Messages

406

General Discussion / Re: Khal Drogo

« on: July 05, 2011, 12:58:07 pm »

Lucky find! I'm guesing that the leather from that chair was supple, so it should work well for the intended purpose.

I did a little research some time last week, and found that there are a lot of cultures that used swords with more than a little curve to them. There was one but culture that used a sword as curved as the arakh. The author of the book reported that it was sharp on the inner edge. It was not a given much in the way of good comments, including that it was hard to draw and return to the scabbard. The Dothraki version is sharp on the outside edge, which is more useful, but it removes much of the advantage of the curve. (I still like straight broadswords the best.)

407

Introductions / Re: hey all!

« on: June 24, 2011, 08:13:15 pm »

Good! I hope you enjoy spending your free time learning this interesting language. I long for the time to takes to really learn a language well. This thing called 'work' keeps getting in the way. I am hoping this weekend to actually write something in Dothraki (the speaking part will come later for me).

If the interest is there, perhaps a teamspeak server or something similar (skype also works good for one-on-one) can be set up so people can chat live on line. This site lives on the same physical server as LearnNavi.org, so it should be quite easy to set this up.

408

General Discussion / Re: Khal Drogo

« on: June 24, 2011, 07:25:19 pm »

Nice work on that rather interesting sword. It makes me wonder what the combat advantage is of such a highly curved blade.

From how it was described in the book, it needs to be long and big, so that one can strike from horseback. The curved blade also lends towards slashing at speed - so nothing gets stuck, and also it focuses the energy of the momentum of the rider and the swing towards a smaller area, thereby increasing the amount of force applied by the edge.  Where a straight sword's edge would strike a larger area and have a greater chance of its energy being dissipated (not sinking as deep) the Arakh would work similar to an axe, and cut deeper, without the heft of an axe, and with more reach.  (remember that Arakhs are swung with the outer edge leading, as opposed to a sickle or a reaper.

Interesting. I am familiar with the momentum advantages of a curved sword. Japanese swords, and many 'later technology' swords are curved (and tend to be lighter than broadswords). Initially, I thought the curve of our swords were opposite to the arakh, but in thruth, I think the curve is the same direction (I will verify this later). The big difference is how sharply curved this sword is compared to swords we are familiar with. I would thing that the curve is way more than the 'physics advantage' curve, and these would be a real pain to sheath. I am wondering if there is a historical precedent for this. I seem to get the idea that GRRM researched his books pretty heavily, and I am sure he got the idea from somewhere.

409

Introductions / Re: hey all!

« on: June 24, 2011, 12:27:06 am »

I think you will find the learning experience here a good one. If you have no experience in other languages, you will find Dothraki a very interesting language to learn!

410

General Discussion / Re: Khal Drogo

« on: June 24, 2011, 12:23:51 am »

Nice work on that rather interesting sword. It makes me wonder what the combat advantage is of such a highly curved blade.

411

Introductions / Re: Hi :D

« on: June 21, 2011, 01:22:31 pm »

Welcome! Well, this is the place to be, then. Even though I have been hanging out here off and on for a couple of months, I am just getting started as well (most of my language learning is with Na`vi). It is an interesting language, and it seems to complement learning Na`vi.

Things are happening fairly slowly here, so it should be easy to keep up! 

412

General Discussion / Re: Khal Drogo

« on: June 16, 2011, 01:03:53 pm »

Glad to see that you are enjoying leatherwork. I have always enjoyed working with natural materials, like leather, bone, etc. And it is interesting to think all leather is, is animal skin that has been treated such that the 'hydrogen bonding sites' on the skin proteins have been 'capped' chemically in such a way that bacterial enzymes cannot attack the protein. We have super-materials today that have better properties than leather. But for instance, in pipe organ construction, not one artificial material has been found that works as well as leather.

Mì kifkey leNa`vi, fko syaw oe `Eylan Ayfalulukanä.

413

General Discussion / Re: Khal Drogo

« on: June 15, 2011, 07:37:54 pm »

Wow! You are pretty serious about this!

By chance, you are not the same 'Skxawng' as the person of the same name on the LearnNavi forums, are you?

414

Introductions / Re: Hi!

« on: June 15, 2011, 01:28:31 pm »

Welcome, ValekLost! Its good to have another Christian here!

From the posts you have made so far, it looks like you are an avid learner. I am just getting my feet wet here, with most of my effort devoted to the Na`vi language. (I have also been traveling a lot this spring, which isn't helping!) When I have a little  time, I want to learn from the exchange you have been having with Insgive, and finally get around to actually writing something.

In any case, your enthusiasm is noted and welcome!

415

Dothraki Language Updates / Re: The Dictionary Thread

« on: June 07, 2011, 09:11:10 pm »

Insgive, your work on the dictionary and the wiki is very much appreciiated.

I have learned through the Na`vi world that the fastest way there is to find a word is to search on it in the dictionary.

My biggest challenge to learing Dothraki (and Na`vi for that matter, but at least I have a good base in that language to build on now) is lack of free time!

416

Introductions / Re: M'athchomaroon

« on: June 04, 2011, 02:01:40 am »

Welcome to the Learn Dothraki forums!

Although things are a bit slow here right now, there is a lot of good study information available to help you learn (and although I have been here a while, I am just starting to really learn, as well). Check out the wiki and the dictionary threads under 'language updates'. There is also some good material under 'beginners', and hidden here and there throughout the forums.

There is no formal way to learn Dothraki yet, but it will come in time. In the meantime, just bite off what you can chew.

Enjoy!

417

Beginners / Re: Where to start learning Dothraki?

« on: June 04, 2011, 01:53:11 am »

Thank you, Insgive. That is some advice that I can use and follow. I have more time than usual this weekend to work on Na`vi and Dothraki, so I will definitely put some of that info to work.

418

Beginners / Re: Where to start learning Dothraki?

« on: June 02, 2011, 01:31:53 pm »

I have been watching the Dothraki wiki which is accessible through the main DOthraki site, and have not seen a lot of stuff I know to be going on there. But the link you provided above has a lot more material. Are there two wikis about essentially the same thing, or is some updating missing somewhere? In any case, I am glad to see that the information on some of the newer is now available in a systematic arrangement.

But for a total Dothraki noob, and a non-linguist, what is the very first (and second) part of the grammar I should begin to learn?

419

Dothraki Language Updates / Re: The Dictionary Thread

« on: May 30, 2011, 02:14:17 am »

Very nicely done! (couldn't figure out how to say that in Dothraki. They don't have  alot of words for postive things...yet!)  Version number (but it is missing on the front page of the English-Dothraki dictionary), changelog, up to date! Not much more to ask for.

Thank you very much!

Hmm, there seems to be something strange in the coding so that it doesn't take the title from the same entry as for the other dictionary. It's the same with the Author. I can't seem to change it even when I change the field that is suppose to change it.

Does this dictionary also use the 'Eana Eltu' system that was developed for Na`vi?

420

Dothraki Language Updates / Re: The Dictionary Thread

« on: May 30, 2011, 12:56:58 am »

Very nicely done! (couldn't figure out how to say that in Dothraki. They don't have  alot of words for postive things...yet!)  Version number (but it is missing on the front page of the English-Dothraki dictionary), changelog, up to date! Not much more to ask for.

Thank you very much!