#Benefits of Learning German

[mannap]

Is it just me or does anyone else get the irrational urge to... learn every F1 driver's native language even if I would probably never use it irl😭😂

[alatariel-galadriel]

Woe, 1839 German bible uncovered in family attic be upon ye!

included: names/birthdays from 1892-1985, a pressed flower, a printed condolence card (1913)

not included: several locks of hair, a handmade condolence card (march 1842), 5 deitsch marriage certificates (1851-1935) lots of notes written in deitsch, and the chemise it was wrapped in

[littlebellesmama]

Discovering the Difference Between a Tagesmutter and Kita in Germany – And Which One I Prefer

Although I had been living in Germany for nearly a decade, it wasn’t until I became a parent that I truly stepped into the world of childcare here. Until then, terms like Tagesmutter and Kita were just background noise—things I’d heard other parents talk about but never had to consider myself. But after giving birth, I realized how important it was to understand the differences between these two…

[vanishingmoments]

i am in a predicament because if i want to work in a foreign country i should start learning their language now but if in 2 years I graduate and the job market in that country is shit for foreign workers then I've just wasted my time for nothing. On the other hand what if I decide not to learn a language because I gauge the job market now and I graduate in two years and it turns out they're much more open to foreigners if they can speak reasonably well

[vonlipvig]

Honestly that's a valid point you make there. I'll try to learn proper english grammars since english ain't my first language.

you're really good already, don't worry! (and non-native speaker to non-native speaker, we're already making the effort to speak in english, so maybe they should learn our languages lmao)

[cryptotheism]

Tell us about the wellness to fash pipeline tho

Here's a recent piece from the guardian on wellness communities and Qanon, so don't take my word for it.

"Wellness" is not just alternative medicine, it is essentially a theory of the body which posits if something makes you feel better, you are better in some meaningful way. I would argue it one of the most commonly held nonreligious magical beliefs in the modern world.

Wellness as a concept has its genesis in the 1950s with "workplace wellness" programs, a sort of budget alternative to offering employee healthcare benefits. This was an era soaked in itinerant business preachers offering classes on things like "hypnosis at a management level" and "yoga to improve leadership abilities". I am exaggerating for effect, but not by much.

The capitalist medical system regularly abandons people. We've all heard stories of profit driven pharmaceudical companies holding the ill hostage for extreme markup on life-saving medicines. People have real, legitimate, reasons to mistrust medical professionals.

Let's say you have chronic pain, and everything your doctor offers you is either ineffective, expensive, or addictive. You are desperate for literally any release, so you start looking into other solutions. You will find an OCEAN of snake-oil salesmen willing to sell you "the secrets doctors don't want you to know."

What is frustrating, is that pain is actually partially psychological. Some wellness techniques may have an actual, medical, benefit on some patients. The worst thing a conspiracy theorist can have is a point. So now you actually do kinda feel better, and you have a sense of loyalty to the grifter selling you 300$ Sumerian Cock Oil Pills. These people are the core of the wellness industry. They are the examples that everyone else points to and says "Well it worked for them!"

Reactionary thought blooms in environments like this. If the medical industry can't be trusted, what else can't be trusted? At any given time, you are two clicks away from "vaccines cause autism." Three clicks away from "Cavemen were 15 feet tall because they only ate meat." And four clicks away from "The medical industry is controlled by The Jews to drain our wallets and keep us sick." Echoes of Nazi attitudes towards German-Jewish doctors are a common backbeat.

Wellness itself is relatively harmless, (compared to the things it is adjacent to) but it acts as a sort of idealogical airport that exposes the curious to a deluge of potentially radicalizing communities. The longer you spend in communities like this, the higher the chance you'll come across something that meshes perfectly with your own biases.

If y'all wanna learn more about wellness and pseudomedicine grifters, I highly recommend the podcast Maintenance Phase.

[strawhatsoviet]

It seems that our rulers, here in the 'liberal' West, have homed in on a new way of turning a person into a non-person.

Here is a man, Hüseyin Doğru, a German journalist (of Turkish origins, but not a dual citizen) whom the EU authorities have found a novel, immensely cruel, way of punishing for his coverage of, and views on, Palestine.

The German authorities learned a lesson from my case. Not wishing to be answerable in court for any ban on pro-Palestinian voices (similar to the court case I am dragging them through currently), they found another way: A direct sanction by the EU utilising some hitherto unused directive, one introduced at the beginning of the Ukraine war, that allows Brussels to sanction any citizen of the EU it deems to be working for Russian interests. Clinging to the argument that Hüseyin’s website/podcast used to be shown also on Ruptly (among other platforms), they are using this directive aimed at an ‘anti-Russian asset’ to destroy a journalist who dared oppose the Palestinian genocide.

In practice, this means that Hüseyin’s bank account is frozen; that if you or I were to give him cash to buy groceries or make rent then we would be considered his accomplices and subject to similar sanctions; it also means that if he were a civil servant, he would be fired; if he were a student he would be expelled from his university; if he received a pension it would be suspended; if he received any social benefit it would be frozen. It also, astonishingly, means that he cannot leave Germany!

