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#probably some arabic at some point and some korean as well. it just would be nice to have grown up with even bare bones language
lupismaris · 1 year
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I really wish I'd been medicated/encouraged as a child and given the chance to learn more languages because there's a special kind of joy that comes with linguistic variety in life
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majorbaby · 1 year
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i was going to make a video compilation but actually i think that would give MASH too much credit or make it seem like I really think this show did generally well by race and racism, plus I can't go back and edit a video if I change my mind at any point. so here's my text-based list of race moments that actually land for me, whether intentional or based on my personal interpretation.
s01e05 The Moose - which is mostly a white saviour episode but actually does do a few things right:
this moment of solidarity between Oliver and Young-Hi
in response to the Swamp Rats' indignation that anyone would sell their child into servitude, Ho-Jon explains very frankly "Well some of the locals sell their kids for money Hawkeye, they have no other means." - not to say that it's right that Young-Hi's parents did that to her, but like, they didn't sell her to get rich, they did it because they're likely living in poverty and they have other younger children to support
Young-Hi cheekily explaining in her letter to Hawkeye "heehee the nuns have no idea I'm Buddhist" she's taking them for a ride, it's great
and Young-Hi's "I am also very beautiful!"
s02e15 Officers Only
Hawkeye introducing a black enlisted man as his brother-in-law - soooo very recently, like I argued this at the mic at my last convention, we've started to rethink the use of"brother" and "sister" to refer to your union comrades has start. if your boss caught you organizing with a friend after work, you would say "oh that's just my brother/sister". arguments against this are gaining traction now because of growing awareness of non-binary people but tbh it should have never been a thing it only protects white people who can reasonably pass as siblings, if you're black or brown you're SOL (as you usually were anyway). so anyway. this is a long ass paragraph just to say that Hawkeye saying " brother-in-law" in the union episode of MASH makes me feel ways. someone was thinking about intersectionality way back then.
s02e19 The Chosen People
Sam Pak in OR at the beginning of the episode, thanking America for saving Korea "from the bottom of our bomb craters." and also just generally making jokes that actually land about the Korean language because he's the one making them, "Pish-posh? That's my mother's family name"
tbh Sam walking around like he owns the base is pretty great in general
s05e08 Dear Sigmund
Klinger: Smaha! Smaha! Potter: [to Private Habib] What'd he say? Habib: He said "Smaha! Smaha!"
If it is Arabic it's funny because Potter assumes Habib will translate and he just repeats the words in Arabic because that is what Klinger literally said. If it is gibberish it's funny because Potter assumes its Arabic and Habib gives him the gibberish. This is one of my favourite gags in the whole show and fun fact also the moment I realized Jamie Farr must be a native speaker because his accent is so natural. It's pretty cool he got to flex that.
s05e11 Hawk's Nightmare
this is just me, but I love that Hawkeye describes the people of Crabapple Cove as never changing colour, always the same "off-white" - this was a time you almost never heard white people acknowledge their whiteness, except when speaking about racism. really struck me the first time i heard it. probably my favourite thing from Hawkeye re: race and it's not intentional. I definitely prefer it to his white saviourism
s06e08 In Love and War
the exchange between Kyungsoon and Hawkeye where the extent of his naiveté is put on display, "You're being awfully practical about this" "I thought you liked that about me [list of things she had to do for survival that Hawkeye initially admired in her but is now throwing in her face]"
episode ends in Hawkeye having to accept that sometimes love is irrelevant, the circumstances are what they are (the love was there and it didn't matter, but it was there) - this imo is the only episode of MASH that even begins to touch on the realities of being a Korean civilian in the war
s08e03 Guerilla My Dreams
the gang fails to save a woman from being taken away and she will likely die, as would've probably happened irl. sometimes being on a sitcom isn't enough to save you from your fate as a prisoner of war and it was good to be reminded of that for once. it's the white saviour trope averted.
s08e08 Private Finance
I can at least appreciate that this time when someone is explaining how all sides of the war are to blame for the scourge of war, it's a young Korean girl in her own words. rest of the episode is questionable but normally such a line would go to Hawkeye.
s08e15 Yessir that's Our Baby
the Korean official biting back when Hawkeye tries to accuse him (on behalf of the country) for not recognizing mixed-race babies as Korean, stating that neither does America recognize mixed-race babies with American fathers as Americans, unlike France and the UK
s11e01 Hey Look Me Over
this episode is textually about the very specific and not uncommon experience of being desexualized as a fat, Asian-American woman - it deserves a proper episode recap/analysis with that lens and I'm planning on take a stab at it if/when I ever get around to that ep in my rewatch. these stories were not being told in mainstream media until like, five years ago. there are some the hypersexualized or fetishized Asian woman in media and usually the movie/show/comic is doing that as a selling point rather than commentary. it's unfortunate we haven't progressed much since that moment 40 years ago.
[citation needed, cannot remember the name of the episode]
while admitted a Korean doctor tells Hawkeye he wishes things were different and that he could work alongside Hawkeye and BJ and Hawkeye asks with perfect American ignorance (paraphrase), "You'd want to do that?" and he responds, "You treat the enemy, why can't I?"
And finally, Soon-Lee and Klinger in GFA, a little bit in As Time Goes By. I started writing an essay on Klinger as the romantic lead of GFA but I think I'm going to try to make it a video essay so I can include clips from the show without having to make a bunch of gifs.
But in a nutshell, Klinger gets to do stuff in GFA that the often emasculated brown man still doesn't get to do much on television. As MASH progressed we did occasionally get to see Klinger take on a more serious role, Alan Alda has spoken on trying to do that for the character rather than rehash dramatic plotlines for Hawkeye or BJ who got plenty of their own.
Having Klinger represented that way gives audiences a chance to see him more three-dimensionally. As someone who is capable of romantic love, attraction, courage and someone who might be sexually desirable to others - in a less direct way than Kellye demands of Hawkeye in Hey Look Me Over. I think the lack of subtlety in Hey Look Me Over is great because there can be no question about what that episode is supposed to do and also because it drives home that Hawkeye is so blinded by his preconceived notions of what a "desirable woman" looks and sounds like that Kellye has to scream it in his face before he realizes what he's been doing. But it's also nice to have an example that's woven into the writing and cinematography.
Normally I don't like to add these kinds of disclaimers because I value open conversation but if you're rb'ing, please be mindful of your tags. I intentionally excluded a lot of the moments where I know I'm supposed to give this show an A+ for its progressivism when it has a white person demonstrating basic human decency. That bar is just too low for me.
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thatanimewriter · 2 years
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BǍO BÈI, MON AMOUR AND... BABE, I GUESS??
➳ request: Can I request Finny, Baldroy, Joker, Snake, and maybe Dagger with a multilingual fem s/o? I speak English, Spanish, and French irl. Bonus points if you incorporate pet names in either of those. I’m thinking along the lines of some nice headcanons.
➳ character/s: finny, bardroy, joker, snake, dagger
➳ warnings: swearing, perhaps butched pet names from other languages, generally butched arabic (baldroy), french (joker), spanish (finny), norwegian (snake) and german (dagger) because i don’t speak anything but english
➳ notes: woww that’s really cool that you know how to speak other languages, i’ve always wanted to be fluent in something other than english and i used to learn mandarin, but i hated the teacher at school and dropped the subject asap lmao
𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 / 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭  / 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 / 𝐰𝐢𝐩 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭  
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──  𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐘.
infatuated
he thinks it’s super cool
and hot
now he gets creative for pet names for you
he goes beyond the classic babe, baby, sweetheart, doll etc
now you gotta suffer with sweet cheeks, toots, sugarplum and all that cheesy gross shit
but he gets which language mixed up all the time
he probably messes up the pronunciation as well
it’s ok, he’s attempting
he often notices that you’ll speak arabic when you’re tired or frustrated
“habibi... come to bed.”
but also when you’re thinking of a word and it only makes sense in the languages you know
it’s fine, he thinks it’s cool
and funny because accents between languages also change
all in all, very impressed
──  𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐘.
literally gets the anime sparkles in his eyes
as if you could get any better??
constantly asks you to speak your other languages
asks you for the names of basic household items in that language
“what’s bed in spanish??”
“la cama.”
“oh my god that’s so cool-”
but then you bamboozled him with another language
and he then discovered you’re multilingual
because he caught you speaking cantonese to lau
and he thinks you spoke, like, gaelic one time
he’s not sure what the languages are but it’s COOL
he definitely butches some of the words
most of the words
but it’s the thought and effort that counts
──  𝐉𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐑.
what a little charmer
he would tease you for keeping this from him
and would also want to learn 
he probably has caught you just mumbling to yourself in french
wants to learn french because stereotypical romance
but also to eavesdrop-
sometimes he’ll just stick his head through your tent ‘door’ and go
“tu veux venir te promener avec moi?”
and you’re left wondering how he knows to ask you for a walk of all things
you both use ma chérie and mon chéri
it’s the most basic one
but it does the job
as a joke he suggested you speak your other languages as an act for the circus
you said no because it’s not really that circus-worthy
but maybe in future it’d be a funny gag
──  𝐒𝐍𝐀𝐊𝐄.
silent admiration
emily and keats are more vocal about it
if he has snakes from the countries which language you speak they now cling to you, they’re yours now
they don’t leave you
he will probably learn easy words when he wants something but doesn’t wanna say in front of EVERYONE
“klemmer?”
“awww, yes hugs.”
the whole circus cannot interpret norwegian at all
nor can they understand korean or swedish
but they all think it’s a fun gimmick
because you’re extremely multilingual
his face was like :000
when you asked a foreign guest who didn’t speak english
‘what language would you like me to speak?’
because damn
what a badass that you can just whip out a language and speak it fluently
──  𝐃𝐀𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑.
in love even more
if that’s possible
you’re just so cool ;v;
he won’t lie
it sounds like gibberish at the start before you teach him
the only thing he can possibly interpret is your tone
even then
he’s fucked if you speak a language that naturally sounds aggressive
because he’s gonna think you’re PISSED when you’re asking if he wants potatoes or not
“liebling, give me cuddless”
“LEE BLING??”
he can’t for the life of him try to imitate you without sounding offensive
so he doesn’t
he just admires you from afar
and from close by
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vipier · 2 years
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CHARACTER INTERVIEW.
BASICS.
NAME  :    tristan patel. NICKNAME/S  :    tris. ALIASES  :    many. AGE  :    27 - 37, verse dependent. SPECIES  :  human - ish.
PERSONAL.
MORALITY  :    lawful  /  chaotic  /  good  /  neutral  /  evil  /  true   RELIGION  :    atheist. SINS  :   greed  /  gluttony  /  sloth  /  lust  /  pride  /  envy  /  wrath VIRTUES  :  chastity  /  charity  /  diligence  /  humility  /  kindness  /  patience  /  justice KNOWN LANGUAGES  :    many.  tristan has always had a pronounced talent for languages and has picked up several through his training when he was young and on through his adult years.  the more languages he picks up, the more he’s able to pick up on others organically just by listening for the similarities and working out the differences based on context.  his first languages were english and urdu, both of which he spoke as a child prior to training  -  and is mostly all that remains of his memories of childhood before the menagerie.  since then, he’s picked up french, spanish, italian, portuguese, polish, russian, german, standard and egyptian arabic, hindi, and korean at various levels of fluency  -  but is proficient enough in all to hold decent conversation. SECRETS  :    too many to count.  nobody truly knows tristan patel.
PHYSICAL.
BUILD  :  scrawny  /  bony  /  slender  /  fit  /  athletic  /  curvy  /  herculean  /  pudgy  /  average   HEIGHT  :    168 cm  /  5′6 SCARS  /  BIRTHMARKS  :    tristan is littered with scars, so it would be difficult to catalogue all of them.  however, as his more prominent, he sports a large diagonal burn scar across one shoulder blade, a jagged puncture scar on his upper thigh, a particularly ugly gunshot graze on his upper right arm, and the very obvious remnants of a knife wound on his left side.  otherwise, he sports a number of smaller burns from the variety of dangerous substances he frequently experiments with and keeps on his person, as well as a couple more clear weapon wounds that are slightly more subtle than the aforementioned larger scars. ABILITIES  /  POWERS   :    healing  /  regeneration.  black belt in krav maga, skilled gymnast and amateur contortionist, deep knowledge of the chemistry and use of poisons, acquired immunity to a large number of typically debilitating and/or fatal poisons. RESTRICTIONS  :    deeply and incredibly mortal, despite his regenerative qualities.  reckless to the point of foolishness.  not at all a good team player.  poor emotional regulation and a tendency not to realize what’s important to him until it becomes a problem.
FAVORITES.
FOOD  :    it’s hard to pick a favorite because he’s not picky and will eat whatever he can get his hands on, but any culture’s version of a fried dough  DRINK  :    coca-cola,  maple syrup old fashioned  ( if not straight whiskey ) ,  or just plain water. PIZZA TOPPING  :    pepperoni,  sausage,  and pepperoncinis. COLOR  :    black. MUSIC GENRE  :    hard rock,  some pop / rock  ( beach boys-esque ) ,  classical. BOOK GENRE  :    mystery,  thriller,  horror,  nonfiction. MOVIE GENRE  :    truly, he doesn’t have much of an attention span for movies or television.  he tends to watch a portion of something and then get up to go do something else.  he can stay focused for the duration of a football match sometimes and he  ( oddly enough )  enjoys a good documentary here and there, and if he has to pick fictional movie genres, he’ll go for something thriller-adjacent, but if he sits and watches a whole movie with you, that just means he cares about you even if he isn’t saying it because his attention span fucked off after 40 minutes. CURSE WORD  :    probably fuck. SCENTS  :    sandlewood,  gunpowder,  almonds,  a touch of gasoline,  something strangely sweet and unidentifiable.
FUN STUFF.
SONGS  :    dirty little animals,  bones uk  /  barracuda,  heart  /  snakes,  pvris & miyavi  /  everybody wants to rule the world,  tears for fears  /  lie to me,  jonny lang  /  goodbye,  ramsey AESTHETIC  :    bloody knuckles soaked through filthy wrappings,  flickering neon lights at midnight,  the sheen of rain on the asphalt,  the reflection of street lamps in puddles,  a dark apartment with sparse furniture,  distant thunder on the air,  an unnaturally colored liquid in an unlabeled vial,  the glint of a knife as someone conceals it up their sleeve,  nights that feel sleepless. SINGS IN THE SHOWER  :    no.  doesn’t sing in general.  and you’re all welcome for that, because his voice is awful. LIKES PUNS  :    yes, if they’re actually good.
tagged by :    my loves  @wrrnth  and  @vicioushope,  and  @daylighter,  whomst I have admired greatly from afar HELLO <3 tagging :    whoever hasn’t been tagged!
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OC “Wiki Pages”: Bia
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—-
Nicknames (aka): Biabell
Affiliation: Pin Oak School of Natural Science
Family: Cedric (father), Silvia (mother), Mango (caregiver)
Friends: Kira, Allegra, Zora, Carnation
Color: Light pinkish-red, slate blue, red, bluish-gray, dark greenish-brown, dark brown, brown, beige, greenish-yellow
Special Features: Red ribbons in hair, antennae, great intellect
Character Influences: Tinker Bell (Tinker Bell), Donnie (TMNT: Mutant Mayhem)
Likes: Tinkering, inventing, cartoons, comic books, Teen Titans, pop music, acorn puffs
Dislikes: When people don’t listen to her advice, when people miss the point of something
Gender: Female
Pronouns: She/her
Birthday: May 13
Quote: “I’ve got it!”
