spiritlanguages - Tumblr blog

[spiritlanguages]

My favourite part of learning a language related to your mother tongue (or to an L2 you’re fluent in) is the confidence with which you get things wrong

[spiritlanguages]

Resources masterpost

Witnessing French:

Websites, social media

Online courses in French

French subreddits

Fanfictions

Buzzfeed

Improving your:

Pronunciation

Speaking

Things to listen to:

Music

Podcasts

Radio stations

TED talks

Things to read:

Graphic novels/comics

News

Ebooks + quizzes (by me)

Short stories

Vikidia - kids’ Wikipedia

Things to watch:

Cartoons

Kids shows

Imago TV - free activist Netflix

The Simpsons the movie

True crime

TV programs - sci-fi shows, travelling, etc.

Youtubers

Extra:

Antidote 10 + BonPatron - Grammarly equivalents

Conjugation by le Nouvel Obs

Deepl - very good at translating sentences/expressions

Forbo - natives pronouncing things

Lexicity - about Ancien/Moyen Français

Lingolden - Chrome extension that teaches vocabulary

Linguo.tv (french videos + subtitles)

Reverso - very good alternative to Google translation (single words)

Wordreference - very complete translation website (expressions)

[spiritlanguages]

pls choose the best option & elaborate in tags if you'd like.

some endings are cut off to meet poll limits...

Context below the cut, but please answer first :)

this is the opening sentence of a letter written by fryderyk chopin to his friend and/or boyfriend tytus woyciechowski in 1829. he's 19/20 years old (we're not sure about his DOB), and he's been spending some time with prince antoni radziwiłł and his family at their palace in antonin (near Poznań). radziwiłł is a huge music nerd, and chopin is having a great time over there. the mood of the letter is mostly positive and upbeat, and you can probably expect him to be at his cheekiest.

there are 3 published english translations of this letter. none of the 3 translators are native polish speakers. here are their takes on this sentence:

full original sentence from chopin's november 14 1829 letter:

Ostatni twój list, w którym mi każesz się ucałować, odebrałem w Antoninie u Radziwiłła.

EL Voynich, Chopin's Letters (1931), pg 73:

I received your last letter, in which you send me a kiss, at Antonin, at the Radziwiłłs'.

Arthur Hedley, Selected Correspondence of Fryderyk Chopin (1962), pg 36:

Your last letter, in which you send me your warmest greetings, reached me at Radziwill's place at Antonin.

David Frick, Chopin's Polish Letters (2016), pg. 143:

I received your last letter, in which you tell me to give myself a kiss, in Antonin at Radziwiłł's.

why is this important?

1) it's an interesting grammar problem where the combination of a referred statement (FC is summarizing what TW said), a command, and a reflexive (się) makes it unclear who is to kiss who.

2) we don't have any letters from TW to FC, so it's useful to piece together the way he may have written to him.

3) FC has a habit of teasing TW for not liking to be kissed, which historians have taken a bit too seriously, if you ask me.

4) we'll talk about arthur hedley some other time, but yeah... i know.

i read this letter in polish first, and i didn't realize this sentence might be ambiguous. when i started reading the translations, i was surprised to see the different takes. my reactions ranged from "?" to "????" i like remind myself that my perspective is also biased, though -- by the fact i speak modern polish, and this is a 200 year old letter. i think this is a good example of how subjective translations can be. you ask 4 different people to translate something, you might very well get 4 different translations.

[spiritlanguages]

The Big List of Books on Language & Linguistics

Looking for your next read? Check out the Big List of Books on Language & Linguistics, curated by yours truly:

I update this list frequently, so bookmark it and check back for new books!

[spiritlanguages]

How people choose to use language, based on society and a certain choice that the author adopted.

