Sefan to Siþe

I love languages. English (native), French (C1), Mandarin (newbie)

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

Cat types in Chinese

Here are some common cat types and their names in Chinese:

2-color cat - 双色猫 - shuāngsè māo Tuxedo cat - 燕尾服猫 - yàn wěi fú māo Orange cat - 橘猫 - jú māo Black cat - 黑猫 - hēi māo White cat - 白猫 - bái māo Gray cat - 灰猫 - huī māo Calico cat - 三花猫 - sān huā māo Tortoiseshell cat - 玳瑁猫 - dài mào māo Tabby cat - 虎斑猫 - hǔ bān māo Abyssinian - 阿比西尼亚猫 - ā bǐ xī ní yà māo Aegean - 爱琴海猫 - ài qín hǎi māo American Bobtail - 美国短尾猫 - měi guó duǎn wěi māo Arabian Mau - 阿拉伯猫 - ā lā bó māo Balinese - 巴厘猫 - bā lí māo Bengal - 孟加拉猫 - mèng jiā lā māo Birman - 伯曼猫 - bó màn māo British Longhair - 英国长毛猫 - yīng guó cháng máo māo British Shorthair - 英国短毛猫 - yīng guó duǎn máo māo Burmese - 缅甸猫 - miǎn diàn māo Chartreux - 沙特尔猫 - shā tè ěr māo Cornish Rex - 柯尼斯卷毛猫 - kēnísī juǎn máo māo Devon Rex - 德文卷毛猫 - dé wén juǎn máo māo

European Shorthair - 欧洲短毛猫 - ōu zhōu duǎn máo māo Japanese Bobtail - 日本短尾猫 - rì běn duǎn wěi māo Kurilian Bobtail - 千岛短尾猫 - qiān dǎo duǎn wěi māo Maine Coon - 缅因猫 - miǎn yīn māo Manx - 马恩岛猫 - mǎ ēn dǎo māo Norwegian Forest Cat - 挪威森林猫 - nuó wēi sēn lín māo Ocicat - 欧西猫 - ōu xī māo Oriental Shorthair - 东方短毛猫 - dōng fāng duǎn máo māo Oriental Longhair - 东方长毛猫 - dōng fāng cháng máo māo Persian - 波斯猫 - bō sī māo Peterbald - 彼得秃猫 - bǐ dé tū māo Ragdoll - 布偶猫 - bù ǒu māo Russian Blue - 俄罗斯蓝猫 - é luó sī lán māo Scottish Fold - 苏格兰折耳猫 - sū gé lán zhé ěr māo Selkirk Rex - 塞尔凯克卷毛猫 - sài ěr kǎi kè juǎn máo māo Siamese - 暹罗猫 - xiān luó māo Siberian - 西伯利亚猫 - xī bó lì yà māo Singapura - 新加坡猫 - xīn jiā pō māo Snowshoe - 雪鞋猫 - xuě xié māo Sphynx - 斯芬克斯猫 - sī fēn kè sī māo Toyger - 玩具虎猫 - wán jù hǔ māo Turkish Angora - 土耳其安哥拉猫 - tǔ ěr qí ān gē lā māo Turkish Van - 土耳其梵猫 - tǔ ěr qí fàn māo

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

Chinese structures: A不B Part 2.

Part 2 of the commonly used structure with some examples:

忘不了 - wàng bu liǎo - can't forget, unforgettable 她对我的帮助，我忘不了 - I’ll never forget her help. 那种感觉真的忘不了 - That feeling is unforgettable.

受不了 - shòu bu liǎo - can’t stand it 这么热我真的受不了 - I really can’t stand this heat. 这种噪音我受不了 - I can’t stand this noise.

大不了 - dà bu liǎo - at worst/worst case scenario, no big deal 大不了重来一次 - At worst, we’ll just do it again. 大不了不去了 - Worst case, we just won’t go.

