#all those… and to get better at the languages i already know (english and chinese) and the language i only kinda know (japanese)

[deus-ex-mona]

language barriers my beloathed </3

[archivalofsins]

Me at Kotoko's third interrogation question-

"Reading comprehension is piss poor."

Q.02 Can you speak any languages other than Japanese?

Kotoko: English. If just a simple conversation level counts, then also Chinese and Korean.

Boy howdy I wonder what she could be using simple conversation level Chinese and Korean for? It defintely can't be for what it says on the fucking tin.

Let's ask,

Q.03 What is the reason you learned Chinese and Korean?

Kotoko: Chinese was simply because a lot of people spoke it. Korean was because I had learned taekwondo prior to that.

Oh at least we know Kazui was right and she does know taekwondo I guess.

20/07/09

Kotoko: Kazui, you do martial arts right. ……what type? Judo? Kazui: Ah, my main is…… judo, and kendo. I also know a little bit of karate. You must have some martial arts experience too, right, Yuzuriha-chan? I can tell by looking. Hmm… probably a combat type…… I’m guessing not karate…… is it taekwondo? Kotoko: ……I’m not telling you. Stop ogling me like that. It’s gross. Kazui: I-isn’t that a bit unfair?

But Gunsli shouldn't you be happy you're the one who brought up the whole Chinese and Korean being languages people training to be cops in Japan learn. Along with Taekwondo being a form of martial arts that could fall under other martial arts that one could learn to become an officer and Kotoko said she learned Taekwondo prior to beginning to study Korean. Which would align with-

Look I just want to know something new not get confirmation for things I could have and did just see with my own eyes. Far before this.

Then to make the situation worse English a language she admits to having a better grasp of than both Chinese and Korean just goes unquestioned. Like oh well knowing English is normal of course she would want to learn English. That's only reasonable. No, it's not. Even though English is taught in some schools within Japan it's about the same as most schools in the US teaching Spanish or schools in the UK teaching French.

Just because it's taught doesn't suddenly mean the populace has a fluent grasp of that language. So, I find it difficult to not be like why were Chinese and Korean singled out? When she knows a whole other ass language that is just as unnecessary in the area in which she resides?

ClassTracks- How Many People Speak English in Japan?

World Population Review 2024

I really want that at any level part of the second image to sink in. Which means out of those estimated to speak English in Japan not all of them would be considered fluent in it or even at the same level Kotoko reports herself being at with Korean and Chinese.

So, why was English excluded from this question? Despite it being the language, she states she knows without any hesitance and better than the other two she's asked about here. Why the fuck were Chinese and Korean singled out exactly? Why did she learn English. Who knows that wasn't in the question so who cares honestly.

Not even going into this Nippon article that explains the English proficiency in Japan is on the decline. From December of 2023.

So, pushing to the side that her answer when she was asked what languages she knew already implied she learned Chinese and Korean to speak to others. Why the fuck does she know English- Why not ask for clarity on all three languages she has stated knowing instead of singling out the other two. This question is so fucking weird. On top of not really telling us anything that we didn't already know or wasn't already heavily implied.

While somehow being incredibly iffy on top of that. Because asking about her learning these other two languages but not English implies that learning English is implicitly normal and should not be questioned. When it isn't and it never has been, especially when it is not the native language of the country one lives in.

Learning a language is expensive, difficult, and time consuming. Especially when it's not one that is actively used within one's environment. Her knowing English should not have gone unquestioned because it's a privilege to learn a language outside of one's native one. It's a privilege to have access to resources that allow you to do that. Especially taking into account literacy in general isn't that good globally.

Like I don't know what's not understood about this but being able to read in itself is a privilege. Being able to read a privilege what no everybody can- Here's the US statistics on that.

On average, 79% of U.S. adults nationwide are literate in 2024. 21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2024. 54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (20% are below 5th-grade level). Low levels of literacy costs the US up to 2.2 trillion per year. 34% of adults lacking literacy proficiency were born outside the US. Massachusetts was the state with the highest rate of child literacy. New Mexico was the state with the lowest child literacy rate. New Hampshire was the state with the highest percentage of adults considered literate. The state with the lowest adult literacy rate was California.

The National Literacy Institute

Illiteracy is a problem everywhere.

NHK World Japan Why linguists are worrying about literacy in Japan (2019)

For a plethora of reasons at that. So, of course I find it odd for one of these languages to just go unquestioned like that. Even as someone who only speaks English, I find that incredibly weird. Plus, as we've shown it's not exactly common to know English fluently in Japan either. It's not really common for people without a certain level of privilege or connections like family to teach them to know more than one language. Especially for a language as difficult and finnicky as English but that went unquestioned.

Like what the hell is up with this question. I can't even find a silver lining to this. This question is just... Well, it's a question that was asked, I guess.

[don-dake]

Hi! I was wondering if you could recommend any apps / online resources for learning Cantonese as an English speaker.

Oh hi! Very flattered you'd choose to ask me of all people but…I'm afraid I may not exactly be the best person to ask this…especially if you're asking as a beginner?

You see, I didn't exactly start from scratch. I come from a Cantonese background (can speak and understand average, conversational Cantonese) and had schooling in Mandarin for more than a decade (which helped, even if my Mandarin is still not great either LOL), so my “learning” was largely based on…how shall I say it? Heritage instinct…in a way (I hope you get what I mean), gut instinct, passive learning, you know? Not from conventional language books or apps.

My idea of “studying” Cantonese is more or less just, install a Jyutping (Cantonese Romanization) keyboard after a read-up on how to use Jyutping, expose myself to lots and lots of Cantonese content (TV series, movies, songs, etc.) and just wing my way through with trial and error LOL by listening to and matching the spoken Cantonese against the Standard Chinese subs (can be read in Mandarin) that often come with Cantonese shows and eventually figuring out any more differences that I didn't already know.

So I've only really needed a dictionary app to help with vocabulary. I don't really know what are the best language apps (the kind that introduces you to sentence structures, the really basic stuff and all?) to use out there for Cantonese.

I've seen people throw out names like ‘Anki’, ‘Duolingo’ and if I recall correctly, something called ‘Drops’? But I can't ascertain on how good they are, haven't felt the need to try them. LOL

For dictionary apps, I will strongly recommend Pleco, it's geared for Mandarin mainly, but it also has allowance for Cantonese if you add the Cantonese extension packs (some good, free ones available) that can be found within the app itself.

Online sites I use to supplement Pleco are mainly MDBG, and cantonesesheik.

There used to be an interesting language account here for Cantonese language stuff called language-obsession. Even though they don't seem to be active anymore, the account still stands and has quite good advice and links to Cantonese learning resources. Would be a good idea to check them out.

Then there's also YouTube and/or Instagram, which seem to have a more active Cantonese language community and content than here, also a good idea to check those platforms out for starters.

You can find a fair bit of Cantonese language creators there who offer content in bite-sized pieces, often with Jyutping and/or English subtitles.

Off the top of my head, I can think of mslinchinese, hambaanglaang, Cantonese with Brittany, inspirlang, poeticCantonese, to name a few.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help, but hopefully someone more able to will see this post and be willing to offer better advice?

Anyone? I know there are at least some Cantonese speakers/learners here but as “everyone is shy on Tumblr”, and I don't wish to unintentionally pressure specific individuals into a reply, not using the @.

[ghostlyhamburger]

Husband Watches Miraculous: Shanghai Special

OK so we don't have an ultra long intro this time. Maybe that extra five minutes will be put towards plot!

That wristband. That's Wayzz. Oh no it's a dragon charm.

I called it! Fan guy will be explained in the next special! It's gotta be connected to the Miraculous bullshit somehow.

I really like this intro so far.

Guardian was always capitalized in the other subtitles but not here so that makes me think this might not be Miraculous stuff.

Oh so they murdered her father.

There was no real leadin to the other special that gave any context. I like Fei so far.

Is this supposed to be summer break?

And someone's gonna try to steal Tikki.

Girl NO. NOOO.

There are LIMITS to the amount of crazy a girl should be able to get away with. DO NOT PUT YOURSELF IN A BOX AND SHIP YOURSELF TO SHANGHAI. that is stalkerish.

Gabriel's actually going? Are you actually going to let Adrien spend time with friends?

All right so what's this magical eclipse all about?

How'd he get the bracelet?

