#this is one where i prefer the mandarin version personally this is one of my favorite performances on tao's part

[a9saga]

tbt - exo-m - transformer // the amount of non exo-m listening that goes on in this house needs to be stopped

[mxtxfanatic]

Hello!

TGCF is the first fictional book I have read (that I know of😅) where the book was officially printed, then it was revised and printed again. I know this isn’t a new thing for fiction writers to do, just new for me to have read a book like that.

I’ve read some fan translations of the revised version but it’s still an incomplete picture as things come in snippets. (Not a dig on this, just noting that observations I make on changes are incomplete right now)

Have you encountered this with any fictional stories you have read before? If so, how did you adjust to what’s canon? Did you hold them as two separate versions or let the revised version supersede the unrevised as canon? Or did you make a third path? 😅

What’s your take on any translations of the revised TGCF you have read (if you have had the chance to read them)?

For me, I think I hold them as two separate canons. Characters, and how we understand them based off the text, can sometimes subtly or drastically change after a revision. And I don’t mean minor changes, I mean the ones that gave a clear picture on why x character did such and such, and why they now do x action vs not before, etc. And personal preferences will determine if one likes the changes or not.

I asked a lot a questions. 😅🫣Happy to hear whatever feedback you have on the topic. 😁

Hm, good questions. I guess I never thought too deeply about this because I just figure that whatever latest version mxtx puts out is The Canon™️. Also, these works are already being filtered through translation, so unless I one day learn Mandarin fluent enough to read in their original language, I’ve already accepted that there are going to be multiple variations of a text floating around. With that said, the revised tgcf is the real canon to me, but other than some additions and a wholesale deletion of the ghost kid from the story, I have not heard anything to suggest that the unrevised and revised are so radically different as to be considered different books. Hualian still get together, the Xianle trio still have their issues that they work out, Jun Wu is still the final antagonist, and the moral of the story remains the same. For the sake of limiting confusion, I try to mention which version of the story I’ve read and am pulling my ideas from, but considering them separate canons as if they are adaptations by different creators feels a little excessive.

As for what I think of the revisions that I’ve seen so far? Good shit 🔥

[quill-n]

Hi um! Edgeshot backstory headcanon as fits my personal version of him?!? yeah!!

CW// familial death

He's mixed—Thai on his mother's side, Chinese and Japanese on his father's side

(his grandmother is Chinese and his grandfather is Japanese)

He was born in Thailand and lived there until he was ~9 years old

He moved because his parents and sister, uh. died.

His closest living relative at the time was his grandma, who lived in Japan.

His grandpa had also died (much earlier; of unrelated health causes), so it was just him and Nǎinai </3

She pretty much raised him from then on (along with some help from his cousin, but she mainly just babysat)

Because of. all of that. He speaks a total of three languages: Thai, Mandarin, and Japanese. He also has plenty of influence from all three cultures ✨

ok, moving forward

He was honestly closer with Tsunagu at UA than he was with anyone in his class.

This one's canon, but he trained with Tsunagu pretty regularly. They were pretty close.

Graduated at the top of their class though! <3

Back to Nǎinai— Her house that she had was pretty big, with a whole garden in the back with a koi pond and a small pavilion and everything.

She lived a long time, but sadly passed sometime in Shinya's 20s. He continued to tend to the house and garden in her absence the same way they used to together.

The house had a lot of strong memories for him though, so they moved in with Tsunagu after they got together. He never sold the property or anything. Continues to care for the garden, visits regularly to clean and reminisce.

Tsunagu helps with the plants, too. He's better with the potted/indoor houseplants, while Shin'ya mostly tends to the vegetables.

In my head they are content with their lives like this (we are Ignoring canon, k?)

Uhh now just random miscellaneous headcanons for him I guess??

prefers tea over coffee lol

Left-handed. Idk he has the vibes ig?? This one has been rooted in my brain for a WHILE now (+bonus points to anyone who noticed that in my art already /lh)

Likes to doodle! Will honestly doodle in anything that has margins or available space. notes, paperwork, the undersides of origami paper...

(he/they) but doesn't actually care that much

good?? at math???

TOTAL cat person

There are several stray cats that regularly visit his Nǎinai's garden. He feeds them and cherishes their presence deeply. Has names for ALL of them and actually cried when one of them had kittens

He actively changes the.. I'm not sure what word to use for it. Tone? Depth?... He alters his voice a little bit for his hero persona. His natural speaking voice is actually a lot lighter and not as. raspy.?

He does that because it adds to the ✨charm✨ of his reputation a bit, but it also helps keep him fairly unrecognizable when he's not on duty.

(I totally yoinked that one from the anime; That scene where he said the pizza delivery distraction line? I didn't even realize that he was the one that said it at first, and then I thought about it for a while and just came to this conclusion ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ )

Tsunagu gave him his signature red scarf when they were in their UA years. He doesn't use the original in his hero costume, but he did integrate it into his costume design.

He has heterochromia. I just really like this one.

Needs glasses though (stole that one from Newt <3)

Also has a. fascination. with human anatomy. Could probably list off the scientific names for every body part, if you asked. (also stole that one from Newt <3)

he LOVES stories. Urban legends, myths, folktales, experiences, personal gossip—anything of that sort. Nǎinai told him lots of stories when he was younger. His favorites were the ones about ninjas.

He now has a collection of books that could probably be considered a library, featuring both fiction and historical nonfiction. Most of it he keeps at Nǎinai's house, but he has some relevant stuff in his agency's office.

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: Do you prefer English Dub, Japanese Dub or Mixed Dub in Video Games?

HMM~ That's a FUN question!

With Guilty Gear Strive having a Korean dub now, I often like to explore ALL my options of late, though at the very least I keep English Subtitles on so that I'm aware of what is being said.

Actually, on the subject of dubs, I have been poking around for some fun fandubs for a few Japanese games that never got English dubs... there have already been a few character dub mods for BlazBlue Central Fiction, which never got an official full English dub, but can still utilize the audio files found in BlazBlue Crosstag Battle for some characters.

There's also a few mods that do UNDUBS which basically let older PS2 games retain their original Japanese audio but with English subtitles where present... two such examples are Valkyrie Profile 2 and Berserk: Hawk of the Millennium Chapter (both VERY excellent games by the way).

Also, particularly in the Saint Seiya/Knights of the Zodiac communities, Dubs are often ranged from French, Spanish, and even Italian! I personally like the original Japanese version of Saint Seiya, but hearing the games' dubs in AUTHENTIC GREEK DUB would be pretty neat!

There's one more dub community that deserves more content than they often get, and that is the RUSSIAN community! The Russian Guilty Gear Fanbase has been active for many years (despite the political/economic situations they currently face), and for a while now I've hoped that they could get a Russian Fandub for Guilty Gear Strive at some point.

Or, we could do things the Katsuhiro Harada way for the Tekken Series and just have everyone speak their native languages!

Just a few examples:

Chipp (Speaks English but probably has a South African Accent by now and probably learned Zulu).

Potemkin (Probably speaks a very DEEP Hindi accent).

Millia (Can speak Russian, but also Spanish when she wants to talk with Zato...)

Faust (is actually native Chinese, believe it or not so he probably speaks Mandarin...)

Kum Haehyun (Authentic Korean, but speaks Japanese at times... and English when s/he talks with Johnny).

Testament (actually speaks Swedish since that's where they were from originally...)

Leo Whitefang (speaks German and enjoys a good cooked sausage with BEER).

I should also mention there was a Guilty Gear Xrd Fandub in the works for the Revelator/Rev2 games a while back, I'm not 100% sure if it ever got finished though.

Would be nice to see an English Fandub of the original Guilty Gear X/XX and GGXX Accent Core games someday...

[stridingseer]

ELI YOU CANT JUST SAY YOU HAVE A PJO OC AND EXPECT ME TO NOT DEMAND MORE TIDBITS, SPILL pretty plssss

TECHNICALLY TECHNICALLY they weren't planned to be PJO OCs but I want Luke to have (2) older boyfriends so UH HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!

More below the cut:

Whiskey (Julius)

Ex-military operative (has lost one of his legs during combat, now he has a prosthetic and is retired (?)) and Asian (he refuses to say where his family is from)

Currently working in a tiny diner/cafe and takes the night shifts.

He has a knack for really dumb humour and will most likely take a single word from another person's mouth and spin it into a joke

Overall a seemingly nice/sweet person but at the same time he's an extremely proficient fighter. Has absolutely NO issues killing someone to achieve his goal. If they are in his way, they will go down. (what is his body count? probably in the triple digits)

Retired in the sense that he can get reactivated at any time because his contract sucks and so does the pension

Still uses his code name/alias of 'Whiskey' from back when he was still in service as a connection to his past. It is what people know him as.

Kill Them With Kindness aka free drinks and food (Luke has taken massive psychic damage)

Ironically despite being known as Whiskey, he doesn't drink. Really he's heard all of the jokes. Instead he's a decent cook, only for Chinese dishes though. Absolute snob over tea however, no sugar and no milk because he thinks it ruins the flavour.

His actual name is 'Julius [REDACTED]', last name is unknown and its heavily implied that he used to be married (to whom it is unknown). In fact he straight up doesn't talk about it. It's clearly a very sore spot.

actually left home once he turned 18 to join the force since there wasn't anything worth staying at home for (was it because he was queer or was it because he actually wanted to fight for something he believed in?)

