Notre Ami Le Subjonctif

Today I discovered this writer’s tactic to face her fear of rejection and failure, and it’s honestly very inspiring?! This kinda rewired my brain and I feel everyone should read and think about it.

Read her short article here

A common mistake English speakers make in learning a new language is translating every word in English literally. By extension, this also involves translating whole sentences word for word.

This is a wee (actually, not that wee) problem for a few reasons:

It means that you will be translating words that don’t have an equivalent in the target language.

It means that you’ll be losing the chance to use words in the target language that don’t have an English translation (advanced vocab).

You’ll be ignoring vital stylistic elements of speaking/writing in the target language. You’ll end up saying things that native speakers of the target language just don’t ever say, even if you use correct grammar and vocabulary.

Now, if you don’t get the hang of this in your target language, I repeat, do not panic. This process of getting the feel of your target language and familiarising yourself with advanced vocab words comes only with practice. It’s not possible to just learn off every rule/word/stylistic element in your target language.

Allow me to illustrate these issues using Spanish and French:

1. Translating words that don’t have an exact equivalent in the target language. Not every word in English has the exact translation in another language, thus a phrase or supplemental synonym is used to convey the meaning in context.

“I think I forgot to lock the door”. In Spanish, this is Pensé que olvidé cerrar la puerta con llave. Pay attention to the phrase for lock. There isn’t a single verb to convey the idea of locking a door. You just say that you close it with the key.

“I want to pass this test on the first try”. In French, this is Je voudrais réussir l'examen au premier essai. We use the word essai to indicate attempt or try, even though this word generally means essay in most other contexts.

2. Not using target language-specific words that don’t exist in English. Some words just don’t exist in English- don’t miss out the chance to use them in another language though! (this is basically the opposite of #1) It indicates a better grasp of the language, comparable to that of natives.

“Last night, I hardly got any sleep because I was anxious”. In Spanish, instead of directly translating the phrase “I hardly got any sleep”, you can use the word desvelado, which covers the entire concept of being unable to sleep. Anoche, estuve desvelado ya que estaba ansioso. In French, you’d say J’ai eu une nuit blanche hier car j’étais anxieux. 

“Although we are poor, we can manage with what we have”. In French, you’d never directly translate the word manage, but instead, you’d say Bien qu'on soit pauvre, on peut se débrouiller avec ce qu’on a. The verb se débrouiller expresses the entire concept of being able to get by and survive day by day with next to nothing.

3. The stylistic element. These are just manners of speaking that native speakers use, which includes sentences structures and word order, or even just expressions of choice that would be clunky in English.

In French, let’s say someone asks you, “Est-ce que tu ne voudrais pas une verre de l'eau avec ça?”. This means “Don’t you want a glass of water with that?”. The food is hot and spicy, so of course you’re thirsty. The first thing that comes to mind is to say, “Mais, oui!”. However, that’s not what is said. It’s not that the grammar or word choice is wrong, but generally, after agreeing with a negative sentence, si is used. You would respond, “Mais, si! J'ai soif!”.

In French, they throw in “ça” everywhere, just for emphasis. “Ça, c'est horrible!”, “Ce robe, ça, c'est très belle!”.

Word choice. Instead of saying “Going to this meeting is important”, one would say something akin to “The attendance of this meeting is vital”. “L'assiduité de la réunion, c'est d'une importance capital”. This is kinda why people like to say French is haughty and pretensive (je t'aime, ma petite langue). Nonetheless, this is more common in formal speech.

In Spanish, what comes to mind at first is the order of subjects and verbs. It’s rather common to hear the subject come after the verb(s), all the way at the end of the sentence. A mí madre matarón los narcotraficantes. El tango baila María todos los fines de la semana.

The word “lo” can precede an arbitrary noun. The normal thing to do is lo normal. The good thing is lo bueno. The physical thing is lo físico, and the sexy thing is lo sensual. You will rarely hear someone say “la buena cosa”.

So, how do you improve your grasp of a language? Well, listening to natives speak is definitely one way. You don’t need to visit the country or anything, but maybe get a pen pal, Tumblr friend and ofc, watch and read the news in your target language. Also, immerse yourself in books, movies, TV shows and music. Finally, practice writing and get a teacher or a native to check your work.

don’t make other people’s decisions for them. apply for the job you don’t think you’ll get. let them decide if you have the skills they’re looking for. tell that person you like them even though you think they’re out of your league. let them decide if they like you. stop trying to predict and control everything. bring what you have to the table. let the rest go.

hey you!! stop for a second!!! think of all the things you have accomplished today!! you woke up?? fucking superb!! washed your face? i’m proud of you!!! what did you do this week??? walked your dog?? they are so lucky to have you!! made yourself a meal??? you are doing amazing!! remember that life mostly consists of small things, not big ones, and you need to learn to cherish them!! play your favorite song!! do your homework!!! water your plants!! throw away the trash!! put away the clothes you’ve been piling on that chair!!! drink some water!!! you can’t do the big things without doing the small ones as well!!!!

Armed with such [linguistic] knowledge, teachers could impart grammar not as an onslaught of desiccated definitions or things to underline, but puzzles to solve. Why does “She destroyed” not feel like a full sentence? (That allows the introduction of concepts such as “direct object”.) How does Shakespeare use “do” differently from modern writers? (Here you can sneak in historical linguistics.) Where might you hear “we was” instead of “we were”? (This can introduce class, dialect and situational appropriateness.) One study found that adding this kind of analysis—albeit in foreign-language classes, not English—made almost 60% of the pupils want to learn more linguistics, particularly language history. Meanwhile the “Linguistics Olympiad” is a popular extra-curricular contest that instils linguistic thinking; perhaps everyone should take part.

The agony and the ecstasy of grammar (via allthingslinguistic)

Just knocked out a first draft of my first ever academic CV. Is this what productivity feels like?

Qué tal amigos de tumblr, hace poco aproveche las ofertas de Amazon y compré una lapicera nueva, además de unos plumones punta pincel.

Les dejo el link para que vayan a ver qué llevo en mi lapicera y cuáles son mis materiales favoritos hasta ahora.

https://youtu.be/kDr7U-OKyQg

Weekly Verb

달리다 - To run

Conjugation:

달렸어요 - Past

달려요 - Present

달리고 있어요 - Present progressive

달릴 거예요 - Future

Here comes a lucky break, a rush of inspiration, a breath of fresh air.