Thursday, February 22, 2018

Welcome

My books from 2015 are available for the following languages:
  1. Dutch
  2. French
  3. German
  4. Italian
  5. Portuguese
  6. Russian
  7. Spanish
  8. Swedish
  9. Esperanto
  10. Finnish
  11. Polish
  12. Turkish
  13. Ukrainian
Each one has the 200 most frequently used words for the respective language, and up to 30 simple example sentences for each word. They have all been revised and should be 100% accurate.

Download them free here.

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 Check this blog from time to time for updates on my books. Depending on how useful they are to people, I might expand them.

 Also, I will post frequency lists with translation in this blog, for many languages.

 Good studies, and remember... Learning languages is a wonderful exercise for your brain.

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Finally, please do not paste the contents of this blog into your site, instead, link directly here! Your support for the author is appreciated.

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Index of blog posts:

Frequency lists:
> The 2000 Most Frequently Used Russian Nouns
> The 2000 Most Frequently Used Japanese Nouns
> The 2000 Most Frequently Used Korean Nouns
> The 2000 Most Frequently Used French Nouns
> The 2000 Most Frequently Used Spanish Nouns
> The 2000 Most Frequently Used Mandarin Chinese Nouns
> The 2000 Most Frequently Used German Nouns

> The 2980 Most Frequently Used German Nouns (With Plural)

List of sentences, with audio on Anki, sorted by the average frequency of the words on them:
> 5000 Spanish Sentences Sorted from Easiest to Hardest
> 5000 German Sentences Sorted from Easiest to Hardest
> 5000 French Sentences Sorted from Easiest to Hardest
> 5000 Dutch Sentences Sorted from Easiest to Hardest
> 5000 Polish Sentences Sorted from Easiest to Hardest
> 5000 Turkish Sentences Sorted from Easiest to Hardest
> 5000 Russian Sentences Sorted from Easiest to Hardest
> 5000 Italian Sentences Sorted from Easiest to Hardest

 5000? Why so many sentences?

 Memorizing the meaning of individual words... is pretty much pointless. If you want actual fluency, you need to see a word in as many example sentences as possible. That makes the language start to flow in your head. That shows you how to use the word. How it is combined with the other words. And many other things. 

 We think that effort always converts into fluency. This is not true. If you memorize the meaning of individual words you won't get fluent and you will spend a ton of effort. But studying sentences is the real deal. Is the method of learning that actually converts effort to fluency. 

 Get some basic grammar, some basic vocabulary, then just dive into sentences and more sentences until you're fluent.

 ~

It is OK to memorize individual words if:
1) You don't have enough vocabulary to focus your study on sentences, or
2) You are a very advanced learner

 Otherwise, it is better to just focus on learning and memorizing sentences — instead of memorizing individual words. 

- Also available on Anki - 

Sentences sorted from easiest to hardest (w/ audio)

 Finnish

Danish

Portuguese
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1084832216

Korean
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/241481292

I will make a sentence list like these, for Japanese and Chinese.
Sometime in July or August. Naturally, it will be free. 

Here is a small preview of these two sentence lists:
• Chinese: https://previewanki.page.link/chinese-deck
• Japanese: https://previewanki.page.link/japanese-deck

Frequency lists w/ audio and example sentences for each word

 French
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/893324022

Spanish
https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2134488481

Also, if you have technical issues you should ask the developper: https://apps.ankiweb.net/docs/help.html

I am not affiliated with the owner of Anki. I'm just the rare user who is willing to contribute instead of consuming.

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 Everything should be accurate. 

 If you have doubts about the accuracy, consult a dictionary or Google Translate and you will vouch for the accuracy. 

 If you do find a mistake though, tell me and I'll fix it immediately.

Also check:
> Study Hints 
> The Problem With Frequency Dictionaries

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 I was getting automated spam everyday so I disabled new comments. But as usual you can still reach me at: neribrandao2@gmail.com

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"Without music, life would be a mistake" -Nietzsche

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Thursday, November 30, 2017

The *Firstest* Thing You Should Do When Learning a Language


Learn 100% flawless pronunciation.

