Posts Tagged ‘language’
A Guide to Munich Beer Festivals – Oktoberfest 2011
Perfected over hundreds of years to a high quality, German beer is world re-nowned as being some of the best beer available. Not only is the beer itself known around the world as being full of flavour and passion; the famous beer festivities associated with the beverage continually entice visitors year on year to sample the best Germany has to offer.
Munich Beer Festivals offer culinary delights and beverages to suit all palettes
Perfected over hundreds of years to a high quality, German beer is world re-nowned as being some of the best beer available. Not only is the beer itself known around the world as being full of flavour and passion; the famous beer festivities associated with the beverage continually entice visitors year on year to sample the best Germany has to offer. Germany always excels when it comes to celebrating and what better way is there to have a good time than party with brilliant live music, fairground rides and of course an endless supply of beer. Of the Munich beer festivals, Oktoberfest 2011 is the largest of the beer festivals planned this year and is sure to impress.
This year marks Oktoberfest’s 201st anniversary
The Oktoberfest takes place every year between the end of September and the beginning of October lasting for two weeks, located in Munich, Germany. Each year over six million visitors descend on Munich’s Oktoberfest to down their share of the seven million litres that the festival has to offer. Visitors devour approximately 300,000 sausages, 600,000 roast chickens and 80 oxen each year at the festivals many food stalls. The opening ceremony is cause for celebration involving the people of Munich. A parade containing a spectacular display of colour and music erupts into the streets with wagons and “floats” of the different beer providers carrying their beer to the main festival area of the Theresienwiese. The amusement park located at the centre of Theresienwiese is a sight to behold with its many rides on offer, including bumper cars, rollercoasters, miners trains as well as new entries such as “The Tower” , a huge attraction holding emphatic shows and 3D experiences.
Although there has been many modern attractions introduced to the festival over the years the Oktoberfest still clings to tradition, only allowing beer from the Munich beer festivals breweries sold on-site in the many large tents to be consumed by visitors. Staff and brewery owners are also dressed in traditional clothing giving the public a real feel for customary German life. Following tradition, no beer can be served inside the tents until the mayor has tapped the opening barrel. After the precession has passed through Theresienwiese the party begins with live music and dancing the order of the day. Entry to Oktoberfest 2011 is free and there is always space on the day as long as you get there early. The beer is served from 10 am till 10:30 pm weekdays and from 9 am to 22.30 pm on Saturdays Sundays and bank holidays. Ensure your party arrive no later than lunch time otherwise you may not find somewhere to sit and beer is not served to those standing.
About the Author
DERTOUR is a UK based travel agency with 50 years of experience specialising in a Beer Festivals including the popular Munich Beer Festival’s – Oktoberfest 2011, taking travellers to the heart of Europe. DERTOUR caters for a large range of budgets, ensuring that anyone can experience the true culture of Germany and other popular destinations within Europe.
Monitoring VAT Refunds is Misguiding Retailers about International Expenditure
Retailers, particularly in the luxury sector, are mistakenly measuring the footfall of overseas clients to their premises by measuring VAT refund applications filed by their customers on site to be redeemed at the airports. So in order to simplify the counting process, they add the amounts refunded by – for example – all Chinese clients who fill in the VAT documents in store and then decide the amount of expenditure by the Chinese during a certain period of time.
Following this addition exercise they would compare the spending rate and footfall of different nationalities using the same process.
This is happening in almost every department store in London, Paris and New York… In addition to flagship boutiques whose managers are desperate to quantify international contribution towards their overall retail turnover.
This way of calculating the international footfall in any premises depending only on VAT refunds is severely inaccurate for a simple reason: Not All International Customers Claim VAT. Actually most of Arab customers, for example, don’t claim any VAT. I personally served many rich international clients who would consider waiting in a cue at airports to claim VAT is a shameful act (one of them felt insulted by the fact that I offered to assist him with his VAT documents!).
