#yes I'm going to start a vocab list

[were-my-demons-hide]

#2 English words I learned from boygenius in the last days (because my list is getting out of hand):

evaporating

bonnets

impeccable

gauge

scrunity

[tadpoles-and-daydreams]

A witchcraft basics doc; update, resource call, interest check, and a possible second doc

Bet most of you didn't even know I was working on this >:D

Yes this is a huge post. It's a lot of things.

So, one of my first posts ever on this blog was me mentioning that a friend of mine had NO clue what they were signing up for when asking for the basics of witchcraft. The google doc I wrote took on a life of its own, and the post did as well when people started asking for it. I still plan to tag said people when I post it, assuming they haven't deactivated. The thing is, this doc had become a proper project, and it took a long time for me to have the motivation to work on it again. Now, though, it seems to me like a damn good way to reconnect to my craft after a rut! (which, by the way, is why I've been offline.)

So, my first post back is for a couple of reasons. For one, if you have any resources you'd think would be useful for beginner witches, feel free to shoot me an ask, DM, or comment/reblog on this post! I'll have a list of things I'm putting in the doc (taking recommendations there as well) at the bottom of this post.

The other thing is that I might end up making a second doc, one that's a little less "101" in vibe. It would have a MAJOR MAJOR UPG warning on it, first off, and I'm not sure whether or not I would be marking any UPG either since this would essentially be a second Grimoire/Book of Shadows for me that would be public to others for the sake of sharing information! I can't say I'd call it "advanced witchcraft" by any means, I'm not very fancy lol, but I don't want the basics doc to get too overwhelming. I do, however, want to scream about random witchcraft topics that interest me. So this is also a bit of an interest check for that, as well as the basics doc.

FINAL NOTE: I fully plan on posting this basics doc before it's done. Some sections will be unwritten or unfinished, because if I wait until I find it "finished" I'll never post it. It's going to be added onto whenever I can, but I feel as though getting it out is the best course of action.

A list of stuff in the doc that I'd take resources on (AKA everything planned in it) with * by anything that will be left unwritten/unfinished on purpose until I know more. I will take resources and recommendations on EVERYTHING though. This is in no particular order:

grounding and centering

VOCAB (intention, intuition, UPG/SPG/VPG, appropriation. probably others I'm forgetting.

candle, plant, crystals and safety* (as well as any other tools one might need safety tips for. This is left completely unwritten as I use very few tools of this type.)

deity work* (the whole debate surrounding when to start, as well as information about it. Will include smth about house rules/boundaries. My work is very casual, I'd love to see different POV's of this! This is by nature left unfinished because deity work is so unique to the witch.)

grimoire/book of shadows

tools of the craft* (common tools and how to use them consumerism in witchcraft, etc.)

cleansing

appropriation* (I don't know near enough about this, I just check what's in my own practice. I would like this to include a list of commonly appropriated closed practices, a definition of appropriation and why it shouldn't be done, open pantheons, and common open practices.)

spellwork*

meditation

where someone could go from here* (including sigils, tarot, crystals bc my friend likes rocks lol, maybe astrology but oh god I have nothing about that it makes my brain hurt just looking at an astrology chart /pos. I will probably make a list of stuff that I could add in this section.)

casual/daily/quick/low energy practices and witchcraft

paganism and witchcraft; overlap, what they are individually, why one might be for you rather than the other, etc.*

there'd be a credit section for anyone who wants to be credited for links/resources at the end! If you send me resources plz specify if you want to be included in that or not.

Things I might include in the second doc if I make it:

the craft and mental health and my experiences with it

things commonly touched on in the community (your deities don't hate you, cycles of inactivity and burnout, other things I'm forgetting rn)

deity-specific things, more specific topics of the craft, etc. yet another reminder that this would all include UPG, possibly unmarked, because it would basically be primarily used to give me motivation to research more.

[londonlingo]

Differences in Irish English vs British English

-Prepositions:

Irish people use more prepositions. It’s anecdotal but my Dad always likes to reference the joke of a parent saying to their kid: “get out from behind that thing behind which you are currently stood”

-Tenses (To be or not to be after doing?)

Where a Brit has “just done something”, and Irishman will “after doing” it. For example, in his  1988 novel “The Commitments”, Roddy Doyle writes: “I'm after rememberin'. I forgot to bring mine back. It's under me bed.”  That is to say that character just remembered in that moment.

-Yes/No

For the Portuguese reader this may seem natural; in Ireland they are less likely to use yes or no. Instead they opt for using the verb again. Think: “Would you like a cup of tea?” “I would”. This may stem from the Irish language’s lack of the words yes and no.

-Religious influences in everyday speech:

Irish has been known to be “the most Catholic country in the world” so its like surprise that such phrases have entered into everyday vernacular:

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, - This is used to expressed surprise 

Jesus H. Christ - This is used in anger, surprise, frustration or for humour (I would if Jesus has different initials internationally!)

-Individual bits of vocab

Press = Cupboard 

Hot press = Airing cupboard

Gas = Great

To give out = To tell off a child 

Yer man/yer wan = Any man/ woman that you’re referring to

Grand = Good/fine

Acting the maggot = Messing around or acting up

On the lash = Out drinking

Give it a lash= Give it a go

Now we’re suckin’ diesel = Now this is a phrase to mean something has started to go right

Effin’ and blindin’ = Swearing

Eejit = An insult for an idiot

I’ve been feeling homesick so here’s a list of differences between Irish English and British English inspired by my Irish da. Anyways go watch The Banshees of Inisherin -a good Irish film (pronounced fillum)

[tanuki-02]

Progress Report

For 09.16.23 to 07.08.24

I plan on doing these progress reports weekly. Perhaps with the occasional post in between if I feel like I have some huge improvement within that day.

But for this first progrep, I'll try to detail as much as possible my learning from the day I started until now as I write this post.

For a little more info, I'm a 2nd year university student who is already fluent in 2 languages. I'd say my strong point is memorization which is incredibly helpful.

