Strangely Common Misconception That Words Have Basically The Same Meanings In Every Langauge And That

What they don’t tell you about speaking multiple languages is that your brain does not in fact have a box labeled Spanish and another one labeled German. Instead it has a box labeled “Not English” and sometimes when you’re talking or writing in one of the languages you speak it will just start pulling random words from that box.

It’s crazy when you start thinking about how ancient many common names are. I’ve known 15+ people named John. My ancestors 100 years ago would have known 15+ people named John. My ancestors 1,000 years ago would have known 15+ people named John. I’ve known several dudes named Marcus, someone in 100 BC probably knew a few too. The name Alexander is over 3,000 years old.

You need to be looking for sewing and drawing tutorials in Spanish, to watch baking tutorials in Russian or read the wikipedia article about the insect you've just discovered on your balcony in German ! You cannot watch Peppa pig in your target language forever.

Will knowing how to say "aiguille à tricoter" in French be useful for your exam ? Probably not, but who cares ? You're listening to spoken French AND you're learning a manual skill !

Youtube is full of wonderful tutorials in many languages, everything is there just waiting for you ...

And why stop at manual skills ? Philosophy ? History ? Astrology ? Hop hop hop, in your target language ! Want to learn something about Egypt ? The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona has a coursera course on it.

"But I won't understand anything" I personally prefer to understand 20% of a lecture about a sacred temple in the middle of the desert than understand 60% of the most boring standard "what do you like to eat for breakfast" textbook learning material.

when I was a teen and first getting more seriously interested in languages and linguistics I encountered those polyglot YouTube videos where people speak all the languages they know and I was so impressed and jealous and wanted to be able to make a video like that too. Now, there are three problems with that: I ended up spending the last couple years specializing in other things, I'm more of a dabbler, and a lot (not all) of these videos are dishonest.

So obviously, as a first video on my imaginary YouTube channel, I'd make a video where I introduce myself in every language I can introduce myself in - even if that's the only thing I can do in that language - and then do a very honest and transparent commentary. How I had to go through my past notes and script this video. How much I actually know in each language. I wouldn't want it to be a video exposing the fakes (languagejones has already done two brilliant videos about this). I want it to be a defense of dabbling, of messy progress, of just having fun with languages without having to pretend you're some genius hyperpolyglot.

Source

Halito! Chahtawordoftheday sia!

(Hi! I am Chahtawordoftheday!)

Each new generation is responsible for proliferating their stories. I created this blog because, as a Native, this is hard to do alone. Want to brush up on Chahta anumpa (The Choctaw language) with me? Then this is the blog for you! Look forward to daily vocab, reposted lessons of the day from The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma's website, and a spotlight on Native art/resources.

Speaking of which, here are my favorite Chahta language learning resources:

Here is an online dictionary-makes it easy to check for words/definitions every day! (I know I do)

The Choctaw Dictionary - Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Here is another site I find myself on often-if you are a IPA nerd like I am then you will love this phonic! (and even if you are not, it can still help your understanding of Choctaw words when written vs spoken)

Choctaw Pronunciation Guide, Alphabet and Phonology

Here is the home language page on the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma's site-Look here for common phrases, the lesson of the day, and for who to contact in order to request translations!

Language - Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

This page on the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma's website offers multiple options for language-including virtual, in person, and self-directed! I personally recommend self-directed, especially if you are family with Canvas, registration for this course is the easiest and quickest!

Choctaw Language Classes - Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Here is The University of Oklahoma's Choctaw Language Course Catalogue

CHOC-Choctaw < University of Oklahoma

Here is the r/Choctaw Reddit page-an eclectic and lovely place to reach out to your community as well as look for information

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

If there are any resources you like me to highlight, please let me know! Feel free to tag me in simple posts you'd like translations too, like a picture of a cat (katos) or a snake (sinti), request subjects for the word of the day, and to otherwise dm me! I can't wait to go on this journey with you!

