#foreign languages

Here are 20 reasons why you should learn a foreign language. (You can find even more if you look up advantages of your target language.) :)

1. Makes you more attractive. Seriously. You don’t even have to speak it all the time. It’s enough if people know you CAN speak it.
2. Increased concentration.
3. Increased multi-tasking-skill.
4. Increased intelligence / IQ.
5. More open and tolerant.
6. Increased self-esteem.
7. Lowe chances of diseases. For example like Alzheimer (4x).
8. Better memory.
9. You make decisions faster and better.
10. You make decisions (only in your target language) more logical.
11. Less “limited” mind because of more views.
12. Better in separating important from unimportant information.
13. Better in discovering false information (lies).
14. You won’t get into tourism traps.
15. Art, literature, books, etc. in original language.
16. You’re more positive.
17. It’s easier to solve complex problems (for example in mathematics).
18. Advantage because of globalization. The world gets “smaller” because of the internet.
19. Increased creativity.
20. Helps you get better in your native language.

Do you know these times when you’re sitting in front of your textbook, trying to learn these boring af vocabs you’ve seen 1000 times but still can’t remember and just wish to do something different (or hoping that the world explodes so you can at least stop)?

Well, there are more ways to learn a language and I think because we just learned how we “should” learn a language at school, we’re limited in creativity. Thanks to school it’s hard to think outside of this “textbook, vocab lists, tests, etc.” stuff but there are ENDLESS things you can do to learn a language.

Remember: everything you do in your native language, you can try to do in your target language!

This is for all the people who are tired and exhausted, who are thinking about quitting or don’t have fun with their target language anymore.

DON’T YOU DARE TO GIVE UP! YOU’VE COME SO FAR!

_____________________________________________

Examples for different ways of learning a language:

• write a diary
• summarise an article about a topic you like (cooking, fitness, etc.)
• listen to a podcast/radio
• listen to music (while reading the lyrics)
• try to sing along with music
• read out loud while reading a book/magazine/blog/etc.
• watch movies/series/videos
• record videos in your target language or about how studying is going (progress, problems, etc.)
• write a blog (well hello there :))
• use apps that make it more fun (duolingo, memrise, lingodeer)
• chat with native speakers
• actually talk to native speakers ( I know what a crazy idea)
• read websites about things you’re interested in
• use social media only available in your target language
• change the language of your smartphone
• change the language of your pc
• change the language of your life
• play games in your target language (like not necessarily for learning it, I mean just playing a normal game IN your target language)  
• take online lessons with teachers that make you forget you’re learning
• do a challenge! (I love this one so much)
• find a learning group
• be active in forums (no matter about language learning or a forum in your target language)
• find a language exchange partner. (You should, seriously.)
• watch lessons on youtube
• read a (children-)book (with audio)
• talk to yourself 
• think in your target language (a fun way is to tell a story about your life while it’s happening like “I went down the road with a stranger always behind me, who could it be? What does he want? It got quiet… too quiet. I tried to keep calm but was it really a coincidence? All in the middle of nowhere?” I know I’m bad at this but I hope you get what I mean, think of it like reading a book.)
• learn vocabs with pictures, type in the word you want to know and ONLY look for pictures, try to feel the word. If you google for “strawberry” (in your target language and don’t know what it means) look at the pictures, the colours, how could it smell? Make a sentence with the new word. When was the last time you ate it? How was it?
• Write a story/book online or just for yourself.
• Make a mindmap
• Use a topic jar (a jar where you put in notes with different topics on it, you take one every day and write/talk about it)
• use social media to find groups interested in learning a new language or your target language
• translate texts and act like you’re a famous translator who’s the only person on earth who can translate your target language (for example if you’re reading articles about historical stuff, act like you’re the only one who can find out what happened back then and the whole world is counting on you!)
• try to solve random online tests
• listen to a song/audiobook/whatever and write down what you hear
• search for words you want to learn and build up (funny!) sentences with them or even whole stories
• read comics/mangas/etc.
• search for receipts  in your target language and pray to god you’re doing it right… if not, well you won’t forget the vocab again. Win-win situation. :p
• search for language learning groups near your living place and actually meet them (stay safe and check everything before)
• listen to children songs (I still remember the first children song I learned in English lessons… like… 11 years ago in 5th grade) these songs are supposed to stick… *cough* head shoulders knees and toes knees and toes *cough* sorry where was I?
• connect with language learners over Skype (useful groups of course like German trying to learn French, Frenchman trying to learn Turkish, Turk trying to learn German)
• write a list (you know… like I do right know so I don’t forget English)
• describe things you see (more fun with a partner)
• teach your target language to others
• listen to audio while sleeping
• take notes in your target language (I don’t mean for grammar rules or something like that, I mean notes you would take in your native language anyway)
• write a letter (so much better than an e-mail)
• write an e-mail (who has time for letters)
• learn rimes 
• learn jokes (it’s also useful for social interaction)
• talk to your pets (at least if they listen to you, if I start to talk to my cat she starts yelling into my face)
• translate songs and learn the vocab of it so you have more fun listening to it later
• think about a topic and write down every word you can think of and then translate them into your target language

