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6. Big Countries and Ordinal Numbers

6/15/2013

Learn English: BIG COUNTRIES and ORDINAL NUMBERS

BIG COUNTRIES Male+pauses, without pauses

China has 1 billion 350 million people*
India has 1 billion 250 million people*
The United States has 320 million people*
Indonesia has 250 million people*
Brazil has 200 million people*
Pakistan has 180 million people*
Nigeria has 170 million people*
Bangladesh has 150 million people*
Russia has 140 million people*
Japan has 130 million people*
Mexico has 120 million people*
The Philippines has 90 million people*
Viet Nam has 90 million people*
Ethiopia has 80 million people*
Germany has 80 million people*
Egypt has 80 million people*

Lang1234.com

UN Populations

ORDINAL NUMBERS Male+pauses, without pauses

China is first, in millions of people*
India is second*
The United States is third*
Indonesia is fourth*
Brazil is fifth*
Pakistan is sixth*
Nigeria is seventh*
Bangladesh is eighth*
Russia is ninth*
Japan is tenth*
Mexico is eleventh*
twelfth*
thirteenth*
fourteenth*
twentieth*
twenty-first*
twenty-second*
twenty-third*
twenty-fourth*
thirthieth*
thirty-first*
thirty-second*
thirty-third*
thirty-fourth*
one hundredth*
one hundred first*
one hundred eleventh*
one hundred thirty-first*
one thousandth*
one thousand first*
two thousand eleventh*
55 millionth*

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7. Comparisons

6/10/2013

2 Comments

Male+pauses, or without pauses

Learn English: Minus, Zero, Or, Not, About, Smaller, Bigger, Percent, Most, Majority, Divided, Multiplied

Lesson 2 has the simplest comparisons. This lesson has more.

6 minus 2 is 4, minus***, 6 minus 2 is 4*
4 minus 1 is 3*
11 minus 1 is 10*

10 minus 10 is zero, zero***, 10 minus 10 is zero*
6 minus 6 is zero*
zero and 2 are 2*

4 is 2 and 2 or 1 and 3, or***, 4 is 2 and 2 or 1 and 3*
3 is 1 and 2 or 2 and 1*
4 is 1 and 3 or 6 minus 2*

2 and 2 are not 5, not***, 2 and 2 are not 5*
1 and 3 are not 6*

9 is about 10, about***, 9 is about 10*
21 is about 20*
76 is about 80*
84 is about 80*

Russia is near Turkey, near***, Russia is near Turkey*
Japan is near Korea*
Indonesia is near Australia*

1 is smaller than 2, smaller than***, 1 is smaller than 2*
2 is smaller than 6*
Zero is smaller than 1*
France is smaller than China*

10 is bigger than 3, bigger than***, 10 is bigger than 3*
2 is bigger than 1*
2 is not bigger than 10*
Russia is bigger than Mexico*

1 is 1% of 100, percent***, 1 is 1% of 100*
50 is 50% of 100*
10 is 50% of 20*

10 is half of 20*
3 is half of 6*
50 is half of 100*
Most is bigger than half, most***
A majority is bigger than half, a majority***
51 is most of 100*
51 is a majority of 100*
30 is most of 40*
30 is a majority of 40*

12 divided by 6 is 2, divided by***, 12 divided by 6 is 2*
6 divided by 2 is 3*

2 multiplied by 4 is 8, multiplied by***, 2 multiplied by 4 is 8*
5 multiplied by 10 is 50*

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8. Geography and Colors

6/5/2013

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Learn English: Oceans, Seas, Rivers, Mountains, Male+pauses, or without pauses

The Indian Ocean is between Africa and Australia*
The Atlantic Ocean is between America and Africa*
The Pacific Ocean is between Asia and America*
The Arctic Ocean is north of America, Asia and Europe*
The Antarctic Ocean is south of America and Africa*
Antarctica is in the Antarctic Ocean*

The Mediterranean Sea is between Algeria and France*
The Caribbean Sea is between Venezuela and Cuba*
The Red Sea is between Egypt and Saudi Arabia*
The Baltic Sea is between Denmark and Finland*
The Black Sea is between Turkey and Russia*

The Rhine River is between France and Germany*
The Danube River is between Romania and Bulgaria*
The Mekong River is between Thailand and Laos*
The Nile is a river in Africa*
The Amazon is a river in Brazil and Peru*
The Yangtze is a river in China*
The Mississippi is a river in the United States*

The Andes Mountains are between Chile and Argentina*
The Himalayan Mountains are between China and India*
The Ural Mountains are between Europe and Asia*
The Alps Mountains are between Germany and Italy*

The Sahara Desert is between Algeria and Sudan*
The Gobi Desert is between China and Mongolia*
The Arabian Desert is in Saudi Arabia*

