Monday, August 15, 2011

Nepali language podcasts

I'm compiling this list of Nepali language podcasts available on the internet. Could be good for many purposes, but for me, personally, I'm mainly interested in learning the spoken language, and this is a good way to do it, of course! I learn new words and practice pronounciation. At the same time, it's my chance to keep up with news, cultural issues or whatever we can find Nepali podcasts about. And I'm saying "we", because I hope readers, YOU, will help out and add any link you know to good Nepali language podcast!

So far I haven't found that many, but here's the 'list' of sites with downloadable podcasts:
And I'll also list some video podcasts sites:
  • IRIN (few, but subtitled!)
  • YouTube (there's loads of Nepali on YT, most of it poor quality, esp for learning though)
  •  
    And then there is the Nepali language live broadcasts (online/net radios) as well (not downloadable):

    Tuesday, August 9, 2011

    The Nepali numbers

    I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but even after 5-6 years of learning Nepali language (quite casually), I'm still not able to count to a hundred in Nepalese! Sounds amazingly stupid, doesn't it? But only until you see the words for the Nepali numbers! They are tricky, to say the least. At first glance, there's no system in it at all. Like in English, if you can count 1-9 and you know how to say '50' then you can easily figure out how to say fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three etc... Not so with the Nepali numbers!

    In Nepali, for instance, '30' and '50' are tis and pachas.And '1', '2' and '3' is ek, dui, teen.
    • 31, then, is simply ek-tis
    • 32, do you think it's dui-tis? Wrong! It's båttis. (Where did that bå- come from?)
    • 51, logically, must then be ek-pachas, right? Wrong! It's ekaunnå. (Where did -aunnå come from?)
    • 52, now, is baunnå. There's a little logic to it, since b-something apparently means '2-something', and the unexplained -aunnå apparently means '50'...
    • 53, so you think you've figured it out now?... The system changes slightly, and '53' becomes tri-pånnå... (What happened to the -aunnå that we just figure out?)..........
    Beginning to see my difficulties?

    But I actually have a solution! All the teach-yourself-Nepali books and materials I've seen, simply list the numbers from 1-100 in a long list. Sometimes broken into 10 small lists. But it still doesn't make sense. Instead, try arranging the numbers in a grid. I can't explain it, but you can start to see some sense in the words for the Nepali numbers! At least I could! Finally!

    Here they are, the smart way to learn Nepali numbers:

    0
    shunya
    10
    dos
    20
    bis
    30
    tis
    40
    chalis
    50
    pachas
    60
    sathi
    70
    såttri
    80
    åsi
    90
    nåbbe
    1
    ek
    11
    eghara
    21
    ekkais
    31
    ektis
    41
    ektalis
    51
    ekaunnå
    61
    eksåtthi
    71
    ekhåttår
    81
    ekasi
    91
    ekannåbbe
    2
    dui
    12
    bhara
    22
    bais
    32
    båttis
    42
    båyalis
    52
    baunnå
    62
    båyåsåtthi
    72
    båhåttår
    82
    båyasi
    92
    båyannåbbe
    3
    teen
    13
    tærdå
    23
    tæis
    33
    tættis
    43
    trichalis
    53
    tripånnå
    63
    trisåtthi
    73
    trihåttår
    83
    triyasi
    93
    triyannåbbe
    4
    char
    14
    chowdha
    24
    chowbis
    34
    chårtis
    44
    chåvalis
    54
    chowbånnå
    64
    chowsåtthi
    74
    chowhåttår
    84
    chowrasi
    94
    chowrannåbbe
    5
    panch
    15
    pandra
    25
    pachis
    35
    pointis
    45
    pointalis
    55
    påchpånnå
    65
    painsåtthi
    75
    panchhåttår
    85
    påchasi
    95
    pånchannåbbe
    6
    chhå
    16
    shordå
    26
    chhåbis
    36
    chhåttis
    46
    chåyalis
    56
    chåpånnå
    66
    chåyåsatthi
    76
    chåyåhåttår
    86
    chåyåsi
    96
    chåyannåbbe
    7
    saath
    17
    såtra
    27
    såttais
    37
    sointis
    47
    satchalis
    57
    såtaunnå
    67
    såtsåtthi
    77
    såthåttår
    87
    såtasi
    97
    såntannåbbe
    8
    aath
    18
    åtharå
    28
    åthais
    38
    åthtis
    48
    åthchalis
    58
    åthaunnå
    68
    åthsåtthi
    78
    åthhåttår
    88
    åthasi
    98
    ånthannåbbe
    9
    nau
    19
    unnais
    29
    unåntis
    39
    unånchalis
    49
    unånchas
    59
    unsåtthi
    69
    unhåttår
    79
    unasi
    89
    unannåbbe
    99
    unansåy

    Vocabulary, Vocabulary, Vocabulary!

