A humble langblr for my language study

Join me on my journey to study for 4 language proficiency tests before I turn 24

[fluencylevelfrench]

A big thank you to all of the native speakers out there who take the time to read and correct posts. Without you the langblr community wouldn’t be the same! We learn from mistakes, so keep correcting :)

[worldlychats]

things are getting real now!!!!! DELE C1 exam I’ll be seeing you in May 😎

am i excited? yes 

am i shit scared? also yes 

~ ~ ~ 293 days to go  ~ ~ ~

[worldlychats]

tbt the time i tried to tell my spanish housemate i was going to put make up on but ended up telling her i was going to smear my face with butter

[pastelsandhazelnutcoffee]

New Years Eve Vocabulary German - English

der  Glücksbringer - lucky charm

das Bleigießen - to pour (molten) lead into cold water and read the  future fron the shapes that form

das Feuerwerk - firework

die Rakete - rocket

der Böller - firecracker

der Feuerwerkskörper - pyrotechnic article

das  vierblättrige Kleeblatt - four-leaf clover

das Schweinchen - little pig

die Biskotte - lady´s finger

der Rauchfangkehrer - chimney sweeper

der Fliegenpilz - fly agaric

das Schwammerl - mushroom

der Elefant - elephant

die Münze - coin

das Hufeisen - horseshoe

der Sekt - sparkling wine

der Donauwalzer - The Blue Danube

das Glockenläuten - bell ringing

die Pummerin - Austrias most famous bell, located in Viennas St. Stephen´s Cathedral

der Tanz - dance

das Musikantenstadl - an Austrian dialect  word for cheaply made Alpine folk music and dances in traditional garbs that  is broadcasted in TV

das Neujahrskonzert - New Year´s concert

die Erdnusslocken - peanut curls

die Chips - potato crisps

die Soletti - salted pretzel sticks

die Brezel - pretzel

der Liptauer - Liptauer (cheese  spread)

das Bier - beer

der Fisch - fish

Frohes Neues Jahr! - Happy New Year!

Guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr! - Happy New Year!

Prosit Neujahr! - Happy New Year!

Neujahr - New Year´s Day

Silvester - New Year´s Eve

der Vorsatz - resolution

das Jahresende - end of the year

der Jahresbeginn - beginning of the year

der Rückblick - throwback

der Kalender - calendar

der Jahreswechsel - turn of the year

das Schaltjahr - leapyear

die Jahreszahl - date of the year

das Jahrzehnt - decade

das Jahrhundert - century

das Jahrtausend - millenium

Mitternacht - midnight

[soulbutterlanguages]

What should you be reading to maximize your language learning?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of literature we can learn from. Baby books bore you, but you’re not ready for any type of novel, so what’s left?

Here are some tips 

For beginner/A1/A2 learners

Watch a YouTube video in your target language, then read the comments

you’ll already have vocabulary from watching the video, most of the comments will probably use that vocab

it’s a short enough text that you won’t get fatigued

the only downside is that sometimes people utilize abbreviations and slang terms, but even these are good to know

Read news headlines and if you find one you understand almost fully, try to read the full article

sometimes the vocabulary used is not common in everyday usage, but it’s a total win for an A1 learner to fully read and mostly understand any text

while vocab is not used everyday, it will give you the ammunition to talk about that particular topic

Watch Netflix in target language with subtitles in the same language

believe it or not, you will learn to read better, especially because you don’t have to understand written description of visuals (usually uses very niche vocab) or emotion

and now you can slow down or speed up 

I watched DARK in German before I felt like I could read a book, and I understood 85% of it. This is because I looked up some vocabulary in the first episodes and they continued to use it throughout the show so it really cemented in my head to the point where I don’t even think about it. Now, I had to rewatch some conversations the characters had, but that’s much better for understanding than switching it to English or looking up full phrases and sentences. 

For intermediate/B1/B2 learners

read fanfiction

it’s ALWAYS good to read about something you’re interested in so if you like any major movies, books, television, this is the perfect option for you

most people use relatively basic language and you can choose the length 

find a comic book or graphic novel

like watching tv, that visual aid really helps with understanding of the plot without all those tricky descriptions

read a book in your target language that you’ve read and loved in your native language

this is by far my favorite way

you don’t have to worry about trying to understanding the bigger picture because you already know what’s happening/what will happen, you really have to discover the meaning of each sentence and then you begin to picture the scene using only your target language

Check out my other post for methods of how to get the most out of reading !

