#I used to slang in hs

[reiners-milkbiddies]

Not me calling myself out lmao

I feel like in order to date a member of Bonten you have to be unhinged in some form

[akuma-ren]

is it bad that I don't rlly like Eng rafayel??? I only like him when he sounds serious. Whenever I watch the trailers it's always on mute 😭

I use jp but I like cn too. Haven't listened to much of krn to judge

[ei-mugi]

one time i was talking to my american online friends about stuff and i was like "haha yeah people always say i look ambiguously european but cant place what i am specifically" and they were like "i dont think europeans have a look though." what do you mean. you dont believe different ethnic features exist...?

[lariej]

Ghost’s Manc Accent Guide (ish)

listen i’ve seen a few guides written for this fandom regarding writing Soap’s Scottish accent and yeah fair BUT i have not seen one done for writing a manc accent for Ghost yet!!

this is very much gonna be half arsed because while I myself am not a manc, i have grown up in the north west of england and literally my entire family is (Bolton/Denton on my dads side, Sale on my mums) but it might help some people

if something is from Manchester it is Mancunian - just an extra word to use instead of ‘from Manchester’ in writing (also whenever i see it written in fics i go ‘oh damn this author knows what they’re on about’)

now my experience with manc accents as i said before is Bolton/Denton and Sale which have their differences from a Central Manchester accent. to my knowledge we don’t know what area Ghost is from so i could be wrong here

BUT!! generally, mancunian accents will drop Hs at the beginning of words

‘don’t be hanging about’ ends up sounding more like ‘don’t be ‘angin’ about’

one of the most common things I’ve seen is dropping the G at the end of -ing words as well (as seen about with hanging)

you get the classic northern “fuckin ‘ell!”through this which absolutely Ghost would say

this next one might not be a central manchester thing but it IS something i’ve heard my dad do so if you’re writing Ghost with a heavier accent from the outer regions of Manchester this could be of some use to you

‘you was’, ‘I were’, ‘we was’ - just fucking around with the grammar rules really, I’ve found it’s usually with the heavier accents and when ur getting a bit ‘lazier’ with speaking - definitely a very informal thing

also - we don’t say y’all. it is very much not a typical thing for someone to use y’all unless they have a lot of interaction with american content on social media which i doubt Ghost does

instead consider ‘yous’ - this might be more from where i’m from (Lancashire - further up north about a county over from Greater Manchester) but yous/yers are something u hear - again though, very informal and slang like, rarely hear adults say it

I’m not gonna go into much detail with specific mancunian slang simply bc i wasn’t raised there so my knowledge of it is spotty aside from what my family uses but:

arse not ass

can’t be arsed - can’t be bothered

piss off - self explanatory, fuck off

add ‘absolutely’ to damn near anything and u will have a phrase for drunk - go tos are ‘wankered’ ‘fucked’ ‘pissed/pissed up’

bollacks - balls but also can be used as and exclamation when stuff goes wrong

‘shits gone tits up’ - stuff has definitely gone wrong

‘fuck sake’ - usually said with great exasperation and annoyance, emphasis when speaking is on the ‘sake’

hope this helps someone!! and if anyone has any corrections or additions please do let me know!!

Edit: Lots more info and help in the reblogs!! I’ve been updating this post recently!!

[stagefoureddiediaz]

What IS this "friend of Dorothy" theory? I know it's connected to the wizard of Oz and over the rainbow as gay symbols or something, but I'm otherwise clueless...

Hey!!

Thanks for stopping by and asking - you’ve given me the perfect place to talk queer history 😎🤓

So a friend of Dorothy is LGBTQ+ slang for a gay man.

It’s precise origins and use as an lgbtq term isn’t fully know but it is believed to predate the 1939 Wizard of Oz movie. The theory is that its use came about based on several references in the original Frank Baum books the film is based on (which if you haven’t read I highly recommend), espeically the second one - the road to Oz. In that book, Dorothy’s friends are described as queer and her reply to that comment is that queerness doesn’t matter as long as they’re friends. There is possible innuendo related to the scarecrow when he comments that you can go both ways along the yellow brick road (his line is ‘of course some people go both ways’). And the princess Ozma in the books is viewed as one of the first transgender character in literature (it’s too long to go into in detail but basically ozma is given to a witch - mombi- who transforms her into a boy called Tip so that the rightful heir to the oz throne is usurped.

