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Sooo cool. Will test.
....
OK. Tested a little bit. Probably the hardest to tackle problem already found: distinquishing between l/-at and -lat endings. Vrelat, for example, is conjugated Anha vrek in the program, when it should be Anha vrelak. This requires quite a sizable exception list to deal with. And what about words like silat? It's Anha silak, if your trying to say "I follow" and Anha sik, if your trying to say "I gleam". Would you give both tables or prompt the user to choose the right translation or to input a past singular?

[vi]

Other question, why you use ablative form for "firesof" and not genitive form ?

Sigh. Because I'm dumb. It's not that it couldn't work. Since I was trying to create a hypothetical slightly contracted experssion, there is a lot of leeway. But this particular attempt messes with the way zero copula sentences express time, so as guesses go, it's unnecessarily messy.

You see, I wanted something less contracted than "I'm 35" and more contracted than "I'm 35 years old/of age". Going simply with "I'm 35 years" (Anha chisen ma mek firesof) felt like a lazy attempt. I'm not really a bunch of years. I'm a human and a wee bit fat, but the years are what I've been through, not what I am. I figured Dothraki would probably do a little better and use a preposition or non-nominative case. I might have gone with a preposition like vi or ha, but since prepositions are sorta like extensions of the small case system, you should usually go with bare cases unless they feel insufficient. The core sense of ablative case is origin or source, ie. "from". That was a tight fit, so I went with it; a very reasonable guess at face value.

Had I taken a second look, I might have noticed that a zero copula sentence (which this is) has a well established special sense on putting the second word (I think that's predicate in the linguistic lingo) in ablative, it's how a zero-copula sentence is put in the past tense. So, frankly, I more likely managed to say "I was 35" than "I am 35".

Further note: this has nothing to do with the number thingie. AFAIK, in nominative "35 years" is chisen ma mek firesof (and 24 years chakat ma tor firesof), and as with any noun phrase, you need to put it into a correct case if you want to use it in a sentence. The number part does not inflect and does not affect how the noun inflects (though interestingly for animate nouns the noun can be in plural but does not have to be).

I'm afraid that this might be one of those explanations that confuse more than actually explain, sorry. I tend to overthink and that tends to show

Gosh darn there's all of sudden a lot of stuff here on the forums. Language school at Philippines possibly offering a course on Dothraki. Whoa. That's something. As Hrakkar said, use wiki, use David's book and ask questions in a non-hesistating manner. I'm one of the roundabout couple of folk that are fairly sharp with the language. Don't depend on my availability, but I more often than not frequent this forum often. And when I'm here, I love to be helpful.

Gosh darn there's all of sudden a lot of stuff here on the forums. Dothraki meet-up 2017 should be a definite yes. David learning Finnish will be fun.

[Anha chakat ma tor firesofoon.]

Guh. I'm almost certain this has come up, but I fail to remember and fail to dig it up. At worst it's been discussed on chat with DJP years ago and never written down. These things are always said in fixed ways (possibly in several ways, but still), but you can easily see the solution and think it so uninterestingly natural that you just gloss over without any true attention.

I guess it might be half intentionally dodged, because GRRM's world has this weird season thing that kinda confuses year count, even if the concept of year is still very much present, as you could not otherwise tell, how many years a summer lasts. It's not even clear, how much the weirdness affects Essos. DJP usually avoids creating words/expressions that would require meddling with world building, like for example words regarding supernatural.

I would not expect anything literally close to "I'm 24," as Dothraki are not big on the modern brevity. Something more like "I'm 24 years of age" "I'm from 24 years" "I've seen 24 summers" (if we disregard the aforementioned world weirdness), "My age is 24" You get the idea. I don't think we know the word for age, so let's hope year is good enough.

Let's guess:
Anha chakat ma tor firesofoon. (or if we're talking about more aged specimen like me, Anha chisen ma mek firesofoon.)

M'ath, zhey Alizia. Fini yer zali astolat? Affinoon yer shil rhaesheseres haji Vilajeroshoon Adori?