Very Mortal, Incredibly So. Very aware of how fragile his life is, he just says he's lucky

Sees Viktor as Pain in my Ass (affectionate) and will roast the fuck out of him

Man is getting close to his 40s (he's actually 36 and he's not getting any younger; still a badass)

Viktor Shui

Technically also ex-military but he prefers 'ex-government', more likely to say that he didn't work under them as much as someone who was a tool for them. Technically he's gone rogue.

Mortal in a sense that you would call a robot technically mortal (I've said too much)

That being said, his alias during his service was simply 'Seven'. Was he the seventh member? The seventh version?

Beloved trans man who has absolutely NO fucks to give

Has NO records in any system and straight up feels like a guy who appeared from nowhere, disappeared and then came back. Very vague about his own background and history, certainly sounds like he never had a family which is... very iffy.

Casually unhinged, he will say the most batshit insane shit completely deadpan and you cannot tell if he's being serious. Like he hears that Luke tried to destroy New York and goes 'yeah buddy, me too.' Lays it on thick that he thinks Luke isn't as bad of a person as he thinks he is.

Jokingly starts calling Luke by 'boy scout' and it STICKS (goddammit old man)

Has a body count (only one case is known and he's killed a politician. Viktor feels bad about having to do it but also doesn't feel THAT bad about it)

"So you're a hitman?" "Anarchist actually."

Trying to reform the system if so someone help him for what he has gone through. No he will not talk about it willingly. Maybe do it when he's high on adrenaline or something.

Despite looking East Asian and knowing Mandarin... Viktor unfortunately cannot cook to save his life and lives off of coffee.

Exactly a decade over than Luke but younger than Whiskey by a few years. He only knows Whiskey because Whiskey makes coffee the way he likes it and he chills at the diner to get a degree of social interaction. Outside of the diner, he's just Awkward and Mean around people. It's very much his safe place to get away from his problems.

What's his relationship with Whiskey? Clearly, well, it seems that they're flirting to some degree. Or maybe they're already together, they don't even know themselves.

[meraki-yao]

YEEEEEEE

Okay I have thoughts so here's a list lmao:

This is OP's second meeting/photo with Taylor! That's so lucky

He's so sweet 😭 (I mean no surprise there)

Babyboy actually looks sleepy for once, but it's cute

Also his free-roaming curls!!! Looks so good on him!!! I really love this casual look on him 😍

The Chinese/Taiwanese (there's technically a distinction) version of RWRB is actually available in my bookstore, but I didn't get it because 1, I have two copies (the og pink one and the movie cover one) already which is unprecedented for me 2, as a Mandarin/ Putonghua speaker, Taiwanese translations of profanities really don't do it for me lmao (no offence to Taiwanese!!! Just my personal reading preference)

Guangzhou! Guangzhou (city) is in Guangdong, the closest mainland Chinese province to Hong Kong, where I am. It's like a train ride of a little over 2 hours? My mom used to work there and I visited her on holidays. And yes Guangzhou food, aka Cantonese cuisine, aka what dim sum is part of, is one of the most famous branches of Chinese cuisine! I personally love it (Cantonese cuisine is BIG here, local elderly have it for breakfast every freaking day), but it is more on the sweet and light side, wonder if Taylor would like it?

Shanghai is currently between the higher single digit to max 20 degrees Celsius. And seasonal influenza is doing the rounds right now. So yeah! Hope he keeps warm!

The GQ event venue is like a 1.5-hour car ride away from Shanghai, and that's only talking about the city distances. I have no idea what the fuck this man's schedule is (I'm guessing it's easier to fly to Shanghai from LA as Shanghai is a more prominent city?)

This the just hearsay about the GQ event I've seen in the Chinese community, so take it with a grain of salt but 1, apparently there's a ... rehearsal? for the event? today? (5th December GMT+8) 2, the theme allegedly of the event is "go crazy", which, what the fuck (I kinda doubt that because of the setting)

Again I'm excited and worried in equal measures, I just really want everything to go smoothly and for him to have a good time here

"His hug really makes people feel safe!"

(Translation from @/justmyneverland on Twitter, go give her a like!)

"I met Taylor again, and I was so nervous that I was shaking all over. I told him to give me ten seconds to calm down, and he just laughed there. I said can you sign an autograph for me, and he said why don't we take a photo first? I said the autograph first ahahah. He asked me where I bought the Chinese version. I said that I bought it from Taiwan. I also have the English version but my English is too poor to understand. He said no, you're good 😆 He asked me if I was also going to fly to Shanghai, I said I'm flying to Guangzhou in a few days and you're to visit Guangzhou, there's a lot of delicious food. He said maybe hahaha. I told him that Shanghai is very cold and he should keep warm, to remember to wear a mask and pay attention to the virus! I calmed down several times during the whole process, and he waited for me patiently. His hug really makes people feel safe! He is so kind, I want to cry😭😭😭"

[badass-at-fandoming]

Just Little Malkavian Things ~

Malkavians these days can do nothing but de-conceptualize, Dement, eat hot chip, and lie.

Since people seemed to enjoy the #JustLittleVentrueThings VTMB adventure, here's a matching Malkavian one. Though I'm gonna be real with ya here, I had less fun D:

I finally figured out why I have such trouble wrapping my head around depictions of Malkavians in VTM media. Books, Storytellers, and fans say it's like having a mental illness and being linked to a massive group chat. But, listen, I've lived around and with mental illness all my life. I've been in massive group chats. Being Malkavian ain't like that.

It IS like being an early-twenties English major in the midst of an existential crisis, over-worked and cross-faded outta your skull and watching horror movies to Cope(TM)

So it's like drugs. It's like you had too much weed and too much wine and are let loose on Los Angeles. Which. My friends and I have and we, coincidentally, also "fought" a stop sign. The Malkavian PC never really seemed like a character to me: she's like a collection of cliches and dude-bros doing blunts while watching slasher movies. I named her Liotta after the Psychic Shop owner, and I'm sad Liotta didn't really get to be a person.

I wasn't surprised by any of the dialog. It's a pattern. Alliteration, allusion, animal joke. Alliteration, allusion, animal joke. It lost its charm.

Often, I didn't know what the FUCK I was saying. Which is the Malkavian Experience(TM), according to Rosa.

Anyway

Nonsense time

Most characters have an extra paragraph of dialog to Acknowledge That You Are A Malkavian. Some get an extra conversation branch. For example, there's lots of new Bertie dialog and he was all impressed Liotta knows about Gehenna and Thin-bloods <3. The Anarchs characters, especially Skelter, get a lot more. Skelter, Ash, and Liotta totally vibe.

If you sneak around the Santa Monica drug house, they talk about Mercurio?? Hello?? Mercurio, you bent Masquerade by not getting beat up real good.

Zero pretense about Voerman. Yes, I have DID; yes, I am making it your problem.

When Liotta talked to Beckett, he said the DID was "something to look forward to." Goddamnit, Beckett. That's not how the Bane or mental illness works! >:-(

I've never sneaked before!!! Did you know that the Tong AND the American gang downtown have fakes in their suitcases??? Like, Full On, "it's just stuffed with newspapers, brah." They were going to kill each other over newspapers. For some reason the Tong brought the REAL suitcase along too, but I'm so past having VTM make any sort of sense. It's fine.

Accidentally pissed off Nines. I meant farmer (affectionate) and Nines thought I meant farmer (derogatory). :(

The Dementation powers are (a) pretty purple loop-de-loops, (b) not as effective as Dominate (reaaaallyyy missed a good AOE attack), and (c) oddly enough, gave more compassionate dialog choices. I mean. In the pen-and-paper version, Dementation isn't conflict-focused, so the devs had to jigger it to use as attacks. But I was touched when Liotta made Hannah believe she was Paul, so Hannah got to say goodbye. Making Samantha believe Liotta was a pet turtle was funny and spared her the pain of her friend vanishing a second time. Heather thinks her entire experience was a dream and returns to her life, more or less unscathed.

Boris?? Asked Liotta to kill Venus for him???? DUDE, WHAT. I didn't know he could counter-offer!! What happens if you take up his offer? Who controls Confession? Does it close down??

Pro Tip: don't trust the pale woman in a cowboy stripper outfit who comes out of your vent and tells you everything's fine.

I went through an ENTIRE Ventrue playthrough without puking and Liotta ate one (1) unhoused person and blew chunks. I didn't realize Diseased Blood was a threat. What happens if you skip the Plague-bearer quest? Should you just never chomp on the Downtown unhoused community?

Strauss called Liotta "young one" and I was like, sir. You're not Beckett, you can't trick me.

A rat dances in the Downtown sewers and tells Liotta that the grass is greener in someone else's asshole.

And also will take you places.

Do you know what it's like for a Capri Sun to suddenly start speaking and offer taxi services.

LaCroix: how did Bach find me??? also LaCroix: [names his company after himself] [lives in Ventrue Tower]

Liotta told Beckett that Kindred are a joke and I got extra EXP for being so sneaky.

DMP produced snuff films even before Andrei???!!!! I thought all the blood was from the lil geo-dudes.

Liotta agreed with Andrei that Caine is here and boot-scooting around in his lil Angst Mobile. :D

As bad as Liotta was in group fights, she repeatedly made bosses cower and stand quietly while she beat them to death. Andrei had a full on lay-on-the-floor temper tantrum in his war form and Liotta just. Smacked him until he exploded. She didn't even take damage!

