Every Language Tells A Story

Langblr side-blog. Mexican 🇲🇽. 29. Currently learning French 🇫🇷. Still studying Japanese 🇯🇵 and German 🇩🇪. Will commit to Korean 🇰🇷 one day. Fluid English thank the heavens.

[errgative]

Language Learning through Reading

Hi @tokumeino90 ! I’m your langblr secret santa! Since you said you were interested in book recommendations, I thought I’d give you some ways to practice reading in your target languages. I tried to find websites you might not know about, so I hope these are helpful!

1. Sōseki Project (Japanese)

Natsume Soseki is one of the most famous Japanese writers. He lived at the end of the Meiji era and is often considered to be one of the founders of Japanese literature. His novel Kokoro was the first Japanese book I read and I highly recommend it. I also love his funnier novels like Bocchan. You can read those two, as well as many of his other works, on the Sōseki Project, which also includes audio recordings and a “study guide” with vocabulary, furigana, and a rough translation. 

2. ParallelText (Russian/others)

This site is pretty well known - you can read novels/texts in your target languages alongside a translation. It also has audio. Their Russian selection only has Anna Karenina, but it’s still quite useful, especially if you want to learn older forms that don’t exist in modern Russian but often show up in 19th-century literature, which is my personal favorite era of Russian literature. 

3. Russian online archives

One of the things I love about learning Russian is how easy it is to find learning material online. The link above will take you to a list of websites with Russian books. However the sites are all on the Russian internet so you won’t be able to find translations, though you can find the original version of pretty much any Russian book you want. This is something you should probably keep until you’re advanced in Russian, but when you get there, it’ll absolutely be worth it. 

[tokumeino90]

Thank you so much :3

[hownottolearnalanguage]

Do you ever see people in your Duolingo league and think:

I will fight you and defeat you in this battle of language

[yukusaki]

Some compound words using 乗り～

(including but not limited to a whole lot of public transit words)

乗り越える（のりこえる）to climb over or overcome (both for physical and nonphysical obstacles), and 乗り越す（のりこす）to ride past one’s stop on the train (accidentally or on purpose).

ピーターは医者として成功するまでに多くの困難を乗り越えてきた。Peter overcame a lot of difficulties before succeeding as a doctor.

彼は塀を乗り越えて刑務所から脱走した。He escaped from prison by climbing over a wall.

帰宅の途中電車の中で居眠りをして、乗り越してしまった。On my way home I fell asleep on the train, and rode past my station.

乗り切る（のりきる）to weather, to tide over, to get through

我々が手に手を取って一致団結すれば、きっとこの不況の時代も乗り切れるだろう。If we hang tight, I’m sure we can make it through these bad times.

乗り換える（のりかえる）to transfer trains, buses, planes etc.

乗り降り（のりおり）getting on and off (a train, bus, etc.)

乗り降りの際、足元にご注意ください　Please watch your step when getting on and off the train.

乗り遅れる（のりおくれる）to miss a train, bus, etc., and 乗り間違える（のりまちがえる）to get on the wrong train, bus, etc. (getting on the express instead of the local, for instance)

[magistralucis]

Could you please tell the long and absurd story about the elder scrolls cat term? :3

Okay, if only for the reason that it’s a very absurd story.

You’re familiar with Khajiits if you’ve played the Elder Scrolls series. Cat people, so far so good. There’s a lot the Korean fandom has to say about the series, both in general and in terms of memes, but the meme I’m going to talk about probably has the most traction in the Korean internet.You see, we really like Khajiit merchants. Not just because they have wares if you have coin, but because they invite you to ‘take a look’. Ri’saad’s audio for this phrase is uniquely memetic among Koreans:

To a Korean, his ‘take a look’ sounds mesmerizing. It wasn’t long until people transcribed what that sounds like into Korean and spread it around: 떼껄룩, or ‘t’ekaaluk’. Korean is a very mimetic language; although I’m not enough of a linguist to explain why, the combination of sounds in 떼껄룩 is absolutely hilarious to us. It really sticks in your mind. I don’t know why, but it does.

It’s not surprising to us it gained traction, is what I’m saying.

For some time, 떼껄룩 was just a colloquial term for Khajiits on the Korean internet. But soon the term expanded to cover cat people in other games (e.g. the Miqo'te of FFXIV), and after that, the meaning extended to IRL cats - at which point the meme skyrocketed in popularity.

