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✍️ Introduction

  • Hi everyone! I’m Rosa, a twentysomething-year-old language enthusiast from Finland. Among other things, I’m passionate about literature, languages, history, social justice, and trying out fun new recipes.

    This blog will be a place for me to practice the languages I’m learning and to immerse myself in them. Here you will find tips for language learning and studying, inspiration and motivation, and lots of media recommendations (movie and TV show trailers, music, interesting articles, youtube videos, study resources, literary quotes, etc).

    There will be content in and about all kinds of languages, but especially those that I know or am learning (i.e. Finnish, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese, Korean, and French).

    If you’re a fellow langblr, please let me know! I’m looking for language learning content to fill my dashboard with and people with whom to chat about our language studies and to help each other keep motivated 😊

  • My toxic European trait is thinking I can understand writing in any language if I just focus hard enough

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    Euroviisut anto mul just koko vuoden edest suolaa.

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    Fuck everyone

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    Eurovision Song Contest 2023 countdown: 41 days left!

    Cha Cha Cha - Käärijä, Finland 🇫🇮 [x]

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    May 2023: My Plan for the 1940s

    (You can read more about the Reading Through the Decades reading challenge on my post introducing the challenge. Basically, it’s a year-long reading challenge where we read books - and explore other media - from the 1900s to the 2020s, decade-by-decade.)

    Here’s a list of the things I’ve got my eye on for this month:

    📖 Gone to Soldiers (1987), Marge Piercy
    🎬 Coming Out Under Fire (1994), dir. Arthur Dong
    📺 Transatlantic (2023), created by Anna Winger & Daniel Hendler
    📺 The Plot Against America (2020), created by David Simon & Ed Burns
    📖 The Last Days of New Paris (2016), China Miéville
    🎬 明月幾時有 (2017; Our Time Will Come), dir. Ann Hui
    🎬 无名 (2023; Hidden Blade), dir. Cheng Er
    📺 The Forgotten Army – Azaadi Ke Liye (2020), created by Kabir Khan
    📺 A League of Their Own (2022-), created by Will Graham & Abbi Jacobson
    🎬 El laberinto del fauno (2006; Pan’s Labyrinth), dir. Guillermo del Toro
    🎬 Dom över död man (2012; The Last Sentence), dir. Jan Troell
    🎬 Mijn beste vriendin Anne Frank (2022; My Best Friend Anne Frank), dir. Ben Sombogaart
    📖 Kätilö (2011; The Midwife), Katja Kettu
    🎬 Kätilö (2015; Wildeye), dir. Antti J. Jokinen
    📖 Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Kurt Vonnegut
    🎬 Дылда (2019; Beanpole), dir. Kantemir Balagov
    🎬 Oma maa (2018; Land of Hope), dir. Markku Pölönen
    📺 Vår tid är nu (2017-2020, Our Time Is Now / The Restaurant)
    🎬 Große Freiheit (2021; Great Freedom), dir. Sebastian Meise
    📖 Dialektik der Aufklärung (1947; Dialectic of Enlightenment), Max Horkheimer & Theodor W. Adorno
    📖 Le Deuxième sexe (1949; The Second Sex), Simone de Beauvoir

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    May 2023: 1940s

    (You can read more about the Reading Through the Decades reading challenge on my post introducing the challenge. Basically, it’s a year-long reading challenge where we read books - and explore other media - from the 1900s to the 2020s, decade-by-decade.)

    My Recommendations for May

    🎬 Lupaus (2005; Promise), dir. Ilkka Vanne
    📺 World on Fire (2019-), created by Peter Bowker
    🎬 Summerland (2020), dir. Jessica Swale
    📖 Tuntematon sotilas (1954; Unknown Soldiers), Väinö Linna
    📖 The Night Watch (2006), Sarah Waters
    🎬 The Night Watch (2011), dir. Richard Laxton
    🎬 말모이 (2019; Mal-Mo-E: The Secret Mission), dir. Eom Yu-na
    🎬 A Call to Spy (2019), dir. Sarah Megan Thomas
    📺 Bomb Girls (2012-2013), created by Michael MacLennan & Adrienne Mitchell
    🎬 El fotógrafo de Mauthausen (2018; The Photographer of Mauthausen), dir. Mar Targarona
    🎬 It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), dir. Frank Capra
    📺 Hollywood (2020), created by Ryan Murphy & Ian Brennan

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    April 2023 Wrap-up: 1930s

    (You can read more about the challenge on my post introducing the challenge. Basically, Reading Through the Decades is a year-long reading challenge where we read books - and explore other media - from the 1900s to the 2020s, decade-by-decade.)

    Another month gone by! I really appreciated going through the 1930s, learning so much. The more I read and learn about the 30s, the more I keep drawing (worrying) parallels to it and the present day. (idk i’m just feeling pessimistic and shitty bc we’re going to have a more right-wing government in Finland than we have had since the 1930s and we’re seriously gonna be so fucked 🙃)

    Anyway.

