#my vocabulary isn't as plentiful

[bi-writes]

i need to stop comparing myself to the other wonderful writers here but damn is it so hard.

[dedalvs]

My brother and I absolutely cackled after that Aemond and Aegon Valyrian exchange!

I wanted to ask (and I'm terrible at conlangs, so forgive me) what grammar/syntax Aegon is stumbling over here and how to properly say what he intended to? Any why is he making thise mistakes (simply lacking the vocabulary, or rules of the language he hasn’t grasped)?

Let's take a look at it. This is what he said:

Nyke koston... Bēvilus... Sētegon bīlīvāzmi?

The subtitles say this:

"I can... Have to... Make a war?"

Prior to this Aemond is, essentially, showing off. He knows that Aegon has simply not put any time into studying Valyrian (or studying anything). At this stage, Valyrian is no longer spoken by the family on a day-to-day basis—especially as Alicent probably never learned it at all (or if she did, only in a few scattered lessons here and there; not to actually use). In order for either of the boys to gain any kind of fluency in the language, they have to study constantly and find ways to use it. There's simply no daily need for the language—and plenty of reasons not to use it, as very, very few people they'll encounter on a daily basis speak the language.

Now, if we were talking about two random people in Westeros, this wouldn't mean anything. But these are the children of Viserys Targaryen, himself a descendant of Aegon the Conqueror. They brought their family line and their culture with them to Westeros—and, of course, their language. If someone like Alicent Hightower doesn't speak High Valyrian it means nothing. If a Targaryen doesn't speak High Valyrian, though… See, they're supposed to be able to speak Valyrian. Failing to do so carries with it a sense of shame that isn't present for a random person who doesn't speak Valyrian. Aemond knows this. Aegon is annoying him, so he goes poking at that wound.

Aemond could have fed him a short line with an obvious answer to help Aegon out, but instead he threw a whole mess of Valyrian at him. The longer it goes on, the more lost Aegon gets, desperately trying to catch up and figure out what was just said and thereby missing what is being said at that instant. From the whole speech, Aegon probably only figured out that he was being asked a question, and it was something having to do with planning.

So, back to what he says. The beginning student of a language is quite adept at doing a single verb in a present tense sentence. In a discussion like this, though, you're typically saying things like "I think that" or "We should" or "I suggest" or "Perhaps we might", etc. All that stuff that we need to offer opinions, make suggestions, hedge, etc. Much more than simple narration.

Aegon is attempting to do this without a sufficient command of the language. He knows some vocabulary, he knows some grammar, but he simply did not put in the work to actually speak this language. Thus, he has to overcome a lot of Common Tongue (i.e. English) interference.

There are many differences between Valyrian and English, but the biggest one by far is the major word order. In English, the verbs come before the rest of the junk; in Valyrian, they come at the end. And this is how things get all messed up.

In English, you start the sentence saying things like "I think" or "We should" or "It seems". In Valyrian, those things come at the end. If you start with the Valyrian equivalent of "I think", you will quickly realize (presuming you know enough of the grammar) that you're sunk, because once you've said it, the sentence should be done. Thus you get Aegon's false starts.

Starting at the beginning, Aegon says Nyke koston, which is kind of like saying, "I could". But there's nowhere to go. This is how a sentence ends. For example, if he wanted to say, "I could fly to Harrenhal", he would say Harenhalot sōvegon koston—literally "To Harrenhal fly I could". If you're thinking English-ly, you're essentially thinking backwards, and if you simply translate what you're thinking, you'll immediately have nowhere to go. You'll have to take a pause and think about how to get started again. And that's exactly what happens here.

Now, leaving aside that Valyrian is a pro-drop language and starting it off with nyke "I" is unnecessary and makes you look like a beginner, koston isn't bad (I mean, if used sentence-finally). Once he realizes he can't start there, though, he loses confidence. It's those old High Valyrian lessons all over again, and some maester suggesting he hasn't studied. That self-doubt makes his facility with Valyrian worse. This means his chances of recovery are severely hampered.

But onward he presses, and he decides to say "We have to" or "I have to". Now, the problem here is in Valyrian that requires the verb bēvilagon. This verb isn't used in the usual way. Literally it means "to lie on". If you wanted to say "We must mobilize our dragons", you'd say Īlvī zaldrīzī mazannagon īlo bēvilza. That's literally "Our dragons to mobilize us it lies upon". The one who must do something is placed in the genitive and put directly before the verb. If you start with the verb, well, you missed your chance to say who it is that must be doing something—let alone what they must do. Another false start.

It's also worth noting that he says bēvilus as opposed to bēvilza. Let's ignore that it's the aorist and focus on the fact that it's the subjunctive (just like koston). You use the subjunctive with your main verb when you're hedging—when you're suggesting. Not when you're commanding. Kind of an odd thing to say "We must do this" with the subjunctive. Kind of like saying "Maybe we might considering having to do this".

At this point, his confidence has completely evaporated. Everybody's staring at him like he has no idea what he's talking about; Aemond's eating it up. He knows he's cooked. He's got to say something, though, so he says sētegon which isn't even conjugated. It means "to make" or "to create", which might make sense in English (e.g. "to make war"), but doesn't make sense in Valyrian (a bit like saying "to construct a war" or even "to bake a war") and then tries to pronounce vīlībāzmi "war" (wrong case/number, wrong order) and fails, saying bīlīvāzmi, which means nothing (also he wanted vīlībāzme. Vīlībāzmi is "wars").

Long story short, he doesn't present himself very well—and we didn't even talk about his general pronunciation or intonation. It's kind of a great big mess in only five words. A true disaster.

But if there were no expectation that he should be able to speak Valyrian, none of this would matter! If there were no shame associated with him specifically not being able to speak Valyrian no one would expect it of him, and this challenge would mean as little as someone challenging him to speak the Old Tongue or Asshai'i. It'd be meaningless.

In short, this small portion of this scene is about being a heritage speaker of a language. It's the exact nightmare scenario all heritage speakers fear: To be put on stage and made to perform despite being unequal to the task while simultaneously feeling that they should be equal to it.

It'd be so cool if it was okay to be kind of good with a language—if that level of mastery was acceptable. In the real world, anyway.

[ssahotchnerr]

hi babe! was wondering if you could write something abt hotch + reader having their daughter’s first birthday and all of the team is there and it’s so cute and we get big brother jack.

maybe it including light bickering between them but it’s so clear they love each other so much still and it really is just pointless bickering. something fluffy for sure.

up to you! i trust your wonderful writing , thank u bunches !

- 🕷️ [is this anon emoji taken yet? oops if it is!]

take the bench

AHH that's so adorable 🥹 cw; fem!reader, jack calls reader mom, domestic banter <3 and aaron being very dad <3

"are you kidding, look how cute!" you exclaimed, holding up the little outfit for all to see. your daughter's tiny hands immediately made a grab at it. "this is perfect for spring."

"after two boys, i can't express enough how fun it is shopping for a girl." jj gushed, resting her chin comfortably on her hand. "new section of the store unlocked."

all had gathered for baby girl's very first birthday, and it's been quite the eventful afternoon. lively conversations, a plentiful spread of food, cake on the horizon.

currently your daughter was sat comfortably on your lap, while you orchestrated the whole present-opening extravaganza.

at her young age, she could pull the tissue paper out of the gift bags as instructed, you and jack helped with the actual paper ripping as needed. whether it was you tearing off a starter piece, or jack proudly fulfilling his big brother duties - simply unwrapping it entirely himself and excitably showing his sister what she had received.

and meanwhile, aaron had the most dad job: trash bag duty. it was right up his alley naturally, being sure to punctually collect the scraps of paper before they touched the ground; preventing a mess at all costs.

which ultimately, led up to a new game.

