#everyone there has slavic-sounding accents

[iwonderwh0]

Watching John Wick for the first time and commenting in real time because I'm watching alone.

Spoiler: I HATED it. Below I just bitch about how much it sucks.

Oh, Green Goblin!

What a cute dog, I hope nothing bad will happen to her (unfortunately I know it will)

Is it even safe for dogs to eat cereal with milk?

(speaking Russian) <- man those people speak with such a horrendous accent I wouldn't even recognise this language if it wasn't for subtitles.

Stop speaking "russian" it's so bad! It's not even just accent, it's grammatically so terrible it doesn't make any sense 😭

It always buggs me when some multi-million budget movie inserts some characters that speak languages other than english and do such a shit job at making it actually be the language they're trying to use. Like come on, is it so hard to find one person who speaks the language you want to use to ensure that it actually sounds accurate? I wonder if it is as bad with movies where side characters speak Chinese/Japanese or is it just European/Slavic languages that get this treatment.

Man, this is painfully bad. I mean, if a character speaking foreign language has this amount of active presence on screen why would you as a producer/director allow it to be this bad, it sounds like simlish. It's goofy.

I can't watch it seriously hearing them speaking.

I too get an urge to kill while cleaning up the floor.

Those subtitles are wrong, it's not what he said. He made some incomprehensible nonsense of noises.

I feel like I'm having a stroke hearing them.

I love multilingual movies, but this is not it. If it's so hard to find someone speaking Russian, make them speak some other language that you can actually show accurately.

Of course they drink vodka what else.

Fuck off, this is lazy.

"Baba Yaga" my ass, do you even know what it means? It's a folklore creature of what essentially is an old woman. Not just a boogie man. It's kind of a weird nickname to have as a man.

Fuck, even when they speak actual words they make inaccurate subtitles. THAT'S NOT WHAT HE SAID. This song isn't even about "Baba Yaga" you fools

This is what happens when people go for vibes of foreign countries instead of actually doing any kind of research.

I can't watch any kind of media in peace, dbh brain rot will find me anywhere.

Maybe it's because I'm now holding a prejudice, but even outside of this absolutely terrible job at making character portray Russian, this looks like a parody of a blockbuster rather than a blockbuster in itself

They're singing a fucking lullaby in a pool party 😭😭😭 just normal russian-villain behaviour

I'm sorry I just didn't expect it to suck this bad

Okay, that action sequence isn't that bad.

Maybe this movie would be better if they would just fight without ever attempting to talk out loud. Just grunting and moaning.

I'm not a medic but I suspect it's just as infuriating for them to watch this movie as it is for someone who understands Russian or at the really least knows what it sounds like.

You're telling me, a sniper with a fixed target missed? I'm starting to suspect that maybe it's not that John Wick is invincible but just the people who are after him are all incompetent morons.

"You were always a pussy" <- that was so unnecessary and goofy.

How the hell is this movie rated as high as it is, it's "The Room" of action movies, I swear. So bad to the point of almost going a full circle and becoming good.

Even as an action movie it's not that good either.

Other than Keanu Reeves there are literally no interesting nor likeable characters on screen. Everyone else are unremarkable and bland. Except for Marcus.

Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe I should be looking at it like a comedy, a parody. Because it really isn't good in itself.

THIS REALLY IS A COMEDY, isn't it?

I mean a dude literally got a headshot with a "wasted" gta sound effect.

Well, it was bad. It's a meme, but it's not really a good movie. Or I just don't think it is.

Surprisingly, "comedy" isn't listed among genres.

A BLADE RUNNER REFERENCE WHAT

[mcrmadness]

I have already seen several times this poll on my dash about whether people have an accent or not, and so many keep saying in the notes that everyone voting "no" is wrong and that everyone has an accent.

This is confusing me greatly because I was one of those voting "no", and if I understood the poll correctly, it was not about English but languages in general. And I still disagree that everyone has an accent, because not all languages have accents. Everyone does have an accent in English, yes, but not necessarily in their first language.

My first language, for example, is Finnish. And Finnish has dialects but no accents. Our terminology doesn't even really recognize the word and here it's only used when someone is speaking Finnish with a FOREIGN accent (or maybe with a Swedish accent, if they're from the Swedish speaking areas). But those who have Finnish as their first language, do not have an accent in Finnish. I tried to google this, and I can't find anything about Finnish and accents (in Finnish) - everything only leads to websites talking about dialects. If I google about it in English, I only find articles and videos explaining what the Finnish accent in English is like.

Because of all this, I also have a difficult time telling accent and dialect apart. For example, I do not know which ones in English should be called as accents and which ones as dialects, because my first language only has dialects and I never have to think about accents. I also am unable to imitate different accents in e.g. English, because I just don't know how to do those. I can recognize and tell them apart when I hear them, I just don't hear myself and can't do any accents. My own in English is a mess that can sound like just any accent in English, but usually all the words in my sentences can be from different English accents because my mouth picks the one it can pronounce the best. My main accent could sound American, but then there's the word "water" that comes out with the Australian pronunciation because apparently the vowels just don't like the American order when I say it.

I'm wondering if people who say that everyone has an accent, is just talking from the Germanic language family's point of view. Since English as well as German both are Germanic, and mostly it's been people with either being their first language whom I've seen saying this in the notes. But Finnish is a Finno-Ugric language, and it's so far from the Germanic languages. Talking of them, I'm not sure if Scandinavian languages have accents or dialects, but there are definitely regional differences there as well, I'm just not sure in which category those fall into.

But if ignoring the Nordic and Germanic languages, we also get Slavic languages, and Baltic languages as well as Romance languages. With these I don't know enough to say whether these have accents or dialects or maybe both, because I don't have enough knowledge over those. But then there are also totally different language groups outside the western world (and inside some parts of the western world) that I believe don't have similar accent system that is talked about on that poll. I personally have never studied nor tried learning any e.g. Asian languages, but I've heard there are several that rely a lot on voices - I don't know the proper terminology for that, but basically that the intonation is very important and with a different intonation the word/sound might have a different meaning. What about "everyone has an accent" here? Since isn't accents also a lot about how the language sounds, but if the language is based on the sounds, I don't think having "everyone saying they have no accent is wrong" really applies here.

So, just a thought... could also be that I totally misunderstood that poll, but seeing so many say that everyone has an accent, got me thinking because Finnish very much has no accents in it, and it definitely is not the only language doing so.

#mcrmadness' langblr #languages #finnish

[russianguyreactstothings]

black widow (2021): 4/10

i...dude.

my poor best friend had to sit next to me while we watched this and listen to me complain over every single “russian” thing the main characters tried to say. i don’t know how it’s possible, but i honestly don’t think marvel hired an language coach for scarlett johansson or florence pugh (and if they did, good for that person for scamming marvel bc they did Nothing for that paycheck).

accents:

scarlett johansson sounds passable. natasha romanoff isn’t supposed to sound particularly russian (she’s a spy, she speaks several languages, she’s fluent in english), so they didn’t have much to do for this one. she sounds like an american person. if i heard her speak in real life and she said she’s russian, i’d believe her. 

rachel weisz actually did a pretty good job! her character has a relatively thick russian accent, probably because they meet her in russia where she’s been living for a while (she’s also a spy like natasha but doesn’t have the same american accent...and all the characters speak in heavily accented english instead of just. speaking russian.. but of course you can’t have your american audience read subtitles for longer than 5 seconds or they might leave a bad letterbox review of a marvel movie so i digress). her accent sounds very good! she has the typical overpronounced vowels but she doesn’t roll her r’s or mispronounces the ‘th’ sound, which was very refreshing (most russian people who learn english do know how to say ‘r’ and ‘th’ properly but the overall cadence still sounds off for other reasons). she sounds like my mom honestly, id think she was russian

david harbour.....ehhhhh. he sounds like someone picked russian as the accent for their dnd character and is now just trying their best to get along. he ranges from passable to pretty fucking bad. (also, pet peeve but it’s aleXEI, not aLExei as everyone insists on saying it, dont mispronounce your own name mr guardian come on now)

listen i love florence pugh. she’s a great actress, she can do lots of things well, a russian accent just isn’t one of them. she’s trying way too hard to get the r sounds and it just sounds really overdone and fake. i still quote the “don’t say zat vai vould you say zat it was real to me!” line to my friends. just girl...stop

actual russian:

shoutout to the one extra who was slavic and had one line and pronounced it perfectly. there’s one in every marvel movie, i hope he’s having a good day.

