#and i'm sure there's a one-word technical translation of that in english but i don't know it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

littleeyesofpallas · 7 months ago

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Hi,

would you make meta stuff about Mayuri's way of speaking? I mean guy speaks strange way compared to other characters and me with friend don't speak japanese and would like to know more about it.

Thank you! 💜

So, i do want to remind anyone reading my blog but please remember i'm not at all fluent in Japanese. I understand the grammar on a textbook level, and with enough dictionary resources I can poke around and sus out nuances of some word choices (particularly stuff like fictional names of people and swords and attacks and stuff, as those kinds of creative choices are very overt*), especially in irregular usage, but when it comes down to things like dialect, slangs, vernacular or phraseology, or more subtle tone indicators I'm pretty blind.

*(sorry to further clarify: when it's stuff like fantasy jargon it's stuff no one would ever actually say, and so the choices made in crafting those words or names from scratch are all reliably very deliberate. But when looking at more casual speech a lot of character voice just kind of defaults to what "sounds" right, and so the distinction between choosing one common word over another isn't always meaningful or readily apparent, both in general and to someone not fully fluent like me.)

Like if someone talks in a stilted overly technical or dry way I might be able to tell that much, but I'd totally miss more structural things like whether it makes them sound more like a mad scientist -vs- a tryhard edgelord fake intellectual -vs- a man out of time -vs- a stuffy rich person --or what the differences i'd even be looking for between all those would be-- I really can't tell outside of what i might be able to glean from things like narrative context more than the dialog itself.

With the exception of some very tropey, and thus easier to identify things like, movie-esque yakuza slang, or melodramatic historical feudal drama formal titles --and even then those are things i might more readily catch when actually spoken than when written on the page-- i'm just as lost as the next person.

That all being said, there are still a few little things i can sort of pick at without feeling totally out of my depth...

I think it's been brought up on some random post of mine before that Mayuri does notably use a "more feminine" 1st person pronoun, watashi[私] which is a pretty common pronoun, although its usage feels weird to explain in English?

Like... it is considered "gender neutral" in that there are other pronouns that are more specifically feminine or masculine and it's not one of them. But then in practice, you'd basically expect men to opt for one of the more overtly masculine pronouns, which just sort of leaves women with watashi as a default?

So it's not that it explicitly makes him sound ""feminine"" so much as it makes him sound less masculine; which suits his intellectual, non physical inclined, and at times cowardly or at least scheming demeanor. But like, it's also considered a little stuffy and sort of overly formal, or technical which is also appropriate to him.

Oh right and it's a formal pronoun as opposed to informal, but there's also a level of very formal pronouns, and it's not one of those, so that doesn't so much triangulate a position as it just leave in vaguely in the middle of the road...

Does that all make sense? it feels like super overexplaining for what is an extremely commonly used pronoun with mostly very neutral implications.

He occasionally ends sentences with a single katakana syllable rather than hiragana, indicating... not quite an "accent".. but like a sort of emphasis. Like a punctuating lilt in tone. Actually Nakao Ryuusei does this really noticeably in the anime and I don't know for sure if I heard it that way in my head and he just nailed it, or if i heard him first and it's just always colored my reading since.

A lot of the rhetorical NE[ネ] which begs confirmation, often translated into English as "...right?" (It's part of that desu ne[ですね] that you hear a lot in anime, where the desu[です] is just the verb to be, so together they tend to translate as "isn't it?")

YO[ヨ] which is again a sort of rhetorical thing that usually gets translated as something like, "...you know?"

and E?[エ?] which isn't even a word or part of speech so much as it's just like, an interrogative noise? Quite literally just "eh?"

But see this is one of those things were like... I can tell it's different from a sort of default neutral mode of speech, but I don't know what that indicates as, like, a point of characterization... Is it specifically condescending? Is it there to sound mechanical or stilted? Is it somehow old fashioned or polite/formal? I have no clue as to these sorts of specifics.

[edit]: I want to reiterate this is a rhetorical device, he's not literally asking a question and waiting for a response. If anything it's functionally the exact opposite, he's saying it to emphasize that he's stating things meant to be taken as facts, it actively closes the dialog off from further questioning.

He also says HOU[ホウ] a lot, which also isn't really a word so much as a sound, but given the pattern in speech above I feel like it's kind of inquisitive, or at least contemplative, which is (i think) how I remember Nakao delivering those lines too. Like a sort of, "Oh?" or "Huh..." or "Hmm..."

And given how close the camera gets to his face most times he says it, it gives an impression of being, not "quiet" exactly, but like you had to be close to hear it, so like, almost under his breath? Like it's clearly a noise he makes to himself, it's not like a thing or expression he's making to the other people int he scene.

FUU[フウ] or alternatively HUU, and I think once or twice FUN'/HUN'[フン] as a sort of grunt? not quite as guttural as that, but not quite a sigh? Like a "hmpf."

He also does your classic YARE YARE[ヤレヤレ] which definitely isn't unusual or unique to him but it has this kind "tut tut" or "tch"/"tsk" tone to it and tends to translated very loosely like, "oh my" or "good grief", but I think of it more like a "well, well, well..." but like kind of implicitly more exasperated than that sounds in english?

I don't know where to start trying to qualify, like... what kind of character says yare yare a lot, but it's definitely something that suits some characters more than others, and Mayuri it definitely fits.

He tends to laugh like ...KU KU...[...クク...] which is a kind of sharp snigger, sneer, or scoff. He really doesn't guffaw or cackle or have much of a more typical dramatic villain laugh, it's very understated.

Although in his fight with Pernida he does let out a full on maniacal FUHAHAHA[フハハハ] laugh for the first time in the whole series

I do love the fonts Kubo uses for a lot of Mayuri's dialog. At a certain point he starts to lean intothe same basic font as everyone else, but particualrly at the beginning he switches between a few unusual ones that are specific to Mayuri.

One's got that rough kind of pseudo handwritten quality to it. It reads to me as kind of scratchy, like a sharp pen nib on thick matte paper, with a kind of clotty ink flow that starts thick and wet but sorta tapers out too fast, leaving the lines spotty and rough.

But he also alternated with a thicker rounder font that has these subtle curls to them that I don't see other character use often.

and then he's got a second font choice that basically has all the same tones as the first one, except maybe a bit, like, louder(?) implicitly just based on context? It tends to be used in creepy action scenes where as the thinner one is more for creepy conversation?

In his very first appearance he chastises Gin, and he changes font between sentences, giving a very distinct sense that it's a change in tone. It reads to me like a low heavy hiss, almost like his voice is normally shallow or throaty, but when the font changes he suddenly drops his voice into a chestier range and speaks almost more smoothly?

Then there's just the perfectly regular fonts he uses sometimes, basically any/every other character uses these same fonts at some point or another.

and he has a neat thin wispy font that he only uses the one time when he liquefies himself. Along with the voice bubbles used, it gives a super distinct impression of his voice barely being audible.

He also one time speaks enthusiastically in an italic version of the more standard font when he arrives in Hueco Mundo.

And then in the Hell Jaw one shot he just has a completely different standard font because Kubo probably didn't keep track of what fonts he'd been using from like 8 years ago

There's also a subtly funky sort of font he uses briefly in the tbtp sidestory? I dunno what to say about this honestly. It gives me these vague 60s-70s vibes that I can't quite place? (I feel like I know i've seen it before but on what? A bowling alley sign? A little back alley cafe? a jazz album cover??)

I have no idea that the take away from that is supposed to be though.

