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nordic-language-love · 1 year

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Hi!! So sorry for barging into your ask box like this, but I’ve been following your blog for a while now and I was wondering if you had any tips specifically for people about to sit a Norwegian exam? I’ll be taking Norskprøven C1 next month and I am honestly crapping my pants rn. I don’t know how I’m supposed to practice since there seems to be so few resources online, and the test is so expensive I can’t bear the thought of having to take it again… I’m seriously considering signing up for the regular Norskprøven in addition to C1 just in case I happen to actually be at A2 or something💀💀

Hi there! Omg never apologise for coming into my ask box with questions about Norwegian 😅 As for tips: I don't know too much about Norskprøven C1 as I've not taken it and it's very new, so there's limited resources about it (as you've obviously discovered). But it seems to me that some of the sections are similar to the Bergenstest (lmk if you want the past papers), so here are some things I found helpful/things my tutors advised me to do (it's long, so I'm sorry about that):

PREPARING FOR THE EXAM

1) First things first, make sure you're familiar with the marking scheme (which can be found here under retningslinjer og veiledninger - vurdering). This is exam technique 101 - make sure you know what they're looking for. It doesn't matter how good you are; if you don't give the examiners what they want or expect, you will lose marks that you don't need to lose.

2) Listen to things all the time, every day. Radio, podcasts, TV shows, the news. And parrot things. Parrot common phrases, parrot phrases you like and think will be useful, parrot new words, parrot intonation and stress patterns. This is gonna improve your speaking like you will not believe - that muscle memory is gonna be so key to sounding fluent.

3) Make flashcard decks (I use the free rip-off version of the Anki app) for different topics and write new and useful words down along with sample sentences. Please learn from my mistake and don't just throw the words on their own into a flashcard deck because you'll end up with words that you can kinda recognise but can't actually use yourself. Write down the full sentence.

3a) I say new and useful words and not just new words because words you think you know may not actually be in your active vocabulary and will elude you when you actually need to use them. So be sure to practise them.

4) If you have the means: talk to as many different people as possible about a variety of common topics (the housing market, immigration, personal economy, the education system, friluftsliv, healthy lifestyles, public transport etc). Discuss and debate things. If you're asked to give an opinion and defend it, it's a hell of a lot easier if you have some kind of opinions to start with (no joke 90% of the time when I was doing practice essays/speaking I would be like "wow I literally do not have an opinion on this topic and wouldn't know how to express it if I did". So I listened to podcasts and read articles and just borrowed other people's opinions).

5) Read every day. If you don't already, I highly recommend forskning.no for articles (or even better, their sister site forskersonen.no - that's where you'll find opinions and debates) because the C1 test is basically academic-level. Practise skim-reading, practise reading thoroughly without looking up vocabulary, and then make sure you look up vocabulary you think will be useful.

6) Write essays. Write them timed without a dictionary and make a note of the words you wanted to use but didn't know. Look up those words. Find sample sentences with those words. Write them out. (Also idk if Norskprøven is on a computer or handwritten but if it's handwritten please make sure you do your practice essays by hand).

Not sure what to write about? Find anything on forskersonen.no with 'debatt' written across it or watch Debatten for inspiration (I can also send you a list with a tonne of essay ideas or Bergenstest past papers if you want. Obviously it's a different exam, but the writing section sounds basically the same) and make your own yes/no essay question to answer based on that.

6a) In regards to essay structure, this is the structure I saw on a Bergenstest C1 example and one that my tutor recommended to me:

Paragraph one: introduce the topic. Do not include your opinion here; simply state facts (when I say facts, I don't mean statistics! Wishy-washy statements like "many people think" and "it's often reported that" are fine. No one expects you to be able to pull exact numbers out of your ass).

Paragraphs two+: start by introducing your opinion, then go on to explain why you think that. Include as many paragraphs as you like, but remember your essay has to be 300-400 words. It's a good idea to include counter-arguments to your own opinion and then explain why you don't think they're valid. Use your own discretion when dividing things up into paragraphs: are you gonna have one paragraph for each point, which will include counter-arguments regarding that point? Or are you gonna put counter-arguments and your counter-counter-arguments in a separate paragraph?

Final paragraph: conclusion. Sum up what you've said in a nice concise way.

You can also use paragraphs 2+ to discuss advantages and disadvantages and then conclude with your opinion in the final paragraph, HOWEVER, it very specifically asks you to give your opinion and DEFEND IT, which is why I suggest you do it the way I've outlined above.

7) After you've written your essays, give it a day and then go back and correct your mistakes. It won't be long before you become very conscious of the dumb grammatical mistakes you make and stop making them (or at least know what to watch out for when proofreading during the exam). If you have friends willing to help you, ask them to read it and see what they think.

8) Personally, I found the interview report (looks like there's a similar section on Norskprøven C1, although it's a conversation rather than an interview) to be the most difficult part. You can practise by listening to podcasts and taking notes (not for the whole thing, but just the first 5-10 minutes or so). Remember you don't have to write every part of the conversation; just the main points (obviously it's good to get as much information as possible, but don't panic if you miss some details)

9) Practise your strategies! For the reading section: are you gonna take notes and make your summary as you go along? Are you gonna read the whole text first thoroughly and then make notes? For the listening section: are you just gonna listen the first time round and only make notes the second time, or are you gonna take notes the first time and check/add to them the second time? Try things out and see what works for you.

10) This sounds really dumb but practice relaxing and refocusing. You don't want to end up panicking in the exam, because our memory is garbage when we panic. When you start to get panicky, try saying shit to yourself like "that kind of thinking is not helpful. Let's focus on what I can do right now". Come across a word you don't know? "Let's move on for now; the context might help me work it out later." Didn't catch what the speaker was saying? "I don't need to write every detail; just listen to everything else and write what I can." No idea what to write in your essay? "They're marking my language, not my opinions. It's not important if my opinion is garbage as long as I can defend it." And of course the very general ones: "I've got this. I've practised this. I don't have to know every single word. I'm capable of working around what I don't know. It's understandable and normal that I'm nervous; it doesn't mean I can't do it. I am in control."

ON THE DAY OF THE EXAM:

1) Please, for the love of God, remember to take water and snacks with you. I forgot water and felt like I was about to die by the end of the day.

2) Remember that the examiners want to see what you CAN do, not what you can't. Don't panic if you forget words (I forgot some really fucking basic ones in my speaking exam, like å organisere / å integrere) and still got C1 because I just rephrased what I wanted to say and said something else. People do that all the time even when they're native speakers. Just use your filler words.

3) For the writing section: plan your essay first. I recommend writing columns tilted AGREE and DISAGREE and just getting as many ideas as you can down, then work out how to put them into the structure I talked about above. And remember: a shorter, more concise essay with appropriate vocabulary is better than a lengthy essay with fancy words used inappropriately. Yes, you need to showcase a good range of grammatical structures and vocabulary, but that vocabulary should absolutely be used in the right context.

4) USE EVERY SINGLE MINUTE YOU HAVE TO CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK YOUR WORK. DO NOT LEAVE THE EXAM EARLY. I "finished" the exam about 45 minutes before the time was up. I spent that time checking, double-checking and triple-checking. And then ONE MINUTE before we had to hand our papers in, I saw I'd made a mistake. It could well have been the difference between B2 and C1. So no matter how early you finish, no matter how done you think you are, keep checking things. You never know when that "oh FUCK that is NOT the word I meant to use at all!" moment is going to happen, and if it happens 5 minutes before the exam time is up, you're gonna still want to be in that exam room where you can do something about it.

5) Trust your gut. At this level you should've had enough exposure to the language to just kinda know some things instinctively, even if you've not learned it formally and you're not 100% sure (prepositions, I'm looking at you).

