#learning languages is awesome

[thequeenofsastiel]

It's so intense and awesome trying to learn French by translating it into Spanish. Mad props to my friend who recommended it to me on Facebook.

Also jfc learning three languages at once is a trip.

#learning languages is awesome #Duolingo #French #Spanish #fourth languages #multilingual

[sixty-silver-wishes]

people you meet in russian class

kid who knows a ton of molchat doma and kino songs, but keeps forgetting how to say "hello"

heritage speaker who knows vocab but not grammar rules, who's besties with the language fiend who knows grammar but not vocab (this was my friend and I)

kid with scary politics

bored tech genius who speaks russian with the thickest american accent you've ever heard

the alt/goth kid. there's always one.

the one who always shows up late and gets called out by the professor every time

the one who dropped out as soon as they heard about genitive case

retired old guy who was in the military and is awkwardly singing cheburashka songs in the back of the classroom with the rest of the students

humanities student intimidated by all their stem and polsci classmates (this was also me)

"cyka blyat lol edgy communism memes" kid who really wants to commit to the bit

quiet slavic kid who never talks but is somehow tight with the professor

the one a little too into soviet history

the one who never tried to learn to read cyrillic

the one who insists on writing in russian cursive, despite the fact that none of the other students can read it and the professor keeps correcting it (this was also me. we didn't even have to learn cursive. I just wanted to learn it for historical research purposes)

the one romanov apologist (may also believe they're a reincarnation of anastasia romanova)

#language learning #russian #russian language #I miss russian class. I made so many friends. and the professor loved me so it was awesome #she also made us tea and pirozhki sometimes

[mihai-florescu]

"Why do you still use tiktok" to see EMIL the chinese guy that posts all his videos in romanian talking about his life living in beijing and there are hundreds of middle aged romanians in his comments complimenting how good his language skills are. The closest thing to consistent peaceful interactions on the internet ive seen in years are on this guy's account. It calms me down

#i showed him to my friend today #anyone who decides to learn romanian when theyve never even been here is awesome because why would you #its not an international language or whatever #but the fact that you chose it is sooo endearing i want to support u even if idgaf about the topic of content

[hastalavistabyebye]

I was wondering, why do we use deer iconography so often to depict cryptids and gods and monsters of the wilderness ?

Well first of, it's based on western imagination, culture and lore of course. This plays obviously a major part of it but why ? Why a deer ?

By the way, deer presence in folklore and everything is old, like very old, and common to lots of cultures. Its antlers renewal is associated with rebirth and life and death cycle. And globally deers are seen as a link with the supernatural. What I'm trying to theorise is why, and maybe why still today.

So let's start.

First, the wilderness pictured is the one of nature. The nature untouched, undomesticable by humans. The savage nature, the wild nature. And what is a wild nature in western biome ? The forest. It's the wild element of the western landscape. It's a huge part of folklore because its darkness and density is home of so many creatures and dangers. You can get lost in it, easily. You hold no power in the Forest, etc, etc. The forest is the best way to start a tale isn't it ? Anyway, that's the first point : magic and secrecy, everything cryptid and other fairies and land monsters, are linked to the Forest. 

And what do we find in a forest ? Well lots of things (and I'm only speaking about wildlife here, so not vegetation). Bears, wild boars, lots of different birds with a lot of variety, rabbits, wolfs and foxes... And of course deers.

So why deers and deer-particularities specifically are so much used and appreciated ? There is so many other animals to use ! So here is what I think, and it's really is just an idea, a simple take on the matter :

Deers are beautiful creatures. They are majestic, mighty. They're also skittish and fast. Finding a deer is hard. This two points put them in two cases of common imagination. 

They are regal : it puts them in a "king of the Forest" sort of position. Especially since their antlers are associated with royalty. It's the symbol of a good hunter and who liked to hunt ? Kings. So yeah, they're heavily associated with royalty and power, must it be as a symbol or because of their appearance and grace.

They are hard to meet and good at hiding : it put them in the "supernatural" case, the fantastic aspect of the Forest. Here and not here. Watching you but impossible to see. As if they were at two places at once. Present but never where you look. 

So that's already two aspects in their favour for being associated to a godlike creature of the Forest.

But there is also something else. Because a bear or a wolf could have similarities in a way or the other. So deers have something else.

