anna3101

I haven't seen a single Filipino-produced film in my life. Can you recommend something? So, who is the main present-giver? Babbo Natale or Befana? Or both? If both, whose presents are bigger? Thanks a lot for the songs and the recipe. Nougat is rare in Poland. I saw only several places where they sell it, it's usually French or Italian made, and also pretty good. However, I'm trying to lose some fat around my waist right now, so I've forbidden myself to eat anything with sugar. But holidays don't count of course About Cristian de Sica - I checked it on Wikipedia, he has SO many films! Which one should I start with? Here are two most famous Russian songs - I forgot to give the links last time: Five Minutes The Christmas Tree Born in the Forest As for the traditional dishes, there are two salads that are quite often present on the New Year's table. In case you want to try them out, here are the recipes. They come from my family. Herring under the Coat This one is made from boiled vegetables and salted herring (you normally buy it ready-made in shops). I'm a vegetarian so I used marinated or fried muschrooms instead. You need: - 2-3 beetroots - 3-4 large carrots - 5-6 middle-sized potatoes - 250ml jar of mayonnaise - 250g of salty herring / or 500g of raw mushrooms All the vegetables should be appoximately the same amount. They must be boiled with skin, then peeled and then cut into small square pieces. Herring should also be cut to small pieces. If you go with mushrooms, you should fry them in your favourite oil (and yes, also cut them beforehand - in small pieces of course). Then you take a big glass bowl and put the ingredients in layers: first a layer of herring or mushrooms, then spread some mayonnaise on it, then put a layer of potatoes, then again some mayonnaise on it, then go carrots, mayonnaise again, and finally beetroots, and mayonnaise on top. The salad is usually decorated with some greenery - parsley, green onion and such. Very calorie-rich but tasty. If you don't want to weigh 3 kgs more, just make mayonnaise layers very thin and you'll be fine Olivier Supposedly this one originated from a French chef but now it's the most popular Russian salad ever Here's my family's traditional recipe (it differs from house to house): - 3-4 carrots - 5-6 potatoes - one tin of green peas - 300-400g of mortadela-type sausage (I use smoked tofu cheese for veggie version) - a jar (about 200g) of pickled cucumbers - 5-6 eggs - 300ml mayonnaise - spring onion As usual, the quantites are approximate - there should be about the same amount of each ingredient, except for mayonnaise and cucumbers, so it all depends on how big a portion you want to make. Carrots, potatoes and eggs are boiled, peeled and cut into small cube pieces, and then put into a big glass bowl. Green peas are taken from a tin or cooked from frozen, and then added to the bowl. Sausage or ham is cut into cubes and goes to the bowl as well. Then the same thing happens to pickles (they are the only ingredient that you can add a bit less of, as they are quite strong in taste). Finally, you add mayonnaise to taste and add as much of spring onions (finely chopped) as you wish. Mix well and you are ready to go

Well, "despise" seems to be a bit too strong. I'm not sure you'd like it if someone said they "despise" Serbian or English, right? It sounds offensive to my ears. Just as I would mind it every much if someone said they "hate" Russian. You can hate the Russian government, boycott Russian goods and strongly dislike some people - that's all fine with me. But I am against people saying a language or a whole nation is "bleh". That's the kind of generalization that leads nowhere.

Thanks for the thread, I'm really surprised just how many of these phrases are exactly the same in Russian! That's probably because they come from Latin, and Latin had huge influence on all the nations. Still, it's so amazing for me. I had no idea that Russian and Italian can have something in common.

