Where Are Your Keys? Na'vi curriculum

[Futurulus]

Kaltxì ma frapo,

A friend introduced me to a fun little game last year, and it's become my favorite way to teach people Na'vi:

http://whereareyourkeys.org/

Essentially, you can just lead with "want to play a game?", and start talking in Na'vi; the game is designed so players can start with no background and learn Na'vi without English translation, while in the process learning how to teach Na'vi to others.

(There's an unfortunate lack of good, exciting introductory videos, but if you've got some time on your hands, I'd suggest starting with the first ten minutes or so of Evan Gardner's Core Conversation and the first few videos from Willem Larsen's Bookends series, then looking at a few of the recordings of games in spoken languages on Willem's page, to see what the game's about.)

Spoiler: Core Conversation

Spoiler: Bookend #1: "the Big Set-up"

Anyway, there are people much better than me at promoting the game (and if you've played it before, definitely tell everybody how much fun it is).  In order to start a game in a new language, though, you need to first translate the WAYK "Universal Speed Curriculum".  Here's one in Spanish, for example.

My first attempt at a Na'vi speed curriculum is below -- if you see any grammatical errors or better ways to say things, be sure to speak out!  And if one other person can experience the smiles that flash across beginners' faces when they first hear the word tskxe...well, then I'll consider this thread a success.

Let me know what you think!

ta Futurulu


edit:
Curriculum now on Dropbox for easy updating.
Latest version lives here: [ODT] [PDF]

original version that came with this first post (mistakes and all): [PDF]

[Plumps]

Interesting approach. It has a few overlaps with what NgayNume started with – association with pictures etc.

I only see only a few tiny errors in your speed curriculm: 'whose' is pesuä (genitive is just -ä after consonants, u and o).

The 'if ... then ...' construction is « txo v‹iv›erb, (tsakrr) v‹ay›erb », so: Txo oel ngaru tivìng oeyä tskxeti, ngal oeru tayìng ngeyä vultsyìpit srak?

S/he took my rock is pol molunge oeyä tskxet(i). The nang can only be applied to sentences in which a .txan word appeared, if I understood that correctly...

'those' is (ay)sa'u (kind of an irregular plural form)

Otherwise, I'm really looking forward whether this approach catches on. The problem is of course that we still lack eveyday conversational bits ... and we would need to (as you already did) help ourselves with objects that we have words for (leaf instead of pen which is a great idea).

[Kamean]

Interesting

[Futurulus]

I only see only a few tiny errors in your speed curriculm: 'whose' is pesuä (genitive is just -ä after consonants, u and o).

The 'if ... then ...' construction is « txo v‹iv›erb, (tsakrr) v‹ay›erb », so: Txo oel ngaru tivìng oeyä tskxeti, ngal oeru tayìng ngeyä vultsyìpit srak?

S/he took my rock is pol molunge oeyä tskxet(i). The nang can only be applied to sentences in which a .txan word appeared, if I understood that correctly...

'those' is (ay)sa'u (kind of an irregular plural form)

Irayo ma Plumps!  Fixed and reuploaded.  I didn't know that about nang...I guess «sevin nìtxan nang!» is the only place I'd heard it used I have seen a number of «seykxel sì nitram nang»s around the forum, but looks like there are only three Frommerian examples, and they're all nìtxan sentences.

Otherwise, I'm really looking forward whether this approach catches on. The problem is of course that we still lack eveyday conversational bits ... and we would need to (as you already did) help ourselves with objects that we have words for (leaf instead of pen which is a great idea).

I think the conversational bits aren't too much of a problem -- irayo, kea tìkin, tam, eyawr, and «wou!» have been plenty for me to spice up the game with some unscripted Na'vi.  Vocabulary can be problematic, though.  Particularly, a cursory look through the dictionary seems to indicate that the Na'vi don't have any concept of money or ownership...no beg, borrow, lend, steal, buy, or sell!  Not to mention I can't use a dollar bill, which is the favorite target of theft for that last line.  (I could be wrong about the cultural implications.  I'll admit I haven't lurked enough on the Customs and Culture forum.)

By the way, if anyone's looking for a list of techniques (the "rules" of the game), the Wiki has most of the important ones.  Some of them are blank, but what's there is still a good overview of the main points of the game.

curriculum version as of this post (see original post for permanent link to latest): [PDF]

[Futurulus]

Ah, here's the nang thing:
http://wiki.learnnavi.org/index.php/Canon/2010/UltxaAyharyu%C3%A4#Nang

As we like to say: how fascinating!

[Tirea Aean]

plural of fi'u is actualy ayfi'u not fayu. (goes with the aysa'u exception, and the plural of 'u is ALWAYS ayu. the word 'u is strange when it comes to plural. it's like the exception.)

I'd hesitate calling For as -ru.

other than that

this is A GREAT IDEA. I hadn't seen this thread until now and I'm not sure how. This here is pretty much in the direction of NgayNume 2010 as mentioned above. I like this method here better than rote memorization of the dictionary + Nian... I'll keep this project in mind.

[Futurulus]

plural of fi'u is actualy ayfi'u not fayu. (goes with the aysa'u exception, and the plural of 'u is ALWAYS ayu. the word 'u is strange when it comes to plural. it's like the exception.)

I'd hesitate calling For as -ru.

Fixed.  Also decided to use aysa'u and ayfo for consistency.  ("ayfeyä" eyawr lu, kefyak?)  You're definitely right about "for" -- I was thinking about "for a person", but the game is usually talking about "in exchange for".  Like "trade", the concept of "in exchange for" may be something the Na'vi have no word for.

this is A GREAT IDEA. I hadn't seen this thread until now and I'm not sure how.

Well, it's only been up for a few days.  For most people, that's not very long to go without checking a forum

curriculum version as of this post (see original post for permanent link to latest): [PDF]

[Tirea Aean]

ayfeyä is correct.

fpi+ is a lenitioncausing adposition, for as in A verbs for(the sake of) B