Coping, always

How can I show my support?

Reblogs!!! Comments!!!! Reblogs and comments!!! Likes are also nice, don't get me wrong, but they blend together too quickly and don't give me any feedback on what exactly you liked/didn't like about the fic and how much. Even empty reblogs are okay, as they help spread my work around!!! And if you want to stay anonymous, I love receiving feedback in asks as well!!!!

Can I DM you?

You can certainly try, and I will respond initially, but I'm such a horrible and anxious texter that anything besides technical/practical topics eventually ends with me guiltily ghosting you. I don't know why, but making friends on social media really stresses me out, so I'm not ideal for making mutuals, sorry :(

Chan

the reason why I even made this in the first place because he'd be so hot as an interpreter oops who said that

he'd definitely study Korean and English (and his classmates would hate him for it because what do you mean you're already bilingual that's not fair!!!!!!!!)

though he'd also be into Spanish and Portuguese!!

i can absolutely see him learning either of those for fun whenever he wants a break from his main languages

definitely likes interpreting more than translating (he's too much of a perfectionist and keeps staring at the same paragraph for four days, interpreting frees him from that)

an absolute pro at simultaneous interpreting but lowkey sucks at consecutive because he tends to forget his own symbols and abbreviations while taking notes

not to mention that his handwriting is naturally too big and he keeps having to flip pages every few seconds :(

so he has to just rely on his memory most of the time instead (save for some names and numbers)

and don't even get me started on sight translation (interpreting written text), his brain completely short-circuits, not doing that, nope

likes to doodle on the back of his notepad in class but he's listening!! he swears!!

really shy and blushy when the teacher gives him positive feedback, but when he starts interpreting again he LOCKS the FUCK in

has a tendency to end his sentences as questions when nervous (The, uhh, the UN has unanimously decided to end world hunger? The French prime minister says that this is, um, good? Thank you for your attention?)

other than that, though, he's infuriatingly perfect, down to the pacing and pronunciation

don't give him too many compliments, though, or he'll start blushing and giggling in the practice booth instead of practicing

(actually do praise him a lot, he tends to get super nervous about his abilities, especially at the beginning when they're only teaching consecutive and sight translation which are not his forte)

Minho

oh you just KNOW he has some fucked-up, scary combination of languages

like, he can perfectly speak Korean, but instead he's studying French and Russian??? im SCARED

also more of an interpreter, though he doesn't mind translating that much either

absolutely gaslights the teachers whenever they correct him about something

"Oh, but I actually said that, no? I'm pretty sure I did." NO YOU DIDN'T

accidentally took the "keep eye contact with the audience" advice a bit too seriously and now he stares his teacher / interpreting partner dead in the eyes the whole time he speaks

prefers consecutive interpreting because it lets him organize his thoughts better (does find chuchotage pretty funny, though)

very minimalistic notes, 95% of them are just symbols (has to write sparingly anyways because his pen is almost out of ink but he's too shy to borrow one from his classmates)

writes really small and everything looks really pointy somehow

now, I said that he likes translating too

but! he's a bit special

because, you see, he hates translating poetry and just literature in general

if he could, he would only translate police reports, contracts, official statements, etc., and absolutely NO cutesy punny novels with a thousand references to Shakespeare

unfortunately, that's what they teach the most at his field, so he doesn't really enjoy those classes

knows he'll be fine with the more formal texts tho

a really quiet classmate, half of the class didn't know his name until the second year (he's not upset by that though because he didn't know many names either)

is a great partner for interpreting practice!! gives great feedback and is really encouraging

once you two get acquainted?? DON'T YOU DARE not show up to class, he's so scared of not having you there to pair up with him

please just show up, please

Changbin

the one that's a bit too cocky about his abilities and doesn't realize he's largely just getting a pass because he has a unique language combination

I feel like he'd go for a Slavic language in combination with Korean, like Bulgarian, or even Serbian

now, my first comment might have come out as a bit harsh

he's really good at both of his languages, believe me!! and he has all the necessary skills and knowledge to be a good interpreter and/or translator

the issue is

he keeps altering the meaning of things not because he misunderstood them, but because he simply believes his version is better than the original

always arguing about it with the teachers too

"I know that's not what the Chairman said, but this sounds way more natural! And we're supposed to represent our clients in the best light possible, which is what I'm doing right now!"

when he does align with the speaker or source text, though, he delivers

he's a bit like Minho in the way that he gets frustrated with some of his classes, but ultimately, he'll be just fine when he starts working

he just needs to find an author or a few speakers that he sympathizes with and he's golden

has his own way of taking notes during consecutive

splits the paper into quadrants and writes bottom to top and shit

don't ask him about it, he doesn't know how it works either, it just does

complete opposite of Chan; absolutely hates simultaneous interpreting because it makes his head explode

on the other hand is pretty good at sight translating because of his previously mentioned tendency to just ignore the original text and do his own thing