"jack," aaron grabbed his son's focus, holding the bag open and jack caught on instantly. he grinned, balling up and throwing the tissue paper in hand in aaron's direction.

it started off gentle; quiet cheers when jack made the shot, not to mention the growing smiles on both ends. but then it soon turned into them firing off at each other, a bit too aggressive in the constraints of the living room. jack's laughter heightened with each throw, and henry even began to join in from time to time.

while still enamored by the gifts, all thanks to her brother and father's volume, baby girl's attention was quickly drawn to them. she let out a high pitched squeal every time wrapping paper flew over her head and through the air, attempting to wiggle her way off your lap.

as much as you loved aaron and jack carelessly enjoying themselves, and the addictive giggles emitting from your daughter, you also didn't want to take the focus away from everyone's generous gifts. they had spent time, and money, and deserved the proper recognition in return.

"aaron." you warned lightly, raising an eyebrow when his gaze shot to yours - a silent, but loving nonetheless, quit it.

"alright bud," aaron caught the last makeshift ball from jack with his hand, shoving it into the trash. "take the bench. the ref is giving me that look."

"but dad-"

"you heard me. and your mother."

jack let out a small whine, but promptly complied. he returned to the stack of his sister's presents, shifting through and looking for the next one to give her.

"for someone on clean up duty, you sure are making quite the mess." you teased once you caught aaron's eyes again, jack placing the next gift in front of you, "a larger one, if i may add."

"mess isn't in my vocabulary." aaron quipped right back, a delightfully smug look on his face. "you shouldn't be the one talking."

you cocked your head to the side, comically, "oh?"

"who's side of the closet is currently exploding?"

"who's sock drawer has seen better days?"

"the parents are fightingggg." derek stretched out his voice, murmuring humorously under his breath and nudging penelope with an elbow. while the soft tone, his statement was for all to hear.

now, it was your turn to (lightly, as to not jostle baby girl) chuck a ball of wrapping paper at him. derek ducked, barely, laughing loudly as he straightened his posture back upright.

"good try, but not good enough mamas. you gotta work on your aim."

"see, i'm not making a mess." aaron teased as he came near to grab it off the carpet, taking a detour as well to give your lips a quick peck. "you have that title perfectly under control, darling."

you playfully rolled your eyes, a smile dancing its way onto your lips. aaron couldn't resist the sight, kissing you once more. "oh bite me, hotchner."

[solacescastleglow]

Cultural Capital #1: Intro + The Basics

One of the biggest privileges I had growing up was access to cultural capital. My parents were expat teachers, which meant that we had access to a lifestyle well above what we would've had if we had stayed in Australia. I got to travel, meet people from various cultures, go to private school, and I subconsciously absorbed that lifestyle as an expectation. This has given me a huge advantage, and since I don't believe in gatekeeping, here's how you can gain some of that knowledge.

0. A note

Some of these are things I strongly disagree with, but this is the way it is. One shouldn't have to change oneself to get ahead, but we often do. This is just a list of western upper-middle class cultural signifiers, and my listing them out doesn't diminish your own culture if it is different from this. Your own cultural capital is just as valuable as what I'm going to share. But we do live in a world where you can get benefits from knowing the dominant culture's valued information, so this is a guide to hacking that system.

1. What is cultural capital?

When people move to a certain place, be it a neighbourhood or a workplace, they need to understand the language, references, and customs of the people around them, otherwise they might be treated negatively. This is cultural capital. Your ability to fit in with the dominant class and culture can benefit you in work and social situations. Your education, who you know, how you speak and dress, which cultural references you make and understand, etc. are all class signifiers, and contribute to cultural capital.

2. Free ways to gain cultural capital

Confidence and vibe. I'm not the best at this, and there are plenty of resources out there for learning it that would probably be better than me. What I will say is that people can tell when you're used to settling for less, and that lowers your cultural capital in these spaces.

Go to a library or Google for research. Topics to research include: major religious stories and Greco-Roman myths, art and music history - especially from the 16th-19th centuries, different cultures and global geography, common idioms and expressions in French/Latin, jargon for your field as well as those of art/dance/music/business, fancy brand names (Quick, is a Ferragamo a shoe or a car?)

Read literary fiction and non fiction. Making references to classic novels shows rich people that you're well read, which in their minds translates to education and therefore intelligence (which isn't true but you know). It's also a shared experience, which gives you something to talk about. Use Libby for free audiobooks, and your local library for print books.

Expanding your vocabulary and speaking with care. The more you can articulate yourself, the more likely people will be to listen to you.

Going to public museums or galleries (if they have them where you live). They're almost always free, and are a great way to spend a weekend.

Watching videos, reading scripts, or listening to recordings of theatrical performances. These can be pretty easily found on the internet and give you material to reference when talking someone up.

Study philosophy. If you want something accessible and fun, watch The Good Place. Philosophy Tube makes excellent, thought provoking videos for free, and I'm sure there's more out there. Expanding your thought process and recognising the literature out there about 'deep' topics can help you not only seem smarter, but actually be smarter.

Learning to eat politely in multiple cultures. What do you eat with your hands vs a fork vs chopsticks? For western cuisine, you should know which fork to use, how to pour wine, what you do with your napkin, etc.

General etiquette. Handshakes, when and how to hold a door, you get the gist.

3. Ways that cost money

Cook something from a different culture every [week/month]. Expanding your palate and becoming familiar with things outside of your immediate circle will make you more 'cultured' in the eyes of people who care about that.

Special exhibitions and paid museums and galleries. Sometimes, a museum will cost money, and if it's interesting and within your budget, it's well worth it. Museums are an engaging way to learn more about history and culture, which will give you knowledge you could benefit from having.

Going to the theatre. Seeing a play, musical, opera, or ballet, especially if it references mythology or is iconic in its own right, can expand your views on universal themes like love, life, death, and revenge. It's also just really fun. You don't have to spend a huge amount either; see what's available in your area.

Dressing professionally. This means having a baseline knowledge on clothing terms and what fits you well, buying well made clothes that will outlast trends, and keeping them well maintained. Tailoring should be considered if it's in your budget; nobody likes an ill fitting suit. Some tips: second hand shops are a good place to start, avoid fast fashion, and remember that a 20 year old Chanel piece has more cultural capital than a brand new H&M piece.

Grooming. Smelling good, looking put together, and having good hygiene will help you immensely. A perfume that suits you is well worth the money, but don't be afraid of dupes if it's not in your budget.

Travelling. This is by far the most expensive thing on this list, but having those new experiences will completely change your viewpoint in a way that other people can recognise.

4. Signifiers that take a long time/effort

Accents. This matters more in some places than in others, but being able to fake a 'posher' accent gets you privilege in certain contexts. My school taught us only in RP English, but the social circles were run by the US military families, so I have a more neutral accent by default. I can also switch between the two, which gives me an advantage here in Australia, where proximity to an RP accent signifies wealth.

Learning a language. Knowing English automatically gives you a ton of cultural capital, since that's the lingua franca for most fields nowadays. But if English is your first language, knowing more than one means education. The unfortunate double standard is that if English is your second language, you need a third to be considered educated, usually a European language.

Straight teeth. This one is up to luck for some people, but having straight teeth usually means you have the money to straighten them. It also takes years and hurts. In my opinion, it's only worth it if your teeth are causing medical problems in your life, in which case you might as well straighten them while you're at it.

Getting a specialised degree in something. Don't worry about seeming silly (arts, humanities) or cold (business, sciences) when choosing a degree. Someone will be weird about it no matter what you pick, so pick one you like.

---

Remember, this is specifically for fitting in with the culture I grew up in and around (rich people). There is nothing wrong with the way you are now. This is just for people who are considering adapting to an environment where behaving like this allows for social mobility.

[olderthannetfic]

Hi, Spaniard here who is equally fascinated and frustrated about the Squidgeworld thing. Here is the thing: dialects exists, tuteo vs voseo exists, vocabulary and slang differences exist, and yet, nothing that a quick glance at a panhispanic dictionary can't solve (the Royal Spanish Academy dictionary offers definitions that specify dialect and all). Hell, most of the time context is all I need.

