#i am not a fluent speaker of the musical language

[burningcomputerpersona]

this is a pretty specific idea and might sound nonsensical to anyone else reading this

but I would kill for alex melton to make a blink 182 cover of green squirrel in pretty bad shape by hot mulligan

idk why this idea has been bouncing around in my head for so long but i feel like he would absolutely crush it

[thesunsethour]

little bits of irish history for curious hozier fans: street signs edition

Do you love the song Butchered Tongue? Pay attention to these lines here:

So, may I draw your attention to the The Official Languages Act 2003 (Section 9) Regulations 2008 (S.I. No. 391 of 2008).

ok stay with me

In 2008, the Irish government passed legislation that made it mandatory for road signs in Ireland to have both Irish (Gaeilge) AND English names on them (or, in Gaeltacht areas where Gaeilge is still the first language, only in Irish). Here’s an example:

The Irish, or Gaeilge, is always above the English and italicised. This is because that while Gaeilge and English are both official languages of Ireland, Gaeilge is the ‘first’ official language

However, while it was technically only legislated in 2008, bilingual road sings in Ireland had been extremely common for decades prior to it officially being made law. In fact, the first bilingual signs date back to the early 20th century - before our independence from Britain!

In Tom Spalding’s book Layers: The Design, History and Meaning of Public Street Signage in Cork and Other Irish Cities, he found that the first recorded bilingual street sign was in Blackrock, Dublin (An Charraig Dhubh, Baile Átha Cliath). Their local council in 1901 rolled out yellow and black bilingual road sings as part of the Gaelic Revival.

The Gaeilc Revical was a period of time in Irish history that saw a huge resurgence of Gaelic art, sport, and language. Literature was written by Irish people about Irish history, current affairs, and folklore. Traditional Irish music was learned and played again. Gaelic games (Gaelic football and Hurling) spread across the country. And Gaeilge, our language, was to experience an incredible revival.

Despite Ireland’s long colonial history, Gaeilge actually remained the majority tongue until the early 19th century. However, a combination of teachers beating children for speaking it at school, the genocide of the famine wiping out mainly poorer communities more likely to speak Gaeilge, and the knowledge that speaking English unfortunately provided more opportunities than Gaeilge, the language was almost killed off. (This is shown most clearly after the 1800 Act of Union that meant Ireland was ruled directly from London, with no parliament in Dublin).

Although these maps make for grim viewing, Irish is so very far from dead. Our children learn it from the ages of 4-18 in school (though I believe it can and should be taught better, but I digress). Gaeltacht communities are still going strong particularly in the west of the country. There are more Irish-language schools (gaelscoileanna) than ever before.

And every day as we pass by road signs that display Gaeilge proudly, it is as a result of decades, centuries of people refusing to stop speaking our mother tongue despite incredible violence.

I am far from a fluent Irish speaker, despite my 14 years of learning the language in school. But what Gaeilge I have, I have proudly.

(The work isn’t over, however. I do not feel knowledgeable enough to speak on Northern Irish efforts to implement more widespread bilingual signage but anyone who wishes to share some info please do!!)

[lmkwritings]

GASP, ASK'S! Hello lovely writer! it is I, an fellow notefication on reader! SO can i get some Like Mk headcanons? and some redson with an bunny demon s/o? (Asking bc i love just imagening hugging someone witha fluffy as hell boobs as the gay af person i am) gender can be ither fem or gender nutrol Sorry for my bad gramer and spelling- first laungueg is swedish and english is my 5th laungeg so so sorry for gramer mistakes

Lots of love from the friendly snake!

some quick grammar tips for you before we dive in;

“with a bunny”

“i love just imagining”

“can be either fem or gender neutral”

“Language”, but otherwise, i probably wouldn’t have noticed you weren’t a fluent speaker if you hadn’t pointed it out!

MK has Inattentive ADHD, like me!

this form of ADHD makes it Hard to stay on track and keep a steady schedule, often needing it to be either; a) consistent or b) predictable.

MK has a Lot of fun learning new things, and is often found with his face buried in a book (usually titled “{this thing} for dummies!”)

when idle/not doing anything, he start spinning the staff around his hand/fingers like a pen

the bandana was a gift from pigsy’s ma! (his grammy)

he has, can, and will, rearrange his entire apartment to find something he lost

hates sitting still- the only time he’s found it easy to do so is in the Tuk-Tuk

he is “heavy footed” meaning that when he drives, he is almost always pressing down on the gas, consciously or not!

MK is a “Maladaptive Daydreamer”, and one of his biggest triggers for it is Music, a few of the smaller ones are Repetitive Movement (ex; swaying boats, rocking, moving cars), bright flashing colors (Mei often has to snap him out of it when he falls under in the club), and sitting still for too long!

MK has “fallen under” (Ex; Disassociated, Daydreamed, panic/anxiety attack) in multiple places-

once, in the zero-gravity club when a bright light beam flashed him in the eyes, and he “woke up” to Pigsy sitting on his bed rubbing circles into his back, Tang reading to him, and Mei quietly tapping away on her phone with a weighted blanket and comfort/attack clothing on.

again, on Sandy’s boat when he sat still long enough for his “Lizard Brain” to recognize that the boat was rocking, and “Waking up” again, with cats draped over him, Sandy quietly chatting idly while sipping on tea, and himself covered by a weighted blanket and holding a (warmish) cup of tea.

when MK daydreams, his head’ll twitch and jerk, hands twitching and/or clenching. sometimes he’ll start pacing and he’ll sway, lean a bit too far or turn around really fast and slip/trip over himself. he’ll make facial expressions and get emotional with the scenarios and worlds unfolding in his head.

((he’s woken up a few times to a demon with mind reading abilities wailing out “no wait it was just getting good!”))

