#i don't know if i try b2 or c1

[algumaideia]

do you guys think i could pass a test for c1 in english

[lady-ashfade]

My Prompts

—£ I am changing my rules to only three per ask. But any of these I will try to fit together in a ask, though sometimes they don’t match up with the story.

—£ I’m not really good at coming up with theses for forgive me.

Fluff

“May I have this dance?” -A1

“You look truly breathtaking.” -A2

“You have no idea how much you matter to me.” - A3

“I just want to be with you” -A4

“I love you.” -A5

“Could I kiss you?” -A6

“I think I have always loved you” -A7

“Are you going to stand there, or kiss me?” -A7

“I've liked you for a while.” -A8

“Is that my shirt?” -A9

“I will always need you.” -A10

“I’d die for you.” -A11

“I could love you.” -A12

“Please go on a date with me.” -A13

“I just want to be with you.” -A14

Angst

“just stop ignoring me.” -B1

“*blank* wouldn’t make you happy like I can” -B2

“what do you see in them that I don't have? -B3

“I can't stand to see you with them.” -B4

“I could make you happy, why can’t you see that.” -B5

“I wouldn’t fight for something already gone.” -B6

Comfort/fluff

“I could list that best things about you and go on for days.” -C1

“Lay your head on my lap” -C2

“You are my home” -C3

“Just relax, I’ve got you.” -C4

A lot of things

“Pay attention to me” -D1

“If I didn't know any better I'd say you have feelings for me” -D2

“Are you jealous?” -D3

“Your eyes scream kiss me, but your mouth says fuck you” -D4

“You're cute when you're angry” -D5

“Make me.” -D6

“Are you flirting with me?” -D7

“You're so full of your self?” -D8

“I saved your ass.” -D9

“As soon as you walk into a room my head hurts.” -D10

“Why are you bleeding?” -D11

“How can someone that cute be that stupid?” -D12

More romantic

“I love the way your lips taste.” -E1

“You're mine” -E2

“I'll just have to shut you up” -E3

“Your to cute not to tease” -E4

“What? I'm just kissing you” -E5

“Only I get to hold you close like this.” -E6

Idea's:

Soulmate Au's: People destined to be together. 1) Having markings on their skin. 2) Can't see color until they look in the eyes of their soulmate. 3) Name of their soulmate on their arm. More ideas can be done if wanted.

Coffee Au: Cute little coffee shop meeting or one of them working as a barista.

Hybrid/house pet Au: A animal species mixed with humans, Cat, dog, bunnies are the only ones I will be doing. -just Mha

Yandere character You know yanderes, the possessive controlling obsessive love that will do anything for their little darling? Yeah, that's it! I only do soft and medium, nothing to heavy. The yandere wouldn't hurt the reader and respects them.(not much)

[beevean]

I don't know why so many people hate Rouge's current design so much. They say it's censorship, but in all honesty, Rouge's current design is vastly than what she originally had.

Rouge's SA2 model always looked clunky and awkward to me. Even as a person who loves big tatas, I never liked Rouge's SA2 model. Her model in that game looks like a poorly compressed human body or something.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/8/85/Rouge_1.png/revision/latest?cb=20140316203722

I think Rouge's design looks great in Heroes and everything onward. The shape of her body flows more naturally and it doesn't look like she could fall apart at any moment.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/c/c1/Rouge_heroes_32.png/revision/latest?cb=20170805174430

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/1/16/Rouge_7.png/revision/latest?cb=20200822153141

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/6/63/Riders_rouge_small.png/revision/latest?cb=20181201223435

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/a/a7/Rouge_Rivals_2.png/revision/latest?cb=20110923085344

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/b/b2/RougeRenderDreamTeam.png/revision/latest?cb=20231102022036

I love how she looks in all of these.

Rouge's body shape in SA2 felt like it was trying too hard to be sexy. Rouge's current body shape has much more shape appeal while still keeping the flirtatious vibe.

(And the same people who complain about how Rouge looks now are the same people who draw her as a hideous bat monster so I kind of automatically dismiss their takes on these things lmao)

People have a bad habit of going "CENSORSHIP" or "WOKE" when a design they like is even slightly different than before

With how they complain about Rouge's current design, you'd think that they turned her into a nun who's always covered up. In reality, it's just sonic fans doing their thing of complaining over nothing.

If Rouge had gigantic tits in her next appearance, I'd be into it. But I see no reason to complain about how she looks now. And I definitely don't see any reason to claim that her new design is an act of "wokeness" or censorship.

I haven't seen anyone complaing about the shape of her body. The issue lies entirely with her newly covered back, which is impractical because it looks like now she wears her suit over her wings. Interestingly enough, it's the same change they made to Amy in Prime.

At this point why not bring back her Heroes outfit? :P

As usual, it's not something I will lose sleep over, but it's weird, unnecessary, and doesn't fit the root "problem", if Rouge's sexiness is indeed a problem.

[vintage-tech]

If you're of a certain age, you remember the ads for the compilation albums by Ronco and K-Tel -- "20 original hits by the original stars" was always the tagline -- but there were other companies out there putting out mixtapes on vinyl, like Sessions, and then there is this two-record collections by a company called I & M Teleproducts which has 23 releases listed in Discogs.com -- several of which are Lawrence Welk, but many of which are contemporary collections.

Dreamin' is from 1979 and I approve of the tracklist. While Ronco was putting Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" and Barry Manilow on the same record, or K-Tel was mining the latter half of the Top 100 with Forgotten Charting Singles By Major Artists, I & M was attempting to stay a bit more on-topic and contained mostly music that neither of the bigger names had tapped but you knew. And being a two-record set, you felt like you got twice as much tunage when actually you didn't (21 songs) but there was a better chance of higher quality sound due to the uncompressed groove on the vinyl. It's up to personal opinion whether the line "21 original hits by 18 original artists" sounds impressive, especially since the songs by those repeated artists have been pretty much forgotten.

Here's the track list and you do know many of them:

A1 Samantha Sang– Emotion A2 Dan Hill– Sometimes When We Touch A3 Gladys Knight & The Pips– Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me A4 David Soul– Don't Give Up On Us A5 Paul Anka– The Times Of Your Life B1 Kenny Nolan– I Like Dreamin' B2 Gladys Knight & The Pips– The Way We Were B3 Atlanta Rhythm Section– So Into You B4 Mary MacGregor– Torn Between Two Lovers B5 Jessi Colter– I'm Not Lisa C1 Peter McCann– Do You Wanna Make Love C2 Eric Carmen– All By Myself C3 Jennifer Warnes– Right Time Of The Night C4 LeBlanc & Carr– Falling C5 England Dan & John Ford Coley– Nights Are Forever Without You C6 Daryl Hall & John Oates– She's Gone D1 Roberta Flack– The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face D2 Paul Anka– There's Nothing Stronger Than Our Love D3 Dorothy Moore– Misty Blue D4 The Spinners– They Just Can't Stop It (The Games People Play) D5 Gladys Knight & The Pips– So Sad The Song

Trivia: The Bee Gees wrote "Emotion" though didn't record it themselves for many years. David Soul was Hutch on the TV show Starsky & Hutch. Many of us can't help but think of Kodak film ads in regard to "The Times Of Your Life". Peter McCann technically makes two appearances on this list because he also wrote "Right Time Of The Night". "The Way We Were" is a Barbra Streisand cover from a 1973 movie by the same name, and the spoken introduction to the Gladys Knight song is "Try To Remember" from the long-running 1960 Broadway musical The Fantasticks.

