It’s A Bright And Beautiful Sunny Day A Cool Breeze And The Sun Shining Down Warmly On Your Face. You

Well... this year has been... I really feel like i half assed my goals but at the same time i ended up tired of all the things i did ... So... I really don't know how to feel SJDJJDDK

I want to get the most the last week of the year i will try to organize my goals and be more especific with what i want....

I accepted that i have a problem with accepting that my job occupies almost my whole day and the very fews hours that i have for me isn't enough for the things that i want to do and that my goals need to be more specific and also i need to remember that little steps are still steps :)

Ugh... i hate/love adulting

There this french radio station called FIP that in addition to being a great radio station has different webradios each dedicated to one musical genre. AND they've created a new one called "Sacré Français !" that only plays songs in french, and not just from France but from the whole francophone world! They are pretty eclectic in their choices and I thought it could interest some of you if you're looking for new artists to add to your language playlists :)

You can listen here or in the Radio France app.

PS: the webradios are music only, there's no talking. But I definitely recommend listening to the regular FIP station if you want small doses of listening practice, they do speak in a relaxed way!

#learningfrench

L’alphabet phonétique

Les voyelles

[a] open front unrounded vowel - cinéma (cinema, m); hat

[ɑ] open back unrounded vowel - château (castle, m); hot

[e] close-mid front unrounded vowel - clé (key, f); may

[ɛ] open-mid front unrounded vowel - père (father, m), chêne (oak, m); bed

[ə] mid central vowel/schwa - jeu (game, m); bird

[i] close front unrounded vowel - souris (mouse, f); free

[o] close-mid back rounded vowel - rose (rose, f); UK yawn

[ɔ] open-mid back rounded vowel - océan (ocean, m); thought

[ø] close-mid front rounded vowel - jeudi (thursday)

[œ] open-mid front rounded vowel - peur (fear, f)

[u] close back rounded vowel - chou (cabbage, m); boot

[y] close front rounded vowel - tu (you); UK few

This vowel diagram shows the inside of the throat from the left side (pronounce /i/ “eee” and /ɑ/ “aaa” to feel the difference). Antérieur: front, postérieur: back, aperture: opening of the lips.

Les voyelles nasales (when followed by a consonant except -h- or ending a word)

[ɑ̃] > am, an, (é)en, em, aon - temps (time, m)

[ɛ̃] > aim, ain, eim, ein, em, (i)en, im, in, um, un, ym, yn - pain (bread, m)

[ɔ̃] > om, on - ombre (shadow, f), bonjour (hello)

[œ̃] > um, un - humble, un (one, m); dying, turning into [ɛ̃] 

N.B. When a nasal sound is produced, despite being made of two letters, they are to be pronounced as their own sound: in Bonjour, the /o/ and the /n/ shouldn’t be heard at all since they are followed by the consonant /j/, as opposed to the usual dragging of /o/ then /n/ like in Bonne journée.

Les semi-voyelles

[j] voiced palatal approximant - lieu (place, m); you

[ɥ] voiced labial–palatal approximant - huile (oil, f); wall

[w] voiced labial–velar approximant - oui (yes); witch

Les consonnes

[b] voiced bilabial plosive - bête (beast, f)

[d] voiced dental and alveolar plosive - déjeuner (lunch, m)

[f] voiceless labiodental fricative - faim (hunger, f)

[g] voiced velar plosive - gâteau (cake, m)

[ʒ] voiced postalveolar fricative - ange (angel, m); vision

[k] voiceless velar plosive - cadeau (gift, m)

[l] voiced apical alveolar approximant - lait (milk, m)

[p] voiceless bilabial plosive - pain (bread, m)

[ʁ] voiced uvular fricative - roi (king, m)

[s] voiceless alveolar fricative - sel (salt, m); nonsense

[t] voiceless denti-alveolar plosive - table (table, f)

[v] voiced labiodental fricative - violon (violin, m)

[z] voiced alveolar fricative - maison (house, f)

[ʃ] voiceless postalveolar fricative - chocolat (chocolate, m)

Les consonnes nasales

[m] voiced bilabial nasal - miel (honey, m)

[n] voiced denti-alveolar nasal - nez (nose, m)

[ɲ] voiced palatal nasal - montagne (mountain, f)

[ŋ] voiced velar nasal - connexion (connection, f); sing 

Voiced sounds are those that make our vocal chords vibrate when they are produced; voiceless sounds are produced from air passing through the mouth at different points. Fricatives are consonants with the characteristic that when they are produced, air escaped through a small passage and make a hissing sound; plosives are a type of consonant produced by forming a complete obstruction to the flow air out of the mouth.

