cimorene

i really enjoy translating. it's kind of - well, there's no way i could formally study that here; there's not so much as a single class, so there's no point. maybe i can just get the book

anatsuno was talking about. maybe it's in the school library.

the guy whom i call the norwegian, and whom i've realised i would have to call, in swedish, "my cohabiting partner's brother's wife's mother's second husband" (since i don't know the words for sister- and brother-in-law off the top of my head), hired me to translate another scholarly publication on psychiatry from norwegian to english, and it's so fun. just reading the norwegian is totally delightful and adorable. it's just different enough from swedish, while remaining mutually comprehensible, that it feels constantly novel.

my spanish teacher has expressed surprise several times about the quality of my written spanish and reading comprehension, which i know is because my listening comprehension and speaking skills are notably behind (and not, i mean, because it's actually all that awesome and flawless or anything), but honestly, it's just - a lot of reading comprehension and decent writing involves an understanding of grammar which in some part translates from language to language. not that i can write a fraction as well in spanish or in swedish as in english, but i can try to compose something reasonably articulate and meaningful. translation, reading, writing - these things are so much easier and more natural than spoken language - not that i feel my grasp of spoken english is lacking, but even in my native language i feel so much more comfortable in the written medium, to the extent that i often prefer to have a serious conversation on aim when having it in person is an option (and that wax and i occasionally im when we're sitting close enough that we could reach out and touch each other at the same time if typing didn't need two hands). translation captures a lot of what i love about foreign languages, although the concepts that don't translate properly are probably the main thing that i love even more.