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Books , kdramas & languages // studying Chinese (HSK2)

[superlinguo]

Linguistics and Language Podcasts

Looking for podcasts about language and linguistics? Here’s a comprehensive list with descriptions! I’ve also mentioned if shows have transcripts. If there are any I missed, let me know!

Linguistics

Lingthusiasm A podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne (that’s me!). Main episodes every third Thursday of every month, with a second bonus episode on Patreon. (Transcripts for all episodes)

Because Language Every week Daniel, Ben, and Hedvig cover the news in linguistics and tackle a particular topic. (previously Talk the Talk) (Transcripts for all episodes after release)

The Vocal Fries Every episode Carrie Gillon & Megan Figueroa tackle linguistic discrimination in relation to a particular group. (Transcripts for some episodes)

En Clair A podcast about forensic linguistics from Dr Claire Hardaker at Lancaster University. Episodes released monthly, with a range of topics from criminal cases to literary fraud. (Transcripts for all episodes)

Language on the Move Conversations about linguistic diversity in social life. (Transcripts for some episodes)

Said & Done A podcast about languages and the people who speak them, from the Columbia LRC

Accentricity From Sadie Durkacz Ryan, a lecturer in sociolinguistics at Glasgow University. Season one has six episodes.

All About Accents A podcast all about accents with linguist and accent coach Dani Morse-Kopp in conversation with her partner Lucas Morse. 

Tomayto Tomahto Led by Talia Sherman, a Brown University undergrad, this interview-based podcast explores language.

Field Notes Martha Tsutsui Billins interviews linguists about their linguistic fieldwork. (Transcripts for all episodes)

History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences sub-30 minute episodes about the history of linguistics from James McElvenny, with the occasional interviews.

Lingua Brutalica Jess Kruk and Wes Robertson take on the world of extreme metal.

Say It Like You Play It A podcast about games, language and culture.

The Language Revolution Changing UK attitudes to languages.

The Secret Life of Language An interview podcast from the University of Melbourne’s School of Languages and Linguistics.

JSLX Conversations Podcast A podcast produced by the Journal of Sociolinguistics. (Transcripts for all episodes)

Lexis A conversation about linguistics with a topical UK focus, from Matthew Butler, Lisa Casey, Dan Clayton and Jacky Glancey.

Kletshead A podcast about bilingual children for parents, teachers and speech language therapists from Dr. Sharon Unsworth. Also in Dutch.

Linguistics Lounge A podcast about language and discourse with Tony Fisher and Julia de Bres. Transcripts for all episodes.

CorpusCast from Dr Robbie Love, available alongside other shows in the Aston University podcast feed or in video format.

Life and Language Michaela Mahlberg chats with her guests about life and why language matters.

Toksave – Culture Talks A podcast from the PARADISEC Archive, where the archived records of the past have life breathed back into them once again.

Theory Neutral Covering typology and descriptive grammars with Logan R Kearsley.

PhonPod Podcast Interview-based podcast about phonetics and phonology.

Linguistics Careercast A podcast devoted to exploring careers for linguists outside academia.

Language

The Allusionist Stories about language and the people who use it, from Helen Zaltzman (Transcripts for all episodes) (my review).

Grammar Girl Episodes are rarely longer than 15 minutes, but they’re full of tips about English grammar and style for professional writing, and more! (Transcripts for all episodes).

A Language I Love Is… A show about language, linguistics and people who love both. An interview-based podcast hosted by Danny Bate.

Word of Mouth BBC Radio 4 show exploring the world of words with Michael Rosen.

America the Bilingual Dedicated to the pursuit of bilingualism in the USA.

Words & Actions A podcast about how language matters in business, politics and beyond.

Subtitle A podcast about languages and the people who speak them, from Patrick Cox and Kavita Pillay. For those who miss Patrick’s old podcast, The World in Words.

The Parlé Podcast from Canadian Speech-Language Pathologist Chantal Mayer-Crittenden.

Slavstvuyte! A podcast for everyone who is fascinated by Slavic languages from Dina Stankovic.

Subtext A podcast about the linguistics of online dating.

Conlangs

Conlangery Particularly for those with an interest in constructed  languages, they also have episodes that focus on specific natural  languages, or linguistic phenomena. Newer episodes have transcripts.

Linguitect Matt, Rowan and Liam explain linguistic topics and talk about how to build them into your conlang.

Dictionaries

Word For Word From Macquarie dictionary, with a focus on Australian English.

Fiat Lex A podcast about making dictionaries from Kory Stamper & Steve Kleinedler. One season.