‎

— GOAL

Initially, I wanted to learn Japanese because of manga. Yes, I know fanlations exist and I can go buy physical English copies. However, English versions are waaaay more expensive and a lot of the manga I read have very slow fanlations or they've stopped translating it completely.

This brings me to my next point; I wanted to learn how to READ Japanese first and foremost. I hardly cared about other skills (but now I do understand their importance to the holistic learning of it all).

‎

— September '23 to November '23

I went into this language learning journey blindly. I had no idea where to start. But all I knew was that: 1.) Du*lingo is not your best option, 2.) DON'T use romaji to learn, 3.) Start kanji as early as you can. Looking back on it, I feel like these 3 points are important and I still do believe them now.

So, I went ahead and learned hiragana and katakana in less than 2 days. It was quite easy (although, katakana still does make my head spin sometimes).

After that, I went ahead and started with vocabs and kanji. Basically, I searched up vocab & kanji lists for the N5 level. After I found some good practice/list PDFs, I printed them out and used them as my main study material.

What I would do is to memorize them on my own accord (reading over and over again then, checking if I remember—rinse and repeat). I would say this worked out well for the first couple of months. The N5 lists had around 800 vocabs and 60 kanji which were pretty easy to memorize. I had this down in about a month. The following N4 lists had around an additional 800 vocab and 120 kanji. This one took me 2 months, but I'd say the mastery isn't as great as the N5.

With that in mind and the additional 4000 vocabs and 300 kanji that N3 offered, I started to doubt my method. It was then that I really began to search the web of an efficient way to learn this language.

It was then I discovered TheMoeWay and Anki.

‎

— December '23 to June '24

Plenty of people recommended TheMoeWay, so I had to check it out. It has a guide for the first 30 days of learning, but I ignored that because I was way past 30 days at this point. I read everything else and learned about spaced repetition systems (SRS); that's basically what Anki is.

It recommends to start with the N5 Tango Deck first and I did that. I began on December 6, 2023 and finished it on March 28, 2023. To consider it finished, all cards should be matured.

‎

‎

This deck was VERY easy for me at this point because the prior months of inefficient reviewing that I did. If I'm not mistaken, I did about 100 cards per day which explains why I was so fast.

I had to move on to N4 Tango Deck once I ran out of "New" cards in the first deck. So, at some point, I was doing both decks simultaneously. I began this one on January 17, 2024 and finished it on June 15, 2024.

‎

‎

Admittedly, this deck was a lot tougher than the last one for me at the time. I had to lower the daily card count to 50 (which is still a lot). But I can say after finishing both tango decks—vocabulary, kanji retention, and grammar—all improve drastically. These two decks are super duper helpful in the beginning and I would totally recommend them.

After accomplishing both decks, TheMoeWay says for you to create a mining deck of your own. So, as I was about to go through the N4 Tango Deck, I was deliberating whether or not I'd go through with what is recommended or go for something else.

I think making a mining deck would boost your skill by a huge margin, but I opted for the Core 2k/6k Japanese Vocabulary Deck which I learned from Livakivi on YouTube.

‎

— Current; July '24

I decided to take on the Core 2k/6k while I was doing the N4 Tango (This also explains why I did fewer cards 'cuz I was trying to balance both). I started this one on January 14, 2024 and I'm still getting through it little by little. By that I mean I'm not even halfway done haha.

This is what my progress looks like so far:

‎

‎

I'm doing 20 new cards per day while it's still summer break from university. Although, I'll definitely have to lower it once the semester starts. Maybe I'll go back to 10 or something.

Anyway, I found that by doing this, my retention for words and how they are spelled in hiragana have improved so much. Sometimes I can easily read random sentences on Japanese websites or books. Moreover, after doing this for some time, I found that my reading got a lot better (duh, you know more words). I can easily pass the N5 and N4 tests on the official JLPT website. The N3 tests... not so much just yet.

This brings me to my next point: I am lacking in grammar and reading comprehension. To remedy this, I've tried immersing a bit through reading news on NHK or random stories on Tadoku Graded Readers (honestly, boring, but I have to). I tried reading manga, but I'd skip so many speech bubbles that it made no sense anyway.

At the moment, I'm doing an Anki deck related to grammar, another one based on Tae Kim's guide, and a third one for listening comprehension (because my listening skills are also doodoo).

‎

TL;DR

I'd say I'm around the higher N4 level or maybe a very low N3. For my level, I'd say I'm pretty good at reading... everything else not so much. I barely do output so writing and speaking are non-existent skills for me and listening is something I only started now.

[defining-skyology]

Defining Light (biomatter substance).

{{{Hello, if you haven't read up on the Megabird and how it works yet, then I highly suggest reading this post instead for today.

Otherwise, bon appetit! 🍽️}}}

Alright, let's start doing this in the proper chronological order. I shouldn't have skipped to Defining Ancestors and Descendants and frankly I'm not sure why I did, but it gave me an entire headache. I have reorganized the vocab list so that now it will be posted in a much better order.

We need to discuss terms that will be used in later posts; therefore we'll first tackle terms that are the utmost fundamental, foundational 'laws' that I've 'invented/discovered' about Sky's science, or Skyence, if you will. 🤓

So let's start here with Light, and let's start this post off with a strong statement, as usual:

Light is Alive.

We're going to zoom out. All the way out. When we zoom out as far as can, we are left with just a single image grasping the entire Sky universe (that we as the Descendant could ever feasibly comprehend, anyways).

We are left... With the World, and with the Megabird.

But the Megabird is Alive.

It has thoughts, and intentions.

It wills and wishes and wants things. It contorts and changes in order to explore its surroundings.

Reaching out towards the planet, and feeling the object before it.

To understand, and to know.

But these "arms" that are reaching out are not arms at all.

We understand that the Megabird is a conglomerate, a superorganism the size of a planet. And every drop of Light that makes up the Megabird... Is a Being.

From the Whale coughCoelecanthcough to the mantas, to the birds, to the mere microorganisms. All of it IS the Light. All of it IS the Megabird.

Every wave of energy you see emanating from various Beings

Also yes, I said microorganisms.

