#i WILL learn! its required.

[ponytailzuko]

calculus online is kind of kicking my ass rn

[shaadowmilkcookie]

pretty boy… pushes up nerd glasses

it’s hard to see, but the mark on his forehead isn’t an actual eye. it’s a marking he applied himself as a monument of respect to integrity, knowledge, and all the scholars who came before him. his wisdom is a blessing from the world around him, and the mark honours it, reminds him of it.

once he falls from grace, he never bothers to apply it again 😋

[communistkenobi]

I don’t like when people ask how many books you plan to read/have read this year one because I think that’s a weird relationship to have to books and two because I think even reading a chapter or a portion of something is valuable. this is especially true with non-fiction but even with fiction I think any amount you read, even if you don’t read the entire thing, is not a failure or ‘incomplete’

[whatyoutaughtwasfear]

i think maybe people should not be working 12 hours in a row. i think maybe that is bad

[thecrowsart]

He likes cats, after all.

[wundrousarts]

I need to get back on my Jess interview grind and finish before Silverborn press starts up because tell me why I'm skimming one trying to find something and then realize she's talking about Ages. ACK! This is vital to my theorizing.....

[prettyboykatsuki]

do i need to know how to draw to study graphic design i feel like i probably should

[rigelmejo]

Something that always annoys me is the idea only 1 language learning method works. Which is not true. While it may be possible that, for a particular individual, only a few out of many study methods may work well enough for That Individual to make progress and stay motivated... that doesn't mean all the other study methods won't work for anyone else out there, or that those few methods will work for every other given person.

Obviously if you've been studying a while, then you already figured out what kinds of things work for you and don't. If you're a beginner, just wading into studying?

I would suggest you simply look for study methods that: 1. Teach you new things regularly, 2. Review and practice things you've learned, 3. Include studying things you need for your particular goals (for example if your goal is to read X book then the study materials at some point should involve reading practice and some words the book contains, if your goal is to talk about Y then the study materials should include some information about pronunciation and words you'll need to be able to say).

As you can imagine, a TON of study materials will meet these requirements. And you can study a given skill in a LOT of ways.

(Reading is my focus lol so just for reading, a beginner might: do vocabulary study with lists or conversations with native speakers or watching shows and looking words up or listening to dialogues with a transcript like in a textbook or graded readers or a picture book with word labels in the target language or a video game with labelled objects in target language, all of those things as long as your vocabulary is improving or reading practice is happening would help you make progress). So to improve reading skill as a beginner: you could study with a textbook, a podcast with transcript, a classroom or tutor with words written down in target language (like TPRS), a video game, a TV show and a translate app on your phone, a friend you talk with (who either writes words down or you look up words you hear with a translate app), a friend you text with, srs flashcards like anki (provided there's text) etc. As long as there's new words, and/or you're practicing reading, the study method may work. If it works will come down to if you can stay motivated doing it regularly, and make sure you regularly learn some new things and review/practice things you've already studied.

So consider those things when you see people selling a study method as a product (especially when it's costing you money). Consider if it teaches you NEW things, and are those new things related to your goals, and how MUCH new stuff will it teach you before you finish it? Consider if it provides review or practice, or if you can use it's materials to review on your own making up your own method, or if you'll need to do separate review/practice.

So examples:

LingQ. Can it teach you many new words? Yes, thousands, since you can import any texts you want when you get done with their provided material (I have no idea how much their beginner material covers though in terms of words... I would hope 1000-3000 words but that can be researched). Is your goal reading? It's suited to reading, so you will practice and review often with it. Cost? I think it was $12 a month when I last had it, and the price may have increased. Is it worth it? Depends on a learner's needs. I found it was wasting my money, so I chose to use free tools like Pleco and Readibu apps - since those apps are suited for Chinese learners and have better translations, Pleco has better paid graded reader material if I was going to spend money, and both Pleco and Readibu let me import texts so I can learn thousands of new words just like LingQ but free. Now that I'm not a beginner, I often use Microsoft Edge to read chinese... since I can still click-translate words easily (all my web browsers have that tool free), and Edge's TTS voice is helpful for pronunciation and sounds quite good. I read webnovels online so Edge works well. But it's translations aren't as good as Pleco or Readibu, so if I still needed translations more I would use them. So... is LingQ a good study method? Its certainly a study method marketed to buy. Well... the method is suited to improving reading skill, at least. It costs money, which is a negative, but it does offer a lot. However: everything it does regarding reading can be done free with other apps or sites or web browsers on their own. So if paying money motivates you to read... sure. LingQ does have a few word tracking features a learner may find worth the money, keeping in mind the actual read-to-learn method can be done free without lingq. (Also... while LingQ is a valid option for improving reading, if the learners goal is speaking then it would be important to think of what study activities the learner will do OUTSIDE of LingQ to improve speaking... because I've seen how LingQ is marketed as "how to learn a language" but it's only focused on some skills. It has vocabulary and grammar in some sense, since you'll read a lot and encounter new words and structures. But it doesnt have speaking or writing practice at least last time I was on it. Those activities would need to be worked on, on your own).

