Sounds fun and interesting

Are words still going to be add to the new dictionary or are you going to keep it canon only?

Redtail

Are words still going to be add to the new dictionary or are you going to keep it canon only?

At least initially, it will be canon-only. We've had discussions about what word-making efforts might look like in the future, and if it happens we think it will involve a small, expert group. There'll be plenty of work to do with the canon dictionary alone, so that's what I will be focused on.

I support this motion.

Foduiiz

I support this motion.

Same.

I am rather disappointed. By adding new words, we were helping bring a language to life. After all, true living languages do change and evolve over time, just as civilization has.

I for one will continue using the expanded dictionary. I feel that this move is going to send Dovahzul to death's door.

Happy birthday Thu'um!

@paarthurnax ok, good luck!

@TheFemaleCharlie I think that was the point of add it to a archive, so people can use the expanded language. It could become its own dialect of Thu'um, which could be interesting. I agree the community aspect is very important to a language and  allowing it to change with its speakers, I am just not sure how to feel about this change. 

@TheFemaleCharlie,

The argument of a language naturally evolving comes up commonly. The simple rebuttal is that, just like the dragons themselves, the Dragon Language doesn't evolve, rather exist perpetually - everlasting and unchanging. The expanding of the dictionary was less creating words moreso discovering them, since one cannot create what has always existed.

Moreover, the previous evolution or discovery has created words like "taco" that never had any right to exist in Tamriel, and the great majority of community contributions are English in disguise. Consider this a fix to both problems.

The practical reasons for the change are that the non-canon vocabulary severely lacks quality and consistency. A significant amount of time has been spent revising these words, and it's very difficult to learn a language whose words are constantly changing. For the people who will continue using them, there is at least the fact that they won't change moving forward.

In addition, the sheer size of the non-canon vocabulary hinders updates to the dictionary like the kind we have planned. Non-canon words were not invented with that level of detail in mind. It would take years to revise all of them to fit the new format. We weighed having thousands of low-quality, low-detail entries against highly detailed canon entries and chose the latter.

Further still, we felt the non-canon vocabulary and tools that made use of it (i.e. the Translator) harmed people's experience with the language. The non-canon vocabulary was always meant to be supplementary—to be used as needed alongside canon but never in place of it. This is oftentimes not the case, and many people don't look further than the Translator. At that point it's no longer Bethesda's dragon language, but something else entirely. We want to encourage learning and support the original language as much as possible.

I don't expect everyone to agree with the upcoming changes, but from the above I hope you can at least understand them.

This decision is likely going to forever change Dovahzul in our community.

I hope that all of us will contribute in this major transition. 

Let's all keep on shaping Thu'um into the scholar's haven.

I for one will miss the expanded dictionary, but I understand the need for internal consistancy.

What about semi-canon?