#language barrier yuu

[scrivenger-grimgar]

So we know the language barrier au, but how about meme synchrony au?

Inexplicably, internet history is practically the same in both worlds, but memes are just more obscure internet culture for wonderland. Kinda like it’s own subculture, and there are just less people who are chronically online.

Most people know a few memes at least, bottle flip, ice bucket, cinnamon challenge, etc.

Enter yuu, extremely involved in fandom, parody, etc. the pinnacle meme connoisseur. A person who’s coping mechanism is memes.

There is maximum one person in each dorm who can understand the shit they say. As Azul would put it, “It’s like Idia-san, but worse.”

Those people are: Cater, Ruggie, Azul (a case of extreme exposure), Kalim, Vil, and Lilia. (Ignihyde automatically does not count.)

Cater and Ruggie can and will speak memes. Vil could speak memes if he wanted to. Kalim and Azul understand but cannot speak memes. Lilia speaks memes often but it’s jarring and off putting because he combines it with several centuries worth of outdated slang.

Yuu: *is late to the meet up* sup

Ace: dude, you coulda gotten here sooner!

Yuu: *gestures at grim* I do not control the rate at which lobsters die

Deuce: what

—

Yuu: *stares dead-eyed into their potion* guac-amole, gua gua-camole~

—

Yuu: *being heckled by savannaclaw*

Yuu: *pulls out air horn* get FUCked

—

Grim: yeah the first time they saw you guys they just said “enemies to lovers 30k slow burn bromance” real quietly

Adeuce: they fucking WHAT

—

Yuu: *in sam’s shop for the first time*

Yuu: *whispers* I’m buying clothes at the soup store!

—

(In the crucible)

Yuu: *physically restraining themselves from adding SO MUCH vanilla extract*

—

(Post-book 5)

Yuu: *whispering to rook* kill John Lennon

Rook: ???

Yuu: *louder* kiLL JOHN LENNON

—

(At VDC practice)

Yuu: I’m vil schoenheit and I’ll be your free style dance teacher

—

Yuu: *thinking of adeuce* who painted the Mona Lisa…

Deuce: *actually answering* uhm… da vinkee?

Yuu: ASDFGHJKLL

[arininwonderland]

slight language barrier (ie, unable to read the language) 10-11 yuu brainrot

for the sake of things lets say there's an entrance form to fill out for nrc

and so yuu just fills out the obvious boxes like name, height, etc. they forgot about the age box

and yk nrc has some short people, so no one points out the height thing (they learned their lesson with riddle)

the most hilarious way to reveal it (in my opinion) would be during ghost marriage

yuu, after being asked to woo eliza as well "it may be fake, but i dont think my guardian would approve of me proposing to someone at this age." "dude other first years are doing it and theyre like 15-16 as well whats the problem?" "im not 15." "what-"

was going to write more, but im really tired and still kinda sick so here take this shit

[yuri-is-online]

I love courting methods I love courting methods I love courting methods. I feel like I would court jade but not say anything (i am only shameless during the hours of 9-5), so it's like the "Yuu doesn't know they're accidentally courting the fish homies due to cultural differences". But no, I KNOW WHAT IM DOING! I'm just waiting for bro to acknowledge it and try to tease me for it so I can hit him with a "Yeah, so what's your answer? Do you accept or do I need to do a walk of shame??"

I love that little fucker. Jade deserves to be the one who gets pampered for once!

Idk I just really like language barriers and cultural differences in literature and fanfic. It's weirdly one of my favorite things.

Cultural differences and language barriers can be beautiful things. Life is vibrant, and full of diverse wonders so when we choose to represent that in our stories we reflect a little of that world in our mind. One of the little details I really like in twst voicelines is the amount of confusion the octotrio (Azul especially) has surrounding fire. It makes sense for him to not understand and is such good world building!!!

"You know that i know that you know that i know i am doing this on purpose but pretending i don't know that you know that I don't know that I do know" and I'm rambling at this point but I so love the little cat and mouse type game with Jade. He's so used to being the cat, he ought to be the cheese for once!

It might be a bit difficult to do that to him though... Octavinelle is skeptical of people offering things for free. The specific courtship gifts though... how did you find these? You must have put in so much effort to get sea glass for him... and are those pearls??? You found river pearls from the streams near by where he hikes specifically for him?!?! Oh you have no idea what- oh you do? That's why you're doing it oh. Oh. OH.

If you say something about having to do the walk of shame he will blue screen. He was already going to need a moment to process being flirted with but now this? I mean if you want to 👉👈 he could maaaaaybe help???? You want to marry him anyway will it really be shameful ˙◠˙ he doesn't think so~

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

In the manga version of Twisted Wonderland, it seems odd that the characters speak in Japanese but can't pronounce Enma Yuuken's name correctly. For instance, when Yuuken first met Ace and Deuce, they had trouble pronouncing his name even though they were speaking Japanese. I also wonder whether English exists in Twisted Wonderland. I am quite sure that English exists, but I don't know for sure. What do you think?

Well, remember: just because the characters’ dialogue is written in Japanese or English for us, the viewers, does not mean that the characters in-universe are communicating in Japanese or English. The language is most likely written this way for ease of understanding outside the meta of the story. Writing dialogue and speaking in a made-up language for accuracy’s sake would mean no audience member can understand what is going on.

How do we know this? Well, Enma-kun’s name is very obviously Japanese but the Twisted Wonderland characters have very non-Japanese names and do not seem familiar with his culture. Yet somehow they know perfect Japanese and speak to him in it without any issues??? But simultaneously Japanese food (Floyd’s favorite food is takoyaki) exists in Twisted Wonderland and no one has issues with knowing what it is or how it is said? That just doesn’t make sense.

The light novel tries to alleviate this discrepancy by telling us that there is a “translation spell” placed over the school, so that is probably the magic that is letting them communicate in spite of a potential language barrier in-universe. However, there are also instances when Yuu travels off campus (which has yet to be officially depicted in the manga or light novel), such as hometown events or even book 6. In these cases, there are still no communication issues noted despite NRC’s translation spell no longer being present. I think this continuity error exists because there’s just a certain level of suspension of disbelief the audience has to have without thinking about the complexities of how novel language in another world works; very few isekai go to the trouble of completely developing a new fantasy language.