少不了 - shǎo bu liǎo - inevitable, unavoidable, indispensable 这顿饭少不了辣椒 - This meal needs chili, it's indispensable.

用不了 - yòng bu liǎo - can’t be used/ isn't needed by that much 这些资料用不了 - These materials won’t be used. 这么多时间用不了 - That much time isn't needed.

算不了 - suàn bu liǎo - doesn’t count/ not a big deal, isn't worthy [of] 一次失败算不了什么 - One failure doesn’t mean much.

短不了 - duǎn bu liǎo - 1. indispensable 2. something that inevitably happens 植物短不了阳光 - Plants can’t exist without sunlight.

管不了 - guǎn bu liǎo - unable to control something 有些事情真的管不了 - Some things just can’t be controlled.

过不去 - guò bu qù - can't get through something, someone making things difficult for others 门太窄，搬不过去 - The door’s too narrow, it won’t fit through. 你别跟我过不去- Don’t make life difficult for me.

下不来 - xià bu lái - can’t step down, can’t climb down 他面子上下不来 - He can’t back down because of pride. 话都说出口了,下不来了 - I already said it, I can’t take it back.

划不来 - huá bu lái - not worth it 这么贵，真的划不来 - It’s so expensive, it's just not worth it. 来回跑一趟太麻烦了，划不来 - Going back and forth is too much trouble, it's simply not worth it.

合不来 - hé bu lái - can’t get along 我们性格不一样合不来 - Our personalities are different, we don’t get along. 他跟同事合不来 - He doesn’t get along with his coworkers.

来不得 - lái bu dé - not allowed, [something] can’t be done because it's impermissible. This is more so used to emphasize certain important rules and norms. 安全问题来不得半点大意 - Safety issues can't be taken lightly. 工作中来不得开玩笑 - There’s no joking around at work (joking around is not allowed).

了不得 - liǎo bu dé - extraordinary, serious, impressive 他才十岁就会三种语言，真了不得 - He’s only ten and already speaks three languages, that’s incredible. 你一个人完成这个项目，太了不得了 - You finished this project alone, that’s really impressive.

[thewordhord]

我在喝黑的咖啡。 我很累！今天是星期六。每星期六早上九点，我和老公去体育馆。

[thewordhord]

Random French Vocab

(From L’anomalie by Hervé Le Tellier)

Tueur à gages: hitman / contract killer

Rétrécir: contract / shrink

Un clebs: a mutt

Un lièvre: a hare / jackrabbit

Alambiqué - convoluted

Les parages (nmpl) - the area, the vicinity

Un postiche - a wig / hairpiece

Une borne - slang for kilomètre (Elle habite à dix bornes de là)

La vessie - bladder

L’auvent (nm) - canopy

[thewordhord]

Happer - to catch, to snatch

Lenifiant(e)(s) - soothing, calming

Le hublot - porthole / small round window

Ballotter - toss around, throw around

[thewordhord]

我一九八七年出生， 属兔， 今年三十九岁。

我的丈夫一九八五出生，他属牛，今年四十一岁。

我妈妈和爸爸也属兔！她一九五一出生。 今年七十五岁！

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

8 Resources for Chinese Characters

Whether you're looking for a site to help you master the stroke order, or if you're trying to compare characters across different languages, here are some useful sources for character explanations, radical breakdowns, actual examples, character evolutions from Warring States up until now, and many other interesting options.

