meichenxi

[meichenxi]

reblogging here because. trying to articulate - after watching the audiodrama for a solid 7 hours on tuesday - why exactly this has me insane in chinese, a language which I write in like a 6-year-old, is very funny.

here's my google translated version of the text. it makes me laugh. perhaps one day I will be able to write something more nuanced lol, but for now we're stuck with shitty pompous rhetoric like surely YOU TOO have felt self critical at times. surely YOU TOO know the pain of wondering if you are enough

I'm not changing ANY of the text that is google translated because it is TOO funny:

Tian Guan Ci Fu is a xianxia novel with a rich plot, grand scale, and vividly portrayed characters. The story follows Xie Lian, the Flower Crown War God—the Celestial Music Prince—who ascends to heaven three times only to be banished back to the mortal realm to scavenge for scraps. By his side throughout the book is his most loyal follower, Xue Yu Tan Hua, the Flower City, who has been by his side for eight hundred years and finally attains the title of Absolute Demon King through this love.

The plot of this book is overly complex, and the story structure is sometimes illogical. Though I am not a native speaker, I am well aware that this book may not qualify as a classic. Hearing the term ‘BL’ immediately brings to mind various stereotypes, but dismissing the entire genre outright, regardless of perspective, seems a bit hasty. Though it cannot be called a literary masterpiece, this book captivated me, keeping me up all night, and allowed me to draw touching meanings from its pages.

Tian Guan Ci Fu speaks of the bond between brothers, the devotion of followers to deities, the loyalty of servants to their masters, and the kindness of deities toward the common people. Sometimes it is explicit, sometimes subtle, sometimes sorrowful, sometimes joyful. Each volume revolves around the growth and loyalty of the two main characters. Xie Lian, who has failed countless times over eight hundred years, wonders: If someone were to see me at my most miserable and humiliating, would they still stay by my side? For Hua Cheng, who has never been able to truly protect him, the most discouraging question is: No matter how strong I become, I will never catch up to the one I love. Will he abandon me once he discovers the truth?

In other words: Am I good enough? Is being myself still worthy of love?

Though we cannot ride swords to heaven in this world (what a pity!), the deepest fears of these two characters reflect the genuine feelings of inferiority in readers' hearts. I am not trying hard enough. I am not strong enough. In life, everyone has said such things to themselves, haven't they?

The author uses the xianxia genre as a backdrop to answer us: You are worthy. Bravely being yourself is the hardest path to walk, but it is also the most worthwhile one. The weaknesses that the world attacks you for may also be the very things others admire about you.

If you're interested in Tian Guan Ci Fu, go! Join the Crown Prince in ascending to the celestial court, and follow the Flower City Lord into the ghost market. You might even uncover some secrets of the mortal world. Once you've finished the book, feel free to come back and settle the score with me. Two boxes of tissues on the house!

starting this chinese course off strong with some yaoi apologism

my handwriting is Not good, but we're learning!!! for full disclosure, I absolutely wrote this up on my computer first and then just copied the characters I wasn't sure of lol. my handwriting is coming on, but it's still SO far behind the rest of my abilities

here's the (rough, I changed it a bit) text if anyone is interested. there are some uniquely annoying traditional mistakes (like using the wrong 着) because I STILL can't get traditional in pinyin on my computer and have to convert it from simplified using some ancient website

天官賜福是一本仙俠小說，情節豐富，規模礦大 ，人物塑造和描寫栩栩如生。故事講的是一個飛升三次又被貶到凡間去撿破爛的花冠武神 - 仙樂太子，謝憐。在書中陪着他的是他八百年一直在他身邊，終於因為這份愛情修成了絕境鬼王，最忠誠的信徒 - 血雨探花，花城。

這本書情節過於複雜，故事結構有時候一點都不合理。雖然我並非母語人士，我也很清楚這本書也未必算得上什麼經典。一聽‘耽美’這兩個字都會想起各種刻板印象，但直接對整個文體不予考慮，不管從哪個方面來開，未免有點匆忙。雖然不能說是什麼文學精品，但是這本書讓我看得入迷，連夜熬夜，也讓我從書頁中汲取感人的含義。

