Benny Lewis's Blog, page 24

November 7, 2021

“Nani?!” Japanese Anime Phrases You’ll Hear In Every Show

“Nani?!” Japanese anime can actually help you learn Japanese?!

You bet! No need to be as shocked as this Good Boy:

While Japanese anime isn’t the most realistic dialogue to learn from, it can still be immensely helpful as you work to level up your skills. Especially if you love it!

Because if your love of anime is why you’re learning Japanese, then you’ll enjoy Japanese more if you use it as a resource in your studies.

Of course, you can’t master Japanese from passively watching TV, and you’ll still need other amazing Japanese resources. But it’s a good place to start!

So, today, we’ll dive into some common anime phrases you’ll hear in almost every show you watch. See how many you can pick out next time you turn on Netflix or Crunchyroll!

Table of contentsWhat Does Nani Mean in Japanese?How to Write Nani in Japanese Anime Greetings and Common Phrases Must-Know Anime Phrases Senpai in Japanese Tasukete Daijoubu Itadakimasu Ganbatte!Suki and Daisuki Onaka ga suita Urusai!Shinjirarenai and Uso!Baka Sugoi Iyada Chigau Mochiron Shou ga nai Yokatta Kawaii and Kakkoii Chotto matte kudasai Tadaima and Okaeri nasai Bonus Anime Phrases How to Learn Japanese by Watching Anime The Beginner Approach The Intermediate and Advanced Approach You Won’t Be Asking Nani?! in Japanese Anymore!

Let’s start with the absolute most heard and most meme’d:

What Does Nani Mean in Japanese?

Nani’s meaning in Japanese is “what”, and it’s one of the most common Japanese question words.

You’ve definitely heard nani in Japanese anime, where the character shockingly and dramatically states, “Nani?!”

It’s usually used like “Huh?” or “Ehhhhh??” rather than a serious question.

But even if you don’t watch anime, you’ve probably seen the nani Japanese meme before. Omae wa mou shindeiru. Nani?! (“You are already dead. What?!”) in Japanese became a huge meme thanks to this old school anime, Hokuto no Ken

[image error] How to Write Nani in Japanese

Nani written in Japanese hiragana is なに, nani, or なん, nan. And nani in Japanese kanji is 何.

You use なに when you want to emphasize “what”, such as using the word on its own or when followed by a noun. For example, 何があったの？ (nani ga atta no), which means “What happened?”

You use なん when followed by a particle that starts with t, d, or n, such as 何で? (nan de), “Why?”

Anime Greetings and Common Phrases [image error]

These greetings aren’t just for your dramatic anime hero! You’ll hear these all the time while watching your favorite shows, and they’re essential for starting to speak Japanese.

Want to learn more beginner phrases? Check out this article full of common Japanese phrases.

Good morning: おはようございます, ohayou gozaimasu, or おはよう, ohayouHello/Good afternoon: こんにちは, konnichiwaGood evening: こんばんは, konbanwaGood night: おやすみなさい, oyasumi nasai, or おやすみ, oyasumiHello when on the phone: もしもし, moshi moshiThank you: ありがとうございます, arigatou gozaimasu, or ありがとう, arigatouYou’re welcome: どういたしまして, dou itashimashite, or もんだいもない, mondai mo nai (“no problem”)I see/Is that so: そうか, sou ka, or そうですね, sou desu neYes: はい, hai, or うん, unNo: いいえ, iie, or ううん, uunI’m sorry: ごめんなさい, gomen nasai, or ごめんね, gomen nePlease: ください, kudasai, or お願いします, onegai shimasuGoodbye/See you later: またね, mata ne, or じゃあね, jaa neMust-Know Anime Phrases [image error]

Now let’s dive into some helpful anime phrases every otaku should know. Some of these are used often in everyday life (albeit, less dramatically), while others are much more common in anime than everyday speech. Keep that in mind!

Senpai in Japanese

せんぱい (senpai, kanji: 先輩) means “upperclassman”. So in a school drama, a senpai is someone in the grade above the speaker.

But senpai can also mean anyone who’s older than you, has higher status than you (like in the workplace), or whom you look up to.

Like senpai, you’ll also often hear お兄ちゃん (oniichan) and お姉ちゃん (oneechan). They mean “older brother” and “older sister”. But sometimes younger characters say this when talking to someone older whom they admire, look up to, and have a close relationship with.

The “o” is honorific, so sometimes it’s dropped in casual situations, becoming niichan and neechan.

Tasukete

助けて (tasukete) means “help” in Japanese. You’ll often hear people crying to be rescued in anime like “Tasuketeeeeeeeee!”

Daijoubu

大丈夫 (daijoubu) means “okay” or “alright”. It can be a question or a statement and is used in many different situations.

If you raise the intonation at the end or add the formal ending ですか (desu ka), it becomes 大丈夫？ / 大丈夫ですか, daijoubu? / daijoubu desu ka. This means, “Are you alright?” or “Is it okay (for me to do, etc.)?”

In response, you can say はい, hai, meaning “yes” or state 大丈夫 to mean “I’m alright” or “it’s okay.”

Itadakimasu

いただきます (itadakimasu) means “Let’s eat” or “Bon appetit”. It’s said before meals to show appreciation for the food, the chef, and those eating with you.

After you’re done eating, you’ll hear ごちそうさまでした (gochisousama deshita) which means “thank you for this meal.”

Ganbatte!

頑張って (ganbatte) means “Good luck” or “Do your best!” It’s an encouraging phrase to say to someone before they tackle something tough, like a hard exam.

You’ll hear other variations of it too, like 頑張ろう (ganbarou), which means “let’s do our best.”

Suki and Daisuki

You can’t watch anime without hearing this one! 好き (suki) and 大好き (daisuki) mean “like” and “love”.

In Japanese culture, they don’t normally say “I love you” like in Western culture. So while 愛してる (aishiteru) is often translated as “I love you”, you won’t hear it often.

Instead, you’ll hear anime characters (and people in real life) use suki and daisuki instead.

If a character tells another character simply “Suki” or “Daisuki da yo”, they’re confessing their feelings and saying “I like you” or “I love you”.

Pro tip: A rookie mistake is to pronounce suki as “sue-key”. Instead, the Japanese “smoosh” this sound together to sound more like “ski”. The same is true for the verb desu, where the final “u” sound gets nearly dropped so it sounds like “des” instead of “de-sue”.

Onaka ga suita

お腹が空いた (onaka ga suita) means “I’m hungry” and you’ll often hear characters whine about this.

Sometimes you’ll hear 喉が乾いた, nodo ga kawaita, which means “I’m thirsty”.

Onaka ga suita literally means “My stomach became empty”, while nodo ga kawaita means “My throat became dry.”

Urusai!

うるさい (urusai) can be used a few different ways. It means “noisy” or “annoying”, but it can also be used to tell someone “Shut up!” or “Be quiet!”

Shinjirarenai and Uso!

Both of these phrases are used in a similar way. 信じられない (shinjirarenai) can mean “incredible!” or “I don’t believe it!”

うそ, uso, means “you lie!” or “no way!”

Baka

You probably know this one — ばか (baka) means “idiot” or “stupid” in Japanese.

While “idiot” isn’t super strong in English, it’s basically a bad word in Japanese, so keep that in mind.

Sugoi

You’ll hear this one all. the. time. in Japanese. すごい (sugoi) means “amazing”, but sometimes based on context, it means something like “oh” or “wow.”

See, in Japanese, people often reply to show they’re listening while you’re talking. And then do that by saying things like un, un, un or sugoi… even if what they just heard isn’t actually “amazing.”

Other times, it’s an exclamation like “Sugoi!!” In this case, you’ll also hear the more masculine form すげー, suge-.

Iyada

いやだ (iyada) means “no way” or “I refuse”. You’ll hear this one a lot in a childish way in anime, where the character says “いやだいやだ！” (iyada iyada!) repeatedly.

Chigau

違う (chigau) means “wrong”, “differ”, “disagree”, or “to be mistaken”. In anime, it normally means “You’re wrong!” or “That’s not it at all!” Like iyada, it’s often repeated by the character, especially when in denial: chigau chigau!

Mochiron

もちろん (mochiron) means “of course” or “certainly”. You’ll hear this often to confirm a request or agree with a statement.

Sometimes you’ll also hear りょうかい (ryoukai) meaning “roger!” Characters will often reply with this when they’re agreeing to do something for someone else, especially someone above them in status.

Shou ga nai

しょうがない (shou ga nai) means “It can’t be helped.” It’s a casual expression used when something bad happens, and the character tries to shrug it off.

Yokatta

よかった-! Yokatta is something you’ll hear often in anime as the character exclaims happily. But it has several uses.

Yokatta means “I’m glad” when replying to someone’s good news. But it’s often used in the same way we say “Yay!” or “PHEW! What a relief” in English.

You’ll also hear the phrases やったー！ (yatta-!) or よし！ (yoshi!, pronounced “yosh”) used in a similar way. But it means “I did it!” or “We did it!” It still has the tone of happiness or relief though.

Kawaii and Kakkoii

かわいい (kawaii) is one of the most common Japanese words to hear in anime and about anime. It means “cute” in Japanese.

かっこいい (kakkoii) is “cool” in Japanese, but it can also mean “handsome” or “attractive.” It’s often used to describe guys that the main heroine finds attractive.

Chotto matte kudasai

A polite expression, ちょっと待ってください (chotto matte kudasai) means “please wait a minute/moment.” It’s a very common expression in everyday life in Japan, as well as anime.

You’ll hear several different variations depending on politeness, such as:

ちょっと待って, chotte matte: “Wait!” or “Wait up!” (casual)少々お待ちください, shoushou omachi kudasai: “Please wait a little bit” (very formal)少しお待ちください, sukoshi omachi kudasai: “Please wait a moment” (very formal)Tadaima and Okaeri nasai

ただいま (tadaima) means “I’m home” in Japanese. You’ll hear characters say this when they arrive back at their house after school or work.

In return, the family replies お帰り (okaeri) or more formal, お帰りなさい (okaeri nasai). It means “welcome back.”

There are also phrases for when you leave your house, too.

You say 行ってきます (ittekimasu) to mean “I’m going (and coming back)” or “I’ll be back later, see you”. The people staying reply, 行ってらっしゃい (itterasshai). It means “please go and come back” but it’s more like “Have a good day!” or “Be careful!”

Bonus Anime Phrases [image error]

Here are even more common anime phrases that you may hear. For example, Sailor Moon often says “Yurusenai! to her enemies before her infamous slogan: 月に代わってお仕置きよ! (Tsuki ni kawatte oshioki yo!)

“It’s too much of a bother”: めんどくさい, mendokusai“What the heck?” or “What in the world?”: なんてことだ, nante koto da“I can’t forgive you!”: 許せない, yurusenai“You’re the worst!”: さいていだよ！, saitei da yo!“Shit”, “Dammit” or “Blast!”: しまった, shimatta“Shit!”: くそ！, kuso!“It’s useless”: 無理だ, muri da“Stop!”: やめて, yamete (more feminine), or やめろ, yamero (more masculine)“Let’s go”: 行こう, ikou, 行くぞ, iku zo, 行くぜ, iku ze“I won’t lose”: 負けないよ, makenai yoHow to Learn Japanese by Watching Anime [image error]

Okay, so you’ve learned all these words to help you prepare to watch anime. Now what? How can you start learning Japanese while watching your favorite shows?

Well, there are several things to keep in mind first.

#1: Anime speech tends to have a lot of made-up words, slang, unrealistic tone, and more casual speech than in real life.

As long as you’re aware of this, you should be fine. But don’t use words you don’t understand — sometimes they’re made up or rude.

#2: It’s easiest to learn from anime once you’ve built a solid foundation in Japanese.

Of course, beginners can and should enjoy Japanese anime. But you’ll get a lot more out of it and be able to distinguish speech patterns easier if you’re around an intermediate level.

So if you’re serious about using this as a study tool, you may get frustrated as a beginner. But don’t worry! There are ways to learn no matter your level.

The Beginner Approach

Step 1: Do some research on your anime before you start watching. Learn vocab or grammar related to the plot, learn character names and relationships, and where it takes place. If you’re watching a high school drama, learn vocab related to school.

Step 2: Watch the anime the whole way through with subtitles. Get a feel for the episode and themes.

Step 3: Watch the episode in shorter clips without subtitles or with Japanese subtitles (if available). See how many words you learned pop up, and write down words you catch and don’t know to look up later.

Step 4: Add your new vocab to your flashcard app for review later, and practice making a sentence or two with some of the new words and grammar you learned. Look online for help if you need.

Step 5: Repeat, repeat, repeat. Keep going until it becomes easier and your vocab grows!

The Intermediate and Advanced Approach

Step 1: Turn on Japanese subtitles. Watch the show through, and take note of any words and phrases you don’t know. Can you read all the subtitles?

Step 2: Look up any of the words you didn’t know, and add them to your flashcard app to practice. If possible, download the subtitles and read through them to pick out as much as possible.

Step 3: Watch the episode again without subtitles, either in clips (ideal) or all the way through. For best practice, try shadowing along with the characters by reading the subtitles out loud. Can you mimic the inflections?

Step 4: Take what you learned and write 2 – 3 sentences with the new grammar and vocab, or a short paragraph summarizing the episode in your own words. Read it out loud.

Step 5: Repeat until you can watch the show comfortably without subtitles!

You Won’t Be Asking Nani?! in Japanese Anymore!

Use these phrases and tips to get you started, and go explore the world of Japanese anime!

Even if your goal isn’t to reach fluency, understanding some of the phrases can add a lot more enjoyment to your binge session.

Want to level up your Japanese even more? Check out these great articles to keep learning Japanese:

How to Write in Japanese: A Beginner’s Guide The Ultimate Guide to Japanese Particles Must-Know Japanese Slang Terms

The post “Nani?!” Japanese Anime Phrases You’ll Hear In Every Show appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

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Published on November 07, 2021 21:53

November 4, 2021

How to Use Russian Poetry to Improve Your Russian [With 10 Recommendations!]

Russian writers have been at the forefront of world literature for centuries and many remain vastly celebrated throughout Russian to this day. Poetry provides a great tool to not only hone in on your Russian skills, but to also learn about and appreciate the culture of the land.

No matter where you are on your language learning journey, there are many different techniques to explore that will help with improving various aspects of your Russian, and the Russian-speaking world has a great selection of poets to dive into without any fears of boredom.

Why Poetry?

Westerners often hear of the many Russian heavyweights in the literary world, such as Dostoevsky or Tolstoy, and learners often make one of their long-term goals to be able to read one (or many) of these celebrated works.

Yet poetry is often ignored, despite its prevalence in Russian culture.

Russians memorize countless poems during their school years and it is not uncommon to encounter public readings of both modern and classic poetry. In fact, poetry is such a common hobby that the internet has a massive community across all platforms filled with many renditions of both well-known and lesser-known poems.

It is very easy to get lost in the world of poetry, and learning a language is all about exposure to all different mediums!

Memorizing the lines of famous poems will not only impress your Russian friends, but it will also help with understanding vocabulary, pronunciation, expression, and grammatical structures (especially the dreaded case system).

