#Babbel reads

[redinkquill]

Babbel Continues

Babbel never stopped

The curse continues to this day

It’s in all the miscommunications

In everything we say

Our intent is not accurately conveyed

Always on different pages

Even when reading the same book

It’s communication in different stages

It’s different perspectives when you look

Imagine if everything you said or wrote

Always ended with others in the same boat

It’s not like that at all in this world

Every little word is twirled

It’s all the little mistakes that add up

To prevent us from making towers to the sky

Although that is a bit of a lie

Because that tower breached Heaven

Ever since, every sentence added a question

[the-busy-ghost]

Oh so the duolingo update is just utterly naff then

[bl00d-1n-wat3r]

Wanna know something odd. I pretty much refuse to read fanfics with a word count over 5,000 and yet Ill then around and read a whole book in one day. Hm I think Im a hypocrite :3

[copperbadge]

Amateur Translation Programs

So I had a lot of imaginative and informative responses to my post about looking for an amateur translation program -- something where I could load in a foreign language and it would insert a box where I could add a translation every-other-line. The idea was that this way I could practice translation with more advanced texts, and texts I chose, and thus move away from Duolingo, which at this point is good for drilling and daily practice but not for more advanced learning.

I didn't find precisely what was needed but I did get some inspiration for further explanation, and I also learned that adding the term "glossing" (thank you @thewalrus-said) into my searches helped a great deal in terms of weeding out programs that were either "Let this AI translate for you" or just endless promotional links for Babbel and Duolingo and such. I thought I'd collect up the suggestions and post them here; at the end I'm including my best swing at designing what I wanted, and why it doesn't work yet.

Suggestion one, from many people, was various ways to generate a page that is simply fixed Italian text with space underneath each line to add in a translation. This is pretty simple as a process and there are sites that will do it for you, such as this one that @ame-kage suggested. However, most of these don't allow for movement in the Italian text, and many produce a PDF which you would need to print out in order to write on unless you're willing to open it in Acrobat (and deal with Acrobat). A good solution for some but not what I'm looking for purely because I'm trying to make this super frictionless so that (knowing myself as I do) I will actually do it.

I did find this version interesting, suggested by @drivemetogeek: Have one word doc saved as your "template" doc and set the line spacing as 2.0 or higher. Select your text from source and paste it into the template doc as text-only. Ctrl a, ctrl c to select all and copy, then open a new document and "paste special" as picture. Right click and set the "wrap text" as behind text. Now you have a document where you can, basically, type over the existing text because it's the background of the page. This seems like the most frictionless version, because you could set up a bunch of them ahead of time. If you wanted to move between desktop and mobile, however, you'd need to ensure that the pasted image was fairly narrow so that you don't have to sideways-scroll.

Relatedly, people suggested generating a document that is simply the Italian text with empty space beneath it for typing in of the translation. This can be done either semi-automated, using a macro or a language like Python, or find-and-replace on, say, the stops at the ends of sentences. It basically outputs the same as above but with a more digitally accessible format, without any more effort than above. If you were to do this in Google Sheets you could also fix the column width so that it didn't do anything weird when you opened it on your phone. But it is still very friction-y, and does not allow for easy shifting of the Italian as needed. There's high probability of the translation breaking weirdly across the page. Still a top option in terms of simplicity and access.

@smokeandholograms suggested another variation illustrated here where essentially you're converting the text to a series of tables, with each paragraph a row, and an empty cell next to it for the translation. I might play around more with this one eventually, since I think I could possibly make it a three-column and put the Italian in one, the translation in the next, and the auto-translate to let me know where I might be slipping in the third. (Not that I trust auto-translate but comparing a hand translation to an auto translation can be useful in terms of working out when I've messed up the way a tense or mood is read. I tend to read indirect verbs as automatically imperative because I'm a weirdo.)

@wynjara linked to an add-in for Word specifically designed for translators, known as TransTools; this appears to employ a macro to do the same thing, though it does have a format where you can place the translation next to each sentence directly rather than in a separate cell. The full suite of tools is only $45 which is reasonable for my budget, but for what I need I think I could also just create the macro.

Using LaTeX as a tool specially designed for glossing was an option on offer, but I don't know enough about LaTeX to figure out the pros of this one, which is in itself the major con -- there's a learning curve that I think varies widely by person but for me is unfortunately a wall. It came out of a discussion on Reddit about trying to find something like what I want; also in that discussion is a link to a code generator that allows you to…do something…to the initial language, but it's not entirely clear to me (I'm sure it's clear to people who understand coding) what you would then do with it that would allow it to be output in the way I'm hoping for. Like, I could turn a paragraph of text into HTML, I understand that far, but any Italian I find is already on a website.

Moving more into apps that might work, Redditors on the LaTeX discussion suggested SIL Fieldworks, which is a professional language tech tool. Fieldworks isn't a program I'd previously encountered but much as with the ones I had, it looks like the learning curve is fairly steep and it is definitely overkill generally for what I need, though it might also harbor within it the thing I want. It is free, so I may download and play around with it.

@brightwanderer suggested using note-taking or "whiteboard" apps such as Freeform or Nebo; these are generally a kind of "infinite canvas" in which you can drop objects, text boxes, or handwriting. I don't know that Freeform would be measurably different to just using Word and a macro, since I'd still have to input/format all the text and then be stuck with the same "fixed text" setup -- and it's also iOS only -- but for some folks it might be more helpful. Nebo is a similar infinite-canvas with unfortunately the same issues, though on the plus it's available for Android, which is where most of my mobile property resides.

@bloodbright suggested that I was looking for a CAT tool, a professional translation tool mainly used by translators working in the field. This was a concept I'd encountered, but I hadn't found a good starting place. They suggested Smartcat and OmegaT. Smartcat bills itself as an AI translation platform and is HARD pushing the "don't translate it yourself, hire a translator or let AI do it" angle, so it's difficult to tell what it offers in terms of actual tools for translators, and it's also cagey about pricing, so I can't really evaluate it. OmegaT is free and gives off big "some weirdo homebrewed this in their basement" vibe (which I am here for) but I also recognized it from screengrabs that were the reason I veered away from professional-grade software: it looked too complex. Realistically, the major downside of OmegaT is that I don't think I can put it on my phone. One thing I did find interesting is that once you translate a portion of the text, the original language goes away, though I assume you can turn that off if needed. I do kind of like that because it means my distractable brain is looking at Less Stuff.

So where did I end up?

Well, it looked like I was going to have to try a homebrew myself. I had the idea of trying some of the initial suggestions but in reverse -- designing a document where every other line was a single-cell table fixed to the page. You could paste in the Italian, which would wrap around the cells, and then enter the English in the cells.

You can fix a table in place in Google Docs -- you click on the table, then under Table > Style select Wrap Text, Both Sides, and Fix On Page. Getting the whole page set up is a little labor intensive but once you did that, you could just save it as a template and make a duplicate of it each time. And this actually works….on desktop.

Unfortunately, if you open it in the mobile Docs app, the app can't handle the fixed tables and automatically moves them all to after the text that's been pasted in. I tried redesigning it so that it's a table within a table -- one for the Italian, then within that a series of them for the English -- but when you nest a table in Google Docs, it doesn't let you fix the second table in place. And you are also still dealing with the wrap issue, although you can resize the page and add a large right-hand margin as a kludge of a fix for that.

You can build this same kind of document in Word, so I tried building one in Word and then uploading it to Drive, but when you open the Word file in Docs (or in Microsoft Word for Android), it still strips the fixed positioning -- there's just some functionality missing from both apps that doesn't allow them to handle fixed-position tables.

So, the design is sound, just not the final execution. If I could program an app, I could probably remedy the issues with it -- it's simply a series of text boxes nested inside one another with different formatting. I would imagine that's relatively basic to set up, although given that neither Docs nor Word can handle fixed tables in mobile, perhaps I've stumbled on a much bigger problem that everyone is ignoring because nobody actually needs or wants fixed tables in mobile. :D

Experimentation is ongoing, anyway. I might simply have to resign myself to the fact that my translation study is going to have to be in front of a computer, which might be for the best anyway when I inevitably want to compare my translation to an auto-translate to see where I might have read something wrong.

[ros3ybabe]

Current Japanese Study Routine + Resources 🎀

As you all may know, I am currently self studying Japanese and Spanish, though I am putting Spanish on the back burner for now so I can focus more on Japanese as that is where my passion lies at the moment. Lucky for me, there is a Japanese language and culture club on my university campus that I am (hopefully) going to join next week or the week after, given how busy my schedule ends up being. I thought I’d make a little post about my current routine that I use to study and what resources I am currently using and am planning on purchasing to use in order to build my proficiency in this beautiful language!

Current Resources 🩷

Apps - I am currently playing around with several apps to see which ones work for me, so here is all the apps I currently have downloaded to my iPad/phone

Duolingo - this has been a go to for all language I’ve ever tried to learn, it’s useful for me as a basic introduction to vocabulary, sentence structure, some grammar, and I just like how it involves typing, speaking, listening, and reading.

