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|| University student for languages & private teacher || 20y || any pronoun || || German C1/C2 || English B2/C1 || Spanish B1/B2 || Latine || Polish native || || Russian A2 || Ukrainian A2 || Danish A2 || Basque A1 ||

[beautiful-basque-country]

Katua aurpegia garbitzen ari bada, euria laster

Basque saying.

Lit: “If the cat’s washing its face, rain (will come) soon”.

Cat owners, have you checked if this is true? Or does it only work in Euskal Herria?? ^_^

(via beautiful-basque-country)

[languageslanguor]

Viele Fremdsprachen kommen mir spanisch vor

[wonderful-language-sounds]

Speakers or learners of either language often find that some words look similar in both languages. However, there are several words that are false friends in Ukrainian for those familiar with Russian. Many of them happen to be because they have multiple meanings in Ukrainian, unlike Russian. Here are ten of them.

1.  місто 🇺🇦 mistaken for место 🇷🇺

місто (city) in Ukrainian is город in Russian.

место (place) in Russian is місце in Ukrainian.

2. неділя 🇺🇦 mistaken for неделя 🇷🇺

неділя (Sunday) in Ukrainian is воскресенье in Russian.

неделя (week) in Russian is тиждень in Ukrainian.

3. гарбуз 🇺🇦 mistaken for арбуз 🇷🇺

гарбуз (pumpkin) in Ukrainian is тыква in Russian.

арбуз (watermelon) in Russian is кавун in Ukrainian.

4. час 🇺🇦 mistaken for час 🇷🇺

час (time) in Ukrainian is время in Russian.

час (hour) in Russian is година in Ukrainian.

5. чоловік 🇺🇦 mistaken for человек 🇷🇺

чоловік (husband) in Ukrainian is муж in Russian.

человек (man, human) in Russian is людина & чоловік in Ukrainian.

6. жінка 🇺🇦 mistaken for жена 🇷🇺

жінка (woman) in Ukrainian is женщина in Russian.

жена (wife) in Russian is дружина & жінка in Ukrainian.

7.  он 🇺🇦 mistaken for он 🇷🇺

он (there) in Ukrainian is вон in Russian.

он (he) in Russian is вiн in Ukrainian.

8. кіт 🇺🇦 mistaken for кит 🇷🇺

кіт (cat) in Ukrainian is кот in Russian.

кит (whale) in Russian is кит in Ukrainian.

9. їх 🇺🇦 mistaken for их 🇷🇺 (in certain cases) 

їх (them) in Ukrainian is их in Russian when referring to the declension of вони.

их (their) in Russian is їхній in Ukrainian when referring to possession. There is a Russian word that is colloquial, ихний, that corresponds to this, but you should use их instead.

10. листопад 🇺🇦 mistaken for листопад 🇷🇺

листопад (November) in Ukrainian is ноябрь in Russian.

листопад (defoliation) in Russian is листопад in Ukrainian.

There are more false friends, but I wanted to keep this list short. Feel free to add more if you speak both languages :)

[languageslanguor]

Hi! I know, I'm very inactive lately. I'm focusing mostly on my studies and personal life. But, as Tumblr is a place, where people will understand my love to languages, I have to ask you for some help. It's nothing very complicated, but really important for me.I study ethnolinguistics and one of my main languages there is Basque. Recently, together with my group, I took part in a competition made by Etxe Pare Institutua (Institution that is taking care of Basque culture and language) - we had to make a very short film (20sec) where I'm talking Basque and Polish. The winner of the competition can go to a Basque course in the Basque Country FOR FREE, and I would love to, as a poor student and languages lover.What can you do to help me? Like the video on YouTube and reblog it or send it to your friends. For this kind of competition, it will be important, how popular the video is.What will I do for you? I will do a raffle for everyone, who'd like and reblog the video. 1 point/number for like (if you have more google accounts and will give more likes - more points for you!), 1 for each rebloging (if you'll do it in other places, like facebook, or sth, it's aditional point). And you can win a detailed picture

[beautiful-basque-country]

In Basque we don’t say policeman, we say ertzain, which means “border keeper”.

