#general:challenge

[guillemelgat]

I'm trying to get back into the swing of studying Basque a bit more, so I'm going to try to listen to a song every day and look up all the words I don't know. I'm starting off with this song from Idoia's newest album, De amar y desandar, which is called "Autofikzioa" and which I'm a big fan of.

ilunpetan - in the dark (from ilunpe - 'darkness')

ito - to drown

kontraesan - contradiction

errai - gut

gatibu - captive, prisoner

hala ere - despite everything, nonetheless

(Ez nago ziur zer den "urperatzear" - uste dut "urpe" eta "atze" elkartzen dituela baina ez dakit zer esaten nahi duen)

[guillemelgat]

Gaurko abestia: "Zapalduen olerkia" - Ken Zazpi

Erronka hau pixka bat aldatu nahi dut: egunero, abesti bat aukeratuko dut eta hitzak idazten saiatuko naiz. Gero, hemen ez dudan ezagutu hitzak ipiniko ditut. Eta euskaraz idatziko dut, oso gaizki baina egin ahal dut, ba egingo dut!

Gaur egun Ken Zazpi-ren "Zapalduen olerkia" aukeratu dut, oso abesti polita da eta asko gustatzen zait. Bertsio hau Euskadiko Orkestra Sinfonikoa-rekin eta nire gustokoena da, baina jatorrizkoa ere atsegin dut.

Hiztegia berria:

ezintasun - inability, incapacity

zapaldu - to oppress

estali - to cover

samin - sorrow, grief (also adj. bitter)

bizigabe - lifeless

istripu - accident

Eta galdera pare bat: (1) "hurbilao" eta "hurbil" berdina da edo zer da desberdintasuna? (2) zer esan nahi du "estalita dute"? (ezin dut ulertu zein denbora den)

[guillemelgat]

30 Days of Vocab - A November Language Challenge!

I know I’ve been a bit MIA on this blog for the past uhh *checks notes* let’s just say several months, but I’m back, and I want to get into studying languages more regularly again. That’s why I’ve created a vocabulary challenge for November, which you all are welcome to join!

This challenge is intended to expand vocabulary in areas which are of personal interest but might not get covered in class/textbooks. Basically, it’s a way to learn the words to talk about the things that you like to talk about, and it’s scalable to your level.

The challenge is very simple. For every day in November, pick a topic that interests you, and write up a list of vocabulary related to that topic. You can use all kinds of sources to find the vocabulary, and I’d encourage you to look into ways of interacting with the topic in your target language if you’re more advanced (books, podcasts, blogs, TV shows, etc)—if you find anything good, then share that too! And that’s the challenge, it’s that simple.

If you need something to keep you on track or to give you a bit more detail, I’ve made a workbook and a set of spreadsheets for guiding people through the whole process, which you can make a copy of right here (you'll have to open each one and go to File > Make a Copy). Don’t feel obliged to use it, though. And that’s basically it, hope to see you all on November 1st!

[guillemelgat]

Image credit: Vaikom Temple Sreekovil Murals, Sivavkm on Wikimedia

For the tl90days challenge this week, I’m learning about Kerala mural paintings, which are a form of frescoes painted on the walls of South Indian (primarily Kerala) temples depicting scenes from Hindu mythology. Here is some vocabulary related to them, please let me know if you catch mistakes!

കേരളത്തിലെ ചുമർ ചിത്രങ്ങൾ /kēraḷattile cumar citraṅṅaḷ/ - Kerala mural painting

കരിങ്കല്ല് /kariṅkallŭ/ - granite

ചെങ്കല്ല് /ceṅkallŭ/ - laterite

നിർമ്മാണം /nirmmāṇam/ - construction

നിറക്കൂട്ട്‌ /niṛakkūṭṭŭ/ - coloring

ചുവപ്പ്‌ /cuvappŭ/ - red

മഞ്ഞ /mañña/ - yellow

നീല /nīla/ - blue

പച്ച /pacca/ - green

കറുപ്പ്‌ /karuppŭ/ - black

വെള്ള /veḷḷa/ - white

ഹിന്ദുമതം /hindumatam/ - Hinduism

ക്ഷേത്രം /kṣētram/ - temple

കൊട്ടാരം /koṭṭāram/ - palace

[guillemelgat]

WOTDs in Malayalam

I’m cramming a week worth of Words of the Day into one post for Week 4 of the Target Language 90 Days Challenge. Theese were all words that my dad sent to me when we were doing a WOTD thing, plus the sentences I wrote with them and his corrections, so they should be reasonably correct?? Although he also can’t spell super well so??? Let me know if you see any mistakes.

