Tag Archives: attempted pronunciation

Carpe Diem – Chapter 11

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Vandar
Springbreeze Farm

In which Zhena Trelu has guests for dinner.

This seems like a good time to mention again that I do appreciate the emotional and character aspects of the Liaden stories, and in fact they’re a big part of why these are some of my favourite things to read, but I’m not very good at appreciating them verbally. So instead you get observations like these:

In the local calendar, the year is somewhat after 1475, which indicates that local civilization’s been going for a while. Whether it’s actually been going longer than the Standard Calendar, which is only up to Year 1392, depends on how long the years are.

The technique of illuminating a word’s pronunciation by describing the efforts of someone unfamiliar with it gets an extensive workout in this chapter, both for words new to our protagonists, like “Borril”, and words long familiar, like “Korval”. It’s largely thanks to this chapter that I got a strong grip on the correct pronunciation of “Korval” — but I’ve just realised on this re-reading that I’ve been mispronouncing “Borril” for years.

Agent of Change – Chapter 20

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In which Agent of Change Val Con yos’Phelium meets his death.

Hmm. The glossary in the back of Pilot’s Choice is quite explicit that “Entranzia volecta” is High Liaden, with the Low equivalent being “Tra’sia volecta”. Then again, Miri says she understood that bit, so maybe her complaint about Val Con springing Low Liaden on her applies only to the “cha’trez”, which is definitely Low Liaden. That just leaves the question of whether it’s likely that Val Con would mix High and Low Liaden in a single three-word sentence.

On a less confusing note of drawing-information-from-other-stories: Given what we know from the prequels about Liaden customs, the non-verbal components of Val Con’s leave-taking say a lot about his regard for Miri and his hopes for the future, though Miri herself is no more able to translate than she is able to translate the murmured comment that precedes them. (I wonder whether Val Con would have done the same if Miri did possess the knowledge to interpret, or if he only allows himself to make the declaration because it won’t be understood.)

Local Custom – Chapter 13

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In which Er Thom is generous in his gift-giving.

Daav is playing a dangerous hand, not telling Thodelm yos’Galan about Shan even when she asks straight out if there’s anything else she should know about Anne. But I expect he’s taking his cue from Er Thom, and I can understand why Er Thom would prefer for that news to wait until he is able to deliver it in full and in person.

The mention of the Trade Commission on VanDyk is interesting, because its location suggests a Terran origin: VanDyk sounds more like a Terran name than a Liaden, and one would expect a Liaden trade commission to be situated on Liad itself rather than an Outworld. I wonder if it’s a descendent of the same organization Arin Gobelyn was a commissioner of? If so, the fact that it is now trusted with the registry of Master Traders suggests that the efforts of Jethri and his friends to build stronger ties between Liaden traders and Terran traders met with some success.

We also get a passing mention of Korval’s old allies, Clan Erob, who are now situated on Lytaxin.

Balance of Trade – Chapter 33

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Day 166
Standard Year 1118

Elthoria

In which Norn ven’Deelin considers her options.

Master ven’Deelin is decisive in moving to assist her foster son, not that I expected anything different from her by this point.

I am not sure I have correctly untangled that very long sentence which comes third in this chapter. It sounds like it has a story behind it, whatever it means.