Masterlist for learning languages

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Requests / Asks:

-> you can find all my answered asks by searching for #ask, #ask response or #request

every once in a while my notifications blow up just because of that one post and I’m like. Ah yes, it’s that time of the year again, where langblrs all suddenly reblog that langblr ask post😂

Best language learning tips & masterlists from other bloggers I’ve come across

(these posts are not my own!)

Tips:

How to:

Masterposts:

Challenges:

Word lists:

Other stuff:

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Feel free to reblog and add your own lists / masterlists!

What the past couple days have felt like

oh cool, a new tumblr followe–

how to speak any language fluently

Today I wanted to share with you some tips that you can apply to every language, but I experimented with them all personally to effectively improve my speaking skills in English

A common problem among learners can be to speak too quickly. But rushing your words can often lead to confusion and miscommunication, so try to slow down and keep what you say simple

In the beginning, you may sound robotic, but you can speed up with time, once you feel more confident

The same sentence, said with different emphasis has very different meanings. Think about the point you want to make and use emphasis where needed to help clarify your meaning

Pro tip: take a sentence from a video or a show you like and repeat it out loud stressing each time a different word of the sentence!

If you make a mistake, keep going. Understand that very few people, even native speakers, speak the language flawlessly and we all make mistakes

If you get embarrassed or shy once you’ve made a mistake, this is probably what people will notice, not the mistake itself! So keep going!

There are so many options that now can help you improve your speaking skills without problems!

The best thing is recording voice notes when doing language exchanges, or recording yourself longer notes to receive feedback from other learners or natives on language learning apps!

all the photos of him are like this, I love that this guy understood he had been born with the face of a wizard or axe murderer and just leaned fully into it

he knew EXACTLY what he was doing

studio_moika

every once in a while my notifications blow up just because of that one post and I’m like. Ah yes, it’s that time of the year again, where langblrs all suddenly reblog that langblr ask post😂

Teaching French to English Speakers:

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Teaching French to Chinese speakers:

Spices in Chinese

In my totally unbiased opinion, one of the best things about learning Chinese has been learning about Chinese food culture. Chinese food uses a dizzying array of spices, but these are the most common that you'll see in recipes. Learning these words might even help you find your way around your local Asian grocery store!

The Basics:

鹽 (yán): salt 糖 (táng): sugar - Not technically spices, but salt and sugar are essential seasonings in Chinese cooking. Sugar is often used to provide balance in savory dishes, especially in the food of certain regions such as Shanghai. 味精 (wèijīng): MSG -MSG is also a common ingredient (but not really a spice), and not associated with the same racist health panic as in the US. Some chefs, however, see it as "cheating" and prefer to impart umami through traditional ingredients like dried mushrooms and high-quality stock. 粉 (fěn)/面 (miàn): powder - These two words can be stuck to the end of the spices below to indicate that they are ground instead of whole.

Spice Mixes:

五香粉 (wǔxiāngfěn): five-spice powder - A sweet-and-savory spice mix well known around the world, five-spice powder tends to include star anise, Sichuan peppercorn, cinnamon, fennel and cloves. 咖哩粉 (gālífěn): curry powder - British colonization brought curry to Hong Kong, where it's popular with beef or fish balls. 燒烤料 (shāokǎoliào): barbecue spice mix - This doesn't refer to char siu, but to the spicy grilled meat skewers that are popular across China. A typical version hailing from the north-west is based on cumin and chili powder.

Spices:

