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“Y” vs. “E” in Spanish

I just learned (quite literally) that the word "e" exists in Spanish like in Portuguese (meaning "and") and I was a little surprised because I thought Spanish only used "y". But although they are used for the same reasons (as connectives) they have different uses.

You see, you generally really use "y" to connect words. However, there is an exception! When the word that follows starts with an "i" sound, then we use "e", even if the word starts with a "h" (which is silent in Spanish). For example:

Padre e hijo

Español e inglés

Julieta dijo que su hermano es sucio e inmoral.

Él era donante de pulmón e hígado.

But why does this happen? Well, since the conjugation "y" is pronounced like “i”, if we used it with another word that also starts with an "i", then it would sound awkward or unclear, because the sounds would merge like “iinmoral” ou “iígado”. So we use "E".

But! There's an exception to the exception: if the word start with an “hia”, “hie” ou “hio”, we use the conjugation "y". Some examples:

La piedra está limpia y hialina.

Es un tiempo de fuego y hielo.

Atropina y hioscina son alcaloides.

Note: In “tú y yo,” we use “y” because “yo” starts with a “y” sound, not an “i” sound.

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Spanish Grammar Resources

The lovely @studywithbyu​ came to looking for some help with Spanish grammar, so here is a little masterlist! (warning, not so little - long post ahead!) I highly suggest checking out both resources because they cover different things and one may provide the information in a better format for you.

Grammar with SpanishDict

A great resource with reliable translations and instruction! I go here instead of to Google Translate because I know it’s much more helpful and accurate. It also has forums for individual questions. 

Here is a list of all its lessons:

Adjectives

Descriptive adjectives (regular and irregular)

Adjective placement

Nationalities as adjectives

Short form adjectives (apocopation)

Possessive adjectives

Cardinal numbers (0-100)

Cardinal numbers (101+)

Ordinal numbers

Negatives and negation

Asking questions: interrogatives

Comparisons of inequality

Comparisons of equality

Superlatives - the best, worst, most, & least

Using adjectives as nouns

Relative adjectives (cuyo)

Demonstrative adjectives

Exclamatory words

Adverbs

Adverb forms and placement 

Articles

Definite article forms (regular and exceptions)

Definite Article Uses

Indefinite article forms (regular and irregular)

Indefinite article uses

Neuter article

Conjunctions

Conjunctions 

Gender

Masculine and feminine nouns

Professions and other nouns with both masculine and feminine forms

Number

Plural forms of nouns (regular and exceptions) 

Prepositions

Basic Prepositions

Basic por vs. para (motion vs. destination)

Contractions

Advanced por vs. para (DREEMS vs. PRODDS)

Advanced expressions with por and para

Pronouns

Subject pronouns (personal pronouns)

Spanish “you” - (tú, vos, usted, vosotros, ustedes)

Object pronouns (pronouns after prepositions)

Direct Object Pronouns

Direct object pronoun placement

Indirect Object Pronouns

Indirect object pronoun placement

Possessive pronouns

Neuter possessive pronouns

Using direct and indirect object pronouns together

Demonstrative pronouns

Relative pronouns (que, quien, el que, el cual)

Neuter relative pronouns (lo que, lo cual)

Impersonal se

Impersonal se vs. passive se

Passive se

Pronunciation

Spanish Alphabet and Pronunciation

Spanish vowels

Spanish syllables

Word stress

Written accents (tildes)

Spanish punctuation

Verbs

Infinitive forms and finding stems for regular verbs

Other uses for infinitives

Present Participles

Other uses for the present participle (gerundio)

Past participle regular forms and uses

Irregular and stressed past participles

Present perfect - Using haber with past participles

Present Tense Forms

Present tense spelling changes

Stem Changing Verbs

Irregular present tense

Verbs like gustar

Basic ser vs. estar - D.O.T. vs. Lo.Co.

