Untitled

“Tinashe” -  Means “God is with us” in Shona ( An African language spoken by nearly 80 percent of people in Zimbabwe.)

“Lakeisha” - A Swahili name meaning “favorite one.”

“Ashanti” -  Name of a powerful African empire in West Africa.

“Tanisha” - Hausa of West Africa name meaning “born on Monday.”

“Zola” - Means “quiet, tranquil” in Zulu.    

“Amandla” -  Zulu and Xhosa word meaning “power”. The word was a popular rallying cry in the days of resistance against Apartheid.

“Zendaya” - Means “ To Give Thanks” in Shona

“Latonia” -  A Latin name. Latonia was the mother of Diana in Roman mythology.

“Lulu” - Swahili and Muslim name meaning “pearl” or “precious.”

“Ciara” -  Means “dark-haired” in Irish Gaelic

“Lateefah” - A North African name meaning “gentle and pleasant.”

“Mercedes” - Means “Gracious gifts/Benefits) in Spanish

“Kaya” -  Ghanaian name meaning “stay and don’t go back.”

“Amara” -  The Swahili word amara, meaning “urgent business.” Also the Hindu name meaning “immortal.”

“Shanika” - African Bantu name, meaning “young one from the wilderness.

“Zuri” - Means “beautiful” in Swahili.

“Onika” - Word of African origin meaning “warrior.”

JUST BECAUSE A NAME SOUNDS DIFFERENT DOES NOT MEAN IT’S “RATCHET” OR “GHETTO” THEY HAVE BEAUTIFUL MEANINGS.

Hey there, fellas. I’ve posted recently a list of modern russian writers, but let’s be honest not everybody has time for books. But what do boys and girls love these days? Movies.  Sometimes I search through tumblr looking for russians who give advises to poor kids learning the language. And, of course, every once in a while somebody asks for russian movies. It’s great, I don’t mind, movies are good for developing a proper oral comprehension. Sadly, my fellow compatriots often don’t know what to recommend. I don’t blame them. For the most part cinematography in Russia is a disaster. But have no fear! Sometimes you can find real diamonds in tons of all this crap. So listen carefully, lists of movies like that don’t come around very often. 

1. Остров / Ostrov / The Island (wiki)

Thought-provoking drama about a monk. Trailer, and here is a link on youtube with english subtitles. 

2. Овсянки / Silent Souls (wiki)

Russia is the largest country in the world, so you should understand that it is multinational. We still have small tribes in Siberia as well as highly-developed cities.  “Silent Souls” is a personal story iserted in a wider context of Russian folklore. Specifically in a context of an old tribe Merya (Finno-Ugric people), who doesn’t exist anymore. Trailer with english subs. The film itself without subs.

3. Жмурки / Zhmurki / Dead Man’s Bluff (wiki)

That’s a criminal comedy about 90s. Sort of a russian Snatch. Link. No subs, unfortunately. 

4. Окно в Париж / Window to Paris (wiki)

If you liked Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” you’ll definately need to see this. Trailer in English. Movie with no subs.

5. Дурак  / The Fool (wiki)

Drama with an ancient conflict person vs. system.  Movie with subs. English trailer.

6. Левиафан / Leviathan (wiki)

It was nominated for Oscar. I recommend this mainly beacause critics (russian and foreign) are pleased by this work and everybody seemed to like it. I personally find lots of flaws there, but anyway the picture is very nice. Cameramen did a good job. Trailer. Movie with no subs. 

7. Брат / Brother (wiki) and Брат 2 / Brother 2 (wiki)

This two movies are iconic. It’s a criminal drama and the second part takes place in the USA. Highly recommend you to watch it since russians cite it every now and them.

Trailer of Brother. Movie Brother with subs.

Traler of Brother 2 in Russian. Brother 2 without subs.

I’ve been struggling to find suitable trailers and movies on Youtube for you, but it’s not omnipotent. These are five bonus-movies which might not be translated in English, but are worth watching. 

Интердевочка (wiki)

Eлена (wiki)

Ночной продавец (wiki) (IMDb)

Долгая счастливая жизнь (wiki) (IMDb)

Я тоже хочу (wiki) (IMDb)

I remind you that it is not an ultimate list, and it’s subjective at some point. I’m not a movie-guru. But this movies are proven to be good by a large audience. 

As for the links I gave that do not provide subtitles. I hope you understand why I can not give you torrent files, but you can try to find this films on web-sites where you usually watch something. I’m just not sure what those sites are, it veries from country to country. Plus, you guys are smart, so you probably know, that there are ways to download subtitles and insert them in movies. If you don’t know how to do that, just google it. It will help with other languages as well. 

Here is also Russian site where you can watch some movies for free. 

Приятного просмотра!

