u/Proud_Economy_2323

EDIT: Thanks very much -- I've sent some DMs to volunteer/respondents. I greatly appreciate this.

I am getting close to releasing a fiction novel that contains a few phrases and some dialogue in Serbian. (In English, it's only 41 words total.)

My educational background is in Russian, so I can work out a lot of things in other Slavic languages, but I'd really like to be sure I'm presenting the most accurate translations.

Would anyone be interested in helping? I'm sure it won't be a best seller, but I'd give credit (as well as my thanks)!

Thanks very much.

It’s a vent, no real question.

I am on my fourth tray, plus I wore a retainer for a few months prior to see if I could tolerate the pressure on my teeth (m hyper sensitive there).

I don’t mind the feel of them or having to clean or eat quickly, I comply about 22 hours based on my timekeeping.

What’s really bad, upsetting, and shaming is the lisp. I’m a phone operator for a living. I have an extremely good voice, and people often ask me if I’m a professional voice actor. Now it hurts to talk for very long, and I need to go nonstop for eight hours.

I’m so ashamed of my lisp. Please don’t tell me that people aren’t noticing and it’s not that bad: It is. And people notice because they ask me about it and if I’m ok.

So, this is costing a third of my annual salary (I’m a dime over minimum wage here) not to have much visible effect (because how I smile doesn’t show the lower teeth that are moving). It’s
Medically necessary, but it’s not giving me anything I care about like an improved smile. But it’s costing me every minute of the day in terms of how I feel about myself.

What I want is my voice back. I’m so embarrassed and ashamed of losing the thing that i was the proudest of about myself—my articulation, tone, and inflection.

My background is in linguistics. I know as much about phonology as many speech therapists. Reading out loud doesn’t help—i already speak nonstop, and it just hurts my tongue, abrades it, and the lisp gets more pronounced because of the pain. I own stock in orthodontic wax.

I have to go to a pediatric dentist for this as the best provider in my area. I’m tired of being talked to like a kid patient. I don’t want to wear their tshirt to earn “fun bucks.” I’m 55, not 5. I’m not bringing in my report card for the fucking fun bucks. I’d bring in my annual performance review but it’s going to suck because of how this is affecting me. I don’t want to hear about how great my smile will be because it already looks fine.

I just want to survive the remaining 19 months, but I’m so ashamed to talk, and that’s the one thing I do well. This is miserable and I just go to my car at lunch and cry.