It's MUCH easier to memorize a word's meaning when you know the correct pronunciation.

This is because the sound a word makes is always eerily reminescent of it's meaning.

 Examples:

People were asked which of these two pictures they would call "bouba" and which they would call "kiki".
95~98% selected the curvy as bouba, and the spiky as "kiki".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouba/kiki_effect



 The words for "love, life, happiness" usually have a pleasing sound no matter the language they're in. "death, disease, famine" usually don't sound like something beautiful or pleasing, regardless of language.

In almost every language, the words for "woman" and "girl" have lot's of I's, E's and A's.

 The words for "man" and "boy" have the letter "o" more often and less I's and E's. 

 Probably because we associate womanliness with acute sounds, such as the ones in I and E... Manliness with less acute sounds like "o".



 "Consider the phrase "come hither." Notice that you gesture this idea by holding your palm up and flexing your fingers toward yourself as if to touch the lower part of the palm. Amazingly, your tongue makes a very similar movement as it curls back to touch the palate to utter "hither" or "here". "Go" involves pouting the lips outward, whereas "come" involves drawing the lips together inward."

And most amazing:

"The anthropologist Brent Berlin has pointed out that the Huambisa tribe of northern Peru have over thirty different names for thirty bird species in their jungle and an equal number of fish names for different Amazonian fishes. If you were to jumble up these sixty names and give them to someone from a completely different sociolinguistic background—say, a Chinese peasant—and ask him to classify the names into two groups, one for birds, one for fish, you would find that, astonishingly, he succeeds in this task well above chance level even though his language doesn‘t bear the slightest shred of resemblance to the South American one. I would argue that this is a manifestation of the bouba-kiki effect, in other words, of sound-shape translation."

 The last two quotes from Chapter 6 of The Tell-Tale Brain (about how language came to be; an absolute must read for language learning enthusiasts).


 Gabriel Wyner said that if you don't learn 100% flawless pronunciation right from the very start, you will end up learning two languages instead of one. Don't find out about it the hard way.

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Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Study Hints



  • If you see a word and immediately check it's translation, you'll hardly memorize it at all. If you try your best to recall what the word means before checking the translation, the chances of memorization are much better.
  • It is much easier to memorize a word's meaning when you know how to pronounce it corretly, so get it right.   
  • Go to Youtube and search for as many videos as possible about how to learn pronunciation on your target language. Don't limit yourself to a couple videos: see as many as you can because sometimes one video will get something wrong, so the other videos will fix it.







  • Exercise improves your mood and gives you more energy to study. Find something that works for you: pick an exercise routine that doesn't bore you to tears and that you don't mind repeating. Perhaps you'll want to invest on some quality noise-isolating headphones to listen to music or to an audiobook while exercising. 
    • I have a personal theory that simply standing up is an awesome exercise because you are lifting a huge weight of ~70kg while doing it, so I have a standing desk. (~70kg = your bodyweight)





  • If you want to type some sentences of my books into Google Translate (to see alternative translations, to hear the pronunciation) you might want to learn how to type faster. "Touch typing" is a technique in which you type with all ten fingers of your hand, and when you get good at it you can type as fast as you're reading this sentence. It's a skill that takes little time to master and will be useful all your life. You can learn it by searching "touch typing" on google or visiting the following sites. http://www.keybr.com/ and https://www.typingclub.com/

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Wednesday, June 21, 2017

1000 Italian Words Sorted by Frequency of Use

This list contains the 1000 most frequent italian words, sorted by frequency.

Credits to wiktionary.

The full thing can be downloaded, for free, here: https://anonfiles.cc/file/570d420778a682be3ec83f42b2d10e75

Preview:

1. non

Etymology

From Latin nōn.

Pronunciation

•             IPA(key): [non]

Adverb

non
1.          not
2.          un-

 

2. che

Pronunciation

•             IPA(key): /ˈke/
•             Hyphenation: che
•             Rhymes: -e

Etymology 1

From Latin quid.[1], from Proto-Indo-European *kʷid, compare *kʷis.

