Conlang Critic: High Valyrian

the return of Conlang Critic. I look at High Valyrian from Game of Thrones, and do a good bit of introspection about what I want Conlang Critic to be.
main source:
wiki.languageinvention.com/in...
my full statement about the future of Conlang Critic:
janmisali.tumblr.com/post/649...
00:00 - INTRO
01:56 - PHONOLOGY
05:33 - ORTHOGRAPHY
07:38 - GRAMMAR
11:54 - VOCABULARY
13:40 - SPOKEN SAMPLE
14:20 - RATING HIGH VALYRIAN
/ hbmmaster
conlangcritic.bandcamp.com
seximal.net
/ hbmmaster
/ janmisali

[@HBMmaster]

here's my full statement about the future of this series: janmisali.tumblr.com/post/649006718613864448/the-future-of-conlang-critic-and-the-big-list

[@willardjr6257]

Pleas keep doing the reading of the phonology charts

[@cameoshadowness7757]

Need a hug? I think you need a hug.

[@plantelo]

don't feel obligated to do anything you didn't sign up for. you are creating entertainment for us, we should be grateful for that, and it is entirely within your right to stop whenever you feel like it. I am thankful you warned everyone and that you decided to keep your promise, but I wouldn't have thought less of you had you not. you're more valuable than the content you make.

[@koppadasao]

Az fakulti vy gro aublige anlang qonstri groqonstri. Ani gro tesjo, jezjy. Gronauti!

[@jared_bowden]

Conlangs are a surprisingly good learning tool to teach about linguistics in general; like, I wasn't really into conlangs until I realized how much faster I could learn interesting concepts with them, so I think making asynchronous videos to explore concepts rather then as a reviewing request series thing is a 10/10 idea. (TBH it took me a while to realize that that wasn't what you were already doing.)

[@johnargeles7019]

i like hearing the phonology charts because otherwise i have no idea what it sounds like

[@Martin-cb4rq]

same, i have no idea how to pronounce the IPA characters.

[@yarlodek5842]

@@Martin-cb4rq Many of the latin alphabet derived symbols are pronounced like their dominant English equivalent. Beyond that, you gotta learn the different places and manners of articulation.

[@cameoshadowness7757]

@@yarlodek5842 but English has multiple sounds for most if not all their letters.

[@Mlpzeldafan011100]

@@yarlodek5842 yeah but I gotta learn things for that, and while that''d be nice it's hard to do without sounds associated with them. Also helps if I just wanna know what sounds a language has *without* needing to say them out loud myself.

[@jeremymandel868]

yeah totally

[@coffeebeans7480]

60% questioning the formatting 30% existential crisis 10% high valyrian

[@docjey3288]

Welcome to conlang critic! The only show that gives its creator an existential crisis while talking about YOUR favorite conlangs!

[@decorativewingdings]

That's the greatest description of a KZbin show possible

[@dark_messiah8183]

“suez” being stuck is topically quite hilarious

[@RandomNickname1234]

Goddamn that's amazing!

[@lazerkitsune7878]

Lol it aged so well 😂

[@rohandas5873]

It aged like wine

[@rikatan]

It didn't really, uh, age. DJR entered it into the language a couple of days before the ship was freed.

[@dddeergirl]

im gonna be honest the phonology section is my favorite part of almost every conlang critic

[@scptime1188]

I love it too but my favourite sectiom is probably the orthography section. Not here obviously but-

[@mattmorgan2525]

It also helps me understand the phonology symbols more innately. I think the repetition over many videos is part of that too.

[@sebastiangudino9377]

It's personaly my least favorite. It's a constructed language. I don't want to learn the IPA, i want to learn about what kind of crazy stuff it does that make it different from other constructed and natural languages! But i mean, i sure it's cool for people unfamiliar with languages, so I don't think the videos would be better without it

[@xymaryai8283]

I think it would be a ton more useful if Misali pronounced words with each phoneme. it is pretty useless to hear them read out monotonously, even if you do learn how they're pronounced. maybe the Phonology section should come after the orthography section in this case

[@petargrific484]

same

[@garnet1918]

2:17 I get several things out of it: 1.) I don't know IPA, so it's great to actually hear you saying these symbols. 2.) It's kind of hilarious hearing someone pronounce consonants for twenty seconds. You don't have to keep it in, but I do appreciate it.

[@albertoHammyer]

I think it should be kept, but it'd be great to have a video explaining most of what is needed to understand parts like these of the video, I could search for the meaning for a lot of these things but it feels bad to only learn the bare minimun so learning with more depth but only the necessarry parts would make a great difference

[@lopsidedhead]

I absolutely agree with this - I find it super hard to know sounds just from the IPA symbols, so it's useful to hear them imo

[@AndrewTaylorPhD]

I perversely enjoy how the energy of the videos just drops off a cliff for a moment in the consonant list. It's like a little moment of calm.

