someone on reddit shared texts of her and her husband's exclusive english dialect and it's beautiful
Friendly reminder that if language learning is a hobby for you, then how you interact with that hobby is up to you and you alone. If you want to learn a few words in as many languages as possible, that’s fantastic! If you want to dedicate all your time to mastering a single language, that’s wonderful! The only thing that matters is that you’re having fun and you’re pleased with the way you’re spending your time. Learn your languages for you, in the way that you want to learn them
so my friend is studying abroad in germany this semester
My mom is German and told me what the fuck these were actually trying to mean.
“You can me once” is supposed to mean “you can kiss my ass ONCE ” As in like,, you can be a suck up once.
“What must, THAT MUST” is supposed to be “it is what it is”
“Now butter by the fishes is a German saying that is more like ” can I have some butter with the fish?“ Which basically means ” get to he point of the story. “
These are somehow just as confusing as the coasters
Language specific free or cheap resources
This list will have more added to it as I do the research to make more lists.
For a general list check here.
Japanese has been added.
reblogging this to add that I often think about the old man yaoi mangaka on bluesky who said "the phrase that finally convinced me that the English language is truly beautiful was 'this shit is so ass'"
The game op (in the screenshot) mentions is available now, by the way!! It’s called The Ghost And The Golem, and it’s currently only $4.79 during the steam summer sale!! It’s entirely text-based, basically a choose-your-own-adventure story, but it’s very engaging and entertaining! As of the time of writing this I have only finished chapter one, but it has been really fun so far!!
official linguistics post
Benjamin Rosenbaum is also a ttrpg designer and did Dream Apart / Dream Askew with Avery Alder (Monsterhearts, The Quiet Year.)
Dream Apart / Dream Askew is the foundation for the Belonging Outside Belonging engine, which folks might know from big kickstarter megahit Wanderhome (or Jay Dragon's earlier Sleepaway,) or other high visibility indies like Galactic 2e, Balikbayan, Cantrip, or Going Rogue.
Basically a substantiative segment of the modern indie scene can trace back to Alder and Rosenbaum's work (which in turn traces back Apocalypse World by Meguey and D Vincent Baker.)
In unrelated news I have picked up a copy of The Ghost And The Golem and am really looking forward to how it handles language.
i cannot keep quiet about this anymore.
if you're in the US or Canada and interested in learning a language using a free app please get a library card and download MANGO. it's very good and extremely free with a library card (there are many public libraries and universities using the service, so make an account and use the search feature here to find out if there's one near you).
mango currently has 72 available languages and dialects (that's right! different courses for french or canadian french! spanish or latam spanish!). it's set up basically like an audiobook with text. the idea is that the narrator explains the words while you read, and you repeat after them or say the translation out loud when prompted. there's a daily review where you go through flashcards. you can also use the flashcards at your leisure and create your own. at the end of each chapter there's a listening comprehension quiz and a reading comprehension quiz. i cannot emphasize how effective this all is. and it's free with a card.
if you're not in the US or Canada and/or looking for something more like duolingo (don't use duolingo btw tldr they fired translators and replaced them with "ai"), then try BUSUU! it only has 14 languages atm but the lessons are really descriptive and effective. it also has a feature where you can correct other people's open-ended speaking/typing exercises. you set your fluent languages, and exercises by people learning those languages will appear in your feed for you to correct. you can even add others as friends! and, much like duolingo, it has a streak and leaderboard system for you to strive for, minus the guilt-tripping owl.
busuu is free (you watch ads to unlock lessons and they're all skippable after like five seconds), although it also has paid premium/plus versions (i don't use the paid version—the language courses are available for free, and the ad system is Really unobtrusive).
so that's my wisdom for the day. mango and busuu. please check them out :)
With Duolingo doubling down on replacing contractors with AI...
a month ago i picked up a book on stage directing in my school’s black box and opened to a random page and it was something about making shakespearean actors rehearse by adding the word fuck to their lines to turn the archaic language into something familiar for the emotional resonance (of course taking it out as rehearsals move along to fix rhythm/etc but just to start off) and the example it gave was the solid flesh speech. like. iirc it was specifically “but two fucking months dead”
and like. im obsessed with this. as a concept. not even for acting i just think it’s so fucking funny. to be or not to be, that’s the fucking question. is this a fucking dagger i see before me. this is the excellent fuckery of the world -
What fucking fire is in mine ears? Here is my fucking butt.
“Press not a falling man too fucking far!” - Lord Chamberlain, Henry VIII, Act 3 scene 2
One of my absolute favourite things in the world is a ‘fuck run’. If the energy is too low, or the intensity is dropping the director might ask you to run a scene, or sometimes even the whole play, and insert ‘fuck’ or any of its derivatives wherever you feel the urge to. I have never experienced anything so quickly and ferociously liven a scene. It’s like a defibrillator.
Once did the last half of Oedipus Rex as a ‘fuck run’ leading to such incredible double entendres as: ‘Oedipus, son, dear child, who motherfucking bore you’.
Other highlights from times I’ve either taken part or seen a fuck run:
“I would eat his heart in the fucking marketplace”
”I have, of late, though wherefore I know the fuck not, lost all my motherfucking mirth.”
“Your royal father’s fucking murdered.” “Fuckfuckfuck. O, by fucking who?”
”Gentlemen, remember that I am a fucking ass”
”Why the fuck did you bring these fucking daggers from the place? They must lie fucking there! Fuck! Go fucking carry them, and smear the sleepy grooms with fucking blood”
“Screw your courage the FUCKING sticking place and we’ll not fail”
OH SWEET JESUS THIS IS WHY WE DO NOT FUCKING TRUST GOOGLE WITH ANYTHING
I'M HOWLING I'VE SEEN THIS HAPPEN ON THERE IN REAL TIME ITS SO FUCKING FUNNNYYYYYYY
THEY DO IT WITH BABIES TOO LET ME TELL YOU WE WERE SHOOK A;LSKDGJASLDGJASL
