there's nothing here tbh

soothe yourself | self care

stationery  

printables

helpful sites

music for studying | more music

note taking methods  | another one

studying methods

english | physics | chemistry | biology | maths | languages 

how to learn a language

ultimate guide for writing | writing resources | writing helps | tips for writers

how to write a kickass essay | write a great essay | stuff you need to write essays | essay tips | essay checklist | grade your essay

how do I study for…

bullet journals | a guide to bullet journals

the testing effect

everything you need to succeed in school

time management

organisation

how to annotate | another one

guide to aesthetically pleasing notes | improve your handwriting

create a study guide

resources | helpful websites | there’s an app for that

get more out of google 

productivity resources | 14 apps to become productive | how to stay productive

lazy night owl school survival guide

apps for a better life | useful websites for students

masterpost of studying tips

social media citation guide

college masterpost | another one | starting college on the right foot | packing for college | how to survive in college

how to ace that college interview

food to stay motivated | motivation guide

how to stay awake in class

balancing a healthy lifestyle

studying on your period

huge masterpost for the semester

a very long list to help you survive school

not enough time to finish an assignment?

100 delicious cheap recipes 

53 posts for students

high school cheat sheet

Getting Started

Before You Start Studying

Can’t Start Studying?

Get Motivated

How to Prepare for a New Semester

Know How to Manage Your Time

Organise Your Study Space

Set a Background Noise //Coffitivity//Rainy Mood//Study Playlist//

Schedule Your Study Time

Studying Essentials

Stop Procrastinating

Resources

3 Essential Tips

5 Effective Tips

Annotations

Back To School Tips

Cornell Note-Taking System

Dealing with an Overloded Schedule

Efficient Studying

Essay Writing Tips

General Study Tips

Getting the Most of A Lecture

Guide to Bullet Journals

How to Highlight

How to Improve Your Grades

How to Study A Foreign Language

Illustrating Your Notes

Learn To Study 

Organise Your Notes

Note Taking Masterpost

Printables

Revision Steps

School Resources

Scientifically Proven Study Tips

Studying for an Exam

Study Methods

Study Tools

Studying With Anxiety

Studying With A Bad Memory

Taking Notes from A Textbook

Textbook Annotations

Tips For Success

Typing Your Notes

Ways To Study

What to Avoid

When You Don’t Understand Something

So you want to be a translator: online resources and books for translation students. Aside from translation specific resources, there are also related materials you can look into to improve your work and knowledge. Some Interpreting material in here as well.

As a disclaimer, I have not read all of these books (yet). The most highly recommended will be bolded. Keep in mind I am entering my second year in university and have much left to discover. Feel free to suggest titles, blogs and websites for the masterpost!

I will be linking this masterpost in my sidebar and updating it often. Remember to check book ratings and reviews before purchasing!

Translation Books:

A Practical Guide to Localization by Bert Esselink

Becoming A Translator by Douglas Robinson

Companion Book for Translators and Interpreters: 100+ Key English-Spanish Medical Terms by José Luis Leyva

Companion Book for Translators and Interpreters: the 1000+ Key English-Spanish Legal Terms You Will Need to Know by José Luis Leyva

Conference Interpreting by Andrew Gillies

Experiences in Translation by Umberto Eco

Exploring Translation Theories by Anthony Pym

Found In Translation by Natally Kelly and Jost Zetzsche

How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator by Corinne McKay

In Other Words: A Coursebook On Translation by Mona Baker

Introducing Translation Studies by Jeremy Munday

Introduction to Court Interpreting by Holly Mikkelson

Is That A Fish In Your Ear? by David Bellos

Maintaining Your Seocond Language by Eve Lindemuth Bodeux

Note-taking for Consecutive Interpreting by Andrew Gillies

Os Tradutores na História by Jean Delisle

Research Methods in Interpreting by Sandra Hale and Jemina Napier

Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies by Mona Baker and Gabriela Saldanha

The Entrepreneurial Linguist: The Business School Approach to Freelance Translation by Judy and Dagmar Jenner

The Poetics of Translation by Willis Barnstone

The Prosperous Translator by Chris Durban

Theories of Translation: An Anthology of Essays

Thoughts on Translation by Corinne McKay

Translating Literature by André Lefevere

Translation: A Multidisciplinary Approach by Juliane House

Translation, History & Culture by Susan Bassnet

Translation Quality Assessment: Past and Present by Juliane House

Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman

19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei: How A Chinese Poem Is Translated by Eliot Weinberger and Octavio Paz

Translation Books in Portuguese:

A Tradução Literária por Paulo Henriques Britto

A Tradução Vivida por Paulo Rónai

Conversas com Tradutores por Ivone C. Benedetti e Adail Sobral

Da Tradução Automática à Tradução Manual por Liliana Pereira

Escola de Tradutores por Paulo Rónai

Fidus interpres por Fabio M. Said

Guia Prático de Tradução Inglesa por Agenor Soares dos Santos

Línguas, Poetas e Bacharéis: uma Crônica da Tradução no Brasil por Lia Wyler

Oficina de Tradução: A Teoria na Prática por Rosemary Arrojo

O Jeito Que A Gente Diz por Stella Tagnin

O Que é Tradução por Geir Campos

Os Labirintos da Tradução: A Legendagem Cinematográfica e a Construção do Imaginário

Perdidos na Tradução por Iuri Abreu

Porque usar programas de apoio à tradução? (Download PDF) por Danilo Nogueira

Procedimentos Técnicos da Tradução por Heloísa Gonçalves Barbosa

Quase a Mesma Coisa por Umberto Eco

Sua Majestade, O Intérprete por Ewandro Magalhães Jr.

