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Inventing a Language, from the Guy Who Made Dothraki (2015)

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41–50 of 81 posts

Re: Inventing a Language, from the Guy Who Made Dothraki (2015)

#41

I am writing a book that also has its own language called Erksar, the language was once a simple modified caesar crypto where I map vocal with another vocal (as a software engineer, it was pretty easy to create translator for it). “I love you” would become “E rufa tu” (it should be “E rufa tui” but I modified the result and tried to remove unnecessary letter). Now that I lost the original character map, some new word…

I found it amusing that "you" translated to "tu" (or tú) which is "you" in Spanish.

Re: Inventing a Language, from the Guy Who Made Dothraki (2015)

#42
See Also: The Expanse's Lang Belta, or "Belter Creole"

Created for the book by Nick Farmer with the authors, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, he then coached the actors and extended the language for the TV show.

Here's something from wired on that creation process: https://www.wired.com/2017/04/the-expanse-belter-language/

This is also fun, Belter Creole words and their origins: http://expanse.wikia.com/wiki/Belter_Creole_(Books)

pretty cool, sa-sa ke?

Re: Inventing a Language, from the Guy Who Made Dothraki (2015)

#44
I don't read a lot of books with invented languages, but a number that I've seen seem somewhat European. I don't remember very many Sinitic constructed languages. I think that would be nice, but the nature of the language conveys information about the culture and the society that speaks it. a reader would naturally see a Sinitic language and picture a culture that is Sinitic, even if the author did not intend it that way. so the style of the constructed language is restricted to history as it has evolved in our world, and not the fictional world the author builds.

to push even further, how would one imagine an alien language where the organisms do not speak through mouth-like organs? what if they made noises through all their pores in their skin? or non-auditory communication like colour coded messages in their eyes? what if aliens had no mouth or eyes in the first place? or skin? what if aliens spoke in methods that did not require passage of time... i.e. the entire message flash out in a single packet of information? I guess these methods of communication wouldn't allow a story to be told in a way that is familiar to typical human story telling and would thus be uninteresting. but would be nice to imagine regardless.

Re: Inventing a Language, from the Guy Who Made Dothraki (2015)

#46
post #41

I am writing a book that also has its own language called Erksar, the language was once a simple modified caesar crypto where I map vocal with another vocal (as a software engineer, it was pretty easy to create translator for it). “I love you” would become “E rufa tu” (it should be “E rufa tui” but I modified the result and tried to remove unnecessary letter). Now that I lost the original character map, some new word…

I found it amusing that "you" translated to "tu" (or tú) which is "you" in Spanish.

“Tu” is also "you" in Hindi.

Re: Inventing a Language, from the Guy Who Made Dothraki (2015)

#47
post #44

I don't read a lot of books with invented languages, but a number that I've seen seem somewhat European. I don't remember very many Sinitic constructed languages. I think that would be nice, but the nature of the language conveys information about the culture and the society that speaks it. a reader would naturally see a Sinitic language and picture a culture that is Sinitic, even if the author did not intend it that…

"to push even further, how would one imagine an alien language where the organisms do not speak through mouth-like organs?"

That's the basic plot of Arrival.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543164/

Re: Inventing a Language, from the Guy Who Made Dothraki (2015)

#48
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found it amusing that "you" translated to "tu" (or tú) which is "you" in Spanish.

“Tu” is also "you" in Hindi.

These are all Indo-European languages; English once had forms of "you" like this: thou/thee.

Re: Inventing a Language, from the Guy Who Made Dothraki (2015)

#49

I wish they‘d use real, dying or dead languages instead of inventing advanced gibberish for movies. We could preserve languages for posteriority and the result would be more realistic.

I'd love to hear Lojban in a mainstream movie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojban Bonus points if it's sold as random fantasy language of a strange country and the main cast doesn't understand it either.

Lojban is so big, you could create different cultures simply by omitting or making mandatory different bits. This group doesn't use rafsi but evidentials are mandatory; that group doesn't use any of the time-space marking but the other does, etc.

Re: Inventing a Language, from the Guy Who Made Dothraki (2015)

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Tu” is also "you" in Hindi.

These are all Indo-European languages; English once had forms of "you" like this: thou/thee.

Correct. In German its "du" if I remember right.
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