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Main blog @h0neyfreak Learning Italian (A2) Levantine Arabic (A1) and MSA Arabic (A2)
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55 days of vocabulary challenge
[ original post reblogged here ]
Day Thirteen - Easter
l’uovo di Pasqua - Easter Egg
le uova di cioccolato - chocolate eggs
il coniglio pasquale - Easter bunny
l’agnello - lamb
la colomba - dove
la Resurrezione - Resurrection
il mercoledì delle ceneri - Ash Wednesday
il venerdì Santo - Good Friday
la Pasquetta, il lunedì di Pasqua - Easter Monday
il digiuno - fast, Lent
la Quaresima - Lent, Lenten
il fioretto - a resolution/small sacrifice
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All told, there are more endangered languages in and around New York City than have ever existed anywhere else, says Perlin, who has spent 11 years trying to document them. And because most of the world’s languages are on a path to disappear within the next century, there will likely never be this many in any single place again.
[...]Since their project began, Perlin and Kaufman have located speakers of more than 700 languages. Of those languages, at least 150 are listed as under significant threat in at least one of three major databases for the field. Perlin and Kaufman consider that figure to be conservative, and Perlin estimates that more than half of the languages they documented may be endangered.
[...] A language’s endangerment is not simply a function of its size but also a measure of its relationship to the societies around it. Sheer numbers “have always mattered less than intergenerational transmission,” Perlin writes in “Language City.” Until recently, in many regions of the world, dozens of languages lived side by side, each with no more than a few thousand speakers. Gurr-goni, an Aboriginal Australian language, had long been stable with 70. A language survives, Perlin writes, by sharing life with those who speak it: “Only in the face of intense political, economic, religious or social pressures do people stop passing on their mother tongues to children.”
[...]Perlin studies languages for what they communicate both explicitly and indirectly. A language’s lexicon is not “just one word after another,” he writes in “Language City,” but a representation of the enduring preoccupations of a culture. Its rules of grammar are held together by invisible selections of what will be conveyed and what will be overlooked. It “requires speakers to mark out certain parts of reality and not others, however unconsciously.”
[...]Still, Perlin and Kaufman are keenly aware that the corpus they are building — word by word and sometimes syllable by syllable — might someday turn out to be a kind of fossil record.
Outside of the office, Gurung mostly speaks Seke in voice notes to elders overseas or to tell her mother a secret she doesn’t want her sister to hear. On her first trip to Nepal with E.L.A., she ended every interview with the same question: “Do you think our language will survive?”
click through for maps of where these languages are spoken in nyc and short audio recordings of native speakers
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It’s definitely listed several times over on the linked sources (and around the internet) but I really can’t recommend Madinah Arabic enough! It’s one of those “I can’t believe this is free” type things.
I wanna learn Arabic so bad 🥹🥹 does anyone have good resources?
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Mango v. LingQ v. Anki
I’ve been using the above apps for a while now and I couldn’t find a ton of somewhat easy to understand comparisons/explanations of how to use these various cult favorites. I figured I would make one if anyone is wondering where to start or making a departure from Duolingo.
Standard langblr disclaimer: I am ultimately just a person on the internet, I’m not an expert in language learning or a world renowned polyglot. I’m not even an expert in any of these apps/programs. These are all just thoughts and opinions I have about the value of each app to myself as an average consumer trying to learn a language and intended to help other people decide where to spend their time.
Anki
Anki is an open source spaced repetition flashcard program. It has an incredibly loyal fan base of med students and people who just want to learn things. This is also the one I have the least experience with so I recommend diving into forums and other blogs who go in depth on all the ways you can use this program. The web version is completely free and there is an official paid mobile app. There are also unofficial paid apps, this is the source of great drama and discourse and I’m not touching that here. Spaced repetition essentially means that the program will present you with cards at intervals designed to maximize your retention. When you flip over a card, you have four options that boil down to: fail, hard, good, easy. This is how the program determines what to show you and when.
Key Features:
The main draw is obviously the spaced repetition system. It’s much easier and more effective than sorting manually.
