student of sedition

I don't know if this is helpful but to learn fingerspelling I made my computer background a font with the alphabet. specifically some version of this:

and just kind of quizzed myself as my computer loaded. Also practicing spelling random words whenever my hands were in my pocket is very helpful.

also I think this is a widely known resource but just in case, the website lifeprint.com is a goldmine. it just has the whole curriculum on there from an ASL teacher who has ASL as his primary language. that site and signsavvy are really helpful for getting some training wheels in ASL. once I figured out how to ask people what the sign is for [fingerspelled word] or how to ask the meaning of [sign they just used] it became a lot easier to pick up more as we conversed.

not to make it seem like I am remotely fluent or anything! but I do have enough building blocks to be able to learn while conversing, which has been huge!

Stakes - What would happen if the protagonist failed? Would it really be such a bad thing if it happened?

Thematic relevance - Do the events of the story speak to a greater emotional or moral message? Is the conflict resolved in a way that befits the theme?

Urgency - How much time does the protagonist have to complete their goal? Are there multiple factors complicating the situation?

Drive - What motivates the protagonist? Are they an active player in the story, or are they repeatedly getting pushed around by external forces? Could you swap them out for a different character with no impact on the plot? On the flip side, do the other characters have sensible motivations of their own?

This will be a list in progress, just whatever I find. Feel free (please help) to recommend any resources that you know of.

Websites:

cantonese.sheik.co.uk

This has characters, vocabulary, pronunciation help, essays, a bunch of different stuff, Beginner to Intermediate. CantoDict is apart of this (add /dictionary/ to the url)

cantoneseclass101.com/cantonese-resources/

Some stuff for grammar, reading and writing, pronunciation, etc. The actual course is Beginner to Advanced, but the free stuff is just beginner. They also have a free Word of the Day email newsletter thingy.

cantonese.ca

Vocab lists!

livelingua.com/courses/cantonese

Audio lessons along with a textbook. It seems free (and claims so). It's only a basic course, and comes with a dictionary as well, although it's hard to see the characters well. They also have tons of other languages (including ones like Igbo and Finnish, so check it out).

cantonese-alliance.github.io/courses.html

Okay this one is super cool. In the proficiency levels tab, they have some curriculums for different levels (with tons of resources). There's also 'Cantonese through films' which has a long list of movies organized by decades. Even more materials, historical, linguistic, and the like. Overall, super interesting.

savecantonese.org/education

Textbooks and resources (most of which are mentioned).

Following from my previous posts, if you do feel like working on your languages, but don't know where to start; here are some langblr challenge you might like!

Language Blog Challenge: 20 weeks of challenges | by @lily-learns-finnish

Langblr Reactivation challenge | by @prepolyglot

14 Day langblr challenge | by @lass-uns-studieren

Langblr News challenge | by @tealingual

90-day vocab challenge | by @jibunstudies

100 Happy Days Langblr Challenge | by @nordic-language-love

Mini speaking challenge | by @nordic-language-love

16 words challenge | by @neblina-a-blin

30 day langblr challenge | @moltre-s

Brick-by-brick language learning challenge | @linguistness

Langblr word of the day challenge | @nordic-language-love

haha it always starts out that way (even if you are good at speaking words(?) it can because difficult to speak fluidly at first!)

let me give you the sunny pronunciation tips >:D nope wait you are getting the full ordeal lets goooo (the tips are worked in the lesson hfhsk)

The greek alphabet, names and pronunciations

ahem hem hem. the greek alphabet looks like this graphic that i found, i would explain it myself but i tend to ramble and this is more simple and simple is good for a beginner

you have probably seen them in maths or science :o dont care about their names yet too much except

b in greek i hear is outdated, use v instead. beta is not pronounced bita with an english b sound, but like vita with your teeth at the edge of the like wet part of your bottom lip and your tongue at the root of your bottom back teeth to the up teeth root part. (she talks about this too)

watch her video a lot and use the graphic to practice pronunciation twice daily until you do super well every time quickly :D if you cant do it 3 times in a row, keep doing it. this will improve your pronunciation greatly. do this alongside your vocabulary/grammar studies, it will be even better if you are putting your practice to use consistently :)

try to mimic her as well as you can, dont worry about feeling silly

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luckily, greek is a very clear language. there is no really skipping entire parts of the word and messing things together like in a romance language for example and it isnt spoken slowly but it isnt insanely fast. when i hear greek people speak, it is always very defined and clear, not quiet and mixed up

try finding videos (lessons or general videos, but subtitles may be necessary for now) in greek, and work hard to repeat sentences until you can speak quickly and naturally (even if you dont know what it means) and say the vocabulary a lot. repeated practice and consistent use will help your pronunciation greatly!

