#this is the third language and third different learning method i've had

[hjbender]

Maybe it's me. I don't know. But I feel like Duolingo is trolling me.

I've been using the app for six months now. I still don't know how to count any numbers, the days of the week, the names of the months, essential verbs like "to be" or "to know", or important phrases like "Can you please speak slower?" or "I need help," but by God I can tell you "My crocodile is already at the theater" in perfect Russian.

[ettawritesnstudies]

Hi Etta! Sorry if you already mentioned this, but where/how did you find your editors? (If you don't mind sharing)

Don't mind at all!

I know there are companies like Reedsy and the Writers Digest which have databases of editors, but that seemed really overwhelming. At the end of the day, the best way to get resources is to network (make friends, and hope their mutuals like you too).

Last year, I did an interview for Amanda Auler on Instagram and she boosted my account, so months later I ended up doing an interview for Addison Horner. He does editing for indie authors, so I asked him for a sample edit and liked it, but I wanted to get other points of comparison first, so I asked around and came up with a short list of editors. I contacted them, and when I had enough to compare, I ended up deciding I liked Addison best and drew up a contract with him. God moment that I found him so quickly.

But if I had to give this advice to someone else I'd recommend following these steps:

Read books in your genre. Read INDIE AUTHORS in your genre. Review their books. Follow them on social media. Be a friendly fan but don't make it weird.

Indie authors are one person publishing teams desperate for engagement and positive attention. They will thank you for your help and be willing to pay it forward when the time comes.

Once you have a handful of books you like that have similar vibes to your book, flip to the acknowledgements and find the editors name.

Google the editor, find their site, submit your inquiry, email works better than a form.

If you can't find the editor online, DM the indie author and ask "hey I really liked your book and it's a good comp title for my WIP. Who's your editor and what was your experience with them like? Do you mind pointing me their way?" Follow the author's advice. Repeat as needed.

(I've only ever received nice responses to this, don't be anxious. If they don't reply they're probably just busy, not annoyed).

When you contact editors, ask about their availability, rates, and be specific about what type of editing you need. Ask for a free sample edit. Mine were 250-2500 words.

Supply details about your WIP. Mine looked like this:

Title: Runaways

Genre: Middle Grade Portal Fantasy. I'm not labeling it as "Christian Fiction" as religion isn't a focus point of the story, but there are significant underlying Catholic themes.

Premise: When Cecelia goes missing one stormy Halloween night, her older sister, Hannah, must venture into the faerie courts to learn the truth about their past and bring her home. (Linked WIP Page with additional information)

Length: About 86,000 words, 180 pages (Times New Roman, 12pt, double spaced, standard 1in margins formatting). 21 chapters with an epilogue

Style: 3rd person limited, present tense. 3 POV characters: primarily Hannah at first, and then Cecelia and the third added later, alternating.

Status/Timeline/Availability: Currently with a 2nd round of beta readers, and I'll be getting feedback by March 31st. After editing the draft to reflect their feedback and doing my own line edits, I'll be looking for a line/copy edit around April/May or early summer.

Types of edits needed: As I understand, every editor uses "line" and "copy" edit slightly differently, but I'm looking for a combination of both styles if possible: checking for internal consistency, logical choreography, adequate descriptions, minor plot or worldbuilding errors, as well as language concerns like cutting crutch words, making sentence structure more dynamic, choosing the right verbs, etc. Developmental editing not needed. Waiting to do proofreading at the moment

When perusing at the editors site, look for credentials/certifications, their backlog of works, and testimonials

If you don't have enough options following this method, join some discord servers! I'm in a local NaNoWriMo group and a Catholic Writers Guild called Inkwells and Anvils which were both useful. I think there might be some writeblr ones as well. Find the critiques channel and send the same information there^^

Compare sample edits. Who respects your voice? Who supplied the most insightful comments? Do you vibe over email? Are they willing to do a stylesheet? Do they like your book? Can you set up a 15 minute zoom call to see if you vibe and discuss details?

Look at prices. My rate is $.015 a word but that's pretty cheap for the industry. Most of the rates I saw publicly were between $.02-.03/word for line editing.

Pray/sleep on it

Once you pick your best option, set a date to send them the manuscript, sign contracts, and make payment.

Send a polite email to the other editors and say "I regret to say you're not quite the right fit for this book, but I appreciate all your time, help, and advice! I hope to work with you in the future" or something along those lines. Don't burn your bridges.