Britain is the United Kingdom*
Burma is Myanmar*
Holland is the Netherlands*
Iran was Persia*
Thailand was Siam*
Sri Lanka was Ceylon*

Thailand has 70 million people*
Most people in Thailand are Buddhist*
Most people in Saudi Arabia are Sunni Moslems*
Most people in Iran are Shia Moslems*
Most people in Israel are Jewish*
Most people in India are Hindu*
Most people in Mexico are Catholic Christians*
Most people in Sweden are Protestant Christians*
Most people in Greece are Orthodox Christians*
Most people in China are atheist*

Oceans and rivers are blue █*
Antarctica and the Himalayan Mountains are white [ ]*
The Sahara and Arabian deserts are yellow █*
Night is black █*
Most of Brazil, Congo and Finland is green █*
At 6 o'clock the sun is red █*
The spectrum is blue, green, yellow, orange, red*
Green is a mix of blue and yellow*
Orange is a mix of yellow and red*

These recordings from Lang1234.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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9. Metric

5/15/2013

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Learn English:
METRIC SYSTEM
►Male+pauses, or ►without pauses

1000 meters are 1 kilometer*
10 decimeters are 1 meter*
100 centimeters are 1 meter*
1000 millimeters are 1 meter*
1 million micrometers are 1 meter*
1 micron is 1 micrometer*
1 million microns are 1 meter*
1 billion nanometers are 1 meter*
10 billion angstroms are 1 meter*
1 trillion picometers are 1 meter*

1000 tonnes are 1 megatonne*
1000 kilograms are 1 tonne*
1 kilo is 1 kilogram*
1000 kilos are 1 tonne*
1000 grams are 1 kilo*
1000 milligrams are 1 gram*
1 million micrograms are 1 gram*
1 billion nanograms are 1 gram*
1 trillion picograms are 1 gram*

10 deciliters are 1 liter*
100 centiliters are 1 liter*
1000 milliliters are 1 liter*
1 cubic centimeter is 1 milliliter*
1000 cubic centimeters are 1 liter*
1 million microliters are 1 liter
1 cubic millimeter is 1 microliter

1 billion watts are 1 gigawatt*
1 million watts are 1 megawatt*
1000 watts are 1 kilowatt*
1000 milliwatts are 1 watt*

1000 volts are 1 kilovolt*
1000 millivolts are 1 volt*

100 hectares are 1 square kilometer*
10,000 square meters are 1 hectare*

These recordings from Lang1234.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

TIME UNITS (also in the Time lesson)
►Male+pauses, or ►without pauses

/2013 is 1 year* year***
/2015 is 1 year*
/12 months are 1 year*
4 weeks are 1 month* week***
/7 days are 1 week* days***
24 hours are 1 day* hours***
/60 minutes are 1 hour*
60 seconds are 1 minute* seconds***
1000 milliseconds are 1 second, milliseconds***
1000 microseconds are 1 millisecond microsecond***
1000 nanoseconds are 1 microsecond* nanoseconds***
1 billion nanoseconds are 1 second*
60 seconds are 1 minute*
60 minutes are 1 hour*
24 hours are 1 day*
7 days are 1 week*
2 weeks are 1 fortnight* fortnight***
4 weeks are 1 month*
12 months are 1 year*
10 years are one decade* decade***
100 years are one century* century***
1000 years are one millennium* millennium***

In 1 day the sun goes around the earth, sun*** goes around*** earth***
In 1 month the moon goes around the earth, moon***
In 1 year the earth goes around the sun*

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Retail Sales: Tourists, Travelers

4/25/2013

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People who want to sell to tourists and business travelers start here. Click for the meaning in English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, Swahili, French, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, and Russian. You can translate more with the Translate button at the upper right.

I recommend learning NUMBERS first. They are easy and will help you start.

NUMBERS ►Female voice+pauses, or ►Song
SALES ►Male+pauses

☺ Smile! Many travelers like to see a smile.

Direct URL: R.Lang1234.com

Use translate button above to Translate this column into your language.

❶
Hello.
Goodbye.
Please.
Yes.
No
Maybe.
❷
Sorry.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Speak slowly.
I do not know.
I do not understand.
❸
Dollars.
Euros.
Yuan.
Pesos.
Pounds.
Yen.
Cents.
❹
Come in.
Thank you for coming in.
May I help you?
What would you like?
People like this.
We made this.
This was made in .
The price is 3 pesos.
The price is firm.
These cost less.
❺
I can ship by Fedex.
I can ship by sea.
I take credit cards.
Sorry, I do not take credit cards.
Sorry, I do not take that credit card.
I will have more at 10 o'clock.
Thank you for your business.
We hope to see you again.

Lang1234.com

CONTACTS, DRIVING
Male+pauses, or without pauses

Also learn Time, and the Alphabet, to say when needed.

