#Disclaimer that I am in no way a linguist

[purrassicjet]

@spindlerat I was thinking about your "Sandra Lynn as the child of immigrants" headcanon and thought "what if 'Sandra Lynn' is a common-ization of a Sylvan word?"

So I propose:

Seinda'athien (Sen-dar-ah-th-e-in). Seinda meaning hope, and thien meaning fire, coming together to make her name translate literally to "Fire of hope", as she was her parent's hope for a better life in Solace.

Because Sylvan is kinda removed from Elvish in my mind (there are similar words, but when you actually dive in they're quite different type of thing), her parents gave her a similar common name for her to use so that people would actually be able to address her.

[lowkeyren]

in which : alhaitham speaks to you in 5 different languages, unaware that you understand every word he says.

wc 7.3k (pls give it a chance lol), academic rivals to lovers, unrequited hate, attempt at humor, college au, denial + pinning.. crazy ik, he falls first (and harder), tw stalking by a drunkard, a genius on paper but a total dumbass when it comes to crushes, lil smau at the end!, ft. sumeru gang. art by @/gamegatchihaja on x.

ps. translations ay nasa maliliit na titik, katulad neto!!

ps. translations will be in small letters, like this!!

PROLOGUE: GOD I HATE THIS GUY! (DOES HE THINK IM STUPID?)

the semester is nearing its conclusion, and the imminent approach of finals marks the most critical period of the year; students rush through the halls, clutching their notes and textbooks like lifelines, while you pour every ounce of effort into your studies —not just for your grades, but also to surpass a certain arrogant scholar. 

alhaitham. 

the name tastes like spoiled milk on your tongue, a sour reminder of all the times he’s bested you, even if it’s just by a small margin, leaving you dumbfounded when the difference between your marks during the last exam was a mere 1%. 

you were groveling in front of your professor, “please, just round the marks up?” you could practically feel your dignity slipping away. and the worst part? you were so desperate that you started mentally calculating how many odd jobs you’d be willing to do just to sweeten the deal. 

(maybe you’ll help organize the office, run around the campus to buy him drinks every day, or even wipe down the windows of his car…)

disclaimer: he ultimately said no, but he did compliment your impeccable taste in coffee so, a win is a win? 

anyhow, alhaitham’s nonchalance only adds to your frustration, especially when he switches to a different language mid-conversation. it feels like he’s rubbing salt in your wounds, why of course you can understand him perfectly —after all, you aren’t majoring in linguistics for no reason, plus he's not the only one who’s fluent in multiple languages.

though you keep that to yourself, perhaps because the things he says in those languages, which he assumes you don’t understand, are far from innocent, unknowingly letting you have a glimpse into his true feelings. 

ACT I: WHOLEHEARTEDLY, I DETEST YOU. 

alhaitham would never fall in love —such irrational and illogical emotions held no value to him. 

that was what he always believed, but then he saw you. 

the way you laughed so unapologetically at cyno’s jokes, how you always stood firm by your beliefs, your refusal to compromise who you are; you were a breath of fresh air in a world that often felt stifling.

as much as he tries to act unfazed, he can't help the heat prickling his skin nor the way his composure falters just slightly in your presence. and when his heart raced for the first time in what felt like forever, he knew —he was completely, utterly screwed.

(“fix me, kaveh.” / “hah. who do you think i am, ‘y/n’?”)

when kaveh told him that he just had a simple “crush”, he nearly rolled his eyes so hard he thought they might get stuck there permanently.)

likewise, this ugly arrogant handsome bastard here, is one you’ll never fall in love with. 

he’s infuriating, completely insufferable, and yet there’s something about him, something hidden beneath that arrogance, that draws you in. the idea that you could ever fall for someone like him seems laughable, impossible even. he's exactly the kind of person you should avoid and you know better than to be charmed by someone like him. yet, there's that nagging feeling, deep down, that perhaps you’re not as immune to him as you think.

by some stroke of luck, you’re in the same major, same year, and even enrolled in the same lecture periods, which means you end up in the same place at the same time more often than not.

but you can’t deny that, in some twisted way, you admire him. his intellect is beyond impressive, even if it annoys you to admit it. so surely, in his eyes, you’re still inferior, and you often wonder if he even considers your ideas as worthy of attention.

(they are.)

ACT II: YOUR WATCHFUL EYES, I CAN’T IGNORE.

your pen glides across the pages as you jot down notes, fully absorbed in your studies, barely registering the faint sound of distant chatter.

unbeknownst to you, a group of students has gathered just outside the lecture hall, peeking in from the door with curious, amused expressions. they’re clearly there for you, exchanging glances and murmurs, waiting for the moment you step outside.

you don’t notice, but alhaitham, seated a few feet away, certainly does.

his eyes narrow slightly as he takes in the scene. he doesn’t say anything at first, but his jaw clenches ever so subtly. as you begin to pack up, you glance up to find him standing in front of you, his tall figure effectively blocking the group outside’s direct line of sight to you.

with a discreet glance over his shoulder, he shoots them a cold, unmistakable glare. they visibly shudder, seemingly getting the message as they awkwardly shuffle away. 

“what was that about?”

alhaitham leans against your desk, “nothing important,” his tone is dismissive, laced with irritation, his gaze still fixed on the now-empty doorway. 

you narrow your eyes, unimpressed. “really? you just scared them off for no reason?”

“just getting rid of some… distractions,” he says casually, turning his attention back towards you. you raise an eyebrow, clearly not believing his words. “distractions? they weren’t bothering me.” 

his expression remains impassive, “khi họ cứ để ý đến em như vậy… em thấy không phiền, còn tôi thì có.”

“seeing them constantly paying attention to you… you're not bothered by it, but i am.”

“bởi vì cái cách mà em chú tâm hoàn toàn vào một việc gì đó…  nó quyến rũ vô cùng.”

because the way you completely focus on something… is truly mesmerising.

you blink, feeling a momentary flush of confusion and surprise at the words slipping from his mouth. did he just—? but before you can fully process it, he continues.

“vậy nên tôi cũng không thể trách họ khi họ muốn nhìn em gần và lâu hơn được.”

so i don’t blame them when they want to look at you closer and longer.

his words linger in the air, a moment passes before it clicks —he doesn’t think you understand. that’s why he’s speaking so… freely; letting slip things he’d never say outright in a language you both speak fluently.

“nhưng mà… chắc không ai trong số bọn họ có thể sánh ngang với tôi, em nhỉ?”

but… none of them can compare to me, right?

your chest tightens as a surge of warmth courses through you. 

his detached attitude only fuels your irritation. but there’s also a certain satisfaction in knowing something he doesn’t: you’ve understood every single word he’s said.

feigning ignorance, you raise an eyebrow, meeting his gaze with what you hope is a neutral expression. "what are you going on about?" you ask.

his expression remains as stoic as ever, not a single crack in his mask. he simply shrugs, eyes still on you, "just telling you to focus more.”

your grip on the pen tightens, there's a part of you that wants to wipe that smug look off his face, to show him you're not as clueless as he assumes. but not yet —you’re curious to see just how far he’s willing to push.

"right," you mutter under your breath, tapping the pen against your notebook. "focus. got it."

he leans down slightly, one arm resting on the back of your chair while the other presses against the table, effectively caging you in.

"you're wasting time, finals are coming up." he takes a brief pause before continuing, "i wish you the best of luck, you’ll need it.”

your eyes snap up to him in a glare, “don’t you have somewhere to be?" you bite back.

alhaitham straightens, giving you a final glance before turning towards the door. “naturally, i have studying to do.”

“bởi vì tôi sẽ chứng minh cho em thấy rằng chỉ có tôi mới xứng tầm làm đối thủ học thuật của em, không một ai khác.”

because i will prove to you that only i am worthy of being your rival, no one else.

why did he frame it as if it’s a privilege only he can claim? or is he trying to… flatter you?!

you shake your head, no way, that’s ridiculous. finals are coming up, there’s no time to dwell on whatever mind games he’s playing. though if the almighty alhaitham wants a rival, then you’ll show him exactly what it means to stand at the pinnacle.

ACT III: IN MY DREAMS, I SCORED HIGHER THAN YOU.

you’re tired, the kind of tired that seeps deep into your bones. every blink stretches longer than the last and you find it increasingly difficult to focus on the words in front of you. stifling a yawn, you feel the pull of sleep tugging at you, whispering sweet promises of rest.

there’s still time till your next class.

maybe you'll take a moment to close your eyes, just for a few seconds…

did you not get enough sleep last night, or did you stay up late studying again? alhaitham watches silently from across the room, his eyes narrowing as your head droops lower, your exhaustion becoming painfully obvious with each passing second. his gaze lingers on the way your pen pauses mid-sentence, the line on your notebook trailing off as your hand grows heavy.

he pushes himself up from his seat, and approaches your desk; he notices the sunlight streaming through the window, harsh and unrelenting, hitting right over the table where you’re sitting. he looks at you —eyes closed, with the faintest crease of discomfort on your brow.

without a word, he reaches out and slips the pen from your grip, the slight shift causing your fingers to twitch, but you don’t wake. 

for a fleeting second, he considers waking you. but then, as you shift again, settling more comfortably into your chair, he decides against it. what good would that do, anyway? you’d probably just brush him off and keep going until you collapse from sheer fatigue. typical.

instead, he adjusts his stance slightly, positioning himself just right to make sure the sunlight is fully blocked from your face, casting you in a cool shadow. 

you mumble something incoherent, and he can’t help but roll his eyes at your state. did you really think burning yourself out like this would help you focus?

“stubborn,” he mutters under his breath. 

you're always like this, pushing yourself past your limits, and while part of him respects your determination to outdo him, he won’t allow it to come at the expense of your health.

you stir from your slumber, lifting your head, your gaze lands on a familiar figure standing to the side of your table. his back turned, facing the sunlight that streams in from the window. 

alhaitham. 

he’s close, so close that his broad shoulders completely block out the sunlight from the window. the sight sends a rush of confusion through your already sleep-addled mind. did he… stand there the whole time? why? 

you shift slightly in your seat, your movement catching his attention. without turning, he speaks in that low, steady tone of his, “you’re awake.”

“alhaitham?” you murmur, your voice still thick with sleep.

he glances over his shoulder, just enough for you to catch a glimpse of the calm expression on his face. “you’ve been out for a while,” he comments, a hint of amusement in his voice. “i was starting to think you’d sleep through your next class.”

you rub the sleep from your eyes, “why didn’t you wake me up then?”

his shoulders shift slightly as he shrugs, still facing away from you. “you looked like you needed the rest. besides, it’s more entertaining to see how long you’d stay asleep.”

a flicker of annoyance courses through you as you roll your eyes, “oh, so you mean you care?”

he turns slightly, and you can see a hint of a smirk on his lips. “don’t read too much into it. i just prefer my competition functioning at their best.”

you wish you could roll your eyes harder because this man has an uncanny talent for grating on your nerves while somehow being insufferably charming at the same time.

“ah yes —because you need me to keep up with you,” you remark sarcastically.

“exactly.” you let out an exasperated sigh as you lean back in your chair. “you really think so highly of yourself, don’t you?”

“mushiro, kimi no koto o hijō ni takaku hyōka shiteiru yo.”

if anything, i think highly of you. 

your brows knit together in surprise, and you can’t help but scoff. “what was that? i didn't catch it.”

“i said i won’t go easy on you.” oh, the audacity. he’s lying again, and he knows it.

the corners of your mouth twitch in disbelief as you scrutinise his expression. there’s that familiar glimmer in his eyes, a spark of mischief that tells you he’s enjoying this too much.

“whatever,” you retort, crossing your arms defiantly. “not like i want you to anyway.”

despite your words, you can't deny that his actions earlier were surprisingly endearing. you wonder how long he intends to keep this up. perhaps it’s time you let him know.

“ii ne, kimi ga iraira shite iru toki wa kawaiikara.”

good, because you’re cute when you’re all riled up.

you feel a blush creep into your cheeks at his words, okay maybe you shouldn’t let him know. you instinctively look away, as if avoiding his gaze can help you regain your composure.

cute? what does he mean “cute”?! he thinks he can get away with calling you cute —well… well, there’s not much you can do about it, you’re not ready to confront him about this either.

the mere thought of asking him directly makes your stomach twist with a year’s worth of embarrassment. yet, as you try to refocus on the book in front of you, you find yourself biting your lip, struggling to suppress a smile that threatens to break free.

