(Iām sorry guys I promise Iām still aroundš)
This month has gone by like so:
-burned out emotionally
-crashed out, hardcore
-wrote a TON of poetry that had nothing to do with my fic
-got asked out on a date by a guy I didnāt like, crashed out
-felt really guilty about not writing my fic
-realized my friend and I are actually kinda more than friends, crashed out
-pulled myself back together cause it really aināt that deep
All that to say, I am now back writing the fic! Whoop whoop!!! Iāve fully finished chapter 14, started chapter 15, and because Iām facing a smidge of burnout with the current story arc Iām on Iāve been working on rewriting some chapters in the meantime. I finished rewriting chapter 2, Iām now working on chapter 3.
Rewriting has actually turned out to be really great for my story, since now I have a much better idea of who Ademia is, and what tone and messages I want to bring out with this fic. Really leaning into the Andor-type vibe, and Iām really excited about it.
Iām sorry Iāve been slacking a bit š but now Iāve rediscovered my love for writing this fic. Weāre gonna get there, itās gonna be written. Thank you for sticking around and following along still. I really appreciate all of you who are here!!!
Be prepared for really terrible stats this week Iām sorry š
Days since started book: 62??
Words written this week: about 4,000
Current chapter: almost done with 14, rewrote chapter 1 and half of 2
I have been scheduled 12 hour shifts lately so there hasnāt been a lot of time to write, and when I did have time to write I just felt super burnt out š£
I did do a lot of refinement to the plot to improve pacing for character arcs. I brainstormed a lot during work.
The rest of this week my friends are in town, I might be able to get some writing done, but itās not going to be much.
Next week should be much better though! Iām falling a little behind my preferred schedule, but the first two chapters will still drop on November 15th. If I havenāt finished the whole fic by then (like Iām hoping to) Iāll stick to posting 1 chapter a week instead of 2 until Iāve finished it fully, then Iāll do 2 chapters a week :)š¤
Thank you for your support as always!! Unfortunately life stuff takes priority, but Iām still so excited to share my story with you in November, and Iām planning on going back to writing 2 chapters a week next week
Knowing how to pronounce an almost entirely-written language is Tough, especially when the language isnāt phonetic. A phonetic language is when each letter in the alphabet corresponds to only one sound. Korean is a phonetic language. English is not. Mandoāa isn't either, although itās much more phonetic than English. In this post, weāre going to cover the individual sounds (called phonemes), certain letter combos, how to say vowel combos (called diphthongs), āmissingā phonemes, and information about accents and variations.
For the sake of readability, some of the linguistic information here is simplified. If you're interested in a more in-depth analysis of Mando'a from a linguistic perspective, let us know!
Phonemes
There are 26 total individual sounds, or phonemes, in Mandoāa. 19 of them are consonants and 7 of them are vowels. Compare this to Received Pronunciation English, which has 32 phonemes, 24 consonants and 8 vowels. Below are charts for Mandoāa consonants and vowels. Each row has the IPA letter (what you find in dictionary pronunciation guides), the Romanization (English letter), English example words, and Mandoāa example words.
*Karen Traviss, the primary developer of Mando'a, wrote on her 2012 website that the letters F, Q, X, and Z did not exist in the original Mandalorian alphabet and exist in the modern alphabet as imports. Despite this, F and Z still appear as phonemes in certain letter combinations and words. KT also states that the Mandalorian letter Beten has multiple pronunciation options. The one listed above is called a glottal stop. See the Accents/Variations section for more options on how to handle these cases.
* Arpat is the only explicitly confirmed example of /Ʀ/ in Mandoāa. KT made no distinction between /a/ and /Ʀ/ in her phonetic spellings so all other examples are theoretical.
Letter Combos
As noted in the charts above, most of Mandoāa is fairly phonetic with a few letter-combo exceptions. These exceptions are VH, C, CH, CY, YC, and SH. Sometimes you will see double letters, like in the words darasuum, adenn, and aliit. These double letters typically signify word meaning or etymology, but do not have unique pronunciations. For the purpose of pronunciation, treat double letters as a single letters.
VH is sometimes transliterated as an āfā sound and sometimes as a āvā sound with no rule for consistency. See Accents/Variations for options.
C can be pronounced as a hard ākā sound, a soft āsā sound, the āchā sound, the āshā sound, or as an āeeshā sound. You determine which version to use by its partner letters:
If C is partnered with H as in CH, it is always pronounced as the āchā sound, regardless of vowel partner.
If the vowel partner is Y and after C (eg CY) then it is pronounced as āshā.
If the vowel partner is Y and before C (eg YC) then it is pronounced āeeshā.
If the vowel partner is not Y, but is a āclosedā vowel (the āiā and āeā vowels) then C is pronounced as a āsā sound.
If the vowel partner is not a Y, but is an āopenā vowel (the āaā, āoā, āuā vowels) it is pronounced with the ākā sound.
If there is no vowel or consonant partner, such as when C is at the end of the word, it is pronounced with the ākā sound.