Last, but definitely not least, it means that Hüseyin cannot sue his government for turning him into a non-person but only challenge the European Commission in Brussels – where he is not even allowed to go!

Need I say more? Is it not abundantly clear that we live, today, in a nominally liberal Europe where, in a jiffy, your political and human rights can be rescinded, including your right to challenge your government in a court of law?

[highlights-of-the-lowlife]

there's a lot of pushback against the idea that the US is culturally dominant to the point of pushing out other voices particularly around pride so lets break it down with some numbers.

firstly a primer on why it sucks. the internet is often the first space a queer person can be themselves and explore their identity but the american centric internet forces out the history, voices and identities of non-americans. despite being minorities within their own country (as all queer people are in every country) they benefit from the rest of the world being forced to learn their history and conform to their standards while being free to ignore global issues.

wikipedia is the globally edited and available source of knowledge so lets get to the numbers:

LGBTQ Movements

18 photos total, 9 of which are american and 9 for the rest of the world combined. except that 3 of those 9 international photos are infographic maps. and stonewall is still the first and most prominent picture.

Same sex marriage

3 american photos compared to 6 international. but 4 of those are once again graphs and to add insult to injury, one of the two international photos is just labelled parents with child requiring to go to the wikimedia stats to learn they are german.

Societal attitudes towards homosexuality

6 photos of which 3 are american and 3 international but once again 2 are infographics and the last is ancient greek because apparently the rest of the world has zero opinion on the gays

LGBTQ Community

4 american, rest of the world 3

Transphobia

3 american, rest of the world 2

no matter where we go we cannot escape stonewall. no matter what source we find it prioritises the american experience. we canot escape american ideals, american values or american rhetoric. the american history is required while our own is considered niche.

we just want a fair portion of the voice.

[historicity-was-already-taken]

I’ve been seeing a lot of what I’m going to term “Judenrat Behavior” from American Jewish organizations and individuals over the last week and a half; I am speaking, of course, as a member of the American Jewish community.

The Judenrat were councils of highly respected Jewish individuals the Nazis set up as governing parties in the Jewish ghettos of Poland, Lithuania, and the Western USSR.

They were expected to carry out any and all German orders regarding the Jews, while they simultaneously sought to protect their communities from those orders as much as possible.

Comprised of highly educated, respected men, when the kashariyot (the female functionaries I refer to in my book title as “the girl bandits”) started showing up with evidence of mass murders of Jews in the territories Germany occupied in the summer of 1941, the Judenrat were not having it.

When the male leaders of the organized Jewish youth argued that the evidence needed to be taken seriously, the Judenrat were still not having it. They refused to believe that “this” could happen right in the “middle of Europe,” in the middle of the "civilized world."

Therefore, went the Judenrat's thinking, these young women and men were nothing more than dangerous, hysterical provocateurs. The evidence was right in front of them, and the Jewish Councils refused to accept the reality of the fact that the Germans were carefully, deliberately, and methodically massacring the Jews of Eastern Europe.

We often conflate the Jewish Councils with the Jewish camp guards and ghetto police. I don’t think that’s fair; with the exception of Chaim Rumkowski, the Councils were comprised of individuals who simply couldn’t conceive of This happening in the world they thought they understood.

They weren’t the collaborators the ghettos saw them as. They weren’t putting their parents in deportation trains. They weren’t informing on other Jews. They were just people incapable of, and ultimately, unwilling to see what they were living through for what it was.

Today, we all have the benefit of these histories to learn from. Denying what we see, what we hear, what government officials say won’t get us anywhere, besides maybe dead.

Right now they’re coming for the Latin American and trans communities. And we can’t just all sit back and reenact Martin Niemöller's "First they came for..." We just can't.

[thetrasha]

Hey, Tasha!

I'm the anon who requested the ideal types and the Corazon fluff (I have made many more requests than I usually do on other blogs so now I don't even know what to say to get you to identify me anymore lol)

Well since it looks like I'll keep making requests, I feel it necessary to apologize if my English is weird sometimes. I'm actually just an alien trying to learn human languages 👽 and that's also the reason why my requests are usually so vague 😔🤚

Anyway, my ask today is: What do you think about the Straw Hats' love languages?

