Learn Mando'a

I got bored and decided to translate the long duration nuclear waste storage warning to the best of my ability

Had to kludge a few words, but I think it came out more or less readable. It's certainly the most formal tone I've ever written Mando'a in!

Ibic taap nau'miit... bal tomyc be tolase be nau'miite... ke'sush!

Dinuir ibic nau'miit jaon'yc bah mhi. Mhi ru'mirdi mhor'ast cuyir dral tsad.

Ibic taap nu'cuy ijaatla... naas kotyc nari partayli olar... naas wadaasla olar.

Olar cuy skanah burk'yc par mhi. Ibic nau'miit baal'la buruk.

Te buruk sha vut'yc taap... Cuy buruk'shya gebbar petir... peti'buruk olar... be vut'yc paru, chur mhi.

Te buruk vencuyan'la, o'r gar ca'nara, sa o'r mhor ca'nara.

Te buruk bah baar, bal lise kyr'amur.

Paru be buruk cuy gayi'rud nuhaatyc nau.

Te buruk mav shi meh gar ori'amur ibic taap tigaan'yc. Ibic taap jatne duraanir bal ne'oyacyir.

Wow Vlet, that's quite an undertaking.

I wasn't familiar with the original text so I took a shot at translating it from Mando'a to English. I definitely got the gist of the warning, and when I looked up the original I wasn't far off. Kandosii!

I had to use three sources to identify just about everything, and I didn't find "baal'la" (4th line). Where does that come from, if you would be so kind?

Whoops, that was meant to be baat'la, which was my closest idea for "regarding"

I find this sort of thing very helpful in learning a language. I don't have sufficient vocabulary memorized at this point, so I need to go word by word to try to work it out. I didn't look up the original text until I had translated your post above, and was pleased to find that I understood the message.

Since you showed here that it's possible to translate this particular text into Mando'a, I thought it would be a good exercise to take the original text and try to translate it myself. That's certainly not to suggest that I thought I could do it "better;" I was just curious to see if I could work through the entire thing at all. (As you've mentioned elsewhere, there are likely as many dialects of Mando'a as there are any other language, and if you ask any two native speakers to translate a text there are always variations because people tend to say things differently.)

I suspect that my approach might be too literal, since I'm relatively new to the language. Given that this is a formal warning written for an unknown reader of indeterminate background, I included words that I believe are typically dropped in more standard (informal?) Mando'a, like "te" and several instances of "cuyir" that would probably be left out when communicating with other Mandos.

If you're interested, this is what I came up with. As you're definitely the more experienced speaker, I'd be curious to know what you think of the attempt - if and only if you're inclined to review it! (I also noticed that you conjugate cuyir as cuy, and I'm curious about that because I thought I had read that conjugations only dropped the final "r" from the infinitive and I want to be sure that I'm conjugating in the appropriate way.) Oya!


Ibic taap cuyi chaaj’miit... bal ne’tom be tolase be chaaj’miite... k'ori’sushir!

Chaa’dinuir ibic chaaj’miit jaon'yc bah mhi. Mhi ru'mirdi mhiist cuyir adate drala.

Ibic taap nu'cuyi taap be ijaat... naasad ori'ijaat’la nari partaylir olar... naas waadasla cuyi olar.

Meg cuyi olar burk'yc bal skanah bah mhi. Ibic chaaj’miit cuyi akaan’jorad be(h) buruk.

Te buruk cuyi sha vutyc taap... drashaar burk'ycne gebbar petir... peti’baar be buruk cuyi olar... be mirutre’la keb’solet bal keb’paru, bal chur mhi.

Te buruk su cuyi, o'r gar ca'nara, sa o'r mhor ca'nara.

Te buruk cuyi bah te baar, bal bic lise kyr’amur.

Te buruk hiibi keb’paru be nuhaatyc vhipir be sapan’dral.

Te buruk day’duumir shi meh gar oryc jurkadi sha ibic taap. Jatne meh duumir ibic taap cuyir duraanir bal nu'yaimir.

>Ibic taap cuyi chaaj’miit... bal ne’tom be tolase be chaaj’miite... k'ori’sushir!

I see what you're going for with chaaj'miit, it's an interesting option I hadn't thought of. I'm a bit confused as to why you chose ne'tom, since "part" here refers to being joined to a system, not separate from it.

>Chaa’dinuir ibic chaaj’miit jaon'yc bah mhi. Mhi ru'mirdi mhiist cuyir adate drala.

Working chaaj into giving here is a nice touch for the context. Adate kinda works, but I feel like tsad is a more direct option.

>Ibic taap nu'cuyi taap be ijaat... naasad ori'ijaat’la nari partaylir olar... naas waadasla cuyi olar.

Naasad is specifically nobody, instead of nothing, I dunno if that was intentional or not. Was the intent "nobody honorable did anything remembered here"?

>Meg cuyi olar burk'yc bal skanah bah mhi. Ibic chaaj’miit cuyi akaan’jorad be(h) buruk.

Akaan'jorad is interesting, it's always fun to see how other people tackle these words we're missing. No need for an h in be.

>Te buruk cuyi sha vutyc taap... drashaar burk'ycne gebbar petir... peti’baar be buruk cuyi olar... be mirutre’la keb’solet bal keb’paru, bal chur mhi.

I don't know if there's a consensus on the style, but I drop yc and la endings if I'm using a comparative or superlative. Drashaar is a good option I didn't think of. Peti'baar is specific to people, with baar being the root for bodies. It meant center mass in a military point of aim context. Keb'solet and keb'paru works for me, but I don't know where mirutre'la is going, it sounds like "emptyheaded" to me and I don't see the context.

>Te buruk su cuyi, o'r gar ca'nara, sa o'r mhor ca'nara.

This is probably clearer than in my version.

>Te buruk cuyi bah te baar, bal bic lise kyr’amur.

All good here.

>Te buruk hiibi keb’paru be nuhaatyc vhipir be sapan’dral.

I like the use of sapan here, and I don't think it would even need dral, I regret that it didn't occur to me at the time. Vhipir I'm not a fan of here, because it doesn't get across the emanation that gives radiation its name, and it implies something comparatively static, but I see where you were going with it.

>Te buruk day’duumir shi meh gar oryc jurkadi sha ibic taap. Jatne meh duumir ibic taap cuyir duraanir bal nu'yaimir.

Not sure what day'duumir is here, was that a typo of dar? I'm not sure what that was is going for. You had more confidence in jurkadir than I did, I didn't use it because I thought it would be taken as more of a social and emotional term than a physical one, I guess my concerns were unfounded. I like the use of yaim here, I think it might be more appropriate than my choice, and the second sentence in general I think might read clearer than mine.


Regarding whether it's cuy or cuyi, you can see it both ways in a lot of examples, such as su'cuy and other, longer phrases where verbs get conjugated. It seems it's kosher to drop either just the r, or the r and the preceding vowel, essentially to taste.

Ori'vor'e for subjecting yourself to the musings of a novice - and a very green one at that! (I'm inclined to apologize for subjecting you to it, but I suppose that's why we're here to begin with, so I'll stick to gratitude!)

For chaaj'miit, I was thinking 'announcement', so broadcast/communication seemed apt.

I'm trying to work with the "mandor" pdf to augment my very limited vocabulary, but there's still a learning curve with it. Given that you're one of the contributors to the document whereas I'm trying to learn how to apply it, I'm most appreciative of your correction.

I read "ne'tom" as "a part or piece (of a system of things)" which may not be the correct interpretation.

I felt "adate" was probably vague. I debated "urman" but wasn't sure about that either, so I went with adate thinking it was a safer bet. I do agree that tsad is best, but I made it a point not to look at your translation during the exercise in order to see if I came close in my own attempt.

I used "naasad" more figuratively as "not any" based on the text in the companion PDF, although I probably should have balked based on the "ad" aspect of it. My thinking was: naasad - not any / ori - very, ijaat'la - honorable -> ori'ijaat’la - very honorable / nari - action / (cuyi - is, implied) / partaylir - to remember, remembered / olar - here.

I do very much enjoy seeing how others approach a translation! I was debating between "be" (of) and "beh" (about) here, but leaning toward the former.

Haar'chaak, I suspected that was the case with peti'baar, but was hoping it might work figuratively, haha. Good to know about the yc/la and comparatives/superlatives, that's an interesting point!

For mirutre'la, I was trying to find a way to imply 'certain' or 'specific'... and stretching a bit too far. (Likewise, I feel like my attempt is probably a bit "te" and "cuyir" heavy, but assuming a wider audience given the importance of the subject matter.)

I see what you mean about vhipir, in hindsight, which is excellent because all of this is definitely a helpful learning experience!

I lifted "day’duumir" directly from the pdf, reading it as "to release". Very possibly a typo or utter misunderstanding of the intent.

Likewise, I am not sure that what I had was "more confidence" rather than "significantly less experience" when it comes to jurkadir; it felt right to me in context, but that's certainly no guarantee! I suspect that it might be more easily understood by non-mandos, whereas more fluent speakers might balk a bit at the usage.

I appreciate the clarification on conjugation, too! As I understand it, Mando'a is primarily a spoken language more than a written one, so it makes sense that there are variations in spelling, etc.

Thank you very much for taking the time to analyze my attempt, it's certainly the most ambitious text I've ever attempted. I never would have even thought to try something like this if you hadn't posted your own, and it sounds like my efforts were less risible than I suspected they might be - which is a small victory in and of itself. Your comments are enormously helpful, thank you for taking the time!

(Hope all of this makes sense, it's been a long day!)

Ah, I see a lot of the confusion comes from me not having checked that pdf in a long time.