I’ve mentioned this before a number of times but I will reiterate here: I’m sure that Twisted Wonderland must have its equivalents to our languages in some capacity . For example, Rook speaks bursts of French and the citizens of the City of Flowers/Fleur City also speak French. The language, however, is never referred to as “French” (since “France” does not exist in Twisted Wonderland); in fact, it is given no name at all. There are many other borrowed words which would imply the existence of TWST language equivalents. Takoyaki exists so there must be a twisted Japanese language. Based on this logic, there must be a twisted English too. The Queendom of Roses is often equated to Britain, so perhaps that’s where “English” is spoken—though it could also be a more common tongue too.

TWST also has its own languages that don’t exist in our world. These are mostly different kinds of fae languages, such as the tinkering bell sounds of pixies or the animalistic snarls and grunts of nocturnal fae. There’s quite a spread here!

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

MERMAY: Twisted Wonderland Mermaid!AU Skit

Okay, here’s the other skit for my other version of the Mermaid!AU~!

Compared to the Marine Biologist!AU, this version has Yuu getting stranded on an island while on a scuba diving trip, and their goal is not only to find a way to get home, but also to discover the secrets of the island and uncover the history behind what caused the mermaids and the avians (aka like Rook since he’s a seagull) to be separated and turned into mere mythology.

What you’re about to read was more or less a writing exercise I wrote and edited for a possible part when Yuu first wakes up. I don't think I'm going to use this as part of the prologue, but it’s still a possibility if anyone else wanted to imagine this situation once I get it started!

Reminder: there is a language barrier between the humans and mermaids/avians, meaning that things we know the names of would be things they don’t know. Just like in the Little Mermaid! 0v0

Enjoy~!

////------////

Drip…drip…drip……

A quiet groan escaped as Yuu slowly opened their eyes, grunting and gasping as they slowly picked themselves up. Their body was battered and sore, their lungs burning as cold, damp air chilled their skin. Struggling to gather their thoughts, slowly but surely the memories of what happened came flooding back. What the hell was that…that…thing they saw?! What could possibly exist in the world that could destroy an entire ship in one swipe?! How—

How…did they survive?

“Where…am I?” Yuu uttered, looking at their surroundings. It became clear that they were inside a cave, a large pool of water nearby illuminated with a bright blue-green light that made ripples across the ceiling. The stone walls were also covered with glowing blue lights, slowly fading in and out like glittering stars. Were these glow worms? Wait…no, those hung from the ceiling. Some type of crystal?

On trying to stand to get a closer look at the wall, however, they collapsed the moment they tried to put any weight on their leg. In the dim lighting, they could see that their leg was wrapped tightly in seaweed. Peeling it away, they discovered a strange paste covering a large gash in the wet suit’s leg and an injury that looked mostly healed. Where had it come from? Who wrapped their leg up in seaweed and tended to their injuries?

“What’s…going on?” they uttered, noticing the array of random junk and items nearby. It looked like random stuff that had come from ships, some old, broken, and tattered while others were sealed in water-tight containers. Digging around one of the containers, Yuu found several survival kits inside and a survival guidebook in a waterproof bag and immediately pulled out the thermal blanket to wrap around their cold body. Sighing as their body began to warm up, they looked around once again and wondered, “How did I even get here?”

Bloop!

Yuu’s eyes landed on the pool of water nearby, staring at the rippling surface.

Bloop!

Their heart skipped a beat as they scuttled away from the edge, clutching the blanket around them tightly as they stared. Even from this angle they spotted two shadowy shapes appearing, both slowly growing larger and larger. ‘What is that?!’ they thought, heart hammering in their chest. Then—right before their eyes—a head emerged from the water.

A humanoid head with fins on its head.

Bright green eyes stared at them, the creature’s skin a mix of soft and dark blue with a black spade mark on its face partly hidden by the dark blue hair on its head. Its jaw dropped open as the fish it had been carrying fell, floating in the water. Seconds later, a second head emerged from the water with a head of bright red hair and a red heart-shaped mark on the opposite side of its face. This one looked annoyed as it chittered and squeaked something at its friend…before it too stopped and stared at Yuu.

“……I…I’m dreaming,” Yuu whispered. “I’m delirious and imagining fish-people in the water. There’s no way this is real…”

Then—in what looked like whispering—the creatures began quietly clicking and chittering at one another.

///---///

“…dude…it’s awake…”

“I know…”

“Why is it awake?!”

“I thought it was going to still be unconscious by the time we left the fish for it!”

“Dude, I told you to leave that thing alone! What if it’s dangerous?!”

“If it were dangerous, it would have already attacked us, Ace!”

The cavern echoed their words back at them, both of them glancing back and forth between each other and the strange two-legged creature.

“This is not good,” Ace uttered, gripping his head nervously. “Seriously, what are we going to do? How are we going to explain this to the others?! What even is it in the first place??”

“I don’t know!” Deuce snapped. “Maybe…they’re a deformed seal? Or an avian who lost their wings?”

“Then how do you explain the flippers on its legs instead of talons?” Ace pointed out. He did a double-take and asked, “And did it just grow a new set of silver scales? That’s so weird!”

“Weird or not, it still needed our help, Ace!” Deuce said with a frown. “They only appeared right after the Island Guardian reacted to that small metal whale, right? So maybe…it’s a new species that came from another island seeking help?”

Ace groaned as he shook his head. “We’re going to be in so much trouble once Riddle finds out about this…”

“You’re the one who said you wanted to go out beyond the void after getting him angry in the first place.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Eem treemin,” the creature mumbled, shaking their head before smacking their palms against the sides of their head. “Eem treemin, eem treemin…!”

“Is…is it okay?” Deuce asked, cautiously swimming forward to try and check on them.

Spotting movement nearby, Ace noticed a brightly colored form slithering across the cavern floor as it crawled across the silver skin around the creature’s body. It seemed to notice its new visitor too and—with wide eyes—it jumped up with a shriek.

“AAAAA!!”

“AAAAA!!!”

“AAAAAAA!!!”

