Shop is open! Get our bilingual, 400-page physical zine + several additional eZines, as well as merchandise and stretch goals. Included are fanart, fanfiction, cosplay, fan manga, essays and much more from 350+ contributors from 40 countries!
This is a charity Zine. All proceeds go to the AO3 and the OTW!
Hard to tell, right? Well scientists have figured out that this question isn’t so hard for newborn babies to answer. And this discovery could make a difference for parents who want to raise their children as bilingual. Here’s the full story fromThe World in Words podcast.
(ps- the first sound is English, and the second is Filipino —if you’re keeping score)
Learning a language can be a pain in the ass. I know, I’ve been there. Don’t get me started on the grammar and all its exceptions either. However, the more experienced I got with the languages, I got the hang on what works best for me. So here they are.
1. Learn vocabulary first. The first thing I did with English and Dutch was to learn as many words as possible. I didn’t bother on how I had to write them. I simply focused on how I had to pronounce them I tried to remember them. If you think about it, that’s exactly how babies learn how to speak. They start with simple words and then start to add on.
2. EXPOSURE. This is what will make the difference. For English, I listened to an unhealthy amount of music. And I watch all Friends episodes subtitled in Spanish so I could slowly pick up what was going on. This way I even learned new phrases. Like how to pick someone up with a “how you doin’?” and a wink.
3. Learn some basic sentence structure. I try not to go full on the grammar but introducing it bit by bit as I familiarize with language. And I play around with the sentences. I try asking for different things and I translate the sentences I use the most so I practice with those first.
4. Befriend a native. THIS THO. When I was learning Dutch and English I became best friends with a Dutch girl in my class and a guy that speaks English like a native. We had this thing when I made a grammar mistake I had to give them 25 cents and that 25 cents quickly piled up so I picked up my pace and I actually learned to speak proper Dutch and English in a matter of 6 to 8 months. I’m not kidding, those 25 cents were the best 25 cents I’ve ever spent because no teacher would have helped me as fast as these 2 did. Now, 8 years later, we’re still besties.
5. Study of grammar. I studied grammar properly after I was more familiarized with the language so I could definitely perfect it. And I think this was actually an advantage because most of the rules and structure of grammar suddenly came like second nature to me. There were, of course, some things that I wasn’t applying correctly, but it was actually very easy to fix them from then on. But think about it, you don’t teach a baby grammar first thing. So why would you do too?
In a nutshell, start by familiarizing yourself with the language you want to speak. Learn a lot of words, get a lot of exposure so you can get a feel of the pronunciation and culture of speaking. Befriend a native, and make it interesting so you can learn and practice. And then try to truly understand the grammar. Do you have any other tips? Feel free to share!
P.S: Spanish is my first language. I learned Papiamentu, which is the language of some of the islands of the Netherlands Antilles. And then I learned Dutch and Spanish.
May 2022 Rincón Literario title: The Daughters of Juarez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border / Las Hijas de Juarez: Un auténtico relato de asesinatos en serie al sur de la frontera, by Teresa Rodriguez, Diana Montané, Lisa Pulitzer.
Rincón Literario es el club de lectura bilingüe de la Biblioteca que se reúne cada tercer Sábado del mes a las 10:30. La discusión es en inglés y español, lo que permite a los miembros practicar un segundo idioma y también expresarse en su primer idioma. Las reuniones se llevan a cabo actualmente a través de Zoom pero, a partir de Enero de 2022, los miembros tendrán la opción de unirse a nosotros en persona o continuar participando en línea. Nuevos miembros siempre son bienvenidos, ¡así que únase a nosotros!
Join us tomorrow, May 21 at 10:30 a.m. upstairs in the Library Board Room and on Zoom!
Person A: You know… the thing Person B:The “thing”? Person A: Yeah, the thing with the little-! *mutters under their breath* Como es que se llama esa mierda… THE FISHING ROD
As someone with multiple bilingual friends where English is not the first language, may I present to you a list of actual incidents I have witnessed:
Forgot a word in Spanish, while speaking Spanish to me, but remembered it in English. Became weirdly quiet as they seemed to lose their entire sense of identity.