Drops - this one is just a fun little 5 minutes gamified way to learn vocabulary for me, it’s definitely a go to on my lazier language learning days

Bunpo - I like this for learning the kana but I didn’t realize it costs money to use fully so I am debating purchasing a subscription to the paid version

Write Japanese - this one I’m using to learn the correct stroke order for the kana and I like it for the most part

Renshuu - I just signed in to use this one last night and it looks interesting. I’ve seen it recommended by several blogs and even when google searching language learning and watching YouTube videos so I’m excited to try it out!

NHK for School - I saw someone recommend this on their blog and I remember using the website version in the past so I know this will be helpful when it comes to reading

Jisho - this is a dictionary app that I’ve seen recommended on so many platforms and I’m always open to a good dictionary!

Japanese - this one was recommended on a blog post and it allows you to add vocabulary and interesting phrases so I thought it’d be useful once I start on learning sentence structure and grammar

Italki - this one is the one I’m most excited to use. It connects you to people who speak and teach your target language for a set timed lesson, and it does cost money but you pay by lesson, not on a subscription basis. So if you do one lesson the first week and then another lesson in three weeks or something, you only pay for those two lessons. I’m really looking forward to trying this one out in the future once I get more comfortable with speaking.

Anki - a flash card app I am using to currently learn hiragana and will soon use for katakana and eventually kanji and phrases. I was gonna use Quizlet but I ended up liking this one better for my current needs.

LingoDeer, Memrise, Babbel, HiNative, HelloTalk, Hey Japan, Busuu, Kanji, Kana, Sensei - apps that I have and have not tried yet. I really like the ones I’ve already tried so I’m not sure if I’m going to use these ones soon but if I get bored of current apps than I at least have alternatives to turn to to continue learning

Textbooks/Workbooks/Materials - I currently own two workbooks but will include the resource I am planning on buying, as well as any stationery material I am also using!

Japanese for Busy People I - This was the workbook we had for the Japanese class I took at my university while in high school. My dad ended up buying it for me if I promised not to take Japanese classes once I went to college. (My parents don’t believe it is useful to know and they are helping pay for my education so I didn’t have a choice.) I haven’t started reusing it yet but once I am comfortable with the kana then I will resume using it.

Let’s Learn Katakana - this is a katakana writing book my older brother bought for me (he is supportive of everything I have an interest in even if he doesn’t understand it himself) and it is really useful for learning and practicing writing katakana. However I am still focusing on relearning hiragana so I will return to this workbook after I solidify my hiragana knowledge.

Genki I and Genki II textbook/workbook + answer key bundle - I am planning to buy this off of Amazon as I have heard from most people who are learning Japanese on their own that this set is really useful for self studying so of course I am going to invest in it once I get paid next week.

I am also looking for a hiragana, katakana, and kanji writing workbook to practice those skills.

Free Online Resources -

YouTube!

Anime!

Music

Manga

Anything free I can find online when google searching resources

Stationary Supplies -

Kokuyo Campus Smart Ring Binder in pink

Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pens in black

Index cards

Pilot g-2 fashion pens

Zebra mild liner highlighter/markers

Papermate Mechanical Pencils

Mini notebook to carry around for vocabulary

My iPad + Apple Pencil + Goodnotes 5

My Chromebook

A lot of resources but I am trying to stick with this for the long term. A few years ago, I self studied Japanese everyday for about 2 years and gained a good understanding but fell off from studying Japanese when I went to university.

My Current Study Routine* 🎀

*when I have more than 30 minutes to study, if I only have 30 minutes or less I just mess around on my language apps

I currently do not use any workbooks or textbooks as I am trying to re familiarize myself with the language. Here’s my current study routine!

Practice Anki flashcards 3 times or until I get 85-90% correct

Practice hiragana writing in Write Japanese app (~10min)

Duolingo lessons for 10 minutes

1 Japanese language Drops lesson

Use Renshuu until I get bored (~10-15min)

Watch an episode of anime as a reward (Japanese audio with English subtitles)

I will switch this up to a more structured way of studying once I start using my textbooks and workbooks, but for now this relaxed style of learning is working for me time wise and attention wise (ADHD brain right here).

I also listen to Japanese music throughout the day and try to recall hiragana characters correctly in my head when I have the time. I also sneak in some practice when at work on my apps and whatnot. I mentioned in my last daily check in some of my favorite Japanese artists, and I also love Japanese versions of K-pop songs too! I’m currently watching Bungou Stray Dogs on crunchyroll right now, and I’m open to any recommendations for what to watch next!

If anyone has any language learning tips or resources they’d want to share, feel free to comment! It would be greatly appreciated!

Til next time my lovelies 🩷🤍

[official-linguistics-post]

I just found your blog and you are already one of my favorite blogs on this site! I wanted to know if you've read RF Kuang's Babbel? If so, I would like to know your thoughts!

BABEL CHANGED ME. i got it from the library last year (use your public libraries, folks!!), devoured it in 24 hours, and was asked multiple times by my spouse if i was okay while sobbing on the couch. it's one of those rare books that i actually bought a physical copy of for rereading availability.

now, disclaimer: i'm already a lover of fantasy, and if you're not into those premises you probably won't be a huge fan of babel. but it was an exceptionally intriguing linguistic twist on magic, and it immediately and fundamentally shifted my approach to writing (as the best books do). i recommend babel to literally everyone who listens to my recs.

[winningismyjob]

5 Proven facts to learn a new language faster

Hey all, as an experienced language learner, having learnt two foreign languages to fluency in a relatively small amount of time, and having a lot of experience with tons of other languages, I would like to share with you my 5 tips, which are supported by science, to learn a language faster.

Language learning is important for multiple reasons, one of which is that it stimulates your brain in new ways and can prevent mental diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia. Another reason is that it makes you see the world in a different light and gives you access to new countries, cultures and people.

After reading this blog you will be much more secure in your language learning and will have access to a faster way to mastering your preferred language, so make sure you implement all of these in your next study routine.

Now without further ado, let's start.

  1. Set clear goals

We all like to be ambitious, but it's important to be realistic as well. Learning a language takes time and even if you optimise your study sessions, it'll still take some years to get fluent (although it depends on the language you're learning and which ones you already know). The reason most people give up on language learning is because they set too high goals and don't reach them, so they become demotivated. Instead of telling yourself to learn 20 words a day, which is a lot, reduce it to 100 words a month. 100 words is still significant progress and is definitely doable even if you're busy, since you would only have to learn 3-4 words of day, which would require about 10, 15 minutes max. In a year you would learn 1200 words, and if you have more time, you could even double it to 200 a month.

It is scientifically proven that people that set reachable goals are more likely to stay motivated and get fluent in the language they're learning.

    2. Immerse yourself

The second way to learn a language in a faster way is to immerse yourself. I myself have always used this, going to different countries and staying there for some time, and it's always very rewarding since I come back with much more control and fluency in my language.

If you don't have the time and resources to go or move to a new country, which is definitely understandable, you could immerse yourself in different ways, like watching tonnes of YouTube videos, listening to podcasts and talking to natives online. You can use apps like Spotify, Tandem, HelloTalk and Slowly for this.

You could also go on subreddits like r/language exchange to find yourself a language partner.

    3. Use language learning apps

Although there's a lot of discourse about whether you should or shouldn't use language learning apps, and whether or not they're a waste of time and teach you enough to not use actual textbooks, it can be said that there definitely are certain language apps that help you get closer to your language learning goals faster. Using apps like Anki or Quizlet to learn vocabulary consistently, and Busuu and Babbel for grammar, can significantly help you reach a higher level in your language. Just make sure you don't use just one app, and that you focus on all aspects of language learning.

A possible combination of apps: Anki for vocabulary, Busuu for grammar and Tandem and YouTube for immersion.

Also, you can still use traditional tools for your language learning and combine them with apps. You could use a textbook for grammar and download an app for practising verbs and another one for cases (or use certain websites). Either way, language learning apps are proven to help you learn a language quicker, since they keep your progress organised and keep you motivated. Sometimes they can have an addictive interface like Duolingo so that they make sure you learn something everyday.

    4. Learn everyday

As for my fourth tip, it's crucial you learn something every single day and not skip a day. Skipping a day can quickly turn into three days, and then a week, which can make you demotivated and harder to start again. You don't have to study for an hour everyday, but just 5 minutes will keep you on the right track and keep you motivated.

You can also try to incorporate language learning in your daily life, like putting sticky notes with vocabulary on your desk or fridge. You can set your background of your phone to a list of 20 new words you have to learn for the week. If you're very serious, maybe consider dating someone who speaks the language you wanna learn, since you can immerse yourself this way naturally.

If it's needed, turn on an alarm or reminder on your phone for language learning or make it a habit to study everyday after you wake up, before you go to sleep, during breaks etc.

    5. Track your progress

This might sound simple, but it's one of the things that makes people demotivated and stop learning their language. When you get to a certain level, you'll feel "stuck"; you'll feel like you're not progressing. By writing down what you've learned everyday after you study, you'll stay motivated to learn again the next day and the next day and the next day. You'll learn your language faster since you'll stay consistent and since there's less of a chance of you becoming frustrated and feeling stuck and maybe even giving up.