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Debut: TBA
Headcanon Voice: Tinker Bell from the Tinker Bell movies
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Bia Raposta is a character in the Unikitty: Big Bright World series. She is a nerdy environmental technician and inventor from Botania. She is friends with Kira, Zora and Allegra.
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Physical Appearance: Bia was a pink and slate blue caterpillar when she was little. She is a red and bluish-gray red postman butterfly. Her hair is a light blue-gray, tied into pigtail-like styles with red ribbons. Her torso is the same color, and her chest seems to stick out a bit. Her hands, face and legs are light pinkish-red. Her eyes are very dark brown with a hint of green. Half of Bia’s wings are bright red while the other half is dark bluish-gray. Bia can’t feel her wings, so she flies with flight aids. They are made of bark, tree wood and greenish-yellow leaves. They are connected to her wrists with wooden rods. When she is flying, they expand into green leaf gliders in the back, with brown wooden pipes popping out from the bottom that lift her up. 
Personality: Bia is a problem-solving and headstrong fairy who can often be seen tinkering with things. She’s an inventor who is always coming up with a plan to fix something. She is typically the first in her friend group to begin tackling a challenge and is the most level-headed of the four. Like her fellow Botanians, she aims to find ways to preserve the life of the world. She always tries to make sure her creations don’t leave behind waste or use up too much energy. She is witty and clever as well. Bia cites her inspiration from the characters she follows in cartoons and comic books, expressing lots of enthusiasm for them. She also likes to listen to pop while she works.
Bia, while skilled in inventing machinery and gadgets, isn’t a genius, and she knows it. She’s just a nerdy cartoon lover. She tends to be feisty to the point where it’s argumentative. She just wants to be heard, so she can get annoyed when someone doesn’t listen to her. Bia is aware of her limitations and wouldn’t be herself without them.
Abilities: Bia is the most intellectual of her friend group and therefore the most level-headed as well. She’s very good at repairing broken things, inventing sustainable devices and machinery, and forming ideas based on her settings. She is also noted for being very environmentally aware, even if all of her knowledge is rooted in her favorite shows. 
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Trivia
In many ways, Bia is similar to Tinker Bell, who is her headcanon voice.
Her surname is based on her butterfly species, the red postman, and fuses the words red and postman.
Bia is 16 years old.
Bia's favorite food or snack is probably acorn puffs, as she often takes Kira out to get some after school.
Acorn puffs are tiny Botanian fairy desserts. They are acorn nuts broken down  into pieces which are then baked into fluffy puffs.
According to Jezabat, Bia would be a big fan of Teen Titans.
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In Other Languages
Arabic: بيا / "Baya"
Spanish: Bia
German: Bia
Swedish: Bia
Italian: Bia
Swahili: Bia
Portuguese: Bia
Korean: 비아 / “Bia”
Japanese: ビア / “Bia”
Chinese: 比亚 / “Bǐyǎ”
Polish: Bia
Greek: Μπέα / “Béa”
French: Bia
Russian: Биа / "Bia”
Hindi: बिया / “Biya”
Thai: บีอา / “Bīxā”
Turkish: Bia
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french-done-fast · 2 years
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DAY SIXTEEN to THIRTY-THREE
Long time no see! I found myself quite jaded with duolingo. Thankfully, this isn’t a duolingo blog, so I probably will switch to something else. The only thing I can praise about duolingo is that it’s good at helping users build habits but….. actually learning the language beyond the game leaves a lot to be desired. And I knew that. I’ve known that since my first duolingo rodeo in 2016. But for it to be so popular and still so lacklustre years later is…… sad.
TL;DR all duolingo is good for is building a habit and knowing juuuuust enough of a language to pass a school related test (of course duolingo would go hand in hand with another system known for wasting time but, this is exactly how it’s advertised so can’t be mad about it). If you aren’t able to learn a language via immersion, learn it via understanding. This is precisely why people recommend textbooks- and why I’ll personally recommend LanguageTransfer and Lingodeer. LT is a podcast sort of approach run by basically one guy, so the catch is it has a limited selection of languages. Lingodeer is a game approach similar to duolingo, but it has very professional and comprehensive notes that work wonderfully with the material, and significantly less repetitive sentences. The two catches are, I don’t know how the free version is anymore, as I bough LD’s premium a while ago, and I think it’s at its best when you’re learning a language with a different writing system (Arabic, chinese, Korean, etc)
If you REALLY REALLY want to learn with duolingo, play the “reverse tree” of your target language (ie the English for French speakers tree) It is a little shocking how much less babyfied some of those are. (This is also a 2016 technique lol) although they still have their weird time wasters…. (Pictured below: what the “English for Korean speakers” course thinks is the English alphabet) (I know from their pov they may have been trying to represent the variety of different pronunciations of the same letters in English, but it’s just inefficient to do it that way. They simply aren’t going to use these letters to spell words, so I think it will only lead to more confusion)
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This blog has no following at all so this serves more as a reminder to future me to just not try with the owl again.
So! What happened to my big plans of beating the French course… sort of fast? Well, long story short I got sick of duo’s setup. It teaches new things so slow, often repeating the same few sentences for an entire unit (this problem is even worse in other courses but we’ll get to that) and while you can cheese it, why would you? To unlock another unit that does the same stuff? At some point you realize you aren’t actually retaining any information, and are just doing whatever you can to hear that *ding*… well again, that’s what duolingo advertised- the gameification angle- but it DID also promise language learning.
I took a bit of a break. Just spent my days doing a lesson or so, feeling bad knowing tomorrow will just be the same silly sentences. Then day 30 hits and with it I get a shiny 3 free days of super duolingo. No ads and no heart bs? Seemed like the perfect time to check out the Chinese and Korean courses, 2 languages I’m on again off again learning constantly, and both I only tried the duolingo version of when they were still in beta. I played the first 3 units of both. Hooooooo boy. The chinese tree is so braindead. It is the same 10 characters on loop, then suddenly they will chuck 6 others in and loop those for 6 more skills. Good news, by unit 3 you will DEFINITELY know how to say -“hello. My last name is (blank). My name is (blank blank). Bye”- It is a dumpster and Chinese is such a huge language there is a plethora of other resources at your disposal. It is not worth it to go with duo.
Now, the Korean course on the other hand, is bad in an interesting way. Now, because Korean has Hangul (one of the worlds best writing systems) duolingo understands it’s important to take the time to teach it to you. Awesome! But here’s the odd part, there is both almost the entirety of the first 2 units spent on learning the alphabet, as well as an alphabet tab(the lessons in which don’t use any hearts). So ok, they just neglected to remove the useless parts of the course since adding the tab in…… checks notes…. As early as may 2022. Fine, whatever. But a bigger issue is the ai for their Hangul is screwed. It just kept repeating gat, gang, gap, dak, and various vowels for the entire 2 hours I was chugging away on this, and to make it even worse the romanization is really confusing. Tumblr won’t let me print the characters so just bear with me; there is an established letter for g. There is an established letter for k. But in a word spelled to say “gag”(in Hangul) duolingo romanizes it as “gak”, probably because there’s a little nuance to how it actually sounds with a Korean accent, but when you romanize things based on how they sound in certain contexts rather than keeping it a consistent 1 to 1, it only makes things more confusing. This issue is extremely prevalent with the vowels. There is going to be a lot of nuance between e, u, eo, ui, i sounds based on context. So when duolingo asks me to say which vowel is for their romanization, it just turns into a weird guessing game. I know what these words say, but I don’t know what duolingo thinks the exact romanization is. Add to this a fun little game they play in unit 3 where they cram together similarly spelt words in hopes of catching you off guard, in lieu of an ACTUAL lesson.
Ah yes, the vocabulary itself. The Korean course doesn’t even bother with teaching you how to say hello. Remember, it thinks it’s more important to teach you Hangul. But there are SO MANY easy Korean words to choose from to learn Hangul with……. May as well use Hangul-ified names of American cities. That’s right. You’re going to learn such important vocab as “Boston… Philadelphia…. Pennsylvania….. New York…..” oh but it’s not all places! You absolutely need to know how to write “Hyundai” in Hangul! As if this weren’t confusing enough, it directly just…. Lies? It throws vocab at you like white, black, hair, diamond, silver, gold, key, just the English words but written in Hangul, then presents them as genuine vocabulary. The Korean words for those are quite simple, why make this weird middle step? Oh, right, to pad the course out. The final slap in the face is they later teach you the actual words, but their ai will keep shoving the old incorrect words in your face along with them. So sometimes it is just a question of “oh, ok. The actual word isn’t here, guess I have to use the wrong for this sentence for no reason. This isn’t even mentioning some of the actual sentences they teach are useful phrases such as “baby’s milk” “cucumber milk” “baby’s cucumber” “trash field”
Anyhow, the final mini update: super duolingo gives a LOT of exp. Like, dam, there is no point in trying at all for the ranking thing without it lol. I got legend for 2 units of Chinese, and 3 units of Korean, and for the Korean one I even got like a special blue legend (but it only shows on the website version). I reached Ruby and had a fun mini rivalry with the #2 person just before the results were set.
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So, I guess that’s how I spent my Sunday afternoon. 🧍‍♂️
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what-even-is-thiss · 2 years
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Hey Roman, quick question. What is it like to live in California. As a foreigner I only ever see USA stuff in movies and series so I'd like to know what it's like.
No. I don't plan on moving to the USA. Why would I go away from my failing democracy to a country where I will bankrupt myself to death because of illnesses that I have no control over.
Well that sounds harsh.
It’s a place. It’s not inherently good or bad. It’s a big place. Asking what it’s like to live in California is kind of asking what it’s like to live in a medium to large-ish country.
There’s tiny mountain towns where it snows in the winter, there’s a giant sprawling endless city down south made of many cities, there’s short mountains covered in dead grass, there’s tall mountains covered in giant trees and snow, there’s deserts, there’s wetlands, there’s forests, there’s bays. There’s warm beaches and cold beaches, poor towns and rich towns. Towns made up of only elites and towns made up of migrant farm workers.
There’s highways that wind down a rocky mountainous coast and highways that drive in a straight line for hours and hours in a flat valley past farm after farm that never seems to end. There’s cold rainforests and hot deserts.
There’s almond orchards and lettuce and garlic and garlic processing plants. And when you drive past those and you put the windows down the whole world smells like garlic. There’s cows crammed into kfos and cows wandering the grasslands. There’s fishing and tourism and barren wastelands.
There’s English, Spanish, Hmong, Mandarin, Chuckchanci dialects, Cantonese, Armenian, Arabic, Vietnamese, Russian, Tagalog, Korean, Persian.
It’s a place. A big place. With every kind of person you can imagine inside of it. Some people hate it. I love it with my whole heart.
Also despite what you hear on the news it’s not a guarantee that people will go bankrupt in the US when they have a big health problem. It’s way way more common than it should be, but it’s not guaranteed to happen. A lot of folks do okay. I still think that we need to fix literally everything about the healthcare system though. Don’t misunderstand me. I just find it extremely off putting that you asked me to talk about where I consider home, a place I love, and ended it with that. I don’t think I would’ve assumed you’re going to move there.
Anyways, I really can’t explain what it’s like to live in California specifically because there’s so much stuff there. Like 12% of the US population lives in that one state. LA is a completely different place from San Francisco which is different from Fresno which is different from Monterey which is different from Sacramento which is different from Auburn.
Like… I guess most places you’ll need a car to get around but that’s not even universally true. There’s good food most places I guess. I’m from one of the inland areas so what I have personally experienced as California probably looks way different from what you might picture.
Um… there’s cowboys there I guess but that doesn’t really play a large role in the life of the average person unless you yourself are a cowboy.
I’m just rambling at this point. I dunno, man. Los Angeles has traffic but Fresno doesn’t as much and Sacramento has some traffic but not as bad as LA and San Francisco has traffic but you can get around pretty easily on public transit. Uh… the small beach towns don’t have traffic. We call highways and freeways stuff like “the 101” or “the 99” instead of just 101 or 99. That’s a linguistic thing. If you go down south people will say the word like and have vocal trills instead of saying um or hmmm and up north they do that less. I guess Californians generally talk fast. Sometimes people use random Spanish words when they’re talking.
I dunno, man. It’s a complicated place. Just like any other place. I could be here literally all day and this post is already way too long.
It’s a place. Have you been to places before? It’s one of those.
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TEN OUTTA TEN 1010
Welp, its happened. I’m into No Straight Roads, and the boys with the K-Bop in their step has got me hooked.
So I’m gonna celebrate (for the moment) with lots of gathered info I’ve found, seen, or heard speculated, regarding the Top Boy Band of Vinyl City... 1010. [Possible OCs to come later]
Some of this stuff might be common knowledge, some is already on the wiki, but hey, no shame in having a consolidated list.
But for now...
The Names of 1010 were deciphered by out of universe fans. They are Rin (White), Haym (Yellow), Eloni (Green), Purlhew (Blue) and Zimelu (Red).
An old placeholder model for 1010 had Black Hair and different tron lines.
1010 in binary is... literally just 10.
Eloni does not get fan letters; He’s the “Funny Band member”, and Funny Band Members don’t get fan letters.
1010 wears Sailor uniforms (The US Navy would call them Dress Blues, so think... Popeye. But no hat.) In fact, their flying limo is a god damn Tron-lined Battleship. Even the Cannons dance to the music.
They’re a parody on K-Bop bands or Boy Bands to the West. And while they’re listed as Funky, they’re technically Synthpop. (Haha, Synth)
In the background of their fight, when the Battleship Limo stops for pictures, you can see that there is a set of pictures of 1010. Rin the White has a Fuschia or Purple Background, while all the others have a background matching their aesthetic colors.
1010 have common powers... ... Firing Lasors. ... Levitation (Or small time Flight; as they rush to the side to meet the Cameras) ... “Taking to the Sky”, or just really powerful jumping. ... Being powered by Cheers. ... There’s a reason I left Shield off in a moment.
1010 are both outrageously tall (Mayday only comes to their waist when they stand up properly), and outrageously heavy (did you hear them walk backward in their intro cutscene? How heavy are these guys!?)
It could whatever kind of AI they have, but they are waaaay insynch, almost preemptively. Perhaps 1010 are directly linked to each other?
In most of their appearances outside of battle, they all have the same colored eyes as their aesthetic colors. But in Battle, they all have White eyes. Mind that in their Show Stopper picture, they’re back to having their aesthetic eyes again. Take that as you will.
1010 has associated attacks, when you’re in the Phase facing the Factory and Neon J. ... Yellow has Missiles or Splash Damage explosions. No literally, the yellow droid is the missle. ... Green has Bombs. HIS HAIR IS A BOMB. ... Red has Saws. He-He literally uses Red Droid as the Saw. ... Blue has some sort of Staffs or Whirlwind strike. They are staffs made of Purl-Hew. ... Because of his Picture’s Purple Background, White’s likely isn’t an attack but is, in fact, the Shields that occured early in the battle. Which is probably why they’re never deployed, because how the hell can you make a shield out of Rin Bots.