——————————

Red Son was- Unsurprisingly -rich.

and rich people? the wealthy?

really have a thing for “very feminine, looks dainty, could probably be royalty, can absolutely kick your ass into next week”

Red Son’s head lifted, raising an eyebrow at you, he stares questioningly, to which your tail flicks a bit, and you knock some of his pillows askew as you burrow into his sheets.

a soft call of your name, and a chair screeeeching over marble floors, and then a warm hand settled on your back, the sheets over your large rabbit like ears drawing back, allowing you to look up at him through your bangs.

he smiled softly down at you, head tilting as his horns glinted in the low lighting- those fuzzy bull ears of his enticing you onto your knees, fingers immediately running over and petting, caressing his ears. with a low chuff chuff chuff, Red Son melts into your touch, sighing softly as he slides up and onto the bed, and then your lap.

straddling you briefly, he settles down on the mattress in between your (verrrry fluffy) legs, hands settling on your thighs, fingers slowly gliding through your fur; just like your fingers gently squeezed and caressed and massaged his ears.

he smiled in a quiet kind of bliss when he heard the soft little “click tik click tiktiktik”of your teeth clicking together.

[organ-market]

Bilingual Cinema: Language and Great Representation in Media

Everything Everywhere, All at Once, 2022

One of my favorite little things about living in such a diverse American city on the West Coast is the multitude of languages flowing in and out of my ears as I commute, people watch, or even sit idly in class. Elderly Asian ladies filling a bus with the sound of Vietnamese chatter or blaring music with lyrics woven in Spanish erupting from a truck zooming down the road. While I am only properly fluent in English, I’ve found beauty in the bilingual streets of my home town and am overjoyed to see this same beauty translated onto the big screen as the movies we produce more closely reflect the diverse cultures present throughout America. 

There appears to be a growing trend of bilingual movies which heavily feature multiple languages that are baked into the infrastructure of the dialogue. No singular language takes precedence over any other as languages, dialects, and accents all flow together naturally. Americans who previously incessantly whined about subtitles are now sitting in theaters reading subtitles in The Farewell and Everything Everywhere, All at Once which took home Best Picture at the Oscars earlier this year. These bilingual films continue to push the bar of representation as people of color begin to tell their own stories using their own languages.

Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All at Once, 2022

The Daniels’ 2022 Chinese-American absurdist amalgamation of wildly varying genres, Everything Everywhere All at Once proudly features English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. The film proudly introduces us to a realistic portrayal of an Asian-American family and coaxes us into their family dynamics and larger than life sci-fi story as the movie branches off into much more imaginative territory. 

To those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of watching it, (seriously if you haven’t, go see it) the film follows Evelyn, the mother of a Chinese-American family and the struggling laundromat business she runs with husband Waymond while she attempts to reconnect with her daughter Joy. As an exclusively English speaker so much of the nuance of the film’s use of language goes completely over my head but Youtuber Language & Film has uploaded a concise little video on the film’s clever use of language which I wholeheartedly recommend checking out. If anyone wants a more in depth analysis of language’s role in the film, I’ll put a link down below.

What I particularly love about Everything Everywhere All at Once is how unashamed it is of Evelyn’s immigrant narrative. While Evelyn appears at times to be somewhat insecure about her broken English, the film never once equates intelligence with fluency; a vicious mistake Hollywood frequently makes with stereotypical Asian characters. The reason why myself and so many others connected so deeply with the film is just how honest and grounded the portrayal of this family is. Not once does it flatten the characters to the archetypes we commonly see of Asian characters in media, they aren’t the model minority or even a completely cohesive family unit as divorce looms in the back of Waymond’s mind. Despite the business of life and the film itself you can feel the cluttered love of this family throughout its runtime and I was so glad to have been able to hear the mixture of different languages that just adds to the chaos of the household.

Past Lives, 2023

I left with a well of emotions brewing deep in my gut after finishing a viewing of Celine Song’s Korean-American romantic drama, Past Lives, earlier this week. Beautifully shot and written, the romance between two childhood friends is told throughout decades as Nora Moon and Hae Sung weave in and out of each other’s lives. A mix of Korean and English is used throughout the film as Nora becomes more fluent in English after she emigrates and Hae Sung speaks almost exclusively in Korean. Director Celine Song told Polygon “...she [Nora] sounds like a kid when she speaks Korean — because she emigrated when she was a kid, and she only really speaks to her parents in Korean. So it kind of made sense that she spoke Korean in a childlike way.”  Little details like this really flesh out the characters and make them seem real, the same language logic is applied to the whole cast as they each have varying levels of fluency in both Korean and English.

Similar to Everything Everywhere All at Once, the film’s bilingualism is informed by its distinct Asian diaspora and is told through the eyes of Nora Moon who moved to Canada at the age of 12 leaving Hae Sung along with her old name Na Young behind in South Korea. When Hae Sung visits Nora in New York much later in the film, after all those decades Nora notes that Hae Sung has all these “Korean views” on everything and that she somehow feels less Korean and at the same time more Korean while being with him all at the same time.

I felt very deeply connected to Nora in this moment, neither of my parents had ever imbued in me the cultural values of my heritage. I am Vietnamese on my mother’s side and Mexican on my father’s. I find myself feeling self consciously Viet around my Vietnamese friends and self consciously Mexican around my Mexican friends but throughout it all a strange Americanized shame persists within me since my parents have been thoroughly white washed. And although it was a small moment in a nearly 2 hour film, I still can’t stop thinking about that confusing, conflicting feeling Nora described regardless.

Los Espookys, 2019

The wonderfully idiosyncratic, beautifully queer Latino comedy show, Los Espookys has spoken dialogue in both Spanish and English and often goes back and forth between A plots in Spanish and B plots in English. Created by Ana Fabrega, Julio Torres, and Fred Armisen, the show itself is about a couple of friends who decide to follow their passions and start a “horror group” performing various oddball tasks with spooky theming. In one episode they manufacture a sea monster sighting to revive tourism in a coastal beach town, in another they create a monster mascot named Bibi’s to teach an elementary class a school lesson. It is simultaneously hysterical and charmingly strange almost constantly.

Los Espookys main cast of characters consists of proud queer goth Latinos, they’re aware their infatuation with horror is a little weird but they never shy away from that and honestly love that about themselves. The only part of their identities that the main characters have trouble with is getting others around them to accept that strangeness into their lives. The show’s original ambitions were to air on a Spanish-language cable channel but when presented to HBO Latino, the team was offered a chance to bring it to HBO’s main channel to a much wider audience and, like the show’s characters, the creators had to find a way for American audiences to let that strangeness into their living rooms. Dave Itzkoff writes in the NY Times that, “...he [Armisen] wanted to create a Spanish show “that isn’t an explanation of Latino culture, that’s moving past the foreignness of it.”” 

Watching the show itself really impacted me, not only did my lungs hurt from laughing but being able to laugh along with queer Latino goths who had similar queer experiences as me was a real empowering treat. What struck me most, besides the gags, was just how natural this representation was, there are seamless transitions from the English spoken parts in America or the embassy and the parts in the fictitious Latin American country the show is set in. No member of the cast is reduced to a simple trait based on sexual orientation, race, or any other archetype, there is so much personality and life present in each character. Renaldo for example, is aro ace, loves all things horror, hates when people misspell his name, and is incredibly passionate and caring about his friends. Nobody’s sexual orientation nor accents are the focus of any one joke or define them as individuals, it is an overwhelming uplifting show and the bilingual nature of it is just another proud part of the show’s hand crafted identity.

Sr. Bibi's from Los Espookys, 2019

What I really want to hone in on and celebrate about the appearance of bilingual media is how filled with pride these works are, how lovely it is that the media we consume is starting to better reflect the colors, languages, and cultures that populate the world around us. I really can’t recommend Everything Everywhere All at Once enough but I’m sure almost everyone online has already praised it to the moon. Be sure to catch Past Lives while it’s still in theaters because it is a real treat and one of the best movies so far this year. Los Espookys is a total sleeper hit that I fell in love with from episode 1, if I get at least one more person to watch that show I can die happy. I was tempted to lengthen this post with 2019’s Sound of Metal (which I am a little more critical of) which features American Sign Language but I think I’ll save it for a later post since this one is long enough. If anyone wants to recommend any bilingual pieces of fiction whether it be movies, tv, or even games please, by all means, let me know! I’d love to hear all of your recommendations and opinions, keep it real guys.

-Ghost Emoji 👻

Links and Stuff :P

Language & Film Youtube

Past Lives Polygon Article

NY Times Los Espookys Article

[hearts4robs]

Hiiii there!

Happy New Year ♡

Ooooh I have never done a match-up so I am really curious. I'm gonna go for DC because I only know this fandom and love those weirdos ♡

So I am a 27 years old bi non-binary person (they/them). I'd say I am pretty outgoing and very much talkative. I really like chit-chatting with strangers whom have dogs like at the train station. I am not much of a party person tho, I really like being home and reading stuff, listening to music or going for a nice walk with my dog while listening to my playlists. My favorite artists at the moment are AURORA, Laufey, Apshe, and Rain Paris. I have ADHD and a personality disorder which is why for now I am still under disability insurance but I am getting really well and I hope to finally be able to start my studies to become a librarian. I was very much a good student even for the few semesters I did at uni. I have a huge interest for literature and languages. I have studied latin, german, english, portuguese and arabic. Not fluent in many of them, but I do like taking the time to relearn stuff by myself from time to time. I am good at being self-taught, that's how I got my high school diploma since my health was a hindrance at the time haha. I am kinda a history nerd, love reading about religion in Ancient Greece especially in Attica and I love reading about the Witch Hunts in Europe and North America in the modern era. I do enjoy cosy "culture" and academia aesthetics. I am 5'6', dark brunette mid lenghth wavy hair (a wolf cut if you see what it is) with light brown eyes. I have huge fine golden glasses haha (already the librarian vibe). I am pretty chubby for now, eventhough I am losing weight due to feeling better health-wise. I love wearing button-down white shirts with vests or blazers or floral corsets and black turtlenecks haha.

Ideally, I'd love someone who is able to understand that I have some difficulties that others might not have, but who can be calm when it matters. I hate having huge arguments, if we need to argue I want to be able to talk it out. It's okay to be angry but I hate lashing out or being lashed at. A break to take some fresh air is okay if needed to have a civil conversation. I am not huge on receiving expensive/luxury gifts, it makes me awkward. I'd rather spend time with someone, cook with them or gift little things that are meaningful. I am huge on social activism. I do read a lot about different issues and it's important for me to listen to others and their experiences and try my best to do better with them and for them. I love my dog, she's a rescue and a peach. We lived a bit everywhere for a while because I was homeless around 20, but we managed and have a nice apartement now. I think I am pretty resilient as a person and I always strive do be kind and compassionate when possible because I know no one is born with all the answers and understandings of the world. I paint with watercolor from time to time, but I'd say my favorite hobby is reading and researching stuff because ADHD haha.

I don't like when people excuses stuff because of an illness. I can be an ass and it's okay to tell me and nobody should get a free-pass to be terrible to others. It happens to be shitty but you should strive to make it better if you couldn't avoid doing it at first.

I am a native french-speaker and half Portuguese. I am white European.

I can be a bit loud and outspoken but I always try to be mindful of the space I can take in a conversation with others because I don't want people to feel ignored. I can be adventurous, my 19 birthday was me going by train all alone with a backpack around the northern part of europe for a month. I would sleep at locals' place after talking to them on a specific website. It was great and fun and I saw so many museums ♡ I can be a bit of an airhead, and a tad much too sarcastic sometimes and I tend to switch conversations subjects often because I have links between them that makes sense to me but no one else.

My favortie tropes are friends to lovers, everything fluff, domestic, etc. There's beauty in the mundane ♡ I guess that when your mental health is a rollercoaster, you crave stability and calm easier haha ♡

I hope I gave you enough informations for your match-up.

Sorry, I am really a chatterbox haha ♡ Thank you and take care, dear ♡

𝐓𝐢𝐦 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐞: 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞

“What are you doing?”

“I, uh, think.. I might be building you a bookcase, can’t promise you anything though. IKEA isn’t very clear in their instructions.” Tim says, turning the instruction book upside down in hopes of the illustrations making sense.

A chuckle escapes you as you set down a mug of hot chocolate beside his organised work place on the middle of your living room floor.

“You think?” You ask, taking a seat beside him with a soft grunt, happily letting your dog snuggle up beside you.

“Yes, it’s very frustrating and for some reason, it’s all in French.” Tim says, trying to screw a screw into the proper place. “No, no, that’s not right..” he mutters.

“You do know I’m fluent in French, right?”

Tim slowly glances at you sideways before letting out a huff.

“I can handle it.” He reassures, chewing his lip in annoyance. “Go read your Shakespeare and I’ll be done in a few minutes.”

Headcanons:

Tim loves watching you read. He loves how you can both be nerds together.

You don’t live together yet but he visits often enough for your neighbours to know which days of the week you’re free.

He’s so supportive and tries his best to be a stable support system. You started out as friends and he let you crash at his for as long as you needed when you had nowhere to go.

Your dog is no longer “your” dog. It’s “our” dog to Tim.

It took him the whole afternoon to build that bookcase for you.

You’re such a sweetheart, I loved making this!! <3

[pinewoodpipit]

slàinte, mo ghràdh - Fic Meta

A meta post for my fluff fic, slàinte, mo ghràdh! I'll put the meta thoughts in after a cut, as usual.

-

The Fic's Title

The title, "slàinte, mo ghràdh", is Gaidhlig / Scottish Gaelic for "cheers, my love". I'm not a fluent Gaidhlig speaker but I am learning, and I'm really fond of it as a language. Gaidhlig is really incredibly important to our culture, especially because speaking our native Scottish languages was actually illegal here for a long time as part of an assimilation effort to "civilise" the Highlands. Very few people speak our languages here, now, but we're working hard to try and keep our languages alive. I thought this would be a nice way to include it.

-

Real Places

Lots of the places in this fic are real places in Edinburgh! The museum, of course, is real.

The hotel they stayed in is also real, and I even looked ahead of time to see what their rooms would look like.

The restaurant they went to get the cranachan is the Abbotsford Bar and Restaurant, since I'd read that their cranachan is good and gets recommended by Edinburgh locals. The main street is, of course, real, and the park they went to when it was snowing is The Meadows, the same place where the torch procession started.

The horse statues at the end are The Kelpies, giant horse head statues which light up at night and look incredible in the snow. They're bigger than you might think just from looking at pictures!

-

Foods Mentioned

Most food mentioned in this fic is real.

Rumbledethump is a real cabbage dish here, made with cabbage, potato, swede, and cheese, and you can get it in little pastries sometimes.

Cranachans are a real dessert here, and a very historical one, originally made to celebrate the autumn harvests :) they're great, although usually better when made at home rather than eaten at a restaurant.

Sticky toffee pudding is INCREDIBLE and one of the best things we've got. That sauce could heal any wounds. It's meant to come with hot sauce to drench the cake, and the ice cream melts into it. UGH I could die.

Curry stuffed naan is a real thing you can get at our Christmas markets in Edinburgh - curry is also pretty widely loved in the UK. Tikka Masala was invented here by a Bangladeshi-Scottish man, Ali Ahmed Aslam, back in the 1970s! Phall was also invented in Birmingham. The UK really likes curry.

Cock-a-leekie is a real soup here. It's just chicken and leek soup. Cullen skink is also a real meal here, and it's a thick haddock soup. Seafood and fish is very commonly eaten here, and salmon is especially good in Scotland. We do seafood right.

I disagree fundamentally with "British food sucks" jokes because honestly, I feel like people who say that haven't tried actual British food. British is not synonymous with English; Britain is a collection of several countries which includes England, and just using Scotland as an example, we have some really fantastic foods. It's sad to me to see it get written off when so much of Scottish culture has had to fight tooth and nail just to exist after centuries of assimilation efforts. Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are all countries in our own right and our cultures - and tastes in food - exist independently from England.

-

Hogmanay

New Year is focused on a little more in this fic, and there's a reason for that - generally, New Year is a bigger holiday in Scotland than Christmas, and there's historical context for it. Christmas was actually made illegal here back in the 1600s, and as a result, Hogmanay (or New Year) became a large celebration in its own right. The Scots LOVE Hogmanay, and New Year celebrations in Edinburgh is a festival which lasts several days, including the torch procession (a LOT of our celebrations include fire), ceilidh, live music festivals, drinking pub nights, and fireworks etc.

The ban on Christmas was lifted about seventy years later, but Hogmanay was still a huge celebration, and it's an important part of our lives, now.

-

Clothes

The ugly sweaters mentioned in the fic are real.

The nicer ones are also real, and I really like them! Truly though, they're not warm enough to keep you cosy in the snow. You need a thick coat, winter boots, and probably also a hat/gloves/scarf for that. The cold here is no joke; even though the temperatures don't look that cold, Scotland is so humid and wet that it's really impossible to escape and it burrows deep. I know people who live through -20C Canadian winters with no problem but HATE wintering in Scotland because it's miserable, even if it's not that cold on paper.

-

Other

The reindeer plush is a reference to my freckle fic!

It's him, but reindeer flavoured.

[gremlin-bot]

20 questions for writers, tagged by @fanfiction-artist-prototype

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

15 and many many wips

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

26,760

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mainly DC, Danny phantom, and DCxDP! I do have wips for these fandoms tho BNHA, Sk8 the infinity, Blood Blockade Battlefront, Assassination Classroom, and Highschool Musical.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Trials and Tribulations of Summoning Your Boyfriend 

Dash "What the Fuck" Baxter, Officer on Duty

Growth of Trial and Error

Blooming Death, Please Love Me

Sleep Deprivation Should Not Be The Reason Here 

5. Do you respond to comments? why/why not?

I try too!! I like interacting with people who read my stuff!! I'm a small enough writer that I can usually reply to everyone no problem.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I really don't write angst so I guess it would be for Blooming Death, Please Love Me. it doesn't really fit but that's the best I got rn

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I am gonna say fuck it and say my series Petals and Arrays of The Dead and Those Yet To Be. Shhhhh it counts bc I said so

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really.

9. Do you write smut? if so, what kind?

Yes, nothing posted or finished yet. I have a couple of BrainDead (Tim Drake/Danny Fenton) smut fics started that I need to finish.

10. Do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one?

Yes! Main one is DcxDp but I think my craziest would have to be DcxDp with highschool musical!

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge!

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

No but I am more than open to it!!

13. have you ever co-written a fic?

Yes!! I've been in several co-author fandom events and have at least one idea that me and one of my partners want to write together!

14. what's your all-time fave ship?

I don't have one answer for this. I multiship so much. My fave to write is Tim/Danny tho

15. what's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

All of them but my wip There is No Closure, Just Adapting To Life in which Danny becomes Tim bc timeline bullshit

16. what are your writing strengths?

According to my wonderful spouse Ham, humor! Emotional tone and descriptions according to my friend Conner

17. writing weaknesses?

Keeping the same tense. According to every beta that has looked over my work I switch between tense like no tomorrow.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

It would be cool but I wouldn't feel the most comfortable doing it unless I had a fluent speaker helping me.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

I think it would be technically Voltron: legendary defenders. I have discarded wips never to see the light of day from that fandom.

20. fave fic you've ever written?

This is so heard!! I think I have to say Blooming Death, Please Love Me for posted fics and There is No Closure, Just Adapting To Life for my wips!

Tagging!

@half-dead-ham @bewitched-forest @gilbirda @spite-sapphic-starlight @ayamari-no-goshi @stealingyourbones @disillusioneddanny @ectoentity @wolfjackle

[echofromtheabyss]

i’ve asked myself over and over if being neurodivergent from a neurodivergent family is any kind of narrative for me but the thing is, that is a generational experience, and back then, we were just a weird family, and there are lots of culture and class distinctions that actually made us weirder than that. Also “neurodivergent family” as an experience isn’t really that legible in a region like where I grew up. It’s not, trust me. We were not in a homogenous upper middle class white suburb. There were people much weirder than us due to life circumstances more than brain meat. I am sure that any non-recent-immigrant Jewish and or white people around us, would not have qualified as neurotypical. We were surrounded by eccentrics, criminals, and first generation immigrants. Much of my eccentric speech arose from being a child whose main example of fluent English came from my parents, their friends, and TV/books, because there were few native speakers around us. For a long time, when I had friends, I had friendships across massive language barriers.

And I will never really be able to parse my family as neurodivergent due to its origins as easily as I could an upper middle class white family that stands out among a group of white upper middle class normies. Also, when you have parents who are Bonafide 1970s People then “non-authoritarian atheists who experiment with vegetarianism, play folk music, and believe in anarchist schooling principles” is just a thing and avoiding a label because that’s something stuck on you by The Man, is *part* of that thing.

the thing is that I grew up with a family that was *anti authoritarian* and was in fact doing illegal things - specifically, homeschooling me at a point when it was illegal. And living in a space where any child living in that space was potentially going to get yanked by CPS (which is actually one of the reasons I was kept out of school). It got to the point where the only truly trustworthy people for a while were other people breaking laws that shouldn’t exist, such as the sex workers around us, who also had secrets to keep from CPS.

Also, growing up with a very very paranoid viewpoint about being Jewish - basically, with a parent with strong persecutory generational PTSD but without being told it was a whole ass religion and culture. I knew that a majority of my family’s friends were this same thing. But they like my parents were also anti-authoritarian non-joiner atheists.

It wasn’t until I was on BBSs that I started feeling safe introducing myself as a Jew to other Jews. In Los Angeles.

[sixty-silver-wishes]

Shostakovich-Sollertinsky letter translations- 1

Hello everyone!

so, some of you expressed interest in me sharing my translations of the letters from Dmitri Shostakovich to Ivan Sollertinsky, so I thought I’d start sharing them here! They range from 1927 to 1944 so I’m not going to Dracula Daily it and send them in real time lol, but I think I can do one a day. I’m not a native or fluent Russian speaker; just an intermediate-level learner, so while I’ve translated these to the best of my ability, I may miss out on some cultural and linguistic nuances. I researched and tried to translate idioms and cultural references as best as I could, but at the end of the day, please keep in mind my translations aren’t perfect. In addition to the published Russian letters, which my translations are based on, there’s a German-language translation that’s been published, so if you happen to speak German or Russian, I would highly recommend checking those out. I will also include footnotes as they appear in the published book when relevant, as well as some historical context from my own research when applicable. Because the first letter is very short, I will start today with the first two letters. These posts will be tagged #sollertinsky letters.

For context, Dmitri Shostakovich formally met Ivan Sollertinsky in 1927 at the home of the conductor Nikolai Malko. Sollertinsky would go on to be one of Shostakovich’s closest friends, until his untimely death in 1944 from heart complications. This first letter is undated:

"I have urgent business for you. Call me when you have 15-20 minutes to talk to me. D. Shostakovich."

Footnote- Written on the front side of the card- "Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, 9 Marat Street, apartment 7. Telephone 496-37." Obviously, the composer wrote the note without knowing where Sollertinsky's house was. As it is only addressed "to you" (translation note: the formal form of “you," вы, which is used mainly for acquaintances and superiors, rather than the informal “ты,” which is used for close friends), this was likely the first letter from Shostakovich to Sollertinsky.

Letter 2- 20th August 1927, Detskoe Selo

My dear Ivan Ivanovich, I was extremely happy to receive your postcard. In such a small space, you combine so many needed considerations and witticisms that I am amazed. I did not write to you because I was in a bad mood. The Muzsektor [Music Sector] sent me only 500 rubles the day before yesterday for my loyal sentiments. Due to this, my mood improved, and I decided to write to you. Tomorrow I'm going to Moscow. The Muzsektor sent me a telegram for a demonstration of my revolutionary music. On my return, I will write of my summer adventures in detail. I recently received a letter from Malko, in which he warns me of an imminent break with him and, like Chamberlain [1], accuses me of such a break. Progress is being made on "The Nose," as well as my German. In my next letter, probably by Wednesday, I will begin with the words "mein lieber Iwan Iwanowitsch." Your D. Shostakovich.

1- “Chamberlain” refers to Chamberlain Ostin, a British statesman. (Footnote)

Translation note- It’s unknown how much time passed between this letter and the last one, but here, Shostakovich uses the informal ты. Between this letter and the last one, he and Sollertinsky drank a Bruderschaft, a drinking ceremony performed to commemorate friendship and switching from the formal to informal address.

Context note for letter 2- at this point, Shostakovich briefly tried to teach Sollertinsky piano, and Sollertinsky- a polyglot who spoke over 20 languages- tried to teach him German. Neither learned much.

[stargazer-sims]

Tyler Tae-Yang Lee (he/him)

Also Known As: Lee Taeyang, Tyler Lee, TY

Everyone who knows Tyler says he was practically born to be famous.

He is the son of Korean-Canadian actress Vivianne Ki-Sun Lee (who got her first big break in Del Sol in an Uncle Kaz film) and Japanese celebrity chef & television personality Toshiro Ichihara. He’s a member of the all-boy idol group Neon World Rainbow, but all the members are currently taking a break from performing together either to have more personal time or to pursue individual projects.

Tyler has just released his first album as a solo artist, performing under the stage name TY (and his fans are speculating whether this is short for Tyler or if it's the initials of his Korean name, Tae-Yang). Although music is Tyler's passion and his main career, he's also done some modelling and has made small forays into acting. He thinks he'd like to pursue acting a bit more seriously in future.

Tyler is an only child. He was unplanned and his father teasingly refers to him as "the happy accident". Both his parents adore him, and despite the fact that they never married and were in more of an on-again, off-again situationship than a relationship for several years, they did their best to co-parent. Tyler's mother was his primary caregiver, but he spent lots of time with his father growing up. Because Vivianne and Toshiro are friends, they decided they didn't need the courts to make a custody and access order. They shared custody as fairly as they could when Tyler was little, and then when he got older, he went back and forth between his parents' houses whenever he wanted. If anyone were to ask him, Tyler would say he's well-adjusted and had a happy, fun and very privileged childhood growing up in Del Sol Valley.

Tyler speaks four languages; English, Korean, Japanese and French. He's less fluent in French than in the other three, but he knows enough to have a fairly coherent conversation with any French-speaker he might meet.

He considers himself to be pansexual. He sees people as people, and doesn't put too much emphasis on gender or biological sex, preferring instead to judge people on their character and personality rather than on whatever label they may have. He does have his preferences, but he likes to keep an open mind and be receptive to any potential options. So far, he hasn't been particularly lucky in love, but there's still time. He's only twenty-six, after all.

Aside from performing, Tyler enjoys going home to Del Sol and spending time on the beach whenever he can, swimming and free-diving. He also enjoys going out dancing. Thanks to plenty of lessons from his father, he's a better than average cook, and likes to make meals to share with his friends.

His other favourite thing to do is shopping. He can spend ridiculous amounts of money on clothes, shoes, jewelry and beauty products. He always wants to look as beautiful as possible, and for him, self-care isn't just exercising, eating healthy and getting lots of rest. He has an elaborate self-care routine at home, and don't even think of getting between this man and his regularly-scheduled spa days. ("Yes, I am high-maintenance, but I think you've got to be.")

His latest endeavour is to learn how to ride. And because he doesn't do anything by half-measures, he hasn't just bought a horse. He's bought a whole piece of land and a summer home as well.

Wait until he finds out that the experience is nothing like it looks on TV

[studyscrasic]

Thinking about how to make the most of my free time in the summer so I can really work on some of my other target languages again.

Right now I'm trying to keep up streaks for German, Norwegian, and Scottish Gaelic on both Duolingo and Clozemaster. In an ideal world I'd throw in Irish and Yiddish, too, but I think I'm more going to be dabbling in those for the sake of practicality. I've also been wondering about throwing in some Drops for vocab and/or reviewing Anki flashcards every day.

But the other thing I really need to focus on is content. I am not great at studying languages by using native-language materials (I rely heavily on tools for learners, but get intimidated by the idea of learning by reading or listening to things I don't understand). Right now I have good playlists for Norwegian, German, and Scottish Gaelic music, and want to work on refining others for some of the other languages I'm interested in. I think trying to translate some lyrics on my own could be a good exercise, too.

Other ideas for content this summer:

I have a PDF of The Hobbit in German, which I think might be an okay book to tackle at my level?

I'll be working on translating all those letters my mom has with a friend who speaks much more fluent German.

If possible, I'd like to read at least one NRK article a day. I want to try to find ones on topics I'm interested in, but I need to keep reading in Norwegian now that I don't have my class

Similarly, there's a good NRK history podcast with episodes on the Middle Ages (a favorite historical era of mine) that I should really check out!

Getting back into Gaelic -- I have used the LearnGaelic site extensively, but have been too busy to check out SpeakGaelic, which I know has more content of the sort I'm thinking of (still aimed at learners, but I need to strengthen my Gaelic to where it was before I stopped studying it regularly)

If I'm brave enough -- join Scottish Gaelic and/or Irish-language chats in the Celtic language Discord server I'm in! They do them regularly and there are even native speakers there.

Going to keep thinking about this, and I'm definitely open to recommendations for more good/fun/interesting content in any of my target languages, but I think it's a good start.

[roboromantic]

Episode 12

I don’t think there actually is a Zamboni Transformer 🤔 there should  be though

Jksfgdhjkshfdjk they’re so cute this show is so good

Like. This might be my new favorite Transformers show.                 Not exactly on the same level as Rescue Bots and it’s certainly never gonna replace it, but. Idk how to describe it. They’re co-favorites probably let’s just go with that

Jawbreaker’s head is so tiny compared to his hands

Oh boy

I noticed this last episode too but why are Hashtag’s hands so…beat up I guess? Idk I haven’t slept much and can’t think of words. The rest of her paint job is chipped too and it looks kinda weird compared to her face

Hsdjfkhsdjk;hfgksdjhfjk;dhfjk

Side note can I just say how glad I am that they’re not doing any of the “frame” nonsense.

OUGH BABY………………………. :cocoplead:

Yeah yeah wimin tough AND pretty. just pretend I put the Knuckles pic here again

Oh honey. Oof.

👀

Are we gonna find out what he was before. Like I know it was almost certainly a Cybertronian tank but I Want To Believe in gun altmode

So no comment about them not being able to cry, I see. Interesting.

And he’s panting so he’s breathing, right. maybe the gas from last episode WOULD have had some kinda effect

Oh hun.

It’s interesting Elita’s talking about all this when she was also joking about scanning a streetsweeper earlier lmao

It’s also kinda interesting that they keep framing it as this highly emotional thing that they have to think deeply about when the Terran kids have mostly done it by accident, lol

Oh hey more Tagalog! Google translate says “bagyo” means tycoon/hurricane/tornado/etc.  which is I guess what the pattern on the box is supposed to be, and “ang sarap” is delicious

Side note but I would guess maybe the Terrans know English because Robby and Mo know it, but I wonder to what extent they understand Tagalog

Side side note but Alex says he grew up in Bohol, which apparently has its own dialect of Cebuano or is considered a separate language depending on who you ask? My point is I don’t know if people from there are usually fluent in both Boholano and Tagalog but I’m kinda curious as to why the showrunners would make him from there and then only ever mention Tagalog, especially since according to Wikipedia Cebuano actually had more native speakers than Tagalog until the 80s, which actually idk when exactly Alex is supposed to have been born but I’d think probably the 60s? That’s a whole other paragraph but I’ve already gotten wayyyyy too sidetracked. Anyway maybe it’s cuz his VA (Jon Jon Briones) is NOT from Bohol? Idk if he knows any kind of Cebuano wait I’m looking him up on Wikipedia and apparently he has a guest appearance on St Trek: Picard and his daughter is a main character??? He’s also mostly known for musical theater so basically he’s super cool                    hmm can you tell I don’t have adhd meds at the moment.   back to the show

Wait I lied one more thing. Back in episode 6 Alex mentioned his lolo and Bee was like “what?” and he told Bee that he’s from Bohol and Bee’s like “oh cool! I used to race at this abandoned airport in Tagbilaran” so did Bee just like. Not learn Tagalog or did he just not know that Alex speaks it. I feel like if he was hanging around long enough to regularly race there he shoulda picked up the language       ��  but then again Tagbilaran is the capital of Bohol so maybe he’d’ve learned Boholano but also afaik lolo is the same for both languages so –

“everybody else” Nightshade is RIGHT THERE

So y’all just aren’t gonna show us the final movie, rude.

[cepn]

Hey! I've been following you a long time and I remember you were learning Russian a while back. Could you give advice to someone learning it? What programs did you use, if any? Did you take any classes and did it make a difference? I am not a native English speaker but I became completely fluent in it through the Internet, however this seems much harder to do with Russian as its a far less accessible language than English. I'm sorry for all the questions, any advice would be appreciated!

i've been interested in learning russian since high school but only really got the opportunity to properly study it in university classes. for me it was really critical to have a structured class, and learning with a native russian speaker was critical to help with pronunciation and little special cases like specific rules for certain words, etc. - ever since i've stopped taking russian classes i've kind of fallen behind in terms of keeping up with it, so if you need external structure to motivate you to study consistently classes are pretty essential

i don't think you wouldn't succeed outside a classroom environment, but it would help a lot to find a russian speaker who's willing to practice speaking with you. as for actually studying the language, i'd strongly recommend taking a structured approach using textbooks and other references. in my first few university classes i used sputnik textbooks, they seem almost child-friendly with a lot of illustrations but they're very accessible for beginners and include workbooks as well

in later classes i used слово, which is way more dense in terms of having more words than illustrations (compared to sputnik, i mean), and luggage, which is a grammar reference and exercise book. i also used the book russian through art for my last russian class, it's more specialized vocabulary for discussing art, music, and architecture, but it's a good resource if you're interested in that stuff and it helps with general vocabulary-building as well (plus you learn a lot of cool stuff about russian art history)

a non-textbook resource i haven't really used (because i'm lazy :/) but have heard good things about is the new penguin russian course, which is a beginner overview of the language and its grammar. if you want to get more confident in reading comprehension and pronunciation, you can try something like this teach yourself russian short story book; normally i feel kind of weird about any resource made by or marketed toward real or aspiring "polyglots" but as long as you're not deluding yourself as to its usefulness, it's good for practicing speaking at the very least

if you're studying it properly in classes or with books to guide you, you can definitely use websites like duolingo as a study aid - i wouldn't depend on it obviously but it helps with vocabulary and grammar practice. also it can kind of be intimidating to do this but if you want to find places online where russian speakers congregate, you can start small by browsing a site like vk. my russian friend sends me memes all the time and i always feel so proud of myself when i can actually understand them lol

i hope this was helpful in some way, if not though just let me know and i can try to find other resources or strategies that could be helpful in your studies ^_^

[hanavesinauttija]

I'm learning Finnish because my linguist friend annoyed me into it and I wanted to start learning at least A language before my brain fully developed to an extent. I'm nowhere close to fluent knowing much at all because for me the important metric of fluency is how conversational you can be, but since you're a native speaker (I assume), I figured I'd ask a question that I have that came up as I was going through vocabulary: Since it seems like a fair few words are 'localized' loan words, from what I can tell, when in niche academic fields, would you happen to know if in Finnish they tend to either form like that or be 'true' Finnish words. Like, is there terminology for something like "weak isospin conservation" that preserves any amount of contextual meaning and isn't just the words for weak and conservation slapped along with whatever is used for isospin? (I'm not talking about stuff like sauna, I'm fully aware that's not an English word) Much appreciated if there is anything you can say on it, because I fully get if it's not something you'd actually be aware of.

That's a very interesting question! I am a native Finnish speaker, a master's-level engineering student, and a semi-professional violinist, so I can answer from these two contexts. Localization in other fields may vary.

"Weak isospin" seems to be translated as "heikko isospin". I could not find any source on the internet mentioning "weak isospin conservation" in Finnish, regardless of wording. I might translate it as "heikon isospinin säilyminen," but I'm not well-versed enough in the subject to say for sure.

This is indicative of the overall pattern in Finnish localization; the more niche you get, the less localization there is. Finnish academia shifts to English the higher you get, because scientific publication in Finnish is less practical as it is in English. Yes, you technically can localize it, but there's little need to. No-one's reading niche science publications in Finnish, so why bother?

In engineering we usually translate the easy words and use English for the ones that are even a little bit inconvenient. For example, the A* search algorithm was called the "A-star (pronounced englishly) algoritmi" during one of my algorithm courses.

In classical music we usually use the Italian technique terminology. While you could say "soita hidastaen," you'd usually say "soita ritardandolla" ("play slowing down" vs "play with ritardando"). The easier ones, again, might be in Finnish, such as "Kovempaa!" ("Play louder!") instead of "Forte!". These terms are, of course, in the notes themselves so using them comes naturally. There's no incentive to translate the Italian terminology, which is in world-wide use, into Finnish, so we don't.

If you're using terminology niche enough that translation software is struggling with it, chances are that whomever you're talking to knows English well enough to use that instead. Sometimes the translations that are in use are a bit roundabout, so I'd recommend translating with Wikipedia. Open the page for whichever thing you want translated and switch the page to the Finnish equivalent. If there isn't one, you're likely better off using the English term.

[straycatboogie]

2023/06/11 English

BGM: G. Love & Special Sauce - Blues Music

I want to talk about the book by Teruhisa Se I read yesterday. On WhatsApp, a friend of mine and I talked a little about this one. He always makes me impressed because he knows a lot about foreign countries by his certain knowledges instead I have never been on any ground of foreign lands. He told me that Japan is actually far from the English area therefore it must be difficult to be "mastered" by Japanese native speakers (and also the opposite is true. English native speakers can't "master" Japanese language easily). And he pointed out that there is no special meaning for Japanese to learn English forcefully because they can live in Japan easily if they speak Japanese well. I agree with him. It is really rare for me to use English in this country, or at least in this town's daily life on offline. I have been using Japanese I have learned since I was a kid  at any convenience stores and hospitals. I write important papers in Japanese and read books in Japanese. So, in a way, English is for me a kind of "luxury commodities" like liquors. It is used as adding some coolness to my career, or some comfort to my daily life. At least, for me, I have never been in troubles in communications in my daily life about using Japanese language.

Then, I might have to find the reason why this country has been so terribly covered by the pressure of "becoming fluent in English". Although this could be just a readymade idea/opinion by me, I think that Japan is an island country so we have to reach foreign countries by a certain distance, therefore it would provide me the sense of thirsty as "we are separated from outside" (we Japanese say "insularism"). It would become a kind of self-love as "Japan must be No.1", and also would end as "Japan is terrible". And now is the globalization era therefore it would become "We have to change ourselves" and "We have to become international". "Beyond borders, we have to be able to communicate with strangers" and "We have to say our opinions straightly/directly (in English)"... But this is just from my imagination (so I welcome your different opinions). What is the thing for us which must be really important? Certainly, the skill of English is important. But I guess there can be more important for us, even though I can't point out what it can be.

It was a day off today. At 10 am, I went to a house in this city and watched the Japanese class at there. Indeed, there are less members than I had expected, but they learned really seriously so I tried to observe the class quietly without asking any questions (because it would be wasteful, and also  could disturb their learning). I felt that I could learn how important to have the passion toward learning languages once again. Although I have been learning English as a luxury commodity as I wrote above, but it must be a learning for me. Through learning English and communicating with others in English, I guess I have been trying to improve my skill of English, and also my personality/humanity (However, of course, this can be just a bias in me). I felt that the passion/seriousness I observed in this class was really precious. I am feeling thankful for the people who gave me this opportunity with their kindness.

Sometimes people ask me "What are you reading now?". I am now reading Yoshio Kataoka's book again. It is impressive for me to read what he describes about the Japanese people he had observed who were trying to speak English. He says they were trying to speak the English which had been mechanically or automatically translated from Japanese. It means they were in their comfort zone in Japanese without being soaked into the system of English... And now, I am thinking "Okay, but how about MY English?". Me, I am alive in the comfort zone of Japanese. It is a clear fact. Can I say that I am certainly feeling the realism of English by moving out of Japanese? Can I say that I am destructing and rebuilding myself by using English? I want to use English to touch and communicate with strangers even if this idea is influenced too much by "post modern" theory. But I want to try that.

[refusetoreadthesubtitles]

Hey hey! Follow me on my journey to become a polyglot by perfecting the languages I know and learning some more in between.

☀️I am a native Spanish speaker, both my parents and I were born in Venezuela. I want to perfect my Spanish and learn to articulate my thoughts on a more academic level.

☀️I moved to America when I was 2 and have lived here for the majority of my life which means I am fluent in English. This is the language I am most comfortable using.

The two languages I want to learn are: Russian and Portuguese.

I am learning Russian for two reasons. One, I am obsessed with 19th and 20th century literature from Russia. Two, my boyfriends family is from a Russian speaking part of Ukraine and his entire family speaks Russian. I want to learn to connect better with his family and his culture.

I am learning Portuguese because it is such a beautiful language. Brazil neighbors Venezuela and it has always been a culture I’ve been fascinated with. The music is stunning, and as a music student, I have studied a lot of bossa nova and Brazilian choros.

If you are interested in learning a language, join along with me as I document my journey to fluency!

-Lulu