dropbox containing linguistics textbooks

contains 34 textbooks including etymology, language acquisition, morphology, phonetics/phonology, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, & translation studies

dropbox containing language textbooks

contains 86 language textbooks including ASL, Arabic, (Mandarin) Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hebrew (Modern & Ancient), Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh

dropbox containing books about language learning

includes fluent forever by gabriel wyner, how to learn any language by barry farber, polyglot by kató lomb

if there’s a problem with any of the textbooks or if you want to request materials for a specific language feel free to message me!

hello friends!!! i’m a language enthusiast (+ a language minor in college hehe). originally i was gonna make a post of all languages, but that already exists + i don’t want to reiterate + i have SO many french resources and that’s my second primary language so i thought i’d focus on that??? 

general language

general french

french vocab

french tenses

french grammar

french literature, film, + music

honestly, romanticise slavic languages, polish is just as hipster as french, bulgarian is as romantic as spanish

Free Language Courses Online

These are all from @futurelearn, which is a very good site. I’ve done Introduction to Norwegian and it’s very good! Introduction to Italian - Università per Stranieri di Siena Introduction to Frisian - University of Groningen An Introduction to Irish Language and Gaelic Culture - Dublin City University Introduction to Korean - Hanyang University Studying in Italian: Language and Literature - Various Universities Introduction to Norwegian - University of Oslo Introduction to Dutch - University of Groningen Enjoy!

I don’t even know. It’s from a book about languages my friend’s been reading. (it’s creepy that I can understand it …)

It was actually invented with that purpose: anyone who spoke any European language should be able to understand esperanto. It was meant to be a lingua franca.

STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING Y’ALL AND TELL ME IF YOU UNDERSTAND THIS

I,understand about a half of it, I speak some dutch

“What Happened? Did your computer catch a virus? Did you suddenly develop BSE [mad cow disease]?”

Between German, English, Latin, a bit of French, Dutch, Spanish and Italian that was actually pretty readable to me.

I speak English and a very little spanish, and I can read it. 

I speak English, some Spanish, and a little German, and I could piece it together.

I can read it with no problems but I studied linguistics and I speak German, English, French, Latin and some Dutch. Esperanto really is quite easy for any person who speaks at least one Germanic language and one Romance language.

Resources for 125+ languages

I’ve found this list with resources for over 125 languages on pastebin (https://pastebin.com/UjkfE3qk - I can’t use hyperlinks in this post for some reason). I reposted it under the cut in case it ever gets lost but it includes the following languages:

Afrikaans, Ainu, Akkadian, Albanian, Ancient Sanskrit, Arabic (MSA as well as six dialects), Aramaic, Armenian, Assyrian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bengali, Berber, Breton, Cajun, French, Cantonese, Catalan, Cherokee, Classical Armenian, Classical Greek, Classical Latin, Coptic, Cornish, Crimean Gothic, Croatian, Czech, Dari, Dutch, Egyptian, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Faeroese, Farsi, Finnish, French, Frisian, Furlan, Genovese, Georgian, German, Gothic, Greek (Modern), Greenlandic, Guarani, Hakka, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hittite, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Indonesian, Inuktitut, Irish , Italian, Japanese, Jèrriais, Koine Greek, Khmer, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Maltese, Manchu, Mandarin Chinese, Manx, Maori, Mari, Mayan (Classical), Mayan (Tzotzil), Mayan (Yucatec), Mixtec, Nahuatl, Norwegian, Okinawan, Old Church Slavonic, Old English, Old Iranian, Old Irish, Old Norse, Old Prussian, Old Tupi, Persian, Middle Polish, Portuguese, Proto-Indo-European, Quechua, Romanian, Rromani, Russian, Sami, Sanskrit, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Serbo-Croatian, Shanghainese, Sicilian, Slovene, Sm'algyax, Spanish, Sumerian, Swahili, Swedish, Tajik, Tengwar, Thai, Tocharian, Tok Pisin, Toki Pona, Tongan, Turkish, Vietnamese, Volapük, Welsh, Wu, Xibe, Yoruba, Yup'ik and Zulu

Some of the links are broken and there are more resources for some languages than for others but I still think it’s really worth checking out, especially for those of you interested in lesser known languages.