Let's zoom all the way back in.

"A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic size, which may exist in its single-celled form or as a colony of cells." --Wikipedia

To really drive home the idea that Light is alive, the goal is hopefully to have you, the reader, walk away from this post and when you go back into the game, you'll really see that every little thing...:

Every sparkling particle dancing off of your character as you propel yourself into the sky

Every wave of energy emanating from various Beings (yes, even Calls are alive!!!!!)

Any little bit of glowing energy you've ever seen in this game: it's all living substance, and all made of the same living substance.

It's all 'alive'.

Any time even just a few 'cells' (microorganisms) of Light exists; we now have Mass.

And all that just to add the first TWO words to our Definition of Light:

Light is living Mass.

As we add more and more 'complicated' (tedious) terms to our roster it'll hopefully make more and more sense why we have to be this 'detailed' about our basically-headcanon Sky science. Post after post.

Since we've taken so much time up already, let's try to finish (most of) the rest in a swift movement.

Light (yes all Light, down to the little cells we talked about) defies gravity.

Levitate verb: rise or cause to rise and hover in the air, especially by means of supernatural or magical power.

Light substance has a natural trait to levitate off of the ground. We can see this with Orbs, Spell effects, and generally any particles. We also obviously see this with Creatures of Light. The only Beings who can't levitate are ones who have full-body shells such as Crabs and Ancestors.

Light can collect 'material' around it.

Material has an interesting role in Sky's worldbuilding. There's this concept/vibe I strongly get from the imagery we're blessed with; that the bodies of those who walk the earth and gaze at the Sky in wonder come from dust.

When Light is introduced to Material, be it:

1. The sands our angelic forms crash-land into upon our Formation

2. The candle wax that Light reacts so violently to

3. The rocks and chunks of earth that so elegantly (or not elegantly if you've been to Eden) float above the ground

It picks it up.

Light has the ability/trait to not just levitate itself, but Material as well. This will be important someday, which is why I see it as crucial enough to add to our Definition.

And lastly,

Light substance can 'feel' all other Light.

There will be words and terms for this in the future, but generally, we understand that all Beings of Light have a powerful Connection with each other, and this Connection between each and every Being stacks and acclimates all together to create the network known as the Megabird. Through the Megabird array, a neural network if you will, all Beings can feel the presence of each other, and are strengthened by this Connection.

With this now in mind, we can finally finish our Definition.

Light is

A living Mass

With traits of

Levitation of itself

Levitation of Material

and the ability to 'Feel' all other Light.

And we're done! 🎉🎊🎆 This is going to be THE foundation of everything. In the next few posts we will discuss different categorizations of speculative measurements on the shapes and sizes of forms that Light can take, and I

Hopefully

Will make them shorter 🤡

If you read all of this, thank you so much. I really appreciate giving your time and curiosity to my little fake science that I enjoy so much. Interaction with the blog is basically dead at this moment and I'm not sure if it's maybe the time I'm posting it at that doesn't help, but I have to remember I'm doing this for myself anyways, so honestly it doesn't matter. Have a good day/night y'all! ❤️

[aibhilin-atibeka]

I just saw an ask game :D and I do have a question that I think would be fun for you.

What actually interested you in learning multiple languages in the first place and what draws you to a language that makes you want to learn it?

Oohhhh, now that's a fun one! :D

Well. I learned my first "real true" (no, seriously, honest) foreign language at the age of 9 and I felt absolutely neutral towards it.

Meh, 'twas another subject at school, so what? XD younger!me was not specifically very interested in languages at all. I had the world to explore, after all! What's languages compared to manga? Compared to anime? Compared to books?

Compared to the real world? Darn, no, I sure am not throwing time at something I might never use again at a later date in life, see me go "nope" at languages and "yes" to life experiences.

And then my sister went and learned to fluently speak five languages somehow. It seemed very much like "all of a sudden she can speak five languages" to me. Dammit all, I had to learn at least as many, didn't I?

That - along with my school offering languages as their educational focus - helped. Still wasn't ideal, but I'd gotten that certain nudge into this direction then. And at that point my love for Japan was noticeably not fading, so I got gifted a Japanese language class. And... sort of haven't stopped learning Japanese since. Whoops?

At the same time my school offered French and in a choice between Italian and French? Sure, I'll choose French (the language sounded nicer at that time and the teacher kinder). I can learn Italian later on, once the school offers another language choice two years into the first one, right?

Right?

Wrong. Had to choose between Spanish and computer science, so no Italian for me back then. But Spanish is basically Italian on crack, isn't it? (pls don't dunk on teenage!me, teenage!me was a bit of a teenager back then) They're 1:1 understandable to one another, right? Right?

Also wrong.

But that didn't stop me from starting Italian on my own at university.

And a friend offered to teach a class of Turkish right in-between school and university, so there we went~

And university itself offers language classes too, how could I not check them out and study Hindi for a bit?

... somehow, without even consciously being aware of it, I'd accumulated a starting vocab for about twenty languages before I was twenty (how do I know that exact number at that exact age? I had to do a language autobiography collecting, chronologically listing and presenting all my language studies and some of the knowledge I'd obtained in detail for a class shortly after turning twenty).

By now it's probably stayed *roughly* the same in number (... maybe I added five to ten-ish languages since then? no clue), though I couldn't say whether or not that's simply because of where I live or what opportunities I had or what little time I've had to spend on accumulating more languages since. Life's a busy bee, sometimes, and the life of an author/linguist/leisure-social-media-scroller (tumblr I'm looking at you) feels even busier. Never mind any other engagements I have ended up in so far.

I have an ongoing interest in languages cause I find it fun to be able to communicate with the world in whatever language I can. They're a means to reading, listening and interacting with people and there's wordplay to consider. ;) In short, I find it fun.

To answer your questions:

What actually interested you in learning multiple languages in the first place

I stumbled into them like Winnie the Pooh might stumble into a pot of honey XD there was no definitive moment of "Oh, I'm interested in becoming a polyglot now" - at the point in time that I had that realisation I already was one.

and what draws you to a language that makes you want to learn it?

