#textbooks for vietnamese speakers

[maziijapanese]

Conquer Japanese Effectively: Part 2 - All You Need to Know

Japanese, with its complex writing system and diverse grammar, is one of the most challenging yet fascinating languages to learn. In the first part of this series, we explored the basic methods and foundational strategies to begin the journey of mastering Japanese. Continuing from there, in part 2, Mazii will delve into advanced techniques and a rich array of study materials to help you optimize your learning process. Whether you're preparing for the JLPT exam or just aiming to improve your daily communication skills, this article will provide practical and useful suggestions to help you progress further in your Japanese language proficiency. Let’s explore valuable tips and experiences to learn Japanese effectively and sustainably!

5. How to Read Books Effectively

Reading books will help you expand your vocabulary and is also a way to learn Kanji. The biggest tip is: don't read silently! When you start learning Japanese, it's more beneficial to pronounce the sentences and vocabulary out loud rather than reading them silently in your head. Read the vocabulary out loud, clearly articulate small passages in a text, and engage in vocal activities. Write down your responses to these activities rather than just skimming through the words in your mind. Moving the vocabulary from your mind to your mouth is a skill that requires a great deal of practice.

6. Learning Japanese with Flashcards

The key to quick memorization is these "small but mighty" flashcards. Moreover, these cards are very portable, and you can buy them at a very affordable price or create your own. An effective tip for learning Japanese with this method is to write one word or phrase per card, as you can randomly shuffle the positions of the words, and your brain will accurately register what you want to remember rather than just the order of the words written on the card.

7. Learning Through Tapes, Movies, and Music

Japanese has become popular among foreign youth through manga, rock music, and J-Pop. If you are a fan, this is a great opportunity to practice by reading manga/watching movies before translations are available or trying to translate your favorite song lyrics. This will help you understand the use of words in specific contexts, as the language in daily life can be very different from what you learn in textbooks. Additionally, it will help you get used to the speaking speed of native Japanese speakers.

Most books come with tapes guiding the pronunciation of vocabulary and reading passages. Before reading the lesson, listen to it to see how much you understand, write down what you hear, and then compare, so you will remember the lesson longer.

8. Singing Japanese Songs with Lyrics

A useful Japanese learning experience is singing along with song lyrics (karaoke). This helps you recognize Kana, Kanji, and increase your reading speed, and of course, it teaches you how to read Japanese. Culturally and habitually, this is beneficial since karaoke is very popular in Japan, and Japanese people often have a favorable impression of foreigners who can sing their songs (the older the songs, the better). Therefore, practice as soon as possible. Karaoke groups are also a great way to make friends and exchange learning experiences.

9. Find a Japanese-Speaking Friend

This is one of the most effective tips for learning Japanese. Find a Japanese person who wants to improve their Vietnamese (or English). Listening to this person and hearing yourself speak will help you pronounce correctly and encourage them to correct your mistakes. The biggest reward of this practice is that it will help your brain think in Japanese. Textbook dialogues can be predictable, but in reality, no one speaks like that. Learning Japanese in isolation will deprive you of the opportunity to practice conversation. There are many such groups on Meetup.com, or you can find these people in your school or where you live.

10. Be Cautious with Study Programs in Japan

Immersing yourself in a native-speaking environment is the best way to learn any language. However, this is a further step for those with slightly better Japanese skills who want to speak fluently. So, if you haven't mastered the language, don’t rush into applying for study programs in Japan, as it can lead to discouragement if you can't keep up.

11. Choose a Romaji System

Transcribing Japanese words into Romaji can sometimes be confusing as there is not just one formula for writing them. For example, the word "fu," ふ, replaces "hu" in (ha/hi/fu/he/ho), so the verb "fuku" is sometimes written as "huku." The difference in pronunciation is minimal. The word "tsu" (つ) can be written as "tu," "shi" (し) as "si," "dou" (どう) as "doo," etc. Be careful not to confuse these Romaji words as two different words. Choose a Romaji system that you prefer.

12. Visit Japan and Explore the Cities

No matter how many books you read, movies you watch, or people you talk to, you won’t experience the true environment unless you go there. Your conversation and reading skills will significantly improve when you experience Japan firsthand. Don’t forget to review your knowledge when you return home. Large cities have many people who speak both English and Japanese and are willing to practice with you. Don’t forget to go karaoke there!

Learning Japanese is a long journey that requires patience and continuous effort. Hopefully, through the two parts of this article, you have gathered many useful tips and methods to apply to your learning process. From mastering grammar and vocabulary to honing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, every step is important and contributes to your progress. Always maintain your passion and continuously seek opportunities to practice and improve. Remember, every difficulty is an opportunity to learn and grow.

Wishing you success on your journey to mastering Japanese and achieving your learning goals!

[littlesistersti]

So things I learnt from asking my dad in relation to Behind the Name website but I write it in my very youthful internet voice: names are usually unisex if you’re not a little b— about it (meme/parody), names that are gendered would be strong/active descriptors for boys and pretty/dainty/jewelry for girls, I disagree with that, and quick lesson - textbook and north accent has the S sound like English SH kinda and the letter X sound like English S, but south accent will mix up S and X because they both sound like English S.

Disclaimer: I can not tell apart the 3 different IPA sounds of SH \ Š which is a problem because I recently found out Russian Ш is not the same as English SH.

Also I’m a heritage speaker so insert “when you say you’re fluent in Vietnamese on your resume meme” here

Of provided Viet names on Behind the Name, they officially only have Sơn (mountain, male) and Xuân (spring season, unisex). Users have submitted:

Sâm (forest, male)

San (mountain, unisex)

Sáng (morning\bright, u)

Sang (start, do, create, establish; u)

Sáu (why is number 6 here?)

