I really enjoyed the Raven Cycle, a lot more than I originally expected. I loved the storyline, and how it blended reality with fantasy. Like, at first, although a bit of a stretch it could be considered real, it included things like tarot, leylines having powers, fortune telling, seeing the future and ghosts, but many people irl really believe those stuff, so having some of the main characters believing in those things (Especially with Blue being from a family of fortune tellers/ tarot readers etc) made sense, then it slowly becomes more and more fantasy. The characters were fun, but the relationships between them, their friendships and deep bonds they developed, were really good imo. The “group” consists of one girl and four boys, but there’s not a huge focus on romance in general and definitely not an “everyone likes the girls just because she’s a girl.” It has some good representation of class differences, and several other things as well, and it’s rarely ever used to define the character, so they definitely don’t feel like “token non-white” “token gay” etc.
I think I’ve read Cinder, but I wasn’t really sold by it. Okay, I checked my goodreads review, and I didn’t like the lack of worldbuilding and felt the characters were a little bland and had little development over the course of the story. Does that change over the course of the other books? I did really love Marissa Meyers Heartless, so I remember being really disappointed with this one.
I’m a slytherin. Ever since I was a kid I got Slytherin on pretty much every quiz (elementary school me really wanted to be a Hufflepuff, so I’d always get upset and take the quiz again to get Hufflepuff). Around junior high school I joined a very active HP site (did wonders for my English) got again sorted into Slytherin, and after talking with the people on the site, and maturing a bit, I finally accepted I was a Slytherin xD The Pottermore quiz has given me both Ravenclaw and Slytherin though. I can see them both xD I think for American houses I was Pukwudgie? Not sure though xD
Hmm, sounds interesting. I'm also glad there's not really a focus on romance, since I'm not a big fan of romance novels. I'm not really sure how much of the occult things I'd understand, though, never having studied them. Does she explain them in the story?
Honestly, I'd say Cinder was probably my least favorite book in the series, and, of the 4 heroines, Cinder is my least favorite. Heck, even Prince Kai is the most boring male lead. I enjoyed Scarlet, Cress, and Winter much more as characters. There's even a Flynn Rider-esque male lead that's much more entertaining than Kai. Heck, even the grumpy, quiet other 2 guys are more interesting than Kai, IMO. I think the later books add a lot more to the story and even throw in a few plot twists that aren't nearly as obvious as the one in Cinder. I also enjoy Iko very much as a character, even though I always read her name the Japanese way as Ee-ko rather than Ai-ko. Oh well. Audiobooks set me straight. If you have time and have exhausted the other books on your to-read list, I'd say give it another try. Actually, since you're in pain so much and don't feel like doing more than just laying down, I'd even suggest the audiobooks. I quite enjoyed the narrator; she gave good energy to the characters.
Well, if you really wanted to be a Hufflepuff, you would've been a Hufflepuff, since the sorting hat takes your choices into consideration. But I can see where you're coming from; I'd like to be a Hufflepuff, too. They're the hard-working nice guys who can get along with everyone. I'd like to have that personality, but sadly I don't. (lol) It always made me sad to see people pick on Hufflepuffs. In a way, I feel sad for your long-time rejection of Slytherin, too. I think JK Rowling herself is to blame for that one; she really should've added more nice Slytherins in the book. I suppose Slughorn could be considered a grey-zone character, and I guess Merlin himself was a Slytherin, but there's really no evidence of them not totally sucking in the books. I read a fan theory once where they said it would've been nice to see some Slytherins run back for the Battle of Hogwarts, and I agree. Or even an actual redemption arc for Draco Malfoy. It feels like there are 2 types of Slytherins: The ones who declare it proudly like "Yup, I'm a bad boy/girl! Hee hee" and those who hesitate to reveal their house for fear of being judged. House bashing seems to have gotten better in recent years (I was excited to see Hufflepuff get an image boost with Newt Scamander!) but some people are still mean to Slytherins. Sigh. Interesting you're a Pukwudgie in Ilvermorny, since I think they're the closest related to Hufflepuff. So if you wanted that, maybe there's your chance? I really, really wanted Thunderbird because that's just an awesome mascot, but I'm definitely not an adventurer. lol. I like snakes, too, though, so I guess my house is cool. Plus, personally I like the name Ilvermorny better than Hogwarts, and the school colors are loads better, too :P I wish there was more info on Mahoutokoro. I actually had a story mapped out in my head for a JE version of it once, lol. I also wish it had a less sucky name. Like... I thought Hogwarts was bad, but literally "Place of Magic"? LAZY! Then again, Japan's never been one for creative naming, so it might be spot on... Hmm.
The occult stuff gets explained well enough, I don’t think leylines are that well-known in general (I think I came across it in either a book I read or a tv series xD) so I feel like except for some obvious things like ghosts/tarot card that everyone has heard of it’s well explained. The romance is more of a background plot than an actual main point, though it does sometimes pop up (Blue, the main character has been told several times that if she kisses her first love he will die, so she’s reluctant to anything romance related xD)
Yeah, the characters seemed bland to me, and the world building was just not that well explained, but if the other books are better, they might be worth another shot. I mean, I know Marissa Meyers can write, which is why I was so disappointed in Cinder. I would read Iko as Ee-ko as well xD I should really get more into audio books, they just take so much more time than actually reading the book myself xD The sheer length of time commitment needed always scares me off.
But Marcel wanted to be a Hufflepuff and he got sorted into Gryffindor. And honestly I can see now why Slytherin would be a better fit, with the ambition and the cunning (though Ravenclaw would probably work too) But yeah, like you said Hufflepuff was a personality I admired, but just don’t have. I probably would have fit in horribly there and be utterly miserable xD Yeah, JK Rowling's vilification of Slytherins is really so annoying. It’s why I was so sad when elementary school me got Slytherin, I was just like “But I’m not evil!” Taking the quiz until I get the result I wanted was pretty Slytherin of me, though xD
Draco deserved a redemption arc so much more than Snape (if you can even consider his a redemption arc, which is debatable). I’ve always adored Hufflepuff, I still do. My best friend is a Hufflepuff so I often buy goods for both of us. I own some Hufflepuff merch myself as well.
I feel like the Ilvermorny houses are more about what you’d like to do with your magic (like healing, fighting, adventuring, studying) rather than about personality traits. In which case either Pukwudgie or Horned Serpent would work for me ^^. But admittedly I know very little about the Ilvermonry houses. I agree Ilvermorny is a way better name. And like you I was also really interested in Mahoutokoro (and hated the name). Hogwarts is a pretty horrible name too xD. Rowling just isn’t that good in names? xD
I don't think I've ever heard of leylines. Are they something unique to that series?
Oh, and if you're into non-Twilight vampire YA series, I know a couple of those, too.
I think Cinder gets more likable later in the series as she gets more stressed out, because she's snarky and funny, especially with Thorne when he's annoying the crap out of her. Kai never really gets better, IMO, but he's balanced out by the other characters. I think if you found the word-building lacking it's because it's explained in way more detail later in the books. I think the first one they just wanted to introduce you to who Cinder is. But with the later books, you learn loads more about Lunar society and their relationship with Earth. Plus, her additional novellas really add depth to the characters, even the villains. I was impressed by her re-interpretations of classic fairy tales, especially Little Red Riding Hood. Perhaps you disliked Cinder because it was so close to the original story of a girl stuck with an abusive stepmother? But the idea she was stuck because of oppressive cyborg laws was interesting.
I know; it's frustrating to listen to 12 hours of book that I could read in like 3ish hours, but I tend to use them as a 'nagara' thing. Like, I have a 25 minute walk to work. While shopping. While sewing. Cleaning. Cooking. Heck, I can even set up the speakers to listen in the shower. So I figure if I'm already going to be doing other stuff anyway, I might as well get a book in as well. The only thing I have trouble with is browsing the Internet and listening. My brain isn't quite wired to read and listen at the same time, especially not an English audiobook and a Japanese text.
I think this is one of those instances different countries had different character names. By Marcel, do you mean the clumsy boy in Harry's year who ends up a hero? In the English version, he's called Neville. And I think he must've agreed to Gryffindor in the end (like, the hat convinced him) because I don't think it can actively reject your wishes. Harry kept repeating 'not Slytherin!' and, despite the hat thinking it was best for him, he got Gryffindor.
