конечно, хорошо бы запоминать то, что учишь, раз и навсегда. увы, мозг у меня среднестатистический, и способности к запоминанию у меня среднестатистические. поэтому материал для запоминания приходится как-то разделять: этот хорошо бы помнить, но не обязательно, а этот – нужно выучить, чтобы от зубов отскакивало.
за последние пройденные уроки пимслера накопились некоторые конструкции,…
There are so many express to say “if” (in the sense of “supposing that”) in Chinese! I’ve gathered all the ways I could think of below. Some are more formal or less formal or might have other uses/meanings. The example sentences are from Pleco.
如果 rúguǒ - if / in case / in the event that 你如果要来，请事先告诉我。
要是 yàoshi - if (colloquial) 要是下雨怎么办？
假如 jiǎrú - if 假如明天开会，准备工作来得及吗？
假使 jiǎshǐ - if / in case / suppose / given 假使他到这儿来，通知我一下。
倘若 tǎngruò - provided that / supposing that / if (literary) 倘若错过这个机会，你会后悔的。
若是 ruòshì - if (literary) 各位若是有不同意见，请即提出。
假若 jiǎruò - if / supposing / in case 假若我来不了，我会通知你的。
的话 dehuà - if (colloquial, coming after a conditional clause) 有事的话，就不要来了。
假设 jiǎshè - to suppose / to presume / to assume / supposing that … / if / hypothesis / conjecture 假设你赢了一百万元，你会买什么？
若 ruò - to seem / like / as / if (literary) 若有问题，请及时与我电话联系。
倘 tǎng - if / supposing / in case (literary) 倘能如此，就最好不过了。
要 yào - important / vital / to want / to ask for / will / going to (as future auxiliary) / may / must / (used in a comparison) must be / probably / if 我要不回来，请替我说一声。
如 rú - as / as if / such as / if (literary) 如妥善处理，问题不难解决。
Here are some others that were listed in the dictionary but that I haven’t actually encountered: 如若、如其、设若、若果、倘或、倘然、倘使、若然、设使、倘使
I first started looking into variant characters more extensively after the frustration of some of these variants messing with my pop-up dictionary extension. Sometimes the same word will be included in the dictionary with both the standard and variant versions, but sometimes the variant version isn’t included, and my extension won’t recognize the word. That’s why I think it can be useful to be familiar with these variant forms.
Variants I See in Traditional Chinese
布 / 佈 I have seen 佈 used in traditional Chinese as a variant of 布. An example might be seeing 佈滿 for 布满.
念 / 唸 MDBG seems to suggest that 唸 is a variant of 念 just meaning to read aloud. But I know I’ve seen 唸 used in traditional Chinese to talk about going to school like 唸大學 and 唸書. I’m not sure if what MDBG says is inaccurate or if people use 唸 is a way that is technically inaccurate.
周 / 週 It’s important to note that 週 is a traditional Chinese variant of 周 only for the meaning of week. So you might see 週末, but you shouldn’t see 週 used for the surname or the word 周围.
分 / 份 I think I have seen 份 used for 分 in both simplified and traditional Chinese. Unlike some of the other examples above, 份 also has meaning/usage outside of being a variant of 分. Also, I am pretty sure that 份 is only a variant of 分 for the 4th tone pronunciation (meaning part, share, ingredient, component).
占 / 佔 占 has two meanings/pronunciations. To my knowledge, 佔 is only a variant for the fourth tone pronunciation. But also I don’t know any words with first tone 占. I’ve seen 佔 used in traditional Chinese for words like 佔據 (占据).
什 / 甚 In traditional Chinese, you might see 甚 used for 什, like in 甚麼 (什么). In simplified Chinese, this variant can still be found in words like 甚至 (but the pronunciation is different).
才/ 纔 This variant form of 才 is used in traditional Chinese, but only for the meaning of just now, only. However, I rarely see it. And looking at it, I don’t blame people for not wanting to write 纔.
台 / 臺 This example can be a bit political. You may see Taiwan written as 台灣 or 臺灣 in traditional Chinese. I believe 臺灣 is more formal/official, but you’ll definitely see 台灣 all the time.
向 / 嚮 嚮 is a variant of 向 in traditional Chinese, but (apparently) only for the meaning to tend toward, to guide. As a result, 方向 is the same in traditional Chinese, but 面向 is 面嚮. However, it’s possible that this rule doesn’t hold up in real life usage. I’m definitely going to be on the lookout for exceptions. Also, MDBG tells me that there is another traditional variant 曏, but I’ve personally never encountered this character.
