Mishellaneous Topics

💡 Here are 3, maybe four, steps to improving your target language skills with "trash" TV

"You’re not gonna be picking up on rejoinders right away especially if it’s your first time doing this exercise. It might take you a couple of episodes to start picking up on patterns. That’s when you’ll start jotting stuff down. Don’t go and start using your phone to translate. It’s super stimulating for the brain and fun for you if you make this a game of deciphering with context clues. The phone can help you confirm later."

📖 Read more: https://mishellaneous.substack.com/p/watching-reality-tv-is-a-great-way-to-learn-a-language

УРАМ ХАЙРЛАХ (phrasal verb)

I happen to also be half-Mongolian and thus speak enough Mongolian for conversations with friends and family though perhaps haven’t developed the formal register for professional life.

A phrase I think about often is “урам хайрлах” (uram hairlah) which nearly untranslatable into English. It means something like encouraging someone in what they care about.

The word урам (uram) could be most closely understood as “enthusiasm” and хайрлах (hairlah) means to “love and nurture”. Therefore, урам хайрлах (uram hairlah) means something like:

⭐️ to nurture one’s enthusiasm ⭐️

As always, as the true TCK that I am, my mind is perpetually looking for equivalents in my other native languages (Spanish and English). I think in Spanish, it would be “mimar” or “halagar”.

—What does it look like to урам хайрлах?

When your best friend surprises you with a chessboard because you mentioned it once. When your SO doesn’t personally care about your project, but asks about it because it makes you happy to share.

Because I was raised knowing this phrase in these specific terms, I believe that to nurture (water, tend to, cultivate) the other’s enthusiasm (ardor, zeal, passion) is vital in any relationship. Without this, it wilts.

Perhaps it’s because I was raised by my mother who is a Mongolian woman who was born and raised in Ulaanbaatar, but the words in Mongolian just hit different in my mother’s language than in Spanish or English.

Happy holidays! Remember to tend to your loved ones’s enthusiasm this season! 🎄

📸 La Selva Taurina Los Arcos, Querétaro, MX, 2024

👓 My reads today.

⭐️ “𝐈 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬."

Founded by Chris and his best friend Yoreh in 2021, Pub Quiz QRO has quickly become a successful event for both foreigners and locals here in Queretaro. Currently run by Chris after Yoreh's departure from Mexico, the event aims to bring together the community in a friendly and sometimes competitive language exchange (with beer!) alongside his favorite customer turned co-host Gamba. In this special podcast episode, Chris and Mishell go from discussing the ins and outs of making a quiz event to contemplating the real hard hitting topics like the lack of color in The Netherlands. When Chris isn't hosting pub quizzes, you'll likely find him planning his next travel adventure, hiking with friends, or playing soccer with his team. If you're listening on YouTube, make sure you stay tuned for the video segment featuring Gamba at the end of the podcast segment.

To drink and to know things in Queretaro (feat. Chris) 🍻 How to sign up for Pub Quiz Queretaro:- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Pubquizqueretaro- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pubquizqueretaro/- Whats...