#also anon- if you're not fluent in reading chinese

[xyoonx]

Hi! Do you know where I can read infinite empire lore, mainly prefect luminary? I’m really curious about him.

hello, anon! Thank you for your question.

Yes, Prefect Luminary's an interesting character. And you can learn more about him in the CN wiki. (You might need to translate the page if you're not fluent in Chinese)

Here's the link to his wiki page: 🖇️

And you can also learn about a portion of his past from this specific SR. [✨] – Sea of Fissures.

And you can also check out his other SSR stories, but they are mostly event related or are basically an "what if" storyline. But, they're still fun to read.

Reflection - [✨] Refined as Before – [✨] Sewing – [✨]

beside these, you can try checking out event stories – but they might spoilers. (Still, all of these are somewhat spoiler-y lol)

Hope this helps, anon. Have fun 🤍

[tastesoftamriel]

I'm sure you're entirely sick of talking about this bc that initial anon was... dumb as hell and I too would like to forget about it if I were you lol, so feel free to ignore this ask!! but I just wanted to throw in my two cents as a fellow non-white non-American fantasy writer. cause fantasy as a genre is so insanely whitewashed, and even in settings like TES that have multiple different fantasy-cultures that are meant to draw inspiration from lots of different real-world-cultures, they tend to be shallow and lacking and let's be real, TES isn't getting any awards for being politically correct. I for one always get insanely hyped when I see more diverse takes on fantasy, whether thats in original fiction or fanfiction, cause 1) it just vastly improves the quality of the world building and 2) it creates more welcoming spaces for other bipoc to create more cool stuff. and also, it's just fun as hell to project your own culture into dope fantasy settings. I do it all the time and I fuckin love when other people do it.

I feel like that anon was just looking for a fight and intentionally trying to interpret your comment in the most bad faith way possible (classic tesblr behavior ngl). and like I get it, orientalism sucks ass, but I've followed you for a couple years now and I've only ever known you to be a super chill, super respectful person who (like I said before) creates a welcoming space for other bipoc in the fandom.

tldr: anon is a clown, representation is fun, your blog slaps

❤ from @reachfolk

Yes yes YES I could hug you! Inclusivity and breaking away from whitewashed fantasy is one of my main goals with this blog! My recipes and worldbuilding have me neck deep in exploring global cuisine and culture, but as soon as it's a picture then people go off about cultural insensitivity. Because reading comprehension is low here so most people barely glance at the worldbuilding posts.

Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, as far as Asian actors in Hollywood went, you had Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan. There was that show about Imperial Chinese cats called Sagwa (傻瓜 shagua literally means "dumb melon" which is what you call a certified idiot). Mulan (forever my favourite). Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon? But that's it. Seeing Michelle Yeoh winning everything recently makes me feel proud to be Asian. I cried when I saw Over the Moon.

If just ONE person looks at this blog and goes "cool, I learned something" or "cool, my culture is being recognised and represented as a form of inspiration", then I have done something right. Other Chinese/East Asian people in the past have applauded me for bucking the western "Asian" stereotype, simply because I express my love for my culture differently.

I'm no less Chinese for being fluent in English (which is actually my mother tongue btw thanks colonialism), or being a goth, or an author who happens to be atrocious at math. I just am. And I want everyone to just be too. To embrace their otherness, to rejoice in the diversity of the human experience, and to learn to live together. And most of all, I wanna see more awareness in writing (especially fantasy) about non-Global North cultures and the people who represent them. I'm sick of being a media cliché.

If you're a POC and you're looking for your sign to delve into fantasy worldbuilding, this is it. Go write. Create. Destroy. Build the world you've always wanted to see through the lens of your heritage, use your history as a lesson, use your language as a weapon. ~Tal

[kindlespark]

cohortswap anon here, aouhgkdhgkdh hi

im so emo over the idea of robin getting to pick up his cantonese again, like that experience of going back to a place where nobodys going to second guess you based on your appearance or treat you differently is so ough. im curious about his adjustment period though cause from personal experience and friends experience ppl from one's home country can usually clock someone as diaspora and its kind of jarring to have that feeling of being out of place no matter which country you're in.

thank you for the fun fact and good luck on your play >:) and tell eren i said hi >:)

HI ANON im so sorry this took so long for me to get to i've been soooo busy but my play just opened so im almost free!! i actually wrote a whole a response to this on mobile a week ago and then my tumblr app crashed and i lost it all so i gave up :sob:

yeah i think it's such a deliberate choice by kuang to have robin and the majority of his cohort lose their home languages and it made me feel crazy (/pos) as someone who is also chinese diaspora and is only fluent in english; my parents didn't pass down any of their chinese dialects to me (and some of them are endangered)! it clearly draws from kuang's own experience as well.

