Source: Genki II Lesson 13.5, Tofugu

〜回 is a Japanese counter used to describe repetitive actions (“I skipped rope ten times”) and express the frequency of events over a period of time (“I shampoo three times a week”). 

1. Structure: 

“describe repetitive actions”

number of times + 〜回 

“express the frequency of events over a period of time”

period に frequency 〜回

2. Examples:

“describe repetitive actions”

縄跳びを１０回跳んだ。I skipped rope ten times.

スクワットを３０回します。I’m going to do thirty squats.

“express the frequency of events over a period of time”

毎日２回お風呂に入ります。I take a bath twice every day.

More information: Tofugu

Source: Genki II Lesson 13.5

〜なら is used to express “limitation” or “contrast” in a sentence.

1. Structure:

noun (A) なら predicate (B)

B only applies to A

2. Examples:

ブラジルに行ったことがありますか。Have you ever been to Brazil? メキシコなら行ったことがありますが、ブラジルは行ったことがありません。I’ve been to Mexico, but I’ve never been to Brazil. 

日本語が分かりますか。Do you understand Japanese? ひらがななら分かります。If it’s in hiragana, I understand.

Source: Genki II Lesson 13.4

〜てみる is used to express the idea of “doing something tentatively” or “trying something”. 

1. Structure:

It combines the て-form with みる, conjugated as a る-verb.

て-form + みる

2. Examples:

漢字がわからなかったので、日本人の友達に聞いてみました。Because I could not understand the kanji, I tried asking my Japanese friend about it. 

友達があの店のケーキをおいしいと言っていましたから、今度食べてみます。I heard from my friend that the cake from this store is good, so I will go try it someday soon.

Source: Genki II Lesson 13.3

Intermediate Japanese Review Day 2 & 3/15

Used to express an impression or inference based on direct observation. Equivalent to “it looks like” or “it seems like”.

1. Structure:

い adjectives: おいしい → おいしいそうです・おいしくなさそうです

exception: いい → よさそうです・よくなさそうです

な adjectives: 元気(な) → 元気そうです・元気じゃなさそうです (drop な)

2. Examples:

Affirmative:

このりんごはおいしいそうです。This apple looks delicious.

明日は天気がよさそうです。It looks like the weather will be fine tomorrow.

メアリーさんは元気そうでした。Mary looked fine.

Negative:

この本は難しくなさそうです。This book doesn’t look difficult.

ともこさんはテニスが上手じゃなさそうです。It looks like Tomoko isn’t good at tennis.

3. Qualifying a noun: adjective + そうな

そう can be used after an adjective to qualify a noun. そう is a な adjective, thus it is written as そうな.

暖かそうなセーターを着ています。She is wears a warm-looking sweater.

For more information: PuniPuni Japan

Source: Genki II Lesson 13.2

Intermediate Japanese Review Day 1/15

から is used to give a reason for something. When you want to express two or more reasons for something, you use the 〜し structure.

(reason 1*) し、(reason 2*) し、 (situation)。

*predicate in short form.

Sentence examples:

1. 日本語はおもしろいし、先生はいいし、私は日本語の授業が大好きです。I really like my Japanese class because Japanese language is interesting and my teacher is good.

2. 家族から手紙を来たし、彼と電話で話したし、昨日はとてもいい日でした。Yesterday was a great day because I received a letter from my family and I talked with my boyfriend on the phone.

Observation: In the present tense, だ is added before 〜し for な adjectives and nouns, but not for い adjectives.

い adjectives: おもしろいし

な adjectives: 好きだし

noun +  です: 先生だし

You can also use just one 〜し clause, implying that this is not the only reason for the situation.

Sentence examples:

1.  物価が安いし、この町の生活楽です。Life in this city is easygoing. For one, things are cheap.

Intermediate Japanese Review Day 1/15

You can use the prompts below to practice potential verbs in Japanese.

Things I could do as a child:

1. 泳げました。I could swim.

2. 絵を描けました。I could draw (pictures).

Things I could not do as a child:

1. 日本語が話せませんでした。I couldn’t speak Japanese.

2. 家賃を払えませんでした。I couldn’t pay rent. *obviously*

Things I can do:

1. 食べ物を作れます。I can cook (food).

2. Photoshopを使えます。I can use Photoshop.

Things I cannot do:

1. 車を運転できません。I can’t drive. *blushes in shame*

2. ピアノを弾けません。I can’t play the piano.

You can practice more potential verbs (+ te form) using the flashcards I made here.

Source: Genki II Lesson 13.1

Intermediate Japanese Review Day 1/15

To express ability to do something (“can”) or possibility.