Not only is Korean very mimetic, we also like to make suffixes out of everything. Turns out the ~껄룩 part of 떼껄룩 (’~kaaluk’) makes a fantastic suffix for describing cats of all shapes and sizes:

Black cats are called 검은 고양이 (’geom-eun goyangi’) in Korean; using the above suffix, it’s 검껄룩 (’geomkaaluk’).

Orange tabby cats are often called ‘cheese[cake] tabbies’ (치즈태비/’chizu taebi’) in Korean; you can now call them 치껄룩 (’chikaaluk’).

The colloquial term for kittens is 아깽이 (’akkaengi’), but with the Khajiits’ blessing, they are now also called 아껄룩 (’akaaluk’).

Stray cats are called 길고양이/길냥이 (’gil goyangi/gilnyangi’) because they live on the ‘streets’ (길 in Korean). The same principle applies to 길껄룩 (’gilkkaluk’).

Tigers/lions/leopards etc. are big cats… hence 빅껄룩 (’bigkkaluk’).

It is very adaptable. It ties in with the first syllable of basically anything, general descriptors or colloquial, native or foreign. You’ll see 떼껄룩 being commonly used with bloggers, youtubers, on insta etc., either as it is or with the variation appropriate to the subject. If you can read any Korean, anyone who might be reading this… I suggest you take a look sometime.

😹

[languageek]

Sometime last week I posted about a little graphic I made for myself so I could remember how to write 勉強 (べんきょう | “to study”). I continued to make little graphics because I thought it was fun and gave me experience looking at the kanji while trying to think up fun ways to remember it.  I wrote about my (still-continuing) journey learning kanji as a heritage language learner, INCLUDINGGGG 11 graphics similar to the pink (kanji compounds) and 10 graphics similar to the green (breaking down parts of kanji). 

So if you’re interested in seeing more, check it out here: https://speakroots.com/learning-kanji-as-a-heritage-language-learner/

Additionally, I’m thinking about creating more and posting them as practice “lists” if anyone is interested. I might continue to make them for myself, but if anyone wants them posted, I will definitely do so.  

This method could also help learners of Chinese, but I’m personally doing it in the context of Japanese (as I know some characters are different or have different meanings). 

[les-langues-sont-ma-vie]

Helpful Books To Learn Languages

French

50 Ways To Improve Your French

Barron’s French Idioms

Learn French: The Fast And Fun Way (This book has tons of great worksheets and everything. It’s great for learning French!)

2,001 Most Useful French Words

Say It Right in French: The Easy Way to Pronounce Correctly 

Streetwise French

Berlitz Hide This French Phrase Book

Italian

50 Ways To Improve Your Italian

Berlitz Self-Teacher Italian (Personally, I don’t really care for these types of books, mainly because I don’t the things you learn in the first few chapters. Unless you have a base in the language, I don’t think this book will work for you.)

Learn Italian: The Fast And Fun Way (This book has tons of great worksheets and everything. It’s great for learning Italian!)

Barron’s Italian Idioms 

Easy Italian Phrase Book: 770 Basic Phrases for Everyday Use 

Correct Your Italian Blunders

Spanish

50 Ways To Improve Your Spanish

Correct Your Spanish Blunders 

Just Enough Spanish

Dirty Spanish - Warning: This is really vulgar.

Barron’s Complete Spanish Grammar Review 

Making Out in Spanish (I think this title is great. I’ve never read this book, but if you’re looking for slang/everyday Spanish, this seems like a pretty good book.)

Ven Conmigo! Grammar and Vocabulary Workbook: Level 1 (This is the actual workbook I use in my Spanish 1 class. It is great and I love it. If you want to teach yourself Spanish, I highly recommend getting a workbook like this.)

Hide This Spanish Book (This has a lot for a small book. Mainly just some basic phrases, along with some that are more vulgar.)

Hide This Spanish Book for Lovers (The title speaks for itself…)  

Mierda! The Real Spanish You Were Never Taught In School

Say It Right In Spanish

German

50 Ways To Improve Your German

Dirty German - Warning: This is really vulgar.

