The Navajo Nation and Language

The Navajo Language is part of the Athabaskan family of Languages spoken in the southwestern United States by the Navajo tribe. It's unique in that most of the other Athabakan Language family members are from the north.

It's also ranked as the most highly spoken Native American language of all, with a whopping 178,000 speakers. Unlike numerous other tribal tongues, the use of the Navajo language has actually grown over time, not declined.

The spelling for Navajo came from the Spanish language. Literally, it is a Pueblo Indian word meaning "farmlands". It is thought that this name was given due to the Navajo nature of settling and farming.

The Navajo peoples' traditional name of Diné bizaad is translated "the people" (what most Native Americans call themselves). The Navajos refer to themselves as Navajo as well, particularly when conversing in English.

Navajo is spoken in the Four Corners states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. It is a language widely spoken by not only adults, but Navajo kids, too.

More than fifty percent of Navajos speak it in their homes. It is a language that is actively passed onto offspring, and thus, the language is a form of daily communication for the Navajos.

The Navajos of the past lived in domed earth houses called hogans. The men hunted, warred, and ruled, while the women farmed, cared for the livestock, and performed domestic duties.

Artwork also had gender roles by way of males producing jewelry, and women crafting rugs and clay pots. Today men often farm, and females can join the military.

The Navajo language includes of four vowels: a, e, i, and o. Vowels come up short, long, or nasalized and employ high to low, rising to falling tones. Combinations such as short/nasalized/low tone can be made.

Tones are very popular in the Navajo speech, rounding out practically every word, adding up to a very lively language. The sounds of Navajo are similar to Apache languages, but different from any others outside of that group.

The subject-object-verb speech is packed with complex verbs. Each verb requires at least one prefix, with a maximum of eight. Navajo accounts for the verb types imperfective, perfective, progressive, future, usitative, iterative, and optative.

Verbs can vary depending on the shape of the subject; the verb for holding a ball is not the same as holding a twig.

The Navajo speech is quite hard for non-natives to comprehend due to the exact manner in which subjects relate to each other. Such relationships could seem meaningless to foreigners, but are strikingly significant to a Navajo.

They have a take on life that is very connected to a bigger world. Instead of saying, "I'm thirsty," a Navajo would say, "Thirst is hurting me". In this way, some say the language paints pictures in your mind.

Use Attractive Body Language to Attract Women

The right body Language to attract women. As you read in the introduction to the psychology of attraction, it's VERY important to use body Language to attract women. This is because women look at every single aspect of your non-verbal communication to determine if you are the kind of guy that dates girls like her. They pay attention to your face, your smile, you posture, your hands and many other factors are all important to the girl you are trying to pick up.

So how do you use body language to attract women? It's all about confidence, guys. Projecting confidence is the most important aspect of using body language to attract women. Before you approach a girl, put a great big smile on your face!

Pay attention to your eyes. Eye contact is very important. A good rule of thumb for eye contact is to keep your eyes locked on her while it's her turn to speak. Break eye contact every once in a while when you are speaking yourself, so you are not staring too much at her.

Don't be afraid to touch a woman early in the interaction. I don't mean grab her boob while saying hello. Simply use light arm touches to articulate what you are saying. And I do mean LIGHT, you don't want to push her over. Touch very briefly and very lightly. If you notice the girl is becoming more comfortable with you, you can try touching different parts of her body (no not boobs just yet) like her hand or, when you are sitting, touch her leg. You shouldn't be afraid to escalate this, but if at any moment she indicates that she is not comfortable with a touch (maybe she pulls her hand away slightly), you should stop and take a step back. This shows that you give her space.

Try to get as close as possible to a girl without her feeling uncomfortable. A very good rule for this is the more you turn your body away from her, the closer you can be. Play around with that. For instance, you could point to something in the room and turn your whole body towards it while standing closer and when you are turning your body to face the girl again, take a step back. That is very powerful.

These are some of the things you should NEVER do:

Don't move too fast. Slow and careful movements project confidence and is good body language to attract women.

Don't slouch. Standing up tall is a very important aspect in body language to attract women. Walking around like you just ran over your own dog isn't going to do you any favors and is the opposite of body language to attract women.

I hope you found this article useful to learn how to use body language to attract women.

Learn to Speak Spanish with Spanish Language Learning Software

They say that those who are the most competitive in the job market speak a second Language, and so many people are clambering to learn how to speak Spanish because they think it will be the easiest new Language to learn. After all, in some places of the United States there are just as many people that speak Spanish as those that speak English and it is important to learn the languages that you are going to need the most.

Spanish language learning software can help you learn the difficult language that is Spanish. Between verb tenses, vocabulary, and reading and word recognition there are so many different ways to go about learning Spanish with the help of Spanish language learning software that the options are virtually endless.