[oyster-sauce-tart]

twst yuu crossovers

i don’t really interact with twst content much (i don’t even play the game anymore haha,,,) but the thing my mind has always come back to is Yuu fics

those ones where they insert a type of yuu into twst which changes dynamics and creates similar yet different situations in the story 

my favorites are crossover yuus where the Yuu has come from a different media source 

i remember this one acc where their whole thing was creating these types of crossovers aaaa i miss them idk where they are now ( ；∀；) 

crossovers: genshin impact, pokemon go, enstars

disclaimers: small little hcs on the matter, not very long, mention of death in enstars but only for one line it's not important

TWST x GENSHIN IMPACT 

Yuu the Diviner 🔮

A Yuu who loves to travel! Originally hailing from Inazuma, they wish to travel across Teyvat after the Soukoku Degree was finally lifted. 

As their title implies they’re not just a traveler, they’re a diviner! They get in touch with the magic of fortune telling and deities to improve their alignment and spiritual energy 

especially after they spent so many years lost in their mind with their vision taken away 

luckily there are not many language barriers! Inazuman and Japanese are very similar how neat! As for the writing… hm…

Given that they are from the equivalent of medieval times, the Headmage doesn’t quite trust them to take care of things… more so Deuce and Ace have become the “caretakers” than Yuu themselves. 

especially since Yuu’s traveler instinct keeps making them run into danger like a MANIAC!!! 

♥️ “Kantosukei!!! Are you trying to die???” 

🔮 “Ehe~” 

♥️ “EHE TE NANDAYO??” 

TWST x POKÉMON GO 

Yuu the Researcher 📝

A Pokémon researcher who travels around to explore the wonders of Pokémon! 

Other researchers and the students of NRC when they get over find them a bit distant and rough around the edges 

Yuu cares about all types of creatures greatly and has always been a bit iffy when they talk about their past 

as for the pokémon, they brought the pokémon. 

the ENTIRE NEARLY 200 INVENTORY OF THEM

do not mess with them.

you will not win.

TWST x ENSTARS 

Yuu the Idol 💫

 Even with all the eccentric yet uncooperative students, the weird Headmage, and the Overblots popping up like gophers in a field…

No one is quite prepared for the magicless idol who seems even more eccentric than anyone in the school!! 

Like… why are you quoting all these philosophical books no one’s heard of??? Dovestsky?? Art of War??? What are those…? 

I-Is this a sixteen-year-old idol or a person who’s been through war?

… 

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE’S BEEN AN ACTUAL WAR?? 

oh metaphorically… 

… 

PEOPLE DIED?? 

💫 “Oh please, Ace, that’s nothing compared to what went on with the other units at SS…” 

♥️ “W-what happened at SS…?” 

💫 “Well the story first starts at the old age of idols with this guy named…” 

…

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS IDOL???? 

Ty for reading <3 please reblog, reply, or even send an ask to show your support I would greatly appreciate it!

Feel free to read my carrd to keep track of requests or masterlists! 

[writingforatwistedworld]

Uh uh-- request time?? So like, I'm thinking about how how the twst world has different language yeah?? (Rook being French and Vil having a """""German""""" lastname and all)

Okok what if, if the player/mc in the self aware au (already in their world) tried to teach some like the basically of their language?? Like English is not their first language and wanna just, share their culture and language specifically,, with uh, riddle, malleus and azul,, (no i don't have favs-) like would they try to learn, not care (idk how likely that is in the self aware au but yeah) or something else? I wann know pleas 🥺

Btw hope you're doing well Veil!! Love all the work you've done so far, hope everything is well n goes well :D have this lil fanart hihi

AAIJNAUSHUSUHSUHN HOW CUTE!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Btw, in the light novel it is mentioned that Yuu notices that he isn't speaking Japanese and he was saying “Japan” in (I guess English) but he noticed that his lips didn't match what he was thinking so I also don't think that English is something over there so... English readers get your fill as well.

Self-aware au

I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from!

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, obsession, killing, murder, religion, blood, violence, possessiveness, kidnapping, imprisonment

Riddle Rosehearts/Azul Ashengrotto/Malleus Draconia-Player tries to share their culture and language

Oh aren't you kind?

First of all, he is flattered

Even though the Queendom of roses sees you more as an uncrowned and invisible ruler they are still more than aware that some places see you as all-knowing

And since even the smallest rumor has at least a spark of truth in it he assumes that your knowledge is at least somewhat higher than that of the average person

Now imagine having such a person as your teacher... AND THEY EVEN TALK ABOUT THEIR CULTURE!!! YAAAYYY (RUN!!!)

I mean, that language thingy, go ahead but the culture one? Uh... how about no

The thing is, if you tell him too much about how you lived, the culture you grew up with included, he might see himself as more important in your life than he actually is

But hey, who can resist such an eager student with those puppy... no that's wrong in his case, hedgehog eyes?

Also, there are at least some languages existing in their world which also exist in ours (as far as we know), for example “French” and “German” (now everyone who speaks one of them at least partially: Yeah... suuurrreee.... totally correct what is beings said there....)

I believe that if you speak another one that isn't already there it will take longer for him to learn these since languages can differ so much from each other and if he hadn't even heard a single word in it... Yeah... (I mean, compare some languages and you see that their sentence structure are completely different)

But I also think that his mother force-fed him some foreign languages as well so maybe he already speaks German or French? The world will never know...

Doesn't mean he doesn't want to hear about your culture

I would highly advise you not to teach anybody else

Suddenly it's “Off with their head!”. On good days only the magic version and on bad ones the version in which you need something a little sharper and bigger than a needle

Also that “him thinking that he is more important than everyone in your life” thingy if you tell him too much about your culture? Well uh...

I heard the Shaftlands are big and can hide a lot of people if they just want to... otherwise I have to tell you that you might have to take up residence in his room for the rest of your existence. Enjoy!

*sucks air in* SIMP

No joke, you are known to be a scholar in his home so now you are deciding to teach him?

*squealing octopus noises*

There is a fairly higher chance he might already speak your language than Riddle since, well, he is a greedy businessman if we are being honest AND NO LANGUAGE BARRIER SHALL STAND IN HIS WAY!!!

But expect him to sit there at his desk, practically burning holes into you with his stare whilst you teach him

(Is he even blinking?)

I mean, how did you expect him to react? You better be joking if your answer was “he isn't interested”

You, my dear Overseer, are just so dashing alone in your legends and tales that my man over here just wanted to be somewhat worthy with his intellect of your attention

And even if it was just a glance then that shall it be!

