I noticed something. You know how the word habibi (in every Arabic song) sounds like “baby” or “bby” and means “my beloved” ? well love in Arabic is Hubb (with the root letters hbb), and to add the possessive form in Arabic you ad “…i”, so my love becomes “Hubbi” which sounds almost exactly like “hubby” (husband) in English! I think it’s beautiful how words in languages that have nothing to do with eachother can connect like that, by pure coicidence.

Six charming French songs from around the world

Aïcha,Cheb Khaled (Algerian singer) 1996
With delightful verses filled with biblical and koranic allusions, this ballad is a classic love story. The singer belts out his love for Aïcha, who is not too interested in him and prefers to be independent. This song, written by a Jew and interpreted by a Muslim, is a cry for peace, and truly a masterpiece. Khaled went on to become one of the Arab world’s most famous singers, and has been named the King of Raï. His most recent hit, C’est la vie, has over 50 million views on YouTube.

Papaoutai,Stromae (Belgian singer) 2013
How could I not mention it. With over 270 million views, this song is the most successful French song on YouTube. The contrast between its cheery beat and depressing lyrics about a boy searching desperately for his father (Papa, où t’es?) makes Papaoutai exceptional. The lyrics and video are just gorgeous, and definitely worth a listen. Amongst Stromae’s other hits, we count Formidable,Alors on dance,CarmenandTe Quiero.

Quelqu’un m’a dit,Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (Franco-Italian singer) 2002
France’s very own ex First Lady ! Yes, Carla Bruni, on top of being Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife, is also a renowned and beloved singer. In this sweet ballad, she faintly remembers someone telling her that he ex-lover stills loves her (perhaps in a dream?).

À toi,Mister You (Franco-Moroccan rapper) 2014
To you my little heart, to you my butterfly. In this sweet song, hardened rapper Mister You shows us his delicate side while nostalgically missing his ex-girlfriend. In the « thug French rapper from Morocco who also has a soft side » category, we also find La Fouine, whose notable piano ballad Tous les Mêmes delivers a message of equality between classes.

Aux armes et cetera,Serge Gainsbourg (French singer) 1979
Out of Gainsbourg’s very large musical repertoire, I chose to include his Reggae rendition of France’s national anthem because of its innovator aspect. Indeed, France’s favourite bad boy recorded this song in Jamaica (Bob Marley’s wife is one of the backup singers) and thus brought the Reggae genre to France. The song sparked a controversy at the time of its release (but then again, Gainsbourg’s career is scandal after scandal). Amongst his best hits are Je t’aime… moi non plus,La Javanaise,Bonnie & ClydeandLa chanson de Prévert, to name a few. If you are interested in Gainsbarre’s life, I recommend Joann Sfar’s 2010 fictional film Gainsbourg, vie héroïque, in which Laetitia Casta plays Brigitte Bardot.

Mishapan Nitassinan,Chloé Sainte-Marie (French Canadian singer) 2009
Granted, it is not French technically. But I wanted to include this lullaby in the mix because Native people in Canada don’t have much of a voice and aren’t represented well in the media. This song doesn’t have any actual lyrics (except something along the lines of « Remember how big our land was »), the singer just sings a list of places and cities in present-day Canada, USA and Mexico that used to belong to the Native people. Other Amerindians singers include Philippe Mckenzie, Floyd Western and rapper Samian.

Other memorable French musical artists : Charlotte Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, Johnny Hallyday, George Brassens, Francis Cabrel, Coeur de Pirate, France Gall, Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf, Celine Dion, Jacques Brel, Joe Dassin, Michel Delpech, Michel Polnareff, Lorie, Alizée.

