#what does the jay say

[corvid-language-library]

I see you talk about shadowing as a language learning method. I understand it had something to do with YT videos? Can you tell a bit more about that, how does it work and how did you come up with it?

Hi there!

Shadowing is where you listen to a language and simultaneously attempt to repeat what you hear - mimicking sounds and intonation - even if you don't understand it right away. By mimicking native speakers this way you acquire more native-like pronunciation while also (ideally) absorbing vocabulary and sentence patterns and grammar structures. I think this article explains it a lot better than I probably can!

The recommended way to do this is using audiobooks or podcasts with transcripts, but the reason I started doing this is because I would watch YT videos about useful phrases for daily life or videos about my target grammar, but I'd forget the sentences almost immediately and then have to find the motivation to sit down and rewatch an entire video, sometimes multiple times. "If only there were a way I could listen to the target sentences constantly and just practice parroting them back!" I found myself thinking. "It'd be so much more efficient than looking them up every single time or having to rewatch a whole 20-minute video!"

And then I realised I could literally just use Audacity (free audio recording/editing software!) and record from my laptop speakers myself.

So, I've been going on Youtube, watching various grammar videos and then recording sentences I want to learn from those videos. I record at natural speed first, then at 0.5x playback and then again at 0.75x playback. I then edit it together with two seconds between each recording and a repeat at each speed (plus one final repeat at normal speed). So an audio looks like:

1) Normal speed 2 second break 2) 50% speed 2 second break 3) 75% speed 2 second break 4) Normal speed 2 second break 5) 50% speed 2 second break 6) 75% speed 2 second break 7) Normal speed

Sometimes for shorter sentences, I don't bother to slow the audio down, so I'll just have it repeat 5-6 times at normal speed.

Once I've recorded everything and edited it together, I put the mp3 on my phone. I have a few different playlists (each one around 10-15 minutes in length) - some for specific grammar, some for specific situations (eg shopping, izakaya) - and I usually just stick one on repeat while I'm walking somewhere or doing some kind of menial task that doesn't otherwise engage my brain (doing dishes, ironing, making materials for work etc). And then I do my best to mimic what I'm hearing just behind the speaker (or along with the speaker). Usually the first few times I listen to a track I just try to speak along with the slower versions, or maybe just mimic the specific target structure. As I hear it more and more, eventually I can speak along with the audio word for word and focus more on my intonation.

I've found it helpful so far because it helps me learn sentences while building the muscle memory of how to say certain words/grammar. I can much more easily recall a sentence I've heard on repeat/practiced saying a hundred times than one I've heard in a video once and written down in a notebook somewhere. And if I can recall a sentence, I can substitute words using correct grammar rather than trying to figure out how to say something from scratch (and hopefully choose the correct option on the JLPT when the time comes!)

Hope that answers your question! Feel free to send more 😊

[lavender-rroses]

jrwi dump from the past few months while i slog thru school and college apps

[art-is-kayos]

Checking up on his commission

[fakeuwus]

my hot american football bf

[vwoop-prince]

YJ S3 Dick, still in the midst of his fever dream, hides underneath the 'souvenir' instead of behind some boxes, and accidentally opens the airlock trying to take care of the Parademons. The others get it to close... but not before Nightwing is thrown into space.

There, he stares at the ship holding his friends and mentors. There, he wishes more than anything that he can, somehow, survive. There, he tries to live, if only so his family don't have to bury him like Jason.

There, Nightwing dies, wanting to save everyone, even with the cold seeping into his bones far too quickly for a regular section of space.

Then, Dick opens his eyes to... Earth? There's a little house, and grass, and trees, but there's a bubble of green over it all. Outside of that green was an entire castle, one that looked like it should have far more support beams than it does for even a hope that it stays standing.

And the sky was swirling shades of that same green. It makes him think of Lazarus.

