#also Ces is pronounced like ‘sees’ but with a short ‘s’ sound at the end

[nyandela-catalogue]

Ces and Adam made some self-portraits!

Adam wasn’t sure if he wanted us to post his, but i think they’re both cute <3

Marky will draw his again soon (we technically have his as our icon), and we’ll compile them all together once they’ve all been drawn =)

-Jonah🤘

[spanishskulduggery]

how would you say a plural amount of letters? like in english you would say “two K’s” (kays) or “three S’s” (esses), how would you write it in spanish and how would you pronounce it?

Just a warning this kind of goes all over the place because of a lot of grammatical minutiae, but the simple answer:

la K / la ka = the letter K(las) dos kas = the two K’s

la S / la ese = the letter S(las) tres eses = the three S’s

You sometimes see it a letter written by itself or as its pronunciation (la K or la ka in singular), but in plural it’s usually its pronunciation (las kas)

So like…

Hay dos kas en “jackknife”. = There are two K’s in “jackknife”.

“Necessity” tiene dos eses. = “Necessity” has two S’s.

Most of the letters will have a kind of -s sound tacked onto their pronounciation and that will get you the plural of that sound.

There are exceptions… the vowels + X

La a [the letter A] => Las aes [the A’s]

La e [the letter E] => Las es / Las ees [the E’s]

La o [the letter O] => Las oes [the O’s]

La u [the letter U] => Las úes [U’s]

La i (latina) [the letter I] => Las íes (latinas) [I’s]La i (griega) [the letter Y] => Las íes (griegas) [Y’s]

La equis [the letter X] => Las equis [X’s]

With U and I, it’s because you’re preserving the U and I sound so they take on an accent mark to fully pronounce it…. basically because when U+E and I+E are put together, they blend, so the accent mark adds a hiatus. With A+E and O+E, the hiatus is already there so you don’t mix the sound.

It’s really just to keep you from saying something like “the oohs” and “the ees” which could be confusing.

Saying “aes” is kind of like “a-es”, and “oes” is like “o-es” because of the hiatus.

And with E you get two options “es” and “ees”… typically I hear las es with a long EH sound for multiple E’s or people putting la letra E just to be very clear.

And X [equis] already ends in S, so you don’t have to add an additional thing and make it “equises” or something. If you see something like “XXX” it’s commonly pronounced as (las) tres equis 

Additional note: Q is frequently written as either la q, or la qu or la cu. In plural I think I’ve only seen las qus and las cus. 

———————————————————————–

Onto the confusing part - and I can’t stress enough how regional this all can be, so please let me know if I make any mistakes here, native speakers.

This might be a little difficult to explain completely well because I’m not using IPA here. I’ll try and be as clear as possible but just know that I’m using the Spanish pronunciations of things and how they’d write or approximate it.

First, all letters in the alphabet are feminine probably because la letra “letter” is feminine, so there’s that rule first.

Second this is generally how the letters are pronounced or said in Spanish and I need to point out some things because there’s a lot actually here that won’t make sense if I don’t:

A - (a)*

B - (be / be grande)****

C - (ce)CH - (che)**

D - (de)

E - (e)*

F - (efe)

G - (ge)

H - (hache) [although I did learn it as la ache]

I - (i / i latina)*

J - (jota)

K - (ka)

L - (ele)

LL - (elle)

M - (eme)

N - (ene)

Ñ - (eñe)

O - (o)*

P - (pe)

Q - (cu)

R - (ere / erre)***

RR - (erre / erre doble, doble erre)***

S - (ese)

T - (te)

U - (u)*

V - (uve / V corta / V chica)****

W - (doble u / doble uve / uve doble)

X - (equis)

Y - (i / i griega)*

Z - (zeta)

So now the little bits of explanations begin:

* The vowels - All of the vowels [A / E / I / O / U, and Y] are usually written with their pronunciations like I did above. In Spanish, most Spanish speakers know how “A” is pronounced but for the sake of non-native speakers:

A is pronounced like “ah”

E is pronounced like “eh”

I is pronounced like “ee”

O is pronounced like “oh”

U is pronounced like “ooh”

Y is pronounced like “ee”

With i and y it’s common to differentiate them as i latina [I] and i/y griega [Y]… The letter [I] is i latina being “Latin I” because it comes from the Latin alphabet, and because the letter [Y] comes from Greek it’s griega. They are pronounced the same “ee” like a long E song in English.

So say you were spelling out a word like yanqui “yankee / someone from the US” you would spell it Y-A-N-Q-U-I [i griega - a - ene - cu - u - i latina] in a way that tells you that Y and I are different letters.

** - CH. The letter “CH” which is pronounced like che or “chay” in English is not technically a letter in Spanish anymore, but it might show up in some dictionaries as its own section. 

*** - R and RR. I’ve seen R written as ere and erre before. And while RR is not its own letter (anymore, but in some places it is considered its own), I’ve seen it as erre or erre doble [double R]. I was taught ere [R] and erre [RR] but I understand why that’s not totally great for everyone depending on your own pronunciation; I personally recommend saying erre [R] and doble erre [RR] if you mean RR because it makes it very clear you’re talking about a double letter.

If you were saying multiple RR’s, you’d most commonly see erres dobles.

**** This one is really its own issue but B and V have similar pronunciations in a lot of things. Just suffice it to say it’s its own issue. 

For our purposes, it’s normally pronounced be [”bay”] and uve [”oo-vay”]. Otherwise, you’ll see B as B grande or B larga which mean “big/long B”… and you might see V as V corta or V chica which is “short/small V”

Another common way to differentiate it is to say B de burro “B as in burro [donkey]”, and V de vaca “V as in vaca [cow]”…….. that’s kind of like the equivalent of “B as in boy” and “V as in Victor” in English.

Side Note: It should go without saying but ele is pronounced “el-ay”, and elle is pronounced “ey-yay”… because LL has a strong Y sound. 

Side Note 2: Similarly ge is pronounced like “hay”, and jota for “J” is pronounced “ho-ta” 

Side Note 3: Ñ or eñe is pronounced “en-yay”

So moving on, just note that the letters are feminine, and normally you’re going to say la and then las for plural.

When doing plural, you usually have to add a -S sound to it. That’s mostly easy for the consonants, minus X so you don’t really have to worry too much.

I typically see the letters sort of spelled out so for example: hacer eses which is literally “to make S’s” is another expression for “to spin around” or “to spin out” is typically written as eses 

You might see something like la m but then you might see las emes for “M’s”… I think that might just be for the sake of convenience. But you might also see la ache instead of la h… or la jota instead of la j.

It’s more acceptable when it seems to be a whole different word, kind of like la equis vs la x which I think both make sense. 

I typically capitalize it if I’m going to write it as a singular letter because I think that is a little easier to understand when reading, but that is probably just me.

Additional Note: There are some abbreviations where Spanish pronounces them a bit differently; they’re normally treated as loanwords. 

These are different from Spanish abbreviations:

FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation]In Spanish el FBI is pronounced like el Efe-Be-I sort of how you’d expect

CIA [Central Intelligence Agency]In Spanish this is la CIA which is pronounced la Si-A, rather than pronouncing each letter individually

KO / K.O. [knockout]In Spanish this is normally el KO which is pronounced el ka-o the way you’d pronounce K + O. In some places you’ll hear el knockout with voz inglesa but in some places they use estar KO to mean either “to be unconscious” or “to be dead tired” 

OK / okayIn Spanish estar OK or OK/okay sounds just like English “o-kay”, and it’s pretty directly adapted from English

OVNI [el objeto volador no identificado] In Spanish el OVNI or el ovni is the direct translation of “UFO” or “Unidentified Flying Object”. You pronounce it “ov-ni”, rather than pronouncing every single letter

There are other expressions like this. The one I mentioned above “XXX” in English is “triple X” or “X-X-X” but in Spanish it’s tres equis and is a synonym for “pornographic” in some contexts

There’s some variations with Spanish abbreviations.

Some are like when you might see Los EEUU / Los EE.UU in writing, but you’d hear it as Los Estados Unidos “the United States” rather than hearing it all pronounced.

So it really depends on the actual word/abbreviation in question.

[blurrymango]

Chapter One

The air was salty and chilled, a sign that it was finally the beginning of fall. PoisonBerry clutched the journey in bony hands. There was something strange about this day, something overwhelming that loomed over the vessel of the ship like a cloud. The net that had been cast in the water came back up slowly. The crew watched with anticipation as it breached the surface. What they had pulled up was not fish nor treasure, but a body. With long brown hair and scarring burns covering what surface wasn’t covered in decay. The raven-haired girl felt to her sick to her stomach at the scene before, the nauseating smell and sight quickly overtook her, her body unable to handle it as she passed out.