Depending on the language, I have different motivations for learning them:

Japanese: "stopping now makes just as much sense as a prisoner breaking out might stop in front of the 9th out of 10 walls they'd have to climb", also "I've got manga to read in Japanese just to get all the jokes in them" and "I bought and imported books from Japan that I still have to read"

French: "I still haven't read all of the Arsène Lupin series" and "from time to time the Frenchspeakers release funny movies that I wanna watch in the original language"

Italian: "darn, originally I was in this for the bit but I'm committed to learning it now with whatever means necessary"

Spanish: is "just sort of there" and "Sometimes I find articles and news pages and books I want to read that just so happen to be in Spanish, so why not read them in Spanish, I don't even need a translation"

Korean: "I want to be able to read you at one point, darn it all to hell"

etc. ad infinitum. I didn't even mention all the ones I'm fluent in here, never mind all the ones I started to learn at one point in my life, so yeah.

I love the challenge? I love the way learning languages open up a whole new world view to you as you go along? I adore being able to read yet more books by just learning a language? I love word games?

All of these and more count towards my interest in languages. :D Gotta say, languages rock. Polyglottism ftw.

@stereden cause I can

@a-knight-owls-curse thanks for the interesting ask!

[dashielldeveron]

omg i loved your soulmate troupe… im so inspired by it but i have a question?? How do you find such great like “big boy words” like anachronistic and such and perfectly incorporate them in without sounded pompous :(( i admire your vocab its so beautiful

this is a really interesting question, and i'm not sure i know the answer to it!!! speculation/advice under the cut

i think, in the context of soulmate trope, it may be that the reader character is established as this observant, detail-oriented person who analyses/notices a bunch of mundane things, so it makes some sense that that sort of person would have a wider vocabulary in order to describe things better. like, try picturing yaoyorozu using the word mellifluous versus kaminari using it. it would sound weird and pretentious for kaminari to use words like that, because he's established to not be too bright and doesn't use that sort of language in general. yaoyorozu, though, we know she has to have a wide body of knowledge to utilise her quirk the best she can, so it would make sense that she's come across that word and may casually use it. so it may not seem pretentious for soulmate trope bc it feels in character for the POV reader character.

i think the probable, most comprehensive answer is that i've just been doing it for a long time. been reading a lot. been writing a lot. which i know is not a fun answer, because it's better to have immediately applicable advice.

here's my best attempt regardless, though:

if you're wondering if anything you yourself wrote is pretentious bc you use bigger words, it's probable not actually pretentious. it's your brain trying to kill you. you've looked at your work a lot, so you're not seeing it with fresh eyes; you're seeing your writing process behind every sentence. you're most likely fine.

2) our current literacy crisis involves a strange undercurrent of an aversion to "purple prose," which, normally, means language so flowery and over-the-top that it makes a work incomprehensible, but with the current literary scene has been watered down to mean something along the lines of "heavy description and figurative language." which can include using vocabulary we don't encounter in everyday life. people can tell you it's cringe to use them. it's not, and even if it were, cringe is dead, and we are free.

3) nothing wrong with being pretentious!!! we are alive!!!! indulge in the senses and in luxuriant descriptions!!!!!

4) specificity in language is good. it's not pompous if it's the most specific, appropriate word for the situation. it communicates the ideas better

5) some words may seem pretentious because of the story's context. has the story established that it only uses fifth-grade-level words? then of course it would feel out of place and pretentious when there's suddenly a five-syllable word.

6) as for finding words, well. besides reading, there's lots of ways to find different vocabulary. my dumbest but most effective advice: look up lists of vocabulary words that seventh graders are supposed to be quizzed on weekly. you want lists that are divided into, like, fourteen units, bc that means it's a year-long endeavour and designed to amp up in difficulty. yes, you'll know like 97% of the words, but there'll be some weirdly specific terms thrown in there. keep track of the ones you've never heard of or the ones you want to re-cement in your vocabulary. so, we start with seventh grade bc it's not intimidating, bc it's for fucking seventh graders. but keep going all the way up to 12th grade. all those words you collected--put them in a planner or daily calendar with their definitions; commit to learning one word a day and using it in conversation that day. i am slightly embarrassed to say i did this for years. nowadays, you can buy word-a-day tearaway calendars, but i liked having the customisation for words i knew i wanted to learn. i remember picking a bunch of old-fashioned, sexual-adjacent words for like two weeks in a row bc i wanted to write a loki fanfic.

anyway. i hope any shred of that helps lol. and wow i'm really flattered that you'd ask me about it, gosh!!!! thank you so much for your question and for reading my silly stories!!!! xx.

[princetofbone]

I'm really disappointed in myself. I didn't really do anything these past several days and I'm now two weeks behind my ideal schedule. I'm going to restart the 100 days of productivity because I think more than a day off is a little much to skip. (by off, I mean that I did nothing to further my happiness, future, or anything that I really remember- aka I lost it do depression haze) I also feel like starting at the start of a month is good vibes.

I'm going to laundry list what needs to get done (because I just MOVED) so here we go

August 1, day 1/100

Completed tasks:

finish 15 (yes, finally)

vocab check 15

lesson 5 evaluation

wrote a resume and cover letter

applied to a job!!

half of project 3

16-1

Self Care:

kite surfing

saw the barbie movie again

cleaned my space

went on a walky walk to get coffee

ice cream

To do:

finish 16

teacher connect activity

kite surf more

go swimming?

shopping for baby clothing (I don't know any babies I just love how tiny their little outfits are)

[jadeglas]

Heya!

I'm still not feeling great, so I'm going to keep this one on the shorter side.

Thursdays are recommendation days! I'm not getting any commissions or affiliate stuff for anything I recommend (yet, maybe one day? I'll be sure to let you know if I do), but I do own a few of the things I want to share with you (as in, I bought them myself and I'd happily buy it again).

I have so many favorite things that help me write and be creative that it was hard to narrow them down to which one should be first, but ...