I think he'd prefer translation over interpreting in the end, which is a shame because his voice would be so loud and clear when interpreting (not a big fan of chuchotage, as you might have guessed)

Hyunjin

oh this man would LOVE Italian

always argues with Minho about why Italian is superior to French and tries to get Chan and his Spanish on his side

(don't tell anyone that he almost chose French too until he saw one Måneskin performance that changed the trajectory of his life forever)

his interest in Italy and Italian starts as pretty surface-level, but as time goes on, he completely falls in love with its history and culture, and his career choice is set

prefers strict professors because they force him to really try and improve (also for other reasons that Sigmund Freud might be interested in but that's besides the point mean Italian women are just hot, okay??? sue him)

it also helps that all of the teachers really like him because he's one of the few people who aren't afraid to ask stupid questions (even if they really are deeply stupid sometimes)

none of his classmates know him much, though, because the moment class ends that man is GONE

has tripped over someone's charger while dashing out of the lecture hall at least thrice

you'd think he was running out like that because he has another lecture in a different building, or maybe he's running to his part-time job or something

nope!

he's just been mind-numbingly hungry for the past 20 minutes and he needs a well-deserved snack, that's all

definitely prefers translation over interpreting, even if he's good at both

he just wants to do things at his own pace, you know? he wants to go to a nice café and work on his school projects in peace, not sit in a stuffy interpreting booth for hours with nothing to eat

an absolute disaster at taking notes during lectures, but somehow still manages to get through every final purely by reading all of the compulsory and additional literature for fun

struggles a bit after graduating because most of the companies he applies for want him as a model,,, not an interpreter,,

"I didn't re-take Theory of Professional Interpreting II three times just to walk the runway!!"

does eventually settle in with a nice company, though (while modeling on the side but uhhhh, shut up)

the only foreigner in Venice the locals can at least tolerate, if not like (because he actually cares about the culture and respects the city,,)

absolutely loves busting out his fluent Italian on service workers just to see their reaction (Stunning Korean Man Shocks Locals With Fluent Italian pt. 127)

this man is just living his Italian dream and good for him

Jisung

oh you know this weeb is studying Japanese

almost quit his studies thrice because of kanji, but he got there eventually (thanks to all the emotional support from his favorite manga series (and his friends, of course (but mostly Attack on Titan)))

has tons of anime merch at his dorm and his laptop is like 95% stickers and only 5% actual laptop

sleeps 5 hours a day on average and then wonders why he keeps nodding off in class

that one student that's insanely loud outside of class but the moment he starts interpreting he sounds like a polite little mouse, just looking at you with those big sparkly eyes while he fumbles half of the speech

can only rely on symbols during consecutive because his ass canNOT read his own handwriting, especially not when in a rush

definitely prefers translation over interpreting because he gets to think everything through and make it sound all nice and natural

plus he doesn't do too well under pressure, which is basically half of what interpreting is

doesn't really care about the feedback in his interpreting classes because, really, his main goal there is just to survive

super diligent in translation classes, though

sends his homework to multiple friends for proofreading and feedback and even then he's worried it's not good enough (it's perfect but he won't believe you)

total opposite of Minho, abhors administrative texts and whatnot, he only wants to do cool stories and poetry!!

pretty bad at theory-heavy classes

don't ask him about renowned translators, don't ask him what an interference is, he doesn't want to talk about it!!!! (he has an idea of what it is but he's so scared of getting it wrong that he refuses to answer)

one of the very few translators who claim they don't need to know any theory and actually don't

languages just come naturally to him and he's stellar at really understanding what the author was trying to say and conveying it perfectly in another language

will struggle a bit once he starts putting himself out there because he refuses to work under too severe time constraints

a smaller publishing company will eventually take him in, though

and once his work starts getting out there? all of the other companies will fight over him

definitely the type of translator that gets claimed an author who then refuses to get their works translated by anyone else

Felix

oh this one's so easy

immediate Vietnamese + Korean (+ English obv)

chose to become an interpreter before he even knew which languages he wanted to interpret in

he heard about community interpreting at a random guest lecture in highschool and immediately fell in love with the concept

that same day, he ran home after school and researched the biggest immigrant groups in South Korea, one of which is the Vietnamese community

ever since then, he's been learning the language and reading up on Vietnamese culture, ready to dedicate his life to helping Vietnamese immigrants go to the doctor's, the police station, fill out paperwork, etc. while in Korea

and with his native language being English, he can even help out tourists from other countries!!