the main cast??? no. absolutely not. the dialogue between natasha and yelena in actual russian was fucking incomprehensible, i wouldn’t have known what they were saying if it wasn’t for the subtitles and like. its supposed to be russian. i speak russian. come on now.

there were featured extras (like the guys in the prison admin) who spoke russian and i could understand it but it was very accented which just makes me wonder why marvel doesn’t hire actual russian actors for the extras like surely it doesn’t matter who the extras are, nobody cares (except me), just hire slavic people who can say the lines correctly. then again, i guess if the extras sounded good it’d bring more attention to how shit the main cast sounds

movie as a whole:

we’ve all seen this before. morally grey russian characters who are spies and working to take down the american government because cold war scary russians. their backstory is that they were raised by Evil Government Man in rooms with cement walls where little girls are taught ballet and how to put together kalashnikovs. 

i get it, russia works great as a boogeyman and a grey filter background for whatever kind of criminal activity past you wanna give the only slavic character on the avengers. but if you’re going to use russia as a backdrop to be Angsty and Aesthetic, at least do the due diligence and get the language right. i can understand not using any of the culture, maybe it wouldn’t have fit into the story, but the accents and the spoken language being wrong just makes this whole thing feel like an insult to me.

like “oh this is what russians are like” portrayed by people who clearly don’t care enough to put in the time to pronounce their 2 lines correctly? really? i know a lot of people are pissed off at russia, rightfully so, but you shouldn’t put your whole story in a country different from yours and then do it this badly. i really like black widow as a character, particularly in the comics, and i love me a russian superhero, this was just really disappointing.

#russian #black widow 2021 #black widow #marvel #linguistics

[another-cliche-title]

when im in college imma write a paper titled something like "the sociolinguistic implications of hetalia characters using japanese dialects in the japanese version while they use 'actual accents' in the english one"

ok but srsly:

english is Dominant World Global Language Hegemon but u already knew that

so basically everyone in the world has spoken it. so now it makes sense for literally every country to have a stereotypical accent associated with it

if the english language was a person and saw hetalia it would take this point to Flex on how much it has absolutely Dominated every language ever

this is useful for anglophones to realize lol

ON THE OTHER HAND

outside of native and heritage speakers japanese is only ever spoken by Weebs

obvs there woud be no stereotypical accent associated with eveyr country on earth. you could get non-native japanese speakers to voice characters in japanese for Authenticity but it would make less sense as opposed to a japanese regional dialect

like look at poland. in the japanese version he has a nagoya dialect, which is usually translated as basically being a "valley girl accent" to match with his personality. in the english version he still uses a really Hip sounding accent, which sounds like you told an ai to generate you a "slavic californian frat bro" because it was funny.

honestly how accents are used in media is really interesting and Says A Lot and shit. (Me transforming rapidly into a media studies major(but srsly i wanna major in that someday lol i actually like it))

like there's So much Precious Social Context in language and it gets lost in translation and i love all of that. it says shit about us!!

like how latinam dubs always try to be Neutral but end up reflecting where it's from in some way. while there's really no need to be neutral with english cuz of dominance of american and british varieties (every english speaker follows british and american norms in some way, especially under influence of education) while spanish dialects have no distinguishable leader

a lot of conlangers have that go totally by them i think lol. like they go for creating The Most Logical Language Ever. i think in natural languages they dont go bonkers about sociolinguistics as much. like alright, alright, i get it, i like weird ass morphosyntatical phonological thingalogical stuff too but that interacts with Social shit on a level that is inseperable from the history of a language itself and the people that speak this shit

#another cliche rant

[alex08-yeah]

And here is a war pup and a close friend of Skoyar!) This girl's name is Alex, since the name "Sasha" is not given to everyone to pronounce.

Although she looks rather weak, she is good at running and able to carry heavy loads. Can read and speak two languages ​​since she was born to Porcupine Yes, in fact, she is Russian by nationality, and she has a Slavic appearance, and while she lived with the Porcupines and with her family, she was taught to read.

It appeared in the Citadel not from its own desire, but for the reason that it was stolen by half-life warriors.Seven years ago, even before the events of the "road of Fury", on one of the tasks from Joe to take the promised gasoline to the bullet farm, Porcupines attacked the warriors along the way, taking away their gasoline.This is because a small group of warriors was sent on this task, and defeating them was not too difficult, but not too easy task. Left with nothing, they had to return, and the next day to return for their fuel, and take not only their own, but also someone else's. While the Porcupines were reconnaissance of their territory, a small group managed to make their way to a place where only the sick, children and old people with their families remained. Having attacked their territory, one family of 4 managed to escape from there, running as far as they could. But the three tomboys still managed to keep up with them, and trying to steal Al's sister, the parents managed to snatch it, but Alexa could not. Already in the Citadel, they wanted to dismantle her for organs, but having shown her usefulness in sewing (and she constantly made something) and cleaning, she was eventually left. They cut it, put a brand and threw it to the others.

She met Skoyar at the age of 10, when she dragged all the rubbish to the appointed place. Looking at a passing, tall military guy, she crashed into a mountain of rubbish, which fell on her with a roar. A loud roar attracted the guy, and he ran up and began to rake things, noticing a small one in them. This is where their friendship began.

And now the interesting facts.

She began to learn English from the second week of her arrival at the Citadel. And she was taught by older warriors.

Alex and Skoyar share a motorcycle that Skoyar wrested from the Porcupines.

Due to her Russian accent, sometimes the words sound either stupid or rude from the outside.

The drawing on her arm was made according to her sketches, drawn in her spare time from work and she is very proud of this "tattoo".

Likes to laugh at a friend, in the morning shouting directly into his ear: "РОТА ПОДЪЁМ!"

#mad max fury road #mmfr #warboy oc #warpup

[scarsforsupper]

Maybe a hc or drabble where the reader playfully makes fun of Viktor’s accent. :))

Your accent... Its beautiful

Viktor x gn! reader (wc: 1.7k) (unchecked n unrevised)

once again i apologize for the hiatus T_T as a thank you for 200+ followers i post agen!! also first time to finish a req in one sitting B) also im sorry i couldnt make it into full on playful making fun bc im scared itd get offensive T_T xori 4 d shitty quality em rustee

Viktor was born into a family that has long traveled to different places ever since the first generation. Due to the constant moving and adaptation, his ancestors started picking up accents originating from the ‘ethnicity’ of the place and society they were born into. He ended up being born with a unique accent—Slavic being the most accurate description, as did one of his parents, the other hailing from a different ancestry. Spending his childhood in Zaun, his accent inevitably left peers and adults alike staring at him; sometimes even mockery. The way he pronounced his vowels usually were weaker than his consonants, periodically making him sound aggressive—or angry, at the most.

Now this was a very ironic idea, as should one take a glance at Viktor, with the cane and his gangly stature, most would think that the man is incapable of inflicting physical damage. Which was true, but for a different reason. Viktor saw no use for violence at all—he grew up with a very loving mother, and even though other kids would pick on him for needing a cane to walk, he saw no use for the execution of physical harm. It was as if it was innate in him to look for other solutions, only resorting to violence when absolutely needed.

When he received the letter from Councilor Heimerdinger, he had never felt so ecstatic and proud. Should he accept, he is expected to attend his first-ever class in the prestigious Academy of Piltover, where everyone there is always in the noble pursuit of greatness.

--------------------

You were late for class. Your first day of college.

Stealing a glance at your pocket watch, it was 7:56. You hastened your pace even more.

“4 minutes left?” You switched from a brisk walk to a hasty jog.

Loud yet quick footsteps echoed throughout the corridor as your eyes struggled to catch up with your pace, pupils scanning over the section plates above the doors. You were assigned to Lecture Hall no.3 for Advanced Mechanical Engineering, all students were, until the professor divides the room into separate sections.

