#maybe I will start simple and do some vocab when i can

[bare1ythere]

The frustrating thing about university is that while I'm learning a lot about My Major it leaves me with very little time to dedicate myself to much else

[onigiriforears]

After approx. 2-3 months of studying Japanese I started to read free graded readers online and then graduated to a collection of short stories that I purchased off of Amazon. I thought that the reason I was starting to have trouble understanding sentences was because I didn't know enough vocabulary but it was because I neglected grammar completely. It was sorta drilled into my head off of Youtube creators to just study kanji, vocab and simple sentences as much as possible before even touching grammar. I feel absolutely lost, dude. I am at the 5 month mark now. I can "breeze through" kanji for the most part. (as in, I can actually retain it in a decent amount of time) I decided to study grammar about a week ago. It is SO FREAKING HARD. I don't know if there's something wrong with me or what. I don't know if it's supposed to feel like what I thought I knew is being ripped apart at the seams, stapled together, and then torn apart again....but it does.

Do you have any tips for learning grammar? Is this feeling normal? Can you tell me when the pressure in my skull will subside? I am using Bunpro's free trial but I'm unsure if this tool will actually help me. I write tons of notes to flip through but I still fail to give them the nuanced answer they're looking for. I really enjoy the setup of Bunpro and I want to like it since it's similar to WK but I'm not sure if I'm going too fast or there's a better way to learn. I stopped learning 5 new grammar points a day and started doing only 2. (I also have Genki I and watch GameGengo. He explains things in a way that's easy for my brain to understand.) Sorry for the long post but any insight would be appreciated. I'm a bit nervous asking people in the language learning community for help or insight because a lot of them treat it as a way to show how fast they learned/1-up others. Tumblr's langlearn community is a lot different with what I've seen (or maybe I'm just following the right ppl lol)

Hi! Thank you so much for waiting for this response--I'm sorry it took so long. Your message was one of the ones that popped up when they locked my ask box (they actually still haven't answered me on why it was locked so 🤷‍♀️). To make up for that, I'm gonna be longwinded because I think that this is a super valid and important question that others may also want to know the answer to!!

Pls pls PLEASE DM me if none of this is helpful or if you'd like to talk more about what you think you need help with!!

I think that sometimes when we're learning a new language that we know is so overwhelmingly different from our own language, we focus on the things that we think will be the main hinderance and sometimes we forget the key points. You might be thinking "how did I forget grammar?" but I would say don't beat yourself up about it! Many of us focus on the things that we think are our problems(--the last time I studied for the JLPT, I focused on my weak point too much and then was frustrated with myself during the exam bc I neglected the other areas.)

I don't want to lie to you and say that learning grammar will is going to get easier because that's not the case for everyone. Think of learning grammar vs everything else as learning different types of math or science--have you ever had a friend that was absolutely phenomenal at algebra or calculus but couldn't do geometry? Or a friend that was wonderful lab partner in chemistry but struggled in biology? They're struggling in biology because it requires a ton of rote memorization in comparison to practical application and math that's present in chemistry and rote memorization may not necessarily be their strong point. Personally, I think that's also why a lot of us struggle with certain grammar points. There are some that just click with us immediately and then there are others that we have to see over and over and over and over and over--you get the point--just for us to find a single sentence with it that we understand. If you're math oriented, we need to figure out a way to no longer make grammar points rote memorization for you, but to turn it into a formula of some sort. I actually write my notes out in ways that are like that--I use plus signs (+) in my notes not because the textbooks use them but because my brain genuinely reads it as "noun + particle + grammar point = a sentence that makes sense" because, for me, formulas don't fail. Your weak point doesn't have to be your weakness--you can turn the weakness into a strength that works just for you.

I've been going at this for years and every single professor or Japanese friend (or even people from the discord server) I have can tell you that I've struggled with pretty much any grammar point that included ~ように--and it wasn't because I wasn't trying, but because I couldn't find myself using any sentences that with those grammar points because I found the alternatives/similar ones to make more sense. Surprisingly, it wasn't until I was reading 夜カフェ for our book club that I was actually able to start grasping the meaning (ngl, I still haven't used it myself--I'm notorious for using alternatives); I was finally witnessing it being used in a way that made sense in my brain.

The frustration you're feeling when you encounter a new grammar point or overload yourself with too many things in one go is completely normal and I promise that a ton of us in the Japanese langblr community have definitely experienced it too! It probably feels like everything you know is being ripped apart because your native language may have a SVO (subject-verb-object) format while Japanese has a SOV (subject-object-verb) format--your 1-to-1 translations for your notes may not be helpful in the beginning because you're still trying to wrap your brain around the fact that your words still need to go in another order than you're used to. And then you add the new grammar points and concepts on top of that (like particles and other things) and it can become overwhelming and frustrating. Sometimes, you're going to find some grammar points just downright annoying--especially when you find that there's no equivalency to it in your own language. But don't give up!

I know this is a super cliché thing to say, but practicing them will help. If you can, I would make note of the grammar points that you're struggling with, try to make sentences with them, and ask somebody to check them and explain exactly why (or why not) they're working and then ask them for examples because they may have an even better way of explaining it to you than what you've come up with for yourself!

I can look back at old notes and see when I wrote a sentence as an example just because a textbook/professor used it but I didn't actually understand why it worked at the time and then I can also find notes where the sentences written as examples were added once I finally found something that clicked for me.

You've already done yourself a favor by learning a lot of vocab, kana, and kanji because now you'll be able to try out an array of ways to pick up grammar instead of just a textbook. (I will make a note that if you're looking to take the JLPT, I would recommend having a list of grammar points that you would need to know for the level that you're planning on sitting for because there's no guarantee of what will or won't pop up on the test.)

Another important thing while you're practicing: be comfortable with making mistakes. We all make them, but when you're learning a new language it's important to be ready to make mistakes and to welcome them with open arms because it gives you a chance to experience and learn in real time.

ALSO: for you specifically--because you're interested in reading, you might enjoy learning grammar through tracking the different grammar points through what you're reading and using the sentences as your examples because they're all going to be cohesive. And if reading books or other things totally turn you off right now, maybe games? Animal Crossing and Pokemon are very nice games to play in Japanese for people that are just starting out! You may also enjoy using Lingo Legend--it's an JRPG language learning app that I beta tested and I think that it's a nice way to review (it has some fun incentives). I'm not a big gamer, so I struggle with learning through games, but I've been picking up a lot of grammar through reading because I focus on finding things that I'm interested in, rather than things that are "at my level." When I start a manga, I will scour a ton of websites and forums and bug a ton of people when I come across a grammar point that I can't wrap my brain around because I want to be able to understand what's going on.

We have book clubs and gamers in my discord server, as well as places for people to post what they're practicing or to ask for help. We have people of all varying levels and different skillsets that love to share their wisdom with others.

I haven't used Bunpro, but I know that @sammilearns has, so she may be able to weigh in on that! And @tokidokitokyo @nihongoseito @chouhatsumimi @kanpeki-bekki @burgeoning-ambition probably also have even more tips that me--I'm trying to tag people that I know we all learn in different ways, so their tips and tricks might be just what you need!

Please weigh in, fellow langblr members! How have you been learning grammar? Are you game-ifying it? Have you turned it into math equations? Have you managed to tie it in with your special interest? I can't wait to see what people add to this post!

[allthingslinguistic]

Language Guinea Pig Diaries #2: Highlights & Troubleshooting

I'm trying to improve my skills at four languages in preparation for summer travel: Italian, Dutch, Finnish, and Estonian.

Italian and Dutch I've studied a bit a while ago and I'm now trying to "activate" so I can hopefully have a conversation or two in them, while Finnish and Estonian I'm trying to pick up some rudimentary bits in. Here's the previous post in this series describing these goals and strategies in more detail.

Highlights

I've progressed from my menu of only gelato-making videos in Italian to other recipes in general, and in particular to lots of cooking videos from this popular Italian home cooking channel which was in the recommended videos after another one I watched. Maybe I'll branch out again at some point to other speakers, but for now it's nice to be able to stumble into more videos without having to think up new keywords to search. Also, I might need to make some of these recipes now...

The Dutch podcast listening is going well (though see weird issue below) and I especially like that the podcast I chose because it's the only podcast I knew in Dutch contains a mix of adult-to-adult and adult-and-child speech, which is a fun way to mix it up.

In Estonian, so far I have learned one (1) highly useful word, "tere", which this video tells me is an all-purpose neutral greeting (neutral with respect to both formality and time of day). Ooh, I've just realized while writing this post that it's probably cognate to Finnish "terve", a greeting I learned from Duolingo! (Yes, I just looked this up, seems like they both mean something to do with health.) So I've already learned one neat thing!

I'm also recognizing a few Estonian cognates from the Finnish Duolingo lessons, especially the verb "on" (which means "is"). I'm not recognizing many other words though, and I'm wondering how much of that is differing vocab and how much of that is not having learned many common words in Finnish yet (I've been especially chafing at how few verbs we've learned yet, it would be really useful to have a word like "I want" even if it's unanalyzed because the grammar is more complicated than they want to introduce early).

Youtube's algorithm has, after about a week, adjusted to the fact that I now want to watch videos entirely in Italian, and started recommending further Italian videos on my home feed (it was already doing so at the end of previous Italian videos). Tiktok's algorithm, so far, has not done this yet, and is still recommending me stuff in English, despite me aggressively liking basically all of the Estonian videos I watch and nothing else.

Troubleshooting

I've noticed that it's been easier to remember to do the podcast listening in Dutch and the youtube videos in Italian because I already have habits related to opening those apps, whereas I don't have habits around using tiktok so I kept forgetting to open it and look at some Estonian videos. But a couple days ago I moved the tiktok app on my phone to a more visible location, and now it's getting easier to remember.

Something else very weird that I noticed about listening is that when I play the tracks on my phone fairly loudly, it's relatively easy to focus on trying to listen to them, sometimes while playing a simple visual game on my phone for something to fiddle with (I've already noticed that unfamiliar languages need to be played louder than familiar ones). But when I beam the podcast over to my speaker at a distance, suddenly I very quickly start tuning out the unfamiliar language and opening up apps that involve reading and completely ignoring it. I have no problems listening to podcasts on speakers in English; in fact, it's my preferred method when I'm at home, but for some reason this causes my brain to reclassify Dutch as background noise to be ignored, even if it's the same loudness as it would be when it's played right near me. Super weird, has anyone else ever noticed anything like this?

Previously in Language Guinea Pig Diaries:

Summer 2024 travel plans and Language Guinea Pig Diaries

[kyouryuu-kyoushitsu]

Greetings, fellow language learners. I’m Sasha (He/They) and I’m very bad at Japanese. Seriously, I misspelt HAJIMEMASHITE as HAJIMEMASHITA on my dumb dino doodle and that’s one of the first bloody words you’re taught!  This is why I’ve come to Tumblr. I think blogging about it will be a nice way to keep myself on track of my educational journey and to meet other folks doing the same. I did have a Tumblr for this purpose a while back but I didn’t use it much then there was an issue with my email so now I can’t use it at all.

I am a beginner with knowledge of kana, maybe a hundred kanji (if I’m being generous), and some basic grammar and vocab. I can make simple sentences but definitely don’t have the knowledge to make any real stimulating conversation. Yeah, I sound like a concussed toddler when I try to speak Japanese. To be fair, it’s like that in English, too.