Because it’s open source, there is a way to customize the settings and cards to do basically whatever you want. There are also tons of premade decks to import and either use as-is or use as a base.
The online web version is completely free.
You can add really any media type to the cards. You can add sound clips of pronunciations, images, even drawings and diagrams.
Having the four options is particularly useful for the nuances of learning a language. For example, for general vocabulary decks I’ll assign one “point” to general meaning, tense/part of speech, and pronunciation. Getting the general meaning but not the other two means I select “hard” when I flip the card.
Best uses:
Vocab or learning a new alphabet. Specifically for drilling any of those “slippery” words. I don’t know if this happens to anyone else, but there are some vocab words that just refuse to stick with me. I’ve found the Anki SRS does help pin them down.
Potential downsides:
While there are decks to import, there could always be errors that you won’t catch just seeing single vocab words with no context.
The available customization is labor intensive.
The UI for the official app and web version isn’t super slick and intuitive.
Even the best flashcards are ultimately just flashcards and have limits to their usefulness.
Mango
Mango is similar to Babbel or other programs that focus on speaking (and doing so quickly). I much prefer Mango to Babbel or any other similar app and find that it does what it says it will. Languages are split into units. Each unit has chapters and each chapter has lessons. A lesson will start with an optional pre quiz and a brief recording of a conversation that you will be able to follow by the end of the lesson. Each lesson concludes with a listening and reading quiz. It also utilizes spaced repetition and gives you daily flashcards to review.
You learn based on phrases rather than individual words. A long sentence will be presented in its entirety. The lesson will then go through each word individually before combining them into phrases and, finally, the full sentence from the start. Then you will learn vocabulary needed for variations. The activities are fairly standard for a language app: speaking, listening, multiple choice. You can also turn off the interactive feature and have the lesson run as a “speak and repeat” style podcast. It tracks the hours you’ve spent learning a language and there is an activity log, but no in depth stats.
Key features:
It is focused on speaking immediately.
Has a ton of languages and several dialects for those languages.
Focuses on phrases and patterns that are most useful if traveling or having brief, friendly interactions.
Presents information in a digestible way and isn’t overwhelming.
Includes culture and grammar notes.
$12.99 a month but most public libraries and schools give you free access. You can also set up a household account for multiple people and split the cost with friends/family.
The first lesson of any language is free, and some rare and indigenous languages are completely free to access.
Audio is native speakers. When you record yourself, your vocal wave pattern appears that you can compare with the native speaker.
Best uses:
If you are traveling soon and want to navigate basic, friendly interactions, this will get you there quick. Within 1-3 months easily, depending on the language and how often you practice.
I also recommend this as a starting place when you are totally new to a language or to learning a language in general. The structure is excellent for getting a feel for things.
This is also great if you studied a language previously and need to refresh your memory or get back into it.
Potential downsides:
The “record yourself” feature is fairly buggy and often freezes up. It can also be annoying to try and match the timing of the native speaker, but you don’t have to record audio to progress past those lesson points so it isn’t too much of an inconvenience.
It isn’t meant for total fluency. As stated, the lessons (at least that I have done) are focused on speaking while traveling and making small talk. Some of the early lessons teach you to say “sorry, I don’t speak [x]”. Which is very useful if going abroad soon, but less so if you would rather just be able to speak that language.
The regimented nature can make it feel slow/too easy if you are also using other methods.
The review flashcards only have a binary “yes/no” option which feels annoying for longer phrases or after using Anki-style cards.
With any course like this, you aren’t going to have much choice in the vocab you learn or prioritizing topics.
LingQ
I am honestly surprised I don’t see more about this. I think they have been making a bunch of updates recently so maybe the version I’m using is miles above previous ones, but it is shockingly powerful. It’s also the hardest to explain (which may be why I don’t see much written about it and why this is going to be a long section.) LingQ (pronounced “link”) operates on a hybrid comprehensible/massive input model. While Anki prioritizes memorization and Mango priorities speaking, LingQ focuses on comprehension and listening. LingQ is comprised of courses which are made up of lessons. There are pre-built courses made by LingQ but the real goal is to make your own (more on that later).
