#is that how you say that phrase in english???

[mayfly-maycry]

The devil sighed. “Unfortunately for you, they are named as such because of my liking for them, not my ability to make them. Fortunately for you, I have just begun to crave one and I do know whose is the best.”

They then instructed you in how to make another summoning circle — rather similar to the one that had summoned them, but slightly different — and repeating the ritual with the new circle summoned another demon. Or at least, you assumed by circumstances it was another demon — he just looked like a French man.

Upon his summoning, the devil walked up behind you. “Yes, François, good of you to come. I need two of the usual, stat.”

The French demon gave a bow. “Right away, sir,” before striding out of the room. You and the devil followed him as he made his way to your kitchen, informed you that he would have to borrow it, and set to work. You sat on one of the stools at the counter and watched, fascinated, as he drew small sigils in the air to summon ingredients — top-tier if the fancy labels were anything to go off of — and mixed them in your banged-up metal mixing bowls. The devil sat beside you.

“You’ve never tasted devil food cake until you’ve tasted François’s. I believe the turn of phrase in English is ‘so good it should be a sin,’ but usually Heaven gets all the good bakers; lucky for me this one made his way down to my end of the afterlife.”

You had no idea how one was supposed to have a conversation with the devil, from the Bible, but you figured you could give it your best shot. “What exactly did he do to… ‘make his way down to your end of the afterlife,’ as you put it? Or is that rude to ask?”

The devil chuckled. “Hardly; the man grew up with a love of baking but none of the supplies, so he’d sneak into the bakery at night to borrow their ovens, plus their ingredients. Trespassing and theft. They did end up hiring him eventually, though, so it was all forgiven in the end.”

“Well, a sin is a sin I guess, even under such innocent circumstances...” The Christian afterlife was notoriously unfair in the old books, but you had held some kind of hope that it had maybe… caught up with the times.

“Oh, he also murdered his wife. I’m no judge, but I think that’s what pushed him down the stairs to my door.”

“Huh. You don’t say…” you said, reeling a bit. Yep, that would do it. Maybe there was still hope for the afterlife.

You and the devil continued your chatter, François joining you after the cakes went in the oven, speaking mostly in short responses to his lord’s jibes, but occasionally tossing out baking advice that had you itching for somewhere to write it down.

Eventually the oven timer went off. Except, it wasn’t your usual timer. As François opened the oven and pulled out the cakes, you noticed the oven wasn’t actually on; instead, two small portals floated near the top and bottom, presumably leading to the fires of Hell itself based on what you could see. You waited in anticipation as the cakes settled, the smell almost making you drool.

Finally, Françoise got out a knife and cut a single large slice out of one of the cakes, placed it on a single plate, and placed that in front of the devil with a single fork. The devil licked their lips with what, despite the cliche you could only call a devilish grin, and picked up the fork. They cut out a bite with a careful yet practiced motion, then placed it in their mouth. Th devil held the fork there for a moment, eyes closed, savoring the flavor before slowly chewing and finally allowing the moment to end when they swallowed.

The look of sheer bliss on their face was almost enough to actually make you drool. But as the devil continued to eat, François simply stood watching, making no move to get a second or even third plate. You looked almost desperately between the cakes on the stove and the piece on the devil’s plate. Just when you couldn’t take it anymore and were about to get up and serve yourself, the devil set down their fork and spoke.

“Ahh, that was delicious. The best one yet, I think. Did you change something in the recipe, François?”

“Hardly, sir. Perhaps it was the oven. Or maybe, as they say, good company makes the food taste better.”

The devil nodded. “Right you are, François. And I am a generous devil; this deserves a reward. The second cake is for our generous host. François, prepare it appropriately. And another slice for me as well.”

“Right away, sir,” François said with a smile, taking the devil’s plate and cutting a slice from each cake. He placed one in front of the devil and one in front of you. Finally. Finally you could taste it.

Reverently, you picked up your fork and took a bite. It was just as the devil had said: so good it should be a sin.

"What made you summon me, mortal?" "I want you to make me one of your cakes" "…you summoned the devil so he could make you chocolate cake?" "It's named after you, isn't it? Yours should be the best"

[unboundprompts]

Hello! I’ve never really used this ask thing before— so I’m sorry if I do this wrong. I love your prompts and other works and was wondering if you could help me figure out how to write and describe accents? My characters have very specific accents (Australian accents, British accents, etc.) and I’m having trouble figuring out how to show that. This is a fantasy setting so I couldn’t just describe their accents as an Australian accent and such y’know? I’m so sorry if this doesn’t make sense. Would you be able to help?

How to Write a Character with an Accent

-> How to Write Character Accents

-> How to Convey Accents in Fiction Writing

Make sure your character’s speech isn’t distracting

When writing dialect or a particular accent, it can be tempting to write a character’s dialogue using phonetic spellings. However, this use of dialect can distract your reader. If your character is French and is constantly saying ���ze” instead of “the,” the reader will be focusing more on decoding the line of dialogue than they will on plot or character development. When writing fiction, your reader’s attention should always be on the story, and anything that distracts from that probably isn’t worth including.

Slang and Colloquialisms

Incorporate regional slang, colloquialisms, or idioms that reflect the accent. Each accent has its own unique phrases that can suggest the character's background.

Include Snippets of their Native Language

 If you’re writing a character who speaks a foreign language, one way to communicate their accent is to simply include snippets of their native tongue in their lines of dialogue. This will demonstrate the character’s native language and implied accent without resorting to the distracting eyesore of phonetic spelling.

Don't Stereotype

Writing different dialects indelicately can make you appear condescending towards non-native English speakers or people who use the English language differently than you do. One of the most common offenders is the use of “eye dialect,” which refers to using misspellings or nonstandard spellings in order to depict a character’s accent (for instance, writing “fixin’” with an apostrophe instead of “fixing” in order to demonstrate Appalachian or Southern accents). By focusing on the “otherness” of regional dialects and non-native speakers, a writer may give the impression that they are making fun of the way people speak. When writing different accents, keep eye dialect to a minimum.

Rhythm and Intonation

Accents often have distinctive rhythms and intonations. Pay attention to how the accent changes the flow of speech. For instance, British accents might have a more clipped and precise quality, while Australian accents can sound more relaxed and drawn out.

You might describe this in your narrative, saying something like, "Her words rolled out with a casual lilt, the vowels stretching like lazy waves."

Character Reactions and Context

Show how other characters react to the accent. If a character speaks in a heavy accent, others might lean in to listen, nod in confusion, or make a comment. This helps highlight the uniqueness of the speech.

Physical Description

Consider linking the accent to physical traits or background details. Describe the character’s upbringing or location, giving hints about their accent through their surroundings or lifestyle.

Example: “Raised in the bustling markets of Evermere, his accent was a musical blend of the old tongue, softening the hard edges of his words.”

Subtlety in Dialogue Tags

Instead of writing out the accent in every piece of dialogue, you can subtly hint at it through the dialogue tags. For example, “he said, his voice dripping with the easy lilt of the southern coast” can convey the accent without explicit phonetic spelling.

[lia404]

It doesn't happen a lot, but for once I'll be venting on main. Let's talk about fandoms and languages, in a very frustrated way.

Many time, I have found myself upset at and exhausted by the entitlement of native English speakers when everyone else is already making the effort to speak their language.

Try (and I'm not being a Yoda here, I don't even say to do it, just to even try) to speak my language, and then we'll talk about the terminology I use and the grammar mistakes I make. Don't you dare dogpile on me for using the wrong word when I'm clearly not native. No, I was not trying to insult anyone. Yes, what I said was wrong, but you can point it out in a didactic way without being aggressive, and you can acknowledge that we are not all equal in languages or in our abilities in learning English, the One Language To Rule Them All (with all the dark implications of the title.)

Heaven's sake. I know I'm sometimes missing nuances. I am painfully aware that I'l never speak or write like a native speaker, and I'll never grasp the full underlying meaning of some words. Especially when they are words that have evolved, that have become something else in the context of modern Internet, in a corner of the web that I don't visit, because most of my English interactions are in the context of fandoms.

I don't understand your memes. I don't understand your jokes. I likely never will, and I've given up on asking for explanations, because they usually come with even more ununderstandable jokes, sometimes borderline mockery.

And don't you dare tell me "but your English is so good! Don't worry!" because guess what? I know. I've been studying that language for 25 years. It's my fucking job. I am rather confident in the fact that I know English grammar better than most native English speakers. It doesn't mean I don't make stupid mistakes, and it doesn't make me a native speaker. No matter how hard I try, I will never, ever be a native speaker.

Day after day after day, I'm putting in the effort of thinking in a language that isn't mine, looking for hidden meanings and weighing every sentence because even after 25 years, they'll never come naturally. Day after day, interaction after interaction, I wonder if I'll accidentally insult someone because of an awkward, gauche phrasing.

And I write this while being fully conscious that I have the priviledge of being a native speaker of one of the colonising languages. There are tons of resources in my language.

"If you're not happy, then just don't go to English fandoms."

See, that's the thing. Fandom activity exists in my language, but not in the fandoms I'm in. But you know, maybe I will. Maybe I'll snap and populate a full niche fandom with stories that native English speakers can't understand in a glance, have to put in an effort to interact with. Maybe I'll make memes in my language that none of my mutuals can get. But in the end, it will just be like shouting in the void.

Because here's a reality: most English speakers never put in the effort. They see a foreign language, and move away. And if, by some sort of miracle, they actually want to try, then they are lucky to be able to count on automated translation. Machine translation tools are always trained on English first. Any language > English usually is the pair that has the most reliable results. The same cannot exactly be said about English > any language. And again, I acknowledge that I'm priviledged in such a case, because I'm native of a language that is well-covered.

But it will never be enough for international fandom interactions. Another uncomfortable reality: the globalisation of fandoms has led to erasure of most other languages in fan spaces. This one's going to be hard to reclaim.

So I adapt and I speak English and I write in English. Sometimes I read fanfics and I cry, because I stumbled upon a sentence that I know, even with the best efforts in the world, I would have never managed to come up with. Sometimes I realise that between my job and my fandom activities, English has become such a huge part of my life that I'm losing my own mother tongue, that my phrasing is becoming awkward in it too. I'm not confident anymore using it. I look at the sentence I wrote on the blank page and I cry some more.

And I'm so, so tired of seeing "well-meaning" entitled native English speakers (and, no offense, but most happen to be from the USA, so there might be something cultural at hand here, but while I feel legitimate to observe languages, I don't think I have the legitimacy to observe societies) trying to hold everyone in the world up to their self-centred standards.

I speak English because you speak English. Speak my language flawlessly, and then we'll talk about my flaws when speaking yours.

[ukumiii]

the Ada's worst terror 🫶

[theoldwest]

A deep, deep inhale. A first breath.

It’s a warm summer day. She can feel it on her face.

It’s been many summers since her first one, spent with some alcoholic with two ex-wives and three blocked arteries.

She hums a tune, light and airy. It’s never felt like this before, but she likes it. Hell, she loves it. The tune she’s carrying crackles and switches to a different one— something that’s confident and proud. The song bubbles up and escapes from her, the hum turning into full-bodied singing.

“…Dean.” Castiel murmurs, something outside catching his ear.

Dean looks up from his laptop screen. He hears it too. A thrumming bassline and… maracas? He takes a second to listen, swearing he recognizes it. His eyebrows furrow together.

“…I think it’s Her Strut by Bob Seger.”

Castiel is unimpressed, focused on the fact that the steadily increasing noise is the frequency he usually picks up from Dean’s car. He stands up and swings open the door of the motel room they’re in.

A reverbed guitar solo pours into the space. It’s apparent now that Baby is absolutely blasting music— so loud that other motel guests are poking their heads out to see who’s disrupting their midday activities.

“Shit.” Dean huffs, pushing past Castiel to attend to whatever the hell is going on.

Cas isn’t too far behind the hunter, feeling something very weird as they get closer to the Chevy.

“…The molecules.” He says, running a finger over Baby’s hood as Dean’s hurriedly unlocking the driver door.

The angel! She thinks, Earth Angel by Marvin Berry slowly fading in over her speakers.

Dean is frantically checking over his stereo, ejecting the tape that he’d had in, turning the ignition on and off— nothing stops the music.

“Cas! What the hell is happening to my car!?”

Castiel swings open the passenger door and gets inside, looking over at Dean.

“The molecules are different.”

“I need English, Cas!”

Castiel just looks back over at the stereo, eyebrows furrowed and head tilted, trying to pinpoint exactly what’s going on.

Head Games by Foreigner and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap by AC/DC play loudly over the speakers in quick succession. Dean quickly reaches to turn the radio down, covering his ears and grimacing in pain.

Keep Your Hands to Yourself by The Georgia Satellites plays as she takes a deep breath to turn her voice back up.

Dean is locked onto the stereo in a mix of horror and disbelief. “… Did she just—“

Castiel looks over at him. “I believe Baby has gained… sentience.”

The brass section of Sir Duke plays.

“…What?” Dean says, looking between Cas and his dash. “H—how? Why?”

Don’t Ask Me No Questions by Lynyrd Skynyrd blasts over the speakers. Dean turns it down again.

“I wasn’t asking you.” The Winchester blinks. “Great. Great, I’m talking to the car now.”

Ozzy Ozbourne’s laugh from Crazy Train plays.

Castiel places his hand on the speaker, closing his eyes. He’s beginning to focus in on the aberration.

Strings begin to fill the silence— I Put A Spell On You by Nina Simone.

Dean’s looking over at Cas again with his eyes wide. The angel meets his gaze, nodding once.

“What? No! She’s— Who did this?” Dean’s beginning to get angry.

Baby plays Jolene over her speakers, the phrase ‘with flaming locks of auburn hair’ repeating over and over, like a skipping record.

“…Rowena.” Castiel says, looking back and forth between the hunter and the car.

The Queen track ‘Yeah’ plays before fading into ‘I Like It’ by DeBarge.

“Does… is this— is this permanent?” Dean asks.

‘Don’t Look Back’ by Boston, ‘No More ?’s’ By Eazy E, quickly followed by ‘Listen’ — Beyoncé. Baby knows it isn’t permanent. She can feel it. She decides that she’s going to try anyways.

Dean tries to speak up again, but is interrupted by Baby locking her own doors, effectively trapping the angel and the hunter inside. They tug at the handles, but nothing budges.

‘Kiss’ by Prince & The Revolution blasts at full volume. The pair winces and hurries to turn it down, their hands colliding halfway there. Baby immediately cuts the volume once they’re touching, the opening riff to ‘Feels Like The First Time’ now playing.

Cas and Dean look at each other, then the radio, before slowly moving their hands apart. Baby cranks the volume back up. They quickly press their hands back together, and the volume goes back down to a tolerable level. Still pretty goddamn loud, but at least they’ll be able to hear when they get out of the car.

Dean shrugs, deciding to test the theory that just popped into his head. He presses his arm into Cas’ gently. The music switches again to ‘Let’s Stay Together’ by Al Green, and further lowers, finally resting at a comfortable volume.

Dean looks over at the angel next to him, green eyes flicking down to his lips quickly before coming back to meet blue.

Castiel does the same.

Baby can feel the spell fading. It’s bittersweet. She switches the radio around one last time.

‘At Last’ By Etta James plays during Dean and Cas’ first kiss.

—-

Thanks to @casdeans-pie and @dogearedheart for making my brain do things HEHEH

Baby gets hit with a spell and gains sentience but can only communicate through her radio (Bumblebee style) - Cas gets in the passenger seat beside Dean and she starts mashing together a bunch of love songs at max volume while Dean scrambles to turn the radio off

[dotpyenji]

happy bisexual day to those who celebrate

[lulu2992]

You've mentioned that Jacob's lines in arcade to the deputy sound more sexual in French, is that just like in tone or are the words more sexual?

In French, Jacob doesn’t use any of the nicknames people think sound a bit flirty, so no “angel” or “honey” for us. However, there’s one line in particular that can be interpreted as more sexual than it was in English.

The original sentence is, “The hunt only excites me”, and they chose to translate it as, “La chasse, c’est ça qui m’excite”, which is not wrong, but the phrasing and verb choice kind of make it sound like he’s saying, “The hunt, that’s what turns me on” instead.

You can use the verb “exciter” to translate “to excite” because it’s not technically a mistake, but it’s now more commonly used to talk about sexual arousal rather than enthusiasm…

So yeah, if you’re excited and say “Je suis excité(e)” to a French person, chances are they’ll hear “I’m horny” :’)

[puck-the-devil]

"How is it you're thinking of Shinichi Kudo and yet you call him by his English name, 'Jimmy'? Anyway, if you don't recognize Tsukumoya, then nevermind. I know what you were intending to illustrate. My point is that I know that what I believe is the truth doesn't necessarily mean it is aligned with the truth of reality - something that is subject to change at any time. I'm not presuming or pretending to be perfect or infallible simply because I can't tell a lie."

"So the real trouble here is that you don't define a lie as the same thing that we Fae do. In the human dictionary, it's known as 'intentionally giving a false statement'. By Fae standards, lies are 'actually uttering falsehoods' as you put it. To us, just because you don't tell the truth doesn't automatically mean you're lying or make you a liar. So by our definition - unlike yours, it seems - there is no straightforward way to lie without actually intentionally speaking something one believes to be untrue. Does that make sense? To you, it sounds as though being dishonest or deceitful in any way may be considered the same thing as lying. To us, they are technically and literally completely separate things. While we can do the former, we are incapable of doing the latter." He sighed. "Fae - and most demons, I thought - are actually very particular about wording and things like names. Words and names hold power, especially for beings like us who can be summoned with the right utterance of them, who can use them to manipulate magic, and who can be bound by them. So if you go around saying things like 'everyone's secrets are lies by omission and therefore everyone is a liar because everyone has secrets', you start to not make sense; to sound like a madman. Deals, contracts, favors - things of that nature done with Fae and demons are very literal and technical with words, so to say that one can lie by omission will really mess you up when it comes to trying to figure out the logic of our kind."

"I'm not trying to lead you in circles or invite you to expect so little of me. I'm merely attempting to warn you about being so general about things that we have to follow to the letter because that can be the difference between freedom or slavery for us. Or even the difference between life and death."

The fairy slapped a hand to his face before sliding it downward. "Yes, I know humans and demons can lie without having to be clever. What about it? Actually, there's a human I know who detests lies for that very reason and refuses to use them because of that. He values intelligence and cleverness and thus thinks lies are far too easy to tell, so he tries to utilize the same techniques that us Fae do in order to avoid telling the truth. I wonder what you'd think of him..."

"Ah ah ah! My full statement was that I believe you're overlooking that friends are not something immortals have. It's important to take the full phrase in context. However, I didn't mention which immortals. Like you said, there are many implications there; one of which is that I am one of said immortals, but it was not explicitly stated. And, yes, as you mentioned yourself, the definition of 'having' a friend was also not explicitly stated. So there are many ways that statement can be considered true without being true specifically in the way that most people - especially humans - would assume it to be." Puck spread his arms. "Therefore, as you helped me point out, I can be deceitful while at the same time being honest. And, therefore, I can still avoid outright lying. So do you see now why simply being deceitful or withholding information does not equate to lying? At least in the eyes of the Fae and in the rules that bind our kind?"

"To start with, the name is evoking Jimmy Kudo from Detective Conan and that just makes me certain wires got crossed... I intended to illustrate that, even at such a hypothetical meta level, whatever magic might tell you the truth is cannot be considered a constant. That you are capable of being mistaken, as well as under-or-overestimating me in this game we're currently playing."

"Moving back to lying by omission and other methods: I do consider everyone liars, but operate on faith until I'm disappointed. You're only reinforcing my point that there's a plethora of ways to lie without actually uttering a falsehood. Are you trying to lead me in circles, or simply inviting me to expect so little of you?"

The game was honestly a bit fun. Fang would start losing track of the moving pieces at some point, though. His short-term memory wasn't that amazing, so he is baiting a stress migraine. The two really were just playing semantics chicken until one of them lashes out or concedes.

"I also stand on no moral high ground about demons lying. I do caution you that the Tanar'ri are unique among outsiders in that, from the most lowly dretch all the way up to demon prince Demogorgon, each of us remembers and acts upon memories (and associated neuroses) of our mortal lives. Now, that statement does ignore the Liveborn- but they too have souls, and I contend that their being living proof of condemned souls driven to destruction choosing to create (for good or ill) makes them just as precious and complex. Point is: demons and humans can tell lies without having to be clever."

"Let's entertain the notion that Robin Goodfellow somehow did not utter a falsehood when he made the sweeping claim that 'friends are not something immortals have': there could be an implied 'the possibility that' from the first thing you posited that I may have overlooked, or it may be that such a broad statement only hasn't been refuted in your inherently narrow experience. Perhaps it's a philosophical nuance about 'have' implying ownership? Can anyone you own really be a friend? It can be as simple as an outright personal refusal to acknowledge any of those attachments as friendship... I also have no way of knowing if there's exceptions for misspeaking or other honest mistakes. Did you take any of this for granted? Do you seriously just believe everything you're able to say?"

[brucequeensteen]

unrelated but i was reading a fic the other night that kept saying "mind as well" instead of "might as well" and if it was just a one off mistake id shrug it off but then they KEPT using the SAME phrase over and over and it was wrong every time itkind of drove me crazy

[awkward-teabag]

I have to wonder how many people celebrating AI translation also complain about "broken English" and how obvious it is something was Google translated from another language without a fluent English speaker involved to properly clean up the translation/grammar.

Because I bet it's a lot.

I know why execs are all for it—AI is the new buzzword and it lets them cut jobs thus "save" money and not have to worry about pesky labour laws when one employs humans—but everyone else?

There was some outcry when Crunchyroll fired many of their translators in favour of AI translation (with some people to "clean up the AI's work") but I can't help but think that was in part because it was Japanese-to-English and personally affected them. Same when Duolingo fired many of their translators in favour of LLM translation. Meanwhile companies are firing staff when it's English to another language and there's this idea that that's fine or not as big a deal because English is "easy" to translate and/or because people don't think of how it will impact people in non-English countries.

Also it doesn't affect native English speakers so it doesn't get much headway in the news cycle or online anyway because so much of the dominant media is from English-speaking countries and English-speakers dominate social media.

But different languages have different grammar structures that LLMs don't do, and I grew up on "jokes" about people speaking in "broken English" and mocking people who use the wrong word when it was clearly a literal translation but the meaning was obvious long before LLMs were a thing, too. In fact, the specific way a character spoke broken English has been a way to denote their native tongue for decades, usually in a racist way.

Then Google translate came out and "Google-translated English" became an insult for people and criticism of companies because it was clearly wonky to native speakers. Even now, LLMs—which are heavily trained on English compared to other languages—don't have a natural output so native English speakers can clock LLM-generated text if it's longer than a sentence or two.

But, for whatever reason, it's not seen as a problem when it goes the other way because fuck non-English readers or people who want to read in their native tongue I guess.

[lesbianralzarek]

why does every article reporting on idf war crimes go "hamas, who started the war on october 7th with their brutal terrorist attack slaughtering innocent israeli civilians, has condemned the idf's use of-"? like, nearly verbatim every single time. we know about october 7th. we know by now. half the time, hamas isnt even relevant but they gotta find some way to sow doubt and numb any potential compassion responses. will you get fired if you show sympathy for murdered palestinian civilians without first adding a disclaimer saying its all their fault for being born in gaza? if you call "palestinians under 18" children? if you use the words "murdered" or "brutal" or "massacre" for acts that didnt occur on october 7th? if you call a spade a spade? why are israeli reports front page news without proper fact-checking but palestinian reporting is always "allegedly" even when theres video evidence? why does the idf not get the hamas treatment of reminding everyone that theyre biased before treating their words as law, like they havent been caught bold-faced lying again and again?

[daz4i]

some ships aren't romantic to me i just need them to fuck nasty and eat each other. with tongue

[mantisgodsdomain]

We ought to write more Pokemon fic some time. We want to recreate the Pokemon Manners/Human Manners cheat sheet that we made a few years ago we think that this site would like the Sliding Scale Of Politeness When Greeting A New Pokemon You've Never Met Before.

[sexybritishllama]

i can’t talk to people about translation because i'll start losing it and gnawing at people’s ankles. my litmus test is that if you think manga translations should always keep in the -san/-kun/-chan/etc honorifics for official english localisations you need to stay at least 100 feet away from me at all times

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

pls reblog

[nordic-language-love]

Traditionally when learning a language one watches TV shows in the language they're learning and subtitles in their native language (to start with) but I was looking for a place to watch DS9 episodes and found a Norwegian website but I can't turn subtitles off. So I have Norwegian subtitles and English audio, and it's definitely an interesting experience!