✨new video✨

productive day of an international student stuck in lockdown: study vlog, ig photoshoot, community

link to notion template https://ko-fi.com/s/392f503a8d

link to (free) monthly planner https://ko-fi.com/s/78476c3b54

hi friends :)

I’m again stuck in lockdown, this time in a foreign country. I try to stay productive, even though right now my whole world is my dorm (and a couple of flatmates left). My classes are over, because I already took my finals, so I try to fill my days with language studying (french, mostly) and occasional adult things (like cooking, doing laundry etc).

anyway, stay safe

see ya at https://toomuchmiya.wordpress.com/

~music~

ninjoi. - Wakeup - https://thmatc.co/?l=CD46795A

Naomi - Tidal Wave - https://thmatc.co/?l=C4F121C2

Mark Generous - I Still Love You - https://thmatc.co/?l=E9F7DC95

Naomi - The Coffee Shop - https://thmatc.co/?l=0A229AF0

Naomi - The Ghost of You - https://thmatc.co/?l=CDCB645D

ninjoi. - Where Do I Go - https://thmatc.co/?l=ABFC699C~

ninjoi. - Sakana - https://thmatc.co/?l=9F1D202F

ninjoi. - Natsu - https://thmatc.co/?l=0AC9C0B0

Singto Conley - Fluttering - https://thmatc.co/?l=69965E2A

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miya

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Comedy 

• El Bar (2017),España★★★/.5
• Toc Toc (2017), España ★★★★★
• Un cuento chino (2011), Argentina/España ★★★★
• El cumple de la abuela (2015), México ★★★
• Soltera Codiciada (2019), Perú ★★★
• Un Padre No Tan Padre (2016), México ★★★★★
• No se aceptan devoluciones (2013), México ★★★★

Drama

• ¿A quién te llevarías a una isla desierta? (2019), España ★★★★
• Vivir dos veces (2019), España ★★★★/.5
• El club de los incomprendidos (2014), España ★★★
• Cuatro lunas (2014), México ★★★★
• El laberinto del fauno (2006), México/España ★★★★/.5
• Diarios de motocicleta (2004), ★★★★

Thriller

• El Hoyo (2019), España ★★★★/.5
• Contratiempo (2016), España ★★★★/.5

see the complete post

RUSSIAN SPEAKERS!!

I need help understanding which words in Russian can be deemed offensive, so I can avoid being rude.

For example, I learned that the words голубой and розовой can be used as slurs, so I really want to make sure I’m not accidentally using them in a bad way.

learning russian is all fun and games until you learn that russians basically only write in cursive

jlptn1letsgo:

〜に堪える／〜に堪えない　＝　〜するだけの価値がある／ひどい状態で〜が我慢できない・〜するだけの価値がない。
These are pronounced にたえる・にたえない。に堪える is used to say that something is ~ worthy. に堪えない can be used to say that something is not ~ worthy, but also that something is so bad they cannot stand it.

自分の首を絞めてるのは見るに堪えないです。
It is hard to watch one being strangled. (Watching someone’s neck being strangled is such a bad condition that they can’t stand to watch it)

大人の鑑賞に堪える映画
a movie that is worthy of adult praise (it’s technically geared towards children but it’s so good that adults dig it too)

今回の朝日新聞の談話に対する批判は読むに堪えないものがありました。
The criticism regarding the latest Asahi Shinbun talk is something not worth reading.

彼等は米軍人を見ると「ヤンキー・ゴーホーム」「ファック・ユー」等と聞くに堪えないような罵声を浴びせる。
When they see US soldiers, they shower them with jeering that is hard to listen to, such as “Yankee go home” and “Fuck you”.

見るに堪えない is a common expression that means “can’t bear to look at, painful to watch”.

I decided which language I want to learn next! :)

So the last few weeks (or even months) I thought about which language could be the most useful, most beautiful and most logical language choice for me. Which language feels “right” for me?

I wanted to decide between:

• Japanese
• Russian
• Korean
• Spanish

Today was the day. Yes ladies and gentlemen I’m talking about THE DAY I finally decided which language I want to learn next.

It’s going to be Italian.

What?

That’s not even on the list?

Yeah because I’m a mess and suck at making decisions. 

