#i like many more aspects of the japanese language. than just the kanji.

[catboy-a-day]

catboy 204.......

[potteresque-ire]

Can you talk more about the usage of the word "wife" to talk about men in the BL context? I've noticed it in BJYX (particularly with GG), in the (English translations) of MDZS, and then it came up in your recent posts about Danmei-101 (which were super helpful btw) with articles connecting the "little fresh meat" type to fans calling an actor "wife." My initial reaction as a westerner is like "this is very problematic," but I think I'm missing a lot of language/cultural context. Any thoughts?

Hello! First of all, for those who’re interested, here’s a link to the referred posts. Under the cut is arguably the 4th post of the series. As usual, I apologise for the length!

(Topics: seme and uke; more about “leftover women”; roster of feminisation terms; Daji, Bao Si & the origin of BJYX; roster of beautiful, ancient Chinese men; Chairman Mao (not part of the roster) ...)

[TW: feminisation of men]

In the traditional BL characterisation, the M/M (double male) lead pairing is essentially a cis-het relationship in disguise, in which one of the M leads is viewed as the “wife” by the creator and audience. This lead often possesses some of the features of the traditional, stereotypical female, but retaining his male appearance. 

In BL terms, the “wife” is the “uke”. “Seme” and “uke” are the respective roles taken by the two male leads, and designated by the creator of the material. Literally, “seme” (攻め) means the dominant, the attacking / aggressive partner in the relationship and “uke” (受け), the passive / recipient (of actions) partner who tends to follow the seme’s lead. The terms themselves do not have any sexual / gender context.  However, as male and female are viewed as aggressive and passive by their traditional social roles, and the attacker and recipient by their traditional sexual roles respectively, BL fandoms have long assigned uke, the passive, sexual “bottom”, as the “woman”, the “wife”. 

Danmei has kept this “semi” and uke” tradition from BL, taking the kanji of the Japanese terms for designation ~ 攻 (”attack” is therefore the “husband”, and 受 (”receive”), the “wife”. The designations are often specified in the introduction / summary of Danmei works as warning / enticement. For MDZS, for example, MXTX wrote:

高貴冷豔悶騷 攻 × 邪魅狂狷風騷 受

高貴冷豔悶騷 攻 = noble, coolly beautiful and boring seme (referring to LWJ)  邪魅狂狷風騷 受 = devilishly charming, wild, and flirty uke (referring to WWX) 

The traditional, stereotypical female traits given to the “uke”, the “wife” in Danmei and their associated fanworks range from their personality to behaviour to even biological functions. Those who have read the sex scenes in MDZS may be aware of their lack of mention of lube, while WWX was written as getting (very) wet from fluids from his colon (腸道) ~ implying that his colon, much like a vagina, was supplying the necessarily lubrication for sex. This is obviously biologically inaccurate; however, Danmei is exempt from having to be realistic by its original Tanbi definition. The genre’s primary audience is cishet females, and sex scenes such as this one aren’t aiming for realism. Rather, the primary goal of these sex scenes is to generate fantasy, and the purpose of the biologically female functions in one of the leads (WWX) is to ease the readers into imagining themselves as the one engaging in the sex.

Indeed, these practices of assigning as males and female the M/M sexual top and bottom, of emphasising of who is the top and who is the bottom, have been falling out of favour in Western slash fandoms ~ I joined fandom about 15 years ago, and top and bottom designations in slash pairings (and fights about them) were much more common than it is now.  The generally more open, more progressive environments in which Western fandomers are immersed in probably have something to do with it: they transfer their RL knowledge, their views on biology, on different social into their fandom works and discourses. 

I’d venture to say this: in the English-speaking fandoms, fandom values and mainstream values are converging. “Cancel culture” reflects an attempt to enforce RL values in the fictional worlds in fandom. Fandom culture is slowly, but surely, leaving its subculture status and becoming part of mainstream culture. 

I’d hesitate to call c-Danmei fandoms backward compared to Western slash for this reason. There’s little hope for Danmei to converge with China’s mainstream culture in the short term ~ the necessity of replacing Danmei with Dangai in visual media already reflects that. Danmei is and will likely remain subculture in the foreseeable future, and subcultures, at heart, are protests against the mainstream. Unless China and the West define “mainstream” very similarly (and they don’t), it is difficult to compare the “progressiveness”—and its dark side, the “problematic-ness”—of the protests, which are shaped by what they’re protesting against. The “shaper” in this scenario, the mainstream values and culture, are also far more forceful under China’s authoritarian government than they are in the free(-er) world. 

Danmei, therefore, necessarily takes on a different form in China than BL or slash outside China. As a creative pursuit, it serves to fulfil psychological needs that are reflective of its surrounding culture and sociopolitical environment. The genre’s “problematic” / out of place aspects in the eyes of Western fandoms are therefore, like all other aspects of the genre, tailor-made by its millions of fans to be comforting / cathartic for the unique culture and sociopolitical background it and they find themselves in. 

I briefly detoured to talk about the Chinese government’s campaign to pressure young, educated Chinese women into matrimony and motherhood in the post for this reason, as it is an example of how, despite Western fandoms’ progressiveness, they may be inadequate, distant for c-Danmei fans. Again, this article is a short and a ... morbidly-entertaining read on what has been said about China’s “leftover women” (剩女) — women who are unmarried and over 27-years-old). I talked about it, because “Women should enter marriage and parenthood in their late 20s” may no longer a mainstream value in many Western societies, but where it still is, it exerts a strong influence on how women view romance, and by extension, how they interact with romantic fiction, including Danmei.

In China, this influence is made even stronger by the fact that Chinese tradition  places a strong emphasis on education and holds a conservative attitude towards romance and sex. Dating while studying therefore remains discouraged in many Chinese families. University-educated Chinese women therefore have an extremely short time frame — between graduation (~23 years old) and their 27th birthday — to find “the right one” and get married, before they are labelled as “leftovers” and deemed undesirable. (Saving) face being an important aspect in Chinese culture introduces yet another layer of pressure: traditionally, women who don’t get married by the age agreed by social norms have been viewed as failures of upbringing, in that the unmarried women’s parents not having taught/trained their daughters well. Filial, unmarried women therefore try to get married “on time” just to avoid bringing shame to their family.

The outcome is this: despite the strong women characters we may see in Chinese visual media, many young Chinese women nowadays do not expect themselves to be able to marry for love. Below, I offer a “book jacket summary” of a popular internet novel in China, which shows how the associated despair also affects cis-het fictional romance. Book reviews praise this novel for being “boring”: the man and woman leads are both common working class people, the “you-and-I”’s; the mundaneness of them trying build their careers and their love life is lit by one shining light: he loves her and she loves him. 

Written in her POV, this summary reflects, perhaps, the disquiet felt by many contemporary Chinese women university graduates:

曾經以為，自己這輩子都等不到了—— 世界這麼大，我又走得這麼慢，要是遇不到良人要怎麼辦？早過了「全球三十幾億男人，中國七億男人，天涯何處無芳草」的猖狂歲月，越來越清楚，循規蹈矩的生活中，我們能熟悉進而深交的異性實在太有限了，有限到我都做好了「接受他人的牽線，找個適合的男人慢慢煨熟，再平淡無奇地進入婚姻」的準備，卻在生命意外的拐彎處迎來自己的另一半。

I once thought, my wait will never come to fruition for the rest of my life — the world is so big, I’m so slow in treading it, what if I’ll never meet the one? I’ve long passed the wild days of thinking “3 billion men exist on Earth, 0.7 of which are Chinese. There is plenty more fish in the sea.” I’m seeing, with increasing clarity, that in our disciplined lives, the number of opposite-sex we can get to know, and get to know well, is so limited. It’s so limited that I’m prepared to accept someone’s matchmaking, find a suitable man and slowly, slowly, warm up to him, and then, to enter marriage with without excitement, without wonder. But then, an accidental turn in my life welcomes in my other half.

— Oath of Love (餘生，請多指教) (Yes, this is the novel Gg’d upcoming drama is based on.) 

Heteronormativity is, of course, very real in China. However, that hasn’t exempted Chinese women, even its large cis-het population, from having their freedom to pursue their true love taken away from them. Even for cis-het relationships, being able to marry for love has become a fantasy —a fantasy scorned by the state. Remember this quote from Article O3 in the original post? 

耽改故事大多远离现实，有些年轻受众却将其与生活混为一谈，产生不以结婚和繁衍为目的才是真爱之类的偏颇认知。

Most Dangai stories are far removed from reality; some young audience nonetheless mix them up with real life, develop biased understanding such as “only love that doesn’t treat matrimony and reproduction as destinations is true love”. 

I didn’t focus on it in the previous posts, in an effort to keep the discussion on topic. But why did the op-ed piece pick this as an example of fantasy-that-shouldn’t-be-mixed-up-with-real-life, in the middle of a discussion about perceived femininity of men that actually has little to do with matrimony and reproduction? 

Because the whole point behind the state’s “leftover women” campaign is precisely to get women to treat matrimony and reproduction as destinations, not beautiful sceneries that happen along the way. And they’re the state’s destination as more children = higher birth rate that leads to higher future productivity. The article is therefore calling out Danmei for challenging this “mainstream value”.

Therefore, while the statement True love doesn’t treat matrimony and reproduction as destinations may be trite for many of us while it may be a point few, if any, English-speaking fandoms may pay attention to, to the mainstream culture Danmei lives in, to the mainstream values dictated by the state, it is borderline subversive.

As much as Danmei may appear “tame” for its emphasis on beauty and romance, for it to have stood for so long, so firmly against China’s (very) forceful mainstream culture, the genre is also fundamentally rebellious.  Remember: Danmei has little hope of converging with China’s mainstream unless it “sells its soul” and removes its homoerotic elements. 

With rebelliousness, too, comes a bit of tongue-in-cheek.

And so, when c-Danmei fans, most of whom being cishet women who interact with the genre by its traditional BL definition, call one of the leads 老婆 (wife), it can and often take on a different flavour. As said before, it can be less about feminizing the lead than about identifying with the lead. The nickname 老婆 (wife) can be less about being disrespectful and more about humorously expressing an aspiration—the aspiration to have a husband who truly loves them, who they do want to get married and have babies with but out of freedom and not obligation.

Admittedly, I had been confused, and bothered by these “can-be”s myself. Just because there are alternate reasons for the feminisation to happen doesn’t mean the feminisation itself is excusable. But why the feminisation of M/M leads doesn’t sound as awful to me in Chinese as in English? How can calling a self-identified man 老婆 (wife) get away with not sounding being predominantly disrespectful to my ears, when I would’ve frowned at the same thing said in my vicinity in English?

I had an old hypothesis: when I was little, it was common to hear people calling acquaintances in Chinese by their unflattering traits:  “Deaf-Eared Chan” (Mr Chan, who’s deaf), “Fat Old Woman Lan” (Ah-Lan, who’s an overweight woman) etc—and the acquaintances were perfectly at ease with such identifications, even introducing themselves to strangers that way. Comparatively speaking then, 老婆 (wife) is harmless, even endearing. 

老婆, which literally means “old old-lady” (implying wife = the woman one gets old with), first became popularised as a colloquial, casual way of calling “wife” in Hong Kong and its Cantonese dialect, despite the term itself being about 1,500 years old. As older generations of Chinese were usually very shy about talking about their love lives, those who couldn’t help themselves and regularly spoke of their 老婆 tended to be those who loved their wives in my memory. 老婆, as a term, probably became endearing to me that way. 

Maybe this is why the feminisation of M/M leads didn’t sound so bad to me?

This hypothesis was inadequate, however. This custom of identifying people by their (unflattering) traits has been diminishing in Hong Kong and China, for similar reasons it has been considered inappropriate in the West.

Also, 老婆 (wife) is not the only term used for / associated with feminisation. I’ve tried to limit the discussion to Danmei, the fictional genre; now, I’ll jump to its associated RPS genre, and specifically, the YiZhan fandoms. The purpose of this jump: with real people involved, feminisation’s effect is potentially more harmful, more acute. Easier to feel. 

YiZhan fans predominantly entered the fandoms through The Untamed, and they’ve also transferred Danmei’s  “seme”/“uke” customs into YiZhan. There are, therefore, three c-YiZhan fandoms:

博君一肖 (BJYX): seme Dd, uke Gg 戰山為王 (ZSWW): seme Gg, uke Dd 連瑣反應 (LSFY): riba Gg and Dd. Riba = “reversible”, and unlike “seme” and “uke”, is a frequently-used term in the Japanese gay community. 

