Practice your French and learn some science!

Sometimes the best way to practice a language is by just passively listening to it. This could be in a movie with subtitles, or just an interesting video on YouTube. I see it as letting your subconscious absorb the language through osmosis. Is that even a thing? Maybe there’s a science channel that talks about science-y stuff like that. Wait… there is!

C’est Pas Sorcier is a TV show available on YouTube that explains all kinds of science-related stuff in French. They’re meant for middle and high school students whose first language is French, so they do speak a little fast. I would recommend it for intermediate French speakers (A2 level). My personal favorite is “Comment fonctionne notre électroménager?”, it’s very interesting and the characters are really funny. This show is shown A LOT in French high schools, it’s very nostalgic and even though they’re still releasing new videos, they’ve kept their vintage essence. Go check it out!

Here’s the link to the channel! https://www.youtube.com/@Cestpassorcierofficiel

Resource for A1 German Students!

Do you want to practice your German over break but are tired of Duolingo? Do you also get the feeling that every movie in German sounds like a long, incomprehensible sentence? But more importantly… do you like to watch really bad movies that make you scream at the screen?

Nicos Weg is a movie made for learning German that has all the vocabulary you need for A1 level. You can find it on YouTube, but I added the link at the end of the post! The characters talk slow, but not too slow to the point where it’s annoying, and the storyline is (kind of) great! It’s an entertaining movie, that’s for sure. While most characters are really likable, the main character Nico will make you want to pull your hair out. I was watching this movie with a friend who doesn’t speak any German and we were both incredibly entertained, mostly because of how ANNOYING the main character is! We kept complaining about the plot holes of the movie and next thing you know we watched an hour and a half of it. Time flew by and I actually learned so many new words. Did you know that elevator is Aufzug in German? It makes no sense but it’s true! It’s such a great resource for hearing all the A1 words in a movie that moves at a pace that beginner students can follow, and I highly recommend it even if the general cinematography isn’t the best. I would describe it as the German version Twilight. Tschüss und schöne Pause!

Link: https://youtu.be/4-eDoThe6qo?si=n_rx3opBqr2mPXvV

Is Culture Shock Inevitable When Abroad?

Find out in the interview with Henry, the Chinese tutor!

Patricio: Can you tell me about what made you want to learn Chinese?

Henry: It was actually kind of random. I was taking a gap year between highschool and college and I didn’t have a lot going on, so I picked up a bunch of hobbies such as archery and Chinese. I found a really good Chinese teacher and I really enjoyed learning a language in my free time. I was learning French in high school, but I really struggled with that because I was being forced to learn it, but it was a completely different story when I started learning Chinese because I actually wanted to learn it. 

Did the French stick at all or did you lose it completely after high school?

I’m sure it would come back if I practiced it a bit, but I wouldn’t call myself a strong speaker. I’d say now my two strong languages are just English and Chinese.

Would you say you’re fully fluent in Chinese?

No, I wouldn’t say so. It’s a really long process and it really depends on what I’m talking about. There’s so many words to learn that if I’m speaking about an area I’m not used to talking about it can sometimes be easy to phrase things weird. I’m pretty comfortable going through life just with Chinese, I’ve done that both at the Middlebury Summer Program and when I studied abroad in Taiwan. 

Can you tell me more about the Middlebury Summer Program?

It’s a program I did when I first started learning Chinese. It’s 8 weeks over the summer where basically, starting from zero, you sign a language pledge to only speak Chinese. It was a pretty interesting experience because even though it’s pretty academically intense, I found it really relaxing because there were no expectations other than just socializing in Chinese. I had a lot of fun doing it and I think it’s a great program, and everyone from my group went from being level 1 Chinese to fully being able to live in China and Taiwan afterwards. 

You mentioned that you studied abroad. Can you tell me more about that?

I did my first year at Reed, and I decided I wanted to major in Chinese literature, and really before I could get into that I felt like I needed to live somewhere where they spoke the language. Especially because at this point I had only been learning Chinese for a year and a half. So I went to Taiwan for the academic year through the ICLP, the International Chinese Learning Program. All of my classes were Chinese learning classes. The main goal was obviously improving my Chinese, but it was also just such a great experience to live somewhere else and talk to people and stuff.

