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Stars shine, and the moon too, turning the frosted grass and low hills of Innis Lear into a quiet, cold mirror, until heaven is below her, around her, and everywhere.

Tessa Gratton, The Queens of Innis Lear (via the-final-sentence)

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What is the best method for flashcards? i.e. should I put English translations, pictures, other general tips on how to get the most out of them

Hi! Here are some things you can add to your flashcards:

Translation in your native language or other language you’re proficient in

Definition of the word in your target language

Example sentence(s)

Mnemonic(s) 

Pictures, doodles, stickers

Audio (if using electronic flashcards)

IPA

Don’t overdo it though - you don’t want to put too much information or end up procrastinating actual studying by making your flashcards overly detailed or to look pretty. 

You may also want to use your learning style to your advance in flashcard making. If you are a visual learner using pictures and doodles and different colours can help. If you are an auditory learner flashcards with audio are the best but if you’re making physical flashcards then just reading them out loud when going through them will do. If you are a kinesthetic learner just writing the words on flashcards by hand and maybe using different gestures and body movements when studying them will help you remember them.  I hope this helps, good luck!

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japanese book recommendations

japanese literature is one of the reasons i absolutely adore the language and the culture. it’s unique, different from anything i’ve seen in literature from other parts of the world. during the years of learning japanese i’ve discovered many authors and books that are now my favourite, so i thought i’d share them with you! they can become great help while studying japanese, but you definitely should read them for fun first - it’s worth it, believe me.

i’m gonna include romaji, in case someone who doesn’t speak japanese wanted to read these!

dazai osamu - ningen shikkaku (太宰治・人間失格) (english title: no longer human)

this novel is considered one of the masterpieces of contemporary literature in japan. it’s taught at school, adapted to mangas and films and anime series, reissued up to this day despite it being first published in 1948. the book follows a man who feels like he is losing his ability to be human. it’s a timeless story, but also very sad and engulfing the readers in hopelessness. don’t read if you hate emotional rollercoasters.

natsume souseki - kokoro (夏目漱石・こころ)

natsume is another of the most respected japanese writers, this novel considered his masterpiece. during a trip, the protagonist meets someone he calls sensei - someone he deeply admires and looks up to. however, sensei is more mysterious than it seems. though the plot is quite simple and spoiling it in any way would be ruining your fun, it’s definitely worth reading. the author conveyed the feelings of admiration, loss, guilt, shame, as well as described developing friendship between the two men.

yumeno kyuusaku - dogra magra (夢野久作・ドグラマグラ)

the japanese say that whoever finishes this novel will surely go mad. i can’t deny; when reading it for the first time i stopped halfway because it’s very long and difficult. i still want to go back and read it properly though. it’s a very creepy and disturbing story about a man who wakes up in a mental hospital, not remembering who he is, why he’s there and what he has to do with the woman who keeps calling him from behind the wall. since this novel has no english or even european language translation (only a french one, to my knowledge) reading it would be big challenge. it contains a lot of medical vocabulary related to psychiatry and mental illnesses. recommended to horror fans.

yoshimoto banana - kitchen (吉本ばなな・キッチン)

this novel is quite short and fairly easy to read. it’s often described as a shoujo manga without pictures. it tells a story of a young woman who loses her last family member and suddenly finds herself lost in the adult world. luckily, she gets the chance to live with her acquaintance and his mother. the mother is actually a father, but it doesn’t stop them all to live together like a family. this book is very calm and melancholic, devoid of swift action, focused more on the feelings of the characters. it’s full of coziness and descriptions of food. read when it’s dark outside.

sakurazaka hiroshi - all you need is kill (桜坂洋・all you need is kill)

now this book might seem like it doesn’t fit in this list, which is full of classics and serious books. it’s a light novel, made solely for entertainment. it even got a hollywood adaptation starring tom cruise (which isn’t very good, mind you). what i love about this novel, though, is its simplicity in telling the story. the hero, a soldier, gets trapped in a time loop which feels like a nightmare but also allows him to master his fighting skills. the narrations follows his witty thoughts, which is very entertaining. despite it being simple, the novel is touching and gripping, it also has a fairly simple language to read it in japanese.

that sums up my top 5 japanese books list. if you have any recommendations of your own, don’t hesitate to add them here, since i’m always looking for new books to read!

