Teach yourself Dothraki with the Game of Thrones language course

David J Peterson, the linguist who created the language for the HBO fantasy series from a few of the phrases in George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books, has teamed up with Living Language to design a course for anyone else who wants to master the language (there are already 150 self-identified Dothraki speakers on the “Tongues of Ice and Fire” Wiki, apparently).

The course will include more than 500 words and phrases and “never-before-heard material and words coined exclusively for the Living Language Dothraki course” and is billed as being just like learning a language in the classroom where the curriculum includes vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and cultural notes.

Just to be safe, the lessons will also include the derogatory terms you shouldn’t use: “Whatever you do, never call a Dothraki warrior an ifak (walker): the ultimate insult since it implies he can no longer ride his horse.”

The course will be narrated by Peterson himself and is available in three packages: a book and CD, an expanded online course and a companion mobile app. If you can’t wait until the autumn to place your order, you can pre-order now and also download a sample lesson on adjectives. Maybe it’ll be davra for the next episode.

To quickly satisfy your nerdy needs, here's a crash course from the sample lesson:

Adjectives:

davra - useful/good

dik - fast

fish - cold

haj - strong

naqis - small

zheana - beautiful

zhokwa - big

Here are a few sentences with the adjectives working with nouns:

Arakh davrae.
The arakh is good.

Arakh davra vos oflecha.
A good arakh will not be dull.

Hrazef dik adavrae.
The fast horse will be good.

Khaleesi zheanae.
The queen is beautiful.