ACT IV: I WOKE UP TODAY, AND A DREAM CAME TRUE.

the hallway buzzes with excitement as students gather around the large announcement board, eager to see the results of their theses. you push through the crowd, heart pounding, the low hum of chatter filling your ears. 

when you reach the front, you quickly scan the list; the moment your eyes land on your name, your breath catches in your throat.

there it is, in bold red ink at the top of the board —a score higher than you’d ever hoped for, higher than his. and your name, on top of his.

alhaitham.

you glance over and spot him approaching the board, approaching you. his expression is, as always, unreadable. but you know him well enough by now to catch the slight pause in his movements, the brief moment where his eyes linger just a second too long on the board.

you try not to think too much about it as you collect your thesis, with alhaitham following closely behind, his fingers nearly grazing yours as you both sift through the stack of papers on the table.

you take in the glowing praise from your professor, each word making you feel like every all-nighter was worth it. you clutch the paper, resisting the urge to grin like an idiot. 

glancing sideways, you wait for him to say something, maybe some backhanded comment, but he remains silent. your eyes meet, and there’s a shift in his gaze as the usual sharpness in his eyes dulls ever so slightly, your smile lingering like the first light of dawn breaking through the night's embrace.

it’s subtle —just a flicker —but you catch how his gaze falters, softening, if only for a heartbeat. the edges of his stare blur, drawn to the warmth of your expression as though it’s something he hadn’t meant to witness, yet can’t look away from. 

at this moment,

"looks like i finally beat you," you say, not bothering to suppress the grin spreading across your face now.

he feels like

there’s no scowl, no sign of frustration —just the slightest raise of an eyebrow. “hmm. by a point.” he pauses, studying you for a second longer than necessary before returning his gaze to his paper. “enjoy it while it lasts.”

he's in heaven.

it’s as if he’s not bothered by the outcome at all. in fact, if anything, he seems... satisfied?

"hindi dapat ganito kalala ang epekto ng ngiti mo sa akin."

your smile shouldn't affect me this badly.

“—huh?” your mouth drops slightly open at his words; out of everything, you didn’t expect him to say that. it catches you off guard, making your heart race just a little faster. if you peer closely enough, you might catch a glimpse of the gentle arch of his lips, a ghost of a smile. 

the silence stretches on for a beat too long before he clears his throat and shifts his gaze away from you. “ang iyong ngiti ang pinakamagandang tanawin ng aking araw.”

your smile is the most beautiful sight of my day.

“what?” the word slips from your lips, barely a breath, a soft gasp that hangs in the air. it feels almost surreal and you wonder if you’ve misheard him.

each heartbeat thunders in your ears, a rhythm that matches the erratic flutter in your chest. why is he saying these things, what for in a different language…? there’s no way that he—

"—tulad mo na ang hinangad ko na ligawan, ngunit sa bawat ngiti mo, halip ay mas lalo akong nahulog para sayo."

—like you, who i wish to court, but with every smile, i instead found myself falling for you. 

your breath hitches as your heart stumbles, the implications of his words washing over you like a wave. a rush of heat floods your cheeks, “what… did you say?”

his shoulders stiffen, and there’s a subtle tension in the way his fingers curl against the paper he’s holding. “see you tomorrow, [name],” he mutters, his voice low but hurried, and before you know it, he’s already walking away.

two strange things happened today: 

1. you finally beat your sworn enemy!

2. said enemy… complimented you? 

huh, it’s as if the words slipped out before he could catch them, as if he’s been holding them in for far too long, as if… you notice the way his neck reddens, even as he turns away.

behind the door, alhaitham lets out a quiet breath.

“gago… nagkamali ba ako?”

stupid… did i make a mistake?

to his dismay, an annoyingly familiar voice cuts through the silence. kaveh, who had been waiting just down the hall, notices him standing there, a little too still. 

“oh, what do we have here?" there's a slight pause, followed by a raised eyebrow. "is that—no way, your face is red!” kaveh teases, amusement dancing in his eyes. “what happened there?" he leans in, clearly enjoying himself. "come on, spill the tea..!” 

"not a chance," alhaitham retorts, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms defensively.

just then, kaveh spots cyno and tighnari; grinning, he waves them over. “what’s going on? did alhaitham finally crack under pressure?”

alhaitham would rather reorganise the entire library than listen to kaveh recount what happened.

“i’m leaving.” 

"no, i'm afraid you're not getting out of this one.” cyno steps forward, blocking alhaitham’s path; and tighnari, who has been quietly observing till now, chimes in, “don’t leave us hanging.”

“you’re outnumbered.” 

alhaitham sighs and shakes his head. he hadn’t even thought it was physically possible for him, of all people, to do something as ridiculous as blushing —until today.

(on the other side of the door, their banter echoes through, and you can’t help but chuckle to yourself at alhaitham’s misery.)

ACT V: PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY, YOU SAY? BUT EVERYONE CALLS IT FLIRTING.

“i think alhaitham likes [name].”

the whole table falls silent before kaveh dramatically slams his glass down on the table, causing a splash of alcohol to spill over the edge. “oh finally, it’s so obvious! have you all seen the way he looks at them?” 

across the table, tighnari taps his fingers absentmindedly on his notebook, his attention only half on kaveh’s (incoming) rant but clearly invested enough, as shown by the slight twitching of his ears, to be listening. 

cyno snickers, “you’re telling me the man who can dissect any philosophical argument can’t handle a little crush? that’s rich.”

kaveh waves a hand dismissively. “come on! remember that time they were partnered up for a project? he was so... uncharacteristically patient! i’d almost say it’s cute if it weren’t alhaitham we’re talking about!”

right, it’d be almost endearing —if it weren’t coming from the most stoic, intimidatingly aloof guy in the entire school. it’d be adorable —if it weren’t alhaitham, who instinctively covers the corner of your table with his hand when you drop your pencil, ensuring you won’t hit your head as you bend down to retrieve it.

oh, you don’t notice (of course not). but your friend dehya, sitting nearby, catches the whole scene out of the corner of her eye. she raises an eyebrow, nudging the girl beside her. 

(“candace, do you see that shit.” / “yeah.”)

“a soft spot for [name], you say? well, i’ve got a story of my own, too.” cyno glances around, ensuring no one else is within earshot, then lowers his voice conspiratorially.  “have you noticed? he doesn’t wear his earphones when he’s around them.”

kaveh pipes up, nodding eagerly.

“he’s got those earphones practically glued to his head, he doesn’t hear anything he doesn’t want to, and he certainly doesn’t talk unless he’s forced to. but around them?” cyno pauses, pretending to think for a while. “not once. he’ll put them away entirely, like he’s actually willing to be… present.”

sure it’s small, subtle, the kind of habit no one would pick up on unless they were looking closely. but to anyone who knew alhaitham well, it tells them more than words ever could. 

for him, actions speak louder than words, even if he often doesn’t realise the meaning behind his own gestures.

his earphones slide down, resting forgotten around his neck, all so he can be close enough to catch the delightful lilt of your laughter. his chair inches a fraction closer, seemingly by accident. a subtle upward twitch at the corner of his mouth, so fleeting and often passing so quickly if one weren’t paying attention.

for him, it’s a language without words.

dehya laughs softly. "for someone who supposedly ‘doesn’t like being bothered,’ he sure seems invested in whatever [name] has to say."

and what sealed their suspicions? 

definitely the time when kaveh complimented nilou’s new bracelet. he glanced over at the man beside him, nudging him lightly. “what do you think?”

alhaitham gave the bracelet a cursory glance, before replying, “it’s nice.” though his gaze flickered back; and almost absently, he added after a pause, “[name] has the same one too.”

oh… oh? well that was oddly specific. kaveh’s eyebrow quirked as he fought to suppress a grin.

alhaitham had noticed a detail seemingly insignificant about [name] —the kind of thing he never cared to show the slightest interest in when it came to anyone else.

the glint in nilou’s eyes seemed to mirror kaveh’s unspoken thoughts, silently agreeing with his suspicions.  

now they’re certain —100% sure, in fact —that alhaitham has a crush on you.

“well, speak of the devil… lovely seeing you here, alhaitham,” kaveh quips. tighnari, ever observant, gives him a pointed look. “your jacket’s missing.”

“someone took it,” alhaitham replies, his tone as composed as always, giving nothing away.

—nothing until you walked past. draped over your shoulders, unmistakable, is alhaitham’s jacket. you don’t notice the way every pair of eyes follows you, or the way kaveh barely stifles a triumphant laugh.

...make that 110%.

(translation: he means he borrowed his jacket because [name] was cold.)

ACT VI: IT’S YOU, WHO COMES TO MY RESCUE. 

the quiet night hangs heavy, the road empty and bathed in the dim glow of distant streetlights. you weave through the streets, but no matter how many twists and turns you take, that weirdo just won’t leave you alone.  

he’s been trailing behind you for blocks now, his persistence grating on your nerves, cornering you with endless “compliments” and invasive questions. you’ve tried to shake him off, but his determination far exceeds your patience.

"come on, just give me a chance," he insists, stepping closer, a little too close for comfort. you take a step back. the smell of alcohol reeks from his breath, and his grin is making your skin crawl. 

"i told you, i’m not interested," you say firmly, keeping your voice steady, but the panic was starting to creep in. you glance at the empty bottle in his hand —he’s definitely drunk out his mind.

“you sure?" he completely ignores your clear discomfort. "how about you just give me your number, yeah?" he slurs out.

"no, i have a boyfriend." you lie through your teeth, hoping that would be enough to make him back off.

unfortunately, he’s as insufferable as he is persistent.

he snorts dismissively, "yeah, right. a boyfriend? you’re just playing hard to get."

you sigh, you aren’t in the mood for this, not here, not now, and especially not with someone like him. "i already told you, i have a boyfriend," your voice now tinged with frustration. "so please, just leave me alone.”

"oh, don't be like that," he steps in front of you, blocking your way. "prove it. call your boyfriend. show me you’re not lying."

your heart races as the man reaches out for you, dodging his hand, you take the chance to look behind him for an escape. just then, you see an all-too-familiar figure in the distance. 

alhaitham. 

you barely manage to suppress a relieved sigh as you wave frantically in his direction. he spots you almost immediately and without hesitation, he rushes over.

"what, this your boyfriend?" the guy sneers with derision, still sounding a little too cocky for someone who was about to get a reality check.

alhaitham steps beside you, you can feel his eyes on you for just a brief moment, the faintest flicker of worry flashing across his face. it’s subtle, almost imperceptible, but you catch it—and it makes your chest tighten.

his voice is low, unmistakably carrying a warning, "yes, i’m their boyfriend. and if you don’t want things to escalate, i suggest you leave." 

the man’s face twists as anger flares in his bloodshot eyes. he takes a step forward, his grip tightening around the neck of the bottle, the glass slightly cracking. "you think you can tell me what to do?" he slurs, gaze wild and unfocused. “y-you think you’re some kind of saviour? *hic* a-and you! how… how dare you reject me?!”

alhaitham doesn’t move, his expression cold and unbothered, and that only seems to make the man angrier. his frustration boils over, and with a snarl, he clumsily swings the bottle in his hand, aggressively lurching towards your direction. 

the world seems to slow for a moment. though before you can even react, alhaitham pulls you firmly behind him with one swift motion, his other arm instinctively rising to shield the both of you from the blow. the sound of glass meeting his forearm is sharp and jarring —you can hear the high-pitched tinkle of glass scattering, the jagged shards bouncing off the pavement, and some skittering across the ground.

but he doesn’t even flinch, his stance unwavering as the man stumbles back, glass crunching underfoot. you’re still frozen from shock, your heart racing in your chest as you watch the scene unfold. 

“big mistake,” he starts, and the man visibly falters. “harassment, assault —keep this up, and you’ll regret every choice that brought you here tonight.”

the man shifts around, clearly disoriented. his eyes dart between you and alhaitham, but it’s clear that the fight’s already left him. “you— you can’t do this!” the man stammers, trying to regain some semblance of courage; unfortunately for him, the tremor in his voice is unmistakable. 

