#Intermediate In Language Meaning

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

Novice sewing pattern: Cut out shapes. Line up the little triangles on the edges. Stitch edges together. We've also included step-by-step assembly instructions with illustrations.

Novice knitting pattern: yOU MUSt uNDerstANd thE SECret cOdE CO67 (73, 87, 93) BO44 (63, 76, 90) 28 (32, 34) slip first pw repeat 7x K to end *kl (pl) 42 * until 13" (13, 13, 15) join new at 30 pl for 17 rows ssk 27 k2tog mattress lengthwise BO and sacrifice a goat to the knitting gods. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WANT "INSTRUCTIONS," I JUST GAVE THEM TO YOU

[derschleierfallt]

Lowkey…. i want to learn german

[what-even-is-thiss]

Free or Cheap Mandarin Chinese Learning Resources Because You Can't Let John Cena One Up You Again

I will update this list as I learn of any more useful ones. If you want general language learning resources check out this other post. This list is Mandarin specific. Find lists for other specific languages here.

For the purposes of this list "free" means something that is either totally free or has a useful free tier. "Cheap" is a subscription under $10USD a month, a software license or lifetime membership purchase under $100USD, or a book under $30USD. If you want to suggest a resource for this list please suggest ones in that price range that are of decent quality and not AI generated.

WEBSITES

Dong Chinese - A website with lessons, a pinyin guide, a dictionary, and various videos and practice tests. With a free account you're only allowed to do one lesson every 12 hours. To do as many lessons as quickly as you want it costs $10 a month or $80 a year.

Domino Chinese - A paid website with video based lessons from absolute beginner to college level. They claim they can get you ready to get a job in China. They offer a free trial and after that it's $5 a month or pay what you can if you want to support their company.

Chinese Education Center - This is an organization that gives information to students interested in studying abroad in China. They have free text based lessons for beginners on vocab, grammar, and handwriting.

Pleco Dictionary App - This is a very popular dictionary app on both iOS and Android. It has a basic dictionary available for free but other features can be purchased individually or in bundles. A full bundle that has what most people would want is about $30 but there are more expensive options with more features.

MIT OpenCourseWare Chinese 1 2 3 4 5 6 - These are actual archived online courses from MIT available for free. You will likely need to download them onto your computer.

Learn Chinese Web Application From Cambridge University - This is a free downloadable file with Mandarin lessons in a PC application. There's a different program for beginner and intermediate.

Learn Chinese Everyday - A free word a day website. Every day the website posts a different word with pronunciation, stroke order, and example sentences. There's also an archive of free downloadable worksheets related to previous words featured on the website.

Chinese Boost - A free website and blog with beginner lessons and articles about tips and various resources to try.

Chinese Forums - An old fashioned forum website for people learning Chinese to share resources and ask questions. It's still active as of when I'm making this list.

Du Chinese - A free website and an app with lessons and reading and listening practice with dual transcripts in both Chinese characters and pinyin. They also have an English language blog with tips, lessons, and information on Chinese culture.

YOUTUBE CHANNELS

Chinese For Us - A channel that provides free video lessons for beginners. The channel is mostly in English.

Herbin Mandarin - A channel with a variety of lessons for beginners. The channel hasn't uploaded in a while but there's a fairly large archive of lessons to watch. The channel is mainly in English.

Mandarin Blueprint - This channel is by a couple of guys who also run a paid website. However on their YouTube channel there's a lot of free videos with tips about how to go about learning Chinese, pronunciation and writing tips, and things of that nature. The channel is mainly in English.

Blabla Chinese - A comprehensible input channel with content about a variety of topics for beginner to intermediate. The video descriptions are in English but the videos themselves are all in Mandarin.

Lazy Chinese - A channel aimed at intermediate learners with videos on general topics, grammar, and culture. They also have a podcast. The channel has English descriptions but the videos are all in Mandarin.

Easy Mandarin - A channel associated with the easy languages network that interviews people on the street in Taiwan about everyday topics. The channel has on screen subtitles in traditional characters, pinyin, and English.

StickynoteChinese - A relatively new channel but it already has a decent amount of videos. Jun makes videos about culture and personal vlogs in Mandarin. The channel is aimed at learners from beginner to upper intermediate.

Story Learning Chinese With Annie - A comprehensible input channel almost entirely in Mandarin. The host teaches through stories and also makes videos about useful vocabulary words and cultural topics. It appears to be aimed at beginner to intermediate learners.

LinguaFlow Chinese - Another relatively new channel but they seem to be making new videos regularly. The channel is aimed at beginner to intermediate learners and teaches and provides listening practice with video games. The channel is mostly in Mandarin.

Lala Chinese - A channel with tips on grammar and pronunciation with the occasional vlog for listening practice, aimed at upper beginner to upper intermediate learners. Some videos are all in Mandarin while others use a mix of English and Mandarin. Most videos have dual language subtitles onscreen.

Grace Mandarin Chinese - A channel with general information on the nitty gritty of grammar, pronunciation, common mistakes, slang, and useful phrases for different levels of learners. Most videos are in English but some videos are fully in Mandarin.

READING PRACTICE

HSK Reading - A free website with articles sorted into beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Every article has comprehension questions. You can also mouse over individual characters and see the pinyin and possible translations. The website is in a mix of English and Mandarin.

chinesegradedreader.com - A free website with free short readings up to HSK level 3 or upper intermediate. Each article has an explaination at the beginning of key vocabulary words in English and you can mouse over individual characters to get translations.

Mandarin Companion - This company sells books that are translated and simplified versions of classic novels as well as a few originals for absolute beginners. They are available in both traditional and simplified Chinese. Their levels don't appear to be aligned with any HSK curriculum but even their most advanced books don't have more than 500 individual characters according to them so they're likely mostly for beginners to advanced beginners. New paperbacks seem to usually be $14 but cheaper used copies, digital copies, and audiobooks are also available. The website is in English.

Graded Chinese Readers - Not to be confused with chinese graded reader, this is a website with information on different graded readers by different authors and different companies. The website tells you what the book is about, what level it's for, whether or not it uses traditional or simplified characters, and gives you a link to where you can buy it on amazon. They seem to have links to books all the way from HSK 1 or beginner to HSK 6 or college level. A lot of the books seem to be under $10 but as they're all from different companies your mileage and availability may vary. The website is in English.

Mandarin Bean - A website with free articles about Chinese culture and different short stories. Articles are sorted by HSK level from 1 to 6. The website also lets you switch between traditional or simplified characters and turn the pinyin on or off. It also lets you mouse over characters to get a translation. They have a relatively expensive paid tier that gives you access to video lessons and HSK practice tests and lesson notes but all articles and basic features on the site are available on the free tier without an account. The website is in a mix of Mandarin and English.

Mandarin Daily News - This is a daily newspaper from Taiwan made for children so the articles are simpler, have illustrations and pictures, and use easier characters. As it's for native speaker kids in Taiwan, the site is completely in traditional Chinese.

New Tong Wen Tang for Chrome or Firefox - This is a free browser extension that can convert traditional characters to simplified characters or vice versa without a need to copy and paste things into a separate website.

PODCASTS

Melnyks Chinese - A podcast for more traditional audio Mandarin Chinese lessons for English speakers. The link I gave is to their website but they're also available on most podcatcher apps.

Chinese Track - Another podcast aimed at learning Mandarin but this one goes a bit higher into lower intermediate levels.

Dimsum Mandarin - An older podcast archive of 30 episodes of dialogues aimed at beginner to upper beginner learners.

Dashu Mandarin - A podcast run by three Chinese teachers aimed at intermediate learners that discusses culture topics and gives tips for Mandarin learners. There are also male teachers on the podcast which I'm told is relatively rare for Mandarin material aimed at learners and could help if you're struggling to understand more masculine speaking patterns.

Learning Chinese Through Stories - A storytelling podcast mostly aimed at intermediate learners but they do have some episodes aimed at beginner or advanced learners. They have various paid tiers for extra episodes and learning material on their patreon but there's still a large amount of episodes available for free.

Haike Mandarin - A conversational podcast in Taiwanese Mandarin for intermediate learners. Every episode discusses a different everyday topic. The episode descriptions and titles are entirely in traditional Chinese characters. The hosts provide free transcripts and other materials related to the episodes on their blog.

Learn Chinese With Ju - A vocabulary building podcast aimed at intermediate learners. The podcast episodes are short at around 4-6 minutes and the host speaks about a variety of topics in a mix of English and Mandarin.

xiaoyuzhou fm - An iOS app for native speakers to listen to podcasts. I’m told it has a number of interactive features. If you have an android device you’ll likely have to do some finagling with third party apps to get this one working. As this app is for native speakers, the app is entirely in simplified Chinese.

Apple Podcast directories for Taiwan and China - Podcast pages directed towards users in those countries/regions.

SELF STUDY TEXTBOOKS AND DICTIONARIES

Learning Chinese Characters - This series is sorted by HSK levels and each volume in the series is around $11. Used and digital copies can also be found for cheaper.

HSK Standard Course Textbooks - These are textbooks designed around official Chinese government affiliated HSK tests including all of the simplified characters, grammar, vocab, and cultural knowledge necessary to pass each test. There are six books in total and the books prices range wildly depending on the level and the seller, going for as cheap as $14 to as expensive as $60 though as these are pretty common textbooks, used copies and cheaper online shops can be found with a little digging. The one I have linked to here is the HSK 1 textbook. Some textbook sellers will also bundle them with a workbook, some will not.

Chinese Made Easy for Kids - Although this series is aimed at children, I'm told that it's also very useful for adult beginners. There's a large number of textbooks and workbooks at various levels. The site I linked to is aimed at people placing orders in Hong Kong but the individual pages also have links to various other websites you can buy them from in other countries. The books range from $20-$35 but I include them because some of them are cheaper and they seem really easy to find used copies of.

Reading and Writing Chinese - This book contains guides on all 2300 characters in the HSK texts as of 2013. Although it is slightly outdated, it's still useful for self study and is usually less than $20 new. Used copies are also easy to find.

Basic Chinese by Mcgraw Hill - This book also fuctions as a workbook so good quality used copies can be difficult to find. The book is usually $20 but it also often goes on sale on Amazon and they also sell a cheaper digital copy.

Chinese Grammar: A beginner's guide to basic structures - This book goes over beginner level grammar concepts and can usually be found for less than $20 in print or as low as $2 for a digital copy.

Collins Mandarin Chinese Visual Dictionary - A bilingual English/Mandarin visual dictionary that comes with a link to online audio files. A new copy goes for about $14 but used and digital versions are available.

Merriam-Webster's Chinese to English Dictionary - In general Merriam Websters usually has the cheapest decent quality multilingual dictionaries out there, including for Mandarin Chinese. New editions usually go for around $8 each while older editions are usually even cheaper.

(at the end of the list here I will say I had a difficult time finding tv series specifically made for learners of Mandarin Chinese so if you know of any that are made for teenage or adult learners or are kids shows that would be interesting to adults and are free to watch without a subscription please let me know and I will add them to the list. There's a lot of Mandarin language TV that's easy to find but what I'm specifically interested in for these lists are free to watch series made for learners and/or easy to understand kids shows originally made in the target language that are free and easy to access worldwide)

[shadowmor]

Mc is not fluent in Japanese

Idea/summary:The MC/reader is foreign and knows just enough Japanese to express basic ideas (almost A2 level).

-> Vagastrom & Frostheim house

Part 2

✋️ obviously, this is not canon. Just a scenario idea

Kamurai Jin

Likely knows the most common or widely spoken languages (English, Spanish, French, or Mandarin).

If you speak English, communication will be easier.

I imagine he would correct you if you spoke or wrote something incorrectly — not in a bad intention, more to help you, even if his advice might come off a bit rough.

If he doesn’t know your language, he’ll probably study at least the basics (like greetings and essential vocabulary).

He wouldn’t tell you directly that he’s studying it; instead, he’d casually drop a greeting or word in your language during a random moment, leaving you confused and surprised (which he will enjoy).

He’d notice from your pronunciation and limited vocabulary after a few minutes that you weren’t raised in Japan.

He’d search how to say “servant” in your language and start calling you by that lol

Tohma Ishibashi

Like Jin, he’s likely fluent or knowledgeable in widely spoken languages.

It’s very possible he already knows how to speak or at least understand yours.

If he doesn’t, he might take some time in his free moments to learn basic vocabulary if he deems it necessary.

He’d give you advice on pronunciation or correct your mistakes like a teacher —elegantly, without making you feel stupid. (At least, you do not feel like it even with his tone) But he wouldn’t constantly correct you in every conversation.

"I think you meant to say *blah blah*, Mc.”

“Oh, right. Thanks, Tohma.”

"^^"

I imagine he’d be one of the firsts to get your name’s pronunciation right after hearing it only once.

He’d know from your first conversation that you’re not from Japan.

Lucas Errant

He wouldn’t realize you’re foreign unless you told him. At most, he’d think your way of speaking is peculiar

He’d probably get confused if you made an obvious mistake in Japanese. Did he study wrong? Or is this an informal or casual way of speaking?

