#but now after studying linguistics i know about several letters that did in fact get left behind

[shoesofthefishermanswife]

i want you guys to know that when i was in kindergarten i felt deeply bad for all the letters that didn’t get to make it into the alphabet and especially bad for all the letter of the alphabet that didn’t make it into the song

[unfortunate-rp]

Congratulations, JACKIE! You have been accepted as your desired character, RUBY COHEN. I absolutely loved seeing her inner thoughts, relationship with her siblings, and how she decided to leave the City. Please be sure to complete the steps listed on the NEW MEMBER CHECKLIST and send in your account within the next 24 hours.

Well, young lady, have you been good to your mother?

Your Name: Jackie Your Age: 23 Your Pronouns: she/her or they/them Time zone: CST/GMT-7 Activity Level: 5 because of grad school Tumblr account (for contact purposes): REDACTED How did you find us?: from Zoey! Triggers: none Character you’re applying for: Ruby Cohen Why did you choose this character?: For one, I love sibling connections and the complexity of the Cohens and the dynamic of Ruby not knowing about the VFD while both siblings are in competing factions. Second, I respect the decision of Ruby leaving for peace and the new place of potentially going back to being a mediator. Is she going to stick to making Sage and Violet work out their own problems or will she crumble in wanting her siblings to get along? Secondary character preference: Olivia Oquassa A sample in character: ( set 7 years prior to the roleplay )

Tension, that was the overwhelming feeling that lingered in the air as Ruby sat in her family living room, alone. Her parents had gone off on an undisclosed location for an unknown amount of time. As unusual as this was, it was not unusual for the Cohen family. And neither was the chaos that ensued with Sage’s visit. Yet, even in this short time, pleasantries quickly turned to arguing. Quickly, Ruby felt as though she was trying to diffuse a bomb, furiously signing at her siblings. This time she’d been unsuccessful. And she sat on the rug with tears continuing to stain her cheeks. Even after all this time, she still cried when things got particularly heated. At the very beginning, her sensitive tendencies could stall an argument, but now it was something easily ignored (not that Ruby was upset at that fact alone - it took very little to bring her to tears).

Years back, when the Cohen siblings were younger and more gullible, Ruby came up with a clever plan. After one particular fight that led to days of a stalemate, she went to her room and began writing. What she wrote was not a treaty, but instead a forged apology letter from Sage to Violet, and vice versa. At the time, it worked. Both came out of their respective rooms and went about peacefully for almost months. This method, however, only worked another time or two before they learned that neither had written an apology letter. Both were, understandably, pissed at Ruby for manipulating them, but also came around to forgiving her and understanding the motivations behind her misguided actions. Even after fights between Sage and Violet, the two made a point to apologize to their youngest sibling. But even though the anger was rarely guided her way, Ruby still wished that the two could form a pact and move on from their squabbling.

After taking a few minutes to collect herself, Ruby left the house. Days ago, she’d planned to research colleges and study for the SAT with one of her best friends, Lara. Being a woman of her word, she grabbed her supplies and ventured to Lara’s house. But there was some guilt seated in her chest. As much as she tried, Ruby knew it would turn into a venting session the moment Lara asked how everything was going. And, sure enough, not even fifteen minutes into their SAT prep, Lara turned to Ruby and asked; “how are things at home with Sage visiting? Has war already broken out?”

“Unfortunately,” Ruby sighed, leaning back into the couch. “I just don’t understand why it has to be this way. I love them so much, Lara, I really do. And I’m sorry I always dump all of this on you, I’m sure you’re sick of it but I just…I’m so over it, Lara! Being in the middle sucks! It’s so emotionally draining. I want them to just get along, but it’s almost like they aren’t capable of being civil for long.”

For a moment, Lara fell silent, giving a short nod. This wasn’t the first time, or even ten time that she’d heard this. She offered some support by putting a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “Sorry, Roo.” Ruby gave a halfhearted shrug and looked back at the laptop screen, blankly. It wasn’t like anything could be fixed over night. The three of them were family no matter what. All she wished was for some harmony… “Hey, Earth to Ruby,” Lara’s fingers snapping pulled her out of the lamenting she’d fallen deep into. “Where are you applying?”

“I’m just going to apply for Lovelace University. Seems like a safe bet, you know? And close to home.”

“Why not apply somewhere else? You know, get away from home for a while.“

“…but, Sage and Vi-”

“They can, and should, figure it out themselves. You said so yourself - you’re tired of it. Moving away will force them to work it out without putting you in the middle. And it will let you take care of your own life.” For a while, Ruby was silent. That sounded awfully tempting. A fairly significant chunk of her time growing up was spent mediating. But…was that a selfish desire? Would Sage and Violet think less of her?

“I’ll think about it…but you do make a good point.” With that, the two turned back to their screens and continued working on their SAT prep. But the seed of leaving had already been planted and it wouldn’t take much longer for it to flourish in Ruby’s mind.

