Na'vi on your sat-navatar

Na'vi – the constructed language, or conlang, of those big blue dudes with the tails in Avatar – has tipped up on Garmin satnavs, or sat-Na'vis, as we must now call them.

Amazingly, Garmin is citing public demand for this feature, which incorporates turn-by-turn instructions in a conlang that maybe 10 or 20 people in the world understand. Lost in translation, indeed.

So here are some driving instructions in Na'vi: mìn ftär (turn left), mìn skien (turn right) and txìng musìna tsengit (exit roundabout). You’ve now arrived at your “tìkan” (destination)

Garmin's Na'vi dictionary was created by an American linguistics student based in Edinburgh called Richard Littauer, who also goes by the name "Taronyu". He supplied the vocal cues and directions in Na’vi.

The download is free, suggesting that 20th Century Fox is paying for the exercise, which accompanies this week's launch of the Avatar Extended Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray and DVD.

Na'vi was created by Dr Paul Frommer, an American academic, for the fictional Na'vi people on Pandora in Avatar, the most widely watched film in recent years, and Richard and fellow Na'vi enthusiasts are helping to build out the conlang at Learnnavi.org.

Time will tell if Na'vi becomes as popular as the Klingon and Elvish conglangs.

Na'vi people frighten the dogs

Richard describes himself as the world's number one Avatar fan, and often dresses up as a Na'vi and goes out in public. He has given an entertaining interview - to The Sun - and you can see him in Pandora Na'vi dress in the article.

Natalie Smith, 22, told The Sun of her encounter with Richard: "My dogs were really frightened."

Richard says: "Friends say I'm crazy. I get slagged off and called an oversized Smurf. But I insult them in Na'vi."

According to The Sun, he will only date girls who also don the Na'vi look: "Strangely, I haven't got a girlfriend. It's hard to find someone 14ft and blue. It would be perfect," he says.

"I did pull a girl by speaking Na'vi. She found it beautiful. Dating websites are springing up with blue-coloured women on them."

Really? We are fairly sure that Richard is having a laugh.

More power to the language geeks!