Thejoyoflearninglanguages - Language Learner - Tumblr Blog

Masterlist

╭─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╮ Basic - 기본 ♡ Beginners Masterlist ♡ Hangul - 한글 (한국어 알파벳) ♡ Korean Numbers -  한국어 번호 ♡ Calendar -  달력 ♡ Korean Sentence Structure ╰─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╯  ╭─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╮  Vocab - 어휘 ♡ Christmas - 크리스마스 ♡ New Year -  새해 ♡ Grocery Shopping - 식료품 쇼핑 ♡ Korean Onomatopoeia -  한국어 의성어 [part 1] || [part 2] ♡ Clothes - 옷 ♡ Animals - 동물들 ♡ Idol Phrases - 관용구 ♡ Fruit - 과일 ♡ Veggies - 채소 ♡ Spring - 봄 ♡ Body - 몸 ♡ Family - 가족 ♡ Korean Slang / Shortened Expressions ♡ LGBT+ Vocab - 엘지비티 + slang ♡ Korean Homonyms - 한국어 이의어 ♡ Summer Vocab - 여름 어휘 ♡ Birthday Vocab - 생일 어휘 ♡ Occupations - 직업 ♡ Space - 우주 ♡ Phone - 전화 ♡ Traveling - 여행 ♡ Money - 돈 ♡ K-ommon Korean Phrases ♡ Colour Vocab - 색깔 어휘 ♡ Directions Vocab - 쪽 어휘 ♡ Cooking Vocab - 요리하기 어휘 ╰─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╯  ╭─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╮  Korean Culture - 한국 문화 ♡ Korean Age - 한국 나이 ♡ Shoulders in Korea  ♡ Batchim - 받침 ╰─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╯ ╭─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╮  Grammar - 문법 ♡ Conjugation - 동사  ♡ Particles -  문법적 입자 ♡ Counters -  복수형  ♡ -고 싶다 - want ♡ -ㄹ/을 것이다 - future tense ♡ More than - 보다 더 + comparing verbs ♡ -잖아요 - As you Know ♡ Adding plural counters to NOUNS ♡ The many versions of: 같다 ♡ Useful Verbs + How to Use Them!           [part 1] || [part 2] || [part 3]  ╰─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╯  ╭─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╮ Helpful Asks - 질문들 ♡ FAQ ♡ 이다 Conjugation ♡ “Is this right?” Korean Translation ♡ “How are you?” Korean Translation ♡ 이에요 / 입니다 Uses and Rules ♡ 행복하다 - meaning ♡ 난 네 블로그를 사랑해 - I love your blog ♡ Why did he say 언니??  ♡ Korean Spacing ♡ Am I a Koreaboo?      ~ Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3  ♡ Why is it -서 instead of -고? ♡ Korean Texting Abbreviations ♡ Sentence Structure ♡ Gender Neutral Korean Titles ♡ Difference between 저/제/저의 and 나/너/나의 ♡ Korean Difference ♡ Motivation to be courageous while speaking! How To: ♡ Staying Motivated / Focused ♡ Study Grammar! ♡ Improve Handwriting ♡ Improve Pronunciation ♡ Not Struggle with Hangul ♡ “Introduce Myself” (자기소개) ♡ Say you’re studying Korean for fun! ♡ Speak confidently in Korean ♡ Pronounce ‘ㄹ’ ♡ Go from basic beginner to intermediate/advanced ♡ Elongate Texts in Korean ♡ STOP Translating in your head! ♡ Say ‘Thank you’ in Korean Recommended: ♡ Textbooks ♡ Apps ♡ Websites ♡ Tips for Beginners ♡ Webtoons Korean Differences: ♡ 선생님 vs 교사 / 실 vs 방 / 늘 vs 항상 ♡ 이야기하다 vs 말하다 ♡ 친구 vs 벗 ♡ 담요 vs 이불 ♡ 저의 vs 제 ♡ 당신 vs 너 ♡ 은/는 vs 이/가  ♡ 안녕하세요 vs 여보세요  ♡ 어 vs 오 ♡ 안녕히 가세요 vs 안녕히 계세요 ♡ -말 vs -어 ♡ 생선 vs 물고기 ♡ 봤어요 vs 보았어요 ♡ -는 것 같다 // 같다 // -를 것 같다 ♡ 함께 vs 같이 ♡ 않다 vs 아니다 ♡ 노래 vs 송 ♡ 외 // 왜 // 웨 ♡ 좋다 vs 좋아하다 ♡ -ㄹ/을 수 있다 vs (잘) 못+verb ♡ 진짜 vs 진심 ♡ 오래되다 // 늙다 // 낡다 ♡ 심심하다 vs 지루하다 ♡ 위해서 // 때문에 // 덕분에 ♡ noun+verb VS noun+을/를+verb ╰─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╯  ╭─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╮  About Me ♡ Introduction -  자기 소개 ♡ 깜작이야 vs 감자탕 ♡ How I got my Korean Name ♡ My Study Routine ♡ My Face ♡ SK101 IG & TWITTER ♡ 10k Follower Special - About Me ♡ My YouTube Channel ╰─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╯  ╭─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╮  Reading Comprehension ♡ Little Red Riding Hood - 빨간 모자        Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 ♡ Diary - 일기        Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 ♡ My Friend Jiyeon        Part 1 || Part 2 ╰─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╯  under construction constantly

Introduction to... Ukrainian!