He’d be happy to find out you’re also foreign! Same situation! Foreign buddies? Maybe you two should schedule study sessions together (You two will)

Being polite and kind boy that he is, he’d definitely learn your language alongside Japanese, from basic greetings to intermediate topics.

He’d ask if he’s pronouncing your name correctly (and would probably be disappointed if you suggested a nickname to make it easier for him)

If you speak English, it would make things easier for both of you, but he’d still practice other languages with you (Japanese and yours, if it's different)

He’d probably greet you in your language every time he sees you.

Kaito Fuji

He wouldn’t realize you’re foreign at first (since you wore a veil and spoke very little —he assumed you were shy).

He’d only find out when you apologized for mispronouncing something and mentioned you’re still learning. Wait, what? You’re learning? That means... you’re not from here, right?

He’d sign up for a (possibly free) course in your language and definitely let YOU KNOW ABOUT IT! (because his surprise attempt failed)

Kaito doesn’t seem like someone who knows other languages, maybe just the basics of a few(?). If he doesn’t know, you’d definitely trigger his interest in studying one.

You’d help him with your language, and he’d help you with Japanese. Another study date! And another excuse to talk to you!! Great!

He’d try a different greeting in your language every time he sees you

He’d download an app like Duolingo and keep asking if his pronunciation is correct

He’d mispronounce your name several times, but somehow learn it quickly after that

The first thing he’d write in your language would be your name

He’d be very patient with your mistakes

“It’s fine, Honor Student! Even I don’t know how to write that. I got a D in grammar class last week.”

___________________________________________

Leo Kurosaki

It would only take him a few minutes to figure it out (at first, he’d just think you’re weird or dumb), but some pronunciation errors would help him connect the dots.

Yes, he’d make you feel like the dumbest person alive if you made a mistake.

You’re now an easy target for his intern jokes.

He’d correct you in the most blunt way possible. “You don’t even know this? How the hell do you come to another country without knowing something as basic as this?”

He’d learn a bit of your language just to annoy you or say “my love” to post on his socials (with a picture of you).

He knows how to pronounce your name but would deliberately mess it up or give you a derogatory nickname to tease you.

However, you’d know he studied at least a little when, during a mission, Alan said something that confused you, and Leo used a synonym in your language to clarify.

Besides, Google Translate exists (not that he’d bother to use it to talk to you)

Sho Haizono

He’d notice after a few interactions.

He wouldn’t exactly correct grammar errors, but he might address specific word misuses. For example, he’d correct how you used a specific word.

But wouldn’t harp on every mistake — and if he does, only in private (probably in a tease tone)

He’d know the basics of greetings.

If there’s a term similar to “senpai” in your language, he’d use it.

Oddly, I imagine him asking to you how to say an ingredient he’s using.

If he saw you eating something from another place, he’d look up how to say “traitor”/"cheater" in your language. When you came near his foodtruck, he’d jokingly ask what a “traitor” wanted there —or write “No traitors allowed” in your language to make sure you know it was directed at you. (He’s just joking... I hope.)

If he found a recipe online in your language, he’d ask you to translate it for him (he doesn’t trust Google Translate — one mistake can mess up all the flavor)

Todoroki/Alan Mido

He wouldn’t know until you told him or heard it from Leo. He’d just assume you’re not good with words.

He’d rarely correct you — if he understands, there’s no need. If not, he’d ask you to repeat or gesture.

He’d directly ask you how to say greetings or phrases in your language (he wouldn’t know how to sign up for a course or use a language app)

It wouldn’t take long for him to pronounce your name correctly.

He wouldn’t mock your pronunciation—he’d find it kind of cute.

He’d probably see Leo using an app like Duolingo and try to figure out how to say things from listening to it.

He’d ask how to say his name in your language

- "Names don’t translate. Alan is still Alan.”

- “Oh... okay.”

[meichenxi]

The known-ish words of intermediate Chinese, or: What does it mean to know a word?

We all have this intuition, especially in languages like Chinese, that there are words we 'kind of know'. These are the known-ish words. In the case of Chinese, most people would recognise at least three axes:

1) Do I know the meaning? 2) Do I know the pronunciation? 3) Do I know how to handwrite it?

You might answer yes to some, but no to others. Voila! You know the word - ish.

And then you can also add the dimension of passive and active knowledge:

1) Do I recognise this word passively? 2) Can I use this word actively?

Great. Even more ways of kind of but not really knowing a word. But that's far from all. There's also the different domains of listening and reading, writing and speaking.

So passively, that looks like:

1) Do I know the meaning when listening? 2) Do I know the meaning when reading? 3) Do I know the pronunciation when reading?

Once we add in the active dimension, it all starts to get a bit more complicated. This is far from an exhaustive list, but consider the follows ways you could define 'knowing' a word:

1) I can read the word out loud (but I don't know what it means, and I can't use it in a sentence) 2) I know what the word means, and I can use it in a sentence (but I can't handwrite it) 3) I can use the word in a spoken sentence (but I don't know how to type it, or which character it uses) 4) I can recognise the word when reading (but don't know how to read it out loud, and can only guess at the meaning) 5) I can use the word in a written sentence (but not a spoken sentence) 6) I can type the word and recognise the word (but I don't know how to handwrite it) 7) …

Okay. What else?

Chinese is a compounding language.

Have you ever had the experience that you can't recognise a character individually, but as soon as you see it in a familiar compound, you know what it means? So:

1) I can recognise the word individually 2) I can recognise the word as part of a compound 3) I can recognise the word as part of an unfamiliar compound

Chinese is also a language with a long and storied tradition of writing in Classical Chinese as a literary language and a lingua franca across the whole of East Asia - even two hundred years ago, people were writing in Literary Chinese. 'Mandarin' as a concept did not exist.

So often the meanings of familiar characters can be quite different in formal language or chengyu in the modern language, which uses more classical / literary structures and grammar.

Take, for example, the character 次. The first layer of meaning in modern Chinese - the most foundational layer - is its meaning as time, like 'I have been to Ghana two times'.

But its second layer of meaning is secondary, or next best, or just next. For example:

1) 次货 - substandard goods 2) 次子 - second son 3) 次年 - next year

And so on. Many common words have this kind of polysemy.

So we can add another dimension:

1) I recognise this word's common meanings 2) I can use this word's common meanings 3) I recognise this word's less common meanings 4) I can use this word's less common meanings

Add in the reading and listening dimensions, and things get even messier. I am familiar enough with this basic secondary meaning of 次 to fairly quickly be able to understand that it means 'next' or 'second' rather than 'time' if I see it in a written unfamiliar compound or chengyu. But I am most definitely not quick enough to do that every single time whilst listening to the news, for example!

And what about pronunciation? Once you know a fair amount of Chinese characters, you can often guess the pronunciation of new or unfamiliar characters. How?

Because of phonetic components.

For example:

请

清

情

Notice how these all have the same component on the right? This tells us that these characters belong to the largest group of Chinese characters, phonetic-semantic characters. That is - some part of the character gives a clue to the meaning, and some part gives a clue to the pronunciation. In this case, we know they are all pronounced some variety of qing.

But it isn't always that easy. Some phonetic components tell you the tone and pronunciation - some tell you the pronunciation, but not the tone (like qing above). Some phonetic components, to go even further, are only really decipherable if you have a particular interest in phonology or historical linguistics, or learn the patterns. Consider:

脸 - lian3 (face)

险 - xian3 (dangerous)

验 - yan4 (test)

剑 - jian4 (sword)

签 - qian1 (to sign)

捡 - jian3 (to pick up)

There are far more. If you look down the whole list on Pleco, they all show a similar pattern of variation. You can see some patterns, but also numerous exceptions - most end in the -ian final, except for those that are yan of various tones. All begin with l, x, y, j, q. Most are pronounced jian3, but that is far from a rule.

All this to say - you can see a character, and know vaguely how it is pronounced. If I know that a character is pronounced qing definitely, 100%, but don't know the tone - does that mean I know the pronunciation? Or would you only say that knowing it 100% means knowing it? And in that case - how can you account for the fact that learning a character when you already know 90% of the pronunciation is significantly easier than not knowing it at all?

Let me add just a few more scenarios. Bear with me!

1) A character has more than one way to be pronounced. For this word, you read it incorrectly (but you usually know it). 2) A character has more than one tone. Some people pronounce it always with one tone, and some alternate between the two pronunciations. You only knew it with one - but you're half right? 3) You make the same mistake that a native speaker would make with tone or pronunciation of a rarer character.

In some way, these are all more knowing than not knowing anything at all.

And none of this is even taking into account different writing systems, traditional and simplified.

Here are some more scenarios:

I recognise the character in traditional (but not simplified)

I can type the character in both, but I can only hand-write in simplified

I know the Taiwanese pronunciation, but not the Chinese

etc

And of course Chinese characters are used across multiple different languages.

So you could conceivably have these kinds of situations:

I know the pronunciation and meaning in Cantonese and Mandarin

I know the pronunciation and meaning in Cantonese, and the meaning in Mandarin

I know the pronunciation and meaning in Mandarin and recognise it in Cantonese, but know it means something different

I know the pronunciation in Mandarin, but don't know what the whole word actually means in Mongolian (Chinese characters used to transliterate Mongolian words)

Plus there's handwriting and calligraphy!

Personally, I can't read a lot of calligraphy and have accepted my happy illiteracy in many styles. All Chinese learners and heritage speakers know the feeling of sitting in a Chinese restaurant or museum and having a well-meaning friend say, 'Oooo, what does that say?' It's depressing! So let's add some more nuances to our known-ish characters:

I can read this character in common fonts

I can read this character in less common fonts

I can read this character when handwritten

I can read this character when handwritten quickly / by a child / by a doctor

I can read this character in grass script / seal script / etc

Then there's the question of naturalness.

I frequently add words to my Anki decks that I would be able to understand, no question, if I were reading or listening - but I probably wouldn't have thought to say it in that way. So:

I recognise this word, and would have said it exactly like this

I recognise this word, but would never have thought to say it like this

I can use this word, but didn't know you could use it in such a metaphorical way

I can use this word in a metaphorical way, but didn't realise it corresponded so closely to English / was so different from English in its meaning

And finally there's the simple question of memory.

I know I've seen this word before, but I can't remember it right now and I want to drown myself pathetically in the vast uncaring sea

I know I used to be able to use this word actively, but now can only use it passively

I can still type it, but have forgotten how to handwrite it

I can still use it in writing, but I wouldn't be able to use it in speaking

I can recognise it in set expressions, but wouldn't remember how to use it on its own

I can remember the simplified character, but not the traditional

…

So how many ways do you know a word?

I often feel embarrassed to post my vocabulary lists, because I feel that people will be surprised that I don't 'know' certain more foundational words. I think they will be confused as to why I have very 'advanced' vocabulary alongside 'simple' vocabulary. I feel a lot of pressure to be 'advanced' because of the amount of followers I have, but there's a lot of more basic characters I still don't fully know in a holistic way.

And the truth is that all of those characters and words are in Anki for different reasons. I might have a vocab list that looks like this:

略

松懈

星光

缕缕

薄雾

博览

I don't know any of these words in exactly the same dimensions as I know the others! Let's look at my reasons for including each in detail.

略 - lve4 - slightly. I have this word here because although I know it well in set expressions like 略有耳闻 'have heard a little about'，略有受损 'has suffered slight losses' etc, I wouldn't remember the pronunciation if I saw it alone or with another verb apart from 有. I would still know the meaning - but I wouldn't remember how to pronounce it. So even though I 'know' this word, it's still there in Anki.

松懈 - song1xie4 - to relax, lax, slacken. This is a rare example of a totally 'new' word - most of my Anki words aren't. I know 松 already well, but have never seen the character 懈 before: I didn't know its meaning, or pronunciation.

星光 - xing1guang1 - starlight. I know both characters, pronunciation and meaning, and I can easily understand this word. I just never would have thought to say it so simply. I want to use it actively, so I put it in Anki.

缕缕 - lv3lv3 - fine and continuous (i.e. rain, drizzle). I know 缕 already on its own as a measure word for sunlight, thin hair, gossamer, mist, smoke, fine threads etc - I often forget its pronunciation, but I know its meaning reliably when reading. But together the compound 缕缕's meaning isn't quite extricable from just knowing 缕, so I put it in here.

薄雾 - bo2wu4 - mist, fog. I know 雾 well, but hadn't come across 薄 before (or wasn't sure if I had or not). This is an example where I knew its pronunciation, because of phonetic components, but I didn't know the meaning of the character.

博览 - bo2lan3 - to read widely. I know this word very well. So why is this in there? Literally just because I remembered the pronunciation and meaning of 博览, and when I was racking my brains trying to see if I knew the 薄 in 薄雾, I thought it might be the same character. I looked it up, and it wasn't. So even though I know the word, the meaning and the pronunciation, I had to put it in - because I didn't remember which character was used for the bo2.

When you acknowledge all of the different ways of knowing a Chinese character, it makes sense that your learning after the beginning level is going to be full predominantly of known-ish words.

Accept this! Form your own relationship to it! For me, a huge part in my motivation to return to learning Chinese after a year-long break was just to accept that I was likely never going to 'fully know' most of the characters and words that I partially know.

But that's okay. Think about your native language.

