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accessible classic lit in spanish

tale as old as time: a learner asks for a classic reading rec and people suggest masterful works like don quijote and cien años de soledad. these are WONDERFUL works of fiction but they're not really level appropriate for someone who is trying to start reading classic lit. so here are some recommendations for someone who wants to start reading but is a bit intimidated by these works. they are by no means an absolute cakewalk to read, but a lot less demanding than the novels mentioned above. here are the criteria i used to select books:

(relatively) canonical: i tried to stick to things i read in college and names that are relatively recognizable. it's easier to start conversations with others about these authors because they're widely read.

on the shorter side: to make it easier to get through the book and to help build stamina. it's like training for a marathon, you don't go out and run 26 miles on your first day

simpler language & graspable plot: it takes some getting used to to be able to read different styles, so i picked things that are a bit simpler and not filled with time skips and narrator changes every step of the way

20th and 21st century: just to keep things a bit more relevant. there are some great works pre-20th century but again, the style takes some getting used to

some of the recommendations might not fit all four criteria, and i'll specify when. that said, i think these are all good options for starting out:

aura, carlos fuentes (mexico, 1962): probably the shortest on the list, gothic, written in second person, really just an enjoyable read. i feel like this should be every learner's first novel in spanish just because of how accessible it feels.

la última niebla, maría luisa bombal (chile, 1934): also quite short, and usually paired with la amortajada, so if you like it, check that novel out as well! bombal's work is very concerned with the position of women in society and uses the gothic to get that across.

el coronel no tiene quien le escriba, gabriel garcía márquez (colombia, 1961): if your heart is SET on cien años de soledad, this is a great alternative by the same author. much shorter but still has the signature garcía márquez feel.

la casa de los espíritus, isabel allende (chile, 1982): this one is on the longer side, but i found it to be like. cien años de soledad written for eighth graders. it's got the same dynamics (magical realism, history of a country, intergenerational story, etc). but just simpler. it's not a bad story by any means.

abel sánchez, miguel de unamuno (spain, 1917). this is the bibical story of cain and abel but told in modern times and in spain. probably my favorite of unamuno's novels (if not niebla). his style is relatively straightfoward in the sense that he isn't constantly looking for the most flowerly language. since it is older than the other novels, you'll have to look out there, but it's still an entertaining option

ficciones, jorge luis borges (argentina, 1944): ok this is cheating. it's not a novel but rather a collection of short stories, AND borges' style can get quite convoluted. i'm putting it here because during my undergrad we read a ton of borges' short stories and they are always very thought provoking and linguistically helped push my limits. since they are stories, you can stop after one if it was too much, later revisit it, let yourself be challenged. my most fondly remembered stories from this collection are la muerte y la brújula, funes el memorioso, and las ruinas circulares

and that’s it for the list! if you’ve read one of these or decide to read one because of this post, let me know what you think! i’m working on making a list of more accessible materials for my students :)

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bonjour! i have been learning french in school since kindergarten (11 years now) and i still have a very limited understanding of it, it’s very frustrating!! i haven’t been taught in school the use of y and en yet, and it keeps getting me stuck i was wondering if you could help me out!

hello (and sorry for being so late!),

#1. the pronoun Y

the pronoun ‘y’ replaces a noun or groupe nominal introduced par à, au, à la, à l’ or aux (at). that noun can be A/ a place (where we are, where we’re going), ex : my aunt lives in paris. elle y vit (she lives there) ; B/ a thing, ex : i am interested in music = je m’intéresse à la musique > je m’y intéresse ; C/ magical stuff, ex : my little sister believes in santa = elle croit au père noël > elle y croit (works for magic, fairies, easter bunny etc).

‘y’ can also replace a place phrase (’complément de lieu’) introduced by certain prepositions : chez (at (someone’s)), dans (in), sur (on), sous (under)…, ex : the cat is under the couch = le chat est sous le canapé > il y est.

nb 1 : it doesn’t replace real people ; we’ll mostly use lui, leur, eux, elles. those glasses are my brother’s = ces lunettes sont à mon frère > elles sont à lui.

nb 2 : if there are two pronouns, y goes last. ex : i’m taking the girls to the cinema = j’emmène les filles au cinéma > je les emmène au cinéma (les replaces ‘les filles’) > je les y emmène (y replaces ‘au cinéma’).

nb 3 : using imperative mode, y goes last. ex : take them there = emmène-les-y.

#2. the pronoun EN

the pronoun en replaces objects (compléments) introduced by the preposition ‘de’. that object can be A/ the place where one’s coming from (are you going to the zoo? non, j’en reviens) ; B/ a quantity (introduced by a partitive article (du, de la, des) (do you want cake? oui, j’en veux) ; C/ a quantity introduced by an adverb of quantity (how many cats do you have? j’en ai deux) ; D/ a verb built with ‘de’ (does he take care of her? est-ce qu’il s’occupe d’elle? non, il ne s’en occupe pas ; E/ an adjective built with ‘de’ (are you happy about your present? es-tu content-e de ton cadeau? oui, j’en suis content-e) ; F/ for living people (do you remember her? non, je ne m’en rappelle pas).

‘en’ can also replace a direct objet (complément d’objet direct : an object made of a determiner and a noun found right after a verb) preceded by ‘un’ or ‘une’ (a), ex : louise has a sister = louise a une soeur, elle en a une.

hope this helps! x 

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Bruh, this is a veritable gold mine. Thank you OP! I am sending you the best psychic vibes - this is awesome. 

You're trying to find a German Audiobook on Spotify?

You've come to the right place, cause I love looking for them!

Start here :

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/40cICWyKwr3dW30hm1urer?si=-rPCxBE2RU2kP6M-CYVMgw

Perhaps continue here :

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3xdgnLwG9NJuNi1Cx1Z9yP?si=DkR6bw68SRCkcYQkUHDysA

It's a list of Chapter 1s of German Audiobooks that are professionally recorded and available on Spotify!

I just found this today and immediately wanted to share. Reblog for other German learners!!!

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A vs IN [prepositions part 2]

PART ONE

Generally speaking, with names of cities, you need to use “A”: Vado a Roma (=I go to Rome; moving towards/to a place); Sono a Roma (=I am in Rome; presence in a palce). When you want to talk about movement as in coming from a city, use the preposition “DA”: Vengo da Roma (=I come from Rome). With the noun “città”, use the preposition “IN”. Sono in città (=I am in the city); Vado in città (=I go to the city). To express movement like coming from the city, use the preposizione articolata “DALLA”: Vengo dalla (da + la) città (=I come from the city). In case you want to add the aggettivo possessivo, you need to add the article as well (generally in Italian the aggettivo possessivo needs the articolo determinativo, except for family members as “mio padre/mia madre/mio zio…”). So basically, you need to use the preposizione articolata again (articolo + preposizione): Sono nella (in=ne + la) mia città (=I am in my city); Vado nella (in=ne + la) mia città (=I go to my city); Vengo dalla (da + la) mia città (=I come from my city). If you need to talk about coming back (=tornare) to your or a general city, the rules are the same: Torno nella (in=ne + la) mia città (=I come back to my city). Torno in città. (=I come back to the city)

-> To be honest, even if you don’t add the aggettivo possessivo, unless you’re in a different place, it’s kinda obvious that you’re moving to a specific city: let’s suppose you’re in the countryside around a city or even close to the city center but not in the city center of this city yet, and you say “Vado in città”: it means you’re going to that city center.

Summing up: when talking about being in a place (stato in luogo complement) and/or moving towards/to a place (moto a luogo complement), use “a + name of a city” OR “in + città”. When talking about coming from a place (moto da luogo complement), use da.

– To express the MOTO A LUOGO (moving to a place) complement, there are actually 3 ways: 1) IN/NEL/NELLA: vado IN città, vado IN campagna, vado IN montagna (beware of the exception: vado AL mare), vado IN farmacia (vado NELLA farmacia all’angolo: preposizione articolata is used for more specific places) 2) A/AL/ALLA: vado A Roma, vado A casa, vado A casa di Marco, vado A casa della nonna, vado AL bar, vado AL ristorante, vado AL supermercato 3) DA/DAL/DALLA (generally used when a place involves people more directly/you associate place and people there): vado DAL barbiere, vado DALLA nonna, vado DA Luca, vado DAL macellaio

All these situations and exceptions (can be found more approfonditely in part 1 or ofc send an ask) must be learned by heart (or at least, you need to listen and practice a lot of Italian).

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langblr masterpost??

reviving this idea from pastelsandhazelnutcoffee --- i would love to see who's active on the langblr community and create a masterpost with all of us! please reblog if you would like to be included on this page i'm making and with the languages you mainly post about <3

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My uni semester finishes in a week’s time, so spending this weekend getting reacquainted with Italian - my beloved. I really want to get back into language learning this summer and I’m planning to set some goals for each of my TLs. Definitely a review of Italian grammar is needed - I realise how much I rely on my knowledge of Spanish, which is fine for comprehension but makes production difficult. We’ll see how it goes!

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Exam Season Language Routine

It's May, aka pre-hot enby language summer A Level season 😔 my last exam is on the 19th June and then for the remainder of June I'm spending as much time as possible with my friends before we officially finish secondary school (screech) so for these next few weeks I want to get into regular language learning again before going all-out in the summer months!!

✨ Dailies ✨

Anki 🇫🇷🇳🇱🇮🇪

1 French grammar exercise 🇫🇷

Drops 🇮🇪

HelloChinese 🇨🇳

✨ Weeklies ✨ (ie pick at least one activity to do per day)

Monday 🇫🇷 : listen to the radio for 15 mins, read bilingual magazine or Le Petit Prince for 10 mins, work on word count goals

Tuesday 🇩🇪 : 1 ep Coffee Break German, 30 mins in workbook

Wednesday 🇧🇷 : 30 mins Teach Yourself workbook, 1 grammar point

Thursday 🇮🇪 : 30 mins Enjoy Irish, put Now You're Talking vocab into Anki, 1 episode of Speaking Irish

Friday 🇨🇳 : 30 mins HSK1 course, 1 ep of Coffee Break Chinese

Saturday 🇷🇺 : 30 mins in workbook, 1 ep of Russian Made Easy

Sunday 🇳🇱 : 30 mins in workbook, 1 video from DutchPod 101

We'll see how this goes, I'll try not to be too hard on myself, progress is progress after all!!

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Les prépositions

A

À - to (je vais à la plage - I’m going to the beach), at (le chat est à la maison - the cat is at the house), indirect object/complément d’attribution (c’est au chat - it’s the cat's), adverbial phrase of way (une peinture à l’huile - an oil painting), adverbial locution introducer (à l’instant - just now), price indicator (le kilo de pommes est à deux euros), infinitive form introducer (c’est à prendre ou à laisser - take it or leave it), approximation introducer (c’est à dix minutes d’ici - it’s about ten min. away), against (dos à dos), after (pas à pas), until (aimer à la folie)

Après - after (je te rejoins après le travail - I’ll join you after work)

Avant - before (je me suis levée avant toi - I got up before you did)

Avec - with (je vis avec mes deux chats - I live with my two cats)

C

Chez - at X’s > person or brand of a shop (je suis chez mon père - I'm at dad's)

Concernant - regarding, about (concernant ton offre, je la refuse - about your offer, I'm refusing it)

Contre - against (je suis contre ta décision - I stand against your decision, le chat est assis contre le mur - the cat is sitting against the wall)

D

Dans - in (le chat est dans mon sac - the cat is in my bag)

D’après - according to (d’après Victor Hugo, Fantine est blonde)

De - of (au bout de la rue - at the end of the street)

Dedans - inside of it (le chat est dedans - the cat is inside of it)

Dehors - outside (le chat est dehors - the cat is outside)

Depuis - since (j'ai mon chat depuis que j'ai dix ans - I've had my cat since I was 10), from (tout était beau, depuis la décoration jusqu’aux couleurs - everything was lovely, from the decoration to the colours)

Derrière - behind (le chat est derrière toi - the cat is behind you)

Dès - as soon as (je te préviens dès que j’arrive - I’ll let you know as soon as I get there), immediately (si je pouvais, je partirais dès maintenant)

Dessous - under (la clé était dessous le lit - the key was under the bed)

Dessus - on (le chat est assis dessus - the cat is sitting on it),

Devant - in front of (j’attends devant la maison - I’m waiting in front of the house)

