#english is not my first language moment

[sulfies]

Based on this glorious chain

Sigh…

Leonardo knows that sigh and what causes it better than anyone because he sighed exactly the same way, at the same time as he and Desmond watched Ezio wipe his forehead with his shirt as his stomach deliciously got bared for their eyes.

He was stacking and moving some crates around for him in the studio.

Leonardo whipped his head to the side and almost gave himself a cramp from it, his eyes wide he stared at Desmond more intensely than he would have wanted.

Because as he mentioned,

he knows THAT sigh…

There was no way but maybe just maybe… he also? There was no other reason for that sigh, there was no naked lady painting hanging behind Ezio and did he mention he JUST knows that sigh… His eyes darted to Ezio then back to Desmond. 

He had to be…

but what if he was wrong…

That look too, he looks at Ezio exactly the same way he does. He just had to be… like him.

Leonardo did not know how he would bring it up, does he even bring it up? Again what if he was wrong, then De-

“God damn, Id lick the sweat off of that man…”

Leonardo’s mind went fully silent for the first time.

“...Am I right?” 

 Leo had to stop himself from almost screaming from the shock, his eyes even wider he stared at Desmond who just slowly turned his head to him with a smile Leonardo recognized that was a copy of Ezio’s shit-eating grin when he talked about “the ladies”. 

Well, that clears it… He coughed to clear his throat mostly and blushing he looked to the side. “I-” he chose just to nod. If he tried to speak right now he fears his voice would crack from how his brain is coming to a full stop. He heard Desmond chuckle “Ugh maybe we should just stop the torture and ask him to take his shirt off so we can actually watch…”

That got an actual yelp from him which made Ezio turn at them.

“What are you two girls gossiping about?”

“First, that's sexist. Second, I was just saying that you should take that sh-”

Leonardo’s hand clapped on Desmond's mouth with a loud slap “HE WAS-” Cough “He was just saying that you should take that STUFF off the crate, the one with the blanket draped over!? T-that one… He thinks he spotted something with… his vision… yea that's it”

He could see Desmond roll his eyes from the corner of his eyes. Ezio knew about Leonardo and was okay with it BUT it didn’t mean the man wouldn’t take offence to being looked at like that!

Desmond ripped his hand away, too easily and just chuckled as Ezio looked at them both with a brow raised.

“Sure… yes, I did can you please go over and look it's like behind the 2nd row?please?”

Ezio huffed, “I just stacked those ones into a pile!”

“Pretty please?”

“Only because you added the pretty.”

Desmond hummed in thanks as Ezio went over the stack and squatted “Which one again?” “The one behind that you have to reach over”

“Things I do for you both…”

Leonardo watched as Ezio got on his knees and used the first row of crates for support as he dug into the parchment and god knows what-filled box with his back to them.

…aaand Desmond sighed again, really how did Leonardo never realize how much Desmond stared “that” way before this. But he was indeed staring at a good “view” of Ezio bending over those crates which gave him a false sense of security that Desmond was satisfied.

“What am I looking for here?” 

Desmond didn't hesitate in his response “Oh for nothing I just wanted to stare at your ass a bit, looks great”

“DESMOND! YOU CAN’T JUST!” 

Leonardo's hands slammed on the table as he whipped his head, he was up from the chair without realizing it, horrified “E-Ezio so sorry a-”

Ezio’s deep chuckle which quickly turned into a belly laugh stopped Leonardo’s terrified rant. He got off from his position and turned on his knees, getting up.

Ezio took a look at Leonardo's face.

“Oh for fucks sake Desmond you are going to give Leonardo a heart attack”

He smiled at Leonardo as his chuckles died down “The stuff I have to stop him from saying out loud everywhere, Mio Amicò… you would think of me as Saint Maria next to this one”

Leonardo was gaping at them like fish out of water. 

“I only speak the truth we all think about and don't be too humble with yourself I know you’ve got a napkin to wipe your sweat…”

“Yeah but then how else would you girls will stay entertained.”

What was going on… Leonardo could not speak, he felt like his brain was melting…

“I think he is shortcircuiting.”

“What does that mean?” “Don't worry about it”

Desmond whistled and snapped his fingers at his face several times, “Yep, we broke him. Did you not tell him abo- oh shit wait you really didn't tell him that swing both ways?! I thought animus just didn’t show me or something I mean it's not like you didn't also bed men-”

Desmond WAS trying to give him a heart attack after all

 “You WHAT?!” “ah that got him back.”

“Desmond! You-” 

Now it was Ezio trying to zip Desmond's mouth.

“You have slept with men before!?” and there was the voice crack he was afraid of, he shrieked more than he talked.