“do you really want to find out?” alhaitham asks, to which the man shakes his head vigorously. “get lost,” he mutters. the man, looking more pathetic than threatening now, quickly stumbles away, mumbling incoherent curses under his breath.

you’re breathless, still clutching the edge of his jacket, fingers trembling slightly as the adrenaline courses through you. 

"are you alright?"

you nod, forcing a small, unconvincing smile."yeah... i’m fine. thanks to you." 

alhaitham’s eyes narrow slightly, scanning you for any sign of injury. you follow his gaze instinctively, glancing down at yourself. that’s when you notice it —not on you, but on him.

streaks of red stain his forearm, where jagged shards of glass must have cut him during the confrontation. the gash bleeds steadily, a dark line of blood seeping through the fabric of his jacket.

"wait," you breathe, your heart sinking. "you're bleeding."

your stomach twists with guilt.

"why didn’t you say anything?" you exclaim.

he shakes his head, a dismissive gesture that does nothing to ease the knot forming in your stomach. "it’s nothing," he says, but the slight furrow in his brow and the tension in his jaw betray his words.

"nothing?" you fix him with a hard glare. "idiot… you just blocked a glass bottle with your arm, don’t try to downplay this."  

you grab his sleeve, tugging it gently but firmly, the fabric sliding beneath your fingers as you pull it up. “—and unless you think an infection is ‘nothing’, you’ll let me take care of this."  

"hold still," you murmur as you settle beside him on the couch, your supplies spread across the coffee table in front of you.

the scent of antiseptic fills the air as you take a disinfectant wipe and gently dab it against the gash. the sting of the alcohol makes him flinch slightly, but he doesn’t pull away. you mutter a soft apology, your movements slow and deliberate as you try to be as gentle as you can.

you open a tube of ointment, squeezing a small amount onto your finger before smoothing it carefully along the edges of the cut. the cool gel glides over his skin, and you can feel the tension in his arm ease ever so slightly under your touch.

“nǐ zhème guān xīn wǒ, huì ràng wǒ wù huì de.”

if you care so much about me, i might misunderstand you.

your fingers pause briefly, the words catching you off guard. you glance up at him, but he only averts his gaze, his eyes remaining fixed on a distant spot beyond the room.

misunderstand? misunderstand what, exactly?

the bandage wraps securely around his arm as you smooth it into place. as you tuck the end of the bandage, his voice comes again, just as soft, but no less clear. 

“—wù huì nǐ duì wǒ yǒu gǎn jué.”

"—misunderstand that you have feelings for me."

your brain short-circuits, and in your shock, your hands jerk. in turn, the bandage tightens way too much, causing him to wince and tense up. before you can apologise, he lets out a light chuckle.

“suǒ yǐ nǐ dān xīn wǒ… nǐ shì bù shì gù yì ràng rén xīn dòng de?”

“so you're worried about me… are you purposely trying to make my heart race?”

his words only make you more flustered, and you find yourself fumbling to fix the bandage. “i’m sorry! i didn’t mean to—”

his chuckle only grows softer, and you catch the glint of amusement in his eyes. “it’s fine.”

you quickly finish adjusting the bandage, trying to focus on anything other than how your heart is now racing. (ironically) 

“you seem flustered,” he comments casually, as if he isn’t the one who just made your head spin. “did i say something wrong?”

you shake your head quickly, hoping to hide the flush creeping up your neck. "no, not at all.”

his lips twitch into the faintest hint of a smirk.

"nǐ bù bì yǎn shì, wǒ xǐ huān nǐ hài xiū de yàng zǐ, tǐng kě ài de.”

“you don’t have to hide it. i like seeing your flustered expression, it’s quite cute.”

(oh this bastard!!!!)

you try to speak, but the words get stuck in your throat. what do you say when someone’s teasing you so openly —and they think you don’t even realise it?

after a long moment, he stands, “it’s getting late, i should get going.” alhaitham gives you a small, almost imperceptible nod, his eyes meeting yours for a brief moment —and there it was, that trace of softness reserved only for you.

he heads toward the door, you watch him, feeling a strange sense of emptiness when he turns away.

“i’ll see you,” he pauses. "...and thank you for tending to me."

you watch him leave, the door clicking softly behind him, and the silence settles back into the room.

you blink, taking a deep breath. what a rollercoaster of a day. yawning, you turn to start tidying up, but your eyes land on something on the couch.

it’s his jacket, draped over the armrest. you notice a tear on the sleeve, just where his injured forearm had been. what truly catches your attention, however, is a folded piece of paper slipping out of the pocket. 

intrigued, you unfold it, revealing his neat, precise handwriting. 

ACT VII: THE SECRET I’VE ALWAYS KNOWN. 

To [Name],  I once believed you to be little more than a nuisance. A bright, well-meaning nuisance, no doubt, but a nuisance nonetheless. One who seemed intent only on striving for perfection, always seeking to best me at every turn, not out of malice but out of some earnest desire to prove your worth. In my arrogance, I mistook your relentless pursuit for a need for recognition, as if you sought my attention in some petty rivalry. Though very quickly, you made me think otherwise.  You saw the world differently, you also saw me differently. You didn’t treat me with the reverence others seemed to, nor did you shy away from challenging me. You refused to be seen as anything other than yourself; and that, in itself, was what made me admire you —what made me long to understand you more. Now, I find that I am standing with half a heart and an emptiness I never knew I could feel, because you showed me what it truly means to crave something more, something I never thought I deserved. You may think I’m a coward for not expressing my feelings more directly, perhaps you are right. I am a coward for fearing to lay bare the vulnerability of my heart. But even in my cowardice, know that my thoughts have always been of you.  If you have seen through my silence and hesitation, if you understand my actions when my words fail me, then perhaps you have already known this truth. I care for you, more deeply than I can fully express. Though I may never be able to say these things as openly as I wish, I’d like you to know that my actions have always been my confession. Even now, I’m still a coward for you. So please, if you decide to give me a chance, I’ll be waiting at nightfall. Helplessly,  Alhaitham. 

you absentmindedly trace the edges of the letter with your fingers while your eyes skim over his writing for the nth time, the ink seeming to blur together with your thoughts as you try to process everything. your fingers curl around the fabric of his jacket, a foolish smile creeping onto your face.

tomorrow’s nightfall feels impossibly far away, yet you can’t wait for it. 

alhaitham lays on his bed, his arm aches slightly from the injury, but it’s nothing he can’t ignore. plus, the bandage you had carefully wrapped around his arm is enough to keep the discomfort at bay. 

(originally, he had only planned to meet you, slip you the note, and be on his way. things didn’t go exactly to plan, but either way, he hopes you’ve read it by now.)

of all the possibilities, he’s never accounted for the one he’d be at mercy of his own emotions; he had always prided himself on his rationality, his restraint. but now? he’s reckless, absurd, foolish even —he can admit that to himself. but he finds he doesn’t care in the slightest.

for as much as he is a coward in your presence, he is just as much a fool in your absence.

ACT VIII: UNDER THE RAIN, I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY. 

“alhaitham isn’t really an expressive person, so don’t worry if he comes off as distant or uninterested. it’s not that he doesn’t care, he just… shows it differently.”

ah well, ‘differently’ indeed.

“—most importantly, alhaitham doesn’t waste time on people he doesn’t care about, so you must mean a lot to him.”

maybe you didn’t mind how your heart raced when you heard that.

“don’t fuss over it [name], you’ll know when he’s in love.”

how so? 

if he was in love, what would it look like? would you be able to tell, or would it be just another one of those things you had to catch on to?

you wrapped the his jacket tighter around yourself, a faint smile tugging at your lips. it wasn’t the answers to those questions that mattered, but asking them in the first place —that was what made you realize you already knew all along.

the evening air is cool against your skin; a gentle breeze stirs the trees, their leaves rustling quietly, and your heart beats louder than ever, urging you forward.

in the distance, you spot him, standing still in the dim light. and without a second thought, you quicken your pace.

“haitham.”

the sound of your voice catches his attention as he turns to face you; you can’t help but notice how his gaze flickers down for just a moment, his eyes taking in on how his jacket looks on you, before meeting yours. 

his posture is unnervingly perfect, rigid almost to the point of stiffness …is he nervous?

“hey,” he finally says, clearing his throat. “there’s something i need to tell you… though you’ve probably already figured it out. you’ve always been sharp.” 

“i… ” he falters, and it’s the first time you see him hesitate. “i’m not sure how to put it… since i’m not exactly great at this.”

you tilt your head, subtly urging him to continue. 

“but you’ve managed to make me care about things i never thought i would. and now i can’t seem to stop thinking about it —about you.” his voice lowers, softer now, but there’s a rawness there that’s unmistakable.

“i’m telling you this now, because not saying it... doesn’t feel right anymore."

suddenly, you feel a soft mist that barely kisses your skin, a slight chill against your cheeks, then a few tiny drops,  until they start to gather in your hair, the beads of water slipping down the back of your neck, but you don't move. neither does he.

his hair is damp, sticking to his forehead, droplets trailing down his temple. his clothes cling to his frame, soaked by the rain, yet his attention remains solely on you.

“[name], i am irrevocably in love with you.”

you stand there, the rain falling relentlessly around you, the pitter-patter mirroring the frantic beat of your heart. the water trails down his face, but it’s hard to tell if it’s just the rain, or something else.

his lips part, as though he wants to say more, but the words seem caught in the storm, swallowed up by the downpour. the rain is cold, but his gaze? his gaze feels impossibly warm. 

it’s only when you feel the dampness of his jacket beneath your fingers, that the words finally come. “you don’t need to convince me of that.”

you take a step closer, and for a moment, the world outside seems to disappear.

“i’ve known,” you add. “but hearing you say it,” you pause, allowing yourself a small smile, “makes all the difference.”

reaching up, your fingers graze his damp skin as you gently push a wet strand of hair from his forehead, the warmth of your touch lingering against his cool skin. 

“'uhibuk aydan, alhaitham.”

i love you too, alhaitham.

a single droplet slides down his cheek, tracing the line of his jaw before falling to the soaked fabric of his collar. another follows. and then another. his breath catches in his throat, and a shaky exhale leaves his mouth.

you wrap your arms around him, and he sinks into your embrace, his hair tickling your cheeks, as his chest rises and falls against yours.

“you’re gonna make me cry too, idiot,” you murmur, burying your face in his chest, your eyes glassy. “you really are a fool,” you tease softly, a slight smile playing on your lips. “but only for me.”

slowly, his hands rise, trembling slightly, until they cup your cheeks, gently stroking it. 

“la yujad 'ahad akhar 'urid 'an 'akun 'ahmaq min 'ajlihi.”

there’s no one else i’d ever want to be a fool for.

his palms are surprisingly warm despite the weather. his thumb grazes your cheekbone as he leans in, and the world falls away —nothing but the warmth of his presence and the soft press of his lips against yours.

“this is my first time in ten years seeing this guy cry! can you believe it?!” kaveh whisper-shouts, peeking out from behind the shrub. 

nodding along, cyno agrees, poking his head out just right below the blond’s. “[name] is truly exceptional. though i must say, seeing alhaitham cry is quite tear-rifying.”

kaveh rolls his eyes in exasperation. “ugh, you and your puns.” he mutters under his breath while zooming in on his phone, which is currently recording the whole scene.

“quiet down, you two!” a voice hisses from behind them —tighnari, face flushed with panic. “they’re literally right there, and you’re making more noise than a herd of goats.”

“relax, we’re out of their line of sight anyway!” kaveh raises his phone higher, almost giddily, eyes glued to the screen. “and damn this is a good angle.”

tighnari exhales sharply, “you’re incorrigible.”

“look who’s talking,” cyno raises an eyebrow at tighnari… who’s also peeking out from behind the bush. (what a hypocrite)

…

“they kissed oh my g—” kaveh’s voice rises in disbelief, but cyno quickly covers his mouth with a swift hand. the three of them scramble to duck behind the bush just as you turn to glance in their direction.