Hello hello! Learning Ukrainian? Amazing! Here are some resources to get you started!

**There is also a phrasebook for refugees section at the bottom, definitely check that out if you need it! If you need other languages that do not have phrasebook, check out my other "Introduction to..." posts for those

Here is my masterpost of language blogs

I do not speak Ukrainian, so I cannot vouch for accuracy. I also do not guarantee this is the best post of all time, it is definitely not. I am just attempting to put together some resources for you to use :)! Feel free (and encouraged!) to add your own resources, recommend yourself, translate this post, etc!

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What is Ukrainian?

Want to get started on some history and learn about the language itself? These resources should help you out! (Do some exploring on these places!)

Omniglot (Check the links at the bottom of the article for a lot more!)

Wikipedia

Languages of the World Post by gwendolynlerman

Autolingual

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Where can I start?

Well, I am glad you asked! These apps and websites all offer Ukrainian

Duolingo

Memrise

BABADADA

Mango Languages

Babadum

Loecsen

101Languages

Goethe Verlang

Mondly

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Blogs to Follow

@study-ukrainian (This is my Ukrainian sideblog)

Okay, this one is a little bit hard and I am not learning Ukrainian to know anyone directly, so... Please say if you are a Ukrainian langblr! I will add you to the list as I see you, or you can just check the notes :D!

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Youtubers

Speak Ukrainian

21 Languages

PolyglotPablo

UkrainianLanguage

OlgaReznikova (a. b.)

Let's Learn Ukrainian

Easylanguages

LanguageFluent

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Podcasts

These are all on Spotify

Ukrainian Lessons Podcast - Anna Ohoiko

5 Minute Ukrainian - Anna Ohoiko

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Phrasebooks/Posts for refugees (Please do let me know if you want your post added)

Big Phrasebook for Refugees (by @tealingual they have lots of other good lists as well!) - Contains Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, Slovak, German, and Bulgarian.

Italian (by @sayitaliano they also have a lot of other lists!)

Russian (Not yet created, but by @haxyr3 they also have many good lists that may help you!)

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A beginner's guide

Bonjour! Is there a list of things that a french beginner should learn, is there a specific order to learn topics in french? Also, love your blog, it helps me a lot.

*

Hello, thanks love you too! Here's roughly how to proceed:

#1. Genders.

Nouns, adjectives, determiners and past participles in French are either masculine or feminine. There is no neutral.

Known: LE/LA/L’ (+ vowel) + singular, LES + plural (The girl)

Unknown: UN/UNE + singular, DES + plural (A cat)

Uncountable: DU/DE LA + singular, DES + plural (Sugar)

How do I know what gender an item is?

Those that end with a consonant are likely masculine (Un éléphant), those that end with an -e likely feminine (Une girafe), especially if it follows a couple of the same consonant (Une tasse). A noun or adjective can be ‘gender-neutral’, or épicène (Juge, Drôle). There are obviously exceptions (Nation, Incendie).

What’s an uncountable item?

It’s a group of items that are either too small or too large to be counted: fruit, sugar, flour, people, etc (ex: Du sable, Des gens).

Let’s practice: Le facteur et la boulangère sont mariés. La ministre est sortie. Un chien aboie dehors. J’ai mangé du pain.

#2. Numbers.

To turn a singular into a plural, adding an -s is your most popular option. It can also be an -x (Bijou, Feu), nothing if the singular ends in -z, -s, -x (Nez); some words only exist as plurals (Ciseaux). There are a few irregulars (Oeil/yeux, Monsieur/messieurs, Madame/mesdames, Animal/animaux).

Let’s practice: J’ai deux petits frères qui sont nés (past participle) en 1998. J’ai un chat sur les genoux. Il y a des noix dans mes gâteaux. Mes yeux sont noirs.

#3. Verbs.

Verbs belong to one of three groups: -er except Aller (90%), -ir with a few exceptions, and the bin (auxiliaries Être and Avoir, Aller, -re, -oir, -ir exceptions). They can be modal (Should) or reflexive: preceded by an object pronoun (Je m’appelle).

