38 replies to this topic

[Language Creation Society]

To make it easy for us to track... just post a response here if you have any requests or suggestions for stuff that the LCS or HBO should do w/ Dothraki.

Thanks!

[Ran]

More words and phrases would be fun to see, particularly words and phrases that have particular currency in the books: bloodrider, "Blood of my blood", "Moon and stars of my life". I'd also be curious as to discovering as to whether any thought has been given to whether the Dothraki have borrowed any words; namely I'm thinking of "dragon" and whether their word for it is influenced by the High Valyrian (we have a compound, 'dragon fire' -> 'dracarys')

But whatever you think would be interesting. I do think one approach you might take would be to also introduce the Dothraki culture as it's in the books in a piecemeal fashion, perhaps breaking it up into sections based on various facets of the Dothraki (e.g. religion, Vaes Dothrak, horses, warfare), to give potential viewers who aren't familiar with the series a sense of the culture and how its language fit together. Maybe breaking it up into sections based on various cultural activities, peppering them with related words, and doling them out over time could be an idea.

I'm sure there are those who'd love to know more about the grammar, naturally.

If HBO wanted to go a bit viral, the first clip they release could be nothing but Jason Momoa and other actors speaking Dothraki.

[Datepalm]

Language Creation Society, on 15 April 2010 - 02:11 AM, said:

To make it easy for us to track... just post a response here if you have any requests or suggestions for stuff that the LCS or HBO should do w/ Dothraki.

Thanks!

It would be nice if the dothraki dialogue - and more importantly, I suppose - the subtitles, to have a more natural, less stilted sound then sometimes in the books, when the Dothraki is 'translated' into english, and the consequences are sometimes that Dothraki characters - and the whole culture, by extension - sounds absurdly primitive on ocassion.

[The hairy bear]

Perhaps it's too long, but I would love to see this translated:

“I have seen his face, and heard the thunder of his hooves. As swift as the wind he rides, and behind him his khalasar covers the earth, men without number, with arakhs shining in their hands like blades of razor grass. Fierce as a storm this prince will be. His enemies will tremble before him, and their wives will weep tears of blood and rend their flesh in grief. The bells in his hair will sing his coming, and the milk men in the stone tents will fear his name. The prince is riding, and he shall be the stallion who mounts the world.”

It's said in the books when the crones in Vhaes Dothrak foresee the future of Dany's child. It would be great to see it in Dothraki, 'cause it includes many common words in their culture and would give us a sense of the general grammar and structure. And probably you'll have to translate it for the series anyway!

Edited by The hairy bear, 15 April 2010 - 08:25 AM.

[JetboyGirl]

The hairy bear, on 15 April 2010 - 06:49 AM, said:

“I have seen his face, and heard the thunder of his hooves. As swift as the wind he rides, and behind him his khalasar covers the earth, men without number, with arakhs shining in their hands like blades of razor grass. Fierce as a storm this prince will be. His enemies will tremble before him, and their wives will weep tears of blood and rend their flesh in grief. The bells in his hair will sing his coming, and the milk men in the stone tents will fear his name. The prince is riding, and he shall be the stallion who mounts the world.”

I imagine the tenor and energy of Auda Abu Tayi's speech from Lawrence of Arabia when I read this.

[Black Wizard]

How about "Would you like to come back to my place?".

[Renasko]

"How much for the blonde?"

[spikebrennan]

Ser Renasko, on 15 April 2010 - 10:33 AM, said:

"How much for the blonde?"

"I can eat glass.  It does not hurt me."
(http://www.icaneatglass.com/)

[Maltaran]

"My hovercraft is full of eels"

[DizoakiusMaximus]

"Don't touch me there! I need an adult! I need an adult!"

[GrimTuesday]

You killed my father prepare to die.

[Andhaira]

'It is known.'
'Blood of my blood.'
'Moon and Stars.'
'Bloodrider.'

[Hamp]

"I'll be back"

[Twelve Angry Nonmen]

I am the most violent of all men, breaker of men and horses, who will be the one to take a knife to my heart!?

(Different books series, but I'm sure it'd sound awesome in Dothraki)

[Language Creation Society]

FWIW: We can't respond to any translation requests for a while. Feel free to keep adding them - hopefully we'll get to do them sooner than later - but ideas for how to engage HBO & fans would be more useful in the near term.

[Meriak]

Something I like about languages are words that aren't the translation of the same word in another language. I don't mean words that don't exist in English (or the Westeros common tongue) because the thing or concept simply doesn't exist in that culture like a type of sword either. The word would exist because the culture pinpointed an emotion or a state of mind more accurately.

Like the word 'eager' doesn't have a perfect equivalent in French. In Québec, we have the word 'évaché'. It means to be in a relaxed state of mind while laying or sitting on a couch-chair-bed in a position that radiates said state of mind by being the most comfortable and relaxed position possible, taking as much space as you can, placing your limbs anywhere and keeping your body limp. It is much better that the French of France term 'avachi' (although it means close to the same thing) and doesn't have a perfect English translation either.

So on top of the 37 Dothraki words for horses and the Dothraki word for falling from a horse being different than the one for falling from a cliff, the Dothraki could have a word used in Dany's wedding meaning you're both horny and hungry at the same time and things like that.

The easiest way to create a phenomenon is of course to target the introduction of a new meme (this is sparta, cake is a lie), but if you can get people to use a Dothraki word to describe something in real life or on the internet that isn't related to asoiaf, which would be easier to do with a word that doesn't have a perfect equivalent in English and have an funny connotation, then its already something.

Edited by Meriak, 17 April 2010 - 04:04 PM.

[<ChangeMe>]

I read the following on a blog somewhere, and I think it would be an important thing to incorporate into the language;

Do the Dothraki have some Valyrian in their language? I just realized that the "rhae" in that second nickname could be the "rhae" in Rhaegar and Rhaegal. If so, "rhae" means either 'sore' or 'foot'. Lol. What does '-gar' or '-gal' mean? Could the great, legendary Rhaegar Targaryen's name actually mean "Foot-something"??

The nicknames referred to above are those earned by Viserys Targaryen - Khal Rhaggat - the Cart King, and Khal Rhae Mar - the Sorefoot King.

Just thought I would share someone else's great idea.
By the way, good job thus far. Keep up the good work  

Edited by <ChangeMe>, 18 April 2010 - 01:17 PM.

[Aoife]

Just to express my own preference, I'd love to be able to get all of the Dothraki news in one place. (Ideally from somewhere that has an RSS feed, so that I can add it to my RSS reader.) Expanding publicity by using Facebook, a blog, a Livejournal, this forum, it's all fantastic, but please make sure that people can get information even if they follow you in only one location.

Discussion's different; different people are in each space, so I wouldn't expect that to be duplicated everywhere.

I've no idea what sort of arrangement you have or could get with HBO/the actors -- for getting people interested in Dothraki, maybe get interviews with Jason Momoa and put them up as a "prize" for going through a very basic quiz on Dothraki words and customs. That could get people familiar with some of the fundamentals before the show starts, if they want.

As for what I'd love to read, I'd like to know not just the translations for words and phrases, but more about the creation process. How did you work with the material George had in the book? Did you talk to him to get more information about Dothraki culture, which would inform the language, such as having no word for "follow"? Speaking of, what word or phrase would a khal use to tell his bloodriders to go where he leads? What real-life counterparts did you use as inspiration, and for what aspects? How did you determine the phonology and morphology of the language? Will there be any written Dothraki in the series (aside: is there any in the book, either direct or as transcriptions from non-Dothraki?), so we can see what sort of writing system the Dothraki have devised, if any? [I'm aware that most academics state that most nomadic peoples did not leave written records, but 1) that doesn't mean none of this subset nomadic peoples ever had written records and 2) there are also the nomadic peoples that definitely did have written records.]

Most of those would be less publicity- and/or HBO-related, of course, but it could be something to address as Dothraki makes more people aware of conlangs and the conlang process.