#I will continue learning Czech language

[bangjiazheng]

Learning Czech Language,The Happiest The Happiest!!!!

Today morning,When I got up, started learning Czech language(and doing houseworks),I found that I am Very Happy!!!!Very Happy Very Happy!!!!!!Very Very Happy Happy!!!!!!!(Happing~,Happing~!!!!!!!!!!………………) Why am I so happy learning Czech language???? Because: I Love Life!!!! I Love Czech Language!!!! I Love Learning Czech Language!!!!!!Learning Czech Language,I am Very Happy Very Happy!!!!!!!!!!………………As Happy As Learning The Universe!!!!!!!!!!!………………Happing~ Happing~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…………………………Happy Meowing~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!……………………………………(Note: As Happy As A Middle-Aged Big Good Meow,Happy Happy!!!!)…………………………………………

I Love Czech Language!!!! I Love Learning Czech Language!!!!!!Very Happy Vey Happy!!!!!!!!!!Very Very Happy Happy!!!!!!!!!!!…………Happing~,Happing~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…………………… Learning Czech Language, Very Seriously And Very Happily!!!!!!!,Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy!!!!!!!!!!………………Happing~ Happing~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!……………………………………

I am learning Czech language Very Seriously,Very Happy!!!! Learning Czech Language,The Happiest The Happiest!!!!!!

Now,I got up started learning Czech language,Very Happy,Very Happy!!!! And,After doing houseworks,I will continue learning Czech language,Happy Happy!!!! The Happnesses of my learning Czech language couldn't describe in any words,Because Too Happy!!!!!! Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy!!!!!!!!!!Happing~,Happing~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!………………………………Happy Meowing~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!………………………………………………………………(Note: As Happy As A Middle-Aged Big Good Meow,Happy Happy!!!!)………………………………………………

Bangjia Zheng Learning Czech Language,The Happiest The Happiest!!!!

07.11.2024 morning

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

The "Americanization of the global internet" post and slow deterioration of local native culture gave me an idea: many users don't even know there is native language communities on this website, so if you know of a regional group/"subculture" on Tumblr, reblog/comment with the tags they use so people can find them and connect with other folks from their countries or speakers of a language they'd like to learn

I will try to update this post with every new addition to hopefully make a comprehensive list of Tumblr regional communities

Edit July 29th: the post has reached a point where Tumblr won't let me add any more links, so from now on all tags are plain text to make it fair

The list so far:

Europe

• Czech

#česky, #hezky česky - general Czech language posts, frequently featuring user-written poetry, art, sometimes politics and current events, warning: often contains vent posts

#čumblr - Czech but frequently used by Slovaks as well, primarily memes and fandom things, shipping, art, cultural things, frequently overlaps with #česky

#obrození, #obrozujeme - memes and fandoms as well but with more emphasis of maintaining and developing Czech culture, is a mostly humorous parody/self-proclaimed continuation of the Czech National Revival of the 1800s, overlaps with #čumblr and #česky

• Slovak

#slovensky - general Slovak language posts

#slumblr, #sumblr, NEW - #ťumbľr - Slovak, general posts, memes, fandom and culture things, sometimes overlaps with #čumblr

• Polish

#polska, #polish - Polish, general posts, art, politics and current events

#polblr, #polishposting, #polskie rzeczy - Polish, more humorous general posts and memes, often overlap with the above

• Ukrainian

#ukraine - general Ukrainian posts, often in English

#укртумбочка - mostly used by artists

• General Slavic

#slav, #slavic, #slavposting, #slavic stuff - mixed Slavic, usually cultural things, memes, art and photography, sometimes politics, sometimes visited by other East Europeans

• Irish

#gaeilge - Irish, general posting but especially cultural things and memes, often features posts for language learning

• Welsh

#cymraeg, #tymblr - general Welsh posting, memes

• Romanian

#romanian - general Romanian tag

#romanisme, #vlandom - Romanian, mostly memes and humor

• Hungarian

#magyar, #hungarian, #tumbli - Hungarian language, mostly quotes

• Finnish

#suomitumblr, #suomitumppu, #suomipaskaa, #suomeksi, other variations beginning with suomi - general (shit)posting

any and all swear words such as #perkele, #vittu, #saatana, #helvetti and #paska - shitposts, overlap with above

• Dutch

#dutch, #the netherlands, #netherlands, #holland, #nederland, #nederlands - general Dutch posts

#nedermemes, #dutchcore - memes, shitposting

• German

#deutsch, #german stuff - general German posting

#BundesTag - memes and humor

blogs like @official-deutschebahn, @official-german-medienlandschaft and other official-deutsche- blogs, "because THE joke of German tumblr is to act like an overly bureucratic public institution"

• Swedish

#sweblr, #swedenposting, #svea rike - memes, shitposts, fandom stuff, sometimes political

#svenskt, #sverige - general Swedish stuff

#all makt åt tengil vår befriare, #sa du sten - used mostly by @svenskjavel

#borås - posts and memes about the city, "kinda like Swedish Ohio"

#lesbisk, #bög, #bisexuell, #pansexuell, #hbtq+, #hbtq, #homosexuell, #asexuell - Swedish queer tags

• French

#upthebaguette, #french side of tumblr, #whatthefrance - general French posting but especially memes, comics, art

#bagaitte - French queer posting

• Greek

#greek tumblr, #ελληνικα, #ελλαδα, #γρεεκ, #ελληνικο ταμπλρ - general stuff

#greek memes - memes

Catalan

#coses de la terra - general stuff

Belarusian

#беларускі тамблер - general stuff, fandoms

#артшляхта - art

Italian

#itablr - general stuff, not very populated yet

#welcome to italy, #italian things, #italian stuff, #italy tag, #roba italiana

#sanremo - for the Sanremo Music Festival, also #domenica in but only after the end of the festival

Italians also frequently gather under #leonardo rai, #medici, #i medici, #montalbano and #il giovane montalbano

Estonian

#eestiblr, #eesti - general stuff

@unofficial-estonia - blog

Danish

@useless-denmarkfacts - blog

Spanish

#español - general Spanish (* I noticed some Mexicans using these too so there may be overlap with American Spanish-speaking countries as well)

#citas, #frases - quotes

#humor grafico - memes

Scottish Gaelic

#gaidhlig, #gaelposting - general, art, language

Africa

Moroccan

#المغرب, #Maroc -general, often photos

Asia

• South Asian

#desiblr, #desi, #desi tag - general South Asia posting, memes, humor, sometimes also used by Arab people