Uses of ser: descriptions

Uses of ser: origins

Uses of ser: time

Uses of estar: Location

Uses of estar: condition

Informal future (ir + a + infinitive)

Imperfect Tense Forms

Spanish Preterite Tense Forms

Spelling changes in the preterit

Stem changes in the preterit

Verbs that change meaning in the preterit

Preterit vs. Imperfect - differences and signifier phrases

Affirmative informal (tú) commands

Negative Tú Commands

Formal Affirmative and Negative Commands

Subjunctive vs. Indicative

Wishes & wants in the subjunctive

Emotions with the subjunctive

Impersonal expressions with the subjunctive

Recommendations & requests with the subjunctive

Doubts & denial with the subjunctive

Ojalá with the subjunctive

Uncompleted or prospective actions with the subjunctive

Present Subjunctive Regular and Irregular Forms

Present Progressive Forms

Saber vs. Conocer

Pedir vs. preguntar (to ask)

Reciprocal verbs and pronouns

Reflexive Verbs and Pronouns

Active vs. passive voice

Nosotros commands

Indirect commands

Imperfect progressive

Simple future regular forms and uses

Simple future irregular and stem changing forms

Hacer with expressions of time

Conditional regular and irregular forms and uses

Imperfect Subjunctive

Future subjunctive forms and uses

Past perfect forms and uses

Preterit perfect

Present Perfect Subjunctive

Future perfect

Conditional perfect forms and uses

Past Perfect Subjunctive Forms

Future perfect subjunctive forms and uses

Verb structures (transitive, intransitive, pronominal)

Ir vs. irse

Verbal periphrasis

Indicative mood

Imperative mood

Copular Verbs

________________________________________________________________

Spanish Grammar @ StudySpanish.com

Nine units full of very useful grammar! I plan to use this one myself for a bit of self-instruction before I go to Catalonia. My favorite part is it gives you flashcard ideas and has review.

Here are the units and their topics:

UNIT ONE

1. Gender of Nouns I

2. Gender of Nouns II

3. Numbers: 1-10

4. Plural Forms of Nouns

5. Def. & Indef. Articles

6. The Verb Form “hay”

7. Subject Pronouns

8. Reg. Verbs I

9. Reg. Verbs II

10. Reg. Verbs III

11. Adjectives I

12. Adjectives II

13. Days of the Week

14. Numbers: 11-30

UNIT TWO

15. Ser and Estar I

16. Ser and Estar II

17. Ser and Estar III

18. Ser and Estar IV

19. Negation

20. Questions

21. Poss. Adjectives

22. Tener, venir

23. Tener que / Hay que

24. Exp. with “Tener”

25. Weather Expressions

26. The Personal “a”

27. Contractions

UNIT THREE

28. Stem-Changing Verbs: o:ue

29. Stem-Changing Verbs: e:ie

30. Stem-changing verbs: e:i

31. Estar, Ir, Dar

32. “Ir a” + infinitive

33. Acabar de

34. Volver a

35. Ordinal Numbers

36. Months, Seasons, and Dates

37. Comparisons of Inequality

38. Comparisons of Equality

39. Superlatives

UNIT FOUR

40. Pronouns as Objects of Prepositions

41. Dir. Object Pronouns I

42. Dir. Object Pronouns II

43. Dir. Object Pronouns III

44. Ind. Object Pronouns I

45. Ind. Object Pronouns II

46. Ind. Object Pronouns III

47. DO and IO Pronouns Together

48. Verbs Like Gustar

49. Present Progressive

50. Verbs with Irregular 1st Persons

UNIT FIVE

51. Saber vs Conocer / Pedir vs Preguntar

52. Numbers: 31-1000

53. Telling Time

54. Por and Para

55. Irreg. Comparatives

56. Demonstratives

57. Time Expressions With Hacer

58. Possessive Pronouns

59. Reflexive Verbs I

60. Reflexive Verbs II

61. Definite Article II

UNIT SIX

62. Pret. vs Imp. I

63. Preterite I

64. Imperfect I

65. Preterite II

66. Imperfect II

67. Pret. vs Imp. II

68. Preterite III

69. Imperfect III

70. Preterite IV

71. Preterite V

72. Preterite VI

73. Pret. vs Imp. III

74. Pret. vs Imp. Review

UNIT SEVEN

75. “Hace …” to mean “ago”