Teorias Contemporâneas da Tradução por Edwin Gentzler

Tradução, Ato Desmedido por Boris Schnaiderman

Tradução e Adaptação por Lauro Amorim

Tradução e Cultura por Cynthia Ann Bell-Santos

Tradução e Dialogismo por Heber de Oliveira Costa Silva

Tradução e Multidisciplinaridade por Marcia A. P. Martins

Tradução de Humor: Transcriando Piadas por Marta Rosas

Tradução Para Dublagem por Ana Carolina Konecsni

Traduzir com Autonomia por Adriana Pagano, Célia Magalhães e Fabio Alves

Vocabulando - Vocabulário Prático Inglês-Português por Isa Mara Lando

Translation Books in Italian:

Dire Quasi la Stressa Cosa di Umberto Eco

Online Reading:

Endonyms and Exonyms by Mabel Duran Sanchez

The Subtle Gap Between Being Bilingual and Being a Translator by Jacobe

Translation of Geographical Names by Gilberto Castañeda-Hernández

Recommended Reading List:

Course In General Linguistics by Ferdinand de Saussure

Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations by William Ury

How To Do Things With Words by J. L. Austin

Mastering Services Pricing by Kevin Doolan

Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution by Michael Hammer and James Champy

The Culture of Collaboration by Evan Rosen

Time Management for Freelancers: A Self-Paced Course for Freelance Translators and Other Solopreneurs by Nicole Y. Addams

Recommended Reading List (PT):

O Corpo Fala: A Linguagem Silenciosa da Comunicação por Pierre Weil e Roland Tompakow

Blogs:

A Arte da Tradução (Portuguese)

About Translation (English)

Adventures in Freelance Translation (English)

All In Portuguese (Portuguese and English)

Blogging with Swedish Translation Services (English)

Brave New Worlds (English)

BTS Blog (English)

BTS Blog (Portuguese)

Ecos da Tradução (Portuguese)

Ewandro Magalhães (English)

Fidus Interpres (German)

Musings from and overworked translator (English)

Naked Translations (English)

Pribi (Portuguese)

Tecla SAP (Portuguese)

Thoughts on Translation (English)

Tradução Via Val (Portuguese)

Transblawg (English)

Translation Client Zone (English)

Translation Times (English)

Translation Tribulations (English)

Translator’s Digest (English)

Trusted Translations (English)

Want Words (English)

Websites:

American Translators Association (English)

Associação Brasileira de Tradutores (Portuguese)

Céline Graciet (English to French)

Ewandro Magalhães (English to Portuguese, maybe more)

International Medical Interpreters Association (English)

Jill Sommer (German to English)

Karen Tkaczyk (French to English)

Marketing Tips for Translators

Marta Stelmaszak (English to Polish)

Petra Schweitzer (English to German)

Thomas Bosch (English to German)

Podcasts:

Marketing Tips for Translators (English)

Speaking of Translation (English)

TradCast (Portuguese)

Presentations:

Comparable Corpora for Terminology by Stella Tagnin

Presentations in Portuguese:

Convencionalidade e Tradução por Stella Tagnin

Corpora e Tradução por Anne Frankenberg-Garcia

Informática Aplicada à Tradução por UCP Pós-graduação em tradução

Linguística de Corpus e Tradução por Stella Tagnin

Memórias de Tradução por Universidade de Aveiro

Software:

MemoQ

Microsoft Office

ProMT

ProMT English <> Portuguese

SDL Trados Studio

Systran

Wordfast

On Freelancing:

Freelancing as a Stay-at-Home Parent

How I Built My Direct Client Base (Without Using Translation Portals)

How to Retain Freelance Clients

Make A Living Writing

Using LinkedIn Efficiently to Find Translation Clients

Yearly Events:

ATA Annual Conference (USA)

IAMIA Annual Conference (USA)

International ABRATES Congress (Brazil)

ProfT (Brazil)

TRADUSA: Encontro Brasileiro de Tradutores Especializados na Área da Saúde (Brazil)

Other:

Fluxo de trabalho para integrar ProMT e MemoQ

Alternatively titled: How to Use Your Planner or How Organization and Discipline Will Get You Better Grades

This is my full guide on how to use your planner effectively and make sure that you are never missing deadlines or falling behind in classwork and homework. This is definitely more about the university level and works best with a dated planner, rather than a bullet journal. Let’s get started! 

Get all of your syllabi together and write down dates. Go through one class at a time and mark down all of your major tests and assignment due dates. I recommend putting these dates into the monthly and weekly views, and perhaps coming up with a symbol or other indicator that tells you they are of utmost importance. 

Make a weekly schedule of when to complete readings and do a weekly review of notes. Instead of trying to randomly decide when to do these things, assign a date for each task for each class. If you have a tutorial on Tuesday, do the assigned readings for it every Wednesday. I recommend scheduling one to two weekly tasks per day, and to leave a few days open, whether it be weekends or days when you have a lot of classes.

Make a master list of assignments. I find that sometimes, even having due dates in the calendar view isn’t enough, and they can still sneak up on you. The master list will be a good place to double check if you have any deadlines approaching easily. 