Movie: Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain - Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001

The world is a little happier with you in it.

Linguistics and Language Podcasts

Looking for podcasts about language and linguistics? Here’s a comprehensive list with descriptions! I’ve also mentioned if shows have transcripts. If there are any I missed, let me know!

Linguistics

Lingthusiasm A podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne (that’s me!). Main episodes every third Thursday of every month, with a second bonus episode on Patreon. (Transcripts for all episodes)

Because Language Every week Daniel, Ben, and Hedvig cover the news in linguistics and tackle a particular topic. (previously Talk the Talk) (Transcripts for all episodes after release)

The Vocal Fries Every episode Carrie Gillon & Megan Figueroa tackle linguistic discrimination in relation to a particular group. (Transcripts for some episodes)

En Clair A podcast about forensic linguistics from Dr Claire Hardaker at Lancaster University. Episodes released monthly, with a range of topics from criminal cases to literary fraud. (Transcripts for all episodes)

Accentricity From Sadie Durkacz Ryan, a lecturer in sociolinguistics at Glasgow University. Season one has six episodes.

Field Notes Martha Tsutsui Billins interviews linguists about their linguistic fieldwork. (Transcripts for all episodes)

History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences sub-30 minute episodes about the history of linguistics from James McElvenny, with the occasional interviews.

The Language Revolution Changing UK attitudes to languages.

Lexis A conversation about linguistics with a topical UK focus, from Matthew Butler, Lisa Casey, Dan Clayton and Jacky Glancey.

Kletshead A podcast about bilingual children for parents, teachers and speech language therapists from Dr. Sharon Unsworth. Also in Dutch.

Linguistics Lounge A podcast about language and discourse with Tony Fisher and Julia de Bres. Transcripts for all episodes.

CorpusCast from Dr Robbie Love, available alongside other shows in the Aston University podcast feed or in video format.

Life and Language Michaela Mahlberg chats with her guests about life and why language matters.

Toksave – Culture Talks A podcast from the PARADISEC Archive, where the archived records of the past have life breathed back into them once again.

Theory Neutral Covering typology and descriptive grammars with Logan R Kearsley.

PhonPod Podcast Interview-based podcast about phonetics and phonology.

Linguistics Careercast A podcast devoted to exploring careers for linguists outside academia.

Language

The Allusionist Stories about language and the people who use it, from Helen Zaltzman (Transcripts for all episodes) (my review).

Grammar Girl Episodes are rarely longer than 15 minutes, but they’re full of tips about English grammar and style for professional writing, and more! (Transcripts for all episodes).

A Language I Love Is… A show about language, linguistics and people who love both. An interview-based podcast hosted by Danny Bate.

Word of Mouth BBC Radio 4 show exploring the world of words with Michael Rosen.

America the Bilingual Dedicated to the pursuit of bilingualism in the USA.

Words & Actions A podcast about how language matters in business, politics and beyond.

Subtitle A podcast about languages and the people who speak them, from Patrick Cox and Kavita Pillay. For those who miss Patrick’s old podcast, The World in Words.

The Parlé Podcast from Canadian Speech-Language Pathologist Chantal Mayer-Crittenden.

Slavstvuyte! A podcast for everyone who is fascinated by Slavic languages from Dina Stankovic.

Subtext A podcast about the linguistics of online dating.

Conlangs

Conlangery Particularly for those with an interest in constructed  languages, they also have episodes that focus on specific natural  languages, or linguistic phenomena. Newer episodes have transcripts.

Linguitect Matt, Rowan and Liam explain linguistic topics and talk about how to build them into your conlang.

Dictionaries

Word For Word From Macquarie dictionary, with a focus on Australian English.

Fiat Lex A podcast about making dictionaries from Kory Stamper & Steve Kleinedler. One season.

Word Matters From the editors at Merriam-Webster, hosted by Emily Brewster, Neil Serven, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. 

English

Unstandardized English Interview-based podcast. Disrupting the language of racism and white supremacy in English Language Teaching.

History of English Meticulously researched, professionally produced and engaging content on the history of English. (My reviews: episodes 1-4, episodes 5-79, bonus episodes).