Knowing that measuring international footfall and overseas expenditure is extremely important for businesses in cities like London, Paris, New York, etc… There is a rather simple process which determines the facts more accurately. Retailers should depend on their staff feedback to get more accurate figures. Staff members can easily report international sales to their managers or more directly to the accounting department by adjusting the way they record their sales.
Nearly all luxury retail businesses depend on computerised tills applicable to generate various sales reports. IT managers can easily add a button to the sales screen on these tills which a sales person can quickly tick to determine the nationality of the client. JOB DONE . So to simplify this, let’s say I’m serving a Russian customer… Closed the sale and went to the till to process the payment. Before I finalize the sale, the till would show me a small window in which I would have a multiple choice of nationalities. I would press for choice number 4 (this is for Russian in this example) and the till would assign the word Russian to this sale. Simples!!
One Retail Manager might argue that not all staff members can easily determine the nationality of their clients. This is right! as I always get confused between a Chinese and a Japanese customer. Let’s use the carrot here and base a small portion of the sale commission on whether the sale is accompanied by nationality of the customer or not. Through my experience, any salesperson can politely ask any customer about where they are from whether when helping them with currency conversion or simply during the process of breaking the ice or even simpler… by throwing the blame on the manager and claim that they are obliged to include the nationality of the client when processing the sale. In my courses I teach the Collecting-Feedback-in-order-to-keep-you-updated-on-our-new-releases-Trick.
There are many other solutions to this problem, but through experience I think that this is the most convenient one logistically.
Having inaccurate figures about international clients in luxury retail businesses is really dangerous as this does not only affect accounting but also buying and merchandising processes and even recruitment decisions.
I think that retailers should fix this bug in their operations before it grows out of hand and they become like the farmer who bought hay to feed his chickens.
About the Author
M Said Chaarawi is the Managing Director of UnderstandArabia Ltd… A Training and Consultancy Firm based in London UK. www.understandarabia.com
Teddy Bear Collecting
This article is dedicated to the Teddy Bear, a great and extremely loyal friend to man. Like man, the teddy bear is a great explorer and a lover of adventures. The teddy bear also, like man, has had his fair share of being in the limelight both on our screens and as a great and unforgettable character in books.
Since 1907, when the Thomas A. Edison Co. made The Teddy Bears, the first moving picture about teddy bears, films and television have been making the teddy bear famous on screen. One of the very first teddy bears to appear on british television was a glove puppet teddy bear called Sooty. In 1948, an amateur magician called Harry Corbett bought a teddy bear glove puppet whilst holidaying in Blackpool, England with his family. The puppet was bought originally just to entertain his children and they named the puppet simply ‘Teddy’, however, Corbett then started to use him as part of his magic act. Whilst appearing on a talent show called Talent Night in 1952, Corbett and his glove puppet were spotted by the producers of the chilren’s series Saturday Special. Teddy prompty received a make-over – his nose and his ears were blackened – and his name was then changed to ‘Sooty’. In 1955, Sooty was given his own show called The Sooty Show. Later on he was joined by his best pal ‘Sweep’ and his girlfriend (who happened to be a Panda) called ‘Soo’. Strangely Sooty and Soo were never allowed to touch on television.
Folllowing the death of Harry Corbett in 1975, his son Matthew took over, but in 1996, Sooty, Sweep and Soo was sold for £1.4 million to the merchant bankers, Guinness Mahon who were intent on increasing Sooty’s audience, so hopefully, fingers crossed, at some time, once again, we may just see a lot more of him.
There was also the lovely little Chiltern Teddy Bear who was propelled into stardom in 1965, his name was Teddy Edward. This gorgeous little teddy bear travelled the world for the BBC’s famous children’s programme, Watch With Mother. Teddy Edward was purposely never dressed, although when he ventured into the mountains of Nepal, he wore a beautiful (and now famous) Napalese coat, which was given to him by his friend Domtuk (who was a Panda), he too wore a coat which was very similar to Teddy Edward’s.
In December 1996, Teddy Edward was sold at the auction house Christie’s in London to a Yoshihiro Sekiguchi, President of the Japanese toy company Sun Arrow. Teddy Edward fetched the staggering sum of £34,500. He is now on display in one of his teddy bear museums in Japan.