SH is always pronounced as the āshā sound rather than as an āsā + āhā sound.
Diphthongs
Diphthongs are when you combine two āplainā vowel sounds into one syllable. The diphthongs for Mandoāa are AI, AY, AU, E, EY, OY, and OI.
Most of these are self-explanatory for pronunciation except for E. In most cases, E is pronounced as a plain vowel, like in the English word ābetā. However, when you have the combo EY or E is at the end of the word, then it is pronounced as a diphthong. E is often at the end of words because itās the plural suffix for Mandoāa, so remember to pronounce it as a ālong Aā vowel in those cases.
Whatās tricky in Mandoāa is that sometimes the letter combos signify two different syllables and sometimes the letter combos signify a diphthong and thereās no clear rule about which happens when. For example, according to KTās dictionary yaim is pronounced as a diphthong with one syllable while yaimpar is pronounced as three plain vowels with three syllables: āyah-eem-pahrā. Thereās no obvious written distinction.
"Missing" Phonemes
Mandoāa has 26 phonemes and Received Pronunciation English has 32. What happens to those 6 phonemes from English? What about sounds that arenāt in English or Mandoāa? Phonemes with close relatives, like S and Z are typically interpreted as the phoneme that exists in the language. Mandoāa has S, but (theoretically) not Z, so using a Z sound will likely be heard as a funky S. Phonemes with no close relatives, like the TH sounds in English, might be interpreted as one of their distant relatives or simply not understood at all.
Accents/Variations
All the above is a way of pronouncing Mandoāa, not the way. Variations on āstandardā pronunciation exist both in canon and in real life. Throughout this section, weāve referred to the number of phonemes in Received Pronunciation English rather than just āEnglishā. This is because English has many dialects and each dialect has a unique set of consonants, vowels, and pronunciation rules. In every day speech, we call these variations in pronunciation accents.
As more and more people speak Mandoāa, more and more dialects and accents will develop. Vowels are the most common indicator of accents given that a near-infinite spectrum of possible pronunciations are condensed into only 10 phonemes, but there are even variations with consonants.
In the Star Wars Insider 86 Mandalorian Article, KT notes that for in-universe dialects, some regions pronounce P as F and S as Z. Sometimes, T and D are swapped, where T is the modern form and D is the archaic. V is sometimes interchangeable with W or B. J is usually pronounced with a hard ājā but some communities pronounce it as āyā.
The purpose of language is to communicate and convey ideas. As long as people understand what you mean, the precise pronunciation of a word isnāt as important. Below are common variations in pronunciation:
Beten can be pronounced as a pause, a short breath, a glottal stop, a schwa, or completely silent. Remember that a glottal stop is the dash in the English word āuh-ohā. A schwa is the ādefaultā vowel for a language. In American English itās āuhā like the āaā in āaboutā, while in Received Pronunciation Egnlish itās āerā and is at the end of āhereā. Beten is complex because itās not just a letter, but also a symbol for contraction and a symbol for conjunction. How you choose to pronounce Beten can be equally complex.
R has a lot of variation. Some prefer the American R, some prefer the British R, then thereās also the Gallic R (very throaty), and even the tap-R. Choose whichever you like most.
Nasals are the sounds āmā and ānā. The variation in these sounds is where you place your tongue when making the sound, as far up as the tip of your tongue on your teeth or as far back as the root of your tongue at the back of your mouth.
T and D can be similar be pronounced in different places. Pronouncing them on your teeth or above your teeth wonāt change the sound itself very much, but itāll change how easy it is to switch to other sounds and can change the overall speed of your speech.
VH also has variations. Sometimes itās simplified to either a āvā or āfā sound, but thereās also the option to pronounce it as āvā = āhā, which would sound like a regular āvā with a puff of air afterwards.
Z is not technically a letter in Mandoāa, but itās used in KTās original pronunciation guide for several words, such as besābev being āBEZ-bevā and tsad sometimes being āZADā. You could interpret this as natural variation for the S letter, which means āsā and āzā are equally valid ways of pronouncing besābev. You could also interpret this as a rule where the Sā and TS combos are consistently pronounced as āzā.
/Ʀ/ as in ācatā does not have many explicit examples in Mandoāa, even though we have the phonological rules to know when it should show up. However, some people choose to drop this vowel entirely and make all non-diphthong As as a plain āaā as in ācarā.
Double Letters do not typically affect pronunciation. However, some people prefer to treat double-letter combos as indicators to make the sound longer than usual.
Examples of Spoken Mando'a
Knights of the Old Republic has one NPC speak a Mando'a pidgin. This pidgin is not understood by the in-game Mando'a speakers. This game and by extension the pidgin were created before KT began development on what became official Mando'a.
Star Wars: Republic Commandos contains the first spoken Mando'a, and it's technically sung. Jesse Harlin created the conlang as "ancient Mandalorian" and passed the lyrics he made to KT for development into what would become official Mando'a. Songs with Mandoāa include: "Vode An", "Dha Werda Verda", "Graātua Cuun", and "Karāta Tor".
