Tantorin has (of course) its own language: Tantorin. On this page you will find a short introduction
into the Tantorin language: some useful words, and the pronounciation rules.
A more extensive grammar can be found on the grammar page, a more
extensive list of words is included in the offline translator (English-Tantorin and Tantorin-English) on the
goodies page. The Babel
text (Gen 11, 1-9) is also available now in Tantorin.
Lesson 1
OK, let's get started with the basics. First, it is useful to be able to say "no" when someone wants something
from you. So:
No = Pai
Yes = Eta Although It is very popular today to say 'ta instead of eta.
When somebody talks to you very rapidly, it is good to know how to make him/her clear you
don't understand him/her:
I don't understand you = Pai nosiritir if
I don't know = Asiritir pai im
As you can see, the place of Pai differs. This difference is very subtle: it is placed
before the word it belongs most to. It's better to use it on the right spot, otherwise you
might insult someone.
Only saying Yes and No is not very polite. Here are useful words and sentences
for all kind of situations:
Hello = Aram (one person), Arame (more persons)
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, (lit. good time)= Perautil
Good night = Perfalvem
Goodbye = Perotir (Perotire is very formal and not done)
Thank you = Ielitirif (pronounced as (I-)'yelitirif. Don't say Ilitir if, this means: I am you!
Sorry = Irtunif
Excuse me, ...? = Excuse me to ask something is not used. Use Perautil
The next step is counting to ten:
Zero = Don
One = Ordo
Two = Dieu
Three = Quit
Four = Squeras
Five = Quando
Six = Xeras
Seven = Senan
Eight = Xeran
Nine = Nueno
Ten = Ordon
Pronounciation
Now you've learned enough words to survive for at least 10 minutes, but how should they be pronounced?
Well, here are the rules:
Most consonants are pronounced the same as in English. Only the c is pronounced as kj.
The g is always pronounced as the g in get, and never as germ and z is a ts. The vowels
are pronounced somewhat different: the a should be pronounced as the u in tunnel, the
i as the ea in tea, the o always as the o in come, and the u is pronounced as oo
(as in look). The e as mostly pronounce as a (like in insane), but the plural -e
should sound like the (first) e in terrible. Finally there is a combination that needs some praciticing:
try to pronounce tl, pl, kl, fl and sl as tjl, pjl, etc.
This is very diffucult (especially for native english speakers, I guess), so if you're having a lot
of problems with this, you can try tshl, pshl, etc. (this might be a little easier).
Lesson 2
Lesson 2 does not exist. Check the grammar page instead, or the translator
on the goodies page.