If your native language is English or you speak it very well, consider a word like monadic. Could you say you knew this word? Fully knew it? Like me (I learnt this word in the context of Linguistics yesterday), you might have an idea that it has something to do with one - mono, monorail, monotropism, monologue, monolithic etc. But would you be able to use it in a sentence? Would you be able to explain it to a child?

Or let's say you're learning two new English words: lithology and dreich. (The latter is a Scots word, not English - you would hear it in Scotland frequently.) Neither word you completely know. Which one is going to take you longer to learn?

It's likely going to be lithology. You can form connections with words like monolith or paleothic or maybe even lithium - even if you couldn't say for sure what the Greek element lith means, you're passingly familiar with other words containing it. You also know -ology, and you know how to pronounce the word. If you learn that it means 'the study of rocks', that is probably quite easy to remember.

Dreich, on the other hand - what is there to tell you a) how to pronounce this, or b) that it means 'dreary' or 'bleak', as in, dreary weather? You can't form any connections with similar words at all, and the [x] sound at the end - like in German or Hebrew - might be unexpected to hear if you don't live in Scotland.

That's what Chinese is like in the beginning. All words are like dreich. But the more you learn, the more words begin to be like monadic or lithology.

Learning ten new words a day like dreich would be very difficult. But if you've seen monadic a few times over the last few months, know vaguely when to use it, know how to pronounce it - it's not so hard to imagine that you could learn ten of those a day.

I find all these known-ish words very overwhelming.

And I also find recognising the potential for overwhelm in the Chinese language - because of its unique properties - very helpful in letting me feel less guilty about my current known-ish words. I do know them - ish.

But when I finally get around to properly learning them, all that ish-ness will make them that much easier to remember!

Now I try not to stress out about these types of words. I recognise that, in many ways, they are inevitable. Unless you're a poet who composes out of thin air, you're not going to ever say a literary word for emerald green as frequently as you'll read it in descriptive passages in novels.

It's natural to know certain words in a spiky profile: to know them very well in some ways, but not at all in other ways.

The more you read, the more pronounced this can become.

So here's what I've learnt, and here's the message of all this big, long, rambling post:

Putting 'easy' words that you feel you should know into Anki isn't regressing. It's adding another dimension of knowledge to your understanding of the word. You shouldn't feel ashamed or frustrated when you find you don't know one aspect of an otherwise 'easy' word. I'm still trying to learn this.

Because -

Having lots of known-ish words is not a unique failing on your part. It's a reflection of Chinese as a language and its unique complexity -

And it's part of what makes it so uniquely beautiful.

Have a nice day, everyone. meichenxi out!

[randomaccessmind]

tips for translingual people!!

find worksheets for the language you want to learn!! ill provide links for language worksheets in a spreadsheet, with different sheets representing difficulty level! (basics, beginner, intermediate, advanced, etc)

find communities that are mostly spoken in your desired language! for example, im going to use japanese. some services that are mostly in japanese are LINE, niconico, and ameba/ameblo (basically japanese tumblr/wordpress)! you can also make a secondary account on most social media platforms and set the language to your desired, thus increasing the likelihood of seeing content in that language!

listen to songs in your desired language! read the lyrics and their translations, and try to pinpoint what each word in your desired language means!

[minimalist-language-learning]

Don’t fear unknown words

(Note: With this post I just want to share thoughts and tips based on my own experiences and observations. If you have a different opinion that's fine. Language learning is an very individual process. Everyone has different goals and preferences. Try different things and do what works best for you.) Reading is an effective way to increase your vocabulary. But the really interesting books are often very difficult for a language learner (especially if you have little to no experience with native level books). Looking at a page full of unknown words can be intimidating. And if it’s a physical book, reading even a few pages takes ages if you need to look up many words. Reading texts above your current level can be slow and difficult.

From time to time I see language learners who tend to avoid books for natives and keep studying from textbooks or apps to “prepare“ themselves until they are “ready“. And I understand their decision. Textbooks and language learning apps provide structure and present the language in manageable chunks. They are an important first step and they can be a great resource for intermediate learners. Please use them to learn the basics and as a reference but keep in mind that they can only get you to a certain level. It’s obvious, but books for native speakers are not written with language test levels in mind (in the case of Japanese the JLPT). A book for natives can contain words of all levels. For example: The language used in books for a young audience is usually easier than for adults, but even books for kids can contain words that are not in your textbook. On the other hand, novels for adults contain not only abstract and specialized words but also many common words you probably already know. To put it simply: There are no strict levels in the "wild". That’s why you need to learn to deal with the language outside of textbooks. These resources help but they just can’t teach you everything. I mean, it would be extremely unrealistic to expect that you just need to study enough textbooks or completing all levels of your language learning app and then you are able to understand any novel for adult natives without look ups. If you want to learn to read at the level of an adult native speaker, you need to face this challenge and start reading these books at some point — and I mean many of them. No matter how much you prepared yourself through textbooks and apps, you will run into a ton of new words and phrases. This is intimidating at first, but there’s no way around it. You learn simply as you go by trying your best to understand and looking up words, phrases and grammar points. If you are only used to textbooks and apps, it’s absolutely normal that you struggle for quite some time. Don't worry! It gets easier the more you expose yourself with content for native speakers.

What is intimidating today will feel normal for you in the future. Keep going, don’t fear challenges, be open minded and take your time — and you will be able to tackle more and more difficult content.

Tips and recommendations

I myself am at a point where I’ve read around 100 books in Japanese. Many of them were manga, the rest were light novels, novels and a few non-fiction books. The level of difficulty of these books varies. I started with easier books and tried to read more and more challenging ones. I also regularly play video games in Japanese. A few examples:

Manga

名探偵コナン (has full furigana, it’s quite challenging but you’ll learn a ton of expressions and words from a wide range of real wold topics, strongly recommend it)

ナルト (typical battle shonen manga, full furigana, much easier than コナン)

Silver Spoon (full furigana, lots of specialized vocab and therefore difficult, but also very fun)

バクマン (one of my favorites, very enjoyable but also difficult)

らんま 1/2 (I love this series, it has full furigana and is one of the easier manga I've read so far; just be prepared that it contains a bunch of "fantasy" words like attack names etc.)

Novels and Light Novels

ハイキュウ 小説版 (this was challenging at first because the author uses a quite rich vocabulary, the stories are not very complex though)

名探偵コナン (I’ve read several novel versions of the Detective Conan movies, the writing style is quite easy to understand, they cover various topics and they have full furigana, I strongly recommend them)

ハリー・ポッター 1 to 4 (the beginning was hard and sometimes I was a bit lost what happens but the overall difficulty is okay; there are also audiobooks on Audible)

変な家 (I really enjoyed this one, the first chapters are quite easy, only the last one was suddenly very difficult)

Games

Animal Crossing (easy and relaxing game, full furigana)

Ace Attorney (one of my favorites, no furigana, challenging at first but now at Ace Attorney 3 I can play it with only occasional look ups)

Even though I’ve read quite a number of books, I’m far from fluent. I'm currently reading several books: 夏へのトンネル、さよならの出口, リング and ソードアート・オンライン 1. Even with all my experience, there are many new words in all of them. Maybe I should be better at this point, but it is what it is.

However, this is no reason to panic. I think that it’s important to not fear unknown words. New words are not a barrier, they help you grow. Instead of worrying about all these unknown words I take my time, look up words and follow the story. I can enjoy these books even though I don’t understand everything and need to look up many words.

To me, it’s about the journey, not the goal.

Some tips and strategies

Pick a book you’ve already liked reading in your native language (or after watching the movie). This way, you can be sure that you will like the story. This makes looking up many words more bearable. Plus, knowing the story makes it easier to understand the novel in your target language.

If possible, choose the ebook version. Reading digitally makes look ups faster and therefore less frustrating. Because it’s almost effortless you can look up many words without burning out. And by looking up more, there are more opportunities to learn new words.

Decide how many words you want to look up per page depending on your needs. Looking up words digitally is fast and almost effortless. This way it’s not hard to look up every word you don’t know. But if this is too much for your taste, just set a limit that makes reading more comfortable for you. You could try to look up only the 3 most important/interesting words per page and see how it goes. Change the number depending on how you feel or how difficult the book is.

It’s okay to not understand 100%. Progress is better than perfection. As long as you read regularly and look up at least some new words, your vocabulary will grow. Don’t worry too much about every single word you don’t know.

Being able to guess words from context is a valuable skill. Try to understand from context first and look up what seems necessary afterwards.

Don’t let yourself get discouraged right away just because you encounter several new words per page. If you start a new book, try to read at least the first chapter. The prologue and the first chapter are usually the hardest, because you need to get used to the authors writing style and the story.

Take as much time as you need. If you lack vocabulary, reading speed is nothing to worry about at this stage. Build up your vocabulary first.

Even if the overall level of difficulty is okay, there can always be paragraphs or chapters where your comprehension suddenly drops. That’s completely normal. Do your best to understand the gist, look up some words and then move on. Focus on the things you can understand.

You don’t need to learn everything the first time you read a book. Don’t worry too much about rare and specialized words, yet. Try to focus on more common words first. Since they come up more often and in different books, they are more useful at this point. Later when you are more advanced, looking up and learning these rather rare words is less overwhelming than in the beginning where everything is new.

A flashcard program like Anki helps to remember words you've encountered during your reading sessions. But instead of adding all new words I recommend to add only words you've seen at least a few times. I put the Japanese word together with an example sentence on the front and reading and meaning on the back. I use it only as a supplement. My daily Anki sessions are between 10 - 15 minutes long. I want to use most of my learning time for reading and listening -- this is where I really learn new words (= by repeatedly seeing them in context). Anki just helps me to build up familiarity with words I already recognize. Anki is not a must, of course. If you really can't stand it, don't use it. Just make sure that you read and listen regulary.

Graded readers can help to get used to reading in your target language. However, the gap between graded readers and easier books for natives can still be quite significant.

[translatingpostsintoitalian]

What free or paid apps would you recommend to learning Italian?

Disclaimer: the following are just general app recommendations, they're not specific to Italian because I have never had to learn Italian (bc I'm native) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So take them with a grain of salt

First and foremost. My most beloved, the light of my life, the apple of my eye, the diamond in the rough, the one and only, the I've run out of flattering phrases... WordReference. No ads, completely free, extremely high quality content, lists all meanings of a word with at least one example for each meaning, also has phrases, AND has a forum.

I really liked using the free version of Clozemaster a couple years back (IM PRAYING that it stood the same and that they didn't add 728237 AI features. PRAYING). I *think* it was ad-free. I fell in love with the learning method and the UI stripped down to its bare essentials. It had no extra stuff that distracts you, no gems, no streaks that I recall, nothing of the sort. Just vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary. I think it's worth it to pay for the VIP version, but *only* when it's 90% (IIRC) discounted which happens for sure on Black Friday, and maybe some other times of the year; otherwise I find it expensive. Or you could just get the cracked APK for free hehehe

The biggest disadvantage for me was that in the free version you couldn't skip to a certain knowledge level, you could only start from the basics. For me it ended up being tiresome because my level was already intermediate and I really didn't want to "learn" basic words again. But if you're a beginner then it sounds good to me.

As I said, it's only for vocabulary, not for grammar or pronunciation. Italian grammar is very complex and I'm not sure if there exists an app that tackles grammar out there. Maybe one of the people reading this can help me on this one!

Polygloss is a nifty little app that I would recommend as halfway between beginner and intermediate. Basically you match with a totally random person, and you take turns doing a little game. The game is: you pick a stylized picture, describe it (with as little or as many words as you want, though you're encouraged to use many). Then the opponent sees 4 pictures and your description, and must guess which picture you were talking about. That's it. That's the whole app. But it's very fun and the comment/correct function is very fun to use. You can correct a sentence the opponent has said, and/or you can give them a little award for being creative, funny, and stuff.

Beelinguapp is one step higher in that it presents you with full texts. The main thing about Beelinguapp is all the texts are bilingual, so in two languages. So you're being shown the same text in Italian and English (I don't know if there are other options for the "home" language other than English), and also the texts are read aloud and the sentences light up as the speaker reads them (so you're practicing listening as well as reading!!!). You can stop the speaker at any time and, in the paid (or *cough cough* cracked) version, quickly highlight and annotate a new word that you don't know, before resuming. I find it terrific.

Tandem is a great app in general, it's basically a chatting app but tailored to match people who are learning each other's native language. I didn't like the pressure it gave me though, and I wouldn't recommend it to girls and femmes because some people treat it as a dating app... Ugh. But it's still fun and worth trying in my opinion.

Sorry for getting so verbose lol

[seonsdiary]

⠀⠀★ ⠀˒⠀ MEET BTS’ SEON⠀⠀.ᐟ

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝓶asterlist!

xoxo, marisol.　　　before you proceed with reading seon’s form, please be aware that there is a brief mention of an eating disorder ( anorexia nervosa ) !

✷ … this form is inspired by @svt-rosalie !