    Bottom line

There are multiple ways to learn a language quicker, supported by science, like setting clear goals, immersion, using language learning apps, making sure you study everyday and tracking your progress. With these 5 tips you should be ready to take your language learning to the next level.

Thank you for reading and I hope this blog has helped you come closer to your goals. If you want to read more content about studying, language learning, culture, travel, history and countries, definitely don't hesitate to follow my account since I'll post a lot more.

[hirik0]

You always meet twice 9

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8

Ghost/Soap

NSFW

It took nearly 3 months for them to have enough time to get on leave, missions being back to back and Soap has the feeling he missed the point to tell Ghost he found the news articels about his families death. So they are on a flight to Manchester to vistet a graveyard. Great he really did something here. He looks out the window of the plane there are on. Only clouds and still 2 hours left till they are landing. Ghost is reading the book he bought at the airport but it dont really look like hes enjoying it. Soap start to bounce his legs, as hes getting nervous about 'seeing' Tommy for the first time since he joined the millitary. A hand is resting on his leg and Ghost gives him a questioning look.

"Nervous", he simply says and Ghost goes back to his book. Soap has to hold back a annoyed sound, Ghost is even more closed off then normal. Soap knows it is becasue he is sharing a gigantic part of his personal life that he likely never talks to anyone about. It also is not helping seeing Ghost in civilian clothes. wearing a surgial facemask, sunglasses and bennie to hide his identity as much as possible. Soap himslef is wearing a oversieceed hoodie to conceal how buff he is, just like Ghost. Two rows infront of them a couple is arguing louder and louder about a guy called Ryan. Soap never is somebody to ovehear other people problems, but these two are loud on a air plane and it is intressting and imbossible not to hear. At least more intressting then looking out the window on a flight. He flighs so much for work, so why is flying on leave so diffrent?

"Soap?", Ghost wisperes looking at him. Soap started to bounce his legs again.

"Bit nervous, don't know, guess not the same as flying for work." Soap tries to explain and Ghost clearly dont get it but nods anyway.

"Dont like the entertainment?" Ghost ask refering to the couple.

"Well I know more about this Ryan I ever wanted to know", Soap answers the question. Like really can't they fight in private?

"At least Ryan makes me cum something you can't do because you cant keep it up longer then 30 seconds." The woman says for the whole plane to hear and the two are sharing a look with the third person in the row. A very pregnant pause before the man is answering.

"Well it really hard to fuck somebody that sounds like a guinea-pig."

"The fuck", Ghost is wispering and Soap now has ro many questions in his head.

The fly of hell is finally over and they walk out the airport taking a taxi to the hotel they are staying in. They are silent and driver tried a conversation but Soap who usally chats off everybody ears said they had a rough flight and the driver understands. Soap as the more social person is handling checking in, while Ghost is checking out the lobby for potential threats. They have a room on the 10th floor at the very end of the hallway. Soap opens the door to a room with one queen bed. Ghost own nervousnes spikes at this. They can sleep in the same bed, no problem right? Soap is also nervous about the one bed, because his brain is hunted by Ghost and he's not sure if he will not do something dumb. They look at each other absolutely exhausted from the mission and the horrible flight.

"Window or door? "Ghost asks simply wanting to sleep.

"Window", Soap yawns his answer before dropping the bag on the couch. He watches Ghost who is reaching for a hiden knife hes not wearing because they flew civlian.

"We can buy a knife later", Soap jokes after Ghost is reaching for the next hiden knife. Ghost is turning towards him, giving him an angry look that is hiden behind the stupid sunglasses making Soap laught softly. He steps towards Ghost and removing his cover.

"The receptionist ask me if you are a star or something. Told her you are." Soap babbels a bit trying to not look directly into Ghost eyes. But he wants to look in these warm brown eyes.

"Maybe Im just ashamed to be see with you outsite of work and dont want to be reconiced." Ghost quips back, huffing amussed about it.

"Eejit" Ghost smiles amused at this, before ruffeling Soaps hair what is pissing the scot off even more. Ghost pulls off the mask and Soaps protest is stucked in his throat, holly shit dont freak out, stay calm, you saw his face before. More then ones by now.

"Get ready for a short rest, Sergeant", Ghost orders more as a joke but Soap follows his order with out thinking. Ghost chuckels, he didnt even use his Lieutant voice, ones a soilder always a soilder huh. Soap is pulling out some cloths out of his bag before disapearing in the bathroom. God damm it, he still needs to tell Soap that Tommy is dead.

Soap is closing the bathromm door, now is probably the time to tell Ghost he knows about the death of his family. He stripps out of the hoodie he actully Ghosts that got mixed up in the wasching and he never told Ghost. He dont even thinks Ghost knows that one of his black hoddies is missing. He keeps the T-shirt on and then strips out of the jeans, he for some reason chose to wear on a 4 hour flight. After putting on a pair of sweatpants, that are a littel to short on the legs and thigt for him now, but still good to sleep in. Splashing some water in his face before he picks up his cloths and leaves the bath room.

"Ghost", he says a bit unsure geting bouncy again wipping on his feet back and forth.

"You broke something?", Ghost asks confused by his behaivor.

"I... I know they are death and we will go to a graveyard", Soap shares his knowledge. Ghost is tillting his head looking like he is a bit more relaxed.

"Did you listen to one of these awfull potcasts?", Ghost just asks sounding tired. If they get even more out of hand he has to kill some of them.

"No, I saw the headlins of the news articles from when it happend. Didnt fell right to snoop further", Soap states and Ghost nods.

"Thanks Soap." Ghost says before he enters the bathroom. Soap drops down on his site of the bed and thinks about the thanks. A small word meaning a whole lot. Thanks for respecting them, thanks for not brining it up as soon as you learend, thanks for giving me the space to get ready to talk with you about it. A smile is apearing on Soaps face at this before he looks at his phone. Doing a quick search of techno clubs in Manchester. He can bring it up to Ghost later, about going to in a techno club in Tommys memories. He doesnt hear Ghost returning to the room, till the man is standing next to the bed.

"If you steal the blanket I will kick you out the bed." Ghost treatents him and Soap knows that this is not an empty one, being able to identfy Ghost modes by his voice alone by now.

"Well, then I still have the blanket", Soap points out grinning getting a anoyed sound from Ghost.

"3 hours enough?", Ghost ask being on his phone.

"Yes, Sir."

When Ghost is slowly being pulled out of sleep, he feels something heavy on his shoulder and chest. His instincts are imidiatly kicking in, pinning what ever is on his chest down into the bed. Reaching for the hidden knive that should be onder his pillow, to just not find one.

"God damit L.T.", a very familiar voice is complaining and Ghost need a few minutes to put one and one together. Right he is in a hotel in Manchester with Soap because they are visiting Tommys grave. So no knife under the pillow and Soap used him as a pillow. He gets of he Sergent mumbeling a sorry. Soap is revield that the weight on him is gone, but is know very aware on how hot his body thinks the whole situation was. Hes half hard and he his cheeks are red. Worst moment to learn something new about himself.

"You're heavy", Soap fake complains to play of how into he is in what happend.

"Need to eat more vegetables so you get big and strong." Ghost throws back and Soap nearly says something very dumb.

"I ate all my vegetables"; Soap stattes, a lie he only eat like 3 as a child, but all of them. So really a half lie.

"Com'on, Price will hate it if we get caught breaking into a graveyard."

The drive is short and Soap is a bit more chatty with the driver and Ghost just feels how all the conflicting feelings he always get when visiting the graves. He usally did break in, in the middel of the night, its more private and fits his mode better. The problem is that Soap is such an unknown factor in this visite. He thinks he now understands how Tommy felt when he intruduced Beth to his mother, he still made fun of his brother while being deployed at the time. Tommy absolutly give him the same shit now if they would be alive. He honestly would be a lot less nervous to introduce Soap to his living mother, because she would absolutly love Soap. Her not meeting him feels so wrong, its unfair one of the endless thinks that Roba is taking from him beyond the grave. Of course Soap notice him being even more closed of as usall checking in on him in the same silent way they do on missions. Ghost slowly nods unsure if he should not shake his head instead, Soap would understand and tell him they dont have to go there today. Deep down he knows he would find reasons for them not going here, he needs to remember this is not about him, its about Soap being able to say goodbye to Tommy. They reach the graveyard and get out, Ghost is not sure he will find the way when its not dark.

They need some time to find the grave site, Soap is polite enough to not comment on it. They are standing in front of it and Ghost feels himself locking all his emotions away. The only thing to stop him from fully disasociating is Soaps hand holding his.

"You think they would like me?", Soap asks sudenly knowing that his own family after some time would absolutly love Ghost.

"Without a doubt", Ghost answers tears starting to fill his eyes. It never felt like this. Its always this painfull emptyness and he never crys, so why now? Why now after so many years.

"You think I would be Josephs favourite uncle?", Sopa asks more as a joke to lighten up the mode a bit.

"Never." Ghost answers voice thin, holding back the tears as best as he could. Soap looks at Tommys name thinking really strong that he dont need to worry and he will look after Ghost for them now. He gives Ghost the time he needs, squising his hand and rubbing with his thumb over the knuckels of Ghost hands. They stand in silence for a moment till Soaps stomach growls loudly. He looks up at Ghost smilling unsure a font teary smile on Ghost face.

