#german vocabulary list

[german-enthusiast]

What makes German a difficult foreign language to learn?*

Phonology / Pronunciation & Comprehension

✳️ accent-based language (accent isn't fixed, rhythm isn't as melodic and forseeable)

✳️ 16 vowel sounds (lots more than the average 5-6!)

✳️ complex syllables

Morphology

✳️ Case system (Kasus) - allows for variable word order but requires lots of inflection on articles, pronouns, nouns and adjectives

✳️ Kasus-choice changing the meaning (esp. Akkusativ/Dativ with movement verbs)

✳️ rule-governed fusion of article and preposition (z.B. zur, zum, hinterm)

✳️ 9 plural markers for nouns

✳️ 3 grammatical genders (with mainly only probabilistic rules of which is which

Vocabulary

✳️ very frequent use of

🔅 composite worde (z.B. das Rathaus, die Weltkarte, die Mitternachtsformel)

🔅 derived words (z.B. laufen -> verlaufen, günstig -> ungünstig)

🔅 conversion of words (z.B. laufen -> der Lauf, hoch (adj) -> das Hoch (N))

Syntax:

✳️ word order is very variable, but there's still lots of rules (keywords: Verbklammer, Satzglieder, topologisches Feldermodell)

✳️ the verb is often split in two with stuff in between its parts

Miscellaneous

✳️ localizing verbs

🔅 mode of movement often in verb itself, direction often in separate word

🔅 position verbs vs. contact verbs and static vs. causal location (I sit down & I sit on the chair vs. Ich setzte mich hin & ich sitze auf dem Stuhl)

✳️ variety of prepositions (on the table & on the wall vs. auf dem Tisch & an der Wand))

*Disclaimers:

Furthermore of course difficulties that language learning generally has (like vocabulary as a whole, various registers, dialects, etc).

I'm not saying German is more difficult than other languages, just that these are typical difficulties in German (other languages will have many of these as well).

This is also not only from an English-native perspective! (German has 16 vowel sounds + 3 Diphthongs, English 12 vowel sounds + 8 Diphthongs, but Russian, Greek and Spanish for example have only 5 vowel sounds each! so 16 is a lot more in those cases))

[mastermindhall]

A1 German Verb List 1

As I've started taking German classes and have done quite a few lessons by now, I think posting vocab lists could do great.

sprechen - to speak

sagen - to say

sehen - to see

schauen - to look, to watch

hören - to hear, to listen

lesen - to read

fragen - to ask

ergänzen - to complete, to fill in

markieren - to mark

passen - to suit, to fit

zuordenen - to arrange, to classify

buchstabieren - to spell

studieren - to study

zeigen - to point, to show, to display

passieren - to happen, to occur, to take place

meinen - to mean, to intend

raten - to advise, to counsel

lieben - to love

heißen - to be called

bauen - to build

fahren - to drive, to ride

kommen - to come

schreiben - to write

machen - to make, to do

rechnen - to calculate

backen - to bake

studieren - to study

stehen - to stand

außstehen - to stand up, to get up

kosten - to cost

funktionieren - to function, to work

pflegen - to nurse, to foster

wachsen - to grow

checken - to check

chatten - to chat (texting!)

üben - to practise

[namiek-studies]

Vokabelliste - Tschick

ich habe angefangen, Tschick zu lesen! Hier sind ein paar Wörter aus den ersten paar Kapiteln, die ich nicht gekennt habe 🥳

schwindelig (adj.) - dizzy

mir ist schwindelig

hüpfen (v.) - to hop

foltern (v.) - to torture/beat

kratzen (v.) - to scratch

er hat sich am Bein gekratzt

erschöpft (adj.) - exhausted

geistreich (adj.) - witty

albern (adj.) - ridiculous, silly

verzweifelt (adj.) - desperate

die Narbe (n.) - scar

die Delle (n.) - dent

humpeln (v.) - to limp

die Schweigepflicht (n.) - oath of confidentialty/secrecy

[allaroundtheworld-de]

Deutscher Wortschatz

Die Sache, die Sachen: oggetto, oggetti Das Ding, die Dinge: cosa, cose Ankreuzen: fare una croce (crocettare) Das Foto, die Foto: foto Das Dokument, die Dokumente: documento, documenti Die Leute: persone Denken: pensare Die Professorin, die Professorinnen: professoressa, professoresse Teuer: caro, dispendioso Preiswert: economico (accezione positiva) Schön: bello Sekretärin: segretaria Praktisch: pratico Billig: economico (accezione negativa) Günstig: favorevole Aber: ma Sehr: molto Nur: solo, solamente Gleich: uguale, stesso Wieder: di nuovo, nuovamente Jetzt: ora Hier: qui Können: potere Kopiergerät: fotocopiatrice Freunde: amico Zufrieden: contento, soddisfatto

[salvadorbonaparte]

Duolingo Alternatives by Language

Disclaimer: I haven't used or tested all of them. All resources have different strengths, e.g. Drops being designed for vocabulary. They often aren't full alternatives for Duolingo or formal classes. I just wanted to compile resources for all languages on Duolingo to make the switch easier, especially for the less popular languages.

Feel free to also check out my collection of free textbooks

If you want a more detailed resource list for any of these languages (or perhaps one not listed here) you can send me an ask and I can see what I can do.

