Resources from writers around the world

This is a writing help blog designed to help you with questions about other places in the world. Think of it almost as a database with people from various countries. If you would like to help out, it's very easy! If you're willing to answer a few questions about your country for other aspiring writers, then just fill out the questions available at the submission box.

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Sweden - flamingosareinfactpink

Country where you live: Sweden

How many years have you lived there: 18 (my whole life)

Familiarity with the languages spoken there (specify which language it is and make note if you feel comfortable translating things for people: I’m fluent in Swedish, and I’m also quite knowledgeable of the Swedish-Finnish dialect (they have a few different words and slang) I’m also fluent in English so translating is no problem for me, I would be happy to do it. 

Areas you would consider yourself knowledgable in (bold them): General customs, Religion (mainly Christianity, but also Islam), Politics, Food, Housing conditions, Schooling, Common foreigner-isms (Also history, folklore, work and the queer community) Any additional information you think you could contribute? I live up in the north in Skellefteå, so I don’t know much about the soth parts of Sweden (except Gothenburg and Linköping, I have people to ask about them)

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Ok so I am having computer troubles, hopefully that will be fixed tomorrow, but we shall see.  I have a somewhat iffy older computer to work on, but I will likely be kinda running quiet for at least tomorrow. 

If you send an ask I am not ignoring you I am Tumblr free for a bit and will get to you asks and submissions when I return.. 

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Hi, followers and contributors! Thank you all so much for what you’ve either invested or enjoyed in this blog. I’ve loved being the mod, but something’s cropped up so it seems I won’t be able to run this blog for much longer.

Would anyone be willing to take it over for me? It honestly doesn’t need to require any more work than you can commit - if nothing else then you can just keep it as a sideblog but not actually be active, just so people can see who the contributors are and contact them independently if need be. I would love to see the resources on this blog maintained, even if I can’t do it anymore! Please message me if you’d be willing.

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Hello one and all.  For those of you who may have missed this statement prevously, the awesome fridesianstar who was the mod of this blog is handing over the reigns.  I'm Lizzy the mod of On the Written Word and will be taking over the reigns.

Now the main reason I offered to become the mod is that I think this blog is a brilliant idea and needs to be continued as a resource for writers.   So far things have been quiet, but this blog is open and active so if you have questions or contributions please send them in.  This blog is possible because of all of your contributions so I look forward to hearing from you all.

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Hi, followers and contributors! Thank you all so much for what you've either invested or enjoyed in this blog. I've loved being the mod, but something's cropped up so it seems I won't be able to run this blog for much longer.

Would anyone be willing to take it over for me? It honestly doesn't need to require any more work than you can commit - if nothing else then you can just keep it as a sideblog but not actually be active, just so people can see who the contributors are and contact them independently if need be. I would love to see the resources on this blog maintained, even if I can't do it anymore! Please message me if you'd be willing.

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Anyone from South Korea? I need info on high schools and how people hang out, scandals that might occur (if any), cliques (if any), classroom system, how they're disciplined, etc.

Just answered a question about this and there's no feedback yet! Again, if anyone from South Korea sees this post and would be willing to contribute knowledge of the high school system to this Anon to help with their story, please message here!

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Does anyone have any culture reference stuff for South Korea?

Sorry, nothing currently! If anyone from South Korea sees this post, would you be willing to sign up as a contributor (sign-up available in the submit section of this blog) to help out the Anon with cultural references for their writing?

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Brazil - adhara1x1

Country where you live: Brazil How many years you have lived there: 17(all my life) Familiarity with the language spoken there (specify which language it is and make note if you feel comfortable translating things for people): Portuguese is my mother language and yes, I’m comfortable with translations. Areas you would consider yourself knowledgable in (bold them): General customs, Religion, Politics, Food, Housing conditions, Schooling, Common foreigner-isms. Any additional information you think you could contribute? I know a lot about brazilian history so I can help with that. I can also talk about music and the school system(which is confusing for most of the foreigners).

