Getting Started the Eri Way

[Erimeyz]

Someone sent me a PM recently asking for my advice on how to get started.  I thought that others might like to see my reply, so I'm posting it here, in case it helps anyone else.

  - Eri



Hi there!  Welcome aboard!  I know it can be pretty overwhelming when you're just getting started - there's so much to learn, and so little of it is geared towards beginners.  Hang in there, though, and you'll be speaking like a native in no time.

My strong suggestion is to work on the following, in order:

* Pronunciation
* Basic grammar
* Basic vocabulary
* Read the corpus
* More vocabulary
* Write your own sentences
* Intermediate grammar
* Read the Na'vi Only forums
* More vocabulary
* Post in the Na'vi Only forums
* Advanced grammar

Unfortunately, we don't really have anything that walks you through each of those steps.  Lots of different people are working on it all in bits and pieces, though.  I'll point you towards the best we've got.

Pronunciation: Read the first three lessons in my Beginner's Guide.  The guide is nowhere near finished, but the first three lessons deal with pronunciation, and they're pretty good.  Lesson One, Lesson Two, Lesson Three, and the Guide Main Page.

Basic Grammar: The Na'vi in a Nutshell overview by NeotrekkerZ is a great way to learn a ton of grammar.  It's got more than you need to worry about at first, though, so don't try to absorb the whole thing at once.  I'd say that the basics you need to learn are in Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4 sections 4.1 through 4.4, Chapter 5 section 5.1, and Chapter 6 section 6.1.

Basic Vocabulary: First, get yourself a dictionary.  There are a bunch of word lists floating around, but there are only three that are worth looking at: Taronyu's Dictionary, the Wiktionary Na'vi Appendix, and the Learn Na'vi Wiki Vocabulary page.  But don't try to learn all the words in it at once.  Start with the few that you're going to encounter over and over, namely the words on this list of conversational vocabulary.  Keep the dictionaries handy though, because you'll need to look up words like crazy while you're still learning.  Any one of those three dictionaries should do fine.  Avoid any others, as they're all out-of-date and inaccurate.

Read the Corpus: Next, armed with a smattering of grammar, a smattering of vocabulary, and a dictionary, read through the Corpus, which is just a collection of all the authoritative Na'vi text we have so far.  It's a good exercise, and it will teach you a lot while giving you some practice in reading.

More Vocabulary: After going through the Corpus, next work on expanding your vocabulary.  The best way to do that is with the Na'vi Fun Activity Book.  It's got a lot of vocabulary drills, but in fun puzzle formats.  It also includes (in the last half of it) several grammar worksheets, which will further explain and reinforce the grammar you first learned from Na'vi in a Nutshell.

Write Sentences: You've read the Corpus so you're familiar with basic sentence patterns, and you've worked your way through the Activity Book so you've got a decent vocabulary and a decent grasp of grammar.  Put all that knowledge to use by writing some simple sentences of your own.  Post them to the Beginners' Board and get some feedback on them; you'll learn a lot this way.

Intermediate Grammar: Now you're ready to absorb the rest of the grammar from Na'vi in a Nutshell, the parts I told you to skip at first.  Go back and read through the whole thing.

Read the Na'vi Only forum: To get better at Na'vi, you need to read a lot of Na'vi.  There's only one place on Earth where you can read a lot of Na'vi, and that's the Na'vi Only forum.  Expect to use your dictionary a lot.  Don't fret if you can't follow everything they say, just do your best.  If you have questions, ask them in English on the Beginners or Intermediate boards - the Na'vi Only forum is for Na'vi only, and you'll do better at this stage if you still rely on English to ask questions and get explanations.

More Vocabulary: From reading the Na'vi Only forums, you're going to get a real workout looking things up in your dictionary.  Use that to your advantage.  Now's the time to start studying the dictionary and learning as many words from it as you can.

Post in the Na'vi Only forum: You'll know when you're ready.  But you'll be ready sooner than you think.  Be bold.  Jump in.  Have fun.

Advanced Grammar: This is the stuff that the linguists among us are still trying to figure out.  When you get to this stage, you'll know everything there is to know about Na'vi.

Well, that's basically it.  Not everyone learns the same way, and this may or may not work for you.  But give it a try, and see how things go.  Good luck, and feel free to ask me questions any time!

Eywa ngahu,

  - Eri

[Tsleng-a tsamsiyu]

Irayo! ive been looking for a guideline to follow just jumping around makes it really hard to learn, it's a really cool language even if my friends think im an idiot for trying.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

txan irayo! That is really helpful, and reveals resources I haven't seen yet.

[jasgor9]

Irayo, tsmukan!

[IkranMaktokan]

apxa irayo. This is very helpful

Eywa Ngahu

Ikranmaktokan

[JordanNavi]

finally after 3 days of looking i finally find something that tells me exactly how i should start to learn this beautiful language.

Irayo!

[Liyanin]

Thanks of your guide, I will now restart learning Na'vi. There are so many Grammar guides and so one to read, so I didn't know where to start, so I just read some Vocabulary, but then gave up. I hope I will soon be able to translate what I just wrote into Na'vi!! Thanks a lot!

[Dutch-Skxawng]

Irayo 1000X I figured i'd jsut start building vocab and learn some grammar and syntax but that didn't realy work out.
This looks like a great way to start learning and it gave me some links i could never find and look great to use for learning.