Hi! I got into Ryo/NCT Wish around 1-2 months ago: I'm a pretty avid listener of SM's music, and Doyoung is one of my fave vocalists. I didn't engage with fandoms much, just stuck to listening to the music, watching content vids (if I come across them) on my own time.

Since Doyoung is one of my favorite singers, I came across his video with Ryo, and my first impression was why tf does this kid look so much like Renjun wwww I remember thinking that he was charming and I loved how he seemed to adore Doyoung too. I then watched the Sion/Jisung Awsaz, and I was so surprised by how quick-witted (and still a bit shy in front of his role model) Ryo was! I was laughing along with all his funny orders to Sion, and I was like HUHHH I need to know what this kid's whole debut story is.

I really loved how he was from Kyoto bc thats where I grew up, and then I saw he chose 21 as his number for Doyoung's birthday (21 also happens to be my birthday) so it felt like I was destined to come across him and WISH at some point!

I think the final nail in the coffin moment that led to this account was when I looked at his Japanese interviews: what stood out to me wasn't just how funny or lovable he was, but that beneath all that he was extremely driven and mature and was constantly chasing excellence in dancing and singing. Watching poppop, songbird, and wish dance practices and live perfs made me think about how much he's improved already and how much natural talent he has. I got super excited and motivated by his work ethic and mindset - it kinda made me want to cheer him on and pursue that kind of excellence in my own life too!

And no need to thank me at all: all the translations are honestly selfish bc it brings me joy to make Ryo's moments, thoughts, and stories even a little bit more accessible to others who also adore him!

Hello, no need to thank me at all!

And Ryo is definitely a language genius because he makes so many language oriented puns in Korean, and he’s naturally so snarky in Japanese 😭 like today when he said he wants to be a private tutor and got teased for it, he said “get out” (出てきなさい) which is a super formal term teachers would use when scolding students 😭

He’s also a lot more expressive in Japanese, and we know usually he isn’t about flowery words or fan service or whatnot: like how in his letter, he used the 想い出 spelling (?) for the word “memories” instead of the typical 思い出。 The former (想い出) is very romantic and poetic, and it goes beyond being about “memories” to having a deep longing for someone- these kinds of things that Ryo says are only able to communicated in Japanese tbh, bc I’ve seen Korean translations of his words that completely bypass the tone and context of what’s he’s saying.

I’m so sorry for this long rant: I just really love Ryo and I was personally sad I wasn’t seeing a lot of him earlier when the fanmeeting started, but I realized it seems to be a trend that Ryo fans will provide updates once the event’s concluded shhshshshs

I started with doing small Japanese-English translations! I would usually try out translating one line sentences, how members would introduce themselves, simple topic discussions about food, or song lyrics (usually the chorus) of NCT and SM songs.

I then moved to learning korean and did the same thing: I also made an effort to learn a lot of Korean slang and abbreviations, which make translating a lot more fun and accurate!

With translating, a lot of it is just practice and being patient! I make silly mistakes or choose the “not AS accurate” English words all the time, so it’s really trial and error. My aim with learning languages and translating is that even if I’m not using the exactly correct word, I should never miss with the nuance, tone, and context!

I hope this helps you: please don’t hesitate to start learning Korean! Learning a new language opens more doors for you than you realize, and it’s totally okay to be clumsy at it- the more you practice, the better you’ll get!

and thank you so much for your kind words as well 💛💛💛💛