It was pointed out in one of the many Youtube Comment Sections that 1010′s hairstyles match their respective attacks in some form or fashion. ... Zimelu’s Mohawk indicates his associated Saws. ... Haym’s hair looks like a missile. ... Eloni’s hair looks line a Grenade Pin. ... Purlhew’s flat top hair could indicate the fact that he’s literally used as a Staff End. So basically he’s Blue. That’s his attack. [Hah] ... Rin’s the sexy one. Look, for a Band of Robots with fancy hairdos and attacks, he’s not considered remarkable.
As they are a parody of Boy Bands across the World, they may follow the boy band “archtypes” ... Rin is the Leader, and the Heartthrob (He doesn’t have a weird hairstyle, and he does the most flirting / talking; as well as the most promoted) ... Eloni, as already established, is the Funny Guy, or the Comedian. ... Purl-Hew is the Cool Guy, (consider his Sunglasses) ... Zimelu is the Bad Boy (Mohawk, his ANGRY EYES AARGH) ... Haym’s is apparently considered a Pompadour. Maybe he is also a Bad Boy? Consider his name, he may be the Smart Guy. ... There is no known “Shy Guy” or “Cute Guy (Technically, the Second Heartthrob, but isn’t a threat to first Heartthrob’s position). So, go forth and create.
Fun Consideration on my part. Since Names can have meaning in No Straight Roads and meaning in personal names... ... Rin is a japanese name, and boy can it mean a lot of stuff depending on the Kanji (Some of the meanings are “Dignified” “Compassion” “Cold”). He’s probably coolly impassionate off stage. ... Purl-Hew is apparently a pun on Pearl Hue (cos I guess blue Pearls). Perhaps he likes puns. ... Zimelu is an ooold fortress in Lativa apparently. Perhaps he has a warish personality. Or I guess knows very Niche military history. (Perhaps, in-universe, it was the name of a base Neon J served at?) ... Haym is the name shared by a few people, but in the themes of music, its probably Nicola Francesco Haym (Italian Poet, Opera Librettist, Composer, Manager, Editor and Numismatist (That’s uh, a guy who studies Currency)). Perhaps our Haym is quite the Nerd. ... the name Eloni means Lofty. Which can me “Of Imposing Height” (They all are), “Noble or Exalted Nature” (Possibly?) “Proud, Aloof or Self-Important” (They all are that too, yes), or in regard to Lofty Wool “Thick and Resilient” (I mean, if you look at those thighs-- Ahem). So basically Eloni’s name defines all the group... Wow, poor fella. No wonder he’s the Comedian, he’d have to pull anything to get noticed (when its not about his hair) [THE DUDE DABS]
If Battledroids all have background memories to be more efficient in combat... Does 1010 have backup memories from Neon J?
Metro Division shows other kinds of Robots, and the progression of 1010′s Mark Models (1 looks like your typical Sailor, 2 looks a bit like our 1010 but more droid, jointed and blocky, and our 1010 is currently mark 3... There are 4 known Types of Droid, so a 4th Mark may be on the way)
Neon J, Manager and Creator, is a Vetren of Vinyl City’s Navy (It only has a Navy); and his District is literally a Theme Park mashed with a Ship Yard.
Neon is the 10th element of the Periodic Table, and J is the 10th letter. Dude loves his 10s.
Considering how he replaces the bots in battle, or even outright uses them as weapons... Perhaps his “Troops” are not the Bot bodies, but the AI possibly hosted inside? 1010 has more personality out of battle after all, and Neon is seen fervently protecting 1010 when their eyes share their hair color. (As their eyes are only white in battle...) Hm, mayhaps the HC is, that when their Eyes have color, the AI is truely present.
Neon is a Cyborg, note that his body appears to be the same kind of droid as 1010′s, with a Radar head. His brain is apparently in his radar, and as we saw post-battle, that head was smashed to hell. Perhaps the reason he was reminiscing so much and though that BBJ was really after him, was because of some serious onset head or brain trauma.
Apparently, Vinyl City has or has had Border Wars. This could be a reference to the Korean DMZ Conflicts (As 1010 does distinctly include Korean K-Pop, and South Korean men do have to serve 2 years in the military forces by law), but there have been hundreds of different Border Wars throughout the world. [ I wonder what war Vinyl City was in. Perhaps against the Artist Capital of the World, Canvas City ] [ Oh take me down to the Canvas City, where the grass is green and the pics are pretty--]
Neon’s passion is Dancing.
Neon J and DJ Subatomic Supernova do seem to be in a lot of pictures together. No wonder everybody ships them.
Neon J used to make toys, as seen by the collectibles you can get. Done by hand too. Though if each toy found is a stage in his life... I wonder who the doll with the violin is.
Think maybe Neon J has direct control over 1010? I mean they share the same voice, they have a passion for poses and dancing, he does directly command them...
Are Cyborg parts cheap? Or was Neon J someone important enough in the Vinyl City Navy to actually become a cyborg? Military doesn’t do expensive prosthetic surgeries for random grunts without reason.
Okay, regarding what the Azkar faction is. Its probably suppose to be Askar. Azkar is a type of Islamic Prayer. Askar is actually Arabic for Army. So it’d be The “Army Faction” (which makes more sense for a nation city-state that only has a Navy)
The place he called “Kewan” is not a real world place. Its either Persian for “Saturn” (What, is he... Is he a SAILOR SCOUT!?) or Kurdish for Mountains (He does mention mountains).
Possibly more as information arises.
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hoplessdreamer9796 · 4 years
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BTS 8th Member - Profile
Name: Kim Y/N  Date of Birth: 16/09/1996 Ethnicity: Half Arabic and half Korean Nationality: Is British but after moving to Korea obtained dual citizenship (I don’t know if this is a thing but if it’s not let’s just pretend)
Appearance: > Navy Blue eyes > Dimples > 5″8 > Light golden tan skin > Curves and athletic > Looks Korean due to eye shape and Arabic due to eye colour. Mainly looks Korean but it is obvious she is half.  > Tattoos:  1) “Familia Super Omnia” (”Family Above All” written in Latin on left shoulder blade). 2) Initial and birthdays of her younger brothers on left wrist and older brothers on right wrist (Just her brothers... For now...). “No oppa I don’t love you that much I just often forget your existence.”  3) Matching tattoo with Hanbin of the Neverland stars on right shoulder blade.  4) Matching tattoo with Shinhye of a forget me not flower on their upper thighs.  5) ARMY written on both sides of her index finger because, “Now they can see my love from both angles,” cue Jin face palming.
Basic Information:  > Born in England moved to Korea when 11 years old.  > IQ of 162 and has an eidetic memory but terrible at remembering birthdays. > Can memorise choreography after seeing it once.  > Is a main singer of BTS, like Jungkook, and is Hoseok’s second dancer in command.  > Graduated high school after the first grade at age 16 (international age). > Was on the track and swimming team during high school and middle school. Could not attend practices as she had to work so much but the coaches still allowed her to be on the team as she was advantageous in competitions. She has always been first in every swim and track meet she competed in. > Was not able to go to university at first as her family couldn’t afford it. But when BTS and her company was stable and doing well she was able to get a physics degree from Seoul National University (mainly online classes due to schedule, they normally don’t allow this but they decided they wanted her to attend the school due to her IQ and status. She attended classes when she could and did exams at the school) Got her degree in one year.  > Speaks 7 languages: English, Korean, Arabic, Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese) Thai, Japanese. (Learnt Chinese, Thai and Japanese in order to connect with fans better.) > Can play the piano, guitar, can beatbox, can play drums and also the violin but doesn’t like playing the violin (will be explained later). > CEO of Jeonsa Corporation which is comprised of Almira’s (a restaurant franchise where her mother created all the recipes) and Jeonsa cosmetics.  > Became world’s youngest self-made billionaire at the age of 21 in 2017 (In this AU Kylie Jenner became billionaire at 22 and was the world’s fastest self-made billionaire).  > Terrible with feelings in general. > Is okay at showing affection with people but as soon as the conversation starts to get deep and emotional, she spazzes out.  > Drinks way too much alcohol and loves clubbing. > Only likes casual flings as she’s too busy and doesn’t want to commit. (For now...) > Even though she has more than enough money she won’t leave BTS as she loves what she does.  > At first didn’t want to join BTS (will be explained later). > Very charming and charismatic, flirts with anything that breathes.  > Hates her birthday. > Buys way too many cars and drives too fast.  > Owns a lot of real estate. > Terrified of bugs mainly spiders (will be explained later).  > Swears way too much and it triggers Jin.  Family:  Grandmother (biological fathers side) - Kim Soojin (17/07/1953) - Unemployed Grandfather (biological fathers side) - Kim Woosuk (23/08/1952) - Unemployed  They both allowed Y/N, Adriel and Adonis to live with them on days when their mother would work nights. Y/N mainly looker after them as they weren’t able to find much work in their old age. Some of the most precious people in Y/N’s life. Grandfather (Stepfathers side) - Kim Wonshik (30/06/1955) - CEO of Hanam Hospital (I made it up)  He thinks of his son’s stepchildren as his own grandchildren. He loves them very much. Whenever his grandchildren are free, he likes playing golf with them. Y/N at first was nervous that he wouldn’t accept her and her siblings as they were not fully Korean and poor. But she was surprised how much he loved and accepted them so easily. Mother - Kim Almira (21/03/1974) - Head chef at one of the branches of Almira’s in Seoul. She has not been able to be a part of her Children’s lives as she would have liked because when she was not working at the restaurant she was working somewhere else or sleeping. She often feels guilty at how much of her childhood Y/N has missed out. It also makes her feel grateful for having such amazing children. She often blames herself for Y/n being so emotionally closed off but it’s as if her daughter knows when she’s feeling like this and will take her mother shopping in Milan and Paris. A life that she didn’t even think was possible. Or even just spend the day helping her cook. And she thanks the stars for giving her 7 amazing children. Stepfather - Kim Haeil (24/07/1973) - Cardiothoracic Surgeon who met Almira at the restaurant. He quickly became mesmerised with the foreign beauty with the light hazel eyes. He often found himself stopping by Almira’s more and more often. Having little dates in the gardens halfway between the hospital and the restaurant. They fell in love quickly; He grew to love her kids that he saw when he went to the restaurant to visit Almira. He became protective over them especially Y/N who’s eyes looked far too old to belong to a teenager, seeing how much their family struggled he wanted to marry Almira a few months after they started dating and help them, he cared for them greatly. Y/N told her Mother that she didn’t want him to pay off their debt out of pity. They were working so hard what was the point if someone did it for them. She didn’t need someone to take care of them. In reality she was worried he would be like Insu. Y/N had no problem with Haeil, you hadn’t seen your mother so happy for years and you didn’t object to their relationship, however you didn’t need someone’s charity, which back then due to your pride was what you thought of it as. You also reminded your Mother that she had only known this man for a few months and asked her to get to know him better before considering marriage. Your mother although saddened by your inability to take the easy way accepted your decision. They waited until you had paid off all of your family’s debt before he had taken her back to their special garden and proposed to her there. It’s easier to call Haeil Dad than Insu. You love him very much at first it was weird having a father figure that actually cared and you never really got used to having a protective father who loved you so much. Biological Father - Kim Insu (13/03/1971) - Unemployed. Abusive to Y/N and Almira. When he would try to hurt her little brother’s Y/N would never let him. He never hurt her older brother as he claimed that his son never did anything wrong. Elijah probably hated him the most because of this, if he tried to protect his sister his father would just hurt her more. He felt powerless as he was not able to protect his younger siblings. As Almira was at work most of the time Y/N got the worst of his treatment. The only thing he cares about is money, women, alcohol and gambling. In England around Y/N had just turned 11 he got a divorce and left them, much to everyone’s relief. However, after you had started making a lot of money after debut and when the restaurant started doing well, he showed up in your life again. Your grandmother was so happy. He threatened to tell his parents the truth about what he did unless you paid him. The thought of your grandparents knowing what kind of a monster their son was sickened you so you struck a deal, he stays away from the rest of you family and spends two hours a week with your grandparents in order to get paid ₩250,000,000 every week. He accepted and now your grandparents are happy to be in their son’s life with you protecting them from the real him the best you can.   Stepbrother - Kim Jaejoon (23/07/1991) - General Surgeon. He met Y/N at the hospital when he went to visit his father and Y/N was dropping off food for her future stepfather that her mother had sent. He had recognised her from how his father’s at the time girlfriend had described her. Her blue eyes standing out in the sea of ordinary brown. He introduced himself to her and told her he was her mother’s boyfriend’s son (cringing inwardly at how awkwardly he said that). Y/N had just smirked in amusement at his awkward state trying to hold back her laugh and introduced herself. The more he talked to you the more he realised how smart you were. You could easily keep up with him when he talked about his job. He also met his future brothers that day when the two family’s got dinner together. It was surprisingly easy for the two families to integrate. He quickly grew protective of his future younger siblings. He wished that Y/N hadn’t been so stubborn and had let their parents gotten married in order to make things easier but understood that it was something she had to do and his sister is the most stubborn person he knows. He is very protective over his sister and often lectures her on her drinking and clubbing antics. He nags at her so much it’s ridiculous, fuck when he saw her first tattoo, he threw a fit it was hilarious. He can’t see her as anything other than that wide eyed teenager with sad blue eyes, she’s gotten to good at hiding that look. >Sister in Law - Jeon Haeun (12/08/1992) - Vascular Surgeon  >Niece - Kim Seoyeon (29/01/2018) - N/A  >Nephew - Kim Youngsoo (31/05/2019) - N/A  Full blooded Brother - Kim Elijah (17/03/1993) - Cardiothoracic Surgeon. He is very grateful to Y/N as she is the one that practically had to force him to go to university for medicine. He didn’t want to leave his family and he also knew that their family wasn’t financially able to send him there. Y/N told him that they’ll manage but he still refused. But when you told him that when he becomes a doctor and starts earning money he can provide for their family; he was determined to do this. He said that he would get part time jobs and send money, but you told your mother and him that you’d take care of everything and for him to focus on school. You had to cut back on a lot of thing but were able to get him into a student dormitory, a small and cheap one but that's all you could do, a food budget and a bus pass. He was very grateful and guilty. He was determined to succeed and help their family. But it turns out that you managed to do that before him. Years later he found out that after you graduated high school at 15 you had been offered a full scholarship to Seoul National University for medicine but you had declined as you had to help your mother provide for your family and pay off your debts. He was especially angry since he also went to Seoul National University (like all of your brothers who went to university) and felt like he robbed you of the opportunity. He got into a huge argument with you when he found out. After the fight you two drank and reminisced about the few good childhood memories you had. He babies you a lot and is very overprotective of you. Stepbrother - Kim Taejoon (27/04/1993) - Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon. He’s the kind of brother to randomly stop by your office and force you to lunch with him. He’s the cliché overprotective brother, glares at any boy that looks in her direction and hates basically everything she wear unless they’re baggy. A part of him hates Y/N’s noncommittal attitude to relationships because well that’s his sister and well eww but the other part of him is glad. Glad that his sister will never allow herself to get emotionally hurt but it also saddens him that she won’t ever open herself up to love. He coddles her a lot always texting if she’s had dinner and checking on her when on tour. As much as you complain when he coddles you love it. Full blooded Brother - Kim Adriel (18/02/1997) - Footballer plays for Liverpool, (I have no clue I legit searched premier league football clubs and picked the first one) is the youngest Korean ever football player to make it into the premier league (Don’t know). Lives in England most of the time. You are the most precious person in the world to him. He is a lot more intuitive that his twin brother and was able to find out sooner than Adonis about their financial situation. After finding out he started waking up earlier to make his grandparent’s breakfast to let you sleep a bit more. At first you protested but the thought of even an extra hour of sleep sounded heavenly. He felt so guilty about how he acted before he knew and so when he found out he sobbed in your arms apologising. And your heart broke you always wanted to shield him from that. When he moved back to England, he was very anxious at the thought of living far from you. He texts you every single day, needing at least some form of communication to stop him from worrying about you.  Full blooded Brother - Kim Adonis (18/02/1997) - Youtuber and is living in England. He moved back there when he was 16 in 2013. His channel had 500,000 subscribers but was not making any money. He played games online with different youtubers and became close with them. They explained how they make a living off of YouTube and he became excited at the thought of pursuing this career. While it was a risk especially with his family’s financial situation at the time, he knew he had to do it. While his entire family was against it, especially Adriel, you convinced your mother to let him go and used all the money you saved for a rainy day to buy him a phone and a plane ticket on the condition that he attends online high school. He lived with a family friend until he could start supporting himself. As of now has amassed seventeen million subscribers. He visits Korea whenever he can, if you’re there, to see you. He’s regretful about how much pressure he put on you in order to achieve his dreams but whenever you tell him how proud you are with that glint in your blue eyes he knows that you mean it. Adrien and Adonis are fraternal twins. When they were young, they were very close. However, when Adonis wanted to move to England to further his YouTube career, Adriel was vehemently against it. Not because he didn’t love his brother and of course he’d miss him but because of the fact that Adonis wanted to make their situation even harder than it already was. That he wanted to make his sister work harder than she already did on something he wasn’t even sure would work. Due to this difference of opinions Adrien and Adonis grew apart and when Adonis went to England, they didn’t contact each other unless you made them. However, after Adrien moved to England they began to reconnect and slowly but surely their relationship began to heal. Much to your relief. The twins are the most attached to you as you are both a mother figure and sister to them. There is an unspoken rivalry and tension between them and Jungkook as they all get jealous and territorial over you. Stepbrother - Kim Hanuel (25/06/1997) - Studying Law at Seoul National University. He graduated high school a year early, then attended university for a year before enlisting in the military as soon as he could. He wanted to get it over with so he could focus on his future without it looming over his head. He finished his university degree in two years with a bachelor’s in law. He graduated at age 22 (International age) which was the same age as most people who were graduating however he had the advantage of having completed his military service. He is the younger brother Y/N sees the most as he lives in Seoul. You have sacrificed a lot for your family and would do anything for them.
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cortanaaq · 4 years
Text
“Nice to meet you too”
Part 1 
Pairing: barista ! johnny x gender neutral ! reader
words: 1090
[06:23 pm]
After a rough Friday afternoon and evening around the region, drier and colder air was taking over Seoul’s atmosphere. I realized this as soon as I left the university, a small chill ran down my spine and my glasses fogged when I took a deep breath into my scarf. Everything was stressful that day, assignments given too late, teachers being too mean and the campus being too loud to even hear your own thoughts.
I made my way through Wonseo-dong Park that was only a place campus students took their breaks and occasionally, people spent most of their time walking their dogs and jogging around. I had in plan to go to the nearby Starbucks and get my regular pastries but for some reason, I wanted to slow down. I looked above and watched the sky changing colors from a greyish blue to a darker one, few patches of purple there and there. I turned my head towards the children running freely and laughing together, making a competition out of silly simple things and I smiled. Being trapped like an adult in adult problems now wasn’t the thing I needed. What I needed was what those kids had while having a good time; a free mind and a good laugh. Now I am caught in a dull monotony and I try to detach myself a little from reality. Obviously, trying hard.
 Even so lost in thoughts, I still made it to the café and left a big sigh behind. I entered the place and I was instantly overwhelmed by the smell of coffee combined maybe with the smell of pastries left from lunch. It all invaded my senses but I couldn’t complain. I headed to the counter and stared at the front menu, all kinds of hot beverages, from lattes to mochas ,to Arabic coffees. I grabbed my backpack and tried to look for my wallet till a deep but pleasant voice caught my attention. 
“Hi ,welcome to Starbucks! What can I get you?”
 I quickly turned my head to face the cashier and to offer him a smile. He was tall and he had the kind of face that stopped you in your tracks. Tousled bleached hair, which was thick and lustrous. It wasn’t too much, it suited him. His features weren’t exactly how you’d describe a Korean man but those eyes were definitely made to pierce your soul. Was it too much to describe? Probably, but I know for a fact that I haven’t seen him around.  I finally spoke.
“Uh, hi…”, I looked at his badge to see the name “Johnny” written on it. I said it again with a smile on my face.
“Hi, Johnny! Well, I haven’t really decide yet. Wanted to get a classic coffee cake but I see you only have crumbles left.”
Johnny chuckled and then moved towards the glass case that had muffins on display.
 “We still have muffins if you want to try. I mean, at this hour people don’t really come in anymore to get sweets. Plus the cakes are baked early in the morning. And you know how college students are…”
“Greedy and grumpy?” I laughed then looked over the glass case. I pointed to one of the blueberry muffins, while I was giving him few looks from time to time. He probably noticed cause I could’ve sworn he smirked. I wasn’t sneaky and I didn’t wanna hide my interest for him.
 “So you’re new here.. Johnny.” I say his name again, accentuating it a bit with a smirk too. 
“I mean, is it that obvious?”
“I just haven’t seen you around and I know Mark works here too. Or worked?”
He was slowly putting the muffins in the paper bag, like he was buying some time then he looked at me.
 “ He still works here but I just take his place for a while. Hope you don’t mind”
I snorted slightly then managed to pay for the pastries ,but he stopped me with a motion of his hand. I looked in the bag to see three muffins instead of one. 
“Don’t tell me they’re on the house. Don’t try to lose your job from the first day”
He looked me in the eyes. Pretty sure he felt something as I saw him shifting and sucking in his cheeks lightly, holding back a smile. 
“You said you know Mark Lee, right?” 
I nod then try to push the money on the counter closer to him but he grabs my hand.
 “If you knew him truly, you would’ve known he will let me take a risk for someone like you”
I scoffed. A player move for sure. 
“You don’t even know my name. “ I looked him in those deep brown eyes and put my hand on top of his hand, that was still holding mine. I didn’t want to put it aside. 
 Johnny was smiling. The way his lips lifted upward and his one dimple crinkled . For a few moments I stared at him, knowing we both felt that tension. Our hands still on each other’s, kinda awkward for two strangers if you ask me. But I felt like he was mirroring me and kept the silence only to hear me saying my name. 
“Y/N. “ I said puffing air from my nose afterwards. 
“Now will you let me pay for those? I’m a fair person.”
“Well, Y/N, I’m a fair person too so I suggest you taking those muffins.” He stopped a bit to think then squeezed my hand softly.
 “Take them as a substitute for a basic compliment that you, anyway would refuse or consider it a player move. You probably already think of me that way.” 
He stated, then managed to laugh ,his laugh filling the empty café. He then sighed letting go of my hand. I swallowed my words then grabbed the paper bag, trying to get rid of the embarrassment that was present in the room. 
“Nice to meet you, y/n.” He broke the silence again but this time, he wanted to linger there, to feel that stranger’s warm hands again after they pulled away.
 I ran my tongue over my dry lips ,tasting what was left from my peachy chapstick then managed to give him a last look before I left. 
“Nice to meet you too..” , I hesitated while walking few steps backwards then I gave him a slight smirk before accentuating his name. 
“Johnny..”
 I turned around and moved my backpack on the other shoulder, leaving the café with the ringing of the small doorbells behind me. Even after I stepped out of the building, I was still feeling his gaze on my silhouette. 
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catboymingi · 4 years
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the dragon’s appearance - veninder chap. 4
navi/masterlist
story masterlist
pairing: mingi x reader
genre: somewhat crack, a little angst, fluff (FLUFF in caps); eventual best friends to lovers
word count: 7.1k
warnings: slight language
a/n: i’m back on my bullshit and also making y/n’s background way more specific than it has to be but it's about the ~storybuilding~. also i am running out of lyrics to summarise the chapters with :(( recycling?
hun er gal, hun er syg, den pige - that girl’s crazy, she’s sick
mingi didn’t even need to ask who this was, the way she spoke up telling him all he needed to know. and if there had been any doubt, feeling you tense up next to him immediately after hearing her voice was confirmation that it was one of the girls that had dared to call themselves your friends despite how they treated you. he was, in all honesty, fuming at her audacity, but this wasn’t about him, it was about you and resolving the situation as quickly and easily as possible. so instead of giving in to his emotions he replied, voice raised just enough to guarantee the professor would hear him: “oh i’m so sorry, i didn’t know there was fixed seating! i just don’t know anyone but y/n, so i thought it’d be okay, sorry again!”
now it was the girl’s turn to fume, and even though you still refused to look up from your papers you could imagine how the steam was shooting out of her ears when the professor told him that it was okay, that seating was free and that he could stay right where he was. she left, sending him a look that could kill, but he didn’t care. this wasn’t his issue - he’d be able to deal with whatever she’d have planned for him. he was just worried about you, because even though she’d left to sit at the other end of the class by now you were still tense, staring at your desk as if you weren’t even really there. the redhead placed a hand on your knee, squeezing gently to comfort you and let you know he was there, that you’d be okay as long as he was there, but before he could say some reassuring words the professor started speaking, and he knew he had to be on his best behaviour because he wasn’t actually enrolled in this class. so he just squeezed again before listening intently to whatever was going on right now. he didn’t actually understand much, but when he saw that you still seemed so taken aback that you didn’t even seem to have realised that class already started he began writing down every single word the professor said, sometimes having to guess just what exactly the word was when it was some scientific term, but trying his best.
it took you a little while to snap out of the state of shock your ex-friend had caused you, and when you did you realised you had no idea what was even going on. your eyes turned to mingi, who was taking notes as if his life depended on it, and who, when he noticed you’d returned to the here and now, moved his arm slightly so you could see what he’d written down and hopefully catch up enough with the topic to participate from now on. your eyes widened when you realised he’d taken your notes for you and was still doing so right now until he could be sure you’d actually be able to decently concentrate, and now it was you who squeezed his knee, an act of thankfulness, before you shuffled a little closer to get at least a rough overview of the topic of this class.
his notes were taken meticulously; you were certain he’d written down every single word the professor said simply because he couldn’t tell whether or not something was important or not. and these notes managed to get you back on track after maybe a minute or two of reading through them and listening to what was going on right now, and another minute later you were able to be your usual, question-filled self. mingi still didn’t exactly understand much of what you were discussing, but he felt like you had a much more straightforward way to talk about concepts, which didn’t make your points any less valid, though. you weren’t dumbing down anything, you just left out the unnecessarily elitist terms that he knew were so common in academia, so even he felt like he got a rough grasp of what was going on. it didn’t take much to see that you were a teacher’s favourite, and rightfully so - you brought up a lot of concerns, different points of view on what had just been talked about, and even to him, someone that had no idea about the topic, it was clear that you had a very diverse way of looking at the problem or topic and actually thought a lot about what you learned rather than just learning it by heart to pass the course. you seemed excited, interested, fully immersed in the topic, and it was through these discussions that he found out that you spoke at least three languages well enough to offer a different perspective on sociolinguistics based on their cultures and how the cultural norms found realisation in the respective language. he wasn’t sure if this was the average for this course, though, and he was the only odd one out, or if you were actually extraordinarily skilled in the language department. though it didn’t matter much to him, because either way he felt like you were a genius and he was a mere peasant watching two experts talk. not that he minded - this wasn’t his major, so of course he wouldn’t be able to engage in the same kinds of discussions as students who’d studied this for roughly a year already. he was just very impressed.
before you knew it (and before he knew it, which was maybe more surprising) class was over, and the redhead gave you the notes he’d taken for you earlier since he wouldn’t need them anyway.
“thank you so much for that”, you told him, smiling shyly because you were still kind of embarrassed that he’d had to take notes for you.
“i just hope they help” was all he replied, because it wasn’t a big deal to him at all. when you packed your things he noticed that the girl from earlier was staring at you, and to prevent you from looking around to see if she was he put his arm around you, guiding you out of the classroom like that while distracting you by asking just how many languages you even spoke.
“depends on how you see it?” not the reply he’d expected - you could speak a language but not speak it by matter of definition? it was probably a language major thing.
“give me the biggest number you can with a definition that makes you happy”, he told you, because he wanted to be impressed. not that three languages wasn’t already impressive, but you’d made it sound like there was more, and he was curious to find out more about that.
“if we count just being conversational, and we also count classical languages… like, eight? though my parents are immigrants so that doesn’t really count, because two of those eight i didn’t really have to learn, we speak them at home. three, actually, now that i think about it. i was the only kid in first grade that barely even spoke korean.” you laughed at the memory, but mingi looked at you wide-eyed.
“which ones do you speak?”
“finnish and swedish from home - my father is finnish, we moved here because he got a job at the embassy. and my mother is finnish as well, but with swedish as her first language, and she made it a hobby to annoy my father by speaking swedish with me when she was plotting something. then english, korean, i took japanese in high school but i think everyone did? some classical chinese because there was no way i’d be able to figure out hanja without that, latin from my mother because she thought it was important for whatever reason, and german just for fun. how about you?” and even though he was a little embarrassed about his in comparison depressingly low amount of languages spoken he told you, because you seemed excited to know, because he could tell languages were a big passion of yours.
“korean, obviously, and english, and i took some chinese in high school but wasn’t the best, so i’m pretty sure i forgot most of it.”
“is there any you’d really like to learn?”
he furrowed his brows at that question. was there? it wasn’t something he’d thought about, and now he was desperately searching his brain for any language he’d ever been interested in even when it wasn’t mandatory. you noticed his expression, though, and chuckled a little.
“it’s fine if there isn’t, you don’t have to make one up.”
“sorry. how about you?”
“there’s too many”, you laughed, “i’d learn all of them if i could, and i’m trying my best to actually at least start with that. but if i have to pick just one… maybe russian? or arabic? i’ve been interested in french, too. and spanish. this is too hard!” you were whining, unable to pick just one, and mingi thought it was adorable. he was grinning like some kind of idiot because he’d managed to distract you, to seemingly entirely remove the fear from your mind at least for now. you were either smiling or pouting, your eyes wide and excited, and he felt like he’d gotten to know you a lot better just through this conversation already.
when you arrived at the table the other boys were already sitting at for lunch you were still talking about languages, rambling on about your childhood and how weird it was to realise that on top of the three languages you were already frequently speaking with your parents there was a whole other language that everyone else spoke and that, while you could understand it, you had no idea how to speak. he was just listening, sometimes humming in acknowledgment, sometimes commenting or asking about a story, but mainly happy to hear about your experiences, and you were so immersed in the conversation that you didn’t want to stop, because he actually seemed to care about what you were saying.
“hey!” was the only acknowledgment anyone that wasn’t mingi got before you resumed your story.
“when they taught us about hanja, i thought i was going to die. hangeul was already so hard to write because everything is so small and then the new characters were even smaller!” the boy nodded in either acknowledgment or agreement, you weren’t sure, but it didn’t matter all too much to you, anyway.
“how is hangeul small?”, jongho asked; your comment had apparently piqued his interest.
“you put so many sounds into where a single letter goes in latin script!” you sounded so exasperated, but the others didn’t have the context of you not having grown up with korean as your first language yet, so they didn’t understand where the problem was. to them, hangeul was the regular character size and it seemed like it didn’t even occur to them that it might have caused problems for you.
