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Monday, August 8, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
Talk Na’vi to me
Local
UBC professor studies the rise of the language invented for James Cameron’s 2009 blockbuster movie Avatar Na’vi could surpass Klingon in usage
China shines brightest
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TERRIS SCHNEIDER
VANCOUVER@METRONEWS.CA
Na’vi, the invented language spoken by the blue-skinned aliens in the Hollywood blockbuster Avatar, is poised to surpass Klingon in terms of popularity, says a B.C. professor. Christine Schreyer, an assistant professor of anthropology at UBC Okanagan, conducted a survey on the popularity of the Na’vi language around the world. “Due to the fact that Klingon has been around for decades, more attention has been provided to (it),” said Schreyer. “But Na’vi’s growth has been exponentially faster than Klingon. For instance, there are translations of the Na’vi — English dictionary into eight other languages.” The survey, which began June 14 and wrapped up at the end of July, looked at ages, genders and nationalities of those who speak the language around the globe. Schreyer received 120 responses in English and other languages such as Russian, Ukrainian, Ger-
TV pit stop Watch out for Save-On-Meats appearance on Food Network {page 4} In this film publicity image released by 20th Century Fox, the character Neytiri, voiced by Zoe Saldana, and the character Jake, voiced by Sam Worthington, are shown in a scene from Avatar.
man, French, Hungarian and even Na’vi itself. Paul Frommer, a retired Californian linguist who created Na’vi for Avatar, has emailed Schreyer with his support and requested to see the results.
He too wonders why the language has become so popular so quickly. “It’s been astonishing to me, the response that it’s gotten, really, worldwide,” said Frommer. The survey also indicates that
people who speak different root languages use Na’vi to communicate with each other. Avatar is the highest-grossing movie of all time, earning $2.8 billion at the box office. Two sequels are in the works.
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