Arabic

AlifBee

Arabic Unlocked

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

Infinite Arabic

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Write It! Arabic

Catalan

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mondly

Qlango

Chinese

Bluebird

Beelinguapp

Bunpo

Busuu

Chineasy

Clozemaster

Drops

Du Chinese

Hello Chinese

HeyChina

Immersive Chinese

Infinite Chinese

Ling

Lingodeer

LinGo Play

Lingopie

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Pleco Chinese Dictionary

Qlango

Czech

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Ling

LinGo Play

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Danish

Babbel

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Dutch

Babbel

Bluebird

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Say Something in Dutch

Qlango

Esperanto

Clozemaster

Drops

Esperanto12.net

Kurso de Esperanto

LingQ

Qlango

Finnish

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

French

Babbel

Bluebird

Beelinguapp

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Collins French Dictionary

Conjuu

Dr French

Drops

HeyFrance

Infinite French

Lilata

Ling

Linga

Lingodeer

LinGo Play

Lingopie

Lingvist

LingQ

Listen Up

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Nextlingua

Oxford French Dictionary

Qlango

TV5MONDE

Xeropan

German

Babbel

Bluebird

Beelinguapp

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Collins German Dictionary

Conjuu

Drops

DW Learn German

Infinite German

Ling

Linga

Lingodeer

Lingopie

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Nextlingua

Oxford German Dictionary

Qlango

Xeropan

Greek

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Greek Alphabet Academy

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Write It! Greek

Guaraní

Clozemaster

Guarani Ayvu

Haitian Creole

Bluebird

Mango

Hawaiian

Drops

Mango

ʻŌlelo Online

Hebrew

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Shepha

Write It! Hebrew

High Valyrian

Valyrian Dictionary

Hindi

Bhasha

Bluebird

Beelinguapp

Clozemaster

Drops

Hindwi Dictionary

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Hungarian

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Indonesian

Babbel

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Irish

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Collins Irish Dictionary

Drops

Easy Irish

Ling

Mango

Teanglann

Italian

Babbel

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Collins Italian Dictionary

Conjuu

Drops

Infinite Italian

Ling

Linga

Lingodeer

Lingopie

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Nextlingua

Oxford Italian Dictionary

Qlango

Japanese

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

HeyJapan

Hiragana Quest

Infinite Japanese

kawaiiDungeon

Ling

Lingodeer

Lingopie

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Oyomi Japanese Reader

renshuu

Takoboto Japanese Dictionary

Todaii

Qlango

Write It! Japanese

Klingon

boQwl! Klingon Language

Klingon Translator

Write It! Klingon

Korean

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

Hangul Quest

HeyKorea

Infinite Korean

Ling

LinGo Play

Lingopie

Lingodeer

Lingvist

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Write It! Korean

Latin

Bluebird

Cattus

Clozemaster

Collins Latin Dictionary

Grammaticus Maximus

Latinia

Legentibus

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Perdisco

Qlango

Vice Verba

Navajo

Navajo Language Renaissance

Navajo Language Program

Speak Navajo

Norwegian

Babbel

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Mjolnir Norwegian

Norskappen

Qlango

Polish

Babbel

Bluebird

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Portuguese

Babbel

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Collins Portuguese Dictionary

Drops

Infinite Portuguese

Ling

Lingodeer

Lingopie

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Nextlingua

Qlango

Romanian

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Russian

Babbel

Bluebird

Beelinguapp

Busuu

Clozemaster

Collins Russian Dictionary

Drops

Infinite Russian

Ling

Linga

LinGo Play

Lingopie

Lingodeer

Lingvist

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Nextlingua

Qlango

Write It! Russian

Scottish Gaelic

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Go!Gaelic

Mango

Spanish

Babbel

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Collins Spanish Dictionary

ConjuGato

Conjuu

Drops

Infinite Spanish

Ling

Linga

Lingodeer

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

Listen Up

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Nextlingua

Say Something in Spanish

SpanishDict

Qlango

Xeropan

Swahili

Bluebird

Bui Bui Swahili App

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Nkenne

Swedish

Babbel

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Turkish

Babbel

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Ukrainian

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Mova Ukrainian

Qlango

Speak Ukrainian

Vietnamese

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Collins Vietnamese Dictionary

Drops

Learn Vietnamese with Annie

Ling

Lingodeer

LinGo Play

Mango

Mondly

Welsh

BBc Cymru Fyw

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Say Something in Welsh

Yiddish

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Mango

Proste Yiddish

Roni Gal Learn Yiddish

Vaybertaytsh

Yiddish Book Center

Zulu

Bluebird

Nkenne

Bonus: Polygloss which claims to be available for all languages as long as there is another user also learning the same language

[museenkuss]

“How I transformed my body in 90 days” type video but I’m becoming a Renaissance Woman. Vlog footage of me reading the classics for hours on end, writing vocabulary lists, drawing in my sketch book to epic music. On day 15 I talk about how I’m slowly adjusting to my elaborate home cooked meals and how I struggle with the genealogy of the Borgias. There are montages of me educating myself on history, astrology, astronomy and dressing well, I take horseback riding lessons and go to museums. Erasmus, Machiavelli and Lucretius are stacked on my bedside table.