姐 / 姊 Apparently 姊 is pronounced zi in the Mainland, but it’s jie in Taiwan, which I know from A-Mei’s album and song 姊妹. I don’t think 姊 is officially considered a variant of 姐 (at least in the Mainland), but I think it is important to know 姊 and wanted to include it.
烟 / 菸 I haven’t seen the 菸 variant much. I only know it from the song 二手菸/二手烟 by Tanya Chua. It took me a long time to figure out what the song was even called because I had no idea 菸 was a form of 烟.
Multiple Varying Traditional Forms
尝：嘗 / 嚐 From how the dictionary lists things, it seems like 嘗 is the more standard traditional form of 尝, with 嚐 being a variant. But honestly I feel like I’ve seen 嚐 as much or more than I’ve seen 嘗.
里：裡 / 裏 裡 and 裏 are both traditional forms of 里 for the inside/interior meaning. I see both of these forms so often, but my feeling is that I see 裡 a bit more frequently.
骂：罵 / 駡 I’m actually not sure which traditional character form I see most in this case. Since 駡 looks more similar to the simplified version, it’s hard for me to tell.
锈：銹 / 鏽 I first encountered 鏽 in a song title, with the song being Tanya Chua’s 生锈的游乐场. It took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to identify that this character was a variant of 锈.
赞：贊 / 讚 To me, it seems like the 讚 variant is more common than 贊. When I look at YouTube comments written in traditional Chinese, I feel like I always see 讚. I’m not sure about other situations though.
系：係 / 繫 This situation is a bit confusing and different than the ones above. It looks like in traditional Chinese, 係 and 繫 are two different characters that in simplified Chinese are both written 系. However, these two characters are similar in meaning (to connect), so as a result, the word 联系 can be written as 聯繫 or 聯係 in traditional characters. Additionally, there is another meaning of 系 (system) that is also just 系 in traditional Chinese. So, 关系 can be written 關係 or 關系 in traditional characters. I’m pretty sure I see 係 more often. But honestly it’s possible I’ve seen 聯繫 and didn’t realize it was 联系.
复：複 / 復 / 覆 This one really confuses me at times. My understanding is that 複 and 復 are different characters in traditional Chinese that are both written as 复 in simplified Chinese. But they have similar meanings (both can mean to repeat), so you get things like: 复习：復習 / 複習 Then there is also 覆, which has it own meaning but can also be a variant of 复. From this, we get: 重复：重複 / 重覆 反复：反復 / 反覆 答复：答復 / 答覆 I think I’ve confused myself again. That’s enough for now.
墙：牆 / 墻 I don’t have a specific impression of which variant for traditional Chinese 墙 is more common, but I can say that Pleco defaults to showing 牆 for a lot of words for me, even though the font I selected only supports 墻 not 牆.
线： 線 / 綫 I’m pretty sure I see the 線 form used more in traditional Chinese writing. It always throws me off because I connect it with 泉 and not 线.
迹：跡 / 蹟 Interestingly, on MDBG, 跡 is overwhelming used for the traditional form of 迹, with a notable exception being 蹟 for the word 古迹|古蹟. I am not sure of the reason behind this. And when I Googled 古跡, all the top results were Japanese.
Variants Found in Names
杰 / 傑 This one is kinda confusing. 傑 is the traditional form of 杰, but there is a variant that is 杰 in both simplified and traditional Chinese. That’s why you don’t see 傑 in Jay Chou’s name 周杰倫–his name uses the variant version that doesn’t have a different traditional form. However, JJ Lin/林俊杰 would be written with 傑 in traditional Chinese, so be careful.
俊 / 隽|雋 I was very confused when I first encountered 隽 because I thought it was pronounced juan. However, I can say from experience that I’ve more often heard it pronounced jun. With this pronunciation, it’s considered a variant of 俊. I don’t think I have ever heard it pronounced juan.
沉 / 沈 You may recognize 沈 as the surname Shen, but it can also be a variant of 沉. I’ve seen it used in words like 沈默. I’ve typically see 沈 used in traditional Chinese.
睿 / 叡 These characters are both commonly used in names, with 叡 being a variant of 睿. But it’s important that you use the correct variant–characters in names shouldn’t be treated as interchangeable.