“Well, I was going to If I ever got serious with…” Ezio averted his eyes with a playful smile that didn't hide his blush “Someone special…”

“Wooow I am not special to you?” Desmond quipped back with a teasing tone.

“I mean BEFORE and then… I didn't have the right time…”

Oh…Oooh he got it he suddenly got it…“You two…really?” the look on Ezio's sheepish smile was telling enough “I was going to tell I swear Leo…”

And he could not stop a chuckle that escaped him “Really!? really, Ezio out of all people becomes a sadomite and the man you pick oh so HAPPENS to be a look-alike of you? A prime subject of the Narcissus complex right here!” He wagged his finger teasingly.

the situation now was just funny, the panic had died down... 

“Ouch, my best friend…”

“Eh…”

Leo dreaded what Desmond was going to say.

“... Don't worry Ezio, with how Leo has been looking at us both...There should be a complex for that too right?"

This was a losing battle for Leonardo yet he found himself not caring as sat back down next to Desmond... "Tell me how..." He pointed to Desmond to Ezio "This happend then?"

"Ascolta, è una storia lunga,"

Leonardo pointed at the seat in front of him...

"I have time..."

[baby-xemnas]

https://x.com/hackedmotionart/status/1827561480780444107?t=vCBC-aPnrOd7_9g6z9GwIA&s=19

This is exactly how they interact💯

even with urban dictionary i dont quite get it

[rayday-mayday]

I had a thought and needed to draw this exchange between @muwwwsky's proship-chan and anti-chan.

If you need context, then put "kys" into Google translate ( Danish translated to English ofc )

[lavi-gs]

Today, q!Missa:

When Roier said Philza's name, he yelled in front of everyone at . "Long live! I love you!"

Missa said he didn't like alcohol, and he threw away all the alcohol they gave his, except the one Philza gave his and that was the only one he drank.

He guided Philza on the dance floor, making them both dance in sync.

Although Missa was so confused and scared by all the information, when Philza said that he would not rest until he found their children, Missa replied "I will be with you, we will find them."

When Mouse called Philza smart, he added whispers "Yeah he is… and handsome"

When everyone is running in the dark, not sure where to go, he ran in the opposite direction to everyone, and said "I'm gonna follow Philza I don't know about y'all take care but I'm going with Philza".

I fight alongside him despite his lack of experience. "I'm not even scared when philza is here!"

When Phil was gonna go off on his own, Missa clung to him. "Where will you go? No, no, I want to go with you. Forget it guys, I'm on a date."

He got angry at himself for becoming clumsy around Phil. "With that I endure life- I endure for life. 'Missa! Speak well! You make me nervous Philza-'."

When he was infected with the virus and thought he might die, he shouted "No, I'm going to die, I have to do everything I want to do before I die… Philza, give me a hug!"

For the first time in a long time, Missa said goodbye properly and promised to return.

And he did it!

But-

[meichenxi]

Speakers of non-English languages of the UK and Ireland wanted!!

Since it’s World Mother Language Day today (February the 21st), I’m thinking of doing a series of posts on the native non-English languages of the United Kingdom and Ireland, with some information and short interviews. 

For this, I am looking for both native speakers/signers and learners (with or without parentage/heritage of the language in question) of the following languages:

- Scottish Gaelic

- Irish

- Welsh

- Any sign language of the United Kingdom or Ireland (e.g. BSL)

- Any other minority language indigenous to the United Kingdom or Ireland. By this I mean primarily spoken only within the UK or Ireland as a minority, or spoken very little elsewhere. For example: Cornish, Manx, Shelta, or Anglo-Romani, not languages like Polish or Bengali that are minority within the UK but have a significant speaker base elsewhere. (I am aware that I am fishing for some of these *cough* Cornish *cough*...but you never know!)

- Any language or variety that you speak that you feel is linguistically / culturally distinct from Standard English that you would like to inform more people about. For example: Shetlandic, Scots, Ulster Scots. 

I don’t have anything finalised yet, but if you would be wiling to speak to me about some text-based interviews for the sake of qualitative and informative tumblr posts, please send me a message!

(NB: if I have used any names of languages that are not preferred, tell me and I will change them. I don’t know a lot about the non-Celtic and non-Germanic languages here, which is part of my reason for wanting to make this series of posts in the first place.)

Please reblog so more people see this!