No matter what your strong points are or what your weak points are when it comes to learning, there are programs out there that can help. As a matter of fact, there are even Spanish languages learning software programs out there for younger children whose parents want to teach them to learn how to speak the Spanish language. Many of these programs are not designed simple enough for children and other child Spanish language learning software programs are designed too simple for children of a certain language, so you want to try out the Spanish language learning software that is best for you.

They say that English is the hardest language to learn, so be thankful that it is not English language learning software you are looking into. It is important to know that Spanish language is not learned only by Spanish language learning software or fancy classes or even fancy Books. What matters the most is how you put your Spanish words to use in the practical world. If you never have any reason to use the language, your Spanish that you have learned so far will probably not last very long at all, and there is no use having a language in your head that you do not plan on putting to use.

You can purchase Spanish language learning software from just about any Book store or cultural store. If you attend a college or school, the school library or Book store should have a plethora of Spanish language learning software available for lending or for purchase, so sort through that and see what kinds of software programs you might be able to put to use in your Spanish learning endeavors.

Nobody ever said that learning Spanish would be easy and finding the right Spanish language learning program is no easier. It is important to take your time and find the right product that can really help you learn, or you will just be wasting your money and your time. Learning the Spanish language is something to be commended, but it won't be easy.

Encouraging Children's Language Development

Parents and carers can use a range of strategies to encourage children's Language development. We thought of the following:

Talking to the child - even before a child can speak it is important for the adults and children around him to talk to him, for instance, by explaining what you are doing together ('It's time for Adam's lunch, isn't it?'), or what is happening ('It's lovely and sunny out here', 'Mummy will be here soon'). Remember to leave pauses so the child has chance to respond.

Using facial expression to convey meaning - children may not understand the words but they will usually understand the meaning if clear expression is used. For instance, if a child picks up a piece of soil in the garden and is about to eat it you might take it off him saying 'yuck' or 'nasty'. He may not know what 'yuck' or 'nasty' mean. If, at the same time, you also scrunch up your face and stick out your tongue to indicate a horrible taste, the child will understand your meaning quite clearly. Most adults do this quite naturally when speaking to young children.

Reading and story-telling.

Social interaction. Including the child in experiences that give him the opportunity to hear conversations and meet new people.

Language and Other Areas of Development

The child's ability to communicate and use language effectively is of key importance to many other areas of their development.

Language has particularly close links with intellectual development and is the main tool by which we are able to develop our thought processes. For example, we use words to help us store and recall memories and other information.

Think about the word 'sunshine' - what memories and thoughts does this bring up for you?

Everyone's memories and thoughts will be a little bit different. When we asked a group of students this question, their answers included:

warmth

light

my holiday in Cyprus

summer

a t-shirt I have with a sun motif

flowers.

This is a good example of the way in which words act as tools to help us organise and recall our thoughts and memories.

We also tend to use words mentally to direct and plan our actions, for example: "I'll drop these off at the library first and then call into the supermarket."

It follows that children whose communication skills are impaired in some way, or who have limited vocabularies, may also find it more difficult to develop reasoning skills and acquire new concepts.

Communication skills are essential if children are to express themselves clearly and understand others. It follows that there are close links between language and communication skills and the development of social skills. Poor communicators tend to find social situations difficult, and also find it more difficult to build relationships with other people.

Becoming a Communicator

Effective use of language involves far more than simply learning words - the child also needs to learn a whole range of skills around speech and communication, such as understanding how a conversation works. These are known as pragmatic skills.

Pragmatic skills begin to develop in the early weeks of life, with tiny babies 'turn taking', initiating communicative interchanges, and 'talking' non-verbally to their carers.

Pragmatic skills include:

knowing that you have to answer when a question has been asked;

being able to participate in a conversation by taking it in turns with the other speaker;

the ability to notice and respond to the non-verbal aspects of language;

awareness that you have to introduce a topic of conversation in order for the listener to fully understand;

knowing which words or what sort of sentence-type to use when initiating a conversation or responding to something someone has said;

the ability to maintain a topic;

the ability to maintain appropriate eye-contact (not too much staring, and not too much looking away) during a conversation;

the ability to distinguish how to talk and behave towards different people and in different situations.

Many everyday activities can be used to encourage children's language development, for example during mealtimes or group work. Parents and carers should look for opportunities to help children develop their language. This would include opportunities to:

use questions

listen

learn new vocabulary

speak.

Handling Mistakes

Young children make many mistakes in their speech. They often use grammar incorrectly and they may mispronounce words because they have difficulty in making the correct sounds. They substitute the difficult sound for an easier one, for instance 'th' for 's', as in 'yeth' for 'yes'. Such difficulties usually resolve themselves by 5 or 6 years of age.