Used a literal translation of a Russian idiomatic expression while speaking English. He actually does this quite regularly, because he somehow genuinely forgets which idioms belong to which language. It usually takes a minute of everyone staring at him in confused silence before he says “….Ah….. that must be a Russian one then….”
Had to count backwards for something. Could not count backwards in English. Counted backwards in French under her breath until she got to the number she needed, and then translated it into English.
Meant to inform her (French) parents that bread in America is baked with a lot of preservatives. Her brain was still halfway in English Mode so she used the word “préservatifes.” Ended up shocking her parents with the knowledge that apparently, bread in America is full of condoms.
Defined a slang term for me……. with another slang term. In the same language. Which I do not speak.
Was talking to both me and his mother in English when his mother had to revert to Russian to ask him a question about a word. He said “I don’t know” and turned to me and asked “Is there an English equivalent for Нумизматический?” and it took him a solid minute to realize there was no way I would be able to answer that. Meanwhile his mom quietly chuckled behind his back.
Said an expression in English but with Spanish grammar, which turned “How stressful!” into “What stressing!”
Bilingual characters are great but if you’re going to use a linguistic blunder, you have to really understand what they actually blunder over. And it’s usually 10x funnier than “Ooops it’s hard to switch back.”
I use Spanish and English daily, none is my native language. When I’m tired or did not have enough sleep I loose track of who to address in which language; I caught myself explaining something in Spanish to my English-speaking friends more than once. When I’m REALLY tired I’ll throw some Polish words in the mix.
There is nothing more painful than bad fake Spanglish by an American writer. Bilingual people don’t just randomly drop words in nonsensical places in their sentences ffs. “I’m muy tired! I think I’ll go to my cama and go to sleep!“ Nobody does that.
From my bilingual parents:
- Only being able to do math in their original language. “Ok so that would beeeeee … *muttering* ocho por cuatro menos tres…”
- Losing words and getting mad at you about it. “Gimme the - the - UGH, ESA COSA AHI’ CARAJO. The thing, the oven mitt. Christ.”
- Making asides to you in Spanish even though you’ve told them to not do this as lots of people here speak Spanish. “Oye, mira esa, que cara fea.” “MOM FFS WE’RE IN A MEXICAN NEIGHBORHOOD.”
- Swears in English don’t count.
- Swears in Spanish mean you’d better fucking run, kid.
- Introducing you to English-only Americans using your Spanish name so that they mispronounce your name for all eternity because that’s what your mom said your name was. “Hi Dee-yanna!” “sigh, Just call me Diana.” “Yeah but your mom said your name was Dee-yanna.”
- Your parents give you a name that only makes sense in Spanish. “Your name is Floor?” “No, my name is Flor.” “FLOOR?” “Sigh.”
- conjugating English words with Russian grammar and vice versa. Sometimes both at once, which is extra fun. самолет -> самолетас -> самолетасы
- when vice versa, dropping English articles entirely. The, a, an: all gone. e.g. “I go to store and buy thing, I fix car and go to place.” This also happens when i am very tired
- speaking English with heavy accent you don’t actually have - when my family and I are switching over fast, we say the English words in a very heavy Russian accent that mostly doesn’t show up otherwise
bonus:
- keysmashing in the wrong language when your keyboard is still switched over
- using ))))) instead of :))) or other culture-specific emoji/typing quirks
all of the above
I don’t actually speak Tagalog, but my mom’s Filipino. One of my favorite things is when she forgets how to preposition, so something is ‘in the table’.
SOMEHOW I NEVER REBLOGGED THIS?!?!?!?!? this is one of my absolute favorite posts on all of tumblr
also, to add to the pile of fun things bilinguals do: cackling over bilingual puns that nobody else in the room will get and then being completely unable to explain why this is funny
Interesting. Reblogging this for future reference.
my favourite is that feeling when you have the perfect response to something but halfway through saying it you realised it’s in a language the other person doesn’t speak so you either just kind of… fade out, or try desperately to make it make sense in the other language
I lose my place all the time when I’m counting in English, but never when I count in German.
