New guy...

[Kxanìa 'awpo]

Well, Im new and I would really like to learn the language. Where should I start, how should I practice, can you give me any advice that might help? Thanks in advance for any help that you can offer.

PS: Is my user name correct? I just scanned through the dictionary and found a couple words to string together. It should be Forbidden One in English but without knowing correct Na'vi grammer I cant really know for sure.

[SanguineEpitaph]

I started by reading the Pocket Guide, and then I did some worksheets that I found floating around here. I then continued to read the Pocket Guide to further my understanding, but, I must say, this forum is an invaluable tool. You can write practice phrases and stuff and then get feedback from other people!! It's been the BIGGEST help for me in the last week or so.


Good luck!

[Kìte'eyä Aungia]

The Pocket Guide is probably the best place to start:

Begin by looking over the phonology and practicing your pronunciation. Take a look at the alphabet thread in the pronunciation/phonetics section and listen to the audio/video examples available around the site. The creator of the language recently sent us an audio letter which you can listen to here: http://masempul.org/upxare-niinglisi/ If you don't know anything about phonetics or IPA, many of the confusing terms are outlined in the crash course in linguistic terminology used for Na'vi document, though learning about them isn't necessary.

The above and other useful documents can be found here:
http://forum.learnnavi.org/beginners/%28for-beginners%29-links-to-useful-documents/

Once you feel comfortable with the sounds of the language, move on to grammar. Learning everything at once may be a bit overboard, but make sure you at least pick up the pronouns, the dual/trial/plural markers, and the case system. With these tools, you should be able to construct very basic sentences.

After you have the basic grammar down, start working on vocabulary. Whenever you learn a new word, practice using it in a sentence.

Finally, go back and cover anything in the grammar that you skipped. Personally, I didn't bother memorizing a single infix until I'd learned a whole bunch of verbs to play around with. As you learn more vocabulary and more of the grammar, try checking out some of the example sentence threads in the beginners section.

[Angtsìk Makto]

I was a science major in college and only had the required minimum grammer education during high school, so the Crash course in linguistic terminology used for Na'vi was immensely helpful in understanding the gramatical terms and rules for me.

[Ftiafpi]

Well, Im new and I would really like to learn the language. Where should I start, how should I practice, can you give me any advice that might help? Thanks in advance for any help that you can offer.

PS: Is my user name correct? I just scanned through the dictionary and found a couple words to string together. It should be Forbidden One in English but without knowing correct Na'vi grammer I cant really know for sure.

Kaltxì ma tsmukan
(welcome brother)

Your name is perfect except you forgot the ' on 'awpo

Eywa ngahu
(Eywa be with you)

[Kxanìa 'awpo]

Your name is perfect except you forgot the ' on 'awpo

Thanks, I didnt notice.

As for everyone else, thank you and Ill check out some of the links.

[Orgotloth]

I'd also hop in the irc and/or skype channels, thy've been the biggest help to me thus far.

heres a link to how to get to them:

http://forum.learnnavi.org/website-info/na%27vi-skype-and-irc/

It gives you quick feedback as well as someone to talk to while you learn.

[hufwesiyu]

Might I suggest Kxanìa 'awpo, given that kxanì is an adjective ?

Eywa ngahu.

[Ftiafpi]

Might I suggest Kxanìa 'awpo, given that kxanì is an adjective ?

Eywa ngahu.

I agree, it should have an -a- affix.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

Might I suggest Kxanìa 'awpo, given that kxanì is an adjective ?

Eywa ngahu.

Took the words from my mouth.

To explain to Kxanì, -a- is used on adjectives to 'point towards' the noun they describe so you could write forbidden person as kxanì-a 'awpo or 'awpo a-kxanì.

This doesn't apply if the adjective is being used with a coupla verb (fancy linguistic term for a verb where an adjective is behaving a bit like the object).

[hufwesiyu]

This doesn't apply if the adjective is being used with a coupla verb

A bit along the lines of Kxanì 'awpo lu ? Kinda "The one [who?] is forbidden"...

Eywa ngahu.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

Correct.

[Kxanìa 'awpo]

Might I suggest Kxanìa 'awpo, given that kxanì is an adjective ?

Eywa ngahu.

Took the words from my mouth.

To explain to Kxanì, -a- is used on adjectives to 'point towards' the noun they describe so you could write forbidden person as kxanì-a 'awpo or 'awpo a-kxanì.

This doesn't apply if the adjective is being used with a coupla verb (fancy linguistic term for a verb where an adjective is behaving a bit like the object).

Oh, ok, thats interesting. I barely know the alphabet at this point so I wouldnt have gotten that on my own.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

No problem, and I'm glad that some people are learning the alphabet/pronunciation first, it's very important. 

[Kxanìa 'awpo]

No problem, and I'm glad that some people are learning the alphabet/pronunciation first, it's very important. 

Most people dont learn the alphabet first? That just seems ignorant to even try to learn a language without knowing that, how would you pronounce words correctly?