#language self-study

[life-of-an-aspiring-polyglot]

Does anybody else have like three-four different voices when they’re learning Japanese or another language? I’ve got:

1. My usual tone and pitch

2. A lower pitch with a little less tone variation

3. A higher, more ‘feminine’ sounding pitch with slightly more tone variation

4. Sounding like I’m auditioning to be an anime VA

[stepstofluency]

getting things done, one by one 🍃

[winningismyjob]

Late night study sessions might feel exhausting, but they're also some of the most rewarding moments in your academic journey. When the world is quiet, and it's just you and your books, you have the opportunity to dive deep into your studies, to understand, and to grow. Remember, every hour you put in, every note you take, and every concept you master is a step closer to your goals.

It's okay to feel tired. It's okay to take breaks. But never forget the power of persistence. Each time you push through, you're building not just your knowledge, but also your resilience. This is your journey, and while it might not always be easy, it's worth it.

So, surround yourself with what inspires you whether it's a cup of coffee, your favorite study playlist, or motivational quotes that keep you going. You’ve got this. Keep your head up, your mind sharp, and your heart determined. Every challenge you overcome is a victory, every question you answer is progress.

Stay focused, stay motivated, and remember why you started. You’re capable of more than you know, and this is just one step on your path to success. Keep going. The effort you put in today will pay off tomorrow.

[inbetweencoffees]

present tense verbs + masculine/neutral words

Guess who gave up on studying math (for now). I spent most of my day reading. In the end I read 5 articles on the anti ai and modern luddite movement and 60 pages in my book. After a longer break to eat dinner I continued studying croatian. Today consisted of translating sentences (which was quite hard because I was lacking the needed vocabulary) and writing flashcards for present verb tense, masculine and neutral word endings :)

Screentime: 1h (who am I and what have I done to Finn?)🦦

[minimalist-language-learning]

Don’t fear unknown words

(Note: With this post I just want to share thoughts and tips based on my own experiences and observations. If you have a different opinion that's fine. Language learning is an very individual process. Everyone has different goals and preferences. Try different things and do what works best for you.) Reading is an effective way to increase your vocabulary. But the really interesting books are often very difficult for a language learner (especially if you have little to no experience with native level books). Looking at a page full of unknown words can be intimidating. And if it’s a physical book, reading even a few pages takes ages if you need to look up many words. Reading texts above your current level can be slow and difficult.

From time to time I see language learners who tend to avoid books for natives and keep studying from textbooks or apps to “prepare“ themselves until they are “ready“. And I understand their decision. Textbooks and language learning apps provide structure and present the language in manageable chunks. They are an important first step and they can be a great resource for intermediate learners. Please use them to learn the basics and as a reference but keep in mind that they can only get you to a certain level. It’s obvious, but books for native speakers are not written with language test levels in mind (in the case of Japanese the JLPT). A book for natives can contain words of all levels. For example: The language used in books for a young audience is usually easier than for adults, but even books for kids can contain words that are not in your textbook. On the other hand, novels for adults contain not only abstract and specialized words but also many common words you probably already know. To put it simply: There are no strict levels in the "wild". That’s why you need to learn to deal with the language outside of textbooks. These resources help but they just can’t teach you everything. I mean, it would be extremely unrealistic to expect that you just need to study enough textbooks or completing all levels of your language learning app and then you are able to understand any novel for adult natives without look ups. If you want to learn to read at the level of an adult native speaker, you need to face this challenge and start reading these books at some point — and I mean many of them. No matter how much you prepared yourself through textbooks and apps, you will run into a ton of new words and phrases. This is intimidating at first, but there’s no way around it. You learn simply as you go by trying your best to understand and looking up words, phrases and grammar points. If you are only used to textbooks and apps, it’s absolutely normal that you struggle for quite some time. Don't worry! It gets easier the more you expose yourself with content for native speakers.

What is intimidating today will feel normal for you in the future. Keep going, don’t fear challenges, be open minded and take your time — and you will be able to tackle more and more difficult content.

