#a native english speaker/lived in an english-speaking country for a long time

[avinox]

I have like 300€ saved (no income) that I have to spend wisely on courses and learning and things like that, I believe my parents have decided they won't pay for anything, so I just have a roof under my head and that's about it, it's basically like being on my own except I live with a very toxic family that makes me want to die every day. I want to learn and do more before I can finally ask for a scholarship for my master's, but pretty much everything is over my budget. It's a losing game, I'm stuck, I can't get better, I can't get help, I can't leave.

[writingwithcolor]

Not all Second-Language Speakers are Made Equal.

@waltzshouldbewriting asked:

Hello! I’m writing a story that features a character who’s first language is not English. He’s East African, specifically from Nairobi, Kenya, and is pretty fluent in English but it’s not his primary language, and he grew up speaking Swahili first. I’m struggling to figure out if it’s appropriate or in character to show him forgetting English words or grammar. From what I’ve researched, English is commonly spoken in Nairobi, but it wouldn’t be what was most spoken in his home. For context, this is an action/superhero type story, so he (and other characters) are often getting tired, stressed, and emotional. He also speaks more than two languages, so it makes sense to me that it would be easier to get confused, especially in a language that wasn’t his first. But I’m worried about ending up into stereotypes or tropes. For additional context: I’m monolingual, I’ve tried to learn a second language and it’s hard. A lot of how I’m approaching this comes from my own challenges correctly speaking my own, first and only language.

Diversity in Second-Language English

You seem to have an underlying assumption that second language acquisition happens the same for everyone. 

The way your character speaks English depends on so many unknown factors: 

Where does your story take place? You mention other characters; are they also Kenyan, or are they all from different countries?

Assuming the setting is not Kenya, is English the dominant language of your setting? 

How long has your character lived in Kenya vs. where he is now? 

What are his parents’ occupations? 

What level of schooling did he reach in Nairobi before emigrating? 

What type of school(s) did he go to, public or private? Private is more likely than you think. 

Did his schooling follow the national curriculum structure or a British one? Depends on school type and time period. 

Does he have familiarity with Kenyan English, or only the British English taught in school? 

Is this a contemporary setting with internet and social media?

I bring up this list not with the expectation that you should have had all of this in your ask, but to show you that second language acquisition of English, postcolonial global English acquisition in particular, is complex. 

My wording is also intentional: the way your character speaks English. To me, exploring how his background affects what his English specifically looks like is far more culturally interesting to me than deciding whether it makes him Good or Bad at the language. 

L2 Acquisition and Fluency

But let’s talk about fluency anyway: how expressive the individual is in this language, and adherence to fundamental structural rules of the language.

Fun fact: Japanese is my first language. The language I’m more fluent in today? English. Don’t assume that an ESL individual will be less fluent in English compared to their L1 counterparts on the basis that 1) it’s their second language, or 2) they don’t speak English at home. 

There’s even a word for this—circumstantial bilingualism, where a second language is acquired by necessity due to an individual’s environment. The mechanisms of learning and outcomes are completely different. 

You said you tried learning a second language and it was hard. You cannot compare circumstantial bilingualism to a monolingual speaker’s attempts to electively learn a second language. 

Motivations?

I understand that your motivation for giving this character difficulties with English is your own personal experience. However, there are completely different social factors at play.

The judgments made towards a native speaker forgetting words or using grammar differently are rooted in ableism and classism (that the speaker must be poor, uneducated, or unintelligent). That alone is a hefty subject to cover. And I trust you to be able to cover that!

But on top of that, for a second language speaker, it’s racism and xenophobia, which often lend themselves to their own ableist or classist assumptions (that those of the speaker’s race/ethnicity must be collectively unintelligent, that they are uneducated or low class due to the occupations where they could find work, or conversely that they are snobby and isolationist and can't be bothered to learn a new language). Intersections, intersections.

If you want to explore your experiences in your writing, give a monolingual English speaker in your cast a learning disability or some other difficulty learning language, whatever you most relate with. And sure, multilingual folks can occasionally forget words like anyone else does, or think of a word in one language and take a second to come up with it in the other language. But do not assume that multilinguals, immigrants, or multiethnic individuals inherently struggle with English or with multiple languages just because you do.

~ Rina

[frvnkcastles]

Hello, I hope you are having a great day (English is not my first language, sorry) I've had this idea for a while now... frank x reader where she also doesn't have English as her first language but learned a lot from dating him. They are in a restaurant and she accidentally says the name of the order wrong and the waiter is very rude to her and this makes her very embarrassed and apologizing but Frank defends her and says it's okay... ❤️

THE BEST WORST THING ➵ F. CASTLE

Summary: You’re not a native English speaker and a waitress ridicules you for it, only for Frank to step in.

Warnings: Reader speaks English as a foreign language, hurt/comfort, language, feminine nicknames

Word count: 1.8k

Author’s note: The plot kinda got away from me at the beginning and I ended up giving more backstory than I meant to but I like how it turned out! Anyway, I’m sooooo here for Frank being head over heels for a foreign reader because I also don’t speak English as my first language and I have thought about this so many times before. I think Frank would be so supportive and fascinated and !!!!!! I love him so much. I hope you like this, anon and I’m sorry if you’ve gone through this before! You’re amazing <3

Not being a native speaker in English but living in New York was a great source of stress for you. You felt like you were in the belly of the beast, forced to learn under the circumstances, and you tried very hard to do exactly that. Still, you couldn’t hide your accent and there were situations where a mysterious word confused you or the pronunciation of another would make you nervous. It was a long journey to be on, but for the most part, people were nice about you trying to learn.

Nonetheless, when you met Frank, you were terrified. Even though you didn’t know him that well, only through brief encounters in the hallway that you shared, you had quickly put together him being an all-American kind of guy with a military background serving as proof of his loyalty to the country. And you were… not that. Well, you were trying to be a good citizen, but you couldn’t match his level, and that made you anxious around him.

But you were brought face to face with him, anyway. It was a particularly rainy day, with the sky opening up and releasing a hellish storm just as you were making it home. You were relieved to arrive at the front entrance of the apartment building, but you were soon slapped in the face with the disappointing truth — you had forgotten your keys at home.

Thankfully, you didn’t have to stand in the rain for long.

”Locked out?” his gruff voice startled you out of your thoughts, and flinching as his tall frame loomed over you, you turned to meet Frank. He was sopping wet, hair slicked back and his jacket drenched through, but he seemed more worried about you in your t-shirt and little skirt.

”Uh, yeah. Forgot keys at home”, you stammered out, standing aside as he whipped out his own set and unlocked the door for you. He graciously moved to give you space to walk in, and you snuck inside for shelter from the rain. He followed you, running his hand through his soaked hair before stepping into the elevator, and you did the same.

”Thank you”, you sent a smile his way before turning to stare at the elevator doors and twisting your sleeves uncomfortably. He made you so, so nervous, and he could tell, causing an amused smile to tug on his lips as he watched you avoid eye contact and tap your foot impatiently.

”Where you from, ma’am?” he broke the silence, and instinctively looking over to him, you found him narrowing his eyes at you, like he was trying to decipher an enigma. You felt the same way about him, like he was a complete mystery except for his Marine background, but that had been enough to make you wonder if he was a dangerous man.

You told him where you had moved from, earning a curious nod from him. ”Like the accent. Don’t let this city take it away from you”, he noted, and stunned by the compliment, you didn’t know what to say. You had no time, either, when the elevator doors opened with a ding, and he stepped out.

You went after him, unable to dodge him considering your apartments were across the same hallway, but a small smile was on your lips now. Only when you got to your door, you realized your keys were still inside and Frank couldn’t exactly let you in this time.

He seemed to come to the same conclusion, hesitating at his own doorstep. ”I have the landlord’s number. I, uh, could make some coffee while you wait”, he suggested softly, trying not to seem too menacing. He noticed you debating for a moment, but eventually, you agreed.

”Landlord?” you queried carefully, and chuckling, Frank nodded.

”Yeah, he’ll unlock the door for ya. He ain’t exactly fast, though, so you might get a lil bored sitting in the hallway waitin’ for him”, he explained, and a little embarrassed that you hadn’t put the pieces together, you made a sound.

”Alright. Well, you’re kind. Thank you, Frank”, you spoke, taking a shot in the dark — he had introduced himself once, but you had been so shaky sharing the same space with him that you couldn’t be sure you had memorized it correctly, at all. He didn’t correct you, though, so you took it as a success and stepped into his apartment.

He found a lot of excuses to bump into you after that. He helped you carry groceries inside and he fixed your leaking faucet, and in doing so, he taught you a lot of words you hadn’t had any clue about. He had a very specific way of speaking, you noticed, and you didn’t always understand his phrasing, but he encouraged you to ask. He didn’t do it to confuse you, it was just a habit, and one that you actually enjoyed. He had a nice voice and you liked listening to him even if he was lecturing you about keeping yourself safe in the city. In return, you taught him some words of your own language, and he was eager to understand your background better.

Through late nights teaching each other in your kitchen, you fell for him and he fell for you. Neither of you expected to find something so special in a neighbor, but the spark between you was impossible to deny or ignore, and so, he asked you out on a date, a real one. He was a little old-fashioned that way, wanting to take you to a fancy restaurant and spoil you, even though he had already made an impression on you. But you liked the idea, so you agreed.

On the night of the date, you felt a ball of nerves in your gut. The restaurant was, indeed, fancy, almost too much. You felt like a fish out of water — you were dressed the part, sure, and Frank had praised the way you looked with his eyes constantly scanning you over and over again. But as soon as the menu was put in front of you and you took a look at all the options, your heart sank. You weren’t sure you understood any of the intricate details on every order, and panic slowly reared its head in your chest as you tried to find anything you could actually pronounce.

”What’s this one?” you asked Frank repeatedly, your voice just a hushed whisper to avoid anyone realizing how clueless you were. Frank didn’t mind, though, and he made sure to clarify everything as thoroughly as you needed, his hand holding yours over the table as he described the options for you.

With his help, you found a meal you liked, and when the waitress arrived to take your order, you hyped yourself up to say it out loud. And when you did… it didn’t go so well.

As your misspoken words hung in the air, the waitress’ smile dropped and annoyance dawned on her face. You didn’t even fully realize you had said anything wrong, until she made a point out of it.

”This is America. Shouldn’t you know how to at least speak the language? I have no idea what you just said”, she scoffed, rolling her eyes at you. You blushed furiously and wished the ground would swallow you whole, shrinking in your seat as the shame flooded you.

”I—I’m sorry”, you began, not sure what else to do except apologize for your incompetence, but Frank cut in quickly.

”Don’t apologize, sweetheart. You did good and I know exactly what you meant”, he rasped, giving you an affirming nod before turning to the waitress with a scowl. ”You ain’t gotta be so rude, for Christ’s sake. The lady’s tryin’, can’t you tell? Have some goddamn respect for the effort”, he continued, not bothering to hide his frustration as he glared at the waitress. You smiled faintly, feeling comforted by Frank standing up for you, and it almost made up for the embarrassment itching inside you.

The waitress turned on her heel and left the table, and as soon as she was gone, Frank was reaching for you, a concerned look in his eyes. ”You okay, darlin’?” he asked, all his anger gone — or at least, in hiding. He was gentle with you, and you appreciated it, but it didn’t stop a tear from slipping from the corner of your eye.

”Just a little embarrassed”, you admitted, wiping your eyes and sniffling. You didn’t want to cause a scene, but you suspected the waitress had already done that, and you were too scared to look around you in case you’d find judging stares everywhere.

”Hey, hey, hey. You got nothin’ to be embarrassed ’bout. It’s fuckin’ hard to learn a new language. The fact that you’re doin’ this well is real impressive, sweetheart. Everyone makes mistakes and that waitress is a piece of work for bein’ so hard on ya”, he insisted, trying to catch your gaze but you struggled to look at him.

”I guess. Thank you, Frank”, you sighed, but despite your gratitude, he could tell it bothered you — which meant it still bothered him, too. He thought you were so admirable for trying, and he absolutely adored your accent, and he hated the idea of anyone attempting to put you down for not knowing everything perfectly.

The waitress returned with your plates, and you felt uneasy, but stayed silent. ”Can I get you anything else?” she asked, and without skipping a beat, Frank piped up.

”Yeah. A goddamn apology”, he nodded towards you, and with a defeated nod, the waitress turned to you. She apologized, and you weren’t entirely sure she meant it, but it was something. And what really mattered was that Frank defended you to the end.

When she left once again, Frank squeezed your hand. ”I’m sorry that happened, darlin’. You’re tryin’ hard and I see it. I think you’re doin’ a fantastic job, yeah?” he frowned, and feeling a little better by his encouragement, you gave him a smile.

”Well, I’ve learned a lot from you”, you reminded, making him snort.

”Yeah, bunch o’ swear words, huh?” he smirked, his eyes full of something warm and soft as he looked at you. He got you to giggle, so he considered his job done.

”We can still make this a damn good date, sweetheart. Whaddya say?” he asked, wanting you to walk out of the restaurant with a smile, and you didn’t doubt that you would.

”I trust you, Frank”, you promised, meaning every word.

He was right — it was a great date even, especially when he finally kissed you at the end of it, after having daydreamed about tasting your lips for weeks. And the next day? He went right back to that restaurant and made a complaint to the manager, determined to shield you from any further bad experiences.

[onskepa]

Can we get a sully kids x romanian human reader? She speaks english too but her nationality is romanian. In romanian language you pronounce every single letter.

For example

Biscuit - BISKIT (in english)

Biscuit - BIS + CU + IT (romanian)

And they are so dumbfounded about why she pronounces every letter and why no accent.

Hellooooooooo darling~!! Okie so for this I did had to use a lot of google and romanian youtube videos to understand how it sounds. So, hopefully I am closely to being accurate as I can. Lemme know if this is to your satisfaction! Enjoy!

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

Simplu

When you learn a new language, and can now speak fluently, you would feel pretty damn proud. To speak it so well and hold a conversation with a native speaker feels very rewarding and opens a new path of possibilities. And that is how the sully kids felt when they were learning how to speak english. While basic, each of them had their own level of learning it. Kiri and lo’ak were super quick to pick it up, tuk is still learning while neteyam is getting there. 

However, they are all in the level of holding simple conversations with the science guys. So every time they enter the labs, it's all english and they can't help but flex their vast knowledge of big words. To say, the sully kids were very confident and think they can understand the human language flawlessly. 

 “M-am întors din călătoria mea!”

Simplu, the name that comes along with a young woman who entered the human lab. Everyone welcomed her like an old friend. Apparently she was, often leaving the labs to risk her life for the sake of learning new things. Mostly about pandora wildlife. Often going out to follow herds or follow distinct animal behaviors to understand them better. 

And she was amazing. Introduced herself to the kids. And the sully children were liking her already, with her welcoming aura and contagious smile. They feel comfortable around Simplu, however there is just one problem. 

“Nu veți crede ce am reușit să învăț cu unele dintre animale” 

She speaks a language called “Romanian” 

But when she speaks english 

“Hello children, come along. There is so many things I would like to share with you” 

Her english is oddly clear yet has an interesting speech pattern compared to the other humans. 

“Umm…excuse me?” Kiri nervously touches the shoulder of the young woman. Turning around, Simplu looks up at her “da?”. 

“Da…? Im not da” kiri tells, feeling confused. Simplu shakes her head and waves her hand a bit, “oh I am so sorry, yes? Is there something you would like to say?” simplu tells with such patience. Her smile reaches Kiri, making her smile too. “If it is not so rude to ask but….” 

“Why do you talk so differently?” Tuk asks abruptly. Neteyam and lo’ak had to shush her. Kiri made a little hiss to warn Tuk, but simplu simply shrugged. “Sorry, its just….we have mastered the English language and can talk well like how I am. Yet, when you talk, from the fluent sounds of words, you sound it out. Every single letter, "Kiri explains. 

Putting down a cup simplu was drinking from, her full attention on the children. “Ah, so you are all curious why I sound different?” she asks, all of the kids nodded in unison. Grabbing a little ball of rubber, she begins to play with it. “Well, before Pandora, I lived in a country called Romania, a place on planet earth. Every country there speaks a different language. So, when you speak your native tongue for so long, it takes time to get accustomed to speaking a new language” she explains. 

“Oooohhh….the other science guys!” Tuk concludes. 

“Yes, correct tuk” Simplu praises, as a little reward she hands tuk a little piece of candy to which the child gladly accepts. 

“Yes, so when I speak as I do now, the sounds of the letters tend to be slightly different. I know there are plenty of fluent sounding words, but with my accent, I tend to sound out every letter. When I know I shouldn't but it happens” Simplu explains further. 

“So the language you tend to talk in. Is that your native language?” Neteyam asks. Nodding happily, simplu gives neteyam a little piece of candy too. 

“Indeed, often the names of a language are named after the place it is mostly spoken in. So, since I lived in Romania, my mother tongue is Romanian. Much like you all, you are na’vi, so you speak the na’vi language. Or, the Pandorian language. Though, it is not as unique sounding as calling it that”. 