“she speaks eight languages!”, the giant next to you offered as an explanation, and while it didn’t exactly clear up your distress about the korean script it did make it a little more understandable, considering how most languages (that they knew of) did offer a little more space for their sounds or letters.
“my mother read to me in swedish, and my parents taught me how to read and write swedish and finnish before i ever even realised that there’s more than one alphabet”, you clarified further, and now it seemed like a lightbulb had been lit above the boys’ heads.
“you’re not korean?”
“technically i am? i have dual citizenship. but my parents aren’t born here, if that’s what you meant.” the faces around you all bore the same expression of surprise at the information they just got, six ‘o’ shaped mouths and six pairs of wide eyes looking at you.
“say something funny!”
“jokin hassu. or något roligt, in swedish.” their eyes got even wider and san asked you what you’d just said.
“something funny?”
“yeah, but what does it mean?” it seemed like he was impatient, not realising that ‘something funny’ was in fact the translation of what you’d said.
“it means ‘something funny’. that’s the translation”, you grinned. “i didn’t know what else to say, so i just translated it.”
now oohs and aahs could be heard from around you, and they soon gave you sentence after sentence to translate, watching you as if you were an interactive tv programme.
seonghwa put an end to the fun when he reminded them that you hadn’t even started eating yet, and everyone started apologising immediately, but you just waved it off. it was nice to get to speak the languages you grew up with again, because you certainly didn’t do so with your parents, with whom you barely had any contact anymore at all. but now you should probably eat, if the growl in your stomach was a sign to go by - you could always do this again later.
“how was class?”, hongjoong asked with a slight hint of worry in his voice while you were eating, but he was surprised when you smiled at him without even the slightest hint of any negative emotion.
“it was good! though mingi really saved my butt.” you sounded a little embarrassed, and reasonably so - everyone was once more looking at you wide-eyed.
“you went to class with her?” it seemed like it was impossible for wooyoung to control his volume when he was excited or surprised, so he was near yelling the question at mingi, who by now seemed equally embarrassed as you.
“yeah. it was kinda fun, actually.” now the number of surprised eyes staring at him increased by another pair, because you hadn’t expected him to actually like your class when he didn’t even understand the topic.
“she’s a teachers’ favourite”, he then informed the others teasingly, and you playfully hit his arm.
“i’m not!” you genuinely didn’t think you were. you just asked questions when you wanted an elaboration, and participated in discussions when the professor started them. but you weren’t trying to make the teacher like you by acting a certain way; you were just genuinely interested in the topic, and it was hard for you to shut up when you got so invested in something.
“she is”, the redhead said in an exaggeratedly conspiratorial way, “and she’s a genius, too.”
now you yelped out his name - you didn’t like it when people praised you like this, because you didn’t feel like you deserved it and because it made you a little uncomfortable, made you feel like you were now expected to live up to the impression others had of you even when you couldn’t. but those feelings quickly subsided at his next words, being replaced with a mixture of shock and disbelief.
“do you think you could teach me the basics so i could take that class as extra credits?”
“you’re joking.” you absolutely would not believe that he meant it, no way. he had no reason to mean it. sitting in a class where he didn’t have any idea about what’s going on while you all but ignored him in order to talk with the professor couldn’t possibly have been nice enough for him to want to do that weekly.
“it’s your choice, obviously, but i think it’d be fun.” a smile accompanied his words, a smile that wiped out any doubt you’d had.
“i can try? no promises that i’m a good teacher, though.” and while you appreciated the bright grin you got in response the boy appreciated his friends’ reactions a lot less.
he felt his phone buzz and saw it was a message in their private group chat, from yunho.
[saint bernard]: someones WHIPPED
and everyone was quick to agree, which awakened the carnal urge to commit a crime in mingi, a crime that would reduce the amount of people in ‘hyung hate club’ to him and you only. he stopped himself before any blood was flowing, though, both because crimes are illegal and because he didn’t want you to witness that. but no promises could be made for when they were home alone, no one there to witness and frame him.
“put your phones away, it’s rude”, he ordered in a desperate attempt to get them to stop grinning at each other the way they were now before you’d notice anything, and because his attempt was a success he considered maybe leaving them alive. maybe.
the rest of lunch break was spent joking around and teasing each other, and ended with mingi asking you to text him the room where you’d have your last class so he could pick you up. and even though you were still anxious about being in class by yourself, with the people that obviously wanted to ruin your life, the fact that your first class had gone so well reassured you a little, making you feel like maybe it’d be okay for the rest of the day as well.
and it was, surprisingly. you were shot angry glares and had insults whispered at you in passing, but nothing bigger than that happened, maybe owed to mingi’s obvious protective attitude earlier. while they knew they’d easily be able to take on you, the giant was a whole other question. he hadn’t seemed intimidated at all, calm and collected, so they couldn’t even turn his reaction around on him. and the new situation required a new approach, which meant that they’d have to cut you some slack until that new approach had been developed. you knew this, too, knew that the current somewhat peaceful situation was a mere side effect of them having to adjust to the change in circumstances, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t enjoy it while it lasted. you were very aware of the fact that this could all too soon be over again.
still, you managed to enjoy the rest of your classes as well, and when you left the room after the last one had ended and saw a certain redhead waiting for you, as he’d promised, you smiled at him, and first when you saw his shoulders drop a little did you notice that he’d been nervous as well. but at least for now there was no need to, you were okay and nothing had happened. you still wanted to get away from the girls as soon as possible, though, so as soon as you’d said hi to him you took off, him following you quietly until you’d left the building.
“you’re okay?” it had seemed like you were when you came out of class, but your quick exit had sparked some worry in him again.
“a little anxious”, you let him know, “but nothing happened. it’s more being scared that something will happen.”
he nodded in understanding, wrapping his arm around you without thinking much about it and once more somewhat embarrassed when he noticed what he’d just done, but you just moved a step closer to him so it’d be more comfortable for him. then, you sighed, but he decided to ignore it, not sure if you wanted to talk about whatever had caused that sigh. when you sighed a second and a third time, however, each time louder than the last, he decided to ask.
“what’s up?” the way it sounded like the worry had sneaked its way back into his voice had you feeling a little guilty, seeing how there wasn’t actually anything up. you just wanted to tease him.
“you’re just so unfairly tall, i feel like i’m your arm rest.”
since this wasn’t at all the reply he’d expected it took him a moment to fully realise what you’d said, but when he did he started laughing before walking on with his knees somewhat bent, reducing not only his height but also his speed. now you were laughing as well, enjoying his awkward crouching walk more than you maybe should.
“i really hope you appreciate this”, he interrupted your laughter, “because this does kind of hurt my thighs.” you didn’t stop laughing at this, but you crouched down a little as well now, readjusting his arm on your shoulders before pulling him up with you when you stood up straight again.
“maybe i’ll just have to start wearing platforms again instead”, you thought out loud, your laughing faded into a grin now. then, changing the topic entirely, you asked: "do you actually want to join my class? you'd have to catch up with a lot."
“if you’re willing to waste all your time helping me try to catch up?”
“if you’re ready for me to never shut up ever?” this wasn’t an exaggeration; you’d annoyed the girls more than once by studying with them and being way more immersed in the topic than them, even though you all shared similar majors and the class was relevant to all of you. so you couldn’t help being scared that he’d get annoyed with you as well, seeing how this class wasn’t even relevant to him, and you tried to test the waters by joking like this. but he grinned at you, saying that worst case he’d just feed you fruit loops to buy him a few seconds of silence.
“no but the more you talk the more i learn, that’s how it works, right?”
“mm, maybe? i haven’t tried teaching anyone yet, so we’ll have to see”, you admitted a little anxiously. you’d be happy if you managed to help him catch up enough to join the class, but you weren’t exactly confident in your teaching abilities.
“wanna start today?” mingi’d noticed that you were almost at the train station now, so if he wanted to spend the evening studying with you he’d have to ask before you got in your trains going opposite directions.
“i can’t offer you any decent dinner, though. i forgot to get groceries this week so the options are limited to toast, fruit loops, and instant ramen. in case that makes you change your mind.” you wanted to tell him now before he got disappointed by how little you had to offer even as a host, and because if you told him now it’d be less embarrassing to reveal your pathetically empty cupboards when you were at your place.
and he could tell that you were a little embarrassed about the apparent lack of food choices, so he tried to cheer you up.
“is it even a study session without instant ramen?” he genuinely meant it, too - studying and instant food kind of belonged together, the instant food being an important part of what made a study session feel like a real study session. it was about the vibes, not the nutrition.
“okay”, you laughed, then added: “next time we can go somewhere else, too, i just obviously don’t have all my materials with me right now.”
“your place is fine”, he was quick to reassure you. if anything, he was worried that you might feel awkward about having him there again. it wasn’t exactly like you were close, though it sometimes felt that way to him and he had to remind himself that you’d only met half a week ago.
you were once more being prevented from paying for your own ticket by mingi, who’d already paid when you just got your wallet out, and you scoffed at him playfully.
“you know i can pay for myself, right?”
“but i’m being a gentleman.” and with that, he considered this discussion done.
severe buzzing from your phone startled you when you were sitting next to the redhead on the train, because you’d forgotten you’d just muted the girl chat for 24 hours rather than fully leaving it, and your 24 hours were up now. it was as active as ever, and though it seemed like the current topic was unrelated to you just the thought of still being in this kind of space with them made you feel sick with anxiety. but you were too scared to leave the chat, so instead you just stared at your screen.
“it’s them again?” of course he noticed. you just nodded, leaning against him in exhaustion with him gently rubbing your arm.
“we have a group chat and i want to leave, but i can’t.” it was absolutely stupid to feel this way, you knew it was, because what was scaring you wasn’t no longer being in the group chat, it was the act of pressing the little ‘leave group’ button with your own finger.
“you can’t leave or you can’t not be in it?” he surprised you with how he actually seemed to understand your struggle, the very important distinction between the conscious act of leaving and the passive state of not being in the chat.
“i can’t leave. this is our stop.”
he didn’t reply when you left the train, but once you’d started walking towards your dorm he asked you: “do you think i could leave for you? would that work?” you told him you didn’t know, because you really didn’t and you also didn’t really want to think about this at all right now. you wanted to be home, in your bed, with instant ramen and focusing on nothing but how to make mingi understand, remember and internalise the basics of sociolinguistics. it was an act of escapism, definitely, but sometimes you just needed to pretend your problems didn’t exist until you were ready to deal with them.
the rest of the walk was spent in silence, though not uncomfortably so. you both seemed to be in your own thoughts, arms brushing against each other every now and then as if to remind each other that you were still there, even when you weren’t talking. it was nice to know that you didn’t have to talk when you were spending time with mingi, that just being near each other was already enough sometimes.
and just this being silent with each other was what managed to in a way comfort you enough for you to be able to fully concentrate on your materials once you’d reached your place, asking him whether he wanted to eat first or study first as you unlocked the door.
“let’s start with studying, and when i feel like my head’s exploding we’ll eat?”
“deal. make yourself comfortable, i’ll hunt for all my notes.” and with that said you proceeded to ignore the giant that had now settled on your bed in favour of groaning and sighing while you tried to gather all the relevant material from the last year, a task made more difficult because he most likely didn’t have any linguistic background, so you also went through your notes from other courses to find those that had the basic linguistic terms explained on them, because there was no use telling him about phoneme variations if he didn’t know what a phoneme was, and you wanted to be sure to give a 100% right definition.
once you’d found everything you needed you sat down next to him, now trying to divide the notes by topic so you’d have a better overview over what you had to teach him and how much it’d be. he whined quietly next to you at the sheer amount of paper you’d spread on the bed - how was he going to learn all of that?
“we’ll start easy”, you laughed out at his desperate expression. “you can pick the topic that seems most interesting to you, and we’ll start with that.”
then you listed the topics available, along with a short summary or explanation of just what was hidden behind a term like chronolect, which he decided to go with because he thought that might be easiest to a total beginner, because he obviously knew how people of different ages talked, right?
not right. he soon found everything to be much more complicated than it sounded, but he was determined to learn, and you really appreciated how hard he was trying. you knew it had to be hard for him, but he didn’t seem to want to even take a break until he understood, and it was actually you who told him it was time to eat.
“i didn’t think it would be so hard when we’ve barely even started yet”, he groaned while you were waiting for the food to be done, and before you could stop yourself a ‘that’s what she said’ escaped your lips, which made mingi look at you in shock before he burst out laughing.
“i didn’t know that’s what you were thinking about while i was trying to learn!”, he said in feigned indignation, and you hit his arm playfully as you pretended to be equally as scandalised by his implication as he was by yours.
“i don’t know if my memory is giving up on me here, but wasn’t it you who asked me to spend the night together? twice?”
you heard him gasp loudly in reply and grinned at his expression.
“i didn’t know you’d use that against me!” there was a mixture of shock and hurt in his voice, though very obviously playful, and you immediately started apologising in an exaggerated manner, pleading him to please forgive you for your careless words. and even though he tried to stay serious the pout on your face and the fact that you looked like the pleading face emoji made that impossible, stern expression turning into a small smile turning into a grin turning into laughing with his mouth wide open and head thrown back in a matter of seconds. and then you were lost, too, joining in and laughing until your stomach hurt and the instant ramen demanded your attention.
when you found him looking through the notes you’d used for studying by himself it surprised you, though in a positive way. you were glad to see that he at least seemed to have caught a genuine interest for the subject now, glad to see that he was eager to learn. still, you asked him to please move the notes away so you could eat without the risk of them getting dirty and, consequently, unusable. he did as requested and you sat down next to him as soon as you’d handed him his plate - past experience had taught you that shuffling to comfortably sit on the bed when you had an open container in both hands was a very bad idea.
the two of you ate in silence and went back to studying right after, and it was first when you heard thundering outside that you realised how much time had passed. it was fully dark now, heavy rain hitting the window and lightning lighting up the sky every now and then. neither of you looked pleased at the weather, though mingi a lot less so, considering he was the one that somehow had to get home. and it really didn’t seem like the rain would stop anytime soon.
“i’m gonna be so soaked when i get home”, he whined out, making you feel sorry for him because he was right, not even a minute outside in this weather would have him drenched to the bones.
“you can stay over if it’s still like this in an hour”, you offered, not thinking much about it, your main thought being less about him staying with you specifically and more about him not having to go out when it would most likely result in him getting sick. you came to regret your offer when he looked at you with a teasing glint in his eyes, though.
“so now you’re asking me to stay the night? when you called me out for having improper thoughts earlier because i’d offered you the same?”
you rolled your eyes in reply, grabbing his wrist and attempting to drag him out of your bed.
“you know what, forget it, if you get pneumonia that’s not my problem.” at your threat the redhead did a 180 on his behaviour, now begging you the way a little child begged for an extension on their bedtime, except he was begging you to not send him out into the cruel, unrelenting, cold harsh wind. and even though you pretended to be considering doing so you knew that if he actually wanted to he could most definitely spend the night. it was just fun to tease him back.