So the Prodigious is the prototype of the Miraculous?

If you destroy them you can't get their miraculouses

Okay. I just need to point out some serious stupidity. The trinket for the Prodigious was already in China. It was stolen from the person in China. and then sent to Paris so that he could fly it back to China to take part in the ritual to get the Prodigious. WHY

That is how spines break! Marinette has no spines! Or maybe she could fit inside that box actually

So Tom and Sabine were struggling financially according to other episodes. How are they gonna afford to send her to China?

Why is he prepared for this?

Okay so they actually explained it.

When did he learn to speak English? That was a big thing of his episode, that he could not speak English or French. Or did Marinette learn to speak Chinese or one of the many Chinese languages.

Oh they addressed that.

This is a much better getting someone who's not familiar with the thing getting invested in the story rather than punching your face in heavy handed.

They had to do completely new modeling for this.

Those are just actual photos.

Why the fuck

Super stalkery

Ahh. Gorilla collects action figures.

This is not gonna go well.

It's weird seeing Gabriel walk around and do shit.

So this is Fei's story, basically.

Hm. Master of disguise stuff.

Gorilla's actually doing his job!

Dead eye Tikki

She took the kwagatama.

There's no way she wouldn't notice the earrings slipping off. The inconsistency of the rules is really annoying. In Lady Wifi, Alya had to go behind the ear to get the backing but now they're clip ons?

Also you would definitely feel your bag being taken like that

Okay this is a cute little moment.

There's a lot of tourists in Shanghai, she should be able to get help.

Dumplings.

I like Bastille.

But he's the one who's been fucking with you!

That's the same fan that the bad guy had, so

This is the start of a very pixar-esque style that we see later on.

Oh they're just trying to help! Oh that's nice of them.

This one's just a lot more interesting than the other special.

I like how Gorilla's just playing with the bird.

They're both horrible liars.

If she doesn't have her wallet, how is she going to pay?

I like these little moments, but the subtleties on Fei's face say the guilt is getting to her as she's getting to know Marinette.

Aaand Chat Noir to save the day.

Your forms will do nothing here. You're just wasting energy.

Those are good kids. They're doing their best to help.

So we got an eclipse that does magic.

aaand Marinette switched modes.

"You're gonna call your uncle right now" with Marinette's own phone.

I like the subtle echo they have on Hawkmoth's monologue.

[Marinette transforms] is now really the time to dance, girl?

Into the well. Where she's gonna accidentally find the real thing, I think.

I wonder if the colors mean anything on that giant god of war esque staircase.

So this is gonna summon oh that's a big dude.

So Chat's gonna come in and he's gonna fight Hawkmoth and Fei's gonna fight the Prodigious dude

I like the outfit.

[Long Long] is cute.

Oh that's interesting. So it's a different type of transformation.

Heh Hawkmoth got a basketball to the dick

I didn't know he could use an akuma to change other people. That doesn't follow logic we saw in the Stoneheart episode. Although maybe since it returned to him he was able to repurpose it?

Time to get the fuck out of there, it's kaiju time.

"We gotta break the ball, the akuma's inside!" and now it's inside him.

[Gabriel gets thanos'd] oh jesus christ. He's murdered. He's just straight up murdered.

I like that this shows that the akumas are not completely controllable. It opens up a lot more ideas and things they could do with it that I know they're not going to.

This just feels like a complete story without rushing through everything.

"Only the power of the object can reach the akumatized object!" how do you know that? You know nothing of the Prodigious, Tikki has told you nothing of it! You could just dive into the mouth and get the thing yourself!

Goodbye Kitty.

You kinda need to survive so you can reset bomb everything.

Is this where Marinette reveals herself?

"Everything is because of me" No it's because of Hawkmoth. It's literally 1000% his fault. You're just the unlucky sucker who's in it and I hate this trope it is so stupid.

Kaiju battle!

That's a big vase. Put the dragon in the vase?

This is a reference to something, I just don't remember what.

It's nice seeing when Hawkmoth's plans actually go awry.

Everyone and everything back to existence! Except they all know what death is like now.

That was good form on that kick.

So Mei Shi's a kwami.

Overall thoughts. I like the implications of the Prodigious but it's not explained enough. It's like they're an attempt to attain things that shared aspects with other miraculouses but that's too much power for one person and the guardian is a kwami? Or like a kwami? I have so many questions that will never be answered on it.

Overall I like it though.

[mariacallous]

Gao Xiangjin used to know all the names of players in the American baskeball leagues, but since relations between the US and China soured, once-daily NBA broadcasts are now far less frequent. So Gao started watching China’s men’s basketball instead, until reports about corruption turned him off earlier this year. He now watches China’s women’s basketball, not on television, but on Douyin, the original, Chinese version of TikTok.

Gao is 69 years old, one of a growing cohort of elderly people who have moved away from television and gravitated to Douyin, China’s most popular short-form video app. There are 267 million people aged over 60 in China, according to official statistics, and while China’s government has tried to limit young people’s use of Douyin, worried about its addictive nature, many of the app’s habitual users are their parents, or even grandparents.

“Whenever he’s not cooking, swimming, or sleeping, he’s on Douyin,” his daughter Helen says. “It’s brainless entertainment. It’s better to be playing with a cat, it’s better to be doing anything else.” She’s not a Douyin user herself. “I already have attention problems,” she says. “Douyin would make that worse.”

A former soldier, Gao follows the Israel-Palestine crisis and the war between Ukraine and Russia through videos made by commentators. He shows me one where a political analyst translates headlines from English-language media outlets, such as The Times of Israel. He watches others for their analysis of military strategy.

While television broadcasts the official viewpoint, Gao says that on Douyin there are often videos from different camps putting their views across. The censors might get to them after a while, but it’s possible to witness a spectrum of opinions. Some of them are speaking with inside experience of the Party system, some are academics studying at Western universities, and others don’t disclose anything about their backgrounds; to many elderly users, they carry the same amount of authority.

Douyin is not just Gao’s source for news, but also basketball shoes. “Just look at those green shoes,” Helen says, gesturing to a pair of eye-catching sneakers on a shoe rack by local brand Tebu. “They’re ridiculous!”

Around once every five videos, Gao says, he gets an advert. Swiping on his phone, there’s a news video, then a woman pops up selling something, followed by news, news, news, then an advert for dates from Xinjiang. Gao is happy with his sneakers, paying just over $27 for them. He says that their quality is better than a pair he bought from Japan for more than four times the price.

Li Yongjian, a junior lecturer at Erasmus University Rotterdam who has studied social media use among elderly people in China, says that Covid-19 was a watershed moment. Strict Covid controls left elderly people seeking connection, and they turned to social media. Cheaper smartphones and data bundles have eased peoples’ passage into the short-video world—previously, older people typically eschewed the expensive gadgets that younger generations buy without hesitation (or because of cultural values that reward self-sacrifice, parents would buy for their children, but not themselves). “They think good things are not for them,” Li says.

Now, a bundle of 30 gigabytes of data plus 200 minutes from China Telecom costs as little as $18, and older people have become targets for China’s biggest phone brands. Li says that he’d bought a Xiaomi phone for his grandfather, which cost $50. With a huge screen and a long-life battery, it was advertised as “the phone for your grandpa.” Many apps, including Douyin, were preloaded onto the phone when it was started up. Li did a few rounds of searches on the app for his grandfather’s hobbies—fishing, the military, and cars—so that the algorithm registered those preferences.

His grandfather’s own use of the app has added other facets of his life, like farming, to his feed. He watches videos of others living as he did when he was young: how they harvested, then set up a cauldron in the field to start cooking. “It gives him a sense of being seen,” Li says. “There is still a place reserved for them, not only offline but also in the online world.”

Many older people are picking up technology because in modern China there’s little choice. Navigating what is increasingly a post-cash society is difficult without a smartphone—even those in need asking for donations on the street have QR codes.

There’s also the loneliness that many elderly people experience, as their children live far away from them, having found work or built a life elsewhere. They might have uprooted their own lives to join them, losing soft ties to their community and the familiar faces that accompanied them as they went about daily life.

Those elderly people who leave their hometown for other cities are called laopiao, or “old drifters.” “It’s not every country where grandparents would move to another city just to look after their grandchildren,” says Huang Chenkuang, a ceramics artist in Beijing. Huang’s mother is one of them—she left her community to take care of Huang’s sister’s children.