To be honest I never wanted to learn Italian. I found it to be boring (because not much difference to the languages I know), no real cultural difference and where I make vacations (every year since I was 3 years old) they speak German anyway. I’m not into pasta, I’m not into pizza, I’m not into wine (I actually hate wine). There was nothing I was interested in when it came to Italian. And no this is not a story about how something special happened and then it got me like “Italian it is!”. Actually, it didn’t happen anything. Today I just thought “it’s going to be Italian” and now I’m excited about it for seriously no reason at all. Nothing happened. I didn’t even get in touch with the language today!

I always wanted my next language to be as different as possible and now it’s going to be Italian. For no reason. Funny how life goes. So ladies and gentlemen, I’m glad to present you my next language which I never thought I would even look at it. I’m super excited and for some reason the language suddenly sounds beautiful to me! 

I’m hoping for a funny journey. And I’m going to be in Italy in two months again so let’s see how it goes. :)

I did it! Yesterday I convinced my boyfriend to learn a new language (thanks to endless talks about why learning a language is the best thing on earth haha). Actually I gave up on this but out of nowhere he was like “I’m thinking about learning French”. Hell yeah!!! So he took French. Well not my favourite language but probably useful when visiting France and I’m not going to complain about it because I’m happy af that he’s going to learn a new language. We’re living in Germany so France is not that far away, even though we’re usually in Italy for vacation (I guess things will change lol). 

Learning languages as a couple, sounds like much fun but we’re not learning the same language, so it’s going to be a little bit different and also harder to help each other and study together. That’s why I’m writing this, how can we support each other the best way even if we’re not learning the same language and what are the advantages of learning two different langauges? Let’s do this!

• Challenge each other. We both use Memrise as a tool to challenge each other. There’s a high score list and I’m very competitive and he has 2 hours of boredom every day because he’s traveling by train. Today I couldn’t believe how high his high score was after getting up. It was already a little bit hard to keep up with him.
• Test each other. The thing with testing our vocabulary knowledge is… that he can’t read my vocab because of a different alphabet. The solution is easy: In my case he’s just asking the German words, I translate them and then he shows me the word. I can ask French and German words.
• Play games. There are many multiplayer games where you can play together and just switch the language of the interface to the language you learn.
• Be creative. You have so many options how to learn a language (just like my Tumblr post about “different ways to learn a language”), if you’re creative. For example: acting like you two do only speak your target languages but it’s important for the survival of humankind that you two talk to each other (about whatever). Just use Google Translate and type in what you want to say and show it your partner. You may think this is pointless but it’s not about learning what the other person says, it’s about learning how to make sentences on your own. No matter if they are correct, you should just try and think about what you want to say and how you could do that. Many language learners have the problem that they can understand a lot but are not able to make their own sentences because they rarely do that compared to studying their passiv vocab.
• Rewards. You probably know about rewarding yourself when reaching a goal, but now you can make a deal with your partner. For example the person who has a higher high score on Memrise can make a wish. Maybe there’s just a difference for very competitive people to “normal” rewards you give yourself but for me, this is so much more fun because I WANT TO WIN THIS SHIT! Also, there are way more option for your price because you’re not alone anymore (hello massage, I’m coming for you).
• More support. I know you can get support from friends (if you can get them to learning a language lol, I gave up there) or your language exchange partner but it’ll never be like getting through this with your partner. Also, if you’re living together your partner is always there for you, if you feel like giving up or want to celebrate (even very small) goals you reached your partner is just around the corner.
• It’s hot. Let’s be honest, speaking another language makes people more attractive (proven fact) and seeing the person you already love speaking another language (which you don’t understand, so it’s a skill you don’t have) makes him/her even more attractive.
• More opportunities. Because both partner learn a different language, there are double as much opportunities for vacation and where to travel, away from these tourism places.
• More cultural diversity. If you learn a new language you (mostly) also learn about their culture. So with a partner who’s learning another language you don’t just have one new culture around you but also another one.

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.

