kosdan-learns-languages

[kosdan-learns-languages]

Hindi Vocab: Opposites

धीमा vs. तेज़ / Slow vs. fast

ताज़ा vs. युवा vs. पुराना / Fresh vs. young vs. old

सही vs. ग़लत / Correct vs. wrong

आसान vs. कठिन / Easy vs. difficult

सूखा vs. गीला / Dry vs. wet

लंबा vs. छोटा / Tall, long vs. short

रिक्त vs. पूर्ण / Empty vs. full

कमज़ोर vs. शक्तिशाली / Weak vs. powerful

विदेशी v. स्थानीय / Foreign vs. local

स्वच्छ v. गंदा / Clean vs. dirty

प्रकाश vs. अंधेरा / Light vs. dark

महंगा vs. सस्ता / Expensive vs. cheap

शांत vs. शोर / Quiet vs. loud

स्वच्छ vs. गंदा / Clean vs. dirty

[kosdan-learns-languages]

[ may 22, 2025 • thursday morning ]

It's gray out and I got a late start, which means I just cannot get myself to focus in any meaningful way. Rather than try to bully myself into doing Hindi, I read Parable of the Sower and finished it! I still have the postword to read, but the book itself I finally got through.

After this, I'm going to go pet cats at my local cat shelter, and then probably rot on the couch at home. I'd like to do some Hindi today, but if not, I'm choosing not to be concerned. I can still have a good day without being quote-unquote productive.

[kosdan-learns-languages]

What they don’t tell you about speaking multiple languages is that your brain does not in fact have a box labeled Spanish and another one labeled German. Instead it has a box labeled “Not English” and sometimes when you’re talking or writing in one of the languages you speak it will just start pulling random words from that box.

[kosdan-learns-languages]

What do you mean प्यारी means “cute” 😭

[kosdan-learns-languages]

Hindi things I learned today

The video I used to study was this one for the slangs and this one for the gender, from the channel Hindi Sumvaad, by the teacher Firdaus.

FIRST: some slangs

So, Hindi slangs are golden, right. You can call your friends यार (yaar) which means “bro”

“क्या कर रहा है यार?”

“What are you doing, bro?”

You can also call your siblings पागल (pagal), which means “crazy/mad/stupid/silly”. Apparently, it can be cute, but not all the time. Don’t call random people that.

“तू पागल है क्या?”

“Are you crazy?”

“तू पागल है क्या, यार?”

“Are you crazy, bro?”

And my favourite one: जुगाड़ (jugaad).

That’s my favourite because it means “a quick-fix, innovative, sometimes temporary solution”. And I could only think about the brazilian portuguese word: gambiarra.

Here we have two examples of gambiarra:

It’s basically doing a MacGyver, but I think it’s really cool that Hindi, Brazilian Portuguese and English have words for impromptu genius fixing.

SECOND: word similarities to my native language when I should be focusing on how to tell gender on a sentence

Apparently, पतीला (pateela) is the word for a (big) pot, so why did I started laughing when I heard it? Easy: because it resembles the Brazilian Portuguese word for a (big) pot: panela.

It also resembles the word for patella (which is… patela. You just… kinda… take off one L).

Yes, the pronunciation is quite different, with “पतीला” having an “ee” sound while “panela” and “patela” both have an open, ascending “eh” sound, like the first e in “education”.

That’s it!

[kosdan-learns-languages]

You guys I just found something that’s pretty cool if you’re interested in practicing listening in your target language (and learning something new altogether at the same time!)

Khan Academy has a bunch of videos in foreign languages and apparently it’s called Khan Academy International (here’s a link to their tumblr).

They have content in quite a few languages, and while some of them have mostly math and science stuff, there are a lot of channels that delve into a lot of the other content that Khan Academy English does, like art history, world history, etc.

So far I’ve found their Youtube channels in these languages (I’m sure there are more though, and if you find any feel free to add them to this post!):

Russian: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyRussian

French: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyFrancais/

Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyEspanol/

Danish: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyDansk/

Norwegian: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyNorsk/

Turkish: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyTurkce

Polish: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyPolski

Italian: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyItaliano

German: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyDeutsch

Mandarin: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyMandarin

Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyJapanese

Hindi: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyHindi

Bulgarian: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyBulgarian

Portuguese: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyPortugues

Korean: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyKorean

Serbian: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademySerbian

Mongolian: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyMongolian

Thai: https://www.youtube.com/user/KhanAcademyThai

[kosdan-learns-languages]

New week new writing exercise let’s GO

Yesterday, I learned the word for “sunflower”, so naturally, I had to write something about it.