This one is pretty good for character explanation, radical breakdown and examples e.g. where this character can be found, in what text etc. Only thing to note is that while you can change the interface language to English, the actual explanation is in Traditional Chinese, so something to keep in mind. https://dict.variants.moe.edu.tw/

2. Good for a phonetic breakdown of a character, including Hanyu, Hakka, Yale, Wade etc. Includes different fonts for comparison, and even a calligraphy option which makes me quite happy. https://www.cns11643.gov.tw/

3. Also good for showing the character stroke order and in-depth examples from actual literary works. Includes explanations from Kangxi and 说文解字 -Shuowen Jiezi (the original Han dynasty dictionary showing the actual seal script characters), so quite useful all in all. https://www.zdic.net/

漢典 | 漢語字典, 漢語詞典, 康熙字典, 說文解字, 音韻方言, 字源字形, 異體字

漢典 | 漢語字典, 漢語詞典, 康熙字典, 說文解字, 音韻方言, 字源字形, 異體字

4. Baidu. Self-explanatory but honestly very useful. Just input the character and an entire page dedicated to this character will pop-up.

百度百科是一部内容开放、自由的网络百科全书，旨在创造一个涵盖所有领域知识，服务所有互联网用户的中文知识性百科全书。在这里你可以参与词条编辑，分享贡献你的知识。

5. This also includes the same features as other sources e.g. character stroke order, pronounciation, radical breakdown etc, but what is particularly handy here is the option to compare the same character between Mainland, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Japanese and Korean characters: https://hanzi.unihan.com.cn/CJKCompare

6. Fantastic for showing the evolution of characters, from Warring States Period to the current font, not to mention the different pronounciations available. Highly recommend. https://zi.tools/

7. Includes the standard radical breakdown and examples, but also the pronounciation of the characters using various different dialects in Taiwan, which is quite interesting as up until now I didn't find any sources that included this. https://pedia.cloud.edu.tw/

教育百科為「教育雲」下專為教師與學生提供之跨知識庫檢索平臺，是線上字典，提供多元成語、字詞、同義詞、注音、解釋、造句、發音等各類型知識檢索

8. This is more so for Oracle Bone and Bronze script characters, which are honestly quite fasinating. Definitely a favourite database of mine. The explanations are written in Traditional Chinese but mostly in relatively straightforward language so using a translation software is no issue. https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/

[thewordhord]

我有两只猫。 他们九个月大！

第一只猫叫Alfie。他很大，他不胖。他非常帅！

第二只猫叫Matilda。她很可爱，特别聪明。 她非常非常小！

我爱我的猫！

[firemind411]

Classic Prompts.

-> Collapsing only after they’re finally safe.

-> Dragging themselves to the door... and not making it.

-> Whumpee insisting on finishing the job/mission while actively bleeding.

-> Passing out mid-sentence.

-> Injuries that clearly should’ve been treated hours, even DAYS ago.

-> Feverish delirium where they accidentally tell the truth.

-> Waking up restrained and instantly panicking, — rich with heavy breathing, struggle and darting eyes.

-> Trying to fix their own wound and failing.

-> “I'm okay—” immediately followed by collapse

-> Pain meds wearing off at the worst possible moment

-> Whumpee apologizing for being a burden.

-> Whumpee meeting eyes with Whumper in public. No one understands why the intensity exists... The two of them do.

-> Head down, blood pooling where they’re kneeling.

-> Crawling instead of walking because standing is impossible.

-> Hiding an injury so well it fools everyone… until it doesn’t.

-> Being stitched up without anesthetic

[godlessondheimite]

3/4 of these are just what happened to James A. Garfield

[3000s]

there used to be a store called wet seal

[thewordhord]

Random French Vocab

(From L’anomalie by Hervé Le Tellier)

Tueur à gages: hitman / contract killer

Rétrécir: contract / shrink

Un clebs: a mutt

Un lièvre: a hare / jackrabbit

Alambiqué - convoluted

Les parages (nmpl) - the area, the vicinity

Un postiche - a wig / hairpiece

Une borne - slang for kilomètre (Elle habite à dix bornes de là)

La vessie - bladder

L’auvent (nm) - canopy

[thewordhord]

我在喝咖啡。我更喜欢热咖啡，不喜欢冰咖啡。 我晚上喝热茶。 我的爸爸喝很多冰茶。 我喜欢喝很多水。

我喜欢看书。我每天看书。我今年看七十五书。

我是素食。 我不吃肉，不吃蛋, 不喝牛奶。 我吃很多豆腐。我今天晚饭吃了豆腐, 米饭和菜。

[parkchanwoohoo]