Before you can start learning a new language, you have to choose one. Can I (or any other person) tell you which language that is? No. But I can give you questions, you can answer for yourself and at the end you will know which language suits you best.

- Does your family speak a foreign language you don’t speak?

- Do your friends speak a foreign language?

- Do you want something similar to the languages you know or something completely different?

- Do you need it for your future job?

- Do you need it for your current job?

- Which culture seems interesting?

- Which food seems delicious?

- If you want to move to another country (later)

- which one?

- Where do you go for holidays?

- If you’re single: which language would you like your partner to speak?

- Which language sounds good?

- Do you like the music of a country?

- Do you like series or movies of a country?

- Do you like art or literature? If yes of which country the most?

- With which language could you have most fun?

- Do you just want to learn another language (no matter which one) as fast as you can? Then look for an “easy” language as similar as possible to the languages you speak.

- Do you like someone special? Which language does s/he speak?

- Do you feel like you belong to another country based on their culture, people, etc.?

- If you’re fluent in every language, where would you go? Where would you live?

- Which languages do the people speak you look up to?

- What’s best for your hobbies? (If you’re into games from Asia, you can play them way earlier in their language. If you’re into fashion learn Italian or French, so you can read blogs of the most famous bloggers and know new trends before everyone else, etc.)

- Which language is useful for you?

- If you could decide where you would have been born, where would it be?

These are just a few questions but I guess you know where this should go. The language you choose needs to match your personality, interests, hobbies, etc. It shouldn’t be a boring vocab list you learn or textbook you have to get through. It should be something you feel, something you get exited about. You won’t reach your goal, if there is no real reason. The more you FEEL the language, the more you will stick with it. You won’t be motivated enough if you think Russian is cool but also know that you’ll never use it. But if you like the country, their culture, the people and FEEL like deep inside you’re Russian, this is the language to go with. That’s why there is no “best language” or anything like that. Because every person is different and so is the language that suits this person.

What’s not important:- Number of speakers This doesn’t matter AT ALL. To 99.9% you won’t keep studying a language if your only reason is something like “Many people speak Spanish, I’m sure many companies like that on my resume”. Why? Because it’s not a real motivation. A company you don’t even know MIGHT want you to have Spanish skills? That reason won’t get you through years of studying and lacks of motivation. There are other skills way more important to a company, so every other language will get you the same plus point. Even though, why would it help you to  speak Spanish, if all the other ones who apply for the job do that too? Same with Chinese. It has the highest number of speakers but who cares if they all live on the other side of earth? If you want to move to China, fine. If you really need Chinese for the job you want, fine. But just because of the number? No. And if your reason is “more people to talk to”: you can’t talk to all of them. Who cares if there are 1.000.000.000 people speaking “language 1″ and only 1.000.000 people speaking “language 2″? You won’t talk to over one million people anyway. I hope this guide helped you and you find out which language and country suits you best. :)

Okay, first I want to say, that the easiest language will always be the one you’re interested in. If you have fun while leaning and actually WANT to learn a language, it’ll be always easier than an “easy” language you don’t care about at all. For example if you want to learn Japanese because you loveJapan and their culture, every second learning another language will feel like a waste of time. If you like it = easy. If you don’t like it = hard. What people mean, when they talk about easiest and hardest languages, is how different these languages are, compared to the languages you speak. Because if it’s more different, it will take you longer to learn the new language. There’s this “Language Difficulty Ranking” of the FSI, which shows the easiest and hardest languages for native English speakers. So for this, let’s just say you’re not interested in any language at all and you only speak English as your mother tongue. Then here are the easiest and hardest languages for you.