തണുപ്പ് /taṇuppŭ/ - cold (n.)

അച്ചന് തണുപ്പ് ഉണ്ടൊ? /accanŭ taṇuppŭ uṇṭo/ - Does father have a cold?

ഒന്ന് /onnŭ/ - please*

ഒന്ന് ഇവിടെ വരു /onnŭ iviṭe varu/ - Please come here (polite/formal)

സുഖം /sukham/ - health

എനിക്ക് സുഖം ഇല്ല /enikkŭ sukham illa/ - I am sick (lit. I do not have health)

ഉപ്പ് /uppŭ/ - salt

ഉപ്പ് എനിക്ക് ഇഷ്ടമാണ് /uppŭ enikkŭ iṣṭamāṇŭ/ - I like salt

ഉടനെ /uṭane/ - immediately, at once

ഞാൻ ഉടനെ പറയഞ്ഞില്ല /ñān uṭane paṛayaññilla/ - I did not say it immediately

കുട്ടി /kuṭṭi/ - child (n.), small (adj.)

എന്റെ പൂച്ച കുട്ടിയല്ല /enṛe pūcca kuṭṭiyalla/ - My cat is not small

ഉന്തുക /untuka/ - to push**

അമ്മേ മാലതി എന്നേ ഉന്തി! /ammē mālati ennē unti/ - Mom, Malathi pushed me!

* - also means one, as in the numeral

** - I think this might be my family’s dialect, if other people don’t recognize it that’s probably why, also the sentence may not be spelled 100% correctly

[guillemelgat]

I made my bujo this week in Malayalam for the TL90Days challenge! (yes I do make a bullet journal no I never post it on here because what goes on there is between me and God alone) Since last week was Diwali, I thought I’d make that my theme (I usually do it based on a song but I don’t listen to any music in Malayalam 😅), please appreciate my diya and fireworks. Here are the words that I learned for this:

Days/Months:

നവംബർ /navambar/ - November

തിക്ങൾ /tikṅaḷ/ - Monday

ചൊവ്വ /covva/ - Tuesday

ബുധൻ /budhan/ - Wednesday

വ്യാഴം /vyāḻam/ - Thursday

വെള്ളി /veḷḷi/ - Friday

ശനി /śani/ - Saturday

ഞായർ /ñāyar/ - Sunday

Other:

വികാരങ്ങൾ /vikaraṅṅaḷ/ - feelings

നന്ദി /nandi/ - thanks, gratitude

ജോലികൾ /jōlikaḷ/ - jobs, tasks

നടക്കുക /naṭakkuka/ - to walk

വെള്ളം /veḷḷam/ - water

ശുചിത്വം /śucitvam/ - hygiene

ഉറക്കുക /uṛakkuka/ - to sleep

എഴുതുക /eḻutuka/ - to write

ജോലി ചെയ്യുക /jōli ceyyuka/ - to work

ഭാഷകൾ /bhāṣakaḷ/ - languages

ദീപാവലി ആശംസകൾ /dīpāvali āśamsakaḷ/ - Diwali greetings

A lot of these words I was very unsure about, so let me know if you see any mistakes/corrections!

[guillemelgat]

Hobbies Vocab in Malayalam

This is part two of Week 2 for @langblrgang​’s Year End Challenge! The assignment was to look up some vocabulary related to my hobbies, so I made a list of things I vaguely like to do and then made my dad translate them all. Unfortunately I have no idea how to spell anything in Malayalam and some of these weren’t in the dictionary, so the spellings may be a bit strange in places. Also it’s quite likely that some of these are informal or dialectal, so if any look weird to native speakers that might be why. Either way, let me know if you spot typos/mistakes/anything else!

