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[Vector]

Ah, well, journal-writing does get better with time.  I started in middle-school and had similar problems, but it does get easier and easier to be honest and express yourself in writing.

Write about the frustration of the falseness of writing, and maybe you'll get somewhere =)


And if you're still at all interested in writing... then let me know, and I'll have sent a crazy letter within a week :3  Things can be a chore at times, but then, so is all socializing--and really, it's more fun to try than it isn't.  If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work.

On the other hand, what you're doing right now obviously doesn't work, so you have nothing to lose, right?

EDIT: Also, 10 vowels?  What the HELL, Russian?

Hmm... aren't half like hard versions of the others or something?

Yeah, probably.  I miss Arabic, though ;_;  Only three vowels, and all of them were easy to pronounce.


Also, you can apparently say "I don't care about it" in German by saying instead: "It's like wurst to me."  Heehee.

I always feel like a minority in thinking that English is beautiful. It has an amazing rhythmic quality that isn't really exploited in most poetry. Since most English poetry is written as if it were in French.

I'll agree that its richness and clarity are absolutely phenomenal.  I guess what I'm saying is that it can be used in beautiful or ugly ways, but it's so very big that it doesn't have a uniform quality to it.

It's kind of like owning a really, really good violin.  For a beginning student, it's almost impossible to play beautifully, because it's too flexible.  It's better to own a lower-quality violin, on which you can learn the basics of playing, because the resonance will be easier to exploit.  Then you can learn to play violin in English.

[Leafsnail]

Man, I can't think of any unfortunate connotations currently attached to violins.

[fqllve]

I'll agree that its richness and clarity are absolutely phenomenal.  I guess what I'm saying is that it can be used in beautiful or ugly ways, but it's so very big that it doesn't have a uniform quality to it.

It's kind of like owning a really, really good violin.  For a beginning student, it's almost impossible to play beautifully, because it's too flexible.  It's better to own a lower-quality violin, on which you can learn the basics of playing, because the resonance will be easier to exploit.  Then you can learn to play violin in English.

Ah yeah. Especially with spoken English, where you can pretty much contort the sentence to get whatever shape you want. Grammaticality be damned.

I wouldn't say that it's necessarily a higher quality violin though, more that it's made of a different type of wood. If French is spruce and German is mahogany then English is cedar.

[KaguroDraven]

Arse Violin.
Note:I have no idea in the differences between those woods besides the fact that Mahogany is awesome.

[Mindmaker]

(like my goal to no longer live in the US)

Just out of curiosity and if you don't mind the question:
Why? And where would you go?

I've been thinking about the same for some time now.
Great Britain might be interesting, since their national character, so much resembles my own and I'm obsessed with english.

Yeah, swearing in German is so much more satisfying.  Polish so far doesn't seem to be quite as good for it.

What we lack in class, we make up in enthusiasm.
Swearing is an offical national pastime in Poland.

And if you're still at all interested in writing... then let me know, and I'll have sent a crazy letter within a week :3  Things can be a chore at times, but then, so is all socializing--and really, it's more fun to try than it isn't.  If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work.

On the other hand, what you're doing right now obviously doesn't work, so you have nothing to lose, right?

Well my handwriting is terrible and I tend to be dissapointing when put on the spot (yes, this can even be achieved by letters), but if this was an honest offer, I think it might be worth a try.

[KaguroDraven]

Yeah, swearing in German is so much more satisfying.  Polish so far doesn't seem to be quite as good for it.

What we lack in class, we make up in enthusiasm.
Swearing is an offical national pastime in Poland.

Thank you Mindmaker for giveing me something I can finally contribute to my polish heritage, as a mutt it's hard to find explinations in my many heritages to the things I do, I'm glad to say I can now count my love of swearing, and even trying to invent or learn new swear words, as part of my polish heritage.

[Duke 2.0]

 She mentioned traveling around, so I don't think it's so much not wanting to be in any particular place so much as being in many different places.

[Vector]

I wouldn't say that it's necessarily a higher quality violin though, more that it's made of a different type of wood. If French is spruce and German is mahogany then English is cedar.

