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Free Online Language Courses

Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos.  You can always check the audit course or no certificate option so that you can learn for free.

American Sign Language

Arabic

Catalan Sign Language

Chinese

Beginner

Intermediate

Dutch

English

Faroese

Finnish

French

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Frisian

German

Beginner

Advanced

Hebrew

Hindi

Icelandic

Indonesian

Irish

Italian

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Japanese

Kazakh

Korean

Beginner

Intermediate

Latin

Nepali

Norwegian

Portuguese

Russian

Beginner

Advanced

Spanish

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Swedish

Ukrainian

Welsh

Multiple Languages

Last updated: March 1, 2017

For all my language learning buddies

MOOCs are great.

Langblr Motivation Group

Hey everyone! There’s been some interest around making a langblr study group where we can motivate each other, share our successes, and get advice regardless of what language we’re learning.

@fuckonsdeneige suggested using Discord (thank you so much for setting it up!!!), as we can have a thread for a big group discussion, as well as side discussions amongst people who are learning the same language. There’s also the ability for voice chats (no video), so there’s also the option to practise speaking in your target language. To access the server, click this link HERE.

Some things to note:

Let me or @fuckonsdeneige know if you have any questions! I really hope this can help people stay on track and not burn out with their language studies. Let’s make 2017 awesome :)

It looks like this guys. I promise it’s real! :)

Here’s the link to the server.

don’t know if you should use the subjunctive or not?

fucking guess like the rest of us

I’ve been struggling with it since day one and even now I don’t think it is perfect, but with some help, it got better and better every time. Here are a few links with tips that definitely helped me out!

Also, if you want a fun way to do it, I recommend listening to music and singing along.

I found italian and latin textbooks in a store for 1€ each and I wasnt studying those languages but

Just got done reading an interesting article about how language affects the way we think and perceive the world. There were some interesting examples. Like how in Spanish, the word bridge is masculine, while in German, it is feminine. So native speakers of these languages describe the same thing differently. Spanish speakers will comment on how strong or sturdy a bridge is, while German speakers will comment on how elegant or beautiful it is. Another example that blew my mind was the Guugu Yimithirr language. So, most languages, including English, use an egocentric type of directional language (turn right, left, behind, in front.) these directions are relative to you as a person. Well, the Guugu Yimithirr language uses fixed geographical directions (North, East, South, and West) no matter the context. If you were to put an English speaker and a Guugu Yimithirr speaker in the same hotel, and put them in rooms opposite sides of the hallway from each other, the English speaker will see the exact same room (that person will see the desk to the right of blah and the closet in front of blah) but the Guugu Yimithirr speaker will see a COMPLETELY different room because the bed will be facing south instead of north, and all of that jazz. And the article went on to state how speakers of this language might even have a lower sense of egotism, because directions do not revolve around them, they’re just another part of the picture. Really fascinating. It made me think really long about language imperialism and how rapidly we’re moving towards a world that deals almost exclusively in English. It makes me sad to know that we’re losing completely different ways of thinking. Completely different perspectives, just gone. I guess that’s why I always get upset when people say that language imperialism isn’t so bad, and that English as a language is connecting people together. The world is a great big place, with completely different perspectives, and I think the fastest way to kill a culture is to take away the language, because not only are you taking away a method of communication, but a way of thinking.

Do you ever wonder if the reason that different cultures have such wildly different onomatopoeias for the noise a cat makes is that cats have regional accents?

Actually, they do.

There’s a lot of evidence that animals have regional accents. Both birds and sperm whales in fact to vocalise differently depending on where they grew up.

As for felines themselves, there’s an ongoing study underway on at Lund University precisely about this.

As a phonologist who has watched entirely too many cat videos on the internet, I can confirm that cats of differing countries do have differentiated accents in their cries. Felines in England tend to have shorter, lower “mow” whereas Japanese cats do tend to make glides into high vowels, and are sustained longer, such as the ubiqutous use of “nyaaaan” in Japanese onomatopoeia.

Hope this helps.

@tongueturner cat linguistics cat linGUISTICS CAT LINGUISTICS

ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ ALL I EVER WANTED WITH MY DEGREE ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ 

@drearncatcher37 !!!!!!!

I’ve gotten 4 anon requests to make a Swedish Resources Masterpost, so here it is! It was difficult to find resources, so this language masterpost is much shorter than the others I’ve made. I definitely recommend taking a class for this language due to the lack of resources on the Internet!

Learning Websites

Dictionaries & Checkers

Pronunciation

Grammar

Vocabulary

Extra

Tips

Thank you for reading my masterpost!

MY MASTERPOSTS:

*conjugates one verb correctly without references*

me: I am fluent, I am an expert, I can speak every language

About working

First thing first, the annoying part. Let’s not be confused :

- the wifi isn’t working : le wifi ne fonctionne pas (formal), ne marche pas (fam)

- I work for the government : je travaille pour le gouvernement

- ça marche! : works for me! (v used)

Happily for you all those three verbs all belong to groupe 1 (-er) and are conjugated the same way (e, es, e, ons, ez, ent for indicative present)

- to work hard : travailler dur, se donner du mal, v

- to get to work : se mettre au travail, v

- to hire : embaucher, v

- to fire : renvoyer / virer (fam), v

- to quit : démissionner / donner sa démission, v

- being payed : être payé-e

- work experience/internship : stage (m)

- training : formation (f)

- company : entreprise (f), boîte (f, fam)

- bankruptcy : faillite (f), être en faillite, v

- boss : patron-ne, chef-fe, supérieur-e (also an adj)

- HR : RH, ressources humaines (f, pl)