76. Formation of Adverbs

77. Subjunctive I: Introduction

78. Subjunctive II: Conjugating regular and stem-changing verbs

79. Subjunctive III: Verbs that change orthographically

80. Subjunctive IV: Irregular verbs

81. Subjunctive V: Desire

82. Subjunctive VI: Ignorance, doubt

83. Subjunctive VII: Impersonal Expressions

84. Subjunctive VIII: Actions not yet completed

UNIT EIGHT

85. Rel. Pronouns - que

86. Rel. Pronouns - quien

87. Rel. Pronouns - el que and lo que

88. Rel. Adjective - cuyo

89. Rel. Pronouns and Adjectives - Review

90. Formal Commands

91. Inform. Commands - tú

92. Irreg. Commands - tú

93. Using Object Pronouns with Commands

94. Commands Review I

95. Informal Commands - vosotros

96. 1st Person Commands - nosotros

97. Indirect Commands

98. Commands Review II

UNIT NINE

99. Future

100. Past Participle

101. Present Perfect

102. Past Perfect

103. Future Perfect

104. Conditional

I hope this helps! 

________________________________________________________________

Some other good websites:

121Spanish

PracticingSpanish

Rocket Languages

And if you plan to practice writing and don’t have a native speaker or proficient learner to help, here’s a Spanish editor!

Spanish Checker

[lrninglnguage]

I've been wanting to watch some Spanish-speaking YouTubers. Does anyone have any recommendations for channels that talk about books, movies, and/or anime (especially shoujo, josei, and yuri)?

[lrninglnguage]

I very much agree with these suggestions. Forcing myself to write was the way I could finally start to become an active rather than a passive user of the target language.

[lrninglnguage]

reccomendaciones de youtubers españoles

archivo mitologíco - si te gusta la mitología este canal es perfecto. los episodios duran 10-30 minutos, son muy interesantes y tienen animaciones bonitas. el canal tiene un foco en mitología griegas, pero a veces habla de otros mitologías, como la nórdica.

wissbegierde - él tiene muchos videos sobre diferentes lenguas, ambos lenguas reales & conlangs. también habla de cómo aprender lenguas.

leyendas & videojuegos - este canal es un canal de ensayos, historia, curiosidades y diseño de videojuegos. los topicos son siempre interesantes.

infoprimates - un otro canal sobre lengas, este tiempo con animaciones. creo que los videos son muy divertidos :].

jaime - él tiene muchos videos sobre música y tecnología y es muy interesante. él tambien tiene un otro canal cuando él habla de muchos mas tópicos.

perdón si tengo errores, y porfa corregirme :]

[lrninglnguage]

spanish resource lists for learners

a list of lists!! levels are estimated.

refold has a crowdsourced resource list for spanish, curated & with notes | A1 to C2

dreamingspanish on reddit has a crowdsourced spreadsheet with over 90 channels geared towards learners | A1 to C2

learn natively has a huge deck of spanish books sorted by difficulty by learners | A1 to C2

prensa escrita has a list of news websites sorted by country & sometimes city | B1 to C1 probably

the CI wiki has an editable list of CI resources and a couple of native content links | A1 to like B2?

comprehensible hub has tons of spanish podcasts for learners | A1 to B2

letterboxd has a ton of very fun #español lists, e.g. movies mentioned in the wild project podcast, latin american female directors, made in puerto rico | ~B2 to C2

there are also a ton of moocs in spanish for intermediate to advanced learners (moocs are online courses, usually free) | B1 to C2

[lrninglnguage]

I've been learning Spanish recently and I can't stress enough how frustrated I get everytime an irregular verb is irregular

[lrninglnguage]

Serious question: how do we read books in our target languages?

