#but im probably better at it than a lot of native speakers

[imustbenuts]

I cant remember if youre a native speaker of Chinese or Japanese, but do you ever think about non-native Japanese issues? I probably am always super explicit about the subject of a sentence for instance.

im actually supposed to be a native chinese... but i messed up somewhere and my japanese is now better than my chinese lmao

hmmm non-native japanese issues? i think what i think about a lot is the social body language and a lot of the double speak that goes on in a formal conversations. a lot of the 'power play' that happens as it were, and how to react to them.

bc of my work (i work video game retail related stuff) i get to interact with them and theres a lot of... well, 'corporate language speak' that happens.

like when we get shoved an absurd invoice for things we cant reject, and are told to just sell it or risk breaking relations with this specific company

the double speak of saying 'oh your stuff is selling well, sir!' = 'please MAINTAIN and DONT CHANGE COURSE'

or the drinking sessions i get brought on sometimes as a social formality and a song and dance just as we clean up the mess of this unspecified big fuck-up that recently happened.

that and the infamous situation which happened to hideo kojima and how konami basically power-play'd him to get out of the company

i think and wonder about this a lot. like are we just being jerked around? do they see us as scrubs? much to wonder.

#ask

[albeckett]

spanish, 2 months in

so i've been learning spanish for 2 months or so now 🥳 i know that i'm still in that honeymoon phase where im acquiring a lot at once and every small victory feels like a huge thing, but overall i'm really enjoying it. anyway, i wanted to write up a little post because i think in a few more months or years i'll be interested in seeing how i started learning, as well as what did or didn't work out for me.

fwiw, here's what i'm personally doing. everything is free btw:

daily flashcards - i'm using this anki deck for general vocabulary, and i also have a custom deck that i add slang or rare words to. i also plan to start this one to drill verb conjugations. this is probably the biggest time sink, i do it every day for ~25-30 mins.

grammar textbook - i print out and do the pages by hand. the only thing that sort of sucks is that i'm doing the exercises in order, and they introduce conjugations at like the midpoint, which probably could have helped me earlier on? fabulous book so far though! it's all in spanish, but the examples are very clear, and you pick up more vocab/sentence structure this way imo

language transfer spanish - i'm about 4/5 through this and definitely recommend it for general grammar/listening practice. it's not a traditional language course where you learn how to say "hello/goodbye/my name is" in the first lesson... it really guides you into naturally constructing language instead of just memorizing it and spitting it back out. there are a lot of little tricks you learn too, like how english can be "converted" into spanish using their shared latin roots, the host has a ton of linguistics knowledge so it's really rather fun!

audiovisual/written input - this is the part where i get to WATCH STUFF yay!!!! but then i actually have to pay attention to it, boo. i do actively learn from 31 minutos since i have dual subtitles, but otherwise i kinda just vibe and try to learn from anything i'm into that happens to be in spanish... so other shows and song lyrics, etc. im also verrrryyy slowlyyyy reading this introductory bilingual reader, and i try to pick up things from posts on spanish-speaking subreddits like r/mexico, r/argentina, r/chile, etc... i find reading contemporary posts online is a great way to pick up slang and usually if i find a word i don't know i'll put it in my custom anki deck so i learn it 👍

so where am i at after all of this? UM well it's hard to say but i feel comfy saying i'm advanced beginner... i know most of the simple verb tenses (present, future, perfect and imperfect past, conditional, subjunctive) and maybe like 1000-1500 words? and i definitely have a sense now of what parts of speech should look like. i don't explode anymore when seeing se/me/te before a verb either. i think i could communicate with a (patient) native speaker without losing my mind -- my reading is way better than my listening or speaking, but i think this is somewhat common.

some areas that i could improve on:

i don't get nearly enough listening practice sighhhh like i do want to watch stuff but moving has made it very hard. hopefully i can work on it in the winter

same as above, i need more speaking practice... i am actually doing all this for a reason (going on a trip to a spanish-speaking country next year) so i don't really want to be put on the spot. i might try to find some local clubs or cultural exchange groups for this?

i know it's a meme but i can not roll my Rs very well. it's bad out here

one last resource: if you would like to learn a language but are totally overwhelmed by what to do or how to do it, i heartily recommend this guide. it's entirely about how to learn a language, but it doesn't have tips for specific languages, it can be applied to anything. it's also free, open-source, and pragmatic in its approach, which i like. that's all i got for now but thanks for reading 🙇‍♂️ hopefully i return to this post in a few months with more progress!

#this was originally 'spanish 1 month in' and then i had to revise the entire thing because it sat in my drafts and i progressed a lot #so now im posting it NO MATTER WHAT 🔫 #ennisposteando

[hoboyherewego]

Twst questions made by @seajellyx

Im answering in a separate post cause it was becoming a very long thread and it hurts my small brain

@ryuuryuuhoney thx for the @ !

(By the way, honey= miel in french )

_______________________________________________

Would you be a mer, a beastman, a fae, or a human?

I would be a human cause I’m a basic bitch

Would you be at rsa or nrc?

Realistically, RSA since Im a goody two-shoes. Maybe NRC my way of association, like Kalim and Silver.

What dorm would you belong to?

Diasomnia for the vibe. Its calm, it’s dark. Im a lil creature of the night. Also, they’re very loyal to eachother.

Maybe Octavinelle because sea creatures are my jam and I would just pass my free time looking at the aquarium. Also, I would actually try to represent the spirit of benevolence and would do it better than the entirety of the dorm.

What character(s) would you be best friends with?

Grim cause cat.

Na for real, I guess Jade cause we can gush about our special interests together. I can also keep up with his bullshit.

Maybe Idia but like; best friends that talk absolute shit to eachother.

What character(s) would you hate?

Hate is a strong word so none. Most characters would probably just piss me off at first lmao. I don’t like it when people only work for their own agenda. (RIP the whole school)

What character(s) would you date?

Huuuuum the whole octatrio polyam im so thirsty for them fish boys they are so cute and beautiful im down bad plz floyd squeeze me i crave physical touch

Trey would be a very nice boyfriend, have you seen his arms? :) so much potential

What would floyd's nickname be for you?

Shrimpy fits very well since I’m extra smol irl. Also my hands kinda just * limp wrist* all the time so they look like lil claws.

and rook's?

As a native french speaker, I would call his bullshit french out before he can find one.

What twst character(s) are you most like?(personality-wise)

I guess the closest would be Idia, but not really. I have the internal ADHD of Floyd, some weird obsessions like Jade (autism), the crippling anxiety of Idia and the positive aura of Kalim.

Which subject(s) do you think you would excel at?

Anything that has to do with science, im a fucking nerd. I would be so excited for the potionology class since I’ve played so many alchemist games as a child. Its literally a dream of mine to make potions. Also, anything with art.

What club would you join?

The Mountain lover club 100%. Ive spent so many summers as a child hiking I love it. I would probably go hang out with the pop music club from time to time tho.

How do you think you would survive in twisted wonderland/what would your life be like in general?

Tbh I have no sense of self preservation so I would need a lot of luck ( which I don’t have). I would probably die 🤷 ✨

[optional!] What would your unique magic be?

If I had magic, I would like to have something with healing (That would prevent me from dying lmao). Maybe some plant stuff.

There we go (me👇)

#asks #twisted wonderland

[batteryrose]

im late but ASK GAME TIME!! 1, 9, 21, 28, 36

Hey Mo I love you!! And that's a lot of numbers!!! Fine I'll answer them

Which of your fics would you keep the basic plot of but rewrite completely?

Wouldn't mind rewriting and bettering Tragedy Farce if only I have THE GODDAMN TIME

You also have to kill the perfectionist in you sometimes. I'd rather move on and make some other funky stuff

Thoughts on cliffhangers.

What about cliffhangers. I can be tricked into thinking bad stories are good if they have a good cliffhangers in every chapter or something....... So I'd say they're pretty important. You gotta make people keep reading somehow! I'm pretty bad at it myself though.

Can you accurately predict how long your fics are going to be? If you can, what's your secret?

I can't really. There is some intuition in shorter ones though. Usually those one shots with only one scene that I like writing will end up around 2k words. Somehow that's just how long all of them would be without me even checking the word count. And it would be enough, too. Crazy

As for my longer fics, they always end up double the amount of what I predicted lol

Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing?

