Helping Each Other With Representing Other Cultures/Countries/Languages/Illnesses etc

M_H_C_Episode · June 13, 2021, 1:44am

What This Thread Is For & Why It Was Made

As we all know, diversity is something highly looked for in stories but some people don’t end up showing different characters correctly so I’m hoping this thread can help everyone without flopping (:

This thread has been made since I’m hoping to get enough information so that I can make a whole thread on diversity correctly representing different characters. The thread will show examples of character from different places/backgrounds with information as well as include descriptions about LGBTQ+ characters. We have all seen information threads based on the listed topics but those threads hardly ever show examples of character appearances to avoid, character appearances to aim for etc… (:

Please Fill This Character Form Below For Every Character You Can Send To Help With The Thread

Character Example Form

Character Full Name?
Character Age?
Character Details?
Where The Character Is From/What Language They Speak?
Any Details About Tropes/Clichés/Common Mistakes etc…That May Help Represent The Character?

Thank You For Anyone Who Helps (:

Specific People You May Be Able To Go To, To Help With Certain Countries/Topics Etc

@AmeliClemonte & @Valeriya.B = Russian/Russians
@EtherealWitch, @Malannee, @Zey, @lazy_donut = Italy/Italians

Threads About Specific Places/Illnesses/LGBTQ Topics etc...

If this flops then pretend that you never saw this thread

I think I have the category correct @Sydney_H but I apologise in advance if it’s incorrect

Thank you all for your time (:

Akanksha.writes · June 13, 2021, 12:58pm

This is great thread…
Hope it helps all!!

Malannee · June 13, 2021, 1:01pm

Hey there, this is a good idea! I’ll start with a female character.

Character Preview+Details

Body: Soft, Neutral 03
Brows: Straight Thin, Dark Brown
Hair: Long Wavy Loose Bangs Sideswept, Medium Brown
Eyes: Round Medium, Brown Medium
Face: Round Puffy Cheek
Nose: Defined Natural
Lips: Medium Thin, Pink Peach Medium Matte

First name: Giorgia (pron. JOR-ja)
Middle name: N/A
Last name: De Angelis (pron. deh ANG-jeh-lis)
Gender: cis female
Age: early 20s
Country: Central Italy, Lazio
Language(s): Italian (native), English and French (intermediate/school level)

Useful phrases:

Hi → Ciao
Hello → Salve/Ciao
Goodbye → Arrivederci
Bye → Ciao
Good morning → Buongiorno
Good afternoon → Buongiorno/Buon pomeriggio
Good Evening → Buonasera
Goodnight → Buonanotte
How are you? (friend) → Come stai?
How are you? (polite) → Come sta?
See you later → A dopo / A più tardi / Ci vediamo dopo / Ci vediamo più tardi

Most common features in Italy: Light skin that is able to tan, brown wavy/straight hair, brown eyes, tall noses.
Least common features in Italy: very light or very tan/dark skin, red/light blond hair, very textured hair (3c+), light eyes, small or flat noses.
What looks to avoid in character creation: in short

this ain't it.

Casual clothing style (young females): lots of denim, t-shirts, tank tops, tight fitting jeans, mom jeans, boyfriend jeans, sweatpants, jackets, hoodies and sweaters, sneakers, +bags or backpacks.
Fashion choices to avoid/keep to a minimum (young females): animal prints, furs, no crop tops, miniskirts, and flip flops unless it’s summer, statement jewelry (big earrings, chains, chunky anything), heavy makeup.

Clichés/stereotypes to avoid: for the love of god, keep the mafia as far as possible, we’re not brown skinned (because we are Caucasian like the rest of Southern Europe), not all of us are sexy, not all of us are Casanovas and will cheat at any given chance, not all of us are fashionable, we don’t only eat pasta (but see below), pizza is literally just for Saturday nights, young people tend to not like the church/aren’t religious at all.
Clichés/stereotypes that are kinda true: we do in fact eat pasta often or when we don’t know what to eat, we do talk with our hands (and there is nothing wrong with that), we do talk about food and we do know we have one of the best cuisines in the world, soccer is a national passion, we are in fact culturally divided between North and South, on average we unfortunately suck at foreign languages or we just know the basics, our politicians are honestly just baboons.

Would you or would you not like to join the group chat? Not for the moment, but I will come back with more characters.
Are you alright with being contacted privately (if not in the group chat) about something relating to the character(s) you send and the details you leave with them? Sure, I’m okay with it!

(And hopefully I did this right)

M_H_C_Episode · June 13, 2021, 1:05pm

Thank You! (:

You answered perfectly (:

Malannee · June 15, 2021, 11:25am

Second character here we go!

Preview+Details

Body: Generic, Copper 01
Brows: Arched Medium, Dark Brown
Hair: Medium Wavy Messy, Cool Dark Brown
Eyes: Hooded Almond Narrow, Hazel Dark
Face: Square Sculpted Heavy Stubble
Nose: Straight Pointed Wide
Lips: Medium Heart, Fair Rose Matte

First name: Sebastiano (pron. seh-ba-STYA-no)
Middle name: N/A
Last name: Ricci (pron. REET-chee)
Gender: cis male
Age: mid 30s
Country: Northern Italy, Liguria
Language(s): Italian (native), English (intermediate)

lazy_donut · June 17, 2021, 6:54pm

Heyy! Here’s a female Italian character. If you have any questions feel free to DM me.

Details & picture

Skin tone: Neutral 02
Eyebrows: Straight Medium (Dark Brown)
Hair: Medium Half Up Top Knot Ponytail (Dark Brown)
Eyes: Deepset Downturned (Brown Black)
Face shape: Diamond
Nose: Defined Natural
Lips: Small Heart (Fair Neutral Matte)

Outfit

90% of Italian girls below 30 years old dress like this in Summer lmao

First name: Ginevra (Gee-NEH-vrah)
Middle name: N/A
Last name: Colombo (Coh-LOHM-boh)
Gender: cis female
Age: early 20s
Country: Northern Italy, Lombardy
Language(s): Italian (native), English (C1 level), German (intermediate)

Foreign languages

Nothing else to add to the amazing @Malannee’s excursus, except that elderly people do not in fact speak very well English or don’t understand it at all (in the past in Italy they studied French as second language), while young people (below 30) can reach very high levels of the English language. To sum this up, some (20% maybe) elderly people will understand French, while 80% of people below 30 years old can speak and understand English.
In the majority of elementary schools (from 5/6 years old to 10/11) children study English as second language. In middle school (11/12 to 13/14) we usually study a third language, in addition to English, which could be either French, German or Spanish. In high school (14/15 to 18/19) the study of the third language depends on the type of school you attend.

Middle names

Middle names aren’t common among young people in Italy; sometimes parents decide to give their children both their surnames, but this isn’t common either. Elderly people sometimes have more than one name (my grandma has 6!), they often decide which name they prefer to be called with and stick with it, as sometimes some of their names are a bit “embarrassing”, meaning they sound really old (usually they come from a deceased relative).

Dialects

There are LOTS of dialects in Italy. Sometimes they differ from town to town! Officially, only 31 are recognised as national dialects. They are widely spoken in different regions by the elder part of the population (usually they are more used than Italian), but also a big part (maybe 80%) of young people can understand it, while only like 20% of young people can actually speak it.
I don’t recommend including dialects in your stories if you’re not Italian, because first of all dialects are meant to be spoken and not written, and then because there are so many that even Italians don’t understand the dialect of other regions.

I’ll add to this post any further information!

M_H_C_Episode · June 17, 2021, 7:08pm

Thank You! (:

Someone2 · June 17, 2021, 7:14pm

Do the characters have to exist (in our stories) or can I just create one now for helping?

M_H_C_Episode · June 17, 2021, 7:23pm

You can create one now but you have to make sure they represent the place your claiming they’re from (:

Someone2 · June 17, 2021, 7:47pm

Name: Aitana

Surname: Gómez

Age: 17 ish

Details:

Body: generic / neutral 02
Brow: Arched Natural / Deep Brown
Hair: Long Straight Loose Solid / Cool Dark Brown
Eyes: Deepest Downturned / Brown Dark
Face: Heart Defined
Nose: Round Broad
Lips: Full Heart Pouty / Pink warm gloss

Origin: Spain

Language: Spanish

Avoid:

No mafias please
Not everyone is tan and has black hair
The Spanish we use is different from the Latin American one, so please, don’t use expressions they use there
There are parties, but not everyone is a party person AND people also work hard. We aren’t always partying around.
Life isn’t all about churros, tortillas and beaches, there is more to Spain.
Don’t put señorita or amorcito in all of the sentences, that’s not it.
Be careful with mentioning the “bull art”, lots of Spanish people don’t like it because it’s abusing animals.
We don’t all dance flamenco or sevillano
We don’t always eat paella, in fact, (at least I) hardly ever eat a real paella because a) they are expensive b) you aren’t capable to eat all of it alone.
And Madrid and Barcelona aren’t the only cities.
*Additional information: not everyone’s english level is high, in fact it’s quite shitty.

Stereotypes which are true:

Football is a very famous sport here (soccer)
“Siesta” (the nap) does in fact exist, but not everyone does it.
There are lots of bars

Fun facts:

We do use insults to talk with our friends, but they have to be well used.

