lingdragon

[lingdragon]

How to study languages without studying

Whether you're just starting out and have had bad experiences with textbook learning in the past or are getting burnt out from prepping for the next proficiency test, it's never a bad idea to put the textbooks away for a time and just enjoy your target language. If you're new to the world of immersion, here are a few ways to get you started.

Follow along with the lyrics of a song. Spotify's not-so-new-anymore lyrics feature is great for this, especially since it has timed lyrics, but it doesn't have every song.

Expert mode: Write out the lyrics and underline/highlight/make note of all the words and grammar structures you don't know. Learn these unknowns until you can understand the whole song!

Extra challenge: Translate a song from your target language. I usually tend to stay away from translations in my study, but for those of you who aspire to be translators (or already are!), the poetic nature of song lyrics can be a fun challenge.

Watch a show or movie. Netflix has now introduced a feature where you can sort by language! If there's nothing made in your language that you're interested in, it also gives the option to sort by shows and movies that have the audio or subtitles available. Internet Archive also tends to have lots of foreign films that I'm looking for.

Easy mode: Watch with English or your native language subtitles. When doing this, try to still listen to what's being said and pick up on words and phrases that you know, or match new words with their translation in the subtitles. Note: reading one language and listening to another is a skill in and of itself! Don't be discouraged if you can't do both at the same time yet, you're brain is still making the connections in intonation and cadence of the language.

Hard mode: Watch with captions in your target language. This helps you connect listening and reading, especially in languages where the spelling isn't exactly phonetic, or it uses a different alphabet than what you're used to.

Expert mode: No captions or subtitles! But who knows, maybe you're better at listening comprehension than I am. Make sure you're getting comprehensible input here; some shows and movies are much harder than others. But above all else, watch what keeps your interest. A movie where you can catch half the dialogue but is super engaging is better for you than an "easy" movie that you're going to spend your time ignoring.

Polyglot mode?: Watch something in your target language with subtitles in a different target language. This adds just one too many layers of obfuscation for me, but if you're into the challenge, more power to you.

Watch YouTube. You can change your language preference on YouTube, and with that, the Explore section will give you recommendations in your target language. Going into the trending tab with your target language can give you a good idea about what people are interested in in the countries where your target language is spoken.

Read something. It can be a book, it can be a comic. There are plenty of webcomics out there in a number of languages! There's also probably an English language listicle with recommendations of easier to understand webcomics for learners, too.

If you're just getting started in immersion, you can choose whether you focus on intensive reading or extensive reading (this actually goes for all kinds of immersion, but is easiest to control with reading since it happens at your own pace). Intensive reading is reading with the goal of understanding everything 100%. If you don't understand a word, or a grammar point, or the reading of a character, look it up. Extensive reading is reading just to get the gist of things. Look up words and grammar points only if they stop you from understanding the general meaning of the sentence or section. And of course, the more you immerse, the less you'll have to look things up, but remember that difficulty varies between materials, even within books of the same age range, genre, and medium.

A small digression: If you decide that you never want to open a textbook on your language learning journey, more power to you! It can be done and I know people who have gotten to proficient levels of their target language without textbooks. If you want this to be you, extensive immersion is your best friend. You also might want to get comfortable with the flashcard program anki, because, if this is your goal, all those unknown grammar points and words will probably end up there. But at the end of the day, language learning is an intensely personal journey, and what works for others won't necessarily work for you. Finding what works for you is just part of learning a language.

Play a game. Lots of games are region locked (hint: Pokemon Sun/Moon isn't! If you start a new game, you can choose which language you want to play it in), but there are plenty of free online games still lurking in the corners of the internet. With a bit of googling, you can probably find something in your target language. Just the other day, I went out to find one of those hidden item games in Japanese and ended up finding an entire site dedicated to user made browser games.

If you're learning Japanese or Korean, picrew might be fun to look through as well. I noticed that plenty of picrews have basic anatomy vocabulary. I'm not super familiar with picrew myself, but the ones I've seen tend to be in Korean and Japanese

And lastly, don't fully give up on textbooks before trying them out. Don't be discouraged if textbooks truly aren't your thing, but studying a language on your own time can feel much different than studying for school. Don't put too much pressure on yourself and just have fun with your language. Additionally, if you'd rather learn in a video format, many languages have full courses uploaded to YouTube for you to try. Finding these can be difficult for some languages though, so don't hesitate to reach out to other learners and see what they recommend!

Got your materials ready? Great! Now go forth and immerse!

[lingdragon]

People always ask me how I learn languages! Well, I sit down and study. Sometimes I stand up and study. And no, there are no shortcuts. You actually have to engage with a language for hours to learn it. Even people who learn how to speak languages by speaking have to go up to other people and talk at length. Also, knowing how to speak 20 phrases you've memorized is not speaking a language. That's what people selling phrasebooks and premium study plans on youtube wants you to believe. Sorry. It actually takes years for you to become good at a target language. You'll just have to find a way to make those years bearable. Sorry again.

[lingdragon]

Look, I knew five languages by age 19 and now I am learning like 3 more. I work as a language instructor and a consultant. If I can give language learners only one advice, this is it.

STOP LEARNING WORDS ON ITS OWN.

