I Have a Confession...

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I speak a Conlang. There, I said it.

Language has always been interesting to me. Estudié Español por seis años cuando esté en el colegio, pero no lo hablo mucho. Constructed language, for me at least, holds the appeal of learning about a foreign language without the pressure of using it with native speakers. I can speak, read and write it near-fluently, but because there are no actual natives who speak this language there’s no-one to look down on me or judge me when I fail or fall short which in turn encourages me to use it more frequently.

A Brief Background

Constructed languages, or Conlangs for short, are diverse, human-created languages for use in works of fiction or common communication. They can be as simple as a few words, or as complex as an entire phonetic and grammatical system. Famous ones are Esperanto, which is used by an international community of speakers as a common-language, Dothraki and High Valyrian from Game of Thrones, and Klingon from Star Trek.

Conlangs create added depth to fictional worlds, making them feel more ‘lived in’, especially alien or non-earth worlds. After all, how strange would it be to land on an alien planet and hear English? There’s a multi-million dollar industry around creating these for film. You hear them in blockbusters all the time without recognizing them, often due to seamless understanding by way of subtitles. Tune your ear and see if you can recognize the Conlangs in Thor: The Dark World, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Despicable Me.

The Real Confession

Source

The Conlang I speak is Na’vi, which is the fictional language of the Na’vi people from James Cameron’s AVATAR. Na’vi is a fully-fleshed Conlang, meaning that it has a lexicon of over 2500 words, a complete grammar and phonetic system, and most importantly, a community of speakers.

When I first saw AVATAR in theaters, I went in blind. I had no idea what to expect. Like many of you (I assume, since AVATAR is the highest-grossing film of all time) I was hit by feelings, longing and emotion that I didn’t know existed inside me. There was something about the experience that connected with me deeply there in the theater. Unlike you, probably, I went on to see AVATAR seven times in theaters, falling more and more in love with the world each time.

The film has plenty of critics now. As we come up on the ten year mark, with sequels finally on the 2020 horizon, most of the hype around the original film has died out and the idea of sequels invokes a sort of fatigue in the media. Criticism like “It’s just Pocahontas in space.” and “The environmentalist narrative was preachy and heavy-handed.” are common.

However valid they may or may not be, though, the reason why I fell in love with Pandora and the Na’vi people remains undiminished. It wasn’t because of an exceptional story or because my small world-view about the earth was challenged. It was because Pandora felt real, like I could step through the screen and go there. Never once was my suspension of disbelief broken, which is rare for me and film.

And so, learning how to speak Na’vi was a step for me to bring that world a little closer to home. I began learning in January of 2009 and now nearly ten years later, I’m a fluent reader and writer, and near-fluent speaker. I actively work on the development of the language for the future films along with a committee of other speakers and teach the language voluntarily on the side.

Fun fact: My pseudonym is Na’vi. Mako (MAH-ko) Rhyt is a legally constructed Na’vi name, and the name that I go by in the community of speakers. Now you know!

A Few Lessons

Learning how to speak Na’vi has taught me more than I could have ever expected. It retrospectively helped me understand concepts in Spanish that I struggled with, it’s helped me learn how to speak English with even more clarity and attention to phrasing and it’s taught me how to work with and respect people of differing cultures, opinions, faiths and world-views than me.

Obviously I can’t promise the same experience for anyone who decides to learn a Conlang for a world that they love. So, here’s a little bit of fun. Below you’ll part of this article completely translated into Na’vi (translating already written thoughts instead of writing them fresh is exhausting, and so I didn’t do the whole thing). Before that, though, I’d love to hear your questions! What do you want to know about Na’vi or my experience learning, teaching, or even working with creator Paul Frommer himself? There are a few SBI shares up for grabs for those who I feel like are genuinely interested and engaged with this post.

That’s all for now!

Cheers, Mako

Lì’fyari atxawnula oe plltxe. Tsari pllngay.

Aylì’fya frakrr eltur oeyä tìtxen sami. Ftolia lì’fyat leEspañol zìsìto apukap tengkrr tok numtsengit, slä tsari ke plltxe pxìm. Oeri, aylì’fya atxawnula sunu talun lì’fyari alahe tsun nivume tìngäzìkluke alu tsat serar hu plltxeyu lì’fyayä. Tsun oe pivlltxe ivinan pamrel sivi na plltxeyu lì’fyayä slä talun ke lu plltxeyu fìlì’fyayä tsakrr ke lu sute a oeti zeyko krra ke lu oeru tìyawr. Fì’utalun, new sivar lì’fyat nì’ul’ul.

‘Okvur

Aylì’fya atxawnula, fu pum alu Conlangs, lu ketenga lì’fya a Sawtute ngop sìpängkxo fu ayvurfpi. Pum tsun livu ftue, hola lì’u nì’aw, fu ep’ang, serar famit sì a grammatical system. Pum a nga ivomum lu Esperanto, Dothraki sì High Valyrian ta Game of Thrones, sì Klingon ta Star Trek.

Aylì’fya atxawnulal ngop tìnot mì hìfkey atsleng, fte tsaw ke ‘ivefu tsleng, mì hìfkey akewong fu ke lu Rrta. Txo siyevop ne kìfkey akewong ulte stiyevawm lì’fyati le’ìnglìsì layu hiyìk, kefyak? Lu Sawtutel tìng pxaya txolarti fte ngirvop fay’ut rusìkxa ayrelfpi. Stawm pumit mì rusìkxa ayrel pxìm. Tìng mikyun ulte kxawm tsiyeve’a aylì’ut atxawnula mì ayrel arusìkx alu Thor: The Dark World, Star Wars: The Force Awakens sì Despicable Me.

Tìoeyktìng

Txawnula aylì’fya a plltxe oe lu Na’vi, pum Na’viyä ta James Cameron’s AVATAR. Na’vi lu lì’fya angay. Tsar lu lì’upuk a pumur lu pxaya lì’u apxay, a complete grammar system sì fam, sì pxaya plltxeyu.

Krra namìn rusìkxa ayrel alu AVATAR nì’awve, ke’ut ke tsole’a. Ayngana pxaya, ‘amefu oel sätaret Pandorahu. Oel ayrelit arusìkx tolare nìtxan. Tsat nìn krr akinä. Tsaw slu yawne oeru nìtxan.

Set pxaya suteru fìrel arusìkx ke sunu. Mipa pum za’u mì zìsìt alu 2020, ulte fìfmawnìl srätx txampxìt suteyä. Fo plltxe pxìm san It’s just Pocahontas in space sìk sì san The environmentalist narrative was preachy and heavy-handed. Pandora mi yawne lu oer. Ke lu talun vur anawm, fu tsal kar ayut oeru. Lu talun ‘efu oel futa Pandora fkeytok, oe tsun kivä tsatseng a fì’ut.

Ha lì’fyari leNa’vi nerume oe talun tsakemìl Pandorati zamunge oeru. Sngä’i nivume mì vospxì’aw ulte vomuna zìsìt solalew. Set lu inanyu, pamrelsiyu sì plltxeyu. Furia ngop aylì’ut mipa relfpi arusìkx srung si oe hu plltxeyu alahe, ulte lì’fyat kar nìteng.