bitterunicornwisdom

[bitterunicornwisdom]

For the love of god if your native language is different from the majority language of the country you’re living in don’t raise your baby speaking the local language. Either have each parent speak to them in a different language or only speak your native language at home. The kid will be okay. Get your native language in their head. You may think you’re helping them in the long term giving them the local language but no. When they’re an adult they’ll wonder why you never taught them your language. They can and will learn the local language in school. They’ll be okay. Produce more bilingual children. They are good for society.

[bitterunicornwisdom]

[bitterunicornwisdom]

[bitterunicornwisdom]

i hate australian people they need a dumb fucking nickname for every single word. can’t even get in a car accident without some australian asshole coming up to you and saying “oh gotcha self in a carblammy there aintcha mate” kill yourself and go to hell

[bitterunicornwisdom]

I told my students they're allowed to be creative and don't have to be factual when writing about themselves in German because I keep getting questions like "what if I don't have roommates or what if I don't have hobbies" and I'm like guys just make something up! Have fun! I won't fact check you!

So now I am grading homework where a student is claiming to be from North Korea and his hobby is tax fraud

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trying to explain english to an italian

[bitterunicornwisdom]

tumblr: on languages

[bitterunicornwisdom]

[bitterunicornwisdom]

in guarani there's a standard greeting that literally translates to "are you happy" (ndevy'apa) and the natural reply is "i'm happy" (avy'a) and as americans learning the language we were so distressed like "but what if we're not happy....." and our teachers were like "that's so not the fucking point"

we kept trying to think of any other way to reply but our teachers kept trying to get it into our brains that it's an idiomatic greeting, it literally is not the time or place to traumadump, and as usamerican english speakers we are not some special exception for saying "what's up" with the reply being "not much" instead of "the ceiling"

but anyway while i was working in paraguay -- the country with the largest population of guarani speakers -- i got sent an article by some friends back home like "look! they're saying that paraguay is the happiest country in the world!"

and the methodology was "we went around and asked paraguayans if they're happy and recorded their responses" and i was like. oh. of course you did. and of course you got a 100% positive response rate.

[bitterunicornwisdom]

When I was taught Japanese, I was taught a lot of weird things about the word "no" that were very culturally different than in my culture (dirty low-context culture American).

They'd say, "No is too forceful. Instead of saying いいえ (no) say それはちょっと。。。 (that's a little.../that's... well...). The listener will understand that you're politely indicating a No and will drop the subject and possibly apologize for making the request, since it was their fault for not reading the signs that you may not be interested in what they're offering."

One of my female Japanese friends would tell me that during sex when the woman says No, that "いいえってはい" AKA "no means yes". Which is fucked up to Americans, but for Japanese women, wanting or liking sex is considered unbecoming and slutty. So they say "イヤ!" or "ヤ!" or "ヤダ!" or "ダメ!" (informal no, no, don't wanna, and it's wrong) during sex as a way of saving face. OBVIOUSLY this isn't great, it perpetuates rape culture in Japan, but it's something I HAD to get over when I would get with with Japanese women while I lived there. I'm a lesbian! We were having lesbian sex, and they would still say it.

The Japanese language and culture has rules for stuff like this that they teach from a very young age directly and indirectly. I was a teacher in Japan for five years, I would see kids get in big trouble for not reading the room and not following all these rules. I would get in trouble on occasion for not reading the room, even though I didn't speak Japanese fluently and I had no idea what was going on.

Example: I got stuck in an after-hours all teachers meeting. After an hour and a half (mind you, it was like 7:30PM and my contract only required me to be there till 4:30PM), I quietly excused myself. I bowed my head, bowed apologetically to everyone I pass in silence, hunched over in shame, silently opened the door and closed it while bowing profusely. APPARENTLY, one of our students had DIED OF CANCER and I had left while the teachers were discussing how to approach the rest of the students with the news and how to honor boy and his family at graduation. Some of the teachers complained about how disrespectful I was. More teachers thought it was reasonable that I left, but there was still grumbling from the more traditional teachers.

So I imagine Toshiro growing up, the oldest son of a warlord, having to follow all these rules, bending over backwards his entire life trying not to bother anyone. And in bounds Laios, not a single fuck given about any of that, completely steamrolling Toshiro constantly. Watching their fight gave me flashbacks to all the times I had to consciously avoid "ruining the harmony" in Japan when I really wanted to say or do something. I felt like I couldn't be authentic and honest and up-front.

Example: Standing in the back of the classroom, looking out the window at the butterflies in the goya flowers, trying to ignore the POS newbie teacher yelling at his homeroom 10% because they were goofing off a little, but 90% because he hadn't had a cigarette break in 4 hours. I couldn't say anything, I couldn't bring attention to myself, I couldn't leave, I just needed to pretend to not exist. Otherwise I'd undermine his authority. I wanted to ring that teacher's skinny little neck and tell him to leave the poor 14 year olds alone. They were having fun during English class!! That's a good thing!!

Another Eample: Seeing a salaryman on the train hit his subordinate multiple times for fucking something up earlier in front of a client. The train wasn't empty, everyone just looked at their phones and ignored the commotion. My friends and I whispered to one another in English if we should help the guy, or if that would make it worse. I wanted to tell the guy to fuck off and leave the man alone.

When I came back to America after living in Japan for 5 years, it took me a while to stop trying to read the room to gauge how to talk and act. Americans don't want you to act like that to the degree that Japanese people want you to, it's more of a pain in the ass to them because you should just be able to tell people what you want or need. Making yourself as small as possible just to avoid possibly rocking the boat isn't an ideal trait here.

Toshiro and Laios' fight really hit me with both context systems I had to navigate while living in Japan. Navigating the differences between their communication styles doesn't have a right or wrong side. I was actually impressed that someone like Toshiro was able to be honest, and was glad Laios' finally learned what Toshiro really thought of him (even if it initially hurt his feelings). At least they're on the same page now.

Anyways, uhhhh, yeah. The mangaka is Japanese. The fact that she's aware of both sides is great, and I love seeing a popular manga/anime outright address it from both sides.

My stance on Shuro discourse

[bitterunicornwisdom]

"if you don't use ne sometimes you sound too sure of yourself, which comes off as cocky and too self-assured" was how my Japanese professor explained it lol

the japanese “-ne?” particle and the british slang term “innit” serve the same function

[bitterunicornwisdom]

[bitterunicornwisdom]

[bitterunicornwisdom]

Learning languages is SO FUN right up until you need to learn conjugation and then suddenly it turns sour real fucking fast

[bitterunicornwisdom]

So much translation discourse just boils down to monolinguals not understanding that "coolness" doesn't translate across languages, and you need to re-add it manually on the other end.