Little Langblr

Abby//Native English//French B2//also interested in: Russian, Japanese, Portuguese, and ASL//little bits of others too//Random langblr

[hedgehog-moss]

One of the first books I read in English as a kid, maybe 1 year after I started learning English, was a booklet with a title like, How to Have a Great Time at Summer Camp. I don’t remember the exact title and I know I only picked it up because the other books in English in my school’s library looked way beyond my level, stuff like Austen and Dickens. The summer camp booklet didn’t look too interesting but it was small with simple sentences. I ended up being fascinated with it because it was the most American thing I had ever seen and it felt impossibly exotic

all the kids had cool American names like Jill and Mike. One of them at one point talked about the “chipmunks” in the woods near the camp, a mysterious word that didn’t exist in my tiny English dictionary, and for some reason I pictured them as scrawny wolves. I had read Little House on the Prairie so I knew wolves were a major concern for Americans

camp “counsellors” were often mentioned, and my pocket English dictionary only defined that word as “psychologue”. I thought it was weird how American summer camps had dozens of psychologists roaming the premises, one for every 5 to 10 kids. That felt like a lot of psychologists

I had no idea that the word “pet” could mean “favourite”. When the booklet said one kid might become “the camp counsellor’s pet”, my dictionary helpfully led me to believe it meant that a psychologist would pick one unfortunate kid to be his domestic animal for the summer. Slightly disturbing. I moved on

the kids slept in “bunks” and my stupid dictionary only defined this word as “couche”. Which is not wrong, but we would probably say couchette instead, or better yet lits superposés, and couche is also our word for diaper so you can see why I continued being deeply intrigued by every new detail I learnt in this booklet. American kids are excited about camp because they get to sleep in diapers

I had never encountered the word “baseball” before but managed to guess it was some kind of sport, but when the booklet mentioned the “baseball diamond” (in the context of a kid saying the baseball diamond was big) I of course assumed it was an actual diamond that you could win if you won a game of baseball at camp. For some reason I had a debate with a classmate over the plausibility of this. I say for some reason because I didn’t really question the wolves or the psychologists with their human pets. A diamond though? Doubt. I just remember that we were queueing up for lunch and I was like “What do you think?” and my friend said hesitantly, “Maybe if it’s a small diamond?” and I insisted “No! The book says it’s big!”

among the basic items the book said every kid should bring to camp were “batteries”. I didn’t bother looking up that word in my dictionary seeing as it’s the same in French. I didn’t know it was a false friend, and I was impressed to learn that most American kids own a drum set and bring it to camp as an essential item

on the same page, in the list of things every kid should put in their suitcase for summer camp, another item was “comic books”. I wasn’t sure what those were since in French we call them BD, but basing myself on the word “comic” I assumed they were books of jokes and puns. I loved learning that in the US all kids bring humour anthologies to summer camp, presumably because they worry about running out of funny things to say. I thought American kids sounded nervous and sweet. But also really cool, because of all the drums

[chat-d-argent]

les sèquoias by Pomme

Genre: Chanson, folk, easy listening

Paroles // lyrics:

Quand j'ai marché dans l'allée des séquoias // When I walked in the lane of sequoias

J'ai respiré en entier pour une fois // I breathed fully one time Et envoyé deux mille prières au vent // And sent two thousand prayers to the wind Pour nous sauver de toutes les peines d'avant // To save us from all the pain from before Avant la rivière asséchée // Before the river dries up Avant que tout soit emporté // Before everything is swept away Je veux retourner dans l'allée // I want to return to the lane Entendre les séquoias chanter // To hear the sequoias sing

Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah

Apprivoiser le silence, les faiblesses de ma voix // Tame the silence, the frailty of my voice Et habiter mon propre corps pour la première fois // And live in my own body for the first time J'ai bien gardé tous les secrets du vent // I kept all the secrets of the wind Entremêlé la sève épaisse et mon sang // Interwove the thick sap and my blood Avant les arbres assassinés // Before the trees are slain Avant que tout soit emporté // Before everything is swept away Je veux retourner dans l'allée // I want to return to the lane Entendre les séquoias pleurer // To hear the sequoias cry

Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah-ah

Quand j'ai marché dans l'allée des séquoias // When I walked in the lane of sequoias J'ai respiré en entier pour une fois // I breathed fully one time

Vocabulaire // Vocab:

L’allée - noun, feminine - alley, aisle, walkway, pathway

Le séquoia - noun - sequoia (a type of tree)

La prière - noun - prayer, appeal

Assécher - verb - dry up, drain

Emporter - verb - take away, sweep away, pack

Apprivoiser - verb - tame, domesticate

La faiblesse - noun - weakness, flaw

Entremêler - verb - intertwine

La sève - noun - lifeblood, sap

[chat-d-argent]

Séduction by Joanna

Genre: Indie rock

Lyrics:

Un p’tit bout de ta peau coincé entre mes dents // A small piece of your skin caught between my teeth J'imagine nos corps dépendants // I imagine our bodies addicted Un p'tit bout de ta peau contre la mienne // A small piece of your skin against mine Des pensées obscures rentrent dans ma tête // Dark thoughts come to my mind Ma voix ne peut s'empêcher de parler // My voice can’t stop itself from speaking Mais la douleur m'empêche de résister // But the ache prevents me from resisting

Ton corps est une œuvre d'art sculptée dans la pierre // Your body is a work of art sculpted in stone Ton corps est une œuvre d'art façonnée par la mer // Your body is a work of work crafted by the sea Ta silhouette chaloupée faisant bouger ton fessier sucré // Your swaying silhouette makes your ass move Sorti tout droit de la nature une beauté créature // Straight from nature, a beautiful creature

Oups mes lèvres sont pleines du gâteau que l'on a partagé // Oops, my lips are full of the cake we shared Oups mon regard s'est égaré dans le creux de ton décolleté // Oops, my gaze wandered to the dip in your cleavage Je suis une femme qui d'habitude n'aime pas les femmes // I’m a woman who normally doesn’t like women Mais ta beauté est inéffable // But your beauty is indescribable Moi je suis folle et toi t'es sage // Me, I’m crazy and you, you’re wise Les démons ne t'ont pas encore souillés // Demons still haven’t tarnished you

Ce soir mon cœur est lié à ton corps, tes hanches // Tonight my heart is linked to your body, your hips Développées à ton âme // Connected to your soul Désœuvrées peut-être que nos lèvres devraient pas s'épouser // Idle, maybe, so our lips don’t meet  Mais mon âme se sent abandonnée // But my soul feels abandoned  Comme un soir en été // Like a summer evening Viens me rejoindre dans la salle de bain // Come join me in the bathroom Coller ta langue entre mes seins //  Put your tongue between my breasts Pourquoi se retenir on a envie // Why hold back, we want to Après tout on est samedi // After all, it’s saturday J'ai pensé à ça tout l'été // I thought about this all summer Je suis pas du genre à m'abandonner // I’m not the type to indulge myself Mais ce soir mon cœur est lié à toi // But tonight my heart is linked to you Face à toi j'entame une démarche enivrée // Faced with you, I start a  drunken approach Enivrée par les vices, enivrée par tes cuisses // Drunk on vices, drunk on your legs J'entame une technique assez poussée pour te séduire // I begin an extensive technique to seduce you La musique est là pour tout terminer // The music is there to stop everything J'ai mis ma plus belle robe pour aller danser // I put on my prettiest dress to go dancing J'aurais préférer mon vieux jean // I would have preferred my old jeans Mais j'ai gardé mes basket car je suis maladroite et imbécile // But I kept my trainers because I’m clumsy and brainless. Viens contre moi, viens // Come to me, come