Group 1 (575-600 hours):AfrikaansDanishDutchFrenchItalianNorwegianPortugueseRomanianSpanishSwedish

Group 2 (750 hours):German

Group 3 (900 hours):IndonesianMalaysianSwahili

Group 4 (1100 hours):AlbanianAmharicArmenianAzerbaijaniBengaliBosnianBulgarianBurmeseCroatianCzechEstonianFinnishGeorgianGreekHebrewHindiHungarianIcelandicKhmerLaoLatvianLithuanianMacedonianMongolianNepaliPashtoPersian (Dari, Farsi, Tajik)PolishRussianSerbianSinhalaSlovakSlovenianTagalogThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbekVietnameseXhosaZulu

Group 5 (2200 hours):ArabicCantonese (Chinese)Mandarin (Chinese)JapaneseKorean

That’s a question I asked myself many times. So I spent a lot of time on blogs and websites telling me that you can’t name an exactly number. Of course you can’t but I was just searching for an “around this” number. Everyone knows that there is no magical number like 1000 and then you’ll speak your target language but with 999 you wouldn’t. I just wanted “around this” numbers to be motivated, to have a goal, to have a direction I can keep in mind.  It was a pain in the ass to get an answer to this. And I want to share it with you guys, so you don’t have to waste your time on several blogs and giant textwalls to get just a little bit closer to this answer. Don’t forget these are just “around this” numbers and it’s very(!) important that you also use them and SPEAK your target language.
 _______________________________________
 100 most common words make up 50% of conversations.

300 most common words make up 65% of conversations.

2.000 most common words make up 90% of conversations.
_______________________________________
What are the different levels of a language?

A1: 500 words A2: 1.000 words

B1: 2.000 words B2: 4.000 words

C1: 8.000 words C2: 16.000 words
_______________________________________

And here a little bit detailed:

250 words - without these words, you can’t make a sentence.

750 words - is needed for everyday conversations.

2.500 words - will allow you to say most things you want, but sometimes in an awkward way.

5.000 words - is an active vocabulary of a (not high educated) native speaker.

10.000 words - is an active vocabulary of a (high educated) native speaker.

20.000 words - is needed in your passive vocabulary to fully understand work of literature by a notable author.

You decided to learn a new language? That’s great! But you don’t really know how to start? That’s totally normal, especially if you never learned another language before. But here are some tips how to get started. :)

1. Read about your language. Before you actually start studying your target language you should google it. At least the Wikipedia entry. That takes about 15 minutes but will help you a lot during your study process. It makes it easier to know how your language “works” before starting it. Is it similar or very different to the language you know? How’s the basic grammar? Do they use the same letters? Does it use genders? What’s special about your target language? Do you speak the language just how you read it?  So you won’t be confused while studying Spanish when the word “hablo” suddenly changes to “hablas” because you read before that they conjugate verbs in Spanish. That way you will understand it faster.

2. Break sentences or even words down. Maybe there is a pattern. For example in German we call a sloth “Faultier”. If you break it down you have “faul” (lazy) and “Tier” (animal). So while you learned the word for sloth you also learned the word for “lazy” and “animal”. In this case you can learn that we Germans don’t really have endless long words, we just like to put words together that already exist to describe something new. And suddenly “Studentenkrankenversicherungsmeldeverordnung” doesn’t look like a word straight from hell anymore because it’s just “StudentsHealthInsuranceReportRegulation”. And you know it because you broke other words down and discovered that Germans just put words together.

3. Learn the most common words. The most common 100 English words make up about half of all written English.

4. If you don’t know a word in your native language, you don’t need it in your target language. For example “Grommet”. I heard the German words for it but never used it or will use it. So why would I need to know it in English? Unfortunately schools don’t care about that.

5. Try sticky notes.

6. Make a plan what you want to learn.

7. Search for good resources like textbooks/Apps/websites/videos/etc. That’s also a way to get started. I prefer getting a textbook for beginners and combine it with tip number 9.

8. Find a teacher. I’m not really a fan of learning a language sitting in a classroom because you won’t talk much. But if you want someone leading you while you do your first steps in your target language, you should definitely check out italki.

9. Find a language exchange partner. Think about what you normally would chat about, search for the vocabs and use them! You will instantly practice them, learn the words you need to know and have fun while learning your first words in your target language.

