Sci-fi fandoms often come with their own languages, whether written or spoken. Trekkies have Klingon. Star Wars fans used to have only the written language of Aurebesh. Now, we have Mando'a.

I never got a chance to read many Clone Wars-era EU novels, (as a teenager, I have limited finances, and my local library is poorly stocked) so I never knew of Mando'a until I read Karen Traviss' fiction Omega Squad: Targets in Insider #81. Even then it was limited, and I had no idea that there was more. Then, I encountered Karen's blog. Cool, I thought. Maybe I'll learn it someday. Then, I put it aside to learn to decipher Aurebesh.

Then, about a week ago, after reading Odds in Insider #87, I got a brainstorm for an awesome piece of fanfiction (if I do say so myself ). I decided that since it involved clone troopers, I would finally get around to learning Mando'a so that I could sound "smart" by scattering a few phrases of it around in the fanfic. So, I would find the dictionary I'd heard about and go to work. Simple.

Or not.

I mean, come on. I knew Karen Traviss was brilliant, I just didn't know how brilliant. The closest I ever came to making up an entire language was turning words backwards with my brothers so my parents couldn't understand what we were saying. I mean, that's got to be hard! To come up with an entire language is something that even I, as a future writer, could never dream of doing.

Not to be redundant, but Karen Traviss is brilliant.

Now, I am determined to learn Mando'a, even if it takes me years of carrying the Mando'a dictionary with me and speaking Mando'a to my friends. I butcher the pronunciation horribly, but in a week I've learned the words jetii, jetiise, Mando'ade, vod, and aruetiise. Whoopee.

I will learn, no matter how long it takes. (And this from a girl who cringes at the thought of having to learn a foreign language; hey, it's Star Wars!)

By the way, did I say that Karen Traviss is brilliant?

Re'turcye mhi,
-- i12bajedi