is that all you blighters can do?

[nnozomi]

Mostly little language-related things:

·One of my Guardian fics, "a language without an army," was translated into French by Loaric; it's an honor to have any fic translated, especially this one, which is all about language anyway. My French is only just about good enough to follow along, but there are some lines which sound far more gorgeous in the translation--"les consonnes coulissant les unes dans les autres," "égrainant du Haixinghua vif et aiguisé," and the rhythm of the last line, "sans l’accent, Zhao Yunlan aurait compris."

·Still very slowly organizing the Chinese Guardian script; amused by a passing moment in episode 30 when you can see Minister Gao think “one Zhao is more than enough stress, now I have to cope with two of them at once?”

·The meta-ness of translating a text that's all about the value of transcribing versus the value of writing (the meaning of creativity, especially for women), with reference to a Tawada Yoko story. (Tawada Yoko's novels are too weird for me, but I like her essays about language a lot.)

·(mildly icky content) The irony of writing in my original thing about magic done with a drop of the caster's blood, when my actual real-life hands are cracking and bleeding here and there (nothing serious, cold weather + frequent handwashing). Inspiration where we can get it!
So far, knock wood, writing is going well, a fairly steady 500+ words a day (minus one day when I just fell stone asleep). Well over 40K now, getting into the second half when basically there's always something dramatic happening; I don't know if I can make it work but it's fun to try, and I love the way that the more I write, the more ideas and themes seem to fall into place.

·New Chinese conversation partner, Xi-laoshi, a friend of a friend in Beijing. Sadly she had not heard of Zhu Yilong; she was coaching me through pronouncing his name correctly (shows you how terrible my accent is, you'd think that's one word I could get right) when I remembered that interview clip of Z1L and Bai Yu teaching each other to say their names in dialect ("Zhu-laoshi? Ju-laoshi?"), and had a hard time keeping a straight face... .

·Music: A YouTube channel based on the history of music compiled by Otto Maria Carpeaux, an Austrian-Brazilian Jew who seems to have been a piece of work. I don't necessarily agree with all his choices of major works in the history of Western classical music, but there is a lot of good stuff in there, and if you want a playlist of almost 400 pieces in chronological order from 13-something to 1962, this is where to go. (The one thing I object to is that the performers aren't cited; that needs fixed.)

Photos: just a few. The year's first 梅通信, letter from the plums; they're hell to take good pictures of but I can never resist trying. Also my four-season strawberries, living up to their name in a modest way; if they survive into a second year maybe they'll be bigger?


Be safe and well.

Comments

[chestnut_pod]

What beautiful blossoms!

New language partners are great news.

[nnozomi]

Thank you <3 yep, I'm still working on getting her to slow down to the point I can understand more than 30% of what she's saying, but it's fun :)

[luzula]

Yay, I'm glad your writing is going well! \o/

[nnozomi]

Thank you! (Won't vouch for the quality but it's fun!)

[scytale]

Yay for writing, new conversation partner, and French translation!

Those plum blossoms look delightful! And the four-season strawberries are so cute!

[nnozomi]

Thank you on all counts! I admit I'd rather have large luscious strawberries than small cute ones, but I'll take what I can grow :)

[clevermanka]

Congratulations on that writing progress!

Agreed on that conversation between Z1L and BY. Always a delight.

[nnozomi]

Thank you! Yup, that's such a good interaction <3

[corvi]

Lovely plum blossoms! Do you know what type they are?

[nnozomi]

I don't! I'm sorry--I'm not very well informed about flowers to begin with, I can just about get as far as "well, they're blooming on a tree in February, they must be plums." I'll see if I can do some research.

[nineveh_uk]

Are they prunus mume? That's what I would tend to assume with winter-flowering Japanese plums. They look beautiful, anyway.

[nnozomi]

(late reply, sorry) That sounds right! Love it that "mume" got into the Latin classification; I mostly know it as a very old-fashioned Japanese woman's name (named after the flowers, of course).

[elenothar]

My French isn't functional enough to work attempt to read the translation, but it sounds great, and I like the language meta metaness

Steady pace and over 40k sounds great for the original writing - I'm very much looking forward to reading this one day...

("Zhu-laoshi? Ju-laoshi?")

Perhaps unsurprisingly, that was also a bit of their interviews that stuck in my head XD

[nnozomi]

I'm very much looking forward to reading this one day...
At the risk of self-promotion, you're welcome to read the first volume any time you want, although you probably have a lot of other books that take priority right now.

that was also a bit of their interviews that stuck in my head XD
saaame! Bai Yu: 不是别老师，是北老师, and Zhu Yilong just grinning to himself...

[trobadora]

Oh, that's awesome about the translation of your fic!

when I remembered that interview clip of Z1L and Bai Yu teaching each other to say their names in dialect ("Zhu-laoshi? Ju-laoshi?"), and had a hard time keeping a straight face...

Hee! :D

four-season strawberries

:D :D :D

[nnozomi]

Always good to have more Guardian fic in more languages!

four-season strawberries
:D :D :D
No, seriously :) That's the name they were sold under, 四季莓. I'm glad they're living up to advertising.

[sakana17]

That's wonderful about the translated fic! I know no French, but it always looks beautiful.

I remembered that interview clip of Z1L and Bai Yu teaching each other to say their names in dialect ("Zhu-laoshi? Ju-laoshi?")

:D One of my favorite clips of them, ever.

Lovely blossoms! The wee strawberries are adorable.

[nnozomi]

I know no French, but it always looks beautiful.
Doesn't it? Why isn't there more time in life for language study?

One of my favorite clips of them, ever.
And you have the perfect icon!

and glad you liked the photos <3

[laireshi]

Ha, this made me wonder if I could achieve anything trying to translate your fic--I do suck at it in general, I know I do, it's a whole other skillset to just learning another language. One interesting thing is using -ren and -hua, because it feels somehow...less natural in a language with declension like Polish? I think it's because unlike in English, using Haixingren/Dixingren in Polish still requires an addition of Polish suffixes to those (say, "I'm Haixingren" in Polish becomes "Jestem Haixingrenem", "Haixingren" used as a plural noun would have to be changed to "Haixingreńczycy" or "Haixingrenowie"). Haixinghua/Dixinghua used as adjectives, too: "haixinghua idioms" - "haixinghuańskie idiomy". The alternative is dropping -ren/-hua, and then you get "Haixingczyk" for a person and "haixingski" for a language. Still a mouthful, but...

(Also, generally speaking I feel like I can't write in Polish anymore, my writing brain is too used to English these days--but for all that I treat it as an adoptive native language to a degree, sometimes I read something in Polish that makes me absolutely breathless in a way English simply cannot achieve.)

As always, pompoms for your novel! But oh no about your hands :

[nnozomi]

sorry reply is late! been buried in work...

unlike in English, using Haixingren/Dixingren in Polish still requires an addition of Polish suffixes to those
Oh wow, this is fascinating, both the way it works and the way it feels to you. (Do names get the same treatment--"Jestem Zhao Yunlanem"?) Hypothetically speaking, I would obviously love it if you ever wanted to translate that fic or any other of mine, although it seems only fair that you should translate your own first. (Although maybe it's easier to translate someone else's work? I know my experience with Japanese and English tends to be along the lines of "if I were writing in the other language, I would have written something different to begin with.")

I feel like I can't write in Polish anymore, my writing brain is too used to English these days--but for all that I treat it as an adoptive native language to a degree, sometimes I read something in Polish that makes me absolutely breathless in a way English simply cannot achieve.
This is a lovely description and if you ever want to post more about it I'd love to read it. I don't think I will ever get as comfortable writing in Japanese as, enviably, you and other DW friends are writing in English (maybe I need to read more Japanese fic?). There's a tradeoff in all directions...

<3 <3 <3

[laireshi]

Do names get the same treatment--"Jestem Zhao Yunlanem"?
Names get declined in Polish, yes, but for proper names in introductions we use nominative, so it's "Jestem Zhao Yunlan". But: "byłem z Zhao Yunlanem" for "I was with Zhao Yunlan". Which is something I didn't mention in my previous comment! All those declension examples were for masculine subjects. They'd be different with feminine ones. Polish is fun! (And yes both conjugation and declension depend on gender, making gender-neutral language all but impossible; non-binary people are trying to use different ways to work around it, but it's very very new to our language.)

Hypothetically speaking, I would obviously love it if you ever wanted to translate that fic or any other of mine
Well, I'm halfway through it, so! Very much possible it'll happen^^ I consulted with a Polish friend about all of my aforementioned woes and she said I couldn't have picked a more difficult fic 😂 Maybe, but I like this one!

Although maybe it's easier to translate someone else's work? I know my experience with Japanese and English tends to be along the lines of "if I were writing in the other language, I would have written something different to begin with."
Oh, yeah, I don't think I could translate my own fic. Both because of what you said (I just think differently when constructing sentences in different languages!), but also because I'm sure I'd end up wanting to edit the original xD

[nnozomi]

Well, I'm halfway through it, so! Very much possible it'll happen^^
OH WOW. No pressure, I know you have other stuff going on, but that's such an awesome thing to hear. (Also linguistically curious about what specifically made your Polish friend consider it difficult to translate!) <3 <3 <3

Polish is fun! (And yes both conjugation and declension depend on gender, making gender-neutral language all but impossible; non-binary people are trying to use different ways to work around it, but it's very very new to our language.)
Phew, yeah, I never thought about that! I know theoretically how it works, from a misspent past with Latin and a bit of Russian, but not the specifics for Polish. and wow, I guess you'd have to come up with a whole new set of conjugations and declensions to avoid gender...

but also because I'm sure I'd end up wanting to edit the original xD
lolol, I feel this too.

[tinny]

The meta-ness of translating a text that's all about the value of transcribing versus the value of writing (the meaning of creativity, especially for women)
Hm, yes, interesting. I love both, fwiw.

Inspiration where we can get it!
Heheee. Ugh, winter hands, yes.

I love the way that the more I write, the more ideas and themes seem to fall into place.
Oh wow, that's awesome, yes!

when I remembered that interview clip of Z1L and Bai Yu teaching each other to say their names
Lol yes it's not as easy as you might think. :D (Also, "long" just is a very hard sound.)

if they survive into a second year maybe they'll be bigger?
One can always hope. :DDD

I find the first plum picture very beautiful!

[nnozomi]

I love both, fwiw.
Me too.

Lol yes it's not as easy as you might think. :D (Also, "long" just is a very hard sound.)
Those damn dragons. (She was trying to get me to say the "zh" sound right, and I couldn't do it because (partly) I kept thinking 剧老师剧老师 lol.

glad you like the plums! (sorry for the late reply) <3

[umadoshi]

that interview clip of Z1L and Bai Yu teaching each other to say their names in dialect ("Zhu-laoshi? Ju-laoshi?")

*^^* My favorite!

[nnozomi]

*^^* My favorite!
Mine too! (sorry reply is so late) <3