Vulgarlang

I love this website so flipping much! (I own the pro version)

I love language and I think I started my first constructed language (conlang) when I was 13 or so? There's just so much you can tell about a culture (and sub cultures! and individuals!) based on the words they use the most and what their slang is based off of and what they use to emphasize love and hate!

Vulgarlang is a site that generates constructed languages for you. The free/demo version (should be the page the link takes you to) gives you 200 words, which I think are picked at random. They have a basic paid version ($15 USD) that gives 2000 words and a pro paid version ($20 USD) that gives 4000 words, and yes, there's a way to make your language have more science fiction vocabulary or more fantasy type vocabulary! (just clarifying, sci Fi vocab is in the paid, pro version)

Ok, ok, I need to calm down, I've just had to undo about four paragraphs describing what this site does in detail. The short version (bc it's worth checking out for yourself):

It includes IPA pronunciations (which means you get an accurate/neutral example of how each letter sounds)

You get unlimited languages

You get full creative license to each language you generate (to use, not to sell)

Each language generates with is own grammar and phonology (for those of us that are into that)

You even get to use a tool they call Atlas, that helps you make auxiliary languages (which I think is like French is to Latin? But you need at least 2 languages to start)

Please go check it out, even if just for the free version, because there's no better way to add some subtle, yet powerful flavor to your world than to have your own private list of words that no one else has, to use as names for people and places and cuss words and anything else that can't be accurately described in "the common tongue".

That's it for today, folks! I'll post again later, but, until then, you take care!

[woniepolyglot]

✨ monthly recap ✨

I'm totally replicating this idea from Lindie Botes because I need to have some place to hold me accountable to my studying.

I graduated university more than a year ago and since then my foreign languages have been going 📉📉📉

this month

I studied a grand total of 19 hours and 58 minutes this month... I'm a disgrace💀

some wins on april:

💌 decided to start a twitter (@/wonie_polyglot if you wanna follow me there) dedicated to my language learning, which was a huuuuge step for me. This tumblr thing came afterwards bc I like to write ✨long posts✨.

💌 finally found some materials for French that I feel comfortable with c:

🦉current duolingo streak : 12 days (had to restart it bc I'm dumb and forgot about it🙃)

✨ français ✨

I was feeling pretty down with it at the beginning of the month. I tried to use the book I bought for university, but the app and website were pretty shitty, so I had no real access to the audio files or the answer key.

Then I found the glorious Progressif du Français series. I started with Orthographe Progressif du Français et Grammaire Progressif du Français, both in niveau débutant, just to start getting back on track.

I also got Short Stories in French for Beginners. I haven't started it yet, but it looks pretty promising!

I'll also try to get into some series on Netflix for some immersion sessions!

✨deutsch✨

Similar to French, I wanted to use up the books I bought for school, but with these I actually was able to get the audio files, answer keys, and some extra worksheets!

I'm using Bild für Bild Deutsch Sprachkurs (very useful if you're self-learning, grammar points come in English) and studio d, and so far so gut!

I also started watching Dark on Netflix. My plan is to watch it like three times. First with English subtitles or (if I can get to a pc) with a chrome extension that allowes me to have dual subtitles. Then with only German subtitles, and one final time without any subtitles.

✨한국어✨

I have a lot of resources for Korean (mostly Talk to Me in Korean, but also some from Yonsei, Ehwa, etc). I think I'm trying to overcompensate because Korean is the only language where I haven't had any formal learning done before.

Right now I'm on the Level 1 TTMIK Textbooks, along with Korean Grammar in Use and 비타민 한국어. Plus Real-Life Korean Conversations for Beginners, Easy Korean Readings for Beginners, My First 500 Korean Words (all three form TTMIK), and the Soo&Carrots' 100 Day Korean Vocab Challenge (not doing it daily just here and there).

I also have one of the Yonsei Reading workbooks that I'm looking to integrate into my "routine".

next month

I'm nervous because May is a very holiday heavy month in my country, and my family likes going out on road trips and such, which means I'm most likely not gonna stick to the schedule I'd like to...

goals for may:

Create an on-the-go routine so I can still study whilst traveling.

Solidify my resources lists for German and French.

Come up with some sort of "cycle" so I always have something to do next (I tend to procrastinate by "planning" my study sessions).

Complete one "unit" of my Korean study each week (one lesson from the TTMIK Textbook and Workbook, one reading from the Easy Readings book, one dialogue from the Real-Life Convos book, and one day of the Korean Vocab book).

[theunaestheticstudyblr]

STEM writing advice

Ok so this could probably work for a lot of writing, but the only writing I've done in years is scientific papers, so I don't wanna lay untrue claims. Anyways, here we go!!!

Don't just put in a quote. Unpack it. By that, I mean explain the contents of the quote and then how it relates to your topic. For example, let's say you're writing about the sky and use the following quote: "the sky gets its color due to the reflection of light". Your followup sentence should explain this, looking something like: the blue color therefore is a result of this reflection in the atmosphere. It both helps explain the quote and its relevance. This is very important for supporting evidence for a claim.

Titles are hard!!!! I recommend writing your intro and discussion before deciding on one. This way you can pull a summary phrase from one to use for a title!

Download or save all your sources!!!! Trust me trying to find them panicking at 2am is no fun.

When compiling resources, make an annotated bibliography

WRITE ON YOUR SOURCES GOD DAMN IT!!!!! I don't know why this belief that you shouldn't write in books or on papers or anything is so prevalent. But fuck it. Trust me you want to write on them! It will save you so much time when you're looking for that once super specific, amazing, perfect quote you read.

Before you proofread, do not touch your paper for at least a day. Don't even think about it. You're too attached. After 24 hours of absence you'll be able to go "wow that really sucks what was I thinking?"

If you hit a block, just word vomit. Just write down anything and everything.

Or start with your evidence or quotes and build from there.

Use something like [zz] for missing information. That's what I use and it allows me to search the document for that to find where I'm missing something whether it's a citation, an explanation, a data point, whatever.