The 1939 film can be argued to take things further - all of Dorothy’s three friends have queer attributes - for example the cowardly lion is a dandy lion (which is a play on Dandelions the flower, but also on the dandy - a specific type of man that became a thing in the regency (1800’s) era and transformed men’s fashion. Beau Brummell was a major force in the development of the dandy look. He was very close friends with the prince regent of England and it is rumoured the two were lovers (there is plenty of circumstantial evidence but no official proof has come to light and the royal family keep a lot of that information under wraps if it wasn’t previously destroyed) until their very public falling out!). Other things that contribute are the change from black and white to colour in the film - which was done in large part as a way of showcasing the new Technicolor technology, but can also be viewed as a metaphor for Dorothy escaping the black and white morally rigid small town she came from and ending up in city in a world full of colour with friends equally as colourful. The song over the rainbow became a queer anthem after the films release and in part (the fact she was also one of the first stars to have her life splashed over the tabloid press in gory detail and was othered because of it was also a part of it - along with her intense stage fright and deep self doubt about her talent whilst simultaneously being an electric and absorbing performer when onstage) led to Judy garland becoming a queer icon (something she embraced) and the rainbow from the wizard of oz and from that song was a contributing factor in the adoption of the rainbow flag as a symbol of the gay community and then the wider lgbtq community (and that hs obviously developed further into the progress pride flag we have today).

Because in a pre stonewall world (stonewall happened in the days immediately after Judy’s death - it’s never been fully stated as the reason for the riots, but it may well have been a contributing spark that help ignite them), Judy had become a gay icon through ‘over the rainbow’ and the wizard of oz, her concerts were a way for gay men to meet and thus referring to themselves as a friend of Dorothy’s as a way of subtly letting other know their sexuality with a greatly reduced risk of persecution. I could go much more into Judy garlands backstory because it’s fascinating and very much related to queerness in Hollywood but I don’t have the time to right now - I recommend looking into it though there are a couple of great biographies on her or there are many documentaries that look at her life!

I hope that’s helped 😎💜

[our-transmasculine-experience]

hey ! im transmasc and i can kinda socially transition ish. i cant be a boy because im in a catholic hs and i cant come out to my parents because their transphobic. i can probably transition more once i get out of hs but until then i was wondering how you can look masculine without looking quite like a boy for now. thanks !

being perceived as masculine or feminine (not boy or girl, but masculine vs feminine) is all about body language and speech patterns. hair and clothes don’t matter much.

notice how other guys talk. most of them use a lot of slang, right? pick up on some of it. don’t use all of it, because it still has to sound natural. people can tell when it’s not natural, and that can be read as feminine. “dude”, “bro”, and “man” all work. see what terms guys in your area and age group are using.

take up space. lean back on your chair. walk with your legs shoulder length apart. talk loudly. girls (and feminine people) tend to be more closed off and make themselves smaller. boys (and masculine people) tend to make themselves larger.

talk from your chest, not from your head. it makes your voice sound a bit more masculine and a little lower. that’s how guys (for the most part) talk. keep a steady voice.

all of this helped me be seen as a masculine girl before i was able to pass as a dude. and it seems that you, anon, are a bit like me and would rather be a masculine woman then a feminine one. eventually, all of this will come naturally to you. good luck!