頑張りましょう！

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I think maybe the best things often are.

Katie Heaney, from Never Have I Ever (via the-final-sentence)

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Hey everyone, if you’re looking for Japanese textbooks but can’t afford them, here’s a Google Drive folder full of PDFs of textbooks like Genki, Tobira, Japanese for Busy People, Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese, and even the Dictionary of Japanese Grammar series. 

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A really interesting article about how babies learn Japanese. Excerpt: 

Nissan, Toyota, Honda — three universally recognized car manufacturers, two of which are also common Japanese surnames. If you ask an English speaker to tell you which name is longest, they’ll say Toyota, with its three syllables. A Japanese speaker, on the other hand, will say Nissan. This difference reveals a lot about the underlying rhythms used in human vocal communication, says developmental neurolinguist Reiko Mazuka of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, and also casts doubt on universal theories of language-learning that are mostly based on studies of English speakers.

So why is Nissan longer to Japanese ears? It’s all based on ‘mora’, a counter of linguistic rhythm that is distinct from stress (like in German or English) or syllable (like in French). Most people are familiar with this pattern of counting from haiku, the five–seven–five pattern that defines the classical Japanese meter. The ‘syllables’ in haiku aren’t really syllables but rather morae. Nissan thus has four morae of equal duration (ニッサン or ni-s-sa-n), rather than just the two syllables picked up by Western ears.

But Japanese babies are not born with an internal mora counter, and this is what got Mazuka so interested in returning to Japan from the United States, where she completed her PhD and still maintains a research professorship at Duke University. “The Japanese language doesn’t quite fit with the dominant theories,” she says, “and I used to think this was because Japanese was exceptional. Now my feeling is, Japanese is not an exception. Rather, what works for English is not universal” in terms of mechanisms for language learning.

Mazuka’s lab on the outskirts of Tokyo studies upwards of 1,000 babies a year, and she explains that infants start to recognize mora as a phonemic unit at about 10 months of age. “Infants have to learn how duration and pitch are used as cues in language,” she says. And Japanese is one of the few languages in the world that contains duration-based phonemic contrasts — what English speakers think of as short and long vowels, for example — that can distinguish one mora from two morae. Dominant ideas in the field suggest all babies, from birth, use rhythm as a ‘bootstrap’ to start segmenting sounds into speech, first identifying whether they are dealing with a syllable- or stress-based language. “The theory says that rhythm comes first, but Japanese babies can’t count morae until they’re almost a year old,” Mazuka exclaims. “You can’t conclude that rhythm is the driving force of early phonological development, when evidence from Japanese babies shows it’s not an a prioriunit.”

Read the whole thing.

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I promised, “I shall wait.”

Elizabeth Wein, from A Coalition of Lions (via the-final-sentence)

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Linguistics & Language Learning, anecdote #817,002

Another benefit of having studied linguistics is the developed understanding of the underlying or ideal sounds in your target language versus the phonological (sound) processes involved in articulation (moving air and mouth parts to make the sound).

How does this help? Well, no native speaker of your target language is going to sound like the Duolingo voice. In natural speaking, word sounds get dropped to make a phrase easier to say (“I don’t know” vs “I dunno”), or changed based on the sound before or after it, or a number of other articulatory adaptations. The sounds will also vary based on the region or dialect of the speaker. So, understanding this, you can understand why Duolingo says det and the native speaker says something closer to deh. Or Duolingo says ikke and the native speaker says ishe. If you understand that it’s the same underlying form that’s expressed differently based on the speaker and context, you can:

• avoid getting confused when the differences arise,

• more easily pick out the words you know in their possibly-different forms while listening to the natural flow of speech, and

• mimic the sound changes as appropriate so you sound more like a native speaker.

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person: so what’s your passion?

me: languages. I live and breathe languages. I spend all my time thinking about languages and words and the elusive concept of fluency. My only goal is to immerse myself in as many foreign languages as I can. They are the only source of light in my otherwise dead and empty soul.

person: oh so you spend a lot of time studying languages?

me: no

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Mimicking Words in Japanese

ばりばり - Bari bari - Crunching かちかち - Kachi Kachi - Frozen solid ぱりぱり - Pari pari - Crispy ひりひり - Hiri hiri - Stinging pain ぴりぴり - Piri piri - Spicy tingly ぼろぼろ - Boro boro - Tattered どろどろ - Doro doro - Syrupy いよいよ - Iyo iyo - At last そろそろ - Soro soro - Soon

■Learn how to describe your feelings in Japanese: http://ow.ly/4Po1308zsn8

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I hope you enjoyed it, and if you want to read more, well, there ain’t no end to the stories I can tell.