Before I begin: sorry for my long break. I’m back and changed my profile picture (in case you have no idea who on earth you are following here) and my template… and also my header for my posts so… you know… everything.
But now let’s start. :)

This time I want to make it short, so here are 26 study tips for learning a foreign language.

1. Study every day. Even if you just study 5 minutes, that’s important for your progress. 17 minutes every day is FAR BETTER than two hours on one day of the week.
2. Learn the most important 100-300 words.
3. Use good apps/websites for your target language. Take the time to find out which apps and websites work best for you.
4. Watch movies, series and videos in your target language. If needed turn on subtitles.
5. Write a little text every day. For example a diary entry.
6. IMPORTANT: Practice speaking right from the BEGINNING!
7. Try to live your language as much as you can. You should do everything you can in your target language. Think about what you do in your native language and then try to do it in the language you want to learn.
8. Change the language on your social media websites.
9. Change the language on your smartphone.
10. Read books for children if normal books are too difficult for you.
11. Study vocabs you just can’t keep in mind with apps extra for this problem.
12. Find a chat group in your target language. More people, more fun.
13. Try to think in your target language, even if you’re quite new to it. For example learn the numbers and use your target language for counting.
14. Make a plan for learning. (Yeah that came a little bit late lol)
15. Find out which learning type you are. Seriously don’t skip this. You really, really, really should know that! It will make things so much easier!
16. Use new words as soon as you can. For example when chatting with your language exchange partner: replace every word you can with your new vocab.
17. Write a list with big and (IMPORTANT) small goals (!!!)
18. Listen to music while reading the lyrics, even if you don’t understand it.
19. Read a book and listen to the audio version of it.
20. Write a diary in your target language.
21. Talk to yourself. Who could be more interesting? :p
22. Write a list with rewards for reaching your goals.
23. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS! You will need this when hitting a plateau.
24. Search for apps/websites that are only available in your target language and use them.
25. Use a calendar with your goals and progress on it.
26. Use image search for hard vocabs. Try to get a connection to this word.
    
    Done. I hope some of these tips help you. :)
    PS: Sorry for mistakes but my new notebook marks every English word as wrong.

There is NO hard language, just different ones. Even the hardest language is just average difficult.

As many of you know there are 5 groups of languages for English native speakers based on “how hard” a language is.

With group one being the easiest (languages like Spanish, French, Italian, etc.) to group five including the hardest (like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.).

But to which group a language belongs can change drastically based on which languages you speak or are interested in.

So let’s take a look at “how hard a language is” when you actually don’t know a single language at all.

When learning their mother tongue, it’s all the same, all around the world. Kids can express themselves in an easy way at the age of 4 to 5. At this point they can tell you stories about what happened during the day, follow commands that include multiple steps (like go brush your teeth, then change clothes, go to bed, etc.) and also strangers should be able to understand what the kid is saying. So the kid is at a level what we would consider fluent but not at a high native speaker level, because it can’t understand complex topics. A kid is starting to actually try talking when it’s around 6 months old.

