@gladiates / gladiates.tumblr.com
- take an ebook in your target language that you wanna read - convert epub to txt - copy txt into unique wordlist maker (http://caerphoto.com/uwc/) - remove words in the list you already know - maybe focus on keeping the high frequency new words - make this list into flashcard deck badda bing badda boom
I did this with my Turkish copy of Animal Farm and pulled 212 new words for my Quizlet deck
Genius!
Painting: The Baroque of Dante by Eugène Delacroix (inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Inferno)
Reblog this if you’re a langblr/lingblr that creates original content!
I want to try to create content for some less learned languages + my dialect but idk if I should go for it? also I’m currently creating content on youtube <3
haven’t been doing enough langblr stuff recently but i’m getting back into Italian so i’ll be posting vocab lists if anyone’s interested!
everyone talks about immersion - how important it is to surround yourself with your target language in order to learn effectively, and I agree that it’s a crucial point in making progress. the standard solutions are reading books, talking to people online, listening to music etc etc, which are all good recommendations and i encourage everyone to try them out! this list will include some more ways of immersion which i find to take very little effort, but which still have good effects.
1. blogs, facebook pages, apps
“reading articles” is common advice, but how often do you even read articles in your native language, much less your target one? In order to still increase exposure to your target language, like news sources in your TL on facebook so you see what they post (even if you don’t click on it), follow blogs that post in your TL, and download apps that will send you push notifications (newspapers, magazines, football, you name it). if you see something interesting, read it.
2. play words with friends and other word-based games
if your TL is one of these, you can play words with friends and expand your vocabulary in absolutely no time. it’s very difficult in the beginning (i even had trouble with english first), but it gets so much better so quickly! you’re also being matched with similar skill-levels, so it should still be fun, and you can play games in different languages simultaneously without having to change the settings. there are many word-based games out there (it has its own category in the app store), so try what you like best! :)
3. talk to siri/voice recognition technology
siri/whatever programme you have listens to short sentences, will provide you with a written and spoken answer, and won’t make fun of you for mistakes. It’s also great for practising smalltalk like “how’s the weather”.sSet your alarm or ask to have appointments added to your calendar.
4. talk to yourself
ever wanted to be on graham norton and tell everyone about the imaginary grammy/nobel prize/oscar you’ve won? or explain your grandma’s chocolate cake recipe on the great british bake off? or write a novel about your gap year backpacking experience? now’s your chance - find some time when you’re alone (or not, if you don’t mind others listening i guess), and start talking. have your own cooking show while you make lunch, make a commercial for your shampoo while you’re in the shower, reminisce about your (imaginary or real) life experience, but do it in your TL. you’ll learn vocabulary for things you actually care about and you’ll gradually lose the fear of speaking. plus, you’ll be super prepared for when graham norton really does invite you to his show.
5. the “how-would-i-say-this”-mentality
this may take a bit of time, but after a while it’s there and won’t go away again. you use your native language presumably every day, especially for mundane things like buying bread or asking where the bathroom is, or reading an ad on the bus. try to get used to translating those small sentences from your native language into your TL. you don’t have to put a lot of effort or time into this - just reminding your brain of your TL’s existence and trying to form simple sentences every day does loads for your progress. sometimes you might look a word up, sometimes you might paraphrase or simplify it, but every bit helps.
good luck with your language learning! :)
Since 1999, Estonians have celebrated Estonian Language Day [lit. Mother Tongue Day] on 14th March, the birthday of Kristjan Jaak Peterson, first poet to use Estonian language for creating poetry.