"Well, that's something you don't see every day." He whips his head behind him, a bit too fast for Earth's atmosphere, but it doesn't hurt him. Past the bubble of green was a blue-skinned adult in purple robes, the insides of a grandfather-clock fitted inside their torso, and a black staff with a stopwatch on its top. Beside them was a man with snow white hair, glowing green eyes, a crown of frozen fire dancing above his head, and the most galaxy-like cloak Dick's ever seen clasped to his shoulders. He's wearing... a hazmat suit? Maybe? The twinkling stars and odd lighting of wherever he is were giving him a bit of a headache.

But in front of those two, within this bubble, was...

"DICK!" Wally shouted with unrestrained glee, a blur overtaking his spot for barely a heartbeat before Dick's stuck in a crushing hug that he reciprocates once his brain stops feeling like its melting.

He doesn't know how long it took for them to calm down, but the man with the crown spoke up after a time, as Wally was still wiping their faces free of tears. "Welcome to the Infinite Realms, Nightwing." Dick barely even registered that he was still wearing his suit, but now it felt suffocating. "I suppose you're the one Clockwork was holding out for; There shouldn't've been enough Ectoplasm around you to form a Ghost, and your physical body's still in space. I can see why you like this one, though, Clockie," he states flippantly, turning to his companion. Almost like he didn't expect Dick to pay too close attention to what he was saying.

"Either way, there's two options for you." The man didn't let Dick swallow his tears and question anything. Dick's not sure if he's grateful or not. "First: Stay in the Realms permanently. You'll see Kid Flash whenever you want and learn to be a Ghost with the denizens of the Realms. Maybe find your parents."

"But..." Dick pulls away from Wally, keeping him at arms length, eyes flitting between them. The two outside the bubble were distinctly... ghost-like, so the mentions of 'Ghosts' make sense. But Wally looked... alive. A bit pale, a bit thin... but alive. Dick can't see any of his own skin to see if it was blue or tinted that way, but the Nightwing symbol on his chest kept flickering between its own blue and this 'Realms' green. "But--What about the others? What about you? Why can't you come home?" The last two, he focuses on Wally, because now he can feel a heartbeat beneath his gloves. Wally's alive. He's alive.

His friend just shrugs. "Something about their portals not fit for the living? I'm meant to wait for someone to figure out a permanent portal, but they won't tell me how long that'll take." Wally glares at the... 'Ghosts'? There was a heat to it, but it also seemed like this was a well-worn argument.

"The permanent portal was always an 'if', Wallace West. And that is entirely dependent on if Richard Grayson takes the second option," the clock Ghost--Clockwork?--speaks up. But instead of the adult Dick was expecting, there was an elderly Ghost in their place. Still with the time motif. Was that... more literal than Dick took it?

"Yes, the second option..." The crowned man glares daggers at Clockwork. The temperature dips below comfortable. Dick tries to blink the spaceship and stars out of his sight, withdrawing his arms from Wally to try and warm himself. Tries to remember he's not in space. "The second option is that you return to your body... changed. You'll be able to protect Earth better, stay with your alive family, save the Lost Ones... for a price."

Dick doesn't know if he should ignore the plural in 'Lost Ones'. He doesn't know if he's reading too much into how, in this Realm, apparently only his parents were able to be found. Where's Jason? He doesn't dare hope, but...

"What's the price?"

The man smiles and a ring of blue forms around his waist. It splits in two and travels up and down his body, replacing the cloak and whatever clothes he was actually wearing with a NASA shirt, worn jeans, and red sneakers actually duct taped together. The blue tint to his otherwise tan skin fades completely. His hair turns black. His eyes turn blue.

He was like a taller, slightly slimmer, way hotter version of Bruce.

The man walks through the bubble, but doesn't disturb the grass beneath his feet. "You become the Ghost King's vassal." Dick flinches away and almost hides behind Wally. "Not my idea! But, well... it is either this, or your permanent death."

"What does becoming a vassal do to him?" Wally asks, gently trying to stop Dick from breaking his ribs with how tightly he was hugging himself. Does he even have ribs?

"He gains my powers. Ice, electricity, invisibility, intangibility, flight... He becomes a Halfa. He becomes what I was, in life. Just... needing to make offerings to me, now and then. Something like that, at least. I give him powers, he gives me a chunk of, I don't know, chocolate once a week. Like a warlock."

