I want to share with you all one of the tools I have used to learn Japanese since very early on in my pursuit of fluency. It’s one of my favorite applications and I really recommend it to anyone who is learning any language.
(psst! long post coming, but stick around to the end for a shot at the giveaway!)
HelloTalk is a language learning app that allows you to connect with native speakers of your target language.What I really like about HelloTalk is that there are multiple features that not only encourage you to try speaking, but also help to ease you into it without to pressure of a real time face to face conversation (this is a real life saver if you are even marginally as shy as I am!)
On your profile you can write a nice self introduction- Try writing it all in Japanese!- and you can even record up to a 60 second audio introduction! This is great because it’s a good opportunity to practice your pronunciation and to let other people hear your pronunciation so that they can let you know what you’re doing wrong (or right!)
From there you can go to the search page , which will show you all of your new potential language exchange partners or to the moments page, which will show you some other members short personal posts that you can like or comment on to get a conversation going.
If you tap “learn” on the moments page it will display posts that are written in your target language. I love this because it allows you to immerse yourself in the language and to practice thinking in it.
All that there is left to do is to start talking!
Most conversations will start of text based, but there is always the option to send an audio message by clicking on the microphone icon at the bottom right corner. There is also a transliteration button just above the microphone icon. This allows you to check to see that what you’re writing makes sense. After you type a sentence you can check it by hitting the transliteration button.
Once your ready, and after you have received 5 messages from you language partner you will have the option to do a voice call.
This will work like a regular telephone call and will be real time. And on top of that; if you and your language exchange partner are both VIP members you can make a video call and talk face to face!
Seriously!
HelloTalk is such a useful app to have! Having conversations with native Japanese speakers and helping them with their English while they help me with my Japanese has been both fun and challenging, and that’s the best way to learn something new! Keeping regular contact with someone in your target language will definitely help you to retain more!
As an apology for my long time absence, and as a thank you for both new followers and those who have been hanging on with me for a long time (we have more than 2,000 study buddies now! WOW!)
I’ll be working with the nice people at HelloTalk to give away a one year VIP-membership to one lucky follower!
All you have to do to enter is reblog this post!! That’s it! And for the sake of inspiring some of you to practice speaking out loud; if you record a video of yourself giving a short self introduction in Japanese you’ll get a second entry for the giveaway!!
BE SURE TO TAG ME (@nodoyobenkyou) SO I’LL SEE IT! And please make sure to include subtitles in your video so that we can all understand what you’re saying, no matter our level of understanding!
The giveaway will end Friday December 29th, so reblog and record before then! Good luck everyone!
一緒に日本語を勉強するのはつづきましょう！
Morning reblog!
This is a great app and I’ve met tons of amazing people on here. They also have a really low tolerance for harassment, which is always a concern with any of these apps.
Seriously, I’m sharing recipes with Japanese housewives and talking about dinosaurs with a financial analyst it is EXCELLENT
Discord recently banned their nazi community. Let’s have Tumblr do the same. Hundreds of neo-nazi and white supremacists feel at home on Tumblr and that needs to change.
They don’t respond to reports and apparently won’t care about anything other than intense negative publicity – so this is the best we can do for now.
———————-
Following Discord’s recent shutdown of racist alt-right servers, we ask that Tumblr takes neo-nazis and other white supremacy groups more seriously instead of repeatedly ignoring reports on violent language.
I’ve reported several neo-nazi types to staff, including those who have posts like “gas the k-kes” and “kill n-gger apes” alongside nazi imagery and romanticized portraits of Hitler. This is the response I get every time.
> Hello,
> Thanks for bringing this to our attention; we really appreciate your efforts to make
> Tumblr a safer place for everyone.
> We do strongly suggest you block this user. You can find out more about how to
Tumblr staff – by ignoring the rampant and violent hate problem within their community – are providing a safe place for violent fascists and other racists to feel at home.
This specially ironic since Tumblr pretends to stand with Charlottesville victims despite actively hosting neo-nazi groups (look under the tag #fashblr).