[@albertoHammyer]

@@lopsidedhead Yeah, it's impossible to know how it sounds like with no reference, and sometimes even with a pronuncioation without an explanation your brain aproximates it to a sound you already know screwing everything up, so having them be isolated helps a lot

[@kwakerjak]

@@albertoHammyer He actually did go into detail on each section on his Lingwa de Planeta video, which was the first Conlang Critic episode he uploaded after he started getting a lot of followers.

[@4P5MC]

"jan Misali having a small IPA vocal seizure" is my favourite part of the show, please keep it!

[@aajjeee]

oi

[@Xedlord]

The title may say "Conlang Critic: High Valyrian", but the true title of this video is "Conlang Critic: Conlang Critic".

[@markgardner5611]

As someone who doesn't know the phonetic alphabet very well, I'd say that you reading through the inventory is quite useful.

[@jt....]

I just enjoy pronouncing weird sounds before him out loud like some kind of crazy person talking to a video

[@masicbemester]

@@jt.... same, I do this all the time without the need for a video

[@justyourfellowduck]

Same

[@EricSoaresE]

Same

[@ashtray3860]

@@masicbemester ON JAH! I swear, there’s hardly a day that goes by where I’m not speaking jibberish to train my mouth for anything other than English! In particular I often use /ɢ ɸ β ð χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʛ/

[@Wyattporter]

This is quite an existential crisis of a video. Idk about everybody, but a lot of us are here for your personality and input, whatever you’re talking about.

[@handlehandlehandle]

Same. I don’t care how many platonic solids there are (in the sense that I in no way have gone out of my way to learn about it) but I do like his style and way of explaining it.

[@hoo2042]

Not sure if you saw the recent community post, but he pretty much laid out exactly that internal conflict. The response was so positive (similar in spirit to yours) that he decided he'd abandon the "big list" and season format immediately rather than after finishing season 4, and instead just put out videos he's interested in making :) I was surprised to see this one today, but since it's only been a few days since the post, I assume this was already in production.

[@hoo2042]

Ooops, lol, he directly addresses it later in the video. 🤦‍♀️

[@justinbchen]

@@hoo2042 do you have a source on that? At the end of this video he said he's still doing the other five episodes planned for this season, and the CC also says that Blissymbolics is still next.

[@JoeyGirardin]

yeah, I'm here for the conlangs, so it'll be sad that there'll be less frequent vids

[@mavmav0YT]

You see, you don’t actually HAVE to add anything, you take something that I probably wouldn’t read through, and put it into a format I love. But again, you should do what you want to do.

[@Michael-R]

Yeah I completely agree with this. Just by putting it in a video with your inviting and and enjoyable narration and presentation makes it so much more accessible than a wiki page. It makes me feel like I can engage with conlangs when tbh I still can't really get past basic jargon in any other format

[@waldo1478]

My thoughts exactly

[@GlaceonStudios]

I like the idea about _Conlang Critic_ being more of a showcase/case study show, to be honest, at least for artlangs. For languages designed to be international, I find it better to critique what works and doesn't work because there are references to meet with. Languages without a real-life context are better to be judged as art, with a subjective lens; languages designed to facilitate communication are better judged like bridges.

[@jiyometrik]

yes!!!!

[@TehVulpez]

Pronouncing the phonemes out loud is probably even more useful now you have a new audience. Not everybody knows how to read an IPA chart and this is kind of an entry-level conlang series.

[@snowyyyyyyyyyyyyy]

yeah it def helped me get used to seeing ipa and what the sounds were

[@joyuna]

Exactly this! An IPA chart alone is hardly useful at all to a wider audience (and honestly, reading out the more 'interesting' sounds helps me as well, even though I have a 10-year-old linguistics degree collecting dust)

[@austinnar4494]

Everyone: Say the thing Jan Misali!! Jan Misali: This conlang's consanants are "mah"; "nah"; "nyah"

[@Duiker36]

This conlang's consonants are nanananananananana BATMAN

[@EnriqueLaberintico]

@Nicholas Natale Mmm, letra N con unicejo.

[@Tuberex]

@Concatenate ń

[@testname4464]

I'm not a language expert so actually vocalizing the consonants and vowels does help me understand what the chart actually says

[@punkinpiez]

I love the reading of the charts for several reasons 1) I often listen to the show in contexts where I can't see the screen so you reading them out is nice. 2) Hearing the charts gives a direct impression of how the language sounds which is useful context for the discussion. 3) I just find it pleasurable to listen to is an odd slightly ASMR way

[@Qwerasd]

I absolutely love the part where you read the consonant inventories.

[@ancientswordrage]

Hard same!

[@griffinking4755]

Same it’s fun

[@slava489]

same!

[@slava489]

but actually... i love it because i’m used to it. i can easily get used to any other format, so it only matters what jan Misali loves. reading the inventories will stay in the older videos anyway :)

[@Ondohir]

Same

[@rccalytrix]

hey jan Misali, as someone who has very little interest in linguistics, i love watching conlang critic because 1. it teaches me interesting new shit 2. you explain things in a compelling way 3. you have a really good spin on presenting topics with like music and cool editing 4. i love the way your channel is just a mix of shit you like, stay true to that, only make shit that makes you happy

[@goh-chez]

Couldn't have said it any better

[@rccalytrix]

@@goh-chez hehe thank you

[@wobber.]

exactly this

[@myrus5722]

I’m starting to stop thinking it’s a coincidence that Jan Misali, Biblaridion, and Nativlang all mysterious keep posting their videos within the same 1-2 day period. Every time it happens though, it’s like heaven.

[@SnoFitzroy]

first or last day of the month probably? Would explain the consistency

[@ellasedits_]

have we ever seen all of them at the same time in the same place? just saying…

[@myrus5722]

ella's amvs 雪 :O

[@tux1468]

Ranlevus, the god of language, has written a prophecy, stating that at the beginning of every moon-cycle, three specific individuals will educate the world on the true nature of speaking.

[@duffman18]

It's a patreon thing. Many youtubers have their patreon set up so that they only get paid if they put out a video every month. So that's why everyone seems to post at the same time, it's because they've all left it to the deadline and had to pull an all nighter or whatever to get the video out in time so that they could be paid by their patreon patrons

[@metzgerdewsky]

It seems like you want feedback and as one of the few people who did watch the announcement videos, I think I'm suited to give it. I can't speak for anyone else, this is just my opinions on conlang critic and your channel as a whole. What I like about conlang critic is it gives explanations and insights into a conlang's nature. I like how you cover the what, how, and why of a language in a manner that is detail and content-rich, yet still digestible. I could go and read a Wikipedia page about it but that would just leave me bored and confused. Conlang Critic is clean, thematically consistent, fast-paced, gentle, and probably most importantly, unique. If I want to learn what the niche of a conlang is, conlang critic is the only good video-based option I have. I'll be honest. I'm not here for Jan Misali. I'm not here for your personality. I don't even know what your personality is like. But I am still here. That's because I like the videos. There's a part of this video where you say you inexperienced and ill-suited to present the linguistic nature of conlangs because of your lack of formal education and I don't think that's as much of a weakness as you make it out to be. (Almost) None of us are linguistics professors or made our own conlangs anything like that; we're all just regular people who have at least a small interest in conlangs. We don't want jargon and you rarely give it to us without a concise judgment-free comprehensible explanation. I've watched almost every conlang critic video and I'm always excited to see another one come out, and this one was probably my least favorite. You gloss over most of the language's features, your introspective ramblings are sprinkled haphazardly throughout the video, and your visuals are lacking. You griped that High Valyrian doesn't have enough content to make a video out of it but that's not how it seems to me. Like when you come to verb conjugation you basically say "it's too complicated to talk about without a full lecture". So, is there too much to cover or too little? I think it's neither. I think you just don't want to cover the language, and I'm not trying to bash you for that; I don't really like High Valyrian either. The problem arises when you force yourself to cover it anyways and then half-ass it. You've definitely addressed this by revoking the request system, and I commend you for that. In fact, I would completely support you if you decided to skip the small list or make shorter videos about them so that you can get back to making good videos. Cause let's be real, if you don't actually want to make a good video, you won't. In this video, you mention that conlang critic isn't really a review series and I only partially agree with you on that. When it comes to auxiliary languages, it is a review, you are critiquing the language's efficacy as a functional auxiliary language. This doesn't apply as well to fictional languages like High Valyrian, but there is always a reason for a language's existence, and there's always opportunity to critique the language's ability to fulfill its aim. High Valyrian's aim is to immerse readers into believing that its a noble language of old, emulating Latin. Lojban & Loglan aim to eliminate ambiguity. Viossa's aim to be completely organic and natural. Kēlen's aim is to be a language of elves that's so strange and alien that it verges on incomprehensibility to humans. Also, I like when you say the letter things (;

[@Michael-R]

+1, This is a perfect summation of exactly how I feel. So I'm not leaving a useless comment, I will say i see why HV is harder to review, since it's pretty easy have an audience immersed with the facade of a language. I think the most important aspects are timbre and how well an actor can portray their character through it, which aren't exactly the most technical parts of language construction. You have to really drill down into fine nuances and trace their outcomes in the show, to find merit beyond 'yes it sounds like a language from that world'. Which i could see being tiresomr to produce.

[@DecoAoreste]

I agree with everything this guy says. I really love your older episodes, I've watched some of them maybe even 10+ times. This is the only one that's kind of a pain to watch.

[@sequentially8083]

To add another input, I don’t really have time in my day to day life to search, find, research, and immerse myself in some random conlang even if I do love them, what I do have is time to sit down and watch a humorous and entertaining overview/review of a conlang that I probably never would have heard of otherwise and enjoy the crap out of it for 20 minutes. Also, my favourite episode so far was the Viossa one where you nearly scrapped any attempt to review because you really couldn’t due to its goal. I’m not saying every episode should be that free from your particular thoughts and input, but as a busy guy who likes conlangs I love being able to tune in and be immersed in something so different than what I’m used to and something that is loved by a group I’m very not apart of. That being said, everything you do that you have passion for is very evident and makes absolutely wonderful videos to watch.

[@Thenightindark]

This is the best comment I read so far. I really love to watch this channel and some videos I watched more than 10 times. This video was not any fun to watch and I stopped halfway through. It would be better just to not do it, as it was clear from the start that this is not a Conlang he cared about. As a big fan of this channel, I am happy to have been watching his movies for quite a long time. If I didn’t know this channel before and this was the first movie I watched, I am sure I wouldn’t care for the channel and would have lost the opportunity to watch the other great content this channel has to offer.

[@YayapLives]

100% this

[@isidorregenfu9632]

Narrator voice: "conlang critic season 4 is considered by fans as the most experimental season, starting with musings about the format of the series in the infamous "existentialism episode", followed by the "Tlön & uqbar" episode and the "converse night" episode. When asked about the abrupt ending of the season in interviews, Misali has declared that "it never didn't disappear", leaving critics and fans alike confused."

[@yoctometric]

we get nice misali asmr from the chart, and a lot of samples too Edit: also, like, do what you want. Nobody's gonna freak out if you drop conlang critic for good, it's not like you drew a pact in blood or anything

[@Qril]

The conlang god requests sacrifice

[@thesunwillneverset]

*faciomanual click*

[@SnoFitzroy]

That's not what ASMR is buddy

[@laula813]

@@SnoFitzroy Then at least it's very similar

[@twelveobin]

...it gives me asmr. i don't know how you can assess whether another person is getting asmr or not.

[@AnAverageArceus]

"High Valyrian's consonants are..." "Muh" *ad starts* Damn that's quite the vocabulary

[@kimarna]

We also laughed at the ad placement lol

[@user-vw4xp5nt9f]

"mmmmm mm mmmm"

[@MemezuiiSangkanskje]

@@user-vw4xp5nt9f Microwavish

[@WhizzKid2012]

mm mmm. m? mmm, mmm, m. mmmmmmmm! mm mm m mmmm mm m m mmmmmm. mmmm'mm mm.mm mm,

[@DiegoRodriguez-ty5nb]

JAN, YOU MUST KEEP READING ALL OF THE PHONEMES, it’s so soothing

[@janKanali]

he is not *jan*!

[@janKanali]

jan is word for "person" in toki pona. just use jan Misali.

[@theothercd]

you just called them person-

[@janKanon]

who's Jan

[@DiegoRodriguez-ty5nb]

@@janKanon sorry I did not yet know the name originated from tokipona lol

[@mrelephant2283]

Let's fucking go lads EDIT: Unironically hoping for some kind of education about Tonal languages when we get to Uwulang

[@qwertyqwerty-jy9fc]

UWU

[@justyourfellowduck]

WETS GWO!

[@SnoFitzroy]

OwO what's this? A language for furries? 🤣🤣🤣

[@oc2thorpe]

@@SnoFitzroy no, a language for catgirls

[@davidvelasco4423]

Uh oh, this took a weird turn.

[@xeuxixiliak8417]

Alternate title: Jan has a mid life crisis while reading consonants (In all seriousness, you do you, we love you and your content, and are along for the ride whichever way you take it. I'd the rather the content I like change so you can take it in a direction that makes you happiest while doing it, because nobody likes watching a youtuber who doesn't like what they're making, change what you want to make it most fullfilling for you)

[@geneticdriftwood]

I think this says it very well! I’m here for the interesting ideas you have and the way you give your take on things, and so the specific content I’m interested in will likely shift to whatever content you’re making, as long as you’re excited about it, yk?

[@Ondohir]

Haha, jan is just the word for person in Toki Pona, meaning the next word is a name. It is not his name, it's like you'd be something like jan Keuki or however you pronounce that x. It doesn't matter though, I'm not trying to be mean, I just find it a funny but understandable mistake

[@xeuxixiliak8417]

@@Ondohir Oh yeah lol, it's worse because I knew that at one point and just forgot lol

[@purpleisdebeste]

Judging by what he says in the video he’s fine! He literally says that you shouldn’t assume things about him or how he feels in the video! Seriously!

[@xeuxixiliak8417]

@@purpleisdebeste Hence why my comment was clearly sarcastic

[@emmettchan5545]

This is such a fluent and transparent way of giving us an update on your thoughts and feelings of the series it's honestly very impressive. All the changes you plan for the series are things that just make logical sense if you try to go at it trying to make the series as good as possible without being stuck in custom and the status quo, so I'm not surprised the response is so positive. I'm looking forward to the episodes post season 4!

[@boldCactuslad]

>Is this a review? I'm just describing things. All reviewers do this, it's part of the review. An essential part of the review is explaining to the audience what it is you are reviewing, and no, it's not particularly condensending to point out things which may be obvious.

[@0Aquamelon]

I like hearing you read through the consonant phonemes. Like I'm well versed in the IPA, and I know what they sound like, but it'd make me sad for you to just go "and here's what the chart looks like" and move on

[@bulbasa9r753]

If he did this I would not pause to look at it, so unless he left it on screen with no commentary for 30 seconds I would just never read it.

[@retvolution]

@@bulbasa9r753 yeah I often listen to conlang critic while doing other stuff, so it helps

[@evelynminer8568]

I think the consonant reading section can be useful in two ways - 1. It helps for IPA symbols I don't recognize (in this case it was the Pharyngeal Fricative) 2. When they're edited together to be super fast like in some other videos, it's just aurally pleasant

[@kala_asi]

Its not a pharyngeal fricative btw, its uvular. Idk why jMisali chose that name for the column, I guess he didn't want to put "uvular / glottal" as two words?

[@RedHair651]

@@kala_asi he also mispronounced it accordingly

[@evelynminer8568]

@@kala_asi Yeah he likes to combine columns to condense the chart

[@alexanderzieschang2664]

I honestly don't mind you just reading things from the Wiki, because it's still more interesting than just reading the article by myself.

[@TheLegend2T]

Title: Conlang Critic: High Valyrian Video: Conlang Critic: Jan’s Existential Crisis

[@zacknattack]

jan means person

[@TheLegend2T]

@@zacknattack well, he is technically a person

[@janKanali]

just call him jan Misali, u sound like a person who doesn't even know toki pona exists

[@Sammysamu13]

His name isn't Ian

[@DragonWinter36]

Damn, this crisis has some cool phonology

[@jackalope2302]

Conlang Critic is why I subscribed. I think since High Valaryian is a well attested and well crafted conlang, there's not much to say. It's the poorly made stuff as Votgil and Polispol that are the ones I like to watch. Especially when you point out why they suck and how they can be improved.

[@argolake8623]

“Also, just in general, you shouldn’t assume you know who I am, or how I’m feeling from watching my videos. That’s a pretty unhealthy way to consume media.” …said Jan Misali, my best friend.

[@vermillion2023]

It is so sad that we never got to see the Uwu language episode 😭

[@jjthepikazard212]

i enjoy the genre of youtube videos that u don't expect to be existential crises but are

[@Liggliluff]

I don't though. It's fine if he doesn't want to make these videos, and he can stop at any time. I respect that. But I don't like watching a video and having the person complain about making the video. Then just don't make the video.

[@Liggliluff]

@@xX1infinityedge1Xx I'm not assuming anything. I'm just stating _if_ you don't want to produce something, you don't have to.

[@ShroomiusTheWise]

making the consonant sounds is vital to my enjoyment in this series, please keep it

[@dannyatwell5250]

This whole video is like spam texting your ex late at night trying to apologize for something they didn't even realize you did.

[@mejiahtruuiskath-kyitarnym9353]

Even as a language nerd, I appreciate the phonology section thingie

[@im_sorry_i_forgot_my_username]

Holy crap, I literally just watched the Quenya episode like 5 hours ago, which was my first episode of Conlang Critic, in which you said that High Valyrian would be next, and I thought "I'd watch that, shame it's not our already" And here we are now

[@slava489]

i haven’t even realised how much i missed this!!!!!!!!!!

[@slava489]

conlang critic is the reason i’m using youtube. the first videos i’ve watched for entertainment

[@janmatula1534]

this video is not what you think lol

[@slava489]

@@janmatula1534 not an episode of conlang critic? (i’m only a couple minutes into it so far)

[@slava489]

@@janmatula1534 i have finished watching the video and i still don’t understand what you mean

[@elkekalinski9293]

I was trying to find this video but couldn’t remember which conlang it was so I was basically just scouring the channel going “is this the mental breakdown episode”

[@sunshine5429]

LOVE the meta-commentary, both in the (at least appearing to be) asking for viewer input as well as the overt "I'm putting this commentary in as a choice; it is unhealthy to assume you know someone's feelings from consuming their media". Reminds me of Beginner's Guide, and also is a good thing to remind people of in a video that gives a certain vibe

[@enderwiggins8248]

I love how this episode becomes a meta analysis of the genre and repetition

[@sgreddin]

Yes, please continue the consonant chart reading. I wouldn't have immediately understood /r̥/ until you said it

[@emtheslav2295]

Oh no! He’s having an existential crisis ! Let’s tell him he’s doing great!

[@TurnerXei]

I've been doing conlang stuff for around 20(?!) years, I read "real" linguistics papers on ancient and current languages. I'm not saying I'm great at it, I'm saying I never feel bored or condescended to by your videos. I'm always excited when I see a new one has come out. I find them to be a constant refresher course and I'm often reminded of little (or big) aspects of language that has slipped my mind. There is so much to know and it's good to have a third party provide a different take when I've been in my head for years. If you don't feel like doing something anymore, then I get that, but I don't want you to feel that it lacks value. From the phonemic inventories to your personal opinions, even if I might disagree (though that is rare) it gives me something to think about *why* I feel the way I do. There's over a thousand comments (so far) and I don't expect you to read them all. So, if you happen to read this one: I look forward to whatever conlang/linguistics videos you do in the future and I'd love to hear you delve into aspects of language that you find really interesting. Nothing is better to me that listening to someone talk about a subject they're passionate about. Thanks for all the videos thus far!

[@WhizzKid2012]

20 on decimal or seximal?

[@filosfilos4572]

Dude this series is one of my favourites on YT, I won't ask you to continue doing it if you don't feel like it but I will say that, as an aspiring writer with a passion for worldbuilding, I simply adore these kind of videos, they're so easy to digest and useful that I actually end up learning insteresting stuff while also cleaning the dishes.

[@jayrs1528]

The phonology section is good for beginners, and hilarious for veterans when you review non-serious conlangs.

[@boopadoop2336]

It's very sad that Conlang Critic ended like this. I found this episode rather grating. We don't fault you for not enjoying Conlang Critic - but we do wonder why you bothered to make promises you'd never keep and make it so obvious you didn't like this. It sucks to see a series you like be given an abrupt end and a kick in the shins while it's down. Sic transit gloria mundi.

[@whythehecknot5038]

Watching him actively question himself making this episode (even if part of it is a joke) stings so hard because you have the hindsight to know it's the last one.

[@friiq0]

The very first episode of Conlang Critic Critic 😜 It’s fun to watch this channel grow and evolve. Whatever comes next, I’m sure it’ll be cool 👍

[@trashkidd]

personally i really like hearing the consonants read out. don't know why, but it feels right. you do you though dawg

[@pannekook2000]

*personally*, I would absolutely love if you gave an hour-long lecture on mood aspect and tense to explain the verb system of high valerian but that’s just me

[@pannekook2000]

@Deyvi no but I do think tense and mood is interesting AND I saw cases I don’t understand so sign me up

[@that_orange_hat]

agreed

[@thefinalfrontear]

this is the second episode of conlang critic i’ve ever seen and it’s really speaking to me. i think i finally understand how people feel when i get into a manic state and start explaining my special interests, then get nervous halfway through that no one actually cares and they’re just indulging me, and then i start backtracking, apologizing, and explaining myself

[@brianb660]

Lmao i love the miniature therapy sessions in this video. You really having a Conlang Crisis over here Xd

[@starrats444]

CONLANG CRISIS

[@nevertoocoldforicecream3381]

Me: NEW 🅱ONGLANG 🅱RITIC, LESSSSS GOOOO jan Misali (the man who got me into linguistics and conlangs, and convinced me to learn toki pona): But what if,,,,,,,, EXISISTENTIALISM

[@kennystimpson2775]

Factssss

[@Somber_Knight]

jan misali li pana e sona pi toki pona tawa jan mute.

[@DragonWinter36]

bonglang

[@powerofthec5908]

But he's not a man.

[@LILProductions]

@@DragonWinter36 britic

[@k.umquat8604]

Watching your new subscribers in awe because of your videos makes me really hopeful. I have been watching Conlang Critic since the 2nd season and am one of the original 10000 subscribers. Keep pronuncing the consonants and vowels.

[@arthur-2542]

Reading about language and listening to it is very different. Also reading from a page isn't necessarily bad. There are SCP channels that just read word for word journal entries like audiobooks and they are still super popular. I appreciate your content and don't mind the meta talk aswell.

[@akkar8726]

OH MY GOD! This is the first new Conlang Critic I've seen since I've subscribed!

[@migarsormrapophis2755]

Heh, what a nub

[@glumbortango7182]

You got the most existential one too!

[@Ondohir]

@@migarsormrapophis2755 not a noob, a cute fraud

[@epingchris]

@@Ondohir a cute noob!

[@anna-maer8824]

your phonetic chart readings are, with no exaggeration, my second favorite part of your conlang critic videos (the first being your spoken samples)

[@suranumitu7734]

conlang critic: existential crisis edition

[@JoBrew32]

Just finished marathoning your whole series over the past two days. Gotta say, really enjoyed this epic narrative of Conlang Critic finding itself over the course of five years. Some truly great worldbuilding there.

[@brothernicole3112]

rip conlang critic

[@Nae_Ayy]

Local Linguistics Nerd Uploads Unedited Footage of Mental Breakdown

[@oscartaya324]

I definitely get something from you reading the phonemes

[@recurse]

Well, I'm a patron on Patreon, and I requested this video. I'll reflect on why I support your channel. You might or might not *like* it but... audiences, amirite? :D I love Conlang Critic because it brings something of the sensibility of a roast to conlanging, a weird, wild and wonderful community that has quite healthy dollops of taking itself pretty seriously, kind of shitty trolling, and relentless supportiveness that brooks no technical judgment when we all *know* this is a craft, and you can judge it. You bring something unique, and I'm living for it. You may not really be a conlanger, by your own admission, but you love conlangs, and you're a great *critic*, which is in and off itself an underappreciated art. You're willing to take out the knife, but you do it with grace and humour. So why would I ask you to do High Valyrian? Partly because I love seeing your tools of analysis applied to a *good* language for comparison. I like all your segments. Sure, do your midseries crisis stuff, I support your evolution and directions as an artist, even if it's not the stuff I signed up financially for. You gotta do you. But your comforting patter and progression work. You create a great, short, accessible window into a conlang that is worth watching even if you could just read the wiki. Maybe I don't always want to spend hours on that, maybe I just want you to do it and feed back your findings to me in a short, digestible, kind of sarcastic way that truly does a good job of painting a picture of the language for me. Don't sell yourself short. You're really good at that. So why I wanted you to do High Valyrian, well, there's that, and also I wanted to get you in trouble :D . I love seeing you roast the Vötgils of the world (by the way, I still want you to roast my language some day :D), and making you go up against something well-crafted, given the rest of your body of work, is an entertaining thought. What will he do with this one... By the way, I asked for Trigedasleng out of genuine love. It is legit one of my favorite conlangs. I'm curious to see what you'll see in it.

[@cardera]

rip conlang critic😔

[@enderwiggins8248]

I really like how your voice sounds, so even tho I’m much less interested in phonology as I am syntax, morphology, grammar, etc it’s a nice part of the show

[@anuel3780]

i think my favourite conlng critic episode had to be Viossa, because it explored it in such an interesting format, so if I wanted to ask for a direction for conlag critic, i'd love it to be much more off the cuff almost explorative natures of languages like Viossa. I can see your argument for focusing on language aspects for each new episode being a good idea.

[@starrats444]

yessss!!! id love more videos like the viossa video

[@joyuna]

Ooo yess! 100%, that was a really cool episode. I'm sure it was a lot more work than a 'normal' ep, but probably more interesting work as well. I would be stoked to see the series go in that direction. Explore not just the bones of the language, but also a look at the enthusiasts who are building or using the language.

[@2Cerealbox]

Your videos never cease to surprise me. You have a strange knack for that.

[@jameshopkins7507]

Your self-deprecating introspection is hilarious! But I do think that the format you use for your conlang reviews is very useful. True, there is not always something new or clever to say. True, most information can be found by most people from other sources. However, what you provide is a "bringing-it-all-together" in one concise presentation that others can use as a springboard for additional research if they are so inclined. Good job!

[@GrayShine42]

new series from jan misali: (conlang critic) critic, i'm here for it.

[@cheesybutler9544]

a video format idea that comes to mind when listening to your introspection on conlang critic is to review two conlangs at once, comparing and contrasting them, and maybe depending on how they relate to each other deciding one you like better. It gets suggestions out of the way quickly, as well as provides a way to organize them in a way that allows reason for making a video to develop. It would help fill out more of the video, with more things to describe, as well as allow you to pick and choose what you describe and how you frame the information. With things like the phonology, it would allow you to break things down into simpler terms for those (like myself) who have more or less no idea what you're talking about, and go in depth as to why something in one is better than the other, where later on like in vocabulary and grammar you could go a little more in depth for those that are more learned among us while we less so can just enjoy listening to you talking about stuff you enjoy. It gets suggestions out of the way quickly, it gives you a lot of material to go over as well as ample opportunity to compare and contrast to fill paragraphs, it can be used to explain how a conlang does it wrong or well, or pit two languages against each other in a race of excellence, I dunno.~ Just a thought, although I'd kinda like to hear your feedback

[@andersyu4464]

anthony mccarthy's comment about him being "the most superficial commentator on con-langues" is getting to him

[@zedzee11010_]

RIP Conlang Critic...

[@jeanTonicplusultra]

yeah

[@minerman60101]

2:25 as a casual, I have no idea what half of that table means. Also hearing you say the weird ones like gh is pretty fun

[@ingwerschorle_]

wikipedia has a great page about that, it's the international phonetic alphabet, if you want to learn a language or read like half a wikipedia article about languages (or even make your own conlang), it's good to know it, because it's an objective way of representing pronunciation

[@TheMasaoL]

I recommend www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ipa-sounds/ipa-chart-with-sounds/ It is as it says IPA with sounds. You can click on one and hear what it would sound like.

[@greenwolf52]

2:17 I know this is the last season but I don't know IPA so please keep doing it.

[@Melecie]

this isn't the last season, after the end of this misali'll likely keep doing conlang critic but more sporadically

[@HiimIny]

"do people get something out hearing me read trough all the consonant phonemes?" yes, i have you reading esperanto's consonant inventory as my wake up alarm

[@egon3705]

this is esperanto, BUT it wakes Iny up in the morning

[@AbramDemski]

All of your self-criticism and thoughts about what makes a good episode resonated a lot with my sense of what aspects of Conlang Critic episodes I do/don't enjoy, and made me more excited about the future of the series.

[@krel4]

This series is one of my favourite sources of comfy videos. I'm not trying to learn as much as possible in the shortest possible amount of time: I'm just trying to listen to something cool from someone who has roughly my same interests but knows more about them. All the "redundant" parts like pronounciation and most of the orthography section complete the video and make it overall nicer. They also add video time, but if I were trying to cram High Valyrian the night before the final exam I'd probably just read the Wiki.

[@Juniper-111]

I would appreciate it if you kept both pronouncing the sounds and talking about them. Phonology is a pillar of conlanging and this channel was a major part of what exposed me to it / the IPA. That being said, I think you absolutely should mix things up when you want to -- it's your channel and, if you are tired of a format, there are probably plenty of other people who would be excited to see what you might want to put forward.

[@sleepinbelle9627]

I'm big in support of a less arbitrarily-structured future for this series. I love hearing about the mechanics and thought processes that go into conlangs as someone who doesn't actively do conlanging, but does do a lot of worldbuilding, and finds language really interesting. I think your video on Viossa is my favourite in this series.

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

Dude, I love your videos, the reading of the phonemes is my favorite part, I love these kind of videos a lot.

[@BloodRider1914]

The sound of your voice reading out the sounds pleases me on some level. Keep doing it!

[@RainbowLizardOne]

every one of these videos you do i read through the phonology chart in unison with you.

[@Prof_Granpuff]

Thank you for making this episode as you wanted it! Your happiness and interest is literally the only thing that matters here.

[@needlessnoise]

i'm an original subscriber! i was here when conlang critic was in season 1 and hope you do lots more :)

[@elemenopi9239]

i like having you read out the phonemes

[@Joseph-rs1rx]

This has to be my favourite video based strictly on your commentary about not knowing what to add/what else there really is to say/etc. Keep doing what you like! But this was funny because of how you approached sections of this video.

[@RejoyousMelissa]

I know Jan’s not doing requests anymore, but I think a Conlang Critic on Simlish would be cool.

[@KieranBhee]

I actually really enjoy how you present stuff from the wiki! Trying to parse through dense paragraphs and charts and vocabulary with very little background knowledge is really difficult and tiring. I appreciate how you're able to take all that information and break it down into more manageable pieces. I feel like having a conlang presented in such a way allows me to have a deeper & more meaningful understanding of a subject I might not have ever thought to look into independently. However all that being said, hearing people talk about things they're passionate about is very cool and fun, so I'm looking forward to seeing more content that you're genuinely interested in making!

[@hubertk7363]

I think that reading the chart is a good idea. Not everybody is familiar with IPA and I think that this series should be beginner-friendly. But the another reason why I don't want this section to be removed, is because I got used to it and it's (like white text on a black background) a visual thing that makes conlang critic a conlang critic

[@0hate9]

you know, you don't *need* to just do the languages people ask for? you can just do what you *want.* that's what I'm here for. oh right, you *do* know that.

[@samuelhammons2528]

Your rants and the phonology section are some of my favorite parts of the company critic episodes

[@Alex-ne1fe]

keep doing what ur doing, ur doing rly well and i promise we're all here for your personality, the way you talk about it and explain it. what makes these series so popular is the fact that it done by you and that you are being your authentic self :) keep well homedog

[@caca95cb]

Yes, hearing phoneme tables is really cool, it made me start recognising them by their placement. Also I really miss this stuff, hope it comes back eventually so I don't have to keep rewatching the old ones

[@GippyHappy]

2:17 if enjoyment at hearing you rapidly make a bunch of noises counts as getting something out of it than yes

[@songbird666]

you asked a lot of big questions in this one, not a single one what i was expecting when i turned into this. i tuned out sooner than i thought i would; i'm too empathetic to sit through existential stuff without having a panic attack about it x) your videos have been a *lovely* entry point into my base understanding of conlangs and i'm very grateful for that. i'm excited to see the new direction, and i hope the changes you make are very satisfying indeed!

[@UGSHavard]

Only a semi-recent subscriber but I love watching almost all of your content mostly for the way your personality bleeds into it. I like the conlang critic format as it is and something about this video is very relatable. I believe in you and I think a lot of your viewers do, good luck with more content.