#ctrl alt langauges

[ctrl-alt-languages]

basic japanese sentence structures

here is some basic information on japanese verb conjugation and sentence structures! 

japanese verb conjugations by tense:

present positive: ROOT + ます

present negative: ROOT + ません

present questioning: ROOT + ますか

past positive: ROOT + ました

past negative: ROOT + ませんでした

sentence particles:

は: topic particle; used to indicate the subject of a sentence 

へ: direction particle: used to indicate a place, direction, or destination

を: object particle: Used to indicate the object of a sentence, NOT Subject

の: possessive particle: Used to indicate possession, acts as an “ ‘s”

basic japanese grammar structure and comparing it to english:

the japanese language follows an SOV sentence structure, which means that the subject comes first, an object comes second, and a verb comes last in a sentence. this is different from english, which follows an SVO structure, where the subject comes first, the verb comes second, and the object comes last. here is an example:

私はアメリカ人です。（わたしはアメリカじんです）

[subject] + [particle] + [adjective] + [object] + [verb] 

literally: [I] + [subject indicator] + [america person] + [am]

VS…

i am american. 

[subject] + [verb] + [adjective] + [object] 

[ctrl-alt-languages]

holy shit this is what i needed

adding my stuff:

☆ write me urdu (app)

☆ simply learn urdu (app)

☆ learn urdu (app)

yeah my list is stupid haha

this post is meant to be a directory of every resource I come across for Urdu. it will be a continuous work in progress so thank you for your patience! if you have any issues or things to add, please reply to this post!

info

bbc voices

glottolog

hindustani: hindi and urdu - a single language? [video]

introduction by @ayearinlanguage​

“in urdu we don’t say…”

omniglot

overview of the hindi-urdu controversy

playlist of samples

wikipedia

world atlas of language structures

Keep reading

[ctrl-alt-languages]

It is astonishing how much enjoyment one can get out of a language that one understands imperfectly.

Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve

[ctrl-alt-languages]

Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.

Rita Mae Brown 

[ctrl-alt-languages]

end of summer music recs

hi everyone! i'm so sorry that i was so inactive this whole time, i was very busy with school work and such and also an extreme lack of motivation because of quarantine. i am trying to create more content here and i will be posting things soon! if you have anything specific you want me to talk about here pls don't hesitate to message me :)

here have been some of my favorite songs over quarantine - ive included songs that i like in other languages as well!

sundress - a$ap rocky (english)

one of these nights - eagles (english)

pink + white - frank ocean (english)

ayye - mac miller (english)

another brick in the wall, pt. 2 - pink floyd (english)

dancing with myself - billy idol, generation x (english)

boredom - tyler the creator, rex orange county (english)

new person, same old mistakes - tame impala (english)

borderline - tame impala (english)

devil's advocate - the neighbourhood (english)

c'est comme ça - les rita mitsouko (french)

santos party house - smoke dza, etc. (english)

sémaphore - requin chagrin (french)

boku wa chotto - haruomi hosono (japanese)

clairvoyance - requin chagrin (french)

ダンシング • ヒーロー (eat you up) - yoko oginome (japanese)

4:00 A.M. - taeko onuki (japanese)

habibiy ya leil - abu (arabic)

raingurl - yaeji (korean + english)

wtf - penomeco (korean)

mood - meng jia & jackson wang (mandarin chinese)

white - frank ocean (english)

money - the drums (english)

drugs - lil’ kim (english)

in your eyes - the weeknd (english)

[ctrl-alt-languages]

japanese vocab dump

勉強 (べんきょう): study 

めっちゃ : so (as in “that’s so cool!) 

書きます（かきます) : write 

良い (よい) : good 

買える(かえる) : to buy 

がいこく : foreign

かいがい : abroad, overseas

リンゴ : apple

あけます : open

でんしゃ : train

かえります : return home

ホットドッグ : hot dog

じょう : castle

ビール : beer

げんき : lively

わらう : to laugh

しんせつ : kind

さいしょう : first time

やっぱり : probably 

どうが : video

がんばれ : hang in there 

くだもの: fruit

かばん : bag

学校(がっこう): school

なっとう: fermented soybeans 

これ : this

さかな : fish 

ぱん : bread

ごろ : around (not preposition)

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japanese colors

kanji > kana > english translation 

赤・あか・red

橙色・だいだいいろ・orange

オレンジ・orange (loan word)

黄色・きいろ・yellow

緑・みどり・green

水色・みずいろ・light blue

青・あお・blue 

紫・むらさき・purple

桃色・ももいろ・pink 

ピンク・pink (loan word)