I think to write often you have to be amongst writers. Have some writer friends like this, who tags you in.. Asks games.

Seriously though, it seems to work best. Reading all your friends works and throwing your own out there to be read. It's a rhythmic cycle. There's nothing else more motivating. As for writing longer fics, I have a habit of not talking/sharing wips about it to anyone until it's finished. I probably should! You probably should. You can probably get better ideas from other people. You might also catch mistakes early. Either way, Use People.

What else... Mmmmmoh I usually continue reading a book first before I start writing because then the words flows out easier. But that might just be because I'm not a native english speaker. Get the english brain going. I think it'll work for everyone though.

When I'm so lazy and stubborn to write anything, I'll use an alarm to do those 25 min writing sprints. This I rarely do. It's only for my long fics that I procrastinate on horribly. It sort of works tho and after some days I'd start writing on my own without needing the alarm.

One other thing too maybe: draft on phone and edit on computer! Especially porn!! Cannot for the love of me ever do that on computer

How do you come up with fic titles? What's the one you're most proud of?

I like to reference things in titles basically. I'm not creative. If I'm stumped then I'll just steal some other people's titles. The Tragedy Farce one, for example, is a title of a philosophy book written by Slavoj Zizek, which is also referencing Marx's quote about Napoleon that says: "history repeats, first as tragedy then as Farce" or something like that (I think he was specifically talking about Napoleon III). 'Less than Nothing' is also a zizek book title, while also being something Leon himself said once. It's great.

Some other titles that reference things:

Sleipnir is a horse in nordic mythology who is ridden by Odin, who has eight legs, like the,,, eight princes of Rhodolite. So "Sleipnir's Second Limb" just means Chevalier. Through the pov character's view, he is seen as some sort of a God.

I know Nothing about norse mythology. I believe I was searching for just about any horse god out there to reference. I think this one is perfect.

"If the mountain won't come to Mochammad," and "God Between Us and All Harm" are both people sayings that I found by googling. I'm most proud of the Muhammad one. It fits PERFECTLY with Adam's dumb predicament there. As for the second one, it just sounds visceral with the content of the fic.

'Symptoms of Rosette Disease' is just some words. Honestly thinking of changing it. Rosette disease itself is a fascinating plant disease, that's why I used it. And it's supposed to mean the underlying prejudice and inequality that exists in Rhodolite, the kingdom of roses, or something. I'm Trying to be profound here

'The Skies Have Been Empty' is also a good one... It's just Wellington noticing that over the centuries the stars have been less visible (because of light pollution babyyyyyyyyyyyy) and since stars was how people find their way in the past, he now has lost his way in life, Something Something

That's all I have to say about titles. I just woke up.

#Ask

[distortedbeat]

KNOWING YOUR PARTNER WELL CAN POTENTIALLY MAKE WRITING TOGETHER A LOT EASIER.  REPOST.

name.    Ren ( formerly Cry/Cryptic or Cereal )

pronouns.    They/he/she

preference  of  communication.    Discord is the easiest way to reach me! I don't mind the tumblr IM system terribly, but it's much easier for me to keep track on Discord, as Tumblr doesn't always notify me.

name  of  muse.    Kyouka Jirou

rp  experience  /  how  long.     About 12-13 years! As far as Tumblr goes, though, it's been like... 7-8 years, I think? Across many, many blogs

best  experience.    Probably getting to meet @invisiquirk and @empyrrrean. Those two are absolute GEMS in my life, and Cinder has been probably my closest friend for so, so long. I don't know where I'd be without the both of them. Getting to meet them in person a few years back is an absolute highlight of my life.

rp  pet  peeves  /  dealbreakers.    I honestly can't think of any pet peeves in this moment. Maybe purple prose? I am a native English speaker, but a lot of that is excessive and just muddles whatever it is you're actually trying to communicate. Dealbreakers, though-- that shit is all in my rules, naturally.

fluff,  angst,  or  smut.   I love fluff. So much. You don't understand. Platonic, familial, romantic-- you name it, I will find any way I can to make it cute and fluffy. It's my favorite. Angst is nice too, but I don't like angst just for the sake of angst, and usually I like for there to be some kind of good resolution/ending to it, or at least a neutral one. You're talking to someone terrified to death of the 'major character death' tags on AO3, man. LOL. Smut, though, is a no-go on this blog. Jirou's a minor.

plots  or  memes.    To be completely honest, I'm trying to get better at plotting, and would love to do more of it. But winging it/going off of memes has been my way for a long time-- so I'm very much open to doing both.

long  or  short  replies.    Long. For better or worse, I usually try to make myself write at least 3 paragraphs, at least for answers to memes. Threads usually end up about that length anyway. Short replies just... don't come to me tbh. I like to ramble lmao

best  time  to  write.    Whenever I find the time, honestly. Evening and night time hours feel the most productive to me, but I often work during the night so that's not exactly feasible. And with my shifts seemingly getting longer lately, free time is sporadic as hell.

are  you  like  your  muse. We're both definitely "The Music Kid". Jirou, however, is way more talented than I am. I only know how to play a trumpet and vague piano skills, and she can do like... everything lmao. But in terms of aesthetics and attitude, I think we're pretty similar! Except I'm just an angrier person. Bitter and small like a human espresso lksmdlkgm

Tagged by: I stole it off the dash except it was a couple days ago, I think LOL Tagging: You, with the eyes. I'm too scared to tag people yet lksmflkdmg

#❧ ｢ general ｣ ⸻ dash game #❧ ｢ general ｣ ⸻ mun

[catboyrightsdefender]

Hi! Id been interested to hear more about your thoughts on " bauhaus style " ! It's not a subject I know much about but I recently read black city white city (not sure if that's an ick or a win in your book!) So I'm curious about your opinion - if you don't mind! :)

ok so i'll start by warning you that since im not a native english speaker my thoughts might end up not being super well worded and articulated and im really sorry about that. also i'm putting it under a cut because i did get kinda Long (sorry about that)

I'm wary of the term 'style' in general (but that's just something i got from my studies), and since Im kinda specializing in bauhaus-related things im not fond of the term bauhaus style. That term is often used to talk about 1. objects and design and 2. architecture, and refers mostly to things such as furniture produced by the bauhaus during the dessau and berlin eras, and generally speaking after 1923, such as marcel breuer's chairs, wagenfeld's lamp, brandt's tea sets etc etc. But the Bauhaus didn't start in 1923, and produced more heterogenous things during it's first years in Weimar, when it's artistic 'ideology' wasn't as definite as it was once the school opened itself to constructivist influence from 1923. The productions commonly used to illustrate the "bauhaus style" mostly result from that constructivist influence. So talking about one single unified bauhaus style seems a bit too generalizing and reductive to me, and puts emphasis on one specific aspect of the Bauhaus' production rather than on its whole history, which shows a lot of aesthetical and ideological evolution. And on a simpler scale, why use the term 'style' when we could just say 'bauhaus productions' ?

Hearing the term 'bauhaus style' used in talks about architecture kinda annoys me even more, but that's probably because hearing people talk about the Bauhaus as if it was only an architecture school drives me mad in the first place haha. Architecture in itself wasn't a discipline at the school until 1927, and the architectural projects done at the school differed greatly between Hannes Meyer's and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's directorships. Again, there isn't one specific "style" of architecture that was done at the Bauhaus. It was modern, avant-garde architecture in the same vein as what could be seen in other parts of Europe and in the Soviet Union. Even if I personally don't like the term 'style', I prefer using the term 'International Style'.

I haven't read the book you're mentioning, but since it's about architecture in Tel Aviv it allows me to add a little bit of nuance to what I just said. I'm not at all well versed in that subject, but from what I know there were Bauhaus students who went to Israël to do architectural work. There is clearly an influence from the type of architecture that was being done at the Bauhaus in the twenties, but again, the term 'International style' would suit those works better. It's worth noting that the terms 'bauhaus style' and 'international style' are often used as synonyms, which to me is problematic. International style would include what was being done at the Bauhaus, but it cannot be reduced to that. There was definitely an influence from the Bauhaus in Tel Aviv, and I think in many cases that word is better than style. And that goes not only for the Bauhaus but also for various other styles.

