Message-Id: <m0tJ6j1-0000ZWC@xiron.pc.helsinki.fi>
Date:         Fri, 24 Nov 1995 17:34:00 -0500
Reply-To:     Jorge Llambias <jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU>
Sender:       Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From:         Jorge Llambias <jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: translation problems
To:           Veijo Vilva <veion@XIRON.PC.HELSINKI.FI>
Content-Length: 2285
Lines: 54

la mark,l cusku di'e

> I've already apologized for being brash & assertive (which, I admit, is a
> fair description of my performances here).

I support and applaud your brashness and assertiveness. (That way I look
much more like a moderate. :)

> My problem is, I still want
> to learn the language.

ui e'e ko go'i

>  I submitted my
> Mini-Lesson, etc., in early September, but I've still received no
> response or correction to that.

I think that the line that says to send the minilesson for correction
should be removed from that file. The corrections per se are not really
needed, because the exercises are fairly easy, but I remember feeling
the same way when I didn't get the corrections back as a form of
acknowledgment. The natural reaction to that is to ask oneself why did
I bother to send it?  Even though I knew that I had everything or almost
everything right, if there is a promise of corrections and you don't get
them, it is a bit frustrating.

> * Here's what the Web documents said about diphthongs, verbatim:
>
> > The following are Lojban diphthongs. They are best pronounced as the
> > Spanish or Italian diphthongs of the same spelling, and
> > always are a single syllable.
> >
> >     ai    /ay/   as in "pie"         ei     /ey/  as in "pay"
> >     oi    /oy/   as in "boy"         au     /aw/  as in "cow"
> >
> >     ua    /wa/   as in "suave"       ue     /we/  as in "wet"
> >     ui    /wi/   as in "we"          uo     /wo/  as in "woe"
> >     uu    /wu/   as in the Chinese          but taking care not to
> >                  name "Wu"                  glide into triphthong /wow/
> >     ia    /ya/   as in "yard"        ie     /ye/  as in "yes"
> >     ii    /yi/   as in "ye"          io     /yo/  as in "yodel"
> >     iu    /yu/   as in "unicorn"            with a clipped "o" or in
> >                  or "few"                   "Yoda" of Star Wars fame.
> >
> >     iy    /yuh/  as in "million"     uy     /wuh/ as in "was"

None of "uu", "ii" and "iy" are diphthongs or anything else in Spanish
(a case might be made for "ii", but spelled "lli"), so the directions are
a bit incorrect.

Also, "uy" is a diphthong in Spanish, but is not pronounced /wuh/, so
if someone takes the instructions seriously they will mispronounce it.

Jorge