sometimes-i-study-languages

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

waiting for people to realise 30 is literally young and a lot of people in their 30s could easily pass for 20s because there’s not that much difference

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

it's kind of funny sometimes when people ask linguists if something is grammatically correct because

I'm gonna let y'all in on something

we use native speakers' intuitions as evidence of what's correct grammar

two big caveats though

if your intuition says something is incorrect, that means it's incorrect in your variety of the language. another speaker may have a different intuition and neither of you are wrong, you just speak different dialects

the difference between an intuition that you developed naturally when acquiring the language and one that was beaten into you by the school system might not be immediately obvious, and we're really only interested in the former. but I'd bet that you can feel a difference between "me and her are going to the store" and "me and her are gonna the store"

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Jiang Cheng | Episode 21

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Good night everyone

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Conditional Sentences in Spanish / El Condicional

Type I : Possible situations

si + (presente), (presente/futuro)

Examples:

Si tengo tiempo, te ayudo/ayudaré = If I have time, I’ll help you

Me sentiré mejor si duermo más =I’ll feel better if I sleep more

Type II: Unreal or hypothetical situations in the present

si + (imperfecto de subjuntivo), (condicional simple)

Examples:

Si tuviera tiempo, te ayudaría = If I had time, I would help you

Me sentiría mejor si durmiera más = I would feel better if I slept more

Type III: Unreal/Imaginary situations in the past

si + (pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo), (condicional compuesto/pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo)

Examples:

Si hubiera tenido tiempo, te habría/hubiera ayudado = If I had had time, I would have helped you

Me habría/hubiera sentido mejor si hubiera dormido más = I would have felt better if I had slept more

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Random German Vocabulary (17)

der Beistand – support; assistance die Intensivstation – intensive care unit das Kavaliersdelikt – minor offence die Konserve – preserved food der Lebensmittelpunkt – centre of one’s life das Schnuckelchen – sweetheart

abstreiten – to deny (jemandem) ausweichen – to avoid (someone) hamstern – to hoard umbenennen – to rename untertauchen – to submerge; to go into hiding versüßen – to sweeten (sich) sträuben – to resist; to bristle

gebunkert – stashed gereizt – irritable kopflos – headless; panic-stricken leichtlebig – easy-going vernarrt – infatuated; besotted zermürbt – worn down; demoralised

im Schneidersitz sitzen – to sit cross-legged (jemanden) in eine Falle locken – to lure somebody into a trap Rotz und Wasser heulen – to cry one’s eyes out (jemandem) die Leviten lesen – to read (someone) the riot act

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Kommen and Prefixes

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Langblr activation challenge w1- introduction

Hey,, I'm Vez, 20 y/o brazilian (native portuguese speaker) in love with linguistics although I'm studying arts.

My current target languages are German, Japanese and Spanish, most of which I study by myself so I do forget and procrastinate too often,, I hope gettting involved in the langblr community will help me change that :')

I've tried making portuguese content on @folhas-de-papel but ended up forgetting to continue,, maybe I should do it on this blog not to be made of reblogs only

Fun fact: I also have art blogs but they haven't been active in a while,, @noiteazul and @entreases

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

reminder that yearly goals are achieved by setting monthly goals that are achieved by setting weekly goals. Achieving your major goals comes through progress and setting smaller, challenging but achievable goals that leads to getting through those major goals. This helps make those major, daunting goals less daunting, having step by step for yourself to achieve whatever you want.

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Introduction to linguistics

Language relations

Language classification, typology

Linguistic typology studies and classifies languages according to different features, such as the way they use sounds, types of morphology they do or do not possess and how they order the elements in sentences. Some features can be found all over the world in unrelated languages. The mere fact that two languages share a feature does not imply that they are related.

Basic word order

One of the most common ways of classifying languages is by the most typical order of the subject (S), verb (V) and object (O) in a sentence such as “The cat eats the mouse”:

SVO (“The cat eats the mouse”),

SOV (“The cat the mouse eats”),

VSO (“Eats the cat the mouse”),

OSV (“The mouse the cat eats”),

OVS (“The mouse eats the cat”),

VOS (“Eats the mouse the cat”).

English is an SVO language, because all the other orders are incorrect or change the basic meaning. In some other languages, such as Russian, all these sentences would be correct, though one order might be much more common (in this case, SVO). In some languages, the order can depend on different parameters. French is usually SVO, but SOV when the object is a pronoun.

The most common orders are SVO (found in English, Indonesian, Chinese, Spanish, and thousands of other languages) and SOV (found in Japanese, Persian, Hindi, and Turkish among others). VSO is less common (found in Standard Arabic and Irish), and the three other orders that put the object before the subject are found in less than 5% of the world languages. Anecdotally, Yoda speaks in OSV order (Strong with the Force you are, but when 900 years you reach, look as good you will not).