[boyfhee]

hello (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) i just read your carrd you speak korean? if yes is it okay for me to send asks in korean? i'm self-studying it and am looking for someone to talk to😖 also can you tell me where i can learn it from? there are not a lot of free resources (；′⌒`)

yes i do ! i can speak basic to intermediate korean but i'm not super good with slangs TT you can definitely send asks in korean if you wish to, i'll use it as an excuse to revise my notes and practice it as well since i have no one to talk to in korean either. as for resources :

how to study korean offers a lot of free pdfs and practice sheets. their content is easy to understand, it's good if you're a beginner

talk to me in korean is also a good alternative and honestly better than htsk but it charges the learner so if you're down to spend some money, better spend it on ttmik than htsk. or you can watch their yt videos to help yourself with pronunciation as well ^_^

a friend of mine referred to learn korean 24 before joining paid courses offline and online, their content is also free. although, i never really used that site, she said it's helps but again, idk how credible that is so take it with a grain of salt

i rarely recommend apps but drops / duolingo helps with vocabulary and grammar, especially drops ( the free version can be dissatisfying but it's not completely worthless )

pinterest is a good alternative if you want to expand your vocabulary. i won't recommend it for grammer and all because you might want to study that from more credible sources

a pop of korean, honeyhangukeo, learninghangukeo are some blogs that might help too

alternatively, you can try joining a language community on discord. the servers offer free resources most of the time and you can find people to talk to as well. it sort of creates a learning environment since there are a lot of other people learning the language as well

lastly, watch content without subtitles at times. i used to, and still do, pause mvs, dramas, shows, etc. to learn certain phrases or words, or even just the pronunciation. it's a slow process, but it works.

tip : talk to yourself in korean. as crazy as this sounds, i used to do this a LOT when i took classes in hs. i have a habit of studying things while explaining them to myself, so i just tried to explain myself to me in korean. it's hard if you're a beginner but will get better later on. you can start by translating simple sentences from your daily life to korean

good luck w studying !!

[sixcrowsinateacup]

If you ever hear me say Wylan is Kaz’s son, I do not mean that Kaz is his father. I am using “son” as slang. The way that any other older friend might view you as their “son”. It’s the same way that a HS senior would “adopt” a lowerclassmen (freshman, sophomore or junior). That’s his son but that isn’t Wylan’s dad okay? That’s Wylan’s older friend who saw him and threw him over his shoulder and Wylan isn’t getting off anytime soon as much as he wishes Kaz will drop him back into the gutter where he found him. Okay, they’re bros, Kaz gets to be the older brother for once and he refuses to abandon that title.

[alisonwritesimagines]

Teacher Love ~Steven Grant Imagine~

Requested by anonymous:

Steven Grant x gn reader, Steven being history professor (preferably in hs/middle school, he would be great with kids I just know it), reader showing up in his class, unannounced, Steven continuing to teach and at the end of the class, reader asks him out or tells him to get ready for some fancy suprise or something.

Summary: The students in the school you and Steven work at have a bet to see if you and Steven get together.

Author’s Note: For a limited time only, I'm accepting requests until January 30th!

Reader’s Pronouns: They/Them

Warnings: Fluff, lots of fluff, mentions of students, mentions of working at a school

Side Note: This is a secondary blog. If you comment a question down below, I will not answer since this is not the main blog. Please send the question to my inbox if you want a response back!

Do not repost this anywhere!

The students at the high school both you and Steven Grant worked at has always favored you both. And there were many reasons to why.

You were a great English teacher who always had some good jokes and understood that being a teen was rough. You also helped out each student and encouraged them to at least get a good or passing grade.

And there was Steven. A history teacher who had a devotion for mythology. Especially Egyptian mythology. But everyone loved how he taught them and how he was patient with them.

However, it wasn't until the students began to see you two eat in each other's rooms during lunch time. Rotating at least every week. Then they noticed how you two would always sit next to each other in every assembling and every pep rally they would go to. Then it finally came to when a group of students saw you both out at a bookstore together looking a little more friendly.

"I have a question," one of your students asked one day after school.

"Okay. What is it?" You asked, stopping your grading. You smiled up at your student as you looked at them.

"Are you and Mr. Grant a thing?" Your student asked.

"I'm sorry?" You asked confused.

"Sorry, it's just- You two always seem close and most of us would love to see you two get together. I mean, in a way, we ship you two," your student explains.

"Ship?"

"Yeah. Kinda like how most of us ship Gatsby and Nick in The Great Gatsby," your student explains further.