Another very famous T.V. bear was Andy Pandy’s friend ‘Teddy’, a very handsome Chad Valley Teddy Bear. Teddy was quiet, charming and was best friend to Andy Pandy and Looby Loo.
Teddy Bears such as Paddington Bear, although famous for television, originally made their names in the literary world. It was Christmas Eve in 1956 when a young cameraman called Michael Bond was doing some last minute christmas shopping. He was desperately looking for a christmas present for his wife when, whilst stopping at a famous London store, noticed a teddy bear looking at him. He was the only teddy bear who hadn’t been sold. Hence, his wife received a teddy bear for Christmas that year. The little bear was named ‘Paddington’ as Michael and his wife were living very close to the famous Paddington Station at the time. Just a few days later, Michael Bond was simply inspired to write a story about this teddy bear and once the book was published, it became an instant success. The book has now been translated into at least thirty different languages and was later followed up by even more novels, short stories and dozens and dozens of picture books, then of course, the television animation. Very soon Paddington Bear became practically a household name, becoming very famous too for wearing wellington boots and a duffle coat. There is loads of childrens clothes and various pieces of merchandise the whole world over with Paddington Bear on. In Paddington Station, London, there is a special Paddington Bear stand, dedicated especially to him.
Then we have the very famous Rupert Bear and also Winnie the Pooh who started their lives in the literary world and went on to become stars of screen and in Winnie’s case, his adventures were transformed into a series of feature length cartoons by Walt Disney Studios from 1966 on.
We have also seen the absolutely adorable Aloysius teddy bear, star of the Brideshead Revisited series and fallen in love with him.
Then we have the famous teddy bears whose claim to fame is accompanying their keepers on dangerous activites and adventures such as Mr Whoppit, the teddy bear who accompanied Donald Campbell (the British car and speedboat enthusiast). Together Campbell and Whoppit broke the water-speed record seven times, reaching 444.7 kph (276.3 mph) in Bluebird on Lake Dumbleyung, Australia in 1964. That very same year they also broke the land-speed record at Lake Eyre Salt flats, Australia with 648.7 kph (403.1mph). Together they survived several major crashes but on the 4 January 1967 Donald Campbell’s luck ran out. On Consiton Water in England’s Lake District, they both tried for a new world record with an outward run of 466.7 kph (290 mph). Tragedy struck when Bluebird’s nose lifted and Campbell and Whoppit were plunged into the depths at 482.8 kph (300 mph). Mr Whoppit survived, he floated to the surface a few minutes after the impact, it is said he became buoyant due to his kapok stuffing. Campbell’s daughter, Gina, carried on with the record breaking attempts and Mr. Whoppit joined her.
However, these are just a handful of famous bears from the past and from the present, although, as all teddy bear lovers know, there are many teddy bears who are heroic and very special in their own right, who no-one has ever heard of and it is to these wonderful old friends that we take our hats off to, and we would just finish this article by saying, Long May They Reign……
About the Author
Gino loves fast cars, especially fast italian cars. Gino also loves anything Italian. Gino also heads an old teddy bear site which is full of adorable old teddy bears and their friends.
Please visit his website at www.ginosbears.co.uk
What are some good tips for learning German?
Ok,so im an American who would like to become fluent “or at least semi-fluent” in the German language.In my spare time ive been learning little by little,but id like to speed up the process.Can anyone recommend a good free online language course?Or in the very least give me advice on the best way,and the quickest way to learn the language?
hang out with german people. i have family and friends that speak german and its great to get the right sound. that and good schooling
why do i always get violations when others who curse me dont?
like i had black girl give me an answer just saying are u an f-ing idiot ? and i reported it and my question about african americans in Russian population was deleted ? but her answer was not ?it happens to me everytime ?
There is no way a question can be deleted, but not any of the answers. It was deleted because you pissed off a black girl, probably something racist. How you can tell she was black from being online is also extremely amazing.