Sen (lotus flower, female)

Sĩ or Sỹ (scholar, expert; m)

Rude

Sinh (living, alive; u)

Sửu (second Earthly Branch (1-3 AM), associated with ox zodiac; u)

Sương (frost, dew; f)

Isn’t that fog?

Xanh (grue the color, u)

Off topic but here is a Wikipedia on the colour grue across the globe

Xương (flourish, prosper, good, sunlight; m)

bones????

petition to make xuong a unisex name because we all have bones

and also women can totally get that flourish, prosper, good, sunlight

Hey is Balder’s Vietnamese name Xuong because he is god of light and a good things but also because he — *shot*

So she could be Sang Xuân or Sáng Xuân. She could also be … maybe Sáng Xanh or San Sương. I’ll leave it open for any other Vietnamese people to give their thoughts.

I’ll come back on the atrocity of Xi’an Coy Manh and any other Vietnamese characters in the comics.

wtf kind of name is sha shan nguyễn???

i am once again begging writers to at least TRY

anyway, i propose her first name be changed to sang xuân which means noble spring

[thats-it-im-fallingdown]

Alrighty! after finishing the prequel trilogy and the clone wars, here are my initial thoughts on season 1 of Star Wars rebels, which I also had not seen.

Spark of rebellion duology

-oh, ezra is straight up Aladdin but without the orientalist (so far. i have low hopes) imagery.

-Hera and kanun are going to become my favorite characters, I’m calling it now. i can just tell

-my only knowledge of sabine comes from the mandalore arc, since i wanted to be up to date for the mandalorian. I won’t pass judgement on her character yet, a single episode (at time of writing) is not enough have a full read on her. what i can say is that I’m always happy to see female Asian (coded) characters get to be something other than a racist caricature. she reads as southeast asian to me, but that’s probably me projecting [redacted story about Vietnamese family member explaining why i get that vibe] and not an intentional choice on the designers part.

-going into this, i know via osmosis that rebels is not as suitable for older audiences as clone wars was. I’m going to do my best to let this show stand on its own and not make comparisons. but no promises on how successful I’ll be!

-there’s going to be romantic tension between Ezra and sabine and i doubt I’m going to enjoy it much. i can already tell from the swishy helmet removal.

-the stormtrooper helmets look so wrong. i think it’s the shape of the mouth thingy? it makes the whole thing look terrible and bizarre

-how is kallus getting away with that facial hair. totally against military regulations and fashion laws

-zeb you’re a seemingly seasoned rebel, you know damn well the empire never goes easy on anyone. my boy is getting the pg version of having your fingernails torn out.

-where.. where was he hiding that holocron from the imperials?

-the wookiees also look uncanny. their faces are bigger and it’s like they’ve been stretched out. I’m trying not to compare rebels to tcw, buuuuuuuuut tcw adaptation of Wookiees worked better for me

-yes, I’ve been nitpicky. i have been a wet blanket. i admit to the good women of the jury that I’ve fallen short of the cinemawins attitude i strive to maintain here as i maintain a ruthlessly optimistic attitude in my lived life. in my defense, your honor, the characters have hooked me, ezra, hera, and kanan are especially promising to me

Droids in distress

-man, i miss being able to organize these posts into multi episode arcs. so clean and neat. hey, it’s a fair trade for getting an episode order that matches the chronology

-the Spanish translators didn’t seem to know what to do with sentient being used as a noun. can’t blame them, it’s not like I know either, but creature doesn’t seem quite right. actually fluent Spanish speakers please feel free to offer your opinion in the notes

-threepio looks fucked up too! i grew to tolerate tcw styles though, so it’s only a matter of time

-i mean, Garel’s sky looks lovely

-i was not expecting zeb of all the characters to be a genocide survivor, I’m glad he gets to be more than just The Big Guy of the band. hope the show runners follow up on zebs relationship with kanan

Fighter flight

-if it wasn’t Star Wars this would be a show about shitty shitty roommates

-Ezra’s slingshot is cute, but someone needs to give that boy a blaster

-sabine, top contender for worst roommate on the ghost for her use or spraypaint, which is especially effective at inducing headaches when recently applied

-this is kind of a filler episode, but I’m fond of it! there’s a little bit of Ezra’s background in there (the farmers knew his parents) and zeb and Ezra have settled into an older/younger brother dynamic that i like a lot.

Rise of the old masters

-if either zeb or Ezra had been a woman, the way they fell on each other would have been textbook anime romantic tension

-maybe do or do not there is no try is just what you say when your padawan is whining

-i knew that luminara wasn’t going to be part of the ensemble cast, she’s too firmly rooted in the prequels for a show that seems focused on the imperial era, but using her dead body as a trap is.. dang, okay. was not expecting this from the fruit stealing show I’ll admit

-ughh the skinny lightsabers. girl they look like they’d snap like a pencil if you dueled with them

-and the spinning too naur

-making kanan an insecure jedi because he didn’t get to completely become one is such an inspired choice to pair him with ezra

-you’d think the stormtroopers have never seen grenades before. did you guys not learn to get out of the way in basic training?

-they are playing space baseball <3 i am loving it

Breaking ranks

-ezra became heroic.. too quickly imo. i feel like a little more time should have been spent on that part of his character

-seeing how leonis could reappear at some point is kind of neat. i don’t really have much to say about this episode though? it’s not bad, but it’s a little bland for me

-take kell, for example. Ezra betrays him in a challenge so he can work with leonis, but except for kell initially thinking the inquisitor was a trick, it never comes back up again. I’m not expecting anything profound, but i would like follow up on stuff that walks and talks like a checkovs gun

Out of darkness

-I’m not a fan of this “the imperial academy didn’t allow questions” being equated to how intel sources need to remain confidential. so the fulcrum intel underestimated imperial defenses, but got everything else correct. I’m not convinced that enough of a reason to suspect it’s reliability, so it makes sabine come off as a brat to me

-but I’m looking forward to Sabine and Hera development, so I’m trying to let it slide

-argh sabine it’s so obvious fulcrum is working from inside the empire stop complaining about secrecy. sabine is physically coded as Asian but not at all culturally, and it’s not because she’s a mandalorian. if i spoke to any of my older Asian (not even east or southeast specifically, I’m talking west to south to east) relatives like that I’d get shouted into the next year

-okay, at least she apologized. sure, she’s still being an annoying teenager about it, but I’m a kettle, she’s a pot, etc etc.