Lexicon Valley Hosted by John McWhorter.

That’s What They Say Every week linguist Anne Curzan joins Rebecca Kruth on Michigan public radio for a five minute piece on a quirk of English language.

A Way With Words A talk-back format show on the history of English words, cryptic crosswords and slang.

Words/etymology

Something Rhymes With Purple Susie Dent and Gyles Brandreth uncover the hidden origins of language and share their love of words.

Telling our Twisted Histories Kaniehti:io Horn brings us together to decolonize our minds– one word, one concept, one story at a time.

Word Bomb Hosts Pippa Johnstone and Karina Palmitesta explore one word per week, using particular words for a deep dive into linguistic and social issues. (Transcripts for all episodes)

Words for Granted In each episode Ray Belli explores the history of a common English word in around fifteen minutes.

Lexitecture Ryan, a Canadian, and Amy, a Scot share their chosen word each episode.

Bunny Trails Shauna and Dan discuss idioms and other turns of phrase.

Translation

Troublesome Terps The podcast about the things that keep interpreters up at night. See also back episodes of Alexander Drechsel’s old podcast LangFM.

In Languages other than English

Parler Comme Jamais A French language podcast from Binge Audio.Monthly episodes from Laélia Véron.

Sozusagen A German language podcast of weekly 10 minute episodes.

Språket A Swedish language podcast from Sveriges Radio about language use and change.

Språktalk A Norwegian language podcast with Helene Uri and Kristin Storrusten from Aftenposten.

Klog på sprog A Danish language podcast that playfully explores the Danish language.

Kletshead A Dutch language podcast about bilingual children for parents, teachers and speech language therapists from Dr. Sharon Unsworth. Also in English.

BabelPodcast A Portuguese language podcast from Brazil, hosted by Cecilia Farias and Gruno.

War of Words A Spanish language podcast about linguistics from Juana de los Santos, Ángela Rodríguez, Néstor Bermúdez and Antonella Moschetti.

Con la lengua fuera A Spanish language podcast from Macarena Gil y Nerea Fernández de Gobeo.

Hablando mal y pronto A Spanish language conversational podcast from Santiago, Juan and Magui.

Back Catalogue

These are podcasts that had a good run of episodes and are no longer being produced.

Spectacular Vernacular A podcast that explores language … and plays with it Hosted by Nicole Holliday and Ben Zimmer for Slate. Transcripts available. 19 episodes from 2021 and 2022.

Science Diction a podcast about words—and the science stories behind them. Hosted by Johanna Mayer, this is a production from WNYC Science Friday. 42 episodes from 2020-2022.

The World in Words From PRI (2008-2019)

How Brands are Build (season 1 of this show focuses on brand naming)

Very Bad Words A  podcast about swearing and our cultural relationship to it. 42 episodes from 2017 and 2018.

The Endless Knot is not strictly a language podcast, but they often include word histories, linguistics podcast fans episode may find their colour series particularly interesting.

Given Names (four part radio series from 2015, all about names. My review)

Odds & Ends

There are also a number of podcasts that have only a few episodes, are no longer being made, or are very academic in their focus:

The Black Language Podcast Anansa Benbow brings you a podcast dedicated to talking about Black people and their languages. Five episodes from 2020.

Speculative Grammarian Podcast (from the magazine of the same name, about 50 episodes from Dec 2009-Jan 2017)

Linguistics Podcast (on YouTube, around 20 episodes in 2013 introducing basic linguistic concepts)

Evolving English: Linguistics at the Library (8 episodes 2018), from the British Library.

Language Creation Society Podcast (8 episodes, 2009-2011)

LingLab (very occasionally updated podcast from graduate students in the Sociolinguistics program at NC State University)

Hooked on Phonetics five episodes from Maxwell Hope from 2019 and 2020.

Glossonomia Each episode is about a different vowel or consonant sound in English. 44 episodes from 2010-2014.

Distributed Morphs An interview-based podcast about morphology, from Jeffrey Punske. Eight episodes in 2020.

Word to the Whys a podcast where linguists talk about why they do linguistics. Created by TILCoP Canada (Teaching Intro Linguistics Community of Practice). 10 episodes in 2020 and 2021.

The Weekly Linguist An  interview podcast about the languages of the world and the linguists who study them from Jarrette Allen and Lisa Sprowls. 21 episodes in 2021.

