#langblr ask

[michelle-languages]

251022 | Day 1 of Langblr Reactivation Challenge by @prepolyglot 🔥

Starting this challenge as well, but will catch up with 2 tasks per day later, definitely not today as it’s already 10.30 pm 🥲

So, once again, my name is Michelle and I have been studying languages since I have memory basically, here’s the languages I study / speak (no particular fluency order): 🇮🇹 🇺🇸 🇪🇸 🇫🇷 🇯🇵 🇩🇪 🇰🇷

Languages I hope to study: 🇧🇷 🇨🇳 for sure, maybe in the future 🇳🇴 or 🇸🇪

My hopes for this challenge: meet new inspiring language lovers and get to know new and innovative approaches, especially for a worker like me 🥲

Feel free to ask me anything lang learning related 💞

#langblr #languages #polyglot #language #langblr reactivation challenge #langblr ask #languagestudent

[adhd-languages]

So if I’m speaking Spanish, and I need to say an English word — like a name, brand, website, etc — I say it like a Spanish speaker

However, I hear a lot of speakers drop into a very native English accent in the middle of a sentence to say “el Starbucks” and whatnot (I love hearing it. Just a random completely English-sounding word in a Spanish sentence)

So I’m wondering…

From my personal observations I think native bilinguals do this more, but I’m interested in more data. Feel free to reply or reblog for a more detailed answer!

(EDIT: sorry the poll is so confusing. “YES” means yes, you do the thing I described, changing your accent to a different one in the middle of a sentence)

#resisting the urge to ask people to reblog for more results but like #I want to know #I have heard that it’s easier to switch between languages when you’re more fluent so my hypothesis makes sense #Quinn polls #quinn posts #langblr #language #linguistics #linguistics study #poll

[useless-catalanfacts]

One thing that really shocked me when I visited Madrid is that some people seemed genuinely offended when I said I only spoke Catalan. I'm from Germany and my boyfriend is Catalan. As he has a very strong Catalan identity and is very much an activist for the language it made sense for me to learn Catalan instead of Spanish. I don't speak it very well yet, but enough to make casual conversation. Trying to have a conversation with an acquaintance when visiting Madrid, I threw in some of my basic Catalan when English didn't fully work (not to piss her off, because I had no idea it would, but simply to make myself understood as English was failing us and I figured the Catalan might be easier and closer and sometimes even the same words as Spanish). This led to a lot of questions from the friendgroup, but this one person seemed personally hurt that I had chosen to learn Catalan and NOT Spanish. She argued that all Catalans spoke Spanish anyway and that my mindset was childish and "excluding the rest of Spain just to make a point". I thought this was such a strange way to look at it. I know this person is not representative for all of Spain, but I thought it was really worrying that some people think like that. She seemed convinced that there was no purpose of learning Catalan beyond "making a silly, political point" as if there wasn't an entire culture and history that came with it. As if Catalans speaking Catalan were like... being difficult on purpose and not.. you know... practicing their f*cking culture and living their damn lives. Good thing I actually am childish, and spoke exclusively in Catalan to her for the rest of the evening.

That's exactly how many Spanish people see it, it's a shame but your story doesn't surprise me. When I was a teenager I went for a few days to do a thing with other teenagers in Madrid and they reacted in a mix of disgust and offence when they heard me speak to my parents in Catalan on the phone. And I've heard quite a lot of other people explain very similar situations. It also reminds me of a video I shared a while ago (post here) where Judit Mascó explains that when she's working in Madrid and she answers the phone to her mother or friends calling, her co-workers told her it bothers them that she speaks in Catalan to other people, when she's not even talking to them.

Many Spanish people just can't understand that Catalan people would like to continue speaking our language, period. They are so convinced that Spanish is superior, that they believe that for our own good we should want to abandon our language and assimilate to theirs, and if we don't, well, then the only possible reason is that we're doing it for the sole purpose of excluding them, as if they were the centre of our lives.