BJYX is by far the largest of the three, likely due to Gg having played WWX, the “uke” in MDZS / TU. I’ll therefore focus on this fandom, ie. Gg is the “uke”, the “wife”.

For Gg alone, I’ve seen him being also referred to by YiZhan fans as (and this is far from a complete list):

* 姐姐 (sister) * 嫂子 (wife of elder brother; Dd being the elder brother implied) * 妃妃 (based on the very first YiZhan CP name, 太妃糖 Toffee Candy, a portmanteau of sorts from Dd being the 太子 “prince” of his management company and Gg being the prince’s wife, 太子妃. 糖 = “candy”. 太妃 sounds like toffee in English and has been used as the latter’s Chinese translation.) * 美人 (beauty, as in 肖美人 “Beauty Xiao”) * Daji 妲己 (as in 肖妲己, “Daji Xiao”). 

The last one needs historical context, which will also become important for explaining the new hypothesis I have.

Daji was a consort who lived three thousand years ago, whose beauty was blamed for the fall of the Shang dynasty. Gg (and men sharing similar traits, who are exceptionally rare) has been compared to Daji 妲己 for his alternatively innocent, alternatively seductive beauty ~ the kind of beauty that, in Chinese historical texts and folk lores, lead to the fall of kingdoms when possessed by the king’s beloved woman. This kind of “I-get-to-ruin-her-virginity”, “she’s a slut in MY bedroom” beauty is, of course, a stereotypical fantasy for many (cis-het) men, which included the authors of these historical texts and folklores. However, it also contained some truth: the purity / innocence, the image of a virgin, was required for an ancient woman to be chosen as a consort; the seduction, meanwhile, helped her to become the top consort, and monopolise the attention of kings and emperors who often had hundreds of wives ~ wives who often put each other in danger to eliminate competition. 

Nowadays, women of tremendous beauty are still referred to by the Chinese idiom 傾國傾城, literally, ”falling countries, falling cities”. The beauty is also implied to be natural, expressed in a can’t-help-itself way, perhaps reflecting the fact that the ancient beauties on which this idiom has been used couldn’t possibly have plastic surgeries, and most of them didn’t meet a good end ~ that they had to pay a price for their beauty, and often, with their lowly status as women, as consorts, they didn’t get to choose whether they wanted to pay this price or not. This adjective is considered to be very flattering. Gg’s famous smile from the Thailand Fanmeet has been described, praised as 傾城一笑: “a smile that topples a city”.

I’m explaining Daji and 傾國傾城 because the Chinese idiom 博君一笑 “doing anything to get a smile from you”, from which the ship’s name BJYX 博君一肖  was derived (笑 and 肖 are both pronounced “xiao”), is connected to yet another of such dynasty-falling beauty, Bao Si 褒姒. Like Daji before her, Bao Si was blamed for the end of the Zhou Dynasty in 771 BC. 

The legend went like this: Bao Si was melancholic, and to get her to smile, her king lit warning beacons and got his nobles to rush in from the nearby vassal states with their armies to come and rescue him, despite not being in actual danger. The nobles, in their haste, looked so frantic and dishevelled that Bao Si found it funny and smiled. Longing to see more of the smile of his favourite woman, the king would fool his nobles again and again, until his nobles no longer heeded the warning beacons when an actual rebellion came. 

What the king did has been described as 博紅顏一笑, with 紅顏 (”red/flushed face”) meaning a beautiful woman, referring to Bao Si. Replace 紅顏 with the respectful “you”, 君, we get 博君一笑. If one searches the origin of the phrase 博 [fill_in_the_blank]一笑 online, Bao Si’s story shows up.

The “anything” in ”doing anything to get a smile from you” in 博君一笑, therefore, is not any favour, but something as momentous as giving away one’s own kingdom. c-turtles have remarked, to their amusement and admittedly mine, that “king”, in Chinese, is written as 王, which is Dd’s surname, and very occasionally, they jokingly compare him to the hopeless kings who’d give away everything for their love. Much like 傾國傾城 has become a flattering idiom despite the negative reputations of Daji and Bao Si for their “men-ruining ways”, 博君一笑 has become a flattering phrase, emphasising on the devotion and love rather than the ... stupidity behind the smile-inducing acts. 

(Bao Si’s story, BTW, was a lie made up by historians who also lived later but also thousands of years ago, to absolve the uselessness of the king. Warning beacons didn’t exist at her time.)  

Gg is arguably feminized even in his CP’s name. Gg’s feminisation is everywhere. 

And here comes my confession time ~ I’ve been amused by most of the feminisation terms above. 肖妲己 (”Daji Xiao”) captures my imagination, and I remain quite partial to the CP name BJYX. Somehow, there’s something ... somewhat forgivable when the feminisation is based on Gg’s beauty, especially in the context of the historical Danmei / Dangai setting of MDZS/TU ~ something that, while doesn’t cancel, dampens the “problematic-ness” of the gender mis-identification.

What, exactly, is this something?

Here’s my new hypothesis, and hopefully I’ll manage to explain it well ~

The hypothesis is this: the unisex beauty standard for historical Chinese men and women, which is also breathtakingly similar to the modern beauty standard for Chinese women, makes feminisation in the context of Danmei (especially historical Danmei) flattering, and easier to accept.

What defined beauty in historical Chinese men? If I am to create a classically beautiful Chinese man for my new historical Danmei, how would I describe him based on what I’ve read, my cultural knowledge?

Here’s a list:

* Skin fair and smooth as white jade * Thin, even frail; narrow/slanted shoulders; tall * Dark irises and bright, starry eyes * Not too dense, neat eyebrows that are shaped like swords ~ pointed slightly upwards from the center towards the sides of the face * Depending on the dynasty, nice makeup.

Imagine these traits. How “macho” are they? How much do they fit the ideal Chinese masculine beauty advertised by Chinese government, which looks like below?

Propaganda poster, 1969. The caption says “Defeat Imperialist US! Defeat Social Imperialism!” The book’s name is “Quotations from Mao Zedong”. (Source)

Where did that list of traits I’ve written com from? Fair like jade, frail ... why are they so far from the ... “macho”ness of the men in the poster? 

What has Chinese history said about its beautiful men? 

Wei Jie (衛玠 286-312 BCE), one of the four most beautiful ancient Chinese men (古代四大美男) recorded in Chinese history famously passed away when fans of his beauty gathered and formed a wall around him, blocking his way. History recorded Wei as being frail with chronic illness, and was only 27 years old when he died. Arguably the first historical account of “crazy fans killing their idol”, this incident left the idiom 看殺衛玠 ~ “Wei Jie being watched to death.” ~ a not very “macho” way to die at all.

潘安 (Pan An; 247-300 BCE), another one of the four most beautiful ancient Chinese men, also had hoards of fangirls, who threw fruits and flowers at him whenever he ventured outside. The Chinese idiom 擲果盈車 “thrown fruit filling a cart” was based on Pan and ... his fandom, and denotes such scenarios of men being so beautiful that women openly displayed their affections for them. 

Meanwhile, when Pan went out with his equally beautiful male friend, 夏侯湛 Xiahou Zhan, folks around them called them 連璧 ~ two connected pieces of perfect jade. Chinese Jade is white, smooth, faintly glowing in light, so delicate that it gives the impression of being somewhat transparent.

Aren’t Wei Jie and Pan An reminiscent of modern day Chinese idols, the “effeminate” “Little Fresh Meat”s (小鲜肉) so panned by Article O3? Their stories, BTW, also elucidated the historical reference in LWJ’s description of being jade-like in MDZS, and in WWX and LWJ being thrown pippas along the Gusu river bank. 

Danmei, therefore, didn’t create a trend of androgynous beauty in men as much as it has borrowed the ancient, traditional definition of masculine Chinese beauty ~ the beauty that was more feminine than masculine by modern standards.  

[Perhaps, CPs should be renamed 連璧 (”two connected pieces of perfect jade”) as a reminder of the aesthetics’ historical roots.]

Someone may exclaim now: But. But!! Yet another one of the four most beautiful ancient Chinese men, 高長恭 (Gao Changgong, 541-573 BCE), far better known by his title, 蘭陵王 (”the Prince of Lanling”), was a famous general. He had to be “macho”, right?

... As it turns out, not at all. Historical texts have described Gao as “貌柔心壮，音容兼美” (”soft in looks and strong at heart, beautiful face and voice”), “白美類婦人” (”fair and beautiful as a woman”), “貌若婦人” (”face like a woman”). Legends have it that The Prince of Lanling’s beauty was so soft, so lacking in authority that he had to wear a savage mask to get his soldiers to listen to his command (and win) on the battlefield (《樂府雜錄》: 以���顏貌無威，每入陣即著面具，後乃百戰百勝).

This should be emphasised: Gao’s explicitly feminine descriptions were recorded in historical texts as arguments *for* his beauty. Authors of these texts, therefore, didn’t view the feminisation as insult. In fact, they used the feminisation to drive the point home, to convince their readers that men like the Prince of Lanling were truly, absolutely good looking.

Being beautiful like a women was therefore high praise for men in, at least, significant periods in Chinese history ~ periods long and important enough for these records to survive until today. Beauty, and so it goes, had once been largely free of distinctions between the masculine and feminine.

One more example of an image of an ancient Chinese male beauty being similar to its female counterpart, because the history nerd in me finds this fun. 

何晏 (He Yan, ?-249 BCE) lived in the Wei Jin era (between 2nd to 4th century), during which makeup was really en vogue. Known for his beauty, he was also famous for his love of grooming himself. The emperor, convinced that He Yan’s very fair skin was from the powder he was wearing, gave He Yan some very hot foods to eat in the middle of the summer. He Yan began to sweat, had to wipe himself with his sleeves and in the process, revealed to the emperor that his fair beauty was 100% natural ~ his skin glowed even more with the cosmetics removed (《世說新語·容止第十四》: 何平叔美姿儀，面至白。魏明帝疑其傅粉，正夏月，與熱湯餅。既啖，大汗出，以朱衣自拭，色轉皎然). His kick-cosmetics’-ass fairness won him the nickname 傅粉何郎 (”powder-wearing Mr He”).

Not only would He Yan very likely be mistaken as a woman if this scene is transferred to a modern setting, but this scene can very well fit inside a Danmei story of the 21st century and is very, very likely to get axed by the Chinese censorship board for its visualisation. 

[Important observation from this anecdote: the emperor was totally into this trend too.]

The adjectives and phrases used above to describe these beautiful ancient Chinese men ~ 貌柔, 音容兼美, 白美, 美姿儀, 皎然 ~ have all become pretty much reserved for describing beauty in women nowadays. Beauty standards in ancient China were, as mentioned before, had gone through significantly long periods in which they were largely genderless. The character for beauty 美 (also in Danmei, 耽美) used to have little to no gender association. Free of gender associations as well were the names of many flowers. The characters for orchid (蘭) and lotus (蓮), for example, were commonly found in men’s names as late as the Republican era (early 20th century), but are now almost exclusively found in women’s names. Both orchid and lotus have historically been used to indicate 君子 (junzi, roughly, “gentlemen”), which have always been men. MDZS also has an example of a man named after a flower: Jin Ling’s courtesy name, given to him by WWX,  was 如蘭 (”like an orchid”). 

A related question may be this: why does ancient China associate beauty with fairness, with softness, with frailty? Likely, because Confucianist philosophy and customs put a heavy emphasis on scholarship ~ and scholars have mostly consisted of soft-spoken, not muscular, not working-under-the-sun type of men. More importantly, Confucianist scholars also occupied powerful government positions. Being, and looking like a Confucianist scholar was therefore associated with status. Indeed, it’s very difficult to look like jade when one was a farmer or a soldier, for example, who constantly had to toil under the sun, whose skin was constantly being dried and roughened by the elements. Having what are viewed as “macho” beauty traits as in the poster above ~ tanned skin, bulging muscles, bony structures (which also take away the jade’s smoothness) ~ were associated with hard labour, poverty and famine.

Along that line, 手無縛雞之力 (“hands without the strength to restrain a chicken”) has long been a phrase used to describe ancient scholars and students, and without scorn or derision. Love stories of old, which often centred around scholars were, accordingly, largely devoid of the plot lines of husbands physically protecting the wives, performing the equivalent of climbing up castle walls and fighting dragons etc. Instead, the faithful husbands wrote poems, combed their wife’s hair, traced their wife’s eyebrows with cosmetics (畫眉)...all activities that didn’t require much physical strength, and many of which are considered “feminine” nowadays.

