#English language school beginner english classes | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sanzaibian · 1 month

Note

I'm loving the stories! I'm heading to Mexico in a few weeks with work, but hoping to immerse myself in the culture a bit. Can you help me out?

You find yourself in front of your local Spanish-language association. You thought that taking a few classes in Spanish would help you recover some of the long forgotten classes you took in high school… though in all honesty, it won’t likely do much. You’re quite old, now, so it means that your brain cannot learn new languages as easily as it used to...

As you enter, you see the Mexican flag front and center, along with flags of many other Latin American countries, as well as that of Spain. You walk up to the receptionist, and she tells you, directly in Spanish :

“¡Bienvenidos! ¿Cuál es el motivo de usted venida? (Welcome ! What is the reason you came here ?) - Er…” You try to conjure some of the very old memories, and only manage a “Hola !” Before going back to English. “I’m sorry, I don’t really know Spanish… I’m here to take classes, in fact.”

The receptionist nods, and thinks a bit before taking out a timetable.

“Okay, well, you see, I have a... beginner’s course of Spanish in a few hours… It’s not perfect because they already started in January, but I think you can still catch up if you work hard enough.” She says, with a perfect American accent. She is visibly bilingual. - Oh, in a few hours ?”

You are quite interested, considering that you did want some beginner-level courses, but in a few hours… That’s too short to just go back home and come back later, but that’s also too long to just stay here and wait without getting bored !

The receptionist notices your embarrassment.

“You know, we are also a place where Spanish learners and native speakers can hang out. If you want, you can go to the hangout room while waiting ?” She offers sympathetically. - Well yeah, I could do that.” You nod. It may be geared towards more hard-core learners, but you can always try to immerse yourself…

You go to the room she waves you to. It isn’t loud, but there’s quite a lot of people in it, all speaking Spanish. You go and find somewhere to sit, when, on your way, someone hails you.

“¡Hola! ¿Cómo te llamas? (Hello ! (...) ?)”

Your long-buried memories start churning, as you recognize the second sentence as meaning something like “What’s your name ?”. You think a while, and then, flash of brilliance.

“Me llamo Charlie.” You answer, giving out your name in the most American of accents.

Your conversation partner smiles, and speaks quite slowly to let you understand what he means.

“¿Cuántos años tiene?” You understand the sentence to mean ‘How old are you ?’ - Er… Soy… cuarenta y dos… años ?” You try, but he shakes his head. - No, ¡es ‘Tengo ventidós’ o ‘Tengo ventidós años’!”

You blush of embarrassment as he corrects you. Yes, you now remember that to mean “I am x years old” you say “Tengo x (años)”… you even remember the worksheets from way back when… Huh, it seems like it was less far of a memory than you thought.

“Lo siento…” You excuse yourself with sentence that came back strangely fast. - ¡Jajaja!” He laughs. “¡No te preocupes! ¡Hablar español es difícil! (Don’t worry ! Speaking Spanish is difficult !)”

You are surprised how easy it is to understand him. Visibly, you had more memories than you expected ! Then, that guy continues.

“¿De dónde es? (Where are you from ?) - Soy de… Mexico… Nuevo Mexico. (I’m from… Mexico… New Mexico.)”

You almost stumbled on yourself. There seems to be something wrong with that statement. You know you’re American, but something seems wrong…

“Ah, de... ¿Nuevo México? Pero tu acento no suena asi… (Ah, from… New Mexico ? But your accent doesn’t seem like it comes from there...) - Si, es verdad… (Yes, it’s true...)” You’re about to tell him that it’s because you’re American, but then you say : “La gente dice que tengo un acento de la Ciudad de Mexico. Sabes, Mexihco Hueyaltepetl. (People say that I have an accent from Mexico City. You know, Mexihco Hueyaltepetl (?).)”

Wait, why do people say that ? You never went to Mexico City ! Okay, yes, you did go there for the holidays, after all, your father lives there… Wait, your parents aren’t separated !

You get more and more confused as multiple versions of your history start competing with each other.

“¡Ah, tenía razón! Puedo verlo en tu cara que eres… eh… ¿mexiqueño? (Ah, I was right ! I can see by your face that you are… er… from Mexico City ?) - ¡Jajaja!” You laugh. “¡No se dice ‘mexiqueño’! ¡Se dice capitalino, o chilango si estás familiarizado! (You don’t say “Mexiqueño” ! You say “Capitalino”, or “Chilango” if you’re familiar !)” You don’t quite know where this knowledge comes from. It seems like something only locals would know… - Perdón, soy chileno, no lo sabía… (Sorry, I’m Chilean, I didn’t know...)”

You smile at him. Of course, he couldn’t know that, you’re familiar with these terms because you’re a Chilango through and through ! Born in the city, lived in the city ! Yet you furrow your brows, as something still feels off.

Somehow, you’re convinced that you’re American, even though it seems to be a more and more distant fact. Well, when you look down and see those tan arms, you know that you aren’t, like, a total gringo, you’re at least part Latino…

“¿Cómo es la vida allá? (How is life there ?)” The Chilean guy asks you, a torrent of memories coming back (?) to you. - ¡Es complicado de describir! Pero México es muy dinámico, ¡entonces siempre es interesante! (It’s difficult to describe ! But Mexico is very dynamic, so it’s always interesting !)” You think back to how frantic life is over there… and how much you love that. “Especialmente comparado con aquí, parece que esta citudad está muerta… ¡En México siempre hay un xochitzin con el que te puedes topar! (Especially when compared to here, this city seems dead… In Mexico, there’s always an xochitzin (?) you can run into !)”

As the Chilean nods, you keep getting quite confused. You know you’re from Mexico City, you know you’re American, yet somehow there is like… a piece of the puzzle missing. You keep on thinking strange words like “Mexihco Hueyaltepetl” or “ihni”, and you know it’s not Spanish, nor English – not that you would know too much of that language.