They can see how they use their own language (Spanish) for their family, friends and the rest of their lives, but they can't give us the same amount of humanity and respect to imagine that we can want to speak our own language for the same purposes as they want to speak theirs. No, according to them, we must do it for bad faith proposes.

And let me say: you are doing very well in learning Catalan for your boyfriend. If your boyfriend speaks Catalan, I assume it's most likely that his family and friends speak in Catalan too, it's normal that you'd want to learn the language they use. This will bring you closer to his heart, because you can understand the words with which he has grown up and that are around him, it strengthens your bond. And it gives you the opportunity to communicate with other people around him and participate in conversation. Why would you not want to learn the language? Why would you, instead, want to learn a different language, and does that Spanish person expect you police what your boyfriend and his family/friends speak so not to exclude you (when you would have been the one to decide not to integrate)? It's just such a self-centered way of thinking from them.

#ask #anonymous #català #catalan #sociolinguistics #minority languages #coses de la terra #languages #langblr

[spanishskulduggery]

How can I start learning Spanish?

If you are an absolute total beginner, my biggest recommendation is to check out www.studyspanish.com/grammar and to check out www.conjuguemos.com which are online grammar lessons

Truly what I've found is you start with the fundamentals and you just go through your language learning journey accumulating knowledge, and it always feels like an uphill battle until one day you're aware of all the things you don't know/understand yet, but you also know how to look up what you don't know - and that's how you know you've made it

I personally find that when you're starting Spanish from nothing you need to focus on conjugations and the most essential verbs; most verbs are regular so when you understand the basic rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs you can do a lot in Spanish

The most irregular verbs of all time - which tend to be irregular in multiple tenses

ser

ir

ver

dar

estar

tener

venir

decir

querer

poder

poner

hacer

caber*

haber

*caber is annoyingly irregular but not the most super common verb used; it's "to fit (into a space)" like "capacity" so it's useful when you need it, but otherwise more limited

The are other little bits of grammar knowledge that you'll learn as you go, like when to use saber vs conocer, or ser and estar... things that take practice and repetition but let me know if there are any questions you have as you go and I can help give some more insight

There are other things that are important, but less all consuming, like stem-changing verbs [E->I, E->IE, O->UE] or certain irregularities, and exceptions like conocer or little things like fingir or vencer - which are littler things though more easily understood when you have some more experience

You're also going to want to devote a lot of time to the present tense which is the very first tense you're introduced to

Also - Things You Should Know At Each Level - though for your purposes I'd say you're probably A1 and A2 and try not to focus on the rest for now; you'll get discouraged if you think of all the things you don't know, trust me I was there

Additional resources:

Recommendations for beginners

https://www.bowdoin.edu/~eyepes/newgr/ats/

Word Reference Conjugator

http://spanishskulduggery.tumblr.com/post/102019421622/spanishskulduggery-spanish-tenses-moods

https://conjuguemos.com/activities/spanish/verb/1

https://conjuguemos.com/tenses/spanish/

Verbs you should know as a beginner

#spanish #learning spanish #langblr #learn spanish #spanish grammar #refs #recursos #asks #long post

[kinnbig]

I somehow never realised Perth’s name wasn’t actually Perth and now my mind is sort of blown. I get confused at how Thai names work anyway so I shouldn’t be surprised, but 🤯

fjckskc I mean Perth is his name, in the same way that Apo’s name is Apo and Nodt’s name is Nodt, but they’re just not their legal names.

and I can try and explain it! (or Perth explains it rlly well in this video lol)

basically! in Thailand, in most situations people are referred to by their used name (also called a nickname or a play name) rather than by their legal first name.

used names, like first names, are often given at birth, but unlike first names they’re not recorded on legal documentation such as birth certificates. last names are often long and aren’t used very often - it’s not uncommon for good friends to not know each other’s last names.

in general western naming convention, you would probably refer to someone by just their first name, or as ‘first name + last name’. someone might have a nickname that they prefer to their legal first name, and in these cases you might refer to them as ‘nickname + last name’.

but the convention for Thai names is to refer to people most of the time with either their used name, or as