There’s a segment where I say “it’s day 53 and I’m really struggling… I can’t even write a sonnet. I don’t see any improvement in myself. Is this even worth it?!” The stakes are rising. I’m shown ripping up pages of rhymes in calligraphy. I swear as I rush around the kitchen, trying to prepare my oysters. I sit at my desk and sigh, head in hands, my desk covered in stacks of notes, huge volumes on art history and printed out articles. The dramatic moment comes when I for the nth time try to walk and gesture with sprezzatura while balancing books on my head for better posture. I fall. The books topple to the floor. I’ve reached rock bottom.

Black screen. Voice over: “It was really hard. I felt like Dante, in the dark forest, having lost my way. And then, I realised what I needed: I had to go on a grand tour.”

Music swells again, there’s a montage of me packing and travelling in busses and trains. Landscape rushes past. I read Goethe’s Italienische Reise on the journey. Finally, there are snippets of me in Munich, in Vienna. I take a selfie in front of Parmigianino’s self portrait in a convex mirror, showing off my own elegantly contorted hand. I’m in Florence, breathing heavily with excitement as I walk along the outside walls of the Galleria degli Uffizi. “Oh my god, there he is—“ I film the Petrarch statue, the phone visibly shaking. “I can’t believe I get to meet him…” I whisper with awe. Cut. I’m blowing a kiss at the right Grace in Botticelli’s Spring (I have a crush on her). I’m in the Loggia di Psiche in Rome, I’m kneeling on a bridge in Venice to touch it, “Tintoretto walked on these very stones..”, I’m filming the ceiling of the Camera Degli Sposi in Mantua. I’m in the streets of Grasse showing off a bottle of Fragonard perfume I bought, I’m teary eyed in front of the Concerto Campestre in the Louvre. Cut.

I’m back home. “It’s now day…79. Those were the most unrealistic two weeks of my life. And the most expensive. But now I’m back on track. I feel like I can really do this.” With newfound vigour I get back to my battered Reclam German/Latin edition of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. Day 81, 85, 89. Emotional/hopeful music. I show a Shakespeare sonnet written in beautiful calligraphy. I’m in the museum sketching the composition of an annunciation and taking notes on a Venus by Cranach. I practice a speech I’ve written following Cicero’s rules on rhetoric. I’m back on horseback. I present a cake of some sort.

DAY 90. I’m at my desk. “Wow, what a journey. Now let’s see the transformation I underwent in those 90 days.” I show side by side footage of me from day 1 and day 90. I look the same, except day 90 me is wearing all black, Castiglione style, and has better posture. Back to the desk. “I changed so much. I learned so much about myself and my limits. I’m still not fluent in Latin or Italian. But what I learned is that beauty is everywhere, especially in the struggle, and it’s worth cherishing. And now, I’m back and stronger and more curious than ever. If you haven’t followed me on tumblr @Museenkuss at this point, what are you doing? Click the follow button and give this post a like because NOW, the fun really begins. A renaissance woman never stops learning.” From under the desk, I grab two books and put them on my desk. The Tale of Genji and Sei Shōnagon’s pillow book. “It’s time to expand my horizon.” Black screen.

[yuurei20]

Hello! Just want to start this off by saying that I love your blog and I find your posts very informative. I’m a sucker for character analysis and you manage to do it very well.

I had a question about the language aspect of Twisted Wonderland. I saw a screenshot of the novel and in it, it talked about how the Yuuya felt that their words were being translated automatically. Is this a novel only thing? Does the language aspect get explored further past that one page in the novels? Why are their words getting translated and yet other phrases in other languages are not(Rook’s French)? What are your thoughts about this and do you know of any popular discourse surrounding this topic?

My apologies if this is something you’ve talked about before.

Hello hello! Thank you for this question, you are too kind!! m(_ _)m

(For everyone's reference, here is the paragraph in question!)

1. Is this a novel only thing? Thus far this explanation of how Yuuya is able to communicate in Twisted Wonderland has appeared only in the novel, with no mention to similar systems at work in the game or manga!

Yuuya is even capable of reading his textbooks! While it is all vocabulary with which he is unfamiliar he is still able to comprehend the words on the pages, which he possibly wouldn't be able to do without the translation taking place.

(An example might be someone who only speaks French being able to read text written in Japanese but still struggling with unfamiliar magic terms that they wouldn't have understood in their native language anyway.)

2. Does the language aspect get explored further past that one page in the novels?

This aspect has yet to be explored, referenced or even mentioned beyond the one paragraph listed above!

And this lack of an explanation is fascinating 📝 There is no line by Crowley of "Yes there is a translation spell on the island," or "Everyone who arrives through their respective gate is blessed by the Dark Mirror with the ability to understand and be understood," or anything at all!

We are not even given a hint that Crowley--or anyone--knows it is happening. All we have is the one thought from the perspective of a confused Yuuya trying to make sense of his situation.

3. Why are their words getting translated and yet other phrases in other languages are not(Rook’s French)?

We do not know! 🥳 And Rook is not alone, with other characters occasionally using untranslated English-language words both in the game and novel (novel-Ace says "Thank you" in English, novel-Sam says "Hey," etc.)

Is it possible that the system does not replace words that the listener recognizes? Is Rook actually speaking French 100% of the time, but as the prefect recognizes words such as "oui" and beauté," they are not being filtered?