10. Get help from the Studyblr or Langblr community! :)

There are these study tips everyone knows but almost no one uses. Maybe because you already know them and are still searching for the ultimative tip to never get bored/frustrated/stressed/etc. while studying or maybe because they seem boring. There is a reason why these tips are everywhere and you probably already know them. However here are “basic” study tips everyone should at least TRY!

1. Use a Bullet Journal or calendar to write down goals (small ones you can achieve soon), exams, tests, deadlines, etc.

2. Study at a organised and clean place. Library, at home, Café, etc.

3. Drink water/tea/juice BEFORE drinking coffee.

4. Take breaks and get some fresh air.

5. It’s better to study a little bit every day than to study all at once in one night.

6. Get enough sleep.

7. Find out which study type you are and use it!

8. Get something that makes you happy while studying. Coffee, chocolate, tea, etc.

9. Put your smartphone away. Like… really far away.

10. Listen to music. (just google which music to listen to while studying)

So I found myself struggling these days because of a loss of motivation. Of course that’s normal, especially while learning a new language. First you’re like “I can learn this language in one night!” motivated but that can change into “How the f*ck could anyone remember all this sh*t?? Why am I doing this…”. I already saw that coming because it was the same with the language I learned before. That’s why I made a list for my future-me to look at when I feel like giving up. Now it’s time for it and I thought I could share it with you. Hopefully it helps some of you! :)

1. Drink water or juice. Yes I know, this is something people like to skip, because they want to get to the “real” tips, but please don’t do that! If you’re feeling tired, exhausted, down or even depressiv this can help you! 

2. Clean your desk. If it looks like world war 3 just passed your table, it’s too messy and you will feel like it.

3. Read the list. Yes I mean THE list. Oh wait… you don’t know what I’m talking about? I mean the list you wrote down with reasons why you want to have good grades, why you started this new language, why you have to study the stuff you have to study right now. What do you mean you don’t have a list like that? Write one and then read it!

4. Look at your goals. What do you mean you don’t have a list with small goals that will keep you motivated? What are you doing the whole day? Write one! And be sure you write down small goals you can reach in like a few days or weeks. Everything else will be too far away.

5. Look at the list with rewards you will get/do/buy yourself if you reach a goal. Yes… I’m sure you have a list like that. I’m sure because you know you need one. Who doesn’t like rewards?… Of course you have one. Of course.

6. Anything is better than nothing. Watch a movie in your target language, listen to music the guy you have to learn about composed or watch a Youtube video of this stupid maths stuff you don’t get. Also if you sit down and just study 5 minutes it’s better than nothing. 

7. Start a challenge. There are challenges for everything everywhere on the internet. Find one you like, set your goals, choose your rewards and start. This coffee you want to drink at this cool new Coffee shop won’t drink itself!

8. Teleport yourself into the future and skip studying. Of course that doesn’t work! Do I look like a wizard? No. But just close your eyes for a little bit, relax and imagine how you feel after reaching your goal. For example if you are studying a new language, imagine how you visit the country where your target language is spoken. You wake up and go outside for breakfast. You order what you want in your target language, while people look at you, impressed on how good you speak their language. You sit down and drink your coffee/tea, while a cute young man asks if he can sit next to you, because all other seats are taken. He starts a conversation and you have no problem to speak in your target language. He tells you how cute your accent is and asks you for a date. Oh, that won’t happen? Of course not if you don’t study.

9. Go for a walk. I know, just like “drink water” you probably want to skip that, but just don’t. If you really don’t want to go for a walk open all windows. Breath.

10. Meditate. Maybe you’re just too stressed. Calm yourself down for a moment.

11. Exercise. Your body will produce happy hormones. Yes I said happy hormones and yes they exist. Probably not with this name but who cares. The chance is higher to feel motivated to study after a workout.

12. Write a To Do List. Yes I like lists because they work. Write down what you HAVE TO DO today. If nothings helps you should at least do these things and just take a nap. The world is brighter after a nap.

13. There is no thirteen.