And I guess that's it. I dunno how I thought I was gonna end this. It didn't really reveal any new facets to his character that weren't pretty apparent from the rest of his whole design and demeanor. Plus Nakao's performance in the anime basically nails all of this and i think makes it pretty apparent in tone even if you don't know much about Japanese.

#bleach #bleach meta #weak meta to be honest tho #not confident in this post at all really...#kurotsuchi mayuri #mayuri kurotsuchi

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judaismandsuch · 1 year ago

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Where do Jews pray?

Aside from the "technically true" answer of 'wherever they happen to be' this is going into the words used English for the specifically chosen buildings.

You run into a few different common ones: Synagogue, Temple, and Shul.

Each have different histories, and implications that many people may not know.

So I want to break down the etymologies, implications, etc. as well as mention some less well known ones.

1)Synagogue: Linguistically arguably the most correct. It comes from from french, latin, and ultimately greek, and ultimately is from the translation of the Bible into Greek. The word be created as a translation for the word Knesset. It literally would translate (in the original greek) to 'meeting place'. overall: 10/10, cannot go wrong with using this word.

2)Temple: A fairly Common word, but one that is rife with theological implications that many are unaware of. Basically it goes like this: There was the first temple and the second, and we are waiting for the third (in theory). When the Reform movement started, one aspect was that the Temple was no longer felt to be a necessary and lamented missing aspect of Judaism, and that the places of prayer were equivalent.* So they began to call their Houses of Prayer 'Temple's. No one in the Orthodox movement would use that term, nor would people in the Conservative movement call their houses of prayer 'Temple'. (at least none that I have seen, and very much none at the begining, I am sure that there are some conservative shuls nowadays that do use the term 'temple'). Now, this means that the use of the word 'temple' to describe a Jewish house of worship is also a theological position. So hearing people use the term 'Temple' as a catch all term instead of Synagogue will annoy a lot of more religious Jews. Now there are a few disclaimers about this: 99% of people aren't aware of this. I have met many a reform and conservative individual that was unaware of the history. So like all pieces of information on a small aspect of theology, don't assume a use of a term implies full knowledge of ramifications. Of course, there is the other issue "Temple" refering to loads of other religions' houses of worship, so it isn't really a good identifier. 2/10, find another word people.

3)Shul A loan word from Yiddish, it actually is the same linguistic root as 'School'. A place of learning. I like it, but a lot of people won't know it, so you'll need to then translate the word. 8/10, but I am biased.

Other words that you may see:

Jewish Church: The issues are obvious, but for some reason I like it.

Beit Knesset: The Hebrew word, 'House of Meeting' it's good, but y'know obv. issues of using hebrew in english.

*I am summarizing and simplifying a large religious movement, obviously this misses some nuance.

NOTE: There are a lot of terms! This is "Common ones you run into in North America" But there are def. terms for it from other Jewish communities that I never heard!

If you have one you didn't see on the list, put it in the notes! (or a direct comment, I'm no cop)

#jumblr #judaism #shul #synagogue #temple #jewish temple #jewish church #beit knesset #jewish

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a-memory-a-distant-echo · 7 months ago

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it's time for the long-threatened post about how to get subtitles (including translated ones) for videos that don't have subtitles.

in my experience, the methods in this post can probably get you solidly 75% or more of the content of many videos (caveats inside). i've tested this on videos that are originally in chinese, english, french, german, hindi, japanese, korean, spanish, and honestly probably some languages that i'm forgetting. my experience is that it works adequately in all of them. not great, necessarily, but well enough that you can probably follow along.

this is a very long post because this is the overexplaining things website, and because i talk about several different ways to get the captions. this isn't actually difficult, though, or even especially time consuming—the worst of it is pushing a button and ignoring things for a while. actual hands-on work is probably five minutes tops, no matter how long the video is.

i've attempted to format this post understandably, and i hope it's useful to someone.

first up, some disclaimers.

this is just my experience with things, and your experience might be different. the tools used for (and available for) this kind of thing change all the time, and if you're reading this six months after i wrote it, your options might be different. this post is probably still a decent starting place.

background about my biases in this: i work in the creative industries. mostly i'm a fiction editor. i've also been a writer, a technical editor and writer, a transcriptionist, a copyeditor, and something i've seen called a 'translation facilitator' or 'rewrite editor', where something is translated fairly literally (by a person or a machine) and then a native speaker of the target language goes through and rewrites/restructures as needed to make the piece read more naturally in the target language. i've needed to get information out of business meetings that were conducted in a language i didn't speak, and have done a lot of work on things that were written in (or translated into) the writer's second or sixth language, but needed to be presented in natural english.

so to start, most importantly: machine translation is never going to be as good as a translation done by an actual human. human translators can reflect cultural context and nuanced meanings and the artistry of the work in a way that machines will never be able to emulate. that said, if machine translation is your only option, it's better than nothing. i also find it really useful for videos in languages where i have enough knowledge that i'm like, 75% sure that i'm mostly following, and just want something that i can glance at to confirm that.

creating subs like this relies heavily on voice-to-text, which—unfortunately—works a lot better in some situations than it does in others. you'll get the best, cleanest results from videos that have slow, clear speech in a 'neutral' accent, and only one person speaking at a time. (most scripted programs fall into this category, as do many vlogs and single-person interviews.) the results will get worse as voices speed up, overlap more, and vary in volume. that said, i've used this to get captions for cast concerts, reality shows, and variety shows, and the results are imperfect but solidly readable, especially if you have an idea of what's happening in the plot and/or can follow along even a little in the broadcast language.

this also works best when most of the video is in a single language, and you select that language first. the auto detect option sometimes works totally fine, but in my experience there's a nonzero chance that it'll at least occasionally start 'detecting' random other languages in correctly, or someone will say a few words in spanish or whatever, but the automatic detection engine will keep trying to translate from spanish for another three minutes, even tho everything's actually in korean. if there's any way to do so, select the primary language, even if it means that you miss a couple sentences that are in a different language.

two places where these techniques don't work, or don't work without a lot of manual effort on your part: translating words that appear on the screen (introductions, captions, little textual asides, etc), and music. if you're incredibly dedicated, you can do this and add it manually yourself, but honestly, i'm not usually this dedicated. getting captions for the words on the screen will involve either actually editing the video or adding manually translated content to the subs, which is annoying, and lyrics are...complicated. it's possible, and i'm happy to talk about it in another post if anyone is interested, but for the sake of this post, let's call it out of scope, ok? ok. bring up the lyrics on your phone and call it good enough.

places where these techniques are not great: names. it's bad with names. names are going to be mangled. resign yourself to it now. also, in languages that don't have strongly gendered speech, you're going to learn some real fun stuff about the way that the algorithms gender things. (spoiler: not actually fun.) bengali, chinese, and turkish are at least moderately well supported for voice-to-text, but you will get weird pronouns about it.

obligatory caveat about ai and voice-to-text functionality. as far as i'm aware, basically every voice-to-text function is ~ai powered~. i, a person who has spent twenty years working in the creative industries, have a lot of hate for generative ai, and i'm sure that many of you do, too. however, if voice-to-text (or machine translation software) that doesn't rely on it exists anymore, i'm not aware of it.

what we're doing here is the same as what douyin/tiktok/your phone's voice-to-text does, using the same sorts of technology. i mention this because if you look at the tools mentioned in this post, at least some of them will be like 'our great ai stuff lets you transcribe things accurately', and i want you to know why. chat gpt (etc) are basically glorified predictive text, right? so for questions, they're fucking useless, but for things like machine transcription and machine translation, those predictions make it more likely that you get the correct words for things that could have multiple translations, or for words that the software can only partially make out. it's what enables 'he has muscles' vs 'he has mussels', even though muscles and mussels are generally pronounced the same way. i am old enough to have used voice to text back when it was called dictation software, and must grudgingly admit that this is, in fact, much better.