On top of all this, you will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of Russian culture.

And perhaps you will find a newfound love for poetry that might not have existed prior to studying Russian!

How to Use Poetry to Study

Poetry is a great tool for practicing your language skills. One of the most obvious uses is to learn more complex vocabulary and grammatical structures (some of which may only really be seen in poetry).

But there are many more ways to soak up as much as possible from each poem.

Shadowing is a great technique that involves repeating after the speaker while trying to mimic and reproduce the correct pronunciation.

The rhyming scheme in poetry provides learners of all levels with a great opportunity for fine tuning one's ear.

Shadowing, especially in poetry, is also a great way to practice expression and confidence. Many popular poems have tons of renditions on YouTube, and practicing the different styles of reciting poetry will help you emulate all the different emotions the reciter evokes.

Shadowing benefits learners from A1 to C2, and poetry is a great medium for practice that many overlook.

10 Famous Russian PoemsЯ вас любил: любовь ещё, быть может – А.С. Пушкин (1799-1837)

Alexander Pushkin is arguably the most famous literary figure in Russian history. He was born in Moscow on May 26th, 1799 to a family of nobility. His life was cut short at the age of 37 when he died of an injury sustained after a duel on January 29th, 1837 in Saint Petersburg.

Pushkin is credited with developing the modern Russian language, as well as Russian literature. This is due to his style that, while simplistic, was carefully crafted and favored natural, colloquial speech to a pompous show of words.

Pushkin was a very prolific writer whose works span over a large number of genres, from novels and short stories to poems and plays. Many literary critics consider his works masterpieces.

His poem “I loved you: yet the love, maybe” (Я вас любил: любовь ещё, быть может) is probably the most famous love poem in Russian poetic heritage. This makes it a great candidate to practice Russian, as most native speakers will be familiar with this poem.

On top of that, it is full of great adjectives that you will certainly come across often and the grammar usage is straightforward.

Подражая Некрасову, или Любовная песнь Иванова – Иосиф Бродский (1940-1996)

Joseph Brodsky was born on May 24th, 1940 in Leningrad, Russia. He spent his childhood living in poverty and often felt marginalized by anti-Jewish sentiments he faced in Soviet Russia.

Brodsky left school at the age of 15 and began to write poetry, eventually coming under the mentorship of one of the biggest names in the Russian literary world at the time, Anna Akhmatova.

Brodsky was sentenced to 5 years of hard labor in 1964 after being charged with “social parasitism” for Anti-Soviet themes in his poetry, but this sentence was later commuted in 1966 due to protests by prominent Soviet literary leaders.

In 1972, Brodsky was expelled from the USSR and he moved to the USA, where he lived out the rest of his life.

Brodsky composed poems in both Russian and English, with many containing a recurrent theme of the poet and society. His work also reflected upon the human experience and existentialism.

In “Imitating Nekrasov, or Ivanov’s Love Song” (Подражая Некрасову, или Любовная песнь Иванова) Brodsky brilliantly demonstrates the inner turmoil of someone who is unable to cope with heartbreak.

This poem is great for intermediate learners of Russian. Brodsky's vocabulary usage is bursting with words that will beef up any learner's knowledge and only has a few fairly uncommon terms, like буфера (“bosom” or “boobs”) and базлать (“to loudly speak” or “scream”) that are easy to skip over without affecting the overall comprehension of the poem.

This poem does not use any tricky word phrases or word order that will trip up a Russian learner who is not yet accustomed to reading poetry.

Спасибо Вам за то, что не любили – Михаил Лермонтов (1814-1841)

Mikhail Lermontov was born on October 15th, 1814 in Moscow to a noble family. His father was a poor army officer, while his mother came from a wealthy family.

Lermontov was catapulted to fame after he wrote the poem “Death of the Poet” (Смерть Поэта) in 1837 as a reaction to Pushkin's death. This publication landed him in exile in the Caucasus, as it was not accepted by censors.

However, Lermontov became enamored with the atmosphere of the Caucasus and his writing flourished during his exile. Lermontov succumbed to the same fate as Pushkin, dying on July 27th, 1841 at the age of 26 from a duel wound.

Lermontov's prose is considered among the finest in Russian literature, and is ranked second to only that of Pushkin. His poetry is considered classic in Russia and most critics view his poetry as canon Russian Romanticism.

“Thank you for not loving me” (Спасибо Вам за то, что не любили) has a sardonic tone as Lermontov continuously thanks the person he is writing to for all the things that are clearly causing him pain.

This poem is a great way to learn how to thank someone with the repeating спасибо за (“thanks for”) and благодарю за (“I thank you for”) structure.

К ** (Я не унижусь пред тобою…)* – Михаил Лермонтов (1814-1841)

К * (Я не унижусь пред тобою…) is another poem written by Lermontov and a personal favorite of mine.

Lermontov opens with a couplet that clearly states his pique and quickly follows it with reminiscences of a youthful love that engulfed his life. Once the background is set, he divulges the reason behind his caustic introductory couplet — he has lost the love of the one who captured his heart. The reader is suddenly thrown into a tempest of emotions that all contradict, yet further emphasize the poet’s internal struggle.

Но слишком знаем мы друг друга / Чтобы друг друга позабыть. (“But we know each other too well / to forget each other”)

Начну обманывать безбожно,
Чтоб не любить, как я любил;
Иль женщин уважать возможно,
Когда мне ангел изменил?
(“I will shamelessly deceive,
so that I will not love, how I once loved;
For how shall I respect women,
when I’ve been deceived by an angel?”)

The recollections of his youthful years, which centered around such a love, now backdrop a man who is distraught and unable to accept reality. Lermontov is only able to envision his life as devoid and tormented by an unrequited love.

Lermontov ends on a particularly painful parting note: He is no longer able to recognize the person he once loved, as he only envisioned the love being two-sided.

This poem is a great choice for advanced learners to help push their Russian to the next level. It is full of uncommon words that provide a great challenge, without feeling useless to learn. It will help acclimate learners with stylistic elements common in Russian poetry.

For instance, poets will sometimes use “ь” to replace “и” in words ending with “ние or ния”, such as in “мгновенья” or “вдохновенья”, in order to maintain the poetic rhythm. The line, “Я не соделаюсь рабом”, is another great example of minor changes to words to maintain poetic rhythm, as the “о” here is attached to the prefix “с” to keep the flow.

А я то думал, Вы счастливая – Пётр Градов (1925-2003)

Peter Gradov was born on February 10th, 1925 in Novohrad-Volynskyi, Ukraine, while it was part of the USSR. He spent most of his childhood in Leningrad, before joining the army at the age of 18. During the war, Gradov worked as a hospital attendant.

These experiences led to many of his poems being centered around love and war. Gradov is exalted for his usage of simple words to express complex thoughts.

“I thought you were happy” ( А я то думал, Вы счастливая ) does exactly this, as it talks about a beautiful woman who is unhappy with only being loved but never falling in love.

This poem is very popular for public recitation in Russian and it has even been turned into a song.

It also is a great chance to learn the meaning of “Я то”, in which the “то” contains an accusatory or blaming nuance to highlight the opposite of what was said to be occurring. It is used when to prove one's point, emphasize that something contrary to expectations occurred, or to shift blame.

Письмо к женищне – Сергей Есенин (1895-1925)

Sergei Yesenin, also written as Sergey Esenin, is one of the most popular Russian poets of the 20th century.

He was born on October 3rd, 1895 in Konstantinovo to a serf family, in which both his parents spent most of their time in search of work. His socio-economic background and rural upbringing had a great influence on both his political views and poetry, even despite moving to Moscow to study in university.

Yesenin openly welcomed the February Revolution, believing it would alter the social landscape of Russian by shifting power to the peasants.

Yesenin was close to many “new peasant poets”, which is a group of Russian poets during the Silver age from a peasant upbringing. As such, many of his works centered around the life of simple people and the countryside in Russia.

Although Yesenin was exalted as one of the great poets during his time, he did not lead a happy life. His lyrics spoke of depression, alcohol abuse, drunken brawls and a “hooligan” lifestyle.

On December 28th, 1925, Yesenin was found dead in the Angleterre hotel in Leningrad. It is said that he ended his life by hanging after a struggle with depression that landed him in a psychiatric ward. However, it is unclear if this took his life or if he was killed by Soviet secret police.

Yesenin's poetry is often centered on the Russian nature of his childhood. His lyrics are full of vivid imagery, elaborately painting the beauty of his motherland in all her raw glory. Yet there also lies undertones of disdain for urbanization and industrialization.

Letter to a woman(Письмо к женищне) is one of Yesenin's more famous works. It contains a dual meaning within its lines — a personal and social one. There is first a divide between the poet of then and now. The former sought meaning in life among the painful occurrences happening around him, the most palpable of which is losing the love of a woman. This tormented version of Yesenin lays the basis for the Yesenin of now. This version of the poet turns to alcohol to null his pain, as he keeps with Russian tradition to wish the woman all the best.

The second layer deals with society. The hero feels like he is whipped around like a horse and is thrown about in a storm while on a ship. This holds a metaphorical meaning for the societal problems and disquietude in Russia at the time, as the motherland is the ship tossed into a thick fog and forced to withstand unforeseen events.

This poem is full of difficult vocabulary that will challenge even advanced learners of Russian. As this poem is one of the more popular works of Yesenin, and is a popular pick for many to recite, familiarizing yourself with this work will expose you to one of the greatest works and poets of Russian literary history and undoubtedly impress all your Russian friends.

Убившей любовь – Александр Вертинский (1889-1957)

Alexander Vertinsky, born on March 21st, 1889, was the most popular singer of Russia's “Silver Age” and an indelible part of Russian musical culture. His personal performance style combined singing and speaking to create what was dubbed by critics as “artistic singing”.

His influence is still felt today in Russian music culture, as songwriters imitate Vertinsky's style and perform his songs.

In Murdered Love (Убившей любовь), Vertinsky uses an acerbic tone towards his muse, for her evil ways have left him not wanting to care anymore about her.

The lines in this poem are great for any learner, as the meaning is straightforward and the words are not overly complex. It also repeats a great phrase to memorize — “Какое мне дело”, which means “why should I care”, “what do I care”, “why would I care” or “I don't care”.

Как мне тебе понравиться? – Эдуард Асадов (1923-2004)

Eduard Asadov was born in Merv, Turkestan, USSR on September 7th, 1923 to a family of teachers. His childhood was full of hardship between poverty and the civil war. He later volunteered to serve as a soldier in World War II, and sustained an injury that left him blind.

This, however, did not stop him from continuing to write poetry and Asadov went on to be a fairly prolific author.

Unfortunately, his work was never recognized in literary circles, despite his popularity in Russia. As such, he is not viewed as a literary classic, but rather a folk classic, and his works are not taught in school curriculum.

Asadov's poems are still memorized by thousands of people and he maintains a faithful audience to this day in Russia. His poems center around love and tenderness, friendship and devotion, and the Motherland. His works captivated and resonated with many for their raw emotion and open sincerity.

Как мне тебе понравиться? is a great choice for those who do not want to get bogged down by rare words and complex grammar structures.

This poem introduces a wide range of vocabulary to describe disposition and life events, making it very accessible for Russian learners at an early stage. It will also help to familiarize you with the instrumental case, as it is used to describe the poet's state of being several times throughout.

Одиночество – Ах Астахова (1987-)

Ah Astokhova is a popular contemporary poet, who first rose to fame in 2011 for her poem on Тебя хоть там любят?. She currently holds concerts and public readings all over Ukraine and Russia and has garnered immense popularity, despite only being 33 years old.

Loneliness(, Одиночество ) speaks of the common themes of lost love and loneliness, yet Astakhova has a calm tone after coming to terms with the parting.

This poem will not be particularly challenging for those looking to break into modern Russian poetry, as the theme and vocabulary are commonplace.

Мы не увидем моря вместе – Денис Стерн (1993-)

Dennis Stern is another modern poet. He was born in Poltava, Ukraine in 1993 and began writing after he entered university as a way to entertain his classmates.

Several of his poems have garnered attention across internet platforms, with Russian speakers recording their own recitations of his poetry on Instagram, YouTube and VKontakte.

Мы не увидем моря вместе is another great choice, like most modern poetry, for learners who are looking to break into Russian poetry. These verses are composed of mostly common terms and will expose the reader to diverse ways to express everyday occurrences.

The lack of complex themes, vocabulary or grammar structure make this a great candidate to learn in order to begin understanding how to comprehend poetry in Russian.

Where to Find More Resources

The internet is full of great places to further explore Russian poetry and social media has made Russian culture accessible to everyone, no matter where in the world they may be located. It is also a very valuable resource for language learners.

Incorporating your social media habits into your language learning is a great way to ensure that you will constantly improve through daily exposure, all while keeping the language learning process as fun as possible.

There are also great websites, such as ruverses and http://russianpoetry.yale.edu/, that post collections of popular Russian poets and their accompanying translations. This is a great way to explore some of your favorite poets or compare translations of popular poems to your own.

YouTube

YouTube, in particular, has countless channels dedicated to poetry readings that would serve as a great way to find many renditions of a poem. This would be a great way to practice different forms of pronunciation, timing and emotional range when shadowing the reader.

YouTube also has a slowdown feature, which would allow learners to practice shadowing at a suitable pace by making the video go as slow as a 0.25 pace. This, paired with an innumerable amount of videos on Russian poetry, makes YouTube a great resource for learners.

A great channel to start from would be “blackvelvet”. “Blackvelvet” publishes daily videos on both YouTube and instagram of mostly modern poetry.

It's a great resource to find more people across social media platforms who publish poetry readings, as the owner will link and credit both the reader and author of the poem. Many of the posts also contain the lines of the poem, so that the reader can follow along.

Another similar channel is “Стих и Я”. In contrast to “blackvelvet”, these videos are of classic poems. This ensures a high-quality selection of poetry.

On top of that, each recording features the clear voice of a reader, along with the lines of the poem in the description. This is the perfect channel to devote hours of study into learning the works by big name Russian poets.

There are also several channels dedicated to particular poets, “Сергей Есенин – стихи, поэмы и повести” to name one. This channel features many works of Sergey Yesenin, the author of Письмо к женищне.

It is neatly organized into playlists according to the reader, the year the poem was composed, or the type of work. Much like the other channel, all the videos have clear recordings with the poetry lines in the description.

YouTube is also a great resource to find certain readers you enjoy. Searching for your favorite poet or poem will yield tons of videos of natives reciting the verses. Thanks to the online Russian poetry community, there is no end to active accounts publishing videos.

My personal favorites are Masha Matveychuk, Nikolai Keverzhik, and Bulat Yunucov.

Instagram

Instagram is also a great platform to find posts related to Russian poetry. Although there are fewer features to aid you in your studies, it is still a great resource.

As mentioned above, there are accounts that post a wide selection of natives reading both modern and classic poetry.

“Blackvelvet” is one of the more popular account. But, there are many more you can follow that might suit your own personal tastes.

“Videostih” is an example of just one of these accounts.

There are also many personal accounts dedicated to poetry recitations across Instagram, much like on YouTube. Sometimes the poster will edit the lines directly onto their video, like on Bekker_Ruslan‘s account.

