studyscrasic - Tumblr blog

[studyscrasic]

Officially took my university's German entrance exam and tested into the 3rd semester course, which I'm pretty happy about! I had been hoping I might test a little higher, but I'm still pretty proud of the fact that I'm officially at an A2ish level despite having only ever self-taught myself the language.

I'm looking forward to taking an intermediate German class next semester and excited to see how much more my skills can grow in a classroom environment!

[studyscrasic]

college is college-ing

[studyscrasic]

There's a symposium happening at my university right now on Hebrew printing and type (inclusive of Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, and other languages, too) and I am absolutely geeking out about it. There are folks here from some amazing institutions, including the Yiddish Book Center, and the talks so far have all been amazing. It's making me really want to work on my Yiddish again, and also just making me so happy for Jewish reasons!

[studyscrasic]

trying to finish my dissertation in 3 weeks, hopefully i can finish the introduction today 🥀 listening to my lastest ambient mix while i write

[studyscrasic]

Holy grail for Yiddish learners- a massive collection of over 100 Yiddish audiobooks books recorded by native speakers! You can listen on the internet, download to listen as mp3, and read along from the free uploaded copies on the Yiddish book center website - and it’s all completely free and accessible, no password needed

[studyscrasic]

I discovered that my university offers a wholly online placement test for German that I could take on my own time to try to test into a higher level course, since I'm thinking about taking some German next semester!

I'm going to try to kick my studying into overdrive over the next few weeks before taking the test, which has reading, listening, and writing components, because while my reading skills are pretty decent, I definitely am lacking more in the other two. But I'm really interested to see what course I'm able to test into.

[studyscrasic]

THE DAY OF LANGUAGES!!!

This 7th of May, 2024, we use our own language again!

If your language, native or not, is something other than English, on May 7th you can speak that language all day!

You’ll blog in your chosen language(s) all day: text posts, replies, tags (except triggers and organizational tags).

Regardless of what language people choose to speak to you, you can answer in your own.

Non-verbal, non-written languages (like sign language, dialects, otherwise non-written languages) are more than welcome! See my FAQ for tips

English native speakers can participate in any other language they're studying/have studied/know.

The tag is gonna be #Speak Your Language Day or #spyld for short.

Please submit me some language facts for me to share on this day <3

Pinned post and FAQ

[studyscrasic]

Hi! I noticed that you said at some point that you were learning a northern Norwegian dialect! I was just wondering, which resources could you use for something like that? Ever since I started learning Norwegian I wanted to learn a dialect but unfortunately I can't find many resources for any of them.

hi there! 

unfortunately i haven’t really been any luckier than you.. finding resources for dialects is  h a r d. for nordnorsk, i basically read the wikipedia page to learn the things that are specific to this dialect but i didn’t learn much.. try to find some music made by artists from the area where the dialect you want to learn is spoken! for nordnorsk, i like to listen to sondre justad (lofoten), resikulert (tromsø), kristian kristensen (harstad), virkelig (bodø) and snö (tromsø). reading the lyrics often helps learning the particularities of the dialect. another idea could be to listen to the radio. nrk offers a bunch of radio channels from the different regions of norway, they don’t always speak in one specific dialect but it could still help! (to do that, go to this website, click on the little arrow next to NRK P1 and choose the place you want).

Really hope that helps at least a little bit! Norwegians, if you know any great resources, feel free to leave them here!

[studyscrasic]

celtic languages mega drive folder

i've been meaning to share my folder of celtic language pdfs for a while now, especially since duolingo has gotten even worse. the folder has pdfs of language-learning material, as well as some stuff on literature, history, indentity, etc. this is very much a work-in-progress, as i will add to the folder as i find more resources.

my folder currently has: welsh, breton, cornish, irish, scottish gaelic, manx, béarlagair na saor, early modern irish and classical gaelic, old irish, middle welsh, old welsh, and proto-celtic (although not all of them have a lot of pdfs in their folders yet).

(also if you want online resources, fiction books, media, etc, then take a look at this website: https://www.celtic-languages.org/Main_Page - it has both free and paid resources for irish, scottish gaelic, manx, welsh, cornish, breton, old irish, and classical gaelic.)

[studyscrasic]

It's a new semester and I've got a new slate of classes keeping me busy. I'm excited about them though! This semester I'm taking:

Scientific Thought (a philosophy of science class)

Introduction to Medieval History

Writing on Issues of Science and Technology

Human Health and the Environment in History

...and a short ongoing half-semester course for my history mentor program (teaching middle and high school students history research skills and resources)

[studyscrasic]

If you study ANY foreign languages and post about your study logs/journey frequently, please interact with this post because I'd love to follow more langblrs!

