#duolingo only has so much unfortunately

[jellyfishmoon72]

I’ve been taking Hawaiian lessons for a bit less than a year, so most of what I know how to say is probably humorously formal.

A hui hou kakou, malama pono= until we meet again, take good care.

Alola (Aloha) Tita, Tapu pu= Bye Sister (informal), Tapu be with you (taken from the expressions “Ke Akua pu” and “Iesu pu”, “God be with you” and “Jesus be with you” respectively)

[bagely]

SOMETHING ABOUT... LOOKING AT ME.

When Philza entered the apartment, the first thing he noticed was how Missa apparently sleeping was in the living room next to a bunch of bottles of a Spanish drink that he could decipher from the smell was alcohol, but he couldn't tell exactly what it was by looking at it. Duolingo does not teach about types of alcohol, unfortunately.

Worry filled him as he approached the Mexican. “How much did you drink?” Philza said.

"Just one " Roier said entering the room. He looked almost as out of alignment as Missa. "It's pathetic how weak he is." He said, as he grabbed a blanket that was between the cushions and gently threw it over Missa's shoulders. "I'm going to bed. Take him to his room or don't. Do not make noise." He spoke, before leaving through his room.

A sigh escaped Philza's lips as he watched Missa. “Aren't you supposed to dislike drinking?”

He seemed to wake up suddenly. Missa wrinkled his nose in a grimace of disgust. “I don't like it." He stuck out his tongue, emphasizing his revulsion, before pursing his lips in a frown again. "all tastes horrible now.”

“Do you want candy?” philza asked. Moving closer to him, he touched his back and caressed it slowly circling it.

“I'm five years old?” replied Missa with slight annoyance, he was frowning. He moved to move away from philza's touch.

Perplexed, Philza withdrew his hand. “What's that have to do with anything?” He fumbled in his pocket, finding only a cherry-flavored lip balm. “Why were you drinking?”

Missa took the balm from Philza's hands and applied it generously to his lips, perhaps a bit too much. A shy look came into his eyes as he fixed his attention on the floor. “You think I'm cute?”

Philza held back a laugh that threatened to escape, adopting a serious countenance as he replied, “Yes, and more than that.”

Missa's eyes lit up, only to instantly moisten with restrained tears. “And why were you with that bald guy laughing all the time, and, uh.... And I was with you, I cut my hair...” He touched his hair with an anguished gesture. “And he has muscles and I don't... and I wanted to train and it didn't come out...” Tears began to well up, angry and sad. “And I was so fucking cute, really cute...and.... and I told Roier and his only solution is alcohol, because he's an pendejo, and Im worse because he convinced me..." Missa nose turned red as he wiped away his tears. it's just that I was so pretty and you didn't say it.”

Philza needed a moment to process the situation, not only because of Missa's hurried speech and tears, but also because of the unexpectedness of it all. It was both funny and tender to him.

“I see... I see,” he managed to finally say, holding back another laugh. “I'm sorry.”

“Don't laugh,” Missa spat, frowning and pinching Philza on the arm quickly.

“Ouch!” Philza complained, still fighting the urge to laugh.

“You're not feeling it right.”

Philza exhaled a sigh and, cautiously to avoid another pinch, gently took Missa's hands and kissed them. “Missa, I like you, and Fit is just a friend. I'm sorry I didn't pay more attention to you sooner.”

They melted into an embrace, somewhat awkward because they were sitting on the floor next to a table. In an attempt to get more comfortable, Missa sat between Philza's legs and snuggled against his chest.

Gently, Philza kissed Missa's tears as Missa closed his eyes, intending to fall asleep there.

“Am I irrational?” whispered Missa, without opening his eyes.

Philza smiled. “No more than me.” He touched the tip of his nose with a finger, laughing when Missa reacted by trying to bite him. “It's nice to see you jealous.”

“I'm not jealous...” Missa's eyes snapped open, his brow furrowing as he pulled away from Philza's embrace, though remaining close. “Just... I look handsome, don't I? No puedes apartar la vista ” He winked flirtatiously.

Philza felt himself blushing, thinking he should steer Missa away from the alcohol more diligently. “Wow, how did you guess?” he took a lock of Missa's hair between his fingers, gently brushing it away from his face.

“You're cuter,” Missa's eyes watered again. “Ugh and I'm restraining myself.”

Philza raised an eyebrow, confused. “What are you restraining, do you want to go to the bathroom, are you going to throw up?”

“No... I want to kiss you.”

“You can do it.”

“No, because it'll taste horrible and you're never going to want to kiss me again and.... and...”

Philza leaned back as Missa spoke, and then kissed him. He was somewhat right; His lips tasted like the cherry lipstick and something strange that must have been what he had drunk.

Philza broke away to look at him. and Missa seemed to have teary eyes. Missa brought his fingers to Philza's chin, touching it gently. "it's horrible?"

"I don't know." Philza said smiling. "Let me try more." He was still smiling and laughing as I "tested" Missa's theory.

"Didn't I tell you not to make noises with your cochinadas, cabrones?" Roier's voice scared them. "I have enough with Mariana and Slime."

"¿Puedes irte?" Missa, he asked although it sounded more like an order.

"No, si putas siganle, con confianza." speak sarcastically roier. But the two seemed to take it literally because they started kissing again. "Have roomies they said, it will be fun they said..." Roier began to speak, annoyed, entering his room and closing the door forcefully.

[augustsappho]

Goldsmiths Centrists and Palestine: How To Ignore A Genocide - by August Sappho

On some unfortunate Tuesday in October 2023, I was sat shoving a piping hot cheese toastie down my throat in between morning lectures and sat idly with 2 other people in the refectory. Creative Arts students I'd met in the freshers chat who, whenever I had tried to share the contents of my lectures excitedly, had shut me down on the basis of politics being complicated and uncomfortable table talk. Desperate to make friends and coming from a family of people who typically get headaches at the dinner table caused by my ramblings and ravings, I understood and obliged; after all, I want to build bridges, not be the scary monster underneath them. That is until the curious question of Palestine came up, and I stayed quiet. Surely, these self-proclaimed apolitical progressives would be sensible. “I just think it’s all so complicated, really! People need to read up more before they come to broad conclusions!*” Yes, they absolutely should. What a rational take to have formed in the face of a sudden media flurry. In my own opinion, education, and more importantly, history, is the cornerstone of enriching one's ideas and understanding. The same way you use butter in a stew, and like butter, the professionals use a lot of it. And, like butter, it fattens me up, nourishes me and brings me a great deal of comfort. 

Mid-way through the summer term, I was struck by pure delight that I am living in a time where I can access any and every book I could ever dream of accessing either via the internet or a library or simply buying it. I sit, live and breathe in a country where the tuition fees are, yes, expensive but far from American and where people take great risks on their whole lives just to brush it with their fingertips, arm outstretched over a chasm of hope. Unfortunately, my table mates had decided not to utilise any of this incredibly accessible research and immediately followed their statements up by berating and shaming a lecturer in the media department for wearing a pro-Palestine jumper. They alluded very heavily that he should face some sort of consequence or simply not be allowed to wear it. After all, what does Palestine have to do with Creative Arts?  I continued chewing very slowly and very tense. I did think about saying something but decided against it. Months later, I blew up at them because these same apolitical progressives had one too many times scoffed, played devil's advocate and questioned people, including myself, into an uncomfortable corner over political meet-ups, rallies and open letters. Questioning tactics, phrasing, aims to no avail beyond being arseholes - have we tried just being really super duper nice to management guys? I almost laughed when I’d seen one of them had started learning Hebrew out of the blue on Duolingo.

