#‘english is the hardest language to learn because of all the irregularities’

[lethalwizard]

my bachelors of linguistics speaking to me like jim carreys 1994 the mask whenever people around me start making wildly incorrect statements about language

[edelegs]

Reading Way Too Much Into Petra’s Language

So basically I study second language acquisition and I have been meaning to do a deep dive into Petra’s language use from the moment I first read her dialogue. (On a slightly unrelated note, the Black Eagles house really is just targeted content for queer linguistics grad students). I’d intended for this to be some grand project where I take Petra’s speech patterns and classify them according to theories in second language acquisition (SLA) - but that involves explaining too much Fire Emblem lore to Serious Linguists, so instead I’m going to use my class notes to analyze Petra’s speech patterns and explain why I feel she is a good representation of how narratives should treat non-native speakers of the majority language. (sources will be fast and loose, I’m sorry professors) 

I first want to mention the idea of “native speakerism”, particularly the fact that its use as a measure of proficiency and/or an expected standard of language use is flawed. Today, there are more non-native speakers of English than native speakers as a result of globalization, native speakers do not use language perfectly, and not all varieties of English are viewed equally (e.g. “native English speaker” never seems to refer to Indian English or AAVE). Much of today’s literature on SLA advocates for a focus on successful communication rather than native-like competency. From this perspective, Petra has achieved this goal: she seems to have no problem communicating with her peers outside of some trouble with idioms. Her peers always understand what she is saying, regardless of misconjugated verbs or odd phrasing. However, it is clear that Petra holds herself to these native-speaker standards. She is also the only non-native speaker of Fódlandish to be portrayed as a language learner. Despite this, I will try to avoid describing her language according to this standard. 

Of the non-Fódlan nations in the game, only Brigid, Duscur, and Dagda speak a different language than Fòdlanish. (I don’t recall anything about Almyra’s native language, because I’m 99% sure Claude didn’t mention it). Dedue in particular gives the audience a concrete timeline for his language acquisition - in a support with Dimitri, he mentions that he didn’t use honourifics for him in the past because he was still learning Fòdlandish. This puts him in a Fòdlandish-speaking environment from a young age. Shamir references speaking Dadgan in her A support with Byleth, but there’s no mention of how long she had been learning the language. Her background as a mercenary would be a logical justification for her strong proficiency (training one’s accent away is rare and often not feasible, but I sincerely believe the writers did not put this much thought into that). 

This means that language in the game only seems to matter for Petra’s character. Her background as a political pawn serves as her motivation. Petra is sent to the Empire five years before the events of the story as leverage against a Brigidian uprising. In their C-support, Hubert mentions that Petra could barely use the language when they met. This suggests that Petra has interacted with Adrestian nobility prior to attending Garegg Mach. At school, her environment is still largely made up of members of the nobility, especially as a member of the Black Eagles. (Not all noble speech is created equally, however. Put a pin in that). 

There are three notable features of Petra’s English: over-reliance and misuse of verbs “to be” and “to have”, an overgeneralization of the suffix -ness, and contraction avoidance. In general, Petra uses “have” to describe states of being: “I have gratitude”, “I have sorrow”, “he has much concentration”. This pattern reminds me of the French auxiliary verbs “être” and “avoir”, which leads me to believe that Petra is experiencing transfer from her first language. An English learner of French might say “je suis 24 ans” (I am 24 years) instead of the accepted form “j’ai 24 ans” (I have 24 years). Petra is likely making a similar mistake. From this, I suggest that Brigidian might use an equivalent form of “have” for states of being (or uses the same verb for “to be” and “to have”). What is strange is that this pattern does not significantly change in her A-supports with the others. She does make more use of “to be”, though it remains largely unconjugated (e.g. “we will be winning”, “I will be sharing my heart with all of you”, “I want to be smoking the meat, so that we can be preserving it”). 