Heard this stupid dad joke that killed me: Which Chinese word takes the longest to write? "Friend" (朋友) because it takes two months just to write half of it

[parkchanwoohoo]

Which character is faster, hot (热) or cold (冷)? Obviously hot, which has 4 legs to cold's 1

[parkchanwoohoo]

Why do Chinese vampires hate spicy food? They only drink 不辣的

[claire-witch-project]

[thewordhord]

大家好！我在学习汉语！

[errorca-learns-norsk]

Found a Bergen-focused Norwegian textbook for free and thought I’d share this page about typical words in the Bergen dialect! Seems pretty accurate, however I don’t believe I’ve ever heard anyone say “buddaren”. (I also haven’t been paying attention for it though so not saying it doesn’t exist, I just never noticed it before.) I also feel like people will say “kordan går det” more often than “kedegåri” but that could just be people adjusting for me knowing that Norwegian isn’t my first language.

The textbook is an A1-A2 textbook called “Byen er Bergen” for anyone interested. :)

For me personally I feel like the Bergen dialect is coming more naturally to me after being surrounded by it all the time! However I am absolutely terrified to do the skarre-R in public because it’s hard and I can’t even pronounce it in my own name.

Still figuring out the tonefall/pitch accent in Bergen as well. It’s almost harder because it’s “flatter” (to my ears). Meanwhile I impressed my Norwegian friends by making an attempt at a Stavanger dialect because the tonefall is so distinctive and easy to mimic (every sentence almost sounds like a question).

[nordic-language-love]

i was curious if you could recommend any books/resources for learning Norwegian? (or just your favorite language resources in general) thank you!

Hi there!

In terms of books like textbooks:

The Mystery of Nils (A1/A2) and Mysteriet om Nils (B1/B2) are pretty great imo.

Norwegian Tutor from Teach Yourself has been an absolute life-saver for grammar

Also from Teach Yourself is Norwegian Short Stories, which has vocab lists for each story

Enjoy Norwegian is good for higher intermediate (although I've never really clicked with it)

Another one I never clicked with but is used in a lot of language schools is På Vei (A1/A2 level)

Some other resources:

Lesnorsk norskkurs - texts from A1-B2 level

I do actually think the Duolingo course is okay tbh (the audio's sometimes a bit strange, but as far as free resources go it's really good imo!)

Memrise is also a popular resource: here's a link to the first of their Norwegian courses (never clicked with it myself, but a lot of people like it)

Lingohut is also pretty good!

CALST is awesome for helping you learn to speak specific dialects

I’ve not tried using it, but Bnorsk seems to be a website where you can learn Norwegian for free

I also take classes on italki (if you're interested in giving it a go then lmk so I can give you a referral code and get you a few dollars off your first lesson. I've also taken lessons from a number of tutors and can maybe help you find the best one for you)

Here's a bunch of Norwegian instagram accounts you can follow

This is a website with set expressions and idioms in Norwegian

Bildetema is good for vocabulary - you see pictures with the Norwegian words next to them, and you can click on them to see how they’re pronounced. There are lots of different topics too!

ung.forskning.no is quite good if you're like B1 level and interested in science because the articles are quite short and basically made for younger readers so the language isn't so difficult (a number of them also have corresponding podcast episodes, so you can read the article to learn a bit about the topic and then listen to the podcast)

Drops and uTalk (both apps) also have Norwegian available to learn (I’m not a huge fan of them, but you might be!)

I also use the Anki app on my phone to create flashcards (there’s a free knock-off version and a legit version that costs like £20+. I use the free one and it’s fine).