- meichenxi

[wuffgang-ameowdeus-moozart]

no because I spent less than a third of my school years in Brazil and yet whenever I do maths in my head I still always resort back to Portuguese

no because I always speak Portuguese with my mom and we almost exclusively listen to Brazilian music at home but the first time we went back to Brazil after covid just listening to all the people around me casually speak in Portuguese almost made me burst into tears

no because one time I was sleeping at my grandma's and I still hadn't completely woken up and the birds were singing (we used to have australian budgies) and for a moment I thought I was still living there, at my old apartment. I don't even know how many years ago this day happened and my memory is absolute shit but I still remember the feeling of bittersweet grief when I woke up properly

no because I always get so hyped whenever I hear someone casually speaking Brazilian Portuguese like even if I don't outwardly acknowledge them just hearing it always fills me with so much joy

no because whenever I forget another word in Portuguese my heart breaks a little

no because even if I do my hair the exact same way here and there it still comes out with a completely different texture (it looks better over there in case you were wondering btw)

no because I mostly speak Portuguese with my mom and I didn't even realize that some of the words I use are actually super outdated

the point being: I really appreciate that there are so many characters that come from different countries in Stormlight Archive, and that Sanderson has clearly thought a lot about their different cultures and religions and politics and worldbuilding in general. however. i don't think he quite realizes how personal a place and a language can be. like obviously my experiences are far from universal, not to mention very different from theirs (much much less trauma for one lol), but especially when we get a pov from one of those characters I can't help but think that there is always something.... lacking? missing?

let shallan complain about her hair and skin routine not working the same anymore ever since she moved away from her home. let lunamor be a bit resentful of his new family for not even trying to learn his real name. let The Lopen forget more words in alethi now that he's surrounded by his herdasian cousins again. let shallan not be able to properly talk about her drawings in the way she wants to whenever adolin asks because she learnt all the proper words in her vadan art book. let there be foreign members of bridge four who adore alethkar and those who hate it and those who feel a bit of both at the same time.

dunno. i know these are just small details, but i noticed that these are small details that matter to me (and I can imagine that many people with a foreign background may feel similarly?)

[svtskneecaps]

oh also also, baghera getting increasingly french at the end of the timer was so fucking funny and i love her so much, like when her and phil fought and phil killed her and her accent thickened until she abandoned words and made french noises CHEF'S KISS reminds me of when she played outlast w cellbit slime and jaiden and got progressively more french as the night wore on, genuinely had a blast hearing her progressively dropping more and more swears in french

also reminds me of something i THINK i remember, think it was her who said during brazil she kept accidentally speaking french to people because of how close she felt to them

[eightspringdays]

is 15k too long for an oneshot...

[rigelmejo]

'lazy' study activities

Yes, this is an extension of the big monster 'study plan' post I am working on. The big study plan post will link more tools and articles to use, this is more like a short suggestion of study activities you could try.

(Scroll to the bottom to see the SUMMARY)

If you already watch cdramas, continue to do so. Download Google Translate app on your phone (and Pleco, and any other translation app you like). Watch cdramas that have hard chinese subtitles on the videos - many youtube cdramas already are like this (you see chinese hanzi subs on the videos). Keep watching with english subtitles on too. Every 3-5 minutes, look up a word or phrase you're curious about. Google Translate allows you to type in words or phrases with pinyin, so if you see 小心 or 你放心 or 他死了 in the cdrama, you can type what you hear 'xiaoxin' or 'nifangxin' or 'tasile' to get the translation. If you don't hear the pronunciation clearly, or don't know pinyin letters-pronunciation well, then you can also do writing input and write in the hanzi you see on the hard chinese subtitles. I'm left handed and didn't know the stroke order as a beginner, my handwriting is usually incomprehensible to writing recognition software, and google translate still usually figured out which hanzi I was writing. So yeah, just watch what you'd normally watch and look up a word/phrase every 3-5 minutes as curious. This activity will ADD up. In a few months you might know a lot of words. If you are a beginner, maybe start with this activity and just keep doing it for a while. Eventually you'll start to pick up dozens of words, maybe even a few hundred. You'll probably eventually get curious about what grammar you're looking at, how to parse the sentences, how to remember hanzi better, and you can use that curiosity as motivation to push you to do some of the more 'intensive' study activities like learning about hanzi and grammar.

Not the laziest activity, because it does require reading an education material: but all you have to do is read it. You don't need to memorize, or study intensely, just read leisurely through it once. Read this dong-chinese pinyin guide, when you have decided you're a bit annoyed you can't figure out the pinyin to type the words you're trying to look up in cdramas. Or read it when you're eager to try typing with a chinese phone keyboard so you can type in hanzi instead of using writing-input, since typing the correct hanzi will make looking up new words easier. (To type hanzi you just type the pinyin, then pick from the hanzi suggested). Reading through this will take as little as 15 minutes, to as long as several days if you're just reading 1 section of it a day in 3-5 minutes. If you enjoy re-reading and reviewing, you might spend a few hours total on this pinyin guide. But if you're lazy? Just read through once, and know you can always come reference it again later if you're confused and want to clarify something. If you plan to learn zhuyin, you can check out the zhuyin guide at the top-right tab of the linked page.

