#court interpreting

[melinoegoddessofghosts]

So, I am studying to be an interpreter, specifically a court interpreter. (It'll be a while before I'm there, but I'm working on it.) Whenever I tell people who are monolingual and don't work in languages that I'm studying to be an interpreter, they always come back with something like, "That's one of those jobs that will be taken over by AI pretty soon."

I've always brushed that off as people not understanding the field. Interpreting can't be taken over by AI because AI doesn't understand nuance or culture and can't make decisions about meaning when there's more than one possible interpretation. I've always said, "Every bilingual who has used Google Translate knows how much machine translation sucks."

None of that has changed, but the WGA strike has me worried about job security for interpreters in a way I wasn't before. Not because AI will be as good as or better than human interpreters anytime soon, but because AI will be cheaper than human interpreters pretty soon. And the people making hiring decisions may not care about the quality of the work.

Even now, court interpreters have to fight their way into courtrooms all the time. Judges are trying to deny people their constitutional right to an interpreter just because they don't want to wait for an understaffed interpreting department to send someone running down five flights of stairs to jump right into the next interpretation with no break. If AI is more available, even if it sucks, are courtrooms, are TV networks, are schools, going to choose to use AI instead of a human interpreter?

And if that happens, people's rights are going to be trampled. I talked about the nuance and the word choice that AI doesn't get, but in this field, miscommunication can ruin lives. Misinterpretation in a courtroom can get an innocent person convicted or deny a victim justice. Misinterpretation in a job interview can lead to underemployment for linguistic minorities. Misinterpretation in a hospital can lead to wrongful death. Obviously, AI isn't going to catch up to human interpreters anytime soon, just like a human is going to be able to write better TV than AI. But if it's cheaper, are hiring managers going to care?

Make no mistake, the fight that WGA is fighting is the first front in a war that is coming for us all. AI is easier, but it is not better. And we have to protect people's rights; not just rights to work, but rights to live.

[aymmidumps]

Andrew doodles

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Five foot something and he's royalty.

[citrusai]

taash said "they were doing it" and people ran with the interpretation of an npc that doesn't know solas or the history of the elvhenan even when bellara interjected and said, no, that's not right. that's not how it was for the elvhenan. they formed bonds before they had physical bodies. and people ran to doompost or create weird anti-solavellan shit even though mythal & solas refer to each other as old friends and when she releases him there is no tenderness or love in it. it is the act of unchaining a dog from his post, the stepping down of a general. but to each their own ig.

[mostlyihyperfixate]

Can't believe Phoenix thinks it's appropriate to passive aggressively drop hints that he wants Miles to send him more flowers in the middle of a murder trial

a man is dead, boys; I think this can wait

[cubbyyyy]

Okay I’m gonna do a little controversial post. I thought long if I should say it or not but with some comments I saw recently I kinda have an intense need for it. So yea, here I am.

Andrew doesn’t have to be thick.

There I said it. I saw many posts regarding Andrews appearance recently and people are throwing the fatphobic card when you don’t make him thick as hell and that’s just not it. Of course you can draw Andrew thick if it’s what you imagine him to be - there is absolutely nothing wrong with it BUT shaming others for not doing it bc it’s so unrealistic is just not true. Bc yea there are arguments for why he could be thicker - but there are arguments why he could be not as well. so it’s free to imagine him how you you want to without it being problematic for ignoring canon. Andrews body size was never actively described in the books, so it’s mostly interpretations.

He could be thicker bc he lifts weights and eats a lot of candy. But he could also have a good metabolism and is still in a sports team where he does have to work out. He’s also known for jogging all the time with Renee there. In the EC it was said he later on in life joins Bee on marathons to help her with her health. It’s also known that his body doesn’t look that different compared to Aaron since they can still body swap.

Do I wanna say it’s unrealistic to imagine him thicker? No. You can do what you want and I get where you come from. And I sure as hell can’t imagine andrew as a twink either, like no. But I don’t like how it starts to become problematic to imagine andrew not-thick since it is not like he has a set body type people actively ignore. so I wanted to shine some light on the other side and how it’s okay to imagine him that way too. Maybe I just saw one too many comments shaming art for not drawing andrew the way they hc it.

Thank you for listening and I hope you get where i come from :)

[achillean-heartbeat]

[click for better quality]

One of my favourite quotes from the foxhole court.

It is so important to me that Kevin was the first person who made Neil feel wanted, included and believed in.

[foxstens]

aromantic kevin day is borderline canon, if you even care

[theladysunami]

As someone who doesn’t speak a lick of Chinese (and really struggles to distinguish tones), I have some question for any fluent Chinese speakers.