there's no way robin doesn't feel a kind of alienation even when he returns to canton and people don't look twice at him; i think he would feel that even if he could (and when he does eventually) speak cantonese. that boy's survivor's guilt is off the charts, and living/looking at the reality he tried so hard to ignore and was ultimately complicit in while living in luxury at babel would make him feel like he shouldn't even have the right to set foot in his home country anymore. but i think he would simultaneously feel the most useful while there; finally living up to ramy's expectations of him and helping however he can to smuggle silverworking practice into canton; this is him atoning for being alive and doing all the hard work that ramy told him not to run from.

robin can get by in canton with just mandarin well enough that i think it takes him a while to try speaking in cantonese again, out of a kind of guilt and embarrassment, but it does become necessary and i think robin's journey with relearning would also be a part of him learning chinese silverworking tradition; there's this really good fic i read that's an in-universe academic paper about silver-working in asia, and it's simply canon to me now. robin using chinese silver-working techniques in his work against the british empire is simply so real to me

thanks for the interest anon!! kinda got rambly here idk if this answered ur request but i never get sick of talking abt this book and this au >:)

[dorkshadows]

srry if this is out of left field but a while back i remember you reccing a pigsy x wukong fanfic to someone, saying it was the fic everyone that shipped the two in the chinese fandom has read? i cant find the link to the fic or your post now and i was wondering if you still have it on hand. thx!

Hi anon! Sorry it took me so long to come online. You know, I've been trying to stay off tumblr more and more often nowadays (with the exception of chatting with close mutuals), and one time, I did consider saying goodbye to blogging.

Then I saw this ask. And you single-handedly reminded me that I can't do that yet. I am NEEDED. So not a left field question at all! This is the kind of thing I'm here to help with.

I actually didn't have it on hand, so I tried googling adsfasdf and anon, I was literally searching for that fic for a grand total of like, 3 hours. The original fic was part of a large collection of individual stories. But it was pretty "famous" in the chinese jttw fandom, even for people who don't usually ship Wukong/Bajie. The fic was called 呆子 (Idiot) and was basically a 2-chapter story from Bajie's 1st person pov. He was in love with Wukong, who was in love with Sanzang, and the story was an AU take on the White Bone Demon arc. And it has an open-ending where maybe Wukong reciprocates.

It's quite angsty, but very memorable because it's extremely in-character (Zhu Bajie is nicer than his original self of course). The author didn't base it on any adaptation, nor did they "beautify" the main characters (so Wukong and Bajie are very much a monkey and pig lol). Anyway, the fic really stuck out to me the first time I read it. It's just one of those beautifully written rarepair things that sticks to your mind.

ANYWAY, google yielded a lot of people asking for the fic or reccing it, but with no links LMAO. But I knew you were counting on me anon, so I switched gears and went to Baidu. Again, I went through like 5 pages of dead links and questionable sites- until finally, I found a site with the mobile txt book (the entire collection, including Idiot).

So if you're here anon, I do hope you read it :'D

Here's the link.

Enjoy the read!

[dilirebas]

Hi! I have three questions 😊

1. Is it easy to study Mandarin? I'm now becoming interested to learn the language after getting tired copy pasting the URL in weibo to chrome because the updated version of weibo doesn't have a language translation button 😄 Is there any app where I can start the basic?

2. What's your initial impression of "A Dream of Splendor"? I saw the trailer and Liu Yifei and Chen Xiao look amazing 😍

3. Any update on WL if he will graduate this year? He began his studies in 2018 so I assumed he's part of the graduating class of 2022?

Thanks very much! 🤗

Hi anon :)

I would say that learning to speak Mandarin is very doable but it takes effort. The initial learning curve can be steep because it feels different from a lot of other languages, but I know people who grew up speaking only English and became fluent Mandarin speakers. Learning to read Chinese can be harder because of the character system, but if it's something you're interested in, I would encourage you to give it a try! You'll have a big advantage if you're already exposing yourself to Chinese text anyway. I don't know anything about resources for learning Chinese, but if anyone else knows, feel free to chime in!

A Dream of Splendor is a fun drama and I'm enjoying it, but I also don't think it's as good as the hype would suggest. The writing and acting are on a typical level for idol dramas, and its biggest strength is definitely the eye candy. As a drama about female empowerment, it could be much better (absurdities in the plot, weird treatment of the virginity issue, etc.). But as an idol historical, it's not bad.

Yes, Wu Lei should be graduating. No updates that I'm aware of!

[make-me-imagine]

congrats on 5.5k!! you're insanely talented and I'm so happy you're getting the recognition you deserve 🥺🥺 could i join in the ship requests too?