I will say, I'd hate Ravenclaw's common room being far from everything and having so many stairs; I can't get up in the morning and would be late to all my classes. Lucky Hufflepuffs right by the kitchen. But Ravenclaw does have the prettiest common room. I think I'd want to be a Hufflepuff now, but if you asked 11 year-old me, there'd be only Ravenclaw. Studying was my entire life and I wanted to be the best in all my classes. (Slytherin ambition?) Plus I like blue best. I'd *hate* Hufflepuff yellow. Yellow and black is so bumblebee. And why also is Hufflepuff the only one to not have a 'metal' color? Boo. Badgers are cool, though. I do loathe that all official Ravenclaw merch is wrong, though. #1 - It's an eagle, not a raven, and the stupid movie gave Ravenclaws blue/silver! So we can't ever buy anything official that's right. (Have you been to USJ) In a way, Ravenclaw is the sad house. Gryffindor gets Harry fame; Slytherin gets notoriety for the bad boys; Hufflepuff got their Fantastic Beasts movies... More Ravenclaw representation! They should make something with a Slytherin/Ravenclaw pair. With the brains & ambition, they could take over the world!
Draco's so-called redemption in the epilogue was nothing. Congrats, he turned out to not be a total racist. The end. Boo. I think a lot of people wanted a redemption arc for Dudley, too, with him having a magic child and asking Harry for help. Yeah, I don't get why people love Snape. OK, he protected Harry, but that's only because he was creepily obsessed with his mother, even after she made her feelings clear. Plus, there's no excuse for his treatment of the students, even if he's working undercover. One good deed doesn't outweigh a life of being a crappy person.
I think JK Rowling put a lot of her original ideas for Hogwarts into Ilvermorny. She said their house selection process was one she'd first thought up and considered for Hogwarts. Have you read the Ilvermorny back story? hey explain the houses in there. Ilvermorny also has a better school song. I swear, JK was just trying to see how much ridiculousness she could get away with in HP... I like the idea of Mahoutokoro since kids start school way earlier there. I always thought it was kinda dumb to keep wizarding kids home until 11 because they can't practice magic anyway with the Restriction. Plus, their giant flying birds are cool. I'd be pretty mortified by the color-changing robes, though. Like can you imagine having the (I think gold)-colored robes, showing you'd gotten top scores in your classes, only to have them turn back to boring normal if you failed something? My Ravenclaw heart trembles in terror at the idea! I think I'd like the Brazilian school since they focus on Magizoology and the African school because they practice wandless magic. How many times could they've been saved if they knew that? Like "Oh no, my wand is missing/broken/too far away! Can't do anything!" Boo. Hey, maybe I could study one year at each wizarding school around the world. That'd be fun. Maybe not Durmstrang, though, with their Dark Arts infatuation. I guess, though, since you're Dutch. you'd go to Beaxbatons in France. 'Cause I think Hogwarts only takes British kids... At least you'd have a cute uniform! And get to play with giant horses! And supposedly there's a fountain of beauty/healing so you'd be pretty and healthy forever! And you could study Alchemy... Hmm, sounds fun. Now that I think about it, Hogwarts is the least fun. They have a crap History of Magic teacher and a crazy Care of Magical Creatures teacher and Harry keeps bringing deadly events to the school... Yeah, I think I'm good at Ilvermorny. (^_^;)
I don’t even know what my brain was doing, yes I meant Neville. How did I get to Marcel, I will never know. I’ve only read the first four books in Dutch, I read all the others only in English and usually struggle to even think of the Dutch names, yet somehow now it popped up? Weird. I remember him arguing with the hat for a while and kinda giving up, and feeling like he didn’t belong and should have been a Hufflepuff for much of the first book, but maybe I remember it wrong xD I feel like rather than being convinced he was probably embarrassed by how long everything was taking and gave in. The hat could definitely have bullied young me into Slytherin too for sure xD Having to sit in front of everyone would have been horrible for me, I can’t imagine also having to take on the hat xD
At least it’s better than Slytherin’s being in the Dungeons -_- Like they really took the whole Slytherin = Evil far didn’t she? xD I liked knowing things and looking things up I was interested in, but I hated school. Which honestly still fits Ravenclaw xD School was super boring for me, and felt like a huuuge waste of time, I could have done it so much faster by myself. (Maybe I was kinda arrogant in a Slytherin kind of way, though I never really considered myself to be better than others. Or particularly good in general.) I also like blue best though. I just to really dislike green, but it has grown on me xD Yellow doesn’t look great with my hair either xD The only reason I have a yellow tshirt is because I dyed my hair black once xD Ravenclaw and Slytherin pairs would definitely rule the world! I feel like they have a lot of overlapping traits as well, more so than many of the other houses. Omg yes the blue/silver is so annoying! I have been to USJ and I was so saddened by the lack of hufflepuff/ravenclaw representation. Also that they would not have all four houses for everything in general. I saw some things I really wanted (in Slytherin) but were only in Ravenclaw or only in Gryffindor or only in Hufflepuff. Maybe I just like unpopular things that are only made for one or two houses xD
I wouldn’t even call the epilogue a redemption. He deserved better imo. I love Snape as a character, because he’s interesting and layered, but as a person I hate him. I don’t really care about Dudley either way, but a redemption arc could have been cute.
I really should read up on the other houses, I don’t know anything about them at all xD I kinda gave up on Pottermore rather quickly. My French is horrendous though… Beaubaxtons would be a struggle if only in terms of language xD I really should read up on all the other schools. It’s weird that the African one specializes in wandless magic while in fantastic beasts every american seemed to do wandless magic -_- it annoyed me so much xD
I’m definitely into them, or at the very least, I was when I was in high school. I haven’t read them in a while though. I read the house of night series, as well as some of the vampire diaries and probably some stuff I can’t remember as well xD
Yes, the first book felt very much like an introduction, but since I didn’t like the introduced character (Cinder) and the prince guy I just gave up on it. Cinderella is actually one of my favourite fairy tales, so even just sticking to the original should work out for me. I just felt like everything lacked depth, but just reading your comment, that probably changed throughout the series.
Yeah, it might be something I should start doing. Now I just put on random music/youtube videos in the background. Books would work just as well xD
Huh. It might be interesting to see how they put those Ley Line things in a supernatural story.
Oh, I enjoyed the House of Night series, too, though I kinda didn't like Zoey Redbird. I think the series would've been better if each character was only allowed one element. I don't really like characters who are so special and more perfect than even the other special people. I was also disappointed by the evolution of the Twins' relationship, but I did enjoy the Isle of Skye. Have you ever read the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead? That one's pretty good. Although actually I like the sequel Bloodlines series better.
I think the first book focused a bit too much on Earthen society. I also kinda didn't like that they gave away the big secret of the series in the first book. But as I kept reading, I realized there were so many secrets and surprises that gave the story many more complex layers, that maybe it wasn't so bad to find out about Cinder in Book 1. I will say, though, that I still can't forgive the author for Peony's fate, though. That was too cruel.
I'm super lucky because my local US library offers digital loans, so I can get quite a large selection of Ebooks and Audiobooks in English for free. Does your library back home have anything similar? Or I suppose there's Audible if it something you want to do often.
That's weird they changed Neville's name. Like, I get why they had to change Tom Marvolo Riddle around to fit the "I am Lord Voldemort" anagram in different languages, but the other characters make no sense... I'm thinking that if you hate Hogwarts' public sorting hat, you would've died of embarrassment from Ilvermorny's statue ceremony.
Yeah, I read one person's comments about how they were confused as to why the VIPs of the magical community's children were forced to live in a dark, creepy dungeon. You't think they'd want Ravenclaw's position of being the highest. Perhaps you're more Slytherin in your learning in that Ravenclaws like to absorb all information, but you were only interested in information that be interesting/useful to you? Sounds like a Slytherin selective memory thing. I have to like green, though; I was born in May. But I generally like all shades of cool colors. It's lucky Maru and Hika are such nice people, though, since they've slowly started to change my opinion on the colors orange & yellow. I went to USJ and there was basically only Gryffindor & Slytherin stuff there. Hufflepuff's representation may have improved because of Fantastic Beasts... but maybe not since HP @ USJ refuses to acknowledge its existence. You would've believe how crushed I was to find out I wasn't able to buy a Niffler doll when I went there. "We don't have Fantastic Beasts stuff here," the staff told me. I then pointed out Nifflers were in the original texts, too, with Ron winning a prize in Hagrid's class with them and also them being a big reason Hagrid got fired, but they still didn't have them. Boo. They also didn't have Head Girl badges for Ravenclaw. I was extremely upset about that one.
You'd think that a translation spell would exist in the Wizarding World, but then people were surprised when like Dumbledore and Crouch Sr. could speak so many languages, so maybe not. Perhaps since Beauxbatons is a school for many European countries, they actually hold classes in English? It'd explain why all the students were bilingual. Can you imagine poor wizard parents, though, whose children had magical ability but sucked at languages? Or perhaps in those schools, rather than houses, they split by country? Oh, and actually Ilvermorny does teach some classes on wandless magic, so it wouldn't be that out of character for them to use it, especially the super talented ones. Not that they ever explain that in the movies, though.