胡椒 (hújiāo): pepper - Chinese makes use of both white pepper (白胡椒) and black pepper (黑胡椒), but white pepper is more common. 花椒 (huājiāo): Sichuan peppercorn - This is the spice that gives Sichuan food its famous numbing quality, though it is used all across China as well. It comes in red or green varieties, and can be used fresh or dried. 辣椒 (làjiāo): chili pepper - Spicy food is popular in Sichuan and the rest of China's southwest, where tons of chili varieties are used fresh and dry-- this alone could be material for an entire vocab list. 八角 (bājiǎo): star anise - One of the most iconic spices in Chinese cuisine, its name literally means "eight horns". It's commonly tossed into stews and braises. 肉桂 (ròuguì)/桂皮 (guìpí): cinnamon - The cinnamon commonly used in Chinese cuisine is in fact cassia, which is stronger-flavored but less aromatic. 丁香 (dīngxiāng): clove - A key ingredient in five-spice powder and occasionally tossed into braises. Interestingly, many of the sweet spices that we associate with desserts in the US are not commonly used as such in Asia. A friend once told me that many Taiwanese people don't like cinnamon desserts because they find the taste medicinal. 茴香 (huíxiāng): anise seed - This spice is featured in Lu Xun's story Kong Yiji, where Kong Yiji asks the young narrator if he can write the character 茴, which is used in the name of the tavern's peas with anise. 香葉 (xiāngyè): bay leaf - Bay leaves are used in China in much the same way as in the US-- tossed into stews and braises to provide a little... well, nobody knows what a bay leaf tastes like but it must be doing something. 陳皮 (chénpí): aged tangerine peel - American-Chinese classics like orange chicken are likely influenced by stir-fries made with this bitter and fragrant peel. 百荳蔻 (báidòukòu): white cardamom - Chinese food doesn't use the green cardamom commonly used in Indian food, instead preferring to use white cardamom in braised dishes. 草果 (cǎoguǒ): black cardamom, tsao-ko - Black cardamom is dried over a fire, giving it a distinctive smoky flavor. While not overly common in much of China, it is one of the most common seasonings used in Yunnan food. 孜然 (zīrán): cumin - Cumin is also not a flavor commonly associated with China, but it's iconic of the food of China's northwest, such as Shaanxi and Xinjiang. 甘草 (gāncǎo): licorice root 沙姜 (shājiāng); sand ginger 當歸 (dāngguī): angelica root - These three spices are all known for their uses in traditional Chinese medicine, but are also used in medicinal soups and larger spice mixes. There are, of course, way more TCM herbs and spices used in Chinese cooking, but these are the most common to see in recipes or dishes.

resource for you french learners out there: manga scans in french!

I'm an ESL teacher, and I just want to say to anyone learning English, or any second language, who worries about sounding just like a native speaker- some of the most artistic, interesting, thought-provoking, and just downright cool/fun English turns of phrase that I have seen have come from non-native speakers constructing sentences in a way that native English speakers would never think to.

I worked with an older man from China once, reviewing the poem he had written. Not only was it a breathtakingly beautiful poem in its sentiment and imagery, but the way he used the English language to express this sentiment and imagery in the lines and verses was constructed in a way that I don't think a native speaker would ever have come up with. None of the unconventional phrasing impeded my ability to understand the poem, and what he regarded as 'errors,' I saw as a vital artistic element to the prose. I told him even that while I can tell him what a native speaker would say insofar as word order, etc., I honestly thought it would take something away from the poem rather than add to it if he wanted to alter his work. His phrasing was creative in a way that brought something new and beautiful to the art form.

I've had similar thoughts of stories I've read, songs I've heard, conversations I've had, and more.

Please don't be discouraged on your journey to learning any language. And know this, especially coming from an intensely monolingual culture in the US and with the global presence of English, your version of English is just as real and authentic as native speakers' English. You have value to add to any conversation, you have value to add to art and science and anything in between. Your choice of words and phrasing is a worthy contribution to any social, professional, and/or artistic scenario, regardless of how close you sound to a native speaker. The unique variety of English you bring from the influence of your native language(s) and personal idiosyncrasies add to the English language, they do not subtract from it. It brings new words, new cultural expressions and phenomena, new ideas, new art, new slang, new curse words/phrases, new jokes, new terms of endearment and phrases of comfort, and so much more. Language is a beautiful, ever-shifting, ever-evolving entity. All of its permutations merit respect and celebration. So, in all honesty, thank you for sharing your own unique flavor of English with the rest of the world. We are richer for it.

TL;DR - there is no singular correct way to speak a language, and the influence of other cultures and languages on English spoken by non-native speakers is awesome and enriches all of us. Be proud of your unique expression of the English language.

Joyful morning, good morning, good day. (x)

March 18, 2022 - spent the afternoon finishing If We Were Villains and drinking lattes

Something interesting

As I’ve been browsing the Interweb (the tumblr app) for stuff about how the internet impacts language, I’ve been looking in a few tags.

#internet language tends to yield a bunch of stuff about internet slang in other languages, just posting about other languages, and analysis on how the internet has impacted the English language. All in all a mixed bag, but generally people taking the change in stride

#internet linguistics tends to be mostly people analyzing how words are being used on the internet, a lot of stuff like what I’ve got on this blog. Minimal stuff about other languages, but some. Mostly English-focused. Almost entirely eager about learning about the change, a lot of people who are looking for data for research.

#tumblrspeak is mostly odd little observations about neat quirks showing up on tumblr. Not nearly as much stuff as the other tags, but it’s neat. Some people going “what is this tumblr speak stuff” and being skeptical.

#internet slang has a much higher ratio than the others of people talking about how internet slang is so weird these days, talking about how they need to look it up, talking about others not understanding it. It’s a lot of “I used this internet slang word in front of someone over 30 and they didn’t get it” stuff.

I just think that it’s really interesting to look at what tags are being used by whom and for what, and how that reflects the views of those using the tags.