In the week or so before a due date, create a checklist of smaller tasks needed to complete the assignment. Set individual due dates for each smaller task by working backwards from the due date. Smaller tasks may include finding sources, making an outline, writing a rough draft, and editing and adding references to create a final copy. Write the smaller tasks into your daily to-do list. 

You can also do this with studying for tests, but the checklist would look slightly different. You could either sort by study method (first do flashcards, then do essay outlines, etc.) or sort by the topics you need to study. 

Stick to the schedule you have made. Obviously, if something comes up and you need to move your to-do list around, do so! But if you aren’t doing anything and you see readings on your list of daily tasks.. do them. Having the plan set out like this makes it easier for you to remain disciplined. 

Why use this method? 

By creating a schedule for repeated weekly tasks like completing readings, you make sure that you can’t repeatedly push off smaller tasks until you are weeks behind. I don’t think it is very reliable to just will yourself to do readings, or to keep up with them without tracking it. 

By writing down all of your due dates, you will never be shocked to find out something is due the night before. You will know and you will be prepared. 

By creating smaller checklists of tasks to complete before a major test or assignment, you will never find yourself in a situation where you have an essay due in a few days and haven’t even started. You will be following a timeline and making sure you don’t have to rush.

Here are a few words you can replace walk with.

AMBLE: WALK EASILY AND/OR AIMLESSLY

BOUNCE: WALK ENERGETICALLY

CAREEN: PITCH DANGEROUSLY TO ONE SIDE WHILE WALKING OR RUNNING

CLUMP: WALK HEAVILY AND/OR CLUMSILY

FALTER: WALK UNSTEADILY

FLOUNDER: WALK WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY

FOOT IT: (SLANG) DEPART OR SET OFF BY WALKING

FOOTSLOG: WALK HEAVILY AND FIRMLY, AS WHEN WEARY, OR THROUGH MUD

GIMP: LIMP; HOBBLE

HIKE: TAKE A LONG WALK, ESPECIALLY IN A PARK OR A WILDERNESS AREA

HOBBLE: WALK UNSTEADILY OR WITH DIFFICULTY; SEE ALSO LIMP

HOOF IT: (SLANG) WALK; SEE FOOT IT

LEG IT: (SLANG) SEE FOOT IT

LIMP: WALK UNSTEADILY BECAUSE OF INJURY, ESPECIALLY FAVORING ONE LEG; SEE ALSO FALTER

LUMBER: WALK SLOWLY AND HEAVILY

LURCH: WALK SLOWLY BUT WITH SUDDEN MOVEMENTS, OR FURTIVELY

MARCH: WALK RHYTHMICALLY ALONE OR IN A GROUP, ESPECIALLY ACCORDING TO A SPECIFIED PROCEDURE

MEANDER: WALK OR MOVE AIMLESSLY AND IDLY WITHOUT FIXED DIRECTION

MINCE: WALK DELICATELY

MOSEY: SEE AMBLE; ALSO, USED COLLOQUIALLY IN THE PHRASE “MOSEY ALONG”

NIP: WALK BRISKLY OR LIGHTLY; ALSO USED COLLOQUIALLY IN THE PHRASE “NIP (ON) OVER” TO REFER TO A BRIEF WALK TO A CERTAIN DESTINATION, AS IF ON AN ERRAND