In celebration on Estonian Language many events are held, most famous of them being [rather hard] e-dictation in Radio Vikeraadio since 2008. Also on this date in Haapsalu award for “Most Beneficial Deed to Estonian Language” is given out annually.
dictionaries:
wordreference - has spanish, french, italian, portuguese, catalan, german, swedish, dutch, russian, polish, romanian, czech, greek, turkish, chinese, japanese, korean, & arabic
reverso translation - has arabic, chinese, dutch, french, german, hebrew, italian, japanese, polish, portuguese, romanian, russian, spanish & turkish
bab.la - has spanish, arabic, chinese, czech, danish, dutch, finnish, french, german, greek, hindi, hungarian, indonesian, italian, japanese, korean, norwegian, polish, portuguese, romanian, russian, swedish, swahili, thai, turkish, vietnamese, & esperanto
digital dictionaries of south asia - has dictionaries for assamese, baluchi, bengali, divehi, hindi, kashmiri, khowar, lushai, malayalam, marathi, nepali, oriya, pali, panjabi, pashto, persian, prakrit, rajasthani, sanskrit, sindhi, sinhala, tamil, telugu & urdu
resources for learning words in context:
reverso context - has arabic, chinese (in beta), dutch, french, german, hebrew, italian, japanese, polish, portuguese, romanian, russian, spanish & turkish (in beta)
linguee - has german, spanish, portuguese, french, italian, russian, japanese, chinese, polish, dutch, swedish, danish, finnish, greek, czech, romanian, hungarian, slovak, bulgarian, slovene, lithuanian, latvian, maltese, & estonian
for learning different writing systems
omniglot - an encyclopedia with literally any language you could think of including ancient languages
scripts - an app for learning other writing systems with a limited amount for free (you can do 5 minutes a day for free) - has the ASL alphabet, Russian cyrillic, devanagari, Japanese kana, Chinese hanzi, & Korean hangul
Wikipedia is also helpful for learning different writing systems honestly!
pronunciation
forvo - a pronunciation dictionary with MANY languages (literally an underrated resource i use it all the time)
a really helpful video by luca lampariello with tips on how to get better pronunciation in any language
ipachart.com - an interactive chart with almost every sound!! literally such an amazing resource for learning the IPA (however does not include tones)
another interactive IPA chart (this one does have tones)
language tutoring
italki - there’s many websites for language tutoring but i think italki has the most languages (i have a referral link & if you use it we can both get $10 toward tutoring lol) - they say they support 130 languages!
there’s also preply and verbling which are also good but there aren’t as many options for languages - preply has 27 and verbling has 43
(obviously these are not free but if you have the money i think tutoring is a great way to learn a language!)
getting corrections/input from native speakers
hellotalk - an app for language exchanges with native speakers & they also have functions where you can put up a piece of writing and ask for corrections - honestly this app is great
tandem - language exchange app but unlike hellotalk you can choose multiple languages (although i think hellotalk is a little bit better)
LangCorrect - supports 170 languages!
HiNative - supports 113 languages!
Lang-8 - supports 90 languages!
verb conjugation
verbix - supports a ton of languages
Reverso conjugation - only has english, french, spanish, german, italian, portuguese, hebrew russian, arabic, & japanese
apps
duolingo - obviously everybody knows about duolingo but i’m still going to put it here - i will say i think duolingo is a lot more useful for languages that use the latin alphabet than languages with another writing system however they do have a lot of languages and add more all the time - currently they have 19 languages but you can see what languages they’re going to add on the incubator
memrise - great for vocab! personally i prefer the app to the desktop website
drops - you can only do 5 minutes a day for free but i still recommend it because it’s fun and has 42 languages!
LingoDeer - specifically geared towards asian languages - includes korean, japanese, chinese & vietnamese (as well as spanish, french, german, portuguese and russian), however only a limited amount is available for free
busuu - has arabic, chinese, french, german, italian, japanese, polish, portuguese, spanish, russian, spanish, & turkish,
Mondly - has 33 languages including spanish, french, german, italian, russian, japanese, korean, chinese, turkish, arabic, persian, hebrew, portuguese (both brazilian & european), catalan, latin, dutch, swedish, norwegian, danish, finnish, latvian, lithuanian, greek, romanian, afrikaans, croatian, polish, bulgarian, czech, slovak, hungarian, ukrainian, vietnamese, hindi, bengali, urdu, indonesian, tagalog & thai
misc
a video by the polyglot Lýdia Machová about how different polyglots learn languages - this video is great especially if you don’t know where to start in terms of self study
LangFocus - a youtube channel of this guy who talks about different languages which is always a good place to start to understand how a specific language works also his videos are fun
Polyglot: How I Learn Languages by Kató Lomb - this book is great and available online completely for free!
Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner (on pdfdrive) - another great book about language learning
Anki - a flashcard app (free on desktop for any system & free on android mobile - not free on ios mobile) that specifically uses spaced repetition to help you learn vocabulary, it’s got a slightly ugly design but it’s beloved by many language learners & is honestly so helpful
YouTube - literally utilize youtube it is so good.
Easy Languages - a youtube channel with several languages (basically they go around asking people on the street stuff so the language in the videos is really natural) & they also have breakaway channels for german, french, spanish, polish, italian, greek, turkish, russian, catalan & english
there’s also the LanguagePod101 youtube channels (e.g. FrenchPod101, JapanesePod101, HebrewPod101) which are super great for listening practice & language lessons as well as learning writing systems!
Verbs:
Adjectives:
Nouns:
(Painting is Le Prisonnier de Chillon by Eugène Delacroix)
ITALIAN FINE ART VOCABULARY
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
All paintings are by Italian artists. From top to bottom:
Hello everyone! I know I did a re-intro post not too long ago, but I'm hoping to get more into langblr, so I thought I'd try the langblr activation challenge by @languagessi 😊 My name is Ezra (obv) and I'm a 23 year old undergrad student from the US. I'm currently sadly monolingual but am hoping to change that! I've studied Hindi, Russian, and Spanish formally in the past, but I hope to concentrate on French and start Hebrew moving forward. (I will probably revisit Hindi later but it's not my main focus right now.) I'm also interested in learning Arabic, but I don't want to do too many languages at once so this blog will be focused on French and beginning Hebrew! Besides learning languages, I love to read (especially books translated from other languages) and write creatively. I'm also bi and trans (he/him pls!), so lgbtq+ stuff is important to me!
Hey guys!
I’m so excited to share this language learning challenge that I created with you!
It’s called Brick-By-Brick Language Learning Challenge and it’s made for anyone who already knows the basics of their target language and wants to improve their knowledge :)
If you participate in this challenge, make sure to use the hashtag #brickbybricklearning and to tag me here on tumblr (@mylinguisticadventures) and on instagram (@mylinguisticadventures).
That’s it for now. Happy language learning!
Today for the 30 day langblr challenge, I wrote about my favorite food, banana pancakes, and translated a recipe! This picture is from the site where I found the recipe: https://www.marmiton.org/recettes/recette_pancakes-a-la-banane_45575.aspx#d41821-p1 . From my perspective, the pancakes look a little thin, which makes sense to me since crepes are more common in France.
Ma nourriture préférée est les pancakes à la banane. Ma mère les cuisine souvent pour moi quand je accomplis quelque chose. J’aime la nourriture sucré donc j’adore les pancakes! J'ai trouvé cette recette en ligne.
Les ingrédients:
In English, that translates roughly to:
I began reading Le Petit Prince in French today! I originally read it in English in middle school and loved it, so I’m excited to revisit it. I just read the first chapter and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I understood! Even the words I hadn’t seen before were possible for me to figure out based on context or English cognates. Here’s a list of the vocab I found:
For Day 4 of the 30 Day Langblr Challenge, I wrote about one of my favorite movies, Perfect Blue (Japanese: パーフェクトブル). From what I researched, it appears to also be called Perfect Blue in French so I kept the title the same! I highly recommend the movie but some of its subject matter can be distressing so it might help to read about it online before watching it.
Mon film préféré est “Perfect Blue,” un film japonais. Le film est sur Mima Kirigoe, une chanteuse japonaise. Mima prend sa retraite de sa carrière de chanteuse et elle veut devenir une actrice. Son rôle premier est en une émission de télévision scandaleuse. Certains de gens sont en colère parce que Mima n’est plus une fille innocente et un admirateur la suit partout. L’émission de télévision est traumatisant pour Mima et elle est de plus en plus bouleversée et elle ne peut pas comprendre la différence entre la réalité et l’émission. “Perfect Blue” est un thriller psychologique. Il est un film d’animation, mais il n’est pas un film pour les enfants!