There is an order for the development of English morpheme accuracy (Pienenmann’s Processability Theory, 1989). -ing is typically acquired first, which is seen in Petra’s language. It is followed by plural -s, then -be, when to use “a” versus “the”, irregular past, regular past -ed, third person -s, and possessive ‘s. Petra does not seem to follow this pattern exactly. She does not typically misuse articles (a/the), but her use of be is still largely unconjugated. She also uses the past perfect form more often than the simple past (from Hubert/Petra C: ”I had more youth then”, “I have learned much . . .” “and meeting you and Lady Edelgard has had great value for me”). There are instances when she does use the simple past (Caspar/Petra: “you are not the one who did the killing”, “our parents had conflict”) but this use is inconsistent. This blatantly contradicts Anderson and Shirai’s (1996) Aspect Hypothesis, which states that simple past is acquired much earlier on than past perfect. Similarly, Petra’s overuse of -ness is likely a similar developmental issue (though I cannot find a developmental hierarchy outlining this). 

One explanation for this (aside from “I am reading way more into this than the writers/translators did”) lies in Petra’s social networks. Since coming to Fòdlan, Petra has largely been surrounded by nobles. The use of past perfect, as well as contraction avoidance, might’ve been influenced by the noble’s speech patterns. A side effect of transcribing literally every line of Petra dialogue for the bigger-scale project I’d initially planned was noticing which Black Eagles use contractions and which don’t. Those who are concerned with maintaining their image - Edelgard, Hubert, and Ferdinand - either do not use contractions or use them much less than the others. Linhardt, Bernadetta, and Caspar all don’t care about how others perceive them, and as a result their speech is much more casual. Petra is a highly conscious learner who likely aspires to achieve the speech of the former group. As the future Queen of Brigid, she aims to be perceived as Edelgard’s equal and bring more respect and dignity for her nation. One way for her to do this is through language. Petra perceives herself as lacking proficiency and is embarrassed by her grasp on the language. She is a perfectionist in everything she does and this extends to language. In her supports with Byleth, she corrects herself often. One of her advice box questions expresses frustration about her lack of progress with speaking. She is proud of herself when she uses an expression correctly (e.g. [smiling] “I have had practicing of that phrase”). The realism of her tense acquisition aside, Petra’s aspirations lead her to model her speech after that of her distinguished peers. 

Should Petra’s language have been written to more closely mirror real-world English acquisition patterns? Considering that I doubt this question has crossed other players’ minds, this is largely unnecessary. What should be asked is this: how is Petra treated by the narrative as a second language speaker? The answer is: surprisingly well! Though there are times when her misunderstanding of common expressions is used for humour, nobody treats Petra as if she’s lesser for being Brigidian or a non-native speaker. In fact, the person who’s hardest on Petra’s language is Petra herself. There are no incidences (at least within the Black Eagles) where others perceive her as less intelligent or less worthy of respect. It could be easy to read her character as “quirky foreigner”, but that dismisses the fact that her peers do not see her this way. This game is far from perfect at portraying differences in race/nationality (looking at you, Dedue), but Petra Macneary--hunter, friend, and badass queen--is a pleasant surprise. 

[malumarca]

Hitoshi Shinsou Head Canon 02 || Family

                        When it comes to family, Hitoshi only had his father to rely on. His father doesn’t mention his mother very often and prefers to avoid the subject altogether. While it isn’t due to heartbreak, it’s rather that he wasn’t very proud of himself at that point of his life. He’s never said it in so many words, but when he got with his mother it was more a fling than anything, something to distract himself from the constant pressure and stress of medical school... only 9 months later it would only add to it. 

Hiroshi Shinsou didn’t know much about the woman he would eventually have a son with, all he knew when the time came is that she apparently wanted no part in his life and could not support him. Hiroshi was only 22 at the time and already seeking a degree in the medical field, a young man who wanted nothing more than to become a Pediatric Surgeon. When he found a baby on his doorstep, note left on top of the small bundle, Hiroshi was left in shock. Needless to say those first few years were perhaps the hardest in his life and he only managed to survive with the help of his mother. Hiroshi put his education into overdrive, wanting nothing more than to finish as quickly as possible so he could focus all his off time on his son instead, while providing him with anything he could want. 

Hiroshi was extremely grateful to his own quirk, which allowed him to get the minimum amount of sleep, if any at all, while still being able to spend time with his son, he always felt guilt, especially in those early, important years, that he couldn’t be there more, but he made up for it by spending any spare time with Hitoshi, whether it was reading stories, or later helping him learn various languages, including JSL, ASL, and English. ( He was very upset to find out that Hitoshi was being bullied for his quirk and even more so when he realized there was very little he could do about it.) 

