Languages that use the Latin alphabet and have similar vocabulary are a good place to start. Languages that have most in common with English include other Germanic languages such as Dutch, German and Norwegian, and Romance languages such as French, Spanish and Italian. Japanese is considered one of the hardest languages to learn. Here are some examples of some of the languages that are easier to learn if your mother tongue is English.

Frisian

I begin by mentioning Frisian because it is often regarded as the language most similar to English. Frisian is spoken in a small area of the Netherlands. However, modern English and Frisian are mostly unintelligible to each other. After at least five hundred years of being subject to the influence of Dutch, modern Frisian bears a greater similarity to Dutch than to English.

Norwegian

I fell upon an interesting website called Page F30 which provides interesting information explaining why Norwegian is the easiest language to learn as a native-English speaker. For one, Norwegian is a Germanic language, however unlike other Germanic languages, Norwegian has much easier grammar. Norwegian word order is also different than other Germanic languages, and actually much closer to English. Moreover, Scandinavian verbs have some of the easiest conjugation you can find in Europe. Past tense is generally formed by putting a -te on the end of the stem, like the -(e)d in English (walk, walked). Norwegian plurals are also easy. Add an -r to the end if it ends in a vowel, add an -er if it ends in a consonant. For example, problem becomes problemer.

Spanish

English speakers often consider Spanish to be very easy to learn, even though Spanish is not the closest relative of English. Spanish is third most spoken language in the world and considered one of the easiest to learn as there is an abundance of learning materials available and accessible to the population. Though German vocabulary may be easy to grasp, Spanish grammar is highly regular and logical and the simple, pronunciation is very similar overall, the grammar is not too difficult and there is lots of familiar vocabulary. Moreover, once you learn Spanish, picking up French or Italian is simple.

French

French is still a very popular language to learn among native English speakers. Many find it to be similar in syntax and in vocabulary. The grammar is quite complicated however. But with all the material available, like Spanish it is a very accessible language to learn.

Afrikaans

Afrikaans used to be Dutch, but changed into a language of its own after a lot of isolation and other influences. Afrikaans is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia. There many words that are very similar to English. Often cited as the “best” of the easy to learn languages for English speakers, Afrikaans has nearly 7 million speakers living in five countries in Southern Africa.

Post from: ill Communicating

Easiest Languages To Learn If You’re English

Knowing this, if you develop a keen understanding of body language and what messages you want to send and which ones you are receiving, you can save yourself a lot of time and money on first dates.  All the witty jokes or amusing anecdotes in the world won’t make a lick of difference if you don’t pay attention to his or her facial expressions, posture, movements, even the way they breathe.  The following are some body signs that your date is either going well, or into the crapper.

The eyes

Nothing sparks the fire like establishing and maintaining eye contact.  In fact, unless your 1st date was the result of an online encounter, making eye contact is probably what got you there in the first place.  Your eyes met from across the room, and you both managed to overcome great fear by holding the gaze for just a few seconds longer.  So now you’re sitting across from each other, and the eyes are still playing a major role in your 1st date success.  You want to maintain eye contact for as long as possible.  But be careful, staring for too long will make you seem creepy, like you’re trying to cast some sort of spell on them.

A bad sign would be if your date’s eyeballs are wandering all over the place, checking out everything from the guy at table 9 to the light fixtures on the ceiling.  A wandering eye means a wandering mind, in which case they are not paying attention to you and you should wander out the door, or start telling better stories!

The mouth

This one is pretty obvious.  But if your date is smiling, it’s usually a good sign, unless of course they are imagining your hair on fire and it’s making them laugh.  But a warm smile during the conversation is welcoming, relaxing, and gives confidence to the receiver.  There have been studies demonstrating that head-tilting means “come closer,” but a head tilt and a smile is the ultimate device to lure somone in.

The hair

A woman playing with her hair is a great sign that she’s interested.  Hair twirling is a combination of slight nervousness and friendly flirting.  A guy twirling his hair is a good indication that he needs a haircut.