“So, your language….how do you speak it?” lo’ak asks. Simplu gives him candy. 

“Salut prietene” Simplu says. 

“S-saoot…pree…prrrreeee….” 

The kids were trying their best to copy and learn the Romanian language. But its a lot harder to learn than it seems. 

“S-a-l-u-t p-r-i-e-t-e-n-e” simplu sounds out the word more slowly for the sully kids to catch on. But tuk sighs in frustration, “you make it sound so easy! And without your accent too!” she whines. 

Deciding to take a little break from their lesson, the sully kids huddle around simplu as she hands out more candy. “Well, I speak my language well. It is just like how you speak in yours, you dont hear an accent. Your voice becomes clear as day. It is used to speaking that way” simplu explains. 

“Your language makes the english language look easy” kiri comments. Her siblings agreeing with her. 

“Yes, there are many different types of languages to learn from. Some are easy, and some take a long time to grasp. But, since you have mastered one language, I have no doubts you will master the Romanian language” simplu encourages. 

Though, a little idea popped in kiri’s head. 

“Romania, you said you were from there. Can you tell us what it was like over there?” she asks. 

This sparked a new excitement for simplu. Clapping her hands in glee she replies, “well rațele mele mici, let's start with where it is….” 

Okie so this definitely was a little challenging. I hope I got the Romanian its down. Hope you all enjoyed this one! See ya!

--------

Simplu = Simple

 “M-am întors din călătoria mea!” = I have returned from my travel!

Nu veți crede ce am reușit să învăț cu unele dintre animale. = You will not believe what I managed to learn about with some of the animals.

Salut prietene = hello my friend

rațele mele mici = my little ducks

[everynicorobin]

If you're going to post a link to a GoFundMe for someone claiming to be from Gaza, I'm afraid I have bad news for you. They're probably a scammer. There's a lot of bots on this website claiming to be Gazans and begging people on this website for money and they all seem to speak perfect English, which shouldn't be possible because Gaza is not an English-speaking country and real Gazans don't have time to learn the language because they are much too busy trying to survive in their war-torn homeland for that or creating a Tumblr account so they can beg people like you and I on this website for money. I also hear real Gazans don't have a GFM and I get them all the time in my inbox and I don't hesitate to block and report them because they are most likely scammers. I am warning you about this so you don't get scammed and neither does anyone else who may or may not follow you. It's probably best you stick to your Nico Robin posts and don't let the scammers take advantage of your good nature and willingness to help people in need. That way, you won't get conned unwittingly by some scummy bastard who is using a legitimate humanitarian crisis to scam money out of well-intentioned and good-hearted people. Please keep this in mind in future.

I was wondering how long it would be until I got a message like this.

To start with, it’s true that there are many scammers out there, and that services like GFM and PayPal are not available in Gaza. It’s also true that many people who are or claim to be from Gaza are speaking English when communicating with this site to ask for money.

So why am I sharing campaigns? Let’s break this down:

Trusted vetters like Project Watermelon and Gaza Vetters list fundraisers that have been confirmed as legitimate. You may have noticed that I included a link for the Project Watermelon confirmation for the current fundraiser.

While fundraising services are not available in Palestine and many other countries, a person in a country where GFM is supported can make the account for a friend, and then collect the money in their own bank account and make a direct bank account transfer, which is possible unlike using GFM from Gaza directly. You may notice that many GFM descriptions say “My name is XX and I’m making this fundraiser for YY.” Others will simply put the description down as if the Gazan person themself is creating it, but this isn’t necessarily the sign of a scam.

(Some awful people have created fundraisers for legitimate families only to take the money and disappear, but there’s obviously no way to tell who will and won’t do that.)

Palestine may not be an official English speaking country, but that doesn’t mean nobody there speaks English. In addition, machine translations are easy to access. And I fully disagree with the notion that they are speaking “perfect English.” It’s not exactly broken, but I’ve had messages that mix up things that native English speakers would never mix up, like certain prepositions or pronouns. Plus, Tumblr is a website run in English and whose users mostly speak English. Would you go to a Francophone country and refuse to speak French?

Of course, for someone living in an active war zone (thankfully not the current situation due to the ceasefire), creating a tumblr account would be an extremely low priority. But if you were told that there were people on this website that would donate to you or share your campaign, actions that could possibly save your life, wouldn’t you take the two seconds to make an account?

For fundraisers that have a visible goal like GFM, I’m not going to demand of anyone specifically to donate or share. It’s not like I’ll stop posting Robins until the fundraiser hits its goal, and the fundraisers will be pinned posts with the occasional reblog so that I’m not inundating you all with them. So if you don’t want to or can’t donate or share, that’s fine! You’re free to ignore any campaigns.

With all that being said: If you are 100% sure that a campaign I link to is a scam or unverified, please contact me with proof and I’ll take it down.

[ardri-na-bpiteog]

Long post that no one asked for:

Not to like, come to the defense of french people too much, but as someone who has interacted with a lot of them, I think that some of their reputation for rudeness/coldness comes from cultural differences, particularly compared to anglophone countries. There are certain things that French people do that can come across as rude to other people but in their cultural context are fairly normal.

Switching immediately to English when you try to speak French with them:

This is admittedly quite frustrating and can be a bit of a hit to your confidence while speaking French, but honestly most of the time when people do it they're genuinely trying to be helpful. Obviously there are going to be some people who are a bit pretentious about it and just don't want to listen to you "butcher" the language, but usually people are trying to be nice by doing it. Or if they're working and they see you're struggling so they decide to switch to English because they think it will be the most efficient way to communicate. Even if someone is normally willing to help you with the language, if they have other tables to serve or there's a queue behind you, they might assume English will be more efficient.

Correcting your French grammar or pronunciation unprompted:

This can be something that's really annoying and a bit jarring because it can feel a little bit patronizing but honestly it's just something French people do. Usually, again, they see at as constructive because they're helping you correct your mistakes. But admittedly a lot of the time people who aren't French don't see it that way.

It did help me get more used to it when I learned that they do it to other French people too. Correcting grammar is a bit more socially acceptable in France. It's obviously not something everyone does all the time, but it's not reserved for non-native French speakers.

Being generally rude or unhelpful when you approach them:

This is one that I see mentioned a lot and it is often, not always, but often down to one thing:

You didn't say "bonjour".

In France, it is generally considered rude to start an interaction with a stranger without saying bonjour. You say bonjour when you enter a small shop, you say it when you approach an employee, you say it when you walk into a restaurant, and you say it if you walk up to a stranger on the street to ask for directions. If you don't, they will sometimes be rude to you because to them, you were rude first.

A phrase that I think everyone should learn before going to France as a tourist is: "Bonjour, excusez-moi de vous déranger..." (Hello, excuse me for bothering you...). This will typically be seen as more polite than going up to some stranger on the street and asking them a direct question without first saying hello.

You will obviously still occasionally run into assholes, even if you're polite, particularly in Paris. Even other French people don't really like Parisians, it's similar to the reputation that New Yorkers have for abruptness and coldness. But it's important to keep in mind that Paris is an incredibly dense, busy city. People who live there do not exist to help tourists and might be rushing off to work, plans, or trying to get home.

-----

That said, French people are generally less...warm than, say, North Americans, particularly service workers. But that's partly because they're not required to be and there are just different social norms. I've mostly found people to be quite polite and friendly though.

It's also important to remember that when you're in a foreign country, you might be the one the locals perceive as rude. I noted the "bonjour" issue above, but Americans especially are often seen as rude for their...elevated speaking volume. When you're in a tiny restaurant in a 200 year-old building, inches away from the next table, it's seen as a bit impolite to make the entire restaurant hear your conversation.

[a-hobit]

Since Luz and Hunter in your switched AU are born in 1600s colonial America and Luz clearly speaks Spanish in the AU (shown in a comic) and is Latina (specifically Dominican) in show cannon, is there any history stuff you’re adhering especially considering the differences between Spanish and English colonies in location and demographic or are you ✨going rogue?✨ Is Luz an indigenous-Spanish mix like many Latinos are today? How would she have gotten to mainland since a lot of Spanish claim was in the Caribbean or Florida and treatment of indigenous people by Europeans, specifically Spanish and British, was notoriously brutal? Sorry if I’m absolutely overthinking this. This is coming from a history nerd, so I’m just curious how that’s going to work considering the realities of racial divides in colonial settlements during 1600s America and the relatively small number of Spanish people that actually would’ve lived there by then. AGAIN SORRY IF I’M OVERTHINKING IT I’M JUST A NERD FEEL FREE TO JUST BE LIKE “NAH.”

