for a long study of langs

as a follow up to my post on online drawing vocab, here is a collection of comments you can use to compliment others' art :-)

the basics

喜欢 [xǐhuān] - i like it

好好看 [hǎohǎo kàn] - looks good

厉害 [lìhài] - amazing

好漂亮/帥/美 [piàoliang/shuài/měi] - so pretty/handsome/beautiful

太有才了 [tài yǒu cáile] - so talented (similarily, 画画天才 => drawing genius)

好神 [hǎo shén] - godly

神迹 [shén jī] - miraculous

仙品 [xiān pǐn] - high-quality product

好鮮活 [xiān huó] - vivid/lifelike

To all conlangers, I think this might interest you !

This website vulgarlang.com helps you generate a language based on the input you give. You can select your phoneme inventory, choose your phonotactics and the way your words can be derived to build nouns, adjectives adverbs and other derivatives. It comes up with some phonological rules of its own.

This is for the free version (there is a full version for $9.95) but you can still have some fun with the free version. 

For instance, this is some of the words and grammar the generator came up with based on the rules I have made for my developing conlang : 

If it’s your first attempt at conlanging (like it is for me) it might be a useful tool to get some ideas when you feel stuck. 

@dovalayn I did. I’ve studied English for about 10 years and I have the official diploma for the C2 level (the maximum for a non-native speaker) given by the University of Cambridge.

But it’s still my 3rd language and there will be always things that escape me, mainly the slang. Always. Because you know you are always less than the majority. And it’s tiring.

That’s all I’m saying. It would be nice for once to not have to make the effort. And effort is something that no matter how many years of English class I take will always be there.

But not everyone can do that. Some people can’t afford private English academies or are bad at languages, and they should still be able to exist online as well. Why are you so bothered by people not speaking English perfectly? Or by people posting on the internet in other languages??

Native English speakers are used to having the world, and by extension all non native speakers, accommodate to their language. If someone doesn’t know English then said person is uneducated, isn’t wordly, is not qualified enough. If a person doesn’t pronounce English like a native, they’re pronouncing it wrong. Tourists are expected to speak perfect English and be proficient in it to avoid any inconvenience to native English speakers when travelling abroad to English speaking countries (USA and UK particularly, yet interestingly enough we are demanded to speak in English when these people visit our countries). These are all mindsets and situations that exist and are part of the broader context, in which English does operate on linguistic imperialism grounds on a global scale; I’m going to quote Phillipson really quickly:

Linguicism: the ideologies and structures which are used to legitimate, effectuate and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources (both material and non-material) between groups which are defined on the basis of their language (i.e., of their mother tongue). This condition is best seen within the broader context of linguistic imperialism - an essential constituent of imperialism as a global phenomenon involving structural relations between rich and poor countries in a world characterized by inequality and injustice.

Language expansion is considered an essential part of a core country’s policy of extending its power and influence in order to achieve its imperialistic strategies. Phillipson holds that the legitimization of English linguistic expansion has been based on two notions: ethnocentricity and educational policy, with ‘ethnocentricity’ being the “practice of judging other cultures by standards of it own.” These two practices have been used to impose a distinction between languages. It has also been a way to promote the notion of the assumed inferiority of secondary languages with respect to the norms determined by the dominant culture.

Phillipson takes this notion one step further with ethnocentricity transformed into that of ‘anglocentricity’ with the consequence that the dominance of English is justified in terms of such oppositions as superiority/inferiority, civilization/backwardness, progress/regress, the first element of which is constantly attributed to the dominant English language.

According to Phillipson education serves the imperial center by having three functions: ideological, economic and repressive. The ideological function serves as a channel for transmitting social and cultural values. In this role English is regarded as a “gateway for better communication, better education and higher standards of living.” The second function – economic – legitimizes English as a means of qualifying people to contribute to their nation and operate technology that the language provides access to. The third function – repression – serves to dominate languages.