Were there periods in Chinese history in which more ... sporty men and women were appreciated? Yes. the Tang dynasty, for example, and the Yuan and Qing dynasties. The Tang dynasty, as a very powerful, very open era in Chinese history, was known for its relations to the West (via the Silk Road). The Yuan and Qing dynasties, meanwhile, were established by Mongolians and Manchus respectively, who, as non-Han people, had not been under the influence of Confucian culture and grew up on horsebacks, rather than in schools.

The idea that beautiful Chinese men should have “macho” attributes was, therefore, largely a consequence of non-Han-Chinese influence, especially after early 20th century. That was when the characters for beauty (美), orchid (蘭), lotus (蓮) etc began their ... feminisation. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which started its reign of the country starting 1949, also has foreign roots, being a derivative of the Soviets, and its portrayal of ideal men has been based on the party’s ideology, painting them as members of the People’s Liberation Army (Chinese army) and its two major proletariat classes, farmers and industrial workers ~ all occupations that are “macho” in their aesthetics, but held at very poor esteem in ancient Chinese societies. All occupations that, to this day, may be hailed as noble by Chinese women, but not really deemed attractive by them.

Beauty, being an instinct, is perhaps much more resistant to propaganda.

If anything, the three terms Article O3 used to describe “effeminate” men ~ 奶油小生 “cream young men” (popularised in 1980s) , 花美男 “flowery beautiful men” (early 2000s), 小鲜肉 “little fresh meat” (coined in 2014 and still popular now) ~ only informs me how incredibly consistent the modern Chinese women’s view of ideal male beauty has been. It’s the same beauty the Chinese Communist Party has called feminine. It’s the same beauty found in Danmei. It’s the same beauty that, when witnessed in men in ancient China, was so revered that historians recorded it for their descendants to remember. It doesn’t mean there aren’t any women who appreciate the "macho” type ~ it’s just that, the appreciation for the non-macho type has never really gone out of fashion, never really changed. The only thing that is really changing is the name of the type, the name’s positive or negative connotations.

(Personally, I’m far more uncomfortable with the name “Little fresh meat” (小鲜肉) than 老婆 (wife). I find it much more insulting.)

Anyway, what I’d like to say is this: feminisation in Danmei ~ a genre that, by definition, is hyper-focused on aesthetics ~ may not be as "problematic” in Chinese as it is in English, because the Chinese tradition didn’t make that much of a differentiation between masculine and feminine beauty. Once again, this isn’t to say such mis-gendering isn’t disrespectful; it’s just that, perhaps, it is less disrespectful because Chinese still retains a cultural memory in which equating a beautiful man to a beautiful woman was the utmost flattery. 

I must put a disclaimer here: I cannot vouch for this being true for the general Chinese population. This is something that is buried deep enough inside me that it took a lot of thought for me to tease out, to articulate. More importantly, while I grow up in a Chinese-speaking environment, I’ve never lived inside China. My history knowledge, while isn’t shabby, hasn’t been filtered through the state education system.

I’d also like to point out as well, along this line of thought, that in *certain* (definitely not all) aspects, Chinese society isn’t as sexist as the West. While historically, China has periods of extreme sexism against women, with the final dynasties of Ming and Qing being examples, I must (reluctantly) acknowledge Chairman Mao for significantly lifting the status of women during his rule. Here’s a famous quote of his from 1955:

婦女能頂半邊天 Women can lift half the skies

The first marriage code, passed in 1950, outlawed forced marriages, polygamy, and ensured equal rights between husband and wife.  For the first time in centuries, women were encouraged to go outside of their homes and work. Men resisted at first, wanting to keep their wives at home; women who did work were judged poorly for their performance and given less than 50% of men’s wage, which further fuelled the men’s resistance. Mao said the above quote after a commune in Guizhou introduced the “same-work-same-wage” system to increase its productivity, and he asked for the same system to to be replicated across the country. (Source)

When Chairman Mao wanted something, it happened. Today, Chinese women’s contribution to the country’s GDP remains among the highest in the world.  They make up more than half of the country’s top-scoring students. They’re the dominant gender in universities, in the ranks of local employees of international corporations in the Shanghai and Beijing central business districts—among the most sought after jobs in the country. While the inequality between men and women in the workplace is no where near wiped out — stories about women having to sleep with higher-ups to climb the career ladder, or even get their PhDs are not unheard of, and the central rulership of the Chinese Communist Party has been famously short of women — the leap in women’s rights has been significant over the past century, perhaps because of how little rights there had been before ~ at the start of the 20th century, most Chinese women from relatively well-to-do families still practised foot-binding, in which their feet were literally crushed during childhood in the name of beauty, of status symbol. They couldn’t even walk properly.

Perhaps, the contemporary Chinese women’s economic contribution makes the sexism they encounter in their lives, from the lack of reproductive rights to the “leftover women” label, even harder to swallow. It makes their fantasies fly to even higher, more defiant heights. The popularity of Dangai right now is pretty much driven by women, as acknowledged by Article O3. Young women, especially, female fans who people have dismissed as “immature”, “crazy”, are responsible for the threat the Chinese government is feeling now by the genre.

This is no small feat. While the Chinese government complains about the “effeminate” men from Danmei / Dangai, its propaganda has been heavily reliant on stars who have risen to popularity to these genres. The film Dd is currently shooting, Chinese Peacekeeping Force (維和部隊), also stars Huang Jingyu (黄景瑜), and Zhang Zhehan (張哲瀚) ~ the three actors having shot to fame from The Untamed (Dangai), Addicted (Danmei), and Word of Honour (Dangai) respectively.  Zhang, in particular, played the “uke” role in Word of Honour and has also been called 老婆 (wife) by his fans. The quote in Article O3, “Ten years as a tough man known by none; one day as a beauty known by all” was also implicitly referring to him.

Perhaps, the government will eventually realise that millennia-old standards of beauty are difficult to bend, and by extension, what is considered appropriate gender expression of Chinese men and women. 

In the metas I’ve posted, therefore, I’ve hesitated in using terms such as homophobia, sexism, and ageism etc, opting instead to make long-winded explanations that essentially amount to these terms (thank you everyone who’s reading for your patience!). Because while the consequence is similar—certain fraction of the populations are subjected to systemic discrimination, abuse, given less rights, treated as inferior etc—these words, in English, also come with their own context, their own assumptions that may not apply to the situation. It reminds me of what Leo Tolstoy wrote in Anna Karenina,

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Discrimination in each country, each culture is humiliating, unhappy in its own way. Both sexism and homophobia are rampant in China, but as their roots are different from those of the West, the ways they manifest are different, and so must the paths to their dissolution. I’ve also hesitated on calling out individual behaviours or confronting individuals for this reason. i-Danmei fandoms are where i-fans and c-fans meet, where English-speaking doesn’t guarantee a non-Chinese sociopolitical background (there may be students from China, for example; I’m also ... not entirely Western), and I find it difficult to articulate appropriate, convincing arguments without knowing individual backgrounds.

Frankly, I’m not sure if I’ve done the right thing. Because I do hope feminisation will soon fade into extinction, especially in i-Danmei fandoms that, if they continue to prosper on international platforms, may eventually split from c-Danmei fandoms along the cultural (not language) line due to the vast differences in environmental constraints. My hope is especially true when real people are involved, and c-fandoms, I’d like to note, are not unaware of the issues surrounding feminisation ~ it has already been explicitly forbidden in BJYX’s supertopic on Weibo. 

At the same time, I’ve spent so many words above to try to explain why beauty can *sometimes* lurk behind such feminisations. Please allow me to end this post with one example of feminisation that I deeply dislike—and I’ve seen it used by fans on Gg as well—is 綠茶 (”green tea”), from 綠茶婊 (”green tea whore”) that means women who look pure / innocent but are, deep down, promiscuous / lustful. In some ways, its meaning isn’t so different from Daji 妲己, the consort blamed for the fall of the Shang dynasty. However, to me at least, the flattery in the feminisation is gone, perhaps because of the character “whore” (婊), because the term originated in 2013 from a notorious sex party rather than from a legendary beauty so maligned that The Investiture of the Gods (封神演義), the seminal Chinese fiction written ~2,600 years after Daji’s death, re-imagined her as a malevolent fox spirit (狐狸精) that many still remembers her as today.

Ah, to be caught between two cultures. :)

[pricechecktranslations]

Hello Price, I'm studying English language at college, my cirriculum requires the second language and I chose Japanese. I first started the subject quite alright but gradually, my competence has become worse and had no progress.

I just found out your blog a few weeks ago, motivated by your translation and impressed by your skills, I wanna seriously study Japanese again to be able to, well, at least, understand basic sentences (actually my dream is to be capable of translating songs just like you).

I set a goal to have a n5 certificate, it is required anyway. I now am self-studying because my school's teaching method is kinda... boring, but I'm at a loss to know what to do first, do you have any tips or ways to learn Japanese for beginners?

Hm, this is a little tricky to answer because I don't always remember how I improved outside of generalities. There's also the fact that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to learning languages, so what works for me might not work for you.

Wrote a lot though so under the cut:

I'm good with learning general rules like grammar. How て forms work, how they relate to で as a particle, い conjugation for both adjectives and たい verb forms, etc. I genuinely enjoy this aspect because I enjoy logic, and Japanese is fairly consistent and logical about these grammar forms (except when it's not, but every language has exceptions to its rules). I personally would prioritize this, in your shoes, because once you have a grasp of the rules, the rest can just fall into place.

But I still struggle with specifics like vocabulary. Often when I'm translating there'll be at least one word I have to look up because I've never seen it or I don't remember how it's supposed to be used. I'm the kind of person who needs to have a set vocab list each week and constant repetition throughout that week in order for a set of words to stick, and even then there's a few that I've forgotten because I don't use them often. For these I often have to rely on mnemonics, which is useful for basic kanji like 火, 思, 水, 日, etc, but not very helpful for some of the more advanced ones.

I don't know what methods your classroom is using--it's possible they're the same methods that worked for me. The textbooks my classes used were Genki and Tobira, which I found very helpful (especially Genki), but another thing that made it easier was that I was constantly applying what I learned to Japanese media I enjoyed (mostly light novels but there's a couple TV shows and Youtubers I watched too). At your level you won't understand much of it without subtitles, I assume, but it can be fun to recognize what you're learning about, and how it works. I remember watching My Neighbor Totoro in Japanese when I was in my first year, and I loved being able to catch common greetings or phrases that I was being taught at the time.

I would recommend looking at songs as part of this, but with a caveat--Many Japanese songs are borderline impossible to translate. Many of them are also very straightforward and easy, but it might not be clear to a beginner which are which. But, if you can find songs that have reliable translations, and learn what they're saying, it can be a useful tool for memorizing what certain words or sentence forms mean. Aside from that, book text or dialogue can be easier to understand because there's a clear context behind it, and it's written to be readable by a general audience.

Also--I don't want to sound discouraging, but if your goal is to translate, you may want to shoot for N3 or higher (though this will take you significantly longer). N5 is a good goal for a beginner, but most translation requires a more advanced level than that.