(“is that… senior kaveh?” you squint your eyes, “cyno, and tighnari?” 

alhaitham clears his throat before glancing over at his friends with a deadpan expression. “yes and unfortunately, they’re very invested in my personal life. so please don’t mind them."

you laugh, finding the whole situation a bit too amusing. “not in the slightest, but i’m sure they’ll never let you hear the end of it.”)

EPILOGUE: IN EVERY LANGUAGE, I HEAR LOVE YOU.

“how long?”

you blink, feigning confusion. “how long what?”

alhaitham’s eyes narrow slightly, an expression you know well. “how long have you understood everything i’ve been saying?”

you bite back a smile and offer a small shrug, “...ever since you started?” 

his lips press into a thin line, and for a moment, you can’t tell if he’s upset or impressed. then, he sighs, almost amused. “and you let me embarrass myself all this time?”

“you were being honest,” you shrug, a smirk forming. “plus i knew you’d figure it out eventually.”

he huffs a quiet laugh, shaking his head. “may ideya ka ba kung ano ginawa mo?"

do you have any idea what you’ve done?

"mas lalong umibig sakin?"

made you fall in love with me even more?

you tease, but there’s a tenderness in your voice that softens the edge of your words.

“yes, and you really are insufferable,” he mutters with no malice. his tone is different now. softer. warmer, even.

you lean in slightly, a playful glint in your eyes. “that’s not what i heard you say before.” your fingers graze the skin of his cheek before you tenderly pinch it, giggling softly at the reaction you provoked.

in one smooth motion, he catches your hand before you can pull away and tugs you towards him, closing the distance between you in a heartbeat. you tilt your head back to meet alhaitham’s gaze.

you’ve often thought he’s the most-perfect boyfriend, undeniably handsome in every way —but there’s really just one flaw: his height.

“ugh, you’re too tall," you grumble, rubbing the back of your neck. "i’m having a neck sore just looking at you."

he quirks an eyebrow at your sudden words. “you could use a stepstool.” 

"or," you counter, "you could get on your knees and save me the trouble.”

he slowly lets out a breath, his lips curling ever so slightly. 

“'akida, 'antaziri hataa 'ashtari alkhatama.”

sure, just wait till i buy the ring.

"wh—" 

he crosses his arms, "what’s wrong? isn’t that what people expect when someone gets on their knees?"

you roll your eyes, half-smiling. "fine, then i’ll eagerly wait for that day.”

his gaze softens as his hand reaches up, brushing a stray lock of hair from your face; his eyes drop to your lips for a moment, and you know what’s coming even before he speaks.

this fic was not sponsored by duolingo, but with the help of my beloved friends!! wouldn't have been possible w/o em please give them a round of applause xx

vietnamese — @https-sourlimes

tagalog / filipino — @vxnuslogy

arabic — @ughscara

chinese, japanese — me!

ty @mitsvriii for proofreading, love u all <3

and thank you for reading!! reblogs are appreciated ^^

pspspss check out the cool fanart / comic based on this fic here by @rei-plswork 🤍

MASTERLIST.

[writingwithcolor]

how to convey arabic language in a specific dialect is being spoken without lengthy descriptions of how words/specific letters are pronounced?

Anonymous asks:

I believe my question revolves around linguistics, but please correct me if there’s something I didn’t take into account. I’m an Egyptian girl who speaks Arabic (the Egyptian dialect specifically), and I am currently writing an urban fantasy set in modern day Egypt. Naturally, the characters would be speaking Egyptian arabic (i even have a scene where my character converses with a tourist and struggles to speak to them ‘in english’)  But as the story is written in english, I found this is really hard to convey, especially with the entirely different alphabet, and the words that simply cannot be transcribed (sometimes in definition, and sometimes in letters that don’t have an equivalent). What would be a good way to send the message that these characters are by no means speaking English (unless stated) without having to hold the reader's hand through lengthy descriptions of how a word is pronounced at every corner?

Hi Anon! This is a tough spot. I’m no expert, just a mod and fellow writer trying to support your fantastic ask. Any bilingual readers, especially other Arabic speakers, feel free to chime in.

1- Disclose they’re speaking Arabic, even though you’re writing in English:

Example A: “Hey, Noor! Wait up,” he said in Arabic. 

Example B: “Habibti, I haven’t seen you in a while,” she reminded me. It was true - I had missed the lilt of her Darija-Moroccan dialect-so different from the Mesri, the Egyptian twang, that rolled off my tongue.

2- Consider using Arabic semantic structure or phrases and idioms used mostly in Arabic.

Example A: She reddened with embarrassment. // They whitened at the sight of it. ((English would probably say she ‘turned red’ rather than reddened, or ‘paled’ rather than whitened. Since Arabic has this natural and fun ability to let color be a verb, which English can but doesn't have naturally - make use of it! It will read differently in English because it’s an Arabic construct. Use other examples like this that you’d know better than me.))

Example B: Consider using “May the Gods smite her house!,” instead of the classic English ‘Fuck You.’ Or use “On my eyes” rather than ‘min ayooni’ or its English translation of ‘of course.’ Since Arabic language is beautifully expressive, you could lean into that when you can rather than using common English alternatives.

 Example C: Consider interspersing Arabic transliterations of common words/phrases like; habibti/habibi; yani; mashallah casually through the story.  

3- When speaking with English speakers, consider using informal text/chat speak (Arabizi?) to communicate the Arabic, since it’s already transliterated to the Roman alphabet. [disclaimer - I am atrocious at this, and will be surprised if anyone can read it… but for science!]: 

Example A: Instead of (انت طالب بالجامعة) or “are you a student?” it becomes; 

“Ente 6albeh bel jam3a?” I asked, staring at the textbook in his arms. 

He looked at me confused. “I don't understand,” he said. “I can’t speak Arabic.” 

“Wain 3m tedrus? Where do you… y3ni… where do you study?” I tried again in slow, awkward English.

These examples may or may not work for you. It’s important to remember that there’s no single "right" way to do this, but it’s mostly about finding a balance that reads well, and feels good to you. Subtle cues like sentence structure, idioms, the occasional untranslated word, and natural context can help to show the language shift. Good luck and happy writing!

~ Melanie 🌻  

P.S. Mod Meir suggests checking out the book When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb, which handles this issue well. There's a lot of "He said in English" or "He repeated it in Yiddish for the old woman's benefit" or "It took him a moment to realize he had spoken in English" (( Thanks Sacha! @kuttithvangu ))

[visualtaehyun]

TNP EP.1 language annotations & novel extras ✨

We made it y'all 🥹 It's finally here and I couldn't be happier!! Without further ado, let's get right into it~

Disclaimer: not a native Thai speaker, still learning 🙏

I mentioned this already in my post about the trailer but there's some interesting linguistic switching getting kinda lost in translation in the introductory conversation between Charan and the King. Charan starts out all proper, using royal language:

Charan: กระหม่อมเชื่อว่าฝ่าบา��ทรงมีเหตุผลส่วนพระองค์พ่ะย่ะค่ะ /gra-maawm cheuua waa faa-baat song mee haeht-phohn suaan phra-ohng, pha-ya-kha/ = I am certain that Your Majesty has Your Majesty's own justifications.

These will keep coming up so I'm just gonna explain all of them in one go here for y'all to refer back to:

-> กระหม่อม /gra-maawm/ = male 1st pers. pronoun used when addressing royalty -> ฝ่าบาท /faa-baat/= 2nd pers. pronoun used for royalty -> ทรง /song/ = prefix that turns common verbs into royal ones (here before มี /mee/ = to have), used in other royal context as well -> ส่วนพระองค์ /suaan phra-ohng/ = royal version of ส่วนตัว /suaan dtuaa/ = personal, private -> พ่ะย่ะค่ะ /pha-ya-kha/ = male (ending) particle used with royalty of certain ranks

The King then reprimands and reminds him not to use royal language (คำราชาศัพท์ /kham raa-chaa-sap/) with him:

Thipokbowon: ปู่พูดไปหลายครั้งนะ เวลาอยู่ด้วยกันสองคนนี่ไม่ต้องพูดราชาศัพท์ ยังไงเจ้าก็เป็นหลานที่ปู่เลี้ยงดูมาแต่เด็ก /bpuu phuut bpai laai khrang na. weh-laa yoo duay gan saawng khohn nee mai dtaawng phuut raa-chaa-sap. yang ngai jao gor bpen laan thee bpuu liiang duu maa dtaae dek/ = I've mentioned this many times. When it's just the two of us, there's no need to use royal language. You're still the grandson that I've looked after since you were a boy.

He refers to himself as ปู่ /bpuu/ (= grandpa) with Charan and throughout the entire conversation refers to Charan either just by his name or เจ้า /jao/ (= polite affectionate 2nd pers. pronoun used by sb. who's senior/older for sb. who's junior/younger) - and in some instances หลาน /laan/ (= grandchild, nibling, or a nibling's child).

Once reminded, Charan stops speaking in royal register yet still remains formal and polite:

Charan: ตอนนี้คุณปู่เป็นยังไงบ้างครับ /dtaawn nee khun bpuu bpen yang ngai baang, khrap/ = How are you doing currently, grandfather?

It's only when the King has given him his mission, while calling him หลาน /laan/, that Charan also uses the very familiar pronouns set by the King, referring to himself as หลาน /laan/, and ditches the formal คุณ /khun/ and ครับ /khrap/:

Charan: ถ้าปู่ไว้ใจหลาน หลานจะไปนำมาให้ /thaa bpuu wai jai laan, laan ja bpai nam maa hai/ = If you trust me, grandpa, then I'll bring it to you.

He is of course back to royal language right away though lol:

We're still not done with this scene though 🤡 Charan and the King use certain codes with each other that are explained in the novels since this chapter is a Charan POV one. The codes I mean are:

"The cicadas are shedding their skin. Summer must be coming soon."

the chamomile and oolong tea

If you don't care for novel details, you may of course scroll on to the next section but here is further explanation from Ch.3:

Thipokbowon: "I wish the cicada would have a little longer time... I wish summer would come later, but that's not going to happen." -> "Charan had long ago read about the life cycle of cicadas from a children's book the king had given him. The king had said, 'The life cycle of cicadas is one of the world's wonders. The nymphs live underground for two to seventeen years until they are strong enough to emerge, molt, and continue their species above ground.' So, it means... the time has come."

"Chamomile tea meant the king wanted to relax and have a casual conversation. If he chose this tea, it meant he just wanted to see Charan and talk a bit, maybe ask about his well-being. But if he chose oolong tea, it meant he had a secret task for Charan, and the order would vary based on the king's needs."

Nin is a business student and I was so delighted to see they actually went with Bayes Business School as the authors had outlined in these character profiles over two years ago!!

In the novels, Nin is making his way from home to the uni's Fencing Club and gets on at Earl's Court station. The tube station Nin makes his way to in this EP. though looks to be set at London Bridge station, judging from the signage:

All the way from when Charan and Nin first talk to each other here, up until a certain point in the EP., they both use ผม/คุณ /pom, khun/ (= polite formal male 1st pers. pronoun and polite formal 2nd pers. pronoun) with each other, no polite particles in sight though!

Nin: นี่คุณมาตามจีบผมหรอ /nee khun maa dtaam jeep pom raaw/

-> จีบ /jeep/ isn't as harmless and noncommittal as 'flirting', it's actively pursuing, wooing, courting, there is intent. In the novels, it's Nin's friends who suggest this guy might be stalking him because he fancies Nin so it's all the more funny having Nin say it himself! Really says something about his confidence lol

The dish Thatdanai is preparing is likely either regular Khao Soi, which is Emmaly's national dish in the novels, or the version they created for the series that Nunew spoiled the other day during their LINE MAN live :D

Thatdanai and Nin refer to themselves and each other as พ่อ /por/ (= dad) and Nin นิน, his dad also calls him ลูก /luuk/ (= child, son) sometimes. Keep all of this in mind as it changes later :(

-> from Ch.1: "Khanin thought his father seemed more like a soldier than a writer, with his stern demeanor, strictness, and firm voice that he often used during fencing practice. It felt like being trained by a medieval knight commander." + "In reality, Tatdanai's main job was as a ghostwriter for celebrities, mostly writing autobiographies of athletes."

