Logophile101

真正的成功在于克服对不成功的恐惧。

True success is overcoming the fear of being unsuccessful.

DISCLAIMER: This is in traditional Chinese!

可__ : __able

可 attached to a verb more or less lets you turn it into an adjective of the able to (verb) kind. That was a terrible explanation here have a vocab list

可愛  kě'ài  lovable, cute (where kawaii comes from) 

可憐  kělián  pitiable

可靠  kěkào  reliable (kào is to depend on)

可惜  kěxí  unfortunately, regrettably

可疑  kěyí  suspicious 

可笑  kěxiào  laughable, ridiculous

可氣  kěqì  frustrating, exasperating

可怕  kěpà  terrifying 

There are more (because there are always more) but now you get how great a name/transliteration 可樂 kělè is for “coke,” it looks like happy-able! Coca-cola is specifically 可口可樂, so like “can drink, can happy” but really “good to drink, makes you happy.” (supposedly shop keepers at one point transliterated as 蝌蝌啃蠟 kē kē kěn là, “bite the wax tadpole,” but that was never official. Reasons to pay your translator well.)

I personally struggle with depression and anxiety, along with an eating disorder (which, believe me, can have its toll in your academic life) and chronic tiredness, so I decided to make this post to share things that have helped me. Here are some study / productivity tips!

If you are feeling burned out, take a productive, physical break. If i start feeling tired but my task isn’t done, I take a small productive break. I fold clothes, clean my brushes if I’m painting, clean your room, exercise, stretch, anything that will briefly take my mind off things. 

Don’t be too strict with your timetable: Allow yourself a 10 minute window between tasks because you might need a small break or something might come up. Have in mind that you will be doing the tasks you are planning to do, not the idealized version of yourself who doesn’t need breaks and doesn’t get tired (something I am definitely guilty of doing).

Don’t fight yourself! Your mood matters! Notice your mood and your body, how are you feeling? Are you tired, does anything hurt, are you thirsty, do you need to take a short walk? If you don’t feel like doing something very mentally taxing, you can put on a podcast, music or a YouTube video, and just organize your files, fold clothes, declutter your school folder, etc. You will thank yourself later without sacrificing your mental health even more. 

Have a place to write down distracting thoughts that you can address later. I have a recycled piece of paper taped to my desk at all times and there I scribble ideas and things I have to do. You can check the list later, just write those thoughts down and forget about them while you’re doing your task. 

Experiment with how many tasks you can do in a day. Set your priorities) and put tasks together and do a little bit of each category

Ask for help from your friends or professors! They just want you to do well and helping you or giving you a little bit more time is easy for them to give you. 

Eat the frog first. Do the most difficult thing first, the one you fear the most, the one that will take you more time and energy. I have found that some tasks seem a million times more difficult in the evening than in the morning, so I usually start with the most unpleasant tasks right when i wake up since I have more energy then. 

Break up everything in small parts. Outline a task before you start. Starting something is the hardest thing for me, once I know what i have to do everything is so much easier to do. Sketch it out, then just fill out the blanks. 

Be aware of your learning style. One of the reasons why you find studying a certain subject difficult might not have to do with the subject at all, but with how you are learning it. Here’s a test to find out your learning style 

Dedicate a whole day to one thing. This is an approach I use when I’m in a weird mood / energy fluctuation state. I just dedicate a whole day or a whole week to do something (this week is painting, I’ve gone a bit overboard), and it helps me to cram something until my desire to do that thing has gone away and then I can focus on something else. 

Force yourself to work on something for only five minutes. Only five minutes! I do this when I have tried everything else and I just cannot be bothered. Put on some music and promise yourself you only have to work on that assignment for five minutes, and then you can stop. Many times I see that it was easier than I expected and I continue working on it after the five minutes has passed. 

If you get bored easily, try multitasking with tasks that don’t require a lot of brain power. This is for my ADHD folks. I personally don’t have ADHD but here are some study tips from people who actually do: link one link two 

Put the deadline a few days earlier so you have time to ask for help if you need it. This is a very common study tip but definitely helps if you struggle with time management. 

Change the location or study with someone

Have multiple schedules: I personally have a high energy schedule and a low energy schedule. Both are necessary and I have found that they create a great balance. I can do a post on this later if you guys want! 

