Messages

61

Beginners / Re: Radio Station looking for Dothraki speakers

« on: August 23, 2015, 11:24:06 pm »

I have volunteered to do this task, and the song they asked me to translate was "I'm gonna be" by a Scottish group called "The Proclaimers". Its kind of a fun love song, but expresses a powerful sentiment I think we would all desire in a relationship. Here is a music video of the song being performed by an American group in Scotland:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF563v8nkiw

One nice thing about this song is nice, long melodic lines that leave room for extra syllables. Due to the tendency of Dothraki to have long words, this is good, even though you might find some lines need to be 'rapped'. As such, I have not made much of an attempt to make the Dothraki lyrics fit the music, although some words could be dropped (they are in parenthesis) to shorten the lines. In general, although I did try to keep the lines short, I favored grammatical correctness over shortness.

One word that may not be familiar to US English speakers is 'haver'. You will see it used as a verb ''have' and as a gerund 'havering'. It means 'mumble', 'speak sweet nothings', etc. Lacking any suitable words in Dothraki, I used the rather awkward 'speak sweetly' (astok k'athgizikhvenari) in its place. "dream' also did not result in a neat translation, as it is a rather long form in Dothraki (thirat atthiraride - lit. 'live a wooden life'). I suggest that after the first occurrence, it could be dropped to just 'atthiraride' (or maybe just 'thirak').

Verse 3 has two extra lines than were not supplied to me in the original off-site post. It seemed odd that this verse was two lines shorter than the others. But the aforementioned music video had the missing two lines, so I added them, and translated them.

In any case, I am throwing this open to the community to critique it, and improve upon it. (For some reason, my translation ability for either Naʼvi or Dothraki stinks!) I did have to take liberties with some words, or adjust them for Dothraki culture ('sick' for 'dunk', 'sad' for 'lonely', 'do task' for 'work', 'tent'  for 'home', 'feet' for 'door', 'silver' for 'money'  etc.), but it doesn't hurt the meaning that much. So, here goes!



The Proclaimers - I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)
                  Anha Avekhak (Mekken Karlina)


Verse 1
 
When I wake up yeah I know I'm gonna be
Arrek Anha yathok sek (Anha) nesak Anha avekhak

I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you
Anha avekhak mahrazh haz yathok qisi yeraan


When I go out yeah I know I'm gonna be
Arrek Anha dothrak sek (Anha) nesak Anha avekhak

I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you
Anha avekhak mahrazh haz dothrak yeri


If I get drunk yes I know I'm gonna be
Hash Anha zhikhak sek (Anha) nesak Anha avekhak

I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you
Anha avekhak mahrazh haz zhikh qisi yeraan


And if I have yeah I know I'm gonna be
Ma hash Anha astok (k'athgizikhvenari) sek (Anha) nesak Anha avekhak

I'm gonna be the man who's havering to you
Anha avekhak mahrazh haz astok (k'athgizikhvenari) yeraan



Refrain
 
But I would walk 500 miles
Vosma Anha laz ifak mekken karlina

And I would walk 500 more
Ma Anha laz ifak mekken alikh

Just to be the man who walked 1,000 miles
Disse vekhak mahrazh haz if dalen karlina

To fall down at your door
arthasak (zohhe) she yeri rahe


Verse 2

When I'm working yes I know I'm gonna be
Arrek Anha tak thikh sek (Anha) nesak Anha avekhak

I'm gonna be the man who's working hard for you
Anha avekhak mahrazh haz tak thikh chek (ha) yeraan


And when the money comes in for the work I'll do
Ma arrek vizhadi ha thikhaan anha atak

I'll pass almost every penny on to you
Anha azhak yeraan chir ei (vizhad)


When I come home yeah I know I'm gonna be
Arrek Anha jadak okraan sek (Anha) nesak Anha avekhak

I'm gonna be the man who comes back home to you
Anha avekhak mahrazh haz essalak okraan yeraan


And if I grow old well I know I'm gonna be
Ma hash Anha vitisherak foz sek (Anha) nesak Anha avekhak

I'm gonna be the man who's growing old with you
Anha avekhak mahrazh haz vitisherak foz ma yeroon


Verse 3
 
When I'm lonely yes I know I'm gonna be
Arrek Anha khezhak sek (Anha) nesak Anha avekhak