Each lesson within a course has an audio recording and a written transcript. Words you haven’t seen before are highlighted blue (when you start, that’s every word). You click the word to see the definition and assign it one of 5 statuses: ignore, new, recognized, familiar, learned, or known. “Ignore” is used for things like names or borrowed words, they won’t be counted in your stats. “Known” is for words you knew before seeing them. You likely won’t have any of these if you’re starting a new language with no prior experience. Levels 1-3 highlight the word yellow and it becomes a LingQ. You can create a LingQq using as many words as you want. You can manually change the status of a word when you see it. You can also do various review activities similar to Mango, and if you get a word right twice in a row it will automatically bump up a level. You can always adjust it back down if needed. LingQ is very focused on the value of listening to a language. You can add lessons to playlists and listen to them like a podcast.
My personal favorite part of LingQ is the ability to import lessons. Especially YouTube videos. The site has a browser extension that will import any content in your target language into a lesson as an embedded item. You can then read/listen to/watch that content right in the app and get “credit” for it. LingQ’s statistics are some of the coolest/most motivating I’ve seen. You get coins for completing tasks but those are really just to see a number get bigger. It also tracks the words you’ve read, how many words you know, the hours listened, and speaking/writing if you utilize their tutor marketplace or writing forum.
The free trial is very limited but it’s enough to poke around and get a feel for things before signing up, not necessarily to learn anything substantial. The monthly membership is $12.95 and there’s a $199 lifetime option as well. I definitely recommend spending some time playing around at the free level and then upping to monthly if you like it.
Key features:
The ability to import lessons. It will also create a simplified version of shorter content. This is an AI generated summary of whatever you’ve imported. I use this for videos where natural speaking cadence can make it hard to parse things sometimes. It’s easier/more productive if I know generally what’s going on.
The creation of LingQs. I just think it’s a really cool and useful way to approach comprehensible input. You can visually see the yellow fading as you understand more and more of a lesson.
You can export LingQs to Anki (theoretically). I’ve never done this myself and I’ve seen some forum posts saying it doesn’t work super well all the time but it is a built in feature.
In-depth stats tracking and the ability to consume all the content easily in app. The stats would be annoying if it wasn’t literally easier to watch a video via LingQ than on YouTube.
Community features. There are community challenges (like Duolingo) but also a forum to submit writing that will be corrected by native speakers and a marketplace of tutors to easily sign up for speaking lessons. The forum is free and volunteer based, but scrolling through I didn’t see anyone who didn’t have at least one reply. The tutors are paid at an hourly rate and you can also pay by the word to have them correct written work.
Super flexible. There really isn’t any one right way to use this app so you can structure it however you like and set your own goals/metrics.
Playlists and focus on listening. It really does help to constantly be immersed in what a language sounds like, and being able to read and listen to the same thing has been so nice.
Actually decently helpful emails and not just spam.
Best for:
Hardcore language learners. The app/site provides some guidance on how to get started and the basic idea, but you’ll need to play around with it and spend some time reading forum posts or the emails they send to find what works for you.
Getting to higher levels of fluency after maxing out other apps/self study methods.
People looking to spend a lot of time on language learning because they enjoy it. This isn’t snarky, but there’s a difference between wanting or needing to learn Spanish to communicate at work or on vacation and just really enjoying learning languages. This is an app for language nerds.
Potential downsides:
Very overwhelming. They technically say you can jump right in with 0 knowledge of a language and be good to go, but I think it would be hard to make a lot of progress unless you’ve learned other languages before. If you’re looking to learn a new language for the first time, I recommend starting with Mango to get your bearings.
Doesn’t teach new alphabets. This isn’t a huge issue for Mango since it’s speaking focused, but I wouldn’t jump into Arabic or Russian on LingQ without spending some time learning the alphabet with other methods.
User generated definitions. This is a double edged sword. The definitions being linked to sites like Globse can lead to wrong definitions, but because you’re seeing things in context it’s easier to catch. And looking into what a phrase means is a great way to learn if you are really into languages.