-ahh, this isn’t about trust, it’s about Trust. I’m cheating a bit by knowing Sabine’s weapon thing, but at this point, i don’t think sabine really knows why she’s with these rebels. to stick it to the empire, sure, but that’s not enough. you’ve got to have goals, or principles. sabine is a Mandalorian, I doubt she cares about bringing the republic back, and i don’t think she knows what she’s doing beyond simply clawing at the empire anyway she can. or maybe I’m way off the mark and I’ll be shown up by the end of the episode

-tumbeasts in their natural habitat, not in captivity

-that base looks like it’s been abandoned for a while, so i wonder what those things eat when tasty tasty rebels aren’t on the menu

-alright, so things between ezra and sabine haven’t been unbearable, mainly bc it’s mostly comedic and also one sided

-oh I was reading way too much into the sabine/Hera/principles thing. still, an interesting enough train of thought to warrant leaving it up there

Empire day arc

-kanan, not forming attachments was uh. one of the main Jedi things. right below lightsabers and above wearing beige robes. but then it seems like he contradicts himself when he tells ezra not to hold on to his past— in other words, don’t be attached to what’s come and gone

-kallus = callous. it took me way too long to realize that

-is there an in universe reason that trackers aren’t registered by shields?

-i didn’t realize how badly the obi wan kenobi shoe fumbled reva until watching rebels. the spinning lightsaber is stupid, yes, but the writing is solid. this pau’an dude is a welcome addition where reva felt rushed

-this ezra being being vulnerable to the dark side is shaping up to be really interesting. I’m a little surprised to say this, but i think Ezra’s my favorite character at the moment.

-aw, the ending was so sweet

Path of the Jedi

-i wonder if the Jedi we see who have visible connections to their native cultures (depa billaba, luminara, barriss, shaak ti, ahsoka, etc) received some amount of training at temples on their homeworlds. if there’s an outpost on an outer rim out of the way planet like lothal, there could have been temples almost anywhere. we focus on coroscant in tcw because that’s where the action is, but that’s just one temple in a big galaxy

-I’m digging the temple design a lot

-disembodied yoda voice looks like qui gon jinn before he completed his force ghost training, but I’m almost certain he’s still alive on dagobah at this point?? it’s probably just a coincidence, or they didn’t bother doing a different mystical effect

-I’m usually not into dream/illusion sequences for doing character development at speed easily, but this one is doing well enough for me to be okay with it. i can’t help but enjoy force shenanigans

-declaring it now: kaiburr is a better spelling than kyber, and I will be sticking with the Spanish version for the foreseeable future. i will not accept any criticism at the time thank you

Idiots array

-technically, it’s a fine adaptation of lando put to animation but.. his mojo isnt there. I’m not convinced that this is a man who has sex. i simply am not.

-I’m not convinced his voice actor has either, honestly. where’s the smooth confidence?

-Jedi were statistically speaking, rare even before order 66. lando has canonically met three.

-this gambit he’s pulling with Hera.. L3 would never have allowed this to slide

-yes! beat his head in with his own gluttony! have I mentioned how much I like hera? because I like her a lot

-the fucking. puffer fish pig. lando slapping it like a car. if i wasn’t slightly loopy from the heat of my period cramp hot water bottle i would probably think this was dumb, but it’s really, really funny. unreasonably so.

Vision of hope

-p a d a w a n j a b b a

-trayvis is really beginning to seem like he’s working with the empire… i could be wrong, maybe he’s just a little incompetent

-aha! i was right, i have a good nose for genre conventions from all the Star Trek and x files I’ve watched

-for example: i can sort of feel that there’s still a twist about the Bridger parents that hasn’t been revealed yet

-have i mentioned how much i love hera?

Call to action

-a tarkin episode? let’s see how this plays out

-his animated model is more facially exaggerated than in the clone wars, which is.. I’m not keen on it, it makes him feel off, but it isn’t stopping me from enjoying how shady he is to the grand inquisitor. just like in tcw, all this hocus pocus gives him a headache!

-some times it’s like this show was made in a lab specifically to appeal to people with absent fathers. congrats laboratory, you’ve succeeded

-I’m glad there’s (kind of) an in universe explanation for why the rebels of the ghost aren’t as violent as in other shows. obviously it’s because of stylistic choices and age targeting, but tarkin saying that this group must have more pacifist principles relative to other cells makes things click more

-from five minutes is my optimistic estimate to three to you only get one minute. the life of an engineer.

-kanan, you say you’ll be right behind ezra but the sacrifice music is playing

-man I feel for ezra. weaponizing comms against the empire is how he lost his parents, and now it’s happening to his father figure despite getting a bad feeling about the mission

-tarkin in that helmet is so cursed

-hey, we’re going to see how the rebels form the alliance in this aren’t we? that’ll be a fun plotline.it’s crazy that this is the same era that Andor is taking place in.

Rebel resolve

-walking robots are always way, way, way harder to program, build, balance, design, and drive than something that’s wheeled. i shudder to imagine what piloting one of those walkers must be like.

