Txänä

['Oma Tirea]

I have heard this word in the movie a couple of times, but is not listed anywhere in the dictionary.  I get the sense it means "Don't!" in an exclaming sense, with an incomplete literal translation.  I know and have heard about "txana," and "txanä," both of which are really "txan" with grammatical modifiers, but never "txänä."

Thoughts welcomed.  Irayo.

[omängum fra'uti]

I'm not 100% sure on it, but I believe what you're hearing is "Ftang nga".

[Vawm tsamsiyu]

For some reason it sounds like dänä but there's no "d" but "r" sounds more like an english "d" than an English "r" (like nari).  and i tried listening to that part thinking ftang was what she said but I still heard "dänä". Rä'ä (do not) would be perfect if there were no n sound but even if the ' in rä'ä  was really quiet rä'ä na means "do not like/as" if the na were gone it would make sence. I'll have to watch it again and see if I just mistook ftang for something else but last time I did I didn't hear that
too bad there aren't na'vi subtitles then we'd know for sure 

Weres a babel fish when you need one

[MIPP]

For some reason it sounds like dänä but there's no "d" but "r" sounds more like an english "d" than an English "r" (like nari).  and i tried listening to that part thinking ftang was what she said but I still heard "dänä". Rä'ä (do not) would be perfect if there were no n sound but even if the ' in rä'ä  was really quiet rä'ä na means "do not like/as" if the na were gone it would make sence. I'll have to watch it again and see if I just mistook ftang for something else but last time I did I didn't hear that
too bad there aren't na'vi subtitles then we'd know for sure 

Weres a babel fish when you need one

Take a look in this site: http://wiki.learnnavi.org/index.php/Na'vi_from_Avatar_Movie. Does it help?

[omängum fra'uti]

A properly spoken Na'vi "t" will sound something like a "d" to English ears.  Not exactly like a "d" but similar to it.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

A properly spoken Na'vi "t" will sound something like a "d" to English ears.  Not exactly like a "d" but similar to it.

Quoted for truth.

Mandarin has both aspirated and unaspirated stops and sometimes the unaspirated ones are transliterated as voiced for this reason (hence the word tao is sometimes spelt dao).

[Muzer]

I still can't quite figure out how to say unaspirated consonants - the only thing that seems even vaguely right for me is saying them "backwards" - eg with "t" moving my tongue from the front to the back rather than the back to the front. Is this correct?

[wm.annis]

I still can't quite figure out how to say unaspirated consonants - the only thing that seems even vaguely right for me is saying them "backwards" - eg with "t" moving my tongue from the front to the back rather than the back to the front. Is this correct?

Nope.

In English the difference between aspirated and unaspirated is more subtle than it is in those languages which recognize aspirated and unaspirated as completely different consonants (like languages in India, and many native languages on the west coast of North America).

But you can still feel it.  Put the palm of your hand quite close to your mouth, and say "pin" vs. "spin" and "top" vs. "stop" at your normal speaking volume.  You will notice a distinctly bigger puff of air for "pin" (aspirated "p") than you will for "spin" (unaspirated "p").

[Muzer]

I do, but when I try to say it without the "s" it just sounds like "dop" and "bin".


EDIT: actually, I think I might have it.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

It should sound a bit in between top and dop and in between pin and bin so you may well have got it.

[Muzer]

Yes, I just adjusted it slightly and it all fell into place. Though saying ft with the t unaspirated (as in ftang) is hard to get right (though I can do it), so I see why you couldn't really hear the "f" in the film.

['Oma Tirea]

Watched the film again....

Omängum fra'uti may be right on this one, and the Na'vi (stop you) may be some informal phrase.

...then again, I wonder why not just simply "ftang"?  Maybe it was "ftanga!" with a strongly articulated t.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

ftanga wouldn't make sense, for all we know, na'vi, like some other languages might require you to specify all the arguments of imperatives instead of assuming a second person like English does. Anyway, ftang nga seems the most likely answer.

[P.A.'li makto]

[all we know, na'vi, like some other languages might require you to specify all the arguments of imperatives instead of assuming a second person like English does./quote]

Then what about Txopu rä'ä si?

[kewnya txamew'itan]

Maybe negative imperatives don't? It seems most likely that they're optional to me rather than wrong as in English.

[P.A.'li makto]

(sigh) There are too many optional staff in this language for me...

[Tompa'Ivong]

thats how I say the Ts in navi, just as they said, its a really soft t (i know this from speaking hawaiian)

[Muzer]

(sigh) There are too many optional staff in this language for me...

Lol - same with any language

thats how I say the Ts in navi, just as they said, its a really soft t (i know this from speaking hawaiian)

I knew from German. If anyone has trouble with it, the way I learnt in German was:

Say "I like painting cats violet". Now, just say "cats violet". Finally, if you remove the "ca-" and the "-olet", you end up with something identical to the German word "zwei" (two), which starts with the same sound as Na'vi "ts".

[kewnya txamew'itan]

For English speakers the best example is the borrowed word tsunami (the ts shouldn't just be a s)

[Muzer]

That's the problem though - some people do pronounce it as an 's'...