Why learn Valyrian?

[Khal_Qana]

It seems so cluttered, complicated and small to ever be practical in any way. This could just be me, being ignorant and insensitive, but I see no use outside of dialouge in the TV show. Am I missing something?

[Khal_Qana]

Are you an old-ish person? Around your middle ages? I ask because that is a very beautiful philosophy that I do not follow often. You take your time with language, and that patients is something I find respectful. For me, however, I have plans with my languages; I am rather young, and I am spending a lot of my time, pushing myself harder and harder, to become bilingual. The biological threshold of fluency is becoming smaller and smaller for me and I need languages that are quick, efficient, and lack in inconsistency. I've given up on natural language for now and I hope that if I gain fluency in either Esperanto or Dothraki before I first have kids of my own, I'll have that foot-in-the-door (so to speak) for learning natlangs. For me, it's all about cranking out fluency, as well as having fun with the language of my choice in the same way you described. I can see why you would want to learn such a language now. 

Fonas chek, okeosi sash anni


P.S.

I just saw your account about a minute a minute after posting this and saw that you're only a year older than me. Whoops. What I said still holds true, though, only my perspective changes.

[Khal_Qana]

Again I applaud your approach to languages, both natural and constructed, but that approach is something that can only be applied to a person such as yourself who has been openly exposed to language before adolescence. I don't know if you know of this concept, but it's a relatively well known one in all of language studies: the older you get, the chances of you becoming fluent in a language plummets after around 10 years of age, and your chances of fluency reach lower than 10% by around 18 years of age. If you learn a language in between 2 months and 10 years of age, your chances of learning other languages is extended past that 10-year dead line and can last well into your 30's.

You caught onto French at 8, which is a bit late but still well within that time frame. With your threshhold expanded, you were equally able to catch on to Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Russian. The only exposure I ever got was two years of German from an American public school at the age of 14, so the odds are a little stacked against me. Thus I need to use different tactics in order to learn a language.

I live in a backwards society that refuses to give any decent education towards language. No joke, the parents of an elementary school want the Chinese immersion program shut down because they think that the teachers will spread communist propaganda to the children who take it. I guess my point is that I live in a completely different environment than you, and will have to use different methods for language learning. I think that eventually I will look at Valyrian again, but for the time being I'm going to put my nose to the grindstone and gain fluency in Dothraki.

[Brynjar]

You're correct,it's easier to learn a language the younger you are. This however,doesn't mean it's hard to learn languages as you grow older. You can see many Polyglots on Youtube who are different ages learning new languages quickly. The key is how you apply yourself. The more you hear the language and speak the language the faster you'll learn it.

As far as fictional languages, fans actually help in the construction of these languages. This enfleshes them and moves them closer towards a full working language. People do this for fun. Most of the time fun isn't practical, thats kind of the point.

Cheers

[Hrakkar]

The best, and perhaps the only way to REALLY learn a language is to use it. So, if you are learning High Valyrian or some other constructed language, use it where you can. Na'vi, for instance, the primary conlang I devote time to, I use to command the animals at the zoo. And they listen. Perhaps, its unique to them, too. I have also been known to label pathc panels, etc. at the TV station I work at, in Na'vi. This does not amuse everyone. But sometimes, that's the point

[Khal_Qana]

Well you're quite the character, aren't you? A middle aged zookeeper from Nevada who studies both archaic languages and conlangs.  I almost wish you were my uncle!

What do you do at the TV station? Work with animals on sets or just camera/crew?