Tones and stress

Some languages use tone to distinguish words. One of the best-known examples is Mandarin Chinese, which has four tones. For example, sī (with a high tone) means “thought”, sì (with a falling tone) means “four” and sǐ (with a low falling and rising tone) means “death”. Tone languages are common in East Asia (other Chinese languages, Burmese, Thai, and Vietnamese among others) but are also found in Africa (Yoruba) and the Americas (Navajo).

Languages that do not have tones usually have stress (a syllable pronounced more strongly than the others). In some languages, the stress always falls on the same syllable (the first in Hungarian, the last in French), but in other languages stress is important and is used to distinguish words. English and Russian are such languages: “increase” is a noun while “increase” is a verb, and in Russian, “muka” means “flour” while “muka” means “torture”.

Isolating and synthetic languages

Languages can also be classified by the way they mark grammatical functions. In isolating languages such as Chinese, words usually consist of one morpheme (a linguistic unit that carries meaning), while in synthetic languages, they can consist of several morphemes. English is mildly synthetic (it has inflections such as the plural suffix in “books”), while languages such as Latin have many inflections. Some languages such as Inuktitut are sometimes called polysynthetic because they use many inflectional affixes, and one word in such languages can correspond to an entire sentence in other languages.

Synthetic languages can be divided into fusional and agglutinative languages. In agglutinative languages, each morpheme usually has a single function and words can consist of many morphemes. Turkish is a good example. The word evlerimde means “in my houses” and consists of the following morphemes: ev (house), -ler (plural), -im (my) and -de (in). In fusional languages, affixes can combine functions. In the Spanish word habló (“he/she spoke”), -ó simultaneously indicates both the past tense and a third person singular subject.

There are no clear-cut boundaries between these categories and languages rarely fall perfectly into one category.

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

DE - EN

angewöhnen Akk - to break (a habit)

angewöhnen Akk - to get used to sth.

angehören - to be a member of

anvertrauen Akk - to confine

auffallen - to catch so.’s eyes

befehlen - to comand

beibringen Akk - to teach 

beitreten - to join

bekommen (3.P) - to do good/bad

dienen - to conduce

entnehmen Akk - to infer

entsprechen - to correspond

entziehen Akk - to take sth. from so.

ermöglichen Akk - to afford sth. so.

fehlen - to lack/ to miss

gegenüberstehen - to be alongside sth.

gleichen - to equal/ to resemble

hinzufügen Akk - to add sth.

leidtun - to feel sorry

passen (3.P) - sth. is convenient for so.

schulden Akk - to owe so. sth. (e.g. money)

überlassen Akk - to loan so. sth.

unterliegen - to be subject to sth.

verdanken Akk - to owe so. sth. (e.g. one’s life)

(ver)trauen - to trust

vorenthalten Akk - to deprive so. of sth.

widersprechen - to contradict

zuordnen Akk - to associate/ to assign

zutrauen Akk - to dare to do sth.

s. zuwenden - to turn towards sth.

es geht gut - to do well

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Words of Contrast

Beautiful/Ugly: hübsch/hässlich

Big/Little: groß/klein

Black/White: schwarz/weiß

Boring/Interesting: langweilig/interessant

Cold/Hot: kalt/heiß

Dark/Bright: dunkel/hell

Dry/Wet: trocken/nass

Fashionable/Old-Fashioned: modisch/altmodisch

Fast/Slow: schnell/langsam

Funny/Sad: lustig/traurig

Here/There: hier/da (or dort)

High/Low: hoch/niedrig

Hungry/Full: hungrig/satt

Lazy/Diligent: faul/fleißig

Long/Short: lang/kurz

A lot/A little: viel/wenig

Male/Female: männlich/weiblich

Near/Far: nah/weit

Old/New: alt/neu

Old/Young: alt/jung

Smart/Stupid: klug/dumm

Smooth/Rough: glatt/rauh

To ask/To answer: fragen/antworten

To break/To repair: brechen/reparieren

To find/To lose: finden/verlieren

To give/To take: geben/nehmen

To laugh/To cry: lachen/weinen

To live/To die: leben/sterben

To love/To hate: lieben/hassen

To marry/to Divorce: heiraten/scheiden

To shout/To whisper: schreien/flüstern

To sit/To stand: sitzen/stehen

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Moderately Interesting Japanese Ep. 1: Unusual Last Names

Above: awesome name stamps Japanese people use in lieu of a signature on documents. I really want the laser beam Buddha.