4. What are your thoughts about this and do you know of any popular discourse surrounding this topic?

I found this thread on twstsoku where someone suggests that the cast all understands one another and it is only Yuuya who is having what he says and hears translated for him in real time.

Ideas from other commenters are:

1. "Hypothetically, for example: If Esperanto, which is based on Latin, were used as the common language, and the translation magic worked depending on the native language's distance from it:

German speakers, Japanese speakers → translation needed (as determined by the magic)

Italian speakers → translation not very necessary (as determined by the magic)

French speakers → grammatically, translation is almost unnecessary (as determined by the magic), but their speech is the hardest to understand.

Something like that? Just an example, though."

2. "Wasn't there a part in Ruggie's birthday outfit story where he said he memorized greetings in 10 different languages?"

And I found a similar thread from 2021 (before the novel was released) on this topic, where commenters were discussing whether or not Twst's common language is meant to be English:

1. "OP here, I personally don’t think it’s a common language with the real world, so I hadn’t considered it much.

But if it’s English, that means Twisted Wonderland has a geography and history similar to the real world, with just different country names, etc. I won’t go into too much detail, but English is a branch of the Germanic languages within the Indo-European family, and it contains a lot of words derived from neighboring Western European countries. So, it wouldn’t be English as we know it today unless they followed the same geographical and historical path.

Alternatively, it could be a wholly fantastical world without a history of its own, which just popped into existence one day.

Personally, I’d feel a bit disappointed with both ideas—either that Twisted Wonderland is exactly the same as the real world or that it just popped up suddenly. I’d prefer to think of it as a world with a different language."

2. "If we’re talking about the development of language, it’s not a coincidence that there’s food in Twisted Wonderland identical to what exists in the real world. If Twisted Wonderland is a mirror of our world, it wouldn’t be surprising if they walked a similar historical path."

3. "That’s true! When you think about the design of their clothes, smartphones, and other scientific equipment, it makes sense. So either they followed a similar history, or we’re not meant to think too deeply about it as a fantasy world—those seem like the two options. Hmm, tough choice."

4. "If there were translation magic, there would be no need to study animal linguistics."

5. "Azul’s contract → written in English Words Rook sometimes uses → in French In Ghost Marriage, the opening of Rook’s poem is “I love you” → in Japanese The prefect understands the language → So, is there translation magic? Epel’s dialect isn’t understood → So, there isn’t translation magic?

It’s turning into a bit of a chaotic language situation."

6. "In the beans event, there’s a part where Jamil’s bento is brought up and some says 'that's what they're called in other places,' so it seems pretty decided that there are different languages across regions. But maybe we’re not supposed to think too deeply about it."

--

These are all fascinating points! ^^ Epel is a particular outlier ashis original dialect is, by design, almost incomprehensible (on JP), but maybe whatever translation is going on just does not have his particular village's speech patterns loaded into it? 🧐

Or maybe as a "mirror" to the real world, everyone actually is using Japanese with the occasional English and French outliers, but the language itself is mirrored--they're speaking backwards--and the filter is merely putting words front-to-back for the prefect to understand? ^^ So many possibilities!

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Another List of "Beautiful" German Words

for your next poem/story

Alptraum - nightmare

Erdreich - earth

Filigran - delicate

Frühling - spring

Gestern - yesterday

Glücklich - happy

Hellrot - light red

Hören - to hear/listen

Kopfkino - "head-cinema"; a fictional film that’s screening in your head if you have a very lively imagination

Lebewohl - farewell

Leichtigkeit - lightness

Märchenhaft - fairytale-like

Niederschlagsmenge - rainfall

Schlafen - to sleep

Seelenverwandter - soulmate

Sich etwas vergegenwärtigen - "to be-present something to yourself"; to refresh a past idea in your mind

Staubfänger - "dust-collector"; a useless piece of art that basically only collects dust

Tohuwabohu - chaos

Trinken - to drink

Wortschatz - "word-treasure"; vocabulary

If any of these words make their way into your next poem/story, please tag me, or send me a link. I would love to read them!

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Part 1 ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[linguisticdiscovery]

Ways English borrowed words from Latin

Latin has been influencing English since before English existed!

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of ways that English got vocabulary from Latin:

early Latin influence on the Germanic tribes: The Germanic tribes borrowed words from the Romans while still in continental Europe, before coming to England.

camp, wall, pit, street, mile, cheap, mint, wine, cheese, pillow, cup, linen, line, pepper, butter, onion, chalk, copper, dragon, peacock, pipe, bishop

Roman occupation of England: The Celts borrowed words from the Romans when the Romans invaded England, and the Anglo-Saxons later borrowed those Latin words from the Celts.

port, tower, -chester / -caster / -cester (place name suffix), mount

Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons: Roman missionaries to England converted the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity and brought Latin with them.

altar, angel, anthem, candle, disciple, litany, martyr, mass, noon, nun, offer, organ, palm, relic, rule, shrine, temple, tunic, cap, sock, purple, chest, mat, sack, school, master, fever, circle, talent

Norman Conquest: The Norman French invaded England in 1066 under William the Conqueror, making Norman French the language of the state. Many words were borrowed from French, which had evolved out of Latin.