OH btw, I noticed a comment in a comic that implied trans Hunter and just wanted to mention that there’s some super interesting accounts of LGBTQIA+ people from the time period if you’re interested. I know of a fan work about Caleb and Phillip where Caleb is trans that covers that extensively if you want a link.

I LOVE ASKS LIKE THIS ANON!! Because IM overthinking it but at least someone else is too! So there's a lot I can't answer due to spoilers -- and I actually will be explaining a fair bit because I just am so charmed at how we are so on the same wavelength here so if you don't want to not know literally anything even a little bit spoilery about Luz or Hunter before the comic comes out I would ignore this ask! -- but I will go into some of it!

Okay! So I tossed and turned on this exact issue for FUCKING MONTHS. Go rouge or loophole? How historically accurate did I want to go with this concept and how much of that accuracy am I sacrificing for just needing something to be a certain way? Do I want to be as accurate as possible or have a cohesive and interesting story?

The answer is a little bit of both! Im much more of an art history nerd than a straight up history nerd but I have my moments! I love the sociopolitical conundrum having a latina Dominican (ALSO half black! Love that about her but SO hard to write in!) girl in 1600s America because it can be as little or as highly complicated as you can get. I drew a lot of inspiration for a long few months pouring over what groups of people were where and when -- what languages they spoke -- wether the books that I could find could describe a day to day of these people rather than just political conflicts.

Footnote : There are certain Native American groups so fucking overlooked that they don't even have ONE BOOK of comprehensive (non war centered) history that isn't a four year old reading level. I looked for WEEKS. I tried everywhere and was even willing to start to buy reading material but it just doesn't exist? Especially around the original colonies????? HOW!! People around me started telling me I should write a book because of how much I was obsessing over it and trying to find any information but no books can be written on close to NONEXISTENT historical writings! OKAY BACK TO IT--

I looked out for the first sightings of Spanish in the west and where they were headed -- wether or not any Spanish broke away from the group to have children with the Native Americans in the area at the right time -- what the political state was between Britain and Spain -- did they occupy the same or around the same places close enough I could fudge it? Were they friendly toward each other? When were slaves from other countries brought to America? What languages would they have spoken and is there a good translator online? What kind of spanglish can come from Angola, Umbundu and Spanish speakers at the time? Or would it be spanglish with Portuguese because of who was controlling the slave trade at the time?

Tearing out my hair and a hundred more google searches later I decided it wasn't worth the misrepresentation of both languages to try and include either of them mixed together in that way in the whole comic-- just bits and pieces separate for my sanity -- although I WILL get some cultural things in there I promise!

Some things just can not stay historically accurate and one of those things is speech. That was the first thing -- so damn difficult to really pin it down properly in the older dialects so I just had to sadly put that away first. All of the languages written about will be mostly modern versions, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and others but while keeping in mind the time frame.

Next I obsessed about when and where exactly would culture mixing begin and if the people stayed in the same spots! Also unfortunate ( for this AU purpose only! )that most of the Spanish went down and not into the Americas but history will be what it is.

SO

I decided that what I was going to do is make it up a little using a lot of historical context available instead of switching up Luz's race in a serious way to make the accuracy better -- I was going to have things happen MUCH sooner. Like 2 or 3 generations sooner. The Native Americans and Spanish populate together in 1500 ish instead of 1700 or 1800. I GET THIS IS REALLY INACCURATE but it was so fucking impossible to do anything else without getting into things I didn't want to do. The British get there the same time as usual and start the colonies in the 1600s but the Spanish are already moving up into North America and have already spent a lot of time with the Native Americans there at the time. SO that means that Luz is able to have a Native Mexican/ Native American AND Spanish mix at the time of the AU start and be similar to how the population became around now -- my dad inspired this! He's got the same mix himself and I loved that I could pull from that. It's such an interesting genetic tree honestly -- there's a lot of seriously horrible things that happened do not get me wrong -- but the history is amazing.

Luz being half black however feels similarly difficult but it follows the same principles of things with everyone who is not British making things happen much earlier. Africans come to America ( Horrifically and brutally I want to make that very clear) and some in real life of course make their way out of that brutality and hide away from the British and the Spanish...with who? The mixed Natives and Spaniards. Couple of generations later and we have a beautiful mixed pot like the America we see today but hundreds of years early that allows me to keep my afro Latina!! Hunter eventually finds this group that has naturally traveled up into where the british are setting up their first settlements in Virginia and joins them for reasons I can not explain!

THANK YOU for letting me ramble about all this rich history it is incredible.

ALSO I love trans Hunter HC and I do a lot of it myself but in this comic Hunter is cisgender. ( BUT seriously if you wanna hc Hunter as trans in my story I would love it -- trans fem or masc because Hunter is one of the transest coded characters ever) Because both him and Luz are attracted to the same and opposite sex I will still be able to explore certain LGBTQIA+ issues as well!

(DISCLAIMER : Listen I completely understand if this switching around might feel tone deaf to some people but I do not intend to shy away from the brutality of the past or give it a nicer spin -- but this is not a comic focused on the nitty gritty details of the world that Luz and Hunter come from but a focus on the nastiness that comes from later in their lives in Gravesfeild and the witch trials. To have this happen and keep all characters relatively the same I had to do a lot of background but It is worth it to keep these characters with their integrity intact)

[pebblysand]

I have a question, how did you manage writing a long-fic in a different language? I'm not a native English speaker so I get a little self conscious with my english writing

hi anon! aw, thanks for this question. lots of hugs to you ❤️🫂.

i think generally, i'm not necessarily the right person to ask this to. i'm very lucky/privileged that i learnt english at a very young age (i was in international school in primary school), which tremendously helped. i'm not sure i'd be where i am with my english now, had i not learnt it from the age of 8/9 years old.

i started writing when i was 12/13. at the beginning, i wrote in french, but i quickly switched to english around 14/15. i think at the time, my english was good (much better than that of other kids my age) but i wasn't fluent. it was definitely hard(er) to write for me in english, but my main motivation was that my mother did not speak it, so i could write on the family computer without her being able to read what i was writing 😅. a very good reason to make an effort, haha!

obviously, at the time, the quality of what i was writing left a lot to be desired (lol), which was partially because i was so young, but also partially because i still made a lot of grammatical mistakes, etc. you talk about self-consciousness - i think that's so much easier to get over when you're young and fearless, and posting your (relatively) shit fics on the internet - much harder if you're starting out as an adult. i think this is the case for writing overall, but being young and a reckless teenager who doesn't give a fuck, helps so much with the anxiety. as an adult, you question yourself a lot more. so again, that was something i had going for me.

that said, i actually think writing in english did amazing things for my english in general. a little like reading: it extended my vocabulary, made me more familiar with the way english-language fiction was written, with punctuation, etc. in a couple of years, i went from being "good at a foreign language" to being pretty much fluent. this was also because concurrently, i was reading in english a lot, watching a lot of english-language media, etc. i don't think it was just the writing, but it definitely contributed. i'm not exactly sure how quickly my confidence improved, but i do remember that when i was sixteen, my english teacher assigned us to (basically) write fanfiction (i.e. continue a short story we'd read in class as a writing exercise) - she asked for a 1 pager and i gave her 10, which means that by then, i was already confident enough in my writing in english to produce that. i remember she really liked it, and said i wrote well (i suppose, again, for my age), so i think by that age, i was already comfortable enough to draft something good in english.

i think the other turning point was also when i moved to another english-speaking country. i moved to ireland when i was 19 and i think that really boosted my confidence and my english-writing tremendously too. i know this is an awfully privileged thing to say but honestly, the advantages you get from living in an english-speaking country in terms of writing as an ESL speaker are impossible to get another way. the way people speak in tv shows and media in general is actually rather sanitised and stilted. i'm sure even in your language, you probably see that too: the dialogue in films/tv is always more polished than the way real people talk. so based on media alone, it's very hard to write in english and replicate reality. and i think the issue is, even if you have english-speaking friends in your country, chances are you guys speak a sort of "international english" together, which IMO is a dialect in itself (the dialect that i personally speak), but it isn't really the way native people speak.

all of this to say that i am literally littered with various privileges and advantages that make it easier for me to write in english. i learnt it early, i learnt to write in it early and at an age where shame isn't really a concern, and i've been living in english-speaking countries for most of my adult life. all of these factors combined make it easier for me to write in english than it is for most ESL speakers.

having said that, i obviously still struggle sometimes. for example, i cannot choose the right preposition to save my LIFE 🤣. you cannot imagine the number of drafts i have where it's like: "is it look at his feet? look to his feet?" "is it: in Hogwarts? at Hogwarts?" etc. i also struggle with dialect. being in an irish environment but writing british english can be a bit confusing sometimes, and obviously within these countries, there are a lot of internal dialects, and that's not even mentioning the US, Canada, etc.

