Lyrical Revision and Translation

[Khestalì]

But yeah, basically I got this idea in my head a while ago to translate "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas into Na'vi, with suitable revision/replacement of some words and Earth references to their Pandoran equivalent, I.E. "heron" to "ikran", "sycamore" to "utral", etc. The inspiration came from a couple fan-videos I saw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chvyf3ep7Tg&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1lTyHPrY38; anyone know how to put links in/with text without actually embedding it? ) and it's been stuck in my head ever since

Now, while I tried to do a bit of fixing myself pre-posting, I know there's going to be TONS of mistakes, simply due to the fact that when I first started I had no knowledge of any grammatical or syntaxical structure and was going merely by the closest approximate translations I could find via the word-finder on the website. But I thought I'd post what I had for now, as it'll be a bit before I've learned enough of Na'vi to recognize it all myself, especially considering it's been years since I did any grammar-work at all and have to re-learn the difference between a verb and a noun

Nga-ìl fpìlfya oe-t yaymak lehrrop*
You think I'm an ignorant savage

Ulte nga-ìl sop nìtxan tseng(e)
And you've been so many places

Oe 'en kefyak* zene lu kefyak*
I guess it must be so

Slä mi oe kaw'it kame
But still I cannot see

Txa eyawr lehrropìl* 'awpo/fko* kefyak oe-t
If the savage one is me

Fyape/Pefya* tsun tafral* nìtxan tsa nga stxang omum
How can there be so much that you don't know?

Nga-ìl fph nga sno 'upe atxkxet nga pate sìn
You think you own whatever land you land on

Tsatseng 'Rrta nì'wa kerusey ke'u/'fi'u nga-ìl tsun sno*
The earth is just a dead thing you can claim

Slä oe omum/lame/smon tskxe sì utral sì swìrä
But I know every rock and tree and creature

Sno tìrey, sno tìrea, sno tstxo
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name

Key: *=unsure of worchoice, word/word=unsure of correct word for translation, (letter)=unsure which form is correct with/without parenthesi'd letter. Any suggestions for alternate word-choices are most welcome, and of course, grammar and syntax correction
Hope I put this in the right place! *Crosses fingers*

[Txonä Unil Stä'nìyu Rolyusì]

Nga-ìl fpìlfya futa oe-t lu tute ayaymak sì lehrroap*
You think I'm an ignorant savage

When putting a word that ends in a vowel in the agentive case, we just attach the -l. We only add the ì if the word ends in a consonant. With the transitive verb fpìl, we use the subordinate clause marker (linking word, as I understand it) futa to mark the clause (thing being thought) with the patientive case. I added tute for 'person' since we don't have a word for 'savage' and can't use an adjective to describe an adjective. Speaking of adjectives, since yaymak is now being used to describe tute, it needs the 'a of attribution' attached between it and tute to show that it is describing tute. Also, the form of 'and' that we use for lists is sì.

Ulte nga-ìl sop tolok nìtxan pxaya tsenget
And you've been so many places

I think a better word here would be tok because it literally means 'to be at (a place).' It is infixed with <ol> to show that it the action is completed. It transitive, so we do need case endings on nga and tsenge. Nìtxan means 'much', the word needed here is pxay, the form of 'many' that we use with countable nouns.

Oe 'en si kefyak* fwa zene livu kefyak* ngay
I guess it must be so

Not sure what the function of kefyak is here. 'En on its own is not a verb, we must add si to make it a verb. Zene is a modal verb, requiring the <iv> infix in lu. Fwa is another subordinate clause marker used with intransitive verbs. It is used here to indicate the thing being guessed. I added ngay (true)...assuming that's what 'so' means in the translation.

Slä mi ke tsun oe kaw'it kivame
But still I cannot see

Kaw'it isn't really needed here IMO tho it's not wrong to have it. But you do need tsun (can/be able to) since you're talking about an ability to do something. But since you're saying can not do something, we need ke (not) in front of tsun to negate it. Now tsun is another one of those modals so kame needs <iv>.

Txao eyawr tute lehrroapìl* lu 'awpo/fko* kefyak oe-t
If the savage one is me

The word for 'if' is txo. Case endings are not needed here because there is no transitive verb, neither is 'awpo, fko, or kefyak. I added tute before lehrrap to say 'dangerous person' as a sort of a synonym for 'savage one' because as far as I know, adjectives can only describe nouns not pronouns (which is what fko is) tho someone correct me if I'm wrong. Now about what I said earlier about adjective attribution, note that I don't have an 'a of attribution' here. We don't need to write it on "le-" adjectives so long as the noun comes before the adjective. If it comes after, then we need the a.