I'm gonna be the man who's lonely without you
Anha avekhak mahrazh haz khezhak oma yeroon


When I'm dreaming yes I know I'm gonna dream
Arrek Anha thirak atthiraride sek (Anha) nesak Anha (thirak) atthiraride

Dream about the time when I'm with you
(thirak) atthiraride qisi kashi arrek Anha ma yeroon


When I go out well I know I'm gonna be
Arrek Anha dothrak sek (Anha) nesak Anha avekhak

I'm gonna be the man who's going out with you
Anha avekhak mahrazh haz dothrak yeri


When I go home well I know I'm gonna be
Arrek Anha jadak okraan haz sek (Anha) nesak Anha avekhak

I'm gonna be the man who's comin'in home to you
Anha avekhak mahrazh haz vessalak okraan yeraan


Critique away!
Hrakkar

62

Introductions / Re: M'ath! Kisha Ezoki Lekhes Dothraki!

« on: August 13, 2015, 02:48:18 pm »

Zhey Wyzr,
    Sorry for the slow response. I was out with our local astronomy club, doing an astronomy festival for a local National Park.
    What a cool idea, to off er a Dothraki course! Are you using David Peterson's Dothraki book?
    Activity on the forums is kind of spotty, but there is a wealth of useful (and up-to-date. despite what dates might be on it) information on the wiki.
    Don't hesitate to ask questions. I'm not the greatest Dothraki speaker, but there are a couple other folks here, who are really sharp at the language.

Dothras Chek!
Hrakkar

63

Announcements / Site outage July 13-14, 2015

« on: July 15, 2015, 01:37:16 pm »

There was an outage of the Tongues of Ice and Fire site caused by an expired domain name. Thanks to some fast work on the part of site sponsors. Learnnavi.org, (and specifically Marki, A.K.A. Toruk Makto) the expiration was quickly identified and fixed, and the site restored!

64

General Discussion / Re: Translating the Song "Let It Go" into Dothraki

« on: June 23, 2015, 01:47:35 pm »

What a grand idea! That song occasionally gets stuck in my head as well.

I will not have the time to really work on this for at least a week (about to travel for a convention). But maybe Qvaak or some other speaker better than I will see this and help you first. In the meantime, you might want to post the lyrics.

I might repost this in the Na'vi community as well. I don't think anyone there has tried translating that song, either. (They did do most of 'The Lion King', though.)

65

General Discussion / Re: DOCUMENTARY ABOUT DOTHRAKI AND VALYRIAN SPEAKERS

« on: June 22, 2015, 11:48:46 pm »

Zhey Caroline,
    Unfortunately, that project has come and gone. But these do pop up from time to time. Watch this board, especially the 'announcements' section. We also get these on the LearNavi.org side as well. You might enjoy checking that site out!

-Hrakkar

66

Beginners / Re: I need an explanation

« on: June 11, 2015, 02:01:01 pm »

Although Sunquan does an amazing job with his videos, it is certainly possible he made an error. Plus, as Qvaak points out, there is some ambiguity in how words get truncated to create inflected forms. The epenthetic /e/ is not entirely irregular. A large number of cases where it is added are covered by a rule on (I think) page 56 of David's book (this needs to be added to the wiki, but I haven't had time lately), but even that isn't entirely certain. If unsure, check the wiki. All known irregular stems are given there, and this will be coming soon to the dictionary, as well. This /e/, in most cases, doesn't hurt things. If you think it needs to be there, it usually doesn't hurt to use it. Although development on Dothraki has slowed a lot, it hasn't stopped, and we try and keep everything here as up to date as we can.

67

Beginners / Re: Dothraki memrise courses

« on: June 08, 2015, 01:19:30 pm »

Marc,
    Thanks for the good words, and I am glad the Memrise course still works. I've played with it a little myself, but unfortunately do not have as much time these days for language learning as I would like. You may wish to try sending a PM to user Ifak and see if he/she responds.

The dictionary and wiki are also up to date, save 2 words. This is true, even though the dictionary is currently in 'Test mode'. I've had to turn my attention to urgent legislative matters, and digging an 80 foot long ditch on my property. By mid-June, I should be able to do some more work on these items.