Gretchen McCulloch, Because Internet (p.48)

[spiritlanguages]

one fun little thing about linguistics is that the stages speakers go through during their lives and the stages internet users go thru when integrating a new online community are actually quite similar.

so like, the first stage, broadly, when talking about language acquisition, a speaker starts with having no competence, but a huge receptiveness to the linguistic data around them. this is why babies learn to speak so fast. in online communities, a new comer won't have all the right vocab, they won't have learned/assimilated to the ways of "speaking"/communicating in the community, and can kinda easily be identified as like, not being from here (think of the way tumblr users can sometimes spot twitter migrants)

after learning the norms, and the basics of communication in a community, the speaker enters an adolescent phase. in irl speech communities, this is when someone's most receptive to new slang or linguistic innovations, but as these speakers grow up, the innovations become the standard. in online communities there's a very very similar adolescent phase (that has nothing to do with age, and just time spent in the community), where someone is fully integrated into the community and is in the centre of linguistic innovation for the community (often means coming up with new vocab, and sometimes can mean changes in other conventions like typing style, punctuation usages, etc.).

after the adolescent phase, in the adult phase, a speaker has a lot of linguistic competence (they can... speak... well... idk how else to describe it), but they are much more resistant to innovation, and hold on to the way that they spoke as a young person as being the objectively correct way to speak, looking down on the younger generation for their slang and their innovations. think of how boomers and gen x make fun of gen z slang. in online communities, i don't see this as being so much of conflictual relationship, but what is similar is that people that have been in online communities for extended periods of time will hold on to the way of communicating that was popular when they were in their adolescent phase, and won't be able to as easily adapt to the new ways of communicating, and this marks them as being an "elder", or long-time member, of the community.

the comparisons aren't always completely spot on, but there are enough parallels that i can have a lot of fun paying attention to this in the online communities that i'm a part of lol

[spiritlanguages]

Here's a great "explain it to me like I'm 5" article about how language evolved:

[spiritlanguages]

Hello! I've just started learning French and I'd like to try reading something. A whole novel sounds quite intimidating, so do you know of any short stories with simple language?

Hello,

My mind goes to:

Les lettres de mon moulin by Alphonse Daudet

Trois contes by Gustave Flaubert

Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès by Maurice Leblanc (ha!)

Les diaboliques by Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly (pretty)

Le sommeil de la raison by Gabrielle Wittkop

Contes de l’Absurde + Histoires perfides by Pierre Boulle (emo)

Je voudrais que quelqu’un m’attende quelque part by Anna Gavalda

Les filles du Feu by Gérard de Nerval (v pretty)

Le mur by Jean-Paul Sartre (classic)

La Fontaine aux Fées by Chantal Robillard

L’Exil et Le Royaume + L’Étranger by Albert Camus (classic)

Solitude de la Pitié by jean Giono

Des Filles bien élevées by Anne Wiazemski

La Rêveuse d’Ostende by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt

La Chapelle Sextine by Hervé Le Tellier (naughty)

Le Ratichon Baigneur by Boris Vian

Poussières d’anges by Ann Scott

Contes cruels by Octave Mirbeau (weirdo)

L’arbre des Possibles by Bernard Werber

Mordre au travers by Virginie Despentes (feminist, weird)

Clair de Lune + L’Inutile Beauté + Boule de Suif + Le Horla (has a slight Dorian Gray vibe, classic) by Guy de Maupassant

Les Plaisirs et les Jours by Marcel Proust, 

L’Heptaméron by Marguerite de Navarre, 

Cantatrix sopranica by George Pérec, 

Deux et deux font cinq by Alphone Allais

Religere + Déchirures by Sir Cédric (goth)

Gloire à nos Illustres Pionniers by Romain Gary

Les Vrilles de la Ligne by Colette (badass lady)

Nouvelles sous Extasy by Frédéric Beigbeder (v weird/edgy)

La Botte Secrète by Éric Boisset

And that’s probably enough. Hope this helps! x 

[spiritlanguages]

A lovely poem

[spiritlanguages]

Main figures de style

I. FIGURES D’ANALOGIE:

LA COMPARAISON:

Makes a connection between two objects, partially or totally by using an element of comparison (comme, ainsi, tel…)

Ex : Il pleure dans mon corps comme il pleut sur la ville (Verlaine)

LA METAPHORE:

Replaces an object with another that has something in common with it.