[evilscheme]

hi! what are you using to study japanese? im interested in learning it too but i have no idea what the best way to go about it is

hi there! in short, i use a wide variety of resources for different aspects of the language. i'll go more in depth about what i use under the cut. it's going to be long.

for kanji, i use wanikani. it is a paid service that uses spaced repetition and mnemonics to teach you kanji, and various vocabulary words utilizing those kanji. like i said, it's a paid service, but they let you go through about 4 out of 60 levels for free. it doesn't sound like much, but i THINK it took me at least a few weeks if not a month to get through all that. i think that's plenty of time for you to decide if that method works for you before you ever have to think about paying. i'm currently on level 29 out of 60 and that's after a whole entire year of studying on there practically every day! it's a lot of kanji. there's also tons of userscripts and companion apps for your phone that other users have made to provide more quality of life features. you can find them on the forums. i feel i shouldn't need to say this, but i strongly recommend knowing hiragana and katakana before using this tool.

as for learning hiragana and katakana, i'm going to be honest with you. i learned hiragana when i was around 9 or 10 years old through a ds game called "my japanese coach" ... i didn't learn katakana until i was much older though, and i did that through duolingo. i don't recommend duolingo as your primary japanese learning tool, but it's helpful for learning hiragana, katakana, and picking up some basic vocabulary.

speaking of picking up vocabulary, i've used pretty much every free language app out there. duolingo and memrise were the ones that i personally liked the most. lingodeer also seems pretty good. however, i don't recommend any of them as being your primary learning resource. just use them in conjunction with other things whenever you feel like it. when i was starting out, i also read a lot of very simple japanese books i found online. my favorite site for this was here, but you can find plenty of different places that have free books like this if you search around. now that i'm more at a pre-intermediate level of proficiency, i've begun picking up more words by playing (simple) games like animal crossing in japanese, and watching a lot of japanese comedy shows. (the latter is also fantastic for listening practice, which is so important!)

listening practice is so important in fact, that i'm going to specifically say that you really really need to do that. even if you can't understand anything that's being said yet. it's essential to becoming familiar with the sounds of the language, and the varying ways in which real people speak. there are tons of japanese language podcasts for learners that lean towards beginners. you can find a lot of them on spotify. seriously, you need to do this.

there's a japanese man named Yuta Aoki who will email you free mini lessons on various aspects of the language. he also has paid lessons, but they're pretty expensive (because they're thorough and focused on real everyday japanese, rather than textbook japanese), so i haven't signed up for the premium lessons myself. but i find his free lessons quite helpful for things i don't already know, and i think it would be great for a beginner. you can find his youtube channel here, where he links the signup for his free lessons in the descriptions of pretty much every video he posts.

in regards to grammar, that is admittedly my weakest point of study. textbooks can be nice, but they're exhausting to read through on your own outside of a classroom, and they're often ordered in very bizarre and inefficient ways. many of them put complex ideas near the front, and too many basic essentials deep into the chapters. i'm still trying to find a way to study grammar that works for me, but so far i'm enjoying a program called human japanese. it is a bit structured like a textbook, but it's far more interactive and has quizzes, bookmarks, and other tools built in. it also has lessons about the culture, which is an often overlooked portion of study. it isn't free, but like wanikani, it lets you go through a nice chunk of the curriculum before it ever asks you to pay. no harm in trying it out to see if you like it!

and one last thing, once you get a basic grasp of things such as kana and a few beginner words, i would definitely recommend checking out an app called HelloTalk. it lets you talk directly with native japanese speakers who want to learn your native language! it can be very helpful and who knows, you might make some new friends through it too :)

i hope at least some of this was helpful, and gave you an idea of what kinds of options you have for learning the language. if you ever have any more questions just feel free to ask and i'll do my best to help you out ! i know it seems intimidating at the start, but i know you can do it!! 頑張れ！

[jaemstudies]

This year my goals, not resolutions bc it holds too many connotatiosn, my goals are:

Graduate autumn sem '22

Apply to several esl programs (bonus if they include certification training)

Pull my GPA up to at least a 3.2

Try the 100 days of productivity thing that seems so popular within the study/langblr communities

Settle on a schedule for learning the three main languages I'm focusing on

Get to a level of Japanese where I'm not constantly looking up simple words like "but" or "and", memorize Kanji and katakana, have basic conversational fluency, and can read others' handwriting (essentially be where I was with German before I dropped that minor lmao)

Get to a level of korean where I can at least listen and read and understand 80-90% of what's going on

Learn basic conversational Chinese and have enough comfort to order in a restaurant

For the above three, work on my handwriting too

Be more on top of time management and knowing my schedule and also be better at managing my money UwU

Have less disordered eating habits (not an ED, I just am really bad about being regular about eating. If anyone wants to know more, hmu I'm chill with explaining it deeper)

Maybe get into Tai Chi or yoga or smth like that for like the exercise aspect that helps w mental physical emotional health etc but also just for the meditative aspect of it

Clean out my likes oh my God there's so many I need to trim that tree so to speak ajdjsnnf

I was also thinking about doing like, daily covers of songs I like to get back into the habit of singing but I think it would help me to learn the languages as well right? Bc pronouncing and learning to read Hangul/Chinese/Japanese over romanization/pinyin/romanji but also bc I want to broaden my range

It'd be cool if someone wanted to join me in the 100 days thing for like 1. Getting to know new people and 2. Having ppl hold each other accountable might be more helpful than just relying on yourself and ur own guilt? For lack of better words dnannfkandnd idk idk it's like 03:30 for me rn lmao but yeah that's what I'm thinking about for me this year <3

[littleeyesofpallas]

BLEACH - Name Games(?)

I was asked about zanpakutou stuff.  I don’t know that many have names and kanji choices that super jump out at me at a glance, but the ones that do come to mind all seem to have references to Buddhist icons that I’m sure don’t come across in English very well.  I tangentially touched on that when talking about Mayuri while doing my rambling series of posts about shinigami names, so I figure that'd be my entry point.

I don’t know that this will amount to a lot of posts, but if I had to pick one to start with the obvious choice would have to be Urahara Kisuke’s zanpakutou, Benihime.  It has a lot of wordplay involved that doesn’t come across in English all too obviously, plus a little religious reference tacked onto the very end.  I remember this being kind of a well circulated bit of trivia back in the 2000s but I don’t know that it’s persisted after all this time, so hopefully this isn’t too obvious to people.

The name itself, Benihime[紅姫] is written pretty straight forwardly as 紅: ”Crimson”/”Deep Red” and 姫:”Princess.“  The release call okiro[起きろ] generally gets translated as “Awaken” which is accurate, but “Get up” works as well, but technically it can also mean “Stay awake,” but that’s really more a semantic issue for English, in Japanese the phrase is used identically in either situation.  In the context of Benihime being only the second shikai we ever see (after Zabimaru) it seems like a concealed sword being told to “Wake up” makes the most sense, but there’s a bit of a case for “Stay awake” that I’ll get to a bit later...  (Also worth noting real quick is that this kind of “rousing” verb is specifically about being awake -vs- asleep, and doesn’t extend to the English colloquialisms relating to “[sexual] arousal.”)

Also, it’s never directly referenced, but both in cane form and in shikai form, Benihime has a unique blade shape that suggests that the sword blade has been broken; It lacks the distinctive Kissaki[切っ先]:”Point-area” of a katana blade, and the blade’s Hamon[刃文]:”Wave-pattern” doesn’t follow the edge of the blade properly at the terminus.  This plays into the themes well go on to address, so keep that in mind...

But the fun comes with the various techniques Urahara uses with Benihime over the course of the series.

The one we get almost immediately is Nake[啼け] which the English translations erroneously called “Scream.”  But the Japanese use of the word, as far as I can see, refers to “call (out)” or “bark” or “chirp” generally in reference to an animal noise or to make noise like an animal.  It can also mean “sing” as an extension of the same use but in reference to bird song.  But as a bit of colorful language it’s commonly used in the context of smut and romance to describe little gasps, whimpers, and yelps.

The “Scream” translation seems to have been taken from the Chinese use of the word, which is similar to the Japanese, but includes the additional animal sound “Howl” and by comparison can refer to “crying (loudly)”, “wailing”, and “weeping.”

A curious detail is that when Urahara first uses this to defend from Ichigo’s newly discovered Getsuga Tenshou technique, Benihime produces a red shield, and it’s actually hard to notice at a glance, but the blade of Benihime is dripping with blood as a result, even though neither Urahara nor Ichigo actually got cut by it.  However, when Urahara uses this a second time when defending Ichigo from Yammy, there is no bleeding blade effect.

This shield is also later given the name Chikasumi no Tate[血霞の盾] written as “Shield of Blood Mist.” This all works to reinforce the association with the “Crimson” aspect of the name specifically with blood.

With the same “Cry!” command Urahara can also use his own zangeki projectile, like Getsuga Tenshou.

Kamisori[剃刀] is just the word for “Razor,” it appears to produce the same effect as when “Cry” is used offensively rather than defensively.  It’s possible Kubo chose to retcon “Cry” into being defensive only and renamed the attacking move as “Razor.”  It was never made especially clear...

And Tsuppane[突ッ撥] which is a weird construction of “Stab”/”Pierce”/”Prick” and “Reject“/”Exclude” but it’s a homonym with Tsuppane[突っ撥ねる] meaning “Reject“/”Spurn“/”Turn down.“  These two can be tabled for now as well, but they’ll fall into place by the end...

Finally, Shibari[縛り] means “Bind“/”Restrain”/”Tie up” but it’s specifically the shorthand name for the Japanese method of rope bondage sex play.  And in conjunction with this Urahara uses Hiasobi, Benihime, Juzutsunagi[火遊 紅姫 数珠繋] which breaks down as 火遊: “Fire Play,” "Crimson Princess” again, 数珠繋: “Prayerbead Chain.”

So, if it wasn’t clear where we were headed with all of these, Blood, Crying, Razors, Spurning, Rope Play, Fire Play, and s Chain of Beads might seem all over the place if you take them at face value, but the central theme being evoked here is BDSM.  Which lend an extremely curious tone to Urahara’s character.  More over, there is the broken blade imagery I mentioned before.  Back in the day I had sort of wondered if maybe breaking his sword had been part of Urahara’s exile*, but the state of the blade never got properly addressed, and even the exile would just sit on the backburner for years...

*At the time, I associated it with Kuukaku and Ganju’s similarly severed blades, but they also weren’t ever addressed.  The impression I’d gotten from the overall designs had been that when the Shiba family were stripped of their shinigami nobility status their zanpakutou were all broken as a means of rendering them incapable of ever effectively fighting back against Soul Society.  I also just kind of assumed there would be a similar explanation for Yoruichi’s conspicuously absent zanpakutou.

But there’s an extra detail in this...  We know how zanpakutou work: a Shinigami imprints their own soul onto a blank sword, their sword spirit develops in their inner world, and through meditation they can commune, negotiate, and make peace with their sword.  At the highest levels of that mutual understanding they can summon their swords out into the world, first as shikai and then as bankai, increasing in power and finesse the better they understand their sword spirits and thus themselves.

We see distinctly, in the case of Yumichika, that an inability to make peace with their swords can result in sub-optimal powers: Yumichika has his intentional misnaming of his sword and partial release; Zaraki has his entire inability (at first) to call on his sword at all; and Ikkaku and Shuuhei both have disagreements with the attitude of their swords --Ikkaku calling Houzoukimaru lazy, and Shuuhei being uncomfortable with Kazeshini’s bloodlust.

But we know that Ichigo took a short cut to forging this deep lifelong friendship with his sword, and the fact that the two aren’t in sync and don’t communicate with one another well is a repeated hurdle for Ichigo.  Thanks to Urahara’s special doll Ichigo just summoned Zangetsu directly into the outside world, requiring zero meditation or self reflection on his part.  And Urahara used this same method, to achieve bankai in just 3 days.

So, Urahara rushed his bankai training, his blade is broken, and its techniques all point to a BDSM theme.  The way I always saw this was that it sounded like Urahara forcibly subdued Benihime instead of ever negotiating with her.  His sword is broken because he broke it himself as part of asserting dominance over it. (not unlike how Mayuri broke his own shikai as a form of punishment after the Szayel fight)  And it lined up with a lot of the ongoing ominous tones surrounding Urahara all throughout...  At least until he just kind of vanished during the long drag of the Arrancar Arc, before being hurriedly shoved into the Arc finale.

So when we did finally get his bankai reveal in the Blood War Arc, some things fell into place rather neatly, but others felt a little out of sync with everything else...

Viz translated Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame[観音開紅姫改メ] as “Opened Red Princess Neo” which isn’t strictly speaking wrong, but it communicates nothing of importance.   観音開: doesn’t really have a clean English equivalent, but it refers to what I can only think to define as “opening outward in two pieces from the center.”  Specifically this tends to reference double doors, or similar but not explicitly door structures like windows or shutters, etc...  It also refers to filleting a fish or dissecting a body in an accordant manner: with a central incision with two flaps peeled back from it. It’s the term used for a “Butterfly cut” in cooking.  Benihime is just “Crimson Princess” again, no alternate kanji or homonym play like some other bankai, plus 改メ: which is a suffix indicating “revised”/”modified.”

There’s also what I assume was intentional wordplay here where the  観音 in 観音開: “double-door” is the name of the Japanese Buddhist god(dess) Kannon.  Kannon (based on the Chinese Guanyin, who is a highly modified interpretation of what was the Hindu Avalokitesvara.) is worshiped as a goddess of infinite mercy.  So  観音+開: might imply something like “Opened Kannon”/“Kannon Unlocked”/”Empty Kannon” evoking imagery of the Goddess herself opened up on an operating table, tying back to the specific physical feature of being opened up from a center line, like double doors.

So the actual vibe of the full name is something like...

“Dissected Goddess-of-Mercy: Modified-Bloodred Princess”

Which has some wild and sinister implications, not dissimilar to Mayuri’s Ashisouji-jizo.  They share tones of corrupting or defiling the divine, and specifically gods of mercy and protection, distorted and mutilated.