Also not the laziest activity on here, as it will require reading educational material for 20 minutes to 2 hours depending on your reading speed and if you split it into different days and if you personally enjoy reviewing or not. Again, just read through these once when you have a few free minutes to spare. If you're a beginner, you'll appreciate the basic information about hanzi and how they work.

Part 1: Chinese characters in a nutshell

Part 2: Basic characters and character components

Part 3: Compound characters

Part 4: Learning and remembering compound characters

Part 5: Making sense of Chinese words

Part 6: Learning and remembering compound words

If you are a beginner and don't know much about tones, you may also want to spend 20 minutes to 2 hours on some days/weeks you have free on these informational things on tones:

Four Tones Explanation (great explanation video)

Tone Combination Practice (with some useful notes in it)

When Do Chinese Tones Change (good explanation, helpful 3rd tone explanation)

Accent Lab Mandarin Tone Pairs (I recommend this tool for listening practice, and later in your study to check on increasing your listening skills)

And finally, 2 textbook explanations of tones that I've found useful here and here.

Learning new words: if you find the pace of learning slow from just shows, are getting eager to learn more words FASTER so you can understand more? There's a few options.

There's SRS apps like Anki (or Pleco app's flashcard area), and if you enjoy flashcards or can focus on flashcards better than me, then if you do SRS apps 15-30 minutes a day the studying WILL add up. I cannot focus on such apps though, and once my focus burns out it takes me 1 hour to study 5 words... when for most people, they take 5 minutes to study 20 words or more in these apps.

If you're like me and can't focus long term on doing something like flashcards. Option 1: you can still use an SRS app like anki. Just cram 'new words/sentences' ONLY for a few days or weeks (so when you can get through as many words as other people you try to get through as many words as you can in 30 minutes to 2 hours), and when you start to feel the focus fade then switch to only review cards (and only New review cards until you've reviewed everything once). Quit reviewing when the focus is totally gone. You may finish reviewing everything, or you may not. Doesn't really matter. The initial 'new words/sentence' cards were to get an initial exposure of this means X, just like watching shows gives you that initial exposure the first time you look up an unknown word. You will 'review' these words more by seeing them in cdramas and other things, especially when you're still a beginner who needs to learn a few thousand common words. Option 2: same activity, but use a word list (or word list with sentence examples) online or printed on paper. Read through the list once over a matter of days until focus fades, then try to read through the list a second time (review) until focus is lost.

Option 3: Audio flashcards my beloved. If you REALLY do not want to look at flashcards for 15-30 minutes a day, or like me you REALLY can't focus at all on flashcards sometimes (because if 5 minutes take an hour to study like for me it's not very time effective ToT), audio lessons and audio flashcards will be your friend as a beginner. If efficiency is not your highest priority, I suggest you go to the Hoopla or Libby library apps, and looking up 'chinese lessons' or 'learn chinese' and try out some of the audiobooks and audio courses. Also go on Spotify and look up 'learn chinese' and try out some of the podcasts (I used to listen to Coffee Break Chinese), look up lessons on youtube (and things like "chinese sentences english translation"). ANY lesson that speaks chinese sentences, then speaks the english translation? Perfect, you can use it. Anything that tells you the chinese, then the english translation, is making sure you understand the chinese being used enough to start learning it. If you want to be particularly efficient with your time, you'll want to prioritize listening to audio that has MANY new chinese words per lesson. I listened to the chinese spoonfed anki audio files, chinese/english sentence audio, with new words or grammar in every sentence, but also a lot of words re-used in new sentences so i'd get some 'review' of words I'd heard before even if I only listened to new audio files until I finished. Those audio files have ~7000 sentences and probably a bit less words but still thousands. Immersive Languages (library audio lessons you can use) and Chinesepod101 would probably also have fairly information dense lessons.

Why are audio lessons and audio flashcards lazy? Well, particularly when it's just english/chinese sentence audio, you can listen to it while doing your regular daily schedule. Fit 30 minutes or even hours of listening a day, into when you're driving, commuting, walking, cleaning, cooking, grinding in video games, exercising, doing busy work you can listen to something in the background during. I tested this by doing it myself, and even if you are not paying full attention and just in-out of listening in the background, you will learn new words. So listening in the background while you play video games you would anyway? Easier, versus trying to focus on flashcards (very hard for me lol)? As far as 'intentional study' of educational materials, listening to audio lessons and audio flashcards is the easiest to do while continuing your regular daily schedule (aka not needing to carve out extra study time). The main drawback is it is very listening focused, so if you aren't working on reading skills with cdrama subtitles, graded readers, or webnovels eventually, then your reading skills will fall behind.

