Academia Is 50% Crying, 20% Research, And 30% Coming Up With Funny Titles For Every Paper That You Write

academia is 50% crying, 20% research, and 30% coming up with funny titles for every paper that you write

Boost your Spanish with more complex synonyms for words you already know

Here you have some words/expressions (in bold) that you can use to show off while speaking Spanish. A native will know them, but if you use these you will impress them. Also, in your writings these words will look quite good. NOTE: Some of them are quite formal and not used in conversations.

similar - semejante, afín, cercano, aproximado, símil, parecido (adj.) (similar)

parecerse - asemejarse, semejar, darse un aire, recordar a (to resemble)

divertido - ameno, entretenido (adj.) (fun)

difícil - peliagudo, arduo, espinoso (adj.) (difficult)

fácil - sencillo, factible (adj.) (easy)

empezar - emprender (to begin)

terminar - concluir, ultimar, finiquitar (to finish)

la misión - la empresa, el cometido, la tarea, la labor, el quehacer (mission, duty)

caro - costoso, prohibitivo (adj.) (expensive)

barato - asequible, económico (adj.) (cheap)

distraer, desentender, simular - hacerse el sueco (expression, lit.

to do the Swedish. To avoid doing something that you must do)

enfermo - aquejado, indispuesto, alicaído (adj.) (sick, ill)

la historia - el cuento, la leyenda, la fábula (story, tale)

el cotilleo - chisme, chismorreo, enredo (gossip)

aprender - cultivarse, formarse, educarse, empollar (to learn)

gustar - cautivar, embelesar (to like)

saber - estar al corriente, estar al tanto (to know about something)

siempre - perpetuamente, constantemente, continuamente (always)

malo - diabólico, maléfico, maldito, ruin, infame, sinvergüenza, insolente, maligno, malicioso, depravado, inmoral, pérfido (adj.) (bad, as in “a bad person”)

malo - nocivo, dañino, perjudicial, nefasto (adj.) (bad)

comprar - adquirir, obtener (to buy)

la tienda -el comercio, el establecimiento, el negocio, la botica (shop)

continuar -prorrogar, prolongar, preservar, aguantar, proseguir (to continue)

buscar - indagar, rebuscar, escudriñar, revolver (to search)

contestar - objetar, contradecir, rebatir, refutar, rechazar, disputar, discutir, argüir (to reply, as in refute)

abandonar - marcharse, desaparecer, largarse, ausentarse (to abandon, as in “to leave a place”)

feliz - radiante, contento, risueño, campante (adj.) (happy)

triste - afligido, apenado, desconsolado, abatido, entristecido, apesumbrado, desolado, deshecho, desamparado, mustio, taciturno, tristón (adj.) - sad

antipático - desagradable, enojoso, aguafiestas, pesado (adj.) (obnoxious)

la ciudad - la urbe, la localidad, el municipio, la población

(city)

el país - la nación, la patria, el pueblo, el estado (country)

la familia - la estirpe, el linaje (family)

los padres - los progenitores, los ascendientes, los antecesores (parents)

la casa - el domicilio, la vivienda, la residencia, la morada, el inmueble, la edificación (house)

4 exercises to improve speaking skills in your target language:

Tell a story. It’s a great exercise to improve not only your speaking, but also your grammar and vocabulary. Think about what happened to you or anyone else, that you would talk about to your friends or family. Then tell a story out loud using only your target language. Telling stories is a huge part of our everyday talks, so it’s really important to practice that.

Talk about a book, a movie or whatever you want. Imagine you’re convincing someone to check out (or not to check out) a book you have already read. Review every movie or TV series you want, and don’t worry about spoiling anything or offending someone. If it’s a piece of shit, learn how to say that when talking to Queen Elizabeth II, and how to say that when chatting with someone you’d meet at the bar.

Discuss an important topic that is interesting to you. You can choose from anything: society issues, politics, economics, science, environment, culture… First try to explain it and then tell your own opinion on the subject. It’s different than the second exercise since it develops the specific vocabulary.

Read an article and summarise it. Find an article in your target language that interests you and talk about it. You can do it like you would when asked about it in school, or you can do it in more of a “sharing knowledge with my friends” manner.

Et c’est tout! You can call it “act like a youtuber” exercises. If you want, record yourself while speaking. Remember that work is the key to success.

1K notes View Post

littlelanguagefox

6 years ago

Tips to learn a new language

The 75 most common words make up 40% of occurrences The 200 most common words make up 50% of occurrences The 524 most common words make up 60% of occurrences The 1257 most common words make up 70% of occurrences The 2925 most common words make up 80% of occurrences The 7444 most common words make up 90% of occurrences The 13374 most common words make up 95% of occurrences The 25508 most common words make up 99% of occurrences

(Sources: 5 Steps to Speak a New Language by Hung Quang Pham)

This article has an excellent summary on how to rapidly learn a new language within 90 days.

We can begin with studying the first 600 words. Of course chucking is an effective way to memorize words readily. Here’s a list to translate into the language you desire to learn that I grabbed from here! :)

EXPRESSIONS OF POLITENESS (about 50 expressions)

‘Yes’ and ‘no’: yes, no, absolutely, no way, exactly.