[cornfarm]

isjeishwish plz tell us more about anzai-chi

like her relationship with the another characters

also ur drawingstyle is 🥺🥺🥺

OMG i'm so happy you asked!!! i'm so happy people care abt her, and thank you!!!! :DD

i'll give some fun facts about her and then talk a bit abt her relationships! i wrote a LOT so i put most of it under a cut! i'll give anyone who reads it all a cookie lol

--

her planets name is mezpria! she calls herself a mezprian.

anzai is usually seen carrying around a mop. she usually has it slung across her shoulders carrying bags. shes very skilled in spearsmanship, so she sometimes swings around her mop for fun, and people with keen eyes for fighting recognize her precision with her strokes.

that being said, she does have a spear! i mentioned that she could channel thunder to strike, this spear is what allows her to do so. when she swings it and a certain speed, it creates a line of static, and lightning will strike whatever connects, or is closest to that line. because of how dangerous it is to be put in the wrong hands, she keeps it under her bed in her apartment.

her extensive use of it during the war is what caused her hearing problems. she's not entirely deaf, but she does miss things if people speak too quietly. she does know sign language! she teaches the yorozuya some so they can gossip about people across the room.

this does mean though, that she fights frequently with simply a mop. it's a similar gag to gintoki's wooden sword, but when people say she's holding a mop, she just tilts her head and says "this is a spear?".

this is her and her spear:

sougo thinks she's funny because hijikata HATES her. he's always pissed off about how she's skirting perfectly around the law, and manages to avoid being arrested. he even hates her more because he really likes a certain type of cigarette she sells. she sells them in packs of 20, and they're made from a type of fermented, then dried wheat from her home planet.

he'll come into the shop yelling about he's "gonna arrest her and she better watch out" while buying cigarettes. the only quality he'll ever admit to liking about her is that she never comments on his hypocrisy, and that she doesn't (outwardly) judge him for his food choices.

other than hijikata, the rest of the shinsengumi is relatively neutral about her. sougo does find her antics very amusing. he definitely comes to her shop like "miss anzai will you please teach me how to roll cigarettes <3" and then puts cyanide in one for hijikata. then when it's the one she picks up to smoke he punches her so that she doesn't. maybe he hangs around because he can sense how mischevous she is.

she's always eager to teach people things about her culture and how she runs her shop! as much as she's eager to teach sougo, she also ends up teaching shinpachi and kagura lots of stuff as well. she would never say she's maternal, or a mother figure, but there's something about the way she explains things, and brings them food, and gives advice that get a "thanks mom".

sometimes she gets it from gintoki too, but when he says it she looks at him very sadly. she HATES being called mom and scolds them for it.

speaking of gintoki, i'm tired of a harem, so he likes her! it's entirely unclear to everyone if she reciprocates. she shows just enough interest to suggest she might have feelings, but she's so distant it's hard to tell. even though his kids tease him by saying shit like "please don't lower your standards to someone as low as him," to her, theyre all secretly rooting for him.

she initially met them because she needed some people to help her move and decorate her shop. they asked her why she didn't hire a moving company instead. she says there wasn't a particular reason, but she had been lingering outside their shop for a solid week before talking to them. they definitely noticed and were like "whats with this chick", especially cause she would just stand there and stare up at the sign trying to muster the courage. she really wanted to meet people and try to make some friends!

she pays them so well they actually do an okay job! anzai thanks them, and tells them they're allowed to come by anytime, and she'll give them a discount for anything they'd like. they come by very often, gintoki particularly likes the alcohol she sells, as a lot of it is very sweet, so they frequently drink together at night.

she also brings them food often. it's an easy way for her to express gratitude and affection. she's pretty poor at cooking japanese food at first, but she learns quickly!

her and gintoki have a lot in common, the biggest aspect of their relationship being their sense of humor! she's always amused by the things he says, and it's very reciprocated. he likes that her humor is so similar- they end up bonding really quick. they do banter a bit, but a lot of their interactions are enabling each other. he teases her a lot.

kagura and shinpachi don't like the way they talk to each other. kagura says their weirdness rubs off on each other too much, whereas shinpachi is simply baffled about how there's someone who can match his energy so well.

heres a silly comic i made:

anzai does give him these judgemental looks sometimes, but they're done playfully. when he does cross a line and piss her off, she just disappears, always managing to be away when he looks for her. when they fight it's miserable to watch because gintoki's too stubborn to talk to her, and she's too freaked out by emotional confrontation.

they're all very thankful anzai is a little bit responsible and always makes up with them. gintoki frequents her shop and is like, "hey, i'm not here for you. give me 5 of those little bread things, three of them strawberry and the other two peach. that's what i'm here for, not for you. are you free later?" and then lingers around way too long.

she tries to give otae cooking lessons, masked by a "let me teach you how to make a classic mezprian dish ^__^" in an attempt to alleviate shinpachi from his despair. she manages to screw up even simple recipes so she just shrugs at him.

one time katsura's ronin try to assassinate her because they heard crazy rumors about her war crimes and exploits and she just looks at him like "can you stop trying to kill me please." eventually he's like "my bad lol we heard a bunch of crazy rumors about you" and she's like "those are all true :)"

she gets very silly and happy when drunk, so her and gintoki have a lot of fun drinking together. although sometimes she tries to tackle him, she doesn't have the arm strength when she's drunk, so he always ends up just swinging her around. she's definitely gotten a concussion at some point.

she also tends to crash with him, so when shinpachi sees her sneaking out in the early morning she always gaslights him into thinking he was seeing things.

hasegawa, gintoki, and her gamble often! she's pretty well off so she's not too worried about money, so she just thinks its fun. when they tell her to start stripping so they can continue gambling something away and she's like "absolutely not" and then takes her apron off.

i feel like i've spoken really only highly of her, but despite how she's generally liked and beloved by many, she's painfully distant. she's always a few steps out of reach from everyone, and because of that she feels like an outsider. heres another drawing of her:

most people call her anzai(-san), but otae and hasegawa call her yae, while kagura calls her yae-chan. sougo commonly calls her boss, and gintoki calls her a slew of shitty nicknames, most commonly with her lastname, since it uses the kanji for "toki". she calls almost everyone by their first name with no honorifics.

AND THATS IT!!! i can definitely think of a hundred more scenarios with her and different cast members but i've already written so much ;__;

if you've read this far i'm giving u ur cookie of choice

[takeshitakyuuto]

hi any tips on learning a new language?

Hi! I'm not sure if you mean general tips or tips for starting so I'll go through my process from the beginning and I hope this helps in your personal language learning journey! I've tried learning many languages and failed many times but after that trial and error, I feel like I've finally found my footing in self study and have come a long way in learning Japanese.

Getting started:

In my opinion, starting to learn a language is the hardest part. What I like to do is get a general feel for the language by listening to it. Listen to songs in your target language, watch a show (even with subtitles- try to see if you can pick up any words from it), etc. Spotify top 50 playlists by country are really great for this step

Another resource that I've found I like to use is (just trust me) Reddit. I use the subreddit r/LearnJapanese, which has a section for where to start and people often share their progress and study methods there, along with asking questions. Warning, I've seen some pretty stupid takes on Reddit. Try not to take everything on their as the right way or use it as your only source of interacting with other learners (even if it's just watching others on YouTube)

Textbooks/Workbooks:

Unpopular opinion, I have never found a textbook that works for me. I know they're out there (people swear by Genki) but I've found that YouTube works just as well and is free. Additionally, based on who you use, you'll probably end up getting a more in depth explanation of the grammar concepts and how it's used culturally. Japanese has a proficiency test that most people use (JLPT) and lots of videos are sorted by their difficulty relating to that, so I would suggest finding out if your target language has something similar to make sure you're not learning advanced grammar before you know how to conjugate a verb. Of course, I'm not saying that you shouldn't use textbooks (make sure you do your research or find a free pdf before dropping tons of money), this is just what's worked for me (and it's free!)

Other materials:

I've got four notebooks for Japanese learning. This in itself is kind of extreme, but I use one for grammar notes, one for studying kanji, one for vocabulary that I pick up from readings, and one for miscellaneous work such as writing practice sentences for recent grammar concepts.

For flashcards, I use Quizlet because it's easy and free, but so many people use and love Anki because of its spaced repetition algorithm. I'm not sure if it's free on PC, but it's free on android and costs like $25 on iphones, which is why I don't use it lol

For some regular practice, I use Duolingo. While I don't recommend using this solely to learn a language, it is good for getting regular practice and becoming accustomed to the language

Pimsleur is a great site/app that focuses on listening and speaking and has tons of languages, however it is a paid subscription. It does a good job of teaching grammar intuitively too

Staying motivated:

This part was always hardest for me oops but I finally figured out what works for me. A little practice consistently will help you advance more than lots of practice sporadically so I feel like staying motivated is probably one of the most important aspects to learning a language

Music is probably my number one motivator. I have so many playlists in Japanese and sometimes you just hear a song that's so beautiful you need to know the language immediately.

Shows and movies are also great motivators. Even if you're watching with subtitles for your native language, you can still focus on the spoken language as well and what's better payoff than being able to understand an episode of a TV show or an entire movie?

Books are harder for beginners but if you can find comics in your target language, those are always lots of fun. Slice of life stories are generally easier to comprehend than other stories.

There are also sites where you can talk to natives through a language exchange. Searching up "[target language] language exchange" should do the trick. There are probably plenty of people who are native speakers of your target language looking to learn your native language.

Remember that in practicing something such as reading, your personal enjoyment is a higher priority than if something is the correct "level." Reading something that's above your level that you enjoy will be easier than something that you have no interest in that might be simpler in terms of grammar and vocabulary.

Speaking:

All this is fine, but if you're self studying, it's really hard to get actual practice speaking. You could pay for a tutor from sites such as iTalki, or join a discord dedicated to your target language, or you could just,,, talk to yourself. Yell at the tv in your target language. Narrate your day, make up fake scenarios. The possibilities are endless, but don't neglect speaking altogether.

This is already super long but I hope that something I wrote helps you on your language learning journey! If you can't tell I love talking about language learning so don't hold back with any questions! I'll answer to the best of my ability and as always it's a good idea to get multiple points of view.

[omoi-no-hoka]

ah, I'mtrans (he/him pronouns), and was wondering which words I should use for stuff like "I, me, my"? like, boku is my right? I don't know any ohers though.

Hi! Thank you for your ask. First person pronouns (I, me, mine) can get pretty complex in Japanese, but that gives you much more freedom of expression than English. Let me give you a thorough description of each so you can make an informed decision on which one is right for you. :)

First Person Pronouns in Japanese

Who do you want to be?

In English, we only have one pronoun to express ourselves. “I.” It really doesn’t get any more boring than that. 

Maybe that’s why personal pronouns are one of the most interesting aspects of Japanese in my opinion. I actually did a research paper on the history of second-person pronouns (you) in Japanese back in uni. 

Why does Japanese have so many ways to say “I?” As I’m sure most of you know, social class and politeness is a fundamental aspect of Japanese culture and language. Different personal pronouns for oneself and others clarify the social standing of each person in the conversation. 

I’ll introduce the commonly used ones in order of politeness (most polite to least polite), and then cover the rare ones.

私 Watakushi

Gender: neutral

Plural Form: Watakushi-tachi

This is the most formal personal pronoun, and is used in very formal situations, like when you’re speaking to the president of a company or someone very important. In writing, because it has the same kanji as “watashi,” it is commonly written in hiragana.

私 Watashi

Gender: neutral (kind of)

Plural Form: Watashi-tachi, watashira

This is the most common personal pronoun.

Like the above watakushi, it conveys a sense of politeness. When used by men, it carries a note of humility and politeness.

However, it is the standard pronoun for women. Because we’re all supposed to be humble at all times? haha

So this is gender neutral and you can use it when you want to be polite.

あたし Atashi

Gender: Female

Plural form: Atashi-tachi, atashira

This is a bastardization of watashi.

It is casual and used exclusively by women. It sounds very feminine. In Japanese tv shows and anime, most male characters cross-dressing as women use “atashi” and it sounds very hyper-feminine. Like, if drag is hyper-feminine dress, “atashi” is the hyper-feminine way of speaking that would go with it. 

うち Uchi

Gender: Female

Plural: Uchira

This comes from the word 家 uchi. The kanji literally means “house,” but it can be used to mean “my family” or “us” in certain contexts. For example:

Japanese: 田中さんは自宅でどんな醤油を使っていますか？うちはやっぱりキッコーマンです。

Romaji: Tanaka-san ha jitaku de donna shouyu wo tsukatte imasu ka? Uchi ha yappari Kikkoman desu.

English: Tanaka-san, what kind of soy sauce do you use at home? We use Kikkoman.

