#sprachen

Today was another day at school with a focus on vocabulary picking up. I had two classes today in English so there was fewer in German to learn. Nevertheless I had my German class which is always the best opportunity for me to grind out grammar and vocabulary. Here's some of what I learned today. 

der Schwärmer — A dreamer/Enthusiast 

Zottig — Unkempt/Hairy/Shaggy 

Replizieren — To replicate

Nachbilden — To replicate/recreate/clone/

Zänkisch — Quarrelsome 

Streitsüchtig — Quarrelsome/Always seeking out fights (süchtig means addicted and streit comes from Streiten which means to fight or argue ;)  

Diskussionsfreudig — Argumentative/Always seeking to debate 

Ehrgeizig — Ambitious 

der Speichellecker — Bootlicker (Warning this is a very insulting word) 

Auszehren — To emaciate/weaken 

As you can see, lots of words related to fighting. I was playing a synonym game with myself which caused me to learn lots of words that relate to the same thing. 

Es gibt etwa 7000 unterschiedliche Sprachen auf der Welt und unzählige Dialekte. Nach dieser Theorie gibt es nur 5 Weltsprachen: Englisch, Spanisch, Französisch, Arabisch und Portugiesisch. Aramäisch gilt mit 3000 Jahren als die älteste noch heute gesprochene Sprache. Auch Altgriechisch kann sich mit 2800 Jahren sehen lassen. Doch neuesten Erkenntnissen zufolge hat die älteste noch heute gesprochene Sprache noch weit mehr Lenze auf dem Buckel als bislang bekannt. Baskisch - Europas älteste Sprache.

Die UNESCO hat eine Liste der zehn am schwersten zu lernenden Sprachen aufgestellt:

Real Academia Española

Königlich Spanische Akademie

Was die Duden-Redaktion für die Deutschen ist, das ist die Real Academia Española | Königlich Spanische Akademie für die Spanier. Sie wurde am 3. August 1713 gegründet - der erste Duden erschein 163 Jahre später -, ist also just heute 306 Jahre alt geworden und noch immer die maßgebliche Institution für die Pflege der spanischen Sprache.

Das Motto der Akademie lautet “limpia, fija y da esplendor” | “reinigt, legt fest und verleiht Glanz”, könnte also recht gut zu einem “Meister Proper” der Sprachsäuberung gehören? Spanier nennen die Institution übrigens oft la Real Academia de la Lengua | die Königliche Sprachakademie, oder einfach “la RAE”.

Hey hey~

Now one thing that has saved soooo much time is getting creative with how I use apps - you know , the regular - Quizlet, Duolingo, etc. 

All very useful! But one thing that gets neglected is the sheer amount of apps that can help you in your day to day browsing and help you emulate that sweet sweet immersion that will help you in your language learning journey. 

Travelling to a country that speaks your target language isn’t always possible, and especially so during the Covid pandemic. 

I especially recommend these if you are stuck at a plateau ( but these are also useful for beginners!), mainly because switching up your language learning style to something less regimented can help you break through it!

Let’s get started~

1 - The pop up dictionary for your language 

For me, I use Japanese IO for Japanese, Arabic dictionary for Arabic, and Leo dictionary widget for German. 

How I use them - these are great because it means you can look up vocabulary as you go, making more difficult websites and articles easier to navigate in your target language. I use it to read articles in my target language and it helps me grow my vocab Some show definitions when you hover over , but I prefer the ones where you have to highlight the word first and then click to see the definition - it’s really easy to over rely on these tools, so I don’t want it to be too easy! 

use it in conjunction with the Google Notes widget!

Google notes is a simple note-taking app - more for todo lists than any serious notes, but what I do is make notes of the words I’ve had to look up, or about the text I’m reading, making them easy to keep in one place. Alternatively, if you use Anki, you can use them with the following widget - 

2 - Anki Quick Adder

This is a simple easy tool to add new flashcards to your Anki decks via your browser! I’ve only just started using this but it has made adding new words to my vocab list seamless. I have a seperate deck for German vocab I come across when reading news/articles/short stories online so I can revise the words that usually I would skip over. 

I don’t know about you but one of the main things that puts me off reading in my target language is having to look up words , which interrupts my focus and reading flow. With these two tools together, it becomes easier not only to read, but also put away vocabulary to revise later so that I am actively learning and not just passively reading a text!

3 - Learn with Netflix

Calling all binge-watchers! This add-on is perfect if you love watching shows in your target language, and is a great way to make that passive learning a bit more active! It shows two different subtitles - one in the target language and one in your native language (optional) as well as having a pop up dictionary. This is a great way to work on your listening comprehension and learn more everyday language - slang, expressions etc. can really be built by listening to native speakers speak! 

This is also great for beginners, as you don’t have to sacrifice your understanding to get something out - even just hearing the native speaker , seeing the target language subtitles alongside with its translation in your native language will help you build connections between words and phrases. 

All of these help create an environment where you are interacting with your target language regularly, which is as close to immersion as you can get when you are stuck at home! Of course, it is no substitute to real life interaction with native speakers, but that’s a whole other article. In the meantime, the above apps are going to help you level up! 

Kandiert - Candied

Cremig - Creamy

Knusprig - Crunchy

Exquisit - Exquisite

Fluffig - Fluffy

Fruchtig - Fruity

Milchig - Milky

Herzhaft - Savory

Süß - Sweet

die Bäckerei - Bakery

das Verlangen - Craving

das Gebäck - Pastry

die Seidigkeit - Silkiness

der Leckerbissen - Treat

das Backpulver - Baking powder

der Brownie - Brownie

der Kuchen - Cake

die Süßigkeiten - Candy

das Karamell - Caramel

der Keks - Cookie

der Doughnut - Doughnut

das Eis - Ice cream

der Milchshake - Milkshake

die Schokolade - Chocolate

die Mousse  - Mousse

die Vanille - Vanilla

Backen - to Bake

Dekorieren - to Decorate