i think the advice i would still have is probably 1) to acknowledge that you will never be perfect/as good as a native speaker. i know this might sound discouraging at first glance, but actually, i find it quite freeing. because you don't have to be perfect. you don't have to be something you're not. because 2) you have a lot of other things to bring to the table. like, yes, your grammar might not always be perfect and your dialogue might be a bit off, but you also have a whole other culture and language, and vision of the world to bring to your writing. ultimately, that's invaluable too. the grammar and dialect stuff are both things that are super easily fixable by getting a beta if you can. also things like grammarly and other such tools can help tremendously. but your background and the richness of your experiences as someone who speaks multiple languages does massively more than compensate. it's not something you have to be ashamed of, it's something to be celebrated! it's something that will make your writing richer with a different vision of life, a world of metaphors, and a world of characters native english speakers would kill for.

and, also, remember that many accomplished writers (many of the Greats) wrote in their second languages. just off the top of my head: Jack Kerouac, one of the most celebrated american writers of the 20th century, spoke french as a first language, but wrote in english. samuel beckett was irish, but wrote in french. hell, there's a whole wikipedia page full of names here! you are definitely not alone!!

lastly, i think, be proud of yourself! be proud of what you've accomplished so far. celebrate your fics and your wins. you speak and write in two language: how amazing! you're not lacking, you're thriving. like, for my part, i'm insanely proud of having not only finished a 400,000 words fic, i did it in a foreign language! people forget that. i forget that sometimes. i try to remember that it's a fucking FEAT, even if my prepositions are always a bit off, haha! ❤️

and, i'm also linking this here below but myself and @venom0usbarbie recorded a podcast episode a while back about writing in ESL, that might be useful/helpful to you! ❤️

[sonicjustbecause]

In 1991, I and my friends took Sonic for a cat and later for a porcupine.

As you saw from my previous posts (if you read them), my English sucks. That's because not only I'm not a native English speaker. I don't live in a English speaking country. And I learned English by my own, mostly. This at least allows me to read and understand English, and after a while of listening understand half of spoken English (I never watched Sonic prime in my own language, except for few videos on YT).

Being said, in 1991 I was a monolingual child (like everybody around me) and I didn't understand the word 'hedgehog'. I saw this cute animal with triangle ears, a round face, large round eyes and tuxedo fur pattern and I and my friends (two fraternal twins, they were my friends since kindergarden) were confident Sonic was a cat. Short tail? What about the Japanese Bobtail and the Manx?

Calico/tortie and blue

A cat face shares about the same features of Sonic and Shadow's. Tall triangular ears, round face, a short muzzle, large almond-round eyes (If Shadow hadn't his frown, his eyes would be as round as Sonic's).

A hedgehog. Hedgehogs have more apart ears, like those of manuls, triangular faces, small eyes and a long nose. Sonic and Shadow have a long nose, but Amy has a short triangular nose like a cat.

Side view

They have flat faces and round forehead, like my first cat (who lived almost 20 years) and not the long, pointy face of a hedgehog. Shadow is also a tortie, a fur colour found virtually only on female cats, they are often black with red patches and might have a triangular white pacth on their chest, just like Shadow. Male torties are as rare as 1:3000 and most of the time sterile, unless they aren't chimeras (is the opposite of identical twins. Two fertilize eggs fuse togheter and generate a single being).

However their 'hedgehogness' is clearly visible when seen fully...

Long quills but still...

Anthro character usually are made cuter than their real counterparts. Sometimes the desired effect is a character who look soft. Both cartoon/anime human and anthro character tend to be based on cat or babies so they look cuter. It is called 'neoteny'

Now, why we ended to think Sonic was a porcupine, once we learned he wasn't a cat?

Bad translation, just bad translation that persists today:

My english vocaboulary didn't help, since ythe word 'hedgehog was translated with both 'riccio' (hedgehog in Italian) and 'porcospino/istrice'

The only thing porcupines have in common with Sonic and Shadow is the lenght of their quills.

Luckily they got right in Sonic Satam and AoStH (that is partly Italian). Sonic was correctly classified as 'riccio'

Uh, pre-Sonic generations?

[pinewoodpipit]

slàinte, mo ghràdh - Fic Meta

A meta post for my fluff fic, slàinte, mo ghràdh! I'll put the meta thoughts in after a cut, as usual.

-

The Fic's Title

The title, "slàinte, mo ghràdh", is Gaidhlig / Scottish Gaelic for "cheers, my love". I'm not a fluent Gaidhlig speaker but I am learning, and I'm really fond of it as a language. Gaidhlig is really incredibly important to our culture, especially because speaking our native Scottish languages was actually illegal here for a long time as part of an assimilation effort to "civilise" the Highlands. Very few people speak our languages here, now, but we're working hard to try and keep our languages alive. I thought this would be a nice way to include it.

-

Real Places

Lots of the places in this fic are real places in Edinburgh! The museum, of course, is real.

The hotel they stayed in is also real, and I even looked ahead of time to see what their rooms would look like.

The restaurant they went to get the cranachan is the Abbotsford Bar and Restaurant, since I'd read that their cranachan is good and gets recommended by Edinburgh locals. The main street is, of course, real, and the park they went to when it was snowing is The Meadows, the same place where the torch procession started.

The horse statues at the end are The Kelpies, giant horse head statues which light up at night and look incredible in the snow. They're bigger than you might think just from looking at pictures!

-

Foods Mentioned

Most food mentioned in this fic is real.

Rumbledethump is a real cabbage dish here, made with cabbage, potato, swede, and cheese, and you can get it in little pastries sometimes.

Cranachans are a real dessert here, and a very historical one, originally made to celebrate the autumn harvests :) they're great, although usually better when made at home rather than eaten at a restaurant.

Sticky toffee pudding is INCREDIBLE and one of the best things we've got. That sauce could heal any wounds. It's meant to come with hot sauce to drench the cake, and the ice cream melts into it. UGH I could die.

Curry stuffed naan is a real thing you can get at our Christmas markets in Edinburgh - curry is also pretty widely loved in the UK. Tikka Masala was invented here by a Bangladeshi-Scottish man, Ali Ahmed Aslam, back in the 1970s! Phall was also invented in Birmingham. The UK really likes curry.

Cock-a-leekie is a real soup here. It's just chicken and leek soup. Cullen skink is also a real meal here, and it's a thick haddock soup. Seafood and fish is very commonly eaten here, and salmon is especially good in Scotland. We do seafood right.

I disagree fundamentally with "British food sucks" jokes because honestly, I feel like people who say that haven't tried actual British food. British is not synonymous with English; Britain is a collection of several countries which includes England, and just using Scotland as an example, we have some really fantastic foods. It's sad to me to see it get written off when so much of Scottish culture has had to fight tooth and nail just to exist after centuries of assimilation efforts. Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are all countries in our own right and our cultures - and tastes in food - exist independently from England.

-

Hogmanay

New Year is focused on a little more in this fic, and there's a reason for that - generally, New Year is a bigger holiday in Scotland than Christmas, and there's historical context for it. Christmas was actually made illegal here back in the 1600s, and as a result, Hogmanay (or New Year) became a large celebration in its own right. The Scots LOVE Hogmanay, and New Year celebrations in Edinburgh is a festival which lasts several days, including the torch procession (a LOT of our celebrations include fire), ceilidh, live music festivals, drinking pub nights, and fireworks etc.

The ban on Christmas was lifted about seventy years later, but Hogmanay was still a huge celebration, and it's an important part of our lives, now.

-

Clothes

The ugly sweaters mentioned in the fic are real.

The nicer ones are also real, and I really like them! Truly though, they're not warm enough to keep you cosy in the snow. You need a thick coat, winter boots, and probably also a hat/gloves/scarf for that. The cold here is no joke; even though the temperatures don't look that cold, Scotland is so humid and wet that it's really impossible to escape and it burrows deep. I know people who live through -20C Canadian winters with no problem but HATE wintering in Scotland because it's miserable, even if it's not that cold on paper.

-

Other

The reindeer plush is a reference to my freckle fic!

It's him, but reindeer flavoured.

[dearlexies]

Hey guys, I finished the first chapter of "Party in Ipanema, baby" and to be honest I'm pretty anxious and excited bc it's the first long fic that i post after a long time writing mostly nothing, I will probably post tomorrow (I'm not sure yet)... But I just wanted to explain a few things about this universe. So pls If you've ever been interested in something I've written, I want you to read this.

