beast-learns-language

[beast-learns-language]

Heyo Profe 🍓:

What are the proper ways to express dismissive attitudes? I heard of "Y qué a mí?" Does that have the same connotation as "Whatever"? Or is it "como lo que sea"(which feels Spanglish to me)?

I typically see it like ¿A mí qué? though it's like "so what?" more literally "what does that have to do with me" as the a mí is "to me" and it gets used in sentences like a mí me importa "it matters to me" etc. It's just like "and that concerns me how?"

lo que sea is "whatever"; which can be used like English as an actual part of a sentence "whatever it is" ...or a dismissive response "whatever"

Other expressions you might see/use to be dismissive:

No tiene nada que ver conmigo. = It has nothing to do with me. [lit. "it has nothing to see with me"; tener que ver con (algo/alguien) is "to have to do with (something/someone)"; so you could use this like no tiene nada que ver con ella "it has nothing to do with her", los informes no tienen nada que ver contigo "the reports have nothing to do with you"... parts of the expression can change]

Nada que ver. = Unrelated. [a shortened version of the above; more common to say no tiene nada que ver or no tienen nada que ver "it/they're unrelated"]

Me da igual. = I don't care. / It's all the same to me. [lit. "it gives me the same"]

¿Qué más da? = Who cares? / No matter. / It doesn't matter. / Oh well. [lit. "what more does it give?" same idea as above it's just like "eh oh well" most of the time]

¿Ah sí? = Oh yeah? / Oh really? / Is that right? / Is that so? [can be snippy; can be just a short response]

Ajá. = Uh-huh. [can be an affirmative response or like the bored "uh-huh"; depends on your tone of voice]

No me importa. = I don't care. ¿A quién le importa? = Who cares.

No me digas. = You don't say. [can be sarcastic; literally it's "don't tell me"]

¿Y bien? = So? / So what? / Well?

Ya lo veremos. = We'll see. / We'll see about that. [potentially dismissive or potentially a wait and see sort of thing - I've used it to be like "I don't really know but we'll find out" or I've said it in a way like "let's wait and see what they have to say about it" sort of like not wanting to argue about it further]

No tiene sentido. = That doesn't make sense.

There are a handful of expressions that describe indifference like ni fu ni fa or a mí ni fu ni fa which is like "no matter" or "it makes no nevermind to me" almost

...

I will also include a handful of negation words/expressions. These generally just express a no, but they could be dismissive or they could be just an emphatic no. It's really contextually driven as they aren't necessarily rude but they're a very strong no.

En absoluto. = No way. / Absolutely not.

Ni modo. = No way.

Qué va. = No way.

Also para nada is like "at all" or "not at all" and it can be used in some expressions like no sirve para nada "it's totally useless" or "it's completely useless"

But para nada can also be used as a response. Someone might be like "oh I'm so sorry" and a response can be para nada "oh no worries" or "don't even worry about it"

...

There are some that I think might apply but they're not always dismissive. Like ¿y eso? is a bit of a normal response it's like "how come?" or "why's that?" or just asking for clarification on something or more information, but you could potentially ask it sarcastically.

Another two to keep in mind:

No te incumbe. = It has nothing to do with you. / It's not your business. [which can be snippy; if I'm trying to be polite I say con todo el respeto no te incumbe "with all due respect it's none of your business" which is firmer but not totally disrespectful; another more literal version is no es asunto tuyo which is "it's no business of yours"]

The snippier way to say this is métete en tus asuntos which is "mind your business" - literally "put yourself in your (own) affairs". This can be changed for politeness or plural... métanse en sus asuntos is plural for example like if you were addressing a bunch of people. I definitely heard a few teachers say this to us students.

Now this one is absolutely dismissive and is meant to put someone in their place:

¿Quién te ha dado vela en este entierro? = And what business is that of yours?

Literally it's "who gave you a candle in this funeral/burial?" - the idiomatic expression comes from giving a candle to the family members of the deceased at a funeral.