Word Matters From the editors at Merriam-Webster, hosted by Emily Brewster, Neil Serven, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. 

English

Unstandardized English Interview-based podcast. Disrupting the language of racism and white supremacy in English Language Teaching.

History of English Meticulously researched, professionally produced and engaging content on the history of English. (My reviews: episodes 1-4, episodes 5-79, bonus episodes).

Lexicon Valley Hosted by John McWhorter.

That’s What They Say Every week linguist Anne Curzan joins Rebecca Kruth on Michigan public radio for a five minute piece on a quirk of English language.

A Way With Words A talk-back format show on the history of English words, cryptic crosswords and slang.

Words/etymology

Something Rhymes With Purple Susie Dent and Gyles Brandreth uncover the hidden origins of language and share their love of words.

Telling our Twisted Histories Kaniehti:io Horn brings us together to decolonize our minds– one word, one concept, one story at a time.

Word Bomb Hosts Pippa Johnstone and Karina Palmitesta explore one word per week, using particular words for a deep dive into linguistic and social issues. (Transcripts for all episodes)

Words for Granted In each episode Ray Belli explores the history of a common English word in around fifteen minutes.

Lexitecture Ryan, a Canadian, and Amy, a Scot share their chosen word each episode.

Bunny Trails Shauna and Dan discuss idioms and other turns of phrase.

Translation & Interpreting

Brand the Interpreter Interviews about the profession, from Mireya Pérez.

The Translation Chat Podcast a podcast on Japanese to English media with Jennifer O’Donnell, and translators and editors in the Japanese to English localization.

In Languages other than English

Parler Comme Jamais A French language podcast from Binge Audio.Monthly episodes from Laélia Véron.

Sozusagen A German language podcast of weekly 10 minute episodes.

Talking Bodies A German language podcast about speech, gesture and communication.

Registergeknister A German language linguistics podcast of the Collaborative Research Center 1412 at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

Språket A Swedish language podcast from Sveriges Radio about language use and change.

Språktalk A Norwegian language podcast with Helene Uri and Kristin Storrusten from Aftenposten.

Klog på sprog A Danish language podcast that playfully explores the Danish language.

Kletshead A Dutch language podcast about bilingual children for parents, teachers and speech language therapists from Dr. Sharon Unsworth. Also in English.

Over taal gesproken A Dutch language podcast from the Institute for the Dutch language and the Dutch Language Society.

BabelPodcast A Portuguese language podcast from Brazil, hosted by Cecilia Farias and Gruno.

El Racionalista Omnívoro a Portuguese language podcast about linguistics, history, cinema, literature and more, hosted by Antonio Fábregas.

War of Words A Spanish language podcast about linguistics from Juana de los Santos, Ángela Rodríguez, Néstor Bermúdez and Antonella Moschetti.

Con la lengua fuera A Spanish language podcast from Macarena Gil y Nerea Fernández de Gobeo.

Hablando mal y pronto A Spanish language conversational podcast from Santiago, Juan and Magui.

Rhapsody in Lingo Cantonese podcast on language and linguistics.

Back Catalogue

These are podcasts that had a good run of episodes and are no longer being produced.

Spectacular Vernacular A podcast that explores language … and plays with it Hosted by Nicole Holliday and Ben Zimmer for Slate. Transcripts available. 19 episodes from 2021 and 2022.

Science Diction a podcast about words—and the science stories behind them. Hosted by Johanna Mayer, this is a production from WNYC Science Friday. 42 episodes from 2020-2022.

Troublesome Terps The podcast about the things that keep interpreters up at night. 70 episodes from 2016-2022.

The World in Words From PRI, episodes from 2008-2019.

How Brands are Build (season 1 of this show focuses on brand naming)

Very Bad Words A  podcast about swearing and our cultural relationship to it. 42 episodes from 2017 and 2018.

The Endless Knot is not strictly a language podcast, but they often include word histories, linguistics podcast fans episode may find their colour series particularly interesting.

Given Names (four part radio series from 2015, all about names. My review)

Odds & Ends

There are also a number of podcasts that have only a few episodes, are no longer being made, or are very academic in their focus:

The Black Language Podcast Anansa Benbow brings you a podcast dedicated to talking about Black people and their languages. Five episodes from 2020.

Speculative Grammarian Podcast (from the magazine of the same name, about 50 episodes from Dec 2009-Jan 2017)

Linguistics Podcast (on YouTube, around 20 episodes in 2013 introducing basic linguistic concepts)

Evolving English: Linguistics at the Library (8 episodes 2018), from the British Library.