You don't have to write the sections in order. Write your methods first and your intro last. It doesn't matter at all.

It helps having someone else proofread your paper, but if no one can, Google translate or any read aloud service is amazing

Stuck on an idea? Talk about it to someone or something. I use my ferret. I'll just sit there and be like ok this is what my data is and this is the analysis from it, but how do I explain its relevance?? Like sure it shows this but what about this? And then eventually I figure it out. Bartenders are also great for this

If you don't like working at a library, make yourself a spot at home that's just for writing with no distractions. Yes, even that plant will get you away from your paper, trust me.

Get you a nice, soft pillow to bang your head against.

Learn to do calculations in excel and run analysis in a statistical software like R which is free to use!

If you want to access an article without paying, email the authors! A lot of time they'll send you the paper!

Keep track of ALL vocab. Any niche terms might have to be defined, so keeping a list with definitions/explanations is very helpful.

Make a folder with subfolders. Keeping things organized will save you so much time I promise. Put drafts in one folder, papers in another, lists in another, etc.

Save! Always save! Even better: set up autosave to occur every like 10 minutes.

Early mornings and/or late nights are gonna be your thing now I promise.

If your eyes start feeling strained or your head starts hurting, take a break! Trust me, once you start writing in what I like to call the "goo stage" (where you're starting to get foggy and tired, rubbing your eyes, stretching your back, etc) your work quality is gonna go way down. Get up, stretch, drink some water, take a walk, whatever.

Get a stress ball or something. Especially for running data analysis. Things get very frustrating.

Set up a news alert for your topic. It can help you find real world applications for your discussion as well as maybe find you a super recent publication!

[skopostheorie]

I've been wanting to get back into learning languages. I know one person's methods and advice won't exactly work for everyone, but do you have suggestions on how to study and practice?

Alright! I'll preface this by saying that I am by no means an expert in language learning, but rather just very passionate about it. Sometimes people assume I'm some genius or something; I'm really not, it's just that if you do something a lot (I'm talking at least 10h a day) because you love it that much, it will eventually start looking like you're quite good.

I also think that, while linguistic geniuses certainly exist, you don't need to be one to learn even a very "difficult" language. Along your Internet journeys and Discord servers and so on you've almost certainly met someone who has said that they learned English just from using the Internet a lot. They're usually underselling themselves by pretending they didn't need to put in any effort, but even then; they're doing perfectly well for themselves just from chatting online about video games or what have you. This is also to say nothing of refugees who learned the language of their new country, even to the point of thereby receiving citizenship, whether they are "gifted" or not! Everyone struggles a bit, but we all get it done. With maybe a few tears.

Those are some long disclaimers, but I feel they're necessary because even if none of these "tips" work for you, it is imperative you remember that LOTE, while with its challenges, is not some unique cool-kids club where only future Teslas can hang out. When you inevitably run into challenges or even a brick wall, don't think it's uniquely a you problem, or see it as evidence that LOTE is not for you.

The best way to practice is to make friends. Where our ancestors learned languages on the Silk Road or by studying the hot new subject at the fancy school on the other side of the world, it would seem humans have mostly become fluent by hanging out. Yes, that sounds terrifying. You might indeed accidentally meet people who are quite rude about your lack of fluency. But join fandoms for international things that have a LOTE-dominated base, or make a new account on (insert-language-here) twitter, and so on. Make mutuals, reply to their stories, etc etc. Just how you'd make friends on English Tumblr. Do not join gaming servers, gamer-racism is internationally true.

I'll emphasise Twitter again because it's really good for practice in small bites and, failing understanding a tweet, there's always a translate button. Of course, you might pick up some bad grammar, and even incorrect spelling, but in a way that's part of the fun and will teach you how to sound more natural with others in casual contexts.

Make sure your studying is connected to things you like, if the language itself is not inherently enjoyable for you. Write your practice sentences or fake conversations about things you like, or study vocabulary related to your interests. It is far more fun to write a paragraph about why you love a certain movie than How To Order Food. It'll stick in your mind better.

Your journey is very unlikely to be a nice, organised, linear affair, and that's fine. Even if you're, say, like me and prefer to learn grammar, common phrases etc BEFORE jumping into the deep end, you'll probably do a bit of learning-as-you-go, and vice versa if you prefer to just study things as they appear. See language learning as a craft, or a tree being nurtured in various ways according to the elements, rather than a set of tasks. Don't forget to keep the humanities part in this subset of the humanities! LOTE is writing notes at a desk, is vocab lists on Quizlet, is random example sentences, but it's also having to Google something real quick mid-conversation, and learning things just by assimilation rather than ever bothering to check it means what you think it does. Just like when you learned your first!

[espanhois]

in june of this year, i set out on the challenge to read 50 books in my second language (spanish) for many reasons. originally my goal had been to read 10 over the summer, but i quickly ripped through them and decided to shoot for more. i had seen a post on reddit where someone decided to do the same challenge and thought, hey, why not? here's a little bit on my process and what i learned, with the entire list of books at the end!

why do this challenge?

to better my focus: i wanted to get better at long stretches of reading, and making myself read for long periods at a time would help me build reading stamina while i read.

to get quicker at reading: this one goes hand in hand with the first point. in addition to being able to read for longer, i wanted to be able to process quicker without sacrificing understanding. i am about to enter grad school, so i wanted to be able to better this ability

to be exposed to more literature in general: i study literature but when you only read in class you miss out on a TON. i wanted to get acquainted with contemporary lit in spanish.

to read things i enjoyed rather than things for class: with one exception, nothing on this list was read for class, and that's because i wanted to make reading into a hobby rather than an obligation.

to gain more vocab: i combined this challenge with daily anki studying.

what i learned!

the author i read the most was: gabriel garcía márquez. i don't even need to look at my list to confirm it, i just know it. clocking in at a total of 7 different books, he definitely won out. cien años de soledad was not on this list (i've read it twice before and my tattoo is cien años themed), so this was a great chance to get familiar with his other works!! i have to admit, i think el amor en los tiempos del cólera has eclipsed cien años de soledad in terms of my favorite book!!

