A language learners’ forum

When you start watching The Queen's Gambit, and hear the first word (mademoiselle) and check to see if Netflix didn't switch to the French dub on you for some reason.

...When you’ve been plodding through Japanese for years, and your Japanese tutor says “it’s time for N3 (intermediate) material”, and you think that’s the best complement of the year.

When your browser of choice has simply stopped suggesting Spellcheck options in your native language without you changing any settings. (I'm learning some lesser used French words this way at least . )


When you're thoroughly engrossed in the latest episode of a TV series you love, and then you get distracted in the climatic final 2 minutes by this sign:








(In case anyone asks, the show is The Expanse and the sign's in Xhosa.)

When you tell your kids, let's learn the language of Santa Clause.

When you say "My name is XXX" in Finish to an Estonian and you see how happy the Estonian is because it's the same in Estonian

At kids sports training when you talk in Ukrainian to the one parent that can speak only Polish, and you speak 50% correct Ukrainian, and you manage even to laugh in the conversation.

When your kids speak 4 languages and you speak more than they do.

When you are able to distinguish every word spoken in the target language after 6 months of study.

someone mentions a country in a movie/show and you wonder "I wonder what language they speak there", followed by a 20 minute wikipedia session reading about that country's language

When you think your self-restraint must be improving because you were able to eat Georgian cheese bread without immediately spending a month studying Georgian.

Yesterday someone asked me if I'm still learning Chinese and didn't believe me when I said I've never learned Chinese.

When I wake up this morning and wonder if this means I should be learning Chinese.

When my mom thinks I speak "fluent" Swedish because I can say "Gott nytt år" (Happy New Year) and then I had to remind myself that a pointless debate over what fluency and/or proficiency in a language actually means is probably the quickest way to ruin a New Year's Eve party so I let the conversation end with "No, I don't speak Swedish well."

I am above fifty years old—a vulnerable age for Covid-19 infection.

I probably contracted the virus in one of the two hospitals I work every day. I tested a positive PCR Covid test on December 28th.

I live in Phoenix, Arizona. Over the past few weeks, I contracted Covid-19 and became very ill.

Today January 8th, Arizona is the top USA state for Covid-19 infections, surpassing California and Los Angeles County.

Fortunately, I was hospitalized in a Phoenix hospital and received life-saving treatment.

I was discharged home earlier this week but I am still resting and not fit to return work due to low Oxygen Saturation levels.

During my time in the hospital, I did a little bit of Glossika German on my phone; it was a nice distraction. I even found myself saying short German words to nurses, which I imagined, the German words were unnoticed by them, but I noticed It, I was saying things like Vielen Dank.

...you couldn't stay away from this forum for too long.