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Message to contributors

Hey! If anyone messages you with questions about writing in the location you've volunteered to assist about, would you be willing to tag that with "worldwidewriting"? Thanks!

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Hi there!! I was wondering if any of your followers are from Chicago// the city area or have extensive knowledge on it, because I am curious and I want to know where do most of them// teenagers/young adults// go to most of the time to hang out. Thank you!!

None of the American contributors have said they're from Chicago, so I can't direct you to a specific person. A few people are from unspecified locations within the United States, so you could go through the "United States" tag and look for contributors to message and ask them if they could help! The one specific person I could mention is roseymoon, who is from Illinois, but not Chicago. They could potentially give you some help about other aspects of Illinois, but not the city itself.

I wish I could help you more, Anon! I'm tagging this so that hopefully some people from Chicago will see it. If anyone sees this and could answer some of Anon's questions to help them with their story, please message this blog!

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Hello! I'd like to ask any Russian contributors how Russian names work, since melancholiasecho mentioned that specifically. Also, if possible, could anyone help me out with details on what it's like to live in Norilsk, near the top of Krasnoyarsk Krai? It's so different from where I live (temperate Auckland, New Zealand) that I'm anxious about getting it right. Thanks so much for all your help!

melancholiasecho, would you be able to come over and maybe submit a post about Russian naming systems to help Anon? Or, if it's easier for you, should Anon go over to your askbox and ask you their specific questions there?

Melancholiasecho is currently the only contributor from Russia, so if they can't help you with all your questions then I suggest you could check out the following sources (I can't testify too much to how useful they'll be, since I just did some brief Googling and looking through tags here):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(Russia)

http://faculty.virginia.edu/herman/tolstoy/namingconventions.htm

http://uminoko.tumblr.com/post/79919414478/call-me-by-my-true-name-russian-naming-conventions

That last link includes links to other things about Russia that the blogger has written, so that could also be helpful, particularly if you're looking for information for such a specific location! The links are tags to their blog and are in the second paragraph, so hopefully they'll be easy for you to find and access.

I'm also tagging this post so that people from Norilsk or somewhere else in Krasnoyarsk Krai, so for anyone who sees this post and can answer Anon's questions, please message this blog!

You're welcome, Anon, and good luck!

[princess-seleninty]

(Writing question.) Hi, I have one Romanian character. I was just wondering is it true that you refer to people by their surnames until you get to know the other person better? And also what traits would be associated with the upper class? What do people think of foreigners knowing the language (like is it welcomed open-armed, would people offer help or with an 'about time' attitude or something)? Thank you for your time, have a nice day. :)

Hi! We call everyone close to our age and younger by their first name. With older people, it depends on how close we are to them. For teachers, bosses etc we use Mr/Mrs (domnul/doamna) and surrname. For family members or neighbours we usually use a shortened version of their first name(eg Mariana - Mari) and before that children use “nea” or “nenea” for men and “tanti” for women. Even though our upper and midde claases are not so segregated, we still have our stereotypes. Rich young people are thought to be lazy, shallow and stupid, and being successful only because their parents have money. About our bussinessmen and politicians we think they gained their wealth illegally,which is sometimes true, sadly. Like in most eastern european countries, our government is really corrupt.And about our language, Romania is pretty unknown to foreigners so whenever we hear it mentioned somewhere it feels like Christmas. So whenever someone tries to learn our language we feel honoured really, even though our first reaction would be “Why are you doing this to yourself?” bc Romanian is hard and it makes no sense.Hope this helps and good luck!