Pronoun

che
1.          who
2.          what
3.          which

Etymology 2

From Latin quod, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷod-.

Conjunction

che
1.          that
2.          than
3.          when

References

               ^ Patota, Giuseppe (2002) Lineamenti di grammatica storica dell'italiano (in Italian), Bologna: il Mulino, ISBN 88-15-08638-2, page 139

 

3. di

Pronunciation

•             IPA(key): /di/, [d̪i]
•             Rhymes: -i
•             Stress: dì
•             Hyphenation: di

Etymology 1

From Latin dē (the name of the letter D).

Noun

di f (invariable)
1.          The name of the Latin-script letter D/d.; dee
See also
•             (Latin script letter names) lettera; a, bi, ci, di, e, effe, gi, acca, i, i lunga, kappa, elle, emme, enne, o, pi, cu, erre, esse, ti, u, vu, doppia vu, ics, ipsilon, zeta (Category: it:Latin letter names)

Etymology 2

From Latin dē.[1]

Preposition

di
1.          of; ’s (but used after the thing owned and before the owner)
               L’ira di Apollo — “Apollo’s wrath” (literally, “The wrath of Apollo”)
               la coda del cane — “the dog’s tail”
               Canto dello sciatore — “Song of the skier”
               Dichiarazione Universale dei Diritti dell’Uomo — “Universal declaration of the Rights of [the] Man”
               Simbolo degli Apostoli — “Signs of the Apostles”
               Manifesto della cucina futurista — “Manifesto of the futurist kitchen”
               Dei delitti e delle pene — “Of [the] crimes and [of the] punishments”
2.          from
               Lei è di Monreale in Sicilia, ma adesso vive a Roma. — “She's from Monreale in Sicily, but she now lives in Rome”.
3.          by, of, ’s
               La mia canzone preferita degli U2? 'One' ! — “My favorite song by U2? 'One'!”
               La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri — “The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri” or “Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy”
4.          than
               Jack è più alto di sua moglie, Joan. — “Jack is taller than his wife, Joan.”
               Biden ha detto che l'economia USA è in condizioni peggiori di quanto pensasse. — “Biden says US economy is in worse shape than he thought.”
5.          (in superlative forms) in, of
               Pont Neuf è il più antico ponte di Parigi. — “Pont Neuf is the oldest bridge in Paris.”
6.          about, on, concerning
               Euclide scrisse diversi libri di matematica. — “Euclid wrote many books on mathematics.”
               Parliamo di sentimenti. — “Let's talk about feelings.”
7.          (expressing composition) of, made of, in or more often omitted
               Sei Nazioni: la Scozia gioca con l'Italia in un incontro decisivo per il 'cucchiaio di legno' . — “Six Nations: Scotland meet Italy today in a wooden-spoon decider.”
               Ho comprato una collana d'oro bianco — “I bought a white gold necklace”.
8.          (followed by an infinitive) to or omitted
               Lei ha detto di non preoccuparsi. — “She said not to worry.”
               Che devo fare se penso di avere un virus nel mio computer? — “What should I do if I believe I have a virus on my computer?.”
9.          some
               Vuoi dell'acqua? — “Would you like some water?”
Usage notes
•             When followed by the definite article, di combines with the article to produce the following combined forms:
•             The i can additionally optionally be elided before vowel sounds to form d'.
Derived terms
Terms derived from di

See also

•             da

References

               ^ Angelo Prati, ""Vocabolario Etimologico Italiano"", Torino, 1951

 

4. e

Pronunciation

•             IPA(key): /e/
•             Rhymes: -e
•             Stress: é
•             Hyphenation: e

Etymology 1

From Latin ē (the name of the letter E).