Other times, there will merely be a video with clear audio but none of the poetry lines, like on Andrey Lukashyenko‘s account.

#059 | Maria Ortega on the Poetry of Learning Languages English Listening Practice: 50+ Brilliant Resources for ESL Learners Here’s an English Poem to Show How Crazy English Can Get Benny's Top Resources for Learning Russian Listen to Russian: 50+ Incredible Russian Listening Resources

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Published on November 04, 2021 21:01

October 31, 2021

Learn a Kaleidoscope of Colors in Japanese [With Examples]

If you travel to Japan, you’ll fall in love with the beautiful, color-rich scenery. The red torii of Shinto shrines, vibrant neon Harajuku fashion, or the pastel blues of Edo-era art. Colors in Japanese are a must learn for anyone interested in the language, culture, or for travel!

Besides being one of the basic building blocks of language learning, colors in Japanese hold traditional meanings. They’re often tied to the culture, and represent nobility, strength, or peace.

So learning the colors will deepen your knowledge of the culture. And it’ll give you more enjoyment during your travels to Japan.

And thankfully — they’re not too difficult to learn!

function runSplitTest(){var randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1console.log(randomNumber)var copy = "";if (randomNumber == 1){ copy = 'A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away in Japanese for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. <a href="https://fluentin3months.com/challenge... this link to find out more.</a>'} else { copy = 'Before we get started, if you’re looking for an online Japanese course, here’s the course I recommend: <a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/olly-... Uncovered - Learn Japanese Through the Power of Story</a>, a course with a fascinating new method by my friend Olly. You can try it for free for 7 days!'}console.log(copy)var copyToChange = document.querySelector("p.copyText").innerHTML = copy;}runSplitTest();Table of contentsThe Colors in Japanese: Primary Colors More Colors in Japanese Shades of Black, White, Grey, and Browns Shades of Red, Orange and Yellow Shades of Green and Blue Shades of Pink and Purple Words Related to Colors Meaning of Colors in Japanese Culture A Kaleidoscope of Colors in JapaneseThe Colors in Japanese: Primary Colors

Let’s jump right in with our main, basic colors. They are:

Red: 赤, akaOrange: オレンジ, orenjiYellow: 黄色, kiiroGreen: 緑, midoriBlue: 青, aoPurple: 紫, murasakiWhite: 白, shiroBlack: 黒, kuroGrey: 灰色, haiiroBrown: 茶色, chairoPink: ピンク, pinku

These are the most common ways to hear and use the colors. But there are some alternate ways to say them.

For example, purple in Japanese is 紫 (murasaki), but sometimes you’ll hear the English loan word パープル (pa-puru) written in Katakana.

The color orange in Japanese is most often said オレンジ, the English loan word. But it does have its own native Japanese word: 橙色 (daidaiiro).

And this one you may have heard before: ホワイト (howaito). It’s also the white color in Japanese. And the English loan word is often used for things like White Day, the holiday most like our Valentine’s Day where men treat women. (Valentine’s Day in Japan is reversed: women give their loves and friends chocolates.)

Here’s a color chart plus their alternate names, in both hiragana and kanji:

English Color Colors in Japanese Kanji Colors in Japanese Hiragana Romaji Loan Word Alternative Romaji Red 赤あか aka レッド reddo Orange 橙色だいだいいろ daidaiiro オレンジ orenji Yellow 黄色きいろ kiiro イエロー iero- Green 緑みどり midori グリーン guri-n Blue 青あお ao ブルー buru- Purple 紫むらさき murasaki パープル pa-puru White 白しろ shiro ホワイト howaito Black 黒くろ kuro ブラック burakku Grey 灰色はいいろ haiiro グレー gure- Brown 茶色ちゃいろ chairo ブラウン buraun Pink 桃色ももいろ momoiro ピンク pinku

One thing to note is that several of the colors end in 色 (iro), which is the Japanese word for “color.” That will help you recognize them. Of course, colors like green in Japanese (緑, midori), don’t follow that rule, so you’ll need to memorize those.

P.S. Still need to learn how to read and write in Japanese? Check out these articles to get started:

How to write in Japanese How to learn hiragana How to learn kanji All about the Japanese alphabet Learn your first 100 kanjiMore Colors in Japanese

Cool, we’ve mastered the basics! That’s a huge first step.

But I’m sure you want to know more than the basic colors of the rainbow, right?

After all, our world is filled with all the colors in a Crayola box and more! So we need to learn how to talk about things like gold, silver, light blue, dark green, lavender, rose, turquoise, and so many more.

This is where things get a little tricky though. Because colors in Japanese don’t always align with what we expect.

For example, 桃色 actually means “peach color” in Japanese. But in Japanese, it refers to the pink color of the peach tree blossoms, not the peach fruit. The pale pink-orange of peach fruit is 肌色 (hadairo), “skin color”.

Also, 青 (ao, “blue”) is often used to describe green things. I’ll explain why in a moment, but it can get confusing sometimes.

Don’t worry though — I’ve shared some links after the list that have more colors and their hex color shades, so you can check any of them out yourself. In fact, it’d be easiest to memorize the names by looking at the color rather than trying to compare to English. So use this list to get you started.

By the way, some of these colors may seem difficult, but once you learn more Japanese, they make sense. Like 真っ黒 (makkuro) means “pitch black”. The first kanji 真 means “true” and the second one, 黒 , means “black”. Others are just the name of flowers or things in nature + 色 (iro, “color”).

So let’s take a look:

Shades of Black, White, Grey, and BrownsPitch black: 真っ黒 (makkuro)Ink black: 墨色 (sumiiro)Pure white: 真っ白 (masshiro)Off-white: 胡粉色 (gofuniro)Beige: ベージュ (be-ju)Pearl: 真珠色 (shinjuiro)Ivory: 象牙色 (zougeiro)Silver: 銀色 (giniro)Mouse grey: 鼠色 (nezumiiro)Lead: 鉛色 (namariiro)Slate: 藍鼠 (ainezumi)Sand: 砂色 (sunairo)Chestnut: 栗色 (kuriiro)Earth brown: 土色 (tsuchiiro)Rust or Chocolate brown: 錆色 (sabiiro)Shades of Red, Orange and YellowPure red (also “bright red” or “deep red”): 真っ赤 (makka)Scarlet: 緋色 (hiiro)Strawberry: 紅色 (beniiro)Bright red: 紅緋 (benihi)Vermilion: 朱色 (shuiro)Auburn: 鳶色 (tobiiro)Maroon: 小豆色 (azukiiro)Amber: 琥珀色 (kohakuiro)Persimmon: 柿色 (kakiiro)Apricot: 杏色 (anzuiro)Mandarin orange: みかん色 (mikaniro)Bronze: 青銅色 (seidouiro)Gold: 金色 (kiniro)Sunflower: ひまわり色 (himawariiro)Mustard: からし色 (karashiiro)Shades of Green and BlueJade green: 翡翠色 (hisuiiro)Olive green: 鶯色 (uguisuiro)Moss green: 苔色 (kokeiro)Evergreen: 千歳緑 (chitosemidori)Forest green: 常盤色 (tokiwairo)Pea green: 柳色 (yanagiiro)Spring green (yellow-green): 萌黄色 (mogiiro)Teal: 鴨の羽色 (kamonohairo)Green-blue: 青緑色 (aomidoriiro)Pure blue (also “deep blue”): 真っ青 (massao)Lapis blue (also sapphire blue or royal blue): 瑠璃色 (ruriiro)Aqua: 納戸色 (nandoiro)Celadon: 青磁色 (seijiro)Cyan: 浅葱色 (asagiiro)Sky blue (also “water blue”): 水色 (mizuiro)Powder blue: 空色 (sorairo, literally “sky blue” but closer to powder blue)Navy blue: 紺色 (koniro)Indigo: 藍 (ai)Shades of Pink and PurplePeach: 肌色 (hadairo, literally “skin color”)Light pink: 桜色 (sakurairo, literally “cherry blossom pink”)Rose: 薔薇色 or バラ色 (both read barairo)Blush pink: 紅梅色 (koubaiiro)Azalea or Cherry pink: 躑躅色 (tsutsujiiro)Peony: 牡丹色 (botaniro)Coral: 珊瑚色 (sangoiro)Lavender: 藤色 (fujiiro)Violet: 菫色 (sumireiro)Iris: 菖蒲色 (shoubuiro)Blue-purple: 青紫色 (aomurasaki)Grape, or purple-red: 葡萄色 (ebiiro)Plum: 梅紫 (umemurasaki)Eggplant: 茄子紺 (nasukon)

Don’t see a color you want to know here? No worries. Check out this list of traditional Japanese colors (with English names, plus hex colors and RGB for you color geeks out there).

There’s also this incredible site dedicated to learning Japanese colors and where the name comes from. I found this site insanely helpful for remembering the colors. It tells you the kanji meaning, English name, hex code, but also some facts about the color and related colors.

Japanese Color Names as Nouns and Adjectives: Grammar Usage

All the colors above are nouns, but blue, red, black, and white can become adjectives by adding い (i) to the end.

Blue: 青, ao → 青い, aoiRed: 赤, aka → 赤い, akaiBlack: 黒, kuro → 黒い, kuroiWhite: 白, shiro → 白い, shiroi

Yellow can also add an い to become an adjective: 黄色い (kiiroi). But the い has to attach to the kanji 色 (iro), not the kanji indicating color. Same with 茶色い (chairoi) for “brown”.

So how do you use the colors in a sentence?

If it’s an い-adjective, you can simply attach it to the front of the noun.

赤いカバン akai kaban “Red bag”

But if you’re using the colors as a descriptive noun, you need to use the Japanese particle の (no) to attach the two nouns together.

赤のカバン aka no kaban “Red bag” (This has the same meaning as 赤いカバン.)

ピンクの花 pinku no hana “Pink flower”

Or, you could say “(Noun) is (color)” like:

この花はピンクです。 kono hana wa pinku desu “That flower is pink.”

Pretty simple!

Words Related to Colors

There are some other words related to colors you might want to learn about too.

For example, how do you say something is “colorful” in Japanese? There are a few ways.

Both 色鮮やかな (iro azayakana) and 色彩豊かな (shikisai yutakana) can be used as adjectives to say “colorful”.

But there’s also カラフル (karafuru), an English loan word for “colorful” in Japanese.

Be careful though! You might think “colorful” would be 色っぽい (iroppoi) — but that actually means “sexy” in Japanese.

Same with 色々な (iroirona). This means “several” or “various” but doesn’t mean “colorful” like you might think.

“Rainbow” in Japanese is 虹 (niji). Put it with 色 and you get “rainbow-colored”, 虹色 (nijiiro). Similarly, you can use 多色の (tashokuno) to say “multi-colored”.

If something has no color, you can use 無色 (mushoku) for “colorless”.

Like “colorful”, ネオン (neon) is a loan word for “neon” in Japanese.

A couple other similar words:

Iridescent: 玉虫色 (tamamushiiro)Holographic: ホログラフィック (horogurafikku)Opal: オパール (opa-ru) or 乳白色 (nyuuhakushoku, also “milky white”)Transparent or clear: 透明 (toumei)Bright (color or light): 明るい (akarui)Light or pale (color): 淡い (awai)Vivid (color): 鮮やかな (azayaka na)Light (color or also “thin”): 薄い (usui)Dark (color): 濃い (koi)

You can use the adjectives to describe colors, like 濃い赤 (koiaka) for “dark red” or 鮮やかな紫 (azayaka na murasaki) for “vivid purple”.

Meaning of Colors in Japanese Culture

The four main traditional colors of Japan are red, white, black, and blue. In fact, a long time ago, all colors fell into those four categories.

Remember how I said blue is often used to describe green? This is why. Green, in fact, was considered a shade of blue and not a color of its own for a long time.

That’s why if you’ve studied Japanese for a while, you’ve probably heard how they say stoplights “turn blue” — 青になる (ao ni naru) — rather than turn green.

This happens in many instances where Japanese people still use 青 (ao), “blue”, instead of 緑 (midori), green. Originally, 緑 meant greenery, like trees, not a color. Even so, you’ll hear 青葉 (aoba) for “green leaves”.

So this can be tricky at times.

The color red in Japanese culture is obviously very important. Red is a color of protection against evil. That’s why the Shinto torii are red, to protect and repel evil.

But also, red is the color of the kami, the gods or spirits of Shintoism. So red holds religious, spiritual, and powerful meanings. But it’s also associated with peace, prosperity, and strength.

It’s the complete opposite of how Western society views red, where it’s seen as the color of both passion and aggression, and often associated with evil (like the red devil). Normally, blue is the color of peace in Western culture.

But blue used to mark the evil character in Kabuki.

Outside of Kabuki, though, blue is mystic and royal. For a long time, blue and purple were the color of nobility and the elite. In fact, purple flowers were the emblem of several shogunates, such as the Tokugawa shogunate.

Back then, only the elite were allowed to wear blue and purple. But during the Edo period where art really took off, many people began wearing indigo blue. It’s still one of the most popular traditional colors of Japan and is considered a lucky color.

Like in Western culture, white symbolizes purity. But it’s also strongly tied with the spiritual world, and it used to be the color you wore to funerals.

Now, though, Japan has been influenced by Western culture and black has become the color for funerals.

Like purple and blue were the colors of the elite, black was the color of the poor in old Japan. But later, black became a color of beauty and was used often in traditional makeup. Women even dyed their teeth black to look more beautiful!

A Kaleidoscope of Colors in Japanese

Life is colorful — so don’t forget to enjoy it in Japanese, too!

Now that you’ve learned so many colors and ways to use them, you can go forth and add more color to your Japanese conversations.

What will you learn next in Japanese? Why not learn about “kawaii” culture in Japan, get inspired by Japanese proverbs, or all about Japanese food?

Learn Colors in Spanish Easily How to Learn a Rainbow of Colors in Korean German Colors: A Fun and Easy Way to Learn Colors in German 90 Japanese Adjectives to Add Color to Your Conversations Spanish in 3 Months: My First Week (and Day 0 Video)

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Published on October 31, 2021 21:01

October 29, 2021

6 Tips to Learn Phrasal Verbs in English

A big gap for many English learners is phrasal verbs.

I've been teaching English for close to 10 years. It’s never long before students start asking “How can I sound more like a native speaker?”

Phrasal verbs have enabled my students to feel more confident and comfortable using English. It's also been a great help for me as a language learner.

That's why I’ve decided to share with you my best tips for learning phrasal verbs in English.

Table of contentsWhat is a Phrasal Verb?Verb: “To Pick”Phrasal Verb: “To Pick Up”1. Is the Phrasal Verb Transitive or Intransitive?Transitive Phrasal Verbs Intransitive Phrasal Verbs 2. Is the Phrasal Verb Separable or Inseparable?3. Context: A Simple Trick for Memorising Phrasal Verbs 4. Use Stories to Lodge Phrasal Verbs in Your Memory 5. Use Music to Discover How Phrasal Verbs are Used 6. Check Current Use of Phrasal Verbs by Reading the News Time to Learn Phrasal Verbs

If you’re learning English, I’m sure you’ll love these tips. And if you’re a native English speaker, knowing about phrasal verbs can be a big help with your language learning.