Wow, look at that, one day you were just there chatting to him which led to you telling more about your culture whilst talking in your language if it's one he understands

Now those that you also seemed worthy enough to teach them about your origins and language? Those contracts can be tricky is all I'm saying

Or he just loses it and who else remembers that one time Floyd said that Octopuses are a high chunk of muscles? Mhm, that read splash on the wall a former person... wow, he liquified everything... HOW STRONG IS THAT GUY??!

Or this becomes very unhealthy for him

We all know that he puts at least some self-esteem onto his appearance and lifestyle so once that esteem isn't so high anymore it's time for some... unhealthy habits

I'm not going into detail but let's just say that there is a certain amount to what you can push your body, octopus or not

So please only teach him! After all, if you do he might just think everything was for naught and just decides to be a bit “much”

He probably speaks every single one existing in his world, including some ancient ones not spoken anymore n this day and age

But hey, his God is about to teach him something so you might as well have ordered him to while his memoriess because it's like everything you say is new to him

Also, his tail is going wild like a dog on who just saw his owner return after a long day

So... Yeah

(But this is the Self-aware au so of course things aren't just sunshine and flowers)

Remember that tail? He might have his hands full during the time he meets someone who decided to have the audacity and “make you” teach them as well but I think that thing could crush at least five melons at once

So uh... Yay... Red smoothie... Do not drink. 0 out of 10. Would not recommend

Also, who would he be if he hadn't two at least 50% humans who had been taught since childhood on how to use those sharp toothpicks and a fae who is a master at using said toothpicks?

“Silver, get the sharpest ones out!”-The toothpick master of Diasomnia

But how wise you are! Not only do you speak more than just one but also come from a completely different background

Also, are definitely probably frantically sending letters to the Valley of Thorns about everything you tell them so that the Church can document every single bit of information

But let us return to Malleus

Unless you tell him to tell you more about his home he will listen quietly, only asking a question if he doesn't understand something right away

Will try his best to follow the customs of your culture so you feel comfortable around him

Also, if he didn't know the language before, *gasp* I know, then he will also be the fastest one to learn it (I'm blaming devotion and fae genes for this)

But please, feel like you are at home around him. So at home in fact that you don't even notice he is right now taking you to the Valley so that you are never able to leave him. Forgive his greed but he just couldn't bear the thought of you reaching out for a place that isn't by his side

[olivyh]

Jamil x male reader please. But with a language barrier, the language that the reader speaks is one that's very common in our world (like Spanish or something idk) but doesn't exist in twisted wonderland. So readers just been coasting by on his very limited Japanese/English until now.

Maybe they're cooking together (alien recipes, which is actually just Guatemalan or columbian food but to jamil its alien food) and then reader just starts flirting with him in Spanish and its just????? What????

A/N: Hello! I normally write for gn! reader, so that's what I went with- I hope that's alright <3. I also don't speak much Spanish so some of the phrases might be wrong since I used google! I love this concept, though!!! I wish TWST would expand on the use of language in their universe (I know in the novel there's a translation spell where everyone on campus can understand each other, but what about Yuu/mc? Either way this is a fun idea to play with! I also use "Commonspeak" for English/Japanese since England/Japan doesn't exist for them and it seems to be a common language for them!

Jamil wasn't quite sure how he'd ended up in this situation- cooking dinner with his friend on a Friday night, with the rest of his dorm fast asleep. Moonlight shone in brightly through the open window, illuminating the kitchen that was dark aside from the light above the stove shining down on the sizzling frying pan and the ingredients splayed out along the cold countertops. Truthfully, he was certain that his small crush on the prefect wouldn't go very far, especially since they could barely understand each other past a few words.

When he'd first met them, he instantly realized their struggle- unable to tell Ace off for doing something and having to focus harder on their conversations to even pick up on the smallest hints. Not to mention the variety in accents throughout the whole school; He could have sworn that they were going to have a meltdown when the Octavinelle trio started speaking to them and they learned that mer add clicks and chirps to most words. Truthfully, he'd felt a stab of pity for them and their limited understanding of Commonspeak.

Nevertheless, he still had a job to do. He felt as though he didn't have time to aid some otherworldly student. They had friends who were already helping them, he'd believed.

So why, why were they shaking him awake with that petrified look in their eyes? Covered in blot and sand that clung to their clothing and hair, sweat and tears combined on their skin as he faded in and out of consciousness, barely able to make out their shouts of half-Commonspeak half-alien language.

What he could understand was the pain in their voice, how their tears slipped past their eyelids and dripped onto his dusty and still partially blotted skin, how, no matter how much pain they were in due to the snakes that were latching onto their skin, they never let him go. He'd believed that everyone would be comforting Kalim- so why were they at his side now?

If you asked Jamil, he would, after lots of denials and snarky remarks, tell you that was when he fell for them first.

Now here he was, in the empty kitchen of his dorm, silent aside from the occasional clinking of dishes against the counter and the sizzling of whatever alien dish they'd decided to cook with him tonight. He wasn't sure what to do- he'd seen dishes similar to what they were making, but he didn't know exactly what they were making, so he felt as though he couldn't help much aside from cleaning the area they were cooking in. Fragrant aromas filled the room, and a selfish part of Jamil prayed that nobody else in the dorm could smell it so he could have a little bit more time to keep the prefect to himself.

"What is this, again?" He didn't mean to break the silence, speaking slowly enough for them to understand without becoming too distracted.

"It's chicharron colombiano y arepas con queso," He hums, finishing up the dishes and piling them onto the drying rack, turning away from the sink and leaning against the counter, watching their deft hands as they keep adding to the plate beside the stove.

"That's a lot of food," He comments offhandedly, mentally slapping himself for sounding so unenthusiastic. He shakes off the pit in his stomach as they begin to speak slowly.

"You didn't eat," Jamil pouts as they lift their head to meet his eyes. They look at him with so much concern and affection that he finds it hard to tear his gaze from their own, despite the uncomfortable fluttering of the butterflies in his stomach and the way his sweatshirt suddenly became too hot despite the chill that hung around Scarabia.

"You eat too, then," He argues. "I can't finish it all on my own."

They hum and nod. "I will, bonito."

"Bonito?" He questions, leaning in closer as he watches their shoulders stiffen and their movements pause for a moment.

"Eres bonito," They repeat, suddenly hyper-focused on the food in front of them rather than the man standing just to their right. He tilts his head.

"Que?" Jamil notices how they jolt and their head whips to him and feels a surge of pride course through his veins- he wanted to wait until he knew a little bit more of their language before he surprised them, but he supposed now was a good enough time. Besides, seeing how their face flushed and they attempted to hide in on themselves was more than enough of a reward. Despite his best efforts, there was no dictionary for their language, so learning it was a constant struggle for the man (who felt too embarrassed to ask them to teach him, especially not with how scattered his focus was whenever the two were alone. He was glad that he remembered that word now).

"Donde aprendise aso?" They ask him, voice climbing an octave. He chuckles, glad to have the upper hand in this situation for once.

"Tu," He, as suavely as he could with how badly he felt his hands were shaking from the nerves, takes the spatula from their hands and goes to flip the meat inside the pan. Was he saying it right? Were they looking at him out of the shock of his knowledge, or because he was mispronouncing something?

He turns to notice their pout before they mutter something under their breath, slowly plating the rest of the food and turning the stovetop off.

"Hm? What was that?" He tries to hide the teasing grin on his face and stifles the chuckle that bubbled up his throat at the shock that was plastered across their face. "Eat up before it gets cold."

"Es por eso que te amo," They smile up at him innocently before taking a bite of food, chewing slowly. Jamil raises an eyebrow and goes to his own plate, eating in silence. The flavors melt against his tongue and he feels the way the love poured into the meal seems to seep into his heart as well, the domesticity of the moment being something he wanted to savor just as much as the meal. After a little bit, both of them lean back against the counter, their plates cleared.

Jamil grabs the dishes first, shaking his head when they offer to help him clean them off.

"You cooked. I'll clean," He states simply, going back to the sink. Despite his best wishes, and his attempts to clean as slowly as possible, they're called back to Ramshackle. Jamil tries to hide his disappointment and the way the room suddenly seemed to get colder as they pack their things.

"Gracias," He says to them, walking with them back to the meal. The soft, shy smile on their face as they turn to him is more than enough to hold over his heart until the next time they were to meet.

"De nada," They chirp, turning to step back through the mirror.

"Tab masawuk, habibi," He ducks his head, hoping that the darkness could conceal his blush from them until they were to leave. They stare at him, confusion written on their face as their eyebrows furrowed and their head tilted ever so slightly. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," They beam, disappearing through the mirror. Jamil sighs happily, staring longingly at the spot where they once stood before turning and practically skipping back to his room, mind racing as he replays the night in his head over and over again.

[broken-synchronicity]

Since Twisted Wonderland's language "Common" is the equivalent of Japanese, & the foods Grim mentioned are typical foods that one can find in Japanese convenience stores, wouldn't it be safe to assume that the culture & customs are Japanese as well?

Like, if the students celebrate Halloween, they probably just dress-up in costumes & decorate the dorms. No "trick-or-treat" because Japanese people have this strong "no bothering/disturbing/cause inconvenience to others" mentality - so no collecting sweets, candies & chocolates by knocking doors from one dorm to another.

Or, if the students celebrate Christmas, they would mostly eat fried chicken, because somehow KFC in Japan has a strong association with the holiday, hence why it's a popular choice among Japanese people.

Or if the students celebrate Valentine, it would be still in the traditional sense: because NRC is an all-boys school, most of the students would at least receive chocolates from girls - and they're expected to give those girls back in a month (White Day).

How does Kal explain the American version of these holidays with the language barrier if neither Lilia nor Malleus is around?

I'm fairly certain the only reason there are so many recognizably Japanese things in twst is because it's a Japanese game. But that's very few things in general. Even then, during the Prologue we had the pair of bullies try and start something with us over Carbonara, and Azul has squid ink pasta for lunch during his arc, decidedly Italian dishs. Mont Blanc, despite its heavy popularity in Japan, is still very French in origin. Just because there are Japanese snacks in a school store, doesn't mean everything is so decidedly Japanese.

Holiday wise we had:

The Halloween event states that each area is a stamp collection point for a stamp rally they're doing to collect a prize for at the end of a circuit through the school grounds, which would be in replacement of actual trick or treating since there's no way any school would shell out for that much candy for that many guests over the course of a week even if it's only 7 points of collection, and no child only picks up 7 pieces of candy during trick or treat. Also, haunted houses are a thing.

All the students go home for winter break, so there's almost no way to know what or how they celebrate winter holidays if they do, and both the Ghosts and Crowley list/give us a pretty standard European Christmas fair with a cooked turkey and gingerbread house

Masquerades are EXTREMELY European, even if the idea of donning a mask during spooky season isn't wholly

There are hundreds of festivals, not just holidays, that hold the main point of a Firework display as the highlight, so the Scarabia event is hardly isolated

Literally the only vaguely Japanese-esque holidays was the Wish festival and Bean day, but that's it. And they both were VERY round about in their presentation, making them easily holidays that could pass anywhere else that held those similar stories the holidays were based off of (Pinocchio and Jack and the Bean Stalk.)

There's no way to know how or even if there's a Valentines day equivalent since we're never getting such an event, so there's no way to say how any of the boys go about it.

As for Japanese being the "Common" language, that's just literally what I call it in LiT. It's got a historical reason that I haven't gotten to in my story, but that's just what I call it.

They might not actually be speaking Japanese in-game, that's just how it comes across to the MC, Yuu, who is Japanese, since in-game it's stated that there's a translator spell cast over school grounds because all the students don't actually speak a common language.

Sorry if this got ranty, but twst, despite being so thoroughly Japanese, doesn't at all lean very heavily into it for the very reason it's a Disney Fantasy Game, it's picked up all these Non-Japanese fairytales and needed to represent that, not their own culture.

[shiny-jr]

Praise be the seven, I guess. Finally, I got Beans Day Azul. He was one of the first SSRs I was missing, mostly because I never wished on his banner when he first came out because I had no idea how twst’s gacha system worked. I was worried I was going to have to save and do every achievement I could to collect more gems to wish for him, but he came home on the last key I had. It was a little over 20, no more than 30, I think that’s a win. 

