brand new here- translation help needed

Started by sabeeny, November 14, 2018, 02:58:13 PM

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sabeeny

Hi everyone!

My super hardworking college age daughter is a superfan of all things Pandora!  I would like to surprise her during finals week with a handmade book of sorts filled with Na'vi translations of 5-10 of her favorite phrases, such as " That horse is so pretty" and " I'm thriving".  I'm here looking for guidance.  Any suggestions?

Sabeeny

Tirea Aean

Quote from: sabeeny on November 14, 2018, 02:58:13 PM
Hi everyone!

My super hardworking college age daughter is a superfan of all things Pandora!  I would like to surprise her during finals week with a handmade book of sorts filled with Na'vi translations of 5-10 of her favorite phrases, such as " That horse is so pretty" and " I'm thriving".  I'm here looking for guidance.  Any suggestions?

Sabeeny

Hi there! Welcome to the LearnNa'vi forums!

We'd be happy to help. If you're just looking for quick translations we could just translate your list of phrases for you here.  If you're here to learn or figure it out by yourself, we could provide guidance for that as well.

It would be super cool to see you two in our Discord chat sometime (especially after Finals :D)

sabeeny

Thanks for the welcome!  I'm thinking once she gets a taste of some phrases she will want to learn more- after finals, lol.  If you or someone else could help out with translation and pronunciation of these phrases, I bet she will be very motivated to learn more!

The phrases are:

That horse is so pretty.
I'm going to Blanche to get some mozzerella cheese sticks.
I'm thriving.
Oh, man!
It will be great!
Winter is coming.
This was fine.
You are wasting my time.
I feel like royalty.





Tirea Aean

Quote from: sabeeny on November 14, 2018, 06:12:50 PM
Thanks for the welcome!  I'm thinking once she gets a taste of some phrases she will want to learn more- after finals, lol.  If you or someone else could help out with translation and pronunciation of these phrases, I bet she will be very motivated to learn more!

Nice :D Looking forward to see how this pans out.

Quote
That horse is so pretty.
tsapa'li lu lor nìtxan

QuoteI'm going to Blanche to get some mozzerella cheese sticks.
oe kä ne Pìläntsyì fte kivanom ayswekit a ta motserela-tsyizì.
oe kä ne Blanche fte kivanom mozzerella cheese sticks.

This one is difficult because neither Blanche nor mozzerella cheese sticks exist on Pandora, so the Na'vi wouldn't have words for these. Cheapest way out is to loan those words from English, or just use them as-is.

QuoteI'm thriving.
oefkeyk lu fyole.

QuoteOh, man!
Without context, this phrase in English can be a response to something very good, or very bad.
Positive versions: tewti! wou! ro'a! txantsan nang!
Negative versions: yewla! keftxo! wiya! tsahey!

QuoteIt will be great!
Layu txantsan!
Layu kosman!

txantsan = excellent; kosman = wonderful

QuoteWinter is coming.
zìskrrwew zera'u.

What timing! We just got the season words :D (nice GoT ref :P)

QuoteThis was fine.
Regarding an action: fìkem tam
Regarding a thing: fì'u tam

QuoteYou are wasting my time.
oeri krrti ngal 'erängal.

QuoteI feel like royalty.
oe 'efu pxel eyktan.

Most of these have a good bit of potential for variation. There is more than one way to look at / interpret these. Others here may have different, possibly even better versions of these. For now these are the 1st versions each that I came up with. :)

Enjoy! This reminds me of when my mom surprised the heck out of me for Christmas several years ago and made something as ordinary as an empty paper towel roll something that means a ton to me. She looked up a bunch of nice words in our dictionary that reminded her of me and wrote them on the roll in sharpie. I nearly cried. :')

Mech

A more literal translation of "I'm thriving" would be oe pereiaw (I am growing/germinatng/developing).

Tirea Aean

Quote from: Mech on November 15, 2018, 03:14:18 AM
A more literal translation of "I'm thriving" would be oe pereiaw (I am growing/germinatng/developing).

I really like that!

It's just paw is defined as grow, as in for plants:

Quote
This is 'grow' in the sense of 'germinate and develop (of a plant).'

It's distinct from tsawl slu, which implies "getting big" and is also the term used for an animal that's growing up and maturing

"I'm thriving!" seems to mean more than physically growing anyway. I assumed that this was an expression that one is doing very well, has high levels of well-being and /or is very productive and successful. There are many ways to look at this one.

Ma sabeeny, What is the context of this one usually? Is it a typical response to "How are you?" or is it something else? Also, is it sarcastic or serious? Some of these without context, at face value, is hard to judge the actual meaning behind it. One of the pillars of translation to/from Na'vi is "Translate the meaning, not the words" :)

Mech

This is true for all translations :)

I had in  mind 'ivong Na'vi translated as "let Na'vi bloom". Here we have the metaphor of an action of a plant. However 'ong has the original meaning of unfold, meaning "somethng that is closed and then unfolds", which is not as positive and grandiose as "thrive" that refers to somethng already grown.

In any case i think it's legit to borrow characteristics of plants as metaphor to something else, a person or concept.

Tirea Aean

Fair. Metaphors and personification definitely exist because of things such as tsawke lrrtok si and hufwe tul.

sabeeny

Thanks for the responses!  I am so excited about surprising her with this!


The context to "I'm thriving" is in response to "how are you?"  She uses it both literally and sarcastically.  One more phrase that her roommate suggested is "living my/your best life" again used in response to "how are you?"


How would she pronounce these phrases?  Are there phoenetic guidelines I could send her?




Tirea Aean

Quote from: sabeeny on November 15, 2018, 04:04:57 PM
Thanks for the responses!  I am so excited about surprising her with this!
:D

QuoteThe context to "I'm thriving" is in response to "how are you?"  She uses it both literally and sarcastically.  One more phrase that her roommate suggested is "living my/your best life" again used in response to "how are you?"

I thought that might be the case. As for "living my/your best life"... This one is somewhat difficult. I think the closest I can get is something like

oe rereiey nìswey
"I'm living [in] the best [way] :D"

QuoteHow would she pronounce these phrases?  Are there phoenetic guidelines I could send her?

We have some resources on pronunciation of letters/sounds, such as this somewhat recent video by Pamìrìk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5JKGL-o16M

Here I've just recorded them for the sake of ease/convenience in the specific case of these sentences.

QuoteThat horse is so pretty.
tsapa'li lu lor nìtxan


QuoteI'm going to Blanche to get some mozzerella cheese sticks.
oe kä ne Pìläntsyì fte kivanom ayswekit a ta motserela-tsyizì.

oe kä ne Blanche fte kivanom mozzerella cheese sticks.


QuoteI'm thriving.
oefkeyk lu fyole.


Quoteliving my best life
oe rereiey nìswey


QuoteOh, man!
Positive versions: tewti! wou! ro'a! txantsan nang!

Negative versions: yewla! keftxo! wiya! tsahey!


QuoteIt will be great!
Layu txantsan!

Layu kosman!


QuoteWinter is coming.
zìskrrwew zera'u.


QuoteThis was fine.
Regarding an action: fìkem tam

Regarding a thing: fì'u tam


QuoteYou are wasting my time.
oeri krrti ngal 'erängal.


QuoteI feel like royalty.
oe 'efu pxel eyktan.


Again, there are many other valid alternatives to these other people here could come up with :)