They are dangerous but not carnivorous. They are a prey, not a danger for the Forest. Not a danger for the Forest inhabitants. A danger for us. And where does this come from ? Easy : the deer's slab. You hear them from far away, they are noisy like all hell. And it is kind of terrifying. Plus they're also fighting. And it will be dangerous if you get too close because they will attack. Not to eat. Not because they're hurt or because of their instincts specifically. It practically feels like they are angry at you (because it does sound like they are angry at something or each other or well you know anything and everything really, deer's slabs are impressive as hell). And so they can be seen as forces you should not mess with. Forces that will only attack each other or invaders of their territory, protectors.

Mighty, very hard to find, protectors living in the Forest. Oh and very easily identified thanks to their unmistakable antlers.

It's in fact no wonder why deer iconography is so used to depict the Forest (and wilderness at large) dangers, secrets and power.

#i would like to remark that i am very very far from a folklore specialist #i was just wandering about an aspect of our common imagination #and it might be nice to know that there is no word which means exactly “cryptid” in my native language #so there is still a bit to learn about its nuances on my part #but anyway i find it so interesting how we use this symbol to depict a specific thing #anything cryptid seems so deeply bound with the aspect of a deer #i think it's awesome #hasta rambles #or more like wonder aloud about some very specific thing for no other reason than curiosity #thanks for coming to my ted talk #i had a blast thinking about it all #cryptidcore #cryptid #goblincore #monstercore #iconography in pop culture #hi tumbler void

[just-sarah-xx]

#yall #duolingo is so awesome sometimes #duolingo #german #language #language learning #langblr

[imflyingfish]

Worst thing about learning a new language of my own violation though is that its made me a fucking nerd. I just found my friend's flashcards on quizlet and got excited. I get excited to hear some french words in everyday conversation. When my friends are reading a book i have to resist the urge to go WHAT LANGUAGE IS THAT. Im just super excited to consume french and spanish language and phrases and im a fucking nerd about it now

#like im not as into spanish as i am french #i like the sounds better but i set out here to learn french goddamit!!!! #but it would be SUPER awesome to speak both fr fe #fr #hell even just 1 #like in 4 years. again. km not going to be worse #im listening and learing french constantly atm #spanish its only been a few days but im getting on a lot better than i thought #i keep getting frustrated bevause i dont always understand it and its digficult to manage my time #plus ive heard that learning two langauages can confuse u #but ive not had too much issue atm and it can actually be benifitial to learn both #hell i dont think om even doing this for qsmp anymore i dont even watch qsmp!!!!! #but also if i do need to dropone language or maybe even both if rhings get really crazy #it wont be the end of the world because i can always pick it back up and it wi never be a waste u know #luke i havent learnt spanish for 4 or 5 years!!! and i STILL can read a bit and i got put forwards on duolingo even FURTHER than i currently #am in french!!!!!! #and ive been learning french for 4 months! (although i learnt spanish at school since like. year 4 and i didnt take it in later years and my #spanish teacher hated me bc i was always drawing and she was mean #ik spanishis easier to learn than french #did u k ow that if u practice for 3 hours a day u can learn spanish in 6 months!? #i dont have 3 hours a day #i think today ive spent about 1 #1.5 hours practicing and 1.5 hours engaging with french and spanish media combined #but thats only half of that each idk #i just dont think im going to be fluent for aggggeeeesssssss like YEARS. maybe in like. 4 or 5 years would be cool #but also its just fun? and im having fun and oh my god this makes me a nerd doesnt it #okay okay ramble over im just proud of myself :]

[c-kiddo]

I genuinely forgot you were scottish for a minute, you know its bad when you cant tell which protestant killing off of celtic language and culture youre referring to :')

ok everyone must now read my posts in a scottish accent from now on. its the rules of this blog o7

#shout out to th 6 surviving celtic languages youre all so awesome i love you gàidhlig gaeilge manx welsh breton and cornish #its interesting listening to gaeilge it reminds me of learning swedish for a bit when you could also kinda understand norwegian #just because theyre similar and same roots. like im learning gàidhlig but i hear something simple in gaeilge and kinda know what it means #asks

[saccharineomens]

my French is not great but I think "je ne sais quoi" is correct because you CAN substitute "pas" with other words, like "je n'ai jamais vu Supernatural" (I've never seen Supernatural) or like Edith Piaf sang "je ne regrette rien" (I regret nothing). I just assume quoi is one of these words too

My French is also not great! (Well I mean my pronunciation is but Duolingo has become an abysmal language learning program.) That is interesting to know! If only I had a French friend who would be willing to pipe in here… [winks @ Herk]

(no pressure though it’s not your job to teach French to foreigners :b)

thanks for the message Anon! I’ll keep an open eye out for what exceptions there are to the “ne verb pas” grammar.