[sheshe-cartoonlover]

Heyy! Here I'll uploading my sketches of different cartoons!!

Orrrr...

Different ideas or thoughts of different cartoons :D

Well, things like that...

Almost all about cartoons :))

Also... Can you see my pfp? 'Cause I uploaded It many times, but I can't see It TvT

Sooo... I forgot to upload my description and I prefer to write what I'd write there directly here!

About me:

You can call me... Basically any way you like, SheShe Is okk too :))

Orrr... You call me Rain or something like that... I usually use that! It's my art name...? Kind of...

Okk, let's move on!! I'm 15yo... Too much... Too much... I think I've missed two or three birthdays, because sometimes I wake up thinking I'm 12yo... Yeahh, that's It! Just ignore all the "..."! It's just not really how I talk irl, but I can't really talk how I talk irl, maybe I'll leave a vocal thingy here someday, since I desperately want to talk!! My English Is bad, remember that! I'm a B2, I think?? I don't really know my level, I just know I can read B2/C1 books, well, I usually mess up with few/little and many/much... When writing or speaking. Talking about my pronounce, It Is well, really meh... You'll hear that laterrr!

I wrote this poem just for saying that I'm 15yo! Oh, my!

ANYWAY, yeah, I know I repeat things often, I'm totally self-conscious about that and I apologise! But... I TRY, but I can't not do It!!! It's sooo hard! It's like talking slowly! Who on earth Is able do that?

Oh, let's come back to myself ✨

I'm Italian and I'm REALLY can't take It anymore with all the hotness hereee! It's like 40°C degrees, I hate the Sun! Sorry, Sun, I love your complexion... But not your role, still don't explode, pleeeeeease!

After that little talk to myself with the Sun, you probably stopped reading, I'm not even asking myself why! If you are still reading, I think you must know that you're not even halfway, because I may have been lacking of social interactions these days and when that happens... I talk to myself, so why don't be even crazier! Talk to random people who may encounter my post In this sea of posts (worst metaphor ever, I know) and ask themselves why? Why would she do that?

OHHH, RIGHT!! I'm a girl! Pronouns She/Her, I don't really like to be referred as He/Him, so please remember that, I won't be mad If you don't, but... Don't be offended If I'm having a bad day and I tell you something, like "I'm actually I girl!!", I apologize here, sorryyy 😓😓...

Let's move onto Sexuality, should we? (Yeah, we definitely should, I know, I'll tell you how many words are there In this poem at the end, which Is... Uhm... Pretty far!)...

ANYWAY (I'll using a lot of anyways to reconnect myself to the MAIN conversation here, yeah, I know It's just a conversation with MYself!)... Counting of anyways at the end!!

ANYWAY, I'm In the ARO/ACE Spectrum, I know for sure I'm Apothisexual but... What about romantic orientation? Something In the ARO Spectrum for sure, just not Apothiromantic, since, I'm not romance-repulsed... I mean, I don't like romance on myself, like kisses are a big no and, I'm not perfectly fine with physical touch either... But, I really love others romance!! Literally like every fangirl!! But I don't know If Apothiromantic to that!? So I'll be sticking to Aromantic or [Fictoromantic], even though I prefer Apothiromantic, referring to how I feel about romance with ME...

I'm a cartoon addicted, I don't watch anything If not cartoons!! (No, but I mean for real)... I'm starting to become real-people-repulsed, well not for real, I love my friends, but, I just wish we were, like, animated better? It's difficult to explain, maybe I'm just weird... I literally can't watch shows with real people If not at the theatre, because I feel like repulsed... I get bored In some minutes...

ALSO, things for which I'll probably get bullied at school If I tell anyone, I'm afraid of blood, like a lot... Not mine... But others'... Yes.. Even If It's just the slightest sight of blood... If It's drawn I still have problems, but less, like I can convince myself that It Isn't blood, so my head doesn't start going crazy and almost fainting or... I just look away :D!

TPD doesn't have much blood, luckily and... Only on dark scenes, most of the times, so I say to myself: "It Isn't blood... It's Isn't blood..."

That's like:

Me: "It Isn't blood... It's Isn't blood..."

Viren: "The Son's Blood..." or "The Blood of The Soon...", I'm not sure!

Anyway!!

Me: "IT'S NOT BLOOD! IT'S NOT BLOOD!"

So, well, sometimes I actually believe It... And It's working! When Viren did that disgusting hearth thingy I don't wanna remember, at first, I didn't even think It was blood... Well, then yes, so I started looking away or looking at the background ehe...

This Is starting to feel like a personal diary-

ANYWAY, where were we? I don't even remember...

Oh. Right!!! My lucky number Is 17!!!

I won't tell you ALL my personality typings, just know I'm a ENFP E2w3, ok?

Wanna know something? Ask In the comments below!!

And no, It's NOT the end... Just lemme find a topic, because I really want to talk... You can see how crazy I am by the fact that I literally have a chat with myself on TextingStory free version, 'cuz I have no money ✨✨

Wanna see some of the chat???

I guess not, but I wanna show y'all!!

Nevermind, It's more embarrassing than this whole thing...

I'm working on MLP tarots with myself, anyway!!! I have just 2 cards ready for now, well "ready"... I have just 2 doodles of the concepts... I have 0 - The Fool - Discord and I - The Magician - Trixie, but I have to color them digitally and It's gonna be a pain since... Well, let's say I'm not the best with digital art... But still, I should be able to trace and color, right?? Yeah, I don't think so neither, but we'll see after I have all the 78 cards ready!!!

My idea Is to give each card a different character, according to their story or just something near to their story, since finding 78 DIFFERENT characters was hard... Actually 85, but shhh, just because two cards need 2 characters and one needs 3... Not really the best things ever... Finding the Kings was the worst ehe... At least now I can say my favourite seed Is CUPS!! And that If you get 5 Is bad... Also Death!! Death Is worse... I already decided all the characters yesterday, did I already tell you that?

Anyway...

I know It's bad, I just tried... Ahahahaha

They are the same size anyway, don't let yourself be fooled by the pictures and for the King/Queens and Empress/Emperor you'll see... I'm not a PEDO!!! I don't actually ship them! They are just characters that fitted In, Kings and Queens are not related! Nor are the Empress and the Emperor!!

Fun fact: I have 8 full notebooks I made In 3-4 years... Maybe 2? It feels so weird... I didn't change In these notebooks, just In the last ones, I understood myself better... Since I write as Rain, not as She... Yeah, She Is a real life nickname people give me, so well, SheShe too... I really became more mentally ill In these years... But also a lot more like In this post... In my notebooks, I put all my weirdness and I feel happy about It, I don't know If It's good or not...