天官賜福談的是兄弟之間的情意，信徒對神仙的誠意，僕從對主人的忠義，神仙對蒼生的善意。有時名言，有時含蓄，有時悲哀，有時歡喜。每一卷圍繞着兩個主角色的成長和忠心。八百年數次失敗的謝憐心裡想：如果有人看我最悲慘，最難堪的樣子，還會留在我身邊嗎？對於未曾能真正的保護他一次的花城而言，最令他沮喪的疑問是：哪怕我把自己變得有多強，我永遠追不上我心愛之人。發現了真相之後，他會拋棄我？

換個說法：我夠好嗎？做我自己，還值得被愛嗎？

雖然我們在人間不能御劍上天 （真可惜！）但這兩個角色最深刻的恐懼反映出讀者心裡的真實自卑感。我不夠努力。我不夠強。人生中，每個人都有對自己說過這種話吧。

作者以仙俠為背景，回答我們：你值得。勇敢做你自己，永遠是最難走，卻最值得的一條路。 你被世界攻擊的弱點，也有可能是別人愛慕之處。

如果你對天官賜福感興趣，去！跟太子殿下上天庭去，隨着花城主下鬼市。說不定你還能找到人間的一些秘密。書看完了，歡迎你再來跟我算賬。兩盒紙巾白送！

[meichenxi]

starting this chinese course off strong with some yaoi apologism

my handwriting is Not good, but we're learning!!! for full disclosure, I absolutely wrote this up on my computer first and then just copied the characters I wasn't sure of lol. my handwriting is coming on, but it's still SO far behind the rest of my abilities

here's the (rough, I changed it a bit) text if anyone is interested. there are some uniquely annoying traditional mistakes (like using the wrong 着) because I STILL can't get traditional in pinyin on my computer and have to convert it from simplified using some ancient website

天官賜福是一本仙俠小說，情節豐富，規模礦大 ，人物塑造和描寫栩栩如生。故事講的是一個飛升三次又被貶到凡間去撿破爛的花冠武神 - 仙樂太子，謝憐。在書中陪着他的是他八百年一直在他身邊，終於因為這份愛情修成了絕境鬼王，最忠誠的信徒 - 血雨探花，花城。

這本書情節過於複雜，故事結構有時候一點都不合理。雖然我並非母語人士，我也很清楚這本書也未必算得上什麼經典。一聽‘耽美’這兩個字都會想起各種刻板印象，但直接對整個文體不予考慮，不管從哪個方面來開，未免有點匆忙。雖然不能說是什麼文學精品，但是這本書讓我看得入迷，連夜熬夜，也讓我從書頁中汲取感人的含義。

天官賜福談的是兄弟之間的情意，信徒對神仙的誠意，僕從對主人的忠義，神仙對蒼生的善意。有時名言，有時含蓄，有時悲哀，有時歡喜。每一卷圍繞着兩個主角色的成長和忠心。八百年數次失敗的謝憐心裡想：如果有人看我最悲慘，最難堪的樣子，還會留在我身邊嗎？對於未曾能真正的保護他一次的花城而言，最令他沮喪的疑問是：哪怕我把自己變得有多強，我永遠追不上我心愛之人。發現了真相之後，他會拋棄我？

換個說法：我夠好嗎？做我自己，還值得被愛嗎？

雖然我們在人間不能御劍上天 （真可惜！）但這兩個角色最深刻的恐懼反映出讀者心裡的真實自卑感。我不夠努力。我不夠強。人生中，每個人都有對自己說過這種話吧。

作者以仙俠為背景，回答我們：你值得。勇敢做你自己，永遠是最難走，卻最值得的一條路。 你被世界攻擊的弱點，也有可能是別人愛慕之處。

如果你對天官賜福感興趣，去！跟太子殿下上天庭去，隨着花城主下鬼市。說不定你還能找到人間的一些秘密。書看完了，歡迎你再來跟我算賬。兩盒紙巾白送！

[meichenxi]

"Irish doesn't have a word for please, you have to say if it be your will" buddy do I have news for you about "please"

"Irish doesn't have a word for hello you have to use a shorthand religious blessing" buddy do I have news for you about "goodbye"!

