Over-Savory Victory

[matchbreaker]

[ Our post begins with a video. A video that shows Elda Marker, in all of her 5', tight-muscled but thin glory wearing a... gaudy belt. A championship belt? The text on it marks it as being a championship belt for Recollé Ninja Warrior. Was that one of the official prizes, or did she commission this from somewhere herself...? Who even knows man, but she takes it off, bringing it up to the camera and then says something to the effect of, ]

< Thank you, thank you! I just wanted to show this off a little! >

[ ... In French. Why French? Who knows. But after that she picks up whatever she's using for the camera and re-focuses it on the complete Gamer Set she got from that prize (for the purposes of playing the one year Last Fantasy sub she got. ]

I wish I knew more about what to do with this stuff though.

[ That part is back to English, and then the video ends. Below there, she then shifts to text to go along with that. ]

So I was studying Japanese this morning and all of a sudden, I fluently understand everything I'm looking at? And then start speaking, and I know what all to say. Probably curtesy of Retrospec, but that's one of the most convenient changes I've gotten yet! I can't show it off though, because I don't actually know how to type it. That's a weird gap for them to give me, isn't it?

Anyone willing to tutor me on that? Does it need a special keyboard? Promise I'm not trying to be insulting. I may be bragging a littlethough (mostly about the Ninja Warrior win from last month though, I think I can be permitted riding high on it). At least I'm not asking you about fruit costumes!

Comments

[matchbreaker]

No idea! I don't know where that woman lived How would I test for that?

[thesettingsun]

Well, the easiest way would be for me to type something and you to tell me if it makes sense.

[So first he types in Tokyo dialect, which is standard dialect and probably what past-Elda spoke unless I'm mistaken:]

Congratulations on your tournament victory.

[Then he repeats the same thing in Tsugaru dialect, which is... quite possibly not understandable at all, despite technically also being Japanese.]

Congratulations on your tournament victory.

[matchbreaker]

[ Hmm...

... Hmmmmm.... ]

Yeah, that first one makes sense. I think I can sort of read that second one, but the first one's more legible.

[ Technically, if/when Shuji hears her speaking or sees her writing, her dialect's going to be aligned closest to this stuff so. It's not a highly pronounced thing and probably closer to Tokyo-ben but with some flourishes. ]

[thesettingsun]

Tokyo dialect it is. Even if past you spoke something else, Tokyo dialect is the one that'll be most useful.

[matchbreaker]

I didn't realize dialect could cause differences in *writing* too. That's fascinating, actually.

[thesettingsun]

Dialects get pretty varied in vocabulary. The other one, Tsugaru dialect, they have to subtitle on Japanese TV, for Japanese speakers.

[matchbreaker]

And in such a small country too, fascinating.

But then I suppose Scottish people can be hard to understand sometimes too, same principle.

[thesettingsun]

Older countries are usually like that, I think. Back in the days when travel was more difficult, your village could get an accent completely different from the village ten miles down the road.

[matchbreaker]

England's an ancient country. (I know English has mutated over time)

But you're right, that does happen! I wonder what dialect my French has, then. I also gained fluency there.

[thesettingsun]

I can't help you with French, the only French I know is how to ask someone if they speak English and where the bathroom is.

[matchbreaker]

That's about all I knew until today too (same for Italian and German). I'd been trying to study Japanese for my son, so I guess this is a shortcut.

[thesettingsun]

As weird as this is, it's a lot more efficient than actually studying the language.

[matchbreaker]

Honestly it feels like cheating.

[thesettingsun]

As long as you admit that it's cheating, it's probably fine.

[matchbreaker]

Is that how you figure life works, in the end?

[thesettingsun]

It's how getting stuff from Retrospec works. You can't really send it back, but people are a little less likely to be pissesd off at you if you acknowledge that other people have to work hard for the skills you got literally overnight.

[matchbreaker]

That's a funny way to look at it! It's good to be more humble though, I agree. To some extent I do feel bad that I can't really shut off my reflexes at Ninja Warrior, but that course was more than hard enough to match.

[thesettingsun]

You don't have to tell me twice. I should feel lucky I got away with only a twisted ankle.

[matchbreaker]

I needed to make a bad confession.

[ Which if he didn't hear it, she's glad. ]

[thesettingsun]

How many Hail Marys do you have to say to make up for an unfair advantage at Ninja Warrior?

[matchbreaker]

Oh, mine was even.

It was even.

[thesettingsun]

I think I was in the medical tent for most of your run, so I didn't get to see it.

[matchbreaker]

Well then that's all the better! Just know I performed the best and keep that in mind. Didn't even get eaten by those fish.

[thesettingsun]

My favorite people were doing team runs so I don't have to compare them to you.

[matchbreaker]

Oh ho I can't tell if that's an abundance of delicacy or none at all.