What headcanons or plans do you have for this character?:

- Prior to leaving for college, Ruby shared everything with her siblings, given the chance. Following college, she has been a bit more secretive around them, particularly with matters concerning her research. She hasn’t disclosed to either of them the extent of her research, or about the spyglass. Although she feels guilty about it, there’s some instinct to keep the spyglass a secret from everyone until she knows more.

- Early after moving, Ruby would entertain her siblings arguments. As she started seeking counseling, she grew to ignore texts and set boundaries with mediating.

- In college, Ruby changed majors several times. At first, she studied humanities, then it was linguistics, and she finally ended with a degree in business. While she could get better jobs with her education, she decided to work for the mayor to find the answers to all of the mystery surrounding the town.

- Close friends and family call Ruby - Roo

- I plan to have Ruby get in too deep with research and maybe start getting close to finding out about the VFD or Sage or Violet’s affiliations and have to have one of them intervene to keep Ruby out of it (something like that, but I can’t wait to plot with whomever plays either of them!)

- I would also like to see her attempt to go ‘under cover’ to try and dig up more secrets, perhaps about Ava and end up failing spectacularly.

Do you want any additional connections for your desired character that you’d like us to add to their bio?: Maybe an old friend from high school? Anything else?: 

[jeparletoutesleslangues]

Tips for Learning & Translating Latin and Ancient Greek

-first off, define your purpose(s) in learning the language. Do you want to just have some knowledge of an ancient language? Do you want to translate works directly from their language? Do you want to want to study it for linguistic reasons? Whatever the reason, knowing your purpose will allow you to know how what your goals are. If you want to translate, you will want to have a strong grasp on grammar and learn a lot of vocabulary. However, if you have linguistic motivations, you may want to freely study different derivatives or etymology with less emphasis on grammar. -whatever your goal, I suggest you find resources: use free online textbooks (x, x, x), dictionaries(x, x), translation archives (x), and apps (just search your app store). Often, at bookstores, used versions of ancient language textbooks are cheap or you may be able to find some that a school is getting rid of. Write down most of what you learn since the languages are not spoken much today, and most of what you can find is written. -next, it is only appropriate to learn the alphabet and pronunciation rules. If you can read this, the Latin alphabet will not be too difficult to learn as it is the same as the English alphabet with the exception of j, u, w (with y and z only in loanwords). But, the Greek alphabet is not too difficult since it inspired the Latin alphabet (plus you probably know a few letters due to sororities and fraternities).

-after you become comfortable with the alphabet systems, now it is time to tackle grammar (dun dun dunnn..). The first thing to understand is the grammar itself. Both languages use a declension case system which means that based on its ending, a noun/adjective will be identified as nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, (and for Latin) ablative. Depending on the noun’s case, it will have a different function (eg. subject, possession, indirect object…). It uses a conjugation system for verbs with endings that can determine the person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), number (singular or plural), and tense. Because of the distinct verb endings, often the subject is not necessary. Sentence word order does not matter because of these systems. -once you know how the grammar works, use a textbook (there are several free ones online) to find good words to begin with. Make declension and conjugation tables using those words to start memorizing the patterns. I suggest that you begin with 1st declension words (eg. for latin puella, nauta, natura, agricola/for greek θεᾱ́, θάλαττᾰ, γῆ) and 1st conjugation verbs in the present tense like amo, neco, and laudo (+ the irregular verb “sum” meaning “to be”)/λέγω, λαμβάνω, βλέπω, and εἰμί (to be). After you have solidified your knowledge of those concepts, move onto the second declension and 1st conjugation verbs in the future tense, then third declension and 1st conj in the imperfect tense, and so on (incl. irregular forms, passive mood, diacritics, etc). -as you begin learning basic grammar rules, reading sentences will seem less daunting. Use a textbook to start translating basic texts and silly sentences that test your vocabulary. As you translate harder texts, compare your translation with other translations. -learn even more vocabulary (adjectives and adverbs as well). either pick out words you don’t know from a translation (eg. the Odyssey Book 1) or words presented in a textbook. Make flashcards (online or paper) and really memorize it. I suggest this and I am usually not a flashcard person. For every NOUN you learn, memorize its nominative and genitive singular forms (eg. for puella I would memorize puella, puellae/for θεᾱ́ I would memorize θεᾱ́, θεᾶς). For every VERB you learn, memorize its principle parts (eg for sum: sum, esse, fui, futurus) -a part of ancient language learning is learning certain functions of constructions. So this concerns literary devices (eg. repetition), poetic meter and devices (eg. dactylic hexameter, caesura), certain grammar rules (eg. accusative of duration of time, omission of the verb “to be”). You will notice different writing styles and habits as well. So, expect to constantly learn more grammar/literary rules as well as vocabulary. -make your learning fun. Often, studying ancient languages seems to be about one of the studious language paths. But, I find that the people in these fields are some of the goofiest people I know (fr trust me). So, when you are not hitting the books, maybe check out Latin covers of songs, look at ancient language memes here on tumblr (#tagememnon), research facts about myths/life in ancient Italy or Greece (yes, this is fun. did you know that the Romans had a toilet god?), or read a translated text (for example, Winnie the Pooh has been translated into Latin). if you have any more questions or need specific help, feel free to message me! I have 5 years of experience in Latin (including AP Latin) and 1 year in Ancient Greek and I am planning on getting a minor in Classics.

here’s one thing you can learn right now, a very popular quote "per aspera per astra” which means through hardships to the stars.