You're doing yourself a disservice by learning lists of "30 words you must know!" "100 most common words!" like it literally means nothing if you cannot use those words in an appropriate context with proper grammar. So what you actually need to do is learn those words via example sentences.

Of course, sentences have more words so you may think you're learning less but you're actually learning the way to use it in context. That's what's important.

Language is about communication, which also means if you want to learn languages, you have to observe how people communicate with each other universally. Native speakers never have a list of words they know and they don't count every single new word they've learned. So why are you doing it to yourself? What native speakers do is listen to the new word, remember the context they're spoken in, and keep using that word in that context. And that's why people go "wait, you can use that word LIKE THAT?" all the time. So you, a language learner, are also allowed to do that. I'm not even saying those word lists are useless but they're the most useful AFTER you've known most of them and are trying to go over them for practice etc. Native speakers do click on those word lists to check out how many words they don't know or to remind themselves of those words or to learn some facts about each word. That should be your goal as well.

Learn sentences. Learn them in context. Do not fall into the "I must know xx amount of words or I'm a failure at language learning" trap perpetuated by bloggers or youtubers or whatever. Have fun with it!

[lingdragon]

Duolingo Sucks, Now What?: A Guide

Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:

"I just want an identical experience to DL"

Busuu (Languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Korean)

"I want a good audio-based app"

Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)

"I want a good audio-based app and money's no object"

Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)

Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)

*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.

"I have a pretty neat library card"

Mango (Languages: So many and the endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)

"I want SRS flashcards and have an android"

AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)

"I want SRS flashcards and I have an iphone"

AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone

"I don't mind ads and just want to learn Korean"

lingory

"I want an app made for Mandarin that's BETTER than DL and has multiple languages to learn Mandarin in"

ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)

"I don't like any of these apps you mentioned already, give me one more"

Bunpo: (Languages: Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Mandarin)

[lingdragon]

✨How to Study Languages When You’re BUSY✨

school is just around the corner, and i know that once school starts, i’ll have less and less time to study languages. as students, we can’t avoid crazy schedules, especially with all the lectures, labs, and extracurricular activities interrupting our perfect duolingo streaks! but there are ways you can still keep up with learning a language, even when you’re busy! here are some tips to keep up with a new language.

squeeze language practice into your every day schedule - even just 5 minutes a day! you don’t need to spend an hour everyday on learning languages. you can practice for as little 5 minutes a day, as long as you do it everyday. 5 minutes before you go to bed, on your transit to school or work, when you’re eating lunch, before classes start - you can always find at least 5 minutes to work on duolingo practices or refresh memrise vocab lists. for duolingo and memrise, make sure to set a daily goal - this will motivate you to maintain those streaks, encouraging you to practice everyday!

don’t overestimate how much you’ll be able to accomplish each day. i used to set my duolingo daily goal super high, and when i don’t meet the goal for that day or miss a streak, it’s easy to feel discouraged. AVOID OVER-REACHING. set practical, realistic goals for yourself. you can always overachieve those smaller goals and feel better about yourself. don’t be afraid to take it slow!

treat language studying as a class and block a schedule for yourself in your routine. if you’re super motivated into learning languages, treat it more as class than as a hobby. this means you have to get organized. like you would for a class, set a designated time block to study the language. for example, twice a week tuesday and thursday, 30 minutes each after lunch. in those designed time blocks, you can focus on sharpening those language skills by learning more in-depth grammar points, reading a short piece, listening to dialogues, or watching a short video in your target language. doing this will make sure you’re not just scratching the surface - you will actually progress.

engage in passive learning. this is perfect for when you’re busy. listen to music in your target language, listen to podcasts when you’re exercising, watch movies or tv shows (even with subtitles is ok!), switch your phone and other devices into your target language. 

do something fun with your target language to spark continuous interest. once in a while, come up with fun and interesting projects you can do with your target language! for example, if there’s a song you love, translate the lyrics! watched a good movie recently? look at the screenplay and analyze your favorite dialogues, and make sure to break down new vocabs and grammar. transform your favorite quotes into an artwork and hang it in your room! get creative and do something you’ll enjoy.

record your progress and your accomplishments! this is super helpful for organizing your studying progress, seeing how far you’ve gone, and celebrating your accomplishments. 

set long term goals to keep motivated. you can scratch the surface with that 5 minutes per day routine, but to truly get anywhere with a new language, make sure you’re setting long term goals! that is, by the end of the year, what will you want to be able to do? do you want to read harry potter entirely in your target language? be able to hold a conversation with a native speaker? watch movies without subtitles? travel to the country? these are the type of questions you should ask yourself.

good luck everyone! and have a wonderful semester!

[lingdragon]

Canzoni di Natale

Xmas songs, as I promised.

We do sing / listen to the International songs like Jingle Bells, Silent Night, White Christmas, Oh Happy Days and so on, but we do have a few (translated and not) in Italian that are quite commonly played and sang in the Christmas holidays:

Tu scendi dalle stelle

Auguri di buon Natale e felice anno nuovo

Jingle Bells (Italiano) | Din Don Dan

Astro del ciel | Notte santa

Bianco Natale

Oh Albero

A Natale puoi

( 20 songs compilation )

( 30 songs compilation )

On youtube you can find many more, but I think these ones are the most famous anyway.