PACE: WALK PRECISELY TO MARK OFF A DISTANCE, OR WALK INTENTLY OR NERVOUSLY, ESPECIALLY BACK AND FORTH

PAD: WALK WITH STEADY STEPS MAKING A SOFT DULL SOUND

PARADE: WALK OSTENTATIOUSLY, AS IF TO SHOW OFF

PERAMBULATE: SEE STROLL; TRAVEL ON FOOT, OR WALK TO INSPECT OR MEASURE A BOUNDARY

PEREGRINATE: WALK, ESPECIALLY TO TRAVEL

PLOD: WALK SLOWLY AND HEAVILY, AS IF RELUCTANT OR WEARY

POUND: WALK OR GO WITH HEAVY STEPS; MOVE ALONG WITH FORCE OR VIGOR; SEE LUMBER

POWER WALK: WALK BRISKLY FOR FITNESS

PRANCE: WALK JOYFULLY, AS IF DANCING OR SKIPPING

PROMENADE: GO ON A LEISURELY WALK, ESPECIALLY IN A PUBLIC PLACE AS A SOCIAL ACTIVITY; SEEPARADE

PROWL: WALK NOISELESSLY AND CAREFULLY IN A PREDATORY MANNER

PUSSYFOOT: WALK STEALTHILY OR WARILY

RAMBLE: WALK OR TRAVEL AIMLESSLY

ROAM: GO WITHOUT FIXED DIRECTION AND WITHOUT ANY PARTICULAR DESTINATION, OFTEN FOR PLEASURE; SEE RAMBLE

ROVE: TRAVEL CONSTANTLY OVER A RELATIVELY LENGTHY TIME PERIOD WITHOUT A FIXED DESTINATION; WANDER

SASHAY: GLIDE, MOVE, OR PROCEED EASILY OR NONCHALANTLY; SEE PARADE

SAUNTER: WALK ABOUT EASILY

SCUFF: WALK WITHOUT LIFTING ONE’S FEET

SHAMBLE: WALK OR GO AWKWARDLY; SHUFFLE; SEE SCUFF

SHUFFLE: WALK WITHOUT LIFTING THE FEET OR WITH CLUMSY STEPS AND A SHAMBLING GAIT; SEESCUFF

SKULK: MOVE IN A STEALTHY OR FURTIVE MANNER

SOMNAMBULATE: WALK IN ONE’S SLEEP

STAGGER: WALK UNSTEADILY

STALK: WALK STEALTHILY, AS IN PURSUIT

STEP: WALK, OR PLACE ONE’S FOOT OR FEET IN A NEW POSITION

STOMP: WALK HEAVILY, AS IF IN ANGER

STRIDE: WALK PURPOSEFULLY, WITH LONG STEPS

STROLL: WALK IN A LEISURELY WAY; SEE SAUNTER

STRUT: WALK WITH A STIFF, ERECT, AND APPARENTLY ARROGANT OR CONCEITED GAIT; SEE PARADE

STUMBLE: WALK CLUMSILY OR UNSTEADILY, OR TRIP

STUMP: WALK HEAVILY, AS WITH A LIMP; SEE LUMBER

SWAGGER: WALK WITH AGGRESSIVE SELF-CONFIDENCE

TIPTOE: WALK CAREFULLY ON THE TOES OR ON THE BALLS OF THE FOOT, AS IF IN STEALTH

TODDLE: MOVE WITH SHORT, UNSTEADY STEPS, AS A YOUNG CHILD; SEE SAUNTER AND STAGGER

TOTTER: WALK OR GO WITH FALTERING STEPS, AS IF FROM EXTREME WEAKNESS; SEE STAGGER(ALSO, SWAY OR BECOME UNSTABLE)

TRAIPSE: WALK LIGHTLY AND/OR AIMLESSLY

TRAMP: WALK HEAVILY OR NOISILY; SEE LUMBER AND HIKE

TRAMPLE: WALK SO AS TO CRUSH SOMETHING UNDERFOOT

TRAVERSE: WALK ACROSS OR OVER A DISTANCE

TREAD: WALK SLOWLY AND STEADILY

TRIP: WALK LIGHTLY; SEE ALSO STUMBLE

TROMP: TREAD HEAVILY, ESPECIALLY TO CRUSH UNDERFOOT; SEE LUMBER

TROOP: WALK IN UNISON, OR COLLECTIVELY

TROT: PROCEED AT A PACE FASTER THAN A WALK; SEE NIP

TRUDGE: WALK SLOWLY AND WITH HEAVY STEPS, TYPICALLY BECAUSE OF EXHAUSTION OR HARSH CONDITIONS; SEE PLOD

WADDLE: WALK CLUMSILY OR AS IF BURDENED, SWINGING THE BODY

WADE: WALK THROUGH WATER OR WITH DIFFICULTY, AS IF IMPEDED

WANDER: TO MOVE FROM PLACE TO PLACE WITHOUT A FIXED ROUTE; SEE RAMBLE

1. First write for yourself, and then worry about the audience. “When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. Your stuff starts out being just for you, but then it goes out.”

2. Don’t use passive voice. “Timid writers like passive verbs for the same reason that timid lovers like passive partners. The passive voice is safe. The timid fellow writes “The meeting will be held at seven o’clock” because that somehow says to him, ‘Put it this way and people will believe you really know. ‘Purge this quisling thought! Don’t be a muggle! Throw back your shoulders, stick out your chin, and put that meeting in charge! Write ‘The meeting’s at seven.’ There, by God! Don’t you feel better?”

3. Avoid adverbs. “The adverb is not your friend. Consider the sentence “He closed the door firmly.” It’s by no means a terrible sentence, but ask yourself if ‘firmly’ really has to be there. What about context? What about all the enlightening (not to say emotionally moving) prose which came before ‘He closed the door firmly’? Shouldn’t this tell us how he closed the door? And if the foregoing prose does tell us, then isn’t ‘firmly’ an extra word? Isn’t it redundant?”

4. Avoid adverbs, especially after “he said” and “she said.” “While to write adverbs is human, to write ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ is divine.”

5. But don’t obsess over perfect grammar. “Language does not always have to wear a tie and lace-up shoes. The object of fiction isn’t grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story… to make him/her forget, whenever possible, that he/she is reading a story at all. “

6. The magic is in you. “I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. Dumbo got airborne with the help of a magic feather; you may feel the urge to grasp a passive verb or one of those nasty adverbs for the same reason. Just remember before you do that Dumbo didn’t need the feather; the magic was in him.”

7. Read, read, read. “You have to read widely, constantly refining (and redefining) your own work as you do so. If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.”

8. Don’t worry about making other people happy. “Reading at meals is considered rude in polite society, but if you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second to least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.”

9. Turn off the TV. “Most exercise facilities are now equipped with TVs, but TV—while working out or anywhere else—really is about the last thing an aspiring writer needs. If you feel you must have the news analyst blowhard on CNN while you exercise, or the stock market blowhards on MSNBC, or the sports blowhards on ESPN, it’s time for you to question how serious you really are about becoming a writer. You must be prepared to do some serious turning inward toward the life of the imagination, and that means, I’m afraid, that Geraldo, Keigh Obermann, and Jay Leno must go. Reading takes time, and the glass teat takes too much of it.”

10. You have three months. “The first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months, the length of a season.”