坤 / 堃 I actually first encountered 堃 on someone’s name on Facebook. They really look nothing alike, so I was very puzzled when I first saw 堃.
哲 / 喆 These two are also often found in names, like the famous singer 陶喆 for instance. 哲 is more common in my experience.
彬 / 斌 This example is interesting because I feel like I see 斌 as much or even more than 彬 in names. Obviously this might not be representative, but I’m definitely going to pay more attention to this in the future.
宁|寧 / 甯 寧 is the traditional form of 宁. 甯 is a variant that is written the same in simplified and traditional Chinese. I’ve seen it occasionally in names.
艳：艷 / 豔 / 艶 / 豓 RIP to anyone from the traditional character using areas with this character in their name. Anyway, it looks like 艷 is the “standard” traditional form of 艳, but I’ve also seen 豔 here and there. I am not use if I have see 艶 because it’s so similar-looking to 艷. Pretty sure I have never seen 豓 used, but I thought I would included it anyway.
闫|閆 / 阎|閻 According to Wikipedia, the surname 闫 was created from the surname 阎 during the failed second round of character simplification. However, 闫 stuck around. Now you can find both characters in use as surnames (but I’m assuming 闫 is not found outside of Mainland China).
璇 / 璿 Based on my own observations, 璇 is much more common than 璿. I would have guessed 璿 was pronounced rui!
钟|鍾 / 锺|鍾 According to Wikipedia, two distinct characters, 鐘 and 鍾 were merged into the simplified character 钟. However, 鐘 and 鍾 were two distinct surnames (鐘 was less common), meaning that these two surnames were merged. Thus, 锺 was introduced as an alternate simplified version of 鍾 to disambiguate the surnames. However, 锺 is apparently not used much, seeing as people had already adopted 钟 as their surname.
升 / 昇 I see 昇 often enough on when I’m reading something in traditional characters. I also think it’s a very pretty character. Interestingly, I noticed that for some celebs from Taiwan who write their names with 昇, Baike used 升 but the simplified characters version of Wikipedia used 昇. But the late Alien Huang (黄鸿升) only has the 升 form everywhere.
彩 / 采 采 can be the simplified form of traditional 採 or a variant of 彩. I realized this recently when I noticed that some celebrity names like 郭采洁 and 采子/谢采纹 still use the 采 form when written in traditional characters. But in actual words, I’m not sure how interchangeable 彩 and 采 are. I don’t get many photos of rainbows when I search 采虹 for example.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many Changs when the surname 常 is not actually that common? Have you ever struggled to figure out what sound “hs” is? Well don’t worry! Today we are going to go over some common practices in transliterating names from Taiwan.
With some recent discussion I’ve seen about writing names from the Shang-Chi movie, I thought this was the perfect time to publishe this post. Please note that this information has been compiled from my observations–I’m sure it’s not completely extensive. And if you see any errors, please let me know!
According to Wikipedia, “the romanized name for most locations, persons and other proper nouns in Taiwan is based on the Wade–Giles derived romanized form, for example Kaohsiung, the Matsu Islands and Chiang Ching-kuo.” Wade-Giles differs from pinyin quite a bit, and to make things even more complicated, transliterated names don’t necessarily follow exact Wade-Giles conventions.
Well, Wikipedia mentioned Kaohsiung, so let’s start with some large cities you already know of!
[1] B → P 台北 Taibei → Taipei [2] G → K [3] D → T In pinyin, we have the “b”, “g”, and “d” set (voiceless, unaspirated) and the “p”, “k”, and “t” set (voiceless, aspirated). But in Wade-Giles, these sets of sounds are distinguished by using a following apostrophe for the aspirated sounds. However, in real life the apostrophe is often not used.
We need some more conventions to understand Kaohsiung. [4] ong → ung (sometimes) [5] X → Hs or Sh 高雄 Gaoxiong → Kaohsiung I wrote “sometimes” for rule #4 because I am pretty sure I have seen instances where it is not followed. This could be due to personal preference, historical reasons, or influence from other romanization styles.
