Category: General Languages

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Master the AZERTY keyboard with French typing tests!

One of the first things I did while taking French 110 (now 111/112) was add a French keyboard to my laptop and phone. What I didn’t know as a beginning French student was that even the French keyboard layout is different!

Layout of a French AZERTY keyboard from the Mac keyboard settings.

This layout is called AZERTY, with all the additional French characters (ex. ç, é, and à) arranged on number and symbol keys. It also swaps the positions of Q/A, W/Z, and M, which actually helps you type in French faster, believe it or not! As you advance in French, improving your typing (“la dactylographie”) skills will make a difference in typing emails, essays, and texts. Here are two typing practice recommendations to boost your AZERTY typing skills!

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Mexican media for Spanish learners!

If you’re learning Spanish and are particularly interested in learning how it’s spoken outside the classroom, watching movies and reading books is a great way to learn it. If you’re interested in how Spanish is spoken particularly in Mexico, please for the love of God don’t watch Emilia Pérez. There’s so many things wrong with that movie I could write a whole blog post about it. Instead, here are some recommendations for you to watch! I ranked them in order of the level of Spanish I estimate you need to comfortably understand what’s going on, from easiest to hardest.

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Petit Poulet, Henry Hühnchen, Pollito Tito… also known as Chicken Little

Petit Poulet, aka Chicken Little, looking at his computer. “Le ciel est en train de tomber!”

THE SKY IS FALLING, and you can read that in three other languages on TheFableCottage.com. I discovered this website with a friend as we attempted to read bedtime stories in each other’s languages. TheFableCottage is a multilingual library of bedtime stories written in French, German, Spanish, and also Italian! Each story has a few features that make it really helpful for beginning students: audio recordings, captioned video animations, illustrations, and English translations if you get stuck. All of their free short stories can be found on each language’s respective website: TheFrenchExperiment.com, TheGermanProject.com, and TheSpanishExperiment.com. (Stories can also be accessed on TheFableCottage, but not all of them are free.) This is a great resource for beginner-level students, as the grammar and vocabulary are written using everyday and simple language. These stories expand upon the beginner-level language you’ve learned so far using a story you’re likely already familiar with. Having an additional resource like this can supplement what you learn in class and in your textbook by creating a new context where you use your target language. For example, you may have introduced a photo of your family to your 100-level class, but you can practice that same family vocabulary in the context of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I found the short stories on TheFableCottage to be the perfect resource for anyone in their first year of a language class, and I recommend that you check it out!

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Heal your inner child with Chinese kids’ cartoons!

Reading Sara’s post on Soviet Winnie the Pooh truly inspired me. As a beginning Chinese student, I love watching C-dramas, but sometimes it’s a bit challenging to understand what’s going on, especially with the complex love triangles! Children’s cartoons are a great way to introduce yourself to more Chinese media, especially because they’re designed to use elementary-friendly language. Even if they don’t have captions in English, the animation style can make it easy to pick up on the story and characters. Here are some recommendations I’ve found, plus a bonus C-drama recommendation!

喜羊羊与灰太狼 – Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf

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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

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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 of Twilight. Tschüss und schöne Pause!

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

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Unique ideas to practice your target language over break!

Featuring my multilingual cat, Aria!

Without classes, it can be challenging to keep up with daily language practice over breaks. You may have heard the typical suggestions (all of which are great!), such as watching movies, listening to podcasts, or reading books in your target language. Here are some unique ideas to help you integrate your target language into your everyday life over break!

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Non-trivial way to improve your Russian and make everybody believe you’re a native speaker (sort of….)

Soviet Winnie the Pooh is a core childhood memory of mine

It’s never been a secret — Russian is notoriously challenging, filled with confusing conjugations and challenging slang that leaves even the most experienced learners crying, screaming and pulling their hair.

But you don’t have to jump straight into banging your head with a thick Oxford dictionary — there are multiple easy – perhaps even childish – ways to upgrade your Russian skills.

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The Duolingo French Podcast: Découvrez l’histoire de Joséphine Baker

Are you looking for more ways to immerse yourself in French? Podcasts are a great way to implement French into your everyday life. It’s especially important to engage with the language outside the classroom. Whether you’re taking a walk around the canyon, getting lunch in Commons, or trying to fall asleep, a podcast can add a lot more French exposure to your life. It’s a simple way to improve your French comprehension, vocabulary, and cultural knowledge. At the same time, it can be difficult to find the right one. For beginning to intermediate students, I have a recommendation for you: The Duolingo French Podcast!

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