"Well, in all honesty, my personal life should remain personal to me," you tell your student.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Just remember that some people prefer to have their lives private for their own comfort," you tell them.

"Sorry. But also, can you take a look at my essay and see if I'm going in the right track?" Your student asked.

"Of course."

The next day, you told Steven about your interaction with your student. The two of you sat in your classroom as you both ate lunch together. Sometimes, you would make a little dessert for you both and sometimes, Steven would have lunch for you both to eat together.

"What does that mean? Ship? Isn't that a large boat?" Steven asked you.

"It is but I believe it's a slang now for the younger generation. It means that they like us together," you explain.

"Interesting," Steven said as he continued to eat his food.

"Yeah. But the students mean well right?" You asked.

"Yeah. Of course."

After work, you were with one of your other teacher friends as you two were helping each other get a plan ready for your next book assignments.

"So get this, our students ship me and Steven. Isn't that funny?" You asked.

"No. Because everyone can see it. You two really like each other," she tells you.

"What are you talking about?"

"We all see the way you two look at each other," she tells you.

"What do you mean?"

"You two are so oblivious. Look, remember when that one guy asked you out and you declined him?"

"Yes."

"Why did you decline him? It was very obvious he was into you and he was perfect."

"I just wasn't interested."

"Because he wasn't Steven. You know most of your conversations are about what you and Steven do," she mentions.

When you got home, you thought about on what she said. Did you like Steven but is oblivious to your feelings? You looked around at your apartment to see the things that you had out that were gifts from Steven. Your eyes widen in shock as you realized that you did like Steven.

Friday rolled around and you knew what you wanted to do. You didn't have a sixth period or a class before the school day ended. So you slipped into Steven's classroom where he was teaching about the aftermath of World War II. Steven looked at you before looking back at his students.

"Read pages 301 to 305 for a moment please," Steven said before walking over to you.

"Is everything okay?" Steven asked you.

"Yes. I was just wondering if I can watch you and your class till the end?" You asked.

"Of course. Do you want to sit at my desk?" Steven asked you.

"Yes. Thank you," you smiled.

You watched as Steven continue to teach until the bell rung. You waved at some of your students that you had in your class as they walked out of the room. Once you both were alone, you stood up from the table.

"What do I owe the pleasure?" Steven asked you.

"Well, Mr. Grant. I was hoping you can accompany me on a date tonight?" You asked.

"A-A date?" Steven asked in shock. He could feel his heart racing and he could feel himself grow slightly dizzy.

Steven couldn't believe that the person he had been falling in love with everyday, was asking him out on a date.

"Yes. I know this restaurant that has a good vegan menu selection," you tell him.

"I-I would live that," Steven tells you. You smiled at him before kissing his cheek.

"Dress semi-formal. We're going on a date after all," you tell him.

"Of course," Steven smiled happily at you.

Unknowingly, when you walked out of his classroom, your students were around the corner, trying to see if there was any difference after you walked out.

"They're definitely going on a date," one of the students said as they watched you walk away happily.

"Where do you think they're going?"

"Probably somewhere vegan. Remember, Mr. Grant's vegan," one of them pointed out.

"Should we follow them? I'm in the rooting-for-them bet pool and I could get about twenty bucks from ten people each," another student said.

"No. We'll find out on Monday. Come on. My mom's waiting in the car."

[ivomartins]

helloo omg it's vivi i just noticed that you answered the asks (while scrolling through hsr tag i need the update so bad i can't live like this)

dogging on hs is a full time job and we're employees of the month 🤞 ntm on hs tho bc i will end up playing hs3 if it's ever released bc i need to see my li happy.

im new to rc so i can't say much about the writers but i think what you said does make a lot of sense. when new characters were introduced in hs2 it had the same tone as hs1. i would say there was a slight improvement bc astaroth and hunger were 10x more interesting than hs1 characters but the dialogue and their way of speaking was the same as hs1. like how do you pride yourself on being soo much better than mortals and speak exactly like them? why are you, as lucifer, speaking like a frat boy? make it make sense.

