The Mando'a language remains unique to fans not just for its multi-cultural influences but also for its gender-less vocabulary and focus on the present tense. "I decided to scrap gender for three reasons," Traviss says. "It makes the language simpler; I couldn't see the Mandalorians having the patience to worry about nouns with different genders; and it fitted the Mando view that gender was one of those things that didn't matter. The fact that buir means both mother and father ended up as a neat reflection of the fact that both parents -- all parents -- have the same responsibilities. Also would a Mando want to bother with the subjunctive or the pluperfect? Nah. They live in the simple present. Their past is always with them, and they don't know if they'll be around tomorrow. So they started with present tense only, and other Mandos understood what time period they meant. They added the tense prefixes later in history because the aruetiise got confused, and that was bad for business. All that contributed to a really simple, logical and colorful language that depended on word order rather than cases and other complex grammar."
Of course, even though the Mando'a language was made to be easy to learn, readers may come across a few phrases that simply cannot be directly translated into English, such as Oya Manda. "It's an expression of Mandalorian solidarity and perpetuity emotional and assertive, like 'Hey, we're Mandos and we're proud and we're going to be around forever!'" Traviss says. "Oya on its own has many meanings. Literally, it's 'Let's hunt!', as Walon Vau does in Republic Commando: Triple Zero. It's derived from the verb oyacyir (to live) which is connected to the verb for hunt, oya'karir, as Mandos see life as a hunt. So it also means 'Stay alive!’ -- the kind of farewell wish soldiers would make to each other. But it's also 'Hoorah!', ‘Go you!' and 'Cheers!' It's always positive and triumphant."
Traviss is eager to see how dedicated fans approach learning the new language she's created for a people she holds close to her heart. "I was determined to make this a natural language, not just a set of rules," Traviss says. "I wanted something flexible and full of idiosyncrasies and for it to feel lived in. No complex grammar, no difficult pronunciation, no silent letters, and lots of scope for making it your own language from the basic tools. It doesn't matter what accent you have; you can speak Mando'a and be understood by another speaker. Even the punctuation and ‘breath' mark -- the beten -- is variable and no Mando is going to mind if you use it differently. There are all kinds of ways of expressing something. The Mandalorian written font has no capitals or lower cases, so Basic grammar is always going to be a foreign concept to them -- they don't get hung up about grammar. It's primarily a spoken language, anyway.
Karen Traviss, Star Wars Insider Online Supplement "Inside Mando'a" (February 15, 2006)