Conlang relay

A conlang relay is a translation game involving conlangs. It is similar to the game called by names such as Telephone or Chinese Whispers, where a message is whispered from person to person, often in the process being changed beyond recognition. Instead of by whispers, in a relay the text is passed by translation: it is translated from the conlang it is received in, into one's own conlang, and then passed to the next person to be translated. The resulting text is generally much changed; a tendency noticed in early relays was for the original texts to mutate into creation myths.

A typical conlang relay takes around a month or two to run, excluding the initial planning phase and delays in publishing the final results (which are unfortunately common). On the relay mailing list one or two relays are run per year.

Current relays

• Conlang Relay 18 is technically currently running, though it has been finished modulo the final retranslations and a few stragglers since early March 2011.
• The main ring of the LCC4 relay is finished, but the scheduleless Ring B is in essentially the same situation as Relay 18.
• Conlang Relay 19 has started on 2012-5-17, and will end in late June if everything goes as planned.
• Known previous relays, in order of occurrence, are listed in the navigation box below.

Rules

One person, the relay master, organizes the relay. when enough participants have signed up, they publish a schedule: there may be one or more rings, each with a list of participants in the order of when they will take their turns. Each participant is listed with the language they will be using. Someone who has multiple conlangs may participate in multiple rings.

The relay master then writes a text in their conlang, along with the necessary grammar notes and vocabulary for the text to be understandable. The relay master then sends one copy of these documents (the torches) to the first participant in each ring. Now, this participant has a deadline (usually 48 hours) to decipher the torch, translate it into their language, write up the necessary grammar notes and vocabulary, and send their torch to the next participant (and to a backup mailbox in case someone goes missing during the relay). This continues until the torch has been passed along the entire ring; the last participant passes the torch back to the relay master, who then translates it back into the original conlang.

After the relay is over, all torches are published in all languages, including an English translation of each version of the text.

Some rings, or even entire relays, vary these rules. The following variations have been used:

• Inverse: Each participant receives a text in their own conlang, and translates it into the conlang of the next participant. No grammar notes or vocabulary are added.
• LCC: The results are presented live at the next LCC. Only attendees may participate.
• Natlang: Only natlangs may be used. As with inverse relays/rings, no grammar notes or vocabulary are added. Instead, the schedule is prepared so that everyone receives the torch in a language they are familiar with.
• Romlang: Only romlangs may be used. Instead of a vocabulary list, notes on the etymology of each stem are given.
• Scheduleless: Each participant has as long as they want for translating the text. The torches of these rings are usually published immediately after passing them.

External links

• Conlang Translation Relay mailing list for organization of conlang relays
• List of participants in previous relays
• David J. Peterson's list of old relays and their participants — very complete up to Relay 17, LCC3 relay, and Inverse Relay #2
• Preliminary Relay Scheduler at Theiling Online