Annabelle, sounds interesting. The best person to try and contact for your topic is Dothraki creator David Peterson. He is easily found of Facebook, or his own website http://dedalvs.conlang.org/ David's a good guy and is usually happy to do these. But if you are just looking for a fan and haven't had any takers yet, I'm game.
Hey Hrakkar,
I'm already staying in contact with him. He ist really cool.
But for my article I also need the view of a fan. So maybe if you have a few minutes i could ask you a few questions?
Sure, these are good questions, and I think you will find the answers interesting!
My Questions are:
- What was your motivation to learn Dothraki?
I had started to learn the Naʼvi language (created for the movie 'Avatar') back in 2010, not long after the movie came out. About a year later, one of more active Naʼvi speakers, Richard Littaeur, who was also keeper of the Naʼvi dictionary, announced that David Pererson was creating a new language foe a TV adaptation of George R.R. Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series. He had started a dictionary using the same backend mechanism as the Naʼvi dictionary, and I had a look at it. A word caught my eye, 'Hrakkar', which means 'white lion'. Being a lionkeeper, anything involving lions captures my attention real fast. It was also in the first 50 words released (it is actually a seminal word, created by George R.R. Martin, and was used along with all the other words he created, to be a framework for the language.). So, I started paying attention to Dothraki as it developed. About a year later, Richard's life got really busy. Eventually, he handed off the dictionary project to me, and later the Dothraki website, forum and wiki. I have been maintaining these tools ever since, and while I am at it, trying to learn Dothraki. Although the Valyrian languages are also hosted there, I haven't done much in the way of learning them, because Naʼvi and Dothraki (and a little Klingon!) is enough for now.
- How do you learn it? Do you use the book and the app?
The book and app didn't exist when it started, so I used the grammar that had been initially built by Richard, and others. My interest in languages tends to run along linguistic lines, so a grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation guide are my usual starting points. I actually went over the book for vocabulary and grammar info development, and actually discovered some typos that David had missed! But even so, I heartily recommend these tools. They are designed for the casual language learner. David has built a lot of 'realism' into this language, so, it is an excellent conlang to learn.
- Which other languages do you speak?
Natural languages? Just English, but I have studied a little Hebrew and Greek (which helped a lot!). For conlangs? Naʼvi, Dothraki, and just enough Klingon to be dangerous. Most of my efforts go into Naʼvi.
- How much time do you spend in learning Dothraki?
Not much these days. But a couple of times a year, I spend about a week of intense Dothraki study, primarily to update the wiki and dictionary, and make sure no mistakes have crept in. In the early days, I spent an hour or two a night, 3-4 nights a week, learning Dothraki.
- When did you discover 'A song of ice and fire' / Game of Thrones?
After getting involved in the Dothraki language. It was almost a year before I had time to start reading the books. I have hardly watched the TV, alsthough I have the DVDs for (someday!) when I have tme to watch them.
- What do you like the most about it?
The other reason Dothraki fascinates me, is it is almost opposite the Naʼvi language. For instance, Naʼvi lacks the infinitive form of verbs. in Dothraki, the infinitive is so prevalent that it is actually the lexical form of verbs in the dictionary. They are also similar in some ways, such as having many common consonant and vowel sounds. So in the end, studying one language helps me learn the other.
- Is it possible for you to communicate with others in Dothraki?
Yes, but very, very limited. It takes a lot of study, as well as having others available to speak it, to get proficient conversationally. On paper, its a lot easier. But Dothraki, like Naʼvi, was never intended to be a written language.
And also some personal questions, but if you don't want to answer them its totally fine.
- How old are you?
I am 55. Older age works against you for language learning!
- Is it okay for you if I use your Username in my article?
Absolutely.
- In which country do you live?
USA
You would help me so much with my article!
I hope this helps!
Hrakkar/Tim Stoffel