Learn Japanese Free Audio Download
Do you want to learn Japanese in a light-hearted way? If so I want to introduce a Japanese language program for you, that is Rocket Japanese. The advantage of this program is that it can provide a genuine context for you. The key to learning a foreign language is to understand the context rather than only to learn the words and sentences. When you are in an authentic environment, you should know how to use what you have learned.
The interactive audio and MegaAudio software learning game components can put you in a genuine context. This learning software can provide you something that you can only get from Rocket Japanese, such as an in-depth view of this complicated language, learn Japanese in a reasonably short amount of time and provide a multimedia format for you to use the language. All types of people with different backgrounds can learn Japanese well through Rocket Japanese, because it offers high quality information and training as well as an instant download option. Through a 31 lesson course can help you start the Rocket Japanese program easily. By this interactive audio course, you can be exposed to Japanese through reading listening and repeating.
This course has been highly recommended by the users who have been accessible to many other training courses. So believe in yourself and your choice of Rocket Japanese. Another advantage of this software is that it can guarantee you can pick up this language, if within eight days you cannot master the basic use of Japanese you will be refunded. This is the other software dare not guarantee.
Studying with Rocket Japanese, what you are to gain is not only a language but also a culture and a kind of custom which are basic for foreign language learning. You should believe that Japanese learning is not a difficult thing if you put your heart in it and choose the suitable aids. Rocket Japanese may be your best choice. Grab A Copy Click here
About the Author
Warning: curl_setopt_array() [function.curl-setopt-array]: Unable to access in /home/twistedn/public_html/techin.me/wp-content/plugins/content-mage/AbstractContentMageSource.php on line 1
Review Rocket German – Will it Actually Work?
Rocket German is an on-line German learning program. Does it actually work?
WHAT’S INSIDE ROCKET GERMAN?
Rocket German can be purchased as a downloadable software or as a CD set that can be mailed to your home. Inside you will find audio recordings, special software games, videos, and more. In addition, you get access to the Learning Lounge where you can test your progress, and communicate with other students and instructors.
The basic method is teaching German by a process called “visual association”. Visual association is the way you learned to speak your native language. You SAW something and HEARD the word for it at the same time. In this manner you effortlessly and quickly learned the meanings of words. Rocket German tries to replicate the process with the use of audio, video, and specially designed software.
DOES IT REALLY WORK?
If you are serious and willing to work with the material regularly, Rocket German is a very powerful way to learn to speak German. Ideally, you should aim to view the lessons for some time everyday (30min to 1hr at least). The lessons are designed to build on one another. Therefore, being consistent is very important.
Picking up a new language is much like learning to ride a bike. For the first little while you might think that you are not getting anywhere. If you persist, however, you will hit a point where things suddenly come together. You will find yourself creating sentences without effort and picking up most of the words in the audio recordings.
From there you can go on to learn more vocabulary and more advanced grammar.
IS ROCKET GERMAN A GOOD FIT FOR EVERYONE?
Some people find it difficult to focus unless there is some outside pressure like an upcoming “exam” or a teacher checking their “homework”.
Rocket German is a do it yourself program. It is powerful but you have to provide the consistency yourself.
If you feel you need the pressure of a class setting in order to take action, look into classes at a local college. Keep in mind that a class will cost much more and can take longer.
If you are sincere about wanting to learn German and can put aside some time daily, Rocket German can have you speaking German in 8-10 weeks.
Get instant access to the Rocket German program at =>Rocket German Lessons
About the Author
frank johnson
can someone help translate this Japanese to English please?
Hello everyone,
I’m an 18 year old student from Los Angeles, California, USA and am working on writing a research paper on the historical ninja for school. I don’t read Japanese, unfortunately, so I was wondering if any of you guys would be able to help translate this short, two page text for me? It’s a modern Japanese transcription of a Koka Ryu ninjutsu densho called Ogiden. I would really appreciate it!