Like, does anyone have a strategy?

Do you guys only consume stories you're already familiar with or does it matter to you?

[lrninglnguage]

My German 🇩🇪 Masterlist

Resources:

Some other German tumblr blogs for German learners

German Sign Language Resources

Vocab, grammar, idioms:

A little text style guide

LGBT+ Vocab

Idioms: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10

German idioms with colours 🎨🖌️

Some funny German words #1, #2, #3

Fun German animal names

Movies, TV shows, books, music:

Movies/TV shows:

German TV show, movie, & book recommendations for German learners

Fairy Tale Films

German Comedy Show from the 90s: "Kentucky Schreit Ficken"

Some classic German TV shows I watched as a child & teenager

Books:

German TV show, movie, & book recommendations for German learners

German comic books / graphic novels

Books about German folklore, myths, and legends

German Publishers & Book Shops

Some classic German literature recommendations

Some disturbing German children’s stories

Music:

German-speaking Singers / Bands

German folk music / traditional children's songs

German Culture & Other Stuff:

German School & Education System

The Berlin Wall (1961-1989)

20 German culture things

German bread

The "Nürburgring"

German food, desserts/sweet snacks & cakes

German currency before the Euro (€): "Deutsche Mark"

Biggest ethnic groups in Germany

German sausages

Some content creators who show what it's like living in Germany

1st of May celebrations in Germany

How to become a beekeeper in Germany 🌸🐝🍯

The German font "Sütterlin"

German Comedy Show "Knallerfrauen"

Some Iconic German Characters

Supplemental ID for trans people in Germany 🏳️‍⚧️

Germans have two different names for dandelions

German ‘Kraut’ & ‘Kohl’

European Bisons (aka. Wisents)

The famous German pirate / buccaneer Klaus Störtebeker 🏴‍☠️

Typical German sweets & candies

"Rettungsgasse"

Coat of arms of Germany and its federal states

Turkish-German culture 🇹🇷🇩🇪

German Seasons:

Early spring in Germany

German Shorthand / Stenography:

Learning stenography: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13

[lrninglnguage]

Or, as we say in Brazil, "um remédio pra doido é um doido e meio"

[lrninglnguage]

Language Apps Suck, Now What?: A Guide to Actually Becoming "Fluent"

The much requested sequel to my DL post that was promised almost a year ago.

I'm going to address all of the techniques that have helped me in my language learning journeys. Since 95% of these came from the fact that in a past language learning mistake, they are titled as my mistakes (and how I would/did things differently going forward). For those that read to the bottom there is a "best universal resources" list.

Disclaimers:

"Fluency" is hard to define and everyone has their own goals. So for the purpose of this post, "fluency" will be defined as "your personal mastery target of the language".

If you just want to pick up a bit of a language to not sound like a total foreigner on vacation or just exchange a few words in a friend's native language, feel free to ignore what doesn't apply, but maybe something here could help make it a little easier.

This is based on my own personal experience and (some) research.

Mistake 1: Asymmetrical Studying

Assuming you don't just want to do a single activity in a language, or are learning a language like ASL, a language requires 4 parts to be studied: Speaking, Listening, Writing, Reading. While these have overlap, you can't learn speaking from reading, or even learn speaking from just listening. One of my first Chinese teachers told me how he would listen to the textbook dialogues while he was biking to classes and it helped him. I took this information, thought "Yeah that's an idea, but sounds boring" and now regret not taking his advice nearly every day.

I think a lot of us find methods we enjoy to study (mine was reading) and assume that if we just do that method more ™ it will eventually help us in other areas (sometimes it does, but that's only sometimes). Find a method that works for you for each area of study, even better find more than one method since we use these skills in a variety of manners! I can understand a TV program pretty well since I have a lot of context clues and body language to fill in any gaps of understanding, but taking a phone call is much harder—the audio is rougher, there's no body language to read, and since most Chinese programs have hard coded subtitles, no subtitles to fall back on either. If I were to compare the number of hours I spent reading in Chinese to (actively) training my listening? Probably a ratio of 100 to 1. When I started to learn Korean, the first thing I did was find a variety of listening resources for my level.

