Langblr

Melanie | twenty something | Native English speaker | bookworm | Canada | learning French (B1) and Spanish (A1)

[escabye-deactivated20190922]

when ur mutuals are mutual with each other 

pro: squad con: i saw this post like 18 times today

[funnyreclaimed]

[triskeleaficionado]

[hayaang1]

does anyone have more these are great

[evanescentreminiscence]

i’m wheeziNg

[transstudent]

🙌 BE VERY TRANS 🙌

[visenyaism]

i don’t know about you guys but the main reason i am still on tumblr in 2024 is BECAUSE it is the most cloutless least influential social media app out there and that is the experience i am after. absolutely none of this will ever translate into significant attention or real success in my life and that is so beautiful.

[macleod]

On the day of my enemies death, the last thing they will see is their precious blog turn into this

[macleod]

This is still the worst theme I have ever seen, and I am happy to have not seen it in years.

[boomalope-pope]

Themes you get a veteran’s discount for recognising

[macleod]

#before I remade this account this was my theme because I signed up on tumblr to post links to my collage art on zazzle skateboard decks lol#sorry for being the perfect niche user!

You had to have been the only person who ever used this theme right. Galaxy brain stuff. I am reblogging in the presence of a living god.

[macleod]

Happy ten years to this post in specific (and why is my username dead on the second reblog?)

[pocket-size-cthulhu]

I'm so fascinated by languages with different levels of formality built in because it immediately introduces such complex social dynamics. The social distance between people is palpable when it's built right into the language, in a way it's not really palpable in English.

So for example. I speak Spanish, and i was taught to address everyone formally unless specifically invited otherwise. People explained to me that "usted" was formal, for use with strangers, bosses, and other people you respect or are distant from, while "tú" is used most often between family and good friends.

That's pretty straightforward, but it gets interesting when you see people using "tú" as a form of address for flirting with strangers, or for picking a fight or intimidating someone. In other languages I've sometimes heard people switch to formal address with partners, friends or family to show when they are upset. That's just so interesting! You're indicating social and emotional space and hierarchy just in the words you choose to address the other person as "you"!!

Not to mention the "what form of address should I use for you...?" conversation which, idk how other people feel about it, but to me it always felt awkward as heck, like a DTR but with someone you're only just becoming comfortable with. "You can use tú with me" always felt... Weirdly intimate? Like, i am comfortable around you, i consider you a friend. Like what a vulnerable thing to say to a person. (That's probably also just a function of how i was strictly told to use formal address when i was learning. Maybe others don't feel so weird about it?)

And if you aren't going to have a conversation about it and you're just going to switch, how do you know when? If you switch too soon it might feel overly familiar and pushy but if you don't switch soon enough you might seem cold??? It's so interesting.

Anyway. As an English-speaking American (even if i can speak a bit of Spanish), i feel like i just don't have a sense for social distance and hierarchy, really, simply because there isn't really language for it in my mother tongue. The fact that others can be keenly aware of that all the time just because they have words to describe it blows my mind!

[kurganfilledwithbearbones]

But you do have it! because American English has titles and also hierarchical treatment of last names (if your name is Jeremy Jefferson, there's a huge semantic weight difference between Jerry, Jeremy, Mr. Jeremy, and Mr. Jefferson, for example). English marks hierarchy and familiarity even if it doesn't do it in more grammatical terms. Think of being a kid and your parents yelling your full name across the house when you were in trouble.

I speak Icelandic. Icelandic doesn't have titles or last names or everyday use of a formal plural or any other obvious markers of formality and intimacy. Formality is still marked, just in non-grammatical lexical terms...but because it's not marked in ways I as a L1 English speaker recognize, it's harder for me to reproduce.

The reason you feel like this doesn't exist in English to the point where it exists in Spanish is because it's easier to spot for a L2 learner who has to think about categorizing the new language in a way that makes sense in the L1, and unless you have some more in depth information about language registers and intimacy marking and whatever it's easy to consider this as a novel phenomenon in the L2. But a lot of this semantic stuff is pretty universal, just marked in different ways.

[lunalingua]

THANK YOU. This is a misconception. Speaking from my experience of living in Japan and studying Japanese while being a native speaker of American English:

1. For folks who don't know, Japanese words/grammar change depending on formality, the genders of the speaker and listener, the age of the speaker and listener, etc.

2. But English words/grammar ALSO change depending on the above contexts described. It's just not formalized in grammar books. Consider the differences:

A. "The honor of your presence is requested for dinner this evening."

B. "I would like to invite you to dinner."

C. "Do you want to get dinner together?"

D. "Wanna grab a bite to eat?"

E. "Yo, bro, you want a burger?"

Etc. People will be like "it's wild that Japanese has different words for 'meal' depending on formality!! Gohan? Omeshi? Crazy!!!" But ENGLISH IS THE SAME WAY.

