Taking these two vers= ions together.
1. There are a limited number, maybe a half = dozen, consonants that occur in every major language, and maybe three vowel= s, so, to get a usable language we have to go beyond the common store and k= eep as close to our source languages as we can. We still try to use a= ounds that are available to speakers of most of our languages, but inevitab= ly miss in a few cases. English speakers have trouble with x and mayb= e j, though most speakers have the latter in the English j. Spanish s= peakers, depending on where they are from, may or may not have problems wit= h s, c, j, and ' (though most have c in their ch, Lojban tc). Most la= nguages have y in the form of unstressed a, and often other vowels as well.= In any case, these can all be learned with a little practice. We hope the rewards of learning Lojban compensate for this= difficulty. BTW, since Lojban is still mainly a written language, yo= u can become quite facile with it even if your pronunciation is not perfect= .

2. While each lujvo is only slightly shorter than its underl= ying tanru, those differences mount up quickly, so there is some economy in= volved. Further, the tanru is restricted to a more or less direct (if= obscure) connection with its component predicates, while a lujvo has (in p= rinciple, admittedly) a precise meaning derived from that combination. = ; The number suggestion is clever, but obviously even more impractical than= the lujvo process. Again, I assure you that you will come to know ma= ny of the lujvo -- and many rafsi -- quite naturally in the course of learn= ing Lojban. Probably before you learn all the gismu themselves. = And, again, since Lojban is primarily a written language still, you do not need instant recognition to carry on a conversation.
=
3. There are a limited number of possible (C)(V)(')V (V) forms an= d a very large number of things to do with them, so sometimes systematic us= e of the alphabet is possible and sometimes -- when conflicting patterns in= terfere -- not. In the first case, people complain that the members o= f the series are too easily confused; in the second that they are two hard = to remember. We do the best we can.

Your English is fine. = ; Hope you will soon be doing Lojban as well.

Fr= om: Greezael Think <arrobasangrienta@gmail.com>
To: lojban@googlegroups.com
<= b>Sent: Saturday, September 1= , 2012 3:56 AM
Subject: [lojban] First doubts

I started learning lojban about a month ago, alth= ough I knew it existed from before. For the moment, I'm very happy with it,= but I've found some doubts I would like to ask:

- lujvo and rafsi. = I just don't understand where is the need for these composed words. If I un= derstood correctly, they're just tanru in an abbreviated form. They are sup= posed to specify the meaning of the tanru, by creating an additional defini= ton. But they can use any combination of possible rafsi, so you could only = add one additional definition? I don't understand in which way they could b= e useful, they only save you a pair of letters, and for the problem of the = meanings it would be far easier adding a number before the tanru, for examp= le, and having a theoretically unlimited list of specific meanings (if they= are needed). And they are really difficult to learn: even if they ha= ve defined rules, they have too much rules to think about them while speaking (in my humble opinion).

- Some cmavo don't seem too logica= l. When I learned ja je ji jo ju I thought that it was a great idea followi= ng the a/e/i/o/u pattern, it made everything much easier. But then I found = se/te/ve/xe. I don't really understand why those words where chosen, instea= d of using the vowel pattern (leaving one vowel out, obviously). If it were= used, it would be easier thinking which one is the pair of sumtis changed.=

-Pronunciation. First, I'm a native Spanish speaker, so it's possib= le that I find it difficult just because its differences with Spanish. But = I'm pretty sure differentiating "j" and "c" is difficult for everyone. I've= tried hard, and between vowels I can use them, but for example I can't say= "lojban" and make it sound different from an hypothetical "locban". At the= beginning I also had problems with "y", but even if it can be difficult to= pronounce, at least is easy to see how it's a different sound from the others.

So, that's pretty much it. Thank you everybody for work= ing hard on this great language. And sorry for my english, I hope it at lea= s understandable ^^U

.co'o rodo
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