Fix: Find a variety of study methods that challenge all aspects of the language in different ways.

A variety of methods will help you develop a more well-rounded level of mastery, and probably help you keep from getting bored. Which is important because...

Mistake 2: Inconsistent Studying

If there is one positive to a language app, it is the pressure it puts on keeping a streak. Making studying a part of your everyday routine is the best thing you can do. I benefited a lot from taking a college language course since I had a dedicated time to study and practice Chinese 5 days out of the week (and homework usually filled the other two). Memorization is a huge part of language learning, and stopping and starting is terrible for memorization. When I was in elementary school, we had Spanish maybe a couple times a month. Looking back, it seems like it was the first class to be cut if we needed to catch up on a more important course. Needless to say, I can't even speak Spanish at an elementary level.

However, I'm sure many people reading this don't have the time to do ultra-immersion 4-hour study sessions every day either. Find what days during the week you have time to focus on learning new vocab and grammar, and use the rest of the week to review. This can be done on your commute to school/work, while you do the dishes, or as a part of your morning/evening routine. Making this as realistic as possible will help you actually succeed in making this a habit. (Check this out for how to set realistic study goals)

Fix: Study regularly (ideally daily) by setting realistic goals. Avoid "binge" studying since remembering requires consistent repetition to be most effective.

Mistake 3: Resource Choice

This is really composed of two mistakes, but I have a good example that will cover them both.

First, finding resources that are at or slightly above your level is the most important thing. Easy resources will not challenge you enough and difficult resources will overwhelm you. The ideal is n+1, with n as what you know plus 1 new thing.

Second, getting distracted by fancy, new technology. Newer isn't always better, and there are often advantages that are lost when we've made technological developments. I often found myself wanting to try out new browser extensions or organizational methods and honestly I would've benefitted from just using that time to study. (Also, you're probably reading this because of my DL post so I don't think it has to be said that AI resources suck.)

A good example of this was my time using Clozemaster. I had actually recommended it when I first started using it since I thought the foundation was really solid. However, after long term use, I found that it just wasn't a good fit. The sentences were often too simple or too long and strange for memorization at higher levels or were too difficult at lower levels. I think that taking my textbook's example sentences from dialogues into something like Anki would've been a far better use of my time (and money) as they were already designed to be at that n+1 level.

Fix: "Vet" your resources—make sure they will actually help you. If something is working for you, then keep using it! You don't always have to upgrade to the newest tool/method.

Mistake 3.5: Classrooms and Textbooks

A .5 since it's not my mistake, but an addendum of caution. I think there is a significant part of the language learning community that views textbooks and classroom learning as the worst possible resource. They are "boring", "outdated", and "ineffective" (ironically one of the most interesting modern language learning methods, ALG, is only done in a classroom setting). Classrooms and textbooks bring back memories of being surrounded by mostly uninterested classmates, minimal priority, and a focus on grades rather than personal achievement (imagine the difference between a class of middle schoolers who were forced to choose a foreign language vs. adult learners who self-selected!) People have used these exact methods, or even "cruder" methods, to successfully learn a language. It all comes down to what works best for you. I specifically recommend textbooks for learning grammar and the plentiful number of dialogues and written passages that can function great as graded readers and listening resources. (Also the distinction made between "a youtube lesson on a grammatical principle" which is totally cool, and "a passage in a grammar textbook" is more one of tone and audio/written than efficacy).

Classrooms can be really great for speaking practice since they can be a lot less intimidating speaking to someone who is also learning while receiving corrections. Speech can be awkward to train on your own (not impossible if you're good at just talking aloud to yourself!), and classrooms can work nicely for this. Homework and class schedules also have built in accountability!