anyway, as opposed to hs, the immortals are actually different from mortals. lane noticing the lack of human warmth and emotions on cains face, despite how serene and aristocratic he looks right off the bat immediately showed us that they're not easily understood and they operate differently than humans. and the dialogue flows so much more naturally in hsr and different characters have their own distinguished way of speaking. (interesting that cain sometimes speaks so formally like during the church scene, but at other times uses mortal slang. just how long has he been roaming around earth?)

tbh now that ive analyzed the flying scene, he does seem somewhat sincere and like you said, they're both only looking out for themselves so they have a sense of kinship. (also love that lane is so unbothered about saving humanity or whatever and specifically said shes only going to translate what she needs... im obsessed with her)

but is it insane of me to hope that he's just being nice for the sake of using her? ive been ranting to everyone who would listen about how much i adore the church scene, it was the exact balance of unsettling and sensual, psychedelic and dreamlike. it had so much tension and i loved how cain was portrayed in it. but he's being suspiciously sweet and protective of her, cute, but i miss the tension 😭 he and lane are some of the most interesting characters ive seen in a while and id hate for them to lose everything that makes them unique to a generic romance so early.

what about your theories on how they could've known each other earlier? and what do you think about cain's past?

not this entire ass essay 😭 i love a good religious horror media what can i say. since ur just as obsessed w hsr as i am it's fun talking to you but this is a lot to think ab and reply to pls take ur time 😭💓

(ps to answer what you asked about choices, i haven't touched it since i got back into rc 🤞)

we truly are the pioneers of hs shit talk and i love this for us <3

i chuckled at your comment about lucifer talking like a frat boy because why is that so fucking true 😭

it really is just in the book's nature i think because if you look at the massive growth of alice's writing between hs1 and hs2, it's wild how the writing for hs2 still isn't that much better except in certain areas (hunger is masterfully written, for example, and the emo vibe was captured pretty well too since alice is an angst grandmaster)

like heaven's secret is simply, intrinsically, a haphazard low-quality story - because that was the foundation in hs1 and so it's only natural hs2 and hs3 will be the same. and i'm not hating on it when i say that because i definitely get why some people love it but as someone who's a bit of a snob and doesn't like harry potter vibe stories, it's just not for me

i'm living for your thoughts and analysis of hs:r though omg i didn't catch on to cain's manner of speech swinging between formal and informal, that's so interesting?? but YES overall i'm also hoping that we'll get more of the intensity we got with the church scene and that the dark undertone to their dynamic will prove to be an actual Theme and not just a one-off thing. i would actually GRIEVE if cain's route devolved into basic lovey dovey shit 😭

have you checked out dmitry's scenes? what did you think of them? 👀

when it comes to cain's past and his history with lane, i... have no clue tbh like that's just how good the suspense is. generally i'm expecting cain to be somehow tied to the event/entity/power that caused lane's memory gap because her dreams are clearly very significant and she dreams of him at the start of the book + that could be the reason why she got so woozy in the church scene instead of him seducing her with his power, because of whatever tie that binds them through that. but we know so little about him and his motivations that it's hard for me to theorize anything about his past. i adore pre-established dynamics though so i honestly think we're in for some juicy shit regardless of our theories. i can't wait!!!

shut up i lived for your essay and gave you one of my own pls 😭♥️ you're totally good!! i'm having just as much fun chatting with you angel <3

i haven't touched choices since the nanny affair 😭 though i do miss the good OG books sometimes ngl like open heart s1 remains ICONIC and forever in my heart and also the werewolf book uhh i forgot its name but it was sooo goood. there's not even a comparison with rc though whew it was such a huge upgrade for me especially since i started off with arcanum of all books - truly could not put it down

[gothe]

did you go to an international school?

