#I am profoundly sorry for taking ten million years to answer this ask

[seyaryminamoto]

Hey! Not related to your story but rather to your native language. Do you’ve got any tips for learning Spanish in a (possible) fast way? Any sites or recommendations for learning techniques? Anything that makes it easier.

That would help me a lot. Gracias 🙏

Related to my previous ask. Any tips how to learn the right pronunciation?

For efficiency's sake, I piled both asks into the same one, haha.

In all honesty... learning a new language is kind of particular to each person. Some people respond to some methods, some to others. The most popular current method to learn a new language is Duolingo, I have parents who are unhealthily hooked on it (?) (okay but for real, they keep going to war with total strangers to stay in the top 3 of the diamond league or something?? who'd have thought my parents would join anything that feels like a battle royale game... certainly not me!). But for some people, it might be easier to take a proper class with human instructors rather than a green owl (?)

Personally, I learned English extremely early in life, which made it so I picked it up and never really put it down. The great, sophisticated method through which I learned... was watching TV in English as a little kid :'D I couldn't watch Disney shows in Spanish because we only had access to the USA Disney channel in my youth, therefore, if I wanted to enjoy my cartoons and my animated movies, I had to figure out wtf anyone was saying, and through a mix of asking my parents and my older sisters what each word meant, I somehow started picking it up a lot more than I ever realized I had.

This might sound a little impossible for you now since, yes, kids pick up languages faster than adults, and better, usually, since it becomes kind of instinctive to them. But it's not completely pointless advice: while I'm a HUGE advocate for watching TV shows in the original language they were created... I suggest that you watch shows dubbed in Spanish. Whether Latin American or European Spanish, you pick whichever accent and style you prefer, haha. But watch TV shows or movies, whether produced in Latin American countries or in Spain, or simply dubbed, and you'll be practicing while having fun! Put on subtitles while you're still not confident in your knowledge, it's wild how that actually helps you pick up words and meanings without your awareness. In this case, I bring up my years of experience being the weaboo I proudly was: I can understand a lot more Japanese than I realized simply because I've been watching anime in Japanese with subtitles since I was 11-years-old. That certainly helps in making certain things click in your head without your awareness. It's so real that when my mom started watching K-dramas, and made me watch them with her, I took to picking up a few simple elements of Korean structure, some basic words, obviously not enough to pretend I actually know/understand Korean, but enough that I was surprised to find that, with zero intent to learn the language, I still picked up a thing or two by instinct!

The other major advice is basically the same thing but a little more sophisticated and deliberate: read a book translated to Spanish. Preferably, a book you already know by heart. Find a translated version of any books you're really attached to... and keep your English copy nearby, too. If something is confusing? Take your English copy and find the same scene. Use a dictionary too in case you're confused about the exact meaning of the words. But when you're revisiting something familiar in another language, you pick up a lot of things, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not so intentionally.

I don't know if I had other ideas on how to help beyond taking a class or so, but for now, I think this should be a good starting point and my best advice based on my own experiences learning other languages. So... good luck! Hope you learn plenty! :D

[melody-hall]

denial | closed

Day 3

Melody woke up unusually early, she stared at the ceiling and a million images flashed through her. Her mother yelling at her, Barrel yelling at her. Barrel smiling at her, her baby smiling at her. She let a few tears shed silently. Melody needed to get up, she couldn’t wallow in self-pity anymore, she was to blame for everything, she couldn’t change the past no matter how much she wished for it. Just keep swimming. She didn’t want to wake up Dash, he deserved rest. Melody carefully slid out of the bed and crossed the hall to her old room. She opened the door slowly to see how he slept. He was still sleeping profoundly, snuggled up to his teddy bear, holding tightly. How fitting. He was the only reason she smiled in those ten years. She moved to the bathroom to start getting ready, she had nowhere to be but she still got dressed. She was looking at herself in the mirror as she curled her hair and fixed her makeup, this didn’t feel true to her. None of it did. But it was her routine now. Mel moved to the kitchen and prepared pancakes for all of them,with chocolate chips, of course, she was a bad person but she wasn’t a monster. Dash strolled in already ready for work, even though her life was stagnant at this moment everyone else’s moved on. He moved- she couldn’t finish that thought. “You’re up early, starfish”. Melody forced a smile and handed him a cup of orange juice “Couldn’t sleep much” she shrugged  “I made us breakfast”. Dash smiled and took a seat in front of her “How you feeling?”. Melody sighed and decided to answer honestly “Like I’m the worst person on the planet. Like I’m not myself. I haven’t felt like myself in ten years. I don’t even know what I am or who I am. I feel like I put up this...” she gestures at herself “... persona. That I don’t even know how it happened” She sighed “I either want to hide underneath the covers and cry until I collapse or just... I don’t even know. I just know I can’t leave now. I can feel it” she answered honestly. “Looks like you just need to find yourself” Dash had the power to make the most difficult thing sound easy.