Today I decided to start kind of masterposts for people who learn Russian. I will post some information and vocabulary. So, I hope, it will be helpful for Russian language learners. Let’s start!

Slang is important part of language, I feel this, when someone write “tysm” or “bc”, and I have to think what this person means 😂 I want to introduce you Russian slang so you can understand what native speakers mean

•Actually, big part of Russian slang is English words written Russian letters. For example: lol - лол, omg - омг, damn - дэмн, really - рили, why - вай, wtf - втф

•Reduction: What - что ➡ чо, че Why - почему ➡ поч OK - ладно ➡ лан Shortly speaking - короче ➡ короч, крч Thank you - спасибо ➡ спс You’re welcome/please - пожалуйста ➡ пжлст

•Mood: *angry* - аргх *surprising* - жесть, ничоси *happy* - ура, щастье, щастлив

•Kinds of laugh :) Ахахах Пхахах Азаза Вахаха

•Ways of dealing to friends: Dudes - чуваки Guys - ребята, ребзя

•Some people use “he/she” or their names when talk about themselves. Don’t ask me why, idk 😂 •Also, girls can use male endings when talk about themselves. Again, don’t ask

I’ve just read about a trick that may help you to memorize the ending of the prepositional case.

Prepositional case in Russian is relatively easy. Very often it is used for marking a location (Where in or where at?). “Where” in Russian is где? The vast majority of the Russian nouns has the ending -e in the prepositional case.

Exception: feminine nouns ending with -ь or -ия. For these nouns, the ending changes to -и / -ии

Examples:

Я живу в Канаде. I live in Canada.

Я была в Нью-Йорке и Москве. I’ve been to New York and Moscow.

But:

Моя семья живёт в Сибири My family lives in Siberia.

У меня есть друзья в Японии I have friends in Japan.

So far, so good. Now a bit more details on the Prepositional case. Most grammar books consider that too complicated for beginners, however, I believe, any grammar explanations should be complete and accurate. Students will figure out how to cope with it.

For location, you may find an alternative prepositional ending for masculine nouns (the ones that end with a consonant in Nominative, like лес): -у. Only a bunch of nouns (about 150) have this ending, and you have to memorize them (I hate to say that). Here are some of them:

лес - в лесу (forest)

порт - в порту (port)

нос - в носу (nose)

снег - в снегу (snow)

рожде́ние – birth жизнь – life любо́вь – love поцелу́й – kiss челове́к – human человéческое существó – human being челове́чество – humanity дру́жба – friendship смех – laughter наде́жда – hope ра́дость – joy улы́бка – smile и́мя – name щека́ – cheek глаз – eye ко́жа – skin луна́ – moon свет – light Земля́ – Earth звезда́ – star со́лнце – sun со́лнечный свет – sunlight вселéнная – universe мир – peace, world о́блако – cloud по́ле – field океа́н – ocean приро́да – nature не́бо – sky рассве́т – dawn бу́дущее – future поэ́зия – poetry иску́сство – art

( p / i ) роди́ться / рожда́ться – to be born пожи́ть / жить – to live полюби́ть / люби́ть – to love влюби́ться / влюбля́ться – to fall in love поцелова́ть / целова́ть – to kiss засмея́ться / смея́ться – to laugh улыбну́ться / улыба́ться – to smile косну́ться / каса́ться – to touch просну́ться / просыпа́ться – to wake up я́рко посвети́ть / свети́ть – to shine brightly научи́ться / учи́ться – to learn

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. 

1. All sites are online and free. 

2. It’s hard to separate into Languages and Linguistics because there’s a lot of overlap. Many of these sites could be on either list. 

Linguistics:

World Atlas of Language Structures Online

Speech Accent Archive - listen to a paragraph read in English by speakers of other languages

List of Languages by Writing Script

List of Endangered Languages

Type the IPA

Ethnologue - Information about the languages of the world

23 Maps and Charts on Language

Endangered Languages Project

Listen to the IPA

Linguistics pdfs

Articles and videos on linguistics

Google Ngram Viewer - looks at the use of words over time

Concise Encyclopedia of the Languages of the World

Language learning:

Lang-8  - practice writing and receive corrections from native speakers

Memrise  - practice vocab

Tatoeba - find a sentence that uses your word

Harry Potter - listen to the beginning of Harry Potter read in  60+ languages

A User’s Guide to the Best Swear in Every* Language (*obviously not every language. whatever buzzfeed)

Wordreference  - the French and Spanish dictionaries are really good, the others are meh

BBC Languages - Not very in depth but offers quite a few small European languages such as Manx, Luxembourgish, and Guernésiais

Languagehelpers.com  - Translation, language facts, and information about some scripts

Transparent Language Blogs - occasionally has interesting articles about various languages 

Students of the World Penpals - Correspond in your target language with a native speaker

The Polyglot Project - Read books in your target languages; built in translation feature

mylanguages.org - offers a huge variety of languages; introductory/beginner level 

SayJack - Chinese, Japanese, and Korean

Duolingo but I’m sure you all know this one XD

A-Z Index of Omniglot - SUPER informative resource especially for smaller, lesser known languages; provides information as well as LINKS to learning resources for each language

Dramafever - watch TV in Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Japanese, and English (they have like one or two in Portuguese as well)

Interesting/fun article about some interesting languages (I don’t really like their use of the word ‘bizarre’ here)

Interesting blog about a guy’s experiences with 37 languages 

Look at videos trending on youtube by country

Top websites by country - useful in finding advanced content in your target language

Project Gutenberg - Read books in English, French, Dutch, and Portuguese

Yabla -  Watch videos in your target language

Wikitongues - A youtube channel featuring speakers of a wide variety of languages (they have a tumblr too!)

Foreign Language Music

Forvo - listen to words pronounced by native speakers

Rate your foreign language fluency

Lingro - “the coolest dictionary known to hombre”

The world’s most multilingual countries

World Language Store - by products (for example, books) from around the world

Foreign Service Institute Language Courses

Interlinear books - foreign language books with the english translations below

Global Language Online  - material drawn from radio, newspaper etc. 

Resource list  for learning over 50 languages

Tumblr blogs for specific languages - most are inactive but may still be good resources

Read articles in your target language!

Babla - online language dictionaries

Collins Dictionaries Online

Peace Corps Language Courses

Culture Talk - Videos about culture

Innovative Language Learning - Youtube channels teaching over 30 languages

Verbix - CONJUGATES VERBS YAY

Dictionaries for a LOT of languages

Read Grimm’s fairytales in other languages

European radio stations streaming live

TV streaming live

How I Learn Languages - pdf of the book by Hungarian polyglot Kató Lomb

What is the time? - كم الساعة؟ It is half past ten - الساعة العاشرة والنصف

Telling the time in Arabic is very easy. We use ordinal numbers with hours, except one o’clock, as follows:

O’clock - الساعة الواحدة

Two O’clock - الساعة الثانية

Three O’clock - الساعة الثالثة

Four O’clock - الساعة الرابعة

Five O’clock - الساعة الخامسة

Six O’clock - الساعة السادسة

Seven O’clock - الساعة السابعة

Eight O’clock - الساعة الثامنة

Nine O’clock - الساعة التاسعة

Ten O’clock - الساعة العاشرة

Eleven O’clock - الساعة الحادية عشرة

Twelve O’clock - الساعة الثانية عشرة

To say ‘past’ in Arabic, we use ‘و‘ which comes after the hour, so half past two in Arabic would literally be ‘two o’clock and a half’ الساعة الثانية والنصف

past - و 

Five past - وخمس دقائق

Ten past - وعشر دقائق

Quarter past - والربع

Twenty past - والثلث

Half past - والنصف

To say ’to’ in Arabic, we use ‘إلا’ which comes after the hour, so ‘quarter to three’ in Arabic would literally be ‘three o’clock less a quarter’ الساعة الثالثة إلا الربع

To - إلا

Five to - إلا خمس دقائق

Ten to - إلا عشر دقائق

Quarter to - إلا الربع

Twenty to - إلا الثلث

Time vocabulary:

Minutes - دقيقة

Clock - ساعة حائط

Second - ثانية

Hour - ساعة

Tomorrow - غدا

Yesterday - البارحة / امس

Today - اليوم

Look who’s back with another list! This is a list of all the countries in the world and it’s pretty long! It doesn’t contain territories as they are seen as belonging to that country, if you get what I mean. Tagging @iwillbeapolyglot, @wonderful-language-sounds and @howtopolyglot!

A recap of some words:

Land بَلَد Country إقْليم / مُقاطَعة Continent قارّة Territory أرض / إقليم Island جَزيْرة North الشَّمال South الجَنوب East الشَّرْق West الغَرْب

