bones-in-my-computer

[bones-in-my-computer]

my best tip for anyone trying to get back into reading is to remember that you can read books to avoid other responsibilities in ur life and it can become a vice if you play your cards right

[bones-in-my-computer]

The issue at hand here isn't that death is a "temporary state," but that that's not a perfectly accurate description of the difference, just a simple rule of thumb. A somewhat better rule of thumb is the acronyms "DOCTOR" and "PLACE," as shown in this graphic:

As you can see here, the categories for when to use ser and when to use estar generally follow the permanent / temporary dichotomy: the DOCTOR traits describe something that is more or less static; the PLACE traits describe something that has a more transitory nature (note: I think the word transitory is better than temporary for this).

Based on this, while death isn't really a temporary state, it is a condition, just like happy, or sick, or queazy would be. Thus, you would use estar.

I would still like to note that this DOCTOR/PLACE schema is still a rule of thumb, just much better one than what the owl offered. As always there are still edge cases that might come up, but in reality this difference is just something you kind of figure out as you get better at the language. Good luck!

Dear Spanish speaking people of the Tumblers; please explain to me why I would use a “temporary state” verb for being dead? 👀

That’s pretty much not temporary as far as I know? Unless it’s like you can be revived and thus it could be temporary??

[bones-in-my-computer]

You probably don't get this enough, but I just want to say thank you for putting these stories out into the world! I've been reading since the beginning of Soulmage, and absolutely love how you tie disparate writing prompts together to build a cohesive story. It's always a great day when I see a new one come across my feed! The way you write your characters and world really makes it feel three dimensional, like there's so much more going on in the background that just isn't the focus of the story. Even as short a detail as "so we took the trebuchets instead" just adds an extra layer showing that there's more going on. <3

p.s. it's pretty cool seeing your art too. the fact that you're posting it even though you're not great at it (yet) is very nice to see; getting a closer look into how you see your characters/ setting is a fantastic thing for me to see as a reader.

on one hand I want canonically trans/non-binary characters in my sci-fi/fantasy/historical fiction

on the other hand nothing is more awkward and immersion-breaking than reading a story set on a different world or in a different time period in which the characters talk about being trans in an incredibly specific, modern, politically correct way

[bones-in-my-computer]

Learning a new language really does make you aware of how many fucking words there are. Waaaaaay too many things in this world that need their own special little word. Grow up.

[bones-in-my-computer]

Estic intentant aprendre català ara, així que per això, no

però per la resta, sí

let's play everyone's favorite game:

✨is my spanish worse than i thought or is that portugese✨

[bones-in-my-computer]

occasionally i encounter posts about people using like. language learning apps and figuring out their reading level and it's like okay yeah that probably is easier than going on internet archive sorting by language picking an article and/or textbook that seems interesting and then pausing every two seconds to look up words but i've chosen the hard road and i'm sticking with it 👍

[bones-in-my-computer]

I have added English subtitles to this video posted by Helena Sotoca on Instagram. She's from Madrid (Spain) but has been living in Catalonia for 7 years. As she explained in another video, she didn't learn any Catalan the first 3 years she lived here, but then realised how she was imposing Spanish on her group of Catalan friends and how important it was for her friends to keep their language, so she learned it. She is very happy about this decision which has allowed her to integrate more in Catalan society and culture.

In this video, she gives her personal opinion on why languages are not only "a way to understand each other". This sentence is something that we speakers of discriminated languages have to hear all the time (in fact, I was reminded of this video a few days ago because @beautiful-basque-country got that comment). Many times, they'll say: "why are you so annoying about wanting to be able to speak your language? A language is only a tool to understand each other, so if you speak both [the local language and the imperial language], why not just always speak [the imperial language]?".

This mindset is what leads to language extermination. First of all, because it assumes that our languages are less worthy of existence and thus that the language's community is less worthy of existence. If I stop speaking my language, I stop being a part of me. If all my culture stops speaking our language, we stop existing. Language is deeply tied to culture, it's through language that we think and transmit our worldview, and there are many aspects of our culture and our landscape that we can only describe in our language, because only we have the specific words to describe it or because the translation loses nuance, context, and connotations. Remove language, and the rest of the culture will soon follow.