കൃഷി /kr̥ṣi/ - farming

കൃഷി ചെയ്യുക /kr̥ṣi ceyyuka/ - to farm

കൃഷിക്കാരന്‍ /kr̥ṣikkāran/ - farmer

തോട്ടം /tōṭṭam/ - garden

തോട്ടക്കാരന്‍ /tōṭṭakkāran/ - gardener

ചെടി /ceṭi/ - plant

പൂവ് /pūvŭ/ - flower

വളക്കുക /vaḷakkuka/ - to grow

വരയ്ക്കുക /varaykkuka/ - to draw

എഴുതുക /eḻutuka/ - to write

കഥ /katha/ - story

വായിക്കുക /vāyikkuka/ - to read

പുസ്‌തകം /pustakam/ - book

നടക്കം പോവുക /naṭakkam pōvuka/ - to go for a walk

സൈക്കിള്‍ ഓടിക്കുക /saikkiḷ ōṭikkuka/ - to ride a bicycle

നീന്തുക /nīntuka/ - to swim

പഠിക്കുക /paṭhikkuka/ - to study

ഭാഷ /bhaṣa/ - language

കേള്‍ക്കുക, കേൾത് ഇരിക്കുക /kēḷkkuka, kēltŭ irikkuka/ - to listen to, lit. to hear and to sit hearing (second one is from my dad and idk how to spell it)

പാടുക /pāṭuka/ - to sing

പാട്ട്, സംഗീതം (formal) /pāṭṭŭ, sangītam/ - music (first one is lit. song)

കാണുക, കാണ്ടെ ഇരിക്കുക /kāṇuka, kāṇṭe irikkuka/ - to watch, lit. to see and to sit seeing (see note above about “to listen”)

കളിക്കുക /kaḷikkuka/ - to play

ഫുട്‌ബോള്‍ /fuṭbōḷ/ - football, soccer

ക്രിക്കറ്റ് /krikkaṛṛ/ - cricket

ഉണ്ടാക്കുക /uṇḍākkuka/ - to make

[guillemelgat]

For my grammar review for week 3 of the Langblr Gang End of Year Challenge, I tried reviewing the difference between the two Malayalam verbs for “to be”, ആക് and ഉണ്ട്. There isn’t a lot of difference between them, as far as I can tell the main difference is similar to that in Romance languages, with ആക് being for a general truth or habitual state, while ഉണ്ട് is more temporary. However, the  difference seems a lot less marked than that. Here’s an expanded version of what’s in the graphic above:

ആക്  | āk

CONJUGATIONS

present | ആണ് /āṇŭ/

past | ആയിരുന്നു /āyirunnu/

future | ആയിരിക്കും /āyirikkum/

participle | ആയ /āya/

negative | അല്ല /alla/

USES

Identity | to say something is something | ഞാൻ മേരി ആണ് - I am Mary

State | to describe the emotional, mental, or physical state of someone or something | അവന് എന്നോട് വെറുപ്പ് ആണ് - He hates me (lit. has hatred for me)

Existence | to say that something exists | കേരളത്തിൽ മഴ ആണ് - There is rain in Kerala

Attribute | to describe the qualities of something | ആവീട് വലുത് ആണ് - That house is big

Location | to describe where something is | പുസ്തകക്കട ആ വഴിയിൽ ആണ് - The book shop is on that street

Continuous aspect (-ing) | with the infinitive ending in -ka, this works like -ing in English | ഞങ്ങൾ പോവുക ആണ് - We are going

Adjective formation | with the participle, to turn a noun or Sanskrit-derived word into an adjective (x being y) | മിടുക്കനായ കുട്ടി - smart boy

ഉണ്ട്  | uṇṭŭ

CONJUGATIONS

present | ഉണ്ട് /āṇŭ/

past | ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു /āyirunnu/

future | ഉണ്ടാക്കും /āyirikkum/

participle | ഉള്ള /āya/

negative | ഇല് /alla/

USES

Possession | with the possessor in the dative case, to say someone has something | എനിക്ക് കാര്‍ ഉണ്ട് - I have a car

State | to describe the emotional, mental, or physical state of someone or something | അവൾക്ക് പനി ഉണ്ട് - She has a fever

Location | to describe where something is | അവിടെ മലകൾ ഉണ്ട് - There are mountains there

Continuous aspect (-ing) | with the present tense ending in -unnu, this works like -ing in English | രവി പഠിക്കുന്നുണ്ട് - Ravi is studying

Adjective formation | with the participle, to turn a noun into a possessive adjective (x having y) or an adverb into an adjective | വെള്ളമുള്ള കിണര്‍ - well with water

I hope that helps, let me know if there are typos or mistakes! I am still not 100% clear on this either, so if you’re confused that’s probably on me :’)

[guillemelgat]

As the International Year of Indigenous Languages comes to a close, I thought that there has been a distinct lack of discussion about indigenous languages within the langblr community. Inspired by some of the linguistic diversity challenges which people were doing earlier in the year, I wanted to create a challenge focused on indigenous languages. This challenge is intended to take place between the weeks of October 14 and November 28, two dates which in the United States often glorify the genocide of indigenous peoples, as a way to support indigenous resistance and celebrate indigenous peoples through a difficult time of year. While other challenges have had a more linguistics-y bent, this one is intended to be more culturally- and socially-oriented, so if you’re not a linguist or have no linguistics background, don’t worry. (And if you *are* a linguist, feel free to add in more linguistic information, but make sure you keep it accessible to non-linguists.)