[lingdragon]

ALLORA is a very common interjection. Can be used as: “Allora… parlami di te” = “So… tell me about you” or “Farò come mi hai consigliato tu, allora” = “I’ll do as you suggested me, then” or “E allora hai ragione tu!” = “Ok then it’s you the one who is right!” when arguing.

Allora is used also as an adverb of time, to talk about another age or in fixed expressions (related with time): - it translates as “in that moment”, “at the time” (back then), “for that time”. It might translates as “then” to speak about the future (or for specific past situations): Allora non c’erano le gonne corte = At the time there weren’t short skirts. Da allora in poi = from that moment on (fixed) Fino ad allora = until that moment/time (fixed) Per allora = for that time/era (works both for past and future: Per allora era/sarà un gran cambiamento = for that time it was/will be a huge change) Quando ti sarai fatto la mia esperienza, allora potrai parlare = when you’ll get the experience I have, then you’ll be allowed to speak. La vidi e allora le corsi incontro = I saw her and then/in that moment I ran to her

- can work as an adjective (fixed) or a conjunction (conclusive or exclamative/interrogative): L’allora presidente = The president back then (adj.) OR Il presidente di allora (in this case it can be used both ways) Allora non parlo più = I won’t talk anymore then Allora, che facciamo? = So, what do we do? E allora fallo! = Do it then!

- can be used in some expressions to stress the meaning/situations. It translates “at the moment” “in that moment”: fu allora che (mi arrabbiai) - it was in that moment that (I got angry) allora sì che (mi vidi perduto) - it was exactly in that moment that (I found myself lost)

Some more examples: La moda di oggi è diversa da quella di allora. = Modern fashion is quite different from the one of the time. Gli artigiani di allora = the artisans of the past

[lingdragon]

Learning by doing: my approach to self-studying languages

Hi! I have a very short attention span, and I have never really been able to make it through a course or textbook without giving up straight away, so I have never really been able to learn languages in the traditional way. I also very easily get bored with learners material, so I mostly stick to native material to consume my target language. Here is how I do it at the beginner level! 

I usually start off with an app to learn the basics of the alphabet,  vocabulary and grammar. Most of the times, I use Duolingo. I rarely get past the first few units before I jump into native material. Still, this is a good jumping off point.

When I start with native material, I usually use YouTube videos (with subtitles in the target language), and focus on spoken language, because spoken language is less overwhelming, and involves less complex language and grammar. At this point, I find that books are far too dense and complex for me to handle. Others might enjoy the challenge. My current favourites for this are LingoPie (for French, Spanish, German, Italian and Russian) and Viki (for Korean, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese).

I learn the most important words and phrases as I go. I do NOT look up every word, unless I can understand at least 70% of the language. For this, I will try and write the words and phrases down, and memorise them. I might use a flashcard app too (Anki is my fave, but Quizlet and Memrise are good too). For languages like Japanese and Chinese that have lots of characters to memorise, I will use an app (wanikani and chineasy are my faves). I always make sure that I know how to pronounce and understand each word or phrase.

I will start texting native speakers in my target language on apps like Tandem and HelloTalk. I look up words as I go, and will ocasionally try speaking.

I start shadowing (i.e. repeat after native speakers, imitating the intonation and pronunciation). I use Easy Languages for this.

After a while, I start reading. I’ll usually start with wikihow articles, or fluentu articles in my target language. I’ll write down new words, test myself on them until I get them correct, and then put them into anki to review.

After a while, I’ll formally study some grammar. I’ll usually use a textbook for this. However, I don’t necessarily do it in a traditional way. I go through the entire textbook and make a cheat sheet which condenses all the information in it to a few pages. I’ll review it regularly, and do LOTS of writing practice. For irregular verbs, I’ll just use flashcards, and write them down repeatedly.

Then, I’ll get a speaking buddy (I usually find one on discord) and speak with them a few times a week.

After a while of doing all of this, I start reading fanfiction (usually translations of my faves). It’s difficult, but I try to read intensively (i.e. look up every word).

At this point, I start journaling, and posting on the website journaly.

I’ll listen to podcasts like innovative languages, coffee break languages and language transfer. These are usually good for learning about grammar.

I start intensively reading serious content once I feel like I’m at a confident B1 level. I would suggest using proper newspapers (like le monde for French or BBC for English) and try studying one article daily. After a while, you can start reading a YA book (try something you’ve never read before in any language). Study it chapter by chapter fairly intensively, and then reread it again and again until you understand the story. After you’re finished with a chapter, put the new vocabulary into an app and review fairly regularly.

At the B1 level, listen using two sources: intermediate podcasts and native material. Intermediate podcasts are usually labelled as such, and are IN the target language, but about various topics, like culture or history (innovative languages have some, for french there is inner french, piece of french, news in slow french and RFI:Savoirs, for Spanish there is dreaming Spanish and news in slow spanish, and for Korean there is Iyagi). For native material, continue watching youtube videos about topics that interest you, and consider watching both the news and films/TV shows.

At this point you should be able to construct gramatically correct (mostly - if you still have problems then go through a grammar course, or work through a textbook) and fairly complex texts. I would suggest now learning some essay phrases and writing an essay. You’ll be terrible at first, BELIEVE me, but the more you practice the better you get. You could also start trying to write fanfiction (tip: use full phrases you have found in other books or fanfiction).