Celebrate!

This whole process took me a couple weeks, everyone was very punctual and professional and friendly. I ended up going with Addison not only because he was the cheapest but also because he made 3X the number of comments as any other writer, and his comments were specific and useful. He understood my characters immediately, I think in part because his writing style is similar to mine, based on his debut novel, Marrow and Soul. We're both Christians who like YA dark fantasy. It's a good match. He's still taking clients for later in the year if that's your vibes. I also worked with Amber Burdett and Sariah Solomon, who were both lovely.

I wish you the best of luck finding an editor who fits your story! I hope this was helpful and not overly long.

[dingo-saurus]

so. when i did my sleep study, and found out i had sleep apnea, i was then referred to a sleep specialist at the same clinic i did the study with. he sent me to a different place across the hall to get set up with a CPAP rental trial to see if it worked for me (it did, i'm no longer a walking corpse and i have my own machine now). AND set me up with some tests to make sure my nose and lungs were functioning. i did those tests, went back to see him, we determined that my lung capacity isn't great due to previous back injuries and that i needed to train myself to breath a little better now that those back injuries are largely not an issue anymore

so.

he sent me home with a bunch of printouts. to study and work on and then i'll see him in again later to see if i've improved. sounds straight-forward

he gave me three big packets. one of them, upon further inspection, was just a bunch of screenshots from a website promoting a training course for PHYSICIANS to take in order to learn how to help patients with a specific breathing exercise method. this included pictures of of youtube videos that, when I looked them up, were endorsements from physicians posted in like 2015. this course would cost over $1,000 AUD btw

the second one was an information packet about breathing disorders that explained how breathing works and how disordered breathing is a problem. the only useful thing he handed me, although i didn't personally need it

the THIRD THING. the fucking THIRD THING. was the main packet that had actual exercises and a place to keep track of my progress. the language inside was a little unclear and confusing but i picked it up again today to read through it thoroughly and make a start on it and realized that. while there were a couple legitimate breathing exercises that sounded fairly normal, the main focus of this method the packet was championing was to get you used to "air hunger". which is to say, getting me to hold my breath for longer periods of time and then build up to extended breathing exercises where i breathed so little i was in a constant state of "air hunger" for minutes at a time. which sounded like torture to me, so my partner looked into it and yeah. there is zero scientific evidence to back up this method. i don't know how it could possibly help me INCREASE MY LUNG CAPACITY (WHICH IS THE ESTABLISHED ISSUE) to do exercises wherein i reduce my breathing so much i feel like i'm on the verge of suffocating for up to 3 minutes

[jeffrey-beaumont]

tagged by @glyphsmash

Last song?

https://open.spotify.com/track/3VwLD5o1r0YBLkjUfgSEYg?si=RTBtObd0S32OefW16CSCNA

Currently watching?

Monster (needs to be finished).

Currently reading?

Finished Bryan Cranston's autobiography A Life in Parts and started Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, which is another autobiography. Its about growing up during Apartheid as an interracial boy. He was born to a Xhosa (one of the many ethnic groups of South Africa) mother and a Swiss German father and therefore did not fit into the legal racial categories of Apartheid. Brings to mind how arbitrary the concept of race is, and how demographics alter perception of individuals. There were three races the Apartheid government categorized people in: Black, White and Coloured. The definitions were literally based off of subjective appearance and all of their laws were warped around these categories and incredibly intricate and bureaucratic.

"Coloured" had a different connotation compared to the category of the same name in American Segregation, because it was distinct from Black. Basically Coloured was made up of the descendants of foreign enslaved Africans, assimilated indigenous African ethnic groups and early European colonists. Because of this combination of ancestry, the people who fall under this category do not have connection to the identities of other ethnicities in the country (like language, cultural heritage, etc.) and make up their own racial category. Basically Trevor did not look either Black or White, so he was considered "Coloured" because he physically resembled them, but he was ostracized from that category socially because he had connection to his Xhosa heritage through his mother's family. Therefore he fit into no category at all. The book is about his experiences. I highly recommend the audiobook because he does impressions and speaks multiple languages from different ethnic groups, which are very important to hear when he explains certain features and situations. The way he tells some of the stories is hilarious too.

Current Obsession?

Learning about African history and politics. Mostly been interested because of work, first researching information about climate and industrial processing methods since we get shipments from multiple African countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda). Primarily I've been learning about Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia) and Haile Selassie (the last Emperor). They are one of the few African civilizations that were not colonized by Europeans. Also they were the third civilization to officially adopt Christianity after the Roman Empire and Georgia.

Rastafarianism, which originated in Jamaica is the belief that the prophezied second coming of Christ was in the form of Haile Selassie, who represented the salvation of oppressed black peoples globally, being a king of a sovereign black nation. This ideology was influenced by Pan-African political movements. I want to sit down and learn more about Pan-Africanism, specifically in the US so I'm planning on reading Malcolm X's biography next.

Other things I've been learning about is German history in the World Wars, and some Holocaust literature. Quite depressing stuff, but important things. I'm trying to consume more of this information from direct German language sources so I can get practice at the same time. And then some brief things about Zionism movements in Europe before/after the wars. Been trying to wrap my head around the relationship between ideology, racism, nationality and war. I'm not sure there's a conclusion.

tagging: @morutopiya @calculesterhp @4184 @ocke @mnmix

[menalez]

Hey! Just wanted to ask you a few questions about Germany if it's not a problem! 😊

First things first, how are you doing there? I hope you're doing good, immigrating to a different country doesn't sound easy and personally I've been thinking about doing the same once I'll get my bachelor degree, but... I'm really scared and anxious...

I also wanted to ask you how did you learn German, if you studied it in school or if you took extra classes or something, because I would like to use an effective method to learn the language 😅

And also, if you don't mind the question, which level did you reach? (I mean the CEFR level, if you're acquainted with that scale)

Lastly, I wanted to tell you that your English is amazing and if you had any tips on how to improve my English skills (I speak English as a third language) I would be really grateful! ♥️

Have a nice day! 😊❤️

hey sure thing!!

im doing well, im really lucky that this time ive moved to a country where my gf is and where i also have family in the same city. being near my aunt has really helped make me less homesick! she will often invite us over and make bahraini food for us. she also often invites us to events about arabs in exile and middle eastern events which also make me feel not too far from my culture while also making me feel lucky that i can see stories that wouldn’t be allowed to be shared in my country.

i can imagine how you feel for sure bc i also felt similarly! but don’t let that angst and fear take over. focus on what you want to do with your life and what you want to achieve and remind yourself this is a good opportunity you wouldn’t want to lose out of fear.

for how i learned german, i finished A1 in university but didn’t have the ability to learn more german then. last year i learned some german in online classes while waiting to move to germany and once moving here, i started taking real life classes at a language school. outside of that id consume german media and read some books in german, as well as watching german shows and movies. also used the apps duolingo and drops on the side. things i didn’t understand i would search up on youtube bc there’s many videos of ppl explaining language stuff on there! also ppl on here would send me anons in german to help me practice and that also helped. in real life i also often will approach people in german, they’ll notice im not a native speaker bc im slower but when they ask me if i prefer english i insist on german instead and having convos in german with people also really helps!

im currently at the C1 level. last year around this time i was at A2! i hope eventually i can be at C2

id say in general with languages, it helps to just keep practicing it by using the language, reading stuff in that language, being acquainted with native speakers, and also writing in that language helps. find people who are very annoying about every mistake you make, my english only got this good bc i was among several westerners in middle school who would mock me whenever i made a slight mistake in english 😭 besides that, reading and writing a lot in english really helped me improve!

[magneticgroup]

A Day in the Life: Training Coordinator

As a brand, Magnetic Training is known for providing technical training courses globally. But who runs the day-to-day operations? To answer that, Iryna Usenko, Training Coordinator, introduces us to her daily routine and the behind-the-scenes of her coordinating role.

Could you please briefly share your background?

For education, I have graduated from National Aviation University. I've always had this growth mindset, which helped me pursue various opportunities and overcome challenges throughout my career path. I worked as a translator, secretary, and manager of international economic activities, among others, all leading to this day, where I'm currently working as a training coordinator at magnetic talents, a sub-brand of Magnetic Group. 

As a training coordinator, what are your primary responsibilities?

As you would guess, with a coordinator's role comes plenty of planning and detailed work. My primary responsibilities are the preparation of type training courses, including course records, online meetings, learning sessions, certificates, and exam records. I also support trainees and instructors, handle customer correspondence, prepare agreements and all the needed paperwork, invigilate exams, and attend office duties.

What does your daily work routine look like?