“fine”, you finally gave in, “you can stay. but behave!”
he sighed in relief (as if there’d ever been any doubt about that), promising you he’d be on his best behaviour, and, as if to prove it, went to do the dishes for you. you knew you wouldn’t be able to stop him because he was at least half a head taller than you and without a doubt much stronger, but it was still worth a try. you should have known it’d barely even bother him, though, pulling on his shirt and trying to drag him back towards the bed, to no avail. he walked on as if he couldn’t even tell that you were trying to move him with every ounce of strength you had in your body, but the grin on his face told you that he knew, and that he was enjoying this too much for your liking. you decided to let him get away with it either way, this once, because truth be told you hated doing the dishes, hated the sensory hell it proved itself to be, time and time again.
you watched him ‘be on his best behaviour’, trying to come up with a way to prevent the situation from turning awkward should the weather not magically turn around, but the only thing your brain could come up with was watching a movie; that’d have to do then. he didn’t seem displeased with the suggestion, finishing washing up quickly and once again sprinkling some water onto your face.
“‘best behaviour’ my ass”, you huffed under your breath, but of course mingi heard you, sending you a smile that with a lot of benevolence could be interpreted as apologetic, but if you were feeling unrelenting might also be a teasing one. he was on your bed and patting the space next to him as is this were his place, though, before you had a chance to threaten him with kicking him out again, and, even though you would deny it if anyone were to claim it, the way he looked so comfortable and somewhat domestic made you a little soft. not very, but just enough to let his teasing slip as you settled next to him.
that position was soon neglected in favour of you sitting between his legs as you found that that was more comfortable for watching a movie. one of you had been complaining no matter where you’d placed the laptop before, because it always gave the one that wasn’t currently complaining a better view. but when you were sitting like this you could just place it right in front of you, and because your friend was so tall he could easily rest his chin on your shoulder without it being uncomfortable at all, and now you both were able to decently see.
you hadn’t decided on a movie yet, though, scrolling the ‘popular right now’ section to get any kind of idea. there was one that seemed interesting enough, kind of dramatic (which was needed because you were not about to watch a romcom with the unfairly attractive redhead pressed against your back like that), and you clicked on it to see the preview since it had sparked your curiosity. as soon as you saw the description you noticed it was a horror movie, though, trying to exit out before anything scary would actually appear on screen.
you succeeded, but your frantic clicking had confused the boy behind you - your netflix was set to finnish, so he didn’t actually understand the caption, but when you told him you’d accidentally chosen a horror movie’s preview rather than a regular dramatic movie he sighed out in relief.
“thank fuck you closed that.”
“not a fan of horror movies either, hm?” you weren’t trying to tease him, and the question sounded like more of an observation. you absolutely hated horror movies, with every fibre of your being, hated the jumpscares and the gore and how you wouldn’t be able to sleep without light for at least a week after. so you found yourself relieved when he told you that he’d have to have his eyes pried open forcefully if someone wanted him to watch one, because at least this way you could be sure he’d never suggest watching one, nor would he make fun of you for being scared.
your thoughts were momentarily guided in a whole other direction though when your partner in being a coward leaned forward, chest pressed even closer to your back and also forcing you to basically fold yourself in the middle underneath his weight as he pointed towards a section title he would in no way be able to pronounce.
“choose from that one.” it was the kids’ movies section, but you had no objections. it was neither a romcom nor a horror movie, the only two genres that were a hard no for you right now. still, you found it hard to do as asked because the way he was leaning forward had your chest almost pressed against your legs and greatly limited your arms’ moving range.
“it’d be easier if you weren’t crushing me”, you whined out, trying to get him to lean back by pressing against him with your back, and with a surprised ‘oh!’ he did lean back, finally giving you room to move again.
“let’s see”, you hummed out, now scrolling the kids’ movies section. you didn’t really know which one to pick, though - kids’ movies weren’t really your usual kind of movie, so it wasn’t like you had a go-to favourite. it seemed like mingi noticed, because he decided to interrupt your aimless scrolling by speaking up, surprising you with his question.
“is there anything you watched as a child? something that’s not korean.”
you didn’t need to think long about this - the moomins immediately shot to your mind, something you’d watched up and down as a child.
“i’m not sure if they’ve ever been dubbed to korean, though”, you informed him, “but i can see?” and without waiting for his reply you abandoned netflix in favour of google, where you hoped that your phonetic interpretation of how moomin would be spelled using hangeul was at least close enough for the search engine to do the rest for you.
you were both glad and somewhat astonished when you did actually get results for your search, clicking on the first video that seemed about as long as you remembered the movie to be and leaning back against the taller one’s chest as you felt nostalgia wash over you. and it was the actual movie, though not dubbed - someone had added korean subtitles, and the finnish speech only made your nostalgia stronger. you were comfortable, head leaning against mingi and his arms around your waist because that was the least awkward place for them to be, underneath your blanket in the dim light coming from your laptop, warm and cosy and, before you knew it, lulled to sleep by the comfortingly familiar sounds of your childhood.
the red-haired male didn’t even notice that you’d fallen asleep, thinking that you were simply just as immersed in the movie as he was, until he tried to tell you that he needed the bathroom and you didn’t reply. peeking over to your face he saw that your eyes were closed and your mouth slightly ajar, and a fond smile made its way onto his face. still, his bladder wouldn’t let him not wake you up, and he felt incredibly guilty when he had to disturb your slumber.
“sorry, but i got big girl business to do”, he told you quietly, and even though you were slightly annoyed at being woken up you laughed at the memory of how that was the first thing you’d heard from him, that his business was big girl business. you paused the movie and shuffled to let him get up, but before he went to the bathroom he asked: “do you want to go to sleep now or finish the movie?”
your heart said movie but your other heart, the one that regularly had you give in to your body’s wicked desires (such as an entire bag of crisps in a single second) said sleep, and once more that heart won. you mumbled out a sleep and he smiled at you, telling you to get ready while he was in the bathroom, then.
getting into your pyjamas was an act in and of itself, because you absolutely did not want to move at all. you did it, though, forcing yourself into the admittedly much softer fabric before plopping right back onto your bed.
when the boy returned (once more shirtless, and you weren’t sure if that was to your dismay or your delight) he would’ve guessed you hadn’t even moved, had it not been for the fact you were wearing something else than when he’d left you. the laptop was closed now, though, placed in the empty space underneath your bed so stepping on it would be avoided even if someone had to get up during the night in a half-awake state.
you shuffled to make room for him as he made his way towards the bed slowly, room lit only by the street lamps outside now. he laid down next to you, looking at you for a moment before the drowsiness-induced desire for cuddles and warmth won over the embarrassment that would have securely prevented a less tired mingi from saying what he said next.
“can i hug you?”
and because you were at least equally sleepy and in need of a warm embrace you just ‘mhm’ed in confirmation, resulting in both a long arm and an even longer leg wrapped around you immediately after. you turned to your back because it was slightly uncomfortable like this, laying on your side facing him, and he didn’t waste a single second before he placed his head on your shoulder, the arm on that side holding on to him now, too. you felt warm and cosy (and soft at the thought of the giant cuddled up to your much smaller frame like this) and it didn’t take long for you to fall asleep again, once more unnoticed by mingi, who had almost immediately fallen asleep as well.
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Note
Since we discussed it: RFA with American MC lol o/
Okay, lemme do this. I find 2nd person pretty cringy so I'll avoid using it if I can. Also, I'm not that knowledgeable about Korean culture, so I can't really go too in depth about possible culture clashes. It took me a while to try to think of everything I could for that.
RFA reactions to an MC who's American
~Yoosung~
That's definitely not what he expected at all! Admittedly, in retrospect some of Seven's comments were probably hinting at that. He's still taken aback when he first sees her though. He'd stopped thinking of her as Rika a while before seeing her, sure, but without any hints as to what she looked like other than that, he'd left it as 'vaguely Rika shaped'.
It's fine, because she thinks he's cute, but she's as tall as he is! He chooses not to acknowledge her being taller by half an inch, because he doesn't measure by those and therefore that makes it completely fair to ignore it when she points it out. They are the same height.
He's kind of out of his depth, even considering how out of his depth he would be anyway just having a girlfriend, but...his perfect world is LOLOL and everyone is equal in LOLOL! Therefore, even if his girlfriend is kind of weird, he's willing to make the effort to get through that! Plus, her accent (she can't even tell she has one) is cute. On the other hand, he's so bad at speaking English that he can only bring himself to mumble it. It's hard to believe she isn't teasing him about it when she calls it cute.
But he lives for compliments from his girlfriend, so she'd best believe he keeps on trying. They still mostly communicate in Korean, but he eventually gets a bit more confident about speaking in English to her. If only in private. At first he tries to use it to tell secret mushy things to her...but then like half of the RFA understood him when he tried it at one of the parties, so. uh. never again.
His taste in food is also atrocious, so honestly, he doesn't find her foreign tastes to be that weird. Together they even organize a raid on Seven's place to steal a box of HBC chips, and then they both pretend that Seven didn't just let them do it. (Why does she know how to say 'I want to be your cat' in Arabic? YOOSUNG HAS SO MANY QUESTIONS)
He's super interested in some of the imported stuff she brought with her when she moved, especially the video games. Most of them are already available in Korea, obviously, but a true gaming connoisseur like himself enjoys comparing the differences between releases! Plus, it's easier to play co-op games with her when she doesn't need to think about how to translate certain instructions or things like that.
Speaking of her things, one time he found a book by her bedside with an interesting looking cover. It seemed to be a sequel book and the writing was too complex for him to really follow along very well, though. He had a pretty good idea the handcuffs on the cover weren't because it was a detective novel judging by the reaction she had when she caught him reading it. He got too flustered to even try to read it after that.
They visit her family back home sometimes, and he's always super excited whenever they do. There's so much food! Why do they sell burgers this big?! Why is everything so big? He doesn't really travel much aside from those family trips, so it's a nice change of pace. Even if her brother-in-law is taller than him. damn it-
At one point, she suggests they cosplay Superman and Lois Lane, but it's so awkward for him to pick her up princess-style given their relative heights that he chickens out. She cosplays as Wonder Woman instead, and honestly he thinks her as an amazon tying him-tying bad guys up with a golden rope is hotter than her as a reporter anyway.
He doesn't really grasp that American isn't a 'race', and brags about her anyway, despite her laughing every time he does.
~Zen~
It's dumb, but his first thought on seeing she's foreign is a moment of panic that he won't fit her tastes after all (despite the fact that she's already seen his selfies).
That's complete nonsense, though, because his beauty shines through cultural barriers. Hers does, too, and while he was admittedly imagining something else, he's absolutely immediately enchanted with her anyway. She's cute and beautiful and different from anyone else around him, and honestly perfect. He hadn't actually noticed the accent before when they were on the phone, but it doesn't bother him now that it's a bit more obvious.
He can't speak English if his life depended on it, so he trusts whatever she mutters to herself when she rolls her eyes or looks way too amused about something is all flattering. It's definitely flattering, because obviously it is. She does suggest that he should learn it, though, just so he can potentially broaden his horizons and reach a broader audience. He doesn't need the confidence boost or anything, but it does feel good to see her swoon over his attempts.
When she said she could keep up with him drinking, he hadn't realized it was because she just happened to be much bigger than he expected, closer to his size. Actually, though, she can take her liquor like a champ, even more than he expected. She claims it's something about college, but won't tell any stories about it other than that 'it was a crazy time'. It's fair. He had a crazy time in his past, himself.
He doesn't really care for some of the food she likes, but then again he'd eat anything if it meant eating with her, so it's not really an issue.
It takes a long time to go visit her parents, since they live over in the US, but he can't say that he hates them being starstruck when he arrives. The only trouble is that they keep trying to speak Korean to him and are so bad at it he can't really tell what they're saying. Given his personal grasp on English, she ends up having to do most of the communication as the translator, but it's a pleasant visit anyway and it makes him all the more determined to get his parents to accept her.
Which isn't made any easier by the fact that she's not Korean. To say his mother is 'displeased' would be an understatement. But he's not really new to disappointing her, so he won't give up, not on his relationship with his true love and not on fixing his relationship with his parents.
Obviously gossip mags go crazy about it. Famous actor Zen dates a strange foreigner girl! Love that transcends the barriers of culture, or something more sinister?!
It's not so bad until certain catty fans get involved. The fact that she doesn't look 'beautiful' enough for the Gorgeous Zen eventually erupts through the fandom, with all sorts of nasty comments coming up because of her foreign appearance. She handles it well, but he loses it and almost makes a public scene the time someone called her a giant ugly ogre. In the end, he decides to make a point of informing interviewers how beautiful she is during all future interviews. It's petty, but that's him.
It actually boosts his popularity, being the Romantic Zen who's hopelessly in love with his girlfriend.
Her fashion taste is atrocious, though. He doesn't know how to break it to her. It's just bad! Even if it's trendy in the US...he just doesn't like it...
They might be a bad influence on each other, since their drinking competitions seem to get out of hand and sometimes lead to Jumin or 707 collecting them in a place neither of them even remember going to.
She eats like some kind of a gorilla without any concern for politeness, and apparently without even realizing that's what she's doing, but it's honestly so cute to him that he doesn't mind. That said, it's not the best thing for his heart when she accidentally disrespects one of his directors in front of the whole crew. He manages to recover, but that particular cultural difference catches him off guard.
For the most part, though, her little quirks and differences just enchant him more. After all, she's his perfect princess, and she already was before they'd ever even met.
~Jumin~
He admittedly had something of a suspicion that she might be foreign or mixed, as he heard the difference in her voice when on the phone with her. He's still a little surprised to open the door and see just what she looks like, though.
Of course his English is flawless, as he needs to be able to converse internationally for business, and Chinese and English are essentially a requirement for that. He can't say he isn't pleased when she determines his 'English voice' (whatever that's supposed to mean) is 'sexy'...but he's also pretty sure she's the first one to think that.
His experience overseas means that he immediately recognizes that her disrespect to his father when they meet is unintentional. It's still cute, to him. As is her obvious mortification when Jaehee pulls her aside to explain. His own insult, however, is entirely intentional when his father starts planning plastic surgery appointments to 'bring her appearance more in line'.
Her bluntness is something that he heartily appreciates, and it honestly makes him more comfortable to know that he needn't worry about avoiding offending her by being direct as he prefers to be. She's not technically part of the company, but the idea does amuse him to make her one and bring her along to negotiations. They could play good cop-bad cop. (That particular line of thought travels off into imagining her in a police woman's uniform, and then he loses the train of thought entirely)
He thinks her taste in food is quirky, but his palate is somewhat expansive when it comes to international cuisine, so it works out just fine with him. Any food that he eats alongside her is food that he enjoys, so the issue is moot.
Apparently, the rumor magazines go wild every time she appears with him somewhere, but he never bothers to read those, so he has no idea what they have to say about her. If it's anything damaging, he trusts Jaehee to deal with it. It's probably for the best, because if he did catch any of the rude things they say about the gold digging foreign wife of the director of C&R, his policy of ignoring hateful comments would not hold up long.
That said, really the biggest culture clashes and shock come not from her American raising, but from her being poor. Most of what she learned about Korean culture before moving over just didn't touch on what the very rich and famous would be like.
~Jaehee~
Of the many things she had considered about her fellow female member of the RFA, that she might be a foreigner isn't one of them. Maybe she should have noticed from the little quirks in chat...but...no, everyone in the RFA is bizarre and always has been.
It suddenly makes sense why MC couldn't really understand what Jaehee was going through at work, and why MC hadn't been familiar with Zen! But that's just fine, because it means Jaehee gets the opportunity to introduce MC to all the more Zen things together!
