Hoy por ti, mañana por mí. This expression is about reciprocity and the golden rule. “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” might also resemble it in meaning, but “Hoy por ti, mañana por mí” has a bit more of a positive meaning. It’s like paying the bill at the restaurant and saying to your friend, “Let me get this one. You get the next one.”
- By small and simple things are great things brought to pass!
"Figure out what you want to say, and learn how to say it." I read this on a Japanese language learner's forum many years ago, and it is one of the best pieces of advice I have ever received for language learning. The author meant that, instead of concentrating our efforts on learning lexis contained in text books and such, we should concentrate on things we really want to say. For example, I like to swim, so I want to know the words for the strokes, among other things. Some might say that this is advanced vocabulary and that I should wait to learn it, but for me it needs to be basic vocabulary. The lexis we learn should depend on us as individuals. No more frequency lists for me.
In the Philippines now.
