#Learning English

[oediex]

(Languages taken from the top 10 foreign languages learned on Duolingo in 2024.)

I would like to bring your attention to two fundraisers that are near and dear to my heart.

@elhamhamdan-gaza is a young woman trying to survive in Gaza with her family. She was a top student at university until October 2023, when she and her family were displaced from their home in Khan Younis and forced to flee to Rafah. After the invasion in Rafah, they returned to their home in Khan Younis only to find it burned. They had no choice but to live in it. Elham and her family desperately need funds for blankets and clothes, because winter is here and nights in Gaza are very cold right now.

Elham's campaign is very low on funds! So far they have only been able to raise £594 and they desperately need more support. Please donate to them if you are able, and share this post and campaign with as many people as you can.

This campaign was verified by the Butterfly Effect Project (instagram) and is number 1180 on their spreadsheet, which you can access through the link on their instagram profile.

You can contribute to Elham's campaign by clicking on the link below:

Secondly, @drdarine is a young woman who is a medical student in Gaza. Despite being displaced and suffering hardships we can only imagine, Darine is continuing her studies and helping out others in the refugee camps and shelters in southern Gaza. Her family consists of seven people, one of them being my friend @dawoudi who is selflessly and unfailingly helping many other families in Gaza by verifying their fundraisers and promoting them on Tumblr. Everyday I see more campaigns added that he has verified, providing an important service to the many families in Gaza that need our help.

Darine's family has been fundraising since February, which is almost ten months! Despite that, they have only been able to raise $5,765, 19% of their goal. Progress on their campaign is extremely slow, often needing to wait multiple days for another donation to come in. We can do better than that.

This campaign was vetted by @gazavetters, and is number 15 on their spreadsheet, which you can find in the pinned post on their profile.

You can contribute to Darine's campaign by clicking on the link below:

Please support these fundraisers! Thank you!

Tagging for reach, let me know if you want me not to tag you in the future

@commissions4aid-international @funds4gaza @a-shade-of-blue @dlxxv-vetted-donations @kyra45-helping-others

@northgazaupdates2 @bilal-salah0 @imjustheretotrytohelp @devilofthepit @ankle-beez

@lukewarm-lesbian @wellwaterhysteria @appsa @qattdraws @laughteronsilverwings

@felixander-official @nabulsi @mukkie @oursapphirestars @fruitwoodmac

@comrademango @sunflowersmoths @mindchalice @battleteacake @girlinafairytale

[mrmanbat]

As a child who moved around a lot and learned English as her 4th(?) language I feel like commenting on Dicks experience.

Children pick up on language quickly so it really wouldn’t be difficult for him. Just really annoying.

I like to think that Bruce would bombard him with those textbooks for kids half his age in attempt to get him up to speed with his peers. He probably also had those special ed teachers that would take him out of class once or twice a week to read some dumbass book.

This naturally caused him to hate reading English with a passion. It’s not so much the language barrier with kids his age but the way the adults around him act,

[languageboutique]

[enlitment]

I just realised that Native English speakers most likely missed out on the deeply formative experience that is realising that a lot of the songs you listened to in a car with your parents were actually about BDSM

[babooshkaa]

ways to make duolingo useful

1. jump units

in the new "tree" all the new vocabulary is in the first lesson, then duolingo makes you study it for like a week if you're lucky, so if you're confident you've learnt all the new words just jump to the next unit (I also find myself remembering my mistakes better if I make them while trying to jump than when I make them in regular lessons)

❗after jumping always come back to the stories you missed, they're like the most useful thing there is in the app

2. use other resources

I know this is a post about duolingo, but people, mostly beginners, seem to think that they only need duolingo to become fluent. my mom has a 700 days strike and she still can't keep a simple conversation in english or understand an episode of fucking teletubbies, that should tell you everything. read content for beginners, watch youtube videos, tv-shows, use other apps, I promise the owl won't kill you for it

3. stop when it starts slowing you down

trust me you don't need to use duolingo when you're intermediate, it's just not worth it. leave it for the days you can't study properly and want to do at least something

[lonelynpc]

throwback to when i was still learning english and someone asked who my favourite robin was and i said

"i like cock"

[theyuniversity]

A lot = (pronoun) many, much

Allot = (v.) give, grant

Nan is allotted $1 for coffee. It’s not a lot. ☕😢

Alot = an imaginary creature from Allie Brosh.

Website | Twitter |  Instagram | Medium | Pinterest | Ko-fi | eBook

[sakione0075]

Various expressions of SpongeBob

[eliteprepsat]

[yun-hai]

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Die Toten Hosen - Carnival in Rio (Punk Was)

[londonlingo]

French phrases used in British academia

Did you know that there’s an array of French terms that are still used in British academia. The following is a list of terms that I’ve collected throughout this semester’s university readings:

Bête noire = “a person or thing strongly detested or avoided”

Fin de seìcle = “of, relating to, or characteristic of the close of the 19th century and especially its literary and artistic climate of sophistication, world-weariness, and fashionable despair”

Vis-à-vis = “in relation to”

À propos = “being both relevant and opportune”

Avant-garde = “an intelligentsia that develops new or experimental concepts especially in the arts”

Carte blanche = “full discretionary power”

Mise-en-scène = “the arrangement of actors and scenery on a stage for a theatrical production”

En rapport = “in harmony : in a state of mutual accord and sympathetic understanding” 

Savoir-faire = “capacity for appropriate action”

As always, all definitions sourced from Merriam Webster https://www.merriam-webster.com/

[languageboutique]

[thatshirleylee]

i am now playing a mobile game that largely involves looking for shit in pictures based on word prompts. the gameplay looks like this:

as a result i have learnt the following:

both of these are "crane":

this thing is called a "caduceus". i don't even know the word for this thing in my mother language (in this search i just found out apparently the word for it in my mother language directly translates to "two-snake cane")

this thing is called a "candelabrum"

this thing is called a "fleur-de-lis"

this thing is called a "pinwheel". the word for it in my mother language is same as the word for "windmill"

this thing is called a "wind rose". i have just been calling it "direction symbol"

these are called "pennants". the word for these in my mother language is "rainbow flags"

"wallet" and "purse" are two very different things

i shouldn't know the world "abacus" but i know the word "abacus"

when you're looking for a "coffee maker", it could mean you're looking for one of the following four

but not this, because it's a "coffee grinder" instead

"bat" can be the baseball stick and the flying mammal. i know this word, it's just that this feature / bug makes you clench your fist when the word is the only tip in a hidden object game

"stamp" can mean one of the following:

both of the following can be called a "scooter". i thought you should call the first one a "motorcycle" instead

i will come back when i remember more of these.

[felic2q]

be fine