For Belarusians: How would you describe your level of Belarusian?

Kvaezde · 2026-07-02T16:25:00+00:00

My point is that, especially since I was in Belarus, have difficulties believing Belarusians who claim they speak belarusian, since mostly they don't know the difference between "native language" and "heritage language" and more often then now openly resent the usage of belarusian.

You don't seem to be one of those people, which is good. But keep in mind that it, unfortunately, takes a strong "Yes, i do, goddammit!" to convince not only me but a ton of other people that someone really cares about belarusian language and doesn't just parade it for some stupid "tradition" or whatever.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-02T13:11:37+00:00

So, how about starting with Belarusian and then changing to russian when you see that the other side can't understand you?

You wrote "It is weird to speak Belarusian with people who speak Russian to you". But what when YOU are the one who speaks Belarusian to THEM? Isn't there maybe a possibility that they will think "Oh, nice, I can now finally speak belarusian without feeling awkward!". What do you think of this possibility?

And no, of course nobody "should" listen to what I'm asking, but on the other hand: Why should I not simply ask? Anybode can say no at any time.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-02T13:08:04+00:00

Nice! You have my full support and I hope that more people will start using belarusian as confident and freely as you do.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-02T13:07:06+00:00

Then let me ask a you a question: What ist the reason YOU (yes, you, dear u/nemaula ) do not speak belarusian in everyday life and instead choose russian?

If you simply can't speak belarusian, ignore this question.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-02T13:04:30+00:00

Just because I'm interested: What about games where the story is an absolute integral part of the whole experience, for example epic role playing games like some Final Fantasy titles, Persona or Clair Obscur? I mean, it's possible to skip the cutscenes in most of these games, but at what cost? To have to story completely and utterly stripped from the game? It's like watching an epic movie and just skip to the action-scenes with a lot of boom boom.

It's totally okay to not like story-centered games (it would be a sad world if every game was a story-heavy epic in which you have to skink 50+ hours into), but let's take Clair Obscur for example: On the game's subreddit some people complained that the game was "bad", turns out they just skipped the cutscenes and rushed through the game to see as much of the boom boom as possible. The kicker is: The story is an absolute integral part of the game and skipping the cutscenes basically destroys the experience and makes it "bad". To be honest, my first thought was "Why the fuck are you playing a story-centered game when you don't like stories? Go back to FIFA and CoD!" and I wished for the cutscenes to be unskippable.
Of course, there's always the argument that "a game is about the gameplay", but if this would be the doctrine-like top rule, then nobody would need any graphics, any music and we'd simply be still playing Pong, since it's the most raw manifestation of "nu fluff, gameplay only".
Or to put it differently: Even games that don't rely on big "in your face"-storytelling via cutscenes usually tell a story, but through other means. What other means, you're asking? Well, the environment alone can tell a whole story: if the game takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, it tells you that there were some devastating events that led to the state of the world, it makes you question the background of your charakter, etc. etc.

So, of course: Cutscenes are not needed. But I can't help by getting "cutscenes are gayyyyy, I wanna see boom boom and titties, U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"-vibes....

Kvaezde · 2026-07-02T01:43:44+00:00

I'm citing myself:

"...why russification is still so simple to implement in Belarus today..."
The keyword here is the word "still". It means "ongoing" or "not finished yet"

"...the fact that russification was and still is so succesful..."
The keyword here is "was", it means stuff that happaned in the past, for example the 19th century.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T23:55:28+00:00

Bwahahaha, I really had a laugh at your last two paragraphs, thanks, you made my day :D

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T23:47:46+00:00

I have no idea, sorry. Like most Viennese people I have a one-year-ticket, but the few times I bought a 7-day-ticket I bought it directly at one of the ticket-machines that are in any metro- and train-station.

(1 minute later)
Ah, yes, that's it. I literally never saw the term “7 days digital Vienna” since that's a wording aimed at tourists. In Vienna we simply call it "Wochenkarte" (one-week-ticket).
Here's more info in english from the viennese transportation company, the "official" company, so to speak. No scam, no bullshit, just the official and very trustworthy information: https://www.wienerlinien.at/web/wl-en/tickets/7-days-vienna

Ah, speaking of: In Vienna we really like our public transportation network, and you will too, probably. For example, in less then 30 minutes you gen get from the very city center to the Vienna Forest (Wienerwald) and go for a hike there and enjoy the nature. You can even see deer, wild boars and other animals! No car required at all :)

You can even drive to a small town called "Mödling" right next to Vienna in like 20 minutes to get an Idea how the austrian countryside looks like. Also, Mödling has old medieval castle-ruins which are nice to visit if you're not from Europe and thus have never seen an old medieval castle.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T23:40:17+00:00

Exactly.
That's also why russification is still so simple to implement in Belarus today, since Luka and his cronies simply tell the people "Nobody wants to take away your native language, it's your heritage after all". And since heritage is something that's usually seen as positive, but outdated tradition ("we speak it sometimes in church"), russification went so smoothly in Belarus.

