x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk

Hello! Greetings from the Burmese corner! I"m Kenneth Wong, a Burmese language instructor, author, and translator. This is a podcast series for intermediate and advanced Burmese language learners who want to learn Burmese by listening to natural conversation. Every two weeks or so, a guest speaker and I record and upload an episode on a specific topic. At the end of each episode, you"ll find the keywords and phrases with their meanings. For more on the podcast series, visit the Learn Burmese from

education language learning

All Episodes

39:10

On Pop Song Lyrics

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2024/08/24

In a song about timid lovebirds too shy to confess their feelings for each other, the lyrics says "မျက်လုံးချင်းစကားပြောနေပြီ (Their eyes are speaking to each other)." In the song "ရတနာသူ (Jeweled Lover)," the lyrics compares the girl's bodyparts to precious gemstones, ending with "အသည်းနှလုံးကိုကျောက်စိမ်းနဲ့မွမ်းမံခြယ် (her heart should be adorned with jade)," implying the cold, unfeeling nature of the subject. Now that many young people are fleeing the armed

en-us

29:28

On Superstition

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2024/07/31

In the western culture, people often shrink from number 13. Noone wants to go out on Friday the 13th, and some businesses go so far as to skip the 13th floor's button in their elevators. In Burmese culture, people love number nine. When looking for a new place, many would look for a house address divisible by nine. And if they’re about to go on a sea journey, they summon the nat or deity known as U Shin Gyi, and offer a special meal to him, because he’s believed to rule over the sea, never mind

en-us

35:30

On Chin People and Their Customs

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2024/07/13

For the most part, people associate Burma, or Myanmar, with pagodas and Buddhist monks, but in reality, the country is much more diverse. Its multi-faith population comprises Christians, Hindus, and Muslim communities in addition to the majority Buddhist Burmans. The population's ethnic makeup also includes Shan, Karen, Kachin, Kayah, Mon, and Chin peoples, among others. In this episode, special guest LungLunng Kutza, a Christian Chin based in Thailand, discusses the Matupi Chin group's

en-us

9:25

Bite-Size Burmese: Why is the Garuda Cooking Salt?

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2024/05/31

What do you do when you’re in a pinch, out of options, and desperate? In English, you might make a Last-Ditch Effort. If you’re a football player, you might throw a Hail Mary Pass. But in Burmese, you might do what the mythical bird Garuda did: cook salt. To understand the Burmese expression အကြံကုန် ဂဠုန်ဆားချက် (when the Garuda runs out of ideas, it cooks salt), you need to know the legend about the Garuda (ဂဠုန်) and its mortal enemy, the serpent Naga (နဂါး). For more on the legend, and on ways

en-us

21:14

On Work-Related Words and Phrases

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2024/05/18

The phrase လက်ဖက်ရည်ဖိုး literally translates to "cost of tea" or "tea money," but in workplaces, especially in government offices known for corruption, it takes on a different meaning. လက်ဖက်ရည်ဖိုးတောင်းတယ် or "to ask for tea money," is "to demand a bribe"; and လက်ဖက်ရည်ဖိုးပေးတယ် or "to offer tea money" is "to offer a bribe." Just like in English, the Burmese phrases for "applying for a job / posting a job vacancy / getting a

en-us

9:36

Bite-Size Burmese: Oh, the Humanity!

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2024/04/06

Humane, inhumane, humanitarian, humanize, humanist, subhuman—there are examples of English words derived from the root word Human . In Burmese, if you want to publicize something, you have to do it so that "men would know and monks would hear (လူသိရှင်ကြား)." If you have lost your influence, you'd become someone who "men don't respect and dogs don't fear" (လူမလေး ခွေးမခန့်). In this episode of Bite-Size Burmese, I introduce you to some colorful Burmese praises,

en-us

25:31

On Airport-Related Words and Phrases

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2024/03/03

To talk about modern-day travel means to talk about air travel primarily. In this episode, my cohost Mol Mol from BLAY (Burmese Language Academy of Yangon) and I teach you all the terms and phrases associated with airport, from custom officers and immigration officers to flight attendants and x-ray machines. We can’t help you avoid excess luggage fees or make your inflight meal taste better, but we’ll give you the words you need to talk about them. Buckle up for a short 30-min flight with us. (Music

en-us

8:24

Bite-Size Burmese: A Word on Words to Describe How...

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2024/01/31

If you can butter up someone into doing something in English, you can also “စကားချိုသွေး” or "sweettalk" someone in Burmese. In English, you might describe someone as “a foul mouth”; in Burmese it takes the verb form: “ပါးစပ်ကြမ်းတယ်” or his or her “mouth is foul." If you need to fish for information, you might “စကားချူ” or “siphon words." Some people might siphon more than words. They'll give you a sob story to "မျက်ရည်ချူ" or "siphon tears." But what

en-us

24:51

On the Word Mingalah for Auspiciousness

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2024/01/17

You have probably heard the Burmese phrase မင်္ဂလာပါ Mingalah bah--typically used by hotel receptions and restaurant staff to greet you. Derived from Pali, the word roughly means to be auspicious, to have good omen, and to have good tidings -- a general word of positivity. But do you know that you can also spawn other compound words with it, like an auspicious new year, a blessed birthday, an auspicious donation ceremony, and so on? Also, if you must count your blessings, what is the classifier

en-us

9:41

Bite-Size Burmese: Show Me Your Face and I'll Tell...