Imalia's computer password is ALSO "cleopatra." Just like Tawni's! Dual reference to the Embrace type

IDK why I never asked this before, but, um, who does Mitnick share the bunk bed with? Barabus..?

I went back to the Empire Hotel Penthouse suite to fetch the educational book and the Russian mob dudes were still there?? Hello, sirs, your leader is dead. You can leave now.

Liotta heard the real thoughts of the Red Dragon hostess...and also some debate about the Dark Father's presence in LA, heehee.

I thought it was fun that one of the "take me away, Cabbie!" taxi replies mentioned riding in a car like father and child. :D

"Why is the Mandarin giggling at me" is a sentence that came out of my face.

With the different dialog options, sometimes it's impossible to be polite to NPCs. For example: Liotta could only call VV "dolly/doll/toy doll" instead of her preferred names; the Chinatown gun seller felt frightened, thinking we were Police or Immigration.

Some great fourth wall breaks in the dialog: "I don't want to get involved either, but tell that to whoever is playing me!" to Beckett after the Giovanni Mansion.

"You can't spell success without whatever the hell my name is."

"If I cannot win with effort, I will cheat my way to victory. I am gone." Funnily enough, this was my first run where I didn't hack in to boost stats.

"I just want it to end. I feel like I've been playing forever."

Some nice wider lore references: "I devour knowledge like the great worm devours the corpse of society" could refer to how Salout, in tapeworm form, is devouring Tremere's body and destabilizing the Clan and/or Kindred night society.

"They should have a channel devoted to you in my head" to Beckett. In his Diary, Beckett witnesses Malkavians devouring Malkav and may or may not join the Cobweb (PS check out this great fanfic where he does).

This made me stare into space for a minute and question my life choices. During the Sabbat massacre, Liotta didn't snack on any of the blood doll ghouls (ya know, the ones with the eyes gouged out). She had such high Inspection + Finance that she had $4k in her wallet and could buy blood. I wanted to test a rumor that if you don't feed on the blood dolls, you get extra EXP. You do. BUT anywAY, right before the Tremere miniboss, Liotta was sword-fighting some goons and the blood doll...attacked him for her? Like. He moved on his own. When the goon was dead, the blood doll asked if Liotta was all right. This might have been a glitch but...the horrific implications that those men are still conscious, still willful, still feeling. ACK. I hope they got out the next morning.

RIP Ming Xiao. Flamethrower right to the tiddies.

I stole @ryttu3k's idea and noclipped through the werewolf section. Liotta still killed the Garou, but I didn't want the stress.

Caine is very Caine. "Don't you get it? We've already been judged!"

Liotta went Anarch because what little backstory I came up for her was she considered Smiling Jack her sire. Nines complimented her ability to murder.

Sheriff got sooooo dizzy that he fell over right onto Liotta's sword 27 times.

Dancing werewolf ending! Seemed fitting. :D

[thealexchen]

i’ve actually read both of the articles that you mentioned earlier! I could see where both of them were coming from at varying points, though shannon liao’s struck me as a tad harsh, as someone who felt very seen by Alex, particularly with regard to her asian-american identity, and the cultural details and familial attitudes you see displayed throughout the game (especially in episode 5.) I could see why others would like them to be more overt, but they’re still present & relevant as is, imo.

I'm happy you read and enjoyed them! Well, since we’re on the subject, I might as well give my fuller thoughts about all this. This answer got horrendously long, so I'm putting it under a read more. I really wanted to talk about this more fully, so thank you for sending this ask!

I definitely see Robert's point in his article. Alex didn’t need to be Asian for the story of True Colors to be told, but it’s still meaningful that she is so that Asian fans and fans of color can look up to her and feel represented. The Chens buck a lot of stereotypes too: Mrs. Chen was not a “tiger mom” and her kids and husband remember her fondly. Mr. Chen doesn’t push Alex and Gabe to excel in school, and in fact neither Alex nor Gabe went to college, but they still had happy futures. Alex isn’t the best friend or the Asian schoolgirl or the dragon lady or the Asian nerd. But at the same time, when Robert says "Alex never really talks about her thoughts on Chinese culture,” that’s like— well, what’s wrong with talking about it? Why not talk about it more explicitly? The words “Asian” and “Chinese” and “Vietnamese” aren’t even used in the game when "gay" and "lesbian" were, and that's a little disappointing.

I figured people would figure out Alex was at least Chinese because of her last name, but I saw some streamers unsure of what Alex’s ethnicity even was (“Alex is… Chinese, right?”). That was disappointing because Asians tend to be treated as a monolith when we’re so internally diverse. Also, it’s completely possible to miss that Alex and Gabe are also half-Vietnamese. Their mother’s name is Giang “Wendy” Chen, a Vietnamese name, but that’s only in the credits. There’s far less Vietnamese (and Southeast Asian) rep than Chinese, so I wish that had been made more explicit.

In Life is Strange 2, Sean and Daniel’s struggles (personal and institutional) were centered around their identity as half-Mexican boys. True Colors almost seemed to be going in the opposite direction in that Alex’s Asian heritage never really becomes plot-relevant, but Alex and Gabe’s background comes into focus in the last chapter.

Part of Shannon’s critique was that because Alex’s parents aren’t in the picture, the game can’t explore Asian culture through a familial lens. There is some truth to that: for children of immigrants in particular, their parents are their strongest (and sometimes only) link to their race and culture. I thought a big missed opportunity was exploring Alex’s possible sense of isolation and struggle to reconnect with her Asian heritage after being separated from her family.

After growing up with two Asian parents, eating Asian food, celebrating Asian holidays, likely speaking Asian languages, etc. it would have likely been disorienting and lonely for Alex to suddenly be raised by non-Asian foster parents and lose all those traditions all at once. Possible comments like “I really miss Mom’s pho” or “Do you know how difficult it is to find hoisin sauce in the stores around here?” could have inferred more at that specific kind of loss and isolation in Haven Springs. The game touches upon this very briefly when you look at Gabe’s shrine, and Alex does comment “I don’t even know if I’m doing this right… but I felt like I had to do something.” In this way, I find it especially poignant that she still held onto cultural traditions after so long.

But I still thought Shannon’s critique was overly harsh. The little details really do add up, like in Alex’s childhood home, and meant a lot to me too. And most importantly, there was representation behind the scenes too: Alex was voiced by two(!) Asian American women and the lead writer, Felice Kuan, is Chinese. I think Alex naming her mouse Shu-shu was my favorite detail. Because it’s the one detail you can’t miss. Every streamer remembers Shu-Shu’s name and loves how cute she is and they can probably infer it’s a Chinese term. It just is so visible and empowering in that way and my heart felt warm every time I heard someone say “Aw! Shu-shu!"

But that doesn't mean Alex's Asian heritage didn't matter at all. I really appreciated that Alex's backstory still mattered because she came from a poor, working-class immigrant family. Her life circumstances were used for drama, but none of Alex's suffering was racially motivated and that felt tastefully done. I’m gonna paraphrase a comment I saw on alliebeemac’s playthrough of episode 5: "It's no coincidence that both Alex and Ryan lost their mothers at a young age, but because Ryan's father was a military veteran and had a high-paying job as a Typhon foreman, he got to keep his childhood whereas Alex's entire world was torn apart... And if you want to look at it even more metaphorically, the white patriarch Jed was able to preserve his own image as a hero and 'good old boy' of Haven by literally sacrificing an immigrant family to the mines with the expectation that nobody would come looking for them. Whether you're an immigrant or whether you're a foster child, the system is saying 'we don't care about you.'"

And at the end, Alex tells Jed, "You want to look away and pretend the men you hurt weren't people. But I won't let you.” It's a deliberate stand against Jed (a white man)’s dehumanization of poor laborers, including her Chinese immigrant father. Jed isn't explicitly portrayed as a racist, but his actions come from a privileged, and subsequently racist and classist place. For me, it worked better than LiS2's portrayal of racism because it was subtler and more personal. Alex stands up against Jed out of a personal sense of justice for her brother (and her father).

Do I wish we had more? Yeah, absolutely. I wish Alex got to actually speak Mandarin or Vietnamese in the game because that's so rare in games, even though I knew that would be unrealistic because Erika Mori is Japanese. I wish the character artists had at least made a version of Alex and Gabe’s models without shoes, because it just didn’t look right to see them wear shoes in the house (especially in bed??) and even LiS2 had Sean and Daniel in their socks in some scenes. I wish Alex and Gabe talked more about their family while Gabe was still alive and Alex could have had that comfort of someone who misses the food and customs they used to celebrate. But like I said, one piece of media isn’t gonna please everyone. And Asian representation in particular is so tricky because not only is there not enough of it, but Asian Americans are so diverse and come from so many different backgrounds. Children of immigrants are going to feel more connected to their Asian heritage than third or fourth gen kids or mixed race kids for example. Everyone is going to have a different definition of “Asian culture” and “accurate representation.”