Thank You,
Cameron
text page 1: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=vpayvc&s=7
text page 2: http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2zyzec8&s=7
it’s not modern, almost Shakespearean japanese…
briefly, it is saying:
you shouldn’t complain if you have few reward,
you shouldn’t make your heart poor.
don’t take disciples and make ranks or grades in our house.
it is enough to bring up one chosen successor
for our secret technique.
our precious textbook is enshrined.
the five books are not written, they will be inherited by word of master’s mouth
koga family rendered distinguished service in the battle in 940,
so it’s their policy and brief history.
Dual-language (german-english) texts (stories, news, letters,dialogues etc.) online..?
I need dual-language (german-english) texts (stories, news, letters,dialogues etc.) online to improve my elementary german. I’ve found a website (www.a-language-guide.com) but this is not enough. Where can I find more?
Thanks everyone!
You can try Wikipedia.org and change the language to German for almost any article you want.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herz
also try (it has multiple language choices)
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,2142,265,00.html
How To Learn Russian And Not Quit After Day One
For English speakers and for most South American and European countries, learning Latin and Anglo Saxon languages is rather easy. But when faced to learn something that doesn’t share the same grammar rules, alphabet, genders or verb tenses, we’re in a bucket of trouble. That’s why Russian, next to other “different” languages such as Japanese, Chinese or Korean is considered hard and many people don’t even get a “day 2″ in their free online language lesson course for Russian, simply because they give up on something that seems way to hard to understand, not to mention learn to a point where you’re fluent with it. But if you take things slow and don’t let learning Russian overwhelm you with its complexity, you should pull it off.
Step 1 – Mastering the Russian Alphabet and Numerals
First of all, before you can move to anything related to vocabulary or grammar, you need to get acquainted with the Russian alphabet. The Russian alphabet contains 33 letters, of which 21 consonants and 10 vowels, the remaining two letters being without sound. One of the confusing bits about mastering the Russian alphabet is that some letters look like those from the Latin alphabet and have the same pronunciation, whereas others look the same but have different sounds. For example, the letter “M” from the Russian alphabet is pronounced “ehm”, just like in English. On the other hand the letter “X” in Russian is a hard “H” and not the “ecs” sound from English.
Step 2 – Learning the Basic Set of Russian Words
Each language has approximately 1,000 words that form the base language used in daily conversation. This does not include technical or specialization terms. In Russian, 1,000 words form up around 70-75% of the normal language used so you’ll have to learn as much of these possible if you want to progress to more advanced phrases or grammar.
Try learning what you would teach your child to say in your native language first: colors, mammals, fruits, vegetables, greetings, farewells, days of the week, months of the year and so forth. Keep it basic and try to learn every word in a context, not just from a list. If you get hold of some English-Russian translations (or well, mother tongue-Russian translations if you’re not a native English speaker) you can find these words and see the exact context they’re used. This will be a lot helpful later on.
Step 3 – Basic Grammar
Ok, “grammar” is a wide open battlefield and you’ll have to take it down sector by sector. Start out with genders and learn how to spot the gender of a Russian noun. This can be easily done by analyzing the ending consonant(s) of the noun. You should look on the Internet for a list of noun endings for masculine, feminine and neutral and print it out. It takes around 10-15 minutes to get used to determining the gender of a Russian noun, but it will prove to be an important thing to know in the future.
Verb tenses are a different story and it won’t be easy to understand and analyze them like you did with the noun genders. Russian tenses have certain aspects that make it harder for you to spot the exact tense at first. I would suggest you just skim through a set of tense rules and terminations (as long as there are examples for each tense) and try to learn them “naturally” later on, by the ear.
From hereon, you’re on your own. You already know the alphabet, the basic vocabulary and the basic grammar rules, so all you need to do now is practice a lot by reading and listening to Russian. I prefer reading as a starting point, since listening has its flaws, although if you want to start pronouncing words correctly you’ll have to hear them spoken first.
When you reach a stage where you can already read an article or newspaper bit in Russian, that critical moment when you almost quit on your second day will be long behind you. Now all you need to do is increase your vocabulary and if possible, engage in a few Russian conversations as they will prove vital in your quest to achieve fluency in the Russian language.
About the Author
Increase your Russian language vocabulary at Russian lessons at Internet Polyglot by playing online games.