This part of the elderly population can live limited lives, moving between just three physical locations: the place they go to buy groceries, where they drop their children off from school, and their own community complex.

Huang’s mother didn’t move far. Originally from Jiangxi, she moved to Zhejiang, a six-hour drive away, and the living habits of those two southern provinces are similar. Had she moved to a northern province, “like Beijing, that would have been more difficult for her,” Huang says. Whenever her mother comes to visit her in Beijing, she complains about the dry climate and about how she can’t buy the dishes she eats from her hometown. “She’s not the kind of person who can quickly join people in a new place and dance with them,” Huang says. Instead, she learnt to dance from a teacher on Douyin who had a livestream every evening.

“She would suddenly cook a dish I'd never seen her cook before,” Huang says. Liangpi, a kind of flat noodle usually dressed with cucumber and vinegar, isn't common in the south, but her mother presented her with the dish. Her mother picked up new hobbies, and with them, smartphone habits.

“All the attention is no longer on you, because there’s a highly entertaining toy there,” Huang says. “Sometimes when I go home, I will be a bit worried. I feel we might have chatted more one-on-one in the past, talking about recent events.” As elderly people post content of their own on Douyin, the gap between generations when it comes to online anxieties is closing. “Sometimes she’ll say, ‘I haven’t used it in several days and I’ve lost fans!’” Huang says of her mother.

While other apps, such as WeChat, require users to add friends to be able to comment and view their updates, Douyin makes it easy to connect to strangers and opens up the possibility of getting a response from people outside their normal circles. On Douyin, any user can comment on a video. It pushes recommended “friends” to users depending on who they’ve added already, so it is easy to add new people, and once you become “friends” with someone on the app, you can chat and video call.

The app also encourages users to upgrade their video-editing skills, or develop them. Gao proudly showed me a video where he cut shots of himself diving into a river near his home where he swims in all seasons. It’s the result of a five-day short-video editing course, which he took after seeing an advert on the platform. There, he learned about camera angles and framing; he wasn’t interested in the bits of it that taught how to make money from videos. He places a bowl in front of him and angles his phone. “I make sure it takes up a third of the screen.”

There are now elderly Chinese influencers whose fans number beyond their own demographic. Many more consider themselves content creators, if not for money, for their own enjoyment and mental well-being. They don’t want to be forgotten. “For them,” Li says, “Their grandparents have already faded away.” Li’s grandfather keeps track of when his grandson likes his videos. He’ll ask, “Did you see that I uploaded this yesterday?” Li says. He wants to know that his grandson cares.

[binniexkay]

"Piece of a Puzzle" Introductions

Hello!

It’s Kay here, and I hope you all will enjoy my story! But before we start, I would like to introduce our main character, Raven. Raven is a singer in the girl group Starlight, based in New York. Starlight consists of 5 members: Victoria, Nicole, Kira, Amy, and Raven. All of these girls met online through their love of music and other interests along the way. That being said, you may call it laziness on my part, but I will be basing their songs on songs that already exist. So think of it as an alternate universe to ours, but mostly everything is still (hopefully) correct in the world of Stray Kids. The only things that I will claim to be mine are Starlight, their manager, choreographer, friends of the girls, stylists of the girls, and basically anything pertaining to the girls of Starlight.

Starlight was established in June 2015 with their EP, “Better Together.” They are based out of New York City, with some connections in Los Angeles. Their current manager is Xavier Kim, who is their second manager due to complications from their original label company, Euphonic Entertainment. They are currently under Paradise Records, with soloists Mikayla Kim and Eric Howe. I will not reveal any of their tracks until they are needed throughout the story. Those will be surprises.

Here’s a little breakdown of each member of Starlight:

Victoria Amin is our eldest. Born July 7, 1995, in Houston, Texas. She is considered the mom-friend of the entire group. She is also known to be the calmest and most patient of the group. Not only that, but she can speak fluent English, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean (her Spanish is a bit rough sometimes). Her father is Egyptian, and her mother is Saudi Arabian, but they divorced after her youngest brother was born. She has three younger brothers. She was a professional dancer growing up. Hidden fun fact: She loves collecting Lego sets.

Nicole Abel was born on August 27, 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia. She is in charge of helping their choreographer, May. Can speak fluent English, French, Korean, and Spanish. Her mother is Barbadian, and her father is Chadian. She is considered the most friendly person in the group and is extremely outgoing. She has an older sister. She was a professional dancer growing up. Hidden fun fact: She makes her own jewelry.

Kira Imai was born on April 5, 1997, in San Diego, California. She is the main producer of their music. She also takes part in writing. She speaks fluent Japanese, Italian, English, and Korean. She is also outgoing, and she is another mom friend as well. Her father is half-Italian and half-Japanese, and her mother is Japanese. She has an older brother and a twin brother. She was a professional dancer growing up. Hidden fun fact: She loves crocheting clothes and often does so for herself and loved ones. She knows a lot of K-pop dances.

Amy Lee was born on October 15, 1998, in Sacramento, California. She is responsible for writing for the group. Can speak fluent English, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and French. She is considered to be quiet but is still very outgoing. She has an older brother, an older sister, and a younger sister. Her father is Chinese, and her mother is Malaysian. She was a professional dancer growing up. Hidden fun fact: She is a master chef and baker.

Raven Yves, our youngest, was born on February 17, 2000, in Brooklyn, New York. She is considered the “Google translator” of the group because she has an interest in learning new languages. She can fluently speak English, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Mandarin, French, Arabic, etc. You get the point. She is considered to be more on the introverted side; she does open up, but it will take her a minute to do so. She is the only child who was raised by her mother. Her mother is African American, and her father is Mexican. She was also a professional dancer growing up (seeing a pattern yet?). Hidden fun fact: She is also a master chef, but she also does her own nails and often does her members’ nails. She also basically knows a lot of K-Pop dances as well.

Now introducing the team at Paradise Records!

Xavier Kim was born on June 3, 1990. He is the current manager of Starlight. He worked at the girls’ previous label but offered to manage the girls as they left. He’s detailed, wants the best interests of the girls, and will do whatever it takes for them to get the recognition they deserve (we love a sweetheart). He also helps the choreographer, as he is also a professional dancer. He’s extremely extroverted. Has a fiancé, Rune Adams.

May Gomez was born on May 4, 1994. She is the choreographer for Starlight. She is basically the older sister of all the girls. She’s a perfectionist; any mistake she makes will be noticed. She is a little introverted, but she will call out anything and everything. She followed them from their previous company because she just loved them so much. She is married to her husband, Eli Gomez, and has a son.

Mai Young was born on December 17, 1992. She is the head stylist and head of the makeup team for Starlight. She personally designs any looks the girls wear to red carpets, concerts, fan meets, and so on. Another older sister to the girls. She worked for them at their previous company as an assistant stylist and was offered the head job by Xavier, with recommendations from all the girls. She is pretty reserved but lets her quirky personality shine around the girls.

Valentino Armani was born on September 23, 1987. He’s the head bodyguard for the girls, and he travels wherever they go. He is more reserved than all the guards. Furthermore, he is practically the older brother to the girls; he’s softer when they are around (I love making soft-hearted men; it’s great). He’s a bit of a nerd and often geeks out when someone brings up a topic he loves. Secretly loves K-pop girl groups (even does the dances).

Level Up: a group of background dancers for Paradise Records. It consists of the following members: Adam, Jayla, Layla, Luna, Enrique, Zaya, Willow, Sasha, Astra, and Hayden.

Mikayla Kim was born on February 17, 1998, in New York, New York. She and Raven are childhood best friends (along with Adam and a girl named Francesca), they are basically twins. She is a soloist under Paradise Records. Likewise, she is a master musician, being able to play many instruments. She is Korean. Likewise, she was raised mostly by her mother, who is referred to as Mama Kim, but also received help from Raven’s mother.

And well, that is everyone that you will all need to know for now. And to make this a bit more believable, whenever characters are speaking Korean, it will be italicized. Hope you enjoy reading!

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form: Gender Neutral Names

I'm trying to name my characters.