immersion, you know me so you know the spiel, is extremely helpful as you need to train your ear to the sounds of greek. greek tv is easy to find on youtube for free, podcasts and lessons are available, and greek music is pretty popular i think (i hear it a lot kfdhk). if you need help finding stuff lmk.

consider japanese, i think you watch anime at least, consider in the beginning it was harder to follow along to the japanese dub, but now it is likely much easier and you can understand the distinct sounds and repeat things easily, to the point it feels like understanding. this is what we want for every target language you learn.

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lastly, making yourself always read aloud when you are studying texts later on. you have to make yourself always do it clearly and correctly. act as if (or if you can even have one) you are reading it as a report for a class, and need to do well. this is very important i found when i started working with a teacher for one of my target languages. you dont necessarily have to have a teacher to do this to be very clear, but as long as you put the pressure onto yourself and work hard to do this consistently, you will improve greatly :D

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when written it sounds like so much work, but dont worry, it doesnt actually need to be so hard. the video isnt super long, and after you are adept with it, you just need to read the graphic. this wont really take long! immersion can be just having background noise or watching tv how you want to. reading aloud will just be added to normal study time

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Many readers and editors state that a strong voice immediately draws them into a story, and one of the most important voices will come from your viewpoint character. But even when you’ve developed their personality and voice, it can still be tricky to actually get them on the page. Here are ten dos and don'ts to help out.

Hi all, September C. Fawkes here ( @septembercfawkes​ ), back to talk more about voice. Last month, I broke down how voice works at three levels: the author, the narrator, and the characters each have their own voices. Voice is essentially that person’s personality, as it shows up on the page. In my opinion, when broken down, voice is made up of two things:

What the Person Thinks or Talks About + How They Say It = Voice

And this equation works at any level.

Most of the time these days, the narrator will actually be the same as the viewpoint character. Whether they are written in first person or third person, the majority of stories are written from a character’s perspective.

Yet even when we know the voice equation, it can sometimes still be tricky to actually figure out how to get that voice on the page. So today I wanted to share some things that do work well, and some things that don’t.

Avoid These 5 Things When Crafting Viewpoint (or Narrative) Voice

1. “Always” Sentence Structures

(Example: always talks in long sentences or short sentences)

When looking at developing voice, it might seem like a good idea to play with sentence structure–heck, it is a good idea, to an extent. But if you are too rigid with it, there are problems. The most obvious is that trying to read a story where every sentence is about the same length is usually a terrible experience. Beyond that, sentence structure is also used to control pacing, tone, and emotional experience. If you get too locked into a specific type of sentence structure, you doom other parts of storytelling. Besides, most people don’t adhere to a specific structure, constantly, in real life either.

2. Dominating Emotions that Undercut the Story

If you are writing in a voice where the viewpoint character almost always sounds calm or relaxed–guess what? Chances are it’s going to minimize the tension you have in your story. Because if they are calm, the reader is probably calm. If they aren’t worried, the reader probably isn’t worried. The only way you can get away with this consistently, is if you are writing a story with very high stakes at every turn, so that the calmness is a counterpoint that adds humor or irony. Likewise, a character who is consistently sad about whatever, might start to sound melodramatic–and when you get to the really sad part later in the story, it won’t be as powerful, because we’ve already spent so much time feeling sad. In short, frankly, some dominating emotions work better as a viewpoint character’s voice than others. Avoid those that are going to undercut the power of your story.

3. Stock Voices

Once in a while you run into a character voice that sounds like a hundred other character voices of that genre. For example, YA is known for protagonists having snarky voices. That’s not a bad thing necessarily, but if you do have a viewpoint character whose voice sounds similar to many others, find a way to individualize it. Lots of people are snarky. But they are snarky in their own ways. How is your character snarky?

4. Pretty Much “Always” Anything

One of the problems I sometimes see as an editor, is that the text is trying so hard to be voicey, that it’s annoying. Like almost anything in writing, if you go too extreme, for too long, the reader can’t wait to close the book. The same thing can happen with voice. We sometimes hear people say things like, “Every viewpoint character sounded totally different and unique!” In reality, while someone may have felt that way, I’m willing to bet there wasn’t that much “total” about it. Usually the most successful voices today aren’t “always” anything, but instead regularly something specific–a dash of snark here and a dash of slang there.