I really appreciated that, since they’re already seen as “supernatural” by some people, so at first it’s kinda a mix between “these things are real in this universe” and “these people believe this, but others don’t”
I liked Zoey at first but then less and less as the series went on. I don’t think I ended up finishing it, mostly because my mum has the books at her place and some of them were released after I moved out xD I did mean to read the vampire academy, but I never have.
Maybe I should keep reading then. If I find them somewhere, I don’t really feel like buying them after not liking the first book ^^;
I haven’t been part of a library since I was a minor and it was free xD Audiobooks weren’t even really a thing then. Plus their English collection was very limited as well, so they didn’t have many books I wanted to read anyway. (My mum infected me with her “I prefer reading the original over the translation” lol)
I think besides Harry they changed everyone’s names. I don’t remember what they named most of them though. They kept Fred and George’s first names. I remember being really young and reading George as Gay-or-guh. Then the film got released and I was like: “That’s how you spell George????”
I feel like Ravenclaws studying what they like over what they teach at school is also kind of a well-known stereotype though. School kinda killed my desire to learn though. I used to look into so many things when I was in elementary school (reading “Information books” as they called them at my elementary school, basically small informational books about all kinds of subjects was pretty much my hobby. I liked summarizing them for myself as well). I’m kinda getting back into researching/reading about stuff I’m interested in though. You’re born in May??? Me too!!! (I was pretty sad May’s birthstone was green as a child xD but then there are so many different birthstones for each month/starsign it turned out okay) Now I do like green though. Blue has been my favourite forever, and I like purples as well, as well as pinks, recently. And depending on the hue all colours can be pretty nice.
I remember seeing this adorable bracelet at USJ and they only had Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Same for a headband I thought was adorable. Fantastic beast was only just in cinemas when I went so I doubt it had much influence at that point. I don’t think they had head girl badges for any house. I asked for them, but they said they only had head boy badges T-T I just settled for a prefect one, but them just ignoring head girls altogether felt really weird and slightly sexist. The girl working at the store was super apologetic about it too, said she would have liked one herself as well xD
Can you imagine failing all your classes just because you don’t speak the language? In that sense children of immigrants are really amazing, aren’t they? I think for the bilingual part, either Rowling just didn’t think about it or she just went with how most European countries are pretty good at English as a whole… (But maybe I’m biased since the Netherlands is one of the best-ranked worldwide, at least it was years ago).
I feel like I barely saw any wands in the fantastic beast films, so even some classes wouldn’t really explain much. I felt like the films pretty much broke several rules from HP so it kinda annoyed me lol.
It's nice to see books based in reality, because you can look them up and feel more invested in the story. Maybe that's why Dan Brown's books are so popular? I also enjoyed the Percy Jackson series because I'm a fan of Greek myths and was already familiar with most of the characters. The Magnus Chase series was harder because I'm not as familiar with Norse mythology... Probably why I haven't finished it yet. (Ha, I almost wrote Magnus Bane, but that's Shadow hunters...)
I didn't find House of Night until after it had been finished. It was left behind by a teacher moving back home. One thing I miss from home is browsing used book stores for new favorites. The meager English sections they have here are usually disappointing. But I did find my favorite author by browsing a random English shop in Takadanobaba, so there is that. I imagine Iwate doesn't have many foreign language bookstore options. Recently I've been getting into Japanese "comic essays" a lot. They feel more mature than straight-up comics, but are easier than novels. There's one by a Swedish girl I like, writing about her culture shocks in Japan. I enjoy it because sometimes I forget the things that used to shock me. ^^; But yeah, it totally makes sense to not shell out money for a series you're not sure you'll like. Especially with the rise of e-books, everything's gotten more expensive.
Wait, what? Libraries cost money for adults in the Netherlands?! Crazy... did you read the classic books in their native languages, too? Like The Count of Monte Cristo and Faust and all that? I wanted to study French because I loved The 3 Musketeers so much, but sadly my school had no French classes and I had to go with Japanese.
That is so dumb. I hate it when they change names. It's not that hard to learn names. If we can learn Saoirse Ronan Timothee Chalamet, and even "Hermione," we can learn non-European ones, too. Have you ever seen English Doraemon? Ridiculous; all the names changed and they even edited breakfast scenes to have pancakes and forks because God forbid children see people eating rice with chopsticks for breakfast!
I dunno. I feel like Ravenclaws study school stuff because all knowledge is good, but they finish up early and then also look up what they want. Like we did a Romeo & Juliet unit in class, but I hate tragic romance stories so I went and read A Midsummer Night's Dream after that, even though it wasn't required. Or any assigned reading, really. I'd get through it in like a day, then spend the rest of the month reading books I liked. (My classmates were SUCH slow readers...) Seems like school didn't entirely kill your curiosity, though, if you wanted to study Japanese ^^
I was born in May; early May, making me a Taurus. I think that's why I understand Yoko & Tacchon so well. Which makes it weird I don't really like Yamada. Hmm. Are you a Taurus or a Gemini? I don't suppose you'd know your rising sign either, huh? My grandmother was super into astrology and kinda passed it on to me. I don't really look into the day-to-day fortune stuff, but it's fun to see if people's personalities match. I have an Earth sign with an Air sign, which means I have wanderlust but still want to stay in one place... So confusing. I wonder, though; did Non-chan influence your pink preference?
Weird; I didn't really see any Ravenclaw merch so maybe it comes in cycles?
It actually kinda happened to my friend. She studied abroad in Germany and struggled to keep up in regular classes (no surprise) but was infuriated to fail her English class because the teacher insisted on British English only. I dunno what's happening, but a lot of new wizarding schools have been popping up recently. Not sure if they're fan creations or canon, though. Ones in Russia and India make sense, with their populations. I wonder why she chose Japan over China for the first Asian school. Probably because of political tension, but I bet Chinese readers were infuriated over that one. I also bet she put the school in France because they're notoriously anti-English and people would've wondered if all Europeans went to Hogwarts. I wonder if the Italians got mad, though. I wonder where they sent their kids... Probably Durmstrang because better a school of Dark Arts than a French one :P
I'm pretty sure the Netherlands is still in the top 3 for English. It was always lumped with Scandinavia, so much so I started thinking you guys were a Scandinavian country, too. lol. I think Finns are a bit shy about their English, though. Danes and Norwegians are super outgoing. I've never met a Swede or an Icelander, so I can't comment on them. I did meet a Dutch boy in Osaka once, though. He was really nice, but his accent was so good it kept driving me crazy I couldn't tell where he was from.
Yeah, I pretty much only like the 1st FB movie because it focuses on Newt and the actual beasts. I don't really care about the Grindlewald story. I didn't really care much for Tina, either, TBH. I would've been totally cool with a movie just about Newt globe-hopping and gathering in fo for his book. Also, it kinda ruined the magic of HP to have American accents in the movie. And the term No-Maj is terrible. Wait, I think I just realized why I don't like Tina; Queenie and Jacob at least had New York accents but hers was just bland American with some NYC thrown in. But Newt is possibly my favorite male character in the entire HP universe, so I'll suffer through the others.
Oh that could definitely be a thing! Maybe I should go back after all, see if it has changed.
My school was British English only as well. Is it really that big of a difference? Pronunciation sure, but for written English, other than some words I would think it wouldn’t be enough of a difference to actually fail. But then again maybe they were very like “Use only the words you learned in our textbook and no other words allowed.” My first English teacher was like that, and it was awful. I had no idea which books I remembered from the textbook and which from outside school. Even though it was correct, it wasn’t the word from the book so it was marked wrong -_-
I bet she picked Japan because Japan was gaining a lot of popularity around that time in pop-culture. I don’t think she thought about stuff that deeply to be honest. I mean, there are enough plotholes in Harry Potter xD
I didn’t know we often got grouped with Scandinavia =O With Germany, for sure, Belgium and Luxembourg as well, but Scandinavia I didn’t know. I had a Swedish penpal in junior high school, we wrote in english. She seemed to write well enough at that time, but we were both 13 and writing in a second language, so I’m sure our letters were full of mistakes. There are quite a lot of Dutch people in Japan, I think (considering we’re such a small country) especially the bigger cities, and around Nagasaki/Fukuoka (since my university had ties to the one in Nagasaki, and exchange programs with both Nagasaki and Fukuoka). I always get mistaken for British if I go to the UK, I look stereotypically English/Irish as well, so that helps. But as far as I know I don’t have any English blood whatsoever. My Grandma on my dads side was a quarter German and a quarter Italian or something, according to my mum, but we were never close with my dad's family, so I’m not sure.
I liked the first film, but I didn’ really care for the second either. And I feel like they messed with some of the canon stuff and that just bothered me a lot. (The stuff with Albus’ brother and such) I’d be so for a film just following NEWT and Magical beasts. That’s what I originally hoped it would be. NEWT was fun, and I appreciated Queenie and Jacob as characters, but like you Tina was kinda boring? There’s just nothing special or interesting about her character at all. At least the others had personalities.