Realizing as I'm typing this that this is definitely not well articulated lmao. In short what my opinion is is that the word style in itself is often problematic, because it implies an unified, definite concept, which isn't often a thing. I don't think it is in the case of the Bauhaus. I think it's better to talk, on one hand, about Bauhaus productions (for the things that were produced at the school ; there's no need to talk about bauhaus style while talking about marianne brandt's teapot since it was done at the bauhaus) and, on the other, about Bauhaus influences. And even there I think it would be even better to be more precise and talk about the individual influences. For example, regarding architecture, Gropius, Meyer and Mies van der Rohe were all part of the Bauhaus, but their ways of creating are all different. In short (for real this time skdsdj) I think it's best to be precise and not use too generalistic and reductive terms. But honestly in the grand scheme of things this isn't really important, it all only matters to me because I'm an art historian haha.

God that was so long. I hope it makes sense and it answers your question anon ! I think it's a super interesting topic to debate about, but sadly it's not easy to give an extensive answer here. Brevity doesn't allow for a lot of nuance sadly. Also this is just my own opinion and I could be very wrong tbh. But I do like to think that I know enough on the subject to not be totally wrong ksddsksd. Also its 1 am so I'm again sorry if its poorly worded or badly written. Feel free to hmu if you want to chat more about this :)

#answers #man i really hope this makes sense. i didn't want to answer this during the day because i would have ended up writing a whole essay sdkdsjk #feeling kinda self conscious about all of this tbh i hope im not saying too much bullshit :/

[petrichoraline]

Northanger abbey!! I adore Cathrine, she's so fun and her intuition is on point, it's just that her imagination is a bit wild but then again she's young so she'd get better at placing her feelings eventually... My favorite thing about henry is his house lol from what I remember nice house surrounded by trees and dogs, away from everyone what's not to love, also he knows about fabrics and colors and novels so... He's funny so I can for give the obnoxiousness and he's responsible which is a trait austen loves in her leading men. I love how austen allows her heroines to be loud and wrong and still give them a happy ending, they have their flaws but they don't have to pay for them, they learn and correct and apologize. Sorry for ranting lol

the timing of this message couldn't be more perfect, i picked up my book and read for about an hour, got on here and i've been scrolling just thinking "gotta get back to it, gotta get back to ittt" 😂 so I'll be doing that once I answer (they're on their way to the abbey with catherine for the first time rn, exciting for both her and me lol)

I am so impressed with how smart she actually is because I was under the impression she might be too gullible. she, however, though a bit too good-natured and thinking the best of people at all times, knows what she likes and what she doesn't. she doesn't get swayed by the compliments of a guy she's decided sucks big time (unlike belle who turns her head in the direction of anyone willing to show her even a bit of attention)(im a bit more of an isabella than a catherine in that regard but we're working on it shh); catherine can be stubborn, she has a backbone, a strong moral compass (reminds me of fanny a bit) and she learns from her mistakes. follows her morals while still worrying about bringing pain upon her loved ones that she has to oppose - the thorpes and james trying to stop her from running and explaining herself to miss tinley after john lied without her permission?? oh I was boiling, the fact she stood her ground till the very end made me so happy and appreciative of her as a heroine and her worrying about their regard towards her afterwards made her that much more likeable, she's just so sweet and considerate even when met with the worst behaviour. sure, she can be too trusting and trying to resolve conflicts in an honest and direct way which is just not how things work in the world she's becoming a part of but she is a girl turning into a young woman. as far as I'm concerned, any mistakes she makes, I forgive.

"my favorite thing about henry is his house" what a valid take lmao i am yet to read a description of the abbey but henry so far is giving me mixed feelings, I checked the ages and they're 17 and 25? so I feel like I'm getting a bit of a condescending attitude from him? but I might be wrong. it would be natural, though, as catherine is a teenager and his brain is supposedly fully developed, that her more childish view of things would call for amused reactions on his side. I don't know, so far really my focus is on "where and how are things going to get messy" because in this book quite a lot of the time nothing is truly really..happening? hahah and I was promised drama from jane austen herself in the first chapters:

"It is now expedient to give some description of Mrs. Allen, that the reader may be able to judge, in what manner her actions will hereafter tend to promote the general distress of the work, and how she will, probably, contribute to reduce poor Catherine to all the desperate wretchedness of which a last volume is capable- whether by her imprudence, vulgarity, or jealousy - whether by intercepting her letters, ruining her character, or turning her out of doors."

I started this book quite a while ago but this has stuck with me and maybe I am misunderstanding and she is actually not going to do these things (I love all the sarcasm but sometimes I have trouble catching it cause, well, non-native english speaker) or I am supposed to be on the lookout the whole time lol but in any case I EXPECT ACTION. PLEASE. it's such a short novel, why are there boring parts 😔

responsible really seems to be the most desirable trait in an austen man but I get it and honestly it's a good thing to consider in dating nowadays as well 🤷‍♀️ as for Henry's other qualities, I forgot he understands fabrics!! thank you for reminding me. that guy has so much sensitivity about him so why must he be such a lil gremlin at times 😂

i agree with you completely <3 austen's heroines are just women being women and i love that though they share some noble qualities they're all easy to distinguish from each other (considering some plotlines are quite similar.) catherine might be, so far, the one most after my own heart out of all the girls.

I may update on how I feel about all of the characters and the story so I'll try to tag in case you're interested in my ranting 😊 would love to hear from you again, it's so exciting receiving a message about this, you have no idea, I usually only discuss shows so my liveblogging of reading the novel actually reaching someone and prompting an ask is such a delight, thank you so much for sending a message and a long one at that 🥰💓

#petri replies #northanger abbey

[icantseemtostickwithonename]

Been studying the English language since I was 3 but some sentences still baffle me. I feel so dumb in front of these sentences because it sounds profound but it's just whooshed over my head.

I would never wanna start learning this language from scratch again.

#the english language #it has given me several headaches #but im probably better at it than a lot of native speakers #yepp #how bout that #english #language #language problems #I'm trying to read something but overly complicated sentences make me wanna throw the book at the wall

[ichihime]

Alright then, I’m not a native speaker either so no worries!

I’ve started reading the manga, and I have to say, I am shocked. The anime cut so many Ichihime moments! It’s astonishing the amount of effort they spent to undermine their amazing blossoming relationship. And it’s not only Ichihime/Orihime moments, also the Karakura gang in general and the twins. The first arc in the manga is filled with little moments involving Karin, Yuzu, Keigo, Mizuiro, Tatsuki and the others...but the anime focused pretty much only on Ichigo and Rukia. I mean, they are the protagonists, but it seems like they went on great lengths to cut the other characters’ screen time, so Ichiruki could be seen in a romantic way.

Another thing that bothered me about the anime is the kind of sexist moments that aren’t in the manga. For example: in the flashback episode about Rukia, Renji, Hinamori and Kira’s years at the Academy, there’s a scene where Kira and Momo are training, Renji chimes in and says that Kira should go easier on her because she’s a girl, and Momo getting offended. Also, in Soifon’s flashback about her youth and Yoruichi, she’s also training with men, and a jerk says something like “you act like you’re better than everyone, even though you’re a woman” (I’m sorry I can’t remember the exact quotes, it’s been a while since I watched the anime). What annoys me is that, in the manga, gender doesn’t seem to be an issue among Shinigami, so why did the anime have to put those moments? What was the purpose? In a filler, Yoruichi says that “girls these days have no muscles” or something like that. That reeks a little, in my opinion. I mean, if they really wanted to depict sexism in the Gotei, then they should have committed to it and actually developed it, otherwise those moments are just sexist for the sake of being sexist.

Also, did they have to depict so vividly Loly and Menoly’s aggression? In the manga it’s mostly implied, it’s not shown. Kubo only dedicated a couple of panels to that, showing only the moments before Grimmjow intervenes. Why did the anime scenes last so long? Did they have fun “punishing” useless Orihime?

The anime makes me so mad. Honestly, the changes are so awful. From the sexist moments, to the erasure of Ichihime, to the random addition of Ichiruki moments (like Nell asking Rukia if there was something between her and Ichigo), to pieces of dialogue that would seem out of place with the manga...wouldn’t it be great if another studio animated Bleach with a less biased point of view?