You continue thinking as your body starts feeling strange, as you feel it shifting. You put your hand on your forehead and sense your wrinkles relaxing. You feel quite queasy…

“¿Estás bien? (Are you alright ?) - Me siento un poco mareada… (I feel a bit dizzy…) - Sólo tienes que ir al baño. ¿Quieres que te ayude? (Just go to the toilets. You want me to help ?) - No, estará bien. Tlazohcamati. (No, it’s gonna be alright. (???)) - Okay… eh... ¿Eres indígenas? (Okay… er… Are you a Native American ?)”

You don’t answer the Chilean, only giving him a small wave to thank him. You find your way to the toilets, still queasy, and look at yourself.

You’ve got your usual short black hair, your nascent beard that doesn’t want to come along, your brownish tint, as well as your light muscles. Nothing looks out of place, yet something seems wrong.

Is it the fact that you are so youthful ? You know you’re quite twinky. Is it the fact that your skin looks weird ? You know that it’s clearer than the other’s because your mother is gringo.

You feel even more queasy, as you feel your entire body tensing. Memories come back of your time in the gym, but also of the time with all your xochitzmeh (bros)… Yes, you now remember how you’re the son of an American linguist and a Nahua man. How you grew up speaking Nahuatl along with the other kids from around Mexico City. How you started going to the gym to prove that gays aren’t cuiltemeh (sissies/fags). How you now cringe to that line of thought, yet continue doing it to attract guys.

As the pieces of your life go back together, your queasiness dissipates, and you feel better. You drink a bit of water, and then you go back to the hangout room. As you go in there, the Chilean hails you once again.

“¡Charlie! ¿Esta mejor? (Charlie ! Doing better ?)”

Laughable, “Charlie” is only the nickname your grandparents use when you’re at their house… Why does that guy even know it ?

“¡Mi nombre no es Charlie, es Carlos! ¡Carlos Zopiyactle! (My name isn’t Charlie, it’s Carlos ! Carlos Zopiyactle !)” You say in a very matter-of-fact fashion. - Lo siento, pensé que te llamabas Charlie… (Sorry, I thought that you were named Charlie...) - No es nada. (It’s nothing.)” You answer with a very Mexican accent, aspirating your ‘s’. “Pero, tengo que irme ahora. ¡Adiós! (However, I need to go now. Goodbye !) - ¡Adiós, Carlos! (Goodbye, Carlos !)”

You leave the room, go past the receptionist who smiles at you a bit weirdly, and make your way back to your grandparent’s home. You don’t really like going there, because you’re not very good in English, but eh. Pleasing your mom is a good enough reason.

Suddenly, you hear a very familiar-sounding sound from your phone. You open it, seeing a notification, smile, and answer it before calling your mother.

“¡Cualli teotlaltzintli! ¡Amo niyaz tlacualpan! (Good evening ! I’m not going to be there for dinner !) - Pff… ¡Aic timotlamahzehua nanmonahuac! (Pff… You never come eat with us !) - Nomati, pero tengo cosas que hacer. (I know, but I have things to do.)” You say, switching back a bit to Spanish. - ¿Zannima tihual mocuepaz? (You will come back soon ?) - Quema. Nantli, nimitz nequi. (Yes. Mom, I love you.)

- Ohuihqui nimitz nequi. (I love you too.)”

You finish the call and smile. She doesn’t have to know that you’re missing the family dinners to be pounded. Those jocks on Grindr don’t know what your pseudonym “Moiztactlaca” means, but it sounds foreign, and they love it.

Soon, you’re going back home to Mexico City, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t take advantage of all the hot guys here in the meantime !

#male transformation #male tf #twink tf #twunk tf #twinkification #twunkification #age reduction #latino tf #mexican tf #nahua tf #mental change #reality change #transformation #tf story

249 notes · View notes

lurkingteapot · 11 months

Text

Free Thai language learning resources

I’ve been learning Thai for the past 20 months. This list is by no means complete or comprehensive, what works for me doesn’t have to work for you, etc etc. That said: I’ve used most of these and found them useful, I thought you might, too. Have fun!

Youtube channels with free video lessons:

There are tons of wonderful teachers on youtube; this is by no means an exhaustive list. The three channels listed here are comprehensive, long-running, and updated regularly; if you have other favourites, please reblog and append!

Comprehensible Thai is a channel that teaches Thai in Thai, from zero, via the comprehensible input method. They have videos from total beginner through upper intermediate/lower advanced levels available.

Learn Thai with Mod – Mod runs a language school that offers good, structured group classes; she and her co-teachers often upload short videos about specific aspects of Thai. The channel has been around for a long time and they cover a lot of topics, including grammar points.

Thai Lessons by New (Learn Thai one Word one Sentence) – lots of good vocabulary and situational phrases

Other channels I like:

Advanced Thai with Kruu Momm -- one of my favourites, Momm’s a star. Not included in the upper list only because this is definitely more of an intermediate-advanced resource.

Thai with Grace -- I knew of Grace via her polyglot channel and travel vlogs before I realised she also teaches Thai. Fun stuff.

Kat talks Thai -- I believe Kat is more active on instagram (@kattalksthai), but these are still really neat.

Perth Nakhun’s Basic Thai playlist

Honourable mentions because they’re interesting and can be nice supplements (yes, the video titles on these channels tend to be clickbaity, the content is useful, though):

Stu Jay Raj: Stu is a polyglot based in Thailand. His channel is a bit of a mixed bag, but he has a very interesting approach to languages and sometimes does foreign accent reduction / accent analysis sessions on his channel (with consent and participation of those whose speech he dissects).

Thai Talk with Paddy: Paddy is an Australian who learned Thai when he was a volunteer in Thailand, he’s kept it up. Fun things about language learning and culture

Listening comprehension

I’m assuming many folks on here who are interested in Thai already watch some Thai shows (yes I’m stereotyping but also this is tumblr), which means you’re spending time listening to Thai.