My day starts with a morning run and a cup of coffee while checking the mailbox and prioritizing my tasks. No day goes by without correspondence to our trainees and preparation of the required exam records. This also includes course records, on-site meetings, and remote exams. Before calling it a day, I take a moment to think about what went well and what I learned. It's like wrapping up one chapter and getting ready for the next day's adventures. 

What advice do you have for individuals aspiring to become training coordinators or enter a similar field?

Every case is individual, but generally, I would split my advice into four steps. First, develop strong communication and organizational skills as you will communicate a lot with people of different nationalities, organize training courses, and provide support during diverse types of training. Second, be on top of your management skills. Third, stay up-to-date with contemporary training methods and technologies. Fourth, learn foreign languages, which always comes in handy.

Since 2024 is fast approaching, what can newly-joining trainees expect in the year to come?

Magnetic Training is going to introduce two new types of training courses that will be available from January 2024, such as B777 (GE 90) B1&B2 type training course, and Engine High-Pressure Compressor Blend Repair Training. All important information about the courses can be found on our website.

[dr-stxrk]

i have a stupid thing that i'm trying to get over. on tiktok, when i watch a funny video (in english) i go to the comments section and see someone comment in my mother language. and here's the thing. it's usually just a reaction. it's also often something funny don't get me wrong, but i for some reason get mad that it's not in english. the comment i mean. i get mad on the behalf of the poster and i'm not even a native english speaker, it's a second language to me.

i get upset when people make comments in my language on a post that is in english.

a long time ago, i used to play a forum game and used to get spanish comments on my posts, and it made me upset because the app didn't let me copy-paste so i couldn't even use a translator to understand what they were trying to say. i think it made me feel bad because it felt like i learned this world-widely used language all on my own to communicate with people across the globe and then on this platform, on content that's in english, suddenly, it felt like it was for nothing. it doesn't matter that i know a whole second language. i know it's illogical, that the people commenting in a different language probably didn't even think that way, but i guess it kinda felt like it didn't matter at all anyway.

now i want to stop feeling this way because it also feels a bit entitled. i did self learn english, so for a while i thought people who didn't speak english were just lazy, but then i figured i was a fucking idiot to think that way because everyone's learning capacity is different. i used to think that because i didn't go to any language courses, didn't take any private classes, my only source was the internet. yet again same method didn't work for me when i tried to pick up the guitar or to learn how to draw. does that mean i've been lazy? well, maybe, but i just know that if i had spent the same amount of time and effort to learn a third language, i would've gone far further. so yeah. the language barrier is real and it's not something that has a quick fix.

i also want to get rid of this petty feeling because just because someone doesn't know how to say "haha that's funny" in english, it shouldn't mean they can't enjoy the content. but i just can't stop myself from imagining how confused the op must feel when they get a bunch of stuff in random languages. maybe it's because of my drive to know everything that's going around me. i feel the need to know what's happening at all times. i feel lost or worse, left out, missing out, when i can't understand something that's right in front of me.

so yeah. there's that. is there anyone who felt in a similar way? anyone know how to get over this?

[changeling-rin]

Hey there, I have a friend I've been getting into DL but I don't really know how to explain the links so I was woundering what would be the best way to explain each of the links (and sequels if possible please) - Friday (Please and Thank you!)

(cracks knuckles)

ALRIGHT PEOPLE HERE WE GO, LONG POST AHEAD

THE CHAIN LINKS

Gen: The Link from Skyward Sword. Short for Genesis, which he will never ever let anyone call him by ever because he doesn't actually like it. He's generally level-headed and appreciates common sense, and gets a bit miffed when things decide to divert from said common sense. He's the group medic, not necessarily by any skill on his part, but more because the group needed a medic and he couldn't believe there wasn't one yet, so the only logical decision was to do it himself. He gets very particular about the group taking the proper amount of healing items as a result. He functions as one-third of the Leader Trio and is the effective 'super-ego', if you will

Speck: The Link from Minish Cap. He's quiet, by far the most quiet, and will really only speak up if he's a) confident in what he has to say, and b) confident that it will add something worthwhile to the discussion. He has the ability to shrink via his magic hat (Ezlo) and a magical conduit shaped like a Jar that he carries around with him. Due to the bit where he's usually in the background, the fact that he has a surprisingly violent streak catches just about all his enemies off guard - for example, his favorite method of attack is shrinking down and using his size to stab his sword directly into his opponent's eardrum. Ironically, outside of a fight, he's one of the Links most likely to apologize to a flower for stepping on it