"Cant have my favourite Sergeant starve can I?", Ghost jokes getting a glare from Soap that screams eejit, but hes to respectfull to say it at the graves.

"I could eat", Soap agress after a while, his stomach doing funny things when he sees the amused smile on Ghost face. Hes so in love with Ghost its painfull sometimes. He also feels proud to make Ghsot smile when being here is clearly very hard for him. They are dancing around each other for months now and Soap is confident that Ghost feels the same about him, as he feels about Ghost. Ghost is using hth not intervient hand to lift Soaps chin up, and Soaps heart is ready to beating so fast it springs out his chest. Their first kiss on a graveyard, things that happen to you when you have a crush, no fall in love, with a guy everyone calls Ghost. Its a short kiss, before Ghost pulls him towards the exit.

Ghost leeds him to a hole in the wall italian restaurant, with amazing lasagna. Ghost is eating his spaghetti with a aioli sauce and shrimps. Not something he thought Ghost eats with his history of what he consinders food on a mission.

"This was moms favourite", Ghost says inbetween bites and Soap is not sure if he minds the restaurant or the dish. Nodding understanding, maybe its both.

"You always go here?" Soap asks leaving out the when you viste their graves and Ghost nods with a mouth full of pasta.

"Usally before." Soap frowns at this, slowly conecting the dots, leting out a painful sigh, of course Ghost vistes the graves in the middel of the night. Ghost shrugs at him, whos there to judge him before. Besites the dead but they keeped ther opinon to themselves.

"You want to go to a rave?", Soap asks feeling there is now good time to ask the question, but a restaurante is better then next to the graves. Ghost is chewing his pasta thinking about it.

"To honor his memory?", he asks and Soap nods mouth full of lasagna. "You already have a place dont you?" Soap smiles at this, trying to look innocent. Ghost should have known but he also has no reason why they should not go. Soaps lucky Ghost likes him and has no knife with him. Every other person would get stabbed.

"No talk to dubios people", Ghost warns him and Soap is pointing his forke full of food towards him.

"I can protect myself now." Getting a 'are you sure about that' look from Ghost, have saved Soaps life numerous times now, by simply watching his six. "Eejit."

Ghost is ones more reminded he absolutly hates techno and only listens to it when he misses Tommy really badly. Atleast Soap dont forces him on the dance floor, yet. He has the felling Soap absolutly wants to dance with him at some point. Well, if he looks at the crowed wipping from site to site with your arms up and jumping from time to time is something he can do. Watching their drinks, looking grumpy and keeping an eye on Soap nothing changed since he and Tommy became friends, well minus dealers. Atleast he hopes so, for the dealers sake, because whatever Soap does not do to them he absolutly will.

"Eh, exuse me?", a high pitched voice is screaming a question to him over the music and 3 teenager girls are standing next to him. He raises a eyebrow trying to figure out if they are even old enough to be here.

"Yes?", he acknowledegs them two hiding behind the girl that talked to him.

"Can you watch our drinks, we want to dance and.. ehh", the girl stammers also losing her courage the longer he stares at them.

"Sure" Ghost agress, three more glasses are really not a problem. The girl gives him a big smile that reminds him of Joseph. He lets it not affect his mood, honestly the three are very smart for asking somebody like him.

"Thank you." With that three glasses are palced on the table Ghost is claiming as his own and the girls are disapearing on the dance floor. He dont sees Soap or the girls for at least an hour, when Soap is getting out of the crowd. Smilling at him, not even minding Ghost is not dancing with him.

"Had fun?", Ghost asks him and Soap nods, before taking a sip from the now warm beer. Before he points to the three glasses that where not here when he left Ghost alone.

"Looking at them for somebody", Ghost explains and Soap gives him a puzzelt look. Who in their right mind would ask Ghost to watch their drink with the aura hes radiating? Must be some brave souls. Soap looks at Ghost, with the lights its not that easy, but hes pretty sure Ghost reached his limit to be here. So he trys to finishes hes beer quickly till the people that asked Ghost to look after them come back si they can leave soon after. Ten minutes later the first girl is coming out the crowd, shortly followed by the other two. Soap watches them, smillling at them while they look betwenn the two. The girl that askes him is still trying to figure out how their relationship, while sipping her drink.

"So you two are... like dating?", the girl asks after a while looking at Ghost for an answer.

"We're thinking about it", Ghost gives a vague enough answer. The girl nods at this still looking inbetwenn the two.

"Celine, thats non of our buisness", one of the other girls warns her. Celine is shrugging at that, she askes a harmless question. The third girl is looking at her phone, eyes wide and hands shaking.

"Lilly?", the still nameless girls asks her. Lilly is mouthing mom. Soap and Ghost give each other a look. Clearly both asking themsleves if the girls are atleast 18.

"Your mom is calling?", Celine asks finishing the rest of her drink in one big gulp. Lilly is mouthing facetime. Looks like these three are in trouble. Celine looks at the two soilders smilling.

"Hope you figure it out, we have to go and thanks again." With that the three girls disapearing towards the next exit. Soap chuckels at this, he dont even know how often Tommy and him ended up in a similar situation.

"We're thinking about it huh?", Soap says after a he finished his beer. Getting a 'watch what your saying' look from Ghost. Really Soap has no buisness saying anything about this, he send drunk expliced text and voice messages to his CO. Soap finsihes the last bit of beer in his bottel and the moment he palced it down on hte table, Ghost is leaning in close to his ear.

"Pretty sure when I look there is a message on my phone of you telling me something about my dick in your ass. So what else should i have answered because a simple coworkers is not covering it." Soaps feels his face flushing, and hes lucky Ghost is so close to his ear he cant see the rest of his face. Jesus why does Ghost have to bring that up now? Soap is opening and closing his mouth no words leaving it.

"Cat got your tounge? Johnny?", Ghost asks smugly knowing he is crossing some wires in Soaps brain.

"So does that mean you want to fuck?", Soaps asks a bit unsure where this is leading.

"You still want to ride my dick badly?" Ghost simply asks back as if hes asking is water wet, before kissing Soaps cheek. The heat on Soaps face is burning stronger, oh god, yes.

"Yes." Soap answers after his brain needs a bit to long to figure out how speaking works.

"Lets get out of here."

Ghost has no idea how they got back to the hotel room at all, but they both pulled the other at some part of the way both eager to go bak to the room. The moment the door is closed he pressing Soap against a wall, kissing him, how he wants to for a while now. Feeling how Soaps arms are closing around his shoulders.

"You know these voice messages you sent me? You fucking tease, drove me insane and ever since I plan to get these noices out of you", Ghost wispers against Soaps lips, felling how Soaps breath is hitching at this. Picking up the Sergeant like he weights nothing to put him on the bed, stepping back a few steps. Looking at his meal, his delicous meal. The red cheeks, the way Soap licks over his lips, the confident smile, that he ever thought they would not end up at this point. In the end he has to be honest with himself, Soaps text just speed up what would have happend sonner or later.

"Just looking? Sir?", Soap asks sitting up to watch what Ghost is doing. Looking the other man up and down, stoping a bit longer at the bulche of Ghost dick and damm it does look big. Ghost walks towards the bed, getting out of the black shirt he wore at the club. Soap is smillig cocky at him, before opening his legs a bit wider so that Ghost can fit in between them better. Ghost leans down to kiss him again using his hands to pin Soaps thighs down. They kiss for a while till Soap makes a annoyed whine, needing some fiction at his dick.

"So impatient", Ghost huffes at this before removing the shirt from Soap. Wanting to respond but Ghost is kissing him breathless. Soap uses his hands to roam over Ghost back, trying to not linger on the scars to much. Scratching down Ghost spine when he grows inpatient again. His pants are uncomfortable thight and need to get them off. Ghost smiles against his lips, before he sits up and his hands fly towards Sopas belt.

"Si..mon", Soap moans a complaint, when Ghost is rubbing over his dick to tease him a but more.

"Patience Johnny, I waited for monthes to get here, you can wait a few more minutes", Ghost chuckels opening Soaps sipper.

"I rather get fucked by you for a few more minutes", Soap answers shoving his pants and underwear down.

"I think we can have both." Soap thinks about flipping Ghost of for this, but a hand is around his dick. Ghost smears the pre cum with his thumb, before licking the finger clean, keeping eye contact with Soap, holding the others chin so he cant look away if he wanted to, but Soap dont want to. Then Ghost stands up, to get to his bag and leavin the scit to make a frustrated noice.

"Catch." With that a full bottel of lube, Soap has no idea when Ghost bought that, is flying towards him and a few condoms. Ghost smiles pleased at Soap confused look. While Ghost returns to the bed, Soap is opening the bottel. Squezing a good amount on Ghost holt out hand. Ghost warms up the lube, while John is turning around for easier access. Ghost spreads the lube, around Soaps hole before, he pushes the first finger in. He takes his time, always waiting for a impaient sound from Soap before he continues the preparation.

"Its good, focus on your legs at the moment", Ghost says into the room, after a while to rail Soap up a bit more.