If you’re not:

Netflix, Youtube, WeTV, and Viki all have several Thai shows with English subtitles available. The Youtube channel of Thai broadcasting giant GMMTV has English subtitles on nearly all of their uploaded series, some series are also subtitled in languages other than English. one31 is another huge channel; they have English subtitles on some series and some series also have subtitles in Thai. There’s tons more – find a rec list and a Thai show that sounds like you’d enjoy it, chances are you’ll be able to watch it for free, legally, on youtube. You can use the youtube controls (or the ones on netflix) to turn the speed down to 75% —this can make it a lot easier to catch what’s being said. 50% gets so draggy that I personally find it almost harder to understand, but ymmv—give it a shot!

https://lingopolo.org/thai/ has real-life recordings for listening practice; sign-up is required but it’s literally just an e-mail-address, user name and password. Using the site is free.

https://www.activethai.com/ has a section dedicated to learning the tones (under “Overview of Thai Tones”) including a self-test for listening that I found very useful.

Learning to read

I will always, always, ALWAYS recommend learning to read the Thai script. All available romanisations for Thai have drawbacks, and besides, you learned to read English with its “though through thorough tough thought”, you can damn well learn to read Thai. I promise it will help you improve your pronunciation (yes, really) and overall understanding of how the language works.

Learn-to-Read-Thai resources that seem comprehensive and like they should do everything in one:

Anki decks “Read Thai PHASE 1 - The Consonants“, “Read Thai PHASE 2 - Thai Vowels“, “Read Thai PHASE 3 - Consonant Classes” and “Read Thai PHASE 4 - Tone Rules” by Khruu Gaan (ครูกานต์). Anki is probably the most powerful spaced repetition software I have ever used. It’s free on all desktops and android. These decks have sound.

Memrise course “Read Thai: A Complete Guide to Reading Thai“

Other resources I used (In hindsight, I feel like I should’ve picked one resource to learn to read from and stuck with it; I think I was rushing and made things more complicated than need be for myself with my hodgepodge mix-and-match approach. But hey, I can read now.)

https://www.activethai.com/ – the site I started with. Teaches the consonants separated by class and with sound. The only reason this is no longer my top recommendation is that I ended up using this alongside a resource that helped me memorise what the words used to represent the letters actually mean because the site itself didn’t tell me, and I wanted that easy way to have 44 vocabulary words ready as soon as you’re done learning your consonants, and it gives you access to neat mnemonics such as ไก่จิกเด็กตาย(เฎ็กฏาย)บนปากโอ่ง.

The chart on Wikipedia’s English article on the Thai Script

the reference section of Thai-Language.com

In order to better learn to read Thai written in different fonts (modern and handwriting fonts can be tough at first), the Thai Script typographical styles overview on Thai-language.com was a huge help, as was throwing simple phrases things into gdocs and messing around to see how different fonts made them look. This chart from sanukmaak.com also helped.

Speaking and pronunciation

The hardest one for any new language for most folks. For me personally, finding someone who speaks the language and is willing to correct me was an absolute necessity, but I know that’s not always an option. If you’re going it on your own, make sure you check out the resources above for learning to hear the tones and those sounds and sound clusters not present in your own language correctly first.

Things to try on your own:

shadowing: Whenever someone on a show utters a sentence you think might be useful, or provide a useful pattern, or something just sounds cool, rewind and try to speak along as they say it, trying to make it sound as close to their pronunciation as you can.

try to record yourself and listen back -- yes, it’s cringe af but it will HELP.

memorising short sentences and phrases: tying back to the section above, there's a ton of youtube videos that is "phrases to use in [situation]" that are great for targeted learning if you're up for it

self talk (cautiously! don't want to cement bad pronunciation habits)

if you’re linguistically inclined: looking up descriptions on how to make a sound correctly sometimes helps, as does watching videos of folks who’ve successfully learned the language.

once you’ve learned to read: find sentences to read somewhere (twitter, a textbook, whatever) and read them into your phone’s dictation engine. See if the software understands you correctly. Adjust as needed until it does.

Websites and apps to find language partners or (paid) tutors

Like any other app where you ‘meet people’, please exercise caution on these.

italki (mainly for finding tutors and teachers, but you can find language partners on the forums)

Preply (web/app) (for finding tutors/teachers)

hellotalk (app only, iOS/android) for finding language partners -- free to use basic features like messaging, voice rooms, etc; has annoying ads

tandem (app only, iOS/android) for finding language partners -- free to use basic features, has ads

any other app or website that’ll let you meet people, like local facebook groups (yes really), instagram, etc

(note: Neither hellotalk nor tandem allow users to sign up without selecting a binary gender. it sucks. I’ve seen people who managed to circumvent this on Hellotalk by signing up via apple ID (? I think), but it’s hearsay and I have not managed to do so myself.)

Books (a book) that are (is) worth spending money on imo

Higbie & Thinsan: Thai Reference Grammar. The Structure of Spoken Thai. Orchid Press: Bangkok, 2002. Yes, it’s ancient in textbook terms. It’s not perfect, but it’s still the best reference grammar for Thai I’ve come across so far, and I use it frequently.

Random bits and bobs

Stu Jay Raj has two videos in particular that I, as a phonetics-and-phonology-loving person, loved and found extremely useful and wished I’d watched before I started to try and learn the script: Thai Vowels for Dummies in 5 Min v2 - A System Impossible to Forget and Thai Bites Extended Edition - Transliterating Thai using IPA. I realise these may be overwhelming and less helpful for people with no prior phonetics or phonology training, but they helped me so much it’d feel amiss not to include them.

Resources I recommend AGAINST using when starting out

drops/hello words -- seems like their Thai courses have been created using machine translation that wasn’t sufficiently proofread. They will assign you nouns in places of the corresponding verb or false cognates, and that’s within the first 10 or so lessons. Might be useful once the level where a learner can tell “ah, yeah, that’s … not right” has been reached? idk.

transcription as generated by google translate: BURN IT WITH FIRE. it’s a transliteration, i.e. 1-to-1 representation of 1 Thai letter = 1 Latin letter (extended), it’s not phonemic, it’s not going to help ANYONE (and those who can make sense of it presumably already read Thai and would be better off with just Thai script). Just. Stop.

Google translate as a dictionary: still shitty but not AS bad as the transcription function. Still, for the love of all that you hold dear, please, save yourself the pain and confusion and just use thai2english or thai-language.com instead.