I'm a rather small sized (like, 154cm & ~40kg kind of small) Asian female from a South East Asia country and i prefer men, especially men who are taller and Age Gaps™ 🥴 I'm not sure how much you know about/believe in astrology but I'm a Libra sun, Taurus rising and Capricorn moon so you can do what you want with that 😂

I'm an INTP/INFP (I've gotten both an equal number of times from sites OTHER than 16 personality, tho I personally vibe with INTP just a teeny smidge more) if you do MBTI ✌🏼 I LOVE to read, especially fanfiction lmao, and i also write! I really love listening to music + watching shows/movies too! My favourite shows are all mystery/crime based LOL and I am working towards becoming a criminal psychologist/forensic pathologist/forensic scientist in future! (heavily inspired by Criminal Minds, Sherlock, Detective Conan and the like so 😂) I have a really vivid and good imagination please i can spend DAYS just daydreaming and imagining scenarios that I never finish writing about & generally this is how all my work is never finished loll

I'm the eldest sibling at home, and my parents haven't always been around so I've been rather used to stepping up and taking care of myself (+ my sibling, like helping them with homework and all). Some people say I'm a natural born leader? idk bc I often step up to be the leader in group work & I'll often be the one to initiate things & all. I'm a rather big procrastinator though LOLL so you'll often catch me rushing my assignments & final projects & rushing my revision for exams + finals like, 2 days before the actual exam 💀 which often leads to me becoming more stressed out & breaking down more often than i actually should so 🥲 I'm trying to quit this bad habit though

I love cuddles and hugs please I will KILL for cuddles and hugs from my back by a tall character pls it just feels so safe and comforting to be spooned too 🥺🥺 sometimes when I'm too absorbed in work or something (which happens too often for it to be healthy) I might just forget to eat/sleep entirely AND also my sleep routine isn't the best. like i will literally fall asleep at 9pm, wake up in the middle of the night on my own at like, 1am, then usually I'll be rushing homework at this time, then maybe sleep again for a short while from 4ish? till when i have to get up for school/work at 5:30/6am 💀 there's been days where i literally looked so sick from the lack of sleep where my tutor once stopped the class to ask me if I was okay and if i was going to faint LMAO 😔 i feel like I'm a night owl??? but then also i have no problem getting up super early in the morning so?? but i really feel most at home and really enjoy the 3am nights 😌

i am also the class clown lol but it's bc i just make sarcastic comments and all and my friends think they're funny???? but also i enjoy making people laugh bc sometimes i find it interesting to try and see what kind of things make my friends laugh so it's lowkey an experiment? or like something i want to achieve? at this point. I'm fluent in English and Chinese/Mandarin and I'm learning Italian so I roughly know some basics, and I really enjoyed History, which I took last year but dropped this year. (I'm taking English Literature with Biology + Chemistry this year and they're all great, except I'm literally dying from the workload aaahhh 💀)

I'm kinda clumsy and Not Good™ at most sports, maybe passably okay for badminton but I'm really not that athletic and really not very keen on exercising either 😔 I'm quite creative and good with public speaking/creative writing/impromptu performance/speech though I'd say! I'm also in my school's drama club 😎 though I'm more of a backstage lights & sounds kind of person. I'm right handed (with a really neat handwriting, as I've been told many, many, many times) and I wear thin frame spectacles which I sometimes will fall asleep in & I'm so clumsy/careless that I'm actually really afraid I'd break them (it's happened before 😭)

I'm a really good planner? like i can do up a great and detailed schedule/plan for revision and all but i will NOT stick to what i plan 😭😭 i love to snack!!!! on chips + gummies especially, and my diet is quite unhealthy lmao i literally don't eat vegetables At All™ & i don't really eat meat that much too?? lmaoo please i can go for days without having a single proper meal & just survive on snacking on potato chips + soft drinks 💀 i am a very picky eater though so really me not finding food i like/am able to stomach is also really kind of my fault 🤡

while i really vibe with and love the dark academia aesthetic, i also do video/MOBA games, like i play games like Mobile Legends & all. I'm someone who knows most, if not all the lastest trends (like tiktok, memes etc) but i won't actively participate in them? i just kind of like to know things, like Knowledge is Power you know (I'm a Slytherin, in case you're wondering, though I've gotten Ravenclaw so often it's a close tie sometimes)

okay i feel like that's enough details about me? feels like I've told you nothing that's useful oh well LOL... I'd really love a ship for Criminal Minds and Marvel? if that's possible please? in case you missed it, i prefer men! (I'm a questioning bi, with a strong preference for men) for the hc prompt "what you do on your first date" or maybe "how you met + first impressions"?

thank you so much for being so kind and willing to do this ship requests thing!! I'm sure you're spending TONS of time and effort on this and aahhh i feel bad for typing so long paragraphs now (as you may have noticed i have a tendency to ramble on if not stopped because i am just really Socially Awkward ™ sometimes 💀 and have really bad (social) anxiety too) and i really think you're super amazing for doing this??? I'm so sorry if this took up too much of your time aaahhhhh thank you so so so much 🥺😭😭 really the biggest of congratulations to you for your 5.5k??? you really do deserve every single follower & i am SO insanely happy for you 🤩❤️

- 🌙🏒 anon

Don’t worry, you definitely provided enough information lmao. 