So, I’ve been living in Japan for almost five years now (!!! Where has the time gone?!) and I’ve been working full-time as a Japanese-English translator for a big corporate machine for two years counting. It’s pretty fun despite working for The Man, and I’ve picked up lots of quirky little Japanese expressions, words, and unusual surnames along the way. I thought I’d share some of them here from time to time with you. I’m kinda toying with the format still, so bear with me haha. 

I’m a big fan of Japanese names and the kanji they use for them. The more unusual, the more I love it! Here’s a collection of intriguing last names I’ve encountered during my stay here. 

又吉 Matayoshi, a.k.a. “Lucky Again” 

Apparently the mata (again) used to mean “crossroads,” and yoshi is a common character to put in a last name. It has its roots in Okinawa.

Number of people with this last name: ~9,800

剣持 Kenmochi, a.k.a. “Possesses a Sword”

SO COOL. This surname comes from a powerful noble family from current-day Okayama and Yamanashi Prefectures. 

Number of people with this last name: ~5,200

蘇武 Sobu, a.k.a. “Reborn Warrior” 

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more metal than “Possesses a Sword.” This name is just badass. It also originates from Miyagi Prefecture, but that’s all that I could find about its etymology. 

Number of people with this last name: ~1,000

大学 Daigaku, a.k.a. “University” 

This name probably was given to people who lived near a large school in Miyagi Prefecture back in the day. 

Number of people with this last name: ~680

一 Ninomae, a.k.a. “One” 

The kanji 一 means “one” and is usually pronounced ichi or hitotsu. So why is it read ni no mae here? Ni is “two,” and no mae is “before.” So in other words, this last name translates to “before two,” which would have to be the number one, and so it is written as 一. Do you have a headache from reading that? lol

Number of people with this last name: ~380

鷹橋 Takanohashi, a.k.a.  “Hawk Bridge”

It’s a pretty interesting surname for a couple reasons. Firstly, there is a very common surname Takahashi that is usually written 高橋, which translates to “tall bridge,” so the hawk kanji is really out of left field for Japanese people. This surname is also unusual because it has its roots in Hokkaido, which was the last prefecture to be settled and doesn’t have much history compared to the main Japanese islands. Though it is written with the kanji for “bridge,” the meaning of hashi is actually “one who travels to distant lands,” which would have been fitting for a settler. 

Number of people with this last name: ~240

猫屋敷 Nekoyashiki, a.k.a. “Cat Mansion”

Well, imagine “mansion” as an estate that a wealthy lord would have lived on back in the day with servants and stuff. So does this mean that this person’s ancestors were rich cat ladies? Not necessarily. There is an expression “as narrow as a cat’s forehead” to indicate a cramped/small space, and the neko (cat) of Nekoyashiki implies that this person’s manor and grounds were small. 

Number of people with this last name: ~20

八丁目 Hacchoume, a.k.a. “Eighth Avenue” (about 20 people)

If you haven’t already noticed from this list, many Japanese last names denote geographical features of where their ancestors lived. Any last name with yama (mountain) or ta/da (rice paddy) is denoting geography, for example. However, it’s highly unusual for a last name to be a street like this. This last name has its roots in Fukushima.

Number of people with this last name: ~20 

Sources: 

Header images from left to right Laser Buddha: 邪悪なハンコ屋しにものぐるい Kanpai Kat: picstamp.net Wily fox: 工房HANZOU

Information on each surname: myoji-yurai.net

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Reading Practice: Wie Sport der Psyche auf die Sprünge hilft

das Ausdauertraining – endurance training die Bewegung – movement; exercise der Einzelfall – isolated case die Ertüchtigung – training; strengthening der Feierabend – knock off time; end of work das Fitnessstudio – gym der Gedanke – thought die Hürde – hurdle der Pegel (pl. die Pegel) – level die Psyche – psyche die Qual – torture; agony der Sport – sport das Wohlbefinden – well-being

(etwas) ausprobieren – to try (something) out (jemanden) belasten – to burden (someone) bestätigen – to confirm genießen – to enjoy joggen – to jog stählen – to toughen vorbeugen – to prevent zwingen – to force

befremdlich – disconcerting erholsam – relaxing gesund – healthy körperlich – physical nebensächlich – secondary; irrelevant unabdingbar – indispensable

(jemandem) auf die Sprünge helfen – to give (someone) a helping hand Sport treiben – to do sport; to exercise (sich) zu (etwas) aufraffen – to bring (oneself) to do (something) Gewichte stemmen – to lift weights zu gleichen Teilen – in equal parts

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Spanish grammar

Verbs

Reflexive verbs

Reflexive verbs are verbs that take reflexive pronoun se in the infinitive, such as bañarse (to bathe oneself/to take a bath). They are used when the subject and object of a verb are the same. In general, reflexive verbs are more common in Spanish than they are in English and it’s important to remember that a Spanish reflexive verb may not always be translated reflexively in English.