Fix: Explore resources available to you and try to think holistically about your approach. CI+Traditional Methods is my go to "Learning Cocktail"

Mistake 4: Yes, Immersion, But...

I realized this relatively quickly while learning Chinese, but immersion at a level much higher than your current level will do very little for you. What is sometimes left out of those "Just watch anime to learn Japanese" discussions is that you first need to have a chance at understanding what is being said. Choosing materials that are much higher than your level will not teach you the language. It doesn't matter how many times someone at HSK 1 hears “他是甘露之惠，我并无此水可还”, they will not get very far. Actual deduction and learning comes from having enough familiar components to be able to make deductions—something different than guessing. An HSK 1 learner, never having heard the word 老虎 will be able to understand "tiger" if someone says “这是我的老虎” while standing next to a tiger. This is not to say you can never try something more difficult—things should be challenging—but if you can't make heads or tails of what's being said, then it's time to find something a bit easier. If mistake 2 is about the type of method, this is about the level. If you wouldn't give a kindergartener The Great Gatsby to learn how to read, why would you watch Full Metal Alchemist to start learning a language?

Side note: Interesting video here on the Comprehensible Input hypothesis and how it relates to neurodivergence.

Fix: Immerse yourself in appropriate content for your level. It's called comprehensible input for a reason.

Mistake 5: On Translation

I work as a translator, so do you really think I'm going to say translation is all bad? Of course not. It's a separate skill that can be added on to the basic skills, but is really only required if you are A. someone who is an intermediary between two languages (say you have to translate for a spouse or family member) or B. It is your job/hobby. In the context of sitting down and learning, it can be harmful. I think my brain often goes to translation too often because that's how I used to learn. Trying to unlearn that is difficult because, well, what do people even mean when they say "don't translate"? They mean when someone says "thank you", you should not go to your primary language and translate "you're welcome" from that. You should train yourself to go to your target language first when you hear the word for "thank you". A very literally translated "thank you" in Chinese "谢谢你" can come off as cold and sarcastic. I don't tell my friends that, I say "谢啦～". Direct translation can take away the difference in culture, grammar, and politeness in a language. If there is a reason you sound awkward while writing and speaking, it's probably because you're imposing your primary language on your target language.

Fix: Try as hard as you can to not work from your primary language into the target language, but to work from the structures, set phrases, and grammar within the target language that you know first.

Mistake 6: The Secret Language Learners Don't Want You To Know...

...is that there is no one easy method. You are not going to learn French while you sleep, or master Korean by doing this one easy trick. Learning a language requires work and dedication, the people that succeed are those that push through the boredom of repetition and failure. The "I learned X in 1 year/month/week/day!" crowd is hiding large asterisks, be it their actual level, the assistance and free time available to them, "well actually I had already studied this for 4 years", or just straight-up lying. Our own journeys in our native tongue were not easy, they required years and years of constant immersion and instruction. While we are now older and wiser people that can make quick connections, we are also burdened with things like "jobs", "house work", "school work", and the digital black hole that is "social media" that take up our time and energy. Everything above is to help make this journey a little bit easier, quicker, and painless, but it will never be magic.

I find that language learning has a lot in common with the fitness community. People will talk about the workout that changed their life and how no other one will do the same—and it really can be the truth that it changed their life and that they feel it is the ultimate way. The real workout that will change your life is the one you're most consistent with, that you enjoy the most. Language learning is just trying to find the brain exercise that you can be the most consistent with.

Fix: Save your energy looking for shortcuts, and do the work, fail, and come back for more. If someone tells you that you can become fluent in a ridiculously short amount of time, they are selling you a fantasy (and likely a product). You get out what you put in.

For those that made it to the end, here are some of my "universal resources":

Refold Method: I don't agree with their actual method 100%, but they've collected a lot of great resources for learning languages. I've found their Chinese and Korean discords to also be really helpful and provided even more resources than what's given in their starter guides.

Language Reactor: Very useful, and have recently added podcasts as a material! The free version is honestly all you need.