Well, I keep telling newcomers how few people there are with sustained study-level interest in the language; how even among the ezoki there is probably no person on Earth that can really real-time speak Dothraki, not even the creator DJP himself; how limited our resources are, since the language isn't fully public and how the resources we have make for a messy patchwork; how folk usually underestimate enormity of a task to learn a natural-like language; and how because of all of the above, it's probably easier to learn basic conversation-level Swedish than learn basic conversation-level Dothraki ... but honestly, I think it would be more fun to encourage than to discourage.

Havazhyol is fairly active and French, so it might be a good idea to PM him. There isn't much going on nowadays, so it might take some time (easily weeks if he does not have a notification for personal messages) before he shows up, but I think he's the most promising person to connect with.

I'd offer English teaching/correspondence help, but I feel for most questions you can just use this forum. We have a beginners section where Dothraki language related questions are answered (most likely by me), and writing attempts are very welcome.

A certain other newcomer, Nizzy01 was trying to start a conversation thread a little while ago (http://forum.dothraki.org/beginners/conversations-in-dothraki/). It is kinda recent, and while it's getting cold, it does not really take more than one person to kick some life to it (though two would be better, because it'll get a bit dull if I'm the only person you're talking to). That might be the closest option for learning by speaking regulary.

Welcome. Hopefully you'll stay.

Ya. I'm grateful. It's not the first bump we've magically got through in the invisible casess of learnnavi.org's people, but these always give me a scare.

[Ahesh rahsana she krazaaj k'athzasqazari ajjalan Vo sho rhaesi thihataan Rhaesh ha athataraan Ma ki venikhi anha khaleesi]

Phew. So here it is in its entirety, a close translation with relatively little artistic freedom and no attempt at making the text lyrically sound:

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation,
And it looks like I'm the queen.

   Ahesh rahsana she krazaaj k'athzasqazari ajjalan
   Vo sho rhaesi thihataan
   Rhaesh ha athataraan
   Ma ki venikhi anha khaleesi

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried!

   Chaf awaza ven jin vaz ohaf memras
   Laz vo qoro mae memras, asavva nesa m'anha kis et

Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know
Well, now they know!

   Vos azho morea emralat, vos azho morea tihat
   Veni nayat erina fines eth veni yer ayyey
   Arresi, Vo frakho, Vo azho morea nesataan
   Gwe, mori nesi ajjin

Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door!

   Annevak mae, annevak mae
   Laz vo ohhok mae ajjinoon
   Eqorasok mae, eqorasok mae
   Notak elataan ma jonak emrakh!

I don't care
What they're going to say
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway!

   Me vo mra zhor
   Rek vasti mori
   Zin ivezhofates vaz
   Athfishar affes anna avvos disse
   
It's funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can't get to me at all!

   Anha nem allayafak kirekosi loy athhezhahari
   Avvena ei vekhikh zolataan
   Majin athrokhar fini ray asso anna
   Laz frakho vosecchi anhaan

It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me I'm free!

   Ajjin kashi ha vitihirataan rek laz tak anha
   Ha ittelataan athchilar ma gidataan mevis
   Vos athjilar, vos athojilar, vos asekelen anhaan - anha serisak

Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You'll never see me cry!

   Annevak mae, annevak mae
   Anha ma chaf m'asavva norethaan
   Annevak mae, annevak mae
   Yeri otihi vosecchi anna laqat

Here I stand
And here I'll stay
Let the storm rage on!

   Jinne anha kovarak
   Ma jinne anha avikovarerak
   Zin ivezhofates vaz

My power flurries through the air into the ground
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I'm never going back,
The past is in the past!

   Athhajar anni nokitta vi chafasaraan mra rhaeshaan
   Oakah anhoon chorka ki fireseri jesho qisi ei gache
   Ma at dirge chongoe ven ildo jeshoy
   Anha vessok vosecchi
   Tikh fini rayim tish ray nakhosh

Let it go, let it go
When I'll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone!