Ton corps est une œuvre d'art sculptée dans la pierre // Your body is a work of art sculpted in stone Ton corps est une œuvre d'art façonnée par la mer // Your body is a work of work crafted by the sea Ta silhouette chaloupée faisant bouger ton fessier sucré // Your swaying silhouette making your ass move Sorti tout droit de la nature une beauté créature // Straight from nature, a beautiful creature

Oups mes lèvres sont pleines du gâteau que l'on a partagé // Oops, my lips are full of the cake we shared Oups mon regard s'est égaré dans le creux de ton décolleté // Oops, my gaze wandered to the dip in your cleavage Je suis une femme qui d'habitude n'aime pas les femmes // I’m a woman who normally doesn’t like women Mais ta beauté est inéffable // But your beauty is indescribable Moi je suis folle et toi t'es sage // Me, I’m crazy and you, you’re wise Les démons ne t'ont pas encore souillés // Demons still haven’t tarnished you

Ton corps est une œuvre // Your body is a work of art Ton corps est une œuvre d'art sculpté dans la pierre // You body is a work of art sculpted in stone

Vocab:

le bout - noun - end, tip, piece, scrap

coincer - verb - catch, trap, pin

dépendant - adjective, masculine - dependent, addicted, reliant

l’œuvre - noun, feminine - work, piece

façonner - verb - shape, model, manufacture

chaloupée - adjective, feminine - rolling, swaying. From la chaloupe, meaning rowboat)

s’égarer - verb - get lost, wander

le creux - noun - cavity, valley, depression

le décolleté - noun - neckline, cleavage

inéffable - adjective, masculine - indescribable

souiller - verb - soil, stain, blemish

la hanche - noun - hip

développé - adjective, masculine - developed, advanced, mature

désoeuvré - adjective, masculine - idle, lazy

coller - verb - glue, adhere

entamer - verb - begin, start, undertake

enivré - adjective, masculine - drunk

poussé - adjective, masculine - extensive

les basket - noun, plural - trainers (sneakers)

[hedgehog-moss]

I was wondering last night if it was at all possible to translate sign language poetry into writing, when translating poetry from one spoken language to another that uses the same communication devices is already a headache. So I found a book about sign language poetry (by Rachel Sutton-Spence) and it is a delightful read! At one point the author describes a poem by Clayton Valli about a boat, in which the rising and falling pattern of the words he chose (which are located at different heights in the signing space) evokes the bobbing motion of a boat on the water as it approaches a bridge. And, okay, it will never be the same thing but you can tinker with written words to create similar effects, like how Victor Hugo’s poem The Djinns uses rising and falling line length to convey quietness then frantic action then a return to stillness.

Then the author analyses a Christmas ASL poem by Dorothy Miles and at first you’re like, this is translatable—she lists things children ask for Christmas, and includes signs like “pets” and “cake” which both involve touching the back of one hand with the other, creating a visual rhyme. The English translation pairs “pets” with “candy cigarettes” to preserve the rhyme. The author adds that symmetry in signed poetry is comparable to assonance: instead of signing ‘2 people walking’ with one hand the poet might sign ‘1 person walking’ with the right hand and ‘1 person walking’ with the left hand, for poetical effect. As English doesn’t have this opportunity for symmetry, you can translate the intent behind this deliberate, aesthetic symmetry as a rhyme. But then the author goes on to describe how Miles uses gentle, fluttering-open ‘5′ handshapes to convey a feeling of magic and excitement, and adds extra finger-wriggling or fluttering to some signs to make them ‘sparkle’, so the poem goes something like magic-shivers-up-arms, magic-run-downstairs, magic-feel-bumps-through-stocking and as a translator, how do you not ruin the specific charm of this poem?? You would have to draw actual sparkles around every verse to convey a similar effect.

I really love poetry for how great it is at making us aware of all the resources and hidden treasures of our own language, that we often overlook in everyday life, but I also love the other side of the coin, how poetry in translation gleefully makes us aware of all the cool things our language lacks.

[pirategf]

truly if the world was fair je pourrais parler en franglais et tout le monde comprendrais. quand est ce qu'ils inventent these universal translators or whatever it was called in star trek

[trekkie-in-space]

To be honest, le monde est trop weak pour le franglais

[kairenn-n]

i dont speak french, por qué mierda i can understand this and why y'all pueden entender esto if you don’t speak español? los idiomas are weird.

[pirategf]

okay real pourquoi on continue de speak english alors

[shaneofaragon]

the nature of mankind è che sometimes qualcuno reinvents esperanto

[queen-susans-revenge]

In traditional Irish folktales, the elves only understand/respect Gaelic: the English language revolts them, so don’t expect to be winning any of those famous riddle contests or song tournaments in English. I’ve idly considered making one of those memes where it’s like [THE IRISH] *brofist* [THE JEWS] and the point of agreement is “our language is magic,” but the joke would take too much explaining to be funny. A lot of Irish Gaelic is structured around speech and the power of language. There isn’t, for example, a word for “yes” or “no.” In order to answer a direct yes/no question, you have to use a form of the verb that was used to ask the question. So basically, if the question is–say–”did you murder your wife” then there is no way to simply say “Yes, Your Honor” or “No, Your Honor.” Your minimum required effort involves using the verb that was invoked in the question: “I murdered,” or “I didn’t murder.” Of course you can just as easily, in just as few syllables and maybe fewer, change the verb. “I was framed,” maybe. Which is to say that the most basic speech acts in Irish involve constructing a narrative, assenting to others’ narratives or challenging them, and most crucially elaborating on the narratives that have already been established. 

(I chose murder just to be a colorful example, but actually I need to go back to my language reference books and check because I bet this interacts interestingly with the tendency in Irish for the narrator never to be the subject of her own story. You’re always the object, in Irish: you can’t drop a plate, for instance, the plate drops itself at you. You’re not thirsty but a powerful thirst is on you. You didn’t murder that woman but she very well might have gotten murdered in your general vicinity.) You see this lots of other places in the language too. For instance there’s also no word for “hello” or “goodbye.” If you want to greet somebody your required minimum is to cough up a formulaic blessing: Dia duit, God be with you. Here’s the thing. The second person can’t just be like “yup, uh huh. dia duit.” No. The stakes have been raised. The second person’s required minimum answer is now Dia’s muire duit, God and Mary be with you. If a third person joins they have to invoke St. Patrick on top of the two already mentioned. I’m not kidding. At four people you do hit a limit where you’re allowed to just say “God be with all here,” but in the very traditional country pubs it’s an insult to cross the threshold without saying at least that to cover everyone inside. Actually worse than an insult; basically a curse. That’s the burden you bear when you start speaking a magic language.

[claraschinman]

duolingo is great for self esteem. it tells me to click the translation of ‘woman’ below a picture of a woman and now i’m 7% fluent in spanish. merci.

[ierotits]

guess what I'm cross stitching next

[ierotits]

he's coming...

[ierotits]

him.........

[ierotits]

HE

[ierotits]

he has been.....completed.....

[dsm-wannabe-linguist]

can’t wait for @duolingo to finally teach us how to speak to the manager

[dreamingofjapan]

The Surprisingly Simple Logic Behind Japanese Sentence Structure - 80/20 Japanese

In this article, I break down Japanese sentence structure and show you exactly how Japanese sentences work. A solid understanding of this will save you a huge amount of time trying to make sense of Japanese grammar.

Found this article super helpful! 

[kanjikiwi]

Neatooo

[agetwellcard]

coming soon: the duolingo owl will break into your home at night and beat the shit out of you if you don’t know the word for potato in french

[thelanguagecommunity]

“what language should I learn?”

“is it better to learn [x] or [x]?”

“is it worth learning [x]?”

I get this type of question a lot and I see questions like these a lot on language learning forums, but it’s very difficult to answer because ultimately language learning is a highly personal decision. Passion is required to motivate your studies, and if you aren’t in love with your language it will be very hard to put in the time you need. Thus, no language is objectively better or worse, it all comes down to factors in your life. So, I’ve put together a guide to assist your with the kind of factors you can consider when choosing a language for study.