for a few years, not all. for most of my school years i was very lonely at school so for the many hours i was there i wouldn’t talk to anyone & i would zone out during class so i didn’t even hear my teachers speak arabic much, then i’d go home and spend all day on the english internet. i spoke to people outside of school but it was mostly in english. now my arabic is fucked and english is my main language. it’s hard for some people to believe because my whole family is arab but you have to consider that i spoke to people outside of school in mostly english so nothing mitigated my internet use. also for a year straight in hs i was obsessed with reading english fantasy novels, a lot of YA, i believe i read at least 100 books that year, which is why my vocabulary isn’t limited. books will always be my first love and reading is one of my favorite hobbies though i have obstacles i won’t elaborate on in reading right now. i branched out in my genres fyi. anyway, because of all this i have a combination of being well spoken & knowing a lot of american slang from the internet

[dom-a-tart]

ok so i've been into slang of different languages recently and discovered that for some reason there isnt sufficient material on how german teenagers actually talk (aka me having found a new hyperfixstion)

So buckle up folks and get ready for my (very)incomplete list of actual german slang

(Please add your words if you think of more stuff and remember that it differs from state to state)

I'm from Baden-Württemberg so guess what you're getting some bawü specific phrases

-----------------------------

Dicka/digga- bro (very common,but also very informal)

Junge/alter -bro/boy -> "jungeeee " is an actual sentence that you use when you're very done with your life ,imagine a very weary sigh

chaya-slang for girl (but a bit derogatory and not very fine language or as we call it,a bit asi)

typ- guy

Para/flouz-money

grass-weed

kippe-cigarette

kiffen-to smoke weed

ficken-to fuck

Schwuchtel-faggot

fotze-cunt

scheiße-shit (my friends and I say scheiße with a soft s usually just cause scheiße when its pronounced how it should be sounds so harsh)

Ach du scheiße-oh shit

Labern-to talk (informal and has a negative tone) -> e.g you can say "laber nicht" to your friends if they tell you something you dont believe like nah dont bullshit me

nh/ge/gell-right?! (at the end of a sentence)

raff dich-get yourself together

bock haben-to want to do something

Schwänzen-to skip school

Gottlos-I honestly dont know how to translate this

Ehrenlos-something, someone did that was very low of them

einunddreißiger(31er)-betrayer

hurensohn/nuttensohn- son of a bitch but nuttensohn is way cruder

arsch-ass

Geben-to give but it sounds very sexual if you say for example ,I gave it (the book)to her;so please use the object here and not the objektpronomen

mäßig-type shit

auf den/auf xy basis- idk how to translate this but if you want to describe that something you did was done spontaneously for example you csn say „auf entspannt“/„auf entspannter basis“

die kann mich am arsch lecken- rude way of saying you dont care about someone

---------------

Some grammar things:

When speaking we shorten our sentences

Siehst du das nicht?- siehste das net/nich?

Let's -Lass (xy)

In baden württemberg,people very often put the verb etwas tun =to do something,in sentences where they dont need it

=> ich tu das machen; this literally translates to I do making that

------text slang-----

trzdm-trotzdem

isso-ALSO USED VERY OFTEN IN SPOKEN GERMAN but it's like saying yess exactly

net/nd-nicht

wmd-what are u doing (haven't used this since the 7th grade so idk but it exists)

hs-hurensohn

Yeah that wraps it up ,if any of y'all have additions to make please add them

[notoriousbeb]

Lol, the last restaurant they were spotted on that island serves sushi. But MFASR isn't about them, probably related to his Tokyo trip. I guess Little Freak missed being on Fine Line (Tokyo trip too). Lol, both are a bit of a control freak when it comes to their careers.

I think of their last trip when I hear the New Romantics line.

Please take my hand and Please take me dancing, and Please leave me stranded It's so romantic (it's so romantic) (Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah)

But NR also reminds me of their vinyl competition & part of Style:

Then switch sides like a record changer The rumors are terrible and cruel But honey, most of them are true

Speaking of trips, Bowness-on-Windermere was one of the places HS & TS visited around her 23rd birthday in 2012. I wonder if that was one of the first times she visited the Lakes District- known for poets such as Wordsworth. He's known for the poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (also commonly known as "Daffodils")- interesting bts*- he revised it- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Wandered_Lonely_as_a_Cloud. They also got some Beatrix Potter gifts for family in that area. They also went on a ski trip that month also- made me think of the DWOHT line "So, baby, can we dance? Oh, through an avalanche?" 