Hitoshi grew up only knowing his Grandmother and his father, being close to the two of him. He is still close to her, though he sees her less now, especially after he got accepted into U.A. and they created the dorms, but he still makes a point to visit or call her. Though he doesn’t act as such, Hitoshi makes a point of talking to his dad every week, though it is more because if he doesn’t reach out, his father will do so instead to check in on him. ( Though his dad will never admit it, he misses having his son around the house and because of this simply makes a habit of staying overnight at the hospital instead. ) 

BASICS : 

Name: Hiroshi Shinsou

Age: 37 

Occupation: Pediatric Surgeon 

Height: 6′3

Quirk:  Natural Caffeine 

Quirk Details: 

Hiroshi’s quirk works in that his blood naturally produces the chemical formula most commonly associated with caffeine, meaning his blood is a naturally occurring stimulant that always keeps him alert, awake and active. Due to his quirk Hiroshi can go days, even weeks before feeling a wink of tiredness and only needs to sleep roughly 45 minutes before he’s back on his caffeine high. His quirk is always active as he is always producing blood and the chemicals are thus always reacting and stimulating his central nervous system.

While this does result in minor heart palpitations (or irregular heartbeats) from time to time, especially if he intakes more caffeine on top of what his body is already producing, he has learned to cope with it. His quirk makes him always appear tired, dark circles permanent underneath his eyes and despite his rather calm demeanor, if he’s ever caught not doing anything, you can always find his foot tapping away, or him messing with a fidget cube to deal with excess energy.

Attempting to sleep only serves to stress him out as it takes him hours to even make himself relax to the point of his mind running less than a mile a minute. 

[bulletproof-korean]

I was tagged by @exo-bts-blackpink-seventeen, thank you~ ^^

1. what languages are you/have studied? My native language is Czech, then I learned English, French, Spanish, Latin, Korean, (does watching anime for years count as learning some Japanese?)

2. how long have you been studying? English since kindergarten, French since I was 10, Spanish only 2 years during middle school, I took Latin also for only 2 years in high school and I started Korean when I was 16

3. did you learn through class or self-study (or both)? I had English in school but I honestly learned a lot by myself, French I learned at school, Spanish was also in school as well as Latin. I started learning Korean by myself, then took language courses and I’m studying it in Uni for a year as well as in Korea right now. 

4. why did you decide to learn this language? English? I had to learn it in school and it’s super handy to know this language. I can’t imagie being on tumblr without English for example hihii~

French also wasn’t my decision really. My mom made me change schools when I was 10 and the school I went to was a French school where we had 10 hours of French a week so that we could join French kids in class in two years.

Spanish was also mandatory as a second language (as French was the language of all classes and English the 1st one).

Latin was obligatory for two years in high school and honestly it helped me a lot with understanding other languages.

Korean? It was kpop of course. It used to be the sole reason why I wanted to learn it a few years back but now I love this language so much even without any music or popular culture to back it up.

5. what was a major highlight/milestone in studying this language? English... probably when I climbed up from the lowest level group to the most advanced one in two years. Also when listening to English songs I used to listen when I was a kid, I now finally know what they are about :D

French was probably the brevet (an exam at the end of middle school) and DELF B2 last year. I used to have level C1 but I forgot so much by going to a Czech high school and not using it :/ Help me gain interest in it once again~~

In Korean, it is happening right now, because I can communicate with Koreans every day and I actually can understand daily conversations. I got into 3급 (could have gotten into 4급 if I were better at speaking -_-) classes and I feel like I’m getting more confident when speaking

6. what was the hardest thing about studying this language? English is not that hard, let’s be honest, but it used to be the participes of irregular verbs.

In French, the hardest thing was always conjugating verbs.

Spanish wasn’t that hard but it was the third language I was trying to learn at that time so I always confused it with French. 

For me, everything is hard about Latin but it is so cool when someone can actually speak it. Our teachers were so cool hehe

Korean is the hardest to speak for me. Trying to make sentences that make sense fast is somehow really hard because the word order is completely different from all the languages I know and learning new vocabulary was also pretty challenging in the beginning. Now I am so thankful for learning some hanja because that helps a lot. 

7. what resources did you find most useful for studying this language? Listen to songs and watch movies/series in your target language. I think I learned most of English while I was watching anime in Japanese with English subtitles. I didn’t know any Japanese and some English from school but I understood it and my skills got really better. 

Of course speaking with natives is also great but it’s hard to make it happen.

