pythagoreanpolyglot

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

hi! Can I ask what a few of your favorite spanish words and sayings are?

My favorite words:

el azahar = orange blossom

la medusa = jellyfish [because Medusa, A+ language]

el nenúfar = lilypad

el hipo = a hiccup quitar el hipo = "to take one's breath away"

el girasol = sunflower

el jengibre = ginger

el hurón = ferret

el azabache = jet black / bird of paradise

izquierda = left

el aquelarre = witches' coven

I personally find myself really drawn to a lot of the words of Arabic or Basque origin. I also like that la araña "spider" can also be "chandelier"

My favorite expressions... that's hard because there are lots of good ones but:

a diestra y siniestra = "left and right", "all over the place" [lit. "to the right and left", but these are the old words for right-hand and left-hand"]

ser un sol = "to be a delight" [lit. "to be a sun"]

entre la espada y la pared = "between a rock and a hard place" [lit. "between the sword and the wall"]

de una vez por todas = once and for all

el prínciple azul = "knight in shining armor" [lit. "blue prince"]

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

How would the mouth, tongue, and throat have to change to be able to pronounce the forbidden IPA sounds?

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

you know how mathematicians have the journal of recreational mathematics, right? where they publish stuff like, ‘oh i found this cool property of this one seemingly boring number’, or, ‘this is literally nonsense but it sounds ~scientific~’ and it’s all great fun to read?

well

behold, the journal of recreational linguistics

with such delightful papers as ‘tennis puns’, ‘animals in different languages’, and ‘gifts from a homonymous benefactor’

excuse me while i go read all 50 volumes in one sitting

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

skdfhksjdf I love how on the second one the pinyin actually says 杀猪jksdhfkshdfjdsf

©AirRabbitYan

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

Languages of the world

Kurdish (Kurdî /کوردی/Курди)

Basic facts

Number of native speakers: 25 million

Official language: Kurdistan (Iraq), Rojava

Recognized minority language: Armenia

Also spoken: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Germany, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, United States

Script: Latin, 31 letters/Arabic, 34 letters/Cyrillic, 40 letters

Grammatical cases: 4

Linguistic typology: fusional, SOV

Language family: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Western, Northwestern

Number of dialects: 3 main groups

History

7th century - first written evidence

1787 - first grammar

1920-1929 - Kurdish is written with the Armenian alphabet

1932 - beginning of the use of the Latin alphabet

Writing system and pronunciation

These are the letters that make up the Latin script: a b c ç d e ê f g h i î j k l m n o p q r s ş t u û v w x y z.

These are the letters that make up the Arabic script: ع‎ ش س ژ ز ڕ ر‎ د خ ح چ ج ت پ ب ا ئـ ێ ی وو‎ ۆ و ە ھ ن م ڵ ل گ ک ق ڤ ف غ.

These are the letters that make up the Cyrillic script: а б в г г’ д е ә ә’ ж з и й к к’ л м н о ӧ п п’ р р’ с т т’ у ф х һ һ’ ч ч’ ш щ ь э ԛ ԝ.

Depending on the dialect, certain distinctions are made in the pronunciation of letters.

Grammar

Nouns have three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), two numbers (singular and plural), and four cases (nominative, oblique, construct, and vocative). This, however, is not true for all dialects, as only Kurmanji distinguishes gender and makes a distinction between nominative and oblique.

Personal pronouns can be free-standing or appear as clitics.

Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood, aspect, voice, and politeness. They are also marked for causativity.

Dialects

There are three dialect groups: Northern (Kurmanji), Central (Sorani), and Southern (Pehlewani). They differ in phonology, morphology, and lexicon and are not mutually intelligible.

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

i would like to wish all trans women, queer women, woc, disabled women, and neurodivergent women a very happy international women’s day

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

Defend indigenous languages.

Defend minority languages.

Defend “economically useless” languages.

Sigh loudly at anyone who says that things have to be productive to be worth fighting for.

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

today in french we learned how to say “what’s in the bag” and i couldn’t stop laughing because

swaggity swag qu’est-ce qui dans le sac

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

Free Online Language Courses

Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos.  You can always check the audit course or no certificate option so that you can learn for free.