---

And that’s that from me, friends. Yeeting this into the void before I second-guess myself more. Please append additional resources!

Edited to fix a couple of typos and errors on 2023-06-15

#thai language #learning thai #ภาษาไทย #เรียนภาษาไทย #Thai from English #language learning #language resource #language learning resource #idk what the hell else to tag this #free education #don't get me started on 'creative' 'free-form' 'by-ear' romanisations; we'll be here all day #my nonsense

744 notes · View notes

yoificfinder · 10 months

Note

Hello! Thank you for all the work you put in this wonderful page. I was wondering if you had any recs related to langue/Yuuri and Victor learning each other's languages.

These are the ones I remember off the top of my head:

Bear Your Soul on the Ice by @diedraechin [E,488K] *WIP

At age fourteen, Katsuki Yuuri had been determined to be Japan's next great figure skating hope, but with no coach that would never happen, so his ballet instructor packs him up off to Russia to train with Yakov Feltsman. The Yakov Feltsman, otherwise known as the coach to rising figure skating star -- and Yuuri's idol -- Viktor Nikiforov.

From the rinks of Yubileyny Sports Palace in St Petersburg to the bustling city of Osaka and quieter Michigan suburbs, Yuuri chases his dream of skating against his idol and improbable best friend, getting tripped up along the way because growing up is never easy and it's even harder as an elite athlete with the eyes of a nation watching. But it'll all be fine as long as Yuuri doesn't do something stupid like fall in love with Viktor. Right? Right.

The Boyfriend Paradox by @japansace [T, 3K]

For some inexplicable reason, Yuuri speaks Russian.

Now, as everyone knows, there are only two viable reasons why anyone ever learns a foreign language:

1. For school.

2. To impress a foreign love interest.

And Victor can’t quite bring himself to believe that Yuuri would be at all studious enough to hunt down Russian classes in Detroit of all places.

(Or: Victor gets jealous of a boyfriend that doesn’t exist.)

Call Everything on the Ice... by @shysweetthing [E, 50K]

Victor learns Japanese while in Hasetsu. He doesn't tell Yuuri, and things get dicey when he overhears Yuuri and Mari talking about him in Japanese. Repeatedly.

(The subtitle of this fic should be: Victor Nikiforov really needs a hug. Luckily, he gets one. Eventually.)

~~~

“No,” Victor says, skating up to Yuuri on the ice, “you have to push all the way from here, or you’ll never get the height you need for that axel.” He sets his hand on Yuuri’s ass, tracing the muscle group he’s referring to. “Not here.” He taps Yuuri’s thigh. He doesn’t know the words for the muscles in English, only knows how to show him.

Yes, technically he’s grabbing Yuuri’s ass, but how else is he to communicate?

Heels Over Head by @amarokster [E, 34K]

Victor attempts to find his feet in Japan but finds himself becoming obsessed with Yuuri’s instead as he fails to decipher the mysterious puzzle of Yuuri's constantly exposed ankles.

AKA “I went to Hasetsu and all I got was this lousy foot fetish.”

in the spaces between by sixpences / @thetwoguineabook [T, 7K]

Yuuri's life in St Petersburg is spread between four languages.

Repeat After Me by queenieofaces / @liesonthefloordramatically [T, 6K]

Victor learns language through mimicry, hears phrases and repeats them back until the inflection becomes second nature. Yuuri seems to communicate best through euphemism, through metaphor, through talking around the subject rather than approaching it head on, and so Victor tries his best to mimic him, to take his words and echo them back.

(Vignettes in language learning and communication, spanning the whole series.)

Russian for Dummies by @cutthroatpixie [G, 2K]

"Are you a beginner?"

Viktor was not a beginner. Viktor was the TA supposedly in charge of this study session. Viktor spoke Russian. Viktor was Russian.

"Sure!"

#yoi #yuri on ice #yoi fanfic #victuuri #yoi fic rec #language

125 notes · View notes

jullbnt · 3 months

Note

Bonjour! I'm a big fan and your art inspires me so much. I'm currently learning French to communicate with my friends, do you happen to have any tips on learning another language? I'd love some advice. ^_^

Bonjour bonjour ! Thank you for gracing my inbox with such a cute little Time, I adore him 🤩

And I'm glad I can inspire you!!

About your question I don't really have unique advice on learning another language, I guess you're asking me because I happen to be French? ^^

I'd say find lessons to learn the basics first, and maybe use an app or something to learn vocabulary (I did that for Japanese a few years ago and quiz apps make things a lot easier and fun! I'm still a beginner though, I don't have enough time but I'd love to start again). There's an app called Anki that lets you create your own quiz cards to test yourself with, or you can download pre-made decks (search for "Anki French decks" and you'll find what you need). I've used Anki a lot for studying, I love it!

Once you're comfortable enough start having basic conversations with your friends, and you can also try watching the French version of a movie you know well (or I don't know... try playing a LoZ game in French for example haha). If you already know the dialogues it can help! Maybe you can also listen to French youtubers that share your interests? I'm sure you'll find lessons from native speakers on Youtube too :)

And then of course consume French media, read in French, listen to French music... That's how I learnt English for the most part, I didn't really try (and the language classes we get in French school are really unhelpful). But I guess it's much easier with English cause it's everywhere and very much needed to get involved in fandom stuff online.

(Also be careful about comments from French users on social networks, sadly a lot of us make a lot of spelling or grammar mistakes so don't trust everything you read... I don't see the same thing happening in the same proportions with English speakers, I guess French is hard for natives too).

And lastly, we're always pleased and impressed when a foreigner bothers to learn our language, even if it's just a few sentences, and you don't need to speak flawlessly to be understood! French can be hard but don't put too much pressure on yourself ^^

I'm not sure this was very helpful, but I tried haha. Good luck with your learning and I hope you'll enjoy speaking French!

Passe une belle journée :))

#ask #french #advice??#not my art #oot link

33 notes · View notes

am-i-the-asshole-official · 6 months

Note

AITA for embarrassing the trainer in front of everyone?

Where I (24F) live English is not our first language, I'm not perfect myself but my fluency in it is considered above average compared to everyone here. I take pride in it because it give me more job opportunities but don't brag about it. I'm also Autistic.

I once thought about taking some random courses to enhance my resume, and chose a random institute I found. This course costed about 150 dollars and had three different subjects, English, Computer and psychology. I wanted to opt out of English because it wouldn't benefit me but that wasn't an option.

The first class was to test our levels and we had to answer a paper sheet in groups. I discussed with my group members that one question didn't make any sense and was grammatically wrong- [What are you look like?] They were all confused because they were beginners and had no idea what I was talking about, our trainer [60+F] was a retired public school teacher who had a British bachelor's degree so I thought there's no way someone like her would make such a simple mistake which made me suspect that it was a trick question. I told the other members that it must be a trick question and to beat the other groups we must answer it as intended, I asked them if they thought it was a good idea to tell the trainer about the mistake and they were all reluctant, however I was confident and convinced it was a trick question and the trainer is waiting for one of us to speak up.

I did it anyway told her that the question was supposed to be [What do you look like?]

The trainer brushed me off and started beating around the bush that the two questions mean something different and continued the class as if nothing happened, then brought up that some of her former students were unnecessarily rude and assumed they knew more than her despite being younger, and gave us examples from the middle school she used to work at. I thought perhaps she was indirectly criticizing me but I couldn't know for sure.

Later I assumed if the English course was this bad then maybe I wouldn't benefit at all from the other courses so I contacted management and voiced my complaints while sugarcoating it as much as possible so the trainer doesn't get fired, I claimed that the class was below my level and earned a full refund despite the contract stating we are only entitled to a partial refund. To make it clear I didn't ask for the full refund but I hoped I'd get it.

My relatives think I'm right for what I did but have commented that maybe I embarrassed them which resulted in the full refund, AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

63 notes · View notes

pinkacademic · 5 months

Text

Studying Language

Sorry I've been rather inactive, I'm slowly trying to get back into the swing of things!

This is something I’m actually qualified to talk about! I speak three languages fluently, albeit in need of a little practise, and I’m learning one more currently, with one on pause due to time constraints. Nevertheless, I feel pretty confident in my information lol. I’m also a qualified TEFL teacher and have worked abroad teaching English!

Full immersion is the best option. The best thing you can do is spend your time in a country that speaks your target language and force yourself to learn, once you have the “Hello,” “Goodbye,” “Where is the bathroom?” all mastered. In Ireland, there are places called Gaeltachtanna where you go for different lengths of time depending on the course and live in a town speaking exclusively Irish, usually staying with an Irish-speaking family, and going to classes for the language and for games and dances. Of course, that’s not an accesible option for everyone, so you could try going to places like your nearest Asian market, Eastern European market etc, and any areas in your city with a lot of immigrants that might speak your target language. If you have friends who speak that language, natively or just to a better level than you, ask to meet them for coffee and chat as much as you can in your language.