Ex : Son sang sur la poussière écrivait mon devoir (Corneille)

LA PERIPHRASE:

Describes, without naming it, an object using a nominal group

Ex : La langue de Shakespare 

LA PERSONNIFICATION:

A metaphor that gives human attributes to objects.

Ex : La grande république montrant du doigt les cieux (Hugo)

L’ANTITHESE:

Makes a connection between two objects from opposite realities.

Ex : L’une est moitié suprême et l’autre subalterne (Molière)

L’OXYMORE:

Makes a connection between words that seem to contradict each other.

Ex : Le superflu, chose très nécessaire (Voltaire)

II. FIGURES DE MODALISATION ET D’IRONIE:

L’ANTIPHRASE :

Expresses an idea by saying the opposite.

Ex : La question est une invention merveilleuse et tout à fait sûre pour perdre un innocent qui a la complexion faible, et sauver un coupable qui est né robuste (La Bruyère, about torture)

LA LITOTE :

Expresses something light to say a lot more.

Ex : Va, je ne te hais point! (Corneille)

III. FIGURES D’INSISTANCE:

L’ANAPHORE:

Repetition of a word or a group of words at the beginning of a series of verses or sentences to translate an emotion or to emphasize an idea.

Ex : Adieu tristesse - bonjour tristesse - tu es inscrite dans les lignes du plafond - tu es inscrite dans les yeux que j’aime (Eluard)

L’HYPERBOLE:

Way to exaggerate, emphasize an idea or emotion by using imagination.

Ex : Vous êtes le phénix des hôtes de ces bois (La Fontaine)

[spiritlanguages]

Ways to say Annoy

Neutral:

Ennuyer

Énerver

Enquiquiner (kids)

Embêter (kids)

Agacer

Casser les pieds

Faire suer (retro)

Barber (retro)

 Rude:

Emmerder

Faire chier (making one shit)

Casser les couilles (breaking one’s balls)

Péter les couilles (busting one’s balls)

Chier dans les bottes (shitting in one’s boots)

[spiritlanguages]

[spiritlanguages]

How to teach yourself linguistics online for free

Wish you were enrolled in an intro linguistics class this semester? Starting a linguistics major and looking for extra help? Trying to figure out whether you should study linguistics and what comes after?  Whether you’re just trying to grasp the basics of linguistics or you’re trying to construct a full online linguistics course, here’s a comprehensive list of free linguistics websites, podcasts, videos, blogs, and other resources from around the internet: 

Linguistics Podcasts

Specific episodes:

The International Phonetic Alphabet and vowels

Constituency

Gricean Maxims and presuppositions

Kids These Days aren’t ruining language

Learning languages linguistically

Phonemes and palatalization

Prepositions, determiners, verbs

Morphemes and the wug test

Why do we gesture when we talk?

Syllables

Podcasts in general:

Lingthusiasm

Because Language

Vocal Fries

The History of English Podcast

Spectacular Vernacular

Linguistics Videos

Modular topics:

NativLang (cartoons)

The Ling Space

Tom Scott’s Language Files

Arika Okrent (whiteboard videos)

Mike Mena (classic sociolinguistics papers)

Structured video series like an online course:  

Crash Course Linguistics (see also this list of companion links for each of the Crash Course videos) 

Introduction to Linguistics (TrevTutor)

Another intro linguistics series (DS Bigham)

Phonology, Mathematical linguistics, Syntax (TrevTutor)

Another syntax series following the chapter structure of a free online syntax textbook (Caroline Heycock)

The Virtual Linguistics Campus at Marburg University

“Miracles of Human Language” (on Coursera from Leiden University)

Blog posts

General

How much do I need to know before taking intro linguistics? (Spoiler: not much) 

28 tips for doing better in your intro linguistics course

How to find a topic for your linguistics essay or research paper

For typesetting linguistics symbols: What is LaTeX and why do linguists love it? (with sample LaTeX doc to download and modify).