Just be careful going anytime soon; Mario World is opening and will make everything chaotic.
There's a pretty distinct difference in our word choices and slight differences in our grammar, I'd say. It's always weird to hear 'at the weekend'. I've found myself quite confused with British friends over the years because, while they're often exposed to our English through movies, we don't get as much of British English. I mean, even Harry Potter got edited so 95% of the 'British-isms' were taken out so American kids could understand; imagine our shock trying to follow the movies. I often find in conversations, too, that Brits will change their vocab choice if speaking with mostly Americans, for comprehension purposes. There's a Youtuber called "Lost in the Pond" who highlights the differences between British and American language and culture who's pretty interesting. Perhaps your English teachers' English wasn't actually good enough to be able to judge the differences in book and non-book words? It happens a lot in Japan.
Was Japan popular then? No one told my corner of the world, since all of us in Japanese class were mocked for it. (Followed, of course, by 'write my name in Japanese!')
No one thinks you're geographically a Scandinavian country, but when ranking the best English in Europe, it's always Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and you guys. My Danish friend said it's because you guys all have such small populations with hard languages to learn that everyone has to learn English or you'd be totally isolated from the world. (And have a very small pool fo media to view). Kind of like Japan does to itself, I guess. Gotta keep those 声優 & translators in a job somehow, I guess.
I'm jealous you had a penpal. I always wanted one, but never really had one. Sometimes I'll do Postcrossing, though; have you heard of it? I adore handwritten letters. Well, I guess I kinda had penpals in my TESOL program at uni; we had an assignment to write exchange journals to the Korean exchange students on campus, but 2/3 of my penpals thought it was a pain and just wanted to meet up and talk :P But I will say: I don't recommend becoming famous in Korea. Celebs must have the most miserable life. I was only semi-famous with one tiny group and it was creepy. Apparently I wrote fun, interesting letters and my classmates all sucked because all the exchange students, even ones I didn't know, would be coming up (knowing my name!) and wanting to talk. Or begging me to sit with them at lunch. Or hanging out dorm windows to watch when I came to visit a penpal. (Weird...) Can't even imagine the hell Kpop stars go through... Do you still keep up with your Swedish friend?
I guess it makes sense for a lot of Dutch people to be in Nagasaki; didn't it used to be a big Dutch trading port ages ago? Like one of the few that didn't get shut down when Japan went on Bakufu lockdown? I'm surprised you have so many countries in your heritage, though; I thought Europe pretty much kept to itself, and it was us American mutts who shuffled everything all together :P I get confused for Russian a lot, which is weird. Zero Russian in me, and when I asked a Russian person, they don't think I look Russian at all. So I think it's just Japanese people being rude, because "Are you Russian?" is often code for "Do you work in the red light district?"
Was it definitely established Aurelius(?) is a Dumbledore, though? I thought it was still up in the air, and Grindelwald lies a lot. It's gonna be weird having Johnny Depp recast, too. I also didn't really like being introduced to Lita Lestrange only to have her ripped away in the same movie. That's just mean. Usually they let us get 2~3 books attached before murdering people off. Also weird how Dumbledore went from Jude Law to super old in just a few years. But the movie definitely needs more creatures and less war. Perhaps with WWII coming up, they'll show Newt commanding a squadron of dragons again? But we already got dragons in HP, so...
Oh that’s interesting, I was pretty disappointed by the Percy Jackson series (like, I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t really care much about it either) and always assumed it was because I was so familiar with the myths. Maybe I just read them too late? I read them a few years ago, well after I moved to Japan, so I wasn’t quite in the target demographic age wise. I never tried the Magnus Chase ones, since I didn’t like Percy Jackson that much.
Yes, I loved browsing bookstores, though admittedly the English section in the Netherlands was relatively small too. (But here it’s non-existent) I especially miss being able to tell from the cover if I’d probably like a book. I didn’t realize how much you can tell from cover design just because they’re also similar. With Japanese books I have no idea ^^;
Yup libraries cost money. I was so happy the Japanese libraries are free. I read English classics in English. I don’t think I’ve read many other classics, though I’d usually go for the French version. I’ve read some Latin/Ancient Greek texts for school though. That counts as classics, right? xD I’ve read some simple books in French and German, but I was/am pretty bad at languages and never got further than the easiest stuff.
Yeah, I hate it when they change stuff. It’s the same with Pokemon. My friends got me into Pokemon Go, but for some reason my pokemon go is in English while theirs is, of course, in Japanese, and I am so lost when they mention pokemon. It’s getting better, but we often have the resort to descriptions/ just showing what we’re talking about. Pokemon also changed riceballs into sandwiches and such. I’ve actually never seen Doraemon at all xD
We had to read books for English but we could choose whatever we wanted. For Dutch we had a reading list, and I hated every single book they forced me to read, so that was a new experience for me, since I loved reading. I never imagined books could be so horrible. Maybe I’m just not made for literature. My classmates were so slow with literally everything xD I could have gone through our textbooks so much faster if I had been alone ^^;;
School killed my love for school, but not my curiosity. I remember every time I’d move to a new school I’d think “Well, now I’ll finally get to actually learn something.” This only happened in University and even then it wasn’t as much as I would have liked. School is great in theory, but it always disappointed in practice.
I’m born in late May, the 24th, so I’m just barely a Gemini. With a Cancer moon and Scorpio rising. Which is pretty accurate for the most part, I think. I dabbled a bit in basic astrology, though I haven’t gotten that deep into it yet. I know most of my planets(?) but haven’t gotten around to learning about houses and such yet. Nah, I loved pink since well before I ever even learned about Non-chan. I used to have a lot of purples and pinks as well as blues (of course). Even now I really like them, though blue is still my favourite. When my brother was really young his favourite colour was pink while mine was blue (Once he got into elementary school my mum shifted his a bit more to the red side, now he’d probably say it’s always been red. She was afraid he’d get bullied -_-)
It was fun seeing how the gods matched up with their stories. I was happy Hephaestus got revenge on his cheating wife. Also, Artemis' warriors were awesome. I'm glad more people are looking into the story of poor, maligned Medusa recently, though. She doesn't deserve her villain name.
I'm surprised the English section is so small there if so many speak English. Are your translators super fast? My Danish friend said he got fed up waiting for Harry Potter to be released in Danish and just read it in English. Yeah; Japanese books can be weird. Even if you liked it in the beginning, a sucky end can sneak up on you. I avoid comics (too much creepy stuff) but I enjoy comic essays. Like 北欧女子オーサが見つけた日本の不思議, ダーリンは外国人、日本人の知らない日本語. Real people's stories, illustrated in easier language so my brain doesn't implode.
That's weird; do you pay high taxes? If so, I don't see why libraries should cost; or are they cheap? I'm jealous of your Latin. I finished the Raven Cycle this week and it was annoying having to look up translations of things the author didn't bother with. Maybe she went to a rich people school where they taught Latin, but it's not standard for most Americans. I also started Heartless. It's so funny; I'm only 25% through, but I keep thinking that Yutti would make a good Jest and Hika a good Knave, lol.
I didn't know Pokemon Go was still a thing. No one's talked about it around here for a while. Isn't it hard to play up there, since the number of monsters is based on population? I only have the most basic knowledge of Pokemon, but the kids are always confused when I mention Charmander, Snorlax, or Jigglypuff. I actually bought an anthology of Doraemon because the kids reference it so much. Haven't read it yet, but I will say, my favorite panel is Doraemon watching Nobita be a doofus and like, "アホか、キミは". Ha. I need to blow that up for inside the classroom :P
Were there any kids reading weirdo English books? We had assigned books but also needed to get 'free reading points.' It sucked for me because they based it on level and I had to read uni-level stuff at 12 years old. Jane Eyre is NOT meant for children. But I know how you feel about the required reading. I know they're important social commentary, but I was NOT happy to read Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm. I imagine the pool of Dutch authors would be smaller, though. Did they make you guys read other European stuff in Dutch? French poetry or Shakespeare and whatnot? Being in class with slow people sucks. Math was the worst. In English you can quietly read ahead, but math you were stuck doing the same problems for a week because the rest of the class didn't grasp a concept you got on Day 1. (I usually snuck a book under my desk and ignored the other 4 repetitive days.) I guess that's why it's nice Japan has schools separated by level, despite their insane testing. It's also insane how many will choose to be the worst in a higher-rated school and struggle for 3 years because of the prestige of the name rather than drop a level and be comfortable.
Do Dutch people homeschool? You might've liked that. Doing 7 hours of schoolwork in 4 and having the rest of the day free. You can also study to your level and your interests.