[wingsy-keeper-of-songs]

Wordplay

Anon wanted Schultz and Nora fluff. I am here to deliver. This one takes place in a modern verse instead of in the Django verse because 1. Schultz and Scrabble and 2. this goddamn pic. I am invested in sweater candy and now you all will be too. Embrace the sexy, my friends. So, here you go Anon! Fluff and shenanigans galore!

It started with a rather intense game of Scrabble. Several attempts at making up words later (along with a delightfully vicious argument on the appropriate number of vowels), they were just staring at the game board. Nora did not look up from her game pieces. She was determined to win. She absolutely had to. She focused entirely on the board in front of her, spelling out several words in her head.

             “You’ve been staring for the past five minutes, you know.” Schultz drawled lazily. She did not look up at him. He didn’t deserve the luxury.

             “I still say that’s not a word,” she said as she glared at the scattered pieces as if they had personally insulted her. It spelled out “basorexia.”

             “Oh, and that one is?” He said with a raise of his eyebrows at her “cagamosis.” She narrowed her eyes at him when she finally lifted them from the board.

             “Yes it is, and you’re welcome to use a dictionary.” She said as she looked over at the book she’d nearly tossed at his head about an hour ago.

             “I could extend the same courtesy to you,” he sassed with a smirk which she wanted to wipe from his face because she found it annoyingly attractive. He needed to stop that. Nora chewed thoughtfully at her lower lip as she scanned her rows of letters.

             “This is such crap,” she whined. “All I have are vowels.”

             “And all I have is time.” He replied. She was completely mature and absolutely did not stick her tongue out at him. He exhaled a laugh through his nose and sat back to admire her while she wasn’t looking. He was fairly certain she’d toss him out the window if she knew what he was thinking, and he didn’t particularly feel like being flung out into the elements today. “Ready to call it?” He asked after about a good minute or two of waiting.

             “You must learn patience, young grasshopper.” She said as she flicked a couple of tiles. “Mental games take time.”

             “You’re just stalling now.” He said with a pointed look. She refused to acknowledge that.

             “Okay, just so you’ll stop whining, here.” She laid down an o, u, and an i. “There, are you happy now?” He canted his head to the side, studying her profusely. His face radiated judgment and she did not appreciate it.

             “That doesn’t count. It has to be in English, I thought.” She pretended to look for the instructions to annoy him.

             “I don’t see any rules about foreign words.” She retorted. He crossed his leg over the other, bringing his hands around his knee.

             “There was a rule about it when I tried to use that German word,” he said.

             “That’s because it was actually a phrase and it gave you a 150 point lead, you cheater.” She replied, wondering if she ought to flick a letter tile at him.

             “Ouch,” he said dryly, and placing a hand over his heart. “You wound me.” She rolled her eyes and cupped her cheeks in her hands, elbows planted on the table.

             “It’s your move, master linguist.” She informed him loftily.

             “Master linguist wants to contend that last play.” He said with a bounce of his eyebrows.

             “It was three points!” She protested. “Cut me a break, will you? You’re about thirty points ahead of me anyways. What do you get out of it other than my pain and suffering?”

             “Well, first there’s the pain and suffering.” He drawled, hiding a smile under the pretense of running a hand down his face, but she could see the mirth in his eyes. “But then there’s my strong sense of moral fiber.”

             “My ass!” She sat up and folded her arms over her chest, regarding him with an equally judging look.

             “I’m sure is very nice,” he continued where she left off and it made her face turn an unattractive shade of fuschia. After a moment or two of an intense stare-down, he relented with a shrug. “I suppose I could allow it to slide this once.”

             “You’re too kind,” she shot sarcastically, tallying the points.

             “I try.” He glanced at his row of tiles before flicking his gaze back to her. “Since we seem to be bending the rules, I get to spell a phrase.”

             “You do not!” She squawked at him and was sorely tempted to throw the dictionary at him again.

             “I let you have your fun, now you let me have mine.” He replied as loftily as she had before. She blew a raspberry and pouted, completely mature and totally not sulking. With a flash of a quick smile, he began spelling out a phrase. He tacked on an i from the k in her “strikhedonia” and added an s. Then he added another s. She frowned, puzzled and looked up from the board to him. He was doing his damndest not to smile, but was failing. After he finished up, he leaned back in his chair to admire his handiwork. Nora leaned forward a little to read what he’d placed down.

K

I

S

S

M

E

She blinked stupidly for a moment and then looked back at him with a puzzled frown. He still had that damnable grin on his face.

             “How many points is that one worth?” He asked cheekily, but looking completely innocent at the same time. Nora could have killed him. She really could have. She should have tossed him out the door when he tried to convince her that “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” was too a word and that she ought to accept the triple point score and move on with life instead of loudly protesting and throwing sofa pillows at his head. But she didn’t. She stared at him for a solid thirty seconds before clambering over towards him and pulling his stupid, crooked grinning face into hers for a kiss. He hummed softly as he kissed her back, having wanted to do so since he’d stepped in the door. He couldn’t help teasing her, really. She was just too much fun to rile up since she kept so much bottled inside. When they parted to breathe, she hovered a few inches away from him.