Chi pisa la chike, yakoke! (goodbye and thank you!)

constantly torn between "i wish I could magically learn this language immediately and speak it perfectly" and "part of language acquisition is the process, and learning it immediately wouldn't have as much meaning or significance to me"

Old English, why do you have this word? Why?

I just wanted to give my answer in the comments, but I thought that replying in another post would be more practical, and it might also help other people :) So, I'll try my best to explain, don't hesitate to tell me if it's not clear! First of all, in your list, only "Qui est-ce ?" can be used as a question in this form. For the others, you need to add other words. Also : - que = what and que + est = qu' - qui = who and qui + il = qu' • Qu'est-ce que... ? This is used to ask "What is..." with a direct object - Qu'est-ce que c'est ? — What is it?/What is this? - Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? — What are you doing? - Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire ce soir ? — What do you want to do tonight? → You can replace "qu'est-ce que" with "quoi" as a direct object (more informal form) - Qu'est-ce que c'est ?/C'est quoi ? - Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?/Tu fais quoi ? - Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire ce soir ?/Tu veux faire quoi ce soir ? • Qu'est-ce qui... ? This is used to ask "What..." where "what" is the subject - Qu'est-ce qu'il se passe ? — What is happening? - Qu'est-ce qui est rouge ? — What is red? - Qu'est-ce qui t'intéresse ? — What interests you?

→ You can replace "qu'est-ce que" with "quoi" as the subject (more informal form)

- Qu'est-ce qu'il se passe ?/ Il se passe quoi ? - Qu'est-ce qui est rouge ?/C'est quoi qui est rouge ? - Qu'est-ce qui t'intéresse ?/C'est quoi qui t'intéresse ? • Qui est-ce ? This is correct as it is, it's used when asking about someone's identity - (Knock on the door) Qui est-ce ? — Who is it? - (Showing someone in a photo) Qui est-ce ? — Who is he/sher? • Qui est-ce qui... ? This is used to ask "Who..." where "who" is the subject - Qui est-ce qui a fait ça ? — Who did this? - Qui est-ce qui chante ? — Who is singing? - Qui est-ce qui cuisine ? — Who is cooking? → You can replace "qui est-ce qui" with "qui" as the subject (more informal form) - Qui est-ce qui a fait ça ?/Qui a fait ça ? - Qui est-ce qui chante ?/Qui chante ? - Qui est-ce qui cuisine ?/Qui cuisine ? • Qui est-ce que... ? This is used to ask "Who..." with a direct object - Qui est-ce que tu as vu ? — Who did you see? - Qui est-ce que tu cherches ? — Who are you looking for? - Qui est-ce que tu écoutes ? — Who are you listening to? → You can replace "qui est-ce que" with "qui" as a direct object (more informal form) - Qui est-ce que tu as vu ?/T'as vu qui ? - Qui est-ce que tu cherches ?/Tu cherches qui ? - Qui est-ce que tu écoutes ?/Tu écoutes qui ?

• To sum up: - Qu'est-ce que... → What... (direct object) - Qu'est-ce qui... → What... (subject) - Qui est-ce ? → Who is it? - Qui est-ce qui... → Who... (subject) - Qui est-ce que... → Who... (direct object)

Hope this helps! Feel free to tell me if you still have questions!

HELP!!!!

French teachers, please help with these chaos of questions!!!!

Qu'est-ce que?

Qu'est-ce qui?

Qui est-ce?

Qui est-ce qui?

Qui est-ce que?

My poor head! Its crazy!

PLEASE explain me the meaning of all of these.

I saw that English has also an expression for that: "should be taken with a pinch of salt"

Also, even if some translators are good, keep in mind that sometimes they won't understand the most colourful expressions and they will lead you to a word-for-word translation

I'm pretty sure that's not it....why is this the first result...... -> prendre quelque chose avec des pincettes = to handle/treat something with caution This post is a friendly reminder to take the google translate/AI translations with tweezers.