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language learning

Chinese: What’s in a Name? The Language behind Garden Scenery

There is one major reason why I am studying Chinese: I just love the characters. It is so exciting to explore how they are integrated at so many different levels of Chinese culture. When visiting a Chinese garden you‘ll come across splendid scenes and elegant architecture. As opposed to European gardening art, where the buildings

28. Feb 2021

language learning

Japanese Kanji Stories No. 1: 金 kin / kane

For many Japanese learners memorising the kanji is a challenge. The kanji come with two different readings (ON and KUN) so even when you know the written character it’s not obvious how it is pronounced in a new word. Some books thankfully provide furigana – small hiragana characters written above the kanji – to give

30. Jan 202130. Jan 2021

language learning

Japanese Update 2: Resource Review

I’m now at lesson 18 in Japanese for Busy People (volume I). My language exchange partner thinks the series really lives up to its name because it just gives you the basics of a grammatical principle (and leaves some tricky parts out…). It’s true that the grammar explanations are not very thorough, but I like

4. Jan 2021

language learning

Farsi Day 20: Calligraphy

I’m way behind posting about my Farsi learning experience! It’s the first language with an Arabic script I ever tried learning. And boy, what can I say! Every language has its very own characteristic feature that sooner or later can be a challenge for a language learner. In Chinese it’s distinguishing the four tones for

20. Aug 202021. Dec 2020

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About Me

Hi there! I’m Christina, a German based art historian working in a museum with an arts-and-crafts collection from all other the world. To me languages are a gate into the cultures they emerged from. This website is about learning languages and the cultural insights they provide.

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