The body

First of all you want to make sure there are as few obstacle between you as possible.  This doesn’t mean you should hurl the dinner table aside, but any table candles or plants should be moved aside to facilitate eye-contact.  If you are both sitting at a bar, make sure to sit facing each other as opposed to facing the bar, or facing the crowd.  Uncross those arms, and just like your parents told you growing up, sit up straight, shoulders back.  Don’t be stiff as a board, but proper posture not only displays confidence, but it opens you body to your date.  A sloucher is someone who is closed off, uninterested, and slouching is a sign of a tense person, with tension pulling their body inwards.  True relaxation looks like a human sitting upright.  Also, leaning in demonstrates interest in you and what you’re saying.  It also helps prevent the wandering eye syndrome discussed earlier.

The hands

Aside from playing with their car keys, any type of fidgeting is a good sign.  A guy playing with his clothes, fixing his shirt, is demonstrating that he is attracted to you and wants to look good.  A girl playing with her jewelry, constantly adjusting her top, fiddling with the straw in her drink or the fork on the table, is a sign that she’s excited.

Now, the ultimate body language manoever that will either make or break your first date, is physical contact.  If you are sitting close to each other you will know whether or not physical contact is even welcome by the other person’s breathing.  If they are breathing heavier that usual, then you know they would love to touch or be touched by you.  If they are calm as cucumbers, they couldn’t care less, and physical contact is probably the last thing on their minds.

You also don’t want to go too far and blow the date.  It is perfectly acceptable for a woman to put her hand on a man’s knee or upper leg, and if she leaves it there, it is perfectly acceptable for the man to place his hand on hers.  A man should never start with the leg, and should try to keep his first contact from the hands up. But if both your knees are touching and she’s already broken the hand-knee barrier, you can take that chance and softly put your hand on her thigh, just above the knee.  Try it out, if she slaps you, then you’ve been reading her body language wrong all night, and better luck next time.

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Dating Body Language & Non Verbal Communication Skills

(image source)

Apps

With everything from a blood alcohol content calculator to a Jedi’s lightsaber, Apple blows the doors off the Android in terms of the number of applications available (over 215,000 vs 70,000, but let’s not forget the 2 year head start!).  However, they are only available through the iPhone or the iPad.  Android apps can not only be run from a wide variety of smartphones, but you will also be able to access the OS from your HDTV, your car, your desktop or office phone, your microwave oven and even your waching machine! (source)

(image source)

Keyboard

Since Google’s Android is available on several different phones, both touch screen and keypad options are available.  iPhone only offers the touch screen for typing.  This is one is pretty much a matter of preference, I enjoy the tactile response from an actual keypad and I find it very frustrating trying to text quickly with an iPhone (maybe I just have clumsy thumbs), but many of my friends enjoy the touch screen.  Still, with Android it’s nice to have the option.

Media Players

This is one department where Apple stands out.  In terms of audio the iPhone can support all the usual formats, as well as the unique formats like WAV and Audible audiobooks.  You cannot load formats like uncompressed WAV with your Android.  The iPhone is amazing at video playback, supporting formats like H.264 and MPEG-4.  You can convert many of your songs and movies by dragging them into iTunes.  Unfortunately the Android does not let you play MPEG-4s, and is not a fantastic video player.  However!  Apple simply refuses to support Flash, whereas Google has fully embraced it, giving users access to all websites, without the ERROR message from Flash sites. In terms of photos, with Apple there is a way to store document files in your iPhone “Photos” folder so you can access those pictures of you and your buddies at singles resorts and remember the good times.

(image source)

Network

AT&T’s lousy service has been a major cause for people to switch over from the iPhone to Google’s Android-powered phones on the Verizon network.  And while Verizon network may not be as fast as AT&T, their reliability is making them a popular favourite.

If you want a more technical breakdown of the differences between Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android, you should check out the great comparison chart available at mashable.com.

Now get out there and choose wisely!

Post from: ill Communicating

Androids vs. iPhones

Most Common Mistakes:

No subject line

You’re busy, the person you are emailing is busy. The subject line is important as it gives a quick overview as to what you will be addressing in your email. If you omit a subject line, chances are much higher that people will skip over your email as there is nothing indicating that you have anything crucial to say.

Non-descript subject line

Though some people may include a subject line, it may be irrelevant to the content of the email. Avoid writing things like “Hello :)” and be as clear and concise as possible as to the reason for your email.

