#mandokarla

I don't know if there's an actual word for 'translate' in Mando'a. There are a lot of words we don't have yet, though a number of people are working on that (shoutout to the Mandocreator Language Team. Su'cuy vode!) For the purposes of this post, I'm going with am'gaanar mitte - to exchange words. Is it perfect? Probably not. But, it gets the point across.

As part of this study, interest, hobby, obsession lol, I translate things for practice. When I first started studying, not just occasionally noodling around the dictionary after another "I wonder how you'd say -" came to mind translation practice was suggested. Initially, I didn't think I could do it, at least not more than a couple of words. A friend of mine talked about how he'd translated the full first season of The Mandalorian. He's actually done a lot more than that, he does whole movies & books. He's kinda brilliant. But for me, at the time I first heard him say it, it also seemed kinda impossible. There was no way, I thought, I would ever know that much. I know that much now. It's months later & I'm nowhere near as skilled as he is, he's been working with this language for a decade now & I'm still a few months away from hitting the one year mark, but I'm getting better.

I started translating things for practice, little things initially. Mostly book & movie quotes. I'll post some from time to time, I think. Some are very mandokarla, others are just things I like. I moved on from one or two sentence quotes to longer quotes to full song lyrics, and from those I actually am translating my way through The Mandalorian, just to prove to myself that I can. I'm about to start s01e03. Oya!

It's sometimes really frustrating & I have to step away from certain pieces for a bit before I ragequit upon being entirely stuck on a word/phrase. But after it simmers in the back of my brain for a while I usually get there. And when I just can't find a work around, I ask for help. It's actually amazing when you find a work around or make a word/phrase the way a Mando would say or think it.

Mandalorians look at language quite different from an English speaker and that can cause some consternation in the hobbyist translationist. All culture informs the languages they produce. You can't just swap words around, you have to think like a Mando'ad...And I'm starting to go down a rabbit hole on that, lol but that's not the point of this post. Later, elsewhere, I'll talk about some of the reasons why Mando'a is the way it is.

Ok, the next stop for my rambling train of thought is this: I translate things for funsies. From different sources, for varying reasons, I know from past experiences that you can learn a language all you like - I've studied 3-4 at this point, but to keep what you've learned you have to use it. One way I use my Mando'a is doing translations, so I'm going to post some. When I post I'll have the original piece, its Mando'a counterpart, then its English translation so you can see the differences. Stay tuned.

Am'ganaar - to trade/exchange

Miite - words. The singular is 'miit'

Su'cuy - 'Hi', short for 'su'cuy gar' for 'hello'

Vode - brother/sister/friend. Mando'a doesn't use gendered cases. Also, the singular for 'vode' is 'vod'.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Hello followers, browsers, bots, internet users, and Old Gods from the Outer Ring! I am now OFFICIALLY posting the long-in-the-works fanfic known as Mandokarla. Like Star Wars? Mandalorians? Shenanigans? Reading things? WELL BOY YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY ENJOY THIS.

The first chapter is posted and it's really short, I'd appreciate it if you could at least read through the first chapter and give me some feedback.

oh look first picture for the actual fic heh heh. Neon colors and sketchy everything because reasons and expedience.