: Re: How to show characters learning something in a non-boring way? Okay so I want to write a fiction where a character is learning something, for example a language, such as Japanese. I want to

@Sent2472441

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If I were writing it, I might include some descriptions of the physical process - using flash cards, reading books, labels in Japanese stuck on the refrigerator - as well as descriptions of how the language becomes clearer in the character's mind. For example, she might overhear (and you might show) spoken Japanese regularly that starts out as gibberish, then has a few intelligible words, then phrases, then misheard things, and finally makes sense. She might find herself beginning to substitute Japanese words for words in her native language, and she might dream in it.

Her learning Japanese should illuminate who she is or move her toward her goal. Is she determined? Diligent? Is she a dreamy type who wants to speak the language, but struggles with doing the actual work? Does she show off what she's doing, or hide her book in a cover while she studies on the bus? Does she take out her mother's diary and get a little further every time toward understanding why she disappeared so suddenly in 1963? Figure out why you need to show her learning the language, and it should fall into place.

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