It’s a common trope in SVSSS fanfiction where Shen Qingqiu and/or Shang Qinghua use terms for modern technology and the PIDW natives around them are puzzled by it.

What sort of homophones (or near homophones) are there for words like “airplane,” “cell phone,” “television,” “refrigerator,” “microwave,” and so forth? In other words, what might PIDW natives think they’re hearing while trying to listen in on the transmigrators? Are there any (near) homophones that depend on the dialect being spoken?

If the PIDW natives saw the words written, rather than heard them, what meanings might they come up with based on the characters used?

I can guess at some possible interpretations by looking things up in Yabla’s Chinese English Pinyin Dictionary, but they’re rough guesses at best.

I’d be delighted if someone actually knowledgeable could provide some insight on what Mobie-jun and Luo Binghe might think their husbands are talking about when they hear them use words and phrases “from their hometown.”

Edit: Apparently my homophone guesses weren't nearly as terrible as I'd feared, so I'm going to edit this and stick some of them under a read more for fun.

Native speakers please feel free to bully me if I screw up!

Airplane (飞机, fēi jī) "Flying Machine" 飞, fēi: "to fly" ● 机, jī: "machine" Possible Homophones: ● "Flying Chicken" (飞鸡) We definitely need fics where everyone thinks SQQ insists on calling SQH a chicken for some reason.

Cell Phone (手机, shǒu jī) "Hand Machine" 手, shǒu: "hand," "to hold" ● 机, jī: "machine" Possible Homophones: ● "Head/Chief Chicken" (首鸡) ● "Hand Muscle" (手肌) Does Shizun need a hand massage, or miss the "top-dog" chicken he grew up with? Who knows!

Telephone (电话, diàn huà) "Electric Talk" 电, diàn: "electric" ● 话, huà: "language," "speech," "talk" Possible Homophones: ● "Palace Talk" (殿话) ● "Shop Talk" (店话) The most likely guesses seem to be that the phrase has something to do with situational modes of speech. How one speaks in a palace hall, or how one speaks in an inn/shop.

Television (电视, diàn shì) "Electric View" 电, diàn: "electric" ● 视, shì: "to look at," "to regard" Possible Homophones: ● "Court Examination," "Imperial Exam" (殿试) ● "Think on/Remember a Matter," "Worry About Things" (惦事) Why demon lord husbands would pine after imperial exams is anyone's guess.

Refrigerator (冰箱, bīng xiāng) "Ice Box" 冰, bīng: "ice" ● 箱, xiāng: "box" No homophones needed. Meaning is obvious. Huzzah!

Microwave (微波炉, wēi bō lú) "Tiny Wave Stove" 微, wēi: "tiny" ● 波, bō: "wave," "ripple" ● 炉, lú: "stove," "furnace" Possible Homophones: ● "Power Sowing Furnace" (威播炉) No great options here, so they'd likely assume it's some special pill furnace variety.

Car/Automobile (汽车, qì chē) "Steam Vehicle" 汽, qì: "steam," "vapor" ● 车, chē: "vehicle," "chariot" (archaic) Possible Homophones: ● "Qi Chariot" (气车) ● "Near Vehicle" (汔车) A Qi powered chariot sounds pretty neat actually. The phrase could mean something like "whatever vehicle is nearest" though? Or a short range vehicle? (Google translate interpreted 汔车 as "car racing").

Courtesy of @hopingforbrain

airplane's full name can be heard as 'beating (up) flying chickens to the sky'. not in the wanking way, but actually throwing hands with the poultry.

[reddamselette]

Over time, Neil has heard of various things in relation to others. The red string theory, soulmates, everything has timing—he’s never once believed it. Not out of skepticism but more so, not wanting to put faith into something such as fate or divine intervention.

But it’s laughable now as Kevin introduces an old friend of his. Gray eyes, dark hair, French accent. Neil feels like he’s met him before, seen him somewhere or perhaps crossed him in passing.

Whatever it is, whatever it could be, Jean is somehow an important person in his life. And with whispers of a promise, of dreams, of another life—Neil decides he won’t let him go.

[yaralulu]

ok i wasn’t originally gonna say anything but god i’m so glad we’re finally having this discussion about lucien and the day court. i’ve always been such a strong believer that lucien’s transition to day won’t be a fun and easy one ( i don’t even think that should be where he ends up but that’s a conversation for another day). like imagine you’re 300 something years old and suddenly you’re being told this random dude is your father and this random court is your home and oh you’re actually heir!!! …. WHAT.