Tips and recommendations

I myself am at a point where I’ve read around 100 books in Japanese. Many of them were manga, the rest were light novels, novels and a few non-fiction books. The level of difficulty of these books varies. I started with easier books and tried to read more and more challenging ones. I also regularly play video games in Japanese. A few examples:

Manga

名探偵コナン (has full furigana, it’s quite challenging but you’ll learn a ton of expressions and words from a wide range of real wold topics, strongly recommend it)

ナルト (typical battle shonen manga, full furigana, much easier than コナン)

Silver Spoon (full furigana, lots of specialized vocab and therefore difficult, but also very fun)

バクマン (one of my favorites, very enjoyable but also difficult)

らんま 1/2 (I love this series, it has full furigana and is one of the easier manga I've read so far; just be prepared that it contains a bunch of "fantasy" words like attack names etc.)

Novels and Light Novels

ハイキュウ 小説版 (this was challenging at first because the author uses a quite rich vocabulary, the stories are not very complex though)

名探偵コナン (I’ve read several novel versions of the Detective Conan movies, the writing style is quite easy to understand, they cover various topics and they have full furigana, I strongly recommend them)

ハリー・ポッター 1 to 4 (the beginning was hard and sometimes I was a bit lost what happens but the overall difficulty is okay; there are also audiobooks on Audible)

変な家 (I really enjoyed this one, the first chapters are quite easy, only the last one was suddenly very difficult)

Games

Animal Crossing (easy and relaxing game, full furigana)

Ace Attorney (one of my favorites, no furigana, challenging at first but now at Ace Attorney 3 I can play it with only occasional look ups)

Even though I’ve read quite a number of books, I’m far from fluent. I'm currently reading several books: 夏へのトンネル、さよならの出口, リング and ソードアート・オンライン 1. Even with all my experience, there are many new words in all of them. Maybe I should be better at this point, but it is what it is.

However, this is no reason to panic. I think that it’s important to not fear unknown words. New words are not a barrier, they help you grow. Instead of worrying about all these unknown words I take my time, look up words and follow the story. I can enjoy these books even though I don’t understand everything and need to look up many words.

To me, it’s about the journey, not the goal.

Some tips and strategies

Pick a book you’ve already liked reading in your native language (or after watching the movie). This way, you can be sure that you will like the story. This makes looking up many words more bearable. Plus, knowing the story makes it easier to understand the novel in your target language.

If possible, choose the ebook version. Reading digitally makes look ups faster and therefore less frustrating. Because it’s almost effortless you can look up many words without burning out. And by looking up more, there are more opportunities to learn new words.

Decide how many words you want to look up per page depending on your needs. Looking up words digitally is fast and almost effortless. This way it’s not hard to look up every word you don’t know. But if this is too much for your taste, just set a limit that makes reading more comfortable for you. You could try to look up only the 3 most important/interesting words per page and see how it goes. Change the number depending on how you feel or how difficult the book is.

It’s okay to not understand 100%. Progress is better than perfection. As long as you read regularly and look up at least some new words, your vocabulary will grow. Don’t worry too much about every single word you don’t know.

Being able to guess words from context is a valuable skill. Try to understand from context first and look up what seems necessary afterwards.

Don’t let yourself get discouraged right away just because you encounter several new words per page. If you start a new book, try to read at least the first chapter. The prologue and the first chapter are usually the hardest, because you need to get used to the authors writing style and the story.

Take as much time as you need. If you lack vocabulary, reading speed is nothing to worry about at this stage. Build up your vocabulary first.

Even if the overall level of difficulty is okay, there can always be paragraphs or chapters where your comprehension suddenly drops. That’s completely normal. Do your best to understand the gist, look up some words and then move on. Focus on the things you can understand.

You don’t need to learn everything the first time you read a book. Don’t worry too much about rare and specialized words, yet. Try to focus on more common words first. Since they come up more often and in different books, they are more useful at this point. Later when you are more advanced, looking up and learning these rather rare words is less overwhelming than in the beginning where everything is new.