Thank you so much for accepting this ask🥰

Oooh I didn't know about the added sexist moments- tho to be fair, kubo also did made his male characters utter sexist remarks sometimes, tho not as often as it seems in the anime ?

I did know about the butchering of the main characters. Orihime and Ichigo is the one Im more familiar with, and I just recently realized how badly Rukia was butchered, which probably fueled her "potential love interest" role in the anime....she's much more meek and foolish in the anime which is jarring after reading the manga tbh......I think this is probably why, despite liking her character a lot, I just don't vibe with either the fandom or the anime/merch depiction of Rukia.

But if it can cheer you up a bit, Kubo himself dislike the anime ( it gave him stomach aches with how bad it was lol ), with the Bount filler arc being the one that broke him fjdjdkdd he asked to be sent the scripts of anime episodes after this arc ( not that it changed much but well- ) so him requesting another studio to animate the last arc isn't too far fetched. Plus, he personally was really invested in the Burn The Witch anime, personally requesting studio Colorido, the seiyuus, the direction etc.

He also seem interested in a reboot of BLEACH, tho nothing is scheduled so far baring the TYBW anime adaptation, which I think will come out in 2022.

#ask #anon #mod moni #long post #well the anime is absolute garbage #i do think the majority of critiques aimed at bleach mostly boils down to the anime reception #not that bleach is free of flaws #but still-

[cutesilyo]

I interpret PH relations with the colonizers as: America was as much of a dad as a 19 yr old to their legally adopted 17 yr old lol and with Spain it's like PH @Spain: "who u?" or "no hablo español" whenever Spain tries to talk to him lmaoooo tho i wanna know your opinion on PH's fluency in Spanish? I think it's cute if he speaks some spanish but only does it with Mexico -sml anon

ahhhh i usually do research before answering an ask like this but im kinda in a rush so this is a pretty basic idea!

i feel like his fluency in spanish is rusty. the last time he probably spoke straight spanish was when he still riding on the high of revolution and wanted to annoy america in the first decade of american colonization. and even then, his spanish wasn’t the best: spain refused to properly teach him spanish until the 18th century, and the most he got until then was mexico teaching him very basic phrases just so he could talk with the other colonies at spain’s house. historically, most filipino spanish speakers were concentrated in the wealthy elite of major, urban cities. spanish only got widespread to the masses when spain finally decided on having a public education system in the philippines, which was fairly rudimentary and inefficient until the americans arrived to make it more systematic.

i think the only formal spanish lessons phili got were from spain himself, which was too little and too late. but he has always been better at understanding spanish than he has been in writing and speaking it. he probably only deeply immersed himself in the spanish language when he started voraciously reading all the books and poems and articles written by filipino reformists and revolutionaries in the 1880s -- a lot of which was written in spanish. quick sidenote: i think one of phili’s favorite writing to come out of the revolutionary period is marcelo del pilar’s dasalan at tuksohan (literally meaning prayers and jokes), which was a parody of a tagalog prayer book! like the transformation of aba ginoong maria (hail mary) to aba ginoong barya (hail money) to make fun of greedy spanish friars is just too ballsy and funny to ignore

in current times, phili is pretty flexible with languages though! he still hasn’t learned spanish formally, but if you speak spanish to him he’ll gradually acclimatize and remember all he’s learned until he’s speaking like a native by the end of your conversation. phili probably pretends he’s completely forgotten how to speak spanish just to annoy spain though.

#asks #hws #hws philippines #hws spain #you know whats sad though? #the decline of spanish speakers in the philippines is proportional to the rise of anti-spain sentiment in filipinos #and the rise of pro-america sentiments as well #manuel quezon once said that as long as we speak spanish #we'll always be connected to our brothers and sisters in central and south america #and. well. we don't speak spanish anymore. #in my parents time it was still mandatory to have spanish classes in college though #a law has since been passed that removes it; classifying spanish as an optional language elective instead #historians say that #us filipinos are completely locked out of the history of spanish colonization #because we can no longer read the documents and writings of the period #as they were originally written #the original sentiment of the pieces that gave rise to the philippine revolution #are lost in translation #i cannot read rizal's noli me tangere and el filibusterismo #cannot read mi ultimo adios #cannot read his annotations on sucesos de las islas filipinas #and thats only rizal! what about luna? mabini? mariano ponce? graciano lopez jaena? #the history of my nation's revolution from a colonizer is suppressed by another colonizer

[damerondala]

Congrats on 100 followers babes!! You deserve each one! Okay so, I gotta go with "this is real life, okay? not an episode of scooby doo.” + Poe bc 😘👌

thank you my dear tegan!!! im so excited i was hoping somebody would request this one and it fits poe perfectly!! 

Poe x GN!Reader + “This is real life, okay? Not an episode of Scooby Doo.”

The mystery had been plaguing the base on D’Qar for weeks now, nobody necessarily knowing what to make of it. Who kept painting murals on the outside wall of the hangar bay? Everyone knew it wasn't a serious threat, probably just somebody trying to lighten everybody’s spirits; especially with everyone being so on edge lately, having no idea if or when the First Order was going to attack. But it was eating you alive, not knowing who did it and how they did it so...well. 

You found yourself among a few fellow pilots and resistance fighters, eating your dinner rations and discussing this artistic addition to the base. “I am just blown away at how they can change it everyday and make it look amazing every time!” Your eyes sparkled, truly fascinated with it. Whoever was behind this had a very keen eye, painting different squadrons and all their members standing heroically, different landscapes of planets, they even drew a giant portrait of General Organa herself, surrounded by beautiful flowers that were native to Alderaan. Again, a very keen eye, this artist had. 

“They probably trace them,” Jessika spoke with a mouthful of food, “no way somebody can pull that outta their ass every day. Plus, how can they not be seen by anybody?” 

“Maybe it’s a g-g-ghoooost!” Snap teased Jess, imitating his voice to sound chilling, like one of those cheesy holodramas boys would take girls to so they could ‘protect’ them from the fake phantoms. This earned him an elbow to the side, an unamused Jess scowling at her squad partner. “Shut up, weirdo.” 

Among the banter and sleuthing, one pilot seemed to be more quiet than usual, Poe flicked his eyes from speaker to speaker, silently observing while eating his ration bar. L’ulo noticed the out of character behavior, Poe always has something to say. “What’s up, Poe? Snap really spook you that bad?” 

The leader of the squadron found his eyes and smiled, finding the teasing to be amusing. “Nah. Just surprised that Karé married him after listening to...that.” Snap giggled boisterously and his fingers found Karé’s sides, tickling her and smushing his bearded cheek against her smooth one, “Aww come on, she can't get enough of me.” Everybody at the table laughing at how Karé pleaded with you to save her from the ‘hairy monster’. After the chuckles died down, you placed your hands on the table in front of you, as if you were presenting a battle plan to take out an entire fleet of tie fighters. “I say we all keep watch tonight, take rotations. I need to know who’s doing this.” The gleam in your eye died when Poe rolled his eyes at your response, “This is real life okay?” turning to face you, his knee bumping against your thigh, “not an episode of Scooby Doo.” 

“Come ooon, Poe! Don’t you want to celebrate whoever is bringing so much life to the base? Don’t act like I didn't catch you staring at it the other day.” You matched his body language, hand pushing off his shoulder to tease him. This was received with a chuckle, Poe swatting at your shoulder as well, mimicking your tone. “Okay smarty pants,” his eyes wielding a childlike glimmer, “first one who finds this mystery artist get’s everybody’s dessert for a week.” 

You smiled at Poe. “You’re on.” 

~

That night, Snap and Karé took the first watch. Ending their shift with no new findings, causing to Jess practically vibrate with excitement. If people thought Poe was competitive, they obviously had never met Jess, she was so competitive it became annoying sometimes. But much to her dismay, Jess also reported no new leads. “Not even as much as a stupid Squonk flew by!” She retired to her quarters afterward, discouraged and sleepy. 