    Learning the vocabulary is an essential part of learning Nepali -- and any other language, for that matter. Compared to the other stuff, such as grammar, pronounciation and sentence formation, learning vocabulary is much less complex and much more straight forward. Not easy, though. And althought there are some smart ways to do it, it still requires brute force. But I've realized how inefficient my methods have been so far. Basically what I've done is:
    1. Read word lists -- such as those in a dictionary.
    2. Copied word lists -- by writing down other word lists.
    3. Organized word lists -- into different subjects.
    And of course repeating, repeating, repeating...

    But honestly, it has required L O T S of time and not given me much benefit. I just figured that I wasn't good with words and language. But now I know I was wrong! There is much better ways of learning vocabulary.

    The smart way
    The 'secret' to learning vocabulary is simple: Involve your brain! You need to store the words you are learning in your long-term memory, and you're simply not doing that when you learn words one by one. Instead, just learn 7 words at the time. How I do that is by first finding 7 Nepali words that I want to learn. Usually I read a text in my 'base' language, Danish/English, then think about how I would say that in Nepalese. When there are words I don't know, I look them up in Nepali and write them down. Here, for instance, are the latest 7 Nepali words I've learned that way:
    1. dhatu
    2. nåksa
    3. jånjir
    4. ådål-bådål
    5. bimira
    6. læsilo
    7. ghochnu
    After I've found these 7 words, sometimes I've already forgotten the meaning of some of them. But I try to remember. Now I'm actively using my brain, you see! I go through the little list a few times until I know all of them. The important point is to resist the temptation of writing down the translation of one word, when you remember that one. You have to remember all 7. Then, in one go, I write down the translations:
    1. metal
    2. map
    3. chain
    4. change
    5. rash
    6. sticky
    7. to sting
    Then I stand up, go into another room, take a glass of water or something, and then return and sit down. Do I still remember the words? Well, I cover the first column of Nepali words and try to remember. I have to use my brain again now. If I remember all 7 words, fine, I write them down in Nepali again in a third column. If I don't remember all of them, I try, using my brain, looking them up, until finally I think I remember. Then wait another minute, see if they're still there, and write them down again.

    That method really works for me!

    I learn 7 words every morning, 7 every evening. That's a hundred new words every week! My target is to learn 5000 Nepali words, and with the 1000 I already know, that should take me 10 months. And knowing 5000 words is going to get me pretty far, I think! That's actually a vocabulary equal to some native speakers!

    Still, it requires brute force and many small repetitions. But the method is much more efficient than anything else I've tried!

    Friday, August 5, 2011

    Estimating your Nepali vocabulary

    As I set out to improve my Nepali, I'm curious to know: How many Nepali words do I actually know already? And how many words are there to learn? If you want to know your own vocabulary size -- for any language -- this is what I did and you can do to:

    It's easy to estimate vocabulary, although it's not very exact. I took out my pocket dictionary, ran through 3 pages Nepali-English and 3 pages English-Nepali. I found that I knew 16 words in the Np-Eng part which has 227 pages, and 11 words in the Eng-Np part which has 308 pages.
    • Estimate 1 : (16/3 words pr page) x 227 pages = 1211 words
    • Estimate 2 : (11/3 words pr page) x 308 pages = 1129 words
    That's a pretty consistent estimate of my vocabulary! Let's just say it's somewhere in the range of 1000-1500 words. A good start!

    What's the total size of Nepali vocabulary then? Tough question. Again, reaching for my pocket dictionary and multiplying the number of pages with the entries per page, I quickly find around 10-15.000 words. The Nepalese people speak with a wide range of sophistication levels, where a 'simple' person perhaps has a vocabulary of 5-10.000 words, and a more educated person has a more advanced vocabulary of some 20.000 words. Just guessing here.... If you include all sorts of academic stuff, combinations etc., there might be 100.000 words.

    The interesting thing here is, I can actually get by and talk with people in Nepalese with just a thousand word vocabulary! No where near fluently though. I'm constantly asking people to clarify, rephrase, explain etc.: "Feri bhånnuhos, må bujhdeina"! So really want to improve my Nepali vocabulary and get to know at least 5000 Nepali words. Only 4000 to go then! Thats 10-15 words a day for a year!