#lanugage

Literally MISUSE: Often used for emphasis in a way that is not strictly accurate or true. TRUE MEANING: In a strict sense; exactly as stated.

Irony MISUSE: Frequently used to describe a funny/coincidental situation. TRUE MEANING: A state of affairs/event deliberately contrary to what one expects, often with a humorous or sarcastic tone.

Peruse MISUSE: Often used to mean a quick or casual glance. TRUE MEANING: To read or examine carefully & thoroughly.

Disinterested MISUSE: Often used interchangeably with "uninterested." TRUE MEANING: Not convinced by, or unbiased to, personal interest or gain.

So, i know that in english you guys have reclaimed a bunch of slurs, and that it's okay to use them when you are part of the group, like queer

So, in spanish there are two words, joto y marica, and they've been used against gay people, and they're not really reclaimed

The thing is, that a tiny bit of queer people feel fine using it and joking, but a ton of allocishets still use it to reffer to gay people, and not in a nice way really

The point, i share class with a bunch of allocishets that are maybe a bit too comfortable using "jotos", and while my pan and gay friends don't seem taken back for it, i feel uncomfortable with the word, but it's not even a slur against me, it' used just for people that like others of the same gender and aaaaa

I started teaching myself how to speak Spanish very seriously around four years ago but also tried French, Russian, German, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, and Arabic as little hobbies here and there just to try something new. Although I am by no means fluent in any of the languages I have listed (Spanish being the only exception), I learned some very valuable things over my many years of language learning. “What is the best study method?” etc. But one question that I often get asked a lot and a question that I used to ask myself was “what is the hardest part of learning a language?”

Some would say it is memorization. Some would say it is speaking, or writing, or reading in a foreign language. Conjugation, maybe? Learning slang, perhaps. But all of those things we can work around easily, it just requires changing our habits. But that being hard says more about ourselves than it does about foreign languages.

In my opinion, the hardest part of learning a language is unlearning your native language. That may sound weird, but stick with me. While learning all of those languages, I would also be confused by translations. I would type in a target language exactly word for word as I would in english, but that is not how it works. The biggest mistake new learners can make is constantly comparing their target language to their native tongue. To get the most out of language learning, we have to detach our preconceived thoughts that all languages will follow the framework of English or your native tongue from your target language. 

The best thing you can do early on in the process is to learn the language without English/native influence. Learn the grammar from scratch, do not just assume. I feel like it is all too common to see vocabulary as more important that grammar and structure. Also consider phrases and interjections. I was having a conversation with another English learning Spanish person and I said “Que cojones?” which means “What the f*ck?” He thought I was saying something that was not really SFW, all because of a direct translation.

what I already am thinking about is my gratitude for language— how it will stretch just so much and no farther;

how there are some holes it will not cover up; how it will move, if not inside, then around the circumference of almost anything—

how, over the years, it has given me back all the hours and days, all the plodding love and faith, all the

misunderstandings and secrets I have willingly poured into it.

I am trying to imagine language without light, as though I wanted to understand how things were before language, when, deep in the throat, syllables and vowels were not yet organized and it was necessary to tilt one’s head back to allow sounds to fly through the open air, terrifying, guttural or strident. 

A post about how to say pineapple in different languages had a bunch of people commenting on it saying

"it's NOT pineapple, it's PINEAPPLE!"