-I’m not sure why telling vizago that kanan is a Jedi is a big deal? if it’s already a rumor, and you’re telling to somebody people probably won’t trust as far as they can throw, there can’t be much harm, especially if clues to kanans location are on the table

-assuming vizago is a devaronian with an unusual skin tone, he still looks very devilish when he cuts a deal with ezra

-really playing up the Hera as a mother figure with the particular way she gets angry when her son ezra gets mixed up with a bad crowd

-ships with folding parts, my beloved. you make Star Wars worth it

-so chopper just straight up threw that other droid out into the sky. okay, jealous much

-how would kanan know about mustafar being where Jedi go to get royally screwed up? i must be forgetting some fight that isn’t the obi wan-darth Vader/anakin duel

Fire across the galaxy

-I love the implication that sabine regularly tags and then blows up the empire’s stuff at this specific base

-aha, the starbird in the smoke. glad to see the animators having a good time with it

-sabine has the art style of a homemade racer I love this character so much

-if the inquisitor could force push him back on that bridge over the chasm, why couldn’t he just… force shove him off of it to his death

-tie fighters are much bigger on the inside than I remember them being for some reason

-so I was fucking wrong when I thought that fulcrum was an inside agent within the empire

-darth vader seems kind of overkill for a planet that’s supposed to be a backwater

But this season was a fun ride! I’m weak for tv shows that are more episodic and less.. overarching plot focused. (Think Star Trek snw vs Star Trek discovery. episodic vs main plot heavy. both are good, but episodic is getting rarer and rarer as seasons have less and less episodes) rebels delivered on that, though I expect subsequent seasons to have grander narratives now that ahsoka tano and darth vader are on the playing field. Overall, a solid setup that sold me on the ensemble!

[willows-studyblr]

Langblr reactivation challenge

{Week 1, day 2: Goals}

Day 2 of @prepolyglot 's challenge is about short term and long term goals in the target language(s).

I generally don't set goals because I just try to do however much I can besides university. That being said, I do have a vague idea of what I'd like to be able to do short and long term. So, here we go:

French 🇫🇷

Long term:

I'd love to be as fluent in French as I am in English but I'll settle for being able to comfortably communicate with native speakers

Being able to watch movies/series and read books in French without too much trouble

Short term:

For now, my main focus is expanding my vocabulary

Re-learning some tenses that I've once known (especially the imparfait)

Vietnamese 🇻🇳

Long term:

Being able to read books written in Vietnamese

Being able to understand native speakers and to understand movies, songs, ...

Speaking the language well enough that people (other than my teacher) are able to understand me

Short term:

Expand my vocabulary

Finally learn the prepositions of place that I should have learned a few weeks ago

Practice the Anki cards that I have created and add cards to categories that I've already prepared

Learn the grammar concerning the word "được"

How do I plan to achieve these goals?📚

To expand my vocabulary, I'm regularly using Duolingo and I recently started using Anki. I'm also thinking about "decorating" my entire apartment with sticky notes (e.g. sticking a note with "cái tủ lạnh - le frigo - the fridge" on my fridge).

I have some of my old French textbooks lying (now there's something to practice in English: lay vs. lie - I get the tenses wrong every time) around which I'll use to re-learn some of the French grammar. For Vietnamese, I'll use the material provided by my teacher.

And for the long term goals: Regular practice.

[loveletter2you]

i’ve never taught myself a language before um any tips

yeah! okay so I have a lot of thoughts about language self-study so apologies if this gets long

okay first of all I think the most important thing is getting into a routine and sticking with it... I recommend downloading one (or more) textbook(s) (or like actually buying one if you can) and using that as a guide and taking notes in a language journal along the way! like you have to test a little to figure out what sort of thing you like like for example for me I like taking notes in bullet journals bc I like the formatting for taking language notes and my main language learning activity when im a beginner is taking notes, usually taken from a textbook im using, and sometimes from online lists and articles etc!

if you’re learning a language that uses another alphabet / writing system, definitely start there and a good tip I like is to learn the characters (like symbol by symbol) and then test yourself by writing them all out and seeing which ones you’ve missed, studying them, writing them out again, etc. (this doesn’t really apply to ideographic systems like Chinese but I do also think that writing out ideographic characters repeatedly is still a good way to learn them) and tbh it takes a while to actually retain new characters so you just have to keep testing yourself over time and use romanization as little as possible, and eventually phase it out altogether! (also ive seen people saying its more important to be able to read the characters than be able to write them and thus don’t learn to write them which like.... no you should definitely learn to write them out)

I think YouTube is a VERY good resource, for one thing you can search [language] learning routine, [language] self study, etc., I follow a fair few language youtubers lol and it’s a good way to find resources also like im gonna link a few videos for language learning methods / routines I think are good

How to LEARN A LANGUAGE on your own | study tips 📚 by The Bliss Bean (side note I love her videos)

how I study languages on my own | language self-study resources by softlyshade

how I'm studying 4 languages (in depth) - spanish, korean, mandarin & russian by Lenks

also lindie botes’ channel which she also has resources on her website for Chinese Japanese Korean Spanish Vietnamese Hungarian Malay  and Afrikaans 

Lydia Machová’s talk at the polyglot conference about how polyglots learn languages (literally so good)

also if you watch a bunch of these types of videos you’ll also find resources like apps for example Anki for flashcards (personally I dont really like Anki but a ton of people swear by it like I prefer Quizlet) or italki if you want a private tutor (which is also a great way to learn except that it costs money)

I could make a whole separate post about how to learn pronunciation bc a lot of people do that wrong I feel like but like: don’t slack off on learning pronunciation (another thing YouTube is good for)

also make sure you have a TON of input, much of which (or all of which when you’re a complete beginner) will be above your comprehension but that’s actually good bc that’s how you learn new words and grammar constructions, (I forgot who but someone researching language acquisition talked about an input formula of “i+1″ so basically input that’s JUST above your level) but also make sure you’re producing output as well, one thing you can do is keep a journal and write little entries which there are also websites where you can write something and have native speakers correct it, if you know any native speakers definitely utilize them!! talk out loud to yourself which some people feel dumb doing that but too bad bc it honestly helps

it may take some time to get into a flow and a system that works for you so try some different things out! everyone learns differently and you may find a completely new method that works for you! as long as you’re testing reading, writing, comprehension, and talking, and as long as you’re consistently moving somewhat forward, then you’re on the right track! also I will leave you with this tip from kató lomb:

which if you want to read her entire book Polyglot: How I Learn languages  here is a pdf!

this is pretty long so I'll stop here for now lol

[innovativelanguagelearning]

Benefits (& risks) of dating in a foreign language! + tips to make it work

Being able to speak freely with native speakers is an amazing ability in itself, but being able to speak freely to a whole new group of people opens you up to possible new relationships. 