Linguistic imperialism calls attention to the potential consequences of English teaching worldwide when center country ideologies are embedded in instruction, having the effect of legitimizing colonial or establishment power and resources, and of “reconstituting cultural inequalities between English and other languages.”

[Cited and paraphrased from

-Phillipson, R. 1992. Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford. Oxford University Press. -Phillipson, R. 1988. Linguicism: structures and ideologies in linguistic imperialism. In J. Cummins and T. Skutnabb-Kangas (eds.), Minority Education: From Shame to Struggle. Avon: Multilingual Matters.]

It’s… interesting, for the lack of a better word, how non native English speakers must even accommodate to native English speakers, when in actuality non native English speakers far surpass natives by several millions and, if anything, it should be them who ought to change, not us.

English becomes our second/third/etc language, we use it with several degrees of proficiency, being affected all the time by our L1, or all the other languages that we might know, we are constantly building on our current interlanguage and gaining a better grasp on how to operate with English. When we talk or chat with other NNE speakers with whom we don’t share a language, we make ourselves understood, we manage to sort any misgiving in communication, if we make a mistake we re-phrase, re-arrange, express things in another way. We are communicating, we still get our messages across despite some slips of the tongue, little mistakes or even a few errors here and there.

We are able to engage, through the use of English, in cross-cultural exchanges, in cross-linguistic exchanges that are allowed by using English as a lingua franca. We are making the language ours, we’re reclaiming the language that for so long was used to shush us down and we’re using it as an asset, we’re using it as a weapon, we’re using it so our voices cannot be silenced any more.

Our messages do get across, they can be understood. When native English speakers claim our Englishes aren’t clear, or we aren’t making any sense, they are really not making the extra effort. In short, many are uncapable of cross-linguistic and cross-cultural exchanges and communication. It’s easier to say we don’t make sense, and by extension snuffing us out, than paying attention to what we are saying.

And we don’t only have to defend our languages and our cultures in a globalised world (in which the normalised culture is that of the center), but we also have to use English as a tool for doing it.

I don’t think anyone on Tumblr is learning Cantonese, but I’d thought I’d just share a bunch of basic vocabulary for the heck of it :’D. Some of the transcriptions I put down aren’t official Jyutping pronunciations; I kind of adjusted it to the way I would read it as an English speaker~

Note: ME = Mandarin equivalent

Pronouns

我 [ngo] - I 

你 [nei/lei] - you

佢 [koei] - he/she/it (ME: 他/她/它)

我地 [ngo day] - we (ME: 我們)

你地 [nei/lei day] - you (pl) (ME: 你們)

佢地 [koei day] - they (ME: 他/她們)

Verbs

食 [sik] - to eat  (ME: 吃)

住 [juu/jew] - to live (somewhere)

瞓 [fun] - to sleep (ME: 睡覺)

做 [joe/jo] - to do

飲 [yum] - to drink (ME: 喝) 

{Side note: 飲茶 [yum cha] (lit. to drink tea) - to eat dim sum } 

有 [yau] - to have/to exist (equivalent to 있다 or ある)

冇 [moe/moh] - to not have/to not exist (sort of like 없다) (ME: 沒有)

識 [sik] - to know (ME: 認識 or 會) - similar to connaître/conocer

知 [jee/zee] - to know (ME: 知道) - similar to savoir/saber

行 [haang] - to walk (ME: 行 / 走)

去 [hui] - to go

嚟 [lei] - to come (ME: 來)

話 [wa] - to say, to tell (ME: 說)

講 [gong] - to speak (ME: 說/講)

係 [hai] - to be (ME: 是)

開始 [hoi chee] - to start

睇 [tai] - to watch (ME: 看)

鍾意 [jung yee] - to like (ME: 喜歡)

Adjectives/Adverbs

好 [ho] - so (adv.); as in “so loud” or “so dirty” (ME: this word can function the same way in Mandarin, but can also be expressed as 很)