Question words: when? where? how? how much? how many? why? what? who? which? whose?

Apologizing: excuse me, sorry to interrupt, well now, I’m afraid so, I’m afraid not.

Meeting and parting: good morning, good afternoon, good evening, hello, goodbye, cheers, see you later, pleased to meet you, nice to have met.

Interjections: please, thank you, don’t mention it, sorry, it’ll be done, I agree, congratulations, thank heavens, nonsense.

NOUNS (about 120 words)

Time: morning, afternoon, evening, night; Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday; spring, summer, autumn, winter; time, occasion, minute, half-hour, hour, day, week, month, year.

People: family, relative, mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother, husband, wife; colleague, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend; people, person, human being, man, woman, lady, gentleman, boy, girl, child.

Objects: address, bag, book, car, clothes, key, letter (=to post), light (=lamp), money, name, newspaper, pen, pencil, picture, suitcase, thing, ticket.

Places: place, world, country, town, street, road, school, shop, house, apartment, room, ground; Britain, name of the foreign country, British town-names, foreign town-names.

Abstract: accident, beginning, change, color, damage, fun, half, help, joke, journey, language, English, name of the foreign language, letter (of alphabet), life, love, mistake, news, page, pain, part, question, reason, sort, surprise, way (=method), weather, work.

Other: hand, foot, head, eye, mouth, voice; the left, the right; the top, the bottom, the side; air, water, sun, bread, food, paper, noise.

PREPOSITIONS (about 40 words)

General: of, to, at, for, from, in, on.

Logical: about, according-to, except, like, against, with, without, by, despite, instead of.

Space: into, out of, outside, towards, away from, behind, in front of, beside, next to, between, above, on top of, below, under, underneath, near to, a long way from, through.

Time: after, ago, before, during, since, until.

DETERMINERS (about 80 words)

Articles and numbers: a, the; nos. 0–20; nos. 30–100; nos. 200–1000; last, next, 1st–12th.

Demonstrative: this, that.

Possessive: my, your, his, her, its, our, their.

Quantifiers: all, some, no, any, many, much, more, less, a few, several, whole, a little, a lot of.

Comparators: both, neither, each, every, other, another, same, different, such.

ADJECTIVES (about 80 words)

Color: black, blue, green, red, white, yellow.

Evaluative: bad, good, terrible; important, urgent, necessary; possible, impossible; right, wrong, true.

General: big, little, small, heavy; high, low; hot, cold, warm; easy, difficult; cheap, expensive; clean, dirty; beautiful, funny (=comical), funny (=odd), usual, common (=shared), nice, pretty, wonderful; boring, interesting, dangerous, safe; short, tall, long; new, old; calm, clear, dry; fast, slow; finished, free, full, light (=not dark), open, quiet, ready, strong.

Personal: afraid, alone, angry, certain, cheerful, dead, famous, glad, happy, ill, kind, married, pleased, sorry, stupid, surprised, tired, well, worried, young.

VERBS (about 100 words)

arrive, ask, be, be able to, become, begin, believe, borrow, bring, buy, can, change, check, collect, come, continue, cry, do, drop, eat, fall, feel, find, finish, forget, give, going to, have, have to, hear, help, hold, hope, hurt (oneself), hurt (someone else), keep, know, laugh, learn, leave, lend, let (=allow), lie down, like, listen, live (=be alive), live (=reside), look (at), look for, lose, love, make, may (=permission), may (=possibility), mean, meet, must, need, obtain, open, ought to, pay, play, put, read, remember, say, see, sell, send, should, show, shut, sing, sleep, speak, stand, stay, stop, suggest, take, talk, teach, think, travel, try, understand, use, used to, wait for, walk, want, watch, will, work (=operate), work (=toil), worry, would, write.

PRONOUNS (about 40 words)

Personal: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, one; myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

Possessive: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.

Demonstrative: this, that.

Universal: everyone, everybody, everything, each, both, all, one, another.

Indefinite: someone, somebody, something, some, a few, a little, more, less; anyone, anybody, anything, any, either, much, many.

Negative: no-one, nobody, nothing, none, neither.

ADVERBS (about 60 words)

Place: here, there, above, over, below, in front, behind, nearby, a long way away, inside, outside, to the right, to the left, somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere, home, upstairs, downstairs.

Time: now, soon, immediately, quickly, finally, again, once, for a long time, today, generally, sometimes, always, often, before, after, early, late, never, not yet, still, already, then (=at that time), then (=next), yesterday, tomorrow, tonight.

Quantifiers: a little, about (=approximately), almost, at least, completely, very, enough, exactly, just, not, too much, more, less.

Manner: also, especially, gradually, of course, only, otherwise, perhaps, probably, quite, so, then (=therefore), too (=also), unfortunately, very much, well.

CONJUNCTIONS (about 30 words)

Coordinating: and, but, or; as, than, like.

Time & Place: when, while, before, after, since (=time), until; where.

Manner & Logic: how, why, because, since (=because), although, if; what, who, whom, whose, which, that.