             “You are such an asshole,” she said softly with a stupidly fond smile on her face. Yes, yes he was. And he quite relished in that fact, thank you.

[maroccheno]

Help with KGSP motivation letters

Hey guys! I realise it’s that time of the year, again: only a few weeks left until the deadline to submit your KGSP applications. I’ve been giving a hand to a few friends with their essays based on the advice I received a year ago and on help I’ve gotten with application letters in general, and decided to write down a few tips.

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional advisor/counsellor on application writing. My tips and advice is entirely based on experience of myself and others.

1. Form: Letter, story, job application....??

If you have written a job application before, you might have googled a few examples, and at least the first few you’ve sent probably looked something like this: “I’m a 20-year-old female/male from Awesome City. I’m very social and love teamwork, and I’m a fast learner. I study Fantastic Stuff at Unbeatable University and I speak English and Spanish.” And there’s nothing wrong with that. If you’ve written a grant application, you might have realised that the people receiving that letter probably care less about you as a person, and more about your reasons for having written it in the first place. A letter of motivation in many cases sits somewhere between there - although I have found that a letter of motivation in fact makes for a better job application, too. Why? What’s so special about a letter of motivation? And more importantly: why should I consider the form of my KGSP application letter? First of all, you’re trying to make an impression. You’re trying to fit your self introduction and your reasons for writing that letter into a single page with silly big marginals and a restricted font size. Here’s also why a letter of motivation makes for a better job application. You’re trying to explain what kind of a person you are, what motivates you, what your dreams and aspirations are, and why these features make you the candidate they should consider. All right. So how does this affect the format of your letter? Of course, unlike a regular application, your letter of motivation does not have a designated recipient. Because your letter will be read by several people in several different institutes, there’s no point wasting space into including a greeting or an opening line like in a regular letter or job application. (E.g. “To whom it may concern”.) This also goes for a typical self introduction in the opening paragraph. Your application is accompanied by the personal information document, which means that the people reading your letter have already checked out your name and age, your school background, and so on and so forth. You can skip “My name is Eve”, and go straight into telling your story. Think of it like this: you’re writing a letter to a professor who already knows a little about you, but not enough to know your family background or your future dream career.

2. Your story

Now, because you’re trying to leave an impression, think of your application as a story. It has a beginning, a climax, and an ending. Your background and the environment you grew up in brought you to a point in life where you realised something about yourself as a person, and this is why you are applying for the scholarship program. Finally, to convince the reader, you’ll offer them your unique abilities that you have accumulated during your growth process. Fin. Sounds pretty simple, right? It is. However, it may be tricky to get the details right, and choose the things that both describe you and your aspirations and motivation. This is where it’s useful to consider the culture of the recipient. No matter what your background, the people reading your letters will be Koreans, so it’s better to try to include aspects of your life that they can relate to and that show you have what it takes to move abroad and assimilate into their culture. So what are these things? Here’s a few questions you could try to answer.

Have you lived alone - abroad, in a different city, at a school dormitory, etc? How did your family support you as you lived by yourself? (Not: “My family sent me money during college.” Yes: “My family supported me as I lived alone during college and offered to help me if I had a hard time.”)

What have you inherited from your parents? (Not: “A house”. Yes: “Your parents taught you to be open-minded”.)

If you were an exchange student, how did you find the experience? (Not: “Living abroad was a party.” Yes: “Although it was difficult to live by myself in a different culture, my colleagues and teachers helped me a lot to feel at home.”)

What about Korea interests you? (Not: “The history is very beautiful.” Yes: “I’m fascinated by Korea’s long history and the way the historical events affect the society today.”)

Why do you need to study in Korea? (Not: “I want to see idols live.” Yes: “As I am interested in the economic background of the Korean wave, it is essential to my research that I learn about Korea and the Korean culture first hand, and gain the chance to study the entertainment industry from up close.”)