• Indian

#dabara tumblr, #தம்பிளர் - suggested tags for South India

Russian

#русск��й тамблер, #русский tumblr - general stuff, memes

Sri Lankan

#අරග��යට ජය, suggested tags LKA or #Lankablr if anyone's interested

Indonesian

@useless-indonesiafacts - blog

Israeli

# עברית# ,ישראבלר - general stuff (sorry if these are broken, tumblr keeps fucking with right-to-left scripts)

Arabic

#عربي - general

#كتب, #كتاب, #كتابات - books and writing

Oceania

Australian

#auscore, #straya - general stuff, culture, memes and shitposts

#auspol - politics

Aotearoa (New Zealand)

#māori, #te reo māori - Māori tags

Americas

Brazilian

#brazil, #brasil, #Come to brazil, #br posting, #meu brasil brasileiro, #tumblr br - general and memes

Turtle Island (North American) Indigenous

#ndn, #ndn tumblr - usually about culture, memes etc

"If you're looking for something specific to your tribe, try the non-English spelling of your tribe's name (Tsalagi for Cherokee, for example)"

Not location-specific

Jewish

#jumblr, #frumblr - general stuff, history, discussions, posts mostly in English

Romani

#romani, #rroma, #rrumblr - romani sides of tumblr, general stuff, history, discussions, mostly in English

Please share around wherever you're from, US American local cultures are welcome as well, especially indigenous (though that should go without saying)

Reminder that this is a post made to allow people to find others of the same culture/language, be respectful and do not use these tags to target groups and spread hate

[dramatic-dolphin]

Oh man, I am waaay on the other side of the "pronounce names correctly" debate. Not because I don't think you should, in general, attempt to pronounce names correctly, I do. But I'm trying to get people to stop trying to pronounce my name correctly.

I happen to have a name that's (for foreigners) Hungarian on Hard Mode. I'm talking umlauts, digraphs with y, just all the good phonemes that don't exist in most other languages. I've spent a lot of time abroad with people from various parts of the world, and I can tell you from hard empirical data: nobody can say it. And I'm cool with it! I just tell them the English equivalent and it's fine.

Mostly. Some people, especially those who are trying to be culturally sensitive, have a Really Hard Time™️ accepting that a) they are not getting it right b) continue to not get it right despite asking me to demonstrate over and over. And I appreciated it at first! How thoughtful, this attempt to engage with my culture. Cue several months of unsuccessful attempts, at the end of which they were (mostly jokingly) accusing me of faking it. Almost verbatim: "if we recorded you saying your own name and played it back to you, you would say it's incorrect".

(I get it though, the pop sci explanation that I've never bothered to fact check is that as you grow up, you're more attuned to characteristic frequencies of your mother tongue, so when another language comes along with different frequencies, you are quite literally incapable of distinguishing them. So their attempts may sound the same to them, but it sure doesn't to me. I tell them I have this with "bet" and "bat", and that sometimes puts an end to it.)

So yeah, attempt to pronounce everyone's name correctly. Unless they have asked you multiple times not to.

YES YES YES. sometimes you don't want to hear your name butchered over and over and again. like it can be funny when the entertainment is the hungarian gyöngyi and the czech přemysl trying to pronounce each other's name (actual thing that happened at an event my mom was at, everyone thought it was hilarious), but like. at some point it gets TIRING.

god do i hate those people who are like "well at the introduction i wouldn't stop trying until i could pronounce their name correctly!!" newsflash you were not pronouncing it correctly unless you also did a deepdive into the phonology of the language right there. what actually happened was that scene went on for so long and got so awkward they said "haha yeah that's correct!" to stop you from trying again. PLEASE stop. it is very awkward.

the pop sci explanation is sorrrrt of right, you're not really ever incapable of distinguishing phonemes, or phonologists would be out of a job! but your brain does become attuned to the subtleties that are important in your language and discards other phoneme differences that aren't used in your language because who even needs that. it's possible to learn to speak a language like a native and understand all the subtle differences so deeply that they come as instinct. it just takes a LOT of work.

(but- learning your native language took even more work. you're at an 8yr old's level of umderstanding in the language you're learning? well, how long do you think it took the 8yr old?)

also, relatedly, if someone - usually someone who's chinese in my experience - tells you their name, and then adds "but you can call me [english name/name in another language]!" it tends to be because they LIKE being called that name and possibly even prefer it to you butchering their name. they understand that you will butcher their name, because the language - which may or may not be chinese - is notoriously hard for outsiders.

[astarion-approves]

The Waiter

'There stood the most gorgeous man Tav had ever seen in their life. Tall with pale skin, ruby red eyes, and hair as white as snow. There was a certain air about him, it felt like being charmed into bed without so much as speaking a single word in return.'

The reader falls in love with their waiter in the Czech Republic.

Modern day 'reader' x Astarion. 1.7k words

Slightly NSFT (no actual sex or descriptive sex), excessive second hand embarrassment, reader is a moron, some Czech, third person.

Thank you to @chenziee for your help on this. I only speak English and she was an absolute saint to translate some dialogue for me.

Keep reading for the full story.

The Czech Republic was seemingly a little peaceful country compared to America, but the food was… interesting to say the least. Time after time, Tav found themselves in search of something familiar to have during their vacation. They ended up spending more time having fruit, cheese, and wine than anything else.

Finally, their friend, Eliška, put her foot down, dragging Tav to a traditional restaurant and insisting they try the food that her country has to offer.

“I warned you before you came to visit,” the friend said with a soft laugh as they were both seated at a small circular table. “I knew you wouldn’t like our food.”

Tav crossed their arms over their chest in defense. “It’s not my fault all your food looks so…” They gestured to a plate being carried out from the kitchen, something that looked like raw dough covered in a brown gravy with some form of meat and cabbage next to it. “Whatever the hell that is.”

“Vepřo knedlo zelo,” Eliška spoke quickly, the foreign language beautiful but words Tav didn’t understand. “It’s roast pork, dumplings, and sauerkraut.”

Tav shrugged. “That doesn’t sound bad. I guess I could get that.”

“Nope,” Eliška shook her head and opened the menu that was sitting on the table. “I’ll be picking for you.”

“Oh shit,” Tav grabbed their own menu, hoping to see what monstrosity their friend might order for them.

But of course it was all in Czech.

“Anything but blood sausage, please.”

Eliška snorted but continued flipping through the menu, a menu with no pictures of course.

While she browsed you stared at what you assumed was the wine menu, ‘Víno’ was one of the only words Tav managed to learn thus far and being drunk on vacation was their plan for most of the trip anyway.

“Dobrý den. Máte vybráno?”

Tav looked up from their menu, their eyes meeting with the waiter, and they felt as if they’d been kicked in the chest.