Thatdanai, interrupting Ran: ผมจัดการเอง /pom jat-gaan eng/ = I'll handle it myself. Nin: แล้วเมื่อกี้พ่อบอกพ่อจะจัดการ พ่อจะจัดการอะไรอะ /laaeo meuaa gee, por baawk por ja jat-gaan. por ja jat-gaan a-rai a/ = And you just said you would handle it. What're you going to handle?

-> จัดการ /jat-gaan/ = deal with, handle, manage, take care of

This is way bigger than what they called a party in the novel xD

It's giving American teen movie house party rather than the comparatively small get-together in Ch.6 lol – in the novels, they're just sitting in a circle together drinking and playing party games on Samantha's roof. Nin knows Samantha's friends from playing music with them (he was on keyboard) and occasionally uploading covers on tiktok, they're music geeks and film students. Charan, by the way, is the only one not drinking alcohol in the novels.

It's interesting they made Khanin aware of the Emmalian belief about kissing so early on cause he finds out much later in the novels which puts things into perspective for him. I do love though how they conveyed that info to both him and the audience (I previously addressed my doubt about how to nicely incorporate this into the show in an ask (spoilers ahead!)).

Thatdanai: ผมไม่รู้จะบอกเขายังไงดี ก็ตลอดเวลาที่ผ่านมาผมรู้สึกผูกพันกับเขาเหมือนเขาเป็นลูกแท้ ๆ ของผม /pom mai ruu ja baawk khao yang ngai dee. gor dta-laawt weh-la thee phaan maa, pom ruu-seuk phuuk phan gap khao meuuan khao bpen luuk thae thae khaawng pom/ = I don't know how to tell him. Throughout all this time, I've become attached to him as if he was my real son.

Then once Nin enters, Charan starts speaking to him using royal language:

Ran: ท่านชายคณินทร์ พระองค์มีสายเลือดของกษัตริย์ และฝ่าบาทต้องเสด็จกลับเอมมาลี /than-chaai Khanin, phra-ohng mee saai leuuat khaawng ga-sat. lae faa-baat dtawng sa-deht glap Emmaly/ = Prince Khanin is of royal blood. And Your Royal Highness must return to Emmaly.

-> ท่านชาย /than-chaai/ = Nin's title, his rank is lower than his biological father's for example: Prince Tharin เจ้าชายธาริน /jao-chaai Tharin/ -> พระองค์ /phra-ohng/ = previously mentioned, can be the royal equivalent to ตัว 'body, self' as well as a 3rd pers. pronoun used for certain ranks of royalty -> เสด็จ /sa-deht/ = another royal verb used for any movement by a royal; used in other royal context as well

And then everything's falling apart...

Thatdanai, after bowing to his own son: ท่านคือท่านชายคณินทร์ /than keuu than-chaai Khanin/ = You are Prince Khanin, Sir. -> ท่าน /than/ = respectful formal 2nd pers. pronoun

กระหม่อม... ไม่ใช่พ่อที่แท้จริงของท่าน /gra-maawm... mai chai por thee thae jing khaawng than/ = I... am not your real father, Sir.

[...] ที่ฝ่าบาทจะต้องกลับเอมมาลี /thee faa-baat ja dtawng glap Emmaly/ = that Your Royal Highness must return to Emmaly.

I cried buckets over Nin and Thatdanai, y'all. Both while reading the books as well as while watching this singular EP 🥹

Charan is also in royal language mode:

Ran: หน้าที่ของกระหม่อมคือดูแลและปกป้องฝ่าบาท /naa-thee khaawng gra-maawm kheuu duu-lae lae bpok-bpaawng faa-baat/ = My duty is to take care of and protect Your Royal Highness.

When Nin sits down with his dad to have him explain everything, Thatdanai calls Nin ฝ่าบาท /faa-baat/ and himself กระหม่อม /gra-maawm/ again and uses royal register. And since I've reached the picture limit and that's a new one for me 🤡 no more screenshots from here on out but I'm almost done, thankfully

เสด็จปู่ของท่านชายเป็นเจ้ามหาช��วิตของประเทศเอมมาลี /sa-deht bpuu khaawng than-chaai bpen jao ma-haa cheewit khaawng bpra-theht Emmaly/ = Your Royal Highness's grandfather is the King of Emmaly. -> เสด็จ /sa-deht/ = here used as a prefix for a member of the royal family, kind of like- venerable grandfather -> เจ้ามหาชีวิต /jao ma-haa cheewit/ = the king's title

ขบวนเสด็จของเจ้าหญิงคุณิตา พระมารดาของฝ่าบาท ถูกมุ่งร้าย /kha-buan sa-deht khaawng jao-ying Khunita, phra-maan-daa khaawng faa-baat, thuuk moong raai/ = The royal procession of Princess Khunita, Your Royal Highness's mother, got targeted. -> พระมารดา /phra-maan-daa/ = มารดา /maan-daa/ is already the formal expression for 'mother', พระ /phra/ is a prefix added for royalty

เจ้าชายธารินสูญเสียพระชายาและพระโอรสไป /jao-chaai Tharin suun siia phra-chaa-yaa lae phra-oh-roht bpai/ = Prince Tharin lost his royal consort and his son. -> พระชายา /phra-cha-yaa/ -> พระ /phra/ see above + ชายา /chaa-yaa/ = consort, wife -> โอรส /oh-roht/ = royal expression for 'son'

When Thatdanai later comes to check on Nin and leaves him the caramel candy, he's back to พ่อ /por/ (= dad) and Nin นิน 🫠

NEXT WEEK: Ran and Nin on the move, meeting Vetith (Vatis? Wetid? ...เวทิศ!) in Thailand, Tharin finds out his son is alive, more tears and more bickering!

⇒ emblems, territories and royal houses of Emmaly ⇒ royal family of Emmaly + other character bios ⇒ relationship chart ⇒ characters and cast of TNP ⇒ all my TNP posts

[little-mari-on-a-roof]

hey everyone I'm happy to introduce to you

Frenglish differences in miraculous

which is a series where I'll be highlighting the differences between the French and English dubs of the wonderful show that is Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir.

I've always watched the show in its original language and I really recommend doing so but I recognise that it isn't necessarily doable depending on the subtitles people have available to them and the fact that they might be based on the alternate dub rather than a translation of what is said in French, so I thought I'd do this as a way to both show the differences and the things that people might miss, as well as sharing some interesting facts I've noticed! I'll be making one post per episode, with for each notable difference what is said in English, what is said in French with my translation and sometimes a little comment from yours truly 😌.

Links to each episode:

Stormy Weather / The Bubbler / Mr Pigeon / Copycat /Timebreaker / Pharaoh / Lady WiFi / Rogercop / Evillustrator / Horrificator / Dark Cupid / Darkblade / The Mime / Animan / Puppeteer / Princess Fragrance /Gamer / Reflekta / Pixelator / Guitar Villain / Antibug / Kung Food / Simon Says / Volpina / Ladybug and Cat Noir + Stoneheart

I'll have to make a few disclaimers as I always do with these things so here are the main ones:

I have done this (rewatching and recording the differences) a looong time ago so I might have changed my opinion on a few things since then, although I'll try to go over and correct if really needed

I didn't actually watch it in English (sorry I really don't like watching dubs) but I instead used the subtitles available on Disney+ which seemed to be an accurate transcription of the dub. however if I've made any mistake feel free to point it out! it also means that I only focus on the text and not the delivery of the lines

I kept the translation of the original french voice acting quite literal and I am in no way competent in linguistics (women in STEM 🫡)

I've only done this for season 1, as I believe fandubs are available for the further seasons but if people are interested I might do the other ones, however I don't have access to legal streaming services with subtitles anymore so it might be a bit more complex for me

I'm not pointing out every single difference because some are uninteresting or just due to simple language differences, but only the ones I personally found interesting/relevant

I didn't include things that happen in every episode (aka the theme song or transformation phrases), but I might do a separate post for them if anyone's interested

I think that's all? hope you guys enjoy!

[agwic]

What is Shampoo's name in Ranma 1/2?

...and Cologne and Mousse I guess, but they're not as important and I didn't wanna bloat the title.

Now, there is not one answer to this question, as you probably know if you've read more than one piece of fanfiction for Ranma 1/2, of if you know that they are Chinese characters in a piece of Japanese media with English words as names. So, in this post, I will attempt to provide every answer I can find, primarily as a resource for other Ranma fanfiction authors.

Starting with a disclaimer, I am not fluent in any of the languages I'll be discussing here, my only qualifications are that I am studying both linguistics and Japanese, and also studied Mandarin for a while in elementary school. If any native speakers have any corrections, I would love that!

Answer 0: English

Well, in basically all official Ranma media, her name is Shampoo, her grandmother and Cologne, and her childhood friend is Mousse. So, problem solved, right? Well, not really. Those obviously aren't their actual names, there's no way that can be the case!

Answer 1: Japanese

In Japanese, their names are シャンプー, コロン, and ムース. There are numerous ways to romanize Japanese, but I'd romanize those names as Shanpu, Koron, and Musu (if you want alternate romanizations, you can look them up, because I don't want to bloat this post with every possible romanization of everything). These are also Japanese words for shampoo, cologne, and mousse, and were borrowed into Japanese from English. And, シャンプー is pronounced almost identically to the English word Shampoo, with only the first vowel being different (the others are a bit more different though). So, translating these names as Shampoo, Cologne, and Mousse is probably a better translation than just romanizing them, but you can also do that, I guess. But, well, these three aren't actually Japanese, are they? So really we should figure out what their names are in Chinese.

Answer 1.5: Chinese Phonology

Well, Ranma 1/2 is in Japanese, so we just have to guess as to what their names are in Chinese, right? I mean, I don't remember ever seeing their names written down in Chinese in the anime, so we'll just have to take their names in Japanese, and translate them to Mandarin phonology. With this strategy, their names are Xianpu, Koulong, and Musu. However, since we never get surnames for them, maybe they should be split into two characters, with one being their surname? I mean, probably not, but most people who use this strategy call Shampoo "Xian Pu" rather than "Xianpu", so who knows. Regardless, this strategy isn't necessary, because despite me not remembering it, we do in fact have the Chinese characters for all three of these characters' names, which means we can figure out what their names are in Chinese properly.

Answer 2: Chinese

Their names, with Mandarin romanizations (since Mandarin is in fact the primary Sinitic language spoken in that area), are 珊璞 (Shānpú), 可崘 (Kělún), and 沐絲 (Mùsī). In English, standard practice is to leave off the tone diacritics, but otherwise those romanizations are standard. You could put a space in between the two syllables, but that would imply that they all only have one syllable as a given name, which is pretty rare, and that they all have different surnames, despite Cologne and Shampoo being family, and all three of them being from the same clan, and it seems like the standard practice in China is for rural clans like the Joketsuzoku to adopt a single surname. Speaking of which, the "zoku" in Joketsuzoku and the "zu" in Nüjiezu both just mean clan, and I feel like a much better translation of those names would be Joketsu clan and Nüjie clan. Anyways, rural clans in the region of China where Joketsuzoku is typically just use their clan name as a surname, so all three of them would have a surname of Nǚjié/Nüjie (the umlaut on the u is not a tone diacritic, so it isn't nearly as optional, but Nuejie should work if you must), which, in both Japanese and Chinese, goes before the given name.

Answer 2.5: Kanji

There's a minor problem with the above strategy, which is that most people don't suddenly switch to a different language when saying someone's name. In English, we usually approximate names as best as we can with English phonology, and for that strategy applied to Japanese, see Answer 1. However, with Chinese names being said in Japanese specifically, there's an alternate strategy. Because names in Japanese are usually written with the same characters as names in Chinese, you can often just read Chinese names as if they're Japanese names! Honestly, it's kinda weird, in-universe, that all the Ranma characters call them by adaptations of their names into Japanese phonology. Out-of-universe, it's not weird, because their names are a joke which wouldn't make sense if they did the normal thing.