A flashcard program like Anki helps to remember words you've encountered during your reading sessions. But instead of adding all new words I recommend to add only words you've seen at least a few times. I put the Japanese word together with an example sentence on the front and reading and meaning on the back. I use it only as a supplement. My daily Anki sessions are between 10 - 15 minutes long. I want to use most of my learning time for reading and listening -- this is where I really learn new words (= by repeatedly seeing them in context). Anki just helps me to build up familiarity with words I already recognize. Anki is not a must, of course. If you really can't stand it, don't use it. Just make sure that you read and listen regulary.

Graded readers can help to get used to reading in your target language. However, the gap between graded readers and easier books for natives can still be quite significant.

[diy-languages]

Free Korean Learning Courses! : Part 1

-> These are some free resources I used or heard about a lot to learn Korean and what they include, there's probably way more! I'll make more parts in the future. There's also ratings and pesonal notes about each one, but again they're 'personal' so it might not be the same for everyone! That's why you should always try it yourself first.

-> These resources are or were fully free when I used them, if anything changed and they're no longer free I do not take any responsibility for possible accidental purchases, I recommend to always check first before processing with it.

Here we go:

GoodJobKorean — Full free Hangul Course, 12 Lessons, Videos (with pronunciation, etc) + Pdf Practice sheets (with some vocabulary) + Quizes to see if you understood each lesson.

Rating: 100/10 I tried and loved it, easy to understand and explained nicely. Really useful for beginners learning hangul!

A/N: You may have to rebuy it after a month (not sure because I finished it in less then a month and never logged back in) but It's still free (if not you can always just make another account to get it free again)

GoldenKeyKorean: Free Hangul course, pronunciation + 2H long master course (advanced and basic levels) with 2 pdf books

Rating: I personally did not try this one, but I'm pretty sure it's fully free (at least that's what I've seen), but he often does limited editions/limited time special free courses so it's better to check if the offer is still active and follow his instagram for future updates and courses.

Now Korean Class: Fully free 9 Korean courses with different levels (1-9) with multiple videos for each, explains sentence structures, grammar, counters, numbers, and way more.

Rating: 100/10, It really is free, multiple levels, sooo many different things to learn I absolutely loved it!!

A/N: You just have to rebuy it after a month but I'm pretty sure it's still free (if not you can always just make another account to get it free again). I recently lost acess to it, idk why I think my phone is lagging... It tells me something went wrong to try again later, lol, just in case some content changed etc I wouldn't know.

Koldoristudy: 3 different Free Korean PDF study sheets, 1 Hangul, 1 Vocabulary and 1 winter study, includes Grammar, stroke order guides and syllable blocks,

Rating: 10/10 Loved it, I thought it would be just some pdf files to boringly write hangul/words but It's actually way more! it explains grammar and some useful language rules!

Talk to me in korean: Multiple free podcasts on different platforms + PDF with grammar and vocabulary explained for different levels of learners, 7 days free trial with possible cancelation

Rating: 9/10 It's really good, I'm just not a big fan of podcasts as I have a short attention spawn LOL. I personally didn't try the 7-days free trial but they do have LOTS of different lessons and videos that seem to be amazing and useful.

A/N: personally I find their website really confusing, to make things easier you can try things like just typing "Talk To me In korean (Pdf level _)" on google and the first link should be the free pdf file, etc etc.

Loescen Learn Korean Website: Free Interactive web-based learning, important vocabulary, pronunciation beginner to intermediate level, basic conversation courses and dialogues

Rating: 8/10, so good!! It surprised me, I just wish it went more in deep about things like sentence structures and grammar instead of blindly learning dialogue lines or words without breaking them into steps for deeper understanding of the language.

A/N: works for other languages too!!

Live Lingua: Multiple free ebooks and audio files lessons, grammar, vocabulary, hangul, etc, beginner to advanced,

Rating: 9/10 Covers up a lot of different things like I said, grammar, vocabulary, etc etc, but AGAIN each course covers many subjects and it quickly feels heavy and too long/complicated/takes too much time (personally for me, as an individual with ADHD)

How to study korean: LOTS of grammar and vocabulary, beginners to advanced, multiple lessons, linked YT videos to reinforce lessons, PDFs, etc

Rating: 100/10 explains really well, SO MUCH STUFF, different levels, it's really awesome! Lessons are available in multiple languages and not just English!! However again I find it a bit intimidating as it really has LOTS of things to learn which make it seem hard and heavy...

