Teen Corner

[Alawyn-Aebt]

I am jealous of the language options some of you have. In middle school the only language taught was Spanish (but then I was homeschooled so I tried Latin) and in college I just found out they cut the language department down to only Spanish, dropping German and French. Luckily I will be transferring colleges so I will hopefully have more options but seriously; US citizens need to learn other languages than just Spanish.

 

Schools should focus on offering many languages, not just one or two.

[Smol Fox]

My high school only offered Spanish, German, and French 😭 I didn't take any language because I'm only interested in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese afaik lol

[Hayis4horses]

My school (I'm in high school) offers Spanish, French, Latin, Kiswahili (also known as Swahili), and Mandarin (a Chinese dialect). You have to take at least 1 year of language, I think. Last year, which was my freshmin year, I was in Spanish for Native Speakers 2 (which would be the same as Spanish 4). Now, I am in AP Spanish, and will do AP Spanish Literature next year, but senior year there will be no more levels of Spanish left for me to take. I really want to learn Japanese and maybe Korean, but I feel like that will be too much to learn. And in college, which would have to be when I take those languages, I would already be super busy.

[Maya the Composer]

16 minutes ago, Hayis4horses said:

I really want to learn Japanese and maybe Korean, but I feel like that will be too much to learn. And in college, which would have to be when I take those languages, I would already be super busy.

I'm actually trying to self-teach myself Japanese, which I agree is difficult, but I think I've got some of the basic ideas about grammar and word order down enough so I am not completely lost. If you really want to learn though, I'd recommend downloading an app where you can study and memorize kanji (I'd recommend Kanji Tree) because those characters are the hardest ones to learn, but they are also really cool to learn as you discover patterns and such.

[ColeHW34]

I tried self-learning Japanese but i lost interest.

 

[Smol Fox]

Just now, ColeHW said:

I tried self-learning Japanese but i lost interest.

 

Aw rip. I have interest in learning Japanese, but lack much motivation so I've been learning it off and on for about 3 years. I don't know much else than some vocab, some basic sentences, few kanji, and most kana.... Grammar is not a thing I've grasped yet lolz

[Hayis4horses]

@Maya the Composer @ColeHW I tried, too, using duolingo. I only got to the colors lesson, and then got super busy and kind of forgot about it. But, if I do try learning it again I will try to remember that you said Kanji Tree.

[ColeHW34]

I tried kanji or I thought it was.

But I've been having better luck with dutch and german.

[Hayis4horses]

I don't even know what I tried. I just remember it was Japanese and I learned a few words and colors, some of which I still remember how to say, others not so much. But, I don't remember how to write anything.

[Smol Fox]

I can write kana, some kanji and know my colours and lower numbers, other basics etc; but can't really do anything with it oops. Thing about japanese is once you learn the kana you can write or read anything (so long as the kanji has a kana translation near it) but that doesn't mean you know what it means, which is really wild

[Maya the Composer]

Yeah, it's always funny to be like "hey, I can write in an entirely different language, but it's all gibberish."

[Neutral nerd]

My school has Spanish, French, German, and Latin. The advanced diploma requires a min of 3 years, so I took 3 years of a class that i doubt will ever improve my life. It's so frustrating that they judge us based on how well we understand, specifically in middle and high school when free time is nonexistent. And the choice limit is a pain too, because i couldn't take Japanese which is the only foreign language I have an interest in. 

Tldr: they should offer languages a) I am actually interested in b) in a lower grade so that people actually have time. 

Im so glad I finished my 3 years. 

 

Unrelated: my chemistry teacher sucks, and now B days are absolutely miserable because I have resource right before this really boring class, and pe right after. 

[Colonel Aureliano Buendía]

My school offers Latin, French, Maori (language indigenous to NZ, most people know a tiny bit) and Korean, but you can take other languages by correspondence.  I started taking Mandarin Chinese a few years ago when the school actually had a teacher, but she moved away and so now I have a class by video call once a week and a bunch of extra study periods. I also know people taking Spanish and German by correspondence.

[Omi]

@Julia Schwartz and @lonelyace

Have you guys been watching the new season of dr who? Any Thoughts on it? 

Also what houses are you guys in? I'm in Gryffindor! 🦁

 

[Alawyn-Aebt]

2 hours ago, Omi said:

Also what houses are you guys in?

My sister is completely absorbed by Harry Potter right now and she made me take a ton of Harry Potter House Quizzes.

I got Slytherin every time on every quiz.

[badatnames]

2 hours ago, Omi said:

Have you guys been watching the new season of dr who? Any Thoughts on it? 

I've been enjoying it so far! I didn't really like the spider episode that much though.

[Smol Fox]

6 hours ago, Omi said:

 

Also what houses are you guys in?

I'm not a heavy HP nerd but I get Ravenclaw for every quiz ✨

[lonelyace]

6 hours ago, Omi said:

Have you guys been watching the new season of dr who? Any Thoughts on it? 

Also what houses are you guys in? I'm in Gryffindor! 🦁

 

I've only seen the first episode of the new season so far. It seems to me that the fanboys worried about the female doctor had no reason to be upset. Jodi Whitaker plays the doctor well. Still, I think I will wait until I've seen more to make any more judgement than that.