It is very important to tackle such errors in a positive way if you are to boost the child's confidence. Avoid direct correction of errors. Show the child that you have understood what he is trying to tell you and also teach him how to say the word correctly. For example:

Child: 'mook.'

It is better to respond with 'Yes! Book, Book.' than 'No, not mook, book.'

With older children too, it often helps to echo back mistakes correctly. They get the message but they do not feel criticised. This can be the key to good communication between the two of you.

Child: 'I have to do vis homework for tomorrow.'

Adult: 'You have to do this for tomorrow? OK.'

Some children are so keen to get the words out, or have so much to say, that they stumble over their words. Parents may worry that the child is beginning to develop a stutter but this is just a temporary stage that many children go through. It is not a true stutter. It is only likely to become a problem if parents or carers make a fuss and try to correct the child's speech. The child then becomes self-conscious and a real stutter may develop, at which stage the help of a speech therapist may be required.

Delayed Language Development

Children may be slow in learning to talk for several reasons, including:

genetics - it may be that the child's parents were late talkers too.

he or she may have been concentrating on other aspects of development, such as learning to walk.

not enough individual attention from adults - children learn to talk from adults rather than children.
This can be a problem in large families or where there are twins or young children who are very close in age.

lack of encouragement.

deafness - A child cannot learn to speak if he or she cannot hear the words spoken by other people. They also needs to able to hear themselves so that they can improve their own attempts at words. Interestingly, during the first year, profoundly deaf babies often babble at the same time as other babies, but they stop after a few months. This may be because they cannot hear themselves and so can't reinforce their babbling.

It is extremely important to recognise deafness in children at an early age, as the earlier the child receives treatment the better the outcome. Parents and carers are ideally placed to notice that something is wrong with a child's hearing. Such problems are also often picked up at the routine developmental checks carried out by health visitors during the first year or so.

Spanish Language Translation

Importance

Spanish is one of the most major Languages in the world today. It is very important in multiple fields ranging from business to tourism to the sciences. As the Latin and Hispanic communities continue to grow, so will Spanish and its economic importance. This means the need to translate many and diverse documents - from the cultural to the legal - into Spanish. The Spanish speaking populations of the world continue to expand - especially in the USA where it is the number one minority. This means that commerce and other concerns will benefit from Spanish translation to broadcast their message to this increasingly important market segment.

Spanish Translation

Spanish is read and spoken throughout the world and it can be translated to/from its own Spanish dialects and to other Languages. Modern Spanish and its variations are all derived from its pure and original Castilian. Dialectical use of Spanish can require local or regional translators to provide true and meaningful translations. Punctuation standards - such as question marks and exclamation points - are different for Spanish. Capitalization rules are also unique to Spanish. These subtleties can be important in transacting business in Spanish-speaking and Spanish-dialect zones.

Business Translation

Spain and Spanish-speaking countries are doing more and more business with Anglophone countries. These business needs obviously create translation needs for business-related documents. The bulk of these translated documents can be diverse - ranging from advertising to legal to tourism documents. The whole of the document must be proofread by a native-speaking expert for its accuracy, precision and intangibles. The subtleties of Spanish translation and their number can dictate the amount of needed translation time. It has been said elsewhere that dictionaries are for in-context word translations only. Machine translations are for whole text, low-cost rough Spanish translations.

Transcription versus Translation

The difference between Spanish transcription and Spanish translation is academic. Transcription is the mere documenting of spoken or written text. Hispanophones usually transcribe from Spanish, while Anglophones usually transcribe from English. If an official document is to be transcribed and then translated into another Language (or Spanish) - a certification is usually required from the translator. The certification is typically overseen by a local or regional governing body. Machine or online translation is possible for non-certified translation work, but can lack the "humanness" needed for some documents. In these arenas, direct human translation is required and often superior.

Byki Language Software Review

The stated goal of the Byki team is to have a course for every Language in the world - perhaps a little ambitious but they certainly cover very many. So just what are you getting with a Byki Language course? The aim of this article is to outline the good and bad points of the Byki language system.

By no Means Comprehensive

The first thing to point out is that Byki is not a 'complete' language learning solution. It is meant merely as a supplement to a wider learning regimen. Byki primarily deals with memorizing vocabulary, and it employs a number of innovative techniques to help you along the way. The system comes with a large number of categories (called lists) covering beginner, intermediate and advanced learners. The lists can be anything from kitchen vocabulary to verbs. A word will be displayed on a card (in English or in the language that you're learning), and you are allowed time to translate the word before flipping the card to see the translation. If you weren't correct, the word will be displayed more often in an effort to help you commit that word to memory. This is the basic premise of the Byki system.

Lots of Different Activities to Keep you Interested

While the sole interest of Byki is teaching vocabulary, there are six different activities to make things more interesting and enjoyable. These activities include:

Multiple Choice: - In this activity a card is shown and four possible options are given to choose from.