Unfortunately, those self-proclaimed progressives aren't anything new at Goldsmiths University of London. It has a real troubling culture of letting people only engage in what they are comfortable with and not think much beyond that. Gay rights are legal in this country and, therefore, not controversial and, consequently, easy to support. Racism is illegal in this country and, therefore, not controversial to speak up against and easy to publicly oppose. Feminism has had many successful waves here, and so it is not out of the ordinary to call yourself a feminist (without being able to explain much theory behind any of what makes these ideas up or what distinguishes them). Unfortunately, these are also easy things you can add to your social media bios with no further thought, with the sole intent of virtue signalling and repelling conservatives online. While I am grateful for all these comforts and people's ability to declare themselves as such openly, they are often done on a very face-value level and do not always mean you're a particularly good anti-racist or a good ally or a good feminist. They often trick people who have done their homework into a false sense of security. No,they use these words in a way where the thinking has been done for them. You do not have to fight; you just have to pick the glaringly obvious option. They do not have to form moral opinions on the suffragettes bombing mailboxes, the Stonewall Riots or violent plantation liberation attempts from the likes of John Brown. They can simply sit and enjoy the luxury of not ever having to deal with the hard-hitting stuff and pretending they would have come to those conclusions anyway. 

Palestine, then, has acted as an axe, splitting whole student bodies around the world into two general camps. Between those who will occupy, sign letters, donate money, raise hell in the name of justice. In the name of what is good. Between those who will learn and listen and between those who will rattle on the same few talking points, claim to see both sides and claim things are just oh-so-complicated when they simply are not. Those who swear themselves by ideals of liberty and freedom and yet cannot muster a grain of sympathy to fight for those who have none. Those who will even go to the extent of the disenfranchisement of their peers and bullying if it means maintaining close contact with their comfort zones, and Palestine makes them very uncomfortable indeed—hearing chants and seeing flags and skirting around the videos of the bodies and the rubble, having to relocate your lecture or walk past a very obvious liberated zone. It makes it an unavoidable topic, puts politics in the face of those self-proclaimed progressives, and asks them, “Do you care enough to make a change?”. And the answer is a simple no. Instead of engaging with the reading they promised themselves publicly as a show of intellect, they choose to occupy their hours sending secret complaints to the warden, huff in frustration at marking boycotts, and get uncomfortable while swearing they're involved in all this and fully supporting it. Yet following lists, open letter signatures, and the things they mutter to each other paint a different picture. It is as if they know they are on the wrong side. They look left and right to see predominantly white middle-class faces like their own and prime ministers of conservative governments and think of it as some bizarre coincidence. They know they are wrong not to be reading, learning or keeping up to date which is why they maintain their opinions and feign progress until they are awkwardly called out or the simplest of questions peels off the scab.

“It’s [the occupation of the library] hindering students who have every right not to join the protest to do well in their end-of-year assignments!”—a message sent by one of the beloved October centrists. In a conversation that blew up into me confronting them for how they have treated several people, they hammered in that the student occupation of the library was unfair on themselves personally and other students like them. However, the occupation wasn't situated anywhere near the exam rooms nor on an exam day and was solely in the bottom floor front section of the library, where students are allowed to make as much racket as they want already, and people frequently do group projects there for this explicit reason. Anyone who has been to any library knows the bottom floor is always designated as the loud floor, and the higher up you go, the quieter it gets. Our library is quite impressive in size, so while unavoidable on the ways in and out, once you are inside, it was never going to be hard to find a spot to block them out. They did not know this, however, as it had never impacted them beyond hypotheticals in their head, and their argument wasn't dependent on having actually kept their eyes on what students were doing but rather finding anything to scream inconvenience at. All I could think was how funny that a student occupation of a library could be deemed as some unforgivable act because it impacts them directly, but a genocidal occupation in which their university has a hand in just isn't worth the time of day. The warden herself referred to the library occupation as something that ‘threatened’ students.

Let me conclude them with a different quote from the fictional Robin Swift from R.F. Kuang’s ‘Babel’ whose words perfectly encapsulate this ordeal.

“Across the town, students were fast asleep. Next to them, tomes by Plato and Locke and Montesquieu waited to be read, discussed, gesticulated about; theoretical rights like freedom and liberty would be debated between those who already enjoyed them, stale concepts that, upon their readers’ graduation ceremonies, would promptly be forgotten. That life, and all of its preoccupations, seemed insane to him now; he could not believe there was ever a time when his greatest concerns were what colour neckties to order from Randall’s, or what insults to shout at houseboats hogging the river during rowing practice. It was all such frippery, fluff, trivial distractions built over a foundation of ongoing, unimaginable cruelty.”

*the first conversation is paraphrased as best as I can remember it, as I do not record my conversations with people

[kikizoshi]

youre learning Russian, right? I've also started learning with borrowed textbooks, and the consensus I've seen online is that its not enough, and that a course is necessary. if you don't mind I'd be really appreciative to know how you got where you are and if you think that's true.

Спасибо за помощь (ღゝ◡╹)ノ♡

Unfortunately, I don't really know what I'm doing either. Just kinda stumbling through, and "where I am" isn't all that far. I can only ever be an authority on what helps me learn Russian; in my experience, there's never been a one-to-one, "follow these steps I took to become fluent" method. Everyone has to figure out their own quirks. (And if this isn't true for someone then I'm very jealous of that person.)

I've seen about as many different opinions as there are ways to learn. Some think you need courses. Some think courses are useless. Some like textbooks; others hate them. The one consistent thing seems to be input--everyone agrees you need a lot of comprehensible input (meaning, you understand some of what you're consuming). But is a course necessary? I don't think so. Whether it could be vastly beneficial or a waste of time and money is something that depends entirely on the person's learning style. A resource I've linked further down may help you determine whether it'd help you. I've never taken a course, so I don't have any experience there.

Also: I have ADHD, so everything here is working around that. Motivation is a massive issue for me, and I've generally found that forcing my way through something droll for long periods of time just... isn't something I can make myself do. It burns me out. I try to make everything something I want to do, or at least not very painful. But my methods are also slower and less effective than something more structured.

Comprehensible Input

How I got to it being helpful:

People go on about comprehensible input all the time, and I can see why; it's extremely important. It's what finally moved me from mid-A1 to late-A2. But actually getting to a place where input even can be comprehensible was so horrifically painful for me that for a long while I felt completely inept. So, here's the things I did, in order, that I think helped:

A0-A1 (not helpful yet)

Duolingo + Twitter: Don't get me wrong--I hate Duolingo. And non-fanart Twitter. But it was a great combination for learning Cyrillic. I used Duolingo's earliest levels to get familiar with Cyrillic and some very basic words. Concurrently, I followed some Russian fanartists on Twitter who also posted text posts frequently, and turned notifs on for them. That made it so that 3-5 times a day, I would get a notification for a post in Russian, and I would practise reading/sounding out Cyrillic. I wasn't too focused on understanding what the post was saying, just getting a familiarity with the alphabet.