What is a Phrasal Verb?

Firstly, let's outline briefly what a phrasal verb actually is!

Have you ever noticed how when you sometimes add a seemingly tiny word like a preposition or an adverb after a verb, the meaning can completely change? Crazy, huh? That's phrasal verbs.

They're a little bit wacky.

Let’s look at some examples.

Verb: “To Pick”

“To Pick” is just a normal verb, not a phrasal verb. Well, not yet, at least. It can mean a few things.

Let's focus on one meaning for our example: to select or choose.

We need to pick which meal we’d like to eat.

But look what happens to ‘pick' when we add the word ‘up'.

Phrasal Verb: “To Pick Up”

Now, as if by some kind of wordplay magic, “to pick” has become a phrasal verb. To ”pick up” can actually mean many different things.

We’ll look at just four of the possible meanings in this post: to improve, to collect someone or something, and to acquire knowledge.

Let's look at an example for each of these:

Improve: The weather is picking up lately, isn’t it?Collect someone: Can you pick Jenny up after football practice?Collect something: Can you pick up my parcel from the post office?Acquire knowledge: James picked up Spanish really quickly.

Phew! Who'd have thought that the addition of the tiny word “up” could make such a difference?

Ready to learn some more? Here are my top tips to learn phrasal verbs in English.

1. Is the Phrasal Verb Transitive or Intransitive?

I hate to start by throwing these grammar words at you, but it helps a lot if you can understand the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs when learning phrasal verbs.

You may already be familiar with these words, but if not, here's the jargon-free explanation:

transitive = needs something or someone after the verbintransitive = stands aloneTransitive Phrasal Verbs

The phrasal verb ”to bump into” means “to meet someone unexpectedly”.

It always has to be followed by the person you weren't expecting to meet. You can't just say, “Yesterday, I bumped into. Haven't seen her in years!”

You have to say instead something like this: “Yesterday, I bumped into Sarah. Haven't seen her in years!”

The exception to this would be if it were a statement that didn’t reveal ‘who’ you ‘bumped into’. For example, “I went to town yesterday. You’ll never guess who I bumped into.”

Even here though, ‘who’ is the someone that you met unexpectedly. In the answer, this ‘who’ will change into someone’s name and be placed after ‘bumped into’; it just happens to appear earlier in the sentence.

Intransitive Phrasal Verbs

However, some phrasal verbs are intransitive, which means they work fine on their own.

For example, ’grow up’ means “to mature”. You never add an object. Here are a few examples of how this works.

They grew up in England.Your daughter is growing up so fast!When I grow up, I want to be a pop star.

Something worth noting here is that some phrasal verbs can be either transitive or intransitive. For example, ”to wake up”, as I'm sure you know, means “to awaken”. If you want to say that you awaken, you simply say “I wake up”.

However, “I wake up Sarah” is an example of real English, but it means that you go into Sarah's bedroom and shake her and blow an air horn into her ear and throw water on her and scream until she opens her eyes.

Or, you know, it just means that you gently tap her and say her name to ease her into the day.

(If it's the former, it's fair to say Sarah needs to find new friends.)

2. Is the Phrasal Verb Separable or Inseparable?

As well as having to consider whether or not a phrasal verb is transitive or intransitive, we also have to become familiar with the idea of separable and inseparable.

Here’s a jargon-free explanation, as you asked so nicely:

Separable = the verb and extra word(s) that make it a phrasal verb can be separatedInseparable = do not split the main verb from the other words in the phrasal verb. That's just asking for trouble.

Let's go back to poor old sleepy Sarah.

When we're talking about ”waking someone else up”, the phrasal verb “to wake up” takes an object because we've added ‘someone else'. It is also separable because that ‘someone else' can go between the verb ‘wake' and the word ‘up' and it still sounds ok.

The meaning doesn't change, and you won't get any confused looks when you speak to native speakers. Hooray!

So as well as being able to say ’I wake up Sarah', we can also say ‘I wake Sarah up', which means exactly the same thing. Pretty cool, huh?

Well, I hope you like that bit because not all phrasal verbs are that accommodating. Some are strictly separable and must be kept separate at all times like a pair of angry divorcees.

For example, “to keep something around” means to keep something close to you. However, you can't “keep around something”.

I always keep my phone around when I’m waiting for you to call.

Others are strictly inseparable. For example, ”to look up to someone”, which means to admire and respect someone. We can't say “look someone up to” or even “look up someone to”.

Here’s an example of how it would work.

I really look up to my older sister.

Learning whether a phrasal verb is transitive/intransitive and separable/inseparable from the start will really help you to use it correctly as you go forward. I'd recommend writing a few example sentences showing off how it's used to help you to remember.

But where do you get these phrasal verbs from to begin with?

3. Context: A Simple Trick for Memorising Phrasal Verbs

It's pretty easy to find list after list of phrasal verbs on the Internet and in grammar books, but that may not be the best way to learn them. Instead, try focusing on topics.

Imagine you're watching a Formula One race. There are going to be lots of phrasal verbs you can use here involving ‘pull' because many are to do with driving.

For example, Hamilton pulled up at the pit stop, Vettel is pulling away slowly, Rosberg is pulling ahead. You can almost smell the petrol fumes.

Now think of an airport. There are as many phrasal verbs as suitcases here!

For example, We have to check in, the plane takes off in 10 minutes, don't forget to look after your luggage.

A great way to do this would be to start with a list of phrasal verbs and a blank notebook.

Write one topic or situation at the centre of a page in your notebook, for example, “in the classroom”. Now browse your list of phrasal verbs until you come across something that you might hear “in the classroom”. Add it to your list with an example and repeat.

Oh yes, and don't forget to note whether each is transitive or intransitive and separable or inseparable. It's much easier to embed this in your memory as you learn each phrasal verb rather than struggle along later.

4. Use Stories to Lodge Phrasal Verbs in Your Memory

Once you've created your mind maps, you can take it one step further and create your own stories linked to a particular phrasal verb.

Everyone loves a good story, right?

Stories make for more familiar, engaging, interesting, and memorable learning resources. If you're creating them yourself, then even better.

It doesn't matter if you don't consider yourself a writer! Here are a few reasons why.

Number one, no one has to read them if you don't want them to.

Number two, you don't even have to write them down.

Which skill is the most important for you to make stronger? Speaking? Why not try recording yourself saying your stories aloud as they come to you? Again, no one has to hear them if you don't want to share.

I promise I won't tell.

5. Use Music to Discover How Phrasal Verbs are Used

Of course, there's plenty of good advice about using music in language learning. Similarly to why stories are so great, music creates a memorable attachment and gives context.

To get started, try searching for the phrasal verb you're learning in speech marks with the word ‘lyrics' on YouTube. For example, carry on lyrics.

If you're searching for a separable phrasal verb, then you can perhaps try inserting pronouns too. For example, “wake me up” lyrics.

If you've got a huge list of phrasal verbs and don't have time to do that for each one, I've put together this playlist to get you started.

You're welcome, friend!

6. Check Current Use of Phrasal Verbs by Reading the News

Once you've lost your voice from all the singing, head back to Google, but this time, instead of searching for lyrics, check out the news tab and try searching for your phrasal verbs.

I use this technique all the time with my students (and myself) when learning different languages. Not only does it give you a range of sources and therefore potentially a wide variety of language use, but it also brings you examples of current usage.

One thing you might spot from this exercise is how some phrasal verbs are used as nouns too. For example, when I searched ‘pick up' for research for this post, this is what I got.

In the first example, the phrasal verb ‘pick up' is being used to mean collect… !

We've also got examples of it as a noun… !

And as a noun with a different meaning… !

Finally, check out this one… !

Another verb, but with a different meaning. Here it means ‘to improve'.

You don't even have to go on to read all of these articles if you don't want to. Google has given you exactly what you need on the first page. Thanks, Google.

Time to Learn Phrasal Verbs

By using these tips to take your phrasal verb knowledge further, you’ll not only enjoy the process more than simple rote learning, but you’ll also be creating longer lasting memories of the words. Win-win.

Feeling inspired? You should check out my online course Mastering English Phrasal Verbs Through Story. It’s perfect for you if you're looking for something to give you exposure to over 500 phrasal verbs and a chance to create your own stories as part of the learning process. Find out more here.

Original article by Lindsay Dow, updated by the Fluent in 3 Months team.

The post 6 Tips to Learn Phrasal Verbs in English appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

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Published on October 29, 2021 06:00

October 24, 2021

How to Improve Your Listening Skills as a Language Learner – an In-Depth Guide

As a language learner, I found listening to be the hardest skill to improve. That might be because I went about it the wrong way.

I sometimes hear other language learners say that, even from the early stages, they understood their target language perfectly fine.

That wasn’t me.

I also hear language learners say that after practicing for a while “it just clicked one day”. After that, they could listen to their target language and understand everything being said.

That also wasn’t me.

Along my language learning journey, developing listening comprehension was a long, slow and painful grind. The adage of two steps forward and one step back comes to mind, but that doesn’t really capture what I went through.

It was more like one inch forward, two steps back, two months pass, half a step forward, then sideways. Basically, it sucked!

In the end, I discovered why I struggled so much with my listening skills: I’d been developing my listening skills in the wrong way.

In this post, you will learn the one activity most students use (including myself) in an attempt to improve their listening skills. I’ll explain why it doesn’t work, and give three other activities that are far more effective for improving your listening skills.

Table of contentsMy Scariest Day in Language Learning I’m Sure You Could Imagine What Happened Next — It Didn’t Go Well The #1 Listening Mistake Most Language Students Make What Is Passive Listening?Performance vs. Stress: What You Need to Know to Achieve the Best Work Productivity The Most Effective Way to Improve Your Listening Skills Another Solution: Low Stakes Active Listening How to Improve Your Listening Skills with Activities Other than Listening Listening Skills: Pulling It All Together

If, like me, you've ever felt overwhelmed by listening to your target language, there are steps you can take to solve the problem.

Before I dive into these strategies, I’d like to tell you about a painful moment I will never forget…

My Scariest Day in Language Learning

It was day one of a four-week stay in Madrid that I had planned to work on my Spanish.

I had signed up for a Spanish school. On the first morning, they made me take a placement test to work out which class I should be in.

My reading, writing and spoken Spanish were good. After the test, they put me into a class at level B2.

Later that morning, I joined my new class. From the very first minute, I was lost.

The teacher — speaking only Spanish — whizzed through some complicated grammar structures that I had never seen before. I was straining to keep up.

I wanted to say “I quit” and walk out of the classroom.

Instead, I pretended to understand and asked a question or two based on what I read in the book. You know, to avoid any unwanted attention.

After two hours of intense grammar, I wasn’t the only one who was drowning in information overload. The teacher picked up on the lack of student presence and said something like:

Ya hemos hecho bastante gramática por hoy. Vamos a jugar un juego que se llama el “teléfono roto”. (“Now we have done enough grammar for today. We are going to play a game called ‘broken telephone’.”)

¿¡¿Teléfono roto?!?

“Do you know what it is?” I asked the Italian girl next to me.

She shrugged.

Soon enough, with a quick visual demonstration from the teacher. I realised we were about to play ‘Chinese Whispers’ (Telephone) in Spanish.

My heart rate soared and I could feel my stomach bottom out.

The teacher was planning to whisper something in the first student’s ear. This would then get passed from student to student until the last student read out the final message.

I was the last student.

I’m Sure You Could Imagine What Happened Next — It Didn’t Go Well

I was the only student who couldn’t make out the message. Everyone was waiting for the fun of the final message to be announced. I couldn’t say a word.

The teacher said that the girl next to me could break the rules and whisper the message again. I still couldn’t make out a word.

I felt like a fraud. Like I shouldn’t have been in that class.

I felt like I had let everyone down.

Despite this emotional experience, I didn’t want to quit. It was horrible, but afterwards, I was determined that next time I would be able to pull my own weight.

Next time, I wouldn’t be the weakest telephone!

I told you this story for two reasons. Firstly, because even when it feels like things are really bad, they aren’t that bad. I was only embarrassed in front of other language students.

Secondly, stress plays a very important part of performance and improvement. More on this later.

The #1 Listening Mistake Most Language Students Make

When I first started learning a second language, it didn’t take long to realise how difficult it was to improve my listening skills.

I tried watching movies without subtitles, with subtitles in my own language, subtitles in the target language. I tried listening to podcasts and I watched the Spanish news every Saturday morning.

Even when I knew what was being said, by following along with movie subtitles or an audio transcript, the sounds I was hearing weren’t connecting with the words I understood on paper.

I thought maybe the answer was more listening. So I did just that — I listened for hours.

The problem was, even after hours of listening, I still wasn’t improving.

After a few years of studying the language in my own country, it wasn’t until I went on a trip to Spain that I realised what the problem was…I had fallen into the passive listening trap.

It wasn’t until I had spent time using the language and interacting with locals that I realised that my passive listening was the reason I hadn’t made any significant progress.

What Is Passive Listening?

With passive listening, you simply listen to a recording of your target language or watch a movie. The idea is that even though you don’t understand it now, over time you will start to understand more and more through a natural process of absorption.

The problem is… it doesn’t really work.

Students often fall for the idea of passive listening because many language programs are based on the practice. These programs suggest that you can improve your listening skills while doing the dishes, driving to work or even while sleeping.

It is also such an alluring concept, learn a language while you sleep. It doesn’t get more enticing than that!

Sadly, like most ideas that promise maximum results with minimum effort, it rarely delivers.

Why does passive listening fail? To answer that question, you need to learn a thing or two about performance and stress.

Performance vs. Stress: What You Need to Know to Achieve the Best Work Productivity

I have a confession. Whenever I’m not working on my language skills or helping my students with theirs, I’m watching or playing sports. I love sports! I’m just as obsessed about sport as I am about languages.

Even if you aren’t a fan of sports, you can still take advantage of a valuable lesson I was given by a respected coach while playing Ultimate Frisbee.

The idea is simple. It’s called the Performance-Stress Curve.

What the curve illustrates is that there is an “optimum” level of stress for maximum performance.

If you aren’t nervous, or you are too nervous, your performance won’t be as good as when your level of nerves is just right. You could call it a “Goldilocks” level of stress.

When I was in the Spanish school playing teléfono roto, I was way too stressed. I was well beyond the point of optimal performance. I could barely function, let alone focus on the sounds of a language that wasn’t my first.

The reverse situation is passive listening. If you are listening to a recording or watching a movie, it is simply way too easy to lose focus. When you are feeling relaxed and your stress levels are low, your performance and your ability to improve will drop away.

When you are listening passively, there is nothing on the line. There is no consequence for not understanding what you have heard.

Passive listening doesn’t work because there isn’t anything to push you to improve. If you want to improve your listening skills, you need to have something that forces you to concentrate and focus.

In order to develop a new skill that you have never had before, you need to introduce some stakes into the game.

The Most Effective Way to Improve Your Listening Skills

The most effective activity for improving your listening skills is something I call “high stakes active listening”.

Active listening, by definition, is an activity that requires you to listen to something and take action based on what you have heard.

