Taronway—The Hunt Song

Kaltxì, ma frapo—

Ke längu fìpostìmì ke’u a lu mip. I’m afraid there’s nothing new in this post, just an old favorite, The Hunt Song, which as most of you know was published in the Activist Survival Guide. It’s one of the four songs I translated during the filming of “Avatar” from English lyrics written by James Cameron. But I thought it would be useful for both listening and pronunciation practice. Besides, it’s always nice to have something ready at hand to trot out when people say to you, “Give me an example of what Na’vi sounds like.” For that purpose I often quote part of the Hunt Song, which has a nice “swing” to it.

It was interesting to decide what Na’vi poetry would sound like. Different languages base the structure of poetry on different elements. For example, poetry in Ancient Greek, Classical Latin, Classical Arabic, and Classic Persian is based on syllable length: in those languages, rhythmic poetical structures, called meters, consist of complicated arrangements of short and long (and sometimes extra-long) syllables. In some other languages, it’s not the length of syllables but the number of syllables per line that’s important. French poetry works that way. In still other languagesEnglish and German, for example (excluding so-called “free verse”)it’s stress that’s important: poetry depends on the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line. Since stress is important in Na’viit’s the difference between ‘person’ and ‘woman,’ for example!that’s what I based Na’vi poetry on.

Here’s the text of the Hunt Song along with a word-for-word gloss. As you’ll see, the syntax is sometimes a bit convoluted, with word orders that wouldn’t be common in ordinary conversation, and there are some unusual stresses. You’ll also notice that certain unstressed syllables are elidedthat is to say, “swallowed up”in a way that would be unlikely in speech. But that’s what’s called “poetic license.”  🙂

Taronway—The Hunt Song
English lyrics: James Cameron
Na’vi translation: Paul Frommer

1

We are walking your way                        Terìran ayoe ayngane
                                                                     are-walking  we       towards-you

We are coming                                           Zera’u
                                                                                             (we)  are-coming

We are singing your way                          Rerol ayoe ayngane
                                                                      are-singing we   towards-you

So choose                                                    Ha ftxey
                                                                      so      choose

Choose one among you                             Awpot set ftxey ayngal a l(u) ayngakip
                                                                       one           now   choose     you      that   is       among-you

Who will feed the People.                        Awpot a Na’viru yomtìyìng.
                                                                       one        that     the-People     will-feed

Chorus

Let my arrow strike true                         Oeyä swizaw nìngay tivakuk
                                                                      my            arrow        truly            let-strike

Let my spear strike the heart                 Oeyä tukrul txe’lanit tivakuk
                                                                      my            spear          heart           let-strike

Let the truth strike my heart                  Oeri tìngayìl txe’lanit tivakuk
                                                                       as-for-me  truth       heart           let strike

Let my heart be true.                                Oeyä txe’lan livu ngay.
                                                                       my          heart        let-be    true

2  

You are fast and strong                             Lu nga win sì txur
                                                                       are    you    fast   and   strong

You are wise                                                Lu nga txantslusam
                                                                       are     you                 wise

I must be fast and strong                           Livu win sì txur oe zene
                                                                       be         fast    and  strong  I    must

So only                                                          Ha n(ì)’aw
                                                                         so          only

Only if I am worthy of you                         Pxan livu txo nì’aw oe ngari
                                                                         worthy    be         if      only       I     of-you

Will you feed the People.                           Tsakrr nga Na’viru yomtìyìng.
                                                                          then           you      the-People    will-feed

[Repeat chorus]

As you listen to and practice reciting this poem, it’s important to get a good feel for the rhythm. Basically, the poem divides into lines of four beats each. (Exception: the last line of the chorus has only three beats.) The above division into lines, which follows the English, is misleading in this respect. So here’s a recap of the poem with the four-beat lines arranged in a clear way. The stressed syllables in each line have been capitalized and bolded. In the recordings, I’ve tried to emphasize the stressed syllables to help you get the swing of the rhythm.

TerìRAN ayOe ayNGAne, zeRA’u
ReROL ayOe ayNGAne, ha FTXEY
AW
pot set FTXEY ayNGAL a l(u) ayNGAkip
AW
pot a NA’viru YOMYÌNG.

OEYä swiZAW NGAY tiVAkuk
OEY
ä tukRUL txe’LAnit tiVAkuk
OE
ri NGAYìl txe’LAnit tiVAkuk
OEY
ä txe’LAN livu NGAY.

Lu nga WIN TXUR, lu nga TXANtsluSAM
Livu WIN TXUR oe ZEne han(ì)’AW
PXAN
livu TXO nì’AW oe NGAri,
TSA
krr nga NA’viru YOMYÌNG. 

Tivaron nìzawnong, ma eylan! 

P.S. I wonder if there are any ayfamtseotu out there who might like to try setting the Hunt Song to music.  😉

Edit Sept. 1: Awpot –> ’Awpot (4 times) Irayo, ma Plumps!

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8 Responses to Taronway—The Hunt Song

  1. SGM (Plumps) says:

    Kosman fwa yune ngati a plltxe. Lu tsaru zeya kato nìngay. 🙂 Tsari irayo seiyi.
    Great to hear you recide it. It has indeed a special rhythm to it 🙂 Thanks for that.

    I was always wondering whether the 3rd and 4th line were correct with simply awpot and not ’awpot.

    It will be interesting to see in the upcoming installments what cultural things will be revealed about the Na’vi. By now we composed poetry and songs by our standards (rhyme, metre etc.)
    Songs are such an integral part of language learning—it makes it fun 🙂

  2. Tìtstewan says:

    Oh, fìrel lu txantsan sì koman nìtxan! Irayo seiyi!
    Plumps: “Songs are such an integral part of language learning—it makes it fun”
    Fì’u! 😉

  3. Kamean says:

    Wou! Kosman ulte eltur tìtxen si! Irayo nìtxan!

  4. Ftiafpi says:

    “I wonder if there are any ayfamtseotu out there who might like to try setting the Hunt Song to music.”

    Hmmmmm.

  5. `Eylan Ayfalulukanä says:

    I am trying to decide whether to try coming up with a tune based on a pentatonic scale, or a more ‘Western/’Rrtan’ 7 note scale. The physics that make us enjoy music should work the same way on Pandora as they work here. In any case, there are some interesting musical possibilities here.

  6. Hi my name is Albert Becker and I like avatar and it made me laugh and smile and it was fun to whatch.

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