I see there are plenty of baby name charts with gender breakdown popularity charts. But I have no idea why so many names listed as gender netural, one gender does not even appear on the chart or maybe just on the very bottom a year or two. Yet it's gender neutral? What makes it gender neutral if it's so far off. Very lopsided 95%/5% charts, I can kind of get, but to not even show up?

In fact any name can always have exceptions. I know some people both real and fictional with names that do not get listed as gender neutral but are in fact the opposite gender than listed.

How does a name become gender neutral when the occasional rare person just decides to go the opposite (which is inevitable) unless it's actually a trend and starts showing up on charts.

Is there any kind of sexism involved? I don't know but if I apply the same kind of reasoning with hair. People still keep calling long hair for females and short hair for males, instead of all gender neutral hairstyles. Yet there is way more instances of females with short hair and men with long hair than it seems for those names that are so lopsided the other gender doesn't make the chart. Yet the name gets called gender neutral and hair still gets divided.

Tex: Gender is applied to a name on the parent’s or individual’s say-so, and when the name itself is used for another child, the gendered connotations of the original bearer of the name carry over or not as a situation develops.

Sexism is an inherent, though unfortunate, part of gender as a role in society. This is mostly created as a means to make someone feel better about themselves, usually by denigrating someone easily identifiable as Different ™ than them. Sexism is as ideologically easy to adopt as racism, in that it’s usually the first thing someone’s eyes can find when they want to treat someone poorly due to their own perceived deficiencies.

Modern cultural perceptions aside, it seems as if you’re sourcing your worldbuilding and interpretations from a narrow band of sources. On tumblr and WordPress, which our blog is hosted on, there’s quite a few worldbuilding posts related specifically to names that are quickly accessible with a keyword search in your browser of choice. If you have particular cultures already in mind, those are useful additional keywords to help you, and can give you multiple perspectives on how gender may be variably defined.

Licorice: - Oh, names and naming is such an interesting topic! 

Since it’s your own world you are building, you can decide on the naming system they are going to use. Are you trying to create a naming system in which nobody can tell someone’s gender from the name alone? Some of the naming systems in our own world are largely gender neutral. I am told Punjabi is one language in which the majority of the names can be used for any and all genders. 

According to the Linguistics stack exchange, Chinese is a language in which names are not gendered. Bear in mind that I am not a Chinese speaker, and I’m happy to be corrected if this information is wrong, but apparently there is no set of words that are reserved for “proper names” in China. “​​In China you can use any word or words (max. 2 characters) you like as your name provided it sounds good and you find it meaningful.”

Unless I’m much mistaken, the naming systems for many First Nations follow the same principle. You could have a look at these different naming systems for inspiration. Several African countries I lived in gave children names that expressed their wishes for the child’s future - “Talent” or “Success” - or reflected the circumstances surrounding the birth - “No Money” and “Lonely” were two people I knew personally - or even the parents’ wishes for their own future. I knew a guy, the last-born of twelve, whose name was “No More.”

If you want to move away from names that in English are traditionally associated with one or other gender, you could

Invent names, as Tolkien and JRR Martin do. If you choose this route but want to avoid gendering your names, avoid ending sounds that are traditionally associated with the feminine (e.g. -a, -ia) for girls’ names or sounds traditionally associated with the masculine (e.g. -us, -ius) for boys’ names. 

Use ordinary nouns and adjectives as names. In this way you can also express the things your in-world culture values. Are they careful environmental custodians? Then they may give their children names associated with nature: “Summer Rain”, “Green Twig”, “Feathered Nest.” Are they warlike and aggressive? They may give their children names that commemorate weapons or martial qualities. “Fierce Helmet”, “Sturdy Shield” “Steadfast Courage” and so on.

(and that reminds me of the famous Puritan whose parents used names to express their faith: Praisegod Barebones)

The master of the use of names in worldbuilding is Ursula K LeGuin. If you like, take a look at some of her short fiction or novels to see what techniques she uses. 

Mod Miri Note: We also have a Master Post on Names Here. 

[butternutrisotto]

28/30

Since I was a kid, I’ve always dreamed of visiting Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, and Beijing. These cities have always felt like distant, magical places, filled with excitement, history, and of course, incredible food. My sister and I have talked about taking this trip together for years, and now, it feels like the perfect time to finally make it happen. There’s something thrilling about going to a place where English isn’t the first language. It’s not just about the adventure of traveling, but also about pushing myself out of my comfort zone, embracing new challenges, and immersing myself fully in a different culture.

Hong Kong, with its dazzling skyline and vibrant streets, is at the top of our list. The idea of exploring the crowded markets, wandering through the busy streets, and standing in awe of Victoria Harbour has me filled with excitement. But most of all, I’m looking forward to the food. Dim sum is one of my all-time favorite meals, and there’s no better place to indulge in it than Hong Kong, where it all began. I can already picture my sister and me sitting in a bustling teahouse, savoring bite after bite of delicate dumplings, buns, and other treats, while soaking in the energy of the city around us.

Macau holds a different kind of allure, with its unique blend of Chinese and Portuguese influences. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of a place where two distinct cultures come together in such a seamless way. From the colonial architecture to the fusion of flavors in Macanese cuisine, Macau promises to be an entirely new kind of adventure. I’m especially eager to try the famous Portuguese egg tarts, which I’ve heard so much about. And of course, we’ll explore the vibrant streets, get lost in the maze of old alleyways, and maybe even try our luck at one of the city’s famous casinos, just for fun.

Shanghai, with its mix of old and new, has always captured my imagination. The futuristic skyline, especially the iconic Oriental Pearl Tower, stands in contrast to the historic charm of Old Shanghai. I can’t wait to see both sides of this incredible city. My sister and I will walk along the Bund, marveling at the modern architecture while also seeking out the quieter, more traditional parts of the city. And, as with every city on our trip, the food will be a central part of the experience. Shanghai is known for its xiaolongbao, those delicious soup dumplings, and I’m ready to taste the best they have to offer.

Beijing is a city that I’ve dreamed about for as long as I can remember. The rich history, from the Forbidden City to the Great Wall, is something I’ve always wanted to experience firsthand. I can already picture us standing on the Great Wall, taking in the sweeping views of the Chinese countryside, feeling the weight of history beneath our feet. Beijing’s ancient temples, palaces, and historical sites will give us a glimpse into a world that has existed for centuries, and I know it will be a humbling and awe-inspiring part of our journey.

And of course, no trip to Beijing would be complete without sampling its legendary food. I’ve been dreaming of trying Peking duck in its birthplace, and I can’t wait to see how it compares to the versions I’ve had at home. Beyond that, I’m excited to explore the city’s street food scene. From jianbing to baozi, there will be no shortage of new and exciting flavors to discover. Each city on this trip promises to offer a unique culinary experience, but Beijing’s rich food history has a special allure that I’m particularly excited to dive into.

This trip will be more than just a vacation for my sister and me—it will be a chance to fulfill a childhood dream, challenge ourselves in new ways, and create memories that will last a lifetime. Traveling to places where English isn’t widely spoken will push us to rely on each other and figure things out as we go. I know it will be a learning experience, one filled with small victories, plenty of laughter, and maybe even a few mishaps along the way. But that’s all part of the adventure.

Ultimately, what excites me most about this journey is the opportunity to step outside of my familiar world and experience something entirely new. From the food to the culture to the language, this trip will be a chance to immerse ourselves in places that we’ve only ever seen in pictures or read about in books. And doing it with my sister by my side makes it even more special. I’m ready for the adventure, for the challenges, and for the incredible experiences that await us in Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, and Beijing.

[seriously-mike]

Shocking Discoveries in the Field of AI Fuckeries

I gave my views on the subject of AI-generated imagery long ago. It's incomparably cheaper to get into drawing or painting and much easier to find a job (and, unfortunately, get replaced by an Automated Kitsch Machine for bullshit private client jobs like D&D character portraits) in that field. Unlike music, there's no greedy faceless industry that stands between an artist and the audience and grabs most of the profit from distributing the works - even the big shots can run their own websites and social media profiles featuring their new pieces without anyone getting their panties in a bunch. And like I said, the music industry is a bunch of soulless parasites, so fuck them. It's not like they want AI music generators banned anyway.

But, on to the main topic: Udio has a new feature where they want to know your opinion in exchange for generation credits. They give you two of their usual 30-second clips and ask which one you like better. And this gives an interesting insight about what people are trying to get out of this tech, because as opposed to image generators that are apparently about Asian girls with their tits out, there's an amazing variety of stuff going on here.