First, this Fanfic will take place in Brazil. Originally the plan was to write in Portuguese, and post during the Interlagos GP week but I had some problems that prevented me from posting so, here we are, I had to translate from Portuguese to English all the first chapter. I changed expressions and jokes that would only make sense in my native language so that you English speakers could understand, but I didn't change the setting because that's important for the story and for me. I also changed the nationality of some divers making them Brazilians (like lewis who has citizenship) or gave them some context for living here (like Yuki, I used the fact that he is Japanese and Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan to make him the son of immigrants.)

I'll try to explain these things better during the story, and develop them better there.

The point is, with this fanfic I want to try to have fun writing in a context that is familiar to me. I grew up here, I speak the language, and I understand the situation we are living in at the moment. I also kind of want to make people see my country as something beyond the stereotypes of crime, poverty, theft etc.

I hope you enjoy it, it was really fun writing the first chapter.

PS: The Lewis and Max Halloween one-shot it's almost ready I decided at the last minute to give a plot instead of just smut, I'm also at the end of the one shot brocedes so maybe I'll post it this month?

[engin-program]

👨‍💼 Meet Oleksandr Afanasiev, a young leader and professional aiming to change the world for the better.

🌐🤝 Oleksandr is an experienced individual in the fields of youth politics and international relations. He was a legal adviser to a Ukrainian political party, dealing with legislation and regulatory documents. For a long period of time, he was responsible for external affairs in a Ukrainian youth political organization and served as a delegate to one of the largest European youth political organizations – the Youth of the European People’s Party (YEPP). Recently, Oleksandr was elected to the Board of YEPP as the only Ukrainian representative and now holds the position of Vice President.

🎓 Furthermore, he has a very strong educational background. Oleksandr has completed two degrees: a Master of Law from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and a Master of Public Policy and Administration from Kyiv School of Economics. He has successfully completed two certificate programs from Ukrainian Catholic University in European Studies and American Politics. Oleksandr has participated in numerous educational programs in Ukraine and abroad, including being a scholar at the European Forum Alpbach.

💫💪 Despite having a good level of English, Oleksandr is willing to constantly improve it. Therefore, he believes that ENGin is a great opportunity to advance his speaking skills by practicing the language with native speakers. Oleksandr believes that participating in the program is a great opportunity to tell people abroad about the horrible tragedy unfolding in Ukraine. He is convinced that it is the duty of every Ukrainian to convey accurate messages and narratives about what is happening in their country, what they are fighting for, and why it’s also important for people who live far away.

🌎✨ Ready to make a difference? We invite you to join ENGin as a volunteer and become a buddy for individuals like Oleksandr, who aspire to create positive changes in the world. 🌟

[learnenglish62]

Tips on how to learn English fast

englishsentencesfordailyuse

Here are our top notch tips on how to learn Speech quickly:

1 . Study everything you can get the hands on

Classic booklets, paperbacks, newspapers, web-sites, emails, your social media marketing feed, cereal container: if it’s around English, read the application. Why? Well, this article will be full of hot new vocabulary, or a fair amount you're fully cognizant. This helps you enhance quickly, as re-exposure to learned terminology gives you new types in context, subsequently reinforcing those key phrases in your mind. On the other hand, studying new words together with expressions is essential to help building your vocab arsenal, particularly in a very language like Uk with so many ideas!

englishsentencesfordailyuse

2 . Actively make a note of new vocabulary

This approach tip is a typical one for good factor: it works! When ever learning, we typically enjoy a new phrase of phrase a lot that forgetting it appears impossible. But believe us, not all sorts of things sticks the first time. So that you can fight this, enter into the habit associated with carrying around your funky notebook and using a tool just like Evernote. Whenever you perceive or read a fresh word or manifestation, write it off in context: that is definitely, in a sentence with its meaning mentioned. This saves most people time as you won’t return to that expression and ask yourself: “What did that word/expression mean again? ”

Talk with realistic live humans

What exactly is language for or even to communicate? Certain, we humans have grown to be experts at connecting without opening your mouths - thank you Whatsapp! - nevertheless when push relates to shove, it’s authentic that speaking a good language helps this stick in your head much better than only examining or writing the idea. Just think of the number of times you’ve over heard people say them to “understand, but can’t speak English. ” A lot of would-be Native english speakers speakers have changed talking into a massive insurmountable barrier that will only serves to help you psyche them out there. Don’t be like which. Seek out native sound systems for an informal speech exchange, enroll in an application, or take lessons online.

Sign up to podcasts or Vimeo channels (in English)

Like humor? National politics? Blogging? Cooking? Along with topics covering each and every interest imaginable, there’s an English-speaking podcast or Youtube funnel out there for you. Become a member of a few and respond while driving and also watch during the travel to school or even work. At first, many times the native decor difficult, but stick to it and you’ll soon enough start to understand what anyone hear (as effectively as learning a great deal of new vocab by a native speaker! )

Go elsewhere

If there’s an easier way to learn English compared to being immersed in buying it while living and additionally studying in an English-speaking country, we’d wish to know! It’s zero secret that British is the most widely-spoken language in the world, obese a long list of countries to decide on between, you can decide upon your ideal mastering environment based on hemisphere, weather, or most desired city.

Benefit from your friends

Have associates who post internet in English? Don’t gloss over these individuals in your newsfeed: run over the items they promote and commit to looking at one or two each day. They usually are news or paper articles, videos, describe, blog posts, songs, or simply anything else: if it’s in English plus the topic interests people, it’s going to end up helpful!

Talk to a lot of questions

Desire may have killed your cat, but it also propelled the language novice to fluency! Because you learn English, you’ll soon collect some sort of mountain of problems. Don’t sit on a doubts - get curious and get rid of them! If you’re enrolled in a course, inquire your teacher (it’s what they’re in that respect there for, after all). But if you’re learning alone, don’t worry: find right answers in blogs and language websites, require other learners, and also read through forums. You’ll be happy everyone did!

Please take a lead from the superstars

Mix up a person's learning by how to pick a native English-speaking professional or singer you want. Now, head on line, find a bunch of interview they’ve given - and watch them! Enjoy once for gist, then again, taking time for them to note down interesting words and phrases and words most people hear. The slang, stories, humor, in addition to anecdotes that come due to these interview will definitely give you plenty to partner with!

Start with what we really need

Your Speech studies are likely to travel far more quickly in the event you constantly remind one self of your motives to get learning. Are you fat loss study exchange? After that, focus on vocabulary associated with your studies. Come with an overseas conference? Wash up on conversation rookies to use with the various participants. Going on a distance year? Looks like vacation and tourism language will be your information. If you simply unveiling into learning Uk hoping to like magic learn anything and everything at any one time, you’re likely to turn out confused and burnt out. Which provides us to…

Don’t kick all by yourself while you’re straight down

When you start to sense you are you’re not helping to make ground - that happens to all individuals at some point - don’t say, “I don’t speak English, ” or “I’ll for no reason get this. ” Actually , ban those important phrases from your vocabulary! They will only blur ones understanding of the move on you’re making along with convince you that this dreams of discussing English well can be impossible. Instead, declare “I’m learning Native english speakers and making developments everyday, ” “It’s not always easy, although it’s worth it, ” “I’m so much more desirable that I was few months ago, ” as well phrases to imply to yourself of the massive picture.

[oliviab-scstudyabroad]

Welcome to English Camp! (Part I)

Hey guys! I apologize again for another late post; I’ve been extremely busy as usual! School has been taking up most of my time, as ORT is known for their course grades being heavily weighted on midterms and group projects. I haven’t had a single homework assignment here, but I do have tons of Zoom Meetings and study sessions with classmates. Last week, I had a parcial (miderm) for my Business Law class, and I got an 83%! I was proud of myself because not only is the class taught in Spanish, but it also discusses business law specifically in Uruguay. I also had a parcial for Uruguayan Economy and Society, and fingers crossed that that went well also! Although studying was tedious for that course, I enjoyed doing research and reading articles because it gives context for a lot of the conversations that my classmates have here. This weekend, I’m heading to Buenos Aires to blow off some steam and explore more of such a lively city.

A few weeks ago, I worked as a camp counselor for an English camp! I got the job because the academic coordinator at ORT forwarded an email from the academic coordinator of Escuela Integral, an elementary school that is affiliated with ORT because they’re both Jewish! At Escuela, the students are taught English and Hebrew, and Escuela is one of the only Jewish elementary schools left in the country. After an interview with the head camp counselor, I was hired! The camp lasted for three days, Wednesday to Friday, and it was in Atlántida, about an hour from Montevideo. At 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, I arrived at Escuela with my things and met the other camp counselors. Two of them were Uruguayan, and one was American (from Boston). I also met the kids; they were fifth graders (10 years old), and they were already bouncing off the walls before we left, so I knew I was in for a long ride. We then boarded the bus and headed to Camp Floresta!