American Sign Language

ASL University

Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change

Arabic

Arabic for Global Exchange (in the drop-down menu)

Intro to Arabic

Madinah Arabic

Moroccan Arabic

Arabe (taught in French)

Catalan

Intro to Catalan Language & Society

Intro to Catalan Sign Language

Chinese

Beginner

Basic Chinese I. II, III, IV , V

Basic Mandarin Chinese I & II

Beginner’s Chinese

Chinese for Beginners

Chinese Characters

Chinese for HSK 1

Chinese for HSK 2

Chinese for HSK 3 I & II

HSK Level 1

Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese for Business

More Chinese for Beginners

Start Talking Mandarin Chinese

UT Gateway to Chinese

Chino Básico (Taught in Spanish)

Intermediate

Chinese Stories

Intermediate Business Chinese

Intermediate Chinese Grammar

Dutch

Introduction to Dutch

English

Online Courses here

Resources Here

Faroese

Faroese Course

Finnish

A Taste of Finnish

Basic Finnish

Finnish for Immigrants

Finnish for Medical Professionals

French

Beginner

AP French Language and Culture

Basic French Skills

Beginner’s French: Food & Drink

Diploma in French

Elementary French I & II

Français Interactif

French in Action

French Language Studies I, II, III

French: Ouverture

Intermediate & Advanced

French: Le Quatorze Juillet

Passe Partout 

La Cité des Sciences et de Industrie

Vivre en France - A2

Vivre en France - B1

Frisian

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in English)

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in Dutch)

German

Beginner

Beginner’s German: Food & Drink

Conversational German I, II, III, IV

Deutsch im Blick

Diploma in German

German at Work

Rundblick-Beginner’s German

Intermediate

German: Regionen Traditionen und Geschichte

Landschaftliche Vielfalt

Gwich’in

Introduction to Gwich’in Language

Hebrew

Biblical Hebrew

Know the Hebrew Alphabet

Teach Me Hebrew

Hindi

A Door into Hindi

Business Hindi

Virtual Hindi

Icelandic

Icelandic 1-5

Indonesian

Learn Indonesian

Irish

Introduction to Irish

Irish 101

Irish 102

Italian

Beginner

Beginner’s Italian: Food & Drink

Beginner’s Italian I

Introduction to Italian

Italian for Beginners 1 , 2, 3 , 4 , 5, 6 

Intermediate & Advanced

AP Italian Language and Culture

Intermediate Italian I

Advanced Italian I

Letteratura italiana

Japanese

Genki

Japanese JOSHU

Japanese Pronunciation

Sing and Learn Japanese

Tufs JpLang

Kazakh

A1-B2 Kazakh (Taught in Russian)

Korean

Beginner

First Step Korean

How to Study Korean

Introduction to Korean

Learn to Speak Korean

Pathway to Spoken Korean

Intermediate

Intermediate Korean

Nepali

Beginner’s Conversation and Grammar

Norwegian

Introduction to Norwegian

Norwegian on the Web

Portuguese

Curso de Português para Estrangeiros 

Pluralidades em Português Brasileiro

Russian

Beginner

Easy Accelerated Learning for Russian

Advanced

Reading Master and Margarita

Russian as an Instrument of Communication

Siberia: Russian for Foreigners

Spanish

Beginner

AP Spanish Language & Culture

Basic Spanish for English Speakers

Beginner’s Spanish: Food & Drink

Introduction to Spanish

Restaurants and Dining Out

Spanish for Beginners 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Spanish Vocabulary

Intermediate

Spanish: Ciudades con Historia

Spanish: Espacios Públicos

Advanced

Corrección, Estilo y Variaciones 

Leer a Macondo

Spanish:Con Mis Propias Manos

Spanish: Perspectivas Porteñas

Swedish

Intro to Swedish

Swedish Made Easy 1, 2, & 3

Ukrainian

Read Ukrainian

Ukrainian Language for Beginners

Welsh

Beginner’s Welsh

Discovering Wales

Multiple Languages

Ancient Languages

More Language Learning Resources & Websites!

Last updated: April 1, 2018

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

I love how everyone is like ah yes brain cells but the hats literally say platelets

*laughs in low platelet count*

my braincells when you text me

~~

you have more than one???

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

Do you ever see people in your Duolingo league and think:

I will fight you and defeat you in this battle of language

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

I'll know when I've found my soulmate when they'll lay by my side for hours, hold my hand, and let me ramble about the intricacies of German gender neutral pronouns and the evolution of the language

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

Protests in French

Une émeute-riot

Une manifestation- protest

Une manifestation pacifique- peaceful protest

Une révolte- revolt

Une révolution- revolution

Un grief- grievance

Une plainte- complaint

Un chant- chant

Le sit-in/ la manifestation assis- sit-in

Une grève- strike

Une grève de la faim- hunger strike

La démission- resignation (from a position)

La réforme-reform

Manifester- to protest

Faire pression sur- to put pressure on

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

Throw the charts aside and learn an easier way to use German adjective endings more accurately with this quick hack!

