Languages - Blog Posts

Guatemala: The Maya

A must watch : )

My assumption when I first heard the name Amenta was that it was from the Latin word mens, mentis, meaning “mind.” I think I read somewhere that this was incorrect, but I could be misremembering and I can’t find that post.

Anyways, under that system, Mentan would mean something to the effect of “having a mind” and Amentan would mean something to the effect of “not having a mind.”

The opposite of American is:

un-American (the hyphen is unavoidable, don’t even try)

unAmerican (programmer’s CamelCase has infected the wider language)

unamerican (because fuck caps altogether)

Unamerican (as in from Unamerica, because the “adjective of” and “opposite of” operations commute)

I’m studying Japanese, and this is way more complicated than just sticking three sets of characters together for comparison. (I am not studying Chinese. Take everything I say about Chinese with a heaping mound of salt.) Japanese is written with three different sets of syllables (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji), which each have a different use in the language.

Examples of hiragana: あいうえお

Examples of katakana: アイウエオ

Examples of kanji: 私漢字日機口

The kanji might look similar to the Chinese writing system, because that is where they were derived from. Confusing something written entirely in kanji with Chinese is completely understandable if you don’t know either language. (For instance, 中  from the original post could be either Chinese or Japanese.) However, most sentences in Japanese will have other characters, while most Chinese sentences will not.

Example of a Japanese sentence: 私の名前はロバートです。

Example of a Chinese sentence: 的名字是羅伯特 (I think; I pulled this from Google Translate so it could be wildly ungrammatical.)

Korean looks totally different, at least to me.

I don’t really understand getting mad at people for mixing up korean, chinese, and japanese

Like, look at them together

見る한국어中国死ね我要吃你マンコ형사我有大鸡巴

and tell me they don’t look similar lol

ego: cur terram perdes?

alienigena: quod sunt homines qui putant istos solam linguam brittannici dicere debent.

ego: iustum est. intellego.

me: why are you destroying earth!!!

aliens: because theres people who think that english is the only language they need to speak

me: thats fair i understand

i never thought french class will ever be involved in my day-to-day life! but here i am, laughing at an avatar the last air-bender joke in french.

Ne forget pas les quatres food groupes mes amis!

I decided I want to either start with Japanese or Korean for self studying languages again. Help me out!!

I've self studied Japanese on and off for years but I consume more content in Korean on a daily basis.

Thank you lovelies <3

What's The Best Way To Split Up Language Learning When Learning 2+ Languages At The Same Time?

For example, I'm currently studying Spanish and Korean and will be re adding Japanese in a few months. I currently try to do specific days for specific languages but find myself doing a little of both a day.

Spanish Langblr Side Blog <3

Hello lovelies!

I want to get some more practice in my Spanish studying, specifically my writing and reading skills. I want to start posting some writing in Spanish on Tumblr but I'm a bit wary of doing so on my main profile because I feel like it's going to throw off the vibe and aesthetic of my blog. That being said, I am going to create a Spanish side blog! I hope you guys will give me a follow over there and help me out with my sentence structure, vocabulary, grammar, and just how I'm doing in Spanish overall!

Username: @ros3ybabespanish

follow the side blog if you love language learning content <3

Daily Check-Ins

Hello lovelies!

Quick question for everyone. I have been debating doing my daily check ins like I used to. I feel as tho it will keep me more accountable (alongside my lovely accountability buddies), and help me realize that I've done a lot of things in a day and have things to feel proud of. What do you guys think? Should I start that back up?

Spanish Media/Input Recommendations?

Can you guys comment me some good media/input recommendations for someone learning Mexican/Spain Spanish? I' talking about any and all that you guys find interesting, whether you learned Spanish on your own or it's your native language!

Books

Podcasts

Tv Shows

Movies

Youtube channels

Songs/Musical Artists

Favorite Spanish teachers/tutors on Italki

Literally anything!

Thank you guys <3

Accountability Buddy Search!

I am currently on the search for an accountability buddy! Someone I can use to keep me on track with my academic goals, life admin goals, language study goals, and whatever specific things I'd want to accomplish! I also would love to help someone else stay accountable with their academic/language/life admin goals!

editing to add: I AM LOOKING FOR AN ACCOUNTAVILITY BUDDY AGAIN! Communication via discord and I will be updating my goals!

Here are some of my goals:

regularly studying spanish/Japanese

sticking to my routines consistently

maintaining a healthy, productive balance in life

regularly meeting my personal goals (reading, joirnaling, working out, etc)

Here are some things about me:

I am a 22 year old female

I am a senior n university, but 3rd year of studying my major

My major is Human Nutrition/Dietetics, and I am also minoring in Psychology and Exercise Science

I want to begin regularly studying Japanese and Spanish, and maybe Korean too

I want to begin reading, journaling, and sticking to consistent skincare and workour routines as well as keep academically inclined.