Scott Sigler, from “The Case of the Haunted Safeway” (via the-final-sentence)

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How To Use Movies To Learn a Language

Greetings, Polyglots! I’m back with another post about how to use movies to learn languages!

I’ve noticed a trend among language learners. Especially among those learning English. Those who spoke English the most natural and fluently have all said that they frequently use movies to learn English. I’m telling you, it’s uncanny! I’ve taught English in three countries and in every country the most standout students have always said that they watched videos and movies for idioms and phrases. The result was almost always natural and fluent sounding English. So I began to wonder do movies work to help you learn a language and how do you watch a movie to learn a language anyway!? Movies are like an hour to two hours long! I don’t have the patience for that.

Movies can, however, help you learn languages in a more natural and casual way. Depending on the genre of the movie, you can learn some interesting vocabulary as well. Movies and television shows are very important for language learning, because they not only teach proper use of grammar and vocabulary, they also introduce you to the humor and culture of the people who’s language you’re studying. After only one or two weeks using movies learning Chinese, my casual Chinese has certainly improved and I have learned a few funny phrases to keep things light too. So how do you use movies to learn languages? Here’s how:

Keep reading

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Because we are the ants, and we’ll keep marching on.

Shaun David Hutchinson, from We Are the Ants (via the-final-sentence)

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List of Elemental Abilities

Air/Wind

Aerokinesis -manipulate the air, wind, and gas.

Aeroportation - teleport using air/wind currents.

Air Mimicry - transform into a cloud of gas, fog, or mist.

Atmokinesis - manipulate the weather by mixing water, fire, earth, air, and lightning/electricity.

Deoxygenation - suck up all the oxygen from a place.

Lung Adaptation - breath anywhere

Wind Generation - create blasts of air.

Divine Winds Manipulation - create and control heavenly winds.

Dark Wind Manipulation - create and control eerie winds.

Earth

Geokinesis - control, manipulate, and reshape the earth at will.

Atmokinesis - control and manipulate the weather by mixing water, fire, earth, air, and lightning/electricity.

Crystallokinesis - manipulate minerals and crystals.

Ferrokinesis… manipulate metal at will.

Fraxikinesis - manipulate burnt matter.

Geo-Thermokinesis - manipulate, control, and create lava, magma and volcanoes.

Golem Creation - make golems out of inanimate materials like rocks, wood, plants, magma, etc.

Granulation… can turn things into sand.

Halokinesis - control and manipulate salt.

Hyalokinesis - control and manipulate glass.

Koniokinesis - manipulate and control dust particles.

Plassikinesis - manipulate and control all forms of plastic.

Psammokinesis - can control and manipulate sand.

Terrakinesis - control, manipulate and alter/reshape the surrounding terrain and landscape at will.

Terraportation - teleport via the earth and earth-based materials.

Sacred Earth Manipulation - Create, manipulate, control, reshape divine earth minerals.

Black Earth Manipulation - Create, manipulate and control tainted and evil earth minerals.

Fire

Pyrokinesis - create, control and manipulate fire, flame and heat.

Atmokinesis - control and manipulate the weather by mixing water, fire, earth, air, and lightning/electricity.

Fire Breath - breathe out flames.

Geo-Thermokinesis - manipulate lava, magma and volcanoes.

Heliokinesis - manipulate and control the sun and sunlight.

Hell-Fire Manipulation - Generate and control flames of hell.

Holy Fire Manipulation - Generate and control flames of Heaven.

Inflammation - burn things.

Melting - heat molecules to melt things.

Plasmakinesis - can control plasma.

Pyrotechnics - create fireworks.

Self-Detonation - explode self and reform.

Thermokinesis - create, control and manipulate heat.

Water

Hydrokinesis - manipulate and control liquid water and mold it into any desired shape or form.