Your turn was next. Perched on one of D’Qar’s rolling hills with binoculars and some caf to keep you awake, you heard some shuffling from foliage to your left, right hand unlocking your blaster holster in case you needed to defend yourself from hostile wildlife, or even worse, a First Order spy. Your breath ceased with anticipation, but was gladly released from your chest when you were met with the sight of Poe. A warm chuckle came from your friend when he saw your hand ready to fire. “And they say I’m trigger happy. Easy, y/n, it’s just me.” He took a spot next to you, crossing his legs in front of him. “Any breakthroughs?” His eyes not leaving the stars above. It was clear and beautiful out tonight. You glanced at his profile, smiling to yourself, and looked up as well. “Nope. Guess it was stupid, huh?” Poe turned his head to you, making eye contact but quickly breaking it. “No, i--it’s,” more uncharacteristic silence, what in the stars was with him today? “Sweet. You’re so curious.” 

This granted him a smile, “Heh. Thanks, Dameron.” you breathed in the warm air, “So, who do you think it is?” 

“Hmm. Well, if I told you, you have to promise to keep it a secret.” His lips quickly turned up into a smile at your unabashed gasp, “What?! How do you know? Tell me, tell me!” 

“Alright, alright! Jeez, how can you have this much energy at two in the morning?” This question was left unanswered by you, your big eyes looking at him so remarkably as he reached in the front pocket of his bottoms, pulling out a piece of paper that was folded a few times, creasing the smooth planes of it. He stuck it out to you, watching as you snatched it from his hand and unraveled it like a young child opening their life day gift. Another gasp left your mouth, but this time Poe didn't smile at it, his stomach was churning, afraid that he might seem like a creep for what you were about to discover. 

“It’s...me.”

You looked up at his face, hands still clutching the sketch of you, standing in front of your X-Wing with your helmet on your hip and looking very triumphant. His hand farthest from you found the nape of his neck, awkwardly scratching while he whispered, “This was supposed to be the next one. The one I did tonight.” 

You were, for lack of a better term, absolutely floored. A million questions were swimming through your brain but you were just left to stare at the pilot next to you, your mouth wordlessly moving. “Kriff, y/n, I’m sorry. If you don’t want me to do it I-I can do something else! It’s just, remember the day when you got your own X-Wing? You looked so happy an-” Poe was cut off by a bone-crushing hug around his middle, your head landing on his shoulder as you squeezed, making his heart pound so hard in his chest he thought he might die. “Poe, it’s amazing!” You lifted your head to face him, “I didn't know you were so artistic! How long have you been keeping this a secret? How have you not been caught?!” Your hands were flying around every which way while you rambled and he gave you a dumbfounded grin, astonished at how cute you were, although he would never admit it out loud. “There’s a lot you don't know about me, sweetheart.” 

#it's i love poe dameron o'clock #it took me so long to come up with a plot but then it hit me and i cranked this out in an hour #ngl i like it a lot #lauren's 100 follower celebration! #poe #drabble #my writing

[macneiceisms]

Writer Tag Game

I was tagged by @ectogeo-rebubbles and am responding to a general tag by @cemetrygatess. If anyone wants to do this, please do and tag me so I can see it!

How many works do you have on AO3?

11

What's your total AO3 word count?

233,594 (holy shit!)

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Fair Gendry & Ser Arya the Gallant (arya/gendry, a song of ice and fire)

running like water (will/hannibal + murder family, hannibal)

No Kingdom for a Blacksmith (arya/gendry, a song of ice and fire)

Princess in a Red Cape (arya/gendry, a song of ice and fire)

Caught a Long Wind (arya/gendry, a song of ice and fire)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes! these days I try to respond to all of my comments. I got my current beta for running like water via comments and she's absolutely fantastic and I've made a lot of lasting fandom friends through responding to comments. I started commenting on fics as I was getting into deep space nine fics, and then when I wrote correspondence, I started replying to comments and it totally changed how I felt about my fic and how I felt about writing and sharing my work.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

So I haven't actually uhhhh....finished any of the multichaptered fics I've written (lol). I try not to have angsty? endings. that's not really how I want to resolve things. At most I'd say my endings are bittersweet, but more often a happy ending even though I hate that idea. I think I strive for a resolution but anticipation of the future.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

Probably caught a long wind. That one was just a family-oriented one shot I wrote and so it's some of the more saccharine stuff I've written.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

I prefer AUs if need be but, no, I don't write crossovers.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not that I can recall, though occasionally I get weird comments that make me wonder why people are reading it. I had someone once say they hope the main characters of my fic don't get together, despite that relationship being....the central aspect of the fic...

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes. I think I would describe my approach as making it as horny as possible (this is distinct from as dirty/explicit as possible). There's also far too much porn without there being any masturbation and it's just not realistic lol. the one thing I really strive for is that the sex isn't cookie-cutter instruction manual sex that could be recycled somewhere else but feels integrated into the story and is an extension of the story. and im always pushing myself to write it better. I have a few fics I always revisit to figure out how they do such a good job.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don’t think so.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I had someone contact me for a Russian translation of rlw which I would actually love to try and read myself as someone who is a native speaker but is terrible at reading and writing it.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Fiona and I are co-writing a post-fall Hannibal fic which I'm super excited about and it's taking all my energy to not say anything about it because I adore it.

What’s your all-time favourite ship?

I've been through a lot of fandoms but my first real ship was draco/ginny from (oh god) more than a decade ago and I'll always have a place in my heart for it.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

im not about to curse myself like that because I hope that I'll be able to come back to my stagnant WIPs as a stronger writing and be able to solve whatever clusterfucks I got myself into.

What are your writing strengths?

I think I do a good job with sense of place; I've always liked describing settings but I've been pushing myself to really make places as alive as the characters.

What are your writing weaknesses?

finishing a fic lmao. but actually plot resolution is incredibly hard and it's the one thing that I haven't had much practice with.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I think its great when used sparingly and in interesting ways. I think it comes up a lot in Star Trek fic where people have invented languages and it makes for some really good writing. I do think leaving readers in the dark does them a disservice so that's something I keep in mind if I use it.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I wrote stories about Black Beauty in a notepad program on this tiny laptop my dad got me when I was like, ten or eleven. My first published fic was a Danny Phantom fic when I was in middle school (lol)

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Oh man. I've had such a knockout experience with running like water. I remember pitching the first two chapters to ironlotus back in december as I was just starting to be active in the hannibal fandom and trying to find a place there. I'd really enjoyed fics with Abigail as a central character but it turned out to be really rare to find, and particularly rare to find fics about her relationship with will as a father figure and all the complexities therein. I had been writing a bit of another story to feel out their relationship and then I started running like water. I didn't have any expectations of what it would be when I started and I took sort of a leap of faith and just posted what I had. The feedback I received through comments really shaped what this fic turned into. I started to hit a stride with writing and I just ended up writing so much. I also had a really great time talking to my girlfriend about working out the overarching plot so even though I was letting it take me where it wanted to go, I had a direction to go in and everything I've been writing has been towards that end goal. having an actual ending has really changed the game lmao. who knew. anyways it's been a blast. I'm happy with what I've written. I feel like I've done good work and I'm proud of it and I'm proud of what it means to everyone who tells me it resonated with them. running up is despite the warning signs because that's another fic that grabbed by my the muse and wouldn't let go.

#writing ask game

[ferie-anon]

Hey Swettie 🙃 I don't know if you take request but, if you did, can I please get astrology ship with ateez/straykids? Im taurus sun, leo moon, pisces sun, aries venus, aquarius mars and taurus mercury. Thank you soo much and have a wonderful day💛

(Top right picture: "I’ll love the genuine things, the truth, the real feelings, and myself" )

Hiii, first I’ll do Ateez since currently two ships request in one ask is a bit much for me. Here’s your analysis of your placements~ (You can request for straykids when I reopen my ship asks if you want) Okay so you have taurus sun with pisces moon and leo rising after clarification of your placements, and wow can i just say u must be quite the lovable pretty human being 🥺. Taurus sun you are grounded and there is an inherent desire for productivity or routinely manner when you implement your efforts such as your blog managing for example, I notice you consistently or do a bundle or a bunch of asks for the moodboards and then post them all at the same time or in a frequent but not everyday manner. Your work ethic is quite admirable and it also partially stems from your leo rising, these natives with this placement are quite active with their individual interests and opinions/goals, working silently hard or loyal towards their objective. And then your pisces moon allows you to be able to interpret emotions and feelings in different ways, the tangible and untangible. It also makes sense how well put your moodboards are and how accurate they are with the embodied moods :3. Your pisces moon is able to discern these emotions or vibes and they can channel this at time in numerous ways, creatively, to help others in a therapeutic way, and etc. Aslo with your placements general, you may be friendly or very down-to earth to others, empathic (like an empathic listener for example) and friendly but also have quite solid self individuality and well balanced management of your personal and other needs. But I only got to half of your placements 💖✨ I’ll talk about your taurus mercury and aries venus now.