Say It Right In German: The Easy Way to Pronounce Correctly

Easy Way to Enlarge Your German Vocabulary

Barron’s German Idioms

The Tell-Tale Heart - If you want to read in German, this seems like a pretty good book to get. 

German-English Visual Dictionary

Scheisse!: The Real German You Were Never Taught In School - I love all these books. They have them in every language (The title means “Shit”). Although it doesn’t have the pronunciations, its still pretty great for the vocabulary it has. It’s a bit vulgar though, but not too bad.

Portuguese 

Just Enough Portuguese: How to Get by and Be Easily Understood

Portuguese Verb and Essentials of Grammar

Berlitz Portuguese Phrase Books & Dictionary

51 Portuguese Idioms - Speak Like a Brazilian 

Arabic

Arabic-English Visual Dictionary

The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read and Write It

First 100 Words In Arabic

Learn Arabic: The Fast and Fun Way

Making Out In Arabic  

Instant Arabic!

Japanese

Berlitz Concise Dictionary

Essential Kanji: 2,000 Basic Japanese Characters

Colloquial Kansai Japanese: The Dialects and Culture of the Kansai Region

Speak Japanese Today 

Making Out In Japanese - I just bought this book, and it seems pretty great. 

More Making Out In Japanese 

Korean

Say It Right In Korean 

Korean Made Easy

Instant Korean

First 100 Words In Korean

Making Out In Korean

More Making Out In Korean

Korean For Travelers - I think this might only be a Nook book, which kind of sucks.

Dirty Korean -  Warning: This is really vulgar.  

Basic Korean: Workbook

Intermediate Korean: Workbook - I’m not sure if this is worth getting because of the price, but it seems like a helpful book

Korean At A Glance

Teach Me Everyday Korean

Chinese

Making Out In Chinese (I think this title is great. I’ve never read this book, but if you’re looking for slang/everyday Chinese, this seems like a pretty good book.)

Mandarin Chinese - English Visual Dictionary

Survival Chinese 

Get Talking Chinese - This book is so great. It’s kind of like a children’s book, but for learning basic Chinese, it’s great.

Hide This Mandarin Chinese Phrase Book 

Instant Chinese!

Polish

Say It In Polish 

Berlitz Polish Concise Dictionary

Berlitz Polish Phrasebook and Dictionary

Polish: An Essential Grammar

Russian

Learn Russian: The Fast and Fun Way

Say It Right In Russian

Russian Vocabulary

Dermo!: The Real Russian Tolstoy Never Used

Russian At A Glance

Just Enough Russian

General Language Books

Barron’s 501 Verbs (comes in French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Latin, Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, English and German)

Note: I love Berlitz and Barron books for learning languages. Most are just reference books for verbs, grammar, or basic phrases instead of textbooks. But once you have a base in the language, they help you improve so much. I highly recommend buying any Berlitz or Barron language books. I love the 50 Ways To Improve Your books. They are the best grammar/vocab/correction language books ever. I use the Spanish one to help teach myself Spanish, and I absolutely love it. And it isn’t very expensive either!

[chloeskoreanblog]

Grammar

Lesson Twenty-Two: Linking Verbs

Masterlist

Previous Lesson

안녕하세요 여러분! Today we will be talking about how to link two or more verbs together in a sentence.

시작합시다

-고

Let’s backtrack to Lesson Seventeen where we talked about the word “그리고” which meant “And / And then”. The verb ending -고 is just a shorter version of that word and carries the same meaning. This can be used to link verbs.

Example (그리고)

그는 고아였다. 그리고 그는 또한 마법사가 되었다.

He was an orphan. And he also happened to be a wizard.

Example (-고)

그는 고아였다고 또한 마법사가 되었다.

*You can omit the second 그는 since it’s the same sentence and you’re talking about the same subject.

He was an orphan, and also happened to be a wizard.

Sample Sentences

-

“무엇이 진짜고 진짜가 아닌지를 정직하게 하는 것이 쉽지 않다.”

It's not easy to keep straight what is real and what isn't.

-

“커피 마시고, 도너츠 먹고, 케익 먹고, 우유 마셨어요. 배 불러요.”

“I drank some coffee, (and) ate a donut, (and) ate some cake, and drank some milk. I’m full.”

-

“계단이 높고 가파르다.”

The stairs are high and steep.

[a-pop-of-korean]

The Basics #5: Adjectives

안녕! Welcome to my next Basics lesson! In the last lesson, we discussed present-tense verb conjugations, which is going to help us with learning about adjectives. First, let’s think about how adjectives are used in English. Consider the following:

I am smart.

You are pretty.

He is kind.

All of these sentences have adjectives, which are words that describe nouns. These are “smart,” “kind,” and “tall.” But notice how next to these adjectives we have a verb: to be. That’s because the nouns are something. We know that the Korean word for “to be” is 이다. We don’t, however, use this verb when using adjectives, oddly. We only use 이다 to say things like our names, professions, nationalities, etc. 

So how are we supposed to say that something/someone is an adjective then? Korean adjectives work similarly to the way that verbs do, actually. Let’s look at some of these adjectives.

똑똑하다 = to be smart

예쁘다 = to be pretty

착하다 = to be kind

Notice how in the English translations, “to be” is already included! That means all we have to do is conjugate these adjectives like we’d conjugate a verb!

똑똑하다 - 다 + 여요 = 똑똑해요

예쁘다 - 다 + 어요 = 예뻐요

착하다 - 다 + 여요 = 착해요

You can leave these sentences the way they are if the subject/topic is already understood for the context. But you can also add them:

저는 똑똑해요 = I am smart

너는 예뻐요 = You are pretty

*Important note: 너 is an informal way of saying “you,” so please be careful and do NOT use this when speaking formally! 

그는 착해요 = He is kind

Not too complicated, I hope?

So we know how to say that something is an adjective, but how exactly to we attach an adjective to a noun? In English, we can say:

small dog

big building

new car

But how do we do this for Korean adjectives? This is the general formula for doing this:

adjective - 다 + ㄴ/은  

Use ㄴ for adjective stems ending in a vowel, and 은 for adjective stems ending in a consonant.

작다 (to be small) - 다 + 은 = 작은

크다 (to be big) - 다 + ㄴ = 큰

새롭다 (to be new)- 다 + ㄴ = 새로운

*Note: 새롭다 is an irregular adjective. To conjugate this kind of irregular, remove the ㅂ and replace it with 운 or 워요. To say “it is new,” you would conjugate it as so: 새로워요

Then, simply add the adjective to the noun like you would in English:

작은 개 = small dog

큰 건물 = big building

새로운 차 = new car

That’s pretty much it for the basics of Korean adjectives! Not super difficult, I hope! As always, take your time with getting familiar with all this and please ask me questions if you have any!! See you next time! 안녕!

[goodplan-ipromise]

🌸🌼君の好きな動物は何ですか?🌼🌸

[yukusaki]

Less common miscellanous “say” verbs

語る（かたる） 1) a literary or formal version of 話す.  Can be a bit subjective or used for emotional things: 話し合う　to discuss with someone (logically and objectively) 語り合う　to talk with someone and communicate feelings or (2) used when someone telling a story or lecture to others rather than a mutual exchange.

述べる（のべる）“to state,” like a formal version of 言う except that it implies some length or detail like 語る –but is more one-sided and also less for feelings and emotions. 自分の経験を述べる。Tell (me) about your experiences (logically and objectively)

表す（あらわす）“to express” or “to show” (as well as “to represent”) and is really getting off the “to say” theme because it really focuses on the feeling or meaning conveyed rather than relating to words being spoken.  Doesn’t require the passage information to another person like 伝える –but it shares the feeling of conveying more than just words, the meaning under the surface compared to 言う, which refers basically just to the words that were said.　Often used for emotions. 感情を表すのを恐れる　afraid to show emotion 政子の気の強さを表す逸話である。This story shows Masako’s strong personality.