There stood the most gorgeous man Tav had ever seen in their life. Tall with pale skin, ruby red eyes, and hair as white as snow. There was a certain air about him, it felt like being charmed into bed without so much as speaking a single word in return.

Tav leaned forward in their chair, trying to figure out if those red eyes were just a pair of contact lenses. He tilted his head and raised a single brow at them.

Fuck—that was adorable.

Tav looked to their friend, who was still studying the menu. They mumbled something to the waiter, which Tav assumed was ‘just a second.’ The waiter nodded and turned to leave—

“Is he on the menu?” Tav blurted out before the waiter was outside of ear shot. “Because I want a bite of that."

“Jesus Christ, Tav.” Eliška swung the menu across the table, successfully hitting Tav on the side of their head. “Don’t just say shit like that!”

“It’s not like he speaks English anyway!” Tav defended. They’ve only been in the Czech Republic for a few days but besides their friend and other tourists they haven’t come across many non-native English speakers that could understand Tav’s version of English. Plus, only much younger people seemed to be learning English, while their waiter looked to be in his early 40s. “Anyone who speaks English here can’t understand me, we’re fine. I speak too quickly, remember?”

Eliška glared at Tav. “You only say that because I do all the talking. Please just.. try to hold your tongue. You could offend him.”

Tav held their hands up. “No promises.”

Soon the waiter returned, carrying two glasses, one in each hand. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, exposing his strong forearms riddled with thick veins. Tav sat back in their chair and just watched as the man put a glass down in front of them. How could forearms be that sexy?

“We need a new waiter, I’m going to melt just by looking at this man.”

“Tav,” Eliška hissed. “Shut the fuck up.”

He looked between the two of you in confusion before speaking, “Vybrali jste?”

“Dvakrát tlačenku s chlebem, džbán s vodou a sedmičku rulandy červené, prosím,” Eliška replied quickly, refusing to look at Tav while they spoke.

The waiter nodded, scribbling into a notepad with what Tav assumed was Eliška’s order.

“Did you get wine? If not put him in a tall glass for me—“

Eliška kicked Tav under the table, making them gasp in pain. Those heels were vicious.

“Ask him what his name is, I want to know what name I’m going to be dreaming of tonight.”

“Tav—“

“Oh my god we should ask him to take a picture with us to celebrate my first traditional meal—“

“Tav, stop—“

“Oh yes, kind sir, in my country waiters do take their shirts off for photos, it’s perfectly normal—“

“Tav, so help me god—“

“What’s ‘please fuck me’ in Czech?”

“‘Fuck’ is pretty fucking universal word, you idiot.”

“Just ask him his name, please?” Tav put their hands together, begging their friend for this one favor. This one obnoxious, ridiculous favor.

Eliška sighed and turned to the waiter, who still stood there looking confused but seemingly entertained at their interaction. “Já se moc omlouvám, mojeho kamaráda by hrozně zajímalo... Jak se jmenujete?”

The waiter chuckled, putting his notepad away and turning to Tav. He crouched down, putting himself at eye level with Tav. “Astarion,” he spoke slowly, softly, his voice deep and calm. Those red eyes stared back at Tav with ease, glimmering with amusement.

“Oh,” Tav breathed out. “Fuck, even his name is gorgeous… Astarion.”

Astarion smiled and stood back up, then Eliška thanked him and finally let him leave the table, the waiter pausing to look back at their table once before going into the kitchen.

“Astarion,” Tav repeated the name, enjoying the way it felt on their tongue. “Astarion—“

“Mhm, and not a common name in Czech at all, Tav.”

“Sounds Czech to me.”

“It’s not—“

“Oh he’s coming back!” Tav was grinning at his return, excited to see him again so soon, and carrying a bottle of red wine.”

Astarion opened the bottle with ease, pouring some into a glass and handing it to Eliška to be tested. She lightly twirled the glass before taking a small sip. But Tav wasn’t even paying attention to what she thought of the wine. They were more interested in watching Astarion as they worked.

“He opened the bottle so easily, Eliška. It's official. I'm in love.”

Eliška hummed and took another sip of the wine. “It’s literally his job to open bottles all day, Tav.”

“Bet he’s skilled with those long fingers then.”

Eliška ignored Tav and put her glass down. She spoke to Astarion, who filled the glasses and placed the bottle down between them.

Soon Astarion was leaving again, only to return shortly and carrying two plates to their table. Tav smiled as the meal was placed in front of them��

But the smile dropped into a frown when they looked from Astarion’s handsome face to the plate he just set down.

“What in the fuck did you order us?”

Eliška snorted into her wine, breaking into a laugh as she watched Tav stare at their meal in shock. “It’s domácí tlačenka.”

“Eliška, this looks like if you took bologna and made it evil.” Tav poked at the meat with a fork, unsure of how to proceed.

“Try it,” Eliška replied. “You’ll like it.”

“Astarion,” Tav looked away from their plate and to the now grinning waiter, at least he was being entertained by the silly picky American. “My future husband, can you believe she’s trying to make me eat this?”

“No.”

“See!” Tav pushed their plate away, refusing to try the dish. “Even this handsome god of a man doesn’t like it.”

“Uhhhh… Tav—“ Eliška tried to speak before being cut off by them.

“You can eat this weird ass dish, meanwhile I’m going to drag Astarion to the nearest hotel and let him be my meal instead,” Tav said and laughed at their own joke.

Eliška just stared at Tav in horror. “Tav… you need to stop speaking now.”

“Stop worrying,” Tav said and rolled their eyes. “He doesn’t understand me. Right, Astarion?”

“Right.”

“Just like I said, Eliška. He doesn’t speak a single word of English.”

“Not a single word,” Astarion said with a nod.

“Tav, please... take a second and think—“ Eliška grimaced as Tav cut her off once again. This time the woman keeping her mouth shut.

“I could go on for hours with everything playing through my mind right now with this man—“

“Oh my, please do tell.“

Tav laughed and turned their focus onto the waiter, who simply smiled back at them. “I’m here for two more weeks on vacation but I don’t want to see the sun again. I want you in my hotel room, fucking me until I can’t walk, fucking me until I forget my own name, fucking me until I lose sense of time and the Czech government comes to find me because I’ve been reported missing—“

“That is an awful lot of sex, not that I’m opposed to it—“

“I’m going to drag you back home with me, just so I can wake up every morning and see the most handsome creature in the world lying next to me every day of the rest for my life.”

“How romantic.”

“Then I’ll marry you and we’ll be together forever.”

“Fine. But only if we continue living here. American healthcare is a joke.”

