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Topaze2003

@whitewolf-topaze

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I am asking this for an essay. Try to answer honestly.

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Also i know everyone's always like "Reblog if you vote," but also i would like as wide a net as possible, so at the risk of being annoying, pls reblog if you vote <3

Also, this goes without saying, but answer honestly. This isn't a test of morals, this is a survey of habits.

How to self study a language without a textbook or course

Hi! I have a very short attention span, and I rarely find it in me to enjoy using only one resource to learn a language, so I often rely on immersion and actively using the language right from the beginning to learn languages. I’ve done this with pretty much all my languages, and it has worked out pretty well for me so far, especially with French! This is heavily inspired by this article on the medium, which changed my whole outlook on languages. I hope I can offer some helpful advice!

Starting off (A0 –> A2)
  • First of all, you’re going to have to set your goals in the language. What do you want to do in your target language? Do you want to be conversational or fully fluent? Do you want to focus on all the skills (reading, listening, writing, speaking), or only a couple? Which accent/dialect do you want to choose? Set your goals, and give yourself some habits to start sticking to.
  • In most cases, I would advice learning the alphabet and the pronunciation at first. For the alphabet, find a guide online and learn the stroke order. Keep on writing it over and over again. For languages like Mandarin Chinese or Japanese, where you have to memorise characters, try and memorise the most common characters. Also, find a pronunciation guide on YouTube or somewhere online, and immediately start working on it. Once you have a general idea of what the sounds are, start speaking and try to shadow natives (i.e. repeat what they say after them with the same intonation - you can do this with YouTube videos, or beginners exercises online).  To practice both of these at the same time, you can try reading out loud, and maybe try dictating what you hear sometimes.
  • Start listening to the language a lot. Try and listen to YouTube videos and podcasts, and get used to the sound of the language. You might even want to watch a TV show or anime in your target language with English subtitles. I’d also recommend reading and listening at the same time, so if you have subtitles in your target language, then that could be great too. The more exposed you are to the natural use of your target language, the less unintelligible they will seem. 
  • Memorise some basic vocabulary and phrases. There are loads of articles online that have basic vocabulary lists and phrases in different languages (there are even some on this website). Try memorising a few of them. In terms of what exactly you should learn vocab for, I would recommend learning vocab lists for these: numbers, subject pronouns, common greetings, the most common verbs (the first 100 should do) and their most common conjugations, days of the week, months, seasons, years, how to tell the time, how to talk about the weather, family, colours, house vocab, food, money and shopping phrases, common adjectives, common places,  adverbs, parts of the body and medical vocabulary (I got all of this from this post). It’s a lot, but it will give you a strong foundation. You can then start learning vocabulary for your interests specifically. You can do this using multiple methods. First, you could use flashcards, like anki, memrise and Quizlet. You could also play around with apps like Duolingo or Lingodeer. Also, you could write them down, and keep testing yourself on them until you have them memorised (both target language to english, and english to target language). Make sure that you have audio, and that you know how the word/phrase sounds, and the pronunciation.
  • Start speaking with someone online. I recommend apps like Tandem and HiNative. Start trying to have conversations of basic topics straight away, and make sure you get corrections. Look up the words as you go.
  • Memorise a few basic grammar structures. This is especially important for languages like Korean or Japanese, which have extremely different grammar structures to English. Learn basic present, past and future tenses, along with basic articles and determiners, agreement, reflexive verbs, basic particles, negation and gender.
  • Immerse. I would recommend starting off with posts and videos that offer advice about things, since the language used in these tend to be simplistic, but topic specific. You can also use apps like LingQ. When practicing listening and reading, you can use the advice in these two posts (listening, reading). Don’t memorise every word you come across, and slowly try to ease yourself in.
Making the leap to the intermediate stage (A2 –> B1)
  • Vocabulary: I’ve already talked about methods of memorising vocabulary earlier, so I won’t talk about it again. As for what you should be memorising, I would suggest basing it on your interests and topical issues. When you immerse, and come across certain interesting words, then memorise them. You can also explore the tag for your target language on tumblr, and try and memorise some of the in depth vocabulary lists on here.
  • Grammar: I would suggest finding a specification, or list of grammar structures for the intermediate level, and learn all of them using articles and youtube videos. Then, try and use the rules regularly in your speaking and writing and receive corrections. Also, do practice questions. 
  • Listening: I have gone in depth on how to practice listening in the post I mentioned earlier, so I won’t elaborate too much. Overall, I’d say that it is better to make sure that you are listening to the language a lot, and that what you are listening to is comprehensible input. 
  • Reading: Find some learners exercises online, and keep doing them. You can also just generally try to read more, based on your interests. I would also suggest to apply the methods from the post I mentioned earlier.
  • Writing: Try and write a few sentences every now and then, and use your new grammar structures and vocabulary as much as possible. Make sure that you receive corrections. I have gone in depth on this subject in this post.
  • Speaking: Find a speaking buddy online, and try and organise meetings, where you just try and practice speaking. Look up words you don’t know, and be brave: most people are kind, and won’t mind if you make mistakes, so keep trying to move forward.
Going from intermediate to conversational (B1 –> B2)
  • Vocabulary: Focus on your interests, and areas that will be useful to you. Make sure that you actually use the words that you are memorising while writing and speaking. 
  • Grammar: I think the same advice as the beginner to intermediate stage is applicable here.
  • Listening: Listen to both intermediate podcasts and YouTube videos in the target language (innovative languages, iyagi, dreaming spanish, a piece of french, InnerFrench etc.), and also to native material (youtube videos, films, TV shows, vines, tiktoks etc.) that you find interesting. Use transcripts or subtitles (in the target language) to memorise new vocabulary, and then keep repeating the audio until you understand everything. 
  • Reading: Read whatever you can get your hands on, as long as it is reasonably simple enough. I would recommend kids books, and also translations of books that you have already read in your target language.
  • Writing: Try starting a journal in your target language, and also try writing letters/e-mails to people, and maybe write some essays on topical issues. Once again, make sure that you get corrections. 
  • Speaking: Continue having conversations with people in your target language. Let yourself make mistakes and be corrected, because that is the only way to improve. For your accent and pronunciation, shadow native material (I use Easy Languages for this). 