Maybe in another timeline he would have cared, but by the sticky-notes she had covered the pages of his book with, it was obvious she had no idea who he was, no respect for the grave in which his thoughts at. And in the pale moonlight that shined through the small window on the wall, he realized that, as well as having no respect for him, she had no respect for herself either. Greasy and unkept short black hair mocked anyone who knew her. She used to take pride in herself, inner and outer. Those once delicate and slender hands that could make or break beautiful creations were now callused and shaky. He looked away, not wanting to see her in that state any longer.

Whoever had shared this before had long since left, as he hoped he would as well. He would have thrown on whatever of the person’s clothes fit comfortably, though with his stature he was reduced to choosing whatever wouldn’t slide off his awkward body. He absentmindedly wondered how easily he would be able to get his muscle and fat back up, knowing that until his skin wasn’t trying to heal itself over layers of decay he wouldn’t be able go back on testosterone. He sneered at the thought, grabbing an empty satchel and putting his journal and some money in it.

He figured that if he were to stay on the ship that he would be interrogated or if he managed to play dead that the male members of the crew would likely try to, well, make use of his corpse’s more feminine parts. He shivered at the thought, unable to tell if he feared the idea or got excited by it. Either way he did not want to find out which. He briefly considered taking PoisonBerry with him, but not only did she not remember who he was but frankly she might as well be dead if she didn’t remember him. Plus, he was a stranger to her, and though she was never quite smart, she had good instincts. He had always admired that about her.

He was about to get into a raft when he heard a gun cock and felt cool metal against the back of his head. He could hear it now, the unsteady and ragged breath of the person behind him. She never really liked the sea air, her asthma would always act up, as it was now by how it sounded. He cleared his throat.

“Th-the-the o-o-cea-ocean a-ai-air-r a-ain’t g-goo- ain’t g-good f-for ya lungs-s, girl.” He hated his stutter, it made him sound scared, but, really, he wasn’t really feeling emotions right now. His legs were tired from standing, his tongue sandpaper in his mouth, and his entire body was sore and nauseated.

“‘S-s-sides, if y-y-ya k-killed me, I b-b-bet-betcha’ th-that ya c-capt-tin beat y-you f-f-for it, make ya c-clean up my bl-blood and gut-ts.” The coolness of the gun left, and he turned to face her. Her features were etched with anger and fear, though her long nose scrunched up with disgust. Maybe it was the smell. But when he looked into her eyes, she looked away. Those once bright green eyes that he had once stared into with mutual admiration and respect could now barely stand to look back at him. She was afraid.

“Just return what st-stole and you can leave.” She held out her hand for the item.

“Th-th-the b-bah-bag ain’t-t yours, b-b-babe.” He needed to get on land quickly, else he was going to throw up his guts into the sea.

“I’m talking about the journal.” She sneered at him. He could handle an angry PoisonBerry, and he knew had to act fast or do what she wants, or things would get violent.

“J-j-jus-jus’ t-t-takin’ back what’s-s m-mine br-bro.” His instincts acted and then the gun was in his hand and aimed straight at her head before she could register what happened.

“Y-y-y’know wh-what-t, s-s-s-since you s-so rude to your g-guest, you c-c-can t-take me to the Av-v-v-vante docks or y-you-you’ll get a f-fuck-fucking b-bull-let in ya s-sk-skull.” She was no longer rude.

It would have been silent if not for the gentle waves around them. Blitz was looking directly at PoisonBerry, studying the rowing girl with scrutinizing eyes. She used to be so different, she was so confident, hard-headed and energetic. She used to give off an air of easy-going superiority that made anyone relaxed. The person in front of him was merely a pitiful disgrace in her body, if there was a way to get rid of this thing that possessed her and bring back his friend, he would take any opportunity he got. He hated how different she was now, and it showed.

“So, uh-“

“Sh-sh-sut-shut the f-f-fuck up, p-pl-please. I-I-I’m n-not in the m-mood to t-t-talk.” The rest of the it was spent in grateful silence.

When the two arrived at the town, the sun had barely risen, yet society was already awake. The mere idea of waking up this early disgusted them both and angered Blitz, but that meant stores were open. Which meant food, and though the thought of eating nauseated him, he was hungry, and he knew just where to eat at.

He walked with a purpose, if anger could be considered one. It certainly would have been a sight to see, a corpse walking with a girl so skinny she was a skeleton, both wore ill-fitted clothing. Blitz loved and hated the stares he got, on one hand, it was attention and their gazes were fearful, on the other hand, it was attention, and they were afraid of him.

When the two reached their destination, a small café tucked neatly away in the city, Blitz was thankful that there weren’t much people. He gestured for PoisonBerry to sit at a booth near the counter. He knew the girl at the register, but something told him she didn’t remember him. Before he could order though, another familiar face rushed in, a vampire girl whose admittedly had much healthier looking skin than his, she ordered tea and coffee. He snorted at the order, knowing that it was not born of indecisiveness, but of an ideology that screamed ‘Life is boring so do what you want and if you end up buried alive or in jail then you did not party hard enough.’ Quite frankly a beautiful philosophy to live by.

“Y-you tr-tryna’ c-c-cure a h-hang-hangover?” He leaned against the counter. She looked over at him, shocked by his existence, and smirked, pulling out a thermos. She unscrewed the cap and held it towards him. The contents of which assaulted his sense of smell. The thermos contained a mix of honey, blood, and vodka.

“M-m-ay-maybe j-just stick to c-candles, A-Amber.” He told her.

“Either you’re a psychic or a stalker, either way I’m outta here.” She exclaimed, pronouncing ‘either’ both ways. True to her word, she gathered up her things and left. The girl behind the counter snorted.

“Next, I guess.” The dark-skinned girl said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

“U-uh, y-yeah, I-I’ll have a sl-slice of st-str-strawberry c-c-cake and a t-t-t-tea for my friend and I’ll have  a dou-double-ch-choc-double-chocolate-ch-chip cookie and uh, the sw-sweet-test coffee you have.”

The girl scribbled down the order with a bored expression, then her eyes flicked up and she smiled.

“That’ll be $14.42.” She stood straight and cleared her throat. “But if you can guess my name you’ll get a discount.” She smiled lazily. He might as well have, considering he knew, both her and her twin.

“I c-c-can tell y-ya more th-than th-th-that. A-al-also I’ll p-pay for the va-vampire’s drink t-too, consider-considering h-how sh-she l-left bef-fore she- before she could h-h-hers-self.”

She pretended to ponder it for a moment, then held out her hand for him to shake his. She slid the order through the little window leading to the kitchen.

“Y-your n-n-name i-is Ar-Arti-Artimes, you ha-have a twi-tw-twin with b-bl-blue e-eyes named Apollo, and-and! - y-y’all  are fr-friends and c-co-workers with girl n-named Ch-Char-Cha-Charlotte C-Cooke!” She stared at his grinning face with wide eyes.

“Go sit with your friend, your order will be out shortly.” He smiled at her, setting down $9 and going to sit with PoisonBerry.

“Wha-what are you, like, a stalker or somethin’?” She asked with bewilderment. All she got for a response was a small hum.

“Like, how do you know so much?” She rephrased. He leaned over the table at her and spoke in a low tone.

“I-I’m a g-god.” He leaned back up. “A-anyway, af-aft-ter this I f-figured we sh-should g-go v-v-visit an old f-f-friend.”

“Or maybe we should make you go get a haircut because it covers your face.” She said back. He let out a chuckle and a small glare.

A girl with skin the color of cookie dough and caramel-colored curly locks of hair walked over to them, carrying their breakfast. Charlotte Cooke, the love of his life from before death, still looked as angelic as ever. She nodded her head along with whatever was playing in her head-phones and smiled at him as she set down their food. He clumsily searched his bag for some money to tip her with.

“Well, thank you sir!” Her soft voice was music to him.

“H-h-have a n-nice d-day!” He said as walked away. The two ate in silence, PoisonBerry giving him weird looks the whole time. They finished up and left.

“Alright-t, s-s-so, I a-ain’t g-gon-na-na get my h-hair c-cut in p-p-public p-plac-ce.” He said to her as they walked down the gravel roads.

“What, so, you gonna cut it yourself?” She asked as they turned a corner. He didn’t respond, in fact, the walk continued in silence until they reached a point where gravel turned to dirt and buildings turned to trees.