ok! disclaimers over.

let's talk about getting videos

for the most part, this post will assume that you have a video file and nothing else. cobalt.tools is the easiest way i'm aware of to download videos from most sources, though there are other (more robust) options if you're happy to do it from the command line. i assume most people are not, and if you are, you probably don't need this guide anyhow.

i'm going to use 'youtube' as the default 'get a video from' place, but generally speaking, most of this works with basically any source that you can figure out how to download from—your bilibili downloads and torrents and whatever else will work the same way. i'm shorthanding things because this post is already so so long.

if the video you're using has any official (not autogenerated) subtitles that aren't burned in, grab that file, too, regardless of the language. starting from something that a human eye has looked over at some point is always going to give you better results. cobalt.tools doesn't pull subtitles, but plugging the video url into downsub or getsubs and then downloading the srt option is an easy way to get them for most places. (if you use downsub, it'll suggest that you download the full video with subtitles. that's a link to some other software, and i've never used it, so i'm not recommending it one way or the other. the srts are legit, tho.)

the subtitle downloaders also have auto translation options, and they're often (not always) no worse than anything else that we're going to do here—try them and see if they're good enough for your purposes. unfortunately, this only works for things that already have subtitles, which is…not that many things, honestly. so let's move on.

force-translating, lowest stress mode.

this first option is kind of a cheat, but who cares. youtube will auto-caption things in some languages (not you, chinese) assuming that the uploader has enabled it. as ever, the quality is kinda variable, and the likelihood that it's enabled at all seems to vary widely, but if it is, you're in for a much easier time of things, because you turn it on, select whatever language you want it translated to, and youtube…does its best, anyhow.

if you're a weird media hoarder like me and you want to download the autogenerated captions, the best tool that i've found for this is hyprscribr. plug in the video url, select 'download captions via caption grabber', then go to the .srt data tab, copy it out, and paste it into a text file. save this as [name of downloaded video].[language code].srt, and now you have captions! …that you need to translate, which is actually easy. if it's a short video, just grab the text, throw it in google translate (timestamps and all), and then paste the output into a new text file. so if you downloaded cooking.mp4, which is in french, you'll have three files: cooking.mp4, cooking.fr.srt, and cooking.en.srt. this one's done! it's easy! you're free!

but yeah, ok, most stuff isn't quite that easy, and auto-captioning has to be enabled, and it has some very obvious gaps in the langauges it supports. which is sort of weird, because my phone actually has pretty great multilingual support, even for things that youtube does not. which brings us to low-stress force translation option two.

use your phone

this seems a little obvious, but i've surprised several people with this information recently, so just in case. for this option, you don't even need to have downloaded the video—if it's a video you can play on your phone, the phone will almost definitely attempt real-time translation for you. i'm sure iphones have this ability, but i'm an android person, so can only provide directions for that: go into settings and search for (and enable) live translation. the phone will do its best to pick up what's being said and translate it on the fly for you, and if 'what's being said' is a random video on the internet, your phone isn't gonna ask questions. somewhat inexplicably, this works even if the video is muted. i do this a lot at like four a.m. when i'm too lazy to grab earbuds but don't want to wake up my wife.

this is the single least efficient way to force sub/translate things, in my opinion, but it's fast and easy, and really useful for those videos that are like a minute long and probably not that interesting, but like…what if it is, you know? sometimes i'll do this to decide if i'm going to bother more complicated ways of translating things.

similarly—and i feel silly even mentioning this, but that i didn't think of it for an embarrassingly long time—if you're watching something on a device with speakers, you can try just…opening the 'translate' app on your phone. they all accept voice input. like before, it'll translate whatever it picks up.

neither of these methods are especially useful for longer videos, and in my experience, the phone-translation option generally gives the least accurate translation, because in attempting to do things in real time, you lose some of the predicative ability that i was talking about earlier. (filling in the blank for 'he has [muscles/mussels]' is a lot harder if you don't know if the next sentence is about the gym or about dinner.)

one more lazy way

this is more work than the last few options, but often gives better results. with not much effort, you can feed a video playing on your computer directly into google translate. there's a youtube video by yosef k that explains it very quickly and clearly. this will probably give you better translation output than any of the on-the-fly phone things described above, but it won't give you something that you can use as actual subs—it just produces text output that you can read while you watch the video. again, though, really useful for things that you're not totally convinced you care about, or for things where there aren't a lot of visuals, or for stuff where you don't care about keeping your eyes glued to the screen.

but probably you want to watch stuff on the screen at the same time.

let's talk about capcut!

this is probably not a new one for most people, but using it like this is a little weird, so here we go. ahead of time: i'm doing this on an actual computer. i think you probably can do it on your phone, but i have no idea how, and honestly this is already a really long guide so i'm not going to figure it out right now. download capcut and put it on an actual computer. i'm sorry.

anyhow. open up capcut, click new project. import the file that you downloaded, and then drag it down to the editing area. go over to captions, auto captions, and select the spoken language. if you want bilingual captions, pick the language for that, as well, and the captions will be auto-translated into whatever the second language you choose is. (more notes on this later.)

if i remember right, this is the point at which you get told that you can't caption a video that's more than an hour long. however. you have video editing software, and it is open. split the video in two pieces and caption them separately. problem solved.

now the complicated part: saving these subs. (don't panic; it's not actually that complicated.) as everyone is probably aware, exporting captions is a premium feature, and i dunno about the rest of you, but i'm unemployed, so let's assume that's not gonna happen.

the good news is that since you've generated the captions, they're already saved to your computer, they're just kinda secret right now. there are a couple ways to dig them out, but the easiest i'm aware of is the biyaoyun srt generator. you'll have to select the draft file of your project, which is auto-saved once a minute or something. the website tells you where the file is saved by default on your computer. (i realised after writing this entire post that they also have a step-by-step tutorial on how to generate the subtitles, with pictures, so if you're feeling lost, you can check that out here.)

select the project file titled 'draft_content', then click generate. you want the file name to be the same as the video name, and again, i'd suggest srt format, because it seems to be more broadly compatible with media players. click 'save to local' and you now have a subtitle file!

translating your subtitles

you probably still need to translate the subtitles. there are plenty of auto-translation options out there. many of them are fee- or subscription-based, or allow a very limited number of characters, or are like 'we provide amazing free translations' and then in the fine print it says that they provide these translations through the magic of uhhhh google translate. so we're just going to skip to google translate, which has the bonus of being widely available and free.

for shorter video, or one that doesn't have a ton of spoken stuff, you can just copy/paste the contents of the .srt file into the translation software of your choice. the web version of google translate will do 5000 characters in one go, as will systran. that's the most generous allocation that i'm aware of, and will usually get you a couple minutes of video.

the timestamps eat up a ton of characters, though, so for anything longer than a couple minutes, it's easier to upload the whole thing, and google translate is the best for that, because it is, to my knowledge, the only service that allows you to do it. to upload the whole file, you need a .doc or .rtf file.

an .srt file is basically just a text file, so you can just open it in word (or gdocs or whatever), save it as a .doc, and then feed it through google translate. download the output, open it, and save it as an .srt.

you're done! you now have your video and a subtitle file in the language of your choice.

time for vibe, the last option in this post.

vibe is a transcription app (not a sex thing, even tho it sounds like one), and it will also auto-translate the transcribed words to english, if you want.