Thanks for the thread, Mameha! I'm also very interested to hear about typical names. And the "pet" versions, I've heard that you have those in Italian too, right? Like Alessandro - Sandro? What are some other "smaller" versions of the popular names? Here's a list of the names I hear most often here in Poland. It's not an official list of "this year's most popular names given to babies" - that changes each year, just my subjective feeling of what names are most prevalent. So I'm taking into consideration all ages here. I'll put diminutives in the brackets. In actual fact, each name has many versions but there is usually the most "standard" way to make the name shorter, and that's what I'll do here Female: Katarzyna (Kasia), Maria (Marysia), Małgorzata (Gosia), Anna (Ania), Magdalena (Madzia), Ewa, Izabela (Iza), Joanna (Asia) Male: Piotr (Piotruś), Jan (Jaś), Wojciech (Wojtek), Łukasz, Adam (Adaś), Krzysztof (Krzysiek), Mariusz (Marek), Kamil As for Russian names, here's the list of those that I see most often: Female: Tatiana (Tanya), Irina (Ira), Elena (Lena), Natalia (Natasha), Maria (Masha), Ekaterina (Katya), Olga (Olya), Anna (Anya), Svetlana (Sveta), Ksenia (Ksiusha) Male: Sergey (Serezha), Andrey (Andrusha), Aleksandr (Sasha), Igor, Mikhail (Misha), Oleg, Anton, Dmitriy (Dima), Piotr (Petya), Pavel (Pasha) I've never looked into the meanings, except for my own name and the names of family and friends But generally speaking, those "tradionally" Russian names are not as popular as some others whose origin is Jewish or North or Greek. As for Polish, as you can see some of those are also religion related, which does not come as a surprise for me. Poland is still quite a religious country.

@Mameha Molto grazie per le correzioni! I wonder if I could occasionally write in some thread in Italian so that I could practise and you could enjoy all of my funny mistakes I'd love that! @Chiara My French is not that bad, I can talk and write, according to the tests I'm somewhere at C1. Used to be at C2 but I had several years without any practice at all My Spanish is B2 when it comes to reading/listening but only A2 for speaking. Not sure about writing, haven't tested it yet. With German I'm a complete newbie I used to study German for about 4 years at school but then I dropped it for various reasons so now I'm starting from level 0. Luckily for me, some passive knowledge stays no matter what, so I can still read simple texts, like women's magazines or Internet shopping sites, and I understand the emails that my German colleagues send to me. But all other skills are dead and need a lot of work. And I find German the most difficult language of all that I'm currently studying. But so rewarding for my mental health! I feel that when I try to construct sentences there is no brain cell that is not working hard

Well, he most obviously does not speak these 58 languages. I'm sure there are hyper-polyglots out there - after all, there are people with photographic memory and a lot of other amazing cases - but as this example proves, not all of them are "for real".

I couldn't agree more! Mostly people seem to judge "strength" or "usefullness" of someone else's motivation by their own standards, and that's really sad. I don't believe in such thing as a universal motivation. I saw with my own eyes people achieve great results for a number of various reasons. I know a person who wanted to read certain books in the original, and another who studied to get ahead in her career. Both of them did very well. I often study just for fun, because I enjoy learning, and this also brings results. Not everybody is interested in travelling, speaking with native speakers or passing exams, and I think that's perfectly fine. The world would be dull if we were all the same.

I do regret the time spent on my Old English and Goth classes. I'm not a fan of languages that are no longer used, and I hated linguistic tasks related to these two with a vengeance. Explaining why the word X used to look like Y using all kinds of incredibly complicated "laws" and "rules" was pure nightmare for me. It did not feel like learning but more like torture. Latin was better because I could see more sense in it but still, it never felt right - to learn a language you can't speak with anybody. That's just not my piece of cake.

I actually do believe there are stupid reasons to learn a language - and that those are the reasons that don't really exist. I've met quite a lot of people who claimed they wanted to learn language X, for various reasons ("I need it for my job"/"I want to pass an exam"/"Everybody speaks it so I should do it also" etc). Then they paid money for private lessons or courses and either did not show up or never did anything to actually learn. A bad reason is having no reason (or motivation) but pretending to have it. It's frustrating for the teacher and useless for the learner. Also, I'm very much against forcing people (and here I mean mostly children) to learn a foreign language. I really feel for those kids. It's the same with adults actually. I was forced to study one of my languages and I couldn't look at it for many years afterwards. Nothing is a better motivation killer. Well, except maybe for a horrible teacher at school/university.

YES! It really is the same! I also hate it when people swear every 5 seconds without any real need for it - just because they never learnt to speak in a normal way. It feels so degrading to the language. Kind of like having a beautiful vintage dress and using it to wash dirty floors. Occasional swearing I can understand and tolerate, but I wouldn't want to communicate with people who do it all the time. Too annoying.