8. any top tips for studying this language? Don’t be afraid to make mistakes even when speaking to a native. They will understand that you are only learning this language and on the oposite, they will be really happy to see you trying to speak their language. 

9. whats your next major language goal? Learning Korean to a pretty good level

Reviving my almost dead French speaking skills (because I still have no problem understanding it)

10. anything we can do in the tumblr community to get you there? Just maybe motivate me and make me gain interest in French or Spanish again~

I tag @i-like-moon-okay, @meloncremekr, @bunnylearning, @projectlanguages, @emstudys, @eviestudieskorean ~ Only if you want to do it, and sorry if you’ve already done this!

[personalstwriter-blog]

New Post has been published on http://www.personalstatementwriter.org/nus-personal-statement/

How to Get the Best Results Out of Your NUS Personal Statement

Image credit: Duke-NUS

The National University of Singapore is one of the biggest and most prestigious universities in Asia and the world. Being the oldest from Singapore and the one with the best educational system, the admission system is one of the hardest. Therefore, a perfect NUS personal statement is one of the main requirements in order to get an opportunity to apply for NUS University just like admission to UK universities.

A National University of Singapore personal statement is totally necessary if you want to be eligible to form part of the great and wonderful education system of Singapore. This system offers the best approaches for education and research in Asia and has achieved wonderful results in the many important rankings of the world.

More than 36.000 students from 100 different countries across the world attend yearly to this university, making it one of the most multicultural admission systems in the world, offering over 100 courses and careers in more than 30 different fields of study, from undergraduate to graduates studies.

So, if you want to form part of this wonderful educational system, you will have to write a wonderful NUS personal statement, so we’ve decided to make a list of the most important and necessary requirements plus some recommendations to achieve the best results from your NUS admission essay sample.

Why Is Singapore a Top Education Country

Boasting one of the biggest universities in Asia, Singapore thrives to be one of the countries in the world that achieve a broadening experience for students across the world to improve their skills in different fields and accomplished the best results in education, service, and research.

$ 49.44

On the other hand, the education in Singapore has been ranked among the best in the world, thanks to the many benefits different universities in the country offer to the different studies from many nations across the world.

Thanks to this system, many universities like NUS, offers the best programs, careers, and courses with the many NUS international student opportunities. This has made of Singapore a top-notch quality education example in the world. Take a look at the next website from the Ministry of Education of Singapore which explains why the educational system in Singapore is top among the best in Asia.

What Makes NUS a Wonderful Option to Study Overseas?

Being one of the most active universities in Asia when it comes to research and universities with the most prestigious educational systems, NUS is a wonderful opportunity for students from all across the world to have a great opportunity to improve their skills and academic status.

Benefits from studying in NUS are these:

The National University of Singapore is located in the City of Singapore, which is known for being one of the greatest cities in the world in many ways. International students who aspire and long for being able to study overseas in this wonderful city will have the best experience of their lives.

Take a look at this article from CNN that points out the best features of Singapore.

Applying to NUS is also possible via scholarships and loans. Being an undergraduate, graduate or just any other career or course, you will be able to get the many different scholarship programs available in Singapore. These are:

ANZ Singapore-New Zealand Scholarship Programme

Research Scholarship for Italian Citizens

DUO-Singapore Exchange Fellowship Awards

NUS-UBC Foundation Student Exchange Award

TF-NUS Learn Program & Award

Singapore also boasts one of the best education systems in the world. As we’ve pointed it out before, NUS university can be named among the best-ranked universities in the world, due to the great achievements this country has accomplished in the many fields of research and technology innovations.

A highly-overdeveloped country who has made his way in the world among the most innovative social and technological advancements in the world, with many of the best infrastructure and cultural achievements from this XXI century.

Life in Singapore if way better than any other. Even so, you can be totally assured that you will be even able to study for a double degree. This happens because in Singapore Safety matters the most, where all laws are made to be followed correctly, making it one of the countries with the lowest crime rates in Asia. Plus boasting the best transportation systems in the world.

The multicultural opportunities are powerful. Thanks to the huge diversity of this country, international students can be more than happy of being part of this wonderful educational system that will welcome them with the best environments and will eventually offer them a different perspective of culture and life.