Memrise + Anki: Pain. God, so much pain. This was the worst. Necessary and effective, but the absolute, God-forsaken worst. Once I felt comfortable enough with Cyrillic, I started working through two decks: a. Memrise: vlarya's 10k most common Russian words deck. It goes in order of most to least common, has audio, and has typing practise. This replaces Duolingo. (When Memrise inevitably removes community courses altogether, feel free to ask for a backup of this deck. If I'm still on here by then, I should be able to give my backup that works with Anki.) I don't recommend Memrise's official courses. b. Anki: Neri's Russian Sentences (blog link) deck is great for practising the simple words you're learning with Memrise, getting common phrases down, and starting to see how Russian as a language comes together. It'll take a bit to click. c. keybr: I also started practising a little with keybr, mainly because having to type in Russian on Memrise sucks with the on-screen keyboard. keybr is the best site I've found to learn to touch type different keyboards. It's extremely effective. If you're already a touch-typer, a few hours should be enough to type well enough for Memrise.

YouTube: Russian With Max's 'For Beginners' Playlist was really helpful and motivating, at this point. He speaks slowly, simply, and clearly enough that I could understand him, where I couldn't understand anyone else yet.

I... God, I hate the A0-A1 stage so much. You can't do anything. At least now, I can watch TikToks, read comments, enjoy memes, and understand enough of those to enjoy myself. The stage where you understand nothing is by far the most awful to me. I wish I had anything to make it more bearable, but it's really just the worst. Hopefully you're either past this already, or close to past it. The small mercy is that it doesn't take too long to claw your way out of.

A1-A2 (helpful now)

[Active Immersion] Memrise + Reading/Watching (comp input): keep working through vlarya's 10k deck. My routine is: speed review due cards; finish the 10 cards I started learning yesterday; start learning 10 new words today. That's my reps and warmup. Then, depending on my mood, I'll either read at least 30 mins of 'Дом, в котором...' (with or without audiobook, again depending on mood), or watch at least 30 mins of Max's intermediate vids w/ Russian subtitles. Sometimes in my free time I'll watch Russian lit or ДВК TikToks.

[Passive Immersion] Music/Audiobooks/Let's Plays: pretty self-explanatory. My passive input isn't as comprehensible rn, but I focus on things I enjoy. A let's play to fall asleep to, an audiobook while I'm doing something that requires on-and-off focus. The goal here is just to understand snatches of whatever I can, not so much the whole thing. Eventually, those snatches become more frequent.

I'm sure more dedicated study would help me a lot right now, but I don't really have the time or motivation to, so I don't try to force it.

Regarding Russian language learning YouTube channels, and why I only recommend Max:

I've found that most popular Russian learning YouTube channels feel... well, like school. They're not very interesting, they don't feel very organic. It doesn't feel like I'd be watching their videos for any other reason than learning Russian, which is bad for me, because I need to make Russian part of my life to have any motivation to do it.

So, the reason I like Max's channel so much is that he talks about things that're actually interesting and relevant to me. This video is a personal favourite, but he has a lot of videos about all sorts of topics--some of which I'm genuinely interested in. And his demeanour is more vlogger, less teacher. I like him as a person. (Protip: in this stage, don't be afraid to start his intermediate videos early, even if you don't feel you're there yet. It can still be very helpful to pick out the words you do know, and most of his videos have Russian and English subtitles if you're confused.)

Regarding how to find a good Russian book to read:

I... don't know. Reading ДВК with the audiobook really, really helped with my reading ability, and continues to. I can't state enough how important it was for me. But how to find a book that you can read over and over again... I don't know. I just know that Harry Potter would be absolute torture.

I've seen people say that you should start reading simple things, like children's stories. I personally haven't done much of that, because children's stories bore me out of my mind, but if you like them then I'd give that a shot. I've also heard that Chekhov's stories are good for beginners (I've heard that about Pushkin too, but I'm not sure how easy poetry would be to understand). Read-alongs on YouTube could be good too. Russian With Max has some old livestream read-alongs, and there are plenty of Russian read-alongs on YouTube.

Aside - if you're curious about 'Дом, в котором...', this fan-made trailer is the entire reason I picked up ДВК; the vibes captivated me and I had to know what it was about. So for anyone interested: if the trailer looks cool to you, you may like the book. The English translation is called 'The Gray House'. ДВК is fairly long, and different POV characters have differing levels of complexity with the language. The early chapters are the simpler ones, conveniently, so starting from the beginning should be fine. It's a slice-of-life type story, so easy to pick up and put down. I recommend the Князев audiobook, which is almost certainly the one you'll find if you search 'дом в котором аудиокнига' (it's a fan-made audiobook, so I don't think you can buy it, but like LOTR the fan version is by far the best).

Resources

r/languagelearning's resources page is a good place to skim through, see if anything sticks out. I recommend reading through their 'How to Teach Yourself a Foreign Language'. It's good for giving you an idea of how different people learn, different learning methods, how those methods work for others, and what might work for you.

Refold's Roadmap is very helpful for me to understand where I'm currently at, and what sort of activities it would be beneficial for me to be working on. I use their definition of levels (i.e. A1), so if I wasn't clear what I meant by A1 vs A2, reading through this could be helpful.

SRS:

Anki's for decks I have to create myself, or if I need a more specialised deck. I prefer Memrise for vocab, mainly for typing practise and the better UI. If you want to use Anki for vocab: Refold's ru15k deck is good for A2+. There are plenty of simple word decks to pick from for A0-A1. If you want to word mine to create your own Anki decks, see FLTR below.

Grammar:

New Penguin Russian Course is supposed to be good for grammar. I looked through it, and it does look good. If you understand grammar. I don't, but putting it here for those who do.

Reading:

u/La_Nuit_Americaine's post about reading helps me with motivation, and gave me some pointers about how to do it.

FLTR (Foreign Language Text Reader) is a good Windows program alternative to LingQ, if you can't or don't want to pay for LingQ's subscription. You have to input the word definitions yourself. I used Reverso and Yandex Translate together for this. Your word list can be exported to Anki.

ReadLang is supposed to be a good web-based alternative to LingQ (its free level is still usable, unlike LingQ's). I've not used it much, but it seems pretty good. My preference is using some translation extension that will let you click on a word and automatically translate it and move on quickly. Simple Translate on Firefox is what I use.

Video Media:

Language Reactor is a subtitle extension for YouTube, Netflix, etc. that has a bunch of cool features. I hardly use it because it's not on Firefox, but if you use Chrome, Opera, etc., it's really handy. For YouTube, it will translate the auto-generated subs for videos, so if you have a Russian video that only has Russian auto-generated subtitles, you can use Language Reactor to get English subtitles.

Other ADHD Accommodations:

Being kind to myself is very important. I can't make myself study by thinking "why can't you just" or "it's not that hard, what's wrong with you". I can't make myself study with positive words either, but using positive language helps my morale so that I have more motivation to study more often.