I'm also dark, sometimes, thought, honestly... Like I really want my parents to divorce, like I want It, I'd be happy and out there there are people who maybe have PTSD due to their parents divorce... I feel cruel for this...

ANYWAY!!! LET'S TALK OF LIGHTER THINGS!! Even thought, my playlist playing "Different Beast" creeps me out, If the next It's "Monster", I'd be sad for my own cruelness... I'm trying soo hard to be KIND, KIND AND KIND... People say: "Don't be kind or you'll be used!", but what If I like being used??? What If I'm fine with It and I take joy In being used, because I know that my being used does something good to others, while my not being kind, hurts them? Like sometimes I don't understand people, I usually thought that this thing of using was realistic and helpful, but some months ago I realised I wrong I was! Anyway, yeah, people use me or think about using me, even not voluntarily... One time, one of my classmates told me: "You do everything people tell you, you're so usable"... I told him "I know" and I laughed, "It doesn't bother me" - I said.

Anyway my YouTube FYP, because yes

Sorry, It's In Italian 😓😓

Anyway, "No Longer You" Is playing, It's even more even depressing than "Monster"...

Anyway, even If It's the song which scares me the most In all EPIC, "Monster" Is my favourite song In The Musical!!!

Anyway, my current favourite cartoon Is MLP: FIM, well, actually from a lot of years, but... Still love It!!!

I'll finish this ✨ Poem ✨ later

I'M BACK! I'M BACK!!

OK, so I thought you may be asking why In my notebook I have a date of day that still has to come (5/4), I wish It was because I'm from the future, but It's because I'm a dummy... In my notebooks, I always put dates that has to come, It's because they're Rain's notebooks, not She's notebooks and In Rain's world the time works different... It's never the same date as today, It's always the future, but really random... Like sometimes In a day I put 2 or more different dates orr, one day I put the date of 2 days after and some days even a week or a month... This started with a date of months later, but I was busy, this date arrived and well, the dates came nearer ehe...

I'm loving writing this essay, like It's really awesome, It's like a therapy!!! Quite like VAT7K, which helped and Is helping with my loneliness and fear of abandonment... See, I don't know If you want to read my psychological talk... There aren't a lot of who would want to... At least, when I talk about that with my Mom I feel worse than before... But, maybe with you? I talked about It with other friends... Really... Almost everyone, even If I tried to make It seem A LOT less a pain than It really was, because... Because that's what my Mom makes me think... Like, I don't wanna become a drama queen and give the impression that ONLY I suffer, I don't know, my Mom always says that "No one wants to be your (mine) friend, because you're (I'm) always like this"...

Like, I love to talk about psychology and things I like, but when I talk with my Mom or my Grandma, my Dad... I feel so non listened and dumb for even having started that dumb conversation that... I started to not talk about my Interests with my friends or, even when I do It, I feel like even If they reply... They seem Interested... Their smile Is fake and they are just annoyed, bored and uninterested just because of me, so I stop... And change topic...

ANYWAY, I'm making this whole thing seem like It's my Mom fault, but no, she's good!! She doesn't just realise she's not really the mother she wishes to be and I'm not the daughter she wants ehe... But she's a lot of fun!!! I definitely prefer her to those bratty Moms all about pretty dresses and ugly long nails... Augh... (SORRY IF I ACCIDENTALLY INSULTED YOU!! If I don't like long nails or dressing pretty It's just me, not you, you are not a bad personality to me just because of that, you're even better than me, because you actually care about you look, while I don't... Well, I do... But In my ways... Anyway, I love y'all anyway!! Remember, It doesn't matter how you dress, y'all are still beautiful!!! I just don't want a Mom who tells me to dress pretty, while I don't to ♥️)!

Hey!! Wanna know I dress and how I WOULD dress If I could?

I'll show some things from Pinterest!!! You're completely free to not like It, of course, I have not seen anyone with my style so far... Well, maybe my BFF, but I'm... Well, even more colourful and self expressive than her!!

Ohhh, I can't wait to show youuu! I need to find someone with my style!!!

First, this kind of oversized hoodies, all with bunnies images like this one! But, figure them In a different colour, like... Dark or Light Pink/Lavender/Red and with a big pocket right below the bunny!!!

This would be a good example of a T-shirt I'd wear, same colours (Dark or Light Pink/Lavender/Red, some white), always with Bunnies!!!

Always long shirts.

I'd wear this kind of shirts/hoodies with cartoon characters too, but It's too embarrassing ehe...

For the pants, sweatpants or leggins!

Same colours are before, you know Dark or Light Pink/Lavender/Red... Ehe... They are my colours... Yellow too, thought!

-

Now It's summer here, soo, I just wear this kind of shorts, but with the colours you know, but I'll repeat: Dark or Light Pink/Lavender/Red...

And I also wear singlets like these, same colours (Dark or Light Pink/Lavender/Red)!

For the HOT SUN I also always have this...

NO WAYYY, 10 IMAGES LIMIT?? THIS IS INSANE!?

Sorry, guys, I'll delete the MLP picture... 🥲

Yeah, I wear this and I probably look dumb and really funny, but It's really useful (yes, I got the idea from that MLP episode)...

And a fan!!! I always bring my fan!!! Oh, and I always bring my rucksack!!! I have to make you see It!!! I'll delete the leggings image... You know how leggings are made, after all, right?

I have to give you an idea of how my rucksack looks like, sorryyy!!

It's similar to this, but It has longer ears and It's more colourful, It had mixed light blue, lavender and light pink... Mine also has a tail and paws... The base colour In the back, which here Is light pink, In mine Is lavender... Also mine has A LOT of keychain... AHHH!! I HAVE 2 MLP KEYCHAINSS!!! 1 Scootaloo and 1 Twilight, they arrived two weeks ago, then an heart carved In wood, two bracelets from the Camping I go on Holiday since I was born: one from last year (ocean blue), and one I'm using this year (Pinkie's mane pink)... Also 2 Scooby-Doos, which are those things with Intertwined threads, I don't know?? I translated this word, Imma be honest here! Also there I have a Marmot small-sized plushie with a tiny bow, a lavender butterfly 🦋 and my school's keychain!! It should be everything... You don't wanna know what's inside, but sure there are plenty sticks... I'll probably use them to make magic wands once I get home, since I need some!! Did I mention I'm Into witchcraft!!!

All the photos are from Pinterest!!!

I got an Ideaaa!! I'll make my own diary on Wattpad, best therapy ever!!! Maybe I'll make some friends too...!! I can't wait!! Even If as a format... I love Tumblr more... But... YOU CAN PUT JUST 10 IMAGES IN A POST??? WHATT??

Anyway, I can't count the words or the anyways like I promised, 'cause I can't copy the Intere text... TvT

I'm so sorry...

This Is probably the end, but see you In my new Journal on Wattpad, I'll probably write about my life here too and I'll register those promised vocals... :))!!

Anyway, I changed my mind... Tumblr Is A LOT better than Wattpad, so I'm gonna use this both as a Journal and to post drawings... Well, still a Journal and this was my Intro :))

[annsephine]

i'm back by popular demand!!