The most useful verbs are:

Être: to be, avoir: to have, faire: to do/make, dire: to say, pouvoir: can, aller: to go, voir: to see, savoir: to know, vouloir: want, venir: to come, falloir: to have to, devoir: must, croire: to believe, trouver: to find, donner: to give, prendre: to take, mettre: to put down/place, laisser: to let, to need: avoir besoin de (...)

#4. Tenses.

The most useful tenses are:

Indicative present (J'aime le fromage - I like cheese)

Imperfect (J'aimais le fromage - I liked cheese)

Perfect (J'ai aimé le fromage - I have liked cheese)

Future (J'aimerai le fromage - I will like cheese)

Present conditional (J'aimerais le fromage - I would like cheese)

Present subjunctive (Je veux que tu prennes le fromage - I want you to take the cheese) triggered by certain verbs + que.

N.B.: There are irregular past participles (Être: été, Avoir: eu, Voir: vu, etc.).

Let’s practice: Je ne sais pas. Il dessinait bien. Nous sommes venus. Ils te verront quand ils reviendront. Vous seriez partis tôt.

#5. Function words.

Personal pronouns: Tu manges du pain

Demonstrative pronouns: Celui de ma soeur est mieux

Possessive determiners: C'est ton chien

Contracted words: Elle est au parc

Coordinating conjunctions: J'y vais mais j'ai peur

Subordinating conjunctions: Je demanderai quand il rentrera

Linkers: On se voit plus tard

Let’s practice: Je crois qu’elle sera à l’heure mais je peux me tromper. Pourquoi est-ce que tu pars? Nous reviendrons plus tard, quand il fera plus beau. Vous ne devez pas être en retard sans raison. C’est là, celle à droite.

#6. Basic knowledge.

Accents

Adverbs

Calendar

Colours

Conversation

En + Y

Family

Food

Negations

Numbers

Prepositions

Questions

Relative pronouns

Terminations

Time

Tu or Vous

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As you're mastering those, start practising.

Listen to music, podcasts, books while looking at the transcription - don't translate, get used to the pronunciation and the word chewing. Record yourself reading.

Then, start reading. I recommend starting with children's literature, especially books you already know in English. Things like Le petit prince or Perrault's fairytales should be accessible.

Use Reverso and Deepl as if you were paid to.

Study the pronunciation posts. The devil is in the details.

Learn vocabulary every week. Avoid translating English word by word, it's often a fool's bet; make a simpler sentence instead.

Explore my grammar tag once in a while.

Do you ever stop to think that there are people that have your target language as their native language? Like there are children who babble their first words in that language, people that speak to their parents in that language everyday, entire countries that grew up hearing this language like it’s no big deal, and that probably don’t think twice about it or even find it that interesting

It’s just so surreal and cool, and I just love languages so much

French Slang Masterpost

Abbreviations 

Slt (Salut) = Hello Bcp (Beaucoup) = A lot Dsl (Désolé) = Sorry Stp (S’il te plait) = Please Dac (D’accord) = Okay Qd (Quand) = When  Qqch (Quelque chose) = Something Qqn (quelqu’un) = Somebody

Internet words 

Mdr (Mort de rire) = Lol Ptdr (Pété de rire) = Lmao Vdm (Vie de merde) = Fuck my life Tg (T’as gueule) = Shut up BG (Beau gosse) = Hot guy  Tkt (T’inquiête) = Don’t worry

Common sayings 

Bref = In short Ouais = Yeah Putain, Merde = Shit C’est de la merde = It’s crap     Ça craint = It sucks         Ça me soûle = It’s annoying me  C’est relou (C’est lourd) = It sucks  C’est ouf (C’est fou) = It’s crazy C’est trop cool = It’s awesome C’est le bordel = It’s a mess Je suis claqué = I’m exhausted               Je me casse = I’m getting out of here   Je m’en fou = I don’t care         Tu rigoles = You’re jocking       Tu te fous de ma gueule = You’re kidding me  Tu fais quoi? = What’s up? Laisse tomber = Just forget it Fais gaffe = Be careful                 Péter un plomb = Going crazy                 Avoir la flemme de faire quelque chose = To be too lazy to do something

Unformal verbs

Bouffer = To eat Taffer = To work Roupiller, Pioncer = To sleep Kiffer = To have a crush on someone Etre vénère (Etre énervé) = To be annoyed Se marrer = To laugh

Unformal nouns

Un mec = A guy             Une meuf = A girl         Un pote = A friend       Une bagnole = A car                     Une baraque = A house             Un pieu = A bed             Un bouquin = A book Une clope = A cigarette                        Le fric, le blé, le thune, l’oseille, le pognon = Money   Un flic, un keuf = A cop               Un gosse, un gamin = A kid       Un boulot, un taf, un job = A job           La fac = University         Le bahut = High school

The above phrases/words can be used in almost every informal situation, but don’t use them in your essays or in any kind of normal writing!