So as a result we can say if you don’t know any language at all you need around 4 years to learn it in a way, to be conversational. And you have to keep in mind that for the first language kids have the URGE to learn it, because otherwise they don’t “belong” to the group and humans are social animals. They can’t just switch to their native language if they don’t want to learn anymore. If they want to talk to ANY person, they HAVE TO learn their first language. It’s socially necessary and back in time an important step of survival.

So let’s say if you don’t know any other language and have a very important reason for learning one AND are surrounded by it non stop with people trying to talk to you ALL THE TIME, you will need 4 years to be on a decent conversational level.

So if we take a look at the 5 groups of languages, even the hardest ones don’t take adults THAT long.

And adults have the opportunity to have social contact without their target language.

Even if you don’t “need” your target language, people of this language aren’t trying to talk to you all the time and you’re not surrounded by it non stop, adults are able to reach an even higher level as “conversational” in this time span.

So it’s not like the “hardest” group of these language rankings is actually hard, it’s just closer to “learning from scratch” because it’s not closely related to the language you know. And even then you’re still faster than having to learn a language totally from point zero because you already learned how a language in general works.

The result is, the hardest group is more like the normal group and everything else is just “how much faster and easier will it be based on what I already know”.

So don’t scare yourself with stuff like “oh my god, everyone says it’s such a hard language… can I even learn it?”. Yes, you can. You will even learn it faster than native speakers without having the language surrounding you 24/7. If 4 years olds can learn it, every adult can learn it. And it’s NOT(!) a hard language! It’s just harder than the other ones and ONLY(!) because you already have a great advantage when it comes to the other languages. But the level of difficulty, even for the hardest language is actually just “normal”.

And it’s annoying that people keep talking about such called “hard languages”. Theres just an average difficulty and everything else are just extra points you gained through your native language that makes specific languages EASIER for you.

Let’s look at it like that:

With every language you start at 0% (what every kid no matter which language they’ll learn as their native language does).

The closer your target language is to the languages you know, the higher your start percentage is.

For example if you’re Korean learning Japanese, the grammar is quite similar so you already start with 20%.

If you’re Spanish and learn Italian you even have many words in common, so you start with 30%.

(Btw the percentage numbers are just random numbers to show what I mean, they are not fact numbers.)

If you’re Russian you’ll start with 10% when learning German because you already know how cases work.

And so on. It works with EVERY language. If you know genders, cases, conjugation, etc. and your target language includes that, you don’t have to figure out how it works, you already know it. Sure you often have to learn new words for that but it’s not like you have to figure out the system behind that.

So the absolute WORST case could only be to start at 0% (what you probably never will because in the very basic every language is the same, for example trying to talk about a subject, etc. You already know the purpose of a language.) BUT you will NEVER(!) start with minus percent. So stop freaking yourself out. There is no hard language, just a more different system you have to get used to.

It’s not hard if everyone, literally everyone, can learn it. Especially millions of 4 years olds. Don’t give up just because you make mistakes or don’t get the hang of something right away.

Every kid needs around 4 years to speak the absolute same stuff, no matter which language (not including writing system in later years). So all languages have the absolute SAME difficulty when it comes to learning them. It just depends on what you already know, which can make it easier/faster.

doinglanguagestuff:

Do you know these times when you’re sitting in front of your textbook, trying to learn these boring af vocabs you’ve seen 1000 times but still can’t remember and just wish to do something different (or hoping that the world explodes so you can at least stop)?

Well, there are more ways to learn a language and I think because we just learned how we “should” learn a language at school, we’re limited in creativity. Thanks to school it’s hard to think outside of this “textbook, vocab lists, tests, etc.” stuff but there are ENDLESS things you can do to learn a language.
Remember: everything you do in your native language, you can try to do in your target language!

This is for all the people who are tired and exhausted, who are thinking about quitting or don’t have fun with their target language anymore.
DON’T YOU DARE TO GIVE UP! YOU’VE COME SO FAR!

