#language discourse

[carpediemisnicebuticannot]

One of the common phenomena and misconceptions is the"infantilization of adult non-native language users" (there must be a linguistic jargon for this term, linguists or people versed in this field, help me!), and this tendency is much more pronounced in novice-level users.

The possible reason for this misconception has two layers.

Non-native language users' speech patterns/utterances (short & choppy or word-chunk-like utterances; "Mom food love", "you no college", "Rocky new to ball") resemble first-stage speech patterns, occurring at a very early age, in infancy.

People generally associate language proficiency with their cognitive ability. Language is a powerful medium, which is used permanently once acquired & with much repetition, that can directly convey one's thoughts. Aligning with the said notion, people show great appreciation & respect to the people who have a way with words.

Misinterpretation occurs when putting these two together:

An adult non-native person's cognitive ability is equal to their current (non-1st) language level.

This misconception is prevalently & frequently consumed as jokes on sitcoms, especially as a hallmark joke for non-native characters.

(Character having an exaggerated accent with wonky pronunciation & wrong intonation. Mistook similar words or a certain word in phrases, and it happens all the time. The other character tries to rectify his phrase "No, it's~ not ~, (character's name). (*THAT DREADED LAUGH TRACK ENSUES*) At this point, you can probably hear the recorded laugh tracks any time that character utters a single word with their distinctive speech repertoire.)

Few examples:

Gloria Delgado-Pritchett (from "Modern Family") once shouted out with genuine frustration about being laughed at by others for her English.

Cha Eugene (from "Debut or Die" ("데뷔 못하면 죽는 병 걸림")), also a multilingual character (whose first language is English) and became an idol in Korea.

At first, the main character (MC) from the same group misconstrues Eugene as juvenile (not only that, BUT also his peppy, energetic personality & being the youngest member of the team heightened this notion). However, as they know each other more, MC realizes that Eugene is a very considerate & much more mature person, and he was blinded by the language. There are moments of this realization depicted in the novel, here and there.

It is difficult NOT to learn this misconception in the first place (due to our environment & this largely has to do with our basic perception regarding language itself). However, we can at least acknowledge this phenomenon & can try NOT to follow judgments based on this misconception.

[mxjackparker]

What terms exist for sex workers, and which ones should you use?

[hellyeahheroes]

Miles and Anya talking about the term ‘LatinX’ with Miles’ Afro-Boricua mom

First, don’t start with me. I don’t have a dog in the linguistic discussion of LatinX. This story was penned by Julio Anta. He was a writer for Miles Morales: Marvel’s Spider-Man. So take it up with them. Anyways, here is Miles and Anya’s take on the discussion.

And I can literally feel you motherfuckers getting tight so here you go.

“But you ultimately should just use whatever term feels more comfortable for you and those around you.”

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and Spider-Girl have spoken.

@ubernegro

[astrophysicist-guitar-god]

You know what I’d love to hear? I want to hear Brian tell little stories about when he was growing up, with him imitating his mother’s Scottish accent in the appropriate places. Like,

“Brian Harold May, I just washed those floors!”

“Brian, go tell your father it’s time for tea.”

“Brian, love, have you fed Pixie yet?”

You get the idea. 

[theelfmaiden]

Fun fact about Túrin's tomb engraving ('Túrin Turambar Dagnir Glaurunga'): if 'dagnir' was an actual Czech word, the entire statement, as it is written, would be grammatically correct in the mentioned language.

[smallblip]

Hange is french, Levi is german and Erwin is british,,

YES! Hanji had formal education and probably had to take French in school. They have two poems memorised (they blame that on muscle memory) and they have perfect scores to show for it, but other than that, Hanji’s French is pretty much under used?

As for Levi, he grew up listening to his mother speak German, and Kenny spoke it at home (he picked up most of his German vocabulary from Kenny’s swearing).

And Erwin probably took a little French and German in school himself (*nerd*). Hanji and Levi find out after a particularly frustrating meeting where Erwin had essentially shut down every single one of Hanji’s ideas. Hanji mutters a “va te faire foutre” under their breath. And Erwin sighs, “you know I understand French don’t you...”

Hanji gasps audibly, YIKES...

Levi snorts and murmurs a “Arschgesicht”

By now Erwin is completely drained, “I understand German too...”

Fuck.

Or after a particularly aggravating meeting with Zachary and the trio yell a chorus of “FUCK”, “MERDE” and “SCHEISSE” in the privacy of the hallways.

OH! And the TERMS OF ENDEARMENT! Hanji goes ALL OUT. And they do it not in their mothertongue, but in Levi’s! They call Levi a mixture of “zauberschnecke”, “lieblingsschnecke” and the classic “schnecke”, much to Levi’s dismay. They even blurt it out unknowingly in front of the cadets- “wouldn’t you like to know, meine zauberschnecke /winks/?”And Levi wants to DIE. Erwin is also VERY embarrassed and disgusted. And in these times, he pretends he can’t understand.

Levi sticks with the usual “four eyes” or “shitty glasses” in public, but in private, when Hanji has fallen asleep in his arms, he whispers a quiet “mein Schatz” in Hanji’s hair. At least he thinks they’re asleep. Hanji has heard it a couple of times and it makes their heart flutter. And when Levi is hurt (he’s extra cuddly then and he secretly loves being coddled by Hanji), they never fail to coo “mon bébé” as they stroke Levi’s hair.