"Si", Soap complains wanting to get to the main programm.

"Just a littel more or your into a bit of pain with your pleasure?" The moan that Soap is making is not really helping to understand what he wants.

"Words, Johnny." Everytime Soap trys to answer Ghost is rubbing over his prostate.

"Si, just get your dick out", Soap gets the words out, hes sure Ghost would have the patient to make him cum with his fingers only. The other is reaching for one of the condoms as asked, before he gets out his pants and boxers, only now realising how uncomfortable his pants gotten to engaged with getting Soap ready and rilled up. Soap turns around and gulps a bit, shit Ghost is big. Maybe he should just have waited till Ghost thinks hes ready, but well he wont back down, just going slow. He strandels Ghost lap, kissing him to get his nerves a bit down. Still not believing this is happening. Ghost is leaning back pulling the scot with him, till his back hits the sheets. Roaming his hands greedly over all of the skin he can reach till he rests them on Soaps waiste. Soap pulls back, feeling for the condom Ghost dropped somewhere on the bed. He finds it and looks at the foile for the size, getting a smug grin from Ghost. He takes place in between Ghost legs, so he sees what hes doing, with the condom and beause he wants to play with Ghost dick for a bit. Like Ghost earlier he uses his thumb to get gather pre cum at the tip and licks it of his finger, before he rolls the condom down, with one smooth motion realising, he barly can close his hand a round the grith. He swallows, this is probably the bigest dick he ever had. He takes the lube Ghost is holding out for him, before he lubes up Ghost dick, being more generous then he normaly would be. He gets in position and Ghost hands return to his waist. He sinks down slowly, feeling the stretch and how Ghost is also making sure he dont goes down to fast with all the impaients he shown earlier.

"Fuck", Soap courses when hes halfway down, deffentitly the biggest he ever had. "You're fucking big, Si." Ghost is rubbing circels in his skin, watching how he slowly disapears in Soap.

"Taking it so well", Ghost purrs some praise and Soap invoulentary sinks down a few more inches. Moaning when the tip is rubbing along his prostate. Precum drolling out of Soaps dick at this. Soap wiggels a bit from site to site as a test and the grith is so big theres no way it wont rub along his prostate the whole time.

"And is it the best ass your dick was ever in?", Soap jokes before going down a bit further. Ghost chuckels at this shacking his head.

"Had worse", Ghost simply states pushing Soap down a bit further, making the scot drow his head back. "So thats the best dick you ever had up your ass?"

Soap laughts at this, he should have known that Ghost would throw the question right back at him.

"Top 3 worthy", Soap admits and slightly challenges Ghost, before he sinks down the rest of Ghosts cock. They both are panting and Soap needs a while to get used to how full he feels, finally putting his hands on the others man chest. Soap starts slow, barely lifting himself up, before he goes down again a constant flow of pre cum leaking out of him, with every moment, oh this will be a amazing orgasm when he gets there. Ghost hands wander down to his hips, possesivly holding him. He will wake up with two hansprints on his hip. Slowly working himself up to a rythem that is not to over stimulating for him. He looks down at Ghost whos eyes are half closed, mesmericed by what Soap is doing to him, his lips are sligtly open and hes smilling. Soap cant stop feeling proud about this. He does this to the Ghost most feared asset of the SAS. Hands wander down his legs and Ghost is pushing his knees further apart changing the angle, causing his dick to push more against Soaps prostate.

Ghost is not sure how long he just watches, but he feels that Soaps thighs are shaking by now from the work the scot is putting into ridding him. He swattes Soap hand away when he try to reach for his dick.

"Si?", Soap pants, barely abel to take it much longer.

"Pretty sure the best dick you ever had is enough to make you come untouched, Johnny", Ghost states, loving the distressed sound Soap is making. He knows the other is at his limit, about to burst, but a selfish part of him, wants, no needs Soap to come only one his dick.

"Simon, please" Soaps desperation is such a turn on for Ghost, he wants the scot to go for longer. On the other hand he said please and how is he supossed to not give in. He uses one of the moves they use in training to flip them over, using all his weight to press Soap down on the matress. Soap trys to push himself up, but Ghost is increasing the weight on the other to keep him down.

"As much as I enjoyed the view I had." He feels Soap shivering at this, seeing the scot clawing the sheets. "I rather fuck you like I want to now."

Ghost goes deep and slow feeling every shiver Soap is making, his moans muffelt by the pillow. Soap is starting to squirm under him, the worse the overstimulation gets.

"Si, please", Soap sobs in the pillow its getting to much.

"Its easy Johnny, you just come from my dick and its over", Ghost explains directly in Soaps ear.

"I never", Soap whines and shit, now Ghost wants to be the first so bad, he wants to ruine Soap for everybody else, claiming the spot of Soaps best fuck ever making sure nobody will ever be better then him.

"You can do it", Ghost encurages him. Going a bit faster, and the moan from Soap is barely muffeld by the pillow. Soap feels himself starting to cry, with how overwhelming this is getting.

"Come for me", Ghost oders him and that somehow what he needs. His vison goes white, while is dick is exploding making an absolute mess on the sheets.

Ghost gets in a few more trust in to Soap before the comes in as well. Soap going limb under him. He pulls out carefully goes into the bath room throwing the condom away, before he gets a towl wet, to clean Soap up. He carefully moves Soap checking in on him, wipping the tears away, he needs to aks about them later. Wipping the cum from Soap and the bed, before the returns the towel to the bath room and drinks some water before he fills up a glass for Soap.

It takes Soap sometime to get back in the world of the living, felling a hand rubbing along his spine. He makes a sound blinking his eyes open. His head resting on Ghost chest.

"Si?", he slurrs his words confused. Feeling a kiss to the top of his head. Hes not sure if Ghost is saying something to him, but slowly he starts to feel he fabric of the sheets and the warmth of Ghost body. The next think he feels, is that is left shoulder hurts for some reason. He lifts his head, blinking at Ghost whos having a smug yet somehow pleased smile on his face.

"Si?", Soap says a lot clearer now and a glass is coming in his field of few. With the help of Ghost he drinks all of it.

"Did you bite me?", Soap asks and Ghost smiles apologetic at him.

"Yeah, when i came to not be to loud", Ghost admits.

"Fucking animal."

"No i would have fucked you diffrent, if i wanted to fuck you like a animal." Soap weekly slaps Ghosts chest.

"You never gonna get rid of me if you fuck me this good every time." Ghost kisses his forehead at this. As if he wouldn't keep Soap to himself.

"Did I hurt you, you cryed." Soap needs some times to get enough braincells working.

"No, a bit to much, because somebodies ego needed me to come with out my dick touched." Ghost kisses him, being absolutely pleased with himself.

"Dont worry I will only do it when we have the time for it." Soap looks up at him, yawning noding along.

"That sounds good, Si", Soap yawns out while fighting his eyes to stay open a bit longer.

"Sleep love", Ghost is wispering in his hair, before alowing himslef to also fall asleep.

[ceilidhtransing]

Here to once again sing the praises of Duolingo (and go on a long ramble about language learning)

I see a fair bit of criticism of Duo that essentially begins and ends with “Duolingo alone won't make you fluent”, stated as if it's obvious that this point alone is enough to totally condemn the app.

The thing is, “Duolingo alone won't make you fluent” is true*, but also a) pretty obvious to most dedicated language learners and b) not nearly enough to automatically render Duolingo not worth using.

[*It's also worth pointing out that ���fluency” isn't really a single coherent concept: people can have radically different fluency levels across, for example, reading and speaking; different levels of proficiency can count as “fluent” in different settings depending on the needs of that setting; and not everyone learning a language is even aiming for “fluency” in the first place - though this also leads into a huge can of worms about the somewhat prevalent idea that fluency is the only worthwhile goal for learners and if you're not aiming to be fluent then it's a waste of time, but that's a discussion for another day.]

The value of Duolingo varies a lot by course, but my experience is that even though Duolingo alone won't “make you fluent”, the bigger, better-developed courses can take you a long way. Yes, obviously not to C2 “basically a native speaker” level, but pretty far. And that's personally where I find the app's real value: giving enough of a grounding in a language that other learning materials - short stories, podcasts, conversation groups, etc - become accessible. Of course Duolingo alone isn't going to make you fluent, but for a lot of learners it's an irreplaceable early tool on their journey towards proficiency.

Early on, when your level of knowledge of a language is zero or near-zero, so much of the struggle of learning is a feeling of total overwhelm as you try to figure out how to learn and find a method you'll stick to. Independent learning can feel like walking blindly through a maze of disparate and sometimes contradictory resources, some on grammar, some on vocab, some that say “start speaking immediately!”, some that say “get to grips with these grammar foundations before even trying to speak!”, some that insist there's no replacement for immersion, some that argue that immersion is like being thrown in the deep end and expecting yourself to swim, and this is where so many people burn themselves out. You can't read short stories or listen to podcasts when you know literally nothing of a language, and if you use a random unstructured assortment of materials then you'll probably end up learning grammar concepts in a very random and disconnected and confusing way. Duolingo bridges that early gap between “zero proficiency” and “some proficiency”, providing a structure that says “just keep doing this and you will watch your ability grow”.