First, address you language-learning priorities.

Think of the reasons why are you interested in learning a new language. Keeping these reasons in mind as you begin study will help keep you focused and motivated. Here are some suggestions to help you get started, complete with wikipedia links so you can learn more:

Linguistic curiosity?

For this I recommend looking into dead, literary or constructed languages. There are lots of cool linguistic experiments and reconstructions going on and active communities that work on them! Here’s a brief list:

Dead languages:

Akkadian

Egyptian (Ancient Egyptian)

Gaulish

Gothic

Hittite

Old Prussian

Sumerian

Older iterations of modern day languages:

Classical Armenian

Classical Nahuatl (language of the Aztec Empire)

Early Middle English (Shakespearean English)

Galician-Portuguese

Middle English (Chaucer English)

Middle Persian/Pahlavi

Old English

Old French

Old Spanish

Old Tagalog (+ Baybayin)

Ottoman Turkish

Constructed:

Anglish (experiment to create a purely Anglo-Saxon English)

Esperanto

Interlingua

Láadan (a “feminist language”)

Lingua Franca Nova

Lingwa de Planeta

Lobjan

Toki Pona (a minimalist language)

Wenedyk (what if the Romans had occupied Poland?)

Cultural interest?

Maybe you just want to connect to another culture. A language is often the portal to a culture and are great for broadening your horizons!

Here are some popular languages and what they are “famous for”:

Cantonese: film

French: culinary arts, film, literature, music, philosophy, tv programs prestige language for a long time, spoken in many countries

German: film, literature, philosophy, tv, spoken in Central Europe

Italian: architecture, art history, catholicism, culinary arts, design, fashion, film, music, opera

Mandarin: culinary arts, literature, music, poetry, tv

Japanese: anime, culinary arts, film, manga, music, video games, the longtime isolation of the country has developed a culture that many find interesting, a comparatively large internet presence

Korean: tv dramas, music, film

Portuguese: internet culture, music

Russian: literature, philosophy, spoken in the Eastern Bloc or former-Soviet countries

Spanish: film, literature, music, spoken in many countries

Swedish: music, tv, film, sometimes thought of as a “buy one, get two free” deal along with Norwegian & Danish

Religious & liturgical languages:

Avestan (Zoroastrianism)

Church Slavonic (Eastern Orthodox churches)

Classical Arabic (Islam)

Coptic (Coptic Orthodox Church)

Ecclesiastical Latin (Catholic Church)

Ge’ez (Ethiopian Orthodox Church)

Koine Greek (language of the New Testament)

Pali (language of some Hindu texts and Theravada Buddhism)

Sanskrit (Hinduism)

Syriac (Syriac Orthodox Church, Maronite Church, Church of the East)

Reconnecting with family?

If your immediate family speaks a language that you don’t or if you are a heritage speaker that has been disconnected, then the choice is obvious! If not, you might have to do some family tree digging, and maybe you might find something that makes you feel more connected to your family. Maybe you come from an immigrant community that has an associated immigration or contact language! Or maybe there is a branch of the family that speaks/spoke another language entirely.

Immigrant & Diaspora languages:

Arbëresh (Albanians in Italy)

Arvanitika (Albanians in Greece)

Brazilian German

Canadian Gaelic (Scots in Canada)

Canadian Ukrainian (Ukrainians in Canada)

Caribbean Hindustani (Indian communities in the Caribbean)

Chipilo Venetian (Venetian in Mexico)

Griko (Greeks in Italy)

Gullah (African Americans of the coastal low country of the US)

Hutterite German (German spoken by Hutterite settlers of Canada/US)

Fiji Hindi (Indians in Fiji)

Louisiana Creole

Louisiana French (Cajuns) 

Patagonian Welsh (Welsh in Argentina)

Pennsylvania Dutch (German spoken by the Amish)

Plaudietsch (German spoken by Mennonites)

Talian (Venetian in Brazilian)

Texas Silesian (Poles in the US)

If you are Jewish, maybe look into the language of your particular diaspora community:

Bukhori (Bukharan Jews)

Hebrew

Judeo-Arabic

Judeo-Aramaic

Judeo-Malayalam

Judeo-Marathi

Juhuri (Jews of the Caucasus)

Ladino (Sephardi)

Yevanic (Romaniotes)

Yiddish (Ashkenazi)

Finding a job?