“Where are you taking me?” Her curiosity was starting to turn into unease. She started wondering how much she could trust this guy. Minutes went by with no answer as Blitz lead her down a twisting path that lead to nowhere. She asked him again and he responded with aggression in his stance and an off-putting calmness in his words.

“Y-you cl-clearly aren’t c-c-com-comfortable ‘round me, y-yet you con-continue foll-follow what I s-say. I d-don’t need-need you at this point, a-at th-th-this-s pl-plac-ce.” He turned to face her, and even though his face was visible, it still just as unreadable. “Th-th-there is n-no more g-gun t-to your head-d,” he spread his arms out “and there is n-no g-g-gun in-in my h-h-hand. Ther-the-there’s n-n-noth-thing stop-stopping you fr-from-from leaving.” She looked away, hugging herself with boney arms.

“I got nothin’ to go back to if I leave.”

“D-damned if you d-do, damn-damned if you don’t. Y-you’ve go-got-t-ten this f-far, c-contin-continue, o-or not, it’s-s your ch-choice, I d-d-don’t ca-care.” He continued down the trail, and against her better judgement, she followed behind, like a dog on a leash.

The house was exactly as he remembered it. It towered over the trees and to those unfamiliar with it, they would lose more than just their path. He always loved this place, and it loves him. He could spend eternity wandering its’ halls. His house lifeless, like he had been. Yet there was someone in there. He barged in, ready to tear the place to shreds with his bare hands to find them, to find this intruder and remove them from his home like a parasite from a praying mantis. Yet there was no need to, the person was right there.

“Oh, I thought you’d be home sooner.” With pale, cubby cheeks, red eyes, and long straight blue hair, Sundae had not changed one bit. And judging by the barking corgi that squeezed through her legs to lick him, neither Sundae nor Butterscotch had forgotten him. He picked up the Brit and spun her around, the two laughing like children. Butterscotch yipped happily. He put her down, cleared his throat, and told her what he already knew.

“Blitz, trust me, I’ve been keeping tabs on our dear friends, and I know how to get their memories back. Except,” She gestured to a confused PoisonBerry, “she’s been at sea.” She walked over to the green-eyed girl and took her angular face between her hands. “Plus, she’s changed the most. Whatever made her how she was, was purely thanks to you. She’ll be the hardest to restore. But, we’ll also need her for Midnight.” She lead the two into the house.

“W-w-well, h-how we g-gonna do it?” He asked her, hands in his pockets. A thought struck him then. One that shook him to his core. Had his brother forgotten him? Did his sister forget him? His head was clouded, his ears rang, and nausea consumed him.

“Blitz!” Sundae caught him before he fell. She looked to PoisonBerry. “Well come on then, help me out here.” The raven-haired girl hurried to them.

“What’s wrong with him?” She asked frantically. Sundae simply looked at her. “Is-is he having a stroke?”

“What- No. He, he’ll be fine, he just passed out.”

Blitz woke up a day later. Nausea filled his head and couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, he was numb and in pain all at once. He tried to scream, yet all that came out was blood and bile. He managed to lean over when he threw up. He knew it might be getting on his carpet, but at the moment he didn’t care. After emptying the contents of his stomach and lungs, he regained his senses a bit. His head pounded, and his body felt like it was on fire. He stumbled out of bed, thankfully not stepping in vomit, and limped to the bathroom. He fumbled around the mirror cabinet until he found his meds. He swallowed them along a mouthful of sink water. The room smelled like death, he smelled like death. He tore off the stolen clothes, grimacing when pieces of flesh went with it. He noticed now how his hair was in such a bad state. The brown locks were greasy, tangled, and covered his face. His skin, normally just pale and scarred, was covered patched of green and yellow rot.  He stumbled to his bathtub, turning the faucet on scorching hot and dumping an entire bottle of soap in it. He got in and dunked his head under, too. He felt his hand around the floor and found scissors and a comb. With shaky hand he began to cut and comb his hair. By this point the tub was beginning to overflow, but he didn’t care because there was a drain beneath it. Then he bathed himself. He scrubbed until the blistered. He didn’t want to leave this heavenly scorching heat, but the feeling of unease made him leave.  He turned the water off, unplugged the drain and went to the mirror. Eyebags, chapped lips, and a big nose greeted him. One eye was icy blue while the other nearly blind. His teeth were yellow and uneven, but he didn’t care as long he had them. He scowled at his reflection and left.

He combed his fingers through freshly cut hair while trying to recall the events of the past, what, day? He’d never been good at keeping track of time. He put on some baggy dark clothes and taking the vomit filled bucket, opened his window and dumped the bile out. Satisfied, he went to his desk and opened his journal. He scowled at the sticky-notes and carefully peeled them off the pages and threw them away. He flipped to a blank page and began writing.

Either he blacked out or zoned because when he opened his eyes the room was filled with the warm glow of the afternoon. He stretched his hands over his head and his stomach growled under his sweater. He groaned as he left the room. When he got to the dining room with a box of cereal, he saw Sundae surrounded by pictures and papers. He spotted his camera on the table, a cheap little thing he bought with what little money he had when he was a kid. His most prized possession, and Sundae kept it. He was overjoyed until she spoke.

“Blitz! I know who we’ll bring back first.” The black-clothed girl had only just noticed he was there. She picked up a photo of two girls dancing together under the un, not a care in the world. He remembered that day, he and Luci, a werewolf girl, had met Amber. He took the picture when the two were dancing to some upbeat jazz song that came on his radio.

“Wh-which one? He asked, hoping it would be Amber, as she might be easiest to find.

“Why not both? I know where they live.” Oh right, Blitz forgot she’d been stalking their friends while he was dead. This would be easy, they could get most of them done in a day. He gathered the materials they’d need, got PoisonBerry, and set off in a carriage to town.

Amber had a small apartment full of takeout boxes and unlit candles everywhere. The place was a mess and Blitz almost felt bad until he remembered that when he first met her she had been living in a doomsday bunker under a field. The curtains were closed, and the place was dusty and smelled like blood. Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind them and the candles were lit. A figure cloaked in shadows stared them down with glowing red eyes.

“A stalker you are, you should have stayed watching from afar.” Amber stepped into the dim light. PoisonBerry hid behind Sundae who stood straight-faced with her arms crossed. Blitz stepped forward, and of all the scents in the room, there was no cinnamon. The one missing was in his satchel. He pulled it out with a box of matches. He lit the candle right as the vampire struck. Fangs almost in his neck, she went limp in his arms and the light became blinding.

When their eyesight came back to them, they were under the warmth of the sun. Tendrils pure light came from the vampire’s chest. And with a burst of light, she awoke in his arms as the sun set. She let out a breathy laugh as she looked up at Blitz’s bewildered face. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed his cheek.

“Good ta’ see ya again, amigo.” She looked around and hurriedly sat up. “Where is our wolf?” She looked to him. Sundae cleared her throat and dusted herself off, leaving a shocked PoisonBerry laying in the grass.

“Your friend is in the circus, and the circus will be in town quite soon, just in time for the full moon. And since she joined recently, they have no idea.” She spoke

“S-so, what, she g-gets t-ta’ t-t-town, and w-wolf’s-wolf’s out t-to pl-play. A-and b-b-boom, j-just like-just like th-that, e’eryone’s-s d-dead.”

“Yep. So, if we don’t want a massacre on our hands, we gotta get her back quick.” Sundae stated.

When they got back home, Sundae and PoisonBerry started cooking, and Blitz and Amber started planning.

“So, as a wolf, they ain’t gonna be able to contain her. She’ll escape and look for a place where she can alone.”

“R-right, s-so we gotta-gotta he-her.”

“Do we got anything that’ll do anything like that.” Amber asked him.

Blitz went to his closet and pulled out a long chain.

“That’ll work.”

That night Blitz didn’t sleep. He thought of all that could go wrong and of his brother and sister. He had no idea if they remembered him, if they even still alive. Though he hated it, he was human, and humans feared the unknown. If his brother continued down his path of assassination, Blitz had no of knowing. Eventually, he gave up on sleep and decided to write instead.

He soon found that writing was a great way to pass the time when he heard birds chirping. Yet, right when he was going to leave the room, his body shut down. When he awoke it was obvious that his surroundings were not based in reality. The grass was a deep red, and thorny vines strangled anything that wasn’t grass. The sky was pitch black, yet in the great nothingness it seemed to all flow towards a single point. He followed the hypnotic movement of the inky nothing, each step calming and his movements languid and heavy. Eventually he found it, or rather, himself. The picture perfect of image of a younger version of him surrounded by sunflowers.

“Why, why do you put them through this? All you do causes them to suffer.” He scowled at the child, it’s voice alien and unnerving to him, its words dripping with poison. He stalked toward the child, it’s hair a blonde and tangled halo that he wanted to rip out.

“I don’t recall even speaking at such an age, child.”  He hissed, circling around it, ignoring how weird his voice sounded. “Why is it that you’ve summoned me back to the realm make-believe? To gloat about your pureness, your virginity and innocence? That won’t last you very long, you know?” His voice echoed in the small infinity.

“Nothing I do will lead me to becoming you.” It sneered at him.

“And yet, here I am, all you are is a reminder of the purity I lost, the innocence that got stolen from me.” The world vibrated and shook with every word he spoke, the sky melting into the ground, leaving an inky void everywhere. “I hate dreaming, y’know. And you, we, I hate being alone. And my friends keep me from loneliness, and you’re keeping me from my friends.” The last thing he saw was that child’s damn face, mocking him, and contorted in fear. It was an ugly sight, one he was glad to leave. Though when he came back to the real world, there was an overwhelming urge to leave. He wanted to leave. The thought had not yet crossed his mind before now, and it sickened him. Leaving meant all of his progress would be wasted. Leaving meant abandoning his friends. All those forgotten memories, wasted. Yet, he knew he would prefer for them not to know. As he packed his bag, every fiber of him screamed at him not to leave. He found himself unable to scream back. He left his home behind him, a weight lifted off his shoulders and a sickness in his gut. No one knew he was leaving. Except for PoisonBerry, who followed close behind him like a dog.

He took the long way to the docks on purpose, not wanting to go through the sunflower field. A small voice in his head told him wouldn’t be able to avoid it for long. He never could. When he got to the docks, the voice screamed at him to go back. The pirate ship he had left was there, crew members guarding his only escape. He heard a whimper behind him. Of course she was here, of course she followed him, she always did and now she was going to die. He tried to hide her in the forest edge, but it was too late. The captain, who he faintly recognized as PoisonBerry’s sister, spotted them. She called out to them, forcing them to step onto the docks, and right into their clutches.

“Well, ain’t this an odd sight, a corpse and skeleton.” The blonde walked to the pair, crew following behind. Their weapons were drawn and there was murder in their eyes. Frankly, Blitz was unaffected. It all happened so suddenly, one minute they were staring the others down, the next they were in a crate, being thrown into the ocean. Water was filling the space as they sunk. PoisonBerry was panicking, pleading, screaming tothe gods to save her. The only answer she received was the rush of water.

“Pray-prayer is f-f-futile, the-th-the gods-s are f-f-forbidd-den to answ-swer. W-we are al-l-lone in oc-cean and th-they m-might a-as w-well be d-d-dead to- to us.” His voice shook with irritation and his body shook with fear.

“This—This is all your fault! I’m going to die and it’s all thanks to you!” She screamed with rage. Hands flew to her mouth.

“Y-you’re the o-o-one who f-f-fucking f-followed m-me.” There was a shift in the pitch, he could see her eyes.

“You held a gun to my head!” Brighter. “You made me leave with nothing but the clothes on my back.” He could see tears now, glowing, angry tears. “And even when you did give me a choice, my only options were you or being lost and alone!” Brighter still, he could see everything in the box. “I-I chose—I chose you.” The green light became blinding, his ears rang, and his head ached, yet he didn’t look away.

“Welcome home, Nat-Natalie.” He whispered and closed his eyes. He felt bony arms around him, wetness forming on his sweater and sobbing in his ears. He cried too and clung to his friend like a child. “Y-you’re back—you—you’re back. You’re c-come back—come back to—to me!” They held each other tightly as if either one were to let go, the other would fade away. She pulled back from him.

“Midnight! We—we gotta get Midnight!” She stood up. He looked around, sunflowers surrounded them, and they stared only at him, judging, mocking. He closed his eyes.

“I-I g-guess Amb-ber and S-sundae got—got Luc-ci handled.”

The shewolf snarled in her cage as people began surrounding it. They took pictures and laughed at the beast. In the crowd came a loud noise. It progressively got louder as people started clearing away. Amber walked to the cage and placed the trumpet down. The wolf growled at her.

“They got cha’ caged up like some type o’ beast, huh.” She reached her hand into the cage and opened it. The wolf put her paw on the human’s hand.

On the other side of town Blitz and PoisonBerry dragged a blonde girl up a cliff. She was tied up and screaming muffled cusses and curses through the improvised gag. They made it to the top where the ritual was waiting. Blitz waited with the now panicked girl as PoisonBerry picked up a leather-bound book. Blitz shoved Midnight, the blonde, into the circle of mushrooms.

“Fe lat me hahn se fuite nam!”

The circle burned with a bright light and the witch was restored. The ropes had been burned off and Midnight stood. The lovers locked eyes.

“PoisonBerry?” She asked, her accent thick with emotion. Tears welled up in their eyes as PoisonBerry ran to her shorter counterpart. They fell to the ground, holding each other tightly and whispering to each other in their native languages.

Blitz watched on, breathless. It was like he had been a man dying of thirst, seeing this scene of two soulmates coming together was like gulping down water. It hurt like hell going down, yet the refreshing cold numbed it, making him forget everything else, if only for a second. He felt around his scarred neck for a piece of worn string. He found it and clutched the two rings tightly.

He once wrote in his journal about their dynamic. “Visually, they’re opposites. PoisonBerry is tall and almost concerningly thin, with eyes angled in a permanent scowl, pointed ears and nose and a sharp and angular jaw. Her body is boney and pale, her nails bitten down to the nub. (likely a habit she picked up from Blitzs brother) Midnight on the other hand, is short and curvy, with tanned skin. (Blitz’s brother would say she’s “thick”) Her jaw is square with an upturned nose. Her eyes are big and squared off, eyes burning with a bright orange-red flame that held so much passion. So, soft curves and boxy features stood in high contrast with angular and cat-like sharp features. They dress differently as well, yet both seem to have a strong preference for stripes. Midnight wears a lot of black high-waisted skirts and shorts, with flowing short-sleeved shirts, black and blue being her main colors. PoisonBerry wears mostly tight-fitting dresses and sleeved cloaks, blacks, reds, and purples dominated her choice of color, with the occasional splash of green. Visually, they’re opposites, but they’re both filled with a passion for life that I could never hope to have.” (frankly, he used to be jealous of that when he was little, now he doesn’t feel much about it)

When the three of them got back to the house they were met with a vampire, a werewolf, a demon, and an invitation to a masquerade. The group said their hellos and discussed dinner plans. (Lucy glared at Midnight the entire time, silently nodding along to the conversation) Blitz pointed out the moon hanging above and made them agree to have a big breakfast in the morning. While everyone else slept, Blitz fought to keep his closed. The invite they had gotten left a bad taste in his mouth. The invite had been handwritten in a script that he could barely read, fancy lettering with unnecessary loops and curves, but he knew exactly who wrote it. The invite was from his half-sister, somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered if his brother had gotten an invite too. He really hoped not, their half-sister had put them through hell when they were kids, leaving them with invisible scars and (thankfully only on Blitz) actual scars too. So, for her to even think for a second that Ty would go was idiotic. He sat up in his bed, wanting to vent his anger out. He opened his curtains to let the moonlight in, lit a candle, and went to his desk. He opened a drawer, one full of gears and nuts and bolts and other bits and scraps he collected over the years. He set some of them on the desk, stared at them for a bit, hoping inspiration would come, then put them back. He opened another drawer and took out his journal. (he had made it when he was very into book-binding, plenty of pages that could act as whatever he wanted) He started taking an account of all that happened since he last wrote. He loved writing, it was a good way to clear his head and keep track of important and not-so-important details that he would surely forget otherwise. It was a way to escape reality, if only for a sec. And this time, escapism worked well, because before he knew it the sun was rising, his candle had melted into a pool of wax and there was knocking at his door. Sundae entered and then gagged.

“Smells like rot in here.”

He turned his chair towards her and lifted his bare arm, covered in varying levels of decay and scars, then gestured to himself, in a similar state.

“S-s-sund-dae, my-my b-body’s m-m-m-mending, it w-won’t- it’s-s gon-gonna t-take awhi-whil-le t-till it’s heal-healed.”

Sundae hummed and stepped in, closing the door behind her.

“Seems as though we’re the only ones awake, well, Amber might be, but who knows with that girl.” Sundae told him. Blitz made a gesture that said ‘well, you know her.’ Sundae hummed in agreement, leaning against the wall where the sun illuminated her features, giving her an almost angelic glow. Ironic, considering the two rather prominent dark red horns sticking from her forehead.

