word for word

🇩🇪 🇬🇧 🇫🇮 🇷🇺 🇧🇻 🇮🇸 🇨🇿 🇪🇸 🇨🇳 . a blog for everything linguistics and language. my native language is German and I'm actively studying Norwegian, Finnish, Icelandic, Russian, Czech, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. languages still on my list are Polish, Plattdüütsch (Low German) and Davvisámi (Northern Sami)... and a few more because I just can't stop. [this is a side blog, I follow back from main]

[sana-sanalta]

🐍 Language Goals for 2025 🐍

new year, new goals – now with 20% more quantification!

______________

🇪🇸 spanish 🇪🇸

goal 1: improve my speaking skills (strategy: shadowing exercises, giving short "speeches" to myself on different topics -> goal: 12 speeches in total)

goal 2: read at least two books of spanish literature (strategy: read the books (duh), then note down and study vocabulary and watch videos/read articles in spanish about the books)

goal 3: improve my knowlede of spanish grammar and linguistics (strategy: go through a beginner's work book focussing on the verbs in particular and watch videos in spanish about spanish linguistics)

🇫🇮 finnish 🇫🇮

goal 1: get more practice in speaking (strategy: shadowing exercises, giving short "speeches" to myself on different topics -> goal: 12 speeches in total)

goal 2: get more practice in writing (strategy: write a journal entry every week -> goal: 40 entries in total)

🇨🇳 mandarin chinese 🇨🇳

goal 1: continue to improve my reading skills (strategy: use my reading app, ideally every day)

goal 2: continue to improve my listening comprehension (strategy: listen to podcasts and videos while employing active listening strategies -> goal: 30 videos on total)

goal 3: improve my speaking skills (strategy: shadowing exercises, giving short "speeches to myself on different topics -> goal: 12 speeches in total)

🇷🇺 russian 🇷🇺

goal 1: improve my fluency in speaking (strategy: shadowing exercises with videos and podcasts, speaking to myself on different topics -> goal: 12 speeches in total)

goal 2: read at least two works of classic russian literature (strategy: read the books and watch videos/read articles in russian about them)

goal 3: learn more abstract words and expressions (strategy: add the words and phrases I noted down last year to anki and write example sentences)

🇮🇸 icelandic 🇮🇸

goal 1: improve my reading comprehension and vocabulary (strategy: read about one news article per week while employing active reading strategies -> goal: 45 articles in total)

🇨🇿 czech 🇨🇿

goal 1: continue studying czech grammar (strategy: finish my text book "basic czech III")

goal 2: start reading longer texts in czech (strategy: finish the book I started last year)

______________

let's go! 💪

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

Ice-cream flavours in Chinese🍨

Just add 冰淇淋 (bīngqílín) after any flavour below to say "Flavour ice cream." E.g., 香草+冰淇淋 = vanilla ice cream.

香草 - xiāngcǎo - vanilla

巧克力 - qiǎokèlì - chocolate

白巧克力 - bái qiǎokèlì - white chocolate

草莓 - cǎoméi - strawberry

薄荷巧克力 - bòhe qiǎokèlì - mint chocolate

咖啡 - kāfēi - coffee

焦糖 - jiāotáng - caramel

海盐焦糖 - hǎiyán jiāotáng - salted caramel

芒果 - mángguǒ - mango

白桃 - báitáo - white peach

蓝莓 - lánméi - blueberry

柠檬 - níngméng - lemon

椰子 - yēzi - coconut

荔枝 - lìzhī - lychee

樱桃 - yīngtáo - cherry

香蕉 - xiāngjiāo - banana

抹茶 - mǒchá - matcha

乌龙茶 - wūlóngchá - oolong tea

伯爵茶 - bójué chá - earl grey tea

茉莉 - mòlì - jasmine

桂花 - guìhuā - osmanthus

红豆 - hóngdòu - red bean

黑芝麻 - hēizhīma - black sesame

芋头 - yùtou - taro

[kissycat]

Has anyone noticed that translating poetry is not easy

[kissycat]

It's kind of like if you were in unrequited love with the crossword puzzle

[marilearnsmandarin]

Clover's English Subtitled Peking Operas 2026

I translated 10 Peking operas of 2026 based on everyone's votes!