Sidetrack: Coney is slang for: a gullible person; dupe. Also, Coney was also a word for rabbit.

*Coincidentally, "in Gucci's Spring/Summer 2019 Collection, multiple ready-to-wear pieces featured embroidery of the last lines of the poem." gucci.com/us/en/pr/men/mens-ready-to-wear/sweatshirts-hoodies/mens-hoodies/embroidered-sweatshirt-p-569828XJA471082 (snakes & skull?) (Not sure if HS was with them yet). But HS also had Daffodils in the BH&G pic and HsH album teaser.

Sorry, kinda rambled... lol, went down the rabbit hole.

In regards to Little Freak, it’s always so interesting to learn more about the timing of certain songs being written, and their choice of which records they go on—or if they make the cut at all.

The “leave me stranded,” line in New Romantics definitely reminds me of the Virgin Gorda trip as well.

I was wondering if they’d been to Windermere! I always think of him as the beloved muse she refers to in The Lakes.

Rabbit hole with me anytime!

[thyandrawrites]

You mentioned being Italian, how did you learn to speak or at least write English so well? Your Japanese translations are also pretty good too! I want learn Italian so what would you recommend that would help learn to read and write another language?

Thank you!

The genuine answer? Fandoms. Really. I've been studying languages for most of my life (english since elementary school, french in middle and high school, german since hs and japanese since college) but so far I've only gotten truly fluent in the only language I didn't just approach from a textbook learning angle. My fluency probably also comes from speaking english the longest, but what really improved my proficiency was consuming and engaging with my passions in my target language. Something that I struggle a lot with is staying motivated in the long run. I tend to run out of steam after a while, and I lose all the progress I made. But fandoms feed on my passions, so engaging with them helps me find the motivation to keep going, while also making it less like a chore that needs to be taken care of.

I was a B1 until I graduated high school, but then I started reading copius amounts of fanfic and meta in english, and began writing my own. Reading taught me a lot of common new words I had never encountered before in my textbooks, as well as several idioms, and the longer I kept at it, the more stuff I assimilated into my vocabulary. I spent a couple of years just reading ff, not thinking I had it in me to truly begin writing in my second language, but then it sort of... Just happened. I got a fic idea late at night and wrote a 6k oneshot in one sitting during an all nighter. The fact that I was tired and inspired probably lowered my remaining inhibitions and temporarily muted that part of my brain that was self-conscious. But suddenly, english didn't seem so scary anymore. When I reread what I wrote the next day, after getting some sleep, it wasn't as agrammatical and terrible as I had feared, and that motivated me to keep doing it. I find that a lot of the time what stops us from improving is the fear of making a fool of ourselves. I also didn't comment on fanfic for years in fear of outing myself, and on the rare occasions I did, I always prefaced my comments with an apology for my english. But when you finally get in the mindframe that people don't really care about any mistakes you might make, it was really liberating. Honestly, just have fun! Who cares! Native speakers make tons of mistakes too! I can see that so clearly now.

This was around the time I got into Tokyo Ghoul meta and timidly approached my first analyses. Meta is fairly different from creative writing, but it also helped me improve because it taught me essay writing better than my english teacher marking my mistakes in angry red. When you're trying to explain a concept so that others understand it, rather than just to get a passing grade, you will attempt to break it down into easier concepts and pace it better, instead of just paying attention to SPaG. This also had the side effect of teaching me how to better sort my thoughts and get them across clearly, which has always been a struggle for me in spoken conversations. My thoughts tend to be messy, and I trip over my words a lot (in my native language too), but thinking about going from point a to point b like I'm writing an essay helps me a lot, personally.