“मुझे सूरजमुखी पसंद हैं। मेरी खिड़की के नीचे एक सूरजमुखी होता था। वे सुंदर हैं!”

That’s it! A bit of rambling under the cut

सूरजमुखी is one of my favourite flowers ever. I absolutely love it! It also has a nice pronunciation. <Surajh mukhi>

I don’t know if I wrote the second sentence right, I’m still figuring out the past habitual tense and how to properly organize the words.

Anyways, still struggling to pronounce खिड़की 🤡

[kosdan-learns-languages]

Andddddd another writing exercise. This time not chaotic, but extremely simple because I’m TIRED

let’s go:

The phrase is:

“Eu desenhei Krishna. Ele está tocando sua flauta debaixo de uma árvore.”

Which translates to:

“I drew Krishna. He is playing his flute under a tree.”

And in my hands became:

“मेंने कृष्ण का चित्र बनाया। वह एक पेड़ के नीचे बांसुरी बजा रहा है।”

That’s it for today thank you for your attention

Today’s grammatical discoveries under the cut

I thought that Hindi verb conjugation would be more difficult. I had to conjugate “बजाना” (a word that’s still kinda weird to me) into present continuous, so I just added “रहा है”.

I’ll study why I should use रहा in this case and not रहे or रही tomorrow…… probably.

[kosdan-learns-languages]

And in this week’s Kosdan Being Chaotic While Learning Hindi we are

Translating a brazilian tiktok meme to Hindi!

So, the meme is:

“O bolo tá ruim. A festa tá ruim. Ninguém vai vir mesmo. Ninguém gosta de bolo de côco.”

Which translates to:

“The cake is bad. The party is bad. Nobody is coming anyways. Nobody likes coconut cake.”

And, in my hands, became:

“केक ख़राब है। पार्टी ख़राब है। वैसे भी कोई नहीं आएगा। नारियल केक किसी को पसंद नहीं।”

That’s it!

[kosdan-learns-languages]

Do you guys have any recommendations of podcasts in hindi? I listen to a History one, but I want to expand my possibilities.

It can be of various themes: fiction, politics, art, history etc etc.

[kosdan-learns-languages]

How to use Tolkien's languages

I guess posts have been made about where you can find references on Sindarin, Quenya, Nandorin, Old Elvish, and Noldorin among others on Tumblr but I wanted to make my own list (so I can come back to it when I need it). If you know a website you'd like me to consider for my list, please just mention it to me.

Ambar Eldaron – Sindarin and Quenya dictionaries and courses

Ardalambion – Website about the sounds of Tolkien's languages and their grammar

Automatic Quenya translator – English to Quenya and back

Eldamo – A lexicon of Tolkien's invented languages including fonts

Glæmscrafu – This website explores the sounds of Tolkien's invented languages and includes several texts and poems

Gwaith-i-Phethdain, The Fellowship of the Word-Smiths – Very detailed page by Ryszard Derdzinski. Many poems and calligraphies. Particularly noteworthy are the translations of the Elvish texts and songs from the film trilogy.

Hiswelokë's Sindarin Dictionary – A Sindarin and Noldorin dictionary that was started in 1999 and then went on hiatus in 2008

I Lam Arth – Aaron Shaw's site with a series of in-depth articles on Sindarin

Lalaith's Middle Earth Science Pages – Website about Middle-earth's people, languages of the humans, and other things. This also includes Rohirric if you're into learning that.

Mellonath Daeron – Some useful Elvish phrases

Parf Edhellen – A Sindarin, Quenya, Primitive Elvish, and Noldorin dictionary. It's my favourite website because it also compares old and new translations.

Parma Tyelpelassiva – Texts, songs, poems and grammar for Sindarin, Quenya, Andûnaic, Noldorin, etc.

Quenya pronunciation guide

RealElvish – Phrasebooks on Sindarin, Quenya, Andûnaic, etc. including naming traditions and lists for Elves, Rohirrim, Hobbits, Dwarves (if you need it for a fanfiction)

Sindarin.de – The first Sindarin website I frequented and where I learnt all the grammar. It's in German.

Sindarin phrasebook by slarmstrong – There are 3 parts of this phrasebook

Sindanórie – Site by Roman Rausch with articles on Telerin and word overlaps between the Elvish and real languages, poems, sound files, etc.