Language Creation Society Podcast (8 episodes, 2009-2011)

LingLab (very occasionally updated podcast from graduate students in the Sociolinguistics program at NC State University)

Hooked on Phonetics five episodes from Maxwell Hope from 2019 and 2020.

Glossonomia Each episode is about a different vowel or consonant sound in English. 44 episodes from 2010-2014.

Distributed Morphs An interview-based podcast about morphology, from Jeffrey Punske. Eight episodes in 2020.

Word to the Whys a podcast where linguists talk about why they do linguistics. Created by TILCoP Canada (Teaching Intro Linguistics Community of Practice). 10 episodes in 2020 and 2021.

The Weekly Linguist An  interview podcast about the languages of the world and the linguists who study them from Jarrette Allen and Lisa Sprowls. 21 episodes in 2021.

Silly Linguistics (ad hoc episode posting, but episode 7 is an interview with Kevin Stroud for History of English fans)

Linguistics After Dark Eli, Sarah and Jenny answer your linguistics questions in hour-ish long episodes.

WACC Podcast (guest lectures at Warwick Applied Linguistics)

Sage Language and Linguistics

Let’s Talk Talk

Queer Linguistics has a couple of episodes, with a bit of classroom vibe

GradLings An occasionally-updated podcast for linguistics students at any stage of study, to share their stories and experiences.

Canguro English A podcast about language for people learning languages. 103 episodes from 2018-2021.

Why is English? A podcast about how the English language got to be the way it is, from Laura Brandt. Seven episodes from 2020 and 2021. 

Animology Vegan blogger Colleen Patrick Goudreau uses her love of animals as a starting point for exploring animal-related etymologies. 27 episodes from 2017-2020.

Wordy Wordpecker Short weekly episodes from Rachel Lopez, charting the stories of English words. 14 episodes from 2018.

Speaking of Translation A monthly podcast from Eve Bodeux & Corinne McKay. 10 episodes from 2020-2021.

Se Ve Se Escucha (Seen and Heard) Language justice and what it means to be an interpreter, an organizer and bilingual in the US South, from the Center for Participatory Change. Episodes from 2020.

This is an updated listing from December 2024. I’m always excited to be able to add more podcasts to the list, so if you know of any linguistics/language podcasts not here, please let me know! I wait until a show has at least 5 episodes before I add it to the list, and I like to let people know when transcripts are available.

[superlinguo]

The 2024 update to the Linguistics and Languages podcast list!

Click through to the original post to see the latest version.

[chinesehanfu]

[Hanfu · 漢服]Chinese Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD)Traditional Clothing Hanfu Reference to Song Dynasty Murals

【Historical Artifacts Reference 】:

▶️China Song Dynasty Mural：

《韩城盘乐村宋代壁画墓M218/China Song Dynasty Mural Tomb M218 in Panle Village, Hancheng》

Tomb excavated in 2009, the murals contain rare contents such as medicine, drama, and Buddha's nirvana. The tomb was built with fine craftsmanship using the method of grinding bricks and joints, and the murals were directly painted on the flat brick wall. According to the content of the murals, the tomb owner may have had medical experience in his lifetime, or was a local medical officer, or the owner of a medicine workshop.

______________________

🧚🏻‍♀️Recreation Work/Model: @闻靖

🔗Xiaohongshu App: http://xhslink.com/a/0GBTNXv6XYT1

______________________

[thezenangel]