Anyways, I’m a little bored, gonna try to write for Scarabia (damnation) again and probably post the sneak-peek after I check it. But for now, here are some random twst thoughts I have. Enjoy?

- Do y’all think Twisted Wonderland might be a little more peaceful say, compared to Yuu’s world, if they’re from Earth? Think about it. There’s a lot of issues with this world like climate change, wars, pollution, etc. But I imagine in a world filled with magic, some of those issues may not be as big of a deal. Like, I imagine that there’s magic or some magical machine that acts as a resource and energy source and is much cleaner than using gas or oil. 

- Kinda related to the last point, but do you think the reason the “wand” happens to actually be a pen is due to the fact that because magic creates the hazardous blot, the pen uses up that blot when they write? 

- Not gonna get into this one too much, but I wonder if some people will obsess over a certain species or kinds of people and commit cultural appropriation. Example: A regular human wearing fake ears and a tail then claiming they’re a real beastmen.

- Thinking about the existence of Noble Bell College and the whole City of Flowers. The interior of the school was decorated a lot like a church, so that makes me wonder if it was like a religious school because of the movie’s close association with religion. Does that mean there’s a religion akin to Christianity in Twisted Wonderland? What about other religions? How would that even work? 

- I wonder how languages work in twst, since it doesn’t appear like there’s a ton of countries (makes sense if I was right about the war thing, so there wouldn’t be a lot of countries with conflict). Also, if there normally is a language barrier, how is everyone able to communicate perfectly fine on campus? Is there like a commonly used language, or is it some magic that allows everyone to understand each other?

- Obviously the Queendom of Roses would probably be the equivalent of the U.K. and Island of Woe being Greece with it’s connection to Idia and Hercules, but what about other places? Would Briar Valley be like France then, because it’s connection to Sleeping Beauty being set in France? But it’s mostly fae, does that matter? What about the Country of Pyroxene (Shaftlands)? That’s the home of Vil, Cater, Jack, Epel, Trein, and Vargas. But Snow White is supposed to be German, and Cinderella with Beauty and the Beast were supposed to be French. So is Pyroxene French, German, or just a land based off Europe? Is the City of Flowers somewhere here? Don’t forget the Land of Scalding Sands where Kalim and Jamil are, it’s obviously supposed to be inspired by someplace in the Middle East, is it just based off the region and not a single nation? Similar to the Afterglow Savanna, is it just based off the continent of Africa and not a single nation? Many many questions. 

- Kinda back to the language thing, I wonder how accents would be like. Riddle? Definitely British, there’s not a doubt in my mind about that. Maybe Trey too, I can see him going either way. Everyone else in Heartslabyul though? I cannot imagine them with a British accent. Deuce? Upper US east coast kinda guy, definitely used to reply with “ya mutha” in his delinquent days. Ace? Southern US west coast, along with Cater too. Cater definitely has the valley accent, says “like” all the time. Others I like to imagine are Azul, Jade, and Floyd. They’re from the Coral Sea, but they mention it gets really really cold so of course I’m gonna imagine it as the Nordic Sea and they have this subtle Scandinavian accent, but since they probably practiced a lot to cover it. Another one is Vil, obviously I imagine him with a German accent because his last name is Schoenheit. A while ago I was unsure about Epel because he says the most out of pocket stuff in the weirdest ways sometimes, but because of the Harveston outfit I’ve seen on him, I’m gonna say he has like this Russian accent. Rook... starting to think Rook isn’t even French since apparently he’s from the Afterglow Savanna. 

- Something that I personally wonder a lot, are there Latinos in this world?? Like, c’mon. I saw the tacos in the cooking event, I know they’re hiding them somewhere. You can’t hide them forever. At least I know there’s Mexicans. But who knows? Maybe if they add more villains like they did with Rollo, they’ll add a character that’s probably Mexican like Ernesto De La Cruz (Coco) or Peruvian like Yzma and Kronk (Emperor’s New Groove). 

- Sometimes I wonder, they say that everyone knows about the seven. Like apparently in Twisted Wonderland they learn about them when they’re young, and they’re not seen as bad guys. So if that’s the case, do some people learn about the good guys? Do their beliefs kinda conflict and clash or does it conveniently not clash? That’s something I wondered when thinking if RSA has statues like NRC does. 

- RSA would treat Yuu right, just saying. It might not be fun all the time, but it’s probably better than some aspects of NRC.

[arininwonderland]

some more language barrier au please

but of course! it's actually one of my favorite aus!

i hope you don't mind, but it'll just be some random character interactions (i need to get better at those)

yuu not understanding a goddamn word malleus is saying when they meet the first time so they just pat his cheek and go "whatever you say horny dude - wait no that came out wrong - eh he doesn't even know what i'm calling him, so does it really matter"

when the arrow gets shot at them as a means of delivering summons for the vdc, they just straight up lose their shit because they dont know why theyre at this stupid place why are people attacking them? and just goes catatonic for a bit adeuce dragging the weird prefect through the campus and the mob students just watching as the weird catcoon rides on yuu's lifeless body

[hoegender]

since nrc magically translates all languages spoken by students to break the language barriers it's evident that rook speaking french being untranslated is a sign that french is not a language in twisted wonderland.

this means when rook speaks french the only person who could possibly understand rook is yuu. since french is spoken in yuu's world and not rook's it's safe to say that rook is currently the only tie yuu has to their world because crowley isn't doing shit.

regardless of how rook knows french, a language which isn't spoken in twisted wonderland, it is clear that rook has come into contact at least by secondary sources with yuu's world and is therefore the only current tie between yuu's world and twisted wonderland apart from yuu themselves.

if rook is hiding crucial information about yuu's circumstances and yuu's way back home on purpose then this makes rook the one true villain of twisted wonderland. what is he trying to do to yuu? what does he want out of this? what is rook hunt hiding?

all this and my earlier suspicion of rook stealing lines from other disney franchises which aren't his own (such as when he said to yuu "you've shown me a whole new world", paired with the fact jamil couldn't use that line himself when he needed to) proves to me that rook hunt is plotting something very, very sinister.

you may not heed my warnings now but let me be transparent. twisted wonderland is a horror story and the main character is rook hunt. he will bring about a dystopia in every world he touches, every world he sees. rook hunt is the villain.