Really, I think it's in precisely what “doing this” means that the disagreement arises. It's a very YMMV app, depending on how each person uses it. Someone using Duolingo for >30 minutes a day, making rapid and intense progress through their course, and seeking out alternative sources to clarify bits of grammar that they're confused by is having such a different experience from someone who does one lesson a day just to keep a streak going. Of course someone doing the latter isn't going to be “made fluent” that way - because there is no language-learning material on earth that is going to produce genuine progress with that little time and attention (and frankly there is no material on earth that is a 100% comprehensive standalone course from beginner to fluent and doesn't require any supplementation). Regardless of which material you're using - Duolingo, Babbel, Rosetta Stone, LanguagePod101, a YouTube series, a university course, a textbook, or any of the many other miscellaneous methods - time and attention is basically what it comes down to, and personally, in the beginner-to-intermediate stages of language learning, I've found Duolingo to have a pretty good ratio of “time and attention” to “language progress”.

Ultimately, Duo can be excellent at holding your hand through those early months of language learning, getting you to a point where you don't use “Duolingo alone”, because you now have enough confidence and grounding to supplement with things like short stories and podcasts and conversation partners - things that you would have found unbelievably daunting at the beginning, but that are now accessible to you thanks to a free app that guides you through a clear learning structure. I think that's great.

Zu lang, ich habe nicht gelesen - vielleicht bin ich noch nicht fließend, aber ich kann viel mehr mit Duo als ohne Duo sprechen :)

[justporo]

A Night of Song and Laughter (Part 5)

In which Tav goes a long way to assure everyone around there's no one but Astarion for her and the vampire has a staring contest with a dude-bro (and responds to it with a solid "Don't touch me!").

That's it, that's the chapter summary - I'm starting to get confused with the parts because there are (lemme count) EIGHT already written and at least a few more to go... You can read more already on my AO3 page!

There's no specific song for this chapter, but I'll happily share my ever-growing playlist that helps me write: Astarion: The Pale Elf

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Astarion/Fem!Tav (You)

(Legitimate reaction of Astarion meeting Tav's former fling...)

(Wonderful gif from here!)

Astarion kept grinning at you and obviously enjoying your uneasiness – oh, you were definitely going to murder him, when this night was over.

Daegin kept babbeling towards Eodin, you quickly looked through your fingers to see that the damned man was actually approaching. With a sudden jolt you stepped close to Astarion, put both your hands on either side of his face. The vampire only had a split second of looking askingly at you before you started absolutely smothering him with his kisses.

He didn’t lose a moment to kiss you back, he never did. In fact, he loved every single bit of intimacy the two of you shared, especially since he’d been free of Cazador’s callings and had started to learn to share intimacy outside sex and the bedroom with you. Accepting love and affection for what they could be at face level was something he tried hard to become good at. So truly every touch, every look, every soft smile was deeply precious to Astarion.

Just after a second or two he got your intention and put his arms around you to pull you closer. You let your hands wander to his chest, enjoying the way your body fitted with his and almost got lost in the moment.

You two obviously were a show to watch – it surely didn’t help that Astarion had a strong inclination for hedonism despite his past. Or even more so since he was now free to indulge in it on his own accord. You’d come to enjoy this way more than you were ready to admit. So, you happily sighed into his open mouth, when he dragged a finger from your cheek, down your neck and then softly placed his long, elegant fingers on your throat in an affectionate but still possessive manner. Your pulse quickened – even after being with him for a while, you hadn’t wrapped your head around how he could be so easily seductive, elegant and sexy without it being even remotely gross or cringy.

The longer the moment kept drawing out the more you could feel the heat inside you once more. The vampire had already stirred the fire without fully setting it ablaze once before tonight. You really hoped he wouldn’t let it just die down.

While the wood and the high elf were at it, the rest of the evening party watched on. Daegin blushed and buried his whole face in his jug of beer, obviously very uncomfortable. Lira’s eyes widened, her mouth opened to a giant ‘O’ before she slapped both her hands over it. And Miyena’s mouth opened slightly, her tongue darting out to wet her lips.

And then the one called Eodin stepped up to the table. He was human, tall and broad shouldered with short auburn hair. Not un-handsome, but quite forgettable. He too seemed uneasy at the very public display of affection, so he cleared his throat and softly knocked on the table to make himself known.

You kept the kiss with Astarion going, letting your hands wandering dangerously low his front, only just stopping at the very top of his leather pants. Then you broke the kiss and turned around, cheeks all flushed and out of breath.

“Oh, Eodin! I didn’t even see you there. Sorry, I was caught up in the moment”, you said, fanning yourself with your hand and batting your eyelashes at Astarion who had now also turned to look at the new arrival. Astarion looked down at you, biting his tongue hard to not burst out laughing – you cheeky little pup. You really had learned from the master himself, Gods, was he proud of you. He quickly let his wander his hand to your behind to give you proud and thankful little pat-pat, but just so no one else would notice.

Eodin slow blinked at you, keeping his face neutral. But you’d known him long enough to recognize the line of his mouth seemed tense and he was majorly displeased by what he had just witnessed. He didn’t miss a beat though: “So good to see you, I didn’t know you were back in the city.” He let the sentence end ambivalently – not really a question, but not really a statement either. “Ah you know, I really had my hands full” – another small pat from Astarion on your back “and I had certain affairs to sort out” – pat-pat – “but I swear I had come around to say hello and catch you up one of these days.”

The man crossed his arms over his chest, his discontent now showing more clearly. The rest of the party was dead silent, they could feel the tension in the air. Eodin just kept silent and stared you down, which already started to make your blood boil. Who in the hells was he to treat you like this?

“And who might this noble gentleman be, you were so caught up in?”, he said and turned to the vampire, cold venom in his voice. “The name’s Astarion – though I am not as noble a gentleman you might’ve mistaken me for, I fear”, the elf replied, his voice icy and his stance beside you turning threatening. “No wonder, the likes of these rich, pretty know-it-all-have-it-alls never survives long in this part of city. Would take a real bastard to walk around all cocky confident and not run into trouble and get themselves killed”, Eodin spat back. “Oh, I am no stranger to trouble, but it’s usually the other party that has to fear ending up dead in a dark alleyway”, Astarion replied snidely, narrowing his red eyes at the human, not even remotely trying to hide the open threat in his words.

Your heart dropped as you watched the two men stare at each other. The moment ran on for much longer than you felt comfortable with, but the vampire didn’t seem inclined to falter under the human’s death stares anytime soon.

A few more heartbeats passed. Astarion was impossibly still beside you, completely embodying the fatal predator he could be. Then Eodin gave up, threw his head back with a laugh that didn’t sound anything close to genuine. The rest of your friends joined in, seemingly relieved that the tension was resolved.

Eodin reached over the table to slap Astarion on the back in a dude-friendly kind of manner. The elf didn’t move an inch under the tall man’s strong pats, he scrunched up his nose in disgust for a split second and you could’ve sworn you heard a hiss but it passed faster than anyone besides you could have noticed.

You looked worryingly up at Astarion who elegantly had brushed off Eodin’s hand and stepped just out of the man’s reach. But his face was now a mask that wanted to show that he had simply been kidding, kidding. You still felt the tension in his body though, the set in his shoulders and the slight passive-aggressive smirk on his lips.

As the rest around the table broke into conversation again you grabbed on of Astarion’s hands again and dragged to have him lean over to you. He turned one of his pointy ears to you so you could whisper to him: “Are you alright? Do you want us to leave?” Your whisper was so low, no one besides him could hear it. He lifted his head again, looked warmly at you with a wink. Then he leaned to whisper his quiet answer into your ear, sending a shiver down your spine: “I’ll be fine, my love, but no promises about this arsehole.” Then he placed a soft kiss on the nape just below your ear.

Then Astarion turned to face the rest of the group. “How about another round?”, he proclaimed cheerfully and was met with joyous approval.

[nashstudies]

Newcomer

In my language learning journey, which started with French long ago, I've found myself, like many others, being drawn to learning through gamification. People love Duolingo for this reason and I've used it for years myself. I did some reading up on it though and decided to try Babbel this time around.

ANYWAY, in my information superhighway travels, I came across Newcomer! It's an RPG that has translation and vocab building aspects. It unlocks words and phrases as you level up. You have a phrasebook for quick reference and a whole host of questions and statements to click through to interact with the NPCs. It's not like "game of the year" but it is entertaining enough to hold my attention. I don't even typically like RPGs so...give it a shot. It's $10 on Steam.

Bravo.

[h0neytalk]

Mango v. LingQ v. Anki

I’ve been using the above apps for a while now and I couldn’t find a ton of somewhat easy to understand comparisons/explanations of how to use these various cult favorites. I figured I would make one if anyone is wondering where to start or making a departure from Duolingo.

Standard langblr disclaimer: I am ultimately just a person on the internet, I’m not an expert in language learning or a world renowned polyglot. I’m not even an expert in any of these apps/programs. These are all just thoughts and opinions I have about the value of each app to myself as an average consumer trying to learn a language and intended to help other people decide where to spend their time.