Yeah, sorry--that was my musical education showing through the metaphor and mucking up the meaning.  Completely unintentional.

Different wood, and different thickness, so that you might be able to get some of the beautiful effects of German or French if you had mastered your play (and the language's own excellent resonance), but the usual sound of it can be somewhat dull and uninspiring in the hands of a student.  On the other hand, I have never found any English -> French translations that sounded a whit like the original, or anything but terribly cluttered, ugly writing (Japanese -> French really isn't too much better, though surprisingly it is a significant improvement).  It appears that the language lacks the necessary flexibility.

Of course, I also speak as someone whose native language was English and has never been shocked by anything we had individual words for, whereas I imagine someone with a different history would be floored by the sheer number of adjectives and verbs we throw around like so much air.

(like my goal to no longer live in the US)

Just out of curiosity and if you don't mind the question:
Why? And where would you go?

I've been thinking about the same for some time now.
Great Britain might be interesting, since their national character, so much resembles my own and I'm obsessed with english.

When I was growing up here, everyone thought I was European, or Asian, or... just something not American, because they couldn't believe it.  I went to Europe and they thought I was European, too (Swiss, British, French--even Portuguese was more likely than American).  I lived in a dorm for international students and, even after I started talking, they'd always say "So, where are you from?  What country?  You sound like someone with a European education!"

Recently, I've been starting to think: "If everyone thinks I'm European, why don't I try to spend 10-15 years in Europe?"

Of course, I think I may have picked up more of the American enthusiasm recently, so I might not be able to blend in anymore =/

Frankly, I feel a lot more comfortable around foreigners here.  They compliment my attempts to speak their language, I get excited about their culture and apologize for the US's recent foreign policy, and we all get along.  I also suspect I would enjoy man-chasing more over there, because over here I was raised surrounded by men and frankly find them good friend material, but not very... mysteriously attractive >_>

And we eat terribly over here, and our houses are poorly-insulated, and there's all the weird anti-foreign sentiment plus crazy conservatives... American English is a mess and I live in California, where it's even worse because no one speaks good English and even my mother says "hella."  Furthermore, we sell bad ice cream!  I mean, seriously, guys.  How do you mess up ice cream?  At least our drivers and roads are good, even if we have an enormous anti-intellectual problem right now.  Plus, there's the terrible foreign policy and all the messes about public health care, the Tea Party, the shootings, the "we don't care about how anyone else feels because we're Amurrican" attitude, the lack of drive of the younger generations, the disinterest in foreign cultures even among the citizenry, the casual racism and nationalism and desire to swagger around everywhere like we own everything on a citizen-based level.

Dammit, I love this country to bits and we really don't have that many problems, but I've gotten kind of tired of it.  I've gotten especially tired of being unable to relate to most American citizens whose families immigrated more than 2 generations ago.  It's not that I'm against them or something, we just seem to not get along.


Where would I go?  I'm not really sure.  Italy, France, Germany, England... I'd like to spend some time in all of these places, and I was considering Russia very briefly before I thought "well, that's probably a bad idea."  Germany would probably fit best personality-wise (I'm guessing); France is a terrible fit, but that's the language I speak second-best after English... and I don't want to move to England permanently, as my goal is actually to be thrown into a completely foreign culture (which includes language).  I'd be a bit scared of moving to Poland, too, especially because I am very not-Catholic and I hear folks over there find imperfect Polish incomprehensible, rather than merely annoying.

*sigh*  I really don't know, and this is one of those 10-years-in-the-future plans.  But it sounds like a pleasant idea.

Well my handwriting is terrible and I tend to be disappointing when put on the spot (yes, this can even be achieved by letters), but if this was an honest offer, I think it might be worth a try.

Yes, this is definitely an honest offer.  There are no disappointing letters, really, as I get almost no mail (not even bills) from anyone.  Okay, disappointing letters would be my Grandmother's signed Hallmark cards, where she writes in "Dear [Vector]," the date, and "Love, Grandma."  Other letters are great.