[sometiktoksarevalid]

[mylifewasamazinguntiliwasborn]

i’m still not over the linguistic miracle that is the Finnish expression “noni” and its variations

NOni (emphasis on the first syllable): “well now you’ve done it, good job” meaning you’ve majorly fucked up

noNI (emphasis on the last syllable): “I TOLD YOU DIDN’T I” meaning I totally was right and this argument is over

noni (literally no emphasis): “Anyway” or “I need to rearrange my thoughts, give me a sec”

NOniin (emphasis on the first syllable): “i admit my defeat you were right” meaning it definitely answers the noni above

noNIIN (emphasis on the last syllable): “let’s get started” or “okay anyway let’s continue”

NONni (emphasis on the first syllable): “aw, that sucks”

nonNI (emphasis on the last syllable): “without further ado, let’s get started”, usually after a long wait before a lengthy speech/presentation

nonni (again no emphasis): “you’re such a disappointment”

nonnnnnni (the length of the -nn- defines the meaning): “that’s too bad” or “i told you so” or “why would you drop the family heirloom vase it was literally worth 500k euros”

No. Nii. (the pause between no and nii defines the meaning): “yea, just like I was saying” or “and that’s about all I know about this issue” or “okay you’re right” or “hold on i need a moment to figure what to say next”

noniii (the length of the -ii defines the meaning): “ah, it’s finally working” or “I’m not so sure about that one”, or “well I guess you’re right but consider the following:” or “ah, buckle your seat belts, the ride’s about to begin”

no NIIN (sometimes no is almost swallowed and it sounds like “nNNII”): “finally finished”, usually after a lengthy speech/presentation

no nii-IH (if you forget the singsong tone this won’t work): “that’s what i’ve literally been trying to say for the past three hours” or “i know right ugh”

no niiii-i (the last -i is really short and sort of fades into the void of eternity, probably the most passive-aggressive word in the entire Finnish language): “i fucking agree” or “yeah tell me about it” after a very negative discussion, in which you usually complain about someone or something

NONIH (only mothers know how to say this one): “do this or so god help me” or “it’s six am on a Saturday morning and you’re about to clean up the entire house and the neighbour’s house too”

NOHNI (everyone driving a car naturally aces this one): “fucking. drive. you. slow. ass. slug” or “it’s fucking green it’s been green for 84 years” or “please don’t fucking hit me please” or “how the hell did that one even get a licence”

[heavvymetalqueen-deactivated202]

the truly terrifying thing is that this made perfect sense to me.

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

炎 Character breakdown

火 - huǒ - fire 炎 - yán - flame, inflammation 焱 - yàn - blazing flames 燚 - yì - intense fire 火炎焱燚 - huǒyán yàn yì - slang meaning something popular, trending 淡 - dàn - light, mild 毯 - tǎn - blanket, rug 痰 - tán - phlegm 啖 - dàn - to eat, to devour 欻 - chuā - onomatopoeia for footsteps 餤 - dàn - to eat 谈 - tán - to talk, discuss 婒 - tán - this isn't a very commonly used character, but it was used in female names 锬 - tán - a type of long spear 醈 - tán - this refers to wines or vinegars with weak flavours

[tiny-loudness]

Period euphemisms in Russian

месячные – monthly [bleeding] (the most commonly used)

критические/“эти” дни – critical/“those” days

женские дела/дела – women’s matters

(now the silly ones)

гости из Краснодара/гости – visitors from Krasnodar (a Russian town; “красный” is the Russian for color red)

красный день календаря – the red day of the calendar (used to mean a state holiday in the Soviet union)

сезон дождей – rainy season

физиологические причины – physiological reasons (something you would say to your PE teacher as an excuse for not attending a lesson/not doing a certain excercise; at my school at some moment they somehow transformed into “ideological reasons”)

Красная армия/красные кавалеристы – the Red Army/Red cavalry

[grimmselt]

My fave consonant is the glottal stop ʔ

[vieraslaji]

hello. can anyuone hear me .

[vieraslaji]

showing this to those "can I learn the HARDEST LANGUAGE IN THE WORLD??" clickbait youtube polyglots and watching them explode

[vieraslaji]

lost in the sauce

[huijutoi]

Ča Ča Ča

Vot mittuine nedäli da päivät tagan, ah Interessannu pina colada da linna Ildu on vie nuori da aigua kumata Jiähine ulgokuori on aigu tuhota

Pien kahtel käil kiini juomizis muga Ča ča ča ča ča ča ča ei En smieti huondestu ku tartun kruuškah muga Ča ča ča ča ča ča ča ei Tahton olla segazin da välly huolis muga Ča ča ča ča ča ča ča ei Da sit jatkan kuni en ni pyzy stuulas muga —

Eräs pina colada on jo tagan, ah Yhtelläh on vie ilve minul vagavu, jeah, jeah, je je jeah Ildu on vie nuori da aigua kumata Jiähine ulgokuori on aigu tuhota Parkiettu kuččuu minuu ku en ni ole lukus, ah Muga ča ča ča olen tulos, ah

Pien kahtel käil kiini juomizis muga Ča ča ča ča ča ča ča ei En smieti huondestu ku tartun kruuškah muga Ča ča ča ča ča ča ča ei Tahton olla segazin da välly huolis muga Ča ča ča ča ča ča ča ei Da sit jatkan kuni en ni pyzy stuulas muga vou

Da lähten pläššimäh Muga ča ča ča Ga en ni varua tädä muailmua a-haa Muga ča ča ča Ku valatan piälegi šampanskoil a-haa

Ča ča ča, vil'čusilmin jo kačon vai Da pagin sammaldau, ku tämä toine puoli minus vallan suau, a-haa Ča ča ča, en ni argen nenga piäze bauhumah En ni, ga nygöi pläšin vai nygöi pläšin vai Da lähten pläššimäh

Muga ča ča ča Ga en ni varua tädä muailmua a-haa Muga ča ča ča Ku valatan piälegi šampanskoil a-haa Muga ča ča ča Ča ča ča ča ča ča ča! Muga ča ča ča Ča ča ča ča ča ča ča! Ča ča ča ča ča ča ča!