#French #I love learning languages! Wish I had an actual teacher to ask these questions of 😔 #I miss my high school French teacher who was fucking awesome 😔😔 #She didn’t get paid enough #Anon #axbox

[krash-and-co]

LOCKWOOD AND CO HEADCANONS BECAUSE I'M BORED AND AUTISTIC

some of these are going to go against canon but I don't care because yes

𒊹︎︎︎ Lockwood really likes cats, and they like him too. if he sees one, he'll kneel down and just wide-eyed stare at it. and it'll??? like??? go up to him???? Lucy is still trying to figure out why this is.

"do you telepathically speak to cats lockwood"

"do I what"

𒊹︎︎︎ George once created a fake ghost out of mesh, chicken wire, semi-transparent curtains, glow-sticks, and various other random items. He claims it was for "research purposes," but considering it was placed in front of the bed in the spare room Kipps often sleeps in, nobody believes him.

𒊹︎︎︎ Kipps really likes kareoke. whether he is good or not is a topic of argument often. Lockwood says "he's making a wonderful effort," (while covering his ears and visibly grimacing) and George and Lucy just straight up tell him he sounds like a dying animal or something of the same meaning. he's actually not horrible, and Holly may or may not join him. (they are good friends no I don't take criticism. and they are both gay. they're besties and I-)

𒊹︎︎︎ Lucy made Lockwood a bracelet and he wears it literally all the time. he's got his suit, jacket, tie, and oh look at that a bracelet. very professional. he somehow doesn't see the problem.

����︎︎︎ Lucy and George made Lockwood a birthday cake from scratch when he turned 18, and Kipps and Holly were in charge of decorations. Lockwood was sent on a phony errand to buy a very specific brand of doughnuts which he took very seriously. George, who was carrying the cake to put in the oven, ran into Kipps and Holly, who were holding a fold up table.

the batter spilled all over it.

Lucy insisted that the oven would burn away all the germs anyway so she and George quickly scraped the batter back in the bowl, put it in the oven, and served it later, decorated and everything as if they didn't scrape batter off the ground 2 hours before. It was not very professional looking but didn't look like anything happened to it either, and lockwood saw it and actually cried.

however, Kipps and Holly wisely turned the cake down when offered. George, Lucy, and Lockwood ate happily.

Lockwood does not know.

Lockwood will never know.

𒊹︎︎︎ holly, when lacking something practical to wear for a case, will literally cut her dresses shorter or rip off sleeves and stray ribbons without batting an eye. the team was in shock the first time she did this. she doesn't know why.

𒊹︎︎︎ Lockwood knows sign. you absolutely cannot fight me on this.

he learned when he was little; Jessica taught herself and then him because she knew he had difficulty speaking when upset. (he had an even harder time handling his emotions when he was younger.) they'd use it all the time together.

but after Jessica died and he wound up working with Sykes, there were multiple instances where he'd start signing and nobody knew what he was saying. eventually he got even more upset and just gave up, resorting to complete lack of communication until he could speak again. that happened a few times with his Portland Row crew, when he was really frustrated and just couldn't think of anything else to do, and they all felt so bad for not being able to understand him despite how hard he was trying.

lockwood decided he wanted to teach Lucy sign literally out of nowhere. they were just sitting on the couch together, and they're both all quiet until he turns to her and grins. he puts his hands to his chest and then his right pointer finger against his left palm, and she's confused until he explains it means he loves her. "love L. love Lucy. I love you, Lucy." She thinks it's the sweetest thing ever and he really wants to show her more (cuz he's finally with someone he loves and trusts and ow my heart). after that day he started teaching her for little dates and stuff and ahhhh lockyle...

help me I thought about this way to much it's so perfect

but it's better than obsessing over the fact that Netflix ditched us

#forgive me if I ruined the British sign language I'm fricken American and even then I'm just learning asl #the amount of fics I want to write based on these honestly #if you do one that's awesome please show me cuz I'm too lazy to write myself #lockwood and co headcanon #lockwood and co #lockwood & co #anthony lockwood #george cubbins #holly munro #lucy carlyle #quill kipps #l&co #l&co. netflix #lockwood and co show #lockwood and co netflix #it's worth mentioning my current asl knowledge is mainly insults #first thing I wanted to know before I signed up for the class #jk it's cuz Pinterest popped up a video and I'm like ooh cool #so now I can call kids in my asl class stupid before they even know what it means yay

[mishapen-dear]

ehehheehe. every day my french improves..... c’est difficile, mais j’apprends .....