Active listening is separated from passive listening by the simple requirement that you have to do something in response to what is entering your ears. This change causes you to move up the Performance-Stress curve from your baseline.

But it isn’t enough to just actively engage.

If you want to start getting into the “Goldilocks” area of stress, where your performance and rate of learning is the highest, you need to have some stakes on the line.

One of the best forms of high stakes active listening is speaking with a native in a one-on-one situation.

Speaking in a one-on-one situation is miles ahead of passively listening to a recording. It forces you to concentrate and be actively engaged in the dialogue.

I remember vividly one critical encounter that opened my eyes to the power of high stakes active listening when I was trying to find parking in Madrid.

My girlfriend and I entered an undercover parking garage. There were no signs explaining opening times or prices for parking.

We drove up to the parking attendant window and I asked in Spanish: “How much to park the car?”

The attendant responded 12 euros al día (“12 euros per day”).

Good start.

I then asked “What time do you close?”

That question was followed by an onslaught of Spanish that went straight in one ear and out the other.

Our accommodation for the night was over an hour away. We were afraid that if the parking garage closed while we were out late in the city, we would be stuck there until morning.

I had to find out when they closed.

If the car got stuck for the night my girlfriend would never have forgiven me. The stakes were officially high!

Over the next fifteen minutes, I asked a series of questions. Most of them were followed by a torrent of information that I struggled to put together. But after fifteen minutes, the ideas that the parking attendant was throwing at me started to take shape.

In the end, the message became clear. The parking lot was open 24 hours a day. If we stayed past midnight they would charge us for a second day.

Hallelujah. ¡Genial!

I got the message. And better yet, I learned more about the process of improving listening comprehension skills in that fifteen minutes than I did all the way up until that point.

From then on, I have always looked to practice my listening skills with a native in a one-on-one situation.

Another great way to find this type of practice is in a language exchange. Language swaps are perfect for forcing active engagement. Especially if you meet someone new and you want to make a good first impression.

There are a number of resources you can use to find a language swap, no matter where you live.

It may sound scary to speak with someone if, up until that point, you haven’t really understood your target language yet. But do not underestimate the progress you can make with this type of practice.

Another Solution: Low Stakes Active Listening

I’ll admit there are two potential problems with practicing in high stakes active listening scenarios:

Sometimes, language exchanges are hard to find and schedule. That’s especially true if you aren’t living in a country where you can find native speakers of your target language. Or in one where you might have timezone issues for a Skype conversation.A high stakes active listening scenario could push you into the red zone of performance if you are just too nervous to practice.

If you are struggling with problem number two, I encourage you to just give it a go. Nerves subside after you try something once.

I personally know the fear that comes with looking silly, I pointed it out at the start of the post. But it does get easier when you try it more often.

See if you can find someone you trust who speaks your target language. Or alternatively, to start with, you might like to practice with someone you know you will never see again. This is what I did with the parking attendant.

If you have problem number one, then you need to find active listening challenges that don’t involve another person.

These types of activities I call “low stakes active listening”.

Low stakes active listening activities are better than passive listening because they still require you to actively engage in the training materials. These types of activities can’t be done while doing something else, like driving to work.

Examples of this type of training include software courses and apps.

Duolingo includes simple active listening exercises that require you to answer questions and solve puzzles in response to a short audio clip.

If you can’t find software courses in your target language, then, where possible, make an active game out of an audio recording that would typically be used for passive listening.

Rather than listen to a podcast in the car, listen to it at your desk with a pen and piece of paper and start transcribing what you hear.

Write down what you do understand. See if you can fill the holes by guessing the missing information from context. Or try listening to a short section of the audio a number of times to fill in the blanks.

This type of training isn’t as effective as high stakes active listening, but it will take you much further in a short period of time than passive listening alone.

How to Improve Your Listening Skills with Activities Other than Listening

There are two main reasons people struggle with listening:

You can’t connect the sounds of the language to words that you know on paper. This could be due to the speed of the speaker, their accent or simply a lack of high stakes active practice.You can make out the sounds of the language and you can connect those sounds with words, but you just don’t know what the words mean. This could be because you don’t know enough of the language yet.

If you have spent a lot of time buried in books with your target language, chances are you are struggling because of reason number one. You need to put yourself in more high stakes active listening scenarios or, at least, spend more time doing low stakes active listening activities.

In other words, you need to put yourself in situations where you can develop your ear as effectively as possible by increasing the stakes (use techniques above).

Alternatively, sometimes the reason language learners struggle with listening comprehension is because they simply haven’t developed vocabulary or grammar in their target language.

When I was first starting to learn a second language, I remember putting on movies in my target language without subtitles. And I would think, “This is impossible, I’ll never be able to learn this language.”

But this was bad feedback. The fact that I couldn’t understand movies had nothing to do with my potential to learn the language.

What I realised later was, when I turned on subtitles or followed audio with a transcript, I didn’t actually recognize the words I was listening to on paper. I needed to improve my knowledge of the language in general.

No amount of passive listening was ever going to solve this problem.

The best way to solve this problem was to simply do more study without listening.

I felt much more at ease if I turned off the movies and sat down with a book. Or if I spent time on a beginner-focused language learning website. I could feel good again about my progress as I added new words and grammar to my knowledge of the language.

After sufficient time studying the language, I could return to the audio with accompanying transcripts knowing that I could at least understand the words on paper. Once I was at that point, I could use the high stakes active strategies to increase the rate my ear could get used to the sounds.

Listening Skills: Pulling It All Together

Apart from being ineffective, passive listening practice can be a source of frustration that, in an absolute worst-case scenario, could cause you to give up your language studies altogether.

At best, passive listening is great for demonstrating that you have made progress using other, more effective, listening techniques.

If you really want to accelerate your listening comprehension skills:

Put yourself in high stakes active listening situations. See if you can use your most powerful weapon for performance — stress — to increase your rate of learning.Spend more time actively engaged with software tools and apps, or podcasts and movies with pen and paper in hand.Use non-listening activities like reading to boost your vocabulary.

No matter if you think you have a disadvantage with listening skills, you can improve as long as you are spending time doing the right kinds of effective practice.

Original article by Andrew Barr, updated by the Fluent in 3 Months team.

The post How to Improve Your Listening Skills as a Language Learner – an In-Depth Guide appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

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Published on October 24, 2021 21:01

October 21, 2021

8+ Fun Grammar Games to Help You Learn a Language

Grammar. To many people, the word is almost synonymous with “boredom”. Does that make “grammar games” a contradiction? I'm going to say not, but more on that in a moment.

True, the average grammar book is more useful as a cure for insomnia than it is as a tool for language learning.

And in school, you probably spent more time buried in those books (and trying to stay awake) than you did actually using any of all that fancy grammar for its actual purpose: communication.

So, does grammar really matter?

Table of contentsWhy Learn Grammar? Does It Really Matter in a Foreign Language?What Are Grammar Games?3 Grammar Games for Kids 1. Describing and Drawing a Person 2. Twenty Questions 3. Mister Wolf and Other Classic Children's Games 3 Grammar Games For Adults 1. Would You Rather?2. Taboo 3. Role-Playing Grammar Games Online Grammar Games Duolingo Anki Go Forth And Play!Why Learn Grammar? Does It Really Matter in a Foreign Language?

My view is that speaking a language is much more important than good grammar, especially for beginners. That’s why I advocate Speaking from Day 1, even if you do sound like Tarzan.

Even so, it's obviously important to learn good grammar — especially once you’ve reached the intermediate and advanced levels in a foreign language.

But getting all those conjugations and declensions into your head doesn't have to be a yawn-inducing activity. Believe it or not, learning grammar can be fun! (No, really.)

When learning is fun, not only are we more likely to attempt it, but we're more likely to remember what we've learned.

So how can we make grammar fun? The same way we make most things fun: we turn it into a game.

What Are Grammar Games?

Say you're learning German, and you want to memorise the present tense conjugations of the verb sein (“to be”).

The most obvious approach is rote memorisation — just repeat ich bin, du bist, es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie sind to yourself over and over again until they're burned permanently into your brain.

This is an approach that’s often taught in language classes. It can work, but it's extremely time-consuming and boring. Especially when you have another 100 irregular verbs to learn in multiple tenses and moods.

A better, but still imperfect, approach is the classic learning method “look, cover, write, check”. Look at the correct verb forms, cover up the screen or piece and paper, and try to write down all the forms from memory. Then uncover the correct answers and see how well you did. Rinse, repeat.

In a way, you can think of this technique as a simple form of game: you play by writing down your target words (in this case, the different forms of sein), and you win if you can remember them all with no mistakes.

There's a reason this “game” is taught in schools everywhere: it works. But it's still rather boring. We can do better!

A “grammar game”, then, is essentially any technique for memorising or practising a particular aspect of grammar — be it verb conjugations, sentence structure, spelling and punctuation, or any other intimidating feature of your target language — that's at least slightly more fun than rote memorisation or “look, cover, write, check”.

The category would include group games that you play in a classroom or with a language partner, grammar review games played online or on your phone, or even grammar practice games that you play in your head in spare moments.

In this article, I'll give a brief overview of some easy grammar games that you can try.

Let’s get started… and don’t forget to have fun!

3 Grammar Games for Kids

When I worked as an English teacher, I always enjoyed getting the class involved in games. (As far as I could tell, the kids enjoyed it, too.) They were a fun way to keep everyone engaged while still learning something.

And just because children enjoy themdoesn't mean that adults can't also enjoy them.

Some of these games are more childish than others, but you could try adapting them for your own purposes, for example, to play with your language exchange partner or online language tutor.

1. Describing and Drawing a Person

Give everyone a piece of paper, and nominate one person to be the “describer”. It's their job to think of someone they know, or a famous person, then to describe that person's appearance. (Tip: it's more interesting if they pick someone who's in the room.)

At lower levels, this helps practice simple adjectival phrases like “he is tall” or “she has red hair”. However, the descriptions can get more advanced according to your ability.

For example, more advanced learners could describe what someone is wearing or what their personality and mannerisms are like.

As the nominee gives more detail, everyone draws on their piece of paper what they think the person being described looks like. When they've been given enough detail, they can try and guess who they've drawn. The describer then reveals who they were thinking of, and everyone can show their drawings to the rest of the class to see how well they did.

This last step often produces huge laughter, since most of the drawings will be hilarious caricatures of the real person.

2. Twenty Questions

Just in case you've never played this game before, it works as follows: you pick a celebrity or an object, and the other players have to figure out who or what you are.

To gain information, the other players ask you yes-or-no questions (usually a maximum of twenty, hence the name, but you can pick whatever arbitrary limit you like) to try and narrow down the possibilities: “Are you male? Are you American? Are you an actor? A singer?”, and so on.

A variant on this game was made famous by the film Inglourious Basterds where it’s played in a bar by Allied spies and an unwitting SS Officer (just watch the movie, it will make sense).

In this version, everyone writes a celebrity's name on a piece of paper and passes it to the person on their left. This person then sticks the paper to their own forehead so that everyone, except them, can see what it says. Now instead of the group asking questions to figure out who you are, you ask questions to the group to figure out who you are.

Whichever version you play, it's a good way to practice forming and answering questions. To expand the range of potential grammar practiced, you could permit questions that require a more in-depth answer than a simple “yes” or “no”.

You could also insist that the answer replies in full sentences each time – “Are you male?” “Yes, I'm male” – which also helps practice switching between different forms of the same verb.

3. Mister Wolf and Other Classic Children's Games

Telling the time is something that varies slightly from language to language and always takes some getting used to.

For example, to a German “half four” (halb vier) means 3:30 (half before four) while to a British person it means 4:30 (half after four), and to an American, it makes no sense at all — two o'clock, maybe?

What’s the time, Mister Wolf? is a classic game for young children that exposes them to different ways of describing the time.

One player is “Mister (or Miss) Wolf”, and stands at one end of the playing area with his or her back to the other children, who stand in a line at the far end of the area. The other children walk forward while calling out “What's the time, Mister Wolf?”. Mister Wolf then turns around and responds with a time (e.g. “it's 4 o'clock!”).

This repeats, with Mister Wolf saying different times as the players get closer and closer, until on one round he replies to their question with “it's dinnertime!” and chases the players back to where they started.

If Mister Wolf catches another player before they've reached the starting line, that player becomes Mister Wolf.

This is just one classic game that children love and that has the side effect of teaching them a bit of grammar.

There are plenty of other children’s games you can use in this way. “Simon Says”, for example, is full of imperatives, while “I Spy” teaches you spelling.

Who knows how many other games there are that could be adapted for your target language! Many games that children play also teach you something useful.

Now we’ve covered grammar games for kids, let’s take a look at some grammar games for adults.

3 Grammar Games For Adults

Some of the above games might be too childish for your liking, but grammar doesn't have to become boring just because you’re an adult learner.

Here are some grammar games you could play as an adult:

1. Would You Rather?

This is a classic game that you've probably played before.

One person poses an interesting and/or ridiculous choice between two options — would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck? Then each person in the group gives their own answer and a brief explanation of why they made that choice.

As well as prompting some thoughtful (and bizarre) discussions, these types of questions are a good way to practice some less commonly-used verb forms like the conditional, and can be adapted to any language.

If you run out of interesting ‘would you rather' questions to ask, you can visit either.io for an effectively infinite list of ideas.

2. Taboo

Taboo is a classic parlour game where you have to help your teammates correctly guess the word written on your card without saying the word itself or any of the other words on the card.

For example your word might be “car”, but you're not allowed to say “car”, “vehicle”, “drive”, “transport”, “road”, or “travel”.

Taboo is a great way to build vocabulary, not least because it represents exactly what you should do when you need to say something in a foreign language but don't know the word: stick within the target language and try to get your point across in other words, rather than immediately blurting it out in English and asking for a translation.

As well as vocabulary, Taboo will help your grammar. That's because when the most obvious words aren't available to you, the only alternative is often a winding, roundabout sentence with a complicated structure.

“It's the big metal thing you sit in and press the pedals with your feet to go fast from one place to another.”

Look at all that grammar!

3. Role-Playing Grammar Games

At the end of the day, the point of learning all this grammar is to use it in real life.

So why not get straight to the point, and play some role-playing games with a language partner that simulate a real-world encounter you're likely (or unlikely) to have?

Some common situations you might want to practice are: checking into a hotel, introducing yourself to new people, asking for directions, and ordering something over the telephone. You can surely think of many more examples based on your hobbies and interests and the daily experiences you're likely to have.

Since our focus here is on grammar, some other role-playing ideas you could use are:

Fortune teller. One person is the fortune teller, and the other has come to get their fortune read. What does the fortune teller see in their crystal ball? How does the other person feel about it? This is a good way of practicing the future tense.Alibi. The police suspect you of a crime, and they want to know if you have an alibi. Where were you on Friday night? Who were you with? What were you doing? The suspect won't be able to talk their way out of this situation unless they've got a good grasp on the different types of past tense.Late for work. One person is the boss, and the other is an employee who's just shown up late. What's their excuse? The boss should question the employee's story, pick holes in it, and try to figure out if they're lying. In the process, the boss practices asking different kinds of questions (why? how? when? who?), while the employee will practise answers and the past tense.