Hey guys!! Guess who's back?!?!

I'm now trying to get back in the game, so I hope I can post more about my journey with languages and writing.

This year I'm focusing on improving my (british) english. I want to reach C1, almost C2 by the end of the year (I need all the luck, motivation and time I can get). I'm a solid B2 (at least it's my score in every test I take). I have the usual problems: lack of grammar (prepositions??? Is that something to eat?) I would die if my life depends on using in/at/on correctly. And I need more vocab, nothing fancy, but I need to improve it. My goal is to write 50k in september (I'm not gonna name the challenge, but if you know, you know). If you're going to do a similar challenge, just DM me!!

Next year I'm going to prioritize my (chilean) spanish. yeah, you read that right. I'm gonna try to learn chilean english on my own. Wish me luck!! I know some spanish, but chilean spanish?? That's a whole different level of spanish. And if you are chilean and want to chat next year with someone borderline funny and chaotic, just let me know! And I'm trying to decide on learning italian, german or norwegian next year. I know a thing or two in those languages, but I really want to focus on one of them next year. Any suggestion or study buddies are appreciated.

On top of that, I'm writing my master's dissertation and have to finish it by March AND write my PhD project until November, so I can apply by the beginning of December.

I don't know how alive is the langblr and studyblr community (I left for an insane amount of time), but if you are learning a language or studying for something and need some accountability, just hit me up! I can help with portuguese too!

[rigelmejo]

9/19/2024 some updates!

Glossika Japanese: I finished the A1 section, it was about 3000 sentences. The full glossika japanese course states it has 6400+ sentences and 5000+ words. So with how MANY words were in A1? I am predicting A2 will have 2500-3000 words and then there will be a small amount of sentences in B1 and B2. Also: the course's claims of A1 etc categorization do not actually match up to any A1-C1 clearly. I'd say everything in the "A1" module felt beginner, except for a few grammar points I didn't learn in japanese 1 in college. But it was beginner enough material that I don't think I could pass an N5 or N4 practice test with 90%.

What is good about the A1 module? It did at least cover a decent amount of new words. While there were a lot of repeated words and words conjugated multiple ways, I'd say at least 1500-2000 new words were covered. Maybe there were even 2500+ new words covered, but I'm going to guess closer to 1500-2000. I've done the beginning of Nukemarine's LLJ memrise courses before, years ago, and studied 2000 words in that. So a lot of glossika japanese A1 has been review for me. But I do think the sheer volume of sentences has been useful, with the various grammar and conjugations. While I don't think I learned very many new words... possibly only a few hundred... I DO think going through A1 has improved my listening skills in japanese. Now, that improvement could just be because (according to glossika app) I studied for 63 hours in the last few months. And yes, I recognize I should expect solid project in a language like japanese every few HUNDRED hours, not every few dozen, so I need to keep studying for longer to truly judge how much progress glossika materials can help me get to. But I will say even just the 63 hours? It's clearly helped. I can understand about half of the lines/phrase chunks in Death Note, I can understand enough of kids shows to just Watch them (so I suppose I could start immersing by watching shows).

I watched Criminologist Himura and Writer Alice yesterday for about 15 minutes and I could follow the main plot. Many details were fuzzy, and to be fair the show is Very Visual in showing what's described so that helps me follow Himura's lines of reasoning and reactions, and my brain felt FRIED trying to focus.

But its the first time I watched a jdrama and could just FOLLOW it (if roughly). When studying chinese, I could start doing that around 5-6 months of learning (when I'd studied 2000 words brute force in memrise and 800 hanzi in a book), i would feel exhausted and couldnt do it longer than 20 minutes at a time until I kept trying and eventually could handle a full episode of chinese shows. But I could Start building up stamina to watch/focus and try to comprehend at that time. So I'd guess my japanese is now around knowing 2000-3000 words overall (some from prior to glossika, many reviewed with glossika recently, som new words). Listening a LOT just tends to help me, personally, with improving comprehension and comprehension speed. I suppose I could start watching japanese shows now, but im going to be real, I am a chicken. Id rather learn more words first. I could probably rewatch a show I already saw in english, but a new show in japanese would probably make me need to focus so hard id get exhausted if i try for too long at a time.

Anyway, overall? Id say glossika is presenting new information SLOWER than I'd like (I do think Clozemaster is faster with new word introductions, but last time I used it maybe a year ago their Radio mode just didnt give you the same pick-what-to-study-new control that glossika does). But glossika is faster than pimsleur. And I do think I may be getting to a lot of genuinely NEW words for me soon, which will be the biggest test of if the material is actually useful for me more than another program that may only have 2000 words. So I'll keep going. I'll update again later.

I'd also like to try Listening Reading Method with Alice in Wonderland in japanese again, if i can get myself to focus. I think I know enough japanese now that a wall of (older childrens book) text is not going to immediately exhaust me. Or at least, exhaust me less than last time I tried.

My chinese is still in a weird holding zone. I have been listening to audiobooks still. Its like I lose all my instant recognition of words after a few days not listening to chinese, but then within a few hours the instant recognition comes back! But the first few hours of listening after those days of a break, i can't understand fully the audio i COULD nearly fully understand just before the few-days break in audio. So it's like my recognition goes UP each time I study then DROPS every time I take a few days break. I think it's probably normal, and the recognition that drops then goes back up is probably just words I know LESS fully or that are less common than the core-words I seem to recognize immediately even after long breaks. I imagine what will fix this is simply listening for a LOT of hours. I'm just lazy. I need to listen more.

[facelessxchurch]

Review/Rant: Official Merch Store

General Short Version

Remember how he said he would hire professional artists for the official merch store? Yeah, Landy lied bc of course he did. Pretty sure he designed this stuff himself. I mean, a too big amount of items are his doodles.

I didn't expect much, didn't even hope for merch for my favs, but I expected at least some new SP art instead of recycled art (some art is so old it's still from when the first trilogy was released) and well, text.

And no, Landy's shitty 5-second doodles of Skul and himself don't count as "art". Neither does the skull silhouette on some items. Couldn't even be arsed to add eye socks and nose smh :/

3 pages full of garbage merch. He really went for quantity over quality here.

And to add further insult to injury, the prices of the items he sells are heavily overpriced.

So yeah, this entire store is a sign of disrespect and balant insult to the fandom. I hope no one buys this.

Long Version

The Notebooks/-pads

Too much empty space. WAY too much empty space. You couldn't possibly have done this in a lazier way.

The sarcasm one is hardly even SP-related. Plus, he didn't even attempt to pretty the text up a little with typography. He didn't use the 'bold' font for "Caution" which would have been the bare minimum. This doesn't even count as trying.

I TRIED to make the two with characters on it a little better by reducing the empty space, but it's really hard to polish a turd. Especially if ya don't wanna put more than 5 min in lol

Totem Bags

This store has totem bags, but they are worse than the Kickstarter one. At least the Kickstarter one had text big enough that you could read it from afar. For the text on the new ones, you'll need a magnifying glass.

Clothing

Some of the text has the same problem as the totem bags: too small to read. The only time text should be that small is if it isn't meant to be read or when it's "if you can read this you're too close" T-Shirt. This applies especially to A6.

