RULES FOR THE CONLANG RELAY GAME

If you would like to be a CONLANG Relay Master or a CONLANG Relay Participant, here is what you do:

RELAY MASTER:

Find or invent a short text and translate it into your language.

Post a call for your Relay Translation Game on CONLANG, and get at least ten volunteers (it is best not to go over eighteen).

Make a private list in which you establish the orders of each of the participants and post their email addresses. This you will send to the relay members. You will use this list in future to communicate with your participants and they with you and each other instead of clogging the CONLANG list.

Establish a time-frame in which the Relay is to get done. No participant can have the text for longer than 48 hours, and if he or she is delayed, that person will be moved to the end of the list.

Send the following to the first person on the list, and announce to the private listserv that "the torch has been passed to So and So":

• A copy of your text in your language.
• A glossary of each word or idiomatic compound/phrase to be put in list separate from your text.
• An interlinear analysis (if you wish) of the grammatical identification of the words or phrases in your text. Use English translations with extreme discretion, here. The point is to avoid providing a gloss that is almost a smooth translation.
• Any other information you deem necessary for the person translating your text: any special grammatical vocabulary you use, the structure of your language. You can include links to your conlang's website if you think this will clarify, but don't rely solely on this means for explication. The point is to describe the features of your language as clearly as possible and to make the looking up of words and the matching of syntax as easy as possible without actually providing any kind of smooth translation. Remember, each participant only has 48 hours.

RELAY PARTICIPANT:

You will receive this text with instructions from your relay master and/or preceding participant. Do the following:

• Take no more than 48 hours to complete the tasks below.
• Translate the text you have been given with glossary, grammatical analysis, and instructions. You may query your prior participant by private email if you are really struggling.
• After you have gotten a reasonable translation, produce your own version in your own language.
• Send two emails--one to the next participant on your list and one to the relay master:
  • To the next participant: the new text in your language, glossary, interlinear and/or grammatical instruction, but NO smooth translation.
  • To the Relay Master: the new text in your language, A SMOOTH TRANSLATION, and glossary, interlinear and/or grammatical instruction. In short, everything you sent to the next person but including a smooth translation.
• Announce to the private list that you have passed the torch to so and so.

At the end of the game, the last participant on the list will send the (hopefully) much altered text to the Relay Master without a smooth translation. The Relay Master will then act as a participant and work with your text to provide a translation in the language he or she started out with. Then, the Relay Master will publish the results of the Game in either or both of two ways: He or she can post the texts and smooth translations come full circle IN ORDER to the CONLANG LIST, or he or she can post the texts, smooth translations, and interlinear on a website. Posting to CONLANG relieves everyone's curiosity quickly. Making a website is usually in the aftermath, and takes a little bit more preparation. But the end result is a chapbook of poems or texts that demonstrate quite a bit of artistry and translation skills.

For the website, the Relay Master should encourage participants to submit soundbytes of their version of the text, if they are able.

Have fun!