Alguperäine pajo: Käärijä — Cha Cha Cha Kiändäi: lyricstranslate.com/liljankukka

Translation of 'Cha Cha Cha' by Käärijä from Finnish to Karelian

[is-this-taken-too-questionmark]

underrated level of finally understanding a language is when you are reading a text that is supposed to make you feel some kind of emotion and it works. like hell yeah i can make myself feel things just by looking at strange groups of letters!!

[marilearnsmandarin]

Source

[nutongzhi]

[ayearinlanguage]

A Year in Language, Day 132: Low German Low German, also known as Plattdeutsch, is a West Germanic language spoken in Northern Germany and bordering regions of the Netherlands and Denmark. The “low” in Low German refers to the literal elevation of the countryside, just as the “nether” in Netherlands. The “platt” in its more Germanic name means “flat” and is also a geographical reference. Like all the continental West Germanic languages Low German exists on what is called a dialect continuum, meaning that there are no definitive borders where different varieties of German, Dutch, and other languages are spoken. Instead dialects vary from region to region, with each town able to understand those adjacent to them but not necessarily ones multiple stages removed. To better understand Low German’s place you need to understand the term “isogloss”. Simply put, an isogloss is a geographic region within which a particular linguistics feature is found. This is more refined than simply denoting an area where a dialect is spoken. For example, in America we can say that people speak Southern in the South, a region south of the Mason-Dixon line and going as far west as Texas. But not all Southerners speak the same and people on the edges of that region certainly don’t speak like the ones in the core. To be more scientific we would need to separate all the little features that typify southern accents and then draw those borders on a map. The result would be a bunch of bubbles all across the south denoting things like “within this region people pronounce “caught” and “cot” the same (merge /ɑ/ and /ɔ/)” and “within this region people pronounce “pin” and “pen” the same (merge /ɜ/ into /ɪ/ before /n/). Like an incredibly complex ven diagram we could see that there are regions where most of these features are in effect, regions where only some are, and ones completely removed from them. This granular view of language as simply bundles of features is probably the most accurate portrayal of what languages actually are. Coming back to the West Germanic dialect continuum, we have a historical “High German Consonant Shift”, a period where many of the consonants in High German changed in a way that distinguishes it from its sisters, things like /t/ -> /s/ (English “out”, German “aus”) and /p/ -> /f/ (English “ship”, Dutch “schip”, German “Schiff”). Different individual features of this shift effected different regions, creating a distinctive north-south layering of isoglosses known as the Rhenish fan. Dutch completely escapes the northernmost bounds of the shift, standing above whats called the Uerdingen line, above which old Germic /k/ remains unadulterated and below which it softens to /ç/ in certain environments, as such it is more commonly known as the ik/ich border, a reference to the pronunciation of the first person pronoun. Low German straddles this line, and sets its generally recognized border slightly further south at the Benrath line, across which /k/ is further altered in even more conditions to /x/, so north of the line, in Low German, one pronounces the verb for “to make” as “makken” and southern of it, in High German, it is “Machen”.

[intimate-mirror]

[ayearinlanguage]

A Year in Language, Day 120: Evenki

Evenki is a member of the Tungusic language family whose members are spoken in Siberia and bordering parts of China. Evenki is the largest member of the family and its namesake; you will often find, especially in older sources, this language referred to as Tungus. Tungus was the term used for the ethnic Evenks and their language by the neighboring Yakuts (a Turkic ethnic group) people and is no longer considered appropriate. Evenki is likely the ultimate origin of the English word “shaman” Evenki is spoken by around 17,000 people and is endangered as fewer young people learn it. The phonetic inventory of Evenki is fairly standard, 20 or so consonants and a standard 5-6 vowel system, though Evenki populations in different regions, primarily those across the Russian/Chinese border, have considerable variety. Russian Evenks generally use the Cyrillic alphabet, while Chinese Evenks use a Latin script or even Mongolian, a modified version of which has long been used for the related Manchu language.

Evenk is an agglutinative language with a large case system. Evenk distinguishes alienable and inalienable possession, meaning it marks differently for possession of objects and property and possession of limbs and relations, the logic being that one does not “have” a mother or an arm in the same way one may “have” a television or a home. It is also noteworthy in having a possessed case instead of a possessive. In most languages with possessive constructions the marking goes on the possessor, for example in the English phrase “the bee’s knees” it is the bee that gets marked, not the knees, though both are part of the construction. In Evenki it is the opposite (sometimes at least, like I said it has multiple ways to express posession).