咁 [gum] - so (adv); exact same usage as 好, except 咁 is usually used in questions. (ME: 那麼)

ex: Why is it so difficult? 點解咁難嘅?  It is so difficult. 好難呀。                                                                                    點解 - why, 難 - difficult, 嘅 - question particle, 呀 - statement particle

靚 [leng] - pretty, beautiful (ME: 漂亮)

大 [dai] - big 

細 [sai] - small (ME: 小)

難 [laan] - difficult, hard 

(容)易 [yung yee] - easy, simple (ME: 容易)

多 [daw] - many, much

少 [siu] - few, little

快 [faai] - fast

慢 [maan] - slow

一齊 [yut chai] - together (ME: 一起)

adjective + 少少 or adjective + 啲 [siu siu or dee] - a little bit + adjective (in comparative form) (ME: 一點)

ex: 你可唔可以行快少少呢? [lei haw m haw yee haang faai siu siu leh?]        or 你可唔可以行快啲呢? [lei haw m haw yee haang faai dee leh?]   Can you walk a little bit faster??? (said with extreme frustration) 可唔可以 (lit. can cannot) = question form of can, 行 = to walk, 快 = fast

Conjunctions

同 [tung] - and, with (ME: 跟, 和)

但係 [daan hai] - but (ME: 但是)

所以 [saw yee] - so, that’s why

雖然 [seoi yeen] - although, even though

不過 [but gaw] - but, however

咁 [gum] - so…, well…, then…

Tense Markers

左 [jor/jaw] - expresses past tense/perfect tense (goes after a verb) (ME: 了)

會 [wui] - will + verb; goes before a verb (future tense) 

緊 [gun] - V + ing; goes after a verb (present progressive) (ME: 在+verb)

唔 [m] - not (negates a verb) (ME: 不)

Questions

點解 [deem gai] - why (ME: 為什麼)

邊度 [been doe] - where (ME: (在) 哪裡)

點樣 [deem yeung] - how (ME: 怎麼/怎樣)

邊個 [been gaw] - who (ME: 誰)

邊 + quantifier [been] - which (ME: 哪)

幾時 [gay see] - when (ME: 什麼時候)

幾多 [gay dor/daw] - how many/how much (ME: 多少)

乜 [mut] - what (ME: 什麼)

Time Words

今日 [gum yut] - today (ME: 今天)

聽日 [ting yut] - tomorrow (ME: 明天)

尋日 [chum/kum yut] - yesterday (ME: 昨天)

成日 [sing yut] - always (ME: 總是)

而家 [yee gah] - now (ME: 現在)

啱啱 [ngaam ngaam] - just now (ME: 剛剛)

耐 [noi/loi] - a long time, a while (ME: 久)

好耐冇見 [ho noi/loi mo geen] - lit. long time no see (ME: 好久不見)                         

Since I’m a huge fan of both Disney and languages I thought that this sort of list is not only fun but also quite helpful and might be useful while learning :)

Cantonese

Croatian

Danish

Dutch

English (Auli'i Cravalho/Alessia Cara)

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Icelandic

Indonesian

Italian

Japanese

Korean

Malay

Mandarin (Mainland/Taiwan)

Norwegian

Polish

Portugese (Brazilian/Portugese)

Russian

Serbian

Spanish (Castillan/Latin)

Swedish

Thai

Vietnamese

Recently, I found a really useful Chinese reading resource for learners of all levels. As the name states, it contains a bunch of graded readers split up based on grade level and HSK level. I’ve selected Elementary School Grade 1 (HSK-1), and here’s what it looks like: 

I’ve selected the story 少了一头驴. As you can see, the vocabulary and grammar should be tailored to the grade level, so it’s really useful, especially if you’re studying for the HSK. All the stories include audio, and some of the lower grade levels even have nice background music and sound effects. Some of the higher levels only have Google Translate audio though (even though Google Translate for Mandarin still pretty decent). Here’s the layout of the stories:

There are 3 tabs: Picture Story, Vocabulary and Print. “Picture Story” is just the story itself, and “Vocabulary” is exactly what it sounds like, although not every story has a vocabulary list ready to go. Here’s a snippet of a vocabulary list from another story:

Going back to the story itself: if you hover over the words, you’ll highlight a vocabulary word/phrase and two things will pop up:

If you click on the audio button, the highlighted words will be pronounced, and if you click on the screen looking button, the following will pop up:

This is a really thorough one-on-one analysis of each character. It gives you some common usages of the character (there are several panels of common words; just click on the numbers in the top left), the Pinyin, and the stroke order. 