I suppose your astro makes you a curious person! Perhaps you would be a Ravenclaw. I'm not sure mine fits (Taurus with Aquarius rising), since it says I love to be surrounded by people. Um... no? I'm 80% hermit. Would be 100% if I were independently wealthy :P I guess it makes sense with your mom changing your brother's favorite color. I see it a lot here, too. Little boys liking pinks and purples, only to have them change in the 2nd-3rd year of school. Parents are really pushy about their ランドセル, too. I've seen some kids with bags I *know* they didn't choose. The poor boys are still limited to navy & black, but at least the girls are getting more colorful. Feel bad for any girl who wants black or navy, though.
I'm not sure if this applies to you because I don't know what sets your nerves off, but is it inflammation? I've been reading a lot of people with different conditions having success with anti-inflammatory food choices. Just thought I'd mention it as an idea because my pain has been flaring up lately, and it was suggested to me.
I really enjoyed the Raven Cycle, a lot more than I originally expected. I loved the storyline, and how it blended reality with fantasy. Like, at first, although a bit of a stretch it could be considered real, it included things like tarot, leylines having powers, fortune telling, seeing the future and ghosts, but many people irl really believe those stuff, so having some of the main characters believing in those things (Especially with Blue being from a family of fortune tellers/ tarot readers etc) made sense, then it slowly becomes more and more fantasy. The characters were fun, but the relationships between them, their friendships and deep bonds they developed, were really good imo. The “group” consists of one girl and four boys, but there’s not a huge focus on romance in general and definitely not an “everyone likes the girls just because she’s a girl.” It has some good representation of class differences, and several other things as well, and it’s rarely ever used to define the character, so they definitely don’t feel like “token non-white” “token gay” etc.
I think I’ve read Cinder, but I wasn’t really sold by it. Okay, I checked my goodreads review, and I didn’t like the lack of worldbuilding and felt the characters were a little bland and had little development over the course of the story. Does that change over the course of the other books? I did really love Marissa Meyers Heartless, so I remember being really disappointed with this one.
I’m a slytherin. Ever since I was a kid I got Slytherin on pretty much every quiz (elementary school me really wanted to be a Hufflepuff, so I’d always get upset and take the quiz again to get Hufflepuff). Around junior high school I joined a very active HP site (did wonders for my English) got again sorted into Slytherin, and after talking with the people on the site, and maturing a bit, I finally accepted I was a Slytherin xD The Pottermore quiz has given me both Ravenclaw and Slytherin though. I can see them both xD I think for American houses I was Pukwudgie? Not sure though xD
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Honestly, I'd say Cinder was probably my least favorite book in the series, and, of the 4 heroines, Cinder is my least favorite. Heck, even Prince Kai is the most boring male lead. I enjoyed Scarlet, Cress, and Winter much more as characters. There's even a Flynn Rider-esque male lead that's much more entertaining than Kai. Heck, even the grumpy, quiet other 2 guys are more interesting than Kai, IMO. I think the later books add a lot more to the story and even throw in a few plot twists that aren't nearly as obvious as the one in Cinder. I also enjoy Iko very much as a character, even though I always read her name the Japanese way as Ee-ko rather than Ai-ko. Oh well. Audiobooks set me straight. If you have time and have exhausted the other books on your to-read list, I'd say give it another try. Actually, since you're in pain so much and don't feel like doing more than just laying down, I'd even suggest the audiobooks. I quite enjoyed the narrator; she gave good energy to the characters.
Well, if you really wanted to be a Hufflepuff, you would've been a Hufflepuff, since the sorting hat takes your choices into consideration. But I can see where you're coming from; I'd like to be a Hufflepuff, too. They're the hard-working nice guys who can get along with everyone. I'd like to have that personality, but sadly I don't. (lol) It always made me sad to see people pick on Hufflepuffs. In a way, I feel sad for your long-time rejection of Slytherin, too. I think JK Rowling herself is to blame for that one; she really should've added more nice Slytherins in the book. I suppose Slughorn could be considered a grey-zone character, and I guess Merlin himself was a Slytherin, but there's really no evidence of them not totally sucking in the books. I read a fan theory once where they said it would've been nice to see some Slytherins run back for the Battle of Hogwarts, and I agree. Or even an actual redemption arc for Draco Malfoy. It feels like there are 2 types of Slytherins: The ones who declare it proudly like "Yup, I'm a bad boy/girl! Hee hee" and those who hesitate to reveal their house for fear of being judged. House bashing seems to have gotten better in recent years (I was excited to see Hufflepuff get an image boost with Newt Scamander!) but some people are still mean to Slytherins. Sigh. Interesting you're a Pukwudgie in Ilvermorny, since I think they're the closest related to Hufflepuff. So if you wanted that, maybe there's your chance? I really, really wanted Thunderbird because that's just an awesome mascot, but I'm definitely not an adventurer. lol. I like snakes, too, though, so I guess my house is cool. Plus, personally I like the name Ilvermorny better than Hogwarts, and the school colors are loads better, too :P I wish there was more info on Mahoutokoro. I actually had a story mapped out in my head for a JE version of it once, lol. I also wish it had a less sucky name. Like... I thought Hogwarts was bad, but literally "Place of Magic"? LAZY! Then again, Japan's never been one for creative naming, so it might be spot on... Hmm.
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The occult stuff gets explained well enough, I don’t think leylines are that well-known in general (I think I came across it in either a book I read or a tv series xD) so I feel like except for some obvious things like ghosts/tarot card that everyone has heard of it’s well explained. The romance is more of a background plot than an actual main point, though it does sometimes pop up (Blue, the main character has been told several times that if she kisses her first love he will die, so she’s reluctant to anything romance related xD)
Yeah, the characters seemed bland to me, and the world building was just not that well explained, but if the other books are better, they might be worth another shot. I mean, I know Marissa Meyers can write, which is why I was so disappointed in Cinder. I would read Iko as Ee-ko as well xD I should really get more into audio books, they just take so much more time than actually reading the book myself xD The sheer length of time commitment needed always scares me off.
But Marcel wanted to be a Hufflepuff and he got sorted into Gryffindor. And honestly I can see now why Slytherin would be a better fit, with the ambition and the cunning (though Ravenclaw would probably work too) But yeah, like you said Hufflepuff was a personality I admired, but just don’t have. I probably would have fit in horribly there and be utterly miserable xD Yeah, JK Rowling's vilification of Slytherins is really so annoying. It’s why I was so sad when elementary school me got Slytherin, I was just like “But I’m not evil!” Taking the quiz until I get the result I wanted was pretty Slytherin of me, though xD
Draco deserved a redemption arc so much more than Snape (if you can even consider his a redemption arc, which is debatable). I’ve always adored Hufflepuff, I still do. My best friend is a Hufflepuff so I often buy goods for both of us. I own some Hufflepuff merch myself as well.
I feel like the Ilvermorny houses are more about what you’d like to do with your magic (like healing, fighting, adventuring, studying) rather than about personality traits. In which case either Pukwudgie or Horned Serpent would work for me ^^. But admittedly I know very little about the Ilvermonry houses. I agree Ilvermorny is a way better name. And like you I was also really interested in Mahoutokoro (and hated the name). Hogwarts is a pretty horrible name too xD. Rowling just isn’t that good in names? xD
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Oh, and if you're into non-Twilight vampire YA series, I know a couple of those, too.
I think Cinder gets more likable later in the series as she gets more stressed out, because she's snarky and funny, especially with Thorne when he's annoying the crap out of her. Kai never really gets better, IMO, but he's balanced out by the other characters. I think if you found the word-building lacking it's because it's explained in way more detail later in the books. I think the first one they just wanted to introduce you to who Cinder is. But with the later books, you learn loads more about Lunar society and their relationship with Earth. Plus, her additional novellas really add depth to the characters, even the villains. I was impressed by her re-interpretations of classic fairy tales, especially Little Red Riding Hood. Perhaps you disliked Cinder because it was so close to the original story of a girl stuck with an abusive stepmother? But the idea she was stuck because of oppressive cyborg laws was interesting.
I know; it's frustrating to listen to 12 hours of book that I could read in like 3ish hours, but I tend to use them as a 'nagara' thing. Like, I have a 25 minute walk to work. While shopping. While sewing. Cleaning. Cooking. Heck, I can even set up the speakers to listen in the shower. So I figure if I'm already going to be doing other stuff anyway, I might as well get a book in as well. The only thing I have trouble with is browsing the Internet and listening. My brain isn't quite wired to read and listen at the same time, especially not an English audiobook and a Japanese text.