Weiterlesen

One of my favorite moments of learning another language is when you learn that word that doesn’t really translate into your mother tongue, but you know it, feel it in your heart that you know the exact meaning of this word even if you can’t explain it to anyone else.  Those just feel like such moments of victory that I can’t help being completely elated by them.

samtaims ai vonder if inglis spiiking piipöl aar eiböl tu riölais thät ai äm äksöli vraiting in inglish rait nau bat tsast vith veri finnish spelling

sou if juu spiik inglish bat not finnish kän juu pliis reblog änd liiv ö komment on tis post tänk juu veri mats

Sammteims ei wonda iff inglisch schbieking pipel ahr ebel tu rieleis set ei ehm ecktschuli reiting in inglisch reit nauh batt schast wiss währi tschörmen schbelling

So iff ju schbiek inglisch batt nott tschörmen kenn ju plies riplock end lief eh kommänt on dies pust senk ju wäri matsch

tänk juu for joor tsörman kontribjuusson, ai äpprishieit it veri mats. änd it oolsou helps mii tu gräsp tö essens of tsörman äksent

Samtajms aj vonder if ingliš spíking pípl ár ejbl tu rielajz det aj em ekšuely rajting in ingliš rajt náv bat džast vit veri slovak speling. Sou if jú spík ingliš bat not slovak ken jú plís riblog end lív en koment on tiz poust tenk jú veri mač

Самтаймз ай вондр иф иньглиш спикинь пийпль ар эйбль ту риэлайз дзят ай эм экшуалий райтинь ин иньглиш райт нау бат джаст виць вейрий рашин спеллинь. Со иф ю спик иньглиш бат нот рашин кэн ю плиз риблог энд лив э комент ан дзис пост цянк ю вейрий мач

Samtæms æ wonda if ínglis spíking pípl ar eybel tú ríalæs ðet æ em ektsuali ræting in ínglis ræt ná bat dsast við veri æslendik speling

so if jú spík ínglis bat nott æslendik ken jú plís ríblog end líf a komment on ðis post þenk jú veri mats

Samtaims ai uonder if inglisc spiching pipol ar eibol tu rialais det i em acscualli raiting in inglisc rait nau bat dez uid veri italian spelling. sou if iu spic inglisc bat not italian chen iu plis riblog end liv a comment on dis post tenk iu veri macc’. 

sumtaimes ai wundère eef angliche peepole ar ébl tu rayolize zat i am actualie ritin en angliche rite nau bat dees iz veri french spélling. sau if u speec angliche bat nut french plis cun u reeblog end leev a commant en deez post tank u veri muche

somtajms ai wonde if inglisj spieking piepel ar ebel toe riëlais det ai em eksjelie wraiting in inglisj rait nau but djust wif verrie dutsj spelling

so if joe spiek inglisj but not dutsj ken joe plies rieblok ent lief uh komment on dis poost tenk joe verrie mutsj

Samtajms aj łonder if inglisz spikink pipul ar ejbul tu rielajs dat aj em akczueli rajtink in inglisz rajt nał bat dżast łif weri połlisz spelink

Soł if ju spik inglisz bat not połlisz ken ju plis riblok ent lif a koment on dis połst fenk ju weri macz

somtaghms aigh bhondar iobh iunglois spíocang píopal ár éabal ta ríalaghs dat aigh eim aicsiúlaí raghtuing in iunglois raght nadh bot diost bhot bhéirí aighris spoiling

sómh iobh dhiú spíoc iunglois bot nát aighris cean dhiú plíos ríoblág eand líomh a camoint án dus póst taenc dhiú bhéirí moit

sʌmtaɪmz aɪ wʌndɚ ɪf ɪŋglɪʃ spikɪŋ pipl̩ ɚ eɪbl̩ tə ɹilaɪz ðæt aɪ æm ækʃəli ɹaɪɾɪŋ ɪn ɪŋglɪʃ ɹaɪt naʊ bʌt dʒʌst ɪn ði ɪntɚnæʃʌnl̩ fənɛɾɪk ælfəbɛt

soʊ ɪf ju spik ɪŋglɪʃ bʌt nɑt aɪ pi eɪ kæn ju pliz ɹiblɑg ænd liv ə kɑmənt ɑn ðɪs poʊst θænk ju vɛɹi mʌtʃ