non-yoga stretch routines

under 30 minutes

5 minute daily stretch by madfit

7 minute post-workout stretch by daniela suarez

10 minute neck & shoulder stretch by growingannanas

10 minute lower body stretch by eleni fit

10 minute back pain relief stretches by mady morrison

10 minute stretches for neck, shoulders, and upper back by mady morrison

12 minute daily stretch by madfit

12 minute leg stretch by marie steffen

12 minute essential stretches by madfit

14 minute cooldown & relax stretch by mizi

15 minute neck, shoulder, & back stretch by eleni fit

15 minute neck, shoulder, & back deep tension relief stretch by eleni fit

15 minute recovery stretch by growingannanas

15 minute stretch for mobility & flexibility by growingannanas

15 minute post-workout stretch by madfit

15 minute relax & recover stretch by madfit

15 minute daily stretch by madfit

15 minute full body stretch by growingannanas

15 minute daily stretch by pamela reif

15 minute full body stretch by mady morrison

15 minute stretches for tight hips & lower back by mady morrison

15 minute leg stretch by mady morrison

15 minute daily stretch by fitbymik

20 minute lower body stretch by madfit

20 minute deep & dynamic stretch by marie steffen

20 minute full body deep stretch by marie steffen

20 minute hip & lower back stretch by eleni fit

20 minute full body daily stretch by eleni fit

20 minute stretch & strength for back pain by eleni fit

20 minute debloat stretch by eleni fit

20 minute full body stretch by eleni fit

20 minute daily stretch by emi wong

20 minute total body stretch by fitbymik

20 minute hip alignment routine by mizi

20 minute no talking full body stretch by yoga song

20 minute stretching for flexibility by daniela suarez

20 minute full body stretch by caroline girvan

20 minute beginner flexibility routine by madfit

24 minute leg stretch by hailey c.

25 minute full body stretch & mobility by madfit

25 minute no talking full body stretch by madfit

25 minute stretch & core by growingannanas

30+ minute routines

30 minute relax & recover stretch by growingannanas

30 minute full body stretching by pamela reif

30 minute beginner flexibility routine by madfit

30 minute flexibility stretching by eleni fit

30 minute flexibility stretching by eleni fit

30 minute stretching for flexibility & relaxation by eleni fit

30 minute full body deep stretch by marie steffen

30 minute full body daily stretch by yoga with tim

1 hour full body deep stretch by marie steffen

1 hour full body stretch by marie steffen

1 hour flexibility boost by marie steffen

[lilcowgirl7-deactivated20210223]

I needed this drag. Let’s change guys and not look back

[user87262893]

working out your brain is a must!!

• hydrate it by drinking lots of water

• eat dark chocolate and blueberries and walnuts and salmon and other foods high in antioxidants!!

• play little brain games on your phone; I like wordconenct! anything that makes you think!

• read books. It’s simple but necessary. Even better - join a book club, or read with a friend, so you can have discussions after. This will improve your reading comprehension.

• do puzzles - it doesnt have to be sudoku, I love playing Beat Saber on the Oculus Rift because it makes my brain have to match colorful patterns to physical movements very quickly!

• learn a new dance - even a tik tok trendy dance. Learning new dance moves are proven to strengthen synapses!!

• go bird watching, or foraging, or anything outdoors that requires you to explore pattern recognition and visual searching

• watch a movie with the intent of analysis - this is best done with a cinephile friend!! talk about tropes and symbolism and character growth

• cross stitch, or sew, or do anything that requires matching nimble hand movements to patterns

• play or learn an instrument!

• develop a consistent sleep schedule (or as close to consistent as you can get!)

• when eating, try to identify the ingredients and flavors you’re perceiving!

I hope this helps :)

[moonlightwaterhealing]

I like how this went from me feeling like “hm why is this attacking me 🤨” at first, but feeling grateful seeing an added guide on a genuine expansion on a “ how to” work out the brain. This genuinely helps a bunch. People find solace in doing activities that get them through life by doing said activities of phone/tv or if that’s all they’ve ever known in their life to get them through things + etc tho. However, this was very impt to point out. Slowly beginning incorporating things to work the brain in ones own time.

[academia-lucifer]

@academia-lucifer

[linghxr]

Why you should watch 乘风破浪 and 披荆斩棘 to learn Chinese

What are these shows?

Both 披荆斩棘 and 乘风破浪 follow the same basic format: 30+ celebrity contestants, mostly actors and singers ages 30+, form teams and compete in singing and dancing over several rounds. Viewers vote on their favorite performances and contestants, and 1-3 contestants are eliminated each round. The top contestants form a temporary "group" and appear on a follow-up reality show.

Why you should watch

1. Exposure to different accents

Contestants come from all over the Chinese-speaking world: Dongbei, Sichuan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and even Malaysia. I can personally say that watching these shows has vastly improved my ability to understand the Hong Kong Mandarin accent.

2. Pop culture knowledge

Because the contestants are celebrities, you'll be introduced to dozens of famous actors, singers, etc. Also, you'll hear the many iconic songs that they cover. I've impressed several native speakers with my with knowledge of pop culture and music.

3. Branch out to new media

These shows serve as a gateway to Chinese music, movies, and TV. if you really like the contestants who are actors, you can check out their shows and movies. If you enjoy a certain song or like a contestant who's a singer, you can explore more music.

4. Casual and formal registers

You’ll get to hear casual, unscripted speech while watching the behind-the-scenes and rehearsal clips. But you’ll also get to hear more formal speech when they’re announcing rules and also from the MC who hosts the actual live performances.

