out of his hostel (=cheap hotel) to grab some delicious Thai street food. He sits down on a half-broken plastic chair and devours (=eats a lot and quickly, like a monster) a portion of yummy fried noodles.
As he finishes his meal he realises he left his money in the hostel. Luckily, he thinks, as a traveller in unsafe places he still has some emergency (=an unexpected bad situation) cash in one of his shoes.
He takes out the money and wants to pay but seeing this, the lady who served him the noodles freaks out (=reacts angrily).
❓What’s the problem?
👉@afandi_english👈 #culture_quiz
Today’s quiz is about a cultural misunderstanding in the following situation:
▶️ An 🇺🇸American backpacker (=traveller with a big backpack) in 🇹🇭Thailand feels hungry late in the evening. So he goes out of his hostel (=cheap hotel) to grab some delicious Thai street food. He sits down on a half-broken plastic chair and devours (=eats a lot and quickly, like a monster) a portion of yummy fried noodles.
As he finishes his meal he realises he left his money in the hostel. Luckily, he thinks, as a traveller in unsafe places he still has some emergency (=an unexpected bad situation) cash in one of his shoes.
He takes out the money and wants to pay but seeing this, the lady who served him the noodles freaks out (=reacts angrily).
❓What’s the problem?
👉@afandi_english👈 #culture_quiz
Why is the Thai lady angry with the American traveller?
Final Results
7%
Thai people always eat slowly and eating like a monster is considered rude.
70%
Thai money has a picture of the king on it and putting that in one’s smelly shoes is offensive.
15%
Thai people may at first pretend that they don't want your money but then accept it.
7%
There's a lot of crime in Thailand and the lady thought he is pulling out a knife from his shoes.
Good job, most of you got that right! 🥳
👍 Thailand is indeed a monarchy (=country with a king or queen) and insulting (=doing sth rude to sb) the king is a very bad thing to do. You may even go to prison for that in Thailand!
👎 Yes we all like to be polite but not to the point that we freak out!
👎 Thailand isn’t the safest country for tourists but also not a crime hotspot (=a place where there is a lot of crime). And who would suspect (=think that sb does sth bad) foreign travellers to attack the locals?
👎 Thai people can be speedy eaters, too. That’s an individual habit, nothing very cultural.
👍 Thailand is indeed a monarchy (=country with a king or queen) and insulting (=doing sth rude to sb) the king is a very bad thing to do. You may even go to prison for that in Thailand!
👎 Yes we all like to be polite but not to the point that we freak out!
👎 Thailand isn’t the safest country for tourists but also not a crime hotspot (=a place where there is a lot of crime). And who would suspect (=think that sb does sth bad) foreign travellers to attack the locals?
👎 Thai people can be speedy eaters, too. That’s an individual habit, nothing very cultural.
#39 Our favourite mistakes: Grammar
▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Ziyofatga qo'shilish uchun pulim va vaqtim yo’q.
❌ Perhaps you think it is:
I haven't time and money to join the party.
✅ Well, it should be:
I don’t have time and money to join the party.
❓Why?
❗️ The negative of have is don’t have, like any other verb. Haven’t is only used in the Present Perfect tense together with a past participle, e.g. “I haven’t seen him.”
❗️ You can always add got after have or haven’t. “I haven’t got time and money …” is perfectly fine!
👉@afandi_english👈 #mistakes #grammar
▶️ Please translate the following sentence:
Ziyofatga qo'shilish uchun pulim va vaqtim yo’q.
❌ Perhaps you think it is:
I haven't time and money to join the party.
✅ Well, it should be:
❗️ The negative of have is don’t have, like any other verb. Haven’t is only used in the Present Perfect tense together with a past participle, e.g. “I haven’t seen him.”
❗️ You can always add got after have or haven’t. “I haven’t got time and money …” is perfectly fine!
👉@afandi_english👈 #mistakes #grammar
#14 World Englishes: Canadian English
❗️ Canada is the second biggest country in the world but has less than 40 million inhabitants of which a majority (57%) speak English and a minority (21%) speak French, the remaining 16% being bilingual.
🔘 Pronunciation: You probably won’t hear a difference between Canadian and American English. The two together are “North American English”. Some words, however, have a more British pronunciation, e.g. “progress”, “process” and “project”. The [t] in some words like “mountain” or “internet” are also not reduced.
🔘 Vocabulary: Canada follows mostly British spelling. Curiously, Canadians may use “hey?” or “ey?” as a tag question, like “huh?” or “isn’t it?”. A toilet may be called “washroom” and the last letter of the alphabet is the British “zed” rather than the American “zee”.
▶️ Check out what it sounds like:
⛓ Canada’s prime minister’s speech with subtitles
⛓ A tutorial
👉@afandi_english👈 #world_english
❗️ Canada is the second biggest country in the world but has less than 40 million inhabitants of which a majority (57%) speak English and a minority (21%) speak French, the remaining 16% being bilingual.
🔘 Pronunciation: You probably won’t hear a difference between Canadian and American English. The two together are “North American English”. Some words, however, have a more British pronunciation, e.g. “progress”, “process” and “project”. The [t] in some words like “mountain” or “internet” are also not reduced.
🔘 Vocabulary: Canada follows mostly British spelling. Curiously, Canadians may use “hey?” or “ey?” as a tag question, like “huh?” or “isn’t it?”. A toilet may be called “washroom” and the last letter of the alphabet is the British “zed” rather than the American “zee”.
▶️ Check out what it sounds like:
⛓ Canada’s prime minister’s speech with subtitles
⛓ A tutorial
👉@afandi_english👈 #world_english
#6 Travelogue Uzbekistan: Lucky numbers
I’m not sure how widespread this phenomenon is in Uzbekistan but I’ve seen numbers being used as names for all kinds of shops, product names and, most of all, pharmacies. I can’t say exactly why but I want to share my speculations with you:
A) A love for numbers: Numbers are nothing bad, schools are also numbered in this country. People don’t seem to think that numbers are cold or boring.
B) Attraction: Numbers, although not unique, are easy to remember. They can also be written big and catch people’s eyes.
C) Superstition: Some numbers are lucky, like 7. But what about the other numbers?
D) Convention: Some time ago someone started this and now it is imitated. Lacking creativity, shop owners use numbers just because others are doing it.
E) A mixture of all the above
👇Please vote!👇
----------Vocab----------
📍widespread = found in many places📍speculation = guess📍catch sb’s eyes = make sb notice sth
👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan
I’m not sure how widespread this phenomenon is in Uzbekistan but I’ve seen numbers being used as names for all kinds of shops, product names and, most of all, pharmacies. I can’t say exactly why but I want to share my speculations with you:
A) A love for numbers: Numbers are nothing bad, schools are also numbered in this country. People don’t seem to think that numbers are cold or boring.
B) Attraction: Numbers, although not unique, are easy to remember. They can also be written big and catch people’s eyes.
C) Superstition: Some numbers are lucky, like 7. But what about the other numbers?
D) Convention: Some time ago someone started this and now it is imitated. Lacking creativity, shop owners use numbers just because others are doing it.
E) A mixture of all the above
👇Please vote!👇
----------Vocab----------
📍widespread = found in many places📍speculation = guess📍catch sb’s eyes = make sb notice sth
👉@afandi_english👈 #travel #uzbekistan