You might also take a look at David Peterson's book on learning Dothraki. It is widely available. Use it with the online course for best results. Its a little different approach than Memrise, and I think, less confusing.

68

Beginners / Re: Conversations in Dothraki

« on: May 19, 2015, 01:47:02 pm »

Zhey Qvaak, there is really nothing wrong with doing that. When they did this on the Na'vi forums, the users quickly determined that the initial rules were not the optimal rules and adapted. There was a little fuss, but everyone eventually got over with it. I expect this thread to adapt in a similar manner. Although I tried to borrow the best ideas from the Na'vi conversation thread, there's always a chance it isn't perfect. If we can get the 'desc' BBcode tag working, it will be possible to do what you describe, and see a translation by just hovering your mouse pointer over the word.

Another interesting feature now on the Na'vi forums is the ability to easily put an audio recording of what you said in the message. Considering that Dothraki is a spoken language, this would be a good future addition here, as well. The media framework we need to do it is already here, but is sldom used.

69

Beginners / Conversations in Valyrian

« on: May 17, 2015, 11:01:20 pm »

This is a thread to converse in Valyrian!

Since there are several dialects of Valyrian in use/being developed, but High Valyrian is the predominant dialect, please note at the beginning of your post what dialect you are using, if it isn't High Valyrian. If could be as simple as, say AV for Astapori Valyrian.

Use curly braces {  } to denote untranslatable words.

Optional, but strongly encouraged: Please provide an English (or other language) translation of what you wrote. As there is no desc or spoiler BBcode tag available on this board (I am looking into the reason why), you will have to put the English text a few lines below the Valyrian text.

Let the conversation begin!

70

Introductions / Re: Hi

« on: May 17, 2015, 10:16:53 pm »

That's a no-brainer! I will add such a thread in both the Dothraki and Valyrian sections!

71

Announcements / Re: David and Erin Peterson will soon have a child!

« on: May 13, 2015, 11:35:24 pm »

Zhey Qvaak, that thought crossed my mind as well....and I bet it has crossed David's as well

72

Announcements / David's book on language creation now available to preorder!

« on: May 13, 2015, 11:33:51 pm »

Many of you know that Dothraki and Valyrian language creator David Peterson was working on a book on language creation. Well, the book is now available for pre-order. Follow the link below for more information. And if you help spread the word about the book, you might get your name used to coin a word in one of David's TV/film conlangs! (David loves to coin words from people's names.)

http://dedalvs.tumblr.com/post/118873552132/pre-order-the-art-of-language-invention

Here's the link to the book publisher's page:

http://www.penguin.com/book/the-art-of-language-invention-by-david-j-peterson/9780143126461

73

Announcements / Two more interesting articles

« on: May 12, 2015, 12:48:56 am »

The interest in  Dothraki and Valyrian keeps growing!

https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/04/03/talking-game-thrones-conlanger-about-building-languages/tjowoTP7D16sxB1aeje29O/story.htm

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/08/invented-language-lessons-from-george-rr-martin-and-other-writers

74

Announcements / David and Erin Peterson will soon have a child!

« on: May 12, 2015, 12:46:27 am »

Erin ohazh ma yalloon!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155495903215207&set=a.10153937749460207.1073741827.871435206&type=1&comment_id=10155497761305207&offset=0&total_comments=56

75

Introductions / Re: M'athchomaroon!

« on: April 22, 2015, 01:47:37 pm »

Its interesting that most folks are more comfortable reading and writing Dothraki, even though technically, it is a spoken-only language. The same seems to be true of Na'vi as well. Dothraki has a definite edge over Na'vi because it has had a good deal of properly spoken Dothraki since early on. Na'vi has a fair amount of it as well now, but it didn't at first.

One thing this community needs is some in-person meetups where at least part of the activity is speaking the languages (Dothraki and Valyrian). A few of us gather at certain sci-fi conventions, and similar events out here in the western US, but as far as I know, nothing else.

It definitely takes some time of regular study and use to be proficient. For Na'vi, it has taken 5 years to get to the point where I can carry on an impromptu, basic conversation with a friend. So, if you really want to learn, don't let discouragement rob you of what you have gained so far. Figure out how to use some Dothraki in your everyday life, like in talking to your pets, taking certain kinds of notes, commanding horses etc.