And this actually makes it harder for speakers of languages like Japanese to learn natural English, because they've been taught that there's no difference in tone between telling a waiter "I'd like a coffee" and "I want coffee." Since one of those feels easier to learn, they'll choose the option that makes them sound weirdly dickish to the waitstaff.

In short: English has levels of formality! Conveniently, saying otherwise fits the stereotypes of rigidly hierarchal East Asians, refined and sophisticated Europeans, and lawless/casual Americans and Australians—but us not recognizing these differences makes it harder for ESL speakers to learn real English

[official-linguistics-post]

official linguistics post

[geschiedenis-en-talen]

Me: *doesnt understand spoken Swedish after two weeks of learning*

Me:

[somalang]

chinese verbs

去 qù - to go

有 yǒu - have/has; there is/there are

没有 méiyǒu - do not/does not have; there is not/are not

喜欢 xǐhuan - to like 

不喜欢 bù xǐhuan - do not/does not like 

要 yào - to want 

不要 bú yào - do not/does not want

买 mǎi - to buy

做 zuò - to do/make

喝 hē - to drink 

吃 chī - to eat

起床 qǐchuáng - to get up

看 kàn - to watch

穿 chuān - to wear 

是 shì - to be

叫 jiào - to be called

睡觉 shuìjiào - to sleep 

住 zhù - to live

用 yòng - to use

会 huì - to be able to/can

不会 bú huì - to not be able to/can’t

说 shuō - to speak

给 gěi - to give 

唱歌 chàng gē - to sing

跳舞 tiào wǔ - to dance

想要 xiǎng yào - would like

[thickness-protection-program]

Why is this heat so hot 😩

[fagapult]

It’s the heat

[thickness-protection-program]

Source?

[mamoswole]

[thickness-protection-program]

[pepsimansthickjuicymeatyschlong]

[becausebirds]

[iwishitwas1983]

I’m crying.

[floacist]

LMAOOOOOOOOO the screaming in the beginning “mr. owl” “oh jesus christ” “please don’t give me that look” “please don’t fly” DYING omg

[alrightalrightalrightalyssa-dea]

That owl is 30000000% done

[sasstrid-and-dorkcup]

every time this video graces me with its presence i feel obliged to reblog it

[ampervadasz]

[bumblebeerror]

THE CASUALNESS OF THAT COLLIE SLIPPING RIGHT OUT OF THEIR COLLAR. That dude is a Willing Participant of this walk and by god everyone else is going to follow the RULES.

[roach-works]

im a fan of the moment where the husky is like 'wait you're not authorized to do that' and the collie is like 'THE FUCK IM NOT'

[gnothi-seayton]

Learning a language is so wild. Beforehand the language is just some kinda interesting sounding gibberish and squiggles on a page. Just totally opaque. Might as well be Linear A. Afterward it’s like the most obvious thing in the world. Totally self-evident. Of course those words mean those things everybody knows that.

[learnelle]

Bookish places in France 🇫🇷

[luxwing]

I miss when electronics came in at least six colors and none of the colors were beige

[luxwing]

Why the hell did we stop doing this????

[luxwing]

[pallettown]

its miserable having online friends i would help you clean and paint your room and fold your laundry and move furniture and cook mostly edible food for you and generally do tasks for you and drink with you and smoke with you and go on walks with you and see you smile when i make you laugh. but the distance

[drakensberg-blog]

The reading comprehension and overall common sense on this website is piss poor.

[poupon]

how dare you say we piss on the poor

[marauders4evr]

It occurs to me that there are people who weren’t on this website in 2012 and therefore never saw the magical gif that you can actually hear:

It’s been over five years and that still impresses the hell out of me.

[galwaygremlin]

wdym you can hear it?

[superpaperclip]

Basically, it’s a form of synesthesia, movement-hearing. In this case, you expect to hear a thud, so you do. It’s estimated that 20% of people experience this type of synesthesia, as opposed to 2-4% for other kinds.

[eat-the-door-to-the-v0id-deacti]

YO what the FUXK

[burntcopper]

The longer you watch it the more you get convinced that you can hear a  distant thud and the air displace.

[lasrina]

I heard the thud. I closed my eyes and the thud stopped. I opened my eyes and I heard the thud. My goodness but human brains are a mess.

[macleod]

This was easily the first ever viral post on Tumblr back in 2011/12. Perhaps even before the great “what your leg feels like after falling asleep” followed by a picture of a static teevee channel.

[tornadointhetundra]

I can’t hear it per se but i can feel the thud in my chest and my vision slightly shakes with it. Dang.

[dduane]

Always reblog. :)

[macleod]

yet another post that I would love to know why my account is dead on, I’m still here!