But on a meta-level, it really means so much to simply have an Asian face on the box of a major Western game ❤️ Like even just seeing the way Alex's eyes crinkle when she smiles or how other characters find her attractive (like Steph’s note during the LARP preferring Alex’s natural black hair), it feels so affirming. It’s incredible to see an Asian girl be called the hero of her own story, to see her succeed and fail and cry and laugh and fall in love and kiss another woman and be comfortable in her bisexuality. It acknowledges that the queer community includes Asians, that Asian girls can also be curvy, that Asian girls can and do struggle with mental health. And like Erika Mori said, Alex is a fully-realized character and that’s what makes her so compelling, first and foremost. She also has a strong moral compass and dreams and fears and is such an incredible role model for people of all backgrounds, and that’s what makes her identity as a queer woman of color so much more meaningful.

[chibimyumi]

Redesign Prompt RESULTS!

Alright, thank you everyone who has voted, the results are now in! Overwhelmingly our winner is Ranmao 🐈!

First of all, I need to insert a few caveats here. Unlike with Victorian fashion, I do not have years and years of studying of Qing dynasty-fashion behind me. So whatever results I show here are the product of a fortnight of reading up and meticulous studying of contemporary photographs. a.k.a. I am merely scraping the surface here. But! I do promise that everything shown here is done to the best of my ability to be responsible as a content provider.

Now without further ado, let us dive into Ranmao’s current design, the blatantly obvious inaccuracies, and how I propose to redes...ign... her outfit while keeping the original intact as much.... as possible????  Heck, this is not even worthy of being called a ‘redesign’, this is straight up designing from scratch!

Hair

Let us start with her bangs. Her bangs are in fact surprisingly accurate, as late Qing dynasty women would wear their bangs in a variety of Bettie bangs trimmed well above the eyebrows. Having sides of the bangs growing longer framing the face was usual too, though they would be cut slightly thicker than Ranmao’s. Though, we don’t know how much hair Ranmao has, so I see no reason to alter it.

Twin braids are very much associated with the “China doll look”, but they seem to have been branded into our image of the “Chinese Girl” because it was the go-to look for unmarried women in Republic China (which is many years later than Ranmao’s time, and also has more surviving images.)

In Ranmao’s time, unmarried girls would either wear the bottom part of their hair down, or have everything tied into a single braid behind them. Girls who preferred a more feminine look would often decorate the sides or the top with flowers or other ornaments depending on their wealth.

Yana’s notes say that the flower in Ranmao’s hair is a Chinese peony, which is also called the Empress of Flowers in Chinese as well as Japanese culture. I could find sources on how the peony was the symbol of the Empress of China, and how one better avoid wearing any type of peonies around the Empress herself for fear of being suspected of disrespect. But I could not find any evidence of such flowers being banned for other people, so presumably it was more an ‘unwritten code of politeness’ rather than fashion law.

Hence, I kept the pink peony design for Ranmao, and decorated them in the way Qing women would have.

Neckline

By far the most interesting thing I learned from this redesign attempt was that the “mandarin collar” - the thing that pops up first in most people’s minds when thinking about Chinese fashion - was in fact not at all common.

In this academic work on Chinese fashion history, Finnane writes that the ‘high collar’ was “not a common feature of costume before the twentieth century.” Instead, most costumes would have had a round neckline.

Finnane, Antonia. Changing Clothes in China : Fashion, History, Nation. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. p. 93

The ‘high collar’ gained popularity in early 1900s in China after the Europeans brought with them the beauty standard for high collars, as well as slim-fitted silhouettes. The Chinese increasingly adopted this type of collar and the slim silhouette (the well known ‘china dress/qipao/cheongsam’), and the relatively many early photos that survived helped engrave this stereotype into our minds.

Sleeves

I do not think it requires any mention, but 19th century Chinese fashion did not include boleros... For many of the original designs of Ranmao I can sort of see where Yana got that image from, but this bolero-look truly beats me.

The sleeves worn in the late Qing period were relatively wide, though they were starting to slim down over time. Late Qing women enjoyed much more flexible clothing rules than earlier Qing women, and the width of the sleeves was in great part determined by personal preference, season, but mostly one’s wealth.

Needless to say, the larger the sleeves the more fabric and embroidery it would require, and thus more expensive. Also, the wider the more it would get into the wearer’s way.

I don’t know how much thought Yana put into Ranmao’s original design in relation to her function as elite bodyguard, but considering how the original has zero practicality and only serves to maximise Ranmao’s attractiveness, I have no qualms about giving Ranmao fairly large sleeves too. Besides, let us assume that Lau is responsible for providing Ranmao with clothes. Illegal money tends to fill the pockets quite deeply, I don’t think he can’t spare a few pounds for big sleeves.

Wider sleeves would expose much of ‘a lady’s precious skin’, as such a more fitted layer would have been worn underneath. (The sleeves under the wider sleeves obviously did not have to be orange-ish. This was merely coincidence that both my redesign and the visual source have this colour.)

Silhouette

The figure hugging silhouette x Chinese clothes was - as mentioned above - not at all a thing in Ranmao’s time. In fact, the accentuation of the “female curves” was considered very inappropriate if not downright ugly in the Qing dynasty.

Finnane, Antonia. Changing Clothes in China : Fashion, History, Nation. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. p. 94

Yana’s notes mention that the thing Ranmao wears is just an European corset and that that is the only thing ‘English’ about her attire.

Well... I don’t know where the idea that Victorians wore corsets on the outside comes from, but I myself admittedly was fooled by this a few years ago too... I promise you all now however, Victorians decidedly did not wear their ‘bras’ on the outside. I think even now this look is considered rather ‘questionable’ by most people.

Instead, Qing dynasty clothes were mostly cut wide and straight, loosely dangling around their bodies offering maximum comfort and space. You feared Ranmao killing you in her corset? Now tremble before her now blessed with maximised agility.

Trousers

Well... I considered ‘translating’ Ranmao’s attire to 2020 standard like I did for O!Ciel, but that would not be Tumblr-filter approved. Skirts so short they could be mistaken for a belt are nothing too surprising today, but wearing one with a split that deep is probably a bit too revealing even by today’s standards.

By the late Qing dynasty, men and women, rich and poor alike predominantly wore trousers. Long robes (skirts) were definitely in fashion too, but they were reserved for those who could afford to not have much agility. If you were a farmer, robes would not have been your first option. Perhaps the way long skirts were viewed by the Qing Chinese was not unlike the way we see them now; ‘more classy’ ‘more feminine’ and ‘less convenient’, but not the only way to express femininity.

In these pictures below we can see relatively rich women, married and unmarried alike, all wearing trousers.

Ranmao is predominantly a fighter, and as trousers are plenty feminine in Chinese fashion culture, I don’t see why she would not choose to wear trousers instead of a restricting long skirt. Hence I gave her a pair of trousers.

Shoes

Like I said before, “the shoes are correct...” But the anklets definitely are not!

Golden or silver anklets are something that are worn by very, VERY young children in China. Even to this day it is customary among many Chinese people to gift newborn children at least one piece of pendant, bracelet or anklet, for it is believed to bring the child luck. More practically, this piece of jewellery will become the child’s first piece of property then, which can be sold later SHOULD they ever run into a financially difficult situation.

These anklets or bracelets would not be removed from the child unless they have outgrown them, which happens fairly quick. Ranmao who is probably full grown should have outgrown them at least ten years ago. Hence, seeing these things on Ranmao would probably make it look like she is still wearing diapers or bibs.

Chinese people would likewise not have worn shoes barefoot. Instead, they would have worn cotton socks which were mostly white.

DOUBLE HAMMERS

HERE COME THE WEAPONS! Luckily Yana wrote the following note or I would never have guessed what they are for my knowledge about Chinese weapons is next to nothing.

“These are【SUPER】heavy. They are weapons called 双錘 (double hammers) and they in fact exist. I heard these were used by power-type warriors.”

So, I googled 双錘 and it turns out that the type Ranmao is holding do indeed exist! But... only in fiction and theatre.

The hammers that were used in actual combat were either very thin and long, or short and plump. Such hammers were one of the most primitive metal weapons in China, and quickly fell out of favour among Chinese warriors when more practical weapons such as the metal spear, sword and bows were invented. The hammers mostly retained their value because of their weight in heroic tales and myths about legendary warriors and deities.

I don’t have the full details, but apparently according to some legends or myths, one of such big-ass hammers could deal a force of 200kg, and thus 400kg combined. Regardless of this being realistic or not, it sure does sound very cool! It is therefore no wonder this primitive weapon retains its popularity even today.

Nowadays when these hammers are used, they are either the blown up theatrical versions, or the smaller versions for the sake of preserving martial arts.

I had a bit of a dilemma as to which version to give Ranmao, but in the end I settled with the short and heavy ones because I wanted to keep the idea of this small and innocent looking girl wielding solid metal balls. Two cheer-leading sticks would simply not have the same weight, figuratively and literally.

Alright everyone! Did you enjoy my response to your votes? I hope you did ^^ Non-European fashion history really is not my strong suit, so my deepest apologies if I messed anything up.

Pray tell if I did, I am always happy to learn ^^

[melonnade]

commentary under the cut

so this is the line where the dialogue gave me the most trouble because 1. I am functionally illiterate in Chinese and 2. my Chinese sucks. if anyone wants to help me out, please do!

there’s one section in particular that I’m kinda iffy on:

對你來講，我係咩人？

please bear in mind that this is supposed to be spoken Cantonese so there will obviously be linguistic/phrasing differences from Mandarin.

to the best of my understanding, 對你 = to you; towards you, 我係 = I am, 咩人? = what kind of person? but that leaves this part 來講 and my knowledge of Chinese does not extend far enough for me to know what this means.

like if you asked me to just say this in Cantonese I would straight up leave out the 來講 and just say 對你，我係咩人？but I would probably be incorrect there.

all the translation tools I used said I needed to use some variation of 嚟說 / 嚟講 / 來說 / 來講 in that space there, but I have no idea which of those four is supposed to be correct. individually translating all possible character variations left me even more stumped, so I google searched all four and went with the one that seemed to yield the most results along the lines of the particular meaning I was going for. still, even after all this, I still don’t know if it’s correct?

