The Art of Koiwriting - a tutorial for the constructed language, Tsevhu

A tutorial for writing basic sentences using koiwrit for the conlang Tsevhu. We cover the basic steps to go through to get started:
- find a sentence to translate
- find the basic vocabulary
- start with the simplest version
- plan out the simple sentence
- find the ripples for the words
- draw out the ripples in their slots
- add any additional information.
dictionary link (sorry it's a bit messy, Tsevhu is a growing language and we're growing as a community. Our learning and resource material will get better as we go)
Tsevhu Dictionary for public viewing
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
For questions head to the discord server, we've got a great community there full of people beginning to learn.
/ discord
Check out all the cool stuff people have made on r/tsevhu

[@ordinaryextraordinary9484]

pov: i passed you a note in class but when you go to read it it's just a fucjing fish

[@sleepycritical6950]

Surprise, when the fucking fish is translated it actually says “it’s just a fucking fish”.

[@domdomyesktp]

or ‘it’s just a Fuqing fish’

[@moose200]

the fact that progressive verbs are considered the most basic forms is genius just like koi and water, it’s all ever-moving

[@plopgoot5458]

this is beutifu and would make for a very high effort rickroll hidden in art

[@IndieIllustrates]

omg dont give me these ideas late at night

[@unknowndeviceconnected]

​@@IndieIllustratesNah man, at this point it *HAS* to be done

[@machaiarcanum]

In all seriousness, it's great to see your conlang spreading its wings Koa. Congrats.

[@tobirivera-garcia1692]

seeing the conlang swimming with its fins?

[@wigwagstudios2474]

dude if only this existed back then in like ancient japan

[@cheesesentience]

Maybe one could transliterate Japanese into Koiwrit

[@-karma-2426]

​@@cheesesentience I was think doing about that!! Mostly with simple sentence cuz my Japanese isn't too good but yeah

[@nande6471]

But it's not a practical language

[@-karma-2426]

@@nande6471 it doesn't have to be practical, plus it's an art lang.

[@owojohnson1115]

IT'S ART! ​@@nande6471

[@resolvanlemmy]

I swear, this language belongs in a science fiction cartoon, one where one of the characters is a koi fish. It would be insanely great.

[@koavhukva6996]

That'd be cool

[@resolvanlemmy]

@@koavhukva6996 I figured science fiction is very well known for having fictional constructed languages, so this idea just seemingly crossed my mind once I heard about your gorgeous creation.

[@koavhukva6996]

@@resolvanlemmy I wish it were moreso known. It's getting more now especially in shows and stuff, but I know a lot of authors and say video game creators don't think it's worth the time and effort to flesh out a language even tho it does great things for audience engagement and lore.

[@resolvanlemmy]

@@koavhukva6996 Really? I never knew that.

[@qwertystop]

Aquatic Sagwa?

[@anotparticularlynotableguy]

This language is beautiful in more ways than one. Koiwrit would be perfect for sending secret messages during times of war.

[@koavhukva6996]

That's actually a bit of the lore behind the language, with it being used as a code in a revolution against invading oppressors

[@anotparticularlynotableguy]

@@koavhukva6996 I'd love to hear more about this! Do you have this lore written somewhere?

[@koavhukva6996]

@@anotparticularlynotableguy not particularly anywhere in any depth. That's something I do need to do at some point though.

[@anotparticularlynotableguy]

@@koavhukva6996 maybe make a video about it! Id love to watch that

[@owojohnson1115]

​@@koavhukva6996 interesting! Tell us more!

[@thatoneotherboi]

Wait, your Tsevhu's creator?? Damn, i remember seeing it a few months back in r/conlangs and being amazed by how the script looked. Its wondeful to see Tsevhu is still "alive" lol.

[@CasualGraph]

a lyric video in this script would be neat, like imagine the ripples forming on screen as they're sung out

[@ton_ak5119]

Everything about this is simply astonishing. The idea for a writing system like this is already mind blowing, but what's really surprises me is how well such a difficult and complex concept turned out. I'm flabbergasted by the beauty of this conlang. Also the ripples for writing words, which I didn't understand watching the previous video from 3 years ago, are a unique feature that warks unbelievably well. This is truly a piece of art, please I need moor of this 😂 make more video, even something as simple as a few other examples sentences would be enough to cure my addiction to this artlang

[@mastertofu]

This is so cute. I love the idea of modifying a fish to make a sentence and really want to learn this conlang to use myself for fun

[@orioneon4458]

omg or the idea of people "reading" koi fish in ponds!!!

