corvid-language-library

[corvid-language-library]

今日のボキャブラリー（８月１０日）

発展（はってん）development

くっきり　clearly (standing out), distinctly

浮気（うわき）infidelity, extramarital sex, affair,

変更（へんこう）change, modification, alteration, revision, amendment

論じる（ろんじる）to discuss, to talk about, to deal with (a topic); to argue, to dispute

横切る（よこぎる）to cross (e.g. road), to traverse

連想（れんそう）association (of ideas), being reminded (of something), suggestion

炎（ほのお）flame, blaze

解説（かいせつ）explanation, commentary, exposition, elucidation

幻（まぼろし）phantom, vision, illusion, apparition

何と（なんと）what (a) …!, how …!

学歴（がくれき）academic background, academic credentials, academic record

貴重（きちょう）precious, valuable

覆う（おおう）to cover, to hide, to conceal, to wrap, to disguise

保存（ほぞん）preservation, conservation, storage, maintenance

奪う（うばう）to take (by force), to take away, to snatch, to steal, to rob (someone) of

激しい（はげしい）violent, furious, tempestuous

故郷（ふるさと・こきょう）hometown, birthplace, native place, one's old home

訳（やく）translation, version (e.g. "English version")

晩年（ばんねん）one's later years, final years (in life)

〜となると　when it comes to 〜, where 〜 is concerned

[corvid-language-library]

Breaking my hiatus to bring everyone’s attention to the fact that Cornwall is now attempting to be officially recognised as a nation within the United Kingdom.

Kernow has its own language, culture, history and identity. The language was forcibly removed by the English until the last monolingual speaker died in 1777–her name was Dolly Pentreath. It has existed as a kingdom before England had ever existed. Historically, Cornwall has been a place exploited for minerals and resources and labour. Currently, it still is. There are now ghost towns where once thriving fishing villages stood (Mousehole, Pentreath’s home, was one of these). Cornwall is now a playground for second home owners who drive up house and rent prices and drive out permanent residents and workers. Local businesses go out of business and struggle to stay afloat when the influx of tourists come who only purchase from supermarkets, putting nothing into the local economy. There is a long, long and often very gruesome and bloody history behind this—leaders of rebellions executed all the way into 1715.

If you are in the UK, and sign the petition to get this to a debate in Parliament.

Can you spare 60 seconds to sign

[corvid-language-library]

Observations from my first (western-style) Japanese wedding

Note that this was just one experience and not everything may be typical of such weddings!

The ceremony was hosted in a fake chapel with a fake priest. Apparently couples will pay extra for the priest to be foreign (which he was in this case)

Most of the ceremony mimicked a western ceremony, although I was surprised that only the bride and groom said "amen" and not the entire chapel (which is the custom in the UK). I'm guessing this is to do with the fact only 1.5% of Japanese people identify as Christian, and Christianity isn't a pervasive part of the culture the way it is in the west

The "you may now kiss your bride" kiss was just the groom kissing her on the cheek. Probably because PDA is frowned on in Japan, and people don't kiss in public (at least, not where I live, idk if people are a bit more relaxed in the cities)

The wedding banquet (not called a wedding breakfast) followed more or less immediately after. In the UK, there's usually a bunch of photos after the ceremony, and canapes are served while the bride and groom go off to have their own separate photos taken

When going into the banquet, the parents of the bride and groom were ready to greet us, bowing and thanking us for coming (and of course, we bowed back). This was repeated when leaving.

There was no "top table". I don't actually know where the bride and groom were. Instead of a top table, there was a small stage with a couch, where they sat during speeches (but not to eat)

My supervisor warned me about this before, but no one pours their own drink. When my non-Japanese colleague tried to pour his own drink, our Japanese colleague was very insistent that she needed to do it, until I eventually took the bottle off him and did it myself. When he questioned it, she just said "it's just the Japanese way"

The mother and father of the groom (I think? I was not paying too much attention) came around and poured a drink for everyone. This is their way of greeting guests and thanking them for attending the wedding (in the UK, it's pretty normal to have zero interaction with the bride and groom's parents)

Throughout the meal we were treated to not one, not two, but FOUR movies about the bride & groom. The first was a welcome video. The second was all about their love story, and led into the groom rapping before revealing the bride in a new dress (apparently multiple dress changes are standard procedure). The third was a comedy skit by the groom's friends. And the fourth was just credits, thanking everyone for coming. I'm not sure if this is typical of a Japanese wedding though.