5. Incredible talent

Also, you should watch for the awesome performances and general fun. I love seeing the contestants' friendships, and I’m also obsessed with the amazing sets. There are some incredibly talented performers on these shows, and I love getting to see them shine.

Where to watch

All seasons are free to watch on YouTube! Sometimes clips may be muted or missing, probably due to YouTube's restrictions. But the vast, vast majority is available, and when a clip is missing, you can usually do a separate search and find it. I also pay for a Mango TV subscription, which is $1.99 USD/month.

乘风破浪 full episode playlist links:

乘风破浪的姐姐1

乘风破浪的姐姐2

乘风破浪3

乘风2023

乘风2024

披荆斩棘 full episode playlist links:

披荆斩棘的哥哥1

披荆斩棘2

披荆斩棘3

披荆斩棘4

To help you get started, below is a YouTube playlist of my some of my favorite performances (5 per season, except for the most recent season of each). Cause why not! Also, below the cut I'll put more details along with direct links to my favorite performances.

浪姐披哥精选

And if you're a fellow fan emotionally preparing for the 披荆斩棘4 finale 🥲, feel free to message me and commiserate!

See similar posts: I watched all the Chinese idol survival shows so you don’t have to (but you should anyway) Tips for finding Chinese-language media you like

Sisters Who Make Waves

Chinese title: 乘风破浪的姐姐 (S1-2) / 乘风破浪 (S3) / 乘风 (S4-5) English title: Sisters Who Make Waves (S1-3) / Ride the Wind (S4-5) *I call it Sisters for short

This series is the original, having started in 2020. The focus was on female empowerment, particularly of women 30+. A lot of the celebrities had slowed down in their careers, and the show served as their reintroduction to audiences. While female empowerment is still a theme today, I do feel it has lessened in prominence.

Season 1

The original, iconic season. You can tell they had a limited budget and not a ton of space, but it doesn't detract at all thanks to the incredible talent and energy of the contestants. And they had no idea what a phenomenon the show was going to be! Many of my most rewatched performances come from the season.

得不到的爱情

大碗宽面

相爱后动物感伤

FLOW

新物种

Season 2

This season has a special place in my heart as the first one I watched! It's the only one I've seen twice (when it originally aired and rewatched with friends). Compared to season 1, you can definitely tell they had a bigger budget and started to refine the format. Also, some of my all-time favorite contestants are from this season.

现在不跳舞要干嘛

归零

快乐宝贝

给自己的歌

我

Season 3

This season was the first with the show's "modern" and fully-developed format, which remains to this day. For example, they started to include more complex sets and recruited more diverse contestants, such as dancers, an athlete, etc. Also, my favorite performance of the entire series, 雾里, is from this season.

雾里

梦中人

山海

孤独颂歌

有吗炒面

Season 4

This season was the first time I felt there wasn’t improvement over the previous season. I think the stage design took a step backward, and I didn't love the international focus. It was hard to identify my favorite performances because I didn't feel strongly about many. That being said, my friends and I still enjoyed this season.

从头

千里万里

下个，路口，见

归途有风

I'm Not Yours

Season 5

Though this season has already ended, I'm not done yet. I watch with friends, so we move at a slower pace. So far, it seems largely in line with season 4. I'll update this post after we finish.

Call Me By Fire

Chinese title: 披荆斩棘的哥哥 (S1) / 披荆斩棘 (S2-3) English title: Call Me By Fire *I call it Brothers as a nickname

A show about female empowerment gets a male spin off? Out of skepticism, I did not plan to check out this show when it premiered in 2021 (after Sisters S2). But at some point I changed my mind, mostly because I had to run out of other shows. Little did I know I would arguably become a more devoted fan of this show than the original!

Season 1

This season had too many iconic performances to count, and in particular, the Hong Kong contestants really took the world by storm. Due to scandals, they edited out 2 contestants (Huo Zun and Li Yundi), which admittedly does make for an awkward viewing experience at times, but you should totally watch anyway.

凄美地

MMA

飞云之下

达拉崩吧

如果还有明天

Season 2

Looking back, season 2 did not have as many stand out performances as season 1, but it does boast my favorite performances of the entire series, 新地球. It also features a fantastic group of contestants, probably my favorite overall cohort of the show.

新地球

袖手旁观

私人生活

理想

凤毛麟角

Season 3

This was the first season to air after I started watching, though I didn't watch it live because I was still on season 2. While it's probably impossible to top the iconic status of season 1, I think season 3 was an improvement over season 2 in terms of memorable performances. We also got the iconic 0713 (2007快乐男声全国13强) contestants.