‘used name + first name’

(with some exceptions, such as legal/business situations and in the credits of TV/movies).

sometimes you might also see someone’s ‘full name’ written or said as

‘used name + first name + last name’

eg mydramalist writes Mile Phakphum Romsaithong and Nodt Nutthasid Panyangarm.

but generally, you’d say/write either just someone’s used name, or ‘used name + first name’ in most contexts.

if you were talking about Apo Nattawin, for example - Nattawin is his first name, and Apo is his used name (his last name is Wattanagitiphat). because of TV crediting convention, he is credited as Nattawin Wattanagitiphat in the KinnPorsche credits - but he refers to himself as Apo Nattawin, and that is the name others use for him in most situations.

some more quick (random) examples from the KinnPorsche cast -

Tong Thanayut - ‘full name’ Tong Thanayut Thakoonauttaya, credited as Thanayut Thakoonauttaya - but referred to as Tong or Tong Thanayut

Barcode Tinnasit - ‘full name’ Barcode Tinnasit Isarapongporn, credited as Tinnasit Isarapongporn - but referred to as Barcode or Barcode Tinnasit

there are exceptions, obviously - although it’s more common to introduce yourself as ‘used name + first name’, Bible often introduces himself as Wichapas Sumettikul, then adds “or Bible” as an addendum (possibly because he had a more western upbringing) - but he still tends to be referred to as Bible Wichapas in most contexts.

Perth Nakhun is just one big exception lmao. Nakhun isn’t his first name or his last name - it’s a shortened version of Nakhuntanagarn, his mother’s last name. Perth Nakhun is more of a Thai stage name - by ‘typical’ conventions he would be referred to as Perth Stewart lol (and I have actually seen him referred to this way a few times in articles). interestingly (to me, at least), his ‘full name’ seems to be considered to be Perth Nakhun Screaigh, with Nakhun treated as his legal first name. so he gets credited as Nakhun Screaigh - even though Nakhun is not actually his first name. the TV credits follow the typical convention (Perth Nakhun Screaigh -> Nakhun Screaigh) rather than actually crediting with ‘first name + last name’. idk if this was Perth’s choice or just what happened but it’s interesting!

(Jeff Satur is also a stage name - though unlike with Perth, it seems to be considered his ‘full name’ and is also what is used in his TV credits)

anyway that got kind of long (and very colourful! I love colour coding!) but I hope it was somewhat helpful 🥰

#hehehe colours #perth’s video on this is rlly good btw highly recommend #also i wrote this and then the stupid new post editor crashed and i had to write it all again from scratch so. pls be niceys to me #ask #darcey.txt #kinnporsche #linguistics posting #perth nakhun #thai langblr #thai language #darcey.lang

[hana-loves-bumblebees]

Me every time I see a word too similar to a word in another language and am like “HA!! A LOANWORD!!!”

#the sequel nobody asked for #languages #linguistics #learning languages #langblr #leo di caprio meme #language #language learning #me when reissu hiss and hylly

[hanaflorbloom]

being a polyglot is so funny to me because instead of having a song stuck in my head like a normal person i have the irish word for sandwich stuck in my head

#dont ask me why #it just sounds so good #ceapaire #langblr #language #language learning #irish langblr #gaeilge

[ourdadai]

✿ song jia ꒰ modelo ꒱ lockscreens !

#song jia #jia icons #freezia #ask #lockscreens #wallpaper #korea model #korea fashion #vogue korea #south korea #korean #korea aesthetic #korean actress #korean series #korean style #korean girl #korean idol #korean icons #korean indie #korean langblr #korean language #korean model #korean people #korean skincare #korean actor #korean aesthetic #korean animation #korean artist #cute girl #model girl

[linguafrencha]

Hi! I want to learn French and Russian. Could you share your favourite resources for beginners? Could you also include books and movies/TV shows recommendations for both languages in your post? Thank you.

That's really cool that you want to learn those languages!!!