“Y’know, I found PoisonBerry and Midnight curled up together, making up for lost time, I suppose.” They laughed quietly to each other. (Blitz’s ended with a rather nasty cough) He walked to his dresser and took some dark colored clothes from the pile next to it. A quick sniff determined they smelled better than he did. He was buttoning up his shirt when it hit him.

“The-the i-i-inv-v-vite, M-mint s-s-sent-t it h-here, t-to us—to y-you! Sh-she re-rem-rem—she—she kn-knows you.” He curled up into himself. “Sh-she remem-remembers wh-who we are.” He whispered.

Sundae approached him carefully, acting as though he were a wild animal. He knew it was unintentional, but when the look in her eyes went from friendly to cautious, it stung.

“Blitz, relax, you’ll be ok. If anything happens, I promise it won’t happen to you.” She was trying so hard to be comforting, but in his mind, that promise was empty, it twisted like a viper in his thoughts, mocking and tormenting and cruel and manipulating. He knew it wasn’t, Sundae has always been his most trustworthy friend, but he couldn’t help it.

Slowly they stood together, and with shaky hands, he got dressed, slowly, but still.

They eventually got everyone up and ready. (PoisonBerry made the process more difficult than needed, but still) Blitz suggested they go to Pepper’s café. The walk there was peaceful aside from Blitz’s occasional coughing fits. As the group was walking in, someone walked out. The person rudely bumped shoulders with Amber, calling her a deadbeat lawyer. Blitz saw red. He told the group to go head inside and order. Reluctantly, they agreed. (though PoisonBerry sensed a fight and wanted to join, Midnight glared her down till she went with the rest of the group) He glared at the stranger. The person was, to put it simply, jacked. He had at least a head on Blitz, then again, most people did. (stunted growth along with being biologically female will make you shorter than most other guys) To anyone else, the person seemed to have the upper hand, but Blitz wasn’t planning to fight. He shoved his hands in his pockets and snarled at the stranger.

“I-if we were-weren’t-t i-in p-publi-lic I-I’d b-beh-head you.” The person snorted with laughter in response and Blitz lost control. He lunged at the stranger, his mind far away while his body acted on its own. He felt familiar arms wrap around him, pulling him back. The stranger’s face was a bloody mess. Taking one final look at Blitz, the stranger ran.

“Sir,” he looked up at the voice, and stared into aqua eyes. “I don’t tolerate violence at my establishment.”

“Sorry about him, he’s” He looked at Sundae, her hands in her coat pockets and her eyes filled with shame and embarrassment.

He pushed himself from Pepper’s grip and looked at her. Concern and anger were etched into her features. He dug around his jacket pocket and pulled out two necklaces that were tangled around his fingers. He opened his hand, palm facing down, and the sun and moon pendants glittered in the sunlight. He took Pepper’s hand and placed the necklaces in her palm.

“I-I—uh—h-hope this—th-this m-makes up f-for—for wh-what I-I’ve d-d-one.” He disconnected his hand from hers and nodded towards the door. He and Sundae walked in and sat down at the booth with the others.

“S-s-so, you-you’re law-l-lawyer?” He asked Amber, to get rid of the silence. She laughed, and time seemed to move again.

“Yeah dude, a good one, at that!”

“So, like, is candle-making a hobby or somethin’?” PoisonBerry asked, confused by the new information.

“I think she became a lawyer when her memories were false.” Midnight interjected. The conversation continued while Blitz and Luci stayed silent. Well, at least he was paying attention, Luci was chewing on the napkins. C.C. arrived with their food and drinks and Blitz locked eyes with her. He swore he saw some of recognition there. She smiled at him as she left, and he smiled back.  He saw Pepper rush into the kitchen while they ate. He didn’t expect her or her twin to get their memories back for quite a while, as even when he came back from the dead the first time it took a while for them to remember.

Then the bell jingled, and a lady came in who was obviously trying to conceal her identity, yet even with sunglasses and a hat, he knew who she was. He could smell not only the fear and anxiety radiating off her, but also the faint stench of sulfur. Her name was Lola Viper, and in her hand she held an invitation.

[ninatranslates]

Just thoughts about some of the official NDRV3 translations.

I just wanna discuss a few of the things I’ve seen talked about here and there. As a couple of side notes, (1) these are just my opinions. You’re free to disagree, but don’t lose your mind over it. 

(2) There is no one true way to translate a language. Give the same text to a bunch of different translators and they will all come back with different results. Therefore, there can be multiple “correct” translations of a single text. And in the end, fans are allowed to use whichever they like best. 

(3) Literal meaning isn’t all that makes up a language. Keep in mind that translating is a balancing act between meaning, nuance, and feeling. Sometimes you need to choose one over the other. Translators will try their best to minimize this, but some things are bound to get lost in translation. This applies to any language.

And (4) what counts as an acceptable English equivalent for a fan translation may not be appropriate for an official localization, and vice-versa. This is because they target different audiences, and naturally, the same text is perceived differently by different people. NDRV3 fan translators will assume their audience is familiar with Japanese media, know a bit of the language and culture, and have played the past DR games. On the other hand, the official localization is targeting a general English-speaking audience to sell their game as much as possible. This includes those who are new to DR and Japanese media, and the localization team needs to take care not to alienate them, since they make up the bulk of the western audience. 

Anyways, if you’re interested about my thoughts so far or are curious about a few of the localization choices, keep reading for more. But note that I’m not a professional or veteran translator, I’m a young Japanese-American who likes anime and translates for fun. Don’t take my opinions as the word of God. 

There are no spoilers. 

Here are some things about the localization that I agree and disagree with:

STRONGLY AGREE (I wish I thought of that):

Luminary of the Stars, Kaito Momota - This is great, they managed to make it sound both cool/epic and short/sweet, while capturing the nuances of his catchphrase 宇宙に轟く百田解斗, uchuu ni todoroku Momota Kaito “I am Kaito Momota, who will become well-known/famous throughout space”, but in a “they will speak of me in legends” or “my legends will spread throughout the galaxy” sort of way. I’m jealous. 

Nyeeeeeh - Cute, funny, and lazy! Admittedly I have trouble translating unusual onomatopoeias, and Himiko’s habitual んなー was no exception. Literally spelled as nnaa, I tried to translate it as “uhnaa”, but I still wasn’t quite happy with it. “Nyeeeh” is so much better gaaaah.

AGREE

K1-B0/Keebo - Probably the most controversial, and I’m probably offending people by saying this, but there’s actually more to Kiibo’s name than you’d think. Before they released his name, I was wondering how they would translate it, since there are just so many elements in his name that a simple “Kiibo” or “Kibo” can’t carry over. I think this deserves a longer explanation, but basically, K1-B0 and nickname Keebo preserve most of the nuances and intentions that were in the original Japanese. From the obvious and stupid humor, to the cuteness, to emphasizing his robotness and humanness at the same time, to giving off the right first impressions, and to setting up some of the intended expectations... The only thing that’s missing is the “hope” wordplay. But hey, unless you can think of a feasible way to overlap “Kiibo” with “hope”, it’s just one of those things that’s gonna get lost in translation. Also, whether “K1-B0″ and “Keebo” will work still depends on the execution of the dialogue. However, both キーボ and K1-B0/Keebo gave me the same “wow that’s so stupid, I love it” reaction as both a Japanese and American fan, and I was just really impressed by how they were able to replicate it so perfectly. Anyways, I can still understand why people would hate it, since it is just such a jarring non-name. But as long as you don’t work for NISA, you’re still allowed to call him whatever you want. In case you haven’t noticed, the Japanese language doesn’t use alphabets, and there’s no one true way to romanize his name. So K1-B0, Keebo, Kiibo, Kibo, Ki-bo, and Kībo are all acceptable ways to spell キーボ. However, “Kibou” is incorrect, since that’s just “hope”. It’s the difference between キーボ and キボウ. But I won’t hunt you down for it, it’s not that big a deal.

Oma - Similar to Kiibo, except not nearly as complicated or as big a deal as fans make it out to be. Ouma, Oma, and Ōma are all acceptable ways to romanize 王馬. But since they already used the “Oma” method of spelling for every other character in every other game, making an exception just for “Ouma” for no real reason would be inconsistent and unprofessional. The “Oma” spelling is also the most common way to localize Japanese names (ex. Pikachu from ピカチュウ pikachuu and Goku from 悟空 gokuu). Even among real-life Japanese people living in America, they are more likely to spell their name the “Oma” way, though the “Ouma” way isn’t uncommon either. The fact “Oma” means “grandma” in another language is irrelevant, since last I checked, this is an English localization. As an example, did you know Japanese people find the French phrase “qu'est-ce que c'est” really funny? It’s cuz it sounds like ケツクセ... as in, “Your butt stinks”. But I’m not gonna tell the French to stop saying “What’s up?” because they’re implying someone farted in Japanese. Or hey, even my own first name means “newly-bloomed na flower” in Japanese (新菜 nina), but it basically means “fresh vegetable” (xīncài) in Chinese. Or an even better, real-life localization example would be Miyazaki’s Laputa: The Castle in the Sky. The fact that la puta means “the whore” in Spanish didn’t force the English localization to change the name of the castle, though they did understandably drop it from the title. “Laputa” is something the Spanish dub needs to worry about, which they did, they changed the name to “Lapuntu”. Anyways getting side-tracked. As you can see, a normal word in one language can mean something silly or inappropriate in another language. This literally happens all the time. And if you don’t like “Oma”, you’re still free to call him “Ouma”. Just because it’s unofficial, doesn’t mean it’s incorrect. Really. It just. Does not. Matter. Also here’s every other main series DR character who got the same treatment: Kyoko (Kyouko) Kirigiri, Mondo Owada (Oowada), Sakura Ogami (Oogami), Toko (Touko) Fukawa, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu (Kuzuryuu), Kazuichi Soda (Souda) Rantaro (Rantarou) Amami, Ryoma (Ryouma) Hoshi, Shuichi (Shuuichi) Saihara, Korekiyo Shinguji (Shinguuji), Kirumi Tojo (Toujou), Monotaro (Monotarou)

Piano freak - Not quite sure why people were upset about this other than excessive nitpicking. In Japanese, you could call nerds “(obsession) idiot” in the way that all they care and think about is their obsession and nothing else. But this isn’t how “idiot” is used in English, so the best equivalent is actually “(obsession) freak”. However, “idiot” is acceptable for a fan translation, since many anime fans are familiar with the meaning and connotations of バカ (baka). 

Monokuma Kubs/MonoKubs - Pronounced Monokumaazu, the direct translation is “Monokumarz” or “Monokumaz”, which works just fine for a fan translation, but doesn’t quite carry over the connotations for a general English-speaking audience. It’s like the huge gap in feeling between “The Doraemons” in English and “The Doraemons” (ザ・ドラエモンズ) in Japanese. (How many of you are actually familiar with The Doraemons btw lmao.) Using “the”, the plural “s”, and “ers” (like workers and singers) is normal in English, but using them in Japanese gives off squad or team vibes with a dash of silly humor. “MonoKubs” does just that while sounding nice and simple. “MonoKubz” would’ve been great too, and fans can still use whatever they like best.

NEUTRAL

Voice recasting - One word. Budget. 

Dub quality - I think the quality is pretty expected since the voice acting industry in America isn’t nearly as big as in Japan. But I also have zero interest in dubs, so I’m pretty biased on this one oops. My assumption is they’re doing the best they can. Also English speakers mispronouncing foreign names is nothing new. Even though I do find the memes funny, I don’t expect people who don’t speak Japanese to get it perfect, just like I don’t expect Japanese voice actors to get their English perfect.

Mastermind - The most literal translation of 首謀者 (shubousha) would’ve been “ringleader”, except “ringleader” doesn’t sound nearly as cool or memorable as “mastermind”. So they chose impact and rule-of-cool over literalness and subtlety. Which is understandable. Besides, if they wanted to be literal, they should’ve gone with “puppetmaster” (黒幕 kuromaku) in the first game. I think both “ringleader” and “mastermind” are acceptable here. 

First-name basis/no honorifics - I personally prefer when translations preserve honorifics. It just says a lot about the character and their relationships. However, just like there are no perfect English equivalents for all the Japanese ways to say “I” and “you”, there’s just no exact English equivalent for all these honorifics, so using them risks alienating the general audience. Also, this is what they went with for the other two games, so it’d be a little bit awkward changing it now. This decision doesn’t match my personal preference, but it’s a completely understandable and common one. 

DISAGREE

Male delinquents - Tenko uses the term 男死 (danshi) for men, which is a pun on “men” and “death” to show her disgust for them. However, there’s a big difference in meaning and implication between “I hate male delinquents” and “I hate males”. Also not as punny as “menace” (credit to @oumakokichi for the pun). I worry they did this to avoid offending guys... but there’s no way to know for sure. My opinion of "male delinquents” could also change depending on its execution.

Kiyo - I can understand that English-speakers might have trouble pronouncing Japanese names that are more than three syllables... but this feels like they’re dumbing down the audience a bit. Come on, let the boy keep his name!

STRONGLY DISAGREE (Just. Why.)

Gonta’s Tarzan speak - Gonta has the intellect of a child, and speaks like one, sure... But he doesn’t speak like a caveman. He’s perfectly fluent and literate in Japanese, so this seems like inappropriate stereotyping to me. My guess is someone really misinterpreted Gonta’s character and dialogue, or wanted to treat feral children “realistically”. Not a fan of this at all.

UNDECIDED

Atua - Honestly not sure what to think of this, since I know nothing of Polynesian mythology. I don’t know if naming Angie’s god after a real-life term for Polynesian gods and spirits is appropriate, since we don’t know if Angie’s god is actually an atua, and especially because her religion is depicted as shady and cultish. I think depicting her religion this way would’ve been (arguably borderline) acceptable as long as her god remained unspecific and made-up. And considering that most Japanese people are agnostic, possessing a general, unspecific belief in a god or infinite gods/spirits, I did assume this was the intent of the original context. But I just don’t know enough about Polynesian culture to form a concrete opinion. Like, does the Japanese text make references to Angie’s god being an atua? Are there any atua that fit the description? Or is it like Shinto where there are an infinite amount of all kinds of kami? How much care is being put into accuracy and respect for the culture in the English localization? My gut reaction is “strongly disagree”, but until I hear some thoughts from Polynesian DR fans, I’m going to remain undecided. 

Anyways, just wanted to get my thoughts out there. In general it seems the localization is trying their best, but there are a few glaring decisions. Again, you’re welcome to disagree. Just remember your human decency and don’t be rude. Everyone lives a different life and perceives things differently, and just because something is imperfect or unpopular doesn’t mean you can’t like it or you have to hate it.

Thanks for reading, I welcome any friendly comments and additions!

[kidslovetoys]

Teach your child to read

  We hear a lot about teaching children to read too early, and it’s certainly true that it's not right for every child. When your child starts school in September, their teacher will begin to introduce letter sounds and reading from the first term. So you can simply leave it to them and trust it will happen in good time. 

  But as you are reading this, you’re probably thinking about doing some simple exercises with them before then. Maybe they’ve already begun to look at letter sounds at nursery or pre-school. While we’d never support pushing a child to read before they’re ready, if your child seems keen to start, it’s always good to work with their enthusiasm. 

  So what’s reasonable to expect them to have mastered by September? Learning the letter sounds is a good start. Once they know which sounds go with which symbols (letters) on the page, it’s a very easy glide into reading whole words and sentences. 

Learning to read comes in two parts 

  There are two main aspects of reading: reading the words and comprehending their meaning.

  Reading can be broken down into two parts: decoding and tricky words. 

Decoding. This is phonics. When a child encounters an unfamiliar word, they try to sound it out by using their knowledge of letter sounds. For example, seeing the word cat and knowing that it is made up of the sounds c, a and t. 

Tricky words. These are words that can’t be sounded out, such as was (unhelpfully pronounced woz). They have to be memorised. 

  Over time, as children get better at reading, they recognise more words automatically, without first having to decode them. These words become part of what’s known as their ‘sight vocabulary’. 

  Comprehension is about being able to follow a story and what the individual words mean as a whole, not only on their own. 

       What is phonics? 

  The individual sounds in a word are called phonemes. A phoneme is often a letter, but it can also be a combination of letters. So a is a phoneme (like the a in cat and apple). But, so too are ai, as in rain, and th as in think.

  To make matters more difficult, each phoneme can be written in a variety of ways, so the u sound can be written u, o, oo and ou, as in jug, front, flood and double. The way a sound or phoneme is written is called a grapheme. 

  By now you can see that some words will be easier to sound out than others. Cat contains regular, easy to decode sounds. Thought, on the other hand, though consisting of seven letters, is only made up of three sounds: th, or and t. It requires much more skill to decode.

  When teaching reading, we therefore start with the phonemes that have the most straightforward spellings. Schools often begin with s, a, t, p. By learning to recognise just these four letters and the sounds that they make, we can read a handful of words and even some simple sentences, like Pat sat at a tap. 

  At the same time, teachers will introduce some tricky words, as these are also often the most commonly used (such as no, go, I, the, to). Now much longer sentences can be created. They are still mostly nonsensical, but adding a few tricky words allows a child who has only been reading for a week to attempt: I go to the tap to pat a rat.

  The next sounds to be introduced are i n m d. Can you see the possibilities after just two weeks? Dad, stand, mend, pasta, stamp, etc. Remember, at this stage, however, to keep to the main sound for each letter. So a is always as in apple and not in space. 

  Week 4: g, o, c, k 

Week 4 ck, e, u, r 

Week 5: h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss

  So, by half term most of the alphabet has been covered and your child will be well on the way to being a reader.

  During this period, when phonics is taught intensively, ‘real’ books are avoided - apart from at story time, of course. Everything a child reads should be decodable, so stick to a reading scheme, such as Oxford Reading Tree’s Read with Biff, Chip and Kipper. 

  If reading schemes seem uninspiring it’s because each book is strictly limited to words that can made from the sounds that the child already knows. So a Level 1 book will be made up only of words containing the letters s, a, t, p, plus any tricky words that have been introduced.

  Adults imagine that it must be a joyless time but it’s only for a short period and children are exhilarated to discover that they can read so effortlessly.

  Here are our top tips for simple, stress-free letter sounds (and maybe a little bit of reading) by September:

  Say letter sounds correctly 

Confusingly for children, and their teachers, there are 26 letters in the alphabet but 44 phonemes (sounds). When we teach children to read, we start with the sounds letters make rather than their names. The letter a is taught like the a in cat. The letter i usually makes an i sound as in igloo. But the i phoneme, the i sound, can also be made in the following ways:

england

women

busy

build

gym

sieve

To make matters worse, the letter i can make other sounds, too, like pint, and combined with other letters can make yet more: friend, rain. That’s why we teach children the most common sounds to begin with, so a as in cat, e as in egg, i as in igloo, o as in octopus and u as in umbrella.

  Try also to say the pure phoneme and not add ‘uh’ to the end. So it’s d instead of duh, although this is easier said than done. Once children know the sounds letters make, they can break unfamiliar words down into their constituent sounds, spell them out and start to read.

  Learn the alphabet and match letters to sounds

  Knowing the alphabet is not the same as learning phonics. A helpful way to introduce this idea to your child is to talk about animals and the sounds they make. For example, the name is cow and the sound it makes is moo. In the same way, the letter is ‘a’ and the sound is a (as in apple).

Learning the alphabet is straightforward. Sing the alphabet song at every opportunity so that your child is familiar with all the letter names. Then help to match the names to the symbol (i.e. the letter) by singing the song whilst pointing to an alphabet chart or frieze. YouTube is your friend here. The One Hundred Toys gremlins all enjoy Super Simple Songs’ videos and the playlist below is great because the alphabet songs are followed by those for phonics, which reinforces the idea that letters have both names and sounds: 

    You can also play games such as I-Spy. Play it the traditional way using letter names and then repeat using sounds instead. Letter sound flash cards work well for this kind of activity, too.

Another fun activity is to create a sound tray. Get a tray or box and ask your child to fill it with things that start with today's sound. So, if you are focusing on s, you might collect a snake, a sock and a sieve. But not a shoe. Remember, it's the initial sound that's important, not the letter

Start to read simple words

Long before your child reads their first word, you can teach them to 'read' sounds. This is called oral blending. For example:

[remember to say letter sounds not the names]

Put on your h-a-t, hat.

Please bring me my c-oa-t, coat.

Where is the b-oo-k, book?

Then, when you read with your child, even before they are able to recognise all the letters, you can do the same activity by segmenting a word in the text. On Sunday the caterpillar ate through one green l-ea-f.

By the time your child has learnt their letters, blending will be firmly established and decoding words will be much quicker.

Blend sounds to make words

The same skill of blending is used for reading words on the page.

Sound out the individual phonemes, e.g. c-a-t

Repeat the sounds more quickly, with less of a pause between each one, e.g. c-at

Put all the sounds together and say the word: cat

If your child has trouble with some of the sounds, you can perform Steps 1 and 2 yourself, which will usually enough for them to work out the rest.

Only beginner readers need to sound out every word. Over time, their sight vocabulary, those words they recognise immediately, will grow. But, they will still need to work out new and long words.

Sounds can be represented by more than one letter

More advanced readers will notice that some sounds are made up of more than one letter, for example ch, sh and ng. That is impossible to sound out if you read it as t-h-a-t. Instead, learn to recognise that when t and h are together, they make th. So that is read as th-a-t.

  Tricky words

Many common words can’t be sounded out: was, is, and the, for example. These are known as tricky words and have to be learnt by sight. Repeated practice is the only way to do this and flash cards, though often derided, have an important role to play here.

Here’s a list to get you started: like, said, no, you, too, come, my, she, me, they, of, was, we, he, the, day, all, go, are, play, away, going.

Some of the above start as tricky words and become decodable once the phoneme has been taught, for example the ay sound in play. Others, like come, are true tricky words.

Practise daily

Learn the letter sounds over a short period. Build up a knowledge of the letters and sounds quite quickly with your child and keep practising so that it becomes automatic.

The same goes for tricky words. Put them on a post-it and stick them on the fridge or use flash cards. Look at the words 3 - 4 times a day.

Don't rely on the pictures

  The true test of reading is the ability to recognise words and letters without relying on other cues. When children encounter a difficult word, they will often look at the picture for a clue. This is a legitimate strategy, but only if they have tried decoding first. Cover the pictures occasionally, and see if it highlights problems that you hadn’t noticed.

  Encourage accuracy

As adults, we don’t sound out every word as we read. Almost every word we encounter is already in our sight vocabulary. Children, however, rely on a number of different strategies. Often, they will guess the word using the first letter as a clue, for example saying house when the word on the page was home. &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt; &amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Or they will use what are known as syntactic cues, where a word’s position in a sentence suggests that is it going to be a certain type of word. e.g. ‘Bernard went to the shop’ may be read as ‘Bernard went to a shop’ because it makes sense in the context of the sentence. These mistakes can be hard to weed out because the child wasn’t actually looking at the word. They thought they knew what the sentence was about so they sped past the mistake. Where this happens, gently ask your child to go back to the beginning and read the sentence again - as many times as it takes - until they spot the error themselves.

Read books from a reading scheme

  If you’re not already familiar with reading schemes, you soon will be. These books differ from ‘real’ books in that they only contain words that are appropriate for you child’s reading level. As your child grows in confidence, they can progress to the next level in the series, where the new, more difficult words are introduced.

The first level of a reading scheme comprises books without words. The pictures tell the story. You can ‘read’ this to your child and encourage them to ‘read’ it back to you.

Level 2 books contain words made up of just a few letters, usually based around s a t p i n. For example, the Oxford Reading Tree book, I am Kipper, contains the following text:

I am Pam, I tap, tap, tap.

I am Mat, I pat, pat, pat.

I am Pat, I pop, pop, pop.

etc.

As more sounds - and tricky words - are learnt, the books become more challenging.

It is also important to read daily to your child, both fiction and non-fiction. Keep it fun by choosing ‘real’ books rather than reading schemes: this is not the time to see if your child can apply their phonics knowledge. Reading regularly will:

Instil a love of books

Broaden vocabulary

Improve comprehension

Model ‘correct’ language

All of the above are picked up incidentally. Just choose a book that your child enjoys.

Independent reading is also vital. A comfortable and inviting reading corner somewhere at home might be all that’s needed to instil the reading habit in your child. Gather some cushions, a small bookcase or box, and a good mix of interesting books. It doesn’t have to be anything special, just a quiet corner to enjoy undisturbed reading. Refresh the collection occasionally, whether by buying something new or borrowing from the library and keep the selection varied. Comics, newspapers, flyers and recipe cards all count, as do holiday brochures and the prospectus from your child’s new school.

Learning to read is about more than simply learning to decode and recognise tricky words. Ultimately, reading is about comprehension. We read to learn.

Help your child to understand more of what they read by following these guidelines:

Look at the cover of the book. What is it about? Is it story or some other kind of book? Who is the author? Do you think that you will like this book?

Predict what is going to happen next. Stop after you have read a few pages and ask your child to imagine how the book might end.