A/N: Personally I find the website complicated to navigate 😭 just type "how to study korean lesson _" for easier access if you want and It should be the top results

Udemy TOPIK grammar through 100 patters: TOPIK vocabulary, grammar and conversations, 100 grammatical patters koreans use a lot

Rating: 8/10 really good, well explained, but again personally it feels pretty heavy and long, videos in Korean with English subtitles, however there are no English subtitles for "example sentences" which sucks, you need to know some basic vocabulary to really understand the example sentences used there.

Tomi Korean: Free PDF with 430 basic korean vocabulary (words, verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc) with audio files, free PDF Worksheet for hangul learning

Rating: 8/0 Love it, really nice for useful vocabulary but you'll have to willingly study the words cause the pdf only makes you write it once and it's really just Korean-English translations, but it has images so its good for visual learners too! Personally I also found it takes a lot of storage to download everything lol.

A/N: I did not check the hangul worksheet as I can already write and read hangul but little personal opinion/tip; I think GoodJobKorean is the best option to learn Hangul here, specially compared to this one. Yes I did not try this Hangul Worksheet but I believe GoodJobKorean offers more variated content and help (videos, quizes, etc) than what a PDF sheet has to offer, that's my opinion.

That's all so far!

Many of these courses have social media accounts where they post different content and tricks to learn, I'll be making a post about those in the future too!!

If anything changed since I first used these resources or if there's any misinformation in this post, please let me know!

[vesna-v-irkutske]

Hi, this might be a stupid question, but do you know if Nikita and Artyom were maybe "fans" of any like Western murders/mass shooters? Like for ex: Columbine, Jeffrey Dahmer, and yk, so on and so forth.

Hey, not a stupid question at all. Dismembered PugachOva has a song dedicated to Albert Fish, but that seems to be it. They probably knew more than that, but they didn't really talk about it, and they weren't that interested.

Расчленённая ПугачОва — Пиздато! (А. Фишу посв.) (Dismembered PugachOva — Cunty! (can be translated as "Fucking awesome!") (dedicated to A. Fish)) × It appears on this compilation album of "the band's greatest hits in 2008-2009". + A slightly different mix of the same song: Расчленённая ПугачОва — Пиздато! (Альберт Фиш — крутой мужЫк) (Dismembered PugachOva — Cunty! (Albert Fish is a cool man))

Artyom presumably knew something about the mass shooters, but it's unknown about whom exactly. × On September 3, 2010, he said the following to someone (the other person's answers haven't been preserved). Read it from the bottom up. He wasn't completely serious about it, he was just tired, I guess.

► Regurgitate — Perish in Blood

[halflifesk666]

Need a girl so I can buy us the pandora ring set and both of us wearing the other half

[languagegarden]

I love my cat

Ich liebe meinen Kater

J’aime mon chat

내 고양이를 좋아해

Ech hunn mäin Kueder gär

♥️

[sneakyfungi]

Poly 141 x gn!reader

The guys come back early from a mission and find you stressed over work

They were exhausted as always it doesn't matter how many missions they went over it never gets easier but they managed to get back earlier and were excited to see you, to surprise you.

Once they got to the apartment they expected to see you in the sofa watching some TV shows o scrolling through your phone but they only found an empty living room, they got their boots off in the entry and went looking for you in the room, maybe you were already sleep after all it was kinda late, but you weren't there so they went to your office.

The apartment only had 2 rooms, the main room were all of you slept and your office since you worked mostly from home, but they had a sofa for when they wanted to be around you while you were working and there you were in front of your computer clearly stressed with multiple mugs (probably coffee) around you.

They were gonna come in but you let out an angry grunt "why it isn't working, why can't I make it work?! Aaaaagh" you pick up the phone probably looking at the time "ugh I should go to sleep but I have to finish this quickly!!! The guys will come back soon and I have to prepare everything!!!" They always found endearing when you talked to yourself mumbling thoughts or songs and when you thought you were alone it helps them to know what you're thinking and now it's obvious that you were under a lot of pressure probably because of the work you were doing since the apartment wasn't really messy nothing that you couldn't fix in less than a hour but they knew you wanted to receive them in a clean house and food ready like you always do.