I’m swedish but at this point I’m so fluent in english that I can switch between languages on a dime.
i hate forgetting a word in english and having to describe but realizing that i cant describe it in english. so im just stuttering between russian and english and none of my english speaking friends can help
my german mother once forgot the word for “bath” in english, tried to remember it in german, and realised she’d forgot it in german as well. a full day later I’m talking to her and out of nowhere she yells “BATH!” and scares the bejeesus out of me
There’s also this moment when your forget words in your NATIVE LANGUAGE.
Imagine you’re a French person, in France, you’ve always been French, and now you’re in a middle of a conversation with French friends and you suddenly stop talking because you really want to say “carpet” but it’s not French, so you can’t or else it’d be considered “showing off” when you just literally forgot the word “tapis” existed
In my last post I explained how I am in need of someone to read over my final essays for the semester. I finished and submitted my English finals and as of now I am in the process of writing for French, philosophy, and theology.
For my French final, I have to write an essay regarding my experience with COVID and how it impacted my life, and this essay has to be submitted to the American Journal of French Studies in order for me to receive full credit. Since we have ✨anxiety✨ I would really like someone to look over my French paper before I submit it to both my professor and the writing competition, preferably someone who is at an advanced or native level.
I promise to keep you guys posted on my submission to the AJFS, even though I highly doubt I will win. I still think this opportunity is fantastic because even if I don’t win, my submission is still going to be published in this journal .
If you are willing to help, please message me!! I will take all the help I can get ❤️
It’s definitely been a bit since I’ve posted on here and I promise I will try to catch you guys up as much as I can on my language learning journey, as SO much has happened over the course of the pandemic (trying to focus on the positives). I’ve just been super busy with college and loading myself up with credits because I’ve since added a major and a minor that I’m super excited about!! I’m hoping it will help me figure out what I’m doing after undergrad, because quite frankly I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing I’m just going with the flow at this point.
Anyways, I’ve in the process of completing everything I need to get done for finals week, and every single final I have is a 6-9 page paper. I was wondering if any of y’all would be willing to proof read some of my final papers, my French final and poetry final in particular.
If you are interested in helping a girl out, please message me! All suggestions would be greatly appreciated ☺️
I don’t know how I didn’t figure this out but now that I have I don’t know what to do with this information
I saw this meme and it reminded me of the time where I posted this other meme and over 100,000 people decided to attack me on it ♀️
I also wish my sarcasm was more apparent in the first one bc I am well aware that this only occurs in these languages and not many others in the world but I was made fun of for a meme instead of people going to my blog and seeing that I love languages and linguistics
Lespropositions subordonnées ne peuvent pas être indépendantes et ne peuvent pas constituer à elles seules une phrase. Elles sont « attachées » à une proposition principale qui peut exister seule.
Les propositions relatives sont reliéesà la proposition principale par un pronom relatif simple (qui,que,quoi,dont,où) ou composé (lequel,laquelle,lesquels,lesquelles,duquel,desquels,desquelles,auquel,auxquels,auxquelles). Par exemple : J’ai adoré le livre dont tu m’as parlé la semaine passée. La société dans laquelle je rêvais de travailler a fait faillite.
Lespropositions relatives occupent toujours la même fonction dans la phrase : complément du nom ou du pronom antécédent. En revanche, les pronoms relatifs peuvent occuper différentes fonctions.
la fonction sujet : qui
Exemple : J’entends un oiseau qui chante. J’aime les fraises qui sont bien rouges.
la fonction complément d’objet direct (COD) : que
Exemples : La fille que j’aime est partie. Le roman que j’ai écrit a été publié.
la fonction complément d’objet indirect (COI) : qui,que,quoi,dont
Exemples : La voiture dont je vous ai parlé est déjà louée. C’est à lui que je parle.
la fonction complément du nom ou de l’adjectif : dont
Exemples : J’habite la rue dont le sol est pavé. C’est la première copie dont je suis satisfaite.
la fonction complément circonstanciel de lieu ou de temps : où
Exemples : L’université où Marie étudie a été rénovée. Il a plu le jour où je suis tombé en vélo.
