(no subject)

[lls_mutant]

Random questions and comments:

1.) When I get to my goal weight, I am so going over to ThinkGeek and going on a t-shirt buying spree. There are too many awesome ones over there.

2.) Does anyone know an inexpensive way to learn a not-commonly-taught-in-America language? (I'm looking for Pashto.) I don't need to be fluent, but I'd like to pick up some phrases for a book I'm writing, and learn a bit about just how to read it. In a vaguely related question, does anyone have any recommendations for good non-fiction books on Afghanistan? Ones they've read and found excellent? The more recent, the better.

3.) I know I have several law-types on my list; when does something stop being a pop-culture reference and start owing royalties? The specific example is that I have a character who very much wants a light saber. I can see this being a very off-handed comment, but I also would love to hand him something similar, although it wouldn't actually be a light saber- different colors, construction, and no funky noises, etc.

4.) I posted Part 4 of Not Where I Belong the other day. I'm having way too much fun with this fic. I think I also need to post A Lot to Live Up To at bsg_shadows. Maybe tomorrow.

5.) Must also do recipes tomorrow, but must sleep tonight. I had a nasty GI bug on Thursday. It was a 24 hour thing, but it wiped me out. :P

Have a good night!

Comments

[snegurochka_lee]

On #2, you might check the local universities. If it's too much trouble to take an actual class (and it probably would be -- official enrollment, tuition, etc), you might be able to get an instructor (especially a lower-ranked non-official-professor) to give you some lessons on the side for a few bucks. Or, even cheaper, see if they can recommend a student tutor for you. Students are always broke. :) There might be an organization for students from the region who, even if they don't formally study the language, speak it and would help you out in exchange for beer or something. :)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Oooh, a student tutor would be PERFECT! Because then I can just ask them my specific questions an pick up the phrases I would want/need. Brilliant- thank you!!!!!

[kappamaki33.livejournal.com]

#3, with the caveat that this is in no way, shape, or form actual legal advice since I'm not certified to give it yet, and you're not my client, I'm pretty sure you don't have a problem. The other nice thing is, publishers are the most risk-averse entities ever when it comes to infringement, so if there's even the chance of a problem, they'll just ask you to change it at the editing stage.

#2, besides the basic phrasebook approach, watching TV shows and movies in the foreign language is usually fun. Back when I sort of remembered Spanish, I used to watch telenovelas and Spanish-language news reports on occasion, and though I wouldn't pick up all of it by any means, I enjoyed it and got something out of it. Plus, you get some pop culture exposure simultaneous with language exposure. I'm sure there's some Pashtu TV on YouTube. But that might not be as helpful to you, since you're going more for the written rather than spoken language...

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Thanks :) I figure I can't get real legal advice yet anyway, but I don't want to get stuck on an idea and not be able to go with it. I kind of figure you're at least allowed to mention certain things, but I'm never sure where the line is.

TV shows would be cool, but my aural comprehension has never been great. The person above suggested a student tutor. We have a university right near by. That might be the perfect way to go about it....

Thanks!!!

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk. This is pretty much the book about the colonialist history of central Asia in general, Afghanistan in particular.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Thanks muchly! I shall be seeing if my library has it tomorrow! :)

[trovia.livejournal.com]

You know multilingual, right? It's the comm where you go if you need a translation. Maybe the guys there would also be able to point you to good websites, or give you a book rec. The same might be true for little_details which I believe has more followers.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Oooooooooooooooooooooooh- THANKS!!! I didn't know that!!!!

You rock!!!

[trovia.livejournal.com]

Hee! :D

[sambethe.livejournal.com]

I agree with Lee's assessment on finding a student or native speaker, esp for your purposes. I'd probably recommend avoiding any formal training disks (like Pimsler or Rosetta Stone), as they will probably be too slow for what you need and also teach you very formal ways of speaking and phrasing, which may not help you depending on what you are writing.

If the local university's language department doesn't turn anything up, there is always Craigslist or finding a local Afghani community group. When I've needed to pick up something semi-quickly and in a targeted manner, like for short travel stints, I've almost always managed to find a local tutor that way.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Good point about the formality of speech- thanks! I was planning on avoiding the disks at this point, anyway, because I'm not really looking to become fluent. (And I'm not looking to spend much money.)

Thanks so much!

[kappamaki33.livejournal.com]

I saw a review of a program on insurgents in Afghanistan that's supposed to be airing on PBS soon, and thought it might be something that would be useful/of interest to you:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/arts/television/23behind.html?scp=1&sq=taliban%20PBS&st=cse