It’s outrageous that Tumblr staff refuses to ban these hate communities, and even more insulting that they pretend to be at the forefront of social justice. We want our communities to feel safe, and that cannot continue with the large neo-nazi presence. Multiple have already died in the past few months because of this ideology.
It’s clear that Tumblr will not respond to anything except negative publicity or advertisers leaving their network. So please let them know how the Tumblr community feels by signing and sharing.
What we need to happen:
1. Take reports more seriously. Do not just ask the user to block a dangerous user.
2. Explicitly condemn this hate speech in your Terms of Service. Although it already is to an extent, staff does not seem to follow their own rules.
3. Stop giving a safe place for Nazis and white nationalists. This behavior has NO place on Tumblr and you must remove those inciting hatred and violence.
4. Assign moderators to deal with this issue internally.
set a calendar alert RIGHT NOW. this is the work we need to do moving into 2018. we need to be READY.
Set an alert for May of 2018, not November. That’s when campaigns are going to get going, and that’s when the work needs to be done. November is the finish line, not the beginning.
Guys. Seriously. All my Americans. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT PLEASE.
For people wondering how to take action post-election of a racist demagogue (pulled from Twitter and cleaned up):
Make a spreadsheet or a file for your representatives with names, addresses to their offices, phone numbers, and contact forms. Put everyone there. Make a note in your calendar app to check in on issues once a month.
Pay attention to news. If you get angry, upset, or worried, seek support from friends but ALSO shoot these reps an email, too. Be courteous but firm and blunt. It’s a numbers game. Often we remain invisible because we don’t go to events and rallies and can’t be physically present. But we can attach our names to emails, we can write letters, we can be vocal. We don’t have to be invisible.
You can do this with your national reps, state reps, and local reps. If someone reps you anywhere, note them. Open a line and revisit it. It’s hard work and slow. One email at a time. One letter at a time. One call at a time. Emails are easy these days, so splurge every few months on a stamp and send a letter if you can. Put your humanity in front of these people. Flout it. Some won’t care, but others will. Change ONE mind and results can cascade.
Rural areas are bubbles full of bigotry and now it’s newly revealed. But we white people who live here have the clout and power! We can speak up when our reps say terrible things, and do terrible things, and vote terrible ways. We can go “I am disappointed in you.” It’s work, but as we’ve seen the last six months, it’s time for us to do that work. If someone goes “who are your reps” you gotta know. If you don’t know and you’re mad about this election, it’s time to create that file and keep it with you and use it.
The time for social media rants only is over. Or, do those, but maybe pull those threads out into a paragraph and send them to your reps. And don’t ONLY email or contact when things go badly. Also reach out when things go right. Even if they voted AGAINST something. Treat them like you would want to be treated if you were wrong or mistaken. But we’ve gotta reach out and let them know we’re here.
Anyway, I know this is hard work. If you need help collecting your reps, give me a ping via DM and I’ll help you get started.
So everyone talks about Steve being able to wield Mjolnir and that’s cool and all, but a lot of people forget that Clint, in the comics, is one of the few people who can properly use Steve’s shield.
So…yes. Steve holds his hand out and accidentally catches Mjolnir and meanwhile Clint’s out of arrows and the shield lands near him so he just kind of says “fuck it” and picks up the shield and starts throwing it. And Thor kind of shrugs and just grabs the nearest thing to use as a weapon. Maybe tosses one of the bad guys at the other bad guys. Maybe tosses Tony at the bad guys. Something.
And later they all agree that was pretty fun.
It’s always fun to use Tony as a blunt instrument.
It really is:
i love that because it implies its a legitimate strategic tactic theyve used before SEVERAL TIMES
Tony: NOT THE OLD FASHINED WAY AGAAAaaaaa-aaaªªªªªªªªªªiiiiinnnnnn-
I really need to somehow include using Tony as a blunt instrument in my fic somewhere.
YES PLEASE THAT WOULD BE SO MUCH FUN TO READ OUT LOUD.
Kimchi and Justice 