As an extension to the 'listening is easy to add to a daily schedule' idea: if you are an upper beginner, you can listen to learner podcasts entirely in chinese or graded reader audiobooks. If you're an intermediate learner, you can listen to audiobooks of webnovels you've read, or listen to audio dramas of stuff you've read subtitles for before, or if it's comprehensible enough for you then just listen to new audiobooks and audio dramas. You can listen to cdramas you've watched before playing in the background, or condensed audio (audio of shows with the silence cut out). Not only that, but when it comes to stuff like this, where you know SOME words but not all words? Or where you can read the words, but can't understand them when listening? Re-listen to the audio a LOT. I'm talking 10-20 times, or at least 5 times. Play chapter 1 of an audiobook on loop in the background while you clean your room, or while you level grind in a video game, or while you mull through doing a spreadsheet or lifting boxes at work (if you can work fine while listening to audio), or while you commute. You will, genuinely, notice your comprehension improving the more you re-listen even if you only paid half attention and didn't follow the plot the first few times. It is one of the easiest study activities to do, once you're at the point you can listen to audio materials. Just keep re-listening until you're bored and want to pick another, or until you feel you've understood as much as you can in that audio file (although I bet you if you've listened 5 times and think 'that's all I'll understand,' if you let yourself listen 10 times you'll be surprised how much MORE you end up understanding by then).

If you're getting ansty (as a beginner) about not understanding the grammar of the sentences you see in cdrama. Use that as motivation to spend 5 minutes to 30 minutes a day (or if you enjoy reading just read for 4 hours one day and be done) to read through some chinese grammar guides. You can either look up "basic chinese grammar" and read a few articles, or find a chinese grammar guide and just work your way through reading it. I personally suggest that, if you're bored by it or unable to focus: either JUST read the grammar point TITLES and then read more into the topics you've been seeing in cdramas that you want to learn more about. Or you just read HSK 1-4 grammar points, since they're the basics. Or you skip to the 'grammar point example' and read the examples to get a visual of what's going on. Or only look up specific grammar points as you watch cdramas, if something seems confusing.

I personally felt... it was easier in the long run, for me, to just read a whole grammar guide as a beginner. Did I understand everything? NOPE. I didn't understand like 2/3 at all. But skimming through an entire grammar guide made me aware of all the ways to expect past tense: 去 过 过了 了 以前 etc, ways to expect the future and ability and desire 会 要, how to ask yes/no questions 吗 and suggestions 吧, 有 没有 i have/dont have and how have can be used to express past tense things, 不 don't/not, how 的 地 can make descriptive phrases (地 is like english -ly) (and how in chinese a sentence clause-的 usually goes in FRONT instead of in the middle like in english), how 得 is both 'must' and also has several grammatical functions to look out for (that I didn't get used to until I read a lot to be honest), and 着 has grammatical uses too (the first of which was it seemed similar to the english verb ending -ing to me). These were basic things, and a lot of their more particular aspects went over my head.

But knowing roughly how to pick out 'that's a verb' and 'that's probably a descriptive' and 'that's a clause' and 'that's negative' and 'that's past tense' or 'that's present or future tense' helped me start guessing the overall main idea of sentences and paragraphs WAY sooner than it otherwise would have took me. If I'd only looked up 1 grammar point occassionally... it could've taken years to recognize these basics. Instead it took a month of reading a grammar guide, then several months of seeing that grammar in cdramas and webnovels just to fully recognize what I saw. I did still look up a particular grammar point when confused, but usually I already was vaguely familiar with the grammar point to look it up (like seeing 把 in the sentence and knowing THAT is what i should look up because it's confusing me). So yeah: feel free to do it the way you prefer, as we all will have different preferences and things that work better for us. But for me, it was worth just reading 4 hours of a grammar guide in 15ish minute chunks over the course of a month.

Unfortunately the grammar guide summary i read (chinese-grammar.org) no longer exists. So I will link some options I've found, but if you find more concise and simpler grammar guides please share them! Introduction to Basic Chinese Grammar. AllSetLearning Chinese Grammar Wiki (way too long to read easily in my opinion but I used this to look up specific grammar points later in learning a Lot), Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar: A Student's Guide to Correct Structures and Common Errors (this one is a print book but the only modern book I bought for grammar), and Wikipedia's Chinese Grammar Page (which is the grammar guide I'm currently reading through to consider as a resource - i think as far as summarized it may be one of the shorter options).

