pancakepoet - Tumblr blog

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[pancakepoet]

[pancakepoet]

[pancakepoet]

In the 1980s in France, musicologists and archaeologists Iégor Reznikoff and Michel Dauvois used their voices to explore caves with notable Paleolithic wall paintings. By singing simple notes and whistling, they mapped their perceptions of the caves’ acoustics. They found that paintings were often located in places that were particularly resonant. Animal paintings were common in resonant chambers and in places along the walls that produced strong reverberation. As they crawled through narrow tunnels, they discovered painted red dots exactly located in the most resonant places. The entrances to these tunnels were also marked with paintings. Resonant recesses in walls were especially heavily ornamented.

In a 2017 study, a dozen acousticians, archaeologists, and musicians measured the sonic qualities of cave interiors in northern Spain. The team, led by acoustic scientist Bruno Fazenda, used speakers, computers, and microphone arrays to measure the behavior of precisely calibrated tones within the cave. The caves they studied contain wall art spanning much of the Paleolithic, dating from about forty thousand years to fifteen thousand years ago. The art includes handprints, abstract points and lines, and a bestiary of Paleolithic animals including birds, fish, horses, bovids, reindeer, bear, ibex, cetaceans, and humanlike figures. From hundreds of standardized measurements, the team found that painted red dots and lines, the oldest wall markings, are associated with parts of the cave where low frequencies resonate and sonic clarity is high due to modest reverberation. These would have been excellent places for speech and more complex forms of music, not muddied by excessive reverberation. Animal paintings and handprints were also likely to be in places where clarity is high and overall reverberation is low but with a good low-frequency response. These are the qualities that we seek now in modern performance spaces.

Sounds Wild and Broken, David George Haskell

[pancakepoet]

Duolingo Sucks, Now What?: A Guide

Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:

"I just want an identical experience to DL"

Busuu (Languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Korean)

"I want a good audio-based app"

Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)

"I want a good audio-based app and money's no object"

Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)

Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)

*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.

"I have a pretty neat library card"

Mango (Languages: So many and all endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)

"I want SRS flashcards and have an android"

AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)

"I want SRS flashcards and I have an iphone"

AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone

"I don't mind ads and just want to learn Korean"

lingory

"I want an app made for Mandarin that's BETTER than DL and has multiple languages to learn Mandarin in"

ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)

"I don't like any of these apps you mentioned already, give me one more"

Bunpo: (Languages: Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Mandarin)

[pancakepoet]

Duolingo Alternatives by Language

Disclaimer: I haven't used or tested all of them. All resources have different strengths, e.g. Drops being designed for vocabulary. They often aren't full alternatives for Duolingo or formal classes. I just wanted to compile resources for all languages on Duolingo to make the switch easier, especially for the less popular languages.

Feel free to also check out my collection of free textbooks

If you want a more detailed resource list for any of these languages (or perhaps one not listed here) you can send me an ask and I can see what I can do.

