Just Another Quick Scribble.

DAMEN LOVE FEST 2023 begins next Friday!

As a friendly reminder, this December we are hosting a dedicated celebration for Damen. The celebration will run from December 1rst to December 7th. You can find the list of prompts here!

We wholeheartedly welcome all forms of creative posts, whether it's gifsets, edits, artwork, meta, or your cherished moments and quotes. Don't forget to include the #damenlovefest2023 tag so we can easily find and share your contributions. Additionally, we kindly ask that you reblog this post to help signal boost the event.

We can't wait to celebrate Damen with you! ♡

How to learn a language when you don’t know where to start:

General Plan:

Weeks 1 and 2: Purpose:

Learn the fundamentals sentence construction

Learn how to spell and count

Start building a phrase stockpile with basic greetings

The Alphabet

Numbers 1 - 100

Subject Pronouns

Common Greetings

Conjugate the Two Most Important Verbs: to be and to have

Basic Definite and Indefinite Articles

Weeks 3 and 4: Purpose:

Learn essential vocabulary for the day-to-day

Start conjugating regular verbs

Days of the Week and Months of the Year

How to tell the time

How to talk about the weather

Family Vocabulary

Present Tense Conjugations Verbs

Weeks 5 and 6: Purpose:

Warm up with the last of the day-to-day vocabulary

Add more complex types of sentences to your grammar

Colours

House vocabulary

How to ask questions

Present Tense Conjugations Verbs

Forming negatives

Weeks 7 and 8: Purpose:

Learn how to navigate basic situations in a region of your target language country

Finish memorising regular conjugation rules

Food Vocabulary and Ordering at Restaurants

Money and Shopping Phrases

Present Tense Conjugations Verbs

Weeks 9 and 10: Purpose:

Start constructing descriptive and more complex sentences

Adjectives

Reflective verbs

Places vocabulary

Weeks 11 and 12: Purpose:

Add more complex descriptions to your sentences with adverbs

Wrap up vocabulary essentials

Adverbs

Parts of the body and medical vocabulary

Tips for Learning a Foreign Language:

Learning Vocabulary:

What vocabulary should I be learning?

There are hundreds of thousands of words in every language, and the large majority of them won’t be immediately relevant to you when you’re starting out.Typically, the most frequent 3000 words make up 90% of the language that a native speaker uses on any given day. Instead try to learn the most useful words in a language, and then expand outwards from there according to your needs and interests.

Choose the words you want/need to learn.

Relate them to what you already know.

Review them until they’ve reached your long-term memory.

Record them so learning is never lost.

Use them in meaningful human conversation and communication.

How should I record the vocabulary?

Learners need to see and/or hear a new word of phrase 6 to 17 times before they really know a piece of vocabulary.

Keep a careful record of new vocabulary.

Record the vocabulary in a way that is helpful to you and will ensure that you will practice the vocabulary, e.g. flashcards.

Vocabulary should be organised so that words are easier to find, e.g. alphabetically or according to topic.

Ideally when noting vocabulary you should write down not only the meaning, but the grammatical class, and example in a sentence, and where needed information about structure.

How should I practice using the vocabulary?

Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check - Use this method for learning and remembering vocabulary. This method is really good for learning spellings.

Make flashcards. Write the vocabulary on the front with the definition and examples on the back.

Draw mind maps or make visual representations of the new vocabulary groups.

Stick labels or post it notes on corresponding objects, e.g when learning kitchen vocabulary you could label items in your house.

How often should I be practising vocabulary?

A valuable technique is ‘the principle of expanding rehearsal’. This means reviewing vocabulary shortly after first learning them then at increasingly longer intervals.

Ideally, words should be reviewed:

5-10 minutes later

24 hours later

One week later

1-2 months later

6 months later

Knowing a vocabulary item well enough to use it productively means knowing:

Its written and spoken forms (spelling and pronunciation).

Its grammatical category and other grammatical information

Related words and word families, e.g. adjective, adverb, verb, noun.

Common collocations (Words that often come before or after it).

Receptive Skills: Listening and Reading

Reading is probably one of the most effective ways of building vocabulary knowledge.

Listening is also important because it occupies a big chunk of the time we spend communicating.

Tips for reading in a foreign language:

Start basic and small.  Children’s books are great practice for beginners. Don’t try to dive into a novel or newspaper too early, since it can be discouraging and time consuming if you have to look up every other word.

Read things you’ve already read in your native language. The fact that you at least know the gist of the story will help you to pick up context clues, learn new vocabulary and grammatical constructions.

Read books with their accompanying audio books. Reading a book while listening to the accompanying audio will improve your “ear training”. It will also help you to learn the pronunciation of words.

Tips for listening in a foreign language:

Watch films in your target language.

Read a book while also listening along to the audio book version.

Listen to the radio in your target language.

Watch videos online in your target language.

Activities to do to show that you’ve understood what you’ve been listening to:

Try drawing a picture of what was said.

Ask yourself some questions about it and try to answer them.

Provide a summary of what was said.

Suggest what might come next in the “story.”