So, I'm a native Polish speaker, I speak English pretty well and I know some Russian, so I can figure out what's going on in songs in three languages. Of about ten I've heard. Yep, I heard English, Russian, probably all three major languages of the Far East (Japanese, Chinese and Korean), Spanish, probably Portuguese as well, French, some Scandinavian language (I can't tell them apart) and one song in Polish that was some really bad elementary-school diss track. So what I understood from the lyrics was that there's less silly stuff in them than I expected. For example, today I've heard some cute kind of silly song about a hare in Russian and a song name-dropping Tom Bombadil in the style of Enya, in English, but when it comes to hip-hop, for example, those people are going hard. I've heard pan-African themed lyrics in at least three of the clips, stereotypical gangsta stuff in others, so those guys aren't messing around.

But what's more important, I've heard stuff in a lot of genres. That Tom Bombadil song? It was going against an Irish folk ballad. Like, the typical daily-diddly-di-di stuff you've heard everywhere, particularly if you didn't want to. I've heard music halls and musicals, the Fifties, the Seventies, the Eighties, early garage punk, post-punk, obnoxious country rock like the one Udio threw at me when I first found it, eurodance that I remember from thirty years ago, modern k-pop, basically more genres than you can hear on the radio these days. And I'm talking what other people are doing, not my own Cringe Music Gala that already went through everything from the most cliche bluegrass possible to extreme blackened death metal.

Let me tell you something: a song starts with good lyrics, and good lyrics are harder to write than an image prompt. For example, I spent an entire fucking month on trying to paraphrase Minsc's lines from Baldur's Gate II to maintain a theme, make sense and rhyme on top of that. Starting with a chorus that went "Hamsters and rangers, rejoice! Everywhere in the world, your day has come! The space power is with you all, and evil fears you all day and night!" There's also a myriad of technical issues related to the random seed numbers that are the core of generative AI technology: sometimes you have lyrics that have a rhythm and rhyme, but the generator still fucks them up somehow, because all it's got is text. So, for example, you can hear that the lyrics are fairly sound, but the algorithm shit itself at the most inopportune moment. And I wish that Universal Music Group's corporate internal-use algorithm keeps shitting itself all the fucking time, not only in this way, but also by veering into the Minions-like babbling it still tends to do sometimes.

[the-old-book-town]

I decided to try reading Heaven Official's Blessing in Japanese, because I can't seem to get through it in English and I find the language and tone translate better to Japanese than English. It's also always easier for me to practice my listening comprehension and get those skills back up to par, but much harder for reading, so I might as well try reading something I've been meaning to get to for ages.

Started reading the summary and already ran into a word I should know, did know, and can't remember anymore. This is a trend with me, by the way haha. Many times I do actually know the word if I hear it, but my reading ability has always been much weaker than my listening skills.

The line is: 八百年、貴方に焦がれ続けた。

The word is 焦がれる (こがれる), which means "to yearn/long for". Interestingly, the other verbs using the same kanji 焦 have vastly different meanings. The primary meanings of this kanji seem to be "to burn" and "to hurry/be impatient". If you look at the original hanzi, the meanings are similar.

For Japanese, though 焦(こ)げる/焦(こ)がす mean "to burn", 焦る (あせる) means "to be in a hurry" or "to get flustered/panic", 焦(じ)れる/焦(じ)らす means "to get impatient/irritate".

Which brings up an interesting point about the Japanese language. Normally when I learn new words, I don't bother looking at all of the kun- and on-readings. Trying to memorize them all is the path to madness (just look at 生!). I only looked at 焦 because the main definitions are so different.

I don't know if people commonly just...memorize all the readings for a given kanji, or what, but I normally learn by exposure. I hear and see 生きる mean "to live" and be pronounced "ikiru" enough times to recognize it when I see it again, same for eventually learning that 生まれる is "to be born" and "umareru". And because there's usually context associated with each usage of the word, I remember it better.

But, like, why are there like a gazillion readings for certain kanji? Some vastly different from each other.

From what I understand about an old book I read on the history of the Japanese language*, all these words using kun-readings come from an originally Japanese word. All of the words using on-readings are based on the (ancient) Chinese pronunciation when they imported the writing system.

So, they took all these yamato-kotoba, native Japanese words, and found a hanzi to match the meaning of it. However, Chinese and Japanese aren't remotely similar grammatically. You'd have to clobber a hanzi for the root meaning (生) with some other hanzi to represent the きる which we now write in hiragana. Eventually, they created the hiragana system and these sort of hybrid words came to be (生きる ) with the hiragana representing the conjugation.

With Japanese verbs, there's always a root that doesn't change when the word is conjugated. So, they let the kanji represent that root (it may be one or multiple syllables) and the rest hangs off as hiragana (there's obviously an actual term for this that I don't remember).

Going back to 焦. In Japanese, there is a word meaning "to burn" (こげる) and one that means "to be in a hurry" (あせる). 焦 as a hanzi carries as some of its meanings "burnt" and "anxious". Therefore, it's used in both these words to represent the root even though they're separate words in Japanese with different pronunciations (I guess you're anxious if you're in a hurry? not sure how it was decided which character they would use for each word).

Anyways, this is probably not true of every word, but roughly this is why certain kanji have a gazillion different pronunciations that aren't at all related to each other.

...going back to Heaven Official's Blessing, "I've (continued to) long for you for eight hundred years" is the first line of the summary! For all this discussion on the etymology of words, I'm still not sure how こがれる is related to the other words which use 焦. Perhaps it implies a burning love/longing, a strong kind of yearning for someone or something (don't think it necessary has to apply to a person, as I saw it used in an example sentence with 故郷.

*I couldn't find the original book, but here is a thesis which goes into the history behind the writing system and actually has some references: https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=honorscollege_anthro

[playingplayer2]

Additionally, a lot of the schools we have for early language learning aren't accessable for a number of reasons.

Fair warning, everything below is personal experience. I speak almost entirely English, I don't travel, and I have a serious disconnect with the non-white-american side of my heritage. Less personal stuff further down.

↓

My sibling and I were homeschooled for several years (starting at pre-k aged to 2nd/3rd grade age), and when my older sibling got sent off to school(6yo), it was to a Mandarin Immersion School in our area because our (now-permanently-out-of-the-picture) father is a Chinese immigrant and it was decided to try that, and if it went well, I'd be going the next year. (Funnily enough he didn't want me or my sibling or our mother learning Cantonese or Mandarin, and not for pleasant or heart-warming reasons.)

It did not go well.

(In fact it went so badly because of abuse in the school system, racism, and ableist bullshit, that my sib got pulled so fucking fast with such a public fuss, that in the coming years that school apparently did a total overhaul to change that. Comparatively, one of my best friend's friends went to a French Immersion School and never had any issues and now, knows French. I on the other hand (public school from 7/8 on up) didn't have an opportunity outside of things at home- and with a recently divorced mother, scrambling to get work and take care of two kids & court, and a P.O.S old man, there really wasn't time for me or my sibling to learn more.)

My mom taught us some Latin, she'd taken Latin in school, and ASL, having learned a lot for/from her deaf friend in high school, and pre-divorce we'd been learning some Mandarin when my father wasn't around.

Now flash forwards, I don't start learning a new language through school until I'm in middle school at 13. I take French for a year. I switch to Spanish in high school a year later, end up with a really bad teacher (no srsly, she taught French and Spanish and kept switching to French lessons, so many people had issues with her teaching Spanish) and so the next year I don't sign up for a school language class, start trying to learn Italian on my own. Then I end up starting French again in 11th grade because most colleges required at least 2 years of a non-english language classes.

I take two years of French, and in the last three months of my senior year there's a Global Pandemic (please note; it isn't over, check with your local epidemiologists for more info). Real wrench in my life plans, y'know?

So, now, three years post hs graduation, the biracial child of an immigrant, and I know a handful very basic words in (textbook) Spanish, I remember French at the weirdest damn times (but can barely speak any of it), and my Cantonese and Mandarin are basically non-existent (Cantonese because my father's side is immigrated from Hong Kong, Mandarin bc that's the "what everyone speaks" in said relatives words).

Now, in terms of travel? I've left my State (I live in the states) twice. Both times add up to less than 12 hours out of state, and less than an hour past the state border each time.