Fill in the Blank: - Here a small phrase is shown with a missing word. It's your job to fill in this word by typing in your answer.

Pronunciation Practice: - This is a vital activity for language learners who don't get the opportunity to speak with natives. With pronunciation practice you listen to the native pronunciation of a word and try to mimic this using your microphone. The pronunciation meter then marks your pronunciation from beginner to advanced.

Word Whirl: - With word whirl the entire contents of the list are shown one by one over a minimalistic, and some what mesmerising backdrop. All you have to do it watch. It's a great thing to do before moving on to the other activities.

Concentration: - This is rather like the card game 'pairs' in which all the cards are placed face down and you can turn over only two at a time. The aim is to find a match, or 'pair'. The difference being that in this game one of the cards has the English word and the other card has the foreign language word.

Four Square: - In this activity you have a center card which is constantly upright surrounded by four face down cards. The four face down cards are rapidly displayed and then turned face down again. It is your task to identify which of the cards matches the one in the middle.

Create Your Own Lists

The beauty of Byki comes in the form of its customizability. You're not stuck with the limited number of lists that the package ships with. In fact, there are a number of free lists that you can download from the internet covering just about anything. But best of all, you can create your own lists. This is especially beneficial for serious language learners. Should you be learning a specific topic, let's say the conjugations of a certain verb, you can create a list with as many words as you like and repeatedly test yourself on it with the activities mentioned above.

Track Your Progress

Byki provides a system in which to track your progress. All learned items are recorded and saved into a list divided into 'fresh' and 'stale' items. Fresh being those words most recently learned and stale being the words and phrases that haven't been practiced for a long time. This is a very useful system as it allows you to look back at words you learned a long time ago and make sure you haven't forgotten them.

Test Yourself

After you have completed the activities on a certain list, there are four test modes:

Self-Reporting Test: - In this test you're shown a card and effectively must say to yourself what it means before the card is flipped and the answer revealed. You must then tell Byki if you were correct or incorrect. At the end of the test your results are shown and recorded. This is a good way to periodically check your progress.

Written Test: - Rather like the Self-Reporting Test only this time you don't say the correct answer to yourself. With this test you must write your answer in the space provided.

Listening Comprehension: - In this test you hear the foreign language word and have to type its meaning in English.

Dictation: - In this test you listen to a word being pronounced by a native and then have to type in what you heard. This is a great way to improve your listening skill.

Conclusion

Byki has a lot going for it but you must understand that it isn't a complete language course. If utilized properly, i.e. to supplement other learning strategies, it can be extremely beneficial. It is especially useful if you're already a member of a language class/program. Using Byki is a great way to commit to memory things that you've already learned. I have been particularly impressed by the way Byki persistently presents you with your most troublesome words. The system has great variety with the various different types of activities and tests. This gives Byki a certain longevity values, there is always something different and new to try meaning you'll keep coming back. Being as cheap as it is, Byki is certainly good value for money.

Why Learning the English Language Is Important

The English Language is a difficult Language to learn if it is not your native language. However, it is certainly a language that you should consider becoming proficient at if you want to get ahead in the world of today. To be able to make a splash in the business world, it pays to have a thorough understanding of the English language. If you are wondering why you need to make this a part of your personal and professional arsenal, but are uncertain of where it fits in, read on:

Corporate Growth

Many organizations are outsourcing basic functions of their business to overseas locations. Some of these jobs pay quite well and the more proficient you are with the English language, the better chance you will have of communicating. The better communication that you can establish, the more possibilities you will have within one of these major established companies.

Individual Growth

Say you run your own business. What if you want to expand your reach to a global marketplace instead of staying local? The English language is your key to being able to do this, because most every country has some influence within it - at least enough to communicate well in the language and avoid having to learn several different languages for minimal growth. In order to expand your horizons to multiple countries at once, establishing a good grasp of the English language is essential.

Building Relationships

Beyond work relationships, English also helps you to establish personal relationships and maintain them far beyond direct contact. With social media and greater educational travel programs now available, it is easier to establish meaningful relationships that last a lifetime. But language can often create communication barriers, and learning English is the quickest and most reliable way to make sure you keep these potentially enriching relationships together.

Writing and Speaking Better

Simply expanding your horizons through the learning of another language is yet another great benefit. The more that you immerse yourself with, the better chances you will have of writing and speaking better. You can also enjoy higher quality entertainment, such as Books and movies, in their original languages so not to impede with the enjoyment of the presentation.

Learning the English language is not something that you can do overnight. It takes a lot of time and effort to get it right, and who you learn it from is very important. A poor teacher can put you on the path to disaster, and it can take quite some time to undo the damage. Choose wisely, and you can open up a whole new world of prosperity.