[studyscrasic]

Yiddish Resources

Apps and Websites

Duolingo

Mango

Memrise

Bluebird

Clozemaster

YiddishPOP

Yiddish Book Center

YIVO

The Forward

Books

Colloquial Yiddish

In Eynem

College Yiddish

Basic Yiddish - A Grammar and Workbook

Yiddish Grammar

Yiddish: an Introduction to the Language, Literature and Culture

Lessons in Conversational Yiddish

Yiddish: a Linguistic Introduction

Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library

Youtube

Yiddish Book Center

Yidlife Crisis

1 Hour of Yiddish Communist Music

The Sound of the Yiddish Language

History and Culture (Books)

YIVO and the Making of Modern Jewish Culture

Adventures in Yiddishland

History of the Yiddish Language

Jewish Roots, Canadian Soil

The Story of Yiddish

Choosing Yiddish

Words on Fire

The New Joys of Yiddish

[studyscrasic]

Colours in Irish Gaelic

bán — pure white, used of a person if they’re very fair-haired, also means ‘blank’ and ‘fallow’ by extension

geal — used for pale or very light unsaturated colours, shades just short of white, such as for horses, dazzling sunlight, pale skin, also used as a positive word roughly similar to the sense of ‘shining / radiant’ in English, e.g. mo ghrá geal, my radiant love

fionn — used for whites and pale yellows in nature, like blonde hair, white wine, muddy-pale animal fur (as dark as fallow deer), sapwood (the soft white layer under bark), and the bark of trees like silverbirch

buí — yellow, used for both natural and artificial shades

buídhonn — lit. yellow-brown, means ‘fawny’

flannbhuí — natural and low saturation shades of orange, especially, but also used for the bright colour on the tricolour flag

oráiste — ‘artificial’-seeming orange colours, but also used for the fruit and in similar places

dearg — red, also used as an intensifier, e.g. ar dheargmheisce, very drunk

rua — natural reds and russets / browny-oranges / rich coppery colours, e.g. ginger to auburn hair, also used for roe deer (= fia rua) and of foxes

bándhearg — [white][red] = pink (note that in a compound word, the second element will take a h after the initial consonant)

corca — purple, usually the darker sort (derived from Latin purpura)

glas — primarily green, but can be used for many natural green and blue and grey colours, e.g. of pale eyes, grey cows, and also is used of metallic lustres, the sea, and the air in stormy weather (in Welsh, glas is generally blue, although it’s also used for verdant greens in older language)

gorm — blue, especially darker blues / azures and for blue-ish dark greys, (e.g. seabhac ghorm, peregrine falcon) ; also used of black skin to avoid using dubh (duine dubh = ‘person with black hair’)

gormghlas — literally means ‘blue-green’, can mean turquoise, or an intense azure

uaine — artificial green colours

liath — grey, particularly light greys, and very pale blues, often connected with unpleasant things, bainne liath = watery or curdled milk

donn — dark brown, brunette

dubh — pure black, can be used of hair colour, origin of word dúcha, ink

[studyscrasic]

my new favorite German word is “das All”. It means space/universe/cosmos

the context I learned it makes it even better: “sie reiste gerade durchs All” - literally, “she was currently traveling through space” but, more enjoyably, “she was currently traveling through the All”. Maybe I’m just imposing my native English meaning on the word, but I love the sentiment of space being all-encompassing, all-everything, just All.

[studyscrasic]

10,15,16

10 - What’s your favorite word in your target language(s)? Least favorite?

My favorite words are all over the place. In Norwegian I love eventyr (fairy-tale) and vitenskap (science) and skeiv (queer); in German my favorites are probably märchenhaft (fantastical, fairytale-like) and Wortschatz (vocabulary, but literally word-treasure); I love the Irish oíche (night) and its Gaelic counterpart oidhche, and truly there is no word better than the Yiddish verklempt (overcome with emotion).

I don't know that I have any least favorite words! Ones that I mix up or forget can be frustrating, but those change with time, and they still have fascinating etymologies and histories behind them. I just really love language, is the thing.

15 - Why are you learning your target language(s)?