行走的鱼

爱人错过

Joker

走麦田

有没有一首歌会让你想起我

Season 4

This season is sadly coming to an end, although I have not started the finale yet. I'll start this weekend and update this post in the future after I've had some time to gather my thoughts.

Now I have to go finish 披荆斩棘4 episode 11 so I can watch the finale. Bye!!!

[parleplatina]

one important thing that has helped me maintain the joy of learning languages (or anything really) is not sticking to rules that others have made for themselves. I mean if I did that, I would have learned the language much faster and that would've improved my levels, but that's isn't what matters to me most. It's the process of acquiring, making mistakes, and learning from them. It is listening to a song and recognizing a word now and another one days later and connecting the dots then. It is seeing a text and trying to read it aloud while miserably failing at it, but still being able to enjoy the thrill of it. A rule that works for one may not work for another. I think that is an unwritten rule that I have followed for a long time.

[adviceformefromme]

Don’t underestimate the power of self-talk. Look yourself in the mirror and speak life into yourself. Record a voice note to yourself and play it as often as you can. Remind yourself who you are, where you’re going, what your focus is right now, what you can do. Speak with conviction. You are re-programming your mind. You are overwriting those stale thoughts from yesterday. You are pro-actively choosing to speak love, positivity, care, and power into yourself. This is completely free. Write yourself notes, this is how you create new energy that magnetises the life you dream of. Use I am, I feel, I declare, I am choosing, statements to affirm the type of person you are and new reality you are choosing. Stop being a slave to the old story, the old broken record, those fear base thoughts. Override. Override. You have power to change your life, and it starts with changing your thoughts. 

[hyean-studio]

Chinese idioms of the week

时时刻刻 [shíshíkèkè] - constantly; all the time

引经据典 [yǐnjīngjùdiǎn] - to quote the classical texts

胡说八道 [húshuōbādào] - to talk nonsense

乱七八糟 [luànqībāzāo] - in a complete mess; at sixes and sevens

不伦不类 [bùlúnbùlèi] - nondescript; neither fish nor fowl

不明不白 [bùmíngbùbái] - unclear, vague, for no reason

大喊大叫 [dàhǎndàjiào] - to scream loudly

日日夜夜 [rìrìyèyè] - day and night; day in, day out

哭哭啼啼 [kūkutítí] - to cry continuously

筋疲力尽 [jīnpílìjìn] - to be exhausted

下定决心 [xiàdìngjuéxīn] - to make a firm resolution

毫无疑问 [háowúyíwèn] - without a doubt; certainly

吞吞吐吐 [tūntūntǔtǔ] - to mutter and mumble

仅此而已 [[jǐncǐéryǐ] - just this and nothing more

一五一十 [yīwǔyīshí] - (of narrating) in full detail

井然有序 [jǐngrányǒuxù] - orderly; in apple-pie order

不好意思 [bùhǎoyìsi] - too embarrassed or shy to do something

无关紧要 [wúguānjǐnyào] - unimportant

日积月累 [rìjīyuèlěi] - to accumulate over a long period

事先通知 [shìxiāntōngzhī] - to announce in advance

夸夸其谈 [kuākuāqítán] - to boast; to talk big

All of these I encountered while reading the book <鞋带> by Domenico Starnone. It's a translation from Italian. I would recommend it for those who have an intermediate level. The language is quite simple and the sentences are short which is good for language learning. The overall story is also engaging.

[darrylayo]

[budinggou]

小王子 The Little Prince ✎ 生詞 002

著: 安東尼・聖修伯里 / 譯: 墨丸 生詞 002 (第一章 Chapter 01)

描繪 (描绘) miáo huì — describe, depict, portray

長達 (长达) cháng dá — up to, to extend as long as

睡眠 (睡眠) shuì mián — sleep

歷險 (历险) lì xiǎn — go through adventures, experience dangers

叢林 (丛林) cóng lín — jungle, forest

冒險 (冒险) mào xiǎn — take risks or chances

幻想 (幻想) huàn xiǎng — illusion, fantasy

生平 (生平) shēng píng — all one's life, ever since one's birth

傑作 (杰作) jié zuò — masterpiece

巨蟒 (巨蟒) jù mǎng — python

吃飽喝足 chī bǎo hē zú —eat and drink one's fill

無所謂 wú suǒ wèi — indifferent, doesn't matter

[thydungeongal]

I think it's funny that in French the word for "unicorn" is "licorne" because:

The word "unicorne" was first reanalyzed as "une icorne"

The definite article was then added, making it "l'icorne"

The new definite form was reanalyzed once again, resulting in "une licorne"

[thydungeongal]

Before any anglophones get on the French people's case on this, consider for a second what y'all did when you reanalyzed the Spanish "el lagarto" ("the lizard") as "alligator."