noble, servant, messenger, feast, story, government, state, empire, royal, authority, tyrant, court, council, parliament, assembly, record, tax, subject, public, liberty, office, warden, peer, sir, madam, mistress, slave, religion, confession, prayer, lesson, novice, creator, saint, miracle, faith, temptation, charity, pity, obedience, justice, equity, judgment, plea, bill, panel, evidence, proof, sentence, award, fine, prison, punishment, plead, blame, arrest, judge, banish, property, arson, heir, defense, army, navy, peace, enemy, battle, combat, banner, havoc, fashion, robe, button, boots, luxury, blue, brown, jewel, crystal, taste, toast, cream, sugar, salad, lettuce, herb, mustard, cinnamon, nutmeg, roast, boil, stew, fry, curtain, couch, screen, lamp, blanket, dance, music, labor, fool, sculpture, beauty, color, image, tone, poet, romance, title, story, pen, chapter, medicine, pain, stomach, plague, poison

The Renaissance: The intense focus on writings from classical antiquity during the Renaissance led to the borrowing of numerous words directly from Latin.

atmosphere, disability, halo, agile, appropriate, expensive, external, habitual, impersonal, adapt, alienate, benefit, consolidate, disregard, erupt, exist, extinguish, harass, meditate

The Scientific Revolution: The need for new technical and scientific terms led to many neoclassical compounds formed from Classical Greek and Latin elements, or new uses of Latin prefixes.

automobile, transcontinental, transformer, prehistoric, preview, prequel, subtitle, deflate, component, data, experiment, formula, nucleus, ratio, structure

Not to mention most borrowings from other Romance languages, such as Spanish or Italian, which also evolved from Latin.

Further Reading: A history of the English language (Baugh & Cable)

[polysprachig]

Hello friend! I just came across your post about filling in old spaces in your polyglot journal via the bullet journal tag… could you say more about how you use your polyglot journal in general and what its intended purpose(s) is/are?

Thank you for the question, @northfaceho! ***(Read orange text for a short summarised version)

The purpose of my polyglot journal is to capture my process of learning languages, both for myself and to share with other people. It was prompted by a secret learning project I did in 2019 to make my other native language skills go from passive to active (and the subsequent desire to subtly strengthen my skills across my main 5 languages). This happened to coincide with my dissatisfaction with the general ‘Polyglot learns X# of Languages - Here’s How + Tips and Tricks’ kind of content you could—and can—find online. And the rich stock at the base of all my griping generally boiled down to one thing:

Fucking notecards.

No shade to anyone in specific—it was more a general trend I felt I noticed at the time—but the idea that someone who has acquired or is learning a football club worth of languages and who, moreover, is able to demonstrate their use of said languages across the 4 skills to various degrees of range and accuracy at their current stage of learning does so by *secret tip: using notecards* struck me as extremely… imprecise and decidedly non-tip-worthy. It’s not that I think these people were lying about using notecards to learn—not at all! The description was just focused on what I learn with not how I learn imho, and it begged the question: Well, what do you do with the notecards?

Because at the time, I only really used notecards in Old English, but not as flashcards for memorisation or playing vocabulary matching games, which I assume was used as shorthand in the content I kept seeing. No, once a year, I would take out some fresh notecards and write Beowulf verbatim from memory for the section I have memorised, then compare it to the orthography in the Howell D. Chickering dual-language translation. (I do something similar with Chaucer, but notecards are too small so I use a yellow legal pad instead. Still, the concept is the same.) And later, when I started learning Italian, I would prepare a notecard to keep on my desk during lessons which listed out the most common errors I knew I was going to make in that day’s class, based on my teacher’s recent feedback (usually incorrect pronunciation/word stress, Greek or French influence which isn’t correct, accidental uses of Latin, etc.).

And so I repurposed what I had hoped would be a travel journal into a polyglot journal and kicked it off with this statement of my intentions forgive the register:

This year, 2024, one of my main goals was to read the rest through, comment on my methods, mistakes, mindset, etc. etc., and fill in the gaps with scraps of loose studies and feedback from my teachers. Oh yeah, and start typing it all up to save my future self some time.

I’ll be posting a lot more from my polyglot journal in 2025, now that I’ve figured out how much time I can commit to it based on my schedule and the writing routine I’ve been testing out these last months. I want to make sharing it an adventure reflective of its many side quests and the actual time and input required to learn.

In essence, the journal reflects the planning, check-ins, learning notes, and process of my quarantine levelling up project and literary/poetic translation portfolio part 1, which are free to read here if anyone is interested:

The Merlin Project (Irish-English)—running with the question all my students asked in the pandemic, i.e. Can I learn a language from just watching TV? by writing borderline Merlin fanfiction

The tragic portion of my translation portfolio (English-German-French-Italian)—literary translations into English from Poliziano, Goethe, Voltaire and Kaiserin Elisabeth (Sisi); translations into German of Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley

The journal is not without silly and serious one-off language escapades as well, which I occasionally ventured out into when taking a break from the more major projects.

Thanks for reading if you’ve made it to the end!

[mi-i-zori]

Writing Resources - Masterlist

This masterlist will host the links to the posts and threads I've saved as writing resources. None of them are mine - all the credits go to the amazing people who made them.

Characters

Author, Narrator, Protagonist, Hero... Who is What ?

Creating Black Characters With Intent

Describe Your Main Character Sheet

Emotionally Reserved Characters

Flaws to Give to Your Characters

How to Introduce Your Character In 3 Steps

How to Show Emotions (They have a whole series for this, please go check it out !)