Now some names you are equipped to read: 王心凌 Wang Xinling → Wang Hsin-ling 徐熙娣 Xu Xidi → Shu/Hsu Hsi-ti (I have seen both) 黄鸿升 Huang Hongsheng → Huang Hung-sheng 龙应台 Long Yingtai → Lung Ying-tai 宋芸樺 Song Yunhua → Sung Yun-hua
You might have learned pinyin “x” along with its friends “j” and “q”, so let’s look at them more closely. [6] J → Ch [7] Q → Ch 范玮琪 Fan Weiqi → Fan Wei-chi 江美琪 Jiang Meiqi → Chiang Mei-chi 郭静 Guo Jing → Kuo Ching 邓丽君 Deng Lijun → Teng Li-chun This is similar to the case for the first few conventions, where an apostrophe would distinguish the unaspirated sound (pinyin “j”) from the aspirated sound (pinyin “q”). But in practice these ultimately both end up as “ch”. I have some disappointing news.
[8] Zh → Ch Once again, the “zh” sound is the unaspirated correspondent of the “ch” sound. That’s right, the pinyin “zh”, “j”, and “q” sounds all end up being written as “ch”. This can lead to some…confusion. 卓文萱 Zhuo Wenxuan → Chuo Wen-hsuan 陈绮贞 Chen Qizhen → Chen Chi-chen 张信哲 Zhang Xinzhe → Chang Shin-che At least now you finally know where there are so many Changs. Chances are, if you meet a Chang, their surname is actually 张, not 常.
Time for our next set of rules. [10] C → Ts [11] Z → Ts [12] Si → Szu [13] Ci, Zi → Tzu Again we have the situation where “c” is aspirated and “z” is unaspirated, so the sounds end up being written the same. 曾沛慈 Zeng Peici → Tseng Pei-tzu 侯佩岑 Hou Peicen → Hou Pei-tsen 周子瑜 Zhou Ziyu → Chou Tzu-yu 黄路梓茵 Huang Lu Ziyin → Huang Lu Tzu-yin 王思平 Wang Siping → Wang Szu-ping
Fortunately this next convention can help clear up some of the confusion from above. [14] i → ih (zhi, chi, shi) [15] e → eh (-ie, ye, -ue, yue) Sometimes an “h” will be added at the end. So this could help distinguish some sounds. Like you have qi → chi vs. zhi → chih. There could be other instances of adding “h”–these are just the ones I was able to identify. 曾之乔 Zeng Zhiqiao → Tseng Chih-chiao 施柏宇 Shi Boyu → Shih Po-yu 谢金燕 Xie Jinyan → Hsieh Jin-yan 叶舒华 Ye Shuhua → Yeh Shu-hua 吕雪凤 Lü Xuefeng → Lü Hsueh-feng
Continuing on, a lot of the conventions below are not as consistently used in my experience, so keep that in mind. Nevertheless, it is useful to be familiar with these conventions when you do encounter them.
[16] R → J (sometimes) Seeing “j” instead of “r” definitely confused me at first. Sometimes names will still use “r” though, so I guess it is up to one’s personal preferences. 任贤齐 Ren Xianqi → Jen Hsien-chi 任家萱 Ren Jiaxuan → Jen Chia-hsüan 张轩睿 Zhang Xuanrui → Chang Hsuan-jui
[17] e → o (ke, he, ge) I can see how it would easily lead to confusion between ke-kou, ge-gou, and he-hou, so it’s important to know. I’ve never seen this convention for pinyin syllables like “te” or “se” personally. 柯震东 Ke Zhendong → Ko Chen-tung 葛仲珊 Ge Zhongshan→ Ko Chung-shan
[18] ian → ien [19] Yan → Yen I’ve observed that rule 18 seems more common than 19 because I see “yan” used instead of “yen” a fair amount. I’m not really sure why this is. 柯佳嬿 Ke Jiayan → Ko Chia-yen 田馥甄 Tian Fuzhen → Tien Fu-chen 陈建州 Chen Jianzhou → Chen Chien-chou 吴宗宪 Wu Zongxian → Wu Tsung-hsien
[20] Yi → I (sometimes) I have seen this convention not followed pretty frequently, but two very famous names are often in line with it. 蔡英文 Cai Yingwen → Tsai Ing-wen 蔡依林 Cai Yilin → Tsai I-lin
[21] ui → uei I have seen this convention used a couple times, but “ui” seems to be much more common. 蔡立慧 Cai Lihui → Tsai Li-huei
[22] hua → hwa This is yet another convention that I don’t always see followed. But I know “hwa” is often used for 华 as in 中华, so it’s important to know. 霍建华 Huo Jianhua → Huo Chien-hwa
[23] uo → o This is another example of where one might get confused between the syllables luo vs. lou or ruo vs. rou. So be careful! 罗志祥 Luo Zhixiang → Lo Chih-hsiang 刘若英 Liu Ruoying → Liu Jo-ying 徐若瑄 Xu Ruoxuan → Hsu Jo-hsuan