"In Polish the word for car is that which walks by itself" BUDDY what do you think an AUTOMOBILE is?

you have got to understand that your mother tongue is not the model of language. all your words have secret histories and layers of meaning just the same as other people's words. the word you think of as just a word has etymology, it wasn't handed down from God as a finished word. English doesn't have a word for movie you have to either refer to the recording medium or use a short version of "moving picture", isn't that cute?

[meichenxi]

“Mongolia has announced plans to restore the use of its traditional alphabet by 2025, replacing the Cyrillic script adopted under the Sovietperiod as it moves away from Russian influence.

It will take transitional measures to prepare for the “comprehensive restoration” of the traditional alphabet, which is written in vertical lines, said a representative of the ministry of education, culture, science and sports.

The ministry has ordered the department of information and communication technology to adopt traditional Mongolian to the “electronic environment”. Scientific, literary and state registry offices have been asked to establish a system for Mongolian names.”

[meichenxi]

I went to an exhibition on the history of migration and colonial rhetoric in Australia and it really helped me to pinpoint my exact issue with the way non-Australians (and. tbh. some aussies) talk about this country

this map is a piece of propaganda from 1921. honestly what shocked me about it was how little of Australia is marked out as “uninhabited”. I have seen maps shared around on this website that basically mark out the entirety of non-coastal Australia as “empty”. fucking colonialists from 1921 were more generous than some of you

the history of colonial Australia is a history of “taming the untameable land”. this has been reinforced through narratives that this country is:

inherently dangerous

uninhabitable

empty

this rhetoric survives in both the way Australia is imagined by non-Australians and in the self-image of Australia. the (white) aussie battler conquers the unconquerable. the outback is imagined as a post-apocalyptic hellscape. our fauna is categorised as uniquely hellish and unwieldy. so when non-Australians make joke after joke about how scared they are of this place. well you can imagine why it fills me with the kind of rage that can only be generated by the understanding that You Are Reinforcing Colonialism

[meichenxi]

Quote of the day

[meichenxi]

Did you know that JRR Tolkien wrote an unpublished epilogue to Lord of the Rings? It's achingly, beautifully wistful in the way that only Lord of the Rings is. I revisited it recently because I'm guesting on my friends' LOTR podcast, and THAT reminded me that I drew a comic of the epilogue back in 2021 (all text is entirely canon). Anyway I thought folks on this website might enjoy it!

[meichenxi]

[meichenxi]

Greenlandic Masterpost 2021

I thought it was time to do another round-up / masterpost of my own posts to date on the Greenlandic language (and some more recently on Inuktitut). I promise that none of the links below are rickrolls! (but I guarantee that at least one of the posts does contain one…).

As ever, I’m open to questions and comment!

Translations and stuff

Greenlandic Text Lesson 1 - Bussimi Naapinneq (The Meeting in the Bus)

Greenlandic Text Lesson 2 - Ingerlaliinnaleqaagut by Nanook

Greenlandic Text Lesson 3 - Qeqertarsuarmi nanorsiortut (Bear hunt in Qeqertarsuaq)

Greenlandic Text Lesson 4 - Name the Book Challenge!

Greenlandic Text Lessons 1-4 - Revision Challenge!

Greenlandic Text Lesson 5 - Arnanut (For Women)

Greenlandic Text Lesson 6 - Aasami Atuanngiffik (The Summer Holidays)

Greenlandic Text Lesson 7 - A letter

Greenlandic Text Lesson 8 - Astrofysikeri Stephen Hawking

Greenlandic Text Lesson 9 - Ulla the pregnant LOLcat

Greenlandic Text Lesson 10 - Tuuma

Greenlandic Text Lesson 11 - Benny the Beluga

Greenlandic Text Lesson 12 - Nunassittarneq/Settlement

Greenlandic Text Lesson 13 - Bussimi Naapinneq (again)

Greenlandic Text Lesson 14 - Captain Tom Moore’s fundraising for the NHS

Greenlandic Text Lesson 15 - Harry Potter!