How to Write a Character Who's in Pain

How to Write Trauma With Humanity

Open Letter from a Poc for People Who Are Writing Characters of Colour

Questions for Crafting Problematic Characters

Tips : Nail Your Character's Mannerisms and Speech Pattern Down

Top-Tier Villain Motivations

What Will Your Character Do If...

Fantasy

Fantasy Guide to Education

Make and Interesting Wedding Dress in Your Fantasy Setting

Reasons Why Can't Your Characters Use Magic To Fix Everything

Some Locations and Structures to Include in Your Forest

What No One Tells You About Writing Fantasy

Good to Know

A quick Guide to Animal Symbolism

An Introduction to Small World Theory

Differences Between UK and USA Military Dog Tags

How Boat Pronouns Work

Medical Facts that are Commonly Overlooked

Medieval Dyes

Playing Music With a Bow! (The Archery Kind)

Realistic Travel Time

Roles on a Pirate Ship

Slater's Impromptu List of Military Reference Material

Sick/Poisoning Fics

Stop Doing This in Injury Fics !

Symbolism in Writing

The Anatomy of Passing Out : When, Why and How to Write It

The Anatomy of Punching a Character in the Face

The Symbolism of Flowers

Ultimate List of Weapons and Arsenal for Fantasy Setting: Purpose and Who Uses Them

What's the Deal With Archers and Animal Companions ?

Horror

Creepy Things to Add to Settings

Horror and Comedy : 90/10 rule

How to Write Creepy Stories

How To Scare Your Readers

Most Common Character Flaws in Horror Fiction

"Never Were" and "Used to Be" Monsters

People Get Eldritch Madness Wrong

Romance

When the Romantic Tension is High

Tips

If You're Starving in a Post-Apocalyptic Fic

How to Make Your Writing Less Stiff

Pep-Talk - You Are Allowed to Be Proud of What You Write + List of YT Channels and Amazon Links for Writing

Resources About Survival in the Wild

Skip Google for Research

Some Writing Advice

The Neurodivergent Writer’s Guide to Fun and Productivity

Write Smarter, Not Harder

Writing Tip : Research

Vocabulary

Aesthetic Words to Fill Up Your Vocabulary

Bilingual Characters - German Edition

CoD - Spanish for Ale and Rudy Fics

Colours in Descriptions

IRL Operator Phrases/Terms - USA Edition

Gemstone Colors

German Pet Names

List of Wikipedia Articles - British and American Words and Differences

Scottish Phrases and Words for Soap MacTavish (or Scottish Characters in general)

Soft-Feeling Latin Words and Phrases

On Using Words that Indicate Sounds and Tones for Dialogues

Words to Use Instead of "Running"

Words to Use Instead of "Sighed" and "Frowned"

Writing Russian-Speaking Characters

Voices

A Guide to Write a Mancunian Accent

Growled, Roared, Snarled, Etc... A Brief Description

Writing Character Accents in Fiction

Worldbuilding

A Website That Walks You Through Creating a Believable Society

List of unique and imaginative types of government that can add depth to your fantasy world

Random Linguistic Worldbuilding

Other

Backup Your Tumblr Blog

Disable Recall for Microsoft's Copilot+ PCs

How to Find a Post on Tumblr

Protect Your Stories on AO3

Show Me a 10ft Paywall, I'll Show You a 12ft Ladder

Mii's Blog Recommendations

@deception-united - I love the resources this person shares ! They have a masterpost that lists their useful posts, but they also complete some of these posts as answers to asks and reblog a lot of other resources.

@leisureflame - This blog has a lot of resources, advice and prompts ! The author also offers to help with other people's struggles too, which is immensely wholesome in itself.

@writers-potion - This blog has tons of amazing posts to help writers with their research. I keep coming back to it, and highly recommend checking it out ! Here are this person's extremely useful Masterpost (1) and Masterpost (2).

[russell-crowe]

I'm curious now, which languages can you speak and which ones did you study?

Dutch is my native language, and I attended a bilingual high school where most classes were taught in English. The only exceptions were classes where teaching in English would not make sense, such as Dutch and other foreign language classes. I also have a C2 diploma in English somewhere, though getting there was quite a journey. For example, our vocabulary lists included words like gobbledygook and canoodling :~)

In high school, I studied both French and German. I absolutely hated French, and despite several years of classes, I have retained almost nothing. My German is theoretically at a B2 level, though I do not feel comfortable speaking it. However, I can understand it quite well, and watching German TV or listening to the radio is easy enough for me. I also used to live pretty close to the German-Dutch border and my local accent is of the Lower Saxon variety, so German came more natural to me anyway.

I learned Danish through duolingo, online courses and uni, for which I have a C1 diploma. That said, I do not feel fluent in Danish at all, even though it is my everyday language now. I also had to develop receptive skills at my uni course (Scandinavian Languages and Cultures) in Norwegian and Swedish. This meant learning to understand them in both spoken and written forms without being expected to produce them myself. Many of my later courses were taught in Norwegian as well. I am not able to speak Norwegian, but I can Norwegify my Danish and have conversations with Norwegians without much trouble.

During a semester abroad, I also took a class that focused on Nordic languages in the Middle Ages. As a result, I can understand written Old Norse and some Icelandic and Faroese, although I am far from proficient in either.

