"But worry not, I emerged triumphant in the end. If by triumphant you mean shirtless"

The title is an awesome quote from an epic Hetalia fanfic. No, it's not as dirty as the quote makes it seem.

K, I've decided what course I'm doing for uni. I'm definite on it, now. Naturally, it involves Japanese. I'm also wanting to learn Italian. 'Cuz Italian is cool.
I wasn't into learning languages until last year. Oh, how things change. Don't get me wrong, I've loved Japanese culture for a few years now. I love their games. I love their television. I love their music. I just never felt the need to learn the language. Then, after watching Death Note, I discovered the band ナイトメア。Or Naitomea. Which is really just the Japanese approximation of the word nightmare. Gotta love all the ways of reading Japanese katakana.
Anyway, I was listening to them and absolutely adoring Yomi's vocals. He is very emotional with his singing. So I looked up a translation of the lyrics. But... it wasn't the same. I mean, the translations made sense and all, but it's not quite like hearing it for yourself. I realised then that I wanted to hear the song in its mothertongue. I didn't want a translation. I wanted to hear how it was written, the way it was supposed to be heard. I wanted to understand the vocalists intent rather than just read a translation that lacked the kind of emotion you could hear in the song itself.

That, my friends, is why I decided to learn Japanese. To listen to one band. Is this sad? Possibly. But it's kinda maybe changed my life (insert more corny phrases here). I mean, I ended up really loving the language. I soon came to appreciate the differences between English and Japanese; how rounded the language sounds in comparison, how simple it is grammatically, how complex the formalities are and just how different it is. And once you start really researching it, you can see how the culture is reflected in the language as well. It's interesting. It's fun. I've developed a love for the language, the history behind it, the country itself, the people, everything. Really, the language barrier is pretty bad. You miss out on so, so much by speaking only one language.

So I decided, hey, I may as well use this to my advantage. What can I do with Japanese? Well, I love video games and anime. Could I... I don't know... translate them?

Yes. Yes, I most certainly could.

It was only recently I decided I should do Italian. I watched the film The Bicycle Thief earlier this year and decided that this language sounded really, really cool. I ended up looking up plenty of languages, just to see how they all sound. I came back to Italian in the end though. Screw what everyone else says, French isn't the language of love. Italian is. It's beautiful, mmkay? I could talk for hours about what that language does to me. I adore it. Oh hay, you speak Italian? Excuse me while I take off my clothes.
I guess I'm also learning it so I can go to Italy and sample the pizza and pasta there. Viva Italia! :3

This has all lead to me looking up countries in general. I started watching Hetalia when I got an interest in countries, and that certainly jump-started things. I ended up learning some (slightly modified. Yeah, slightly...) world history through humour. Trust me, that's the best way to learn ^^. After watching each episode I'd look up the references. I started reading the webcomic as well. Eventually I started just outright looking up the countries online regardless of whether Hetalia had touched on said country and its history. I'm slowly but surely gaining knowledge on all sorts of world cultures, languages and history, for no reason other than my own interest.

Random fact: I've always hated flags, you know? They seem pointless and... I don't know why I dislike them. I just do. These days I do enjoy looking up the flags of each country and learning about what they represent, though.
And to think, all this random culture-immersion-stuff came from me listening to one band. xD

In conclusion, I am now going to study Japanese and Italian. And I have completely faith in myself with this. I'll get through, because I'm studying things that I enjoy. I will emerge triumphant in my language studies. Hopefully I will emerge with my shirt still firmly placed over my torso, though.

You know, watching Eurovision this year isn't really linked with all that. My good friend Tuo is very much in love with the show, and I am very glad I followed his lead. It also helps that the Hetalia fandom also appreciates this show. That said... I'm mostly watching now for the unintentional double entendre's that I kept hearing. Israel's entry for Eurovision this year was one of the more obvious ones. Honestly, the lyrics can be taken in a rather... awkward way.

♪Ding dong, say no more
I hear silent prayers
And it's making me high and fly
I know where to go and I'm coming now

See what I mean? I don't know how to take that. That last line... good lord, woman, keep it in your pants please. ^^

Yay Countries and Nationalities and Stuff

Me: I want to get that DNA check where they tell you what nationalities you are. Like, 20% European and stuff.
Dad: We’d be more than 20%
Me: That’s not the point. I bet there’s like, no Asian background in me… That sucks.
Dad: A lot of people are surprised by what they find out. Anyway, I’m willing to bet there would be some Asian in us, actually. Based on where Hungary is I’d say there’s a good chance there was some interbreeding between our family and-
Me: Shhh you’re talking too much. Heh, alright, how much Samoan would there be in us?
Dad: *Laughs* Oh, oh, I hope there’s plenty. 20% would do. So then I could park in wheelie places and be all “I can’t help it, I’m Samoan”
Me: Oh God, you’re just teasing Mum. That is hilarious.
Dad: I can’t help it. It’s too easy.

