Audio and Video Learning Materials for Na’vi 101!

Kaltxì, ma eylan–

As you know, July’s 90-minute Na’vi 101 class in Seattle was an effort to help absolute beginners take their first steps in the language, and the response to it was gratifying. Now I’m delighted to announce that due to the hard work and dedication of several members of the lì’fyaolo’, all the materials from that class–including videos of the class itself!–are available online for anyone who wants to see and hear them.

This post gives you all the relevant links, files, and documents. I’ve divided it into two parts: the videos of the class, and alternate audio recordings of the dialogs so you can hear different voices.

Before anything else, here’s the two-page handout that was distributed during the class.

Na’vi 101 handout

And for the record there were a couple of new vocabulary items, both related to drinking:

swoa (n., SWO.a) ‘intoxicating beverage’

rou (vin., RO.u–inf. 1,2) ‘be drunk, get drunk’

Srane, fìtxon tsun nga niväk swoat nì’it, slä rä’ä rou!Tìng mikyun
Yes, you can have a little alcohol tonight, but don’t get drunk!

VIDEOS OF THE NA’VI 101 CLASS

Three members of our Community–Aaron Holmes, Yasu Tano, and Alan Taylor–saw to the videotaping of the class and the conversion to video. Irayo nìtxan pxengaru! In particular, I want to thank Alan so much for his brilliant work in creating professional-quality videos that I’m so proud to show off to people. Ngeyä tìkangkem afyole meuia leiu lì’fyaolo’ru, ma tsmukan. The enthusiastic descriptions below are Alan’s.

For all the videos, the slides can be found at:

http://www.learnnavi.org/docs/AM2012-Navi-Class

And thanks again to Prrton, Txonä Rolyu, and ‘Oma Tirea, who co-taught the class with me.

 

Learn Na’vi with Karyu Pawl – Introduction

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O81Pl7TNYVw

Video duration: 6mins 13sec

Description:
Do you wish to learn Na’vi, the language created by Dr. Paul Frommer for the film “Avatar”? If so, then this is your opportunity to learn the basics. Filmed at AvatarMeet 2012 on July 22, Karyu Pawl takes us on a journey of learning Na’vi. In this short introduction you get to hear what fluent Na’vi sounds like, as well as see some of the many Avatar fans who have taken the opportunity to learn from the creator of the language. Eight follow-on parts to this introduction take you through the basics of the language and how to speak it. So take a ride with the Avatar Community to Pandora and take on a bit of Na’vi culture. Eywa ngahu.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 1: Learn Na’vi with Karyu Pawl – Part 1

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goxi2Vejrks

Video duration: 14mins 23sec

Description:
Part 1 – Snapamrelvi sì Lì’upam / Alphabet & Pronunciation.

In this first of eight ‘Na’vi for Beginners’ lessons filmed at AvatarMeet 2012, Karyu Pawl (Teacher Paul) gives an introduction to Na’vi starting with an example of the language followed by a walk through the Na’vi alphabet and how to pronounce a number of letter combinations. You will find yourself taking part without knowing it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 2: Learn Na’vi with Karyu Pawl – Part 2

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-knEp2aPjHs

Video duration: 12mins 54sec

Description:
Part 2: Kaltxì/Hello.

In the second part we go through the first of a number of Na’vi conversations covered in this series: how to greet someone in Na’vi. Also covered is the placement of stress in words and the fact that Na’vi word order is not the same as in English. Audience participation is compulsory!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 3: Learn Na’vi with Karyu Pawl – Part 3

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XvAaW7k0GE

Video duration: 8mins 1sec

Description:
Part 3: Srungtsyìp / Hints & Tips.

This third part of the Learn Na’vi lessons starts to build up sentences. Learn some simple but useful sentence patterns and where the emphasis is placed in words. Word order, or rather the flexibility of word order in Na’vi, is also explored.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 4: Learn Na’vi with Karyu Pawl – Part 4

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ_wWkttvg4

Video duration: 8mins 35sec

Description:
Part 4: Smon Nìprrte’ / Nice to meet you.

A second dialogue sequence, exchanging names in Na’vi, is demonstrated before some audience participation and an opportunity for you to join in and practice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 5: Learn Na’vi with Karyu Pawl – Part 5

Link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdXlKKtFEew

Video duration: 10mins 19sec

Description:
Part 5: Nga ftu peseng? / Where are you from?

Dialogue number three centers on where are you from and where you are going. Also explained is the addition of pe to form information questions and the flexibility in where it is placed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 6: Learn Na’vi with Karyu Pawl – Part 6

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3M-0bLXinU

Video duration: 12mins 52sec

Description:
Part 6: Yafkeykteri / About the weather.

