A spidery body of light

Langblr focused on Spanish / You will also find a lot of books/reading, linguistics, puns and general humor here 25 / Cognitive linguistics & Hungarian Language and Literature Major / Proud owner of perpetually itchy feet / Bookworm I always want it both. My life is about finding the middle path and learning from every experience that comes my way.

[el-aranaluces]

May 2016 update/what’s going on

- first I’d like to say HIIIIIIII to my new followers! I still find it hard to believe someone actually follows this blog and reads the posts, but I do love the langblr community

- what’s up? Uni workload = MASSIVE. I have so much homework it’s not even funny + extra seminars to prepare

- the last seminar I had to write was about person reference - how people refer to each other in spoken interaction. I got an introductory chapter written by Tanya Stivers, N.J. Enfield and Stephen C. Levinson from a book whose name I don’t know yet (but plan to ask my prof tomorrow) and you know what, I really enjoyed reading it. A lot of articles dealing with topics in pragmatics are written in a way that really doesn’t appeal to me, they’re too dense with information and descriptions that further complicate matters they are trying to explain, but this was a relatively easy read. There’s a lot of comparative information on how different cultures/languages go about addressing speakers in interaction, some theory and proposed principles important for person reference. I’d recommend this article/topic as an introductory read if you haven’t yet done pragmatics or if it’s not your main area of interest

- the letter o on my keyboard got stuck, that’s really annoying

- I neglected Spanish a little, basically because I feel overloaded with information and just need a break. I dropped the Spanish class I take at uni because it was on Thursday morning and I wanted to be able to sleep in for once, plus I enjoy my “outside uni” weekend class way more and find it more useful. We watched the movie Belle Epoque two weeks ago

- I have a job! I’ll be teaching a Croatian guy with Hungarian roots beginner Hungarian :) We’ll start with classes once a week, but we’ll probably continue meeting twice a week once uni’s out. I’m happy about this, mostly because I expect my motivation for learning Hungarian will go up again (and I reallyyyyy need that)

- still reading Harry Potter, although I’ve reached the last book :/ I ... don’t even know what to say about how this series makes me feel. I’ll definitely write reviews on Goodreads for the last two books when I stop being overwhelmed

[el-aranaluces]

I’m jumping on the Eurovision bandwagon Saturday night

equal parts scared and excited

[el-aranaluces]

Whole article here

[teresa-masterson]

Italian Fact of the Day #75: Italians Speak in the Present, Americans Speak in Present Participles

Have you ever heard an Italian speaking English and you think it’s so cute when he say things like, “I go now” or “Now I drive the car.”

It sounds quaint and a bit strange to an American ear, but he is speaking in English exactly how he would speak in Italian.

In everyday conversation, Italians make present tense statements where an American would make a present participle statement.

Here’s what I mean:

If an American answered a question with “I make pizza,” it’s most likely that the question was something like, “What do you do for a living?” It would not be the answer to “What’s for dinner?”

If an American was asked, “What’s for dinner?” he would answer, “I’m making pizza.” Present participle. An Italian would answer, “I make pizza.”

While in the moment of doing something, or in planning to do something in the near future, Americans almost always use a statement starting with “I am” followed by a verb with the “-ing” ending: Present Participle. Italians are more likely to speak straight-up present tense.

Examples:

American: “I am going to the store. Do you need anything?”

Italian: “I go to the store. Do you need anything?”

American: “I am driving you home tonight.”

Italian: “I drive you home tonight.”

American: “I am standing in line.”

Italian: “I stand in the line.”

Of course Americans also speak in the present tense, but it’s usually used for a general statement of time, not for that specific moment. “I eat too much” would mean that that person eats too much a lot of the time. “I am eating too much” would signify that that person is eating too much right there and then at the table.

Italians have the Gerundio tense that translates into the present participle, but it’s not used very often in regular conversation.

If you are shopping at a store and a sales assistant asks if you need help, an American would say, “I’m just looking.” While an Italian could say, “Sto guardando” he’s more likely to say, “Io guardo” — “I look.”