The implication here is "Why do you think you get a say in the matter?" ...just basically saying hey this isn't your business and you don't get an opinion

[beast-learns-language]

my tumblr app has been in italian for so long that i sometimes forget it is and ill see an anonymous ask which will read as "anomino" and every time i will instinctually think "man that's a stupid username" before remembering

[beast-learns-language]

I'd like to direct anyone who is learning, or might want to learn a language to Refold. It is a free resource that has been an invaluable tool for me that covers how to learn languages and gives you a nice roadmap to follow. The more popular languages even have a roadmap tailored to them.

[beast-learns-language]

having tumblr in italian is all fun and games until i go to save a picture from a post and am confronted with the fact that i have forgotten every single verb that has to do with computers and technology ever, and, refusing to look up anything, stubbornly resign myself to potentially accidentally texting every contact in my phone a stupid meme or something

[beast-learns-language]

I keep mistaking the German words “wirklich” and “wichtig” and the difference is really important

[beast-learns-language]

how can any language be ‘ugly’ if it’s always also the language passed along from a mother to her child, the language of two lovers in the dark, the language of stories told by grandfathers, the language of vows and eulogies, the language of learning and singing and feeling and connection and culture… how is all of that not inherently beautiful

[beast-learns-language]

Folgen Sie uns auf YouTube

www.youtube.com/learngermann

[beast-learns-language]

I really fucking love the Swedish expression "intelligensbefriad" = "freed from intelligence"

Like, you've left that intelligence behind, you're free to be an idiot now

[beast-learns-language]

[beast-learns-language]

does anyone else talk to their pets in their target language(s)

[beast-learns-language]

maybe it's better to learn a language slowly. maybe we're too obsessed with things happening as quickly as possible. maybe it's more beautiful to dedicate years of your life to a language and have it grow with you as you journey through life rather than "become fluent in one week!". idk just a thought.

[beast-learns-language]

German idioms with colours 🎨🖌️

der Schwarzmaler -> "the black-painter" (i.e. someone who paints something black) = someone who always looks on the negative side of things; a pessimist

ein Schuss ins Blaue; ins Blaue raten/schießen -> "a shot into the blue" / "to guess/shoot into the blue" = a shot in the dark; to make a wild guess about something (example: "Ich schieße mal ins Blaue und rate, dass dein Date nicht gut gelaufen ist.")

rotsehen -> "to see red" = to see red; to get angry about something (example: "Wenn jemand über andere Leute lästert, sehe ich rot.")

grünes Licht geben -> "to give green light" = to give the go-ahead for something (example: "Mein Chef hat mir grünes Licht für das Projekt gegeben.")

blau sein -> "to be blue" = to be drunk (example: "Er hat viel zu viel getrunken. Er ist total blau.")

blaumachen -> "to make blue" = to skive off / skip something, e.g. school or work (example: "Mein Kumpel und ich haben heute blaugemacht und waren im Kino.")

etwas durch die rosarote Brille sehen -> "to see something through pink-red glasses" = to see the world in a (delusionally and naively) positive way (example: "Sie ist frisch verliebt und sieht die Welt durch die rosarote Brille.")

das Gelbe vom Ei -> "the yellow of the egg" = the best/most favorable part of something (example: "Ich war gestern auf einem tollen Konzert. Aber das Gelbe vom Ei war, als mein Lieblingssänger mir ein Autogramm gegeben hat!")

schwarz auf weiß -> "black on white" = undeniable, guaranteed (example: "Dein gebrochenes Bein zeigt schwarz auf weiß, dass du nicht skateboarden kannst.")

eine weiße Weste haben -> "to have a white waistcoat / vest" = to be innocent (example: "Ich habe mich geirrt. Sie war es nicht; sie hat eine weiße Weste.")

grün hinter den Ohren -> "green behind the ears" = to be young and inexperienced (often used in a negative way) (example: "Du bist viel zu jung für so viel Verantwortung. Du bist ja noch grün hinter den Ohren!")

ein blaues Wunder erleben -> "to experience a blue miracle" = to be in for a nasty surprise; to get the shock of one's life (sometimes used as a threat by parents) (example: "Wenn du nicht sofort dein Zimmer aufräumst wirst du ein blaues Wunder erleben!")