If you have B2 you don't need B1. What happened here? Did he have an item amount quota to reach?

A3, B3 and C3 are Landy's shitty 5 second doodles again. Unless they are used to signed the cloths they don't belong on the clothes. Pay for a custom design, you cheap ass scammer!

A4 and A5, the stripe with Skul should be thicker. If it's on a shirt you shouldn't need a magnifying glass to see it. Also, the blue stripe needs more contrast, the blue is eating the black outlines of Skul. The red stripe on the blue shirt... I just really don't like that blue tone and I hate that he doubled down on it. For the website too.

C1 should have had the sold letters bc you can't read it from further away with that effect on top.

C2 at last you can read this one. Not getting any creativity points from me tho. Once again it's just text and probably took him 5 seconds to design.

Now listen, here is what I want instead. I have this zip-up hoodie from Killstar. I love and essentially I want this but in SP.

Faceless One version: The symbol on the front is the Faceless Church symbol. The back is a picture with Mev in the middle and his generals around him and it's done in the style of those stained glass windows you see in Christian churches but black and white. I don't know what I want on the sleeves. Maybe bursts of flames, symbolizing Mev's fire attacks. Or perhaps just parts of the 'Gospel of the Faceless' scribbled along on the arms in English, Latin or even Irish??? Or one arm a snake to symbolize Nef and the other a lion to symbolize Baron as his right and left hand men?

China Sorrows Version: The symbol in the front should be a crest with a scorpion on it. The back image is a drawing of China in the Art nouveau style. The arms should be a roll of paper curling down each arm with various symbols drawn on them, artfully intervening with each other.

Hats

I wouldn't say that "We don't talk about vampires" is one of the more iconic quotes of the series, but besides that not even an attempt was made at typography. Or like, a little vampire head silhouette with an open mouth and exposed fangs. or even just fangs around the text or anything at all even.

It doesn't assault my eyes, but it's also incredibly boring.

To the people saying they wanted to buy Skul's head: just go to a hat store and buy a fedora. It's gonna be better quality than whatever Landy would smack on the store for a criminal price.

Everything with his face on it

No. How full of yourself do you have to be to try and sell merch with your face on it. The quotes are awful too

The quotes on the postcards are so awfully 2012 Tumblr "quirky" I'm-not-like-other-people ^w^ edgy bullshit vibes. Wasn't cute when it came from the emo kids back then and it coming from a +50 year old man trying to be relatable to the kids these days is just sad and cringe.

Also, I'm pretty sure by sending people that greeting card is how you end relationships including familiar relationships.

Baby's first InDesign Skull

It's what it says in the title. Should have just used the iconic Skul logo instead to make it look like SP and less like random shit you can find on Etsy after reaching page 100.

Really should have just used the old school icon. Thee is a reason it's so iconic: it's easy to recognize as Skul and not random skull/skeleton number 5643489. Plus, using the old one is about the same amount of effort as making the new one.

Honestly, it should have been custom art, but the iconic SP icon would be the lesser evil by a far.

On top of hat, black text is hard to read on a red background js.

Also, what kind of chaotic evil alinged bastard uses a metal pencil case???

Prints

Ngl I always thought the "Mortail Coil" cover was one of the best of the entire series. I also really love the OG "Dark Days" cover. OG book covers as prints? Easy win! Still fucking overpriced tho. Plus the OG covers also would have looked good on clothing, way better than the shit he ended up slapping on there.

As for the collage with all of the characters in it: I always thought it looked awful. The characters were just thrown in there without much thought or care. Also hate that he used the ugly ass SoW Nef instead of the way better-looking Book 1 cover Nef.

Rainbow Ruler

This isn't even Skulduggery-themed. I feel like HarperCollins told Landy he had to put something in the store for the gays but instead of making something like a cute lil Valkyrie/Militsa pin he just smacked this into the store.

The Skulduggery Apron

The only thing that makes it SP-themed is that they smacked a sign saying "Cooking with Skulduggery" on it. Otherwise, it looks like every other skeleton apron you can get around Halloween.

Coaster

So empty and boring again. It looked way better with the moth eventho it was a "Silent of the Lambs" movie poster rip-off. Still don't know why a skull is the official Sanctuary logo. Seems kinda weird for the good guys. On a meta level: I guess literally EVERYTHING in universe has to revolve around Skulduggery.

Make the Sanctuary seal more interesting and then invert the values so the background if black and the lines are white and this could actually look decent.

Skulduggery Clock

This looks like a your-photo-here clock that you can order at every random print shop. Here are some examples from HP to show HOW a custom clock for the fans is meant to look like next to it. (Also look at this Thresh watch, it's so good I almost regret not wearing watches.)

Lunchbox and Waterbottle

Same thing as with the clock. Tho the water bottle also has too much white space.

Mouse-/Gamerpads

Recycled art again. The mousepads look weird with Val placed smack dead in the middle. Plz apply the rule of thirds and move her a little to the right.

Pillows and Bag

AGAIN WITH THOSE SHITTY DOODLES Someone tell Landy that if it takes about 5 seconds to draw it does NOT belong on merchendise!

Also, that floating "Bad Magic" Skul really doesn't work on it's own, Just... just use the damn Skul icon if you gotta be lazy.

Final Words

Overpriced lazy garbage that Landy definetely designed himself. No person with self-respect would even consider participating in this cash grab.

It's an insult to every fan, really.

How to fix this? Delete everything from the website, hire a professional artist, go for quality over quantity. A few items that sell really well are a million times better than a bunch of items that don't sell. If the shop goes well you can always expand.

Almost all of the store should have been custom art apart from a few exceptions where old promo art and book covers are used for tops and posters.

[aleblr]

Ciao, I'm Ale!

And yes, this is a studyblr intro

I haven't made one since when I first started this blog so I thought of updating it :))

Studies:

I'm a third year university student based in Italy

Trying to achieve a bachelor's degree in animal science🐄

When I first started this blog I wanted to become a vet, but didn't pass the entrance test multiple times + life happens sometimes, sooo here we are

I still want to work in this field tho, so after my bachelor's I think of doing a master in veterinary biotech

But rn I have to focus on taking exams that are left + writing the thesis

Things about me:

Truly love photography, the world is too beautiful for it to just be forgotten by my brain

Big nerd (of any kind of media that can be consumed really)

I'm a petsitter, It's a part time job that I started one year ago and I'm really enjoying it

I'm a chronic procrastinator and a perfectionist, perfect combo *chef kiss*

I listen to any kind of music, but I'm a big fan of hard rock/metal music

Languages

Italian, native speaker

English, C1 level

French, B2 level

German, very basic knowledge (maybe A2 level)

I'd love to get to know more people from the studyblr community so don't hesitate to interact with posts/slide in my dms ✨

[nordic-language-love]

So uh. I forgot I actually made 2023 goals. Well, uh. Let's check in, I guess!

