Valhalla@Pear Icelandic is a fantastic language, and its history is fascinating; the language we refer to as Old Norse was actually Old Icelandic, and the language has changed little since.
I used Icelandic Online when I studied, and I love this site because it doesn’t use any language as a middle ground; images, audio clips, and videos teach you words through context. It works so well that the day after, I was able to recognize Icelandic numbers in an unrelated song.
I sure hope you have the opportunity to study it too!
@CyanWes Finally, my long lost twin! We share a love of rock music and language learning. Languages remind me of speedrunning in a sense; they both focus on self-improvement through repetition and community. I think Japanese has one of the coolest writing systems, and ASL just seems fun to “speak”! At the moment, I’m in a similar boat with trying to balance school and languages; These general education classes suck. Eventually, it will open up, as a Bachelor’s in linguistics requires 2nd-level proficiency in two languages to graduate.
You’ll 100% get your degree in linguistics because you’re awesome too! Also, feel free to throw me some of your projects, I’d love to see the things you create.
Oh, and thank you for the good luck!
@SioN Oh yeah, English sucks. I swear it every other language is more intuitive than it.
Language learning is my biggest hobby; I’m self-taught in Korean and Chinese, with lingering bits of knowledge in French, Thai, and Icelandic. This hobby has since evolved into an academic discipline, and I’m working towards a degree in linguistics. One of my biggest goals is to speak and learn these languages in their native countries.
Aside from that, I love music and listen to a ton of genres: witch house, chillstep, dark, you name it. I’m also looking to restart my writing and game dev hobbies during the coming NaNoWriMos this year; I specialize in horror, and I need to create these ideas before they eat me alive.
Yes.
A few years ago, video games stopped providing me any sense of joy. I was tired of micro transactions and half-assed, triple-a titles. Pokémon Sword and Shield taught me that the games from my childhood were long gone. I wasn’t interested in new releases; gaming conventions were as valuable to me as TV static to a broadcast network. I sold my gaming PC, Switch, and the multitude of other consoles I owned. I shifted my life around: enrolled in college, met some people, improved my mental health.
Now, I play games in a speedrun context, and I stick to games that remind me of a time when gaming was enjoyable: old MC maps, retro diner-dash likes, emulated games, old web games with their new mobile ports. I design games too, challenging board and card games with horror themes—games I want to play. I watch gaming content within these same veins(though, I am quickly growing tired of YouTube and Twitch). Another life change will pause my gaming, and I may not pick up the hobby again.
TLDR; Yeah, I can see myself quitting gaming. Retro games are old and I’m not a kid anymore. The hobby isn’t my main hobby, and I have no desire to buy any consoles. As life picks up, gaming pauses for insanely long periods of time, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I stopped completely.
I’m semi-new to speedrunning; used to speedrun MC Java meme categories, but never submitted any times. I’m a huge fan of retro collect-a-thons and food games—things that remind me of my childhood. iOS is currently my main platform, though I am looking into Pico-8. When I’m not speedrunning, I’m either learning a new language or listening to music.
Nice to meet you all. 👋