Draw characters in the book and discuss their physical characteristics personalities. This helps draw attention to details.

Identify unfamiliar words and discuss their meaning before tackling the book so the flow isn’t disrupted too much.

Take a few key events from the book and try to arrange the events in order (use drawings if you prefer)

Independent reading should be at what is called ‘instructional level’, where nine out of 10 words are familiar. This way your child can read quickly, understand the text without support and work out what unfamiliar words mean from the context. Too many difficult words reduces comprehension and dampens the spirit.

A full life, rich in interesting experiences is the best way to increase comprehension. This doesn’t have to mean trips to Timbuktu; a train to the seaside or a day collecting bugs in the woods will both make a strong impression and introduce lots of new vocabulary.

Read the other posts in this series here:

1. A Starting School Scrapbook

2. Your Expectations

3. Learning to Read

Coming soon:

Writing, Self Care, Maths, Listening, Resilience and more.

  from One Hundred Toys - The Blog http://ift.tt/2sINAmI

[peculiar-chronicles2]

Control Center

More of my side notes after the story.

Length: 1515 Words

April 23, xx98

"You are gathered here for a briefing. Each and everyone of you are assigned to different locations and have different tasks prepared for each individual. Voyce, you're going to be looking for the enemy base within this area and build the control center within that base."

"W-wait a minute! You mean I have to build a mini headquarters from scrap within the enemy base?! You think building CC is that easy? ...and from scrap at that!"

"Don't worry, you're not alone. We're sending someone else to help you out."

"Sir, with all due respect, but you already know that I'm not compatible with most of the agents in the organization. I'm pretty sure whoev-eeeeeerrrrrrr!!" my question was cut off when I was pushed outside towards the opened back latch of the helicopter.

"We're counting on you, agent! If you can't build CC, the whole operation can't start!"

"Whoooo iiiiisss asssssiiiiigned wiiiith meeeee?!" I shouted as I was instantly descending from the helicopter towards the field. I hurriedly pulled and opened my parachute just in time and slowed my descent.

I finally reached the field. It was a plain field and I was surprised that my arrival came unnoticed. I lied down there for a while wondering who my partner was going to be but after about five minutes, the piercing sun reminded me of my task and hurriedly kept my parachute back to where it belonged. There was a forest nearby so I crawled my way there. The trees were better compared to the fields where you are literally a walking target. I then marched my way towards a slope and slipped from the loose ground.

"Ow!" I fumbled on the dirt, picking myself up.

"Better watch it, agent. We don't want the lead to be hurt now of all times," a familiar voice I heard from the distance. I quickly stood up, dusting myself and searched for where the voice came from. And then there he was. Agent Iri (pronounced as "eye-ree"). Seen this guy before, we were assigned in the same task as a group in the previous mission. Not a pair though. I have never been this close to him, nor have I been talking to him this casual. The last time I saw him, we were running... attacking. There really was no time to talk. This time was different. I'm with him... alone... as partners...

*I'm screwed*

Well I don't see any problem with him just yet, although I'm really not good with partners and comrades and yada-yada. I'm best suited alone. Why would the commander give me a task with someone?

"Iri?"

"The one and only."

"I've seen you before..."

"...oh that time. Well I guess now's the time to get to know each other," he giggled.

"Listen, pal. I'm here for orders, not to chat around."

"Okay, okay," he raises his arms in defeat. "Whatever you say, boss."

"First, we have to find-..."

"The enemy base is over there, eight o'clock, about thirty-seven meters from here."

"How long have you been here?!" I asked in surprise.

"About an hour or so. Our helicopter actually passed by here first and there was not that much to talk about during briefing."

"Good job, agent," I said with a straight face, trying to hide the fact that I'm already annoyed by this. Sure, I'm thankful for what he did but I can't believe the commander didn't say anything about this!

We arrived at the enemy base by sundown and broke through security without any problems. The enemy were bandits ... such savages. Their faces covered with cloth and they were indeed armed. We had to be so descreet as to not be noticed and the hard part is to build CC from within the enemy base. Finally, we found a good spot. It was near the enemy's own headquarters and there were two armed guards beside the closed, metallic door, which was the only thing between us and the precious information that was inside that room.

Building CC wasn't actually hard, and we didn't actually had to make it from scratch. Control center doesn't have to be a big area. The smallest area could be inside a closet, a bathroom, or even a doghouse. What's hard is that the interference and the signals sent from CC should be undetectable by the enemy. That's where the hard part starts. We had to find a way for the signals to be unnoticed by the enemy, to disguise it as their own; and it should be untraceable. This is where my job starts.

I had already assigned Iri to start building CC while I watch over and keep a lookout.

Five minutes...

"Are you done?"

"No, it seems that our set is missing something..."

"Oh you have got to be kidding me! What are we missing?!"

"Just one though... the receiver."

"ARE YOU INSANE?!" I whispered intensely. "That's the most important part! Without the receiver, we won't be able to receive signals from base camp! Everything is useless without it! Didn't you check it before going?!"

"I didn't... Lac said he already checked it."

"Haven't you learned anything from all those years of training? Once you are given an item, it is basic protocol to check it yourself even though you were already told that it was checked."

"We were rushed!"

"Why didn't you check it in the helicopter?!"

"I was thrown out before I could check it..."

"This is going nowhere... I'll be back!"

"S-sorry ..." I left the poor thing to reflect on what he just did and went searching for an alternative.

Thirty minutes...

*Base camp is gonna freak out that they haven't heard from us for this long!*

Looking back at the guarded door, I noticed one guard missing.

*Oh shoot!*

I dashed towards where Iri was and saw the other guard approaching the area where he's hiding and continuously building CC.

*That idiot! He's way too loud!*

I crawled my way to him, even though I already know that I couldn't make it.

*What are you doing?! You can't make it in time. What will you do when you arrive? You can't do anything!*

My monologue intensified but I still continued to crawl towards Iri. Things were not looking so good for the both of us and then...

**BANG!!** **CRASH!!**

"VOYCE, IRI, WHERE ARE YOU?! WE'VE COME TO GET YOU!" the alarms went off and everything was in chaos.

*Of course, base camp didn't have that much patience. Well, it was for the best.*

"Can ANY of you explain what just happened?! Why haven't we received any signals from you after about thirty minutes?!" of course the commander was furious, the infiltration turned out to be a waste of time.

"I-It's all my fault..." Iri finally spoke after freezing in fear.

"HE'S WRONG!" that voice... "It was my fault, commander. I have failed to check the set properly before handing it to Iri," ahh Lac. The klutz of the team. Always laid back like everyday is leisure day.

"You do know the consequences of the actions that you just made are not that easy?"

"You can drill it to me boss, just not to Iri here. This is just his second mission after all."

*Second? No wonder he was so shaken during the previous mission when I saw him...*

The commander sighed. "Alright. I'll let it slip this time. But please DO remember next time Lac that every mistake you make is a loss to the organization."

"Yessir!"

"And you too, Iri. Let this be a lesson to you."

"Understood, sir!"

"Also, all of the equipment used and damaged during this mission will be deducted from your salary, Lac. I just can't be handing candies to children the whole time."

"Oh man! I guess I'll be dining with rats for the rest of the month!" *Is this guy serious?!*

"Don't worry Voyce, by rat he meant me. Everything wouldn't be a failure if he did his job properly but I guess I'm at fault too so I'll have to take responsibility."

"And feed this guy?!" I finally spoke. I have not communicated with people ever since I came to this organization. I only talked when I was given orders...

"Looks like you're starting to sound alive, agent Voyce," the commander looked back at me one more time before leaving his office to deal with the papers needed for the next mission.

*... I-I guess this was his reason for assigning me together with agent Iri...* I couldn't help but chuckle.

"...ce! ...-ey Voyce?! ... Voyce you going or not?!" I snapped back to reality when Iri called out to me. "You coming? Lac is gonna have an apology party and of course to celebrate meeting a new friend before he gets broke."

"M-me?"

"Yeah you!"

"S-sure..." he then grabbed me and we went out to the commander's office, following Lac as he walked with a pained face... the face that knows what will happen in his near future thinking of all the expenses wasted on that mission.

Extra content HERE (if the Ring of Ra will be included in the plot. Same ending tho...)

M’kay some notes OvO

First of all, I’ve modified this dream for it to make sense. The image below is actually the details of my dream but ... HOW THE HECK WOULD I FIT THE RING OF RA, THAT HYPNOTIZES PEOPLE, IN THIS STORY?! Long story short: I took it out and added some details like the commander and another extra character which was Lac.