An open access intro linguistics textbook, all freely available online

Further linguistics resources about specific areas, such as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, language acquisition (first/second), historical linguistics, neurolinguistics, prescriptivism. 

Phonetics & Phonology

How to make your own paper model of the larynx

Teaching phonetics using lollipops

How to remember the IPA vowel chart

How to remember the IPA consonant chart

IPA transcription practice

A detailed explanation of sonorants, obstruents, and sonority

A very elaborate Venn diagram of English phonological features

The basics of how Optimality Theory works, with coffee analogy

Allophones of /t/, explained with internet gifs

Several good visualizations and explanations of the vocal tract

How to type IPA on your phone (Android and iOS) 

Various ways to type IPA on a computer

Morphology & Syntax

Morphological typology cartoons

So you asked the internet how to draw syntax trees. Here’s why you’re confused.

Types of trees: a sentence is an S, a sentence is an IP, a sentence is a TP

A step-by-step guide to drawing a syntax tree, with gifs

Distributed Morphology

Garden path sentences: how they work, some examples

Structural ambiguity and understanding people in Ipswich

How to draw trees on a computer (TreeForm and phpSyntaxTree) 

Pronoun typology and “the gay fanfiction problem”

The solution to violent example sentences: Pokemon

Semantics & Pragmatics

The difference between epistemic and deontic, necessity and possibility (with bonus modals as Hogwarts houses)

Why learn semantics? Comebacks to annoying people.

Presuppositions, implicature and entailment, and more presuppositions in Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Gricean maxims in Welcome to Night Vale

Scalar implicature and a duck gif

Giving a shit about Negative Polarity Items, NPIs explained using Mean Girls references, and a follow-up on Free Choice Items

The lambda calculus for absolute dummies

The Lambda Calculator (software for practising in Heim & Kratzer style)

Teaching linguistics

Linguistics resources for high school teachers

Teaching linguistics to 9-14 year olds

On writing an IB extended essay in linguistics (& follow-up)

IPA Bingo

IPA Jeopardy and IPA Hangman

Practising syntax trees using cards and string/straws

Find a linguistics olympiad near you!

Editing linguistics Wikipedia articles instead of writing a final paper that no one but the prof will read (see also wikiedu.org)

Academic/career advice

Should you go to grad school in linguistics? Maybe

Figuring out if you actually want to go to linguistics grad school

How to decide which linguistics grad school to go to

How to look for linguistics undergrad programs

How to interact with someone who’s just given a talk

An extensive list of undergrad and/or student-friendly conferences - apply to one near you!

Advice for linguistics profs on increasing enrollment and supporting non-academic careers

Linguistics jobs - a series about careers outside academia

Languages

Linguistic approaches to language learning resource roundup

Will linguistics help with language learning? / Will learning a second language help with linguistics?

The problem with “economically useful” as a reason for language learning

Further link roundups

This list not enough? Try these further linkposts: 

A very long list of linguistics movies, documentaries, and TV show episodes

A list of books (fiction and nonfiction) about linguistics

A comprehensive list of language and linguistics podcasts, from Superlinguo 

A very long list of linguistics YouTube channels and other free online videos about linguistics 

20 linguistics blogs I recommend following

How to explain linguistics to your friends and family this holiday season

[spiritlanguages]

I'm so happy that Google translate recognised my handwritten Japanese.