[twistedwonderlandsimps]

So I like binged the Sibling Yuu tag and this thought appeared while reading Vil's part-

Imagine if Rook knew. Like, he walks into Vil's room cause Vil wanted to ask him to fetch more tea and he's like: "Oh, it's Yuu Scheonhiet! I'm Rook Hunt, your brother's vice Dorm head. It's an honor to meet you in person. Stunning as always, even in such a disguise. May I ask for a picture?" And Vil's like, what? Wait, you know them???

The betrayal lol

At this point, everyone BUT Vil knows of Yuu Schoenheit, sibling of Vil Schoenheit himself. I mean, why would anyone even assume that Vil wouldn’t know of his very own sibling’s existence? A sibling who was a very famous actor that starred in multiple legendary movies, memorable television shows, and popular commercials. Sure, Yuu didn’t talk much about their personal life to the media but them being a Schoenheit was basically an open secret. It was literally public knowledge. What, did Vil actually not know they had a sibling all these years? That thought was completely and utterly absurb! Except it’s really not because that’s exactly the case.

No one really tried to ask Yuu’s autograph through him anymore because when people tried to at first, Vil would look at them weirdly. Everyone just assumed that he got weirded out and offended by people asking him for his own sibling’s autograph and they stopped doing it. In reality, he just had no idea what they were talking about. He assumed it was because of a language barrier and people were actually trying to ask for his father’s autograph instead of his sibling’s, because he totally doesn’t have one of those. He also chalked up the posts on the internet about Yuu being a Schoenheit as people wanting to make up wild rumors or wanting to start drama with his or his father’s fans.

Even Rook’s shocked when he learns this.

But to be a bit fair on Vil’s part, Yuu’s name (or stage name, if you prefer) is kind of confusing. I can see why there would be some confusion with ‘Yuu’ and ‘you’.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Could you give some examples of the misinformation in the English fandom? I speak almost no Japanese and even I've noticed times where the translation didn't quite seem to match up with what little I know but it seemed to me to just be adding a joke where there was none. I'd like to know lore I have wrong though.

[Referencing this post!]

A disclaimer before I properly respond to this ask; in sharing some examples and my thoughts, I am not faulting any fan translators or localizers that work on the TWST EN team. Translation and localization are very valued yet difficult tasks; there isn’t always an easy equivalent between languages, and it can be so challenging to capture linguistic nuances. I’m sure that everyone is just doing their best at what they are passionate about and/or being paid to do.

Again, I speak about this not with any malicious intent, but to elaborate on a point mentioned in my original post about differences between JP and EN fandoms (that being that misinformation readily spreads in EN compared to JP due to a significant language barrier).

It would be impossible to list off every single mistranslation or odd localization choice (both for fan translations and for the official TWST EN) 💦 They can also range in severity of mistranslation, from minor word choices which affect understanding of characters to generally confusing sentences to completely incorrect notes, lore, or story beats.

For a few detailed examples and explanations, please check out these posts:

Incorrect subject (Jade’s line on his character page on the official Twisted Wonderland EN website; all of the character lines on the website have been changed into something else now, so if you were to go check you wouldn’t find the initial error.)

Selected word does not fit the context (A phrase is used by a NPC to describe Sebek; this parricular fan translated equivalent does not quite suit the scenario/other words used.)

Misunderstanding of character’s intent (Jade explaining Floyd’s reason for the sea creature nicknames in episode 4 of the main story.)

This is a far more egregious example, but there was also this case in which an interview was translated in such a way that led to an extended period of unrest and conflict within the English-speaking part of the fandom.

Some more humorous mistranslations I’ve seen are:

“Jade drinks cannabis tea” (Jade Broom Bloom Birthday vignettes; he mentions that he uses some of the weeds (not cannabis) he picks up on his mountain hikes to brew tea. Japan still considers cannabis an illicit substance, and possession of it is illegal + punishable by a minimum sentence of 5 years in jail. Rough mistranslation aside, it’s unlikely Disney would allow for their highly marketable characters to be portrayed as using “weed”.)

“Team Puta” (main story, episode 6; the correct translation is “Team Hepta”, as Hepta is a Greek word meaning “seven”. Each of S.T.Y.X.’s teams is named similarly using other Greek words. “Puta” doesn’t make sense for S.T.Y.X.; it’s the Spanish word for a profanity. Why would one of their divisions be named that?)

“Jester Judge” (Glorious Masquerade; the title is used in reference to Frollo, the “Just Judge” of the City of Flowers. However, the adjective prior to judge has been mistranslated as “Jester”. Given Frollo’s personality and how his self-righteous actions are described, “just” makes much more sense than “jester”, which would imply that he is a fun-loving person.)

The disappearance of Cater’s sisters (main story, episode 1; when Cater introduces his unique magic to Yuu and co., he specifies that his clones aren’t his siblings. More specifically, Cater claims he “has no siblings”, which is incorrect. He canonically has two older sisters (which is even brought up in the localized version of Cater’s Labwear vignettes.) The vanishing sisters in the main story likely occurs due to a mistranslation of the Japanese phrase for siblings and relies on context to assign gender to said siblings. ***Note: the localization in general tends to add jokes that weren’t there in the original or it axes certain lines altogether.***

“The episode 6 plot twist is…?” (this is a personal anecdote; I once spoke to a fellow TWST fan who hadn’t yet read episode 6 (which was entirely out at the time) and they told me they had heard from other people that Idia’s unique magic was associated with his hair. They had also heard that he Overblots when the flames are put out and that this was what originally killed Ortho. I thought they were joking at first, but they genuinely believed it to be true 💦 when none of that is…)

I believe a lot of these mistranslations occurred due to the differences between Japanese and English. There are four separate alphabets for Japanese, whereas English only has one, and this can complicate translation. Furthermore, Japanese has certain nuances (such as omission of the subject and/or the same phrase meaning multiple different things depending on the context in which the phrase is used) which can lead to wonky translations.

Inputting certain phrases into Google translate or looking it up in a dictionary if you don’t know it may give only the most commonly used translation which doesn’t take the context of the rest of the sentence into consideration (which could entirely change the translation of the word). For example, やばい (yabai) is typically translated as “terrible” or “this is bad”; it has a generally negative connotation. However, it can actually have several meanings, with many of them actually being positive depending on the context.