Wally keeps talking to the man, keeps getting information that he knows he should pay attention to, but something in his chest screams to accept this deal, and he can't focus on anything else.

Nightwing can protect. He can return to life and go back to Blüdhaven, be the Vigilante they need. He can visit Gotham every now and then, help with cases and stop criminals from harming others. He can see his brother. He can see his friends. He can eat Alfred's cookies, and have little get-togethers with Babs and the Team--hell, he can argue with Bruce.

And all he has to do is... give an offering to this guy? The Ghost King? Every once in a while?

"There's no other price?" The King turns his attention to Dick. His eyes had shifted to a blue-green that almost hypnotize him. The green swirls, the blue forms and melts like snowflakes, and he can't look away.

He takes another step forward and Wally steps to the side. There was familiarity between them. Wally deferred to him. Dick can't quite tell why. Though, with how Wally hasn't once looked at Clockwork, maybe it's because he's... grounded? Are all speedsters in trouble with, what, the Ghost of Time? That... actually makes perfect sense.

"I'll be honest, Nightwing: You've impressed me." The weight behind the King's words lifts the ones that've been on his shoulders since he was nine. "You remind me of myself. Maybe, if I wasn't a Halfa... If I had a mentor... I could've been like you.

"Despite Clockwork's insistence over the years that I get back in touch with the living, I've held off. When he eventually suggested that I help create another Halfa, I locked him in his tower for twenty years. I didn't want anyone to go through what I had. But, now... I see that you won't. You can't. Even if you hide this deal--our shared powers... You'll still have people by your side. Strong people. Smart people. You can already handle yourself. And I'd love to see what you can do--who you can save--with my help."

There was maybe two inches between their faces when the King finishes speaking. Dick roves his eyes across the other's face, trying to find the common and familiar ticks that show lies and deceit and manipulation. All he finds is sincerity and genuine care.

Wally plays with his fingers from the corner of his eye, gaze hopeful as he looks between the two of them. Wally, who was alive and breathing and able to leave if he accepts. Eventually. Somehow.

Dick Grayson sends a quiet apology to his parents and hopes they will forgive him for being a little bit selfish.

"I accept."

He flings his eyes open. Above him, domino mask too wobbly to be properly secured anymore, was Robin crying and begging him to wake up. His hands were sloppily placed over his heart. Batman was trying to drag him away, the firm set of his jaw screaming grief.

Nightwing gasps once he registers his lungs burning.

There's a large cacophony of noise, multiple bright suits and people hounding over him, and the distinct artificial taste of slightly-too-much oxygen that the ship with the Parademons had. That he flew out of and died. He was still too cold.

Someone moves their arm beneath his knees and shoulder and Dick passes out.

(Dick 'Nightwing' Grayson dies in space. Ghost King Danny Phantom likes this too-human Hero. They split their souls in half, take one piece of the others, and all they know is that Phantom is now Nightwing's Patron Deity. Danny uses ice, for electricity killed him. Dick uses electricity, for ice killed him. They are opposites, and yet so incredibly similar. Clockwork was looking forward to when Danny starts putting off his paperwork to hang out with his new 'friend'.)

[writer-room]

I had an idea, and so I made some low effort memes. Happy Dragons Rising everybody

That is all

[kindlingkeen]

you know those instances when the pain of losing someone is too much and you consider forgetting them altogether? that, but Bruce chooses NOT to forget. instead, he'd rather remember Jason incorrectly. gaslighting himself is his coping mechanism. it's literally the opposite of honoring the dead

Oh, anon, you are really tugging on my heartstrings with this one. I completely agree. Honestly, to me, Bruce’s response to Jason’s death is unforgivable (not the immediate grief, but the way he rewrote the narrative). He destroyed Jason’s legacy, the piece him that should have lived on forever. Fifteen year old Jason Todd hardly had a chance to make a mark on the world. As Robin, he made a difference, he gave everything he had to making Gotham a better place, to standing up for people who didn’t have anyone else behind them. The public didn’t (couldn’t) know about Robin’s death, so the only keepers’ of that memory, of that legacy, was Jason’s family. And for completely selfish reasons, Bruce didn’t just obliterate it, he tarnished it beyond recognition. And he spread that poison to the next generation. As you said, it’s the opposite of honoring the dead.

