Language Learners' Library

General Chat
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Recently we had this thread Which languages do you speak? in which many people revealed themselves as multilingual. So, I thought it would be a good idea for us to create a thread where we could discuss what languages we’re trying to learn right now, and give each other updates and encouragement on our progress.

username native language(s) secondary language(s) language(s) being learnt
Aumpa English none Chinese
ayaros Italian English Japanese
bugcat English none Latin
RubyMineshaft English Chinese Esperanto
Samraku English none Japanese
Sanonius German Latin and others bugcat
sulcino Czech English Japanese
yebellz English, Chinese none Japanese
Vsotvep Dutch English Japanese
kingkaio English Chinese French

/* FANCY NEW OP UNDER CONSTRUCTION */
(linking completed up to post 750)

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Here are instructions on how to make a table:

Since you are regular, you should be able to turn any of your posts into a wiki by click on the wrench icon (hidden under the three dots) and clicking “make wiki”

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I’m having another go at learning Latin, starting today. My first and only language is English (not for lack of trying otherwise ;_; )

My resources are:

  • Oxford Latin Desk Dictionary (2005 edition)
  • Kennedy’s Revised Latin Primer (1962 edition)
  • So you really want to learn Latin Book 1, and answer book
  • A Loeb Classical Library Reader

Also:

  • The first few chapters of the Latin Primer copied out by hand, with a colour-coded declension chart
  • An entry-grade online Latin book called Cornelia
  • Some hand-translated sentences from same

My starting knowledge is:

  • Most of the pronunciation (I can’t roll an R, which is a sticking point. Short vowels at the end of words are also a bit unintuitive)
  • A few nouns
  • A few adjectives
  • Some present-tense verbs
  • Some declensions
  • Basic grammar
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I’ve also got a number of resources for Hawaiian if anyone ever wants me to research something for them:

  • Hawaiian Dictionary, Revised and Enlarged Edition (1986)
  • The Pocket Hawaiian Dictionary (1975)
  • A short synopsis of the most essential points in Hawaiian grammar

I imagine a book swap could be contrived with other UK residents :wink:

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Why don’t we have a Word of the Day?

Every day we can have a new wiki table in which we can translate the English word into our own target languages.

2020-03-03: The word of the day is one.

language word
Latin ūnus, ūna, ūnum
Spanish uno, una
Chinese 一 yī, 幺 yāo (used when reciting numbers orally)
Japanese 一 / いち (ichi) (“1”), ひとつ (hitotsu) (1 thing)
Esperanto unu
Russian один (odeen/odin)
German eins
French un
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Numbers are a bit tricky, since some languages will also have special counting words, like “hitotsu”, “hitori”, etc. in Japanese.

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Let see…

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I see, thanks. How did you that?

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Yes, I updated the table indeed. How did you add the modify button at the end of the post, I meant.

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My favourite analogy for counting words is how in English, you can’t count one bread, two breads; you have to use slices or loaves.

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Click on the three dots symbol, then the spanner. Yebellz explained it to me earlier in the thread.

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ok… sorry, this means making it a wiki… :blush:

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image
image980×980 208 KB

We reached five people! Welcome, comrades!!

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The ability to turn one’s own post into a wiki is restricted to users that have reached the “Regular” “trust level” (see https://blog.discourse.org/2018/06/understanding-discourse-trust-levels/). Hence, @ayaros would not be able to do this. However, I think a moderator may be able to convert any post into a wiki, so that would be a manual work-around.

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Japanese subtitles word frequency list


picked by hand words lists often have statistically rare words or words that are only used in writing

Dictionary:
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page
https://jisho.org/
Easy explanation:
http://www.imabi.net/beginnersi.htm

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From skimming the channel, I think this was a theoretical discussion with no post actually needing my assistance, correct?

Yes we can.

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Yes, I think it was just hypothetical, as @ayaros may have been just wondering how to do it, but might not have had a particular post in mind.

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I was thinking to create a good reference guide on learning material for the community on any target language. Someone (not necessarily me) can create a table with known studying material (essentially, dictionary, grammars, books, and other learning stuffs). The table should report a little image of the cover, title, edition/version, author, publisher, and - most important - a column with one or more comments from whom know that specific material and can give an informed and personal evaluation. It would be an incremental work and it should be made one table for each language otherwise it would be disorienting.

I had had this idea originally for a different target material: Go books.
I never found an updated list of Go books made like this. The comments found on any large on-line bookstores are often incomplete and quite rough.

But let start with the @bugcat idea for the moment to think better in future how can evolve this post.

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@Gia: are you there? You missed this post that I think is interesting for you.

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8 posts were split to a new topic: Pokemon Go!