Conjugation

The verb is conjugated as normal with the appropriate reflexive pronoun. Here is the conjugation of peinarse (to comb one’s hair):

yo me peino

tú te peinas

él/ella se peina

nosotros nos peinamos

vosotros os peináis

ellos se peinan

Placement of reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are placed:

before the conjugated verb: La abuela se peina (The grandmother combs her hair).

before the negative imperative (but directly after the positive imperative): ¡No te peines! (Don’t brush your hair!), ¡Péinate! (Brush your hair!).

directly after the infinitive: Ella va a peinarse (She is going to brush her hair).

directly after the gerund. In the progressive tense (estar + gerund), the pronoun can come before or after the verb: Ella está peinándose/Ella se está peinando (She is brushing her hair).

Usage

Reflexive verbs indicate that someone is performing an action on or for themselves. Therefore, the reflexive pronoun always agrees with the subject: Cada semana me corto las puntas (I trim my hair every week), A diario se peina como una verdadera profesional (She combs her hair every day like a real professional), Siempre nos miramos en el espejo mientras utilizamos el secador (We always look ourselves in the mirror while we use the hairdryer).

Pronominal verbs

Some verbs can only be reflexive and are called pronominal verbs. Some of the most frequent are acurrucarse (to cuddle), adentrarse (to penetrate into), adormilarse (to doze), adueñarse (to take charge of), amodorrarse (to get sleepy), arremolinarse (to crow around), arrepentirse (to regret), desinteresarse (to lose interest), dignarse (to deign to), and suicidarse (to kill oneself).

Reflexive/non-reflexive verbs

When reflexive verbs are used without reflexive pronouns, it means that the action is being performed on or for someone else. In this case, we have to use a direct or indirect personal pronoun after the verb. For example, La abuela se tiñe el pelo (The grandmother dyes her hair) (reflexive) -> La abuela le tiñe el pelo a Lucía (The grandmlther dyes Lucía’s hair) (not reflexive).

Some verbs can be used either in their reflexive or their non-reflexive forms. By adding the reflexive pronoun, the verb receives a more particular meaning or even a completely different meaning from the non-reflexive verb.

encontrar(se). Reflexive (to feel): Me encuentro un poco mareada (I’m feeling a little dizzy). Not reflexive (to find/to encounter): No encuentro mi paraguas (I can’t find my umbrella).

ir(se). Reflexive (to leave): Nos vamos inmediatamente (We are leaving immediately). Not reflexive (to go): Vamos de vacaciones a Perú (We are going to Peru on vacation).

levantar(se). Reflexive (to stand up/to get up): Siempre me levanto a la misma hora (I always get up at the same time). Not reflexive (to lift): Levanta la alfombra mientras paso la fregona (Lift the carpet while I mop underneath).

llamar(se). Reflexive (to be called/to be named): Me llamo Marta (My name is Marta). Not reflexive (to call/to name): No llamarán hasta las seis (They won’t call until six).

meter(se). Reflexive (to mess with): Sus primos se meten con todo el mundo (His/her/their cousins mess with everybody). Not reflexive (to put ): Mete las tijeras en el cajón, por favor (Put the scissors in the drawer, please).

negar(se). Reflexive (to refuse): Los alumnos se niegan a ir al colegio los sábados (Students refuse to go to school on Saturday). Not reflexive (to deny): El testigo negó todo lo ocurrido (The witness denied everything that happened).

ocupar(se). Reflexive: (to take care of something/someone): Nuestro equipo se ocupa de las ventas internacionales (Our team takes care of international sales). Not reflexive (to take up/to fill up): La ropa de invierno ocupa todo el armario (Winter clothes take up all the closet).

perder(se). Reflexive (to get lost): Nos perdimos en el bosque durante varias horas (We were lost in the forest during several hours). Not reflexive (to lose): Yo perdí una vez las llaves de la oficina (I once lost the keys to the office).

poner(se). Reflexive (to put something on): Carla se puso su mejor traje (Carla put on her best suit/dress). Not reflexive (to put): Pon el vaso en el armario (Put the glass in the cupboard).

referir(se). Reflexive (to refer to): Este libro se refiere a la Guerra Civil (This book refers to the Civil War). Not reflexive (to give/to provide): Nadie refirió ejemplos concretos (No one provided concrete examples).

