itt: stories of yr attempts to master tongues via DUOLINGO

Het is zo helder als koffiedik.

Het is zo helder als koffiedik.

No, dict.cc

More useful coffee-related turn of phrase:

http://www.projects.science.uu.nl/ubv/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/koffie.jpg

https://static.mijnwebwinkel.nl/winkel/hello-bird/image/cache/full/789e31ffe6d4af0459320960ee774375f9192875.jpg

that one is advanced level lol

voor gevorderden

I don’t even know how to interpret the first word.

it’s supposed to be “plat Amsterdams”. The first word is actually three words: “waar is m’n...”

Heel erg gedankt!

Aargh, heel erg bedankt

niks te danken!

Bakkie! Haha. We'd never use that word in the Flanders.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSuxJBbswMfWqKE0Tm7RLdkUWsuWvkihVd26k9XSoaFIc8UqlQ

Duolingo is a bad place to start learning Japanese and I don’t think the course is very much cop. LingoDeer isn’t a bad place to start though. You need more explanation of the mechanics of the language and LingoDeer has that. There are however a bunch of tools that are way worse than Duolingo; tools that try to shoehorn Japanese into a European language template - so bad.

Thanks for the tip - I’ll check it out. I’m a bit eh over it atm - not sure of the usefulness of repeating the same eight or nine words over and over for AN ENTIRE MODULE.

Russian is killing me, but that’s really my fault for not revising the alphabet before I started.

The fact I'm studying french from english is weird. Like I need to first translate to dutch. But I'm loving it.

Just found another meaning for “bakkie” - “radiozendapparatuur”

translated as “rig” in English.

Also a third meaning, “aanhangwagentje” or “trailer” in English.

Oh, it seems the second meaning is a CB radio.

Bakkie doesn't feel like it's Algemeen Nederlands (official dutch). Certainly not in Belgium. We would say "bakje" (-je means small). Don't take my word for it though. Lol

“Bakje” is the diminuitive for the word “bak” in Standard Dutch, “bakkie” originates from the (influential) West Netherlands dialect. In the South of the Netherlands and in Flanders the most common dialect equivalent would be “bakske”.

“Bak” is used in many different (idiomatic) ways, most of them related to the core meaning of “(usually rectangular) container”.

This is a fun (and I’m sure not nearly exhaustive) map about the local variants of “kopje/bakje koffie”:

https://www.mijnwoordenboek.nl/dialect-vertaler.php?woord=kopje%20koffie

(an *interactive* map, no less)

Well, there's even a difference between East-, West-Flanders and Antwerp. Bakske is sth we'd rarely if ever use here (in the West-Flanders).

No doubt! That’s why I left it at “most common”. So what would the West-Flanders version of “bakje” be?

We'd pronounce it baksje. I think. Lol. (Sorry massive migraine)

I can’t quite parse this sentence:
kleine panda roofdier dat bij de wasberen hoort

Small panda predator that hears by the raccoon? Is known as the raccoon?

“horen (bij)” (originally it’s “behoren”) means “belong (to)”

it’s not really a sentence though, more a definition:

“kleine panda: roofdier dat bij de wasberen hoort”

“small panda (actual English: lesser>red panda): predator belonging to the raccoons (i.e. raccoon family)”

Ah, thanks. Oh I see. There is no colon but the first part is in blue and the definition is not. This is from Prisma, not Duo btw.

Roofdieren = verscheurende dieren or is there a subtle difference?

Or does it mean carnivores?

Predators, carnivores, carnivorans... These are all different things in English, but who knows when to use which word? (I certainly don’t).

Same in Dutch, where there’s 4 or 5 of these: roofdieren, Carnivora, carnivoren (=vleeseters), predatoren. (“verscheurende dieren” is some kind of archaic term afaict). The first two are apparently synonyms, so that would make “roofdieren” “carnivorans” in English. However, in daily speech “roofdieren” is used as a catch-all term standing in for all of these categories.

(Now I’m starting to get a headache too!)

Thanks! Sorry to drag you down into my Dutch dictionary dilemma.

would you call it een waarachtige woordenboekworsteling?

Ik weet het waarachtig niet!

Chinese anyone?

Wil je nog koffie?

Mandarin course is pretty good but after battling through the third checkpoint I took a long break and haven’t really been back.

would you call it een waarachtige woordenboekworsteling?

Wil je nog koffie?

_would you call it een waarachtige woordenboekworsteling?_


Never heard of that. Sounds "stiff"

‘twas

Some discussion here of why Japanese is the hardest of the hard and more difficult to learn than Mandarin. https://www.reddit.com/r/foreignservice/comments/7eqk7t/language_difficulty_ratings_according_to_fsi/#thing_t1_dq6u69a

Actual FSI site has only four categories and no asterisks. There German is not in its own category but lumped in with the slightly harder languages. Not sure who modified the categories and added asterisks but I agree with them.

Just learned about the so-called circumpositions in Dutch.

Een voorbeeld: ik loop langzaam naar hem toe.

So I usually watch netflix with the english subtitles on because we get a lot of street noise when the windows are open. Sometimes the shows or movies only have spanish subtitles. Last night I started watching a french movie with the spanish subtitles on and my brain couldn't deal. It was really bad.

I haven’t tried this yet but it seems like it could be useful.

https://languagelearningwithnetflix.com

Xpost this is what it feels like learning w duolingo. I mean, shit, my English is pretty good (eyeroll) but in my head I'm thinking about how sth gets lost when I have to translate to dutch. And I'm "content" is happy but in dutch we use the same word anyway. Gah

There can be something very confusing about hearing and reading subtitles in two closely related languages.

That extension does indeed look useful, Ed, thanks.