The Na'vi Language Posting Guide

[Ace]

This is a how-to guide just to clarify any confusion that may happen with the use of the Na'vi language in-character, so we'd appreciate it if you abide by these guidelines when posting with the intent to speak using Na'vi terms.

The lexicon for the Na'vi language can be found HERE.

Definition of Dialogue in RP: talking between two parties using quotation marks ("").

Rules for dialogue are as follows:

[/b]
[li]Words will mostly be in English unless you're testing your skill with the Na'vi language between each other.
[/li][li]Your character needs to know the Na'vi language before they can speak it fluently in-character. If your character is young, chances are you won't know it forward & backward yet.
[/li][li]If you do use Na'vi terms, please provide an English translation at the end of your post.

- In-Post Example:
-- Human 1: "Did you see that great leonopteryx fly over us today?"
-- Human 2: "Yeah, that was scary; cool, but scary...."

2. Na'vi-to-Na'vi dialogue
[/li][li]Since both parties are Na'vi (and by nature they both speak Na'vi fluently), the dialogue can be displayed in English for ease of conversation.
[/li][li]If you do use Na'vi terms, please provide an English translation at the end of your post.

- In-Post Example:
-- Na'vi 1: "I found a high canopy fruit today!"
-- Na'vi 2: "You are very lucky."

3. Human-to-Na'vi dialogue (This is where things get interesting.)
[/li][li]Na'vi will have to use their own language when talking to humans unless they know English and vice-versa for humans.
[/li][li]You can fill in missing Na'vi terms with English words; that we'll let slide since we have no control over undocumented words.
[/li][li]Humans will have to speak in English unless they know the Na'vi language, see bullet 3.1.
[/li][li]Whoever speaks using Na'vi terms, please provide an English translation at the end of your post. It doesn't matter if someone doesn't understand it in-character; it's just for ease of not having to reference the lexicon every 5 seconds.

- In-Post Example:
-- Human: "Who are you?"
-- Na'vi: "Pesu lu aynga, tawtute?" ((translation: "Who are you, Sky Person?"))[/li][/ul]

The recurring theme here is: if you use Na'vi terms, provide an English translation too. This saves time and translation headaches for those you RP with.

UPDATE: If you don't feel like putting forth the effort to construct a sentence or two using Na'vi, you can just alter the font codes & color to indicate that your character is speaking in Na'vi. This will show that you're still within the guidelines of language boundaries, but it will also be courteous to fellow RPers so neither you nor them will have to reference the lexicon unecessarily. Still, just tag your dialogue in some noticeable way (like: [Na'vi]...[/Na'vi] or "I see you."[/b]) so we know that your character is speaking in the Na'vi language.

- Ace, Global Moderator[/size]