To me, the true tragedy of Jason’s story is not that he died, that Batman didn’t save him, that he was a collateral damage in Batman’s crusade, that even after he came back begging for his Dad to choose him he still lost, that ultimately his death meant nothing. It’s that his father, the person that was supposed to love him most in life, made it so his life meant nothing. It’s heartbreaking.

I will never understand how dc decided to go from these two boys who loved each other so much (Batman #383):

To a father, who, almost in the same breath, could say his son was responsible for his own death (Batman Hush):

And then turn around and claim his son knew how much he loved him:

To a father, who claimed his son was nothing more than rage (Batman 614).

and recklessness (Detective Comics 790).

That is tragedy.

[luck-of-the-drawings]

FOR A BEAT OF HEART, THE BREATH IS SHOT. AND WITHIN A BREATH, THE HEART IS CAUGHT. THE PIPES ARE BURSTING, UNDER GREAT STRESS, BOLTS TORN ASUNDER, MAKING A MESS. A FINAL COUGH, A FINAL RETCH, A GOREY SLOUGH, CLAIMED BY WRETCH.

[petrichor-and-moondust]

One day the batfandom WILL get over having Jason call Tim "replacement" please I am begging I am clawing at the bars of my enclosure

[itsalwaysforyou]

hold me together.

kenny ortega, descendants 2 / holly black, red glove / nicole homer, underbelly / ada limon, a new national anthem / k c cramm, christmas eve forever / kenny ortega, descendants 3 / the crane wives, curses / silas denver melvin, let dead dogs lie / natalie wee, least of all

[corvid-language-library]

Hello!

I am working on kanjis and as is probably common, I find it ok to "learn" them as in recognizing them and knowing how they are read, but much more difficult to get good at writing them, with a proper pen and paper.

I have seen you adding a lot of new kanjis to your vocabulary recently, and I was wondering how you go about it! Do you sit down and learn to write them by hand, or do you focus more on reading them and knowing how to identify them, since most writing is down by computer, where it's more important to recognize it than to know how to write it stroke by stroke?

Hi there!

I'm going to preface this by saying I don't think it's particularly important to learn how to handwrite kanji for the vast majority of learners. Knowing the stroke order makes your handwriting neater, but in terms of actual practical Japanese it is waaaaay down the list of necessary skills to master. Even a lot of my Japanese colleagues have said they can't write (complicated) kanji or they don't know the stroke order because they just type it out on their phones anyway. I could probably get away with never handwriting kanji even living in Japan (I even fill out forms in romaji sometimes if there's a long queue behind me and the staff say it's okay because it saves time. Like I can write my name and address, but it'll take like 5 minutes, and there's a chance they won't be able to read my shit handwriting anyway).

That being said: I use the Kanji Dojo app for learning/reviewing kanji, and I do use the writing feature more than the reading feature because I've found that's the most effective way for me to then recognise them when I encounter them. I guess the mechanical action of writing them helps commit them to memory for me. Also in the JLPT you have to choose the correct kanji for some questions and the options will be like 待 特 時 恃, and if I've spent time writing out words by hand using those kanji, I'm much more likely to know the correct option. I also use the Renshuu app, but that's only for reading.

So yeah, if you can read and recognise kanji but can't write them, I wouldn't sweat it too much. It's a nice skill to have but if you're struggling with it and it's not something you have any particular desire to work on at this point in time then there's no need to agonise over it. (And if you DO want to learn how to handwrite them, I highly recommend the Kanji Dojo app!)

[lunabug2004]

I just remembered something. Not sure if I remember it correctly but I'm gonna share it anyways 😂.

I'm pretty sure I watched a YT video a long time ago of a therapist watching the Mileven bedroom fight from s4. I don't believe he had much, if any, context. And he said that Mike was trying his best to reassure El until she brought up him not saying I love you, and then he got defensive. And I remember him also saying that he was impressed by his attempt to comfort El because he's a teenage boy and usually they aren't really good at being empathetic. And he also said him not being able to say I love you is actually a pretty common thing for couples their age and he wasn't surprised that Mike got so defensive over it.