Durant - during (il est mort durant la famine - he died during the famine), for (elle a vécu là-bas durant des années - she lived there for years)

E

En - at (je suis nul en Français - I’m bad at French), material indicator (une table en bois - a wooden table), change indicator (il s’est transformé en papillon - it turned into a butterfly), division mood (couper en deux - cut in two pieces), during (en hiver, j’ai toujours un rhume - during the winter season, I always get a cold), gerundive element (elle tomba en criant - she fell, screaming), shape/appearance indicator (un arbre en fleurs - a blossoming tree)

Entre - between/out of (entre tous les garçons, Louis est le plus grand - out of all of the boys, Louis is the tallest)

Envers - towards/to (il est méchant envers elle - he’s mean to her)

Ès - in (licencié-e ès sciences - bachelor of sciences) - rare, uni titles

Excepté(e/s) - except (exceptée Louise, elles sont toutes arrivées)

H

Hormis - except (hormis Pierre, nous avons tous le permis - except from Pierre, we all have a driving license)

Hors - out of (il est hors de lui - he’s beside himself)

J

Jusque/jusqu’à (+ subjunctive) - until (il a miaulé jusqu'à ce que je le nourrisse - he meowed until I fed him)

M

Malgré - despite (il est venu malgré sa grippe - he came despite his flu)

Moyennant - in exchange for (moyennant un changement de ton, tu pourras rester - If you change your tone, you’ll be allowed to stay) - rare

N

Nonobstant - in spite of (”Charles Myriel, nonobstant ce mariage, avait, disait-on, beaucoup fait parler de lui” Les Misérables) - rare/old

O

Ôté - taken of from (6 ôté de 10 égale 4)

Outre - besides (outre mes deux cats, il n'y a personne chez moi - outside of my cats, there's no one at my house)

P

Par - by (la Joconde a été painte par Léonard de Vinci), direction indicator (il est parti par là - he went that way), with (je commence par une entrée - I start with an entree), per (j’en prends trois par jour - I take three per days)

Parmi - amongst (parmi mes chats, c'est le plus petit - he’s my smallest cat)

Passé - after/past (passé 2h, tout est fermé - past 2AM, everything is closed)

Pendant - during (je t’appellerai pendant ma pause - I’ll call you during my break)

Pour - for (je suis là pour toi - I’m here for you), to (je pars pour Paris - I’m heading to Paris), according to (pour moi, c'est une erreur - I think it's a mistake)

Près (de) - near (je suis près de Paris - I’m near Paris)

S

Sans - without (je suis sans voix - I am speechless)

Sauf - except (j’aime tout sauf la pluie - I like everything but rain)

Selon - according to (selon moi, tu as tort - in my opinion, you’re wrong)

Sous - under (le chat est sous la table - the cat is under the table)

Suivant - according to (suivant ce que j’ai entendu, il ne reviendra pas - according to what I’ve heard, he won’t come back)

Sur - on (le chat est sur la table - the cat is on the table), about (c’est un film sur la guerre - it’s a movie about the war), towards (regarde sur ta droite - look on your right), out of (deux fois sur trois il est en retard - two out of three times he's late)

V

Vers - towards (elle avance vers moi - she’s coming towards me), somewhere around (elle habite vers l’église - she lives near the church), about (Elle est rentrée vers minuit - she got home around midnight)

Voici - here is/are (voici mon chat - here’s my cat)

Voilà - there is/are (et voilà les miens - and there are mine), it’s been (voilà deux ans que je ne les avais pas vues - it had been two years since I last saw them)

Vu - given (vu la situation, c’est mieux comme ça - given the circumstances, that’s better that way) - casual

Movie: La Chinoise - Jean-Paul Godard, 1967

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I'm trying to learn spanish and am looking for good spanish media to help with that, but even in my first language I pretty much only watch/read things if they are queer in some way (whether text or subtext). Do you know of any good queer media in spanish?

Hi anon! I am super sorry for such a late answer, literally months later. While you might not be on my blog anymore, I definitely have a lot of recs. If you're interested specifically in literature, let me know - queer latin american lit is my field. Aside from primary works, I can recommend scholars that work in that area :) Since you said media, I'll try and keep it varied!

