#language lover

[neristudy]

Sharing my language learning apps!~

I am not such a fan of "1000 and 1 app for every language" tbh, because mostly, i am just getting overwhelmed. I don't even use those every day, exept for 3 or 4 - and it's okay~

But anyway - my apps and their uses!

GERMAN // top and bottom row

Babbel - my main app, the best app for learning German for me, esp because there's a German course for Ukrainian learners. Also, it can be used w/o paying and w/o hella annoying adds. I love it.

Flashkards - basically for me, its Anki but better. Oh, but how can something beat The Anki? Answer is simple, because oh my siblings in Christ, how miserable I was, trying to set up Anki. It's long, its sad, and most of the time there's no sound! Flashkards, in turn, can be set up in minutes, even less, and has voice overs! In any languages! So I can even set up German/Ukrainian decks! Really useful, and, again, no ads.

Clozemaster - my gamification/listening stuff. I even have a guide for it!~

Tutor Lily - the least annoying chatbot for me, so I can train german speaking&writing. A bit silly, but a lot better for my anixiety than speaking to a real person! Has only 10 free messages per day, but if you speak/write a lot, you can really make them count.

Deutsche Welle - I honestly don't really love their explanation and find them a bit lacking, but I wanna use their german course as a bit of a crutch to my real life one!~

LEO - it's not a learning app per ce, its a dictionary. And really good one, at that! Really useful for me to find those pesky articles xD

CHINESE // second row

HelloChinese - my main app. And really, it's the app that brings me the most joy. It has native people speaking, it has a funny mascot, and honestly, it's first language learning app where I really think about buying premium at some point. It's really good, and fun!!

Lingodeer - a bit less fun and more focused. I find it a lot more "school-like", if that's make sence. Almost no fun, 100% concentration on a study. I am using it from time to time, but it's a lot harder for me to stay commited to it.

Immersive Chinese - basically a character drill app. A lot of concentrated knowlege and uses for a specific characters, I honestly use it and Lingodeer pretty interchangebly.

JAPANESE // third row

Renshuu - my main app. It has character drills, it has fun, it has everything. Honestly, one can use this as their main app, and with some books an youtube get pretty good, I think!~

Learn Japanese - kanji & hiragana drills, a bit extra to rensuu ones!

YuSpeak - basically a bit extra, as well, but in sentences and learning. Haven't use it as much as Renshuu and Lean Japanese, but it's a lot similar to HelloChinese (even from the same developers? Not sure) so hopefully will use it more in future~

Please, note that no app, even the greatest app in the world, will teach you the language by itself. But it can always be a fun hobby, give you a really strong foundation for a future course, or even just give you a bit of a taste for language to understand, do you want to commit or not, and it's tottaly, 110% okay.

Just make sure to not get unrealistic expectation of "I finish course in app X and will be fluent". It does not work like that, nor should it.

[nihongo-enthusiast]

The Difference of それに、それでは、それで、それでも

1. それに = on top of that; in addition...

• このレストランは料理が美味しい。それに、値段も安い。

This restaurant serves delicious food. On top of that, the price is cheap too.

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2. それでは = and so ...; and now...

• それでは、次の議題に移りましょう。

And so, let's move on to the next topic.

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3. それで = so; therefore...

• 昨日は大雨が降った。それで、試合は中止になった。

Yesterday it rained so heavily. Therefore, the game was cancelled.

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4. それでも = even though A, but still wanna do B; Despite..., but he still...

• 雨が降っている。それでも、彼は出かけるつもりだ。

It is raining. But he still intends to go out.

[dsm-wannabe-linguist]

“She’s everything, he’s just Ken” is made all the more hilarious knowing that ken literally just means “who?” in at least 8 languages

[babooshkaa]

ways to make duolingo useful

1. jump units

in the new "tree" all the new vocabulary is in the first lesson, then duolingo makes you study it for like a week if you're lucky, so if you're confident you've learnt all the new words just jump to the next unit (I also find myself remembering my mistakes better if I make them while trying to jump than when I make them in regular lessons)

❗after jumping always come back to the stories you missed, they're like the most useful thing there is in the app

2. use other resources

I know this is a post about duolingo, but people, mostly beginners, seem to think that they only need duolingo to become fluent. my mom has a 700 days strike and she still can't keep a simple conversation in english or understand an episode of fucking teletubbies, that should tell you everything. read content for beginners, watch youtube videos, tv-shows, use other apps, I promise the owl won't kill you for it

3. stop when it starts slowing you down

trust me you don't need to use duolingo when you're intermediate, it's just not worth it. leave it for the days you can't study properly and want to do at least something

[flamingo-studies]

日本語ブログ　ようこぞ！/ Welcome to my Japanese language blog!