Did you experience any culture shock while living in Taiwan?

I feel like people ask this a lot, but really no. I feel like it reasoned with my expectations of what the experience was going to be like. And it was in a lot of ways very similar to the US. Especially Taipei. It’s very safe, comfortable, and the food is great. I never had a moment where I felt uncomfortable, it was very cosmopolitan. There wasn’t a lot of shock. There were definitely barriers. In the first couple of months I had to figure out when it was appropriate to have a conversation with people because obviously I wanted to practice. There’s a lot of difficulties in communicating, but never to an extent where I felt very out of place. 

So I remember you mentioned that Chinese doesn’t have an alphabet, and I was curious about how the language works. Could you explain how Chinese is written and read without an alphabet?

Yeah, I’m not a linguist and there’s definitely a specific term for it, but essentially each character is monosyllabic. The meaning and the sound are separate, so you can look at a character and there’s no definitive way of how it will be pronounced, and you also have to know like a thousand different characters, as opposed to the 26 we have to know for English. 

Note: it’s called a system of ideogrammatic characters

Well that sounds very difficult to learn. Do you have any tips for people who want to learn Chinese?

You definitely need to set a routine. Otherwise it’s so slow. It’s a balance of finding new tips and tricks to learn the language and then actually just spending a lot of time learning it. If you just go head first with no plan you’re probably going to waste a lot of time. There’s a lot of hours you have to put in. One of my teachers always says that to achieve proficiency you need 2200 classroom hours, as opposed to 600 hours needed for a native English speaker to learn Spanish. I think you just really have to have a passion for learning it. In my experience, the people who do the best at learning a language are those who aren’t seeing it as a tool to learn, but those who see it as something fun and interesting to do. Then you should go to tutoring, office hours, language scholars, language houses, which are already five ways to go speak it outside of class. 

Ok two more questions. Do you have a favorite word in Chinese?

I have a favorite phrase. Can I go with that?

Yeah of course go with the phrase!

It’s 江山易改本性難移 (jiāngshānyígǎi, běnxìngńanyí). It literally translates to it’s easy to move mountains and rivers but it’s hard to change your nature. 

In what context would you use it?

You wouldn’t find people going around saying that, but I just think it’s a true statement! You go through life facing all these hard challenges and then you have the simplest thing about yourself that you simply can’t change. 

 Do you watch any movies in Chinese and if yes do you have any recommendations?

 Yeah I watch a lot of Taiwanese new wave cinema. A City of Sadness is one of those movies Americans might know if they’re into film, and it’s great. But there’s a couple of really interesting movies that are less common. One of my favorites is Cape No. 7, which is the highest grossing Taiwanese film domestically. It captures the island vibes and the influences in Taiwan. And recently there was a really good movie about a family and queerness called Marry My Dead Body. It’s a comedy but it had some touching moments.

And then books, I started reading Dream of the Red Chamber, which is this 2500 page book about the downfall of a rich family. I’ve had a lot of fun with that one. 

Ok great thank you!

Be Shameless When Learning a Language!

This week I interviewed Emilio, a Spanish tutor who’s eager to help people out with Spanish. In our interview, we covered topics such as feeling disconnected from one’s culture, what it means to have a diverse cultural background for one’s identity, and how to sound natural when speaking a new language. Emilio’s advice is to be shameless when speaking! The interview is posted below and was edited for length.


Continue reading “Be Shameless When Learning a Language!”

Meet Reed! (Spanish)

¡Hola! My name is Reed (he/him) and I’m a native Spanish speaker. I’m Argentine/American. My mom being a Spanish teacher made me sit through her lessons since I was a toddler, so I learned how to teach Spanish as a second language. I’ve taught all levels of Spanish in the past, including grammar, spelling, vocabulary, reading, and pronunciation. I’m happy to work through any questions and exercises you might need help with! I have a pretty flexible schedule so feel free to reach out if you’d like to arrange another time!

Interview with Reed, a Spanish Tutor

For our next interview, I talked to Reed, an ICPS poli-sci Spanish tutor. He’s a native Spanish speaker from Argentina, so read the interview for tips on practicing your Spanish and for movies and book recommendations! The interview was edited for length purposes.