the country whose books i read the most was: a three way tie!! between colombia (thanks gabo), argentina, and spain with 10 books each! i hope to explore more of central american lit for my next challenge, since that was an area that didn't get much representation in my list, so if anyone has any recommendations, let me know!

a genre i didn't know i enjoyed so much was: memoirs! in the past i had avoided them, but for this challenge i put a few on in audiobook form (because it counts as reading, don't fight me on this) while i worked and WOW. learned a lot. i would definitely like some more recommendations for memoirs.

did i achieve my goals?: yes!! my focus is a lot better and i get through books faster (although not too fast that i don't understand anything). i feel better about my knowledge of literature in general now that i've read a ton, and i had a lot of fun doing this!! even hitting the milestones was so much fun.

an ability i strengthened during this process was: my ability to analyze and pick up on symbols, motifs, literary devices, and the like. it's been great for my essay writing abilities in class. plus, i feel like i've had 80 intellectual breakthroughs during this process.

something i discovered during this process was: it is really easy to rush through these books and go as fast as possible, but you won't end up learning much. i had to strike some books from my list because i realized i was just trying to hit the number. it's much better to just enjoy the ride!

what's next?

i'm going to start from zero and go for 100! no time limit, just making my way through books. i want to have a wide knowledge of literature in spanish, but i'd also like to start reading more in translation, especially authors from asia and africa. you all can help me by recommending me books in spanish so i have a reading list to get through!! thanks so much, and if you decide to do this challenge let me know!! i'll give support and recommendations :)

under the cut is my list. i plan on doing a follow up with my favorites and least favorites soon

reading list:

La casa de los espíritus - Isabel Allende

El lunes nos querrán - Najat el Hachmi

Temporada de huracanes - Fernanda Melchor

Por fin solos - Cristina Peri Rossi

El Conde Lucanor - Don Juan Manuel

Memorias de mis putas tristes - Gabriel García Márquez

Nuestra parte de noche - Mariana Enríquez

Travesuras de la niña mala - Mario Vargas Llosa

La muerte de Artemio Cruz - Carlos Fuentes

Las malas - Camila Sosa Villada

Tokio blues - Haruki Murakami

Volver la vista atrás - Juan Gabriel Vásquez

Abel Sánchez - Miguel de Unamuno

La amiga estupenda - Elena Ferrante

Maldición eterna a quien lea estas páginas - Manuel Puig

Aura - Carlos Fuentes

Salón de belleza - Mario Bellatin

Ética marica - Paco Vidarte

Páradais - Fernanda Melchor

No es un río - Selva Almada

Cadáver exquisito - Agustina Bazterrica

Las biuty queens - Iván Monalisa Ojeda

Las mutaciones - Jorge Comensal

Crónica de una muerte anunciada - Gabriel García Márquez

La buena suerte - Rosa Montero

El general en su laberinto - Gabriel García Márquez

El amor en los tiempos del cólera - Gabriel García Márquez

Doce cuentos peregrinos - Gabriel García Márquez

La otra orilla - Julio Cortázar

Pájaros en la boca y otros cuentos - Samanta Schweblin

Los ríos profundos - José María Arguedas

La guaracha del Macho Camacho - Luis Rafael Sánchez

Vivir para contarla - Gabriel García Márquez

La última niebla - María Luisa Bombal

Que de lejos parecen moscas - Kike Ferrari

Mugre rosa - Fernanda Trías

Primera y segunda carta de relación - Hernán Cortés

Las elegidas - Jorge Volpi

La hojarasca - Gabriel García Márquez

Rendición - Ray Loriga

Mona - Pola Oloixarac

Tres chicos buenos - Pablo Wessling

El olvido que seremos - Héctor Abad Faciolince

El cartero de Neruda - Antonio Skármeta

El amor del revés - Luisgé Martín

Cumandá - Juan León Mera

Dónuts, barbas y mancuernas - José Manuel Blanco

Gabo y Mercedes - Rodrigo García

Que nadie duerma - Juan José Millas

La vía del futuro - Edmundo Paz-Soldán

[eyes-of-nine]

Judging Iconic CR Quotes in TLOVM Based on How Well They Translated Them into Polish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<yes this a very niche topic but it's been on my mind ever since i found out tlovm had polish subtitles and lektor(basically dubbing but it's one guy just reading out the script) so buckle in because i'm about to ramble on about things you didn't know you needed. I fell i should point out i'm not an actual translator, just bilingual and this is very much all just light-hearted fun>

Also if you take away anything from this post is that, no matter how good the translation is a lot of nuance will inevitably get lost. So if you can, consume media in it's original language.

1) "Your soul is forfeit"

Starting off.... well I wouldn't say strong but go off I guess. To be fair we don't have a good word for forfeit but "The fate of your soul is doomed" is edgy even by Percy standards. Looses the dramatic flair ngl. Top 10 things you could hear behind a Żabka. I could fight this man behing said żabka/10

2) "I would like to rage"

No, I don't think you would like to do that. sounds like a teen trying to explain to their mom why they should be allowed to go to a rave. Captures the absurdity of the quote though. This list is really making me realize how many cool words the polish language is missing ywy let him go to the rave/10

3) "You were the one I was least looking forward to"

Me @ my polish teacher. Something's very wrong with the syntax but I'm too stupid to figure out what. The closest I can compare it is yoda: mild edition. Love that added the word meeting, like now it just sounds like they're coworkers in a company meeting. TLOVM-best-workplace-comedy-2022/10

4) "You know I'm in love with you, right?"

aghsdfsgh ok ok i honestly kinda love this one. like unironically "you know that I've fallen in love with you?" [my best translation attempt back into english] king shit, adorable, showstoping Like somehow they made it even more awkward than the original Vax confessing his love for Kiki the same way he'd tell someone else he has a crush. aaa i can't explain how much i actually love this translation. like this man is equally as suprised about the fact as Kiki. man really went oh shit Kiki guess what? being-in-love-with-Kiki/10

5) "You're the face I saw when murder entered my heart"

