Critically important vocabulary for beginners

[Hrakkar]

David Peterson has just placed in his blog, a very important new entry containing a variety of common phrases, along with (canonical!) audio examples of how to properly say them. Learning a new language that has no learning aids is a tremendous challenge. Having some ready-made stock phrases can give you some immediate working vocabulary, along with important keys to pronunciation and grammar. Time taken to learn and memorize these phrases will take you a long way on your journey to learn Dothraki!

http://www.dothraki.com/2011/10/hajas-zhey-khal/#comments

Hajas!
Hrakkar

[Peacheskreme]

Woohoo. I need more of these. wonderful ideas.

[Jasi]

I'm bringing this topic back to life because I have a question (and it's too small of one to warrant a whole new topic).  Are there any key differences between the three ways to say "to learn" in Dothraki?  Or are they interchangeable?

I pulled all three from here.

[ingsve]

I'm bringing this topic back to life because I have a question (and it's too small of one to warrant a whole new topic).  Are there any key differences between the three ways to say "to learn" in Dothraki?  Or are they interchangeable?

I pulled all three from here.

There are actually only two words for to learn. Ganat means "to lean" so you have discovered a typo.

Ezolat comes from the word ezat which means "to find". The -o- construction is generally the causative of the root word so ezolat could translate as something like "that which leads to finding" though specifically it means to learn or find out.

Nesolat comes from the verb nesat which means to know so again it's the causative construction and would means something like "that which leads to knowing".

As for which word is used in which context I'm not really sure of.

[Jasi]

When I read, "You have discovered a typo," I heard the item-found sound from The Legend of Zelda.   

It's nice to know where they come from, at least.   I guess, treat them as interchangeable until such time as their differences become apparent?

[ingsve]

It's nice to know where they come from, at least.   I guess, treat them as interchangeable until such time as their differences become apparent?

Ya, either that or try and find the context where they have first appeared. There are so many words now that I can't remember anymore where we first learnt all the different words.

[Jasi]

Great.   Question: did I get my introduction in the Introduction thread right?  Not so subtly guiding you there... 

[Hrakkar]

Thanks for finding that typo! I suspect that one goes back a long ways.

[Qvaak]

To correct my fellow advanced learner Ingsve, causative is not the correct word for -o- verb forms. Causatives are the verb forms for causing something to occur, so when ezolat is to learn, causative derived from it is ezzolat, to teach. I'm not sure, what would be the correct term for the -o- thingie, and as it's somewhat multifunctional, there probably isn't any one right term. In cases like ezat vs. ezolat and nesat vs. nesolat I have spoken of stative verb forms vs. dynamic verb forms. Anyway, as Ingsve noted, in these cases the -o- thingie focuses on the beginning of the action/state of being, which is well apparent when you compare nesat, to know, to nesolat, ~to come in the knowledge of, ie. to learn.

Some likely difference beteween the words ezolat and nesolat can be at least guessed at, when you compare the words from which they are derived. As nesat is strictly information knowledge, nesolat too is likely to apply just to gaining of information, not so much to learning skills, so I'd lean towards the more methaphore based ezolat if I'd need to say "learn to hunt" or "learn to ride", but would go with nesolat if I needed to say "learn what plants are poisonous" or "go to school to learn stuff".

Interesting enough, I'm not at all sure, how you'd say "to learn Dothraki". I bet there's an official Peterson translation somewhere. It's oft mentioned little peculiarity, that nesat does not work for knowing a language, but instead mostly to person knowing reserved shilat is used. Logically you'd then use shilolat, to meet, for learning, but I don't think it's this logical. I'd go with ezolat, but nesolat might very well work here after all.

[ingsve]

Yes you are correct. I knew that something felt a bit off with using that word but I couldn't put my finger on it.

My guess is that you do use shilolat for learning a language. It would feel strange to change the root word when just changing from "knowing a language" into "getting to know a language".