My Preferences in Accountability Buddy:

Female, 19-24 years of age (no minors or males, please.)

preferably in college/university, but it also doesn't matter if you independently study languages

also has some academic/productive oriented goals, or just goals that you'd like to be kept accountable on

has a not super personal way of contact for the accountability check ins (GroupMe, Discord, and eventually maybe a way to video call once we get more comfortable with each other, but of course, safety first! and tumblr inbox works too, but I feel discord or groupme might be a little easier long term)

hopefully willing to stay accountability buddies for a decent amount of time (for the next 4 weeks at minimum)

willing to lay out or goals, accountability check in schedule, and open to communication with respect to each of our time zones/schedules/commitments, etc

conversationaly fluent/fluent in English or English first language at the least. It's the only language I currently speak so it would be easier to work with someone that speaks the same language

If anyone is interested in having/being an accountability buddy, please send me an ask or message me! Please be respectful of my preferences tho, I really do want to be safe with something like this because with the internet, you never know. I look forward to possibly meeting/working with/becoming acquaintances with you guys!!

ps. please don't be put off by the aesthetics of my blog, I can assure you all, I am a typical, 21 year old college student who works an on campus job, struggles with sleep and caffiene, and is constantly staying on top of my grades and classes while also worrying if I'm doing enough to keep my GPA at a good spot. this blogs aesthetics are purely for fun and artistic expression. If I wasn't such an aesthetic-loving person, I'd post my own study type photos but I'd feel so less-than if I posted like, a non cohesive plethora of photos I take. I'm not good at taking photos

can anyone recommend a good textbook for learning Spanish? I really like studying using textbooks and I have two from when I took Spanish classes but they are the most unhelpful textbooks ever and I absolutely despise using them unless I have no other choice.

preferably I’d like a textbook that focuses on grammar as vocabulary is pretty easy for me to pick up given how widely Spanish is spoken in my city.

I’m also open to any music, song, movie, book, tv show, and any other spanish language learning material! I want to be able to speak spanish with some of the people I work with and I think it’s a great and beautiful language for me to learn overall, and definitely will be the most helpful!

*I am still going to self study Japanese during my six week break from classes, but I am going to try to divide my time between spanish and Japanese with a stronger focus on spanish! May even start a six week language challenge during my break to keep me motivated and accountable!

so if you guys have any recommendations for someone learning spanish (and even Japanese) , please comment/reblog this!

thanks in advance <3

Language Learning Goals 🎀

because I’m just starting out trying to re learn and familiarize myself with the Japanese language again, it was hard for me to think of current goals I might want to achieve, and what time frame I’d want to achieve them in. I think I will begin posting a monthly goals list because as I learn more of the language, my goals are definitely going to change. Right now I have my long term goals for Japanese and then some short term daily/monthly goals!

🌸 Long Term Japanese Goals -

conversational fluency - I want to be able to have comprehensible conversations with native Japanese speakers, and be able to understand what they say and also be able to speak the language myself

understand Japanese media - I want to be able to listen to music and watch Japanese YouTubers and Anime without subtitles

understand spoken/written Japanese - again, I want to be able to know what other people are saying in this beautiful language and also be able to read it to some extent.

My main goals long term are to travel to different parts of Japan in the coming future so being able to speak, understand, and read japanese are my biggest concerns but I’d also like to have that knowledge of writing the characters and knowing proper stroke order too, just for fun and education!

🌸 Daily Japanese Learning Goals -

Use one type of media as a passive learning tool (music, tv shows, YouTube, anime)

Study Flashcards 2-3 times (currently using my hiragana Flashcards I made on Anki)

Minimum of 2 Duolingo lessons

Practice writing the characters in an app (again, currently re learning hiragana)

1 other app lesson used as a supplemental learning tool (renshuu, Bunpo, LingoDeer, drops, etc)

My daily goals are a bit broad as this is typically what I want to do on a day to day basis for about a month of two, and then I will incorporate using textbooks, workbooks, notebooks, and really dive into the self studying and learning more structurally.

🌸 Monthly Japanese Goals (September) -

Memorize hiragana characters

Begin learning basic vocabulary (~30 vocabulary words by end of month)

Begin studying katakana characters (make Flashcards, use apps, etc)

Practicing speaking and pronunciation skills (shadow speak: use YouTube and some tv shows)

Practice realistic listening skills (YouTube videos, tv shows, anime)

Purchase Genki I and Genki II workbook and textbook + Answer Key and chart bundle

Kept a minimum of a 7 - 10 day streak on Duolingo

Joined Japanese club at my university

These are my current goals for the month of September! As the weeks continue, i will assess my progress and build new monthly goals depending on my current progress levels. I’m really excited to be doing this and sharing this journey with everyone. The biggest thing about why I made this blog the way I did was to keep myself accountable for my goals and that is exactly what I plan on doing; reaching my goals!