 

I'm a proud Ravenclaw. I even managed to find a shirt for it.

[Colonel Aureliano Buendía]

I also generally try and keep up with Dr Who, and so far I like the new stuff better than most of the other recent stuff, where everything started being about the Doctor instead of being about amazing adventures in time and space.

 

This is going to be an unpopular opinion. I really liked the Harry Potter books when I read them, because they're pretty good children's fiction. But I think it's absurd how popular they are, because they're fun, but they're not that good. Alright books, good for people just starting out with novels, but flawed. (The characters are boring, there are logical inconsistencies in the fantasy universe, the author keeps trying to retroactively fix things that get criticised & c.)

I don't remember what happened when I took one of those quizzes, but I'd like to think I'd be in Ravenclaw.

[SmallBean]

9 hours ago, Omi said:

Also what houses are you guys in? I'm in Gryffindor! 🦁

I'm a Hufflepuff!💛

[lonelyace]

3 hours ago, ~Adair~ said:

This is going to be an unpopular opinion. I really liked the Harry Potter books when I read them, because they're pretty good children's fiction. But I think it's absurd how popular they are, because they're fun, but they're not that good. Alright books, good for people just starting out with novels, but flawed. (The characters are boring, there are logical inconsistencies in the fantasy universe, the author keeps trying to retroactively fix things that get criticised & c.)

I don't remember what happened when I took one of those quizzes, but I'd like to think I'd be in Ravenclaw.

That's an understandable opinion to have. The flaws that you pointed out are there, they just weren't enough to stop me from loving the books. Although just about everyone has a problem with J K Rolling at this point. She seems to only make things worse with her additions to the Harry Potter mythos, like making Nagini an Asian woman trapped in the body of a snake and claiming that as Asian representation. The fandom has pretty much collectively divorced her from her own work.

[Colonel Aureliano Buendía]

@lonelyace

I really did like the books when I read them, it's just frustrating to see them in such high regard, and making so much money, when stories as good and better are passed over, and that public opinion seems unwilling to acknowledge the franchise's flaws.

Edited November 12, 2018 by ~Adair~
typo

[Hayis4horses]

11 hours ago, Omi said:

Also what houses are you guys in?

I'm a Slytherclaw! A mix of Slytherin and Ravenclaw. The sorting hat would have taken a while to figure out which house I am in, if I really had gone to Hogwarts. So, since I don't really know which one I am more of, I just say Slytherclaw.

[cake_loving_hobbit]

HUFFLEPUFF!!!!!   💛💛💛💛

[Alawyn-Aebt]

2 hours ago, Hayis4horses said:

I'm a Slytherclaw!

Ha, a Slytherclaw, just when you thought the world Sytherin couldn't sound more ugly.

[Smol Fox]

I think slytherin sounds edgy and ravenclaw sounds elegant so slytherclaw sounds cool and kind of mischevious

[Neutral nerd]

I'm definitely ravenclaw, I love learning but have basically no ambition whatsoever. Hanging out with a book sounds like a gud time to me. 

[Julia Schwartz]

15 hours ago, Omi said:

@Julia Schwartz and @lonelyace

Have you guys been watching the new season of dr who? Any Thoughts on it? 

Also what houses are you guys in? I'm in Gryffindor! 🦁

 

So far, I've loved the new season! Jodie is the Doctor without a doubt, and I really hope that the whiny fanboys would get off their high horses and realize how good she is. I want more backstory on the companions, Yaz especially, but it's still early.

 

I'm a Hufflepuff! Although if we're allowed to mix houses, I'm definitely a Ravenpuff, as I alternate between the two every time I take the quiz.

[Julia Schwartz]

4 hours ago, lonelyace said:

That's an understandable opinion to have. The flaws that you pointed out are there, they just weren't enough to stop me from loving the books. Although just about everyone has a problem with J K Rolling at this point. She seems to only make things worse with her additions to the Harry Potter mythos, like making Nagini an Asian woman trapped in the body of a snake and claiming that as Asian representation. The fandom has pretty much collectively divorced her from her own work.

I totally agree. HP definitely has some major problems, but I still love the books. I will always apreciate JK Rowling for what she created, but she's become very problematic what with hiring Johnny Depp, the lack of non white and straight characters, Dumbledore being gay but then not showing it even with another chance, and making Nagini an Asian woman. It makes me disappointed, because I idolized her for years, but she should have just admitted to not having a lot of representation and fixed that by adding more in Fantastic Beasts instead of pretending that Hermione was black and that she planned diversity from the beginning. 

[Julia Schwartz]

On 11/11/2018 at 1:26 PM, lonelyace said:

@Julia Schwartz It sounds like we have a lot in common! I try to get as many people as possible to listen to Welcome to Nightvale. I always warn people that it's incredibly surreal, but they're always surprised.

Recommendation to everyone here, especially if you like sci-fi, horror, a strange comedy mixed with mysticism, or just anything weird: Welcome to Night Vale. It's a podcast told from the radio station of Night Vale, a small desert town where basically every conspiracy theory or strange happening exists. It's hard to describe, but it's funny and engaging and also really makes you question your life and the world in general.