Try looking around for what languages are in demand in your field. Most often, competency in a relevant makes you very competitive for positions. English is in demand pretty much anywhere. Here are some other suggestions based on industry (from what I know!):

Business (General): Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish

Design: Italian (especially furniture)

Economics: Arabic, German

Education: French, Spanish

Energy: Arabic, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish

Engineering: German, Russian

Finance & Investment: French, Cantonese, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish

International Orgs. & Diplomacy (NATO, UN, etc.): Arabic, French, Mandarin, Persian, Russian, Spanish

Medicine: German, Latin, Sign Languages, Spanish

Military: Arabic, Dari, French, Indonesian, Korean, Kurdish, Mandarin, Pashto, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, Urdu

Programming: German, Japanese

Sales & Marketing: French, German, Japanese, Portuguese

Service (General): French, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Sign Languages, Spanish

Scientific Research (General): German, Japanese, Russian

Tourism: French, Japanese, Mandarin, Sign Languages, Spanish

Translation: Arabic, Russian, Sign Languages

Special interests?

Learning a language just because is a perfectly valid reason as well! Maybe you are really into a piece of media that has it’s own conlang! Maybe you are super into history (in that case check out the languages under “linguistic curiosity” for some languages that could help with that) 

Fictional:

Atlantean (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

Dothraki (Game of Thrones)

Elvish (Lord of the Rings)

Gallifreyan (Doctor Who)

High Valyrian (Game of Thrones)

Klingon (Star Trek)

Nadsat (A Clockwork Orange)

Na’vi (Avatar)

Newspeak (1984)

Trigedasleng (The 100)

Vulcan (Star Trek)

Or if you just like to learn languages, take a look maybe at languages that have lots of speakers but not usually popular among the language-learning community:

Arabic

Bengali

Cantonese

Hindi

Javanese

Hausa

Indonesian

Malay

Pashto

Persian

Polish

Punjabi

Swahili

Tamil

Telugu

Thai

Turkish

Urdu

Vietnamese

Yoruba

If you have still are having trouble, consider the following:

What languages do you already speak?

How many and which languages you already speak will have a huge impact on the ease of learning. 

If you are shy about speaking with natives, you might want to look at languages with similar consonant/vowel sounds. Similarity between languages’ grammars and vocabularies can also help speed up the process. Several families are famous for this such as the Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French and to a lesser extent Romanian), North Germanic languages (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish) or East Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian). If you are a native English speaker, check out the FSI’s ranking of language difficulty for the approximate amount of hours you’ll need to put into different languages.

You could also take a look at languages’ writing systems to make things easier or for an added challenge.

Another thing to remember is that the languages you already speak will have a huge impact on what resources are available to you. This is especially true with minority languages, as resources are more frequently published in the dominant language of that area. For example, most Ainu resources are in Japanese, most Nheengatu resources are in Portuguese, and most Nahuatl resources are in Spanish.

What are your life circumstances?

Where you live with influence you language studies too! Local universities will often offer resources (or you could even enroll in classes) for specific languages, usually the “big” ones and a few region-specific languages.

Also consider if what communities area near you. Is there a vibrant Deaf community near you that offers classes? Is there a Vietnamese neighborhood you regularly interact with? Sometimes all it takes is someone to understand you in your own language to make your day! Consider what languages you could realistically use in your own day-to-day. If you don’t know where to start, try checking to see if there are any language/cultural meetups in your town!

