#it posted

General Overview

Maldonian is a Romance Language.

Meaning it’s Latin-based and has a similar sentence structure and conjugation style as French, Spanish, etc.

Most of the language is made from smashing together Spanish, French, and Italian words, with a sprinkle of Portuguese and Romanian when the mood strikes

Since I don’t have a full language developed, the typical way I achieve this is with words is writing out a sentence in French, Spanish, and Italian and combining the words into something that sounds halfway decent. If I don’t like the way it sounds, I’ll go to Portuguese and Romanian. (And then they’re added to the dictionary.)

For example: “The boy ran to the dog.”

Fr. - “Le garçon court au chien.”

Sp. - “El niño corre al perro.”

It. - “Il ragazzo corre al cane.”

Mal. - “Di ragaño couro a canero.”

Grammar

I haven’t had to conjugate yet, but conjugations are a thing that happens. It would look something like this.

Verb: couret (to run)

E couro/a (I run)

Te couros/as (You run)

In couro (He runs)

Ini coura (She runs)

Ei couris (You (plural) run)

Nem couros (We run)

Em courin (They run)

Maldonian is also has gendered verbs. Ex. “Di ragaño couro” vs “Di fiña coura”.

[verb form]+o = masc, [verb form]+a = fem.

Does not apply to plural nouns, only singular.

Singular “the” is always “di,” regardless of noun. Plural “the” is always “dis”.

Di canero vs. dis caneros

Possessives follow the same rule; only a singular and plural.

Me canero/Mes caneros (My dog(s))

Ti canero/Tis caneros (Your dog(s))

Se canero/Ses caneros (His dog(s))

Sa canero/Sae caneros (Her dog(s))

Eir canero/Eis caneros (Your (plural) dog(s))

Ne canero/Nei caneros (Our dog(s))

Eme canero/Emes caneros (Their dog(s))

Grammar notes

Unlike most Romance languages, in Maldonian the adjectives always come before the noun.

Di Fraggi Pruto (The Frog Prince)

Di Soiréda Éstoila (The Evening Star)

Di Hermeau Jevon  (The Handsome Youth)

Affectionate titles have different endings depending on the gender and status/respect/affection

Fromo (brother)

Fromanno (big brother)

Fromanni (little brother)

Sorma (sister)

Sormanna (big sister)

Sormanni (little sister)

Buonama (sweetheart-lit. “Good love”)

Buonamadi (Pet name, often shortened to Amadi by younger Maldonians)

Names

Most Maldonian surnames are based in Romanian, which means that there are set endings for native names.

Common endings are -inu/-anu (descriptive), -escu (location), and -an (occupation)

For example, the Maldonian Royal Family’s surname (in my headcanon) is Adaruinu (based on the Romanian phrase a dărui, roughly meaning “an act of giving that is accompanied by a genuine desire to make the other person happy.”)

Given names are almost always Indian names for boys and Portuguese names for girls.

Maldonian names do have diminutives! The general rule is that it’s a shortened form of the name + im (for boys) or imi (for girls).

Note: pronounced ihm and eemee respectively.

Ex. Ravim, Navim, Luzimi, Irimi.

Can also be used on non-Maldonian names, if name structure permits

I.e. Timi (pron. Teemee) for Tiana, Rodim (pron. Roh-dihm) for Rodrigo.

Some names, like Esteban and Keith, unfortunately don’t work as well for diminutives. In that case, native nicknames (like Teban) are more widely used.

Vocabulary

As mentioned above, most Maldonian words are a mishmash of whatever sounds right when you smash words from different Romance languages together. It takes a lot of patience and a lot of Google translate, but it winds up working pretty well.

That said, there are loan words and words derived from English peppered through Maldonian

I.e. di jazz (jazz), di telifo (telephone), di tibi (television)

There are also some words I (and Disney) have already come up with for the Maldonian vocabulary. Here’s a selection of them:

Family

Madri/Madimi/Mamai - Mother/Mom/Mama

Padri/Padim/Papai - Father/Dad/Papa

Fromo - Brother

Sorma - Sister

Vovo - grandparent (either gender)

Teo - uncle

Tanti - aunt

Greetings

Buono dios - good morning/day

Buono soiréda - good evening

Buono nuitte - good night

Chilo - Hi/Hello

Abinaza - Bye/See you later

Exclamations

Faldi Faldonza - Oh my god!

Achedanza - Amazing!/Wow!

Chie Pelize - How annoying (rude)

D’escha - Okay

Misc.

Pruto - Prince

Prutia - Princess

Rei - king

Reyeni - Queen

Maldonescu - Maldonian/of Maldonia

Bianturnu - Maldonian capitol

Please - Porfavo

Four messages about what could be done about me being a late comer, because Im outside of the country and one urgent email about the date that is available and when I would arrive to the email they presented on the website.

No reply.

I later find out that those emails werent even updated, so I sent my concern to those emails too, and their contact number was probably not even working.

Relatives were busy at their own lives that we could forgive, they had rough too or maybe they just did things not the way we wanted it to be. But it was for the better if it were to familliarize me and ask and shed blood, sweat, and tears to make it all worth it.

Went to the school and their clerks would say ‘sorry we dont know, please proceed to the department instead’, we then go there and find out that the department is always deserted and the faculties werent really open to visitors. People werent there or maybe we just had bad timing.

We went for another time, this time earlier and fresh for the day. Im particularly nervous and I thought my exhaustion would finally be replaced by joy, but then;

'Please come back on xxx-xxx, were busy’

No information and details and to what it was online, no warning or notice put on their website. Not even the clerk knew of it or even warned us days before and surely not just minutes ago after asking about what we could do for my case.

I was beyond frustrated and just out of motivation, we asked what we could out of the clerk. But it always lead to a 'we dont know’, I begged my mother whom was with me most of the time since she knew the place better than I did, I begged her to inquire more and arrange things (I wasnt fluent in the language of the place we were in, but I could understand them)

Alas, we were always left confused and unsatisfied and my mother was catching cold and allergies from commuting and the processes we had to go through. For myself, I was fighting adjustment, knowing as much as I can about the school and its standard, and I was juggling the responsibilities I left. A thesis and multiple other exams.

I couldnt sleep, but definitely woke up to the email that I was up for an interview and was going to be considered. I thought I could take the challenge, I need to prove myself.

But then, the date of the supposed arrangement was wrong for me to be qualified.

Thats when I thought, maybe I should start worrying.

We waited for two twenty four hours for a reply from an email I sent, for a clearer arrangement (we couldve gone but it was later revealed that the day I sent the email and the day after that they werent available, they didnt put not a single notice online about this)

And I was right, I was going to enroll and the person who was absolutely so nice and kind broke the news to us that I wasnt no longer going to be considered.

It hurts, it weighed down what I felt much more. The rush we went through to move out of where I was born to catch the entrance exams, our responsibilities that were left but had to resolve while travelling. The schoolworks I had to do because my classmates trusted me and my teachers were proud of. I needed to study while I had jetlag, while I chucked jackets in my bag, while I did an essay, and wake up at five to work harder because I had to leave early.

It was so disheartening, I wasnt able to study well because of the pressure of catching the right date to leave. And also because my parents couldnt afford residency there anymore, we needed to exit and throw our things in boxes and whatever we could.

The feeling of being a failure and not smart enough to know these things in order for me to be still considered. The chances and the promise of good education, it was so painful.