The Four: The Link(s) from Four Swords. They're the split-in-four version of the Link who drew the Sword, but due to a hive mind effect, everything they do is in unison. They're pretty quiet most of the time, due to most people finding said unison relatively unsettling, but since the Chain couldn't care less about that they're more willing to speak up every now and then. They specialize in group attacks and such, but they're terrible at being individual. The nature of their hive mind means that it's both incredibly uncomfortable and incredibly difficult to break their unison, and so most of the time they won't even bother trying. They have a little snarky side that comes out when they're stressed, and they hang out with Speck most often due to having similar introverted dispositions

Ocarina: The Link from Ocarina of Time, and one-half of the Hero(es) of Time with Mask due to time being broken and the continuum being shot. He's the younger half, even though he's in his sixteen-year-old body, and since he has the mind of a nine-year-old it makes a very odd combination. He has occasional confidence issues and a few self-worth/doubt beliefs as the result of hanging out with his older self and worrying about how he's going to successfully grow into someone so competent. He can usually be found next to his older self, or at the very least in the general vicinity of his older self, and he has a profound distaste for the necessity for secrets. Most specifically, his future, because it's literally standing right next to him and he'd really like to know if he beats Ganondorf, thanks

Mask: The Link from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, and one-half of the Hero(es) of Time with Ocarina. He's the older half despite being in the body of a twelve-year-old, and since he's technically got the mind of an eighteen-year-old at the very least it looks very strange from the outside. He's snarky, sarcastic, and takes great joy in messing with other people, most specifically his younger self by refusing to give away future hints and claiming ~Spoilers~ every time it comes up. He carries his transformation masks and uses then whenever the situation calls for it. He can usually be found next to his younger self because he's secretly worried about shattering his own personal timeline, and he puts a lot of effort into making sure Ocarina survives whatever mess they've gotten into this time. He also puts an equal amount of effort into making sure Ocarina doesn't notice this

Dusk: The Link from Twilight Princess. He functions as one-third of the Leader Trio and is the quote-unquote 'ego' - or, in othher words, he's usually the mediating force. If it's pointed out to him though, he will steadfastly deny that he's in any suited for a leadership position - which is in blatant contradiction to the fact that he's probably the most effective member of the Leader Trio. He carries the Curse Stone from Zant around his neck in a pouch and usles it to transform whenever the situation calls for it. He's also the regular soul-host for Midna, Shadow, or both, depending on the day. He's by far the most level-headed Link, taking almost everything in stride, and it takes a lot to make him lose his cool. The one surefire way to do it is to threaten someone he cares about, at which point he will waste no time completely destroying whoever was stupid enough to make said threat

RGBV: Red, Green, Blue, and Vio are the Link(s) from Four Swords Adventures, and like the Four they're the result of one Link being split into four bodies. Unlike the Four, they've retained their individuality and have four very different personalities as a result. Green is the established leader of their quad-cell, and is the most level-headed one. He's not the most patient one, but he is the one who's not afraid to do what needs to be done. Red is the most emotional one, easily excitable and absolutely willing to give hugs to anyone who asks (and a few who don't). Blue is the most aggressive one, although he mostly directs it towards his enemies. He does have a on-again-off-again rivalry of sorts with Vio, but it's never gotten beyond particularly invested sibling bickering. Vio meanwhile is the book-smarts one, or at least the one with the most strategic intelligence. He's also the best ranged fighter they have

Lore: The Link from A Link to the Past, Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, and Link's Awakening. He functions as one-third of the Leader Trio, finishing off the dynamic as the 'id'. He's by far the most unique personality, being a hyperactive chaos entity who delights in confusing people and making them question reality. He's also a polyglot, knows at least ten languages, and is constantly hunting for new ones to learn. He's easily the most experienced Link and as a result has Seen Some Stuff, but instead of being traumatized by the weirdness he decided to go in the other direction and embrace it instead. He's an absolutely terrible shot in spite of his numerous adventures, but the sheer amount of stuff he has tends to make up for it. He hasn't met a situation yet that he doesn't have an item for and he's not about to start now - although this is mostly due to his conviction that bombs are the answer to every situation