Whenever you feel ready to learn hanzi? Honestly the sky is the limit on options. If you like SRS apps like anki, Skritter is an app I've seen recommended for hanzi, I used some "chinese hanzi with mnemonics" anki decks (while I could focus lol). I personally found the easiest way for me to start was to just read through this book (which is for free as an ebook in many libraries/library apps, and can be found in free download book sites):Learning Chinese Characters: (HSK Levels 1-3) A Revolutionary New Way to Learn the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters; Includes All Characters for the AP & HSK 1-3 Exams. I liked this book because it made up a story to help me remember meaning, pronunciation, and tone. Along with providing example words. It's only 800 hanzi, and all I did to study it was read a few pages every couple days until I finished it - it took me around 3 months to finish the book. I didn't review (though you can re-read and review if you enjoy that).

But the mnemonics really helped form that 'initial recognition' memory and so when I started reading graded readers (once I'd studied 300 hanzi in the book), the graded readers helped 'review' those new hanzi and I learned them fast. For the 1000 hanzi I learned on my own after this book, I utilized the mnemonic story strategy that this book taught, and it was fairly doable to just keep picking up hanzi by looking them up when reading, coming up with a mnemonic story in my head, then moving on. As I kept seeing hanzi again, I'd eventually remember them. (And they say it takes 12-20 times of seeing a word to remember it, so at worst that's how much I was looking up new words... sometimes only 1-2 times though).

I would suggest that if you don't use SRS apps like anki or Skritter for hanzi, use some tool with mnemonics like a hanzi book with mnemonic stories (like the one I linked or a few others that exist). And when you look up new words in cdramas, and later graded readers and webnovels, please listen to the word's pronunciation a few times. So you're getting a bit of initial recognition of the hanzi's components/visual AND the word's pronunciation. If it takes 20 times or less to learn new words, then you'll want to get that much reading AND listening exposure.

When you have some basic grammar knowledge (or if you're really tolerant of ambiguity), keep watching cdramas as you have been. But try to pause the show every 3-5 minutes and read a chinese subtitle sentence. You can use the english subtitles to try and parse the chinese word meanings, or look up keywords using your translation app, whatever you want. Since a LOT of cdramas have chinese subs, and you watch with english subs, you can utilize these dual subtitles to start practicing reading skills and practicing guessing new words from context (in this case the context is the scene, the chinese words you already know, and the english translation). Later in your studies, when you stop using english subtitles sometimes, this will have been good practice of getting used to trying to read chinese. This pausing every 3-5 minutes to try and understand a chinese sentence should not take much time, maybe adding 5-10 minutes of watch time to a cdrama episode (depending on how long you pause). So it should be fairly easy to work into your schedule.

So yeah. The big summary of all this is:

If you want to make progress at a pace most people are going to find not too slow, I suggest 1-2 hours on average of doing stuff with chinese a day. (Or more hours a day on average if you want to get through the beginner phase faster). It'll take thousands of hours to learn chinese. Your pace will be extremely slow if you do less than 1 hour with chinese a day on average.

If you already watch cdramas, then keep doing that and just start looking up words (and eventually trying to figure out some sentences) once every 3-5 minutes as curious.

Spend 5 minutes a day reading articles on chinese writing system, and pinyin, and basic grammar, for a few months. You don't need to memorize or review, just get a basic initial exposure.

Approach other educational materials that way: if and when you start more 'intensively' studying, you can just get an initial exposure to the ideas (like a hanzi book, a grammar guide, reading word or sentence lists if you like to do that). You don't need to memorize or review, you don't need to understand everything. Just get an initial impression. (If you enjoy memorizing or studying though, go wild lol)

Audio lessons and audio flashcard study materials will require no time to fit into your schedule, you can do those while you do daily activities that you can listen to audio while doing. As an intermediate learner, these can also be used the way extensive reading is used - to pick up more vocabulary, improve grammar understanding, improve comprehension speed.

New words take (lets rough estimate) 20 times of seeing to remember. So you'll be looking up new words up to that many times when watching cdramas, or later when reading, and that's okay. It'll take a while to fully solidify this new information and you can just keep watching cdramas and doing things in chinese, and the information will eventually be learned. Especially as a beginner: you'll run into the few thousand most common words CONSTANTLY, you will eventually learn them as you keep looking words up and doing stuff in chinese. You do not need to do any special scheduled review (like SRS anki cards, skritter, pleco flashcards) unless you personally enjoy doing it, or want to speed up your progress and are okay with carving 15-30 minutes of time specifically for doing that.