Expect a lot of posts about manga and games I’m trying to tackle in the language. I feel like I’m at that stage where I need to start immersing myself in Japanese more. Need to consume more media in it and try talking it (that’s why I downloaded HelloTalk). After all, there’s only so much textbooks can teach you and you need to actually use it for it to really sink in. I hope to make a weekly journal entry every Sunday saying what I did that week.

Well, nice meeting you all. I’m gonna go on the hunt for some other Japanese based Tumblr blogs to stalk now.

[jeannereames]

Dr. Reames, a simple question from someone interested in history but who is not part of the academic world: in order to study Alexander the Great and Ancient Greece in general, how much Ancient Greek does one have to learn? Would you need to learn Demotic Greek or the many other dialects, such as the one from Macedonia? As in, you’d need to learn one or more versions of Ancient Greek?

Thank you in advance! I always enjoy your responses!

How Much Greek Do I Need to Read about Alexander?

It depends on how far you want to go…what’s your end-goal?

If you’ve no desire to make it a profession, the good news is you need very little Greek.

Most ancient Greek and Latin texts are available in translation in the major languages of (European) Classical studies: English, French, German, Italian. Now, if you want them in Polish, or Japanese, or Bengali, you’ll have more of an issue. But the Loeb Classical Library (and LOEB ONLINE) has English translations of virtually all extant (still existing) Greek and Latin sources, and if you’ve got access to a (larger) college library, they probably have them, even if you have to ask them to get things out of storage. Latin is red (PA6156); Greek is green (PA3612). Budé is the French version of Loeb, btw.

Loeb texts also have Greek and Latin on the facing page, but I mention them because they’ve got translations of (almost) everything. One can find cheaper versions without the Greek/Latin from Penguin, Oxford, et al. But those don’t have, say, Aelian, or Athenaeus, or the obscure texts of Plutarch’s Moralia. Loeb does. That said, the Alexander histories (Arrian, Curtius, Plutarch, Diodoros, and Justin) are all available in relatively cheap translations. Much earlier, in answer to a different ask, I listed our main sources on Alexander, extant and lost. It’s a longer read, but perhaps of interest.

(See below for more online sources in translation.)

So, no, you don’t need Greek. But, if you’re at least moderately serious about reading beyond pop history, you will want to learn a few Greek words to better “get” Greek sensibilities. Say, timē (τιμή), which means honor/public standing/esteem, but has all these attendant connotations. If you start reading the Serious Stuff (articles and academic books), authors will throw these around so it’s useful to know them, as they tend to carry an entire freight of meaning we don’t want to explain every time we use them. These are words I make my students learn in my intro to Greek History class (2510), so there aren’t many. (Undergrads put up with only so much, ha.) For Alexander, it’s also useful to know the Greek names of some units, such as the Somatophylakes (the royal Bodyguard of 7), or the Hypaspists (the specialist hoplite phalanx, not the same as the Foot Companions), or even the name of the long pike (sarissa). But you can make do quite well with a vocab of maybe 30± Greek terms.

It's only if you want to pursue research at the advanced (graduate) level that you’d need Greek. Even then, it’s mostly Attic Greek. The only time you’d need dialects is for quite specific study and/or epigraphy (inscriptions). Epigraphers are language specialists. Most of us, even the “pros,” don’t work at that level. But yes, if you’re getting into extensive examinations of passages, it’s good to understand the language for yourself, not have to trust a translation. Translations are, by definition, interpretations.

I hope that encourages some folks to embark on reading the original (primary) sources. Of more import for these is to understand HISTORIOGRAPHY. Even those who can read the Greek, but lack historiographic training, tend to take stuff at face-value when they shouldn’t.

Go HERE for a discussion of historiography (with regard to Alexander). Again, it’s part of a specific ask, but I explain why we need to know something about the historians who are writing our texts, in order to understand those texts. It’s another longer read, but essential.

Almost forgot! If you prefer video, I've also talked about the sources on TikTok: Part I: Intro & Lost Alexander Sources and Part II: Extant Alexander Sources

Some Useful Online Sources to Bookmark:

Perseus (at Tufts.edu): clunky as hell because it’s old (in internet years), but indispensable. English/Greek/Latin/other texts in translation and original language, plus all sorts of other tools, including an image bank. Pitfall: these are translations outside copyright, so old and sometimes problematic. Still, it’s free, and so-so much stuff here. Every person dealing with the ancient Med world has this one on speed-dial. (You can find other online sources with various texts, but Perseus has, again, almost everything; it’s the online Loeb.)

Stoa Org Static: a version of the original where you don’t have to sign in. Takes you to various super-helpful pages, including the Online Suda (a Byzantine encyclopedia you can search: look up “Hephaistion” there. *grin*) Bunch of other helpful links.

Wiki Digital Classicist hypertext list of topics ranging from the Beasley Library (of pottery) to the Coptic Gnostic Library and various online journals. Just click around, see what’s there.

Topos Text: clickable map of places which includes all references to them in ancient sources. So if, say, you want to know where X places is, mentioned in Arrian, you can find it on the map.

PHI Searchable Greek Inscriptions: I have used the tar out of this. It’s much easier than Inscriptiones Graecae, and comes with English translations.

More Online Resources: more links. This is just one of various collections out there.

Again, ALL this stuff is free. Even when you may have to pay (like Loeb Online), the amount of material you can now lay hands on even without a uni library is fantastic.

JSTOR: requires a subscription, but, if you’re a college student or can get access via a uni library, you can look up material for free. Problem: JSTOR has different subscription packages, and only the really big Class-A Research schools have large holdings for Classics. I’m regularly foiled in things I need, as my library is smaller. I use ILL (Interlibrary Loan) a lot. If you can’t get what you want via your school JSTOR or ILL, sometimes you can purchase a solo copy of an article via JSTOR Google Scholar. But (hint) always check the journal’s website itself. It might be cheaper there! (The Ancient History Bulletin, for instance, is super-cheap; check their archives. Karanos [Macedonia only] is FREE.) Same thing sometimes with books. Certain publishers have rental options, Open Access, etc.

Also Academia.edu first: Your savior…if the author is a member, and has uploaded the paper you want. We frequently face restrictions on what we’re allowed to upload, and when. Yet we may list an article we can’t yet release publicly. That doesn’t mean we won’t send it to you privately via email if you message us and ask nicely. 😊 Especially if you’re not providing an entire wishlist, or asking for a book for free. It depends on the person, and whether they have a PDF.

[vivicantstudy]

hi girly!! i need your help. i’ve been learning spanish for about a year now, but i feel like i’m not retaining anything. i can say most basic sentences and somewhat hold a conversation, but i struggle with words and the endings like the present tense, past tense, and stuff like that. I was wondering if you have any methods or apps that can help me retain and understand the language a little more?

Helloooo! That’s awesome that you’ve been learning Spanish for a year! It’s totally normal to feel a bit stuck sometimes, especially with verb tenses and endings. Here are some tips that might help:

First, I recommend using simple apps for spaced repetition, like Anki. They’re easy to use and really help with retention. For verb tenses, create charts for verbs (like hablar: hablo, hablas) and practice filling them in regularly. Writing simple sentences or reading aloud can also boost your confidence.

I truly believe that the easiest and fastest way to learn is through immersion. Listen to podcasts, watch shows with Spanish subtitles, and read children’s books or news apps like El País. The more you surround yourself with the language, the better.

HelloTalk is great for chatting with native speakers, so don’t be shy about that and try talking to people more often. Also, create an account on Twitter/X and follow Spanish accounts. Engaging with others by replying to tweets can really help you practice.

To really incorporate Spanish into your life, include it in your hobbies. Change your phone and social media language settings, and try to play games or watch movies in Spanish. This way, you’ll constantly be exposed to the language in different contexts.

Try talking to yourself. You can do this in the mirror or create scenarios in your head. I love Spanish dramas, so I often pretend I’m inside a novel and start talking to myself. It’s actually a lot of fun and helps you see exactly what you don’t know, allowing you to practice the specific words and sentences you need to improve.

Honestly, what might feel the silliest, like talking to yourself, keeping a diary, creating a chatting account, or even reading or watching kids’ books, can actually help you the most. If you’re struggling with the basics, you need to start with the simple stuff. Maybe your mind is too full, making it hard to keep going, so simplifying your approach can really help.

You might also try keeping a diary in Spanish or making collages and journals. Decorate your Spanish notebook (get a real one if you don’t have it; writing helps with absorption). This creative process can make learning feel more personal and engaging.

For more structured learning, try Lingvist or Clozemaster for grammar and vocab. Conjugato is great for practicing verb conjugations, and Busuu lets you interact with native speakers. SpanishDict is also super helpful for checking conjugations and grammar rules.

Start with the present tense, then move on to past tenses like preterite (for completed actions) and imperfect (for ongoing actions). When you feel comfortable, dive into the subjunctive, which is used for wishes and doubts.

I don’t know how you’re learning or the best way for you to do it since everyone is different. But if you haven’t tried immersion yet, I highly recommend it. I also got stuck with Spanish, but after I started immersing myself, I felt like things got better.

Good luck ( ˘ ³˘) ₊˚⊹ᡣ𐭩 I’m glad that my blog has made you comfortable enough to send me a message. If you want something more specific, don’t hesitate to ask me; I might be able to help! I’m not fluent, but as someone who has faced many difficulties, I’ve had to research learning methods that might be useful. ¡Que tengas un gran día, chiquita!

[four-loose-screws]

Blog Update 23.9.13

Hello to all reading, and happy "it's basically fall now!"

TLDR version: the FE2 novelization has been the hardest book set of my translating career, and I have decided that I will alternate uploads of FE2 and the next novel on my list, a much easier one - FE6 - to not exhaust myself.

Full version:

Things are still doing well for me IRL, but my summer didn't go exactly as planned as far as my translating and blogging goes. I was ordered to come into the office more days a week out of seemingly nowhere, so my guarantied afternoon translating time disappeared completely. I now have another hour cut out of my day. I've kept on pace with the novels because I can squeeze in a little quiet time in the evenings, but free moments to complete all other translating activity have become extremely spotty.

This timed all too terribly with another challenge... the FE2 novel is the most difficult one yet!!

As I've said before, I've set myself up to be 6 months ahead of my tumblr queue on the novel translations. This means I'm already very far into the first FE2 book. And... it's driving me crazy!! Each page is filled with dense paragraphs and tons of high level vocab I've never seen before in my life. I even started thinking maybe I'm rapidly losing my Japanese, and this is the end of my hobby... But when I read anything else in Japanese... no, I still understand it fine. There just so happens to be an FE novel set with some really flowery prose.

Regardless of the challenge, I decided to dive right in, with a feeling that I would find a solution soon enough. It hasn't been easy. I've dropped every other hobby to keep up the 2 pages a day pace I've made my standard. I could easily translate 2 pages in 30 mins to 1 hour while translating FE7 and 8. Now... I can be sitting there for up to 2 hours pushing myself through to the end every day.

But I was right that I would reach the solution soon enough... and it was so simple! Why don't I just take the next book in my lineup - FE6 - and alternate translating and releasing novel sets instead? So that is exactly what I will do. FE6 was written as a set w/ FE7 by the same author, so I know it will be much easier. I breezed through the FE7 translation, even being a 600+ page behemoth between both books!

And everyone waiting for FE6 novel translation will start getting it much sooner than anticipated! Surprise!

