Since i have already taught languages before in real life (english, german, old norse) and wrote a quite appreciated introduction course into old norse i thought of doing a dovahzul language course for youtube.

It would be written text with music - if you have licence free music that you think would fit dovahzul (no lyrics or at least silent ones - or ones you can easily blend out while reading) let me know.

Lecture 0 would be the boring stuff about dovahzul - what it is, who made it, where it appears and roughly how many people speak it (do we have numbers?)

Why you should learn it, which skills it can improve - how practical it can be in real life - and other short explanations with some ingame information

And ofc ressources that may be helpfull like this website and the memrise courses

Lecture 1 would start out explaning the basic pronounciation, how to create plural of nouns as grammar and a few short example sentences - the vocabulary needed would be given in the lecture.

It may also contain some phrases as that is usually what people are interested in first.

The following lectures would each teach a few new words and use them in sentences, to create the feeling of "wow i can already do something with the language" and 1 new part of grammar like how to do simple past tense.

Overall the goal would be to give the learner the feeling that he improves with each lecture so it aint boring vocabulary grinding but really using the language to express oneself

what do you think about it? Any critic or suggestion? Questions? ^^

Sounds great.  i think the additional lectures should also include the writing and characters of dovahzul as well. Also yes, we have numbers in dovahzul up to a billion i believe

A billion? That sounds much - that would mean every 20th skyrim player learns dovahzul.

Yes the writing system will of course get its own lesson but i am unsure where to put it. I dont want to put it at the beginning cause that could be discouraging but rather introduce it like in the middle of the course and from then on use the dovahzul writing system in future lessons - a bit. More and more exposure until the last lesson is fully written in dragon script

Orkar Isber

--- and roughly how many people speak it (do we have numbers?)

The best number we have is Mirkrilaar's recent membership estimate of 2,500. Best of luck with this project.

I'd like to see a YouTube/video course. 
Also can you link your Old Norse video? I've been interesting in learning some of that.

So far it aint uploaded but i can link you a very decent beginner course on which i based my own (with the Autors permission) i changed quite some stuff but the exercises are basicly identical.

https://notendur.hi.is/haukurth/norse/

Looks great! Thanks.

I'm working on some music . I am not sure if I could call it royalty free, since I use the melody of The Elder Scrolls as base.
I am still testing things, but if you like it, you can use it, if you credit me ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uifc6dywtnE&feature=youtu.be

Also, I think that a good video course is a good idea :)

Great idea.  Usable language is valuable language.  I tried doing that a little bit with another memrise course (called Dovahzul image-based course), which is based on the connection between images and whole sentences.  Feel free to repurpose those if they would work into what you're doing.  I already modified the images to include the necessary documentation from a wiki site.

Felniir Ahvus

Great idea.  Usable language is valuable language.  I tried doing that a little bit with another memrise course (called Dovahzul image-based course), which is based on the connection between images and whole sentences.  Feel free to repurpose those if they would work into what you're doing.  I already modified the images to include the necessary documentation from a wiki site.

Do you have a link? It definitely goes into the dovahzul tools section ^^

Here is my first lesson - please contribute ^^Like links you think are important or pieces of art that may help and ofc general input, its not yet finished id like to add some stuff.

Also facts on dovahzul maybe you can help there like who exactly worked on it, when did they start, what they had in mind etc. I think to know some of this but i aint sure ^^

Unit 0

0.0: Why Dovahzul?

A question that you likely already answered for yourself. But it is not all about enhancing your Skyrim experience a thousandfold when you understand what various characters say, what dragon shouts mean and can read word walls.

Learning any language improves a lot of your mental capabilities in special if it is your first time. You will gain a better understanding of language in general and improve in your native language and have a much easier time when you learn a third or even more languages, this is why experts advice to learn an easy Conlang first, and then go for the much more complex and confusing real languages.

Dovahzul is great because it offers a very simple and easy to learn grammar and a very complex mindset or better said, its easy to learn and hard to master, making it a great language for beginners, while the mindset will improve your way of thinking and understanding.

The most important point however, may be, that Dovahzul is a barely known language and thus its perfect to keep your secrets secret. It can be used to code messages, write an unreadable diary or communicate with friends in the open without anyone understanding what you are talking about. In times where data becomes more and more important, having a way to keep your data secret can be a powerfull tool – or if you just like to have private communication without any secret agency reading along.

Language learning in general:

is perceived the wrong way by people who are not too familiar with it. There is no black and white in language aquisition, no point at where you are fluent, no goal. It is a process, a journey and you will improve with each step you take. You wont become fluent after having done this or that, it is a gradual growth that needs time and effort. So dont expect to be fluent in a certain set of time, dont even define what fluent should be as experts have about 7 grades of fludicity where 4 is an average native speaker, 6 is a schooled speaker with special vocabulary and rethorical experience and knowledge and 7 is – perfect without doing any mistakes ever. Sadly most people expect to reach level 7 which is just inhuman and was never achieved by anyone. Even native speakers make mistakes in grammar or spelling and pronounciation actually varies a lot – australian sounds very different from british yet its the same language – different pronounciation is a dialect, not a mistake.

For dovahzul that means, there is no real official pronounciation as the words are pronounced differently by different voice actors, and since dovahzul has no native speakers we can only guess what it should be like.

Prepare to make errors and to learn from them, then you may reach a high level of mastery but dont expect to be perfect, no one is, no one will be.

After this course you will have a certain level, but there is a loooot to improve. It is a journey on a road that you can enter and leave as you like and benefit from each invested minute. Have fun.

Learning Conlangs:

Not to be underestimated are the differences to living languages. It can be a huge psychological barrier, as its likely that you will never meet someone who speaks the Conlang you learn, there is no country where it is spoken and the media avalaiable is very limited.

Similiar to dead languages, conlangs lack that huge pool of practise to dive in. Yes in case of Dovahzul there are a few very limited songs, there is some text, there is an active community with amazing projects and to speak with, but the avalaiable stuff is just very limited. You cant watch movies in Dovahzul or even Dovahzul subtitles, there is no radio broadcast, no books, no chattering on the street and that is a real problem as these would make language aquisition so much easier.

So you are stuck with these limited options and your will to learn a great language, keep that in mind and who knows what will be published in the future or what YOU can contribute to the community. There are people out there writing stories in dovahzul or translating songtexts and even sing them, maybe you can contribute too and be a part of the guys who started it or contribute with your language knowledge to create new needed words and be an active part in the creation of the language. There is a lot to do and dont forget, Dovahzul is timeless, be a part of its history.

Tools:

Yay thats what we need. The most important site is this:

https://www.thuum.org/

Here you will find quick lessons, a translator, a transcriber, dictionaries for multiple languages, games, memrise courses and most importantly an active community to get into contact to help you learning the language and maybe contributing yourself.

Also you will be noticed about updates on the language, activies, projects and the like.

Youtube!

Yes the skyrim theme is overused i totally agree. But search for Sovngarde or Malukahs Dovahzul songs and ofc. Ingame speeches that were recoreded. Listening to a language in use is a very important tool for language learning so use them until your ears bleed.