Tav laughed and turned back to Eliška, smirking at them in a ‘I told you so’ kind of way.

“See? He doesn’t speak any English.”

“Tav… You are an absolute fucking moron.”

“What—“

Astarion hummed, drawing Tav’s attention back to himself.. “I can’t miss work, but I do get off in two hours. Let’s try a date first, before we get married. Alright?”

Astarion turned and left, the waiter laughing to himself as he disappeared into the kitchen once more.

“Wait…” Tav looked from the kitchen and to Eliška. “Did he just speak English?”

Eliška just shook her head in disbelief.

[mediocrelanguagelearner]

hello fellow bored at work human <3

can you talk about your language learning journey? why did you start learning each of your target languages?

Thank you so much for distracting me from my boredom!

But uff, what a difficult question :D This could get really long... I'll try to shorten it as much as I can :D I'm listing the languages in a chronological order.

English: (I used to not count English as my target language because it felt like a second nature, but after 3 years of almost not using it, I'm starting to feel like I should dedicate some time to improving it) I had to learn English at school, of course, but it wasn't until I was 12/13 that I started loving it. I discovered a youtuber I loved, watched all of his videos in one summer and on top of this I found a blog of a (Czech) girl I idolised. This girl was very stylish, was interested in japanese fashion, learned Japanese and loved English. She said she constantly thinks in English and so I started trying to do that too. After this one summer I basically became fluent and in love with English. Since that I've been the best and always bored in my English classes, up until uni. But I've barely spoken English in the past 3 years and I feel the command of the language slipping away. I still listen to some videos and podcasts in English, but I don't use the language activelly and I've been trying to give a lot of time to my other languages, so my skills just deteriorate.

German: My relationship with German was complicated. I was forced to learn it since I was 13 and I hated it. I didn't want to learn it, I didn't like the sound of it and I had these weird perjudices about German. It changed only when I found Timothy Doner's video where he speaks a ton of languages. I fell in love with the idea of speaking multiple languages (by that point I'd tried to learn Spanish and maybe Dutch? unsuccessfully). And I thought "well if I have to learn German for another 2,5 years, I could try to like it". I started listening to German music and fell in love with Cro and AnnenMayKantereit (still love them to death!) and I decided to sign up for extra German class (where everyone was way better than me) and to do my high school state exam in German. At uni had a bit of a break with German but eventually took some classes to try to maintain the language. I've learned German for so many years and I still feel very inadequate about my skills (I am especially very embarrassed to speak), but I'm glad I never gave up. German is the language of my country's neighbours and it's such a big part of my country's history, I feel like it's important to know.

Spanish: I've always liked Spanish, the way it sounds. I tried to learn it as a kid for a while but I wasn't really motivated or disciplined enough. Then in 2016 I had the chance to go on help exchange to Spain for a couple of weeks (I picked the country myself, probably because I wanted to learn Spanish anyway) and I started learning Spanish about 3 weeks before going. It was a really nice experience and I loved Spain. I think Spanish is such a pretty and useful language, I really want to know it well, but the grammar is killing me sometimes. I continued learning on my own and then later took 2 or 3 classes in Spanish at uni, mostly to get a better foundation in the grammar and to have someone to talk to, at least for a couple of minutes every week. In my Spanish learning journey I spent a lot of time talking to random hispanohablantes on tandem, which probably wasn't the smartest move because it made me not like the language that much anymore – or at least not be motivated to learn it. When you talk to a lot of people who don't interest you and with whom you have nothing in common, you don't feel like wanting to learn that language anymore. But my relationship with Spanish is better now? I'm trying to work with a textbook and just generally do things that seem fun.

Swedish: When I was young I liked the series "Vikings". They spoke Old Norse there and it sounded like the coolest thing ever so I wanted to learn it. Then I thought it would be smarter to learn a language that is spoken today – so Icelandic, the closest thing to it. But I heard Icelandic has pretty difficult grammar so I thought maybe it would be best to first learn a scandinavian language. I couldn't decide between Norwegian and Swedish, but eventually nice people on tumblr/discord, Jonna Jinton and the fact there was a Swedish teacher at my uni convinced me to try Swedish. That's what I thought going to the first class in 2017 – I'm just going to see if I like it. Well, I fell in love. My teacher was so funny and just a generally good teacher, I had to continue taking the class. I did 3 semesters of Swedish (now, don't think it's a lot – it's still 90 minutes a week with bunch of other people) and did a lot of work at home. I loved the melody, the feeling of the language in my mouth, the teacher, the different but similar culture, the nature... I was so sad I couldn't take another class (too few students signed up and we weren't allowed to continue). Since then I've been learning on my own. I fell so hard for this language and right now I just want to be good at it.

That's the end of my very long post! I bet you didn't expect this when you asked :D Other than these languages I tried to learn (unsuccessfully) Dutch, Croatian and Arabic, but for various reasons had to pause learning them. I still want to learn them.

What is your language learning journey?

[girlactionfigure]

William Herskovic was a Czech Jew who escaped from Auschwitz to warn the Jewish community that the so-called “labor camp” was actually a mass murder machine where thousands of Jews – including his wife and two babies – were being gassed to death every day. His eyewitness testimony saved hundreds of lives.

Born in Hungary in 1914, William’s mother died when he was an infant. His father remarried and had many more kids while William was raised by his maternal grandparents. William was an exceptional young man. He spoke 9 languages and dropped out of school at age 13 to help his family by working as photographer’s apprentice.

By 15 William was managing multiple photo studios in Czechoslovakia, supervising the work of adult photographers.

The family moved to Antwerp, Belgium, where William opened Studio Willy, a camera store and portrait studio. It was such a success that he opened multiple Studios Willy. Around 1937 William got married and he and his wife Esther had two daughters – Giselle, born in 1938, and Germaine, born in 1941.

After Germany invaded Belgium in 1940, the Nazis confiscated William’s studios and all his photographic equipment. William was arrested along with Esther and their daughters – one a newborn and the other a toddler . All four were sent to Auschwitz, where Willam was separated from his family and sent to do hard labor. He never saw his wife and daughters again. Only years later would he learn that they were gassed the same day they arrived.

At Auschwitz, William was forced to do back-breaking labor and subsisted on a starvation diet. He began plotting his escape. On the first night of Chanukah 1942, a frigid, snowy night, William and two other men cut through a barbed wire fence. William was motivated by more than the desire to live – he was desperate to get the word out to Jewish communities in Europe that Auschwitz was not a mere detention camp but a mass murder factory.