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I will say, I'd hate Ravenclaw's common room being far from everything and having so many stairs; I can't get up in the morning and would be late to all my classes. Lucky Hufflepuffs right by the kitchen. But Ravenclaw does have the prettiest common room. I think I'd want to be a Hufflepuff now, but if you asked 11 year-old me, there'd be only Ravenclaw. Studying was my entire life and I wanted to be the best in all my classes. (Slytherin ambition?) Plus I like blue best. I'd *hate* Hufflepuff yellow. Yellow and black is so bumblebee. And why also is Hufflepuff the only one to not have a 'metal' color? Boo. Badgers are cool, though. I do loathe that all official Ravenclaw merch is wrong, though. #1 - It's an eagle, not a raven, and the stupid movie gave Ravenclaws blue/silver! So we can't ever buy anything official that's right. (Have you been to USJ) In a way, Ravenclaw is the sad house. Gryffindor gets Harry fame; Slytherin gets notoriety for the bad boys; Hufflepuff got their Fantastic Beasts movies... More Ravenclaw representation! They should make something with a Slytherin/Ravenclaw pair. With the brains & ambition, they could take over the world!
Draco's so-called redemption in the epilogue was nothing. Congrats, he turned out to not be a total racist. The end. Boo. I think a lot of people wanted a redemption arc for Dudley, too, with him having a magic child and asking Harry for help. Yeah, I don't get why people love Snape. OK, he protected Harry, but that's only because he was creepily obsessed with his mother, even after she made her feelings clear. Plus, there's no excuse for his treatment of the students, even if he's working undercover. One good deed doesn't outweigh a life of being a crappy person.
I think JK Rowling put a lot of her original ideas for Hogwarts into Ilvermorny. She said their house selection process was one she'd first thought up and considered for Hogwarts. Have you read the Ilvermorny back story? hey explain the houses in there. Ilvermorny also has a better school song. I swear, JK was just trying to see how much ridiculousness she could get away with in HP... I like the idea of Mahoutokoro since kids start school way earlier there. I always thought it was kinda dumb to keep wizarding kids home until 11 because they can't practice magic anyway with the Restriction. Plus, their giant flying birds are cool. I'd be pretty mortified by the color-changing robes, though. Like can you imagine having the (I think gold)-colored robes, showing you'd gotten top scores in your classes, only to have them turn back to boring normal if you failed something? My Ravenclaw heart trembles in terror at the idea! I think I'd like the Brazilian school since they focus on Magizoology and the African school because they practice wandless magic. How many times could they've been saved if they knew that? Like "Oh no, my wand is missing/broken/too far away! Can't do anything!" Boo. Hey, maybe I could study one year at each wizarding school around the world. That'd be fun. Maybe not Durmstrang, though, with their Dark Arts infatuation. I guess, though, since you're Dutch. you'd go to Beaxbatons in France. 'Cause I think Hogwarts only takes British kids... At least you'd have a cute uniform! And get to play with giant horses! And supposedly there's a fountain of beauty/healing so you'd be pretty and healthy forever! And you could study Alchemy... Hmm, sounds fun. Now that I think about it, Hogwarts is the least fun. They have a crap History of Magic teacher and a crazy Care of Magical Creatures teacher and Harry keeps bringing deadly events to the school... Yeah, I think I'm good at Ilvermorny. (^_^;)
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I don’t even know what my brain was doing, yes I meant Neville. How did I get to Marcel, I will never know. I’ve only read the first four books in Dutch, I read all the others only in English and usually struggle to even think of the Dutch names, yet somehow now it popped up? Weird. I remember him arguing with the hat for a while and kinda giving up, and feeling like he didn’t belong and should have been a Hufflepuff for much of the first book, but maybe I remember it wrong xD I feel like rather than being convinced he was probably embarrassed by how long everything was taking and gave in. The hat could definitely have bullied young me into Slytherin too for sure xD Having to sit in front of everyone would have been horrible for me, I can’t imagine also having to take on the hat xD
At least it’s better than Slytherin’s being in the Dungeons -_- Like they really took the whole Slytherin = Evil far didn’t she? xD I liked knowing things and looking things up I was interested in, but I hated school. Which honestly still fits Ravenclaw xD School was super boring for me, and felt like a huuuge waste of time, I could have done it so much faster by myself. (Maybe I was kinda arrogant in a Slytherin kind of way, though I never really considered myself to be better than others. Or particularly good in general.) I also like blue best though. I just to really dislike green, but it has grown on me xD Yellow doesn’t look great with my hair either xD The only reason I have a yellow tshirt is because I dyed my hair black once xD Ravenclaw and Slytherin pairs would definitely rule the world! I feel like they have a lot of overlapping traits as well, more so than many of the other houses. Omg yes the blue/silver is so annoying! I have been to USJ and I was so saddened by the lack of hufflepuff/ravenclaw representation. Also that they would not have all four houses for everything in general. I saw some things I really wanted (in Slytherin) but were only in Ravenclaw or only in Gryffindor or only in Hufflepuff. Maybe I just like unpopular things that are only made for one or two houses xD
I wouldn’t even call the epilogue a redemption. He deserved better imo. I love Snape as a character, because he’s interesting and layered, but as a person I hate him. I don’t really care about Dudley either way, but a redemption arc could have been cute.
I really should read up on the other houses, I don’t know anything about them at all xD I kinda gave up on Pottermore rather quickly. My French is horrendous though… Beaubaxtons would be a struggle if only in terms of language xD I really should read up on all the other schools. It’s weird that the African one specializes in wandless magic while in fantastic beasts every american seemed to do wandless magic -_- it annoyed me so much xD
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Ley lines are actually a thing, not just in this book. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ley_line)
I’m definitely into them, or at the very least, I was when I was in high school. I haven’t read them in a while though. I read the house of night series, as well as some of the vampire diaries and probably some stuff I can’t remember as well xD
Yes, the first book felt very much like an introduction, but since I didn’t like the introduced character (Cinder) and the prince guy I just gave up on it. Cinderella is actually one of my favourite fairy tales, so even just sticking to the original should work out for me. I just felt like everything lacked depth, but just reading your comment, that probably changed throughout the series.
Yeah, it might be something I should start doing. Now I just put on random music/youtube videos in the background. Books would work just as well xD
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Oh, I enjoyed the House of Night series, too, though I kinda didn't like Zoey Redbird. I think the series would've been better if each character was only allowed one element. I don't really like characters who are so special and more perfect than even the other special people. I was also disappointed by the evolution of the Twins' relationship, but I did enjoy the Isle of Skye. Have you ever read the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead? That one's pretty good. Although actually I like the sequel Bloodlines series better.
I think the first book focused a bit too much on Earthen society. I also kinda didn't like that they gave away the big secret of the series in the first book. But as I kept reading, I realized there were so many secrets and surprises that gave the story many more complex layers, that maybe it wasn't so bad to find out about Cinder in Book 1. I will say, though, that I still can't forgive the author for Peony's fate, though. That was too cruel.
I'm super lucky because my local US library offers digital loans, so I can get quite a large selection of Ebooks and Audiobooks in English for free. Does your library back home have anything similar? Or I suppose there's Audible if it something you want to do often.
That's weird they changed Neville's name. Like, I get why they had to change Tom Marvolo Riddle around to fit the "I am Lord Voldemort" anagram in different languages, but the other characters make no sense... I'm thinking that if you hate Hogwarts' public sorting hat, you would've died of embarrassment from Ilvermorny's statue ceremony.
Yeah, I read one person's comments about how they were confused as to why the VIPs of the magical community's children were forced to live in a dark, creepy dungeon. You't think they'd want Ravenclaw's position of being the highest. Perhaps you're more Slytherin in your learning in that Ravenclaws like to absorb all information, but you were only interested in information that be interesting/useful to you? Sounds like a Slytherin selective memory thing. I have to like green, though; I was born in May. But I generally like all shades of cool colors. It's lucky Maru and Hika are such nice people, though, since they've slowly started to change my opinion on the colors orange & yellow. I went to USJ and there was basically only Gryffindor & Slytherin stuff there. Hufflepuff's representation may have improved because of Fantastic Beasts... but maybe not since HP @ USJ refuses to acknowledge its existence. You would've believe how crushed I was to find out I wasn't able to buy a Niffler doll when I went there. "We don't have Fantastic Beasts stuff here," the staff told me. I then pointed out Nifflers were in the original texts, too, with Ron winning a prize in Hagrid's class with them and also them being a big reason Hagrid got fired, but they still didn't have them. Boo. They also didn't have Head Girl badges for Ravenclaw. I was extremely upset about that one.
You'd think that a translation spell would exist in the Wizarding World, but then people were surprised when like Dumbledore and Crouch Sr. could speak so many languages, so maybe not. Perhaps since Beauxbatons is a school for many European countries, they actually hold classes in English? It'd explain why all the students were bilingual. Can you imagine poor wizard parents, though, whose children had magical ability but sucked at languages? Or perhaps in those schools, rather than houses, they split by country? Oh, and actually Ilvermorny does teach some classes on wandless magic, so it wouldn't be that out of character for them to use it, especially the super talented ones. Not that they ever explain that in the movies, though.