Une même phrase peut comporter plusieurs propositions relatives : La femme qui vit à côté de chez moi etqui n’est jamais là est hôtesse de l’air.
Ok so I’ve stumbled upon the rocketbook and I think it looks really cool! I was wondering if any of you studyblrs have tried it and if it is worth breaking my bank account ✌️
I have to find a study abroad program because I have to complete one semester abroad for my major. I’ve looked around and I’m having a hard time finding a good semester-long program. Idealy I would like to go to Montreal for financial reasons, but I can pick any school in a francophone country. If any of you have studied abroad in a francophone country or know someone who did (preferably with a host family as well), please let me know what programs are good and what your experience there was like. :)
I’ve asked around before, but if any of you are willing to practice french/english/spanish over skype or zoom, let me know. I am in desperate need of a language buddy
Hey guys! I just recently found this and I thought it was amazing. This person made quizlet sets for every single duolingo course along with other language learning resources. I thought I should share this with all of y’all
J’ai besoin de quelqu’un qui peut/veut parler avec moi en français sur Skype ou Snapchat. Si vous voudriez une amie qui parle l’anglais/le français ou si vous voudriez améliorer votre français aussi, envoyez-moi un message svp
Person A: You know… the thing Person B:The “thing”? Person A: Yeah, the thing with the little-! *mutters under their breath* Como es que se llama esa mierda… THE FISHING ROD
As someone with multiple bilingual friends where English is not the first language, may I present to you a list of actual incidents I have witnessed:
Forgot a word in Spanish, while speaking Spanish to me, but remembered it in English. Became weirdly quiet as they seemed to lose their entire sense of identity.
Used a literal translation of a Russian idiomatic expression while speaking English. He actually does this quite regularly, because he somehow genuinely forgets which idioms belong to which language. It usually takes a minute of everyone staring at him in confused silence before he says “….Ah….. that must be a Russian one then….”
Had to count backwards for something. Could not count backwards in English. Counted backwards in French under her breath until she got to the number she needed, and then translated it into English.
Meant to inform her (French) parents that bread in America is baked with a lot of preservatives. Her brain was still halfway in English Mode so she used the word “préservatifes.” Ended up shocking her parents with the knowledge that apparently, bread in America is full of condoms.
Defined a slang term for me……. with another slang term. In the same language. Which I do not speak.
Was talking to both me and his mother in English when his mother had to revert to Russian to ask him a question about a word. He said “I don’t know” and turned to me and asked “Is there an English equivalent for Нумизматический?” and it took him a solid minute to realize there was no way I would be able to answer that. Meanwhile his mom quietly chuckled behind his back.
Said an expression in English but with Spanish grammar, which turned “How stressful!” into “What stressing!”
Bilingual characters are great but if you’re going to use a linguistic blunder, you have to really understand what they actually blunder over. And it’s usually 10x funnier than “Ooops it’s hard to switch back.”
this is so freaking accurate. also, we non native english speakers, specially whe we are just learning, come across a LOT of slang words and get explained what they mean (of find it ourselves onlines) but not always get to know how “strong” or how offessive thay can be, or how much nerdy, or whatever other connotation they may have and oftenly missuse them, much to our dismay (and laughs from our native english speaking friends). switching is not really that hard but severe stress can trigger us to lost/forget words in both languages randomly more often than the times we are relaxed and just having a simple talk with others. other stuff that happens a lot is thinking in both languages at the same time, using words from both, but grammar from whatever language the first word was on? and that’s a little harder to switch and can often lead to us having to actually translate our thoughts befor we can communicate them to other persons.
Hello this is Larisa. Thank you for visiting my channel! I always wanted to talk about the struggle I go through as a bilingual and being mixed race. It’s been on my mind since I was very little and I’m happy I get to finally discuss about this topic!