Emaciated, and in rags they made their way through the forest in the middle of a blizzard. They jumped onto a freight train that took them to Breslau, Germany. There, the escapees found a local rabbi and started to tell them about Auschwitz, but he refused to listen and kicked them out. This disturbing episode haunted William for decades. His daughter Patricia later said, “It was as if [the rabbi] had no heart, and still today, my father hopes that in his particular case, it was simply fear.”

William and the other escapees kept moving for three weeks, staying alive as they traveled through Nazi-occupied Europe. Their travel was funded by William’s shoe – or more precisely, the 3-carat diamond that a shoemaker had embedded in his heel.

Finally, they reached Belgium and William reached out to the newly-formed Belgian resistance, providing one of the first eyewitness accounts of a Nazi death camp. He said, “They are killing us by the thousands. Do not go peacefully…” Unlike the willfully blind rabbi in Breslau, the Belgian resistance took William’s report seriously. They mobilized to stop a transport train headed to Auschwitz, placing bricks on the tracks to force the train to stop. In the chaos, William and the other escapees forced open the cargo doors and about 250 Jews escaped.

William’s survival and brave determination to bear witness had saved hundreds of Jews from the gas chambers.

For the next three years, William stayed alive in Belgium, moving between several hiding places. He continued to work with the Belgian resistance. He went undercover with false papers and got a job camouflaging the beaches of Normandy, when he was actually drawing sketches of military installations to give to the resistance.

In 1945, when the war ended, he learned the tragic fate of Esther and their two darling babies. Esther’s younger sister Mireille survived but didn’t know what had happened to her husband. William put her on a train to find him, saying, “If he’s not alive when you get there, I want you to marry me.”

William and Mireille were married in a displaced persons camp in 1945. For the rest of his life, William kept a small picture of Esther in his wallet.

After the war, William reestablished Studio Willy, and he and Mireille had three daughters. In the late 1950’s they immigrated to America, settling in Los Angeles, where William founded Bel Air Camera, which was an LA institution for decades. According to his daughter Patricia, although he owned a popular camera company, he stopped taking any pictures himself. “He never wanted to be an artist again. The things he saw – his artist’s soul was pretty tromped on.”

The Herskovics were dedicated philanthropists and supported many educational and medical institutions. William was a founding supporter of the US Museum of the Holocaust in Washington DC, where a plaque commemorates his beloved first wife and their two innocent babies, who never had the benefit of gravestones.

William died in 2006 at age 91. He was survived by his wife, children, grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. William was eulogized by luminaries such as Rabbi Marvin Hier and California Gray Davis but it was William’s family that missed him the most. Grandson James Freedman remembered, “My grandfather was the best man I ever knew. He taught me the most important lessons of my life. He taught me how to be a good, decent person, and his unwavering faith in me gives me strength.” Daughter Micheline Keller said, “Our father epitomized the ideals of a righteous man – honesty, wisdom, and love for all humanity.” Daughter Patricia wrote a book called “Escape to Life: A Journey Through the Holocaust” about her parents’ experiences in World War II. The book meant a great deal to William. Patricia said “He had made a commitment to those in the camps to never let them be forgotten. With the book, he started to feel he had fulfilled some of that promise.”

For bearing witness to genocide and saving lives, we honor William Herskovic as this week’s Thursday Hero.

[myemuisemo]

It's time to learn from Letters from Watson "What John Rance Had to Tell."

But first, Holmes explains some of his deductions. He does not explain what the long fingernails on the right hand mean.

And he comes out with what is for me, as a modern reader, a doozy:

The A [in RACHE], if you noticed, was printed somewhat after the German fashion. Now, a real German invariably prints in the Latin character, so that we may safely say that this was not written by one, but by a clumsy imitator who overdid his part. It was simply a ruse to divert inquiry into a wrong channel.

What? A German fashion of writing?

OKAY. It turns out that, prior to World War II, German was written in different scripts than other European languages, which the University of Wisconsin has documented for us because German immigrants continued to use them.

Here are a snipper of UW's examples of Kurrent and Sütterlin, as well as capital letters from Wikimedia's Fraktur.

The Fraktur A looks so much like a U that I can't believe Lestrade wouldn't have read the word as "ruche" and decided the victim was a dressmaker.

Calligrascapes gives examples of Spencerian (U.S.) and Copperplate (UK) handwriting of the late Victorian period here. Lower-case A looks almost the same as in Kurrent. I feel like our wall-scrawler must have used Sütterlin.

That our killer is familiar with a German A implies he either reads German comfortably or corresponds regularly with people of German ancestry. Since Holmes says "a real German" would use Latin letters (so he corresponds with Germans or visits Germany), killer is presumably familiar with a German-American community, which is certainly plausible if he's from Ohio (or Pennsylvania, or much of the Upper Midwest).

Whew.

Holmes' passing mention of going "to Halle's concert to see Norman Neruda" is about seeing Czech violinist Wilma Norman-Neruda perform at an occasion organized by Anglo-German pianist and conductor Sir Charles Hallé (also Norman-Neruda's future second husband).

Finally, we arrive at the home of Constable Rance. Last episode, it was given as Audley Court, Kennington Toll Gate. The latter part is a real place, the site of a toll gate that was demolished about 15 years before the time of the story. Here's an old photo shared by The Underground Map.

Today the site of the toll gate is a plaza with public art.

The "long succession of dingy streets and dreary by-ways" suggests the cab ride was to somewhere near the old toll gate site (possibly just west of St. Mark's Church, which is the tower in the background), rather than directly to the triangle of land where it sat. There's not a lot of space right there, due to Kennington Park, which has a long history as a public common and site of hangings.

I suspect any police constable trying to live in London today would sympathize with Rance's living in a "sordid dwelling." Rance also takes bribes.

Rance is, of course, astonished by Holmes' powers of deduction. But what was the "drunk" man singing? I was sure in my heart that "Columbine" was "Columbia" (an old-fangled term for the United States) and searching for that made it possible to cheat when I Heard of Sherlock's discussion of this matter came up in my search results. It's "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean." Here's an audio file.

“Had he a whip in his hand?”

Where on earth did a whip come from? We've no such wounds on the victim, and the killer came with him in a cab.

I might not have gone but for you, and so have missed the finest study I ever came across: a study in scarlet, eh? Why shouldn’t we use a little art jargon. There’s the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.

And... title drop! If this is the fates weaving the tapestry of life, surely it says something about Holmes that all the other threads are colorless besides murder.

[klebald]

Hello my sovereign, it is I, your loyal 🪖 once again.

You’re right on the money about my gender, I consider myself a man even if the rest of the world disagrees. And even if you were wrong, I wouldn’t really mind.

My interests? How flattered am I, that the sovereign wants to know more about myself.

I have many, you see when you sit by yourself all day you fall into many things. I enjoy to research history, specifically World War One and Two. I love the weaponry and tactical aspects of it, I enjoy tanks mostly. I also enjoy literature and reading, and finally I enjoy learning other languages. I speak fluent Serbian and can read and write Russian. I also can read some Czech. And due to my school I’m taking Latin (though in a biblical context).

I would love to hear about your interests my sovereign, I’m very very curious about you. It shifts to obsession at points but I’d like to pretend all it is curiosity.

-🪖

Three times in one day, aren't I lucky? I am fond of the terms you have given me continually, if I may add, yet another reason I am lucky. Such an enigma is contacting me! I suppose that you are quite the loyal one after all. A good quality. I cannot say I am surprised that I was correct in my guess, you strike me as more masculine than anything else. The world is split on how they perceive me, in some amount, or, at least homeless strangers are when they see me from behind. Others perceptions on the self matter little when you solidify your own viewpoint. :-) It was inevitable that I would end up somewhat curious about what you spend your time doing, you hold my attention. One shared interest tends to lead to multiple others we find that we have in common, no? For example, the sitting alone for quite some time and committing to research factor. That, immediately, I related to. I have bookmark upon bookmark of webpages and directories containing information I have already looked into, or plan to in the future. The flattery may just continue, that alone considered. We also overlap with our shared liking for historical events. Wars hold a place in my heart, as well as my head that not many other things do. I do not know much about all that is less modern tactical-wise, however, military uniforms, historical sites, the casualties, of course, and tanks to some extent there is a fair deal of understanding on. I live by quite a few noteworthy monuments, and I drive by a tank left as some tourist site on my commute to school, which I reacted... Very calmly to when first seeing it. That has bred my interest a tad bit more, hearing them spoken on so frequently while in school. Literature, I happen to dabble in from time to time, you could say. I have fallen out of the habit of reading, mostly, I think that is a more unfortunate trait of mine. Nabokov is my favorite author current day, I question who yours would be, and linguistics? Another alluring commonality. Serbian is a rather charming language, in my opinion. I grew up around many speakers of it. I am under the belief that you grew up with it in your household? It doesn't tend to be one people branch out to learn on their own accord. Русский языкь, ты знаешь я понимаю, and Czech, along with Latin respectively, my knowledge falls flat on. I would love to know more! With that all in mind, I am grateful there is a great amount to bond over. 🪖 seems to be a jack of all trades.

You are an enticing human being, to put it simply. I stand impressed. There was certainly more than I expected, and that came as a pleasant surprise to me. I did mention quite a few myself, however, I suppose if you would like more from me - I take interest in most of "the arts". Writing, and such. I do occasionally draw from time to time, though, it is nothing to be impressed over. I also play music. I know how to play the violin (a fair amount), and I am in the process of learning both the piano, and the guitar. I have taught myself all of the above surprisingly well, I can play a couple of nursery rhymes on the violin by heart. I am the worst at guitar, seeing as I can't read tablature, but, one day. Coding is also something I believe myself to know a lot about. That interest is also primarily one that is self-taught, computers are just too mesmerizing to not put time into. More or less, learning things is how I occupy myself. Klebald is a fucking nerd. Here I am again, spewing on about little to nothing important, but I hold a degree of doubt that you mind very much. I apologize for the ramble; You were the one to have prompted me, I only hope that I answered your questions properly, eased said 'curiosity', and curiosity only, I can play pretend. Perhaps that curiosity will bring you back yet again... If it doesn't tonight, I will guess that you are sleeping, seeing as I am not quite aware of your timezone and it is late for me. I have little knowledge about /you/! That is to be changed through only the means of asking. I am metaphorically prodding at you with a stick to examine you, yet again. When do you sleep? How much sleep do you get? When do you tend to wake up? I am hopeful to understand all of the above. I might just understand you some, then, even a little. There is plenty to peek into present. The dissection of 🪖anon, I'll call it.

[bangjiazheng]

【Special Situation】Today afternoon,evening,Eating dinner in advance…………

【Special Situation】Today afternoon,evening,Eating dinner in advance…………

This afternoon, near the evening, I was recording seriously………(Note:Happine~,Happing~!!!!………………) Dad and Mom prepared delicious dinner, and I had dinner in advance. I ate dinner while recording, and now, I have finished dinner. After dinner, I continued to record seriously. After recording, I continued to learn Czech language, Happy Happy!!!!

Bangjia Zheng

31.10.2024 Evening

[bangjiazhengstories]

【Nostalgia】Disney animations

【Nostalgia】I know relatively less about Disney animation because there were very few on TV back then. After I have learned Czech B1 level and passed the exam, I will make up classes and watch and study Disney animation stories.

Decades ago,When I was a kid, TV stations didn't show much Disney animation. Around the end of the 1980s, there were very few TV channels where I lived. I watched TV on black and white TVs, but I never saw Disney animation. Around 1990, when I was in elementary school, I watched the animations of 【Tom and Jerry】 and 【Saint Seiya】 on TV. I was Very Happy!!!!

I learned about some 【Disney Animations】 from FC games. At this time, it was the 1990s. I remember around 1994, when I was in the fifth grade of elementary school, the school teacher organized us students to watch a movie in the school auditorium (small cinema). We only watched more than ten minutes of animation clips of (The Little Mermaid) without knowing the content.(Note:????………………Who????What????What the whole story saying??????Meow~??????????………………) During the same period, my mom took me to the cinema to watch Disney animation (The Lion King), which was a movie ticket given to employees by the company. Very Happy!!!! When I was in middle school(Since 1995), around 1996, I got a FC game cartridge, which contained the game 【The Little Mermaid】. Only then did I realize that it was a Disney animation. I only know that a happy story and defeat the big sea monster,But I've never seen it.

At the same time, in 1996, my family already had a color TV set a few years before that. The TV station where I live is broadcasting the animation (Duck Tales). I also have this game in my FC game card and know that it is a Disney animation. But there was no Internet back then, so I could only watch it on TV, and I didn’t know about other Disney animations.

It wasn’t until about 2004, when I was in university(since 2003), that I saw the animation of (The Little Mermaid). Because I studing the creative story and analyzed the story structure of the story, I watched it very carefully. (Also, I learned about several other Disney animations.)

However, because there were very few Disney animations where I lived, I didn’t watch them systematically when I was a child (I only watched part of them). After I grow up,It is impossible for us adults to pay much attention to the animations these children watch. I don't know much about Disney animation.I am not on purpose!!!!Because TV didn‘t had them a lot back then!!!!