The food was constant. No starter / main / dessert like is custom in the UK; it was just dish after dish after dish. The waiters would bring out the next dish regardless of whether we'd finished the one we were currently eating. There were multiple times when I had 3-4 dishes in front of me at once. They were all quite small dishes though (but after 10 of them, I was pretty full!)

We also didn't have a menu to choose from beforehand. In the UK, you get your RSVP and, if you're invited to the wedding breakfast, you usually have to choose a starter, a main and a dessert (typically out of 3 options). Everyone got served more or less the same thing, with exceptions made for those of us with dietary requirements (I got fried rice when the sushi course came becaue I can't eat fish or seafood)

There was no "cutting of the cake" (apparently this is a superstition, because cutting symbolises separation and is bad luck at a wedding or something). Instead, they popped a balloon over the cake (not sure if that's tradition) before feeding each other a forkful just straight from the cake

Once the cake was ready, we all lined up to get some and the bride and groom served it to us (while thanking us for coming). Different from the UK, where it's just a free-for-all whenever you feel like it

There was an afterparty following the banquet, but it cost money to attend and I'm poor so I didn't go. Actually, most people left after the banquet. Apparently, this is quite normal. In the UK, the cermony and the wedding breakfast are close friends and family, while the afterparty is when more distant relatives, colleagues and not-so-close friends join.

[corvid-language-library]

I've been playing a bit of Pokemon Violet in Japanese but I started the game ages ago, didn't play for like a year and now I'm trying to get back into it but I don't really know where I was or what I was doing. Not sure whether to just keep going or whether to start over

[corvid-language-library]

AI industry groups are urging an appeals court to block what they say is the largest copyright class action ever certified. They’ve warned that a single lawsuit raised by three authors over Anthropic’s AI training now threatens to “financially ruin” the entire AI industry if up to 7 million claimants end up joining the litigation and forcing a settlement.

well…darn

[corvid-language-library]

Yessss love a good picrew!

Had my "dark clubbing" playlist on walking to work yesterday and honestly this song is a fucking banger

I used up all my tagging energy on the last tag game I posted but if you want to do it then consider yourself tagged! (And I'll try to remember to tag you next time I get a picrew sent my way 😄)

tagged by @everythingispirates

this picrew + the last song you listened to

tagging @corneliushickey, @widowshill, @annabellioncourt, @ladysparrow01, and anyone who sees this and wants to do it

[corvid-language-library]

Ooooh yay a tag game, thank you @why-the-heck-not :D

Movie tag game 🎬

Without naming them, post a gif from ten of your favorite films, then tag ten people to do the same.

No pressure tags: @la-galaxie-langblr @cherryvampyyri @fluencylevelfrench @kanpeki-bekki @mediocrelanguagelearner @nihongoseito @corvidconventicle @quixotile @adhd-languages @languagelvlup

[corvid-language-library]

maybe growing up is just becoming who you were at 14 again but learning how to love her this time

[corvid-language-library]

To do 10/08

Clear the table

Supermarket run

Dishes

Submit commuting costs forms

Submit TT form

Submit contract renewal survey

Yoga

Shower + wash my hair

Draw

Write

Study vocab

Study kanji

Take a nap at some point (probably)

Decide what I want for lunch for the week ahead

Make some kind of Obon week plan/goals

Chill tf out :)

[corvid-language-library]

Random vocab dump from today

地元（じもと）home town, home area; local

腹筋（ふっきん）abdominal muscles, abs; sit-ups

ムキムキ muscular, brawny

きゅん choked up (with emotion), momentary tightening of one's chest caused by powerful feelings (e.g. parting with a loved one)

