日本語がだんだんうまくなって来ました

日本語がだんだんうまくなって来ました

February 02, 2023 | Categories: Language | Tags: 日本語, language, learning, blog

私は昨年日本語を学び始めました。私のパートナーとその家族は日本人だし、よく日本語を話す友達と会うし、日本語を勉強した方がいいと考えました。 たくさん言語を勉強したことがあるので、始めは心配していませんでした。イタリア語やスペイン語の勉強は簡単で、中国語も台湾にいたので難しくなかったです。 ところが、日本語と他の言語は違います!日本語の文法や言い回しや語彙は英語とは異なるので、苦労しました...

Coming home to my 'hillbilly' dialect

Coming home to my 'hillbilly' dialect

November 14, 2022 | Categories: Langauge | Tags: language, identity, blog

Over the years, I’ve brought many friends back to the county where I grew up. These people came from a variety of backgrounds — different regions, countries, native languages, ethnicities...

House of the Dragon’s Overreliance on Miscommunication

House of the Dragon’s Overreliance on Miscommunication

October 03, 2022 | Categories: Writing | Tags: writing, storytelling, fiction, film, books, blog

(Spoiler warning for episodes 1–7 of the TV show, but no Fire & Blood spoilers.) “God damn it, Alicent!” I shouted as she attempted to stab her erstwhile best friend,...

Historical simulation games, the good and the not-so-good

Historical simulation games, the good and the not-so-good

October 09, 2021 | Categories: Culture | Tags: history, fiction, video games, education, blog

If you ask most people who know me to list one fact about me, I’d wager the first thing that’d come to their mind would be, “he’s a huge history...

Why tropes can be good, actually

Why tropes can be good, actually

March 31, 2021 | Categories: Writing | Tags: writing, storytelling, fiction, film, books, blog

Spoiler warnings: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Avatar: The Last Airbender, A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Bright In 2017,...

Slight tricks to make your Chinese sound more native

Slight tricks to make your Chinese sound more native

March 28, 2021 | Categories: Language | Tags: language, learning, chinese, mandarin, slang, blog

It’s common knowledge that textbooks are useful for giving you a foundation in a second language, but following their directions to a tee will make you sound like a robot....

Pet names in Japanese and Chinese

Pet names in Japanese and Chinese

March 28, 2021 | Categories: Language | Tags: language, learning, slang, blog

I recently watched a video from YouTubers Rachel and Jun that discussed the use of pet names for your significant other in Japanese. Rachel, who is American, discussed how common...

The Rebranded Half of Roman History

The Rebranded Half of Roman History

March 27, 2021 | Categories: History | Tags: history, Rome, Constantinople, ethnicity, identity, blog

Rome is one of the most globally-discussed civilizations in history. Stories such as the Punic Wars with Carthage or Caesar’s assassination have been repeatedly dramatized and mythologized for centuries, whether...

Why I loved learning Mandarin Chinese

Why I loved learning Mandarin Chinese

November 10, 2020 | Categories: Language | Tags: language, learning, blog

I wasn’t expecting to fall for a language, but Mandarin Chinese swept me off my feet. What started as a mild curiosity to converse with some of my friends turned...

The Story of Taipei

The Story of Taipei

November 10, 2020 | Categories: History | Tags: history, taiwan, politics, urban planning, blog

There is no other city in the world like Taipei. The statement may sound like some banal utterance headlining a paid tourism advert or the first sentence in the fiftieth...

Language-Learning Tips from a Polyglot

Language-Learning Tips from a Polyglot

November 01, 2020 | Categories: Language | Tags: language, learning, blog

One ice breaker I like to tell people is that I can speak eight different languages — and flirted with two others. After all, it’s a feat I’m proud of...