Anki

Anki is an open source spaced repetition flashcard program. It has an incredibly loyal fan base of med students and people who just want to learn things. This is also the one I have the least experience with so I recommend diving into forums and other blogs who go in depth on all the ways you can use this program. The web version is completely free and there is an official paid mobile app. There are also unofficial paid apps, this is the source of great drama and discourse and I’m not touching that here. Spaced repetition essentially means that the program will present you with cards at intervals designed to maximize your retention. When you flip over a card, you have four options that boil down to: fail, hard, good, easy. This is how the program determines what to show you and when.

Key Features:

The main draw is obviously the spaced repetition system. It’s much easier and more effective than sorting manually.

Because it’s open source, there is a way to customize the settings and cards to do basically whatever you want. There are also tons of premade decks to import and either use as-is or use as a base.

The online web version is completely free.

You can add really any media type to the cards. You can add sound clips of pronunciations, images, even drawings and diagrams.

Having the four options is particularly useful for the nuances of learning a language. For example, for general vocabulary decks I’ll assign one “point” to general meaning, tense/part of speech, and pronunciation. Getting the general meaning but not the other two means I select “hard” when I flip the card.

Best uses:

Vocab or learning a new alphabet. Specifically for drilling any of those “slippery” words. I don’t know if this happens to anyone else, but there are some vocab words that just refuse to stick with me. I’ve found the Anki SRS does help pin them down.

Potential downsides:

While there are decks to import, there could always be errors that you won’t catch just seeing single vocab words with no context.

The available customization is labor intensive.

The UI for the official app and web version isn’t super slick and intuitive.

Even the best flashcards are ultimately just flashcards and have limits to their usefulness.

Mango

Mango is similar to Babbel or other programs that focus on speaking (and doing so quickly). I much prefer Mango to Babbel or any other similar app and find that it does what it says it will. Languages are split into units. Each unit has chapters and each chapter has lessons. A lesson will start with an optional pre quiz and a brief recording of a conversation that you will be able to follow by the end of the lesson. Each lesson concludes with a listening and reading quiz. It also utilizes spaced repetition and gives you daily flashcards to review.

You learn based on phrases rather than individual words. A long sentence will be presented in its entirety. The lesson will then go through each word individually before combining them into phrases and, finally, the full sentence from the start. Then you will learn vocabulary needed for variations. The activities are fairly standard for a language app: speaking, listening, multiple choice. You can also turn off the interactive feature and have the lesson run as a “speak and repeat” style podcast. It tracks the hours you’ve spent learning a language and there is an activity log, but no in depth stats.

Key features:

It is focused on speaking immediately.

Has a ton of languages and several dialects for those languages.

Focuses on phrases and patterns that are most useful if traveling or having brief, friendly interactions.

Presents information in a digestible way and isn’t overwhelming.

Includes culture and grammar notes.

$12.99 a month but most public libraries and schools give you free access. You can also set up a household account for multiple people and split the cost with friends/family.

The first lesson of any language is free, and some rare and indigenous languages are completely free to access.

Audio is native speakers. When you record yourself, your vocal wave pattern appears that you can compare with the native speaker.

Best uses:

If you are traveling soon and want to navigate basic, friendly interactions, this will get you there quick. Within 1-3 months easily, depending on the language and how often you practice.

I also recommend this as a starting place when you are totally new to a language or to learning a language in general. The structure is excellent for getting a feel for things.

This is also great if you studied a language previously and need to refresh your memory or get back into it.

Potential downsides:

The “record yourself” feature is fairly buggy and often freezes up. It can also be annoying to try and match the timing of the native speaker, but you don’t have to record audio to progress past those lesson points so it isn’t too much of an inconvenience.

It isn’t meant for total fluency. As stated, the lessons (at least that I have done) are focused on speaking while traveling and making small talk. Some of the early lessons teach you to say “sorry, I don’t speak [x]”. Which is very useful if going abroad soon, but less so if you would rather just be able to speak that language.

The regimented nature can make it feel slow/too easy if you are also using other methods.

The review flashcards only have a binary “yes/no” option which feels annoying for longer phrases or after using Anki-style cards.

With any course like this, you aren’t going to have much choice in the vocab you learn or prioritizing topics.

LingQ

I am honestly surprised I don’t see more about this. I think they have been making a bunch of updates recently so maybe the version I’m using is miles above previous ones, but it is shockingly powerful. It’s also the hardest to explain (which may be why I don’t see much written about it and why this is going to be a long section.) LingQ (pronounced “link”) operates on a hybrid comprehensible/massive input model. While Anki prioritizes memorization and Mango priorities speaking, LingQ focuses on comprehension and listening. LingQ is comprised of courses which are made up of lessons. There are pre-built courses made by LingQ but the real goal is to make your own (more on that later).

Each lesson within a course has an audio recording and a written transcript. Words you haven’t seen before are highlighted blue (when you start, that’s every word). You click the word to see the definition and assign it one of 5 statuses: ignore, new, recognized, familiar, learned, or known. “Ignore” is used for things like names or borrowed words, they won’t be counted in your stats. “Known” is for words you knew before seeing them. You likely won’t have any of these if you’re starting a new language with no prior experience. Levels 1-3 highlight the word yellow and it becomes a LingQ. You can create a LingQq using as many words as you want. You can manually change the status of a word when you see it. You can also do various review activities similar to Mango, and if you get a word right twice in a row it will automatically bump up a level. You can always adjust it back down if needed. LingQ is very focused on the value of listening to a language. You can add lessons to playlists and listen to them like a podcast.

My personal favorite part of LingQ is the ability to import lessons. Especially YouTube videos. The site has a browser extension that will import any content in your target language into a lesson as an embedded item. You can then read/listen to/watch that content right in the app and get “credit” for it. LingQ’s statistics are some of the coolest/most motivating I’ve seen. You get coins for completing tasks but those are really just to see a number get bigger. It also tracks the words you’ve read, how many words you know, the hours listened, and speaking/writing if you utilize their tutor marketplace or writing forum.

The free trial is very limited but it’s enough to poke around and get a feel for things before signing up, not necessarily to learn anything substantial. The monthly membership is $12.95 and there’s a $199 lifetime option as well. I definitely recommend spending some time playing around at the free level and then upping to monthly if you like it.

Key features:

The ability to import lessons. It will also create a simplified version of shorter content. This is an AI generated summary of whatever you’ve imported. I use this for videos where natural speaking cadence can make it hard to parse things sometimes. It’s easier/more productive if I know generally what’s going on.

The creation of LingQs. I just think it’s a really cool and useful way to approach comprehensible input. You can visually see the yellow fading as you understand more and more of a lesson.

You can export LingQs to Anki (theoretically). I’ve never done this myself and I’ve seen some forum posts saying it doesn’t work super well all the time but it is a built in feature.

In-depth stats tracking and the ability to consume all the content easily in app. The stats would be annoying if it wasn’t literally easier to watch a video via LingQ than on YouTube.

Community features. There are community challenges (like Duolingo) but also a forum to submit writing that will be corrected by native speakers and a marketplace of tutors to easily sign up for speaking lessons. The forum is free and volunteer based, but scrolling through I didn’t see anyone who didn’t have at least one reply. The tutors are paid at an hourly rate and you can also pay by the word to have them correct written work.

Super flexible. There really isn’t any one right way to use this app so you can structure it however you like and set your own goals/metrics.

Playlists and focus on listening. It really does help to constantly be immersed in what a language sounds like, and being able to read and listen to the same thing has been so nice.

Actually decently helpful emails and not just spam.

Best for:

Hardcore language learners. The app/site provides some guidance on how to get started and the basic idea, but you’ll need to play around with it and spend some time reading forum posts or the emails they send to find what works for you.

Getting to higher levels of fluency after maxing out other apps/self study methods.

People looking to spend a lot of time on language learning because they enjoy it. This isn’t snarky, but there’s a difference between wanting or needing to learn Spanish to communicate at work or on vacation and just really enjoying learning languages. This is an app for language nerds.

Potential downsides:

Very overwhelming. They technically say you can jump right in with 0 knowledge of a language and be good to go, but I think it would be hard to make a lot of progress unless you’ve learned other languages before. If you’re looking to learn a new language for the first time, I recommend starting with Mango to get your bearings.

Doesn’t teach new alphabets. This isn’t a huge issue for Mango since it’s speaking focused, but I wouldn’t jump into Arabic or Russian on LingQ without spending some time learning the alphabet with other methods.

User generated definitions. This is a double edged sword. The definitions being linked to sites like Globse can lead to wrong definitions, but because you’re seeing things in context it’s easier to catch. And looking into what a phrase means is a great way to learn if you are really into languages.

The import feature isn’t 100% perfect when it comes to videos. It will only create a transcript when the video has captions enabled or a transcript provided, otherwise it just shows up as an audio file. It will also sometimes randomly just not be able to import a video which can be annoying, but in the grand scheme of things these are very minor annoyances.

Time commitment. The method doesn’t require a ton of actively sitting down and reviewing vocab or reading new words, but it does assume that you’ll swap out listening to music or podcasts while going about your day with listening to content in your target language. This is all well and good unless you really enjoy listening to specific content while doing tasks or need help not getting distracted. It’s going to be a lot of incomprehensible noise for a while before you can parse it. This might not be a downside as much as something to keep in mind when considering how effective it’s going to be for you.