Woah see here is where your individuality could be more heightened. With taurus mercury, you are not afraid to say your honest opinions, rather it would be better or the only option to hear the truth or genuine thoughts than shield with only pretentious superficial words of comforts, ofc you genuinely want the best for ur loved ones and all, and comfort and support is natural, however filtering the reality from your friend is only going to hurt them than rather benefit them so. You’re quite blunt but in a subtle way, its not like you want to let others know you are a blunt and honest person before convo, but simply they realized this fact afterwards. Your aries venus is also quite bold or affectionate, your physical expression of love or care for friends and partner/family etc is warm and obvious to them. These natives with their venus in aries can get their emotions quite strongly at times to their important ones, you sorta give me a love warrior goddess sorta vibe but more controlled/calm. You love with sincerity and passion, but also try to not lose yourself for others. You have aquarius mars oooh, you strive for new and mental stimulating ideas or topics that you are interested in, this could range from hobbies or crafts that involve your interests. Your aquarius mars can be quite fixated as the sign aquarius is also a fixed sign (the modality is a fixed sign) so you may consistently work in your field of interests, but sometimes you try not to put heavy pressure on yourself too much to reach your goals as your motivations are consistent but you aren’t rushing yourself too much, preferring to work at ur own pace becuz u will get there~

In Ateez... your match is san!

Omgg san has a cancer sun with taurus moon, he has water and earth in his sun and moon similar to yours, and with him having the same sign in his moon as your sun (Taurus). There is an immediate emotional understanding, and easier opening up to each other. Idk why but San and you have such similar dynamics, you both would be the warmest and down to earth chaotic pair?? San with his cancer sun is always ready to help and pours his heart into everything, his love for his members and fans, and passion when dancing lol. (Satanic san~) Your pisces moon would feel comforted and safe with his cancer sun, as you seek for someone to not judge your emotional vulnerability/sensitivity and San being consoling and having a non-judgemental soothe to him, bingo. You both would have similar beliefs and point of view at times, which would relate to an immediate click. The first time you met each other, it was like two fireflies flickering towards each other. You weren’t close to him at first, but you were aware of his presence from the first encounter, and soon you both planned subtley how to approach each other more often~

Alright a delve at his taurus moon, San is loyal, self-consistent to his ideals and perspectives, and more inclined to familiarity. With his taurus moon, San is always ready to be there for his members, family, and close ones. He is also a bit solidified in his own goals and self views, sometimes not wavering from ofher opinions till he sees proven true. I can say that with your taurus sun, you would appreciate his grounded ways and calm but warm nature. Your pisces moon connects well with his cancer sun, as both are water signs and have a easier time reciprocating and processing emotions. (So San can easily comfort you when you may be feeling down or experiencing emotional turmoil, he may know what to say or do when comforting like hugs or soothing affirmations, it’s everything the opposite of awkwardness) I think San may find your softness and sensitivity cute and understanding, that you can also be an ambitious or strong individual but also have a soft spot.

Next up San has a leo mercury, and here’s where his chaotic energy will be talked about lol. San is obviously the opposite of calmness when he is naturally having fun and interacting with his members by being himself, he is quite creative and a loud eye-catching speaker. (You don’t need to be told twice he’s probs a living speaker in the dorms wildin) San’s way of communicating may be a little different from your taurus mercury, as your placement tones are more focused on maintaining a calm and chill vibe, while San could be too hyper at times. However, your aries venus would definitely appreciate his energetic actions and manner, both having fun engaging activities. Also San’s mercury in leo and your taurus mercury are similar in a sense they both are vocal or stand clear to their opinions and views. You both won’t hesitate to be honest and there will be better mutual trust becuz of this. And despite different perspectives at times, you both may find the other point of view interesting and it may not lead to frequent altercations and more of enlightening banter. 

(This gif summarizes sorta a leo venus being overdramatic of their s/o in a loving manner or complimenting them lol, and its basically san)

And what do we have here, San’s venus is in leo also :> Leo says we meet again~ His way of showing affection can be more physical and expressive, he is definitely proud of his partner/s/o and will shower them with compliments. Venus in leo’s love are genuine and very deep, and with your aries venus (both signs in venus are fire) you definitely love the physical interaction and display of affection from San. Similarly, once close and in a relationship you aren’t shy from showing your love, sometimes you may be flirty or surprise-hug (or other skinship) San. Dates will be fun and probably have high-tension like you both are clearly enjoying the time together (ngl it might seem obvious to others in the same location as your date that you two are rlly lovey-dovey with each other) That being said you both always lift each other up, whether in terms of mood or personal feelings like insecurity at times or nervousness, you two could be each others number one supporter. His leo venus (and his mercury in leo) are opposite to your aquarius mars so there may be conflict or a clash between differing actions/methods and beliefs, but nonetheless you both end up learning from a wider point of view with each other and find the differences intriguing. (Also notably his leo venus and mercury is conjunct to your leo ascendant, so an instant chemistry or attraction mentally and physically is apparent :3)

Lastly, San’s mars is in scorpio. His scorpio mars is opposite to your taurus sun and taurus mercury (scorpio and taurus are sister signs aka opposing signs), but in this case this could further his interest and a spark between you two often. The first impression was impactful to him, and he may be more initiative to getting closer or being in your presence in general. His scorpio mars is quite devotive, in terms of personal goals and passions, and important things he considers in his life (aka his partner, friends, family, etc). Your aquarius mars is also pragmatic when needed but due to your natural logical sense, however you tend to be more loose with your scheduling and activeness. However, despite some differences between pace, you both are consistent and stable when you decide on something. His scorpio mars is also passionate, and with your aries venus the energy levels are able to be matched and complemented with the rest of both of your chart placements. 

Overall, with both placements in synastry and analyzation, you both won’t get drained out by each other a lot able to change the direction of interaction between energetic to calm and serious, lighthearted conversations to an inherent empathic awareness during conversations. I was writing this, and I can’t help thinking wow they really match well together. Chemistry platonically and romantically, you both get along rlly well. In this ship pair, you two are the best friends and lover couple, close in general and caring about each other, and did I mention the charismatic ones? I bet yall would be the most openly charming couple .ㅅ.

#ask #astrology kpop ships #kpop ships #ateez #san #choi san #astrology

[flyingcookierambles]

study plans?

recently i feel like my friend going to japanese college has motivated me to try to start studying japanese again. plus some spontaneous chinese here and there, more vocab/pronunciation/tone focused rather than grammar right now.

ended up a kinda long ramble lol, ill cut it up into two pieces.

i literally do daily: 1 duolingo so the owl doesnt hunt me down like the weak prey i am (any language)

i try to do once a day: 1 or 2 anki decks for vocab. for japanese i use many: JLPT N4, Genki 1 & 2 Including Genki Supplementary Vocab,  Core 2k/6K Optimized Japanese Vocabulary, 2500 Most-Used kanji. For Chinese I use the HSK level 1/2/3 word list. these are seperate, just a pain to type lol. i dont use wanikani actually lol. the renaming of radicals annoyed/confused me, who was forced to learn the names of the very proper strokes in high school chinese lol. plus having no assessment test and having to start over from the very beginning and then getting the simplest kanji wrong because i remember the radical by its shape or a stroke by its proper chinese name and not a silly american name (no i did not learn this character is actually wearing a hat or a pot lid. thats weird.), i just got kinda annoyed and went back to simple anki flashcards lol.