Languages:

Pick between 1-7 indigenous languages from the region you either live in or are from (try to avoid picking languages from the other side of the world or in places you have no connection to - this is meant to make you think about languages closer to home) and write about one language per week (or if you just want to do one language, you can do one part of the requirements/optional extras per week)

Requirements:

Name of the language in English and in the language itself (you can also put what it’s called in the national language if it’s not spoken in an anglophone country)

Basic information - historical and modern areas where it’s spoken, number of speakers, status (endangered? healthy?), linguistic family, cultural groups who speak it

Modern history - How much has the language been preserved? What things have happened to its speakers in the last century? Do the nations which speak it have any recognition? Important cultural/historical figures

Linguistic revitalization - Is there a revitalization project / are there plans to revitalize the language? Who is leading the revitalization efforts? How much (administrative/etc) support is there for it? Is there interest in learning the language?

Support - At least 1 project related to the language that people can donate to (as a form of mutual aid/reparations) 

These points are intended to help people understand the recent context of the language, highlight and celebrate the people who are bringing it back, and give people a way to directly support revitalization. If you can’t find things for some of these points, that’s okay! The most important thing is not to treat indigenous languages as relics from the past or as slowly dying, but rather modern languages with modern speakers who are fighting hard not to be silenced.

Optional additional topics:

some basic linguistic information on the language (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, etc.)

some basic cultural information - non-closed, baseline cultural things which outsiders should know/be respectful of

If you are an indigenous person, please feel free to add whatever extra information you want! And if you’re not indigenous, be sure to keep the discussion of these languages as respectful as possible.

Please tag your posts as #iyil-challenge (or just @ me in them, that’s the best way to get my attention) and I’ll try to reblog all the ones that I see to my sideblog. Thanks for participating, and I’m excited to see what languages y’all post about!

[guillemelgat]

Okay here is part one of Week 2 for the @langblrgang year-end challenge, part two will perhaps be forthcoming at some point. I picked the first song at the top of this playlist (Malayalam Latest on Spotify), which I’ve had saved for ages but I never listen to because I have a lot of trouble getting into Malayalam music and idk why. Anyways I don’t actually know what the song is about and I can’t understand it but I listened to it like 5 times and it is a bop so congratulations! You got me to listen to a song in Malayalam, an impossible feat :D

[guillemelgat]

Here’s my very late Week 1 post for @langblrgang’s year-end challenge. I’m reading a children’s story book in Malayalam, yes it’s very very basic and yes I am reading it at the pace of a snail but at least I am reading Malayalam. Feel free to correct my pronunciation or anything else you notice!

Here’s the other part, my introduction in Malayalam. Corrections also welcome here if you want!

നമസ്കരം! ഞാൻ പെർസി. എനിക്ക് ഭഷകളും പൂച്ചകളും ഇഷ്ടമാണ്. മലയളം പഠിക്കുന്നു. എൻറെ അച്ഛൻ മലയളിയാണ്. എൻറെ അമ്മ അമേരിക്കനാണ്. മലയളം അറികാൻ വെണം!

[guillemelgat]

Basque Text - Week 1

Okay so here’s the text I wrote, based on the following prompt from the language server I’m in:

The last person on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door.

Obviously because I have to always try to be super clever, I put a very unoriginal twist on it :’) Anyway, please feel free to give corrections! I’d especially appreciate help rephrasing sentences so that I don’t repeat izan/ukan a million times.

Nire logelan negoen, bakar-bakarrik. Hormak begiratu nituen, eta dardaratzen zirela iruditzen zitzaidan. Mundua bukatzen zen. Familia, lagunak pentsatzen nituen. Ez zeuden nirekin, eta falta botatzen nituen. Baina ausarta izan behar nintzen. Oso zailea zen, gizaki azkena izatea. Guztia nahiz eta, bizirik atera behar nintzen. Munduko janari guztiarekin, ez nuen gose edukiko. Arma bat behar nuen, animalia basatiekin borrokatzeko. Eta gero barazkiak landatuko nuen, janari gehiago edukitzeko. Plan osoa imajinatzen nuen orain. Zailea, baina ez zen ezinezkoa. Gizaki besteak hil zituzten, hori bai, baina ni ez. Indaregi nintzen, haiek baino indarrago. Irabaziko nuen. Nire planekin hasteko abain ninzten, norbaitek atea jo zuenean. –Afaltzeko etorri!– esan zuen nire amak. –Banoa! Ongi pasatzen nuela, hain justu irten behar nintzen. Ze pena!