From that use of uchi we get the personal pronoun uchi. This is generally used by young girls, college age and younger. It definitely has a very Valley Girl feel to it and isn’t professional.

僕 Boku

Gender: Mostly male, but female in certain contexts

Plural: Boku-tachi, bokura

If you want to rely on tropes to understand what sort of person would use “boku,” think of those harem anime. The nicest, sweetest guy almost always uses “boku” for himself. Contrasted with “ore,” it sounds softer, humbler, and kinder. 

It can also sound very slightly childish. Well, not childish. It sounds young. My boss’s boss, who is in his 60′s, uses boku instead of ore and it always strikes me as peculiar because he’s kinda too old to use boku. It makes him sound very humble and kind and the most approachable person ever. 

Boku is a good pronoun to use if you want to give off a soft, friendly, safe aura. While it isn’t as polite as watashi, you can still use it in formal settings. 

Occasionally, this pronoun is used by women. Specifically, it is used by female singers. It doesn’t matter the band, it doesn’t matter the song–every single female singer uses “boku” in their songs to refer to themselves. 

“Why?” you may ask. This is because singers want to connect to their listeners, and “watashi” is too formal and creates a bit of a barrier. “Atashi” and “uchi” are too feminine/childish, and “ore” is way too harsh. So “boku” became the choice for female singers. 

俺 Ore

Gender: Male

Plural: Orera, ore-tachi

Going back to anime tropes, “ore” is used by the “bad boy” or the “I don’t give a shit what you think” boy. Inuyasha, Kurosaki Ichigo (Bleach), and Eren Yeager (Attack on Titan) all use “ore.” This is in contrast to “nicer” characters in the shows that use “boku,” like Miroku (Inuyasha), Ishida Uryuu (Bleach), and Armin Arlert (Attack on Titan). 

Ore is considered “rough and tough” because it is very informal. It is used when the people you are talking to are within your inner circle or are beneath you. So you would never use it when talking to, say, your boss’s boss. (You might be able to use it with your boss if you are close with him and you have a friendship though.) 

That said, the vast majority of Japanese men I know use ore more than boku. So it wouldn’t be strange if you used ore. Just be aware that it isn’t as polite as you may want to be. 

And now for the rare pronouns…

Disclaimer: DON’T USE THESE. Japanese people will think you’re super weird and not in a good way. But you are likely to hear them in anime, dramas, or conversations.

👆 Me outside your door if you use “sessha” to refer to yourself unironically

拙者 Sessha

Literally “Unskilled one,” this is a very humble way to refer to yourself. It was commonly used by samurai, and probably the most famous anime character that uses it is Kenshin from Ruroni Kenshin. DO. NOT. USE. IT. unless you are jokingly pretending to be a samurai for like one sentence. 

吾輩 Wagahai

Though no longer in common usage, there isn’t a Japanese person that isn’t aware of this pronoun because of Natsume Soseki’s famous book Wagahai ha Neko de Aru (I Am a Cat). Written in 1905, it’s about a cat who observes its owners and the uneasy mix of Western culture and Japanese traditions and the aping of Western customs.

“Wagahai” is the pronoun a nobleman or someone of very high rank would use to refer to himself, so the fact that a common house cat is using it to refer it self shows that, even a hundred years ago, everyone thought that cats were self-important. 

我 Ware

Plural: 我々 Wareware, 我ら Warera

To be honest, I don’t know a lot about this one. You hear it quite a bit in anime, and it’s always said by some stuffy important old guy. So…it’s probably for stuffy, old, important men to use? Just don’t use it. 

己 Ora

Used exclusively by men, the only somewhat main character I’ve seen use this pronoun is King from Seven Deadly Sins. In manga, it is usually written in hiragana or katakana. It has a very “country bumpkin” feel to it. A simple country person who doesn’t know the ways of the world (but not in a bad way). 

俺様 Oresama

DO NOT USE THIS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. It is the rudest personal pronoun “ore” with the honorific “sama” attached to it.There is nothing ruder, nothing more “you are the dirt I walk upon” than this. If you use this and you’re not joking, the Japanese people around you will instantly dislike you. 

儂 Washi

Usually written in hiragana or katakana, “washi” is the way that old people refer to themselves. It’s gender-neutral. Like…idk, 60 and upwards? So don’t use this unless you fall into that age range. 

某 Soregashi

I think I’ve only seen this once, used by a character in Rurouni Kenshin who was quickly killed. It was used by samurai. So unless YOU are a samurai from 150 years ago, don’t use it. It’s so low frequency that if you used it as a joke I doubt Japanese people would understand. But hey. You learned a cool new word. 

The End!

I hope that this post helps you choose the pronoun that fits you best. ♡

[putschki1969]

Hi, Sarah! I hope you're doing well. I have a question for you. Did you learn Japanese on your own or did you take any courses? Your example really inspires me, and I want to try it too. I learned English on my own, but I think it's much easier than Japanese. I'm not sure I can afford a teacher. Maybe you can suggest some tutorials/programs? How many years did your training take?

Hello there lovely anon!

I learned English on my own too (by reading fanfics XD). It is most definitely much easier than Japanese (especially for a native-German speaker like myself).

As for Japanese, nope, initially I did not learn it on my own. I got a bachelor's degree in Japanese Studies at my local university and this was pretty much my first real contact with the language on a more advanced level (aside from knowing a few random words that is). I was literally the only non-otaku in my classes and also the oldest one since I had already studied law for a few years when I enrolled for the bachelor’s program in Japanese Studies.

I had always wanted to do something related to a language and so when I was getting close to finishing my law degree (I have a “Magister” in law which is kinda like a master/LLM but not really???), I decided it was the perfect time to start with my Japanese Studies courses.

Anyways, the program in Vienna (Austria) focuses heavily on research and cultural aspects but of course I also had to take a ton of language classes (that brought me pretty close to the JLPT N1 level - never took the test tho). So yeah, back then right after I graduated I SLAYED at kanji, grammar and vocabulary. These days I suck at kanji though XD

The bachelor’s program only took about three years if I remember correctly but it’s not like I ever stopped educating myself. For years now I have been translating regularly so I keep learning new things every day and it helps me not to forget about all the things that I was taught at uni.

I don’t really know what to recommend to you unfortunately since I don't know your situation. I am sure there are a ton of language courses available where you live. If you just want to learn the language, signing up for one of those is probably the best option for you. Teaching yourself a language can be pretty difficult because it requires lots of discipline. Quite frankly, most people lack the determination. But I am not saying it’s not possible, you can definitely do it! These days, there are also quite a lot of apps (e.g. Duolingo, HiNative) that come in handy if you want to learn a language

Majoring in Japanese Studies only makes sense if you wanna learn about all kinds of things and are not afraid to do a lot of research-based work [for some reason many of my fellow students had huge issues with that aspect of our studies, they couldn’t write a research paper to save their lives ¬_¬]. Also, you should be aware that career-wise there are not a lot of things you can do with a degree in Japanese Studies.

Having said that, the easiest way to learn any language is to surround yourself with it. Consume Japanese media IN JAPANESE all day every day (none of that translated or dubbed shit), interact with Japanese people, travel to Japan, stay there for a prolonged period of time etc. One of the reasons I suck at speaking Japanese is because I never actively use the language. I don’t really socialise or interact with any Japanese speakers (not even when I am in Japan). I also decided against a year abroad sinceI was too chicken shit and wanted to finish my studies ASAP. Try not to be like me in that regard or you might regret it!

[languageek]

For the past 6 months, I’ve been taking studying Japanese more seriously. From the time I quit studying Japanese in elementary school until now, I had very little formal schooling in Japanese, and whatever was formal, wasn’t very effective.  *Run down for people who don’t know: I grew up speaking Japanese outside of Japan so my knowledge of it is like..half there half not. 

After learning Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese to a relatively high level many years ago, coming back to Japanese now, I realized that I forgot what it felt like to learn another language.

For the past few months, I’ve been trying to study the kanji for words I already knew — that way, I would only have one thing to learn on top of old knowledge, as opposed to learning a new word + new kanji for that new word. For example, I grew up hearing the word とおい (tōi, kanji: 遠い) so I would practice writing and visualizing the kanji.

More recently, I flipped from studying kanji to studying more (new) vocabulary words. Obviously studying a language like Spanish or Portuguese from English won’t be as difficult as going to Japanese from English, especially in terms of vocabulary (and orthography). 

What made me think about this was something as “simple” as school subjects. For example:

English-Portuguese-Japanese

Psychology — Psicologia — Shinrigaku (心理学)

Literature — Literatura — Bungaku (文学)

Geography — Geografia — Chirigaku (地理学)

Engineering — Engenharia — Kōgaku (工学)

Having English as a native language, to learning Spanish and Portuguese, once I “learned” about the rules that certain words took from one language to the other, I could pretty much guess that psychology and literature would be something like psicologia and literatura, respectively; and if I was wrong, I would be corrected, simple. But from something like English to Japanese, you can’t just “guess” for languages that don’t really share any kind of history together.

I never learned (or at least retained) something like the names of school subjects in Japanese for multiple reasons, the first being that the acquisition of that vocabulary was never really enforced, even if we went over the words. Second, because I guess I personally never felt the need to know it as a kid, since I wasn’t formally schooled in Japanese in those subjects, and third, because it didn’t have a high enough frequency in my household for me to have known how to say chemistry, biology, math, literature, etc.

What scared and prevented me from learning Japanese for so long, I think, was the fear of kanji. I knew that on- and kun-yomi gave kanji so many different readings in different contexts, and how could I memorize and effectively recall more than a thousand characters, if I could even get that far?

My perspective on that changed when I recently tried to learn new vocabulary. In my notebook, I wrote the school subjects in English, then in hiragana for the Japanese version, since originally I intended to learn the words by how they sound first. I would learn the kanji after I could successfully recall the words.

But what I realized that the kanji actually helps me remember how to say the words.

For psychology, shinrigaku written in hirgana is just a cluster of sounds to me. But when written out in kanji, shinrigaku (心理学) is heart (心), logic (理) and study (学), all of which semantically, I could see being related to the idea of the field of psychology.

The same goes for geography (chirigaku, 地理学). In kanji, it’s ground/earth (地), logic (理), study (学). What helped me even more with this one, was that I recognized the first kanji 地 as the same kanji (and luckily, sound) that appears in map, 地図 (chizu).

While I believed for the longest time that kanji would be the most difficult aspect of learning Japanese, I ran into a roadblock that briefly made me think vocabulary would be even harder than kanji. But taken together, with just a bit of knowledge about certain kanji, thanks to my childhood experience of growing up with it, my kanji has been able to help me expand on my vocabulary.

This experience has been a rather cyclical one. When I was a kid in Japanese school, I believed my strongest area was vocabulary. I always struggled with kanji. Studying Japanese as an adult, I dove head-first into studying the kanji for words I was already familiar with, but when trying to expand my vocabulary, kanji has stepped in and stepped up to help me with my vocabulary by helping me visualize and associate certain sound-meaning pairs with new vocabulary.

I realize that for beginners, kanji is a daunting thing and takes a lot of time to learn and retain. I realize that not everyone has the same background as I do with Japanese. But once you’re familiar with kanji, you can see it popping up in new places, whether it’s embedded within another character or in a compound (words with more than one kanji character) and it has the ability to help you. Not hinder you.

It’s not easy learning a new language, and in my case, it’s not easy trying to add on to a language that comes semi-easily and semi-not. Some languages are hard on multiple fronts, like how I thought Japanese was, especially the kanji and vocabulary. But interestingly, I think it’s all starting to come together like the coherent language it’s supposed to be. And it’s beautiful when it does.

It just may take a while to get there.

[koutawoo]

Woo chaaaan T-T _cognizant anon

Hi hello lady. As many times as u want? Amazing we can only take it once a year jdsjasfd. That's one of the reasons why it's such a pain. Once a year from our main hs books frOM 3 YEARS AUGH. LOLOLOL MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY 2021 TO U ACTUALLY since we don't have Christmas and use a different calendar hjkfkdsf. Also why do I keep seeing ppl saying kanji is insane exactly when I thought of giving Japanese a try sajdkadj. I'm ok. concentration on studies 0. U good? _cognizant anon (aksdnksja)

BEJESUSYSUSU i’m literally behind on everything in life rn (reqs, edits i wanted to do, watching anime and reading manga included, to keep this relevant to tumblr)

i think the quarantine fatigue has finally gotten to me and i just feel mentally drained ugh, doesn’t help that my winter break is only two weeks long, and i have to get back to online courses next week ;___;

i’m not the only one who’s suffering like this, but it’s not gonna stop me from ranting bwhahah

american ed system kinda lenient, i think. the only downside to taking the exam multiple times is that u have to pay $40-$60 (? my memory sucks but there was a registration fee as well) every time, unless u have a waiver for being in a low income household (waiver let’s u take the exam four times free of charge)

just dooooo itttt!! kanji’s a pain, but it shouldn’t get in the way of ur learning of japanese. kanji shouldn’t be an big issue unless ur trying to become a translator or want to read long japanese passages. i feel like most language learners r more focused on the speaking and understanding aspect of the langauge, rather than reading? like, yeah reading is important but in terms of priority, reading kanji, specially, is low on the list. and as a japanese language learner, it’s not like u can learn 5k+ kanji in less than five years, so don’t sweat about kanji esp since u gotta start at the basics first ;DD

NOT to say that kanji isn’t necessary or important, but just that learning kanji should come later in ur studies

[ohakosubs]

Haruka, Nostalgia (はるか、ノスタルジー), 1993 dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi

status: complete download here

**translation notes: (contains spoilers)**

・The name of Shinsuke Ayase’s publisher, Lil’ Bunko, references the term bunko 文庫, short for bunkobon 文庫本, which are A6-sized softcover books - the most common format for novels. A lot of publishing companies in Japan use the word bunko at the end of their name.

・The term lolicon may not need explaining for many viewers of this film, but as I chose to translate it as a proper noun rather than directly translate it, I feel the need to provide a small explanation as it is quite central to the film’s plot. Lolicon is short for “Lolita complex”, and is used to refer to someone (usually male) that has a fetish for young (read: underage) girls. 

・Some context is needed for the way the name Yoko Miyoshi is introduced and the influence it has on the story. The kanji for “Yoko Miyoshi” is 三好遥子, which can be broken down thus: 三-> the number 3, 好-> ‘like’ or ‘favorable’, 遥-> ‘distant’ or ‘far away’, as in the Japanese verb haruka, 子-> child.  Haruka’s name is thus taken from the first half of “Yoko”, the kanji that when used on its own can be pronounced “Haruka”. Haruka plus the kanji for “child”, 遥子, can be interpreted as meaning “a distant/far away child”. I have attempted to include as much of this information in the subtitles as possible.

・nishin ニシン (鰊) is Pacific herring, and nishin-don is a local delicacy in Otaru. In reference to the dish, I have chosen to use nishin-don as a proper noun, but when Haruka tells the story of the herring that disappeared from the ocean, for clarity’s sake I chose to use ‘herring’ instead of nishin. 

・A small aspect that gets lost in translation is the term Haruka uses to describe young girls as ‘passionate’ during her impassioned speech about Ayase’s behavior. She uses the term mune ga atsui 胸が熱い, which literally translates to “a hot chest/breast” - meaning that when someone gets worked up about something (mostly in a positive way), they feel a hotness in their chest. This coincides nicely with the ‘physical’ nature of her speech.

・Haruka mentions that the school song she sings is from her high school, Otaru Shiomidai, but in actual fact it is the real school song from Otaru Choryo High School (though the melody may not be identical). The school Haruka and Ayase visit together is not Shiomidai either - though Ayase mentions that he went to the same school as Haruka - it is Ishiyama Middle School.

・A note about the lines of dialogue in German: As verified by a native German speaker, Noboru’s German pronunciation is incredibly hard to decipher, and the lines seem to have been directly translated from Japanese by a non-native, riddled with incorrect grammar and strange vocabulary. As the most important parts of these lines are the Japanese sentences Noboru says after them, I have refrained from transcribing them for the subtitles; however a native German acquaintance was kind enough to help out with attempting to decipher them, so here is a bonus cheat sheet for the German dialogue: 1. 0:06:05 “Alles hat seine Zeit.” -> “Everything has its time.” 2. 0:39:16 "Der Mench ist, was er isst." -> “Man is what he eats.” 3. 0:40:44 "Mit der Habgier wird der Entfremdete immer eifersüchtig." -> “With greed, the alienated person is always jealous." 4. 0:43:45 “Kein Mädchen findet dich selb besser schön.” -> “No girl thinks herself more beautiful.” 5. 0:43:56 (also 1:00:09) "Wissen ist das Traurigste auf der Erde." -> “To know is the saddest thing on Earth.” 6. 0:46:10 "(Ich hätte) es leichter als (Mädchen)." -> “I think I had it easier as a girl.” (best guess) 7. 1:29:42 “Die (echte) liebe (verdreht) sich erst auf.” (?) -> “Real love twists first.” (who knows...) 8. 2:00:57 “Sie (endet?) über Fragen.” -> “She ends with questions.” ? 9. 2:25:17 “Alles hat seine Zeit. Nur endet sie nicht. Sie hilft nicht zu machen.” -> “Everything has its time. It just doesn’t end. It doesn’t help you to do/make it.”

・There are times when Ayase refers to Haruka as simply “Haruka”, and other times he adds “-chan” on to the end of her name. As many viewers may already be aware, “-chan” is an affectionate suffix often used for girls of a lower age than oneself, or somebody the speaker feels particularly friendly towards. Haruka’s comment about Ayase using “-chan” doesn’t carry as much meaning in English as it does in Japanese. Similarly, at one point Haruka remarks that Ayase has started using the personal pronoun ore 俺 instead of boku 僕 (or watashi 私 in his narrations, which is more reminiscent of the language used in a first-person novel). Ore is widely considered to be much more masculine than boku, so the subtitles reflect that nuance.

・The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed instrument, one of the most common sounds in Japanese music. It is often referenced to as a symbol of old-style Japanese romanticism, largely thanks to its presence in literature such as The Tale of Genji.

・Toward the end of the movie, Haruka muses to Hiroshi, “What is Haruka, I wonder?” The Japanese used for this line is ima no Haruka wa, ittai nan-nan deshou? 今のはるかは一体何なんでしょう？ which directly translates to “What exactly is the Haruka of now/the present, I wonder?”. The line is meant to reflect several different things at once: Haruka’s confusion as to who she is, her role in Ayase’s story, and where she lines up with the criss-crossing of her (or Ayase’s) past and present. It is difficult to include all of those nuances, but I was intrigued by the way she used “what” instead of “who”, so I felt like “What is Haruka?” was a more concise way to reflect that line in English.

[wallclockscrafts-blog]

How to find calligraphic wooden-ware in Pakistan?

Kinds of Several Historically Famous Calligraphy wooden-ware Decor StylesParis decor calligraphy gift label. Connect them .Tying a label to an antique key, worn door handle or lonely coat hook is a fantastic way to get calligraphy outside in the open. Choose a quote, song lyric or saying to reach your desired look.Just adding a little tag to an current bit of hanging decoration creates another layer of meaning and a glimpse of where it came from. Possessing a place name lettered on a gift label can offer a welcome memory of a particular holiday or event and indicates a tale to tell.Arabic Decorative Calligraphy Decorating with drawingsDonation label floral drawing with pencil inkJ apanese CalligraphyScrapbooking A  wall-clock looks so much prettier decorated with a lovely lettered gift label Calligraphy !Read on for inspiration of how to utilize present tags around your home for beautiful living daily. You will be taken by Click on the pictures .Calligraphy further advanced into a Number of Other types of arts in China, like Seal Carving, Ornate Paperweights, and Ink-Stones. We can likewise customize any message that is scripted and then can use it.Through the medieval period of time of history that the Calligraphy achieved its new highs in the kind of Arabic Calligraphy.  wall-art  in this period's use was not restricted to such a items that were decorative or the newspaper.Calligraphy may be used as a very amazing tool to be sure to maintain its glorious existence when beautifying our wooden-wares. Devanagari script can be used to incorporate the native feel of the message that was depicted.There was a time in which Roman Calligraphy was limited to portray the Christian spiritual sayings and quotations. The Roman Calligraphy has gradually become the symbol of westernization and modernization. The roman letters can be used to depict the ancient and royal type of modern wooden-ware art.Calligraphy is a kind of music not to the earsbut also for the eyes." (V. Lazursky)Actually, almost all the monuments of that time were decorated by carving and inlaying that the calligraphic form of texts into them. It arrived from mausoleums and palaces to home decor and slowly achieved the image of royalty and is being recognized as piece of decoration from the modern and royal manner.Beautiful bookmarksHome decoration ideas for vintage and shabby elegant livingSHOP GIFT TAGSIt does not just have to be assessed that adorns present tags - fragile drawings operate equally well too. Better in pencil and ink. Hang them from empty hooks to include interest and intrigue !Calligraphy decoration gift tags with specific dates Calligraphy gift label with classic home decor Adding a significant date to your gift tag will serve to jog the memory also may be set on picture frames showing family photographs or artworks of a favorite location. Consider tying three or two tags together with a place, a date and a quote to tell a tale and remind you.This one being restricted to ancient and royal architectures is now making a brand new comes back in modern Calligraphy wooden-ware decor styles, let us investigate it.Calligraphy having an artistic depiction of almost any human language was mostly practiced during Chinese civilization. Like lots of other arts calligraphy is totally inspired by character. In any script even every dot, every stroke, depicts the kind of a object that is natural.Roman Calligraphy wooden-ware Art Place settings There are loads of regular and modern options when it comes to wooden-ware decor. Patterns, landscapes photos and carry excellent aesthetic value and sculptures are all contemporary.Maintaining a scrapbook is a lovely way to store photographs and mementoes of a vacation or special event. Cut-out articles ticket stubs and postcards all can be gathered and tagged for prosperity. Whether you produce a collage which may be framed and put on display, or anything more personal, hand lettered present tags will tie it all together. They've so a lot more applications than just being added to a gift wrap. And if you are provided a gorgeous gift tag which you just can't bear to throw off (and why should you?) You might like a few of those ideas. They will add your home in no time and some chic appeal until you really have to admire the gorgeous calligraphy.These small hanging decorations can include some meaning and attention to your decoration easily and immediately. No matter how small your area you are able to add a certain je ne sais quoi and handmade loveliness.Special datesMore will be moreHand lettered scrap booking gift label accessoryThough using calligraphy gift tags as home décor is only a little touch, it will add effect, albeit in a subtle manner. Whether they are personalised with calligraphy of whimsical word your quote or a drawing that is quaint, their royal presence will probably be enough to make layers of significance and attention .We will recount a comparatively old but crucial aspect of wooden-ware artwork.For adding finishing touches filled with charm to your table configurations these calligraphy name tags perform wonders. They look lovely if you're hosting a formal dinner or afternoon tea party. They are guaranteed to please and could be taken home by your guests and valued as a reminder.I don't know about you, but I am a fan of faffing and making things look quite. Foraged and give me a few objects locates to arrange and I am happy - much more happy when a there is a label. Style it with your favorite paintings onto a shelf or tray on a desk. I can't resist tea cups, blossom hearts along with French glass vases folded from old novels. Indian Calligraphy Art India being an area of many languages has diversity of this artistic direction of writing. Sanskrit is among the most ancient languages. Of duplication of texts, it was used Within this language the craft of calligraphy has served many purposes because its starting in 2nd century BCE.Calligraphy novel mark with beautiful quotesInsert some fairly and functional organisation by minding these sweet and small tags to cloth storage bins using a safety pin or tying them onto wicker baskets functions as well. Whether it's storing bottles or pegs from the laundry area or makeup in the bedroom, you will know where things are without needing them. Sometimes a line of poetry or amusing words out of your favourite novel are worth watching regular in addition to making a thoughtful gift for a bookworm. Two of my favourite things and one wonderful combination AND fairly, practical.Roman wooden-ware CalligraphyWhy don't you blend a hand-lettered tag to some plant stem or around the grip of a jug of flowers to allow them to sing much more. A couple of words written on will probably be sufficient. Alternately, fill an empty jam jar with flowers cut from the garden, wind some many times around the rim and then add a gift label. It's the tiny changes which make the biggest differences here.Vases of flowersArabic Calligraphy wooden-ware ArtYou could use two or one of these gift tag thoughts or scatter the appearance around and decorate your living space. The best bit is, it's really easy to achieve, have the benefit of being timeless and will make daily beautiful. Japanese is one of popular language for tattoos nowadays. However, we can even use calligraphies composed by brush the place of honour of the house, in the niche Tokonoma. There are numerous choice calligraphy (Verses, Poetries, Sayings and Independent Kanji) for various seasons. In Indiait could be customized to alter calligraphy decorating as per our style suits. Calligraphy tags for storage in the laundry areaCalligraphy quotes make beautiful keepsakesQuote, candy-jar .

[actuallyadork]

Getting started learning Japanese.

Here’s some resources I’m using to learn Japanese and what I think they do well and not so well. This is all based on my own experiences and what works best for me.

I will be rating based on the following criteria: Cost, Is it easy to use?, How much does it cover?, Pros, Cons, Overall impression.

Tofugu

I’m replacing a previous recommendation with this one. Far superior. I’ll just get right to it.

Free. Easy to use.

Pros: articles on just about everything. Theres a podcast. And every month they post resources for learning japanese. I highly recommend this website for these posts alone.

Cons: some content you gotta pay for but as far as i know they don’t duck around with people’s trust. They are the creators of wanikani and they gotta make money somehow.

Overall: far more useful that the first website i had on here. Maybe I’ll add more details later, but I just wanted to update this one as quickly as possible.

Japanese from Zero (video series)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOcym2c7xnBwU12Flkm5RcLIEhvURQ8TB

Cost: free

Easy to use: yes. Theres a nice playlist so all you have to do is sit and watch.

How much does it cover: You start out knowing absolutely no japanese and by the end of lessons you will know two writing systems. Basic sentence patterns and grammar. There is even a kanji series.

Pros: nothing is easier than sitting and watching videos to learn. You can play it anywhere at anytime. George has been teaching/speaking Japanese for years so he knows where students get stuck. He gives good explanations and examples on when to use new content and when not to use the new content.

Cons: because its a series, sometimes George refers to previous lessons or his book and you may be missing some context if you start in the middle or skip through some lessons.

Overall: The first lessons were painful to get through because It starts out with romanization and if you already know the writing systems, seeing the romaji on screen is like listening to nails on chalk. Not to mention I have a personal beef with numbers and counting as well as the common phrases like “おはよう”

But it is called Japanese from Zero and it is meant for someone who knows absolutely nothing about japanese so I can forgive the painful beggining lessons. Once I got past the introductory stuff the videos became more enjoyable.

Duolingo (app)

Cost: free

Easy to use: yes

How much does it cover: basic japanese sentence patterns, all three writing systems and a handful of new vocabulary.

Pros: teaches new words and sentence patterns and really drills them into your head. Gives you a few new words at a time so you can take the time to learn them without being distracted from all the other words you need to learn. You can go into the course as a Japanese person trying to learn English and really get the most out of Duolingo because the japanese version starts out with Kanji and even gives polite and casual sentence forms.

Cons: very repetitive. I don’t find fault with this but a coworker of mine found this to be very annoying and I can understand why. Duolingo says the lessons will get harder but instead its the same lesson except now you have to review it 10 times instead of 5. That’s not exactly hard, that’s just tedious. My biggest gripe with duolingo is that it doesn’t explain particles or why the kanji has different readings. In order to figure that out I had to go and do my own research which isn’t a big deal but if you’re only using duolingo by itself it makes it harder to understand why you keep getting things incorrect and subsequently how to fix it.

Overall: I will admit I am biased towards duolingo because I’ve used it for Spanish, French, Italian, and now Japanese. I was there from it’s early days when it was absolute shit and it has come a long way. I recognize the issues with Duolingo right now but I know that they are constantly updating. Painful as it may be to keep hearing 六時六分です it really is teaching you sentence patterns that you can use to make your own sentences. You just have to go out and do a little extra work yourself. It is, by far, the easiest to use and the method I use everyday.

TinyCards (app)

Cost: free

Easy to use: yes

How much does it cover: it covers a lot of vocabulary phrases and even sentences. You can probably get a lot mileage out of this one if used correctly and if you’re willing to put in the work

Pros: dozens of pre-made flashcards to choose from and the ability to make your own. Cards come in sets that you can unlock by finishing the first set similar to duolingo. A lot of other flashcard apps work in a similar way except they make you pay for the rest so I appreciate that this one is free of charge. Plus you can find flashcards specifically from the duolingo courses so you can study the vocabulary in isolation rather than in a sentence. Interactive flashcard system. So you don’t just flip cards and call it a day, occasionally you will have to write out the translation in the target language or pick from several choices.

Cons: the difficulty can be a little inconsistent. Sometimes you just flip a card and say I remember that one and other times you’ll have to translate a full sentence in Japanese. Even if you get the kanji right, you may get the answer incorrect because the card wants the hiragana and vice versa. And because there are so many card sets to choose from, not all of them are useful.

Overall: a sister app to duolingo it seems. Cards come from the community of learners and are not limited to japanese or languages. You can also learn about history, art and pretty much anything else. I appreciate the interactive aspect as most other apps don’t do this and the ones that do are muuuch more inconsistent than this one. I found similar interactive flashcard apps that would sometimes show Vietnamese translations instead of English translations. I’ve only recently been using this one but I pretty much gave up on using other similar apps bc they were very inconsistent. I haven’t used it very much though because I’ve discovered that I’m not a flashcard learner. If you learn best with flashcards then I would recommend it.

Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese (website/pdf/app)

Cost: free

Easy to use: relatively. Just read the damn thing. I get it though. Reading is very tedious

What it covers: It really is a beginner to advanced beginner guide covering the same things as all the above. Basic grammar, writing systems and such. One thing that is very unique about Tae Kim’s guide however is that it also includes cultural notes such as explaining casual vs polite speech. Male vs female speech that a lot of the other resources don’t even touch on

Pros: A very good starting point that covers so so much. The website has an option to show/toggle translations. Additional cultural notes plus examples. Almost every“how to learn japanese” guide points to this website

Cons: one of the reasons I was holding out on making this list was because I haven’t finished going through all the resources so I don’t have any cons for this yet. I’m only part-way through and I’ve yet to have any issues with it. Maybe just that once it gets the point across it immediately moves on. You don’t really have time to digest the content so It’s like a very in-depth crash course in japanese. You may need to go out and do extra research in order to really understand the content. If you don’t understand what is being taught, just read over it again and keep it in mind. I’ve found that I’ll come across more examples as I continue my studies and it all starts to fall into place

Overall: It doesn’t sugarcoat Japanese or treat the learner like a baby. If you read the introductory page, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Definitely influenced my approach to learning despite not having gone through all of it. Like other resources, it builds on top of topics already covered but it’s nice having a book-format with conjugation charts and lessons separated by chapters. Videos and podcasts are nice but Tae Kim’s guide also acts as a manual to supplement your learning. Maybe you want to write a sentence in the masu-form and need a quick reminder? Just flip to the page in the guide. No skipping through videos trying to find the part you need because it’s already there.

Manga Sensei (podcast/website)

Cost: mostly free. I believe theres some extra stuff you can purchase. I’ve seen a special podcast that requires payment and comes along with a free pdf. But for the most part, you get a lot of free content.

Easy to use: relatively. Havent been on the website much so for all i know it could be a mess

What it covers: the podcast covers a lot of grammar points and occasional vocabulary and cultural notes. Gives you a good foundation to build on top of. The website has more details on what the podcasts are about but I haven’t spent much time on the website as I have the podcast.

Pros: grammar points in 5 minutes or less. Differences between common words. Good for improving listening skills. If you’re driving or on a bus, you can learn on the go.

Cons: so much to choose from you kinda have to sift through what you need. Most of it is useful and there are a couple of repeat lessons as Manga-Sensei has a beginner’s guide every year. Because its audio only, you may be learning new words and grammar but you may not be able to identify them as quickly on paper. Best to supplement with some type of visual. I believe the website has something to solve this and I’ve heard there is a youtube channel as well? Although I am not sure.

Overall: If you’re going on a long car ride, folding your laundry or even just working-out, this is a great way to stay on top of your studies. Manga-Sensei has talked a lot about his projects such as his manga, alternate podcasts, and pdf. Even though I haven’t taken a look at all of them, it’s clear he’s working hard to bring content for listening, reading, and conversation skills. That being said, the podcast is just as good for learning as any other method. You can still understand the lessons (which are meant to be short and simple anyway)

Japanese Ammo with Misa (Video Series)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBSyd8tXJoEJKIXfrwkPdbA

Cost: free although she has a Patreon as well if you want to support her.

Easy to use: yep

How much does it cover: A Lot. From basic videos about grammar to more complex videos breaking down japanese songs as well common phrases and little notes that you may not find in a textbook

Pros: Her lessons have a lot of examples and good breakdowns of the grammar and tense. If a verb is in the past-negative tense, she will break down how to get to that point from the plain form or dictionary form. The best part about her videos is that she has her examples on-screen and color-coded. It may seem like a lot at first, but once you adjust to it, it helps to retain the information.

Cons: Because there’s so much content packed into her lessons, I recommend getting a basic knowledge of Japanese first. She has a video series for basic/introductory Japanese. I would suggest starting with that series or George’s series, or Tae Kim’s guide. Just so you don’t get an information overload.

Overall: There is one video in particular that I recommend to watch and I’ll make another post about it, but I really enjoy her content. Even though some of her videos are very dense with information, the comments suggest that its still easy to follow. I just think that while you can still learn a lot as a newbie, you might retain more if you already understand some grammar.

Japanese (app)

Cost: free holy shit!!

Easy to use: relatively

Pros: search using english, japanese, radicals, or drawing the kanji itself. Flashcard system, where you can build your own decks or use a pre-made one. The flashcards operate on a spaced repetition system. Plus it provides example sentences, compound breakdowns, stroke order, conjugations and JLPT level.

Cons: The drawing search method is sometimes hit or miss but i’m impressed the app has this option at all, let alone that it does not crash the app (like some others I’ve tried). The pre-made decks can have up to 400 words or more which is great if you have that kind of patience but I rarely find myself excited to sift through all of those words only to have about 10 of them be useful to me.

Overall: Okay it’s not like this app is super amazing or revolutionary but it’s a dictionary and flashcard sytem all in one. Say you want to keep a record of the new words you learn to refer back to them later? Make a new deck! Or if you’re reading a book or newspaper and come across a word you don’t know? Add it to the list or make a new deck! I try use new words as often as possible to drill them into my head And although my studying has slowed a bit, this app is perfect to double-check spelling and usage. (At least until jisho.org gets an app). Plus it’s easier to learn and remember words when you’ve come across them on your own.

[yasuijp]

Why are you bothering with learning a language?

I’m literally asking. This isn’t rhetorical. I think that knowing why you’re doing it is extremely important for choosing how to continue learning, how far to learn, how intensely to study...everything. 

The purpose of language is to communicate and understand. You speak to express your thoughts. You listen to understand the thoughts of others. That’s the basic point of language.

Are you learning language to understand foreign media? Well why? If this media you’re trying to consume gets translated, you don’t really need to learn the language you can just watch the translated versions subtitled or redubbed. Even for untranslated works if its like a book or other written media you could brute force it with a dictionary and still come out ok, you dont really need to learn the language that fully for that.

Do you want to sing along to your favorite songs? Well realistically for this all you actually need to learn is how to imitate the sounds they make. Learning the language will probably less of an affect here than singing lessons realistically.

Are you planning on taking a trip to a foreign country where this language is the primary one? Well, these days google translate and other resources are so powerful that for basic things like asking for directions or ordering food, you could do that with 0 knowledge of the target language. Not to mention almost every country at a popular enough touristy area that you’re probably going to be at, everyone speaks SOME english. You realistically dont need to learn an entire language. If you’re self conscious about it you could learn a few key phrases and be perfectly fine.

Are you learning this language to talk to more people? Well how do you define “talking to people”. How in depth are you going? Do you want to know about someones hopes dreams fears doubts aspirations and other fancy nouns like that? Or do you want to be able to have small talk about the weather. Similar to the above point, so many people learn english that realistically, their english is going to be about as good if not better than what you learn for their target language, so the kind of conversations you can have now with them will be the same kind of conversations you could have after.

These kinds of questions seem dismissive because honestly I do think that its good to learn a foreign language but realistically you really dont have to learn one at all to live your life. Asking these kinds of questions early can help you learn exactly how far you should take your studies and what exactly your own personal bench marks of success are. My goals with japanese are to be able to understand media without subtitles or translations for my own personal enjoyment, and because i’ve always thought being able to speak more than one language is cool as shit. Also I like a challenge sometimes and learning a language is hard. These are not deep reasons at all, but they’re mine.

By looking at your reasonings, even if they’re shallow they will help you chart a course. Since my MAIN goal is to be able to understand stuff, speaking is borderline useless to me. If all i wanted to do was watch anime, i could cut even that aspect in half by completely ignoring kanji and just not learning how to read at all. If you want to speak you can learn a bunch of key common phrases and memorize common responses as soon as possible and make sure to key in to nailing your pronunciation. Language is at the end of the day a tool that has 2 key uses like I said at the start. Knowing what you want to use this tool for is key for self learners.