chiarasstudying - Tumblr blog

[chiarasstudying]

Hi everyone!

I'm going to use this blog as a journal for my german learning progress. I technically have a b1 level, given to my studies of german in university. But in reality, I feel very far behind. Unfortunately, my fear of failure doesn't help me much. Each time I have a German class, I get extreme anxiety so I avoid going. This habit, though, doesn't help me improve, so I want to change it.

I hope to build some courage with time and to achieve my language learning goals. I would love to meet some friends along the way!

[chiarasstudying]

Me when I hear someone speaking a language that's not their native with an accent: YAS slay the game you are doing amazing go you.

Me when I hear myself have an accent in a language that's not my native: I want death, this is terrible. This needed to be gone by yesterday.

[chiarasstudying]

Spanish Quotes about Life.

1. Nada hay más surreal que la realidad- Nothing is more surreal than reality.

2. Despues de los años mil, Torna el agua a su carril- In a hundred years we will be dead anyway.

3. La vida es un relámpago entre dos largas noches- Life is a flash of lightning between two long nights.

4. Nada hay nuevo debajo del sol- There is nothing new under the Sun.

(Everything that’s happened to you, has happened to other people too.)

5. De músico, poeta y loco, todos tenemos un poco- We all have a little bit of musician, poet and crazy person in us.

6. El arte es una mentira que nos acerca a la verdad- Art is a lie which brings us closer to truth.

7. Toma las cosas como vienen- Take things as they come.

8. Hay un cierto placer en la locura, que solo el loco conoce- There’s a certain pleasure in madness that only the madman knows.

9. Vale más huir, que morir- It’s better to flee than to die. (Live to fight another battle.)

10. No hables a menos que puedas mejorar el silencio- Don’t talk unless you can improve on the silence.

[chiarasstudying]

when you get a joke in your target language: omg am I fluent yet

[chiarasstudying]

Quiero viajar con alguien. Ir por la carretera escuchando música y riéndonos de viejos recuerdos. Ir a la montaña o la playa, a pasar unos días en una cabaña y que lo único que importe sea nuestra presencia. Ver el cielo y decirnos frases absurdas, mirarnos absortos de todo lo que nos rodea y ser felices viendo como el cielo se tiñe de colores hermosos. Ver asomarse la luna a jugar con las estrellas en el cielo, y pensar en que ese momento dure para siempre

(via vida-absurda)

[chiarasstudying]

this is so useful and cool, and shit! why haven’t i ever thought about reading the 100 in spanish?? It looks amazing!

Reading in your target language just got so much easier

This cool little website, called readlang, allows you to upload your book, in your target language, from epub form into their website, right? And you just read your book from there. When you don’t know a word, what do you do? Do you go to google dot com and type in that word? Nope. You fucking click it. And it tells you the word. 

I am currently reading the 100 (this is the book that the tv show came from) and I can already tell reading this way is so much easier. I highly suggest making an account. It’s free, and works for more than 80 languages!

[chiarasstudying]

So here is yet another post about Spanish that I hope you all langblrs will like. I present to you 10 words that exist in Spanish but don’t exist in English.

Knowing and using them in your vocabulary shows how fluent you actually are so hopefully this will help you.

1. Chueco/a: 

This can be roughly be translated as “not straight” BUT NOT IN THE SEXUAL ORIENTATION KIND OF WAY. It literally means not being able to do something in a straight line. 

For example: Not able to draw a straight line? You draw chueco/a. Tried kicking a soccer ball in a straight line but it ended up in the far left side of the court? You kick chueco/a.

2. Empalagado/a: 

This is what happens when you eat too much sugar. 

For example: You know that feeling of nausea and awkward fullness after you have eaten like five cupcakes, two chocolate bars and three bottles of soda? THEN is when you feel empalagado/a.

3. Despistado/a: 

So I Google-translated this word and it came out as “lackadaisical”. I don’t think anyone actually uses that word. SO, it means someone who doesn’t pay attention to anything and daydreams most of the time. It is not a permanent feature tho, you can be despistado/a just during your math class. 