[spanishskulduggery]

How to use esperar

esperar is one of those basic words in Spanish that you learn pretty early on, not just because it’s a common verb, but because it plays such a large role in understanding the subjunctive mood as well

Here is how you use esperar

There’s no weirdness with esperar from a conjugational perspective. It’s a completely regulary -ar verb… the weirdness comes in just in how it’s used

First, esperar means “to hope” or it also means “to wait (for)” or “to await”. You normally have to use your judgement to decide when it means what, but it’s not usually that difficult:

Eso espero. = I hope so. / That’s what I’m hoping.

Espero que sí. = I hope so. [lit. “I hope that yes”]

Espero que tengas un buen fin de semana. = I hope you have a good weekend.

Estoy esperando su llamada. = I’m waiting for their call.

Espero el autobús. = I’m waiting for the bus.

La espero a ella. = I’m waiting for her. Lo espero a él. = I’m waiting for him.

One important thing to note as far as “to wait” is that the “for” is kind of built into the verb. This is just like buscar which is “to look (for)”

English-speakers have a habit of wanting to add a preposition like por or para to either esperar or buscar because we say “to wait FOR” or “to look FOR”… but the “for” is built into the verb in Spanish in this case.

When you talk about subjunctive, esperar is normally used in the context of “to hope (that something happens)” which is sort of like the desire aspect of subjunctive.

Note: Subjunctive with desire normally has two separate clauses. It’s one person’s desire acting on another. If you hope for something for yourself, that’s indicative.

Espero sentirme mejor. = I hope I feel better. [indicative] Espero poder seguir aprendiendo. = I hope I can keep learning. [indicative]

Espero que te sientas mejor. = I hope (that) you feel better. [subjunctive] Espero que puedas seguir aprendiendo. = I hope (that) you can keep learning.

As far as “to wait”, it can be subjunctive which you would use in the context of “until (something happens)”. This is another aspect of subjunctive which is something like “indefinite events”, that something may or may not happen eventually… but it hasn’t happened yet.

In this case, esperar will take on a que with subjunctive. This a que is a grammatical thing it’s “to wait…. for that (something happens)”.

*As a side note a que shows up in different verbal functions in subjunctive as a way of making it subjunctive… you have obligar which is “to obligate” or “to force”, but as subjunctive obligar a que (haga algo) which is “to obligate/force to do something”. 

That a serves a grammatical function, while the que separates the next conjugated verb in the clause. It can be a confusing thing to try to wrap your head around, I know.

Espero el tren. = I’m waiting for the train. Espero a que llegue el tren. = I’m waiting for the train to come.

Espero la llamada. = I’m waiting for the call. Espero a que me llamen. = I’m waiting for them to call me.

Espero la señal. = I’m waiting for the sign. Espero a que me den la señal. = I’m waiting for you to give me the sign.

You can also change this around and make it a bit personal like… espero tu señal “I’m waiting for your sign” vs. espero a que me des la señal “I’m waiting for you to give me the sign”

But in general the subjunctive esperar and esperar a que are very easy to distinguish, even if it is the same verb:

Espero que me llame mi hermana. = I hope my sister calls me. Espero a que me llame mi hermana. = I’m waiting for my sister to call me.

Espero que llegue el avión. = I hope the plane comes. Espero a que llegue el avión. = I’m waiting for the plan to come.

Espero que vuelvan. = I hope they come back. Espero a que vuelvan. = I’m waiting for them to come back.

[languageaficionado]

Me whenever someone tells me I should only learn one language at a time and I want to learn 5 at once

[worldlychats]

[worldlychats]

17 questions for 17 people

thanks for the tag @kaelen​!

nickname: kelly

zodiac sign: scorpio

height: 5’4”

hogwarts house: ravenclaw

last thing i googled: princess diana (i was listening to the You’re Wrong About podcast series on her and 10/10 would recommend)

song stuck in my head: Too Much Time Together by San Cisco

number of followers: 77

amount of sleep: i slept like a solid 9 hours last night which is a nice break from the usual lmao

lucky number: 14

dream job: i simply do not dream of labor but i’m enjoying my english teaching gig atm so lets go with that for the moment

wearing: gym shirt and shorts because i thought it would inspire me to do some exercise today but alas

favorite song:  currently it’s She’s a Riot by The Jungle Giants (it’s a bop go listen)

favorite instrument: trumpet 🎺🎺🎺

aesthetic: literally just Eleanor Shellstrop from The Good Place

favorite author: currently Roxane Gay

favorite animal noise: very soft cat purr

random: i am a huge fan of bubble tea !

not gonna tag 17 so im tagging 7 (and only if you want to ❤️): @katros @langblr-life @gwendolynlerman @hangugeo @lagom-languages @languagessi @langblr-bbm 

[d-archive1948-deactivated202303]

*Switches languages in mid-sentence while talking to myself*

[worldlychats]

every interaction on masterchef junior españa 8

niñ@ 1: hola

niñ@ 2: hostia que te calles es que me estás agobiando por favor deja de agobiarme es que de momento estoy súper agobiad@ y no quiero que me agobies más

[a-pop-of-korean]

Charts: -(으)면 vs. -다/라면 and Different Ways to Say “And”

안녕하세요!! Hey everyone! I hope y’all have had a safe and happy holiday season!! I have some more charts today to show you the differences between two ways to say “if” and some different ways to say “and.” Check out my full-length lessons on these topics to learn more!