In this sense, it’s okay to have a character who regularly talks in a particular sentence structure, has regular lines of a particular emotion, or who regularly uses regional phrases. But if you have a reoccurring viewpoint character who has a voice that is always _______–chances are it’s going to get annoying and be very difficult to sustain over a whole book.

This is not to say you can’t do this with minor characters–characters who aren’t viewpoint characters, or characters who are viewpoint characters only very briefly, like in a teaser. But if this is a viewpoint character that needs to sustain a big part of the story, avoid “always” extremes. And again, they can actually greatly limit your ability to tell a great story. Sure, all rules can be broken, but these are good guidelines for almost all stories.

Do These 5 Things When Crafting Viewpoint (or Narrative) Voice

1. Regularly Use Point 4 POV Penetration

Point of view is more than picking first, second, or third person. It’s also about how deep the prose gets into that character’s mind and experience. This is called point of view penetration. As far as I can tell, there are four points on the POV penetration spectrum.

Here they are from the most distant to the closest:

(Point 1) Out of breath, Todd wiped the sweat off his face and fanned himself. He got a glass of cold water.

(Point 2) Todd was thinking about how hot it was outside as he got a glass of cold water.

(Point 3) It’s freaking hot outside, Todd thought, like the devil’s oven. He got a glass of cold water, even though it wouldn’t do anything to fight the heat. Better than nothing, Todd thought.

(Point 4) It was freaking hot outside. Like the devil’s oven. A glass of cold water wouldn’t do squat, but it was better than nothing.

Notice the first example shows that Todd thinks it’s hot from the outside. In the last example, the prose takes on his thoughts and attitude and we know he thinks it’s hot from the inside. Point 4 is the most effective place to be to get viewpoint character or narrative voice on the page.

Note that the last example, Point 4, is “showing” and “telling” simultaneously. The writer is “showing” us the thought process in the character’s head, but humans (usually) think in “telling” sentences. Don’t shy away from deep penetration because you have been told it’s “telling” and that “telling” is bad. This kind of “telling” is “showing,” when used correctly (but always use good judgment).

BONUS TIP: When switching to a new viewpoint character, it’s often (though not always) best to get to Point 4 quickly. This is where the strongest voices reside.

2. Utilize Comparisons (Similes and Metaphors)

What your viewpoint character chooses to compare something to will tell us a lot. If he compares the color of the sky to the white static on the television, we know he spends more time around or thinking about t.v. than he does nature. Consider what matters to your character and what he or she spends her time doing and thinking, and try mining that for an apt comparison. If you are introducing a new viewpoint, this is a great way to start building a sense of his or her voice. This also works well to convey the character’s mood for the scene. If he uses a comparison that is negative, we will probably assume he is in a negative mood. So consider your character’s emotions (even dominating emotions) as well.

3. Slightly Deviate the Inner World from the Outer World

We all think and experience things that we don’t share. In fact, some of what we think and experience is at odds with what we share. There should probably be at least a slight deviation with your viewpoint character too. And if this happens at POV Point 4, even better (usually). What the character thinks about and experiences privately and how it is rendered in the text, will tell us a lot about the person. When it is at odds with what is presented, readers want to know why–which gives you another opportunity to further define your character’s viewpoint.

4. Add Lines that Speak to Worldview

Watch for opportunities to slide in a worldview your character has about something that comes up in the story. Maybe someone your viewpoint character is listening to references the police. Assuming it suits the passage and pacing, go ahead and slide in a brief line that clues us into what that character thinks about the police. Are they “pigs”? Protectors? Are they crooked? Or unappreciated?

5. Sprinkle in Unique, Surface Specifics

You can actually get away with not doing this and still have a great character voice. But if you want the voice to feel more defined, it can be useful to sprinkle in one, two, or three surface quirks. Just remember that anything taken to an extreme can become annoying. So the keyword here is “sprinkle.” In some scenes, you may sprinkle more generously than others, depending on the needs and tone of the scene. But you won’t be dumping the sprinkles on in every paragraph through the whole book.

The quirk might be favorite words (Jack Sparrow says “savvy” and Smeagol says “precious”) or regional phrases (in Utah, we are known for having a lot of strange “swears,” such as “Oh my heck!”, “flip”, and “Son of a biscuit!”). It can also be something related to the prose. One character may be prone to using sentence fragments while another is a bit more generous with the dashes. Or maybe one occasionally gets distracted and goes off topic in the narration a bit.