Japanese Goals

1) Reach a pre-intermediate level in Japanese - I mean, it's not going as well as I'd hoped. I've not really been giving it my all, if I'm honest. Sometimes I make great progress but I get discouraged very easily. My listening has improved significantly and my vocabulary has expanded a lot, not to mention I did - somehow - pass N4. And while passing N4 wasn't actually the goal, it was the rough level I wanted to reach. And yet I still don't know if I feel like I've reached this goal. Idk, it's complicated. I think my kanji and listening and maybe even reading generally are close to pre-intermediate. Just my speaking is garbage (but tbh it's worse for my lack of confidence).

2) Finish Japanese Short Stories For Beginners - I only have 5 left to read and could probably finish them pretty quickly actually if I wanted. I've been kinda lazy haha.

3) Have a Japanese conversation class on italki without using English at all - Mmm I knew this would be an ambitious one, but I've come pretty close a few times. If I actually tried harder to learn vocabulary maybe I could do this one? I just get lazy with learning vocab so I forget what words I've learned and then I can't use them when I need them.

Norwegian Goals

1) Maintain my B2/C1 level in Norwegian - Yeah I've done that I'd say. My reading is still C1, my other skills have slipped but definitely still around the C1 mark I reckon.

2) Learn more idioms and natural ways of speaking - Not really been trying to do that, unfortunately. But I have picked up a couple of new things recently, so that's cool.

3) Write 10,000 words of fiction - Lmao I've written zero (I did get as far as creating a scrivener document though)

4) Finish reading 5 books in Norwegian - Okay well I've read 3/5 and the fourth is planned for November (maaaaybe October at a push). I need to get another one, but I do have a physical copy of one at home soooo maybe I'll pick that up when I go back in October and try to squeeze it in?

Non-language goals

1) Improve my overall flexibility - Umm no, but I've maintained it and I now do yoga every day and I love stretching so idc

2) Read 15 books - Smashed it! I'm on book 18 and I'm aiming for 25 now.

3) Journal regularly - The point was actually to journal in English but I felt super uncomfortable and ended up journally in Norwegian anyway. But! I do write in my journal regularly! And that was the goal!

4) Learn new fans techniques - Didn't bring my fans with me in the end sooo I couldn't do this one.

[sweetpiccolo-blog]

Hiya! Hope you're having a nice day/night!

I'm here for the matchups so let me begin quickly!

◆ I am 162 cm tall, I have really dark brown hair and I also have hazel eyes.

◆ I know fluent Turkish (native), C1 English, B2 Azerbaijan Turkish and a little bit of A2/B1 German.

◆ I'm ISFJ 6w5 and I'm apparently an Aquarius. (I don't care for zodiac signs lmao-)

◆ My hobbies include sewing, cooking/baking, cycling, drawing, reading, drumming, photography, gaming, learning new languages and etc.

◆ Likes: Geography, citrus fruits, nature, cartoons, swing sets, cold weather...

◆ Dislikes: Insects, bad grammar, crowds, public speaking...

◆ I have no preferences but my favourite is Seb, that should tell a lot about me. (:

Thanks for taking your time to read this, have a great day! 🧿

- Ani

HI ANI!!! I am so excited to finally do your ask. I really hope you like it <3 I did not give you Seb because you are literally him so I decided to match you up with someone I feel like you would love spending time with.

This is only my opinion, so be sure to let me know what you think about it later : )

LET US GET STARTED!

Header by @dvluc

Your match is...

☆Alex Albon☆

You and Alex are serious when you need to be but that’s like 5% percent of the time, maybe less. You bet you both would be goofing around all day every day. But you are responsible and reliable. That being said, if there is a problem I think you both would come to a solution pretty quickly and even if there is a problem, there’s not much of them between you two.

Languages! You know many, he does few so that means… learning from each other! He would be amazed by your linguistic skills. I feel like he could teach you some Thai phrases maybe something about Thai cuisine too since he loves food. You would actually crush him with your rich vocabulary. Always blurring out something which sounds like gibberish to him but then you would laugh it off, slow down and translate what you just said. It is a very symbiotic way of learning for both of you.

You have incredible trust in each other. And also loyalty. You two would die for one another without a question. You are practically connected, inseparable. If there is you, Alex must be somewhere around and that works the other way around too.

I can see you dropping some geography facts here and there and Alex just looking at you as if you grew another head. He remembers them though and then flexes in front of George or Lando.

MEMES. Memes everywhere. No matter which app you communicate through there are loads and loads of memes. Nonstop.

When you agree on something together you do it. Even if it`s a spontaneous trip. One of you says the idea out loud, other one agrees and boom a plan is born. Backing a huge cake in the middle of the week? Why not. Getting out on the bikes for a whole day till the sun goes down? Yes please. Taking random pictures of everyone during the rawe ceek and then laughing at them? Uh-huh. Designing t-shirts with some cool design? Ya bet.

Gaming nights are a thing at your house. When there is no race, you buy the newest game and play together. No matter the genre. You even call the guys from Twitch to join you.

You both love nature! Although Alex is more of summer and sea guy and you a wintery gial. You will find something that both of you can enjoy. Just being outside makes you recharge your batteries.

BONUS: You avoid crowds as much as possible but that is not easy while dating an F1 driver, so you and Alex come up with ridiculous outfits to blend in and somehow they always work, nobody suspects a thing. You try to make existing in a crowd less of a burden and just have fun.

ENJOY! 💙💙💙

[prekladatelsky-orisek]

🌻My Language Goals🌻

This is gonna be a pretty long post, so I'm going to stick most of it under a read-more link! My goals for languages are shaped a lot by my interests, so a lot of what I want to do is oriented by reading (specifically, I *really love* fantasy books!).

Broad strokes: - journaling is an aim in languages I'm not too confident writing in yet - watching youtube/tv shows is smth I enjoy in languages I'm better at - I think making small presentations about myself or writing about my day would be useful in languages I'm more of a beginner in - I need to study/use more vocabulary

🍃 English (native, C2)

English is my native language, so it's hard to envision a major goal with it... Long term: Teach English abroad :D Short term: Learn grammar, attend TEFL course

🍄 Czech (heritage, ~C1-C2)

Czech is my heritage language. While I speak it fairly well, I do make occasional errors and often lack confidence. I feel like using it more would be good for me. Long term: Be confident writing, read more, speak more confidently (and more like someone my age), read more Short term: Read Časodějové, practice writing in a journal, make new friends in Prague through LGBT events

🌷German (~C1)

German is the language I've been passionate about for the longest. I think I'd like to live/study in Germany someday. Long term: Broaden my vocabulary, speak more confidently, start reading poetry, keep reading, maybe write something? Short term: Finish reading Das Fjordland, practice writing in a journal, practice talking to myself

Spanish (~B1-B2?)

I learned Spanish until I graduated high school. I know it fairly well passively, and I feel like it would be a shame to forget. On the other hand, I strongly associate it with school and grades, which makes me nervous about using it. Long term: Maintenance, pretty much Short term: watch tv shows/youtube videos

Esperanto (~B1-B2?)

I started learning Esperanto in 2021 during Covid, mostly just to have fun. I think it's super cool, and I'd love to get a chance to meet other Esperantists. Long term: Go to an Esperanto congress, enter Esperanto writing contests Short term: Find and participate in Esperanto events online/in person, practice writing in journal/talking to myself

Polish (~B1?)