Level 2 / Lesson 2: How to Say “And”

Level 3 / Lesson 1: -(으)면 (If…)

Level 5 / Lesson 7: -ㄴ/는다면 (If)

I hope this clarifies any confusion that these grammar points might cause :) If you want to practice writing and reading Korean with others, join my Discord chat here and my Tumblr chat here!

Want to expand your Korean vocabulary and get closer to fluency? Get Drops Premium using my affiliate link!

If you would like to donate and support this blog and my studies, check out my Ko-Fi! Thank you for your generosity! See you next time! 다음에 봐요!

[worldlychats]

new year new (post by) me

so in classic 2020 fashion, life got itself firmly in the way of my posting for a solid minute there but the challenge still stands and the studying hasn’t stopped!

wishing everyone a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2021! 🥳🥳🥳

~ ~ ~ 306 days to go  ~ ~ ~

[worldlychats]

Exam 3: Diplôme d'études en langue française (DELF) A2 French exam

This is the 3rd and pénultième exam in my language challenge and quite possibly the most difficult!

🌟 why am i doing this ?

French has always seemed like a super interesting language to learn and I’ve always been really intrigued by the phonetics of it, but I was always discouraged from studying it as i am an absolutely atroshis terrible speller. Nevertheless, it’s a language that I’ve always said I’ll ~learn it one day~ and there’s no time like the present 💪

Having basically no prior knowledge of this language (apart from the basics I needed in order to get by when I was travelling through France a couple years back) it will be quite a challenge to go from zéro to A2 in less than a year but I’m very much looking forward to seeing just how far I can get! 

I feel like I may have a slight advantage with French as there are a lot of similarities between it and Spanish, so knowing this language might help a lot in terms of vocab and learning the grammar a bit quicker. Here’s hoping I don’t just muddle them up or getting confused with false friends😅

🌟 when am i gonna do it ?

Depending on which center I end up enrolling in, I’ll either be taking this exam in mid September or early October. I feel like this will be a good time to take this exam as I’ll have plenty of time after the first two exams to focus on French while still being ahead of my birthday deadline in November 🥳🥳🥳

🌟 what will be on the exam ?

There are a LOT of things I’ll need to learn for this exam. Not only is there the huge range of vocab and the many many grammar concepts I’ll need to learn, I’ll also need to know about various socio-cultural practices in French, with a surprising amount of emphasis given to knowing about administrative practices

The format of this exam, especially as it’s for quite a low level, is fairly straightforward. It has the four main language components: reading, listening, writing, and speaking and lasts for just one hour and 45 minutes. According to this,  each of these sections are given as:

Listening comprehension: 25 minutes wherein a handful of short recordings (max. 5 minutes long), are played twice, with topics about everyday life. 

Reading Comprehension: 30 minutes of answering questions on four or five written documents about everyday life.

Writing: 45 minutes to write a letter or message to a friend or family member about a personal experience/event or a greeting card style note to express regret, or congratulate or thank someone

Speaking: a three part section: first, a guided conversation followed by an information exchange scenario and a role play exercise. This section is 20 minutes in total but as part of this I’ll get 10 minutes of preparation time so the actual time I need to speak is limited.

🌟 what will i need to do ?

As I’m basically starting from scratch here, I’ll need to build my way up to A2 just as I would with any other language and learn it all step by step. However, pne of the aspects I know I’ll need to work on the most with French (even more so than the other 3 languages) will definitely be pronunciation and spelling

🌟 how will i study ?

I’ll start with this free! textbook which introduces French grammar and basic vocab 

I’ll also be consulting a few youtube tutorials on French pronunciation to try and start off on the right foot and not end up with any bad pronunciation habits 

I also have the absolute privilege of having a close friend who tutors French to high school students and has offered to help me on my journey! With regular practise I hope I can bring my speaking skills up to speed bientôt 😊

Hopefully once I get a grip on the basics I’ll be able to start tackling more challenging listening and reading exercises and be able to hold conversations! If there are any other French langblrs out there who’d like to practise in the future please give me a shout! Likewise any resources you might know if that could help me out are always super appreciated!

jusqu'à la prochaine fois !

