uhhhhhh

August 2015

October 2016

April 2017

July 2017

September 2018

December 2018

June 2019

February 2020

August 2020

August 2015

October 2016

April 2017

July 2017

September 2018

December 2018

June 2019

February 2020

August 2020

August 2015

October 2016

April 2017

July 2017

September 2018

December 2018

June 2019

February 2020

August 2020

Listen to music in that language. Listening to music in the language you are trying to learn surrounds you in the language and helps you develop a sense of how it sounds.

Watch TV and movies in that language. Listening to people have actual conversations in the language can help give you an idea of how it works. I recommend watching variety shows and children shows because the language is normally very basic. Plus, variety shows normally have certain words and phrases on the screen.

Use flash cards and take quizzes frequently. This helps you stay sharp with things you really need to know and remember. I personally don’t like flash cards, but when it comes to learning vocabulary, it can be a big help.

Practice writing and spelling. You can do this by writing daily in a journal. This can also help with forming your own sentences. Simply write about things like what you ate or what you did, or your thoughts in general. The more you write, the more comfortable you will be forming your own sentences.

Try speaking in the language whenever you get a chance. Do it with a friend who’s also learning or someone who already speaks the language. If you can’t do either one of those, you can practice by talking to yourself or an assistant on your phone. There are also apps such as hellotalk or kakao where you can talk to people. ALWAYS BE CAREFUL WHEN TALKING TO STRANGERS!!!

Learn words and phrases that you find yourself using often. Don’t try to learn advanced phrases and terms that you don’t use on an everyday basis. You may think it’s helping you, but it’s actually setting you back.

Learn more about the culture that surrounds the language. When you learn more about the culture, you will understand why certain things are said in certain situations. Understanding the culture = Understanding the language

Master the alphabet + pronunciation. Before you learn any sort of vocabulary or sentence forms, fully understanding the alphabet and each letter’s pronunciation is a MUST! In every language, there are those letters’ sounds that change depending on certain factors.

Master sentence structure. Sentence structure is a big problem that many people face when first learning a language. Chances are the sentence structure of the language you’re learning is the complete opposite from your own. (Unless you speak English and are learning Chinese; vice versa)

Become familiar with the keyboard. You will probably find yourself typing in the language often, so you might as well learn the keyboard. I recommend downloading a keyboard on your phone from the play store or app store.

Practice daily. When you do this, you’re bound to remember the information better. If you don’t and you stop studying for too long, there’s a high chance that you’ll forget some of the basics. I would know. It’s happened to me before.

So let’s say you’re in the same boat I am (this is a running theme, have you noticed?) and you’ve just got, like, SO MUCH STUFF that HAS to get done YESTERDAY or you will DIE (or fail/get fired/mope). Everything needs to be done yesterday, you’re sick, and for whatever reason you are focusing on the least important stuff first. What to do!

Take a deep breath, because this is a boot camp in prioritization.

Make a 3 by 4 grid. Make it pretty big. The line above your top row goes like this: Due YESTERDAY - due TOMORROW - due LATER. Along the side, write: Takes 5 min - Takes 30 min - Takes hours - Takes DAYS.

Divide ALL your tasks into one of these squares, based on how much work you still have to do. A thank you note for a present you received two weeks ago? That takes 5 minutes and was due YESTERDAY. Put it in that square. A five page paper that’s due tomorrow? That takes an hour/hours, place it appropriately. Tomorrow’s speech you just need to rehearse? Half an hour, due TOMORROW. Do the same for ALL of your tasks

Your priority goes like this:

5 minutes due YESTERDAY

5 minutes due TOMORROW

Half-hour due YESTERDAY

Half-hour due TOMORROW

Hours due YESTERDAY

Hours due TOMORROW

5 minutes due LATER

Half-hour due LATER

Hours due LATER

DAYS due YESTERDAY

DAYS due TOMORROW

DAYS due LATER

At this point you just go down the list in each section. If something feels especially urgent, for whatever reason - a certain professor is hounding you, you’re especially worried about that speech, whatever - you can bump that up to the top of the entire list. However, going through the list like this is what I find most efficient.

Some people do like to save the 5 minute tasks for kind of a break between longer-running tasks. If that’s what you want to try, go for it! You’re the one studying here.

So that’s how to prioritize. Now, how to actually do shit? That’s where the 20/10 method comes in. It’s simple: do stuff like a stuff-doing FIEND for 20 minutes, then take a ten minute break and do whatever you want. Repeat ad infinitum. It’s how I’ve gotten through my to do list, concussed and everything.

August 2015

October 2016

April 2017

July 2017

September 2018

December 2018

June 2019

February 2020

August 2020

How does a linguist wish someone a joyful Dec 25th? Merry/Mary/marry Christmas!

What are Father Christmas’s linguist sisters and daughters called? Relative Clauses 

What does a linguist say when Santa just won’t leave you alone? He’s lost the stalking/stocking distinction

What is a distinctive feature of the Christmas phonology of non-native English speakers? No-dark-el 

What presents did the three wise linguists bring? Goal, epenthesis, and merge

What do linguists do under mistletoe? Make quadrilabial clicks 

What is a minty treat that linguists consume around Christmastime? Chomsky canes 

Which carrot-nosed entity came to life in a particularly strident fashion? Fricative the snowman

Who is a grammatical but unattested candidate for pulling a linguist’s sleigh? Rudolph the colourless-green-nosed reindeer 

me:

Avengergram

Instead of studying for finals, I did this because that new Captain Marvel poster is beeeeautiful.

Give this a like on Instagram!