Tecendil – If you want to see what your name or others look like in Elvish script

Tyalie Tyelellieva – Website by Lisa Star but since geocities was taken down, it only exists in an archived form. It was last updated in 2004 but it also has a Khūzdul or Dwarvish Wordlist.

Happy browsing and please reblog! 🥰

[kosdan-learns-languages]

This is absolutely amazing!

A question: “úra” is also part of Sauron’s name, right? Like: Sa-úra-n, but with a mutation of vowel (from -úra to -úro)?

I Perian

ló Arcastar

Saptassë mi hún marnië Perian. Únes úra, muqua, linquë sapta, quanta vembiva teldion ar pirina nus; únes yú parca, parnë, litsëa sapta ó munta mi sa haruyen hya matien. Nes Periando sapta, ar si talta aþië.

I Perian ló Arcastar the Hobbit by Tolkien The Hobbit, by Tolkien

Sapta-ssë mi hún marnië Perian. hole-in in ground dwell.PST Hobbit In [a] hole in [the] ground dwelt [a] Hobbit.

Úne-s úra, muqua, linquë sapta, not.be.PST-it nasty filthy wet hole It wasn't [a] nasty, filthy, wet hole,

quanta vemb-iva teld-i-on ar pirina nus; full worm-POSS.PL end.STEM-PL-of.PL and oozy smell full of worms' ends and [an] oozy smell;

úne-s yú parca, parnë, litsëa sapta not.be.PST-it also dry bare sandy hole it also wasn't [a] dry, bare, sandy hole

ó munta mi sa haru-ye-n hya mat-ie-n. with nothing in it sit.down-ing-for or eat-ing-for with nothing in it for sitting down or for eating.

Ne-s Periand-o sapta, ar si talta aþië. be.PST-it Hobbit.STEM-of hole and this mean.AORIST comfort. It was [the] hole of [a] Hobbit, and this means comfort.

(Quenya)

[kosdan-learns-languages]

Some more phrases I translated from portuguese to hindi today, City Edition:

I - These buildings are beautiful

यह इमारत सुन्दर है।

II - The park is empty

पार्क ख़ाली है।

III - I love the city’s lights

मुझे रोशनी पसंद हैं।

IV - This is a big city

यह एक बड़ा शहर है।

That’s it!

[kosdan-learns-languages]

Another song I listened for the first time recently and now I’m obsessed:

It’s absolutely lovely, I love songs with this vibe.

I’ve listened to Akshath before with Nadhanya. I do like Nadhanya, but Jadoo got me in a chokehold ngl

Love it

[kosdan-learns-languages]

Making progresssssss

I finally formed a full coherent sentence in Hindi:

नमस्ते! मेरा नाम डैनियल है। मैं मांसाहारी हूँ। वह मेरा सबसे अच्छा दोस्त है: विक्टर। विक्टर शाकाहारी है।

Hello! My name is Daniel. I am a non-vegetarian. This is my best friend: Victor. Victor is a vegetarian.

[kosdan-learns-languages]

In the chorus, he sings:

तुम नहीं हो मेरे

I was wondering: his usage of मेरे in this context could be a way of being extra respectful (like, our relationship ended and I can’t have you but I still think you’re great, I respect you a lot and I look up to you) or a way to be gender neutral (since he could have used मेरी or मेरा)?

I’m reviewing my notes on मेरी, मेरा and मेरे and thought about the chorus of this song, so it got me thinking

This week’s Musical Obsession is…….

“Asal Mein” by Darshan Raval

Guys……… I have no words for this song.

I listened to it nonstop yesterday and I’m listening to it on looping right now. I’m just in love?????? Like, the softness of his voice, the way he sings like he’s about to cry???? THE LYRICS????????? I’m deceased dead

And the more upbeat vibe in the middle of the song makes me want to dance and twirl away.

10000000000/10 beautiful song would listen to again

[kosdan-learns-languages]

Mannde ni bandishaan ae pyaar naiyo jhukde Raah teri takkde ae nain naiyo rukkde Hisse hain aaiyan ve udeekaan teriyaan jo Kivein lukkavaan mere hanju naiyo lukkde Hovein khair sajna ve Pavein pair sajna ve Kade saade vi verrhe tur aa Bas mangde haan dil toh dua

Asal Mein | Gurpreet Saini & Gautam G Sharma | Darshan Raval