Realm: The Link from the original Legend of Zelda. He is constantly, hopelessly, chronically lost, and has absolutely no concept of where he is in relation to where everything else is. He also has a somewhat tenuous relationship with the concept of physical space, which tends to result in him getting lost in places he really should not have been able to get lost in (for example, a volcano). Regrettably this also extends to his items, which he frequently loses. In spite of this, he's one of the most cheerful and optimistic Links in the group. It takes a lot to get him into a bad mood, and given what he already goes through while maintaining a good mood, the entire Chain has yet to see him in a bad one. A side effect of getting lost so much is that his stamina is absolutely ridiculous, which makes him very good at drawing out a fight - in fact, that's more or less his specialty

Sketch: The Link from A Link Between Worlds. He has the ability to turn his body into paint and move along the walls like a living hieroglyph. Unfortunately, due to being made of watercolors when he does this, he also has a severe phobia of water as a result of the fact that he might actually die a horrifically painful death if his paint runs too much. Outside of that, he's relatively level-headed and very crafty, in the literal sense that he likes to make things. He used to be a blacksmith's apprentice before this whole Hero business got started (his specialty is metalwork). He likes things to make sense and gets a bit snarky when the universe decides to spite him by making no sense at all. He's one of the best Links at stealth, because for some reason very few people will notice the artwork on the wall and as long as he has a surface to fuse with, he can get just about anywhere

Wind: The Link from Wind Waker. He carries said Wind Waker as part of his inventory, and it lets him control the weather. He's a certified Weather Master in everything but the official certification, because he hasn't had the chance to go back and take the test yet, but the ability to throw literal tornadoes at his enemies makes him arguably one of the most dangerous Links in the group. He does prefer to hang back in a fight and hit from a distance as opposed to getting up close and personal, but that's very typical for a mage. He has an overabundance of patience, stored up from sailing for days back on his home ocean, and he'll take just about anything in stride - unless you're threatening his family, then all bets are off. He's one of the quieter Links, being more content to wait and see the results of something rather than actively participating, but this in no way means that he's not paying attention. He knows what he's capable of, is fully willing and ready to do it if necessary, and makes no excuses to the contrary

Steam: The Link from Spirit Tracks. He has the ability to see hidden things, which extends beyond his own disembodied Princess Zelda and into things like mask spirits or just plain invisible opponents. He also has a summons in the form of the Spirit Train, which he takes great pleasure in slamming into whichever villain has annoyed him. He's got a dry sort of sarcasm and he's definitely not afraid to say what he thinks. As a result of spending most of his adventure on a Train, he's easily the least physically fit of the Links and therefore tends to hang back in a fight, relying more on his summons for heavy hits or his sight ability to provide support. His previous career choice was a locomotive engineer, and as a result he and Sketch get along very well. They have regularly scheduled brainstorm sessions about what sort of gadget they should try and make this time, usually with Steam providing the math and schematics and Sketch providing the real-world experience to make it real

Shadow: The Link from a variety of games, since whenever a Shadow or Dark Link appears, that was him. He's bitingly sarcastic, could not possibly care less about the opinions of other people, and takes great joy in finding the best way to insult someone as possible. Being formed from the darker emotions of other Links, he's understandably in a poor-to-terrible mood almost all the time, although he can usually be convinced to take it out on other people. A side effect of being made of dark magic is that he can't be out in the sunlight too long - it'll start to burn him in the same way a match burns paper. As a perk though, he can manipulate his body into any shape he wants, mostly ignoring physics as he does. This makes him easily one of the most powerful Links in the group, since he doesn't take battle damage the way a physically-bodied person would and is all but immune to being stabbed. He makes for an excellent aggro target, partly because he can take anything the opponent could give, but also because he'll give it all back and then some

Oni: The Link from before Skyward Sword. Also known as the Fierce Deity. Saying that he's overpowered is a bit of an understatement, as he can take out the likes of Majora in three hits or less, but he's very unlikely to actually use his power like that. As a result of being put into a mask, he has no actual autonomy unless someone is wearing him, at which point he takes control of the body of the wearer to manifest in the real world. This lasts with no repercussions until his mask is removed, at which point Oni returns to his bindings. He has not deigned to explain how he ended up in a mask or who managed to put him there, but the loose implication points to the aftermath of the Demon War as the cause. Further information is pending. He's stoic and composed, and has yet to be truly riled up by anything that's happened. He also refuses, as a rule, to get involved with the rest of the Chain's adventures unless his presence is truly required. As the First Link Ever, and the one from whom the entire rest of the lineage has descended, Oni feels somewhat responsible for guiding the rest of the Links through their journeys - but guiding and coddling are two different things and as far as Oni is concerned, his legacies need to be able to fight their own battles