る-verbs: drop final -る and add -られる

見る→見られる (to see)

う-verbs: drop final -う and add える

行く→行ける (to go)

話す→話せる (to speak)

買う→買える (to buy)

泳ぐ→泳げる (to swim)

遊ぶ→遊べる (to play)

待つ→待てる (to wait)

読む→読める (to read)

死ぬ→死ねる (to die)

取る→取れる (to take)

irregular verbs:

くる→こられる

する→できる

1. The verbs below have alternative, informal variations:

見る→見られる→見れる

出る→出られる→出れる

くる→こられる→これる

2. Potential verbs conjugation pattern:

Short forms

Present: 見られる・見られない

Past: 見られた・見られなかった

Long forms

Present: 見られます・見られません

Past: 見られました・見られませんでした

て-form

見られて

3. Particles

Verbs with を particles: either が or を

漢字を読む→漢字が読める・漢字を読める

する (できる):

仕事をする→仕事ができる

Verbs with other particles:

山に登る→山に登れる

4. Sentence examples:

私は日本語が話せます。I can speak Japanese.

私は泳げないんです。Actually, I can’t swim.

雨が降ったので、海に行けませんでした。We couldn’t go to the beach because it rained.

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.

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.

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!

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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.

Use the polite form in German to be rude.

So a friend wanted to practice German with me and started to speak in the polite form.

I told him that it’s not necessary to use it with me because 1. we’re about the same age and 2. we’re talking over the internet.

He asked me what the second thing has to do with it. I told him that I would use the polite form to speak with a 50 years old in real-life but not if he is messaging me over the internet.

Then he asked what I’m talking about, because I once sent him a screenshot of a weird old men. And I used the polite form while talking to him.

The thing is, this 50 years old man tried to hit on me and I was using the polite form to make clear (for him), how much older he is. So he would stop with this bullshit. But he was like all the other old men who try to hit on me and said “oh you don’t need to use the polite form with me, we’re basically around the same age”. Sorry b*tch, we’re what? I’m 22. Even if you double my age I’m still younger!

I kept using the polite form, which makes them angry every single time because it basically means “You’re so much older, don’t even dream of sleeping with me. It’s disgusting.”

And I think it’s really funny how you can use a polite form to be rude af and make people angry by using it with them.

Languages. Weird little things.

doinglanguagestuff:

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.

Me: Okay, today I will get shit done. I will study at least 2 hours after work.

Brain: Or you could just take a nap.

Me: What? No. Yesterday you told me you are motivated and we will do this today.

Brain: Just think about it. You worked 9 hours and now you want to study? That seems stupid to me. Think about pizza, watching a movie, eating chocolate and taking a nap.

Me: Why are you like this to me??

Brain: Nap… What? Nap. What? Nap! I can’t hear you. TAKE A NAP!

Me:But…

Brain:Nap.

Me: You make me angry.

Brain: You know what would help you to relax? A nap.

Me every single day.

This time I want to talk about “How to live your target language”. While learning a language through textbooks, grammar rules and vocab lists we often forget what a language actually is for: using it as a social tool to live! Learning a language is like exploring the world a second time (or third, forth, fifth… I guess you know where this is going lol). 

I know many people (mostly introverts) have a problem with actually speaking their target language (I know it’s embarrassing if you don’t know what’s going on and feel like an idiot, especially when you knew how to say things before starting the conversation, I feel the same!).

But it doesn’t matter if you make tiny mistakes (I mean if you learn the language because you want to use it for what a language is for and not because your school forces you to get through a stupid test) because a language has only one purpose: communication. And if you can communicate in your target language, who cares about switching up articles or stuff like that?

It’s time to live your language, that’s the best way to learn it. Usually I would make a list, but it’s nonsense if I do that now. Everyone lives a different life so you have to try this the most suitable way for you. I will just give you an example how a day COULD look like if you try to live your target language.

Ps: this does NOT require to live in the country your target language is spoken. This is all about pretending, to live in your target country.

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My example on how a day could look like (based on what I did when I was in school):

It’s Friday, 6 am and your alarm goes on. You hear music but have no idea what on earth they are singing, until you realize you set a radio in your target language as your alarm clock. You sit up and grab your phone. First you are irritated because everything seems to be in another language… oh right… you started your “live your language” journey yesterday and changed the language of your phone and PC to your target language. It’s time for breakfast so you eat while keep listening to the radio, where people are talking about a topic… but you only understand every third word. You’re late for the bus (like seriously that happened every day to me) and run. The bus ride is 35 minutes long, so you start listening to your favourite music in your target language.