Okay, I think that's all I've got for now. I know it's long, but I hope some of it was useful to you! Best of luck - please let me know how it goes :)

#ask #norwegian langblr #norskprøven

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justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms · 10 months

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Hi!! Can I please have a Percy Jackson, Demon Slayer and Genshin Impact romantic matchup?? (and forgive me if I make a mistake in the writing, I'm not fluent in english yet♡)

I'm pansexual and genderfluid, that uses all the pronouns.

I'm a brazilian, my house is Slytherin (but I have LOTS of Ravenclaw qualities), my sign is Leo and MBTI is INTJ. I have tan skin, dimples, brown eyes, straight black hair that goes below my waist and bangs. About my body, I think what stands out the most are the really thick thighs and the hands and feet that are really small. I wear glasses (I have astigmatism and myopia, my grade is VERY high); where i live is SO hot but i really like to wear sweats and pants so sometimes it's kind of hard but i think i wear any kind of clothes? I like to experiment with new styles and I really want to dye my hair but I didn't have the opportunity; I'm absolutely addicted to wearing necklaces, bracelets and especially rings, I'm always wearing several.

I have a quiet, observant, sarcastic and motherly personality, although from a distance it seems that I will be rude to you, I will actually be very calm and give you soft smiles. I can get stressed out easily but I don't show anything but glare, and above all I NEVER raise my voice, even in a fight the only thing I'm going to do is keep my voice calm with a firm, authoritative tone. I LOVE protecting and caring for people and listening to them talk about what they like, I always give them my FULLY attention. My love language is 100% touch, I am always touching the people I like and care about. Another thing is that I'm not a submissive person in a relationship, like no, at all and i absolutely hate going into water, like, sea, pools, lake, I don't know how to swim and I panic.

I'm completely in love with all kinds of art, especially dancing (I'm ALWAYS dancing while listening to music, which is pretty much all day long) and drawing/painting (sometimes I end up doing a whole drawing and not even realize it). I love reading and I always have a book with me, physical or digital. I love animals, I have cats, dogs, parrots, turtles and cockatiels, and I would give my life for them all without a second thought. Oh, I also love anything horror related with passion and bake, most of the time I don't even eat, I just bake and give it to people because I love it when they say they like what I made.

Hi Anon! Thank you for your request! Your english is very good! I hope you like your matchup!

In Percy Jackson, I match you with...

You and Annabeth are so similar! You're both smart, observant, and sarcastic, but you care deeply about those that matter to you.

Understands getting stressed better than most people. She has a lot of responsibilities, both externally and internally enforced, so she can see when you're getting stressed straight away.

A complete hypocrite when it comes to giving advice on how to not get stressed. Annabeth knows a lot of destressing methods, as well as how to prevent stress and she'll do her best to make sure you don't get too stressed.

Meanwhile, her own stress is growing by the day...

If you show her the same care she shows you, she will feel so honoured. She didn't have a great relationship with her family so having someone show her true care means a lot to her.

Annabeth would love reading with you. She's a fan of reading different things and then swapping once you're both finished so you can talk about your favourite parts at the end.

In Demon Slayer, I match you with...

Despite what you may think, Tanjiro loves your sarcasm! He's a people pleaser through and through so he likes that you often speak his mind about things that he would be too kind to say.

Loves your cooking! He isn't picky about what he likes or doesn't like so anything you give him will be appreciated.

I think Tanjiro would enjoy drawing or painting with you. He's not a master artist but he's not too bad either.

You're his favourite thing to draw or paint so expect him to look at you a lot while you're doing your own thing. He has to make sure he captures your likeness as best as he can.

Loves giving you hugs. I think Tanjiro's love language is also physical touch so he's more than happy to give you all the affection you need, whenever you need it.

Super supportive of you whenever you need to go near water. He'd be more than happy to teach you how to swim or, if water's still not your thing, he's also happy to just sit with you by the water while the others splash around.

In Genshin Impact, I match you with...

You and Nilou are art buddies! She's a super creative person so you'd get along well in that regard.

She loves dancing with you! It's her main hobby, and the fact that you enjoy dancing as well means a lot to her. She gets to share her favourite thing with her favourite person!

I see Nilou as someone who likes animals as well. Whenever you're out and about and you come across an animal, she's more than happy to stop and say hello to it with you.

Greatly appreciates your calm nature. As a creative person in Sumeru city, she has to deal with a lot of negativity from the people in the Academia. Your caring nature is a nice breath of fresh air.

Would help you dye your hair! However, I think Nilou would go a bit overboard with the dye and make crazy patterns in all different colours. So if you're up for having rainbow hair, she's the person to go to!

#writing #fanfic #matchup #matchup request #request #percy jackson #annabeth chase #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #tanjiro kamado #genshin impact #nilou

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the-lonelybarricade · 1 year

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At no time did I want to offend you, sorry if I bothered you with what I wrote, and I said that I stopped reading, not rereading (the first part the scenes don't have much of him so I read directly, because of what he reminds me are triggers for me but i never put the blame on you i like you stories to me are an escape and people like you are helping me always tell me i should speak so i thought i could) i never meant to suggest it was your belief like i do i said i don't know her, but that doesn't stop me from worrying about someone who helped me, as i'm not fluent in english sometimes my texts get confused, but not in the offending sense that I know of I didn't have any words that led to such an understanding, at no time did I mean to offend you or your writing and I thought that no sentence there would lead to this understanding maybe I was wrong. As I said I'm worried not only about you but everyone else, I sent the question because I've been following you since this fic on AO3 and because of that I started following your other works on Tumblr and I thought you were available to talk about the subjects of the series like many in the fandom and as I saw you answering other people's questions and opinions I thought I could send mine. I apologize for my misunderstanding. I thought I made it clear that I dindn't trying to offend it was never my intention

Hey love. For starters, I'm very sorry for whatever you have had to survive in your personal life. I sincerely wish you peace and healing on your journey.

It's really important for me to emphasize that sending authors citicism is not the same thing as sending prompts and questions. Writers love when people come to talk to us about our writing. But we are also people and we have to draw boundaries in the ways others are allowed to engage with us. You came into my ask box making a lot of assumptions about me as a person. I understand that a language barrier makes it more difficult to talk about nuanced topics and I want to be able to assume good intention, but implying someone is an abuse apologist is rarely ever done in good faith. I know you know this, because you said "I apolgoize if this sounds harsh". (If you have to write that when you are messaging someone about their writing, you should probably reconsider what you are about to send them)

Feyre's story clearly means something very powerful to you, and I am so glad acotar and acotar fic has been a source of healing. That being said, it is not a fic writer's responsibility to facilitate that healing for you. I have tagged my fic appropriately and written a story that *I* feel is true to the characters. You quoted Feyre and asked if her words reflect my opinions, but I'm not using Feyre as a tool to espouse my beliefs. I wrote that line because that's how I believe Feyre would feel in this very specific situation that I created to tell a story about Prythain unifying. Certain relationship dynamics had to change to achieve that, and I like to believe they felt organic to the storyline.

Anyway, the approach of an ask matters. If you had come into my askbox asking what inspired me to write the plot this way, we might have had a different conversation. But there was no question in your original ask, which makes it very unclear what you were hoping my response would be. (It certainly wasn't going to be gratitude)

#And again #I wish you nothing but healing and kindness #but at that same time extend that kindness towards me #I have spent over a year of my life pouring my soul into this project #I am not always going to be gracious towards unsolicited critiques

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birdofmay · 2 years

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hello, i have autism too, and i write in the same way you do using words i read that can lead to overcomplexity. i cannot function on my own and have very limited social skills, so logically i am low-functioning, but the fact that i can use words to communicate makes me feel i am not taken seriously as a disabled person. i am wondering if you have ever had the same problem, being afraid that other autistic people will devalue your input as a high-needs person because you can type well, even if you cannot function in other ways. the internet only sees what we type. apologies if this does not make sense. i am only wondering if this is a common experience for those with severe autism on the internet who can type well.

I once received an anon ask from someone who said they compared my writing style to other autistics with language problems, and this anon doubted that I in fact can't really speak because what I write is grammatically correct. It didn't occur to them that my writing style would be different if I used for example PECS AAC.

There are two advantages I have: Hyperlexia and no intellectual disability. These two things in combination enable me to mentally "save" sentence fragments and practice to translate my thoughts into new sentences. But it doesn't mean that I actually understand what I'm doing here 😄 I keep "thought diaries" to stay in practice. If you asked me to define the precise meaning of a word I wouldn't know how to do that because I often use sentence fragments with words where I know that they're used in this context but I don't know the actual meaning. Before I developed this ability to reassemble sentence fragments I only used AAC and sign language.

But aside from this one anon ask I didn't experience things like that. Sometimes (and this is something I actually don't like) I even feel that people are more willing to read my texts because I write well. Sometimes autistics write about something using AAC and sound ungrammatical and this post gets maybe 2 notes. Then I write about the same topic and get 80 notes because my text sounds more fluent. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I think other medium to high support needs autistics always value input from or about higher support needs, no matter the writing style. I think it's more autistics who don't know the life and struggles of higher support needs autistics who tend to be sceptical. Which is understandable because if your life is so very different from higher support needs people, of course there's this "clash of cultures" at first.

#anon ask #long post

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myrmidryad · 2 years

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I love the way the askbox now biggifies a number on its own like this. is this new? idc, I love it. it's like you're yelling "NINETEEEEEEN!!!" at me at the top of your voice. ANYWAY. thanks for asking. 😘

19. If you could write an ideal fic, what would it include?

HMMMMM. okay okay. my ideal fic would include the following:

quite a lot of sex, probably with a bdsm flavour.

it would strike that perfect balance of enough description to make you feel like you're truly immersed in the environment, to make you crave the food I'm describing, to remind you how BIG a sky can look, etc etc, but without going so far that you're skipping entire paragraphs of overly-detailed description. this balance is the hardest thing for me personally to strike. a very definite sense of place.

a communication barrier. most likely in the form of one or more different languages, which I will manage to convey without actually coming up with a new language, or knowing an existing one, because despite being fascinated by language as a concept and the similarities and differences between them, I am fucking bad at them, and am depressingly only fluent in English. anyway, these language barriers will involve thinky thoughts on how the language/s you speak influence the way you think, and the inability to communicate perfectly in any language. also something about translation being absolutely incredible despite its limitations.

the marvellous mundane. i.e. everyone wants to save the world but no one wants to help mum do the dishes. i.e. you might not be able to have a big impact in a big way, but it is just as if not more important to have a big impact in a small way. love and kindness and compassion is essential to human nature. you won't save a life today, but you can improve someone's day by letting that car go out in front of you. little things matter.

gratuitous worldbuilding.

FOOD IS LOVE!!!

#why yes I do try to incorporate most if not all of these things into almost every fic I write now #excellent ask fiona 10/10 #asks

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reyesariel · 7 months

Text

ENGLISH INTEGRATED PROJECT

KEY WORDS - DEFINITIONS

Story: a description, either true or imagined, of a connected series of events.

Tale: a story, especially one that might be invented or difficult to believe.

Science Fiction: books, films, or cartoons about an imagined future, especially about space travel or other planets.

LITERATURE

Enjoying the long-awaited 2065 Christmas with my dear wife Olivia, my nephew Santiago 7 years old who I take after, and our best friends Alejandra and Camilo. In the capital of Jupiter where I currently reside. It has been 5 years since one of the most historical events on the planet Earth... Later, at some precise moment, the classic curiosity of the children came out, with a specific question.

Santiago: What is the history of Aquarenaissance uncle?

I am so glad that you asked, and here goes the story Santiago.

During the year 2049 on Earth, the water shortage was no longer a surprise, it was chaos. Of course, we came across the news and came up with a mission to combat the problem with Olivia, Alejandra, and Camilo, to create an organization to create multiple solutions and travel to the past. Seems like a good plan but on the other hand it was a very difficult, costly, and dangerous job, but thanks to the financing of the humans of Jupiter, the organization, we were able to start on the right foot and track down the problem. The lack of importance given by humans to the possible water crisis was disappointing.

Therefore, our star action would be to pay all the news programs in the world to talk about the issue weekly as a part of their transmission.

President of the Organization: Dear colleagues, the decision you have been all waiting for, the organization has decided that Camilo and Reyes are gonna be the travelers of the mission and perform the time travel.

Reyes to Santiago: We were shocked, at this point we knew that it was a real deal.

We entered the time capsule and introduced the year 2019, the planet had 30 years to reflect. Immediately when we arrived, we started working like crazy people moving in every way you could imagine, after that we almost gave up but we did bring up our discipline to keep up the mission.

To end up, because of all the work, the task turned out awesome and we fix up the problem. The planet in the first 5 of the 30 years had already done more consciousness than 45% of its entire history. As a result, when the year 2049 arrived, it was a different mentality. We were able to save the crisis and the universe nicknamed it "Aquarenaissance".

Santiago: THAT’S AWESOME!!! I'm so proud of having an uncle like you.

APA7 REFERENCES

80 most common phrasal verbs. (2023, May 15). Phrasal Verbs Defined & Most Common Phrasal Verbs | Grammarly Blog; Grammarly Blog. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/common-phrasal-verbs/

Jackson, S. (2022, May 30). Writing science fiction: Top tips from A Sci-Fi bestseller. Jericho Writers. https://jerichowriters.com/writing-science-fiction/

Phrasal verbs list with meanings and examples. (2022, April 1). BYJUS; BYJU’S. https://byjus.com/english/phrasal-verbs-list/

Shilpa. (2023, February 17). 100 most common phrasal verbs list with meaning: Speak English fluently. The Fluent Life. https://thefluentlife.com/content/100-most-common-phrasal-verbs-list-meaning/

Touro University. (n.d.). Transitional words. Touro.edu. Retrieved October 16, 2023, from https://www.touro.edu/departments/writing-center/tutorials/transitional-words/

(N.d.). Researchgate.net. Retrieved October 16, 2023, from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Examples-of-indirect-word-level-borrowings_tbl1_335676976

I have made this AI picture, by using the program "IA to create images" from Canva. It was very easy, I just have to type how I want that image and in a matter of seconds I had it.

VIDEO

#water

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mooifyourecows · 1 year

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i am conversational in spanish and have been for a while! i’ve been learning spanish since i was like 12, so i’ve practiced a lot, which is why i’m considering what my next conquest should be. i just really want to continue to improve to the point of fluency. i know all the rules that i would need to function, just vocab is what i haven’t mastered. i don’t know nearly as many words as i need to. i do love spanish music and tv though, and i plan on going to mexico the summer between graduation and college starting to really improve!

also ASL is so cool, tbh i only really know silly stuff like cereal bath and toy and the alphabet, but i learned a bunch when my deaf cousin visited a couple years ago! she was like 4 so she wasn’t really thinking too complexly so it was super easy words but it was so fun! you should definitely try to learn. especially since it’s all physical, eventually it’s muscle memory. like i haven’t looked at the alphabet in so long but i can do almost all of it just because i did it so much when i was younger

In that case, I'd pick the language that you think would be most useful to you! Polish uses a similar alphabet, though with all those accents and what not, so it might be a little easier than Korean. Though I've heard that Korean is pretty difficult to learn for native English speakers, I also hear that Hangul is one of the best designed alphabets in the world. I also think that Korean might be more useful than Polish considering how big Korean media has become in the western world. Polish is probably a little less common, but if you have sentimental reason to learn it, maybe it would be more fun for you?

I think in terms of what would look impressive on a college application or job application, Korean would probably be the better of the two. Partially because learning an entirely new alphabet is super impressive and partially because there's probably a higher demand for Korean speakers vs Polish speakers.

Either way though, it'll be cool to know either of them! What matters most is what YOU want to do 👌

I had a friend who went to college to learn ASL, which was pretty cool but the way she talked about her class made it seem like HELL because it was a very intense learning environment. You know those types of teachers that are like "FROM NOW ON, WE WILL ONLY COMMUNICATE WITH ASL. IF YOU SPEAK, YOU LOSE POINTS FOR THE DAY" which is like... fucking stupid for a beginner class of people who know ZERO asl. like c'mon, save that teaching method for people who are intermediate at the language, ya know?

My dad had a similar teacher like that in high school but for French. She said that they were not allowed to speak english in the class but it was a beginners class and nobody knew any French so they'd just sit there and stare at her blankly as she spoke French at them. And then she'd get mad when they didn't know what she was saying lmao like WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? that'd they'd just learn through osmosis??? he said that went on for 2 weeks before she finally caved and allowed them to speak english but she had a bad attitude about it for the rest of the semester. it's like... just because you know the language doesn't mean you're qualified to teach it, you know? i'd never have the audacity to think that just because i'm a native English speaker, i could teach non native English speakers how to speak it. unless they were toddlers, i guess lol

one of my friends was an exchange student to Austria and had to learn German in like, less than a year. she said for the first few months living over there, she couldn't understand a THING. then suddenly, it all clicked. lucky for her, her host family was fluent in english so she could still communicate, but for school she said she was so lost, they'd write her up special tests that were in much more basic German. not that they care that much if you do the work. it's more for the experience of a different culture than doing school work. she'd already graduated here in America so they were like, ehh, just have fun

have you looked into an exchange program? i think there's money involved, like i believe my friend had to do some fundraising before she could go, but she said it was an amazing experience and she made so many friends in the program from all over the world! In fact, one of the other kids from my high school went to Poland for his exchange. He struggled with the language even more than my friend though because Polish is more difficult than German. At least for English speakers, since English IS a Germanic language and shares a lot of similarities with it.

but i digress

languages are interesting

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runeterrankhaleesi · 2 years

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Hi, I would like to request a matchup for Valorant

About me, I'm a 5'2 tall lesbian girl with dyed pink hair (like the draculaura from Monster High). I have very pale skin and light brown eyes.

I'm learning english (sorry for any mistakes) and i also speak portuguese, spanish, german and french fluently. I like to learn new cultures from different countries and I like to delve mainly in the language.

I'm ambiverted, but mostly introverted. I'm shy with whom I'm not intimate.

I'm more of a listener than a talker, but it depends on the day.

People say that I am a very critical and observant person.

They tell me a lot for me to stop being so "serious" so I think this is a defect of mine that should be worked on. I've also been told that I have a mortar look??? hahahah

But in fact, what few know is that I am very affectionate, I like to give affection and receive, especially hugs. I'm the type of person who makes a letter with words of affirmation.

We hugs I like more to be the one who receives and to be the smallest spoon.

I really enjoy giving surprise gifts to other people. From her favorite food to something expensive she might be wanting.

My hobbies: I love reading and/or writing, I like listening to music and dancing and I like to learn new things about different subjects.

I pair you with...

RAZE!

Why? Because...

Raze's cheerful, outgoing, optimistic, chaotic, and party-animal personality is what makes her get along with people instantly, it's no wonder how you two became the best of friends within a matter of seconds.

She was the first one to confess. She was nervous-terrified to be exact. You two were friends, really good friends! You were partners in crime! And she didn't want to potentially ruin it by confessing her feelings and telling you that she a crush on you. But when you told her that you felt the same, you have no idea how happy she was. Her heart exploded like fireworks. She immediately arranged a fun date for you two. Couple dates later and now here you are, in a relationship.

Raze does her best to help you learn and improve your English. At first, she found the language hard to understand as a fellow Portuguese speaker, but overtime it got easy and soon enough, she was fluent. Additionally, Raze's pet names for you are in Portuguese, it's to keep the others from not knowing what it means since it's meant for you and only you.

Since you love learning new things about other's people culture, Raze will introduce you to the other agents. She loves to see you get along with them, she considers them as family, especially Killjoy and Jett. In a few days, she'll find you speaking "good morning" or "hello" in another language you just learned.

Like you, Raze is an ambivert. It mostly depends on her mood. Some days she'll stay inside and work on her tech, even offering to teach you how to tinker with stuff or letting you paint and doodle on it. While other days you'll find her outdoors, jumping around with her satchels or riding her skateboard. She's more of a talker, she loves to tell you how her day went, there's that sparkle in her eyes whenever she talks about something she found interesting.

Raze loves everything about you. She doesn't care if you're "too serious" or have a "mortar" look, she will actively fight people if they say that you should change. "Be you." She always say, "Don't let other people tell you otherwise.".

She's quite the hugger, she gives bear hugs and will practically squeeze you to death. It's just a way of showing her love. She'll cuddle you anywhere and spoon you. And she loves to be in the receiving end of your letters and gifts, it makes her feel special and loved. Raze actually keeps one or two letters in her pocket when she's on a mission so that whenever she touches her pocket, she feels the paper and gets reminded of what you wrote, making her smile and more motivated to finish her mission quicker so she can go home to you

💝~Happy Valentines Day!~💝

#runeterrankhaleesi #valorant #valorant x reader #raze #valorant raze #LMMU #love month match up

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nctseren · 3 years

Text

Kids Meet Foreign Member In Kpop Group (Feat. NCT) : SEREN!

[english in italic]

A little boy is sitting on the floor, looking around. He was small and skinny. On his face, he wore the most adorable gummy smile.

He seemed excited.

He had been told, that he was meeting a foreign friend, and he loved meeting new people.

"Do you think they are cool?" he asks, looking at his mom and the staff. "I'll try to take care of what I say. My mommy told me to be respectful... But I always am."

Seren approaches the boy, and instantly his gummy smile and aura make her feel welcome.

"Adorable," she cooed when he waves at her.

"That's English!" he says enthusiastic. "So cool!"

She sits across from him and sets aside the bag of candy she brought.

"How are you?" the boy looks at the staff, still as happy. "I'm Seren from Australia. What's your name?"

"Seren?" he repeats.

"Yes, Seren."

He looks back at the staff, but then something seems to connect in his mind. "Oh! Juwon! Name Juwon."

"Nice to meet you," she finally speaks to him in Korean, and his eyes widen in amazement. "Your reactions are so cute. I'm actually fluent in Korean."

"So cool!" laughs Juwon. "I want to learn so many languages."

"Really? I'm sure you will, one day." she sends him a friendly wink. "So, I'm supposed to have a concept, just follow me. I'm 13 years old."

He giggles. "So young! My sister is that age too!"

"Oh!, my sister too! We can all be friends!"

"She will like that — she doesn't have many friends." he frowns.

Seren thinks for a moment, frowning too. "Kids that age can be a bit mean, but I'm sure you're a great brother to her."

"Yes, I am," he assures. "Can I call you noona?"

"Of course!"

Again, he smiles at the staff and gave his thumbs up.

"Let me tell you," she says. "I'm from Australia — that's what I said earlier when I spoke in English — I came to Korea when I was... maybe 11 — no, I was 13 in Korean age."

"Noona, how old are you— No!" he covers his mouth. "Sorry, I shouldn't ask that."

She looks at him with amusement. "Okay, but I'll tell you that it's been almost ten years since I came to Korea."

Juwon thinks, doing the math in his mind. "Oh yeah yeah, I already know your age."

"You are very smart!" she claps. "Okay, so I brought you something from Australia."

"For me?"

Seren takes the bag and opens it. He quickly approaches excitedly.

"Candy!" he speaks in broken English.

She nods as she takes out a pair. "Yeah! But we call them different, lollies. It doesn't really matter that much, though, as long as they taste good."

Juwon, who is already opening a package from Freddo, nods happily.

"They taste amazing."

"Were you scared when you came to Korea?" he asks with eyes full of curiosity.

"Scared? No, maybe... maybe a little," she chuckles. "But there was no need to, my family came with me. I think I was more nervous than scared because I was a timid girl."

"Really? You don't seem like that kind of person."

"Right? I've changed that."

He nods. "Why did you want to come to Korea?"

"Ooh," Seren pauses, thinking about her answer. "I want to be an artist. Like— have you ever heard of Wonder Girls? Or F(x)?"

"Yes," he hesitates for a moment. "I think— Yes, I think my aunt likes them."

"Well, I like them too, a lot. And I always wanted to be on stage, since I was little I was always singing and dancing."

"You would be a good idol."

"Thank you!"

"And are you happy?" he asks, once again with curiosity. "I mean, did you fulfill your dream?"

Seren looks at the camera for a moment and then looks at him again. "Of course, I'm happy. But— I still have that dream."

"Do you like Korea?"

"Of course!" she responds happily, eating a bar of chocolate. "I like everything, the food, the people, the culture."

"And do you have a lot of friends?" Juwon questions, grabbing another candy. "I can be one of them."

She smiles at him. "I'd be happy if you were my friend. And yes, I have made some nice friendships. But," she pauses. "It was difficult the first years."

"Why?"

"Well," she explains. "Even though I knew — I know — many people, it's hard to tell the real ones apart. So when I came here, I was very friendly with everyone, but I couldn't exactly tell who my real friends were. It was until years later."

He seems to agree. "Right, right. My mommy always tells me that."

"Your mommy is a smart person. I know who you got it from," she laughs. "But Juwon, what about you? Do you have a lot of friends?"

He nods quickly.

"Yes, I am friends with many people, but best friends with only two of them," he replies. "We like to ride our bikes all the time. Sometimes we also play video games. Noona, what did you do when you were my age?"

"Your age? How old are you? About 8?" he nods excitedly. "Ooh, well, I always played hide and seek with my friends. I also went to the beach a lot with my family. I built giant sandcastles — okay, maybe not giant, but very pretty."

"So you didn't like bikes?" he seems disconcerted. It was his favorite activity.

"Yes, of course!"

Juwon smiles, relieved.

"Do you miss that? Australia, I mean."

Seren thinks before answering. "Yeah, I can't lie. My family went back to Australia like 3 years ago, so I miss it — and them — even more."

He opens his mouth, clearly surprised.

"Do you live alone? But that's dangerous."

"Oh, no, I don't live alone. Don't worry," she proceeds to explain. "I live with some good friends. They became like my second family. They are also chasing the same dream as me, so we kind of..."

"You're chasing your dream, together."

"Yes."

"Actually," he tells her, pulling something out of a bag next to him. "I also have a gift for you, I was very excited when I found out that I would meet a foreigner, and the first thing I thought was about the adventures you should or are going to have." he shyly hands her the gift. "You can write all your adventures there, and that way you will remember them forever. I have one like this too, and so does my sister."

It was a notebook decorated with a bunch of colors and a lot of animated characters (probably his favorites). In big and highlighted letters, it said: Adventure Book.

"It's so beautiful," she hugs the notebook, a big smile on her face. "Did you make this?

"Yes, with my sister."

Seren's smile grows bigger. "Thank you. I love it. Also, thank your sister, I would have liked to meet her."

"I will tell her so much about you!"

#kpop added member #kpop addition #kpop female addition #kpop oc #nct 127 added member #nct 127 addition #nct 22nd member #nct 24th member #nct added member #kpop female idol #nct addition #nct oc #nct au #kpop female member

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alatismeni-theitsa · 3 years

Note

Do you have any sort of, words of encouragement, for a Greek-American who is struggling to learn Greek? My family is pretty connected to our heritage but I was never taught to speak Greek. I am an adult now, and I know I'm at an incredible disadvantage trying to learn a new language. The most discouraging thing is when I try to pronounce a word with a sound that isn't really in English (like γ) and I KNOW I am not saying it right, but no matter how hard I try I can't pronounce it correctly.

Hello! I'm very sorry for delaying this answer for some days, but as we see here, Zeus was fucked this week 😅

I will pin my answer so you can see it when you return, and the rest will be under the cut.

I believe there are MANY reasons for hope in this situation. Of course it feels very discouraging that you don't know the language already and you might feel left behind in this process. Plus, learning a new language is not an easy thing to learn. But worry not!

You are grown, and that means you can learn a language better and with more consistency and discipline. Have trust in your skills as an adult. What is more, you have grown up around Greek speakers and you will pick up certain things faster.

You are not alone in feeling this way. Most of the world has to learn a second language (and a third, as it's usual for many) and that would be the language most dominant in the wider area. Almost every person in the West who is not an English speaker has to learn English and learn it well, otherwise we feel embarrassed every time we try and form a sentence. For example, we apologize to each other about our accents in English German and French, even though we speak Greek.

Surely there are some differences between your situation and ours, but I mentioned this to show you that most people will be very understanding with accents because they have the same struggle. I mean, I'm not going to make fun of someone for having an accent in Greek when I sound like a demented chicken in German, despite taking years of lessons 😵 I have more confidence in my English but even now that I'm writing to you in this language I have to quadruple-check my sentences and phrasing. The amount of times I apologized in advance for my accent to English speakers is higher than my credit.

I relayed your situation to other Greek speakers and non-English speakers, and ALL agreed the accent is not anything they would pay attention to and told me to write you that you shouldn't feel bad about that. I did that because I knew they would have words of encouragement for you. And it turns out they believe exactly what I'm writing in this answer.

Accents are natural. You cannot expect not to have an accent when you have been speaking a different language all your life. Beating yourself up for having difficulty with the Greek pronunciation is like beating yourself up for something normal like walking or laughing when hearing something funny. You lack practice with the pronunciation due to circumstances beyond your control. You are doing what you can to change that, and every small win is worth celebrating!

I found this post the other day:

The notes? The likes?

And NO disagreements in the comments and reblogs for OP’s statement! Look how many thousands are supportive in this! (And that’s a small fraction of people who understand accents are natural.) And some of the responses:

Sure, some mention they have met native speakers who made it more difficult to feel comfortable with their accent and phrasing. But those people are assholes in general, and not the people you want to surround yourself with. If a relative expresses disgust about your accent remind them you didn’t have any control of how much and how well you were taught Greek when you were a kid, and then tell them that if they are a true friend and relative to you, they should support you in your journey. And even if you had some control and chose not to learn, you are learning now. So they should leave their resentment behind because, honestly, what do they have to lose from you learning the language better??

For the embarrassment you feel for yourself: you wouldn't make fun of a Greek for having trouble with the “r”, "s", “ch”, and possibly the "h" when speaking English, so extend that kindness to yourself when you speak Greek. Not to mention that with enough practice and time you can nail the accent!