Patricio: What do you study?

Reed: I’m an ICPS poli-sci major. 

Patrico: Are you minoring in anything?

Reed: Potentially an econ minor, but they’re changing the way the department works.

Patricio: That makes sense. Getting a minor is sometimes tricky. How long have you been speaking Spanish and what made you want to learn it?

Reed: I’m a native speaker. My parents are both from Argentina, so I speak it at home with them and with my whole family basically.

Patricio: Have you lived or studied abroad in any Spanish speaking countries?

Reed: I haven’t. I’m hoping to study abroad next semester. I’ve been thinking of potentially going to Barcelona, but I’ve lived in the US my whole life.

Patricio: Is it hard for you to not forget the language being here at Reed?

Reed: I don’t think so, I speak to my parents and my family quite often so I get to use it a lot. And to me at least Spanish feels like a first language, so I feel like it’s very engrained. 

Patricio: Do you practice your Spanish in other ways or is it mostly just by speaking it with your parents?

Reed: It’s mostly just by speaking with my parents.

Patricio: Have you taken any cool Spanish classes at Reed?

Reed: No, but I want to! I’m waiting for Diego to get back, because I really want to take some of his classes, but I think he’s been on leave and I don’t know if he’s coming back, but I hope so!

Patricio: Have you found a good Spanish speaking community here at Reed? 

Reed: I’m actually living in the Spanish House, so that’s very exciting. I really like talking to the language scholars, I feel like they’re a really good resource for learning a language. I took Chinese in school, so I like being in the language house community and just getting to talk to everyone in all the different languages.

Patricio: I love the language houses. I lived in the Spanish House in my sophomore year and I had the best time.

Reed: Yeah they’re really nice. We just now started having the weekly events, so it’s just starting to pick up. I’m really excited.

Patricio: Do you watch any movies or TV shows in Spanish? And if yes do you have any recommendations?

Reed: Yes! I watched Wild Hills for the first time a couple of weeks ago; I enjoyed that a lot. But two of my favorite Spanish TV shows are Los Simuladores and Community Squad. 

Patricio: Oh interesting, I’ve never heard of those. Where can you watch them?

Reed: I think Community Squad is on Netflix, but Los Simuladores is free on YouTube.

Patricio: What about books and songs?

Reed: Julio Cortázar is my favorite author. I love his short stories, they’re fantastic. In terms of artists, I really like Bajo Fondo, but I don’t think their music has lyrics.

Patricio: As a tutor, have you found some stuff that’s particularly difficult about learning Spanish?

Reed: The verb conjugations, because that’s not something that’s really that complicated in English, it can be a difficult thing for people to grasp and to actually use in practice. I think Spanish can also be a bit overwhelming because every country has slightly different grammar, accents and slang, so it can be a hard thing to get used to when you’re coming up to a new faculty member or friend. 

Patricio: Do you enjoy being a Spanish tutor?

Reed: Yes it’s fun! I like consuming a lot of Spanish media and literature so it’s fun to get other people excited and help them out in their language journey. 

Patricio: Thank you!

Meet Holden! (French)

Salut! I’m Holden, one of several French Drop In tutors this fall. I am a Senior BMB major and French literature minor, and I’m 1400 pages into the unabridged Les Miserables. I can help you for all 100 and 200 level classes, French 320, and miscellaneously for essays and reflections in other upper level French classes. If you aren’t taking a French class but want to practice conversational French, I am happy to help there too!

LangLabbie note: Stop by the Language Lab to see Holden’s tutoring hours!

Interview with a French Tutor

As LangLabbies, we want to make sure Reedies know what resources are available for learning languages. Language tutors are here to help you with your homework, or as Holden, a French tutor states, they’re also here if you want to just talk in French about anything! So we’re going to be interviewing the language tutors to hear their thoughts on language communities at Reed, as well as to see if they have some good books and movie recommendations. The first tutor I interviewed is Holden, a French tutor. You can find the interview below! The interview was edited for length purposes.

Continue reading “Interview with a French Tutor”