Vocabulary:
to retire: prendre sa retraite
role (acting): le rôle
scandalous: scandaleux, scandaleuse
fan (of a celebrity): le admirateur
to stalk: suivre partout
traumatic: traumatisant
increasingly: de plus en plus
distressed: bouleversé
reality: la réalité
psychological thriller: le thriller psychologique
animated movie: le film d’animation
The prompt for today is to translate your favorite song into your target language! My actual favorite song is “Farewell Transmission” by Songs:Ohia, but since the lyrics are very abstract, I thought Phoebe Bridgers’ “I Know the End,” a current favorite, would be easier and more useful. My translation is definitely rough! I needed to use the dictionary a LOT, and I’m sure I made many mistakes, but it’s pretty cool to be able to say that I translated a song! Here we go, verse by verse. Oh, and here’s the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ9-xN6dCW4
[Verse 1] Somewhere in Germany, but I can't place it Man, I hate this part of Texas Close my eyes, fantasize Three clicks and I'm home When I get back I'll lay around Then I'll get up and lay back down Romanticize a quiet life There's no place like my room Quelque part en Allemagne mais je ne peux pas le situer [not sure how "man" in this context translates] je déteste cet parties de Texas Je ferme les yeux, je rêve Trois clics et je suis à mon domicile Quand je reviens, je vais me reposer Puis je vais me lever et je vais me reposer encore Je vais idéaliser une vie calme Il n'y a pas lieu comme ma chambre [Chorus] But you had to go, I know, I know, I know Like a wave that crashed and melted on the shore Not even the burnouts are out here anymore And you had to go, I know, I know, I know Mais tu devais partir, je sais, je sais, je sais Comme une vague qu'est rentrée et a fondu dans le rivage Même les gens fatigués [very loose translation LOL] ne sont plus ici. Et tu devais partir, je sais, je sais, je sais [Verse 2] Out in the park, we watch the sunset Talking on a rusty swing set After a while you went quiet And I got mean I'm always pushing you away from me But you come back with gravity And when I call, you come home A bird in your teeth Dans le parc, nous regardons le coucher du soleil Parlons dans les balançoires rouillés Après un moment tu es devenu calme Et je suis devenue méchante Je te repousse toujours de moi Mais tu reviens avec pesanteur Et quand j'appelle, tu reviens à ton domicile Un oiseau entre tes dents [Chorus] So I gotta go, I know, I know, I know When the sirens sound, you'll hide under the floor But I'm not gonna go down with my hometown in a tornado I'm gonna chase it, I know, I know, I know I gotta go now, I know, I know, I know Alors, je dois y aller, je sais, je sais, je sais Quand les sirènes résonnent, tu te cacheras sous le sol Mais je ne vais pas tomber avec ma ville natale dans une tornade Je vais le pourchasser, je sais, je sais, je sais Je dois aller maintenant, je sais, je sais, je sais [Verse 3] Driving out into the sun Let the ultraviolet cover me up Went looking for a creation myth Ended up with a pair of cracked lips Windows down, scream along To some America First rap country song A slaughterhouse, an outlet mall Slot machines, fear of God Windows down, heater on Big bolt of lightning hanging low Over the coast, everyone's convinced It's a government drone or an alien spaceship Either way, we're not alone I'll find a new place to be from A haunted house with a picket fence To float around and ghost my friends No, I'm not afraid to disappear The billboard said "The End Is Near" I turned around, there was nothing there Yeah, I guess the end is here The end is here (x4) Je conduis dans le soleil, je laisse l'ultraviolet me couvrir. Je suis allée un mythe de création, je me suis retrouvée avec une paire de lèvres fendus. Les fenêtres basses, je crie à une "America First" chanson de rap-country [really not sure how to do this line lol] Un abattoir, des magasins d'usine, les machines à sous, la peur de Dieu, les fenêtres basses, le radiateur allumé La grande foudre est suspendu bas Par-dessus la côte, tout le monde est convaincu il est un drone du tout gouvernement ou un vaisseau spatial des extraterrestres De toute façon, nous ne sommes pas seuls Je vais trouver un nouvel endroit d'où je viens Une maison hantée avec une palissade Voler et ["ghost"] mes amis ["ghost" is a play on words here so i'm not sure how to translate it, since part of the meaning is "ghost" in the modern slang sense of abandoning someone on a dating site/social media/etc] Non, je n'ai pas peur de disparaître Le panneau se lit "la fin est proche" Je me suis retournée, il n'y avait rien là Oui, je suppose la fin est ici La fin est ici