_____________________________________________

Examples for different ways of learning a language:

• write a diary
• summarise an article about a topic you like (cooking, fitness, etc.)
• listen to a podcast/radio
• listen to music (while reading the lyrics)
• try to sing along with music
• read out loud while reading a book/magazine/blog/etc.
• watch movies/series/videos
• record videos in your target language or about how studying is going (progress, problems, etc.)
• write a blog (well hello there :))
• use apps that make it more fun (duolingo, memrise, lingodeer)
• chat with native speakers
• actually talk to native speakers ( I know what a crazy idea)
• read websites about things you’re interested in
• use social media only available in your target language
• change the language of your smartphone
• change the language of your pc
• change the language of your life
• play games in your target language (like not necessarily for learning it, I mean just playing a normal game IN your target language)  
• take online lessons with teachers that make you forget you’re learning
• do a challenge! (I love this one so much)
• find a learning group
• be active in forums (no matter about language learning or a forum in your target language)
• find a language exchange partner. (You should, seriously.)
• watch lessons on youtube
• read a (children-)book (with audio)
• talk to yourself 
• think in your target language (a fun way is to tell a story about your life while it’s happening like “I went down the road with a stranger always behind me, who could it be? What does he want? It got quite… too quite. I tried to keep calm but was it really a coincidence? All in the middle of nowhere?” I know I’m bad at this but I hope you get what I mean, think of it like reading a book.)
• learn vocabs with pictures, type in the word you want to know and ONLY look for pictures, try to feel the word. If you google for “strawberry” (in your target language and don’t know what it means) look at the pictures, the colours, how could it smell? Make a sentence with the new word. When was the last time you ate it? How was it?
• Write a story/book online or just for yourself.
• Make a mindmap
• Use a topic jar (a jar where you put in notes with different topics on it, you take one every day and write/talk about it)
• use social media to find groups interested in learning a new language or your target language
• translate texts and act like you’re a famous translator who’s the only person on earth who can translate your target language (for example if you’re reading articles about historical stuff, act like you’re the only one who can find out what happened back then and the whole world is counting on you!)
• try to solve random online tests
• listen to a song/audiobook/whatever and write down what you hear
• search for words you want to learn and build up (funny!) sentences with them or even whole stories
• read comics/mangas/etc.
• search for receipts  in your target language and pray to god you’re doing it right… if not, well you won’t forget the vocab again. Win-win situation. :p
• search for language learning groups near your living place and actually meet them (stay safe and check everything before)
• listen to children songs (I still remember the first children song I learned in English lessons… like… 11 years ago in 5th grade) these songs are supposed to stick… *cough* head shoulders knees and toes knees and toes *cough* sorry where was I?
• connect with language learners over Skype (useful groups of course like German trying to learn French, Frenchman trying to learn Turkish, Turk trying to learn German)
• write a list (you know… like I do right know so I don’t forget English)
• describe things you see (more fun with a partner)
• teach your target language to others
• listen to audio while sleeping
• take notes in your target language (I don’t mean for grammar rules or something like that, I mean notes you would take in your native language anyway)
• write a letter (so much better than an e-mail)
• write an e-mail (who has time for letters)
• learn rimes 
• learn jokes (it’s also useful for social interaction)
• talk to your pets (at least if they listen to you, if I start to talk to my cat she starts yelling into my face)
• translate songs and learn the vocab of it so you have more fun listening to it later
• think about a topic and write down every word you can think of and then translate them into your target language

An old post I often use recently.

A complete guide to self-studying a language

Check it out here!

Self-studying a language is an amazing way to learn, if you’re careful to avoid the pitfalls! Here are the steps I go through when making a study plan:

Step 01: Decide what you want to do and what you can offer (what language(s), how much time/money/energy/etc)

Step 02: Gather resources (decide what type you like best and then research and test)

Step 03: Make S.M.A.R.T goals (follow the guidelines and make good goals that will encourage you)

Step 04: Create your plan (using the 3 steps above and some prompting questions on the guide, form a schedule. Be organized, but stay loose and adaptable)

Step 05: Add some back-up or pressure (find an accountability or tandem partner, add the pressure of a scheduled exam, etc)

Check out the link for more Info on each step + tons of tips and links to resources and other guides!!

