i-read-in-five-languages

[i-read-in-five-languages]

[i-read-in-five-languages]

You’ve heard of “don’t monetize your hobbies”; get ready for "don’t master your hobbies".

Your hobbies are here to help you decompress and have fun. They do not have to be disciplines you toil over for expertise, unless that is something you genuinely enjoy doing.

It’s okay to enjoy language-learning without ever becoming fluent, or even conversational. It’s okay to like playing guitar even if you only know a few clumsy songs. You can read books and never finish them, bowl without ever scoring even halfway to perfect. We’re here to explore and play, and we cannot do that if we’re chasing perfection in everything we do.

[i-read-in-five-languages]

[i-read-in-five-languages]

How to improve your skills in your target language

Reading

Use extensions like:

Flewent - translates a certain % of your article in your target language ReadLang - translates the words you click on and adds them to a flashcards deck Linguarana - same as ReadLang but it also translates expressions

Read as much as possible daily. Try to set a certain amount of pages daily/weekly. 

When you listen to music, find the lyrics and follow the singers while they’re singing.

Use wattpad if you like fanfiction. The site/app allows you to receive stories in a certain language if you look at the settings. Bonus: if you add the story to the library, you can read offline on your phone.

When you watch movies, find subs in your target language; regardless the language of the movie.

Find an app/site with manga. Many apps/sites have a pretty large selection when it comes to languages and if you are a fast reader, you can read quite a lot in 10-15 minutes. Bonus: many apps allow you to read offline.

Beelinguapp is an app with fairytales in different languages. It’s pretty useful for beginners or for people who don’t feel confident enough to try something else.

How to choose a book and study with it

Listening

Use audiobooks. If you want and have time, try reading the book at the same time. If you listen and read at the same time, you have more chances to remember the words and their spelling, pronunciation.

Choose a song in your target language. Read the lyrics and their translation once or twice. Then sing the song trying to remember the lyrics. Optional: listen to the song with the lyrics. I wouldn’t really recommend this because you might focus too much on the spelling and less on the pronunciation at some point. 

Many movies and videos. It will be frustrating at first but after a while, you will get used to it and focus on what you know so you can guess what’s the meaning of what you don’t know.

Try using audiocourse or courses that focus a lot on interaction and listening like Pimsleur.

Use apps like HelloTalk, Tandem, Skype, the audio messages on Facebook etc. if you want to practice with natives.

When you learn vocabulary, try to find the pronunciation on Forvo or just choose resources with audio.

Apps/Sites like 50languages, awabe, duolingo, memrise, busuu, babbel, lingodeer etc. have audio for most of their languages so they are worth your time.

Change the speed of the videos you are watching. Youtube has such a setting.

Writing

Read a lot. When you read you pay attention to what kind of structures are used in a text and the more you read, the more you get a “feeling” if the spelling of a word is right or if the strutcure makes any sense. If i ask an advanced learner why they write “i think of” they won’t be able to explain why “of” is there and not something else but they will know at any time that it’s a construction that need to be like that. 

Write daily something. A short text about anything. Topics to write about

Keep a diary.  How to keep a journal/diary in your target language

Talk daily to someone on facebook, tumblr, hellotalk etc.

When you watch a movie/video or read a book/chapter, write a summary.

Speaking

Sing. This will help you more or less with your pronunciation.

Talk to someone over skype or over voice messages on facebook/other sites/apps.

How to improve your speaking skills without a native 

[i-read-in-five-languages]

Fantastic benefits of learning many languages as possible:

1 Understand the foreign language in a movie that they don’t do subtitles for

2 To be able to read correctly a foreign name in a class, when the teacher asks if someone know that language

3 Laugh at international memes

4 Understand tattoos, clothes and aesthetic images

5 To be able to read youtube comments

6 Understand the conversation of foreign people at your side (and maybe help them with something)

7 To be able to save you and your friends in case some country decides to invade yours

8 To be able to write secret notes

9 Understand different product packaging from other countries

10 To have access to more content, culture and knowledge ♡

[i-read-in-five-languages]

"Why are you still on tumblr, it's a dead site" Tumblr is the ONLY site that still works in the way of -Follow this person, see their posts- instead of -you stopped scrolling and stayed on this post for .2 seconds longer than others, here's 100 more posts like it- I hate algorithms. Tumblr has its many issues. But at least I keep my choice of what I see.

