Message-ID: <1180279524.4659a2e4a0d00@ssl0.ovh.net>
Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 17:25:24 +0200
From: m.kornig@sondal.net
To: lojban-beginners@lojban.org
Subject: [lojban-beginners] Re: dicussions about basic vocabulary
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Selon Vid Sintef <picos.picos@gmail.com>:

> Martin's project can be viewed as a further condensed list of what are
> already basic words. And I'm willing to support it.

Thanks, Vid. But my intention was somewhat different.

My intention was to pick words that would be USEFUL for
(possibly oral?) everyday communication in ANY language.

I don't care whether they are Lojban root words for simple
things people may want to say or not.

I'm interested in basic functions, and I guess that's what
people are interested in when they start to learn a language:
They want to be able to communicate in simple situations
as quickly as possible. They want to be able to "catch"
some basic vocabulary in what others say and in simple texts
they may come across. And they will certainly expect this
from a language that claims to be easy to learn...

Actually there are a few compound words in my list like

"xa'ujbi" (neighbour),
"terve'u" (buy),
"tolkargu" (cheap),
"velcradi" (radio),
"vimku'a" (toilet) and
"relxilma'e".

I think "relxilma'e" is the longest it gets...

> But there's a thing I've
> noted about the criterion of the listing: It looks somewhat stereotypic and
> not sufficiently accommodating the actual needs of Lojban beginners. For
> example, I would've liked to know what the word for "password" rather than
> "passport". There's probably no single immigration officer in any country
> who would ask you in Lojban to produce a proof of your nationality, but
> there could exist web sites which would ask you in Lojban to enter your
> password. Likewise, the word for "the internet" would probably be more
> useful than "radio" in Lojbanistan, or "web page" rather than "book",
> "button (to click)" rather than "pen".
>
> If we consider the obvious possibility that Lojbanistan is going to further
> develop with its hub being primarily online collective communications (e.g.
> lojban.org, Wikipedia), we might as well prioritize those internet-related
> vocabularies so that the beginners can quickly adapt, from the very early
> stage of learning, to the most active space of the community.

Okay I understand your point. Let's add some more
"web-communicaton" words to my list.

"skami" (computer),
"smacu" (mouse),
"ciska" (write),
"tcidu" (read)

and a few others (I, you, hello, bye, thanks, music, etc.) are
already there. I simply assume that "smacu" is used for
computer mice, too?

Vid, you mention:

(1) password
(2) network/internet/web
(3) (web) page
(4) button

I could think of:

(5) (email) address
(6) click
(7) start/launch
(8) (software) application
(9) username/login
(10) picture
(11) quit/leave
(12) (email) message
(13) (mail)box
(14) keyboard
(15) screen
(16) print (out)
(17) switch on
(18) switch off
(19) discussion
(20) fast
(21) slow

That would be 21 words to add already. Remember
the My-First-Lojban-Words list currently as 121
items only. And I don't want it to become neither
too "hi-tech" nor too big.

Is there anything less important we could drop?
Does a beginner need much more?

May I suggest that for every additional word someone
proposes you also propose a word to be dropped from
the list of 21? Okay?

Could someone please sort out the Lojban equivalents
for these 21 words?

Martin