Reanalysis is fun.

[jkcorellia]

Oh yeah, everybody does this*. Another English example is "apron", which was once "napron" until we reanalyzed the initial N as part of the indefinite article (a napron -> an apron).

A fun one in Arabic is the city of Alexandria in Egypt. Quite understandably, Arabic speakers heard the initial "Al" and thought "ah yes, the ubiquitous definite article" and Alexandria became al-’Iskandariyya.

In the opposite direction, Spanish adopted hundreds of Arabic words during the Middle Ages due to Andalusian/Islamic influence, and there are very few Spanish words that start with al- that aren't of Arabic origin (and in fact, many words that start with A without being followed by an L, as in about half of cases in Arabic the L in "al-" is elided).

Reanalysis occurs in many other places besides article-noun combos, of course, but it's an extremely common case.

*citation needed, but reanalysis is extremely common

[thydungeongal]

Oh, this actually explains something I'd just attributed to a quirk of sequence constraints or something; why Alexander is realized as Iskander/Iskandar in Arabic! It makes sense to analyze it as al-Iskander in Arabic!

[grungeygoddess]

Same thing happened with the word alchemy! Started out as the Arab term "al-kimiya", and when it was transported to Europe, it became "alchemy". This is actually really interesting, because as the term evolved more, it became "chemistry", effectively un-reanalyzing the word!

[thydungeongal]

Oh actually there's another layer of fun there: the Arabic "al-kimiya" is actually a loan of the Ancient Greek χῠμείᾱ (khumeíā), which was used to refer to the art of alloying metals. Arabic borrowed a lot of Greek terminology owing to Arabic translations of Greek classics (many of which were actually lost in Europe until they were retranslated from Arabic). So, yeah, the Greek khumeíā made a round trip through Arabic, then into medieval Latin as "alchemia," and from there we eventually do get chemistry!

[valtharr]

Not quite the same thing, but this reminded me of one of the funniest phenomena in the German language.

So, you may or may not know that x-rays were discovered by a guy called Röntgen (or Roentgen, though the ö is the proper spelling). Because of that, they're called "Röntgen rays" in German. Now, the thing is that in the German, the infinitive of a verb is always formed with an -en at the, so, for example, "to run" is "rennen" or "to sleep" is "schlafen." And because of that, it just so happened that the verb for performing x-rays became... "röntgen."

ich röntge, du röntgst, er/sie/es röntgt, wir röntgen, ihr röntgt, sie röntgen

[thydungeongal]

In the X-rayed lab, straight röntgin it

[thezenangel]

beginner pilates routines

* i’ve made posts about some beginner pilates routines in the past, but i keep getting asks so i thought i would just make a masterlist for you guys!

۫ ⋆ ࣪. ୧ ♡ ୨ ִ ۫ ⁎ . ۫ ⋆ ࣪. ୧ ♡ ୨ ִ ۫ ⁎ . ۫ ⋆ ࣪. ୧ ♡ ୨ ִ ۫ ⁎ .

10 minute full body hourglass pilates by lidia mera

10 minute full body hourglass pilates by lidia mera

10 minute everyday full body hourglass pilates by lidia mera

10 minute waist pilates by shirlyn kim

10 minute everyday hourglass pilates by lidia mera

15 minute full body pilates by lidia mera

15 minute pilates for beginners by flow with mira

15 minute beginner pilates for weight loss by rachel’s fit pilates

20 minute gentle beginner pilates by flow with mira

20 minute express pilates workout by move with nicole

20 minute full body pilates by isawelly

20 minute hourglass full body pilates by lidia mera

25 minute full body beginner pilates by move with nicole

30 minute full body workout by move with nicole

30 minute pilates for beginners by move with nicole

30 minute pilates and stretch by livaligned pilates

30 minute full body hourglass pilates by lidia mera

30 minute gentle pilates flow by move with nicole

30 minute full body workout by move with nicole

30 minute pilates for beginners by move with nicole

35 minute gentle pilates by move with nicole

35 minute beginner pilates by move with nicole

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

The 然's

突然，虽然，忽然. and the other 然's can often get mixed up, so here's a quick explanation of some of the most common ones!

突然 (Túrán): This means suddenly or unexpectedly

居然 (Jūrán): This kind of means suddenly, but more in the sense of "surprisingly" or to suggest disbelief at something that happened.