This is as far as I have gotten in terms of my self-study journey, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to offer much more advice. When I eventually reach an advanced C1 level in a language, then I’ll definitely make a post about that. Thank you for reading this post! I hope it was useful to you!

LanguageTransfer is this audio series that’s free and super easy to find online.

They have Spanish, which I have used personally. They also have Arabic, Turkish, German, Greek, Italian, Swahili and French.

Si hablas español y quieres aprender inglés, LanguageTransfer tiene un curso para eso.

It really explains grammar in a way that makes sense, helps you see parallels between your language and your target language, and helps you discover useful patterns.

A fair warning, at least for Spanish, the first episode was him talking about how important and superior the series is. It’s annoying, but after that it really, really does help. So give it a chance.

Today I learned

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Free Audiobooks and Ebooks on OVERDRIVE.

Free Graphic Novels (DC, Marvel, Image, etc), Music, TV shows, and music on HOOPLA.

Free music that you can KEEP on FREEGAL

You are PAYING for all this with your tax money - USE THEM. Most likely systems will have all 3 or 2 out of 3, so if you aren’t sure call your local library’s reference/information desk and how you can get set-up or started.

Helpful links to all of the above:

More places to find FREE EBOOKS:

Standard eBooks (basically stuff off of Project Gutenberg, but prettified)

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Useful if you’re an ebook power user: Calibre

Yesterday I checked a book out from overdrive, but had to stop reading while I cooked dinner. Then I remembered that, when I had searched for that book, the audiobook version also showed up as available. So I opened my phone, checked out the audiobook, and listened to my book while I cooked dinner.

overdrive is rad.

Please re-blog to widen the data sample! I might use this for my statistics project at the end of the semester, and every answer is a great help :).

Please share in the tags what you picked and why if you're so inclined.

Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP

(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)

An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:

(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)

I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:

IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.

You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:

HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:

First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.

  • Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.
  • Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.
  • In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.
  • In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:
I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.
  • In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.
  • Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.

Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!

NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!

Best language learning tips & masterlists from other bloggers I’ve come across

(these posts are not my own!)

Tips:

How to:

Masterposts:

Challenges:

Word lists:

Other stuff:

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Feel free to reblog and add your own lists / masterlists!

this post is meant to be a directory of every resource I come across for Arabic. I’m trying to keep this post specifically for Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), so if they are any mistakes, let me know. It will be a continuous work in progress so thank you for your patience! also, please let me know if any of the links suddenly stop working.

info

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Assalamu-Alaykum! This is my very first masterpost, and I wanted to make it about a subject I only know too well. Arabic is my mother tongue and I’ve been into the Arabic culture for like my entire life. I am really eager to help people get more familiar with it, as I understand it might not be easy at all. The letters are different, the spelling is different, the phonetic is different, the culture is different… Thus I really admire people who chose to learn it. You rock!

Anyway, here are the basics (in my own opinion) for learning the language and the culture. I tried to give all the information I had, but I’ll edit this post and eventually add more stuff :

free websites + apps

specific arabic learning

useful links/docs

arabic keyboards

dictionaries

islamic references

Okay, i hesitated to put that one, but if you want to get into the arabic culture, it is very important to get to know the islamic side of it. (be careful, islamic culture does not necessarily mean arabic culture, but the two can easily be linked)

  • searchtruth (helps you with grammar and vocab using qur’an sentences)
  • legacyfordham (it’s the islamic section of the university of fordham website. it gives you a general look on the islamic world eras)

music

books

arabic art resources

a native speaker tips

  • as I said before, arabic is a tricky language, because it does not originate (like most other popular languages) from latin roots. therefore when you come accross arabic words or names written in latin letters, you’ll find out different ways of writing the same word. any version is correct as long as the pronounciation is correct.
  • there are no vowels in the arabic alphabet. (well, not really, we have letters referring to “o”, “a” or “i” but we only put them when we stress on those vowels) so arabic letters are referring to consonants, with some of them only existing in arabic (for ex: ض pronounced Ḍād). you’ll probably learn it throughout the websites I gave, but bear in mind that the vowel sounds of arabic are put by tiny symbols above or under the letters called chakl. chakl helps you know how to pronounce a letter, if you should say “a” or “o” or “i” after that letter. in most texts you’ll come accross - apart from language learning websites - you’ll find words and sentences without chakl. and that’s because we, as native arabic speakers, have gotten so used to how a word is pronounced that we kinda know what chakl should normally be put. you should get used to it as well, it will be so much easier for you to read any kind of text.
  • practice arabic pronounciation and listening A LOT. it will be very useful for writing and reading, trust me.
  • oh and most importantly, i’m open to anyone desiring to speak with a native arabic speaker! really, you can just message me, or email me (at senhajihind@yahoo.fr) or whatever you like. i’ll be glad to give you additional tips along the way!

I think I said it all. I may or may not add stuff in the future, so feel free to follow me, or suggest me other things!

I’ll probably do a moroccan masterpost later, ideas are welcome here as well!

a helpful slideshow created by my friend @the-celestial-bitch and her sister who can no longer access her blog from her country and has asked me to post in her stead instead

this is what she said:

this is a direct response to all the people whose reaction to what’s happening in iran is a calling them islamophobic and blocking them, furthering the oppression they’re experiencing by the government’s hands. please read this, and repost it on Twitter or Instagram and stop the misinformation from spreading
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Why is hale asking me out?
Stiles: i-
Derek: No its not April 1st
Stiles: w-
Derek: No this isn't a bet
Stiles: s-
Derek: No i'm not in it for your virginity
Stiles: Hey! I'm not-
Derek: Yes you are

my sister was 8 years old when morality police in Tehran stopped us because she wasn’t wearing a headscarf. Dad tried to tell them, she’s only 8, it’s not mandatory until she’s 10, but it didn’t matter to him because she “looked” older. She was forced to wear a scarf before he let us go.