Spelling and grammar mistakes

No matter how short or how long your email is, proof-read before sending anything off. Improper spelling, grammar and punctuation can be confusing and are sure to leave a bad impression.

Sending e-mail to the wrong person

Always double-check the recipient that you are sending the message to is the intended one. Today’s email programs make sending emails very easy. So easy in fact that that when you start typing the address of your intended recipient, the field will fill out the name for you, but it could be the wrong Tom or Jane so be careful.

Forwarding a message without permission

Whether it’s laziness or just plain carelessness, forwarding a message without the original sender’s consent could be infringing copyright laws. Make sure to ask the person’s permission to forward it and indicate who you will be forwarding to.

Tips For Proper Business E-Mail Etiquette:

Personalize your message to the recipient

Begin your email with a proper greeting (i.e. “Dear” , “Hello”, “Hi” Mr, Mrs. so-and-so). It is polite and helps personalize the email so that the recipient feels you are writing to them directly and not just sending off some generic message.

Reply to your emails

Grant people the same courtesy you expect when you send off an email by replying. There is nothing more annoying than having to wait around for someone to get back to you so the more prompt you are in your response the more prompt others will be to respond to you.

Make sure to address all questions

When you receive an email, make sure you read it carefully and address all the questions the sender has asked you. You can address each issue in point form to make it easy and clear to read.

Have a signature

In order to facilitate people’s ability to easily contact you, have a signature that includes your full name, your position, the company you work for, as well as phone numbers and email addresses where you can be reached. You can set your signature to appear automatically by using Microsoft Outlook. Open Outlook and go into Tools, then Options. Next go into Mail Format and then Signatures. From there just fill in the information and you have yourself a signature.

Have an e-mail confidentiality footer

Because e-mails act as a form of company records, it is important to make them official and protect yourself as well as the company if any legal matters are ever to come up. You can use this link in order to choose the confidentiality footer that best suits your needs.

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Common E-Mail Mistakes And How To Avoid Them In A Business Setting

Steps to creating a blog

1) Find a subject that inspires you and that you would be able to write about on a frequent basis.

Whether you love technology, food, music, or travel find an angle that sets you apart from the rest so that you are providing a unique perspective that will be of value/interest to others. Let’s say you’re a big fan of Justin Timberlake, you could talk about his music and videos but also provide information fans may not be aware of such as his new clothing line: William Rast.

2) Find a blogging provider.

The most popular ones are Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal and Xanga and best of all they are all free. All of these sites will provide you various pre-made templates that you can tailor and customize to your liking. For more unique templates you can easily google “blog layouts and backgrounds” and find just what you’re looking for.

3) Find a domain name.

Now that you have a theme and subject think of domain names so that people can find you. Though there are no specific rules to choosing a name, and you are free to be as creative and abstract as you like, there are more effective approaches to ensuring people find your blog. If your blog has to do with “car auction” deals, the site will probably drive more traffic if the domain name includes the words “car auction” rather than “wheels deals”.

4) Decide whether you want to make your blog public or private.

If it’s public that means anyone on the net has access to your blog. If you are looking to build a readership, and potentially making some additional income off your blog targeting certain keywords with Adsesnse, than I would definitely recommend you go public. If you wish to keep your blog private so that only family and friends can see it, be sure to choose that setting.

5) Once you have you have all your settings adjusted and the layout you desire it’s time to start posting!

I would suggest you write at least five posts beforehand so that you have a bank of ideas to work with. You can leave them in your drafts and make a schedule of how frequently you are going to post. For you first post, I would suggest introducing yourself and explaining why you’ve started the blog. Especially if your blog is going to be public, I would try and keep it updated as frequently as possible, letting your readers know how often you will be posting new information. You can make it as personal as you want, this is your blog, your opinion, your medium of expression.

6) Make sure you’ve done a proper spellcheck beforehand.

Typos and gaffes will quickly be criticized so I suggest you write your post in Word, do a spellcheck, transfer the document into Notepad and then into your blog. Notepad will eliminate any weird coding that might give you trouble.

7) Drive traffic to your blog, by visiting other blogs and “following” them.

Be an active blogger and don’t be shy to leave comments on other people’s blogs. You can even provide a link to your blog so they can visit you.