Whatever it is you want to practise, try and think of a “real” situation where it might get used, and see what role-playing ideas you can come up with.

Online Grammar Games

Go to Google or to the Android or Apple app stores, type in the name of your target language, and you'll probably find a zillion free grammar games (and lots of paid ones, too).

For obvious reasons, each game tends to be focussed on just one specific language, and a detailed list of available games for every language are beyond the scope of this article, but two digital resources are worth mentioning:

Duolingo

Duolingo is one of the most popular language-learning apps out there today, and at the time of writing it offers free courses in over 20 different languages. Fluent in 3 Months already has a detailed review of Duolingo.

As well as being a fun and easy way to practise a language and build your vocabulary, Duolingo gradually introduces you over time to new grammatical concepts and provides detailed explanations of how to use them.

Duolingo is no substitute for real face-to-face speaking practice, but it can make a nice supplement.

Anki

I'm a huge proponent of using spaced repetition systems — more commonly known as “flashcards” — to learn languages.

The most popular digital SRS tool is undoubtedly [Anki] (https://www.fluentin3months.com/anki-...).

Anki lets you create totally customisable flashcards on whatever topic you like (not just languages!), and if you don't feel like creating your own there's an enormous directory of pre-made content on their website where you can download flashcards that other people have created.

The most basic way to use an SRS is to learn vocabulary; create flashcards with English words (or pictures) on one side and your target language's translation of those words on the other side.

But did you know that flashcards are also a fantastic way to learn grammar? Here’s a grammar game you can use on Anki:

Say you want to learn the present-tense conjugations of the Spanish verb “hablar” (to speak). Rather than trying to kill yourself with boredom by repeating hablo, hablas, habla etc. ad nauseam, it's much more interesting to come up with some sample sentences that demonstrate the different forms of the word (e.g. yo hablo español) and turn them into flashcards. On the “answer” side of the card, write the full sample sentence. On the “question” side, write something like _yo __ español – (“hablar”)_.

Now, when you review the card, your job is to figure out which form of “hablar” belongs in the blank space. Create a few sample sentences for each verb form (or whatever) that you want to learn, and you'll find that this is a much more efficient and enjoyable way of getting grammar into your head than beating yourself over the head with a verb table.

Go Forth And Play!

This list is by no means exhaustive, but by now I hope I've given you an idea of what grammar games are, how you can use them, and why they're helpful.

Whatever it is you want to practise, there are endless possibilities for how you can accelerate your learning by turning it into a game. Have fun!

How to Speak Latin: A Beginner's Guide to Living Latin Ridiculous translation blunders that cost millions of dollars (and why you should learn a language for better business)How Adults Learn: 6 Important Things to Know German Games and Exercises: 8 Fun & Simple Ways to Practise Your German Skills Chinese Characters: They’re Not as Hard as You Think

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Published on October 21, 2021 21:01

October 17, 2021

Start Learning Polish – The Easy Way

Are you here to learn Polish? Or are you too intimidated because you’ve seen it on a list of the “world's hardest languages“?

The Polish language can certainly be as hard or easy as any other language, but its difficulties tend to be more loudly advertised (especially by proud natives) than the things that are actually pretty straightforward about it.

All over the Internet, people are saying that Polish is the HARDEST language to learn, or one of the hardest.

They also say this about Chinese, Hungarian, Turkish, Czech, etc.

But it is, just simply, not true. And not only is Polish not that hard to learn, you can also start learning Polish for free or very cheap. It’s a more accessible language than you may think. I will include recommendations at the end of the post. You can also read the Fluent in 3 Months recommended resources here.

Table of contentsIs Polish Too Hard to Learn?What Makes Learning Polish Seem So Hard?When Something Gets Harder, Something Else Gets Easier If You Learn Polish, You Don’t Have to Trouble With Articles Polish Has No Word Order Polish Has Few Verb Tenses The Polish Alphabet Is 95% Phonetic!Polish Has Lots of Vocabulary with Latin Roots Where to Start Learning Polish Online?Is Polish Too Hard to Learn?

This is a widely held view by many Poles (but not all!) and few will hesitate to share this opinion with foreigners or to defend the language's honor if someone challenges it. I know because I've been learning Polish for about five years at the time I’m writing this post.

I regularly make videos in Polish on various topics. The only video I've ever made that still receives thousands of views per month over a year after it was published is called Polski NIE jest jednym z najtrudniejszych języków na świecie (Polish is NOT one of the hardest languages in the world).

Personally, I think Polish is one of the most beautiful languages in the world! There are many great reasons to learn Polish. For me, learning this language has been a joy and, honestly, has changed my life for the better!

I don't mean any disrespect to the Polish language — but I've talked with many people who rationalized giving up on learning Polish because it was the hardest language in the word and they don't have a talent for languages.

There are even more people who wanted to learn Polish — but give up before they started because they were convinced it was too hard.

This opinion isn't helping anyone!

What Makes Learning Polish Seem So Hard?

I've seen many reasons given, but almost all of them focus the number grammatical forms:

Nouns can have three genders (some linguists count five)Each noun and adjective can appear in one of seven casesVerbs conjugate for gender, person, mood and time (depending on how you count, this makes over 25 forms of every verb)Verbs come in two aspects (English doesn't have grammatical aspect)

Are you scared yet? If you want more (although I don't recommend it just yet!), see the links I gave at the beginning of the article.

When Something Gets Harder, Something Else Gets Easier

It's my personal theory that all languages are equally hard.

I have no linguistic reference to back this up — only my own intuition and the stories of other language learners. However, I think that our brains are only capable of holding a fixed amount of linguistic complexity.

So, if some aspect of the language is harder, then some other aspect is easier. Or non-existent!

It's true that there are lots of forms of each individual word in Polish. And it's true that if you learn Polish, this will be a challenge for you. But many things that would be challenging in other languages AREN'T in Polish!

If You Learn Polish, You Don’t Have to Trouble With Articles

One of the most difficult parts of grammar to learn in English is when to use “the”, “a”, “an” or nothing at all.

In fact, I don't personally know any non-native speakers that use them correctly all the time! This is usually how I can identify non-native speakers when their pronunciation is perfect.

Luckily for people learning English, articles are also one of the least important parts of English grammar! If you use them incorrectly, people will still understand exactly what you mean.

Unfortunately for native speakers of English, when other languages also have articles, the rules for using them are frequently totally different!

In Polish, there are no articles! So, you don't need to worry about them at all.

Polish Has No Word Order

In English and many other languages, the order of the words in a sentence is very important to the meaning. “Jan loves Maria” means something different than “Maria loves Jan” and, of course, “loves Maria Jan” is gibberish.

When learning another language, you may encounter a word order different from that of your native language, providing you with an additional challenge.

In Polish, word order is mostly unimportant!

The following sentences all mean the same thing (“Jan loves Maria”):

Jan kocha MarięMarię kocha Jankocha Jan MarięMarię Jan kocha

You can simply speak as the words come to you and not worry about their order.

There are certain word orders that Poles would consider normal in a specific situation. But they are all understandable! This is used to great effect in music and poetry.

Polish Has Few Verb Tenses

In English, we have very few verb forms (ie. the words don't change much). For example, the verb “do” has only the following five forms: do, does, doing, did, done.

But we have lots of verb tenses!

For example:

Present simple – “I read everyday.”Present continuous – “I am reading right now.”Present perfect – “I have read this book before.”Present perfect continuous – “I have been reading this book for two hours.”Future perfect continuous – “At 5 o'clock I will have been reading this book for four hours.”Past simple – “I read all day yesterday.”Past continuous – “I was reading yesterday.”… and so on! In total, there are 16 tenses.

If you count tenses the same way in Polish, there are only 5! (Poles count them differently, they'd say there are 3 tenses and 2 aspects.) The following sentences: “I read”, “I am reading”, and “I have been reading” would all be translated into Polish the same way: “czytam”.

So, forming the verb might be harder in Polish. But knowing when to use which tense, is actually a lot easier!

The Polish Alphabet Is 95% Phonetic!

In English, it can be difficult to know how to pronounce a word from it's spelling. For example, compare the pronunciation of “oo” in the following words: “book“, “soon“, “door“, “flood“. It's different in every word! And there's no way to know that just from looking at them.

I am a native speaker of English, but even I've had the following situation happen to me several times: I'll learn a new word from reading that I've never heard out loud. Then later in a conversation, I'll try to use it but with the wrong pronunciation and no one knows what I'm talking about! It's embarrassing, but thiss probably happens to everyone.

On the other hand, the Polish alphabet is almost entirely phonetic. Once you know the rules, you can look at any word and know how to pronounce it.

The opposite isn't entirely true (hearing a word and knowing how to spell it) but it's still a lot easier than in English!

Polish Has Lots of Vocabulary with Latin Roots

Largely because of its relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, the Latin language has a long history in Poland. Because of this, many words of Latin origin have seeped into the language.

If you speak a language that has borrowed lots of words of Latin origin (like English!), there will be some familiar vocabulary.

For example, many words ending in -cja are directly related to English words ending in -tion:

motywacja – “motivation”sytuacja – “situation”promocja – “promotion”… and many more!Where to Start Learning Polish Online?

I think the fact that so few people learn Polish helps perpetuate the view that Polish is so hard.

I personally know dozens of people who learned to speak Polish at a very high-level. But frequently when I meet a Pole, they say I'm the first foreigner they've ever met who can speak Polish!

Please, help me change this!

Like learning any language, all that's required is a little time, motivation and an effective method.

If you want to start learning Polish, I recommend Real Polish. It's a blog and podcast in Polish with some excellent content for learners.

And if you want more, Benny Lewis, founder of Fluent in 3 Months, put together a list of the best resources for learning Polish, which you can find here.

I wish you the best of luck in your language learning journey!

Do widzenia! Pozdrawiam!

Original article by David Snopek, updated by the Fluent in 3 Months team.

The post Start Learning Polish – The Easy Way appeared first on Fluent in 3 Months.

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Published on October 17, 2021 21:01

October 14, 2021

German Dialects: A Beginner’s Guide [With Videos]

German is a diverse language, and many different German dialects exist throughout the German-speaking world. Some of these dialects are so different that even native speakers struggle to understand each other.

If you’ve studied German online or in an academic setting, you probably studied Standard German (Standarddeutsch). It is a standardised variety of German used in formal contexts and which the great majority of German speakers understand.

Some might call Standarddeutsch the “official” or “correct” version of the German language. But really there’s no such thing as a correct or incorrect dialect.

People talk how they talk, and any judgement about whose speech is “better” reflects political and cultural power dynamics more than any deeper truth about the language itself.

In this article, we will explore:

Table of contentsBackground Check: Why Are There Many German Dialects?High German vs. Low German Low German, High German, and English Berlin German – Berlinerisch Upper Saxon – Sächsich Austro-Bavarian – Boarisch Alemannic German Dialects and Swiss German Swiss German vs. Schriftdeutsch Pennsylvania Dutch Yiddish Let’s Wrap It Up With a Challenge

There’s far more detail than I could include in a short post like this, I will give you a general overview of the different accents and dialects of German.

function runSplitTest(){var randomNumber = Math.floor(Math.random() * 2) + 1console.log(randomNumber)var copy = "";if (randomNumber == 1){ copy = 'A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away in German for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. <a href="https://fluentin3months.com/challenge... this link to find out more.</a>'} else { copy = 'Before we get started, if you’re looking for an online German course, here’s the course I recommend: <a href="https://www.fluentin3months.com/olly-... Uncovered - Learn German Through the Power of Story</a>, a course with a fascinating new method by my friend Olly. You can try it for free for 7 days!'}console.log(copy)var copyToChange = document.querySelector("p.copyText").innerHTML = copy;}runSplitTest();Background Check: Why Are There Many German Dialects?

German’s diversity should be no surprise given the fractured history of German-speaking areas.

Germany itself didn’t exist as a unified state until the late 19th century. Before that, the area we now call “Germany” was a hodgepodge of dukedoms and city-states with ever-shifting borders.

From an old Germanic language that originated in northern Europe, Deutsch splintered into many different German accents and dialects.

Nowadays, German is an official language in six countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Belgium. It also is a legally-recognised minority language in several more nations and territories.

The word Deutsch itself comes from an old word thiud meaning “people” or “nation”. The deutsche Sprache, then, was the “people’s language”, so-called to distinguish it from the language of the church and officialdom: Latin.

So let’s have a look at some of the major variations in how people from different regions speak German.

High German vs. Low German

German dialects can be divided into two main groups: “high” and “low” German.

These are geographical terms: people in the low-lying plains of northern Germany speak Low German (Plattdeutsch), the inhabitants of the more mountainous south speak while High German (Hochdeutsch).

We can also divide High German further into Central German (Mitteldeutsch) and Upper German (Oberdeutsch).

Standard German is based on High German. Originally, the spread of High German as a “standard” form of the language was due to the widespread influence of the Luther Bible, Martin Luther’s 16th-century translation of the Bible into his native Saxon dialect.

For this reason, the terms Hochdeutsch and Standarddeutsch are often used interchangeably.

As you travel from north to south, the spoken language changes gradually, with few abrupt shifts. This means that the divide between Low, Central and Upper German isn’t clear-cut.

However, the boundary between Low and Central German is traditionally considered the “Benrath line”. This line runs from Benrath, in the west, to Frankfurt an der Oder, in the east.

North of this line, people say maken (“to make”), with a hard “k” sound like in English, while to the south they say machen, where the “ch” is a raspy sound from the back of the throat.

Similarly, the border between Central and Upper German is taken to be the “Speyer Line”. It runs from Alsace in France through the city of Speyer and into Bohemia in the Czech Republic.

The German word for “apple” is Appel north of Speyer and Apfel below it.

Low German, High German, and English

Did you notice how in both of those examples, the northern version of the word is the one that’s more similar to English? That’s because Low German is more closely related to English than High German is.

All three come from proto-Germanic, an ancient German language spoken around 2,000 years ago in north-central Europe. Proto-Germanic is the ancestor of all modern Germanic languages, including English, Dutch, the Scandinavian languages, and of course German itself.

Over the course of the first millenium A.D., southern Germanic speakers started to change how they pronounced certain consonants, such as the “k” in maken. Linguists call this the High German consonant shift.

Low German didn’t go through this change, and neither did the dialects that became English or Dutch.

Here’s a video of someone speaking Plattdeutsch. (He speaks Standard German at the beginning, then switches to Low German at 0:15.)

A well-known Low German word is moin, which means “hello” (and, in some places, “goodbye”.)

Let’s look at some specific examples of other German accents and dialects.

Berlin German – Berlinerisch

Berlin has its own distinctive dialect, although some say it’s dying out. This video compares some sentences in Standard German and Berlinerisch.

Notable features of Berlinerisch include pronouncing “ch” as “k”, and the hard “g” as a “j”. You can hear both throughout the video, for example ich as “ick(e)” and, at 0:48, gut as “jut”.

Berlinerisch also doesn’t distinguish between the accusative and dative cases.

Upper Saxon – Sächsich

Upper Saxon is a Mitteldeutsch dialect from the eastern state of Saxony. It’s closely related to the neighbouring Thuringian dialect. It is different from “Low Saxon”, another name for Plattdeutsch.