Counting in Greenlandic - 1 to 20

Word length in Greenlandic

Another Greenlandic Song - Ukiut Qaangiuttut by Zikaza

Inuktun - the language of the Inughuit of Northern Greenland

Iikkaleeq - an East Greenlandic Children’s story

Linguistic Excursions #7: French and East Greenlandic/Tunumiisut

Herod and Mariamne - Pär Lagerkvist - Greenlandic extract

Greenlandic - Skolt Saami Phrase List

Greenlandic - Yorùbá Phrase List

Greenlandic / Icelandic Parallel Texts - The Northern Lights

Greenlandic / Icelandic Parallel Texts - The Ice

Enjoy *being* Yourself - LGBT terminology

Humour and stuff

A nice long word

Another nice long word

Roll on another long word

Some Greenlandic humour…

More Greenlandic humour…

Italian words for pasta…

Essential Movie Quotes in Greenlandic #1-#9

Essential Movie/Book Quotes in Greenlandic #12 - Harry Potter

Greenlandic Linguistics in 2025

Qaqqaqaqaaq!

Greenlandic Scrabble

Books and stuff

Learning Greenlandic Book Review #1: Qaagit!

Grønlandsk Rejseparlør

The Language of the Inuit - Louis-Jacques Dorais

Words of the Inuit - Louis-Jacques Dorais

Oqa.dk - a new Greenlandic grammar resource

Some textbook suggestions

Other stuff

Juullileqaaq - It’s Christmas soon!

Tsunami in Greenland

Playground sign

A (Greenlandic) quote for Valentine’s Day

Etymology of Greenlandic “Tuluk” - an alternative hypothesis

West Greenlandic guide to the orthography of East Greenlandic

Ethnonym Chain

How do you say North-West in Greenlandic?

Mutual Intelligibility of Greenlandic and Inuit dialects

Greenlandic Language Puzzle

My blog gets cited in a Bachelor’s thesis

Inuktitut artwork - Josie Paperk

“The Terror” - Post 1 (Silna), Post 2 (Netsilik Hunter)

And finally - not my work, but here you have the excellent “Ultimate Greenlandic Resource List”

[meichenxi]

Currently sat in a summer school type thing we're hosting in work and some English architect is telling us about sustainable design in Wales, except she hasn't bothered learning a single Welsh name and if I have to listen to one more "I don't know how to say 'Welsh name' so I'm going to use 'shitty English name/nothing while laughing at it' I'm going to throw this slanty drawing desk at her head

[meichenxi]

the ladies call me the subjunctive mood the way I express desire, wishes, uncertainty, doubt and fear

[meichenxi]

Honestly, as a German I can not quite understand the obsession of the English speaking world with the question whether a word exists or not. If you have to express something for which there is no word, you have to make a new one, preferably by combining well-known words, and in the very same moment it starts to exist. Agree?

[meichenxi]

All foreign films/shows should have two subtitle options. A localized one that better serves the original intent of the story and dialogue and a more literal one that awkwardly translates phrases in a preserved state, specifically for perverts who want to learn the language (me)

[meichenxi]

cdrama friends who watch Modern things

does anyone have any recommendations for a workplace / business drama that doesn't make me want to stab my eyes out? for language learning purposes. I can watch most modern day dramas with chinese hard subtitles as long as they don't mumble too atrociously or speak tooooo fast, and need to start watching Business Dramas for my Business Job. to acquire Business Vocabulary

[meichenxi]

Syntax: A Generative Introduction by Andrew Carnie

[meichenxi]

Have you ever been told you look like a different ethnicity?

Yes - by my parents

Yes - other

No

What??