The import feature isn’t 100% perfect when it comes to videos. It will only create a transcript when the video has captions enabled or a transcript provided, otherwise it just shows up as an audio file. It will also sometimes randomly just not be able to import a video which can be annoying, but in the grand scheme of things these are very minor annoyances.
Time commitment. The method doesn’t require a ton of actively sitting down and reviewing vocab or reading new words, but it does assume that you’ll swap out listening to music or podcasts while going about your day with listening to content in your target language. This is all well and good unless you really enjoy listening to specific content while doing tasks or need help not getting distracted. It’s going to be a lot of incomprehensible noise for a while before you can parse it. This might not be a downside as much as something to keep in mind when considering how effective it’s going to be for you.
Not as active of a community. Maybe it’s just for my particular languages, but there definitely aren’t a ton of people actively doing things like challenges. This really doesn’t matter much to me but it could be a bummer if you’re looking for that.
tl;dr just tell me how to learn things
If you need to learn a new alphabet, start with that. Otherwise, Mango to get your bearings, Anki to add to your vocab as you get bored with Mango, and LingQ to realistically get “fluent”. Then start writing and speaking either using tutors or people you know or local language groups.
#mine#long post#ref#reference#review#language apps#language resources#langblr resources#language learning#resources#arabic langblr#langblr#mango app#lingq#anki#studyblr#language app review#app review#flashcards#language#italian langblr#duolingo
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🇮🇹 I saluti 🇺🇸 Greetings
Ciao: Hi/Bye (Informal)
Salve: Hello (formal)
Buongiorno: Good morning
Buon pomeriggio: Good afternoon
Buonasera: Good evening/night (after 6 p.m/18hrs)
Buonnanotte: Good night (farewell)
Come sta?: How are you (formal)
Come stai?: How are you (informal)
Come state?: How are you? (plural)
Come va?: How’s it going?
(Va) Tutto bene?: Is everything going well?
Tutto a posto?: Everything okay?
Come butta?: What’s up? (slang)
Comme vanno le cose?: How things are going?
Sto bene: I’m good
Tutto bene: It’s all good
Così così: So-so
Non c’è male: Not that bad
Come ti chiami?: What’s your name?
Mi chiamo: My name is
Sono: I am
E tu?: And you?
Quanti anni hai?: How old are you?
Ho ____ anni: I’m _____ years old.
Da dove vieni?: Where you come from?
Vengo da… : I’m come from…
Di dove sei?: Where are you from?
Io sono di: I’m from…
Cosa fai nella vita?: What do you do in life/for living?
Mi occupo di: I work on…
Mi dedico a: I dedicate myself to…
Che cosa ti piace fare?: What do you like to do?
Mi piace…: I like…
Quali sono i tuoi hobby?: What are your hobbies?
Miei hobby sono…: My hobbies are…
Piacere di conoscerti: Nice to meet you
Anche me / Anch'io: Me too
il piacere è mio / Piacere mio: The pleasure is mine / My pleasure
A presto: See you soon
Ci vediamo dopo: I’ll see you later
Arrivederci: Goodbye (formal)
Photo by Simona Sergi on Unsplash
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Booking flights/hotels/activities: 🥰🥰💋🥳🥳🎉🎊🍾
Actually spending the hour a day studying so I can be somewhat able to speak Italian by October: 😟😱😬😦😦😦🫣
#mine#this is like the lamest post ever but I really am struggling#not with the content. I love studying Italian. it’s just remembering to do it#and having the time for it
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Hey if you're someone with a speech impediment and want to learn another language but feel discouraged by not being able to pronounce it perfectly, Don't.
Allow yourself to learn another language. Even if you can't speak it fluently or perfectly, allow yourself to learn it.
You're allowed to not be fluent. You're allowed to have a speech impediment in multiple languages.
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I was practicing writing Arabic on the plane without wifi because I am a very nervous flyer and it kept my brain busy. And having to write without being able to check my work or go beyond my 6 pages of vocab lists was honestly incredible. New favorite way to spend time with my fav language. I love love love my Arabic professor and she was wonderful but the general structure of classes with grades (and my desire to get 112% on all things at all times because I was a gremlin applying to law school) made me obsess over every little thing and this was a good way to snap out of it.
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Autunno - vocab
Autumn : L’ AUTUNNO
Blanket : LA COPERTA
Leaf : LA FOGLIA - leaves : LE FOGLIE
Rain : LA PIOGGIA
Raincoat : L’IMPERMEABILE
Umbrella : L’OMBRELLO
Wind : IL VENTO
Scarf : LA SCIARPA
Storm : LA TEMPESTA / BUFERA
Cold (n.) : IL FREDDO
Warm (adj.) : TIEPIDO
To bundle up : INFAGOTTARSI / COPRIRSI
Hot chocolate : LA CIOCCOLATA CALDA
Whipped cream : LA PANNA MONTATA
Chestnut : LA CASTAGNA
Hazelnut : LA NOCCIOLA
Corn mush : LA POLENTA
Pumpkin : LA ZUCCA - pumpkins : LE ZUCCHE
Sweets : LE CARAMELLE / I DOLCI
Halloween : HALLOWEEN
Trick or treat : DOLCETTO O SCHERZETTO (literally: little sweet or little joke)
Horror film / movie : IL FILM DELL’ORRORE / FILM HORROR
Costume : IL COSTUME / LA MASCHERA
Cobweb / spiderweb : LA RAGNATELA
Ghost : IL FANTASMA
Monster : IL MOSTRO
Zombie : LO ZOMBIE
Lycanthrope : IL LICANTROPO ( Werewolf : IL LUPO MANNARO )
Vampire : IL VAMPIRO
Bat : IL PIPISTRELLO
Skeleton : LO SCHELETRO
Coffin : LA BARA
Dust : LA POLVERE
Spider : IL RAGNO
Scarecrow : LO SPAVENTAPASSERI
Witch : LA STREGA
Witchcraft : LA STREGONERIA
To dress up : ADDOBBARE / ORNARE (place); TRAVESTIRSI / MASCHERARSI (person)
To haunt : PERSEGUITARE
To scare : SPAVENTARE / FARE PAURA
Haunted : INFESTATO (place)
Scared : SPAVENTATO
Scare / fear (n.) : LO SPAVENTO / LA PAURA
Creepy : PAUROSO / SPAVENTOSO
Dark (adj.) : BUIO / SCURO
Dark (n.) / darkness : : IL BUIO / L’OSCURITA’
[insp. x]
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55 days of vocabulary challenge
[ original post reblogged here ]
Day Forty two - Autumn
falling leaves - le foglie cadenti/che cadono
a cup of warm tea - una tazza di tè caldo
rain - la pioggia
umbrella - l’ombrello
Halloween - Halloween
trick or treat - dolcetto o scherzetto
mosnter - il mostro
vampire - il vampiro
skeleton - lo scheletro
pumpkin - la zucca
harvest - il raccolto
mist - la foschia
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'learning a second language delays the onset of dementia by a couple of years' ok fine, but learning a tenth one?????
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Halloween Italian Vocabulary
(tw: "fake blood" and "candies/sweets" translation)
-English alphabetical order-
alien - l'alieno, l'extraterrestre
bat - il pipistrello
black cat - il gatto nero
broom - la scopa
candie, sweets - le caramelle, i dolci, i dolciumi
candy bag - il sacchetto dei dolci / dei dolciumi
cauldron - il calderone
coffin - la bara
convict - il galeotto
costume - il costume
devil - il diavolo
Dracula - Dracula
evil fairy - la fata cattiva
fake blood - il sangue finto
fangs - le zanne
Frankenstein - Frankenstein
ghost - il fantasma, lo spettro
gravestone, tombstone - la pietra tombale, la lapide
graveyard, cemetery - il cimitero
Halloween - Halloween
haunted house - la casa infestata
horror movie - il film dell'orrore, il film horror
jack-o'-lantern - la zucca di Halloween
mask - la maschera
monster - il mostro
mummy - la mummia
night - la notte
owl - il gufo
pirate - il pirata
potion - la pozione
pumpkin - la zucca
scarecrow - lo spaventapasseri
skeleton - lo scheletro
skull - il teschio
spider - il ragno
spiderweb, cobweb - la ragnatela
trick or treat - dolcetto o scherzetto
tree - l'albero, la pianta
vampire - il vampiro
werewolf - il lupo mannaro
witch - la strega
witch hat - il cappello da strega
wizard - lo stregone, il mago
zombie - lo zombie
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Practicing the Arabic Alphabet
I honestly lucked out so much taking Arabic in college and learning basic MSA reading/writing/grammar from an excellent professor but I’m gonna compile the most useful things we did in class here to help people learning on their own (this isn’t focused on resources, just strategies, might do a separate post with worksheets and videos but they’re pretty easy to find):
Get the alphabet in front of you. We had a packet with a page for every letter with the letter written in the three positions, pronunciations, names, and lines to trace and write like 100 times. And then a page with all the diacritics. These sheets abound for free online. Make yourself an alphabet packet. Watch copious videos/listen to recordings going over the letters and how they sound. Repeat it back. Work in chunks and don’t move to the next set until you can recognize and write the current set.
Tracing! Learn to write the letters right to left and with the proper order from day one. This sounds obvious but people in my class were still drawing letters left to right as isolated shapes next to each other so idk maybe it’s not. Having nice handwriting in Arabic is both satisfying and absurdly helpful. Learn how the letters connect. Spend more time than you think is necessary on this.
Write English words and sentences phonetically using diacritics and Arabic letters. Do not worry about translation and spelling. Just make the connection between shape -> sound. Use anything you have. Lists of names, entire pages from books and magazines, texts from friends, menus. Literally anything. Work through how to make those words with the new alphabet. You will learn a surprising amount about the language and pronunciation by doing this. How do you translate sounds that don’t exist? What about multiple sounds where English only has one? Read it back with the accent.
Transcribe English phonetically. Same as above but do it without the English in front of you and just listening. Make that voice to visual connection.
Hand write word lists once you get to vocab. Then type them on your laptop and phone (if you want to be able to type in Arabic, also highly recommend a keyboard cover with the letters next to the Latin alphabet). Copy all the diacritics even though that’s not necessarily how native speakers do it. I have a notebook that looks like it belongs to lunatic toddler because it just has the same words and snippets written over and over again lmao.
Finally, transcribe Arabic. If you can use something with a transcript or captions to check your work even better! But don’t check for perfect spelling, check you used mostly the right letters and marks. You will definitely smash some words together and miss a silent or elided letter or something but try and hear the difference between ع and ا or ق and ك etc. The more sources you use the better.
We did this for one full semester of 50 minute classes 3 times a week while sprinkling in some basic vocab towards the second half. It felt like forever at the time but I never lost my ability to phonetically read and write in Arabic despite 4 years of complete non-use while living in America in an area without any significant Arabic-speaking population or language presence. It is absolutely CHISELED into my brain.
#arabic langblr#learning arabic#ref#reference#langblr resources#langblr#language lessons#language resources#language learning#mine
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Bilingual Online Libraries
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I used to be so mad at my past self for never learning to roll my Rs but now that I’m actually doing it….there’s no way my teenage self would’ve survived the embarrassment. This is something I really was only ever going to learn alone in my apartment with endless time to make weird faces and noises.
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Language Logs 10/16-10/22
Started using language logs last week to figure out what I'm slacking in for each of my target languages, and shocked on multiple counts. First, that I have such comprehensive resources for Arabic and Italian, but not at all for Norwegian or French.
I've also been trying out different schedules to maintain four languages at the same time. So right now, I'm trying to practice having one day a week be focused on one language. Currently, that's Monday for Arabic, Tuesday for French, Wednesday for Norwegian, and Thursday for Italian. Then, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I was planning on using to patch up any holes I see in these logs, which I didn't really have time for this weekend oops...
Going to continue with this for another week or so to see if it genuinely helps and if it doesn't I'll be moving on to a different strategy.
All the love to @nordic-language-love for creating these awesome tools! Here is the post where I first read about them and there’s some awesome encouragement and tips on there.
Good look on everyone's language learning journeys!!!!
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