Not as active of a community. Maybe it’s just for my particular languages, but there definitely aren’t a ton of people actively doing things like challenges. This really doesn’t matter much to me but it could be a bummer if you’re looking for that.

tl;dr just tell me how to learn things

If you need to learn a new alphabet, start with that. Otherwise, Mango to get your bearings, Anki to add to your vocab as you get bored with Mango, and LingQ to realistically get “fluent”. Then start writing and speaking either using tutors or people you know or local language groups.

[neristudy]

100 day of learning German: 28/100

Huh, turned out I was not quite burned out. It was just my period, woops owo

Anyway, did a little writing, a lesson in Clozemaster and a lesson in Babbel. Really tired from course, and tbh I almost think about maybe read the themes for the next lessons, just to have more free time on course. Dunno. Mostly just mad at our teacher xDD

Oh well, at least there's a great chance that I'll finish course and will never see her again. What a dream....

[maxwellgetsalife]

FRENCH MASTER-LIST

🇨🇦🇫🇷

MAIN RESOURCES

Openstudynotes French Resource List

Duolingo (Free with optional pay in-app purchases)

Babbel (Not free) (offers France French)

Notebooks

frenchtoday.com

CHATTING

HelloTalk (sign up and talk with native speakers)

BOOKS

Francais-e Reading List

Francais-e Poem List

VOCAB

Physical flash/index cards

SmartCards+ (Card app, similar to Anki)

Anki (Card app)

French Word-A-Day (A blog that posts weekly articles in English but will sprinkle french vocabulary)

FrenchPod101 Word of the Day (site that has a daily french word. Also offers email subscriptions)

FrenchPod101 Vocab List

FrenchPod101 dictionary

100 Commonly Used French Verbs

Quebec Words and Phrases

ARTICLES

CULTURE

MOVIES/SHOWS

Master-list of Language Cartoons

MUSIC

My Spotify Playlist (MIKA, Stromae, GIM, Carla, Indila, etc)

PODCASTS

French Podcast recommendations

News in Slow French (Slower speaking with current events)

Coffee Break French (teaches french lessons)

Le Coin Du Crime (a french podcast discussing True Crime)

YOUTUBE

innerFrench (Speaks in slow French)

Skarblown Animations (French animator)

MonOncleJouse (Quebec? Gamer) (No longer active but videos to enjoy regardless)

Squeezie (Gamer) (Has other channels)

Jordan Perrigaud (Paranormal Investigator!)

COLAS (Does a little of everything)

Français Authentique (Teaches about French Culture, idioms and such)

SolangeTeParle (Quebec vlogger)

Piece of French (Native French speaker and teaches vocab, idioms and such)

Language Lords: How I got fluent in French in 30 days. (offers a method on focusing on conversational French)

Brut (A channel over French media, does interview and documentaries with subtitles)

[solkatts-svenska]

Hej! Hur mår du? I'm trying to learn swedish for my partner, would you happen to have any tips? Babbel is very useful, but I loved your blog so much I scrolled all the way to the bottom last night so I wanted to ask you. Tack (so? Sa?) Tack sa mycke!

Hej, tack så jättemycket för dina snälla ord! :) I’m really glad if you liked my blog.

I’m not sure I can give much useful advice, but I’ll do my best to describe what worked for me. So, here’s how I’ve been teaching myself Swedish:

I used several grammar reference books at the same time, to get a fuller overview of the language + get to do as many exercises as possible haha. The ones I used were the Routledge essential grammar and comprehensive grammar (as well as one in my own native language but well, that probably won’t be useful to you…). They’re all available as pdfs online. I would pick a grammar topic, scan all my books and do an additional internet search if necessary to compile and condense the information in my notes, then do some exercises. Initially I tried to do one or more topics every day but then found it more productive to alternate “grammar days” with “vocabulary days”

Speaking of which, I approached vocab in a similar way in the beginning: pick a topic, like colours or numerals or body parts, make a list and cram it. For adjectives, I found it an efficient strategy to learn them in pairs of antonyms

I kept a diary in Swedish for some time, which was helpful because that way I learnt and used specific vocabulary relevant to me and my life

I started reading, watching and listening stuff in Swedish quite early on, which I highly recommend to get comfortable with the language. To translate new words, I tried to refer to a monolingual Swedish dictionary as much as possible. Note: I could post a list of particular podcasts/YouTube channels/news resources etc that I liked if you guys want me too! But obviously it largely boils down to what you’re interested in.

Related to the previous point, I follow both teachers of Swedish and Swedish natives on social media to increase immersion

Good old Duolingo was rather nice, especially early on, to get the basic vocab and some grammar down

Quizlet and thematic Tumblr vocab lists proved rather useful too, especially when I wasn’t too lazy to review them

+ Some cool resources I use for Swedish as well as other languages:

Omniglot (a great place to start with any language: basic info + resources)

Glosbe (Reverso context but make it better)

obviously, Wiktionary (useful to look up declensions)

Last but not least, I encourage my followers to add their tips too!

Jag hoppas att det hjälper dig :)

[beedreamscape]

LONG POST. This is just an interpretation of mine, but hear me out

The only thing that separates the greatest mages in the greatest age of mages from the beings that created them is the flaw of mortality. One realm all who walk Exandria are doomed to traverse forever one day.

I love Aabria's insight on this post, but it puts Laerryn's view of the gods in a framework of power alone, and that might be all she cares about in truth, but power alone is not what we generally think of when we think of deity.

We think of worship and devotion, about philosophies and guidelines which to follow, guidance and protection.

What does Laerryn know of worship?

One plane barred from mortal egress. One plane where she believed Evandrin went that she could not follow, from which she could not fetch him. One place that would someday steal Quay from her, or vice versa.

In my opinion she knows it through Evandrin.

There's this quote I was reminded of when I read this: “It's impossible to compete with the dead. I wished I could stop trying.” ― Sharp Objects

We don't hear about Evandrin's flaws in the game, at least that I can remember, the biggest one might've been trusting Laerryn too much, giving too much, which is the equivalent of saying your biggest flaw is being a perfectionist or a workaholic in a job interview.

He's almost saintlike if you think about it, mythological. He loved Zerxus and their son, he loved Laerryn, a kind selfless man that'll never give up on looking for you, the true first Knight of Avalir standing under a blossom tree, made of amethyst and starlight. Even his death was a soft one, no bloody mess, no coffin, no grave, no corpse to tell the story, not even a true death but the simulation of one.

“Why would you let someone go—away from you—untouchable—two people? I couldn’t—I loved them too much—I saw the face of Earth and choked the life out of it and ate it whole.” ― Nona the Ninth

He has, through death gained a new status, of sanctity, in Laerryn's eyes especially. So she wants, needs, to go to him, she wants to be forgiven --- finishing the Leywright was her devotion, her marriage gutted at the altar as sacrifice, its remains stored to be revived later.

And it's harder to put those lenses on Loquatius because he's there, still flawed, still questioning her, still a nuisance to her 'worship' because staying near him means sharing the devotion, he means relishing in the feelings she, very indirectly, deprived Zerxus and Evandrin of.

But for forgiveness, she'll abstain.

She doesn't know devotion any other way.

She'll build her Tower of Babbel and reach for Evandrin again.

But alright, that's all after he's gone.

She wanted to reach over before that.

Laerryn explained her vision to me, the Astral Leywright. (...) By what token do (the gods) award themselves that title, and what realms beyond could we explore? It was a beautiful dream, and I knew that there was danger and I wanted her dream to come true.

Evandrin himself calls her plans, her dream. It's a dream that could be shared but in a way also very selfish. I really don't think she envisioned that glory and power for everyone, the same way that if the people of the age had gotten their hands on what the Matron found out they wouldn't have shared any more than she did.

Her vision was not the simple magic of the threshold crests, not a quick move, not a one-way trip, not a single destination, but truly to take a leyline off of the face of Exandria and chart it to the stars, that we could go wherever we wished and be whatever we wished, and...

That "and..." catches my attention.

Again a sole focus on the power and not the philosophies, the devotion, the love for their creation which they can't control. It loses sight of the loneliness of the divine.

Then what would be done once they all acquired that power? For what end? What did her dream entail beyond the conquest?

What was her dream for Avalir after all of this? After they surpassed Aeor, what would come next?

To me it parallels nicely with the way so much money is spent in space exploration and insane technologies then we look back at the Earth and we're killing the planet and people are dying from solvable things like hunger. And I wish I could remember where Matt says this, but somewhere he mentions how Avalir is this place of opulence and power and not all of Exandria was like that in that age, there were serious class disparities.

She's in a place of privilege where she can dream up into the stars, Avalir is literally floating on the air, there's nowhere to look but up.

Then I bring back to Loquatius, because I'm shipper trash but also because it ties into something Sam said that it was through their relationship that we see a more mundane side of her. Of all the secrets, his was the simplest one: he missed her, and after all the lights and all the noise, even if she had succeeded in all that she had planned for, it would circle back to him.

“In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.” ― Everything Everywhere All at Once