Thursday, December 13, 2007

Learning a Foreign Language

I just gave my final, final exam this morning at 8:00, and now the grading begins. Why am I taking the time to blog then some of you may wonder. Well, if you’ve ever looked at a daunting stack of essays big enough to choke a Baleen whale, and realize that your next couple of day swill be spent in their company and their company alone, you might forgive me for hesitating to begin the task. Nevertheless, the tests will get graded, and final grades will be turned in on time. And most likely I will still be relatively sane, albeit only semi-coherent, when I’m done.

In the meantime, here’s a little language lesson from Talera. Don’t worry, there won’t be a test. I’m sure as “dahh” not gonna grade any more “krutt-loving” tests than I have to.

Curse words: There are, of course, many more. But here is a sample: Dahh -- Generally translated as Damn or Hell
Dihmus vishka -- possible translation is “god in heaven.”
Lart -- Rodent (You Rat)
Vish -- Usually translated as Shit or Piss
Krutt – a type of parasite whose name is also used as a curse.



General words:
Ahy -- Greeting
Dihn -- A small coin of little importance.
Dhorn -- Day
Dhu -- Hundred
Efrinore -- druid-witch-shaman. A magic woman of the wood. Herbalist.
Jhesan -- Lord (or sometimes Prince)
Jhesana -- Lady (or sometimes Princess)
Khi -- soul, spirit, psychic energy, charisma
Khiang -- Warrior
Khisan -- Warlord, who rules by the Khi.
Lehr -- Outlaw
Mercredi -- Foot mercenary
Mordai -- the name for the hour of the Taleran day that comes after midnight, when the veil between the living and dead worlds is said to be thinnest.
Nex -- Place
Phal -- Island
Phoros -- Healer or Physician
Phorosnex -- Hospital
Phrer -- Priest or monk
Rha -- War
Rhath -- Warrior
Rhahn -- battle
Rhanvin -- fighting slave, gladiator.
Saar -- Gesture of polite title, like Sir
Saaress -- Gesture of polite title for a woman. Madam.
Saysa -- term of endearment, like the English “baby” or “honey.”
Vin – slave

17 comments:

virtual nexus said...

Klegg!!

virtual nexus said...

....Which being loosely translated means Jolly Good Show, old chap - you've got Talera x 3 listed in Foyles Bookstore no less....

Lana Gramlich said...

Hey Saysa, don't let those dahh larts get you down. I will be glad to be your helper vin with anything you might need. ;)

Steve Malley said...

The rest of the trilogy is somewhere in a cargo hold between Amazon's Seattle Stronghold and New Zealand right now!

Me? I'm spending a little time (not much, just, you know, three or four hours a day) dancing from foot to foot in front of the letterbox...

Bernita said...

"Efrinore" I really like and "khiang" - they have echoes by themselves, even without the context of the tales.
"mercredi" threw me a bit - since it's French for Wednesday.

Charles Gramlich said...

Julie, cool. Thanks for letting me know. Klegg seems a worthwhile addition.

Lana, never my Jhesana.

Steve Malley,thanks for the support, my friend. It's much appreciated. I hope you like them.

Bernita, really? (on Mercredi). I bet I heard that French word somewhere sometime many years ago and it stuck with me and surfaced when I went looking for a term. I've never taken French, but I have had some Spanish, which has some similarities.

Sidney said...

Cool, kind of like "Tarzan." There used to be a page or two of Tarzan's language in the back of some of the comics.

AvDB said...

I admire anyone who can create their own language. I have trouble mastering English most days. The few otherworldy words I used in my novel were snatched straight from the Enochian dictionary.

Travis Cody said...

Very cool. This must be a pretty difficult part of creating a world...trying to come up with sounds and spellings that are different from something another writer has used.

I once created an entire list of names by taking animal names and writing them backwards, then adding or deleting vowels and syllables.

Danette Haworth said...

Charles,
Congratulation on giving your last final! That leaves you more time for this: YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED! Post five random things about yourself, then tag five other people!

the walking man said...

Get drunk and let the grading begin!

Peace

mark

virtual nexus said...

Er.....What do you get if you cross a snowman with a vampire?





Frostbite.

SzélsőFa said...

Creating a new language is quite a challenge!
These words are quite likely to be real words of a real language.
I'd like to see more.
Is there any grammar?
Gender of words?
Which present-time language does it resemble the most?
---
I'm with Bernita on the Wednesday thing - but I guess that that is there for soem reason :)

SzélsőFa said...

it's Miércoles in Spanish.

Charles Gramlich said...

Sidney, I remember that from some of the books. Let's see "usha," was the wind, right? And "tantor" is elephant. Loved that. I've seen it done in other fantasy books too.

Avery, but your own language is easier than English. At least I find it so.

Travis, that's a pretty good approach, writing Enlish words backwards. I've used that approach a couple of times. I've also used propernames and just smooshed them together or removed bits and pieces.

Danette, I guess that means "I'm IT?" Posted today.

Mark, I bought Brandy and other liqours today at the store.

Julie, that's a pretty good one.

Szelsofa, there is a masculine feminine division in some Taleran languages, like "Saar" and "Saaress." Since some of the people on Talera were brought from Earth, there would naturally be some similarities with earth languages and those of Talera.

SzélsőFa said...

I've noticed that difference you mention, Charles and immediately noticed how the system takes on after the system the English uses.

I did not know Talerans are out of this Earth, sorry!

minus273 said...

CLOCKWORK ORANGE!
JEEZ, HASN'T ANYONE READ THIS?