I grew up and I'm still poor, like a huge portion of Americans. I've never been on a vacation outside of school mandatory ones. I've never left the U.S, I don't even have a passport and I don't drive.

My mom? Grew up poor. Vacations aren't a thing for people below a certain income. But bc of where I grew up, all of my friends could afford to go on a family trip to Florida or NY or Cali or wherever every year or two, most of my friends now can and have travelled out of state, even out of country, on a semi-regular basis.

But most of those friends grew up in a 2-income family, remarried/non-divorced households that were already decently well off.

To the less personal stuff.

↓

Every person above has fucking point though. The States could, and quite frankly should, be doing better, should be doing more.

But racism and classism and sexism are all still rampant, frothing at the mouth, vicious and blatant.

Our transportation in-country is horrid. The cost to leave the country is tremendous, starting with the cost of passports to whether or not taking a week off will cost you your job.

And there's a shit ton of clueless, rich Americans who go out there and Americanism all over everything in the most miserably rude, senseless fashion they can, most of them not even realizing it.

There's a ton of faults, and a whole lot of cluelessness that breeds ignorance and insult, on both sides.

Europeans don't, for the most part, understand just how split up the States are, culture, language, etc. Because each state, each region, is vastly different from geography to mannerisms. They don't get just how easy it is for them to travel, their schools promote learning multiple languages. Our schools, our governments? They don't. Well. They do if you're rich, white, and cis. Then it's a "bonus in your job applications." But if someone who isn't one or any of those speaks two or more languages, then it's a count against them.

Again: racism, classism, sexism.

But, Americans also aren't "cultureless." I'm from the Midwest. That's very different from the central plains (now often lumped in w/ the MW) or from the East, South, West, etc. The cultures between regions are incredibly different- and it varies more-so state to state. You can't say NY and NJ are the same, just like MN and WI aren't. CA isn't WA state, and KS, AZ, and GA can't even be compared, region or state.

It's just that the predominant majority of American Tourists come from the same middle-to-upper class, white, nuclear-family backgrounds and their ingrained ignorance paired with the European VP (that we hear the most) is that All Americans Have The Same Opportunities and Upbringings leads to a lot of bullshit fuckery.

europeans will really look americans dead in the eye and say they’re so uncultured because they never leave the us

[elenajohansenreads]

Books I Read in 2023

#3 - The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu

Rating: 1/5 stars

As far as I can tell, the only thing this book has going for it is the novelty of it being Chinese. Yes, before this Chinese sci-fi wasn't available to English-speaking readers. Yes, it's an interesting experience to read sci-fi produced by a culture that isn't my own. I value both of those statements being true and would love to read more sci-fi in translation.

Too bad I couldn't find anything inherently interesting about the work itself. There's nothing it did or tried to do that another author I've read hasn't already done better.

[past here we enter massively spoilered territory with a bonus of nitpicky ranting about one mishandled plot device, consider the above your TL;DR if you still want to read this book yourself someday]

I don't have problems with the premise, and only minor ones with the resulting plot: I have great difficulty suspending my disbelief in regards to so many people turning traitor to Earth, and without that certainty, the story fails. The ETO was functionally a cult in many ways, and I understand that cults can have extraordinary influence on their members, but the narrative takes great and repetitive pains to tell me that nearly all ETO members were social, political, or scientific elite--ie, not stupid country bumpkins. (There was a lot of classism in this book, and not just in the Cultural Revolution segments.) But fine, sure, let's have a doomsday future where an incipient alien invasion freaks people out to the point where they want their own planet taken over.

A more serious issue I have with the book is its quiet sexism. There are only two named female characters I can recall, one whose death could arguably be called an inciting incident for the modern-day plot line (or at least an entry point into it for one protagonist,) and the second is our other protagonist. (ETA: I remembered a third minor female character whose importance to the plot is negligible.) However, our lady protagonist is also the first and most serious traitor to the human race...not a great look for women, thanks. The Cultural Revolution plot line is entirely about her and presumably meant to guide the reader to understanding the forces that shaped this woman into the person who could betray the Earth so completely, but a) that's such a repugnant viewpoint to me personally I can't find myself sympathetic to her, and b) even if I could (or I could suspend my disbelief better for more interesting characters and moral quandaries) I don't really see how we get from point A to inviting an alien invasion. This may simply be something that would read better if I were Chinese and had the personal-cultural experience to access the history more fully, but obviously, I'll never know that for sure.

The failure of one protagonist to involve me in the story adequately is a specific point of a larger problem: this novel is idea-based and doesn't make any real effort to make its characters "real." There were a lot of moments where I simply said to myself, "People don't act/talk that way." There were a lot of times I felt a character was a plot device who happened to have a name attached. There were a lot of "talking heads" sections were extensive back-and-forth conversations were held, sometimes for many pages, but neither party involved ever moved, breathed, or had any kind of body language. The only character that displayed anything close to a personality was Da Shi, the cop who quite proudly wasn't a "good" cop but an effective one. He was rude, he had swagger, he knew the limits of his own intelligence yet came up with many of the revelatory moments the scientist characters couldn't because of his brand of "street" smarts. So he was still a thinly veiled plot device--that sort of character isn't fresh or original at all--but simply by virtue of being the only one who wasn't an interchangeable cog in the plot, he was the most memorable.

The second half of the problem I had with the novel being ideas-based was that the ideas weren't good or solid. By that I mean, the narrative belabored the three-body problem, a well-known thing, far past the point I needed it to be explained (I was vaguely familiar with it before but physics wasn't my field even when I was actively studying science) then, late in the story, rushed through multidimensional supercomputers so fast that I don't know if that was wholly science fiction the author made up, or something with at least a grounding in stuff we puny human scientists are already exploring. (I know we're not making proton-sized computers yet, but is this something we think we can do? Ever?)

On top of that, I don't feel confident about the science because I don't have the sense that the author did due diligence in research to make anything about this seem real. While I don't have advanced physics knowledge, I am a giant video game nerd with more than a layman's understanding of how games get made, and the Three Body video game is preposterous. No video game with its described translation and mutable-setting capabilities could exist in a believable modern day world without employing a development studio the size of a small country, yet it's all hand-waved with "the ETO did it on behalf of the aliens."

With what money? Who programmed it specifically, because I might believe the ETO managed to snag a game dev or two, but how did they pitch the project to their studio(s)? If it's accessible for free to everyone online, is knowledge of it spreading by word of mouth, are they advertising, are they relying on game journalism to interest potential new players from which to gather their potential new members? Since our other protagonist plays the game repeatedly and only ever seems to meet the same two or three other players, is that meant to be representative of the entire (small, unrealistically small!) player base, or are player interactions instanced with priority given to matching the same user IDs whenever possible? Because that's a potentially complex addition to game functionality that wouldn't be cheap, and I simply cannot stress this point enough, where is this money coming from because we know the game isn't using a free-to-play model with micro-transactions so how are the servers running and how are the programmers getting paid? You'd need an entire stable of graphic designers just to keep up with the clothing necessary for the character models, if multiple historical settings are available thematically based on user names, which is another entire kettle of fish, because that's not being assigned by hand, the response time wouldn't be fast enough, so it requires some kind of programming script or even an AI to make those decisions, which is yet another thing someone had to make and get paid for...and what happens if a user ID has no innate scientific importance or cultural connotation? What appearance and setting would Three Body assign me if I just entered "Elena" as my handle?

And all of these objections are coming from a hobbyist who has never actually worked in game development but watches YouTube videos about it for fun. Actual industry people would likely have even more salient criticism. But if I can poke holes in this plot device so easily, how am I supposed to take the rest of the book seriously?

[nitefise-art]

Some more literal translations of the Mandarin in Shang-Chi [spoilers obviously]

Okay so there are lots of nuances missing from the subtitles in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings movie and I know some decisions are for ease of reading but for those interested, here are some more literal translations of some of the Mandarin in Shang-Chi, based on my interpretation:

Above, the Chinese is 火山口, which is specifically a volcanic crater, not any sort of crater.

Above, the meaning of the second line is actually completely different; the emphasis is on the fact that already conquered so much yet wanted more; not what he was chasing.

The proper pinyin of Ta Lo is “Taluo”, which I’ve used here.

Same here, Shang-Chi is actually “Shangqi” in Chinese pinyin.

