Re: [lojban-beginners] Re: lo do ckiku ma zvati

[Michael Turniansky <mturniansky@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Jul 6, 2010 at 3:00 PM, Lindar <lindarthebard@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Not eliding those terminators makes even the simplest statements seem
>> horribly complicated. I believe that the best way to teach elidable
>> terminators is to teach them in such constructs as they are NOT elidable. To
>> tell someone "This word means this, but is hardly ever used for this
>> reason", likely tells that person "This isn't important, don't bother
>> remembering it". But to say instead, "This new word here, which means this,
>> is required in the sentence for this reason", seems to myself to have more,
>> um, staying power.
>
> I'm sorry, this is a horrible idea.
> In my experience I know this, and all of the newest teaching material
> reflects this. Teach terminators as if they're required, and don't
> even mention that {cu} exists. It's possible to go for months without
> using {cu}, so why teach it until it's necessary (namely when
> sentences start to sound like "kei ku kei ku kei kui *selbri*")?
>
> Which do you think is easier?
> 1. "Yeah, in this one particular circumstance you need this thing
> called "ku" that you just have to use because you can't use "cu"
> there, but you still have to have something there... cos... I said
> so...
>
> 2. "Well, now here's a cute trick. Right here, we don't actually need
> "ku", because it reads the same either way."
>
> Sometimes you need it for random strange reasons with convoluted
> rules, or you learn that you always need it and sometimes it can be
> left off.
>
> For pedagogical reasons, option 2 has proven time and time again to be
> the better alternative that results in much better diction/word-choice/
> phrasing. Please don't teach or use {cu} until you've gotten well past
> things like abstractions, and even then, don't use it unless it's
> absolutely necessary for the sake of brevity (ex: {.i lo nu mi broda
> be lo brode be lo brodi bei lo brodo be lo brodu cu co'e} instead of
> {.i lo nu mi broda be lo brode be lo brodi ku bei lo brodo be lo brodu
> ku be'o ku be'o ku be'o ku kei ku co'e}).
>

    Really?  You think avoiding "cu" is better than avoiding "ku"?  My
Berenstain Bears has 49 "cu"'s, and only 16 "ku"s, so you better darn
well know what cu means before you read this beginner book.

         -gejyspa

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