Social life and Entertainment are also a big part of Singapore, so you should be totally confident about studying in the NUS will offer one of the best experiences in your life. From shops to restaurants and wonderful clubs to even the greatest museums and natural recreations, Singapore will offer a once-in-a-lifetime experience for students from all over the world.

Even though life costs a lot in Singapore, every student of NUS can be totally assured that every penny he spends in services and amenities will be totally worth it, as this city offers the best public services in the world, plus a wonderful quality of life that only Singapore can offer.

English is the second language. However, international students from different countries will have the opportunity to talk English as this country’s second language is the Anglo-Saxon one. Even so, the official educational language of Singapore is English, making it a wonderful opportunity for those coming from English-speaking countries.

The quality of education is later seen in the amount of renown a degree from NUS has. Studying in NUS international students will have the opportunity to enjoy from a highly renowned diploma from one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

Thanks to the many achievements NUS has made in its educational system, having the name of this university on a curriculum can immensely increase the chances of getting employed by any company in the world.

Along with Nanyang University, NUS is one of the greatest universities in the world and Asia. Even so, you can take a look at this ranking from Q’s World University Ranking, boasting NUS as the 12th best university in the world.

NUS International Students Entry Requirements

Even though one of the most important requirements to be accepted at NUS, is a wonderful NUS personal statement, there are many other requirements that are almost obligatory to comply with in order to get admitted as an international student in the National University of Singapore, one of the greatest in the world.

Entry requirements to apply to NUS:

It is totally important that the students can validate their proficiency in English with an IELTS or TOEFL test. Even though there’s a standard in the test in order to acknowledge it as passed, NUS can be a little more demanding, asking for better grades.

Having to attend and passing some interviews and many important qualitative tests according to the desired field of study is also one of the possible requirements depending on the exact university and college of preference

It is important to have a clear health, financial, judicial and academic file, with no irregularities and problems in your native country.

Even though NUS university offers great scholarships and loans for international students, there’s a high chance of being rejected for not complying with the minimum financial background required.

There’s a high chance of being able to work part-time in Singapore as a student. However, this will need of the student to have a correct student VISA and a passport with no regularities in order to get more confidence from native employers.

Among the different required documents there are:

Birth Certificate

Valid Passport

Immigration Exemption

Student’s pass or VISA

Work Pass

These documents need to be submitted as a digital copy of the closing period of registration.

All documents should be totally legible. If the original documents are not in English, these will need to be translated in an accurate way along with the original photocopies.

All these documents will need to be processed so it is very likely that the student won’t ever get them returned. Even so, applications that don’t comply with these requirements will be rejected.

Writing a National University of Singapore personal statement is also one of the most common entry requirements. This NUS personal statement example is one of the most important details to take into account when applying to NUS.

If you want to know more about the Entry requirements that are obligatory to comply with in order to send an application to NUS – you can take a look at the following website with the graduate admissions requirements for NUS.

Image credit: NUS

How to Write an NUS Personal Statement to Get the Best Results

If you want an opportunity to be able to study overseas in Singapore, you will have to write a professional NUS personal statement that makes the admission committee confident on their decision, but to do this you will have to take a look at our NUS admission essay sample and tips on how to write a perfect personal statement.

Image credit: NUS

This is what you have to include in your National University of Singapore personal statement:

The first step to writing a perfect NUS personal statement example is to point out all previous experience in the field of the desired career. Even so, all previous achievements in this field plus any important acquired knowledge during the practice of the desired career will be noted.

All relevant experience related to the desired field of study. This experience can be courses taken, any previous work, achievements as a student and any competition or challenge that has been accomplished related to the field.

Any current interest related to the field is also important. Depending on the desired career, the student can also have any other important thought in mind that will make the difference when it comes to studying.

Career goals and long-term achievements are also important when it comes to write and define personal statement. This part will tell the admission committee how important it is for the student to achieve a great diploma from of the best universities in the world. Even so, pointing out why NUS is such a wonderful university and why the student decided to apply there is a great way to end or to start the statement.

NUS International Students Opportunity

As you’ve already taken a look at this article, we are totally assured that you may already know why is NUS such a wonderful opportunity for international students who want to study overseas. Even so, we have even talked about the requirements and most important recommendations on writing a NUS personal statement in order to get admitted.

If you find it difficult to write a proper National University of Singapore personal statement despite having read our tips, we recommend you to contact us and we will more than happy to help you at writing a perfect NUS personal statement!