studying-conversation:

ㅋㅋ sound of giggling/laughing

ㅠㅠ/ㅜㅜ  sad/crying eyes

ㅎㅎ(하하)   Haha

ㅇㅇ(응)  Yes

ㅉㅉ tsk tsk 

ㅇㅋ(오키)  Okay

ㄱㅅ(감사)  Thank you

ㅊㅋ(축하)  Congratulations

ㄴㄴ(노노)  No

ㅈㅅ(죄송)  Sorry

ㄱㄷ(기다려)  Wait

ㄱㄱ(고고) Gogo

ㅂㅂ(바이바이)  Bye Bye

ㄷㄷ(덜덜)  I’m shivering

ㅅㄱ(수고)Well done/Good job

Those are, which I had to learn, but somehow couldn’t manage

시간 - hour
수 - number
배 - pear
샌드위치 - sandwich
남편 - husband
아내 - wife
감사합니다 - thank you
아네요 - nope
복도 - corridor
운동장 - playground
냉장고 - fridge
나이 - age
남자 - man (male)
사고 - apple
노트 - copybook (literally, note )
탁자 - coffee table
담배 - cigarettes
책장 - bookshelf

Literally me every time I see new grammatic topic, before understanding it

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. :)

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.

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.

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.