Ha. Turns out Percy quotes just don't work in Polish. Dude's too rich to be slavic. Fans want him, Polish syntax hates him. even though I'm mostly focusing on the subtitles instead of lektor tm , this one i think actually did a better job of capturing the feeling instead of a direct translation. "You're the face I saw when I dreamt of my bloody revenge"[lektor] vs "You're the face I saw when killing entered my blood" [subtitles] No i don't know why they changed it to killing and blood instead of heart/10

6) "I broke the world for us"

....I had to look up what "zbrukać" means. Has the vibes of like "fuck, i didn't study at all and really zbrukałam that exam" instead of you know destroying the world. Queen really looked up her best old-timey rural poland vocab words for this one, huh? Minus points for having to inflect Sylas' name Deprecha/10

7) "Darling, take that mask off"

Alright time to rant bestie. I love me a good petname but all polish ones are so romance centric it fucking hurts. "Kochanie" translated most often as honey or love, is really just dedicated to your romantic partner, you really wouldn't use it in the way Vex does. And like sure I think we all know i'm always here for perc'ahlia content but this scene is so good because it isn't really about their romance, not at this point of time at least. i guess the translation just adds a romantic subtext to not only Vex's iconic line but also Percy's reaction and i'm... well not angry but kinda disappointed. In conclusion we need more platonic petnames in polish/10

Bonus~

no stop getting inflected, you're so sexy haha- TTvTT i can't explain to you how much these images are making me cringe. there's nothing i wouldn't do to make sure people would stop inflecting english surnames the same way they do polish ones ywy De Rolów will actually haunt me in my dreams. If I ever become president, i'm putting in a new law where only polish or surnames ending in -wski can be inflected Please make it stop/10

....That's it. There's no point to this. Finally found a good use for being bilingual, nothing more.

[notasapleasure]

This 'super cold' is really just like....a fortnight (at least) of SYMPTOMS roulette. Start off with a fever and deep brain fog? Ok good, and we add...*spins wheel* muscle cramps today! Starting to get over that, huh? How about *spins wheel* nausea! Are you gonna throw up? Are you not? What will make it happen? Sitting perfectly still? Attempting to eat? Turning your head the wrong way too fast? Ok ok next! *spins wheel* Ah, a good old fashioned cough, at least now you feel like you have a cold, right? *spins wheel* keep coughing bitch *spins wheel* keep coughing *spins wheel* oh now your intercostal muscles hurt so much you're gonna throw up if you keep coughing! *spins wheel* yeah you ain't done with that fatigue and brain fog yet get back on the couch *spins wheel* headaches! Haven't done that one for a few days! *spins wheel* getting tired yet? Oh look your throat's all swollen up! *spins wheel* nvm swellings gone down before you could get a GP appointment. Now the GP looks at you in exasperation and says 'yes but what symptoms do you have?' and your mind goes blank because....like...all of them? In no particular order? But it's ok, it's not covid, go home and take it easy. But I've finished all the series of Monty Don's gardens. I've watched all the nature documentaries. I read The Right to Sex cover to cover. I want to write, I want to learn my vocab lists and commiserate with my Georgian friends about their election results and I need to do some work, shit I need to go to town and get my brother and my oldest friend a birthday present, but instead I'm hobbling from the sofa to bed and back again going stir crazy.

[dutch-polyglot]

*✧ — End of the year reading tag! — ✧*

The wonderful @bulletnotestudies tagged me in this, and since I've finally started reading books for fun again this year (thanks to knife gang actually!) I thought it would be nice to do :D

Did you reach your reading goal for the year (if you had one)?

Yes! I set my goal for 10 books bc I wasn't sure how much I'd end up reading, but I'm at 14 now and hopefully will be able to get to 15 before the end of this year.

What are your top 3 books you read this year?

1. Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

2. Night Sky with Exit Wounds, Ocean Vuong

3. The Raven King, Nora Sakavic

And an honorary mention for "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift!

What’s a book that you didn’t expect to enjoy quite so much going in?

Gideon the Ninth. I expected to love it a lot, but I loved it SO MUCH!!!! Like I even did a Halloween cosplay of Harrow when I hadn't finished the book yet. I've gotten two friends to read it already and will never stop thinking about this book because D A M N it's truly amazing. If it's on your tbr and you haven't started it yet, you should!!!

Were there any books that didn’t live up to your expectations?

The Foxhole Court, only for the reason that I expected more from the first book in the All For The Game series (since everyone I know is obsessed with it). But The Raven King is one of my top 3 reads so as you can guess, my expectations were more than fulfilled by the second book!!!

Did you reread any old faves? If so, which one was your favourite?

I didn't reread anything old, but I practically read Night Sky with Exit Wounds twice in a row because it was so good<3

Did you dnf any books?

Motherfoclóir: Dispatches from a Not So Dead Language had too many lists of vocab with definitions and not enough prose at some point so I put it aside. I definitely will pick it up again when I get back into Irish more though!

Did you read any books outside your usual preferred genre(s)?

Gideon the Ninth was slightly horror, which I never really engage with. AFTG is sports, but had enough non-sports stuff going on to keep me engaged.

What was your predominant format this year?

Physical books my beloved<3

What’s the longest book you read this year?

Harrow the Ninth, with 512 pages!!

What are your top 3 anticipated 2022 releases?

1. Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

2. I Kissed Shara Wheeler, Casey McQuinston

3. Iron Widow 2, Xiran Jay Zhao (no I haven't read the first one yet but I've been obsessed with its existence since I found out about it so I'm already hyped for more)

What books from your tbr did you not get to this year, but are excited to read in 2022?

Iron Widow is on my night stand as we speak, it will be my first read of 2022!! The Song of Achilles is also high on my list after hearing how much people loved it. The entire Eragon series has also been sitting on my shelf for ages so I really hope I can start that the upcoming year!

I'm not sure who to tag since I don't talk about books on here that much with other studyblrs, but I'll tag @pawprintedpages @space-luna @ravenclawhard and @incipitinterpreter and anyone who wants to!