For example: If someone asks you a question and you don’t answer because you were too busy thinking about Zac Efron, then you are despistado/a.

4. Tocayo/a: 

It refers to someone who shares name with you. 

For example: Let’s imagine your name is Hermione and suddenly you meet someone whose name is ALSO Hermione. Voilá! That person is now your tocayo/a.

5. Buen provecho: This is not a word but a phrase. It means something like “have a good meal”, it is kinda close to saying “bon appettit” in French. It is frequently used before you start a meal but also as a sign of respect when you run into someone who is currently eating. Also, it is not a phrase used only for “fancy” situations, it actually works whenever someone is eating. 

For example: If you are eating at a restaurant with a group, you say buen provecho before you start eating, but also let’s imagine you are walking around the city and see your boss eating tacos from a food truck, then you also say buen provecho. Freaking good manners.

6. Desgraciado/a: Oh this is a funny one. You might think, at first sight, that this word refers to someone who is not very graceful. WRONG. If you Google-translate the word, it may drive you to think it means “unfortunate”. ALSO WRONG. This is what you call someone who has been a jerk. Someone who didn’t treat you right. Like honestly, someone you really hate. 

For example: Your boyfriend just dumped you on your birthday? He is a desgraciado. Your group-project colleague disappeared during the whole process and just showed up to put her name on the project? She is a desgraciada. It is such a powerful word, I love it.

7. Llorón/Llorona: It refers to someone who cries A LOT. It doesn’t necessarily mean someone who cries but also someone who is very sensitive and gets sad about a lot of things, especially if those things aren’t really important. 

For example: Your sister just cried because she saw a very cute dog? She is a llorona. Your best friend just got VERY upset because he got a 99/100 on a test? He is a llorón (das me tho).

8. Te quiero: This is probably one of the phrases native Spanish speakers miss the most when they start speaking English. This is what you say to someone (and by someone it means a romantic partner most of the time) when you start getting feelings for them but you don’t love them just yet. If you did love them tho you would say “te amo”.  

For example: You have been dating someone for a while now and you know they are amazing but you are not in the “love” point just yet, then you say te quiero to them. No commitment, you guys.

9. Desvelado/a: It refers to someone that hasn’t slept for a while. 

For example: When you pull an all-nighter and show up to class late, with huge bags under your eyes and basically just feeling like a living-dead, you are desvelado/a.

10. Lampiño/a: It literally refers to someone that doesn’t have facial/body hair. 

For example: If you are trying to grow a beard but just can’t seem to grow any hair on your face you are a lampiño/a. Also, if you do not have to shave your legs at all for the summer because you have been blessed with the lack of body hair, then you are lampiño/a.

[chiarasstudying]

i wanna start learning Portuguese so bad, but I also wanna improve the other three languages I’m currently studying. Why am I like this?

[chiarasstudying]

how to improve your reading in your target language(s)

@ all my langblr here on tumblr, if you don’t know how to practice your reading skills in your target language(s) and you can’t afford to buy a book, or you wanna try something different than that, you could:

-read articles on weheartit: there are many interesting and cute articles in there, most of them are written in a simple language. Plus, you can also find a lot of aesthetically pleasing pictures!

- use Quora:  so, that’s probably because i’m a little stupid, but i didn’t know what Quora was since last month. It’s a website where you can ask questions about many different subjects and everyone can answer. I read about many interesting things, learnt new stuff about some topics and actually improved my reading! I know you could say “but, it’s basically like Yahoo Answer” (which you can use too, if you want) but no! It’s more clever. And I like the graphic of this one more( sorry, Yahoo). Here are some interesting answers I found there(they’re in english, but you can choose any other language): https://www.quora.com/What-do-Italians-think-of-foreigners-who-learn-try-to-speak-Italian https://www.quora.com/What-did-the-Spartans-Greeks-and-Persians-eat-during-the-battle-of-Thermopylae https://www.quora.com/Who-were-the-ancestors-of-Greeks

- Wikipedia: this is actually really basic but, have you ever tried to read something related to your country in other language? Like, something about a museum or a monument or even a traditional food, but in your target language? I think it’s the funniest thing to do. Not only you will improve your grammar and your reading comprehension’s skills, you will also learn brand new stuff about something you thought you already knew! I have tried this thing for the first time when I had to explain to my brazilian friend, Kami, what a “arancina” is (which, for the record, is a traditional Sicilian food) and it was so funny, I still do it sometimes.