I'm learning German because I have a lot of family history in Germany, including dozens of letters and other documents written by my great-grandmother's siblings to her after she moved to America in the 1930s, which have been very slowly attempting to translate. But I also think German history is fascinating, and loved the country both times I've visited! I also hope it will be useful as I continue my history of science studies and let me read more primary texts in their original language.

I'm learning Norwegian because I needed a foreign language for my degree program and thought it would be interesting to take a much less commonly taught one -- and then I fell in love with it a little, and I'm determined to keep studying it even though I'm done with my four semesters of classes. I also want to visit Norway so badly now.

I'm learning Scottish Gaelic and Irish for family history reasons, too, but also because once I started dabbling in them, I fell for the whole Celtic language family. I think the sounds and the grammatical features like eclipsis and lenition are all so wonderful, and find Celtic grammar to be a fun and fascinating little puzzle.

And I'm learning Yiddish and now a little Hebrew because I'm Jewish! There's so much history and weight to both languages and they're both so embedded in my culture. I think it's neat that Jews have such a strong connection to such an old language (there's even folklore about angels only speaking/understanding Hebrew, because we hold it in such high esteem) and I love love love that Yiddish is such a fascinating linguistic case -- a Germanic language written in the Hebrew alphabet! -- because it says so much about my people and our history.

16 - Do you ever want to live somewhere where you’d speak your target language(s)?

It would be my dream to get to live in a country where one or more of my target languages is spoken for a little while -- I'd just love to get to live outside the USA for a bit, honestly -- but I think it's unlikely to happen. I was briefly looking at study abroad options in Norway and Germany through my university, but the challenge is that my partner is very sick and can't really live alone right now, so she needs me to stay with her.

But I'd really love to get the chance to at least be a visiting researcher at an international university someday! Getting to at least spend a few weeks immersed in another language and culture sounds like an incredible time, and there are archives I'd love to spend time in all over the world, so I hope someday I can have the excuse :)

[studyscrasic]

Langblr Asks

What’s your native language?

How many languages do you speak?

What language(s) are you currently studying?

How many/which languages would you like to know in the future?

Do your friends speak other languages?

What’s the most difficult word for you to say in your native & target languages?

How do you call your favorite animal in your target languages?

Write your favorite color in all the languages you know it in.

How long have you studied your target language(s)?

What’s your favorite word in your target language(s)? Least favorite?

What’s the funniest word in your target language(s)?

What’s the prettiest word in  your target language(s)? Ugliest?

One thing you dislike about your target and/or native language?

Do you have any international friends?

Why are you learning your target language(s)?

Do you ever want to live somewhere where you’d speak your target language(s)?

What was/is the first language you want/ed to learn?

Have you ever made a friend speaking your target language(s)?

Do you listen to music in your target language(s)? If so, who are your favorite artists?

Opinion on duolingo?

What’s your favorite method of studying?

Have you ever played pokemon in your target language(s)?

Favorite blog in your target language(s)?

Do you ever speak to yourself in your  target language(s)?

Ever speak to your pets in your target language(s)?

Do you ever feel like your target language(s) is(are) under appreciated? Why/why not?

How do people usually react when you mention that you’re studying your target language(s)? Do their reactions annoy you? Make you happy?

How do natives react when they hear that you’re studying their language?

Do you have any advice for someone who’s never studied a language before?

Where are you from? What are popular/”useful” foreign languages in your area?

Are there dialects in your country? Do you speak one?

Have you ever tried to learn a dialect for your target language(s)?

Do you ever want to have a career in languages?

How has learning languages impacted your life?

Do you have any big travel plans for the future?

What’s your least favorite language? Why? Favorite?

Do you know any obscure/useless words in your target language(s)?

Was there ever a word you pronounced incorrectly until someone corrected you?

What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you while studying your target language(s)?

Have you ever eavesdropped on people speaking  your target language(s) in public?

Have you ever had a negative experience with a native?

What’s the most positive experience you’ve had with a native?

Tell me about your best friend in your target language(s)

Have you ever put sticky notes all over your house before?

Do you ever think in your target language(s)?

Are there any cognates between your native and target language(s)?

Have you ever met a stranger in public with whom you spoke your target language(s)?

Have you ever had an “I understand it now!” moment with your target language(s)?

Do you have any language pet peeves?

Is there a language that you’ve tried to learn but could never stick with it or just weren’t interested?

[studyscrasic]

Also. Contemplating this for my schedule next semester.... it might change if I'm able to test into an intermediate German course, but I like the general shape of this one!