Question Foreign language and culture consultants on call

If you are willing to help other authors with foreign language quotes and/or geographic/cultural info, please list your expertise here.

I'll start. As a Brazilian, I can help with Portuguese language (esp. the Brazilian variant), Brazilian history, culture and politics, a bit on Portuguese history, and a bit on South American general outlooks.

I'll help out with anyone wanting some cultural and geographic information about China, specifically the coastal cities. Chinese history, religion and politics are also something I've looked at, but it's more of an informed layman than an expert.
And I can tell you pretty much anything about Canada except how to speak French.

I can help with the french language, I have no idea if my input could be useful or not regarding the cultural/political aspect but I could try to answer some questions now and then.

I speak french. I can help for the cultural aspect of Canada, and some amount of politics, more specifically Ontario and Quebec. Canada is a big country, and the western side of Alberta and British columbia has a different culture and political views than Ontario/Quebec and than the Maritime Provinces. I know some, but not as much as someone coming from there.

I've also lived some time in Japan, and even though I do not speak the language all that well, I can help with the cultural aspect of it. Not political aspect though.

I have a need of someone familiar with Hawaiian (big Island) culture and language. It would also help to know if the song He Mele No Lilo is a traditional piece or if it was written for the movie Lilo and stitch specifically, but just in a traditional style. There are conflicting sources as to which is true.

Sir Lee: I do have one question about Brazil. Why are all of your women so devastatingly beautiful?

I also speak French (my native language), and I come from Canada, though I'm more familiar with the area around the Maritimes, and do have some influence from Quebec and Ontario.

Most of the more specific history I've been exposed to though, would be about the Acadian people from the area, a small group of proud French people outside of Quebec. If anyone wants to know about the Expulsion of the Acadians (La Grande Deportation), I can give a decent synopsis, and point in the right direction.

Well, not all of them, I do know quite a few ugly ones... but, back in the Eighties when I was a teenager doing the student exchange thing in Virginia, the discrepancy in the percentage of beautiful women was really, really obvious. Six months in the U.S., and I met two girls I considered "pretty," not really "gorgeous." Meanwhile, every time I pulled the photos I took from my Brazilian high school friends to show people, the guys' reaction was something to the tune of "I really need to visit you..."

I'm not sure what the reasons are. I think being a genetically diverse country sort of helps, in that people are more used to there being several ways to be beautiful. In the U.S. there's this sort of obsession with the Big-Breasted Blonde Bimbo, so girls who don't fit that stereotype (that is, most of them) feel insecure about their looks. That is, the U.S. has a comparative lack of positive role models for non-blonde girls in the beauty arena. In Brazil? Well, we do like our blondes... but we also have strong cultural roots around the Mediterranean concept of beauty, and if any particular ethnic type is the stereotype for hotness in Brazil, it's the mulatto dancers in the samba schools -- green eyes are a plus.
What I'm trying to articulate here... it's not that Brazilian girls are any more likely to be beautiful than American girls, genetic-wise; it's that it's easier for a Brazilian girl to be perceived as pretty, and that helps her self-image. Telling a girl she's ugly for not matching some unattainable standard is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Yes, I can point at dozens of really hot American women who aren't anything like a BBB... but the stereotype still stands. When Hollywood needs a bunch of no-talent pretty girls to fill up the cheerleader roster in a teen comedy, how many are blonde?

A related concept... the "dumb bimbo" stereotype is not as strong down here (although we have some notable ones, like former first lady Rosane Collor, who was nicknamed "Political Rally Barbie". Think Melania Trump, except without the excuse of coming from a family of modest means -- Rosane was really rich even before marrying). I think that, perceived beauty being less rare and therefore less valuable, girls don't invest as much of their self-identity on their looks -- they don't expect their beauty to be a guaranteed route to fame and fortune. Well, some do, of course. Just not as many. They look good, they know they look good, but they don't plan their life around it.

Hrmmm... Self-fulfilling prophecy. Yeah, I can see that.

Where did I put that comic again? Ah yes.

zenpencils.com/comic/albert-einstein-everybody-is-a-genius/

Still, a very nice society concept, if I may say so.