Hello anon (✿◡‿◡)

Well, if you want an identifying trait, you can choose any emoji you like and I'll create a tag for you :D Love to see so many anons return to me time and time again, means I'm doing something right LOL (and I love those requests! So don't worry about sending them in frequently, it's fine and I appreciate it)

Your English is literally perfect, so don't apologise!! Well, it's not like I can be an authority on this either😭 My first language is German, I'm just a bilingual goblin but I hide it pretty well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I hope you like this one and take care~~ ╰(*°▽°*)╯

Love Languages

STRAW HAT EDITION

LUFFY

PRIMARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Physical Touch

Luffy loves to wrap himself around your frame like a human scarf. His rubber arms aid him in circling themselves around you multiple times – he just feels so needed when he holds you, and it eases his worries. He’s lost great many things, but he’d never actually want to miss you from his life; that’d be the final blow. He’s so happy that you’re there to reciprocate his hugs, kisses, random cuddles and play off of his silly antics. You’re his safe haven, which means he’s more likely to touch you more enthusiastically; you can feel that grin of his approaching before his arms snap around you, his voice screaming your name soon following suit…

SECONDARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Gift Giving

Now he’s by no means the type to shower you with lavish gifts, but Luffy’s definitely the type to hand you some random shell he’s found at the beach or a cool charm he’s bought at the local market just because he’d think you’d enjoy these things. He’s not one for grand romantic gestures, but those small things do add up over time and your collection of knick-knacks is thus ever-growing. In his mind, he wants to share his life with you, so attaching every positive emotion and unforgettable memory to a little trinket is what sharing is all about. One day, you’ll lay in his arms and reminisce in memories – just because you’re holding a really smooth rock he’s found on Amazon Lily…

Luffy would melt if your primary love language was Physical Touch.

He needs someone who reciprocates his touch just as enthusiastically, someone who’d make him feel secure in his empathetic nature. It will lay his greatest anxieties about abandonment to rest.

ZORO

PRIMARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Acts of Service

Zoro always aims to take some weight off your shoulders. You’re his one and only, but he has trouble voicing his thoughts since he’s a firm believer that actions speak louder than words. He doesn’t want to make empty promises; he’s a go-getter so he’s just going to do anything he feels would benefit you. Whether it’s as simply as turning off your alarm clock or as complex and emotionally charged as protecting you in battle – he doesn’t care. In fact, he would lay down his own life to preserve yours if it came down to it. Once Zoro swears loyalty to someone, he’s in it for life and nothing could ever stray him away from his chosen path.

SECONDARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Quality Time

If it wouldn’t be for the entire crew nagging him and forcing him into a community, Zoro would be solitary in nature. He’s autonomous and self-sufficient, always ready to defend his independence and his great ambitions, but he’d throw that instinct away if his friends or partner as much as asked for his presence. Despite his rougher side, he’s incredibly honourable – he is there when he is needed. He believes that your relationship has such a strong foundation because you both keep reinforcing that bond with that undivided attention you give to one another. The gestures aren’t big and excessive, but they’re steady and secure. Everything he does reminds you of the essence of him.

Zoro would melt if your primary love language was Words of Affirmation.

He needs someone who recognises his efforts and put things into words that he’s often too repressed to say. Hearing that you’re proud of him and grateful for his time will feed his soul for weeks.

USOPP

PRIMARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Gift Giving

Usopp engages in many endeavours that make him a bit of a MacGyver. His creations may not look like much, but they are incredible pieces of engineering. He often just lounges about in his workshop to think about what to tinker on next… and that’s how you slowly start creeping up in his mind. You’ve become so important to him and he doesn’t have the means to treat you how he thinks you should be treated, which is exactly why you’ll have Usopp gifting you little crafts he’s made that make your life a little easier.

SECONDARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Words of Affirmation

Many people don’t believe him when he’s trying to genuinely express himself, but you had never once doubted him. That alone encourages him so much yet you also appreciate his compliments and words of encouragement? Usopp would seek you out all the time, just to hear your opinion on various things that pertain to him, always offering his own commentary in return, too. Overall, he’s quite good at communicating and finds a healthy way to show you his love in your relationship. Every time, without fail!

Usopp would melt if your primary love language was Quality Time.

Usopp’s always been made to feel like a brazen liar while trying to cope with the loss of two parents. Deep down, his need for community and deep connection is fuelled by the idea that nobody could ever possibly want to be with him. He, who is neither brave nor great but just… Usopp. Your undivided attention on him would startle him. You really want to be with him? He… cannot comprehend it, but he’s grateful.

SANJI

PRIMARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Words of Affirmation

Praise and kindness really make Sanji’s whole week – and it means so much more if he can dish it out freely without having someone question his motive for that comment or act suspicious towards him for a mere compliment. As a hopeless romantic, he craves to voice his thoughts and thus makes about three to four love declarations every day, but you don’t even mind. You entertain him with a smile and then you brush a hand through his blond locks, looking at him with a shine in your eyes that makes him blush…

SECONDARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Acts of Service

Sanji naturally takes care of others even if it comes from a place of self-pity and insecurity – it is still hard-coded into him to look after his loved ones and make they day-to-day life a little brighter by making everything run a bit more smoothly, but he takes it up an entire notch with you. You are his love, so… you get nothing less than the royal treatment. He’s there at your beck and call to pay you back for the incredible experiences you’ve given him. He’s hopelessly and madly in love with you, so he’s doing it all. From opening doors for you all the way to helping you out in big ways, like swooping in to defend your honour in front of a villain (enemy pirate – he’s dramatic, okay…), Sanji’s willing to do it all.