忽然 (Hūrán): This also means suddenly or unexpectedly, but it has a more stronger connotation.

既然 (Jìrán): This is a conjunction meaning "since" or "now that"

既然the weather is great, let's go out!

既然 you aren't busy, let's go watch a movie.

不然 (Bùrán): This means "otherwise" or "or else";

You should study, 不然 you won't do well on the exam.

虽然 (Suīrán): This means although or even though.

虽然 I'm not good at singing, I still like to go to the karaoke.

当然 (Dāngrán): 当然 means certainly or definitely and can be used as a reply:

Can you help me with A? 当然!

自然 (Zìrán): This can mean nature or naturally.

China's 自然 is very beautiful.

She speaks Chinese 得很自然.

仍然 (Réngrán): This can mean "still" or "yet".

I仍然 haven't read that book.

依然 (Yīrán): Similar to 仍然, this also means still" or "yet" but it's usually used in more formal and literary works, whereas 仍然 is more often used in spoken language.

果然 (Guǒrán): 果然 can be used to mean "indeed" or "as expected"

This movie is 果然 interesting.

竟然 (Jìngrán): This is an adverb used to suggest surprise or something unexpected.

He竟然forgot her birthday.

显然 (Xiǎnrán): This means "clearly" or "obviously".

This soup 显然 hot.

偶然 (Ǒurán): This means "accidentally" or "by chance".

We 偶然 met at the same cafe.

How many other 然's do you know about? Drop a comment!

[fuckyeahchinesegarden]

pingbaying坪坝营, enshi恩施, hubei province in china

[roseforviolet]

[linghxr]

Tricky words that differ between 普通话 and 国语

Usually tone and other small pronunciation differences between 普通话 and 国语 don’t phase me much. In context I don’t even notice 期望 qīwàng vs. qíwàng. But recently I stumbled across 颤巍巍 and realized that it’s a lot harder when both/all syllables in a word are pronounced differently!

Here are 8 words (including 颤巍巍) that sound pretty different in 普通话 and 国语 (definitely not exhaustive).

Format: 简体（繁体）普通话读音 | 国语读音 Simp. (Trad.) Putonghua pron. | Guoyu pron.

【1】 颤巍巍（顫巍巍）chànwēiwēi | zhànwéiwéi - trembling / swaying / flickering / tottering / faltering

【2】 血液* xuèyè | xiěyì - blood

【3】 差劲（差勁）chàjìn | chājìng - bad / no good / below average / disappointing

【4】 熟识（熟識）shúshi or shúshí | shóushì- to be well acquainted with / to know well

【5】 血迹*（血跡）xuèjì | xiějī - bloodstain

【6】 垃圾 lājī | lèsè - trash / refuse / garbage / of poor quality (this is probably the most well known difference!)

【7】 倏地 shūde | shùdì - swiftly / suddenly

【8】 惋惜 wǎnxī | wànxí - to regret / to feel that it is a great pity / to feel sorry for sb

Definitions are from MDBG.

*The pronunciation of 血 is all over the place. You can hear xuè, xuě, or xiě. I’m generalizing here, but I actually tend to say xuě.

Under the cut you can see some bonus words that I found (I didn’t include them since I have not seen/learned them).

【9】 夹击（夾擊）jiājī | jiájí - pincer attack / attack from two or more sides / converging attack / attack on a flank / fork in chess, with one piece making two attacks

【10】 突击（突擊）tūjī | tújí - sudden and violent attack / assault / fig. rushed job / concentrated effort to finish a job quickly

【11】 削发（削髮）xuēfà | xuèfǎ - to shave one's head / fig. to become a monk or nun / to take the tonsure

【12】 综括（綜括）zōngkuò | zòngguā - to summarize / to sum up

【13】 敛迹（斂跡）liǎnjì | liànjī- to refrain / to give up evil (temporarily) / to cover one's traces / to lie low / to retire (from view)

【14】 档期（檔期）dàngqī | dǎngqí - slot within a schedule / timeslot (for a TV program, a session with a photographer etc) / range of dates in which an event is to be held (film screening, exhibition etc)

【15】 质朴（質樸）zhìpǔ | zhípú - simple / plain / unadorned / unaffected / unsophisticated / rustic / earthy

【16】 血泊 xuèpō | xiěbó - pool of blood

【17】 稍息 shàoxī | shāoxí - (military) Stand at ease!

See similar posts: Who knew! These characters are pronounced differently in Taiwan Cross-strait tone differences