Africa إفْريقِيا

Algeria الجزائر Angola أنغولا Benin بنين Botswana بوتسوانا Burkina Faso بوركينا فاسو Burundi بوروندي Cameroon الكاميرون Cape Verde الرأس الأخضر Central African Republic جمهورية افريقيا الوسطى Chad تشاد Comoros جزر القمر Democratic Republic of Congo جمهورية الكونغو الديمقراطية Republic of Congo جمهورية الكونغو Côte d’Ivoire كوت ديفوار Djibouti جيبوتي Egypt مصر Equatorial Guinea غينيا الإستوائية Eritrea إريتريا Ethiopia أثيوبيا Gabon الغابون Gambia غامبيا Ghana غانا Guinea غينيا Guinea-Bissau غينيا بيساو Kenya كينيا Lesotho ليسوتو Liberia ليبيريا Libya ليبيا Madagascar مدغشقر Malawi ملاوي Mali مالي Mauritania موريتانيا Morocco المغرب Mozambique موزمبيق Namibia ناميبيا Niger النيجر Nigeria نيجيريا Rwanda رواندا Sao Tome and Principe ساو تومي وبرينسيب Senegal السنغال Seychelles سيشيل Sierra Leone سيرا ليون Somalia الصومال South Africa جمهورية جنوب أفريقيا Sudan سودان Swaziland سوازيلاند Tanzania تنزانيا Togo توغو Tunisia تونس Uganda أوغندا Western Sahara الصحراء الغربية Zambia زامبيا Zimbabwe زيمبابوي

Asia آسيا

Afghanistan أفغانستان Armenia أرمينيا Azerbaijan أذربيجان Bahrain البحرين Bangladesh بنغلاديش Bhutan بوتان Brunei بروناي Cambodia كمبوديا China الصين Georgia جورجيا Hong Kong هونغ كونغ India الهند Indonesia أندونيسيا Iran إيران Iraq العراق Israel إسرائيل Japan اليابان Jordan الأردن Kazakhstan كازاخستان North Korea كوريا الشمالية South Korea كوريا الجنوبية Kuwait الكويت Kyrgyzstan قيرغيزستان Laos لاوس Lebanon لبنان Malaysia ماليزيا Maldives جزر المالديف Mongolia منغوليا Myanmar ميانمار Oman عمان Nepal نيبال Pakistan باكستان Palestine فلسطين Philippines الفلبين Qatar قطر Saudi Arabia المملكة العربية السعودية Singapore سنغافورة Sri Lanka سيريلانكا Syria سوريا Taiwan تايوان Tajikistan طاجيكستان Thailand تايلند Timor تيمور Turkey تركيا Turkmenistan تركمانستان UAE الإمارات العربية المتحدة Uzbekistan أوزبكستان Vietnam فيتنام Yemen اليمن

Europe أوروبا

Albania ألبانيا Andorra أندورا Austria النمسا Belarus روسيا البيضاء Belgium بلجيكا Bosnia and Herzegovina البوسنة والهرسك Bulgaria بلغاريا Croatia كرواتيا Czech Republic جمهورية التشيك Denmark الدنمارك Estonia استونيا Faroe Islands جزر فارو Finland فنلندا France فرنسا Germany ألمانيا Greece اليونان Hungary المجر Iceland أيسلندا Ireland أيرلندا Italy إيطاليا Kosovo كوسوفو Latvia لاتفيا Liechtenstein ليختنشتاين Lithuania ليتوانيا Luxembourg لوكسمبورغ Macedonia مقدونيا Malta مالطا Moldova مولدوفا Monaco موناكو Montenegro الجبل الأسود Netherlands هولندا Norway النرويج Poland بولندا Portugal البرتغال Romania رومانيا Russia روسيا San Marino سان مارينو Serbia صربيا Slovakia سلوفاكيا Slovenia سلوفينيا Spain إسبانيا Sweden السويد Switzerland سويسرا Ukraine أوكرانيا UK المملكة المتحدة Vatican City مدينة الفاتيكان

North America أمريكا الشمالية

Antigua and Barbuda أنتيغوا وباربودا Bahamas جزر البهاما Barbados بربادوس Belize بليز Canada كندا Costa Rica كوستا ريكا Cuba كوبا Dominica دومينيكا Dominican Republic جمهورية الدومنيكان El Salvador السلفادور Greenland جرينلاند Grenada غرينادا Guatemala غواتيمالا Haiti هايتي Honduras هندوراس Jamaica جامايكا Mexico المكسيك Nicaragua نيكاراغوا Panama بناما Trinidad and Tobago ترينداد وتوباغو United States الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية

South America امريكا الجنوبية

Argentina الأرجنتين Bolivia بوليفيا Brazil البرازيل Chile تشيلي Colombia كولومبيا Ecuador الاكوادور Guyana غيانا Paraguay باراغواي Peru بيرو Suriname سورينام Uruguay أوروغواي Venezuela فنزويلا

Oceania أوقيانوسيا

Australia أستراليا Fiji فيجي Kiribati كيريباس Marshall Islands جزر مارشال Micronesia ميكرونيزيا Nauru ناورو New Zealand نيوزيلاندا Palau بالاو Papua New Guinea بابوا غينيا الجديدة Samoa ساموا Solomon Islands جزر سليمان Tonga تونغا Tuvalu توفالو Vanuatu فانواتو

Antarctica القطب الجنوبي