心呔時嗌溫朵易扶英架嚟薯是撇瓊披蒲呀A報吐呢澳賴時達嗌呀唔ek1薯呀呢麗停燕英架嚟薯拉孬拔質是戶易扶啡呢廣東話是啤零

素易扶遇是撇英架嚟薯拔甩廣東話近於披呢薯呢㩧N呢扶呀襟文按啲是鋪時啡吳橋啡呢嗎廚

[sam1 taai1 si4 aai3 wan1 doe4 ji6 fu4 jing1 gaa3 lei4 syu4 si6 pit3 king4 pi1 pou4 aa3 ei1 bou3 tou3 li1 ou3 laai6 si4 daat3 aai3 aa3 m4 ek1 syu4 aa3 li4 lai6 ting4 jin3 jing1 gaa3 lei4 syu4 laai1 naau1 bat4 zat1 si6 wu6 ji6 fu4 fe1 ni4 gwong2 dung1 waa2 si6 be1 ling4]

[sou3 ji6 fu4 jyu6 si6 pit3 jing1 gaa3 lei4 syu4 bat4 lat1 gwong2 dung1 waa2 gan6 jyu1 pi1 ni1 syu4 li1 bok1 en6/en1 li1 fu4 aa3 kam1 man4 on3 di1 si6 pou1 si4 fe1 ng4 kiu4 fe1 li1 maa1 cyu4]

斯阿麽台麽斯 哎 碗豆兒 衣服 英格累師 斯屁客英 屁破 耳 欸播 吐 瑞阿爾愛斯 薩特 哎 阿麽 阿克吐力 瑞亭 嗯 英格累師 瑞特 腦 不呃特 薩特斯 哇一特斯 味力 親愛斯一斯 斯陪零 所 衣服 玉烏 斯阿屁客 英格累師 不特 腦特 親愛斯一斯 客案 玉烏 瑞伊波落格 按得 利福 欸 寇曼特 按 第斯 破斯特 三科 玉烏 味力 抹茶

sī ā me tái me sī āi wǎn dòu ér yī fú yīng gé lèi shī sī pì kè yīng pì pò ěr ě bō tǔ ruì ā ěr ài sī sà tè āi ā me ā kè tǔ lì ruì tíng èn yīng gé lèi shī ruì tè nǎo bú e tè sà tè sī wa yī tè sī wèi lì qīn ài sī yī sī sī péi líng suǒ yī fú yù wū sī ā pì kè yīng gé lèi shī bú tè nǎo tè qīn ài sī yī sī kè àn yù wū ruì yī bō luò gé àn dé lì fú ě kòu màn tè àn dì sī pò sī tè sān kē yù wū wèi lì mò chá

While language learning apps and websites such as are plentiful online, places to practice are less easy to find! Here’s a few you can try out, none of which are limited to just one or two languages:

Chat

HelloTalk (iOS/Android): an app with 100+ languages that lets you chat with native speakers of your target language from around the world with voice + text. It’s the one most geared towards just conversation!

WeSpeke (iOS/Android): an app and website with probably the largest variety of languages at 130, with text, audio, and video chat.

Conversation Exchange: this one’s a little different, as it not only allows you to get a pen pal and has text, video, and voice, but it also lets you meet up with native speakers in your area to practice!

Speaky (iOS/Android): a web and mobile app which is pretty much social media for language learners! It has 110+ languages and you can make video/audio calls and message from your browser.

HiNative (iOS/Android): not exactly for chatting with people, but instead you can ask native speakers about their culture/language in your target language!

Read

Duolingo Immersion: lets you translate articles from your target language into your native language, or vice versa.

Readlang: read articles, books, and other texts online, with vocab support, and it will create vocab lists and flashcards based on the words you needed help with.

All You Can Read: a selection of magazines and news websites from 200 countries, offered in a wide variety of languages.

Worldpress: a directory of worldwide newspapers and magazines, sorted by country, region, and also political affiliation.