#every time i compose a sentence and then check it thru google translate im like!!! I DID THATT #i still understand very very few grammar rules but thats now Two Whole Sentences #im focusing french because canadian so itll acrually effect my life but i love how much portuguese and spanish ive managed to learn #donde estas and obrigado and passa tudo #passar pano my beloved #i know so many spanish curse words now i know SO MANY #and #hey. Did you know on mobile you can hold and drag a tag around #ive been completely derailed by that what the fuck #anyway language awesome i love learning

[kaylakat2]

genuinely adoring learning more advanced vocabulary in my Mandarin class because now I get oral test prompts like this current one, where the task is to just discuss gender equality from a certain perspective (traditional values, feminist, etc) which is so cool. I'm finally talking about things that mean something to me again, like I was able to before i lost a significant amount of vocabulary after graduating high school.

it makes writing so so much easier too, because I just talk from my own perspectives about social/political issues instead of trying to come up with nonsense responses to trivial questions that I don't care about.

these parts of continuing to learn/relearn this language remind me why I kept up with it. I genuinely love learning how to express myself and talk about things that actually matter to me. I love learning the character roots and thinking about how each character is formed and how it relates to culture and history, it's all so fascinating! I'm so glad my passion for learning is getting reignited, even if only for this particular subject.

#drowsy is talking again #I am genuinely having so much fun again even if the workload is a little much at times #learning languages is so awesome. it's so cool! #this is honestly just solidifying to me that I do actually want to go back to community college after I finish at my current college #to get a certificate in spanish (and possibly asl) #because learning this stuff is so cool! so cool.

[deadsince1973]

I've just finished episode 5 of Vivant, and I have to say, I really love and appreciate the mix of languages on this show. You just KNOW that if this show were American, all the "Balkan"/Mongolian characters would be speaking English with a foreign accent for the convenience of the audience. So I absolutely love this show's choice to have huge chunks of the show's dialogue delivered in Mongolian, including lines by the Japanese main characters, and to simply subtitle it in Japanese. No handwaving about how the main characters' foreign contacts just happen to speak Japanese with no expectation that the main characters might also speak Mongolian. No, instead, all the main characters speak Mongolian and English (and Arabic maybe, in Nogi's case?) in addition to Japanese, none of the Americans speak Japanese, only the Balkan/Mongolian characters for whom it makes sense that they would speak Japanese speak Japanese, and the language of the scene is chosen based on what language would most likely be used in that situation in real life. Convenience for the audience is simply not a consideration. And I love it!

#Vivant #original #P.S. Do not watch this show if you can't speak at least some Japanese. The English subtitles are machine-translated and they are IMPOSSIBLE #to understand! And they don't even translate the parts that are subtitled in Japanese so if you can't read the Japanese subtitles you'll #miss like 20% of the story! Not that my Japanese is good enough to understand every word or anything but I can at least get the gist. And #the horrible subtitles are at least able to supply some important words I otherwise wouldn't know. #Anyway. I wish Japanese dramas were more popular in the U.S. so we could get more of them available with English subtitles! #Good professional English subtitles I mean. #As it is I think it's pretty much just whatever Netflix produces in-house and whatever Viki has isn't it? And Viki seems to have their #biggest focus on Korean dramas. I mean they do have dramas from a lot of Asian countries and they have subtitles available in a lot of #languages and that they have that learning mode that lets you watch a show with native-language subtitles with a built-in dictionary which #is awesome. But I am not at this point in my life interested in dramas that don't come from China or Japan so I wish it was easier to watch #Japanese TV in America!

[morningstargirl666]

Hello, sorry to bother you. I’m an avid fanfic reader and i am bilingual. I’m wondering how fanfic writers feel about translations of their work (with permission obviously). Is it flattering? Is it something that you would want so more people can read your work? Or is it more neutral? Obviously you can’t speak for all writers, but i’m curious about your opinion and what you know of other’s opinions

I think, generally speaking, most writers including myself are okay with translations of their work as long as you ask permission first and give credit to the original author. They may also not want their work posted to another site, so as long as the translation is posted on the same site as the original work, you're good then too. To offer to translate something is normally seen as the highest compliment, as the idea someone loved their work so much they wanted to share it with more people - presumably in their native language - is a HUGE compliment. Of course, every writer has their own preferences, so may not like the idea for their own reasons - hence why you always need to ask permission and if they say no, respect that decision. But as long as you stick to those three unspoken rules (ask permission, give credit, don't post to another site), it's normally all good.