And thank you for your kind words, I appreciate it. 

I hope you like the ships I made for you

They are under the cut: 

Criminal Minds: 

I ship you with Hotch. 

You get the age-gap here lol. He would be a bit hesitant due to the age gap at first, but he would get over it because he can not resist. He does not seem like the type of cuddles, and especially does not take part in PDA. But when you are alone he would love holding you and spooning, especially after a long day of work. Aaron would be attracted to your uniqueness as well as your intelligence and aesthetic, finding it to be very “you”. 

How you met + his first impressions: 

You met when you were transferred to the BAU as the new Forensic Pathologist.

Hotch thought you were very interesting when you first met and was definitely intrigued by you. 

He thought you fit in fairly well and would get along with the others (which you do). 

He appreciates a sarcastic sense of humor, so he would dig that as well.

Hotch could tell you had a form of anxiety and wold be patient around you when you first met so that you could open up to him at your own pace.

What you do on your first date:

He takes you to a hockey game. 

He is not the sportiest person but he has had an interest in hockey for a while, sometimes watching it on tv. 

When he learned that you liked it, he decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to invite you on a date as well as to see his first game. 

After the game, you walked around town for a bit, getting some late night food and talking or a long time. 

This allowed you to open up to him quite a bit and you grew more comfortable around him as well, which he is very happy about. 

Best Friend: 

Your best friend is JJ. She thinks you are really cool and unique and nice. She has the type of personality that is easy t get along with and open up too, so you bonded with her quicker than the others. I also feel like she is into hockey as well, so she appreciates your love for it as well. 

-

Marvel: 

I ship you with Sam. 

I think Sam is a good fit for you. He is into sports, and digs your aesthetic. He is easy to get along with and very funny. He thinks your line of work is very interesting and loves to listen to you talk about it. Sam also really enjoys crime shows ans thrillers so he is always excited to meet someone who enjoys them as well. 

How you met + his first impressions:

You met through Nat, who you had met through SHIELD years before. 

You happened to be at the compound with Nat when Sam was there and she introduced you. 

He immediately thought you were pretty and very interesting.

Sam could tell you were shy, but that did not stop him from flirting.

Though he also made some jokes and was easy going as to not scare you off. 

He made sure to ask Nat about you once you left and managed to convince her to give him your contact info. 

What you did on your first date: 

He took you to the movies first, to watch the most recent crime thriller that came out. 

After the movie you went to a nearby park and walked around, talking about the movie and other crime/horror related stuff. 

You got food at a food truck and sat by the fountain together. 

He was appalled when you told him that you didn’t eat that often (if came a part of your relationship later on that he would try to cook you meals that you’d like just so you WOULD EAT). 

You ended up spending hours together, and it felt like no time at all.

So you were definitely up for another date with him, which he of course asked you about.  

Best-Friend: 

Natasha. She was the first one you met, and slowly introduced you to the others. She thought you were really cool when you first met and was surprised at how well you go along. That is sometimes hard for her to do, so once you became friends she never took that for granted. She and Sam would gang up on you when you weren’t eating btw. 

xxaaron

[sinni-ok-sessi]

hi! how long have you been learning mandarin? how did you decide to learn it? i know language learning levels are pretty subjective, but around where would you say you're at? biggest difficulties/things you like about it? i've heard that with the writing, pitch accent, etc. it's a really difficult language to learn. do you find that to be true? sorry for all the questions, feel free to ignore any and all you don't feel like answering! have a good day!!

(omg I never get anons, this is a deeply exciting day for me, thank you!)

(oh my god this ran so long I’m so sorry, what can I say, I truly do love to ramble about myself)

According to my HelloChinese streak, I’ve been learning for a little bit over four months and I remain extremely bad at it! I have no idea how to measure how bad, but most days I’m excited if I can recognise one character in a written sentence, or pick out a couple of words in a spoken one. I’m not sure I could write more than half a dozen characters from memory. It is occasionally a bit humiliating to feel so utterly useless, but at the same time, because I know so little, every tiny scrap of progress feels amazing, so that’s something!

I guess I decided to start learning for several reasons, not least because early-stage language learning, esp when gamified like through HelloChinese or Duolingo, is pretty good for that ‘you have Achieved A Thing!’ buzz and god knows I need that at the moment.

But also, I’m not a linguist but I’ve always been fascinated by formal vs informal language, so the appearance of courtesy vs birth names in The Untamed (the first cdrama I watched) was like catnip to me, and then I read hunxi-guilai’s linguistic register post and was like ‘I must know more’, and then I started watching more historical dramas and noticed that no one was using direct pronouns when talking to the emperor and was like ‘what’s that all about?’ and the rabbit hole continued.

Also I am extremely weak for people swishing around in fancy robes with swords and doing cool aerial stunts (former fencer and trampolinist here, as well as possessor of more cloaks than an adult human probably should own), and I realised that if I was going to get big into wuxia/xianxia, a lot of the subtitles for these shows were smoothing out e.g. the use of different titles or endearments in different circumstances, which imo is such an important character detail? So clearly the obvious solution was to... miraculously become fluent enough not to need subs? IDK, still working on that.

If the ‘how did you decide to learn’ question was meant in the sense of ‘through what methods’, then my answer would be: initially the HelloChinese app, which only has a limited number of free lessons, but I find the pronunciation clearer than Duolingo, and the grammar explanations seem to be more in-depth. Also HC has way more speaking and listening exercises, plus the option to use pinyin or characters or both, all of which I enjoyed. It’s not a huge course - I finished doing it in pinyin about a month ago and am now going back through and attempting to do it just with characters - so now I’m also using Duolingo, which goes a little bit further. I would also like to claim that the truly staggering amount of Chinese-langauge TV I’ve watched in the last few months has helped (I did some maths and... going on for 200 hours’ worth how??), but who can say?

From my own experience, I would definitely agree that it’s a difficult langauge to learn! I still can’t reliably distinguish tones unless they’re laid out in minimal pairs for me and pronounced extremely clearly. I definitely can’t reliably pronounce them D: But I do find that when I’m listening, I can rely enough on context to figure out which form of a word I’m actually hearing, even without being about to pick up the tone, so it’s not the end of the world. (I don’t think ‘form of a word’ is really the right terminology, but I mean words that are written the same in pinyin apart from the tone.)

The writing system I both love and despair of - I think it’s extremely freaking cool to contain semantic information in each character, and I love the puzzle of looking at an unfamiliar character and going, ‘well there’s the radical for ‘heart’ and there’s the one for ‘movement’, etc’ - but then more often than not I still have no idea what it actually means, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I honestly did not expect to still be so enthused about something I’m so bad at after four months, but it has been a genuinely fun challenege, and nice to discover that even when I can’t rely on my usual language-learning technique of ‘have a large English vocab and find cognates’, I’m not completely lost? And IDK, I just really like learning about the ways different languages do similar-but-not-identical, like oh, there aren’t words for ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but there’s still a specific particle for asking yes/no questions? That’s really cool!

Anyway, I have probably rambled too much at this point.

TL;DR: Mandarin is difficult (for me), I’m very bad at it, but I’m having a good time nonetheless! So if you’re asking because you’re interested in learning but put off by the perceived difficulty, I would say to give it a try!

[tmtxtf]

Hi Tay 🐈💛

So sorry for the late reply ;w; (Was just a bit busy with work)

Ouu !! I haven't watched it yet this year , but I liked watching rhythmic gymnastics before , especially the ribbon one . So nice to watch ^^ Which ones do you like to watch the most ? Sameee !

I post some of them on Wattpad ! Ohhh nice !! Hmm , I haven't read many works on Tumblr bc I think most of them are fanfiction ? And the 1st fanfic I read was so incredibly sad 😭😭 I ended up being too scared to read more fanfiction loool

Right back at you hehe 🥰 I agree ! I'm looking forward to the reveal but I also feel like the anon thing makes it more fun somehow :0 (I want to say more about what I post on my blog , but I think I already gave away a hint by telling you my name starts with K , even though I saw that other people have just been going by 'carat anon' . Whoops ! My bad lol :P)

Ohh , I'm glad you like Canada hehe ^^ I live near Toronto ! Most people here don't speak French . I only learned it bc here , it rly helps you get a teaching job ! My city's kinda boring and empty haha , but it's nice that it's close to Toronto bc I can go there and it's full of multicultural restaurants and little pretty shops ! I also visited Mexico a few years ago ! It's so beautiful there ;w; Lately I've been dreaming of going back haha

Oh that's so cool !! Are there any countries where you'd want to work (or visit) ? I wish you the best of luck in your program too !!! <33 You've got this !!

Oh truee !!! I love how casual and laid-back the ttt episodes are . It's nice seeing them just be themselves and hang out as friends <3

Ouu you're into mbti ! I'm an infj ! My guess for you , hmmm , are you an infp , infj , or isfj ? (Sorry , I'm kind of an mbti nerd haha)

My fav Japanese single is Fallin Flower ! The song and mv are so beautiful and aesthetic ! I also really appreciate how svt puts equal effort into their Japanese releases ! Hbu ??

Adiós mi amor 💖

- K 🌸

(I also have written way too much haha , but I'm enjoying getting to know you ^^)

hola mi querida k 🌸🥰!!

oh, don’t worry! I hope you’re not too overwhelmed with work and if you’re then I wish you the best luck and I hope you finish soon with all you have to do!

I also enjoy gymnastics, but I’m more drown to archery and swimming/diving competitions!!

I used to use Wattpad a while ago but ever since they added ads I stopped using it, I hope I can read your work once the reveal is done! (I bet you’re a really good writer and I’m really interested on your works because of the genre!!) I always wanted to have an artistic friend and now I have a writer friend! this is so cool ^-^

oh!! ikr but I’m just curious on what you post / reblog, anyways I don’t even have an small clue of who you might be because I don’t follow too many carats here on tumblr but I already like and appreciate you a lot<3.

are you’re fluent? i studied french for five semesters but i still feel kinda awkward to speak it bc I don’t have a good pronunciation and I don’t have anyone to practice with but i really liked it! do you plan on living all your life in canada or would you like to live somewhere else? (just for a few years or in a long term plan) oh!! you’re always welcomed here in mexico!! i also would love to go again to canada 🥰

thank u dear! actually i would really like to live abroad, somewhere in south asia for a few years would be really nice (singapur, kuala lumpur or taipei are great options for me, i also really like chinese and japanese cities 🥰) wbu??

yes i am!! haha, oh you’re infj! that totally suits you because you’re a writer!! and also i get the vibes that you’re a creative and passionate person ^^, actually i’m isfp!

fallin’ flower is also my favorite jp track!! everything in the mv is so pretty and so aesthetically pleasing to me, i also love the choreography <3.

i don’t know if we should keep talking about svt or personal questions to get to know us better?? haha i’ll mix them and ask both:

- what’s your favorite jun / hoshi / hao era?

- what’s your favorite movie and book?

- if you could choose only three members to go out for drinks on a night, who would u choose and why??

bye bye dear k! 🌸💙

[kanerboo]

Are the guys in word of honor officially a couple or is it subtext? I'm here for the hockey rpf but these gifs got me interested 👀

oh, SWEET ANON. let me tell you about this show that has sucked me into its lovely little hell.

so word of honour is based on a chinese BL (boys' love) novel, so yes, they are canonically an official, legit couple. personally i have not read the novel (yet) but i think there are implied sex scenes in it for sure.

in the show, obviously due to chinese censorship, they can't make it as in-your-face explicit that they are a couple. but honestly they absolutely do not shy away from showing it in various ways. for instance, they refer to each other as soulmates openly, and more than once. they tell each other they'd rather die than live without the other. they say things like "the world isn't important to me but you are". it's all very indisputably romantic!!

this awesome post also explains how the show uses wuxia (the martial arts heroes genre of fiction and film) tropes to showcase the two characters' romance. and yes for all intents and purposes it is a romance and not just "brotherhood" or "friendship."

also! this gifset is from the very final episode of the show. the reason fans are fricking excited over this moment is because when you read their lips, you can see them say "ai ni" to each other, which means "love you". obviously this moment was not dubbed at all in the show itself so you don't hear them say it, you only see it if you're eagle eyed and understand mandarin, but it's basically another way the show tries to incorporate elements of their romantic love without being explicit about it. (also yes i am fluent in mandarin and yes i can confirm that's how their lips are shaped. i am no lip reader but to me it looks pretty damn clear...)

i hope this entices you to, you know, take a closer look at these life ruiners lol.

[byunrelatable]

I dont think you're dramatic, not really. You wanna talk dramatic then I can tell you abt a few girl in my geometry class :/ So exo has 1 native mandarin speaker, but there are no native japanese speakers? Also, how many languages do all(?) of them speak?? Wouldn't it be 3 or more? - sunshine anon

okay so anyone reading this can correct me if i get some of this wrong!

yea so lay (his real name is yixing) is from china and speaks mandarin natively. in exo i dont think any of the others really speak mandarin except sehun, but i dont think he uses it as much anymore so i dont know how well he’s maintained it. but for all i know he practices it every day lol idk what they do behind closed doors so who knows

yeah none of them are native japanese. besides yixing, kris, luhan, and tao, the rest of exo are all korean.

the chinese members speak korean because they had to learn it since they were living in/training in korea for years. the chinese members that left may or may not still be able to speak korean well. with a second language, if you don’t practice very often, you will lose it. (im a linguistics major lol)

as far as i know, chanyeol is studying japanese and english. i dont know about any of the others, if they’re studying any languages. 