Silly Linguistics (ad hoc episode posting, but episode 7 is an interview with Kevin Stroud for History of English fans)

Linguistics After Dark Eli, Sarah and Jenny answer your linguistics questions in hour-ish long episodes.

WACC Podcast (guest lectures at Warwick Applied Linguistics)

Sage Language and Linguistics

Let’s Talk Talk

Queer Linguistics has a couple of episodes, with a bit of classroom vibe

GradLings An occasionally-updated podcast for linguistics students at any stage of study, to share their stories and experiences.

Canguro English A podcast about language for people learning languages. 103 episodes from 2018-2021.

Why is English? A podcast about how the English language got to be the way it is, from Laura Brandt. Seven episodes from 2020 and 2021. 

Animology Vegan blogger Colleen Patrick Goudreau uses her love of animals as a starting point for exploring animal-related etymologies. 27 episodes from 2017-2020.

Wordy Wordpecker Short weekly episodes from Rachel Lopez, charting the stories of English words. 14 episodes from 2018.

Speaking of Translation A monthly podcast from Eve Bodeux & Corinne McKay. 10 episodes from 2020-2021.

Se Ve Se Escucha (Seen and Heard) Language justice and what it means to be an interpreter, an organizer and bilingual in the US South, from the Center for Participatory Change. Episodes from 2020.

This is an updated listing from October 2023. I’m always excited to be able to add more podcasts to the list, so if you know of any linguistics/language podcasts not here, please let me know! I wait until a show has at least 3 episodes before I add it to the list, and I like to let people know when transcripts are available.

#LearningJapanese #sstellestudiess

Links:

For watching/listening/reading:

Listening Reading Method links: https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/listening%20reading%20method

Rec list (titles and links to novels, audiobooks etc): https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/rec%20list

Lets plays: https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/lets-plays

Massive Immersion Approach Immersion Wiki (google drive with notes, and a ton of resources, a ton of condensed audio, resources, etc): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gDpwFl07a0EO_pTHLLVn_Waz2GXwwSE1 

Audio Immersion Links: https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/post/657151785912385536/audio-immersion-loop

General study resources links:

Japanese resources tag (a bit messy as some are in japanese reference instead, but here’s some of the main resources): https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/japanese%20resources

Japanese reference tag: https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/japanese%20reference

Chinese resources tag (also messy, some in chinese reference instead): https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/chinese%20resources

Chinese reference tag: https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/chinese%20reference

Memrise and Anki SRS Flashcard Decks:

Memrise decks: https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/memrise

Specifically tagged ‘memrise decks’ for only posts with links: https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/memrise-decks

Anki decks: https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/anki

Specifically tagged ‘anki decks’ for only posts with links: https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/anki-decks

Translator apps, Reader tool apps, Comprehensible Input Resources:

translators: https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/translation-apps

reader apps: https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/reader

comprehensible input resources (youtubes and books): https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/comprehensible-input

Study Plans, Goals, Progress:

Study plan (my tag for study plans and goal setting - I also break these down into more tags by ‘month-study-plan,’ ‘month-goals,’ ‘month-progress,’ and just ‘month’ if you did want to search by month): https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/study%20plan

Notes from @yue-muffin, tagged for now under ‘japanese notes’: https://rigelmejo.tumblr.com/tagged/japanese%20notes

———————————————-

Some recent links:

Most below have japanese subtitles (courtesy of @a-whump-muffin, you can search for more with 実況 which is used for the phrase “let’s play”)

Crisis Core: a female player (no jpn subs): https://youtu.be/XG9V-EtxKYY or https://youtu.be/CvGjIe_JzYU a male player: https://youtu.be/YqYxcEpagSM

nier automata: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXPngowycCM another male player (belle): https://youtu.be/GBs_ruu7X98

KH1: male player: https://youtu.be/tLDag2eK590

KH2: male player: https://youtu.be/C2XjNDILpog female player: https://youtu.be/QkDpVpItndM

drakengard 3: https://youtu.be/QGSqRtpSLQk

Ratchet and Clank video game ‘movies’: 1 - https://youtu.be/QG7CsYg2n-s  2 - https://youtu.be/7aYmYaDFIAU 3 - https://youtu.be/_r8adhW0-44

Persona games: Persona 3 (lets player does not talk much, guy):  https://youtu.be/H5xm7tJJc2Q

