#ah languages

[obstinaterixatrix]

when it comes to writing stuff that uses unfamiliar languages my trick is just researching and asking people and if they don’t know asking if they got friends who know. guess and check. emphasis on check. well if it’s fic it’s more hobby writing than anything else so I don’t begrudge anyone for not going the extra mile for easy to miss details, but I do get irritated when it’s indicated very obviously in the source material. I saw a passage of a fic that referred to jiang cheng as just cheng and that was. that was very. well wait a second I guess I also can’t be too harsh on that because I’ve heard things about (ugh) the un/tamed subs

[sonechkaandthedynamos]

pal franse pa di lespri pou sa 🤝 cosmopaleto

[leona-florianova]

Being agender and talking about yourself in czech is fun...Because the only best non belittling way of accomplishing that, is with the use of majestic plural. 

[deliciousbreadobservation]

I just learned that fried rice is "arroz tres delicias" my whole life I wanted to try it and I just realized I've been eating it regularly lol

[sorrowssinger]

finarfiniel

also the fëanorians probably used quenya to be spiteful because of thingol's ban of the language.... which also would have a lasting effect on it's use, probably, in later ages- most of the noldor are dead or sailed once eregion falls and the last alliance is fought, & even those noldor had spent hundreds if not thousands of years living among sindar, so the use of quenya was likely limited among them! tbh logically, quenya was probably all but a dead language by the time the third age rolls around!

(also, I'm sure many of the sindar held on their the stigma against it even after Doriath fell, which would only help it fall into disuse)

Objectively speaking if I had my whole language banned I’m pretty sure I would do that too. Granted I would also try learning the other language just so that communication would be possible.

Personally I think that the ban sparked a lot of aggression from the Noldor just because so much of their culture was outlawed, the songs and their language even just their words. Ironic since the writing system was incorporated into the Sindarin language and culture. As a result there was a lot of prejudice from both sides directed at the other between the Noldor, specifically the Feanorians, and the Eldar in Doriath.

I agree though that the lack of Noldor around probably was a direct cause of Quenya’s disuse. I seem to recall somewhere it being said that the written form was still used somewhat regularly, unfortunately I don’t remember where it is mentioned.

[unclegaster]

💧☹✌❄☟✌☹✋☠ ✞☜ ☜☼ 💧❄☟✡☼ 💧✞✌🕆💧❄ ☼☜☠❄☟✋💧☺✋👍 🏱☜☼💧✞☜😐 👍☟✌🕯💧✋👎✋👍 🕆✋ ✠🕆☼🕈😐✌ 👎✋ ☟✌☼😐✌☺

[watchthelightfade]

‘slag room’ is whipped cream in dutch ...

[gogoartqueen]

It’s literally “I feel melancholy,” but in France it means “My soul is in the waves.” I’ve been learning French a bit through my work with Longchamp and I’ve been in France quite a lot. And I really love how they express themselves. I especially love when something is untranslatable. That’s what someone said about “J’ai du vague à l’âme.” I asked, “How do you say it in English?” And they said, “You don’t really have it, it’s unexplainable.” It’s often emotional things, so I was just really drawn to that idea that there’s this chasm that exists between countries where there are some things that are literally lost in translation. Like, does that mean we don’t feel the same way? Because we’ve never had a need to make a phrase around that in the same way that they did? I really like that. Also, if you’re looking at it the wrong way, it just looks like you’re wearing a sweatshirt that says “vague” and “lame.

Alexa Chung speaking about a sweatshirt and somehow all of my interests