Build an automatic routine and group habits together. This might be good for forgetful folks. Have a morning/afternoon/night routine and group tasks that you tend to forget. Organize it around an even (before going to class, after a meal) to make it impossible to forget it. It will become automatic in no time and then you won’t have to worry about that stuff. 

Here are some reminders if you’re feeling discouraged. 

专心 (zhuan1 xin1) - to be attentive; focused

Eg. I have to be 专心 during my studies. Good luck back to school everyone! To be honest I’m actually pretty excited for the new semester.

Free Online Language Courses

Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos.  You can always check the audit course or no certificate option so that you can learn for free.

American Sign Language

ASL University

Sign Language Structure, Learning, and Change

Arabic

Arabic Without Walls

Madinah Arabic

Moroccan Arabic

Armenian

Depi Hayk

Bengali

Learn Bangla (Register to see course)

Catalan

Parla.Cat

Speak Cat

Chinese (Mandarin)

Beginner

Chinese for Beginners

Chinese Characters for Beginners

Chinese for HSK 1

Chinese for HSK 2

Chinese for HSK 3 I & II

Chinese for HSK 4

Chinese for HSK 5

Mandarin Chinese Level I

Mandarin Chinese Essentials

Mandarin Chinese for Business

More Chinese for Beginners

Start Talking Mandarin Chinese

UT Gateway to Chinese

Intermediate

Intermediate Business Chinese

Intermediate Chinese Grammar

Mandarin for Intermediate Learners I

Dutch

Introduction to Dutch

English

Online Courses here

Resources Here

Faroese

Faroese Course

Finnish

A Taste of Finnish

French

Beginner

AP French Language and Culture

Elementary French I & II

Français Interactif

Vivre en France - A1

Vivre en France- A2

Intermediate & Advanced

French Intermediate course B1-B2

Passe-Partout

Travailler en France A2-B1                    

Vivre en France - B1  

German

Beginner

Deutsch im Blick

German Project

German at Work

Goethe Institute

Gwich’in

Introduction to Gwich’in Language

Hebrew

Biblical Hebrew

UT Austin

Hindi

A Door into Hindi

Virtual Hindi

Icelandic

Icelandic 1-5

Indonesian

Learn Indonesian

Irish

Irish 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107

Italian

Beginner

Beginner’s Italian I

Introduction to Italian

Intermediate & Advanced

AP Italian Language and Culture

Intermediate Italian I

Advanced Italian I

Japanese

Genki

Japanese JOSHU

Japanese Pronunciation

Marugoto Courses

Tufs JpLang

Korean

Beginner

First Step Korean

How to Study Korean

Introduction to Korean

Learn to Speak Korean

Pathway to Spoken Korean

Intermediate

Intermediate Korean

Norwegian

Introduction to Norwegian I, Norwegian II

Norwegian on the Web

Persian

Easy Persian

PersianDee

Polish

Online Course

Portuguese

Pluralidades em Português Brasileiro

Russian

Beginner

A1 Course

I speak Russian

Intermediate

B1 Course

B1+ Course

B2.1 Course

B2.2 Course

Spanish

Beginner

AP Spanish Language & Culture

Basic Spanish I, Spanish II

Spanish for beginners  

Spanish for Beginners 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Spanish Vocabulary

Advanced

Corrección, Estilo y Variaciones 

Leer a Macondo

Swahili

Online Course

Turkish

Online Course

Ukrainian

Read Ukrainian

Speak Ukrainian

Welsh

Beginner’s Welsh

Discovering Wales

Yoruba

Yorùbá Yé Mi

Multiple Languages

Ancient Languages

More Language Learning Resources & Websites!

Last updated: May 2019

HOTPOT VOCAB 火锅词汇

火锅 (huǒguō) hotpot

鸳鸯锅 (yuānyang guō) two broth hotpot

白锅 (báiguō) non-spicy broth

红锅 (hóngguō) spicy broth

蘸酱 (zhànjiàng) dipping sauce

做调料 (zuò tiáoliào) pick out sauce

肉 (ròu) meat

海鲜 (hǎixiān) seafood

蔬菜 (shūcài) vegetables

土豆 (tǔdòu) potato

冻豆腐 (dòng dòufù) frozen tofu

菌类 (jùnlèi) mushrooms (refers to all fungus)