[spiritlanguages]

French phonetics

Les voyelles :

[a] : cinéma (cinema, m)

[ɑ] : château (castle, m)

[e] : clé (key, f)

[ɛ] : père (father, m)

[ə] : jeu (game, m)

[i] : souris (mouse, f)

[o] : rose (rose, f)

[ɔ] : océan (ocean, m)

[ø] : jeudi (thursday)

[œ] : peur (fear, f)

[u] : chou (cabbage, m)

[y] : illusion (illusion, f)

Les voyelles nasales :

[ɑ̃] : chanter (sing)

[ɛ̃] : jardin (garden, m)

[ɔ̃] : ronfler (snore)

[œ̃] : un (one, m)

Les semi-voyelles :

[j] : lieu (place, m)

[w] : oui (yes)

[ɥ] : huile (oil, f)

Les consonnes : 

[b] : bête (beast, f)

[d] : déjeuner (lunch, m)

[f] : faim (hunger, f)

[g] : gâteau (cake, m)

[ʒ] : ange (angel, m)

[k] : cadeau (gift, m)

[l] : lait (milk, m)

[p] : pain (bread, m)

[ʁ] : roi (king, m)

[s] : sel (salt, m)

[t] : table (table, f)

[v] : violon (violin, m)

[z] : maison (house, f)

[ʃ] : chocolat (chocolate, m)

Les consonnes nasales : 

[m] : miel (honey, m)

[n] : nez (nose, m)

[ɲ] : agneau (lamb, m)

[ŋ] : parking (parking lot, m)

[spiritlanguages]

ending a story in other languages

kurdish: “my story went to other homes, god bless the mothers and fathers of its listeners” (Ç��roka min çû diyaran, rehmet li dê û bavê guhdaran.)

greek: “and they lived well, and we lived better” (και ζήσανε αυτοί καλά και εμείς καλύτερα)

afrikaans: “whistle whistle, the story is done” (fluit fluit, die storie is uit)

goemai: “my tale has finished, (it) has returned to go (and) come home.” (tamtis noe lat / dok ba muaan yi wa)

amharic: “return my story and feed me bread” (ተረቴን መልሱ አፌን በዳቦ አብሱ::)

bengali: “my story ends and the spinach is eaten by the goat” (aamaar kothati furolo; Notey gaachhti murolo) *means something is irreversibly ended because goats eats herbs from the root

norwegian: “snip snap snout, the tale is finished” (snipp snapp snute, så er eventyret ute”

polish: “and i was there [at the wedding] too, and drank mead and wine.” (a ja tam byłem, miód i wino piłem.)

georgian: “disaster there, feast here… bran there, flour here…” (ჭირი – იქა, ლხინი – აქა, ქატო – იქა, ფქვილი – აქა)

hungarian: “this is the end, run away with it” (itt a vége, fuss el véle)

turkish: “lastly, three apples fell from the sky; one for our story’s heroes, one for the person who told their tale, and one for those who listened and promise to share. And with that, they all achieved their hearts’ desires. Let us now step up and settle into their thrones.” (Gökten üç elma düşmüş; biri onların, biri anlatanın, diğeri de dinleyenlerin başına. Onlar ermiş muradına, biz çıkalım kerevetine.)

[spiritlanguages]

Faire le- expressions

Faire la course - racing someone

Faire la fine bouche - being picky

Faire la grasse matinée - oversleeping

Faire la grimace - making a face when annoyed or disgusted

Faire la loi - ordering people around

Faire la moue - pouting

Faire la navette - commuting

Faire la sourde oreille - pretending to not hear

Faire le clown/pitre/zouave - clowning around

Faire le deuil - mourning

Faire le dos rond - grining and bearing it

Faire l’étoile de mer - being a starfish (in bed)

Faire le lézard - sunbathing

Faire le mort - pretending to be dead

Faire le mur - sneaking out of the house

Faire le pied de grue - waiting for someone unhappily

Faire le pont - doing a backbend + taking an extra day off

Faire le tour - going around a place/block

Faire le trottoir - walking the streets (sex work)

Faire les frais de - suffering the consequences of

Faire les gros yeux - giving the stink eye

Faire les choses à moitié - doing things half-assed

Faire les quatre cents coups - being up to no good

Faire l’imbécile - playing dumb