open vibe and select your file, then select the language. if you want it translated to english, hit advanced and toggle 'translate to english'. click translate and wait a while. after a few minutes (or longer, depending on how long the file is), you'll get the text. the save icon is a folder with a down arrow on it, and i understand why people are moving away from tiny floppy disks, but also: i hate it. anyhow, save the output, and now you have your subs file, which you can translate or edit or whatever, as desired.

vibe and capcom sometimes get very different results. vibe seems to be a little bit better at picking up overlapping speech, or speech when there are other noises happening; capcom seems to be better at getting all the worlds in a sentence. i feel like capcom maybe has a slightly better translation engine, of the two of them, but i usually end up just doing the translation separately. again, it can be worth trying both ways and seeing which gives better results.

special notes about dual/bilingual subs

first: i know that bilingual subs are controversial. if you think they're bad, you don't have to use them! just skip this section.

as with everything else, automatically generating gives mixed results. sometimes the translations are great, and sometimes they're not. i like having dual subs, but for stuff that Matters To Me, for whatever reason, i'll usually generate both just the original and a bilingual version, and then try some other translation methods on the original or parts thereof to see what works best.

not everything displays bilingual subs very well. plex and windows media player both work great, vlc and the default video handler on ubuntu only display whatever the first language is, etc. i'm guessing that if you want dual subbed stuff you already have a system for it.

i'll also point out that if you want dual subs and have gone a route other than capcom, you can create dual subs by pasting the translated version and the untranslated version into a single file. leave the timestamps as they are, delete the line numbers if there are any (sometimes they seem to cause problems when you have dual subs, and i haven't figured out why) and then literally just paste the whole sub file for the first language into a new file. then paste in the whole sub file for the second language. yes, as a single chunk, the whole thing, right under the first language's subs. save the file as [video name].[zh-en].srt (or whatever), and use it like any other sub file.

notes on translation, especially since we're talking about lengthy machine-translations of things.

i default to translation options that allow for translating in large chunks, mostly because i'm lazy. but since an .srt is, again, literally just a text file, they're easy to edit, and if you feel like some of the lines are weird or questionable or whatever, it's easy to change them if you can find a better translation.

so: some fast notes on machine translation options, because i don't know how much time most people spend thinking about this kind of stuff.

one sort of interesting thing to check out is the bing translator. it'll only do 1000 characters at once, but offers the rather interesting option of picking a level of formality. i can't always get it to work, mind, but it's useful especially for times when you're like 'this one line sounds weird'��sometimes the difference between what the translator feels is standard vs formal vs casual english will make a big difference.

very fast illustration of the difference in translations. the random video that i used to make sure i didn't miss any steps explaining things starts with '所以你第二季来'. here's how it got translated:

google: So you come to season 2

google's top alternative: So you come in the second season

bing's standard tone: So here you come for the second season

bing set to casual: So you're coming for the second season, huh?

reverso default guess: So you come in season two

reverso alternate guess: You'll be participating in season two

capcom: So you come in season two

yandex: So you come in the second season

systran: That's why you come in season two

deepl: That's why you're here in season two

vibe: So your second season is here

technically all conveying the same information, but the vibes are very different. sometimes one translator or another will give you a clearly superior translation, so if you feel like the results you're getting are kinda crap, try running a handful of lines through another option and see if it's better.

ok! this was an incredibly long post, and i've almost definitely explained something poorly. again, there are almost certainly better ways to do this, but these ways are free and mostly effective, and they work most of the time, and are better than nothing.

feel free to ask questions and i'll answer as best i can. (the answer to any questions about macs or iphones is 'i'm so sorry, i have no idea tho.' please do not ask those questions.)

#i'm so excited to find out what i totally failed to explain because i'm sure there's something #subtitles #i really do want to reiterate that this is VERY FAR from a perfect system #but it's better than nothing #i assume that we all dream of having at least fluent comprehension of basically every language #but here in the real world...#y'know.#echoes linger

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serinemisc · 5 months ago

Text

@youzicha trimming a bunch of reblogs from Pointlessly Nonliteral Translation.

But I still don't like the two examples in my post above. It's admirable when somebody solves a difficult problem in a creative way, but producing "could mankind really be on the verge" is not difficult, you just look at the words in front of you. What made Woolsey so sure that what he writes is better than what the original author wrote? I guess what bugs me about this is that it is disrespectful, in the sense that he only does this because he doesn't respect the source text. If he was given a highbrow novel to translate he surely would not rewrite it, but he thinks this is schlock that doesn't matter. And yet, the game sold millions of copies, and we are still talking about it 30 years later—maybe it was not so insignificant after all.

I think the thing is the thing where you gotta unfocus your eyes and look at the big picture and not the sentences and words, you know?

I just got to a point in Honkai Star Rail where a guy is like "as a senior in the field, I'll give you some free advice" where something like "as the more experienced one" would have worked a lot better. This is the sort of thing that happens when you get too fixated on how to translate sempai (technically the Chinese xianbei but same thing).

I do understand that your point is "you can do a translation without adding in your own interpretation" but my point is that it's actually really hard to do that without making it sound awkward.

Speaking of Honkai Star Rail, it just translated " 'Kindness' is my pronoun" to " 'Kindness' is my middle name". I actually really like that one (Chinese doesn't have middle names). Uh, that wasn't relevant, I'm just playing Honkai Star Rail right now.

To be clear this was just an exercise for learning Japanese, it's not advice about how to do professional translation. But if you try, for most prose text I think it's quite possible to follow these rules and produce something that still sounds like natural English. I think that's a realistic standard to compare other translations against.

I presume you've read a translated light novel? Those read noticeably more awkwardly because they're usually closer or more literal translations. I would assume that avoiding that is the main reason most other translations take more liberties.

I think translated light novels are probably somewhere around the amount of literalism you prefer, so I just want to point out that I at least find them annoying to read in English, and that probably says something about general preferences.

(Why is a translated light novel more literal? My guess is because in a game, the thing you want to preserve is the plot, while in a book, )

To be clear, I definitely don't think that translating literally is obligatory or is an end in itself. I post about the virtues of literalism, but that's because I think the overall discourse is too one-sided and everyone takes it for granted that "literal is bad".

When I watch anime with friends, I like to infodump about the differences between the Japanese and the English subtitles, but usually, if I dislike something, it's usually an attempt to translate a word that could have better been done with a rephrase ("sempai" to "senior", very commonly). So while I agree that both extremes are bad, that informs which side I'm generally pushing for.

I think you sometimes overestimate how much impact the lack of a common ancestor language has, when something is maybe explained by a particular grammatical feature in isolation.

I mean, this is just my experience, finding sentence-for-sentence translations flow a lot better between Spanish and English, than between Japanese and English.

But yeah I dunno, it's not out of the question that my highest fluencies being in English/Japanese/Chinese makes me assume that something like English/German are more similar than they actually are. But I still feel like I'm right. Like, what PIE language would have a chart like this?

#japanese #translation

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humankk · 8 months ago

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I see there's In Stars and Time crossover thing going on so I want to join

...Also it's Let Papyrus Say Fuck day and I see this post from @entryn17 and I think... hmm, well why not just, do both of that actually

Read more for... it's not really Isat's spoiler or anything it's just general worldbuilding thing but I'm doing this anyway in case people want to like, experience it blind or something (please do that actually, play it, or even look at playthrough, just not summary or something like that it's much better that way, I say this like how you eat a specific type of food)

(Chara no)

...I speedrun drawing this, kinda... I don't think I'm that good at drawing Siffrin... he's just standing there... oh well, I can improve later

(technically this isn't him teaching swear to a child but it's him teaching swear... and maybe learning some more in the process, even if those're like... crab, and gems)

(...I probably could just use my own language but like I don't feel like making ocs...)