日本語で：初めまして！　フライともうす。　5年くらい前に日本語が勉強している。日本へ行ったことがないんだけど、ぜひ行きたいやねん。いつか日本で勉強したいも。今自分で習っている。趣味は　漫画を読むとか、犬と散歩に行くとか、カンピンやねん。

漢字が少し難しいんだけど、おもろいと思う。そして関西弁がめっちゃおもろいやねん。

私は　スペイン語とか、英語とか、日本語が　はなせる。イタリア語少しんだけど。

英語：Hi! My name is Fry. I''ve been studying Japanese for 5 years or so. I've never been to Japan but I definitely want to go. I'd like to study in Japan someday as well. Right now I'm studying on my own. I like to read manga, walk my dogs and go camping.

Although kanji is a bit hard, I think it's pretty cool. Also Kansaiben (Kansai's dialect) is very cool too.

I can speak Spanish, English and Japanese. And just a little bit of Italian.

Like/Reblog if you're another langblr, or studyblr in general or post any of the following, so I can follow you!

haikyuu, jujutsu kaisen, demon slayer, fullmetal alchemist, one piece

anything japan related

nature or plants

art, literature

any variety of academia blog

[chiara-klara-claire]

🎌 Little Tokyo in Düsseldorf 🎌

[yasil-the-unconjugated]

[glottology]

I need to write a paper on [some artist's] influence on the English language, and argue why we should add it into the curriculum for English majors. Any suggestions?

We cannot choose any forms of literature, like poetry or drama for example, because those two are already in the curriculum (e.g. Shakespeare, Byron, Mary Shelley, etc.)

I am therefore required to pick a different art form (maybe film, photography, visual arts, painting, illustration, architecture, music, etc.) and choose a specific artist who is working/had worked in this art style and has significantly influenced the English language. I need to make a compelling argument for why we should add this artist into the English major's curriculum and I also need a topic that has enough cultural significance to the point of having had multiple academic articles written on it. I can't just rely on internet research like magazines or Wikipedia. I need actual academic articles or journals written about this topic, meaning that it has to be something that isn't too new.

I was going to pick the influence of British rock music on English phrasing, for example The Beatles, but someone had already beaten me to it. So I am completely out of any other ideas.

Are there any other artists that pop into your head who have greatly and significantly influenced the English language? I would appreciate any help because I feel extremely lost right now!

[polyglot-thought]

Language Learning Resource! (Video)

I feel like this video is a PERFECT outline of what you should be actively doing to learn another language.

—

—

Here’s the main takeaways with some of my own ideas thrown in:

1. Don’t learn a language with the intent to enjoy fun things in your target language LATER after you gotten to whatever your target level of fluency is: Just go ahead and start now! Watch the TV show you want to watch even if you don’t understand any of it yet, you’ll get there eventually.

2. You do not need to be speaking all the time with others to get good at speaking. It helps, but it should not be solely relied on. OP gives a good example of what he did wrong in the video.

3. Speaking a language isn’t due to knowledge like learning math is, it’s more like a muscle that is always working for the sake of function.

4. You can’t just do 30 minutes days and expect to be fluent eventually. You need to be using your target language as much as possible (aka immerse yourself). Immersion takes much more than 30 specific minutes out of your day. I actually do this all the time, talk to yourself in your target language, read your target language (I follow a lot of social media accounts in my target language so I constantly see it), text others in your target language, watch videos/movies, voice shadowing etc etc. You may even be able to feel when your brain is in (insert language here) mode. Me personally I can tell, and I notice that if I’m in Japanese mode it’s hard to absorb things in Mandarin or other language

5. Mindset is everything. If you think constantly about how hard something is, you will always feel like the task is hard. If you are learning a notoriously hard language, and ruminate about this, it will only hurt you in the long run. When I started learning Mandarin as a kid no one ever told me it was hard before, and I picked it up fast, and I only slowed down when I got frustrated about how hard the language is but sped back up when I reminded myself that input and immersion will get me the results I’m looking for eventually no matter which language.