There were two courses for Mechanical Engineering: General Mechanical Engineering and Advanced Mechanical Engineering, which you were in. The Academy sorts out the students’ best interests by examining their knowledge capacity and, if applicable, past inventions or innovations.

“Three!” Slowly pushing the wooden doors of the room which turned out to be bigger than you thought, at least more than half of the seats were occupied, leaving a few unoccupied.

You decided to sit near the edge, a few 6 rows from the front.

‘Better than none.’ Shrugging, you sauntered over towards a vacant seat, still slightly panting as you lowered. Only after you placed your satchel down were you able to realize how sublime the Lecture Hall was.

The walls appear to be made of wood; strips carved by what only an intricate hand can create. Large, quadrilateral glass panes dominated the opposite wing to the doors, allowing a view of what seemed to be the garden square of the academy. Sunbeams pierced through glass panes, illuminating what the candle-lit chandeliers hanging from above cannot. It was a scenery straight from a storybook.

‘Who knew things like these actually exist, but then again, as expected of the land's greatest academy.’

Abruptly, your daydream was blocked by a torso, someone had occupied the seat next to you.

Chestnut brown locks were neatly combed, parting slightly to the right, ends flitting upwards. He had a light complexion, but that’s not what’s special about it. Most white folks appear pale but he was glowing. Like he was appealing to challenge the sun itself.

He was skinny, but not sickly skinny. Sitting down, he placed his belongings atop the table, allowing you to catch sight of his hands. Fingers long and elegant, you could bet your life that his penmanship was as refined as he looked. The veins underneath bulged through every gesture, giving him an even more masculine appeal.

The man must have felt your stare on him, turning to look at you with curiosity albeit a tad bit of animosity within—having people stare at you in the underground never meant anything good.

As your eyes drifted upwards towards his face, the two of you shared a brief moment of eye to eye contact. You quickly averted your eyes pretending to look at something else, slowly turning your head back.

But you couldn’t stop thinking about it. About his eyes.

Oh, they were the most beautiful hue you have ever seen in all your years of existence. They were literal precious topazes, but even the gem itself can never measure up to the beauty of this man’s eyes.

This man’s…

‘Get a grip Y/N! You don’t even know his name!’

Viktor stifled in a giggle, he found you adorable for some reason. He didn’t feel the need to protect himself around you—something just told him that you weren’t that type of person. He chuckled now.

You were deep in your thoughts when you realized the room had ushered down collectively. Was the professor there? ‘There’s no one though?’

Suddenly, a lilting voice resonated about the lecture hall.

“A pleasant morning, my dear students!”

The professor was either tiny as hell, or haven’t entered the room because craning your neck apparently wasn’t enough for you to see him.

“My name is Heimerdinger. Please do call me Professor Heimerdinger, or professor for short! I am the Dean of the Academy, and the assigned instructor for this course.” Mutters and whispers were heard as students tried the name for size.

“I believe a few of you here had only just arrived,” his voice was sing-song like, “thus, I will give you a minute to settle down, my dear children!”

‘Where the hell is he!?’

Heat and blood started rushing to your head in frustration when a soft tap on your shoulder broke your stupor to spot the speaker. You turned to see that the man from earlier had been the one to take your attention.

You sat back and let him speak—but he didn’t. Instead, he pointed over to his 11 o’clock. You followed the direction of his glance, craning your entire torso slightly towards his seat, and there you saw the tiny professor that your eyes had been hunting so ferociously a few moments back.

Mouth forming an ‘O’ shape, you tilted back into your seat, muttering a soft ‘thanks’ towards the man.

“Oh by the way, what’s yo-“

Just as you were one step closer to knowing the mysterious man’s name, the professor announced once again.

“As I have introduced myself, you must introduce yourselves to the class as well! After all, it is very important for us to know each other. Do state your name, age, and you’re all set! Feel free to throw in a few fun facts about yourself too.”

The professor gestured to the girl in the far east of the room, signaling her to start the introductions. There were few too many seats before your turn, so you figured you could use this time to familiarize yourself with your block mates.

Minutes flew so quickly that you haven’t even remembered at least 10 names when it was your turn to speak.

You were the first to speak in your row, ‘Curse this,’ you stood and began to present yourself to the class.

“Hello. My name is Y/N, 21 years old. I enjoy the arts as a side hobby.”

Professor Heimerdinger smiled, “Welcome to the academy, Y/N.”

The sound of a huff was heard, accompanied by a careful thud of metal hitting the floor as the man to your side rose from his seat. It was the first time you saw his cane.

“Good day to you all, I am Viktor.”

‘Viktor…’

“I am 22 years of age, and I do love tinkering with various objects and writing notes in my free time.”

Sitting down, Viktor stretched his leg beneath the table, when a sound of astonishment reached his ears.

His voice was deep, husky in all the right places. Thicker yet so clear with emotion.

“Your…voice… no your… your pronunciation? Is that what you call it?”

His brows furrowed, “I think you mean accent.”

“It’s so cool—I mean its- It’s so beautiful and it's like listening to a reading only it’s in premium version-“

Viktor had never had anyone complement his accent. The least offensive one was a ‘weird,’ and that’s the least, mind you. To have someone compliment it was a whole new world to him, thus he didn’t know how to react.

He stayed silent, not a word erupting from his mouth.

“I- I’m sorry. That was insensitive of me. I’m sorry, Viktor.”

'No, no.. it's okay... I just-' Why couldn't he say anything!?

That was the first time you said his name, and although it had such a good ring to it, you hated the reason you were saying it.

A few more students left to introduce themselves, nearly 10 minutes have passed after your turn.

Feeling the fatigue from running in the hallway, you bowed your head to take a power nap when Viktor suddenly murmured.

“It’s okay. And, thank you.”

Slowly turning your head, him scratching his neck as he stole short glances at you, the corners of your mouth started to turn upwards, he could literally see the shine in your eyes.

Shooting a smile at him, he held in a chuckle, averting his gaze to anywhere but you, ears turning pink.

“Do you guys really pronounce consonants like you’re angry?”

‘Wow. That set the mood.’ Viktor rolled his eyes playfully.

“Yes but not. We are not angry.”

“The way you roll your ‘R’s’ is so unique.”

“Or so I’ve heard.”

“I wonder how you guys assign your word stresses.”

“The same as you guys.”

“Oh! Also, when you say ‘note,’ try to loosen your tongue, so people won’t misinterpret things.”

He answered, “Thank you for the advice, but, eh, I do not believe it is still possible for me to change the way I pronounce certain words. Were I still a child that may still be possible.”

“I understand. I’m Y/N by the way!” You held out your hand to him, feeling extremely giddy that you had already made a friend.

“You told the entire class earlier,” he rolled his eyes again playfully—he’s rolled his eyes too many times in one sitting already, “but I’m Viktor.” With a smile, he shook your hand.

#viktor lol #viktor league of legends #viktor #viktor arcane x reader #viktor x reader #viktor arcane #arcane #league of legends #league of legends x reader #arcane x reader #lol #my writing is shitty

[somnambulants]

make me your future

summary: set during black widow. Yelena walks into a bar. A bar you happen to work in.  word count: 1.6K

“Do you believe in love at first sight?”

Groaning internally, you roll your eyes at the line, not even bothering to look up at the person who’d said it.

Who even uses pickup lines anymore? Seriously?

“Not in the slightest.”

You continue to clean glasses behind the bar. Lining them up neatly one by one. Whoever it is, they can wait.

You’ve been working at this bar for about a year and a half since you’d moved to the city. It’s a decent job. Not what you’d pick if you had a choice, but you don’t hate it.

You have your favorite customers, too. Some of the regulars. The old man who shows you photos of his grandkids while nursing a beer. The woman with the fixed business-like expression who gives you an exorbitantly large tip every-time you bring her a glass of the already crazy expensive red wine she drinks.

Perks of working in a moderately upscale establishment known for it’s discretion for under the table, not strictly legal activities means you’re fortunate that the majority of your customers are nice and quiet and stay to themselves.

Well, usually anyway.

Clearly not everyone had gotten the memo.

“Weird,” the person doesn’t seem to sense the hostility in your voice, sliding onto the bar stool in front of you. You can detect a faint accent as they continue, more flirtatiously: “Me neither. Well...not until I saw you, at least.”

Raising an eyebrow at their boldness, you finally look up, ready to give them a piece of your mind and promptly lose the words that were forming on the tip of your tongue.

The woman in front of you is your type; so your type that your type doesn’t even describe how much of your type she is.

“Does that ever work on anyone?” You finally force out. You don’t know why you’re saying it; clearly it works. It’s working on you right now.

The woman shrugs. “I wouldn’t know,” she says, propping her elbows onto the table to rest her chin in her hands and looking at you intently. “Never tried it before. Is it working?”

Heat flushes up your neck under her gaze as you scramble for something to say. “Can I -- Can i get you anything?”

Her voice turns playful: “Your number?”

Twisting your lips to hide your smile at that, you also duck your head a little. “I meant anything to drink?”

“Oh,” she frowns a little, thinking. She doesn’t look offended by your clear diversion. “Water, I guess?”

“You’re not from around here, are you?” You can’t help yourself from asking as you slide a glass of water across the bar to her.

Her accent is puzzling to say the least. You’d say slavic of some kind for sure but she has hints of almost American inflections every now and then on some of her words.

It’s intriguing.

She gives you another smile, leaning in closer. “Visiting family,” she confirms. “My sister and her partner just moved here with their kids. She’s a science teacher.”

“That’s sweet of you to visit,” you say. “You must be close.”

She shrugs, taping her brightly painted nails along the rim of her glass. “We were as kids. Now not so much but we just reconnected recently.”

As she takes another sip of her water, you let your eyes linger on her face.

There’d been something about her words as she’d said them. Something that makes you think that her story isn’t as truthful as she’s making it out to be. Or maybe not at all.

Just a hunch of yours.

A lot of the patrons had stories like this they’d recount for you when you’d asked about anything even slightly personal - before you’d learned not to ask; stories that sounded like they could be true but more than likely weren’t.

Or weren’t the whole truth, anyway.

This bar was well known amongst those who needed to know that this was the place to go if you wanted to lay low. Or pretend to be someone else.

“And thankfully for me I came to visit,” she adds after downing the water, getting that playful glint in her eyes again as they snap back to your own. “Because here you are.”

You can’t help but laugh this time. She’s just so effervescently charming without even trying. “Yep. Here I am.”

You continue talking for what feels like only minutes but must be much longer; just about random stuff. The woman is surprisingly easy to talk to and adept at steering conversations to the point that you end up on the most obscure topics more than once.

When you look at the clock at some point, you’re almost blown away to see half your shift has gone by just talking to this woman whose name you don’t even know.

As if sensing where your thoughts have gone, she introduces herself. “I’m Yelena.”

“Y/N.”

The woman -- Yelena -- chuckles. Not unkindly. More like she thinks what you’ve said is amusing for some reason. “I know,” she says and you frown a little until you see her eyes on your name tag, which is pinned to the front of your shirt. 

 “Oh,” you say, a little embarrassed. “Right.”

As you turn your head, trying to hide the flush you’re assuming is creeping up your neck, you also notice the line of people in front of you that must have accumulated as you’d become distracted by her.

You groan. “Ill be right back.”

You serve faster than you’ve ever served. Practically throwing the drinks at all the patrons in your haste to get back to her in worry that she’ll get bored and leave eventually.

When you finally make your way through all of them and turn around, you find her seat still occupied and her in the same spot as before. Your heart does a backflip in relief.

“Sorry,” you say breathlessly as soon as you’re back in front of her, not really sure why you’re saying it, only sure that you are really sorry you’d had to leave her side. 

Yelena waves a hand, unbothered as she tilts her head towards you. “It’s fine. You’re cute when you’re flustered, you know?”

You freeze, not knowing how to react. “I  --”

This time, she outright laughs at your reaction, which leaves you no doubt looking even more flustered than before. Her eyes glowing with almost-childlike glee as she grins at you teasingly. “See? Cute.”

“Oh yes,” a voice drawls. You turn, only to find the voice belongs to a weirdly familiar looking red head, who is eyeing you up and down with an unreadable look on her face. “Just... adorable.”

“This is Natasha,” Yelena says, looking between you both. “My... sister. The...science teacher.”

Oh. 

So the sister is in fact real. And the sister is also looking at you with a knowing look in her eyes. 

She most definitely doesn’t look like a science teacher. You’re sure science teachers probably don’t walk around clad all in leather. Or look like they could snap you in half. At least none of the ones you’d ever had.

You’re also pretty sure that science teachers don’t also double up as members of the avengers, but you don’t say anything to that fact.

You do however recognise the black widow as soon as you see her. She’s pretty unmistakable, after all. 

“Oh,” you say. “Can I get you a drink?”

As you ask, you pretend you don’t see the tail ends of the way Natasha is mouthing the words: science teacher? to her with clear quizzicality. Or Yelena’s clearly unbothered shrug in response.

Natasha inclines her head at your words. “No. Thank you. I think we better get going, actually. Yelena?”

Yelena’s lips form into a pout. “Already?”

Heart sinking down to the soles of your feet, you pretend to fiddle around behind the bar as they seem to have a silent argument with their eyes in front of you.

It ends with Yelena rolling her eyes with a little huff. Reaching into her pocket to grab a couple of bills and stuff them into your tip jar, she gives you one last smile. Her smile is so infectious that you’re helpless to do anything but smile back, trapped under her spell. 

You don’t know how she managed to do it but in the tiny amount of time you’d spent around her, she’d had you almost convinced that love at first sight was a thing. 

And that you were it’s next victim. 

And because of that, you’d never forgive yourself for what happens next. You’re distracted for a brief moment, pulled away to serve another customer as they both continue to converse silently and then when you turn back around, they’re both gone.

No sign of Yelena. Or her sister. It’s like they’d vanished into thin air.

You scan the room multiple times but come up empty.

She’s gone.

--

(You lose hope pretty quickly that she’s ever going to come back. A week goes by. Then another. And another.

Nothing.

Months pass by with nothing and slowly, you start to forget you ever met her. Well, not quite; you never get out of the habit of looking at the door at work every now and then hopefully but you stop expecting anything after a while.  

Until one day it changes.

You’re in the middle of serving someone and just as you hand them their drink, you hear a voice you’d assumed you’d never hear again come from behind you.  

“So...do you believe in love at first sight yet?”

You turn around so fast you’re surprised you don’t get whiplash.

There she is.

It’s definitely her. She looks a little different, her hair a little longer. But it’s definitely her. That smile is hers.

You grin back at her.

“Go out and come back in and i’ll tell you.”)

#yelena belova x reader

[pietrosskinnyjeans]

The one where you comfort him

It had been just under 2 months since the battle of Sokovia, when I had used my healing abilities to bring Pietro Maximoff back to life.  Before this, I had only healed mild wounds, cuts and sprains, so after the shock of realising I was able to resurrect, my god complex was at an all time high. Pietro and his sister weren’t all too fond of me to begin with, given the destruction my father’s weapons had brought upon their lives. However, they certainly warmed up to me after I saved Pietro. I’m not all that mad about it though, I mean, who doesn’t love a good ol’ enemies to lovers trope? I know this isn’t wholly appropriate to think, considering that he is my teammate and dating him would cause a plethora of issues. But, he’s a 6 foot tall, blue eyed boy with an 8 pack and a slavic accent, how could I not think about such things?

 Adjusting to American life as avengers hadn’t been easy for the twins, but I’d like to think that I was helpful as possible, introducing them to American traditions and assisting them in improving their English. Although, regardless of any of my actions, or any of the teams’, it was apparent Pietro wasn’t adjusting all that well. Wanda had mentioned to me he had quite a reputation in Sokovia, and was anything but introverted, yet here it appeared that he had completely retreated into his shell. I mean, can’t really blame him though, if I was resurrected I think I would have gone through a full scale mental breakdown, wondering whether my life had meaning, and whether I was meant to be revived in the first place. Oh, and he was also living with the person who invented the things which were responsible for his parents death, so that probably wasn't very fun. 

 Wanda had gone out to pick up the takeaway we were having for dinner with Natasha, Clint and Steve. Whilst it may have seemed a little excessive to bring 4 people to pick up takeaway to anyone else, you must be reminded how much food it takes to take to feed a team of ‘enhanced individuals’ as the government calls us. I mean, Pietro can eat 5 whole pizzas on his own without breaking a sweat. 

 Bruce and my dad were in the lab, so I went looking for my favourite wannabe Guy Fieri so I wasn’t standing around the compound by myself like a sad loner (I mean seriously, with that hair he could be a Vegas impersonator or something (perhaps a future career to pursue if this whole ‘avengers thing’ doesn’t work out??)). 

 I walked towards his bedroom and knocked lightly, not wanting to waltz into his room unannounced. He opened the door, the somber impression that was present on his face fading rather quickly, and was replaced by a false sense of content. 

 ‘Hey princeza, you want to come into my room?’ he said playfully, a small smirk forming on his lips. 

 ‘Sure I don’t mind, just wanted someone to talk to. Everyone is either in the lab or going to get food.’ I stated rather bluntly, butterflies appearing once I noticed how close he was to me. 

 He opened the door wider and gestured for me to enter his room. I entered and immediately noticed The Dick Van Dyke Show playing on his TV. ‘odd choice’ I thought to myself. 

 ‘Didn’t take you as someone who liked watching old American sitcoms, Pietro’ I said, chuckling slightly

 At my remark, his face dropped slightly, as he stared reminiscently at the TV. 

 I looked at him, and realised tears were beginning to well in his eyes. 

 ‘Are you ok?’ I asked, to which he cleared his throat and responded 

with ‘fine’  rather harshly. 

 Instinctively, I placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, to which he failed to shake off, and began to speak, starting to sense what the matter was. 

 ‘ Hey, I know you’ve had to be strong for the longest time. You’ve had to be there to protect your sister, comfort her, and suppress your own feelings in the process.  But listen to me when I say this, Piet, you don’t have to be so strong anymore. You no longer have to suppress all these emotions you feel. You have Clint, Nat, the whole team. I momentarily averted my gaze, before staring into his sapphire eyes once more. You have me. 

 Tears welled in his eyes, and I was quickly pulled into his chest. My heart ached for him as he clung to me tightly whilst sobbing. I began to lightly rub his back with one hand, and stroked his hair gently with the other, softly muttering ‘its ok, you're safe with me’. 

 I know, I know, it all seems very cringe worthy. But honestly, I was just proud that I wasn’t laughing. You see, I'm not all that good at comforting others. 

 After a moment, he sniffled and gently pulled away, eyes puffy. 

I smiled gently at him, and stroked his cheek, in an attempt to provide some comfort. 

‘I'll be there to listen if you want to talk. No matter what time it is, where we are, come and find me. To remind you that after everything that has happened, you’re finally safe. And, whilst the events of the past cannot be erased, to remind you that you’re going to be ok. Because you don’t have to suffer alone anymore.’ 

‘Princeza, that sounds like something in one of those stupid American movies’ He said, laughing heartily whilst wiping his tears. 

‘I was trying to be comforting!!’ I exclaimed, my smile mirroring his

‘Yes, well, maybe don't do that again, because it was really, really bad’ He chuckled once more before seeing a slight pout evident on my lips, following up his previous remark with a ‘ok, ok  I am joking.. It was pretty cute.’ 

“Aha! I knew it!!’ I shouted, whilst playfully slapping his arm

We were silent for a moment, before he moved himself closer to me and shifted his gaze from my eyes to my lips ( which honestly made me feel like I was about to have a goddamn heart attack ). He continued to close the distance between us, and placed a passionate yet gentle kiss on my lips. 

He pulled away, and noticed my visibly shocked impression (honestly, at this moment I was just thinking how dead I was gonna be when my dad found out. But also like !!! he kissed me!! )

‘What? You didn’t see that coming?’ He said playfully

 ‘You know, you really need to get a new catchphrase. Because that one, is absolutely horrible.’ I said, before I leaned in for another kiss.

 Note: So i’ve never rlly written anything before so this is probably not the best. But, I was bored and didn’t want to study so here we are. Lmk if there are any ways I can improve !!

#pietro maximoff #pietro #marvel #mcu #age of ultron #aou #pietro x reader #pietro x y/n #wanda maximoff #maximoff twins #pietrooneshot #pietro fluff #pietroangst #pietro maximoff fluff #pietro maximoff angst

[callmearcturus]

I was re-reading The Eurydice Suite today at 3 am, like usual, and in the last chapter Dave mentions that Karkat has an Alternian accent. This has probably been asked before, so feel free to ignore this ask if so, but what do you imagine an Alternian accent to sound like?

God ppl asking me about TES is like my fucking trap card. Fuck.

I think Alternia only has like two languages bc the empire squashes out as many offshoots as it can bc it makes it easier to control and monitor everyone. So Alternian Standard is Karkat's first language.

Then I just really think he vibed with Russian next and started learning that pretty rapidly, but then the US govt and it's bullshit Project Ophiuchus were his ticket out, so he picked up English as fast as he could.

So in my head be has a vaguely Slavic accent. And he's hot. That is all.

#TES my beloved #I warned you about Penrose stairs bro

[katamace]

I finished reading Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell (highly recommend! Amazing plot and I immediately fell in love with the characters). Anyway, I finished Winter’s Orbit and started listening to the audiobook, and let me tell you I have never been more mad in my life.

I read this entire book, over 400 pages, and then I start listening to the audiobook and I find out the main characters have accents!?! I was reading them with my bland ass American accent that entire time, and they have like a British and what sounds like a Slavic accent! It’s set in space so you aren’t just told they have these accents, she never even talks about how they have different accents at all, but listening to the audiobook it’s very noticeable. Everyone has a slightly different accent and I love it!!

Looking back there are so many scenes that would have just hit so different if I’d known to read it with accents!

#winter’s orbit #everina maxwell #booksbooksbooks #audiobook #Kiem #Jainan

[dragonrajafanfiction]

Caesar and the MC should be Best Friends - Hear me out

This sounds really strange at first to hear. But the game did a terrible job of summarizing the story and showing the characters. The MC should be Best Friends with Caesar, check out why, below the cut.

Act One: The Premise (The MC will be referred to as Female because my character is female and I’m too lazy)

The MC has been trained to fight and use her abilities since she was a child. She’s been competing against others for the privilege of being the best as well. By the time she’s arrived at Cassell, she’s seen horrors that not even the Cassell Trio can boast of seeing.

Caesar in the meantime is planning his wedding. But Nono is AWOL. He’s getting no feedback from her and it leaves him just shooting in the dark for what ‘sounds cool’ For all of Caesar’s big talk, he realizes that he’s not really reaching Nono’s heart and he’s feeling a bit lost.

In the game: You save Nono in the game. 

Why you would grow closer to Caesar: This is not easily reconcilable with the novel’s opening scenes, so if we stretch and pretend you arrive before Nono goes on her Walkabout, that would make one HECK of an impression on Caesar. He would have seen immediately that you are a step far above Luminous. Being a self-described ‘maniac’ he would not have been shy about approaching you and telling you you’re 10x what Luminous is.

Caesar is mischaracterized in the game to a great extent. While his misogynstic leanings and need to be ‘tHe LeADer’ is played up probably for laughs, he’s not that over the top. Here’s how he’s portrayed in the Novel.

Anjou put the two of them (Caesar and Chu Zihang) together and actually wanted them to sincerely cooperate? The move was similar to keeping lions and tigers in a cage, with Lu Mingfei stuffed between them like an innocent red panda. But Caesar decided to do his best, because this time he is the team leader. The success or failure of the task related to his honor, and for honor, he can bear anything. Along the way, he repeatedly warned himself to be generous, to have a leadership style, to be a corporal... Take Chu Zihang as a corporal to "victory", Caesar's heart is much more comfortable. This time he is immersed in the pink mood of preparing for the wedding, and he is feeling very charitable, even to Chu Zihang this serial killer looks more appealing.

There’s no way Caesar would ignore you as the MC. You would be of utmost interest to him. Far more interesting than Chu Zihang and Luminous. He takes responsibility for you as part of the team, he owes you one for Nono, and wants to see you succeed, probably more than anyone else there.

Act 2: Your arrival in Japan

The game skips the whole opening sequence introducing you to Chisei and Sakura. In the novel, those fancy Kimonos were given to you by Anjou and yes they all come with umbrellas. The whole scene is supposed to be funny. Chisei is mistaken for a tour guide, Lu Mingfei compliments Chisei’s Chinese in his own broken Japanese and fantasizes about cute maid cafes, Chu Zihang freaks Chisei out with his golden eyes by accident. So I imagine the MC stumbling and falling trying to walk in Geta.

But things get serious when the police show up and you realize that you’ve entered the country illegally and are now about to get arrested. The MC might voice that this make sense “Because I don’t have a passport or any identity. There was no way I’d ever get into the country.”

After Chisei loses the police, you’re taken to your rooms to stay for the night.

I wrote a little piece about this ‘here’

Why the MC and Caesar would grow closer: At the end of this scene, Caesar is completely isolated, drinking in his room and texting a silent Nono. This scene would change with you as the MC there. This would turn into an opportunity for you to bond. Perhaps you would notice him texting, talking about his love of Nono. You could touch on your past with him for the first time, or not, depending. He’d probably say something enthusiastically fiery and confidence building. He wants you to trust him and trust in yourself. For all his flaws, Caesar is very LIKEABLE and easy to understand. You don’t get into positions of power like his without some level of Charisma.

Act 3: The Mission Details

In the Game: This whole scene goes missing. 

In the Novel: You take a whirlwind tour of Genji Heavy Industries. It’s an engineering marvel that is practically embedded in the central infrastructure of Tokyo (The building is seriously impossible and amazing but that’s for a nother post.). 

You sit down with Masamune for tea. Immediately, something jumps out at Caesar.

“Are you Japanese?” Caesar gave Masamune Tachibana an examining look..

"I'm only half Japanese and the other half Russian." Tachibana said.

Caesar frowned, which made him think of the soviet icebreaker Lenin involuntarily.

"I've been in Japan for many years, and a lot of people don't see that I'm half Russian, Mr. Gattuso.” Tachibana said, inquiringly.

"Accents, your accents have Slavic characteristics, and you'll distinguish between hard and soft consonants, which are typical Russian pronunciations." Caesar said, "You're not just Of Russian Descent, You've Lived In Russia." 

This is Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang have no say in the matter since their two mother tongues are Chinese. But Caesar was aware when he heard the first words of Tachibana Masamune. He grew up as a different kind of man who could speak English, French and Spanish fluently in addition to Italian, and he could tell the language characteristics of every language spoken in Europe.

Even the wind demon villain Lang and yuan child in this seat are showing a surprised expression, it is clear that other owners do not know this matter.

Why this would bring you closer to Caesar: Not only would you pick up on the exact same thing, but he would speak with the same Russian accent as the MC. Languages are regional, Russia is a HUGE FREAKING COUNTRY. It would be no mistake that the Russian accent - Tachibana’s Russian accent - would match the MCs regional one.  Depending on how much your MC would have told Caesar, Caesar would have picked up a whole lot. Why you were awakened now, why you were sent on this mission... but that’s not even all!!

Later on, Chisei shows up after Tachibana leaves. He’s given you more information on the Lenin and why its sinking seems suspicious. But then he says this.

"Yes, the Lenin passed through the nameless port of northern Siberia, took a precious dragon embryo, and the port was destroyed in a fire. No one knows where the embryo is going to be shipped, the final destination may be Japan, or it may just pass by, but apparently it failed to reach its destination and the dragon embryo fell into the depths of the trench. Embryos have been hatching slowly over the years, but we haven't been aware of them. ”

Now depending on how much your MC might tell Caesar at this point he may or may not notice more parallels between the story of the Lenin and your story. You’re a hybrid, from Siberia who survived not just a fire but a bombs and getting shot. Heck imagine being the MC listening to this and realizing that this mission is intimately connected with you. In the game this happens way late, but in the novel it’s right at the start!

Why this would bring you closer to Caesar: At this point none of this would have been shared between any of the others. This is something only Caesar and you would know, shared knowlege that would likely mentally bond you two as allies.

The next scene is just more obvious bonding time. They all discuss likes and dislikes, their personal goals, dreams, loves, and ideals. The MC would still have Caesars favor but Caesar would fall more and more for Chisei’s charms. He’s bored and wants to see some ‘real gangster’ stuff. So Chisei obliges and takes Caesar to an operation between two rival gangs fighting over turf. 

This would be the first time you’ve seen Caesar actually get serious for once intimidating some gangsters in a comic store. But after that’s all over, he immediately gets interested in the comics. This is very important to note that Caesar is rarely serious about anything. And if he is it doesn’t last long. He tells a long story about wanting a PS2, staying up all night to play Star Ocean when the housekeeper smashed his console. So he purchased 200 consoles, gave the housekeeper an axe and every time he smashed a console he replaced it immediately and kept playing. Finally, they let him play video games 2hours a day after his riding lessons.

This is important. Caesar is pushy and insistent and confident because he HAS to be to be himself and defy his family.  This is is something even Chu Zihang can respect and he makes up with Caesar after, realizing that Caesar’s way towards him wasn’t personal, good or bad, he’s always acting out towards his family.

With you, Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang closer than ever, it’s time to actually go on the Mission.  So lets recap: Caesar the Leader has pulled the team together, taken you off on entertainment, on adventures, and now just now, on the way to the mission. cooked for everyone while speedreading the the instruction manual for the Lenin.

Why would this bring the MC closer to Caesar? Uh, maybe because he seems pretty freakin’ competent? Almost effortlessly so? As Chu Zihang so succintly puts it:  “Sometimes I admire Caesar. Whenever and wherever there are goals, he’s rarely afraid and never discouraged. In a group of people he will always be the one who inspires fighting spirit. People can choose how they live, Caesar is the kind of man who asks himself to live like a hero." The MC who has never felt so helpless in her life, could have easily been inspired by Caesar. That maybe she CAN get back to the Lenin, figure out who killed her friends and give him exactly what he deserves.

[stupid-sloot-headcanons]

I'm Czech and thank you, a LOT of people had said that our language sounds ugly, and that it's too hard/annoying to learn.

It's such bullshit lol. Like I've only learned some Russian and German but the people who speak those languages don't sound harsh unless they're like. Intentionally harsh because they're pissed or something. I think Anglophones, at least Americans, tend to bristle a bit at any language they find too unfamiliar or has historical connotations with us (ie. Germany and WWII, Russia and the Cold War/Red Scare). And as a whole we're so ignorant to Eastern Europe...fuck it, most of Europe as a whole. I have had to tell people that Estonia is an actual country that exists in the States.

So we tend to view foreign languages through media related to them: French is romantique, Italian is passionate and so is Spanish, British English is all refined, Australian accents are just drunk upside-down British accents, Russian sounds like everyone is a Bond villain, weebs think everyone in Japan talks like an anime character uwu, etc.

But it's all bullshit. Slavic languages and non-Anglo/Romance languages as a whole can be just as soft and intimate and musical if not more so.

#ask #i like linguistics and learning languages so this is smth that boils my piss when i hear it lol

[youneedasoultraveller]

Is Nicky the only one headcanoned by people as bad with languages or are Nile and Booker seen the same way too (Andy is of course excluded from that due to her age and Joe is universally depicted as skilled with languages) ? I would expect Nile to be seen as bad with languages due to the American education system but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

Hello! Post-response me would like to apologise once again for the length of this post :(

I have personally not found a single fic where either Booker or Nile were depicted bad with languages; at most I found fics where Nile cannot speak languages other than English yet and you have the rest of the Guard routinely teaching her this and that idiom.

So, no, in my experience the only one that I saw people actively headcanon as bad at languages is Nicolò. Even though exactly as you point our if we want to go by stereotypes the one that should have been hc’d as such should have been Nile precisely because the large majority of Anglos are monolingual and the way languages are taught in their educational systems is horrendous to say the least (I will never forget my experiences studying Arabic in a Canadian university).

