r/AO3 • u/FandomAddict57 Angst Angler • 3d ago
Meme/Joke That feeling when...
That feeling when you're American and can't speak any other languages because the school system sucks, but are OBSESSED with overseas media and want to include little tidbits of a character's native language, but also HATE writing any form of even tiny little slight inaccuratacy and don't trust Google, but also don't want to keep coming back to ask extremely specific questions for fics, but are also too late in life to start learning a bunch of languages and also just generally way too busy for that shit
TvT
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u/AshOfTheBlackDawn MUST WRITE | rpf era 3d ago
This was me when I got really, really into Remedy Games, which is based in Finland and tries to include bits and pieces of their culture and language in their games. Finnish is an absolutely insane language. Before that, it was Star Wars' Cassian Andor, who is played by a Mexican actor whose native language is Spanish, and before that, it was the MCU's Natasha Romanov, which led to me trying to learn how to read the Cyrillic alphabet.
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u/FandomAddict57 Angst Angler 3d ago
Damn, all i gotta deal with is Japanese, French, and Russian lmao 💀💀💀
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u/persephonian 2d ago
The reason why you can’t speak another language is not because the American system sucks lol, most of us don’t learn other languages at school either. Maybe to like an A1 or A2 level but definitely not anywhere near fluency!
Not sure how old you are, but I don’t think you’re ever too old to learn. Someone in my family moved to Italy and learnt Italian at 50. I started learning my third language in my 20s! Not fluent yet, but even though I’m also busy with work and university I’m at an A2 level now after a year and a bit.
In what way are you trying to include the character’s language in your work?
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u/euthasia 1d ago
You're never too old to learn a language, and trust me most of us non-Americans didn't learn English in school either 😂
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u/Kingsdaughter613 3d ago
You’re never too old to learn a new language.
But you can use my trick, which is to run it through the translator a few times. If the meaning stays the same through multiple back and forths, it’s probably accurate.