<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><DIV>Sellamat Brett !</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As a learner, when I encounter the auxlangs made by friends, first of all, of course, I look at the grammar, take an overview of the dictionary and sample texts. Then, I often try to make small translations, a few sentences, sometimes more. It helps me see if the auxlang really works. </DIV>
<DIV>It doesn't work when, either:</DIV>
<DIV>- the grammar is so skimpy that you can't string more than four words together before the sentence collapses. </DIV>
<DIV>- the vocabulary is so (voluntarily) skimpy that you need cumbersome periphrases to replace a single word</DIV>
<DIV>- the auxlang itself is so hard that you need more than one quarter of an hour to translate a single sentence (if you ever can translate it) because you must always check into the grammar</DIV>
<DIV>- the auxlang may be not especially hard, but its grammar, its vocabulary are so bizarre that even when you've correctly translated a sentence, another person having a good knowledge of the auxlang is unable to guess the meaning of what you've written (that happens with auxlangs which make an abusive use of affixes: you can't find back the stem or new compounds can be confused with another stem)...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As there is still time before the final choice, everyone could make its preselection through this means. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As the creator of Sambahsa, I proposed to learners small translations to check if they had assimilated the basics of it. Of course, if Sambahsa were chosen, the learners might propose another system. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Olivier</DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://sambahsa.pbworks.com/">http://sambahsa.pbworks.com/</A> <BR><BR>--- On <B>Tue, 7/7/09, Brett Williams <I><mungojelly@gmail.com></I></B> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><BR>From: Brett Williams <mungojelly@gmail.com><BR>Subject: [conlang_learners] What will you do the first day?<BR>To: conlang_learners@conlang.org<BR>Date: Tuesday, July 7, 2009, 3:34 PM<BR><BR>
<DIV class=plainMail>I've been feeling impatient about choosing the language, haven't you?<BR>I mean I do think it makes sense to set a longish schedule like this,<BR>but of course what I'm mostly looking forward to is learning the<BR>language, and I'm curious to see what we'll choose. I don't much care<BR>which language, as I think many of us don't; it's more the experience<BR>of learning it together. So I'm looking forward to getting started,<BR>to see what it's like.<BR><BR>Anyway, part of what I think is exciting about this project is the<BR>moment at which the choice of language is announced, and the feeding<BR>frenzy begins. Hopefully some of us will stick with the language and<BR>study it more deeply, but I believe that we'll be able to accomplish a<BR>lot just in that first burst of collective activity. We can work<BR>together to make all sorts of things that will help people learn the<BR>language, like flashcards and
other learning aids, crosswords and<BR>other educational puzzles, glossaries or glosses to make whatever<BR>texts are extant easier to read, questions for the language's inventor<BR>that will clarify things and be useful for future reference, etc.<BR><BR>One thing I've done with most of the conlangs I've studied, and intend<BR>to do right away with the language we choose, is to make<BR>demonstrations of simple words by labeling public domain pictures,<BR>like I've done here for the gzb word "txiql" (potato):<BR><BR><A href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mungojelly/3656406592/" target=_blank>http://www.flickr.com/photos/mungojelly/3656406592/</A><BR><BR>Or this one for Lojban's word ".arxokuna" (raccoon):<BR><BR><A href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/34464586@N08/3199599878/" target=_blank>http://www.flickr.com/photos/34464586@N08/3199599878/</A><BR><BR>As soon as the language is announced, I'm planning to look in its<BR>vocabulary for words that are easy
to demonstrate with a picture.<BR>I'll return the resulting images to the public domain, so that anyone<BR>else can use them in creating their own stuff. Hopefully we'll be<BR>able to build on each other's work, and very quickly create a mountain<BR>of introductory materials that will make the language a lot more<BR>accessible for everyone.<BR><BR>So what will you do the first day?<BR><BR><3,<BR>brett<BR>aka<BR>mungojelly<BR>_______________________________________________<BR>conlang_learners mailing list<BR><A href="http://us.mc574.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=conlang_learners@conlang.org" ymailto="mailto:conlang_learners@conlang.org">conlang_learners@conlang.org</A><BR><A href="http://lists.conlang.org/listinfo.cgi/conlang_learners-conlang.org" target=_blank>http://lists.conlang.org/listinfo.cgi/conlang_learners-conlang.org</A><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></td></tr></table><br>