Post from: ill Communicating

How To Start Your Own Blog

Technology is doubling every 18 months, and now is the time to capture the moment with your own time capsule keepsakes. The world in which most of us were born will not be the same world in few short years, thus making a time capsule a rich lesson from history of good times gone by. To make your time capsule content ready, you need not spend any extra money, just round up the special gadgets and gizmos that rock your world.

The first order of business is to secure a sturdy box with a locking lid that keeps the contents dry. A cedar chest, weatherproof suitcase or sheet metal container work best to preserve and protect your priceless memories and your gold rings from dust, moisture and insects. You may wish to clear a space in the garage or find a niche within the household. Just be sure that you label your time capsule with the date and refrain from opening the box to keep paper products and sensitive materials in tact.

The contents of your time capsule should reflect the daily electronic gadgets that we often take for granted that they will be around for generations. Items such as a blow dryer, compact disc player, and a TV remote control will have gone the way of the dinosaurs in fifty to one hundred years, so be sure to add a text or comment card to each item describing its utility, cost and anything unique or interesting about each item.

Another colorful addition to your time capsule are materials that reflect the culture of the day. This might include toys, video games or an image of Tony the Tiger on an empty cereal box. It could even be tickets to one of the memorable concerts in Toronto you attended years ago. Nostalgia never goes out of style, and major companies that have been around for a hundred years will probably carry on two fold more. Try to collect your favorite name brand products to provide an adventure for your grandchildren to see what Olympic champions graced the box of Wheaties when you were young. And if your grandchildren should ask, “What’s a Pop Tart”?, you can whip one out of your capsule and explain.

Contemporary fashions are also an excellent choice to compare one time period with another. In addition to the garments, add a few photos of yourself wearing the clothes with your trendy haircut and all the accessories. The idea of the time capsule is to bring as much of your culture into the future as possible, so that you may remember with pleasure just how good these times really were.

Post from: ill Communicating

How to Create a Good Time Capsule

The most obvious benefit of cloud computing is the ability to access one’s data from anywhere. This allows employees to not only contribute while on business trips or off-site meetings, it ensures that employees who are telecommuting or working from home can be every bit as productive at home as they are at work. In fact, recent studies show that persons who telecommute on a regular basis are much more productive than those who always work in an office, especially in the tech field.

Cloud hosting also offers advantages in terms of security. Because the software and resources are distributed widely across the cloud, each individual component is much less likely to be interrupted by a virus or an outage. The core of the cloud can also be very heavily secured, ensuring that if any one computer becomes compromised, it can be cut off from the cloud in order to prevent the spread of malicious software. Additionally, if any one computer happens to be stolen, as is frequent with laptops, it is possible to easily cut off the computer from the cloud with no loss to any potentially sensitive data.

There are also advantages when it comes to upgrades. Using the cloud computing mode of distribution means that most of a company’s computers can be nothing more than terminals. They need a certain degree of processing power, a large Internet connection and a lot of RAM, but not much else. Most of the heavy lifting can be done elsewhere, and there is little need to upgrade a computer until it becomes so obsolete that it cannot effectively participate in the cloud. Cloud computing is also good for software updates, since the entire cloud can be updated simultaneously, often after everyone has gone home for the day and the servers are sitting idle. Many software companies now offer significant discounts for companies that use cloud computing, since it is not necessary to sell a separate license of the software for each computer in the cloud. Certain types of software are even becoming exclusively distributed through the cloud model, as it inhibits piracy.

Cloud computing is becoming increasingly popular among tech companies because of the many security and physical benefits it provides. Its acceptance among small tech firms is most notable because it gives them the speed and security that they need to compete with larger companies. It also allows them to save money on software registration and prevent unnecessary upgrades. For these reasons, almost every small tech-oriented company in America is switching over to cloud computing.

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The Benefits of Cloud Hosting and Cloud Computing

One of the funniest taxi cab performances came from suave and sophisticated actor, George Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton was flying in and out of airports on a tight schedule and forgot to take his prescription medication from the comfort of the men’s room at the terminal. With no time to spare, the last bastion of medicated relief had to come from the back of the taxi. Reaching into his pocket and reading the prescription instructions, these were no ordinary tablets to be taken my mouth. No, they were suppositories and the clock was ticking to get the dose administered right away. He knelt down on the taxi’s backseat floor, dropped his drawers and launched one according to the instructions. Needless to say, that although the driver was pleased as pie to have Mr. Hamilton in his backseat, there would be no perfunctory handshake at the end of the ride.