THE SEQUEL LINKS

Rune: The Link from Breath of the Wild. He has the Champion Abilities, as well as his own Quicktime specialty, and is of course concerningly amnesiac. He's quiet to the point of almost being forgettable, which is a side effect of a) spending nearly all his time in the wilderness alone with nobody to talk to, and b) having to constantly be on the alert for Guardians because nothing alerts a Guardian like a loud hylian. His inventory is nearly bottomless, and he therefore immediately becomes the group pack mule. He's also hands-down the best chef (something which makes Gen only slightly jealous)

Lux: The Link from Hyrule Warriors. He is the quietest Link, but not because of his personality - it's because he can't talk. The most vocalization he's ever going to manage is incoherent yells of effort, because anything beyond that is locked behind a psychosomatic speech block. He has not deigned to share why he has a psychosomatic speech block and at the moment it's highly doubtful he ever will. He's second only to Shadow in his sarcasm and general displeasure with the world, and the rest of the group is lucky that hylian sign only has loosely defined curse words, otherwise he'd be going off

RSE: Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald are the Link(s) from Triforce Heroes. Emerald is the leader of the trio, more or less, while Ruby handles anything that might need a good smacking and Sapphire embodies the emotional core. They have a strange dynamic where they bicker with each other to hide the fact that they care, which is a direct result of them still settling into their own dynamics. They have their Totem formation, of course, and share an incredibly specific set of opinions about fashion. The fact that they also have their entire wardrobe on hand is complete coincidence, yep

Lyric: The Link from Cadence of Hyrule. He can hear the Universe Music better than any other Link (with the possible exception of Wind) and he will do whatever he can to follow its lead. He's constantly moving to the beat in almost everything he does, and it makes him unexpectedly deadly in a fight. It turns out that following the Universe Music gives very good buffs and Lyric is a master at following the music. Ironically enough for all his sense of rhythm, he cannot sing to save his life and is in fact instrumentally challenged, which annoys him to no end

THE OC LINKS

Codex: The Link from the Evil Overlord List, a story I write that somehow developed its own protagonist. He's snarky, sarcastic, runs on caffeine and spite, and will probably take over the world someday if he ever gets around to it. He's currently just a college student writing his thesis paper (The List), but once he graduates the world had better brace itself

Wraith: The Link that was made as a result of a random conversation one day, in which someone asked me what would happen if Demise won permanently. Five minutes with my angst-stunted brain later, I had a cheerful sunshine child who had the ability to see spirits and was getting mentored by all eighteen dead Heroes as the backup plan to deal with Demise. He's way too pure for the world and probably shouldn't be as big an optimist as he is for someone surrounded by dead people

[sootbird]

Hi sootbird :) I was wondering how you study Japanese, like, what materials or books do you use, do you attend a class or are a disciplined self-study person? I've tried several methods and apps and such and so far, nothing really turned into a routine for me...

Hello!! To answer your question about my own personal Japanese study, I took five years of Japanese classes at my university and have a bachelor’s degree in it. Right now, I’m self-studying, because I’m still not where I want to be in terms of fluency. It takes a fair bit of discipline, but I think it’s fun and I’m a big nerd so I like to study it every day. ;;

I’m so excited you’re interested in learning Japanese!! It’s such a neat language. I’m not entirely sure how to advise self-study straight from the beginning, but I can try! I’m sure there are lots of resources online for learning Japanese (it’s a fairly popular language to learn these days), but I also have a slew of books that I can recommend to you. Some are books that I used at school in my classes, and others are books that I acquired on my own over the years. The textbooks tend to be more expensive bc they have a lot of material, but I do think they’d be useful for beginning self-study, because you do need some sort of foundation before you can branch out on your own. I do think that having materials made me feel like I was properly studying it and I think has encouraged me to keep up with my self-study!

Textbooks:

Nakama books

These are the textbooks I used in my beginning classes. Nakama 1 was for first year, and Nakama 2 was for the second year. I think they’re pretty good books, and you can rent them for a semester on Amazon it looks like.

Genki books

I haven’t used these textbooks, but I have friends who did use them in their Japanese classes, and I’ve heard good things about them. I recommend checking the reviews and seeing which book series (Nakama or Genki) you wanna go with. Of course, if you feel like splurging, you can always get both and cross-reference them.

