Hey everyone! I'm really brand new to the Culture series but Marain really intrigued me so I've been going down a huge rabbit hole on this subreddit for the past couple of days now. I was hoping to access the dictionary, but unfortunately, I found that it gives me 404-error. Does anybody here have a method for accessing the dictionary - any version of the dictionary - that still works? Thanks!

Is there anything that's more or less official or a start here kind of FAQ? How is it visually represented? I've seen some alphabet, but my memory of it from the novels is some kind of nonary pattern. Thanks!

Hello Everyone,

I want to start by saying I am so grateful that I came across this community, and for the work so many of you have put into thinking through and realizing Marain as a language. I have taken about 30 minutes to skim over the forum and I have started to think through some of the lessons here, and ask for your help with a particular question.

The (Brief) QuestionHow would I express "Know Thyself" in Marain?

The BackgroundTwo narrative universes have helped me understand myself more than any others -- Iain M Banks' Culture Universe and the Wachowskis' Matrix Trilogy.

In the first film of The Matrix, the Oracle points a sign out to Neo. The sign hangs over her kitchen door and reads, "TEMET NOSCE." This phrase was also reportedly inscribed over the entrance to the temple of Apollo at Delphi, where the Oracle at Delphi (at least in lore) could be consulted.

Since first reading Consider Phloebas back in 2011, I have loved the Culture. And since reading The Player of Games I have often had a passing interest in both written Marain and in the Minds' glyphs. This interest has, again, always been passing; I have never tried to dig into Marain to understand it.

*The Question (More Fully)*I want to find a way to express the ancient adage "Know Thyself" (Greek romanized "gnothi seauton," Latin "temet nosce") in Marain.

My reading of this reddit's post has been very superficial, but I saw that possessives do not exist in Marain (which makes sense given Banks' post-scarcity vision). So I was thinking that the closest transliteration would require rephrasing to something like:

"Know the self you bring with you."

Does that track? And if it does, how would I write that in Marain?

If you can help, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

How would you write "Don't Fuck with The Culture" in Marain?

I couldn't find any information on an imperative case, so I came up with the following three options.

Option 1:
I used subject elision to imply the imperative. I realize Marain words can be written in any order, so this is me applying a rule of English that probably wouldn't work in Marain.

"Hech Hechkwemra Rabihnvah"

            Hech         Hechkwemra                        Rabihnvah

---- Hech Hech- (kwemra) Rabihnvah (You) Don't not- (respect-boundaries) The Culture S V m V O (You) Don't violate the boundaries of The Culture "(You) Don't fuck with The Culture"

I've applied the '-vah' suffix for the Accusative case.

I kinda like it... Rolls off the tongue nicely I think, especially with a strong accent in the second 'hech'.

Option 2:
The nominative suffix is -uh or -yuh, so if we just used the suffix as a proxy for the subject of the imperative it could also be:

"Yuh Hech Hechkwemra Rabinvah"

Option 3:
There's also the 4th person pronoun 'one', as in, "one must look out for one's self": 'ohng'.

So then we'd have:

"Ohng Hech Hechkwemra Rabinvah" 'One does not fuck with The Culture'

Since word order doesn't matter, I'd probably say, "Hech Ohng Hechkwemra Rabinvah" 'Don't One Fuck-with The Culture'

Note: There's also the verb 'Kchallat' - 'to Disrespect', which is used in 'Kchallat gevu' - 'Fuck You'. But I thought the boundary-resurrecting verb 'kwemra' was better given u/linuxmakhnovite321's explanation of the word for 'meatfucker'.

My sources were the defunct lessons of u/linuxmakhnovite321, and this quote from a thread on Lesson 14 (Basic Curses):

""Hech kwemra muhrerva dam uprayhe" is how one would say "to violate the boundaries of a humanoid's mind" in Marain. So, the word for "meatfucker" is "hechkwemrawi", literally meaning "not-to respect rules or boundaries-ing", less clumsily translated as "violator of personal boundaries" and understood to mean the taboo against reading minds involuntarily."

I wanna get this as a tattoo and was wondering if anyone could make that translation or even point me to how words are generated so I could do it myself

Update: Here is the dictionary that I'm thinking on using. "aktOwE CutSa lA" (copy machine logic) but that doesn't feel right, and I want to make sure this flows nicely.

The issue is that there is some logic to how words are made, I'm just not sure what it is. I want to make new word but I want to use whatever work has been done before to do it instead of making something that wouldn't "work" so to speak.

Thanks y'all

I'm contemplating getting a Marain tattoo of the word "Contact," but the Marain references I've found online have me slightly confused, and I want to make sure I'm writing it properly. My main concern is to make sure I'm using the correct glyph for both "c" letters.

Since the canonical script for Marain doesn't include "c", I'm assuming I should be using "k" rather than "ch", based on Scottish pronunciation. So, if I'm correct, the actual letters to use would be "kontakt", which translates to these glyphs: https://imgur.com/a/KqsjC0V

Is this correct?

Project moved to https://github.com/zakalwe2040/marain

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https://preview.redd.it/dcu5dsm79j971.png?width=866&format=png&auto=webp&s=28724e224ed5711bb9fcd009718de0623b197c0a

Feedback most welcome!

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https://preview.redd.it/idikzyoj4o871.png?width=2548&format=png&auto=webp&s=40ee2ab4c4e9628e295e0c8fef8bf58895414c82

It is well known that most humans trust forms of nonverbal communication over verbal communication, and in fact nonverbal communication accounts for up to 70% of all human communication globally. Tonal Marain has 22 glyphs to express body language. The use of emoting glyphs is encouraged, as these aid with conveying additional contextual information to the listener.

Full update on GitHub!

https://github.com/lyferise/marain#nonverbal-communication-body-language-and-emotional-intelligence

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https://preview.redd.it/kktmcxcr2d871.png?width=956&format=png&auto=webp&s=a06f5d2dd00cdf292194594ea9d8267fad58d522

More progress on the Marain reboot! We have now published glyphs for numerals. Interesting in helping? DM me for Alien stuff or see our GitHub project page for full details -> https://github.com/lyferise/marain

Numbers are the only real universal language. The decimal system on Earth has been propagated even more widely than the Phoenician alphabet and has now become the only real universal language on the planet. Every human on Earth who can read understands how to read the same decimal digits, regardless of their culture or origin.

Hindu-Arabic numerals are the set of ten symbols that represent numerals in the decimal number system. They originated in India in the 6th or 7th century and were introduced to Europe by Islamic mathematicians, especially the Persian polymath al-Khwarizmi, the founder of algebra, and hence the father of all modern mathematics, science and programming found on the planet today. At it's core, coding is just another form of algebra or calculus.

Decimal numbers in Marain are written from right to left using the digits shown above. The names of numerals from zero to nine in Tonal Marain are the same as in Mandarin Chinese. However, the subsequent numbering system does not follow Mandarin, only the digit names are used.

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https://preview.redd.it/a2h43om549871.png?width=1138&format=png&auto=webp&s=faa803a0de7e1ef81538ccc26b73879d3475de14

https://github.com/lyferise/marain

Full details on GitHub!

https://preview.redd.it/jzdu2azbz7871.png?width=1340&format=png&auto=webp&s=2266ac6d1db654d24e26521b0bebbffe34f685b5

https://github.com/Lyferise/marain

Tonal Marain abjad ready!

Picture: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Lyferise/marain/main/docs/abjad.svg

Full notes (see bottom of page): https://github.com/Lyferise/marain

Working on Tonal Marain - the real deal. Also alien here (not joking - but whatever - don't care what humans think).

GITHUB -> https://github.com/lyferise/marain

Anyone interested?

Hello, I am looking for words such as Tool, resource(s). And how do we say thank you? I'm going to start posting more in marain but I will ask your patience and encourage constructive critiscm.

Hey guys, I was curious and hoping to understand where the sub is at so far as 'fluency'. I myself am still learning basic basic basic words and wanted to know how many people have maxed out what can be learned here and could help teach the rest? I think a language such as this will require many of us working together to get it going and polished. Maybe we could have some kind of dialogue going where we have aback and forth and patiently correct and improve each other's writing and maybe come up with new ideas for where this language could go? Let me know what you think

View Poll

Does anybody know what happened to this person? They seem to have been the driving force and I've just gotten involved in the culture and marain and am trying to learn as much as I can, while I'm not finished the resources at my disposal I know I'll catch up soon and was hoping to make contact with the Originator.

Any ideas of romanization/Marian translation? I found future, and to become, but I can't find anything that looks like "to change/alter/revise/modify", or something non tangible like amenable (perhaps possible?). I think a close translation could be future possible to become?

I think that the idea behind the language is really cool and I wish we could breathe new life into it. What do you all think?

I'm leaving Reddit forever. If anyone here knows Python and is interested in maintaining the dictionary, feel free to fork the source code. I trust whoever else is willing to take up the project to make up new words when the dictionary reaches parity with the lessons.

Not a translator, just something that grabs the text and converts it letter by letter (or just a tiny bit more context sensitive) according to the official guide we were given.

I mucked around with smaller texts before, but now I would like some longer text ("I am Welcomed in the Home of Ravens and Other Scavengers in the Wake of Warriors. I am friend to Carrion Crows and Wolves. I am Carry Me and Kill with Me, and Die with Me Where the Road Ends. I am not the Honeyed Promise of Length of Life in Years to Come. I am the Iron Promise of Never Being a Slave."), and I was wondering if the process is already automated somewhere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quechuan_languages#Evidentiality

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It seems a language created by Minds to promote and foster a civilization as big as the Culture would use evidentiality morphemes to promote critical thought and preciseness of communication.

By using evidentials, the Quechua culture has certain assumptions about the information being relayed. Those who do not abide by the cultural customs should not be trusted. A passage from Weber (1986) summarizes them nicely below:

1. (Only) one’s experience is reliable.
2. Avoid unnecessary risk by assuming responsibility for information of which one is not absolutely certain.
3. Do not be gullible. There are many folktales in which the villain is foiled by his gullibility.
4. Assume responsibility only if it is safe to do so. Successful assumption of responsibility builds stature in the community.[49]

Evidentials also show that being precise and stating the source of one’s information is extremely important in the language and the culture. Failure to use them correctly can lead to diminished standing in the community. Speakers are aware of the evidentials and even use proverbs to teach children the importance of being precise and truthful. Precision and information source are of the utmost importance. They are a powerful and resourceful method of human communication.[50]

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u/ratioprosperous has agreed to release lessons 22 onwards. There are roughly two hundred more words to be released before the subreddit has the same number of words as the dictionary. With that in mind, I'd like to start a discussion about what words we should add to it after that point has been reached.

The pronoun "to" is gender-neutral; further, it does not even distinguish between human and non-human. Should we introduce ways to specify someone's gender? Should we have, for instance, an optional particle that goes before a pronoun to specify gender, living/nonliving, other classifications?

Marain is supposed to have very wide expressive capabilities. So what words for emotions should we have? How can we cover the full range of pan-human and non-human emotions?

How do we talk about romance in Marain? Presumably romance in the Culture does not work the same way that it does in our cultures. How do we translate such words as "spouse" and "significant other"?

What should the system of measurement be? Banks uses metric, but it'd be a statistical impossibility that the Culture would.

What genders does the Culture even have? Certainly different ones from ours. And how do we talk about them?