Secondly, it erases the reason why we speak the state's language, which is usually because of imposition through violence, and justifies this imposition because the imperial violence of the past that made the imperial language more widely spoken is now the reason why speakers of the imperial language deserve more rights than those who suffered the imposition.

But besides these more social reasons, I like how Helena explains her personal relation to the language in this video. She also shows us one of the reasons why it's so important to promote discriminated languages to be used in public (and not only hidden at home): when you meet someone speaking a language, you form a bond with them in that language and it can be difficult to change. Speakers of minoritized languages often meet each other in contexts in which they're socially pressured to speak the state's language, and so we find the situation where a group of friends who are all native speakers of the minoritized language will form a bond in the state's language. Thus, slowly, because of the state's language imposition in the public sphere (this is what the "speak the state language if there's even 1 person who might not speak the local language! Languages are only a tool for communication!" mindset pushes us to), the local language gets pushed aside more and more, until we can't have a normal life in it and the state's language imposition becomes absolute, and the local language dies, taking with it its culture, history, and connection to the land and ancestors.

With some work, it can be reversed. I've explained this before but I'll say it again because it's relevant. My parents met in Spanish, because they met in high school and back then speaking Catalan in schools was strictly forbidden and punished. They were speaking in Spanish even when they started dating, but they realised how absurd it was that two native Catalan speakers spoke Spanish to each other and how it was a result of Francoist policy. They decided they don't want Francoism to infiltrate our personal lives, so they made the effort and switched. Maintaining the language of their surroundings, their culture, their land, they became even closer. And, thanks to their decision, when I was born I had the luck of being a native speaker of the language too, because it's what we've always spoken at home. But they did it because they had a political antifascist conscience, many people don't think much about it and just go with what is easier. If they had done that, the language would have lost them and also me. Multiply this for how many people meet each other in settings where social pressure or social rules promote speaking the imperial language instead of the local one that is closer to their hearts.

So no, a language is not only a tool to understand each other. It's also what allows us to speak according to our own understanding of the world (instead of assimilating into another's worldview), it gives meaning to our surroundings (both nature, the names we give to places, etc), every word is an unbroken chain with all of those who came before us, it allows us to understand our ancestors whether that be through their writing or songs they passed down or legends, it's an integral part of the human relations we establish, and so much more. Every language is worth everything. Every language has the right to exist and to thrive.

[bones-in-my-computer]

I think I've just given myself permission to consider myself fluent in spanish. I've been at that point for a while now where I know enough to just be able to read books in the language and have conversations with people (once I get past the anxiety of starting them), but I'm also aware of how much I don't know, so I've been hesitant to tell people that I am fluent.

However. I was just writing an essay. For a class. In English. My first language. And I had not one but two Spanish Events. The first one I went to use a word and decided to look it up to make sure I was using it right. And when I look it up, it's not even an english word. (bad event as a productive student. good event as a language learner) And the second event was even more blatant. I was writing a sentence and the word I wanted was just obviously a spanish verb. That I then typed into google to get the best english synonym for the context.

Y'all, I think I'm doing it.

[bones-in-my-computer]

Unas correcciones:

He estado un rato ya que el vez pasado que escribí aquí. Lo siento. Me dije a mí misma Decía a yo misma “necesito practicar escribiendo y pensando en español” pero seguía olvidando....

En este caso, «decir» es reflexivo, así que necesitas usar «decirse.» También, «yo» es un pronombre de sujeto, mientras «mí» es lo de objeto, cual es lo que necesitas aquí.

En la semana después de la próxima, me voy de vacaciones estoy yendo a la vacación con mis amigas para una semana.

Primero, «vacaciones» casi siempre es en plural. Además, «irse de vacaciones» es una frase común. «Despúes» toma la preposition «de.»

Vamos a ver los sitios con muchas historias y vamos a comer muchas comidas deliciosas. No sé cómo vamos a llegar al hotel desde el aeropuerto. Veremos si vamos a ordenar pedimos un taxi o vamos a llegamos en por el transporte público como un autobús o un tren.