She's not sure if she should be offended when the woman compares her cafe to Starbucks....but if she's compared to anything, it may as well be Starbucks. And it does give her the idea to make Zen-themed drinks, which means basking in his beauty at work while also helping to contribute to his popularity. Although, admittedly, it did more for her cafe than him.
She's occasionally mortified by the MC's unintentional rudeness, but more often than not her greatest concern to unexpected rudeness is finding a way to stifle her amused laughter. The sheer confusion on her ex-boss's face the first time it happens to him gets her through some of the rough times trying to set up and keep the business afloat.
She's not particularly good at English, but she's a fast learner, and even though the MC can speak Korean reasonably well, she wants to be able to speak in English too, so that they can both speak in their native languages when they want to. It means their cafe is bilingual, which makes it a tourist spot, which means that Zen actually can get extra exposure from it! She's as excited about that as the MC is.
She's less excited when the MC finally makes she and Jumin sit across each other and "talk about your problems or else". That's an awkward conversation she really could have done without. But...well, it's only inevitable MC's special kind of bluntness would eventually lead to something like that.
It goes better than she expects, actually, and the tension that's been zapping around them since that party finally goes away.
It goes too well.
He starts suggesting that they convert it to a cat cafe.
Oh no.
~707~
He could tell immediately from the moment he looked at the camera footage, which admittedly made the background check a little harder. It's fine though, because he did it several times, and now knows her family tree, GPA, and what boat her family got off on some hundred years ago.
The jig is up immediately, because he's a huge nerd and just immediately spoke in English when he called. He's fluent, obviously, but he doesn't get enough opportunities to practice, so now he can try out the 'cool' phrases he's come up with, and try to get rid of the pesky accent that gets in the way of certain assignments.
He doesn't tell anyone because it's way funnier for everyone to be confused when they come to the party and see someone they don't expect. He even offers a cute looking model to use as a messenger icon just to throw people off more.
He is way too excited the first time she comes home and said "Lucy, I'm home~!" - the fact that she's not an old fossil and thus actually didn't ever watch it in her life doesn't seem to matter to him.
At one point he playfully suggests that USA sinks actually have PhD Pepper running through their pipes instead of water, but she gets him back by saying she prefers doh-ritos to honey buddha chips. He's horrified and declares her tastes are never to be trusted again.
In reality, though, their tastes align pretty closely. Heavily greasy and extra sweet food with zero nutritional value are his heaven (she insists there's plenty of nutritional value. He pretends he doesn't hear her.)
For the most part, it's no different for him where the MC is from, because he doesn't exactly fit in himself and he's been all over the place anyway. The only significant conflict between them due to cultural differences came from when he decided to show up at her place and then immediately turn the cold shoulder and try to push her away.
He almost died.
She's terrifying.
~V~
He can't see a difference
he's blind
im kidding, i just don’t know v enough to include him
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miraclesnail · 4 years
Text
Stolen Hoodies and Chicken Notes
Summary: Most people wake up to their significant other giving them a sweet, morning kiss. Maybe a cuddle that’ll devolve into a tickling fest. Maybe a healthy breakfast and a cup of coffee. Will wakes up to his hoodie stolen.
Relationship: Travis/Will 
Rating: G
Warnings: Brief mention of trauma/nightmares
Length: 2k
ao3 link *** ffn link
fic under the read more
At the first light, when the dark skies give way to navy blue and one can just barely see the wisp of sunlight, that’s when all Apollo's children wake up. A gift from their father, he guesses considering his role as an Olympian is to pull the sun. 
Start the day early, get the most out of life. 
Some hate it, waking up so early, a full hour before they really need to get ready for the day. Will can hear some of his siblings groan and shift in their bed, most falling back asleep. 
He used to hate it too. Hate waking so early and having to just lay there until it’s really time to get up. 
Now he cherishes this little gift their father blessed them with. 
Most people wake up to their significant other giving them a sweet, morning kiss. Maybe a cuddle that’ll devolve into a tickling fest. Maybe a healthy breakfast and a cup of coffee. 
Will usually wakes up to his hoodie stolen and a chocolate chicken sitting on top of a piece of paper.
Travis is weird that way. 
And today is no different. 
Will wakes up from his internal clock and takes a second to gather himself. Then he rises to his elbows, looks to his night table, and sees the faint outline of the chicken from the nightlight. It’s hard not to smile as he gingerly takes the chicken into his hands and grapples around in the dark for the note that always accompanies it. He finds it and from that cursory touch, it feels like a standard flashcard.
Will flips around and silently wiggles his way to his drawer at the foot of his bunk bed. A quick check inside confirms one out of the two hoodies he owns is missing. 
He never knows when Travis does this. He tried staying up all night to catch him in the act. But a little blink and maybe a five-minute doze, and poof, the items were on the table and his hoodie gone without a trace. Locking the door. Locking the window. Setting a tripwire or a net or flour all proved to be ineffective. 
Will sinks back onto his bed, reaches for the flashlight he hides in the space between the mattress and the frame of the bunk bed. Then he ducks under his blankets. 
He switches the light on, stifling a laugh as he gets a view of the chocolate. The expression on the chicken is definitely getting more detailed. Before it was just a single dot for the eye, no beak, and just the general shape of a baby chick. Now, the chicken is much more complicated. He can see the details of the feather. Can count the number of tails feathers. Can see the claws of the chicken. 
It’s so stupid. Adorably stupid. 
Will shines the light on the notecard. 
There’s three lines of text, the top two in Japanese. He knows for sure the top line says, ‘Good Morning, Beautiful. You know who it is :D’. The middle line he isn’t too sure. And the third line, like always, is the romanization translation, ‘enpitsu’. 
Will reaches under blindly and pulls out all the dictionaries he has under the night table. A little quick check and he has his translation. 
“He’s so extra,” a voice whispers.
Will turns his flashlight off and lifts the blanket. On the bed next to him, Kayla is grinning fondly, laying stomach down and her cheek against her pillow.
“I think it’s cute,” Will whispers back as he stands and looks around for a pencil. He finds it on the window sill his night table is against. With practiced ease, Will opens his drawer, removes his only other hoodie, a blanket, and sneaks out of his cabin. 
***
Will doesn’t know why it started. He never told Travis about his father’s gift. Or maybe he picked it up during the week or so gap Apollo usually has before claiming his kids. Travis is certainly observant for that despite the general consensus the camp seems to have about Travis and Connor sharing one brain cell. Either way, Travis knows and Travis somehow uses it to make a game. 
The first time it happened, Will didn’t even catch it until Kayla pointed it out for him late in the morning as he searched for his hoodie. 
“Hey, Will, what’s this?”
A blob of chocolate sits at his night table with a flashcard. 
“Guess who! :)” Will translates from the Greek text. On the back, it also says in Greek, “I took your hoodie.”
And from there it evolved. 
The chocolate blob becomes more refined, more chicken-like. 
The notecards change language every day. Greek one day. Latin the next. Spanish. French. Chinese. Korean. Arabic. 
Will acquires his needed dictionaries from Annabeth and a low-power flashlight from Leo. 
It became a fun little game to wake up and translate the text while nibbling on the chicken. 
“Good morning”
“I finally learned how to bake!”
“I named the chicken Pip.”
“I’m also learning how to make coffee latte art.”
“Guess how many languages I know.”
“Do you mind me stealing your hoodies?”
Simple. Harmless. Little things he can do while he waits for the time to really start the day. (Much, much better than just lying in bed and thinking about the war, about Lee and Michael, about the friends he lost, about the friends who left, about the people he couldn’t save, the people he had to kill, the people he—)
It’s nice. 
To focus on something else. 
Then it stops becoming simple and harmless. (“It’s still pretty harmless,” Travis would probably argue.)
“Come to Zeus’s Fist?”
Leave the cabin?  Before curfew is over? That’s breaking the rules. He can't. 
It takes a whole fifteen, agonizing minutes before Will finally stands up and puts on his sneakers. 
He gets to Zeus’s Fist after another 15 minutes. Before he could climb the pile of rocks though two voices, similar in tone and pitch, say, “Oh my god, he actually did it.”
“What? Who? Will?”
Will glances up to find Travis and Connor, hopping down Zeus’s Fist. One smiling. The other frowning. One wearing his hoodie. And the other wearing not his hoodie. 
Will hates to admit it, but he still can’t tell them apart even though he’s dating Travis. 
“You actually did it,” the one wearing his hoodie says with a bright smile. He turns to his brother and holds out a palm. “Where’re my five bucks, Connor?”
Connor grumbles and stuffs a crumpled bill in Travis’s waiting palm. “You couldn’t be a good boy for once in your life like you always are, huh?” Connor says. “Had to sneak out of your cabin like Travis asked.”
“If it makes you feel better, I got caught by a harpy,” Will offers with an apologetic shrug. 
“How did you get her to let you go?” 
“When you have a good reputation, you can get away with anything.”
It takes all about two seconds for Connor to figure it out. “Oh my gods, you lied to her!”
Will flushes as Travis wraps a shoulder over his arm and laughs. “Aww, we’re such bad influences on you. Next thing you know you’re going to be the third person in our pranking schemes. Come on, since you’re here, want to watch the sunrise with us?”
And it evolves more from there. 
More complicated messages. More dictionaries. More detailed chocolate chickens. More sneaking out. More losing his good reputation with the harpies. Then having lessons on sneaking out. Having lots of lessons on sneaking out. Becoming extremely good at sneaking out. 
No more encountering the harpies. No more endangering his good boy status though that may be questionable now with the way he keeps breaking the rules. 
But like Travis always says.
Everything goes as long as one doesn't get caught. 
***
Translate the note. Get the item. Make it to Zeus’s Fist. 
That’s the game. 
“You know my dad’s animal is the raven? Not the chicken?” Will says as he trudges up to Zeus’s Fist. 
Travis’s head pops over the rocks and even down below, Will can see the smirk and his stolen hoodie on Travis’s lean body. 
“No entry until you brought the secret item,” says Travis in a dramatic, booming voice. 
Will waves the pencil. 
“Alright, you can come up.”
It takes a few minutes for him to climb Zeus’s fist. Travis is standing at the top with a hand to help pull him up. 
Will says it again, “My dad’s animal is the raven, not the chicken.”
“What?!” Travis gawks at him. “They’re not? Really? Really? So all this time, I've been making the wrong animal?”
And it’s so stupidly cute, but Will maintains his composure. “It’s fine though. I mean, it’s cute.” 
Will looks around, noticing the lack of a third person. 
“Where’s Connor?”
“Sleeping peacefully for once. No nightmares tonight I guess.” 
“Nightmares?”
“From the second titan war, you know?”
Will’s throat dries. “Ah. Right.”
He coughs into his fist. “Do you, uh, get them too?”
Travis fidgets with the hoodie, chuckling. Will comes to learn something about Travis. He’s not the open type of a person despite him being such a talker and as good as a liar he is, he has certain tells that give him away. 
“Sometimes,” Travis chuckles, looking down and scraping the heel of his shoes against the rock. Translation: every day. “ But it’s nothing too bad you know.” Grinning after flexing his hand. Translation: it’s pretty bad . “I keep myself busy though. It’s easy to not think about it when you’re busy.”
Hence this. Hence the nightly escapades. Hence the little games. Distractions. They’re all distractions and distractions work great. 
“Well, I brought the blanket.” And Will holds it up. “Wanna watch the sunrise?”
“You know it. Oh! Let’s have a competition. Whoever can name the most constellations.”
“Sure.”
Will lays down the blanket and sits, leaning back on his arms. Travis sits down beside him, dropping gracefully and resting his head on Will’s shoulder. 
“But before that, why don’t you try speaking to me in Japanese?” Travis says with a cheeky grin, “You got the basics down already, right? I can supplement what you don’t know.”  
“It’s going to sound pretty awful. My pronunciation will probably be all wack,” Will snorts.  
“And I told you that it is fine, buddy,” Travis says, nudging him with his shoulders. “Let me hear it. I can help you with the pronunciation. Plus~” Will doesn’t have to look over to know Travis is wiggling his eyebrows, “I know some pretty nice, interesting facts about Japan culture too. Like, did you know on Christmas Eve, couples go out for fried chickens and exchange presents?”
“And you want me to buy you fried chicken.”
Travis grins charmingly. “I mean, we would share, but yes! I do want you to buy me some chickens.” 
Will takes a breath, digs deep in his memories, then says in Japanese, “‘ I want to go to Japan one day.’”
Travis is silent for a moment, eyebrows furrowing, mouth moving like he’s saying the phrase himself, before beaming. “Nice! Pretty accurate. Pronunciation is pretty good. But change the particle ‘de’ to ‘ni’.” 
“So what about ‘ I ate cake yesterday’? ”
Travis hums. “Not as accurate this time. Move yesterday to the front of the sentence. But still pretty good pronunciation.”
“Then what about my name? How do you spell that in Japanese?” 
“Let me see your palm?”
Travis takes his hands and writes the katakana on his palm with a pen. “Here you go. One more sentence. Use the word pencil in it.”
And that’s how it goes.
Will sneaks out, breaks a couple of rules, attends a language class 101, and watches the sun rise. 
And for one hour, he forgets it all and lives like nothing is wrong.
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pokemoncoloursplash · 4 years
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I imagine question hour has long passed but...what languages do the mods speak and what languages do you want to learn?
I am hypothetically fluent in English since it’s my first language, but it’s an infuriating language. I have some level of understanding of French because I am legally required to.
This isn’t a vocal language, but I can read Egyptian hieroglyphs to an extent. Also, I create languages in my spare time for various writing projects.
- Dragonis
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English and French! Also, morse code, but I don't know if that really counts. I'm also in the process of learning American sign language as well. - Mod Paragon.