In Basque we don’t say kitchen, we say sukalde, which means “beside the fire”.

In Basque we don’t say relationship, we say harreman, which means “take and give”.

In Basque we don’t say electricity, we say argindar, which means “strength of light”.

In Basque we don’t say nurse, we say erizain, which means “carer of the sick”.

In Basque we don’t say desert, we say basamortu, which means “dead forest”.

In Basque we don’t say beach, we say hondartz, which means “lots of sand”.

In Basque we don’t pen, we say bolaluma which means “ball feather”.

In Basque we don’t say cancer, we say minbizi, which means “living pain”.

In Basque we don’t say curiosity, we say jakinmin, which means “pain for knowing”.

In Basque we don’t say boat, we say itsasontzi, which means “sea container”.

In Basque we don’t say shoes, we say oinetakoak, which means “the ones of the feet”.

In Basque we don’t say sandwich, we say otarteko, which means “the one between bread”.

[flyingciderrat-blog]

Lækkersulten

Literally, hungry for sweets.

[beautiful-basque-country]

mara-mara

Basque onomatopoeia for the sound snow makes when it falls.

[beautiful-basque-country]

Kaixo! Could you maybe make some post about Basque mithology? I'm very curious about that :3 Agur!

Kaixo!!

We’ve posted several times about the subject, you can find all our posts HERE.

[languageslanguor]

Eskerrik asko!

[languageslanguor]

Learning Euskara

Polish university.

Me: Polish native, studies German & Danish, knows a bit of Spanish, doesn't know any single word in French, knows some English but doesn't like it and is a bit ashamed of it's level

Classmate #1&#2: Polish natives, study English and know it on a good level, understand some Spanish

Classmate #3: Polish-French billingual, studies English and knows it on a good level, doesn't know Spanish

Classmate #4: Polish native, studies English and knows it on a good level, doesn't understand any single word in Spanish or French

Teacher: Egun on, iskaleak! Today we will hablar del verbo 'egon' which is something como 'avoir' en français.

[beautiful-basque-country]

Halloween vocabulary / Arimen gaua hiztegia

Since you seem to be enjoying our latest word lists, here’s a seasonal one. Hope you like it!

amaraun - spiderweb

argiontzi - lantern

arima - soul

Arimen Gaua - All Souls’ Night (Nov. 2nd)

armiarma - spider

beldur - fear

deabru - devil

gaizki - evil

gau - night

gurutze - cross

heriotza - death

hezur - bone

hezurdura - skeleton

hil - dead, to die

hilarri - tombstone

hilerri - cemetery

hilobi - grave

hotzikara - shiver

ikaratu - to scare

ilargi - moon

ilun - dark

iluntasun - darkness

izar - star

kalabaza - pumpkin

laino - fog

mamu - ghost

ohiu egin - to scream

oilo-ipurdi - goosebumps

saguzar - bat

sorgin - witch

sorginduta - haunted

udazken - autumn

Urri - October

[beautiful-basque-country]

We consider this a very beautiful poem - or poetic image if you will - in Basque, composed just by nouns:

Water, earth, in a drop, rain, snow, night, today, (to)day.

[beautiful-basque-country]

This is something you probably won’t see in the media: thousands and thousands of people marched yesterday in Donostia asking for a change of prison policy. 

Spanish Government always defended that the rights of Basque prisoners linked to ETA - remember that burning down a dumpster or throwing stones to the police forces during disturbs was considered linked to ETA - would improve if the band ceased fire. 

7 years after the ceasefire things haven’t changed: - prisoners are thousands of kms away from their families - even in France - instead of in Basque prisons, so they can’t recieve visitations as often, and their relatives risk themselves in very long road trips. - although the Spanish law makes possible to reduce inmates’ stay in prison by behaving correctly, this is not applied to Basque prisoners. This same law establishes that, if a prisoner accused of terrorism had already done their time in prison, they still couldn’t get out since this law had a retroactive character. This means that if you had been 20 years in jail BEFORE this law was created and thus benefited from any reduction, you would start your prison sentence from zero the day you were supposed to get out. The law is currently being judged by the European Court of Human Rights. - if a prisoner is seriously ill and/or terminal, Spanish law permits their release to recieve paliative treatment and die free. Except for Basque prisoners that aren’t allowed to be set free despite their bad health condition.