The same day another police stopped us because he could glimpse my mother’s ankles, even though she was wearing a long trench coat. She had to buy and put on black tights before he let us go.

In 1997 we got stuck in the airport in Teheran because they “lost” dad’s passport. Mom ended up leaving with me and my sister, leaving dad behind. Since he’s an Iranian citizen, the Swedish embassy couldn’t help even though he also is a Swedish citizen. My uncle went every day to the airport to pester them about the passport. They “found” the passport 2 months later, finally allowing him to fly back to Sweden.

when ordering school photos my dad would always ask the photographer to edit out our cross necklaces in one copy, so that he could send it to our grandparents. He knew it wouldn’t be safe in case officials checked the mail and realised we we’re christian.

These are mild examples of the oppression and fear the Iranian people have had to live with for over 40 years, of the oppression Iranian women have had to live under.

i could give a thousand more. the people of Iran are terrorised by it’s government. I could tell you about relatives executed and relatives scattered around the globe. About the per capita executions and the examples of attacks on Iranians outside Iran by agents of the regime. The risks of traveling into Iran as a Iranian citizen.

I’m just part of the Iranian diaspora. I’m Iranian, yet not Iranian. Cut off from my heritage due to the risks, due to the distance. It’s an open wound. A wound that will never have a chance to heal unless the regime falls.

but my wound is a paper cut compared to my dad’s, compared to the Iranians in Iran fighting for freedom and justice. The ones that’s been truly robbed of their homeland. For that, I have no words.

what we’re seeing now is a fight to reclaim it. A fight for justice for Zhina (Mahsa) Amini, as well as other women before her -and sadly after her. A fight for human- and women’s rights.

I can only voice my support.

as a persian girl i really wish that everyone informs themselves about the protests in Iran !!! people have no internet access, are being k!lled and beaten to d3ath on the streets. the whole political system is a joke and a threat to human rights for all people in that country. it is my duty to use my voice for these people who aren't able to do so and i hope you do the same!!!

this is a women's rights issue and a human rights issue.

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Don't let politics and borders distance us from one another. Please be Iranian voice...

EDIT: I FUCKING HATE THIS POST LET IT DIE AND STOP TELLING ME I’M DUMB OML.

I think people forget that the no-kill rule is pretty much only a Batfamily thing, with a few other heroes.

Wonder Woman kills people, that bitch loves murder. Sooo… why do we have an issue when like, other characters kill bad people?

Seems kinda like we only like characters we’re told to like.

Jason when he kills people? A lot of his antis seem to have a problem with it. “It’s bad and dehumanizes the people he’s killing”—first of all, most of the people he’s killing dehumanize other people, so like. Meh. Who cares? It’s a comic.

Diana kills someone? It’s not even really acknowledged.

Talia is observed in her first appearance killing someone, and someone took that as her committing a terrorist act. In reality, this was written as a heroic act—saving Bruce. She feels horrible about it, and cries in Bruce’s arms, but modern readers look at her in the lens of what they’ve been told Talia is—a terrorist who has no regard for life. In reality, she doesn’t like bloodshed and even tells Bruce in The Demon’s Quest: “I seek the same ends as my father*, but I do not use the same means to those ends.”

*Ra’s is an environmentalist who wants to save earth, in a similar fashion to Ivy. He believes that killing off parts of the human race will help save earth and its animals. Talia does not approve of this.

So like, idk I was just thinking about it. It’s weird, right?

It’s just downright bizarre to me that people are against Jason killing, when we have Wonder Woman do it—and unlike Talia in her first appearance, she’s not really upset about it. And imo? It doesn’t make her a bad hero. It’s just what she sometimes has to do.

Batman wouldn’t kill even in self defense, but characters like Wonder Woman and Red Hood will. So why is one demonized for it and the other still seen as a prime example of heroes? Just wondering what people think of this.

Edit: Stop reblogging this. Stop reblogging this. Stop interacting with this.