The site was your typical summer camp site. It was complete with a cabin with bunk beds, a bonfire area, and a soccer field. We got a tour of the site and the counselors explained the rules of the camp. The main rule was to only speak English. We then did several ice breaker challenges, including “Line Up”, where the students had to (in English) put themselves in order based on their birthday and name. It was pretty adorable because when they asked me for help, they would speak to me in Spanglish. For example, when I asked one kid what his birthday was, he said “eleven of Julio” (July 11th). Although their English was questionable, I was still impressed that we could carry little conversations and that they weren’t timid about speaking to a native speaker. They also played “Try to Stand Up” where they had to form pairs, intertwine their arms, and try to stand up together, and “Human Bingo”, where they had to get signatures from their classmates if they had done that activity on the Bingo Sheet. For example, if a student had gone on a plane before, they signed their name in that square.

After the icebreaker activities, we had lunch. I was asked to sit with the students so that they could practice their English, and it was hilarious to hear the types of conversations that 10-year-olds have. One kid named Jeronimo (love that name) told me that he has an 18-year-old girlfriend named Flavia. He had this mischievous grin on his face, and the girl next to me (Lisette) said that he met her across the street. I then realized that he was the one waving at people walking by the camp and asking them what their names were! Flavia must live in the neighborhood hahah. Most of them only spoke to me in Spanish in the beginning. A lot of them thought I was Uruguayan, and although that’s a big compliment to me, I assured them that I wasn’t and that I “only knew English”.

After lunch, the class was divided up into four groups, and each was assigned a color (green, yellow, red, and orange). The counselors then explained that throughout the camp, the students would receive tokens for things that they had done well, such as cleaning up after lunch or speaking in English. The team who had the most coins at the end of the camp would receive a prize! Each team then had to create a team flag and make up a song and dance to present to the class. I was in charge of helping the green group. I suggested that they come up with their team’s name first and then base their song around the name. At first, they wanted to be called the “Green Group”, but I told them to come up with something more creative. They decided to be called the Grinches! I helped them draw a crown on their flag with lightning bolts, and they made up the choreography and lyrics. I tried not to laugh when they were coming up with the lyrics. They went something like this:

We are the Grinch, Grinch, Grinch

The best of teams, teams, teams

We are a group, group, group

The best of group, group, group

We are Grinch!

The Grinches then performed in front of the class. I had to take a video because they were so into it and serious about making sure everything was perfect. After, the kids had free time, so I helped them with getting on and off the zipline! We then had tea as a group, and then there was another activity. Each group had to sit together, and the counselors would ask them trivia questions. Some of them were “name five countries in Asia”, “who is the president of Chile”, and “what is the capital of France”. The kids were out of control at this point. I think they were antsy after having free time and exhausted from getting up early to board the bus, but the trivia game that should’ve lasted 30 minutes ended up lasting two hours. It made me have a deeper appreciation for teachers, because I certainly don’t have the patience to deal with rowdy kids for that long. After finally finishing the game (the winner got a few tokens), we had a dinner of milanesa and French fries (a typical Uruguayan meal).

While the students were finishing up dinner, I helped the other counselors to put up a disco ball, hang up neon lights, and create a playlist with English songs for a Neon Party! Each student received a “VIP” ticket to admission for the party, and once they entered the dance floor, we encouraged them to dance with their friends and sing the English songs (“Dynamite, “Tik Tok”, “Party Rock Anthem”, basically the hits from the early 2000’s). I also did face paint on some of the kids, and they loved that the colors were neon! A lot of the students were beat after a packed day, so we went to bed as soon as the music cut out and the lights turned off.

That concludes my first day at the camp; stay tuned for Part II!

[uiido]

I grew up in a very, very mormon-heavy area of Las Vegas and have countless LDS friends. I even considered attending BYU for my bachelors, despite not being LDS. As an adult though I live in an area where mormons are not common at all, so I have a bit of experience with missionaries in both prevalent and non-prevalant areas. Here’s a few things I think that are worth adding to this list re: kindess to mormon missionaries.

1.) If you are a house with only women inside it, either because no men live there or because any men who do aren’t home at the moment, missionary men are not allowed to enter. But women may be invited inside. And I believe the same is true vice versa, but I was in a house of women so I don’t have the same experience the other way. Use this as a mechanism to give yourself a gentle out if you feel uncomfortable.

2.) Missionaries, both men and women, are largely cut off from the world. They don’t know about politics, they don’t know about a war across an ocean, and they might not even know about a hurricane only a few days away from making landfall from them. Unless it’s affecting them in the next 24-48 hours, they usually don’t know about it. If you decide to invite missionaries into your house, you can leave the TV on a news channel for them to see - and that’s a totally permitted way for them to see the world!

3.) It’s becoming more of a trend for missionaries to be in contact with their families on a more regular basis now, but historically they didn’t get to talk to their families very much at all. And they’re certainly not texting or sending photos. If you’re feeling generous, ask the missionaries if they would like to have a photo taken to text a loved one at home. Most parents are exceptionally grateful to see their kids. Missions are a long time to be away from home when you’re young - potentially in a place you’re not a native speaker to - and not getting to talk to your family and friends can be emotionally wearing.

4.) Most missionaries either have to walk a distance before someone with the church will pick them up in a car, or they are strictly reliant for bikes for transportation - and that in every country, not just north America. If you’re driving by and you see missionaries on bikes it’s usually very kind to offer them a ride, especially if it’s very hot or very cold. Or if they come somewhere like your house, a bottle of water can be very much appreciated.

5.) Honestly in my experience, speaking with missionaries but not being LDS myself, as long as you are really respectful and understanding of them, missionaries will not want to sell you on their religion. If you express any familiarity or understanding of the religion, and do so with kindness, they will likely accept they’re not going to convert you now where others have failed, and instead will just want to share stories. When I moved away from Las Vegas I warmly invited a trio of girls into my house, jokingly asked if friends had sent them to us to pray with us, but told them I was from Las Vegas and knew how hard a mission was. We spent our time talking about how small their wards were where they lived and how massive they were in Vegas, just comparing different worlds.

6.) Mormon missionaries can be sent anywhere from Salt Lake City, Utah to DC where they have to speak spanish, to Guatemala, to France, and I even met a few mormon missionaries when I lived in Japan (they were very happy to be able to speak English for a change). A lot of missionaries have only about 6 weeks to have a crash course to learn a new language, and then how to preach in said language, before being sent into a totally new environment. If you are somewhere with a community that doesn’t speak english, be aware most of those kids are only speaking that language for the first time - congratulate them on their hard work!

7.) Mormon missionaries will not fight you or argue with you if you politely tell them no thank you, you’re not interested. They will always be polite and respectful, unless they are in physical danger. Consider how bad it will make everyone else in the world look to be rude to them. Simply treat others the way you want to be treated.

Again, I’m not LDS and I’ve never done a mission so I can’t say how 100% my information is - but this is what I’ve seen from a kindhearted other side.

[sai-musik-worldwide]

Behind the scenes of SAI : How SAI got to SXSW2025 stage. - Friday, January 24, 2025

Hey there! This is SAI. First of all, thank you so much for making your way to this page.

I’ve been officially selected as an artist for SXSW (South by Southwest)….! Wow! I’m so happy….!!!

For those who’ve been following me since late October (or even earlier) when I started my stay in New Zealand, you probably already know—it hasn’t been a smooth journey at all. Haha.

Before Coming to New Zealand

Life in New Zealand

Recognizing Myself as an Artist in New Zealand

Behind the Scenes of SXSW

Behind the Journey to SXSW: SAI’s Story

NEW SONG “Got Oq Kid”

Diary Entry Around January 22nd

★

Before Coming to New Zealand

The main reason I came to New Zealand was that I wanted to try working in English as part of my long-term goal of considering a future base overseas. Working abroad is quite difficult unless you have a visa like a Working Holiday Visa, so I thought, “This is my one chance to work abroad in my life!” That was the initial reason for my decision.

For the record, I’ve come this far through self-study. So, if you’re someone who’s worried about not being able to speak English, trust me—you can do it.

There are Asian musicians thriving in Western countries (or globally), like Yaeji, Beabadoobee, or ORONO from SUPERORGANISM. • Yaeji is of Korean descent but born and raised in the US. • Beabadoobee has Filipino roots but is based in the UK. • ORONO is Japanese but attended school in the US.