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[hebrewbyinbal]

Good morning, my amazing Hebrew learners! 🌞

Today, I’m thankful for all the small and big things that bring me joy—especially each and every one of you! Your dedication, enthusiasm, and passion for learning Hebrew light up my day.

Let’s make today another step forward in our language journey together. Keep smiling and keep shining! ✨📚

[neurodivergentlanguagenerd]

My Issues with the Language Learing Community

First of all, I love being part of the language learning community and don't have a general grudge against it or anything but I do still have some issues.

Assumptions: People generally assume that everyone learns languages for output and that input is just important to learn and keep the language alive. Not everyone learns languages for output. Maybe they just wanna enjoy media in other languages and don't have the desire to speak or write the language.

Resources: Discussions about resources are more often than not extremely classist. And apart from that there's the constant bashing of certain resources (Duolingo), and whilst I wouldn't recommend Duolingo as the only source for language learning, it certainly is one. And if someone only wants to use Duolingo and nothing else, that's their choice. Yes, it's heavily gamified but there are people who keep learning a language due to that gamification (like me). And the bashing is so annoying to me because it's mostly like "Bah, it doesn't work for me, I'll go back to my textbook" and I'm always sitting there like "yeah, do that. Nobody's forcing you to use Duolingo, it's fine to not use it if it doesn't work for you."

Toxic productivity: The language community has a tedency to toxic productivity. It's always like "do something in your target language every day" and whilst that is good advice it also makes me feel bad when I literally cannot do something in my TL on low energy days. Though it does happen, it's very seldom that people tell you that taking breaks is okay. And the other point on toxic productivity is that people will tell things that work for them as if they would work for everyone. I don't have a problem with people who say like "This is what works for me" if people ask questions like "How can I be consistent in language learning?" but I do have a problem with people who are like "Do this!" as if it was the only way or the only right way to do things.

[nihongo-enthusiast]

The Difference Between ということだ and というものだ

~ということだ has two different meanings. Let's take a look at each one and their sentences.

1st meaning: I hear that... / It is said that...

Nuance: You want to convey the information you have obtained from a source; either from the TV, news, or a person.

• ニュースによると、明日は雨が降るということだ。

It is said that it will rain tomorrow according to the news.

2nd meaning: It means that... / In other words,...

• 田中さんに���明日から来なくてもいいからね」と言われた。つまり、首ということだ。

I was told by Mr. Tanaka "You don't have to come in from tomorrow." In other words, I was fired.

• 最近、運動するとすぐ疲れて…年と取ったということですね。

Lately, I'm getting tired easily when I exercise. It means that I'm getting old.

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Now, let's look at ~というものだ

Meaning: it is a general knowledge that... / it is common sense that...

Nuance: to describe something everybody knows as a general knowledge or a common sense fact.

• N5 を勉強している人が N2 に合格するのは無理というものだ。

It is impossible for someone who is studying N5 to pass N2.

• 責任をとるのがリーダーというものだ。

Taking responsibility is what a leader is all about.

[dsm-wannabe-linguist]

[theic-manic]

Resuming my language lessons during a train ride as a Hermes devotional act since we got to the train right on time.

🇫🇷 vs 🇩🇪: Neurodivergent auditory processing

🇫🇷: I need to play audio multiple times and slow it down because les salauds pronounce 1/3 of the letters 😑

🇩🇪: I can understand pretty well when listening at normal speed, almost zero need to repeat.

It probably helps that Germany standardised their prononciation.

Etwas, das die englische Sprache braucht.

Though I have been learning German on and off since 2013, whereas I only started French in May 2023 (& Russian earlier this year since I apparently hate myself).

[chaotic-language-journey]

Day 8

Spent 4 and a halfish hours creating an anki deck for @jpn-langblr ‘s あつ森 (Animal crossing) posts. It’s gonna help me play so much better in Japanese. So thank you so much for those posts!!

I’m also trying to figure out a way to mass send them to jpdb.io. I’m loving that website. If I can learn more, the more I can use that site to get media recommendations I’ll be able to understand well. I’m so excited.

I also decorated my anki and did more tweaking to my desktop today. Starting to look nicer all the time.

I was also watching Japanese AC videos yesterday. This girl is so sweet and makes such pretty islands. You should check her out! Her name is せなくまチャンネル