#learning a second language

[russenoire2]

ways to say ‘seems like’ or ‘-ish’ in japanese.

in the order in which i learned them. these are highly productive suffixes, in that they can be attached to many, many nouns/adjectives/adverbs to make new adjectives.

NOTE: i use apostrophes to compensate for some of the limitations of rōmaji, as it doesn’t reliably indicate which vowels are devoiced. if you see an ‘ in any of my transliterations, it stands in for an i or u sound that gets flattened (but still pronounced!) in speech.

~臭い（くさい, k’sai）

literally ‘smells like’. this particular kanji (臭, nioi) refers to unpleasant smells. i’m not sure if the pleasantly-scented analogue kanji 匂 (also read nioi) can be used in the same way.

なんかさっきから聞いてると胡散臭いな… nanka sakk' kara kiiteru to usank’sai na... i have been listening to the crap coming out of [your] mouth for a while [and] it smells fishy...

~的（てき, teki）

霊って言うのは二酸化炭素的なアレですから… rei tte iu no ha ni-sankatanso-teki are des’kara... one could say that spirits are like carbon dioxide...(the kara here refers to the previous reason the speaker gave for this description: the presence of spirits can only be reduced, not removed. this is bullshit, but his client is ignorant of this.)

小母さんも暴力的なの？ obasan mo bouryok’teki na no? are you violent too, old lady?

~っぽい（ppoi）

でも、あまりに人間っぽいので… demo, amari ni ningen-ppoi no de... but...you seem very human...

(this one is my absolute favorite. i just love how it tastes on the tongue.)

~らしい（rashii）

男らしいと言えば、やっぱり褌でしょう！ otoko-rashii to ieba yappari fundosh’ deshou! when one uses the word ‘manly’, the sumo loincloth (fundoshi) springs to mind!

[tobiwan72]

Still making progress

[honey-olive]

I was thinking about that one post by @sprinklzz about how Zeldris and Meliodas probably have very thick accents.

And it got me thinking about how irl people make fun of others for their accents, or think they don’t know the language.

Having and accent does not mean you don’t know a language!!

Just like with everything it’s just a trait of your speech. And most of the time the words are completely understandable, so there is no need to be mean about it.

Or the hypocrisy when an American might say that British accent is fine, but when confronted with a Spanish accent or an Asian accent act as if they never heard English before :/

Just a thought, sorry for the rant, but I believe we should be more kind to those around us. Let’s normalize having an accent!!

This all came because one girl made fun of one of my classmates for having an accent when speaking English. She claimed he had ‘bad English’ and that she found it weird he scored higher than her on the test… T-T

That was a sh*tty move from her 😡

She didn’t even apologize. And when I confronted her she just didn’t talk and left

[skullywullypully]

Does anybody have any tips when trying to learn Danish?

Just wondering

[castielsdeadlyparasol]

Hey so I am trying to keep up my German over summer but in a way that is fun. So I thought "I will watch kids shows in German and/or with German subtitles" but there are like barely any on netflix.

I have started watching Hilda with the German dub and really like it, but I want more.

Do any of you have any reccomendations?

[idleads]

Behaviour change through a wry tone, direct language, and contextual ties - it’s perfect. Better yet, this isn’t the work of some big agency or in-house think tank, it’s student work. 

This will go a long towards getting the average person taking at least a cursory look at the Duolingo platform. Well, maybe not always the app version, but the extension now being integrated into international airlines' flight entertainment systems will get look in.

[athena1138]

Attention a mes amis francophones, y atención a mis amigos hispanohablantes. 

I have questions, as an English-speaking French and Spanish learner. 

In none of my classes, they never covered how to nickname or refer to someone who is non-binary/intersex/gender-fluid/etc. So, what do y’all do? I thought, maybe just mixing the gender of the word with the “incorrect” article (i.e., “mon cherie” because “mon” is masculine” but “cherie” is the feminine form, or “cariña mio” along those same lines.) But is that like... all? Is there anything else to do? 

And then like, what about if you’re referring to them in the third person? In Spanish I imagine it’s easier because you don’t have to have a pronoun, but in French? Is it like... default to “on” instead of il or elle? But “on” is for a group of indefinite specificity, not an individual.

Just. Tell me everything. Literally anything you want to tell me, tell me. I wanna know it all. 

[gillovny1013]

Sorry I’ve been so absent from social media lately guys.  I’ve discovered that learning German has made me happier than I’ve been in a long, long time.  Not to mention the benefits it’s had on my ability to be more productive and how much it’s helped my concentration.  I highly suggest learning a second language if you never have before.