I have a bunch of Russian resources that I used because I started out as solely self-learning. So a large part in my absolute beginner phase I spent listening to podcasts, specifically, these: understanding spoken Russian which is great for just getting a feel for the language while also learning a bit of grammar and this one for getting grammar and vocab explained in a very down to earth kind of way without any types of big words you need to know.

Besides these I essentially learned all the Russian grammar I know on Youtube. Especially from this channel. Daria is very cool and also has several podcasts under the same name.

This one has helped me with specific questions about little grammar things, so might also be useful.

Nastya has this year begun doing a Learn Russian in a Year thing where she uploads every day a thirty minute lesson. It's a bit slow for me personally having already learned a lot and just generally me being impatient but it can definitely help with vocab.

He also has good videos and also some free stuff on his website iirc.

For TV shows I unfortunately can't recommend a lot for beginners. What you can do though is watch episodes like Peppa the Pig on Youtube in English and in Russian/French to compare and learn or only in your TL as they're obviously at a low level. What I do highly recommend as a show though is слуга народу for Russian and Lupin for French.

Also, if you're into audiobooks, try typing children audiobooks into Youtube or try listening to the Russian/French version of Harry Potter (that's what I'm doing rn actually).

If you're looking for a book and willing to spend some money I recommend this book with Russian short fiction for beginners. I just finished it and I thought it was very fun with vocab lists and questions for the stories at the end. The same author has also books for higher levels.

Unfortunately, as I learned almost all of French in classes I only have one channel I actually use to recommend, which is this one. You'll find some of my posts where I used this channel as my source.

I hope this helps! I might update in future when I find more. Good luck with your language learning journey!!

#everyone: feel free to add!! #especially for french as i know embarrissingly little #but we won't talk about that #learning french #langblr #french #langblog #french langblr #french langblog #french resources #russian #russian resources #learning russian #russian langblr #russian langblog #ask response #xeniaochisor

[tokidokitokyo]

How many languages did you study this year?

Which language did you study the most this past year?

Did you start studying any new languages this year?

Favorite book in your target language that you read this year?

Favorite show in your target language that you watched this year?

Favorite movie in your target language that you watched this year?

Favorite song in your target language this year?

Favorite new music artist in your target language this year?

Favorite study resource this year?

Favorite language learning moment this year?

What language learning goals did you reach this year?

What are your language learning goals for next year?

Most-listened genre on Spotify Wrapped?

What is the last thing you want to achieve in your target language before the new year?

What are you most proud of in your language learning journey this year?

#langblr ask game #studyblr ask game #end of year ask game #ask game #tokidokitokyo

[michelle-languages]

for the langblr ask game!

17, 23, 29!

aww thanks for asking 🥹 I always get so emotional and happy when I receive notifications from the ask box 💞

17. Favorite time to study

Always been someone who loved studying in the morning, unfortunately now that I work it’s impossible, so I’m trying my best to enjoy studying during late evening like 6-7 pm / early night around 9 pm

23. How did you get into learning languages?

I think it was a combo of my parents organizing summer vacations in Greece and Spain and school. I grew up with my mum wanting to explore the local towns and rural areas as well, so when we were on vacation, we used to rent a car to go around the island. This way I got to stay a bit immersed in the culture and with native people as well, we experienced San Juan’s celebrations in Menorca in 2008, visited Cnosso's palace in Creta & so on. Ww visited (in no particular order): Maiorca, Rodi, Ibiza, Kos, Menorca and a bit of Formentera, Crete and then we bought a camper to explore Europe by tires 😂 School side, I've been extremely lucky as I found teachers who saw the burning flame of passion for languages in me, and most of them, taught wonderfully!

29. Proud moments regarding target language

1. New York 2015, I went into a Forever 21 shop, spotted an alternative style dressed shop assistant and asked her where I could find a Hot Topic shop. She was stunned that I then translated to my friend in Italian and was surprised to find out I wasn’t American

2. Hometown 2022, I went to a Japanese restaurant with Japanese waitresses, therefore I spoke Japanese all the time with them. They complimented me, even if I’m still kind of a baby in Japanese, and they told my parents they thought I did a study experience in Japanese because I speak it very well. Seeing the emotions in my parents’ eyes, who struggled a lot with accepting the fact that I went to study Japanese in another city and didn’t stay at home with them (I’m an only child AND female, Italian parents bla bla), was a unique feeling. And I felt hella proud of my baby skills

3. Office life 2022, my actual boss complimented me multiple times for my English skills. She said that in 25 years of career, and now as a manager, she has never heard anyone speak it like that. She asked my I am still working here and not doing the interpreter.. 🫠 I WANNA BE A TRANSLATOR AND CONTENT CREATOR BUT I DON’T EVEN OWN A CAR NOW, IT’S TOO RISKY STARTING AS A FREELANCER NOW IN ITALY MY DEAR

Thank you so much again 💖

#langblr ask #ask game #Mish always gets out of control and has a very strong aries behavior

[learnelle]

I would LOVE to hear from anyone who went through university studies in a language that isn't their native one! Share your experiences! How did you manage ? What was the most difficult part ? What language learning level were you at before you started the course ? I am so curious about all of the details !!

#Feel free to respond to this post or send in an ask if this applies to you ! #studyblr #studyspo #cottagecore #langblr #studying #study motivation #study blog #study aesthetic #study inspiration #studygram #student #university #romantic academia

[salvadorbonaparte]

Why do we NEED a duolingo alternative though what's going on

Duolingo has laid off a number of contractors (Bloomberg cites 10%) and is shifting towards AI. They also recently reported that they're only focusing on the most popular languages now and will no longer update courses of lesser studied languages.

Many people report a drop in quality for different courses, including courses feeling half finished, real voice recordings being replaced by text to speech, courses like Guaraní no longer being available on the website unless you specifically Google for it, the forum, meet ups and grammar notes disappearing. People also really didn't like the latest redesign and found it to not work as well for them.

Many people including me are using the AI scandal to make the switch before duolingo becomes entirely unusable. I've heard many people say they're only using it because they don't want to lose their streak which to me proves duolingo has been prioritising streaks and daily usage and memes over actual teaching quality for a while now.

#asks #langblr #Duolingo #Sorry for not citing this properly but I just woke up after a one day long migraine attack

[useless-catalanfacts]

No question. Just rant. I love your page. And sorry for chaotic story time vibes, but I don't think I'd realised how crazy this anti-catalan thing really is until I travelled to southern Spain. My Spanish is not great, but I took a course in Catalan in high school (long story on why this was available in my city but it also included a human tower party at the end and it was brilliant even tho I almost died) so when talking to people I casually threw in some Catalan words to help my Spanish. I am Norwegian, and I thought it was kind of like... as if someone was trying to speak Norwegian but casually threw in some Swedish to fill in the gaps. Like we would totally have joked about it, but overall we would just be grateful they really made an effort to be understood. But no. IT WAS NOT THE CASE. My host was literally offended. Like offended offended. I didn't really get it, because it's not like the Catalans have oppressed him and I'm coming here speaking the tongue of the oppressor (its kinda the opposite). But no. My host acted if I was the most ignorant person ever. He basically sat me down and explained that I have to show respect and speak castillian (or english, which was apparently fine, even if he understood about 1% of it), and then I asked if he would speak Catalan if he visited Barcelona and he said he would never visit Barcelona because he didn't like the people there. And then I said that if you hate them so much, why not throw them out of the country, get rid of them, and let them have their own state? It sounds like a win-win. And he looked as if he was gonna hit me.

