#paltxi

Paltxi finds a strange and rather alarming tawtute artifact in the woods

Please listen to me, O Eywa. Walk with me. Hear my every word. Guide my path.

(-(WHISTLE) -Cindy? I think the Heryuan have arrived. -[Owlbears??] Uh - -Three ‘awtsi. -Thank you. ...Should we be worried? -I don’t think so. They agreed to meet with us, right? -I’ve never seen an owlbear. -You sound like you don’t know whether you should be scared or excited.)

Translator’s note: the literal translation on that last sentence, just for fun, is closer to “Your words come to me as if (you) don’t know the answer that is whether you should feel fear or excitement.” Translations on multi-clause sentences are a doozy sometimes.

Furia plltxe sawtuteru / How to talk to skypeople (lit. “Regarding talking to skypeople”)

Bonus zoom on their stupid gremlin face:

(Na’vi: -Cindy! Are you coming? -Yes, soon! -Okay - [breaks off into English] ... -Dammit!)

‘ìnglìsì Paltxiyä mi lu nì'ul sìltsan to leNa'via tìpuslltxe oeyä, hrh / Paltxi’s English is still better than my Na’vi, lol.

Yes, I did just realize I entirely forgot to draw the face mask on the human and I don’t care, it’s too late, pretend it’s there. invisible face mask wow magic *throws glitter and runs away*

His name is Matthew; it’s written Mätew when Paltxi speaks it to reflect the accent they give it (same with Cindy->Sìnti). Also, I tried to make Paltxi’s English mistakes things that a Na’vi speaker learning English would actually have trouble with - they delete an “a” in “Cindy is (a) good teacher” because Na’vi doesn’t have an equivalent, and they say “more good” instead of “better” because (at least as far as I know) Na’vi doesn’t have an equivalent to the English -er suffix, it’s just “nì’ul,” meaning “more” - “nì’ul sìltsan”, “more good,” where in English that gets collapsed into “better.”

Na’vi translations of the English sentences, for practice:

(-...MAYBE I didn’t think that through. (lit. “...MAYBE I didn’t think about that result.”) -Do you ever? (lit. “You never do, yes/no?”) -The Heryuan clan should meet us here. -I’m sure they’re watching us already. (TYPO: should be “Furia nerìn fol awngati li oe am’ake ‘efu”; I got so wrapped up in figuring out one part of the sentence that I entirely forgot another, hrh.) -Because winter is coming, visitors arriving is more and more more rare. They'll show themselves when they feel ready. We should wait until then.)

(-Beautiful! Everything is so bright! :D -Woooo! -Is that fun?)

Translator’s note: "is that fun?" is supposed to be the equivalent to a dry-humor "having fun?" in English, since I don't personally feel like the literal "to possess fun" would make a whole lot of sense to Na'vi (and if there’s a verb for “to have fun” I didn’t find it hrh), so I chose to translate it indirectly.