Fyape/Pefya* tsun livu ayu fìtxan a tafral* nìtxan tsa ngal ke stxang omum
How can there be so much that you don't know?

Fyape and pefya both mean the same thing, it's up to you which one you use. Not sure what the function of tafral and nìtxan is. Tsa- on its own is not a word, it's just a prefix. Here we need a free-floating a of attribution to connect the 2 parts of the sentence Fyape tsun livu ayu fìtxan and ngal ke omum. Now, I'm not 100% sure if "ayu fìtxan" is the right way to say it or not, I'll need someone to further correct me there. I could not find the word stxang anywhere in my dictionary.

Nga-ìl fphìl futa nga sno 'upe fratxkxet a pate sìn lu pum ngeyä
You think you own whatever land you land on

"ph" is an illegal phoneme in Na'vi. Remember our friend futa? He's needed here again. The patientive case is not needed on atxkxe as it is not a direct object. I added the prefix "fra-" (every) to make it mean 'every land (you arrive at....).' There is vowel contraction here because Na'vi doesn't have double of the same vowel. The free-floating a of attribution is needed again to link the parts of the sentence. Sìn is an adposition and can only be used with nouns and pronouns. Pum is a placeholder pronoun referring to a noun or pronoun previously mentioned. Ngeyä is nga with the genetive case "-yä." There is also vowel contraction here so the a becomes an e.

Tsatseng 'Rrta nì'wa lu 'u akerusey nì'aw a ke'u/'fi'u nga-ìl tsun sno* mivunge
The earth is just a dead thing you can claim

Tsatseng is not needed. I added lu 'u for 'is a thing,' then the adjective kerusey with the a of attribution. The adverb nì'aw fits better here after the verb lu IMO. Ke'u, fì'u, and sno are not needed neither is the agentive case on nga. Free-floating a once again to link the 2 parts of the sentence, and tsun mivunge for 'can take' to finish it off.

Slä oeru omum/lame/smon fratskxe sì frautral sì fraswìrä
But I know every rock and tree and creature

The word you want here is smon (be familiar with). With smon we use the dative case (-ru/-ur) to mark to whom something is familiar. Here tskxe, utral, and swirä are familiar to oe, so oe gets the dative. (I hope that made sense). I also added the "fra-" (every) prefix to tskxe, utral, and swirä to make them 'every rock', 'every tree', and 'every creature' tho I'm not 100% sure if it is needed on all of them. 

Sno Lu foru tìrey, sno tìirea, sno tstxo
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name

To show possession in Na'vi in the sense of 'I have', 'you have', 'they have', etc, we use the "lu/dative" construction. Fo is 'them', and with the dative it's 'to them.' The literal translation would be 'Is to them a life, a spirit, a name' but in Na'vi it would be understood as 'They have a life, a spirit, a name.'

Key: *=unsure of worchoice, word/word=unsure of correct word for translation, (letter)=unsure which form is correct with/without parenthesi'd letter. Any suggestions for alternate word-choices are most welcome, and of course, grammar and syntax correction
Hope I put this in the right place! *Crosses fingers*

I really hope all this made sense to you. Feel free to ask questions And if I have made any errors, someone please (politely) correct me.

-Txonä Rolyu

[Lance R. Casey]

Nga-ìl fpìlfya futa oe-t lu tute ayaymak sì lehrroap*
You think I'm an ignorant savage

If both adjectives are used on the same side of the noun, they can't be attributive, and must be placed in a subordinate clause (tute a lu yaymak lehrrapsì). To keep both attributive, move either to the other side of the noun.

Oe 'en si kefyak* fwa zene livu kefyak* ngay
I guess it must be so

This feels more like an idiomatic phrase than a literal one. With nothing else to go on, I would render the meaning thus: Tsa'u latsu ngay.

Txao eyawr tute lehrroapìl* lu 'awpo/fko* kefyak oe-t
If the savage one is me

I'd use the subjunctive here, even though Frommer has been less than consistent on this point so far.

Fyape/Pefya* tsun livu ayu fìtxan a tafral* nìtxan tsa ngal ke stxang omum
How can there be so much that you don't know?

...ayu apxay fìtxan, I'd say.

Nga-ìl fphìl futa nga sno 'upe fratxkxet a pate sìn lu pum ngeyä
You think you own whatever land you land on

Here we need an overt pronoun in the subordinate clause to carry the likewise needed adposition. However, which one fits best has not yet as far as I know been determined, but I'd bet on ne: fratxkxe a pate tsane.

Tsatseng 'Rrta nì'wa lu 'u akerusey nì'aw a ke'u/'fi'u nga-ìl tsun sno* mivunge
The earth is just a dead thing you can claim

"Earth" is here probably better translated as 'akra soil.