Immersion Part Two: Culture. The people who speak your target language natively do so not just becaus that’s the place in which they exist, but because that’s the place that they live- they get their groceries there, they go to school there, and their language developed because of the day-to-day, as well as unique aspects of their culture such as dances, music, and especially food. Learn about the culture of the country or countries that speak your target language. Eg, fold a paper crane or eat sushi if your language of choice is Japanese, watch an telenovela or go to a salsa class if your goal is to learn Spanish.

Watch TV shows in your Target Language. If you can’t access the locations, and even if you can, watching TV or movies is great because it’ll help you understand the cadences of natural speech that you can’t get from a textbook or formal class situation. Start with movies you might be familiar with like Disney movies (I will die on the hill of “Mother knows Best” from Tangled is better in Spanish). You can also combine your subtitles and audio, using subtitles in your own language at first, and challenge yourself to changing the subtitle.

Similar to the above points, use YouTube or Twitch to your advantage too. That’s probably a lot easier if your target language is English, but there are creators that speak in their non-English native language too. My friend watches a Mexican Minecraft YouTuber called Quackity who has a Minecraft server modded to feature a live translator between Spanish and English, which is very cool.

Read books in your Target Language. We don’t love The Chronicles of the Boy Wizard in this house, but the books are available in 85 languages. The Hobbit also has a tonne including Cornish, Thai, and Ukranian, and Twilight has about 37 translations, just to list a few well-known examples. Learn especially about books written originally in your target language.

Consume Media Originally from the Country or Countries that Speak that Language. Read the Witcher, watch Física o Química, join the dubbed vs subbed anime bloodbath. It can be so beneficial to your understanding of a language to see how those who speak it write it themselves, not just for localisation purposes. It can especially be useful for slang and dialects.

Duolingo and other apps. I’m swiftly approaching my 365 day duolingo streak,* and I fully intend to celebrate with pierogis and a green cake. But there are other options out there, and all of them are great for beginners. I can only speak about Duolingo as its the one I use, but I’m having a lot of fun with the layout of it. However, I do need real practice if I’m going to become actually fluent.

That’s it! I hope this has been helpful!

*I've surpassed it since writing this!! I'm at 400+!!

#pink academia #pink #academia #pink academic #pink academia masterpost project #studyblr #langblr

47 notes · View notes

homunculus-argument · 1 year

Note

The other day I was speaking with a Finnish friend of mine about how similar spanish and finnish are in that regard.

You can tell from which place someone is just by the way they organize their sentences, by their choice of words and obviously by their accent. Speaking spanish with somebody else without maintaining a neutral "correct" spanish means instantly doxxing yourself to the listener in such specific ways that it's almost hilarious.

And of course you can tell when somebody is not native when they say "emparedado" instead of plainly saying just "sandwich" and the way they give certain words a slightly different intonation.

Some would say that this is just like it is in any other language, but I think I understand exactly what you mean by certain things.

I've taken two different beginners' spanish classes in different schools, and while I absolutely do not speak the language (the most complicated sentence I can form is "I don't speak spanish, I only understand a few words - like a dog would", which is what I'll answer if anyone asks me "really, you speak spanish?") but our teacher explained in one class that she speaks the specific dialect of the region of spain where she learned it (I forget where), and native speakers would laugh at the way she pronounced some specific letter or word (I forget which one).

Honestly the idea that this kind of thing exists in a language spoken on several continents is awesome (imperialist origins aside). Finnish is such a limited language because of the small number of speakers and the small range they live in.

Only really having english for contrast, it really doesn't exist the same way in english. If you're typing out in english, you have to go out of your way to have your local colour shine through with select word choices, and in some languages you genuinely can't speak in a neutral way without it being obvious that you're trying to not give away your background.

122 notes · View notes

yourfavepookiebear · 5 months

Text

Introduction (again 😭)

Requests: open (?)

I'm on a road trip but I'll be back to work in no time, I'm gonna post my WIP soon, I just have to finish it first

Again, my only side account is @thepookiestpookiebear

Request Rules :

Character limit : generally 4 unless it's a group

I don't write incest, racist, homophobic, or that kinda stuff

Uhh I don't have much rules

I can write yandere stuff, I can also write self aware stuff

I write for twisted wonderland and genshin impact, and maybe tokyo revengers too !

And that's all, moving on :

Feel free to chat, I LOVE MAKING FRIENDS and i love talking/chatting ❤

If you don't like my works, just ignore them. If you don't like my account, block me. If I offend you somehow, either ignore me or block me.

I don't argue with people (most of the time)

I'm a pacifist, I have a teeny weeny wittle tiny eety beety bitty bit of anger issues

I haven't made a masterlist yet bc I don't know how to sorry

Do not steal my works, they are mine. Do not do anything with my works unless I consent to it, please. Don't copy !

Pookie, come and have some chai with me ♡♧ (or some coffee if that's what you prefer idk)

Hi pookies! I'm a beginner fic writer. I write for twisted wonderland, self aware twisted wonderland, and a slight bit of genshin impact, but mostly sagau. I'm a ✨FaLLeN AnGeL✨ /HJ SORRY 😞

My pronouns are she/her

I'm half European half Asian (specifically middle-eastern asian) my first language is French and my second language is English (chronologically), oh and I can speak in total 3-4 languages.

Edit: I have a lot of names and nicknames, so you can call me whatever you'd like, but here is a list of what most people call me, both online and irl :

Jess

Pookie

Pookie bear

Bear

KitKat

Jessica (rarely)

Cathy

Cath/Cat

Catastrophe (a nickname my previous classmates used to give me)

Sometimes even Catharina, or Catherine/Katherine

In conclusion, I have a lot of names and nicknames, so just call me whatever you'd prefer to call me, I just gave that list so maybe you'd have an idea.

Sometimes I'm dumb sometimes I'm smart, it all depends and varies.

I'm a girl, bisexual + greysexual (basically a biromantic greysexual). I'm a huge simp -> (edit: sometimes), and I like cute things.

I LOVE CATS

requests are almost always open pookies

Proud member of the pookie nation.

I will call u pookie or pookie bear no matter who or what you are.

I'm a pisces, my birthmonth is March. I'm not a huge fan of astrology but I do like astronomy tho

Subjects/topics I like:

Fashion, modeling, models.

Astronomy

Biology

Physics

Chemistry

Science (general base)

Philosophy (self-explanatory)

Edit : Sometimes history/SS too

Things I like/LOVE:

Vacuum cleaners ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤💖💞 (love of my life <33333333333333)

Food (everything except some seafood and mushrooms)

Cats (self-explanatory)

Cute things (self-explanatory)

Animals

Social media (sometimes, depends on the type)

My friends

My (new) classmates

My old school

Fast-food (KFC especially, OMFG I LOVE FRIED CHICKEN WINGS AND OML FRIED SPICY CHICKEN WINGSSS <333)

Chicken nuggets

Dried bacon

Bacon and eggs

Scrambled eggs

FRIED CHICKEN

Sandwhiches

Hotdogs

Riceballs

Tuna fish cans (canned tuna fish 🔛🔝)

Basically any food

Chocolate, ex : chocolate cakes, chocolate milkshakes, chocolate bars, chocolate tablets

Nutella/chocolate milkshakes

Writing (depends, sometimes)

Dancing

Ducks (And he waddled away waddle waddle waddle 🥲.)

CARS

Motorcycles

MONEY (no need to explain)

My extra-curricular classes (kinda, sometimes I also hate them 😞)

Uh, a Lotta things, I'm just too lazy to write all of it (it would take hours)

Music too

My personality type:

I'm ambiverted actually so it depends, so idk.