There's a lot of AI scraping and copying of original works to other sites happening right now, so writers can be nervous. I, myself, and several others I know, have locked down our fics on AO3 so only AO3 users can view them due to the AI shit. Just be polite and respectful to them and their fics, and you're golden. I'm sure there's plenty out there that would love to see fics translated, including myself! 👍

#asks #anon asks #thank you anon #just so you know I am flattered you thought of me to ask about this #fanfiction #also anyone who speaks another language is a superhuman in my book #I scraped a C in German but that's about it #my brain doesn't do well with language which sounds weird since I AM a writer lol but its true #i'm a visual and sensory person #i write the dialogue first because i HEAR it first #don't even attempt to write description before I've accumulated some serious brain power #to wrestle those letters into some semblance of words #and sentences #long story short learning languages is hard and I bow before your bilingual greatness #english is hard enough for me and it's my bloody native language #so yeah #you are a god #keep doing awesome things anon

[bucketboat]

I’m learning Scottish Gaelic! I’m gonna try to include that + Ukrainian into my works more often. For practise & whatnot

Language is so fun I love learning languages. I’m planning on doing the Irish one next, Swedish if I get around to it

#Seo math! #Це дуже добре! #Ireland Scotland & Ukraine are like my fav countries ever #mostly because of my ancestry #learning the languages of my family tree would be so awesome #Swedish would mostly just be for fun #they’re the big science guys I gues + my Swede oc who I’m insane about #you know #autism related purposes #(learning on Duolingo)

[wizardstudy]

11/9/23 - straight up a beautiful day today

it SHOULD NOT be 80°f in november but whatever i still had a chill afternoon (against my better interests) reading kafka on the shore and (not pictured) doing some weight training at the gym.

discerning viewers may note that the edition pictured above is in german despite my use of the american temperature system---i picked it up during my semester abroad and only just now got around to reading it. so far so good, but the german translation has almost twice as many pages as the english one 😭

#studyblr #studyspo #study inspo #german studyblr #messy studyblr #im technically rereading it but this is my first time reading the de translation #honestly i might collect a copy for every language i learn which would be AWESOME if i learned more languages

[nomaishuttle]

sry i also started thinking abt how great my life would be if i was trapped in a timeloop again. i meant again as in i thought abt it again not as in I was trapped in a timeloop and id love 4 it 2 happen again. never been in one unfortunately.

#id be so awesome in the timeloop dude. you guys dont get ittt id slay in the timeloop #id memorize every single thing that happens nad itd be awesome id write a book abt everything that happens even. and id be able to sleep so #much and therd be no consequences for anything (aside from. what. me being stuck in the timeloop longer? DONT MIND IF I DO!!!) #and like if itsba 24 hour timeloop. dude i can do anything in those 24 hours. i could go across the world PROBABLY #like i could just empty allll of my savings and book a same day no stops flight . and then id just like be somewhere else. ajd i wouldnt #even have to worry abt getting back bc timeloop my guy!!! #sighh .. yk. every day alreadh feels all the same due to depression so mayyybe everyday feeling the same due to timeloop wouldnt actually b #awesome but i think it would be avtually bc the reason every day feeling the same feels Bad is bc i know they shouldnt.ik theyre different #im justgoing through the motions every day and i hate it. if every day actually was the same ? dudeee i wouldnt be sad abt every day #feeling rhe same bc it straighr up would be. i wouldnt feel like im missing out on something... And idbe able to DO different things bc i #wouldnt have to worry like Omg what will happen tmrw if i do something reckless today.. omg i cant spend this money bc rent is due next #week. omg i cant go do thus activity bc i have 2 work today.. Brother nobody has to work in a timeloop!!! #and all id have to do is like. kill somebody every so often so the time god or whateber doesnt think ive learned my lesson. and itd suck to #kill someone yk id feel badd. ig rly i could just rob a bank and not have 2 kill someone #well yk. some ppl. i would murder. mainly bc i think itd be kiiinda funny. but i shant go into thay more #Dude i could literally learn every language and read every single bookkkkkk god i wanna be in a timeloop so bad id thrive in the timeloop