I know lucien’s very good at adapting to new situations and stuff but he’s clearly very attached to spring and autumn. Home will always be the spring court and autumn court and i don’t think he can just change that. not easily or quickly anyways.

now is he 100% gonna end up in the day court? yes but i’m gonna be bitching about it anyways

[kingofanemptyworld]

SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP

[alwaysbewoke]

the fix is in!!

[landfilloftrash]

seeing ghosts everywhere you go?

are they all in your head or are they here causing that chill in your bones?

[bl0rbohandbag]

– some vampire the masquerade x changeling the lost concepts that will not leave me alone.

"but vtm and ctl are from different settings–" shhhhhh :)

— part 2.

before i begin: i have been dabbling in vampire the masquerade and changeling the lost content for a while, i am not a fan of changeling the dreaming and vampire the requiem is unfamiliar to me. anyway! buckle up, enjoy the ride, this is kind of long.

trigger warning for abuse/unhealthy parental relationships because vamps i guess.

first of all: i recently read vtm: bloodstained love. while it focus on the more romantic and sexual aspects of kindred relationships with a lot of references to obsessive/posessive behavior and grotesque acts of love, it also made me wonder how those would translate to platonic or familial relationships. add some changeling shenanigans to that and we have some interesting concepts to play with! and with that being said...

– you're a changeling. kidnapped into arcadia and trapped there for who knows how long. in your durance, you dream of going back home, of reuniting with your friends and family, escaping your keeper to finally, finally enjoy freedom in the world you were born in.

– and one day, you do escape. back into your world, never feeling completely safe with your keeper looking to get you back and huntsmen being a very real threat, but you're ready to rebuild your life and enjoy your newfound freedom.

– there are various mentions throughout the ctl books on how unsuspecting or heedless changelings might have their freedom stolen again, this time by kindred. so, as it turns out, you'll have to deal with creatures other than the true fae who are more than willing to keep you caged!

the angst potential in a changeling reuniting with ther parent(s) only to find out they've become something inhuman, and not all that different from their keeper is unmatched.

maybe you watch them from a distance first. maybe you excitedly seek them out. maybe you just randomly bump into your parent by complete chance, after presuming them dead or deciding to abandon your old life. maybe they find you.

but the point is: they're kindred. so different from when you last saw them, as a teenager, as a child, before you were taken. as if having huntsmen and your keeper after you wasn't trying enough, a vampire parent comes (back) into your life to make it even more complicated.

a ventrue dad will make his ghouls your bodyguards, following you day and night. it makes you insanely uncomfortable, as you liken them to changelings serving true fae back in arcadia. he says it's because of his own dangerous kindred affairs that might affect you, but after an unplesant encounter with the huntsmen he might just decide you shouldn't be out and about at all.

your parent is either a neonate or an ancilla by the time your return from arcadia. your fetch is dead for whatever reason, expired, after living a life in your stead, automatically making the vampire believe their child is dead– now imagine their surprise and confusion when they see you– real you, living and breathing. and maybe you're distraught, too, seeing that they haven't aged a day or should, depeding on how long you've been gone, be most definetly dead.

(this is absolutely NOT going to send the vampire parent into a mental breakdown and spiral into obsession upon discovering the child they have lost and buried was literally a soulless copy of their real child who got kidnapped by faeries. a clone made out of twigs and a cat's eyes that stole their child's place and they never noticed. everything is just fine. it does not them affect them mentally at all :3)

(bonus points if the fetch was killed by the vampire parent's enemies after being entagled in their mess. they feel like they are getting a second chance and will absolutely not screw it up! cue you, poor changeling, being locked away or put under heavy surveillance.)

on the other hand, a kindred parent who currently has a living fetch of their child just being EXTREMELY distraught when they keep spotting someone who looks exactly like their kid at random places they definetly shouldn't be at is very funny and kind of unsettling!