茶色・ちゃいろ・brown

白・しろ・white

灰色・はいいろ・gray

黒・くろ・black 

[ctrl-alt-languages]

tips for people learning multiple languages

i’ve recieved a good amount of messages/asks about how i learn several languages at once, and how i manage my time! so i thought about it a lot and made this post to share how i do it! :)

in this post, i will discuss what to focus on while learning multiple languages, the idea of time management in language learning, parallel language learning, and outside resources.

so to start, there are different ways you can simultaneously learn different languages, and that sometimes depends on which languages you specifically chose to learn and also your proficiency level. some things that you may find helpful if you’re just beginning your multiple-language journey is if you focus on these aspects:

language families: take note of whether your target languages are from the same or similar language group(s) (i.e. japanese, korean, chinese or spanish, french, italian). this will be super helpful to know about from the start when it comes to language compare/contrast. if your target languages are not from the same group, that is okay, you’ll just know that they won’t be as easy to compare when to comes to grammar structures or vocabulary.

proficiency: if you are more proficient in one target language than another, you can practice “parallel learning” (i’ll get more into parallel learning later in this post). this i would say is one of the most helpful tips i could ever give anyone. being a complete beginner in a lot of languages without being proficient in at least one target language will be difficult because you have to start from basically nothing.

differentiation: notice the similarities but ALSO differences in each language before deep-diving, so that you can draw connections but also be able to compartmentalize and not mix them up

foundation: have a strong baseline for each language. learn the script, alphabet, basic grammar structures.

immersion: i have personally been successful if i don’t start learning the language until i have some level of linguistic or cultural immersion of each language. for example, i didn’t start seriously learning korean until after being surrounded (more like gently bombarded) by korean media like movies, tv shows, music, etc, so i highly highly reccommend immersing yourself completely before diving into the academics of language learning, because it really helps you get the feel for what it will be like (and plus you’ll be able to pick things up quicker as you were exposed to them before to some degree)

relativity: beware! some languages will be harder but some will be easier compared to your native language. comparing your target languages to your native language is actually a very good gague as to how much you will need to dedicate to each language. for the specific case in the ask above, assuming that your native language is english, i would say you might find yourself spending more time on russian than french because it is from a different language group. however, french is far more specific than english in terms of grammar, so you’ll probably find russian grammar more simple. don’t fret though, just because a language is completely different from your native language doesn’t mean that it will be impossibly difficult to learn.

time management:

i think you might find that the more you learn languages, time management becomes less of an issue because you actually enjoy it. also, you will eventually find that you aren’t placing aside equal learning time for each language, and that is very normal. to be honest, i actually wouldn’t even recommend thinking too much about time management unless you feel that it really helps you succeed in this arena. language learning is a very fluid journey, and it’s actually a lot less academic in a way than we would like to believe. i would say, if you divide the language into its parts: immersion, speaking, listening, reading/writing, the academic, “sit down and study for an hour” part of the language only makes up like 25% of the actual language learning. so i would spend most of my time off the books and trying to practice other things. 

use the books as something to fall back on or reference rather than something to prop up your language abilities. because usually it helps more to see something you don’t know in a real life situation than in a book so that you have some level of prior knowledge and proper context.(obviously don’t do this with grammar though, that part i do suggest that you sit down and study.)

but,,,regardless of how you chose to learn multiple languages- whether it is to set aside time and peruse through books or to avoid books at all costs and dive into the deep end- here are some time management tips:

if you chose to take a more structured path for language learning (this applies to less structure as well in a way):

tailor your time to your own focus: set aside a little time every day. don’t make it a school class where you lose focus halfway through and then you force yourself to study for all two hours. if you find yourself losing focus, that’s when you should take a break or call it a day. and it doesn’t have to be that long either. as long as you were able to learn something from your study session, regardless of how short it was, you were successful.

goal-setting: have one or two daily language goals. making a giant do to list can sometimes be counterproductive and it can lead to you feeling defeated if you don’t complete everything. focus on the core parts of language-learning when you set these goals too: immersion, listening, speaking, reading/writing. keeping it simple will help you be satisfied as well.

stay holistic: always take a step back and widen your perspective when you are doing formal studying. it is very easy to get caught up in a few vocab words that you can’t get memorized or tenses that you don’t feel secure with. while staying in the shallow end until you feel like you are ready does help, it is mostly a security blanket. throw yourself in the deep end. try to write full sentences, a paragraph, a story. do journaling. read an article in your target language and see what you picked up. you’ll be surprised at how much you know when you see the end product. and, you’ll also know what to work on.