つれない cold, indifferent, unfriendly, unsympathetic, unkind

中断（ちゅうだん）interruption, suspension, break

直前（ちょくぜん）just before, just prior to

企画（きかく）planning, plan, project, arrangements

夢中（むちゅう）absorbed in, immersed in, crazy about, obsessed with, devoted to; forgetting oneself, daze, trance, ecstasy, delirium; within a dream, while dreaming

紅（くれない）deep red, crimson

フリフい frilly, fluttery

役者（やくしゃ）actor, actress

ビビる to feel nervous, to feel afraid, to feel self-conscious, to lose one's nerve, to get cold feet, to get the jitters

意地悪（いじわる）malicious, ill-tempered, unkind, mean, nasty

ケンカ売る（うる）to pick a fight

しぶとい tenacious, tough, enduring, headstrong, stubborn, obstinate, unyielding

[corvid-language-library]

今日のボキャブラリー（八月八日）

Green/orange indicates pitch accent

真似（まね）imitating, copying, mimicry

勇気（ゆうき）courage, bravery, valour, valor, nerve, boldness

味方（みかた）friend, ally, supporter

無駄（むだ）futility, waste, uselessness, pointlessness, idleness

表す（あらわす）to represent, to signify, to stand for

共同（きょうどう）cooperation, collaboration, association, partnership, (acting in) unison

振る（ふる）to wave, to shake, to swing

技師（ぎし）engineer, technician

合わせる（あわせる）to match (rhythm, speed, etc.)；to join together, to unite, to combine, to add up；to face, to be opposite (someone)

世話をする（せわをする）to take care of

長期（ちょうき）long-term

知事（ちじ）prefectural governor

種（たね）seed (e.g. of a plant), pip, kernel, stone (e.g. of a peach)

備える（そなえる）to furnish with, to equip with, to provide, to install；to prepare for, to make preparations for, to make provision for

注（ちゅう）annotation, explanatory note, comment

知恵（ちえ）wisdom, wit, sagacity, sense, intelligence

通信（つうしん）correspondence, communication, transmission, news, signal, telecommunications

主婦（しゅふ）housewife, mistress (of the house), homemaker

需要（じゅよう）demand, request

[corvid-language-library]

Exploring English words ending in "-tion/-sion" becomes "-si" in Indonesian

-tion

Communication → Komunikasi

Activation → Aktivasi

Information → Informasi

Condition -> Kondisi

Migration -> Migrasi

Solution -> Solusi

-sion

Discussion -> Diskusi

Television -> Televisi

Version -> Versi

Fun fact:

Many Indonesian vocabulary ending "-si" (e.g.:administra-si) also are known from the Dutch vocabulary influence "-tie" (e.g.:administra-tie). List of Dutch loanwords in Indonesian - Wikipedia

It's a great example of how languages evolve and borrow from each other! 🌍🗣️

[corvid-language-library]

Update that no one cares about: the kid who refused to come into the classroom on Tuesday joined the Thursday class and he got on well! He was shy at first but it's a chatty class so the other kids started talking to him within the first few minutes. And he even talked to me too and was telling me stuff about his school or what he did at the weekend and I couldn't follow a lot of it but it definitely put to bed any worries I had that he doesn't like me :D

[corvid-language-library]

My reaction when people try to tell me it means "of fucking course"

learning that ofc means ‘of fucking course’ is such bullshit. she’s ‘ofcourse’ to me

[corvid-language-library]

2025-06-07

[corvid-language-library]

Setting myself a soft goal of filling my current sketchbook by the end of August. I've got 30 pages left and I typically fill 1-2 on a good day, but sometimes I'm too tired to do more than a quick doodle in a corner somewhere so we'll see. I have 8 days off for Obon so if I aim to fill 2 pages a day (gotta keep myself busy!) that'll put me in a good place to reach my goal.

Other art goals for Obon break:

Review how to proportion a human body

Review how to proportion faces

Review how to draw eyes, noses and lips

Finish big cat face sketches

Ultimately the goal is to continue drawing daily so it's okay if I don't meet these goals, but if I can meet those goals it should help me make actual progress and make drawing more fun and rewarding