I'm learning Polish mostly because of my partner. Their dad used to only speak to me in Polish. Besides that, I'm interested in Polish rock music and reading in Polish (especially The Witcher). Long term: Read, strengthen grammar + vocabulary, learn false friends from Czech better, converse more confidently Short term: attend summer course in Poland, write in journal

Russian (~A2-B1??)

There are books I want to read in Russian, and those are my primary motivation! However, there's also a lot of music I like in Russian, and I'm also interested in it because of how much I understand already. Long term: Read Monstrum by Pavlina Grad, read the 3rd book of The Witcher, speak well enough to impress my friend (he is unfortunately hard to impress), get through Russisch in Übungen Short term: Get through the first part of Russisch in übungen, read the first chapter of The Witcher, read 50 pages of Monstrum

toki pona (~A2-B1???)

I started learning toki pona in 2021 because of covid. I don't particularly have a goal, but I'd love to try and use it to talk to people! I feel like I'm stagnating a bit on my own. Long term: no real goal here, just fun! maybe conversation? Short term: start to join calls on discord, send a message in toki pona, engage in biweekly translation challenges

Korean (~A1-A2)

I'm curious about Korean because it's really different from the languages I already know! I really love the way Korean grammar is structured, and it always makes me happy to read something and understand. I have some Korean friends as well, and I hope to someday be good enough to talk to them a bit. I also am exploring Korean food a bunch lately -- I'm vegan, and I've found The Korean Vegan's videos inspirational for quite some time. Long term: Be able to read books, talk to friends Short term: Read a short story in Korean (& learn vocab), write a journal entry

Scottish Gaelic (~A1-A2)

A friend and I agreed to learn Scottish Gaelic a few years ago, but he gave up quite fast. I feel obligated to continue, even though I'm not all that good at it (fathast :P). Long term: Be able to read books in Gaelic, read The Little Prince Short term: Complete the Explorer section on Duolingo, write a journal entry, make a presentation about myself

Zulu (~A1)

I became curious about Zulu after reading Trevor Noah's memoir Born a Crime, and at the same time a friend of mine also got interested (although I don't recall precisely how). A third friend of mine ended up actually taking a Zulu course at the same time! The end result was a pact to study together. Long term: Be able to use Zulu with my friend who also is learning it, work through the resources I have (duolingo & TY zulu) Short term: (longer short-term) complete the Rookie section on Duolingo, do a lesson in my TY zulu book

Japanese (~A1)

I have a lot of friends who are very interested in Japanese. One of them is also a linguist and has repeatedly told me about how elegantly structured the language is... Fundamentally, I have given into peer pressure. Long term: Be able to have basic conversations with my friend, read a bilingual book of short stories in Japanese Short term: Complete Busuu A1 course, make a presentation about myself + what I like/dislike + what I do every day

[nowtoboldlygo]

this is my study plan for languages and hobbies!!

spanish 🇲🇽, studying at B1 level.

motivation: to attain fluency for work (corporate business shit). lots of hours with comprehensible input, no grammar/vocab study.

a1 comprehensible input (CI) at dreamingspanish.com

a1 comprehensible input (CI) at dreamingspanish.com

b1 CI + podcasts (español con juan, storylearning spanish, hoy hablamos)

b2 CI + podcasts + news radio + easy TV/cartoons

c1 everything, books, making friends in language

c2 studying for dele formally.

korean 🇰🇷, studying at topik level ZERO.

motivation: reading! korean to english translation is popping off & would love to read some of their discourse on antisocial socialism vs. inhumane capitalism &c. &c. not interested in speaking at all possibly ever.

i'm still figuring out my method, but i'm about forty hours in to the language, and have tried a fair few intro-level resources.

htsk & lingodeer

continuing with above

continuing with above

yonsei readers

full immersion (kid shows, comprehensible input (also, also, also)

study for topik formally.

cello 🎻, full beginner.

i moved to a city with no viable in-person teachers. which is,, incredibly upsetting.

focusing on reading music + some music theory

learning scales & doing schroeder + suzuki

it's almost fall and i haven't regularly picked up my cello this year. goal is twice a week twenty mins and then increase and increase.

drawing ✏️, full beginner.

i have never ever drawn before in my entire life. wasn't even a doodler growing up!

for now i'm only doing draw a box

there're some in-person classes at the local library (and community college) that i plan to check out once i finish draw a box, but i've been so terrible about maintaining consistency enough to even finish the first couple of lessons.

cooking 🧑‍🍳, possible infant.

i don't know - i keep trying to make recipes from cookbooks and they turn out to be either mediocre or actually inedible?

typing up this list, i feel like i'm going to just start taking the pricey in-person classes? but also i don't have money. but also i do want to be a better cook.

PLEASE GIVE ADVICE, I AM TRYING TO FEED MYSELF GOOD FOOD. (i'm not picky about ingredients but i AM picky about quality of meal. i literally moved across the country for better food b/c denver has shit restaurant culture.)

reading and writing 📖, expert-level and novice respectively.

three books/month: i don't post a lot about this online, because there are plenty of people doing the same thing, but i'm about halfway through reading one book from every country in the world. eventually i'm planning on posting reviews for my most highly recommended read-the-world books, but who knows.

nanowrimo this year, which is just a handful of weeks away!

[uncloseted]

i'm so frustrated because every time i take an english level test i get mediocre results. i have been learning? studying? english since i was 7. everyone always tells me i'm good. i don't know how to say this because this is not a thing in the US but i've been studying to be an ESL teacher for 5 years. my teachers love me and believe in me. i can't afford lessons and even if i could i'm too advanced. but i'm not advanced enough for a bilingual job. and that's the only thing i'm interested in

i don't understand. i think in english, i talk to myself in english, i'm the best in all my classes i don't know what's wrong with me or why i'm stuck at b2. i do everything you're supposed to. this is the only thing i've ever been good at and i'm still not good enough, i feel like such a failure (i'm 24)

If it makes you feel better, I don't think I would have known you weren't a native English speaker if it weren't for the content of this message, so I think you're doing pretty well. From what I can tell, it also seems like B2 is where English language learners start to reach a plateau, so you're definitely not the only person who's struggling with this.

In terms of leveling up your language skills, from what I can tell, the C1 exam involves understanding different types of text, such as fiction, newspapers, and magazines, writing, essays, letters/emails, proposals, reports and/or reviews, understanding spoken material such as interviews, radio broadcasts, presentations, and talks, and then having everyday conversations. Assuming that's true, there are a few things you can do that might help you practice the specific skills that they're looking for.

The first thing I would try is signing up for a language exchange app where you can practice your English with native speakers. As you said, you're too advanced for lessons, but having conversations with native speakers may help you pick up some of the facets of the language that aren't taught in a textbook (like idioms or slang) and give you the opportunity to practice talking about a range of different subjects. From what I can tell, people seem to like HelloTalk for this purpose. I'm also super happy to help out if you'd like, whether that's through chatting or answering any questions you might have about the weirdness of the English language.