I'm an American Reform Jew, and I know just enough Hebrew to be pretty much useless for translating. But I know some people who are fully fluent if somebody needs them.

Thankfully, the most Hebrew I'm likely to have need of would be about what you'd know from being a mostly regular attendee of a Reform temple.


Still living in Japan, and while my wife likes to kid me about my level in the language (and she's often right, unfortunately), I can still work with it well enough to tell you if something is not working well.

Random example off the top of my head:
Last year I was reading a novel called jPod that had occasional bits of Chinese and Japanese included in the text. While I couldn't speak for the Chinese, the main example of Japanese was beyond broken. Apparently someone tried to translate "Be quiet!" into Japanese without realizing that the Japanese copula (equiv. of "to be" in most sentences) is not even technically a verb, and thus does not have a command form. The sentence was.... I'm not even going to say it was interesting, because I really haven't ever seen anything like it in sixteen years of working with the language. That's how messed up it was.

If anybody is ever wanting to chat about New Zealand, I shall be available. Do note that I'm a private-schooled Pakeha, so my knowledge of the Māori and Pacific roots of our culture is shaky at best. But if you want to know what the South Island is like? I can help you there.

Polish for language, it is a bit rusty but i should still be able to help a little. Australian for urban culture, don't know much about life in the country.

Ametros wrote: But if you want to know what the South Island is like? I can help you there.

Cold.

Damn cold.

Freezing doesn't even begin to describe it.

Yes I'm from Australia. I'm not sure I understand what your point is?

Ametros wrote: If anybody is ever wanting to chat about New Zealand, I shall be available. Do note that I'm a private-schooled Pakeha, so my knowledge of the Māori and Pacific roots of our culture is shaky at best. But if you want to know what the South Island is like? I can help you there.

OK, random thing you might be able to help with. Know any good insults in Maori? I was amazed that sticking "You ugly bastards" into Google Translate actually came up with a result, but I have no idea if it's anything like what would actually be said.

As I said, it's not my forte. However this seems accurate and well-explained, from a brief examination: upokopakaru.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/swear-it/

I am pretty good for Arabic, some Mandarin, lots of European stuff, and basically anything that can be researched. Oh, and I have a passable familiarity with several Amazonian languages (Matse and Matis primarily). I kind of collect languages so I am good to help with most anything.

If you need info on Minnesota and the Twin Cities, I can help. Contrary to Sphere's origin story, there is almost nothing of any significance anywhere near Main and 3rd, in Minneapolis...and Eau Claire is close to 90 miles away, the story makes it seem a lot closer.

Rose Bunny wrote: If you need info on Minnesota and the Twin Cities, I can help. Contrary to Sphere's origin story, there is almost nothing of any significance anywhere near Main and 3rd, in Minneapolis...and Eau Claire is close to 90 miles away, the story makes it seem a lot closer.

It's all about perspective. I don't consider 90 miles to be very far away.

true, but you haven't experienced the fun that is the Twin Cities congestive freeway system.

Rose Bunny wrote: true, but you haven't experienced the fun that is the Twin Cities congestive freeway system.

No, but I've experienced the fun that is Chicago and Indianapolis.

Valentine wrote:

Rose Bunny wrote: true, but you haven't experienced the fun that is the Twin Cities congestive freeway system.

No, but I've experienced the fun that is Chicago and Indianapolis.

Nothing beats LA we invented the traffic jam and the SIG alert here!

lighttech wrote:

Valentine wrote:

Rose Bunny wrote: true, but you haven't experienced the fun that is the Twin Cities congestive freeway system.

No, but I've experienced the fun that is Chicago and Indianapolis.

Nothing beats LA we invented the traffic jam and the SIG alert here!

Add potholes!

lighttech wrote:

Valentine wrote:

Rose Bunny wrote: true, but you haven't experienced the fun that is the Twin Cities congestive freeway system.

No, but I've experienced the fun that is Chicago and Indianapolis.

Nothing beats LA we invented the traffic jam and the SIG alert here!

Would you all like to load a new clip and try your luck in South Florida now that rainy season's started?

null0trooper wrote: Would you all like to load a new clip and try your luck in South Florida now that rainy season's started?