Persona 3 (guy reads lines he considers picking): https://youtu.be/Acv8N7XKk0I

Love and Redemption L-R links:

https://www.shushengbar.net/%E7%90%89%E7%92%83%E7%BE%8E%E4%BA%BA%E7%85%9E-the-glass-beauty-%E5%8D%81%E5%9B%9B%E9%83%8E/

the glass maiden - eng translation: https://lazycatchronicles.wordpress.com/2020/10/23/the-glass-maiden/

audiobook: https://www.ximalaya.com/youshengshu/28810646/

chinese text: http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=309223

Carmilla L-R Links:

Carmilla english audiobook: https://youtu.be/KIPg_RaZwxY

Carmilla french audiobook: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpOWTYUar6NK8Qn7niKNw7Vp0z5YE5t7Z

Carmilla english text: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10007/10007-h/10007-h.htm

Carmilla french text: https://beq.ebooksgratuits.com/vents/Lefanu-carmilla.pdf

Misc Tools:

japanese manga translations in chinese: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/27354-grand-comic-reading-project/

analyze chinese texts difficulty, and make generated vocabulary lists: http://www.zhtoolkit.com/apps/wordlist/create-list.cgi

Bidiread - make parallel texts: https://jzohrab.github.io/bidiread/#

Immersion Wiki, Database - contains study materials for tons of languages, including condensed audio for shows, graded readers, textbooks, fiction, etc: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1p4vHiONiDmLdfJD8UqEax9qmjRkjBE4R

Radio Garden - a website where you can listen to radio all over the world: http://radio.garden/listen/fm93-6/eANty5xN 

Misc Materials:

Dracula audiobook (french): https://youtu.be/l0hdBpzGpYY

Frankenstein audiobook (french): https://youtu.be/vHg_Zgmgi1U

Pride and Prejudice audiobook (Orgueil et Préjugé - french) - https://youtu.be/PoJOHHn79_4

Carmilla book (french): https://beq.ebooksgratuits.com/vents/Lefanu-carmilla.pdf

Carmilla book (english): https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10007/10007-h/10007-h.htm

DeFrancis Chinese Readers Audio: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=31539&PN=16&TPN=3

Bilinguis French Alice in wonderland (with audio): http://bilinguis.com/book/alice/fr/en/c1/

Bilinguis Japanese Alice in wonderland: http://bilinguis.com/book/alice/jp/en/

Bilinguis Chinese Alice in wonderland (simplified, traditional is also available): http://bilinguis.com/book/alice/zh/en/

Bilinguis Chinese Sherlock Holmes: http://bilinguis.com/book/baskerville/zh/en/

FSI Chinese: https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/FSI/fsi-chinese-mandarin.html

FSI Basic French (a note there’s other French courses): https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/FSI/fsi-french-basic.html

FSI Japanese headstart: https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/FSI/fsi-japanese.html#

Japanese Audio Lessons: https://www.japaneseaudiolessons.com/how-to-speak-japanese/

Nature Method books with audio:

Français par le Methode Nature audio: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf8XN5kNFkhdIS7NMcdUdxibD1UyzNFTP

Francaise par le Methode Nature book: https://archive.org/details/jensen-arthur-le-francais-par-la-methode-nature

Poco à Poco Spanish audio: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf8XN5kNFkhe4D2BPBKaUb2JvDHuzAGPI

Poco a Poco book: https://archive.org/details/pocopocoelementa00hallrich

Learn Italian by the Nature Method audio: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf8XN5kNFkhfQonvCySTrKEUV742WzshJ

Learn Italian by the Nature Method book: https://archive.org/details/LitalianoSecondoIlMetodoNatura

Learn Japanese with video games (lessons):

The Complete JLPT N5 Grammar Video(Game) Textbook: https://youtu.be/_ojVS-KgDEg

The Complete JLPT N4 Grammar Video(Game) Textbook: https://youtu.be/M0yEOIEuaDg

Game Gengo - makes lessons, here’s their Learn Japanese with FF7 Remake: https://youtu.be/GB1BkptBr9w

Game Grammar - has lessons, here’s their Learn Japanese with Pokemon: h ttps://youtu.be/-stbdKehONw

Japanese Quest - has many lessons, here’s their Japanese Quest - All Lessons in Order playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUiSI6qGVDKsXmMW0GnjV–kUTLhsKN-K