However, if you're writing a fanfiction, and you find the joke of their names tasteless and bad, you can make characters do this instead, without changing the character's names! Because there are multiple readings of every Chinese character in Japanese, there are multiple possible readings of their names, but I picked the readings that seem to be most commonly used in names to determine that they could be called Joketsu Sanbaku, Karon, and Mokuito. These names are a bit weird, because their names in Chinese are a bit weird, because they needed to be to accommodate the joke.

Okay, wait, but why is the Sinitic language spoken in the area where they come from Mandarin? Aren't there, like, a ton of languages in China? And Southern Qinghai is kinda far from Beijing, and really rural, so you'd think they'd speak another language there. And you'd be correct, they just don't speak another Sinitic language.

Answer 3: Tibetan

So, given where Joketsuzoku is, if it were a real village, they would almost certainly speak the Rwanak dialect of Amdo Tibetan. Unfortunately, I could not find any English-language resources on the naming practices in Amdo Tibetan as a whole, much less Rwanak specifically. However, I could find some stuff on the naming customs of Tibetan in general, primarily Lhasa Tibetan, though it did note that Amdo Tibetans typically use their clan name as a surname (which, like Japanese and Chinese, goes first), as mentioned previously. Anyways, Tibetan given names are typically two words, each of which is two syllables, so four syllables total. This is obviously not anything like the names we have been given for these characters, so unless we just wanna make something up, we're gonna have to assume that they're just being referred to by the first part of their given name, which does seem to be somewhat common.

Now, there does not seem to be any romanization of Amdo Tibetan in common usage besides the IPA, nor can I find a sufficiently comprehensive list of words in Amdo Tibetan (and it goes without saying that neither of those exist for Rwanak either). Furthermore, I could not find a list of words even in Lhasa Tibetan which was written in the Latin alphabet, and I do not have the time to click through all 3000 Tibetan words in Wiktionary to check the pronunciation of each one. And, none of the most common Tibetan names look anything like Shanpu, Kelun, or Musi. So, I'm basically gonna do Answer 1.5 again, but Mandarin -> Tibetan instead of Japanese -> Mandarin.

So, the best approximations of their Mandarin names into Lhasa Tibetan, written in the Wylie transliteration because it's the most common one, with me arbitrarily picking one possible spelling based on which one looks best because Tibetan can spell the same word in many different ways, would be: Hranphu, Kholan, and Musi. My best attempt at listing every possible spelling of those names is as follows:

Shampoo(6 possible spellings): Hran{ph/'ph/b}u(r)

Cologne(108 possible spellings): {Kh/Khw/Mkh/'Kh/G/Gw}o(r){kl/gl/bl/rl/sl/brl/bsl/l/lw}an

Mousse(240 possible spellings): {Rm/Sm/Dm/Smr/M/Mr}u(r){s/sr/sw/gs/bs/bsr/z/zw/gz/bz}i(r)

As for their surname, I doubt "woman hero clan" is what they call themselves, and I have no idea where to even begin looking up how to come up with a realistic sounding Amdo Tibetan clan name, so I'd just avoid referring to them with a surname if I was going to use these names in a fic.

Now, am I suggesting you use any of that? No, probably not. It's pretty clear that Shampoo's native language, at the very least, is Mandarin, and while it is possible she grew up bilingual, given the lack of anything pointing towards Joketsuzoku being Tibetan in canon, it's probably best to assume Joketsuzoku switched to speaking Mandarin recently, since doing otherwise would likely require changing a lot of canon. This wouldn't even be unrealistic, since as far as I can tell, the Tibetan language has been declining in Qinghai for a while. Still, there's a lot of interesting stuff you could do, especially with regards to Cologne, with the fact that Joketsuzoku is likely historically Tibetan.

TL;DR: In my opinion, the best names for Shampoo, Cologne, and Mousse are Nüjie Shanpu, Nüjie Kelun, and Nüjie Musi, but you could probably do some interesting stuff with making them Tibetan.

[cirphu]

This is my favorite little moment from the Jin x Wim cloud-watching meet cute because of, you guessed it, linguistic wordplay :D

After Wim says that he's going to get Phu's number from someone else, Jin says, "a tiger" referring to the cloud that they've been watching. But tiger/เสือ (listen here) sounds awfully close to nosy/เสือก (considered rude; listen here), which explains why Wim turned around with the quickness to ask for clarification because ain't no way he just heard his junior—who's pratically a stranger—call him nosy, right? However, after Jin elaborates while sporting that cheeky smile of his, Wim relaxes and picks up the game where they left off. Isn't language amazing?

Disclaimer: I am not fluent in Thai nor am I actively learning. I just have a great attention to detail and make up in hearing what I lack in sight ^^;

[openphrase123]

hey hi hi i've read everything of curtain call (except, obviously, what hasn't been posted yet) and i HAVE to ask you to share your lost country/skywatcher language thoughts so i can devour them immediately please.

hiiiiiiii so like 90% of the language worldbuilding i did for curtain call was like. very simple sentences and words since i didn't want to make an entire conlang for this fanfiction. what i have written in-fic would fall apart in two seconds if i tried to expand it to any of the lines outside of what i wrote. HOWEVER i have a lot of thoughts about how it WOULD work if it had the capacity to expand outward

putting under a readmore both for curtain call spoilers and because this is going to get long and insufferable for anyone except ME

also if you're not reading curtain call. this is still a fun little analysis about how siffrin's native language influences their behavior. you might have fun with it wheeeee just know that the actual language i'm talking about is not canon. i made it up.

disclaimer: i speak a couple of languages but my knowledge of languages is VERY limited to what i know. so you're going to see a lot of instances of me calling back to japanese or other english dialects. other languages exist and also have these features but i'm just not gonna say anything if i'm not sure of what i'm saying. if you are interested in these concepts in a more academic setting i am NOT the place to find that

second disclaimer: in curtain call, the name for qilaksut comes from greenlandic/kalaalisut which is an endangered indigenous language. this is an open invitation to go learn who, historically, lived in and supported the land you're living on. consider supporting them whatever way you can.

number ONE. dude is it that serious??

nah.

again, i built this for like ten sentences out of a 100k+ fic. so like. there's some inconsistencies, there's some weird stuff. and i know i could have just written all of the curtain call qilaksut in english but italicized, there would have been nothing wrong with that. but i did not because i thought it would be a good exercise in character exploration

because the language you speak has some measure of how you act and carry yourself in the world. (sorry elizabeth if you're reading this. i'm not going full noam chomsky i swear i don't believe in linguistic determinism i'm using this as a literary device) and since siffrin is the only speaker of the forgotten language we see (loop never engages with that in-game as much) and i was a little bit like. okay. why is he like that. how much of that is siffrin and how much of that is the home they don't know

in odile's friendquest she remarks that she only finds similarity in herself within vaugarde because vaugarde is so welcoming to travelers. however odile never went to vaugarde until she was an adult - siffrin presumably lived on the island until he was a teenager, and your personality is fairly Formed by then (at least enough for people to put iterations on it in adulthood) so as much as i could have gone the route of "siffrin it's okay that you don't see yourself in your past" i thought for the themes of this fic it made more sense to go "oh THAT'S why siffrin is Like That"

so as you're reading through this: yes i'm worldbuilding language. but MOSTLY as a siffrin character study. okay! okay.

number TWO. situational meanings.

so ✦‧₊ is "you" and ✧‧₊ is "me/i". but "hello" is ❇✧ which - hang on, isn't that the word for universe and me? no, actually, there's no pronoun suffix (‧₊ denotes when a person is being talked about) so in this context ✧ means "inside". which means ✦ means "outside" in some contexts.

(but harrie, why does "hello" mean "inside universe"?? well i imagine it's the difference between older medieval greetings and the modern "hi". languages morph and drift. this kind of just suggests that without me having to write an Entire Language Family Background. probably a shortening of some corny shit like "within the universe i find you" or whatever. semantic drift.)

and part of the reason i did that was for unicode constraints - there are only unicode characters that look like stars. but the other half is because in japanese and i THINK also in chinese each character has a few different meanings. take 本, in japanese. it has a lot of meanings on its own but let's look at it in situational context. 本棚 is bookshelf. 本物 means real. 本土 is mainland.

so in qilaksut i think these kinds of multi-use words are common. ERGO. why siffrin has trouble thinking of very situational words in vaugardian. if your native language is built up of tangential mnemonic connections, of course you're going to have trouble remembering the word kiln!!

number THREE. reduplication and repetition

take the phrase "✦‧₊ »»⟢" from ch10. in my head, » means "fast" and doubling it gives you "really fast". this happens in AAVE (e.g. "he's RICH rich") and japanese (there is an entire kanji expressly used as a repetition mark so that you don't have to draw complicated kanji twice, it's 々(noma) and as an example, person is 人 but people is 人々)

reduplication is slightly different from this but i think it shows up for words like »», where you're not literally saying the word twice but the vowels double themselves. kind of in a trilling way. i actually say this in inutile and not curtain call but i think the Siffrin Accent wavers a lot and feels like a twinkling star. because i think it's cute

alsooo repetition. wish craft. do u see the vision

number FOUR. pronouns and clusivity

i don't get into the he/she/they or any other third person pronouns in the fic because. well i think the lost country would go so hard on pronouns. there are child pronouns. adult pronouns. pronouns denoting somebody's job or status. hell loop is SO casual about offering to use the "royal we" i genuinely think pronoun usage in the lost country is more tied to interpersonal relationships than gender. but of course that plays a role too

because i think there's a huge amount of gender concoction you could brew in there. i think it would be really fun if siffrin uses he/they because in qilaksut siffrin is mainly referred to as the neutral pronoun mashed together with the masculine one. i think that would be fun.

and then for funsies. clusivity. i definitely think there is a difference between "we" (me+one other person, excluding you) and "we" (me+others+you) in qilaksut. would be fun if this is why siffrin automatically assumes they're getting excluded from things. "where is the vaugardian inclusive we and why has nobody said it to me???"

number FIVE. structure

i don't have a lot of Full Sentences in qilaksut in the fic but in general it follows the pattern place - > noun - > adjective - > verb. and you might be going "harrie, you weeb, that's japanese again" well. i didn't want it to be like french or english. and that's the one i know. so. shut up!!!!

"well why can't it be the same syntax as vaugardian then?" i'm glad you asked. i wanted it to feed again more into the idea that siffrin is more susceptible to getting "lost" in a conversation. hard to focus when your normal syntax anchors are not there!!

but at the same time. i write siffrin as a polyglot in curtain call. they're pretty equipped to learn and absorb new languages. once you learn a second language, in general, your third/fourth/fifth gets easier

number SIX. things i can't do in the fic except for once or twice because of unicode restrictions

well i could do it ONCE. with two sentences that are coming up in tomorrow's chapter: but i think in qilaksut writing, changing the rotation/orientation of the word also changes the meaning. slight spoilers for tomorrow's chapter but siffrin has two ways of saying "love you" for two different people - for odile, it's ❥✦‧₊ and for isabeau it's ❤✦‧₊

this isn't for any particular reason, i just think it's neat in the context of how i do names and titles for the rest of the fic. getting called different names based on your relationship to somebody, using altered terms of endearment for someone. two extra rotations of the heart could exist in theory so one of them is probably "loving your kid" and the other issss i dunno. maybe a closer platonic love nearer to a qpr or something. or what you use for your parents/guardians or your betters. i didn't think that far!!

also word opposites. ✷ doesn't have another version with just the lines, but that means "yes" and i think a hollowed out version of that would mean "no." obviously the ✦/✧ shift goes here too. and i think the inverse of ✪ (little) would mean big. but i couldn't find those in unicode so they do not exist in this fic oops

if you made it this far into the post. hi. thank you for reading :) that was probably a lot more than you were asking for. i won't apologize. anyway this post doesn't even TOUCH how i do name stuff in the fic but that also feeds into this. (and the name stuff was something i took out of an old dnd campaign anyway) (of which i have a DIFFERENT altered version for my original fiction but shhhh)

[my-craft]

for the pearl bouquet, is there any flower meaning, reasons why you choose the flowers and such

Yes! All of these bouquets have flowers related to their winning season in some way

Obligatory disclaimer: I am not an expert on floral linguistics and symbolism and may have some of these meanings wrong