Continue doing what you are doing (reading intensively and widely, speaking with your buddy, listening, writing essays and short stories) and I think that after a while you will be able to say you are conversational in another language.

Thanks for reading this post! I hope it was useful! (Also haha ig my break from langblr is over lol).

[lingdragon]

I nomi alterati: diminutivi, vezzeggiativi, accrescitivi, peggiorativi/dispregiativi

Disclaimer: this subject is often rated as C2 level, so it's okay if you don't get it well at first or... even at all in this moment (depends on your Italian knowledge).

Altered nouns are used to refer to things, people, animals that, compared with the "standard version" of the same thing, person, animal, have a different characteristic (generally related to the noun's quality and quantity). e.g.: casa = house; casina = little house (nome alterato: diminutivo = smaller version of a casa).

You create the nomi alterati by adding a different suffix to your word, according on the type of alteration you need for your word (that generally can be: a noun, an adjective or an adverb). There are 4 types of nomi alterati (and possible alterations you can make): diminutivi (smaller), accrescitivi (bigger), vezzeggiativi (cuter) and peggiorativi/dispregiativi (worse/bad). -> BEWARE: no matter the type they belongs to, all altered noun can be changed in gender/number so that they relate to the actual subject/noun (animal, thing, person) you need to refer to.

DIMINUTIVI

Diminutivi are suffix that refer to a reduction in quality or quantity (also size/age) of a noun. By using them, you want to share an idea of something being smaller. The most used endings are: -ino (the most used prob.), -etto, -ello [here you find the masculine singular version, but ofc you can conjugate them in all genders and numbers, as mentioned above].

e.g. paese = village -> paesino, paesello (more common ones); paesetto (more rare) = small village

Other endings are: -icino, -icello, -olo (you can add, between the root of a noun and the diminutivo ending, the interfix: -ic- or -ol-):

e.g. posto = place -> posticino = small place (postino = postman, mail deliverer: using the interfix can help you distinguish the two, but it's not always so)

e.g. topo = mouse -> topolino/topino = little mouse (topolino may also look as a vezzeggiativo tbh: cute little mouse) [check the vezzeggiativi explanation and the mixed section at the end of this post]

Diminutivi can also used as to "offend" someone but in a lighter/cuter way? Like joking, flirting... it feels the meaning isn't as strong as if you were really angry at them. It may be used with kids too when they do/say stupid things just because it makes you/them laugh:

e.g. stupido, sciocco = stupid -> stupidino, sciocchino = little stupid person

Very commonly used are (also with different acception, as to be ironic):

e.g. attimo = moment -> attimino = little moment ("stai fermo un attimino!" = stand still for a moment! -to kids)

e.g. sconto = discount -> sconticino = little discount (when trying to get a discount, maybe it's easier to ask -and receive- a sconticino than a sconto e.g. on a bill: "...uno sconticino? *cute eyes*" = "...a little discount?")

e.g. carattere = character -> caratterino = little character or small ego (but actually the meaning is ironic here: that person has a strong will/big ego or is very fixed in their intentions: "che caratterino!")

e.g. casa = house -> casetta = cute house -> casettina = little cute house (to ironically state it's not big but it could actually be somewhere like Hollywood and have 3 pools... it's used for fun, to diminish only apparently some big/rich possession of someone else -out of jealousy/envy too, maybe)

e.g. Paolo (guy named Paolo) -> Paolino (guy named Paolo that is thin, slim or younger/a kid. TBH is can be used ironically as well to indicate a guy named Paolo but who is pretty tall and maybe plays basketball -- real story, yeah we're funny)

VEZZEGGIATIVI

You want to give an idea of something that is smaller and cute, so they generally work with diminutivi as well. The most common endings are: -etto, -uccio, -otto. It's not uncommon for vezzeggiativi and diminutivi endings to work together even not just in an implied way (as some vezzeggiativi can let you think), but also more openly.*

e.g. cavallo = horse -> cavalluccio: cute (little) horse

e.g. caldo = warm -> calduccio = nice warm (feeling/place: the right heat for you, like under the blanket in autumn or when you enter somewhere after having been around in the cold all day: "che bel calduccio!")

e.g. animale = animal -> animaletto/animaluccio = cute (little) animal

e.g. coniglio = bunny -> coniglietto = cute (little) bunny BEWARE though that geneally the vezzeggiativi are used to refer to animals' "kids" instead of diminutivi or any other specific definition: e.g. tigrotto/a = the "puppy" of a tiger (=little cute tiger). e.g. orso = bear -> orsacchiotto = little cute bear (even of plushies)

Some vezzeggiativi endings may be used also as to form peggiorativi/dispregiativi.