Arabic

AlifBee

Arabic Unlocked

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

Infinite Arabic

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Write It! Arabic

Catalan

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mondly

Qlango

Chinese

Bluebird

Beelinguapp

Bunpo

Busuu

Chineasy

Clozemaster

Drops

Du Chinese

Hello Chinese

HeyChina

Immersive Chinese

Infinite Chinese

Ling

Lingodeer

LinGo Play

Lingopie

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Pleco Chinese Dictionary

Qlango

Czech

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Ling

LinGo Play

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Danish

Babbel

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Dutch

Babbel

Bluebird

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Say Something in Dutch

Qlango

Esperanto

Clozemaster

Drops

Esperanto12.net

Kurso de Esperanto

LingQ

Qlango

Finnish

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

French

Babbel

Bluebird

Beelinguapp

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Collins French Dictionary

Conjuu

Dr French

Drops

HeyFrance

Infinite French

Lilata

Ling

Linga

Lingodeer

LinGo Play

Lingopie

Lingvist

LingQ

Listen Up

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Nextlingua

Oxford French Dictionary

Qlango

TV5MONDE

Xeropan

German

Babbel

Bluebird

Beelinguapp

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Collins German Dictionary

Conjuu

Drops

DW Learn German

Infinite German

Ling

Linga

Lingodeer

Lingopie

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Nextlingua

Oxford German Dictionary

Qlango

Xeropan

Greek

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Greek Alphabet Academy

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Write It! Greek

Guaraní

Clozemaster

Guarani Ayvu

Haitian Creole

Bluebird

Mango

Hawaiian

Drops

Mango

ʻŌlelo Online

Hebrew

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Shepha

Write It! Hebrew

High Valyrian

Valyrian Dictionary

Hindi

Bhasha

Bluebird

Beelinguapp

Clozemaster

Drops

Hindwi Dictionary

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Hungarian

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Indonesian

Babbel

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Irish

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Collins Irish Dictionary

Drops

Easy Irish

Ling

Mango

Teanglann

Italian

Babbel

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Collins Italian Dictionary

Conjuu

Drops

Infinite Italian

Ling

Linga

Lingodeer

Lingopie

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Nextlingua

Oxford Italian Dictionary

Qlango

Japanese

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

HeyJapan

Hiragana Quest

Infinite Japanese

kawaiiDungeon

Ling

Lingodeer

Lingopie

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Oyomi Japanese Reader

renshuu

Takoboto Japanese Dictionary

Todaii

Qlango

Write It! Japanese

Klingon

boQwl! Klingon Language

Klingon Translator

Write It! Klingon

Korean

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

Hangul Quest

HeyKorea

Infinite Korean

Ling

LinGo Play

Lingopie

Lingodeer

Lingvist

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Write It! Korean

Latin

Bluebird

Cattus

Clozemaster

Collins Latin Dictionary

Grammaticus Maximus

Latinia

Legentibus

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Perdisco

Qlango

Vice Verba

Navajo

Navajo Language Renaissance

Navajo Language Program

Speak Navajo

Norwegian

Babbel

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Mjolnir Norwegian

Norskappen

Qlango

Polish

Babbel

Bluebird

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Portuguese

Babbel

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Collins Portuguese Dictionary

Drops

Infinite Portuguese

Ling

Lingodeer

Lingopie

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Nextlingua

Qlango

Romanian

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Russian

Babbel

Bluebird

Beelinguapp

Busuu

Clozemaster

Collins Russian Dictionary

Drops

Infinite Russian

Ling

Linga

LinGo Play

Lingopie

Lingodeer

Lingvist

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Nextlingua

Qlango

Write It! Russian

Scottish Gaelic

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Go!Gaelic

Mango

Spanish

Babbel

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Bunpo

Busuu

Clozemaster

Collins Spanish Dictionary

ConjuGato

Conjuu

Drops

Infinite Spanish

Ling

Linga

Lingodeer

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

Listen Up

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Nextlingua

Say Something in Spanish

SpanishDict

Qlango

Xeropan

Swahili

Bluebird

Bui Bui Swahili App

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Nkenne

Swedish

Babbel

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

Lingvist

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Turkish

Babbel

Beelinguapp

Bluebird

Busuu

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

LyricsTraining

Mango

Mondly

Qlango

Ukrainian

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Drops

Ling

LinGo Play

LingQ

Mango

Mondly

Mova Ukrainian

Qlango

Speak Ukrainian

Vietnamese

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Collins Vietnamese Dictionary

Drops

Learn Vietnamese with Annie

Ling

Lingodeer

LinGo Play

Mango

Mondly

Welsh

BBc Cymru Fyw

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Say Something in Welsh

Yiddish

Bluebird

Clozemaster

Mango

Proste Yiddish

Roni Gal Learn Yiddish

Vaybertaytsh

Yiddish Book Center

Zulu

Bluebird

Nkenne

Bonus: Polygloss which claims to be available for all languages as long as there is another user also learning the same language

[pancakepoet]

HOLY FUCK TUMBLR REDACTED EVERY IMAGE ON THAT INDIGENOUS MAP OF NORTH AMERICA POST

violating tumblr's community guidelines my fucking ass

[pancakepoet]

I feel like this is for a very niche audience

[pancakepoet]

probably the single most beautiful art by fetchart.ca

[pancakepoet]

What to boycott NOW to help stop Israel’s unfolding genocide of Palestinians in Gaza

Reminder that boycotting DOES work, there is historic proof! Don't let anyone discourage you otherwise!

The BDS movement uses the historically successful method of targeted boycotts inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the US Civil Rights movement, the Indian anti-colonial struggle, among others worldwide.

We must strategically focus on a relatively smaller number of carefully selected companies and products for maximum impact. Companies that play a clear and direct role in Israel’s crimes and where there is real potential for winning, as was the case with, among others, G4S, Veolia, Orange, Ben & Jerry’s and Pillsbury. Compelling such huge, complicit companies, through strategic and context-sensitive boycott and divestment campaigns, to end their complicity in Israeli apartheid and war crimes against Palestinians sends a very powerful message to hundreds of other complicit companies that “your time will come, so get out before it’s too late!”

[pancakepoet]

The app/site I use for learning Japanese, Transparent Language, has an Ojibwe section created with 7000 Languages and Grassroots Indigenous Multimedia. It has a whole complex reference book for grammar and pronunciation and GOD I am excited to find an Ojibwemowin resource that isn't just youtube videos.

[pancakepoet]

I wish Halsin was real. He'd love Fat Bear Week

[pancakepoet]

[pancakepoet]

"we built this city on rock and roll?"

If "rock" means "stolen indigenous land" and "roll" means "the labor of exploited people," then yeah

[pancakepoet]

Preminger is the only Barbie villain that got an evil song reprise. Just think about it. He really is that bitch.

[pancakepoet]

An army of terracotta corgis

[pancakepoet]

ur government assigned gender for the day is the first thing u get when u click this link to a randomised wikipedia article. NO REROLLS . i am the  trollsteineggje mountain in norway