Wait - what’s that? Am I telling you to pretty things up and lie? White lies are perfectly acceptable as long as you know you can back them up if someone asks you to talk about that particular thing in the interview. For example, don’t write you have studied Korean by yourself and know it perfectly if you don’t, because you’ll get caught if they ask you to answer their questions in Korean. But: your parents didn’t give a shit about your well-being as you grew up? Make it sound like they did, or talk about your siblings, cousins, or aunt or uncle who was there for you. Why not just leave it out? Because talking about the support you have received from other people shows you appreciate their help and advice, that you’re ready to listen to others, and that you don’t think all your achievements were thanks to yourself (even if they were). This goes back to the culture thing - no matter what the recent changes, the Korean social values are still very family oriented. (Trust me - I wrote a Master’s thesis on this.) The hardest part may be figuring out this “climax” in your story. For me, it was being accepted to university and realising how much I enjoyed Korean studies, and how during my exchange year in Korea I found myself at home and wanted to come back to Korea. Yes - that lame. But I dressed it into pretty clothes and said something along the lines of having learnt the importance of networking through my friends and teachers in Korea, and going back to Finland I really missed the great atmosphere. What about why you want to study in Korea? What if Korean history really is your thing? What if you want to just include something about your knowledge of Korea? Consider things that are relevant to your future major in Korea. If you want to study linguistics, mention how interesting you find the Korean linguistics or how hangul fascinates you. If you want to study economics, mention you find the Miracle of the Han River interesting. If you want to study design, mention you like the traditional Korean patterns or hangul typography, or maybe the Korean game market. Here, the idea is to show that you have looked into the field of your choice, and you have also checked out that field in Korea. As to why you want to study in Korea, combine that interest with what you want to be in the future - if you want to work in international trade and you are fascinated by the Korean economic development, then maybe you want to study in Korea so that you can examine the historical and present developments and help turn that into a success story for a country that is still waiting for or experiencing the early stages of economic growth. Other stuff that’s good to mention is working experience, but not as is, e.g. I have worked at the post office. Yes - but why was this beneficial to you? What did you learn through this job? What qualities did you gain and how can you put those to use now? These are questions you should always answer, be it about studying abroad, moving to a new city, or work.

3. Things to avoid

Because you’re trying to make an impression you might be tempted to pretty things up too much. Avoid too long and too fancy sentences, because it is not only difficult to keep your grammar in check during such sentences it is also considerably difficult for the reader to keep track of what it is you’re trying to say as they will completely forget what it was you were saying in the beginning of that sentence by the time they get to the end. (See what I mean?) Stick to simple sentences, but don’t be afraid of changing up the length. Five word sentences are boring. Especially one after the other. Start your sentences with adverbs: therefore, however, eventually, and so on. Don’t try to sound too smart or like you’re an expert on Korea or the thing you want to study. Even if you were an expert. The point is to sound smart, but to admit you don’t know everything, but that your lack of knowledge is exactly why you want to study more. Avoid things like “Having worked at the post office has made me very social.” You might feel like post offices are social working environments, but that’s not obvious to everyone. If you insist on your work experience having been beneficial to your social nature (or that your work experience taught you a skill or quality), explain it: “Having worked at the post office has made me very social, as working in customer service taught me the importance of maintaining an open and positive attitude even in difficult situations.” The same goes for things like “Studying in Korea would be very beneficial to me”, “Studying in Korea will help me achieve my dream”, etc. Beneficial how? Helpful to your dream of what? Finally, and this goes for your study plan as well, try to make it more about Korea and less about your home country. What’s this mean? You will come off as much more interesting if you are planning to research something that is beneficial to Korea, rather than come over here, study stuff, and then take that knowledge elsewhere. (This is related to brain drain.) Think about it: if your government was paying tens of thousands in tuition plus monthly scholarships to foreign students, would you prefer they do something useful to repay that rather than take the money and run? Thus, try to avoid giving the impression that this scholarship is just a stepping stone to a career back home. (This does not mean you should say you want to stay in Korea if you don’t; but make it sound like this scholarship is really the only way you can achieve your dream or get that perfect job back home, and that once you leave you will make your experiences in Korea a big part of that future.) And, last but not least, proofread, proofread, proofread. Have someone else proofread your letter. While your country might have very few applicants (hello, Finland), in the end stages you’ll compete against several candidates, and at that point a few silly typos and unclear sentences might really make a difference. If you have any concerns, thoughts or questions, just send me an ask or a message and I’ll try to answer to my best ability. Good luck with your applications!

[ashlations]

5 Things I Wish I Had Known When I Began Learning Specific Languages

We all make mistakes.

In over two decades of language learning, I’ve made my fair share of them. Just like learning a single language is a process, learning how to learn languages is a process, too.

Generally speaking, there are no shortcuts to this process. You only get better with time, effort, and deliberate practice.

One thing, however, which can speed up the process—if not shorten it altogether—is tolearn from the mistakes of others. To learn the lessons others learned through struggle, error, and failure, and to do your best not to repeat them.

I’ve done this many times. I’ve been fortunate to surround myself with many excellent language learning role models over the years, and I’ve learned from them all.

But this article is not about how I’ve learned from the mistakes of others.

It’s about how you, dear reader, can learn from my mistakes.

Today, I want to share with you five things I wish I had known when I began learning specific languages. It is my hope that you can take these lessons, learned from my own mistakes and failures, and put them to use in your own learning, to ultimately speed up your own language learning success.

1. When Learning Close Languages, Start Speaking Early

Sometimes, it’s so easy to get stuck in a routine that it’s difficult to notice when other approaches would give much faster results.

Take, for example, the time I began learning Portuguese in 2008.

I had already had a well-developed learning method that I had tried and tested with several other languages. Part of this method required me to study a language using its corresponding Assimil course for an entire 6 months prior to actively speaking it with natives. This was my plan for Portuguese.

While this is well and good for most languages, I was overlooking one huge fact: I should have started speaking much, much earlier!

You see, Portuguese is a member of the Romance language family, meaning that it is descended from Latin.

