Links To Free French Children’s Books

Les nationalités

1. American▪︎américain/américaine

2. Argentinian▪︎argentin/argentine

3. Algerian▪︎algérien/algérienne

4. Australian▪︎australien/australienne

5. Austrian▪︎autrichien/autrichienne

6. Belarusian▪︎biélorussien/biélorussienne

7. Belgian▪︎belge/belge

8. Brazilian▪︎brésilien/brésilienne

9. Bulgarian▪︎bulgare/bulgare

10. Canadian▪︎canadien/canadienne

11. Chinese▪︎chinois/chinoise

12. Colombian▪︎colombien/colombienne

13. Canadian▪︎canadien/canadienne

14. Cuban▪︎cubain/cubaine

15. Czech▪︎tchèque/tchèque

16. Dane▪︎danois/danoise

17. Dutch▪︎néerlandais/néerlandaise

18. Egyptian▪︎égyptien/égyptienne

19. English▪︎anglais/anglaise

20. Estonian▪︎estonien/estonienne

21. Finn▪︎finlandais/finlandaise

22. French▪︎français/française

23. German▪︎allemand/allemande

24. Greek▪︎grec/grecque

25. Hungarian▪︎hongrois/hongroise

26. Icelandic▪︎islandais/islandaise

27. Indian▪︎indien/indienne

28. Irish▪︎irlandais/irlandaise

29. Italian▪︎italien/italienne

30. Japanese▪︎japonais/japonaise

31. Korean▪︎coréen/coréenne

32. Latvian▪︎letton/letonne

33. Lithuanian▪︎lituanien/lituanienne

34. Macedonian▪︎macédonien/macédonienne

35. Mexican▪︎mexicain/mexicainne

36. New Zealander▪︎néo-zélandais/néo-zélandaise

37. Norwegian▪︎norvégien/norvégienne

38. Pole▪︎polonais/polonaise

39. Portuguese▪︎portugais/portugaise

40. Romanian▪︎roumain/roumaine

41. Russian▪︎russe/russe

42. Scottish▪︎écossais/écossaise

43. Slovak▪︎slovaque/slovaque

44. Slovene▪︎slovène/slovène

45. Spanish▪︎espagnol/espagnole

46. Swede▪︎suédois/suédoise

47. Swiss▪︎suisse/suisse

48. Turk▪︎turc/turque

49. Ukrainian▪︎ukrainien/ukrainienne

50. Welsh▪︎gallois/galloise

i will do another fifty soon to include the ones i left out. please correct me if i made any mistakes!

how does he produce full movies in three mins?? give him his oscar already

Hybrid Note Taking Style

A note taking method that blends the best of paper and digital note taking that I’ve been exploring lately. So far it’s working really well for me :) Hope it helps! 

Hybrid Note Taking Method

Problems with other note taking systems

Each note taking system has its pros and cons. Here are some of the problems I found with (fully) paper and (fully) digital note taking systems.

Paper

Can’t use the search function on your notes.

Can’t add images and other types of digital files easily.

Difficult to keep overview between notebooks.

Can’t share these as easily as digital notes.

Digital

Not as ‘romantic’.

Sometimes less engaging.

Lack of physical presence can lead to you forgetting about it.

Can be more difficult to do things like sketching, making schemes, making illustrations etc.

Benefits of Hybrid

I like using hybrid methods because they bring you the best of both worlds.

Easily searchable.

Information in your notes is traceable.

Makes it easier to find and carry out actions e.g. finding extra info.

Doesn’t damage books.

Allows you to embed different types of files.

What you’ll need

Source material (e.g. book, academic paper)

Any kind of notebook :)

Digital note-taking app → I like Notion (it’s free).

Step 1 - Read & number the material

As you go, use a pencil to lightly put numbers into the margins whenever you deem something worthy of noting down or remembering. This will help you locate the source of specific parts of your notes later.

Step 2 - Write Q&A-style notes

Write the information down in question-and-answer style. Come up with useful questions that link to the material you want to remember (e.g. Q → What is the main problem with using platform-based planning for new ventures? A → Assumptions underlying the plan are used as fact rather than best-guess estimates to be tested and questioned). Use the numbers you placed in the margin of the pages to specify the source of the information you used for each answer.

Example → Chapter 1 page 27 note 3 becomes 1.p27.3

Step 3 - Write actions as you go (Supporting notes)

Supporting notes

Write down your thoughts, anything you’re curious about, things you want to look up, things you’re confused about, actions you’ve been inspired to do, etc. For example → ?m Maybe I can apply this to my visualization assignment? / ! Look up what 'plurality of the future’ is / fex Organizational transformation through design. I find this a great way to support and manage the learning process.

Action key

Keep a small action key in which you have an overview of what your action marks mean (e.g. ?m→ questions to myself, f → find, fex → find example, ?? → I don’t get it, ! → general actions)

Don’t be afraid to customize your actions!

What you’ll get

Actionable notes

Your paper notes will contain a structured and easy to read overview of actionable items that came up during the reading. This can be questions you need answered, reminders to find specific information, etc. This will make them a lot harder to forget to do!

Easily traceable sources

With the codes you’ll be able to tell easily and quickly where the information you’ve written in your notes came from.

Searchable & review-ready notes

Notes will be (mostly) made in question-and-answer style. This will allow you to easily review using active recall. All you need to do is cover/hide the answer and you can check how well you truly know the material.

Thanks for reading!

French Vocabulary - Basics

les jours de la semaine - the days of the week

lundi - Monday mardi - Tuesday mercredi - Wednesday jeudi - Thursday vendredi - Friday samedi - Saturday dimanche - Sunday

les mois - the months

janvier - January février - February mars - March avril  - April mai - May juin - June juillet - July août - August septembre - September octobre - October novembre - November décembre - December

les saisons - the seasons

le printemps - Spring l'été - Summer l'automne - Autumn l'hiver - Winter

les nombres - the numbers (1-10)

un - one deux - two trois - three quatre - four cinq - five six - six sept - seven huit - eight neuf - nine dix - ten

les couleurs - the colours 

rouge - red jaune - yellow bleu (m), bleue (f) - blue noir (m), noire (f) - black blanc (m), blanche (f) - white vert (m), verte (f) - green gris (m), grise (f) - grey marron - brown rose - pink

The colour (adjective) comes after the noun! English: the red car French: la voiture rouge

Le soleil est jaune. - The sun is yellow. La nuit est noire. - The night is black. La mer est bleue. - The sea is blue.

les interrogatifs - the question words

qui - who quoi - what pourquoi - why quand - when où - where comment - how combien - how much/many quel(le) - which/what

les expressions de base - basic phrases

Oui. - Yes. Non. - No. Bonjour. - Hello/Good day/Good morning. Bonsoir. - Good evening. Bonne nuit. - Good night. Salut! - Hi/Bye! Au revoir. - Goodbye. S'il vous plaît (formal) - Please S'il te plaît (informal) - Please De rien. - You’re welcome. Merci. - Thank you. Merci beaucoup. - Thank you very much. Bienvenu(e). - Welcome. A plus tard. - See you later.  A bientôt. - See you soon. A demain. - See you tomorrow. Je suis désolé(e). - I am sorry. Pardon! - Excuse me! Ça va? (informal) - How are you? Comment allez-vous? (formal) - How are you? Ça va. - I am fine. (Answer to “Ça va?”) Très bien. - Very good. Je vais bien. - I am fine. Pas mal. - Not bad. Mal. - Bad. Comment vous appelez-vous? (formal) - What is your name? Tu t'appelles comment? or: Comment tu t'appelles? (informal) - What is your name? Je m'appelle … - My name is … Enchanté(e)! - Nice to meet you! Vous êtes d'où? (formal) - Where are you from? Tu es d'où? (informal) - Where are you from? Je suis de … - I am from … Où habitez-vous? (formal) - Where do you live? Tu habites où? (informal) - Where do you live? J'habite à … -  I live in … Quel âge avez-vous? (formal) - How old are you? Tu as quel âge? (informal) - How old are you? J'ai ____ ans. - I am____years old. Parlez-vous français? (informal) - Do you speak French? Tu parles français? (informal) - Do you speak French? Je parle français. - I speak French. Je ne sais pas. - I don’t know. Bien sûr. - Of course.

français | writing

hi friends! this list is basically a mash of literature/writing-related words…?

