Do you know the Matoran Alphabet?

[Toa Of Anarchy]

I know it may seem really nerdy, but we all know about the Matoran Alphabet. The secret messages hidden throughout the bionicle games, (My Friend Went To Po-koro And All He Got Me Was This Lousy Rock

So my question is, how many of you actually write/read in bionicle? And if so, how often. I'm sure that if you can still write bionicle you are ON THIS SITE

[fishers64]

I can recognize most of it, but sometimes I still consult my cheat-sheet when I'm unsure.

[Kopekemaster]

I both read and write it. I remember writing a massive message in the sand once:

Beware the Swarm.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

I never memorized the Matoran Alphabet. I just didn't feel a need to, since I would just look up the alphabet for messages that were written with it.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Toa Smoke Monster

[Pupwa21]

I both read and write it. I remember writing a massive message in the sand once:

Beware the Swarm.

That explains a lot.

[Bfahome]

I can read it pretty easily, but writing it is a bit more difficult since I can't always remember exactly what each letter is.

[Gatanui]

I can read it and write it. Sometimes, but very rarely, I use it when I don't want others to know what I'm writing.

 

-Gata

[Lemony Lepid]

I can read it very well, but the Voya nui version trips me up sometimes. I Can also write it, and I do locker mail in it. (make tiny letters and stuff them into your friend's locker vent, and they wright back, our entire student body does it. and I started it all. )

 

the main reason I tried was the newspapers in MNOG II. I hated those things. XD

Edited January 29, 2014 by Loganto The Bo-Matoran

[NoReturnPoint]

, I can

 

A friend and I used to pass notes in matoran in class. It's too bad we never got caught

 

-NRP

[bonesiii]

Oddly I never did bother to memorize most of it, which is weird because I'm into fictional letters and invent my own huge systems of them that I somehow manage to remember just fine. I did always remember the symbol for P, though, which I used in the symbol for my original fanfic series, the Paracosmos. For some reason though every time I figure out what some of them are, it always slips away again. It's weird.

 

Maybe it's because I enjoy it being more of a challenge, so I keep re-forgetting it so I can keep re-learning it.

[Chro]

I used to know it, but I'm... very rusty.
Really, though, does anyone actually read and write in Matoran? Why would you do that? XD

I can read it very well, but the Voya nui version trips me up sometimes. I Can also write it, and I do locker mail in it. (make tiny letters and stuff them into your friend's locker vent, and they wright back, our entire student body does it. and I started it all. )

... you taught your whole school to write in Matoran?

Edited January 29, 2014 by Chro

[Kaleidoscope Tekulo]

I have not tapped into such knowledge for quite some time. The last time I wrote in matoran was back in college occasionally while taking notes. I had a few issues with letters I rarely used like q and j.

[TLhikan]

I can probably make out anything written in Matoran, but some letters like W and G require me to think for a second. I probably couldn't write anything in it with a cheat sheet .

[northmarch]

Yeah I memorized it a long time ago (except letters that don't have English counterparts). I do struggle with drawing consistent circles though. I mostly just use it to label drawings and such but I've always wanted to re-write all the books in matoran.

[Taka Nuvia]

... it's been ages since I've last been able to fluently read stuff in matoran. These days, reading still works, kind of, if you give me a lot of time, but writing not so much. I usually just consult that handy image from the old Bionicle website if unsure.

[Lemony Lepid]

I used to know it, but I'm... very rusty.

Really, though, does anyone actually read and write in Matoran? Why would you do that? XD

 

I can read it very well, but the Voya nui version trips me up sometimes. I Can also write it, and I do locker mail in it. (make tiny letters and stuff them into your friend's locker vent, and they wright back, our entire student body does it. and I started it all. )

... you taught your whole school to write in Matoran?

Oh, no, we just send them in English, matoran is limited to friends only for me.

[Kopekemaster]

Someone needs to make a notebook just full of circles instead of lines, so that we can write it quickly.

[The 1st Shadow]

I can both read and write it. Mastered it years ago.

 

[Sumiki]

I can guess what some words are, but I can't write in it, mainly because I've never had reason to.

[dotcom]

I can read and write it fluently as far as I know. "As far as I know" because I haven't had any reason to do either in a while, but I'm pretty sure I know what everything is and how to write every letter. I mean, probably.

[25K Now!]

I've completely forgotten how to read it.

 

Never was able to write it though.

[Pranciblad]

As soon as I saw his thread I took a pen and paper and tried writing he whole alphabet from memory. My conclusion: I've gotten really rusty at this, and I wasn't even that good in the first place...

[Just A Dot]

I can fluently read it, and write it with a little bit of effort.

[Hahli Husky]

Moved to LEGO Discussion.

 

 

(when I was like 15 my sister would always find my diary and read it, so I wrote in it using Matoran Alphabet for a good year until she stopped)

[Lyichir]

I can read it just fine. The letters are all based on the Latin alphabet, so once you've got a basic understanding of which glyphs correspond to which letters it's easy to remember and decode.

I would probably opt to have a translation page handy when writing with it, however, since I might be a little rusty and mix up some letters—an easily detectable problem when reading a grammatically correct message, but not as easily caught if I'm writing the message myself.

[Rahkshi Guurahk]

I might mess up some, but I can.