don’t worry about time management but be mindful of it: it’s okay if you don’t study a language every single day, and it’s okay if you jump around a little bit. keeping a routine is great, but following it may not always help you succeed. studying too much is just as bad as studying too little because you will end up having this overflow of information that you will have trouble retaining in the long run. don’t study too little either, because you will end up forgetting what you learned too. find that happy medium that works just for you and study in those increments.

parallel language learning:

this tip is my absolute favorite thing, not only because of how important it is for those learning more than one secondary language, but because it’s such a good way to learn multiple languages at once.

so what is parallel language learning?

parallel language learning is a method used in which you effectively stop learning a target language through your native language, and you start learning through another target language in which you are more proficient. for example, i am learning japanese through english, which is my native language. however, because i am learning french as well, which is a language that i have a stronger grasp on because i am more proficient in french than japanese, i chose to learn japanese through french instead.

how is parallel language learning helpful?

parallel learning is an incredibly good tool to use in order to advance both the language in which you are less as well as more proficient. using the previous example, by learning japanese through french, i am not only learning japanese, but advancing and refining my french as well. therefore, you learn two languages with half the effort.

other resources:

this is all i have for now but i will keep updating as i find more. these are some articles/blog posts that i have found incredibly helpful:

https://lindiebotes.com/2020/03/25/making-time-for-languages/

https://lindiebotes.com/2019/09/26/how-to-choose-language-to-learn/

http://www.howtolanguages.com/juggling-multiple-languages-some-practical-advice/

well, i hope you all found this helpful! if you have any more questions or any more tips, drop an ask or comment :) i would be happy to add to this or make other posts with language learning tips!

[ctrl-alt-languages]

𝓱𝓾𝓷𝓰𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓪𝓷 𝓪𝓭𝓳𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓼

here is a list of some handy hungarian adjectives! they’re pretty basic but i think they’re the most used from what i see as a fluent speaker 

colors / színek

★ kék: blue 

★ zöld: green 

★ piros: red 

★ narancssárga: orange

★ lila: purple 

★ rózsaszín: pink 

★ fekete: black 

★ fehér: white 

★ szürke: gray 

★ arany: gold 

★ ezüst: silver 

size / méret

★ nagy: large 

★ kicsi: small

★ pici: tiny 

★ közepes: medium / average 

★ óriási: huge / giant 

qualities / adottságok

★ szép: pretty / beautiful 

★ csúnya: ugly   

★ kedves: nice, kind

★ mérges: angry   

★ boldog: happy 

★ szomorú: sad 

★ idős: old / elderly   

★ fiatal: young   

★ okos: smart 

★ hülye: stupid  

★ kövér: fat 

★ sovány: skinny 

★ atlétikai: athletic 

★ lusta: lazy  

★ elegáns: elegant

★ kemény: hard  

★ puha: soft  

★ finom: yummy  

[ctrl-alt-languages]

is there anything that you guys would like to see more of on my page?? i need some ideas for posts and i want to post stuff that will be helpful for you guys as well

[ctrl-alt-languages]

𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕖 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕔𝕖𝕤

here is a list of some really helpful mandarin resources that i found recently! all of the underlined ones are live links :) 

chinese-grammar: i’m gonna be honest here, this grammar website is IMPRESSIVE. it provides 22 lessons and an extensive and detailed explanation of chinese script and characters (with a really long list of characters). i only just recently came across this website but i totally see myself using this, like, all the time. i highly highly highly recommend it! 

chineseboost : this website is definitely an awesome long-term resource! it provides lessons for pretty much all levels of chinese (a1-c1, hsk1-hsk5) so everything is in one place! it also has some super helpful tools such as as a hanzi to pinyin translator and a blog where they have tips and study strategies! 

LTL mandarin school : although the posts on this blog are a little limited, i feel like the posts that they do have are pretty helpful, especially their “complete guides” to basic chinese grammar! this is definitely not a primary resource, but since it has some helpful stuff i decided to include it :) 

HSK 1: i find myself coming back again and again to this app! it’s a super super accessible resources and really interesting as a beginner chinese learner since it kind of throws you in the deep-end with its built-in games, and it’s honestly quite refreshing. it also provides a huuuuge bank of vocabulary as well as sentences! 