Other books: These are other books that I use to supplement my study. AKA you don’t need them right away.

A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar -- Makino/Tsutsui

A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar -- Makino/Tsutsui

The Handbook of Japanese Verbs -- Kamiya

A Dictionary of Japanese Particles -- Kawashima

All About Particles -- Chino

The Handbook of Japanese Adjectives and Adverbs -- Kamiya

Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication -- Kamiya

The first step you wanna take before anything else is learning how to read and write the Japanese syllabaries. Japanese doesn’t use an alphabet like English does. Instead of the written characters representing individual sounds, they represent syllables. Let me illustrate this with an example: the Japanese word for “heart” is こころ. As you can see, there are three characters there. When written in Roman letters, it is spelled “kokoro.” Six letters in our alphabet, but only three Japanese characters. The syllables in that word are “ko,” “ko,” and “ro.” You can see how the writing system is syllable-based.

Japanese has two syllabaries. The first is called hiragana. The second is called katakana. The syllables represented by these two systems are exactly the same, but the syllabaries are used differently. Hiragana tends to be used more, and katakana tends to be used for loan words (words from other languages that have been integrated into Japanese). I’ll use “kokoro” as an example again.

Here is “kokoro” in hiragana: こころ

Here is “kokoro” in katakana: ココロ

The use of hiragana versus katakana is something you’ll get used to with experience, but it’s important to know BOTH syllabaries. I didn’t learn katakana well enough at the beginning and it haunts me to this day. Don’t rely too heavily on romaji (the writing of Japanese words in Roman letters) because the Japanese don’t use it. Only use it as a pronunciation tool at the beginning. I do use romaji on a romaji-to-Japanese keyboard I have on my phone, but that’s really just a matter of convenience and for quicker typing.

Learn both of the syllabaries and practice writing the letters as you go. I recommend using a fun pen! After that, the textbooks can tell you what to do next. (The textbooks do tell you how to learn hiragana and katakana as well at the start, if you need more guidance than the internet gives you.)

Here are some other important resources that will be a big help to you:

Dictionary app: A Japanese dictionary is gonna be really important and I find that it’s handy to have one on your phone. I don’t know about Android, but the App Store has a few of them. I use one that’s just called “Japanese Dictionary” and it’s got a red icon.

Online dictionary: If you can’t get your hands on a dictionary app or if you’re on the computer, you can use this great online Japanese dictionary called Jisho. I use it frequently when I’m on my computer.

Flashcard app: Flashcards are gonna be your best friend. I recommend getting a good flashcard app. The one I use is Anki, and I have it on my phone and on my computer. You can download it for free on your computer and I think it’s free for Android. I have an iPhone and I had to pay 25 bucks for the app but I’ve heard that there’s a free version on the App Store too? It might just have ads, but I’m not sure. Anyway, Anki is great because it will make note of the flashcards you’re having trouble with and give them to you with more frequency. There are also a lot of decks that people have uploaded to the Anki website, so you can find all sorts of community-made Japanese decks that you can import (I think you have to import a deck on the desktop version, but then you can sync it up to your phone). 

And finally, some things to keep in mind before starting Japanese. 

Japanese is generally agreed upon to be a pretty difficult language to learn (for English speakers at least). As a native English speaker, I would agree that it is kinda hard. The general sentence structure of English is subject-verb-object. In Japanese, that structure is subject-object-verb. Since the verb is at the end of the sentence, it can be tricky to switch your brain around to the order.

A lot of people will also tell you that kanji is a nightmare. Kanji are the third element of the Japanese writing system, and are characters borrowed from Chinese. In fact, Japanese did not have a written form until the 5th century, and all of it came from Chinese. Kanji characters however, have mostly retained their resemblance to Chinese characters. They more closely resemble traditional Chinese characters, and visually look like a step between traditional Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters.

Anyway, they may look quite complicated and there are a lot of them. But you will learn to love them, and they’re so fun to write. This is a kanji-positive zone so if you ever get stressed about kanji come chat with me and I will reassure you.

Here is a book I am currently using to effectively memorize kanji, and I highly recommend it. It’s beginner-friendly.

So, you may get stressed out by Japanese and maybe by all the information I just gave you, but don’t worry!! It’s a very fun language to learn and anyone can learn it if they put their mind to it! I believe in you! Come back and ask me if you have any questions.

Thank you for the ask and I hope this helps!!