Na'viteri: a listening comprehension exercise

[Unil Akawng]

I think this is "ulte eviru peng"; I definitely hear a v, not a w.

Indeed, it's a "v". Besides, Grace probably told her stories to the entire class, not personally to Txewì, so eviru it is. Corrected.

The word is «natkenong» and means "for example/as an example". It is derived from «na.t(ì).kenong».

Irayo, fìlì'u lesar lu nìtxan! Famrelti leykolatem oel.

[Plumps]

Carborundum raised an interesting question and I'd like to hear your thoughts about that

Oe piveng ayngar nì'it teri Txewì...

Now that you've brought that sentence up however, I have to admit that I'm confused about his usage of the subjunctive in peng. What's its function there?

[Unil Akawng]

Hmm, probably it just suggests a degree of politeness? "I would [like to] tell you about Txewì", as opposed to "I will tell you...".

[Prrton]

Carborundum raised an interesting question and I'd like to hear your thoughts about that

Oe piveng ayngar nì'it teri Txewì...

Now that you've brought that sentence up however, I have to admit that I'm confused about his usage of the subjunctive in peng. What's its function there?

Hmm, probably it just suggests a degree of politeness? "I would [like to] tell you about Txewì", as opposed to "I will tell you...".

I believe it may carry the nuance of "(please let) me tell you a bit about Txewì..."

Spanish might do it similarly with the subjunctive:

«(Dejeme) que hable un poco acerca de Txewì...»

The Spanish «dejar» or English "let/allow" (Na'vi «tung») is just omitted because it's not necessary??

[Carborundum]

Carborundum raised an interesting question and I'd like to hear your thoughts about that

Oe piveng ayngar nì'it teri Txewì...

Now that you've brought that sentence up however, I have to admit that I'm confused about his usage of the subjunctive in peng. What's its function there?

Hmm, probably it just suggests a degree of politeness? "I would [like to] tell you about Txewì", as opposed to "I will tell you...".

I believe it may carry the nuance of "(please let) me tell you a bit about Txewì..."

Spanish might do it similarly with the subjunctive:

«(Dejeme) que hable un poco acerca de Txewì...»

The Spanish «dejar» or English "let/allow" (Na'vi «tung») is just omitted because it's not necessary??

Seems like a reasonable theory to my non-linguist self.

[wm.annis]

I believe it may carry the nuance of "(please let) me tell you a bit about Txewì..."

That was my interpretation, too — an extension of the optative subjunctive.

[Lance R. Casey]

(Finally got around to listening to this)

Speaking of the subjunctive, I would have expected it here:

New Txewìl futa fyeyntu slayu a krr, po nawma taronyu sì tsamsiyu layu na sempul.

Srake mllte aynga?

[Plumps]

That is a very weird construction indeed ... combination of modal, subordinate clause and comparison ... hek nìtxan nì'aw

[Prrton]

That is a very weird construction indeed ... combination of modal, subordinate clause and comparison ... hek nìtxan nì'aw

Txanstan!

I would also expect the subjunctive in this case, but there has been more than one time in which I had the subjunctive somewhere and he asked why. Especially in post-TXO scenarios...

The «NEW» in the first part of the whole thing would seem to mandate it here... nìngay hek.

[Ftiafpi]

Just getting around to this as well. I've listened to it in my car many times but never broken it down.

What's the deal with "ko pivlltxe"?

Also, still can't figure out what this means exactly: Po plltxe san tì'efumì oeyä sutekip nìwotx, ftxey Na'vi ftxey Sawtute, lu sìltsan, lu kawng sìk. I get the gist but that first clause doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, here is my translation of the text for my own personal benefit but I'm sure others wouldn't mind seeing it as well:

Spoiler

Hello my friends! May I tell you all about Txewì, a child of The People.

Txewì is a boy that is 10 years old. He lives in a large home with his family. His family is small; only a father, mother, brother; who is called Loak and is 19 years old, and Txewì. Txewì does not have a sister.

Txewì wants to grow up and become a great hunter and warrior like his father. Txewì can speak a little English that he learned in Dr. Grace's school. Dr. Grace was a good teacher and can speak Na'vi, although her accent is a little strange. But the kids could understand her completely.

When she was in her Avatar, she seemed almost like another person, but there were a few differences; for example: her hands did not have four fingers but instead had five.

Dr. Grace makes Txerì happy, she is kind, and tells all the kids interesting stories about Earth, which is truly a strange place. When Txewì heard about a thing that happened to her, he was very upset.