~ ~ ~ 367 days to go  ~ ~ ~

[worldlychats]

Exam 2: Goethe-Zertifikat B1 German exam

The second hurdle for my year-long language exam challenge! 

🌟 why am i doing this?

Everything I learnt my two years of german study at uni has eVAPORATED from my brain after not having practised for quite some time and I’m back for redemption!! When i left uni i would have been pretty solidly at B1 level with german so my goal for this language exam is simply to get myself back to were I was 💪 

With effort I could mayyyyybe go for the B2 exam - that is, if study goes well and I’m able to get myself back up to the level I had when I left uni with time to spare- buuuuuuut for the time being I’d prefer to set my goal as B1 which is much more manageable. If I get near to the exam date and feel like I’ve got my skills up to a passable B2 standard I might revise this goal 😎

imho German is such an awesome language to learn and I really enjoyed my classes at uni so i’m definitely looking forward to diving right back in! I also have a few friends who are German native speakers or living in a German speaking country and learning the language so I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to practise with them (and any other German speaker/learner here who is up for a chat!)

🌟 when am i gonna do it?

The actual exam dates in the center I’m likely to take this exam in have not yet been posted for 2021, but it looks like the B1 exam is held a coupe of times a year - with any luck I hope to sit this exam in around July 2021. However if i do end up feeling brave and going for the B2 this might be pushed back a bit  ✌️

🌟 what will be on the exam?

in a very helpful move, the Goethe Institute has written on their website (in English) the main assessable goals for the B1 exam:

understand the main points of information in conversations and texts on familiar matters relating to work, school and leisure time, etc. when clear, standard language is used,

deal with most situations typically encountered when travelling in German-speaking countries,

express yourself simply and coherently when talking about familiar topics and areas of personal interest,

report on experiences and events, describe dreams, hopes and ambitions as well as make short statements and explanations.

Like most other language exams, there will be four main parts: reading, listening, writing and speaking and these components together will have a total run time of 3 hours (and I might be able to take the sections on different days? its unclear but huge if true)

🌟 what will i need to do?

first step will 100% be revising everything I learnt grammar-wise at uni and jogging my memory on all the vocab i learnt (i’m sure it’s all tucked away in my brain somewhere,,, memrise and quizlet here i come 😅) 

this exam will be quite a challenge because in some ways i feel like i’m really starting from scratch again but hopefully i’ll be able to pick it up again fairly easily. this is also a good level to be coming back to because a lot of what is covered on this exam are general topics so in this case I’m looking to study topics more freely for a bit and get a feel for the language again, but sooner rather than later i’ll focusing in on the exact questions and format of the exam itself (many thanks @lagom-languages​ for your advice on this!)

🌟 how will i study?

the really awesome thing about learning German is that there is an AMPLE amount of free online resources to get stuck into (like easy to read news, slow german podcasts etc) so little by little, each week I’ll be working on reading and listening that way, and practicing writing responses/summaries of what I read. All this plus an occasional chat with a willing speaking partner and following a textbook for grammar exercises should be a good way to get started!

If anyone has any specific recommendations for A2-B1 level resources that I’ve missed here, or any other tips in general pls let me know! 

another super long post from me (only 2 more to go 😅) so thank you to anyone who’s read to the end of this plus a huge thanks to everyone who’s already reached out to help me!! 

~ ~ ~ 367 days to go  ~ ~ ~

[worldlychats]

a e s t h e t i c s

thanks for tagging me @rainie-day 😄

closed curtains or open window / bumblebees or butterflies / banana bread or cheesecake / tulips or roses / lemon & honey or apple & cinnamon / hillside cottage or city apartment / warm or cold / book or video game / organized bullet journal or cluttered sketchbook / smoothie or milkshake / sunshine or moonlight / relaxing or productivity / holding hands or back hugs / sunset at the beach or stargazing in a field / poetry or prose / candle or diffuser / longing for the past or longing for the future / vocals or instrumentals / snowy mountain or rolling green hills

tagging (only if you want!): @katros @langblr-life @lagom-languages @gwendolynlerman @hangugeo

[matou-en-peluche]

Let’s Learn French with the cat! (Part One) - Matou en Peluche

[worldlychats]

Primeros pasos

I disappeared for a while so here’s an update! More about the actual exams up soon ✌ 

Scroll to the end for English and if you have ganas I’d super appreciate any corrections for errors I make! (not in the english part though - pls let me be a bad speller in peace haha)

¿qué has hecho esta semana?