HSKOnline: this app is most useful to people who plan to take the hsk exams. i believe it provides all 5 hsk levels with practice exams, exercises, and important vocabulary! i personally have not completely dived into this app since i am very much not exam ready haha, but i can see how it would be very very helpful for people who want to formalize language learning. (honestly it’s great for casual language learners as well since you can just pretend that they are practice tests or fake tests) 

Infinite Chinese: this app is great if you are a beginner and you want a fun and interactive way to dive into the language! it’s also a great warmup activity. infinite chinese is basically an app that has a game very similar to quizlet’s meteor game thing (i hope you know what i mean) and it also covers quite a lot of vocabulary. it’s great for review as well! :) i’ve used this app multiple times for entertainment too, so it really helps you pick the language up a little faster! 

pleco chinese dictionary : needless to say, it’s super important to have a mandarin dictionary since the vocabulary and script is so expansive. i feel like this dictionary is particularly awesome since there is handwriting input (you can write out a character using your own hand) that will give you the definition and pinyin of whatever you wrote! this is great since it’s sometimes easy to mix up definitions and pronunciations since the language is so nuanced. ans, because it’s an app, it’s nice and accessible and not to mention portable lol 

scripts: this app has been something i find myself coming back to over and over again for not only mandarin, but other languages as well! for mandarin specifically, it gives you a really strong foundation on chinese radicals (if you are new to the language: radicals are the fundamental and most basic strokes that makes up the mandarin script- it’s super important to learn them because it will help you write and also sometimes help you with the definition of words you may not know quite yet) which is super helpful, especially in the long run. 

lingodeer:  honestly speaking, lingodeer is a great app to learn mandarin! even though it somewhat forces you to go through all the basics before jumping into the meat (but that’s pretty much every language learning app so i’m not surprised about it), it provides a good review of things you already learned and does it pretty thoroughly. a lot better than duolingo 

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Hi, I was wondering if you knew any Mandarin podcasts where they speak/read a text and then translate it and perhaps explain some related grammar points and vocabulary. Thank you in advance and have a nice day!

i found a few that might be helpful to you! i think these podcasts mostly cover what you’re looking for, you might need a little bit of prior knowledge in mandarin just so that you don’t feel lost (prior knowledge as in familiarity with basic grammar structure, tones, etc) i hope you enjoy them! 

podcast list: 

✈ smart mandarin podcast: this podcast doesn’t follow strict lessons, but it provides good insight and helpful language tips! it also shows you how to say certain phrases and words in mandarin in a conversational way. 

✈ learn mandarin daily: this podcast mostly provides lessons on how to say phrases and sentences rather than delving directly into grammar. 

✈ learn chinese: easy situational mandarin: this podcast is a great way to start your speaking/listening journey if you are just diving in! it provides in-depth lessons with helpful translations and explanations.  

✈ mandarin from the ground up: suuper helpful with pronunciation and it’s a really well done and casual-style podcast! it provides in-depth translations and explanations as well, directly after a series of mandarin phrases! i think this format is particularly helpful since you are given the opportunity to try to understand things first using whatever prior knowledge you have before gaining new knowledge/translations. 

✈ the bad chinese teacher: this podcast does not follow a lesson-style format, but rather provides insight and discussion from a real chinese teacher and the truths of teaching and learning mandarin. it’s a great way to be more educated about mandarin and china without having to learn lessons! it’s also really casual and great to listen to if you’re just chilling (or multitasking)

✈ coffee break chinese: this podcast follows the usual lesson format! 

hope you found this helpful :)

[ctrl-alt-languages]

日本語の単語

just some random phrases that popped into my head that i thought would be helpful to keep track of, especially in conversation :)

行く：aller (to go)

する：faire (to do)

いる・ある・する： être (to be)

好きな：aimer (to like)

大好きな：beaucoup aimer (to really like)

きれいな：belle (pretty)

はい：oui (yes)

いいえ：non (no)

たぶん：peut être (maybe)

見える：voir/regarder (to look)

今日：aujourd’hui (today)

明日：demain (tomorrow)

天気：les temps (the weather)

いただきます：bon appétit (let’s eat sort of thing)*

元気ですか：comment allez-vous (how are you)**

何ですか： c’est quoi ça (what is that/it)

どこですか：c’est où (were is that/it)

なまえ：nom (name)

学校： école (school)

大学校：université (college/university)

中学校：collège (middle school/junior high)

高校 : lycée (high school)

小学校：école primaire (elementary/primary school)

勉強：étudier/ étude (study)

外国人：personne étrangère (foreigner)

海外：étranger, quelque chose que n’est pas dans le pays (overseas)

でも：mais (but/however)

音楽：la musique (music)

朝日：le matin (morning)

おはようございます・おはよう：bonjour, pour le matin (good morning)

こんばん���：bonsoir (good evening)

おやすみなさい・やすみ：bonne nuit (good night)

おすすめです：je/on recommande (i/one recommend/s)

あの：genre (um)***

やばい：super (super)

本当に・ほんとう：vraiment (really/truly)

お茶：le thé (tea)

