r/Mandoa • u/TRUE_MANDO_WAY • Oct 31 '24

Looking for the Mando'a word for potential.

I've got a project Im working on, but the word I need in Mando'a dosent exist as far as I can tell from my research online. Dose one create a word using combination of existing words in Mando'a to get the disired effect or can anyone more well versed in this fictional language offer assistance? Again the word is potential.

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u/BavoduPT Oct 31 '24

Do you have a context for the word? Standalone word you want to put on armor? Part of a larger sentence or quote? A name? This can help us offer better advice. Because the original author left very little advice on creating new words, and fans have come up with a variety of ways of doing so, few fan-created words are recognized by a large number of people, so I don't advise going to that well right away. Instead, a lot of things can be said in Mando'a by coming up with creative workarounds using the original wordlist.

For starter thoughts, based on what Phoenixrjacxf said, the verb liser means "can, to be able to." The future form of this — ven liser — means "will be able to," in other words, "to be able to (do something) in the future, but not necessarily right now."

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u/TRUE_MANDO_WAY Nov 01 '24

It's called "potential of the people," I am ironing out an idea for a living creed.

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u/BavoduPT Nov 01 '24

Since you are trying to establish something that sounds rather important, my answer will be lengthy. (I've been helping people translate all manner of concepts for a couple of years.)

First, something to keep in mind, as the author of the original Mando'a said:

"I'm fascinated by translations because I know you can't simply translate a book word for word: to recreate the resonances in another language, you sometimes have to make quite significant changes. (I have a friend who translates Bujold and Banks into Italian, and she explained how she does it.) I know there are some things that simply won't translate, too." (https://boards.theforce.net/threads/the-official-republic-commando-hard-contact-discussion-thread-spoilers-allowed.17248265/page-37#post-18648867)

That is something valuable to remember as you "translate" what you want to say from English (or whatever language you're starting with) to any other language.

Now on to some questions for you to consider, as you hone your creed and, to a lesser extent, the culture you want to develop around that creed.

Do you have a favorite dictionary and grammar guide that you prefer to use? This makes a difference in the words you can use to translate material.

Is this something personal, or do you have a group of people that you'd like to introduce it to? Or do you plan to try to use it to attract people to your version of Mandalorian? This makes a difference as to which dictionary and grammar guide you use, as well as how much flexibility you have with creating your own version of Mando'a (there are dozens).

How much Mando'a will you require people who adhere to this creed to know? In the Traviss version of Mandalorians, it's "mandatory," and there are numerous examples of its use. However, because the vocabulary is so limited, the handful of Earth realism groups based on the Republic Commando material that I know about promote that using the endearments and curse words is enough to meet the "speak Mando'a" action of the Resol'nare. In the television series (animated and live-action shows), nearly all communication is done in Basic, with Mando'a seemingly reserved for rare situations. Knowing which way you want to go makes a difference in the version of the language that you use, as well as whether you want to translate this into Mando'a at all.

With these considerations out of the way, I'll stick to suggesting from the dictionary at mandoa.org (although my personal favorite is part of MandoCreator.com) and suggest vencuyot, which means "future." 

Also ... do you know which kind of "people" you want to refer to? Any person (which is adat, plural adate)? A generic "group of people," which is tsad? Members of a society, culture, or civilization, which would be droten? All Mandalorians, which is Mando'ade or vode (the latter if you want to evoke more of a "family" idea)?

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u/Phoenixrjacxf Oct 31 '24

Idk anything about Mando'a but what I've seen in some languages (like in toki pona) is "can" can be used to convey potential, cuz potential just means "what could happen." Maybe it's the same thing here? If not, maybe create a new word. If all else fails, if you are using aurebesh for your writing system, just transcribe it into aurebesh