So a therapist -- someone who knows human behavior better than the average person -- said that Mike did an overall good job during the confrontation for a teenage boy.

Now adding all the trauma onto that, I'd say Mike did a pretty dang good job. Just wanted to share this 😂.

[razzle-zazzle]

Ok but what happens next 😭😭😭 how do the show and movie ninja interact I NEED THEIR SHENANIGANS /lh

Okay okay so. basically. the movie ninja are temporarily stuck in showverse, so the show ninja just kind of (slightly awkwardly bc they weren't expecting this AT ALL) take them in for the time being while looking for a way to send them back. we get to see the similarities and differences between the show and movie ninja, we get to see both groups reacting to each others' lore/lives ("you all still go to school? ew" "you all live together like a permanent sleepover? so cool!").

But also. When Ghost possessed Movie Cole. Movie Cole got a whole bunch of Show Cole's memories. They're all jumbled up and discombobulated, though, so for all that M!Cole knows more about his counterpart than any of the other ninja it's usually expressed in Sudden Realizations as the disconnected pieces click into place. Meanwhile, Show Cole kind of has Ghost and Corpse' memories, kind of, and Ghost was pretty much present the entire time he was in movieverse even if he couldn't be seen or heard for most of it (and did have a few episodes where he couldn't see or hear either), so Show Cole also has a weird amount of insight to his counterpart that he doesn't really actively realize he has. This leads to great interactions such as:

S!Cole: i mean, i kind of remember? it's in bits and pieces S!Cole: your history essay was awful btw M!Cole: what would you know, you literally— M!Cole: wait M!Cole: YOU DROPPED OUT OF MARTY OPPENHEIMER'S?! S!Cole: i still know half-assing when i see it! M!Cole: MARTY. OPPENHEIMER'S!!! M!Cole to S!Cole:

and

S!Jay: soooo are those memories making any sense yet? M!Cole: no S!Jay, thinking about the love triangle: oh thank fsm M!Cole: you two fight a lot, huh? S!Cole: i dunno what you're talking about, we're best friends S!Jay, opening the fridge: yep! we're—COLE DID YOU TAKE MY FUCKING PUDDING CUP AGAIN S!Cole: the best of friends 😌😊🌸✨

and

M!Cole, to S!Kai: so what's "human pinata" supposed to be M!Kai: the WHAT S!Kai: ...some things are better left forgotten S!Cole, from across the bounty: HE WAS AN ENTERTAINER AT KIDS PARTIES A FEW YEARS BACK M!Cole: oh M!Kai: oh? OH???? M!Kai:

There's more that I can't recall off the top of my head rn, too. But yeah once the slightly morbid twist is resolved Cleaved gets back to regular crossover shenanigans and impromptu cross-dimensional group therapy. Of course, there's also that fact that M!Cole's indentity was revealed back home, but surely that's not going to cause any problems when they finally figure out how to reliably travel through realms...

right?

[feline-evil]

Hiding my shirt that says 'i am not normal about narratives that imply an inanimate inhabited structure is a living breathing organism' as i walk into a board room and pitch my idea that we should make more horror revolving around living architecture

[ahalliance]

wishing certain qsmp fans a very Stop Being Fucking Misogynists

[rainofthetwilight]

imagine....ninjago arabic dub, but everyone has different dialects instead of just speaking in fus7a

lloyd is syrian, kai and nya are lebanese or libyan (probably libyan), jay is morrocan, cole is egyptian, zane is iraqi, pixal is jordanian, and wu is stuck in fus7a lmao

arin is yemeni, sora, jordana and percival are lebanese (basically imperium as a whole r lebanese), wyldfyre is egyptian, euphrasia (and the cloud kingdom) is syrian, and ras would probably be any khaleegi dialect except iraqi (I'm sorry I cannot see him have any dialect other than a khaleegi one that's not iraqi, he's not deserving of iraqi it's too good for him 💪), and judging by cinder's voice in french he prob might be jordanian?? Ig???