Worst case scenario, if the accent never leaves, that's no problem whatsoever. Anyone who thinks badly of you for your accent is probably a PoS and they don't deserve your time. No matter where you are from, if they make you feel bad for having an accent in Greek, block them from your mind forever.

But chances are that (from experience) if anyone laughs with how you said something, I guarantee they are not laughing at you but because of how strange the sound or phrasing was. The person doesn't think badly of you because of this. Making mistakes of any kind when learning a language is very natural and it's something everyone must accept. If you are not willing to make mistakes and expose your language vulnerabilities to people who know the language better, might as well not try improving at all.

If anyone corrects you, they are not doing it out of pity. The majority of Greeks do it because they are very happy you speak the language and want you to be even more fluent. Like, they are doing it as an act of backing you up, they are feeling like they are giving you that extra XP to reach the next level! Others - like me - get that rush of happiness when they get to share their language with others 😁

I remember a guy on Tiktok who was learning Greek and ordered a coffee "without sugar" in a Greek cafe but instead of saying σκέτο ("without") he said σκατά ("shit"). I mean damn that was funny! I remember it weeks after I saw the video of him telling that story and it always cracks me up. Do I still appreciate him the same as before and follow him? Absolutely! He just had an unfortunate - and funny - incident, not something that lessened his integrity as a person.

From tiktok again: An American girl wanted to pronounce γύρος correctly when ordering it, and she was mumbling to herself on camera: “yeero, yeero, yeero!!” When her time to order came she shouted “May I have a gairow? FUUUUCKK FUUCK FUCK I SAID IT WRONG” 🤣

Another example is Athena from the Bachelor 2! She has given some gems throughout the show because she doesn't know the language that well, but everyone still loves her because she spreads positivity and is so cute!! If we, as viewers, disliked her it would be because of her character, not because she doesn't know the language well. And if some of the other girls in the show don’t take her seriously is because she laughs too much and mentions feta too often, not due to her Greek level of literacy. Athena, even when she is hurting someone else’s feelings, is always so genuine and you just can’t be mad at her!

I really can’t stretch enough how people laugh at the mishap, not the person! Please don’t feel discouraged if you ever see a Greek laughing with the pronunciation of an English speaker when it comes to Greek words (which I have done as well) because we never laugh at the speakers. We don’t even know them! We might laugh at one mistake but then instantly want to become this individual’s friends because we think they are amazing (see the three examples I mentioned above, the sugar guy, the gyro girl and Athena). Because that’s the normal thing to do; laugh at fun stuff and not judge people for their small mishaps. (In a casual setting, and not to an uncomfortable degree ofc!)

There are so many things to a person other than their accent and the accent becomes old news really fast. What remains is how the presence of a person makes you feel and if they are a good individual. If an English speaking friend says yatakai instead of γατάκι that opens the way for sooo many jokes! Greeks will laugh, do some YATAKAAIIII screams - ninja style, and then continue being friends with that person!

Greeks makes these mistakes as well... A Greek once said "arrive arrive" (φτάνει φτάνει) instead of "enough" when an English speaker was filling his glass. A Lower English degree caught fire that day 🤣 I have many bad examples of Greeks’ mistakes in English but I can’t remember a lot. But I’ve seen many videos of Greeks mocking themselves for how they sound in English. You can take a look at Tsipras’ (our former prime minister) mistakes on youtube if you are feeling brave 😂 (Ο Τσίπρας μιλάει Αγγλικά)

So, own your possible mistakes, laugh at them and move on because everyone makes them and we better have some good while we are struggling!

(( For the record, we are not making fun of Tsipras because of his accent, but because 1) he doesn’t know γρι English and yet he rarely brought a translator with him in international meetings with world leaders, 2) he could absolutely not hold a conversation with negotiating or discussing 3) he didn’t take steps to improve or fix the situation (like bring a translator). 4) Instead, he chose to torment us all with mind-numbing hours of reading English texts and making other world leaders struggle to explain to him what they meant for the nth time and meetings move at a snail pace.))

Alright, now that I cringed with the memory of Tsipras speaking English, I’ll go though the recommendations for improving the Greek pronunciation.

1) Go to my resources for learning Greek (#learn greek) where I have many videos where you can hear the sounds individually or withing other words very clearly. Easy Greek on youtube has excellent videos about pronunciation!

2) Seek practice as much as possible. Some Greeks switch to English when they hear an English accent to make the conversation smoother for the other person. If Greek speakers insist on talking with you in English tell them that you would wish to speak in Greek. I've seen that people often mirror the accent of the native speaker when they speak to one, so this might work for you as well with hours of practice. If no Greek speakers are available to you now, you can find Greek Americans online – or go to their festivals – and start talking to them.

3) Listen to Greek podcasts, songs and shows. (In my blog you’ll find them at #greek youtuber #podcast #greek tv #greek movie #short film #greek music). You know when you hear a catchy foreign song and then it’s stuck in your head and you say all the words perfectly without even knowing what it means? Well, this helps with pronunciation!

4) If you had Spanish in school or have Spanish friends mimicking the Spanish accent might help you. (Our accents are extremely close! The Spanish are the best at Greek pronunciation, and vice versa!)

5) Find sounds in your native language that sound close to the sounds you want to say in Greek. In German lessons I had trouble with “ch” in certain words because I made it sound like χ and it was horrible. My Greek teacher told me to remember how χ sounds in χήνα (it sounds a bit flatter) and make that sound when I encountered “ch”. It worked actually!

To people who have English as their native language I often suggest they remember the sound of w for γ because, although not used the same in the word, at times they have the same intensity. Γ is pronounced more “to the front” of the mouth, so if you can bring that sound forward in your mouth you’ll be very close, if not accurate, to γ. (But don’t bring it too much forward, sometimes it can sound like a “y”, unless you are saying a word where γ sounds like “y”).

Greeks pronounce σ more closely to “sh” than to “s”, so you also might want to keep that in mind since σ often distinguishes the Greek accent in English for me :p

That’s all! If you have more questions or want to tell me anything else about your experience with learning Greek, feel free to send another ask or a DM!

#answered #learn greek #pronunciation #encouragement

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losingmymindtonight · 5 years

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okay so i write fics in english but i'm not a native speaker, i don't even live in an english-speaking country. i just learnt it in school and now i'm close to getting my bachelor's degree in it. i kind of always feel like i should apologise for my english in the notes bc i can't guarantee it's as good or eloquent as a native speaker's would be, but then again i *am* (or should be) proficient and it feels like i'm apologising for nothing or fishing for compliments. any advice?

Here’s the thing: learning a second language well enough to not just be fluent, but to write fanfiction in it, is an achievement that I can’t even wrap my head around. I took Spanish for like 10 years and I’m still shit at it. So, just know that I am very, very impressed. I stan an icon.

If you feel the need to remind your readers that English is not your native language just for the sake of context, then that’s totally fine. Go for it. I feel like it’s no different from adding in other random details about the way a fic came to be. But if you do point it out, don’t apologize. Own it.

Like, yeah, I learned an entire second language and now I’m making you content in that language like the badass that I am. Yeah, you’re welcome.

Fanfiction is a gift. You aren’t being payed to produce this content, you’re choosing to write it. You don’t owe anybody groundbreaking eloquence or flawless grammar. If I’m being honest, I’ve never really seen that as the point of fanfiction.

A great fanfiction isn’t one that is technically perfect. A great fanfiction is a story that’s overflowing with the passion and love and excitement that made you start writing for fandom in the first place.

At the end of the day, you don’t need to apologize for any part of your fanfiction. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a native speaker. It doesn’t matter if it’s just plotless fluff. It doesn’t matter if it’s an obscure idea you borrowed off of a Western filmed in 1968. It doesn’t matter if the inspiration for the title came from a One Direction song. You made something, and you’ve gifted it to the rest of us. Anybody who wants to be a dick about it can yeet themselves into the sun.

TL;DR: tell your readers whatever you want to, but never apologize for it. You don’t have to “guarantee” anything. Just write. Go wild. Have fun.

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dee-toraburu · 5 years

Note

Sorry if my spanish sounds different! Honestly I don't even know how different is the Spanish from Spain compared to the Spanish in Latin America, I know the accents sound different, but I actually never had enough exposure to notice if the type of writting or speaking is different. I'm trying to improve my english so this is a good option (I hope reduce my mistakes) And thank you for being so kind.

Hey, sorry for the long wait, I hope you are doing okay!

To be honest I didn’t notice any differences when I read your text in Spanish, I understood quite easily what you meant. I think that the difference is more distinct when speaking.

Regarding your English, you are VERY GOOD at it, be confident about it! Thank you so much for taking the time and making the effort to communicate with me, you can’t imagine how happy I am! I’m not fluent in English, but I do my best, and the same applies to you. What matters the most is that we try to understand and communicate with each other and it works :)

If you prefer writing in Spanish go for it, I want you to feel at ease when writing to me! Thank you again for your interesting asks, I’m really eager to get some news from you.

Take care buddy!

#anonymous #ask #personal

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scientificphilosopher · 6 years

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How did you know grad school for philosophy was right for you? I'm an undergrad philosophy major considering grad school and I do very well in my philosophy classes, but I don't think I'm an exceptional thinker. I'm improving at clear thinking and writing every term (speaking clearly/precisely is an entirely different problem for me), but it's a slow process. If I'm not an exceptional thinker now is this something I can substantially improve upon in grad school?

My educational adventure has been quite a jaunt. I went through high school with a bit of a distaste for school. And by a bit of distaste I mean I couldn’t fucking stand it and the thought of going to college was about as appealing as giant butthole spiders. So I definitely was not an ‘exceptional thinker’ in any conventional sense. Ultimately, though, the decision to put college on hiatus proved to be invaluable for my intellectual path. This gave me the privilege of accruing meaningful life experience, to explore who I was and what I valued. This is why, in my mid-20′s, I decided that I loved learning. And I loved learning philosophy and science in particular. And, much to the chagrin of my spikey-haired, anarchy-emblazoned high school self, it turned out that I really cared about people and the state of the world. Quixotic or not, I wanted to (and still want to) make a difference.

So I went to college. And my love for philosophy only deepened. So I went to grad school. And it deepened even more. I wouldn’t trade these experiences for anything. My story is not everyone’s story, though. This is just what happened to happen to little ol’ me. At any rate, I can tell you that my ability to think and write and speak, all of these things have improved dramatically over these last several years (at least I like to think so). Going back and reading my undergrad papers is an exercise in humility. It’s really bad. And that’s okay. That’s good, even! Writing and thinking are skills that have to be developed. Just like learning to play the saxophone, or becoming fluent in Spanish or Xhosa, or going to the gym and building up some veiny monstrosities that you call biceps–all these things take years of committed practice. Philosophy is no different. Of course it’s a slow process! It’s hard as heck. ‘The brain is like a muscle,’ said my boy Saggy C. ‘When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.’ So keep curling that Carl. Deadlift some Darwin, bench some Beauvoir. And then wash it all down with a protein shake of self-reflection. You don’t need to be an ‘exceptional thinker’ to do philosophy. You can become an exceptional thinker by doing philosophy.*

Ultimately, there is no way to determine with certainty whether philosophy (or any other pursuit) is the right decision for you. And you don’t want other people deciding for you. There will be unique difficulties no matter what fat purple fig you pull from the branch. I can tell you this with confidence though: pursue your choice with passion and dedication and the odds are very high that you will be exceptional in the right kinds of ways.

(*Nota bene: there’s nothing to say that doing philosophy will necessarily or automatically make you an exceptional thinker. The history of philosophy is rife with counterexamples to that idea. But it can, perhaps better than any other academic discipline, equip you with the tools to think better. But I am a huge advocate of making your education as eclectic as possible. Dip that philosophy cookie into some psychology milk. Smear some physics peanut butter and biology jelly in between those philosophy buns. Sprinkle some sociology salt on those philosophy fries, and then squirt on some critical theory ketchup. Guard against academic provincialism.)

#Questions #nich #education #philosophy #carl sagan #sylvia plath #darwin #simone de beauvoir #school #grad school #the good place #butthole spider

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magistralucis · 7 years

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I don't know if you're the same person, but I think I came across your old DeviantArt account. The reason why I bring this up is because I found your translations of Till Lindemann's poems, and in them you mentioned that you were just a beginner when it came to the German language. As someone who is trying to learn German myself, I was wonder if you had any tips on how to learn the language. I'm finding it quite difficult to get the hang of. Again, please ignore this if I have the wrong person.

Hi, it’s the same anon who asked you advice about learning German. It’s a bit off topic from my last ask, but the reason why I want to learn is mostly due to becoming a huge fan of Rammstein. Mutter is my favorite album, it’s so good!

Hello anon. I am definitely the person you’re looking for. I was working on this message when I initially received it and it was beginning to get rather out of hand - then I received the second one, and so I’ll meld the two responses into one and cross my fingers and hope for the best!

I started learning German about six years ago, when I first got into R+ and Till’s poetry. The motivation you have is pretty much the same one I had (same favourite album too! High five) and this is how I went about it. Apart from the standard ‘take it slow and steady, practice often’ advice that applies to every language, I’ve also added some German-specific advice beneath the cut:

1. If you can attend a beginner’s class, try to attend at least a year’s worth, especially if German is your first attempted foreign language. If you’re not used to learning languages, this is probably the most helpful advice I can give, because languages are by definition social constructs and you need people to speak it to and keep it alive with; this is also the place where they’ll teach you the basics of grammar, enough for you to begin navigating textbooks and be able to pick out the advice that works for you.

This applies regardless of whether you want to learn ‘fully’ (in all capacities) or more ‘academically’ (reading + writing + information gathering prioritized) or if you literally want to be able to ‘speak’ it (listening + speaking prioritized). I may or may not be against the advice of langblr when I say this, but there is absolutely a limit to self-study, especially if you have no one else to talk in German with. I’d be hesitant to advise that going to classes for the entirety of your German learning will be helpful, because those things differ and there are very real concerns like money to consider, but they do make for an invaluable foundation.

2. If you are committed to self-studying for whatever reason, research your resources thoroughly. I’d recommend finding a textbook that works for you and sticking with it, because some grammar terms can and will differ across media. This isn’t a fix for knowing the correct grammatical terminology in all cases, because there are multiple ways to refer to a concept, but knowing what process is involved in what you’re referring to and being able to refer to it by a consistent name will help when you’re looking up resources elsewhere.

This is an example of what I mean: the ’Subjunctive II’ in German used to be called ‘past subjunctive’ as an interchangeable term, when in fact the Subjunctive II is a class of subjunctives that utilize simple past/imperfect, pluperfect, and conditional tense forms to form themselves - they are not merely subjunctives that are only meant to be used in past tense sentences, as the term ‘past subjunctive’ can imply. I mean, simple past/imperfect subjunctives are meant for unreal events taking place in the present or future.

Took me a while to wrap my head around that.