Edit: I'm an INTP pookies

Little details about me:

I could talk about food for hours. (It's one of the only things I like more than astronomy and money.)

I can't focus for too long.

I have a wild imagination (not in a bad way tho)

I love mostly everything, except for a few people/things that I still hold grudges to. (For a good reason tho).

I have a super packed schedule most of the time, it's mainly cuz I go to 2 schools at the same time, along with extracurricular classes, and both school's homeworks, and school projects

My hobbies:

Horseriding

Rockclimbing

Hiking

Writing (sometimes)

Reading

Studying (only rarely)

Jogging (but mostly cycling)

Track running

Cycling (every day, except for when I'm sick or not in form)

I don't like:

Judgemental people

Sh*t-talkers

People who have massive egos

Roaches

Spiders

Dirtyness

Dirty people

Dust

Unsanitary people

Dirty food

Dirty water

Unhygienic people

People who don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom.

Some things you should probably know if you're one of my mutuals:

1. This isn't that much important, but I usually Ieave my home at around 8am and I come back at around 5pm. So sorry if I reply late to any of your asks or messages. if I don't reply or the reply is late then I'm most-likely outside, or just came home.

2. Also not that inportant, but I try to be nice to people because they already have enough problems and I don't need/want to be one of them. Sometimes though I may be rude or mean on accident, srry.

3. I LOVE ALL OF MY MOOTS ♡♡♡

4. Also not important but I don't really think much before subscribing to someone, if I see a random stranger on the internet who has good humor, then I'll hit the plus button. Sometimes though it can be troublesome, since i don't really check people's bios.

ALSO this is my beloved creature that I found on the streets on a snowy day, it's my best friend now @farfarurfav

I'm in a lot of fandoms, mainly Twisted Wonderland, Genshin impact, Attack on Titan, Jujustu Kaisen, Honkai Impact, Honkai Star Rail, Sailor Moon, Naruto, Boruto, Assassination Classroom, Spy x Family, KNY, Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken/ That time I reincarnated as a slime, Obey me, Dark Fall, Etc etc and also I'm a manga, manhua, manhwa, and anime enjoyer and I also know some webtoons too !

ONLY Side account : @thepookiestpookiebear

#yourfavepookiebear #pookie talks #introduction #introducing myself

34 notes · View notes

jessamine-rose · 1 year

Note

I’m really interested on what was the process like of Capitano’s darling learning schneznayan?

I presume that in mondstadt they speak some form of Germanic language, and as someone who learnt Russian through English textbooks I really wonder what were the struggles like for Darling?

Was she already previously acquainted with the schneznayan script and language? Perhaps the power of the Fatui was strong enough for standard Schenznayan classes to be obligatory in various schools in Teyvat? Did she had some sort of private lessons once she arrived in Schneznaya?

I always found that speaking with native speakers, though nerve wracking, was always a more productive way of learning the underlying meanings of certain words that existed in Russian but that did not exist in any language that I knew, I wonder if Capitano would have used some sort of ‘speaking classes to better your schneznayan as a Harbinger wife’ just to get her to talk with him more in the first stages of the relationship?

I don’t know honestly, I just can’t stop thinking of Capitano delicately correcting Darling’s pronunciation by showing what muscles she must exert pressure on in order to create sounds that exits in Schneznayan but not in Mondstatian like damn, me next please😭

(This brain rot came from a dream in which Capitano’s darling met Teucer for some reason and the little guy was like « I’ll teach you cool schneznayan slang and you help me with my mondstatian homework » and I couldn’t stop thinking of it ever since I woke up ~-~)

- sorry for the long ass tell, but if it isn’t a bother can I go by stellar anon?

Read Herbarium and Fairytale here!!

Hiiiiiii Stellar Anon!! I love long asks so pls don’t apologize for sending this. It was such a treat to read (｡･ω･｡)

Damsel is self-taught. She learned how to read Snezhnayan with textbooks and children’s books in Mondstadt Library, but she’s only at beginner/ intermediate level. As for speech……

She can’t speak/ understand the oral language at all. So she has been mispronouncing the words in her head this whole time……Neither does she know the modern slang and figures of speech, so she can only communicate with Snezhnayans via pen and paper.

Capitano definitely helps her!! He will gently teach her the proper pronunciation and other basics. It means more conversations, quality time, and chances to hear his darling’s voice. Once or twice, he slips in a love declaration which Damsel has no way of translating <3

When Capitano is away on missions, Damsel turns to her new guard for private lessons All hail Sergeant Naiad the jack of all trades This is to limit her social interaction and give her another pastime while Capitano is away. She once welcomed him home with a soft, perfect “I missed you.”

That being said, Capitano is in no rush to improve his darling’s proficiency. After all, the language barrier is another source of isolation between Damsel and the Snezhnayan public. And at her current level, she’ll have to continue relying on Capitano to read her Snezhnayan books.

BONUS:: Childe is surprised by Damsel and Teucer’s interaction. So the Captain’s darling is nicer to children, though it’s more of tough love and mild tolerance. He will remem—oh sh*t Capitano is here!!

Aahhhh my writing manifested in Stellar Anon’s dreams!! So did you dream of yourself reading a fic or the scene playing like a movie?? Thank you for sharing this with me, sweetie (๑•ૅㅁ•๑)

#il capitano #capitano #capitano x reader #yandere capitano x reader #yandere capitano #yandere fatui harbingers #fatui x reader #genshin x reader #yandere genshin #tw: yandere #fem reader #feedback #stellar anon #jessamine-writing

209 notes · View notes

homerstroystory · 2 months

Text

A calendar of events for all things ancient!

Howdy, y'all! I'm excited to announce that Saving Ancient Studies Alliance (SASA), a volunteer-driven organization dedicated to making the ancient world more accessible, has published a massive calendar of events related to the ancient world. I'm also very excited to announce that this project has been my baby for the better part of a year and I'm so proud to finally have it published.

This calendar includes conferences, lectures, classes, and field school/excavation opportunities, among other things. There are events included all the way until 2033, and it will be continuously updated by SASA's team of hardworking volunteers. Further, though this calendar definitely favors the ancient Mediterranean, there are opportunities associated with various ancient civilizations all over the world. This is an awesome resource for any scholar who is looking for an opportunity to expand or share their knowledge.

UPDATE: currently, due to a miscommunication with our web design team, the calendar is inaccessible to people who do not volunteer with the organization. we are working on it, and hope to have it up and running for the public very soon. I will update this post with the link when it is available.

In the near future, we hope to have a similar list specifically for scholarships, fellowships, and other monetary awards. So, keep your eye out for that!

SASA also has a ton of other great resources for scholars of the ancient world ranging from beginner to seasoned professional. We have links to hundreds of databases, resources, and professional organizations, bilingual (English-other language) lists of archaeological vocabulary for 8 languages, educational videos, twitch streams for ancient-world-related video games, and 50+ partner organizations for all things ancient!

#isaac.txt #archaeology #classical archaeology #art #academic accessibility #academia #resources #ancient studies #ancient history #medieval archaeology #maritime archaeology #classics

12 notes · View notes

frenchcoffeebreak · 9 months

Text

↑ Where I leave the things I frequently use. Yeah that's an ironing board. Monday 24th of july, 2023 | 35th day

Bonsoir à tous! 🇫🇷

Today I did some more french as I promise I would but I didn't do that much because I was basically outside all day doing chores and it was horribly hot today, too.