3-4 times a week: going over 2-4 grammar concept from genki 2 so far. partly because when i was studying with my 2 friends over the summer we were doing a cramming thing for our friend to to get up to standards of the college they were transferring to, now attending. as a result, we uhh. kinda skipped over basically all vocab. only did the grammar, and sometimes not even all the grammar. we skipped over really simple stuff (ie the volitionary form which is just slapping a ~ou/おう at the end of things) and the stuff that was just -te form + some extra words. so i’m finally properly going over that stuff in full, alone. plus im rewriting/digitizing my notes in onenote bc pencil and pen kinda smear/fade over time so this will just be better if i want to go to my notes for reference in the future. the ease of searching by control+f is also nice compared to flipping thru pages in confusion. i also feel like my learning style is def repetitive related, so going over things a second time works for me. (for japanese im using using genki 2/the genki 2 track on bunpro.jp. (this website is incredible and for the most part free. even if you want the premium sub version, the cheapest sub plan is $2 a month! while i dont have it, i did do the free trial when i first signed up and it was ok and you can totally do the free version and get all the barebones japanese grammar explanations from like 4 different textbooks) when/if i ever finish genki 2, ill just check out the minna no nihongo track on bunpro, more to see if there’s any grammar that gets covered in that one that genki doesnt have. if they’re just the same but a different order or something, ill just move on to the tobira track since its the intro to real intermediate japanese grammar.) i might check out the free textbook irodori, more out of curiosity than seriousness honestly. iroiro uses a different fluency grading system than the common JLPT N5-1 levels, iroiro uses the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, or CERFL. Since im focusing on the JLPT N level standards and these are totally different curriculums and stuff, im not sure how helpful irodori will be to me at this point but ill look at it because its a free textbook. when i try to relearn chinese again ill dig out my integrated chinese textbooks (goodreads), only intermediate since i seem to have lost my beginner editions somewhere in my house between moving from college dorm to house every summer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . i might check out the all set learning site, it seems to both HSK and CERFL. ill probably review the HSK 1-2 stuff real quick since thats basically what i learned in high school/college and i kinda forget a lot since its been like 6 years now. then ill maybe hopefully finally get to HSK 3. ill try to watch videos from yoyochinese on youtube too. she explains things really clearly and helpfully to native english speakers in a way that my previous teachers havent been able to. ill stick to the youtube tho since ive heard that the actual courses from her website are very expensive for online self study tho, and purchasing a regular textbook would be cheaper lol. 

once a week: try to use words from anki decks + whatever grammar i learned in practice sentences/make up sentences yourself. this is a bit hard bc since im self studying if my sentences end up wrong/sounding awkward to a native speaker i am not really sure how to check lol. i’m on polyglot.city (a mastodon instance focused on language learning/blogging) and i post there sometimes and people have helped me/rated my sentences every now and then but recently its been very slow. (japanese, altho i hope that i regain enough of my mandarin skills to do this again sometime)

every 2 weeks: after accumulating grammar for a bit, i try to read a grade/language level appropriate short story in the language. (hint: the level of a toddler probably lol.) for japanese i started using satori reader, altho other short story apps exist. for chinese there’s du chinese and tcb/the chairman’s bao. honestly i use du chinese just because im too lazy to make an account for tcb, altho i may finally make an account and use it one day. one day..... (japanese and chinese)

for japanese i just want to get to tobira right now and then long term is simply reaching what is probably jlpt n3, the typical not quite fluent but still ok enough to conduct business or ask a native speaker for help in a convenience store. kinda eh, a good middle intermediate level. from that point, i should be ok enough to try to read a YA novel. no not a light novel (might try it tho) but like a regular novel for middle schoolers. or maybe doremon? ill see where it goes from there. i hope to at least be able to understand some of the things an average person would like a weather forecast on the nhk or a short newspaper article. maybe ill take the actual jlpt test someday.....not sure how to sign up/where to find it in my city tho....

for chinese, i just want to know more vocab and improve my tones/pronunciation right now. 

#self study hell i hate it here #i try to learn a langauge #studyblr #man idk #rambling

[sagemoderocklee]

Ooh, directors commentary on TAOL?? I know it's an epic so maybe just on the chapter where Lee and Gaara are traveling in Jade Country :3

sorry for letting this sit in my ask box for a couple days. i got kinda sidetracked and then had to go back to work today, which is not a fun time tbh but the evils of capitalism and so on....

anyways, im thrilled you asked for this particular part of TAoL because I absolutely loved that chapter (x) and put a lot of work into it between building up the culture of Gyokukakushin and making sure all the Arabic and Chinese I used was legit (which is partly why it took like 4 months to write). plus the chapter has a lot of great GaaLee moments that make me really happy.

one of my biggest downfalls as a writer is how long it takes me to actually finish anything. as i think most people who follow my writing know, i tend to prefer lengthier stories with lots of heavy politics, and that tends to mean that the build up of romance takes a while... which is again how i like it. i prefer a slow burn--a proper slow burn, not these 2k fics tagged slow burn. i mean, 100k into the story and the most you’ve got is an accidental hand brushing another and some intense eye contact... which admittedly TAoL has given more than just a little bit of physical contact and intense staring, but my point is that when i say slow burn i mean S L O W

anyways, onto the actual director’s commentary

So, Jade Province--as it’s not a country in itself, but a province within Wind Country--is a sprawling section of the south-east portion of Wind. I started building Jade Province and its capitol, Gyokukakushin sometime before I started on Ch10 of TAoL, but it was all a very loose idea. I’d initially conceptualized some things about it for the one shot I wrote, Keepsakes, because I’d been doing some background work on the Kazekage lineage and the culture surrounding the Kazekage family--such as arranged marriages, treaties, etc.

My idea is that Karura and Yashamaru are actually from Gyokukakushin. They would have been the children of a person in the political sphere within the capitol, and the marriage between Karura and Rasa would have been arranged early on and she would have been sent to Suna as a pre-teen or teen so that she would feel that Suna was home. I imagine she and Rasa would have married sometime when she was between 18-20. This was the main reason Rasa was able to take on the roll of Kazekage, based on the family tree I built up for the Kazekage line--he was the only one who was married and could produce heirs.

Not that any of this ever comes up during TAoL. In fact, Gaara doesn’t even realize that in going to Gyokukakushin he’s actually visiting half of his ancestral home. However, there’s a lot of fun hints about his connection to Gyokukakushin if you recall the many mentions of the color the same shade as Gaara’s eyes in that chapter. This was a specific nod to his heritage, and something that the locals definitely would have been fascinated by because there’s lots of significance surrounding that particular color in the region. I also wanted to use the reference to his eyes to highlight Lee’s particular fascination with Gaara’s appearance, and especially the element of Gaara’s eyes and the many ways he looks at Lee.

The biggest challenge within this chapter, of course, was the fact that I was using languages I’m not familiar with and had to find a good place to gather resources. Thanks to @ghoste-catte I discovered that reddit (of all places) has a translation subreddit which I was able to use to help bring that aspect of the story to life in an organic and respectful way. My Japanese is rusty, but I have a much better grasp on it than I do Chinese or Arabic, and so I spent many, many, many, many, many..... many hours searching for resources, watching YT vidoes, at the bookstore--I even bought a small book on Arabic. In the end, the subreddit was way more helpful than anything else because it allowed me the chance to get more concrete explanations from native speakers, so I could understand exactly why something was said the way it was. Most of the phrases used in that chapter aren’t really Gaara saying anything special--things like “be quiet” or “stop”--which I usually alluded to with Lee racking his brain trying to drudge up the vocabulary Gaara has taught him.

However, there’s one line--which I hope people did not turn to google translate for--that makes me especially happy, and that line really would not have been possible without that subreddit. I think the best part about being able to successfully navigate the challenge of using other languages is creating the same confusion Lee feels for those readers who doesn’t know those languages, and for those who do, offering them a nice glimpse at what’s going on that Lee cannot grasp. It’s fun and really changes the experience for each reader.

Language is such a beautiful and intricate aspect of people and culture, and my biggest fear with approaching the use of Arabic and Chinese was not only saying the wrong thing, but being disrespectful. So it was an incredibly good experience, and I was incredibly lucky to receive the help I did!

Building up the tension between Gaara and Lee was something I’d really wanted to execute well, too. It’s not often I write stories where the romance doesn’t start from scratch. With TAoL, Lee needed to already be in love with Gaara, and that was a big stress for me because I’m constantly asking myself: is this earned? I think one of the biggest failings of fanfiction is that people don’t ask that question. You really have to ask if your romance is earned. If your character growth is earned. If a redemption arc is earned. And I constantly worry that I’m moving too quickly with romance in particular, especially for Gaara and Lee. I’m not big on putting them together without a lot of development, and I’m not big on established relationship fics (that aren’t sequels) for them either. I like the work it takes to get them together, I like the journey of getting them together. And I don’t like it to be easy.