Lmk if you have these idioms in your language as well!

[beast-learns-language]

Esperanto learning ressources and content:

The American Esperantist, short video lessons (no more than 10 minutes) that will tell you 90% of Duolingo grammar.

Mazi en Gondolando, a movie that teach you esperanto, now with subtiles as well. If the link doesn't work you can find the movie on the American Esperantist channel as well.

Exploring Esperanto, a youtube channel with 50 lessons both grammar and vocab.

Lernu.net, THE website to learn esperanto.

Readlang, website where you can read in another language and have the translation of words you don't know by clicking on them. Has a beta in esperanto.

Glosle eo-en, one of the best dictionnary out there, as far as I know.

There is always duolingo, but eo grammar is really easy so I would recommend investing the one hour you need to learn it before going into duolingo blind.

Content:

Chelsea Rae Moses channel, learning language videos, interviews, travel vlogs most of them in esperanto.

Kolekto de Hersko, jutubo kanalo making videos about horror stories, in esperanto, subtitled in esperanto.

Exploring Esperanto, the channel has a bunch of media in Esperanto as well, movies, short stories with vocab indicated.

Keep it Simple, channel with explicative videos about esperanto, vlogs, language learning videos of other language.

Easy Esperanto 1, if you want to listen to people from a bunch of countries speaking esperanto this is the video.

[beast-learns-language]

heyo! since you’re “against gender asterisks” in german, how do you personally go about addressing gender neutrality in the language?

I know this isn't a perfect solution but I've been defaulting to the masculine noun like in English. I also wouldn't mind defaulting to the feminine version tbh as long as we all pick one.

I'm also in favour of gender neutral neopronouns (specifically "hen" I love that one let's normalise it please).

I'm personally just pissed off that people tell me that the asterisk is suuuper feminist because (and this is something people actually said to me) "men and women are included and the asterisk is for those transexual people". People can disagree with me but I personally as a non-binary person don't want to represented by a punctuation mark.

So many people are acting like they solved sexism and transphobia because they use "gender-neutral" language. Some time ago I had to be in a zoom meeting and everyone pat themselves on their back for being so feminist and queer friendly and then required everyone to share pronouns and threw masc presenting people out of the meeting because it was for FLINTA ("women, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, transgender, and agender") and "they didn't look like they belonged".

[beast-learns-language]

I was just doing a Duolingo lesson and was asked to translate "I think that they don't know us." It said the correct answer was "Creo que no nos conocen," but from what I've learned in classes I thought that you would use subjuntivo here (creo que no nos conozcan) because "creer" and "conocer" have different subjects. Would you be able to explain this concept for me?

It's a weird quirk but essentially it comes down to creer vs. no creer; if it's positive it's indicative, if it's negative, it's subjunctive

Creo que nos conocen. = I believe they know us. No creo que nos conozcan. = I don't believe they know us.

In your case - creo que no nos conocen "I believe they don't know us" is an expression of certainty

If you wrote it as negative, no creo que nos conozcan "I don't believe they know us" it becomes an expression of doubt

-

In affirmative, your beliefs and thoughts are counted as certainties so they're indicative. In negative, they're uncertainties and doubts so they're subjunctive

Creo que es azul. = I believe it's blue. No creo que sea azul. = I don't believe it's blue. Pienso que hay comida. = I think there's food. No pienso que haya comida. = I don't think there will be food. Estoy seguro/a de que son amigos. = I'm sure they're friends. No estoy seguro/a de que sean amigos. = I'm not sure they're friends. [or "I'm not sure (if) they're friends"]

In the case of subjunctive clauses like this, you're going based on the first verb and how it affects the second clause...... which is just another way to say creo affects the second clause by making it indicative as a statement of belief or probability, and no creo makes the second clause open to doubt and interpretation

In other words, it's the creer that affects the mood conjugation of conocer; it's not a matter of different subjects here

[beast-learns-language]

Vergesst Computermäuse! Ich hätte lieber eine Computerratte.

[beast-learns-language]

I, for one, love what German does with the English language.