Noun

e f (invariable)
1.          The name of the Latin-script letter E/e.; e

See also

•             (Latin script letter names) lettera; a, bi, ci, di, e, effe, gi, acca, i, i lunga, kappa, elle, emme, enne, o, pi, cu, erre, esse, ti, u, vu, doppia vu, ics, ipsilon, zeta (Category: it:Latin letter names)

Etymology 2

From Latin et.[1]

Alternative forms

•             (before a vowel) ed

Conjunction

e
1.          and

See also

•             ed

References

               ^ Angelo Prati, ""Vocabolario Etimologico Italiano"", Torino, 1951

 

5. la

Pronunciation

•             IPA(key): /la/
•             Rhymes: -a

Etymology 1

From Latin illa(m), feminine form of ille.[1]

Article

la f sg (plural le)
1.          the
Usage notes
•             The article la elides with words that begin with a vowel, becoming l'.

Pronoun

la f sg (plural le)
1.          her (direct object)
2.          it (feminine)
               ...una improvvisa timidezza però la immobilizza... (Pasolini) - ...a sudden timidity immobilized her though...

Etymology 2

Noun


Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
La (nota)
Wikipedia it
la m (invariable)
1.          (music) la (musical note)
2.          (music) A (musical note and scale)
Derived terms
•             la maggiore
•             la minore

References

               ^ Patota, Giuseppe (2002) Lineamenti di grammatica storica dell'italiano (in Italian), Bologna: il Mulino, ISBN 88-15-08638-2, page 127

Anagrams

•             al

 

6. il

Etymology

From the older form lo, via an intermediate form l, from Latin illum, ultimately from ille. The initial i is a svarabhakti vowel added to the form l in order to make the pronunciation easier.[1]

Pronunciation

IPA(key): /il/

Article

il m sg (plural i)
1.          the

References

               ^ Patota, Giuseppe (2002) Lineamenti di grammatica storica dell'italiano (in Italian), Bologna: il Mulino, ISBN 88-15-08638-2, pages 123, 124

Anagrams

•             li, lì

 

7. un

Etymology

From uno, from Latin ūnus (“one”).

Article

un m (see uno)
1.          an, a

Noun

un m (see uno)
1.          one

Adjective

un m (see uno)
1.          one

Pronoun

un m (see uno)
1.          one

Anagrams


•             nu
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1000 French Words Sorted by Frequency of Use

This list contains the 1000 most frequent french words, sorted by frequency.

Credits to wiktionary.

The full thing can be downloaded, for free, here: https://anonfiles.cc/file/90416cbdc470db512742183583b438bd

This is the 1.0 draft, in the next draft I will enumerate the words (for example: 1.de 2.je 3.est ... and so on). They are not enumerated but they are sorted by frequency.

Preview:

de

Etymology

From Latin dē.

Pronunciation

•             IPA(key): /də/
•             Rhymes: -ə

Preposition

de
1.          of (expresses belonging)
–            1837, Louis Viardot, chapter I, in L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manchefr.Wikisource, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra:
–            Dans une bourgade de la Manche, dont je ne veux pas me rappeler le nom, vivait, il n’y a pas longtemps, un hidalgo ....
–            In a village of La Mancha, whose name I do not want to remember, lived, not long ago, an hidalgo ....
               Paris est la capitale de la France. ― Paris is the capital of France.
               En 1905, les églises devinrent la propriété de l'État. ― In 1905, churches became the property of the state.
2.          of (used to express property or association)
               Œuvres de Fermat ― Fermat’s Works
               Elle est la femme de mon ami. ― She is my friend’s wife.
               le voisin de Gabriel ― Gabriel's neighbor
3.          from (used to indicate origin)
               Elle vient de France. ― She comes from France.
               Êtes-vous de Suisse ? ― Are you from Switzerland?
               Ce fromage vient d’Espagne. ― This cheese is from Spain.
               C’est de l’ouest de la France. ― It’s from the west of France.
               Le train va de Paris à Bordeaux. ― The train goes from Paris to Bordeaux.
4.          of (indicates an amount)
               5 kilos de pommes. ― 5 kilograms of apples.
               Un verre de vin ― A glass of wine
               Une portion de frites ― A portion of fries
5.          used attributively, often translated into English as a compound word
               Un jus de pomme ― An apple juice
               Un verre de vin ― A glass of wine
               Une boîte de nuit ― A night club
               Un chien de garde ― A guard dog
               Une voiture de sport ― A sports car
               Un stade de football ― A football stadium
6.          from (used to indicate the start of a time or range)
               De 9:00 à 11:00 je ne serai pas libre. ― From 9 to 11 I won’t be free.
               Je travaille de huit heures à midi. ― I work from 8 o'clock to noon.
               un groupe de cinq à huit personnes ― a group of [from] five to eight people
7.          used after certain verbs before an infinitive, often translating into English as a gerund or an infinitive
               J’ai arrêté de fumer. ― I stopped smoking.
               Il continue de m’embêter. ― He keeps annoying me.
               Elle m’a dit de venir. ― She told me to come.
               Nous vous proposons de venir. ― We suggest you to come.
8.          by
               Boire trois tasses par jour réduirait de 20 % les risques de contracter une maladie. ― Drinking three cups a day would reduce the risk of catching an illness by 20%.