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2023/12/03

In Burmese, the face is a great way to express your helplessness, pride, shame, or outrage--figuratively. When you’re feeling awkward, you might say, your face is burning (မျက်နှာပူတယ်). When you’re feeling insecure, your face is small (မျက်နှာငယ်တယ်). And when you favor someone, you give them face time (မျက်နှာပေးတယ် or မျက်နှာသာပေးတယ်). By the same token, if you get special treatment, people begrudge you for getting face time (မျက်နှာရတယ် or မျက်နှာသာရတယ်). Why say, “Don’t dishonor me” when you

en-us

29:59

On Burmese Folk Tales and Bedtime Stories

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2023/11/05

What is your favorite bedtime story? Cinderella? Snow White? For Burmese kids, most likely it’s a story associated with a proverb, like Maung Po and the Tiger, or one of the jatakas, a retelling of the Buddha’s past lives that brought him to enlightenment. In this episode, I speak to A Zun Mo, the coauthor of Burmese Stories for Language Learners, published by Tuttle. Want to know why people pray for the angle May Khalar when they’re in a pinch? Want to know why the Burmese say, Maung Po and the

en-us

26:28

On Mon Language and Culture

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2023/10/08

The Mons, an ethnic group with its own distinct language and culture, exist in both Burma and Thailand. The Mon script is considered a source of the current Burmese script. The conventional view is Bagan’s conquest of the Mons in 1057 reshaped the character of Bagan, the first Burmese empire, as a Buddhist kingdom. Mon also happens to be the mother tongue of my cohost Mol Mol from BLAY (Burmese Language Academy of Yangon). In this episode, we discuss the link between Mon and Burmese words, Mon

en-us

10:52

Bite-Size Burmese: Gone to Live in the Village of the...

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2023/08/21

Gone to live in the village of the sacred spirits (နတ်ရွာစံတယ်), flown away (ပျံလွန်တော်မူတယ်), has taken up residence in Nirvana (ပရိနိဗ္ဗာန်စံတယ် ) ... They all mean "to die," but depending on the type of person involved, some terms may be appropriate, others may not be. Then there are also monosyllabic terms you might use to describe death disdainfully or sarcastically, the Burmese equivalent of "kick the bucket" or "gone six feet under." If your life depends on it,

en-us

34:02

How is Burmese Different From, and Similar to, English?

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2023/07/10

Is Burmese difficult to learn--in particular, for English speakers? What’s the difference between Burmese and English grammar and sentence structures? And how do Burmese tones affect Burmese learners? How does the Burmese expression ရေးတော့အမှန် ဖတ်တော့ အသံ sum up a hurdle Burmese learners must face? To discuss these, I invited Professor Justin Watkins, who specializes in Burmese and Linguistics. His students include researchers, diplomats, and NGO staffs, among others. Listen to our chat, and pick

en-us

10:42

Bite-Size Burmese: Between Heaven and Earth

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2023/06/16

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the prince of Denmark told his trusted friend Horatio, "There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy." In this episode, I introduce you to Burmese phrases that stemmed from the word မိုး (sky, heaven) and မြေ (ground, earth). You might say "someone is on cloud nine" in English. We say in Burmese "he or she can neither see the sky nor feel the wind" (မိုးမမြင်လေမမြင်). You might complain that someone is not

en-us

28:06

On Reading Burmese Books

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2023/06/06

For today’s episode, I invited a special guest – the mesmerizing voice behind the podcast စာဖတ်ပြမယ် or “I’ll read you stories.” The podcaster Win Ei regularly uploads recorded audio clips of Burmese short stories and essays to entertain us weekly with her voice. For many Burmese booklovers, her voice is what they hear before going to bed. In this episode, she discusses why and how she became addicted to books, how she chooses what to read every week, and which stories were her personal favorites

en-us

26:33

On Burmese Donation Rituals and Terms

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2023/05/27

What might inspire someone in Burma to donate? The reasons can range from celebrating a birthday or remembering a loved one who has passed away to supporting a monastery or nunnery. A rite of passage, such as a young man becoming a novice monk or a young woman getting her ears pierced, could also prompt a community to hold a general feast, where everyone is welcome. For Burmese language learners, describing a donation might be much harder than making a donation. The meals you offer to the monks and

en-us

8:02

Bite-Size Burmese: Plain Janes and Hidden Talents...

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2023/04/16

Where are your hidden talents hiding? If you’re speaking Burmese, they might be hiding under the leaves. The Burmese expression for someone with a hidden talent is ရွက်ပုန်းသီး -- meaning "a fruit hidden under the leaves." And someone you might call a Plain Jane in English is ရွက်ကြမ်းရေကျို or "tea brewed with plain leaves" in Burmese. Someone who can adapt to any situation, be comfortable in any circumstance or environment is ရွက်ကျပင်ပေါက် or "a plant that regrows

en-us

32:05

Burmese Insults: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2023/02/12

My students -- not all, but the rowdy and curious ones -- often ask me, how do you curse in Burmese? What is the Burmese version of the F-word or the C-word? Since this is supposed to be a G-rate podcast, I won’t be going anywhere near those. But there are well-worn insults, acceptable forms of name calling for the deserving ones. The terms range from wishing someone a horrible death to calling somebody a rice-wasting, earth-burdening thing, to comparing them to the film of oil floating on the water

en-us

31:48

What's in a Burmese Name? Destiny, for a Start.

Learn Burmese from Natural Talk ·

2023/01/15

The peculiar nature of traditional Burmese names is, they usually do not have last names or family names. Instead, they’re chosen based on the day of the week a person is born. In other words, when you hear someone’s full name, you can often tell which day of the week he or she was born on.Not only that, in Burmese astrology, the weekday of your birth also determines your spiritual animal, compatible marital allies, incompatible business partners, and your lucky number. In this episode, my cohost

en-us

58 results

Similar Podcasts

Science Talk

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

五分钟心理学

柠檬心理

Daily Facts

Amalia Dupray and Montgomery Jones.

Les dents et dodo

BFMTV

Veterinary Clinical Podcasts

The Royal Veterinary College