Plus, I know it will take time for both of us to get used to it, so there's no need to feel pressured =)

Yeah, swearing in German is so much more satisfying.  Polish so far doesn't seem to be quite as good for it.

What we lack in class, we make up in enthusiasm.
Swearing is an offical national pastime in Poland.

Yeah, I suspect that I've only been introduced to some of the more boring Polish cussing (it was via movies).  It's nice to have a culture where cursing is more interesting/not quite as frowned upon as it is in English, because over here the best you can usually do is with innuendo rather than flat-out verbiage.

She mentioned traveling around, so I don't think it's so much not wanting to be in any particular place so much as being in many different places.

Pretty much.  I'm tired of being rooted to one spot.  I'd much rather have lots of friends around the world, so that we can all share things with each other and enjoy each other's cultures.

[Leafsnail]

Where would I go?  I'm not really sure.  Italy, France, Germany, England... I'd like to spend some time in all of these places, and I was considering Russia very briefly before I thought "well, that's probably a bad idea."  Germany would probably fit best personality-wise (I'm guessing); France is a terrible fit, but that's the language I speak second-best after English... and I don't want to move to England permanently, as my goal is actually to be thrown into a completely foreign culture (which includes language).  I'd be a bit scared of moving to Poland, too, especially because I am very not-Catholic and I hear folks over there find imperfect Polish incomprehensible, rather than merely annoying.

Sounds cool.  Getting to live in lots of different places does sound pretty fun.

In my area, you wouldn't actually be too out of place as an American.  But that's mainly because we have loads of people from pretty much everywhere coming in for the university...

[Rilder]

Ugh I have a headache.

[Leafsnail]

I guess you've already tried drinking fluids and stuff?  Most of the time my headaches are just my brain telling me I forgot to drink today.

[Duke 2.0]

 My dad was feeling bad so my sister used her old blood pressure measuring instruments she had back when her major was medicine to check him out. He had a blood pressure around 160 when he was relaxed and hadn't done anything to raise his short-term pressure. My mom is really motioning him to go to a hospital or something.

[fqllve]

Yeah, sorry--that was my musical education showing through the metaphor and mucking up the meaning.  Completely unintentional.

Haha, no need for apologies. Seemed perfectly natural to me too, until I thought about it for a bit and then it seemed a little chauvinistic. Obviously unintentional though.

I should probably apologize for my needlessly obscure tonewoods metaphor while we're at it.

Different wood, and different thickness, so that you might be able to get some of the beautiful effects of German or French if you had mastered your play (and the language's own excellent resonance), but the usual sound of it can be somewhat dull and uninspiring in the hands of a student.  On the other hand, I have never found any English -> French translations that sounded a whit like the original, or anything but terribly cluttered, ugly writing (Japanese -> French really isn't too much better, though surprisingly it is a significant improvement).  It appears that the language lacks the necessary flexibility.

Of course, I also speak as someone whose native language was English and has never been shocked by anything we had individual words for, whereas I imagine someone with a different history would be floored by the sheer number of adjectives and verbs we throw around like so much air.

I've heard a lot of complaints about French to English translations. Like for Camus' The Stranger. But those were all made by ivory tower blowhards so I dunno how much stock should be put in them.

[Vector]

Yeah, French -> English is pretty awful, too, but I've read some good translations that, despite completely mauling a lot of the witticism (or failing to indicate it--frankly, I think a lot of the issue is that many English readers wouldn't recognize humor if it stabbed them in the face) were fairly accurate and, indeed, poetic.

Really, I think they should try to contract to translate the heavily-footnoted French versions, and then add even more linguistic notes.  My main issue nowadays is that they never explain the references of the originals.

(And yes, I've heard that L'Etranger is especially poorly translated)

[ToonyMan]

My dad was feeling bad so my sister used her old blood pressure measuring instruments she had back when her major was medicine to check him out. He had a blood pressure around 160 when he was relaxed and hadn't done anything to raise his short-term pressure. My mom is really motioning him to go to a hospital or something.

All Dad's have bad blood pressure.