I am also learning Welsh on Duolingo. I am not aiming to ever speak or write it fluently, but I simply enjoy the sounds of the language. :D It's been a lot of fun to play around with it. Also this all makes it sound like I am a person who enjoys learning languages, but I would not say that I am a big fan of linguistics and learning new structures and systems. That is also why I am studying history now - the one thing had fuck all to do with language that I could pursue as a master's degree.

[logogreffe]

Récap (mis à jour le 06.05.2024)

Check #frenchblr for all post related to French

Learn French with my WhatsApp messages : #real french texts i've sent ;

French expressions explained : #What does X mean in French ? ;

Verbs in French : #conjugaison ;

Vocabulary lists : #liste de vocabulaire français ;

French culture : #Frenchculture ; Some random posts that might be useful (mine) :

French TV show recommendations : here

Très/Trop/Super/Vraiment ： here, test

Shortened words in French (Apocope) : Part 0 , Part 1, Part 2

How to use "chier" in French : here Great Posts (not mine) :

How to act while visiting France : here

MUST READ IF YOU'RE LEARNING FRENCH (it's about the different accents (é,ê,è) : here

How to sound more natural in French : here For German or Spanish : #deutsch ; #español ;

[allaroundtheworld-de]

Deutscher Wortschatz

Lieber: piuttosto Die Geschichte, Die Geschichten: storia, storie Kochbücher: Libro di ricette Rund sein: Attorno a... Der Dialog, die Dialoge: il dialogo, i dialoghi Neu: nuovo Herzlich willkommen: un caloroso benvenuto Hoffentlich: come si spera (eng. hopefully) Das Schreibtisch: scrivania Das Zimmer: stanza Schönes: bella Dasein: esserci Stehen: reggersi, stare Die Schreibtischlampe: lampada da scrivania Glauben: credere Vielleicht: forse Später: dopo Ganz einfach: molto semplice Der Drucker: la stampante Das Regal, die Regale: la libreria, lo scaffale Fehlen: mancare Zusammen: insieme Der Terminkalendar: l'agenda Der Schlüssel: la chiave Die Brille: gli occhiali Die Tasse: la tazza Bei: preposizione per dire "nei pressi di" Etwas: qualcosa

[ingoampt]

Day 13 _

As always for everyday let’s learn the Vocabulary first with INGOAMPT iOS app Click here to Download the App Now let’s watch today vocabulary from YouTube 😉 This is the video but you can download the app with almost 1000 flash cards from Apple Store

[gunkbaby]

Do you have any tips for writing Shuu?

This is the best ask I’ve ever had thank you anon!!! I am honoured to have been asked this, sorry it took me so long to answer, I was getting my thoughts in order! I have a few general tips!! Idk how useful they’ll be tho! :P (this is very long but i have tried to make myself as concise as possible…sorry anon…bear in mind this is all my opinion!)

Shuu, is dreadfully mischaracterised. So it’s tricky, especially because it depends on what exactly ur writing. If ur using headcanons that drastically change him anyway, then the rules are looser ofc, but if as close to canon is the aim, then I would take all fanon Shuu with a grain of salt. Not a slight to anyone at all, but I find different people interpret the character really differently, and I don’t agree with most of it (especially anything pre-2018), so I don’t interact with fanon, especially when writing. Idk what’s currently fanon tho, maybe it’s real af!

A very general tip but it cannot be understated with Shuu - always refer to canon. I have a notebook where I make notes of things I have noticed in his canon appearances, notes from the wiki, the light novels, films, everything. I always cross-reference when planning, and adjust my plot accordingly, during the writing stage, so I can alter my writing process, and upon editing/re-drafts, which I find is where Shuu really becomes himself. I would say write him as best as you can in a first draft, and allow yourself time to redraft and fine tune him afterwards. :)

Another tip for general character writing is to write diary entries from that character’s POV - regardless of whether that is the ultimate protagonist or not - this helps get inside their head. Shuu’s blog entries are helpful starting points.

So, some things to avoid (note: i haven’t read fic in years, so this isn’t in reference to any writer/fic in particular, just things I did notice/have noticed that i dislike when I see him characterised.)

I used to see a lot of flanderisation with Shuu. People really overestimate the amount of French he uses, so I guess a tip there is to limit that - or half the amount you think is enough. You can always add it in later if it is too little. He obviously does use it, but it’s not to the point I’ve seen. Also remember that Shuu doesn’t just speak French - he speaks Italian and English too! (Ik he speaks German, but this only comes up once. Unless ur writing a fic with Kanae I would say it’s less important). A good starting point for adding French/Italian/English to his dialogue/inner monologue would be to look at a list of common francophones, Latin phrases, or older English turn of phrase (not modern Bri’ish, shuu is not a roadman). If I find a list I will add some links 4 u. :)

With regard to general speech/train of thought, try use a wide vocabulary of colourful adjectives - words that are maybe rare or perhaps too fancy for normal conversation. I read a lot, so if I find a new fancy word I write it down. Normally this ends up going to Shuu’s passages in my work :) (I think a great example of this was when I read A Certain Hunger - the protagonist was a food critic, so she was very helpful with colourful language in relation to food!) I also think imagining his anime VAs saying any dialogue really helps me check dialogue too! Food is worth mentioning too, obviously, I think a Shuu-specific tip is to use terms that could be food-related in otherwise unrelated actions - one can devour a book, salivate in anticipation, or go out for a delicious walk! That kind of thing. Don’t be afraid to make it a little silly. Shuu is very fun to write, so have fun! The key is just to toe the line between silly and fun, to caricature. I think if you intend to write him properly, then you inherently sort of avoid that tho.