How much time can you realistically put into your studies? Do you have a fluency goal you want to meet? If you are pressed for time, consider picking up a language similar to ones you already know or maintaining your other languages rather than taking on a new one.

Please remember when choosing a language for study to always respect the feelings and opinions of native speakers/communities, particularly with endangered or minoritized languages. Language is often closely tied to identity, and some communities are “closed” to outsiders. A notable examples are Hopi, several Romani languages, and some Jewish languages. If you are considering a minoritized language, please closely examine your motivations for doing so, as well as do a little research into what is the community consensus on outsiders learning the language. 

[batmanisagatewaydrug-deactivate]

can’t wait for the final boss battle of duolingo when you fight the 50 foot owl armed with nothing but your wits, a sword, and your shaky grasp of verb conjugations

[batmanisagatewaydrug-deactivate]

oh my god… duel lingo

[worldsentwined]

Die Eule habe hat Hunger

True to form, I actually messed up the verb conjugation when I first put the words on this. XD

[batmanisagatewaydrug-deactivate]

holy crap

[pompadourpink]

french podcasts

about knowledge :

au coeur de l’histoire (history)

les chasseurs de nazis (nazi hunters)

france musique 

on ne parle pas la bouche pleine (food + literature)

les chemins de la philosophie

le collège de france (advanced)

il était une fois (fairy tales)

la main verte (gardening)

la méthode scientifique

regardez voir (photography)

sur les épaules de darwin

very good trip (rock n roll)

chroniques du ciel (aviation)

la tête au carré (popularization)

les p’tits bateaux (pros answering children’s qs)

les grands musiciens (interview with a pro musician)

littérature moderne et contemporaine

about society :

arte radio (politics, health, history, tech…)

slate (similarish to ted talks)

hashtag (debating very current problems)

quoi de meuf (women talking about pop culture)

affaires sensibles (trials)

les gentilshommes (relationships men/women)

bouddhisme et méditation

kiffe ta race (about racial problematics)

le flow (well being)

sois gentille dis merci fais un bisou (portraits of women)

les couilles sur la table (men talking to women)

miroir miroir (destroy social norms)

du grain à moudre (debating sensible questions)

coucou le q (casual sex ed)

change ma vie (about personal growth)

la poudre (powerful women’s interviews)

nice to hear you (talks with creators, ceos, artists and nice humans)

mortel (to reconcile you with death and mortality)

la menstruelle (periods)

about movies and tech :

la cartouche (gaming)

la chronique ciné

studio 404 (tech)

geek inc (nerd chatter)

nouveau monde (innovations)

2h de perdues (shitty movies)

silence on joue (gaming)

radio rôliste (role playing, mmorpg)

nociné (pop culture/movies)

season one (to discover new shows)

[psych2go]

[langblr-o-kebek]

So at my old university, the main library was open 24/7 during the week of and before finals. On the fourth floor there were these study rooms that overlooked the third floor with two opposite walls being entirely white boards and the wall overlooking the floor below made of glass which we used as a white board as well. Usually you saw equations or brainstorming lists on them. One day during finals, the library is packed with students and I needed a nap badly but I knew that if I left I was going to lose my spot. I decide to close my eyes right there at my desk. I end up sleeping until 3am. I woke up to an eerie silence, the only sounds were faint pages turning or pencils scratching. Most people save for a few stragglers had gone home. I was about ready to give up and go home too when I looked up at the rooms above me, now all empty, and I notice something. Some french students had been studying in one of those rooms since I could see three big columns labeled: 1er groupe, 2e groupe, 3e groupe. I didn’t even make it to the 2e or 3e grouped because I couldn’t believe my eyes. There, in big letters, for the whole library to see, in column 1:

Je baise

Tu baises

Il/elle baise

Nous baisons

Vous baisez

Ils/elles baisent

And you know, they were right, it is a 1er groupe regular verb.

I think about this about once a week, I hope they did well on their final.

[orientalismx]