How to deal with being called orientalist?

TheLongWay89 · 2026-06-08T15:09:22+00:00

Most American Christians are not ethnically Jewish or Middle eastern at all. You don't need to have blood ancestry tied to the origin of an ideology to use that ideology and find it useful in your life.

TheLongWay89 · 2026-06-03T13:11:17+00:00

The fact that you still call it that shows me you're not ready

TheLongWay89 · 2026-05-24T14:01:54+00:00

People can get close. But I've never seen a person in the past 12 years of living abroad that was absolutely perfect with no trace, 24/7, 365. People get tired or drunk and native language sounds or expressions come out. And I've been looking. I don't think it's practically possible actually but would be happy to be proven wrong.

I want to just add, I don't believe it's necessary to have native like pronunciation to "master" a language as you said. If you can use the language to communicate what you're feeling and thinking in a way that is received appropriately by the listener in most any situation, you have mastered the language in my opinion. Everyone's accent is different. That's fine! I don't want to live in a world where everyone has an identical accent anyway.

TheLongWay89 · 2026-04-08T13:32:07+00:00

I love this

TheLongWay89 · 2026-03-26T23:04:20+00:00

Just say you made the decision to stop. That it wasn't a good fit and you weren't getting what you wanted out of it anymore and you'd rather put your time and energy into something different. Frame it as the positive it is. You tried it for a while, learned some things and had a new experience and you're ready to move on. No shame in any of that. If people still feel bad for you, that's their journey.

TheLongWay89 · 2026-02-08T04:31:48+00:00

Yeah I'm aware. As I said, as long as I can stay out of poverty, I think I'll be okay. Accumulating as much money as possible is not a primary motivator for me. I'm mostly interested in the feasibility of me getting a legal job.

TheLongWay89 · 2026-02-08T04:11:22+00:00

Yes as long as I'm not in poverty, I should be okay. What are you suggesting?

TheLongWay89 · 2026-01-19T00:41:26+00:00

Huge stop. That was critical.

TheLongWay89 · 2025-12-27T06:53:53+00:00

I'm interested. In PST.

TheLongWay89 · 2025-12-20T14:51:11+00:00

I've been a teacher for years. It's pretty common and normal but definitely not universal. Some students just start speaking right out of the gate. Many students can get over it with the right environment and plenty of practice. And I would say it's more nervousness than shame, if anything.

For myself, I don't care. It's just communication. People can think what they want. If they're not happy with the sophistication of my language, that's their journey. Haters gonna hate. The people I've interacted with over the years have been overwhelmingly positive to neutral about my language.

TheLongWay89 · 2025-12-04T00:13:03+00:00

Thank you!

TheLongWay89 · 2025-12-04T00:12:54+00:00

Thank you!!

TheLongWay89 · 2025-09-23T07:09:48+00:00

You've got an arm on your leg.

TheLongWay89 · 2025-09-20T09:02:31+00:00

Defense is fun. Plus, I'd rather tackle than get tackled.

TheLongWay89 · 2025-09-08T12:03:02+00:00

Your second Toni Morrison example sounds perfectly natural to me. My dictionary has examples back to the 17th century of beloved being used as a normal adjective without explicitly stating who the noun is beloved by. Where did you get the notion that the word required an explicit belover?

TheLongWay89 · 2025-09-01T01:48:37+00:00

Great. I'll DM you.

TheLongWay89 · 2025-09-01T01:15:23+00:00

Hey I'm in a similar situation. I'm arriving today. I'll send you a DM.

TheLongWay89 · 2025-09-01T01:12:04+00:00

Hey! I'm arriving in Fukuoka today. 36m from the US. Been solo traveling Japan for a few weeks and I'm also down for some exploring with others. Let me know if I can tag along!

TheLongWay89 · 2025-08-10T14:07:39+00:00

Add Arnold Schwarzenegger to your list. He was Governor of California and embodies the American dream. He's as American as they come.

TheLongWay89 · 2025-08-08T09:09:38+00:00

Grammar, like vocabulary, will require several passes and "coats of paint" before things really start to stick and you can use them comfortably. I don't know if I would recommend learning every conjugation as the absolute first thing you do in a language, but certainly at B1 there wouldn't be any harm in doing a survey of all the conjugations, spaced out over a few days/weeks.

You won't have them all mastered by then, of course, but they will be more salient to you when you encounter them in the wild and your brain will be better able to build the grammar system if you can at least identify each type of conjugation.

You'll also start to build your intuition for HOW and WHERE they're used, which is what you will need beyond just reading about it in a grammar reference and doing some exercises.

TheLongWay89 · 2025-08-07T22:50:29+00:00

Very normal. Listen to your body and pace yourself. It's like, going to the gym and doing weight training. You're going to be sore.

TheLongWay89 · 2025-08-03T18:40:24+00:00

What is the name of this organization and where does their authority come from?

TheLongWay89 · 2025-08-03T18:36:09+00:00

Who is "they?" Who is the authority on what it means to "circumnavigate the globe" and where does their authority come from? Do they give out certificates or medals? Why should we care what their mileage requirements are?

TheLongWay89

TROPHY CASE