面条 (miàntiáo) noodles

粉条 (fěntiáo) vermicelli

爽 (shuǎng) refreshing

嫩 (nèn) tender

饮料 (yǐnliào) beverage

熟 (shú) to cook

煮 (zhǔ) to boil

开了 (kāi le) boiling

拿 (ná) to take

放 (fáng) to place

边 (biān) side

热性 (rèxìng) heating foods (traditional Chinese medicine)

凉性 (liángxìng) cooling foods (traditional Chinese medicine)

上火 (shànghuǒ) to suffer from too much internal heat (too much yang or heating foods have been eaten. Said to cause acne, indigestion, sore throat etc)

降火 (jiànghuǒ) to decrease internal heat

Feel free to add on! I’m not too familiar with traditional Chinese medicine but hope this helped.

Hello this is Nina, your local depressed college girl that’s decided to work on turning her life around and starting the new year with a more positive and happy attitude.

I know there a hundreds of similar lists and tips out there but I just thought I’d get all my favourites in one place and that way maybe motivate myself to actually follow them for once. I know my wording isn’t the best but I tried. 

Here’s the few tips I’ve picked up so far and I hope they might help some of you if you are struggling a bit also:

Physical:

Space - your personal/work/study space plays a big role in making you feel productive and motivated. Doesn’t matter if its your dorm room, bedroom, office…you should make it your own as much as you can. Put a plant on your desk, get a nice picture for the wall, hang some fairy lights, get a fluffy blanket for your bed, repaint your walls in your favourite color if you can, just make it cozy and comfy and nice to look at and I guarantee you’ll start to feel better. Try to keep it clean and neat, I know it’s hard sometimes, but working in a clean space makes you ten times more productive.

Self care - start with physical things, drink those 8 glasses of water and keep a tab on it until you get used to it, use handcream everytime you wash your hands, put on moisturizer every morning and sunscreen when you go out, go for a walk around the park at least every other day, and for fucks sake go to sleep at a reasonable hour, you’ll be so grateful in the morning if you do. Show your body some appreciation. 

Mental:

Take some ‘me’ time - we might we don’t have time for this, but it’s so important we make some time. First thing in the morning, during the day or before bed, just take a few minutes and relax. Put on your favourite song, burn a scented candle, drink a hot cup of tea, sit down and just breathe. 

Be proud of yourself regardless - take that ‘me’ time and reflect on your day, pat yourself on the back for everything you did even if it was just getting out of bed. Life is a bitch sometimes and you should be just as proud of yourself for the little things. It’s okay to sometimes be lazy, to procrastinate, to not do anything. You aren’t a machine, you’ll burn out if all you do is work.

Appreciate the little things - on those lazy days it’s sometimes hard to not feel miserable about it. That’s when you should appreciate the little things in life. Get yourself that coffee you love so much and enjoy it, go to a roof, watch the sunset and appreciate the colors, take a photo of anything you find pretty and look back at them when you feel down…make yourself believe those moments made your whole day and suddenly it’ll feel like your life’s meaning isn’t just getting up and working/studying all the time, but enjoying everything you get to do and see in between too.

Other:

Find your interests - and stick to them!! We all like to give up on things if we aren’t immediately good at them. But no one was born an expert. And as cliché as it sounds practise does make perfect. Join a drawing class, a dance club, a writing class, get a course book on your target language, download editing softwear and play around with it, watch documentaries about your favourite subject. If you fall out of your hobby in the end it’s no big deal, but you’ll know you gave it a try and didn’t miss an opportunity to learn something new. 

Journaling - this might not be for everybody, but I found it helps me clear my mind a lot to put my thoughts on paper and have everything organized in written form. I just love having all my things in one place where I can just look and see where I’m at, whether it’s plans for the day, my thoughts, my playlists, pretty pictures, anything really. It’s also a great way to be creative. 

Start now - this is the most important one! Kick yourself in the ass and start taking care of yourself today! Get that glass of water right now, light a scented candle, read that book you’ve been putting off, watch that documentary about your favourite thing. Start enjoying your life right now, even if it’s only for a second, tommorow it’ll be two and three the day after and hopefully soon it’ll be a whole day. 

Me when I get a 5/10 on a science test: oh well shit happens

Me when I get a 8/10 on a language test: I’m a disgrace to my family shame on me do I dare to go home with this I will forever be an outcast of this society