Upper Saxon differs from Standard German in many of its vowel sounds. You would pronounce Bühne (“stage”) as “Biine” in Saxony, böse (“wicked”) as “beese”, and Schwester (“sister”) as Schwaster.

The pronunciation of the letters “o” and “u” is also distinctive. To speakers of other German dialects, it sounds more like the Standard German “ö” and “ü”.

Here’s a video of a man speaking with a very strong sächsich accent. Can you understand him?

Austro-Bavarian – Boarisch

Bavaria is the largest Bundesland (state) of Germany. It’s in the southeast and borders Austria.

Bavarians and Austrians speak a dialect that’s very different from Standard German. Non-Bavarian Germans often find Bavarian people hard to understand!

Austro-Bavarian is not one dialect, but several. It can be broadly divided into northern, central and southern varieties. Some general features of Austro-Bavarian include:

Pronouncing “r” as an alveolar trill (the “rolled r”, also found in Spanish).Pronouncing “a” as “o” – so for example Wasser (“water) sounds like Wosser.Many, many other vowel differences. For example, other Germans call the Bavarian dialect Bairisch, but Bavarians call it Boarisch.Vocabulary differences, such as I (pronounced “ee”) instead of ich.

This video gives a lot more information about the differences between Austro-Bavarian and standard German.

A German greeting used in Austria and Bavaria is servus. This is Latin for “servant”, and its use to mean “hello” originated as a Latin phrase meaning “at your service”.

Alemannic German Dialects and Swiss German

The Allemanic (Alemannisch) group of High German dialects is spoken by about ten million people, mainly in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

The name Allemanic comes from the Allemani, an ancient German tribal confederation. You might recognise this as the root of the name for Germany in several languages, e.g. Allemagne in French and Alemania in Spanish.

The Allemanic varieties spoken in Switzerland are called Swiss German (Schweizerdeutsch). This video demonstrates some of the differences between Swiss German and the German of Germany.

As discussed in the video, Swiss German has differences in vocabulary as well as pronunciation. Some of the differences are influenced by French. For example, what Germans call a Fahrrad (“bicycle”), Swiss people call a Velo, like the French word vélo.

One major pronunciation difference you can hear in the video is in the name of the dialect itself, which the woman from Zurich pronounces as Schwizerdütsch.

Swiss German vs. Schriftdeutsch

Swiss German is quite different from Schriftdeutsch, the Swiss variety of Standard German.

Schriftdeutsch is the official written language in German-speaking Switzerland (and neighbouring Liechtenstein), and it’s used in books, newspapers, official documents and on signs.

Most German Swiss can speak fluent Schriftdeutsch, although in everyday situations they speak in their local dialect and use Schriftdeutsch for writing.

Most German people can’t understand Swiss German, but they can understand Schriftdeutsch. In Switzerland, Schriftdeutsch is usually only spoken in specific formal situations. You would hear it on the news or for government business, or when a local speaks to someone from another German-speaking country.

Pennsylvania Dutch

German isn’t only spoken in Europe.

People of German ancestry can be found all around the world. In many cases, they’ve retained and evolved the language of their immigrant ancestors.

For example, did you know that there’s a dialect called Barossa German that’s spoken by a small number of people in Australia?

Perhaps the most famous of these international varieties is Pennsylvania Dutch.

Despite the name, this language is German, not Dutch. It’s spoken by the descendants of German speakers who migrated to North America in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Those German migrants primarily came from areas like the Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg, which nowadays are part of south-western Germany. Pennsylvania Dutch is closely related to the German dialects of those regions.

The “Dutch” comes from deitsch, a cognate of Deutsch and the way those original settlers would have referred to themselves.

While often associated with the Amish, Pennsylvania Dutch is spoken by around 300,000 people of various religious persuasions in the Midwestern U.S., and in Ontario, Canada. Here’s what it sounds like.

Yiddish

As we’ve seen, the distinction between a “language” and a “dialect” is often arbitrary.

If German people can’t understand Swiss German, should Swiss German be considered a separate language rather than a dialect? And if the “language” we call German is actually several separate languages, how do you divide it up neatly when the boundaries between different dialects are often so blurry?

So let’s look at Yiddish. It’s considered a language in its own right, not just a dialect, but it’s closely related to High German.

Yiddish is the historical language of the Ashkenazi Jews. It fuses a High German base with influence from Hebrew, Aramaic, and the Slavic languages.

Yiddish’s use saw a massive decline in the 20th century as the vast majority of Holocaust victims were Yiddish speakers, from which the language has never fully recovered. Still, by one estimate, there are around 600,000 Yiddish speakers in the world today, mostly in the U.S. and Israel.

Here’s what Yiddish sounds like. As a student of German I can understand a surprising amount of it, despite never having studied Yiddish for a second:

Let’s Wrap It Up With a Challenge

There’s a lot more that could be said about the enormous diversity of all the different dialects of German. The above is only a brief overview.

If you fancy a challenge, why not try this video which repeats the same sentence in Hochdeutsch and then twelve different German dialects. Can you understand every repetition? Can you spot all the differences?

If you want to learn one of these dialects specifically, you might want to look for an online language tutor to help you!

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October 10, 2021

33 Free Online Chinese Language Lessons and Resources

Interested in learning to speak Mandarin Chinese? There are plenty of Chinese language lessons, courses, and other resources available today, so you’re likely wondering where to start and how to select the right Chinese language tools for you.

The good news is that there are tons of cost-effective and even free ways to learn Chinese.

But… How do you know which Chinese courses are of decent quality, without spending hours upon hours trying them all out?

I put this article together to help you figure out where to start with learning Mandarin Chinese. I’ve tried out and tested many free Chinese learning resources to find the best ones out there so that you don’t have to.

Table of contents

Free Online Audio & Podcasts to Help You Learn Chinese
YouTube: Free Video Chinese Lessons
Free Online Chinese Courses and Systems
Free Chinese Language Apps
Free Online Chinese Language Resources for Advanced Chinese Learners

Take a Free Online Course in Chinese
Watch Chinese Vloggers on YouTube
Free Chinese Language Reading Materials

What Free Online Chinese Resources Will You Use?

Let’s take a look at these free online Chinese language resources and classes.

Free Online Audio & Podcasts to Help You Learn Chinese

Podcasts are a very useful way to learn Chinese. You can take them with you wherever you are, whatever you’re doing -- on your walks, when you’re driving to pick your kids up from school, or to listen to during your lunch break.

Anytime you have a free moment, podcasts can help you squeeze in a bit of language learning.

There are a lot of Chinese language podcasts out there, but not many that provide a complete Mandarin Chinese course. I prefer podcasts that provide a step-by-step Chinese class, or that teach Chinese as it’s spoken in the real world.

Here’s where to start with Chinese language audio:

ChineseClass101 is free to sign up for. It has an incredible amount of Chinese language content available at every level from complete beginner to advanced. They’re a favorite of the Fluent in 3 Months team. You get a one-week free trial to test out lessons at all skill levels. After that, you do have to pay for the more advanced lessons and premium material, although it’s very much worth it.
Coffee Break Chinese has both free and paid options. It’s hands down one of my favorite Chinese podcasts. In the course, you learn alongside the host, Mark.
TuneIn Chinese: You can listen to radio in Chinese on TuneIn. Try out a couple stations based on your interests and dive in! Download the app to enjoy radio on your mobile device.
Forvo: If you come across a new word, especially with Chinese because it uses a unique writing system, Forvo is a great place to listen to words spoken by a native speaker. It has a large database and is a good reference for pronunciation.
Melnyk’s Chinese Lessons is a free language with simple dialogues and useful vocabulary provided by fellow Chinese learner Serge Melnyk. This was my personal favorite podcast when I was learning Chinese.
You Can Learn Chinese is a podcast from Mandarin Companion founder, Jared Turner. It is all about strategies for learning the language and is a useful tool.

YouTube: Free Video Chinese Lessons

YouTube is a fantastic place to find free Chinese classes and resources. The following channels give you hours upon hours of Chinese lessons in an engaging medium.

Plus, video has the added benefits of letting you see expressions, body language, and other non-verbal aspects of the Chinese language.

ChineseClass101: In addition to their free podcast lessons, ChineseClass101 also has a helpful YouTube channel with hundreds of free videos.
Easy Languages Chinese: I love the Easy Languages Youtube channel because it offers you a lot of local culture and context. In this series, the hosts go out into the streets of Taiwan and interview the people they meet there. It’s a great way to hear the way people really speak the language, pick up useful conversational language, and practice your listening comprehension.
Mandarin HQ teaches Chinese with fun, short videos that cover everything from grammar points to themed vocabulary lists. Angel, the host, also features interviews in Chinese on her trips to China so you can hear the language how it’s actually spoken!
Yoyo Chinese: Learn about the Chinese language and culture with Yoyo Chinese. [Yangyang], the instructor, is an upbeat and enthusiastic tutor who shares her experience as a Chinese native as well as tips for learning the Chinese language. Plus, she’s a friend of Fluent in 3 Months Founder, Benny Lewis.
ChinesePod: Looking for content about the Chinese language and culture? ChinesePod offers learners just that in entertaining, bite-sized lessons.

Free Online Chinese Courses and Systems

If you’re interested in guided lessons, there is an exceptional selection of free online Mandarin Chinese courses and systems available.

Here are just a few websites that offer online Chinese lessons at no cost:

Chinese Grammar Wiki: This tool was a lifesaver for me as I was learning Chinese. It is a detailed Chinese grammar available to you for free online.
Coursera: The online learning portal Coursera has a free Chinese language course for beginners. It’s taught by Peking University and it has a 4.8/5 rating.
Learn with Oliver: Learn with Oliver is an online flashcard tool that lets you learn and test yourself on Chinese words and phrases. I personally love their email newsletters and look forward to seeing them in my inbox every day.

Free Chinese Language Apps

Apps are a handy way to learn a new language, especially for those who like to study on the go.

Memrise or Anki (for iOS, for Android, and for everyone else): These are flashcard systems that you can use to create your own Chinese vocabulary decks or download those already created by other users. The desktop version of Anki is free, as is the basic version of Memrise. I personally use Memrise.
MosaLingua (for iOS and Android is another flashcard app, but this one comes with premade Chinese flashcards so you don’t have to make your own (though you can if you want). There is both a free and paid version of this app.
Duolingo: Duolingo is the best-known language learning app that introduces you to both Chinese vocabulary and grammar. It’s a gamified platform, so it’s fun to learn and easy to maintain your daily streaks.
Drops: Don’t have a lot of time? Drops is the ideal solution. With the free version of the app, you just get five minutes of study time per day. But you can get a lot done in those five minutes. The system is built to keep you engaged and moving so that you get a significant chunk of vocabulary exposure in a short time via beautiful graphics and intuitive swiping.
Clozemaster is a language learning app the uses cloze (fill in the blank) to help you master new vocabulary in Chinese.
HelloChinese is a Chinese language app with a progressive system for learning the Chinese language. It’s very well put together and a very useful tool for Chinese learners.

Free Online Chinese Language Resources for Advanced Chinese Learners

Take a Free Online Course in Chinese

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) not only offer Mandarin Chinese language courses, but they also offer courses on other subjects taught in Chinese.

If you’d like to use Chinese to learn more about something you’re passionate about, taking an online course in Chinese can be a useful way to do two things at once.

Coursera: There are more than 700 courses that support Chinese on Coursera. Interested in learning more about deep learning or finance? Or maybe digital marketing is more your style? Whatever your interest is, there’s a good chance you can find a course taught in Chinese on Coursera!
EdX: Much like Coursera, EdX also has a wide selection of courses where Chinese is the language of instruction. With 80+ options, you can learn about Japanese, Cancer Biology, Geology or Flower Arrangement.
BBC Languages: Looking for an interesting introduction to the Chinese language with video and tons of accompanying material? The BBC’s Chinese course is a good place to start.
Class Central: Class Central is an online portal that indexes free online courses from a variety of sites (including Coursera and EdX). Currently, they have more than 350 courses taught in Chinese listed on their site.

Watch Chinese Vloggers on YouTube

If you’re looking for native and relevant material for your Chinese language learning, YouTubers are a great source.

Chinese vloggers cover everything from comedy to beauty to food, so you’re sure to find a YouTube personality who covers a topic that you’re interested in.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Fulinfang: This Youtuber creates friendly, relatable videos about his life in China. He speaks Chinese at a high level, but is also very understandable.
Mamahuhu: is one of the funniest Chinese language channels you can find on Youtube. They create a lot of parody and skit comedy videos, giving you insight to the Chinese sense of humor.
Rainie Tian: Prefer beauty vloggers? Rainie Tian is one of the most popular on Youtube. She offers beauty product reviews, tutorials, and more. Plus, the text on her videos is bilingual to help you follow along.
Oh Emma: Oh Emma is another Chinese language beauty vlogger. She reviews beauty products and shares her skin care routines.
Liziqi: Liziqi creates beautiful documentary-style videos demonstrating both traditional and rural life in China. Plus, she showcases lots of cooking videos -- something I appreciate as a total foodie! There’s not a lot of spoken Chinese in this video (there is some), but there is text and a lot of cultural insight you’ll get with these videos.

Free Chinese Language Reading Materials

Finding reading material appropriate for your level in the language can be a challenge. Thankfully, there’s a decent selection of Chinese reading resources available to you as a learner online for free.

Wikipedia: Use Wikipedia to read short articles in Chinese. You can switch back to your native language to check your comprehension.
LingQ: LingQ is a popular online learning system that helps you acquire new vocabulary through its reading interface. It’s free to sign up, though if you want to use it long-term you’ll need to opt for a paid plan.
The Chairman’s Bao is an online reading resource with recent news articles organized by level. Read about current events and improve your Chinese!
Skritter is a tool you can use to master Chinese characters and boost your reading skills in the language. Only the first week of using this app is free.

What Free Online Chinese Resources Will You Use?

It’s incredible how many excellent resources are available to learn Chinese at no cost online. And although I’ve featured 33 places you can learn Mandarin for free, I’m sure there are many more.

Want More? Check out Benny's favorite Chinese resources.

The post 33 Free Online Chinese Language Lessons and Resources appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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Published on October 10, 2021 21:01

October 7, 2021

“Go” in Japanese: Master Movement Verbs in Japanese

You can’t get very far in a language if you can’t talk about movement! So today, let’s focus on “go” in Japanese, “go” vs “come” (which is a bit tricky!), and other movement verbs.

It may seem simple, but there are actually quite a lot of ways to use the verb “go” in Japanese. There are even different words for “go” depending on the formality and meaning!

So, we’ll talk about the two most important Japanese words for movement -- iku and kuru -- and how to conjugate them for different meanings.

Plus, you’ll learn a ton of other related phrases like “let’s go” in Japanese, slang for “go”, and other common motion verbs.