At the time I started Portuguese, I had learned and mastered two other Romance languages: Spanish, and my native Italian.

Since Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian have lots in common in terms of grammar, vocabulary, phonetics, and syntax, I didn’t actually have to absorb a whole lot of new information to be able to speak Portuguese well. All I had to do was “convert” a lot of my underlying Spanish and Italian knowledge into correct Portuguese.

Since Portuguese was a “close” language to languages I already knew well, it turns out that I didn’t have to wait six months to start speaking it—I probably didn’t even have to wait six weeks!

The time one should wait to speak a language depends very much on the individual and his or her own language experience, but I know now that when learning very close languages, it’s much more efficient to speak as early as possible, since a lot of the skills and knowledge of a previous language can transfer to the new one.

2. When Learning Distant Languages, Keep it Simple

The amount of linguistic diversity on the planet is staggering. Languages are incredibly complex, and they can differ from one another in both subtle and obvious ways.

This diversity means that just because a routine or approach has helped you learn one, two, five, or ten languages, it won’t necessarily be just as successful in helping you learn the next one.

This was the lesson I learned from Japanese.

As I mentioned in the Portuguese example above, my language learning method focuses primarily on gaining input (listening and reading) for six months to a year, before then focusing on output (speaking & writing).

Typically, once I reach the end of the input phase in a particular language, I’m able to build up my speaking skills very quickly, and converse at an intermediate level or higher.

This is how it worked for many of my previous languages. Even difficult ones, like Russian, Polish, and Mandarin Chinese.

I had no such luck with Japanese, however. Once I began trying to speak, I was confused to find that I couldn’t, even after many attempts at conversation.

Here, the problem was the opposite of the one I had with Portuguese: instead of it being too close a language, Japanese was too distant from any language I had previously learned.

More specifically, every other language in my repertoire at the time had a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) syntax. This means that they form sentences like “I (subject) ate (verb) the cake (object).”

Japanese doesn’t do this. It has, instead, an SOV word order, meaning the above sentence in Japanese is structured as “I the cake ate”.

If you’re accustomed to SVO languages as I was, trying to speak in an SOV language feels like a mental juggling act, as you suddenly have to start building sentences in a way that feels almost entirely backwards.

Now, I did know at the time that Japanese has a different word order. The problem is that I started speaking Japanese by trying to form sentences that would have been easy in SVO languages, but were far too complicated to manage in Japanese. Sentences with multiple clauses—something like “I started learning Japanese because I think Japanese culture is fascinating”—were most often the culprit.

Had I known then what I know now, I would have avoided these complex sentences entirely. While I could express them after a year of learning an SVO language, they simply weren’t appropriate for Japanese. Instead, what I needed to do was simplify things as much as possible.

Japanese syntax was so new to me that I needed to go back to basics; in essence, to speak like a child speaks. This means starting with a focus on simple sentences (such as “I’m learning Japanese” and “I like Japanese culture) and gradually working up to forming more complex sentences through connectors (“I’m learning Japanese because I like Japanese culture”). This “bottom-up” approach would have helped me grow accustomed to the new syntax while avoiding the mental stress of trying to say things that are above my level.

If you are trying to learn a language that is extremely different from any you have learned before, I recommend this approach. At the beginning, simplify everything as much as you can, until you’re comfortable with the basics. Once that happens, build up your tolerance for complexity, but do so gradually. And don’t be afraid to resimplify if you get overwhelmed!

3. When Learning a Language with a New Script, Acquire the Right Tools Quickly

Language learning difficulties can often arise in the most unexpected of places.

When I started learning Russian in 2004, I had already been forewarned many times about the maze of declensions that is the Russian case system. As such, if I was going to struggle with Russian, I figured it would be with its grammar.

Fast forward to four months later, and I was just about to give up learning Russian altogether.

The cases, surprisingly, were not the culprit. While challenging, they didn’t make me want to quit.

It was Cyrillic that nearly drove me to the edge.

Yes, Cyrillic, the nearly-Latin, nearly-Greek alphabet that looks oh-so simple, was giving me fits.

And here’s the thing—I could read and handwrite it with no problems!

When it came to typing, however, I was at a total loss.

I tried learning the Russian keyboard, but it was completely alien to me. Even the letters that Cyrillic shares with Latin (“M”, “T”, “O”, “P”, etc.) were in completely new positions, so learning to use the Russian keyboard would be starting from scratch. I didn’t have the patience for it.

So, I resorted to a different method. One that was much simpler, but much, much slower: I input each letter from the symbols menu, one character at a time. Needless to say, typing anything longer than my name was a complete nightmare. Entire text conversations were practically impossible.

What I needed then were better tools. Clearly, the Russian keyboard and Symbols menu weren’t going to help me get the job done.

I eventually did find the right tool for the job, in the form of something now known as Google Input Tools. This is a browser-based text window that converts text in the Latin alphabet to the Cyrillic alphabet automatically. This allows me to type in Russian while still keeping my keyboard layout the same.

