I will try to join a scanlation group if ever I pass the JLPT N1 in the future  

I'm pretty sure you'd only need a demonstrable reading and writing ability for volunteer scanlating. I got myself a real* job translating from Japanese to English just by posting a profile in Japanese to a Japanese freelancing website--although I guess I do have a minor in Japanese, now that I think about it. Also now that I think about it, not all manga have furigana, which means that you'd need some serious kanji reading ability... Hmm, maybe N1 certification really should be a first step. Depends on your methods, I guess.

*Pay by the character, sometimes very hectic, but real

@joanie I've been studying Japanese for five years now, the first three of which were through my university. I became so obsessed with studying Japanese, I nearly failed to get my main degree, in computer science...    Now, I'm going to hide this next part in case somebody I know is watching.

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I loosely remember reading various things of indication in the Forbidden Love and Contract Marriage discussion threads, and it reminds me how I ignored a majority of them because I did not want to happen upon potential spoilers for the said games. I shall sneak back there to read them when I have time, or I'll forget... I'll probably forget as soon as I submit this.

Ah, computer science. I remember joining that class a couple weeks after its start in high school because I thought that taking BCIS was stupid and unproductive for me. Then the comp sci teacher suddenly quit, we had a sub for a few months, and then the new teacher was very lax and just let me paint in the classroom and read and draw manga every day. =w=;;; Those were the days. Maybe if I actually done something more structural, be it in class or on my own, I'd have considered majoring in that. Oh, well. My mind is nearly empty when it comes to those things~ Then there's my sib, who loved those classes.


@ Joanie~
Yeah, I read all of those books because of my sib's urging. I know that it was because of LotR that my sib was fluent in Elvish and got me into reading C.S. Lewis' books (as Lewis was Tolkien's friend) when I was really young.

The main hurdle in Latin was getting through the technical stuff. That method makes it somewhat easier, in my opinion, than learning other conversational languages because non-Latin teachers usually start with simple phrases without teaching the reasons why words are that way. After that, it's pretty much the same and formulaic, but, like any other language, you need a vast vocabulary to be versatile. The Latin program in our area is dead, now, so there is no way to pursue it unless I continue with self-teaching, take online courses, or move to a state or country that offers Latin at all. It's disappointing to think how I was the only Latin student at my level in the district, and only the private schools really keep Latin in areas saturated by people learning Spanish instead. My Latin teacher retired the year I graduated, and I heard that lower level online Latin students do pretty badly~

Even though I like reading and writing, I am way too casual to keep up with professional writing. I'd love to do editing, but that still requires majoring in something along the lines of English. Another major reason why I probably won't stand being an English major is because I am highly mysophobic, and, well... I'll cry, vomit, have a panic attack, or faint in a library, or after touching anything with tape.

I am glad that my OCD is not as bad as Howie Mandel's in some ways, but the detrimental impact on my life is enough that many options are psychologically improbable for me to tolerate. Technology is a cleaner retreat for me, but I really feel like I'll become a recluse if I do that. It's also a significant problem while being an art major, as well. My mother keeps telling me to do journalism or something, but I am perpetually in a grey zone on what I should really focus on. Art, of course, is the subject I have never stopped doing, but I am sure that I would starve with that profession.

I'm late for everything~~

Shortly after this conversation began I had a great discussion with a teacher about Latin, since she had also taken Latin in high school. She didn't think that schools around here even taught Latin anymore. I think that she was trying to manipulate me into thinking about the English path, as she keeps going on about how well I write and think critically. She suggested that I take a Journalism class to test the waters, since life is long and all that jazz. I'm really glad because it looks like I can keep going to classes, now. It's crazy how up and down the news I get is.


Being a digital artist has its pros and cons, especially when my style vastly differs when you compare my digital art with my traditional and my manga stuff with my realism. In my watercolor class, we were talking about mental states for creativity and how commissions tend to trap you in one mindset. Like, if you're given several orders to create something in one style or subject matter, you may lose that creative spark that let the pieces in the beginning seem fanciful and lively. I have never been that into commissions, though, because I like doing what just comes to me and doing my own stories. The only time I have ever done commissions were for people in real life and one instance of a 10000 kiriban a long time ago. But commissions, of course, are not all that digital entails. I'd really need some sort of base of support, as I am terrible at uploading actual completed works, even if I do complete them. There are people who know me for my particular way of sketching for concept designs, but all the places I go are rather "small" niches.

Digital is also not ideal at the moment, as my laptop is still unable to work and I must share computers. But now that I get to use a screen that is rather huge, I really want to do more. My mom, however, is constantly asking me why I'm out here when school is not happening. They all seem to think that my laptop is working. I'm more accustomed to sitting in isolation throughout days and and nights while drawing and not having people watching me make sketches composed of nudes, as well. XD;;


The Hobbit~! I watched The Desolation of Smaug a few days ago, and it had more of an impact on me than the first Hobbit movie. Since it had been YEARS since I had read The Hobbit, somehow it feels as though the movies added lots of background from all the other character timelines to make it more interesting. But you should read The Hobbit first, if you are uneasy getting into the thickness of LotR. The Hobbit was more of a children's story, so it is leagues easier to understand going in. Also ironic, since that same teacher was talking about LotR and the English canon. It's amazing that the books continue to sell millions of copies per year~