Other than that, interacting with the kind of English-language material that they're likely to use on the exam should also help. Reading fiction novels, newspapers, and magazines in English and listening to/watching English-language podcasts, lectures, documentaries, and YouTube videos will probably help you get more familiar with what will be expected of you on the exam.

Good luck! I know it's frustrating to feel like you're not improving as quickly as you'd like, but as long as you keep practicing, you'll get there eventually.

[studyscrasic]

Langblr Reactivation Challenge 1.2

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?

Going to go language by language here which may get a bit lengthy since I'm very much a "dabble in many things at once to keep up my interest in them all" kind of guy.

Norwegian

Continue reading at least a few Norwegian-language articles a week in order to keep my vocabulary up (and expand it)

Get to the point where I can understand (native level) Norwegian podcasts as another input method

Finish both the Duolingo and Clozemaster courses for Bokmål

Start studying some Nynorsk and a specific dialect of my choice alongside the Bokmål I already know to increase my comprehension of how real Norwegian is actually spoken

Find an adult-level book I'm interested in and read it in Norwegian

In general, as I am already at a high-ish B1 level, I want to see if I can get to B2 even though I no longer have the structure of a university class, and at the very least would like to do my best not to lose my comprehension and speaking abilities.

I really want to visit Norway someday and get the chance to use my skills in context, but who knows if/when that will happen.

German

Finish both the Duolingo and Clozemaster courses for German

Also work through a textbook -- maybe the Routledge ones since I like their structure and focus on grammar

Start attempting to read articles in German regularly, maybe once a week? I need to figure out where to find ones that interest me.

Work with some of my friends who are native speakers/fluent in German to translate the pile of family letters and other documents I am now in possession of -- a cool heritage and history experience but also an opportunity to learn more German!

Right now I am probably A2ish in German and I would really like to get it up to the C1 level or higher. Being truly fluent is the dream as it's one of the languages I would most like to get to that point in since it has career uses for me (there are a lot of incredible historical science books and documents written in German).

Scottish Gaelic

Finish the Duolingo, Clozemaster, Learn Gaelic, and Speak Gaelic courses (a lot, I know, but some of the best resources I have!)

Someday I'd really like to take an actual Gaelic course, whether it's through Sabhal Mòr Ostaig or Love Gaelic distance learning or (this would be the dream) a study abroad option.

Start attempting to join Gaelic-language chats in the Celtic language Discord server I'm in so I can practice speaking/listening but also engage with Gaelic culture more.

I would love to get my Gaelic language skills to the point that I could start trying to facilitate chats and even lessons here where I live in the US where there is definitely a Gaelic/Scottish diaspora but limited options to engage with the culture and language (B2-C1 level?). Also someday I really want to travel to the Hebrides Gàidhealtachd area and use my Gaelic among native speakers.

Irish

Maybe finish the Duolingo Course, it's not my favorite, but definitely finish the Clozemaster one.

There's a Celtic cultural center where I live that sometimes offers Irish classes and I would really like to take one at some point, as well as try to meet up with the other Irish speakers in the area to talk sometime!

Similar to Gaelic, I want to join the Irish chats in the same Discord server I mentioned, too.

Also similar, to Gaelic, I dreams of traveling to a Gaeltacht area in either the Munster or Connacht area (I have family heritage/history in both areas, hence my interest in them specifically). I don't know what level my goal is in Irish, but fluent enough that speaking Irish in a Gaeltacht area would be possible and fulfilling.

Yiddish

This one's the least defined for me. The Jewish community where I live doesn't have so much connection to really traditional Yiddishkeit (although I wouldn't mind helping change that). I don't know who to practice it with, but I'd like to get to the point where I can sing/perform Yiddish music for my synagogue confidently and understand it, and maybe make zines and things in Yiddish to share with the broader Jewish Internet.

I do want to finish both the Duolingo and Clozemaster courses as a more defined goal.

I think it would also be really fantastic to get to the point where I can read interesting commentary on Jewish texts that was originally written in Yiddish.

[studyyblrring]

Introduction post

Langblr Reactivation Challenge

Week 1 - Day 1 (challenge)

Hi everyone! I'm really hoping to really get back into language learning this year and consequently become more active on here by sharing my progress/resources/just making friends :)

My name is Vanessa and I'm 24.

My TLs this year are: Japanese and Dutch. (in this order)

If things go well, or if I need a break from either, I'll probably either jump back into studying Korean for a bit or properly start with Thai, but I want to focus as much as I can on my TLs.

My mother tongue is Romanian, but I am fluent in English (C1 according to the IELTS test i took almost 4 years ago lmao)

I've dabbled in many languages over the years, but probably the only other one worth mentioning besides the ones I already have is German!

I have a lot of hobbies that i get hyperfixated on alternatively for weeks at a time, including but not limited to: knitting, crocheting, experimenting with digital design (i really wanna learn blender this year), coding, cooking, reading, listening to a lot of music!

I've been a K-pop fan for 8 years :")

Why I'm studying Japanese/Goals:

I've been studying Japanese on/off for 8 (!!!!!) years this April, but I've never been able to get my language level past somewhere in between N5 and N4 on a good day

I'm hoping to reach an intermediate-ish by the of the year, so around N3 (textbook-wise ideally want to be done with the Quartet series and move on to Tobira before 2024, but reaching Quartet II by the end of the year would still be amazing!)

My current goal in terms of JLPT is passing N4 this year! (probably in December, though if things are going well I might try for July as well). maybe even N3 in December but im trying to keep things as realistic and manageable as possible

Now onto why I'm studying, I started learning Japanese when I was in high school because I found out about the MEXT undergraduate scholarships and I was hoping to increase my chances of getting selected, by knowing as much Japanese as possible, but by the time I finished high school I had changed my plans and didn't apply

But through that, I fell in love with both the language and the culture and I got into anime (it was backwards for me lmao), and I kept studying whenever I could and I really miss it, since it's always been a lot of fun for me

I'm also maybe sorta kinda considering applying for the mext graduate scholarship this year or next year but don't hold me to it, I'm not 100% on it yet, but it is another big motivator for me

Why I'm studying Dutch/Goals

this will be a lot shorter as I don't have that many feelings in regard to the dutch language

My reason for studying Dutch is mostly functional, as I'm enrolled in a Dutch university and I live there for most of the year (I'm also starting an internship at a Dutch company this year, and though the staff is international, knowing Dutch would still be helpful) and knowing Dutch at a higher level will simply make my day-to-day life a lot easier and I would have less awkward interactions that start with "Sorry, do you speak English?" 🙃

My goal is to get around B2? maybe B1 would be more realistic? I'm honestly not sure, I haven't decided yet exactly what my textbooks/resources are going to be, as my studying has been kinda sporadic, but I have been keeping a 63-day Duolingo Dutch streak! I also have a Dutch conversation partner with whom I have ~1h Dutch conversation calls twice a month, and those have been quite helpful as well

and i guess my ultimate goal is to simply be able to get around with using mostly (if not only) speaking Dutch when I'm out and about

see you tomorrow :)