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I took university level French for my language requirement but I doubt I could hold much of a conversation. I started Scottish Gaelic on duolingo just this week and I eventually would like to learn ASL and Tagalog, maybe Japanese too
- Decima
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I can speak English and, by all technicality, French, but I also enjoy encoding things with ciphers in my spare time. I would like to learn a wide majority of languages, but I suppose Korean and Arabic are chief among them. - Vice
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I'm fluent in English, I can speak and more or less understand Hebrew but I never learned how to read 😔, I took French in high school but since I didn't have anyone to speak it with Ive forgotten a lot of it, use it or lose it right? Im trying to relearn it through Duolingo, and will probably be focusing on it in it when I get to university since Im planning on majoring in world cultures. I took a semeter of Japanese in community college, kanji is hard rip, a year of German in high school, and on and off have been trying to learn Swedish, Norwegian, Korean, Spanish and Hawaiian on Duolingo. Duo is sad because I haven't been on in a long time :'( -Gale
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Native French and I'm fluent in English. I'd like to learn LSF at one point. - mod Shay
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schraubd · 5 years
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Collected Thoughts on Excluding Omar and Tlaib
I've got another kidney stone. It struck on Monday, and then I felt pain Tuesday, Wednesday, and today. Thursday was my only pain-free day this week, and I have to assume that was the universe balancing the scales and recognizing that the Israeli government's truly terrible decision to exclude Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) from the country was plenty enough aggravation on its own. I went on a pretty vigorous tweet storm all through yesterday. Below I bullet point most of what I expressed on that site (which, as you may know, I've taken "private"), but my main takeaway is this: There's no serious case that either Congresswoman present a security threat to Israel (I've seen some people insinuate that they might incite a riot at the Temple Mount which -- I'm not sure I can physically roll my eyes hard enough). In practice, the "risk" Omar and Tlaib present is simply that they will hear  mean things about Israel and then say their own mean things about Israel. That's the locus of the complaint about the "balance" of the trip; that's the locus of the accusation that they merely want to rabble-rouse. What people are concerned about is they will go to the West Bank, hear people saying mean things about Israel, and repeat those mean things back to American audiences. But -- and I mean this in all earnestness -- so what? So what if that's what happens? To be clear: I don't think Omar and Tlaib were coming just to say mean things about Israel. But even if they were -- there's no security threat. The state will survive (how pathetic would it be if it crumbled?). It'd be speech. It'd be discourse. That's the price of living in a liberal, free society. Sometimes people say mean things about you. Sometimes those mean things are unfair. Sometimes those mean things are entirely fair. Whatever. It comes with the territory (pun initially not intended, but I'll own it now). It's not a valid basis for a travel ban. It used to be that Israel was emphatic that "come see us and you'll think better of us". Now Israel is terrified that if people come see them--at least, see them unchaperoned, without a constant guiding hand ensuring they see only the choice parts--they'll think of worse of them. That's the sign of a society in decay. To be sure, I think Omar and Tlaib probably would come away from their visit with a rather grim appraisal of Israel's treatment of Palestinians. But then, there's ample basis to appraise that treatment grimly--there's no inherent foul there. People can come to the West Bank and be honestly appalled by what they see. Only police states confuse "people saying mean things" with security threats. A free society can survive--and perhaps even learn from--critics giving it grim appraisals. People talk a huge game about how Omar and Tlaib could "learn" from their trip to Israel and Palestine -- and no doubt they could. But the flip side is that Israel, too, can learn from the testimony of Palestinians laboring under occupation, and from efforts to bring that testimony to the fore. It is wrong -- not to mention insulting -- to treat discourse about Israel/Palestine as if it were a one-way street, where wise, omniscient Israeli/Jewish teachers dribble knowledge onto benighted, ignorant Muslims and Arabs. Below is a recap of my other collected thoughts on the matter (many but not all of which were on Twitter):
This was a terrible and unjustified decision. Let's lead off with that and give it its own bullet point all to itself.
There is no reason to think that this decision was "what Omar and Tlaib wanted" since it made Israel look authoritarian and repressive. That is projection, to avoid speaking the more uncomfortable conclusion that "Omar and Tlaib might have had a point" in suggesting Israel acts in an authoritarian and repressive fashion.
I neither think this decision was solely Trump's doing -- Israel "caving" to his pressure -- nor do I think he played no role in the decision. I think he successfully convinced Netanyahu to do something that he already kind of wanted to do in the first place, even knowing it probably was a bad idea. Trump was like the frat boy friend egging his buddy into doing another shot flight. That Bibi was probably dimly aware it wasn't the wisest decision in the world doesn't mean that he wasn't ultimately fulfilling his own desires. Ultimately, this was a decision of Israel's right-wing government and they deserve to take the full brunt of punishment for it.
I understand why everyone is calling this "counterproductive" from Israel, since it will undoubtedly give a huge boost to the BDS movement. But, as I wrote in the Lara Alqasem case, that really depends on what Israel is trying to "produce". In many ways, Bibi benefits from an ascendant BDS movement, just as they benefit from him; and he likewise benefits from a world divided between conservatives who love everything he does and liberals who loathe him. So the fact that this decision puts wind in the sails of BDS, while further lashing Israel to a purely right-wing mast and alienating it from erstwhile progressive allies, is not necessarily a miscalculation -- it's the intended and desired effect.
On that note, remember the other day when 21 Israeli MKs wrote to Congress and said that a two-state solution was "more dangerous" than BDS? Well, if you ever wanted an example of what it looks like to trade "increased BDS support" for "kneecapping two-state solution support", this was it (even though Tlaib isn't a two-stater -- Omar is -- this act was aimed like a laser at the most prominent base of support for two-stateism in America: that is, Democrats).
On the other hand, shouldn't these right-wing Israelis be more excited to welcome Tlaib than most other Congresspeople? After all, she opposes the "dangerous" two-state solution! Oh wait, I forgot: in her one-state world, everyone gets to vote. That won't do at all, will it?
I love Emma Goldberg description of how Israel will slide away from liberal democracy via Hemingway's description of how he went bankrupt: "Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly." And by love, I mean it gives me a sick feeling of recognition in my stomach.
Justifying the ban on the grounds that Omar and Tlaib's visit wasn't "balanced" because they weren't meeting with Israeli or Palestinian government figures, only NGOs, and these are bad NGOs -- spare me. To tell visiting U.S. politicians "you can come, but only if you speak with the 'right' people/visit the 'right' sites/speak the 'correct' words" sounds like something you'd hear from the North Korean embassy. Omar and Tlaib should be entitled to visit with whomever they want to visit, and come to whatever conclusions they end up coming to. If those conclusions are unfair, we should trust the ability to defeat them with more speech, not enforced silence. But again: we can't conflate "unfair" with "critical". It's entirely feasible that a fair-minded individual hearing testimony from West Bank Palestinians will come to a sharply critical conclusion.
Some of the attacks on the NGOs Omar and Tlaib were scheduled to meet with are the usual chad gadya (has a leader who's linked to a group which kicked the dog ....) nonsense, but there are some groups with some genuinely bad history. I've consequently seen people suggest that we need to also hold Omar and Tlaib accountable for their part in this fiasco for meeting with members of those groups. Fair enough: I'm happy to hold them accountable, weighted and prioritized in proportion to their relative culpability. In keeping with that metric, I might get around to returning to criticizing their draft itinerary sometime in 2035.
Fine, one more thing on the itinerary: Am I correct in reading it as taking Omar and  Tlaib either solely or primarily to the West Bank and East Jerusalem? If so, it's entirely understandable why they'd refer to those locales as "Palestine".
Rep. Tlaib initially applied for a humanitarian waiver to visit her family, which was approved, but then she backed out given the conditions the Israeli government was going to impose on the visit (basically, not engaging in "boycott activities"). The usual suspects are crowing: she cares less about her family than she does about boycotting! I say (a) Rep. Tlaib is well within her rights to not prostrate herself to the dictates of a foreign government seeking to humiliate her, and (b) what about the past few days gives anyone the confidence in the Israeli government's ability to fairly adjudge what qualifies as a "boycott activity"?
The argument that Israel, as a sovereign state, has a "right" to exclude whomever it wants substitutes a juridical argument for an ethical (and practical) one. Sovereign states are formally empowered to do all sorts of terrible and/or stupid things. This was one of them. Hearing nominal anti-BDS folks make this claim -- which could as easily be applied to "universities and academics have the right to collaborate (or not) with whomever they want to" is probably causing another kidney stone to develop as we speak.
The other thing is that Israel is proving itself completely incapable of exercising this "right" in a reasonable manner that distinguishes between genuine threats to national security and unhappiness that people sometimes come to Israel and then say mean things. One of the reasons we liberals seek to limit unchecked government power is precisely because of the suspicion that it won't be exercised responsibly or non-arbitrarily.
Of course, the fact that Israel also exercises the practical authority to exclude people not just from Israel-proper, but the West Bank as well, gives lie to the notion that Palestinians even conceptually could have their right to self-determination vindicated solely by voting in PA elections.
Silver lining: pretty much the entirety of the American Jewish establishment -- AIPAC, AJC, ADL, J Street, Simon Wiesenthal Center -- came out against this decision. Huzzah for that.
Tarnish on even that silver lining: the Conference of President's weak-sauce statement on the matter. "Many of the organizations expressed disagreement with the government’s decision", but "Ultimately, the government of Israel made its assessment of the countervailing arguments and acted upon their conclusion." Really, that's what you're giving us? It's amazing how the Conference doesn't care about the "consensus" of the Jewish community when that consensus is a progressive one.
When a prominent member of or institution associated with an outgroup does something awful, it is natural for members of that outgroup to feel acutely vulnerable. In part, that's because they know that this awfulness will be wielded against them; in part, that's because frequently they have feelings for or connections to the target person and institution, and it is painful to see them act in such a terrible fashion. Of course, that feeling of vulnerability needn't and shouldn't be the primary story as compared to those directly victimized by the awful behavior. But it is not per se wrong, or "centering", to acknowledge and validate the existence of the sentiment; nor is such an acknowledgment necessarily one that stands in competition with recognizing the direct damage of the instigating act.
The next time a Democrat occupies the Oval Office, I have to wonder what sort of penance is going to be demanded from the Israeli government for years upon years of insult and humiliation. It's not going to be back to as it was before. It's not even going to back as it was in the Obama administration. Democrats will -- rightfully -- insist that Israel pay a price for what it's been doing these past four (if not twelve) years. The flipside of recognizing the importance of preserving Israel as a bipartisan issue is that Israel aligning itself fully and completely with the Republican Party is going to come at a cost. It will be interesting to consider what that cost will be.
via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2ZcVv85
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moogarry-blog · 4 years
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Muama
Muama Enence Translator Review 2020- Easily transportable Interpretation Accomplished Straightforward
It’s quite frustrating if you want to journey but don’t know the vocabulary of the nation you’re visiting. That’s why people often use translation apps, and before these, they utilized to depend upon pocketbooks of useful terms.
Fortunately, that’s where by Muama Enence will come in.
The Muama Enence translator is more than just another gadget from the extended line of portable language translation products. It might translate a wide array of different languages for people, a lot more than 40 actually. We no more should spend our time to know the local greengrocer or salesperson in this spectacular country we are going to. A click of a button is all it takes.
Do Transportable Translators Like Muama Enence Actually Work?
https://apnews.com/3e4a288891bb76a64e2b8a8ebdca110e
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Let’s disregard all the other Muama translator testimonials for a 2nd and focus on the very notion of a translator system. A lot of people would ask (and rightfully so) if these devices are in fact useful or maybe they’re just a method to get dollars from unsuspecting individuals. Nicely, we’re here to explain how these units are perfectly secure to purchase. But do they function?
Surprisingly, which was certainly one of many inquiries The Huffington Post requested once they taken care of the reveal of the Ili back 2016. They didn’t like the point that the company that manufactured the Ili experienced a streak of failures previously. Furthermore, they found the Ili advertising creepy—it had been a man who wanted to demonstrate the gadget worked well by requesting random girls to kiss him and letting the device convert.
Despite these red flags, HuffPo continued to be cautiously confident about portable translators overall. At the moment, you will find a large number of firms that make these units. It’s a growing market containing yet to attain its maximum.
Why Should You Use the Muama Quick Translator? Why Not Programs?
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Applications are good and, but they have one main defect more than portable translators. They are not that nicely developed to allow them to work properly. Moreover, that they need frequent upgrades. When talking about their own personal products, Gmyle put out an amazing report on why interpretation software aren’t as great as mobile translators. Search for information on it in this article.
Although the concern isn’t just ‘why not use applications?’ It is also ‘why use the Muama Enence translator at all?’ So let’s look into the device itself and see exactly what makes it tick.
In-Range Muama Enence Review: Specifications and has
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Mentioned previously, the Muama instant translator can deal with above 40 languages, including:
•Arabic (Egyptian, Saudi, and Global)
•China (Cantonese, Refined, Sichuan dialect, Conventional)
•British (Australian, China, Indian, BE, and AE)
•French (typical and Canadian)
•Portuguese (typical and Brazilian)
•Spanish (regular and Mexican)
•Bulgarian
•Catalan
•Croatian
•Czech
•Danish
•Dutch
•Finnish
•German
•Greek
•Hindi
•Hebrew
•Hungarian
•Indonesian
•Italian
•Japanese
•Korean
•Malay
•Norwegian
•Improve
•Romanian
•Russian
•Slovak
•Swedish
•Tagalog
•Thai
•Turkish
•Ukrainian
•Vietnamese
Whenever you consider one check out the Muama Enence translator, you’ll be very impressed to see that it will maintain every one of the dialects listed above. It is barely larger than an older MP3 player. Needless to say, the dimensions works to its gain it won’t use up an excessive amount of area in your pocket or maybe your bag.
The way Muama Enence operates is very easy. You might have two control keys, imaginatively called the A along with the B button. When you wish to state something for the particular person in front of you, push the Some control, and speak your phrase. After you release the switch, it translates the sentence for your interlocutor. When they would like to answer you, support the B option when they communicate. Their phrase will revisit you in your terminology. We should notice that you can even talk a number of sentences in a row applying this translator.
Can It Really Work That Well?
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Oh, it absolutely does. The reply time of Muama Enence is at most 1.5 seconds. In addition, it’s a device which will go on for four total time prior to the battery goes out. All it requires then is actually a swift charge.
But that is not the end of Enence’s wonderful features. You can also require a image of some written text in the foreign words, as well as the small translator will tell you what’s written. You must connect it to the smartphone via Bluetooth.
Muama Enence is likewise exceptionally durable. If it was industry-analyzed by a team of curious users, a few of them dropped these devices on the sidewalk. Even after this difficult therapy, the translators worked just like a allure.
You can’t really surpass small, resilient, and handy when it comes to translation units. But, even Muama translator’s prices are awesome it’s neither too expensive nor inexpensive.
We need to also speak about the range. The Enence translator can select your speech up far away of 2 meters (6.6 ft .). Additionally, it features a wireless transmitting extended distance of 10 m (32.9 ft). Furthermore, it really works properly even though you’re inside a packed region with plenty of sound. Streets and sidewalks spring to mind, as do dining establishments and pubs. Put simply, places in which a number of people are conversing as well, however you only have to comprehend the individual directly in front of you.
Experts:
•Above 40 different languages accessible for interpretation
•Mobile sizing makes it easy to carry around
•It is tough
•Good transmitting range
•Very long battery lifespan
Negatives:
•It mistranslates occasionally
•Not to use in daily life-or-loss of life circumstances
What Are The Flaws for the Muama Enence?
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As wonderful because the Muama Enence translator is, it’s not best. As an example, you will have occasions when the device will mistranslate a phrase. That typically occurs when someone mumbles while they talk or when there is too much disturbance provided by other individuals close by.
Yet another major problem is basically that you shouldn’t utilize the translator in everyday life-or-death situations. If a person is hurt or unwell, you must locate a medical professional that speaks their vocabulary. Counting on a translator of any sort (app or device) could cost someone their lifestyle.
Which Will Muama Enence Help the Most?
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We are all aware that studying another words is usually the best choice for anything. Whether or not you like to traveling or anticipate operating abroad, you need to know the basic principles in the unfamiliar terminology. But some individuals are just not designed for understanding them, and that’s perfectly regular. These are the basic individuals who would benefit from Muama Enence probably the most. They are able to quickly have the standard phrases across to individuals they’re talking with without worrying that they’ll obtain it all improper.
Enence is also great for individuals that don’t get the time and energy to become familiar with a new vocabulary as well as individuals who be aware of very fundamentals from it. It’s an awesome shortcut when you’re in a rush or can’t extra at any time.
I wish to Buy Muama Enence. Can Anyone Help Me Have It?
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Though it comes with its flaws, Muama Enence is a superb small translator. It really works properly, operates a very long time before its up coming charge, and it’s resilient due to its dimensions.
If you’re interested in investing in a Muama Enence translator, take a look at our storefront below. In the event you call now, you will get a 50Percent discounted and free freight. Furthermore, if you opt for three Muama Enence translators, you will definitely get two a lot more free of charge. If you’re not satisfied with their functionality, you have a 60-working day cash-back guarantee.
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