Podcasts:

Norskpodden is a good podcast for learners as they also have a transcript

Lær Norsk Nå! is also aimed at learners

Norsklærer Karense has her own podcast too (A2+)

I quite like Smartere på 10 minutter as well because it's interesting and it's short and the presenter speaks in clear Oslo dialect. If you're still not used to listening in Norwegian, you can slow it down to half speed. (B1+)

Oppdatert is also not too long, the presenters speak quite clearly and it’s about current affairs (B1+)

E-books

While I absolutely do not endorse the author's awful transphobic views, I know a lot of people are interested in reading the Harry Potter books as a way to expand their vocabulary, and it sure would be a shame if you could find all the PDFs free online and not have to give money to that aforementioned author. (Side note: the translator uses "omforladels" as a translation for "sorry" which like no actual Norwegian person apart from maybe in some dialects uses ever. Also remember it’s a translation, and the translator has tried to maintain a sense of “Britishness”, so some of the language isn’t entirely natural)

You can also search ebooks by language (including Norwegian) and download them for free from here (definitely 100% not illegal in any way shape or form *shifty glance*)

If you prefer to buy Norwegian ebooks actually legally, you can do so here.

Youtube channels:

Special shoutout to Norwegian Done Easy because Markus is my italki tutor and he's awesome (plus I'm featured! So you can see my silly little face Norwegianing as hard as it can!)

Norsklærer Karense (I'm uhh not actually a fan BUT she has lots of useful videos for like A1-B2 level. There's also a lot of useful information about culture and moving to Norway and integration and test-taking)

Preben's Norwegian Academy (he's from Nord-Norge, so you get some dialect exposure too)

Norskkurset (it's not updated for a little while but there are some good videos there!)

Norwegian Teacher Karin (another one that's not updated for a while but still has some good videos)

Norwegian With Tor (for a little Tromsø dialect)

Hope that's enough to get you started/keep you going! Let me know if you have any questions :)

[nordic-language-love]

Hello! I hope you’re doing well! I was wondering if you could give me some advice when it comes to furthering my language learning. I’ve been learning Norwegian on Duolingo for almost 5 years now but I feel like I’ve barely made any progress into actually learning the language. I’ve seen you mention that Duolingo isn’t the best way to learn a language, just on its own. What more can I be doing to actually learn Norwegian? I appreciate any insight you might be able to give. Thank you!

Hi there!

I actually think Norwegian Duo's not that bad, especially compared to other courses. It got me to A2 level without my really using any other resources! But of course, A2 is still only the top of beginner level, and from thereon out it's pretty ineffective on its own (although I still used it even at B2 level as a way to refresh vocab I'd forgotten or just do a little practice every day when I didn't have the time or energy to do anything else).

There are a lot of different ways you can study Norwegian. Here are some things I did (it's an essay lmao I'm so sorry):

1) Listen to Norwegian radio. You'll probably think I'm mad when you first try it because you'll probably understand very little other than the odd word here and there, but I promise it gets easier and you'll get used to the rhythm of the language in a way Duolingo doesn't prepare you for. Try to shadow the speakers (repeat what they say just after they say it. You don't have to know the words they're actually saying; just approximate the phonemes and the melody and the stress patterns. I promise you your pronunciation is gonna get SO good)

2) Take to Youtube. Check my resources list here for some links to channels that teach Norwegian.

3) Norwegian podcasts! I made a list of some beginner/intermediate-friendly ones (check the link in point 2). The plus with podcasts is you can slow the speed down to half-speed too. Again, don't be discouraged if it's difficult at first; just focus on the rhythm and stress of the language

4) Norwegian TV. You're gonna struggle at first but you need to struggle to improve, so don't be discouraged even if several months pass without you feeling like there's any improvement. Intermediate level sucks I'm afraid. Some shows I like that don't require a VPN (as of the time I'm posting this) are Fra bølle til bestevenn (it's got dogs in it), Hva feiler det deg (game show where normal people with internet compete against doctors to guess a patient's diagnosis), 113 (documentary following paramedics in Trondheim - try not to cry at the dialects), Klassequizen (quiz show with 10th graders, pretty A2/B1-friendly), Side Om Side (popular sitcom, sometimes the second-hand embarrassment kills me but mostly it's pretty funny) and Superkrim (did you know that crime stories around Easter time are a Thing in Norway? They make a new season of this one every year but it's accessible year-round, and the language is a lot simpler than a lot of shows, and it's pretty fun and a bit silly)