Part one: Definite Articles 

[der/die/das/den/dem/des] + [adjective + ending] + [noun]

1. Write the Nominativ definite article above the noun you are modifying.

D__ groß__ Buch ist hier. [Buch → das] 

Ich lese d__ groß__ Buch. [Buch → das]

Der Bleistift liegt auf d__ groß__ Buch. [Buch → das]

Ich lese das Kapitel d__ groß__ Buches. [Buch → das]

2. Assess whether the case is Nominativ, Akkusitiv, Dativ, or Genitiv and add the correct definite articles.

Das groß__ Buch ist hier. [Buch → Nominativ → das]

Ich lese das groß__ Buch. [Buch → Akkusitiv → das]

Der Bleistift liegt auf dem groß__ Buch. [Buch → Dativ → dem]

Ich lese das Kapitel des groß__ Buches. [Buch → Genitiv → des]

3. Here comes the easy part! If the definite article in step 2 matches the definite article in step 1, the adjective ending is -e. If the articles are not the same, the adjective ending is -en. It’s that simple! 

Das große Buch ist hier.  [das = das → -e]

Ich lese das große Buch. [das = das → -e]

Der Bleistift liegt auf dem großen Buch. [das ≠ dem → -en]

Ich lese das Kapitel des großen Buches. [das ≠ des → -en]

With enough practice, you can do the steps in your head and eventually, it will come fluently! This method of thinking is more helpful for speaking than memorizing multiple tables. Let me know if you have any questions or if I made any mistakes! Hope this was helpful!

Part 2, Part 3

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

I started learning Kurdish!

I’m taking 2 language courses at school, learning another on my own, and now I’ve started learning another one. I don’t really intend to become fully fluent in Kurdish which means it will definitely be less intense, but it is a language that isn’t closely related to any I speak.

I might start posting consistently about it, might not. I’m... consistently bad at being consistent. But I’ll try. Honestly with Kurdish I am learning it mainly because I like the way it sounds, I think it’s really beautiful, and I’m hoping that this will be more fun instead of learning as a chore

And I’ve already made a bunch of notes! These are just some I had with me at the moment:

I’m pretty excited about this! (Now let’s see how long the excitement will last shfbfuandpahdpqld)

(Also, for anyone who might be wondering, this was indirectly inspired by the recent invasion of Northern Syria by Turkey. Not because of that, but rather, I heard a statement from the YPG about it, in Kurdish, and I thought it sounded really nice and just made an impulsive decision to start learning it)

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

agender: אָ֜נמיניק [ÓNMINIK]

gender spectrum: די גאַ֜מע מי֜נים [DI GÁME MÍNIM]

gender-fluid: מי֜ן־פֿלי֜סיק [MÍN-FLÍSIK]

demigender: האַ֜לבמיניק [HÁLBMINIK]

dysphoria: די דיספֿאָ֜ריע [DI DISFÓRYE]

in between genders: צװי֜שנמיניק [TSVÍShNMINIK]

HRT (hormone replacement therapy): די האָרמאָ֜נען־בײַט־טעראַ֜פּיע [DI HORMÓNEN-BAYT-TERÁPYE]

nonbinary: או֜מצװײיִק [ÚMTSVEYIK]

top surgery/bottom surgery: די אָפּעראַ֜ציע פֿון אױבן/פֿון אונטן [DI OPERÁTSYE FUN OYBN/FUN UNTN]

transfeminine: טראַנספֿעמיני֜ן [TRANSFEMINÍN]

transgender (adj.): טראַ֜נס…; טראַ֜נסמיניק [TRÁNS…; TRÁNSMINIK]

transgender man: דער טראַ֜נסמאַן, טראַ֜נסמענער [DER TRÁNSMAN, TRÁNSMENER]

transgender woman: די טראַ֜נספֿרױ, -ען [DI TRÁNSFROY, -EN]

transition (v.): אַרי֜בערגײן [ARÍBERGEYN]

transmasculine: טראַנסמאַסקולי֜ן [TRANSMASKULÍN]

Keep reading

[pythagoreanpolyglot]

Nyle DiMarco & Chella Man Teach Us Queer Sign Language  [see captions for sign descriptions]