You can do that kind of cost/benefit contemplating with any study method material you see being sold. Amother example: there's a beginner Mandarin course called Mandarin Blueprint. It teaches like 800 words. Thats all. It may be worthwhile for a beginner... who still needs to learn 800 common words. But if you already know a few hundred words, the benefit of the course is less, you'll need to find a new material to teach you more new stuff soon. And the price was like a few hundred for the course... which for me personally was too much to spend, when I had already learned 800 hanzi from a book that cost me 12 dollars and 2000 words from a free user made memrise deck. The course claimed to get a person speaking, competent, but anyone not a beginner would say speaking basically with 800 words is nowhere near the level of working in Chinese or just doing a lot of daily life stuff, or reading/listening to media. (Although for the motivated beginner if you're learning 800 words on your own like I was, its definitely close to the point of jumping to learn more words and start reading kids and teenager books, and watching easier shows if you're willing to look new words up). So to me... Mandarin Blueprint felt like overselling some basic beginner materials. (Again when I know several other things that teach beginner stuff either more in depth so HSK test prep classes, and college courses, or that teach beginner stuff to the same depth as Mandarin Blueprint but free).

Some study materials aren't going to act like they teach everything. I've seen chinese courses just for learning to speak tones better and general pronunciation - probably worthwhile if your goal is to improve speaking and a teacher could help improve the issues your having. But a learner needs to be aware for that course that they'll need to study vocabulary on their own, its JUST a pronunciation improvement course.

[snowystarfragments]

Oh, it's that time of year again.

The time where I just get the urge to run

[ratingboomercomics]

Real, picture of what happens when you attend Tumblr University

Small nitpick but why did the artist turn some of the spines of the books away from us, why couldn’t he think of more bad gay things that college teaches you. Like he thought five books wasn’t a big enough pile but couldn’t think of two more titles?

“America is Evil” “Trans Socialism” “Gay Math” “Socialism For You(and Everyone)” “Books are Sexist” there’s a few right there

2/10 unfortunately I must admit this is a well-drawn picture of a smart rational man getting his head flattened by evil gay books.

[dataglitch]

What was your first freelancing experience like?

Hmmm I had to think back since it's been a real long time since, but it was difficult yet absolutely rewarding. Since I'm wasn't used to things like deadlines and working with teams when it came to art, I had to quickly adjust to meet quotas and make sure the art directors/overseers were satisfied with the work and ofc, had to take critiques when necessary. This differs from the usual commission work, but if you're looking into getting into the industry, it's definitely necessary to improve not just your art skill, but communication and getting used to following guidelines more effectively. But yeah my first gig was the Transformers card game, so that was pretty neat to do! :'D

[perilegs]

i'm in part charge of recruiting people for my department at work, and for our hiring offer we were about to write "minimum of [x years] of experience required," but i remembered how people with audacity will apply regardless of what it says, but that wording will push away potential employees, especially women, who are considerate and value the time of both others and themselves, and think they can't apply if they have, let's say a few months less experience than what we required, so i asked it to be switched to "around [x years] of experience required." and it's such a small change but it makes a big difference. and man idk what my point is but often it's good when you listen to people and their problems, so you might come up with low/no effort ways of helping even if it's just a little bit, instead of going "well that shouldnt be a problem, you should just act/do/etc. different"

[your-fave-is-bi]

ORDERED A BUNCH OF YARN BC I GOT TWO YARN SHOP GIFTCARDS FOR BIRF

YAAAAAAAAARN

[ninkaku]

unique cognitive abilities dazai has mastered:

reading upside down

speaking (+reading) backwards

is ambidextrous

identifying and creating palindromes (words that are the same read backwards or forwards, and thus doing the same with longer phrases)

can quickly spot how many syllables are in words/sentences

can read/speak quickly with clarity and understanding

mnemonics (using words/phrases/items to quickly recall memories and information for easier identification)

is exceptional at tongue twisters

dual narration of a story (playing two characters' dialogues without interruption and has clear character distinction in tone/presentation)

nonsense word creation (what it says on the tin, making up words and their definitions)

accent mimicry (which goes alongside his ability to quickly learn languages + he learns them for fun)

reverse thinking (solving problems by thinking about them in reverse, examining the outcomes and working backward to figure out the steps needed to get there)

language creation (see: him and fyodor conversing in a language made of random phrases and parts of their previous conversations in meursault)

++ more ... he's literally a genius :p

[paleaged]

being rejected from a job that specifically doesn't require dutch on the sole basis that i don't speak dutch (bc they Would have hired me otherwise) is such bullshit. And requiring "excellent command of english" of their candidates but not having it themselves is even more staggering

[the-acid-pear]

Something that I adore is when something is only Half a metaphor. Like the classic "yes the monster is a representation of grief but it's also real and it's coming for you". I think DSaF does that a lot with its body horror. Like lately I've been thinking of that line Harry says in fiery (flamey? I never get it right) ending about how every circuit of his board was SCREAMING at him to keep Bear alive but thing is, like... Yes, it'd do that, because he knows that if this bear goes down he will likely just be scrapped. You know what I'm saying? The "monster" (the reprogramming) is real but so is the metaphor (he's anxious about an untimely end)