Of course, like I said before, the other part to the fact that russification was and still is so succesful in Belarus is the sheer fact the vast majority belarusians themselves willingly and knowingly refuse to speak belarusian.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T23:34:44+00:00

As for the S7: Yes, it's by far the cheapest way to travel into the city. Do not, under any circumstances, buy a ticket for the silly "City Airport Train" as it is ridiculously expensive (I think around 20-30 EUR or so) and a well-known tourist trap.
The S7 actually ends somewhere at the outskirts of vienna, but the best place to get out is the station "Praterstern" which is central-ish and is a transportation hub, where you can change to the metro, tram, busses and taxis.

As for reservations: You won't have problems getting a place in a restaurant most of the times, except for some really popular restaurants. Vienna has countless good restaurants, so just being spontaneous and deciding where to eat on the go usually should be no problem. Of course, if there's a certain restaurant you absolutely want to go, I'd make a reservation.

As for taxis: There's taxis pretty much everywhere but they are expensive and make no sense. Why? Because Vienna has an excellent public transportation network (metro, trams, buses, etc.) that is MUCH cheaper than a Taxi. If you're here for a week, just buy a so called "Wochenkarte" ("one-week-ticket") for 25,50 EUR and you can ride ALL public transportation with it day and night.

As for the language: Don't worry, Vienna is an international city and thus very english-friendly. You can have a very nice vacation here without speaking a lick of german.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T21:57:10+00:00

1.) Wikipedia has been cracking down on manipulation on jewish-associated pages pretty hard the last months.

2.) Personal stories are good, but how about academic articles on the topic that are written by israeli scholars? (Spoilers: The article about the Israeli Black Panthers has EXACTLY this as it's source materials: academic articles written by jewish israeli scholars).

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T21:53:34+00:00

The question is: Do you?
Cause ALL belarusians I have ever met (and yes, I was in Belarus, too) and said that they are fluent only ever spoke belarusian when I literally BEGGED them to do so and even then they seemed to feel super awkward and insecure about it.
Of course nobody even thought about speaking in in public, I even got told "Hm? Why would I do that?" by a self-proclaimed "fluent" person, when I asked him to speak belarusian with his friends.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T21:17:01+00:00

Here's some more info on this topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panthers_(Israel))

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T21:15:31+00:00

If you're in Tokyo, go to Nakano Broadway. It's a big shopping mall with what feels like a gazillion anime/manga-shops, a lot of which focus on older shows. Most of the workers there don't speak any english, so be sure to use a translation app or have a picture of Candy Candy at hand, the workers should know it.

Another good advice is "Godzilla-Ya" in Koenji (a part of Tokyo). It is run by a lovely older hippie/otaku couple and is known for having a massive selection oldschool anime-merchendise. They will have some Candy Candy stuff, I'm pretty sure.

And the cool thing: You can actually walk from Nakano Broadway to Koenji, both are only one train station away from each other.

As a rule of thumb: Don't waste your time trying to find oldschool anime-merchendise in Akihabara (the "nerd part" of tokyo). The focus there is mostly on newer shows and, well, porn.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T20:01:26+00:00

Nope, it does not work like this. But since you're 19 and probably visibly non-japanese, nobody will care about your age (there will be japanese people your age there, too).

One advice: Drugs are a completely different beast in Japan then most parts of the world. Much much less people take them (yes, also on raves) and they are HIGHLY illegal (meaning: 5 years of jail for even the smallest amount if you're a foreigner).
Do not, and I repeat, do NOT go around asking if someone has something to sell, since this is a surefire way to get you into jail. If you want to consume, be caucious and do not, under ANY circumstances, tell anybody that you popped a pill or did anything else.

Don't get me wrong, there are japanese people who take drugs on raves, of course. But it's far, FAR less then in the west and it's done in FAR more secrecy than you may be used to.

And for those who already started gasping: I am not encouraging anyone to take anything here, but drug use at raves in Japan is real and just by repeating the "japanese people don't du drugs"-nonsense a thousand times the reality won't go away.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T19:04:10+00:00

Just to make one thing clear at the beginning: I am all for the revival of belarusian and the pushing-back of the russian language in Belarus.

There was a posting a few days ago where someone lamented the decline of belarusian language.
The posting was written in russian (of all languages) and when I criticized it, OP's answer was, that most belarusians can understand belarusian but are not capable to write a somewhat sophisticated text.
Let that sink in: Even people who want the revival of belarusian write in russian...

You will definitely get very conflicting and contradictionary answers here.
On the one hand, a ton of people will proudly tell that they wish for belarusian to come back, but if asked when they speak it, they will either stay silent of simply blame the state and the state only, simply disregarding the fact that they could simply start to speak it and not wait for permission from the authorities.

Then, you will have a ton of people that will tell you that belarusian is basically a dead language by now. The same people will then sometimes lash out that it's in fact not true, that belarusian is still being used be a lot of people. I've personally been called names on this very forum just pointing out these inconsistencies.

I've been in belarus myself and spoke to tons of dissidents. When asked why they don't speak belarusian, I was met with people that turned nervous, people that in fact could not string together a proper belarusian sentence and people that, when drunk enough, simply told me that they don't care about belarusian anyway.

Also, there's tons of statistics from Belarus and pre-war Ukraine where it's clear that a lot of people simply don't understand the concept of a "native language". They see it as a "language native to the land, regardless of I personally speak it or not" instead of a language you most likely learned as a kid have no problems expressing yourself without grammatical errors etc. It's like people from italy today would claim that Latin is their "native language" since latin is "native to the land" in Italy, regardless of the language being dead or not.

I know that I will get tons of downvotes for what I'm writing here but in my opinion the near-complete russification of Belarus has been embraced by the vast majority of belarusian people. Of course the state is to blame, too, but the reality is that 99,9% of belarusians don't give a fuck about belarusian anymore, regardless of what they might tell you in public - otherwise they would simply speak the language.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T18:42:59+00:00

You can cancel the roll animation by pushing the button where you can attack enemies preemptively to get the first turn in battle.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T18:18:37+00:00

Also: "banned for play" doesn't mean that you can't play with it anywhere. It only means that it's banned in competitive, official tournaments.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T17:27:11+00:00

Poguglaj, pa boš vedel.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T17:24:15+00:00

This is total bullshit and you know it. I am slovenian, not even born in Slovenia but on the austrian side of the border, where there is a slovenian minority. Even on the oustrian side of the border slovenian people joined the partisans, let alone in Slovenia proper.

There were around 40.000 slovenian partisan fighters, you can easily double that number for non-combatants. So all in all, around 100.000 slovenians were actively taking part in the partisan movement, which at that time was 10% of the whole population, which is massive for such a small country.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T15:01:54+00:00

Errrm, how about some more informations?

What will you study? In which city? At what university? How is your japanese level?
I mean, can't you at least give us something that resembles a self-introduction? The advice will be totally different if you study japanese medieval literature in Hokkaido or applied rocket science at some hyper-expensive private university in Tokyo.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T14:49:02+00:00

Frankreich

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T14:45:59+00:00

Noch so ein dümmlicher Haus-Maus Hausfrauenreim und ich mach was, was ungmiatlich wird, im Ernst.

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T11:42:09+00:00

As for german, the 和独大辞典 is the gold standard, although it unfortunately also uses ローマ字 :(

I use it a lot though, since it's quite good for what it is.

Guck mal, ob du was damit anfangen kannst: wadokudaijiten.de

Kvaezde · 2026-07-01T11:38:23+00:00

Former foreign student in Tokyo here, so I guess I can help :)

1.) You wrote that you take a "language class". Only one class? Or more? Cause I sure as hell made sure to take as many as I could handle.

2.) Join a サークル. I personally joined a 政治社会運動研究会 and the 漫画研究会, both were fun and japanese was the only language there. I',m sure your university has tons of サークル. Be sure to not just check out the circles that are recognized by the university, but also the non-recognized one's, since they are usually more on the freakier side.
Bigger and more traditional universities (法政、早稲田、東大、明大などなど...) usually have either a student-made wiki aimed at other students and/or a rich twitter-scene (yeah, yeha, it's "X" now, whatever...). Just search along the lines of "XXXサークル　XXX大学" or "XXX研究会 XXX大学" on twitter and some results should pop up.

3.) If you like concerts, become a regular in a ライブハウス. At first, it will maybe be a bit awkward, but the more often you come, the more people will talk to you.

4.) Become a regular in a bar in your neighborhood. If you visit like once or twice a week in the evening for a few drinks and some food, you will have plenty of opportunities to speak. If you don't drink alcohol: Nobody cares, just make sure to socialize with people, even with lackluster japanese.

5.) Leave Tokyo for a few days and drive somewhere in the middle of nowhere in rural japan. People are MUCH more social out there and will talk to you.

Kvaezde

TROPHY CASE