Ah 😬

I wish things like this surprised me, but I have family from Andalucía and Extremadura and have friends who also have family from Andalucía, and so I've heard this and worse... It also reminded me of a few weeks ago when there was a scandal because a train in Málaga (in Andalucía, southern Spain) gave the announcements in Catalan instead of Spanish (turns out the train had been programmed in Catalonia during the COVID-19 restrictions and later moved to the Málaga train system, but for some mistake this day it was showing COVID-19 precaution in Catalan from 2020 now in 2024). It was such a scandal that it was on the news and politicians were making such a big deal of it, the PP (the most voted party in Málaga and of all Andalucía) also said it was "offensive" and that Malagans were being "laughed at" by the trains. Other errors in public transport that actually mean people can't travel in time don't get reported as much as when one train's screens tell you in Catalan to wear your facemask. 🤷

The last part of what you say, absolutely right. I never understood it either: if they really don't like us, then shouldn't they also be interested in not having anything to do with us? Why not just kick us out? I never really understood it until some years ago when I heard the words of a right-wing Spanish journalist (I think was Federico Jiménez Losantos?) who said something along the lines of "if Catalans want to leave, then leave. But Catalonia is ours." Meaning that Catalan people, individually, we can leave and migrate abroad. But the land is a possession of Spain, our homeland is their property. I think that sums up that view. It's not about being annoyed at having to share a state with a culture you despise, it's about wanting to keep domination.

I'm sorry you had this experience. Your effort to communicate should have been valued, and pulling the words you know from a language from the same linguistic family was a good idea that would have worked great, they wouldn't have found it offensive if the language you knew instead of Catalan was Italian, Portuguese, etc. Thank you very much for sharing your experience, and I hope you could enjoy the rest of your trip (Southern Spain, outside of situations like this, is a beautiful place), and I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed the castells party (and didn't die in it)!

#ask #anonymous #actualitat #catalanophobia #catalanofòbia #coses de la terra #catalonia #catalunya #spain #language rights #language imperialism #imperialism #cultural imperialism #languages #langblr

[spanishskulduggery]

Is there a common way in Spanish to say something like "same shit, different day" in response to a greeting like "what's up"? How about something like "you see it", also as a response?

The expression is la misma mierda de siempre kind of like "the same shit as always"

-

I usually respond with de ensueño or otro día de ensueño which is kind of like "living the dream"... literally it's "ideal/wonderful", or "another dreamy day"; or vivo un sueño "I'm living a dream"

If I was going to say "you see it" I would say something like tal y cómo lo ves "exactly as you see it"

There's also el tiempo vuela cuando te diviertes "time flies when you're having fun"

#asks #Spanish #langblr

[benkyoutobentou]

Language Learners Speaking Ask Game

I remember years ago, I used to come across people's audio posts all the time on langblr. People would record themselves speaking in their target languages and post it, and I thought it was a really nice aspect of the community. Since, I don't see these kinds of posts, anymore, I thought it would be fun to encourage a resurgence of this by creating a little ask game!

These questions are meant to be answered aloud and in your target language, but do as you wish!

Introduce yourself!

Why did you start learning your target language?

Do you have a favorite dialect in your TL?

What's your favorite tongue twister in your TL?

Are there any celebrities who speak your TL whose voice you really like?

What is your favorite TL song to sing along to?

Are there any songs in your TL that you know all the lyrics to? Are there any songs you’d like to learn all the lyrics to?

Do you take any classes in your TL or do you have study buddies with the same TL?

Congratulations, you get to live where your TL is spoken! Ideally, where would you live (ie. city)?

Where is your favorite place to study languages?

What are go-to snacks for studying?

What's your favorite book you've read in your TL?

What's your favorite show/movie you've watched in your TL?

Have you ever had a conversation in your TL with a native speaker? How'd it go?

Who is your favorite TL musical artist and what do you like about their music?

Has knowing your TL ever helped you out in a pinch?

Do you listen to any podcasts in your TL?

What kinds of YouTube videos do you watch in your TL and does that differ from the kinds of videos you watch in your primary language?

Do you have any pet phrases/words (words or phrases you say often) in your TL?

Are there any phrases in your TL vocabulary that you picked up or say because of something you've read or watched?

#languages #langblr #studyblr #benkyou posting #language learning #polyglot #studyinspo #studying #memes #ask game #speaking is my worst skill in japanese but YES if you send me any asks #i will be answering in spoken japanese #頑張ろうぅぅぅぅぅ