The books in my arsenal are Essential German Grammar by Martin Durrell, Katrin Kohl and Gudrun Loftus (very grammar-oriented and strict, but helpful), a verb conjugation book of the 500 most common German verbs (useful for reference), a German dictionary, a translation theory book (you won’t need this, necessarily, if your focus isn’t on translation), and some textbooks with translation segments in them. When I was going to classes, I used the Wilkommen! series of books by Paul Coggle and Heiner Schenke, and I have a GCSE German textbook from CGP Books for when I tutor German to younger students (because that’s also a thing I do, haha). I gathered all of this in the UK, so this list may or may not be helpful to you; but in the end, the language isn’t going anywhere, so some research will help you make the right choice.

3. Brush up on your grammar terminology. If the above Subjunctive II example induced in you a case of math_lady.jpg, the problem you’ll first run into isn’t a German problem - it’ll be a problem of what you understand of the grammar of your native language, or at the very least, the language your resources are written in. Even if you are a bilingual or residing in multilingual territory already (e.g. you are from somewhere like Canada where monolingualism isn’t standard, already know some foreign languages, etc.) it’s worth brushing up on the grammar. Terms such as ‘copula’, ‘adjective’, ‘preposition’, ‘gender-based inflection’, ‘accusative case’, ‘indirect object’, and ‘adverbials’ absolutely need to make sense to you in order for you to understand your resources.

I mean, I have to be honest. You don’t really need grammarspeak in order to be fluent in a language, because you also pick those things up via immersion; but if you are using textbooks and learning at a later stage of life, you are going to come across heavy use of grammar terminology at some point. And German grammar is painful, I won’t lie. When I tutored German from scratch, it took a full year just to get the fundamental grammar down. German is very logical, save for when there are exceptions - and there are always exceptions, thousands of them - and when the underlying structure of the language hasn’t begun to make sense yet. To my experience, you sort of break eventually and accept it. It’s, uh… always best to be prepared. If you’re adept in grammarspeak already you may ignore this section, save for the bit about German grammar being hard, because that is absolutely true.

4. Practice, practice, practice. I can’t stress this enough. I actually have no one method to recommend, because I had only a very specific goal in mind when I was first learning German: I was going to finish translating Messer. My practice involved translating German texts into English (not the reverse!), regardless of what they were, and listening to German music and radio. This will not work for everyone. What matters regardless of what you do is consistency - 10 mins every single day revising is far better than two hours of revision weekly. Don’t let the stigma of being a beginner get you down. You want to have a go at a German poem, but it’s too ambitious-seeming for you? You won’t know it unless you try. Don’t let the naysayers get you down. You will make a boatload of mistakes and embarrass yourself constantly, and this is a sign that your learning is going well - patience and tenacity is the key here.

5. Penpals and Tandem/speaking partners can be helpful. This may not be immediately applicable advice, because it can be intimidating for a beginner to write to or talk to native speakers, but once you reach a certain point in your studies it’s important for you to be acquainted to the way native speakers do things. It’s how you pick up slang and other quirks of the language, for one. Same for total immersion.

6. Don’t trust Till’s ‘r’ when it comes to the German ‘r’ sound. The strong rolled ‘r’ is a feature of sung German and has nothing to do with the rhotic, throaty ‘r’ of German and French. Please ignore this section if you’re already familiar with the rhotic ‘r’.

7. In fact, look up proper pronunciations for everything. Sung German is its own territory, and not the best thing to refer to when you’re learning Standard German. The two ‘ch’s especially - they’re their own sounds, not just e.g. ‘ich’ -> ‘ish’ and e.g. ‘ach’ -> ‘ack’. The former is closer to ‘i-hh’ sounded at the front of the mouth, while the other ‘ch’ is pronounced like the ‘ch’ of the Scottish ‘Loch’ (make ‘hh-’ sound with the back of your tongue touching or near to the soft palate). Again, please ignore if you have the pronunciation down pat already.

8. When you learn words, make sure that you learn the article that comes with them. ‘Das Mädchen’, ‘Der Tisch’, etc. It is absolutely more work, but if you are not acquainted to grammatical gender, knowing the appropriate ‘der/die/das’ that comes with a noun is extremely useful. There are three main grammatical genders in German - this may not be the case for you even if you already speak a gendered foreign language (like French - no neuter gender), so this is absolutely vital advice I plead with you not to ignore.

9. Don’t shy away from compound nouns. I unironically love this feature about German and have never had problems with it personally, but I know sometimes it can be intimidating to be faced with a huge string of words that pop out at you from nowhere.

I tend to break them down to their components to figure out what the singular word means, approaching them like a puzzle rather than a singular concept to just know firsthand: ‘Fallschirmspringen’ means ‘to parachute’, but its components literally boil down to ‘fall-umbrella-jumping’, for one; compound nouns are rather whimsical concepts, and also very literary, and I think there’s a real beauty in them! Take it slow and listen to what the compound noun is trying to tell you.

10. Verb conjugation tables are your friends. Especially for the strong verbs. I got nothing else to add to this.

11. Like in every other language, beware of false friends. These are words that look alike to those in your native language, but do not mean what you think they mean. ‘Also’ in German does not mean ‘also’ in English. (It’s closer in meaning to ‘so’ in English.) The German ‘bald’ means ‘soon’, while the English ‘bald’ is ‘kahl’ in German. ‘Kritik’ in German is referring to the act of criticism, not the ‘critic’. It is because of this that you must resist the temptation to do literal translations from English/[insert your native language here] to German, unless you know what you’re doing.

12. Read up on grammatical cases. German has four, which is one more than English, and the four cases are nigh universally called the nominative, accusative, dative, and the genitive. There are none of the ‘subjective/objective/possessive’ stuff that English uses, or worse, the ‘I-me-mine’ relation that doesn’t name anything helpful.

These four are also true grammatical cases, which means that full inflection of nouns, pronouns, and noun phrase elements (e.g. adjectives/numerals…) need to be learnt in German. At its extreme, this can mean learning up to 48 adjectival endings for each adjective - accounting for gender, number, case, and strong/weak/mixed endings. All because case inflection is a thing.I make that sound a lot more intimidating than it actually is, because said endings usually follow a pattern and sometimes don’t even change that often. Inflections are just things that you get used to. If cases are already your bread and butter because you’re familiar with a language with true cases, you can go ahead and ignore all of this; let us be thankful that German only has four. We could be… like… talking about Russian or something.

13. You are learning a new way of thought, not a new way to put words together. This is applicable to every language you might wish to learn. This is why you ought to look up words in both directions to verify the exact sense that you need, and why you can’t rely on [native language] -> [target language] translations forever in order to become familiar with the target language. The old way of thought will absolutely cling on and try to impede your progress; language learning is about unlearning this process as much as it is about learning new things.

I’m six years gone, and if you stuck me in Germany I’d still be stammering and blushing and nonfunctional. We don’t consider eight-year-olds who’ve grown up speaking a language all their life ‘fluent speakers’ of that language; it can be easily another eight years for you, too. You’re in for the very long haul, and that means you can take as much time as you need. Don’t be down if you don’t get it right soon enough, or if it’s taking a very long time.

14. [SHAMELESS SELF-PROMO] I also tutor German. Contact me if you wish clarification on certain things or if you feel that you may require actual tuition. [/SHAMELESS SELF-PROMO]

I don’t post so much about R+ anymore, but German remains a very strong and integral part of my life. I am glad that my attempts at contributing to the fandom have led you to the same interest I developed all those years ago. I hope that the advice above is helpful, but if it is not, I would love to hear feedback from you on what parts of German you are struggling with so I am able to give more specific advice. My inbox is open whenever you want to ask me questions; I wish you luck on your journey and would love to hear from you, wherever you may be in your pursuits!

#Anonymous #long post #reference #recommendations #german #advice #languages #rammstein #so long... i'm sorry... ugh

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