Table of contents

“To Go” in Japanese: 行く (iku)
How to Conjugate 行く
“Let’s Go” in Japanese
“Go Away!” in Japanese
“Go to…” in Japanese
“Go to Hell” in Japanese
“To Come” in Japanese: 来る, kuru
How to Conjugate 来る
Iku vs Kuru in Japanese
How to Use ~ていく and ~てくる
“To Bring” and “To Take” - 持ってくる vs 持っていく
Japanese Slang for “Go”
Other Japanese Motion Verbs to Know
Time to Go Onto the Next Lesson!

“To Go” in Japanese: 行く (iku)

The verb “to go” in Japanese is 行く (iku). That’s its standard dictionary form, and also the casual way to say “go” in present tense.

But there are other ways to use 行く, which we’ll get to in a second. First, I want to point out that sometimes the kanji 行 is used as 行う (okonau), which means “to perform, to do, to carry out, to occur.”

行う has almost the same meaning as する (suru, “to do”), but 行う is used in formal situations like in news articles.

So if you see 行う instead of 行く , don’t get confused!

There’s also the honorific form, いらっしゃる (irassharu), which you probably won’t ever use but would hear if you go into a Japanese store. When you walk into a Japanese store, they’ll greet you with いらっしゃいませ (irasshaimase) which means “welcome” in this instance.

How to Conjugate 行く

行く can conjugate in many different ways to mean everything from “want to go” to “let’s go” and commands like “Go!”

First, we need to know basic Japanese verb conjugation.

行く is an う-verb in Japanese. For う-verbs to change into polite present tense, you drop the final “u” and change it to “i” + -masu. So iku becomes ikimasu.

If you know the Japanese alphabet chart already, you can picture going from the “u” row of the column to the “i” row.

This makes it easier to think about with kana because the whole character changes (as opposed to the romanization where you change the vowel and add -masu.)

Because in hiragana, it’s いく → いきます. See how く, ku, became き, ki?

That’s the standard present form. But what if you wanted to say something else?

Here are some other helpful tenses and how to conjugate them:

Casual Form:

“Don’t go” or “won’t go”, present negative: 行く → 行かない, ikanai. Change final u (く) to a (か) and add -nai.
“Didn’t go”, past negative: 行く → 行かなかった, ikanakatta. Change final u (く) to a (か) and add -nakatta.
“Went” or “have gone”, past tense: 行く → 行った, itta. Drop -ku and add -tta.
“Going”, present progressive: 行く → 行っている, itte iru. Drop -ku and add -tte iru.
“Was going”, past progressive: 行く → 行っていた, itte ita. Drop -ku and add -tte ita.

Polite Form:

“Go”, present tense: 行く → 行きます, ikimasu. Change final u(く) to i (き) and add -masu.
“Don’t go” or “won’t go”, present negative: 行く → 行きません, ikimasen. Change final u (く) to i (き) and add -masen.
“Didn’t go”, past negative: 行く → 行きませんでした, ikimasen deshita. Change final u (く) to i (き) and add -masen deshita.
“Went” or “have gone”, past tense: 行く → 行きました, ikimashita. Change final u (く) to i (き) and add -mashita.
“Going”, present progressive: 行く → 行っています, itte imasu. Drop -ku and add -tte imasu. (The same as casual for 行く, but the helping verb いる changes to formal います.)
“Was going”, past progressive: 行く → 行っていました, itte imashita. Drop -ku and add -tte imashita.

This becomes easier when you learn all the basic grammar rules. Learning te-form in Japanese is a good place to start.

Also, there is no future tense in Japanese. It’s understood by context and using words for days and time.

“Let’s Go” in Japanese

Besides changing “go” to different tenses, you can also change “go” to say things like “let’s go” or “I want to go”.

To say “let’s go” in Japanese, you can say it a few ways:

Polite form: 行きましょう, ikimashou
Casual form: 行こう, ikou

These mean “Let’s go!” or “Shall we go?” depending on your inflection. But, when asking if someone wants to go with you, it’s actually more polite to ask in negative polite form like:

行きませんか?
ikimasen ka?
“Do you want to go?”

It’s kind of like saying “You wouldn’t want to come with, would you?” In Japanese, being less direct is always more polite.

“Let’s go” is also sometimes taken straight from English -- think like Mario’s catchphrase. It’s レッツゴー (rettsu go-).

Now, if you wanted to say “I want to go” you change 行く like this:

Change the final u (く) to i (き) and add -tai. 行く → 行きたい, ikitai

Then you can say things like:

日本に行きたい！
Nihon ni ikitai!
“I want to go to Japan!”

Lastly, if you want to ask someone “Where are you going?” in Japanese, you can say:

Polite form:
どこに行きますか。
Doko ni ikimasu ka

Casual form:
どこに行く？
Doko ni iku?

For the casual form, raise your intonation at the end to make it a question. In polite form, you use the question particle か to mark it as a question.

“Go Away!” in Japanese

Someone bothering you? Need to tell someone to get lost? There are several ways to tell someone to “go away” in Japanese.

Let’s start with the simplest. You can simply say “Go!” as a command and say 行きなさい！ (ikinasai!) It means, “You must go”. The ending -nasai is often used by parents to kids to make statements into a command, but you can also use it to tell someone to go away.

You can also use the imperative casual form of the verb, 行け (ike), on its own.

Or say あっちに行け！ (acchi ni ike) which also means “go away”. あっち is informal for あちら (achira) which means “far over there.”

Last up, you’ll also hear 消えろ (kiero) or 失せろ (usero) as harsher, more rude ways to say “get lost” or “scram!” They’re from the verbs 消える (kieru) which means “to disappear” and 失せる (useru), “to lose”.

Keep in mind, these are commanding or rude statements. You wouldn’t want to use them in situations where you’re talking to someone of higher status, like someone older or a boss.

If you need to politely ask someone to leave, you can say 行ってください (itte kudasai).

“Go to…” in Japanese

You can use ~~に行く (ni iku) or ~~へ行く (e iku) to say “go to…” in Japanese.

So if you wanted to say “I’m going to the park”, you’d say:

公園に行く。
kouen ni iku

Particles に and へ are used almost interchangeably, so you can use either here.

There are some common examples where you’d say “go to…” that actually use another verb in Japanese.

For example, for “go to bed” in Japanese, you could say:

ベッドに行く。
Beddo ni iku

But that means “go to your bed (to sit? For time out? To make it?)”. The intent isn’t as clear except the speaker is saying either they will or telling you to go toward the bed.

In the case of “go to sleep” in Japanese, where we also use “go to bed” in English, you’d instead use the verb 寝る (neru, “to sleep”).

今寝る。おやすみ！
ima neru. Oyasumi!
“I’m going to bed now. Goodnight!”

寝てなさいよ。
nete nasai yo
“Go to sleep.”

Another common one is “go home”. This also has its own movement verb, which is 帰る (kaeru).

So to say, “go home” in Japanese, you’d say:

家に帰ってください.
uchi ni kaette kudasai
“Please go home.”

That’s the polite way. But in casual situations or where you need to use it as a command, you could say 帰れ (kaere, the imperative form).

Or for “let’s go home”, say 帰ろう (kaerou, casual) or 帰りましょう (kaerimashou, polite).

“Go to Hell” in Japanese

Okay, this next one is to be used carefully... As it’s not at all polite or work-appropriate. In English, when we’re angry, we might curse someone by saying “go to hell!”

There is a way to say “go to hell” in Japanese, which is:

地獄へおちろ！
jigoku e ochiro!

It literally means “fall to hell!” But... This isn’t something most Japanese people use or would even really understand. While 地獄 (jigoku) does mean “hell”, Japanese people aren’t often Christian and don’t believe in hell.

So the more natural Japanese way to say something like this would be 死ね (shine), which you’ve probably heard in anime a lot, and it means “go die.” くたばれ (kutabare) is also a close equivalent to “go to hell” and pretty much means to f* off.

Even that’s pretty dramatic though. More like, you’d hear ばかやろう! (baka yarou) which is like “you idiot!” or “you a**hole!”

If learning to curse in other languages is your thing, then you can learn more Japanese curse words in this article about Japanese slang and dirty words from around the world.

“To Come” in Japanese: 来る, kuru

Our next major movement verb is 来る (kuru), which means “to come” in Japanese.

In Japanese, there are only two irregular verbs, and this is one of them. (The other is する, suru, “to do”.)

But since they’re so common, they’re easy to learn. Let’s take a look at the conjugation.

How to Conjugate 来る

Casual Form:

“Don’t come” or “won’t come”, present negative: 来る→ 来ない, konai. Drop ru, change verb stem u (く) to o (こ) and add -nai.
“Didn’t come”, past negative: 来る → 来なかった, konakatta. Drop ru, change verb stem u (く) to o (こ) and add -nakatta.
“Came” or “have come”, past tense: 来る → 来た, kita. Drop ru, change verb stem u (く) to い (き) and add -ta.
“Coming”, present progressive: 来る → 来ている, kite iru. Drop ru, change verb stem u (く) to い (き) and add -te iru.
“Was coming” or “already arrived”, past progressive: 来る → 来ていた, kite ita. Drop ru, change verb stem u (く) to い (き) and add -te ita.

Polite Form:

“Come”, present tense: 来る→ 来ます, kimasu. Drop ru, change verb stem u (く) to い (き) and add -masu.
“Don’t come” or “won’t come”, present negative: 来る→ 来ません, kimasen. Drop ru, change verb stem u (く) to い (き) and add -masen.
“Didn’t come”, past negative: 来る → 来ませんでした, kimasen deshita. Drop ru, change verb stem u (く) to い (き) and add -masen deshita.
“Came” or “have come”, past tense: 来る → 来ました, kimashita. Drop ru, change verb stem u (く) to い (き) and add -mashita.
“Coming”, present progressive: 来る → 来ています, kite imasu. Drop ru, change verb stem u (く) to い (き) and add -te imasu.
“Was coming” or “already arrived”, past progressive: 来る → 来ていました, kite imashita. Drop ru, change verb stem u (く) to い (き) and add -te imashita.

Just like 行く, you can also use 来る to say “please come here” which would be ここに来てください (koko ni kite kudasai).

Iku vs Kuru in Japanese

Okay, so let’s talk about the difference between 行く, “to go”, and 来る, “to come.”

It may seem straightforward, and often it is. But in some situations where you would use “go” in English, you’d actually use “come” in Japanese, and vice versa.

行く (iku) in Japanese implies motion away from the speaker. 来る (kuru) implies motion toward the speaker.

It’s mostly tricky when talking about yourself, because you’re the speaker. So let’s say your friend calls you up and asks:

Friend: “Hey, will you come over to my place?”
You: “Yeah, I’ll come.”

But in Japanese, because the subject is moving away from the speaker (as in, you are moving away from your current location), you wouldn’t use 来る. You’d say 行く as in “Yeah, I’ll go to you.”

It’s not that we can’t say that too in English, it just sounds a bit less natural. In Japanese, though, that’s the correct way to use it.

Another way to think about it is that 行く means “to go somewhere” and 来る means “to come from somewhere”.

Now, there’s also the situation of iku vs yuku, both of which are written as 行く.

They mean the same thing, but yuku is an older reading of 行く from before World War II. Nowadays, it’s mainly only used in formal situations and poetry.

For example, you may hear it as “headed to” when traveling, such as:

東京行き電車
Toukyou-yuki densha
“Train to Tokyo” or “Train headed to Tokyo”

How to Use ~ていく and ~てくる

This could be a whole lesson on its own, but I wanted to briefly explain the grammar patterns ~ていく (te iku) and ~てくる (te kuru).

In English, we often say things like “I’m going to buy a new outfit” or “I’m going to bring a game to play.”

In Japanese, we would use ~ていく and ~てくる for these patterns.

~ていく means “to go to do something”, something is “going away” from you, or to express something that you think will happen in the future.

Some examples:

そのアイドルは絶対人気になっていく。
Sono aidoru wa zettai ninki ni natte iku.
“That idol group will definitely become popular.”

休みに街から出ていった。
Yasumi ni machi kara dete itta.
“I went out of town on vacation.”

As for ~てくる, it means “to do something and come back”, something is “coming toward” you, or to express something will happen starting now (especially something that started suddenly).

雨が降ってくる。
Ame ga futte kuru
“(Suddenly) it’s raining.”

寿司を買って来る。
Sushi o katte kuru.
“I’ll buy sushi (and bring it to you).”

In the second example, you’d use this when talking to someone and expressing the action you’ll be doing before returning to the listener. So in this case, it implies they’ll go buy sushi and bring it with them to the listener.

“To Bring” and “To Take” - 持ってくる vs 持っていく

Let’s say you want to say you’re going to bring something to a friend’s house. You’d use the verb 持つ (motsu) which means “to hold” in て-form + くる.

So 持ってくる (motte kuru) would mean “to hold and bring it back toward the listener”. So, in other words, “to bring.”

パーティーにビールを持ってくる。
Pa-ti- ni bi-ru o motte kuru.
“I’ll bring beer to the party.”

As for 持っていく (motte iku), which is 持つ in て-form + いく, it means “to hold and take away from the listener” or… “to take.”

これらの本を持っていく。
Korera no hon o motte iku.
“I’ll take these books.”

A note here: You probably noticed that I’ve used hiragana for いく and くる when using it as part of the て grammar pattern. This is most common, but sometimes it’s written as て行く or て来る.

There are tons more ways to use ~ていく and ~てくる, but this is a good starting point. As you can see, 行く and 来る are two of the most important verbs to learn because they have so many uses.

Japanese Slang for “Go”

There’s one slang term for “go” you might see on occasion. It’s usually during online gaming but sometimes text as well.

In Japanese, the number five, 五, is read as “go” in Japanese. So to save time typing, sometimes you’ll see 555 which means “go go go!”

Other Japanese Motion Verbs to Know

There are more motion verbs to learn too, besides the two most important ones. Here’s a list of other ways to express movement:

To exercise: 運動する, undou suru
To move: 動く, ugoku
To return home: 帰る, kaeru
To pass through, to go through: 通る, tooru
To go back and forth, to commute: 通う, kayou
To go over something, to cross over: 越える, koeru
To cross: 渡る, wataru
To go ahead: 先に行く, saki ni iku
To go back, to return: 戻る, modoru
To leave, to go away or depart: 去る, saru
To exit, to leave: 出る, deru
To go out (to leave): 出かける, dekakeru
To go in, to enter: 入る, hairu
To put in: 入れる, ireru
To throw: 投げる, nageru
To continue, to keep up or go on: 続ける, tsuzukeru
To climb up: 登る, noboru
To get off (or get out of a vehicle), to descend: 降りる, oriru
To fly: 飛ぶ, tobu
To fall: 落ちる, ochiru
To walk: 歩く, aruku
To stroll: 散歩する, sanpo suru
To run: 走る, hashiru
To roll: ころころ, korokoro, or 転がす, korogasu

Time to Go Onto the Next Lesson!

I bet you didn’t think there’d be so much to learning “go” in Japanese! But it’s one of the handiest words you can learn. I mean, you learned how to say a ton of things from this one topic!

Now it’s time to go on to your next Japanese lesson. What will you learn next? Here are some suggestions:

The ultimate guide to Japanese particles
70+ Japanese words for the classroom
A guide to Japanese question words
A beginner’s guide to kanji

The post “Go” in Japanese: Master Movement Verbs in Japanese appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.