Aquatic Adaptation - adapted to underwater living.

Aquatic Respiration - breathe underwater.

Atmokinesis- control and manipulate the various aspects of the weather by mixing water, fire, earth, air, and lightning/electricity.

Dehydration - absorb water.

Hydroportation - teleport across short or long distances through liquid water.

Water Mimicry - turn into liquid water.

Holy Water Manipulation - create, manipulate and control graceful waters.

Dark Water Manipulation - create, manipulate and control evil and dangerous waters.

Darkness

Umbrakinesis - can manipulate and control darkness or shadows.

Animated Shadow - Animate one’s shadow.

Light Absorption - block out light in an area.

Night Vision - see in the dark.

Sacred Darkness - create holy darkness.

Shadow Camouflage - be unseen in shadows.

Shadow Mimicry - become a shadow.

Umbrageous Teleportation - teleport via the shadows and darkness.

Electricity/Lightning

Quintessence Force -Can generate whitish-blue lightning that also contains pure life energy.

Electrokinesis - control, generate or absorb electric fields and shoot lightning bolts.

Activation & Deactivation - turn stuff on and off.

Positron Manipulation - control positrons, the antimatter counterpart to electrons.

Electrical Absorption - absorb electricity.

Electric Mimicry -transform entire body into a lightning-like being of pure electrical energy

Electrical Transportation - teleport with lightning.

Divine Lightning Manipulation - create and control the brightest lightning.

Black Lightning Manipulation - create and control the darkest lightning.

Energy

Dynamokinesis - manipulate existing energy.

Energy Blast - create blasts of energy.

Energy Emission - release energy.

Quintessence Force - create and manipulate unique form of electrical and life energy.

Mana Manipulation

Chi Manipulation

Electricity Manipulation

Energy Manipulation

Ice

Cryokinesis - control ice, snow and other forms of frozen water.

Freeze Breath - freeze things in solid ice.

Freezing - lower the temperature in kinetic atoms to freezing temperatures.

Frigokinesis - control snow either as precipitation or already on the ground.

Ice Beam - shoot beams of freezing energy.

Ice Generation

Light

Dark Light Manipulation - create the darkest light in existence.

White Light Manipulation- create sacred light from the divine.

Photokinesis - create and manipulate pure light.

Force-Field Generation - create protective shields of solid photons.

Invisibility - be unseen.

Laser Emission - bend light wavelengths to create lasers.

Light Absorption -absorb the light around you.

Light Generation - emit blinding light or glow in the dark.

Light Mimicry - take on the traits of light.

Photoportation - Teleport by using photons.

Projective Invisibility - turn other things invisible.

Evil Banish - Rid and banish all spirits of evil and black magic.

Light Manipulation

Weather

Atmokinesis - manipulate the various aspects of the weather by using water, fire, earth, air, and lightning/electricity.

Atmokinetic Resistance - immunity to all weather-based abilities and effects.

Atmokinetic Sensing - sense the future weather patterns.

Other

Aether Manipulation

Cosmic Manipulation

Gravity Manipulation

Nether Manipulation

Space-Time Manipulation

From Superpower Wikia. See their complete list of superpowers HERE.

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MAB Tag!

Tagged by: @liinglang thank youuu!! ✨

RULES: Answer all the questions, tag 5 or more, add #MABtag !! (cause i would like to follow others who do it)

1. Whats the story behind your name, who gave it to you and what does it mean?

Even though my mom was always the one who wanted a girl the most, my dad, ironically enough was the one to name me Priyanka. The name is quite popular in many parts of South Asia, but his inspiration came from the politician Priyanka Gandhi (I’m sure the last name sounds familiar hehe). It means “beloved”, or “amiable"—which I hope that I am!

2. How old are you?

20 on Sept. 14 >.<

3. A book (essay or article) you’re thankful you’ve stumbled upon and if possible you’d promote it everywhere because EVERYBODY NEEDS TO READ IT? (if you’re not a reader then a Video {eg, a documentary} or a Movie)

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. PREMISE: A bookworm gets his chance to discover the truth behind a mystery he thought only existed in scattered pieces of old scripts. If you’re looking to get attached to fictional characters (as I do far too often) then there ya go! 