As a story creator, I should seriously study the success story of Disney animation. I should study these characters, stories, creative ideas, etc. carefully. I wonder how popular Disney animation was when people were kids in other regions, like the Czech Republic????(Note:????……………………………………)

Disney animations mostly adapt some classic fairy tales and myths. Because the creators have passed away for a long time, the works have become public works of human society and there are no copyright issues. Anyone can adapt.(Saving Money????……………………) For example (The Little Mermaid), (Aladdin)…………………… Because many people know these classic fairy tales and myths, Disney does not need to make too many introductions, saving advertising costs and reducing market risks. And I haven't watched some Disney animations. As a story creator, I will definitely make up for this lesson seriously.

I am studying Czech seriously now, and when I pass the Czech B1 level exam, I will continue to create stories seriously. I will also make up my classes to watch Disney animations and study their creativity and story structure. I should study these characters, stories, creative ideas, etc. carefully.

Bangjia Zheng I am very serious about learning Czech language and I am Very Happy. I use a small amount of time to write a nostalgic short article and briefly talk about the nostalgic content related to Disney animation with you friend.Happy Happy!!!!

22.03.2024

[maaarine]

Will studying a new language interfere with any others you speak? (Shayla Love, Psyche, Sep 11 2023)

"When Julie Sedivy’s father died, she returned home to the Czech Republic and discovered another loss: Czech, her native tongue.

In her book Memory Speaks: On Losing and Reclaiming Language and Self (2021), Sedivy, a language scientist in Canada, describes her experience with language attrition – the forgetting of a language once known, even one learned long ago.

For her, language attrition felt connected to her learning English, which crowded out the Czech.

‘Like a household that welcomes a new child, a single mind can’t admit a new language without some impact on other languages already residing there,’ Sedivy wrote.

This is a frequent observation among multilinguals, that ‘Languages can co-exist, but they tussle, as do siblings, over mental resources and attention,’ as she put it. (…)

When new learning interferes with older learning, it’s called ‘retroactive interference’.

This is common when learning more than one language, says Kristin Lemhöfer, the senior author on the recent paper, and an associate professor in psycholinguistics at Radboud University in the Netherlands.

If you first learn that ‘dog’ is chien in French, and then you learn that it’s perro in Spanish, remembering un chien could become more effortful later.

One lingering question about retroactive interference is whether new learning can interrupt much older learning that’s been consolidated into long-term memory, rather than something learned more recently.

This new study showed it’s possible; Lemhöfer was surprised that learning Spanish words impacted the recall of the English that the Dutch participants had learned many years previously.

And interestingly, the experiments also revealed that interference can arise from simply learning a new language, whether or not it is used.

After seeing this interference demonstrated in the lab, Lemhöfer says it’s something that language learners should be prepared for: multilingualism may simply be taxing on the brain.

Multilinguals have been shown to take longer to find and produce a word in any of the languages they speak, and they can experience tip-of-the-tongue-states more often, she says.

Lemhöfer is German, spent a year in London, and then went to the Netherlands for her PhD – so she has plenty of firsthand experience with this phenomenon.

‘When I started to learn Dutch, my English was suddenly blocked,’ she says.

‘When I tried to speak it, a lot of Dutch words came out, which was embarrassing at times. It only disappeared once my Dutch became more stable, and I spoke more English again.’

It may not be completely avoidable, but Lemhöfer thinks that these effects can be alleviated by continuing to use the language that’s being forgotten or interfered with.

‘Even though we did not empirically test that in that study, we strongly believe that the forgetting effects we observed can be avoided by continuing to use the other language, too,’ Lemhöfer says."

[bitstitchbitch]

I’m starting a fun little challenge called “how much Czech can I learn in 30 days?” It’s for fun, so I’m being really loosy goosy with the rules, but the idea is this:

I chose a language that I have zero knowledge of but am motivated to learn. I’ve thought about learning Czech before but I haven’t put any effort into it until now.

I am doing my thirty days as close together as possible, but also forgiving myself if i skip a day. Skipped days don’t count towards my thirty days.

I am focusing on basic vocab and grammar rules, with emphasis on pronunciation, reading and writing. For now I’m less worried about speaking and listening, though I’ll probably do some of that.

This is intensive study, so I’m aiming for an hour a day. Probably more on weekends.

if I study Czech, I also have to do a little bit of German study so I don’t lose my low intermediate level.

I’m two days of study in (non continuous) and I’m already impressed at how much I know! It’s not sticking in my brain quite yet, but I’m at least getting acquainted with basic concepts and vocab. If I can comfortably form basic sentences by the end of this experiment, I’ll be thrilled. It took me ages to get to that level in German.

I eventually want to speak several (10+) languages at an intermediate level, with the idea being I can do periods of intensive study to bring my levels up to advanced as needed. Like, I got my Spanish to C1 in college, but it’s dropped to more of a solid B2 but I could get back to C1 pretty easily. My German’s a weak B1, so I’ll keep focusing on that for a while, but in the meantime I want to try out learning multiple languages for a short period of time, and experiment with spinning up new languages quicker.

[ladylooch]

Hello! I hope this ask isn’t annoying but Swiss person here with fam from the same region as Nico!

To elaborate on some things a prev ask said: Nico is from Brig which is still part of the (Swiss) German part of Wallis/Valais, but as soon as you go a bit further west (Sion + Sierre) they speak French, so Hisch’s two languages would be Swiss German + French! Technically speaking Swiss people also have to learn German because there’s not actually a standardized spelling for Swiss German because each canton has their own dialect, so we learn German + a second language (mostly French unless it’s like Graubünden that tends towards Italian) on top of Swiss German, kind of.

Walliser (Swiss) German IS! Notoriously difficult for non-wallis people to understand. It’s very melodic and borrows a lot from French, and just kind of pronounces things differently than anyone else? It’s kinda hard to explain, but I think it’s very nice to listen to, it’s very musical. Imo nino niederreiter is harder to understand than Nico because now that guy has one of the thickest Bünder dialects I’ve ever heard.

-> https://youtu.be/AyXXCPxq3r4 this is a fun if longer interview of baby hisch speaking a lot of Swiss German that I’m very fond of

-> https://youtu.be/Ch9occS-7ME also love this one of him touring the locker room in Swiss German to very confused teammates id imagine.

This is such a long ask but I love talking about our Swiss German guys. Hope this clears some things up??