[V-N]

Someone needs to make a notebook just full of circles instead of lines, so that we can write it quickly.

 

This is a fantastic idea, one that unfortunately is probably not worth the effort, with BIONICLE no longer existing and all. A "letter" for a regular space would have to be made too,

 

I myself learned to read and write Matoran years ago, but haven't practiced it for a while, and am probably rusty.

[Kopekemaster]

 

Someone needs to make a notebook just full of circles instead of lines, so that we can write it quickly.

 

This is a fantastic idea, one that unfortunately is probably not worth the effort, with BIONICLE no longer existing and all. A "letter" for a regular space would have to be made too,

 

I myself learned to read and write Matoran years ago, but haven't practiced it for a while, and am probably rusty.

 

 

If I were to do it, I would just scribble inside a circle for it to count as a space.

But it shouldn't be too hard to make; I'm actually thinking of making one eventually here.

[Kayru]

I used to write notes back and forth with my friend in Matoran writing. Needless to say I have it pretty well ingrained into my head.

 

[Aanchir]

I knew the Matoran alphabet pretty well and probably still do, but to be fair, it isn't entirely difficult to learn or retain. After all, all of the letters are designed to closely resemble the corresponding letters in the Latin alphabet. Obviously some get considerably distorted through simplification, but the basis is still reasonably evident and there are only a few letters that have ever caused me much confusion.

 

In contrast, I don't know if I've ever been able to decipher Matoran numbers from memory.

[Dark_Stranger]

A while back, Matoran was my default code--perfect for when I wanted to write something that I could read fairly easily, but that no one outside my family would have a clue about. Haven't really had cause to use it for some time, but I'm fairly confident I still could if the mood were to strike me.

[Master Inika]

I can't automatically remember which letters are which, but I can read and write both with accuracy. The biggest problems for me are D, G, and Y. I know the number system pretty well.

[Toatapio Nuva]

I can read and write Matoran perfectly well, but writing takes a lot of time since you need to draw the circles...

 

To be honest, the alphabet isn't hard to decode even for someone who isn't a Bionicle fan. Many letters are similar as the latin correspondents.

 

Still I use it sometimes to make it harder for others to read what I'm writing.

[Master Inika]

I can read and write Matoran perfectly well, but writing takes a lot of time since you need to draw the circles...

That's true. I usually draw all the circles first, then go back and add the inner details.

[Toa Of Anarchy]

I usually write mine in a very handwritingish way, the circles being very imperfect and the lines sometimes to long for the circle, kind of like some of the writings in MNOGII. It gives it somewhat of a more human feeling.

[Art Vandelay]

Someone needs to make a notebook just full of circles instead of lines, so that we can write it quickly.

 

Here you go: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YJnwXbYwlLmQDcQBMe2QiwuGQx3bHTltiphOHitHOP4/edit?usp=sharing. I'll make versions with more pages if you guys want, but you can just print out however many you want of the three circle sizes I included. Great idea, Kopeke!

Edited February 7, 2014 by XONAR

[bonesiii]

Another idea: Add pages with hexagons.

 

Maybe even the alternating up/down triangles for Xia. (I think that was later decanonized, but fans can ignore that, heh.)

 

Plus, put the alphabet key at the start, IMO.

 

Note: There is a problem with that pre-circled page thing, though -- a circle with nothing in it is the letter O even in Matoran, not a space. Spaces would just be spaces. I guess you should still trace over the circles with actual ink/pencil to do it properly. (Might wanna mention that suggestion at the start too.)

[Master Inika]

Does anyone still use the Matoran-style hyphen from MNOG? For the unfamiliar, it looked like a minus sigh with a small circle underneath it. Interestingly, it was inconsistently used with village names. The Onu-Wahi tunnels always use them, but Po-Wahi (including the rock) doesn't (they say thinks like, "POKORO"). The Ga-Koro sign doesn't have a hyphen, but does have a space ("GA KORO"). I always liked the BIONICLE hyphen.

[Toa Of Anarchy]

Another idea: Add pages with hexagons.

 

Maybe even the alternating up/down triangles for Xia. (I think that was later decanonized, but fans can ignore that, heh.)

 

Plus, put the alphabet key at the start, IMO.

 

Note: There is a problem with that pre-circled page thing, though -- a circle with nothing in it is the letter O even in Matoran, not a space. Spaces would just be spaces. I guess you should still trace over the circles with actual ink/pencil to do it properly. (Might wanna mention that suggestion at the start too.)

Yeah, did anyone else notice that they changed the way to write K? It looked like this, and then it looked like this

P.S. I think that second one is SO AWESOME, I gotta remember to print it out

[Lyichir]

Another idea: Add pages with hexagons.

 

Maybe even the alternating up/down triangles for Xia. (I think that was later decanonized, but fans can ignore that, heh.)

 

Plus, put the alphabet key at the start, IMO.

 

Note: There is a problem with that pre-circled page thing, though -- a circle with nothing in it is the letter O even in Matoran, not a space. Spaces would just be spaces. I guess you should still trace over the circles with actual ink/pencil to do it properly. (Might wanna mention that suggestion at the start too.)

I thought spaces were sometimes dots between words or something. In any case, yes, a pre-circled notebook has that problem.