聞く：entendre (listen/hear)

よかったね：c’est bon (good for you) 

* always said before eating 

** this phrase is used rarely, usually after you haven’t seen a person for a long time

*** this phrase is basically a thinking word, so it is used to basically fill up spaces in sentences when one is thinking (like when people make sounds such as ummm, euhh, uhhh,when they are thinking of what to say next)

[ctrl-alt-languages]

𝕞𝕦𝕤𝕚𝕔 𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 (𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕥𝕨𝕠)

just some more recs :))

ENGLISH 

xs (rina sawayama)

comme des garcons (rina sawayama)

restless year (ezra furman)

dear prudence (siouxsie and the banshees)

city of angels (24kgoldn)

lights up (harry styles)

drip (luke james)

dance, baby! (boy pablo)

in my room (frank ocean)

JAPANESE 

mellow yellow (spicysol)

mint vacation (three1989)

umbrella (three1989)

KOREAN

hello tutorial (zion. t)

no makeup  (zion. t)

home (bts)

make it right (bts)

dayfly (dean feat.sulli)

OTHER (just spanish right now haha)

pao pao (guayacan orquesta)

pls recommend me some more music! i’ve kinda been listening to the same stuff all the time because of quarantine and i wanna expand my horizons :)) i would love to hear more music in spanish and french!

[ctrl-alt-languages]

한국어 101: 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙘 𝙠𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨

here is some introductory material for forming korean sentences! 

𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙨 

♥ 나 (informal): I 

♥ 저 (formal): I 

♥ 너 (informal): you

♥ 탕신 (formal): you

♥ 그 : he, she it

♥ 우리: we

♥  너희: you (plural) 

𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙨 

♥ 는 : subject particle  

♥ 를 : object particle 

♥ 에 : place/time indicator  

𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙗𝙨 

♥ 이다: to be 

conjugation: 

♥ 여요: after a vowel

♥ 이에요: after a consonant

𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨

in korean, the sentence structure takes on an SOV form as opposed to the standard english SVO form. this means that the verb is usually the last part of the sentence in korean, while the object comes after the subject. this is different from english since in english, the verb comes directly after the subject of the sentence. you can see the difference between the word placement just by the translation! 

♥ 나는 여자 예요. / i am a woman. (SOV version: i woman is)  ♥ 너는 남자 예요. / you are a man. (SOV version: you man is)  ♥ 그 는 사람 이에요. / it is a person. (SOV version: it person is) 

𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣

♥ 그: used when talking about something/someone mentioned previously

example: 이 사람은 먹어요.그 사람은 많이 먹어요. / this person is eating. this person (mentioned previously) is eating a lot.

EDIT: fixed some mistakes and added a little extra information :)

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𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙝 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙝 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚: 𝓷𝓮𝓰𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼

for those who have been learning french for quite a bit now, you are probably familiar with the phrase “ne...pas” in order to express the negative. however, there are many other phrases that will help you be more specific with regards to what you are expressing the negative for,, and will spice things up and make you sound more fluent or advanced in your french! here’s the list:

𝓵𝓮𝓼 𝓹𝓱𝓻𝓪𝓼𝓮𝓼:

☆ ne...aucun(e) / not any 

☆ ne...jamais / never

☆ ne...ni...ni / neither,nor

☆ ne...personne / nobody

☆ ne...plus / no more

☆ ne...rien / nothing 

𝓮𝔁𝓮𝓶𝓹𝓵𝓮𝓼:

take note of the “sandwich” and also how the phrase is used! 

☆ je n’ai aucune envie de manger. / i do not have any hunger (i’m not hungry).

☆ le bureau de post n’est jamais ouvert. / the post office is never open. 

☆ elle n’aime ni la robe bleue, ni la robe rouge. / she doesn’t like neither the blue dress, nor the red dress. 

☆ elle ne parle à personne. / she did not talk to anybody. 

☆ il n’a plus faim. / he is not hungry anymore. 

☆ je ne veux rien. / i don’t want anything. 

𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓪𝓵 𝓼𝓲𝓽𝓾𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷: 𝓷𝓮...𝓺𝓾𝓮

the phrase “ne que:” while it looks like a negative phrase, it actually is not translated as something negative. “ne...que” in french means only.  

☆ ne...que / only 

exemples: 

in the french language, the phrase “ne...que” is pretty versatile, so be careful where you place the phrase so the meaning does not become altered. here is an example as to how the placement of “que” changes the sentence’s meaning. 

☆ je ne mange que des pommes le samedi  / i only eat apples on saturday. 

☆ je ne mange des pommes que le samedi / i eat apples only on saturday.