Anki: If I do not mention it, the people with 4+ year streaks with a 5K word deck will not let me forget it. It can be used on desktop or on your phone as an app. If you need a replacement for a language learning app, this is one of them. Justin Sung has a lot of great info on how to best utilize Anki (as does Refold). It's not my favorite, but it could be yours!

LingQ: "But I thought you said language apps are bad!" In isolation, yes. Sorry for the clickbait. This one is pretty good, and more interested in immersing you in the language than selling a subscription to allow you to freeze your streak so the number goes up.

Grammar Textbooks: For self-taught learning, these are going to be the best resource since it's focused on the hardest part of the language, and only that. If you're tired of seeing group work activities, look for a textbook that is just on grammar (Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar is my rec for Chinese, and A Guide to Japanese Grammar by Tae Kim is the most common/enthusiastic rec I've heard for Japanese).

Shadowing: Simply repeat what you hear. Matt vs Japan talks about his setup here for optimized shadowing (which you can probably build for a lot cheaper now), but it can also just be you watching a video and pausing to repeat after each sentence or near simultaneously if you're able.

Youtube: Be it "Short Story for Beginners", "How to use X", "250 Essential Phrases", or a GRWM in your target language, Youtube is the best. Sometimes you have to dig to find what works for you, but I imagine there is something for everyone at every level. (Pro tip: People upload textbook audio dialogues often, you don't even have to buy the textbook to be able to learn from it!)

A Friend: Be it a fellow learner, or someone who has already mastered the language, it is easier when you have someone, not only to speak to, but to remind you why you're doing this. I write far more in Chinese because I have friends I can text in Chinese.

Pen and Paper: Study after study, writing on paper continues to be the best method for memorization. Typing or using a pen and tablet still can't compare to traditional methods.

The Replies (Probably): Lots of people were happy to give alternatives for specific languages in the replies of my DL post. The community here is pretty active, so if this post blows up at least 20% of what the last one did, you might be able to find some great stuff in the replies and reblogs.

I wish you all the best~

[lrninglnguage]

so anki is the love of my life, and i'd like to discuss it re language learning.

spaced repetition systems in general

SRSs are helpful tools to prevent memory loss for specific facts. there's some criticism behind the specifics, but it's pretty safe to say that it's good to have a huge flashcard deck with relevant flashcards where you review the new-to-you stuff with relative immediacy and your already-reviewed stuff with relative distance.

flashcard model recommendations

go for a monolingual deck!!! if you absolutely can't, edit the flashcard to monolingual after you're vaguely familiar with the word!!! (i use wordreference - it's good but imperfect)

edited to add - a TL/NL vocab deck can be very efficient if languages are from the same family

i use a picture for the front unless the vocab word is too high concept, and using a picture would just be misleading/ineffectual.

i use soundclips about half the time - i pull clips from wiktionary, forvo, & the collins dictionary.

i use the fill-in-the-blank feature (cloze) pretty heavily with antonyms, and if i'm trying to remember specific usages of common words/phrases

i also use the fill-in-the-blank feature for chunking, altho i use this fairly rarely

i recommend 25 new words daily, or anything that'll set you for your regular pomodoro time for studying vocab (which is 25 mins for me).

i'm not at an advanced level yet for language learning, but this format is recommended for higher levels!

i lowkey recommend including example sentences on the backside, re chunking, but the utility really can depend on the vocab word

limitations

some limitations are a bit obvious - the quality of your study is 100% down to the quality of the flashcard (e.g. accuracy, relevancy, does it need more explanation for you to understand it)

it's also a hell of a time-suck to create these decks. i study 25 new cards a day, which means i have to create about two hundred flashcards every week. i make this quicker by having an ongoing list of words to add to my deck, instead of trying to look up vocab lists or whatever in the moment. i also do the whole week at once because i do get into the rhythm of dictionary-picture-audio searching while watching tv or whatever.