Keep up the writing! 🥰

I cannot even express HOW happy I am that you are here!!!!! I have been hoping a Swiss person would come into my asks and share all their knowledge with us 🥰 Thank you so much! Also, apologies in advance that google translate only has High German to translate.. for Nico, Timo, AND Kevin... but I do what I can as an English only speaker 😘

You can always come and speak with me about our Swiss German babies. I love the insight into the different dialects and styles and the educational background. It's so different than my experiences here in the U.S.! I wish we were pushed to learn other languages, but the education system, where I am from at least, didn't. It isn't until your later teen years that they encourage you to dive into other languages, which we all know is entirely too late for it to stick.

OMG NINO!!!!! Ugh, still miss him with the Wild. Our precious baby that we were not ready to see go 😭 I'm very curious, what does Kevin Fiala sound like to you? Idk how his Czech and then later Swedish influence alter his dialect and language? So curious of your perspective!

Ah! Again, I'm just so thrilled you stopped by! Please continue to share your insights and I hope you don't mind, but you're being branded as a Lady Looch anon!

[prekladatelsky-orisek]

🌸 Introduction 🌸

🍃🍄Hello! I'm Tony.🍄🍃

I'm an avid language learner and linguist (I have a bachelor's degree in linguistics and am pursuing an MA). I'm studying a bunch of languages, some more actively, some more passively, and some I'm just dabbling in for fun. Usually friends are my motivation for learning languages, but sometimes it's just sheer curiosity, music, or literature that reels me in.

📚 My favorite thing to use language for is reading, especially fantasy novels! I've read books in 9 languages so far. 📚

The languages I currently use/study are:

English (native, C2)

Czech (heritage, ~C1)

German (C1)

Spanish (~B1-B2)

Esperanto (~B1-B2)

Polish (B2)

Russian (~A2-B1??)

toki pona (~A2-B1???)

Korean (~A1-A2)

Scottish Gaelic (~A1-A2)

Upper Sorbian (B1)

Latin (~A1)

📖 I'm very interested in ancient languages, and would also love to learn to read Old Church Slavonic, Old English, Middle English, and Middle High German (among others). I think it would be fun to learn Latin in order to read The Witch Hammer and silly poetry.

📖 On the conlang front, I'm curious about Na'vi (I love the ejectives!), Quenya, and Dothraki.

📖 When I have the time, I would also love to study so many other languages...like Cherokee, Swedish, Zulu, or Yiddish.

I've never been that consistently active on tumblr, but I hope that making a langblr can be motivating for me as I continue studying! ✨

[mellyoraa]

Eurovision always strengthens my desire to learn Slavic languages. I started learning basic Russian before the war bc of Melovin really, but now that continuing with Russian doesn't feel like an option anymore for obvious reasons, my eyes are starting to wander towards Ukrainian, Serbian, Czech, Polish etc 👀 👀 👀

[grayintogreen]

WIP Wednesday

I'm plugging away at chapter six right now. I'm not gonna hit 75k before tomorrow, but I DID hit 50k mid-month so I absolutely was successful at NaNo. Also the first arc of this fic and the prologue is going to be over 100k, so uh... I'm sorry? You knew what you were getting into.

ANYWAY. Here's a bit of a Widomauk scene from Chapter Five, featuring Czech as Infernal, since the Jester comic decided it and I'm chill enough to adapt it into my lexicon and give it an explanation.

There were some things you just couldn’t say in Common that would have the same effect as they would in another language, so Molly swore under his breath and said, “Jeden myslel, že si uprdne a posral se.”

Caleb looked momentarily alarmed at the guttural words that somehow managed to always sound like a threat even when all he was saying was nonsense. “Was?”

“’Once a man thought he would fart and then he shit himself instead,’” Molly translated with a twist of his upper lip. “Does not have the same ring to it in Common as it does in Infernal, but it’s true enough. You can’t spend your whole life contemplating your navel about what you thought should happen because thinking is useless. It happened. We’re here. This is what we’re dealing with. It’s not ideal, but it’s not terrible either.”

Caleb slowly blinked at him, as if he was missing the point entirely, and so Molly added, leaning closer with a wry little smirk and a casual flick of his tail so that he would get the full weight of his meaning. “So, Mr. Caleb, maybe look at the ocean and just see the ocean.”

The laugh that came from the wizard- his wizard- was more musical than it had any right to be. He caught Molly’s flicking tail and traced the ridges with a calloused thumb in a way that made his toes curl unfairly in his boots. “Will you be saying that when we have nothing but ocean and all of the time in the world to think about what we could have done better and how much more we have yet to do?”

Molly shrugged. “Thinking never gets me anywhere. I do a lot more of it than I once did, but gods does it just bring down the whole vibe of a moment.” He rested his chin on Caleb’s shoulder, tilting his head so not to stab him with his horns while Caleb continued to massage the sensitive flesh of his tail, sending little shockwaves of pleasure up his spine. He bit his lip, his eyes going half-lidded in coquettish glee. “Wanna hear something else in Infernal?”

“Does it involve shitting yourself?” Caleb lifted an eyebrow, his blue eyes sparkling with a bit of mischief. He looked so much lighter than he had when they first entered Nicodranas. If Molly wanted to overthink it, he’d probably place the cause on Jester and Marion- he’d burned their home down and yet they were still together, stronger than ever. He wasn’t the monster that destroyed families. He wasn’t a monster at all.

And yet every decision he made seemed to come from a place of either wanting to prove it or ramming himself against the temptation to prove that a few good turns would not undo years of mistakes and poor choices and conditioning.

But he didn’t want to think about any of that. If it became a pattern, then perhaps a little cornering, a little corralling back towards the light, but why ruin a moment by trying to explain away the light or fear what would dim it?

“Láska je láska. To se nedá vysvětlit,” he recited. He’d learned both phrases from Jester during a time when it became extremely obvious that everything he knew about Infernal and his own heritage was instinct. He understood the words and spoke them fine, but there were a few turns of phrase that didn’t come easily to his instinctual memory that made him squint when Jester used them. She had said it wasn’t necessarily his fault (or Lucien’s for that matter)- she knew these things because she was an eighth generation tiefling on her mother’s side. They still carried Infernal culturally, right down to the accent, rather than merely as part and parcel to their natural lineage.

Love is just love. It can never be explained. It was her favorite phrase. Her mother had taught it to her over and over again until she knew it by rote and could recite it like a daily prayer. You didn’t think about love. You didn’t analyze it. You didn’t worry about it. You just let it be.

Caleb, despite his love for the spoken and written word, didn’t ask for the translation, which seemed appropriate. Even in a foreign tongue, the meaning was clear and to ask would be to contradict it.

And there were some things Molly wasn’t willing to let be contradictory.