I think this is probably the best I’m going to get on my own but yeah if anyone wants to lend a hand with the translation or just confirm that it seems okay, I’d really appreciate that <3

also this is her character sheet :D I feel like the with skirt version looks better balance-wise but I also like the idea of exposed pants so until I decide on which one I prefer, both are good!

I think I’m going insane,,, making fake screencaps of my own ocs now

[meichenxi]

Hi!! I'm a college student about to graduate and my dream is to teach English in China and I was wondering if you could somehow help me and give me some advice. I have been studying Chinese during my years at university (and I love your blog!), along with my physics degree. I don't know if any of this is relevant but my level of Mandarin is not very high (HSK3), I study in the UK and I'm planning to get a TEFL 120 hour certification in June. Is this a solid plan? Love your blog, Isa

Hiii! Sorry it took me so long to get to this, I have my final exams at the moment and am on semi-hiatus. First, what an amazing dream!! You'll have a wonderful time :D

SO in general having a degree not in English language and a TEFL certificate is most definitely enough to secure you a job, but at the moment it is a rather 'special period', as every job advert says, and so finding a job is a little trickier because of visa problems.

Basically, there are no work or study visas available at the moment for people from the UK. The only people who can get into China are those who the Chinese Embassy deems 'foreign experts' and therefore 'crucial to China's progress', and your company or school will have to provide something called a PU letter. This grants you the ability to actually apply for the work visa, though itself doesn't grant it. At the moment there aren't that many companies available who can offer that.

Because of this, I'd recommend going through a recruitment company. I do not necessarily mean a graduate scheme (the ones advertised as such are not very well paid and you don't have much control over where you go), but a recruitment company. You can find these on any general site if you google 'ESL jobs China'.

In terms of actual jobs - generally speaking there are three categories, private language schools, state schools, and international schools. International schools are by far the best in terms of packages, but they rarely take graduates without 3 years of teaching experience. The good news is that if you do find somebody who is looking for recent grads (if you go to a particularly prestigious university like Oxbridge, for instance), you might be able to teach Physics or Science rather than English language. International schools will also be the easiest to deal with in terms of communication and visa applications, but the competition is quite stiff, and most people who apply will be teachers in their home countries already.

State schools are another good option if you want 'normal' teaching hours, good holidays, and older children. The position I have next year is in a good state school that has two programs, the Canadian curriculum and the GaoKao (the Chinese university entrance exam). The main disadvantage is that you may be the only foreigner in the school, and communication might be difficult. I don't just mean with Chinese but in general: you will be not told things, you will be excluded, you will turn up to your class and find someone else teaching it and be told just to go back to your office. If you can be flexible and have an open mind, state schools are great, but they may be quite exhausting especially if this is your first time in China. You will also have to teach to exams, and the curriculum might be tight. For me personally though, I would much rather teach in a state school than the next option -

Which is private language schools. These are very good - sometimes. This is the main problem: the quality of the schools, the teaching, and the ethos all vary from school to school. You may be teaching very young children, and you may be teaching exclusively in the evening. The schools may be very supportive of creativity in the classroom, or you may be literally forced to teach the flashcards they give you. The plus about these schools is that they often have competitive relocation packages, are not too bothered about how experienced (or not) you are, and that there will be a community of other English speaking colleagues (natives and not) to help you integrate.

The reason I add this is that it's so, so important. It's very laudable and easy to wish for immersion and want to make Chinese friends - and you should!! - but living in another country without easy access to internet you are used to can be exhausting at times and even the staunchest believer in immersion is going to be stressed and tired and teary far from home. Having colleagues who want to improve their English can also be a good basis for a (somewhat awkward at first) friendship.

Some general tips: brush up on your English grammar. Seriously. Because the amount of teachers who have no idea and bluff their way through it is shocking and disrespects those who try very hard to make it a proper profession. Also having students ask you when you use the present perfect continuous and the present perfect simple and not knowing the answer is a very special kind of pain!! I'd recommend bringing a reputable grammar book with you, and using it when making your lesson plans.

Re Chinese: if you already have a little, your Chinese will improve so much when you're there!! Don't stress about it because China is a wonderful environment for learning - it's literally perfect, few people speak English and EVERYBODY wants to speak to you as many people are direct and very curious - but at the same time, the more you can learn, the easier it will be. Don't neglect your characters!! Learning useful menu characters and signs will be hugely helpful too. You won't need Chinese in your job really, but you definitely will in your daily life, so well done for learning and keep at it!!

The other thing I would say is: sort out your music and your social media and your banking before going to China. This includes a good VPN. You can't download apps on the google App Store, and to make the transition to the Chinese internet easier, I'd recommend getting a Weibo account, any music app, Baidu translate and maps and so on, and accustoming yourself to that before going.

Re where you are going and the package: you should have your flight paid, help with your visa, and transparency about quarantine procedures. You should also have accommodation or an accommodation allowance of between 2000-5000 (2000 is more than fine). Public or international schools may pay for your food during school-time as well. Re cities: prioritise what is important to you. If you want to save, bear in mind that China is extraordinarily cheap and that even in places like Shanghai, you can still save a lot if you live somewhat sensibly. To give you some context: I lived in Tianjin, a second-tier city, and I got 'pocket money' of 2000 every month (with accommodation and food paid), and I managed to save enough to do martial arts for a month at an academy after 5 months. And I was living well - going out about twice a week, taking taxis, eating out almost every evening (cheap food). So don't prioritise one position over another solely because of money, and also bear in mind kindergarten teachers may only be getting about 2000-3000 a month - so regardless of whether you earn 10,000 or 15,000, it's a) SIGNIFICANTLY enough to live very well and save very well too, and b) considerably more than many of your coworkers will be earning.

Also, different cities have different costs of living: 10,000 somewhere like Hangzhou will go considerably further than 16,000 in Shanghai. Another thing to bear in mind is the air quality, and the environment, and the access to green spaces. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THIS. If this is important to you, go somewhere smaller or in the south with access to nature - I nearly went crazy living in such a big city with such poor air quality. The positions I had to choose between were one in Shanghai, better paid and at a better school, and a position in Zhuhai in a campus in the mountains, in a third-tier city by the sea. I know now how important green is to me, how much I prefer a more relaxed pace of life, and so I chose the latter.

Lastly, don't be intimidating and don't be afraid to ask questions about your job. Make sure that everything they say is in the contract, in both the English version and the Chinese version. This is important because only the Chinese version is legal, so if you have a friend, get them to check that the same stuff is in each bit of the contract. Communication might be difficult, but don't be afraid to be direct and press for answers, don't just accept what you're told. You might be messed around with a bit, so it's important to 'shop around' for positions - don't feel bad if you do so, and don't be afraid to turn things down that don't suit. Finally, don't feel terrified if you can't find information about a school online - a lot of stuff isn't on Google, and will also be better accessed via WeChat or mini programs. Not finding information about your school or city does not mean it doesn't exist!!

So be prepared for a wild ride - and enjoy! If you have any more questions about any of this, please feel free to ask at any time!

meichenxi out :P

[hunxi-guilai]

I was wondering, do you happen to know what the rules for capitalization would be with the titles in CQL? Like, would shijie, gongzi, etc be capitalized when referring to a specific person? For example, if WWX said "I asked Shijie about something" should shijie be capitalized or no?

oh buddy. there are no rules here. this is the world of translation, where everything exists on a sliding scale of liminality, accuracy, and coherency

there’s no capitalization in the Chinese written language (think about it for a hot sec, it’ll make sense), so there are no rules in terms of capitalizing terms in translation aside from pre-existing rules in the destination language. We capitalize names like Wei Wuxian because that’s what we do in English, but names don’t get capitalized in Chinese because it’s literally impossible to do so. One of my biggest headaches reading Mandarin is the eternal question of ‘is this someone’s name or another binome I don’t know or a highly specific reference to an obscure poem,’ and it is a constant struggle

It’s similar to the question of whether you should capitalize the letter of the second syllable in a name, whether it should be Wei Wuxian or Wei WuXian, Lan Wangji or Lan WangJi. Neither of them are wrong, but we end up preferring one or the other. I’d honestly just go with your gut -- if there’s one version you can look at for longer without getting weirded out, go with that one

[isisparker]

as much as I drag Netflix for its dubious subs, I will admit that I'd rather watch content in its original language with subbing than the dubbed version.

this is so much evident in Space Sweepers, a Korean sci-fi space adventure film that 1. I highly recommend and 2. while majority of the cast speaks Korean, there are various others that speak their own native tongue (French, Italian, Spanish, English, Mandarin, etc) but we're given subs to understand. in the movie's world building, nearly everyone now should have a translator device equipped on them so that everyone could understand each other regardless of their native language [side note and bit spoiler: it seemed a little ablelist for one character who was discovered deaf at a young age, but they went the route of surgery to fix their hearing, don't know if in that particular society that's a mandatory thing or because storytelling. they don't explore further than it part of the plot].

and as I said in the beginning, I prefer the original with subs. I watched the film earlier in the day with subs but later that night I watched it again with my husband, who prefers dubbed.

there's a part in the beginning where they briefly explain the whole translator device and it's HILARIOUS to see the difference between the subs vs the [in my case: English] dub!

in the original: the protagonist spoke Korean and the person they interacted with spoke English.

in the [English] dubbed: the protagonist spoke English and the person they interacted with spoke dubbed Russian.

long story short: 1. Watch Space Sweepers! I highly recommend [will probably do a longer review later] and 2. If you do so, as much as I drag Netflix for its subs, watch Space Sweepers in its original language and use the subs. The English dubbing doesn't truly serve the film as much as the subs despite us still enjoying the movie.

[rigelmejo]

march - just some thoughts

i have read more this month than any other month? and its not slowing down its only 3/12 so i have 2/3 of a month to go and i’ve read 26 chapters. even if these chapters are ‘short’ at 10 pages, if i wanna count by ‘20 page’ chunks i’ve still read 13 chunks so far. and i’ve still got more time in the month left. most other months i’ve managed to read ‘a lot’ i read 10-20 chapters. so i’m doing really good.

grammar is a weird thing? in reading i feel like its quite easy now to understand. when listening or watching - same. and yet if asked ‘why do i say/type X’ or ‘why is it written/spoken like X’ i have absolutely no explanation in my head. i could not explain the grammar if prompted. this puts me in a weird place and i feel like i SHOULD go over a grammar guide again just so i can WORD what i’m intuitively understanding.

this is a bit bizarre to me because within the first 6 months of study i DID read through an entire grammar guide just to get an idea of what i was about to look at, and it hardly made sense once actually reading/watching/listening. i understood the guide fine, but actually Seeing chinese i was still confused. i would reference AllSetLearning’s Chinese Wiki on some basic points, then after 6 months i just stopped. now its been what 1.5 years and - reading is so easy, listening is so easy, grammar wise. none of the grammar confuses me. but i no longer ‘explicitly’ have any idea what the fuck the grammar is. i used to. i studied it explicitly before trying to read/listen. and yet now that i can read/listen, i have no idea how to explain the grammar. i can listen to a podcast and i don’t think about what the grammar is i just get it. i read and just know what i’m looking at. its like english - i cannot fucking explain it. Which makes speaking/writing a bit hard. Because when i try to check if i’m right i have no fucking clue HOW anymore - i just say/write what comes to mind and HOPE it makes sense. i have no way to conciously check for errors except ‘does this feel right’? And that’s not good enough for me lol. So I definitely do need to eventually read a grammar guide for explicit explanations again.

Technically I think “English and Chinese Grammar Side By Side” grammar book would be an excellent one to use. Because i read the first 50 pages of it and it compared it to english (so it explained english too), and it was very easy to understand and started basic then got more involved. 

I’m probably gonna use my very old Chinese Grammar Self Taught by Thimm book instead. Just because I really like that book. Then I guess use another after (probably Basic Chinese Sentence Patterns since its modern and perfect for ‘catch your own mistakes’ study and much shorter than Eng+Chinese Grammar side by side). 

Anyway I’m in a very weird place right now lol. I know i’m understanding grammar that is stuff I never even studied initially in the grammar guide, but unable to explain what it is, and a lot of stuff i did explicitly study in a grammar guide i completely forgot the explanation for. My reading and listening is GREAT, because all my effort only has to go into learning new words lately! its relaxing! Its the only part i need to do! But my writing/speaking i am very concerned about because being able to check myself for mistakes is something i’d like the ability to do.

how grammar is presented really makes a difference in how well i get it. there is some serious benefit to ‘show simple first then build up what you know’ that text books tend to prefer. versus like grammar reference books that may start with some in depth stuff.

i tried to read a japanese grammar guide the other day and 1 it was great but 2 it covered some ADVANCED stuff i never learned in genki 1+2, and so it was Explicit grammar description of stuff i had literally years ago been immersing in japanese and Still not conciously known about. So i felt. Overwhelmed lol. I felt so confused. I feel like I might switch to Tae Kim’s grammar guide primarily just because its structured with basics covered first. and i feel like until the basics are again glued into my brain, seeing even more advanced stuff just confused me so much i had no idea how to remember it. which is funny because? my usual strategy with grammar guides is to just read it and let what sticks stick and what is confusing be moved on from, in the hope i will later see it again and understand it better. so like based on what i usually do i should’ve just been able to read through it (and i’m gonna try anyway lol). but truly japanese grammar just... my mind does not like wrapping around it and remembering it. (chinese grammar is so much easier for me... so much easier....;-; )

i have been tempted to just Restart Nukemarine’s LLJ (Lets Learn Japanese) memrise decks, because I KNOW they worked for me last time really really well. And they include Tae Kim grammar lessons. And I know if i did it then maybe i’d get back to where i was years ago pretty fast.

I tried Earthlingo app. Its a cool idea, I don’t think its worth it though unless you planned to get Rosetta Stone (since Earthlingo is FREE). Earthlingo features 1000 words per language, taught to you by exploring video game worlds as an alien. Its a cool concept, but since all words seem to be nouns then you aren’t even learning the most common verbs/adjectives. And 1000 words is not a lot. And you could learn 1000 quite fast if using srs flashcards like Memrise or Anki (think weeks if you push yourself, and a month or two months if going at a regular pace). Earthlingo you have to slowly explore the worlds so that eats time, you have to choose to test yourself (so you don’t review nearly as often as flashcard apps), and one test includes walking around the world clicking the object which you’re given the word for (takes time to find the right object). All this means a word that might take maybe 15 minutes to study over a few weeks, might instead take much longer to study and learn. I don’t use duolingo because it generally covers so few words (usually 2000-4000 i think which is good for a beginner resource but you have to do the WHOLE course to get to all those words and i take so long on duolingo that could take YEARS for me versus a month on a flashcard app or clozemaster). Duolingo I also don’t use because it very slowly paces learning material (it takes me months/years to get through 1000 words on duolingo - just personally i go so slow on it, i think faster people would find a use for it). Likewise Lingodeer takes me AGES to get through (and i think covers 2000 words nowadays? I’m shocked Duolingo has more words for the japanese course tbh). However, Lingodeer is by far the best ‘app’ for Japanese grammar lessons in app practice form. Even if basically all the apps feel pretty slow to me in how fast they give you new info. Earthlingo is cool that its free, and for learners 12 and under i think it would be super useful as a way to engage them and keep them studying (since what child likes flashcards? whereas as a child i would’ve loved this). But as an adult Earthlingo is sooooo slow on how fast you can learn words, and it does not even offer very many words (1000 is a nice bare minimum but without verbs/adjectives it can only be a supplementary learning tool for beginners at best).

Link about Lingodeer having 2000 words in a course. (Since its SO hard to lookup how much vocabulary lingodeer includes :c )

Nukemarine’s LLJ memrise decks (which I’m considering going through again but ToT agh flashcardssssss.... they sure do work though agh)

http://www.chinese-grammar.com/beginner/ - this is the site I read a chinese grammar guide on at like Month 3. I am rereading it now maybe it will help me remember wtf grammar explicitly is. ToT (A tip, read Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced sections). Last time I visited the site you just clicked a section, then saw each fully explained grammar point and clicked ‘next’ it was nice. Now its laid out a little less ideal for me, but its still got all the same nice info! (Also honestly if you are a beginner I really DO like this grammar guide... it introduces basic info first, gradually gets more complex, and i could follow its logic knowing like 200 hanzi and 100 words ToT. its very easy to understand even if it takes a while to apply that info).

im probably gonna read hanshe more today. i’m at the point where either i know enough vocab, or the writers style has just ‘clicked’ idk. but now i just am not getting bogged down by unknown words and am just. speeding through enjoying the plot. Also rip me this novel has 155 chapters and im only on chapter 30.

watching japanese lets plays is really fun! i feel like im 3 years old cause i just see nouns i can learn pretty easy in context cause i know the game well, and hear some vaguely familiar verbs, but its fun! also it helps i know kingdom hearts 2 like by heart so. a lot of it makes me instantly cheerful and nostalgic. roxas’s voice is so cute in the japanese version.

oh i almost forgot: I found a book recently for chinese that for it’s like 10 page grammar guide summary at the beginning ALONE i think is more than worth the 4 dollars it costs to get. It has a ton of compound words and its a reference book in mandarin and cantonese (it has pronunciation for both, all characters are in traditional). I got it initally because it as a bunch of compound words and I’d like to get better at knowing a lot of common ones. But the intro to the book has a page explaining sentence structures in chinese, then examples. Its so straightforward and to the point. I love it. The book is “Understanding Chinese: A Guide to the Usage of Chinese Characters” by Rita Mei-Wah Choy. (There is also a companion book for individual hanzi, which is nice but this book specifically I’m finding more useful).

what i really like about Listening-Reading method, and reading, as study activities: no matter how I do them it is only improvement. I have a tendency to ‘redo’ material i don’t feel i fully mastered, or refuse to move on. So when i have duolingo, flashcards (sometimes i can move on if i ignore reviews/make myself do new stuff), books, grammar guides, self guided classes - i have a tendency to redo the material. over and over. and not progress and challenge myself. whereas with reading - every time i look up a word its useful because its new or something i clearly Need to review (not something i’ve actually learned and can move past reviewing). so whether i reread material or read new stuff, as long as i run into things i find somewhat challenging (feel the desire to word look up), i know i am running into new material i can learn. Same with listening-reading method: whether i finish a book or just skip to random books, any new chapter i do will give me new words to learn/remember (until i’ve reached a point of perfect listening comprehension which is a WAYS away). There’s no way for me to mess it up. I can give up a book im bored with, i don’t have to stick to one resource to the end. 

someone tell me why professionally made chinese audio books almost NEVER line up to the chapters???? whyyyyy ;-;

Even More Notes lol:

So I read so much in Pleco, which auto pronounces, I have COMPLETELY forgot. 得 地 - for these two, when they’re attached after a description like 淡淡 慢慢 高兴 etc, when are they pronounced di versus de???? i’m pretty sure  得 is pronounced de when its an adjective like ‘-ly’. but for  地, i don’t remember if when part of a describer if its pronounced di or de????