【 books/writing forms 】

l’anthologie (f) | anthology

le brouillon (m) | draft

le dictionnaire des synonymes (m) | thesaurus

épistolaire | epistolary

l’épopée (f) | epic

la nouvelle (f) | short-story

la pièce de théâtre (f) | play

la poésie (f) | poetry

la prose (f) | prose

la rédaction (f) | essay

le roman (m) | novel

【 literary devices 】

l’allégorie (f) | allegory

l’allitération (f) | alliteration

l’anaphore (f) | anaphora

la comparaison (f) | simile

l’hyperbate (f) | hyperbaton

l’imagerie (f) | imagery

la litote (f) | litotes/meiosis

la métaphore (f) | metaphor

l’oxymore (m) | oxymoron

la rime (f) | rhyme

【 people in the writing process 】

le/la dramaturge | playwright

l’écrivain (m) | author

l’éditeur/éditrice | publisher

l’égérie (f) | muse/creative inspiration

le rédacteur en chef/ la rédactrice en chef | editor (of a newspaper)

le réviseur/la réviseure | editor

【 punctuation 】

l’apostrophe (f) | apostrophe

les deux-points (m) | colon

les guillemets (m) | quotation marks (« »)

la parenthèse (f) | parenthesis/bracket

le point d’exclamation (m) | exclamation mark

le point d’interrogation (m) | question mark

le point (final) (m) | full stop

le point-virgule (m) | semi-colon

les points de suspension (m) | ellipsis

la ponctuation (f) | punctuation

le tiret (m) | dash

le trait d’union (m) | hyphen

la virgule (f) | comma

【 words 】

la consonne (f) | consonant

l’espace (f) | space

la lettre (f) | letter (of the alphabet)

le mot (m) | word

le paragraphe (m) | paragraph

la phrase (f) | sentence

la syllabe (f) | syllable

la voyelle (f) | vowel

【 extra 】

la bibliothèque (f) | library

la librairie (f) | bookstore

la littérature (f) | literature

la grammaire (f) | grammar

l’orthographe (f) | spelling

le stylo plume (m) | fountain pen

la tranche (f) | spine (of a book)

I HATE THINGS in French

abhorrer - to abhor sth

avoir horreur de - to hate sth - e.g. j’ai horreur de ce genre de film

avoir une sainte horreur de - to hate s.body/sth with a passion

détester - to hate

être haineux - to be full of hate

haïr - to hate

honnir - to abhor/despise/revile

mépriser - to despise sth or s.o

rempli de haine - full of hate

un amour vache - a love hate relationship

une bête noire - a pet hate

DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP

I dunno if you ever heard of this couple before but they are legendary for French langblrs and any student studying French. 

Now who are they? 

Well, it’s more like what are they. DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP is a popular acronym and mnemonic to help students remember the verbs that use être for passé composé instead of avoir.

Ex:

      J’ai reçu mes cadeaux .

      I received my presents. 

However for Vandertramp verbs, être is their player.

Ex:

      Je suis sorti mon lycée. 

      I left my highschool. 

Which verbs are Vandertramp verbs?

D - devenir ( to become ) 

R - revenir ( to come back ) 

&

M - monter ( to go up)

R - rentrer ( to return ) 

S - sortir ( to leave )

V - venir ( to come )

A - aller ( to go )

N - naître ( to be born )

D - descendre ( to descend / to go down )

E - entrer ( to enter )

R - retourner ( to return )

T - tomber ( to fall )

R - rester ( to remain )

A - arriver ( to arrive )

M - mourir ( to die )

P - partir ( to leave / to part )

When using these verbs in passé composé, remember that these verbs are être ( to be ) exempted from using avoir in this tense. I really hope this helps you guys in your language journey, trust me, this mnemonic saved me in many paragraphs and papers I had to submit in my French classes. Let me know if you have any questions or if you want to add onto this !