Good luck!!! Self-studying a language is not easy, but it’s so rewarding and fun!!!

theeaumiel:

It is so rewarding and honestly just comforting when a language starts to really feel part of you

Yes! And related: I was just talking to my mom about how satisfying it is to be able to just text or email in a second language with ease… like, wow, I can communicate with people in a completely different language! It’s surreal…

Looking up a technical or very specific word that isn’t in you dictionary or you’re not sure if it’s the correct word to use? It doesn’t always work but try looking up the wiki page in English (or whatever language you feel like) and look at the “this page in other languages” tab (marked by the 文 character on mobile iirc) to see if your target language has the same page. You can also try reading the article to try and learn some related words.

Founded in October Juche 35 (1946), the university is a pedigree establishment for training university lecturers.

It has such faculties as philosophy, history, pedagogy, linguistics, foreign languages, mathematics, physics, life science, chemistry, physioenvironmental science, art, physical culture and sports, and in-service training.

It has over 100 research rooms, labs and skill practice rooms, a library which houses hundreds of thousands of books, a gymnasium, a hall of culture and a publishing house.

As humans we love to see exactly how our hard work has paid off. Basically, if you put work into something you will find that you tend to want to see exactly how much closer that hard work has brought you to your goals. That isn’t as simple in language learning but it is possible if you set the right goals and know how to track your progress in them.

How To Set Goals?

DON’T SCROLL PAST THIS PART. I know that it’s easy to roll your eyes and say, “Dude, I know how to set goals…” but hear this, you may be setting goals incorrectly. (DUN DUN DUN).

People often don’t know how to set goals in language learning and that is one of their BIGGEST set backs. Because people see lots of flim-flam around about “how to learn a language in three months” or “how to learn a language super duper uber fast”, they set HUGE goals like “be fluent in X months” or “speak fluently to people in X amount of weeks”. Why? Because they have been told that those goals are realistic! Those, my good friend, are not a good language learning goals and will set you up for disappointment and failure.

The correct way to set goals is to be VERY specific. However, there are two types of goals you should have: main goals and smaller goals.

Main Goals

Obviously, the overall goal is to be fluent, but that’s too big a goal to include on your list. Instead, first write down main goals. Main goals are goals that are used to track your overall progress in a language that are based on topics or situations. When making main goals, make only goals for that month, then add new ones for the next month or continue with last months if you didn’t finish. To explain the concept more clearly, I have posted a picture of my main goals for Chinese. However, it doesn’t matter if you’re learning French, Japanese, Korean, Polish or Spanish. You can use this template for learning any language.

As you can see, I have the month at the top, then on the left I have a tracker for how many days I have been studying. As you can see, there is a gap around the week of the 9^th because that was my birthday! Then on the left, you’ll see the key. There I assigned colors to the different components of my language study I needed to complete:

Vocabulary means I study at least 10 vocabulary words within the topic during that week.

Speaking means I practice what I learned with a native speaker (usually via iTalki)

Reading means I read something within the monthly topic within that week

Writing means I write a few sentences within the topic that week

Below all this you see the topic of each week. For one topic I chose Art, so that week I focused on learning about Art (using lists on Tumblr, random materials online and random Youtube videos I found). The next week I learned about politics (specifically how to talk about American politics) and then week three I will do fashion and week four I will do idols (as in celebrities in Korea and China).

Below all that, you can see exactly what I’ve learned. You can see how my language capabilities have grown and exactly what I can now express! Isn’t that cool!!! You should track exactly what you’ve learned to express and then at the end of the month, compare that to what you were able to express last month. But the difference is, you can see exactly what you can and cannot express and maybe identify holes in your knowledge. So one month, you can repeat a topic to fill holes in your knowledge or expand deeper on the topic.

Small Goals

Small goals are little things you’d really like to learn that are outside of your main goals. You can set small goals like finishing a certain book, learning a new song or understanding an entire movie. These goals you can also interweave into your main goals to make it easier to accomplish them.