Something that I’ve noticed is very popular in the English-speaking fandom are live reactions; they’re quick and snappy ways to get summaries of new TWST content as soon as it drops. These can sometimes be difficult for readers (who likely rely on the threads to understand what is going on) to discern what has legitimately happened in the story and what is just the fan translator having fun/saying something silly or exaggerating for effect (because they’re just as excited about new TWST content as we are to read about it!). It admittedly leads to some people taking the exaggerated parts/jokes/the fan translator goofing around as legitimate story beats. It’s understandable that the average fan would do this, as they do not understand Japanese to the point of being able to discern what is true vs what is false; of course they would put their trust in someone who does understand the language. In this case, it’s not a mistranslation so much as it is a misunderstanding. I believe this may be what Anon means when they say “the translation didn't quite seem to match up with what little [they] know but it seemed to [them] to just be adding a joke where there was none”.

A recent example of this occurred during Glorious Masquerade. In canon, Malleus outright declares that he is mad and wants to kill Rollo for deceiving him with a fake invitation. However, many excited Malleus fans added (in their initial personal reactions to the event) that it was cute that he was getting emotional because he was “mad at Rollo for trying to hurt Yuu” which… isn’t necessarily true. But since this was mixed in with legitimate summary/translations for the event, this led some readers to assume that this information was, indeed, not a joke but true while also completely overlooking the actual canon reason provided by Malleus himself for seeking devastating revenge against Rollo.

I hope that clarifies a few things!

[pianostarinwonderland]

Yuu hanging out with Trein is surprising quite cute

Oh man, I really found Yuu having the option to be interested in Trein's love life so funny 😂 aside from that, I haven't seen an in-depth translation of Malleus' part of the event that included interactions with Trein and Yuu, so ngl, I can't say if I find it cute yet 😭

Honestly, if I was Yuu, I'd have been lowkey pissed that I wasn't mainly going to be with the other students if only because I would have wanted to tag along with Azul, Deuce, and Epel (for obvious reasons). So that also plays into it.

Aside from that, though, I really love how Jamil teased Trein 😭 like, he's letting loose. He's having fun, and when the others joined in, it was probably one of the most wholesome moments Twst will ever put out. I find it really easy to forget they're high school students because of all the drama happening and how much of the boys' trauma we explore (not to mention language barrier). But reading that moment, it really made me think damn . these ARE teenage high school boys and that just made me feel so warm and fuzzy 🥺 For me, that was what took my heart

Also, after this, it is now my hc that Trein was a little wilder in his youth and did God knows what with his wife in the waterway if you know what I mean :3c I mean come on, it was a honeymoon

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Twisted Wonderland Marine Biologist AU Snippet

Hey everyone! I'm still okay, just been dealing with real life stuff and discovered I may have accidentally put myself through a burnout even when I was trying to avoid it. =w=

I've been working through it by focusing on more personal projects and other fandoms, and I've also been focusing more on my physical and mental health lately. I'm getting better every day though, and I'm feeling good about stuff!

Anyway, I know I haven't posted anything in a while since my last update, so I wanted to tide everyone over with a snippet I had written back in May for the Marine Biologist AU. I was saving this for when I finally reached that part of the story and got it off the ground, buuuuut...honestly, it's too adorable for me NOT to share!!!

Reminder that in this and the mermaid AU, there is a communication barrier where humans and mermaids cannot speak the same language. In the Marine Biologist AU though, the boys can understand some if not most words, so they have nothing but time to try and listen to the researchers talk and learn how to speak the language.

So...what happens when our little researcher Yuu just so happens to drop an apple in the tank holding a certain Guppy and gorgeous Betta Fish?

////--------------////

"Whoa, geez!” Yuu squawked, their hand just barely touching the apple as it bounced off the grating before falling into the water with a ‘plop’. Sighing, Yuu said, “Well, there goes part of my lunch.”

One moment the apple was bobbing along in the waves, the next…a hand reached out and grabbed it, a familiar adorable face emerging from the water to examine his catch. “Oh, hi, Guppy!” Yuu called out, happy to see the smaller mermaid. Violet floated nearby, though it was clear that he was watching them both with that intense gaze of his. “Sorry, that’s not a fish. It’s an apple.”

At that he perked up so fast that Yuu almost thought he’d gotten whiplash, adorable doe eyes looking shocked and amazed as he squeaked at them.

“D…do you know what an apple is?” Yuu asked, earning another insistent chirp from him before they pointed at the fruit clutched in his hands. “Apple. Ahp…pull…”

He looked between them and the fruit, looking so confused for a moment. Then, he held it out and—pointing at it and himself—he spoke and said, “Ahp…ull…Eah…pul…Eahpul!”

Yuu was floored as they stared, not sure if they’re feeling amazement or pure disbelief or both as Guppy continued his game of charades. It was as if he was trying to tell them…

“Is…Ehpul…Eh…pel…Epel…your name?” Yuu asked.

“Yeeee!” ‘Epel’ squealed, practically squirming in place and looking absolutely elated as he nodded enthusiastically. “Epel! Epel!”

Even as he continued chattering in the strange language while still repeating his new ‘name’, Yuu found themselves hardly able to move as they tried to process this new development. Had…they been able to understand Yuu this whole time and just…didn’t know how to communicate back? Or is this a new development brought on by their continuous interactions with the mermaids?

Once he had calmed down, Epel had turned his attention back to the apple and curiously sniffed it. Then—before they could think to try and get it back—he had taken a bite out of it and chewed. A moment later his eyes grew wide, the ear fins wiggling as a wide (chubby cheeked) smile bloomed on his face and he let out a high-pitched warble.

“Huh…? Do…you guys actually eat fruit?” Yuu uttered in amazement as Epel chomped away at the fruit faster than they could blink, practically swallowing the core whole before licking the juice off his fingers. A moment later he lunged up onto the deck, peeking over the edge as he sniffed around like a cat on the hunt. “Whoa! Slow down there! I don’t have any more apples if that’s what you’re looking for.”

Once he seemed to realize this, he looked up at Yuu and-

'Oh no...those are the cutest puppy eyes I've ever seen!!' Yuu thought. 'How does a mermaid know how to do the puppy eyes?!'

"Ahpul...app...le," Epel chirped. "Apple..? Apple!"

"O-okay, okay! I'll go and get more apples for you!"