if you’re wondering how they sing songs in other languages if they dont speak the language, producers write the songs and then they just learn how to sing them. i mean, i dont speak korean, but i can read it and so if i read the lyrics to a song and teach myself the song i can sing it, but i mostly have no idea what im saying except maybe a few words.

i do speak japanese (not fluent yet) and can say that exo’s japanese pronunciation isnt perfect. not horrible, and korean and japanese pronunciation is fairly similar, but not exactly the same. and i can pick out where the differences are because that’s where they sound less natural when singing japanese. but they do a pretty good job considering none of them actually speak the language (as far as i know)

i dont speak mandarin so i can’t say for sure but i dont think the korean member’s mandarin accents when they are singing are very accurate either. but like, thats normal (here comes the linguistics talk again) because every language has really minute details to all of its sounds that are really hard to create accurately if you arent a native speaker. it takes years of practice.

[spring-lion]

Good morning, Mae! Yes, I have a very versatile taste, hahaha. I love almost every genre so I tend to read very different books. And I'll read Warm Bodies as well! And yes, Spanish is my first language since I'm from Spain! And omg, you're a polyglot! That's really cool :o I'm a language lover too, and I really admire you (I mean, I always did but now more!!) because I think it's amazing that you know a lot of languages!! (+)

(+) I’m super proud of you!! I always wanted to learn tagalog, because I know that it has some spanish-sounding words and I found it very interesting, but I never had time nor I found really trusting websites. And it’s surprising you learned three languages as a child!! It’s really true that children learn a lot faster than adults, woa :o And don’t worry, I’m passionate about it as well and I find you a very interesting person!! Your story is amazing!! (+)

(+) And don’t worry, I’m comfortable talking to you about any subject!! And thank you so much! Don’t worry about your writings being usually heteronormative, personally I don’t really mind, but I’m very happy you’re supportive of the community! ♡♡♡ And answering your question, I speak Spanish, English, Korean and Italian. Next year I’m going to study French and Latin at school and I’ll go to a Chinese academy. I also want to improve my English! (+)

(+) Spanish is my mother language, and I’ve been learning English since I have memory. I started learning Italian by myself when I was like… 9 or 10 years old because my dad was planning a trip to Italy and I wanted to learn the language to have a better experience. (But we never went, lol) Eventually I dropped it and I picked it up again a few months ago. As for French, I studied it at school for 2 years but I dropped it when I moved schools against my will :( Because (+)

+ I had depression so my grades lowered a lot, when I moved my new school quit me from the bilingual program so I couldn’t study French anymore. Now I struggle with my grades but I hope I can get picked next year for French, because I love languages ♡ I started learning Korean like, 2 years ago? But I started learning it seriously last year. It’s a really long story; I hope I’m not a bother!! Okay so, I told you I had depression, well, It was horrible and my +

+ only scape was music. I found kpop and I started dancing. And I loved it. It was in july 2015, and I’ve been dancing since then. I found myself in love with the culture and the language, so I started learning it. I’ve always wanted to be a musician because music is truly an art and it makes me so happy and alive, and when I found that dancing is one of my passions as well, I thought that maybe I could fulfill my dream of being a musician if I joined the kpop industry (+)

+ so I started training myself, singing, rapping and dancing. Later that year I started playing piano and on my birthday (17/9) last year i got a guitar so now I’m learning those instruments as well!! I have to learn and train at home because I don’t have the money to pay classes, and sometimes it’s hard but I’m sure I can do it because I have the passion. It’s sad that people think I’m a koreaboo when I tell them this, but I’m not one. These people are disgusting, lol. (+)

+ So, as I want to become an artist there I want to be the most fluent in Korean as possible. I’m nervous to tell you this because it’s very important and personal to me, and I hope you can accept and support me >

(+) because I find it REALLY interesting and I love Chinese history and culture! Wow, okay, this was such a long answer! I’m sorry :’) But now you know more about me, too! Okay, so my question for you is: What is your favourite animal? And do you have a favourite place? (For example, the forest, the beach…) Also, plus question!! When is your birthday? With a lot of love; ♡ -your lovely anonie

Oh my goodness, my lovely anonie! I am so touched that you felt so comfortable to be able to share so much about yourself with me! It’s so cool that you’re from Spain! I was actually suspecting you were from the other side of the world bc whenever I was about to go to bed you would say good morning, haha. xD But really, I’m so moved that I was able to reach someone as far out as Spain, so thank you so much for loving my works and for reaching out to me to tell me about it, and as well as about yourself. I appreciate and love you so much. I actually long to meet you in person one day because often times whenever you come to visit me, I wish to reach out and to give you a big hug. We’re so far from each other, and I don’t know when this could be possible, but maybe in the future we can if we manage to keep in touch! Of course, again, only if you are comfortable with it. :)I realize that you are on anon for a reason, and you only know me by my pen name, “Mae.” But I want you to know that I often wish that I can go across the world to touch your hand, just like our Namjoon does for every ARMY.