Learn Topic by Topic

This is the best way I know how to track language learning progress is to learn topic by topic. The more topics you are able to talk about, the more fluent you will become, right? Well, tracking your progress in topics is MUCH easier than tracking every single thing you learn arbitrarily! Each week, pick a topic you’d like to study and find materials related to the topic to help you get as much done as possible.

Topics Are Endless and So is Language Learning

Be patient!! Keep in mind that there are SO many topics to learn because language is VAST and there are many things in the world you can talk about. So the more topics you are able to learn, the more fluent you will become. This absolutely doesn’t happen overnight and I don’t believe it will happen in three months either. But if you just keep going and are consistent, you will find yourself able to speak more and more and more. And that’s what language learning is all about, a continual language learning process where the goal is just to keep improving, because there is always room!

Guess what ya’ll!? I’m a language coach now!! If you’re learning Chinese, Japanese or Korean I offer language coaching HSK prep, TOPIK prep, and JLPT Prep!! And get this! I will now CREATE A LANGUAGE LEARNING SCHEDULE FOR YOU!!! Yep! Just tell me your target language, level, resources and availability and I will do all the hard work for you!! Why? Because I have ten years of language learning experience and instead of going through trial and error trying to figure out what works for you, let ten years of experience do it for you. Imagine how much faster your language learning will go when all the technical details are sorted out for you!

Visit my website to learn more!!

Мы продолжаем неделю транспорта, и я тут наткнулась на интересную статью. О системе машин напрокат, например, всем известно. А велосипедах, допустим, тоже. А как насчет самокатов? Это что-то новенькое! А они, в каком-то смысле, все равно завоевали город. Давайте почитаем:

Bird, a startup run by former Uber executives, launched the scooters in Santa Monica last September. Hundreds weredeposited around the city overnight, the devices soubiquitouspeople literally tripped over them. Since then, they have taken over the town. Download an app, scan a scooter’s barcode and go. You leave the scooter on the pavementfor the next rider.

It aims to solve the “last mile” problem: a distance too far to walk and too short to drive. Marlon Boarnet says scooters canfacilitate these short trips.

The Guardian tried them out last week. The longest journey was three miles. It took 17 minutes and cost $3.55. The experience was positive. Scooters were easy to find with the app’s map pinpointingdevices left by trees, parking meters, benches and doorways. In addition, since both hands are needed to steer it is difficult to text or fiddle with your phone.

Riders are supposed to belicenseddrivers, helmeted and are meant to ride on streets. Still,improperuse abounds.  Few wear helmets in Santa Monica. It is common to see children riding scooters, two people on one scooter, parked scooters cluttering sidewalks etc.

But there’s another concern. Won’t people have even less incentive to walk and exercise? Let’s hope not. With the scooters at least you have to stand.

(Source)

executive:руководитель
scooter:самокат
deposit: (здесь) оставить, откладывать
ubiquitous:встречающийся повсюду
pavement:тротуар
facilitate:способствовать
to try something out: попробовать что-то 
to pinpoint: определить
to steer: направлять, управлять рулем
license:лицензия 
improper:неправильный
to clutter:загромождать

Привет! Тема мая у нас немного нетипичная - транспорт и средства передвижения ;) Обещаем, что будет интересно! Мы не будем писать банальные банальности (”машина”, “автобус”, “самолет”), поэтому смотрите слова ниже:

station:станция
train:поезд
catch/get on: сесть (на поезд, автобус)
get off: сойти
underground: метро
platform: платформа
journey: путешествие
depart / leave: отбывать, уезжать
arrive:прибыть
engine:двигатель
rails:рельсы
aisle:проход
traffic lights:светофор
traffic jam:пробка
port:порт
ship:корабль
embark on a journey: отправиться в путешествие
dock:док, пристань
sail: плыть (о корабле, лодке)
bridge:мост
zebra crossing: зебра (пешеходный переход)

Признавайтесь, как часто в залипаете на картинки и видосы с миленькими животными? Я вот постоянно так делаю. Оказывается, это очень для нас полезно - подтверждено наукой ;) Читайте:

Now new research has revealed that looking at cute images of baby animals doesn’t just make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, but can actually improve your work performanceand help you concentrate.