    What I Enjoyed This Month

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    📖 Lumikadun kertoja (2017; “The Storyteller of Snow Street”), Katja Kaukonen
    -> Lumikadun kertoja is a novel taking place from 1937 to 1942 in Poland. Bajek, the eponymous story-teller, arrives in a small Polish city, where he has been sent on a mission to observe and record the upcoming events (i.e. Nazi-Germany invading and occupying Poland). He is under strict orders not to get involved in things, but this soon proves to be difficult as he finds himself surrounded by the lively community living in Snow Street.
    -> This novel has a very intriguing premise since it’s made apparent in the beginning that Bajek is no ordinary man, but instead seems to be some kind of an angel. This novel made me think a lot about the choices we make, especially in difficult situations, and to question passive observation in politically effed up situations. 

    📖 It Can’t Happen Here (1935), Sinclair Lewis
    –> This is a novel originally written and published in the 1930s as fascism was taking over all around, particularly in Europe, and the book also gained a sudden upsurge in popularity in the 2010s when Donald Trump became president of the US. The novel is a cautionary tale about the fragility of democracy and an alarming look at how fascism could take hold in the US. It juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a fear-mongering, anti-immigrant president who promises to make America proud and prosperous once more.
    –> This novel is very much of its own time yet it also gives so much to today’s reader. The back cover of my edition describes it as “a cautionary tale of liberal complacency,” which is a very apt description.

    🎬 Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl (2019; When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit), dir. Caroline Link
    -> A Jewish family has to flee from 1933 Berlin, navigating unfamiliar lands and coping with the challenges of being refugees. The story tackles prejudice, exile, displacement, and adaptation, as told from the perspective of a nine-year-old child.
    -> This was a very touching film about being a refugee, based on a book about the author’s real-life experience.

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    🎬 Cradle Will Rock (1999), dir. Tom Robbins
    -> This historical drama film fictionalises the true events that surrounded the development of the 1937 musical The Cradle Will Rock by Marc Blitzstein. It’s a social commentary on the role of art and power in the 1930s, particularly amidst the struggles of the labour movement at the time.
    -> I love love love stories about people making subversive art and taking a stand. Labour activism and socialism is my jam, and this is also a fun ensemble movie.

    📖 Huhtikuu (1932; “April”), Saima Harmaja
    -> This is a poetry collection by the young Finnish female poet Saima Harmaja, who died of tuberculosis at only 22 years of age. The poems are about world-weariness, the frenzy of youth, illness, loneliness, love, nature, and death.
    -> This was an impulse-loan from the library, and I’m so glad I stumbled upon it! Harmaja’s poems are so very touching and lovely. I particularly adore the poem “Syysilta” (”Autumn Evening”), which is a pretty, nostalgia-tinged poem about regretting not having kissed someone in the past.

    🎬 The Group (1966), dir. Sidney Lumet
    -> Based on a novel of the same name by Mary McCarthy, this movie is about the lives of a group of eight female graduates from Vassar from 1933 to 1940. It is a social satire that touches upon controversial topics such as free love, contraception, abortion, lesbianism, and mental illness.
    -> I really want to read the book now! This film was super interesting; although I found the group of upper-class women endlessly snooty and a bit boring, but the topics addressed are nevertheless fascinating. And it’s always fun to find older movies that centre women!

  • Non-Anglo Movies You Should Watch 17/∞Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl (2019; When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit), dir. Caroline Link

    • Country: Germany, Switzerland
    • Language: German, Swiss German, French
    • Genre: Biographical Drama
    • Summary: A Jewish family has to flee from 1933 Berlin, navigating unfamiliar lands and coping with the challenges of being refugees. The story tackles prejudice, exile, displacement, and adaptation, as told from the perspective of a nine-year-old child.
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    April 2023: My Plan for the 1930s

    Here’s to hoping I have more time for reading this month! 🤞

    (You can read more about the Reading Through the Decades reading challenge on my post introducing the challenge. Basically, it’s a year-long reading challenge where we read books - and explore other media - from the 1900s to the 2020s, decade-by-decade.)

    Here’s a list of the things I’ve got my eye on for this month:

    📖 Quaderni del carcere (1929-35; Prison Notebooks), Antonio Gramsci
    📖 Die Schlafwandler (1931-32; The Sleepwalkers), Hermann Broch
    🎬 危险关系 (2012; Dangerous Liaisons), dir. Hur Jin-ho
    📺 시카고 타자기 (2017; Chicago Typewriter)
    🎬 Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl (2019; When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit), dir. Caroline Link
    🎬 The Group (1966), dir. Sidney Lumet
    🎬 Murder on the Orient Express (2017), dir. Kenneth Branagh
    📖 It Can’t Happen Here (1935), Sinclair Lewis
    🎬 Cradle Will Rock (1999), dir. Tim Robbins
    🎬 Things to Come (1936), dir. William Cameron Menzies
    🎬 Incierta gloria (2017; Uncertain Glory), dir. Agustí Villaronga
    📺 凭栏一片风云起 (2022; Defying the Storm)
    📖 Lumikadun kertoja (2017; ”The Storyteller of Snow Street”), Katja Kaukonen
    🎬 La niña de tus ojos (1998; The Girl of Your Dreams), dir. Fernando Trueba
    🎬 ¡Ay, Carmela! (1990), dir. Carlos Saura
    📖 At Swim-Two-Birds (1939), Flann O’Brien
    🎬 Glorious 39 (2009), dir. Stephen Poliakoff

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    &. lilac theme by seyche