Note: subtitles are in Norwegian only, and half the time they match the nuance but not the actual words being said. I recommend trying to listen without them first, then listen with them, then listen without them again and see if you can catch a few more words.

5) Textbooks, if that's your jam. I recommend The Mystery Of Nils (you can jump straight to book 2: Mysteriet om Nils if you think you're ready. It's a bit of a jump but no point wasting money/time on something that you won't enjoy) and Norwegian Tutor (from the Teach Yourself series. The first few chapters will seem pretty basic but it's great at explaining nuances and prepositions in later chapters).

6) Read things in Norwegian. You can get short stories for beginner/intermediate level online, as well as read news articles (even if you can't read the whole article, just try the first paragraph). When I was about A2 level I would print things out and go through them just translating them, highlighting new words, words I'd encountered before but couldn't remember, words I could work out from context, particular grammar patterns and words I couldn't figure out and needed the help of a native speaker to work out.

7) Follow Norwegian accounts on social media. Here's a list I made earlier.

8) If you have some extra cash, investing in an italki tutor can be helpful. I've had lessons with a number of tutors so feel free to send me a message if you want help deciding which one to go with.

9) Keep a journal in Norwegian. Look up words you don't know and write them in a different colour. Maybe try to use words you learned that day and write them in a different colour too (even if by using them you're literally just writing "jeg lærte ordet «______» i dag. Det betyr ______")

10) You can also try creative writing. I started out by writing fiction largely in English but with Norwegian dialogue. I then moved on to writing short articles and then essays, then short stories and fan fiction.

11) You can try apps like HiNative and HelloTalk to find native speakers for language exchange. If you only know English though it might be difficult to find people because Norwegians typically speak really good English and aren't looking to learn/practice.

12) Listen to Norwegian music. Get on spotify and search "norsk (music genre of your choice)" and find some songs you like. Listen to them and pay attention to the lyrics. Then find the lyrics online and listen with the lyrics. Then try to translate the lyrics on your own. Finally, look up someone else's translation and see how close they are. Then try to learn the song and visualise meaning it with your whole heart as you sing along.

13) Practise speaking to yourself. It feels super awkward when you first start, but I always manage to get into the flow pretty quickly. You can have GT in front of you so you can look up things if you need to, or you can just write down words you don't know/couldn't think of as you go along, then look them up once you're done (I prefer this method; having GT in front of you encourages your brain to be lazy and not try to actively recall the information you need). Not sure what to write? Try my Speaking In 20 Challenge prompts.

14) Flashcards. I put this one last because really flashcards are only useful as a supplement to learning through other methods. They help to keep vocab fresh in your mind until you see it in context again (and it's the seeing words in context that's gonna cement the meaning in your brain. I've never heard anyone say "oh, I know that word because it was in my flashcard deck that I reviewed every night before bed", but I hear people say things like "oh, I know that obscure word because I watched cooking shows in my TL and the host said it aaaall the time" or "it's in a line from one of my favourite songs" a LOT).

Okay, that's it, essay over 😅 Hope I gave you some ideas! Best of luck with your Norwegian-learning journey!

[thewordhord]

Det er mange interessante ting å gjøre i denne byen, men jeg ender alltid opp med å dra tilbake til de samme stedene. Mine favorittsteder er Villa Pamphili (hvor man kan se mange skilpadder), Parco Caffarella (hvor man kan se mange kaniner), og Largo di Torre Argentina (hvor man kan se mange katter). Ja, jeg elsker jo dyr!