They entered the room and once they were on your back you turned around scared obviously not expecting anyone but once you saw it was them, your boys, you jumped on their arms immediately they surrounded you in a much needed hug, "I thought you would come back in a couple days" "we managed to finish early" you tried to apologize for not having anything ready but they diminished that, said that they understood that you also had a job that was time consuming, they offered you to go to bed now not only because they really needed to feel you but also because it was obvious you haven't slept well in their absence.

It didn't take long for you to accept, you were stressed and your work wasn't finished but you were so tired and you missed them so much, once you got in the bedroom you took turns to take a shower and later put on some soft pj's all of you got on the bed and after kissing everyone good night you fell asleep in seconds now having your boys with you and feeling there heat, hearing their hearts when you rested you head in their chest you felt like in heaven.

Not used at writing sorry if it's garbage

[stepstofluency]

follow my studygram for more: @stepstofluency

[ros3ybabe]

Daily Check-in: April 4, 2024 🎀

What a good day! I swear I hadn't had a day so good in so long, but this day was absolutely amazing!

🩷 What I Accomplished Today:

reviewed chapters 8 and 9 of Spanish on Busuu

Studied my Spanish flashcards 1x all the way through

listened to three podcast episodes in spanish

read a chapter of Deep Work, the last chapter of Atomic Habits, and a section from 101 Essays to Change The Way You Think

discovered and listened to "A Better You" podcast by Fernanada Raamirez

Went to my make up chemistry lab

took a make up psyc quiz

met with my psych doctor

had a therapy session

had a meeting with the director of the Dietetic program for my university

filled out an application to become an SI instructor (just not to turn it in to the head SI guy now)

Caught up on my chemistry notes

opened a savings account for my university

searched for nearby places to rent/live (I'm moving out soon, sometime this year)

🩷 What Went Good Today:

Got encouraged to add a 2nd major in Finance

Created a list/schedule of classes for next semester that I'm really excited about

learned about other on-campus job opportunities in case SI doesn't work out

felt confident about my psyc quiz after I took it

the director of the Dietetic program was the absolute sweetest and most helpful, and I am so glad I met with her because she answered all of my questions and gave me some great encouragement

finished my chem lab very quickly

didn't need extra money to open a savings account so a savings account got opened

🩷 What Could Have Gone Better:

I felt like I bugged my dad a lot, but I was just so excited to tell him how good everything was going

Need to re evaluate how much I can realistically save per paycheck at the moment for my housing situation AND the college savings account

got a bit emotional with my boyfriend over some past stuff

did not eat the best or the healthiest

psych doc ordered an EKG because she is concerned that I may have an arrhythmia (had an EKG done in the past for the same reason, but was told it was because of my exercise habits at the time ~4 years ago) and having an arrhythmia will limit the mental health medication I am able to take

Overall, not a bad day whatsoever! I was in a really good mood all day because of how awesome everything was and I'm super grateful that I was able to have such a good day!

til next time lovelies 🩷

[florealstudy]

📝 Russian words I've learned so far - Food and drinks 📝

Ест - Eat

Пью - Drink

Вино - Wine

Сок - Juice

КоФе - Coffee

Молоко - Milk

Суп - Soup

Хлеб - Bread

Мясо - Meat

Сыр - Cheese

Яблоко - Apple

Пицца - Pizza

If you are also learning Russian or you're a fluent/native speaker, feel free to correct me if you notice any mistakes! 😊

[sysig]

Talk yourself into it (Patreon)

[diy-languages]

Quick tip: as silly as It sounds, watching kids show in the language you're learning helps a lot ! :D I mean, if they're meant to teach kids to speak their very first language, why wouldn't it help older people learn a new one?

If you want to get fluent you have to view it as starting from zero, the same way everyone started from zero when they learnt their mother/first language as kids! Good luck!

[eddis-not-eeddis]

I got an hourly planner and instead of planning out my day, I just write in it if I’ve done something that I’m proud of or that I enjoy, and it’s amazing how much I’ve gotten done lately and how much fun I’ve had now that I’m trying to impress myself.