There are three audio blurbs by KT originally hosted on her website (see link below).
The Clone Wars (2008) contains brief examples of Concordian in episode 2-12 āThe Mandalore Plotā. Condordian is related to Mandoāa, though the degree and nature of that relationship is unclear.
Rebels episode 3-16 āThe Legacy of Mandaloreā contains a brief conversation in Mandoāa.
The Book of Boba Fett contains a Mandoāa song called āAliit oriāshya taldinā.
@gloriousinthebattle Ahh!! I love this, this is so cool. Iāve always wanted to learn more about Mandoāa. This is perfect actually because my OC focused a good portion of her Jedi studies in languages, so I will definitely be using this as a reference.
Everything Ademia OruāKahn knows is falling apart as the galaxy burns with civil war. Padawan to Plo Koon, and Commander of the 104th, Ademia has to learn to balance the life of a soldier with the life of a Jediātwo worlds that are quickly growing more at odds.
Her unexpected attachment to Commander Wolffe, the constant cycle of death on the battlefield, and the betrayal of those she trusts most, threaten to shatter everything she thought was true.
With the cost of war looming over the horizon, Ademiaās future hangs in the balance. Sacrifice it all for attachments that are forbidden, or become the Jedi sheās always wanted to be?
(Traitors of the Republic: coming to AO3 and wattpad November 15th)
(I will say some of this might seem extreme for some, but Iām the type of fanfiction writer who writes and edits the entire story before posting it, but there is nothing wrong with doing the oppositeš¤)
-I tend to do surface level edits while I write, I know a lot of ppl say not to do this but it helps my motivation
-I go back and rewrite chapters as my writing style and understanding of the story improves. Iām writing chapter 14 currently but today I went back and rewrote the entirety of chapter one
-When I rewrite my chapters I donāt edit them in my first draft document, I open a second document and keep it side by side with the first, then I rewrite my chapters into the second doc
-Once Iām happy with the rewrite, I copy and paste my polished chapter into another separate document where my friends are beta reading chapters for me. Then I make detailed polishing edits based off their feedback
-Once my chapters have gone through the beta readers, I copy and paste them into a fourth document as my final draft. They will sit there until the time comes to publish them on AO3. I might proof read them and tweak a word or two but for the most part theyāre done.
The editing is a long process but I actually really enjoy seeing how my writing style has improved since Iāve started writing this story.
I really want to make sure my story is smooth and easy to follow for you guys š«¶š» Iām so excited to share Traitors of the Republic with you in November. Itās been a long labor of love for me, but I wouldnāt want to be doing anything else.
Very happy with a lot of my recent progress so far! Iāve written some solid chapters and Iāve even rewritten most of the first chapter this week too
I had some very long shifts at work this week (11 hours ahhh š) so I struggled to find time to write some days but Iāve written at least a paragraph everyday this week and itās been great for progress
Lately writing has become one of the highest priorities in my life. Not necessarily because of the source material, but because of the act of writing itself. It feels very natural to me, like itās something I should be doing, like breathing (if that makes sense lol). ļæ¼
While Iāve struggled a little to make up for lost time Iām going to keep working at it and write as much and as well as I can!
Reading Skyward by Brandon Sanderson has also been really great for making sure my first person POV writing is sounding as best as it can. Itās a phenomenal book too.
Hopefully going to wrap up chapter 14 tomorrow!! š¤thank you so much everyone for following along!! Your support means more than you know š„¹
The thing about writing Iāve realized is the more I write the better I get at writing, so now after over a month of writing everyday Iām now noticing the first few chapters of my story are written so poorly theyāre driving me crazy and Iāll have to rewrite them š
What I notice in a lot of modern books I read (and DNF) is the lack of attention to small details.
Before smartphones and social media, authors were more attentive. Thatās why their worlds and characters felt real, because they were watching the real world around them.
Authorsāput your phone down. Sit still. Watch.
Watch the shadow of a bird sweep across a building as it flies past. The way a beam of light bends into perfect circles on the glass. The dried splatter of a drink on the floor.
And then write. Because the world is already writing poetry, you just have to listen.
A little over a month ago I realized I wanted to try writing again. Iāve been constantly writing my whole life but I got too busy for it.
I missed it a lot, and this summer I realized I wanted to start writing again, except this time I would fully commit to writing a full book.
Before writing something to publish, I wanted to plot, write, and edit a practice novel to improve my writing abilities. But I didnāt want to write an original work just to never post it.
I decided to pick up an old fic Iād been working on a few years ago. I posted 2 chapters on wattpad and then abandoned it. I completely reworked it, plotted it in full, mapped my character arcs, changed the tone and themes, and researched a TON.
Now the Star Wars fic Iām working on has become the work Iām most proud of. I canāt wait to share it with everyone once itās fully written.
Traitors of the Republic- a character driven Clone Wars fanfiction grounded in the reality of war and how it changes who you are.
Coming to an AO3 and Wattpad near you, November 15th