The process of transitioning to graded readers, cdramas with no english subs, and webnovels is it's own beast - which I can cover if you want (and will in the bigger post's step 3). But the short of it is: if you keep doing activities until you've learned around 1000 words, you should be able to start reading easy graded readers and gradually increasing their unique word count until you're reading graded readers with 1000+ unique words. (And you can start graded readers knowing only 200 words if you want! Mandarin Companion has books for beginners if like me you'd like to practice reading ASAP). At that point, you should be able to transition to easy webnovels (using Pleco Reader/Clipobard Reader, Mandarinspot.com annotation, Readibu app, or highlighting and right clicking and using google translate in a webpage) and to watching cdramas you've seen before or with simple plots in chinese only. How many words you look up, or if you look up zero, is all fine: as long as you grasp the main idea of the plot. If you look words up, and can grasp at least the main idea? Then you can watch/read as long as you look words up (and you'll learn the other detail words from context) If you can grasp the main idea without looking any words up? Then you can watch/read without looking words up (and learn new words from context). The first few months (or even year) of transitioning to webnovels and cdramas with no english subs will feel hard, even if you know all/most of the words. It's just part of adjusting to actually comprehending all the things you've studied. I suggest following Heavenly Path's Reading Guide as soon as you're ready to start trying to read - first graded reading material, then webnovels once you've learned around 1000 words.

[literalite]

olli added this to the violent affairs playlist idk when but ive been hooked on it ever since sooo heres my first attempt at a cover :P uhmmm i was mostly focused on reading the chords so my pronunciation of some things is a little sloppy but i like how it sounds so...

[bi9-d1ck-energy]

the tunnel scene with What is Love ????

peak of television.

[explodok1lls]

-llion Impressions? You're hired! | BKDK | Office AU | Part 1

Over the past five years, Izuku Midoriya has dedicated himself tirelessly, honing his skills in digital marketing with a single goal in mind: securing a position at BKG Co., one of Japan's premier luxury fashion companies. His ultimate dream? To join DYNAMIGHT, a subsidiary renowned for its affordable sports and active wear.

But why DYNAMIGHT specifically? Well, therein lies a reason his friends still tease him about—Katsuki Bakugou, the scion of this vast conglomerate, and the commanding figure at DYNAMIGHT. It was Bakugou who ignited Midoriya's interest in marketing, shaping his career trajectory. Yet, commendably, what began as a pursuit driven by admiration evolved into a genuine passion.

Midoriya adamantly denies any claims of being a stalker; rather, he simply yearns for the opportunity to collaborate closely with Bakugou, whose business acumen he greatly admires. They're peers in age, which Midoriya can't help but find unfair. But his motivations remain pure: professional admiration, and perhaps, just maybe, a slight crush.

–

Contrary to common perception, Katsuki Bakugou could easily be mistaken for the embodiment of Lucifer himself. If his personality were depicted on a pie chart, it would consist of 50% anger, 40% fury, and a mere 10% annoyance, with variations depending on the stupidity of the ideas presented to him.

Despite his formidable persona (bolstered by his impeccable appearance), Bakugou is fortunate that his company's key employees are his college comrades. Without them, resignation letters would flood in, spelling doom for him. His brainchild, DYNAMIGHT, is his pride and joy, a venture he fiercely contested with his mother. He desired a company aligned with his vision, passions, and hobbies. Though he admits to being born into privilege, Bakugou defends his involvement in DYNAMIGHT; he micromanages every aspect and credits its success not to his parents' wealth, but to the collective genius of those who endure his abrasive demeanor, including himself.

Keen on maintaining their upward trajectory in sales, Bakugou currently grapples with his mother's attempt to poach a valuable member of his marketing team, someone exceptionally adept at their role. With a resigned sigh, he dials Mina, one of his college confidants and head of the Marketing Department.

Barely concealing his exasperation, he greets her, "What took you so long to pick up?"

But Mina, seasoned by years of friendship and shared trials during DYNAMIGHT's inception, responds with a laugh, "Hey there, hot shot! You know I can't resist a Slack huddle call. Gets me grooving!"

"This is serious, Mina!" Bakugou retorts sharply. "Mom's trying to snatch Shinsou for her team. Shinsou!"

Undeterred, Mina quips, "Relax, she just needs him for three months. Besides, I've been thinking we could use an extra pair of hands. We're swamped."

Frustrated, Bakugou presses on, "This is news to me, Mina."

With a sigh, Mina explains, "Your mom's sudden request for Shinsou got me thinking. We've needed more help since the start of the year."

Grudgingly, Bakugou relents, "Fine, find someone as good as Shinsou, if not better."

"Got it, boss," Mina replies, before ending the call.

–

Being nearly online 24/7, Izuku maintains a religious habit of checking both his personal and work emails. So, when he opened his personal inbox, he noticed an unread email labeled "DYNAMIGHT." He had set up this filter to ensure that all alerts from DYNAMIGHT Careers would be directed there automatically.

His heart raced as he glimpsed the subject line:

DYNAMIGHT Careers | Hiring: Social Media Manager

Always staying a step, or even two steps, ahead, Izuku ensured his resume was consistently up-to-date. Without hesitation, he clicked on the email and promptly submitted his resume through the provided link.