I feel exactly the same way! "I love you" does not sound intimate or deep to me - probably because English is not my native language, so I only grasp the surface of the words. In Polish though, or in Russian, this is a sentence that I would never say without really meaning it with all my heart. And the same goes for swear words. I really hate those but if I'm really really angry, I'm much more likely to let myself use them if I speak/write in English. In Polish and Russian I would feel really bad about anyone hearing it, so if I swear, I do it only in my own mind

Ciao Chiara, Sono felice d'incontrate qualcuno chi studia il francese, lo spanolo e il tedesco come io! Benvenuta nel forum! Ania

C2 level is not native, but "near native" fluency, and that's not at all the same thing. Personally, I agree with Chris_A - I don't believe it's possible to completely master a foreign language, and even if it is, it probably takes a lifetime. I've met some people who were extremely talented and had great pronunciation and grammar. But there will inevitably be a slip here and there from time to time. A wrong accent, or a small grammar mistake. And even if you are a native speaker who had decent education, no, I don't think that means you've mastered your native language. Everybody makes mistakes and everybody will sooner or later come across words they don't know. For as long people are not born perfect, learning ever ends.

Wow, I had no idea that somewhere so far away the holiday traditions have so much in common with ours! And I also was surprised to find out about the Spanish words, I didn't know about that part of history, makes me want to dig deeper into it on the Internet. Thanks so much for the information, it was so interesting to read! I was really excited to see your post, as I'm learning Italian, so all the expressions come in very handy Here in Poland and in Russia too people also start decorating the tree quite early (and the shopping craziness starts earlier and earlier each year!) but that mostly depends on the person. I know some who are starting already in the end of November and some who do it a couple of days before the holiday It's the same thing with presents: some people give gifts after midnight and some leave them under the tree to open in the morning (especially if they have children). My family in Russia always did gift-giving on the 31st of December, straight after the midnight. My partner has the same tradtion in his family for Christmas, so we keep it up and give each other gifts in the first minutes of 25th and then 1st. Nougat is yummy. Can you share a recipe with us? I'd love to try it out. I've also heard (don't know if it's true) that in Germany they eat small marzipan pigs for the New Year's Day. I plan to prepare some this year Oh, if you know some traditional/funny/popular Italian songs, films or anything else related to holidays, do let me know! I'm collecting winter songs in all the languages I'm learning, and I don't have many in Italian - about 15 at most... Some of them are quite hard to translate @takibari If there's some special Christmas dish/treat in the Philippines, let us know! Do you also not eat meat on Christmas Eve? Are there any typical songs or films that are popular to watch during winter holidays? Thank you all so much for sharing! I'm discovering a lot of exciting things here on linguaholic and it makes me happy

A great idea from hungary93. Holidays are coming soon, and it would be wonderful to share words, phrases and traditions related to your country. So if you celebrate Christmas, or New Year, or Winter Solstice, or any other winter holidays, please share some vocabulary from your native language and any interesting facts/traditions. I'll start with Russian. Winter holidays celebrated The biggest and the best is New Year's Day (evening and following night on December, 31) followed by Christmas (night between January, 6 an January, 7) and "old New Year" (January, 13 as a reminder of a calendar change that happened long, long ago). Traditions Those can vary a lot from family to family but most people do the following: decorate the tree, have a huge supper with family or friends on December, 31 (the best dishes are served, some people eat sandwiches with red caviar), drink champagne (first making a toast to an old year before midnight, and then a toast to a new year after midnight), watch Kremlin's tower clock strike 12 on TV, give presents to all important people - family, friends, colleagues etc, call their relatives if they can't visit them, launch fireworks. Chinese "animal of the year" tradition has been adopted in a very funny way - there are cards with patron animal, presents in the form of the same animal, articles in magazines on how to dress or decorate the table so that the animal of the coming year is happy Nobody will ever confess they believe in "all that rubbish" - but they still read horoscopes and sometimes even dress in the right colour "just in case". Russian Santa Claus is called Father Frost (Дед Мороз) and he always appears with his granddaughter called Снегурочка (a name related to "snow" and not really translatable). Films and music Two old classics are always shown on TV around New Year's Day - Irony of Fate ("Ирония судьбы, или с легким паром") and Carnival Night ("Карнавальная ночь"). Both are comedies and most people probably know them by heart, a lot of phrases from these films have become idioms. Both of them have lovely songs too. But the most well-known song is probably "The Christmas Tree Born in the Forest" ("В лесу родилась елочка"), sung by children in the kindergartens and schools. I doubt there exists a Russian person who doesn't know it. Useful words and expressions Happy New Year! - С Новым годом! Merry Christmas - С Рождеством! Wish you happiness, health, luck - Желаю (желаем) счастья, здоровья, удачи buy / choose / wrap presents - покупать / выбирать / упаковывать подарки packaging - упаковка ribbon - лента send cards - отправлять открытки make a big house cleaning - делать генеральную уборку cook food - готовить clink glasses - чокаться set the table - накрывать на стол light candles - зажигать свечи invite guests - приглашать к себе гостей wish happy holidays - поздравлять с праздником call relatives - звонить родственникам decorate Christmas tree - наряжать елку baubles - (елочные) игрушки tinsel - мишура garland - гирлянда