Knowledge of typing resources like Google Input Tools helped me immensely once I tried to learn Mandarin Chinese, which also has a completely different script from my own. Though attempting to type in Chinese characters could have been another Cyrillic-esque nightmare, an application known as Google Pinyin helped me communicate through text without any added stress to my learning.

If you wish to learn a language with a script that’s unfamiliar to you, I strongly advise that you find the tools you’ll need to handwrite and/or type as soon as you can, and learn to use them right away. Look for the option that will get you writing or typing the fastest, without slowing down your learning. You can always look into more complex options later.

4. When Learning a Tonal Language, Use a Top-Down Approach

Amongst language learners, tonal languages are notorious for their difficulty. If you don’t already speak a language with tones, the very idea that the meaning of a word can change according to its pitch can be hard to wrap your head around. This is why many people who are learning languages like Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Thai, or Vietnamese can often struggle mightily when trying to speak.

When I started learning Mandarin Chinese in 2008, I tried to tackle the tones using the usual bottom-up approach that is usually recommended to learners. This means that I started by learning and memorizing the tones, then applying them to the smallest “tonal units” (syllables, in this case) and then combined those units into larger pieces (words) and then combined those into even larger pieces (sentences).

When it came time to pronounce a sentence, then, I had to run through the whole procedure every time: remember the tone number of each syllable, then put the syllables together, then the words together, then the sentence. Mentally, it was a lot to keep track of all at once—and due to a phenomenon called tone sandhi, it’s not always even accurate.

Unsatisfied with the mental acrobatics required by the method, I looked for something better. And I eventually found it.

One day, I stumbled on a surprising fact about children who speak tonal languages natively: they don’t use tone numbers!

I realized then that tonal language speakers don’t piece a correctly toned sentence tone by tone, syllable by syllable, like learners usually do. Instead, they learn tones in chunks—either entire phrases or sentences—and can work down from there if necessary.

This “top-down” approach is much more intuitive, and eliminates the confusion caused by tone sandhi, since you’re not focused on tone changes at the syllable level.

If you’re learning a tonal language, then I recommend you take this top-down approach to learning tones, and avoid the headaches that bottom-up approaches can cause.

5. Practice Proper Phonetics From the Beginning

Having a proper mastery of the phonetics of a language is immensely important if you want to be understood by natives.

The example of learning Chinese tones (above) is one of the more common and obvious examples of this. If you can’t handle the tones, it will be very difficult for people to know what you are trying to say.

Tonal languages are considerably rare, however, so it’s easy to think that you can ignore something like intonation when learning languages that don’t have complex tone systems.

But that’s not quite true. And I found that out the hard way.

In 2008, I posted my first video on YouTube. In it, I displayed my skill in the eight languages I knew at the time.

The video was well-received, and I got a lot of good feedback.

For one language, however, I received comments I wasn’t sure what to make of.

A few people noticed that my intonation was off for Swedish. I found this odd, since I had never had any major intonation troubles with other European languages, and already spoke related languages like German and Dutch at a high level.

I initially chalked it up to YouTube commenters being overly critical, but the comments kept coming. So I decided to look into it.

It turns out that even though Swedish is not a tonal language, it can be considered a “semi-tonal” language, as it has a phonetic feature called “pitch accent”. This means that certain Swedish words can be intoned in two different ways, each intonation having a separate meaning.

This is an important feature of Swedish phonetics that I had only found out about (or at least paid proper attention to) nearly two whole years after beginning the language. By that time, the improper intonation was already deeply ingrained into my Swedish, and undoing all that “damage” would take years of hard work.

Since then, I’ve spent considerable time and effort in re-learning Swedish intonation, but I haven’t managed to completely eradicate the former, erroneous patterns with my speech.

This is why I implore you to focus on phonetics as early as you can when learning a language. Practice pronunciation and intonation and get frequent feedback so that you can eliminate errors as soon as they arise. Errors that get ignored or left alone tend to fossilize, and can be much more difficult to eliminate later on. If you want to speak as naturally as possible in your languages, don’t make that mistake.

Conclusion

Twenty-two years of language learning experience has taught me a whole host of lessons. Some I have learned from other learners, some I have learned from my own success. Most of them, however, I’ve learned from my own mistakes.

Of course, it is possible for you to make the same mistakes that I have made. However, if you learn from the above five lessons, you won’t have to. In the end, this will make your language learning experience much easier, quicker, and more rewarding.

Written by Luca Lampariello and Kevin Morehouse

[unfortunate-rp]

Congratulations, JACKIE! You have been accepted as your desired character, RUBY COHEN. Welcome back! We are so happy to have you here with us again. Please be sure to complete the steps listed on the NEW MEMBER CHECKLIST and send in your account within the next 24 hours.

Well, young lady, have you been good to your mother?