We aren’t trying to be mean to those of Samoan backgrounds. We're making fun of the broad generalisations my mother makes (I hope this is not in bad taste, being Mothers Day. I adore my Mum, truly. She does have some bad traits though. Like all of us, I guess). My Mum can be kind of… racist. She claims she isn’t, but she totally is. And if you see someone in a wheelie parking spot, her first reaction is to say “I bet the driver is Samoan”.

She has a tendency to say these things really, really loudly. It’s… embarrassing. At the ANZAC day parade she and my aunts were talking about how they shouldn’t have the Vietnamese marching to commemorate the Vietnam War. It’s so difficult not to snap at her. At all of them.

It angers me to no end. How… ignorant can you be?

They all seem to be annoyed at my love of Japan. I have had many hints dropped about how Asian languages are so weird and difficult or You should learn a European language so you can travel there. It’s a beautiful continent or, the greatest one of all, French is such a beautiful language, you know. We'd be so proud if you learned how to speak it.

I wonder if they’ve forgotten how I really, really don’t like the French language...

I don’t think I’ll ever understand them. Or vice versa. But that’s okay.

I love Japan. I love the sound of the language and I love their culture. A lot of it is very cutesy and child-like. Not everything, of course (there’s going to be variation everywhere you go) but Japan is a lot more child-like than anywhere else in the world. And you know, there’s anime. Win. Apparently anime was created when cartoonists in Japan were mimicking American cartoons. Like Bambi. They thought “oh, the Western countries like large eyes” and that’s how it all started. The more you know~ Their modern-day culture is like Western culture, but warped. It's so trippy. x3 I love it. Their older culture is really interesting as well, though. I like Shinto and their temples, and I love their folk tales. A lot of the tales are quite beautiful, actually. Not as beautiful as the Sakura trees. <3

What else do I love… I love Italy. For the food and the generally laid-back attitude. I’m ready for my pizza, pasta and siesta’s now, please. :3 Not to mention the art and language. Screw French, the language of love is definitely Italian. Japanese and Italian are the only two languages that make me want to melt, you know. Gah, I adore them both.

Spain isn’t my thing. It’s more of a favourite with Phantomess and Clearly Unfocused. However, I will admit that Spain has the most amazing festivals. La Tomatina FTW. Oh, and Spanish guitar. Spain is also where the siesta originated from. Whoop whoop :3 I should read up on Spain a bit more...

Awesomeness was created in Prussia (this isn’t just a Hetalia reference, btw. Even before the show, I’ve always loved it). I don’t care that it doesn’t exist anymore, Prussia will always be epic. Have you seen their flag? It’s freaking cool. The Teutonic Knights were surprisingly awesome as well.

Canada. ‘Nuff said.

I just like Greece for the history and art. And food. And laid-back-ness. And the Greek Gods. I love how human their Gods are. I think it’s brilliant. Okay, so maybe I love everything to do with Greece. Moving on.

I’ve always adored England. I was in love with it before my obsession with Japan, even. I love the flag of the UK as well… Anyway. England just is awesome. Epic at soccer/football/whatever, the head of the Punk movement and master of all epic accents. Also, it’s not just Punk; English music has always been a favourite of mine.

Perhaps this is because of my own background… but I do love Germany. I like the language. It doesn’t all sound angry. Sometimes you sound furious, sometimes it’s slightly annoyed, sometimes you just sound indifferent. See? It varies! Eheheh, jokes aside, I really do like it. I like German music. Especially hard rock. They do epic rock music. And who doesn’t like lederhosen? Oh wow, okay, so maybe my love of Germany really is just a big in-joke to me because of my heritage. Either way, it’s a fond joke. I really do love the place. :3
No one makes wurst better than Germany. I hate sausages usually. Except German ones. Oh, and they make the best gingerbread~

I guess I should add Australia to this. Let’s face it, without the whole ‘multicultural’ thing my country has going, I probably wouldn’t have cared about other countries so much. I do love our food. Hot meat pies are lovely, and I can eat my vegemite with a spoon. Lamingtons are also pretty nice. And our animals are epic.
The Koala: cuddly on the surface, pretty dangerous underneath it all.
The Platypus: weirdness personified
The Kangaroo: Boing boing boing boing *kick*
The Wombat: Zzzzzz
Kookaburra: They laugh a lot. I used to take it personally as a kid, like they were laughing at me specifically.
The Emu: These things are terrifying oh my God asdfghjkl

Australia is one of the few (only?) places in the world where we eat the animals on the Coat of Arms. Not that I know many people that have eaten kangaroo or emu, but still. They have been eaten before, obviously. And the motto on the CoA is just “AUSTRALIA”. No over the top saying, no latin or anything. Just “AUSTRALIA”.

We’re just that epic.