Which words to learn first?

[Oldslappy]

I understand that some people have asked a question similar to this, but where did you guys start with your vocab? Did it help you with grammar? Did pronunciation take a backseat at all?

[shiaru]

too many questions so little answers..

Start with basic greetings and goodbyes, and other helpful words like learn=numa, again=nìmun, wait=pey and who=peu.

I started with vocab, and i try to use the words as much as possible, start small choose five or six words and see how many sentences you can come up with on one day, do not try to add more words the same day, learn them little by little.

[Tengfya swizaw]

For me, I spent a lot of time figuring out cases and clauses and modifiers, studied up on pronouns, and then memorized the alphabet. Then I set to translating various phrases that people say (in Na'vi, of course) by cross-referencing it with what I knew and looking up necessary words on the vocab pdf.
This way, you learn common words rather quickly, and you can see how a lot of things are used. Granted, I'm very far from anything like a competent speaker, but just learning the basics and putting them to use works for me. As for pronunciation "taking the backseat", using the alphabet pdf, I would say the phrases and words over and over while I was looking up what they meant. Once I could puzzle out the meaning, I would look back at the sentence, say it a few times until it didn't sound so much like a cross-bred skxawng was saying it, and move on. When memorizing vocab, I would start out with basic, common words that a lot of people use, such as, like shiaru suggested, greetings and such. Think of how most babies learn things. After all, we're pretty much babies when it comes to Na'vi (most of us, at least) Also, pronouns are obviously useful. Don't try to cram in a lot of learning, as it's best to learn a few things very thoroughly at a time.

[Oldslappy]

Ah! So fast! Irayo, guys. I had so many things going through my mind, I really needed the guidance. I do have a couple questions about the alphabet pronunciation though, if you'd be kind enough to answer.

What exactly is "Ä" and how do you pronounce it? Is it more of an "ahhhehh" or an aggressive "ah" as in rack? What about aw, ay, and ew? I know they're dipthongs, but are they pronounced just as there seen? By trilled r does it mean (and I'm sorry for the example ahead of time) something like a cat pur? Does anyone know of a conjugation manual that's in laymans?

Thanks again guys. Seriously. Irayo.

[Tengfya swizaw]

No problem. Your regular "A" should be pronounced more agressively, as in "Dad" or "Pan". The other one (pardon me for not placing the umlaut) is more of an "ahhh" sound, like you just finished a particularly delectable meal, or as in a lot of the a's as pronounced with a British accent. Like in "Washington".
That help?

EDIT: and as far as I can tell, the trilled "R" is similar to a cat's purr, but shorter. I may be wrong on this, but I don't think so.
EDIT²: Conjugation manual? What exactly do you mean? I might have a few links.

[Oldslappy]

I see. Thanks. I really meant anything instructive on conjugation that isn't overcomplicated. I was also wondering something, with the navi language, sentence structures really, would one try to stick to whatever sounds best together, I mean, there is really no set pattern is there?

[tute nuereime]

well using common sense you wouldn't want to have sentences where the first word ends with something that doesn't sound right with the next word if you can avoid it. for example
apxa-a     'awpo
large     one person
one large person
you wouldn't want to have that many a's strung together but with an example like that no matter which way you set up it will sound bad

[Tengfya swizaw]

Hmm. Can't help you immediately on conjugation stuff, but I'll look around some and send you some links later.
Sentence structure, as far as I can tell, is very fluid. The words and subjects and conjugations all have to match up, or course, but as of now there's no real defined structure. Don't quote me on that, though. It's being debated.

Sentence Structure:
http://forum.learnnavi.org/index.php?topic=168.0

Word Order:
http://forum.learnnavi.org/index.php?topic=121.0

Both of which can be found here:
http://forum.learnnavi.org/index.php?board=11.0

And from reading up a bit, word order doesn't really matter because the person interpreting can usually understand the sentence regardless of what words are where. Which, in my opinion, leaves preferable structure to the speaker's personality and makes things more fun.

EDIT: And what tsmukan Tute Nuereime says goes as well. Make sure that the words don't run into each other.

[Oldslappy]

Ahah, I can understand that. I think I have pronunciation for the most part (alphabet, vowels) pretty locked up. Now it's time to take a look through that pile of words. I guess I'll be seeing you guys around the way! Thanks!

[tute nuereime]

no problem anything else?

[Oldslappy]

  yes actually, what do you think of this http://www.duboislc.org/EducationWatch/First100Words.html as a template for basic navi? Sorry for the lack of linkage. 

[tute nuereime]

well right off the bat. they dont have a word for the
but let me look at it

[tute nuereime]

1. they don't have a word for 'the' or 'a'
2. people cant make sentences out of this so they cant practice
3. a few of the words are the same just different tense (has, had)
4. some of the words are the conjugated forms for different people(i am, he is, they are)

[Oldslappy]

Oh, I see. I ended up finding a program for learning English so I'll just translate that to na'vi and go from there. Think it'll work?

[tute nuereime]

send me a link when it is done and i could look it over but just remember the list above when converting it. and na'vi has free word order so when explaining sentence structure you cant base anything off English because it has a very rigid word order

[Oldslappy]

Well it's actually an iPhone app but I guess it's not really worth it because it's based heavily in sentence structure. Could you possibly tell me which words you started out with?

[tute nuereime]

oe = I
nga = you
po = he or she
taron = hunt
and more assorted verbs so they can practice forming sentences

[Eywayä Irrtok]

uhh i have an idea, which may help some people learn. What if someone creates some worksheets and excercises that we can slowly make into a Na'vi booklet. eg.

p1-p2: teaches the tense infixes + pronouns "i, you, he/she, they etc." and how to pronounce

p2-p3: learn some simple verbs, practice changing the tense, learn about pre/suffixes and where to use them "-ri,-l,-ti etc." and practice translating very simple sentences

thats all i can think of atm, I might try some work on it myself, and I'll learn on the way

[Eywayä mokri]

There are actually some worksheets to work with...but I can't remember where on the forum. You should try to find them.

[tute nuereime]

search worksheets we have one as a topic already