So I found this cool website for learning ancient languages

go wild

Routledge Masterpost

Here are all of the Routledge Grammar PDFs that I currently have. I’ll be updating whenever I find more. Let me know if there’s one in particular you want me to look for^^

Last Update: 2017/04/24

Fixed Intermediate Japanese: A Grammar and Workbook link 

Added books for Czech, English, French, French Creoles, Persian, Ukranian

Added more books in Cantonese, Danish, Greek, Polish, Spanish, Swedish

Arabic

Arabic: An Essential Grammar Basic Arabic: A Grammar and Workbook Modern Written Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar

Cantonese

Basic Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar Intermediate Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook

Czech

Czech: An Essential Grammar

Danish

Danish: A Comprehensive Grammar Danish: An Essential Grammar

Dutch

Basic Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar Dutch: An Essential Grammar Intermediate Dutch: A Grammar and Workbook

English

English: An Essential Grammar

Finnish

Finnish: An Essential Grammar

French

Modern French Grammar Workbook

French Creoles

French Creoles: A Comprehensive and Comparative Grammar

German

Basic German: A Grammar and Workbook German: An Essential Grammar Intermediate German: A Grammar and Workbook

Greek

Greek: A Comprehensive Grammar Greek: An Essential Grammar of the Modern Language

Hindi

Hindi: An Essential Grammar

Hebrew

Modern Hebrew: An Essential Grammar

Hungarian

Hungarian: An Essential Grammar

Indonesian

Indonesian: A Comprehensive Grammar

Irish

Basic Irish: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Irish: A Grammar and Workbook

Italian

Basic Italian: A Grammar and Workbook

Japanese

Basic Japanese: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Japanese: A Grammar and Workbook Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar

Korean

Basic Korean: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Korean: A Grammar and Workbook Korean: A Comprehensive Grammar

Latin

Intensive Basic Latin: A Grammar and Workbook Intensive Intermediate Latin: A Grammar and Workbook

Latvian

Latvian: An Essential Grammar

Mandarin Chinese

Basic Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar Chinese: An Essential Grammar

Norwegian

Norwegian: An Essential Grammar

Persian

Basic Persian: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Persian: A Grammar and Workbook

Polish

Basic Polish: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Polish: A Grammar and Workbook Polish: A Comprehensive Grammar Polish: An Essential Grammar

Portuguese

Portuguese: An Essential Grammar

Romanian

Romanian: An Essential Grammar

Russian

Basic Russian: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Russian: A Grammar and Workbook

Serbian

Serbian: An Essential Grammar

Spanish

Basic Spanish: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate Spanish: A Grammar and Workbook Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Swahili

Swahili Grammar and Workbook

Swedish

Swedish: A Comprehensive Grammar Swedish: An Essential Grammar

Thai

Thai: An Essential Grammar

Turkish

Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Ukrainian

Ukrainian: A Comprehensive Grammar

Urdu

Urdu: An Essential Grammar

Welsh

Modern Welsh: A Comprehensive Grammar

Yiddish

Basic Yiddish: A Grammar and Textbook

Hope this helps everyone out a bit! Happy studying^^

-koreanbreeze

Conjugation Rules in French

1. Verb groups

There are three groups of verbs in French. The first one ends with –er, the second with –ir, and the third with –re, -oir, and –ir. These groups basically determine how the verbs are conjugated. For the most part, you can tell with group the verb belongs to just by looking at the ending, but in the case of –ir verbs, it’s a little trickier. The difference between second-group –ir and third-group –ir is the ending of the participe présent (present participle, a.k.a verbs ending in –ing): second-group verbs end in –issant, while third-group verbs end in –ant.

The third group is the one with all the irregular verbs, so it’s better to check the conjugation just to be sure.

2. Verb radicals

First group

For the present and imperfect tenses, the radical is the verb without the ending.

e.g.: aim- for aimer, parl- for parler

For the future and conditional tenses, the radical is the same as the verb.

e.g.: aimer- for aimer, parler- for parler

Second group

For the present tense, the radical is the verb with the r.

e.g.: fini- for finir, guéri- for guérir

For the imperfect tense, the radical is the same as the present tense, but you also add ss to it.

e.g.: finiss- for finir, guériss- for guérir

For the future and conditional tenses, the radical is the same as the verb.

e.g.: finir- for finir, guérir- for guérir

Third group (there are exceptions everywhere)

-re

For the present and imperfect tenses, the radical is the verb without the ending.

e.g.: vend- for vendre, prend- for prendre

For the future and conditional tenses, the radical is the verb with the r.

e.g.: vendr- for vendre, prendr- for prendre

-ir

For the present and imperfect tenses, the radical is the verb without the ending.

e.g.: ouvr- for ouvrir, ment- for mentir

For the future and conditional tenses, the radical is the same as the verb.

e.g.: ouvrir- for ouvrir, mentir- for mentir

HOWEVER there are exceptions for the –ir verbs

For the present and imperfect tenses, the radical is the verb without the three last letters.

e.g.: sor- for sortir, dor- for dormir

-oir

These are all irregular and you should look them up.

e.g.: savoir, pouvoir, recevoir

Present: sa- (je/tu/il)/ sav- (nous/vous/ils) for savoir, peu- (je/tu/il)/ pouv- (nous/vous/ils) for pouvoir, rec/reç (je/tu/il)/ recev- (nous/vous/ils) for recevoir

Imperfect: sav- for savoir, pouv- for pouvoir, recev- for recevoir

Future and Conditional: saur- for savoir, pourr- for pouvoir, recevr- for recevoir

3. Verb endings

First group:

Second group:

Third group:

-re

-oir (all irregular, please look these up)

e.g.: savoir

e.g.: pouvoir

e.g.: recevoir

-ir

e.g.: ouvrir

e.g.: dormir

*Since these are irregular verbs, it is possible that not all are conjugated according to these tables*

Want to learn something new in 2022??

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)

Probably the single hardest lesson for me to internalize in writing was that you don’t design a character you design a character arc.

One reason you as a writer might end up stuck with a flat or boring character, or one that just isn’t doing the things you need to create a vibrant plot, despite working out all the details of their life for hours, is because you’ve made the mistake I always do. You’ve made a character who is a blend of all the characteristics you envision for them, rather than saving some characteristics for the end of their journey. 

What do I mean by this? Maybe you envision a character who is a handsome prince, honest, brave, and true. In your plot, though, he’s going to be an antagonist for a bit but you don’t really want him to be seen as a bad guy, necessarily. But when you drop him into your story, he’s just… there. Being honest, brave, and true. 

That’s because the prince has no character arc. He is a static figure, a cardboard cutout. 

Let’s go a little deeper with a great example of one of the best character arcs in YA animation: Prince Zuko. He is, objectively, honest, brave, and true (to his cause of finding the Avatar) from the outset. But he’s also a dick. He’s a privileged, imperialist brat, who is rude to his uncle and vicious to our protagonists. 

By the end of the series, though, Prince Zuko is still honest, brave, and true, but he’s also a good person who has learned many lessons over the course of his trials and obstacles. He has failed over and over again at his initial goal of capturing the Avatar. He has failed at winning his father’s regard. He has failed at numerous smaller goals of day to day adventures. He has learned from all of these. We have seen his journey. But, if you started your vision of how to write Zuko from who he ends up being, he’s got nowhere to go as a character. 

It’s not just about what flaws he has corrected though. It’s about what lessons about life he has internalized. What flawed views of the world he has corrected and how. 

Rather than saying, “The character starts out a dick and learns to be nice,” be more specific. “This character starts out believing the empire he is loyal to is morally in the right for its conquests, but over the course of working for that empire’s ruler and seeing his cruelty first hand, not to mention fighting the empire’s enemies and mingling with its civilian victims, he becomes a better person and learns the error of his ways.” 

Already, right there, you have more than a cardboard character. You have a character who has an arc that molds to your plot. 

You heard of x-mas now get ready for

Y-Nachten

Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):

“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.

“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.

“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.

“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”

“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”

“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.

@inkededucatednnerdy @nuggsmum

wanderlust and what you could become

(they’re pen pals for the rest of the traveler’s life)

Multilingual Vocab Practice

Summer

(Another vocab dump! Since summer is almost here, I thought it’d be a good idea to learn some summery words. Note: I only did the masculine singular adjectives for Spanish and French)

English | español | français | Deutsch

Nouns air conditioner | el aire acondicionado | le climatiseur | die Klimaanlage August | el agosto | l’août | der August bathing suit | el traje de baño | le maillot de bain | der Badeanzug beach | la playa | la plage | der Strand beach towel | la toalla de playa | la serviette de plage | das Strandtuch boardwalk | el malecón | le trottoir | die Promenade boat | el barco | le bateau | das Boot break | el descanso | la pause | die Pause breeze | la brisa | la brise | die Brise coast | la costa | la côte | die Küste diving board | el trampolín | le plongeoir | das Sprungbrett fan | el ventilador | le ventilateur | der Ventilator firefly | la luciérnaga | la luciole | die Glühwürmchen firework | los fuegos artificiales | le feu d’artifice | das Feuerwerk fun | la diversión | l’amusement | der Spaß garden | el jardín | le jardin | der Garten heat | el calor | la chaleur | die Hitze hike | la excursión | la randonnée | die Wanderung ice cream | el helado | la crème glacée | die Eiscreme iced tea | el té helado | le thé glacé | der Eistee July | el julio | le juillet | der Juli June | el junio | le juin | der Juni lake | el lago | le lac | der See lemonade | la limonada | la limonade | die Limonade lightning | el relámpago | la foudre | der Blitz ocean | el océano | l’océan | der Ozean park | el parque | le parc | der Park picnic | el pícnic | le pique-nique | das Picknick pool | la piscina | la piscine | der Pool sand | la arena | le sable | der Sand sandal | la sandalia | la sandale | die Sandale sea | el mar | la mer | das Meer shore | la orilla | la rive | die Küste shorts | los pantalones cortos | les shorts | die Shorts storm | la tormenta | la tempête | der Sturm summer | el verano | l’été | der Sommer sun | el sol | le soleil | die Sonne sunburn | la quemadura de sol | le coup de soleil | der Sonnenbrand sunglasses | las gafas de sol | les lunettes de soleil | die Sonnenbrille sunscreen | el protector solar | la crème solaire | die Sonnencreme surfboard | la tabla de surf | la planche de surf | das Surfbrett tent | la tienda de campaña | la tente | das Zelt thunder | los truenos | le tonnerre | der Donner trip | el viaje | le voyage | die Reise vacation | las vacaciones | les vacances | der Urlaub wave | la ola | la vague | die Welle water | *el agua (f) | l’eau | das Wasser water slide | el tobogán de agua | le toboggan | die Wasserrutsche

Verbs to camp | acampar | camper | zelten to dive | zambullirse | plonger | tauchen to fish | pescar | pêcher | fischen to hike | ir de excursión | faire de la randonnée | wandern to jump | saltar | sauter | springen to play | jugar | jouer | spielen to relax | relajarse | se relaxer | entspannen to run | correr | courir | laufen to sail | navegar | naviguer | segeln to surf | surfear | surfer | surfen to sunbathe | tomar el sol | prendre un bain de soleil | sonnenbaden to swim | nadar | nager | schwimmen to travel | viajar | voyager | reisen to visit | visitar | visiter | besuchen

Adjectives breezy | ventoso | venteux | luftig cool | fresco | frais | kühl fun | divertido | amusant | **macht Spaß hot | caliente | chaud | heiß humid | húmedo | humid | feucht salty | salado | salé | salzig sandy | arenoso | sablonneux | sandig sunny | soleado | ensoleillé | sonnig sweaty | ***sudoroso | en sueur | verschwitzt warm | cálido | chaud | warm wet | mojado | mouillé | nass

*el agua is one of those rare feminine words that uses “el” because it sounds better than “la” **there is no German adjective for fun that I know of. Instead we say that something/someone “makes fun”! ***in Spanish, it is much more common to say “I am sweating” than it is to say “I am sweaty”

(as always, corrections and suggestions are welcome!)

Grammar Friday: Ser vs. Estar

Boost your Spanish with more complex synonyms for words you already know

Here you have some words/expressions (in bold) that you can use to show off while speaking Spanish. A native will know them, but if you use these you will impress them. Also, in your writings these words will look quite good. NOTE: Some of them are quite formal and not used in conversations.

similar - semejante, afín, cercano, aproximado, símil, parecido (adj.) (similar)

parecerse - asemejarse, semejar, darse un aire, recordar a (to resemble)

divertido - ameno, entretenido (adj.) (fun)

difícil - peliagudo, arduo, espinoso (adj.) (difficult)

fácil - sencillo, factible (adj.) (easy)

empezar - emprender (to begin)

terminar - concluir, ultimar, finiquitar (to finish)

la misión -  la empresa, el cometido, la tarea, la labor, el quehacer  (mission, duty)

caro - costoso, prohibitivo (adj.) (expensive)

barato - asequible, económico (adj.) (cheap)

distraer, desentender, simular - hacerse el sueco (expression, lit.