The last step was joining a discord server in 2019. I can't stress enough how language is constantly evolving, and how slang and everyday language isn't something you can passively learn from textbooks or online courses. Those are only good as the foundation of your skills. They teach you the grammar and the basic vocabulary, but then you have to engage with real people, you know? I've always struggled to hold a conversation because I'm socially awkward, but discord is useful to me because it is a group chat, so there is less pressure on my end to keep a conversation going. Interacting with people from all over the world taught me to be less self-conscious about my skills, and meeting people of different age ranges taught me a variety of slang expressions to pass for a not-boomer myself, at least at first glance :'D

Moral of the story, do follow courses and use textbooks (those are important!), but also keep in mind those are not the be-all end-all of language proficiency, like school and academia tries so hard to teach you. If you find yourself hitting a wall and not getting any better anymore, take it as a sign your grammar is good enough to take the next step in your journey. So then, try to think of something you have fun doing. A hobby of yours. And then think of ways you can engage with it in your target language.

I had different phases in my life where I explored various things thay way. I got obsessed with a band in middle school and started watching and rewatching the videos they posted online, trying to understand everything they said. This improved my listening skills considerably. Years later I got really into WoW and I learned vocab by playing it and by looking for tutorials online. If you read a lot, consider looking for titles in that language you want to learn. Stuff like this. Listening to music, watching movies or tv series with subtitles (esp if the subtitles are in your target language too). All this stuff helps a lot! And the added plus is that for however challenging it might be at first, you'll stay motivated because it relates to something you already enjoy

[apotheoseity]

fun facts abt my mom i just remembered;

- she has a 4 ft long loofah in her shower

- she has kind of a codependent relationship w her crusty white dog

- did not allow us to watch anything that wasn’t children’s edutainment for way too long (no nick or cn)

- was married to an tech enthusiast engineer for who knows how long but retained 0 knowledge abt normal things like typical website UI and what internet slang is

- insisted to me that psychics are an oppressed class

- got mad at me for going to a cemetery to help w a friend’s film assignment in hs

- gives me unsolicited dating advice that she didn’t even follow in the first place and thus has no experience in actually using

- skipped out on the wedding to her first fiancé to get with my dad

- believes in reverse racism despite not being white

- insists she can see and talk to ghosts

[gracegrove]

15 Questions

Tagged by @every-dayiwakeup bae ❤️

Are you named after anyone? 

My mother named me after her favorite actress, Jessica Tandy.

When was the last time you cried?

Maybe a month ago, maybe last week. I don't remember 😅.

Do you have kids?

Thank god no. 👀 But I have two cats and a dog tho.

Do you use sarcasm?

Yes. So much.

What is the first thing you notice about someone? 

Either the person's eyes or their use of words. I either warm to someone or turn off from them really quick. I tend to 'judge a book by its cover'... but I've rarely ever been wrong summing people up.

What is your eye color?

Grey blue.

Scary movies or happy endings? 

It really depends on the day. I think I more often go for something that at the very least comes to some sort of resolution even if it has a high body count 😅 But if it's been a rough day or I feel really soft, then I want all the happy endings with weddings and singing birds and princesses and shit like that.

Any special talents?

I can touch my toes to the back of my head. I can curl my tongue. Expert timing and delivery of witty and deadpan humor.

Where were you born?

Salt Lake City, Utah Favorite answer: Under the sink. How do I know this you ask? Because I heard the water running...

What are your hobbies? 

Singing in the shower, in the car, singing responses to things that weren't asked for. Reading. Fanfiction writing. Tumblr scrolling... Learning swear words and slang in my favorite foreign languages. Not as much anymore, but drawing, coloring, cartooning.

Do you have any pets?

Two cats, one dog. 🐶 😺 😺

What sports do you play/have you played? 

Played tee ball at age 5, sent a kid to the ER for hitting the ball right into his gut. He shouldn't have stayed on the pitcher's mound...🤷‍♀️

Tried for softball in HS but I went to a highly recognized catholic school that was competitive and they didn't want to put me on because I didn't have any "prior" experience. They lost the state championship qualifiers without me and it serves em right 😌.

How tall are you?

I'm 5'2 and damn proud of it.

Favorite subject in school? 

French and US History

Dream job?

Forensic psychologist and/or Criminal profiler

Tags are open to anyone following and wanting to do this 🙂