I use a different browser (Opera) solely for learning Russian. I chose Opera because Language Reactor works on it (would've used Chrome but Chrome is set up for work), but the general idea is having a separate space for Russian. I put Opera's language in Russian, and I keep all my Russian-learning tabs open there, so that when I'm ready to study it's as simple as opening Opera. Having it separated like that also helps my brain see active study as a task that can be opened and closed, rather than combined with everything else (Firefox).

I try to give myself enough options of things to do for immersion that it's always a choice. My brain has so many different states: motivated; unmotivated; foggy; clear; distracted; focused. Each one will want--or even need--something different. If it's a foggy day, I may be able to read along ДВК with an audiobook, but not able to read words without that help. If I'm distracted, TikToks may help more than reading; if I'm focused, reading may help more than TikToks. Or if I'm completely unmotivated, watching one of Max's vids is more passive than reading, therefore less painful.

I love Russian. Not much to this one. I don't think I could stick to learning a language I didn't love for the sake of the language itself.

I wasted time and motivation watching things I wasn't interested in, trying to find media in Russian that appealed to me. I don't recommend that. I don't know the alternative, but I always felt horrible about myself after. It's important to have media you like, but forcing it won't work. Russian movies don't interest me. Everyone else's favourite Russian YouTubers don't appeal to me at all. TikTok is much better for me in that regard, because I can search for specific fandoms that interest me. Luck seems to be the only thing that works for finding good YouTubers.

Textbooks are my kryptonite. I can't use them. They drain motivation so fast. If they work for you, that's great. If they don't, I don't know that forcing it is the solution. It wasn't for me.

I scroll language learning subreddits sometimes for motivation. It's not productive, generally. But it's fun. And I do get some ideas sometimes.

I've mostly accepted that my progress is going to be slower than others. I'm trying not to compare myself. I'm enjoying it now, mostly, learning slowly but learning, and each time I reaffirm that that's okay, it becomes truer.

[empyreasheart]

but on the topic of language learning apps some i used include

Drops - made by the same people at kahoot, more of a vocabulary app than learning actual grammar but it has a lot of options, free version lets u do 5 minutes every 12 hours. If you want to learn more than one language what i did was download the individual language apps (u can either just download drops for all languages or drops (specific language) ie drops spanish for just spanish) and use different accounts. i also took advantage of the free trial cuz its fun but i do think the 5-10 minutes a day thing works fine to create a doable habit

Beelinguapp - This one requires a subscription i dont remember how much you can do without one but i have an android so i just downloaded a modded apk. edit: i forgot to elaborate when i posted this but its practicing reading / listening by reading stories and articles

Mango languages - this one is a lot different than duolingo but still good, its essentially based on learning by hearing / speaking a new language than just learning vocabulary and writing sentences. It requires premium BUT if you have a library card you can check if your local library lets you use it for free (this isnt guarenteed unfortunately but i think it is more common in bigger areas), there are also some free endangered languages

Memrise - Like the name implies this is mostly an app for memorizing words and sentences, using flashcards. Theres official courses but users can make them too so you can use it for more than just language learning if you want to. I think if you used this with mango languages it would be helpful to get practice writing phrases & words in a way you dont get to with ml. Apparently theres a pro subscription but i have no idea whats different & a lot of people say the free version works just fine

Ling - Havent used this for very long but its almost identical to duolingo but with more languages, its basically premium only but once again i use a modded apk

Some more specific stuff

Lifeprint - ASL w/ videos and its all free! a very good resource even if you arent looking to learn

Tagalog.com - Free resource for tagalog you just have to make an account

If you have resources for specific languages or anything in general id love to hear, this is all just from someone who has had a casual interest in language learning

Also if you have an android you can download modded apks of a lot of paid language apps. Just be safe (use adblock) and smart, not all apks are actually modded or theyre too buggy to be worth it, so pay attention to the reviews. The paid apps are often very nice but the prices are ridiculous. everyone deserves the chance to learn. I dont know if theres ios equilivants (although i wonder if theres a way to run apks on your pc through something like bluestacks)

[pastafossa]

The German in this week's chapter has me howling, Gunnar is so funny! I love the guy already. Is he actually fluent in German or is he just pulling vocab practice outta his ass?

I LOVE Gunnar, I had so much fun finally introducing him. And you are correct, he's just pulling from some language lessons. Duolingo only taught him the basics, unfortunately, so he just tries to make WHERE IS THE LIBRARY sound as terrifying as possible. 😂

[cpunkwitch]

answering my questions p3

[pt: answering my questions p3]

part 1 (link), part 2 (link)

ask game 3 (link)

biggest inaccessible thing that angers you right now?

doors with round handles. fuck those door knobs im glad my bedroom door doesnt actually close so i dont have to use it.

2. something no one talks about that you wish had more discussion about how it could be more accessible?

windows. i dont ever see anyone talk about how windows (that are meant to be opened for air circulation etc) could be more accessible. the window i have i have to wrestle with in order to get it open in the summer, because of that i avoided it this summer and ended up not having ac

i get there are some windows that have the screen on the other side and the inside slides up, i prefer those, my sister has that in her room, but the locks and the act of opening the window itself is not easy or something everyone can do.

3. what are some good resources that help you out? any blogs or sites that really helped you out with a disability or gave you support?

a user on here actually suggested speech assistant to me, i dont remember who but i was able to find an aac for my phone thanks to a tumblr user. i dont really have anything else to respond with, my resources are actually kinda limited ^^;

i got my cane off amazon, thats really the only other thing i have.

4. if you have an aid, mobility or not, how did you get it and do you know any good places to get them at good prices?

unfortunately all i know is amazon because i dont have a way of using other sites. most other sites dont use stripe and paypal is a bitch to me. i know there was a post going around earlier to be put on a wait list for a free wheelchair i think? if anyone knows where that post is id like to reblog it again

best way to get things at a lower price though is if theyre used/2nd hand. theyre considered worth less than new ones as they've been used and probably worn in already, therein they arent in mint condition like newer ones, but theyre still good. i actually got my first two binders that way. (tbh i get most things that way)

i know you can find 2nd hand stuff on facebook groups/marketplace, Kijiji, ebay and similar sites but i dont fully trust most of them myself.

when it comes to aid's that are programs though, such as aac or screen readers, there are tonnes that are completely free or come with small monthly subs or in-app purchases that arent too pricey and a lot of sites and social apps have those built in now a days with stickers, emojis, gifs, text-to-speech options on devices and so on.

5. any programs you know of that are either easily accessible or make things more accessible?

aside from my answer in 4, i have asl bloom which is like duolingo for american sign language. if you wanna quickly learn some asl for free, asl bloom is great!

i mentioned i have speech assistant for an aac, i've excitedly posted a bit yesterday about using it for the first time in a classroom setting.

6. whats an aid that no one mentions being an aid? could be big or small

anything is an aid if it assists you. glasses, braces, screen readers, etc

i see plenty of people acknowledging that pictures, emojis etc are aids as well esp for the nonverbal, more so than i would see sometime in the past.

a lot of things that might not be considered socially acceptable can be aids too, plastic straws for example, esp bendy ones, but thats been talked about quite a lot since the pandemic and i hope to see that discussion continue until theyre finally brought back as the default.

things that i never-to-rarely see anyone mention as an aid of some sort though? aside from medication, creams and things for pain management, theres not much to come to mind.