Day 5

Melody made an effort to follow Dash’s advice. Like the good padawan she was. If she stood there, doing nothing, his words would play on repeat inside her head. No, she had to move. She went on hikes, she went out jogging. She avoided his path like the plague, she promised him that - as if I never existed. She busied herself cleaning the house and even re-cleaning. As soon as she slowed down, her mind would pick up and torture her with his words intertwining them with their old memories. Her mind was a sadistic director creating the perfect montage to hurt her. She was trying to become better. Part of her knew it was hopeless to try and bring back what she so recklessly threw away but another part of her told her to keep trying. Keep working. Hufflepuffs don’t give up. She knew she would never be truly happy, not without him. She tried for ten years and it didn’t work. But she wanted to be better. Two days later she started baking again. Dash had ‘stolen’ her son to take him to the park. Uncle - Nephew time, Dash had explained. At least those two where getting along well, maybe Dash was mentoring him on the perfect hair care routine. For that whole afternoon Melody did nothing but bake - she couldn’t stop, not for one second. She ended up with 24 cookies, 12 cupcakes and a two layer cake. She was exhausted, with a pile of dishes to go through, she started to feel lighter but the hole was still there. When they came back home his eyes sparkled at the sight of all those baked goods. “Mom! What’s all this?” he hugged her, slightly more interested in the treats. She very rarely baked for him, only on his birthday, she made sure he had his birthday cake. “I just wanted to treat you guys, I’m sure you’re tired from everything” she kissed the top of his head and out of the corner of her eye she could see Dash smiling smugly as if he knew something she didn’t.

Day 7

Two days after, Dash had run off with him again, it was almost as if he knew she needed to do this alone. On her way back home after running some errands she passed by the beach. Without even thinking she pulled over. She stared at the waves crashing in the shore. It was completely empty, of course it was cold, no one would dare to go near the ocean. Melody got out of her car and walked towards the sand. She kicked her boots off and let her feet sink into the sand. She sat for a few moments, she was unsure how much time had passed she felt content just watching the waves come and go. They go away for a moment, but they always come back. Mel had ignored her urge to come back for 10 years and now she knew she ignored a core part of herself. She’s the ocean. This was why she couldn’t leave. She pulled her phone out of her pocket “Hey, Rosalynn” she called the other waitress at the diner, slightly older woman than her. She was the only woman Mel trusted after Betsy “ Hi. This family emergency is worst than I expected” she heard a ‘oh no’ “yeah… I am going to need a big favour from you. I’m sorry to ask for this, I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t vital” The other woman agreed, everyone in that town was too nice it made Mel slightly uncomfortable “I’m going to need you to pack all my clothes, and his clothes too. Yeah, all of them, I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying here” Forever “And send them over, I’ll pay for the transportation” She wasn’t sure if she had enough money for it all but if she had to dive into her savings account then so be it “Don’t bother putting everything nicely, it doesn’t really matter” Rosalynn agreed with everything and reassured Mel that she would get this week “Oh! And in my closet there’s a big box that has a B written on it. Yes. Just the letter B. That’s important too” Actually more important than anything else. Mel didn’t have much back in town, she never bothered growing roots there, in a way she knew it was only temporary even if she tried to convince herself of the opposite. As soon as the call ended, Mel stared at the shore trying to make a decision. Maybe, no, yes, no, yes! She removed her clothes, standing in the freezing beach only in her underwear and ran into the ocean, head first. After she came back to the surface she felt that she could breathed a little bit better. She got out of the water and didn’t even bother putting the clothes back on, she just ran to her car, still dripping wet with sand stuck to her feet and legs, it’ll dry, she thought as she sat in the car, cranking the heat up praying that she wouldn’t get sick. She didn’t even bother fixing her hair anymore, letting it become messy and wavy, as it always been, as it always should have been. Since that day she started going to the beach every morning, like she did before, it was the only time she allowed herself to truly think.