[24] eng → ong (feng, meng) I think this rule is kinda cute because some people with Taiwanese accents pronounce meng and feng more like mong and fong :) 权怡凤 Quan Yifeng → Quan Yi-fong
[25] Qing → Tsing I am not familiar with the reasoning behind this spelling, but 国立清华大学 in English is National Tsing Hua University, so this spelling definitely has precedence. But I also see Ching too for this syllable. 吴青峰 Wu Qingfeng→ Wu Tsing-fong
[26] Li → Lee Nowadays a Chinese person from the Mainland would probably using the Li spelling, but in other areas, Lee remains more common. 李千那 Li Qianna → Lee Chien-na
[27] Qi → Chyi I have noticed this exception. However, I’ve only personally noticed it for this surname, so maybe it’s just a convention for 齐. 齐秦 Qi Qin → Chyi Chin 齐豫 Qi Yu → Chyi Yu
[28] in ←→ ing In Taiwanese Mandarin, these sounds can be merged, so sometimes I have noticed ling and lin, ping and pin, etc. being used in place of each other. I don’t know this for sure, but I suspect this is why singer A-Lin is not A-Ling (her Chinese name is 黄丽玲/Huang Liling).
[29] you → yu I personally haven’t noticed these with other syllables ending in “ou,” only with the “you” syllable. 刘冠佑 Liu Guanyou → Liu Kuan-yu 曹佑宁 Cao Youning → Tsao Yu-ning
There is a lot of variation with these transliterated names. There are generally exceptions galore, so keep in mind that all this is general! Everyone has their own personal preferences. If you just look up some famous Taiwanese politicians, you will see a million spellings that don’t fit the 28 conventions above. Sometimes people might even mix Mandarin and another Chinese language while transliterating their name.
Anyway, if any of you know why 李安 is romanized as Ang Lee, please let me know because it’s driving me crazy.
Note: The romanized names I looked while writing this post at were split between two formats, capitalizing the syllable after the hyphen and not capitalizing this syllable. I chose to not capitalize for all the names for the sake of consistency. I’m guessing it’s a matter of preference.
These are 3 歇后语 we learned in my advanced Chinese class during the spring semester. 歇后语 are an interesting type of saying with two parts. The first part is a bit like a setup, and the second part is kind of an explanation. Sometimes you can just say the first part, and the second is inferred/understood. They are often witty and funny.
水仙不开花——装蒜 Shuǐxiān bù kāihuā——zhuāngsuàn to act stupid, to play dumb, to pretend to not know
Explanation: 水仙 = daffodil 开花 = bloom 蒜 = garlic A daffodil that hasn’t bloomed looks kind of like garlic.
铁公鸡——一毛不拔 tiěgōngjī yīmáobùbá cheapskate, stingy
Explanation: 公鸡 = rooster 拔 = to pull out If it’s an iron rooster, you can’t even pull off one feather.
哑巴吃黄连——有苦说不出 yǎbachīhuánglián yǒukǔshuōbuchū to be forced to suffer in silence
Explanation: 哑巴 = a mute person 黄连 = a bitter herb used in Chinese medicine A mute person who eats this herb cannot say how bitter it is, which is likened to having a pain or hardship you can’t speak of.
Congress member Mertxe Aizpurua (EH Bildu) gave an awesome speech yesterday in the Spanish Parliament regarding minoritized languages.
What are you afraid of, gentlemen of PP? Of Spanish disappearing from Catalunya? Of Euskara or Galego, or Aragones or Asturleonese ousting Spanish one day thus becoming a residual, second class language? You know well this is not going to happen, but this is what you want to happen to ours.
It’s all about rights, gentlemen: that in my own country, whoever willing to, can live, speak and dream in Euskara and can effectively do it. And that anyone can do this in the language they want, and to achieve that, all of us must have the option to know and learn them [the languages spoken in Spain]. That’s the aspiration of the new Basque education model that has just started. Without impositions, of course, because there are impositions now and they don’t come precisely from Euskara, Català or Galego.