Most people don’t realize that spending the time to build relationships in a foreign language can actually help you improve your language skills dramatically.

Afrikaans       Arabic      Bulgarian       Cantonese

Chinese       Czech       Danish       Dutch       English

Filipino       Finnish       French       German      Greek     

Hebrew       Hindi       Hungarian       Indonesian       Italian

Japanese       Korean       Norwegian       Persian       Polish

Portuguese       Romanian       Russian       Spanish       Swahili

Swedish       Thai       Turkish       Urdu       Vietnamese

1. Benefits of dating in a foreign language

First, It’s motivational

One of the greatest struggles for anyone learning a second language is motivation. Nine times out of ten, learners start out their language learning journey with loads of enthusiasm; only to see it gradually wane over time. Try as they may it’s difficult to maintain the spark they once shared with their new language.

So why not borrow energy from a different part of your life?

When you make relationships with people in your target language all the excitement of a new relationship carries directly over into your learning.

Second, It makes language learning practical

Studying vocabulary and grammar is a vital part of language learning whether you use a podcast, textbook, app, or find yourself in a classroom. However, as great as studying is, a language really only starts to come alive once you start using it in everyday life.

Building relationships with native speakers will give you the chance to talk in your target language often. Furthermore it will be in a way that feels natural. You’ll learn words in the context, which is hugely important.

Third, It's fun.

One of the greatest benefits is that it allows you practice without having it feel like practice.

Often times you’ll find yourself so wrapped up in the conversation that you forget you’re using a foreign language. This takes a lot of the pressure off, and helps you focus on communication over trying to speak absolutely perfectly.

You also get to learn about a whole new culture from your partner or friends so you are not only learning language skills but also about the cultures that surround your target language.

2. The risks of dating in a foreign language

First, It’s easy to miscommunicate

When it comes to relationships, people can easily misunderstand each other. So it can be hard when building relationships in your target language when you or your partner's lack of ability in each other’s respective native tongue can lead to miscommunications that would otherwise be avoidable.

Second, Your language skills could suffer if your relationships don't work out

If all your language practice is wrapped in one person, and your relationship with that person doesn’t work out, then your language learning could take a huge hit. So it's best not to put all your hopes for language growth on one area, relationship or otherwise. You don't want to risk losing motivation, so try to find it in many different areas.

3. An idea for building relationships in a foreign language

Make Games out of getting to know one another

Sometimes opening up in any relationship can be hard. Add in the added struggle of a new language and it can feel impossible to share your true feelings with others.

So instead of trying to take first interactions so seriously and talking about the usual things like the weather or work, try to ask new interesting questions.

Try to figure out what the other person's hobbies are without asking directly. Or what kind of job they have. This will give you a chance to stretch your language skills in a new way and you will probably get some funny answers out of it too. Being comfortable being silly or making language mistakes is a great way to bond with someone even if you have just met.

Relationships in a foreign language have a lot more benefits to offer than it does drawbacks. Don't be scared to open up to people and make mistakes.

And for even more help to build relationships in your target language, check out our complete language learning program. Sign up for your free lifetime account by clicking on the links above.

Get tons of resources to have you speaking in your target language!

[wordsnstuff]

Resources For Students

It’s almost exam season and I figured you students out there could use some useful resources. I hope this aides you in your studies and makes your life a bit easier. Enjoy!

Self Care

Body

Sleep Calculator

Dealing With Your Mentrual Cycle by @educatier

Food Masterpost by @areistotle

Myfridgefood (Make something with what you have in your fridge)

Choose Your Tea Based On How You Feel by @spazju

Beginner’s Yoga Poses To De-Stress

Head-To-Toe Self Care by @spazju

Getting A Good Night’s Sleep

Mind

Movie Night Masterpost by @distractful 

Free Online Therapy

Need A Compliment?

This Is Sand - Calming Site Where You Play With Sand

The Dawn Room - If you have struggled with depression, I recommend

The Thoughts Room - For Watching Your Troubles Fall Away

Mental Health Masterpost by @420normani 

Puppy Live Cam

Kitten Live Cam

Self Care Check by @rainingtheo 

Motivation

Motivation Masterpost by @areistotle

How To Reach Your Goals by @studyplants

Tips For Getting Motivated by @overstudies

Get Motivated In A Month

Guide To Motivation by @elkstudies

Attitudes That Lead To Success by @onlinecounsellingcollege

The Iceberg Illusion by @studyally

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MyNoise.net

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Great Hall At Halloween ( Christmas )

Great Lake

Snape’s Potions Classroom

Hogwarts Library

The Burrow (Weasley’s House)

Diagon Alley

Forbidden Forest At Night

Malfoy Manor

Time Management

Bullet Journalling

delthenerd’s Guide To Bullet Journalling by @delthenerd

Thorough Guide To The Bullet Journal System by @tinyrayofsun

Bullet Journal Prompts by @study-like-hermione-granger

35 Things To Track In Your Bullet Journal

Bullet Journal Page Inspiration by @studyign

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Printables Masterlist by @studiying

Printables Masterpost by @study-well

Organization by @areistotle

The 8-Hour Day

Finding Study Time

Guide To Time Management by @pennyfynotes

The Pomodoro Technique by @elvindantes

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Studying A Foreign Language by @areistotle

Langblr tag on Tumblr

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List Of Universities On Tumblr by @higheredsocialmedia 

Becoming An Adult Cheat Sheet by @baku

Alternatives To Buying Overpriced Textbooks

Studying & Building Good Habits

Planning A Research Project by @delthenerd

Annotating Texts by @delthenerd

Taking Notes In Class by @delthenerd

5 Things To Do At The End Of A Semester by @delthenerd

On How To Write A History Essay by @delthenerd

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Written?Kitten! - Word Count Motivation

Hemingway Editor - Online Editor

Grammarly Chrome Ext.