[youghvaudough]

Random things from the Shadow of Kyoshi that just make sense (or not)

... as a mandarin speaker 

ft. my Cantonese speaking friend

& my measly one semester of JAPN 1001

(spoiler warning)

rambling after the division

Loongkau, the name of the ghetto Miss Kyoshi raids are the start of the book, is in fact, Cantonese for 壟溝 “gutter/ditch”. these intimidating lookin lil suckers r in the traditional script, & the simplified version is 垄沟 (lóng gōu). no funny business here; p accurate name

extremely random, but, when Kyoshi punched the wood table in her mid-ring apartment, it was mentioned that the joinery cracked. traditional Chinese wood constructs are not held together by nails, but rather carved pieces at the ends that join together like puzzle pieces and provides fixture. they r called 榫卯 (sǔn mǎo)

what rly impresses me abt them is that these fixtures are used to hold together wood structures under whole tiled ceilings; oh yes, no glue, no nails, just expertly carved wood. I’m not gonna do it justice here u can search it up to learn more if ur interested ;)

Erhu !!! Ugh I love this one. 二胡 (èr hú) is a traditional Chinese string instrument that looks like a hammer with an elongated handle and two strings wow a horrible description; the notes it plays sound v sorrowful to me and i think it has something to do with the notes being in the minor scale ??? (I can’t music theory AT ALL don’t take my word for anything)

but yeah I have emotional attachment to that instrument bc my mother & my late grandpa both love it. one of my mother’s favorite pieces (also one of the most famous erhu pieces) is a piece called 赛马 (sài mǎ) “horse racing” and it’s a perfectly thrilling and passionate piece that I am also a huge sucker for ok this is getting off topic

oh I love the use of Aiyaa 哎呀 (āi yā, not only limited to the one tone tho — pronouncing it is like singing in this case: depends on the context) it’s just a very common expression for a multitude of emotions it’s so Chinese i love it sm

Jinpa’s bison Yingyong, I am kinda unsure about bc for some reason my first instinct was 阴阳 (yīn yáng) which I believe everyone knows at this point; I think it should be 英勇 (yīng yǒng) “heroic and brave”

...but what’s interesting & a piece of useless info is that mandarin for apps (applications) is 应用 (yìng yòng); same sound, different tones funny kinda?

now this one is absolutely useless but there’s a Chinese soccer player with the name Yangchen, 杨晨 (Yáng Chén)

the closest irl approx. of “kill two spidersnakes with one stone” is probably the idiom “kill two birds with one stone”, which actually has a very close match (both literally and figuratively) in mandarin four-character idiom (四字成语 sì zì chéng yǔ or just 成语 chéng yǔ) — 一箭双雕 (yī jiàn shuāng diāo) “one arrow (shoots down) two eagle”

Koulin, aka the girl who rightfully got decked in the face by Rangi, my guess at the Chinese characters for her name would be 寇林 or 寇琳 (both Kòu Lín; the second choice’s character for Lín is conventionally used for female names). I chose 寇 bc it originally means “bandits/invaders” or just “enemies” in general, and using it in the name of a character usually indicates villainous status.

also technically the Chinese translation of Zuko’s name also has this character (祖寇, zǔ kòu)

Peony and Camellia, oof eek dunno how I feel abt talking abt this. So, peonies, 牡丹 (mǔ dān), are the closest thing to a national flower for China. Camellia, or 山茶花 (mandarin, shān chá huā) / 藪椿 (Japanese, ヤブツバキ yabutsubaki) / Camellia japonica (binomial/scientific name), obviously carries a lot of meaning and history for Japan (even though a little overshadowed by the cherry blossoms) as it has been ever present in a lot of poetry & has some almost religious reverence tied with it.

Now a conflict btw two clans with these flowers as symbols just feels a lil too poignant to miss; like it honestly just may be a passing mention and what happened in the books plot wise has no relation with anything real world but Sino-Japanese Wars flash backs go brrrrrr

zo/so, the character that almost prompted a civil war, is the kanji 祖 (in pinyin it is zǔ), and as mentioned in the text it means “ancestor/forefather”.

the name Huazo, if we’re going by zo = 祖, could be 府阿祖 (ふあぞ), which can mean at least according to this translator I’m using founder of a prefecture (a district under the government apparently) which is kinda fitting for her tbh

the way I didn’t even know what a prefecture was

Joonho, 준호, Korean given name

the ceramic gaiwan, as a drinking vessel used by the woman at the tea shop in the chapter Home Again, is 盖碗 (gài wǎn) “lidded bowl”, a tea serving set popular during the Qing dynasty (Yongzheng times). it is always a set of three: 上有盖, 下有托, 中有碗 “lid on top, supporting dish at the bottom, bowl in middle”

茶托 “tea supporting dish” also was referred to as 茶船 “tea boat” & i just think that is cute & neat

hey this is actually kinda a short one but thank u for reading this far!

[theycalledmehoney]

Words I refuse to say in english:

Baby?? Looks wrong. Sounds wrong. Bibi is much better

Gross?? Bruttó sounds better and has much better affect

Small? Kicsi is better

Big sister??? To mouthful. Nuna. Just nuna

Big brother??? Again so mouthful. Just oppa

There are tons more and my native languages sometimes just have better words