11. There are two secrets to success. “When I’m asked for ‘the secret of my success’ (an absurd idea, that, but impossible to get away from), I sometimes say there are two: I stayed physically healthy, and I stayed married. It’s a good answer because it makes the question go away, and because there is an element of truth in it. The combination of a healthy body and a stable relationship with a self reliant woman who takes zero shit from me or anyone else has made the continuity of my working life possible. And I believe the converse is also true: that my writing and the pleasure I take in it has contributed to the stability of my health and my home life.”

12. Write one word at a time. “A radio talk-show host asked me how I wrote. My reply—’One word at a time’—seemingly left him without a reply. I think he was trying to decide whether or not I was joking. I wasn’t. In the end, it’s always that simple. Whether it’s a vignette of a single page or an epic trilogy like ‘The Lord Of The Rings,’ the work is always accomplished one word at a time.”

13. Eliminate distraction. “There should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with. If there’s a window, draw the curtains or pull down the shades unless it looks out at a blank wall.”

14. Stick to your own style. “One cannot imitate a writer’s approach to a particular genre, no matter how simple what the writer is doing may seem. You can’t aim a book like a cruise missile, in other words. People who decide to make a fortune writing lik John Grisham or Tom Clancy produce nothing but pale imitations, by and large, because vocabulary is not the same thing as feeling and plot is light years from the truth as it is understood by the mind and the heart.”

15. Dig. “When, during the course of an interview for The New Yorker, I told the interviewer (Mark Singer) that I believed stories are found things, like fossils in the ground, he said that he didn’t believe me. I replied that that was fine, as long as he believed that I believe it. And I do. Stories aren’t souvenir tee-shirts or Game Boys. Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer’s job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible. Sometimes the fossil you uncover is small; a seashell. Sometimes it’s enormous, a Tyrannosaurus Rex with all the gigantic ribs and grinning teeth. Either way, short story or thousand page whopper of a novel, the techniques of excavation remain basically the same.”

16. Take a break. “If you’ve never done it before, you’ll find reading your book over after a six-week layoff to be a strange, often exhilarating experience. It’s yours, you’ll recognize it as yours, even be able to remember what tune was on the stereo when you wrote certain lines, and yet it will also be like reading the work of someone else, a soul-twin, perhaps. This is the way it should be, the reason you waited. It’s always easier to kill someone else’s darlings that it is to kill your own.”

17. Leave out the boring parts and kill your darlings. “Mostly when I think of pacing, I go back to Elmore Leonard, who explained it so perfectly by saying he just left out the boring parts. This suggests cutting to speed the pace, and that’s what most of us end up having to do (kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your ecgocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.)”

18. The research shouldn’t overshadow the story. “If you do need to do research because parts of your story deal with things about which you know little or nothing, remember that word back. That’s where research belongs: as far in the background and the back story as you can get it. You may be entranced with what you’re learning about the flesh-eating bacteria, the sewer system of New York, or the I.Q. potential of collie pups, but your readers are probably going to care a lot more about your characters and your story.”

19. You become a writer simply by reading and writing. “You don’t need writing classes or seminars any more than you need this or any other book on writing. Faulkner learned his trade while working in the Oxford, Mississippi post office. Other writers have learned the basics while serving in the Navy, working in steel mills or doing time in America’s finer crossbar hotels. I learned the most valuable (and commercial) part of my life’s work while washing motel sheets and restaurant tablecloths at the New Franklin Laundry in Bangor. You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot, and the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself.”

20. Writing is about getting happy. “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink.”

back to school masterlist

tips for exams

ultimate back to school tips

tips for the new school year

4 legal ways to get free textbooks

essential productivity apps

actual first time college advice | tips for lectures | how to take lecture notes

study breaks | studying hacks

bet your teachers never taught you this

how to take organised notes

text book tips

tips to make school life easier

how to do cover letters

studying a foreign language tips

dyslexia friendly fonts

writing about royal characters

language learning sites

tips for effective studying

travel cheap

23 editing tips

useful apps for students

words to describe someone’s voice

Joss Whedon’s writing tips | writing references

50 things to ask your character before you start writing

stop using google.com to search information

life hacks for school

how to write an essay

8 basics of creative writing | fantasy guide | songs for creating stuff

for crime writers

dear writers

a high school teacher’s list of 100 wisest words

confused what to underline, italicize and when to use quotation marks?

feeling anxious for school?

make pretty banners | another one | and another one | one more | okay last one i promise

how to study like a harvard student

how to do pretty lettering | how to make your notes pretty | handwriting and note taking | colour code notes | how to maintain good notes | take digital notes

using one note to take notes | another one

how to get shit done

things i wish people had told me when i was a freshman

handwriting reference

in class notes reference

20 things I found out about studying last year | things to do remember when studying

revising for maths

abbreviations for note taking | 2

12 things i learnt during 12 years of school

transition words

how to study from textbooks

how to make history timelines

what to do if you fail a class

backpack essentials

studying 101: how to stay focused, motivated, and on track.

secret study tips | top tips for studying in college

ultimate studyblr guide

hey, school’s hard

Looking for a random city? Click here.

Looking for a random city that people have actually heard of? Click here.

Need a random surname for a character? Click here. (They also give prevalence by race, which is very helpful.)

Random motivations for your characters here!

Need some character quirks? Here and here! 

Slovenskih ustreznic ne poznam – mislim, da jih ni, pri sanskrtu smo vedno navajali kar te izraze, ker je sistem pač neizbežno povezan s sanskrtsko sintakso.

Če sta člena v zloženki enakovredna, je to dvandva (XY v smislu X in Y: črnobel = črn in bel)

Če sta člena v zloženki neenakovredna, je to lahko:

tatpuruṣa (tatpuruša), ki je determinativna (odvisnostna) zloženka, kjer sta člena v nekem sklonskem razmerju (XY v smislu Y od/za/pri/… X: zobozdravnik = zdravnik zob)

karmadhāraya, ki je deskriptivna (opisna) zloženka oz. pravzaprav podtip tatpuruše, kjer je sklonsko razmerje nominativno (XY v smislu Y kot X: lev-človek = človek, ki je kot lev (ima značilnosti leva))

Če je prvi del tatpuruše ali karmadharaye števnik, je to dvigu (XY kot X količina Y; v sln. takšnih zloženk ni, sam “dvigu” recimo pomeni pač “dve govedi”)

Omenjene zloženke so praviloma(! ampak ne nujno) endocentrične, kar pomeni, da se nanašajo same nase (oz. en del zloženke na drugega – znotraj zloženke), medtem ko so zloženke tipa bahuvrīhi navadno eksocentrični pridevniki (torej se nanašajo na nekaj izven zloženke same) s posesivnim (svojilnim) pomenom. Prim. tatpurušo rāja-pútra- “kralja sin (= kraljevi sin)” in bahuvrihi rājá-putra- “tak, ki ima (za) sina kralja” (razlika je le v naglasu). Bahuvrihiji so pogosto karmadharaye in tatpuruše (in dviguji) v pridevniški vlogi.

Āmreḍita je iterativni (ponavljalni) tip zloženke, ki tako z dvakrat ponovljeno besedo izraža neko ponavljanje (“divé-dive” dobes. “dan-dan” pomeni “dan za dnem, vsakodnevno”)

Looking for pop linguistics books or linguistics-related fiction to read, find in a library, ask for as a gift, or give to a language nerd in your life? Here’s an extensive list of books you might be interested in. 

Recent general books 

John McWhorter has many pop linguistics books, including notably: The Language Hoax, The Power of Babel, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue, What Language Is, Word on the Street

David Crystal also has many pop linguistics books, including more recently: the history of English spelling, A Little Book of Language (note that Crystal also writes “interesting facts about words” books, so check the description if this is a relevant factor for you)

The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker (the one style book on this entire list, because he approaches it from a genuinely linguistic perspective: see my review here). 

The Riddle of the Labyrinth by Margalit Fox (about cracking Linear B)

You Are What You Speak by RL Greene  

The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher (about the history of language) 

How Babies Talk by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek

In The Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent (my review)

The Art of Language Invention by David J. Peterson (my livetweet)

Word by Word by Kory Stamper, who also has a second book coming out! (my livetweet) 

The Prodigal Tongue by Lynne Murphy (my livetweet) 

Older general books 

(Most of these I read when I was getting into linguistics so I can vouch for them being interesting enough when I read them such that they’ve stuck in my mind many years later, but I’m not sure how they’d stack up on re-reading. Just so you know.)

Steven Pinker’s pop linguistics books have gotten older but are still classics: The Language Instinct, Words and Rules, The Stuff of Thought

Older David Crystal books: How Language Works, The Stories of English

Verbatim (a collection of essays on pop linguistics, edited by Erin McKean - my comments)

Talk, Talk, Talk by Jay Ingram 

A Mouthful of Air by Anthony Burgess 

Alpha Beta by John Man (about the history of the alphabet) 

Specific Topics

Hearing Gesture by Susan Goldin-Meadow

Talking Hands by Margalit Fox (my comments)

The Language of Food by Dan Jurafsky

Babel No More by Michael Erard

Latin Alive: The Survival of Latin in English and the Romance Languages by Joseph Solodow (my review) 

Predicting New Words by Allan Metcalf 

Shady Characters by Keith Houston (about punctuation marks - my comments)

Speculative Grammarian’s satirical linguistics book (my review - you should probably already know some linguistics before reading it though) 

An ABC for Baby Linguists (great for linguist parents!) 

The Language Construction Kit by Mark Rosenfelder (conlangs, older)

How to Keep Your Language Alive and Language Revitalization for Families, both by Leanne Hinton (see also Ola!, and my thoughts on it)

Beginner-friendly textbooks

Comprehensive but more friendly than actual textbooks: 

Linguistics for Dummies

Linguistics for Everyone

Introducing Linguistics: An Illustrated Guide 

Actual textbooks, still at an introductory level:

Language Files

Contemporary Linguistics (the fifth edition is also fine, and cheaper)

iLanguage (previous edition is cheaper)

Describing Morphosyntax is popular among budding conlangers 

LingFic

Fiction that contains a significant linguistic element, enjoyable for both practising linguists and language enthusiasts: 

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn (my comments)

The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt (my livetweet)

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (my comments) and Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin, both of which do interesting things with language & gender

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (my livetweet)

Eunoia by Christian Bök (my comments). It’s entirely online here.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett 

New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani (review from @superlinguo​)

Native Tongue trilogy by Suzette Haden Elgin 

“The Story of Your Life” (short story) by Ted Chiang (the movie based on it is called Arrival and stars a linguist)

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Embassytown by China Miéville 

The Lord of the Rings books

See also more recommendations on the #lingfic hashtag and this list at conlang.org 

Anyone else have pop linguistics books (or #lingfic) to recommend, or reviews to link to? I’ll try to keep this list updated as I hear of and review other books, old and new, so make sure to check out the source post and my books tag if you’re viewing it as a reblog. There are some great additions in the extensive reblogs by Stan Carey and Superlinguo.