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This Is The Best Math Site You’ll Ever Use

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Tip Of My Tongue - For When You Can’t Remember A Word

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MyStudyLife App - Digital Planner

Evernote

SimpleMind App - Digital Mind-Map

Google Calendar

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Headspace App - Guides In Meditation

Pacifica App - Stress Management

StayFocusd Chrome Ext. - Limits Time On Distracting Websites

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Momentum - Motivational Chrome Extention

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[optomstudies]

I've noticed you're learning a lot of languages! I'm a linguistics major and different languages have always been super interesting to me! (I speak several languages at home too lol) What languages do you already know how to speak/are learning? (Other than English ofc)

Oh wowwwww!! I had no idea that you were a linguistics major! It’s something that I’ve always been interested in but wouldn’t have the opportunity to study! What sort of topics do you cover and what’s something interesting that you’ve learned? Has it made you notice things about the way that people speak irl? Has it made you appreciate something about speech and language that you might have missed otherwise? Lol I’m turning the ask around on you sorry hahaha 

I’m going to add a bit about English anyway lol I have probably above average mastery amongst university-educated peers. Like any native speaker, there are always archaic or technical words which crop up when reading a textbook or reading an excellent fanfic every now and then. Amongst a descriptive 40K+ long chapter I read the other day, I had about 3 words I wasn’t sure of? For most books I don’t get more than 3-5 words that I’m not sure of because fiction books don’t use that complicated language tbh. Usually you can surmise the meaning through context, but I like looking them up just to get the dictionary meaning which is why I remember how many words I don’t know. I wasn’t particularly a voracious reader when I was younger until late high school, which is why I would say my vocabulary is above average comparing to university peers. My grammar is excellent though I would say. My active vocabulary is probably lacking haha

I speak Teo Chau at a conversational level (not well, but better than I used to). Listening is 99% (there are still words that I don’t know because they don’t tend to come up in day-to-day living and then suddenly I’m hearing a word my mum has never said before in my life). 

I’m also hoping to learn Mandarin to use at work, I’ve got the textbooks for beginners and intermediate level stuff, and I used to learn Chinese up til Grade 6 at Saturday school (they used immersion-based learning mostly), but my knowledge on that is holey because there are some complex words that I know and a bunch of simple characters I don’t know LOL I can listen well though, better than Japanese. 

I did Japanese Continuers for my HSC (got a Band 6 woo!) though I don’t use it at all because no one Japanese really lives in my area of Sydney (they tend to live around North East Sydney as far as demographics have shown). I can still listen and read fairly well.

Also I want to learn Korean because I’m a big kpop fan as everyone knows. I can listen and understand common words when watching k-dramas, but I haven’t really actively studied it apart from some super basic grammar, and I can read and type Hangul fairly effectively. According to 10fastfingers, I have a touch typing speed of 45 wpm so I can type quickly enough for my purposes since I’m not messaging anyone haha

I also know a bunch of food words in Vietnamese because my parents lived in Vietnam and cook it often. 

Hope that was interesting! What languages can you speak? ^_^

[friend-clarity]

David Horowitz Unveils The Left's Dark Agenda

In the video and transcript below, David Horowitz discusses his new book, Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America. The talk was given at the Freedom Center's Wednesday Morning Club on March 8, 2019. 

Selections from the Transcript:

Readers of my new book “Dark Agenda” might wonder how an agnostic Jew and ex-radical came to write about the war to destroy Christian America. Once I recognized the destructive character of the radical movement I had been part of forty years ago, I began a re-examination of everything I and my comrades had thought about the system we had set out to destroy.

When I was on the left, and in the process of leaving it, I discovered that the  Left did not care at all about the Vietnamese people it claimed to defend. When the Communists took over in Vietnam, and preceded to slaughter to two and a half million people, peasants, the Left made no protests at all ... 

In the course of this inquiry, I had a kind of epiphany. Thinking about the unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which even radicals cherished, I realized that these rights were only unalienable because they were given by a Divinity - by God. If they were granted by government, then government could take them away. ….

The title of my book is Dark Agenda: The Left’s War to Destroy Christian America. In the last sixty years, the anti-religious, anti-American left has conducted a relentless assault on believers and their beliefs, suppressing religious liberty, stripping the public square of religious expression and memory, and in the process removing the underpinnings of our democratic order. What inspired me to write this book was the realization that the left’s hatred of Christianity is also its hatred for America itself.

The year 2008 marked the opening of a new $621 million Visitor’s Center adjacent to the U.S. Capitol [which is part of U.S. Congress, the seat of the House of Representatives and the Senate]. It was designed to serve as an informational museum about our republic. When it was opened, however, all references to God and the religious faith of the founders had been systematically edited out of its photos and historical displays. The lengths to which the designers went in their zeal to expunge religion were both extreme and petty:

•  The nation’s official motto was alleged to be E Pluribus Unum, when in fact it is, “In God We Trust.”

•  Even a replica of the Speaker’s rostrum in the House of Representatives omitted the gold-lettered inscription of the nation’s actual motto, because of its reference to a divinity.