to do the Swedish. To avoid doing something that you must do)

enfermo - aquejado, indispuesto, alicaído (adj.) (sick, ill)

la historia - el cuento, la leyenda, la fábula (story, tale)

el cotilleo - chisme, chismorreo, enredo (gossip)

aprender - cultivarse, formarse, educarse, empollar (to learn)

gustar - cautivar, embelesar (to like)

saber - estar al corriente, estar al tanto (to know about something)

siempre - perpetuamente, constantemente, continuamente (always)

malo - diabólico, maléfico, maldito, ruin, infame, sinvergüenza, insolente, maligno, malicioso, depravado, inmoral, pérfido (adj.) (bad, as in “a bad person”)

malo - nocivo, dañino, perjudicial, nefasto (adj.) (bad)

comprar - adquirir, obtener (to buy)

la tienda -el comercio, el establecimiento, el negocio, la botica (shop)

continuar -prorrogar, prolongar, preservar, aguantar, proseguir (to continue)

buscar - indagar, rebuscar, escudriñar, revolver (to search)

contestar - objetar, contradecir, rebatir, refutar, rechazar, disputar, discutir, argüir (to reply, as in refute)

abandonar - marcharse, desaparecer, largarse, ausentarse (to abandon, as in “to leave a place”)

feliz - radiante, contento, risueño, campante (adj.) (happy)

triste - afligido, apenado, desconsolado, abatido, entristecido, apesumbrado, desolado, deshecho, desamparado, mustio, taciturno, tristón (adj.) - sad

antipático - desagradable, enojoso, aguafiestas, pesado (adj.) (obnoxious)

la ciudad - la urbe, la localidad, el municipio, la población

 (city)

el país - la nación, la patria, el pueblo, el estado (country)

la familia - la estirpe, el linaje (family)

los padres - los progenitores, los ascendientes, los antecesores (parents)

la casa - el domicilio, la vivienda, la residencia, la morada, el inmueble, la edificación (house)

Note: I’ve always wanted to make a post about this so here I am! Please be aware that I tried to make this list as standard as I could but swearing is very different throught Spanish-speaking countries so many words could have a different meaning in X country that Y country. Also, I am Guatemalan so this is based on my culture a little.

Nouns

la puta - the bitch

la zorra - the bitch (femenine for fox)

la perra - the bitch (femenine for dog)

mierda - shit

caca - shit

verga - cock/dick

culero* - asshole

mierdero - shit maker

pendejo - dumbass

mula* - donkey

estúpido - stupid

maje* - dumbass

hij@ de puta - son of a bitch

maldito - cursed/goddamned

serote* - motherfucker

cabrón - motherfucker (can also mean someone very skilled in some countries)

comemierda - shit eater

la chingada - fuck (not literally)

idiota - idiot

imbécil - idiot (more offensive)

Phrases

Andate a la mierda - go to shit

Comé mierda - eat shit

La que te parió - the one that gave birth to you

Shó* - shut the fuck up

No me jodas - don´t fuck with me

A huevos* - of course (quite vulgar)

Andate a la verga - fuck off

(Basically you can get creative with your phrases, everyone does)

*These are all Guatemalan expressions.

P.S: please feel free to add your own!

Spanish Quotes about Life.

1. Nada hay más surreal que la realidad- Nothing is more surreal than reality.

2. Despues de los años mil, Torna el agua a su carril- In a hundred years we will be dead anyway.

3. La vida es un relámpago entre dos largas noches- Life is a flash of lightning between two long nights.

4. Nada hay nuevo debajo del sol- There is nothing new under the Sun.

(Everything that’s happened to you, has happened to other people too.)

5. De músico, poeta y loco, todos tenemos un poco- We all have a little bit of musician, poet and crazy person in us.

6. El arte es una mentira que nos acerca a la verdad- Art is a lie which brings us closer to truth.

7. Toma las cosas como vienen- Take things as they come.

8. Hay un cierto placer en la locura, que solo el loco conoce- There’s a certain pleasure in madness that only the madman knows.

9. Vale más huir, que morir- It’s better to flee than to die. (Live to fight another battle.)

10. No hables a menos que puedas mejorar el silencio- Don’t talk unless you can improve on the silence.

10 fun ways to learn and improve in a language (that isn’t studying)

watch netflix in your target language - cartoons and disney films are always a good starting point

start a podcast about your favourite topic (tv shows, films, games etc.) 

start a video blog/diary - record yourself on how your day went (don’t worry - you don’t have to post it online!)

start a journal in your target language

set your favourite video game to your target language (e.g. animal crossing)

write tv and film reviews 

listen to free audiobooks on youtube in the background

fall asleep to whispered ASMR videos in your target language (search on youtube ASMR + the language you’re learning)

use apps like duolingo, memrise and quizlet (you could even create your own vocab course)

read lightweight (and trashy) fashion magazines - a lot of content will be available online for free

Multilingual Vocab Practice

My Favorite Things

(Vocab dump! Saw some people doing this and thought I’d try. I decided to start with a list of some of my favorite things. I’d want to talk about this stuff in any language. All German words are given in singular first, plurals that apply are in parentheses)