Txewì's father began hating the Skypeople. He said; "The Skypeople came here to destroy us all." But mother thought different. She said; "In my feeling totally among people, wither The People or the Skypeople are good or are evil."

It appears now that the evil Skypeople left, the good Skypeople remained, and the People now have a great new leader that was a Skyperson. The war with the Skypeople is finished. Txewì hopes that now one could say "all is well."

[Prrton]

Just getting around to this as well. I've listened to it in my car many times but never broken it down.

What's the deal with "ko pivlltxe"?

Also, still can't figure out what this means exactly: Po plltxe san tì'efumì oeyä sutekip nìwotx, ftxey Na'vi ftxey Sawtute, lu sìltsan, lu kawng sìk. I get the gist but that first clause doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, here is my translation of the text for my own personal benefit but I'm sure others wouldn't mind seeing it as well:

Spoiler

Hello my friends! May I tell you all about Txewì, a child of The People.

Txewì is a boy that is 10 years old. He lives in a large home with his family. His family is small; only a father, mother, brother; who is called Loak and is 19 years old, and Txewì. Txewì does not have a sister.

Txewì wants to grow up and become a great hunter and warrior like his father. Txewì can speak a little English that he learned in Dr. Grace's school. Dr. Grace was a good teacher and can speak Na'vi, although her accent is a little strange. But the kids could understand her completely.

When she was in her Avatar, she seemed almost like another person, but there were a few differences; for example: her hands did not have four fingers but instead had five.

Dr. Grace makes Txerì happy, she is kind, and tells all the kids interesting stories about Earth, which is truly a strange place. When Txewì heard about a thing that happened to her, he was very upset.

Txewì's father began hating the Skypeople. He said; "The Skypeople came here to destroy us all." But mother thought different. She said; "In my feeling totally among people, wither The People or the Skypeople are good or are evil."

It appears now that the evil Skypeople left, the good Skypeople remained, and the People now have a great new leader that was a Skyperson. The war with the Skypeople is finished. Txewì hopes that now one could say "all is well."

I'm pretty sure I hear «kop (also) pivlltxe». The «-p» is 'unreleased' like the final «-k» in «Loak». This is the norm for the Na'vi final «-t» as well.

My 2¢ re: the nuances of the translation in my version of your spoiler below. I think you got it all except the context of Sempul's hatred and the "whether..., or..." thing in Sa'nok's view, which is quite un-English-like in its structure.

The other thing that we have to be careful of coming from Indo-European language (especially English) is the tense and aspect marking on the verbs. Everything about Grace in this story is in the past, but the Na'vi verbs don't always show that. It's important in any time thread to find where the (English) tense is established and then watch for it to change again to something that is overtly different. If the interstitial verbs are unmarked for tense/time, then they are probably referring the the tense that was established by the first overt marking.

 

Spoiler

Hello my friends! Let me tell you all about Txewì, a child of The People.

Txewì is a 10-y-o boy. He lives in a large village with his family. His family is small; only a father, mother, 19-y-o brother, Loak, and Txewì. Txewì has no sister.

Txewì wants to grow up and become a great hunter and warrior like his father. Txewì can also speak a little English that he learned in Dr. Grace's school. Dr. Grace was a good teacher and could speak Na'vi, although her accent was a little strange. But the kids could all understand her completely.

When she was in her Avatar, she seemed almost like another person, but there were a few differences; for example: her hands did not have four fingers but instead had five.

Txewì liked Dr. Grace makes Txerì happy. She was kind, and told all the kids interesting stories about Earth, which is truly a strange place. When Txewì heard about a thing that what happened to her, he was very sad.

Txewì's father began hating hated the Skypeople in the beginning. He said; "The Skypeople came here to destroy us all." But Mother saw things differently. She said; "In my feeling totally among people, wither The People or the Skypeople are good or are evil. In my opinion there's good and bad in everyone; whether our People or the Skypeople."

It appears now that the evil Skypeople have left, the good Skypeople are still around, and the People now have a great new leader who used to be a Skyperson. The war with the Skypeople is over. Txewì hopes that now it's safe* to say "all is well."

*There is nothing in the actual text about "safety" (derived from «zong», for example), but that's the 'spirit' of it, tì'efumì oeyä. He hopes that one can say "all's well" with no danger of being wrong in saying it.

[Plumps]

What Prrton said and a minor addition

Spoiler

When she was in her Avatar, she seemed almost like another person them*, but there were a few differences; for example: her hands did not have four fingers but instead had five.
*meaning Txewì and all the other Na'vi

[Ftiafpi]

Ahhh, yea, those make a lot more sense.