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I really appreciated that, since they’re already seen as “supernatural” by some people, so at first it’s kinda a mix between “these things are real in this universe” and “these people believe this, but others don’t”
I liked Zoey at first but then less and less as the series went on. I don’t think I ended up finishing it, mostly because my mum has the books at her place and some of them were released after I moved out xD I did mean to read the vampire academy, but I never have.
Maybe I should keep reading then. If I find them somewhere, I don’t really feel like buying them after not liking the first book ^^;
I haven’t been part of a library since I was a minor and it was free xD Audiobooks weren’t even really a thing then. Plus their English collection was very limited as well, so they didn’t have many books I wanted to read anyway. (My mum infected me with her “I prefer reading the original over the translation” lol)
I think besides Harry they changed everyone’s names. I don’t remember what they named most of them though. They kept Fred and George’s first names. I remember being really young and reading George as Gay-or-guh. Then the film got released and I was like: “That’s how you spell George????”
I feel like Ravenclaws studying what they like over what they teach at school is also kind of a well-known stereotype though. School kinda killed my desire to learn though. I used to look into so many things when I was in elementary school (reading “Information books” as they called them at my elementary school, basically small informational books about all kinds of subjects was pretty much my hobby. I liked summarizing them for myself as well). I’m kinda getting back into researching/reading about stuff I’m interested in though. You’re born in May??? Me too!!! (I was pretty sad May’s birthstone was green as a child xD but then there are so many different birthstones for each month/starsign it turned out okay) Now I do like green though. Blue has been my favourite forever, and I like purples as well, as well as pinks, recently. And depending on the hue all colours can be pretty nice.
I remember seeing this adorable bracelet at USJ and they only had Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Same for a headband I thought was adorable. Fantastic beast was only just in cinemas when I went so I doubt it had much influence at that point. I don’t think they had head girl badges for any house. I asked for them, but they said they only had head boy badges T-T I just settled for a prefect one, but them just ignoring head girls altogether felt really weird and slightly sexist. The girl working at the store was super apologetic about it too, said she would have liked one herself as well xD
Can you imagine failing all your classes just because you don’t speak the language? In that sense children of immigrants are really amazing, aren’t they? I think for the bilingual part, either Rowling just didn’t think about it or she just went with how most European countries are pretty good at English as a whole… (But maybe I’m biased since the Netherlands is one of the best-ranked worldwide, at least it was years ago).
I feel like I barely saw any wands in the fantastic beast films, so even some classes wouldn’t really explain much. I felt like the films pretty much broke several rules from HP so it kinda annoyed me lol.
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I didn't find House of Night until after it had been finished. It was left behind by a teacher moving back home. One thing I miss from home is browsing used book stores for new favorites. The meager English sections they have here are usually disappointing. But I did find my favorite author by browsing a random English shop in Takadanobaba, so there is that. I imagine Iwate doesn't have many foreign language bookstore options. Recently I've been getting into Japanese "comic essays" a lot. They feel more mature than straight-up comics, but are easier than novels. There's one by a Swedish girl I like, writing about her culture shocks in Japan. I enjoy it because sometimes I forget the things that used to shock me. ^^; But yeah, it totally makes sense to not shell out money for a series you're not sure you'll like. Especially with the rise of e-books, everything's gotten more expensive.
Wait, what? Libraries cost money for adults in the Netherlands?! Crazy... did you read the classic books in their native languages, too? Like The Count of Monte Cristo and Faust and all that? I wanted to study French because I loved The 3 Musketeers so much, but sadly my school had no French classes and I had to go with Japanese.
That is so dumb. I hate it when they change names. It's not that hard to learn names. If we can learn Saoirse Ronan Timothee Chalamet, and even "Hermione," we can learn non-European ones, too. Have you ever seen English Doraemon? Ridiculous; all the names changed and they even edited breakfast scenes to have pancakes and forks because God forbid children see people eating rice with chopsticks for breakfast!
I dunno. I feel like Ravenclaws study school stuff because all knowledge is good, but they finish up early and then also look up what they want. Like we did a Romeo & Juliet unit in class, but I hate tragic romance stories so I went and read A Midsummer Night's Dream after that, even though it wasn't required. Or any assigned reading, really. I'd get through it in like a day, then spend the rest of the month reading books I liked. (My classmates were SUCH slow readers...) Seems like school didn't entirely kill your curiosity, though, if you wanted to study Japanese ^^
I was born in May; early May, making me a Taurus. I think that's why I understand Yoko & Tacchon so well. Which makes it weird I don't really like Yamada. Hmm. Are you a Taurus or a Gemini? I don't suppose you'd know your rising sign either, huh? My grandmother was super into astrology and kinda passed it on to me. I don't really look into the day-to-day fortune stuff, but it's fun to see if people's personalities match. I have an Earth sign with an Air sign, which means I have wanderlust but still want to stay in one place... So confusing. I wonder, though; did Non-chan influence your pink preference?
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It actually kinda happened to my friend. She studied abroad in Germany and struggled to keep up in regular classes (no surprise) but was infuriated to fail her English class because the teacher insisted on British English only. I dunno what's happening, but a lot of new wizarding schools have been popping up recently. Not sure if they're fan creations or canon, though. Ones in Russia and India make sense, with their populations. I wonder why she chose Japan over China for the first Asian school. Probably because of political tension, but I bet Chinese readers were infuriated over that one. I also bet she put the school in France because they're notoriously anti-English and people would've wondered if all Europeans went to Hogwarts. I wonder if the Italians got mad, though. I wonder where they sent their kids... Probably Durmstrang because better a school of Dark Arts than a French one :P
I'm pretty sure the Netherlands is still in the top 3 for English. It was always lumped with Scandinavia, so much so I started thinking you guys were a Scandinavian country, too. lol. I think Finns are a bit shy about their English, though. Danes and Norwegians are super outgoing. I've never met a Swede or an Icelander, so I can't comment on them. I did meet a Dutch boy in Osaka once, though. He was really nice, but his accent was so good it kept driving me crazy I couldn't tell where he was from.
Yeah, I pretty much only like the 1st FB movie because it focuses on Newt and the actual beasts. I don't really care about the Grindlewald story. I didn't really care much for Tina, either, TBH. I would've been totally cool with a movie just about Newt globe-hopping and gathering in fo for his book. Also, it kinda ruined the magic of HP to have American accents in the movie. And the term No-Maj is terrible. Wait, I think I just realized why I don't like Tina; Queenie and Jacob at least had New York accents but hers was just bland American with some NYC thrown in. But Newt is possibly my favorite male character in the entire HP universe, so I'll suffer through the others.
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Oh that could definitely be a thing! Maybe I should go back after all, see if it has changed.
My school was British English only as well. Is it really that big of a difference? Pronunciation sure, but for written English, other than some words I would think it wouldn’t be enough of a difference to actually fail. But then again maybe they were very like “Use only the words you learned in our textbook and no other words allowed.” My first English teacher was like that, and it was awful. I had no idea which books I remembered from the textbook and which from outside school. Even though it was correct, it wasn’t the word from the book so it was marked wrong -_-
I bet she picked Japan because Japan was gaining a lot of popularity around that time in pop-culture. I don’t think she thought about stuff that deeply to be honest. I mean, there are enough plotholes in Harry Potter xD
I didn’t know we often got grouped with Scandinavia =O With Germany, for sure, Belgium and Luxembourg as well, but Scandinavia I didn’t know. I had a Swedish penpal in junior high school, we wrote in english. She seemed to write well enough at that time, but we were both 13 and writing in a second language, so I’m sure our letters were full of mistakes. There are quite a lot of Dutch people in Japan, I think (considering we’re such a small country) especially the bigger cities, and around Nagasaki/Fukuoka (since my university had ties to the one in Nagasaki, and exchange programs with both Nagasaki and Fukuoka). I always get mistaken for British if I go to the UK, I look stereotypically English/Irish as well, so that helps. But as far as I know I don’t have any English blood whatsoever. My Grandma on my dads side was a quarter German and a quarter Italian or something, according to my mum, but we were never close with my dad's family, so I’m not sure.
I liked the first film, but I didn’ really care for the second either. And I feel like they messed with some of the canon stuff and that just bothered me a lot. (The stuff with Albus’ brother and such) I’d be so for a film just following NEWT and Magical beasts. That’s what I originally hoped it would be. NEWT was fun, and I appreciated Queenie and Jacob as characters, but like you Tina was kinda boring? There’s just nothing special or interesting about her character at all. At least the others had personalities.
