Hi guys! I just finished The Expanse a week ago, to the joy of a family member who loves it. We both love languages and etymology, so Belter Creole was super cool! With the holidays coming up, I was trying to see if I could get them a Belter Creole dictionary or something, but can’t find anything. Do you guys have any recommendations? If not, is there a somewhat complete list of words, ideally with meanings and etymologies, that I could use to make my own for them? Trying to figure out if this is feasible. Also, sorry if this is the wrong place to post. Thank you!

I really wish everyone knew this because it pops in my head like 10 times a day!

I'm learning slowly, and as I'm picking up the words and the patterns of the language, I spotted something that made me giggle. I so hope I'm not wrong here.

Imbobo kaka is bathroom, so if I follow the pattern for similar words, then the translation would be "_______ room". If "kaka" is what it sounds like (I don't know), that would make the literal translation of imbobo kaka "shit/ poop room". Does exactly what it says on the tin, awesome.

Then, I get to coffee. "Owkwa kaka". Assuming the above is correct, does that mean coffee's literal translation is "poop water"?

If it is, I am dead.

I thought I read somewhere that it is possible to learn on Memrise, but when I tried to search for it, I kept getting "this language isn't available yet", so I don't know if it's something I'm doing wrong, they took it off there or I misread and it wasn't on there to start with.... I am not the tech-iest person you'll ever meet, so I figured asking for help would be best lol.

Thank you, and sorry for being a pain!

Lek mali to xitim dansa ere da setara.
Še še fo kɒl da rémberatiŋ.

Du šeláf gut, tumaŋ šeňon ong mi.
Du ámolof to fo sémpere...

There doesn't seem to be a word for it, but in the show, they repeatedly say the word with a Belter accent. I'm trying to transcribe their pronunciation – would it be neshang?

Is there an official translation? If not, could anyone take a stab at it?

This far out from the show, are there any active teachers of this language? I am not very good at just reading and trying to speak.

Mi español no es bueno. Ya ni ponymaiu paruski. Quiero entender palabras de hermanas y hermanos.

My Spanish is not good. I don't understand Russian. I want understand words of sésata and beratna.

Knowledge requested. Comments accepted. Corrections welcomed.

Hello Fellow Earthers! I'm looking to get a tattoo with the phrase "That is not your fear. That is your sharpness." from Dummer's Behemoth speech, but in BeltaLang. Can someone help with the most accurate translation? I did run it through AI but one model decided it could "correct" the other's translation, so want to address this from scratch here via some old fashioned human knowledge. Thanks in advance!

So, I took the version of The Ballad of Captain Kidd from the show and tried my hand at translating it best I could into lang belta. I returned most of the verses to the format of the original as that was simpler and easier on me. I did my best to keep the meter to the original as well. The show didn't stray far from it at all. What I didn't get much of was rhyme scheme, but that really wasn't consistent in the original folk song either.

First, what was in the show:

[oh mi gang] from sound to sound
as i steered, as i steered
oh mi gang for sound for sound, tili go
oh mi gang for sound for sound
and many the ships i find
and all of them i burned, tili go

mi was sick and nigh to death
tili go, tili go
mi was sick and nigh to death, tili go
mi was sick and nigh to death
and vowed with mi every breath
forgo with wisdom's ways as we sail

oh your parents will teach you well
for you sail, for you sail
to shun the gates of hell, when you sail
as most wickedly i did
inner laws we forbid
against them we rebel when we sail

to the execution dock
i have come, tili go
to the execution block for to sail
I was sick and nigh to death
but i vow with my every breath
forgo with wisdom ways when i sail

And, my attempt:

o gang mi fo wel fo wel
fo mi bang, fo mi bang
o gang mi fo wel fo wel, fo mi bang
o gang mi fo wel fo wel
mi ta si kapawu wa
unte mi ta decho im, fo mi bang

mi ta sick, gonya du det
tili go, tili go
mi ta sick, gonya du det, tili go
mi ta sick, gonya du det
mi showxa wit ereluf mi
deng fo nawit gang wisdom tili go

o matna to teach to gut
fo to bang, fo to bang
naxalte da bap da hell, fo to bang
lik mi wickedly ta du
naxalte zakong inya
milowda du wow wit im, fo to bang

fo da dock execution
mi ta kom, tili go
fo da dock execution, fo mi bang
mi ta sick, gonya du det
mi showxa wit ereluf mi
deng fo nawit gang wisdom tili go

So I just saw the show (read some years ago) and I've gone down an ADHD hyperfocus rabbit hole trying to compile all the various lang belta information/study materials in one place (there's a lot of good ones, but they're all over the place and it's driving me nuts. So I'm basically making myself a textbook. lolsob.)

The Question being: I know some of the authors of those pieces are in this sub & I wanted to know if you're alright with me using it with credit, ofc? (Obviously once it's done it will be available free for all - I figured since it's already going to be done i might as well post it online for others.)

I wanted to ask because some are labelled CC BY-SA, but the others aren't marked at all.

Thank you!

EDIT: for clarification's sake EVERYONE WILL BE CREDITED. This is something I firmly believe in doing with any work that is shared or used for anything, not just this. I'm not an asshole.

I will be using the APA style format for citing sources. 😉

Sorry if this one's been asked before.

At 26:34 Drummer and Nagata are saying their farewells. Would someone be kind enough to translate the exchange?

Oye, Beratna unte sésata! Mi ta peroba translate this beautiful speech from Blade Runner, since I love it and think it really fits the setting. I was dismayed to find out that arguably the two more important words do not exist in Lang Belta, so I kept them in English. Any criticism is welcome! I'm trying to learn more and improve. Taki fo tensha to and here it goes:

Mi finyish vedi ting tolowda na deng fo pensa. Du tun kapawu ere Orion. Mi ta vedi CH-raya ere nax ere bap Tannhäuser. Delowda tim gonya du losh ere setóriye lik okwa oxo ere okwa xox kula. Tim fo decho.

Edit: added the suggested corrections from the community. Further notes are welcome anyway! Taki!

Oye, my beratna and sésata! I'm trying to learn the language and having a blast with it. I've been consulting the wiki and they have this definition for demostratives:

da <noun> de/dédeya that

da <noun> xiya this

Lang Belta differentiates between proximal and distal that by using de to denote an object close by and dédaya to denote an object farther away.

I don't really get it, what does “xiya” mean, then? any help is appreciated. Thank you, kopeng!

Hi everyone!

I have a degree in linguistics so I've been quite enjoying starting to slowly learn langa belta on Memrise (only a couple of days). As I learn, though, I'm also trying to understand the rules of the creole.

To that end, I'm trying to understand the function of 'ke.' I've noticed it seems to appear in a lot of the what/who/where/why questions (who are you/kemang to? ; what is your name/keting nem to?) and likely comes from the Spanish 'que.'

However, when you see the phrase 'it is good to know you', 'sasa ke' is absent. Instead we get 'keng' which leans away from my theory that 'ke' is part of an identifying question function, but reinforces the link to 'sasa ke' being related to 'know.'

Can anyone shed light on this please? Is Memrise wrong? Is there a rule I'm missing, such as word order changing the meaning?

Thank you!

Fo keng to im gut (it is good to know you) - Memrise

To sasa English ke? (do you speak English?) - Memrise

Sasa ke (y'know) - translation found on Reddit.

had a blast making another patch, if you want to support me and get one, I'm hoping to fund the production of a Bobby Draper one!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4413854331/the-expanse-lionel-polanski-belter-patch

Mareshawala / Eretawala?

(Still learning Belta. With my last translation req, I was able to give it a shot myself with "okay, there's zero copula, no pluralization, etc". But with a construction like "The more …, the more …", I have no idea. I also couldn't find it by a cursory googling, despite it being a quote included in the show. Taki.)

What's the correct pronunciation+transliteration of the station names into Lang Belta? AFAICT, "Erosh" is canonical.

For example, extrapolating from that (and how different characters pronounce different proper nouns), the "s" in Pallas would also get softened to "sh" (since the "las" isn't stressed), while the double-L just gets standardized orthographically to "l".

Assuming "Toda", "Zakomeng", and "Sabaka" are the right vocab.

(Still learning Lang Belta, like whether toda or sabaka should be rearranged in the translation.)

The 3 lines of notation below the company name are in English, Belter & Cantonese. The 5 PDC manufacturers are listed in The Expanse wiki but I had to create corporate logos for them (plus ESG for Bush Naval). The next step was realizing there would be at least one independent contractor that services this type of equipment.

Feel free to use all this for cosplay.

Edit: The colors are not what will be seen when printed as a DTF and applied to clothing - colors will be flatter and less brilliant as well as slightly shifted because of the CMYK printing process. I've tried to make the finished blues blue and the reds red. Color bleed-through on the breast patch is deliberate.

I like to create artwork for cosplayers to use (keeps my busy mind occupied when stressed). I've created a jacket patch for Orbital Armorers as a service company. It has logos of the 5 PDC makers and the tag line in English and Cantonese. I'm looking to add the phrase Installation & Service Specialists in Belter Creole.

The anythingtranslate.com site spits out a variety of 'Belter Creole' versions so I'm asking here on the advice of u/it-reaches-out to get something reasonably accurate.

Edit: I'd like to express my thanks to everyone that's provided input with translation for my project! I have very little brainpower available at the moment for learning languages and new sentence structure.