[@Leonardo-oq9yt]

Tsevhu is probably one of the most beautiful conlang I've ever seen and I'm really happy to know more about it! Edit: I really like the sentece "Tsevhu likes 'the sun is setting'"! It sounds like a really cute explenation for the way the conlang works!

[@aaronstrager4247]

I came across Tsevhu around 2020 on Reddit, and was blown away by how creative it was. Hearing that it now has a shorthand, dictionary, and community brought a huge smile to my face. Congrats!

[@blue.goldfish]

Wow. This is a gorgeous language to learn. Poetry on so many levels. With the Koi being relative to the paper it makes me want to write a poem that can be read from both ways, much like Mozarts Duet for two violins called "Spiegelduett" or "Mirror Duet", where if you place the same sheet upside down and play "from the bottom", you get the complimentary second voice.

[@booyahboogie3350]

Tsevhu was my introduction to conlangs! It is SUCH a gorgeous language, i could stare at some pieces for hours. Thank you for making this video, I can’t get enough of this pretty language!

[@ardinhelme687]

Ok, I cannot express how much I love this, both conceptually and in execution, this excellent, beautiful, whimsical, and I just can't even. I do note that there isn't any direction given on how to relate multiple sentences together, so if I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, I think that an outward expanding spiral would be appropriate and on theme for Koiwrit, with the beginning sentence fish being in the middle (probably marked in some way) and then the next fish would be south of the initial one with following sentences circling around it, thus things written in Koiwrit would be circular rather than blocks of text and you could call them Story Ponds. I also imagine Story Ponds being illustrated in the style of illuminated manuscripts, with the scribe taking time to lovingly detail each fish before perhaps gilding the ripples that are the actual text, it would look so beautiful.

[@koavhukva6996]

Fish do get read as a flow, going from the back of the school to the front. Since the tense of the sentence is tied to the direction of the fish, it'd be a bit hard to make it circle, but I do have an idea for how it could happen via orientation indicators using fish scales. I'm planning on explaining more on this in another video

[@ardinhelme687]

Yeah, I didn't notice the second fish in the example text until I went back to rewatch the video, and them being organized into schools just makes too much sense. To clarify, when I was talking about the fish being written in a spiral, I was only referring to the positioning of the fish in relation to each other. The facing of the individual fish would still follow the tense rules, just with the body of the fish lying on the spiral. In any case, writing them in schools makes altogether more sense as I assume it is more or less analogous to paragraphs of text. I can't wait to see more!

[@keylime6]

Conlanging and asmr, 2 of my favourite things in one video

[@humanteneleven]

Wow this is awesome!!! Incredibly clear and intuitive explanation, very well done! I’m so glad more people are learning about Tsevhu :)

[@conlanger]

How is nobody freaking out it is THE humanteneleven in the comment section of the video I am watching

[@koavhukva6996]

Thanks so much :)

[@gregormuller4598]

Never heard of this before, but it is amazing! It feels so much like a real writing system used by some koi-monks

[@Nosion2]

For the algorithm… also love this, already have a few characters that use tsevhu as their main language… not that I know much of it… need these to fix that, so thank you

[@Thirikalee]

I have no idea about any of this and understand maybe a quarter of the explanations - but it sounds so cool and looks great! To imagine there’s a sentence „hidden“ in that beautiful drawing is magical!

[@LeBeaBae]

anyone else think this looks like gallifreyan

[@popmissymoo8947]

The effort, thought and passion that has been put into this is incredible. Love it!

[@chicken_nugs]

I'm going to try and write poems with this conlang, thank you for the tutorial :D

[@electriclance3288]

im so happy tsevhu is still going strong... during quarantine it was one of my major inspirations for my own conlang

[@clockwise_sb4163]

This is beautiful. Love seeing unique neographies like this

[@notanalien1-xu2ge]

Discovered your conlang only a couple of weeks ago on reddit and instantly fell in love. This tutorial makes your skill and passion for it so clear. :D

[@JustAShyGhost]

I am so amazed by this language! Every sentence truly is a piece of art with how carefully crafted they are. This makes me want to craft my own, personalised sentence and get it as a tattoo with the meaning just for myself :)

[@draco5991rep]

I would love to see a full manuscript of this (like one page describing a pond of fishs for example). Would be interesting to see how to read it then. Is it left to right, right to left, top to bottom,bottom to top or spiraling outwards or spiraling inwards. Very cool concept 👍🏼

[@josefwolanczyk4866]

Honestly? *Major* kudos. This is truly astounding work. You have a new subscriber!

[@admiralpanda7065]

Conlangs are like magic to me, it's insane to me that one person can just... Make a language. Maybe it's less magic and more science once you know more about languages, but to me it still appears like magic! And I can't imagine the knowledge and effort that goes into creating magic...

[@mwgiannini]

I have no idea how any of this works but this person has me entirely captivated.

[@tsikli8444]

After seeing so many of your beautiful posts on r/conlangs, it's so cool to see a tutorial on how to use it! Top-tier work!

[@eddie-roo]

I remember seeing this on r/conlanging (or whatever the sub is called) like 5 years ago and I immediately fell in love with it. Glad you’re explaining it further!

[@user-kussikh]

This is actually the best concept for a writing system! Love it!

[@awholebee]

your voice is so nice for explaining things! very easy to listen to

[@TherapistBoughtFromWish]

You don't know how long I've been waiting for a tutorial like this! Havatan!

[@arktrus]

i don't think i've ever been as amazed by a conlanging idea as by this. my god this is such a cute and creative idea i'm so tempted to put my japanese studies to the side for a bit just to learn either your writing system and applying it to some of the languages i already speak or to learn your entire conlang all together. i cannot stress enough how cool this is. your work is amazing!

[@AltiumYT]

Very beautiful Love the idea and execution of concentric ripples to make words, it's wonderful!

[@silvrfenix]

I LOVE this!! So beautifully creative, not to mention aesthetic and soothing to listen to and watch. Bravo 👌🏻💜

[@karishmabora4609]

I came across tsevhu a few months back. Its really awesome.

[@oceanusprocellarum6853]

WOAH I remember seeing this a while ago on reddit! This is one of my favorite conlang projects rn, thanks for making a video about it!

[@theiabon]

Whoah, I literally just thought of coming up with my own conlang and this vid is the first thing that gets recommended to me

[@ThePomorimDourado]

Im glad you did this video, because the previous one didn't do justice to this beautiful language. But now I not only understand it but love it too.

[@That_Russian_Cat]

I've always been interested in Koiwriting! This helped me so much. Thank you.

[@justaduck1664]

Your conlang inspired me to make my own conlang and your way of writing may have influinced mine a bit, I am greatfull for your creation and I hope that it stands the test of time and maybe just maybe somehow go mainstream

[@teejaykaye4357]

Thank you KZbin for showing me this absolutely fantastic video. I adore constructed languages and this is one of the most unique and beautiful ideas I’ve ever seen and you present the video so soothingly, I could listen to your voice for hours

[@noblenobull8484]

Really glad this was made. I just found out about this several weeks ago and really wanted to get into it but with limited time during the week I was having difficulty sitting down and reading the documents that explain the learning process. It’s still going to take me some time to learn but this was concise and really well put together and easy to follow. Hope to see more videos in the future but many thanks for this!

[@MegaBeeYT]

Absolutely beautiful Conlang, I'd never thought of doing it like this. I've checked some of your other Conlangs and they're also great, I will certainly be keeping up on all this amazingness.

[@Jess-ds1dw]

This video was truly so lovely. I remember seeing the posts about it on /r/conlangs but even then I didn't comprehend just how beautifully detailed this language and system is. Thank you for a wonderful video! I truly hope you'll make more.

[@MasterofPuppets5D]

This video was an absolute BLESSING. I cannot emphasize how clearly and beautifully the message was conveyed . Please, do more videos like this! It was so relaxing and informative.

[@nimiugn]

heard of Tsevhu / Koi Conlang just a few months back. Thanks youtube for recommending this to me. More importantly thanks Koa for creating this beautiful art of Koiwriting!

[@paranormalsoulz]

I’ve been so desperate for this thank you!

[@timothymonk1356]

Everything about this is absolutely beautiful.

[@federicoarrighi5459]

Finally you came back with koiwriting! 'Hope you great succes in this. 😊

[@kitkattanimates]

This is actually such a cool conlang! Also, you have a really relaxing voice

[@bszemeg8228]

I am so happy that the algorithm in its omnipotent glory has bestowed this video upon me You've created something great! I'm hoping to try and play around with Koiwrit and Tsehvu, and that you'll keep improving upon it!

[@jimbrenneman2040]

Please release more videos explaining this language. It's gorgeous and I want to know how it works more

[@comfylang]

I still remember the pictures you shared of Tsevhu writing in a subreddit dedicated to conlangs. I am so happy to see how your language gets popular!!

[@LucaTeemant]

YAYY finally a long vid tutorial! Thank you so much!!

[@Boiea]

I just arrived, this is pretty a well-constructed language. I love this so much.

[@omgfiredragon]

I first clicked because I misread the title and thought it was a tutorial on writing legends, but I stayed because this is such a beautiful conlang bursting with potential!

[@JoeyGirardin]

Truly beautiful work of art!!

[@Kamari333]

this is gorgeous! i love languages and this is so interesting and fun as a concept!

[@asderfly3915]

I’ve always been interested in conlangs, even though I never participated in any community since I don’t have any special linguistic skills so I don’t know much about all of this. but what I can say for sure, is that this the most creatively elegant way of writing I’ve ever seen, and yet it also seems like something that could develop naturally in some civilisation...

[@armina0033]

I saw Tsevhu a few months ago and having my own conlangs, I was fascinated by it! I'm so glad you made a videotutorial, and it's so calming to watch!

[@armina0033]

I really like practicing other's people conlangs while in class, so let's hope that soon my notebook will be filled with Koi fish :)

[@Amaiguri]

Yo, I was introduced to koiwriting by a KZbin Short that wasn't you -- but I assumed it was from the way it was phrased? I'm glad I came to find the original and I hope you go as viral as that KZbin short because YOU deserve the credit

[@geckoram6286]

a beautiful video for a beautiful conlang, it looks amazing.

[@sillyswrdd]

This is so beautiful. I love it so much!

[@cogsworth2634]

Thabk you so much for this video. Ive been trying translate some poems that i think suit this language. Struggling to wrap my head around it, bit ill get there! This is a beautiful thing youve mafe for the world!

[@laml545]

This is actually beautiful!

[@itsnihliz]

Found it on reddit, such a beautiful writing system!

[@thomasthejetengine]

youtube recommendations have been giving me some absolute bangers lately this is so cool wtf

[@connormabe-kropf9251]

WAIT WAIT BRO Sorry- I just realized that this is what I should have been doing with one of my conlangs this whole time Thank you SO much!

[@Demon_Cat_With_Glowing_Eyes]

I have been waiting for this for so long

[@Kotuuu_]

This is really cool, inspired me for my own language stuff for my world project! TOO GOOD

[@Tekyng_of_Baregan]

This is the prettiest language I have ever seen! The ripples really look like ripples without being super realistic:)

[@koavhukva6996]

Yay

[@julianreckmann4241]

This is a great tutorial, thanks a lot for making it!

[@chl_att]

This is so interesting, I love it so much!!

[@ArtemisGOTM-se5wm]

It would be awesome if you posted complete tutorials for people to actually learn how to speak Tsevhu and write the formal and informal forms! I know I'd be very interested in that!!

[@shoofle]

this is so cool! more circle based conlangs, yess!

[@unepetitecreatrice5190]

This is really interesting, wish I could learn more from you!

[@Juno_Solanaceae]

This is beautiful Koallary, absolutely beautiful I am genuinely in awe of the beauty and majesty of this language, a language! It’s incredible! A language, which is also an art form!!! I- I genuinely Can’t put into words how incredible this all is When my year 12 formal happens end of this year, I want to write poetry all over my exposed skin in Koiwrit, as part of an art/fashion piece in Henna ink

[@kiyasuihito]

I'm in love with this language. I have a koi tattoo. I love koi. This language is beautiful. 🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤

[@shady_potato205]

holy shit you're gonna blow up, love this conlang!

[@waddlesthepig6457]

This is so useafull and well made, thank you so much!!!

[@lewismassie]

This is delightful. I was wondering about making a circular script of some kind (like some cross between fantasy magic runes and the alien language from Arrival) and your ripple system is really cool inspiration

[@KPpivot]

I re learned what prepositions are, thank you.

[@Moonmoon-ws6jo]

this is making me want to make poem out of this and give it to my muse. it also helps me apply the things i am learning in my college courses as a linguistics student.

[@beefromashroom]

hoooooly shit this is so cool!!!! your conlang is SO beautiful, and seems so fun to write and talk in, it's so complex and I'm just in love

[@depressoespresso5904]

just wrote my first sentence and its an extremely simple sentence but its already so pretty tsevhu is just beautiful

[@solarmoth4628]

This would add so much color and depth to a video game where you could see the writing move. I hope you get to make your own story around this language or meet an awesome partner who can do it with you.

[@mathskafunda4383]

Nice! Was looking for this.

[@organichotchoco]

omg this conlang is so pretty!!!!!

[@lost.274]

Awesome. Thank you!!!

[@jasminreyes1278]

YOU MADE THIS UP!?!? THAT'S INSANE!!

[@tehepicnarwhalninja6530]

Extremely helpful!!

[@TheTonomancer]

This is so beautiful 😭❤

[@tabularasa_br]

This is simply genius!

[@Ivory-Bunni]

Omg a tutorial I'm gonna share this to everyone ik who likes Conlangs