[potahun]

Some more Qin Shen Shen moments translations (Part 14/?)

2020 S2 Reunion Edition 5/? 

Link to other translations so far.

Full footage of Qin Shen Shen’s interview with Wen Yu Xin Tian Di. Some parts have already been translated (in part 10/?) and these will be marked, but otherwise, I am just translating the whole thing because the whole thing is a skit.

ZS (to the staff): Do I need to do the clapperboard? 

LKQ: *mumbles about something else*

ZS, staring at him: We’re starting the interview.

LKQ: Oh. Then I can’t do this wrong/Then I can’t say this. (T/N: Sorry, can’t hear very well which one he means)

ZS (to the staff): Do I need to do the clapperboard? *opens his arms to do the motion, but the interviewer stops him*

Interviewer: No need, no need.

ZS sits properly again.

LKQ, grabbing the microphone to look at the placard on it: What is this for? (ZS: It’s Wen Yu Xin Tian Di. Alright.)

I will be putting the rest under a cut because it’s LONG.

Interviewer: Ok, so the group named Qin Shen Shen has finally reunited. Let’s start by saying hi to the viewers of Wen Yu Xin Tian Di. 

(The next part has been translated in part 10/? ---- 0:19 to 1:00 in the vid. The questions concerned how they felt after reuniting and QSS replied that it was like nothing had changed)

Interviewer: Then, in the past months, have you been watching what the other’s been doing?

LKQ: Sure, one time or two. *quietly starts to laugh*

ZS, chortling: What does it mean, one time or two?

LKQ: I mean, messaging (each other). (ZS, understanding: Ah, ahh...) We did, we did, we did... (ZS: Yes, of course we contacted each other) Because recently...not recently-- this entire past year, a lot of things happened all around the world. (ZS: Yes) Whether in Hong Kong, or in the mainland...So, many times, we’d... check how the other’s doing. 

(The next part is translated in part 10/? ---- 1:23 to 1:42 in the vid.)

Interviewer: Then, have the two of you been checking out the 2nd season of “Wo Men De Ge”? 

Both: Of course! 

LKQ: A show with such a high rate of viewership...you got to watch at least a little....There’s a 25 years old newcomer in there. 

ZS, laughing: Aiya......he formed a new *whispers* Zuo Lin You Li now. *giggles* Can the mic pick this up? *whispers closer to the mic* Zuo Lin You Li. 

(T/N: Alan Tam aka Tan Yong Lin keeps saying he’s 25 even though he’s like...70. He and Li Keqin are friends and they used to form a duo called “Zuo Lin You Li”, meaning, literally, “Lin on the left, Li on the right” So Zhou Shen’s comment is in reference to how Alan Tam joked that the Alan Tam/Li Jian group on S2 is the new “Zuo Lin You Li”). 

Interviewer: Is there any performance that left a deep impression?

ZS, looking at LKQ: There are quite a few!

LKQ, nodding: Yeah, quite a few groups are really good.

ZS: Yeah, and all their arrangements are really great. Especially-- (with LKQ: Shi Tou!)

LKQ: Yeah, Shi Tou. I really like Shi Tou’s group. (ZS, talking at the same time: Shi Tou’s arrangements are *thumbs up* As expected, he’s Shi Tou) Whoa, the arrangements he does *appreciative sound*. That...that one recently... “Wang Qing Shui”. (ZS: Oh! Right, right, right.) It’s very good. Really, very good. And then...there’s also...that newcomer I was talking about just now -- the *using quotation marks with his fingers* “NEW ZUO LIN YOU LI”...

ZS, whispering again: Zuo Lin You Li. 

LKQ: ....is not bad either. *giggles*

ZS: Is it just “not bad”...? ...Which “Zuo Lin You Li” do you prefer? *accidentally hits himself in the face with the mic and lets out a surprised shout, before holding his cheek* I really can’t talk nonsense after all! ;;;

LKQ, belatedly but with an abrupt reaction: What do you mean “which” Zuo Lin You Li????! There’s only one Zuo Lin You Li!! 

ZS: ...I was wrong. That’s why I got hit by the mic just now. (LKQ: The other is a cover, a cover! *laughs*) Come now, this question should be asked by the interviewer. Three, two, one...

Interviewer: Then...teacher Keqin, do you feel like your position is being threatened?

ZS: Beating this much around the bush? Ask him in a more direct way. Three, two, one.

LKQ: Mm. One more time, one more time, one more time. 

The interviewer actually doesn’t add anything, so LKQ replies:

LKQ: Uh, aiyo *closes his eyes to think* First of all, it’s completely different. I think.......two people........Actually, I talked about it with the School Director (Alan Tam’s nickname) on the phone many times. (ZS: Oh really!) He keeps saying “eh, how about the 3 of us perform once?”

ZS: What would that be called? “Zuo Lin You... Li Li”?

LKQ: “Zuo Lin Er Li” (T/N: literally, “Left Lin, Two Li”). 

ZS: Oh... “Zuo Li Er Li”. 

LKQ: Because it’s two “Li”s. 

ZS: ... Is it not because you’re too “Er”? (T/N: the same “Er”, as in “two”, is also a term used to say that someone is silly / not very bright /a bit dense, if you apply it to describe a person. Not sure I am pinpointing the nuance correctly in English. Anyways, ZS’s face as soon as he says that:) 

LKQ: .... *shrugs* It doesn’t matter. I think, in any case, music is about having more different collaborations with people. (ZS: Okay. *giggles*) Mm. I think so. *nods* Next time.

ZS (to the camera): Everyone can look forward to “Zuo Lin Er Li.” (LKQ: *laughs* Ok)

Interviewer: This time you’re singing two songs, one is “Tokyo Love Story”, the other is “Under Mount Fuji”. Can you tell everyone why you chose these two songs?

ZS: Well, first off, “Under Mount Fuji” is because I strongly insisted on it. (LKQ agrees) And I insisted on us singing the Cantonese version. Because I really like this song’s lyrics in Cantonese. It’s really, just...Because usually, when us people who don’t speak Cantonese listen to Cantonese songs, we’ll often look up the lyrics and be moved by them. And “Under Mount Fuji” is one of those songs. So I think, if I can sing with teacher Keqin, we must definitely sing this one. *smiles and puts hand over mouth* I keep on coming here to realise dreams.

LKQ: What he said just now, I never heard it before. (ZS: But it’s true!) I know! And...when he told me we should sing this song, I told him “actually, a few years back, I sang it-- (ZS: --on that show where he showed his mouth) ... *LKQ tries not to laugh* I actually sang it, is that ok-- (ZS, instantly pointing at the camera: Eh! Everyone look it up on the net, you’ll see how precise and accurate what I said is. Because his outfit and styling on that show is simply... “showing the mouth”.) 

The styling at issue: 

ZS giggles, while LKQ looks away and licks his lips.

LKQ, finally continuing: And then he told me that what we’d sing would be a version sung with harmonisation. That a version sung by two people is different. So I said “Ok lah, ok lah. Last time, I sang in Cantonese, this time I can sing it in Mandarin.” In the end, it’s still Cantonese.

ZS: Yes, because this, this, this *sighs* I just like it...

LKQ, interrupting (to the camera): It’s easier for me!!!!! OK.

Interviewer (to LKQ): Then, do you think his (ZS) Cantonese has improved? 

LKQ: *thinks* (ZS laughs and puts the mic closer to his mouth) He doesn’t speak a lot.

ZS: *snorts* SINGING-WISE. 

LKQ: Singing... It’s similar. (ZS opens wide eyes at him) It’s similar to my Mandarin!

ZS, shaking head: Oh that... (LKQ: Do you think I improved?) It’s way better than your Mandarin! (LKQ: Oh, really? I can’t tell at all!) 

Both laugh.

LKQ: Okay lah~ (to the camera) His Cantonese is really okay.

ZS: As for teacher Keqin, what I didn’t know was that his Mandarin isn’t bad to the extent that...wait no. *bursts out laughing along with LKQ* (LKQ: It...it didn’t regress!) It’s not THAAAAT bad. Yeah, it didn’t regress too much. (LKQ: Not too much, ok) *motions with hand* A teeny bit. A bit. A teeny weeny bit. (LKQ tries to imitate the first way of saying ‘a tiny bit’ i.e. yi diu diu)

LKQ: There’s a second song: Tokyo Love Story.