Translate what was said into another language.

“Talk back” to the speaker to engage in imaginary conversation.

Productive Skills: Speaking and Writing

Tips for speaking in a foreign language:

If you can, try to speak the language every day either out loud to yourself or chat to another native speaker whether it is a colleague, a friend, a tutor or a language exchange partner. 

Write a list of topics and think about what you could say about each one. First you could write out your thoughts and then read them out loud. Look up the words you don’t know. You could also come up with questions at the end to ask someone else.

A really good way to improve your own speaking is to listen to how native speakers talk and imitate their accent, their rhythm of speech and tone of voice. Watch how their lips move and pay attention to the stressed sounds. You could watch interviews on YouTube or online news websites and pause every so often to copy what you have just heard. You could even sing along to songs sung in the target language.

Walk around the house and describe what you say. Say what you like or dislike about the room or the furniture or the decor. Talk about what you want to change.This gets you to practise every day vocabulary.

Tips for writing in a foreign language:

Practice writing in your target language. Keep it simple to start with. Beginner vocabulary and grammar concepts are generally very descriptive and concrete.

Practice writing by hand. Here are some things you can write out by hand:

Diary entries

Shopping lists

Reminders

What could I write about?

Write about your day, an interesting event, how you’re feeling, or what you’re thinking.

Make up a conversation between two people. 

Write a letter to a friend, yourself, or a celebrity. You don’t need to send it; just writing it will be helpful.

Translate a text you’ve written in your native language into your foreign language.

Write a review or a book you’ve recently read or a film you’ve recently watched.

Write Facebook statuses, Tweets or Tumblr posts (whether you post them or not will be up to you).

Write a short story or poem.

Writing is one of the hardest things to do well as a non-native speaker of a language, because there’s no room to hide. 

There are lots of ways to improve your writing ability, but they can be essentially boiled down to three key components:

Read a lot

Write a lot

Get your writing corrected

I was thinking about the scene in Prince’s Gambit where Laurent goes off on Aimeric; how you, as the reader, come to understand that his verbal lashing at Aimeric’s naivety re: the Regent is more or less self-flagellation.

We know that Aimeric and Nicaise are mirrors of Laurent. I vaguely recall Pacat herself stating they’re essentially alternate version of him, set on different paths he himself might have taken.

I don’t think that’s strictly accurate, though. I can’t imagine a version of Laurent that didn’t outgrow the Regent, because in no world would the Regent not have discarded him, in vying for the throne.

Aimeric is only a version of Laurent in the sense that, he represents that green boy who is yet to grow up; he is young Laurent in stasis. Their disparity is ridiculously emphasized by Jord’s intervening defense: “He’s just a boy.”

Conversely, Nicaise, who IS actually a boy, is more of an equal to Laurent. In book one he’s outsmarted due to his inexperience in court politics and mind games, but he’s a lot worldlier than Laurent could have ever been at his age.

Nicaise knew that he was running out of time, that the Regent didn’t love him. “He always was smarter than the others,” Laurent says, and I think he counts himself among those others.

Nicaise is in Laurent’s past situation, but shares Lauren’t present sensibilities. I might even assert that in some ways, Nicaise is the boy Laurent wishes he could have been, someone who didn’t blindly trust in the Regent’s love –only a hair’s breadth away from breaking off his influence.

That’s why he invests in him so personally, a possible element of wish-fulfillment: You’re smarter than I was, you can get yourself out of this.

Aimeric and Nicaise are, then, exact inverses of each other: a childish adult vs. an adult-like child. Both recall Laurent’s past, but Aimeric is a ghost, stagnant, while Nicaise is a window to re-writing the narrative, putting things to right.

The Fall (2006) dir. Tarsem Singh

Costume design by Eiko Ishioka

Thinking about the fact that Dazai found intrest in Chuuya because of his loyalty and not his ability. Thinking about the fact that the idea of Chuuya being Arahabki never crossed Dazai's mind. Thinking about the fact that Dazai truly disliked how the sheep took advantage of Chuuya. Thinking about the fact that Chuuya was Dazai's reason to live in the fifthteen light novel. Thinking about the fact that Chuuya was the first person Dazai shared an equal partnership with. Thinking about the fact that Chuuya was the first person Dazai ever started to harvest genuine care for. Thinking about the fact that Chuuya was Dazai's drive to keep living and fighting in Stormbringer. Thinking about the fact that Dazai carried Chuuya on his back and took him to the bar so he can say goodbye to his dying friends. Thinking about the fact that Dazai never doubted Chuuya's humanity. Thinking about the fact that after Dazai believed Veraline was defeated he didn't hesitate to look for Chuuya in the woods when he could've told anyone else to do it for him. Thinking about the fact that Dazai gave Chuuya Verlaine's hat because he knows it hold meaning to him. Thinking about the fact that Dazai is amazed by corruption but also uses it as a last resort for Chuuya's sake. Thinking about the fact that Dazai is always delicate when it comes to nullifying Chuuya's corruption. Thinking about the fact that Dazai started to softly laugh at Chuuya's shooked face when he found out that Adam actually cared for him. Thinking about the fact that Dazai let Chuuya rest on his lap and silently comforted him after the dragon head conflict. Thinking about the fact that Dazai covered up for Chuuya so that he wouldn't be incriminated back in the basement. Thinking about the fact that Chuuya's damsel impression was the one thing that made Dazai genuienly laugh. Thinking about the fact that Dazai proudly bragged to the enemy how strong Chuuya was in the lovecraft battle. Thinking about the fact that Dazai sewed an inside joke in Chuuya's coat. Thinking about the fact that Dazai still calls Chuuya "partner" and not "ex-partner". Thinking about the fact that Dazai probably feels the most comfortable with Chuuya. Thinking about the fact that Dazai put his life on Chuuya's hands without hesitation. Thinking about the fact that Dazai could've left Chuuya to die back in the fog but he let protected him and let him sleep in his lap.