Through three experiments a team of scientists found that people showed higher levels of concentration being shown pictures of puppies or kittens. The participants who were shown images of puppies and kittens performed their tasks better than those who looked at cats and dogs or sushi and pasta. Performance scores improved by 44%. 

This finding suggests that viewing cute images makes participants behave more deliberatelyand perform tasks with greater time and care,’ said the researchers, according to the published paper. It also improves carefulness, possibly by narrowingthebreadthofattentional focus.’

The study’s authors write that in the future cute objects could be used as a way to triggeremotions ‘toinducecareful behavioral tendencies in specific situations, such as driving and office work.’

Source

fuzzy: буквально - “нечеткий, пушистый”, но в сочетании с warm and fuzzy inside означает что-то близкое к “греть душу”, “теплый и пушистый”, в зависимости от контекста
performance: здесь - результаты, показатели
concentrate:концентрироваться
task: задача
deliberately: cознательно, умышленно
to narrow:сузить
breadth:ширина
attentional focus: внимание
trigger:вызывать
to induce:побудить
tendency: тенденция

Сегодня ваша любимая рубрика с идиомами - на этот раз идиомы о братьях наших меньших :) Какие из этих идиом вы уже знали?

let the cat out of the bag: разболтать, проговориться, рассказать информацию кому-то (обычно случайно)

• Who let the cat out of the bag?! Кто проболтался?
  
• Tell him I’m sorry for letting the cat out of the bag: Скажи ему, что мне жаль, что я проболтался. 

the elephant in the room: что всем очевидно, но на что не обращают внимание, что не обсуждается (очень актуально в каких-то политических беседах)

• I think it’s time we discuss the elephant in the room: Думаю, сейчас самое время поговорить об очевидном. 

like a fish out of water: дословно - рыба без воды, то есть человек вне своего привычного окружения или занятий. 

• I hate working here. I feel like a fish out of water: Ненавижу здесь работать. Чувствую себя, как рыба без воды. 
  
• At some point in your life, you will feel like a fish out of water. It’s normal. В какой-то момент, ты почувствуешь себя, как рыба без воды. Это нормально. 
  

red herring: ложный след, отвлекающий маневр.

• This game really makes you think. Some of their clues are actually a red herring. Эта игра заставит тебя по-настоящему задуматься. Некоторые из их “подсказок”, на самом деле - отвлекающий маневр. 
  

wouldn’t hurt a fly: аналог русского “и мухи не обидит”, то есть добродушный, кроткий человек. 

• Victor couldn’t kill anyone! He wouldn’t hurt a fly: Виктор никого не мог убить! Они и мухи не обидит.  

the world is your oyster: перед тобой открыты все двери, все в твоих руках. 

• Just remember, the world is your oyster: Просто помни, что все в твоих руках

pet peeve: больная мозоль, причина особого раздражения

• Dirty dishes are my pet peeve: Я особенно ненавижу грязную посуду
  
• This has long been one of my pet peeves: Это уже давно было причиной моего особого раздражения
  

Мы нашли для вас статью, которая расскажет, как сказать на английском “олененок”, “утенок” и “гусенок”. Расскажите, знали ли вы эти слова раньше?

BABY BIRDS

Youngeagles(орел) areeaglets,owls(сова) are owlets. Ornithologists often call young birds chicks, nestlings or fledglings, but swans(лебедь),geese(гусь) and ducks(утка), have a specific word —cygnets,goslingsandducklings, respectively.

MAMMALS AND MARSUPIALS

‘fawn,’ the word for deer(олень) young, comes from the Old English word for ‘glad’. 

MARINE ANIMALS

Why are baby fish(рыба) called fry? That’s not a great word for the future of those fish, is it? Brian Sidlauskas, associate professor at Oregon State University says it’s an Old Norse word, “frío, freó, fraé meaning seed or offspring.” At one time it was used to refer to young of all kinds, including humans and bees as well as fishes.

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