As it stands, Nile is shown using a couple of words of Pashtu, and if I remember correctly it is mentioned that she speaks Spanish in her presentation card, but if it’s the average American knowledge of Spanish “mi casa es su casa” then I would not call that speaking it. But these are just suppositions :)

So canon doesn’t give us much, that we know. And this is where headcanons come in. Like I was saying, usually people would not write Nile as multilingual but as someone who is in the process of learning several languages.

No one is indicated that she is bad at it, although if you ask pratically anyone in the world they will tell you that Americans and Brits are the worst at both learning and speaking other languages, because in those cultures there is a deep imperialist bias engrained – whether they are aware or not – that everyone in the world speaks English, so they can spare the effort to try to pronounce properly another language, or, God forbid, learn it at all. Nothing indicates us that Nile butchers or not other languages, and no one ever takes it into account.

As for Booker, he is French so normally Anglos would have also made fun of his way of talking if it had not been for Matthias.

And now I reach my point. The main reason why Nicolò is consistently depicted as terrible at languages is because of Luca’s Italian accent, and the fact that you can see he is not as fluent in English as Marwan and Matthias are, who are like him not native speakers. This even though the man speaks five languages.

I am not going into the whole mess with interviews with native English speakers who treated him as if he were dumb just because he could not really understand their accent (I myself often have to slow down and ask for a repeat, because some accents are just not as immediately intelligible as Anglos think), given that it has been discussed at length.

The only thing I want to stress is how this headcanon is extremely imperialistic, condescending and plays once again into the harmful stereotype of the dumb, illiterate Southerner.

Linguistic discrimination is a thing, and it’s a thing everywhere. By linguistic discrimination I don’t just mean that against people who cannot speak a major language (or the “official” language of the country they are in), but it also affects accents.Accents have everything to do with geography and class: it is a marker of where you are from, and plays into prejudices linked to the social standing and the class usually associated to that accent. Now, languages are a natural process, in continuous evolution and adaptation, whereas standardised languages (including a standardised pronunciation) are artificial choices. Just think of British vs American English: they are both theoretically the same language, but they diverge in several instances in terms of both vocabulary and pronunciation.Whip this up to the max when it comes to speaking a language that is not your own. The sounds and grammar structures of your mother tongue have an impact on the way you process a different language. That’s why it’s difficult for Spanish-speakers to pronounce S + consonant at the beginning of a word, or why Slavic languages have a harder H sound (again at the beginning of a word). Even when you have the grammar and pronunciation down to a T and are virtually indistinguishable from a native speaker, it does not mean that people who lose their accents and speak like a BBC tv host are any better at languages than people whose accent is still noticeable, or whose speech flow may be slower.

Having an accent does not qualify the level of fluency in a set language. Not speaking like a dictionary does not qualify the level of your intelligence (and I cannot believe I have to even say that).

And yet having an accent is politicised for classist and racist purposes. If someone does not blend in 100% with the majority, it means that something is lacking in them: usually it means they do not have the same level of education, which means they probably come from a lower class, or that they also are foreigners. So they are less than, just because their speech is deemed as not up to par with that of the majority.

@lucyclairedelune meant this when she brought up the example of Gloria from Modern Family, saying “you don’t know how intelligent I am in Spanish”. I want to make an example that is closer to my heart. Elena Ferrante in her wondrous Neapolitan Quartet described the life of a girl who was trying to escape from the material and psychological misery of the slums of Naples in the 60s. To do so she migrates North to study at one of Italy’s most prestigious university: here, however, she is bullied for her accent that clearly marks her origins and (prejudicially, since people of the South were in general poorer) status, class, and, finally, categorises her as less intelligent. Just because of her accent when speaking standard Italian. As a Southern Italian woman, I have often felt like I had to mask my own accent, both in Italy and abroad, to be taken seriously. This regardless of my academic qualifications or how many languages I speak. 

When people describe Nicolò as bad at languages simply because Luca has an accent and speaks English slower and less fluently than his co-stars, this is the context that this treatment plays in. Subconsciously (or consciously) it adds to the image that a big chunk of the fandom is painting of him as dumb and ignorant. No one else. And the fact that (luckily) no one ever uses Nile’s monolingualism as a marker for being less intelligent is also because being American is still taken as the standard, as well as the fact that unfortunately Nile (like Yusuf) is going through positive discrimination by which she cannot have any complexity or flaws (starting from hardly ever acknowledging the fact that she herself was part of an invader/occupying foreign force which has bombed and killed civilians in Afghanistan, and was in the midst of a military operation exactly in this sense). 

According to that specific discourse, Nicolò is being given every single possible flaw, in order to be opposite to Yusuf. Again, because this fandom, with its Anglocentrism and Puritan incapacity of overcoming black-and-white oppositions, cannot seem to accept that we have a beautiful interracial, interreligious same-sex couple of complex individuals, who can both be smart at the same time. I myself think that Yusuf historically is better at languages than Nicolò, as he was a merchant (and an artist), and I love this difference about them, but conflating intelligence with proficiency in one single language (because it’s only proficiency English that we have been discussing, let’s be honest, if the show had been shot in German we would not be talking about Luca’s issues with the language probably) is an utterly imperialistic, condescending and ridiculous thing to do.

I probably lost the train of my thought (and I had two beers in the meantime, so I am too tired to reread), but what I mainly wanted to highlight is that this mocking attitude towards Nicolò is rooted in both a  wider downgrading trend of his character, and on a general approach towards non-English speakers that Anglos have virtually everywhere.

#nicolo di genova #the old guard #the old guard meta #the old guard discorse

[bear-little-loss]

famous last words || draco + orson

@draco--pavlovic​

Fantastic. I like optimism here. {Pleased at the answer Draco begins racking up the balls, humming quietly to himself as he does in an attempt to lighten the mood a little. It really doesn’t take an empath to notice how nervous and tense Orson is around him, but Draco can easily enough figure out why. Poor bastard. Orson probably thinks Draco’s going to grill him on wether or not he’s made any progress on controlling his Infection - or deciding on wether or not he actually wants to.

But Draco’s in an excellent mood and has no plans on sparking up such heavy conversation. All he wants to do is play pool, win, and enjoy some booze on someone else’s expense.}

Everyone here could always use drink. There is nothing wrong with enjoying every now and then, no? If Colony was in Croatia we would all be much drunker and much happier. There is nothing better than sunshine and Rakija. It is shame you will never taste it. Maybe one day, when Colony is free and boats are moving again. Then we will go to Dubrovnik and find surviving bottle to drink. {Briefly he looks up, offering Orson a cue.} You break?

[He appreciates the way Draco goes about as though he doesn’t notice Orson’s tension. He just... does his thing. Confident, calm, easy going—eager to make casual conversation. Orson finds, not for the first time, and he’s sure not for the last, that he wishes desperately he could be more like that. Not for appearances, but just for himself. To feel that way would be such a... relief. 

Orson chuckles at the ‘drunker and happier’ thing. The picture he paints of a sunny Croatia is compelling. Orson lets his mind wander with it.] It sounds... perfect, to be honest with you. [He smiles soflty.] Is Dubrovnik where you’re from? What’s it like? I always wanted to visit some of the slavic countries, but obviously I never got a chance... I mean. Not yet, anyway. 

[Maybe there’s a chance, he thinks, for the world to change again. For safe travel and freedom to become more of a thing again, but it feels... years and years away, right about now. He tries not to let that make him feel sad at the moment, though. Focuses instead on Draco’s stories, and the mesmerizing lilt of his thick accent. There’s something comforting about it, almost. Rustic and genuine.

When Draco asks him to break, Orson looks up, bites his lip, and cracks an awkward grin. He shakes his head.] I think it’d be better if you did. Less embarrassing. I’m... rusty at this. 