   Annevak mae, annevak mae
   Arrek anha ayathok ven aena evoy
   Annevak mae, annevak mae
   Haz nayat kogmen ray e

Here I stand
In the light of day
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway!

   Jinne anha kovarak
   Mra shekhikh asshekhi
   Zin ivezhofates vaz
   Athfishar affes anna avvos disse

It would be fantastic, of course, if someone gave this a critical read to catch all the errors and suboptimal costructions. Somehow I always end up doing these projects well past my bedtime and have zero energy for any proper proof reading.

...And if you, zhey Caroline, are trying to create a singable version, I hope this gives at least some ideas.

Well, that depends. Mostly I would say yes, it is. To me it was enough to own a book that said "Dothraki - A Conversational Language Course"; everything beyond that was bonus. Of course I also felt it good to have that one more source for double checking and consulting, since I'm perhaps the most active maintainer of the Wiki and go to guy for all kinds of technical questions.

Mostly I think the book is good at being a well constructed and definite source. The wiki is a mess, since amateurs like me (not even native English speaker) have built it kinda haphazardly over time. There are bound to be errors - like old stuff that never got updated. And there is a lot of stuff that's plain badly explained. It has much more information than anywhere else, but that info isn't completely dependable and takes some digging to use. David's blog is a definite and well written source like the book, but it's just a collection of posts on some semirandom topics; there is no comprehensive starter package. For the topics it covers it's the best source, for everything else it's useless.

So I guess if you want to learn with minimum frustration and start with a solid footing, get the book. But don't expect that alone make you the master of the language.

[Ahesh rahsana she krazaaj k'athzasqazari ajjalan Vo sho rhaeshi thihataan Rhaesh ha athataraan Ma ki venikhi anha khaleesi]

Some more, how am I doing

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation,
And it looks like I'm the queen.

   Ahesh rahsana she krazaaj k'athzasqazari ajjalan
   Vo sho rhaeshi thihataan
   Rhaesh ha athataraan
   Ma ki venikhi anha khaleesi

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried!

   Chaf awaza ven jin vaz ohaf memras
   Laz vo qoro mae memras, asavva nesa m'anha kis et

Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know
Well, now they know!

   Vos azho morea emralat, vos azho morea tihat
   Veni nayat erina fines eth veni yer ayyey
   Arresi, vo frakho, vos azho morea nesataan
   Gwe, mori nesi ajjin

Maybe "Can't hold it back" would need some more clever translation than Laz vo qorok mae memras, since it's a bit uncomfortably similar to "couldn't hold it in", Laz vo qoro mae memras.

I think the vocab page here is pretty well up to date, and the pdf dictionary should not be far behind, if at all. The vocabulary list on the Living Languages book is actually rather small in comparison to our web page's. The book does not sport a wide scope, rather it's a solid, concice view to the core of Dothraki.

Well... No, if you want to make a humble close translation like what I'm trying to do (and have already done for a full verse!). But if you're attempting to make a working song with a reasonably fitting syllable count and working rhymes, then yes. But I would not recommend that. At least give up on the rhymes - hitting those is damn near impossibe with our limited word bank.

[Annevak mae, annevak maeLaz vo qorok mae memras ajjinoonAnnevak mae, annevak maeNotak elataan ma jonak emrakh!]

Let's start with the first "let it go" refrain. It's pretty good example of my usual translation ruminations.

Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door!

My translation:

Annevak mae, annevak mae
Laz vo qorok mae memras ajjinoon
Annevak mae, annevak mae
Notak elataan ma jonak emrakh!

"Let it go" sounds like a command, as per English syntax, but how does that work, when generally the singer seems to speak about herself? It seems like an advice, encouragement or command that is said to oneself, and might work in Dothraki as an informal command, annevas mae, or even explicitly self-referential encouragement annevalates anha mae. Or maybe you might take it as more abstract, less sentence syntax bound notion of 'letting it go' instead of any kind of self-addressing and translate just as infinite verb form: annevalat mae. I looked forward and saw that the verse was very pronoun dropping, opposing the normal English way. You could read the verse going (I'll) let it go / (I) can't hold it back anymore / (I'll) let it go, / (I'll) turn away and slam the door! I decided to replicate this interpretation, as Dothraki is also normally opposed to pronoun dropping. It however has more redundancy, so the 'I' would still be more pronounced: annevak mae. This, however, brings a further dilemma. While I did use future in the English interpretation, I used present tense in Dothraki, so my translation is actually more (I'm) letting it go than (I'll) let it go. I might have gone all the way and put it into vannevak mae.

Then there's it. English uses a lot of syntactical dummy its that don't denote to much anything at all, something like "It's, funny: I thought it would rain." This it does not feel like properly dummy, but it's still pointing at extremely fuzzy general implied all the stuff weighing on my mind. If Dothraki syntax did not naturally support keeping it, I would have happily skipped the whole word. But then in keeping the word, I'm left wondering, how would Dothraki naturally denote to this kind of a vague general topic of conversation. Even in English the choice between it, this and that is fine. Dothraki has two thats, so all mae, jin, haz and rek seem possible to me.

Oh, and then there's of course the small question about what to let something go means. To be sure, I consulted an idiom dictionary. I got

let it go. Allow it to stand or be accepted. For example, Let it go; we needn't discuss it further.

which seems about right. It doesn't make much sense to go literal with something approximating to allow to depart (azhat elat perhaps). I first thought I'd keep kinda close with eqorasolat, which pretty nicely translates the idea that you've held onto something and are now letting go of it. But thinking further, I felt annevalat was keeping even closer to the actual meaning. Also, eqorasolat could be interpeted in a favorable way, but the metaphorical sense is not really established as far as we know; of annevalat we actually know that the appropriate metaphorical dimension exists, so it mirrors better the established English idiom. Both are IMO defendable.

phew. That isn't even the whole translation of the verse explained, just the first line.

I have some kinda bad news, and maybe a crumb of good news too.

Conlangers like DJP are quite vocal about one thing: their languages are not ciphers where you map English words into made up words and to confuse matters further, perform a few mechanical transformations on the sentence syntaxes. Instead, their languages have words for stuff and sentence structures to spin words into complicated concepts, so that you can communicate with their languages. When you're making translations, you are not really looking to translate words, you are looking to transalte meanings. You can't really expect to always find words with exactly same meanings or syntaxes with exactly same function. You try to find words that intersect or come close in meaning with the required meaning of your English words. You try to find sentence syntaxes that intersect or come close in function with the required function of your English words. This makes Dothraki and Valyrian and all the other deeply constructed conlangs a hell lot more interesting, but also damn much more challenging.

Translating song lyrics is a very common attempt at Dothraki translation, but it's much much much more difficult than most understand - at least if you have any ambition for creating a proper translation. Of course hitting the rhythmic pattern - let alone the rhyming pattern - requires you to essentially write the song again from the scratch - hopefully maintaining the gist of the original (check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U8jLrpErmk for Let It Go translated to my native language Finnish and subtitled back to English). But that's not even what I'm talking about. Even when you accept that your song is turning into an awkward uneven text that's maintaining the meaning, not the form, lyrical text is still particulary hard to translate, because the text is heavy with language-specific compact expressions, subtext and sentence fragments that are interpreted through convention. The small number of words is inviting, but it's a trap.

The good news is, there is one aspect in which Let It Go is unusually easy: As long as there's concept of snow, the song's themes and consequently words are non world specific to a surprising degree.

The sort of good news is (as you no doubt know), there's some meta encouragement for translating the lyrics: Not only is the movie really neat work, respected by even the language creator David J. Peterson himself, the translations of the song are kinda a thing (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC83NA5tAGE or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCtL0nK3TSg or how ever many you can stomach). I'm willing to try at least a bit. Maybe we can come up with a real thing.