Now, my two grains of salt on this matter is that despite the claims that this was requested, I have a hard time believing these were requests by anyone that thought this through. Why? Because as part of my assigned reading at my spanish school, I had to read plenty LATAM authors and poets (Gabriel García Márquez, Juan Rulfo, Pablo Neruda, Julio Cortázar, etc...). I'm starting to think some (non-hispanic) people might be under the impression that we don't read each other at all? Or something along those lines? The Miguel de Cervantes Prize* regularly awards both LATAM and spanish authors. The point I'm making here is that spanish/hispanic literature includes everyone as it isn't spanish/hispanic -> works from spain but spanish/hispanic -> works written in spanish. The semantics are a bit confusing, I will admit.

*which was created by the Ministry of Culture of Spain and whose candidates are proposed by the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language an organisation created by mexican president Miguel Alemán Valdés.

In any case: there isn't any difference in dialect so significant that they are completely unintelligible and should be separated. And as other people have said, LATAM dialects have differences amongst themselves so it doesn't make sense to bag them together but also splitting them is kind of ridiculous as well, not to mention the regional differences in castillian within Spain itself. It's just... this doesn't seem like a decision made by someone who is fluent in spanish.

The only thing that has ever made my comprehension of LATAM spanish difficult at times is the accents, which you cannot hear in text form, and even that is not that much of a hurdle bc after a while you get used to it.

Now, I have noticed that word processors have spanish (es) and spanish (latam) for the spell checking, so that might be where they got the idea that the two should be split. However english also tends to be separated in english (uk) and (us) (as well as (can)? in gdocs at least) so that still doesn't fully explain it.

And just for a bit of linguistic fun: if you put a group of spanish speakers from different regions together they eventually adopt each others linguistic habits. A spanish friend of mine now regularly uses "chama/o" bc she made friends with a venezuelan girl while studying in France (in Spain we say 'tía/o'), an argentine acquantaince uses tú/vos interchangeably, another ecuatorian friend distinguishes 's' and 'c' and her accent comes and goes because she grew up in Spain, younger spaniards use 'güey/wey' and 'weón' now, which wasn't a originally thing in Spain... It goes on and on.

This got long, sorry about that, I'm a language/literature nerd. It's just so puzzling to me.

--

[xoxoavenger]

The 1

pairing: Stiles Stilinski x Fem!Reader

summary: If one thing had been different, would everything be different today?

word count: 2368

warnings: dementia talk (idk if that's a warning but it's there), based on 'the 1' by taylor swift

12 Days of Christmas masterlist main masterlist

It's been fifteen years. She knows she's not old, that at thirty-five she still has plenty of life left. She's changed a lot in those fifteen years; leaving Beacon Hills, pursing her passions, coming back after breaking off her last engagement to a man named Caden, who was nice but wasn't him. And then, after that, she began seeing him everywhere. She knew he was still in Beacon Hills, but she also knew that every time she had to double take it wasn't him. She tried to stop herself, but every time, she always had to check. Just incase. Even now, when she was in the mall, she was trying not to look at anyone and make her mind play tricks on her.

Their relationship plays out in her head constantly. Sometimes, she thinks of what may have been if he hadn't broken up with her. How different her life would be.

She wishes she could have lived with the love of her life, but that's not the way it worked out. Stiles had made it clear that he didn't want to see her again, and she still loved him enough to obey his wishes.

"Y/N?" She turns at someone's voice, and then realizes that it's Scott. His head is shaved, and his arms have more tattoos, but it's unmistakably him.

"Scott!" She pulls him into a hug, because once upon a time she was apart of their pack. She had missed the alpha, missed the way he had cared for her. She missed the whole pack; the unfortunate thing about moving to escape one person was that you miss all the people you left behind.

"I haven't seen you in forever! You look great!" He tells her as he pulls back. Y/N smiles, heart filling as nostalgia bleeds through her.

"Thanks," She said softly, feeling lighter somehow. "Do you still talk to everyone else? I'd love to have a little reunion." She was slightly nervous at asking, but Scott nods enthusastically.

"Yes! That would be great! We haven't seen you in so long." He pauses, and Y/N knows what he's going to say before he says it. "I know Stiles would love to catch up." She tries to keep the sour look off her face.

"How is he doing?" She asks. She wants to wish that he's single, but she also wants him to be happy. It's a tightrope she walks constantly.

"Good." Scott says simply, and after they exchange new numbers and set up a good day, they say goodbye. She can't help but think about the last time she saw Stiles as she walks to her car.

"I love you so much it scares me." He says it softly, but he's crying. Y/N's heart is racing, because something is clearly wrong.

"I love you too." She says, grabbing his hand. He lets her, but it's clear that this isn't going to end the way she wants it to.

"I know I don't talk about my mom a lot," This throws her off, because she had thought he was breaking up with her. "But she had frontotemporal dementia." Y/N waiting to see where this goes, because she already knew this.

"Stiles," She starts, wiping his face.

"Y/N," He shakes his head, effectively moving her hand from his face. "It's hereditary." She's still confused, because she knew this, too. What was Stiles getting at?

"I'm confused." Y/N whispers, wishing she could pause everything. She doesn't want to move forward, ever, because something inside her knows everything is about to change.

"I can't put you through that." He says, turning away, and she can't help her jaw dropping at this.

"No." She says, because she can't let this happen. He is going to break up with her.

"I've seen what it did to my dad, and I can't let that happen to you. I can't take care of you like that." He says, and she is speechless. She couldn't talk , the emotion in her throat blocking even her air to breathe and clearing all words from her vocabulary. "I know it'll hurt now, but it's the only choice I can see."

Y/N can't handle this, so she gets up and leaves. She doesn't even look back, just listens to Stiles crying until the door shuts.

~

She can't think about what will happen tonight at dinner as she gets ready. She tries to keep it away as Scott pulls up - he had offered to drive, and she knew she was probably going to drink a few more than she should.

"How often do you guys do this?" Y/N asks after they greet each other.

"Whenever Lydia comes back from the city. Tonight everyone will be there, but sometimes Jackson is in London, or Malia is traveling." She nods, and they both wait a minute before she speaks up.

"I need you to prepare me." She hadn't wanted to ask, but she knew she couldn't face it. "I need to know about Stiles."

"What about him?" Scott asks, and Y/N can't look at him.

"Girlfriend?" She asks it without skipping a beat. "Wife? Kids?" She feels like she wants to throw up.

"He had a girlfriend, but they're broken up now." He answers for her. "No kids. I don't think he wants any. Biological - that is." She's grateful he's answering, and she nods, still looking out the window.

"He still work for the FBI?" Y/N asks, finally looking over. They're almost to the restaurant, and Scott waits until they pull into a parking spot. He turns the car off, then turns to her. 

"He isn't showing any signs of dementia." He says, and Y/N feels like she can't breathe. She feels like she's suddenly too light.

"Okay," She whispers, nodding.

She could have been the one. He broke up with her for no reason.

"Does he still think he'll get it?" She asks, and Scott sighs.

"I think it never leaves his mind. But he doesn't seem so obsessed over it. As time goes on and he hasn't shown any signs, he's gotten less scared." He gets out of the car, walking around to open her door. She gets out, turning to see Stiles, Malia, Lydia, Liam, Mason, Derek, Kira, and Jackson all standing near the entrance. It seems Scott and Y/N are the last ones to show up.

"The Nogitsune really fucked him up." Y/N says, her gaze fixed on him. Stiles broke up with her three years after the Nogitsune had tried to take over and kill Stiles, but she knew life could have been different if it had never happened. If the monster had never put the ideas and visions into Stiles' head in the first place.

"Yeah." Scott agrees simply, and she takes a deep breath before walking over there.