EXAMPLE:

– okay –

situation: a friend pranks you and you say “Joder tio eres un hijo de puta"

– not okay –

“eres un puta” (that doesn’t exist LOL)

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Not everyone is addicted to drugs

M_H_C_Episode · June 17, 2021, 8:18pm

Thank You! (:

Malannee · June 18, 2021, 11:06am

Since @lazy_donut kindly made a female character, I’ll go with another male grazie ciccia*

Preview+Details

Body: Athletic, Neutral 02
Brows: Straight Medium Scar, Chestnut Brown
Hair: Slicked Back Side Shaved Tousled, Golden Brown
Eyes: Deepset Heavy Lid, Blue Green
Face: Triangle Chiseled Scruffy Beard
Nose: Male Generic
Lips: Medium Straight Natural, Fair Neutral Matte

First name: Tommaso (pron. tom-MA-zo)
Middle name: N/A
Last name: Fabbri (pron. FAB-bree)
Gender: cis male
Age: late 20s-early 30s
Country: Central Italy, Emilia-Romagna
Language(s): Italian (native), English (elementary)

M_H_C_Episode · June 18, 2021, 3:48pm

Thank You! (:

Malannee · June 20, 2021, 6:27pm

Another female character~

Preview+Details

Body: Soft, Gold 01
Brows: Arched Thick Styled, Deep Brown
Hair: Straight Medium, Brown Black
Eyes: Deepset Downturned Wide, Grey Cool
Face: Round Soft
Nose: Round Broad
Lips: Small Heart, Fair Rose Matte

First name: Lucia (pron. “loo-CHEE-a”)
Middle name: Paola (pron. “PA-oh-la”)
Last name: Greco (pron. “GREH-ko”)
Gender: cis female
Age: late teens
Country: Southern Italy, Calabria
Language(s): Italian (native), Albanian/Arbëresh (proficient), English (intermediate), Spanish (intermediate)

Malannee · June 22, 2021, 10:26am

Another guy character today~

Preview+Details

Body: Slim, Neutral 03
Brows: Straight Angled, Black Dark
Hair: Long Top Messy Curls, Black Dark
Eyes: Narrow Almond Deep Sunken, Brown Black
Face: Male Generic
Nose: Straight Flat
Lips: Medium Straight Natural, Rose Light Nude Matte

First name: Andrea (pron. “ahn-DREH-a”)
Middle name: N/A
Last name: Ranieri (pron. “ra-NYEH-ree”)
Gender: cis male
Age: late teens
Country: Southern Italy, Apulia
Language(s): Italian (native), English (elementary)

Malannee · June 24, 2021, 6:41am

Busting the ‘dark Italians’ myth with more blondes and blue eyes

Summary

Body: Athletic, Neutral 02
Brows: Round Thick, Light Brown
Hair: Medium Straight Down, Blonde Medium
Eyes: Female Generic, Blue Aqua
Face: Heart Soft
Nose: Broad Flat
Lips: Full Wide, Pink Peach Medium Matte

First name: Isabella (pron. “ee-za-BEHL-la”)
Middle name: N/A
Last name: Zanin (pron. “dzah-NEEN”)
Gender: cis female
Age: early-mid 20s
Country: Northern Italy, Veneto
Language(s): Italian (native), English (intermediate), German (intermediate)

M_H_C_Episode · July 2, 2021, 4:06pm

Bump! (:

Malannee · July 4, 2021, 12:20pm

Preview+Details

Body: Slim, Neutral 01
Brows: Round Soft, Ginger Red
Hair: Short Messy Curls, Ginger Red
Eyes: Deepset Downturned, Brown Dark
Face: Diamond Soft
Nose: Male Generic
Lips: Medium Heart, Fair Rose Matte

Extra (in Outfits, optional): Freckles Heavy (00-03), glasses (Round Wide Plastic Blue Navy)

First name: Vincenzo (pron. “veen-CHEHN-tso”)
Nicknamed: Enzo (pron. “EHN-tso”)
Middle Name: N/A
Last name: Costa (pron. “KAW-sta”)
Gender: cis male
Age: preteens/early teens
Country: Northern Italy, Trentino-Alto Adige/South Tyrol
Language(s): Italian (native), German (proficient), English (elementary)

Malannee · July 9, 2021, 10:48am

Preview+Details

Body: Generic, Neutral 04
Brows: Round Thick Styled, Deep Brown
Hair: Updo Curly Long, Cool Dark Brown
Eyes: Deepset Downturned, Brown Black
Face: Diamond
Nose: Round Button
Lips: Full Round Flat Top Skin, Rose Light Nude Matte

First name: Elena (pron. “EH-leh-na”)
Middle name: Diana (pron. “DYA-na”)
Last name: Nieddu (pron. “NYEHD-doo”)
Gender: cis female
Age: mid 20s
Country: Central Italy, Sardinia
Language(s): Italian (native), Sardinian (native), English (intermediate), Spanish (Intermediate)

Malannee · July 11, 2021, 3:17pm

Preview+Details

Body: Slim, Rose 03
Brows: Male Generic, Black Dark
Hair: Medium Taper Wavy, Brown Black
Eyes: Downturned Heavy Lid, Brown Medium
Face: Square Long Jaw Stubble
Nose: Hooked Grecian
Lips: Full Heart Natural, Pink Peach Medium Matte

Extra (in Outfits, optional): glasses (Thin Rimless Glasses Plastic Brown)

First name: Manuel (pron. “MA-nwehl”)
Middle Name: N/A
Last name: Pellegrino (pron. “pehl-leh-GREE-no”)
Gender: cis male
Age: early 30s
Country: Northern Italy, Piedmont
Language(s): Italian (native), English (elementary)