Sanji would melt if your primary love language was Acts of Service.

He needs someone who would have the same innate desire to watch him enjoy his day and take some of his pain away. He’d actually cry if he was the one getting pampered.

FRANKY

PRIMARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Words of Affirmation

Franky truly sees you for who you are and would become your personal hype man if that’s what you wanted and needed from him. He’d ecstatically comment on everything he likes about you and listen to anything you’d say, promptly declaring that you’re super great and that he counts himself lucky to have been able to woo you. This man would swell with pride if anyone asked him whether he was your boyfriend. First of all, he’s happy that anyone noticed. He’s big on PDA, so anything he deems subtle may be quite obvious to most other people, but second of all, he intuitively views you as his equal and wants to include you in every conversation, especially if you’re more reserved than him. Franky would encourage you to commit to it all – wear whatever you want, you’d look super good either way, eat that slice of cake, you want it, don’t you? and, most importantly, of course you’d be welcome in his workshop, he’s been dying to show you this cool thing anyway!

SECONDARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Quality Time

For someone who lives in the fast lane of life, his intellect guarantees a plethora of knowledge and a natural curiosity for the inner workings of the world. He prefers to share his quiet moment with you and dedicate his time to you, uninterrupted and unbothered. Those date nights are usually filled with excitement and leave you laughing for the rest of the night. He’s the life of the party, but you’re his world.

Franky would melt if your primary love language was Gift Giving.

Franky would be happy with anything you give; after all, you used your super awesome brain to associate this cute object with his likeness, so it’s automatically a sweet gesture in his book, ...but those rare, deeply thoughtful moments count the most. They’re tokens of your love and he’d be a fool if he denied that his mechanical heart was overheating at that. He gets emotional.

BROOK

PRIMARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Quality Time

Brook, more than anything else, wants to make memories that last a lifetime or two. Your one on one time is absolutely sacred to him – romance is something he’d never thought he’d get to experience ever again; after so much has been taken from him, he truthfully believed that anything he had left was his soul and nobody would want to spend their limited time on this Earth with something as grotesque as him… but you do. You don’t believe that your time is wasted on him at all, so he eventually musters up the courage to take whatever he can get. Brook is so, so close to you, always ready to make time for you, always ready to take you somewhere special and make the experience worthwhile… He’s an artist and his visions for the time you share are as bright and vibrant as his soul; there’s never a moment where you don’t forget the doom and gloom everybody has to deal with sometimes.

SECONDARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Physical Touch

Even though there’s not much softness to him anymore, he loves trailing his fingers over your warm skin and he’s also quite cheeky and lovingly squeezes any of your supple flesh he can find, just to hear you utter a sound of surprise and let your eyes wander towards him. Brook is unbelievably happy to know you don’t mind that he doesn’t have any tissue to cushion the snuggles he loved to hand out unexpectedly. You just roll with it… and it makes him feel so alive and normal.

Brook would melt if your primary love language was Physical Touch.

He would actually let out ugly sobs if you decided to exchange physical contact with him frequently. It fuels the fire that sings for you every day, it is euphoria, it is a renaissance – no, a revelation! Brook wouldn’t have ever thought that someone like you, someone so clearly out of his league, would love him so, so much, but he laps your attention up, always smiling down at you.

JINBE

PRIMARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Acts of Service

He knows just how hard life can be; he’s had a lot of life experience and has seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Life has its ups and downs and everybody has their individual background, but he’s always wanted to help you grow past your burdens. He’s a great listener, gives great advice and is just generally helpful, so this is definitely how he’d approach your love life, too.

SECONDARY LOVE LANGUAGE: Words of Affirmation

Jinbe is a natural at empathising with others and affirming their greatest strength. With you, it comes so easily that you don’t even realise that this is him expressing his love sometimes and instead just another part of his personality, but the depth of his words sometimes truly strike you. They’re always profound. It’s not a compliment said in passing just to cheer you up, he wants you to recognise you for who you are and choose the path that’s best for you. Also, he often straightforwardly tells you that he loves you. As someone who doesn’t offer much PDA, Jinbe makes up for it with words that don’t just whisper his affections. He’s proudly declaring those words for anyone to hear.

Jinbe would melt if your primary love language was Quality Time.

He knows that spending time all by yourself is a rather rare occurrence when you’re at sea, but he appreciates your efforts to make it happen so much. It makes him feel wanted and desired in a way he’s never been before and he just has to smile at you whenever you dive deep into his own personal story, wanting to learn more about him – it delights him and he knows that you remember everything, he sees that sparkle in your eyes.

