Last day of my Sámi week

 This is a yoik by Jarŋŋa called Äno jiedna (the sound of the river)

No lyrics.

Well... it didn't go well. I was somewhat put of by the very limited resources. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of resources around to get at least some understanding and knowledge of Sámi, but it's very... organized. I got the feeling you have to start from A and go on in straight line and without questions and opinions, just study the material given the way it is given etc. I didn't find it possible to easily start building your own sentences with the material given, and it is very Sápmi centered. Now, I understand why, but it means people won't study this language just for the fun of it, to be able to use it to chat with their language geek friends, or keep a diary on it, because there is very little kota, reindeer and saameting outside Sápmi.

I didn't write one flashcard.
I didn't study even the numbers. I lazily collected them, but I didn't study them.
I didn't study the alphabet, or even one line in Sámi.
I have been a bad girl.
I have just been listening to Ođđasat (news in Sámi) and some amazing music.

In less than 30 hours NaNoWriMo 2011 begins. I won't be giving my characters lines in foreign language, because I hate that in books, especially if it's not translated.
Now I don't remember how Tolkien used his languages, but I think it was mostly in short things, like magic words and saying that can't really be translated, or were translated...
I remember a school mate of mine, one of the "popular" girls, explained that one learns foreign languages from romance novels. Sure. "Cara mia!" I'd rather watch Addams Family :-D

Nevertheless, I don't think one should use the word "Elvish" of Elven languages. There are several and they have names. It's like saying "I'm speaking European!" But, alas, as a Tolkien fan, of course I have to learn Quenya and Sindar. :-D

BTW, I thought for long it's "Elvis-language" and wondered what was so special with Elvis... :-D

Elvish impersonator by Christopher


IPA

i - like ee in English word free [fɹiː]
ɨ - like e in English word roses [ˈɹoʊzɨz]
ɪ - like i in English word bit [bɪt]
ɪ̈ - like the last e in English word parallelepiped [ˌpæɹəlɛlɪ̈ˈpaɪpɪ̈d]

y - like u in French word chute [ʃyt]
ʏ - like ü in German word schützen [ˈʃʏtsˑn]

u - like oo in English word boot [bu̟ːˀt]
ʊ̈ - like u in English word euphoria [jʊ̈ˈfɔəɹiə]
ʊ - like oo in English word hook [hʊk]

Here's a video on how to pronounce that horrible ü [y] not know in English... Just repeat.

"You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow."
Just put your lips together like for a kiss and sound, and you'll produce ü.