[lojban-beginners] Re: BPFK Taskmaster

[Robin Lee Powell <rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org>]

Just because no-one has branded something as Completely And Totally
Offical doesn't mean there's not a best place to find it.  Again,
you assume more authoritarianism than actually is the case in this
community.

Also, please stop top-posting.
http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html

-Robin

On Fri, May 25, 2007 at 02:08:30PM -0700, ANDREW PIEKARSKI wrote:
> What do you mean by "...jbovlaste is to be a central repository of
> The Right Word(s)".  My understanding from previous communications
> was that ther are no 'official' lujvo and that therefore they are
> just proposede words.  Having said that, there are other lujvo
> lists, so in what way are these right.....relative to them?
> 
> mu'o mi'e .andrus.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Robin Lee Powell <rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org>
> To: lojban-beginners@lojban.org
> Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 1:34:09 PM
> Subject: [lojban-beginners] Re: BPFK Taskmaster
> 
> 
> On Fri, May 25, 2007 at 05:48:21AM -0700, ANDREW PIEKARSKI wrote:
> > coi rodo
> > 
> > I'm excited that something is finally happening to ensure that
> > tasks are actually done (I hope this isn't premature).  Since
> > starting on lojban about 6 months ago, I've communicated my
> > concerns about the inadequacy of learning materials (e.g. no
> > simple 'approved' texts for beginning beginners) and problems with
> > vocabulary (e.g. the error in having {kisto} mean both Pakistani
> > and Pushtu, the inappropriateness of having {xingu'e} mean India).
> > The responses by 'the powers that be', while sympathetic, have
> > left me with the impression that the mechanisms or processes for
> > getting these things resolved are weak or non-existent.
> 
> That is very true, and has (almost) nothing to do with the BPFK.
> 
> We are all volunteers: no-one, to my knowledge, has ever received
> compensation other than satisfaction for Lojban work.  This means
> that if no-one feels like working on beginner material, it doesn't
> get done.  Simple as that.  (Having said that, I think
> http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/lojbanbrochure/lessons/book1.html
> is pretty good, but I haven't been a rank beginner for a long time).
> 
> On the other hand, most of the really skilled Lojbanists *are* BPFK
> members, and most of us prioritize BPFK work about other Lojban
> work.  The problem is that BPFK work is hard and slow, so many of us
> end up not doing much of anything at all.  It's my hope and belief
> that after the BPFK is done an explosion of things like beginner
> materials will occur.
> 
> As for vocabulary nits specifically, those are at least partly the
> BPFK's purview.  In the extra-specific case of cultural gismu,
> however, those are known to be fundamentally flawed *by their
> nature*; it is expected for speakers to understand this and not be
> assholes about it.  Regardless, the BPFK won't be putting serious
> work into them until the cmavo are done.
> 
> > So while the appointment of a taskmaster is essential, the
> > definition of the tasks and their prioritization is vital.  Here's
> > a suggestion.  Why not poll beginners (real beginners) on what
> > they find to be the biggest impediments to learning lojban?
> 
> Because it has nothing to do with the BPFK's mission to know that
> information.  If someone else wants to gather that information, they
> can feel free.  The BPFK is *not* interested in making major changes
> to the language unless a serious problem exists; "the CLL
> contradicts itself" is a serious problem, "it's hard to learn" is
> not (the exception is things that are actually *impossible to learn,
> the only one of which that's been talked about to my knowledge are
> certain cmevla morphology issues).
> 
> > On the issue of vocabulary, I agree 100% with Martin (I think it
> > was he) that having general usage finally determine the meaning of
> > a lujvo is unrealistic in a community as small as ours.  This way,
> > 20 years from now, we will still be arguing over the right word
> > for 'neighbour' and still won't have a word for 'sports'.
> 
> Umm.
> 
> No-one's arguing over these things.  If there's more than one, use
> whichever you like.  There's more than one way to say many things in
> Lojban; that doesn't make any of them wrong.
> 
> Having said that, the whole point of jbovlaste is to be a central
> repository of The Right Word(s); I'm going to be working on it more
> to make it easier to use (including self-sign-up pages, although I'm
> hoping someone else will do that).
> 
> -Robin
> 
> -- 
> http://www.digitalkingdom.org/~rlpowell/ *** http://www.lojban.org/
> Reason #237 To Learn Lojban: "Homonyms: Their Grate!"
> Proud Supporter of the Singularity Institute - http://singinst.org/
> 
> 
> 

-- 
http://www.digitalkingdom.org/~rlpowell/ *** http://www.lojban.org/
Reason #237 To Learn Lojban: "Homonyms: Their Grate!"
Proud Supporter of the Singularity Institute - http://singinst.org/