But for me, TAoL is one of my best actualized works. I think Alliance really helped me build the skills I needed to execute a story like TAoL on so many levels--from the complicated political landscapes, to the cultures, to the relationships between each character. And so I do feel like Lee being in love with Gaara at this point in their lives makes sense, and does work despite the fact that we didn’t see him fall in love with Gaara during the course of this fic. There are subtle nods to his feelings for Gaara in the early chapters, but I didn’t go too hard at indicating those feelings until really the second Lee chapter, this chapter I’m talking about now. I think there were some hints in the first Lee chapter--the chapter where he broke Gaara out of prison and whisked him away from Suna--but I tried to keep those things to a minimum, partly to not over do it and ease people in to that, and partly because I wanted to keep the suspense alive surrounding the real purpose for Lee being in Suna.

So when they get to Gyokukakushin, it really gave me a much better chance at showcasing his feelings. There were moments prior to Gyokukakushin, but those were from Gaara’s PoV--like the moment within the destroyed village, Myoujou, where they’re hiding from the group of shinobi and Gaara’s trying desperately to get Lee to focus his chakra enough to mask it.

But the success of that particular moment is lost on Gaara because he doesn’t really know how Lee feels about him at that point in time, so his impact on Lee is entirely lost to him....not to mention he’s dealing with a lot of grief and trauma, so he hardly has the wherewithal to be paying attention to whether or not his rescuer is secretly in love with him.

One of my favorite tender moments is this one:

“Do you have a favorite word?” Lee asked, before a yawn interrupted him.

“In Indigosi? Or in general?”

“Both.”

Gaara glanced at Lee from the corner of his eye. “Affection,” he murmured, almost as though he were afraid to admit it. “In Indigosi...” Gaara was silent, his gaze shifting away from Lee to the window. A warmth spread across his brown skin, a blush rising on his high cheekbones. “Rohi.”

He looked down at Lee, something bright behind his eyes.

Heat burned Lee's face like an inferno. “What does that mean?”

Gaara looked away again, hiding from Lee in plain sight. “My soul." The words hung in the air with some other meaning, one that Lee could not decipher. Gaara would forever be a paradox, an ever expanding puzzle for Lee to piece together. He didn't ever want to figure him out completely, but he would never stop trying to get as close to epiphany as he could.

“That is beautiful,” Lee told him as another yawn overtook him.

“I should let you sleep,” Gaara said, moving to get up.

Lee stopped him with an imploring hand against Gaara's forearm. “Stay? You did not finish telling me about your trip to Dusk Country.”

“You kept interrupting,” Gaara teased lightly, settling back into place.

Lee smiled up at him, ever so slightly cheeky. “I promise I will be quiet.”

“You're going to fall asleep,” Gaara corrected.

“Probably. It is very late.”

I love so many of the emotional scenes from this particular chapter, but I love how simple and sweet this moment is. There’s such a wealth of affection in small actions, and I really wanted to highlight that Lee and Gaara have grown closer during their time traveling from Myoujou to Gyokukakushin, and things that were born of necessity (like sleeping close together for warmth) are now things done because they want to. There’s comfort in the closeness of sitting next to one another, there’s something peaceful about Lee falling asleep while Gaara talks to him. It’s a nice moment, less high emotion and more quiet contentment, which I think is much needed after everything they’ve been through.

I think that my other favorite scene would be the scene on the beach, right after they’ve watched the sand artist and Gaara makes his model of Suna. That scene is a complicated affair for Lee because he’s both enjoying his time with Gaara and feeling guilty for enjoying that time together. And of course Gaara’s got a lot going on too, which Lee can only guess at.

One of the other things I really enjoyed about this chapter is the fact of Lee and Gaara being in disguise, and really the use of their aliases. I particularly like any excuse to get Gaara to call Lee “Ren”. I’m particularly in love with that stroke of genius regarding Lee’s alias, and there’s a certain emotion, a certain connection that I really hope I could convey with how they use each other’s aliases.

I could probably talk about this chapter forever, but unfortunately there’s also thins I don’t want to say at the risk of spoiling future chapters since this is still a WIP (and probably will be for a while longer, though we’re almost halfway there! Two more chapters to the halfway mark!) Thank you so much for sending this particular ask anon! I had fun chatting about it and I hope you enjoyed reading my comments! 

#naruto #shippuden #rock lee #gaara #gaalee #taol

[gunsatthaphan]

Language Tag

I got tagged by @takethat005 aaaaages ago, thank youuu and I’m so sorry for being late with this ♥️ I don’t think anyone cares about this lmao but I’m doing it anyway cuz I think it’s fun :D

What do you consider to be your native language?

German

What was your first language learning experience?

I started learning English when I was like 5-ish (?)

what languages have you studied and why did you start them?

- English because of school though I started learning it beforehand

- French because I’ve always liked it a lot and also I didn’t like the other electives in middle school lol 

- I randomly learned Finnish for a while when i was like 14 lmao i don’t even remember why??? I just liked it idk haha.

- Mandarin because I like it, plus now I can cry over History in multiple languages

- Thai because I wanted to watch my shows without subs lol and also it’s fun to learn!

how does your personality affect how you learn languages?

I’m generally more of a quiet learner so I study the most effectively when I’m by myself, which comes in handy for learning vocabulary and such. When it comes to speaking I get insecure sometimes but it quickly gets better once I start talking lol.

do you prefer learning languages in a class or individually?

In my experience, both have their advantages for sure. Learning in class is important for speaking and interaction but in order to develop your own understanding and intensify certain things it’s better to learn individually. But if I had to choose, I would pick in class simply bc you have more interaction. 

what are your favorite language learning materials?

My favorite way to learn a language is to surround myself with it in any audiovisual form and integrate it into my daily life. Watching a movie, series, listening to music, etc. is how I learn the most effectively. Of course books are necessary as well but I personally learn faster through listening and watching. Also talking to native speakers has been very helpful for me since the direct interaction is a good addition to the classes. Some apps can be helpful too, though most of them are crap imo haha. 

how much time do you spend actively learning per day/week?

well I’m constantly surrounded by English and Thai in my daily life lol so I kind of learn those 2 languages passively every day. I additionally spend around 2-3 hours a week learning Mandarin and Thai actively though since it will get lost otherwise.

what are your short term and long term language learning goals?

since I’m generally passionate about learning languages, my long term goal is to just learn as many as possible and hopefully surround myself with new people and get to know new cultures. My short term goal is to not forget something that I learned 24 hours ago lmao.

what is your favorite language?

Very difficult lol. Obviously German and English come natural to me and I still love French very much, though I’m currently making the most progress in Mandarin and Thai so I would probably pick those 2 as my current favorites. 

what is the next language you want to learn?

I’m interested in Korean and also I wanna improve my French since it got very rusty over the years lol 🙈 Also Italian would be nice! so if anyone wants to teach me hmu haha

what advice can you give to new language learners?

In my experience, the most important premise is to have something that you’re passionate about and that motivates you. The more motivation you have, the easier and faster you learn. Whether it’s music, a movie, a tv show or a friendship, relationship, etc.... If you have something that fuels your will to learn, the rest will come easily. 

also as I mentioned above, my personal advice is to surround yourself with the language as much as possible. listen to music, read a book or something else. Also talking to native speakers is very helpful. generally ime it’s more effective to take small steps, rather than big ones. Setting small goals throughout a short period of time helps you stay motivated; f.ex. learning something new every day makes it easy to keep going. Even if it’s just a new word or phrase; even small achievements can motivate you. 👍🏻 (look at me turning into a motivational speaker lmao) 

sorry to everyone who doesn’t care about this lmao; this got quite long haha. but it was fun, thanks again for tagging me! 💜I hereby tag everyone who wants to do it!! also feel free to drop some comments on what languages you learn & what advice you have! 😊 

#language tag #thanks for tagging me #languages #about me #tag #personal #german #english #french #mandarin #thai #stuff #bye