(I also could use like the one thing I want to do where Frisk is Thai but it would be very long and I don't feel like making all that in comics)

(and if it's a fic it would just be a very long infodumping on what I think the word come from and when it might be appropriate... and I have no idea the appropriateness of the English ones for Papyrus to teach it back so I don't think I could do that)

...

Anyway the infodumping anyway, I'm going to use the pinyin/chinese tone indicator for this because I don't know any other one (other than that just say it like English word I guess)

Did you know that one of the Thai swears is just แม่ง (màng) that means your mom. (said really fast it merge the word... also rudely, you pronoun rudely, we have rude pronouns... or really informal, depend on your relationship)

It's used in the middle of a sentence like 'fucking' and things.

there's also a dad version, พ่อง (pòng) the longer version that's used as a curse to kill the opponent's parents... (maybe don't do that) the middle version where you cut the death part and it's a come back like how english use your mom... แม่มึง/พ่อมึง (màe mūng/pòre mūng, maybe add a at the end)

There's also the one for insulting specifically (including the table that you stub your toes on) that means a type of monitor lizard. เหี้ย (hèar) ...it has another name that sounds a lot better that just, means money/silver-gold creature, which is. weird, so do we like it or not??? (money and silver is the same word)

mmmmmm another one that is used in the situation you would say 'oh shit' ชิบหาย (chib hái) direct translation is uhhh... chip-lost????? (I have no idea where it come from, also we don't have past tense verb it's all the same) maybe it's like 'lost your marble' or something I don't even know

there's also one that is pronounced like animal/สัตว์ (sǔt) (pronounced like cut/shut) in Thai but I'm pretty sure it's not the same word, noone knows exactly how to spell it. it's... some kind of insult, not as severe as the lizard monitor though

and uhh, the lower one which is the watered down monitor lizard, เชี่ย where you just change from hèar to chèar

#Undertale #Papyrus #Chara #In Stars and Time #Siffrin #utdr #isat #LetPapyrusSayFuck #advisor swap #swearing #wow the tags are... intertwined...#or something like that I just- yea #my art

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spanishskulduggery · 1 month ago

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Hola! I've come across the following line when I read Spanish poetry:

<<Si me muero, que me muera>>

The translator translated it: If I die, let me die.

I think it's a beautiful line but is it grammatically correct? I am a beginner and still do not have a firm grasp of conditional tense/reflexives etc. Thank you!

Adíos 2024; hola 2025 :D

Yes, that's grammatically correct, but this is a bit advanced for grammar so bear with me

(Though first I would mention these aren't conditional in the sense of the conditional tense which usually conjugates with what looks like a verb in the infinitive -ar, -ir, -er but with an added ía sort of ending... like hablaría is "would/could speak".......... I realize that's not what you're talking about, I just wanted you to know that you're not seeing conditional; me muero is present tense, and then me muera in the second clause is more present subjunctive)

A true reflexive verb means that the subject and object are the same. As an example, me pongo la ropa "I put on clothes"; literally "I put on myself the clothing"... since "I" puts it on "me", the subject and object are the same

me muero is a special case

Two big grammatical things are happening here and again, fairly advanced so just know it's okay not to get it

First, morir "to die" can sometimes come up as morirse "to die/pass away" as a reflexive verb. The difference is very hard to translate into English because it is the same idea, just that morirse as a reflexive tends to imply suddenness, unexpectedness, or an emotional kind of connection

[a lot of native speakers will use me muero for lots of things online too; it can read like "I'm dead" like "I'm deceased", almost like laughing, or being mortified, either way... me muero de risa "I'm dying of laughter"...... a while ago people would say a ver si me muero "see if I die" but it's like "I can't even" in vibes. Not sure if it's still used]

...

Basically, some verbs get a little extra oomph if they're in reflexive. morir is one of them. The others to be aware of are comerse with food is "to eat up/wolf down" like you're really enjoying what you're eating, there's dormirse which is "to fall asleep" rather than just dormir "to sleep", and ir is "to go" and irse is "to go away"

I'm gonna warn you now, you don't get taught those differences - I had to look them up and feel them out... and also it's advanced grammar, so don't worry about it for now, just be aware the reflexive verbs don't always read as traditional reflexives

...

Second thing, que me muera is an indirect command

In Spanish there are three "moods". There's imperative which are commands, there's subjunctive which is an advanced concept but it's usually expressions of doubt, hypotheticals, polite requests, people acting on other things/people so that something happens... it's a big topic... and then the indicative mood is everything else

[Basically three moods encompass different ways you can use Spanish and the "tenses" are times it can be done i.e. past, present, future... that's why there's present (indicative) tense and also present subjunctive; me muero is indicative, me muera subjunctive but both technically present..... there's also past tenses and a past subjunctive, etc.]

An indirect command is somewhere between imperative and subjunctive

In other words, it's kind of a command but it's not a direct "do it" or "don't do it", and subjunctive can be done with polite requests like quiero que hables "I want you to speak"

...

An indirect command is like "tell someone to do that", or a roundabout command like que seamos amables "let's be nice" [nosotros indirect command]

The que here reads as "let's", but it's usually "that"

A que connects clauses though for subjunctive typically - quiero is "I want", a subject and a predicate... then hables would be "you" and "speak" so again a subject and predicate, but they're different subjects

Subjunctive is one thing working on another, so it's "I want THAT you speak", if that makes sense

Similar to espero que llueva "I hope (that) it rains"... the que is connecting the two separate clauses [which are made up of a subject and predicate]

...

Simply using que is like cutting out that first verb, and that's why it's almost like a command but it isn't technically as direct as simply saying "do it"

Instead it's like "may it be done" rather than "do it"

Another example, que así sea is "so be it" - that's an indirect command in Spanish [lit. kind of like "let it be this way", where así is "in that way" or "as such", and sea is a subjunctive conjugation of ser]

Some people use indirect commands like commands

Sometimes they translate it as "may" or "let"

...

Put simply si me muero "if I pass away" + que me muera "may it be that I pass away" or "(allow) that I die" ...in a more literal way

Thus, "if I die, let me die"

If you have any other questions let me know, I know it's a lot all at once I just hope I was clear and didn't lose you by talking technical terms and grammar

#spanish #language #learning spanish #langblr #spanish grammar #long post #asks

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senka-mesecine · 4 months ago

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Please. Barnes is jealous that the reader is talking to another soldier. (sorry if my english is wrong)

I Oughta Be God.

Robert Barnes x Reader.

wonderful gif by @woman-with-no-name

-"You done waxin' poetic with that boy?"-

-"Sir?"-

-"Waxin' poetic. You just about done?"-

Sergeant Barnes's voice halts you mid stride and you stop to look at him, unable to immediately process what it was he meant only for it to hit you like a stray bullet; You did the unthinkable and supposedly broke all conduct protocol. You took the effort to show some human empathy towards one of the short timers whose toes literally threatened to decay inside of his own boots due to the long marches and the potent cocktail of near constant humidity. One thing these men needed was some kindness and you intended to show it to them to maintain some vestige of humanity among the ranks, wanting to lead by quiet day-to-day example, deciding to stand your ground on the matter. This was a question of morale. -"Tropical ulcer. Jungle rot."- You explain matter-of-factly, hugging your equipment close to your chest almost as a shield of sorts, introspective enough to confess to yourself that the man frightened you even while he was there indulging in the seemingly unassuming hobby of sitting down, playing cards with a couple of his eerily silent men, heads kept down, like he slightly frightened them too. -"I have to talk to him about it, sir. I'm sorry. The nature of it is purely informative."- You add, portraying the blunt banality of the topic. People around here needed to understand the illnesses they suffered from and how to prevent them from happening again in the future. It was literally your job, outside of helping them, to explain deterrent measures.

