[conlang_learners] Length of time to learn

[kate rhodes]

I should preface this by saying I may not have the time to participate
initially due to working on my own lang for LoCoWriMo BUT here are my
opinions anyway.

> Straw poll: how many of you have a strong preference for an artlang
> over any possible auxlang, or for an auxlang (or a simple artlang?)
> over more complex artlangs?

I'm not particularly concerned about auxlang vs. artlang. I have
preferences for the way a language sounds (I'll take hawaii'an over
klingon any day) and ease of reading. I don't like the idea of dealing
with a language where the author has decided that "g" will be
pronounced like "n" just to be obtuse.

>
>
>> Because I
>> want something at least as complex as Asha'ille, and as far as pronunciation
>> goes I hope it should use the IPA and not some fake "closest sound in
>> English" method!
>
> A more complex artlang would suit me pretty well too, and I dislike
> use of fauxnetics to the exclusion of IPA (not necessarily in addition
> to IPA) -- but I wouldn't object to a fairly simple conlang either; I
> was the one who nominated Ilomi and Kalusa, as well as Alurhsa and
> Teonaht.

My only comment here is that the more non-ascii symbols a language
incorporates the more difficult it is going to be for most english
speakers to type and that's just going to add a further complication
to communicating in it for us, especially if it uses characters that
don't exist in a single default language keyboard layout. If a
language requires me to, for example, switch between French, Russian,
and a character palette I'm not even going to bother considering it no
mater how excellent a language it may be.

As most of us are just doing this for fun I think it would be
beneficial to choose a language that doesn't make you work too hard to
type in it. And yes, i realize this puts some perfectly decent
languages at an arguably unfair disadvantage.

As for language complexity... Again, we're mostly doing this for fun.
I would hope that most of us are up for something more challenging
than Toki Pona but the languages that would be challenging to the real
linguists on this list might be a bit beyond many of us, at least at a
casual level. I think if we look at this as more of a "let's have fun
learning an interesting conlang together" we can probably find an nice
middle ground that'll work for all, or at least most.

-Kate