This means they’re native English speakers and live in Western countries/America, which creates far more opportunities for them compared to someone like me, a Japanese-born and raised artist. (Of course, they’ve achieved their success through their immense talent, but still!)

So while starting my career from Japan and trying to break into overseas markets is great, I realized I needed to extend my stay abroad to grab as many opportunities as possible—and I’m still thinking that way.

This means they’re native English speakers and live in Western countries/America, which creates far more opportunities for them compared to someone like me, a Japanese-born and raised artist. (Of course, they’ve achieved their success through their immense talent, but still!)

So while starting my career from Japan and trying to break into overseas markets is great, I realized I needed to extend my stay abroad to grab as many opportunities as possible—and I’m still thinking that way.

★

Preparing to come here was already a challenge.It was very difficult because the cost of living in New Zealand is three times that of Japan. It was a stoic year where I focused only on preparations rather than performing live.

Some people were supportive and didn’t question my decision, but others made comments like, “You’re leaving your husband behind?”—which left me feeling conflicted. Haha.(If this is your first time reading about me, you might be surprised, but I’m a very open artist who shares a lot about myself.)

The Working Holiday Visa is only available until you’re 30, so my husband couldn’t come with me due to age restrictions. But importantly, this is my life too, and I felt strongly about pursuing what I wanted to do.My husband isn’t the type to say, “I want to work abroad,” and for me to achieve my dreams, I knew I needed to take this step on my own.

During this time, Lady Gaga’s words were always on my mind: “Some women choose to follow men, and some women choose to follow their dreams. If you’re wondering which to go after, remember that your career will never wake up one day and say, ‘I don’t love you anymore.’”

I know some people still think women should “retire” after getting married (and sure, some women might choose that path), but to me, it’s such an outdated mindset. Hello, it’s 2025!

Life in New Zealand

Here, I’ve been incredibly lucky with my punk housemates, who’ve created a peaceful and supportive environment for me. But finding work hasn’t been easy. New Zealand is currently in a recession, and even locals are struggling to find jobs. On top of that, I’ve been based in a smaller town rather than a big city.

I started working at a restaurant, but after a lot of challenges (I even made a YouTube video about it, though I’m debating whether to share it because it’s too real—haha), I decided to quit. The restaurant was run by Asian immigrant owners, and while I respect their work ethic, it felt like I was still in Asia rather than experiencing life in New Zealand.

I decided I couldn’t leave without experiencing work under a New Zealand-based owner, so I started handing out my résumé everywhere: galleries, cinemas, bookstores—places that aligned more with my interests. Let me tell you, the process was way more hard than you’d imagine.

However, I was turned down by numerous galleries (they said that most of them were small, privately run galleries and couldn't afford to hire anyone), so I decided that this would be my last gallery, which was attached to an art school, and the teacher I met there was incredibly kind, and she gave me a tour of the school.

By sheer luck, Fashion design teacher was looking for a costume assistant—and I landed the job!

At that moment, I remembered the story of J.K. Rowling (although I don’t fully support her due to her LGBTQ views). As a single mother living in poverty, she wrote Harry Potter and was rejected by publishers multiple times—12, to be exact—before finally getting her chance.

This reminded me that even the most incredible works (or people) won’t be recognized unless they’re seen by the right audience. As an artist, believing in yourself and your work and never giving up is what matters most.

And, well, I featured in the newspaper here.

From the outside, it might look like a series of glamorous events, but behind the scenes, it’s been a mix of relentless effort, risks, and perseverance.

Recognizing Myself as an Artist in New Zealand

While working at the restaurant, I was asked if I could work on weekends. Here’s the thing—weekends are when most live music opportunities happen, even in New Zealand. Balancing work and music felt just as challenging as it does in Japan. Haha.

But receiving DMs from fans in Australia and New Zealand saying, “I want to see you perform live!” (Thank you♡）and getting the chance to do a last-minute set at a hardcore punk festival made me realize that people see me as an artist and want what I create.

On my birthday, when my housemates were away and I was spending the day alone, I thought, “Since I’m already abroad, why not apply for SXSW?” (Here’s a reality check—it’s an application-based process. Meaning, yes, you could apply too!)Yes.so far.

New Zealand and the US are far apart, But at that moment, I was determined.

Being here also made me want to fully pursue a career as an artist. My friend—who are musicians and painters—would apply for government grants to fund their projects. They’d openly say things like, “I don’t want to work; I just want to make art.” That kind of openness inspired me.

During an Instagram Live session, a friend named Doichan told me, “SAI, you should have more confidence in yourself!” Her words really lifted me up and encouraged me to keep going.

Behind the Scenes of SXSW

Getting selected for SXSW wasn’t smooth sailing. I found out on December 20 that I had made the shortlist, but the email also said, “The final decision might come a few days or even weeks before the event.”

I thought, “How am I supposed to prepare for the US trip with just a few days’ notice?!” but I decided to book a ticket anyway. I told myself that even if I wasn’t officially selected, I’d book my own shows in the US and perform no matter what.

My favorite American hardcore band! I was going to contact them and figure something out myself.

And then, just days before,I got mail: I was in.

This experience taught me that what you see on the surface—the “glamorous” parts—are just the tip of the iceberg. Behind every success story is a mountain of hard work, risks, and unwavering determination.

Behind the Scenes of SXSW

Getting selected for SXSW wasn’t smooth sailing. I found out on December 20 that I had made the shortlist, but the email also said, “The final decision might come a few days or even weeks before the event.”

I thought, “How am I supposed to prepare for the US trip with just a few days’ notice?!” but I decided to book a ticket anyway. I told myself that even if I wasn’t officially selected, I’d book my own shows in the US and perform no matter what.

My favorite American hardcore band! I was going to contact them and figure something out myself.

And then, just days before,I got mail: I was in.

This experience taught me that what you see on the surface—the “glamorous” parts—are just the tip of the iceberg. Behind every success story is a mountain of hard work, risks, and unwavering determination.

Behind the Journey to SXSW: SAI’s Story

Before TAWINGS officially formed as a band, I was actually a bassist for them.

But I left because I wanted to pursue punk music, which led me to form my own band, Ms.Machine.

Later, TAWINGS went on to perform at SXSW and release music with Space Shower Music—a major milestone for them and something that truly set them apart.

Of course, seeing this lit a fire in me. I couldn’t help but feel driven. I wanted to play at SXSW, too, and I even told my bandmates about it. But it wasn’t easy. While I always dreamed of working internationally, the challenges and limitations were overwhelming. Eventually, the band went on hiatus, and I decided to fully commit to my solo career.

There were moments of loneliness, but looking back now, I know I made the right decision. I also believe that it’s not about the path you choose, but about what you do after making that choice. The key is to refuse to regret it—to commit with everything you have.

Two years ago, Harry, a DJ, organizer, and videographer, interviewed me. In that interview, I said “I want to perform at SXSW.” And now, it’s happening. Watching that video now, I feel such gratitude and fulfillment.

So, if you’ve read this far—thank you! This is my journey, told in order. But what I really want to convey is this: I don’t want you, the reader, to ever feel like you’re not good enough. Set your goals high, never give up, and give it your all. Results will follow.

NEW SONG “Got Oq Kid”

I just released a brand-new song and music video yesterday—make sure to check it out and watch it as many times as you like!

I directed the entire creative process for the music video, including shooting and editing.

Diary Entry Around January 22nd

A pretty big miracle has happened in my life. But, you know, a miracle is something you feel when something greater than yourself happens, right? That’s when I realized—maybe I was the one who didn’t believe in myself all along. Here’s what I’ve learned: 1. Never give up and keep at it step by step. 2. Even if people ignore you or say hurtful things, just think: “They just don’t recognize my worth yet.” Hold onto your pride. For every good wave that comes, there’s so much effort, uncertainty, tears, and exhaustion that lead up to it. Way more than people might realize. But if you never give up, your dreams will come true! This is a true Cinderella story—so watch it happen! Alright, let’s do this!!!!

Thank you for reading this far! If there’s one thing I want you to take away, it’s this: don’t underestimate yourself. Set a goal, give it your all, and never give up.

And to friends,my partner, family, and everyone who supports me—thank you from the bottom of my heart. I couldn’t have done this without you. To my fans (Wave Army), your messages and encouragement keep me going.！

Please send me your positive messages and comments♡ And don’t forget to like, follow me on Note, and check out my social media accounts!

🏄‍♀️http://instagram.com/jaghetersai 🏄‍♀️http://tiktok.com/@jaghetersai_jp 🏄‍♀️http://youtube.com/@jaghetersai/ 🏄‍♀️http://youtube.com/@OLIVEWILLYLOVEGOOD With love, PUSS OCH KRAM (hugs and kisses) SAI