Hoping for better days,

Kopi <3

It’s essay writing season for tons of students!

After being a college writing tutor for over a year, I thought I would share my advice with all you awesome people on tumblr. This is how I write essays, but if you’ve got more tips, feel free to add them below. 

Happy writing. You can do it!

Cats and kittens,

Here's a link to a Google doc file I created. You'll find:

Entire classic books written or translated to French (divided by country/continent + by genre in the French section)

The first chapter FR/EN of very famous novels

Quizzes (made by yours truly)

Have fun!

Japanese starter pack

SO you’ve finally said okay, I want to learn Japanese. If you’ve never learned a language before then it can seem daunting but it’s a very rewarding experience! I’m gonna lay out what helped me start and stuff that I think would’ve been helpful for me even early on! But I still recommend doing your own research and trying lots of different methods bc language learning especially by yourself is a very personal experience! This is also meant for absolute beginners just looking to get started so I will try to keep it simple. 

First I just want to say I think your first goal should be “I want to be able to read and write kana fluently” because even just that will open so many doors and send you well on your way, but most importantly because: romaji will not be there for you. At all. And to be able to learn to read efficiently you need to read! Just like when you first learned the alphabet you must try to read everything, try to read tweets, posts, articles from NHK news easy, candy packaging, anything! You don’t have to understand what you’re reading at all, you just have to be able to read it right. And learn this with all the sources I will list in the post don’t try to learn it completely in isolation. Some tofugu kana resources to get you started/supplement other resources: Hiragana guide, Katakana guide, kana charts

Getting started immediately with apps There’s lots of language apps to pick and try out but I think the 2 best options right away are Duolingo and Lingodeer. Duolingo has improved its japanese course so much since I first did it in 2017, finally more lessons so you can use it beyond the beginner stage, separate lessons for katakana finally, and it uses more kanji to really give you a headstart on that front! Its still kind of inefficient in isolation but its so good for getting you started. If you’re fine with spending some subscription money then Lingodeer, a recently paywalled app specially made for asian languages like Japanese, Chinese, and Korean is worth giving a try! Here’s a video review of it by Miku Real Japanese

Textbooks The most famous textbook used in classrooms is Genki! A good book, its concise, streamlined, and efficient! but it’s not really designed for you to study by yourself. Its designed for the classroom and doesn’t really include a lot of content to help you become fluent in reading kana and some kanji. This can make starting feel more daunting and overwhelming for some so a lot self learners myself included recommend starting with Japanese from Zero! Specially designed for self learners and does a slow and thorough approach with an incorporated workbook section! There’s lots more options to explore tho and cough cough pdf versions to check out before you have to settle with a purchase

Youtube  There are so many good youtube channels both old and new to help you at every step! If you need to hear someone explain things for you bc you want to practice listening/pronunciation, you just like lectures, written explanations didn’t help then youtube is a great asset! Japanese Ammo has lessons starting with absolute beginners, if you want to try your hand at doing lessons with no english at all, then Sambonjuku’s basics can help. Japanesepod101′s youtube is also a great place for beginners! This is just a tiny sample of the many youtube channels dedicated to teaching you japanese so if none of these clicked with you then there’s many more channels to try! All linked channels also have videos on kana! 

In summary simply getting started is the first step and when you conquer kana then that’s already big progress! These are the basic tools that helped me simply start so I hope at least one of them can be helpful, and if not then there must be some tool or resource out there that will work for you! And quick note: a book I’m reading right now that I also want to recommend as supplemental reading is Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner. Its really good advice on how to approach and start language learning and I agree with everything I’ve read so far, and its just a really encouraging book! I also recommend checking out Tofugu.com which has a lot of great reviews, articles, advice, and resource roundups for you to explore. also shoutout to my fav langblr on here @ohitoyoshi just because. and if anyone reading want to share what helped them get stared then feel free to add on!