there are some fun add-ons (like for deadlines), and some complicated customization within anki itself. i usually just google if i have a question - a ton of people use anki, so there are tutorials for almost anything you want to do.

fluent forever

if you're unfamiliar, the fluent forever guy wrote a book about language learning which really hinges on a specific model of flashcard. he has tons of tutorial videos on his website, but basically he incorporates the phonetic alphabet, Google Images, and other relevant info for a vocab word (and grammar) in a flash card.

i think his flashcards take an unrealistic/unproductive amount of time, with a bunch of useless filler. however, i do recommend doing a quick read-through of his model and reasoning, as he might speak to something that you're struggling with. (for example, i've never struggled significantly with pronunciation so i think the IPA stuff is 100% useless.)

here's an integration to create the fluent forever flashcards much much faster. i don't use it but i've seen it recommended before.

outside of language learning!

i've used anki to learn for my work certification, for english vocab words from books i'm reading, and for titles of paintings that i want to remember forever. i wouldn't recommend shared decks for language learning, but i emphatically recommend them for other subjects!

[lrninglnguage]

Speak English poorly. Speak with an exaggerated accent or with the pronunciations easier for your native language. Add your language to it. Speak with direct or poor translations of your words into English. Don't conform. Sound obnoxious, sound stereotypical. Be free. Fuck the americanization of the world. Prioritize your native language. Prioritize languages other than English. Listen to them. Listen to your own language.

[lrninglnguage]

Learning German & Staying alive

☄  https://german.net/ - free online resource with some tests, text, and planty more. Great for reading and reading comprehention;

☄ https://germanwithlaura.com - great course that explains grammar a bit more manageable;

☄ https://www.clozemaster.com - somewhat of a duolingo-copy, gamification at ift greatest. From 100 to 50 000 common words in context, can be used for free;

☄ https://wunderdeutsch.com/uk/grammatik-null-u/ - grammar, but in ukrainian. Helpful;

☄ https://golernen.com/ - more grammar, with ukrainian language avaliable;

☄ https://piracywhiskeypoetry.tumblr.com/post/136460408137/language-resources-masterpost - masterpost with multiple language;

☄ https://mein-deutschbuch.de/grammatik.html - another damn grammar

☄ https://www.quia.com/web - tests, some fun stuff.

sheesh I would need to make it pretty, but for now will do

[lrninglnguage]

If you study German and struggle especially with the grammatical genders - let me tell you what I always tell the people comming to me for help with German.

Grammatical genders can be tricky. If you have to do declension on the articles, adjectives and nouns respectively according to the nouns gender - it can go wrong quickly if you dont know what (randomly assigned) gender it has. Or well... what case to use.

And you know what? Thats fine. Don't care too much about it all for now. If your goal is to be able to hold conversations and understand as much as possible - so normal everyday language use - and not write 100% perfect accademic essays ... it doesnt matter that much.

We will be able to understand you just fine even if the grammatical genders are all over the place. When you listen more and more to natives you will automatically get the hang of der, die, das with some time.

[lrninglnguage]

I don’t know if I agree with the idea that you must have a good reason, a strong motivation, to learn a new language. Yes, I agree that this helps, of course, but that’s nothing wrong with learning a language just because. Learning a new language is fun! It gives you the opportunity to know other people, to know different cultures, to learn new things!You don't need to learn it only if it's going to be useful to you. So, if you want to learn a language just because you think that language is cool, beautiful or interesting, there’s no problem with that. Also, you don’t have to, I don’t know, reach C2 level (or equivalent) in every language that you learn. Just do what you want to do, there’s no rule for that. Like, I want to learn Japanese someday because I love anime and mangas and I want to have a better understanding of what I watch/read. I don’t if that’s a good reason, but who cares? 

[lrninglnguage]

I already expected this, but I'm a little sad that I don't get the time and energy to study a new language right now. I was really excited about learning German, but uni makes me so tired and I don't have time to study other things unrelated to my course. I hope I can advance a little during my end of year vacation.