Author Topic: Is this right?  (Read 4570 times)

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Gizikhven

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Is this right?
« on: April 27, 2013, 09:00:40 pm »
I've been dabbling with the Dothraki language and found a couple fun phrases to translate. One of them is "We will burn this city to the ground." Yes, I've been taking lessons for the khaleesi.  ;)

Anyway, what I came up with in the end was: Kisha avirsaki vaes vohharki. Is this right, or anywhere near right? And if it's wrong, what am I doing wrong? I'd appreciate the help. :)
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ingsve

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Re: Is this right?
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2013, 09:30:03 pm »
You started out good but then went off course. Ohharat is another verb so it doesn't fit to just tag it on like that at the end. With those verbs it would be better to just use either one. Either "We will burn the city" or "We will tear the city down". To literally say "burn something to the ground" it would probably need some new verb or some specific construction. One crude translation might be Kisha virsaki vaes sorfaan. "We will burn the city to the ground (dirt)" but I think that translation would be too literal. I would prefer something a little more idiomatic. Better would probably be Kisha virsaki vaes ikhaan. "We will burn to city to ashes".
« Last Edit: April 27, 2013, 09:32:33 pm by ingsve »
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Qvaak

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Re: Is this right?
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2013, 10:03:09 pm »
David has already given us an example to follow (http://www.dothraki.com/2011/09/any-color-you-like/): Anha vavvirsak haz rhaggat virzetha nakhaan! “I’m going to burn that red cart to the ground!”
Note that the intransitive virsalat does not serve. With it the burning would be "we", not the city. And the city would fall out of the syntax. Pretty much like if you said "we will die the enemy", "the enemy" would be unsyntactic and strange and "we" would be the ones dying. English allows for most verbs - verbs like "to burn", but not to verbs like "to die" - this funny freedom: when you start a sentence "we will burn...", you cannot yet tell, if "we" is causing or experiencing the burning. That will be determined by how the sentence finishes. Many languages do not allow for such freedom, Dothraki certainly does not. You need to derive a causative from virsalat, and that is avvirsalat.

Haz is "that", so for "this" you'll need jin. That's not for every occasion (there are two words for demonstrative "that" and more for other uses, plus demonstratives inflect when used as independent pronouns), but that's how it works here.

And the idea "to the ground" is indeed evoked with a different expression in Dothraki - which makes sense, as "to the ground" is rather idiomatic in English. A literal translation of David's Dothraki line would be "to the end". That's almost surprisingly blunt and literal!

Kisha vavvirsaki jin vaes nakhaan! is the way to go.
« Last Edit: April 27, 2013, 10:19:43 pm by Qvaak »
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ingsve

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Re: Is this right?
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2013, 10:18:09 pm »
Yes, of course it should be the causative. My bad for not noticing that. And good that we already had something suitable. I knew there had to be some type of idiom used and there we have it.
"I just need to rest, that’s all, to rest and sleep some, and maybe die a little" – Samwell Tarly

Gizikhven

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Re: Is this right?
« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2013, 04:53:29 pm »
I see I have some practice ahead of me hehe. Thank you for the help!
They are dragons, Quentyn. And so am I.