Re: Introduction; need advice

Hi, Quentin!  We got stuck in a listserv jam called the 100 message limit,
so that's why it might seem like we're ignoring you (I noticed both postings
of yours).  We're not!  Welcome to the list!  You sound like an old student
of mine, starting out early with various invented languages.  In fact,
Tolkien started out at roughly your age as well, so you're in good company.
One of the places you might check for organizing your invented language is
Jeffrey Henning's Langmaker pages at:

            http://www.LangMaker.com

It just takes persistence!  Good you found the list, and I hope you stay!

As for translation exercises, the most common one by far has been the
passage from Genesis on Babel.  If translating the Hebrew Bible doesn't
light your fire, we have also translated "The Sun and the Wind" (where is
that, now?).  At any given time, someone suggests a short text to translate,
and everyone lines up.  I have yet to give "Happy Holidays" in Teonaht;
mainly because the Teonim go for religious designations, and also because I
am up to my ears in grading papers.

Sally Caves
scaves@frontiernet.net
Eskkoat ol ai sendran, rohsan nuehra celyil takrem bomai nakuo.
"My shadow follows me, putting strange, new roses into the world."



----- Original Message -----
From: "Quentin Read" <quonton79@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Monday, December 16, 2002 7:54 PM
Subject: Introduction; need advice


> Hi, I'd like to introduce myself to this group. My
> name is Quentin Read and I am a junior in highschool.
> I have dabbled in conlangs since 8th grade.  The first
> one I came up with was Ysthol ("our language.")  It
> was a bunch of bizarre-sounding words held together by
> an extremely sketchy grammar.  I used it to taunt
> people incomprehensibly, but gave it up after a couple
> of weeks.  In 10th grade, I came up with a new
> language: LanguFota.  (Fota meaning fake, as in
> Faux.)It was a very unoriginal language, with almost
> all the words being derived from Spanish.  I gave that
> one up after a while because it was boring and stale.
> In the past few months I have tried out a few ideas.
> I developed a language with all the roots randomly
> computer generated (has anyone else done that?) and am
> now working on 2 projects: SimIE, (Simplified
> Indo-European Language) and Ulm (a monosyllabic
> language).
>
> So far I have translated the Our Father, the 23rd
> Psalm, the first part of Genesis, etc. into them.  I
> would like some advice about creating conlangs.
> So far I have madea basic vocabulary, the alphabet,
> the rules of grammar,and a few translations.  What
> should I do now?  I don't want this to fizzle out
> like my other ones.  I need some direction.  Also what
> are some basic, widely recognized texts I can
> translate besides biblical ones?  How much
> does one have to do before the conlang is considered
> complete?  Finally, where can I get fonts for
> characters I need?  I would appreciate any
> advice.
> -Quentin Read
> Durham, North Carolina
>
>
>
>
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