#Multilingual

[howlingguardian]

Still not much of a Game of Thrones fan, but last night I was talking with a friend, who is more of a fan, and we ended up discussing an idea I've had for some time- multilingual Westeros.

I get that GRRM probably had them all speak a common language just to make it more straightforward, but Westesteros is thousands of years old, and it's a large continent. it's entirely possible that the kingdoms could have each developed their own languages, like the different nations of Europe developed their own languages.

Sharing the Faith of the Seven would give a common starting point for most of the languages, but they'd grow and change over time. The North would be particularly distinct, since they worshipped the Old Gods instead, and the Iron Islands would be too due to worship of the Drowned Gods. Dorne would be influenced by the Rhoynar immigrating.

Let's say that when the Targaryens came over, they forced Valyrian as a courtly language, or maybe it was just fashionable. English nobility spoke French for centuries, while the peasants spoke English. That's why there are so many French loan words in English.

Plenty of European nobility would learn multiple languages for diplomacy and trade and so on. Westerosi nobility could do the same. So they'd learn their kingdom's language, Valyrian as a courtly language, and one or two or their neighbours languages as needed.

And think how that would work in the story! The Stark kids would all learn Northern and Riverland from their parents, plus Valyrian and a bit of Vale since Ned was fostered there; maybe a bit of Old Men for tradition too. What language they defaulted to would say something about them- Arya and Jon would prefer Northern, Sansa would use southern languages to seem more elegant.

Ned and Robert could reminisce about their boyhood and Jon Arryn in Vale, just like old times. When Robert orders Daenerys killed, Ned might switch to Vale to try and persuade Robert, then switch back to Valyrian when he resigns as Hand, signalling the distance between them.

Theon could pepper his speech with bits of Iron Island for cultural posturing, then get a shock when he goes back and realises how rusty he is. Maybe he's lost his accent, and Balon derides him for speaking like a greenlander.

Joffrey would only speak Westerland and Valyrian, and he wouldn't bother to learn anything else. He'd probably use a translater for speaking to the common folk.

Tyrion would speak a bunch- he'd delight in speaking to people in their mother tongues, or waiting to catch them out saying something rude. It'd break the ice with Jon at Winterfell, it'd let him argue in his defense at the Eyrie, it'd save his life negotiating with the Hill tribes.

Tywin would catch Arya out at Harrenhall when she responds to an order he gives in Valyrian or something. She'd make something up about learning a few words to be a better servant, and he'd let her get away with it. Maybe he'd make a crack to his men about 'My cupbearer can speak Valyrian better than you'.

And when Jon's up past the wall, he's the only one who's really able to talk to the Wildlings. In canon, Mance mentions they speak seven languages in his army, though that's not really shown. Jon being able to speak Northern and First Men would let him start a dialogue- literally!

As for Danaerys- well, Viserys would have forced her to learn at least one or two, and she'd probably be eager to learn more, first from Sir Jorah, then later from Missandei. She'd want to speak the languages of the kingdoms as she dreams of returning there someday.

And when there's magical stuff going on, like the warlocks of Qarth, or Melisandre doing her thing, they could speak in the listener's mother tongue. Imagine how much scarier Melisandre woud be saying 'You know nothing, Jon Snow' when she says it in Ygritte's language.

I might write a whole snippet of this at some point, or I might just leave it to this post. What do you guys think?

[multilingualpotato]

Are Czech People… Cold?

One of the things that foreigners seem to struggle with in the Czech Republic, is that Czech people can appear to be quite cold and distant. You might even think that they look at you like they have something against you.

Do not worry, this is simply the “Czech public spaces resting bitch face” (as I like to call it). When you walk on a street or take public transportation do not expect Czech people to smile. Most won't and are not fond of small talk with absolute strangers either. However, this is nothing personal against you. Czech people are actually very warm and welcoming, once you get to interact with them on a deeper level. It’s just that we do not waste our smiles on strangers, but reserve them for people we hold dear.

So the next time a Czech person looks like they have a personal vendetta against you when you say hi to them in an elevator, just remember, they are probably thinking about how many rohlíky they should buy in Lidl.

Sincerely, a Czech person

GIF: Czech fairy tale movie Pyšná princezna (Proud princess) from 1952 aka the perfect example of facial expressions of Czech people in public

[glowsticcc]

how many languages do you know?

(i’m counting languages where you took one class for a semester if you retained any of it congrats you are a little multilingual)

(reblog for bigger sample size!)

[gayeilgeoir]

Stop making your multilingual characters “forget to switch back”, that’s unrealistic, here’s some actual situations multilingual people regularly do, as someone who is fluent in English, and conversationally fluent in Irish and Spanish:

If they have to say something in another language, like a name, it will be heavily accented, they won’t say it like it’s English

Multilingual people might have a hard time distinguishing languages that arent their first, and may mix them together in sentences

Translating expression directly that only make sense in one language

Adding sounds to English words because they don’t exist in their language (Eg: ‘Eschool’ in Spanish speakers instead of ‘school’)

[incognitopolls]

Tor example, anon is fluid in bengali and english. Here's a typical sentence they would send to their friends who are also bilingual:

"Tomra ki kalke free ? There's this new movie that just koek din age ber hoilo and it looks really nice"

Translation:

"Are you guys free tomorrow ? There's this new movie that just came out a couple of days ago and it looks really nice"

–

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[haku-neko]

So... Practicing chinese plus shadowpeach; new Word: Mang 忙 /busy/

~~~

Aquí practicando un poquiiito de chino.

Más un poco de shadowpeach, por supuesto.

~~~~

Practicando il cinese, nuova parole; Mang che è "occupato".

[stargazingtranquility]

Harry knows a lot of languages, in theory, but he’s only fluent in English like;

He can completely understands Punjabi because that’s the Potters’ native language but he can’t quite grasp speaking it. He picks up French terms of endearments/cuss words from Regulus and Sirius. He knows welsh cuss words as well as philosophical translations because of Remus. He can playfully imitate Italian pick up lines because of Barty. He knows to hide when he hears Swahili because Dorcas only reverts back to it when she’s completely pissed at someone. But everyone around him speaks English the majority of the time, so that’s what he speaks.

Then he gets to Hogwarts and meets Draco Malfoy who can hold a conversation in just about any language someone speaks to him in and fuck, Harry never thought that French was romantic. He’s never seen Punjabi as alluring before. He didn’t consider Italian as attractive.

He spends the summer begging members of his family to teach him more of their languages so he can go back and prove to Draco that he is stupid in more than one language.

[mary-laib]

I was reading a fic last night where Alastor was speaking a lot of French, got halfway through the 17 chapter fic and suddenly realized that I somehow understood what he was saying? Like I never even read the translation notes and never have I ever learned French so why am I suddenly able to understand it? Plus this is the first time I've been reading any fics about him in months.

And to make matters worse, I woke up speaking very bad French. It's bad enough that I have some very broken Spanish interspersed in my everyday speech. I don't need to be speaking Spanglish and Frenglish at the same time.

[thebellekeys]

Recommendations for media about translation, interpreting, and foreign languages

Movies and TV

Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020) The Interpreter (2005) The Last Stage (1948)

Books

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri The Interpreter by Suki Kim Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok Translation Nation by Héctor Tobar Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip Translation State by Ann Leckie

Other Important Topics and Subjects

La Malinche The Rosetta Stone The Tower of Babel The Adamic Language Esperanto Philology Goethean World Literature

Documentaries and History

The Interpreters: A Historical Perspective The Nuremberg Trials Biblical Translation St. Jerome - patron saint of translators Shu-ilishu's Seal (first depiction of an interpreter)

[yellow-dejavu]

[child-of-helios]

I just thought of smth

Grover: I want to find Pan.

Percy: Why? We have Pan at home.

Pan at home:

[diy-languages]

Free Korean Learning Courses! : Part 1

-> These are some free resources I used or heard about a lot to learn Korean and what they include, there's probably way more! I'll make more parts in the future. There's also ratings and pesonal notes about each one, but again they're 'personal' so it might not be the same for everyone! That's why you should always try it yourself first.

-> These resources are or were fully free when I used them, if anything changed and they're no longer free I do not take any responsibility for possible accidental purchases, I recommend to always check first before processing with it.

Here we go:

GoodJobKorean — Full free Hangul Course, 12 Lessons, Videos (with pronunciation, etc) + Pdf Practice sheets (with some vocabulary) + Quizes to see if you understood each lesson.

Rating: 100/10 I tried and loved it, easy to understand and explained nicely. Really useful for beginners learning hangul!

A/N: You may have to rebuy it after a month (not sure because I finished it in less then a month and never logged back in) but It's still free (if not you can always just make another account to get it free again)

GoldenKeyKorean: Free Hangul course, pronunciation + 2H long master course (advanced and basic levels) with 2 pdf books

Rating: I personally did not try this one, but I'm pretty sure it's fully free (at least that's what I've seen), but he often does limited editions/limited time special free courses so it's better to check if the offer is still active and follow his instagram for future updates and courses.

Now Korean Class: Fully free 9 Korean courses with different levels (1-9) with multiple videos for each, explains sentence structures, grammar, counters, numbers, and way more.

Rating: 100/10, It really is free, multiple levels, sooo many different things to learn I absolutely loved it!!

A/N: You just have to rebuy it after a month but I'm pretty sure it's still free (if not you can always just make another account to get it free again). I recently lost acess to it, idk why I think my phone is lagging... It tells me something went wrong to try again later, lol, just in case some content changed etc I wouldn't know.

Koldoristudy: 3 different Free Korean PDF study sheets, 1 Hangul, 1 Vocabulary and 1 winter study, includes Grammar, stroke order guides and syllable blocks,

Rating: 10/10 Loved it, I thought it would be just some pdf files to boringly write hangul/words but It's actually way more! it explains grammar and some useful language rules!

Talk to me in korean: Multiple free podcasts on different platforms + PDF with grammar and vocabulary explained for different levels of learners, 7 days free trial with possible cancelation

Rating: 9/10 It's really good, I'm just not a big fan of podcasts as I have a short attention spawn LOL. I personally didn't try the 7-days free trial but they do have LOTS of different lessons and videos that seem to be amazing and useful.

A/N: personally I find their website really confusing, to make things easier you can try things like just typing "Talk To me In korean (Pdf level _)" on google and the first link should be the free pdf file, etc etc.

Loescen Learn Korean Website: Free Interactive web-based learning, important vocabulary, pronunciation beginner to intermediate level, basic conversation courses and dialogues

Rating: 8/10, so good!! It surprised me, I just wish it went more in deep about things like sentence structures and grammar instead of blindly learning dialogue lines or words without breaking them into steps for deeper understanding of the language.

A/N: works for other languages too!!

Live Lingua: Multiple free ebooks and audio files lessons, grammar, vocabulary, hangul, etc, beginner to advanced,

Rating: 9/10 Covers up a lot of different things like I said, grammar, vocabulary, etc etc, but AGAIN each course covers many subjects and it quickly feels heavy and too long/complicated/takes too much time (personally for me, as an individual with ADHD)

How to study korean: LOTS of grammar and vocabulary, beginners to advanced, multiple lessons, linked YT videos to reinforce lessons, PDFs, etc

Rating: 100/10 explains really well, SO MUCH STUFF, different levels, it's really awesome! Lessons are available in multiple languages and not just English!! However again I find it a bit intimidating as it really has LOTS of things to learn which make it seem hard and heavy...

A/N: Personally I find the website complicated to navigate 😭 just type "how to study korean lesson _" for easier access if you want and It should be the top results

Udemy TOPIK grammar through 100 patters: TOPIK vocabulary, grammar and conversations, 100 grammatical patters koreans use a lot

Rating: 8/10 really good, well explained, but again personally it feels pretty heavy and long, videos in Korean with English subtitles, however there are no English subtitles for "example sentences" which sucks, you need to know some basic vocabulary to really understand the example sentences used there.

Tomi Korean: Free PDF with 430 basic korean vocabulary (words, verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc) with audio files, free PDF Worksheet for hangul learning

Rating: 8/0 Love it, really nice for useful vocabulary but you'll have to willingly study the words cause the pdf only makes you write it once and it's really just Korean-English translations, but it has images so its good for visual learners too! Personally I also found it takes a lot of storage to download everything lol.

A/N: I did not check the hangul worksheet as I can already write and read hangul but little personal opinion/tip; I think GoodJobKorean is the best option to learn Hangul here, specially compared to this one. Yes I did not try this Hangul Worksheet but I believe GoodJobKorean offers more variated content and help (videos, quizes, etc) than what a PDF sheet has to offer, that's my opinion.

That's all so far!

Many of these courses have social media accounts where they post different content and tricks to learn, I'll be making a post about those in the future too!!

If anything changed since I first used these resources or if there's any misinformation in this post, please let me know!

[frenchcoffeebreak]

⊹ 🌱 ; 𝓒hinese learning moodboard _゛🌷 𖦹

. . . Just for motivation ‿ ☀️ ⇵

[mehilaiselokuva]

Not studied Finnish yet? This is your sign!

Here are the absolute basics of the language in an even tighter package compared to my earlier posts. Maybe someone new will take interest in the language from these posts!

To my existing followers, are these kinds of posts good for you? Could my normal posts be in this format sometimes too?

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.