4. Are you where you want to be or working on it?

Working on it, but enjoying the journey (most of the time haha)

5. 3 things you love about yourself?

Ability to find adventures in pretty mundane places

My curly hair

My ability to stay up all night and remain sane[-ish] the next day (without coffee or any additional help!)

6. 3 things you hate about yourself and you’re working on to improve yourself?

Unnecessarily apologizing 

Oversensitivity towards others

Procrastination

7. What do you want to be remembered for?

Ah, I hope that those close to me remember me for being reliable. Simple, I know, but support is so important, and I hope that those I care for feel that I’ve always been there for them.

8. What are you most thankful for?

My parents—cliche, but I truly don’t know where I’d be without them 

9. You’ve met your 12 year old and 30-35 year old self, what are you gonna tell them?

12 y/o - I know you feel like your interests make you an outsider, but continue following them—they blossom into worthwhile and lovely hobbies later on :)

30 y/o - Keep working hard, but please remember to take a break every once in a while!

10. One word to the person/people who hurt you?

Heal.

11. When did you last push the boundaries of your comfort zone?

I am a HUGE language-learning nerd, but I hadn’t truly tested that ability in a professional setting (i.e. outside of a classroom or conversing w my penpals). Signing up to volunteer as a Spanish Language Ambassador in a hospital was a nerve-wracking moment for me. Usually if I speak with someone in a language I’m learning, a) they usually know I’m learning and b) I’m usually familiar with their dialect. In this case, neither of the two applied. Yet, I’ve learned (and am still learning) so much from communicating with these patients. I’m pleased to be able to meet their needs and also so thankful that most are understanding.

12. Would you break the law or go against your morals for a loved one?

It depends on the situation, but I’m fiercely loyal to those I love so I’d probably lean more towards anything that would save/ protect my loved ones.

13. Not a question, but wherever you’re in life right now, keep going!!

♥♥♥

Tagging: @lovediesprache @spontaneouslanguages @randomtinywords @aidoku @languagesandshootingstars 

You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to though!

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The best feeling ever is when you randomly try to read something in your target language and actually understand what was written and you get that !!!!!✨🌟🎉🎊🎇🎆!!!!! feeling in your brain.

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N2 Adverbs part 2

My original post did so well I figured some people might appreciate another one. I’ll be sorting the next load of adverbs in the same way as before, so the ones at the bottom of the list are mostly likely some of the less common ones. Meant to have a post out sooner but I’m trying to write my own examples for grammar posts from now on and making sure these are correct is taking some time.

Adverbs that I know instantly:

一瞬－いっしゅん－moment, instant できるだけ－as much as one can なかなか－very, considerably, easily, fairly のびのび－feeling at ease, carefree 非常に－ひじょうに－very, extremely, exceedingly 恐らく－おそらく－perhaps, likely, probably 主に－おもに－mainly, primarily 決して－けっして－never, by no means, not in the least (used with verbs in negative form) いきなり－abruptly, suddenly, without warning ほぼ－almost, roughly, approximately ついに－finally, at last, in the end 意外と－いがいと－unexpectedly ますます－increasingly, more and more 常に－つねに－always, constantly 多少－たしょう－more or less, somewhat, a little 

Adverbs that I can work out or need a second to remember:

直ちに－ただちに－at once, immediately, directly, automatically 思いのほか－surprisingly, unexpected  次々－つぎつぎ－one after another, in succession 大幅－おおはば－big, large, drastic, substantial 極めて－きわめて－exceedingly, extremely, decisively もはや－no longer, not anymore (used with verbs in negative form) 

Adverbs that I cannot remember:

すくすく－growing/developing quickly, rapidly 依然－いぜん－still, as yet, as it has been いったん－once, for a moment, temporarily なんと－what, how, whatever 今や－いまや－now, at least, at present  どうせ－anyhow, at any rate 徐々 －じょじょ－gradually, slowly, steadily, quietly めざましく－remarkable, splendid, wonderful, striking およそ－about, roughly, approximately 一層－いっそう－much more, still more, all the more ぎっしり－tightly, fully, densely packed ずらりと－in a row ちらっと－at a glance, by accident 一斉に－いっせいに－simultaneously, all at once かつて－once, before, formerly

I was really hoping that the list of ones that I couldn’t remember was going to be shorter this time but oh well.