I do need to start doing like intense study hours so I can do french for one hour or two daily instead of doing it during like 3 hours while I do other stuff because that way I'll save more time (plus it's good to know how to organize your time when learning languages because that way you'll have more time when you're back at work or school).

Either way, what I did today was doing a bit more investigation on french learning YouTube channels and I discovered these:

Chloe Kian FR: a casual vlog about daily life things, books and self-improvement (not really focused on teaching languages, but a lot of people use her channel to learn).

Coffee Break French (reminds me of something): a series of podcasts that teach french but they do have many other channels directed at different languages.

CCube Academy: the type of channel that your language teachers will play during class but are actually helpful.

While I did that I obviously stopped to watch some of those channels' videos, for example I watched this video by Chloe Kian talking about how they organize their bullet journal, this other one by Coffee Break French about daily routines and finally this CCube Academy story about a boy who wants to figure out what her mom packed for lunch.

Other than that I already know a lot of popular french YouTube channels, like for example:

Easy French: an interview focused channel that also teaches vocabulary from time to time and has english and french subtitles at the same time (has other versions, like Easy Spanish).

Learn French With Alexa: very useful channel that teaches you french from the very beginning.

Learn To French: a lot of vocabulary and also many dictations to prepare you for exams for any level.

Piece of French: one of the most famous french learning channels. She teaches french through natural conversation and also stops to explain some more advanced expressions.

Français avec Nelly: I kind of forgot about this channel but she was actually one of the first YouTubers I watched. She covers up both the basics and more advanced things.

Learn French with FrenchPod101.com: lots of vocabulary compilations. Especially aimed at beginners.

İclal: her channel is aimed at language learning as a whole, not just french but she was actually the first channel I watched videos from.

Either way, that's it for today! Hope you found these lists helpful!

38 notes · View notes

skamenglishsubs · 1 year

Note

Hi, I know you’ve mentioned previously that the school system in Sweden establishes that everyone has to study Swedish, English and a third language (Spanish, French or German). In the case of Hillerska students, we have yet to see anyone in a language class, but presumably they are all studying one of the three (I like to think that Simon chose French or German and is on his way to becoming a polyglot). Do students have to study the same language for the three years? Or would they be allowed to switch at some point?

Would Wille be expected to choose a particular language because of his role as a future king? Would he be able to go “nah, I want to learn Spanish now so I can earn brownie points with my Latino bf”?

(This is, of course, for fic writing purposes. I have not been able to find this specific information anywhere).

Thank you in advance!!!

I'm pretty sure that it still works the same way as when I did this last century, and this is how it worked back then:

Before you start the last three years of elementary school, Högstadiet, you get to make some choices, and one of those is to pick up a third language at beginner level. Most people do, and German, French, and Spanish are overwhelmingly the most popular choices.

Before you start high school, Gymnasiet, you get the same choice again. You can either continue at an intermediate level with the language you chose back in Högstadiet, you can pick a fourth language at a beginner level - if your high school offers this - or pick something else. The overwhelming majority stick with the language they picked earlier, so most high schools only offer intermediate language courses.

So given all that, Wilhelm most probably picked French in elementary school, maybe German, but Spanish is highly unlikely. He most probably continued with his chosen language at Hillerska, and they probably only offer intermediate courses as well, so he's most likely studying intermediate French there.

He would not be able to switch from French to beginners Spanish, primarily because that's not really a thing you can do in the middle of high school, and because it's extremely unlikely that Hillerska would offer courses in it, given how small the school is.

He could pick up Spanish on the side though, on his own, either through something like Duolingo, or some other kind of remote or self-study course, so that's an option for your fic.

#asks #young royals #just swedish things

42 notes · View notes

spanishskulduggery · 1 year

Note

hello.

my fluency goal is to be able to flow when i think and talk in spanish. like, not having to really pause every couple seconds to think about what i want to say.

i felt i had a good grasp on simple beginner vocab, so ive been trying to learn more vocab by thinking in spanish, and then writing down words that i dont know the spanish word for so i can look it up later.

thing is, there is a lot i dont know and its very overwhelming cause i feel like i'll never be able to learn this much.

at what "level" of proficiency does that feeling go away if ever?

is there some sort of beginner - intermediate- advanced vocab list i should just follow instead?

That's a fairly common feeling.

I felt like that until I started to take literature classes in Spanish. Occasionally there were words or expressions I didn't know, but our little booklets were anthology workbooks that had vocab/expressions listed on the side with the English

I feel like I got a lot out of those books because we had our assigned readings, but I could also just read the other stories if I wanted and it was useful practice

That being said - it largely depends on your level

There are certain words or expressions even I don't know. At my level, it's typically very specific topics like names of plants, or medical terminology, or sometimes more technical things

I still very much feel like I'm not fluent when I find myself reading something that's lyrical or slang OR when it's classical literature and the sentence structure throws me off entirely

I have found personally that I feel more confident when I read a page of text and I know more words than words I don't. If I can make it through a whole page without difficulty, I feel really good about myself

You also don't learn a lot of vocab unless you're specifically using a lot of vocab, because it's harder to memorize something that you don't find that useful.

There are also a lot of words that I can't tell what they are, but by context I sort of understand what the general thing is - usually in my case it's names of plants/trees or animals. It would be like listing la luciérnaga in a list with things like las hormigas "ants" or las abejas "bees" - I naturally assume it's an insect; and la luciérnaga is "firefly"

Sometimes with verbs I can sort of work out what it means by context. I would say try to read a whole sentence and see if you can figure out what it means by context; sometimes you can't, but sometimes you can feel it out

Otherwise I have my Vocabulario Tag and I'd specifically recommend looking for the list of random words rather than specific topics (unless you want to) because it gives a bigger assortment of things

I'll also try and find some of my anthology books to give people titles in case they want to read something more specifically geared towards language learning and forming responses; these are the types of books I used in high school and college to help you form your thoughts about something for essays or exams

Potentially you might find some use out of Memrise - which is a site where you can make your own flashcards and a lot of people can make their own flashcards available for other people to see and use; with languages you kind of have to take it with a grain of salt because sometimes the ones I’ve seen don’t mark the gender of the words or they don’t provide enough context on some words, but overall very helpful if you can curate your own experience

#Spanish #language #languages #langblr #learning Spanish #language learning #asks

60 notes · View notes