Most taxi drivers are intuitive with their passengers and can give great conversation and advise. They also seem to be able to distinguish who is a mild mannered kook and who could pose a real threat. So for the most part, if you don’t have a psych ward I.D. bracelet attached to your wrist, its OK to believe you are Superman or the ghost of Elvis. You will generally get a ride as long as you are an action figure with money.

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Funny Taxi Cab Confessions

Randomainer

http://www.randomainer.com/

After navigating to randomainer.com, you are presented with a familiar looking layout resembling that of a search-engine query page. Simply enter a word you would like to check and then click “search domains”. Randomainer will check your query to see if its exact match has already been taken. It further presents several dozen alternatives that may be of interest. Most of these results seem to be just random words appended to the user’s query without any apparent direction. Randomainer also offers a Google-style “I feel lucky” button, allowing a user to have Randomainer choose a random word to process rather than have the user put any effort into it.

Name Combo

http://www.namecombo.com/

Name Combo is a bit more advanced than Randomainer, allowing you to choose up to three terms for combining into a domain name. Name Combo gives you several drop-down options to choose from as well as allowing you to enter your own choices. In addition to generating random domains for you, it also checks registrars like Dotster and GoDaddy for availability. After checking availability it presents you with a separate web page from you may directly order domains. Name Combo’s interface may not be all that obvious to beginners, and perhaps is more suitable for advanced users.

DomaiNIC

http://www.sharewareconnection.com/download-domainic-from-sharecon.html

Unlike the previous two domain name generators, DomaiNIC is a downloadable shareware program for the Windows operating system. DomaiNIC is fast, allowing you to check multiple domain names at the same time. It provides both basic and advanced domain name information, much like you would receive from a WHOIS query. This tool lets you check keywords for availability and then quickly swap out one keyword for another. It also provides an “autofill” feature, which saves you typing time. You can save your queries and query results for future review. DomaiNIC currently sells online for $9.99 USD.

A variety of domain tools exist. Choosing one depends mostly on what you’re trying to accomplish. If you just want to get your creative juices flowing, a free online tool may be just the ticket. If you plan on managing multiple queries, such as for domain name investment, you will want to go with a tool that let’s you save and manage your queries.

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A Domain Name Generator Evaluation

Fortunately, you can now seek your revenge. While there’s nothing you can do about your mom having tossed all of your Atari 2600 cartridges out after you graduated from high school, there is still hope. You can relive all of your “back in the day” memories by simply turning your computer into the ultimate old school gaming console. Even the most modest of home PCs these days can easily play any game that took a high-end arcade system and a sack full of quarters to play back in the days when the football jocks were stealing your lunch money and stuffing you into garbage cans.

The three most popular ways to transform your PC into an old school gaming console are as follows:

1. Buy ported game collections. Many old-school game companies like Namco and Activision have released their vintage titles in collections available for PCs. Activision’s Anthology lets you play old favorites like Barnstorming, Chopper Command, more with just a Pentium II computer. Namco’s Museum lets you play countless Namco favorites, including Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, and Pole Position II.

2. Install an emulator. While not as easy to install as a game collection, hundreds of games from a myriad of old-school platforms can be played through use of an emulator. Emulators basically mimic the original console hardware on your PC. Emulators like MAME and FBA allow you to run more games than can be found in a ported game collection.  A multiviewer will help to see many screens at once.

3. Online services. A third option for running console games on your PC is to check out a website that provides online games over the Internet. Services like gametap.com provide hundreds of games ranging from the Atari 2600 to the Sega Saturn on a monthly subscription basis through a small plug-in that installs in your web browser.

Compared to today’s titles, playing old school games on our PC is ridiculously cheap. Most old school games can even be played without a keyboard, thus saving you the expense of buying a controller. So what are you waiting for? Mario still needs your help saving the Princess!

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Creating Video Game Consoles for Classic Video Games