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There's a pretty distinct difference in our word choices and slight differences in our grammar, I'd say. It's always weird to hear 'at the weekend'. I've found myself quite confused with British friends over the years because, while they're often exposed to our English through movies, we don't get as much of British English. I mean, even Harry Potter got edited so 95% of the 'British-isms' were taken out so American kids could understand; imagine our shock trying to follow the movies. I often find in conversations, too, that Brits will change their vocab choice if speaking with mostly Americans, for comprehension purposes. There's a Youtuber called "Lost in the Pond" who highlights the differences between British and American language and culture who's pretty interesting. Perhaps your English teachers' English wasn't actually good enough to be able to judge the differences in book and non-book words? It happens a lot in Japan.
Was Japan popular then? No one told my corner of the world, since all of us in Japanese class were mocked for it. (Followed, of course, by 'write my name in Japanese!')
No one thinks you're geographically a Scandinavian country, but when ranking the best English in Europe, it's always Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and you guys. My Danish friend said it's because you guys all have such small populations with hard languages to learn that everyone has to learn English or you'd be totally isolated from the world. (And have a very small pool fo media to view). Kind of like Japan does to itself, I guess. Gotta keep those 声優 & translators in a job somehow, I guess.
I'm jealous you had a penpal. I always wanted one, but never really had one. Sometimes I'll do Postcrossing, though; have you heard of it? I adore handwritten letters. Well, I guess I kinda had penpals in my TESOL program at uni; we had an assignment to write exchange journals to the Korean exchange students on campus, but 2/3 of my penpals thought it was a pain and just wanted to meet up and talk :P But I will say: I don't recommend becoming famous in Korea. Celebs must have the most miserable life. I was only semi-famous with one tiny group and it was creepy. Apparently I wrote fun, interesting letters and my classmates all sucked because all the exchange students, even ones I didn't know, would be coming up (knowing my name!) and wanting to talk. Or begging me to sit with them at lunch. Or hanging out dorm windows to watch when I came to visit a penpal. (Weird...) Can't even imagine the hell Kpop stars go through... Do you still keep up with your Swedish friend?
I guess it makes sense for a lot of Dutch people to be in Nagasaki; didn't it used to be a big Dutch trading port ages ago? Like one of the few that didn't get shut down when Japan went on Bakufu lockdown? I'm surprised you have so many countries in your heritage, though; I thought Europe pretty much kept to itself, and it was us American mutts who shuffled everything all together :P I get confused for Russian a lot, which is weird. Zero Russian in me, and when I asked a Russian person, they don't think I look Russian at all. So I think it's just Japanese people being rude, because "Are you Russian?" is often code for "Do you work in the red light district?"
Was it definitely established Aurelius(?) is a Dumbledore, though? I thought it was still up in the air, and Grindelwald lies a lot. It's gonna be weird having Johnny Depp recast, too. I also didn't really like being introduced to Lita Lestrange only to have her ripped away in the same movie. That's just mean. Usually they let us get 2~3 books attached before murdering people off. Also weird how Dumbledore went from Jude Law to super old in just a few years. But the movie definitely needs more creatures and less war. Perhaps with WWII coming up, they'll show Newt commanding a squadron of dragons again? But we already got dragons in HP, so...
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Oh that’s interesting, I was pretty disappointed by the Percy Jackson series (like, I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t really care much about it either) and always assumed it was because I was so familiar with the myths. Maybe I just read them too late? I read them a few years ago, well after I moved to Japan, so I wasn’t quite in the target demographic age wise. I never tried the Magnus Chase ones, since I didn’t like Percy Jackson that much.
Yes, I loved browsing bookstores, though admittedly the English section in the Netherlands was relatively small too. (But here it’s non-existent) I especially miss being able to tell from the cover if I’d probably like a book. I didn’t realize how much you can tell from cover design just because they’re also similar. With Japanese books I have no idea ^^;
Yup libraries cost money. I was so happy the Japanese libraries are free. I read English classics in English. I don’t think I’ve read many other classics, though I’d usually go for the French version. I’ve read some Latin/Ancient Greek texts for school though. That counts as classics, right? xD I’ve read some simple books in French and German, but I was/am pretty bad at languages and never got further than the easiest stuff.
Yeah, I hate it when they change stuff. It’s the same with Pokemon. My friends got me into Pokemon Go, but for some reason my pokemon go is in English while theirs is, of course, in Japanese, and I am so lost when they mention pokemon. It’s getting better, but we often have the resort to descriptions/ just showing what we’re talking about. Pokemon also changed riceballs into sandwiches and such. I’ve actually never seen Doraemon at all xD
We had to read books for English but we could choose whatever we wanted. For Dutch we had a reading list, and I hated every single book they forced me to read, so that was a new experience for me, since I loved reading. I never imagined books could be so horrible. Maybe I’m just not made for literature. My classmates were so slow with literally everything xD I could have gone through our textbooks so much faster if I had been alone ^^;;
School killed my love for school, but not my curiosity. I remember every time I’d move to a new school I’d think “Well, now I’ll finally get to actually learn something.” This only happened in University and even then it wasn’t as much as I would have liked. School is great in theory, but it always disappointed in practice.
I’m born in late May, the 24th, so I’m just barely a Gemini. With a Cancer moon and Scorpio rising. Which is pretty accurate for the most part, I think. I dabbled a bit in basic astrology, though I haven’t gotten that deep into it yet. I know most of my planets(?) but haven’t gotten around to learning about houses and such yet. Nah, I loved pink since well before I ever even learned about Non-chan. I used to have a lot of purples and pinks as well as blues (of course). Even now I really like them, though blue is still my favourite. When my brother was really young his favourite colour was pink while mine was blue (Once he got into elementary school my mum shifted his a bit more to the red side, now he’d probably say it’s always been red. She was afraid he’d get bullied -_-)
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I'm surprised the English section is so small there if so many speak English. Are your translators super fast? My Danish friend said he got fed up waiting for Harry Potter to be released in Danish and just read it in English. Yeah; Japanese books can be weird. Even if you liked it in the beginning, a sucky end can sneak up on you. I avoid comics (too much creepy stuff) but I enjoy comic essays. Like 北欧女子オーサが見つけた日本の不思議, ダーリンは外国人、日本人の知らない日本語. Real people's stories, illustrated in easier language so my brain doesn't implode.
That's weird; do you pay high taxes? If so, I don't see why libraries should cost; or are they cheap? I'm jealous of your Latin. I finished the Raven Cycle this week and it was annoying having to look up translations of things the author didn't bother with. Maybe she went to a rich people school where they taught Latin, but it's not standard for most Americans. I also started Heartless. It's so funny; I'm only 25% through, but I keep thinking that Yutti would make a good Jest and Hika a good Knave, lol.
I didn't know Pokemon Go was still a thing. No one's talked about it around here for a while. Isn't it hard to play up there, since the number of monsters is based on population? I only have the most basic knowledge of Pokemon, but the kids are always confused when I mention Charmander, Snorlax, or Jigglypuff. I actually bought an anthology of Doraemon because the kids reference it so much. Haven't read it yet, but I will say, my favorite panel is Doraemon watching Nobita be a doofus and like, "アホか、キミは". Ha. I need to blow that up for inside the classroom :P
Were there any kids reading weirdo English books? We had assigned books but also needed to get 'free reading points.' It sucked for me because they based it on level and I had to read uni-level stuff at 12 years old. Jane Eyre is NOT meant for children. But I know how you feel about the required reading. I know they're important social commentary, but I was NOT happy to read Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm. I imagine the pool of Dutch authors would be smaller, though. Did they make you guys read other European stuff in Dutch? French poetry or Shakespeare and whatnot? Being in class with slow people sucks. Math was the worst. In English you can quietly read ahead, but math you were stuck doing the same problems for a week because the rest of the class didn't grasp a concept you got on Day 1. (I usually snuck a book under my desk and ignored the other 4 repetitive days.) I guess that's why it's nice Japan has schools separated by level, despite their insane testing. It's also insane how many will choose to be the worst in a higher-rated school and struggle for 3 years because of the prestige of the name rather than drop a level and be comfortable.
Do Dutch people homeschool? You might've liked that. Doing 7 hours of schoolwork in 4 and having the rest of the day free. You can also study to your level and your interests.
I suppose your astro makes you a curious person! Perhaps you would be a Ravenclaw. I'm not sure mine fits (Taurus with Aquarius rising), since it says I love to be surrounded by people. Um... no? I'm 80% hermit. Would be 100% if I were independently wealthy :P I guess it makes sense with your mom changing your brother's favorite color. I see it a lot here, too. Little boys liking pinks and purples, only to have them change in the 2nd-3rd year of school. Parents are really pushy about their ランドセル, too. I've seen some kids with bags I *know* they didn't choose. The poor boys are still limited to navy & black, but at least the girls are getting more colorful. Feel bad for any girl who wants black or navy, though.
I'm not sure if this applies to you because I don't know what sets your nerves off, but is it inflammation? I've been reading a lot of people with different conditions having success with anti-inflammatory food choices. Just thought I'd mention it as an idea because my pain has been flaring up lately, and it was suggested to me.
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