Help me write Na'vi dialogue for my fanfic!

Started by Carborundum, March 01, 2010, 03:03:46 PM

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Carborundum

So, I'm writing a fanfic :-\ I intend for much of the dialogue to be in Na'vi, and I'm going to need some help with that. To begin with, I need a second opinion on this sentence:

Oeru layu tìsraw atxan, ulte oeru srung sivi nga ke tsun
I will be in a lot of pain, and you won't be able to help me

What do you think?
We learn from our mistakes only if we are made aware of them.
If I make a mistake, please bring it to my attention for karma.

Kä'eng

oeti srung sivi should be oeru srung sivi: all si constructions are intransitive; what one might think would be the object actually goes in the dative case.

Other than that, looks good.
Ma evi, ke'u ke lu prrte' to fwa sim tuteot ayawne.
Slä txo tuteo fmi 'ivampi ngat ro seng, fu nìfya'o, a 'eykefu ngati vä', tsakem ke lu sìltsan.
Tsaw lu ngeyä tokx! Kawtu ke tsun nìmuiä 'ivampi ngat txo ngal ke new tsakemit.
Ha kempe si nga? Nì'awve, nga plltxe san kehe. Tsakrr, ngal tsatsengti hum!

Carborundum

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that. Editing OP...
We learn from our mistakes only if we are made aware of them.
If I make a mistake, please bring it to my attention for karma.

Carborundum

#3
All right, another one. I'm trying to say "are you sure? (that you want to do this(action))". There is no word for "sure", but I'm thinking perhaps the evidential can be used instead? Here's my attempt:

Natsew tsakem sivi nga srak
We learn from our mistakes only if we are made aware of them.
If I make a mistake, please bring it to my attention for karma.

Nawmaritie

I have to admit that I'm not totally sure, how the Evidential <ats> works exactly, but I think it expresses the uncertainty of the speaker.

therefore I think your sentence means sth. like  "I'm not sure that you want to do this"

I think, I'd try something with law: adj. clear, certain
have to say that I'm not sure whether one can say nga lu law srak? could be possible
I'd use the Noun tì-law - certainty (hope, this is correct)

so:

tìlaw ngaru lu tsakemiri a nga new (tsakem) sivi srak
NMLZ-certain you-DAT be that-action-TOP SBRD you want (that action) do-SUBJ [srak]
Certainty to you is about this action that you want to do?
Are you sure about this action that you want do do?

I think in the subordinate clause tsakem can be omitted as it is understood from context. Not sure about omitting nga there, so I left it in.
ke'u tsatìfkeyuyä hapxìmungwrr
a frakrr tìkawngit neiew mivunge
slä tìsìltsanit ngop nì'aw frakrr

Na'vi-Deutsch Wörterbuch
Deutsch-Na'vi Wörterbuch

Carborundum

I think you're right about the evidential, and I can't believe I missed law. I think I'll go with nga lu law srak, I don't see why it wouldn't work and I'd much prefer something short and to the point. Irayo!
We learn from our mistakes only if we are made aware of them.
If I make a mistake, please bring it to my attention for karma.

Kì'eyawn

Quote from: Carborundum on March 02, 2010, 10:55:03 AM
I think you're right about the evidential, and I can't believe I missed law. I think I'll go with nga lu law srak, I don't see why it wouldn't work and I'd much prefer something short and to the point. Irayo!

I dunno, i'm a little fuzzy on law.  It's glossed as "clear, certain"--which, "Are you certain?" sounds fine but "Are you clear?" doesn't seem...right.  That and, since from what i understand many languages express this concept in terms of having certainty, i personally would phrase this question, Lu ngaru tìlaw srak?.  But maybe that's just me.

Eywa ngahu.
eo Eywa oe 'ia

Fra'uri tìyawnur oe täpivìng nìwotx...

Carborundum

Yeah, you might be right. But there are also a bunch of languages that do use the copula for that purpose, and since we don't know which kind Na'vi is, or even if law is the right word to use, nga lu law srak is as good a way to say it as any.
In other news, I just ran into a bit of a problem I hadn't anticipated. How would one say "Eywa will provide" in Na'vi? I just assumed we knew that, since it's pretty common and all, but I can't seem to find it? If we really don't know I'm in a bit of a pickle, since that phrase is certain to be idiomatic and/or contain lots of unpredictable flourishes, so making one up isn't really an option.
We learn from our mistakes only if we are made aware of them.
If I make a mistake, please bring it to my attention for karma.