Updates: 

Too Like The Lightning by Ada Palmer (my livetweet)

The Fifth Season and The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin (my two livetweets)

Pygmalion and My Fair Lady are classics, although real linguists aren’t nearly as keen on “proper” English as Henry Higgins

The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis features a philologist

I’m also writing a pop linguistics book about internet language for Penguin! It’s not out till 2019, but you can see more information here and sign up for email updates if you want to know when it’s available! 

Recently, I’ve been writing a lot of emails to people I do/did not know personally who I’d been put in contact with through people I do know, usually from university. The way this would usually come about was that one of my professors would say something like “Well, I can’t help you with that, but I have a friend/colleague/acquaintance who can. I will ask them if they’d be willing to help you” and usually they would and so I would end up having to send them an email. I guess this is a very common process in academic settings since most things work via connections. And if you’re like me and have a mild (or severe) case of social anxiety, you might end up sitting in front of your computer for a a couple of hours trying to figure out what the hell to put in that email. Here’s how I do it. 

Make sure you know what exactly you want from them. Call this PURPOSE. It is usually quite obvious what PURPOSE is. But sometimes you are supposed to email someone just to get to know them. In that case, I usually ask them to tell me something about their research or the institution they’re at. (Because saying you just ‘want to get to know someone’ is already weird and scary, even if the other person is not a professor.)

I structure the email like this. 

The subject should include PURPOSE in some way. 

I usually address the person with their full title since I don’t know them and you never know whether they might attach importance to their title. If they reply in a friendly manner, I drop the title. 

The first paragraph’s purpose is to help them place you. The first sentence should refer to your common acquaintance. The second sentence should introduce PURPOSE. I usually write something like ‘I got your email address from person. They said that you might be able/willing to help me with PURPOSE.’

In the second paragraph you should introduce yourself. This is a person who probably knows next to nothing about you, so you should give them a short description of yourself. This should include: the institution you’re from, your studies, the latest degree you got, your general current situation (e.g. third year student studying to get a bachelor’s degree). Then you describe those aspects that relate yourself to them and PURPOSE. Suppose you seek their help on a problem you have with your thesis. Then this is the place to briefly outline what you’re doing in your thesis. I’m never quite sure how much information to put in this part and usually try to be as concise as possible (they do probably have a lot of emails to read, after all). If they want more detail on something, they can ask for it. 

In the third paragraph you should precisely state PURPOSE. What I’ve found useful is to detail what you’re lacking in the first sentences. To continue the example from above, this would be where you describe the problem that has cropped up in your thesis. Then you politely ask them whether they’d be able and willing to help you with PURPOSE. If they have office hours and it is possible for you to go there, you can suggest that. But I usually contact people who live somewhere else so I can’t just go and visit them. This is why I leave this part quite vague so they can decide in what way they’d like to communicate (and pray to God their preferred method isn’t skyping).

End the email with a thank-you-phrase. I usually write that I’d be happy to hear back from them as I could profit a lot from their help. ‘Thank you for your time’ also works quite well. 

Sign with your full name

Here’s an example. (Apologies if this sounds weird in English. I usually write these emails in German.)

PURPOSE = You just finished your bachelor’s degree in history and are about to change to Prof Malton’s university (let’s call it some jumble of letters, the ZYU) for your master’s. Prof Malton is a professor for medieval history there, which is the area you’re interested to do research in. You are writing to them to introduce yourself and get some information about ZYU and the research possibilities on medieval history there. 

Subject: Medieval history at ZYU

Dear Prof Malton, 

I got your email address from Dr Shards. He said that you might be able to tell me a little bit about medieval history at ZYU. 

I have studied history at the university of S and just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history. I am currently in the process of deciding where to do my master’s. My bachelor’s thesis was on ‘Some medieval history stuff’ and I am generally interested in medieval history. This is why doing my master’s at ZYU would be very attractive to me. 

As I don’t know a lot about ZYU yet, Dr Shards suggested that you might be able to help me with some insider information. So if you found some time to tell me something about studying history at ZYU in general and about the research you’re doing on medieval history, I would be very grateful. 

With this post I listed 10 outline techniques to help writes move their story from a basic idea to a complete set of arcs, plots, sequences and/or scenes. Or to simply expand whatever you have in hands right now.

If you have a vague story idea or a detailed one, this post is for you to both discover and organize. A few technique will work perfectly. A few won’t. Your mission is to find the one that works best for you. That said, I advice you to try out as many techniques as possible.

So, are you ready? Open your notebook, or your digital document, and let’s start.

1. Snowflake method: Start with a one-sentence description of the novel. Then, develop this simple phrase into a paragraph. Your next step is to write a one-page summary based on the paragraph, you can write about characters, motivations, goals, plots, options, whatever you feel like. From this point on, you can either start your book or expand the one-page summary into four pages. And, at last, four pages into a brief description of known sequences of scenes. Your goal is to make the story more and more complex as you add information, much like a forming snowflake.  

2. Chapter by chapter: List ten to twenty chapters, give each chapter a tittle and a brief description of what should happen. Then, break each chapter into three to five basic sequences of scenes. Give each sequence a title, a brief description and a short list of possibilities (possibilities of dialogues, scenarios, outcomes, moods, feelings… just play around with possibilities). From this point on, you can either create the scenes of sequences with a one-sentence description for each or jump straight to writing. Your goal is to shift from the big picture to a detail-oriented point of view.