At school you find out that the second lesson will be free because the teacher is sick. So you use this time to read a comic in your target language, because last time you tried a book, it was a little bit too hard to understand. In your last lesson you have to research a topic and give a short presentation but you are allowed to use your phone so you search for the things you want to know in your target language.

After school you walk to the bus station while a drunken person bumps into you and tells you to f*cking go out of the way. You think about all the insults you know in your target language while keep walking to get the bus. Sitting in the bus you tell your language exchange partner about this idiot (of course in your target language) and start listening to music (YES in your target language!). You’re feeling good.

Back at home you throw your bag into the corner and yourself on the bed. You think about what to do next. Homework? No, you do that before school because you’re always an hour too early thanks to the stupid bus plan. You grab your phone and watch your favourite [insert target language here] youtubers. After eating you use your PC to play Sims 4. You remember why you chose this game… an easy game about everyday life to learn simple words like “work, food, shower, table, etc.”. After playing you read some blogs about how life in your target country is like and what the most beautiful places are. In your target language. I know I probably don’t have to keep mentioning it but I just want to be clear. Everything IN YOUR TARGET LANGUAGE (I will stop mentioning it now but everything I talk about is in your target language). After playing Sims you watch the new episode of your favourite series. There was a really interesting plot twist so you go online and find a discussion about it and you join it. While exchanging about it you get a Skype call from your language exchange partner. You two talk about how your day was and try to get him to watch this new series. After the call you read about a new social media site, only available in your target language and sign up. Many native speakers message you, asking why you learn their target language and offering you help. You record your progress with a camera and upload it on youtube.

The day comes to an end and you write everything that happened into your diary. You get ready for bed, lay down and start listening to an audio book. You fall asleep while listening to it and the people in your dream are talking the things you still hear from the audio book. Good thing you are listening to a romantic story, so you meet a handsome guy in your dreams. Sleep tight. :)

The best way to keep your motivation is to reward yourself for reaching your goals (even the small ones!). :)
But first you need to set goals… if you have no idea what you could do on your language learning journey you can check out this postfrom@lovelybluepanda.
It’s a really cool post about “100 Goals you can have as a language learner”. There are daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals.
So, if you’re done choosing the goals you want to reach, it’s time to choose the reward you want to get after completing it.
__________________________________

Here are examples for rewards you can give yourself. :)

• go to a café with your friends
  
• watch a movie at the cinema
• make a trip to another city
• buy stickers, pencils, markers, washi tapes, etc. everything you’re using for your language learning entries
• buy yourself something big for reaching big goals ( like even a car, yes I’m talking about REALLY big goals)
• new shoes
• an app
• a monthly subscription for a language learning app/website like Busuu,  Babbel or Memrise
• food from your target country
• beauty stuff from your target country (yes I’m looking at you Korean and Japanese learners, there is much you can buy)
• order food to your house
• nail polish, lipstick, beauty masks, etc. (just small things you can buy at the next drugstore)
• massage
• new hairstyle
• eyelashes extensions
• take a day off
• visit a museum
• buy yourself a new book (maybe even one for language learning)
• make a Netflix day
• candy from the next grocery store
• buy something that’s trending in your target country
• a trip to your target country
• go to a restaurant with friends or your family
• a new outfit
• get a pedicure/manicure
• buy yourself flowers
• take a course (like cooking, drawing, etc.)
• visit a comedy club
• tickets for a festival/band/singer you want to see
• go golfing with friends
• paintball (like seriously… try it with friends it’s fun haha :))
• spa day
• join a sport club
• gym membership
• go camping
• a new laptop bag
• look online for something you want and take the first thing you see (that’s especially for people like me who usually need days to decide if they want something or not)
• visit a bookstore or library
• make a picnic
• take a hot bubble bath
• buy a magazine or even subscribe to one
• buy a plant for the room you’re usually studying
• new headphones to have a better quality while listening to songs in your target language
• piercing
• tattoo
• jewellery
  
• buy a few online lessons in italki
• yoga / meditation
• buy candy from your target language
• buy a bag with candy from all over the world
• a mixer for smoothies
• new workout clothes
• go to a party/club
• a new journal (or your first one)
• a fancy waterbottle
• search for new songs in your target language
• a colouring book to relax
• put money into a jar every time you reach a goal (for a bigger reward)
• search for events near your city
• go on a road trip with your best friend or partner
• take language classes
• buy a new videogame
• try a new hobby

Done. I hope you find some of my ideas helpful. :)