[menlove]

honestly i think a HUGE part of the issue is that most of the left doesn't really understand antisemitism

after wwii it became wildly Unpopular to be blatantly antisemitic. obviously, it still happened. but the result of this is that instead of antisemitism being studied as a historical and pervasive form of oppression that has been around for thousands of years & has many many precedents BEFORE the holocaust.... it became:

something just simply Rude to say or do. if you're a polite liberal/conservative or a leftist, it's just something that is socially unacceptable. there is no real weight to this.

something when FIRMLY believed is ONLY held by people like nazis and white supremacists. who, as we know, are The Enemy and none of us can ever be like them at all ever by the virtue of... not being them. no need to watch your own behaviors, bc you are not a nazi! only nazis could ever be Actually antisemitic

something that erupted out of the ground in germany in the early 20th century, culminated with the holocaust, and ended after. antisemitism did not exist before that and it was solved after when the saving grace of the united states and england liberated the jews from the nazis out of the goodness of their hearts

however absolutely none of this is true. antisemitism stretches back thousands of years and it has not, for the most part, been only "fringe" conspiracy theorists and white supremacists who perpetuate it

antisemitism has been, by and large, presented as very logical. throughout, again, the thousands of years of history of antisemitism, very regular people have been antisemites. and most of them had reasons they felt were perfectly logical and understandable and most of all just. jews were trying to kill their children, of course they hated them! jews were purposefully trying to keep them poor, of course they hated them! jews believed Wrong Things and were morally and spiritually corrupt, of course there was something wrong with them. jews betrayed their country, lost them a war that ended with their husbands and brothers and sons dead, and now were living among them and taking advantage of social benefits out of the goodness of the hearts of the german people, of COURSE they hated them! and the nazis themselves were backed up by science at the time. scientific racism was THE science at the time. charles darwin was a scientific racist. it was all very logical.

and did jews actually do these things? no. but these people saw enough proof that aligned well enough with their morals and their beliefs and their fears & so to them it was completely logical and justified. it wasn't a fringe theory that only an insane person would believe in, or something impolite. it was true to them. to their morals, to their fears, to their core beliefs. it was true.

and so now we see a LOT. a lot of leftists being dragged ass first into antisemitism. because they don't even think they CAN be antisemitic. THEY aren't nazis and THEY aren't white supremacists, of COURSE they aren't antisemitic. but... well. the jews are doing things that go against their morals. they're doing things that validate their fears. the jews are violating things that go against their core beliefs! so of COURSE it is LOGICAL that they should hate them. of course, it is still rude to say "the jews are evil" so it gets replaced with "zionist". (and before you ask yes i am anti-zionism and do deeply believe what israel is doing is unjust and cruel) but even that is slipping.

it is getting all the more popular to go that one step further and instead of just making posts like "spam the hanukkah tag because the Zionists need to learn what their religion stands for" that are blatantly just replacing "jews" with "zionists", they are logically moving to being mask off. if zionism is wrong and half the world's remaining jewish population lives in israel, what about the rest? aren't they suspect? would they not ALL commit atrocities if given the chance? aren't they all racist for believing they're an ethnicity? aren't they all complicit? aren't they all threatening our deeply held leftist beliefs? it's a little weird and everyone has been too quiet for too long bc it's been rude to say but now you can get 300k notes for posting blood libel so why would you keep quiet anymore?

why WOULDN'T you just say "thank god someone finally said it i was worried about stepping on toes" when someone makes a post full of antisemitic conspiracy theory. why WOULDN'T you say "i don't care if all of israel gets bombed and every single person dies after this lmfao they deserve it"? (which would wipe out, again, half the world's population of jews- many of whom living there are anti-zionist and actively protesting their government. or. you know. children.) why WOULDN'T you make posts about how jewish identity is just nazi aryanism? why wouldn't you make posts about how the jews are privileged in america bc they run hollywood and the economy? why WOULDN'T you say the star of david is a hate symbol to you now and that you mistrust anyone using it? or that you find anyone speaking hebrew suspect?

these are all perfectly logical. to you. and YOU are not a nazi or a white supremacist. so it can't be antisemitic.

[intuitive-revelations]

Headcanon: one of the reasons why Gallifreyan is a) so complex, and b) so inconsistent, is because it's less one language and more a complex mishmash of thousands of languages and dialects.

Think about how one of the reasons English can be complex to learn is because of the mix of Germanic and romance language roots, and now take it up to 11.

While one might expect Gallifrey to be monolingual, given its age and class structure, this probably isn't technically the case. After all, why limit your culture to one language when the average citizen is effectively panlingual (to the point that TARDIS translation circuits are actually dependent on their pilots' knowledge, rather than the other way round)?

Thus, if there once were distinct languages on Gallifrey, they probably have all been merged at this point into modern Gallifrey's super-Esperanto. Add in loan words from notable civilisations across all of spacetime (but likely primarily from Gallifreyan colonies and allies like Dronid, Minyos, Cartego etc.), and it quickly becomes quite unwieldy.

It's also likely that there's a lot of overlap between these sub-languages, which can make distinguishing meaning hard to an outsider. Gallifreyans likely get around this courtesy of their telepathic connections.

