Basic Forum Etiquette (PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING)

Started by Skxawng, December 28, 2009, 11:21:50 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Skxawng

 Forum rules: For general questions, please create your own topic. For specific questions or discussions, post in of the appropriate sub-forums:



Zola'u Nìprrte'! Or, in English; "Welcome!"

If you're reading this you're probably very excited to get learning that cool language you heard on the screen, or in any one of the many interviews that are up.  You're in the right place!  

Many community members have become pretty knowledgeable about Na'vi. However, we are a diverse group. We've got linguists, PHD's, 15 year olds, artists and supergeeks in our collective, and some of us are learning weirdly fast and some are not.  Most of the moderators are pretty knowledgeable, or pretty helpful, so listening to them would be a good idea.

So where do you start? Hopefully right here. Things could get really confusing and annoying if you don't follow some basic guidelines (other than the ones you agreed to when you registered.) Firstly, and this is perhaps not a guidelines, but a strong suggestion, you should most definitely LURK.

There is a good chance that your question has been answered, or can easily be answered by looking around the beginner forum, or the child-forums within. The intermediate speakers have come up with a good base curriculum and some suggested starting points. Consider that if you don't see your question answered, there might be a topic that it would go best under, instead of making a completely new topic.

Secondly, read this post. Also, check out the stickies in the beginner forum and sub-forums, really useful stuff there.

Thirdly, you should know how to write Na'vi in this forum:

To Start, the Na'vi language uses ì and ä. You can achieve these letters via copy-pasting or by using the buttons in the forum, but it might be quicker to learn the keyboard shortcuts.

For PC, alt plus keycodes are used:
alt + 141 = ì
alt + 132 = ä
alt + 0204 = Ì
alt + 142 = Ä

For Mac,
Option + ` then press i   = ì
Option + u then press a  = ä



In the beginner area, Infixes, Suffixes and Prefixes should be clearly identified according to the following:


Infixes be isolated by the use of greater than/less than symbols: <>
Suffixes and prefixes be separated by the use of the hyphen : -

For example:


"Oel tarmaron"


would become

"Oel t<arm>aron"

... which, while perhaps less immediately legible, is easier to decipher for beginners (like me) who don't quite know what all the linguistic jargon means.

Additionally, when posting a phrase, question, or statement in Na'vi, I'm sure beginners would also appreciate the translation in the same post. For example

Nga ke lu taronyu
You are not a hunter

This will allow others to learn, or if you make a mistake, it'll help others correct you as they'll know what you're trying to get at.

Furthermore, if you want to go really crazy (and you should) it would be extremely effective if you used a 'Trilinear gloss', for example:

Oe-l     nga-ti   kam‹ei›e

I-ERG you-ACC See‹LAUD›
"I See you" (a greeting)


Notice also that I'm using bold for the Na'vi Phrase or Sentence,  standard text for the gloss, and Italics for the English translation. Furthermore, the phrase is separated from the rest of the text. All of this increases legibility, and the likeliness that someone will understand what you're trying to say and be then willing to help.

--------
Updated some links - January 17, 2015
Text rewritten to reflect additional information and to set tone to a more tenured level. - January 17, 2015


"prrkxentrrkrr is a skill best saved for only the most cunning linguist"