Great idea! I think I'll make a separate post for that, we can collect all the useful words and phrases from different languages there!

I'll join the majority here. I'll never be done with any language, however sad it sounds. And in a way it does sound sad for me because I like to keep to-do lists and then cross things off. Write down a goal and then achieve a goal. I could probably mark "be fluent in..." as done when I know I can speak the language without pausing to think about a word or a particular structure. And I can read most books and articles and actually understand them. And even watch films, write letters and talk to native speakers on the phone. But I will never ever be able to say "I know X". Nor will I ever be able to stop learning it because "I've learnt all the major stuff". There is just no such thing. It's the same with languages and with most other "endless" goals, like "try to be kind" or "stay in touch with friends". Life is like a game quest You get one small task done, you immediately get another, and so on, until it's game over. And even then nobody really knows what will happen. Maybe there are even more tasks waiting for us

I wouldn't say it's necessarily easier - depends on what languages those neighbouring countries speak. However, it could be a factor in your motivation - going to visit a country that's quite close to the border is cheaper and easier than going somewhere very far. Knowing you are likely to visit the country can motivate you to learn the language.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one! I don't have such dreams very often but they do happen from time to time. And each time when I wake up, I say "Wow, that was really cool" because when I speak a foreign language in my dreams, I always speak it very fluently. A couple of times I happened to "learn" a new word from my dreams. I guess it was buried somewhere deep within my subconscious so I recognized it as new when I woke up. Language dreams are quite pleasant

It is really both funny and annoying - I often forget to switch to another language when I stop talking to one person and start talking to another. In this case it's not because I lack vocabulary but for some uknown weird malfunction in my brain. Happens to me at work all the time because we have an international team and I need to switch between three different languages there depending on who I'm talking to. At times like this, I feel like I'm getting old. I wish my brain could switch effortless all the time, without these "glitches".

Hello Atanas, Welcome to the forum! Hope you like it here We have a lot of threads dedicated to Spanish and Italian. Feel free to join in! Ania

I can definitely recommend the games available thansk to Goethe-Institut. They are very fun and are designed especially to help people learn German. And they're free! Right now I'm playing Ein rätselhafter Auftrag, it's very enjoyable and I'm learning a lot of useful words as I go. Here's the link to the Goethe-Institut's apps on google play (I'm pretty sure they must have iOS version too): https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Goethe-Institut%20e.V.&hl=en Hope some other people learning German will also find the apps useful.

Hello Elfprincess, So happy to see a person from Poland joining us Welcome to the forum, I hope you find it useful, and if you ever need any help with Russian, just tell me. Ania

Hello btay415, Welcome to the forum! Glad to see you also like French - it's one of my favourite languages too! Hope you like it here, and see you soon on the French subforum Ania

This is true. But I wonder why so many of us do not believe they can do it or just worry about the whole process. When it comes to languages, the thought of failing has never crossed my mind but that's probably because I started to learn my first foreign language as a child. I had no expectations and no goals back then, learning was just for fun. When it comes to other skills that I wanted to acquire later, as a grown-up, I often find myself worrying about a million useless things. Am I smart enough to do this? What will people think of me if I fail? What will I think of myself then? Will I have enough time? What if I'm just not talented enough for this? It's really annoying. I wish we all had more confidence in our ability to cope - or in our ability to fail without any major catastrophe hitting the planet at the very moment.