We don’t want amnesty, we want justice & human rights for our prisoners.

Pic sources: 1 & 3, 2

[d-archive1948-deactivated202303]

*Switches languages in mid-sentence while talking to myself*

[deutsian]

Five Synonyms for manchmal

Ever get tired of always writing manchmal? Feel like ‘ab und zu’ and ‘hin und wieder’ is no longer cutting it? Want to score bonus points for using synoynms in your class essays? Well, you’ve come to the right post!

1. zeitweise*

Ex: Meine Arbeit kann zeitweise recht anstrengend sein. Tr: My job can be quite stressful at times.

2. mitunter

Ex: Ich leiste mitunter Freiwilligenarbeit. Tr: I do volunteer work every now and then.

3. bisweilen (elevated)

Ex: Ihre Emotionen wirken bisweilen aufgesetzt. Tr: Her emotions sometimes seem insincere.

4. dann und wann

Ex: Aber dann und wann kommt doch echtes Leben in die Politik. Tr: But now and then real life comes into politics.

5. zuweilen (elevated)

Ex: Zuweilen scheint es, als sei er etwas verwirrt. Tr: Sometimes it seems as if he’s a bit confused.

*zeitweise can also mean ‘temporarily’ (vorübergehend)

Enjoy! :)

[words-in-starless-skies-studies]

15 German Sayings and Proverbs

1. Ich versteh nur Bahnhof Literally: I understand only train station Meaning: I have no idea what you are saying

2. Du gehst mir voll auf den Keks Literally: You walk me on the cookie Meaning: You are getting on my nerves. 3. Du hast nicht mehr alle Tassen im Schrank Literally: You are missing cups in your cupboard Meaning: You’re crazy

4. Ich bin fuchsteufelswild Literally: I’m foxdevilswild Meaning: I’m super mad

5. Ich krieg die Krise Literally: I get the crisis Meaning: I’m going mad

6. Mir fällt ein Stein vom Herzen Literally: A stone falls from my heart Meaning: I’m relieved

7. Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen Literally: peace, joy and omelette/pancake Meaning: everything’s hunky-dory

8. Kein Schwein war da Literally: No pig was there Meaning: Nobody was present/Nobody participated

9. Sie hat einen Vogel Literally: She has a bird Meaning: She’s crazy

10. Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof Literally: Life is no pony farm Meaning: Life isn’t easy

11. Er spielt die beleidigte Leberwurst Literally: He’s playing the offended liver sausage Meaning: He’s very resentful

12. Aller Anfang ist schwer Literally: All beginnings are difficult Meaning: The first step is always the hardest

13. Wie du mir, so ich dir Literally: Like you to me, so I to you Meaning: Tit for tat 

14. Ich glaub mein Schwein pfeift Literally: I think my pig whistles Meaning: I think I’m dreaming

15. Du Glückspilz Literally: You luck-mushroom Meaning: You lucky one

[cheesenau-blog]

Ok, guys, so you know how people like to make those posts where they like to make fun of Polish? Like they’ll pick a word and it’ll be pretty much the same in every slavic language exCEPT PoLIsH

Well, Romanian is Polish for romance languages. Let me show you:

war

Spanish: guerra

Portuguese: guerra

French: guerre

Italian: guerra

Catalan: guerra

Romanian: …

Romanian: război…

earth

Spanish: tierra

Portuguese: terra

French: terre

Italian: terra

Catalan: terra

Romanian: uhh….

Romanian: pământ..

half

Spanish: mitad

Portuguese: metade

French: moitié

Italian:  metà

Catalan: meitat

Romanian: … *sigh* ….

Romanian: jumătate…

[languageslanguor]

“război” sounds pretty slavic, though.

[official-german-gaming]

German culture is looking for the Loch in your Berliner before you beiß rein so that the Marmelade doesn’t pflatsch out

[official-german-puns]

Mood