Language Moodboard: Norwegian

NORWEGIAN ANIMALS PART 1 (PART 2)

a dog // a cat a reindeer // a wolf a horse // a bear a bird // an arctic fox a moose // a penguin

The thing about being multi-lingual is that it’s not just that you have one language you think in, and then you translate based on what environment you’re in. It’s more like, when you’re speaking another language, you’re almost a different person. You’ve had different experiences speaking those languages and thinking in those languages; those experiences shape who you are in that language, in my experience. So when I’m speaking Japanese, I’m not just speaking Japanese. I’m also thinking and feeling in the Japanese person that I am, who is a little bit different. Well, not different, but stronger in personality in certain aspects more than others, I guess.

Mitski (“More Mitski, please” NUVO interview by Katherine Coplen)

someone:  do you speak french

me:  I have seen a few scenes of that candlestick speaking in beauty and the beast

PSA

Bonne Année - Happy New Year Vieille Année - Old Year Nouvelle Année - New Year Les bonnes résolutions du Nouvel An - New Year’s resolutions Le Saint Sylvestre - New Year’s Eve Hiver (m) - Winter Décembre (m) - December Janvier (m) - January Fête (f) - Party Célébration (f) - Celebration Concert (m) - Concert Parade (f) - Parade Tradition (f) - Tradition Champagne (m) - Champagne Toast (m) - wassail Oraison (f) - Speech Horloge (f) - Clock Compte à rebours (m) - Countdown Minuit (m) - Midnight Bisou (m) - Kiss Pétard (m) - Firecracker Feu d'artifice (m) - Firework Présentation (f) - Presentation, display Confettis (mpl) - Confetti

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!

french vocab from the first half of my year abroad

I’m home for Christmas now, which means I’m back on Scottish soil with decent internet. It’s giving me a chance to reflect on my French and how much it has improved just in three months of living in France. So I thought I’d share some of the things that I learned from living in the Charente-Maritime: 

ah, bah, oui (expression) this seems to be the equivalent of ‘yeah but no’ when people have a false-start on a sentence. usually, i heard this in disagreements in my classroom when students were wanting to correct another student but couldn’t get the words out fast enough. i think it’s a hilarious thing to say and i’ve been trying to incorporate it into my way of speaking. 

en fait (expression) this literally means ‘in fact’ or ‘actually’, which i think can come off a little rude in english but is actually a common expression in french. french people i have encountered use ‘en fait’ to start sentences, to provide more information, to correct, basically just all the time! 

franchement (adverb) in english, i’m a big fan of using ‘tbh’ or ‘to be honest’, and this is the best french equivalent to that. it sounds so very french when it’s said and can mean ‘frankly’, ‘honestly’, ‘indisputably’ or ‘without hesitation’, depending on the context. 

rater (verb) i picked up this new verb when i was telling a class about how i failed my driving test. i knew that ‘rater’ can mean ‘to miss’, as in ‘i missed the train’, but one student turned to another and said that ‘elle a raté’ and it was explained to me that ‘rater’ can also mean ‘to fail’, or in my case ‘to mess up’ something. 

se tromper (verb) this verb means ‘to be mistaken’, and i definitely found myself saying ‘je me suis trompée’ a lot while I was just new to the country! 

une chocolatine (noun) I was living on the south-west coast of France in the Charente-Maritime region which means that I picked up some new and different ways of saying things. I was quickly informed by my students in the most sincere and serious way possible that the famous ‘pain au chocolat’ pastry does not exist in the Charente-Maritime and I was to ask for ‘une chocolatine’ at the local boulangerie instead. I now use both nouns interchangeably! 

Compliment people. If you think a good thing about someone, there’s no harm in saying it aloud.

Language Moodboard ↠ German

language learner problems

when your friend borrows your phone and you gotta prepare yourself for the “what the heck why this in a different language”

french vocab - fairy tales

Il était une fois… Once upon a time…

LES NOMS - NOUNS

le roi - the king la reine - the queen le prince - the prince la princesse - the princess la fée - the fairy la sirène - the mermaid le nain - the dwarf l’elfe - the elf le sorcier - the wizard la sorcière - the witch le dragon - the dragon le château - the castle la tour - the tower l’épée - the sword la magie - magic le sortilège / le sort- the spell

LES ADJECTIFS - ADJECTIVES

méchant - wicked / mean mauvais - bad / wicked gentil - nice bon - good enchanté - enchanted empoisonné - poisoned

LES VERBES - VERBS 

aimer - to love haïr - to hate tuer - to kill bénir - to bless maudire - to curse / to damn jeter un sort - to cast a spell

…et ils vécurent heureux pour l’éternité. …and they lived happily ever after.