Stiles' eyes meet hers, and she can't breathe. It feels like they're the only two in the entire world. She doesn't know how she continues walking, but somehow she makes it over to where the group is, eyes finally leaving Stiles' when Lydia tackles her in a hug.

"God, it's been forever! How dare you up and leave us!" She cries out, and Y/N laughs as she puts her arms around her friend. It feels good to be back with them, if a little weird because she hasn't been back in a decade and a half.

"I'm back, I promise." Y/N says, going through the hugs with everyone. When she finally gets to Stiles, she feels like she can't speak. She can barely breathe.

He's got a stubble now, his hair shorter than it was last time she saw him. Her eyes trail over every freckle, still there. She traced them all, once upon a time. She still has them memorized, as if they were on her own face. His nose is crooked; he must've broken it while on a case. He somehow feels taller, and he's definitely filled out. He's no longer the fragile teenager she met twenty-one years ago.

"Hi," She whispers finally. She knows everyone is watching, but they may as well be on the top of a mountain.

"Y/N," He says softly, and then he pulls her into his arms.

It feels like home. It's safe, and comfortable, and she never wants to leave it. She takes a deep breath, and realizes he either never changed his cologne or he specifically wore the same one that he would wear on their dates.

They pull apart, and for a moment Y/N thinks they may kiss. But he turns away, and she does too, not able to look at everyone's faces.

"Let's eat!" Liam cheers, and everyone begins to file inside. Somehow, Y/N and Stiles end up bumping into each other as they both try to go in the door last.

"You first." Stiles tells her, stepping back, she feels her cheeks heat as she walks through the doors and follows the rest of the group to a table that's been reserved due to the reservation Lydia put in.

It's way more awkward than Y/N thought it would be when everyone starts to sit down. Because Y/N and Stiles were at the end, they end up sitting next to each other at the end of the table. Y/N's heart races as she sits, looking at her menu to distract her from the fact that Stiles is right next to her for the first time in years.

It's just one dinner.

But then everyone decides that dinner wasn't enough to catch up, and suddenly they're out getting drinks. They all take a shot, courtesy of Lydia who insisted everyone needed one to get going. Y/N's sipping her lemon drop as everyone stands around a tall table, too old and not drunk enough to dance where a bunch of college kids are grinding. Y/N's sure that at least half of them are underage, but she remembers sneaking into bars using her fake or making friends with the bouncers to get into bars before she turned 21.

"What brought you back?" Stiles asks. He's next to Y/N once more, drinking a beer. She can barely bring herself to look at him.

"I was engaged." She blurts. She hadn't talked about this during dinner, despite the fact that Lydia, Malia, Kira and Scott all knew that she was engaged. She guessed that they got the hint that it ended from the lack of ring on her finger.

"Oh," Stiles isn't quite sure what to say to that.

"It ended." She tells him, trying to talk over the music. "He wasn't the one." She takes a sip of her drink to stop herself from saying that she's knows Stiles was the one. Clearly he wasn't, but nothing could stop her from thinking it. She's glad she wasn't drunk enough to lose her filter.

"I see." Stiles takes a sip of his beer, and the two listen to the music for a moment. "I'm sorry." He says out of nowhere. Y/N almost chokes on the lemon drop, but manages to swallow it before she can make a fool of herself.

"For what?" She asks, but they both know that she knows exactly what Stiles is apologizing for.

"When I broke up with you, I honestly thought that I was doing the best possible thing. I thought that it was just puppy love, that I could get over this." The conversation Stiles has started is so out of place in the loud bar, but Y/N hangs on his every word. "But I can't. I can't get over it. I've tried to, but there's no point. Because I don't love anyone the way I love you."

"Stiles," She says it so quietly it slips under the music, but she moves closer anyway.

"I've been to therapy. And I can't tell them everything, about the Nogitsune and other supernatural happenings, but I told them about the dementia scare. And I know that what I did to you was unforgivable. But I want you to know that I thought I was protecting you. I really thought that I was going to end up like my mom, and that I'd leave you alone and upset, and I couldn't do that to you. Just the thought of it," It sounds like he has no idea what to say now, and all Y/N can do is blink.

"It was fifteen years ago." Y/N says, but it might as well have been yesterday with the way her heart still bleeds.

"I'm still in love with you." It's like the world goes silent. She knows the music is still playing, but everyone at their table has turned. Y/N is staring at him, wide-eyed, and she has no idea what to say. "I know it was a decade and a half ago. I know that I broke your heart. But I have spent that whole time thinking about the mistake I made. And every single day, I wish I could take it back. Thinking about how much time we lost breaks my heart, and I swear I spend half my days convincing myself that you're still better off without me."

"Stiles," There's tears in her eyes from the emotions that she buried all that that time ago coming back up.

"Not a day goes by when I'm not thinking about what our life could have been. But I was too afraid to see it through, and I will regret that until the day I die."

Y/N thinks she may pass out.

She's been waiting for this apology for years. She never thought the day would come, and now she feels like her knees are week. She's shaking, and it feels like a magnet is pulling her towards him.

She grabs his shirt and pulls his lips to his. There's no hesitation on his end, he's immediately kissing her as if he has done it every day for the past fifteen years. She knew Stiles was the one.

Everyone around them is cheering, and their lips smile against each other.

"I love you too." She whispers as she pulls apart, flattening her hands against his chest. His hands are on her hips, and she leans into him. He just smiles wider and leans in to attach their lips again. 

//

tags: @avada-kedavra-bitch-187  @one-sweet-gubler @theoraekenslover @mcueveryday

[benkyoutobentou]

Beginner Manga Recommendations for Japanese Learners

It's time, you've done your due diligence in studying. Now it's time to jump into native material. But where to start? Here are a few manga series that I've read that I think would be a reasonable place for a Japanese learner to start their immersion journey.

Disclaimer: I haven't read every series, and the manga that's interesting to me might not be interesting to you. We also all encounter different words as we go along our language learning journeys. A series that I find relatively easy might have you looking up every other word. The trick is to not get discouraged and just keep on pushing through! As with everything, it gets easier the more you practice.

消えた初恋 - アルコ＆ひねくれ渡: This BL series follows a group of four friends and their experiences with love in high school (it also has a drama adaptation that I highly recommend! Available to watch for free on Viki). This series is so silly and just a fun time. The art has great visual gags and it's definitely a series where you can sit down and not even realize that suddenly you've gone through an entire volume and why didn't you buy more of this series to start with? It has furigana on everything, but the characters do speak pretty casually, so there's some slang and less standard language. This series is completed with nine volumes.

佐々木と宮野 - 春園ショウ: This is another sweet BL about Miyano, a high school first year, who catches the eye of an upperclassman, Sasaki. After asking to borrow Miyano's book, the two bond over a shared enjoyment of BL manga. The vocabulary is pretty simple in this one as well, but it does use quite a bit of otaku slang, which can be difficult if you've never encountered it before. It has furigana on everything, though! This series is ongoing with nine volumes and also has a spin off series titled 平野と鍵浦 which is also ongoing with four volumes.

月刊少女野崎くん - 椿いづみ: The first manga I ever read in Japanese! This series follows a high schooler, Sakura, as she confesses to her crush and classmate, Nozaki. However, Nozaki thinks that Sakura is just a fan of his shoujo manga series, and recruits her to be his assistant. This series is so enjoyably silly with a wonderful cast of characters that absolutely steal the show. There's a bit of vocabulary specific to the process of making manga, but it isn't too overwhelming. There's also plenty of casual speech and some great moments that can't quite come out in translation (bonus fact: I actually wrote a paper on this series and how humor is translated in one of my university linguistics class). It also has furigana on everything. It's ongoing with fifteen volumes.