TBH, given Time Lord sensibilities, it's likely that every single word variation has its own delicate meanings, derived not just from their societal uses but also from the etymology and history of each one. Canonically (though I don't have a source) we know that there are 30 different words meaning "culture shock", for example, which likely have very minor distinctions in meaning. We also know, unsurprisingly, that there's at least 208 tenses to help in describing time travel.

As an example - imagine being a Sunari ambassador at an embassy gathering and accidentally offending every Time Lord in the room because you accidentally used a definite article derived from the memeovored Old High Tersuran colony dialect, now considered low-brow by association with modern Tersuran, when you intended to use a nearly identical form of the word originating from the Founding Conflict, a triumphant post-Rassilonian intervention, distinguished by a near-imperceptible glottal stop.

It's likely that some of these Gallifreyan sub-languages/dialects may still be spoken with increased frequency under certain conditions, such as in one's own House or when visiting other city complexes. We know, for example, that Arcadia seems to be associated with a "Northern English" accent (which Nine picked up subconsciously post-regeneration, with the Fall of Arcadia being one of the last things the War Doctor remembered before DOTD's multi-Doctor event - hence "lots of planets have a north") when translated, which may indicate some dialect differences in the original language. I suspect there is a societal expectation for Gallifreyans to code-switch depending on the situation, with Citadel business generally expecting the Gallifreyan equivalent of RP, though it's relatively common for Time Lords less concerned with respectability and politicking to not comply.

One nice benefit of all this complexity, and the reason I made this post, is that there's a good argument to be made that every fan attempt to construct a Gallifreyan language can be 'canon', contradictions and all.

Greencook Gallifreyan? A formal evolution of Pythian prophecy scripture into the post-Intuitive Revelation era (based on its similarities with the Visionary's scrawling in The End of Time).

Sherman Gallifreyan? A modern katakana-like phonetic alphabet for the rapid-onslaught of new loan words following President Romana's open academy policies. Recently adopted by the Fifteenth Doctor for writing human proverbs.

Teegarden Gallifreyan? An archaic but recognisable near-Capitolian dialect from the Prydonian mountains, once spoken by Oldblood houses like Lungbarrow and Blyledge.

Or, in a nutshell, the state of Gallifreyan conlangs (and maybe in-universe Gallifreyan dialects):

I guess the dream project would be to accept the complexity and create some sort of grand modular "meta-Gallifreyan" conlang, merging as many fan interpretations as possible with their own distinctions and overlaps, that can continue to be updated as new ideas come up and new stories are released...

[resident-idiot-simp]

Something that irks me is in Logan they had him not understanding Spanish and I just hate that. You are not telling me that that man who has been alive for so long doesn't know Spanish.

That man has learned every language that has ever benefited him I know for a fact he speaks English, French, Spanish, Japanese, and probably a few others like Mandarin and German. Also probably Russian. There is no way he doesn't know like the top 10 most used languages at the minimum.

I just refused to believe that! He fought enough wars where he would absolutely teach himself the languages okay!? I just know this.

That's just my biggest complaint. And while yes I find it adorable Laura teaching him Spanish that's just not what would happen.

Cuz I know canonically he speaks Japanese at the minimum but that's all I know again not a comic reader. And I also know canonically Deadpool is a polyglot.

All to say I just need Wade and Logan talking in multiple languages whenever they get mad at one another. Meanwhile Laura just tired off to the side because she only understands half of it and she's working on understanding the other half.

[qdbs-writes]

Do you write fem readers?!? 😭 If so can you write some head cannons about the Cullens with a goth s/o

i proudly write for all readers, nonny! and I'm gonna assume this about about trad!goth, but I'll try and make sure this applies to most goth subcultures!

Cullen Clan x Goth!Fem!S/O

Carlisle Cullen

He's confused but supportive. Back in his day, the term 'goth' only applied to the people who sacked Rome, which he'll remind you of regularly, especially if you're visiting the Volturi (who will also assume that you are directly connected to the ancient Goths, and would fear you as a result).

He'd be interested in your genealogy, because he thinks you're connection to the goth style can't be mere coincidence or personal choice, and it wouldn't be difficult to find out either, all he'd have to do is check if you have any Germanic ancestry from the last 2000 years.

Esme Cullen

If you're happy and comfortable, she's happy and comfortable. While it probably isn't her style personally, she's quick to see the benefits. For instance, black is a very easy colour to maintain, particularly with regards to cleaning.

Her only concern is getting you clothes other than black so that you can have something to wear to events that may require specific colours, like if you two are guests at a wedding (she wouldn't want you wearing black as it's bad luck for the couple).

Edward Cullen

Edward himself is basically a diet-corporate goth, so dating you will probably help him develop his own sense of comfort in the style.

The two of you are regularly seen brooding in the Forks CVS, loitering around the hair dye section, silently terrifying all of the elderly people waiting at the pharmacy.

Edward is likely already very familiar with goth music, has absolutely been to some Bauhaus concerts in his time, and probably has a respectable collection of gothic rock records in his room.