Clasping his hands together, he whispered fervently, "This is it! Oh, please, let this be my chance. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. Consider me as a candidate. THIS is the company I've always dreamed of working for!"

This moment had been eagerly anticipated; he was prepared. He had the experience to back it up, ready to showcase the campaigns he'd spearheaded throughout his career. Manifesting that they would choose him, he yearned for the opportunity to finally meet his idol.

In just 12 hours, DYNAMIGHT's hiring team wasted no time in extending an interview invitation to Izuku. He couldn't contain his joy, almost on the verge of tears. After all, he was the mastermind behind the highly successful social media campaign for a cola featuring none other than Yagi Toshinori, the legendary actor renowned for his portrayal of All Might. It was a significant achievement, collaborating with his idol, and now, he had the opportunity to join the company he'd always dreamed of working for.

The company boasted excellent reviews, gathered meticulously over the years from platforms like Indeed and Glassdoor. A competitive salary package, paid time off, generous employee benefits, and a commitment to work-life balance were among the perks. However, a recurring complaint caught Izuku's attention in every review: "the salary and benefits compensate for the unpleasant demeanor of our boss." It raised a slight concern, but Izuku reasoned that he could endure any tirades if the compensation was right. Money was his primary motivator.

Upon receiving the interview invitation, Izuku promptly replied, confirming his availability for the scheduled interview slot, intending to request time off from his current job. Speaking of which, he hoped his colleagues Hatsume and Kendo would understand his decision to resign if he secured the position at DYNAMIGHT.

Outline

[enfinizatics]

yesterday, my best friend and i helped some foreigner while we were shopping. when i answered his question, he looked at me with confusion and asked if i was american. it felt like there were two wolves inside me. one was overjoyed that all those years of speaking english since i was a kid had paid off and that i do have a slight american pronunciation. the other was like: did you just call me a slur????

[cvpoftea]

i think that the love we lost always come back to us eventually.

yesterday i went to visit my grandparents. they live in a minuscule town and for the first time in years there was a country fair. the inhabitants are all old people in retirement, so obviously all of them were super excited.

i invited my two flat mates whom i'm very friend with. my grandparents were a bit worried we'd get bored, but we had a great time. they welcomed us in their house, asked if we wanted some tea, my grandma was a seamstress so she made little pouches to gift to the participants, and she gave three to us. she invited us for lunch another day, and my grandad gave us a lift to the station and waited for the train to arrive. they were very lovely and cute.

one of my flatmates lost all of her grandparents and she said she almost cried when my grandma gave her the gift. that made me genuinely smile and filled my heart with warm joy. that the affection and the love and the "have you eaten well?" and the smell of a cake and the handmade gifts and the kisses on the cheeks she thought she lost forever came back, even for a single day.

love always finds a way to come back.

[lau07paprika]

One thing that i don't agree so much with people saying about the romantic relationship of ninaxeddie's is that idk if it’s just me but i feel it would be very forced just to put them together just by the fact that they have an Egyptian spiritual identity within them, bcs they would just start a relationship because of it, it’s most kinda mandatory or like an obligation for them. When Eddie already in the tunnels confesses his feelings towards Patricia that she is special to him before waking up the Osirian, and also nina felt that fabian was the one for her before knowing about the osirian thing.

In my opinion, it would be so bad that they can't develop their own feelings just because of it, also i feel like bcs in the show it says the chosen one comes from a bloodline what if the osirian is in the same bloodline linage as nina that would make them related in some way and would make sense bcs we don’t know much about nina’s family and eddie's. I also think that since sara and rufus were always together neither of them were happy or together (i know that rufus didn't portrait the osirian as it should be but its sad that your only purpose is protect someone)and I know it might have been different in ninaxeddie's case but what if it’s their fate too.Is not to be happy as they are always in danger because it's more like a obligation to be together more than romantic because eddie has to protect her from evil and that could result to be more of a curse for them to be chosen ones rather than something good, cause you i don't think that been in constant danger is something good or romantic, also if someone tells me that they could develope feelings towards each other i don’t buy it bcs the last episode of s2 when eddie osirian was awaken i feel like he was just a puppet and the voices where the puppeteer of him. And i know that fabina and peddie has issues but i think that every ship has and i don't think that neddie would be the exception of it bcs if people said that they complement each other in terms of personality it’s also missing other things like fact they’re so different from things like taste of music, sense of humor, hobbies and basically in a bunch of things that in the show could see a few and ik this cannot be such a huge deal but idk if that would work if they don't have anything in common and the only thing that they just have in common is the egyptian stuff that they don’t have a choice and just to deal with it.

[daz4i]

when i was a kid i thought mourning is like the british spelling of morning a la color-colour favor-favour etc