A dialogue sequence to ask what the weather is like and describe the different types of weather. Also covered is how to describe the temperature right from being cold enough to turn you blue(!) through to very hot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 7: Learn Na’vi with Karyu Pawl – Part 7

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyuNCYaR3xU

Video duration: 14mins 44sec

Description:
Part 7: Syuve / Food.

This dialogue sequence centers on eating and food. Also explained is how the question word srak(e) can appear at the beginning or end of a sentence. Na’vi verb use in phrases with ‘I have’ or ‘I can’ is explored along with the incorporation of the infix -iv- and where it appears in the verb. Audience participation is your opportunity to join in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 8: Learn Na’vi with Karyu Pawl – Part 8

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DWlAVjhnGU

Video duration: 15mins 21sec

Description:
Part 8: Naer / Drink.

This last sequence is a dialogue inviting someone for a drink and discussing what to have. Also covered is how nouns and adjectives, i.e ‘a heavy book’, are brought together in Na’vi and the flexible word order. The lesson is rounded off with where to go to find out more.

ALTERNATE RECORDINGS OF THE DIALOGS

Since it’s important to hear a variety of voices speaking Na’vi–especially female voices, which we don’t hear enough of!–I asked several members of the lì’fyaolo’ to record the dialogs from the class. Irayo nìtxan to tsmukan Britton Watkins, tsmuke Jane MacMillan, and tsmuke Lauren Maurer, whose voices you’ll hear in these mp3’s.

We have others in the Community whose spoken Na’vi is excellent. For future posts I’m going to ask several of these sulfätu to record some of their own Na’vi compositions for us, which I’ll be delighted to post to the blog.

Dialog 1: Jane, BrittonTìng mikyun

Dialog 2: Lauren, BrittonTìng mikyun

Dialog 3: Britton, LaurenTìng mikyun

Dialog 4: Lauren, JaneTìng mikyun

Dialog 5: Paul, BrittonTìng mikyun

Dialog 6: Britton, PaulTìng mikyun

I hope all these materials will be useful not only to aysngä’iyu (beginners) but to our ayharyu (teachers) as well!

Hayalovay, ma frapo.

This entry was posted in General, Na’vi 101. Bookmark the permalink.

11 Responses to Audio and Video Learning Materials for Na’vi 101!

  1. Tirea Aean says:

    I’m excited to finally see this material released! Great job by all involved in the creation and release of all this. That meet looks like it was a lot of fun and quite educational 😀 I wish I were there. It’s truly great to see more and more audio being put out there for Na’vi. It has always been much requested.

  2. Eana Unil says:

    Txantsan nang, fayrelìri arusikx seiyi irayo!
    Mllteie hu Tirea Aean. 🙂

  3. SGM (Plumps) says:

    Mllte mefohu nìtxan!

    Pawnlltxea aylì’u sì aysìpängkxo yeio’! 🙂

  4. C'tri says:

    Superb!
    One of my friends expressed interest in learning the language earlier today, a perfect opportunity to shake the rust of my own knowledge, and get her introduced!

    Many thanks all round 🙂

  5. Papierkorb says:

    Those materials are awesome, thanks! As I translate nearly everything you provide on your blog to german, I’d be interested to translate the handout too. Could you provide us with your source document file? And thank you for everything you did for the community, I never expected something like your incredible support when we had first Na’vi words – Keep it up 🙂

  6. Prrton says:

    Tì’efumì oeyä, lì’fyat ftia fkol a fì’uri ke lu kekem a tsun rivawn futa tìng mikyun sì fmi pivlltxe. 🙂

  7. `eylan Ayfalulukanä says:

    Txantsan nìwotx nang! Its great to finally see this on line! Irayo!!

  8. eejmensenikbenhet says:

    Faysänumvi ralnga’ nìtxan leiu sngä’iyur sì suter a tsolun pivlltxe nìNa’vi li nìteng.
    Irayo karyur alu Pawl sì “pxesrungsiyur” peyä.

  9. roberts says:

    Thank you verry much i vanted to learn this language when i first saw the movie vould be great to be able to download workbooks for practicing writing and grammar. If anyboddy got a workbook or something like that please send an email robertslisinskis933@gmail.com

  10. Morgandee Obado says:

    I used to live in Lakewood Washington and had made plans to take classes in Na’vi, but due to unfortunate events I had to move away to a different state, and they do not have classes for the language here. I really wish to learn. I will watch the videos and hand outs provided on this website, but if anyone has any other places to go online or ways to help me learn this beautiful language, that would be greatly appreciated.

  11. AF says:

    Na’vi sounds a lot like the Atandroy dialect of southern Madagascar:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diAIzere2Ow

Leave a Reply to Eana Unil Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *