M'athchomaroon!

[Veryofi]

m'ach!
Anha zhey Veryofi! Anha ezok lekhes Dothraki. Hash Yer dothrae chek? Anha dothrak chek! Anha qafat "kifindirgi!" Anha imesh,naqis, ohara.

[Veryofi]

My dothraki 'self' is an annoying brat of a girlchild that likes to get into trouble;
My RL self is a 32 year old artist, that is learning Dothraki, and trying to make it fun and silly, and hoping it'll be a new way I can express myself, to keep me on my creative toes.  Expect some of my questions to be strange and goofy, and my grammar to be horrid.

[Hrakkar]

M'ath, zhey Veryofi! Welcome to the learn Dothraki and Valyrian forums. Sorry, its a little quiet here these days. At the moment, I am being overwhelmed by stuff going on in my personal life, and have not been able to spend much time here.

There are a couple other users who check the forum from time to time, notably Qvaak. He is exceptionally good with the language. I'll answer questions as well, but not as accurately as he can. Like you, my grammar can be a little rough.

But one thing you will find here is the most up-to-date information on the language. Even though it has not been updated recently, the wiki and dictionary are pretty much accurate. There are a few words from David's book that haven't been added yet, as well as a few minor corrections. But nothing earthshaking. And I am hoping for a little free time later this spring to finally get these added (I have been working practically every weekend since the book was published.). There will likely be some new vocabulary as season five of GoT gets underway. Make sure you check out David Peterson's blog at Dithraki.com

The grammar sections should be correct, as far as we know.

How did you go about learning Dothraki?

[Veryofi]

My best friend and I got the living language book/cd and the ap.
Our attempts at communication are basic so far, but we've been able to understand eachother, and we've used the dictionary from here to come up with our names.

[larza]

m'ach, zhey veryofi (:

you are lucky to have a friend who is learning Dothraki with you! I've asked all mine and none of them think it's interesting. if you ever want somebody else to learn with or have conversations with, feel free to message me! I am not very good yet, and I mainly think it's because I have had so few places to practice.

hajas,
larza

[Hrakkar]

I don't think we ever got a Teamspeak server going here, like what exists on the LearnNavi side of this system. If we did, it was so long ago that I can't remember it. Teamspeak allows voice chats via the internet.  However, this is something that could be arranged, and I don't believe it costs anything.

Very good on having both the book and the app. I found that it takes using more than one of the three available tools together to do a good job of learning. One advantage you also have is the speaker of much of this material was either David Peterson or someone directly coached by him. If you learn from these materials, you are learning to speak Dothraki the correct way!

[larza]

agreed with Hrakkar. I have the book and the app and they are different enough to both be really useful, and I've also benefited a lot from perusing this forum.

the Teamspeak thing sounds enormously helpful. I'd certainly use it if it were to happen.

[Veryofi]

I will admit I am not good at speaking aloud. IRL I'm a bit shy.
But I'm working on things. At the least I'd like to be eventually comfortable reading and writing in dothraki.

[Hrakkar]

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.

[larza]

Five years! that sounds like a long time, but I suppose it's hard to get really steeped in a language if you can't learn with native speakers.
I don't know if I would be able to learn any language if I couldn't write it, though I definitely find my spoken Dothraki comes along at the same pace as written. It is so much fun to speak out loud.
Talking to pets and taking notes are really good suggestions. I have been doing both of those! My cat's been called "Hrazef rikh" (rotten horse) a lot lately. Hooray for "practical" application?

[larza]

Hrakkar, what scifi events do you go to? I also live in the western US.