So, these are my main recommendations. Another thing that was useful for me when I started reading in my target languages were fanfictions, but i know many people don’t like them. Also, it’s really difficult to find a well written fanfiction in each fandom you love (in my case, they’re too many). Feel free to tell me what other things to do to improve your reading skills, I’d love to receive some advises. I’m sorry for my English, as you may know, it’s not my native language (you’re basic Italian girl is here, y’all). 

-Chiara

[chiarasstudying]

advanced spanish adjectives

asombrado astonished, amazed

asqueroso disgusting, revolting

asustado frightened, scared

carismático charismatic

conocido well-known, renowned, famous

de poca confianza untrustworthy

desagradecido ungrateful

duradero long-lasting, durable

emocionante exciting

genuino genuine

hecho a mano handmade

inadecuado inappropriate, unsuitable

incipiente budding, emerging

incómodo awkward, uncomfortable

inesperado unexpected

meticuloso meticulous, thorough, careful

presuntuoso arrogant, conceited, presumptuous

ridículo ridiculous

sabio wise

travieso mischievous

[chiarasstudying]

What is autism?

Autism is a natural variation of human neurology which is categorized as a developmental disability. About 1% of the worlds population is autistic. Autism is a lifelong condition meaning that autistic people are born autistic and that they will die autistic. You cannot “catch autism” or “become autistic” like you can risk becoming mentally or physically ill - neither vaccines or heavy metals or gluten will make you autistic if you aren’t born with it. You also can’t cure autism or recover from it - but all autistic people can live fulfilling, happy lives with the right accommodations so an autism diagnosis isn’t the death sentence that many people make it out to be. Autism isn’t a diagnosis which can be clearly separated from who you are and how you see the world - it affects every aspect about of how you think about, experience and interact with the world around you. There are many different aspects of being autistic which makes it hard to summarize the condition, but I’ll do my best to introduce you to some of the common autistic traits and experiences in this post.

Sensory processing. Autistic people’s sensory processing is different from most people’s sensory processing. This means that autistic people may be over- or undersensitive to different sensory input. This means that we may have trouble with sounds, touches, smells, tastes, etc that most people can easily tolerate or block out or that we may seek out loud music, blinking lights, bright colors, spicy food, strong smells and activities which provide physical activity and deep pressure. Many autistic people lack the filter that most people have which makes them able to block out background sounds, meaning that the ticking of a clock, the buzzing from a lamp or two people having a conversation nearby might make us unable to focus on what we’re supposed to be focusing on. This means that many autistic people will have trouble focusing in situations with lots of sensory input, for example situations where many people are gathered together, and that we are more easily overwhelmed and stressed out by different sensory input than allistic (non-autistc) people. 

Stimming. Stimming is short for self-stimulatory behavior, meaning a behavior which is meant to stimulate one of your senses. Some common stims are rocking back and forth, bouncing your legs or feet, hand flapping, hand wringing and repeating words and sentences, but a stim can be any kind of repeated movement or action which stimulates one of your senses. Stimming can thus be many different things - you can stim by smelling, touching, watching, moving, tasting and listening. The reason why autistic people stim is tied up in the fact that autistic people’s sensory processing tend to be atypical - when there’s a lot of overwhelming, stressing sensory input, providing your own repeated sensory input by listening to a song on repeat or rocking back or forth or smelling something you like the smell of may help you focus and calm down. Autistic people also stim to express emotions - it’s a natural part of our body language just like smiling or frowning is a natural part of most people’s body language. We may jump up and down and flap our hands when excited where most people would simply smile, or we may rock back and forth and press our hands against our faces where other people would cry. That being said, an autistic person doesn’t need a certain, deep reason for stimming - we often do it simply because it’s fun and because it feels good. 