*Notes: the tag ‘rec list’ is most likely to find any link to audio, novels, lets plays. My actual studying process and updates/changes/observations is in ‘progress’ and ‘month progress’ tags generally, or monthly ‘month goals’ ‘month study plan’ updates.

what “feeling better” can look like after using a coping technique:

beng able to get up and walk around safely

thinking/talking more clearly and lessening of brain fog

a willingness to re-engage with a situation/emotion (even with some reluctance)

ability to do a task you did not want to/could not do before

being able to plan and problem solve (even if you still don’t know what to do)

improved concentration/focus

more understanding of a situation

calmer and slower thoughts (rather than scattered thoughts/rumination)

slower heartbeat and breathing

faster heartbeat, if doing exercise, and momentum that gives you a chance to do a task before you sit down again

being able to sleep easier

an ability to look at the big picture and not get lost in the details

feeling that you can “manage”

ability to control outbursts/destructive behaviour or pause before acting

managing to stop crying

I think people tend to assume their mood is what will improve after trying coping techniques, however, your mood is not the full extent of your mental health, and it doesn’t totally define whether or not a technique has helped you. When disorders cause symptoms like chronic emptiness and low mood, it’s worthwhile to pay attention to your body and your abilities to look for signs of improvement, which can then have an affect on your mood in the long term.

elderly women are so undervalued in society but they are some of the most amazing people in the world I think. we have a lot to learn from them

What are those apps you usually post in your productivity updates?

hi! here's a breakdown of apps i use, as well as websites and other resources i've used/use for my learning (mainly chinese, though some of these resources can be used for other languages as well).

apps i use every day:

dot languages: this is a chinese-specific app where you select your hsk level, and then read articles at that level. there's a pop-up dictionary, an option to show pinyin, post-article vocab practice (audio, matching, translation, and writing), and the option to have your articles either in simplified or traditional.

TOFU learn: a blend between flashcards and writing, you can find decks for various things, including hsk level-specific decks, and you learn new vocab with the stroke order and then write each new term three times—once with an overlay (so the term is visible), and then two times from memory. there's also a review function, which helps you practice terms you've already learnt, and each term has audio that goes with it. i use it for chinese, but there's decks for esperanto, french, german, italian, japanese, korean, norweigian, portuguese, russian, spanish, swedish, and turkish.

the pleco dictionary app: my favourite chinese dictionary app; allows you to translate from english to chinese or chinese to english, has options for writing, radical, vocal, and keyboard entry, and has both traditional and simplified characters.

ankiapp: this one's not particularly complicated; it's a flashcard app, where you can make your own decks or download decks other people have made. it uses a spaced repetition system to help you remember terms—you rate yourself from worst to best on how well you remembered the term, and that determines how many times it'll pop up afterwards. it also gives you an overall grade for each deck, which is a nice way to measure your progress.

duolingo: probably my least favourite of all of the apps i use; the chinese course isn't the best, and now that they've removed the notes/grammar information option, there's no way for people who aren't already fairly familiar with the language and its inner workings to learn them if they exclusively use duolingo. it's okay for maintenance practice, though, but i'm already almost finished with the entire course and i would say it barely reaches to lower hsk 4, so i wouldn't say it's a good tool if you're more advanced.

apps i have but use less often:

readibu: this is sort of like dot in that it's an app for reading in chinese with a pop-up dictionary. however, that's where the similarities end; readibu has novels, short stories, and articles aimed at children, and each of those are further split into genres. readibu also lets you add your own web-pages and read them on the app, so you can use its pop-up dictionary with them. it's aimed more to intermediate and upper intermediate learners, with hsk levels ranging from hsk 4 to hsk 6. the only reason i rate dot above readibu is because dot has a larger range of levels (hsk 1 through hsk 6 i believe? but it may go higher) and exercises built in to help you learn the vocab.

the chairman's bao: also a chinese reading app, though if you use the free version, you only get one sample article per hsk level (hsk 1 - hsk 6). i believe that every so often you get a new sample article for each level, but i'm not sure what the interval on that is. it also has a pop-up dictionary and a flashcard option for saved vocab.

du chinese: another chinese reading app; it has articles divided into newbie through master (six levels in total, though they don't line up perfectly with the hsk in my experience), and new articles are free for a certain period of time before becoming locked behind a paywall. there's a pop-up dictionary and a vocab review/test option for vocab you save.