English | español | français | Deutsch

adventures | las aventuras | les aventures | das Abenteuer (Abenteuer)

animals | los animales | les animaux | das Tier (Tiere)

architecture | la arquitectura | l’architecture | die Architektur

art | el arte | l’art | die Kunst

babies | los bebés | les bébés | das Baby (Babys)

the beach | la playa | la plage | der Strand

birds | los pájaros | les oiseaux | der Vogel (Vögel)

board games | los juegos de mesa | les jeux de société | das Brettspiel (Brettspiele)

books | los libros | les livres | das Buch (Bücher)

breakfast | el desayuno | le petite déjeuner | das Frühstück

churches | las iglesias | les églises | die Kirche (Kirchen)

the city | la ciudad | la ville | die Stadt

coffee | el café | le café | der Kaffee

comedy | la comedia | la comédie | die Komödie

dancing | bailar | danser | das Tanzen

drawing | dibujar | dessiner | das Zeichnen

fantasy | la fantasía | la fantasy | die Fantasie

food | la comida | la nourriture | das Essen

French | el francés | le français | Französisch

German | el alemán | l’allemand | Deutsch

the guitar | la guitarra | la guitare | die Gitarre

history | la historia | l’histoire | die Geschichte

Italian | el italiano | l’italien | Italienisch

Japanese | el japonés | le japonais | Japanisch

jokes | las bromas | les blagues | der Witz (Witze)

kittens | los gatitos | les chatons | das Kätzchen (Kätzchen)

languages l los idiomas | les langues | die Sprache (Sprachen)

laughing | reír | rire | das Lachen

linguistics | la lingüística | la linguistique | die Linguistik

movies | las películas | les films | der Film (Filme)

musical theatre | el teatro musical | le théâtre musical | das Musiktheater

mystery novels | las novelas de misterio | les romans policiers | der Krimi

old movies | las películas antiguas | les vieux films | alte Filme

opera | la ópera | l’opéra | die Oper (Opern)

pandas | los pandas | les pandas | der Panda (Pandas)

philosophy | la filosofía | la philosophie | die Philosophie

puppies | los perritos | les chiots | der Welpe (Welpen)

purple | la púrpura | le violet | lila

rock music | la música rock | la musique rock | die Rockmusik

reading | leer | lire | das Lesen

singing | cantar | chanter | das Singen

Spanish | el español | l’espagnol | Spanisch

storytelling | la narración de cuento | la narration | das Geschichtenerzählen

strolling | pasearse | se promener | das Spazieren

summer | el verano | l’été | der Sommer (Sommer)

superheroes | los superhéroes | les super héros | die Superheld (Superhelden)

swimming | nadar | nager | das Schwimmen

swing music | la música de swing | la musique swing | die Swing-Musik

tea | el té | le thé | der Tee

theatre | el teatro | le théâtre | das Theater

travelling | viajar | voyager | das Reisen

true crime | el crimen verdadero | le vrai crime | das wahres Verbrechen

wine | el vino | le vin | der Wein

writing | escribir | écrire | das Schreiben

(corrections and suggestions are welcome!)

favorite language learning resources

duolingo- a lot of language learners have issues with it but it’s good to get a base on the language and they’re always adding new languages!

memrise- good for vocabulary and memorizing, they have a wide list of languages

babbel- really effective if you want to learn how to communicate with people or get around, costs money for the full version but they have sales all the time

hellotalk- language exchange app, i’ve had really good experiences with this app, the only downside is that you have to pay to select more than one language you want to learn

tandem- similar to hellotalk, i like it slightly less but it allows you to choose as many languages as you want!

forvo- you can listen to native speakers pronounce things! it’s amazing!

ipachart- interactive chart with the international phonetic alphabet

wordreference- online dictionary for french, spanish, german, italian, portuguese, dutch, swedish, russian, polish, romanian, czech, greek, turkish, chinese, japanese, korean, and arabic

bab.la- another online dictionary with 24 languages

linguee- really great for learning phrases and seeing words in context

omniglot- encyclopedia of writing systems and languages, really great for learning new writing systems & also basic phrases! also has links to other resources!

the great language game- game for testing listening comprehension to several dozen languages!

ba ba dum- fun vocabulary game

easy languages- youtube channel featuring native speakers speaking a variety of languages but mostly spanish, french, and german

wikitongues- youtube channel attempting to document every language in the world

languagepod101- offers podcasts and youtube videos in a wide variety of languages

verbix- verb conjugating website with a wide variety of languages

quizlet- flashcard website that’s great for compiling vocab lists

lingq- i’ve only used it a little but it seems helpful especially for beginners!

tunein- allows you to listen to radio in a variety of languages

wikipedia- they have thousands to millions of articles in various languages so it’s a great place to test your reading skills, and in addition you can read articles about the language you’re learning and get a grasp on the language’s structure and sound system

lyricstraining- allows you to learn languages using song lyrics, really helpful for comprehension

lang-8- you can post things and have native speakers correct them, and correct things from other people!

feel free to add!