Usage notes

Before a word beginning with a vowel sound, de elides to d’. Before the article le, it contracts with the article into du, as shown in the example above. Before the article les, it contracts with the article into des.
Le Songe d’une nuit d’été — “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Literally, “The Dream of a night of summer”)
La queue du chien — “The dog’s tail”
Index des auteurs — “Index of the authors”

Article

de
1.          (indefinite) some; any (in questions or negatives)
               Je voudrais de la viande. ― I would like some meat.
               Est-ce qu'il y a de la bonne musique ? ― Is there any good music?
               Nous cherchons du lait. ― We're looking for some milk.
2.          (negative) a, an, any
               Elle n'a pas de mère. ― She does not have a mother.
               Il n'a pas de crayon. ― He does not have a pencil.
               Je n'ai pas de temps. ― I do not have any time.

Usage notes

In the positive, de is usually used with a definite article, as in the examples. In the negative, without an article.

Derived terms

•             (contractions): d’, du, des

Anagrams

•             ed, éd.

External links

•             “de” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

je

Etymology

From Old French jo, from Vulgar Latin *eo, from Latin ego, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂. Near cognates include Spanish yo and Italian io. Further cognates include Ancient Greek ἐγώ (egṓ), Russian я (ya) English I, German ich, etc.

Pronunciation

•             IPA(key): /ʒə/
•             Rhymes: -ə

Pronoun

je (first person singular, plural nous, object me, emphatic moi)
1.          I

Usage notes

•             When several pronouns are included in the same sentence, it is considered impolite to say the pronoun je first; it must be the last one, and tu must be said after third persons (this applies also for toi and moi):
–            Nous irons, Rose, toi et moi.‎
–            You, Rose, and I will go.

Derived terms

•             j'

Related terms

French personal pronouns

External links

•             “je” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

est

Etymology 1

From Old French, from Old English ēast.

Pronunciation

•             IPA(key): /ɛst/

Adjective

est m, f (invariable)
1.          east

Noun

est m (plural est)
1.          east

Synonyms

•             orient, levant

Etymology 2

From Latin est, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti.

Pronunciation

•             IPA(key): /ɛ/

Verb

est
1.          third-person singular present indicative of être
Derived terms
•             c'est

Anagrams

•             set, Ste., tes

External links

•             “est” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

pas

Etymology

From Latin passus. Its use as an auxiliary adverb comes from an accusative use (Latin nec...passum) in negative constructions – literally ‘not...a step’, i.e. ‘not at all’ – originally used with certain verbs of motion.

Pronunciation

•             IPA(key): /pa/, /pɑ/

Noun

pas m (plural pas)
1.          step, pace, footstep
2.          (geography) strait (e.g., Pas de Calais, ""Strait of Dover"")

Derived terms

•             à pas de loup

Adverb

pas
1.          (ne ... pas) not
               Je ne sais pas.‎ ― I don't know
2.          (colloquial) not
               J’veux pas travailler.‎ ― I don't wanna work.
               (abbreviation of: Je ne veux pas travailler.)

Derived terms

•             pourquoi pas
•             je ne comprends pas

Related terms

•             passage
•             passer

External links

•             “pas” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).


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