Sergeant Barnes didn't seem to agree.

-"Y'need to be treatin' him and makin' sure his toes don't go fallin' off and stickin' to his goddamn boots like paste. Not talkin'. Ain' no talkin' gonna fix him now."-

His heavy drawl is there laced with ample sarcasm dripping through like poison almost like he intended to imply your patient was done for, long since dead already, written off and that there was no helping him; now that --- it pushes your buttons hard and even though you knew he cared for his men in his own strange way, the callous way he talked about potential harm reeked of unnecessary cruelty. You tended to let a great many wry remarks around camp go in through one ear and out the other, but however calm you intended to be, you decide to cut the crap for lack of a better word. -"I didn't realize speaking to the men on base is against regulations or forbidden, sir, all due respect."- You retort, calmly --- as calmly and as kindly as you could so the point would be more poignant, not blurred by a freakout. Barnes gives you a look. Strange and half lidded that could almost be translated as sure is if I say it is. A deck of playing cards still in his hands, you gulp, feeling the need to clarify yourself once he says nothing more, minding his game instead, for the moment anyway. His sudden silences tended to make you nervous. Was impossible to know what he was thinking. -"I'm talking to you right now, sir, aren't I?"- You ask, trying to alleviate the tension; if the rules were the same for everyone technically you were wasting valuable time going back and forth that you could've been spent preparing Morepenicillin, Metronidazole and a general cocktail of anti-fungal antibiotics for that poor private's foot.

-"I own your ass out here. You belong to me, beaut."-

He shoots back suddenly, focusing his gaze back at you.

Your breath hitches.

Was nothing new, Barnes telling people he owns them, flat out.

He did it on a near daily basis, in fact.

When he says it to you, though ---

Beaut. The general scrambled nature of your brain right about now allows you to process that he's called you beaut ten seconds later than the actual moniker was uttered, leaving your mind in chaos as you tried to quickly deduce and decide if he was mocking you, being sarcastic again, trying to put you down or ---

The men seated around him around him are as silent as the grave. No snickering.

They weren't even looking at you, hyperfocused on their respective stacks instead.

-"I'm the only one y'all should be talkin' to and that includes you more than anyone."-

Barnes assesses himself and for some reason you find yourself tongue tied, unsure what to say to that without directly arguing with your superior, your better instinct overshadowed by some chemical in your brain that irrationally made you weigh the idea. Resent it yet weigh it. The idea of only ever talking to Barnes. You legs cannot move from where you were standing. You felt that you could only really move if he told you. He tilts his head, lips pressed into a hard line, setting down his cards on the table from the box he was seated on. Full House. Suddenly, the load of medications, needles and syringes you were carrying, having felt weightless a moment ago feels as heavy as a boulder in your arms now. What was this conversation even? -"I oughta be God to you."- He looks straight at you then and you could swear your legs were on the verge of crumbling from underneath you. The company of men around him falling into such a deep state of general quietude you could practically hear them all breathe around a makeshift table of beer cans, ashtrays and cigarette buds. Unwittingly and intrusively you imagine Barnes as a shadow looming over the jungle perimeters like God himself, swallowing you whole, finding a rare mercy when he nods his head wordlessly, giving you dismissal. Only then do you feel your legs move. Once he allows them to. His command that you spare your words only for him seemed non-enforceable but he nonetheless gives the order with such quiet gravitas you believe it to be.

Almost like a sort of magic.

-"Understood, sir."-

You mutter, getting the hell on out of his presence as fast as you could.

Fearing you could get burned if you stayed.

W --- what was that?

Did he really give you a direct order to never speak to anyone but him ever again?

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mycupofrum · 1 month ago

Text

2024 AO3 Wrap Up

Nobody tagged me but I'm doing this anyway. :)

Fandoms: Harry Potter, Star Wars

Number of Fics: 16 (but technically 11 because of translations)

Number of Words: 63,832*

* Number of words includes the translations.

Okay so another year wrapped up. I didn't finish many WIPs that have been hanging from previous years but I also didn't really worry about it. I did manage to translate some of my earlier favourites into English so that's something. It's been fun! :)

All the fics are listed below the cut.

January

Prongsfoot

Enchanted (E, 11,897) / Ensisilmäyksellä (E, 9,220)

"Are you here by yourself or with someone?" Sirius asked. James's smile faded, but his gaze remained fixed on Sirius. "I came alone." "And do you usually have…a special person you spend time with?" Sirius couldn't help but wonder, even though hearing the answer worried him. Please don't be in love with someone else. Don't have someone waiting on you. "I don't have any such person in my life," James stated simply. Sirius was more than pleased to hear that, and before he let reason get in the way of his intentions, he held out his hand to James. "Would you like to dance with me?"

Darkness (T, 865) / Pimeys (T, 741)

Darkness welled up inside him, engulfing him, and where he would normally push it aside, he did the unthinkable. He welcomed it. "Crucio."

What happens in the showers (E, 7,756)

"You enjoy the show, don't you, James?" Fear gripped James's insides, and a wave of guilt washed over him. This would be the end of their friendship, he knew it. He took a step back, then another and a third before colliding with the changing room bench and staggering backwards. At the same time, the invisibility cloak shifted away from him, allowing Sirius to see James's head and shoulders. James froze in his place for a second until he realised the game was over and pulled the cloak off completely. "Sirius, I'm so sorry –" "How long?" Sirius cut him off sharply. "How long have you come here to watch me?" James looked at the tiled wall behind Sirius and chewed on his bottom lip. "I'm not sure..." "Bollocks!" Sirius snapped. "How long, James?" "Five weeks," James mumbled, embarrassed.

James & Sirius

Regardless (I love you) (G, 1,178)

"Hi, Prongs," Sirius said, taking in James's demeanour. "Lils said you'd be here. I thought I should come by and help you with the packing." James managed a nod and moved away from the entrance, allowing Sirius to enter. "How are you doing?" Sirius said as they reached the kitchen, where everything still stood in its place. "I'm fine," James said, the words falling naturally off his lips, untrue. Sirius sighed, and James realised he was carrying a white plastic bag with him. Sirius took out two containers from the bag and placed them on the table. "I brought soup."

March

Soppaa ja sympatiaa (G, 895) FI translation of Regardless (I love you)

April

Prongsfoot

Need you tonight (E, 1,678)

James Potter sips his drink, the sweet coconut taste lingering on his tongue. The mood is right, and his head feels light. The man has been sitting on his own by the bar, and James can't tear his eyes away from him. As though aware he's being watched, the stranger glances up from his drink. James smiles, raising his glass to him. The man doesn't react but neither does he turn his eyes away from James. Not one to back down from a challenge, James closes his lips around his straw and sucks. The man merely raises his brow, but James knows he just gained the stranger's undivided attention.

Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker

Just one kiss (M, 5,414)

"We are only doing this because of the task," Obi-Wan mumbled, moving into a formal dance position. He put one hand on Anakin's back and grasped his hand in his other hand. Anakin, in turn, stepped closer to Obi-Wan, wrapped both his hands around his neck and glued his body to his Master's. He had to make the most of the situation because there was no guarantee that he would get this close to Obi-Wan again. Besides, no one would believe they were at the club for fun if they danced to a sexy tune like archaic, boring Jedi elders. Obi-Wan's face was so close, and Anakin couldn't help but admire him. The man's eyes and long eyelashes were beautiful, and in the club's faint red lighting, his Master stared back at him more intensely than ever before. "Dancing requires you to move your feet a little, Master," Anakin said as it became evident Obi-Wan could only stand still. He had finally placed both hands on Anakin's waist, at a very safe height. "Then could you please give me some space?" Obi-Wan said, clenching his jaw. "We are here to enjoy the evening." Anakin acted on an impulse and touched Obi-Wan's soft hair at the back of his neck. For a minute, Anakin closed his eyes, pretending it was real. "We are here to catch an assassin," Obi-Wan reminded him. Yet, Anakin noticed how his Master's fingers tightened around his waist.

May

Vain yksi yö (E, 1,343) FI translation of Need you tonight

June

Prongsfoot

The easiest truth (T, 2,393)

His mind is empty, save for one thought: Don't be dead. Don't be dead. Sirius. Don't be dead. James nearly stumbles on the threshold but regains his footing at the last moment as he drags Sirius's limp body out of the blazing building. When they're no longer in immediate danger, James coughs, filling his lungs with air that isn't as smoke-filled as inside the house, but it's far from pure. He closes his eyes and focuses on the destination before the compressing feeling takes over, and they disappear with a pop.

July

Sirius Black/Gellert Grindelwald

Out of time (E, 2,887, WIP)

1920. He went back in time 76 years. The Ministry. The Department of Mysteries. Death Eaters. Everything was a chaos. Curses flying around. Bellatrix's spell hit Sirius squarely on the chest – and on the Time-Turner hidden in his breast pocket as he was flung backwards towards the veil. He picked up the object when they rushed through the Time Chamber towards the Death Chamber. He didn't really know what he'd do with a damaged Time-Turner, but it probably saved his life, even if he's now stuck in the past with nowhere to go. He hopes with all his might that Harry is safe. "Who is Harry?" It's him. The Dark Wizard he only knew from history books until now. Sirius doesn't reply but hastily tries to clear his mind, even if he barely knows the basics of Occlumency learned years ago. He'll never yield willingly. "Interesting." Gellert Grindelwald smirks. "You'll talk eventually. We've got all the time in the world."

August

Prongsfoot

Professor Black (E, 4,516)

Mr Black's expression never changes. "It seems you attached the wrong file to your email. I'll be expecting the real essay by tomorrow." With his cheeks rapidly heating, James mumbles, "Of course, Mr Black. I'm sorry about –" He uselessly runs a hand through his messy hair. "Uh, sorry, sir. I didn't mean to –" "We all make mistakes sometimes, Mr Potter. There's no need to explain." Mr Black's voice is level, which calms down James's panic but does nothing to ease his utter humiliation. "Now, please run along. It's been a long day," Mr Black adds, turning away from James and starting to gather his belongings. Before James flees the classroom, Mr Black's words bring him to a stop. "Oh, and Potter. Interesting choices for character names." "Yes, sir. Thank you," James says, ready for the earth to open up and swallow him.

September

Drarry

Birthday boy (E, 3,931) / Syntymäpäiväpoika (E, 3,064)

"So, tell me everything. You came here to drown your sorrows because Weaslette broke up with you?" Malfoy did not hesitate to ask what he wanted to know. In a way, Harry appreciated it because it was better than circling the issue. And it was true. Harry had recently divorced and had inadvertently come out of the closet. "Something like that." Malfoy clinked his glass with Harry's. "Only you are able to accomplish something like that, Potter. Either you succeed at something so ridiculously well that it pisses everyone off, or you fail even more spectacularly, and everyone laughs at you." Harry chuckled. "You're terrible at comforting people, Malfoy. Good thing we're not friends." "True, and besides, I wasn't trying to comfort you." Malfoy raised the glass to his lips. His eyes were fixed on Harry, who did not lower his own gaze, as he perhaps would have done before when a man paid attention to him.

November

Prongsfoot and Jilypad

In the middle (E, 6,054)

"Are you avoiding me because of the other night?" "I – no. Of course not. It's what Lily wanted. She very much enjoyed it." James turns off the tap. Fuck. He doesn't want to talk about this. "But you didn't?" Sirius is dissecting James's problem question by question, like he always does when faced with an issue to solve. "I didn't say that," James mutters. He picks up the sponge and begins to wash the dried up tomato sauce from the pan. It was Lily's idea to invite Sirius over for dinner that night, and they enjoyed an excellent pasta Bolognese before she mysteriously left. "Or maybe it bothers you because you did enjoy it?" James drops the sponge into the sink and huffs as he searches for it through the foam. "I don't understand. Why would it bother me? Nothing bothers me. I'm perfectly fine." He finds the sponge again and starts to scrub the pan vigorously. "You don't like the implication." Sirius always knows exactly where James's train of thought is going, and it's times like these when James truly wishes his best friend didn't know him so well. "There's no implication." "Really?" Sirius's voice is softer now. "One woman and two men. There's an implication. You do the math." "I'm not –" James says, unable to finish the sentence. He rinses the pan, sets it aside to dry, and stands stiffly, clutching the kitchen counter. "I'm not into blokes."

#my writing #prongsfoot #most of it anyway #there's some jilypad and drarry and obikin as well #prongsfoot fic rec #2024 AO3 Wrap Up #OPEN TAG #please jump in if you like

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baronessblixen · 10 months ago

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Twenty questions for fanfic writers

Tagged by the amazing @frogsmulder. Thank you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

417 🤯

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

774,561 - I wanna get to a million now, wow

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The X-Files, Frasier. At least on AO3. I have way more fandoms on ff.net (where I used to post).

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Prompts & Drabbles

Fictober 2020

Fowl Play

Love is Not Blind

Some Things You Just Can't Fake

5. Do you respond to comments?

For a while I did and then I forgot again and I'm always afraid I will reply to someone but oversee someone else. In theory I want to respond to all of them! I just got two amazing ones in the last two days. So thoughtful and so plain kind. I definitely need to reply to these people.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I wrote one where Mulder dies (of old age, though) but I'm not even sure it's on AO3.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

All of them have a happy ending! I don't think I have a story without a happy ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have. Mostly in the distant past, but I think some more recent hate too. If I remember correctly, it wasn't directed at a fic in particular but rather at me as a writer in general.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have written a few smut stories. I know it's a popular genre, but I gotta be honest and admit that it's just not my favorite. Neither writing nor reading it. I know that's a very unpopular opinion.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Again, not on tumblr, but I think I wrote a Frasier/Hot in Cleveland crossover once.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Hmmm. I think maybe one?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have! I co-wrote Eden with a bunch of others! I mean we each wrote chapters but that still counts, right? It was a lot of fun and I'd love to do it again.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Mulder and Scully

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My Five Minutes Series. I think about it so often but I like the chapters I have written a lot and I'm afraid to screw it up by writing more.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm decent at writing dialogue.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Everything. I struggle with describing an environment or surroundings. I gotta admit I sometimes even skip reading those parts when other people write them. I don't see those things in my head.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Technically I always write dialogue in another language since English isn't my native language. I've written a few German fanfics and that was a lot of fun. Might do it again.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

It was either Friends or X-Files. Or if we count stories I only wrote for myself then it's Scarecrow and Mrs. King.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Can't choose between my babies!

Tagging @xxsksxxx @randomfoggytiger @agent-troi @numinousmysteries @oohnotvery @atths--twice (feel free to ignore if you don't wanna do it!)

#my fic #oof this took a moment #i miss writing!

