On 7 May 2010 19:08, Luke Bergen
<lukeabergen@gmail.com> wrote:
How would you say "john understands english" in lojban, xorxes? (And {la djan se bangu le glibau} says that he uses it, not that he understands it/knows it).
"John understands English" means that something can be communicated to John by means of English. And this is what {la djan se bangu le glibau} means, is it not? Being capable of understanding a language is being capable of using a system of words in interpreting information encoded with that system. If by "use" you mean an actual application of the ability, that's something to be made explicit with {ca}, {ca'a}, etc.