memrise: flashcards with audio, depending on whether you're using an official course or a user-generated deck. decent, but it can get repetitive.

hellotalk: not exclusively chinese, but i believe it started off mainly aimed that way. you set your language, and then your target language, and then you can talk to native speakers who have your language as their target language. potentially incredibly useful, but if you're like me and extremely introverted you may have a hard time using this app, since it requires a lot of one-on-one interaction.

slowly: i haven't actually gotten around to using this, but it's sort of like a digital penpal app, as i understand it. you can learn more about it here.

websites and other miscellanea:

this massive mega drive by @salvadorbonaparte (languages, linguistics, translation studies, and more).

this masterpost by @loveletter2you (linguistics, languages, and language learning books/textbooks).

this masterpost on chinese minority literature by @zaobitouguang

the integrated chinese textbooks by cheng and tsui, which are the textbooks i use for self-study—there's textbooks and workbooks, as well as character workbooks (though these can easily be cut out without suffering from the loss).

mandarinbean: graded readers, hsk 1 - hsk 6, with a pop-up dictionary and the option to read in traditional or simplified

chinese reading practice: reading, beginner through advanced (three levels), with a pop-up dictionary and some additional notes included on vocab and language-specific things non-native speakers might struggle with or not know.

hsk reading: graded readers, hsk 1 - hsk 6, divided into three sections (beginner, intermediate, advanced). does not have a pop-up dictionary, but does have an option to translate the text, post-reading quizzes, and notes on important vocab with example sentences.

my chinese reading: reading from beginner to advanced (four levels); has a pop-up dictionary, the option to play an audio recording of the passage you're reading, notes on key words, things that are difficult to translate, grammar, and post-reading comprehension questions.

the heavenly path notion website, which i would say is one of the best resources i've ever found, with a massive number of guides, lists of chinese media in a variety of forms, and general resources.

chinese character stroke order dictionary: what it says on the tin; will show you the stroke order for a given character.

hanzigrids: allows you to generate your own character worksheets. i use this very frequently, and can recommend it. the only downside is if you want to create multiple pages at once, you have to pay; however this can easily be circumnavigated by creating only one sheet at a time. you can download the sheet as a pdf and print it out for personal use.

21st century chinese poety: a resource i only came across recently; has a massive collection of contemporary chinese poetry, including translations; much more approachable than classical poetry, which can often be incredibly dense and hard to parse due to the writing style.

zhongwen pop-up dictionary: if you're reading something in chinese on a website that doesn't have a pop-up dictionary, this is a must. i've never encountered any words that it doesn't have a translation for so far, including colloquialisms/slang. i use it to read webnovels, and it's been a fantastic tool. you can also save vocab by hitting the r key when you're hovering over a word/phrase, making it easy to go back and add terms to your flashcard deck(s).

chinese reading world: a website put together by the university of iowa; split into three levels (beginner, intermediate, and advanced), with thirty units per level, and ten modules per unit, as well as multiple proficiency tests per level. each module is split into three parts: a pre-reading vocab quiz, the reading with a number of comprehension questions based on it, and a post-vocab reading quiz. it also rates you in relation to someone with a native proficiency based on how quickly you read and answer the comprehension questions, and how many vocab questions you get right.

jiaoyu baike: an extensive chinese-to-chinese dictionary, put out by the taiwanese ministry of education. you can find an extensive write-up on it here, by @linghxr.

social media etc: see this post by @rongzhi.

qianpian: another chinese-to-chinese dictionary; @ruhua-langblr has a write-up on it here.

this writeup on zero to hero by @meichenxi; initially aimed at chinese learning, but now has expanded greatly.

music rec's: this masterpost by @linghxr.

tv/film: youtube is a great place to find chinese tv shows and films, and they often have english subtitles. if you can't find something on there, though, you can probably find it either on iqiyi or asianvote, which have both chinese and other asian shows and films (though you'll want an adblock if you're going to use the latter). i use these a lot to watch things, and have discovered a lot of media through these, and then novels through those when i went searching to see what they were adapted from.

polylogger: a website for logging the amount of time/type of language study you do. has a wide variety of languages, and the option to follow other people. still, it's a fairly basic site.

We should turn Speak Your Language Day into Speak Your Language Week, in my opinion. Maybe Month. Que tal?

RB if you agree :)