3. Script: This might sound crazy, but, with this technique, you will write the screenplay of your story as if it’s a movie. No strings attached to creative writing, just plain actions and dialogues with basic information. Writing a script will take time, maybe months, but it will also enlighten your project like no other technique. Your goal is to create a cinematic view of your story. How to write a script here. 

4. Free writing: No rules, no format, no step, just grab a pen or prepare your fingers to write down whatever idea that comes up. Think of possibilities, characters, places, quests, journeys, evolutions, symbolisms, fears, good moments, bad moments, clothing, appearances. Complete five to ten pages. Or even more. The more you write, the more you will unravel. You can even doodle, or paste images. Your mission is to explore freely.

5. Tag: This technique is ideal if you have just a vague idea of the story. Start by listing ten to fifteen tags related to the story. Under each tag, create possible plots. And, under each plot, create possible scenes. Grab a red felt pen and circle plots and scenes that sparkle your interest.

6.  Eight-point arc: With this technique you will divide your story into eight stages. They are Stasis, Trigger, Quest, Surprise, Critical Choice, Climax, Reversal and Resolution. The Stasis is the every-day-life of your main character. Trigger is an event that will change the every-day-life of your character (for better or for worse). Quest is a period of your main characters trying to find a new balance, a new every-day-life (because we all love a good routine). Surprise will take your character away from their new found every-day-life. Critical Choice is a point of no return, a dilemma, your character will have to make the hardest decision out of two outcomes, both equally important. Climax is the critical choice put to practice. Reversal is the consequence of the climax, or how the characters evolved. Resolution is the return to a new (or old) every-day-life, a (maybe everlasting) balance.

7. Reverse: Write down a description of how your story ends, what happens to your characters and to those around them. Make it as detailed as possible. Then, move up to the climax, write a short scenario for the highest point of your story. From there, build all the way back to the beginning. 

8. Zigzag: Draw a zigzag with as many up and downs as you want. Every up represents your main character moving closer to their goal. Every down represents your main character moving further from their goal. Fill in your zigzag with sequences that will take your character closer and farther from the goal.

9. Listing: The focus of this technique is exploring new ideas when your story feels empty, short or stagnated. You’ll, basically make lists. Make a long list of plot ideas. Make another list of places and settings. Make a list of elements. And a list of possible characters. Maybe a list of book titles. Or a list of interesting scenes. A list of bad things that could happen inside this universe. A list of good things. A list of symbolism. A list of visual inspiration. A list of absurd ideas you’ll probably never use. Then, gather all this material and circle the good items. Try to organize them into a timeline.

10. Character-driven: Create a character. Don’t worry about anything else. Just think of a character, their appearance and style. Give them a name. Give them a basic personality. Give them a backstory. Develop their personality based on the backstory. Now, give this character a story that mirrors their backstory (maybe a way to overcome the past, or to grow, or to revenge, or to restore). Based on your character’s personality, come up with a few scenes to drive their story from beginning to end. Now, do the same thing for the antagonist and secondary characters.

So, when is it time to stop outlining and start writing?

I learned mostly by myself and then I had some anatomy lessons last year. And I have to say anatomy helps A LOT in drawing faces and bodies, because you think about what’s under the skin, where the bone goes, where you can see it, the muscles and so on. So if you feel like you don’t understand what you’re drawing (like, you can’t manage to draw an arm correctly oriented, the curve of the shoulder) learning anatomy (even a bit) is really helpfull.

 I’ll use some references pics for those explanations, as @astrobookwormsinger asked me to explain how I get the facial details. And it goes by looking attentively at everything. Observation is a great way to learn how things works, and, like anatomy, will give you the keys to “how to draw realistically” and make your drawing look accurate if you redraw someone.

I made some pages to explain how I work when I do a precise drawing. Please note all this is about realistic drawing, so some advices are not necerally valid for other kind of styles.

Basically, the technique I really suggest is tracing lines. See what passes where. I use this for basically anything, people, animals or architecture. It works very well and you can very quickly place everything in the space of your sheet. 

Then, I tried to point out the importance of the differences between faces. to make a face look like the person you draw, you have to see what makes them unique, what are the distinguishing features. Here I take only one pic to explain what I see, don’t forget that an eye may look very different from the angle we see it or the light. Here I tried to point out the lines, some volumes. I know some by looking at them in movies a lot too, and that’s help if you want to draw them without reference. It’s all about picking what makes them look like the way they do. Here I only speak about the face lines and the eyes, but the same has to be done for the nose, the mouth, the shape of the jaw, where the hairline is, how big are the cheekbones, the eyebrow arch, …

And here are some tips for realistic looking eyes I apply for nearly every drawing I do.

And as a final tips, I will say : PRACTICE. It’s like the number one rule here. The more you practice, the best you’ll get. Try not to let too much time between your drawing session. The best is to draw everyday, even if it’s not a complete drawing or very precise. Just sketching is very good. You may have some bad drawing days, but don’t give up!

I hope this helped! I only speak about what I know, how I work, so some other people may have other tips, or probably have more complete advices. Also, I’m sorry for all the mistakes in texts, I’m not a native english speaker. I tried to correct as much as I could! 

For anatomy, I highly recommand to watch Sinix Design videos on youtube. He explains it VERY WELL.