I so deeply appreciate the encouragement and support you all show me on a consistent basis! It means so much to have this community to keep me accountable and just help keep me on track with my goals but also remind me to be kind to myself! You guys are absolutely amazing <3

Im gonna post a combined daily update for today and yesterday later tonight!

Til next time, lovelies 🩷🤍

***also, wanted to mention, none of the pictures I use are my own!!! I get them from Pinterest but I use them in my posts to keep me motivated to make my space and aesthetic in real life as similar as possible!

Korean Book Recommendations

Korean Stories For Language Learners: Traditional Folktales in Korean and English by Julie Darmon & EunSun You

Fun & Easy! Korean-English Picture Dictionary by Fandom Media

Your First Hanja Guide by Talk to Me in Korean and Kong & Park

News In Korean by Talk to Me in Korean

2/3/19

Sorry for a the long absence!

So I have the flu and am sofa-bound but not even an uncomfortable illness can keep me away from Les Liaisons Dangereuses. It’s all written in letter form so I can read small chunks at a time.

So if you’re not familiar: this is an 18th century scandal among the Parisian aristocracy. The two main characters basically plot to exploit a young, newly-engaged, fresh-out-a-convent virgin girl and her fiancé to bring shame upon their names all because said fiancé rejected the salty antagonist. That is MAJORLY oversimplified but the gossip in here is very juicy haha

Have a great weekend!

Nah nah nah it ain’t the genders that get you, it’s the cases. I used to chant them in my head but sometimes it wasn’t in my head and people looked at me like I was the girl with the knife.

*demonic chanting*

der die das die

den die das die

dem der dem den

DES DER DES DER

15-16/11/18 - 67-68/100 days of productivity

What a week! I’m exhausted!

I’ve been mainly reading today, because I wanted to be productive but didn’t really have all that much to do - for once! I am going to have a day of maths on Sunday to make up for missing my mentoring session this week, but I’m still going to take it easy.

But right now I’m researching for my IRP in German, ft. the new book I ordered which got delivered today. So far, so very interesting! I can’t wait to reach a conclusion :)

Happy Friday, guys!

13-14/11/18 - 65-66/100 days of productivity

14th - well today has been long. I had an applicant visit day to the uni of Birmingham, which was so much fun - until it came to getting home. I was supposed to be on a quarter past four train to be home for half seven. It is now ten to seven and I am waiting another 30 minutes for the final leg of my journey home to start after standing for 2 hours on a packed and very late train. I should arrive at my finial station at nine.

It’s not the staff’s fault necessarily, but we were turned away by a staff member when our train was actually boarding, so we missed it.

HOWEVER I did get to make good progress with Selam Berlin! And I got to play with sodium alginate and calcium chloride, and experience a lecture on why transition metal compounds are coloured.

I did my German catch-up work on the train to Birmingham, too. Now to make some important emails!

08/10/18 - 26/100 days of productivity

My brother gave me another cold, which is even worse than the last one! Which means I struggled to concentrate at home - especially because he stayed home, too. We also had a spectacularly placed fire drill right at the start of my first lesson of the day, which was mildly irritating. That said, I am currently revising AS Stats to prepare for starting A2 and have done all the homework I’ve been set. I also FINALLY finished L’invitée!

06/10/18 - 24/100 days of productivity

So today was dedicated to maths - I did an end of topic test and I’m fairly confident with how it turned out. I also took time to chill out though - I had a lie in, watched a film earlier and am chilling out by finishing L’invitée. I am literally 71.9% done!

I’ve been exhausted this week and I don’t want to burn out, so today is my day to take the foot off the accelerator and coast.

Tomorrow I plan to write up some more biology notes, finish some chemistry and run some German quizlets. I also have a Fluter magazine to read through to aid my research for the IRP, which I’m looking forward to reading. I’ll then make some progress with maths in the evening and on Monday.

Happy weekend!

04/10/18 - 22/100 days of productivity

I quite like the combination of typing and then hand decoration. We are studying Das Leben Der Anderen in German and I’m making character notes. I’m going to move onto maths soon though.

I’m not having a great day, because my bus didn’t turn up and so I was late to school and very stressed this morning - I plan my day to the minute to stave off my anxiety and if it doesn’t go exactly to plan I can’t help getting upset. However, I have taken steps to calm down and I am being quite productive!

28/09/18 - 17/100 days of productivity

Wow, these days are going fast. Almost 20% of the way there already!