Rosalie Hale

It'll be like a Barbie/Oppenheimer-esque clash in aesthetics. I personally see Rosalie with a very Y2K aesthetic, so the two of you walking down the street together might turn some heads.

That doesn't mean that she isn't fully supportive of your style though, and appreciates the philosophy of the aesthetic, how it's a style built on defying expectations of conformity and obedience. In her short life, all Rosalie knew was to dress properly, smile, be open, happy, a willing host, an amusing guest. In death, she's proud to be herself, and even prouder to be with someone so comfortable with dressing exactly how they want, regardless of what others might think.

Emmett Cullen

You dress scary and Emmett loves it. He has regularly compared you to a venomous snake, your black clothes and aggressive makeup mean that almost everyone in Forks steers clear of you. But not Emmett, he's never had the survival instincts to stay away from things that could kill him, in fact, your "unapproachable" style only drew him in more.

Absolutely loves wandering around Forks with you, even if you aren't particularly doing anything. He thinks it's hilarious that some people cross the street to avoid you, it's like having 'scary dog' privileges.

Alice Cullen

She'd seen you in her visions for some time, but she almost didn't recognise you when you started dressing strangely and wearing heavy makeup. At first, it disturbed her, you looked like the sleep-paralysis demons that used to haunt her in the asylum.

Once she gets the chance to meet you in real life, that fear quickly subsides. Through your relationship, Alice learns how much of a safe space goth society can be, and that she can rely on other goths to not be judgemental towards her like so many others are.

Jasper Hale

Greatly appreciates the Victorian-era elements that are incorporated into your clothes, it helps him feel less old. You'll make his day if you show any interest in his clothes and jewellery that he had in life, particularly the more morbid pieces (such as the ring made out of his mother's hair).

If you're looking particularly historical, he'll love to get in his original clothes from when he was alive (except the ""uniform"" that shan't be mentioned), and stroll about Forks with you, arm in arm, like a true Southern gentleman.

[neristudy]

Materials that helped me pass the DTZ B1 exam and not lose my marbles

YouTube

Benjamin - Der Deutschlehrer

My favorite channel for specifically preparing for the exam. Very good at explaining letters, conversations, that sort of thing. Also very helpful with advice on what to add or take away in the delivery to make it sound more b1 rather than a2.

LordPappnase

I love his gameplay videos and his way of speaking. But frankly, he's more as an example here - go to youtube and type in your hobby/special interest/favorite game/favorite media + deutsch into the search box and you'll get a lot of auditory training, which you won't be bored watching! I have to admit, I get terribly bored watching all these videos that are specifically designed for language learners - they look in places like they think I'm an idiot >.<

Android Apps

Babbel

The best program for learning German in my eyes. Grammar, drills, interesting topics - it's all there. But, a small nuance - it is the best for those who know Ukrainian, because then you will have a full course without ads and restrictions. I do not know why. But it's worth taking advantage of if you have the opportunity!

Flashcards // Anki // Drops

You will always benefit from a program which is simply a deck of useful words to memorize.. I used Flashcards like 90% of the time, but the other two will also do the job if you like them better.

Tutor Lily

I can't put into words the usefulness of this app. It's a chatbot with whom you can talk a little every day - and thus literally force your brain to lay down the neural pathways of how you should communicate in a particular language. I credit my 97/100 on speaking to this program alone. It is 100% worth it.

Polygloss

Shows you images that you have to describe in your target language. It doesn't sound particularly helpful, but one part of the DTZ exam is literally describing the picture! So it's actually insanely useful - including the fact that it forces you to look up words to describe different objects, events, and the like (or think of what you can call it if you forget a specific word).

Clozemaster

Read more about how I use it here and here!~

Additional notes:

I'm sorry, but there is no way to “learn a language in two weeks”. They're lying to you. You have to sit and study, half an hour a day, ten minutes - even five minutes. Every day. Or every other day. Learning a language takes time, and even if someone was able to memorize a few lines for an exam to pass, factually speaking, it's a Pyrrhic victory - they still have to learn it all over again if they want to really know the language and not just pass the exam (which may work on b1, but good luck with b2 then, me dude).

You will be bored. You will feel like nothing is happening. That's part of the process - and there's no avoiding it. And that's okay.

Find something that lets you dip your feet into the language, but doesn't feel like bloody agony - for me, it was listening to the German podcast Easy German on the way to and from my courses. By the time of the exam, I had listened to about 70 hours of this podcast, which is 70 hours of uninterrupted German. By the end, I was even understanding it very well!

If you like playing video games, put on German voiceovers. Even if you leave the text in your native language, it's still an unconscious imersion - and every minute is worth it.

While you're at it - put German dubbing in your movies and TV series too. It may be strange at first, but it also helps a lot!

And in the name of all that is holy, don't use chat gpt. No, chat gpt's “wonderful courses and explanations” won't help you. No, if you throw your letters into it, it won't analyze them and give you a worthwhile assessment - it'll hallucinate and give you some faulty answers.