[worldwidewriting-blog]

New Zealand - treehuggeranonymous

Country where you live: New Zealand (Auckland) How many years you have lived there: 26 years Familiarity with the language spoken there (specify which language it is and make note if you feel comfortable translating things for people): No Maori sorry, only English. Areas you would consider yourself knowledgable in (bold them): General customs, Religion, Politics, Food, Housing conditions, Schooling, Common foreigner-isms. Any additional information you think you could contribute? Law/Legal System and Social Policy

[worldwidewriting-blog]

New Zealand - fandom-revolution

Country where you live: New Zealand How many years you have lived there: 19 years Familiarity with the language spoken there (specify which language it is and make note if you feel comfortable translating things for people): I only speak English Areas you would consider yourself knowledgable in (bold them): General customs, Religion, Politics, Food, Housing conditions, Schooling, Common foreigner-isms.

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Russia - melancholiasecho

Country where you live: I don’t currently live there but I was born in Russia and my grandparents, my aunt and my cousins still live there - so if there’s something I don’t know I can ask them whenever I talk to them through Skype. How many years you have lived there: I lived there for 8 years.  Familiarity with the language spoken there (specify which language it is and make note if you feel comfortable translating things for people): I am fluent in both Russian and English so if anyone needs translations of any kind or help with naming characters that are from there or whatever (because both full names and nicknames are fairly different from the European or American standard and it makes me so sad when people get them wrong) I am more than happy to help! Areas you would consider yourself knowledgeable in (bold them): General customs, Religion, Politics, Food, Housing conditions, Schooling, Common foreigner-isms. Also history and mythology and traditional fairy tales - that stuff is fascinating! Any additional information you think you could contribute? So, Russia is very big and the parts I am most familiar with are mainly St. Petersbourg, the city I was born in, and The Caucasus, the zone where I grew up and where the rest of my family still lives. If you got questions about other parts of Russia I can always do a little digging for you, you know, ask friends of friends of friends and that sort of thing - I am sure somebody will know just what you’re looking for.

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Spain - melancholiasecho

Country where you live: Spain (North-east, close to Barcelona) How many years you have lived there: Almost 11 years. (Since I moved there when I was 8.) Familiarity with the language spoken there (specify which language it is and make note if you feel comfortable translating things for people): I am fluent in both Spanish and Catalan (the later spoken only in Catalonia, the part of Spain where I live). I don’t mind translating stuff, I’d enjoy it ‘cause I love languages and helping people out… and I’m fluent in English too, so no problems there. Areas you would consider yourself knowledgable in (bold them): General customs, Religion, Politics, Food, Housing conditions, Schooling, Common foreigner-isms. Any additional information you think you could contribute? I would just love to erase all stereotypes of how Spain is portrayed in fiction, especially in Hollywood. (and let people know the HUGE difference there is between American Latino culture and Spanish. It’s like comparing the US to the UK, or worse.)

[worldwidewriting-blog]

Romania - princess-seleninty

Country where you live: Romania How many years you have lived there: 15 (my whole life) Familiarity with the language spoken there (specify which language it is and make note if you feel comfortable translating things for people): My native language is Romanian and I can translate from and into English, French and Spanish. Areas you would consider yourself knowledgable in (bold them): General customs, Religion, Politics, Food, Housing conditions, Schooling, Common foreigner-isms. Any additional information you think you could contribute: I live in Constanta and I can give you lots of information about Romanian Dobrogea (the region between the Danube and the Black Sea), also about literature, folklore and geography. Apart from the history we’re taught in school (which includes the history of the Republic of Moldova, too) I know a lot about Dacia (our ancestors from around the 6th century BC up to the 8th century AD), some military history, the world wars and the Communist era.

[worldwidewriting-blog]

United States - roseymoon

Country where you live: United States - specifically Illinois, non-Chicago (rural area and the Quad Cities), as well as northern and southern Georgia

How many years you have lived there: Rural Illinois - 18 years, QC - a year for school. Georgia - visited both areas extensively throughout lifetime

Familiarity with the language: Primarily English. I’m very familiar with it!

Areas you would consider yourself knowledgable in: General customs, Religion, Politics, Food, Housing conditions, Schooling, Common foreigner-isms.

I also can tell you what it’s like to grow up queer in a small town! I was also homeschooled, which may be useful for a tiny percentage of you :)