- administrator : gestionnaire (ep)

- worker : travailleur/se

- employee : employé-e

- coworker : collègue (ep)

- receptionist : hôte-sse d’accueil (we usually use the feminine form, ew on us)

- trainee : stagiaire (ep)

- salary : salaire (m)

- skills : compétences (f)

- profit : bénéfices (m, pl)

- pay slip : fiche de paie (f)

- employment contract : contrat de travail (m)

- project : projet (m)

- office : bureau (m) (also the word for a desk)

- break : pause (f)

- part-time : mi-temps

- full-time : plein-temps

- flexitime : horaires aménagés (m)

- freelance : free-lance, indépendant-e

- extra hours : heures supp(lémentaires) (f)

- I’m working on something : je travaille sur quelque chose

- busy : occupé-e, adj

- day off : congé(s) (m)

- vacation : vacances (f, pl)

- paid leave : congé payé

NB : marcher = to walk (so obviously old people love to make jokes “well of course it’s not ‘walking’ it doesn’t have legs huhuhu”)

NB : (ep) = épicène aka adjective spelled the same way for f and m nouns

During an interview :

- parlez-moi de vous : tell me about you

- quels sont vos points forts : what are your strengths 

- quelles sont vos faiblesses : what are your weaknesses 

- pourquoi devrions-nous vous embaucher : why should we hire you

- qu’est-ce qui vous motive pour ce poste : what motivates you about that job

- avez-vous des questions : do you have any questions

- quand pouvez-vous commencer : when can you start working

- pourquoi devrais-je vous choisir : why should I chose you

- quelles sont vos prétentions salariales : what are your salary expectations

- savez-vous travailler en équipe : can you work in a team

- où vous voyez-vous dans cinq ans : where do you see yourself in five years

- savez-vous parler anglais : can you speak english

- que savez-vous de notre entreprise : what do you know about our company

Swearing In German

since we german folks swear quite a lot I figured I should make a post about swear words, for everyone who’s learning german~

🔥Scheiße literally means: shit example: “Scheiße! Ich hab mein Handy verloren!“

🔥Verdammt literally means: damn example: “Verdammt, wo sind meine Schlüssel?“ can also be combined with Scheiße: Verdammte Scheiße

🔥Arschloch literally means: asshole example: “Lass mich in Ruhe, du Arschloch!“

🔥Arschgesicht literally means: assface example: “Ja, Markus ist schon echt ein Arschgesicht, oder?“

🔥Wichser literally means: wanker comes from the word for male masturbating (wichsen) example: “Du bist echt so ein Wichser!“

🔥Fotze literally means: cunt is often used to refer to women, but not exclusively example: “Geh mir aus dem Weg, Fotze!“

🔥Hurensohn literally means: son of a bitch (yes we have one handy word for it) break down: hure = whore, sohn = son example: “Du Hurensohn!“ (simple but effective)

🔥Trottel means something like: fool / is also another word for Idiot example: “Du bist ein Trottel, weißt du das?“

🔥Idiot example: “Bist du wirklich so ein Idiot?“

🔥Kevin example: “Du bist so ein Kevin/Du bist echt ein Kevin/So ein Kevin“

🔥Bauer literally means: farmer similar use like Kevin example: “Du bist so ein Bauer/Du bist echt ein Bauer/Du bist so ein Bauer“

🔥Mongo means something like: retarded/retard example: “Du Mongo“

Weaker and more Harmless swear words (you could even use around kids.. but it would still be better not to swear at all in their presence)

🔥 Kacke literally means: poop a kind of weaker version of Scheiße example: “So eine Kacke!“ can also be combined with Verdammt: Verdammte Kacke

🔥Blödmann means: dumbass example: “Was für ein Blödmann, dieser Polizist..“

+ Bonus: Expressions

🔥Fick dich literally means: Fuck you / screw you

🔥Leck mich literally means: lick me example: “Weißt du was? Leck mich! Ich mach da nicht mit“

🔥Du kannst mich mal means something like: you can screw me

🔥Rutsch mir den Buckel runter means something like: slide down my back

🔥Verpiss dich literally means: piss off

@malteseboy handy tool for ya when talking 2 me

Before uni I had no idea that “and they lived happily ever after” could be expressed so differently in different languages but???? it is???

Like, I learned today that the French equivalent is “Ils furent tous très heureux et eurent beaucoup d'enfants” (They were all very happy and had lots of children)

But then the German one (my fave) is “Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute” (And if they didn’t die, then they still live today)

I love languages so much

Little fact about French because I just learned that

The accent circonflexe (^) exists in French words to replace the “s” that no longer exists but used to be there in older French.

For example: fenêtre used to be fenestre

It is still possible to see the “s” at times in family words like “défenestrer”.

knowing this, « être » becomes much more regular :

some French derivations become clearer :

some English cognates become more obvious :

sometimes, the acute replaces the circumfex for phonetic reasons :

Also, where « c → ch » (eg. cantare→ chanter) :

and « w → gu » (eg. war→ guerre ; warden→ guardian) :

bonus etymologies :

Also just be aware that the circumflex has some other uses too, like distinguishing « sur — sûr » or « dû » and the vowel quality in « âge »

Where was this post when I was doing A-Level French! This is actually a really interesting language change called “syncope” (the loss of a medial segment within a word) and what makes it even more interesting to me is that not only was the -s- dropped post vocalically and largely before voiceless stops, but that the circumflex was (unnecessarily but coolly) adopted as an orthographic marker of the lost -s-. Even more interesting is that syncope usually occurs in vowels. I love this.

Exactly ♥♥