The ending -uzzo, may be considered a dialect version for the -uccio ending, with the same acception.

e.g. via = street -> viuzza = little cute/fascinating street

The ending -icciolo may be rarely found, for example:

e.g. porto = harbor -> porticciolo = little nice harbor

ACCRESCITIVI

Are used to give a meaning of something being bigger than it actually is. The more common endings are: -one, -accione.

e.g. uomo = man -> omaccione = huge big man (sometimes even kinda scary/with lot of muscles -- the u in the begining gets usually dropped when you make other words related to "uomo")

e.g. Stefano (guy named Stefano) -> Stefanone (huge/big, tall, strong/muscled guy named Stefano)

e.g. casa = house -> casona = big house

e.g. gatto = cat -> gattone = big cat (it could be cause it has lot of hairs, it's fat or just big) (same goes with the other way you may call a cat -more affectionate way-: micio -> micione)

PEGGIORATIVI/DISPREGIATIVI

These are generally used to give a sense of someone not being at the correct/speaker level, or to give a negative impression. They can be used not just to be mean but also to talk about ruined/dirty things and places. Some common (but sometimes rarely, especially the latters) used endings are: -accio, -aglia, -iciattolo, -icchio, -ucolo.

e.g. tipo = person/guy -> tipaccio = bad, unreliable person/guy

e.g. mostro = monster -> mostriciattolo = little terrible/annoying monster (used in books for kids for example)

e.g. professore = professor -> professorucolo = low level/unable professor

e.g. gatto = cat -> gattaccio = bad/savage/street cat

e.g. gente = people -> gentaglia = bad people, bad/unreliable group of people, outlaws...

As mentioned, some vezzeggiativi endings may be used also in a negative way.

e.g. provinciale = living in the countryside/country part of somewhere -> provincialotto = "stupid", not cultured enough (as in the past people living in the countryside weren't able to study too much)

e.g. impiegato = employee -> impiegatuccio = low level/simple employee

-----

-> *You can generally play with all these suffixes: for example, you can add a diminutive suffix to other suffix so to create different acceptions for words, like:

e.g. storia = story -> storiella = nice story -> storiellina = nice short story e.g. tavolo = table -> tavolino = small table -> tavolinetto = small cute table e.g. fiore = flower -> fiorello = cute flower (but generally not used also cause he's a person to us LOL -famous Italian TV/radio host) -> fiorellino = cute little flower

(-ello, -etto, -otto: these vezzeggiativi endings are some of the most common endings to be added before diminutivi)

-> People's names can be altered also when you use a shorten version of the name:

e.g. Rosa -> Rosina -> Rosella -> Rosetta ** [beware: some of these altered names can be the real name of a person too, like all these for example. Ofc you can also call someone younger/little/cute altering their name: e.g. Marco -> Marchino (little Marco), Marcolino (little cute Marco) -these are not real names-]

e.g. Giuseppe -> Giuseppino (little Giuseppe) -> Beppe (shortened version) -> Beppino (little Beppe) -> Pino (shortened version) -> Peppe (shortened version) -> Peppino (little Peppe) ->Pinin (little Pino - Regional) [So yeah, Robin Hood's Little John would be Giovannino for us :)]

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-> ** BEWARE OF THE FALSI ALTERATI NOUNS!

Not just some people's names, but also common nouns can look as altered nouns but aren't (unless it's clear you're using them as so in a specific context):

e.g. bottone = button (it's not the accrescitivo/bigger version of botte: barrel. If you have doubts check the meanings, but also check the noun's gender as in this case: IL bottone is masculine, while LA botte is feminine; if I had to talk about a huge barrel, I'd keep it feminine and use: LA bottona -despite it would be really weird to say it and we would probably never use it unless we were joking like "Woah, what a huge barrel!" -> "wow che botte enorme!" -more common- VS "wow, che bottona *enorme*!", yeah I'd probably specify I'm referrin to its size anyway)

e.g. canino = canine; it's not just as "relating to dogs" or "a small dog" (especially in central Italy, together with "canetto"); it's also a regular noun to call a teeth type.

e.g. lampone = raspberry; lampo = lightning (unrelated)

e.g. merletto = lace ; merlo = black bird (unrelated, unless you're talking about a very little bird you're looking at)

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YOUR TURN. Try to make an altered name version (one for each type), for each of the following nouns:

- casa = house - micio = cat (kitty) - tavolo = table

Solutions:

noun -> diminutivo, vezzeggiativo, accrescitivo, dispregiativo casa -> casina, casetta, casona, casaccia micio -> micino, micetto, micione, miciaccio tavolo -> tavolino, tavolinetto, tavolone, tavolaccio

[lingdragon]

MARCO MENGONI | DUE VITE

Siamo i soli svegli in tutto l'Universo We're the only ones awake in the whole Universe E non conosco ancora bene il tuo deserto And I still don't know too well your desert Forse è in un posto del mio cuore Maybe it's in a place inside my heart Dove il sole è sempre spento Where the sun is always turned off Dove a volte ti perdo Where sometimes I lose you Ma se voglio ti prendo But if I want to I take you Siamo fermi in un tempo così We're stuck/still in a time like this Che solleva le strade That lifts roads Con il cielo ad un passo da qui With the sky one step away from here Siamo i mostri e le fate We're the monsters and the fairies

Dovrei telefonarti I should call you Dirti le cose che sento Tell you the things that I feel Ma ho finito le scuse But I ran out of excuses E non ho più difese And I have no more defenses