7. any recent news that really pissed you off, like an accessibility being taken away?

there was something at the time of making that ask game but i no longer remember what. nothing recent that have to bring up, at least not right now.

8. any good news to share with the disabled community?

i am sorry to say i bring no news at all, good or bad, but i may have some at a later date. perhaps whenever i get that french aac update we can consider that good news

9. what are some helpful things in your town/city for cripples?

nothing special i can think of

10. what can your town/city improve on to help?

the fucking side walks

11. is there an accommodation you wish you had/could get/want more of?

if i had the money and was in a different situation, id get a shower chair, braces or compression gloves, a wheelchair etc.

typing programs like typist arent made with disabled people in mind and i wish they were, i make mistakes because im dyslexic and cant always control my stims and they score you on how many mistakes you make with no backspace option and you cant continue until you improve with the least amount to no mistakes. they should at least let you use the backspace.

i use typist for class and it pisses me off that i cant go back and fix my mistakes. not just typing either but writing classes in general that grade you on how many mistakes you make should consider and accommodate people with issues writing/typing. just giving them more time to work on an assignment is not much of an accomodation. tics, stims etc are all things that can effect a persons writing and its pretty unfair and ablest to think that everyone can just stop making mistakes with writing if they practice enough.

12. whats some discourse going around right now that you wish would stop?

non physically disabled / able bodied people claiming cripplepunk includes them. should never have been discourse to begin with the name itself should be fucking self explanatory and if you know anything about cripplepunk its that its FOR THE PHYSICALLY DISABLED

also transid/transx bullshit...

13. advice for people who are only just discovering theyre crippled?

its okay to be disabled, learning your physical limitations and general limitations with your body is actually a good thing.

youre not lazy, youre not unsightly, youre not gross, youre not creepy, youre a living being and you deserve the accessibility, accomodations and help you need or want. if youre thinking of getting assistance get it.

youre not taking anything away or hurting anything by calling yourself disabled and using aids if you think it helps you.

whatever you have hindering your physical functions does not define you nore is it the only trait about you but it is a part of you that comes with you. dont let anyone disrespect you over it, get/use what you need, its your body.

14. any questions for people who've been in the community a while?

what were things like when cripplepunk first started? how did it gain traction and popularity? how did you come across it and what was it like when you were new?

do you have any advice for people just joining cripplepunk and things to say about content creation for cpunk? is there content you wish to see more of or reoccur? what was content online like when you first joined disabled/crippled spaces?

15. ramble about your condition?

man i really need to book time with the chiropractor. my arthritis aches are in more than just my hands and wrists, i get really bad foot cramps, leg and ankle pain and i have seriously bad tension and stiffness in my neck, shoulders and back.

if i remember tomorrow i'll call them when i get home for lunch between classes. and see if i can book thursday afternoons

a lot of my condition comes from my moms side of the family, which is cool in theory, i like talking about that kinda thing, hereditary and genes n stuff interests me but because its my mom and i grew up in her shadow being referred to as her "mini me" and shit, it makes me pretty uncomfortable to know just how much like her i am and i cant get away from it. (and thats not even mentioning how uncomfortable i am being associated with one of my ab/sers(u) to such a degree)

16. rant about your environment?

i feel like thats a thing for an entire post on its own. i could rant about my home environment or my city.

17. if you have any aids, have you decorated and/or named them?

ive painted my cane and and trying to paint it again when i remember, have the time and spoons, but i havnt named it or added any attachments and i want to. suggestions are welcome!

18. tips for maintaining mobility aids of any?

as a cane user:

wash and sanitize the handle/grip and foot of your cane as frequently as you use it. especially if someone else has touched it and you've been outside with it and have allergies!

use paint sealer if you customize your cane and use masking tape on the parts of it that you arent customizing (handle, foot, joints if its foldable)

place it by the door but not next to the entrance or shoes so it doesnt get knocked over/kicked etc and so you remember to take it with you if youre an "out of sight out of mind" type of forgetful person like me.

crippled-pvp mentioned this before; place your cane under the seats/on the floor if youre in a car. its deadly otherwise.

19. anything that motivates you to leave your house even just for fresh air and a stretch?

coffee/snack runs. the garden on campus nearby. if it werent for close by things like that i'd see no point in leaving the house outside work/school. and maybe a few other things like painting in the back yard ig?

20. free space!

feel free to ask me questions, to clarify or elaborate/expand on something, my inbox is always open for a chat and anon is on for privacy of those who use side blogs or are too anxious to be off anon. anon is not on for hate/discourse.

[ID: banner reading "dni if... proship, transx/id, syscourse/discourse blog, anti-mspec lesbians/gays, anti-lesboy/turigirl more in pinned rentry. this blog is protected by the addams family, the de rolo family and co." in all black lowercase text. It has a grey cloud background. On the left is the De Rolo coat of arms with a cobweb in the top corner and symmetrically flipped on the right is the symbol of Vox Machina with the same cobweb in the bottom corner :End ID]

[comrade-heather]

🍂 October Language Learning Reflection

Swedish

Finish Duolingo Tree

2 units left in Semester 3!

duolingo has changed the tree so many times this year it's impossible to tell how far along I am

Keep up With Anki

days I did reviews: 2/31

Finish S2 and S3 of Bonusfamiljen

fallen out of love with this show :/

new goal: finish Phineas & Ferb S1 (w/ swedish dubbing)

progress: 10/26

Master the "100 most common" level on Clozemaster

mastered: 493/493

progress: 100% 🎉

Master the “500 most common” level on Clozemaster

played: 417/2,643 (15.78%)

mastered: 0/2,643 (0%)

Ojibwe

Anki: 3/31 days

German

Anki: 4/31 days

immersion content: I've started watching Die Küchenschlacht, which is a great starting place since food is something our A1 textbook features a lot. unfortunately it doesn't have subtitles but that's better for my auditory comprehension in the long run haha

Reflection

It's been a good month for language learning! Not only do I continue to get mandatory (if not slightly painful) practice for GER 110, but I've been on quite the foreign TV kick. Nothing better than spending a fall evening in, comprehending 10% of a TV show under the ambient lights in my dorm :) As I've said in nearly every update, Anki continues to be a habit I just cannot get into. Maybe this month will be my month.

German: Homework for GER 110 is often a drag, but my motivation to learn is very strong. Swedish continues to be a huge help, I'm struggling much less with vocab and word order than some of my peers.

Swedish: A large portion of my hours this month were Phineas & Ferb. I actually never watched it as a child, so this was the perfect opportunity!

Ojibwe: Been struuuuggling with remembering emotion words. More often than not Ojibwe is my palate cleanser between two very similar germanic languages.

Temptations: If I'm good about German Anki for the next 6 weeks, I can learn the Cyrillic alphabet over winter break as a treat....

[elizabeth-karenina]

15 Questions 15 Mutuals

I wasn’t tagged for this, but I saw it on a mutual’s blog and thought it would be fun to do. I haven’t done one of these in a while, so why not? 