I will see your rainy South Florida Summer, and Raise you one Minnesota January Blizzard white-out driving conditions.

Amateurs. I drive in São Paulo.

Driving through a December blizzard in Northern Ontario on a twisty two lane highway in white out conditions thinking my mother is having a heart attack in the passenger seat and the nearest town is an hour away.

Bike riding through Nanjing, China traffic jam during rush hour.

Riding on the back of a scooter on busy tourist side streets in China with a driver who thought brakes and right of way were for other people, and differences between the sidewalk and the road was merely academic.

Taking a slow train from Nanjing to China, which was over crowded, had standing room only, water dripping from the ceiling, mud an inch thick on the floor, and took 8 hours to make a two hour trip, at 3am.

Domoviye wrote: Taking a slow train from Nanjing to China, which was over crowded, had standing room only, water dripping from the ceiling, mud an inch thick on the floor, and took 8 hours to make a two hour trip, at 3am.

The entire trip was at 3 am? That's impressive.

It felt like it was. Then I got to go back by the same bloody slow train.
After that I always took a bullet train even if it cost a lot more.

Meanwhile, I work from home like a sane person instead of wasting my life in transit. Silly noobs.

Anyway, getting back on topic... I'm no good with translating natural languages, but if you need help with programmer techno babble or your fictional code snippets, let me know.

Does anybody around here speak Russian better than Google Translate? I don't need it yet, but at some point in the future (probably a month or three) I'm going to be dabbling with some Russian bits.

I'm afraid my Russian was of the High School variety and therefore promptly forgotten many moons ago. However I am close friends with two native speakers who I could probably bribe with food for assistance if need be. Just don't ask for current slang, as they've lived here in the U.S. for too long to be up to date on that kind of thing.

Hmm... the only language I might need help with would be Ancient/Torah Hebrew, which has different pronunciation due to the vowels not being written in the old texts (if I understand the issue properly!).

Sir Lee wrote: Amateurs. I drive in São Paulo.

Sir Lee for the win!

Even when I worked in Compton/South central LA better known as ZOMBIELAND Even thou I was a huge white guy in the 'HOOD!

' they did not shoot at me and I have seen many video of Sao Paulo robbers doing just that!

Domoviye wrote: It felt like it was. Then I got to go back by the same bloody slow train.
After that I always took a bullet train even if it cost a lot more.

Ahh capitalism in a communist state? say it is not so??? LOLOLLOL

I live on the US/Mexican border. I'm not fluent in Spanish because I haven't lived here all my life, but I know some bits and pieces. But if you needed to know things like how to enjoy the local flavor without burning your tongue off, or how elevation completely changes the desert environment, let me know. (Riordan really needed me around to tell him how his understanding of the geography of my home town was waaaaay off. Hello, there are well over 700k people living on this side of the river and 2-3 million on the other side! Not to mention that border fence thing.)

Also, I converted to Kemeticism while I was off wandering. I'm not a scholar there either, but if you need some Ancient Egyptian info, I can point you in the right direction. For starters, Amenhotep means "Amen is at peace, or is satisfied" It does not mean "crazed mummy killer guy." Don't get me started on those movies. Also, as the wise Daniel Jackson once said, "They must have used Budge! I can't believe they're still publishing his books!" I know a bit of the symbolism used in artwork, have a basic idea of how hieroglyphs work, and I have a big dictionary thing where I can look up a few words. Don't expect correct grammar.

Imhotep is actually considered one of the first great engineers/architects, certainly the first one we know by name. Nothing to do with crazy magic-using vizier, but everything to do with innovative construction techniques.

Imhotep, right, "man of peace" not Amunhotep. I got them mixed up. It's been a long time since I saw that movie. Imhotep was practically elevated to godhood, both for engineering and for medical knowledge. The theory goes that you learn a lot while patching people up on construction sites.

If anyone needs help with dutch or the netherlands, i can help

Gonna rez this thread. I'm a linguist and an anthropologist. So if you need info on how to organize and what terms me I'm pretty skilled. If you need help with language creation I do that as a Conlang Artist.