this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2024
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The grammar pedant in me did not appreciate that first paragraph.
It's going great for now. Tell me about some of your niche interests. Nerd out about it if you want
If it's any consolation, the grammar pedant in me didn't like it either. Even if I was the one writing it. (Also, I'm glad that things are going great for you.)
As for niche interests: gardening, cooking, simulation games, constructed languages, ancient languages. Some tidbits of oil painting, but frankly, I suck at it; perhaps I should stick to digital watercolours. (This reminds me Island - the main character was recalling his travels through Switzerland, his mum painting a watercolour, and his dad sarcastically saying "The milk chocolate advertisement that [brand] rejected.")
But I digress. My gardening is currently pepper plants, I'm trying to breed a new variety following very specific criteria - heat, colour, shape, size. Once I'm done I'm going to spread the seeds here and there, through the city, as some small act of anarchy.
That's a lot of niche interests. Constructed languages particularly are quite the interesting... interest. I never bothered with it because i found no utility for them.
How long have you been gardening?
Well, constructed languages aren't something insanely useful, unless you're into Linguistics or also into constructed worlds. For the former, it's a good way to explore some "boundaries" of natural languages - conlangs can go beyond natlangs in certain features, but the opposite is almost never true. And for the later it's that extra step to make the world within a story feel livelier, fleshing out the culture of its inhabitants.
Although my reasons are probably not too far from Tolkien's, who called constructed languages a "secret vice". It's mostly for fun.
Five years or so, I guess? I mean, beyond simple stuff like planting radishes in my backyard as a kid. I still joke about it with my mum - she outright hated it. "My house is no farm dammit!" (The radishes tasted great though.)
You make a good point about conlangs that's for sure. At some point, i was deep in the Toki Pona rabbit hole, but decided I'd rather spend that time learning Spanish or German, since I'd like to visit countries that use those languages some day.
What do you do for a living?
If you're into language learning for pragmatic reasons then I think that the only conlang that could be useful would be Esperanto, and even then it's like squeezing water from a rock. (I do it mostly for the fun, though. That's also my attitude towards ancient languages - I'm not exactly using Latin everyday, and Sanskrit will be likely in the same bag.)
German is a great choice but be aware that proficient German/English bilinguals tend to use English as soon as they notice that you can speak it. It's kind of funny because I've seen French speakers with the opposite reaction - as if one side saw a language as a tool, another as a cultural root. (It's both.)
I'm a translator by trade. I stick mostly to Portuguese, Italian, and English - those are the languages that I'm actually proficient with. Sometimes I pick something from German too, but I don't typically translate things into German to avoid going full "ich bin ein Berliner", like that American president. (That reminds me that I promised the old lady next-door to give her some Berlin balls once I prepare them. Her avocado ice cream was amazing. Also, sorry for the amount of off-topic that I tend to go into, but I guess that it's more data to guess my age?)
Oh you're a translator, i guess that explains the fascination with languages. How did you get into it, and how long have you been doing it?
I was just gonna say, you go on a lot of tangents lmao, but yes it should all help when i deliver the coup de grace
My grad was Linguistics, Translation and Literary Criticism; it's a weird mix but traditional here in LatAm. I hopped in due to Linguistics*, specially Historical Linguistics but... well, reality kicks in, and translation became my breadwinner. I've been doing it for a decade or so, first through contacts that I've made in uni times, then as an independent freelancer.
*it's actually the main "root" of my fascination with languages - there's something bittersweet about understanding the languages of the past and present. For me it forces to deal with the contradiction between "we're all different" and "we're all the same", how much culture shapes us while we're all still unmistakeably human.
Wow, you're impressive. I've never interacted with someone with as much depth of knowledge as you. That being said i don't typically interact with people who could or should have depth of knowledge in one area anyways.
So, it is the nature of a translator that they travel a lot. What are some of the most memorable places you've travelled to?
Sadly I never had much of an opportunity to travel to a lot of different places, at most neighbouring countries - Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay; I'm from the southern parts of Brazil. I did it alongside a native Spanish speaker, my then girlfriend.
Probably the Iguazu Falls. It's technically in my state (Paraná), but right at the border with Paraguay and Argentina. When I went there it rained a lot a few days before, so the falls were really strong. A shame that my ex- already saw them a few times, so she was a bit more interested on buying whisky for the travel and going to Asunción.
I also enjoyed Asunción (Paraguay) a fair bit. It's kind of weird to associate fish with a landlocked area, but they had some amazing freshwater fish dishes, and the old colonial architecture was really nice.
Rosario (Argentina) was memorable but for another reason - since it was her home city, we spent there two weeks, I kind of grew tired of the city.
Thank you! It's mostly knowledge directed towards one area though.
That's a lot of places you've been to. It doesn't matter whether they're in the same continent, Latin America is already diverse enough. Plus, it sounds like you had a good time, which is what matters. I hope to visit most of Latin America some day as well.
Deep knowledge is impressive knowledge man. Pat yourself on the back
Okay, final question. Is there anything more you hope to get out of life before you can say you've done it all?
I want some sort of feat, achievement or even improvement left behind for people after my death. It doesn't need to be fancy or life-changing; just something nice that makes people say "hey, Lvxferre did it".
Ok. I'm gonna make a guess. I feel like I'm wrong, but... Are you 39?
Wow, that's really close (I'm 38).
How did you guess it? (Sorry for the late reply!)
Haha yes! I ruled out 20s when you said you'd been in grad school. I knew it must have been late 30s or higher since you've been doing translation for a decade. I was able to rule out 40s due to some psychosocial theory from Erikson.That was the point of the last question i asked. Typically individuals within ages 40 - 60 are dead set on some area they want to make an impact in. It didn't seem like you quite had that figured out yet (although that was and still is just a guess, i could be completely wrong).