Veo que justo has aprendido el futuro, pero no puedo usar «ir a» todo el tiempo, jajaja. En el caso de «comer» no necesitas el futuro porque está usando una oración compuesta; el «vamos a» en el comienzo de la frase aplica al verbo segundo también. Además del hecho que «ordenar» es el verbo incorrecto aquí, debes usar el futuro verdadero aquí. No sé exactamente qué quería decir, pero añadí la palabra «veremos» al principio de la oración final porque no fue una frase completa.

Después de esta vacación tal vez voy a ir a un otro país pero quiero trabajar mientras estoy allí. No tengo bastante días de vacaciones desde mi trabajo que puedo tomar tocar. ¡Todavía es Lo está temprano en el año! Y quiero ahorrar muchos días para las meses tardes.

Usa siempre «ser» cuando hablando de tiempo. Quizá no está exactamente el qué quería decir, pero a mí parece que «todavía» queda bien aquí.

¡Espero que esto sea de ayuda!

He estado un rato ya que el vez pasado que escribí aquí. Lo siento. Decía a yo misma “necesito practicar escribiendo y pensando en español” pero seguía olvidando. Este semana aprendí sobre el imperfecto, cuando usar el imperfecto y los conjugaciones para los verbos regulares. Hay más razones para usar el imperfecto que recuerdo.

En la semana después la próxima, estoy yendo a la vacación con mis amigas para una semana. Vamos a ver los sitios con muchas historias y vamos a comer muchas comidas deliciosas. No sé cómo vamos a llegar al hotel desde el aeropuerto. Si vamos a ordenar un taxi o vamos a llegar por el transporte público como un autobús o un tren.

Después esta vacación tal vez voy a ir a un otro país pero quiero trabajar mientras estoy allí. No tengo bastante días de vacaciones desde mi trabajo que puedo tocar. ¡Lo está temprano en el año! Y quiero ahorrar muchos días para las meses tardes.

[bones-in-my-computer]

the groundhog reportedly saw "a blood red sun. in the foreground a massive wheel framing the sun in the sky. the wheel has ceased to turn". nobody is sure what this means but its probably fine

[bones-in-my-computer]

[bones-in-my-computer]

What's the difference between vamos and vamonos?

So this is going to depend on context; they're technically different

But vamos and vámonos are both understood as "let's go" as commands. I'll explain more below because they are technically different but I do want you to know that as commands you will see both

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vamos is the present tense nosotros conjugation for ir "to go"

In other words, it's "we go / we are going"

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And vámonos is the nosotros conjugation of irse "to go away" or "to leave" for the imperative mood [aka commands]

In other words this is "let's go" as a command

nosotros commands are usually understood as "let's" or "shall we"

And commands can exist as reflexive, usually adding a -nos at the end with some kind of accent mark

As a more clear-cut example, I'll use the verb poner "to put/set" vs. ponerse (la ropa) "to put on clothes":

Pongamos la mesa. = Let's set the table. [poner la mesa = to set the table] Pongámonos los zapatos. = Let's put on our shoes. [ponerse los zapatos "to put on (one's own) shoes]

...

Some verbs are normal and will show up as nosotros commands like ¿bailemos? "shall we dance?"

And some verbs show up as reflexive for different reasons, but another common example is concentrémonos "let's concentrate" or "let's focus" as concentrarse

Some other reflexive commands are reciprocal like ayudémonos mutuamente "let's help each other" [from ayudar "to help" plus a reflexive], or more religiously you might see amémonos (los unos a los otros) "let's love one another" [from amar "to love" plus reflexive]

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It is ir specifically that is weird here

First, the true form of irse as a nosotros command should be vayámonos but no one has time for that so it became vámonos

However, colloquially people use the present tense vamos as a command sometimes

Like vamos a la playa can colloquially be understood either as "we go to the beach", "we are going to the beach"....... or "let's go to the beach"

I typically see vámonos more as "let's leave" or "let's go", but vamos can also be used that way as like "hurry up let's go" and sometimes "come on"

[bones-in-my-computer]

This is called an indirect command. Here's a post that goes into some detail about it: https://www.tumblr.com/spanishskulduggery/759902019480862720/que-dios-la-ayude-what-is-going-on-here-why-is-it?source=share

Hope this helps!

