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[lojban-beginners] Re: Totally new

Since it looks like there are a nice number of new Lojbanists, I'd like to throw out a few general language learning tips. I've studied Spanish and Mandarin Chinese in a classroom setting, and a bunch of others non-seriously on my own. Great to hear that you've decided to pick up some Lojban!
The two most important things in picking up a new language are speaking and thinking. Speaking means taking the new Lojban you know, and putting them together on the fly into sentences. It's not the same thing as carefully composing sentences with your textbook and wordlists handy; that's composition. Speaking is where you don't care so much about errors, just practicing and making concrete what you know.
The thinking comes a little later. That's where you stop using English at all, and can actually *think* in just Lojban for a while. This is actually the hard part, but also the part that makes you truly fluent. For example, I have a friend who spent 4 years studying French but never learned to think in French. She still can't carry on a conversation in French because it takes too long to think in English first and then translate into French. The same is true for Lojban -- translating things carefully is a great exercise for building grammar skills, and translating on the fly is how you make them things you know instead of things you've memorized.
As for the resources, I agree with what has been put out there as being good places to start. I'd like to add the dictionary I have, but I really don't know where I got the original PDF from. I have my hardcopy and the softcopy's probably around here somewhere... 

On Jun 13, 2006, at 6:14 AM, Paul Vigo wrote:


Tod Glenn wrote:


Greetings all,
I just joined the list, having long been fascinated by artificial or constructed languages. I've decided to take the plunge into lojban. Does anyone have some suggestions on how to 
approach learning for an absolutely raw beginner?

----
Tod Glenn
todg@cordite.com
http://www.cordite.com



Hi Todd.
I've just started recently as well. There's some good beginner resources on the lojban.org site. 

I'd say:

   * Read "what is lojban" for orientation
   * Read and do the exercises in "lojban for beginners."
   * Get yourself some kind of vocabulary drill system, a "leitner
     system" flashcard program is ideal (i've got one on my palm).
     Input (or commit) new words as you encounter them while reading
"what is lojban" so you are being drilled on the vocab as you learn. 
   * Get some form of word lookup tool (also got that on my palm) that
you can quickly access so you to translate without losing the flow 
     of thought
   * if you find yourself continually forgetting a word or concept,
     write a few sentences in lojban (using other familiar words as
     well) which you can use as a reminder of how the word or particle
     works
   * Read the reference grammar when you can be bothered, especially
     when some language issue pops up that you need a greater
     understanding of
I think flashcard programs are a great way to help learn vocab. The difference between normal flashcard systems and "leitner" and related systems is that the latter schedule cards you have trouble learning so that you drill them more often. (This way you only occasionally drill familiar cards, and difficult ones come up more often, so you can keep a larger vocabulary in your system without getting flooded with things you already know well.) Let me know what you need as I did a lot of searching before coming up with my own system, and probably know of something that would suit. With flashcards I started out using paper, but quickly got over it. 

Paul Vigo