I write for a living. But I am writing this blog post now. Are you reading it now? Or do you read it now? Your answer tells me whether you are an Italian or an American. 

[langsandlit]

When this post only had about two notes I sent this person a long private message explaining that we would never say “io guardo” but always “sto solo guardando” or rather “sto solo dando un'occhiata”. We’d never use the simple present that way. Plus we use the present continuous, the so called gerundio, A LOT.

We’re more likely to use the simple present for habitual actions continuing in the present (lavoro in ospedale - I work at a hospital) and for future events, e.g. che fai domani (what are you doing tomorrow?) - vado a lavoro (I’m going to work), whereas if you asked someone che fai (ora)? (What are you doing [now]?), they’re more likely to use the gerundio (present continous) “sto andando a lavoro” instead of “vado a lavoro” (simple present).

[sekaistudies]

Hello everyone!

This morning I wrote a post in which I asked people to reblog it and tag their native language if they are studying any other languages! I realized that it is superhard to go through al reblogs of each and everyone {my apologies to those who reblogged, but I am still very gratefull}.

I want to make two new pages on my blog:

1. Native speakers list: Which is pretty much a list of native speakers of other languages besides English.

2. Study buddies list: Which is pretty much a list of people who are studying a language/languages.

The point of this is that you can easily find a native speaker or a person who studies the same language as you.

Now how to get on the list:

1. Send me a message with your native-language and/or which languages you are studying (and whether you are self studying or not). 2. Be a language/study/culture blog.

++You don’t have to reblog this post, but it would be great if you would! So other people can see.

++ You don’t need to be following me or something. I’m not doing this for selfpromotion (but I will be following new blogs I find ofc😎).

Thank you again and happy studying.

(I followback with my main Acc @kurotoshiro)

[el-aranaluces]

Dais: a raised platform in a large room or hall that people stand on when performing or speaking to an audience.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dais

[curiosidads]

Blog Curiosidades Facebook: fb.com/bcuriosidad || Instagram:http://bit.ly/1MRuLmq

[el-aranaluces]

ALSO

Grimmauld Place = grim old place???

This must be legit.

[el-aranaluces]

HP and the Order of the Phoenix book vocabulary (English-English)

Bloomsbury, 1st Edition

Pages 52-60

Pell-mell (adv): to do something in a confused and hurried manner.

To be interspersed (with patches of deepest black): to have random spots/surfaces that are covered in blackest black

Unkempt (grass, hair): not well-kept, messy, untidy.

Pungent smell: a strong smell

Derelict (building): uncared for, run-down

To rap sb: to hit sb with a sharp blow

A feeling of foreboding: feeling uneasy, like something bad is about to happen

Threadbare carpet: an old, shabby carpet that’s gotten thin in places so you can see the threads that make it (see here)

Cobwebby chandelier: a chandelier covered in cobwebs

To scuttle: to move in quick, small steps, to shuffle

Skirting board (British): a narrow board along the bottom of a wall that covers the area where the wall meets the floor (completely blown away by this one, I thought a skirting board’s an easel :D)

Rickety (adj): unstable and likely to break

To beam in welcome: to welcome someone warmly, smiling and inviting them in

To look peaky (adj): to look pale and sick

[livinglikearockstar]

So to defend ourselves, and fight against assimilating this dullness into our thought processes, we must learn to read. To stimulate our own imagination, to cultivate our own consciousness, our own belief systems. We all need skills to defend, to preserve, our own minds.

Henry Barthes (Detachment, 2011)

[hitchpollos-deactivated20170902]

Detachment (2011)

[bobbycaputo]

Guy Goes on Subway With Ridiculous Fake Book Covers and Records People’s Reactions

[youdieonmychannel]

Te vagy

Te vagy az álmatlanság

Te vagy az alváshiány 

Te vagy a nulladik matek amiről elkések

Te vagy az utolsó slukk és első korty

Te vagy minden rossz amit elkövettem

Te vagy a rossz aki hiányzik

Te vagy a tökéletes ami nem létezik

                                       És én ki vagyok? 

