Love Saying "ich Krieg Die Krise" For I'm Losing It / I'm Freaking Out / Etc Because It Translates Directly

Most of us who have learned another language end up with the attitude that it's best to read books in the original because some things just don't translate and in a real sense, you never really read a book if you read it in translation. While I generally agree with this attitude, at the same time I think it is unappreciative of the work that translators do.

Yes, there are a lot of bad translations out there, but there are also good translations. Good translation is a skill, and it's an incredible skill given what a good translator has to be able to do. They have to be fluent in not just two languages, but the nuances of two cultures. They have to be able to understand literature. They have to have writing skills on the level of the writer they are translating. If translating classical literature, they have to understand the historical context.

A good translator will include translator notes to try and explain the nuances that get lost in translation, cultural nuances, and historical context if it's classical literature. Yes, this means that they have to teach you a little bit of the language and culture of the original. Therefore, a good translator will give you an appreciation for a language that you hadn't had before.

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.

❁ Online resources for learning Bengali ❁

I received two private messages asking if I had any resources, and unfortunately there are very few resources that teach Bengali/Bangla online ): but I have gathered some that I found and used, and that are helpful to me! Please comment if you know any others 🤍

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❁YouTube channel for learners

YouTube

Learn Bengali with Baneebee

Trying to learn Bengali language? This online Bengali class is the right place for you to start with. Right from the first lesson you will l

Reading and writing, conversational lessons, book reviews etc. I love this channel so much, it’s how I began learning as a beginner and I wish there were more like it.

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❁Textbooks online

1. https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Books/Linguistics/Mega%20linguistics%20pack/Indo-European/Indo-Aryan/Bengali%2C%20Teach%20Yourself%20%28Hudson%29.pdf

2. https://archive.org/details/bengalicompletec0000radi

You can borrow this one for free, I own a physical copy of a slightly newer version and it’s good!

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❁Websites to watch Bengali movies and serials

1. https://www.hoichoi.tv

There are a few free movies and episodes here, I have the monthly subscription for €9 which gives access to hundreds of shows and films. There is an option to turn off English subtitles and some shows also have Bangla CC which is helpful!

2. https://einthusan.tv/movie/browse/?lang=bengali

Totally free and they have loads of movies with English sub (still waiting for them to upload something after palasher biye though) 

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❁Website for simplified stories

(Thank you very much to my fiancé and his mom for finding this for me <3)

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❁Tumblr blog for learning Bangla @banglanotebook

I love the vocabulary lists and word of the day, really helpful for beginner and intermediate!

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❁Apps that have Bengali courses

(I usually do not recommend studying with apps for languages, but it can be useful as a supplementary method for vocabulary)

1. Mondly (I have finished this course and it’s pretty decent for vocabulary - just as always with apps, don’t expect to learn any grammar properly)

2. Ling

3. Transparent Language (no grammar, only vocabulary but it’s free with library access)

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❁YouTube channel for handwriting

(Aimed at native speakers, but I used this to learn to write after learning to read)

At the moment I’m only posting words I’ve learned myself each day on this blog (see my bangla vocabulary tag) but I may post more lessons in the future! Again please comment if you know any other resources, I would greatly appreciate it 🤍

Internet vernacular has completely altered what some words and expressions mean to me. Forevermore, I will hear the words "hear me out" will only and exclusively as "before you cast your judgements prematurely, please pause and allow me to explain how and why I should be allowed to fuck this thing".

A while ago I talked to my polyglot friend, who's currently learning Czech, and he asked me for some easy reading materials. As I have offspring and thus my home is overflowing with kids books, it was pretty easy to find something suitable for, say, A1-A2 learners.

Since I've seen a lot of Czech learners on this site, I realized I could share with more people!

So, here's the link to my Google drive folder:

Hope it helps!

(if anyone needs help translating something, feel free to DM me)

People might wonder why I love etymology so much and the reason is simple — our everyday language is full of poetry. The English word "clue"? It comes from a Middle English word for "a ball of yarn", "clewe", which is a reference to the myth about Theseus and the Labyrinth. The Czech word "potkat" — "to meet"? The "tkat" part actually comes from "tkát" — to weave. To meet someone is literally to get interwoven with someone in Czech. How am I supposed to not love this?

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.

affirmatives and filler words/sounds are my favorite thing in any language. i love that every language has various noises to make between words & thoughts and in pauses etc. i think they're also called "hesitation forms" (?)

growing up autistic i've always been very prone to language mirroring and i pick up hesitation forms so quickly i often explain upfront that it's not on purpose and i'm not mocking or purposefully mimicking someone in a conversation.

i also pick up affirmatives unintentionally and nearly immediately. in a lot of languages, people have a way of gently saying "yes, yes, yes, yes," repeatedly while receiving a list of instructions. in english this often is along the lines of "yes, mhm, okay, yep. got it. okay."

i took a kendo class in which everyone but me spoke Japanese as a first language and i was expected to answer instructions in Japanese and i began so formal but quickly fell into extremely casual, repeated affirmatives. i have very little experience with Japanese, so note this is only what i picked up in one particular place with this particular group, but it was fast nodding and repeated "ah. mm."

when i lived in norway and learned the language on the fly by immersion, i got completely stuck doing the affirmative H, which sounds like a gasp. i couldn't stop doing it for months after i moved home, and some of my friends near Oslo also used it as a hesitation form, so it was a double whammy.

no point to this, i just love languages and sounds.

i'm cleaning out my notes app and found a classic from when i moved to russia and encountered 10,000 diminutive words i'd never heard before so i had to start writing them down whenever i heard them. i guess the english equivalent would be like adding "-y/ie" (blankie, doggie, froggy) to make it cuter, except this is words like "key" and "soup" and "thank you". hand me glassy put food on platie thankies you