Yeah, as I was falling asleep last night I realized I should have followed the aspect all the way through to figure out the English tense as it made more sense for most of that to be in the past tense.

[Tanri]

Kaltxì ma sulfätu lì'fyari leNa'vi,
i have a question about a word "natkenong".

Listening to the Karyu Pawl, i am unable to pick up "t" in the middle of natkenong.
It sounds to me like "na kenong" or "nat kenong" with unreleased "t" at the end of "nat".

I found this word in vurvi aylì'uä ta Taronyu, with unknown sourcing. Is natkenong confirmed by Frommer?
"Na kenong", although grammatically incorrect, has the right meaning too.

[Kemaweyan]

Natkenong is word created from na + tìkenong

[Tirea Aean]

Just getting around to this as well. I've listened to it in my car many times but never broken it down.

What's the deal with "ko pivlltxe"?

Also, still can't figure out what this means exactly: Po plltxe san tì'efumì oeyä sutekip nìwotx, ftxey Na'vi ftxey Sawtute, lu sìltsan, lu kawng sìk. I get the gist but that first clause doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, here is my translation of the text for my own personal benefit but I'm sure others wouldn't mind seeing it as well:

Spoiler

Hello my friends! May I tell you all about Txewì, a child of The People.

Txewì is a boy that is 10 years old. He lives in a large home with his family. His family is small; only a father, mother, brother; who is called Loak and is 19 years old, and Txewì. Txewì does not have a sister.

Txewì wants to grow up and become a great hunter and warrior like his father. Txewì can speak a little English that he learned in Dr. Grace's school. Dr. Grace was a good teacher and can speak Na'vi, although her accent is a little strange. But the kids could understand her completely.

When she was in her Avatar, she seemed almost like another person, but there were a few differences; for example: her hands did not have four fingers but instead had five.

Dr. Grace makes Txerì happy, she is kind, and tells all the kids interesting stories about Earth, which is truly a strange place. When Txewì heard about a thing that happened to her, he was very upset.

Txewì's father began hating the Skypeople. He said; "The Skypeople came here to destroy us all." But mother thought different. She said; "In my feeling totally among people, wither The People or the Skypeople are good or are evil."

It appears now that the evil Skypeople left, the good Skypeople remained, and the People now have a great new leader that was a Skyperson. The war with the Skypeople is finished. Txewì hopes that now one could say "all is well."

I'm pretty sure I hear «kop (also) pivlltxe». The «-p» is 'unreleased' like the final «-k» in «Loak». This is the norm for the Na'vi final «-t» as well.

My 2¢ re: the nuances of the translation in my version of your spoiler below. I think you got it all except the context of Sempul's hatred and the "whether..., or..." thing in Sa'nok's view, which is quite un-English-like in its structure.

The other thing that we have to be careful of coming from Indo-European language (especially English) is the tense and aspect marking on the verbs. Everything about Grace in this story is in the past, but the Na'vi verbs don't always show that. It's important in any time thread to find where the (English) tense is established and then watch for it to change again to something that is overtly different. If the interstitial verbs are unmarked for tense/time, then they are probably referring the the tense that was established by the first overt marking.

   

Spoiler

Hello my friends! Let me tell you all about Txewì, a child of The People.

Txewì is a 10-y-o boy. He lives in a large village with his family. His family is small; only a father, mother, 19-y-o brother, Loak, and Txewì. Txewì has no sister.

Txewì wants to grow up and become a great hunter and warrior like his father.

Txewì can also speak a little English that he learned in Dr. Grace's school.

Dr. Grace was a good teacher and could speak Na'vi, although her accent was a little strange. But the kids could all understand her completely.

When she was in her Avatar, she seemed almost like another person, but there were a few differences; for example: her hands did not have four fingers but instead had five.

Txewì liked Dr. Grace makes Txerì happy. She was kind, and told all the kids interesting stories about Earth, which is truly a strange place.

When Txewì heard about a thing that what happened to her, he was very sad.

Txewì's father began hating hated the Skypeople in the beginning. He said; "The Skypeople came here to destroy us all."

But Mother saw things differently. She said; "In my feeling totally among people, wither The People or the Skypeople are good or are evil. In my opinion there's good and bad in everyone; whether our People or the Skypeople."

It appears now that the evil Skypeople have left, the good Skypeople are still around, and the People now have a great new leader who used to be a Skyperson.

The war with the Skypeople is over. Txewì hopes that now it's safe* to say "all is well."

*There is nothing in the actual text about "safety" (derived from «zong», for example), but that's the 'spirit' of it, tì'efumì oeyä. He hopes that one can say "all's well" with no danger of being wrong in saying it.