Slä oeru omum/lame/smon fratskxe sì frautral sì fraswìrä
But I know every rock and tree and creature

Sno Lu foru tìrey, sno tìirea, sno tstxo
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name

I read these two lines as connected, so:

   Slä omum oel futa fratskxer sì frautralur sì fraswìräru

   Lu tìrey sì tirea sì tstxo

[Txonä Unil Stä'nìyu Rolyusì]

Nga-ìl fpìlfya futa oe-t lu tute ayaymak sì lehrroap*
You think I'm an ignorant savage

If both adjectives are used on the same side of the noun, they can't be attributive, and must be placed in a subordinate clause (tute a lu yaymak lehrrapsì). To keep both attributive, move either to the other side of the noun.

So it is incorrect to have them in list form as I have done? I've seen even Prrton do that.

Txao eyawr tute lehrroapìl* lu 'awpo/fko* kefyak oe-t
If the savage one is me

I'd use the subjunctive here, even though Frommer has been less than consistent on this point so far.

May I ask why? Just curious.

Fyape/Pefya* tsun livu ayu fìtxan a tafral* nìtxan tsa ngal ke stxang omum
How can there be so much that you don't know?

...ayu apxay fìtxan, I'd say.

That also crossed my mind.

Nga-ìl fphìl futa nga sno 'upe fratxkxet a pate sìn lu pum ngeyä
You think you own whatever land you land on

Here we need an overt pronoun in the subordinate clause to carry the likewise needed adposition. However, which one fits best has not yet as far as I know been determined, but I'd bet on ne: fratxkxe a pate tsane.

Hm, now I'm reading 'every land that (you) arrive toward that.' Am I missing something?

Slä oeru omum/lame/smon fratskxe sì frautral sì fraswìrä
But I know every rock and tree and creature

Sno Lu foru tìrey, sno tìirea, sno tstxo
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name

I read these two lines as connected, so:

   Slä omum oel futa fratskxer sì frautralur sì fraswìräru

   Lu tìrey sì tirea sì tstxo

Oops, I see what I did there. Doing this at 2am, I read the lines as separate, completely forgetting about the flow of the song. So yeah, you definitely want omum here. Oeyä tìkawng 

-Txonä Rolyu

[Lance R. Casey]

If both adjectives are used on the same side of the noun, they can't be attributive, and must be placed in a subordinate clause (tute a lu yaymak lehrrapsì). To keep both attributive, move either to the other side of the noun.

So it is incorrect to have them in list form as I have done? I've seen even Prrton do that.

If they are attributive, yes. See here.

I'd use the subjunctive here, even though Frommer has been less than consistent on this point so far.

May I ask why? Just curious.

Because of the irrealis situation -- the speaker is expressing a hypothetical condition rather than a fact.

Here we need an overt pronoun in the subordinate clause to carry the likewise needed adposition. However, which one fits best has not yet as far as I know been determined, but I'd bet on ne: fratxkxe a pate tsane.

Hm, now I'm reading 'every land that (you) arrive toward that.' Am I missing something?

No, that's exactly right. The reason is that only subjects and direct objects can be dropped and left to context in a subordinate clause. See here. Another candidate for the adp. is mì.

[Khestalì]

Txan aysap'alute for taking so long to reply, and txan irayo for the help! It's apparently a lot more complex than I thought

I'll be sure to apply the corrections and suggestions you've made when translating the rest of the lyrics. Hopefully my next attempt will require less effort to decipher!

[Txonä Unil Stä'nìyu Rolyusì]

If both adjectives are used on the same side of the noun, they can't be attributive, and must be placed in a subordinate clause (tute a lu yaymak lehrrapsì). To keep both attributive, move either to the other side of the noun.

So it is incorrect to have them in list form as I have done? I've seen even Prrton do that.

If they are attributive, yes. See here.

Oops, I must apologize too, I had one more question I forgot to ask. I've seen that post before, I knew about the attributive clause thing, but I didn't see anything le- adjectives in the post. Are those always attributive?

-Txonä Rolyu

[Lance R. Casey]

I've seen that post before, I knew about the attributive clause thing, but I didn't see anything le- adjectives in the post. Are those always attributive?

No, but when they are used as such and follow the noun, the a- is superfluous:

   Oe lu lefpomtokx
   I am healthy

   Oe lu tutan lefpomtokx or Oe lu tutan alefpomtokx
   I am a healthy man

   Oe lu lefpomtokxa tutan
   I am a healthy man

Note that the a-less form is more common (and preferred), and that when such an adjective precedes the noun which it is attributed to, the -a is not optional.