Dothraki Survey

[Sioned]

M’athchomaroon!
I'm writing a thesis on Dothraki, and I need to do this survey to better understand the people who choose to study it and their reasons. Would you please answer some questions? Thank you!
1.   What is your age?
2.   What is your gender?
3.   What is your educational level?
4.   What is your nationality?
5.   Have you ever studied linguistics or related subjects?
6.   Do you consider yourself a Game of Thrones/ASOIAF fan?
7.   How long have you been learning Dothraki?
8.   What would you consider your proficiency level to be?
9.   What methods have you used for learning Dothraki?
10.   Why do you study Dothraki?
11.   Do you feel that there is a Dothraki culture and if so, are you a part of it? Please explain.
12.   What would you describe as the most important aspects of the development of the Dothraki language?
13.   In which way do you think Dothraki has been influenced/changed by the fact that the language now is used for human communication?
14.   Do you think that any Dothraki speakers or the related Web sites have influenced David Peterson in coining new words or developing new grammar? Please give examples.
15.   Do you think the Dothraki language, as known today, has all the vocabulary and all the grammar that is necessary for extensive human communication in all fields of life? Please give examples.
16.   Do you think Dothraki will need more speakers to survive as a language?
17.   How do you think Dothraki can attract more speakers?
18.   How do you think Dothraki will develop in the future?
19.   Do you have any other comments on the development of the Dothraki language?

If you wish, you may answer me in pm!
San athchomari yerea!

[Khal_Qana]

Athchomar chomakaan!

I'll happily participate!

1) 18
2) Male
3) Currently In my junior year of college
4) United States
5) I am currently at school for my major in linguistics!
6) I consider myself a pretty active ASOIAF fan. I'm far from the biggest fan, though, and I don't know if I could recount the plot of the novels. I pay attention to the lore most of all, because that's what's most important to the projects I have for Dothraki
7) I have been learning Dothraki for about two years this month
8 ) I would consider myself very advanced. I'd say I'm fluent in reading, near fluent in writing, and if I had someone to speak to I could have a decent conversation. If I were to put myself on a scale from 1-10 (10 as the highest), I'd put myself at an 8 or so.
9) I use the dictionary  made by Lajaki, Ingsve and Krakkar, as well as the wiki.  I originally used the official book from Living Language, but it lacks severely beyond basic grammar. So, I turned to the resources made by the community.
10) Not quite sure, to be honest.  I sort of just stumbled upon it in 10th grade and have been learning it voraciously.  I love how fluid and natural everything feels while not being overburdened with unneeded rules.  I guess, really, I've had nothing but fun with it, so why not?
11) If you mean a culture of people who speak Dothraki on this forum, then not really. For the last two years I've been on these forums, there are maybe three people actively posting here at the same time, and almost none of them stick around for long.
12) I say the most important development remains in vocabulary. I actually just made a long post a few days ago about how far we can and should expand the lexicon. It's vitally important that
 we expand the word count so that the language can be applied to more forms of media, reach a wider audience and bring new people onto the forums (and have them stay for a while)
13) Not much has been affected beyond people figuring out how to craft new words so that they can translate things like song lyrics and book passages.
14) A lot of the pioneers for Dothraki (Ingsve, Qvaak, Lajaki, Tetswan, Hrakkar) had the most influence over DJP.  On the Dothraki blog, David would write about and participate with these people and give feedback on what he liked and disliked about what they did with Dothraki. However, DJP hasn't been active in this community for a long while (the last post he made was in February 2015, and influence from the creator has been next to nothing for the last three years
15) Absolutely not. Though 4000 words are capable for successful communication, it's far from being able to communicate in any context outside of basic conversation and things relating to the life of the Dothraki. Today and yesterday I've just been listing off words I've smithed for a language app that have many many words that are necessary to communicate in any kind of adult manner (words like 'experience', 'knot', or 'center').
16) It'll need more speakers to survive as a community, but people will be able to learn it regardless of if there's a community or not.
17) I think if people make a bigger effort to centralize to this forum, engage each other and keep up to date, the community will see growth.
18) I think, if there's active community interaction, we'll see an expansion of vocabulary and more translations and projects being done in the language.  Until we see active engagement from people who have learned the language or want to learn the language, Dothraki won't grow
19) I think I've thoroughly aired my opinions 

[Sioned]

Thank you very much, Choyosor!

By the way, if any of you don't wish to answer on public, feel free to pm me!

[Reuben22]

1.   What is your age? 34
2.   What is your gender? male
3.   What is your educational level? Masters degree in Fine Arts (Creative Writing)
4.   What is your nationality? I'm multi-ethnic (Black, Indigenous American, and others)
5.   Have you ever studied linguistics or related subjects? Yes, part of my major in undergrad was Linguistics
6.   Do you consider yourself a Game of Thrones/ASOIAF fan? Yes
7.   How long have you been learning Dothraki? over 2 years now
8.   What would you consider your proficiency level to be? Proficient in reading and hearing, getting better at speaking.
9.   What methods have you used for learning Dothraki? Memrise e-courses, independent study, translating
10.   Why do you study Dothraki? All sorts of reasons! Mostly I find it fun. I work in a demanding field and it's important to carve out time for hobbies. In undergrad, one group assignment I had was to create a language in small teams and attempt to get fluent in it. This was one of my favorite class projects and I still remember some of the ritual prayers and chants we made up.
On a more personal level, I identified with the Dothraki people on the show but not their portrayal. I saw them, like all Indigenous peoples, as being represented through a colonial lens, and not in their own words. When the language was released I was excited to learn about them through their own (albeit fictional) tongue.
Also, as someone who grew up with Indigenous roots but for complicated family/historical reasons, doesn't have official tribal affiliations, I've always wanted to get more in touch with Indigenous languages but at the same time didn't want to culturally appropriate them. With Dothraki, there's no fear of cultural appropriation, for me at least.
11.   Do you feel that there is a Dothraki culture and if so, are you a part of it? Please explain. Yes, I do. We have some community here on this message board. But also, learning Dothraki on my own, affords me to build out some of my own culture too. There's also a Dothraki Altas that Choyosor and I are working on.
12.   What would you describe as the most important aspects of the development of the Dothraki language? I'm excited for how speakers are changing/adding/mutating the language. David Peterson is still the foremost expert, but with time I hope we as a community can significantly build on to it.
13.   In which way do you think Dothraki has been influenced/changed by the fact that the language now is used for human communication? Recently, some one, I think Choyosor posted the root words all at once and i think this is super helpful in the creation of new words and manipulation of current words.
14.   Do you think that any Dothraki speakers or the related Web sites have influenced David Peterson in coining new words or developing new grammar? Please give examples. I don't actually follow David Peterson that closely. But I did create my own words for cell phones, tv, computers and screen technology.
15.   Do you think the Dothraki language, as known today, has all the vocabulary and all the grammar that is necessary for extensive human communication in all fields of life? Please give examples. I do because although there aren't words for automobiles/air planes etc. We can create our own based on our understanding of how the Dothraki people would create words for those objects.
16.   Do you think Dothraki will need more speakers to survive as a language? Probably
17.   How do you think Dothraki can attract more speakers? I think this will be super local. I teach my friends and family words here and there and find ways to bring the language into my daily life. Eventually, those around will pick up more and it'll expand.
18.   How do you think Dothraki will develop in the future? I get excited about using Dothraki in activist circles as a language of "the resistance" but it's been slow going.
19.   Do you have any other comments on the development of the Dothraki language? Not right now but I'll PM you.