(a vampire mom just feeding on mortals at the club, socializing with other kindred, perhaps dealing with some unresolved issues with her sire, etc. Then she spots you, her real kid, unbeknownst to her, just chilling, among all those dangerous vampires, when you're supposed to be in your dorm room at least a thousand miles from there. she calls the fetch's phone, expecting you to pick up and start explaining yourself. your fetch answers the phone, talks to her, sleep-drunk and confused as to why she's calling so late, but the person she's looking at has made no motion at all. they're not talking. they have not picked up the phone. but that's her kid's face, she's sure. what the fuck?)

for low-humanity ancillae/elder kindred, having their child back might bring about long-forgotten mortal feelings of genuine parental love, although they might express in the very unorthodox way kindred would. they simply do not understand why their child does not want to be around them. they just want to bond with you and keep you safe where kindred and fae can't get to you, make up for lost time. what do you mean they're "just like your keeeper"?

i think a lot of kindred parents will leave you be, mostly brujah or gangrel, knowing you'll be safer if they keep you away from their world. provided there was no fetch to replace you, they think it's amazing enough you were found alive and well after years of being a missing person. you don't like talking about what happened in your... "durance"... fine, they'll keep the investigators off your back, too. they might not even know you're no longer human. but they are going to check on you once in a while, or keep tabs on you, or even have some of their people watch you from a distance. just to make sure.

(just don't let them catch wind of all the changeling shenanigans or huntsmen attacks on your person. that might just change their mind...)

kindred parents might believe you're safer away from their world, yes, but they can just as easily bring you into the mess of kindred society without a second thought.

not very fun being a fairest when your toreador mother insists you show your mien to impress her fellow clan mates and other kindred with your overwhelming beauty. she's always been a pageant mom, so this shouldn't surprise you. there's several layers of wrongness to this, from having your changeling identity exposed to multiple vampires to further your mother's social status to this very situation bringing back so many unpleasant memories from your durance, and it's bound to end badly.

(the toreador pageant mom could very easily be a nosferatu pageant mom, a cleopatra now living vicariously through your fae-given beauty.)

(she will realize how terrible a mistake that was when vampires start really paying attention to you. or not. who knows.)

(gifts that could easily have come from a true fae lord start pouring in. letters written in excessive passion, bouquets of bloody roses, dresses made out of human skin, all delivered by equally dazed-looking ghouls. perhaps your mother will know, then, she fucked up severely. or maybe she'll just tell you to be grateful for those wonderful gifts.)

on another hand, a nosferatu parent taking one look at their fairest child's mien and deciding "oh. no kindred can see you like. ever. stay away from toreador specifically". you don't know what a toreador is, but you'll try to heed the advice.

your ancilla mother meets your motley and proceeds to show them baby pictures of you, taken in the 1870s shortly before your abduction to Faerie. they are very well preserved and you look most proper in your little sailor outfit.

you have a beast/ogre seeming and your gangrel parent thinks you're pretty rad :) you go hunting together.

your tzimisce dad has living furniture made out of human skin, but it's nothing you haven't seen in arcadia before. he's a little disappointed by your lack of enthusiasm, and very offended when you tell him your keeper had better taste in couches. trying to evade a tzimisce dad after he's been made aware of your existence is a difficult task, and you will get caught and held captive at one point (for your safety, of course!). if there is a fetch currently living your life, they will be immediately killed or horribly tortured (read: vicissitude) for the crime of decieving the tzimisce and impersonating you, regardless of you already having decided to leave said fetch alone.

(tzimisce dad thinks you should be thankful. he dealt with the imposter. shouldn't you be happy?)

(if he’s got cash and has some land within his domain to spare, he might let you build a little home not too far from his own to give you a semblance of independence to try and settle you down. might.)

(on the other hand, you have the chance to become a really good escape artist. take your time in captivity with your tzimisce dad to practice your escaping and running away skills, after all, every good changeling needs it! you also get the bonus of reliving your childhood/teenagehood with all the sneaking out.)

(quick intermission: all of these concepts might result in low-clarity for the changeling?? i'm not too sure how clarity damage works yet.

update: it absolutely might!)

your malkavian mother thinks she's plagued with visions of her missing child, glimpses of what they might look nowadays, wherever they are. this is actually you, visiting her in her dreams through oneiromancy.

(everyone thought, back then, that it was just a scare. you wandered into the forest and for ten hours people searched for you, only to find you safe and sound, without a scratch in your body or a speck of dirt in your shoes hours later. but she knew better. she knew that wasn't really you. it haunted her for the rest of her life, and it haunts her unlife even now. she never made it to the hedge.)

you can't take your tremere parent ANYWHERE. you give in after endless nagging and take them to a goblin market, but their arrogance will get them roped into terrible deals if you don't keep your eyes on them full time. you do take this as an opportunity to show off your changeling capabilities. you're in your element.

(you also drop life-altering bits of Faerie lore at random or inappropriate times. it sends them spiraling. you just hope they won't share it with anyone...)

darkling changeling just chilling with their nosferatu dad in the sewers, sharing rats.

and that's all for today, folks.

[ivymoonstudios]

high lady of the night court