And yes, just like you recognise the right and obligation of every citizen of the Spanish state to know Spanish, we have the same right and obligation to know our languages. We don’t attack yours, it’s you who pretend to suffocate ours. Maybe, maybe what scares you is a different thing: maybe to this right wing that thinks in this key of language supremacy would come in handy to hear a quote I’m going to offer you, by Kurdish writer Musa Anter. It reads: “if you think that my mother tongue makes the foundations of your state tremble, it may be because you built your state in a land that doesn’t belong to you.”
[In Basque] We want to live in Basque because our people is the people of Basque language.
It’s the bane of every language learner that wants to self study or study at home. If you are one of these self-learning warriors them you know what I mean. You have to create your own study schedule and plan your own curriculum and it can be a real P in the A. There are so many things to consider, such as your level, available time, your study style (which you can learn about here) and the goal of your learning. HOWEVER, despite all these variables, I am here to help you create your own customized language learning study planner that is both efficient and effective for YOU. So if you want to become a master study schedule maker, keep reading!
Let’s start a langblr follow train to find new langblrs/lingblrs to follow and befriend!
1. Only langblrs (blogs about languages) and lingblrs (blogs about linguistics), please! 2. Reblog this post before 31.5.2020! 3. Follow some blogs that have reblogged this post! 4. Make new friends!
IF you’re a native English speaker: when you hear the word roach, does it make you think about an insect or a fish?
IF you’re NOT a native English speaker, what is the name of Geralt’s horse in the Witcher in your language and what does it mean/refer to?
In French the horse is called Ablette which is a small fish
Thank you in advance for your help!
Thank you all for your help. See, I watched The Witcher in English and his horse is called Roach but I’m French so I read the books in French and his horse is called Ablette, which is a fish. I found that rather strange so I looked up the name in the original Polish, it was Płotka. Now, I don’t speak Polish so I just used basic Internet search and got this:
Maybe someone who speaks Polish can confirm or add information here? But yes, that’s how I found out a roach is a type of fish. To me it was strange because I thought it meant roach as in cockroach but I just wanted to check if it was the same for native speakers. Anyway, here I am now, wondering why the translator picked that name knowing that it meant something else to most people…
Oh and I also looked up the horse’s name in other languages just to check
I don’t remember who asked what type of fish a roach is so here you go
The funny thing is that in French this fish is called a gardon but there is an expression, “frais comme un gardon” which would translate as something like “fresh as a daisy” and it would give the name a rather positive connotation, which isn’t the case with the original name so the translator changed it for ablette, another small fish but often associated in common language with being skinny and not very strong. And to me that makes so much more sense than keeping with a literal translation.
IF you’re a native English speaker: when you hear the word roach, does it make you think about an insect or a fish?
IF you’re NOT a native English speaker, what is the name of Geralt’s horse in the Witcher in your language and what does it mean/refer to?
In French the horse is called Ablette which is a small fish
Thank you in advance for your help!
Thank you all for your help. See, I watched The Witcher in English and his horse is called Roach but I’m French so I read the books in French and his horse is called Ablette, which is a fish. I found that rather strange so I looked up the name in the original Polish, it was Płotka. Now, I don’t speak Polish so I just used basic Internet search and got this:
Maybe someone who speaks Polish can confirm or add information here? But yes, that’s how I found out a roach is a type of fish. To me it was strange because I thought it meant roach as in cockroach but I just wanted to check if it was the same for native speakers. Anyway, here I am now, wondering why the translator picked that name knowing that it meant something else to most people…
Oh and I also looked up the horse’s name in other languages just to check
I suppose it’s okay to admit after three years of linguistics blogging that I actually am one of those linguists who speaks quite a few languages, and I’ve studied even more at various levels. Here are some of my favourite posts about language learning:
one of my friends found radiooooo which is a site that streams music from any country from any decade (well, most countries/decade combos work) and we’ve been digging going on a quest to find what is rad
so far the following is good
50s/60s/70s/80s russia
70s cambodia
20s japan
80s ethiopia
80s india
let’s add 70s armenia and 70s japan to this list
actually im willing to bet 70s *any country will be amazing, it’s all been really good so far
and if you go for 90s india fast music you might get hit in the face with tunak tunak tun right away so get your meme groove on
one of my moms recommended 70s east germany and this proves true, this is weird and amazing in a good way
also set the mood to “weird” for maximum fun, it enhances literally every station
The proper translation of the Finnish word kotihiiri is homebody (or similar), but I like using the literal translation of house mouse instead because it rhymes.
House mouse is cute, it sounds like she’s the cuddly cousin of our nerdy rat de bibliothèque (library rat in french)