Thank you for your understanding as I am continuously figuring out the best way for me to fit as much translation into the little time I have as possible!

All that being said... do be excited for the FE2 novelization next year - it's still my favorite yet in terms of content! With FE2 being on the Famicom and having much simpler storytelling than any FE after it, the story really needed a lot of originality on the writer's part to work as a novel. And did he ever deliver! He really respected all of the story beats of the game, while adding in embellishments to make the characters and battles come to life. He knows how to craft some intense, memorable moments. Plus it is amazing to read this 30 year old novelization after Echoes' release a few years ago - seeing how the author vs. the Echoes team took the story and characters in different directions is a fun comparison. I'll stop myself here so I don't spoil anything yet! ;)

[gaoootic]

Today marks one year of when I started learning jp sorta just because. Well I think it was on the 8th but the 365 days are up so whatever!!!

This isn't actually a jp learning blog but I guess I'll frame the post for someone who's tryna get into it for ease of writing. (no silly mspaint doodles this time around for lack of time sadly)

Things I learned: ☼ shit like basic grammar, apparently I'm up in the N3 trenches fighting for my life right now, but I still feel like I don't have a good enough solid foundation. This will likely fill itself out in time with actual use. ☼ Roughly between 2500-3000 words (though I'd say most are barely at 'seen' level rather than learned) ☼ Around 600 isolated kanji (though again mostly just recognition, in reality I'm basing most of my so-called knowledge on whether I could stare at it for 5 minutes and go "OH ITS THAT... FUCKIN THING, MAYBE" off the top of my head) ☼ I am way more stubborn than I thought I was and I already thought it was plenty. ☼ You don't actually have to be organized and keep everything nice and pretty to be studying, if you get it done you get it done and that's that. ☼ YOU CAN DO FUN STUFF WITH YOUR IME LOOK AT THIS ※↓↗☞☆彡 it's so good they made a bunch of unique little unicode characters or whatever they are and decided to gate them all behind esoteric weeb knowledge ｙｏｕ　ｃａｎ　ｅｖｅｎ　ｔｙｐｅ　ｗｉｄｅ

Things I liked: ☼これはペンです ☼ I've been reading nichijou with a lot of lookups and all, and though I do feel confused most of the time still sometimes I look at stuff and just straight up understand it which often warrants the good old 'huh cool.' reaction. ☼ Calling it a routine may be a bit much but checking "doing the jp stuff" off my mental to-do list for the day feels nice ☼ Watching number go up in terms of stats is fun ☼ A bunch of nerds made so many tools and books and videos and more to learn this thing I'm like a thief scurrying about taking all their knowledge they just left out by the window to cool down what fools. ☼ Seriously, even when I'm making the most sluggish of advances through hordes and hordes of sentences and textboxes, playing a game in its original language or reading a volume of manga is really cool. At the moment of doing it I don't really think about how strange it is to be able to do so, but reading something while abiding by rules you don't fully grasp and still coming out with an adequate understanding of what was going on is oddly entertaining. ☼ I managed to get through a full playthrough of Tokimeki memorial 1 which, although I believe it has an english fan translation, is a JP only game with relatively simple writing. I recommend it if you don't vomit at the sight of dating sims if only as a way to test whether you understand like 80% of stuff and get some new vocab in. Careful with the text scrolling speed tho ☼ It is nice to have something to be a little ambitious about ☼ anki and kanji

Things I didn't like: ☼ Grammar. hell. ☼ Typing ん still, fucker ☼ By the gods if you ever decide to take this chungus ass hobby up consider VERY, VERY CAREFULLY if you want to interact with the surrounding community. Everywhere I look it's people meticulously calculating the single best possible way to study down to the microsecond. It is insane to me that people are playing ranked on this language and aiming for world record holy fuck. On the surface I understand the sentiment of wanting to be efficient and productive about it, but some seem to take it so far. You cannot learn a language in a month. Hell, not even in a year, probably not in two either. I think so, at least. ☼ Your yt recommended videos won't stop giving you jp learning related stuff which is a difficult hole to claw out of. Not actual jp stuff, jp adjacent content. I had to make a second account for actual jp stuff and change location to japan every time I use it otherwise I'm almost certain it would further mess everything up. This isn't necessarily the fault of the japanese language itself, but it has bothered me for so long. It's all like... beginner blackhole too. Which makes sense due to the nature of bigger number of people = bigger number of profit, but nevertheless it is rather irritating. ☼ The overabundance of tools there are for learning gets a bit overwhelming at first because you don't know wtf to pick and stick to and people will always debate "no this is good" "no this is bad" "dude you literally cannot learn grammar off of the back of a cereal box you are delusional" ☼ I forgot languages, specifically in casual speech, tend to just omit like half the rules because you're assumed to already know how it works. In jp alone you see things like particle omission, conjugation abbreviations, the usage of stuff like pronouns, etc etc. And like, sure it's fun once you actually GET what is going on but when you think about it it's a little funny how languages just make up a bunch of rules and then go "yea they take too long whatever lets skip these unless we need to look fancy" ☼ I also forgot words have very specific nuances that you can't easily grasp when you first get started ☼ anki and kanji again

Things I want to try to do in the future: ☼ First contact already was sort of a disaster (Word by word I believe I was told ビジネスっぽい in good nature but I couldn't help getting flashbacks at when I got told I sounded or used an archaic expression in english class and thus I got utterly obliterated instantly (not even ashes left behind)) but it'd be nice if In the future when I'm not as absolute dogwater at actual production I could find jp speakers to once in a blue moon write a message to for 8 hours and then have them go ???何これｗ because I wrote it in ultra keigo (DO NOT USE THE KANJI FOR YOROSHIKU DO NOT DO IT) with broken grammar. If I pluck up enough courage for it, that is. Or enough stupidity, either works. May whatever deity help whoever I end up crossing. ☼ I'd like to venture more into watching actual youtube videos in japanese. However, for that, I sorta need to think pretty deliberately on what type of video I want to watch. Not only because I'm sure it'll range widely from level to level in just about any topic, but also because thinking about what to watch is a bit of a hassle. More rewarding, though. ☼ I'll keep reading manga first because it's what I'm more comfortable with, but I'd also like to get started on listening comprehension because man do I absolutely suck ass at that. ☼ Reach the level of a 2-year-old kid's proficiency ☼ 上手になりますよ‼️‼️MAYBE ペラペラ that one's still up in the air

Some advice if someone stumbles upon this post: ☼ Take stuff one day at a time. And I seriously do mean this. Do not focus on your goals or objectives and get discouraged unless you feel like you really have to, I found just going "HELL YEAH +5 WORDS TODAY" to be more rewarding (even when I wasn't feeling all that accomplished) compared to busting my own balls over whether I fully grasped each and every delicate grammar point in a sentence. Believe me it doesn't feel like it at all when you're in the middle of it but the thing about learning a language is that every little footprint you make ends up mattering more than you'd initially think. ☼ Not everything will have furigana, hell I doubt most things will, so get some sort of OCR thing to take screenshots for kanji lookups on yomitan or whatever, you will go absolutely batshit insane if you use jisho.org's radical lookup tool or try to draw them by hand. HOW are you meant to use that if you do not even know stroke order, the recognition in those things is godawful. ☼ Anki word reviews hit 100 times harder than new words, if you're studying other stuff at the same time seriously be mindful of your limit and lower how much you do in a day or you will go mad ☼ Streaks ARE helpful but ultimately don't let them define your behaviour ☼ If people tell you this is easy they are either lying to you because they want your money for some course they're selling or they aren't expressing themselves very well. Learning jp is "easy" in the sense that the activities you do to attain that goal aren't exactly overly strenuous, but it is a time sink and a braincell sink also. or idk they're doing that thing where they go "HMPH.... WHAT A PEASANT......... HOW DAREST THEE NOT BE COGNISANT IN THE WAYS OF THE BLADE.... FOR ME IT WAS QUITE SHRIMPLE, REALLY. 🦐" just to flex that some people enjoy doing. I think it's entertaining personally maybe a little endearing ☼ Whenever possible be more pragmatic than idealistic or rigid as regards usage. Sounding like a textbook is fine its what you learnt probably, doing the wrong pitch accent I'm sure is whatever in 99% of cases, stringing together an entire sentence with only words and 0 grammar linking them is probably worth doing provided you can be understood. If it works it works. ☼ Golden rule is halfass it then go back sometime later once you're more advanced and fullass it. As long as you sorta understand and get the gist of it, move on and keep going. Otherwise, you will get stuck. For the longest time I struggled to remember stuff like い adj and な adj "conjugations" but you do this thing where you're forced to revisit concepts anyways later on so you can just do lookups then. ☼ Actual golden rule is just do whatever works best for you ☼ but don't use chatgpt lmao

And now for some stats.

no clue what any of this shit means.

whoaaa look at this cool graphics I hit 40k reviews whoaa

Wonder how accurate some of these are because 9.53s per card does not sound right and considering the usage of other tools 106 hours is nowhere near right

shoutout to those 1 am reviews I did once Random thoughts and other tidbits ☼ N5 AND EVEN N4 TO AN EXTENT CONTENT IS SO BORING!!! I swear if I have to read about that one chihuahua again bro oh my god. Most of the time you'll end up reading something that's a bit too hard for you because it uses grammar found deep within the mariana trench cuz that's the only stuff I seemingly find fun. I've been rereading my alltime favorite manga again this time in jp and I swear even if it has furigana this shit is throwing hands. Still, I don't mind reading something a little more out of my level if it means not dying of boredom. Maybe I just didn't find anything particularly engaging and it was a skill issue on my part though. ☼ ヰ looks so cool why did they get rid of it canonizing it now Avvino's name in jp would be アッヸノ regardless of whether its some sort of aberration of the language whatever I get to play with it because you threw it away EXCEPT FOR THE WORD WHISKEY SOMETIMES LIKE- ☼ Ateji and rendaku will haunt my nightmares. Sometimes the language feels like a slot machine but its fine because gambling keeps me on my toes i guess ☼ I was such a little fool back then. What an innocent man. Thinking "wow why don't they just use their phonetic alphabets and spaces for writing?" You absolute cretin. I tried so hard to play the old pokemon games but I am too weak to face full hiragana writing. god. the sorrow. ☼ I wonder how long it'll take for someone to go "OMG WOW YOU'RE LEARNING JAPANESE??? SAY SOMETHING :O" but I guess for that to happen I kinda need to meet people first. I haven't even been told うおおお日本語上手ですね yet why do i even bother ☼ IMAGINE ALL THE REVENUE I COULD'VE GOTTEN IF I MADE MY OWN SHITTY CLICKBAIT SERIES.... GOD......... ☼ Physically restraining myself from using kenjougo internally in my brain every time I try to come up with a sentence even if it would be broken and not even remotely correct has proven difficult but i WILL sound like a normal human being. eventually. with some luck. I hope. please

☼ Talking to yourself like some sort of little creature in a terrarium works again! It is a wonderful method and it even makes you look absolutely insane. what's not to love? ☼ 2k6k deck is... wtf.... I mean its whatever ultimately since you just want a baseline of words to then be able to read most of what you actually want to end up reading but the more I do of it the more......... wtf......... guess it goes with me being a salaryman (100% factual btw) ☼ I wonder if there are actual learners who do handwriting like... legit. Like they learn the stroke order and practice each and every single kanji they come across. I would die. I can't even write kana as evident from the mirrored の half a year ago on that post I did from memory. ☼ JP is a really fun language to play around with actually. Like yea sure you WILL have people staring at you with dread because of your creations but so what? a little horror has never hurt anyone ☼ Why do people even like duolingo I cannot use that thing for shit I find it so annoying ☼ the amount of little quirks japanese has is so vast there must be like an iceberg for this. Things like は sounding like わ as a particle at the top and then stuff such as forbidden kanji version of words a little below. Best way to jumpscare me would be with a random 此処 encounter, look at that beastie. ferocious Im sure of it ☼ everywhere i look people treat jp and jp stuff so weirdly lol not me though Im different and one of the good ones and built different so its fine (true and real) ☼ oh I should check out if I can read Ib in jp I fucking love that game ☼ one time I used the word dust but not the word dust itself rather the word dust that meant garbage in japanese and then someone pointed it out because it was a silly self deprecating joke I think and I will never live that down I erased whatever it was I wrote and never showed my face around that discord server ever again in my life this is what exile felt like in the middle ages. I haven't even read what was said I bet it wasn't even that bad. ☼ typing in japanese in minecraft is such a pain in the ass for some reason ☼ One year isn't that much time even when you're crawling day after day ☼ I learned to play riichi mahjong btw not well but I guess I thought "sure I mean I guess might as well" not in like real life but online game rules and it's decently fun enough honestly, I thought it was way more complicated than it really was but it helps when you can see what number kanji shit is. why is 5 different though

Closing thoughts.

So, congratulations shitass. You made it to one year. I'll be generous and grant myself full credit this time. Even if time goes on regardless, it is no small task to accomplish to do this each and every day, however easy it may technically be. 上出来でしたぜ。

Final verdict was this a waste of my time? are my results up to this point disappointing? am I gonna give up anytime soon?

fuck if i know but for tomorrow i'll keep doing it, and then after that day I'll ask myself if I wanna continue again, and so on. It's just a hobby at the end of the day, it is what you make of it.

[cries-in-fat]

Week #1 check-in for Japanese

I wanted to separate my physical and mental health from learning a language; that's why Japanese is solo.

#3 Learn Japanese

My ambitions were bigger than my reality.

I wanted to do at least one grammar point a day, plus all Anki reviews.

Wait, I did not share my plan. 

Alright, the primary grammar source is Cure Dolly: https://www.youtube.com/@organicjapanesewithcuredol49

She makes Japanese grammar simple and logical. I've read somewhere that her reasoning is not always applicable to all the scenarios that can happen in real language. But I couldn't care less about that. I need enough information to parse a sentence and start immersing ASAP. If her explanation does not fill all the gaps, immersion will. Well, at least to some extent. I've been immersed in English for years, and I don't feel like I understand everything and can always express everything correctly.

Other grammar resources will come when I need them. For now, I just google what is unclear and clarify it from various sources.

I also wanted to try WaniKani, but the price is not reasonable for what is behind the paywall. And that is only the system itself, not the data. And I like Anki more than their system - I want to be able to grade myself.  If the word is difficult and I recall it after thinking, I would hit Hard in Anki; the same cannot be done in WK. And the other way around - if I make a typo, it's alright to correct it in Anki but not in WK. 

Morally, I was conflicted about it, but I downloaded an Anki deck from Reddit that is using WK resources. Even though the data are accessible for free, I felt bad. But I started going through the deck, and the mnemonics that I thought were so valuable are often pretty... weird and annoying. Quite a few of them are random names, like Chou, Jourm, Kouichi, and Shougun... Other mnemonics don't really reflect the reading correctly, e.g. 'row' for 'ryou'; I typed in 'rou' several times. I am in the system already, and more than half of those mnemonics are OK, so I will fix those that are not useful and come up with better ones for myself.

For vocab, I downloaded Japanese Core x000 Vocab decks, where x is 1 through 6. I am going through the first deck slowly, but I think it's important not to overwhelm myself with reviews.

During the first week, I realised that I also needed to add grammar to Anki. Making notes is cool, but I need to actively recall the information.

For the past week, I was consistent with Anki, so vocabulary and kanji are getting some attention. Regarding grammar, that is a bit worse - I made notes till lesson 14, but I have only four lessons in my Anki deck.

I don't have the mental power to process grammar after work. Maybe it's OK to leave grammar for weekends.

We will see how it goes.

[falchionier]

Check out the CI novellas too! They’re like $8 a pop and usually pretty good. They’re usually pretty indie, so sometimes they’re not as well-edited as something professional (and especially Lance P’s can sometimes be a bit… experimental), but I usually find them more interesting than the stories in Orberg. I personally tend to like Rachel Beth Cunning’s and Andrew Olimpi’s (though he kinda fell off for a while there) here’s a list of all of them

Since teachers like to use these, you’ll also find lots of Kahoots and Quizlets for these books. Try to find the ones that ask you about plot, not just simple vocab and grammar.

In my classes, we read Ego Polyphemus at the end of Latin 1 as our first novella. This puts you at about ch 6 or 7 in LLPSI.

The key is extensive comprehension. IMO, the best way to ensure that is with a variety of protocols, like asking and answering questions to yourself after reading a chunk of text, annotating (in L1 or L2), a “top down web”, or, my personal favorite, the “three reading” protocol. Justin Slocum Bailey of Indwelling Language has a great write up of that.

Also check out Satyra Lanx, FoundInAntiquity and Latinitas Animi Causa on YouTube! LLPSI has a bunch of supplements on YouTube too. (Of varying qualities— one of the big guys doesn’t quite have a grasp on language pedagogy)

Quid es Tu is a great podcast also. Maybe not for a pure beginner, but I still think it’s really good.

Oh hey also check out the Legentibus app. It’s really slick and has some great content. It might be a little much for a pure beginner (the creator has a habit of calling things “for beginners” when they’re super not). But it’s a really well done app with lots of functionalities that do make things easier.

I’d really really recommend, if you can afford, checking out online classes. I can personally vouch for Latinitas Animi Causa and ThePatrologist’s classes. There’s a ton of benefits to being able to learn in a community. And they have classes meant for total beginners.

Down the road, when you’re ready to experience Real Latin™ I highly recommend tiered readers. I usually introduce them at the end of Latin 3 in a highly scaffolded environment. If you do use LLPSI as your anchor text, I’d say to start exploring tiered readers when you finish all of Familia Romana. (Of course you can start earlier if you get bored). I’d avoid the Project ARKHAIA ones (free tiers of the AP selections). Olimpi and Hurt probably have the best ones on the market right now.

My biggest recommendation is to read something easy and interesting, as that is how the language sticks, not with drill and “hard work.” Read fluidly, and don’t worry at first about understanding things word-for-word. “I can understand the basic subject and a few select details” is about what you should be shooting for as a novice. Of course, the more comprehension, the better. Try to understand the Latin as Latin, not as a code to be deciphered into English. And finally, don’t get discouraged if you’re not able to speak, write, or figure out the grammar rules. This will take years. I didn’t start speaking Latin confidently until like my fourth year as a teacher.

PS: recursion is good! Re-reading and re-listening are very powerful language acquisition tools as long as you are getting new content or new angles in there, too.

resources to start learning latin?

hello!

I'm perhaps not the best person to ask about this,

I was lucky enough to be able to learn Latin at school for many years, which gave me enough of a basis of knowledge to be able to understand grammars/dictionaries/explanations on the internet when I wanted to learn more.

I've seen a lot of recommendations for the book series Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata by Hans Ørberg, which aims to teach Latin a bit like modern languages are taught to children:

the books are entirely in Latin, with pictures, and start from the absolute basics and move up from there, intending you to sort of learn it by immersion - they also have exercises which if I remember correctly do have answers included.

I own the first book, and I attended a conversational Latin class that was based on the book. I think it could be very helpful, but I imagine for a lot of people it might get very frustrating at the start because of the lack of guidance. if you want to try that I imagine you can get started for pretty cheap/probably free, I bet there's a pdf somewhere.

I don't think I can particularly recommend the Duolingo course, which I've also looked at. it could I suppose be a start, but it really doesn't teach you enough, and it doesn't strike me as having been made out of love for the language, which Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata certainly was.

there's probably something better out there and tailored to your interests/learning style, but I can't think of it at the moment

maybe (and I hesitate to recommend this) check out the r/latin subreddit. speaking of hesitating to recommend things I'm sure there are like 80 thousand classicists who hate Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata for some reason or another, but it's what comes first to my mind

anyone else who reads this feel free to weigh in

[x-chubby-reader]

Oh MY GOD what about Bakugou, kirishima, and sero who get hit by a quirk who turns them into a lil toddler or whatever and they’ve got the biggest crush on their chubby/plus size classmate 🥺🥺

A/N - I literally love this idea so much, thanks to @fandom-fander for helping out with this headcannon.

Not Prof Read

Lowercase Intentional

Cursing

Toddler!Bakugo, Kirishima, and Sero x Plus size reader

Bakugo

aizawa sure as hell didn't feel like dealing with the angry pomeranian in minature form

he decided to leave the boy with the class and let them decide among themselves on who should watch the little firecracker for the day

extra credit anyone?

everyone immediately pinned the responsibility on you

kirishima, he didn't feel like getting screeched at by a small bakugo and needed to apparently go study

he also knew that bakugo had a fondness for you in his teenage form, so why not see if he still has it

fr little bakugo pretends to hate your guts

somehow this little toddler has the most hurtful insults

“you can't even get a boyfriend? that's pretty sad.”

suddenly choking out a child is okay

do it… no one has to know how it happened

even though he had pretended to hate you, he still kept trying to show off to you 

you decided to take him out on a little bike/tricycle ride? homeboy flipped it trying to show off how fast he could go and then proceeded to complain about scraping his knee

hey at least he got your attention

he is a literal leash kid fight me oh my god

bakugo will simply run away

you expected him to listen? oh you're in for a surprise

the only option that you give him is to either wear the embarrassing monkey pack or to hold your hand

he immediately grabs your hand and is literally so giddy and its adorable my lord-

smiles for days my heart i can’t-

he may seem all happy and nice, but that can flip in a minute

he’s the biggest brat sometimes and you are literally this close to punting him across the room

you don't get him something that he wants? little pomeranian boy will turn into a velociraptor child in an instant

the decimals that that kids voice can reach up to is kind of impressive not going to lie

“no bakugo, you can't have that right now maybe later-”

screech

thankfully he tires himself out quick enough to set him down for a nap

but nothing is ever simple, is it?

he wont go to sleep without you though, claiming that there are monsters and he needs to know where you are so he can protect you

no matter how many times you had explained to him that there weren't any monsters around, you slowly succumbed to his pleas

almost feeling bad for him, he just looked so serious about how you could get hurt that it made you feel bad

you didn't notice how much taking care of a kid took out of you until now

you had made a mental note to apologize to your mom for having to deal with you when you were younger later

As soon as you settled down on the couch with the toddler laying on top of you, you almost instantaneously passed out

oh boy were you in for a surprise when you woke up to a teen bakugo, still curled into your torso

he looked up to you after feeling you stir, he almost had a smirk on his face before burying his head back  into you 

mostly to hide the redness spreading over his face, he wasn’t going to admit that he was blushing

no way in hell

he just mumbled a “later” before his breaths softened into a steady pace

yeah, you may be stuck here for a bit

Kirishima 

you were there for the whole thing

red-top had pushed you out of the way of an incoming quirk blast and suffered the consequences

he became young again, almost too young

you felt bad

and who wouldn’t

so of course you took it upon yourself to watch him until the effects wore off

the thing you learned about him was that he was an even touchy-er child

homeboy just wanted to be held all the time

just climbing up and latching himself onto your calf

it was adorable but hard to walk with

If you pick him up, you’ve basically sworn an oath with the devil himself

you cannot put him down 

ever 

he gives the most pitiful looks when you do and drags his feet when you walk

he also wont leave you alone

so curious in whatever your doing at that exact moment

and he is impressed by everything you do

“what are you doing?”

“reading”

“wow so cool!”

a bug came in through the window and he screamed

you walked in all nonchalant, grabbed your shoe, and smacked that some of a bitch into a next dimension

he lit up omfg

“wow y/n, that was so manly!”

you brought him in to class since it had been a school day and were too afraid to tell aizawa about the incident

the girls were literally all over him

i mean, who wouldn’t be all over an adorable and friendly (looking at you bakugo) kid?

and the pebble boy was lapping up the attention like a thirsty dog on a hot day

you never expected him to act like this

shy maybe, but then again he was pretty outgoing in his teenage form

he was grinning from ear to ear

literally posing like a mini body builder and making little huffing noises

even you couldn’t help it, letting a little aww out like most of the other girls

this had been causing a slight disturbance to the class

so the whole going to school thing was pointless as aizawa sent the two of you home anyways

he is already a tired dad, he dosen’t need to be dealing with a toddler right now

putting the little strongman on your back you began to walk

you had been hoping that the effects would wear off in a few more hours 

but nothing ever goes to plan dose it?

while you had been walking, you noticed a significant weight increase, but just decided to ignore it

hey you were more sturdy and thicc, you wern’t no pussy, why stop all of a sudden because of the extra weight?

the only single thing that had alerted you to kiri being fully back was the whisper in your ear

instead of a sqeaky and mousy voice, you heart a more smooth and even comment

“hey stranger”

girl you dropped him and ran, him having to catch up to you

he has the audacity to give you a heart attack, he better suck it up

Sero

this was the same situation as bakugo, aizawa just didn’t want to deal with the kid

and especially a kid who kept mixing up two languages

he really was just so one

aizawa gave him the option to go to anyone

of course he ran straight to you, clinging onto your calf, as that was as high as he could reach

hey you looked the most inviting and least scary

he was literally terrified of bakugo and almost started to bawl is eyes out when he went near him

though he calm down slightly when he went down to get to a similar height as him. 

why wouldn’t you take the opportunity to watch a cute little kid and skip class

hey, aizawa said whoever watched him got extra credit

but there soon was a slight problem that you noticed

well not really a problem, but more of a hurdle

with sero being raised in a household that spoke both english and spanish, he started to mix the two, not knowing any better

he would be asking for “leche” and you would just stand there trying to understand with your limited vocab

just the loading circle above your head whenever he started to talk

but you managed with google translate and going off of the vast amount of spanish soap operas you watched at 3 am once a week

surprisingly, he was a very artistic kid

at least every ten minutes he would walk over to you and hand you a squiggly picture of a flower, you, or him and you holding hands

and he would just giggle before running away to make another

bro heart go melt 

being pre occupied with some papers that the father teacher had sent home with you, sero couldn’t get your attention

he might of forgotten your name and got stuck in a predicament

then the most rational thing popped into his head

well his dad called his mom “mi amor” and you and his mom were both pretty ladies

it made total sense to him so he went with it

“hey...”

nothing

“hey...”

nothing again

“hey... mi amor~”

your head shot up immediately

since he noticed that the name had gotten your attention, he just started using it

when he had shifted to being a teen again, the two of you never mentioned the name again

until a few days later when he was back to normal in class

homeboy was trying to get your attention and the multiple taps on the shoulder weren't cutting it

he got an idea

“hey... mi amor~”

yep that got you immediately

and he still uses that nickname for you

[violetnotez]

Can you please make JJK boys HCs where their s/o is multilingual? Like they speak several languages and sometimes get asked around in Tokyo by foreigners and they get jealous bc they think it's hot but can't understand a single word at the same time. I just think it'll be cute and funny! ( U can ignore if u like) thank you tho ❤️

HC: S/O IS MULTILINGUAL | JJK

Music Genre: Rock | JJK

Characters: Gojou, Yuuji, Megumi

Warnings: cursing + slightttt suggestive content (if ya squint)

Music Collection | Tip Jar | Requests

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ:

Shop Owner’s Note: Omg how could I ignore this! Thank you so much anon for requesting, this ask is just the cutest! It isn’t very long, so I hope that’s okay-I literally wrote this at like 12 in the morning so if it’s a shit show I’m sorry 😂💀

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ:

The first time he hears you talk in another language it’s GAME OVER

He is instantly in love with the way you sound in this other language-whether it be English, Spanish, Turkish, Chinese, etc

He just thinks it’s so hot

Keeps asking you to say certain phrases in your language,,,,

It’ll start out simple like “Good morning,” and “How are you?”

But Gojo being Gojo, he’ll progressively make the phrases more intimate and flirtatious, asking you to say his name with your slight accent change from the language, how to say “I love you”,,,,,

The dude Probabaly found a new kink of his tbh 😂💀

Asked you how to say “beautiful” and now that’s your new pet name now

He really loves it when you have any chance to use your language, because you sadly speak in it so rarely even though it sounds so beautiful to him

But what he doesn’t like is when you talk to people for a freaking LONGGGGG time

Gojo is hoenstly really hyper sometimes, so if your helping a tourist in the middle of Tokyo, especially if your on your way to Gojou’s favorite bakery

This dude will do everything in his power to break you away

He tries to be subtle about it at first, like holding your hand and giving it a small squeeze,

But your not even noticing and now your laughing at whatever this random person said and he doesn’t even know what your saying...

it kinda irks him so much of your attention isn’t on him, so his solution to that is wrapping his arms around your waist, encasing you from behind

“Tell then you have to go doll, I’m starving ya know,” he whispered this into you ear, and the way he says it makes you think he’s not starving for food (if ya catch my drift) 👀😳

So with big shocked eyes and teeth biting your lower lip, you quickly bid the stranger farewell and follow Gojo, hands firmly placed in his

Gojo is hoenstly just really good at getting you to do what he wants, it’s kinda scary at this point 💀

Omg he is just amazeddddddddd

Like whoa he’s s/o is pretty, brave, AND smart?!

Damn he feels so lucky rn 🥺

He’s so excited by this new revelation, with a huge, boyish smile and eyes sparkling

If you ever try to downplay your language speaking skills, like “Oh I’m not very good at it” or “It’s not that big of a deal, a lot of people speak it” he won’t be having any of it!

Yuuji is your biggest hype man, just forcing you to be proud of yourself sometimes

“Cmon y/n you gotta admit it’s pretty cool! Some people can barely speak one language...and you can speak a whole other one!”

Deifnitely begs you to teach him, so whenever you to are out together, you’ll point out objects with your free hand that isn’t holding Yuuji’s, telling him what the objects are called in your language

Yuuji is surprisingly a very quick learner! He has struggles with grammar, but he’s very good at learning the Vocab

Your proudest moment tho was when Yuuji stubbed his toe on his bed and Sukuna must have felt it to,

Cause as Itadori was yelping Sukuna locked through Itadori’s cheek, and cussed in your language 💀

Itadori loves it when you help other people, cause it reminds him of how selfless and kind you are

Yet it just bothers him when other guys talk to you

Especially if they seem to be into you...making you laugh and smile, and they’re giving you that one “look” that kinda hints at their real motives in talking to you

And he’s just like - The hell bro I’m right here.

The worst part is that he really doesn’t know what your saying...sure, he can pick up a few words now but not able to piece the conversation together

Sukuna is calling him a “spineless imbecile” in his head and finding this whole situation hilarious as hell

He doesn’t like looking jealous, but once he knows 100% certain you’re getting hit on he intervenes quick

Usually he knows cause if your body language-you just look less into the cinversation, your body language shrinks in to protect yourself, and you laughs turn to uncomfortable chuckles

He quickly swoops in, loving how relieved you look as he wraps his arms around your shoulder, pulling you against you chest

“Thanks for talking to my girlfriend, but we will be going now,” he states plainly, his voice wounding kind yet eyes shooting our venom at the dude

But the amazing thing he said all that in your language

Proud ass moment 🥺🥺🥺🥺

He’s gonna act so indifferent

Like language skills? Okay cool to know 😐

Literally so bland about it like-

“Youre bilingual? Cool.”

Don’t let that fool you tho, this guy is kinda freaking out inside

Cause why was he so attracted to you speaking another language? Why does he want to learn it now? Maybe he should, right? Would it be wierd if he didn’t-

Hoenstly, he’s overthinking it 💀

His favorite thing is when you cuss in your language, he hoenstly finds it super funny

But jokes on him cause now he’s cursing in your language too 💀

Likes it when he has his head in your lap as you play with his hair, and hear you practice your language

The dude will literally hold up your phone/flashcards so you can play with his hair and study

Soemtiems he gets too comfy tho and falls asleep

Once he dropped your phone on his face and he a huge bruise right on the bridge of his nose 💀

First time he heard you talk in your language was when you were in Tokyo, in a mission together by yourselves

And this tourist came up to you guys who was obviously lost-

And you just whipped out this new language like it was nothing

Megumi has never been more confused-cause you never told him about knowing another language, like the hell did this come from?

Suddenly his cheeks are getting red cause wait why do you sound so hot?

Like all that shit he told Aoi about liking women with an “unshakable character” went out the damn window

He’s type now is being multilingual 💀

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ:

© Violetnote 2020

None of these characters or shows are my own, only the storylines and narratives I create are mine. Copying, stealing, plagiarizing, rewording, or using my storylines in other media, claiming to be your own, or reposting without my consent is not allowed.

[zarnzarn]

Stolitz fic rec!!

||

I'm going to just drop my favorite stolitz fics here.

They run at night by @wearemisfortune

Blitzo is always moving because when his body stops, his mind races. This almost always leads to a terrible fucking idea.

Tonight is no different—but the result will be.

-lovely angst, lovely climax, and it captures Blitz's line of thinking in a serious tone but in a way still feels authentic to the character. And I'm ALWAYS a sucker for the sheer unconditional trust trope.

Junctures by @sluttycrimehat

To everything, there is a season.

-I still am in complete awe of how the author managed to fit so much in such little time. The bit at the end always fucking gets me, I love it so MUCH.

The last general by @curtailed

It's in a month after, with Stolas spent and lying on his side, that Blitzo finally musters up the courage to tell him.

-Hello??? BEAUTIFUL post-harvest moon fic, wonderful vibes, love how well they know each other in this one, the trust is amazing. Love it.

You got everything that I want by @bipridemoth

Stolas can’t recall a time where “love” wasn’t synonymous with “pain” for him.

With Blitzo, it’s not love. So, there’s no pain. Stolas doesn’t let there be pain, at least not emotionally, the physical pain is something he quite enjoys. When Blitzo leaves after their monthly night together, he doesn’t allow himself to feel pain, only anticipation of the next time. He likes that there’s always a next time, even though that’s because of his active incentive more than anything else. But that’s alright, he doesn’t want Blitzo to come see him without an incentive. He deserves favors in turn for what he’s giving Stolas.

-Stolas angst!!!! The angst really is delicious in this one, with just as nice of a happy ending. Blitz is confident about the relationship, which is Wonderful to read and the "I know where this is going" segment had me in TEARS.

Between fairy tales and realities by @coloringthegreyscale

Blitzo's a complicated imp and Striker and Stolas accept that. But what happens when the two worlds he's made for himself collide together for one night? Well...

-Okay, so yes, this is striker/blitz/stolas, but it's so good. All three of them have a lovely dynamic, managing to work out somehow, with powerful Stolas, wonderful Blitz and a HILARIOUS Striker. Go read the series, it's a lot of fun and has many cute interactions that made me smile.

The look by @seireileafy

Blitz has been noticing a change in Stolas.

-It's such a CUTE drabble, I adore when one person can tell the other is pining for them, and the LAST LINE FUCKING GETS ME EVERY TIME-

Instead I made my bed with apathy by @thebooklord15

Just like every night before this one, Blitzo glared at the form next to him, already lulled into the bliss of slumber. He had never meant for things to turn out this way-he’d gotten the grimoire already, he didn’t need this man and from the way Stolas treated him it was clear he did not need the imp either.

And yet.

-Jcjdkafj this one is so GOOD I love blitz being pissed off yet too deep in to stop, and like I've said for others already THAT LAST LINE, PLEASE-

Call and response by anon

It was a love story, maybe.

-short but deliciously angsty, with some beautiful imagery, really nice dialogue, and time-doesn't-exist-in-this-motel-room vibes. Love it.

Shovel proof by @kereea

Octavia tries to give Blitzo the shovel talk. He decides to help with that.

-FUCKING cute, love the Octavia/Blitz dynamic, and it has snappy fun dialogue!! Really sweet.

Reaching out, touching me, touching you by @allmightshipserasermic

Stolas hasn’t been able to preen sufficiently in quite awhile, since Stella refuses to do it for him anymore. Blitzo offers to help.

-PREENING FIC is there anything more I have to say?

The skin you could have by @coloringthegreyscale

Stolas catches Blitzo staring and it leads to some talk, some magic, and a little bit of fun.

-Again, BEAUTIFUL dynamic between the two, lots of angsty tenderness, and lovely body imagery.

Different shapes by @sirdust

“Before the exorcist, he taketh the image and shape of a man.”

Blitz catches a glimpse of Stolas’ human form.

-okay, practically a direct opposite of the previous fic, but SO GOOD, I can't describe it. Love the imagery and their comfortable relationship.

A helluva mess by @stratumgermanitivum

It’s not like Stolas isn’t a hot piece of ass, because he is.

And it’s not like Blitzo’s blind or anything, because he isn’t.

It’s just that there’s pleasure, and then there’s business, and never the twain shall meet. (Unless he finally gets Moxx on board with that threeway, in which case, Blitzo fully intends to christen every damn surface of the office except his precious Loony’s desk.)

-AMAZING, love the pining and denial on both sides it's so great especially since you can tell both sides know that they've messed up. Again, LAST LINE!!

Eat the whole cake (it's what you deserve) by @okoyik

"His Highness is on the phone for you, sir," Moxxie says.

Blitzo makes a face. "Who?"

"Stolas," Moxxie supplies, as if that's supposed to help Blitzo understand. His expression is surely one of complete confusion as he stares at the other imp.

"Who the fuck is Stolas?" Blitzo asks slowly, racking his brain for a face to put to the name.

-

Blitzo's memory starts to slip, and all he knows is he needs that owl that seems to haunt his nightmares to stay away.

-HELLO it's only on one out of four chapters for now but it's already SO GOOD I can't WAIT for the rest!!!

Stand tall, but your hands are shaking by @remymorton

It’s been a month since the Harvest Moon festival. Another full moon night arrived, and after that... Blitz ... He's not well.

-wordless cute comfort, truly very sweet, I love it.

Palaces and souvenirs by @cloudysonder

So Stolas is objectively. Objectively. Attractive. Kinda soft-looking, sometimes. Pretty. Whatever. Fuckin’ whatever. That’s always been a thing. Blitzo knew that, Stolas definitely knew that-- whatever.

"This is not," Blitzo thinks, sounding a little bit desperate even to himself, "some sort of revelation."

His flicks of the lighter get a little more unstable, a little more frustrated.

A clawed hand reaches over and takes hold of the lighter, lighting Blitzo’s cigarette with practiced ease, as if he’d done the same thing a thousand times before (He has, Blitzo realizes).

“Silly Blitzy,” he giggles quietly, giving Blitzo a soft pat on the head before curling up beside him, stretching one last time before closing his eyes to sleep.

Blitzo feels warm.

"This," Blitzo tells himself, and it sounds like a command, "will not be a problem."

-I saw the start of this fic on Twitter and have been following it religiously ever since. It's really a gorgeous fic, three chapters up, with the promise of a Great slow burn, fun dialogue and Octavia & Blitz bonding. The level of denial Blitz is in even as he moves comfortably around every aspect of Stolas' life cracks me tf up.

Can't by @hazbincalifornia

Blitzo realizes he feels something something that he doesn't want to feel. This was supposed to be simple.

-feelings realization fic, wonderful, amazing, lovely, also the exact same way I realized I was gay, funnily enough (girl fell asleep in my lap and I was like oh. Oh fuck.)

Too late to stop by @malkaviancake

Stolas spends some time with his thoughts, realizing that his feelings for Blitzo aren't as one sided as he presumed.

-GORGEOUS vocab, I'm truly very obsessed with it. Like most of these stories, LAST LINE!!!!

Itchy with want, thin on sleep by me

It happens in parts- both falling in love and having his eyes opened.

-I will,, finish this one day, but for now here's a few in between moments before they have The Conversation.

Heaven in hiding by me

Their nights together are good, they always are, both of their tastes lining up to be shockingly compatible, but on the days where they end early and they get to spend some extra time cleaning up in comfortable silence or playful banter- and Blitz would rather take a bullet than admit this out loud- but those nights are pretty great too.

-AFTERCARE FIC, I had to write an aftercare fic ft. Good dom Blitz, Stolas taking care of him in return and a comfortable relationship that they both know is going to cause Problems in the future :)

Love in the bones and sinews of this curse by me

Five times Stolas and Blitz needed the grimoire to break a curse + one time they didn't.

-self explanatory. I tried to make it as funny as possible, everyone bickers a lot and Blitz brings Stolas flowers and gifts, what more could you need?

Life is a curse (love makes it worse) by me

"Alright!" Blitz says, clapping his hands together, "Weapons out, and-"

Half pull out some gun or the other, but half just look at him blankly. Blitz wishes for death.

"Save me from this family," He mutters under his breath, "Okay. Take these then." He passes out the few weapons he'd brought along with him and doesn't ask if they know how to use them because if he hears a no, he's giving up and going back home. "Stick close and talk loudly so the others can hear us. Let's go."

They move out, Blitz taking the lead and the rest forming a circle close behind him, starting up a loud conversation about the neighbour's garden. It gives him enough time to wonder exactly what the fuck he's doing here, in a nightmare world with a bunch of pretentious snobs, searching for his stupid Ars Goetia boyfriend, instead of sleeping in his nice lumpy bed back at home.

-a sequel to the previous fic!!! I had to write some Octavia and Blitz bonding, and accidentally added in a bunch of teenage imps who work for Stolas who imprint on Blitz immediately. And there's Eldritch Stolas, protective boyfriends and found family!!! The whole shebang!!!

This ended up being Much longer than I'd expected, but genuinely every fic up there is really good, go check em out!!!!

[blackjackmagi83]

You Are My Heaven (2) - Before You Go

-

Masterlist

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem Reader

Summary: Spending sweet last moments with Bucky before his deployment date.

-

Note: The song - So, I apologize in advance for the amount of gifs/images I may add to my stories. I know some may seem misplaced at times but I'm a very visual person and go off based on images I find for these stories so I hope it helps you see what I've envisioned :)

This one was so hard for me to write, I really struggled on the direction I wanted to go in (except the end) and my range of vocab isn't the best which doesn't help so I hope you all like it 😩

Songs for chapter:

-

"Can you believe it's already June? Just yesterday it felt like the start of the new year! Are you heading out Y/N?"

Your shift at the library had finished sometime ago but you decided to finish some leftover work before clocking out. It was peaceful there, even during busy hours when books were constantly getting checked out, returned or had to be organized back to their shelf.

"Yeah I probably should've left a long time ago, you know how my brother gets when I'm not home at the usual time."

Your coworker nodded, ignoring their previous conversation for a moment, "How's he doing? Is he nervous about tomorrow? I heard training is brutal." 

"Oh - I'm honestly not sure how he feels. If he is nervous he doesn't show it. I really have to run though, I'll see you Monday. Have a good weekend." You waved as you walked out the glass doors, just wanting to leave before the subject was brought up more.

The dreaded day you felt that was so far away had arrived before your eyes. Tomorrow every man that volunteered for the war would head out to training and not long after, the battlefield. Losing your brother to the army was hard enough but now you were going to lose the one man that made that impossible love feel so much closer. 

James 'Bucky' Barnes. The devil in disguise, too charming for anyone's good. A simple smile could melt you like a popsicle out in the sun and he knew it damn well too. Using any weakness he could spot to get the upper hand. Whether it was to get you to blush or to make your body hot and touch starved, he knew exactly how to get it out of you.

The evening breeze felt good against your skin. The clouds had begun turning purple and pink with the orange hue from the sun. It was a sight you would never grow tired of, sometimes painting it if you had spare time after work. Maybe today would be one of those days. 

You had been coming down the street when you spotted Bucky. He was standing outside your door, casually resting against the porch railing, as he spoke to someone. Once you got closer your eyes focused on the other person in the doorway, your brother. 

Please don't give him a black eye please please please.

You tried your best to hide your silent begging as you rushed your way up the driveway. Your eyes landed on Bucky first, showcasing his award winning smile as his attention turned towards you, "Welcome home doll." 

There it was again, that devilish charm that instantly makes you turn three shades red. Your brother on the other hand, wasn't all that amused.

"Yeah welcome home sis, like to tell me something?" His arms were crossed against his chest, his jaw was tense with clear annoyance and his eyebrows were raised in question. 

You stepped between the two of them, shielding Bucky from any possible attacks, "Hmm nope. Is there something I should be telling you? Like what I want for dinner cause if that's the case-." 

Bucky chuckled behind you earning a glare from your brother, "Don't try changing the subject and stop playing innocent with me. I'm not dumb Y/N."

Playing innocent was one of your many talents but not when fingers were riding up the back of your thigh. Your breath hitches, feeling his hand pinch your butt playfully, nearly smacking it away out of instinct but decided to grip the sneaky hand instead. You didn’t want your brother to notice, "I never said you were. Now is there an ending to this little game we're playing right now cause I'd very much like to get changed, it's been a long day."

"Need help?" Bucky mumbled behind you, interlocking your hands.

Your brother did a double take, no longer leaning against the door but standing to his full height of 6'4,  “What’d you just say asshole?”

Now you’ve done it Bucky..The Army will teach you to hold your tongue at least.

You moved your hands to your brother's chest in attempts to avoid any physical altercation, “Why don’t you go take a breather Thomas. I’m starving, can you make me something while I escort my-” you paused trying to find the right words.

“Boyfriend.” 

“Brother”

The two of you spoke at the same time, overlapping each other. The term undoubtedly gave you butterflies, not expecting him to say it so casually as if he had said it multiple times. It had been almost a year since meeting at the bar but the two of you never discussed titles during your time together. You just knew you always wanted to be near him and felt like he did too, that’s all that mattered to you.

"Brother?" The two jinxed.

“Yeah! He’s Maria’s brother. She had forgotten something here when she was over the other day, remember? I told you that she would stop by later today to come grab it. She must be stuck at work still and sent him instead, hence why he's here. Right Bucky?” 

Bucky gave a sarcastic smirk and nodded, “Yup, big brother to save the day. Y/N here is like a little sister to me so you got nothing to worry about big guy.” 

Your brother gave a questioning stare, unsure whether he believed the two of you or not, “I've known Maria almost as long as you Y/N, so why haven't I met you sooner then Bucky ?"

Bucky’s smirk twitched at the emphasis of his name but remained the same, "I spent some time traveling. Wanted to do some sightseeing before I enlisted."

Your brother’s jaw tensed further as he stared at him, Bucky’s eyes never faltering from your brother’s. He was oddly very good at stare offs. Your brother’s arms relaxed to his sides at the lack of effect he had on his opponent but his fists remained closed, a finger pointing towards Bucky, "Touch her and I’ll beat the shit out of you.” 

You let out a breath of relief as your brother turned and went back inside the house. You reached in and quietly closed the door before taking a seat on the porch swing. You felt like you had been holding your breath the whole time, your stomach was beginning to hurt from the bottled up anxiety.

Bucky sat beside you, resting his arm behind your shoulders, “Brother huh?”

Your head falls against him, inviting him to press you closer into his side, “Don’t start. It was the first thing I could come up with that I knew he’d believe. I really didn’t want him to give out another black eye.”

“Yeah I'm too pretty for that." 

You shove an elbow in his side as he let out a hearty laugh, "For one second can you try not to be so cocky?"

"I could but do I want to? No." Bucky turned his head towards you, a serious expression on his face, "You think you'll ever tell him about us? He's going to put two and two together. If he doesn’t find out then your mom sure will. I’ve seen her peeking out the window a few times I've dropped you off."

You sighed, "She probably already suspects something going on but my brother is definitely getting suspicious. But it doesn’t matter anyway. There won't be anything to tell after tomorrow. You both are going to get on that bus and - well you know already."

"Hey don't say that. We’ll make it work, I mean it. I’m not going anywhere Y/N, especially not after dealing with me for this long.” He planted a kiss along the side of your head, “You’re stuck with me.”

You wanted to argue against it, knowing long distance rarely worked out. You could only imagine how much harder it’d be during a war. Bucky seemed to want to keep your relationship strong though. You had to at least try as long as he did. Hope only lasted so long though.

“So what did you come here for anyway?”

He kissed you sweetly, rubbing his thumb against your cheek after he pulled away, “I can’t stop by just to see my girlfriend after work?” 

“I’m certainly not complaining but I think I've known you long enough now to know when you want something.” You kissed the palm of his hand, letting your lips linger for a moment before letting his hand fall into your lap.

He raised his hands in mini surrender, “Alright you got me. So, you know the Stark Expo happening tonight?” You nodded, playing with his hand out of habit, “I thought we could go with Maria and a buddy of mine tonight. A little night out all together before the big day tomorrow.” 

You hated how easily he could talk about it while it made you internally cringe and want to mute it out. Maybe it was his only way of masking the pain and fear he felt about it. Did he regret it? No, you knew he wanted to fight no matter the consequences but maybe he was wishing he had met you sooner and changed his mind, even if it was only for a second.

You gulped down the pain that jolted to your heart, giving a soft smile, “Sounds like fun, when will you pick me up?” 

Bucky stood up from his spot on the bench, following him towards the porch stairs, “I told Steve we’d be there by 8 so I’ll come by around 7:30. Should give us enough time to catch the bus and get there with minutes to spare.”

You still held onto his hand, silently refusing to let it go. The warmth of it gave you comfort, you weren't ready to let go just yet, “Alright, I suppose I’ll see you then.”

Bucky nodded awkwardly, almost shyly as he reluctantly pulled his hand from yours, shoving them into his jean pockets, “Yeah I guess so.” He placed a gentle kiss on your cheek before going to turn away.

“Bucky?”, He was still at an arm's reach when you called out his name.

He turned back towards you, his head tilting slightly in question, “Hmm?”

You grab the opening flaps of his jacket, roughly pulling him towards you, nearly making him fall into you, “You didn’t think I’d let you leave without a real kiss?” 

Your eyes dropped to his lips for a moment, watching him teasingly drag his teeth along his bottom lip as his typical smirk grew before averting your eyes back to his. You knew this look drove him over the edge. He knew he was the only one who made you turn into a flirty mess whenever you were with him. 

His hands wrapped around your waist, his nails digging into your sides as he presses you against his chest. A weakness of your own he loved to toy with on a regular basis. His lips lingered above yours teasingly, feeling his breath fan your face.

You pushed your lips forward but Bucky pulled his back enough to where you couldn’t reach his, “God you’re really a dick sometimes Bucky Barnes.”

“Oh but you love it doll.” His voice had deepened, sending tingles to your belly. How he made you swoon was on a whole other planet.

You yanked at his jacket again, impatiently pressing your lips hard against his, feeling the corners of his lips raise in triumph. The kiss was full of hunger and need, your arms moving around his neck, desperate to be as close as you could possibly get. Moments like these you could just pull him inside and have your way with each other on the floor for all you cared for. Something you had yet to experience. 

“I really gotta go doll.” Bucky mumbled against your lips as he pushed against your hips forcing you back enough to look up at him.

You childishly pouted but nodded, “I’ll see you tonight.” Bucky left another kiss on your cheek before turning and leaving this time.

You watched his figure walk away, catching his eye once more before disappearing around the corner.

You will be the death of me James Barnes.

-

"Why, you look nice Y/N. Going out with Maria tonight?" Your mother complimented, joining you at the hallway mirror.

She helped smooth out your dress as you put your earrings in, "Thanks mom and yeah I'm going out with her and a few other friends to the Stark Expo." 

"Is that Bucky guy going?" Your brother grumbled, leaning against the archway watching you through the mirror.

Your mother's brows raised at the unfamiliar name, a mischievous smile soon appearing, "Who's Bucky? Is that the boy who drops you off after work sometimes?" 

“Maybe.” You didn’t have a chance to come up with a better response due to a light knocking coming from the door, distracting everyone from the conversation. 

Speak of the devil.

You swatted your mother's hands away from fixing your hair, pulling open the front door harder than you meant to. Bucky stood casually resting against the railing like he'd done earlier that day but was dressed in his uniform instead of his usual jeans and button down shirt. 

His eyes skimmed you up and down in approval as you did the same, "Right on time."

He took your hand in his, pulling you out the doorway and wrapping an arm around your waist, "Of course, I could never be late picking up my girl." 

His little nicknames still gave you flutters as if it was the first time hearing them.

"So this must be Bucky." A voice broke each other's gaze, your mother stood in the doorway with a knowing smile upon her face. She 100% knew that her suspicions were right.

Bucky politely shook your mother's outstretched hand, "Yes ma'am. I've had the great pleasure of dating your daughter for the last year." 

Your eyes nearly popped out of your head at the sudden confession. It was something you hadn’t expected but should’ve after this afternoon's conversation. Still, it was completely out of the blue. How do you respond to that?

Words tried to come out but all that came out was stutters of nonsense. All you could do was hide your face in his shoulder, too nervous to see everyone's reaction. Bucky’s wrapped arm rubbed against your back in comfort, helping some of the nerves to go away. You didn’t like confrontation, especially when you knew your family was involved.

Your brother was already behind your mother, ready to pounce whenever the opportunity opened up, “I knew it! Come here you little shit, I’ll wipe that stupid smirk right off your face.” 

“Do it and I swear I will beat you far worse than your drill sergeants will. Try me Thomas, see how far that foot steps outside this door.” Your mother raised her hand as an added effect. Your brother getting the message finally walked away, muttering insults under his breath as he walked back into the living room.

“Now that that's taken care of, I expect details from you young lady but I’ll let you two scurry off before you’re late. Have fun and be safe please.”

Bucky held you closer against him protectively, “I promise, she’s in good hands Mrs. Y/L/N. I’ll make sure she’s returned in one piece.” 

Your mother gave another knowing smile, “Yes, I see that.” 

-

The Stark Expo was nothing you’ve ever seen before. Fireworks were launched all around outside, lighting the sky with sparks of different colors while inside held a multitude of different and new inventions. The science lover within you was trying to contain all the excitement that was dying to come out. 

“The future is truly going to be incredible.” You mumble to yourself, taking in your surroundings.

“Only because you’re in it.”, Bucky whispered something to himself besides you but when you turned to ask him about what he had said he wasn’t looking at you, his focus on a display next to him. 

“So Maria, do you have any hobbies?” 

Steve Rogers wasn’t exactly what you had expected. He was short and a bit scrawny for a man of his age but he made it up with his politeness. He reminded you of yourself a bit. Very shy and awkward but with a good heart. You could see why Bucky was so fond of him. Maria wasn’t bothered by his lack of height or muscle, happily conversing with him. 

Maria shook her head, her eyes connecting with Steve’s blue eyes. They were nearly as bright as Bucky’s but more gray rather than the deep blue Bucky’s had, “Unfortunately no I have to admit. Never been much of a reader or artist. I’m quite simple really.” 

Steve nodded, quietly listening to Maria talk as they walked besides each other along with the two of you. You were glad everyone was getting along, it made the evening much more pleasant. Not that that was a concern to you. You just wanted everyone to have a good time.

The group of you were slowly making your way towards the back of the building where Howard Stark had his demonstration set up. The stage lights had begun to illuminate and the crowd grew loud with chatter, “Oh look, it's starting! Come on Bucky you’re so slow!”

Bucky let out a chuckle at your childish fussing, letting you drag him through rows of the crowd till you got to a decent spot close to the stage. Howard Stark presented his take on a flying car, wowing the crowd as it lifted off the ground for a few moments before the thrusters blew out and slammed back onto the stage. 

“I did say a few years, didn't I?” 

The three of you were too focused on the demonstration to see that Steve had disappeared until it was over, “Hey where did Steve go?”

Bucky had an idea of where he'd be but Maria gripped his arm before he could get too far, “I’ll take care of it Bucky, stay with Y/N. Just tell me where he would be?”

“The recruitment building. He’s been trying to enlist for years but keeps getting turned down due to his health.” Bucky said it without hesitation, shaking his head slightly and biting his tongue in frustration.

Maria gave an understanding nod, “He mentioned something about his struggle with enlisting. Should’ve taken a guess he’d try while we were here. Well, I’ll take care of him. You two go, enjoy yourselves. There’s only so much time left.” 

You said your goodbyes, watching her push through the crowd as her words echoed in your head. 

There’s only so much time left.

You gripped Bucky’s hand tighter and buried your face against his side, turning his attention back to you. Your anxiety was worse than you had thought. You couldn’t clear your head from the painful thoughts, “Is this too much for you? Do you want to get out of here?”

You took a moment to respond, going over your decision in your head till you were sure, nodding your head against his uniform, “Yes but I don’t want to go home yet.”

Bucky rubbed his thumb against your knuckles, the sensation sending tingles up your arms, “Ok, where do you want to go? The night is still young. We could go-”

You cut him off, lifting your head off of him and locking your eyes with his, “James, take me home please.”

He understood at that point. You wanted to spend the last waking hours in his arms while you still could. You wanted that last bit of time to memorize every part of him from the way his hands felt against your skin to the way he kissed you. Sometimes he kissed you sweetly, so gently your lips barely touched while other times he kissed you with need as if you would disappear right in front of him. I guess there is some truth to that because it was going to happen. 

The bus ride to his apartment was quiet, soothing almost. The sway of the bus reminded you of being on a boat. The sway of the ocean would lull you to sleep every time. Your head was in its usual spot against Bucky’s shoulder as the two of you played with the others hand and glanced at each other from the corner of your eyes catching glimpses of his infectious smile. 

The bus slowed as the next stop approached, stopping in front of the familiar beaten down brick building. The two of you thanked the bus driver as you hopped off, Bucky still holding onto your hand. He pulled you up the many flights of stairs till he stopped at apartment 503, the place he calls home. The door creaked open, revealing the near empty apartment. Everything had been boxed up in preparation for tomorrow. It was probably already leased out to another client, soon to erase any memory that was once there. 

Bucky didn't waste any time, locking the door behind him and throwing the keys on the kitchen counter before scooping you in his arms bridal style. He held you possessively against his chest but he had the most precious smile on his face. One full of anticipation but also full of love.

"Always one for romantics." 

His smile only grew, "Only for you doll. Only for you."

He kicked the bedroom door closed behind him before throwing you playfully on the bed. Your heart was still racing since you had left the expo. The thought of what was to come made your mind race more than you could keep up with. The one experience the two of you had been waiting for was finally here. All the time waiting for the right moment was going to be worth it and you couldn't wait to get your hands on him. 

You watched as he threw off his hat and clumsily tripped over his own feet trying to pull his boots off, “Easy tiger, I don’t need you breaking an ankle.”, You got off the bed, letting him balance against you as he pulled the other shoe off.

“We both know you don’t need both ankles to perform.”

You rolled your eyes at the comment, lightly smacking his chest, “Always so full of yourself you goofball.” 

The two of you shared a light hearted laugh as you stood in the center of the room, enjoying each other’s embrace. You felt the tears welling as your thoughts pushed forward though. It was getting harder to hold your emotions back.

Bucky’s smile faltered as he took notice of your reddening eyes and held you tighter, “If I had known that I was going to meet you, maybe things would’ve been different.”

You returned to his gaze, feeling a few rogue tears slip out, “We know that’s not true. Regardless of when you met me, you would still be fighting in this war and I respect that decision. I just sometimes wish we had more time.” 

“Me too.”

You pulled his lips back to yours, moving your hands down to his neck till they reached his belt, unbuckling it in one quick move, satisfied with the sound of the buckle hitting against the wooden floor. You needed him and you needed him now. You couldn’t let your thoughts hold you back from this moment any longer. 

Your fingers twiddled with the metal buttons next while he pulled off your sweater and untied the back of your dress. His lips peppered your neck with kisses as he slid the dress from your shoulders letting it pool at your feet. You managed to pull his jacket off but see another row of buttons standing in your way.

“It’s not fair. Your clothes are far more complicated than mine.” You lowly growled with sexual frustration as your fingers worked on the stupid circular pieces of ivory, “God, screw it.”

You were far too impatient to painstakingly open every single button and decided to pull at the small opening you had managed to unbutton instead. Your ears drowned out the clicking sound of the buttons hitting every surface in the room, too absorbed at the sight of his bare chest. It wasn’t a new sight but it sent a rush of desire through you every single time still. 

Bucky laughed in disbelief, taking in the mess of buttons around him, “You owe me a new shirt.”

“Is that an order sergeant?” You whisper, running your hands along his chest before sneaking a finger down the center of his stomach, feeling his muscles tighten beneath your touch.

Your eyes caught the darkening of his eyes, holding his gaze as you undid the button to his trousers, your teeth nipping at your lower lip. Without hesitation he picked you up forcing you to wrap your legs around his hips, laying between your legs once your back hit the bed again. Your nails lightly dragged against the bare skin of his back, feeling every muscle tense and twitch beneath. You knew he wasn’t going to be able to hold back much longer.

“Be careful Y/N or you’ll really be in trouble.” His voice was deep, practically rumbling in his chest as desire and need fill every crevice.

Your mind was too busy trying not to turn to pure mush that you didn’t notice his hands moving to the inside of your thighs, dragging their way up making you gasp under your breath, “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.

"Then marry me." Bucky mumbled against your neck, his grip loosening and becoming more gentle, caressing you.

Your breath caught in your throat again. It took a moment to process what he had said. Your hands slid from his back to his shoulders, pushing against them to be able to look at his face. There was no amusement written on his face. He was completely serious.

"What'd you just say?" 

His hand raised, showcasing a ring between his thumb and pointer finger, “I said marry me.” 

It was a simple ring. The golden band shown against the city’s street lamps that slipped through the curtains, a square diamond sitting neatly in the middle. It was so beautiful, you couldn’t stop looking at it. You wanted it on your finger but you were speechless and paralyzed still.

Bucky pulled you to sit up in his lap, resting his forehead against yours, "Y/N, you have given me some of the greatest moments of my life in the time we've spent together and I want to keep making more after this whole mess is over with. I want to come home to your gorgeous smile and see how your face lights up every time you see me. I want it all with you."

You couldn’t hold back the tears you’ve been fighting so hard to contain anymore, "Yes. A thousand times yes." 

You weren't thinking of tomorrow or the next coming months, maybe even years but you were his and he was yours. You were going to hold onto the thought of walking down the aisle and seeing him stand there waiting for you in awe. You were determined to hold onto that hope now.

You felt the coolness of the metal of the ring wrap around your finger as the words slipped out of your mouth, "I love you." 

You held his face in your hands as he smothered yours in kisses. You felt his hands slide up your back, stopping once he reached your bra clasp, “Say it again.”

The air was cold against your bare chest as the material slipped off, it sent goosebumps across your skin, “I love you.”

His lips moved back to yours, gentle and delicate. He wanted to take it slower, more passionately. The last garments separating your bodies from each other came off, exposing your bodies fully to the other.

His gaze was full of love and warmth, “You are so beautiful Y/N. Has anyone told you that?”

Your thumb affectionately rubbed the coarse stubble growing back along his chin, “Only you.” 

Your bodies merged into one that night. Grasping each other desperately, sharing hard breathes and sloppy kisses. Bucky held you against him afterwards, tangled in his sheets and covered in sweat. Your hand rested against his chest, his other hand holding onto yours, his thumb rubbing against the diamond tenderly. 

“Make sure you come back to me, Bucky.” 

“I will. I promise.” 

-

Part 3

[nordic-language-love]

Hey! Im Laura I really like your blog aesthetic!

I too am learning Norwegian, but I can’t really get as many resources for it. Im very confused. It would be really helpful if you can share some beginners plan, tips and resources. Thanks a lot!

Hi Laura! Sorry I'm only just getting back to you - I saw your message, told myself I'd definitely reply after I finished work then completely forgot #fail

Resources

I have some links in my FAQ for resources to get you started. Some other resources suitable for beginners include:

Drops (app) - personally I'm not a fan, but it's handy for learning vocabulary when you're a beginner

Norsklærer Karense - she speaks in Norwegian you'll need to know a little Norwegian already, but I highly recommend her channel. I've linked to a search for beginner videos (A1-A2) from her channel.

Instagram - There are lots of accounts for learning Norwegian, some of which I've linked here. I also follow other Norwegian learners and post a lot in Norwegian myself (shameless self promotion)

Lesnorsk - texts available for all levels. Everything is written in Norwegian, so you'll need some basics first.

Apps like Tandem and HelloTalk - there are apps where you can find native speakers to do language exchanges with you. I never clicked with it but maybe you'll find it useful.

italki - if you're serious and you have money to spend, italki's a great place to find a tutor (Norwegian lessons are pretty expensive though and honestly you can get pretty far without a tutor)

Tips

While memorising vocab lists does work for some people, I find that context is more helpful, so I like to write sentences with new vocabulary I learn. That way you can also practise vocabulary you've learned previously and grammar.

On that note, keep a journal. No need to write loads - just a few simple sentences like "Today is Wednesday. I woke up at 7am. I ate breakfast. I am tired." (If you don't know the past tense yet, you can just use the present tense. Or you can look it up, of course!)

Find some music you like. You can find tonnes of playlists on spotify! I recommend searching "norsk [your favourite genre] musikk". I also made a list of song recommendations a while back.

It's also pretty helpful to listen passively, so I often put NRK radio on as background noise (you'll understand nothing at the start, but it'll help you get used to the rhythm and melody of the language, plus it's pretty cool when you understand a word here and there!) Here are some other listening recommendations that might be a little easier to start with.

Hope that helps! You're also welcome to ask me anything about grammar (although being a learner myself, I may not always know the answer 😅)

[a-pop-of-korean]

Level 4 / Lesson 9: -군요 / -구나

안녕하세요! Hey everyone! This lesson is pretty simple but quite useful -- we’re going to learn about -군요 / -구나, which means something like “oh, I see that...” or “I didn’t realize that...” Let’s start! 

Let’s look at some formulas first:

Present tense: [verb/adjective stem] + 군요 / 구나

Past tense: [verb/adjective stem] + 았/었 + 군요 / 구나

-군요 is formal, while -구나 is informal!

This is a really useful and common structure when you want to say something like “oh, I see that...” or “I didn’t realize...” It’s good for expressing general surprise in other words. It’s also used in some sort of context, like there is something to prompt your surprise. For example:

가: 저는 하버드 대학에 다녀요. = I go to Harvard University.

나: 아, 진짜 똑똑하군요. = Ah, you’re really smart.

나 is essentially saying “wow, you’re really smart, I see” or “oh, I didn’t realize you were so smart.”

According to hyeyeonstudies, this is typically used when you’re talking to yourself, so you do hear the informal -구나 version pretty often. But it doesn’t hurt to make it formal when you think you should!   ​

A phrase you hear a lot is “그렇구나," which basically means “I see.” It’s very applicable! Let’s see some more examples!

그 여자를 많이 좋아하구나. = I see that you like her a lot. / I didn’t realize you like her so much.

Maybe your friend has a crush on a girl and they’re talking about her a lot. You could say this to mean like “wow, I guess you do really like her.”

그렇게 빨리 달리군요. = I didn’t realize you could run so fast.

Maybe you saw your friend running really fast for the first time and you were impressed. 

밖에서 되게 덥군요. = It’s really hot outside. / I didn’t realize it was really hot outside. 

이번 주는 많이 바쁘구나. = I didn’t realize you’re so busy this week. 

You can also use this form in the past tense!

샤워를 벌써 했구나. = I see that you already showered.

Maybe you see your roommate in a towel with wet hair and you were about to ask them if they were going to go shower -- you could say this to be like “oh, you already showered, I see.”

스트레스 많이 받았군요. = I guess you were really stressed. / I didn’t realize you were so stressed.

숙제를 다 끝냈구나. = You finished all of your homework, I see.

That’s about it for this lesson! Feel free to ask any questions!! 다음에 봐요!

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