1. Are you named after anyone? 

I was named after a great-grandmother as well as my paternal grandmother—Dorothy Elizabeth (my great-grandmother) and Jeannette (my grandmother). I adore my grandmother, so I’ve always been honored to share a name with her. I never knew my great-grandmother, who died tragically young, and I’ve always been a little sad that I never knew her. 

2. When was the last time you cried? 

About a week ago or so. Look, I cry all the time nowadays, so I can’t even accurately tell you. It’s not even a bad thing, mind you. I cry at cute things as well as sad things; at this point, if I’m feeling the emotion, I just let it take over! 

3. Do you have kids? 

I don’t. I wouldn’t mind having one or two, maybe three, someday with a committed partner. But I am definitely not having children for the sake of having them. If I’m going to be a mother, then I’m doing it because I’m ready. 

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot? 

It depends on the situation. I tend to only do so with my nearest and dearest, and in a humorous sense. I’m of the opinion that sarcasm has a time and place, because depending on the situation, sarcasm can be very rude. 

5. What sports do you play/have played? 

I used to play sports a lot when I was a kid. I used to play kickball and baseball with my cousins and my friends in my neighborhood all the time. And I played on a local soccer team with a bunch of school friends when I was 9. I even went to a basketball camp at my dad’s recreation center when I was 10. 

I didn’t keep up with any of this as I got older, mind you LMAO! I’m just not as athletic as other people. But I do love watching sporting events, especially the World Cup. 

6. What's the first thing you notice about people? 

Their faces, especially their eyes and their smiles. 

7. What's your eye color? 

Dark brown, like polished mahogany or melted chocolate. 

8. Scary movies or happy endings? 

Happy endings, for sure! As much as I love a good spooky story, I appreciate and care about happy endings more. 

9. Any special talents?

I can sing well enough, at least among my friends and my family. I tell stories really well; I do everyone’s voices and everything. I’m pretty good at cheering people up and knowing what to say in any given moment. I’m also pretty good at baking, especially cookies and cakes. 

10. Where were you born? 

In America, in Maryland to be exact. 

11. What are your hobbies?

I’ve gotten back into reading lately, which is wonderful, because I think reading is probably my favorite thing to do. Usually I like reading about history, but I’ve also decided to step out of that and try to read some book series this summer. I’ve been learning French on Duolingo for about 3 years now, and one day I’d like to learn Spanish, Russian, Greek, and Mandarin one day too. I like listening to music and podcasts on the weekends, and when I can plan it, I also like going to the movies and go shopping afterwards. 

12. Do you have pets? 

For about 13 years, I had a Latsah-Otsah/Maltese dog named Ringo. Unfortunately, he died last year and it was a hard thing to go through. I would love to have another pet, but I live with my family, so if we do decide to get one we’d ALL have to agree upon it. And right now, my family doesn’t feel like it’s ready for anything else, so SADLY I am petless. :(

13. How tall are you? 

I am five feet tall! I’m literally a hobbit. 

14. Favorite subject in school? 

English lit, world history, my Spanish classes, and my chorus class. 

15. Dream job? 

So many! I wished I had kept up with my music lessons, because I wish I could be in an orchestra or a choir. I used to want to be a radio DJ, too, but that dream fizzled out real quick lmao! 

Here’s who I would like to tag: @1980s-jean-ralphio, @miumiumacaron, @stcndupeight, @nellygwyn, @magalis, @roamwithahungryheart, @pocketwish, @octoberinflorence, @grand-duchessa, @midnightinjapan, @wifeofbath, @spicytchai90, @stray-kaz

[ox1-lovesick]

SAV SAV SAV ITS SO COOL THAT YK 4 LANGUAGES OMG!!! how did u learn all of them + keep them in ur brain without them trying to escape and fall out pls teach me ur magic ways on my hand n knees rn 😞😞🤲

TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST I BARELY DO 💀💀💀 eng is my native language and afrikaans is a language that they teach us at school in my country it's like directly derived from dutch so i can understand most dutch (speaking is a different story 💀)

korean is the only language i actually self studied, i've been slacking though most of my korean has fallen out of my brain 💀 i guess the only reason I haven't completely forget everything is because i'm constantly consuming korean media??? like kpop and watching kdramas 😭 i've also been learning thai and japanese but i don't consume much thai and japanese media other than anime and thai horror movies so my thai and japanese are really bad 💀💀💀

i'm the worst person to ask for advice because i just learn languages as a hobby?? it's something i've always enjoyed doing like i've tried to learn latin and spanish when i was much younger (i remember nothing) but ig just stay consistent??? (and definitely don't use duolingo) you should also practice speaking with other people, i use Lingbe to have practice calls in korean with other people who are learning korean every once in a while !! it's really helpful even if you don't understand what they're saying LMAO also consume a lot of media in the language you're trying to learn, like if you were trying to learn hindi for example it's good to watch a lot of bollywood movies and listen to songs in hindi!! it all comes down to how much you can learn from the internet (if you are learning from the internet) because learning korean or any really popular language is super easy because there's so many resources, apps, websites and YouTube videos etc that you can refer to because everyone wants to learn them 💀🙏 but it's unfortunately not like that for most other languages which is very sad 💀 but uhm. idrk what else to say i hope this helped somehow HALSJSKS

[fractallogic]

so i realized that when I'm going through a medium-strength depressive episode, I want to learn languages and do vocabulary and stuff like that... so i turn to duolingo, usually

unFORTUNATELY, duolingo also makes me mad because everyone's like "oh duolingo is awesome, it's the best, you *really learn a language* with duolingo" and I'm constantly finding errors in the languages I know and inconsistencies with the languages I don't and it's only a small part of any given language pedagogy and it's just so FRUSTRATING, and possibly more so because they didn't fucking hire me to highlight and fix any of these problems any of the four times that I applied and did the initial interest interview

and now they're really going hard on "we teach ENDANGERED languages" when the navajo course is seven units long and the fucking high valyrian course is 29 units long. you don't learn shit in seven units. like idk if the hawaiian course is any better!! and there are, in all likelihood, issues with getting additional approval from tribes, etc. to share their language, and issues getting native or very good speakers to record stimuli, and honestly I started the navajo course because I wanted to see how they dealt with navajo morphosyntax (so far: not well) and that's probably also a stopping point... but you can't tell me you're going to Teach Me Navajo in any meaningful way, which imo is even more disrespectful than just like... not having it.

and THEN you even compare western european courses like french/spanish/german to, idk, finnish, and the former courses all have these extensive "guidebooks" for grammar, they include notes and conjugation tables, etc etc etc, and finnish has ... a list of some of the sentences and phrases that you learn. is it LIKELY that someone's learning finnish from english as their very first non-english language? no, probably not (and i KNOW duolingo's research scientists have the data that can back that up). would it still be USEFUL to have those same tables and notes and so on? ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY. is it useful to have cultural elements like a finnish instrument called a kantele and being able to say "matti is a finn with sisu"? YES. but do they fucking bother to explain what either of those things are? NO.

and like, the thing about duolingo is that they make these extensive claims and it's used in classrooms now (?!) and they're seen as this super high-prestige program among language nerds, and it's just WRONG, and it really pushes my buttons. memrise doesn't make the very strong claim that you use it to learn a language; it really bills itself as more of a vocabulary practice tool (which both of these are), and i'm happy with that. there are memrise-made courses and user-made courses, and they're like "here are certain guarantees we can make about the general quality of the memrise courses, which we cannot make about the user-made courses", which I am also very much fine with. memrise hides some of its stuff behind a paywall, which, fine (caveat: I paid for a lifetime memrise membership—which is a big reason why I'm so !!! MY ACCOUNT WAS STOLEN !!! about the whole thing), but there's so much free content that imo the paywall is really just a nice bonus and not actually the necessary things to have. more and more it feels like duolingo's paywall is blocking some of the necessary stuff (like a personalized practice session, which I feel like is simple enough to program in and not necessarily worth a whole-ass paywall) and is also really expensive, AND without any options for a lifetime membership/single-pay model, afact.

maybe I would feel differently if i worked for duolingo. i would definitely feel differently if i was just a language-learning enthusiast instead of a linguist who literally specializes in how people learn words and word pieces in languages that are different from their primary language. duolingo is just TOO BIG FOR ITS BRITCHES and self-important and it needs to be knocked down several pegs.

[team-council-two]

Question for alpha ! (ignore my name it's fine just don't read it no reason to)

It's not really about tf2 or anything,, but it's still a question !

So, I've been meaning to learn French, as I'd find it way easier to write fics with my favorite characters in them, and also super good bragging material /j

i just want to know where to start? DeepL translate has been a lifesaver, yes, but it is still a small bit weird, sometimes not. using the right words, like turning "surprised" into "scared and then "scared" into "frightened."

i think i may find it way easier to just. learn the language.

Advice?

what do you m

Yeah imma pretend i didnt see that

Anyways. How to learn French, huh ? okay so this will be long

DISCLAIMER

I *am* French so I never had to "learn" French to speak it or read it. So i in fact will be relaying advice based on how I managed to learn English.

You really have three options here. The decade long, bullshit, no money free way which gives you shitty grammar, the painful serious method where you bit the bullet and open grammar books n shit, or the somewhat sensical, fastest and most efficient and foolproof ableit possibly costly way.

the bullshit method is what i did. I was vaguely taught basic English shit like some verbs (do, can, be, have, etc) and a couple words here and pronouns and blah blah by school, then i went on the internet at the ripe age of 13 or some shit. I read in English a lot, tried to talk and slowly built myself a vocabulary half through plugging what words i didn't understand in a translation engine (NOT the full sentences, only that. It forces you to place the word back in a sentence and think about said word in its language), half through trying to vaguely deduce stuff by myself through context clues, and while I write in a somewhat understandable way I do not know how to pronounce any of what I write (i lacked actual spoken english having medias in my diet, due to being a subs-reading weeb and neither into american movies nor youtubers). Took a good decade to get where i am right now and the way i handle my sentences is. Errr. Uniquely fucked up. i am not aware of it at alls, so i cannot explain but. Yeah. Still. It can get you here, but that's a lot of time and not for the best result.

What you CAN pick up from this method and port over to the serious one is reading in French and watching French movies. Avoid internet users tho these bitches spell ça va "sava" yikes lol anyways. This is mostly because a language won't stick without some kind of interaction with it. This is a widely known fact so i'm probably pulling a sky's blue, bears shit in the woods here. Still, shit matters. Binge the fucking taxi movies and sit down in front of some goddamn Astérix. anyways the serious method is just this but you actually read up on how the language is constructed, with its technical shit. im not sure how to do this unfortunately so i cant provide much more

If you want to be serious you get a goddamn real person to teach you, to explain you, hey here's how you build a sentence, forcing you to talk in French and to remember words and their meaning and shit, and also sitting here for your questions, to point out to you cultural stuff, slangs and so on. Self taught can be a trap. Courses like Duolingo really are good solely for reminding you to practice and teaching you to identify some verbs/words so you can somewhat start reading and vaguely get your head wrapped around the pronunciation (tho it can be faulty i heard), but its teachings grammar wise are lackluster at best, and this fucking method seems to be consistent because these things just emulate the "if you read a lot of a language with the translation you learn it" stuff i mentioned earlier except even more isolating, and you wind up with people like my gothfriend that have a year long streak on French and that still feel like they cannot wrap their head around the language at all. So yeah. This is a supplement at best. I'm trusting Ray to follow up on this post to rant about this because they are a language teacher and they'll likely have more on the topic. I personally tried to learn italian, german and polish on this. Result ? I was using french as a crutch for italian, english for german, and couldn't get through a single exercise for polish. Total learned despite 100 day streak and doing the courses both in french and english : 0

As for translation engines, I personally use WordReference. It is hand curated, accounts for a lot of slangs, includes context clues, is wonderful navigation wise for tapping back and forth between words to see what they say, it has a forum for more specific questions... It never failed me tbh.

[actuallyluci]

Oh that’s completely alright! We’re very socially anxious unfortunately. When we were open about being a system we got harassed so we are very private about it.

I tried to learn Italian through this app but it only let me do one lesson for free so I guess I’ll have to learn another way. I don’t know how good DuoLingo is for learning Italian, I’ve never tried it. We unfortunately know more Japanese than we do Italian (although can’t say I’m fluent in Japanese, slang is hard to understand still). Despite other alters being fluent in English, I still struggle with it somehow. Which sucks as a host, because I do get mocked for slipping up lol.

I do have one more question if that’s alright: How do you feel about ‘doubles’? I know every system has a different opinion/feeling about them, so that’s why I want to make sure before/if we DM you. The hard thing about befriending systems with same-source introjects is the risk of having ‘doubles’. I know it makes some uncomfortable, while others think doubles aren’t a thing(as in, despite having the same source you are still entirely different people). We aren’t very open about our roles/introjects anyways, but I just wanted to make sure before/if we become mutuals. Main reason I ask is because in the past we had a ‘double’ of a mutual system’s introject and didn’t know; they ended up getting very uncomfortable/upset and blocked us immediately. We didn’t find out the reason why until much later. And, I wouldn’t want to put you through a possibly stressful situation. If DMs is not an option, we can still interact through asks. /genq /nf

Duolingo is alright to learn actual words, but it can be a bit slow so I try other things as well. As for doubling up we really don't care about it. Systems are very complex and if the rest of this sources fictives weren't part of a side system I could guarantee there would be doubles. It was such an involved fandom so it's easy to see why some people would get the same Introjects. And meeting other versions of myself isn't exactly new /j

[l0velyinc]

for the questions meme, tried not to send you a ton but still ended up with 5 ^^'

10, 22, 28, 36, and 81?

feel free to skip or answer any with ocs instead if you'd prefer!

[Original Post]

No worries!!! Thank you for all these questions!!! I'll start with my own answers:

10. HIKE TO A MOUNTAIN TOP TO WATCH THE SUNRISE OR DRIVE OUT OF TOWN TO STARGAZE?

OOOOH these are both my vibe. Uuhhh. Depends on if I’m with someone or not? 

If I’m alone, I could totally go on a hike and watch the sunset. I have done in-depth daydreams about this. 

If I am with someone, I’d live to drive somewhere and just star-gaze, and maybe have a deep conversation! (Also I don’t have a license so I can’t drive lol)

22. WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST THING YOU’VE SEEN SOMEONE DO IN PUBLIC?

Those guys who pass out CDs, like the scam ones. Where they give the CD, make you pay for it, and such. It’s such a weird scam? Like there has to be a better way to scam someone right? Just, anyone that tries to force products onto others, it’s so weird and awkward lol.

28. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE HOLIDAY TRADITION?

I have a couple:

. Our family bean dip recipe (for any occasion)

. Easter & NEW YEARS Brunch!!!

. My aunt would make specific desserts for any film/show related party, like The Oscars or The Super Bowl (not a holiday, but it feels like one!)

. basically food.

36. IF YOU COULD LEARN ONE LANGUAGE FLUENTLY WHAT WOULD IT BE?

SPANISH! I used to know if fluently when I was a little baby (first ever word was “Gato”)

I’ve been slowly learning, but I doubt what I’m learning is actually useful in conversations… but I barely know anyone IRL that speaks spanish, so duolingo is unfortunately the closest resources.

81. WHAT BOOKS INFLUENCED YOU MOST AS A CHILD?

Everything I could get my hands on (except the ones we read in school. Ew. those were so bad.)

EXCEPT ONE THAT TRANSCENDED AND IMPRESSED MY BABY ASS: The Westing Game.

It’s a mystery with a giant cast, and so much happens in it, I hated 50% of the characters, the twist blew my mind but is actually extremely obvious when you think about for 5 seconds BUT I DIDN’T because I was a kid who read most of the A-Z Mysteries series books and loved them too.

Take this all with a grain of salt though, I have not read The Westing Game or A-Z Mysteries in probably 10 years so… hopefully they aged well…

Also because characters rot my brain, I have randomly selected one character to answer these questions with: [[ DULCE!!! ]]

10. HIKE TO A MOUNTAIN TOP TO WATCH THE SUNRISE OR DRIVE OUT OF TOWN TO STARGAZE?

Oh 100% Stargaze. She’s got a car and she’s driving to every known destination just to peek at that night sky and contemplate her location in the universe!

22. WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST THING YOU’VE SEEN SOMEONE DO IN PUBLIC?

In the Oblivion, you see a lot of weird things, but definitely the strangest would have to be that one kid who sang on that karaoke night… What was his name… he had really strange eyes… sang a really strange song… had wings all over his face… and those eyes…

28. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE HOLIDAY TRADITION?

Dulce’s favorite tradition would be the Sage Battle! It happens annually at the Olympus (the city she lives in) art festival.

It’s like a competition between two magic scholars where they come up with a question and have to fight for their side. It involves magic, moving art, and lots of cool displays of (very little) violence!!!

They almost always end in a draw, but that’s what she loves about them!!

36. IF YOU COULD LEARN ONE LANGUAGE FLUENTLY WHAT WOULD IT BE?

She’d love to learn Arcadian (the language the nomadic group of Arcadia speaks.) Many of her family are there, and she considers herself to be one despite having only been around them when she was a baby. She’s currently taking a class on it… but it doesn’t feel the same as being there…

81. WHAT BOOKS INFLUENCED YOU MOST AS A CHILD?

There were many artbooks that Dulce came across as a child. Growing up Arcadian meant she had access to knowledge all over the Oblivion, which made her very well aware of the world. The artbooks of the world especially interested her. 

There was always an annual catalog of artistic inventions called the “Artificer’s Almanac” that covered most creative endeavors from every city. As well as the Eden Fair, which is when people from all over come to show off newer advancements in science and the wonderful creations of creatives!

It inspired her need to work with crafts, she even takes many workshop classes… the only downside being she can’t travel anymore and thus has less access to such a diverse array of books.

[mandy4ever69420]

i’m polish so we don’t use cyryllic but i did attempt to learn ukrainian at some point, didn’t go very far lmao but yeah i’m obvs familiar with it as a fellow slav

cool! thank u :) someone near me has been taking the ukrainian duolingo course so i've found myself sort of intrigued at how much softer the "kh" is than other languages. like, vietnamese has a pretty soft kh (baan khue kha? -> how are you? Forgive my spelling i've only heard it aloud 😭) but the ukrainian is even more so. the pronunciation made mikha(end)->misha make a lot more sense to me, because it sounds SO much like a "sh" if you're not paying attention.

polish is a language i know absolutely nothing in so unfortunately i can't use a little participation phrase here for friendliness. Sad! so. a shayne dank un zay gezunt!

[getmylife]

2024 Update

Completed May 9, 2024

I have low-key abandoned this blog because we HAVEN'T MOVED YET.

That has been so frustrating, but it's actually looking possible this month. At the same time though, it's not going to be everything I hoped for. But that's life I guess.

My mental health has not necessarily improved and that's probably because I think a lot of my challenges with mood are related to deficiencies and hormonal imbalances, so I don't have a lot of control over that at the moment. However, my coping skills have increased dramatically over the past six months, it's genuinely amazing. #Soul

My community work has been pretty lowkey...mostly helping others complete tasks for their community projects, but I'm okay with that, because I don't have the bandwidth to do more than that right now. #World

I've been writing a bit more, journalling in different ways. I did a fiction project as a gift for a friend that was about 20k words. That was exciting. I've been a bit stuck with my favourite WIP though. I'm trying to write over the hurdle and see if I will speed up as I gain momentum. #Pen

I'm back on a decent routine in terms of hair care and bathroom cleaning. Unfortunately, the storage in my new room won't be set up yet when I move in so I might have to do some Macgyvering in order to get some kind of order. #Den

My goal is to get my driving permit this month and start driving lessons next month God willing. I made some serious progress in understanding financial statements this year and I really hope it will be easier the next time around. #Skills

I've been watching a lot more shows and movies and reading a lot of fanfic. I got myself an eBook and audiobook subscription (Everand) that I really like and I think will come in handy during the moving process. I did a 10-day overseas trip with my brother last month that was really fun and got me out of my comfort zone. #Thrills

I've fallen off a bit on my DuoLingo enthusiasm and only go on to maintain my streak at this point. I'm not sure if that's going to change if I start engaging with my target languages more or when I move my keyboard into my room and can start playing again. I've been writing a few songs on guitar too. That's been really fun. #Tones

I've been having regular BMs since I travelled and that's been a welcome experience. I've been putting the weight back on since my bout of "not too good" in February. Almost at 50kg again, but my appetite is still not what it used to be. I'm still struggling with hydration too. I've been working from the dining table though and that's been better for my back. #Bones

I've not read much nonfiction. But I'm looking forward to that being easier with the book app. I've learned a lot in therapy though, so that's nice. And I'm learning lots of new words reading fanfic lol. #Quotes

I've started tracking my cycle more consistently this month, especially since my period came early last month. I want to be more aware and paying attention so I can catch it before it catches me unawares. I've been doing my vision boards and quarter reviews in a physical notebook and that's been a fun activity too. #Notes