#draco #draco: famous last words #reposting for TT :)

[roy-kent]

How do you say “polish” in polish? (Also as a croatian speaker, I’m so curious, how do the diacritics in consonants work in polish? I always feel like I’m reading something almost in croatian but the rug has been dropped out from under me when I see polish words lol we love the slavic language mood)

“polish” = “polski” but since we have declension, gender (3) and numbers, you can translate it in many ways for example: polska (feminative singular of nominative), polskie (singular neuter of nominative), polskim (plural masculine of dative) etc etc there are MANY of them. also if we talk about “polish” as to rub something or clean something it means “polerować”.

and as for diacritics in consonants - we have condonants like ć, ł, ń, ż, ź and and diactricts like the dot and accute accents make the letters c, n, l and z sound much softer. for example our ż sounds similar to s in measure or ł sounds like w in water. sometimes in writing when we forget to add diacritics it can change the meaning of the the word completely: like “łaska” - grace, mercy and “laska” - this have many meanings it’s really funny cuz it can be translated as cane, as chick, or even in slang terms as blow job. so sometimes diacritics can be crucial (esp. in emails and texts).

as i’m trying to explain this to you i’m once again reminded that polish is really hard to learn and everyone who tries to learn it is my personal hero, congrats

Send me an English word and I'll translate it to my native language

#thank u for this question!! #i haven't spend this much time thinking about polisg grammar since high school i think #Anonymous

[13reasonstoeatthatcake]

Neil and languages

Neil knowing two languages other than English is already impressive, as I'm sure everyone is aware, but the fact of the matter is, for someone who'd supposedly hid all over the world from his mafioso father, I'm afraid German and French are... woefully inadequate in helping him blend in.

(Just to be clear, Nora Sakavic has absolutely made a masterpiece and I'd never dream of creating something as amazing as the All For The Game trilogy. It's just that I'm a language nerd and also from (Eastern) Europe, and I love forcing my own interests and experiences on characters, and as Neil is one of the only trilingual characters I've ever seen in media I can't pass up on the opportunity to make him a polyglot.)

So, without further ado, I present to you: the languages Neil Josten has had to use while on the run, a very long list of HCs.

English: since it's (presumably) Neil's mother language, he has the most practice with switching dialects in English. Neil can do almost every English accent that he's come across, which is helpful for when he needs to blend in a country where the official language is English (USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand are most frequent but he's also had to do it in India and Malaysia. Not UK, for obvious reasons, and pretending to be tourists in Europe can only hold up for so long)

German: German accents are ridiculous, but significantly easier to pull off than English accents. The Austrian and Hessen accents in particular are hellish for me, but knowing Neil he probably has them all down pat. You can maybe use German outside of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, especially in France and Italy where a lot of people learn German rather than English, but up north? Yeah, no, there it's either one of the holy trinity Danish/Norwegian/Swedish or English. We're not even mentioning Finnish, oh no. A lot of people in Egypt speak German as their third language, as well as Poland and other West/South Slavic nations, but then you risk standing out as that foreign German mother and son combo, which, no. Speaking of German, though,

Yiddish: Is a language very close to German, as in close enough that even I, who can hardly understand German, gets the gist of it. Even if Mary was not a practicing Jew, or knew Hebrew or another dialect better, it's an easy language to pick up when you have German as a base and also creates a fuller backstory. The downside to that is that it's recognisable that a Jewish, Yiddish mother and son combo are walking around, so maybe it's used in rare occasions.

Arabic: I actually hc Mary's family immigrated from Israel years ago and since they both look vaguely Arab/'eastern' enough to pass, and since in the books Neil says they spent some time in Dubai, they've probably had to learn some Arabic. They probably learned Modern Standard Arabic, and depending on how long they stayed in a country, they adapted it to the local dialect. (Arabic dialects vary from each other about as much as Chinese dialects do, aka A Lot. They probably used the excuse that nobody would understand their mother dialect and that's why they communicate in MSA only, but again, no matter how common that is it would still make them paranoid about standing out and so they'd move quickly.) A lot of Arabic countries however also speak a lot of

French: honestly, out of all the languages Neil speaks this is probably the hardest one because French people are fucking judgemental when you fuck up even a slight thing, ergo there's a higher risk of them being revealed because of 'oh yeah, mother and son, their French was horrendous'. French is spoken in Switzerland, Morocco and other Arabic countries, Québec, the whole of French Polynesia, also a lot of Slavic countries under the rule of USSR, but that's the older folks.

Serbian: As much as I'd like to get my favourite character to speak my mother language, I'm certain if Mary had to choose a Slavic language (other than Russian, which in official(?) post-canon Neil learns with Andrew) to learn it would have been Serbian, because it comes in a three-way package deal with fluency in Bosnian and Croatian, which makes it a lot easier to disappear. Additionally, it gives a good understanding of how other Slavic languages work, and it's only a matter of some tweaking to pretend to speak another Slavic language entirely. As someone from the literal only Slavic language that doesn't use cases, I understand up to 80% of every South Slavic and East Slavic language, and if somebody informs me of what roughly is going on, I can understand up to 70% of every West Slavic one as well. Neil and his mother might not have learned Russian, but Serbian is a must, especially since they'd blend in better with us Balkan folk than the more northern countries. Countries Serbian can be used in, with some minor tweaking: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, alongside almost all of Europe if they decide to act as immigrants or tourists (this last point counts for every language on this list, by the way)

Spanish: Spanish is the third most spoken language in the world after Chinese and English (if we're talking native speakers). There is literally no continent where it isn't spoken. While they would need to tweak their accents and such, the entirety of South America, Mexico, Cuba, the Phillipines and some African countries are all ideal places to hide. Portugese, I know, is an entirely different language, but not that hard to get the knack of once you have Spanish as a base, and it's the same thing with Italian.

Languages Neil and his mother haven't learned, even though they've hidden in the countries: a rough overview. (Note: though he hasn't learned them, Neil still probably had to memorise a set list of phrases well enough to sound fluent, but shy.)

Any northern European language. Mary was insistent they don't waste time or effort on non-essential or one-note languages; Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish are only useful in small parts of Europe and Africa, and speaking Afrikaans in Africa is a good way to get noticed, so they didn't learn that. Same thing with Finnish, Latvian, Estonian, Lituanian. They had some basic understanding of Belarussian and Russian thanks to Serbian, but nothing more.

Any African language. While Swahili is spoken all thorough Africa, it's not the language barrier that makes it hard to blend in but the colour of their skin, ergo almost the whole continent is out.

Indian languages. They'd only hidden in big cities, so people knew English, and Hindi is too complicated to learn when you're moving through so many different dialects and other, completely different languages.

Any and all languages in the Caucasus region. Those are hard to speak or learn, and they don't stay long there anyway. A lot of people there speak Russian as their second language, as well as people from Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Mongolia, etc) but again, they don't spend much time there.

Turkic languages. They learned a bit in Turkey, but again, it's not useful enough, and the dialect variations are too big without a common dialect to bind them together like Arabic had. Same thing with Greek or Albanian.

Any East Asian languages. Two non-Asians speaking any East Asian language causes too much attention.

For now, this is all I’ve got on the ‘polyglot Neil’ front. If I ever decide to include something else, it’s probably not going to be as long!

Polish. The name ‘Wesninski’ sounds Polish, if nothing else (I couldn’t find an etymology that wasn’t connected to this series) and there’s supposed to be a lot of Polish immigrants in Baltimore, so I think if Nathan Wesninski ever knew Polish, Mary would never want to hear the language again, and even if he had no connection to his Polish roots, she still would associate the language with him. Maybe Neil would one day decide to learn it, but until then it’s probably just another thing that reminds him of his father.

Bonus round:

If we're disregarding what Nora said while answering questions on tumblr and instead bend to the laws of logic, Mary and Neil would have learned Russian because it's literally THE lingua franca of Eastern Europe. It doesn't matter if you're in Bulgaria, Georgia or Kazakhstan, you speak Russian and people naturally assume you're here for work. However, I love andreil more than I love being this petty, so ig them learning Russian together is cute enough to make me forget the logistic nightmare this is.

#aftg #neil josten #andrew minyard #andreil #tfc #all for the game #the foxhole court #my nerd is showing but do i care? no #also if somebody has something to add or if i've messed up somewhere #please tell me #kei talks fandom #jewish!neil #i guess but it's not a big part of it #mary hartford