Siamo un libro sul pavimento We're a book on the floor In una casa vuota In an empty house Che sembra la nostra That looks like our own Il caffè col limone Coffee with lemon Contro l’hangover Against (=to fight) the hangover Sembri una foto mossa You look like a blurry picture E ci siamo fottuti ancora una notte And we stealed one more night (/f*cked again one night?) Fuori un locale Out (of) a club E meno male And luckily

Se questa è l’ultima If this is the last Canzone e poi la luna esploderà Song and then the moon will explode Sarò lì a dirti che sbagli ti sbagli e lo sai I will be there to tell you that you're wrong and you know it Qui non arriva la musica Music doesn't get here E tu non dormi And you don't sleep E dove sarai And where may you be Dove vai Where are you going Quando la vita poi esagera When life then exaggerates Tutte le corse gli schiaffi gli sbagli che fai All the runs the slaps the mistakes that you do Quando qualcosa ti agita When something agitates you Tanto lo so che tu non dormi dormi dormi dormi dormi mai Anyway I know that you never sleep sleep sleep sleep sleep Che giri fanno due vite What (kind of) turns/paths take on two lives

Siamo i soli svegli in tutto l’Universo We're the only ones awake in the whole Universe A gridare un po’ di rabbia sopra un tetto Yelling some anger from above a roof Che nessuno si sente così That nobody feels like this Che nessuno li guarda più i film That nobody ever watches movies anymore I fiori nella tua camera The flowers in your (bed)room La mia maglia metallica My metallic shirt

Siamo un libro sul pavimento We're a book on the floor In una casa vuota In an empty house Che sembra la nostra That looks like our own Persi tra le persone Lost among people Quante parole How many words Senza mai una risposta Without an answer (ever) E ci siamo fottuti ancora una notte And we stealed one more night (/f*cked again one night?) Fuori un locale Out (of) a club E meno male And luckily

Se questa è l’ultima If this is the last Canzone e poi la luna esploderà Song and then the moon will explode Sarò lì a dirti che sbagli ti sbagli e lo sai I will be there to tell you that you're wrong and you know it Qui non arriva la musica Music doesn't get here E tu non dormi And you don't sleep E dove sarai And where may you be Dove vai Where are you going Quando la vita poi esagera When life then exaggerates Tutte le corse gli schiaffi gli sbagli che fai All the runs the slaps the mistakes that you do Quando qualcosa ti agita When something agitates you Tanto lo so che tu non dormi Anyway I know that you don't sleep Spegni la luce anche se non ti va You turn off the light even if you don't feel like Restiamo al buio avvolti We stay in the dark embraced Solo dal suono della voce Only by the sound of the voice Al di là della follia che balla in tutte le cose Beyond the craziness that dances in all the things Due vite guarda che disordine Two lives look what a mess

Se questa è l’ultima If this is the last Canzone e poi la luna esploderà Song and then the moon will explode Sarò lì a dirti che sbagli ti sbagli e lo sai I will be there to tell you that you're wrong and you know it Qui non arriva la musica Music doesn't get here Tanto lo so che tu non dormi dormi dormi dormi dormi mai Anyway I know that you never sleep sleep sleep sleep sleep Che giri fanno due vite What (kind of) turns/paths take on two lives Due vite Two lives

[lingdragon]

Used especially by young people but not just them tbh (explanations will arrive tomorrow, don't worry!)

[lingdragon]

Modifying suffixes of Italian verbs

-icchiare, -acchiare, -ucchiare

With a frequentative and/or diminutive and/or pejorative connotation.

dormicchiare [from dormire, "to sleep"] - to doze

canticchiare [from cantare, "to sing"] - to hum [a song]

lavoricchiare [from lavorare, "to work"] - to do odd jobs

leggiucchiare [from leggere, "to read"; leggicchiare is also used] - to skim through

mangiucchiare [from mangiare, "to eat"] - to eat every now and then or in small bites, to nibble

mordicchiare [from mordere, "to bite"] - to nibble

rubacchiare [from rubare, "to steal"] - to pilfer, to steal every now and then / in small quantities

vivacchiare [from vivere, "to live"] - to scrape by

-ettare, -ottare

With an attenuative/iterative connotation.

fischiettare [from fischiare, "to whistle"] - to whistle [esp. a melody as opposed to a single whistle]

parlottare [from parlare, "to talk/to speak"] - to mutter

scoppiettare [from scoppiare, "to burst, to explode"] - to crackle

-(er-, ar-)ellare

Indicating intermittence, lesser intensity.

canterellare [from cantare, "to sing"] - to hum

giocherellare [from giocare, "to play"] - to play, to fumble with

saltellare [from saltare, "to jump"; also salterellare] - to hop, to skip

trotterellare [from trottare, "to trot"] - to trot, to toddle

[lingdragon]

Curiosità, storia, cultura, divertimento

Fun stuff and curiosities posts about Italy posted and reblogged on our blog

Would you ever come to Italy? And what places would you visit? 