Your Name: Jackie Your Age: 23 Your Pronouns: she/her or they/them Time zone: CST/GMT-7 Activity Level: 5 because of grad school Tumblr account (for contact purposes): REDACTED How did you find us?: from Zoey! Triggers: none Character you’re applying for: Ruby Cohen Why did you choose this character?: For one, I love sibling connections and the complexity of the Cohens and the dynamic of Ruby not knowing about the VFD while both siblings are in competing factions. Second, I respect the decision of Ruby leaving for peace and the new place of potentially going back to being a mediator. Is she going to stick to making Sage and Violet work out their own problems or will she crumble in wanting her siblings to get along? Secondary character preference: Olivia Oquassa A sample in character: ( set 7 years prior to the roleplay )

Tension, that was the overwhelming feeling that lingered in the air as Ruby sat in her family living room, alone. Her parents had gone off on an undisclosed location for an unknown amount of time. As unusual as this was, it was not unusual for the Cohen family. And neither was the chaos that ensued with Sage’s visit. Yet, even in this short time, pleasantries quickly turned to arguing. Quickly, Ruby felt as though she was trying to diffuse a bomb, furiously signing at her siblings. This time she’d been unsuccessful. And she sat on the rug with tears continuing to stain her cheeks. Even after all this time, she still cried when things got particularly heated. At the very beginning, her sensitive tendencies could stall an argument, but now it was something easily ignored (not that Ruby was upset at that fact alone - it took very little to bring her to tears).

Years back, when the Cohen siblings were younger and more gullible, Ruby came up with a clever plan. After one particular fight that led to days of a stalemate, she went to her room and began writing. What she wrote was not a treaty, but instead a forged apology letter from Sage to Violet, and vice versa. At the time, it worked. Both came out of their respective rooms and went about peacefully for almost months. This method, however, only worked another time or two before they learned that neither had written an apology letter. Both were, understandably, pissed at Ruby for manipulating them, but also came around to forgiving her and understanding the motivations behind her misguided actions. Even after fights between Sage and Violet, the two made a point to apologize to their youngest sibling. But even though the anger was rarely guided her way, Ruby still wished that the two could form a pact and move on from their squabbling.

After taking a few minutes to collect herself, Ruby left the house. Days ago, she’d planned to research colleges and study for the SAT with one of her best friends, Lara. Being a woman of her word, she grabbed her supplies and ventured to Lara’s house. But there was some guilt seated in her chest. As much as she tried, Ruby knew it would turn into a venting session the moment Lara asked how everything was going. And, sure enough, not even fifteen minutes into their SAT prep, Lara turned to Ruby and asked; “how are things at home with Sage visiting? Has war already broken out?”

“Unfortunately,” Ruby sighed, leaning back into the couch. “I just don’t understand why it has to be this way. I love them so much, Lara, I really do. And I’m sorry I always dump all of this on you, I’m sure you’re sick of it but I just…I’m so over it, Lara! Being in the middle sucks! It’s so emotionally draining. I want them to just get along, but it’s almost like they aren’t capable of being civil for long.”

For a moment, Lara fell silent, giving a short nod. This wasn’t the first time, or even ten time that she’d heard this. She offered some support by putting a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “Sorry, Roo.” Ruby gave a halfhearted shrug and looked back at the laptop screen, blankly. It wasn’t like anything could be fixed over night. The three of them were family no matter what. All she wished was for some harmony… “Hey, Earth to Ruby,” Lara’s fingers snapping pulled her out of the lamenting she’d fallen deep into. “Where are you applying?”

“I’m just going to apply for Lovelace University. Seems like a safe bet, you know? And close to home.”

“Why not apply somewhere else? You know, get away from home for a while.“

“…but, Sage and Vi-”

“They can, and should, figure it out themselves. You said so yourself - you’re tired of it. Moving away will force them to work it out without putting you in the middle. And it will let you take care of your own life.” For a while, Ruby was silent. That sounded awfully tempting. A fairly significant chunk of her time growing up was spent mediating. But…was that a selfish desire? Would Sage and Violet think less of her?

“I’ll think about it…but you do make a good point.” With that, the two turned back to their screens and continued working on their SAT prep. But the seed of leaving had already been planted and it wouldn’t take much longer for it to flourish in Ruby’s mind.

What headcanons or plans do you have for this character?:

- Prior to leaving for college, Ruby shared everything with her siblings, given the chance. Following college, she has been a bit more secretive around them, particularly with matters concerning her research. She hasn’t disclosed to either of them the extent of her research, or about the spyglass. Although she feels guilty about it, there’s some instinct to keep the spyglass a secret from everyone until she knows more.

- Early after moving, Ruby would entertain her siblings arguments. As she started seeking counseling, she grew to ignore texts and set boundaries with mediating.

- In college, Ruby changed majors several times. At first, she studied humanities, then it was linguistics, and she finally ended with a degree in business. While she could get better jobs with her education, she decided to work for the mayor to find the answers to all of the mystery surrounding the town.

- Close friends and family call Ruby - Roo

- I plan to have Ruby get in too deep with research and maybe start getting close to finding out about the VFD or Sage or Violet’s affiliations and have to have one of them intervene to keep Ruby out of it (something like that, but I can’t wait to plot with whomever plays either of them!)

- I would also like to see her attempt to go ‘under cover’ to try and dig up more secrets, perhaps about Ava and end up failing spectacularly.

Do you want any additional connections for your desired character that you’d like us to add to their bio?: Maybe an old friend from high school? Anything else?: