#intermediate mandarin

[oweltheft]

the chinese spam texts i get -> free reading practice

transcipt + translation:

Hi! Anna, 你近期要来 San Francisco Hi! Anna, you're coming to San Francisco soon

出差一段时间， on a business trip for a while

什么时候出发呢？ When are you setting off?

vocabulary + notes below:

近期 (jìn qí) can mean soon OR recently--the word itself doesn't specify past or future. tread carefully and consider the context!

出差 (chū chāi) just means business trip

San Francisco in chinese is 旧金山 (jiù jīng shān) or 三番 (sān fān) 三番 is casual (slang?), while 旧金山 is the official (and i think ～cooler～) name

[yanqings]

I need to learn a new language

[chicagomcc]

Mastering Mandarin: Intermediate Level Chinese Mandarin Lessons

Enhance your Mandarin skills with our intermediate level Chinese Mandarin lessons. Taught by experienced instructors, these classes will help you expand your knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, and conversational skills. Through interactive exercises and engaging activities, you will gain the confidence and fluency needed to handle real-world situations with ease. Embrace the challenge and unlock new opportunities with our intermediate level Chinese Mandarin lessons today.

[meiyuchinese01]

HSKK Intermediate

Introduction If you have successfully completed the HSKK Basic test, you are well-prepared to take on the challenges of the HSKK Intermediate. In this blog post, we will explore what the HSKK Intermediate entails and provide you with valuable tips to excel in this assessment. Let’s embark on this journey to further enhance your Chinese speaking skills!

Understanding HSKK Intermediate The HSKK Intermediate is an oral proficiency test designed to assess a candidate’s ability to communicate effectively in Chinese. This test focuses on real-life scenarios, where you are expected to engage in conversations on various topics with native speakers. The HSKK Intermediate evaluates your pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, and ability to construct coherent sentences.

Key Components of HSKK Intermediate 1. Conversation Skill During the HSKK Intermediate, you will be presented with a series of questions and topics related to daily life, studies, work, and travel. Your task is to respond orally to these questions, showcasing your ability to converse naturally and confidently.

2. Describing Pictures In this section, you will be shown several pictures or images, and you need to describe them in Chinese. This test assesses your ability to observe and narrate scenes or events accurately.

3. Role-Play The role-play segment simulates real-life scenarios, such as making a phone call, ordering food at a restaurant, or asking for directions. You will be given a specific role to play, and your performance will be evaluated based on how well you handle the given situation.

Tips to Excel in HSKK Intermediate Practice Speaking Regularly: To improve your speaking skills, engage in regular speaking practice. Find language partners, join language exchange groups, or take part in conversation classes to gain confidence and fluency.

Expand Vocabulary: Enhance your vocabulary by learning words and phrases relevant to daily life and common topics covered in the test. Use flashcards and context-based learning to retain new words effectively.

Listen Actively: Improve your listening skills by regularly listening to native speakers. Watch Chinese movies, listen to podcasts, or follow Chinese news broadcasts to get accustomed to natural speech patterns.

Review Grammar Structures: Familiarize yourself with intermediate-level grammar structures, as they are essential for constructing well-formed sentences during the test.

Simulate Test Conditions: Practice under simulated test conditions to replicate the actual test environment. This will help reduce test anxiety and improve your performance during the examination.

Conclusion The HSKK Intermediate test is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your progress in spoken Chinese and showcase your communication skills. By following the tips provided in this blog post and dedicating time to practice regularly, you can approach the test with confidence and achieve success.

Remember, language learning is a gradual process, so be patient and persistent in your efforts. Embrace every opportunity to practice speaking and immerse yourself in the Chinese language. Good luck with your HSKK Intermediate journey!

If you found this blog helpful, don’t hesitate to share it with others who might also be interested in improving their Chinese speaking skills. Let’s continue to support each other on our language-learning endeavors!

[linghxr]

App recommendation: Huayu101

If you're planning a trip soon or want to learn some super practical Mandarin Chinese expressions, I highly recommend the Huayu101 app from Taiwan's Ministry of Education. It provides sample sentences and questions for many useful topics.

It's only available on the Apple app store from what I can tell (looks like it was removed from the Google Play app store). But luckily, you can also find the content online at https://lmit.edu.tw/lc/huayu101/.

Here is a list of the topics:

Greetings 基本問候

Accommodation 住宿

Order 點餐

Shopping 購物

Transportation 交通

Asking for help 急難救助

City tour 城市遊覽

Arts and cultural activities 藝文活動

Call and reservation 電話與預約

Exchange 換鈔

Making friends 認��朋友

Hospital and post office 看病及郵寄

After selecting a topic, you'll see a list of phrases, sentences, and questions. These are very practical things you might need to say or that a waiter, clerk, etc. might say to you.

They even have audio! To me it sounds like real people, not text to speech. Hypothetically, if you can't speak any Mandarin, you could get by by playing the audio to people.

For some sentences/questions, they even provide multiple options, and you can select the word that's applicable to you.

Besides English, the app and website also support Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Bahasa Indonesia.

I think this app is helpful even for upper-intermediate/advanced learners. I know enough vocabulary to make do and be understood, but I'm lacking knowledge of how native speakers would naturally phrase things. This app helps fill those gaps.

[boujeeceo]

2023 will be better

Overall (updated)

This is the final year of 'prep'. By the end of this year I'll be in a position where I can move how I've always wanted. I'll be ready to live the life of luxury and power I've always wanted. I'm done living in working class survival mode.

Cosmetic upgrades

Nanobladed eyebrows

Full body hair removal

Base look Makeover

Vitamins

Skincare/Dermatologist approved skincare

New Clothes

Clothes tailored

Financial

Another 15,000$ nest egg saved

Pay off my 2 certifications 3,000$

Get 35 contacts from networking events that I can rely on and that I want to stay in contact with.

Get a job that won't burn me out! Aka a new better job w/better salary. OR get a paid internship. OR work part time for a nice small business.

Start another business!

Hit 200$ a day income

Hit 300$ a day income

Hit 400$ a day income

Hit 500$ a day income

Daily Routine

Workout (no matter what): 18%-20% Body Fat goal

1 gallon water drink

Clean eating + diet breaks

Studying (1hr-2hr) pomodoro style

Vitamins (multivitamins, and collagen powder)

Post 3 videos/pictures to IG, TikTok, or Youtube. (Maybe)

Mental

Find a therapist and Go to therapy

Get my 2 certifications in corporate finance (Harvard goal in 2025)

Read the 100-300 books on my list

Focus on to become intermediate in Violin & Recorder

Focus on to become conversationally fluent in Spanish or Mandarin

Find a new country to live in. (To leave USA in 2026)

Get another (different) certification for my career.

Live my life no matter how much money I don't have.

Fulfill a Teenage Dream

This is a stretch goal, might not happen.

Save 7,000$. And go on a two month long road trip!

Full Reinvention Loading

[lurkingteapot]

to have, to live, to be with(out)

or an amateur's attempt at looking at Pat's "It's me who can't live without you" in Our Skyy 2 ep 15 4/4. Not fluent, just a nerd, standard disclaimers apply, fluent speakers please take me to school, etc. Transcription is into IPA.

ANYWAY. All this came up because @dimplesandfierceeyes asked about the literal translation of Pat's "I can't live without you" (I'd wailed about the way the Thai hit worse for me in a shared groupchat).

I was thinking about looking at the whole sequence because it adds a lot imo, but I'm not sure about two bits (Nanon, you're a great actor, but your diction as Pran is not beginner or intermediate friendly), so I'll just stick with that one phrase and the one that kicks the exchange off.

Pat starts off teasing Pran

ภัทร์: บอกมึงไง ไม่มีกูมึงอยู่ไม่ได้เลย Pat: "told you, didn't I -- you can't live without me" (second clause is breaks down to "((not have) me) (you (exist (not possible) (+ emphasis particle)")

Then there's the whole back and forth, and in the end, he concedes

ภัทร์: มึงก็รู้แล้วไง Pat: you already know this, too (+ fondly exasperated emphasis particle) ปราณ: ว่าไงครับ Pran: hm? so what is it? (Adding ครับ /krap/ for polite emphasis, sorta … lovingly teasing) ภัทร์: กูเองอะ อยู่ไม่ได้หรอก ถ้าไม่มีมึง Pat: It's me. [I] can't be. If [I] don't have you. (I myself -- exist not possible [emphasis particle] -- if not have you)

And the issue here, in translation, is with both the อยู่ไม่ได้หรอก /jù: mâj dâj rɔ̀ːk/ and the ถ้าไม่มีมึง /tʰâː mâj mi: mɯŋ/ because. They do mean exactly what the subs say! But translation, as always, also deals in nuance, in tone, overlap and gaps. And here, we're dealing with two pretty basic words that function juuuust differently enough from English in most cases that there's … wiggle room, I guess? for things to feel a little differently.

a) อยู่ /jù:/ means "to exist, to live (somewhere), to be (present)", so อยู่ไม่ได้ /jù: mâj dâj/ can be both "[someone/something] can't be" and "[someone/something] can't live" (which we could argue are similarly overlapping in English, but in Thai, it's one word for both -- there are separate, higher-register words for "to exist" and "to be alive" and "to dwell at place", but that's not what we're dealing with here). I suppose even the more dramatic translation of "I can't survive" would be an option for that particular clause, depending on context.

b) Thai uses มี /mi:/ as both "to have" and "to exist", sort of similar to how 有 you3 works in Mandarin or how ある and いる work in Japanese. Or even (sort of, if you squint) in English, if you think about "I have a friend" -- a person exists who is your friend, a friend is available to you (generally speaking, even if maybe not right now. They're your friend whether they're here with you this very moment or not).

But that means ถ้าไม่มีมึง is simultaneously both "if you don't exist" and "if I don't have you". Maybe there's less of a gap here in English than my brain is painting for me right now, too? It's not ambiguous in Thai, I don't think, but in English, in translation, obviously the subtitling team had to make a choice (and they made the most devastating choice possible because they know their audience, good job, translation team).

I'm pretty sure it's also – maybe notably, maybe obviously – NOT "I can't live when you're not there/not here" (as in, "not in the same place as I am"). I'd expect a ถ้ามึงไม่อยู่ if they wanted to express that, explicitly.

[rigelmejo]

I'm linking some of MoonIvy's reddit posts, in case you'd like to read about their language learning journey. They are awesome! They're one of the authors of the Heavenly Path Reading Guide! That guide is super helpful, and I followed a lot of it's advice (and Heavenly Path's recommendations) once I was starting to read more. Heavenly Path also has a ton of recommendations of things you can read that are different difficulty levels, so I suggest browsing their suggestions if you have no idea what to read.

Also, if you use Readibu app, the app can give you a rough estimate of the HSK level of the chapter you're reading (you'll just open the chapter you're reading, click the book icon in lower middle of screen, then click Stats. You'll see a Comprehension % by reader's HSK level). For beginners, I suggest you try to find novels that say 90% or more over the HSK 4 level, or at least 80% and up if you can't find anything easy at first. Once you've moved from graded readers to simpler kids novels like 秃秃大王, novels with a 90%+ comprehension at HSK 4 level above will be the next easiest for you to read. (Later on: if you're looking to extensively read and barely look words up, look for 95-98% comprehension at the HSK level you think you're roughly at). For example, I'm reading 盗墓笔记 and it's 93% comprehensible for HSK 5 level, 98% comprehensible at HSK 6 level, and my vocabulary range is between HSK 5-6 roughly so it makes sense I can read dmbj extensively if I want (without word lookups and still understand it), but still have several unknown words I could look up if desired.

From intermediate to native webnovels in 18 months (Some wonderful mentions of what MoonIvy read. I also read 秃秃大王, 大林和小林, and 笑猫日记 by 杨红樱 and felt they were really good novels to read after graded readers but before novels like 盗墓笔记 and 撒野).

21 months of reading native books, and breaking into native platforms

Learn Mandarin Chinese to read danmei — it will be challenging but worth it

I can read novels without a dictionary after 3 years of reading danmei (Chinese boy love)

I reached 3,000 unique character knowledge by reading children's books and danmei (Chinese boy love) 

Some little notes of my own experience, I guess in relating to the journey others took. So: for me, I read stuff WAY harder than graded readers, when I initially tried to read webnovels. It was hard, and it probably made me feel more exhausted than I needed to feel. But it was motivating. So if you really enjoy X difficult novel, you can try to read it whenever, and keep reading it as long as you feel the desire to.

There was one person who shared their reading experience on the chineselanguage subreddit (I'm trying to find the post again) who read 撒野 after like 3 months of initial study. That's way faster than I would've tried! That's a huge spike in difficulty from knowing nothing to reading a novel with thousands of unique words in a few months! But some people just will find that they enjoy doing that, and it works for them, so don't be afraid to just TRY doing what you want to do and see how it goes. It might go awesome. And if it's so hard it's demotivating, you can always go look for something easier for a while.

I tried to read 镇魂 from pretty much my first month, and never got farther than a couple paragraphs until over a year of study. I'd take a glance at it once in a while, and see if it was easier to read, until one day it was 'doable' to actually try reading (while looking unknown words up). I tried reading 默读 from like month 5 onward, usually using a parallel mtl text and only picking up a few words, it was not doable to read until maybe 1.5-2 years into learning. I was already reading the mtl of 默读 because the english translation only had like 20 chapters back then, so I just would try to read the chinese original in small sentence pieces at times. Around 8-10 months I started trying to read 天涯客, and it kind of was doable in Pleco app's Reader as long as I looked up a lot of words. It used to take me 1.5-2 hours to get through a chapter, then over the next 6 months things got better and it'd take 1 hour then 40 minutes then finally 20-30 minutes per chapter. At the same time as reading 天涯客, I also read 小王子 around month 12 extensively (looking no words up) because I had the print book and wanted to practice reading extensively, I read 笑猫日记 by 杨红樱 read in Pleco while looking up words (which was easier for me to read than 天涯客 and helped me build up reading stamina and basic vocabulary a bit), and I read a pingxie fanfic called 寒舍 by 夏灬安兰. I read around 60 chapters of that fanfic, and 30 chapters of 天涯客, over those 6 months. 寒舍 was harder to read than 笑猫日记, but easier than 天涯客, so I would switch between all 3 stories depending on how hard/easy I wanted my reading to be. Eventually 笑猫日记 felt readable without word lookups, so I used 寒舍 as my 'easier' read and 天涯客 (and added 镇魂) as my harder reads. Then 寒舍 became readable without word lookups if I wanted (still had unknown words but they no longer affected my ability to follow the plot and most important details), so 镇魂 became my harder novel to read.

And that's pretty much the strategy I continued to use: I would bounce between a 'easier' novel I could read extensively, a medium difficulty novel I could just look keywords up with (if I didn't feel like looking up a ton of words) to understand, and a 'harder' novel I had to look up words in order to read. Maybe 2 years in (I don't quite remember now), I picked some 'easier' novels from Heavenly Path's recommendations with only 1000-2000 unique words, and read some of them to fill in gaps in my basic vocabulary (so looking up unknown words) and practice extensive reading with some of them. I think that was a really helpful decision, and improved my reading comprehension and stamina a LOT. If I could go back, I would've read a lot more 'easier' 1000-2000 unique word novels before trying to push right into the novels I did. But then, on the other hand? I think pushing right into 'difficult' novels helped me learn vocabulary to read priest's writing in particular, much faster, which was rough going at the start but now pays off because I find that author's stories have more words/phrases/sentence structures I'm comfortable with, and also a decent murder mystery/investigative vocabulary base which is helpful since it's a genre I like reading. Without all the 镇魂 reading I did in the past, I think 破云 would be almost incomprehensible to me. But instead, since I did read those investigative words a lot early on, novels like 默读 and SCI are now 'medium' feeling novels to me, and 破云 is harder but readable if I look words up.

[hsinnii]

Since my first term at my new school is over and I have above the required gpa I am finally eligible for study abroad!!!

I submitted my application for the program yesterday and have already been conditionally accepted to go by my school as long as i’m accepted into the program.

and the country i applied to is….. 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

Taiwan!

the program is in taipei specifically, and on a university campus. if accepted ill also have a chance to visit tainan and taitung.

i’d be going for about 2 months over the summer for an accelerated/intensive mandarin course. it’d be the entire intermediate level (= CHN201+202 in U.S. college credit). as far as I know I’d have class 5 days a week while there. i’m taking CHN 102 (upper elementary) in the spring here at home to prepare and spending my break reviewing stuff from 101 as well as teaching myself zhuyin/bopomofo.

if anyone has good resources for zhuyin, traditional characters, and/or taiwanese mandarin lmk!! im trying to find everything i can then i’ll compile a list of what was most helpful sometime during or at the end of the semester :))

[bobbybutterfly]

You know what. I chose to draw something completely different from what I usually post here. I kind of feel like I’m pigeon holing myself by only posting on here what I know other people will respond to. Not getting new people who respond to different things. Thus I decided to take the plunge today and draw fanart of the 2000s web icons, the Zodiac Girlz.

I have no nostalgia for them as I was born in 2005. But I watched the Li Speaks video on them and was like free real estate ya’ll. Off to draw some redesigns and make rewrites. Mainly of the more problematic ones. Such as the Gemini twins. This is tumblr after all baby. For real though there was a comment on the video that inspired me to remake them.

So the problems with the original ones are that they wear school uniforms although none of the other girls do, their superpower is telepathy so they don’t communicate with anyone other then themselves and they don’t even get different names to separate them. In the video Li suggested to give them a different superpower and separate personalities. And the comment that got me to draw them suggested their superpower should be cloning.

There’s only one real Gemini in my illustration and that is the loose blue bow one. The purple eyeball one is her clone. The way clones work in my rewrite is that they’re pretty much meat puppets Gemini moves around with her mind. Everyone who sees them assumes they’re twins. Thus Gemini.

Gemini is from China. She moved to the US when she was 10. Her parents divorced and her mom moved there. Gemini had great difficulty learning English so she got homeschooled. Even though she’s now 15 and intermediate in English she still refuses to speak it outside of when it’s necessary. Like a 911 call. She doesn’t talk in mandarin either because only her mom can understand her. So everyone thinks she’s just mute.

She created her clone out of a deep sense of loneliness. The clone itself isn’t sentient. As I said. It’s a meat puppet. Non the less she made up a personality for it. The clone is a fun loving, extroverted prankster. The opposite of her. Gemini is a pessimistic introvert that’s obsessively studying every chance she gets. She wants to be a journalist one day. Occasionally she writes a gossip blog under a pseudonym. Kind of like Lady Whistledown from Bridgerton. She of course rigorously spell and grammar checks it before putting online. Like I should do with my tumblr posts LOL.

Originally I thought her clone would disappear as she becomes a part of the Zodiac Girlz friend group. But now I think her clone should slowly become her own person. After all Gemini are supposed to be twins.

Lastly I want to mention that Gemini is a code name. She’s a crime fighting superhero after all. She uses her clone as a distraction. Additionally she can use her clone to get to out of reach places as she can make it fly. I suppose she could also make it carry her and fly, but not very far as the clone isn’t very strong.

And that’s it ya’ll. If you yourself are a Chinese person who immigrated to America I would love to hear your opinion on my rewrite of Gemini. I am a white European so I might be ignorant of some things. And also if you just like what I did with Gemini then comment. I just love getting responses LOL.

[chineseffect]

山很高，海很深 /shān hěn gāo, hǎi hěn shēn/

MOUNTAINS ARE HIGH, SEAS ARE DEEP

________

Beginner?

MAGIC PLAYBOOKS

Intermediate?

WORDPLAYS

FREE 12 DAY MANDARIN CHALLENGE

[evalanguages]

introducing myself

hello everyone! i came from langtwt so i’m new on langblr!! i guess i’ll also introduce myself on here 🐸 i’ve noticed posts are way longer here so i’ll sum everything up in the first paragraph but elaborate a little bit after that ☀️

— my name’s eva (she/her), i’m 22

— i’m from spain

— uni student

— i speak spanish, english and catalan 🇪🇸🇬🇧

— i’m learning french, mandarin, thai, korean and italian 🇫🇷🇨🇳🇹🇭🇰🇷🇮🇹

about me

as i said, my name’s eva and i’m a 22-year-old college student from spain :) i’m majoring in translation and interpreting so i study languages both as my degree/career and my hobby! i’ve started and stopped learning a lot of languages just for fun but i’m gonna stick with these five for a while!! that doesn’t mean i won’t put on pause/retake some of these languages depending on my situation, it just means i won’t take up new languages in the near future 🫡

languages

note before starting: both my life and my career goals have been changing drastically lately, which means my language journey is about to change a lot too. however as i have yet to figure it out, i’m just gonna talk about how i’ve been studying languages for the last few months and update when i finally figure out my new language plan :)

having said that:

🌳 spanish— native language

🌳 english— advanced

🌳 catalan (valencià to be specific)— i used to be advanced but i stopped using it and now it’s pretty rusty 😭

now, on to the languages i’m learning

🌿 french— probably intermediate/rusty upper intermediate

🌿 chinese (mandarin)— my golden child. probably around hsk3/4 (i’d say upper beginner though) but i can’t tell exactly. working on that

🌱 thai— beginner

🌱 korean— very beginner

🌱 italian— beginner

there’s a lot of languages i’d love to learn in the future (japanese, tagalog, swahili, vietnamese among others) but i’ve decided to focus and play around with these five languages until i reach my goals in all of them before starting any others

other socials

— twitter

— instagram

i love chatting!! i’m always happy to meet new people but it does take me a while to see messages sometimes! corrections are welcome, my dms are open, if you need help with spanish let me know! and i think that’s all 🫂🤍

[zhuzhudushu]

2 Year Langblr Anniversary!

That's right, folks. I have been here terrorizing the Chinese langblr community for TWO YEARS!!!

So I thought I would do a little recap of all the things I've accomplished in that time <3 Lately, I have felt like my Chinese study has been dwindling, and just in the past 2 weeks I've revamped my study habits! I'm diving in with HSK 5 level vocab study, and hope to be more active here as well.

Without further ado, here's some quick stats from these past two lovely years on tumblr~

Tumblr Stats

Established: August 8, 2021

Followers: 1395

Total original posts: 160

Total notes: 6.6k

Most popular post: Mandarin LGBT Vocabulary

Most popular recurring topic: 聊天的词

Discord Stats

Established: Sept 2021

Members: 41

Click here to join! Open for all levels of learning and all backgrounds <3

My Studies

Tracked using hsklevel.com

Started studying June 2020

September 2021: 1090 words, HSK 3, TOCFL Novice 2

Today, August 2023: 7500, HSK 5, TOCFL Band B.1

Yoyo Chinese: Completed Beginner and Intermediate Courses; currently on Upper Intermediate Level 4

Most Used App: Tandem

Other Apps: HelloChinese, TOFU, Drops, Du Chinese, Duolingo

[chicagomcc]

Unlock Your Skills with Our Intermediate Chinese Course

Ready to take your Mandarin Chinese proficiency to the next level? Dive into our Intermediate Mandarin Chinese Course designed for learners looking to enhance their language skills beyond the basics. Delve deeper into grammar structures, expand your vocabulary, and refine your conversational abilities with engaging lessons tailored to intermediate-level learners. Whether you're aspiring to travel, communicate with native speakers, or pursue academic or professional goals, our comprehensive course offers the perfect blend of theory and practical application to help you achieve fluency.

[langwij]

love mandarin and it's lack of like everything. no plurals, no articles, no verb conjugation, no noun inflection, just pure language. but then they saw their perfect lack of complexity and thought "let's make this harder". like with their stupid little tones. as much as i dislike them, people exaggerate how annoying they are. like, there's 4 of them. there's go up (ó), there's go down (ò), there's long (ō) and there's reverse-voice crack (ǒ). if you wanna complain about tones, complain about vietnamese. but that's for another time. then there's measure words. what do you mean i have to use an intermediate word for when i'm saying how many of this thing there is? you know what other languages do? they just say how much of the thing there is. there is no reason to have to say "i have 3 本 books" when you can just say "i have 3 books". other than those, mandarin is great. like it just sounds so 👁️🫦👁️, you know? so much "ng" and "zh" and "sh", it's just so nice sounding. i mean they have had like thousands of years to perfect it so i expect them to have done so. and a very good job they've done.

[ofgreaterthings]

[ wakeema hollis, cis-woman, she/her ] Look who just landed! THALIA TURNER-SEWELL, I sure hope you packed all you need. Perhaps you’re not worried as A POLITICIAN for THE CITY OF NEW JAKARTA. The city has plenty of spots for a 36 year old HUMAN like you. You’ll be known in the city soon enough as THE SUN, being CHEERFUL and CUNNING. ( moth, 28, EST, removed for discretion )

THE BASICS

full name: thalia iris turner-sewell

nickname: tally, lia

date of birth: june 21st, 2369

gender: cisgender woman

pronouns: she/her

sexual orientation: bisexual (with female preference)

romantic orientation: biromantic

modification: human

affiliation: unaffiliated

birthplace: brooklyn, new york city, new york

current location: sora

occupation: politician

known languages: english (native), japanese (fluent), mandarin (fluent), indonesian (intermediate), thai (intermediate)

INSPIRATION

quote: "nothing can dim the light which shines from within"

label or archetype: the sun - a person who radiates positivity wherever they go

tropes: the sunshine character,

media parallels: mel medarda (arcane), tiana (the princess and the frog), cruella de vil (cruella), leia organa (star wars), miranda priestly (the devil wears prada)

theme song: here comes the sun - the beatles

PERSONALITY

positive traits: cheerful, eloquent, resourceful, confident

neutral traits: analytical, diplomatic, objective, decisive

negative traits: manipulative, smug, demanding, prideful

peeves: people talking about her behind her back, being reminded of her past, being wrong, dishonesty, betrayal

fears: losing her status as a politician, unruly crowds, earth's environment becoming unlivable, negative press

skills: debate, painting, strategic thinking, creative writing, mindfulness, emotional regulation, understanding mechanics, critical thinking, interpreting data, problem solving

goals: becoming a successful politician (achieved), improving the environment on earth, becoming a member of high society

APPEARANCE

faceclaim: wakeema hollis

height: 5’10” (178 cm)

eye color: brown

hair color: black

clothing style: always immaculately dressed for public appearances, usually consisting of a blazer or cardigan with a top underneath and trousers. footwear can be flats or heels depending on the occasion. for formal events she dresses in gowns, with a preference for knee length or longer style dresses. thalia’s outfits are accented with blue or yellow pieces.

jewelry: exclusively wears rose gold pieces. has her singles and doubles pierced, for her singles plain studs and for the doubles a small pair of diamond earrings, a plain band ring that she wears on her left ring finger, and a faux moonstone ring she wears on her right index finger. the plain studs double as surveillance cameras for her security(the camera feature is disabled when in the confines of her home), and the diamond studs have signal jamming properties, when activated they render any electronic device within a 300 foot distance temporarily useless. the plain earrings are occasionally swapped out for hoops that can emit an energy shield for up to 20 minutes. the plain ring also acts as a smoke machine, it can deploy smoke that dissipates after half an hour and the moonstone ring functions as a projector.

tattoos: a black and white lotus on the back of her right bicep

marks/scars: none

modifications: none

scent/fragrance: orange blossom, bergamot, and lemon

FAVOURITES

likes: reading, green and herbal teas, debates, the rooftop gardens, nature, hiking, beaches, sunny days, cooking meals for loved ones

dislikes: rainy days, unintelligent people, redundant (or rhetorical) questions, pollution, cold weather, snow, winter, betrayal, dishonesty

hobbies: painting, cooking, gardening, creative writing, historical research, volunteering, meditation, yoga, pilates, tennis, robotics, philosophy and ethics research

habits: tendency to be overdramatic, assumes others have bad intentions, talks with her hands, holds grudges, talks fast when excited, hums when bored, gossips about others

one cherished item: a real moonstone ring - the ring that her wife put on her finger on their wedding day

AESTHETICS

sight: blinding white, a radiant light

sound: birds chirping on a tree branch outside your window

taste: the tart bite of a ripe, juicy orange

touch: the warmth of sunlight on bare skin

thought: a new, completely blank journal - new beginnings

THE BACKSTORY

(death mention tw, terminal illness tw)

EARTH

thalia was born to a lower class family, where she witnessed her parents work several jobs for years in order to provide her with opportunities for a better future. her mother and father worked tirelessly to ensure that she could get into a private school, only the best for their daughter. one of her most cherished memories is her mother telling her "you're going to do great things, thalia." after one of her teachers commended her on creating an outstanding school project.

thalia considers that phrase to be her life motto; she heard it in her head when she first took an interest in politics, when she was accepted to her first choice university, when she won her first election. it shaped her into the driven, ambitious woman she is today. it reminds her that no matter how many times she fails, she will always get back up and try again. she was destined for greatness, it was written in the stars. so far, the stars hadn't steered her wrong yet.

these words were the last she heard from her mother, months after receiving a terminal prognosis. the disease had been caught too late, any treatment would only extend her life for a matter of months. despite how fate had turned, her mother never let her forget that she was capable of great things, she witnessed it with her very eyes. her mother's smiling face and her hand grasped in thalia's is the last memory she has of her mom, burned into her memory.

it was after her loss that she began looking into extraplanetary prospects, running into new jakarta as she was researching. she had heard the name before, something in her history books about the first settlement on an extraterrestrial planet. from what she could tell, the politics there were booming; the perfect opportunity for a young and upcoming politician. leaving her grief behind with her, she made the decision to move to new jakarta.

MARS

ten years after moving to mars, thalia is a known and established politician on the planet of mars. she's known for her activist views in regards to the relationship between the overseers and the gangs. she largely believes that so long as they limit their activities to petty crimes, the gangs should be left to their devices and the overseers should stay out of it. both before and after she moved she researched the political climate between the overseers and the gangs in new jakarta extensively.

after researching the gangs, reading every piece of information she could get her hands on, she came to the conclusion that from an economical perspective the gangs were too important to get rid of. they were largely what kept the slums from completely going bankrupt, at least in her opinion. they provided sora and mawar with products as well, just maybe less than legal ones. but some things thalia can turn a blind eye to.

thalia also focused her attentions on x academy and hextech, recognizing them as important elements in the economy of new jakarta. even with how new hextech was as a company, thalia could already recognize that this was going to be a game changer once it was available to the general public. furthermore, she could see how the technology could be implemented to benefit upper class society. she's especially interested to see how the politics surrounding hextech might come to be.

she also found herself being invited to high society events after a couple of years as a politician on mars. suddenly she was being invited to galas, art shows, film festivals, charity events. this was new to her, when on earth she sometimes received the odd invitation but now it was a regular occurrence. thalia found herself living a cushy, lofty life that she was only just beginning to grow accustomed to. know that she knew what she was missing out on, she certainly didn't want to lose it.