There's no word for 'thank you' in Dothraki

So that's it. I've reached the end of season 4 of Game of Thrones. I came late to the series. I'd been writing about conlangers for Beyond and I didn't think I could write about the Dothraki language without watching some of Game of Thrones.

In case you don't know (I didn't), a conlanger is a person who invents conlangs (constructed languages). David Peterson is the conlanger who created the Dothraki language for Game of Thrones. He came up with more than 3,000 Dothraki words as well as a set of grammar rules. His aim was to make the language sound convincing while at the same time be easy for actors to learn.

If you're interested, here's a behind-the-scenes video which explains the story behind Dothraki.

As for the series, in today's Sunday Times, AA Gill writes: 'The last two episodes were some of the most sophisticated and brilliantly made bits of dramatic television I’ve seen on the small screen.'

This season has definitely been my favourite and marked my transition from old technology (watching seasons 1-3 on DVD) to new technology (watching season 4 on Yomvi, the online service from Canal+).

I've only recently started watching whole seasons of shows in this way and it's addictive. I'm still a novice having just completed season 1 of both Breaking Bad (4 more seasons to go) and The Walking Dead (I'll think about that one). The latter was more research, this time for a zombie-related project. It's amazing where ELT writing can lead you!