une reine, as they say in the french :)
Today, the prompt was to write about an interesting era of history. As a history major, I unsurprisingly am interested in a LOT of different historical eras. I chose to write about the American Progressive Era:
Une époque que m'intéresse est la Ère Progressiste aux États-Unis. La Ère Progressiste a commencé en les 1890s et s'est terminé en les 1920s. Les activistes et les hommes politiques progressistes ont préconise des idées nouvelles telles que l'interdiction d'alcool, le droit de vote des femmes et la réforme du gouvernement. Quelques chefs importants sont les hommes politiques Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson et William Jennings Bryant et l'activiste Jane Addams. Malgré des avancées importantes, quelques idées du mouvement progressiste ont été malfaisants. Par exemple, plusieurs personnes ont soutenu d'eugénisme et autres idéologies racistes et le mouvement progressiste a exclu parfois les minorités raciales. La Ère Progressiste est très intéressant! new vocabulary: lots! progressive (politically)- progressiste to advocate/encourage- préconiser such as- tel que prohibition- l'interdiction alcohol- le alcool the right to vote/suffrage- le droit de vote reform- la réforme despite- malgré advance- l'avancée harmful- malfaisant for example- par exemple to support/be in favor of- soutenir eugenics- l'eugénisme ideology- l'idéologie racist- racist racial minorities- les minorités raciales I do have one question if anyone's able to answer! In English, the term "minority" is kind of outdated, we usually use "people of color" instead. What's the preferred term in French? Also feel free to correct any mistakes (which I’m sure exist)!
art- l'art music- la musique literature- la littérature dance (art form)- la danse film (art form)- le cinéma theatre, drama (art form)- le théâtre singer- le chanteur/la chanteuse band- le groupe artist- le artiste, la artiste author, writer- le auteur/la auteure, le écrivain/la écrivaine poet- le poète/la poète dancer- le danseur/la danseuse director (of a movie)- le réalisateur/la réalisatrice actor- le acteur/la actrice celebrity- le célébrité/la célébrité favorite- préféré/préférée painting- le tableau, la peinture song- la chanson album- le album work of art- l'œuvre d'art play (as in a theatrical performance)- la pièce movie- le film rock (genre)- le rock jazz- le jazz pop- la pop hip-hop- le hip-hop folk (genre)- la musique folk punk- le punk genre- le genre museum- le musée concert- le concert exhibition- la exposition bookstore- la librairie stage- la scène theatre- le théâtre to dance- danser to write- écrire to draw- dessiner to paint- peindre to sing- chanter to play (an instrument)- jouer de… (For example, “jouer de la guitare") to act- jouer beautiful- beau/belle, magnifique, superbe poignant- émouvant/émouvante powerful- fort/forte abstract- abstrait/abstraite complex- complexe passionate- passionné/passionnée political- politique sad- triste scary- effrayant/effrayante funny/comedic- drôle romantic- romantique exciting- excitant/excitante famous- célèbre talented- talentueux/talentueuse
Some example sentences:
My favorite genre is pop. Mon genre préféré est la pop.
The writer’s book is very romantic. Le live de la écrivaine est très romantique.
She is a famous and talented actress. Elle est une actrice célèbre et talentueuse.
Let me know if there are any errors! I used the Cambridge English-French dictionary but there could be mistakes!