TV + Film

The work of Pedro Almodóvar: a super influential Spanish director. My favorites are La piel que habito (2011), Todo sobre mi madre (1999) and Los amantes pasajeros (2013), psychological horror, a drama, and a comedy, in that order.

The work of Los Javis: Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi are a couple and direct together. Their series Paquitas Salas is legendary, I haven't seen Veneno (a biographical series about Cristina La Veneno, a trans icon in Spain) but have heard good things, and finally La llamada (2017) is a musical movie but super fun.

Drag Race España: I mean it's Drag Race... but in Spain haha. One of the better international versions of Drag Race, and los Javis are judges. I am not sure where you can watch it for free unfortunately :(

La Más Draga: Another drag competition but local to Mexico. I think there are 5 seasons now, I've only seen the latest but enjoyed it a lot! There's a community on Tumblr that talks a lot about DRES and LMD, so if you watch it and want someone to talk about it with, look no further.

A few movies I've seen but it's been a while so I can't talk extensively about them: Esteros (2016), Mi mejor amigo (2018), El baile de los 41 (2020). Actually now I want to watch more haha, if anyone has any recs feel free to chime in!

There are lot of shows with queer characters that aren't necessarily queer shows, if you know what I mean? Like one that comes to mind is Casa de las flores. I think (haven't seen it) Élite also has queer characters??

Podcasts

Cuir: Historias disidentes and Disonantes - Archivo Oral LGBT are both focused on stories from queer people in Spanish

Grandes maricas de la historia is one of my favorite podcasts EVER and it's just queer people in history. It's not limited to people from the Spanish speaking world, but I really only listen to those episodes.

Cazadores de girlbands is a group of friends talking about girlbands which for me personally was a big part of my experience as a gay teen (I even had an instagram account where I made edits of my favorite pop girlies) so have to include it here.

Tu amigo gay and Wilferland are podcasts of gay men speaking about their own experiences in the community (among other things).

I'm definitely more of a literature person, so I would definitely be able to recommend a ton if you're up for reading! My media horizons are a tad more limited. I hope you find this even if I answered a million years after!

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Top 3 Free German Resources

Week 3, day 5 of prepolyglot’s langblr reactivation challenge

(Probably goes without saying but just my personal top 3! You'll notice it is quite listening focused because that is what's most important to me.)

Nicos Weg (A1, A2, B1, Complete Youtube Playlist) - the story of a Spanish guy called Nico who moves to Germany. Really nice and well produced. Each level is made up of 80ish videos of a couple of minutes each, with exercises to review and test your comprehension. This adds up to a movie of almost 2 hrs for each level.

Easy German (x) - street interviews in German. Great for learning how Germans actually speak, outside of the artificial context that you find in a lot of learning resources.

The German Project (x) - online lessons with audio snippets and easy to understand explanations, plus animated short stories with audio. Wish there were some exercises to go with it! Also available for Spanish, French and Italian.

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Protip: if you're feeling discouraged about the amount of progress you've made learning a language, start learning a different language and realise you've actually come a lot further than you thought.

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My toxic European trait is thinking I can understand writing in any language if I just focus hard enough

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so i have to ask this bc i'd never heard anyone under the age of 60 say it with 'h' before i came here and now i'm curious

Put in the tags where you're from!

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So, my first French class was today, and I think it went really well. I still need to learn lots of the irregulars for the passé composé, but I felt more comfortable than last semester. I also got assigned my first writing task, so I thought I would share what I wrote. As usual, any corrections are welcome and appreciated <3

Il y a deux ans, j’ai décidé apprendre l’allemand. J’étudie les langues modernes dans mon université en Angleterre et au début de mes études, j’ai dû choisir deux langues pour étudier. J’ai choisi l’espagnol et l’allemand. Pour moi, apprendre l’allemand a été très difficile. La grammaire est compliquée et quand j’essaie d’en parler avec les autres, je suis bloquée. Cependant, j'ai suivi un cours du soir à Vienne ce semestre et c'est très encourageant. J'ai beaucoup appris jusqu'à présent!

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fuck personality tests tell me what do u prefer? paperbacks? hardcovers? e-books? or audio books?