ZS: Tokyo Love Story. Should be a song that’s part of many people’s memories. 

LKQ: *motions towards different corners of the ceiling* Yeah. Many people. Many people’s memory (ZS follows his hands with his eyes, going ???) I actually didn’t watch that drama. It’s not even part of my era. (ZS: I didn’t watch that drama either but that song, I did hear it once or twice) Ohhh. It’s a nice song. 

ZS: Yes, it’s a nice song. It counts as a challenge, actually.

LKQ: Yes, it’s a challenge. Because there’s a part in Japanese.

ZS, leaning towards LKQ but speaking into the mic: This time...this time teacher Keqin will sing in Japanese.

LKQ: Japanese is of course easy for you. 

ZS: It’s okay, it’s not that “easy” either. But...(to the camera) teacher Keqin singing in Japanese is really cute.

LKQ holds onto the table and breathes in deeply.

Interviewer: How is it cute?

ZS: Mm, you’ll just know when you hear it. It’s just very cute. Super cute. Maybe it’s just... *giggles*

LKQ: I tell you...when things are being described with the word “cute”.....you need to go back and seriously re-examine yourself. (ZS, horrified: Haaaahhh?!) *bursts out laughing*

ZS, still horrified: People often tell me I’m very cute!! *holds chest*

LKQ: Hey! People always tell me “Keqin, your dancing is very cute”! (ZS: People tell me “Zhou Shen, you’re very cute as a person”!!) ..... Have you ever heard anyone say that Aaron Kwok’s dancing is “cute”? *looks at him meaningfully*

ZS, staring: .................... I don’t want to film this anymore. 

LKQ: *giggles*

ZS, again in sudden horror: HAH?! (LKQ: Mm *nods*) ..............*calms down* I want to be serious. (LKQ: Mm.) In the future, when people tell me I’m cute, I’ll know what they mean...Okay. 

LKQ: It means you have “room for improvement”.

ZS, at the same time (to the interviewer): Teacher, am I cute?

Interviewer: Super cute.

ZS pulls a horrified face.

ZS (to the interviewer): You haven’t been listening at all to our conversation, have you??? (to LKQ) Did you see? He just said I’m super cute -- you talk with him. *pushes the mic into LKQ’s hands and pretends to leave*

LKQ: *laughs* Come back, come back. (ZS comes back and sits) He said you have “room for improvement”. (ZS: Oomph!) It’s still good. Still good. You’re already very good (ZS, in a sharp squawking voice while pointing at LKQ: You’re defending him???) You’re already very good! Okay, okay. 

Interviewer: Are there any obstacles to singing in Japanese?

LKQ: Whoa! *points at ZS* Well there definitely aren’t any obstacles for him, but for me... (ZS: Why aren’t there obstacles for me? There are!) I never sang in Japanese, and.... 

ZS re-adjusts the grasp he has on the mic, which makes it jump at little and causes LKQ to think he wants him to hold it. LKQ reaches out for it, but ZS backs off:

ZS, reassuring: It’s okay! It just fell a bit. (LKQ: Oh, oh, ok.) *makes the mic jump again to tease LKQ*

LKQ: I was in confinement, so I had a lot of time. (ZS makes the mic jump again) So I just practiced a lot. Also, my wife understand a little bit of Japanese. (ZS, genuinely surprised: Oooh!) Yeah, so I asked her everyday for advice. (ZS: Oooooh!) ...Yeah. So! If I don’t sing well, it’s not my problem. It’s hers.

ZS: My God. I’ve definitely learned that way of answering questions. (LKQ: It’s because she didn’t teach me well) *laughs* As expected, you can learn a lot from senior singers. (LKQ just sways impishly)

Interviewer: Then, Zhou Shen, why don’t you have any problems with Japanese? (ZS, instantly: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS) 

LKQ bursts out laughing. 

Interviewer: In the future, will you fulfil the netizens’ wish of seeing more of your interactions and more of your collaborations?

ZS: ? We have quite a lot of interactions? ... Maybe not on Weibo. It’s still okay, it’s not to the extent that we don’t interact at all. 

LKQ: Do you need a bit more?

ZS: How so? Do we have to tag each other daily on Weibo? *laughs* That’s too tiring, each time I post on Weibo, I reply to the first 20 comments.

LKQ: Yeah, each morning after playing ball...ah! You can’t get up in the mornings.

ZS: Yeah...so...in the mornings don’t look for me.

LKQ: Your morning is my afternoon. (ZS: In the mornings, I’m not available) Yeah, after playing ball...

ZS: Ah! We should sing that song: *sings* “Your nighttime is my daytime~" -- you don’t know this song.

LKQ: If you sing “Like Daytime Fails to Understand the Night’s Darkness” (a song by Na Ying), then I know. 

ZS, singing that song: You’ll never understand my sadness...!

LKQ, imitating, but exaggerating ZS’ hand movement: You’ll never UNderstand... UNDerstand! 

ZS: Eh. Na Jie. You saw this right? This is what teacher Keqin said. *laughs*

[watch-grok-brainrot]

ah hey! snowbunny again, and this time it's 6am where i live so yeah. i'd probably pick mandarin? it would make watching cdramas so much easier i think, and just in general? a year or so back i probably would've picked russian, my father had to learn russian when he was a kid and he still speaks it partly, one of my close friends family is from russia too, so i could speak it with her too. but rn? mandarin would probably the one i'd like to be fluent in.

the cql ost is currently 80% of my comfort playlist, though one of my mutuals and i (more like me and she just has to suffer through it and i enjoy making her cry) are making a wangxian playlist! it wasn't meant to be as angsty as everything turned out to be so far, but i'm not complaining. except for like one song everything is in english, the other song is in german actually and we're not sure if it categories as angst or happy. the acoustic version makes the song sound incredibly sad, the lyrics is somewhere between sad and happy, basically between "you make me happy" and "why did it have to be this way in the first place?". if you want to be specific, the song talks about the other person lifting a burden from your heart "freed it, revived it" is one of the lines, and.... it's a great song but 🤧🤧🤧 then there are these lines "[i] was stuck and didn't know what to do / and you took hammer and chisel / made an artwork* out of my cold heart" (ig to make it flow better you could say "made a masterpiece out of my cold heart" but he says "Kunstwerk" eng. artwork). idk the whole lyrics flows better in german but if you want to listen to it (i prefer the acoustic) it's Betonherz by Wincent Weiss (Cement-heart).

Today idk what to ask so: what are your favorite mutuals/the ones you interact with the most? was there anything you wanted to do this year but couldn't? a random fun fact over tea maybe? (btw i drunk tea this week and it was uhmmm mint tea? i think? and black tea but i can't say more about that tbh)

ahhh wait!!! if we include fantasy languages i'd like to speak quenya 😌😌 or sindarin, that would be okay too - ❄🐇

You did send me asks! Sorry i’m bad at responding. 

mandarin is pretty handy. i will vouch for that. i listened to erha audiodrama on maoer FM today while i was cooking. it was delightful. i had to google the languages you sent in. i know nothing of lotr. but @phoenixrisesoncemore is good with lotr. does neat art. loves untamed. great tea friend. so i would probably reach out to her! :D

cql ost is a lot of what i’ve listened to this year too. i’m really digging teh “I will take you life” song from Ever Night though. It’s so perfectly chipper. I come from so and so place, i’m here to take you life. I just giggle every time i hear it. a little morbid, but alas. Also, the end theme of ever night is cute and chipper too. and the words are really nice. I also LOVE the opening theme of love and redemption. it makes me think of some 80s rock ballad or something. and the words “Even if i drank the waters of wangchuan, I will not fail to meet you again” is really romantic. 

Uh... in case you don’t know what wangchuan is, it’s the river that make you forget your past life before reincarnation. so it’s a pretty intense promise IMO. I really dig that idea... maybe it’s because i read erha and wife is first back to back and now i’m all on board with the idea of “if i get a second chance i won’t fuck it up”. 

oh god. the two mutuals I talk to the most are definitely @needtherapy and @merelhyn. if i go more than 24 hrs without hearing from them i feel weird. I really wanna go on a trip post pandemic to visit merelhyn and spend a day drinking tea with her. and i really want needtherapy to visit me so i can make her crawl through the bowels of the place where i got married -- it’s a weird modern art, industrial playground space filled with mosaics and concrete and ironwork sculptures. it is actually that cool. but you can’t really wear nice clothes there. i’ve ripped holes in shirts before. AND it has a circus school inside. it’s the place of litte haoppo’s dreams. I also talk to lots of other people i didn’t mention (e.g. members of mdzsnet and other friends of mine) but that’s just because i am an extrovert and i talk to people. i like talking to people. and there are SO MANY AMAZING PEOPLE on tumblr. but the two i listed are people who i swapped irl phone numbers with so they get listed as special. i’m drawing my line here or i would probably end up writing a page of people who i adore and that might get annoying :/

random fun fact over tea snowbunny says. random fun fact over tea... uh... i saw @yumingyesfairy‘s previous url and asked if “duchess of orange” was a reference to “duke of orange” which is where we get the tea grading “orange pekoe”. i was correct! and made a tea friend! :D

you are by no means obligated to know tea or even care about tea. i just love it and love sharing about it. because someone isn’t actually good at compartmentalizing. 

how is your week going? <3