Listen

Live-Radio: a collection of thousands of worldwide radio stations in a multitude of languages.

Every Tongue: 7,000+ recordings of all different languages, readily available online.

Omniglot: a massive listing of online radio stations in languages from A-Z!

Global Recordings Network: search by language or country to listen to any of a wide variety of online recordings.

How do people respond to sneezing?

Well, it depends where you are from. Here are a few responses from around the world:

What do you say?

In French, it’s “à tes souhaits” (to your wishes) on the first sneeze and “à tes amours” (to your loves) on the second

“Jesús” (literally Jesus) is really common in Spain, as well as “salud” (health). Jesús is more common though.

German “Gesundheit!” (health) after first sneeze “Schönheit!” (beauty) after second sneeze “Langes Leben!” (long life) after third sneeze

In Italian we say “Salute!” which literally means “health!” :)

Polish: “Na zdrowie” (lit. for health, same as “cheers” when toasting), or, somewhat less commonly, “sto lat!” (a hundred years!), which is also a traditional birthday wish :)

In Russia we say ‘Будь здоров’ (to a male) or ‘Будь здорова’ (to a female), it literally means ‘Be healthy’ 

how do i improve my pronunciation?

theres a widespread myth that its impossible to learn to sound like a native speaker of a language other than ur mother tongue if u didnt learn it as a child and while being surrounded by it 24/7. this is far from the truth!! having good pronunciation and a native-like accent that u can be proud of is definitely achievable, especially if u have the right mindset and are determined to work hard (★^∀^★) ★  remember that babies usually have over a year of pure input before they actually begin to speak their first language. get as much audio exposure as u can. listen to the language in lots of different contexts (radio tv music movies conversations speeches audiobooks youtube videos..) and just try to replicate what the language sounds like to ur ears without necessarily trying to say actual words or worrying about grammar. @polysprachig made this video that goes into more detail on this topic and u may also wanna check out this article ★  pick the specific accent that u want to emulate. this is especially important for people learning pluricentric languages like english/portuguese/arabic/etc where there is more than one spoken standard. the more widely spoken the accent u choose is, the easier it will be to find audio materials to listen to and people who speak with that accent (eg there are a lot of tv shows and movies in american and british english.. but not many in australian english). blending multiple completely different dialects/accents (and mixing up slang from different regions and social groups) can make u sound very weird and unnatural, however narrowing down a particular region whose accent u want to imitate will allow u to easily develop a sense of belonging and closeness to the language. ★  pay really careful attention to the sounds that are different in ur target language to ur native language(s) and any other languages u already speak. look for videos/instructions online for how to pronounce the sounds that u find difficult and practise every day by listening to them in natural speech and copying them as best u can.. pretend to be an annoying parrot that mimics everything it hears!! ★  get to know ur mouth. u may have to adjust the position of ur jaw, tongue, lips, the way u breathe or the amount of saliva if ur mouth to comfortably replicate some sounds. if ur mouth doesnt feel a little uncomfortable with a new sound, u may not be pronouncing it right. ★  find a native speaker to listen to u speak for a little while and ask if they can narrow down any areas u seem to have particular trouble with. concentrate on accuracy rather than speed ★  find the lyrics to some songs u love in ur target language and sing along as best u can. it takes away ur intrinsic need to worry about vocabulary or grammar and allows u to just focus on naturally replicating the way the language sounds ★  childrens books are often available with audio accompanyment that u can listen to while u read the text and also pause and repeat after if u wish. its like the perfect combination of simple easy to understand language and nice clear voices because theyre specifically designed to help children learn to read their own native language! ★  subtitles can help u mentally connect the symbols of the written language with the sounds of the spoken language, but they can also slow the speed at which u accustom urself to processing the spoken language without assistance.. try watching content both with and without subtitles to see what works best for u ★  if ure having trouble with the pronunciation of a particular word or phrase u can try looking it up on rhinospike or forvo ★  dont worry if u fear ure not making any progress.. u will improve slowly with consistent practice and also get the opportunity to hone ur listening skills at the same time!!

New favourite thing oMG. seriously it’s so cool

today in “probably not the best way to practice my languages but let’s do it anyway” i bring you this master piece