Posted on 05/17/2016 11:08:00 AM PDT by nickcarraway
David Peterson has so far created 4,000 Dothraki words
When the misogynistic, male Dothraki characters launch into curse-laden tirades on "Game of Thrones," viewers have a 35-year-old Southern California father and a University of California Berkeley graduate to thank for what they hear.
David J. Peterson invented Dothraki, the language spoken by the crass race of nomadic horse warriors first described in George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice," on which the HBO series is based. "It's a lot of fun," he said Tuesday, in his first, interactive Facetime Live interview. Especially coming up with the curse words, he said.
Peterson has been working for "Game of Thrones" since 2009. The language was used frequently in the show's first two seasons, and has resurfaced in season 6, which premiered in April. Peterson has created 4,000 Dothraki words — so many that he’s not even fluent in his own language.
Peterson never expected to be paid to create fake languages.
"I wanted to be an English teacher," the Garden Grove, Calif.-resident told NBC Bay Area this week. "My mother cued me into linguistics. I wasn’t really interested, but she nagged me to try."
He had studied and invented languages in near obscurity since 2000, when he was a sophomore at UC Berkeley.
"There are thousands of people who create languages for fun," he said. "It's a different art form. We were all were quite certain no one would be paid. It wasn’t an activity people looked on kindly."
His friend, Sai, also was flabbergasted that his pal made "conlanging" a career.
"David is the first fulltime professional conlanger ever," Sai said, referring to someone who invents language. When the two started out, pretty much every conlanger thought getting paid for the work was "so completely unrealistic."
That dream turned to a paying reality seven years ago, when the "Game of Thrones" creators called upon the Language Creation Society, which Peterson co-founded, to come up with a fully formed language for the show. There was a contest. Peterson won. And the "Dothraki" and "Valyrian" languages were born.
He now creates languages for a handful of shows. He's the "alien language and culture consultant" for the Syfy original series "Defiance" in 2011, and also for NBC's "Emerald City." And while he won’t say how much he gets paid, Peterson did say those are his only jobs, and there’s no need to wait tables on the side. He makes enough to support his wife, Erin, who is the executive director of the Long Beach Bar Association, and 5-month-old daughter, Meridian.
Before "Game of Thrones," the Long Beach native had quietly studied the finer arts of language from 1999 to 2003, earning a bachelor's in English and linguistics from Cal. He then attended UC San Diego from 2003 to 2006, where he earned a masters in linguistics. Peterson also speaks Spanish, French, German, Russian, Esperanto, Arabic and American Sign Language.
He's an author, too. Peterson's latest book, "The Art of Language Invention," (Penguin $17) takes readers on a journey of the languages he's created for television and film, including Dothraki, High Valyrian, Castithan, Irathient, Indojisnen, Sondiv and Shiväisith.
If you need the video CliffsNotes, Peterson has made some YouTube videos on "conlanging," or inventing languages.
And thanks to the shows, he has some unusual notoriety.
"Every time 'Game of Thrones' comes back on, the interviews start again," Peterson said.
Learn These Dothraki Words
Addrivat (v.) to kill
Gort (adj.) muscular, stout
Hake (n.) name
Jahak (n.) braid
Karlinat (v.) to gallop (said of a horse)
Lajak (n.) warrior
Mawan (n.) quiver
Nhizo (n.) raven
Qoy (n.) blood
Vezh (n.) stallion
Zhokwa (adj.) great, large
Can You Speak Like Daenerys?
(Quiz at site)
Just when I was starting to get fluent in conversational Klingon.
The languages are cool but good delivery is essential.
Emilia Clarke’s speeches at the sacking of Astapor and the siege of Meereen (both in Valyrian, I believe) are really great performances.
Another great performance in Sunday’s episode. And she didn’t have to say a word.
Nerds are in an uproar because she is not supposed to actually be fireproof, her coming off the funeral pyre with hatched dragons in season 1 was a one-off miracle per the books.
Those crazy Dothraki have a different word for everything
I want to know how the Dothraki got those dirt floors to be so flammable. That fire shot across the floor faster than any spilled oil could burn. They must polish those thick wooden walls with gasoline too.
Yeah SOIAF nerds are upset but the rest of the viewing public thought it was freaking awesome :-)
How do you know the first wasn’t added later as a special effect?
Bet he gets laid a lot./s
Maybe, but the show has strayed pretty far from the books. Remember the book series is called “A Song of Ice and Fire”.
Martin has claimed there are two additional books, one he is in the process of writing and one after. He is also a consultant on the show. Maybe Daenerys has the ability to resist fire. This would counter the Ice King. Remember the only thing that kills white walkers is dragon glass and Valryana steel. Just so happens she is Valeyan and is the mother of dragons.
Do mothers of dragons get maternity leave?
Obviously, the Dothraki are metaphorical representations of muzzies, meaning that "Game of Thrones" is Islamophobic. /sarc Thanks nickcarraway.
I had assumed some flammable substance had been spread beforehand, perhaps by the young dosh khaleen she befriended.
ahhhhh haah.... good thinking
Holy sh!t! You mean to tell me movies/TVs, based off print material, isn’t 1:1 to the source?! /s
She can come outta ANY fire...directly to, I mean AT, me /2x-s
Said nerds should be painfully aware that the series on HBO has gone way off from the books as early as Season 5...or more.
Depends. Since she didnt actually lay the dragon eggs she might not be able to. However, if she identifies as a dragon and she legally adopts the dragons, then she would legally be the dragons’ mother.
Actually, some of the Targaryens had a flame-proof thing going.
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