the number of tones in Vietnamese definitely dampens his excitement a bit, but he pushes through just fine

doesn't really mind translation classes, but deep down he knows that's not really his calling

still pays attention to them, though, since he knows he'll have to translate a lot of paperwork in the future too!!

doesn't have many friends in his Korean classes, but fucks with the Vietnamese side heavy

unlike some of the other languages where the students are a bit too competitive (*cough cough* Japanese and Chinese *cough*), the Vietnamese classes are incredibly chill

strict if you mess up your ô and ơ pronunciations, but otherwise you're good 👍

after finishing university, he immediately gets started as a community interpreter at multiple NGOs that he loves

his clients love him, too

no matter what kind of issue they need help with, Felix always calms them down and get everything sorted without a hitch

oh and he loves working with kids!! he loves the amazement in their eyes when he starts speaking their language back to them while accompanying their parents to a meeting with the school

overall just the nicest soul and everyone's go-to for help :(

Seungmin

this one wants the unique and/or challenging languages!!

I can absolutely see him going for Dutch, Finnish, or Estonian

also dabbles in some major African languages on the side like Swahili or Hausa, but those are more of a hobby (whenever he wants to procrastinate on his main languages)

an incredibly chill classmate, doesn't take himself too seriously and doesn't idolize his language and country of choice too much

he's still really passionate about what he does, don't get him wrong, but he's more about having a steady, level-headed approach to things over sudden infatuation that could wilt at any moment

unlike Jisung, he's really invested in history and theory, giving little fun facts to people he likes

doesn't really have a preference for translation or interpreting, and is pretty okay at both

even though he's chill, he can look a bit intimidating, especially since he doesn't really talk much unless someone else approaches him first

which is why you'd be really nervous to get paired up with him for consecutive interpreting practice because,,, uh,,, what are you two gonna talk about in that small awkward window of time when you're waiting for the other pairs to finish their practice???

but then you find yourself laughing??? with him??? in the stuffy little interpreting booth???

almost like he's just a regular, goofy guy

he always seems so serious when taking notes in class, but then you find out he's just been playing Wordle or Cryptogram the whole time

an incredibly reliable classmate... to those who deserve it

if he likes you, you're getting 2 GB of notes that he'd managed to dig up on the internet from some shady 2014 website

if he doesn't like you, you're getting an "I don't know, sorry :)" reply 18 hours after you'd sent him your initial message asking for help

the teachers can never get his name right for some reason and it's driving him insane (if he gets called Soomin, Sungmin, or Songmin one more time, he's going to lose it)

has one of those zip-neck, ribbed sweaters in a dark, grey-green color that he wears 98% of the time

first day of uni, mid-terms, going out with friends, finals, getting his diploma, job interviews, his own wedding, doesn't matter

the sweater stays on

Jeongin

this one wants the bag first and foremost

doesn't choose his languages because of passion like Hyunjin, and goes for the most useful combination instead

which leaves him with German and Japanese

now, you might think "why wouldn't he go for English then, if he wants the most useful languages???"

because Jeongin has a strategy, okay

everyone wants to learn English nowadays and more and more people can hold a simple conversation in English at least

but which Korean would willingly learn German?? It has so many sounds that Korean doesn't, and don't even get him started on the consonant stacking, like what do you mean Hauptbahnhof

but maybe Jeongin won't want to travel as far in the future, so he also needs to choose a language that's spoken nearby but still hard to perfect for a foreigner - and so, he ends up with Japanese

he likes his languages, though, don't get him wrong!!

he just won't be raving about anime and manga like Jisung, or visiting Germany every chance he gets like Hyunjin does with Italy

no, this man is locked the fuck in on studying since day 1 of uni

over time, he develops a lot of appreciation for the cultures too, though he likes the old traditions more than the current trends (he was raving about matcha before it was cool, and he's still raving about the Nibelungenlied, even if it has yet to become cool)

because of this, though, he struggles a bit with befriending his classmates, and would likely have more friends outside of his major

as I said at the beginning, because he wants the bag first and foremost, he would definitely go for interpreting over translating

sure, it might be more stressful and he'd have to travel a lot, but you only live once and who is he to say no to a free trip to Kanazawa or Dresden in exchange for a few hours of interpreting

doesn't really have a preference for consecutive or simultaneous interpreting since he slays both just fine

despite him not connecting with fellow German and Japanese interpreters, I can absolutely see him eventually dating a fellow interpreter, just because they would understand a lot of his struggles and the hectic, nerdy lifestyle

bonus points if they have one or both of his languages so that they can travel together ugh this guy

yup that's it thanks for reading have a nice day bye <3