Gauging Interest in Mandalorian Culture and Mando'a

MandoaOrg

New Hunter
Alright, my fellow Mando'ade! Ke'sush! I have a proposal for you.

I'm not worrying about Karen Traviss, or the fiction, or Lucas' involvement or lack thereof, nor will I be focussing on Lucas' systematic neutering of the Mandalorians.

What I'm interested in is finding out how many people want to learn and communicate in Mando'a.

I have purchased a domain and created a website containing a Mando'a dictionary and font transcriber, and I plan on adding lessons and maybe even a discussion community if it's called for. I love linguistic science, and I love learning languages, especially artificial ones. I have studied Elvish and Esperanto in the past (though I gave up on Elvish because I had no friends to speak it with).

I'm looking for people like me, who like to learn languages, and who want to, in specific, learn and grow the Mando'a language in an unofficial capacity. I am a huge geek, and bringing together an active worldwide community (however small) of Mando'ade who follow the Resol'nare and speak Mando'a would be the one of the coolest things in the world.

If anyone is interested, sound off. :)

Click here for my (fairly basic) web app. I'm aware there is another web-based dictionary service that translates Mando'a, but that one is Java, and doesn't run without killer overhead on some older computers. Please note that my website will not work without JavaScript. It uses AJAX to search the database and JS functions for UI interaction.

I'd be interested in assembling a central list of all known Mando'a resources (lessons, etc.) so that we can try and keep this language alive.

And no, I am not remotely fluent in Mando'a. I have only really known of its existence for a relatively short time, and only recently have I begun to set aside time in my life to study it. I've spent more time building the website so far than I have spent studying the language. :p

Vor'e! Oya manda!
 
No thanks. I'm not a fan of the pretend-scifi-languages thing. To me, Mandos are folks in cool armor from the books and cartoon, and that's about it.
 
Way to be supportive, GCN. At least post a full sentence next time. stormtrooperguy, though his views differ from mine, posted something intelligent.

Some people are geeks for making and wearing props and armour from a science fiction franchise. (I do that)

Some people are geeks for playing video games. (I also do that)

Some people are geeks for playing tabletop games. (And that)

There are many brands of geek. Why can't we support one another?
 
I would totally love to learn! one of my new years resolutions was to learn the basics of Mando'a...but having some help would be great. I already know french and latin fluently, so definitely count me in!
 
I would totally love to learn! one of my new years resolutions was to learn the basics of Mando'a...but having some help would be great. I already know french and latin fluently, so definitely count me in!

That's really funny, actually. I made this whole thing because one of my New Year's resolutions is to learn Mando'a, and I thought "what better way to enforce this resolution than to connect with others interested in the very same thing?" My wife and I will be studying together, so that made two, and now there's three. :)

I haven't used either in a long time, but I learned French to a high school French 2 level spread out over the ten years of my grade schooling (two levels of kindergarten, through eighth grade), and I learned Mandarin Chinese in high school for all four years.
 
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Remember Star Wars vs Star Trek? Remember those guys speaking Klingon? ...nuff said.

But to each thier own. I suppose it's like some folks who make the most outlandish custom mando's. :\ I believe in being creative and different, but there are places for those who like to 'color outside the lines'. I'm not tenured enought to say that this is that place or not. Best of luck to ya.
 
Well, I'm certainly not trying to suggest that I impose on the forum for space dedicated to this...I suppose you can call it a hobby...but I figured that this would be one of the best places to come and find out who would be interested.

Good one there, GCN. Beskar'gam is what this whole forum is about.

@thrax - I've had my fair share of Star Wars vs Star Trek discussions (arguments, really -- it *always* comes down to opinion)...and I've thought about learning Klingon...but it's just too conspicuous to use in public. In Mando'a, I find a sort of subtlety (similarity in sounds to other languages) to the point where my wife and I could get away with speaking it to one another in public without turning too many heads. I dare you to try whispering in Klingon. :p
 
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Well, I'm certainly not trying to suggest that I impose on the forum for space dedicated to this...I suppose you can call it a hobby...but I figured that this would be one of the best places to come and find out who would be interested.

unfortunately, i think you will find that you are mistaken on that. i saw you also posted on the mando mercs board... i think your reception there will be much better.

while not universally so, TDH is focused primarily on highly accurate replicas of movie costumes. the custom mandos section was sort of a nod to the creativity and talent that goes into those, but that's not really the main focus.

or, said differently, this is a place where we are more interested in figuring out what record player that thing on the boot came from than we are in figuring out what the thing on the boot was supposed to be.

you'll find many of the really hard core Fetts here have almost no idea what an expanded universe is ;)

i'm not trying to say that folks can't post about this stuff, just warning you that you're probably going to get more jabs about fake languages and klingons than supportive remarks.
 
Thank you for the direction, stormtrooperguy. I've spent plenty of time lurking these forums, and even posted under a different name a while ago (I will not reveal it here), so I am familiar with the particular brand of geekery involved here. :p (I read through an entire thread about how somebody thought the little nubs in the keyslots in the back of the helmet might be old-school dental drill bits, and they were really onto something, too. The community here is really supportive, in general, and when they think somebody's onto something, everyone chips in and helps.)

As for getting better reception on the MandoMercs board, I agree with your perception, but they closed my thread and asked me to try elsewhere, though for good reason. They would like to distance themselves from the legal grey area my project apparently occupies, and since I wish them no ill will, I agreed and withdrew. :(

As to what I said about this being one of the best places to come for support, it really is. There were pretty much only three possibilities in my mind: Boba Fett Fan Club, The Dented Helmet, and Mandalorian Mercs. I've already tried MandoMercs, as mentioned, and Boba Fett Fan Club's policy strictly forbids advertising, so I emailed their administrators before making an account there to make sure my future post would not get me IP banned or something.
 
unfortunately, i think you will find that you are mistaken on that. i saw you also posted on the mando mercs board... i think your reception there will be much better.

while not universally so, TDH is focused primarily on highly accurate replicas of movie costumes. the custom mandos section was sort of a nod to the creativity and talent that goes into those, but that's not really the main focus.

or, said differently, this is a place where we are more interested in figuring out what record player that thing on the boot came from than we are in figuring out what the thing on the boot was supposed to be.

you'll find many of the really hard core Fetts here have almost no idea what an expanded universe is ;)

i'm not trying to say that folks can't post about this stuff, just warning you that you're probably going to get more jabs about fake languages and klingons than supportive remarks.

Well worded Brian.
 
Thank you for the direction, stormtrooperguy. I've spent plenty of time lurking these forums, and even posted under a different name a while ago (I will not reveal it here), so I am familiar with the particular brand of geekery involved here. :p (I read through an entire thread about how somebody thought the little nubs in the keyslots in the back of the helmet might be old-school dental drill bits, and they were really onto something, too. The community here is really supportive, in general, and when they think somebody's onto something, everyone chips in and helps.)

As for getting better reception on the MandoMercs board, I agree with your perception, but they closed my thread and asked me to try elsewhere, though for good reason. They would like to distance themselves from the legal grey area my project apparently occupies, and since I wish them no ill will, I agreed and withdrew. :(

As to what I said about this being one of the best places to come for support, it really is. There were pretty much only three possibilities in my mind: Boba Fett Fan Club, The Dented Helmet, and Mandalorian Mercs. I've already tried MandoMercs, as mentioned, and Boba Fett Fan Club's policy strictly forbids advertising, so I emailed their administrators before making an account there to make sure my future post would not get me IP banned or something.

Why would you expect to get IP banned? Not many Star Wars forums rule with an Iron Fist.
 
I just figure if I get tagged as an advertiser, then IP banning me would be the most efficient way to ensure I don't continue posting more ads on their forum by just signing up for a new account. But I guess I've never been a forum admin, so I don't really know about those things, I just made an assumption.
 
Sweet. One thing I might recommend is either utilising my dictionary, linked above (and here), or the one at MrKlingon; or go straight to the officially-licensed source and download the last update of the Mando'a dictionary directly from Karen Traviss' website: newmando (the .xls file linked on that page is the last update she made to the complete dictionary -- you can open .xls files with OpenOffice, Microsoft Excel Viewer, or upload it to Google Docs for viewing if you have a Gmail account).
 
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That was Mando'a, the language of real Mandalorians and the language Jango spoke to Boba in AotC. As far as learning how to speak it, Wookieepedia provides for me. Maybe if I ever ever go UBER-geek I'll go that route but keep up with it, you never know who will be interested.
 
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