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sixofcrowdaydreams · 1 year ago

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Crow Names Written in Kerch

Here are all of the Crow's names written in a Kerch alphabet. Just for fun. (And the vowel discrepancy and subsequent meltdown I had trying to write Wylan's names.)

So some things of note while creating this...

I am not an artist and drawing fictional letters is hard.

Your eye/my lighting and camera are not bad, the paper is a soft purple color left over from Valentine's Day.

More importantly:

When in doubt about spelling, I stuck to the English direct letter translation for the spelling.

For example: Inej's last name Ghafa, starts with a G so I wasn't sure whether to use the regular G or the GH character, which in words like laugh, does not use a hard G and sounds more like an F. I used the GH.

While the Kerch alphabet uses a J/Y (ja/ya) the Y at the end of Jesper's last name is written as a vowel, EE.

I actually didn't see the second chart that went into more detail about the vowels connecting to the consonants until after I wrote the names. Therefore, I didn't see the difference between the soft A (example: apple) and hard A (example: can). Technically, that means soft A character in Kaz, Nina, and Matthias' should be longer.

Aaaaand now I realize I messed up Nina's name too. Instead of a soft I, the EE vowel should have been used.

Unpictured, I also wrote out Six of Crows. There is no letter X in Kerch, unless I read the charts wrong. So in Kerch there is only the Si-- of Crows. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Wylan (his names deserves their own list of bullet points) and Matthias:

There is no hard I (as in ice) sound in Kerch, according to the the two character/letter charts I saw (linked above). HAVE WE BEEN PRONOUNCING WYLAN'S NAME WRONG THIS WHOLE TIME?!

Seriously, did I not read the charts correctly?

So in the first photo (left) I wrote his Wylan's name using the soft I just in case the vowel, like English could be used as hard or soft depending on the word. But, given that the other vowels in Kerch, like hard A, E, and O are written differently than soft A, E, and O, I don't think this is likely.

The spelling with the soft I (example: igloo) would pronounce his name as Will-lan

I also wrote Wylan's name using the hard E (which makes his name pronounced Wee-lan) in the 2nd photo (right). Personally, I'm inclined to believe it would be written this way, but there's literally no precedent, the points are made up and the rules don't matter!

The lack of hard I vowel would effect Matthias too, but I didn't realize that until after his name was written. (Matt-- i-as or Matt-ee-as: he probably hates Kerch as a language for this reason, let's be real)

Mildly related, but I feel Wylan and Matthias's pain. I moved across the world and now live within a language and alphabet that does not recognize a letter in my name. The consonant just doesn't exist. So the sound and letter use similar sounding substitutes.

The English spelling of Eck uses the letters C and K, but I wasn't sure if Kerch would combine the letters into one sound. Therefore I wrote both for funsies. Not sure which I aesthetically prefer.

The same C and K issue came up writing Hendricks too. So I wrote an example of of the English directly translated spelling and the combined K sound too just to see what they would look like.

Thanks for letting me nerd out about the Kerch language used in Shadow and Bone. It was super fun!

#six of crows #shadow and bone #save shadow and bone #meta #wylan van eck

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redotter · 1 month ago

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I'm wondering something, what language do you feel most natural to write in? Cuz I swear I wanna write in Romanian but it feels so robotic despite being my native language, using it daily and reading books in it

Hello! I wouldn't say one feels more natural than the other but they do feel different from each other (most obvious example to me is that Romanian is easier to write humour in, while English is easier to write sex in). I started writing creatively in Romanian ten years earlier than in English, so I technically have more experience in that, but I don't think I'm faster or better at it - I'll share an excerpt from both below the cut to judge for yourself.

Regarding Romanian being robotic, I can see what you mean, but this has its perks. My Romanian dialogue feels more grounded and is overall less prone to get over dramatic, probably because there is no Hollywood influence whispering in my ear. This is actually a way I keep my English dialogue in line: I imagine its equivalent in Romanian and if it's cheese as hell I tone it down. That's because I want my characters to speak like people and not actors (nothing wrong with the second option, it just depends on the genre). But Romanian prose can also be purple if you want it, you just need to make sure it doesn't feel like translated English (which can be hard when you're used to thinking in English and consuming all your media in English). I guess my only advice for this is to lean into the things that are uniquely Romanian (dor și dragul de ceva, moale și fin fiind diferite feluri de soft, nebun fiind ne + bun, quirks like this), and to accept being cringed out at the beginning. The brain is less used to hearing creative writing in this language or engaging with art in this language, so it will push back a little at first, but it'll be worth it imo.

At the end of the day, writing is about communicating an idea+feeling combo. So whether you write in English or Romanian, focus on delivering that and the right words/style/method will eventually take shape.

Wendy sclipi după ea. Era o cameră destul de mică, cu un pat etajat lângă perete și perdelele trase peste geamul de lângă birou. Dormitorul era îmbibat în același miros de adineauri, doar că prea intens și murdar ca să mai fie plăcut. Wendy găsi un întrerupător și aprinse becul. Formele întunecate și neuniforme se dovediră a fi mormane de haine și altă dezordine. Lângă pat pe podea, erau patru căni murdare. Orion era în pat, nemișcat sub pătură și întors către perete. Malvina se aplecă peste el.

ー Respiră dar nu se trezește. Scutură-l!

Wendy se apropie și ea. Părea viu sănătos, judecând după sforăitul încetișor și pata de salivă de pe pernă. Puse două degete la el pe umăr și îl înghionti ușor.

ー Orion, spuse ea încetișor.

Parcă i se părea nepoliticos să treacă din prima la măsuri drastice. De peste umărul ei, zâna Malvinei își transformă capul în unul de măgar.

ー Iii-HAAAA, scoase ia un răget din răsputeri.

Wendy se trase la o parte cu mâinile pe urechi.

ー Ce zboruri faci?

ー Îmi iese sunetul de măgar numai dacă arăt ca unul, spuse Malvina prin gura ei de măgar.

Orion în schimb părea să doarmă la fel de dus. Wendy îl prinse de spate și-l scutură din plin. Reușise să scoată un mormăit din el.

ー Probabil că plutește.

ー Plutește pe dracul pământenilor, e ielat de nu mai poate, se răsti Malvina. Nu-i mai pot lua apărarea în fața tatei dacă continuă așa! Umple o cană cu apă și arunc-o pe el.

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

The two men held her tight by each of her arms, so high up that her feet barely touched the ground. Leo flexed her calves and curved her toes like one of the ballerinas, arms spread out. She arched her back and closed her eyes, letting them pick her up and carry her. She wondered if Jesus had ever felt euphoria akin to hers, every breath synchronized with the world, every move weightless. Rain washed over her body.

Once in the police car, she started suspecting that something was off. At least they let Suzana sit in with her. Or maybe it was the other way around.

“Hey, are you ok?” Leo asked her, as the pretty historical buildings outside were replaced by more modern ones. “Did you, like, steal something?”

Suzana didn’t reply, her hands curled into fists above her knees and her eyes fixed on the raindrops running across the window. How could she be so calm while getting arrested?

“OMG, is it— is it because we fucked?” Leo asked, barely a whisper.

“Don’t talk to me right now, please,” Suzana said. “I need to collect my thoughts.”

When the car pulled into a parking lot, the flickering lights outside turned out to be ambulances and not other police cars. The building was gigantic and dark, as if teleported there from a dystopian novel. The policemen grabbed Leo by each side again and walked her inside. Suzana walked by, unrestricted. What the hell was going on?

#wip: the fairy and the lioness #wip: soarers #renu's writing #ask: chemicalforgery #renu talks about writing #romanian

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