#i didn't phrase this very sensibly but i hope the point comes across!!!

[jenna-louise-jamie]

i think it's so interesting how different book!yassen and tv!yassen are.

first off how book!yassen sent alex to scorpia, it was a mistake because he wasn't thinking clearly. tv!yassen did it on purpose (to the best of my knowledge).

book!yassen did not want alex to kill. he tells him this twice, “killing is for grown ups.” and asking alex if he can really pull the trigger and shoot him, when alex breaks into the boat during eagle strike. going into great detail to dissuade alex from doing it, and all of me believes not just because yassen didn't want to die in this moment. this makes sense for book!yassen because he himself didn't want to kill. so he's trying to save alex from his own fate.

tv!show yassen doesn't seem to have any issues with killing. he doesn't particularly enjoy it, but it's his job and he does what he has to do so he can survive. so he's okay with encouraging alex to do it. by telling him he should view the people he's assigned to assassinate as nothing more than targets. tricking him into helping assassinate max. encouraging him to let go of his emotions. he wants alex to join him by his side.

ultimately while their methods are different, their end goals are the same. they both want to protect alex. book!yassen thinks he can achieve this by pushing alex away, and tv!show yassen thinks he can achieve this by pulling alex in closer. and both work because they're so compelling.

[izzyovercoffee]

Hello there, I feel you're the best person to ask about this. If someone was learning Mando'a, but didn't have any experience in learning languages, what should they learn first? I'm aware Mando'a is missing a lot of basic words, so would that be an issue?

aww thank you, that’s very sweet of you to say !! 

actually, before I get into it since I don’t want to take all credit, I just want to recommend also speaking w/ @jacensolodjo as we’re both fairly conversational in mando’a. @cassiansfuzzyjacket regularly releases mando’a vocabulary once a week in addition to general mando posts. @thesummerstorms also works on developing mando’a and missing words with the above and myself. There’s also general mandalorian reconstructionists around tumblr (@suspendnodisbelief being one of the people who posted really interesting development wrt mando’a and mandalorians in the past, and I think still does? EDIT:: also @reconfemmandoforares ). I am definitely missing people, but these are the ones I’m most/easily familiar with so we can start there. I’ll make a post eventually.

I also peruse the mando’a and mandalorian tags/searches often.

Also generally I would be careful w/ mandalorian reconstructionists bc a few in the larger community perpetuate toxic beliefs (toxic masculinity being one of the most common along w/ sexism, but also ableism, racism, and specifically catholic interpretation of mandalorians) that don’t actually … exist. That’s a discussion for another day, but the general conlang mando’a resources are worth checking out if you can find them, keeping the aforementioned in mind.

There’s also the MandoMercs forums, and I would caution exactly the same as the above when entering the community.

Okay. So. That said, I won’t beat around the bush here: learning mando’a can be difficult because, like you said, the language is missing quite a few basic words. Learning mando’a will, at least in the beginning, require maybe having easy access to a mando’a dictionary and creative use of words.

Things you might need to remember:

The rules for mando’a are more like … guidelines … and sometimes to get the point across you need to play fast and loose with grammar. 

If you get too creative w/ word construction, some people are not gonna be able to follow you/your meaning. 

This isn’t necessarily a reflection on you, however, but a downside to limited vocabulary.

Drop words that aren’t absolutely necessary (cuyir, “to be / is / are,” is a big one, te, haar “the” is another, etc) 

mando’a does not recognize/utilize gender markers.

For me, personally … learning / being able to speak some french has been incredibly helpful for mando’a pronunciation and verb conjugation, but not so much on the combining words to make other words. German, on the other hand, is great for that. English is also guilty of doing this, but you know … lol.  

Sentence structure often reflects English, possibly because the origins of this conlang are meant for ease of translation with a majority English-speaking audience and the people involved did not have any familiarity with nor background in linguistics (which also may explain the missing basic words). 

Generally, in learning new languages, we tend to remember words that are most relevant to us / used often. But the process of learning language is kind of difficult, especially if you haven’t before — because there are different ways to learn new languages, and what works for one person might not work for another. ie. some people retain language better with writing down phrases and vocabulary repeatedly or writing/reading in the language, while some others learn better via auditory lessons and verbal recitation / jumping straight to practicing with others.

Admittedly, I am (slowly) trying to compile basic necessary words that are missing in mando’a and filling that gap, but that project is a long, long way from completion (I mean, look how long it took for us to settle on the word for boat lmao). And, bc of the nature of language in general there may always be multiple words meaning the same exact thing, and multiple ways to say the same thing.

What I mean is that there is no “right” way to speak mando’a, so long as your meaning gets across clearly, concisely, and sensibly. At its very core, mando’a is a language meant to be easy to speak and easy to understand. Try not to get bogged down in excess, and any time you can shorten and simplify a sentence do it. You can outright drop entire words, so long as context can be derived.

That aside, also remember most importantly: have fun with it.

I know, I know “that’s so corny” but l i s t e n. Mando’a is meant to be a constantly changing, evolving language. Enjoying messing around with the conlang, coming up with new words/phrases or breaking down existing ones to see the how/why, is some of the best ways to familiarize yourself with the language. And tbh don’t be afraid to message me if you want to practice, and feel free to engage with my posts. I’m always welcome to talk about mando’a and mandalorians in general, and I’m working on being more … uh, time efficient with responding now.

anyway … that was a lot longer than I intended. I hope this helps, and I hope I answered your questions. If not please let me know !! and I’ll see if I can be more clear about everything.