Random: Torrential rains in Manila and Social Media It's excruciating to watch news on TV lately. Manila has been reduced to a big lake--universities inundated and main highways have become river streams. It's like 2009 all over again, only worse. People say Filipinos are quite resilient. I guess it's true to a certain extent. I have friends who live in Manila and it's interesting to hear from them how they manage to lift their valuables to the second and third floors of their houses because the flood is almost waist-high. They used airbed as makeshift rafts just to wade through the flood. Others used empty plastic bottles and tied those to their pets (cue in: awwww). Hey, only few people have speedboats, which by the way is strange to see. Yes, there are those who used jetski and speedboats. It's very counterintuitive to see pictures of those on Facebook. For sure, I cannot remember from my childhood such similar experience, but what is really interesting about the experience is how people mobilize relief operations through social media. Facebook and Twitter really matter a great deal. Consider this: in the midst of a total chaotic situation--non-stop torrential rains and increasing water levels, how do you expect people to consolidate names and addresses of people to rescue or organizations that hold relief operations? Google documents! Cloud computing is really beneficial because it can easily be edited and updated by anyone. The premise, however, is that one needs to have an internet connection. Granted, The Philippines does not really have a very good network infrastructure comparable to that of South Korea or Japan; however, I think one can easily edit such document or access the mobile version of most sites just by 3G. The bottomline is disaster management operations are eased by technology. It's just amazing to see how all these things happen in such a short time.

Je me présente Salut. Je m'appelle Joanna. J'ai 23 ans et j'habite a manille aux Philippines. Je veux apprendre le français parce que je veux travailler pour les Nation Unies à l'avenir et aussi, je veux etre le travail guide aux Philippines.

Some help with my French. Hi. I'm looking for a very patient person who can teach me French. Just basic expressions and conversation, grammar--something appropriate for beginners. Hopefully, an hour everyday. In exchange, I can offer English conversations on technical topics. I do specialize in Business English and politics, business or economics-related topics. I am in dire need of help.

The pains of learning a new language It's certainly frustrating. I've always thought I have a flair with languages--a penchant for it, at least everyone around me said so. I've spoken English for as long as I can remember, although every now and then I find myself totally flabbergasted when I find myself at a loss for words. Specifically, it's hard to talk about my country's unique customs to people from other countries. This must be those things categorized under 'lost in translation'. It's hard to find an English counterpart for customs that exist only in my country. This is a humbling experience though. It makes me think that learning is a lifetime's work. I started learning French in 2008, and until now, I haven't got past the introduction stage. I stopped for a year so my pronunciation's really bad. Although I find French easier to learn than, say, Japanese and Vietnamese. Japanese pronunciation is quite easy, but the writing and reading parts are unbelievably difficult. I still haven't memorized Hiragana and Katakana, so I am still sticking to the Romaji. Vietnamese is a little difficult to pronounce since like Chinese, it is very tonal. It takes time to get used to the different intonation. Anyway, consistency is important. As long as I continue to do this everyday, I'll improve. And yes, the pain will be worth it.

Hi there!

I speak English quite well, and would love to learn with you guys conversing in a host of languages, but mainly,  French and Japanese. I might go backpacking for 15 days in Vietnam so simple expressions would be of help. 

Anyway, I'm fascinated by other languages equally so I hope we both can learn from each other.

 

Hello, Hallo Hello there. I'm currently a graduate student from the Philippines and I intend to re-learn my French. Studied French for a year, but school got in the way so I was not able to continue it. The point is that my French is very rusty. Hopefully this site can help me. I'm going back to school to take French again, and I figured it will be more effective if I have a speaking partner. I also want to learn Thai or Bahasa (Indonesia) for graduate school work. My research interest happens to be Southeast Asian culture, politics and economies. I would like to believe I speak English quite well, but my writing skill is relatively behind compared to my speaking skill, so please feel free to correct any error you'll find. (I do research by the way. T_T) My reading comprehension's excellent probably because of my love of books. Of course I speak Filipino fluently having lived here since 1989. I hope I can write my introduction in French, but I have to figure out how to change my keyboard settings for the accent. :D