Please. We really don't need another person starting their German letter with “Guten Tag,”, as did at least 3 of my coursemates <.<

And good luck!~

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The unexpected upside of global monopoly capitalism

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TODAY (Apr 10) at UCLA, then Chicago (Apr 17), Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

Here's a silver lining to global monopoly capitalism: it means we're all fighting the same enemy, who is using the same tactics everywhere. The same coordination tools that allow corporations to extend their tendrils to every corner of the Earth allows regulators and labor organizers to coordinate their resistance.

That's a lesson Mercedes is learning. In 2023, Germany's Supply Chain Act went into effect, which bans large corporations with a German presence from using child labor, violating health and safety standards, and (critically) interfering with union organizers:

https://www.bafa.de/EN/Supply_Chain_Act/Overview/overview_node.html

Across the ocean, in the USA, Mercedes has a preference for building its cars in the American South, the so-called "right to work" states where US labor law is routinely flouted and unions are thin on the ground. As The American Prospect's Harold Meyerson writes, the only non-union Mercedes factories in the world are in the US:

https://prospect.org/labor/2024-04-08-american-workers-german-law-uaw-unions/

But American workers – especially southern workers – are on an organizing tear, unionizing their workplaces at a rate not seen in generations. Their unprecedented success is down to their commitment, solidarity and shrewd tactics – all buoyed by a refreshingly pro-worker NLRB, who have workers' backs in ways also not seen since the Carter administration:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/14/prop-22-never-again/#norms-code-laws-markets

Workers at Mercedes' factory in Vance, Alabama are trying to join the UAW, and Mercedes is playing dirty, using the tried-and-true union-busting tactics that have held workplace democracy at bay for decades. The UAW has lodged a complaint with the NLRB, naturally:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/alabama-mercedes-benz

But the UAW has also filed a complaint with BAFA, the German regulator in charge of the Supply Chain Act, seeking penalties against Mercedes-Benz Group AG:

https://uaw.org/uaw-files-charges-in-germany-against-mercedes-benz-companys-anti-union-campaign-against-u-s-autoworkers-violates-new-german-law-on-global-supply-chain-practices/

That's a huge deal, because the German Supply Chain Act goes hard. If Mercedes is convicted of union-busting in Alabama, its German parent-company faces a fine of 2% of its global total revenue, and will no longer be eligible to sell products to the German government. Chomp.

Now, the German Supply Chain Act is new, and this is the first petition filed by a non-German union with BAFA, so it's not a slam dunk. But supermajorities of Mercedes workers at the Alabama factory have signed UAW cards, and the election is going to happen in May or June. And the UAW – under new leadership, thanks to a revolution that overthrew the corrupt old guard – has its sights set on all the auto-makers in the American south.

As Meyerson writes, the south is America's onshore offshore, a regulatory haven where corporations pay minimal or no tax and are free to abuse their workers, pollute, and corrupt local governments with a free hand (no wonder American industry is flocking to these states). Meyerson: "The economic impact of unionizing the South, in other words, could almost be placed in the same category as reshoring work that had gone to China."

The German Supply Chain Act was passed with the help of Germany's powerful labor unions, in an act of solidarity with workers employed by German companies all over the world. This is that unexpected benefit to globalism: the fact that Mercedes has extrusions into both the American and German political spheres means that both American and German workers can collaborate to bring it to heel.

The same is true for antitrust regulators. The multinational corporations that are in regulators' crosshairs in the US, the EU, the UK, Australia, Japan, South Korea and beyond use the same playbook in every country. That's doubly true of Big Tech companies, who literally run the same code – embodying the same illegal practices – on servers in every country.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has led the pack on convening summits where antitrust enforcers from all over the world gather to compare notes and collaborate on enforcement strategies:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cma-data-technology-and-analytics-conference-2022-registration-308678625077

And the CMA's Digital Markets Unit – which boasts the the largest tech staff of any competition regulator in the world – produces detailed market studies that turn out to be roadmaps for other territories' enforces to follow – like this mobile market study:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63f61bc0d3bf7f62e8c34a02/Mobile_Ecosystems_Final_Report_amended_2.pdf

Which was extensively referenced in the EU during the planning of the Digital Markets Act, and in the US Congress for similar legislation:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2710

It also helped enforcers in Japan:

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Japan-to-crack-down-on-Apple-and-Google-app-store-monopolies

And South Korea:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/skorea-considers-505-mln-fine-against-google-apple-over-app-market-practices-2023-10-06/

Just as Mercedes workers in Germany and the USA share a common enemy, allowing for coordinated action that takes advantage of vulnerable flanks wherever they are found, anti-monopoly enforcers are sharing notes, evidence, and tactics to strike at multinationals that are bigger than most countries – but not when those countries combine.

This is an unexpected upside to global monopolies: when we all share a common enemy, we've got endless opportunities for coordinated offenses and devastating pincer maneuvers.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/10/an-injury-to-one/#is-an-injury-to-all