[duende-bitch]

Censorship from a linguistic perspective

Hey qts, and I’m positive you’re cuties cause you’re either seeing this on your dash or were going through one of the tags I used. 

I have a HUGE rerquest, I’ve been thinking a lot about censorship around offensive/cuss words? How they start, how they change- into either less or more acceptable usages. I’m wondering if anyone has an article/essay/book  they recommend on the subject. I’m looking to zero in on the “n” word out of curiosity but I hate even saying that because as Louie CK says, it’s just white people getting away with still saying it. But really, anything on the subject of language censorship from a linguistic/social perspective would be really helpful!

I’d love to start discussing this with my peers regarding certain slurs and what not. I’m not trying to be the PC police but I’d like to be more educated on it and have a discussion with people to include perspective in the real world. 

If you wouldn’t mind reblogging this if you’re a regular in the linguistics community on here or lover of words and language, I’d appreciate the heck outta it.

Enjoy your weekends!

[el-aranaluces]

[loulanguages-deactivated2018110]

OKAY GUYS I DON’T KNOW IF THIS HAS BEEN DONE BUT I NEED TO TALK ABOUT BILINGUIS. ya’ll, this site is amazing. it’s a site of free, public-domain bilingual books. and there are SO MANY LANGUAGES. it’s not just french and spanish, but also dutch, mandarin, ukrainian, esperanto and way more. there are only five books but they are all classics and they are all amazing! 

see that? that’s Alice in Wonderland in Esperanto and English. AND IT GETS BETTER. in certain languages, YOU CAN PLAY THE AUDIOBOOK ALONG WITH IT AS YOU READ. it’s also worth noting that you don’t have to have it in english and another language. you can have it in any two of the languages offered. 

anyway, here it is. so please guys, spread the knowledge, because it’s totally great and i have a new addiction. 

[really-big-clams-deactivated202]

This is super cool, but unfortunately I won’t have much to do until they add more languages and books :-(. @jesuispoubelleettresbelle

[jesuispoubelleettresbelle]

oh my god this is so cool, i love alice in wonderland and now I’m DEFINITLEY going to read it in german. thanks for tagging me!

[el-aranaluces]

Different meanings of some verbs: pretérito indefinido VS pretérito imperfecto

Conocer

Pretérito indefinido: Meet somebody for the first time / Encontrarse por primera vez con una persona

Ayer conocí a su compañero de viaje.

Pretérito imperfecto: To already know who or what the person or the thing is / Saber quién o qué es esa persona o cosa

Me lo quiso presentar, pero ya lo conocía.

Poder 

Pretérito indefinido: To be capable of something (to have an intention of doing something). The focus is on the result / Ser capaz de algo. Marca el resultado

Pude verlo cuando salía de su casa.

Pretérito imperfecto: Possibility of something. The focus is on the intent/goal / Posibilidad de algo. Marca el intento.

Podía verlo cuando salía de su casa.

Querer

Pretérito indefinido: Expresses an intention to do something / Muestra el intento de hacer algo

Quise llegar allí, pero la tormenta lo impidió.

Pretérito imperfecto: Expresses a wish/desire to do something / Indica el deseo de hacer algo

Quería llegar hasta su casa, pero se me hizo muy tarde y no pude.

Tener que

Pretérito indefinido: There was only one option + there is a degree of obligation to do something / Indica que solo había una opción, hay más obligatoriedad

Tuve que ir a verla.

Pretérito imperfecto: There was an option to do or not to do something that was recommended / La opción de hacer o no algo que era recomendable

Tenía que ir a verla.

Personal notes: grasping the full scope of usage of these tenses is proving much harder than I thought it would be considering I have a solid background on past tenses in English and Italian. I guess that’s because I’ve been heavily immersed in learning Hungarian for years, and modern Hungarian actively uses just one past tense. I kind of forgot how colorful verbs can be thanks to a multitude of past tenses.