[i-read-in-five-languages]

Just went to a workshop about learning Mandarin, and a guy there said that he thinks the Chinese writing system is just too hard to learn and too different from other writing systems, so the Chinese government should probably do something - like simplify the Chinese writing system or come up with an alternative system - so China could be more connected to the rest of the world. And I'm like dude hasn't English colonised enough parts of the world? And I don't think the writing system is the real reason China isn't more connected to the world...I think it's dangerous that there're still people who believe in earnest that homogenising the world's languages is a good idea, because I don't think he said it with any ill intentions and he genuinely thinks that if the Chinese writing system is closer to the Roman alphabet, the language and the country might be more accessible to outsiders

[i-read-in-five-languages]

my adhd ass when someone says something and expects me to be able to comprehend it the first time

[i-read-in-five-languages]

Drinking game: Take a shot everytime the Dark Rise Series mentions James' beauty

[i-read-in-five-languages]

For Chinese I recommend “Great Escape” (more like variety show) I think 5 of the 6 seasons are on YouTube.

For French I recommend “Koh-lanta” (it’s the French version of Survivor) it used to have a lot of seasons on YouTube I’m not sure if they are still available.

It is with great displeasure that I'll inform you that watching Reality TV in your target language will increase your comprehension abilities by A LOT.

If you can understand a drunk woman with a strong accent, crying because her crush served orange juice to another woman, using every slang word known to mankind, you will understand basic conversations with ease.

If you cannot stomach Reality TV (which is understandable) I'll recommend watching youtubers doing commentary videos on Reality TV shows/episodes. I find this way of consuming Reality TV less brain-frying.

And you could argue that watching movies / TV show is sufficient, but you need to remember that the way actors speak isn't 100% natural : the speed, enunciation, choice of words will not be a proper representation of how people speak in real life, while reality TV on the other hand...(I'm not saying everyone speaks like this). But, especially if your goal is to be able to speak casually with your foreign friends, it will help you a lot ! (I guess if your goal is to read classical literature in your target language, don't bother watching Reality TV)

Good news ! If you're learning Mandarin, there are a looooot of Reality shows that are actually cute and not ...vulgar ? And a lot of them can be found on youtube with English sub ! In German, I watch Mirellativegal on youtube. Anyway, don't ask me for recommendation for French Reality TV, I looked for it to give you some examples and I feel like I've lost brain cells during the few minutes I looked for it. If you guys have recommendations for cool Reality-shows in any languages don't hesitate to share ! I'm currently looking for some Spanish ones (preferably Mexican ones)

[i-read-in-five-languages]

exchanging headcanons and AUs with friends like

[i-read-in-five-languages]

i do not ghost purposely i just have no idea what to say ever

[i-read-in-five-languages]

so this is what it’s like to breathe

⋆˚࿔ Weak Hero Class 2 | Ep 5 (2025)

(more weak hero class edits)

[i-read-in-five-languages]

Weak Hero should have really been called "Problematic Gay People and their Problems".

[i-read-in-five-languages]

Weak Hero Class 2 (2025)

[i-read-in-five-languages]

weak hero class webtoon -> kdrama glossary

hellooo so since whc2 came out my blogs been getting some attention i wanted to make a glossary for new webtoon/kdrama fans who may not know who’s who lol

eunjang high school

gray yeon — yeon sieun (park jihoon)

ben park — park humin (ryeo un)

alex go — go hyuntak (lee minjae)

eugene gale — seo juntae (choi minyoung)

gerard jin — jin gayool

rowan im — lim juyang

teddy jin — jin taeoh

yoosun high school

jimmy bae — bae jihoon

jack kang — kang jeongyeon

ganghak high school

wolf keum — geum seongje (lee junyoung)

daehyeon high school

jake ji — ji hakho

dean kwon — kwon hyeokjin

yeo-il high school

donald na — na baekjin (bae nara)

kingsley kwan — kwon seokhyeon

hyeongshin high school

forrest lee — lee sehan

myles joo — joo seungjin

sam "grape" lee — lee gongsam "grape"

byuksan middle school (s1)

stephen ahn — ahn suho (choi hyunwook)

[i-read-in-five-languages]

Park Jihoon ✦ Esquire Korea