Does anyone know what it's called (if it's called something) when "que" is used at the beginning of a sentence. For example: "Que tengas buen día".

I'm seeing it a lot but I can't seem to find any notes or guides on the structure.

[bones-in-my-computer]

I can't help with a recommendation for an easy book, but one thing that I did that worked when I was learning Spanish was finding a copy of a book in both English and Spanish. I picked a book I had already read before that I knew wasn't too hard a read.

I started by reading a paragraph in the Spanish then rereading in English to cover what I didn't understand. Over time doing it this way I started to rely on the English less and less until eventually I was able to put down the English version by book three in the series.

Also if you like ebooks and are fine sailing the high seas (especially if you already have a legitimately obtained English copy of said book), the following website might be of use.

Does anybody know of an easy Spanish book to read that's in the public domain? Google is unhelpful 🫠

[bones-in-my-computer]

You are a person who covers your counter space in clutter and inadvertently makes a shrine to a long forgotten god who shows up to thank you.

[bones-in-my-computer]

Sharing of Proof Between Friends

After spending over nearly eight hours of each day in a mathematics department for two years straight, I’m shocked that many high schoolers believe math is a solitary pursuit.

In reality, this community seems to be one of most welcoming and collaborative academic communities I’ve found. Let me share some moments:

“Hey! How’s it going?”

“Alright, been stuck on this interesting question my friend emailed me the other day… he said the first part of the proof is pretty easy, but I’ve been at it for 10 hours…”

“Never trust a mathematician who throws around the word ‘easy,’ c’mon let’s try it together at the board.”

Thirty minutes later, they had completed the proof, and sat back with wide smiles to admire their work. In truth, there was rarely a conversation that didn’t eventually turn to math in that department…

“Yeah, and I heard that the guy cheated with his best friend’s sister… wild right?”

“Yeah… not to interject, but I have this representation theory question… would you all be willing to take a look?”

The conversation took an immediate turn with collective enthusiasm. I have been lucky to have my own “collaborative math” moments since returning to my undergraduate studies, and do my best to share this part of “math culture” with younger students curious about the major.

“So that’s the proof that motivates our paper! It’s quite short, but there’s something about it I love.”

“Wait… but you’ve only done half, and this is a biconditional statement, let’s try it together.”

There was a reason my mentor never encouraged me to look at the other side of the proof… it was far more “ugly,” but tons of fun to piece together with a fiend. We looked back at our work after forty minutes with satisfaction before returning to our neglected problem sets…

And finally, I tried to assist a student with a calculus question using the “process of questioning” the research world had taught me:

“I need to find a closed-form equation for this geometric series… but I can’t seem to get the alteration sign?”

“Try writing out the first six terms, do you see anything that you could simplify? Look at the denominator specifically…”

“Well, they’re all multiples of three…”

“Try pulling that three out, any more similarities?”

“The numbers multiplying the threes are powers of two! But I still need that alternating sign…”

“Remind me, what happens when you raise a negative number to an odd/even power? Try it with (-1)^n”

“If it’s odd, the number stays negative, and positive if even… so if I add this to the denominator, the sign is alternating depending on the index n!”

“YES! This little (-1)^n trick comes up everywhere, it’s a nice ‘tool’ to hold on to if you decide to take more math.”

The exchange was wonderful… and motivated me to review the calculus I’d excitedly ran past when I was younger. I wish this type of discourse was taught more expansively.

[bones-in-my-computer]

Seconded. One time I just about gave one of my friends a panic attack because I used a blue scribble and a red scribble (I had colored pencils) as two different variables when trying to explain how something worked. What symbol you use for a variable *is* arbitrary, after all.

Okay one thing that we as math people should start doing, is to start using symbols from languages which are noy english or greek, into our proofs, because why can't i let ख = <something>, why does it always have to be x. Nope we shall start using more symbols,or rather any symbol that we want to, that already doesn't have a predefined meaning, for example ♤ or ☆.