Feste, curiosità e date importanti

Elenco Feste e Celebrazioni

“I giorni della merla”

6 gennaio - Epifania

7 gennaio - Tricolore | Tricolore colours meaning

27 gennaio - #giornata della memoria (posts + books + videos)

10 marzo 1946 - Le donne votano in Italia per la prima volta

17 marzo (unità d’Italia)

21 aprile

25 aprile - Festa della Liberazione

1 maggio + concert (Roma)

5 maggio

9 maggio Aldo Moro + 9 maggio Peppino Impastato | #against mafia

2 Giugno - Festa della Repubblica | 70 anni | Donne al voto

15 agosto - Ferragosto

Pasqua + Pasquetta

#italian language week

Ognissanti (1st/2nd of November)

4 Novembre

#25 novembre

7-8 Dicembre

La Costituzione Italiana

Father’s day & Mother’s day

Film 

10 beautiful Italian Films

22 Movies to understand Italy

Movies and TV Series | Some other movies

Ennio Morricone’s ST Movies

La miliardaria

Vacanze Romane 

Fun Stuff

17 italian foods that aren’t italian

20 signs you were born and raised in Italy

#fun stuff

Biscotti

Dialetti - video

Funny Gifs X

In bocca al lupo

Italian weddings

Joke in italiano

Learning italian starter pack

Nomi strani di città italiane

Pandoro o Panettone

Pun internazionale

Vettel singing (F1)

Venezia

La lingua italiana

Linguistic map of Italy

Shorthands

Tongue Twisters

Uso dell’articolo (video)

Reasons to learn Italian!

Italian language longest authoral word

Libri

Harry Potter Books

Italian for my girlfriend

Rory il dinosauro e il suo papà

Music’s related

Eurovision : Mengoni | Michielin | Il Volo + p2 + p3

Ennio Morricone’s ST Movies

Sanremo 2016

News e facts

#svegliatitalia | Ace visibility day + petition

Hesperia

Same-sex civil unions

Things we are famous for

Top 10 facts about Italy - video | Etimology of Italian Regions

Random Cultural Facts

Giro d’Italia

Vivere in Italia (justlanded.com)

L’onomastico

Italian Xmas Traditions

#italian history 

#italian things | italian stuff | #italian culture

57 giorni tra Falcone e Borsellino

Fontana di Trevi - Money

Rome’s Cultural Heritage - Digital

Italian childen’s games

Curly girls

#italians vs coronavirus (2020) | #quarantine

#1euro houses

#earth day

School / University

University of Macerata | University of Rome/Cabot | English literature Major

Sistema educativo / scolastico | oral exams | sport a scuola

Grading System

#italian school (moving to Italy)

Persone importanti

Gio Ponti

Maria Teresa De Filippis

Rita Levi Montalcini

Posti, arte e storia

#italian art

1950′s posters: le isole del Golfo di Napoli

Angelino musicante - dipinto

Borgo Medievale (Torino)

Piemonte da visitare

Castel Drena (Trentino)

Castello di Avio (Trentino)

Cinque Terre (Liguria)

From Caserta to Tivoli - video

Glow-In-The-Dark Paintings

‘Ndocciata (Molise)

Palazzo Balbi (Genova)

Palazzo Ducale (Gubbio)

Roman Empire in 117 AD - mappa

Sicilia - mappa | Mt. Etna

Sorrow by Apolloni (Genova)

Spiaggia Fornillo (Positano)

Valli di Comacchio (Emilia-Romagna)

Verona, Venezia e Vicenza - video

#visit italia

Things to do in Padova

[lingdragon]

Best language learning tips & masterlists from other bloggers I’ve come across

(these posts are not my own!)

THE HOLY GRAIL of language learning (-> seriously tho, this is the BEST thing I’ve ever come across)

Tips:

Some language learning exercises and tips

20 Favorite Language Learning Tips

what should you be reading to maximize your language learning?

tips for learning a language (things i wish i knew before i started)

language learning and langblr tips

Tips on how to read in your target language for longer periods of time

Tips and inspiration from Fluent in 3 months by Benny Lewis

Tips for learning a sign language

Tips for relearning your second first language

How to:

how to self teach a new language

learning a language: how to

learning languages and how to make it fun

how to study languages

how to practice speaking in a foreign language

how to learn a language when you don’t know where to start

how to make a schedule for language learning

How to keep track of learning more than one language at the same time

Masterposts:

Language Study Master Post

Swedish Resources Masterpost

French Resouces Masterpost

Italian Resources Masterpost

Resource List for Learning German

Challenges:

Language-Sanctuary Langblr Challenge

language learning checkerboard challenge

Word lists:

2+ months of language learning prompts

list of words you need to know in your target language, in 3 levels

Other stuff:

bullet journal dedicated to language learning

over 400 language related youtube channels in 50+ languages

TED talks about language (learning)

Learning the Alien Languages of Star Trek

.

Feel free to reblog and add your own lists / masterlists!

[lingdragon]

Langblr Reactivation Challenge

Hello everyone! As you may know I've created this challenge to help revive the langblr community. It's a three week challenge designed to get you back into learning languages and (hopefully) give you ideas on how to study and share your knowledge of them. It is completely optional to do, but try to reblog other people's posts if you aren't participating.

The challenge is designed to be done daily, however if you miss a day, you can go back and do it later or continue from where you left off. I do encourage you to do your best to keep up with the challenge though. Tag your posts with #langblr reactivation challenge so that others can find your posts.

If you have any questions, please send me an ask or a message and I'll do my best to answer it.

I'll put the prompts under a read more so this post isn't ridiculously long. Good luck to everyone participating! Remember the best way to promote the langblr revival is by reblogging other people's work.

Week 1

Day 1: Create an introduction post about yourself. What's your name? What languages are you studying? What languages do you hope to study? What do you hope you'll get out of this challenge? Add whatever else you’d like to your introduction post!

Day 2: Write a list of goals you have for your target languages. Make both long term and short term goals. An overall goal could be to have the ability to talk with native speakers with ease and a smaller goal would be to finally learn that difficult grammar point that's been plaguing you for ages. How will you achieve them?

Day 3: Create a list or a Mindmap of vocabulary topics. Start with a broad topic and narrow down to more specific topics. An example could be bedroom - furniture - closet - clothes or travelling - languages - study words - school supplies. Keep a hold of this because you'll use it later to create vocab to study. Some broad topics to start with: house, school, work, travelling, friends and family, nature, city. Feel free to use these or think of your own. Share your mindmap so others can get some ideas if they need it. Here are some mind map creation tools (x) (x) (x).

Day 4: Create a vocab list for one of the topics you created yesterday, if you want to make more, feel free to make as many as you like! Share your list and reblog other people's lists. And most importantly, make sure you study these words!

Day 5: Find a video in your target language and watch it as many times as you need to in order to understand it. Make a post about the video. What was it about? Did you like the video? Was it difficult to understand? Make sure you link the video. Try to write your answers in your target language, but if you can’t that’s okay!

Day 6: Look up 3 idioms in your target language and explain what they mean and how you use them in a sentence (with an example!).

Day 7: Send asks to other langblrs (bonus points if it's in a shared target language!) asking them about whatever (for example, ask how their day was, ask questions about their target languages, or share some of your thoughts with them). If you receive one, answer it! You can ask more than one person and it can be on or off anon.

Week 2

Day 1: Over the next week, create a playlist/playlists of songs in your target language(s), they can either have a specific mood or genre or they can be a collection of songs you've discovered. When you feel like you're done with your playlist, share it so others can find some new songs. If you already have a playlist, you can add songs to it and update it.

Day 2: Write an explanation on a grammar rule in your target language (such as verb tenses, exceptions, word order, etc). Include sentences to show how and when it is used.

Day 3: Either make a vocab list or find a vocab list you like and make sentences using those words. You can make them as long or as short as you like. This is a good way to contextualise vocab words and learn them in context. Share your sentences and highlight the vocab word.

Day 4: Record yourself reading an article, short story, or passage (basically anything written in your target language). Listen to it and see if you can point out any areas you can improve with your speaking and any areas that you're doing well. You can post your recording if you wish.

Day 5: Post at least 2 songs that you like in your target language. Make sure you add a link to them so people can go listen to them.

Day 6: Share a study tip you have. This can range from how you organize your notes to playlists that help you study to apps you use to review. Just something that you find makes studying easier (and more fun).

Day 7: Share with everyone some langblrs you enjoy seeing on your dash, try to put at least 5 people (and make sure you @ them!).

Week 3

Day 1: Remember that playlist you made/are making? Take a song you really like and make a vocab list of words you don't understand, learned from the song, or recognize but don't quite remember. Post so others can see and link the song. If you have extra time and/or want a bit more of a challenge, translate the song as well, either into English or another language.

Day 2: Write about a festival or holiday that is celebrated in a country that speaks your target language. This can be either something you’ve celebrated yourself, have wanted to participate in, or have never heard of before. You can write this in any language you’d like.

Day 3: Make another vocab list from the list you made at the beginning of the challenge. If you are learning two or more languages, make the vocab list in 3 languages (meaning for example: French, German, and English or Japanese, Arabic, and Ukrainian).

Day 4: Find a recipe written in your target language and translate it into your native language (or another language of your choice) or find a recipe in your native language and translate it into your target language. Bonus points if you actually make it (share pictures if you do)!

Day 5: Create a collection of resources you use to study/learn your target language. Add links to them if possible so others can also use them.

Day 6: Create a post explaining a grammar rule that you had/are having difficulties learning. If you’re currently having difficulties, do your best to explain and ask others to help you understand it better. Include example sentences in your explanation.

Day 7: How do you feel at the end of this challenge? Did you meet any goals while doing this? Do you feel more confident in your language abilities? Where do you think you'll go from here? Answer these questions either in your native language or your target language.

Hopefully you guys enjoy/enjoyed this challenge. After you've completed the challenge, I encourage you to continue your studies in your target languages and support others in theirs.

[lingdragon]

Masterlist Langblr challenges

Following from my previous posts, if you do feel like working on your languages, but don't know where to start; here are some langblr challenge you might like!

Language Blog Challenge: 20 weeks of challenges | by @lily-learns-finnish

Langblr Reactivation challenge | by @prepolyglot

14 Day langblr challenge | by @lass-uns-studieren

Langblr News challenge | by @tealingual

90-day vocab challenge | by @jibunstudies

100 Happy Days Langblr Challenge | by @nordic-language-love

Mini speaking challenge | by @nordic-language-love

16 words challenge | by @neblina-a-blin

30 day langblr challenge | @moltre-s

Brick-by-brick language learning challenge | @linguistness

Langblr word of the day challenge | @nordic-language-love

P.S. Please let me know if you know some more fun langblr challenges!

[lingdragon]