Pressing the “P” will show the breakdown of the Pinyin and how it’s pronounced:

Pressing the play button will play the stroke order gif, and the rewind button is to restart the gif:

Definitely check out this site for reading practice, I can’t believe I just found out about it. Keep this bookmarked if you’re planning on doing the HSK anytime soon!

Hey, hey !

I don’t know if anyone noticed but the latest post I published contained references and sources. I did so to back up the submission but also help language learners who might need the one or the other resource.

It’s quite some work for me to do but because @liu-anhuaming provided me with useful links for a post, I wanted to introduce this ‘format’.

Do you want to me to continue this ? Have you opened the links given or do you just ignore them ? :D

[Verse 1]

동해 물과 백두산이 마르고 닳도록

Until the day when the East Sea’s waters and

Mt. Baekdu are dry and worn away,

하느님이 보우하사 우리 나라 만세

God protect and preserve us. Long live our nation! (Yay, our country!)

[Chorus]

무궁화 삼천리 화려 강산

Three thousand Li of splendid rivers and mountains, filled with Roses of Sharon;

대한 사람 대한으로 길이 보전하세

Great Korean People, stay true to the Great Korean way

(most public events usually stop here)

[Verse 2]

남산 위에 저 소나무 철갑을 두른 듯

바람서리 불변함은 우리 기상일세

The pine tree atop foremountain stands firmly unchanged under wind

and frost as if wrapped in armour, as is our resilient spirit

[Repeat Chorus]

[Verse 3]

가을 하늘 공활한데 높고 구름 없이

밝은 달은 우리 가슴 일편단심일세

Autumn sky is void and vast, high and cloudless,

the bright moon is our heart, undivided and true.

[Repeat Chorus]

[Verse 4]

이 기상과 이 맘으로 충성을 다하여

괴로우나 즐거우나 나라 사랑하세

With this spirit and this mind, give all loyalty,

in suffering or in joy, love the country.

[Repeat Chorus]

수학 | math

숫자 | numbers 

use sino-korean numbers in math: 일,이,삼

홀수 | odd numbers

짝수 | even numbers

마이너스 | negative

마이너스 백 | -100

더하기 | plus

1 더하기 1은 2 | 1 plus 1 is two

빼기 | minus

4 빼기 1은 3 | 4 minus is 3

곱하기 | times

2 곱하기 2는 4 | 2 times 2 is 4

나누기 | divided by

12 나누기 3은 4 | 12 divided by 3 is 4

이다 | equals

24 더하기 3은 27이에요 | 24 plus 3 equals 27

2 빼기 0은 2다 | 2 minus 0 equals 2

제곱근 | square root

9의 제곱근은 3이다 | the square root of 9 is 3

등식 | equation

함수 | function

공식 | formula

각도 | angle

괄호 | parenthesis 

(소수)점 | (decimal) point

일점사 | 1.4

백분율 | percentage

when saying __%, use 퍼센트 or 프로

25퍼센트/25프로 

나머지 | remainder

16 나머지 3 | 16r3

변수 | variable

해 | value

분수 | fractions

반 | half or ½

사분의 1  (4분의 1) | one fourth, ¼, or 1 over 4

8분의 1 | 1/8

Ok so I’ve noticed a particular phrase get popular recently (at least amongst monbebes) because of something Monsta X’s Minhyuk said in a V Live:

My mouth was bored

Basically this isn’t like a weird phrase he came up with, it’s actually super common! (And we should start using more often in English, too lol)

You know when you’re bored in general and you just want to do something so you start snacking? That’s basically what this means.