It is not just visitors to the nation’s capital who have had God and religion airbrushed out of our nation’s founding. Thanks to a series of corrupt Supreme Court decisions beginning in 1962, children in the nation’s public schools are denied knowledge of the religious origins and foundations of our nation and its freedoms. Outrageously, because of the Court’s decisions this knowledge is now denied to our school children by the Constitution itself.

In 1986, a study of 60 textbooks used by 87% of public school children noted that, “the Pilgrims are described entirely without any reference to religion. Thus, the textbooks describe how at the end of their first year they ‘wanted to give thanks for all they had,’ which was the first Thanksgiving. But no mention is made of the fact it was God they were thanking…. The Pueblo Indians can pray to Mother Earth – but the Pilgrims can’t be described as praying to God.  ...

The study sums up its findings in these words, “There is not one story or article in all these books, in approximately 9-10 thousand pages, in which the central motivation or major content derives from Christianity or Judaism.”

If you don’t know where you come from, how do you know where you are going?

This is why the assault on religion has created a national crisis in our country, dividing us into warring camps whose fundamental views are not only in conflict, but irreconcilable.

The first Supreme Court decision banishing religion from the schools and eventually the public square occurred in 1962 and is known as Engel v. Vitale. Engel was a founding member of the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, a radical organization hostile to America and its religious foundations. The ACLU suit objected to a 23-word non-denominational prayer devised by the New York Board of Regents which said, ���Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country. Amen.”

For 170 years, prayers had been regular features of public schools, without a single constitutional challenge. Now Engel and his team claimed that this innocuous prayer violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which banned the state from establishing an official religion. At the Supreme Court, seven unelected, appointed-for-life lawyers decided by a 6-1 vote in favor of the radicals. In his lone dissent, Justice Potter Stewart pointed out the hypocrisy of his colleagues whose sessions still began with the invocation, “God Save the United States and this Honorable Court.” The idea that a 23-word non-denominational prayer established a religion was transparently absurd, but 6 unelected justices decided it wasn’t.

…

The next two Supreme Court decisions engineered by the radicals were even more fraudulent. They led directly to the profound chasm in our society today. The fraudulent legal argument was common to both cases, but it was the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that led to the nation-breaking political divisions that confront us today.

The suit was the work of the lawyers at Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, whose support had been enlisted by a chapter of the radical Sixties organization, Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Texas. Once again, the radicals chose to by-pass the democratic-legislative process to invoke the tyranny of 9 unelected, life-appointed lawyers, who voted to make the right to kill children in the womb the fundamental law of the land.

The “legal” basis for Roe was an imaginary constitutional “right to privacy,” invented by Planned Parenthood lawyers to justify their radical agendas. Even if the Constitution contained a right to privacy – and it does not –  the decision made no sense. As Justice Rehnquist said in dissent, there is nothing private about an abortion.

Nor are restrictions on abortions attacks on a woman’s right to choose. Unless she is a victim of rape, a woman makes a series of choices before arriving at the decision to kill a child – first to have sex, then with whom to have sex, then to have unprotected sex or to not use the day after pill. All these take place before a woman reaches the point where she makes a final choice: whether to go through with the birth and find her child an adoptive mother or kill it. Roe v. Wade represented a fundamental break from the existing fabric of American life. It was imposed overnight, in every community in the country, and without the consent of the inhabitants of those communities who - according to the Constitution – were supposed to be sovereign. This tyrannical, fraudulent Supreme Court decision split the nation in two. Its assault on traditional communities led directly to the creation of the religious right. Until Roe, the evangelical community had been wary of political involvements, but this unconstitutional assault on its communities thrust it into politics out of sheer concern for its self-defense.

[amberhall961]

LEARNING VIETNAMESE LANGUAGE

Most of the People in this world become hackers in various languages. The Vietnamese language tends to use the vocabulary which originated from Chinese vocabularies. In that matter, the Vietnamese language faced the difficulties in the issue of being accepted in the World. Later on, people started to be curious wanted to learn Vietnamese in different ways as they use the Vietnamese language in their daily life in communicating with each other like native speakers.

The Vietnamese language nowadays become famous in today’s World. People need to learn Vietnamese fast than normal so as to know how to speak since people want to know how the Vietnamese vocabularies can be pronounced well. Moreover, they take the lessons even through online learning on how they can write the Vietnamese language. Thus, helps most of the people from different part of the World to acquire the knowledge and skills through the various social media networks sources.

Learning Vietnamese online

Vietnamese language learner tends to use the devices like iPhones, desktops, tablets, smart phones accessing the internet gaining the knowledge and skills through online learning Vietnamese language.

The online textbooks

The new learners learn the different books written in the Vietnamese language for beginners as the learning aid for their lessons. Some of the people purchase the books online at lower prices so as they can master the Vietnamese language not only in writing but also in speaking.

Media like YouTube videos are contributed much in the spreading Vietnamese language in the whole world. As most of the people prefer to learn the Vietnamese at YouTube and became very familiar with a lot of vocabularies. Also from there, they learn Vietnamese alphabet hence at the end of the lesson the learner should be able to develop an understanding and ability to describe alphabets in the Vietnamese language, not only that but also read, write as well as to pronounce well the alphabets. So in order to learn Vietnamese online specifically through YouTube, the people tend to use even the various device learning the sound tone so as they can be able to put un stressing and stressing tones in the Vietnamese vocabularies.

The Vietnamese syllables

There is no meaning in the word if the syllables are not fully equipped!

In order to be knowledgeable in the Vietnamese language, people use to learn Vietnamese online through the tone. The determiners must be used in learning Vietnamese online like listening to the audio through MP3, learning Vietnamese in YouTube whereby a learner has to be attentive listening how the tutor considering the issue of tone in speaking and writing on the board so as to master the language.