This one is extremely simplified in the subtitles, not sure why because it can’t be a speed thing, she says three separate sentences that they could have translated.

Not sure why this wasn’t subbed lol

I think this difference is interesting because the subs imply the guy was almost misleading, i.e. you have to sign this to get in the building, but the actual Mandarin is very vague, all he says is to sign there.

The last phrase here is "你别把我扔在这", with the "扔" meaning "throw", so even more literally it translates as "don't throw me away here". It gives an extra sense of abandonment that the subs don’t capture.

Don’t move your head, Wenwu

Guang Bo's line here is harsher in Mandarin, and I think hits especially hard in light of how "Go back to where you came from" is classically thrown at Asian immigrants. There's intense irony in the line coming from the other side, that the subtitles don't convey.

English subs censored his swearing lol

Here Guang Bo says "混账", which is an insult, usually used when someone has just said something extremely disrespectful.

Here Wenwu calls him "小子", "小" meaning "small". “Young man” is a much too polite translation of the phrase there. Then his last line is a Chinese idiom, “我吃的盐比你吃的饭还多” which is used to show how much more experience one has than the person you’re talking to.

I prefer “Come back alive” tbh

Anyway I hope this was interesting, translating is obviously not an easy art so this isn't meant to suggest better subs, I just wanted to share what non-Chinese speakers might have missed out on because the experience was truly better being able to understand both languages. It’s so refreshing seeing such a bilingual movie come out of Hollywood, and this coming from someone who isn’t even really a Marvel fan.

[fozmeadows]

race & culture in fandom

For the past decade, English language fanwriting culture post the days of LiveJournal and Strikethrough has been hugely shaped by a handful of megafandoms that exploded across AO3 and tumblr – I’m talking Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Dr Who, the MCU, Harry Potter, Star Wars, BBC Sherlock – which have all been overwhelmingly white. I don’t mean in terms of the fans themselves, although whiteness also figures prominently in said fandoms: I mean that the source materials themselves feature very few POC, and the ones who are there tended to be done dirty by the creators.

Periodically, this has led POC in fandom to point out, extremely reasonably, that even where non-white characters do get central roles in various media properties, they’re often overlooked by fandom at large, such that the popular focus stays primarily on the white characters. Sometimes this happened (it was argued) because the POC characters were secondary to begin with and as such attracted less fan devotion (although this has never stopped fandoms from picking a random white gremlin from the background cast and elevating them to the status of Fave); at other times, however, there has been a clear trend of sidelining POC leads in favour of white alternatives (as per Finn, Poe and Rose Tico being edged out in Star Wars shipping by Hux, Kylo and Rey). I mention this, not to demonize individuals whose preferred ships happen to involve white characters, but to point out the collective impact these trends can have on POC in fandom spaces: it’s not bad to ship what you ship, but that doesn’t mean there’s no utility in analysing what’s popular and why through a racial lens.

All this being so, it feels increasingly salient that fanwriting culture as exists right now developed under the influence and in the shadow of these white-dominated fandoms – specifically, the taboo against criticizing or critiquing fics for any reason. Certainly, there’s a hell of a lot of value to Don’t Like, Don’t Read as a general policy, especially when it comes to the darker, kinkier side of ficwriting, and whether the context is professional or recreational, offering someone direct, unsolicited feedback on their writing style is a dick move. But on the flipside, the anti-criticism culture in fanwriting has consistently worked against fans of colour who speak out about racist tropes, fan ignorance and hurtful portrayals of living cultures. Voicing anything negative about works created for free is seen as violating a core rule of ficwriting culture – but as that culture has been foundationally shaped by white fandoms, white characters and, overwhelmingly, white ideas about what’s allowed and what isn’t, we ought to consider that all critical contexts are not created equal.

Right now, the rise of C-drama (and K-drama, and J-drama) fandoms is seeing a surge of white creators – myself included – writing fics for fandoms in which no white people exist, and where the cultural context which informs the canon is different to western norms. Which isn’t to say that no popular fandoms focused on POC have existed before now – K-pop RPF and anime fandoms, for example, have been big for a while. But with the success of The Untamed, more western fans are investing in stories whose plots, references, characterization and settings are so fundamentally rooted in real Chinese history and living Chinese culture that it’s not really possible to write around it. And yet, inevitably, too many in fandom are trying to do just that, treating respect for Chinese culture or an attempt to understand it as optional extras – because surely, fandom shouldn’t feel like work. If you’re writing something for free, on your own time, for your own pleasure, why should anyone else get to demand that you research the subject matter first?

Because it matters, is the short answer. Because race and culture are not made-up things like lightsabers and werewolves that you can alter, mock or misunderstand without the risk of hurting or marginalizing actual real people – and because, quite frankly, we already know that fandom is capable of drawing lines in the sand where it chooses. When Brony culture first reared its head (hah), the online fandom for My Little Pony – which, like the other fandoms we’re discussing here, is overwhelmingly female – was initially welcoming. It felt like progress, that so many straight men could identify with such a feminine show; a potential sign that maybe, we were finally leaving the era of mainstream hypermasculine fandom bullshit behind, at least in this one arena. And then, in pretty much the blink of an eye, things got overwhelmingly bad. Artists drawing hardcorn porn didn’t tag their works as adult, leading to those images flooding the public search results for a children’s show. Women were edged out of their own spaces. Bronies got aggressive, posting harsh, ugly criticism of artists whose gijinka interpretations of the Mane Six as humans were deemed insufficiently fuckable.

The resulting fandom conflict was deeply unpleasant, but in the end, the verdict was laid down loud and clear: if you cannot comport yourself like a decent fucking person – if your base mode of engagement within a fandom is to coopt it from the original audience and declare it newly cool only because you’re into it now; if you do not, at the very least, attempt to understand and respect the original context so as to engage appropriately (in this case, by acknowledging that the media you’re consuming was foundational to many women who were there before you and is still consumed by minors, and tagging your goddamn porn) – then the rest of fandom will treat you like a social biohazard, and rightly so.

Here’s the thing, fellow white people: when it comes to C-drama fandoms and other non-white, non-western properties? We are the Bronies.

Not, I hasten to add, in terms of toxic fuckery – though if we don’t get our collective shit together, I’m not taking that darkest timeline off the table. What I mean is that, by virtue of the whiteminding which, both consciously and unconsciously, has shaped current fan culture, particularly in terms of ficwriting conventions, we’re collectively acting as though we’re the primary audience for narratives that weren’t actually made with us in mind, being hostile dicks to Chinese and Chinese diaspora fans when they take the time to point out what we’re getting wrong. We’re bristling because we’ve conceived of ficwriting as a place wherein No Criticism Occurs without questioning how this culture, while valuable in some respects, also serves to uphold, excuse and perpetuate microaggresions and other forms of racism, lashing out or falling back on passive aggression when POC, quite understandably, talk about how they’re sick and tired of our bullshit.

An analogy: one of the most helpful and important tags on AO3 is the one for homophobia, not just because it allows readers to brace for or opt out of reading content they might find distressing, but because it lets the reader know that the writer knows what homophobia is, and is employing it deliberately. When this concept is tagged, I – like many others – often feel more able to read about it than I do when it crops up in untagged works of commercial fiction, film or TV, because I don’t have to worry that the author thinks what they’re depicting is okay. I can say definitively, “yes, the author knows this is messed up, but has elected to tell a messed up story, a fact that will be obvious to anyone who reads this,” instead of worrying that someone will see a fucked up story blind and think “oh, I guess that’s fine.” The contextual framing matters, is the point – which is why it’s so jarring and unpleasant on those rare occasions when I do stumble on a fic whose author has legitimately mistaken homophobic microaggressions for cute banter. This is why, in a ficwriting culture that otherwise aggressively dislikes criticism, the request to tag for a certain thing – while still sometimes fraught – is generally permitted: it helps everyone to have a good time and to curate their fan experience appropriately.

But when white and/or western fans fail to educate ourselves about race, culture and the history of other countries and proceed to deploy that ignorance in our writing, we’re not tagging for racism as a thing we’ve explored deliberately; we’re just being ignorant at best and hateful at worst, which means fans of colour don’t know to avoid or brace for the content of those works until they get hit in the face with microaggresions and/or outright racism. Instead, the burden is placed on them to navigate a minefield not of their creation: which fans can be trusted to write respectfully? Who, if they make an error, will listen and apologise if the error is explained? Who, if lived experience, personal translations or cultural insights are shared, can be counted on to acknowledge those contributions rather than taking sole credit? Too often, fans of colour are being made to feel like guests in their own house, while white fans act like a tone-policing HOA.

Point being: fandom and ficwriting cultures as they currently exist badly need to confront the implicit acceptance of racism and cultural bias that underlies a lot of community rules about engagement and criticism, and that needs to start with white and western fans. We don’t want to be the new Bronies, guys. We need to do better.  

[madicham]

Tobacco is indeed really good ! I've never been great at selling the things I like, but I'll do my best sfdgf

Though I haven't watched the movie, I did read the book and really liked it. It's been translated into Slovak, German, Polish, Russian, Romanian, Hungarian, Chinese, Greek, Turkish, Mongolian and Japanese according to one article I found. Wikipedia says there's partial translations into english, spanish, italian and french, but I couldn't find any of those online </3

(and little clarification - there are two version of the book that exist. The original was deemed "inconsistent with communist ideology" by the communist censor at the time and Dimov was forced to change it, including some communist good guy characters. I've only read the original, and I don't know which version is translated in all those languages, big sorry)

Maria is only a supporting character, though I love her dearly. The main characters are Irina and Boris - a girl and a guy from a small village where the main source of jobs and income is a tobacco factory. They both hate their current lives and the village, and both want to leave tho through very different means. Irina wants to go to the capital and become a doctor, while Boris wants to become a rich businessman. The book follows these two as they age and become rich, influential and terrible people, while also dealing with many other (tbh, still very relevant) subjects like the exploatation of the working class under capitalism, corruption of government, police and prison brutality, ww2 etc etc and it does so really well. Highly recommend to anyone that can get their hands on it in a language they understand!

There's a few scenes that still live in my head that happen around the middle of the book //I think? it's been a while dsfgfhg// so I'll ramble about them a lil under a cut, just in case fdsgfh

SO Irina's the daughter of the village police chief. This happens when she's already in the capital studying, and Boris has already become CEO of the tobacco company. Tobacco factory workers all around the country are striking against the horrible working conditions, health hazards and minimal pay - they're protesting and rioting. Boris, basically having the government agencies in his pocket, orders the protests squashed. So Irina's father recieves a call telling him to go out there and beat the protestors off the streets with his men.

And he kind of has a moment of clarity - for a split second he realizes that he's just a tool for the rich. He's not rich either. He also grows tobacco to sell to the factory for extra income. He knows all the people outside. He's scared of them, because they're angry and armed with planks and bats and such, but they're also poor and starving and sick. They're asking for a better life and he's being told to go and beat them into compliance.

This all crosses his mind but he refuses to think about it any longer. He just goes out to do his job. And he dies.

He's killed by one of the protestors - a single mother of two that we've seen a few times already. She splits his head open with a bat and is shot almost immediately after.

Their funerals are on the same day.

The woman's funeral is small, attended by other workers and her two small children that a kind old lady has taken in. (It's mentioned how the other workers from the factory, though they themselves barely have anything, pitch in a little bit from their salaries each month towards those kids) They're forced to cut the funeral short and chased out of the graveyard so the police chief's can start.

His funeral is grand and splendid in a way even Irina herself finds tacky.

And when she calls Boris to inform him of what has happened, he says that Oh, he forgot her dad is the head of police there. Had he remembered, he would've raised the wages in that area to calm the people down.

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

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[emptymasks]

Where to watch and listen to non-English language musicals?

I’ve been thinking about making a post like this for a while but wondered hm do I want to be giving out links to free downloads of musical audios publicly when really I want to promote people still buying CDs because one, it supports the artists, and two, I think it’s better to own things still rather than just own things digitally. But I found an extra treasure trove I didn’t know about before and I feel a need to share because I didn’t make it, it’s already online, so why shouldn’t I tell people about it? And then this was just going to be for audios and not videos and I was going to make a separate post but figured it would be easier if all the info was on one post. I actually was going to post this on my sideblog @europeanmuscials but I accidentally made the draft under my main blog which meant I couldn’t change it later and I couldn’t be bothered to cope and paste and redo all the images and tags because I didn’t save the images I just copy and pasted them so oh well.

Purchasing

So as I always preface when I share info on where to stream musicals, PLEASE try always support the artists by buying CDs and DVDs! I know a lot of the musicals here are 10/20+ years old and you cannot get the CDs anywhere anymore, but when a new musical comes out please try and get the CD without instatnly looking for a download.  You can purchase non-English language musical CDs, DVDs and other merch from places like soundofmusic-shop.de or Ebay, or Yahoo Auctions for Japanese musicals, using a proxy shipping service, I personally use ZenMarket. Those are how I’ve gotten all of mine, getting them off Ebay or Yahoo Auctions means they’ll likely be second hand and there is nothing wrong or weird about buying second hand goods.

Streaming Audio

Spotify. A lot of German and French musicals are on Youtube. I have a series of playlists that will help you find them easily: one is my favourite songs from a bunch of different non-English language musicals, one of songs from solo albums from European and Asian musical theatre artists, and this one which is going to be the most help that is a huge playlist of every single full cast album of every non-English musical cast album I have found on Spotify. Please let me know if I’ve missed any on there and I’ll add them.

Youtube. Some official cast albums are also on Youtube, normally official uploads that match the Spotify uploads. Ones I know of that aren’t on Spotify for example is the original 2003 Dutch production of one of my favourite musicals 3 Musketiers and the 2005 German production of it.

Streaming Video

I want to preface this with how unlike Broadway and the West End, it’s fairly common for European musicals to get proshots and DVD and Bluray releases and so you don’t normally need to resort to looking for bootleg videos and can watch and purchase the pretty official proshots instead.

Youtube. There’s so many different channels uploading them to Youtube that for ease I made a playlist of every full length production on Youtube starting with the ones that have English subtitles. I also have playlists for different individual musicals and misc European musicals that are full of shorter videos: clips, interviews, behind the scenes, concert performances and other videos that aren’t full length production videos. These playlists are constantly updated.

Bilibili. A Chinese video sharing website. It has a lot Asian musicals of course, but European musicals, in particular French and German ones, have a very dedicated fanbase in Asia and so there are a lot of videos on here. You can search for then using the English/Roman alphabet and they normally come up fine. Easiest way I search on there is using the name of the musical/actor and a year.

VK. A Russian social media similar to Facebook. There are multiple fanpages for specific actors and musicals where I’ve found videos, but you can also search over all of VK. You might need an account to do this, I don’t remember but I think you do and that’s why I made one there. Here’s links to fanpages for Drew Sarich, Jan Ammann, Mark Seibert and Thomas Borchert.

Downloading Audio

r/castrecordings on Reddit. It’s a community of traders and you can make a reply to their request threads for the month asking if anyone has the audio you’re looking for, but please check first to see if it’s already been uploaded. I have downloaded many audios off there and I also have uploaded audios to there if I see someone request something that I have because I feel that it’s only fair for me to help others out there when I’ve downloaded things off there so many times. Be aware download links on here often get deleted and so a lot of older posts don’t have working download links anymore, but you can just request for a new working download on the request threads.

archive.org. Now I would never have thought of looking there, but I was on there because they have a lot of old silent films and so I was looking to watch the original Phantom of the Opera film and when I searched Phantom I was surprised by some cast albums that came up. So I wondered what would happen if I just looked at audios and oh I have found a wonderful little treasure trove. User musical_lover_1980 has uploaded over 1 thousand cast albums of Broadway, West End and non-English language musicals and a few film soundtracks. A lot of ones on there I’ve found before on r/castrecordings, but I was so happy to find a number that I didn’t already have. There’s even one Takarazuka album on there, which isn’t a lot but do you know how rare and hard those things are to find. And the Korean Frankenstein musical cast album!!

EDIT: also the account @ WennLi3b3 on archive.org is uploading audios and proshot videos 

Because I will be link to external sites this might not show up in tags so I appreciate the reblogs. Please don’t share this post outside of Tumblr, nor any of the audios I post here outside of Tumblr. If I find that happening I’ll delete everything and not post audios or information like this anymore. Apologies if there are typos or any mistakes here.