.... But Dazai defiently uses Chuuya right? Dazai defiently does not regard Chuuya as a human being and would let him die for his own personal gain, right? Yeah.....

This isn't even me pointing out headcanons of these two or me romantizing them either. Its just me pointing canon facts from the light novels, anime and manga.

I won't bash you for not shipping them, I obviously won't shove this ship down your throat either. But you can't just simply ignore the canon trust and bond these two characters have for one another.

Right now, I only focused on Dazai's feelings for Chuuya because a lot of people always use the "Dazai doesn't care for Chuuya" as an argument when it comes to bashing this ship.

Of course I won't lie to you and say that this ship is pure sunshine and rainbows, of course not! But is any bsd ship truly sunshine and rainbows considering the toxic enviorments they all grew in?

If you truly believe that Dazai does not care for Chuuya I am seriously going to assume you only watched the anime, and even if you only watched the anime the care is still evident but I guess its more subtle.

I've seen so many people being too passionate about their hatred for this ship, and I totally get if you don't ship it but I think its pretty understandable why people ship it too.

I personally love this ship and the reason for it is because of how profound this dynamic is and how important it is to both characters.

Aaannnd im done with my rant, and if you don't ship this its totally fine! You can ship whatever you want unless its pedophilic or toxic, it just sort of annoys me when people try to bash this ship with the empty argument of "Dazai doesn't care for Chuuya" or vise versa.

Can I ask for advice my dear?

Like, you know how you write fics and you have an idea of where you want it to go.

I have an exposition and an ending ready but how do you guys bridge that? Like there is a plot but also how do you connect and make sense of the whole thing? I dunno if it makes sense but I hope it does 😅

Sorry it took me so long to get to this - I was thinking about how best to answer!

From what I understand, you have a general plot and the ending of your story worked out? You know the rough beats and the main overarching 'this is what the story will be about'?

Since I'm not sure how much experience you have writing, I might cover some things you're already aware of - if so, sorry about that. I'm just going to bring in some of the basics.

So, while I believe there is no 'one way' to design and plan your plot, there are a few good structures you can use to help put your ideas in some semblance of order. I use both of these frequently when setting out a plot, or even when just planning out a scene. These story cycles are usually pretty scalable, which is great!

Story Cycle 1 - Hero Arc

This is a very basic explanation of the hero cycle. There are some more broken down versions that go into the in-between steps, but these are the main beats that I tend to drift towards, and this is a graphic I made that helps me remember the rough stages.

Now, I mainly use this cycle when it comes to longer, drawn out stories, like CS, or my own original novels. This is one of the most well known and most used in story writing.

I really encourage people to try and use this cycle. It is a very popular and strong way to structure a long story because it works.

Story Cycle 2 - Regular Arc

This second cycle is a favourite of mine because it's applicable for both a story as a whole and on a scene-by-scene basis. I've often used this model to craft specific scenes in my stories.

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Structuring a plot can be a very laborious and frustrating task, but where your story is short or long, I really do think these two cycles can help you.

Depending on the length of your story, take one of the models above (or heck, look up another if you think these aren't quite suited to your style), and start to categorise your ideas beneath the main titles.

Ask yourself questions like: 'where does this scene fit?', 'what is this scene accomplishing in the story, is it before or after the climax?', or 'how would it affect the flow if I put it *here*?', and go from there.

Remember that this outline isn't set in stone either. You can chop and change where you want ideas to come into your story as you write it.

This is how I go about linking my ideas up into a coherent plot. After you do it for long enough, you stop consciously realising that you even do this anymore. You pick up a natural feel for things. So long as you just start somewhere - whether it's a vague idea or the final scene in a story - you're already doing fantastic!

Hope this helps!

I'm very much into this.

Harry Potter AU for Gravity Falls and OtGW… I could not resist >_< 

More shall come. I want to post a bit every week depicting Years 2 through 5 for Dipper and Mabel. Most characters will appear. Thanks to mah best friend Serina for help on the research :) Expect more soon

furnace and chimney duo.

Also, just squish your face on that pectoral hon.

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What does the arab in your carrd mean? Is it like afab and amab?

.. i’m palestinian