#constructed languages

Dreams are messages from the deep.

[coded_message from deep COP-dream.]_apodictic

Keshlat kar raathom eb-ahissradar.

This just barely sidesteps a heresy by using a particular word for "deep". If "veraaskan" ("deep ocean") had been used, it would have implied "dreams are messages from the soul". The soul is a concept embodied in a physical, practical tool which helps a Qunari fulfill their best life. Dreams are uncommon among horned qunari, and are a deeply disquieting experience that is associated with demonic interference or becoming a Saarebas - a mage, something qunari find inherently dangerous. As it stands, this statement still begins the movie with a sense of unease and menace.

The phrase is in the Apodictic "this is a universal truth" OV.S word order, and thus "dream" is appended to the verb, which is not marked for its number or person. It's a somewhat archaic word order that's difficult to differentiate from normal SVO if read without tone of voice:, a speaker would have to alter their emphasis to make the Apodictic clear.

My planet Arrakis is so beautiful when the sun is low.

POS-world 1S Arrakis 3S.become_beautiful.ENC at INF-go_out sun.

Ben-sataa ala Arrakis ebasit-daalnaan e tal-itwa rikaar.

Talat has no word for "planet" as a place that one can live, so the word for "the entire world" is used instead.

"become beautiful" is created from a reflexive form of "to bloom" or "to realize", emphasized here with the use of the encantive. This is something natural that is revealed by the flow of events.

Rolling over the sands... You can see spice in the air.

Flow over sand... Can see.2P melange be-within breeze.

Tal-mer keta kesh... Ti vaarost melaanash ebasit-var imesaara.

To make it clear that spice melange is something special and different from cooking spice, "melange" is transliterated, despite never being used in the new movies. Admittedly, I also don't have a word for "spice" yet, so I need to get on that. :p

At nightfall, the spice harvesters land.

At INF-come_in night, POS-harvester melange descend.3P

E tal-ast itwali, ben-keshaani melaanash tomadim.

"Harvester" is literally "takes-plant-built_obj-animate_obj", specifying a machine that harvests things. A person who is a harvester would be simply "keshah". "Ah" (/ɒ/) is a vowel that can't form diphthongs, so "ah-a" (/ɒa/ becomes the long "aa" vowel /ɐː/.

The outsiders race against time to avoid the heat of the day.

outsider APPL.walk.3P DLM time, [POS-day heat avoid 3P]_HAB CAUS.

Lethari sebodim na hera, ben-astali vat vah-art adim toh.

"outsider" is literally "person from outside", as opposed to the usual qunari term for a foreigner, "bas". "Bas" has religious connotations that specifically mean a non-qunari. Thus, this term is used in precisely translating foreign speech, or by kabethari: people who live within the Qunari sphere of influence, but are not Qunari themselves. If a Qunari used the term, it could mean anything from "a recent transplant from another town" to "a neighbor" to "a confusing person", depending on context.

"race" is translated with "walk" in the deliminative, which specifically has taken on the meaning of "move quickly" in idiomatic Talat. It's also placed in the Applicative to create a ditransitive, zero-direct object verb phrase that literally means "the outsiders race [themselves] against time", which is the most idiomatic way to express the idea.

"avoid" is formed using the negative opinion prefix "vah" and has the judgemental tone of "shy away from".