Wattle- flower of Australia

Dogwood Blossoms- for Tilly 💜 (it also means ‘our love will overcome adversity’)

Begonia- to repay a favor/ a warning

Nettle- revenge

Alyssum- literally translates to ‘without madness’ and also has ties to witchcraft and apparently was used to treat rabies

Anemone- forsaken love

Wormwood- bitterness/ grief

Primrose- luck/ renewal

Daffodils- unrequited love (for her and Scott)

[bisnes-socks]

i decided to actually monologue about finnish vowel harmony (while avoiding my real responsibilities) inspired by this post by @seokoilua so anyone wanting to learn the difference between "khaarija" and "käärijä", here goes!

disclaimer i am not a linguist or a voice teacher. just a nerd trying my best.

so that post is a great example bc you can see jere say the word "käärijä" in a very relaxed manner. the second clip is even better than the first, because he keeps his intonation very naturally finnish.

listen to his voice and look at the shape of his mouth. the Ä vowel is not a very "relaxed" vowel. that's because it is a front vowel.

finnish vowels are divided into front vowels, back vowels and neutral vowels. front vowels are: Ä, Ö and Y. back vowels are: A, O and U. neutral vowels are: E and I.

notice how front vowels kind of have like an equivalent in the back vowels. Ä and A, Ö and O, U and Y? it might feel natural to think they are similar sounds, different flavours! but no! they are not!

back vowels are called back vowels, because the sounds you produce should resonate further back in your head and even deep in your throat. they are very relaxed vowels: your jaw is relaxed and there is little to no tension. The A vowel is about as relaxed as you can get. U and O of course demand some tension in the lips and a bit in the jaw, so you can form the necessary shape with your mouth, but your jaw should still be preeeetty relaxed and your lips are forming round shapes more than anything.

now look at jere saying käärijä again. "käärijä" is not forming round shapes in the lips. front vowels bring more tension to the lips, the mouth opens to the sides much more.

front vowels are called front vowels because the voice should resonate much more to the front of your face and mouth. think almost nasal (but emphasis on the almost nasal. i'm saying this because it's a common way to understand making your voice resonate in the front of your face. you don't need to go fully nasal for front vowels.)

so, if we want to talk about what bojan does "wrong": you can't see his mouth shapes very well in the first clip, but i've noticed, in multiple videos, that he tries to say "käärijä" by opening his mouth bigger but taking his jaw down and forming round-ish lip shapes. he is mimicking an A vowel but trying to make it Ä by adding some sort of twang. he gets close when he mimics jere's voice and accent, but have you ever noticed that his jere imitation is more nasal than jere actually is? bojan seems to be trying to pull the vowels he knows naturally into a nasal placement, because i'm sure he can hear that jere's placement is different - he just hasn't grasped the nuance.

and this here is why generally speaking, in finnish, front vowels and back vowels don't go together. it's käärijä and not käärija, because it couldn't be käärija. käärija would be very difficult to say to a finnish person, because to jump from a long ÄÄ to a short A would mean having to adjust your vocal placement really quite radically. (the exceptions to the rule are compound words and loan words, for reasons. sorry to tell you this.)

so bojan's solution is some sort of a half way placement that he makes more nasal depending on how funny he wants to sound, i guess lmao. HOWEVER i think he has improved and sometimes gets very close, but in the Ruisrock clip a finnish person can definitely hear that his Ä vowels are just a tad off. that's because they are a bit too round and a bit too "in the mouth" - like an A with an accent, not a clean Ä. (btw "in the mouth" is a very neutral vowel placement, used for E and I in finnish.)

final thing: i know some of these things can be hard to hear and hard to see, because finnish is not a super expressive language vocally. it's quite... low key and monotone even. but if you want to learn the differences in vowels, i might suggest doing them exaggerated first to find the placement and then toning them down to make them flow easier.

and anyone with actual proper expertise on the matter, feel free to jump in!

[eva-does-their-best]

Updated intro because I am everchanging

Hi beautiful people! My name is Eva!

I'm a 26 year old perisex non-binary who sees their life through a screen. Hrt since 26/03/2024.

Berry (she/they) also uses this blog, be nice to them please <3.

I'm an activist temporarily retired to heal a bit but still very much caring.

Former linguistics student, currently unemployed and disabled, lucky to have met so many wonderful people around the world, I love all of you!

In general just try to be respectful and you can stay here, but obviously I'm just gonna block terfs, radfems and other people who simply hate, hurt and divide. Also mandatory disclaimer, I try to keep nsfw content to a minimum but it's not a 0 ammount.

Please, refrain from mentioning anything related to alcohol or any other drug when talking to me as it causes me extreme distress, if you must at least use a tw. Thank you!

Gender FAQ (constantly updated)

Transition Part 1

Transition Part 2

Transition Part 3

Antigonism

Recommended read:

[apopcornkernel]

since you're so interested in filipino language, does it follow the structure of [subject + verb + object + extension] like english or does it break that structure? in bangla, we have the [subject+ verb + object + extension] but we also break that structure so basically we can have [subject + object + verb]. for example, we can use both "ami take dekhte chaina" which roughly translated is "i her don't want to see" based on how the sentence is structured. this is why i have such a hard time trying to follow the english structure of subject-verb-object and sometimes end up mixing both structures

to use your same example, the tagalog equivalent would be "ayaw ko siyang makita" or "ayaw kong makita siya" = i don't want to see them.

ayaw ko siyang makita: don't want (modifier) - my (subject) - them (object) - see (verb)

ayaw kong makita siya: don't want (modifier) - my (subject) - see (verb) - them (object)

the -ng suffix, which basically means that it's modifying, is shifted around according to the sequence of words ^^ it's kinda hard to explain in text sorry and im already super offtrack 😭

honestly, I'm not very equipped to discuss tagalog conjugation, because 1) my first and best language is english, and 2) it's so complex 😭 once saw a white guy discussing it here actually, its all in english!! ↓

so back to your original question: does tagalog follow the structure of [subject + verb + object + extension] like in english?

my answer would be a yes, with caveat, because it's possible for a tagalog sentence to fall into this structure BUT there are many ways to structure a sentence in the first place

for your sample sentence of "i don't want to see her", i can't think of an un-nonsense way to fit it into that structure 😭 ayaw ko siyang makita/ayaw kong makita siya is the most natural way to say it imo. "ako ay (I am) ayaw (dont want) makita (see) siya (them)" sounds so weird

but hey, i could be wrong—disclaimer again, this is my 2nd language and not my 1st sgjdmfjf

i also struggle answering your question because it's kinda broad hsjdhdnd if you want a follow up maybe a more specific one would be easier 😓 unfortunately i wasnt able to pursue linguistics so i lack a lot of technical knowledge and terms which might have made this easier for us both huhu </3

[placeholdercornerworks]

More italian queer history posting except this time as it entails translating I need to make the following disclaimers:

What I'm translating here is a "pre-report" from 1887 (or at least that's what I've always called it), aka a document which precedes the entrance in effect of in this case a penal code (In this case, the Zanardelli Code, which came into effect in 1890) where the sigil keeper goes over the workings that lead to the creation of the to-be penal code. This is the part leading to the discussion of the removal of homosexuality from the penal code.

I do not have any formal education in translating. I am fully confident that I can get the point across in a comprehensible way, but do expect some stiffness around the edges as this is at its core, an inherently amateurish translation.

Under The Cut For Saving Space.

Heading 8 - Crimes Against Public Decency And Family Order

128

The Project reunites, similarly to the former Tuscan Penal Code, crimes against public decency and crimes against family order under a single heading.

Doing so, we avoid the likely possibility of erroneously classyfying a criminal act; especially so when dealing with crimes for which, due to the variety of resulting offenses, are harder to differentiate from other similar categories.

This can be said, in lieu of an example, about sexual violence, abduction, adultery and the like: crimes which offend public decency and family order at the same time.

In determining the facts to be comprehended in the following heading, the current Project, in accordance with the previous ones, follows the principle that, while on one side facts that can cause evident detriment to families or that go against public decency should be severely repressed, on the other side the legislator is to not intrude among the topic of morals.

Consequently, the Project's penal sanctions do not indiscriminately strike all facts that offend public decency or family order, but only those that manifest with violence, injury, fraud or scandal, of which the repression is highly necessery for the sake of social interest.

Hence, acts that do not possess those characteristics are not criminalized, for the investigation of the aforementioned acts would allow the law to go beyond its just confines.

The Project hence refrains from speaking out about acts of lust against nature ; (The original wording is "libidini contro natura", which was the expression used in the pre-unitary penal code and in "official" contexts, the analogue of gross indecency in the labouchere amendment and widernäturliche unzucht in Article 175 of the German Penal Code, practically) Because in regards to those, as Carmignani wisely says:

"It is of greater benefit to ignore this vice rather than to make the public aware of the punishments that repress it". [*] (Attempts were made, remember that I study pharmacy and not linguistic mediation)

Even these acts of lust are included among those acts that are criminal in nature due to the use of violence, or the age of the person the act is committed with, or for their publicity, without them however being explictly named as to not make them object of special dispositions. (I'm definetely lacking in wording here, so I'll try to better clarify in my own words, from my understanding what is ROUGHLY being meant is that from then on,the focus will be on the aforementioned aggravating conditions, IF these conditions are present between the offenders, that will be the focus and the nature of their relationship will be forgone and ignored, that will no longer be subject of punishment)

[*] -----------

A separate note added by Zanardelli:

In fact, the Tuscan, French, Belgian and Spanish Penal Codes refrain from speaking about it.

The Sardinian Penal Code (Before the Zanardelli Code, the 1859 Penal Code of the Kingdom of Sardinia was extended to most other territories after unification) mentions in article 425:

"Whathever act of lust against nature", committed with violence, or cause of scandal, or without either of these conditions, if there have been legal complaints. Said article 425 was however repealed for the southern territories by the Lieutenant's decree of 1861, when the code was extended.

The penal code of Bern has a similar disposition to the one indicated in the former Sardinian Penal Code.

Other Codes, while establishing penal sanctions for acts of lust against nature, define the latter clearly, to prevent boundless interpretations and unconvenient investigations regarding private life in the relation between one and the other sex.

In fact, The German (Article 175) and Hungarian (Article 241) Penal Codes limit the concept of acts of lust against nature to those committed between persons of the male sex and those committed by men against animals.

The Austrian Penal Code on the other hand declares acts of lust against animals or people of the same sex unlawful.

The English Penal Code follows similar principles, grouping these acts under the expression of "Buggery" (I take it Zanardelli wasn't aware of the labouchere amendment coming into effect, as he in fact cited the expression buggery and not gross indecency).

---

Ulterior note from me, I do clearly recall reading somewhere that Zanardelli (Or some other high profile politician) clearly made a note that in countries where homosexuality was criminalized, it was actually a much more discussed topic and it enjoyed greater visibility, which was against the course of action they sought to walk on, if I do find the source of that statement, I'll amend and add it.

Anyway, this is actual source of where I first read about the topic, which I believe everyone should be able to access(?):

This is the actual file of the pre-report, but however, however I believe this is somewhat of an integral and/or condensed version, as the part I've translated in this post ONLY comes up when loading the file on google books, I've added it anyway for complectionism sake:

[yersina]

a linguist plays chants of sennaar (pt 5)

[pt 1] [pt 2] [pt 3] [pt 4]

the home stretch!!

disclaimer: can't promise that i'll have any insights that a layperson wouldn't have, this is kinda just me thinking through the grammar of the language out loud haha.

this post covers the fifth and last language in chants of sennaar and will contain spoilers for both the language and the endgame! it also assumes you know what the symbols mean already.

i.... to be completely honest with you, i did not enjoy this language 😂 i think the experience of deciphering it got lost in favor of the storyline, which isn't necessarily a bad thing for everyone, but hey, i am the one going through each of these languages like a linguistic bloodhound here lol. because of that, i'm not as familiar with these words as i am with the other languages.

before we get into anything else, and also because i imagine that this will be a shorter post because the game itself tells you what patterns to look for, i do want to say that this language strikes me as being incredibly artificial. which is a good thing! it emulates the digital apocalypse vibe that exile gives. but a language that leans so heavily into being constructed and recombined and modulated so easily really gives me the impression that it was created and not organically developed. the only other irl example that comes to mind at the moment is korean hangeul, which was purposefully created by king sejong and is an alphabet, not a logography. like, this is a language that i would make for fun in high school (which is to say, it gives a kind of overly grammatically strict, awkwardly too regular vibe?).

it's kind of funny that this language is where i'm starting to get reminded of conlangs, especially when, well, everything in this game is a conlang. but if we take each of the radicals in this language as affixes/morphemes when they're being combined into one character, then this actually reminds me of a specific conlang (ithkuil, i think?) where you can convey incredibly complex ideas through very few words.

the language of the anchorites isn't quite this complex, but hopefully the comparison gets my point across?

i’m curious if only certain elements can be combined with each other or if there’s a certain order to them, but it’s hard to tell when there’s such limited evidence in the game. interestingly, i believe the anchorites’ language is the only one in this game that makes a distinction between “die” and “death/dead” by combining the noun with the verb “go”. not sure why the developers suddenly made that decision haha.

this language, like most in the game, is an SVO language, which we can see below:

but i think also they (the developers) were trying to convey more complex sentence structures than their language was designed to communicate??? so then you end up w smth like below:

which, if you translated literally, would actually be “you man i wait”. again, super interesting bc i think an actual, more accurate anchorite sentence should be “i wait you man”. they have a more complex sentence here bc of the predicate (“you’re the one”) and the dative (“for”), but really the sense that they’re trying to go for is “i was awaiting the one [who is you]”. i guess it’s possible that different grammatical cases are treated differently in this language, or that, like english, word order is occasionally variable (even tho that option seems iffy bc we haven’t really seen evidence of it before), but tbh i suspect that really it’s that the developers wrote the dialogue and then brute forced it into the anchorite language haha. no shade! (and also impossible to confirm either way lol) just kinda amusing and also it makes sense when it’s p obvious their focus shifted from the language to the story.

this trend continues throughout all of the anchorite dialogue (imo) and makes it kinda slow and awkward to read if you don’t have all of the characters translated. in my opinion, the way that the language functions in the last part of this game makes it pretty clear that the developers meant for you to rely on the given translations during this potion of the game, especially when the translation mechanic is mostly through the matching terminals in exile, rather than speaking with people.

annoyingly, the anchorites’ language is also the only one in the game that doesn’t have words for the other people/cultures in the game (demonyms), which also doesn’t give much to work off of in terms of cultural context, relationships, etc.

again, i’ve decided not to get into an in-depth orthographic analysis of this particular language bc the game itself introduces you to them. one that i noticed that wasn’t specifically addressed in-game is the similarity between “open” and “key”, which is something that i actually also noted before in the devotees’ language. i’m sure there are others, but i’m also sure you can find them yourself!

all in all, a strange ending to this game. if you’ve made it this far in all of my posts—thanks for hanging around! hope you were able to learn smth new :)

[astercontrol]

I probably shouldn't go off on a rant about this because 1. I definitely am not an expert, I'm just someone who read absolutely anything i could find as a child and internalized the linguistic patterns in a lot of what i read, and also 2. I am very much not a prescriptivist and in nearly all cases I am 99.9% fine with people screwing around with language in whatever way they want

but

the 0.1% that actually gets under my skin is people using archaic forms of English in ways that there's no historical record of them ever ever EVER being used

like. adding "eth" on the end of absolutely everything. replacing every instance of "my" with "mine." things that just scream "you skimmed through one page of shakespeare once and picked out 2 trends that caught your eye as looking the most iconically old-fashioned and you decided these are the defining characteristics of what you will now call Ye Olde English (the inaccuracy of that term is 3 whole other rants though)"

and i think that the reason my descriptivist, anti-prescriptivist linguist brain still gets so ticked off by this, is that… descriptivism is by definition describing language the way it is.

which usually, most of the time, means describing the living, currently growing and changing language that we speak. which means allowing for all the different ways people actually currently use that language-- as opposed to "prescribing" a "correct" way to use it, based on grammar rules that were already a little out of date from actual usage by the time they got nailed down in style manuals

but when you're describing a language that is not currently growing and changing-- the language of a particular range of years in history, which we currently know only from writings that survived from that time?

then the only approach that makes sense is to describe what we know from those writings.

otherwise, if you just make up a way to talk, and claim that's how people talked back then? that feels (at least from the viewpoint of my own personal and probably ill-advised outrage) a lot closer to prescriptivism.

and again: disclaimer that 1. this is still not a serious problem, compared to god knows what number of other more important things i should complain about, it's just a thing that irritates me… and 2. i am not even an expert by any means on what is the actual "right" way to use older forms of english

but here's like. a couple very basic details that are just the entry-level stuff that a literate child learns from (as i said before) reading absolutely anything they could find and internalizing the linguistic patterns in what they read.

"eth" is the third-person-singular ending for verbs. which means it's like the "-s" on the end of a verb that "he" or "she" or "it" is doing. He has a name = he hath a name. She lives here = she liveth here. It comes and goes = it cometh and goeth.

like probably at least 90% of the time you can tell whether "eth" is appropriate to use by asking yourself, "could I imagine this is just someone with a severe lisp using an s-ending verb here"

-st, on the other hand, is the "thou" form. Thou dost, thou livest, thou speakest. and "thou" doesn't just mean "you," it's the informal version of "you" that's used with close friends and family.

This is one that i admittedly got a cheat code on by being a kid who was raised speaking german as well as english. modern german still has separate formal and informal "you" forms, and the informal one still takes -st endings in german, so i had an unfair advantage there.

and there are also exceptions, irregular verbs where these rules won't work.

(like "be." The second-person thou-form of the word "be" is "thou art," it's not "thou ast" or "thou ist" or "thou beest.")

(the third person singular he-she-it form of the word "be" is the word "is," and i am fairly sure there's no time in history when it was "ith.")

(i could be very wrong though. like i said. i am NOT an expert)

"my" and "mine" are used just the same as we use them now, EXCEPT that "mine" can also be used instead of "my," if it comes before a vowel sound.

this is the same deal we currently still have with the words "a" and "an." the general rule here is that you can use "mine" where you could use "an." An eye? Mine eye. An uncle? Mine uncle. An old house? Mine old house. it goes by the sound that comes immediately after.

(of course, these things can be plural, unlike things referred to by "an." So there are cases where you would not use "an" but you would use "mine." Mine eyes. Mine uncles. Mine old houses. same deal just plural.)

"thy" and "thine" are possessive forms of "thou." they are used just like "my" and "mine," except they're for the person you're talking to (informally). Thine eye. Thine uncle. Thine old house.

"thee" is the object-pronoun form of "thou." It's the informal you, when the informal you is the object of the sentence-- when something is being done TO you, or in relation to you.

I see thee. They love thee. He gave thee a gift. "Thee" is to "thou" basically just what "me" is to "I," or what "him" is to "he."

so anyway that covers probably the majority of misuses that get on my nerves. but i am still not prescriptivist and i sure as heck am still not telling you how to talk or write. you can take it or leave it.

(side note. if you're creating a fantasy world and you include a speech pattern that's based on archaic english but doesn't follow how it was actually spoken or written, this won't necessarily bother me as long as it follows its own internal rules, especially if it's done in a creative way.)

(or if it's influenced by one of the actual lesser-known dialects of archaic english. that's cool too.)

(you know how T'Pau talked in the episode Amok Time in Star Trek TOS? at first it didn't even annoy me that much, how she kept saying "thee are" and "thee has," because it wasn't even one of the boring old misuses, it was a fresh new way i had actually never seen "thee" used before! ….and THEN, i gained a whole new level of respect for it, later on, when i found out it's actually based on a specific way that a Quaker dialect of English used to use "thee.")

[rggz]

majima's fake kansai dialect explained

got this video in my youtube recommended earlier and a lot of people in the comments seemed confused as to how exactly it is that majima's speaking differently in this scene and i love to ramble so. here we are. bit of linguistic meta under the cut :)

quick disclaimer though: i'm not a native japanese speaker nor am i an expert on kansai dialect so there'll likely be some oversights and nuances that i didn't pick up on here. so just remember that this is all for fun. ok?

1. だ (da) vs や (ya)

i'm going to try not to use too much linguistic jargon here so please bear with. in standard japanese the copula (essentially a verb that means "to be" when describing a quality possessed by the subject of the sentence, eg. the sky is blue) "だ" is used in casual speech, whereas in kansai dialect "や” is used instead. listen to the sentence translated as "if you want out, now is the time", and you'll hear the difference - instead of ending his sentence with や as he would when he speaks in kansai dialect, majima uses だ.

2. いる (iru) vs おる (oru)

listen to the sentence translated as "but you've got yasuko". he uses the verb いる (to be (in a location, doing an action, etc.) or to have, for animate objects) to say that saejima has yasuko, whereas in kansai dialect the verb おる is used instead.

3. いい (ii) vs ええ (ee)

see: "saejima, are you really sure you want to leave her behind?". literally, this would translate to "saejima, is it really okay to leave her behind?" (with the word いい translating to okay). in kansai dialect ええ is used in place of いい.

4. 本当 (hontou) vs ほんま (honma)

see the same sentence as no. 3, where instead of using the kansai "ほんま" to mean really (lit. truth), majima uses the standard "本当".

5. いる (iru) vs おる (oru): the squeakuel

adding an extra note on this one because interestingly, even after saejima calls him out on him slipping up, majima doesn't switch straight back to kansai dialect. see the line "i'm fucking serious here" - the actual dialogue translates literally to "[hey] you, when people are talking seriously-".

the japanese present continuous is formed by putting the verb into て (te) form and adding the verb いる to express continuity - to be doing something. "are talking" is translated from "喋ってる" (shabetteru - note that the い sound of いる is omitted in casual speech). however if you've noticed a pattern here, you might think that in kansai dialect the verb おる would be used instead, and you'd be correct.

this construction is used by saejima in the previous line, where he says "you're forgetting your kansai dialect" (though this is translated as "your kansai accent's slipping"). 忘れて (te form of wasureru, to forget) is added to おる (to be). note however that て＋おる becomes とる (toru).

-

it's worth mentioning, though, that none of these are absolute rules (especially not nowadays among younger people). rather these observations were largely based on what majima tends towards using himself in general throughout the series. even in the first half of the same cutscene, i think the difference is pretty stark.

that being said though i do think it's also easy to miss - it's not so much a difference in accent or the way the words themselves sound as it is a case of differences in grammar, words used, expressions, etc.

however, there are definitely differences in intonation between kansai and kanto dialects - in fact, because majima's va is from tokyo he had trouble getting the intonation right, and as such it's a liiiitle off in places, but everyone was sort of just like meh. it's majima so it's fine. therefore, i reckon it tracks that majima doesn't sound too different between dialects and is actually a cool bit of characterisation, albeit unintentional.

as for where he's actually from, it could really be anywhere, but given that regional dialects were a lot more prevalent and stronger even just in the 80s, i'd wager that he is indeed from somewhere in kanto.

this would all suggest too that majima fully mastered his use of kansai dialect in sotenbori, which would make sense. excluding his sequence as the lord of the night in which he uses keigo (specifically a combination of kenjougo - humble language which lowers the speaker - and sonkeigo - respectful language which puts the listener at a higher position), majima has no other instances of his dialect slipping that i've noticed despite how serious much of yakuza 0 is. note that this is not to say kansai dialect doesn't have honorific speech, just that majima is using standard honorific speech, and even this contains interjections of kansai dialect.

as a little related tidbit, something else i noticed is that the only other person majima uses keigo with is shimano (1) (2) (3). not nearly to the business level that he uses as the lord of the night, but it's there (as is his kansai dialect, as he still uses おる and other kansai language that i won't go into here for brevity's sake). instead of using や as an ending particle he uses です (desu, the keigo - specifically teinego or polite language - equivalent of だ), and uses verbs in their teineigo ます (masu) form. he doesn't use it with sagawa, and not even with terada as the 5th chairman in the majima saga.

anyway, that's all :) i was rambling about this to myself in my notes app anyway so i thought why not share it in case anyone else is interested too. ty for reading!