Shutdowns and meltdowns. Shutdowns and meltdowns are both responses to extreme distress - they’re often caused by unpleasant, overwhelming sensory input that the autistic person in question is unable to escape, but they can also be caused by strong negative emotions. A meltdown is an outward reaction to said distress where a shutdown is an inwards reaction. An autistic person having a meltdown is a person who has reached a point where they are no longer in control of their own body - they’re experiencing an flight or fight response, so to say. An autistic person may scream, lash out, cry, smash things and run away during a meltdown. Shutdowns are another possible response to a similar situation - during those, the autistic person may become unresponsive, locked in place, unable to talk, etc. You should never get mad at autistic people or hold them responsible for having meltdowns and shutdowns - they’ve reached a place where they’re so distressed that they’re losing control of themselves and instead of distressing them further, you should help them escape or resolve what’s causing the distress - after you have given them plenty of time to calm down and recover, that is.

Trouble with non-verbal communication such as body language, facial expressions and tone of voice. Autism is a disability which affects communication and the ability to socialize, meaning that autistic people may have trouble reading, using and comprehending body language, facial expressions and tone of voice just like they may have trouble learning, conforming to and applying social rules. We may not be able to take a hint that someone’s not interested in talking to us just like we may not notice when someone’s interested in us romantically or sexually. We have trouble noticing when other people are bored or tired or sad or angry and we might thus often come across as uncaring or annoying in social situations. Our trouble with reading other people and seeing the nuance in their body language, facial expressions and tone of voice also means that many autistic people have trouble grasping sarcasm, irony and metaphors. 

Trouble with words and speech. Most autistic people have some degree of trouble with expressing their thoughts and opinions through spoken words.This is because most of us don’t naturally think in words - we may experience, think about and process the world around us in pictures or sensory experiences and we may thus have trouble transforming those input and experiences into words. We may also have trouble with the process of speaking, not because there’s something physically wrong with us but because we can have trouble with making our throats and mouths pronounce the words or because we may have trouble with going from thinking a word to succeeding with the process of actually saying it out loud. It’s common for autistic people to have periods where they aren’t able to speak - we call it going nonverbal - and some autistic people can’t speak at all. That doesn’t mean that they can’t think or communicate, though - they may instead communicate via written words, text to speech apps, facilitated typing, sign language, picture boards, etc.

Executive dysfunction. Executive functioning is what allows us to go from thinking about or wanting to do something to actually doing it, it’s what makes us able to keep the different steps required to complete a task straight in our heads and it’s what makes us able to plan and focus on different tasks. Autistic people often have trouble with executive functioning which makes many everyday tasks that most people can just do without thinking twice about it really hard. Imagine that you want to do laundry but your brain doesn’t automatically come up with the steps required to complete the task - take the laundry basket to the washing machine, open the washing machine, put clothes into the washing machine, add soap, etc - instead you’re just standing there, knowing that you somehow have to go from dirty laundry to clean clothes without knowing how to go about it. This is a problem for many autistic people which makes many everyday tasks hard or impossible to do without help. We may need someone to prompt us to do what we need to do or we may need someone to talk us through the steps or we may need visual or written instructions which illustrate the steps required to complete a certain task. Executive dysfunction is the main reason why many autistic people have trouble with basic, everyday tasks that most people their age can easily do without help.

Special interests. Many autistic people have a topic or a thing that they’re deeply, passionately interested in. Some autistic people compare having a special interest to being in love - it’s what your mind drifts to when there’s nothing else to occupy it, it’s the only thing you want to talk about, it’s the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning and it’s the last thing you think of before you fall asleep. This intense level of interest and passion often allows autistic people to excel in their areas of interest even when they may have trouble with basic everyday tasks. Some autistic people have special interests that lasts a life time, other people experience that their special interests change every couple years or maybe every couple months - or in some cases, every couple weeks. Some autistic people have one special interest at a time, other autistic people have many special interests. 

