Dr. Paul Frommer, the creator of the Na’vi language, has posted new information on Na’vi at Disney. Go check it out here!
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Speaking the language of Avatar
http://blogs.abc.net.au/wa/2010/11/speaking-the-language-of-avatar.html?site=perth&
Gillian is talking the language of Pandora, the place where the Na’vi people live in the film ‘Avatar’.
Her guest, Prof Paul Frommer, is the creator of the Na’vi language and has given Gill some tips on how to speak it. Reckons she has a natural talent!
He’ll be in Fremantle on Friday to speak at the national conference of the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators. You could be there to witness talks in translating and interpreting; on machine translation, and to see a demonstration of simultaneous interpreting, as well as the keynote address by Professor Frommer about his fictional language. He’s speaking at 9am. A day pass to the conference will let you in, but you must register beforehand online at http://www.ausitconference.org.
First response from Dr. Frommer
After several days of hearing nothing back and having given up on ever getting the priviledge to be in touch with Dr. Frommer, fans received an email from him.
(Part of the Canon sources on the LearnNavi wiki.)
Kaltxì, and thanks for your interest in Na’vi.
The enthusiastic response to the language has been very gratifying. I wish I could answer all your e-mails personally, but the volume has been staggering, so I hope you’ll forgive this generic message.
Irayo to everyone who thanked me for the effort and wished me well. It’s been a privilege to be involved in something as extraordinary as “Avatar,” and I couldn’t be happier that people feel my contribution added to the film.
For those who have expressed interest in learning the language, thank you! The way Na’vi will live and grow is for enthusiasts like yourselves to take it up and expand it beyond its present boundaries. I hope that not too long from now there will be learning tools available to make that possible. Film consultants like me, however, don’t own the rights to the products or services we provide, so I can’t put out any such materials on my own—they’ll have to be in cooperation with the people who brought you “Avatar.” We’ve already begun thinking about that, and I hope that some official form of “Learn Na’vi!” will soon be available to the public.
In the meantime, a number of people have put up unofficial web sites talking about various aspects of Na’vi. Some of those are quite good, others are only speculative, and still others are highly inaccurate. The Wikipedia article on Na’vi, although not a complete description of the language, is well done and reliable.
Kìyevame ulte Eywa ngahu. See you again, and may Eywa be with you.
Paul Frommer
The language of Avatar revealed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8408245.stm
By Peter Bowes
BBC News, Los Angeles
BBC News, Los Angeles
It all started with what Professor Paul Frommer now describes as a “fateful e-mail.”
The linguistics expert from the University of Southern California is the brains behind the language used by James Cameron’s 10-foot-tall alien tribe in the much-anticipated science fiction epic, Avatar.
Actress Zoe Saldana plays Neytiri, one of the native Na’vi speakers
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“Jim Cameron’s production department at Lightstorm Entertainment was looking for a linguist that would be able to help him develop an alien language,” explains Professor Frommer.
“At that time, it wasn’t even called Avatar – it was project 880 – but the e-mail was forwarded to me and I saw it and jumped on it. I was very excited about it. A week or two later I was called in for a talk.”
The language enthusiast managed to persuade Cameron that he was the man to create a functioning language for a story the director had dreamt up a decade earlier.
“I spent a wonderful 90-minutes with Jim and at the end of it he shook my hand and said ‘welcome aboard,'” says Professor Frommer.
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A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO NA’VI
Kaltxì – Hello
Nga – You
Tolaron – Hunted
Fngap – Metal
Atxkxe – Land
Tskxe – Rock
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The pair worked together for four years to develop the Na’vi language.
The director had already come up with about thirty words, for the characters’ names and body parts. But he was looking to the professor to give the language an authentic but exotic feel.
Crucially, it had to be a language that could be articulated.
“This is an alien language but obviously it has to be spoken by human actors,” explains Professor Frommer.
Professor Frommer hopes to expand the language in sequels and games
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“It has to be sounds that human beings are comfortable producing.”
It is a unique language, with its own syntactic and grammatical rules.
Its creator says some of Cameron’s original words had “a vaguely Polynesian feel”. Others have suggested that it sounds like German or Japanese.
“It certainly borrows various grammatical structures, sounds, that exist in other languages – but what I hope is that the combination in this language is unique,” says Professor Frommer.
As well as creating the language, Professor Frommer taught the actors how to speak it.
“I met with each of the seven principal actors who use the language beforehand. I helped them with the pronunciation, we broke things down.
“I also created some sound files, MP3 files. I guess some of them downloaded them onto their iPods so they could listen to them at the gym.”
Professor Frommer spent hours on the set, helping the cast fine tune their alien language speaking abilities.
“I gave them quite a challenge. I found that they really rose to the occasion, everybody had a great time. I knew that it had to be something that actors could deal with and handle,” he says.
The language currently runs to about a thousand words. It does not have a huge vocabulary, but Professor Frommer is still working at it. He is also still trying to master his own language.
A sample of Na’vi writing
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“I wish I could speak it fluently,” he says.
“As for who at this point understands the grammar and such, I think probably I’m the only one. I wish that eventually that might not be the case.”
In fact, one day, Professor Frommer hopes Na’vi will match Klingon, as the “gold standard” alien language.
“There’s a translation of Hamlet into Klingon,” says Professor Frommer.
“There are Klingon clubs that meet all over the world. There are a very dedicated group of people who meet and try to speak it.
“If anything happened like this with Na’vi I’d be delighted.”