加瀬さんシリーズ - 高嶋ひろみ: This adorable little GL series follows two high school aged girls, popular and athletic Kase and the shy gardener Yamada, as their relationship develops over their high school years. The vocabulary in this one is relatively simple with the exception of some more specific words, but those tend to pop up time and time again. This one doesn't have furigana but I think it's a great introduction to readying manga without furigana! This series is completed with five volumes, but there's an ongoing sequel series called　山田と加瀬さん that currently has three volumes released.

ささやくように恋を唄う - 竹嶋えく: This is a music based GL series about a high school first year, Kino, who tells an upperclassman, Nagi, that she loves her music. Nagi, however, misunderstands this as Kino confessing her love for her. The story follows both the relationship between Kino and Nagi as well as the trials and tribulations of Nagi's band. This is another one without furigana, but the vocabulary tends to be simple enough that I think it's still pretty accessible. It's ongoing with eight current volumes.

かけた月とドーナッツ - 雨水汐: Our last GL, this follows two coworkers, Uno and Satou, and their blossoming relationship in a society that pushes conformity and marriage on women. I really loved the way this series depicted coming into one's sexuality as an adult. Another one without furigana, but simple vocabulary regardless. A possible difficulty with this one might be the office vocabulary, though. This series is completed with four volumes.

[autistic-duck]

(Very long post, sorry.)

I had an experience with a college professor last semester that really got me thinking about academics and ableism, specifically in college writing.

A few months ago, my class was having an open discussion, and I brought up an opinion that had been on my mind for a while.

I basically said, "There's a gap between college-level writing and the average person's reading level that we need to fill. Nobody should need to look up words every three seconds to understand a study that could affect their life, so we either need more people to rewrite these studies for the general public to understand, or these studies, in general, should be published with language that isn't so complicated."

My professor responded by saying something like, "Sure, that's a good goal. However, wouldn't a better goal be to raise the average person's reading level so that everyone can understand college-level writing?"

I (in my frantic and confused way) tried to bring up the fact that there are people born at a disadvantage in life. In fact, getting everyone to a perfect college reading level isn't a realistic goal. It certainly isn't for me, and I don't want it to have to be for other people. In fact, the professor who told me this also struggled to understand the chapters we were assigned to read in that class.

Really, it all comes down to this: college-level language is inaccessible.

Even more importantly, many people will never be able to understand most of the huge words thrown around in college writing.

At school, I am constantly told my writing style is "simple" and "easy to understand." This is something my classmates have told me isn't "bad" but just "different." However, I'm still insecure whenever someone mentions it because it is always pointed out. I use a smaller vocabulary, they seem to say, but don't worry. It's just a preferred writing style, they reassure me. They think the simple language is a choice I could stop at any time.

Well, what if it isn't just a "style"? What if I struggle to expand my vocabulary? Learning one new word takes me ages because I need to see it in all kinds of contexts. Even then, oftentimes "context clues" are no help, and I completely misinterpret the meaning of a word for years because it seems like every other native English speaker knew what it meant without needing to say it. A lot of the time I'll read the definition of a new word and instantly forget it after finishing the sentence it was in.

So yeah, I'll say it with pride: Simple words are powerful. Simple words are beautiful. And most importantly, simple words are not inferior in any way to words like "quintessential" or "expedient." (I have no idea what either of those words mean even though I've looked them up plenty of times and used them accurately in essays before.)

Simplicity is why I like shows meant for all ages better than shows meant only for adults. Because in shows that are written with children in mind, there aren't confusing messages you have to spend energy untangling. There aren't unnecessary analogies or feelings that are "implied" but never said. The characters' facial expressions and emotions are easy to read and the moments where I am confused are rare.

Now, this is all coming from an autistic person with low support needs. My reading comprehension score is considered slightly above average, and so is my problem-solving abilities which means I am lucky and I can understand a lot of what I read in college. The main point of this little "essay" was to point out a common conversation I despise hearing in college, the one about simple language and its implied inferiority.

Because guess what? Language is not accessible to everybody. Many of us, even those with high reading comprehension, struggle.

Our goal should never be to make everyone capable of reading college-level books and studies. That is asking for those who need accommodations to accommodate themselves, something I'm sure other disabled people are tired of having to do. Instead, the goal should be making college language more accessible, making knowledge accessible. After all, the reader is only a fragment of the conversation. The writer is the majority of it.

TLDR; Everyone deserves access to language and knowledge that makes sense, and bigger words never mean they are better.

[kissykelly]

Hello!

I’m Kelly and it’s not my real name, it’s my online nickname.

I’m not going to share lascive, erotic or nude pics on this blog. You have plenty of p0rn out there so feel free to go and explore. I don’t need to impress you, my life is already happy and fulfilled. 

If you had a bad day, I can provide comfort, I can make you hard and I can help you release the tension. I have the skills and vocabulary for that.

If you had a good day, I can be flirty and witty, I can make you hard and I can help you j3rk off. I have the skills and vocabulary for that, too.

I’m kind, bright, witty, smart, chatty, flirty, with a vivid imagination, and a dirty mind. I’m not a native speaker but my English is good enough to make you laugh or c♥m. I don’t throw tantrums, I don’t cause drama. I’m chill and spicy but I don’t get overly emotional and I discuss whatever bothers me with respect and cool head. I don’t get offended but I’m direct and state my boundaries clearly.

I’m friendly and I truly want to make other people’s days a little brighter and happier.

I don’t flirt with taken people because it would be disrespectful not just to their partners but also to myself and I believe every person deserves at least a basic respect.

I’m not looking for a real life relationship. I’m happy living solo. I’m here to have some fun. To chat, to s3xt, to make you happy and help you relax and unwind. That’s the offer. Take it or leave it 😉

EDIT:

Some basic rules:

If you want to flirt with me, you better be single

Be respectful - when I say no to something, I'm not being playful, I mean it

I don't share pics, clips or vids - you have literally hundreds and thousands of attention wh0res on Tumblr, happy to show themselves off to you, I'm here for the dirty conversation

Bad grammar does damage the magic (doesn't ruin it) - English isn't my first language so I understand the struggle but you gotta understand that deciphering your poor grammar can negatively affect the flow of our conversation

I'm happy to help you relax but I have a life of my own and I might not be always available - respect that 😉

[electronickingdomfox]

"My Enemy, My Ally" review

Romulans stole Spock's brain! (or at least, some Vulcan brains)

Novel from 1984, by Diane Duane, and the first of the five-book series Rihannsu.

The plot itself is okay: the Romulans have a new devious scheme (capturing Vulcans to extract the telepathic abilities from their brains), and the Enterprise must stop their plans. Only this time, Kirk will have to collaborate with a bunch of good, renegade Romulans to succeed. It's not terribly original, nor it's the first time that Kirk has allied himself with Romulans in these novels, but as a plot it's entertaining. However, the narrative drags a lot, specially in the first half of the novel, and it takes a reaaally long time to set things into motion. In part, this is due to a "tell, rather than show" approach. For example, there's a lengthy conversation about how the Enterprise and its Romulan allies are going to stage a fake battle between both ships, in full detail. And then a lengthy description of the ships doing just that. One of these two segments isn't needed. There's also a lot of fluff, specially in scenes at the Recreation deck, and plenty of new character introductions, that don't lead anywhere nor have any real importance. A lot of the new character roles could have been filled by the usual crew, anyway. Now, I don't think that a novel should just be barebones plot, but I didn't find these "extra" scenes particularly entertaining nor enlightening. So in my opinion, this novel would have improved greatly if it was cut short. Though the later sections suffer less of this, and are more focused.

The story is notable for introducing a lot of new material about Romulan culture, and specially language (which seems to me even more unpronounceable than Klingon). In fact, most of the time Romulans are referred to as "Rihannsu", which is the name of the race in their own language. I don't know to what extent Duane developed the grammar and vocabulary, but it seems to have a certain structure to it. There's also much emphasis on the power of names over things and people, and some glimpses into the Romulan worship of Elements. A lot of this has probably never been incorporated into the series, but Romulans having several names (of which only the first is revealed to strangers) seems to have its origins here.

As for characters, the most developed one is Ael, the Romulan commander that strikes an alliance with Kirk. At times she comes dangerously close to Mary Sue territory (for example, beating McCoy at a game she had just learned, despite the doctor being skilled enough to beat none other than Spock). But otherwise, she's fine for her role in the story. In many ways, she's both a mirror and a foil for Kirk, suffering also under the weight of command, and the difficult decisions between duty and her crew's wellbeing. Though not exactly a tragic character, there's also a lot of sadness and burdens in her past. On the other hand, Kirk rubbed me the wrong way. Or rather, his relationship with his crew. I found it way too lax and informal, and sometimes it seems he's more like a cool dad for them, rather than a Captain. Kirk in the series had his goofy moments, of course, and Shatner imbued him with much comedic potential. But nonetheless, there was always some gravitas about him, and a respectful distance with his subordinates. Even with someone as close as Spock, he was usually pretty formal. The only one who broke this pattern was McCoy, and that was precisely why their relationship was special. So yeah, I just don't see Kirk trading jokes with Sulu while under enemy fire, or receiving sassy remarks from Uhura, sorry. Also, as happened in The Wounded Sky, there's again a wide array of fancy aliens populating the Enterprise. I didn't mind them that much in the previous novel, since the story is so unusual, that it could have existed outside the Star Trek universe without damage being done. This time around... I've decided that I'm not a fan of this idea. Apart from being too distracting, Starfleet strikes me as a mostly human institution, at least at the time of TOS (after all, HQ is in San Francisco), and Spock often struggled being accepted among the crew. He was THE alien, and this led to isolation and even ocassional prejudices against him. Now, this wouldn't make much sense if the crew were regularly sipping coffee next to a gelatinous blob of tentacles... As for Spock and McCoy, they're mostly okay, though they tend to get overshadowed by the extended cast, and obviously, Ael.

I must be in the minority here, since most people seem to love this novel, but in general, I didn't like it much. Perhaps it's a consequence of having just read John Ford's masterful The Final Reflection, and his fascinating take on Klingons. Perhaps I simply don't care all that much about Romulans...

Some spoilers under the cut:

The first chapters switch perspectives between Ael and Kirk. While Ael reflects on her falling out with the Romulan Senate, because of her opposition to a certain revolutionary research, Kirk is ordered to patrol the Neutral Zone, as part of a task force. Ael has been "exiled" as commander of a shitty starship named Cuirass, crewed by shitty subordinates. But she keeps contact with her old, loyal ship Bloodwing, now commanded by Tafv, her own son. When news of the Federation ships arriving reach her, she sets her plan into motion. After sabotaging the Cuirass' systems, she escapes in a scout ship to Bloodwing. And the latter ship destroys Cuirass, whose crew she considers traitors to the Empire for their collaboration in the Senate's schemes.

After this, Bloodwing rendezvous with Enterprise near the Neutral Zone, and Ael asks permission to come aboard alone, promising some very important info. Then she explains to Kirk what's going on: The Romulan government has started developing a new weapon at the station in Levaeri V. They capture Vulcans and extract their brain tissue, in order to implant the genetic material into Romulans, and thus give them all their telepathic abilities, even enhanced. After leaving Vulcan centuries ago, the Romulans' divergent development made them unable to mind-meld, or do any of that cool Vulcan stuff. But now, with the new research, powerful individuals could read minds, control thoughts and subject any opposition. Ael believes this will ruin the Empire and its old code of honor. And in turn, will cause conflicts with both the Federation and the Klingons. Thus, she asks Kirk to "lend" her the Enterprise, to help destroy the research station. Her plan is faking a capture of the Enterprise by Bloodwing, then towing the starship into Romulan space and destroy the facility along the way. Spock confirms through a mind-meld that Ael's telling the truth.

Kirk is sympathetic with her cause, but refuses to go along with the plan, on the grounds that he can't intervene in Romulan internal affairs. Things change, however, when the Vulcan ship that was patrolling near the Enterprise is spirited away under their noses. Ael explains that its disappearance matches the modus operandi of Romulans. The Vulcans are being taken to the research station (and now I understand why Spock chose to serve in a human starship; Vulcan ships seem to have the worst luck, between being eaten by amoebas and now this...). Kirk can't ignore the matter anymore, now that the Vulcans are in danger, so he decides to go with Ael.

After faking a battle between Bloodwing and Enterprise, they proceed to Levaeri V. Ael's crew take positions in the Enterprise bridge, while Kirk and the rest of the officers play a bit of theater, faking their capture in the brig, to fool the escorts sent by the Empire. Once approaching the station, Bloodwing and the Enterprise suddenly turn against the escorts and destroy them.

In the last part, Kirk sends a large strike force into the station, to free the Vulcan captives and destroy all research with their brains. But meanwhile, the Enterprise is assaulted by a treacherous faction among Ael's people. Scotty, Chekov and Sulu must fight to recover the ship, while down in the station the battle continues.

Spirk Meter: 1/10*. There's a bit about Spock being particularly interested in the proceedings of Kirk's mind, while playing chess. But I can't think of anything else, and even this is really minimal.

There's also some Mcspirk. McCoy likes to study Kirk and Spock while they play chess, to delve deeper into their personalities and psyches. And when Kirk complains that, if Spock and McCoy keep babysitting him, he'll end up taking their hands, McCoy says that's okay with him. But warns him about Spock, and the kind of rumors that could run through the ship. Also, Ael observes that the three of them seem to share a single mind. Though that's downplayed by the comparison with the similar link between Ael and her son.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

[a-pop-of-korean]

hello i have a question about learning korean ^^

i started ( self ) studying it about two years ago but discontinued due to college and all, but now i want to pick it up again and i don't know where to start from? i know how to read and write, but i have issues reading in one go— basically i lack fluency in reading and i often stutter. is there any way to improve?

secondly, i do know some basic stuff however my vocabulary isn't vast enough. besides, i would like to understand the sentence structure, or how they write phrases and sentences since it's very different from english. i've referred to so many sites but there's always a question— do i work on vocabulary first or sentence / phrasing structure first? or do i study both of them along side?

this sounds like such a mess and it is because i'm so lost ┬┬﹏┬┬ my main goal is to understand korean shows without subtitles and i do pick up a few words and phrases here and there but there's a lot still left to learn and idk where to start from. moreover, i've noticed that the textbook korean and the one that's spoken in everyday life is way different ( this applies to almost all the languages tbh ) and i'm having a bit of a trouble trying to figure out how a native would say it?

or example, do this thing where i come up with a sentence and try to translate it just to check what it would be in korean and check in the translator to see if i'm right, and most of the time im not. whether it's about the formalities or the conjugations. basically a whole lot of issues so please if u can help ＞︿＜

Hello! If your goal is to be able to understand Korean content without subtitles, then I think self-studying grammar and vocabulary is a good idea. I know you said you already have some knowledge of Korean, so I would refer to my masterlist and start from wherever you feel appropriate. I also recommend diversifying your study material and looking at other resources on Tumblr, YouTube, and on the Internet elsewhere. There's a lot out there!

As for your second question, I think it makes more sense to study vocab and grammar at the same time. As I've said before in previous asks, I was never that disciplined with my studying, so I can't really give you concrete study techniques. I think I got where I am today by regular exposure (on top of taking Korean courses and studying abroad lol). But if you don't have those opportunities, using whatever resources on the Internet can get you far. As you get comfortable with both grammar and vocab, I recommend exposing yourself to content like webtoons in Korean and K-dramas. These will help you with your reading and listening comprehension. There are plenty of webtoons at varying levels of difficulty, and K-drama actors have clear diction that is easy to understand. Again, I don't exactly have concrete techniques for how to eventually ween yourself off of subtitles/translations (since I myself still use them), but in my experience, exposure alone is enough to at least allow me to read webtoons and watch K-dramas without relying super heavily on the translations. Consuming this content will also teach you how natural Korean is spoken by natives. I hope that makes sense!

If you're concerned about speaking, the best way to get better is to converse with others. You might not know other people who speak Korean, but you can still practice with others for free on Hilokal, where I used to teach live lessons. It's a nice, low-pressure environment that can help you get more comfortable with speaking and learn alongside other people just like you!

Also, I generally don't recommend using translators to help you learn a language, especially if you're an English speaker learning Korean. It's more useful for you to understand the meaning of the Korean itself than it is for you to get the perfect translation. Korean is especially difficult to translate into English (in my opinion), so a translator might not give you a clean, accurate, and natural translation. Unfortunately, I can't think of other ways to fact-check your sentences otherwise lol. But I think that looking at enough sample sentences will help you become better at constructing your own. And something that helped me feel more comfortable writing and speaking when I was abroad is that, even if I make minor mistakes, chances are that other people can still understand me. Maybe keeping that in mind can make the learning process a little less stressful :)

Maybe this advice isn't new for you, but I hope it was still helpful! Thanks for the question and good luck! 화이팅!

[samueldays]

The Curse of Babel

Via @redsteeze,

there's a lot of people in the comments yukking it up about regret, hypocrites, this is what you ordered now eat it, having one's bluff called, and so forth. (And yes, "LA" in the second headline does mean the City Council, I checked.)

While they're not wrong, I want to offer another take, which is that the Los Angeles City Council is suffering the Biblical Curse of Babel, the confusion of tongues, the inability to understand one another.

I speculate that the LA City Council in the first picture did not understand itself to be voting to take in every migrant of the proverbial huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. The LA City Council saw that "sanctuary city" was a term with positive affect, and thought of itself as voting to bestow positive affect on LA by linking the term with the city.

It's one of my pet ideas that the original Curse of Babel perhaps worked this way too. Illustrated retellings tend to feature a sudden moment where one guy is speaking in 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕓𝕠𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝔹𝕠𝕝𝕕 and the next guy is saying "💬🏗️💥🧱🤦" because that's plain to draw, but the Bible isn't explicit about this, so I can imagine it might have been an intensification of a natural process wherein the towerists appropriated terminology to mean a bigger and more prestigious tower.

"Accessible" has positive affect? The Babel City Council votes to declare the tower Accessible.

The Babel City Council votes for the tower to be simultaneously accessible, well fortified, cheap, durable, easily replaceable, irreplaceable, sustainable, tall, wide, high density, plenty of green space, well supplied with chariot parking, NIMBY, YIMBY, and a protected historical landmark, with the right to repair for every tenant.

When this can't be implemented, people leave Babel and have to reinvent a vocabulary to communicate without connoting tower tower tower, tower tower tower in every sentence.

[atthebell]

do you know any good free spanish courses out there? im doing some of the busuu course bc it helped me quite a bit w pt but it seems to lean somewhat towards eu spanish than latin american spanish which is what im going for (sorry im sure you've already answered this, you were just the first person i thought of that learned esp as a foreign language)

in terms of busuu, ill add that their portuguese also leaned a bit towards european portuguese at times (which was part of why i stopped using it-- also bc the focus on travel vocab was not helpful for me personally)

for spanish, i learned it in school growing up, so unfortunately i don't have a ton of recommendations for self-study/online free courses. i have some stuff in my language learning tag that might help, but i don't have any personal experience with those methods since i learned it in a fairly straightforward academic setting and also by proxy of living in sd. i know some of the resources ive reblogged before do have some solid testimonies from folks, and if anyone else has recommendations, feel free to send them.

i will say that in terms of language learning in an academic setting, i do personally find that kind of structure helpful, especially in terms of accountability, but i think any method that involves consistent practice and some level of immersion (this can mean talking to native speakers or consuming a lot of media in your target language) is beneficial regardless. i got a really strong basis for language learning across the board (vocabulary for certain things, understanding roots and parts of speech, etc.) partially through having a really strong foundation in english and through how i initially learned spanish, and in my opinion it's made every language ive learned since far easier than it would have been otherwise. i was lucky that i really enjoy language learning and have always had an interest in it and my teachers were pretty solid most of the time and helped to create that foundation. ill add here that a lot of u.s. americans (and from what ive seen, plenty of other english speakers) don't learn certain terms that describe language functions and that makes it more difficult to learn any other languages-- my first spanish teacher had to teach us all what a preterite was, for example, and i still don't know most tense names in english, only in spanish 😭

i would suggest finding at least one textbook to use alongside any other methods (there are free ones linked in my tag) so that you have some clear direction and explanation of concepts, in case that isn't present in other resources.

also my biggest rec is always to find something you really enjoy and take part in it in your target language; if that means music, there is no shortage of music in spanish, if it means tv shows or movies or even setting whatever game you're playing in spanish, you can do that. i always recommend, once you get to a certain level, trying to read a book you've read before in your target language-- that means you'll be pretty familiar with the english and will make reading through it easier, plus you'll pick up new vocab for things you're familiar with already. and of course there's always watching streams. if you want to learn how to swear possibly more than anyone else on this planet, you can watch roier 🩷 please don't talk to strangers like how he talks though 😭 ill never forget foolish calling rubius a pendejo and him being like does he fucking hate me...

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/758355990597025792/the-way-people-talk-about-first-person-narrative

This is a very stupid take because the way a story is told ABSOLUTELY changes the way the story 'feels', including the perspective it is told from, and it's perfectly normal to have preferences, even strong ones. Like, would you say the same thing about first person POV vs third in video games? Or can you not understand that the way a narrative is viewed (through one character's eyes vs following one character from a distance vs viewing all characters from a greater distance even as certain things get story focus) will change how it reads to the reader and therefore certain perspectives may be more grating than others?

Sure, good writing can make the difference, but good writing can also make me enjoy a trope or relationship dynamic or plotline I would otherwise dislike, that doesn't mean I don't have preferences it just means good enough writing can overcome them!

Authors choose first or third person, the pov character, present or past tense, vocabulary and tone, complexity of sentence structure, pacing, and other meta things like that based on the way they serve the story that's being told.

Ok, and? Authors choose ships, what the fic is about, and the medium and genre (like poetry or readerfic), and everything else you think people are allowed to hate, based on the way they serve the story being told, too! If I think the way the story is told is ass or the writing isn't good enough to overcome my dislike for the perspective of the writing (or my dislike for the genre or the medium or the ship or or or) then it really doesn't matter why the author chose to write things this way. I don't have to like something just because it was chosen with intent rather than done 'just because' (although plenty of people choose viewpoint perspective based on vibes or what they prefer writing, not everyone sits down and thinks 'well gee what will best serve the story???' and to be clear there's nothing wrong with this, especially for fic! but picking POV is no more sacred than picking a ship or whatever and the choice can still be disliked just by virtue of not liking that particular tool of storytelling!), and if someone isn't a good enough writer to make up for the reasons I dislike first person, then I'm just not gonna read their stuff!

Which is fine, they don't need me to, it's no great loss on either side. But it is, in fact, 'a separate thing [I] can hate'. And that opinion hasn't changed even though I have found the occasional exception to that general rule which I do enjoy.

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This part of fandom is extremely weird about first person. It's inevitable that there are going to be posts pointing that out.

[owlhari]

a guide to not being ableist about norman becile

greeterings, fellow steam powered giraffe fans. while browsing becile content, i've unfortunately noticed a lot of ableism, both subtle and not, when it comes to folks talking about norman. i want to write a quick "guide" on how to not do that.

some disclaimers: this was not inspired by any particular post or user. it's a general trend i noticed, and to be fair, there are many years-old posts in this fandom with authors that may have changed since writing them.

don't take it as a personal attack if you realize you've done something mentioned in this post. take it as motivation to learn and grow!

also, i do not have a visible body/facial difference or an intellectual disability, but i am physically disabled and neurodivergent in multiple ways. i may have some "authority" on this topic, but don't take my word as the final say for any of this.

mini-essay starts below the cut.

let's start with language.

when describing norman and the 1950 incident, try to use neutral words. instead of saying he is deformed, disfigured, or crippled... say he was changed or transformed.

of course, if you are writing fic where a character is supposed to be ableist towards him, or maybe norman's feelings about himself immediately after the incident, it might make sense to use language with negative connotations.

but out of character, there's no excuse for using slurs. please don't call norman crippled. there are so many other words you can use.

why is neutral language important? because disability is not a negative thing by default. having a facial difference or a cognitive disability is not inherently bad.

(side note that yes, the official timeline uses language that is... maybe not the best. the official timeline also hasn't been updated since 2015.)

sort of related to language, look at canon for norman's speech patterns.

he appears in pages 11 and 12 of the comic, with plenty of dialogue. he does not speak "like a child" or have any apparent speech difficulties. of course, there's nothing wrong with that (i have a stutter! again, disability is neutral!) but the fact is norman speaks like every other character we see in the comic.

he enunciates himself just fine, he uses vocabulary you would expect an adult to use, he can be sarcastic and make jokes.

don't write dialogue for norman where he talks in the way you believe people with intellectual disabilities "should" talk. it just makes you look like a jerk who makes assumptions.

my last big point: wanda and norman's marriage.

it is canonical information that wanda walter married norman and took his last name. wanda's last name being becile in the timeline was confirmed by bunny bennett as not a typo or a mistake, she really did marry norman.

there is no reasoning given for their marriage, and they are never shown interacting in the comic. we don't even have a date for when they got together, aside from the fact that it was before 2015. however, this does not inherently mean their marriage was forced, that they're unhappy, or that wanda "had no other choice."

norman has been living at walter manor since at least 1956. if wanda truly did not want to be around him, why would he be there at all?

she has clearly forgiven him for what he did, else he wouldn't have been allowed to live with her for over fifty years. there are war-enhanced robots in the manor at all times, and you're telling me if norman made wanda uncomfortable in any drastic way, he wouldn't have been kicked out immediately?

of course, as i said, there is no truly canon reason behind their marriage. you're free to headcanon whatever you like. but if you're dead-set on writing that wanda was coerced or married him out of pity, i'd like you to consider why.

if norman didn't have a facial difference, if he wasn't disabled, would you be making those headcanons?

and finally... why does this matter, if norman's appearance isn't anything a human could possibly look like?

it matters because the way you talk about norman might come across as what you think of actual disabled people and it might make actual disabled people uncomfortable.

if your first thought when seeing norman in the comic (who, despite how little we see of him, seems happy and fulfilled) is that he must be a miserable man, suffering from his disabilities, with a wife who married him out of pity... i encourage you to do some reflecting about that.

thank you for reading. please be nice to disabled people, and have a wonderful day.

[tanuki-02]

Progress Report

For 09.16.23 to 07.08.24

I plan on doing these progress reports weekly. Perhaps with the occasional post in between if I feel like I have some huge improvement within that day.

But for this first progrep, I'll try to detail as much as possible my learning from the day I started until now as I write this post.

For a little more info, I'm a 2nd year university student who is already fluent in 2 languages. I'd say my strong point is memorization which is incredibly helpful.

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— GOAL

Initially, I wanted to learn Japanese because of manga. Yes, I know fanlations exist and I can go buy physical English copies. However, English versions are waaaay more expensive and a lot of the manga I read have very slow fanlations or they've stopped translating it completely.

This brings me to my next point; I wanted to learn how to READ Japanese first and foremost. I hardly cared about other skills (but now I do understand their importance to the holistic learning of it all).

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— September '23 to November '23

I went into this language learning journey blindly. I had no idea where to start. But all I knew was that: 1.) Du*lingo is not your best option, 2.) DON'T use romaji to learn, 3.) Start kanji as early as you can. Looking back on it, I feel like these 3 points are important and I still do believe them now.

So, I went ahead and learned hiragana and katakana in less than 2 days. It was quite easy (although, katakana still does make my head spin sometimes).

After that, I went ahead and started with vocabs and kanji. Basically, I searched up vocab & kanji lists for the N5 level. After I found some good practice/list PDFs, I printed them out and used them as my main study material.

What I would do is to memorize them on my own accord (reading over and over again then, checking if I remember—rinse and repeat). I would say this worked out well for the first couple of months. The N5 lists had around 800 vocabs and 60 kanji which were pretty easy to memorize. I had this down in about a month. The following N4 lists had around an additional 800 vocab and 120 kanji. This one took me 2 months, but I'd say the mastery isn't as great as the N5.

With that in mind and the additional 4000 vocabs and 300 kanji that N3 offered, I started to doubt my method. It was then that I really began to search the web of an efficient way to learn this language.

It was then I discovered TheMoeWay and Anki.

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— December '23 to June '24

Plenty of people recommended TheMoeWay, so I had to check it out. It has a guide for the first 30 days of learning, but I ignored that because I was way past 30 days at this point. I read everything else and learned about spaced repetition systems (SRS); that's basically what Anki is.

It recommends to start with the N5 Tango Deck first and I did that. I began on December 6, 2023 and finished it on March 28, 2023. To consider it finished, all cards should be matured.

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This deck was VERY easy for me at this point because the prior months of inefficient reviewing that I did. If I'm not mistaken, I did about 100 cards per day which explains why I was so fast.

I had to move on to N4 Tango Deck once I ran out of "New" cards in the first deck. So, at some point, I was doing both decks simultaneously. I began this one on January 17, 2024 and finished it on June 15, 2024.

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Admittedly, this deck was a lot tougher than the last one for me at the time. I had to lower the daily card count to 50 (which is still a lot). But I can say after finishing both tango decks—vocabulary, kanji retention, and grammar—all improve drastically. These two decks are super duper helpful in the beginning and I would totally recommend them.

After accomplishing both decks, TheMoeWay says for you to create a mining deck of your own. So, as I was about to go through the N4 Tango Deck, I was deliberating whether or not I'd go through with what is recommended or go for something else.

I think making a mining deck would boost your skill by a huge margin, but I opted for the Core 2k/6k Japanese Vocabulary Deck which I learned from Livakivi on YouTube.

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— Current; July '24

I decided to take on the Core 2k/6k while I was doing the N4 Tango (This also explains why I did fewer cards 'cuz I was trying to balance both). I started this one on January 14, 2024 and I'm still getting through it little by little. By that I mean I'm not even halfway done haha.

This is what my progress looks like so far:

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I'm doing 20 new cards per day while it's still summer break from university. Although, I'll definitely have to lower it once the semester starts. Maybe I'll go back to 10 or something.

Anyway, I found that by doing this, my retention for words and how they are spelled in hiragana have improved so much. Sometimes I can easily read random sentences on Japanese websites or books. Moreover, after doing this for some time, I found that my reading got a lot better (duh, you know more words). I can easily pass the N5 and N4 tests on the official JLPT website. The N3 tests... not so much just yet.

This brings me to my next point: I am lacking in grammar and reading comprehension. To remedy this, I've tried immersing a bit through reading news on NHK or random stories on Tadoku Graded Readers (honestly, boring, but I have to). I tried reading manga, but I'd skip so many speech bubbles that it made no sense anyway.

At the moment, I'm doing an Anki deck related to grammar, another one based on Tae Kim's guide, and a third one for listening comprehension (because my listening skills are also doodoo).

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TL;DR

I'd say I'm around the higher N4 level or maybe a very low N3. For my level, I'd say I'm pretty good at reading... everything else not so much. I barely do output so writing and speaking are non-existent skills for me and listening is something I only started now.