I think it’s so cool that you have an interest in so many languages just like me! I believe that all the languages in the world are truly beautiful because they are the mechanisms that help to perpetuate love, community, and unity amongst one another. Actually, in Tagalog we have no word for “the other.” We only have the word “kapwa,” which is best translated as neighbor but, really it means so much more than that. It’s about community and togetherness. I think that it really goes to show that you really can’t live without other people in your life, that you cannot live without love. I think Namjoon said something similar in a vlive about the words 살아 (live), 사랑 (love), and 사람 (person). They sound similar because they cannot be without each other.

About your depression, I totally understand. I went through something similar, and it is still something that I battle, but I’m glad that you were able to find something to cope! Music was what helped me cope as well, especially Bangtan’s music, and it’s why I am so attached to them, especially Min Yoongi whose lyrics I resonate most with. And, don’t worry. You are never a bother to me! I am always willing to listen whenever you need me to. I may reply a bit late because I am occupied by other things, but I do hear you and I understand you.I encourage you to get all the help that you need and to do whatever you need to do in regards to your mental illness.

As for your interest in going into the Korean music industry, I am going to say that I am honored that you trusted me enough to reveal something so personal to you. Thank you for sharing your dreams and passions with me. I am honored that you care so much about my opinion, and I’ll admit that this puts a bit of pressure on me as I don’t want to hurt you. What I will say about this is that this industry is only one of many paths to becoming a musician. I am in no place to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do because I am not living your life, but I only hope to help you find the answer that is within yourself. This one path is going to be one of great great challenge, especially for being a non-Korean. It is no doubt that it is going to be difficult, every single idol has encountered great difficulty within that same path. I’m not going to say it is impossible; I am just saying that it is difficult and that I hope that you are prepared for what you are getting yourself into because you are going to need a lot of tenacity and endurance. But in reality, every path to success is extremely difficult, so it might as well be a path to something that you really like. Right now, it looks like the odds are against you. But the truth is, we only know what has happened up to the point that we are breathing right now, and for that reason no one is certain for what the future has to bring. I guess what I am trying to say is that you never know how much your life will turn around any moment from now because anything is possible. Nothing is for sure in this world, and the best that you can do is to control your own self. In the future, you might still be on this path, or you might be led down some way different but related to something that you truly wanted. No one knows. I don’t. You don’t. But I know that as long as you trust the voice inside of you that tells you who you are, then you will end up in a great place. So keep following what your heart is telling you. Keep thinking about it and meditating about it to see what you should do that is the best for you. It’s okay if the path twists and turns several times; paths are not always straight. Wherever you go, the journey will be long and hard. I will support a decision that you make no matter what it is because it is probably what you believe is best for you. Remember that no matter what I say, it is always up to you. 

I’m sorry if that answer was complex. It’s because a few years ago, I thought I wanted to be one thing, but it turns out that it wasn’t right for me. Even as we speak, I am still deciding what is right for me. I am always thinking about that. My life turned around into something I didn’t expect, but also into something greater than I had ever imagined. I just want you to follow your heart, but to also know that it’s okay if you life changes several times. It happens. We never really know the future.I hope that my answer is acceptable and that you understand what I am trying to say to you. I just want the best for you, and only you can know what that is.

And wow, Latin and Ancient Greek is so cool! I actually want to learn those languages too, hehe. xD One of my dreams is to be able to read the Bible in its original languages.

Again, I do not mind your long answer! I was delighted, even! I am so happy to know more about you!

As for the answers to your questions:My favorite animal would have to be the owl, specifically the snowy owl, because I always thought that white-colored animals were cool. I am actually quite fond of the arctic fox as well. I like the owl because it is often associated with wisdom, and I am someone who is always interested in learning new things and in discovering new things about life. I like the arctic fox because of its beauty and as well as its mysterious aura. I always found it to be quite fascinating.My favorite place would have to be on a patch of grass. I don’t know how else to describe it. But I imagine it as a secluded area where I could just lie down and stare up at the sky, specifically up at the night sky. I’d actually love to just lie down and gaze at the stars with someone while just talking about life. I’ve never actually been to a place like this, but I’d like to someday, and it’s the place that came to mind when I read your question.My birthday is November 25. :)I actually turn twenty this year! :OYour birthday is September 17th, right? I actually saved it last year as the 16th on my calendar but I realize you’re a day ahead, haha. I’ll fix it soon.

My question for you today is: Who are your favorite kpop groups and your biases in each? Also, do you stan both boy groups and girl groups, or do you prefer to stan one or the other?

I hope you have a wonderful day, my lovely anonie! ^.^