➀
My phone number is...
My email is...
My website is...
It has a Google translate button.
➁ (DRIVERS)
Where do you want to go?
When do you want to start?
➂
I can take you, wait for you, and bring you back.
The prettiest place is...
➃ (DRIVING DIRECTIONS)
Turn left at the corner.
Then go straight 2 blocks.
Then turn right.
Then go 50 meters.
It will be on the left.

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Hotels

4/20/2013

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Workers and Guests Have Different Language Needs in a Hotel:

1. Some Workers Say Little to Guests: housekeepers, gardeners, maintenance, shuttle drivers.

These need a few words to be polite and answer simple questions from guests, "Where is...," "When is..." They need Numbers, Time, Hotel Lesson 1, and oral practice or songs.

2. Guests who stay in a hotel which does not know the guest's language: for example Brazilians in Russia, India or China

These need Hotel Guest Lesson and Hotel Lesson 1 to arrive, enjoy themselves, and leave. They need Numbers and Time to understand answers to their questions. Then they need oral practice or songs. Guests can book reservations in their own language, since they can use translated email, a website, or an agency. They have guidebooks in their own languages explaining specialized terms like suite or king size.

3. Some Workers Have Detailed Conversations with guests: front desk, telephone, concierge.

These need to understand a range of sentences on checking in, money, rooms, complaints, and getting around the area. They would benefit from all the lessons here. They especially need Numbers, Time, Alphabet (for spelling names), Telephone, Hotel 1 and Hotel 2. "[M]ost of the utterances are short, direct and purpose-driven. They rarely consist of more than one clause, and ... are mostly based on or influenced by what guests say. Such responses are, for the most part, strictly functional." ("Hospitality language as a professional skill" 2003p.80) Then they need oral practice or songs.
The front desk and concierge also need a translator App on a tablet (Apple, Android or Windows). They will use it when a guest goes beyond the worker's language abilities. The App needs to display alternate keyboards to let the guest type in the guest's own language and alphabet, which the App will translate to the hotel worker, and it will translate the worker's answers. Voice translation is a good feature, but typing will also be needed when the App misunderstands a voice.

4. Restaurant Waiters Click for Restaurant Lesson

Waiters need to understand special requests and common questions, which are taught here. Waiters also need to speak and understand the entire menu, which varies and cannot be taught here. The restaurant can translate the menu with Google or Bing into common languages of the guests, and the guests will feel more welcome. Waiters also need oral practice or songs.

5. Foreign managers who supervise local workers

These need intermediate skills in the local language. They can use the best courses in the List of Language Courses and oral practice or songs.

Groups 1-4 need to speak in very simple words, because many people they talk to have limited English vocabulary (think of desk clerks in Russia or China talking in English to guests from Indonesia or Arabia).
.
Click for comparison of 35 courses in hotel English. Most cover a difficult mixture of the topics above. So it is hard for each group to learn what they need. Websites and books often start with making a reservation or booking by phone. Booking by phone is very hard and rarely needed: people can use translation sites on the internet.

Hotels and Travelers: Top 16 Countries

Travelers come from everywhere and go everywhere. They need people who speak their language.

FOREIGN TRIPS (Overnight, most recent year available in 2008-2012)

876,000,000   World Total, by Origin of Traveler:
  85,000,000 Hong Kong, China
83,000,000      China
72,000,000      Germany
58,000,000      United States
57,000,000      Britain
44,000,000      Russia
32,000,000      Canada
29,000,000      Italy
26,000,000      France
21,000,000      Ukraine
19,000,000      Netherlands
19,000,000      Saudi Arabia
18,000,000      Japan (all trips; most are overnight)
16,000,000      Mexico
16,000,000      Sweden
15,000,000      India

There are 876 million overnight tourist trips per year (UNWTO Factbook, Outbound table 3.2). Numbers include trips between Hong Kong and the rest of China.

Most of these travelers use hotels and need help in their own languages.

ROOMS IN HOTELS  (2011-2012)

Rooms Average Rooms Per Hotel
21,170,000 41     World Total
4,900,000        93 United States
1,500,000      132     China
1,370,000        27 Japan
1,100,000        32 Italy
950,000        27 Germany
900,000        47 Spain
660,000        37 Mexico
650,000        17 Britain
620,000        36 France
530,000 NA   Thailand
410,000        25 Indonesia
400,000        41 Greece
400,000        40 Brazil
330,000      117 Turkey
290,000        22 Austria
260,000        33 Russia

There are 21 million rooms (UNWTO Factbook, Accommodation tables 4.13-4.14). Numbers include motels, guest houses, vacation rentals and hostels.

Many hotels are small (average 41 rooms), so they need the simplest possible training for their workers.