Al principio de este proyecto de exámenes de lenguas tenía muchas ganas de estudiar todas las lenguas a la vez, aunque supiera que no fue la mejor idea porque iba a abarcar más de lo que pude e iba a terminar con el desgaste muy temprano 😅 Por eso, decidí comenzar con unos pasos pequeños para ayudarme formar buenos hábitos y no inundarme con tareas

(y también pq acabo de empezar en un nuevo puesto de trabajo y no he tenido mucho tiempo libre esta semana jaja)

E N T O N C E S

Esta semana se me he dedicado al español y he empezado unas nuevas actividades para cada destreza del lenguaje 😃

Lectura: a través de la app de la biblioteca pública en mi ciudad, puedo descargar libros electrónicos y para empezar, he seleccionado una novela para jóvenes - Invisible por Eloy Moreno  

Trata de un chico que ha desarrollado superpoderes y se ha vuelto invisible, pero por causa de un “accidente” ha perdido sus poderes y se coloca en un hospital psiquiátrico.

Es un libro bastante fácil de leer, salvo que ningún de los personajes han sido presentados con sus nombres propios y se refieren solo con descripciones (p. ej. el chico exinvisible, la niña de las cien pulseras en la mano, el chico con nueve dedos y medio etc). Eso me confunda un poco de vez en cuando porque encima se narra la historia por cambiar con frecuencia la perspectiva de los personajes y a veces es difícil saber quién exactamente está contando la historia jaja

Leer este libro me hizo dar cuenta de que tengo deficiencias en mi vocabulario para los partes del cuerpo (los que son más específicos que cabeza, hombros rodillas, pies...) así que he hecho una poca de revisión sobre este tema también✌

Comprensión auditiva: he descargado el podcast War of Words que trata de la lingüística - es una buena manera de practicar la comprensión auditiva y también repasar lo que estudié en mi título universitario 😊

Escritura: pues escribir esto cuenta, ¿no? 😅😅😅 (¡por favor corrígeme mis errores! 🙏)

Expresión oral: tampoco mucho esta semana, pero tuve que hacer un poco de trabajo administrativo por teléfono y para mí eso vale como práctica

Gramática: he estado usando el app ConjuGato para practicar conjugando verbos en el presente y el pretérito simple. Es súper divertido y un día compraré la versión premium para poder practicar con más verbos y con más formas (el imperfecto, subjuntivo etc)

Entonces, aunque esta semana no ha sido llena de estudiar estoy bastante contenta con lo que logré! Poco a poco alcanzaré mi objetivo 💪

~ English ~

¿what have you done this week?

When i first started this language project I was keen to start studying all 4 languages at once even though i knew that it wouldn’t be the best idea as I would be biting off way more than I could chew and would probably end up burning out pretty early on 😅 So I decided to start small to help me form good habits and to not overwhelm myself with work

(and also bc i just started at a new workplace and I’ve been pretty stretched for time this week lmao)

SO

This week I’ve dedicated myself to my Spanish study and I started some new activities for each of the language skills 😃

Reading: through the app that my city’s public library has I’m able to download ebooks and to kick us off I chose a youth fiction novel -  Invisible by Eloy Moreno

this story is about a boy who develops superpowers and turns himself invisible, but due to an “accident” he loses his powers and finds himself in a psychiatric hospital.

It’s a pretty easy book to read, except for the fact that none of the characters are presented with their names and they are only referred to by descriptions (eg. the boy who is no longer invisible, the girl with 100 bracelets on her arm, the boy with nine and a half fingers etc). This confuses me a bit every now and then bc on top of this the narration of the story changes quite frequently between characters and sometimes it’s difficult to know exactly who’s telling the story lmao

Reading this book has also made me realise that i have some gaps in my vocabulary concerning the names of body parts (the parts that are more specific than head, shoulders, knees, and toes...) so I’ve done a bit of revision on that topic too

Listening: I’ve downloaded a podcast called War of Words which is all about linguistics - it’s a good way to practise both my listening skills and also revise what i learnt in my uni degree 😊

Writing: writing all this counts, right? 😅😅😅

Speaking: I haven’t done too much on this skill this week, but i did have to make some work calls in Spanish which to me counts as practise

Grammar: I’ve been using the app  Conjugato to practise conjugating verbs in present and simple past tense. It’s actually super fun and one of these days I’ll invest in the premium version so that I can practise with more verbs and more verb forms (inc. the imperfect, the subjunctive etc)

So although this week wasn’t study-heavy I’m still pretty happy with what I’ve managed to achieve so far! Little by little I’ll get there 💪

~ ~ ~ 377 days to go  ~ ~ ~