Routines. Since the world is often very chaotic and confusing for autistic people due to our atypical sensory processing and our struggles with executive dysfunction and social interaction, many autistic people rely on routines to create a sense of order in a confusing and chaotic world. We usually like to do the same things in the exact same way every day and if something breaks our routine or if something unexpected happens - or if somebody suggests an impulsive trip to the beach on a day where we hadn’t expected to do anything but the usual - it may result in shutdowns or meltdowns. If you want an autistic person to break or change their routine it’s recommended that you warn them in good time and that you give them plenty of time to prepare and adjust.

Unique points of view and different ways of thinking. Due to the fact that autistic people experience the world so differently from how most people experience it, we see the world from a different angle - often allowing us to come up with ideas or thoughts or input or solutions that you wouldn’t get anywhere else. Autistic people often have unique points of view and unusual ways or thinking and learning and this is often a strength - as we say in the autistic community, we are different, not less. 

I’ve now summarized some of the more common autistic traits and I hope that this post gave you a better understanding of what autism is and what it means to be autistic. Feel free to reblog and share this post far and wide if you found it helpful or educational.

[chiarasstudying]

Okay I’m a little bit desperate bc I have to write a little essay about my vision of family for my french class but I can only use 100 words. HOW CAN I SAY ALL THAT I THINK ABOUT FAMILIES IN 100 WORDS? I NEED AT LEAST 1000 WORDS, UGH.

[chiarasstudying]

I love it when my friends ask me for advices when they want to learn a new language. I feel very useful

[chiarasstudying]

me: wow I have to study a lot today

also me: it's a good day to learn these 3 new languages :) :) :)

[chiarasstudying]

Perceivers: We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Judgers: I am going to need to see the whole map and the number of bridges there are along with the time it will take to cross them and if we can find a more efficient way to cross them.

[chiarasstudying]

some language textbook: learn those simple phrases to be able to converse with native speakers of your target language :)

me: i refuse to open my mouth unless i master the subjunctive and recognise all regional accents

[chiarasstudying]

il corpo [i corpi] - the body la pelle [le pelli] - the skin

la testa [le teste] - the head la faccia [le facce] - the face la fronte [le fronti] - the forehead la tempia [le tempie] - the temple la guancia [le guance] - the cheek la mandibola [le mandibole] - the jaw il mento [i menti] - the chin il naso [i nasi] - the nose la narice [le narici] - the nostril la bocca [le bocche] - the mouth il labbro [i labbri] - the lip l’orecchio [gli orecchi] - the ear l’occhio [gli occhi] - the eye il ciglio [le ciglia] - the eyelash il sopracciglio [le sopracciglia] - the eyebrow il collo [i colli] - the neck

il torace [i toraci] - the chest il seno [i seni] - the breast il capezzolo [i capezzoli] - the nipple la schiena [le schiene] - the back il sedere [i sederi] - the butt la natica [le natiche] - the buttock la vita [le vite] - the waist l’addome [gli addomi] - the abdomen l’ombelico [gli ombelici] - the navel lo stomaco [gli stomaci] - the stomach l’anca [le anche] - the hip

la spalla [le spalle] - the shoulder il braccio [i bracci] - the arm l’ascella [le ascelle] - the armpit il gomito [i gomiti] - the elbow l’avambraccio [gli avambracci] - the forearm il polso [i polsi] - the wrist la mano [le mani] - the hand il palmo [i palmi] - the palm il dito [i diti] - the finger il pollice [i pollici] - the thumb l’indice [gli indici] - the index finger il dito medio [i diti medi] - the middle finger l’anulare [gli anulari] - the ring finger il mignolo [i mignoli] - the little finger

la gamba [le gambe] - the leg la coscia [le cosce] - the thigh il ginocchio [le ginocchia] - the knee lo stinco [gli stinchi] - the shin il polpaccio [i polpacci] - the calf la caviglia [le caviglie] - the ankle il tallone [i talloni] - the heel il piede [i piedi] - the foot la pianta del piede [le piante del piede] - the sole il dito del piede [i diti del piede] - the toe l’alluce [gli alluci] - the big toe il mignolo del piede [i mignoli del piede] - the little toe