A thing that seems random but that I used to see constantly in fanon Shuu was him swearing a lot. Off the top of my head, Shuu properly swears once in Tokyo Ghoul - depends on the translation. He also says damn/damned a few times. That’s about as much as I ever write him saying. Again, I would use more colourful language to express his anger or strong emotions. Thinking to him slagging off Rize - that sort of posh-boy anger. You could probably use swearing very sparingly to pack a comedic punch. He doesn’t swear flippantly, that’s very important imo.

Shuu’s motivations are really important. I’ve seen him written as this sort of caricature so many times. People often refer to Shuu as this sort of narcissistic creep - but I think that’s a mischaracterisation. I think he’s vain, but I think that his vanity and pride is covering up some repressed guilt about what he has to eat - his earliest documented interaction with food is that of guilt. Shuu sees himself not as some kind of monster - but as very strong predator. I think he’s more matter-of-fact than people initially realise. He views the world as dog-eat-dog. He’s hunting Kaneki because he is predator - not in the sense of a creep, but as a lion. His justification for his existence is merciless in that fact - man is not typically sympathetic to the hens in batteries, served pre-plucked en mass in a Tescos, but Shuu, who hunts his prey properly, as a true animal should, is supposed to believe he is lesser than them. I think that makes him much more understanding. I think that’s why other ghouls also fail to understand him, because though he pretends to be better, more civilised, he has a very savage mindset. (Sorry. Long Character analysis there, remember what I said about taking fanon with salt earlier?). :p)

TLDR: I think people think Shuu leans far more into a ‘villain’ role than he actually does. An animal is an animal. I wrote a whole load of paragraphs about his character on Instagram a while ago. I will try and rewrite them and post them here if they would be helpful. (Again, all just my opinion)

In regards to Shuu’s obsession with Kaneki - if this is what you’re writing - this isn’t something I’ve ever written (sorry!) but I have written a similar relationship with him and an oc, and I also have BPD (shocking!), so I can relate to this kind of thing…Kind of. I’ve never wanted to eat anyone! I find expressing this kind of obsession very difficult to verbalise - it’s like, full of over-idealisation. You get so swept up in the idea of someone, you forget they’re a flawed human being who you actually might not know as much as you’d like. And when that idealisation inevitably implodes, it’s very devastating. Shuu’s depression and anorexia after ‘losing’ Kaneki, is something I heavily relate to. It might be worth examining what other people with similar conditions have said about this kind of obsession in particular (in bpd we refer to it as having ‘favourite people’) - im not saying Shuu has BPD, I’m simply saying that looking into real life examples for similar kinds of things, in ways that are expressed by people much wiser than me. :) I think it’s important to have empathy for people like this when writing them, because we do exist out here! Having empathy for Shuu when writing is very important, imo.

I think with his relationships, it’s key to remember that Shuu does not understand what he is feeling. He does not understand that he actually genuinely likes Kaneki and enjoys his company, or Hinami’s company, or Hori. This is despite him going out of his way to comfort them, lend them books, buy them gifts, and (importantly) flowers - which Shuu says he links directly with feelings of happiness. People have said this is creepy, but I think this is wrong. Shuu does not understand how relationships work, but he understands that material objects can make people happy. I think people viewing Shuu’s exchange of gifts as something impure are kind of missing the point - understandable if you’ve only read TG and not :re, tbf.

This is just my opinion, so listen liberally, but considering Shuu refers to his actual friends as pets - I think it’s a somewhat reasonable assumption to make that Shuu’s only relationships outside of his home have been with animals or plants. I write Shuu’s relationships as if he were interacting with animals. With :re based stories this is a little different, but you can generally use the same rule. Referring to my earlier point about Shuu viewing himself as an animal - he probably doesn’t think this perspective is as offensive as it might be.

****

I think this is everything off the top of my head. In general, it all comes back to referring to canon, that’s your main thing. Thinking about, and analysing the character in your own way, and coming to your own conclusions. You can utilise other people’s ideas- as long as it’s not offensive, I don’t think it’s so bad, but I try not to. Also, having empathy for the character and taking the time to get to know him. Sometimes I just listen to what Shuu is telling me - if a story arc is too difficult to write, maybe it just isn’t his! Sorry for rambling so much - was this even helpful at all? I feel like I have simply waffled!

Just a few notes: I have written/am writing Shuu at stages Tokyo Ghoul does not document (when he is19/20, and after the end of :Re at age 30+). So most of my work is my estimation of where he might be.

Bear in mind I also haven’t posted anything in a loooong time so none of this has been subject to any criticism aside from my own! I can post some extracts of my current work if it would be helpful. I can also post some pages from my Shuu notebook if you need inspiration, or my instagram analyses, or whatever might help! Feel free to send more asks if needed too! As you can see I like to talk!!!

i hope this was semi-helpful!!!! thank you anon!!! This was such a lovely ask, thank you, merci beaucoup!!! Bisous!!! <3