Android applications and iPhone

The advanced science and technology drew up the development and spreading of the Vietnamese language in today’s World since people tend to learn Vietnamese online in a short period of time through these devices. The various categories of Android app programmed and designed for the learning purpose. A large number of people in this World use Tablets and iPhones, the courses which formulated from the Vietnamese curriculum contains thirty lessons served for free, no fee or charge required. Thus, become more helpful, since people use this opportunity to be bilingual in linguistics specifically in the Vietnamese language.

[contentmag]

Only in Silicon Valley would there be a dinner party on a farm, where ducklings waddled and peacocks strolled, as a drone silently observed the revelry, and even farther above, cars whizzed past on two highway overpasses. Where was this blending of greenery and 21st-century life? At the red barn that can be spotted along Interstate 680 or 101: Emma Prusch Farm Park, or more specifically, Veggielution.

Veggielution’s annual fundraiser for the community farm marked its ninth anniversary with fEAST San José, a celebration of food and The Eastside community. Tickets were $150 each, and the sold-out dinner was catered by Michelin Star chefs Jessica Carreira and David Costa of Adega, a local Portuguese restaurant. Some of the standout dishes included: peixinhos da horta (tempura-fried green beans); legumes assados (roasted eggplants, zucchinis, and carrots); and sardinha assada (fire-grilled sardines). For dessert, guests eagerly lined up for the pudim flan (flan pudding with caramel) and torta de laranja (orange tort cake).

While the evening drifted toward the cooler side, the roughly 250 guests happily enjoyed the outdoor pleasures of Veggielution’s pocket at Emma Prusch. The evening was a textbook definition of rustic elegance, with wooden tables, string lights, and greenery. After grabbing a drink at the bar, guests took a hayride around the fields, where peacocks were spotted—later they were spied on the roof. Others struck poses at the photo booth, perching on a tractor in a field of plants. Toward the back of the farm sat a charming, dome-shaped garden canopy. Inside, people could grab crayons and participate in a community coloring project: filling in the feathers and swirls of a peacock.

Rolling Grange

There were also prizes to win and gifts to bid on. The silent auction included gifts such as a Vietnamese cooking class and brunch at Veggielution. Guests also had three tickets to split among five raffles, for items like a plush Jumbo Jibbles persimmon pillow, an artisan wine and cheese experience at Testarossa Winery, and Kendra Scott jewelry.

On display was Veggielution’s Rolling Grange. The new food truck, created in partnership with Gensler, will act as an incubator for food entrepreneurs in East San Jose as part of the Eastside Grange program. Veggielution’s Eastside Grange is a community food hub that will host an outdoor market, cooking classes, and mentorship opportunities, and more. The tempura-fried green beans guests enjoyed were cooked in the truck at the beginning of the evening.

Executive Director Cayce Hill

But while fEAST was a party—the night ended with dancing to live music played by the San Francisco band The B-Stars—it was also a celebration of Veggielution’s impact. The goal of Veggielution is to make it feel like home, said Executive Director Cayce Hill. Veggielution helped one speaker, Yazmin Hernandez, find a community to support her dreams. Hernandez came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant when she was 12 years old. She struggled with a language barrier, a different culture, and the fear of deportation while trying to find a job. After participating in programs like Veggielution Cocina, a cooking class, she found support and is now planning to launch a catering business with her best friend. “[Veggielution] brought me back the hunger to dream and freedom to do so,” she said.

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Veggielution instagram: veggielution facebook: veggielution twitter: veggielution

Written by Haley Kim Photography by Daniel Garcia

Veggielution fEAST Only in Silicon Valley would there be a dinner party on a farm, where ducklings waddled and peacocks strolled, as a drone silently observed the revelry, and even farther above, cars whizzed past on two highway overpasses.

[amberhall961]

LEARNING THE VIETNAMESE LANGUAGE

Nowadays, most of the people in the World acted as hackers of different languages. As the Vietnamese language originated from Chinese vocabulary so, it faced isolation in the world, among other languages, because globalization people tended to use different means to learn Vietnamese online so to master it easily.

The Vietnamese language becomes famous to many people as they needed to learn Vietnamese through various sources so as they can use it in their daily life. Maybe they want to know how to speak! Thus, people’s desire is to have, how they can pronounce clearly the Vietnamese language. Also, people want to take the lesson to write and on how to read the Vietnamese language in order to be aware and to understand the intended message that was provided through sources specifically in social media networks.

There were different sources that people in the world use to learn Vietnamese so as to acquire knowledge about it as soon as possible!

By using Vietnamese textbooks for new learners, Different people tended to write different books in the Vietnamese language which are used to be an aid. The learner required to purchase a book in different sources so as can learn the Vietnamese language fast.

In order to acquire the skills in this language, people use different videos on YouTube to learn Vietnamese fast than normal using a short period of time. By using them, they learn the Vietnamese alphabet so to describe them, read, write even to pronounce them. Through learning Vietnamese language people use a different device to learn the sound tones where to put stressed and unstressed tone.

Tone way of learning, most of the people use determiners specifically the syllables which bring words to be meaningful. As when someone wishes to speak or to write the word without considering the tone of the Vietnamese language the words will not be meaningful. Regarded on this, it is very good to use that way of learning Vietnamese fast.

By using iPhone and Android app you will master the Vietnamese language without using much time. As the way of learning Vietnamese in online using the different app in Android and iPhone, people turned to be famous on that language. Nowadays, tablets and iPhone contain thirty lessons, courses which are provided free of charge generated from the curricular of Vietnamese.  As a learner, use online means of learning to acquire the specific knowledge in the Vietnamese language.

An audio source of language, People become creative through creating the MP3 documents with a native speaker speak the Vietnamese words and some of the Vietnamese vocabulary. Most of the people preferred that means due to the fact that they lean Vietnamese fast. The learner lean Vietnamese alphabet on, how can be pronounced through the audios. So the learner becomes helped to get knowledge on speaking skill since he or she can imitate the sound heard frequently so that in a short period of time will speak the Vietnamese language like a native one!