[afblearnfrench]

Homophones

[afblearnfrench]

Conjuguer au futur simple

[tokidokitokyo]

day 11/100 japanese vocabulary

重い子　おもいこ　clingy, needy

月刊誌　げっかんし　monthly magazine

時差　じさ　time difference

繊細　せんさい　dainty, delicate

連れ込む　つれこむ　to bring (somebody into a place)

塗る　ぬる　to paint, to varnish, to smear

ベタ　a shading used in manga to color dark colors as black

放題　ほうだい　(doing) as one pleases; to one’s heart’s content

発端　ほったん　origin, start, beginning

連載　れんさい　serialization, serial story

[afblearnfrench]

Les ustensiles de cuisine

[afblearnfrench]

Les tâches ménagères

[imtryingtolearngerman]

625 words to know in your target language

Based on this post

Transportation:

Train – der Zug Plane – das Flugzeug Car – das Auto Truck – der Lastwagen Bicycle – das Fahrrad Bus – der Bus Boat – das Boot Ship – das Schiff Tire – der Reifen Wheel –das Rad Steering wheel – das Lenkrad Gasoline – das Benzin Engine – der Motor (train) ticket – die Fahrkarte Transportation – der Transport

[a-pop-of-korean]

Vocabulary: Counters

안녕! Hi, everyone! In this vocab lesson, we’re going to learn about counters. Counters are things that we don’t have in English, but it’s not incredibly difficult to understand! Essentially, counters are things that are attached to numbers when you want to say how many of a certain thing there is. Let’s begin by learning how counters are used!

How Counters are Used

Counters, as I said before, are attached to Native Korean numbers when you’re specifying how many of a noun there are. However, you cannot use the regular Native Korean numbers, but rather you have to shorten the numbers 1 through 4. For instance, let’s look at how to say “one person” or “two people”:

한 명 = one person  

명 = counter for “people”

 하나 = one

두 명 = two people 

명 = counter for “people”

둘 = two

Let’s look at a sentence:

두 명이 왔어요 = Two people came

Maybe you want to specify the kind of people you’re talking about. In that case, just put the type of person before the number and counter. For instance:

학생 한 명 = One student

Here, you still need the counter 명 because students are still people. 

Let’s talk about a counter that’s a little more general: 개. 개 can pretty much be used for anything (it essentially means “thing” the way that 명 means “people.”) Here are some examples:

사과 세 개 샀어요. = I bought three apples.

개 = counter for “thing”

셋 = three

연필 네 개 있어요. = I have four pencils

넷 = four

Note: Only the numbers 1 through 4 are shortened as shown. All other numbers, like 5 through 10, are left as they are. (ex. 다섯 개 = five things)

While things like fruit and pencils probably have particles of their own, it’s fine to simply use 개 (mainly because 개 is more common than some of those very specific counters, according to Talk to Me in Korean).

Now that we know how counters are used, let’s look at a list of some common ones!

개 = things

펜 여섯 개 = 6 pens

명 = people (informal)

친구 일곱 명 = 7 people

분 = people (formal)

교수 열덟 분 = 8 professors

병 = bottles

물 아홉 병 = 9 bottles of water

마리 = animals 

고양이 열 마리 = 10 cats

권 = books 

책 열한 권 = 11 books

장 = sheets of paper (or other flat objects like stamps / tickets)

종이 열두 장 = 12 sheets of paper

대 = cars / vehicles 

자동차 열세 대 = 13 cars

발짝 = footsteps

발자국 열네 발짝 = 14 footsteps

번 = Number of times an action is done

열다섯 번 = 15 times

벌 = pieces of clothing

셔츠 열여섯 벌 = 16 shirts

송이 = bunch (usually of picked flowers, grapes, bananas, etc)

창미 열일곱 송이 = 17 roses

잔 = cups / glasses of liquid 

물 열여덟 잔 = 18 glasses of water

곡 = songs / pieces of music

노래 열아홉 곡 = 19 songs

그릇/공기/접시 = food (vessel, bowl, dish) (according to Matthew’s Korean Study and Reference Guide)

밥 스무 그릇 = 20 bowls of rice

Notice how 스물 becomes 스무

회 = exercise, writings, repetitions, innings, sorties, times, rounds (also according to Matthew’s)

스물한 회 = 21 rounds

가지 = types/ sorts / kinds

동물 스물두 가지 = 22 kinds of animals

과 = lessons / chapters

레슨 스물세 과 = 23 lessons

군데 = places

나라 스물네 군데 = 24 countries

컬레 = pairs (socks, shoes, gloves, etc)

양말 스물다섯 컬레 = 25 pairs of socks 

That’s about it for this list! TTMIK also does a great job at explaining counters and how they’re used, so check their lesson out too! Hope this was helpful! Please, as always, ask any questions you may have! See you in the next lesson and happy Halloween! 안녕! 해피 할로윈!