#bilingualed

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

craving pathetic wet old women characters. where is the feminism

[catchymemes]

[glowsticcc]

how many languages do you know?

(i’m counting languages where you took one class for a semester if you retained any of it congrats you are a little multilingual)

(reblog for bigger sample size!)

[thatswhywelovegermany]

Tomatoes happened

[incognitopolls]

Tor example, anon is fluid in bengali and english. Here's a typical sentence they would send to their friends who are also bilingual:

"Tomra ki kalke free ? There's this new movie that just koek din age ber hoilo and it looks really nice"

Translation:

"Are you guys free tomorrow ? There's this new movie that just came out a couple of days ago and it looks really nice"

–

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[wolfythewitch]

Do I type like I belong on Tumblr

[forthestarsx]

sirius and regulus: *gossiping in french* barty: *compliments evan in italian* james: *on the phone with his mum, chatting in urdu* remus: remus: woof woof

[okaioh]

something I really loved about the qsmp was how it made people who didn't bother learning another language - LEARN another language (if that makes sense)

Like

I just had my friend who only speaks English, doesn't bother learning any other language, who only watched Phil during qsmp, tell me "saudades meus ovos or whatever" (I'm missing my eggs)

WHICH IS SO CRAZY TO ME - THIS GUY DIDN'T TAKE SPANISH IN HIGHSCHOOL BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T CARE AND HERE THEY ARE TELLING ME A PORTUGUESE SAYING ??? All because of a minecraft server ffs I miss it sm

[heavenlydolly]

If you want, you can let me know the language(s) in the tags, and whether or not you speak it fluently!

[hinamie]

there's no furbish word for dilf :( sad :(

[writingwithcolor]

Not all Second-Language Speakers are Made Equal.

@waltzshouldbewriting asked:

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

Diversity in Second-Language English

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

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

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

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

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

What are his parents’ occupations? 

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

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

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

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

Is this a contemporary setting with internet and social media?

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

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

L2 Acquisition and Fluency

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

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

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

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

Motivations?

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

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

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

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

~ Rina

[catherine-sketches]

You know, making Aegon barely fluent in High Valyrian kinda gives weight to the “strongest bond to a dragon ever seen” claim because if they all train the dragons in high Valyrian means that Sunfyre either learned English or he just reads Aegon’s vibes perfectly

[holly-natnicole]

Cassandra "Duke, are you okay?"

Duke: *face down on the floor, slumped partially off the sofa* "Every new language I start learning is more fuel on the fire of me wanting to shoot English in the face."

Cass: "...Valid."

[deerspherestudios]

hello cheea!!! i have a question abt day 3✨

first of all tysm i rlly loveeee everything abt day 3

so abt my question ↓

did the mc wore the same outfit they wore before, to go back home or they kept mycheal's clothes and didnt change ?

ya thats all i just needed to know cuz i wanna draw my mc with mycheal and i didn't know which fit they were wearing

and tysm again u have no idea how much day 3 cheered me up i was feeling down these days thank u soo soo much

i didnt use a translator btw so im so sorry if my question sounds weird im north African and english is my 3rd language

and i hope u have a wonderful day/night

MC is still wearing Mychael's sweater since their old clothes are inside their backpack!! I love seeing MC fanarts with that mushroom sweater, even though it was completely unintentional haha <3

And that's okay!! Being able to understand three languages is real neat <3

[canis-silvestre]

The lack of spanish translation for therian terminology is kinda sad.

Some words really only need minor tweaks, for instance

Theriotype = Theriotipo

But words like ‘kin’ or ‘otherheart’ are a bit more abstract/without direct translation.

I seldom speak spanish, so my translations are probably clunky, and grammatically incorrect

But I thought it was worth attempting a few

Otherkin = Clase-Distinto

Otherpaw = Zarpa-Distinto

Caninekin = Clase-Canino

Caninehearted = De Corazon-Canino

If any otherkins who also speak spanish have any feedback, or if better alternatives exist, pls let me know :3

[incognitopolls]

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