[guillemelgat]

📚Aquí teniu el text d’aquesta setmana (“Fet d’armes” de Pere Calders)

📝 Tasca 7: Llegeix en veu alta el conte que vas escriure ahir. 

📍Fés un post amb… una gravació de la lectura.

[guillemelgat]

📚Aquí teniu el text d’aquesta setmana (un fragment de La pell freda d’Albert Sànchez Piñol)

📝 Tasca 6: Mira aquest clip fins al minut 1:48 per trobar les respostes a les següents preguntes:

Qui viu dins de la cova? 

Per què no surten? 

On miren la gent que viu dins de la cova? Què hi veuen? 

Pensen que són reals les ombres? Per què? 

Què descobreix l'home que surt de la cova? Quina és la lliçó de la història? 

📍Fés un post amb… les respostes que has trobat i algun dubte si no ho has entès.

[guillemelgat]

📚Aquí teniu el text d’aquesta setmana (“Fet d’armes” de Pere Calders)

📝 Tasca 4: Llegeix la secció del diàleg i tria dues veus molt distinctes pels dos personatges per distingir-los. Intenta triar veus que transmeten algun aspecte de la personalitat de cada personatge.

📍Fés un post amb… una gravació de la teva interpretació!

[guillemelgat]

Benvinguts i benvigudes a una nova sèrie de posts pels que aprenen català! Cada setmana, triaré un text i us donaré unes quantes tasques. Podeu fer les que vulgueu, i si us hi atreviu, posar-les aquí perquè jo o algú altre pot corregir-les! El text d’aquesta setmana és un fragment del llibre La pell freda d’Albert Sànchez Piñol:

No totes les pràtiques es resolien per escrit, la majoria eren pràctiques solitàries. N'hi havia una, per exemple, que consistia a fer-me seure al mig d'un prat durant sis minuts i trenta segons exactes. Durant aquest període el meu únic deure era anotar totes les formes de vida que existissin en un petit rectangle, curosament delimitat per vetes i fils. Al principi només hi veia herba però a poc a poc va aparèixer una gamma increïble d'insectes trepadors, voladors i subterranis. Tot vivia, el vent també, i tot manifestava una unitat poc descriptible amb paraules. Les del meu tutor d'aquell dia: Han estat sis minuts i trenta segons, imagini el segon trenta-un per escrit. Títol de la redacció: «Elements contingents del rectangle observat». Mai no suspenia, si no me'n sortia només m'obligava a repetir l'exercici. Això sí, fins a l'infinit, si calia. Aquella redacció em va costar tres mesos. Vaig repetir-la, i repetir-la, fins que un bon dia em vaig limitar a escriure: «L'únic element contingent del rectangle és el rectangle.»

Després, les males herbes del rectangle. Havia de netejar-lo curosament. Va manar-me que destriés les males herbes de les plantes beneficioses. Com que jo no en coneixia cap, estava obligat a consultar-lo abans d'arrencar-les. Aquesta no és una mala herba, deia d'unes, es poden bullir les fulles i fer-ne infusions. Aquesta tampoc, deia d'altres, són espàrrecs silvestres i per tant comestibles, encara més, exquisits. Aquesta tampoc, com s'entén que pugui ser una mala herba si al maig treu unes flors bellíssimes?

Per fi, només quedava una planta. No tenia cap utilitat, no amagava cap secret. Unes fulles fosques, punxegudes i tòxiques, un tronc dur i lleig. Ell va sospirar: d'acord, planta pèssima, però si l'arrenquem, quin sentit tindrien les altres? Cap, vaig dir jo. I a quina conclusió arriba, doncs? Que les males herbes no existeixen. Consideri aprovat l'exercici.

📝 Tasca 1: Llegeix el text. Fés una llista de paraules que no coneixes, i buscar-ne els significats.

📍Fes un post amb... la llista de paraules i significats, i sobretot amb paraules que encara no entens després de buscar les seves definicions.