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ❪ ☁️ … 𝓢. ╱ 방탄소년단 !? ❫

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ BIRTH NAME.⠀⠀ahn duri ❪ 안두리 ❫

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ pronunciation. ahn doo-ree

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ LEGAL NAME.⠀⠀nina seolhyeon baek

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ pronunciation. nee-nah suhl-hyuhn behk

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ KOREAN NAME.⠀⠀baek seolhyeon ❪ 백설현 ❫

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ pronunciation. behk suhl-hyuhn

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ MEANING OF NAMES.⠀⠀her birth name, duri, comes from native korean origin; it’s a unisex name, typically meaning ❛ two ❜ or ❛ both ❜, symbolizing unity, duality, or completeness. her new legal name, nina, comes from western and indigenous south american origin; it’s a feminine name with various cultural roots — in spanish, a diminutive meaning ❛ little girl ❜; in russian, meaning ❛ grace ❜; and in quechua ❪ an indigenous andean language ❫, meaning ❛ fire ❜. as for her new korean name, seolhyeon, comes from sino-korean origin; it’s a feminine name formed with the korean hanja characters 雪 ❪ seol ❫ meaning ❛ snow ❜, and 炫 ❪ hyeon ❫ meaning ❛ bright, brilliant; light, clear ❜. her birth surname, ahn, comes from sino - korean origin; it’s a korean family name formed with the hanja character 安 ❪ an ❫ meaning ❛ peace, tranquility ❜ and her legal surname, baek, comes from sino - korean origin; it’s a korean family name formed with the hanja character 白 ❪ baek ❫ meaning ❛ white, pure ❜.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ NICKNAMES.⠀⠀seol ❪ by family & friends ❫, seolie ❪ by family ❫, ninaseol ❪ by family ❫, hyeon ❪ by bts ❫, hyeonie ❪ by bts ❫, seonie ❪ by bts & army ❫, nini ❪ by army ❫, ice princess ❪ by army & kpop fans ❫, nation’s ( ice ) princess ❪ by army & kpop fans ❫, miss luxury ❪ by army & kpop fans ❫.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ BIRTHDATE.⠀⠀december 30, 1997 ❪ 12 / 30 / 1997 ❫

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ age. 27 years old

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ zodiac sign. capricorn & fire ox

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ BIRTHPLACE.⠀⠀seoul, south korea

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ HOMETOWN.⠀⠀seattle, washington, usa

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ RESIDENCY.⠀⠀seoul, south korea ❪ 1997 — 2003 ❫, seattle, washington, usa ❪ 2003 — 2012 ❫, seoul, south korea ❪ 2012 — present ❫.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ FAMILY.⠀⠀mother & father, paternal grandparents, older sister & brother ❪ 1991 ❫, adoptive mother & father, older brother & sister ❪ 1992 & 1996 ❫, son ❪ 2020 ❫.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ NATIONALITY.⠀⠀korean - american ❪ 🇰🇷 & 🇺🇸 ❫

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ ETHNICITY.⠀⠀korean ❪ 🇰🇷 ❫

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ LANGUAGES SPOKEN.⠀⠀ proficient  level in  korean, english, and korean sign language ❪ ksl ❫; upper intermediate  level in  spanish  and  japanese; elementary level in  mandarin and american sign language ❪ asl ❫.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ HEIGHT.⠀⠀157 cm ❪ 5’2” ft ❫

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ WEIGHT.⠀⠀ 41 kg ❪ 92 lbs ❫

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ BLOOD TYPE.⠀⠀ AB

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ HAIR COLOR.⠀⠀ black ❪ naturally ❫

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ EYE COLOR.⠀⠀ dark brown

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ DISTINGUISHING FEATURES.⠀⠀heart - shaped lips, doe eyes, a scar on her knee / left thigh, and a scar on her outer ankle.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ BODY MODIFICATIONS.⠀⠀ fourteen piercings, seven tattoos.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ CLAIMS.⠀⠀view below!

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ face. jisoo ❪ blackpink ❫

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ vocal. minnie ❪ idle ❫

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ rap. chungha ❪ soloist ❫

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ dance. mina ❪ twice ❫, chungha ❪ soloist ❫

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ GENDER.⠀⠀female

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ PRONOUNS.⠀⠀she / her

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ SEXUAL ORIENTATION.⠀⠀heterosexual

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ RELATIONSHIP STATUS.⠀⠀in a relationship ❪ private, est. 2023 ❫

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ HOGWARTS HOUSE.⠀⠀hufflepuff

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ MBTI TYPE.⠀⠀infp ❪ the mediator ❫

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ description. mediators are introspective idealists, driven by a profound sense of personal values and a deep desire to understand both themselves and others. with their strong empathy and thoughtfulness, they are naturally drawn to helping others, offering emotional support, and making the world a kinder, more compassionate place. while they may appear reserved on the outside, their inner world is vibrant, rich in creativity, and full of dreams, ideas, and emotions that they often express through art or quiet reflection. they seek meaning in everything, always longing to connect with others on a deeper level.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ POSITIVE TRAITS.⠀⠀ observant, charming, curious, principled, imaginative, passionate, kindhearted.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ NEGATIVE TRAITS.⠀⠀ fiercely independent, overly sensitive, stubborn, reserved, easily stressed, indecisive, people - pleasing.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ PERSONAL MANNERISMS.⠀⠀ fidgeting with the closest thing to her hands ❪ bracelets, rings, wrappers, etc. ❫, cuddling into the person closest to her when scared / tired, making sweater paws, standing on her tiptoes, always humming, gets clingy when sleepy, and twirling / playing with her hair.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ FEARS.⠀⠀entomophobia ❪ fear of insects and bugs ❫, arachnophobia ❪ fear of spiders ❫, atelophobia ❪ fear of imperfection ❫.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ MEDICAL CONDITIONS.⠀⠀post - traumatic stress disorder ❪ ptsd ❫, generalized anxiety disorder ❪ gad ❫, social anxiety disorder, anorexia nervosa, body dysmorphic disorder ❪ bdd / “body dysmorphia” ❫, chronic ankle instability ❪ cai ❫, low bone density, insomnia.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ STAGE NAME.⠀⠀seon ❪ 세온 ❫

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ pronunciation. seh-ohn

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ origin. seolhyeon wasn't sure what to use as her stage name but one thing for sure was that she wouldn’t use her first like she did while figure skating nor her middle name, she wanted to use a totally different “persona” as an idol so months before her debut date, seolhyeon sat down with bang sihyuk and the two messed around with seolhyeon’s middle name until they came up with a name that sounded good and was easy to pronounce, thus creating the now well - known stage name, SEON, which comes from native korean origin; it’s a unisex name, typically written with the hanja 世 ❪ se ❫ meaning ❛ world, generation ❜ and 溫 ❪ on ❫ meaning ❛ warm, gentle ❜, symbolizing a warm world, kindness, and completeness. army say the name fits seolhyeon perfectly!

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ OTHER ALIASES.⠀⠀nina baek ❪ 2003 — 2014 ❫

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ note. still gets referred to as “nina baek” in the figure skating world; she doesn’t mind going by “nina” nowadays as it was the name she always went by prior to joining bts.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ OCCUPATION(S).⠀⠀retired figure skater ❪ 2001 — 2014 ❫, singer, dancer, model, choreographer, songwriter, actress.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ AGENCY.⠀⠀big hit entertainment ❪ 2012 — 2021 ❫, hybe labels ❪ 2021 — present ❫

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ TRAINING PERIOD.⠀⠀1 year and 3 months ❪ 2012 — 2013 ❫

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ GROUP.⠀⠀bts / bangtan sonyeondan

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ DEBUT AGE.⠀⠀15 years old ❪ group ❫, 25 years old ❪ soloist ❫

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ POSITIONS IN BTS.⠀⠀main vocalist, lead dancer.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ INDIVIDUAL FANDOM.⠀⠀n/a

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ REPRESENTATIVE ANIMAL.⠀⠀snow leopard

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ REPRESENTATIVE EMOJI.⠀⠀snow leopard ❪ 🐆 ❫, ice skate ❪ ⛸️ ❫

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ RANKING.⠀⠀view below!

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ vocal. 10 / 10

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ rap. 4 / 10

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ dance. 9 / 10

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ visual ❪ korean standard ❫. 9 / 10

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ stage presence. 10 / 10

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ acting. 9 / 10

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ producing. 6 / 10

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ songwriting. 9 / 10

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ choreography. 9 / 10

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ leadership. 7 / 10

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ public speaking. 9 / 10

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ overall ranking. 91 / 100

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ LIKES.⠀⠀ disney, cute animals, romance books, astronomy, stargazing, pop mart, jellycat, cute keychains, stuffed animals, all types of flowers, spicy food, sweet candy, m&m and chocolate chip cookies, pda, ice skating, formula one ❪ a total expert ❫ and nascar ❪ only knows a little bit because her son yaps about it constantly ❫, cold weather, rainy and cloudy days, snowy days, scented candles, oversized clothing, traveling, organization, calligraphy, journaling, jewelry, baking.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ DISLIKES.⠀⠀ sour food, sudden loud noises, failing, the deep ocean, tomatoes, iced americanos, black coffee, roller coasters, bungee jumping, roller skating, haunted houses, mess, complaining, crowded places, being late, creepy stuff like clowns and antique dolls, stuck - up people, bullies, the sound of thunder, all types of bugs and insects, spiders.

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ FAVORITES.⠀⠀ view below!

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ color. blue, pink, and white.

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ food. ttekbokki, jajangmyeon, buldak ramen, kimchi fried rice, bibimbap, kimbap, korean corn dogs, mandu, pizza, tacos, strawberries, cookies n’ cream ice cream, takoyaki, sushi, oyakodon, soba, and strawberry sando.

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ drink. sweet iced latte, strawberry - banana smoothie, strawberry milkis soft drink, strawberry lemonade, hibiscus and jasmine teas, agua fresca de limón ❪ lemon water ❫, and sweetened iced tea.

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ comfort shows. the vampire diaries, teen wolf, criminal minds, supernatural, the walking dead, grey’s anatomy, and american horror story.

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ comfort movies. 10 things i hate about you, clueless, lilo and stitch, the beauty and the beast, harry potter franchise, scream franchise, and halloween franchise.

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ emojis. ⛸️🫶🏻🌷🪐🫧🍓

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ scent. lavender

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ flower. tulips and roses

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ animal. dogs, cats, pandas, and snow leopards.

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ number. 7 and 31

⠀ ⠀ ׁ ࣭ ⊹ season. winter and spring

˳ ׄ ✶ ⠀ FUN FACTS ABOUT SEON.⠀⠀ click here!

2025　©　SEONSDIARY

୨୧　taglist　›　open!

[amber-tortoiseshell]

what does it mean when it says inheritance is intermediate?

When i was learning genetics in high school, we had had three basic (single-gene, autosomal) inheritence patterns: dominant-recessive, codominant and intermediate (or as we had called it in hungarian, intermedier). After reading a bunch of english-language material online, i'm not sure if this is an universal model, but i still like it and use it in my genetics posts.

The difference between them is what happens with the heterozygotes:

If the heterozygote looks exactly like one of the homozygotes, then it's dominant-recessive. In cats, tabby/solid is a good example of this, because an Aa cat (tabby carrying solid) is phenotypically indistinguisable from an AA tabby.

If the heterozygote has the traits of both homozygotes, it's codominant; the textbook example of this is AB blood type. In cats, tortoiseshells are a pretty good example, because they indeed are both black and red.

If the heterozygote looks like it's in the middle between the two homozygotes but it's also distinct from both, that's intermediate. I remember the standard example of this was crossing white and red flowers and getting pinks. In cats, mink is a well-known intermediate phenotype between sepia and point.

Of course, this is often not clear-cut, what is codominant and what is intermediate can be blurred (and if you look close, almost nothing is really fully dominant), and there are cases when none of these really fit. For example, in the gene series i decided to call certain white spotting genes 'additive': aka, heterozygotes have some amount of white, homozygotes have more.

[squoxle]

🗼Peril in Paris ~ Minho ff 18+

🗼pairing: Lee Minho (Lee Know) x Female Reader (close proximity) | 🗼wc: 4.2k | 🗼summary: On a study abroad trip to France, you're forced to share a room with the handsome and cold-hearted Minho. |🗼cw: angst, fluff, smut, unprotected sex, fingering f., slightly rough sex, squirting (sry if u don't like that), choking, profanity, swearing

⋆｡°✩Smut Scenes are Highlighted w/ Fire Heart Emoji❤️‍🔥

Disclaimer: this ff came from my drafts in April and was made originally for Sunghoon, so if u see his name anywhere…that’s why (April 25, 2023)

You and your two best friends were so excited to study abroad in France. You had been practicing your ‘française’ and now you could have a few intermediate-ish conversations. Well, actually it’s more like basic-advanced conversations. One of your friends, Charlotte, was super advanced in comparison to you—like halfway fluent to be specific. You have a habit of looking to her for extra help. But Noemi, your other friend, is more on your level. So, you tend to joke around a lot. For the next 16 weeks, you and the rest of your class will be touring all over the beautiful city of Paris.

You continued prancing around your room, packing your suitcase with everything you’d need for your semester away. This was your first time traveling to a country overseas and you weren’t entirely sure of what to expect. You tried your best to "prepare" by binging YouTube vlogs from Paris. Luckily for you, your friends were going to be right there with you. When you were together, nothing could go wrong. Or so you thought…

Charlotte’s Parents drove you and Noemi to the airport where you met up with the rest of your class. When you walked into the massive airport you followed the signs pointing to your group. “Okay everyone. I need to see two lines. One for the ladies and one for the gentlemen.” The head professor—Mr. Zhao—said as he waved his hands around to get everyone’s attention.

The students got into the appropriate lines with their suitcases and boarded the plane. “Omg! I still can’t believe we’re going to Paris~” Noemi giggled. “Yeah, this is an amazing opportunity to immerse ourselves in this beautiful language and culture.” Charlotte chimed. “Y/N! Come on! Let’s GOOO~”Noemi said. You were still locking eyes with Lee Minho. He had been staring at you almost the whole time you guys were in line. But it wasn’t the type of staring that would cause your heart to flutter, it was the cold glare that pierced your soul.

You proceeded to board the plane with your friends. Fortunately, you all had seats next to each other…it always felt like fate kept you guys together. “I saw him staring at you,” Noemi whispered as she nodded her head in Minho’s direction. He was sitting in the row next to us with some other boys.

“Ok, so what?” You snapped “He’s super attractive. And, he might be into you, just saying. If I were you I’d totally be into him” She giggled. Charlotte had already fallen asleep so she was missing all the drama. “Knock it off, Noemi. I’m not interested and I don’t think he is either.” You replied, nudging her shoulder. “So you’re telling me you don’t think he’s hot?” Noemi smirked. “I mean…he’s good-looking, but I’m not just gonna hop on him.” You said as the two of you glanced at the boy. “He really was beautiful,” you thought to yourself.

After the plane landed you and the rest of the group boarded a large tour bus that took you to the hotel you’d be staying at for the next 16 weeks. The female instructor, Ms. Rei, gathered all of the female students and put them into the 5 rooms in groups of three. Mr. Allen did the same with the male students.

However, for some reason, there was one room left and the only people who hadn’t been grouped up were you and Minho.

“Sorry. We miscalculated the room arrangements and you two will be sharing a room with me.” Mr. Zhao said with a shrug. To be honest, he’s one of the cooler teachers so this wasn’t a problem. The problem was that you were separated from your best friends.

You definitely DID NOT see this coming. "What are the odds," you sighed to yourself.

“Umm…well I was supposed to be all alone in this room. But since I’ll be sharing with you two…I’ll take the sofa and you two can share the bed.” Mr. Zhao said as we reached our room. “And don’t worry. It’s a king-sized bed. So, the two of you can sleep at some distance.” He awkwardly chuckled.

Minho remained dead silent the whole time. He then headed to your shared room with his phone in his hand. He was probably doing the same thing you would do…text your friends. You remember him sitting next to two other boys—also attractive, but that’s not the point.

“Which side do you want?” Minho said breaking the silence. “Oh…umm…I’ll take the side by the window if that’s okay with you,” I replied. “I obviously don’t care. That’s why I asked.” He shot back coldly. I really don’t understand why he’s being so cold. Neither of you wanted to be here, but at least you were trying to make the best of it.

Since you arrived at night, you only had enough time to shower and unpack a few things before bed. Mr. Zhao ordered some dinner from the hotel’s restaurant, but Minho decided to just shower and go to sleep.

While eating dinner, Mr. Zhao told you about a few of the things you were going to do the next day. By the time you finished, you were ready to go to bed. Without thinking, you walked straight into your room, locking eyes with Minho.

He was wearing a plain white tee and his hair was slightly damp. He was also wearing a pair of grey sweats with a towel around his neck. “I’m finished in there just so you know.” He said before sitting on his side of the bed with his phone in his hand. I couldn’t help but stare. “Are you going or what?” He asked, snapping me out of my head. “Oh yeah. Sorry.” you stammered, picking out your nightgown before heading to the shower.

When the morning finally came, I got ready for the day. On the tour bus is where I found my friends, Charlotte and Noemi.

“Hey…so what happened? We were texting you all last night.” The two of them said upon greeting you. “My phone died and I couldn’t find a charger.” “Oh, okay.” They looked at you as if waiting for you to tell them some juicy gossip.

“I’m sharing a room with Mr. Zhao and Minho if that’s what u were wondering,” you said slinging the bag over your shoulder. You watched as their jaws dropped halfway to the ground after what you just said.

“NO WAY! You are so lucky~! Did you and Minho ‘do’ anything?” Noemi asked mischievously.

“No, we just shared a bed--"

"Shared a bed! How are you being so chill right now?" Noemi spat, cutting you off. "Girl, the thing I would've done with an opportunity like that."

"You wouldn't have made much progress. When I came out of the shower he was still glued to his phone,” you continued.

“Oh, bummer. I thought he would’ve been cooler.” Noemi said waving her hands in the air.

When you guys arrived at the Louvre Museum you broke off into the same groups assigned last night. Which meant you had to be with stone-cold Minho and Mr. Zhao. Though you'd much rather be goofing off with your friends.

“Well guys, what do you think, huh? There’s some pretty amazing artwork here.” “Hmm. Yeah, I guess.” Minho said with a shrug.

Before you could speak, Mr. Zhao’s phone rang. “Hold on you guys. I’ve gotta take this call really quick.” He said before stepping out of sight.

Again, here you were. Alone. With Minho. The taps of his phone echoed throughout the quiet hall. That and the random sounds of him sniffing through his nose.

For weeks this cold behavior persisted from Minho and you’d had enough of it. He was making this trip miserable. And now was your chance to maybe change things up a bit. Or at least make it less awkward.

“What’s wrong with you?” You asked, sternly.

“Hmm? Were you talking to me?”

“Obviously. Who else is around?”

He rolled his eyes and scoffed before turning back to his phone.

“You’re letting life pass you by while you tap away at that damn phone.” Saying this caused him to look up at you. “Since we got here you’ve been driving me insane. You make everything feel awkward, you hardly talk, and when you do, you have an attitude. What did I do to you?” Minho tucked his phone away in his pocket.

“There. Are you happy now?” His passiveness pissed you off even more. He could see the look of frustration on your face at his nonchalant behavior. You were fuming at his casualness.

“Sorry. I don’t know how else to tell you this. I’m just not a ‘people’ person.” He said looking down at the ground. “How about I make it up to you?”

“How do you plan on doing that?” You asked.

“Follow me.” He grabbed your hand as he led you out of the museum.

“But--" You stammered, trying to think of a valid excuse. After all, this is kinda your fault, right? If only you had just kept your damn mouth shut.

Like any sane person, you were weary about venturing off in a foreign country. Especially, alone...with a boy. "What about Mr. Zhao?” you spat, digging your feet into the ground in an attempt to stop him from leaving.

“Relax. I remember where the hotel is. Even if we get left behind, we won’t be lost.” He said with a smile.

This was the first time you saw Minho smile…ever. It was like diamonds. And I know how corny that sounds, but it really was just as rare and beautiful as diamonds.

He led you into a park that wasn't too far from the museum.

“What are we doing here?” You asked in a slightly shaking tone.

“Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you wanna go back already. Daddy’s just getting started,” he smirked before holding your hand and walking further away.

“What had gotten into this boy?” You wondered to yourself. How does someone come from quiet and cold to cheeky and adventurous? Was he putting on an act or is this the person he’s always been? You couldn’t tell because both sides seemed so genuine, but by the time you snapped out of your thoughts it was already too late to turn back.

“So, what are you gonna do now?” You asked.

“Taking you out for a drink of course,” he said before walking into the cafe that stood in front of you.

“You think a cup of coffee is supposed to make up for you acting like a stone cold bitch?” You asked casually. To be honest you were trying to match his energy, but this type of lingo really wasn’t your style, and it honestly made you cringe at yourself.

“I can do so much more,” Minho whispered in your ear before kissing your cheek. The flustered look on your face caused him to giggle a bit.

“What the hell is going on?” You thought to yourself.

Once you made your way to the register, you were greeted by the young man behind the counter. He was tall, attractive, and had a naturally toned body. You could tell through the crisp white collar shirt he wore. You were speechless for reasons aside from his looks. As you could assume, he spoke to you in French. And, as you mentioned earlier, you weren’t very good.

Minho watched as a dazed and confused expression formed on your face while your brain played connect the dots. “Don’t worry. I got it,” he smiled before telling the young man what you wanted.

Luckily for you it was just a cup of black coffee. Minho’s ordered something else, but you definitely heard the word for coffee. You felt like kicking yourself in the ass for not studying enough.

You and Minho walked over to a table near a window. It was growing darker by the minute and you were starting to worry.

“So, you wanna talk? Let’s talk. Tell me something about yourself,” Minho said as you started out the window

“What do you want to know?” You asked as you toyed with your fingers under the table.

“Hmm…let’s start simple and then escalate to something a little crazier. How’s that sound?” He suggested, tilting his head slightly to the side.

You nodded in response as he asked you the first question, “What type of music do you listen to?”

"Uhhh. Honestly, I'll pretty much listen to anything," you said switching your attention to the conversation.

"Me too, but I prefer listening to good dancing music. It just makes me feel better," the two of you went on asking a few more random questions back and forth. However, the entire time he was talking you couldn't help but search desperately for that smile. Every now and then you'd see it peek out a bit, but you wanted to see it in full.

"See something you like?" Minho smirked as he ripped you out of your inner thoughts.

"Huh?" you stammered.

"Well, you keep looking at my lips. Did you want to kiss or would you rather keep thinking about it?" he leaned closer to you, flashing that cheeky smile.

You were speechless and you could feel your face heating up as he came closer to you.

"Since you haven't said anything, I assume a kiss is exactly what you want," he chuckled to himself. "Let's save it until after we leave okay. Hopefully, you can control yourself long enough."

It wasn't long before the waiter came out with your order. Two black coffees and a small box with a bow. "What's inside the box?" you asked Minho.

"It's a surprise," he smiled. "You can have some later," he said before sipping from his cup.

You were really starting to like this side of him. Especially the fact that you were the only one who got a chance to see it.

After finishing your drinks the two of you walked around for a bit more before Minho was ready to head back to the hotel. He also told you that he texted Mr. Zhao earlier, telling him that you felt sick and he was taking you back to the hotel. The box of treats was something for the three of you to share.

"I guess he forgot about the kiss," you thought to yourself as you climbed into the taxi.

Even though you initially told yourself that you wouldn't do something like that with him, you were getting the feeling to do a little more than just that.

The ride home was dead silent. It was like he had gone back to his old self again. Completely zoned out on his phone and absent in reality. Was it something you said? Or was that really all just some act to get you to shut up? You weren't sure, but you'd still hold on to the memories from that moment.

The glint from his smile flashed into your head as you walked through the hotel door.

"Feeling better?" Mr. Zhao asked as you came in.

"Yeah," you sighed as you watched Minho silently walk to the bedroom.

"Where're you going?" Mr. Zhao asked him.

"I'm going to take a shower," he muttered before walking into the room.

"Hey, next time you're not feeling well. Make sure you let me know. I could've taken you back here and got you some medicine," Mr. Zhao said, placing his hand on your shoulder.

"Okay, I will," you smiled. "And Minho bought these for us," you said handing him the box.

"Aww. Let him know I said thank you. Did you want to pick yours first?" he asked as he opened the box.

"No, that's okay," you smiled before walking to the room.

It felt like a heavy weight was on your shoulders. The thrill was gone and everything had returned back to normal.

Just like last time, Minho came out of the bathroom with damp hair and plopped on the edge of the bed, tapping away at his phone. You pulled out a pair of shorts and an oversized t-shirt before heading to the shower.

You turned the water on high, causing the mirror to fog up. You got lost in the thought of Minho coming into the bathroom and joining you in the shower.

You squeezed your thighs together as the warm water ran down your body. You could feel yourself getting more and more excited, but the sound of the soap dropping to the floor startled you. You felt a bit of guilt after realizing that you were getting turned on by a casual interaction with a classmate you never really paid attention to.

You finished up in the shower before balling your clothes up to toss in the laundry bin.

As expected, you saw Minho lying in bed when you came out. The feelings of pure annoyance returned as you thought back to the way he behaved like Dr. Jekyll and Hyde. The two-faced, bi-personality this man wielded was insane. Both sides seemed so genuine. It was hard to figure out who he really was.

You went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water before going to bed. You looked over to see Mr. Zhao sleeping soundly on his makeshift bed. He'd gathered together extra pillows and sofa cushions to make a platform on the floor.

You walked back to your room and climbed into bed, moving around to get into a comfortable position.

"Can you keep still?" Minho said sharply.

"Sorry," you said sarcastically, rolling your eyes as you plopped your head down onto the pillow.

"Here we go again," you thought to yourself. "Random, grumpy, asshole," you sighed to yourself as you rolled over and closed your eyes.

"Hey," Minho whispered.

"What?" you angrily whispered back.

"Did you still want that kiss?" he asked as you rolled over to meet his gaze.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" you spat back.

"No, I'm serious."

"You must've lost your fucking mind."

"Sorry, it's just that..."

"It's just that what?"

Minho moved in closer to you. So close that to the point that your faces were barely an inch apart.

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about it," he said glaring into your eyes.

"You can't be serious. I'm not falling for this lame-ass act again. Good night," you huffed before turning away from him.

"I'm sorry for getting cold on you again. That's just the way I am," you heard him say from behind you.

"Look, there're two sides of me--"

"Yeah, I see that now," you mumbled, cutting him off.

"Let me explain--"

"I don't wanna hear it. I'm trying to sleep so can you just be quiet," you spat.

Minho pulled the cover off of your body causing you to turn your body over to face him.

"What the fu--" You were startled by Minho climbing on top of you. You were completely speechless.

Your eyes doe eyes glistened under the faint light emitting from the bedroom window. You watched as his body hovered over you. His facial features looked even more amazing in the cool moonlight.

Minho leaned in to kiss you while you were still dazed. Just a small peck, but enough to get your attention. The two of you stared at each other for a moment before kissing again.

You couldn't believe what was happening right now. You were in a shared hotel room making out with one of your classmates while your professor was asleep in the other room.

The kissing intensified as you thought back to your fantasy in the shower. You gripped onto Minho's hair as your tongues intertwined. Your breathing became ragged as you desperately begged for more. But what really got things started was when you accidentally moaned in his mouth.

❤️‍🔥

Minho paused to straddle your body as he looked at you lying beneath him. "What was that for?" he smirked. "Nothing," you lied. "It didn't seem like nothing," he leaned in closer. "Tell me what you were thinking about," he said as he began kissing on your neck.

"I was thinking about you in the shower," you blatantly admitted. You were surprised that those words had even escaped your lips, but Minho's reaction made it all worth it.

"Oh really? And what were you thinking?" he asked as he rubbed your thigh. "Go on. You can close your eyes if it makes you feel better," the feeling of his breath against your neck made your insides flutter.

"I was thinking about you coming into the bathroom and fucking me in the shower," you said as you closed your eyes. You could hear him slightly chuckle in your ear as he moved his hand between your legs. You felt his hands massaging your pussy through your shorts.

"Mhmm. And how did that make you feel?" he asked. "Ngh!" you groaned as he pressed his thumb against your clit. "Nevermind, I already got my answer," he smiled as he felt your pussy throbbing through your shorts.

"How about I tell you a little secret? I wasn't talking in the taxi because I was too busy thinking about all the things I wanted to do to you back there," Minho spat on his fingers before sliding them into your shorts. "And when we came in, I jerked off in the shower because of you," he continued as rubbed your clit.

"You're so fucking wet," he smiled as he kissed you again. "Do you wanna know what I was thinking about?" he asked to which you hummed in response. "How about I just show you," he smirked.

Minho reached down to pull your shorts off. You moved your legs to wiggle them off before they fell on the floor. Minho rubbed the print of his dick through his pants before pulling out his dick. He glided himself between your folds, you watched his dick twitch as he was eager to enter your wet walls. "Mmm. Your pussy feels so good," he groaned.

You sat up slightly to remove his shirt, revealing the scar on his stomach. Minho continued to stroke his dick back and forth between your pussy lips, coating it in your fluids. You watched as the precum seeped from his dick before inserting it into your pussy.

You let out a soft moan as he inched his way through. "Shhh," he hushed as he covered your mouth. "We don't wanna wake anyone up." You felt him pushing every inch inside of you before taking long, slow strokes in and out of your pussy.

The room was filled with the squelching sounds of your pussy and your muffled panting as Minho increased the speed. He moved his hand as he raised your legs to change the position. Your ankles were now over his shoulder as he pounded hard into your pussy. You tried your best to stay quiet, but the pleasure was overwhelming.

You started to moan quietly through your closed lips, that was until Minho grabbed onto your waist and fucked you deeper. A loud moan escaped your lips as he railed you deeper. "You like that don't you baby?" He wrapped his hands around your throat and pushed you into the bed as he hammered your pussy. Choked moans hiccuped from your throat as you reached your climax.

Your chest raised up and down as you gripped onto Minho's waist. "Come on baby. You're almost there," you felt your pussy tightening around his dick as he pumped in and out of you. "That's it. Cum for me like a good girl," he groaned as you panted breathlessly.

You were just at the point where you were about to cum when Minho lifted you up and began drilling you as you squirted all over his abs. Minho pulled you close as his dick twitched inside of your pussy.

Feeling drained but relaxed you weren't ready for what Minho wanted to do next.

Minho dropped you on the bed and turned you over. Your ass was up in the air facing him as he gripped it before hammering into your pussy from behind. "Ugh. I can't get enough of your perfect fucking cunt," he hummed. You could hear the sounds of your skin slapping against each other as he fucked you.

Your legs quivered as you were getting ready to cum again. Your moans were muffled by the bed sheets. Minho pressed your head into the bed as he faintly moaned from behind. "Ngh, fuck. You feel so fucking good." You could tell Minho was reaching his climax as the speed increased even more.

He pulled your body back, gripping one of your breasts in his hand, while the other wrapped firmly around your throat. "Ngh," Minho whimpered as he filled your pussy.

❤️‍🔥

You and Minho fell down onto the bed before lying lazily under the covers. "We can go again in the morning if you want," Minho said kissing your cheek. "You just gotta get up early," he continued before caressing your face. "Then we can fulfill your fantasy," he smirked.

You agreed to some steamy shower sex before the two of you fell asleep, naked and wrapped up in each other's arms.

❀ Thank you all so much for reading! Make sure to check out other works on my masterlist!

❀ 𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝: @chlorinecake @nikisdubblchococake @addictedtohobi @parkjonseongswife @hoyeonheeseung @cas104 @doseoflily @neoteez01 @fics-jillian-liked @skzfelixlove @hyunjinswifeee @urfavberry @ihrtlix @emily1310universe-blog @tiddiesbruhposts @stay-berry @hwanghyunjin2 @cherry8183 @hyunjinslovebott @ta3baee @skz-lover21 @skztalkersworld @hyunjinnie2000 @hyunjinswifeyy @luvyblossom @th3-g1rl-y0u-10v3 @bratty-tingz @skzenhalove

[tokidokitokyo]

Cool Kanji Party Tricks

Or “How I Use Kanji to Impress My Friends”

Learning kanji can be daunting, especially for those just starting out in their Japanese studies. There are two thousand standard kanji needed to read a newspaper, but Japanese people know and use many thousands more. There are several methods available to self study kanji (just do a quick Google search to find the most popular), but any serious study of kanji takes time. Lots of time. It can feel like studying kanji over and over is a waste of time, especially since you have the internet at your fingertips to look things up at any time. However, I really believe that having a good foundation in kanji is essential to mastering Japanese, and I wanted to share what I call "cool party tricks" to encourage you in your kanji studies.

What are "cool kanji party tricks"? This is just a list of things I have noticed that having a solid understanding of kanji will allow you to do. I have been studying Japanese for more than 10 years, and most of these things I just noticed one day in an a-ha moment, and even though someone had told me for years that learning and practicing kanji is important, it took several realizations for me to truly grasp what that meant. I would say that many of these require an intermediate grasp of the language to be able to use consistently, but I think that you can start doing any of these after achieving a basic foundation in the Japanese language.

So when your hand is cramped from writing the same kanji for hours, when on'yomi and kun'yomi have become swear words, and when you lost that one little point on the exam because the kanji you were supposed to use was only off by one stroke from the kanji you actually used... I hope you will remember this post and feel a little bit encouraged.

Find the appropriate kanji to use when typing in the romaji/hiragana on a computer/phone

Since I started my Japanese studies during high school, the formal classes I was taking had me writing out kanji for homework in order to remember it and to be able to pass the quizzes and exams. So I spent many hours writing out kanji only to end up with hand cramps and ugly looking written characters. It took ages and the stream of kanji that I had to learn seemed endless. However, one benefit I quickly saw was that I was able to quickly adapt to typing in Japanese on a computer/phone because I was able to correctly identify the kanji that I had practiced, and knew which one to select when several choices came up.

In Japanese, many words have the same sounds but different kanji and meanings (these are called homophones). So when you type in the hiragana or romaji for a word into the keyboard, it will prompt you with a list of kanji to choose from. Being able to correctly select the right one is something I suddenly realized I could do one day, even if I hadn't used the word often. I knew and could recall a larger number of kanji than I thought, and I could eliminate any incorrect kanji for the word I was trying to use. Having a good solid foundation in kanji characters means that you don't have to go look up every word in the dictionary to check that you have the right kanji, and you also don't have to leave the word in kana because you can't guess the right kanji, but rather you are confident enough to pick the correct kanji for the word on your own. This makes typing more efficient and saves time!

Understand the meaning of a word just by looking at the kanji

When you know a significant amount of kanji and what they mean, sometimes when you encounter new compound words you can guess at what they mean. Or if you are like me and sometimes forget how to read words you are already supposed to know, you can magically relearn them by looking at the kanji and interpreting the meaning. So sometimes when I am reading text in Japanese and I see a compound I don't know, I can interpret the meaning from context and from my understanding of the individual kanji, and continue through the text without stopping to look up the word. This helps you to get the gist of a text without having to look up all the words, and is how you can start reading more advanced books or manga.

Guess at the pronunciation of a word from the kanji

On the flip side of the previous cool party trick is being able to guess how to pronounce a word by knowing the on'yomi and kun'yomi of the kanji, and therefore being able to guess at the pronunciation of a word. Unless the word has 人 or 生 in it. This helps most when reading out loud in class or to another person. It will also help you to feel smug about yourself while reading a book that is of a more advanced level and being able to determine the reading of several compound words in a row.

Understanding a new word using kanji clues

As an extension of the previous cool party tricks, I eventually reached the point where I could hear a word in conversation that I had never heard before, and figure out the meaning using kanji clues.

For example, not all Japanese people know English (shocking, right?), and busting out your phone to look up every single word you don't know can become burdensome in continuing the flow of a conversation. So, if I hear a word that I don't know during a conversation (and the continuation or flow of the conversation hinges on my understanding of the word), I will stop the person and either ask what kanji the word is written with, or if I have a guess I will ask "is this using the kanji for X?" This way I can gain clues to the key word without stopping the flow of conversation too much. (It's also a fun way to show off to Japanese speakers.)

For example, if you hear the word jishin (じしん) in conversation, and you aren't sure which meaning the speaker intended:

自信 self-confidence

自身 one's self

You can ask:

"Did you mean 自信 (jishin) with the "shin" from 信用 (shin'you) or did you mean 自身 (jishin) with the "mi" (another pronunciation of 身) as in one's body?"

Then the person can respond:

"Oh, I mean 身 (mi)! As in, 自分自身 (jibun jishin), or one's self."

Then, you can continue the conversation, having an understanding of what the speaker is saying and not having to take out your phone to translate as often. This also can give the person you are speaking to a better sense of your level and help them to tailor the conversation to you.

[I hope this conveys what I am trying to illustrate ^.^]

TL;DR: Kanji is Fun

Honestly, when kanji clicks and you can read words or understand their meanings, it's like deciphering a secret code, and this is one of the things I find so cool about Japanese, and why I have studied it for so long. So if you are just starting out and are daunted by kanji - don't worry. I am still daunted by kanji, but I also find it a useful tool to improve my knowledge of Japanese and to communicate in a way many people cannot. I hope this information was useful and inspires you to suffer through learn more kanji.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Free or Cheap Portuguese Learning Resources to Eat Feijoada to

I will update this list as I learn of any more useful ones. If you want general language learning resources check out this other post. This list is Portuguese specific. Find lists for other specific languages here.

For the purposes of this list "free" means something that is either totally free or has a useful free tier. "Cheap" is a subscription under $10USD a month, a software license or lifetime membership purchase under $100USD, or a book under $30USD. If you want to suggest a resource for this list please suggest ones in that price range that are of decent quality and not AI generated.

WEBSITES

Practice Portuguese - This website is European Portuguese specific. It has a lot of free lesson notes to read through and a free podcast. More in-depth lessons require a paid subscription that's a bit more on the expensive side. The website is available in multiple languages.

Learning Portuguese - A free website with beginner vocab and grammar lessons as well as reviews for different paid courses and country specific information. The website mostly focuses on European and African Portuguese but does have some stuff for Brazillian Portuguese. The website is in English.

Portuguese Government Sponsored eCourses - The Portuguese government's institute for promoting Portuguese language and culture has a few free online courses. An account is require to take the courses and the website can be viewed in English or Portuguese.

Portuguese With Leo - I have linked to this website's free resources page. The free resources seem more useful for beginner learners. He also has a few free video lessons. This website also provides courses for intermediate learners but they're pretty expensive. The website is available in English and Portuguese.

Portuguese With Eli - This website focuses on Brazilian Portuguese. There are paid courses and groups but there's also a lot of free articles and blog posts about grammar and vocabulary. The website is in English.

Really Learn Portuguese - This website focuses on Brazillian Portuguese. They have free lessons for beginners, a blog, and flashcard lists. They also have a paid tier at $4.50 a month with audio recordings, video lessons, and worksheets. The website is in English.

learnbrazilianportuguese.com - This website has a free English language blog with learning tips and a limited amount of free scheduled courses. They require you to create an account to view the entire site.

Ciberduvidas - A website with explanations of more complex concepts in the language. The website is entirely in Portuguese.

YOUTUBE CHANNELS

Learn Portuguese Today - A channel aimed at beginners with information on vocabulary and grammar. The channel is mainly in English and the channel host is from Portugal.

Decoding Words - A channel with lessons for beginners and detailed breakdowns of different clips of native speakers talking. The channel is mostly in English and the channel host is from Brazil.

Easy Portuguese - A channel part of the easy languages network that has a combination of videos with useful phrases for beginners and interviews on the street with people in Brazil. Their videos have dual language subtitles in Portuguese and English.

Portuguese Tune - A newer channel that seems to be posting regularly. It’s a comprehensible input channel in European Portuguese for beginner to lower intermediate learners. The host teaches entirely in Portuguese and uses a whiteboard and other visual aids.

Portuguese With Cristina - A channel aimed at intermediate learners with videos and podcasts on a variety of topics. The channel is entirely in European Portuguese.

Teach Yourself Portuguese - A channel with podcasts, listening practice, and grammar videos for absolute beginner to intermediate learners. Videos are in Brazilian Portuguese.

Talk the Streets - A channel with pronunciation and learning tips and useful phrases in different subjects. The host teaches European Portuguese but herself speaks Portuguese as a second language. The channel is mostly in English.

Plain Portuguese - This channel has a lot of videos on grammar and vocabulary and also offers explanations of scenes from tv and movies. The host is from Brazil and uses a combination of English and Portuguese.

Speaking Brazilian - This channel has a lot of tips on grammar, vocab, and pronunciation and appears to be aimed at beginner to intermediate learners. Videos are all in Brazilian Portuguese and have dual language Portuguese and English subtitles onscreen.

READING PRACTICE

Read Brazilian Portuguese - A website with short articles in Brazilian Portuguese. Each article has comprehension questions and a list of key vocab words. The website is in a mix of Portuguese and English.

Portuguese Reading Comprehension Texts - A graded reader for beginners with 30 different texts on a variety of different topics. The link leads to the Harvard bookstore to buy the book for $12. I also saw it used on Amazon for $10.

Short Stories in Brazilian Portuguese by Olly Richards - This book ranges from $5-$15 depending on the format. Every chapter has comprehension questions and a vocab list. You can also find it used for cheaper.

Portuguese With Luciana - This website has a few free short stories for beginners and upper beginners.

Graded Readers by Susana Morais - This author has written short stories and mystery stories for learners from absolute beginner to upper intermediate and her books are organized by CEFR level. The books are about $25 each new but I’ve seen them as low as $4 used.

PODCASTS

Brazilian Talk - A podcast about language and culture for intermediate to advanced learners. The podcast is entirely in Brazilian Portuguese.

Easy Portugués - A podcast entirely in Brazilian Portuguese for intermediate to advanced learners. The hosts discuss a variety of topics and give tips on how to sound more natural when speaking.

Portuguese With Carla - A free beginner audio course in European Portuguese.

Portuguese Lab - A podcast entirely in European Portuguese about various topics for A1 and A2 beginner and upper beginner learners on the CEFR scale.

Todo Mundo Pod - This website has two podcasts. One partially in English that has tips for learners and one fully in Brazilian Portuguese. They also have a blog and the website is available in Portuguese and English.

Fala Gringo - A podcast fully in Brazillian Portuguese that goes over various cultural topics for intermediate level learners.

SELF STUDY TEXTBOOKS AND DICTIONARIES

Basic Portuguese from Mcgraw Hill - A textbook that is also a workbook. It's generally $20 for the print edition and $10 for the digital edition.

Gramática portuguesa - A Portuguese grammar textbook entirely in Portuguese. This same publisher also has a general course called Portugués fácil. The books go for somewhere between $20-$25 new but cheaper digital and used versions are available.

Brazilian Portuguese For dummies - The for dummies series has one of the cheaper self study books for Portuguese. A new copy at full price is about $25 but older editions and used copies also go for cheaper.

The Oxford New Portuguese Dictionary - This is an older edition but it's also only $9 and there are used copies for sale. Newer editions are around $13.

Português para principiantes - This is an online book of free study material from the University of Wisconson-Madison

KIDS SHOWS

Turma da Mônica

Irmão do Jorel

Peiexonauta

[enmi-land]

౨ৎ BASICS ─────who is she?

♯ BiRTH NAME Milana Minglu Wang ❪ 王明璐 ❫

♯ LEGAL NAME Milana Minglu Bai ❪ 白明璐 ❫

REASON FOR NAME Her surname was changed after the divorce of her parents to her mother’s, as it was her mother who took custody of her. Her first name is a tribute tot he place where her parents met—Milan.

NAME MEANiNGS Milana, meaning "dear, beloved"; Minglu ❪明璐 ❫, meaning "shining jade"; Bai ❪ 白 ❫, meaning "white"

♯ KOREAN NAME Baek Mirae ❪ 백미래 ❫

REASON FOR NAME Jay recommended the name Mirae because its meaning suited Mila’s personality of always looking forward to the future.

NAME MEANiNGS Mirae ❪ 미래 ❫ , meaning ‘future’; Baek ❪ 백 ❫, meaning ‘white’

♯ JAPANESE NAME Shirakawa Mitsuri ❪ 白川 光璃 ❫

REASON FOR NAME Fans say Mila resembles Mitsuri from the popular anime Demon Slayer, and Mila liked the name, so she decided to use it, but with different kanji.

NAME MEANiNGS Mitsuri ❪ 光璃 ❫, meaning ‘radiant gemstone’; Shirakawa ❪ 白川 ❫, meaning ‘white river’

♯ NiCKNAMES Mila, BaoBao, Mimi, Lana, Lulu, Ming'er, MingMing

♯ DATE OF BIRTH 31 March, 2003

♯ BiRTH PLACE Palmview; Sunshine Coast, Australia

♯ NATiONALiTY Chinese-Australian

♯ ETHNiCiTY Chinese

♯ SPOKEN LANGUAGES English ❪ fluent ❫, Chinese ❪ fluent ❫, Korean ❪ fluent ❫, Japanese ❪ intermediate ❫

♯ FAMiLY

PARENTS Bai Yinhe ❪ Mother ❫, David Bowen Wang ❪ Father ❫

SiBLiNGS Alexei Wang ❪ Younger Half-Brother ❫

BY MARRiAGE Eugenia Wang ❪ Step-Mother ❫

౨ৎ PERSONALiTY ─────attitude

♯ MBTi ENFP ❪ Campaigner ❫

FORMER MiSTYPES iNFP ❪ Mediator ❫

REASON FOR MiSTYPiNG Mila does possess some introverted qualities, especially when she was younger. Growing up, she was always the type to struggle to form close friendships with others, and had preferred to be alone and spend quiet time with herself than others. After she was able to make lifelong friends, realised how much she valued the company of others, and finds herself seeking company of people, though she still occasionally has moments of social depletion.

♯ PERSONALiTY TRAiTS People with the ENFP personality type are true free spirits – outgoing, openhearted, and open-minded. With their lively, upbeat approach to life, ENFPs stand out in any crowd. But even though they can be the life of the party, they don’t just care about having a good time. These personalities have profound depths that are fueled by their intense desire for meaningful, emotional connections with others.

POSiTiVE TRAiTS curious, perceptive, enthusiastic, excellent communicator, easygoing, good-natured and positive

NEGATiVE TRAiTS people-pleasing, unfocused, disorganised, overly accomodating, overly optimistic, restless

♯ HABiTS pouting, tilting her head, scrunching her nose, blinking repeatedly when she’s confused, singing song lyrics during conversations, spam-texting, hugging people’s arms that she’s comfortable with, nuzzling, zoning out

౨ৎ PHYSICAL ─────the look

♯ HEiGHT 174cm ❪ 5’8” ❫

♯ BLOOD TYPE O+

♯ WEiGHT 60kg ❪ 132.2lbs ❫

♯ BODY MODiFiCATiONS

PiERCINGS lobe, upper lobe, conch, belly button

TATTOOS red koi fish ❪ right wrist; matching with riki ❫, peony flower ❪ back of neck; her grandma’s favourite flower ❫, string of seven stars ❪ left shoulder to upper left breast; represents her seven boyfriends ❫

♯ KiBBE BODY TYPE Soft Dramatic

DECRiPTiON Soft Dramatics usually have features that are lush and sensual, such as big eyes, full lips, and fleshy cheeks. They tend to be tall—i.e 5.5ft and over—with long vertical lines, characterised by long limbs, and are fleshy in the bust and hip areas with slightly small waists. Many have hourglass figures, but not overly so.

ESSENCE This body type has having a bold, exotic physicality combined with a powerful sensual essence.‍

MOST FLATTERiNG STYLE Diva Chic

FAMOUS EXAMPLES Tzuyu, Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Hudson, Monica Belluci

♯ PERSONAL COLOUR PALETTE Deep Winter

♯ UNiQUE FEATURES soft cheeks, dimples, uneven double eyelids ❪ left eye is slightly droopy ❫, small beauty marks below eye and on her nose, eye smile, big eyes, eleven line abs without a flat stomach

♯ MEDiCAL HiSTORY spinal surgery, breast reduction surgery, lasik eye surgery

౨ৎ CAREER ─────rise to fame

♯ TiTLES Prada’s Princess, Milana Monroe, 4th Gen It Girl, Enhypen’s Blue Chip, Versace’s Muse

♯ TRAiNiNG PERiOD 2 years, 1 months

♯ COMPANY Hybe/Be:Lift ❪ Current ❫, BigHit ❪ 2018-2020 ❫

♯ SKiLLSET DESCRiPTiON

VOCALS 89/100 — Mila has the most versatile vocal range within the group with solid high and low notes. Her live vocals are very stable, and breathless is minimal due to good breath control. Her overall tone and cadence is pleasing to listen to.

DANCE 92/100 — She’s able to pull off a wide range of choreography. Her flexibility is best among the members, with high stamina and a lot of power. In any girl group, she could easily be a main dancer.

RAP 67/100 — Her flow and tone are good, but free styling is difficult, especially in Korean. She can rap well in covers and even original songs if she practises, though she wouldn’t be considered having a lead or main position in the group.

SONGWRITING/PRODUCiNG 78/100 — Her lyricism is improving the more songs she writes, but she already has an impressive aptitude for thinking of vocal arrangement and harmonies, even with minimal musical knowledge.

ACTiNG 87/100 — She’s been praised for her ability to channel different emotions authentically without significant acting experience, which opens a possibility of pursuing an acting career further down the line.

PERFORMANCE 97/100 — Her facial expressions, stage presence, and overall skillset make her ideal for the centre position. As a group member, she’s an asset to the team that adds a new level of expression, and has high potential to go solo.

♯ FACE CLAiM TripleS Xinyu

♯ VOCAL CLAiM XG Juria

♯ DANCE CLAiM XG Jurin

♯ POSiTiONS Visual, Centre, Lead Vocalist, Lead Dancer

♯ MiC/iN EARS

MiC Sparkly pink

iN EARS Sparkly pink with nine-starred diamond constellation ❪ left ❫, bejewelled pink with diamond accent ❪ right ❫

♯ BRAND ENDORSEMENTS

GROUP Prada, BENCH, Tiffany&Co. ❪ w/ Jake & Sunghoon ❫, Dunkin’, Kèreastase ❪ w/ Kiara ❫, Ami, Gentle Monster, Goobne ❪ w/ Sunoo ❫

SOLO Versace, Victoria Secret, Mach & Mach, WEI Beauty, Olens, Pepsi, Shang Xia

♯ SiGNATURES

LEGAL stylised 'B' from her surname 'Bai,' made to look like a butterfly

AUTOGRAPH stylised 'Ming' from her Chinese name 'Minglu', with the 'g' at the end drawn to look like a sunrise

౨ৎ HISTORY ─────behind the scenes

♯ 2003 - 2012 Mila lived with her parents in Sunshine Coast, Australia. Her mother was a medical student and her father was a musician, and were both young when they fell in love. Her father dreamt of performing for the world; her mother, however, disapproved of the time he spent away from home. Constant arguments and disagreements led to a divorce when Mila was 9, and Mila’s mother took her back to China afterwards. Mila wouldn’t see her father again until much later.

♯ 2013 - 2017 While in China, Mila would continue to pursue her passion for cheerleading, which she developed in Australia, after her mother had enrolled her with a free coupon she got from an associate. But at thirteen years old, she was suddenly dropped while stunting and fractured her spine, requiring a surgery and months of therapy. After the experience, her mother forbade her from continuing cheerleading, though she would still practice in secret—until she found a new passion.

♯ 2017-2018 Mila recovered fully from her surgery and searched for something else to do now that she can no longer continue her lifelong passion of cheer. One day, a school friend invited her to attend dance classes, and Mila decided to try it out. She started to fall in love with dance as time passed and decided it was something she wanted to continue doing on the future. One day, she sees that female trainee auditions are open at BigHit, and decides to audition with some Kpop friends who were interested. She was the only one in the group who was accepted.

♯ 2018-2020 Mila would eventually receive a difficult time from her mother, who condemned her for wanting to leave home to pursue fame, as it was the same thing her father did that caused her parent’s relationship to fall apart. Mila started to lose courage, not wanting to disappoint her mother. However, her grandmother stood firmly by her side and encouraged her to go. Mila would leave home without reconciling with her mother — something that would weigh heavy on her heart for years to come. However, during that time, she became close friends with Kiara, and met Heeseung, Jay and Sunghoon through her. Together, they would enter the survival show I-Land, and debut together in the group Enhypen.

♯ 2021-2022 Mila would grapple with the struggles of debuting and sudden rise to fame, as well as her awkward relationship with her mother. During this time, she also starts to realise that her feelings for certain members of the group. All of this becomes a melting pot of stress for Mila. However, Mila comes clean, and learns that the boys feel the same way about her. It would be a long and difficult process, but they would eventually accept a polyamorous relationship between Mila and the boys.

♯ 2022-PRESENT Despite many difficulties and challenges, Mila becomes one of the icons of the fourth generation of Kpop groups, with Enhypen continuing to rise in success and fame as time passes, while Mila and the boys continue to grow closer together.

౨ৎ TRIVIA ─────exclusive interview

She never actually met her younger half-brother and didn't even known about him until she overheard her mother talking about it on the phone, hence why she still claims to be an only child

Mila's family is actually very wealthy, with her grandfather being the chairman of a private hospital that was owned previously by her grandmother's father (Mila's great-grandfather)

Because of the previously stated fact, many of Mila's relatives are in the medical field, including her mother, who is a plastic surgeon with a clinic in Shenzhen

Mila is the only granddaughter and hence received preferential treatment from her grandparents and family members, who spoiled her

Mila has three older male cousins (the eldest two are twins)

Despite being spoiled, Mila's grandfather taught her the importance of humility, as he was actually from a poor family before he married her grandmother; for this reason, she never mentions her family wealthy, and it wasn't until fans started investigating her family's social media that it became a known fact and was exposed to the public

Mila earned the nickname 'Prada's Princess' after a clip went viral, wherein she went to an event for the brand and pointed out a bag she liked from the display collection, before posting a picture the next day thanking the brand for sending it to her

The most shocking gift Mila ever received from a fan was a sterling silver diamond tiara, which she couldn't accept because of how expensive it was

When Mila was 14, she desperately wanted a rhinoplasty, but her mother told her to wait until she got older; in the end, Mila never got it done because she learnt to appreciate her nose

If Mila wasn't an idol, she would want to be a travelling journalist, but would most likely end up pursuing medicine because of family tradition

When attending school in China, Mila was often called by the nickname "Bai Fu Mei," which is a term used to describe a woman who is "white, rich and beautiful," and coincidentally could be seen as a play on her surname "Bai" which also means "white"

Mila's first crush was a friend of her older cousin and a childhood neighbour, but he never reciprocated her feelings since she was too young

Mila has never dated anyone before her current boyfriends, so they’ve taken all of her firsts

[weirdsht]

Disillusioned 9 . Nothing More, Nothing Less (2)

a/n: ngl i really want for reader to start calling rosalyn as big sis but idk if i should use noona or unnie... why can't there just be a gender-neutral honorific for older siblings

tags: everyone is a gossip girl, hans the no 1 reader supporter, feelings in progress

English isn’t my first language so there will be grammatical errors

Pls don't repost my work anywhere without my permission

Constructive criticisms and any kind of interaction are more than welcome

Requests are currently closed but my ask are still open (read pinned)

Buy Me Dessert

Navigation Masterlist prev . next

All good things must come to an end.

That’s the truth that Cale tries to deny. However, it’s something he must face because he is set to go back to the Jungle to heal the fake holy maiden.

And that means leaving _____ behind.

Not that it matters much, in Cale’s opinion, it’s just that leaving _____ made him realise that he must work again.

Nothing more, nothing less.

"She is reaching the intermediate stages, but she is not there yet. However, it is still dangerous." 

Cale felt a momentary relief that he left _____ back at the villa, he felt like he made the right decision. He quickly shivered at his line of thought.

'Why did I think that? Am I actually concerned? No, I'm just glad there are less troublesome things to think of.'

The thought left as fast as it entered Cale's mind as he shifted his focus back to the task at hand, and that was saving the swordmaster, Hannah.

At the underground villa.

The healer that occupied Cale’s thoughts is having a friendly conversation with Hans.

Honestly, it's more like Hans keeps asking questions, and _____ just willingly answers. Like a one-sided game of 20 questions.

“Young master _____, why did you agree to heal young master Cale back at the capital?”

“Hans I told you, I’m not a noble anymore so it’s inappropriate to refer to me as young master… but regarding your question, honestly aside from me never refusing to heal someone, it was also because Tasha-nim was the one who asked me to heal Cale-nim.”

Maes, who’s taking a short break from training with Lock, glanced at the two people talking and shook his head. Hans has been talking nonstop ever since Cale left the villa.

“Young master _____ is a young master so as a butler I must refer to you as young master.”

The young wolf could see _____ dazedly nod at the deputy butler’s confusing but logical (? Even Maes isn’t sure) argument.

“However young master, when you and young master Cale met again did you immediately know that you were going to be together?”

The wording used was… weird, but it’s not like Maes has a say since his only eavesdropping.

“You mean teaming up together? Honestly no, there are already so many capable people around him.”

“But young master _____ is special!”

Maes could see _____ stop eating the caramel bar Beacrox served to give Hans a confused stare. The deputy butler ignored the look and continued on his agenda.

“Anyways! The young master and you are quite close nowadays, right? Do you enjoy spending time with him?”

Ah, there it is— the million gallons question.

From the start of the conversation, the young boy knew what Hans’ goal was. Not only he, but everyone in the villa knew the deputy butler was trying to gauge the relationship between the two.

The wolf could only smile as he silently wished the healer to survive Hans’ interrogation.

“Really? I didn’t really notice. However, now that you mention I’ve been spending almost every day with the young master.”

_____ laughed awkwardly.

“I enjoy his company. Back when I was working for the public as a healer I never really had the chance to talk to someone as leisurely as I do with him. Uhm don’t get me wrong, that was also very rewarding. Nonetheless, the tranquil moments I spent with the young master are very special.”

After hearing the healer’s answer Maes went back to training. In the corner of his eyes, the other people that sneakily gathered within hearing range also dispersed. 

In one corner he could see the two kittens ‘napping’ (Maes saw their ears twitch the moment Hans asked the golden question). Rosalyn is ‘talking’ to Choi Han about some sort of energising potion (they haven’t said anything for the past 5 minutes). Beacrox is ‘fixing’ a wheel on the food cart (Maes was most definitely sure that cart was brand new, he heard it was ordered by the countess herself so there’s no way it’s broken already). 

Safe to say that everyone in the villa is curious about the young master’s love life.

The deputy butler and the healer continued talking. Their topics vary but somehow Hans always managed to circle it back to Cale.

Maes isn’t sure if his amazed or scared at the deputy butler’s abilities.

Contrary to what everyone else thinks, Hans isn’t asking simply because his curious.

Sure he is, but there’s another reason he is inquiring this much.

He has a duty to report to the count about the young master. If it looks like the young master is on the path of romance then surely it’s his job to update the parents on the matter.

That and he must vouch for _____.

Not that he thinks the healer will have a hard time getting the Henituse’s approval.

The count already knows of their circumstance (Cale had informed him when they went back to the castle a while ago), they are technically still noble, and their reputation back then was far from bad.

But on the off chance they didn’t approve of _____…

Hans vows to do his best to make them give their approval.

Is the deputy butler getting ahead of himself? Oh definitely.

Does he know he is? Oh definitely.

Will he stop? Oh, definitely not.

It certainly did not help Hans’ delusions when Cale immediately looked for _____ as soon as he arrived even when the healer was at the very back.

When Cale got home he came back with new additions to their group. _____ didn’t know who these twins were, but the power of the Sun God could be felt from them.

The Medicus was both astonished and confused. Astonished because of the holy powers the man is emitting. Confused because the woman has both light and dark attributes.

_____ decides to not question it.

Nevertheless, that night Cale found himself explaining everything to the healer. He explained everything from their encounter at Hais to what happened in the Jungle. He really has no reason to do so. He barely explains unnecessary things to his people, so he can't understand why he's doing the opposite for _____. 

But he can't deny the relief he feels when he sees the healer nod in understanding.

Maybe it was because he felt responsible. After all, all three of them have abilities related to the Sun God.

Nothing more, nothing less.

The weeks after that were lenient on the redhead’s schedule. He spends his days watching everyone train with _____ by his side. Sometimes he lazes around the marble floors with _____. Every so often he has tea with _____.

At this point, the only time the two are separated is when they have to go to their respective rooms to sleep.

That and when Cale had to attend the alliance meeting. However, immediately after he went to seek out the healer. Complaining about how he had to be surrounded by so many vicious people for hours on end, and how fresh air is always the best.

_____’s confused look tells everyone that they didn’t know they were the ‘fresh air’ Cale was talking about.

Not that they need to know for now. They have a lot of time. Even if they don't, everyone in that villa will make sure they do.

The two spent the rest of the summer and the start of fall spending more time with each other. 

Some days they would chat, on others they would simply lounge around and bask in each other's presence. This does not go past the observant eyes of everyone else in the underground villa, and all of them are happy to see Cale finally being close to someone his age.

But of course, every peaceful moment must reach an end. 

This time that ends manifested itself when Toonka updated Cale about the war going on between the empire and the Whipper kingdom.

[wufflesvetinari]

ok fine, wyllstarion rec list

the demons bade me write this. i have a lot of Thoughts and Feelings and a fabulous bookmarks list. come with me....and you'll be.......in a world of pure wyllstarion nation

note that this is like. an intermediate/advanced, 201-level list. i am trusting you, and assume you've already read asidian's body of work. you've read nothing is safe. you're reading Nothing Like the Sun &etc. Really anything that appears on the first two pages when sorting by bookmarks/kudos is disqualified due to pre-recognized excellence. (you could, however, go read them again)

are you back? good. now read:

"We Happy Few" - @geometea. listen to me. listen. i am looking deeply into your eyes. read this fucking fic. it's hard to shill without spoiling anything, BUT: wyll is a still-pacted grand duke. he used to have a bunch of unresolved romantic tension with astarion and now hasn't spoken to him for 15 years. now take that premise and add body horror, beautiful ominous surreal images, and SURPRISE BIG EMOTIONS. just trust me on this one, guys

"Crossed Blades" - @rebelontherocks. this is a...i think i have to call this a cozy sex romp. wyll and astarion are married, wyll is a busy duke, astarion needs more enrichment, astarion invents a very silly sex game by roleplaying teenage-wyll's smut books. wyll is So Deeply Into It. i love this fic for its characterization, its banter, and its commitment to paralleling character psychology to what sounds like an absolutely wild in-universe smut series (that is sketched with an impressive amount of detail and care tbh??).

"Comfort" - @acephalouscreature. short and sweet. wyll is injured and everyone expects astarion to take care of him. luckily, astarion has a dastardly plan to fake feelings for wyll by thinking about his feelings for wyll. you sure fooled them, astarion!! also featuring: astarion trying to figure out how to comfort someone by thinking about horses

"False Compare" - @jellyfishline. i'd recommend checking out their work generally, but i fell in love with this one first. wyll writes a sonnet! astarion is mean about it until he isn't! deeply in-character with an emphasis on how each of them communicates affection. gorgeous prose

"how to escape the torment nexus" - @ushauz. this series is incredibly unique, set in a fucked-up bad end where wyll is a lemure, astarion is still on the run from cazador, and almost everyone else is dead. where this really shines imo is wyll's POV: he's been through literal hell, doesn't remember his life, and is wading through his unconscious attachment to astarion like a foreign language. (side note also read Heart of Stone for a great lae'zel character piece)

"An Acorn in the Moonlight" - @anonyhex. this is one of the first wyllstarion fics i ever read and it has a special place in my heart!! it's particularly cathartic to read for Wyll reasons, including him actually getting to Have Emotions about what Ulder put him through. and they are so sweet with each other!!

"temporal displacement" - @purplecatghostposts. ok this came out like. yesterday but listen, i LOVE outsider pov of an astarion who's learned to show affection somewhat, seen from the eyes of someone who doesn't know his history and has no reason to suspect All Of That. and when that "outsider" is a dying 20-year-old wyll who just saw astarion step out of a time portal. well.

"nothing to make a song about" - @grey-wardens. for when you want something meaty and casefic-adjacent, set in a post-canon where wyll is the blade and not the duke (for once). contains bonding on the road, getting romantically snowed in together, and Symbolic Fetch-Quests.

i am also watching closely: "One of Those Prince-Types" by @lesbianralzarek and "sigh no more" by @tomorrowsrain. both are one chapter in and promise to be meaty, with execution that already feels very very promising

SPECIAL MENTION TO "Like Death (or Birth)" by The_Dancing_Walrus, which has some fraught implied background wyllstarion and is just generally completely baller. astarion kind-of sort-of accidentally adopts yenna, who got fucked up by her time as a potential sacrifice to bhaal. it works! i promise it works

EDIT 1/12/25: now with part 2!