retirar(se). Reflexive (to leave [formal]): Los invitados se retiraron después de la cena (The guests left after dinner). Not reflexive (to put something away): Retiraron ese producto del mercado hace meses (This put this product away from the market months ago).

reunir(se). Reflexive (to meet): La Junta Directiva se reúne en el salón de actos (The Board meets in the meeting room). Not reflexive (to meet/to fulfil ): Este candidato no reúne las cualificaciones necesarias (This applicant doesn’t meet the required qualifications).

sentar(se). Reflexive (to sit): Siéntate y abróchate el cinturón (Sit down and fasten your seat belt). Not reflexive (to (not) sit well): Le sentó mal el batido de frutas (The smoothie didn’t sit him well).

volver(se). Reflexive (to become): Después del accidente, Alberto se volvió muy cauteloso (After the accident, Alberto became very cautious). Not reflexive (to return): Volvemos a casa el martes por la noche (We are coming home on Tuesday night).

Reciprocal verbs

In addition to reflexive verbs, there are also reciprocal verbs, which are used to communicate the idea of “each other”, so they only appear in the plural. For example, Lucía y su abuela se entienden a la perfección (Lucía and her grandmother understand each other perfectly). Here are some of the most common ones:

ayudarse (to help each other)

conocerse (to know each other/to get to know each other)

pelearse (to fight/to scuffle with each other)

reñirse (to argue/to bicker with each other)

separarse (to separate from each other)

telefonearse (to call each other/to phone each other)

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Fantasy Novel Vocab

I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy novels recently, and i thought i’d share some of the vocab i’ve learnt. Let me know if you spot any mistakes.

Nouns

der Absud (Absude) - decoction das Almosen - pittance die Bestürzung - dismay das Bu­hei/Bohei - brouhaha die Brennesseln - stinging nettles der Butzemann (Butzemänner) - bogeyman der Chronist (Chronisten) - chronicler der Deserteur (Deserteure) - deserter die Dohle (Dohlen) - jackdaw der Firnis (Firnisse) - varnish der Gemahl (Gemahle) - spouse (male) das Gezänk (Gezänke) - squabble der Grat (Grate) - ridge der Kesselflicker - tinker der Knüppel - cudgel der Krug (Krüge) - jug das Kupfer - copper das Metier (Metiers) - profession die Pietätlosigkeit (Pietätlosigkeiten) - irreverence der Rauchabzug (Rauchabzüge) - chimney flue die Saumseligkeit (Saumseligkeiten) - dawdling, procrastination der Schankraum - taproom die Schererei (Scherereien) - hassle die Stange (Stangen) - rod die Strophe (Strophen) - stanza der Tiegel - crucible der Wucher - profiteering der Wünschelrutengänger - water diviner

Verbs

sich abschotten - to isolate oneself beschwatzen - to coax die Zähne blecken - to bear one’s teeth emporblicken - to look up entlarven - to reveal extemporieren - to extemporise jonglieren - to juggle klimpern - to tinkle mogeln - to cheat schrammen - to scratch jdm mit etw eins überbraten - to whack sb round the head with sth verhöhnen - to ridicule zerfetzen - to mangle

Adjectives/Adverbs

beschlagen - fogged flott - brisk geködert - lured knarzend - creaking latent - latent schalkhaft - mischievously schelmisch - mischievous

[sometimes-i-study-languages]

Vokabelliste

Valentinstag

nouns

der Liebesbrief - the love letter

das Geschenk - the gift/present

die Pralinen - the chocolates (a box of chocolates, mainly)

ein hoffnungsloser Romantiker - a hopeless romantic (m)

eine hoffnungslose Romantikerin - a hopeless romantic (f)

das Date - the date (romantic meeting)

der Flirt - the flirt (is mainly used to refer to a person you are flirting with)

das Kino - the cinema

der Heiratsantrag - the (marriage) proposal

die Verlobung - the engagement

die Hochzeit - the wedding (ceremony)

die Ehe - the marriage

adjectives

romantisch - romantic

süß - cute, sweet (can be used to describe foods and people)

heiß - hot (for weather and people)

perfekt - perfect

atemlos - breathless, out of breath

verliebt - in love

verbs

lieben - to love

flirten - to flirt

mit jemandem ausgehen - to go out with someone

jemanden daten - do date someone

einen Liebesbrief schreiben - to write a love letter

jemanden ausführen - to invite someone out (this has a rather formal connotation, you wouldn’t say “ich führe dich zum Döneressen aus”, however “ich führe dich zum Dinner aus” is very much okay. things like the cinema probably depend on the person)

jemandem schmeicheln - to flatter someone

sich verloben - to get engaged