Today was fairly boring in terms of what I did - I started the day with two of my three lessons: Chemistry (wherein we didn’t do much - just revision on benzene), Biology (test on the kidney), and then I had my friend pick up a McDonalds because I wasn’t allowed to leave and she was. Cheat days are ok if they are once in a very very long while 😂

After that I had German (character analysis on Hempf in Das Leben der Anderen). All while sipping on a strawberry milkshake :)

Then I had an hour free, which I used to do a review exercise in maths.

This evening I decided to take advantage of the fact that it is Friday night and chilled out. I’m not over-exerting myself right now because I don’t want to burn out, especally while I am still recovering from illness. I’m slowly but surely making progress with Le Père Goriot, and I am falling in love with the descriptions in this book.

25/09/18 - 14/100 days of productivity

Hi all! My Tuesday has been fun, although sneezing constantly isn’t. Here’s what today looked like:

06:45 Get up and in the bath

07:00 Get dressed, pack my bag and take my medication (always disgusting because it’s a liquid but you know. Gets the worst out of the way)

07:25 Out the house, waiting for the 07:35 bus.

08:00 I arrived at school and did some German quizlets!

08:30 Form time - I normally read but I left my books by accident.

08:50 Lesson 1 - Biology. We learned about SCNT, embryo twinning and the ethical argument about cloning.

09:55 Lesson 2 - French. We debated whether it was right to allow transgender biologically-male people to join girl guides.

10:55-11:25 Break; I found my chem teacher to discuss my personal statement

11:25 Lesson 3 - free. I did a maths paper

12:30 Lesson 4 - German. We talked about the EU, doing topic work from our text book

13:30 Lunch

14:00-15:00 Lesson 5 - Chemistry. We had to make presentations about orders of reaction and the rate constant.

15:40 I arrived home and took myself to bed because I feel like having a day off today.

17:00 Tea time - I love me some tomato soup when I’m ill haha

17:20 Cup of tea, documentaries and chill. I’d normally stick my headphones in but my ear aches so I’d better not :(

22/09/18 - 11/100 days of productivity

I’m in the library today, currently doing maths. I’ve already gone through 4 sets of quizlets for German and next up once I finish this will be to finish my chemistry homework.

My friends are going to turn up at some point, too. I’m going to help one of them with a personal statement and then I’m going to read Le Père Goriot

Juggling 5 A Levels: a week in my life

Hello all! I’ve been getting a lot of questions based on how I balance school and home life, so I’ve decided I’m going to break down my days, hour by hour, over the course of the week beginning Monday 24th September 2018.

I’m mainly doing this because I love finding out how people use their days - and because I would personally benefit from really analysing how I use my own. Is this something you’d like to see?

20/09/18 - 9/100 days of productivity

I had one lesson today - chemistry! We did a really simple practical for our official records which I am about to write up. I also got my maths mock back - 82/100, which is an A! I’m so happy!

Nothing can bring me down today and I’m feeling so productive. I’ve just done my German homework (as you can see, it’s about the EU 😭) and I have also done a load of Quizlet practice and admin for German.

I’ve also started reading Le Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac, which my lovely French teacher brought back from her parents’ home in France for me to read!

Next up: filing away and revising French notes so I can be prepared for a mock speaking on Monday :)

19/09/18 - 8/100 days of productivity

I had an awesome day today! I have a new chemistry teacher and she’s really lovely, and straight after her lesson I had German, where we studied Der Vorleser. I had a free period lesson 3, so I edited my personal statement for the 500000000th time, and then in French I wrote an essay under timed conditions about L’étranger. And then lesson 5 was the genetics topic in Biology - I freaking LOVE genetics!

Right now I’m going over a load of flash cards for German on Quizlet and then I’m going to write up some biology notes and I might finish off some more German homework if I have time. If not, I have 4 frees tomorrow so I can do it then :)

I hope you’ve all had awesome days 😊

18/09/18 - 7/100 days of productivity

Today was very busy but I started writing my personal statement in my free period and then typed up biology notes, did a French listening homework and uploaded a load of German vocab to Quizlet. And now I’m in bed - night all! :)

17/09/18 I have to write a surprise essay on Wednesday so I’m revising quotes for themes in L’étranger

🎵Clair de lune - Debussy🎵

14/09/2018 - 3/100 days of productivity

No pictures today - sorry! I’m a bit rushed but I thought I’d update to prove I can finish what I started hehe

I spent an hour reviewing German vocab I learned last year in my last free period of the day, and I also got all my homework completed in time for the weekend. That included biology and chemistry. I got a lot out of my lessons today - I had my first lesson with a teacher I haven’t had since Year 9 (and I’m in Year 13 now!)

(I’m off to Nottingham tomorrow for a uni open day, so I can’t work)

I hope you’ve all had productive days!