The phrase itself is:

입이 심심하다

Hello! 

About me.

My name is Heir, I’m 16-years-old, and I’m a rising junior in high school.  

I’ve started a new langblr in order to motivate myself to learn my many target languages and hopefully be able to document my progress in one place. I’m learning Spanish, Greek, Korean, and Latin, as of right now, but I’d eventually like to be fluent in Dutch, German, Romanian, Russian, Hungarian, Italian, and Portuguese, as well! 

Objective.

This blog will probably consist of vocabulary, notes, grammar, and possibly some bullet journaling depending on how well I motivate myself to actively study and work towards my goals. I’ve also planned out a few challenges and networks to participate in, and they all seem very fun and informative. 

Inspirations.

I’ve had several langblrs motivate and inspire me to start my own:

@lovelybluepanda

@greeklangblr

@greek-langblr

@studykorean4me

@my-little-langblr

@fluentlee

Just to name a few. :)

If you are planning to study at a Korean University then there are some phrases that may be useful for you to know. As you might already know, to study in Korea, you don’t need to speak amazing Korean and therefore, you might get accepted into a language course or an international university without speaking the language. For this reason, I have included some basics that are helpful to know when you come to Korea. This was a requested lesson so I hope that you find it to be useful.

DIRECTIONS

You might need to ask for directions in order to find your way around the university campus so here are some basic phrases that might be good to know.

저기요, 죄송하지만 길 좀 물을게요 - Excuse me? I’m sorry but I’d like to ask you for directions 저를 도와줄 수 있나요? - Can you help me? 보여주실래요? - Can you show me where it is? 영어 할 줄 알아요? - Do you speak English? 저는 길을 잃었어요 - I’m lost

PLACE어디에요? - Where is PLACE? PLACE어떻게 가는지 좀 알려주시겠어요? - How do I get to PLACE? PLACE어느 쪽이에요? - Which way is PLACE?

왼쪽으로 가세요 - Turn left 오른쪽으로 가세요 - Turn right 직진하세요 - Go straight ahead 멀다 - Far 에서 가까이 - Near 전에 - Before 뒤에 - After 사이에 - Between 돌다 - Turn 겉에 - Outside 안에 - Inside

저도 잘 모르겠네요 - I also don’t know 여기서 걸어가기에는 거리가 좀 있어요. 버스 타셔야 될 거예요 - It’s a long way from here, you should take the bus 한강둑의 왼쪽 - On the left bank of the Han River 한강둑의 오른쪽 - On the right bank of the Han River

교통표지판 - Road Sign 교차로 - Intersection 오르막 - Uphill 내리막 - Downhill 일방통행 - One way street

UNIVERSITY-RELATED WORDS

뭐 전공해요? - What do you major in? 선생님 - Teacher 교장 - Principal 급우 - Classmate 학과 - Department 전공 - Major 출석 - Attendance 강의 - Lecture 강당 - Auditorium 수업 - Class 시험 - Exam 졸업 - Graduation

USEFUL CLASSROOM PHRASES

미안합니다. 제가 늦었습니다 - Sorry, I’m late 설명해 주세요 - Please explain 저는 아파요 - I’m sick 숙제를 안해 왔습니다 - I haven’t done my homework 질문해도 되나요? - Can I ask you a question? 맞았습니까? - Is it correct? 화장 실에 가도 되나요? - May I go to the bathroom? 시험이 우리에게 있습니까? - Do we have a test? 나는 우리가 친구가 될 수 있기를 바란다 - I hope we can be friends

I came across this series on youtube and thought it would be nice to make a post with links to these videos. Basically there is always a model speaking some phrases in her mother tongue. Enjoy :) 

Japanese - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0hVrjD5HcI

Mandarin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKOpjRElEEM

Danish - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5iVsdPeOO0

French - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8CNpNUKoQA

Polish - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbcQ8eD_mpc

Portuguese - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrZJKwkMS_k

Hungarian - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08pt5jzyD9Y