A spidery body of light

Have you ever heard an Italian speaking English and you think it’s so cute when he say things like, “I go now” or “Now I drive the car.”

It sounds quaint and a bit strange to an American ear, but he is speaking in English exactly how he would speak in Italian.

In everyday conversation, Italians make present tense statements where an American would make a present participle statement.

Here’s what I mean:

If an American answered a question with “I make pizza,” it’s most likely that the question was something like, “What do you do for a living?” It would not be the answer to “What’s for dinner?”

If an American was asked, “What’s for dinner?” he would answer, “I’m making pizza.” Present participle. An Italian would answer, “I make pizza.”

While in the moment of doing something, or in planning to do something in the near future, Americans almost always use a statement starting with “I am” followed by a verb with the “-ing” ending: Present Participle. Italians are more likely to speak straight-up present tense.

Examples:

American: “I am going to the store. Do you need anything?”

Italian: “I go to the store. Do you need anything?”

American: “I am driving you home tonight.”

Italian: “I drive you home tonight.”

American: “I am standing in line.”

Italian: “I stand in the line.”

Of course Americans also speak in the present tense, but it’s usually used for a general statement of time, not for that specific moment. “I eat too much” would mean that that person eats too much a lot of the time. “I am eating too much” would signify that that person is eating too much right there and then at the table.

Italians have the Gerundio tense that translates into the present participle, but it’s not used very often in regular conversation.

If you are shopping at a store and a sales assistant asks if you need help, an American would say, “I’m just looking.” While an Italian could say, “Sto guardando” he’s more likely to say, “Io guardo” — “I look.”

Hello everyone!

This morning I wrote a post in which I asked people to reblog it and tag their native language if they are studying any other languages! I realized that it is superhard to go through al reblogs of each and everyone {my apologies to those who reblogged, but I am still very gratefull}.

I want to make two new pages on my blog:

1. Native speakers list: Which is pretty much a list of native speakers of other languages besides English.

2. Study buddies list: Which is pretty much a list of people who are studying a language/languages.

The point of this is that you can easily find a native speaker or a person who studies the same language as you.

Now how to get on the list:

1. Send me a message with your native-language and/or which languages you are studying (and whether you are self studying or not). 2. Be a language/study/culture blog.

++You don’t have to reblog this post, but it would be great if you would! So other people can see.

++ You don’t need to be following me or something. I’m not doing this for selfpromotion (but I will be following new blogs I find ofc😎).

Thank you again and happy studying.

Te vagy az álmatlanság

Te vagy az alváshiány 

Te vagy a nulladik matek amiről elkések

Te vagy az utolsó slukk és első korty

Te vagy minden rossz amit elkövettem

Te vagy a rossz aki hiányzik

Te vagy a tökéletes ami nem létezik

Hey qts, and I’m positive you’re cuties cause you’re either seeing this on your dash or were going through one of the tags I used. 

I have a HUGE rerquest, I’ve been thinking a lot about censorship around offensive/cuss words? How they start, how they change- into either less or more acceptable usages. I’m wondering if anyone has an article/essay/book  they recommend on the subject. I’m looking to zero in on the “n” word out of curiosity but I hate even saying that because as Louie CK says, it’s just white people getting away with still saying it. But really, anything on the subject of language censorship from a linguistic/social perspective would be really helpful!

I’d love to start discussing this with my peers regarding certain slurs and what not. I’m not trying to be the PC police but I’d like to be more educated on it and have a discussion with people to include perspective in the real world. 

If you wouldn’t mind reblogging this if you’re a regular in the linguistics community on here or lover of words and language, I’d appreciate the heck outta it.

see that? that’s Alice in Wonderland in Esperanto and English. AND IT GETS BETTER. in certain languages, YOU CAN PLAY THE AUDIOBOOK ALONG WITH IT AS YOU READ. it’s also worth noting that you don’t have to have it in english and another language. you can have it in any two of the languages offered.