Re: Online Learning (kinda)

[Robert Rapplean <kingcats@EARTHLINK.NET>]

> >In my
> >opinion, something that is greatly lacking in the lojban community is a means
> >to learn the language easily.
>
> Agreed.
>
> >For many people learning a language is about interaction,
> >not memorization.
>
> Probably true for most people %^).  However, our experience with Lojban
> has been that by far the critical path on learning the language is getting
> enough vocabulary in order to interact with someone, using the grammar which
> you have already learned.

To this end, I am seriously considering assembling a Lojban learning
tape as a
study project.  At this point, I think that the most useful type of tape
would be
the kind that alternately pronounces a Lojban word, then its English
equivalent.

The idea would be to assemble the spoken words on a computer in
CD-quality format.
Then it would be a simple matter to burn an audio CD of this type for
anyone who
wanted to, say, transfer it to tape and let it run auto-reverse in their
car tape
player for a few weeks.  Also, it could be transfered to wav format for
download of
examples as a friend of mine suggested.  Alternately, the entire pile
could be
placed on a server in manageable chunks for anyone who wanted to
download the
information and use it for their own purposes.

I have the neccessary equipment and production skills to do a passable,
if not 100%
perfect, job.  I would probably want to purchase a better microphone (no
sweat).
I'd have to look into CakeWalk or other mixing software.  Both my voice
and my
girlfriend's are of voiceover quality, and phonology has been an
interest of mine
since highschool.  What I truly need from the speaking population is two
things:
(1) a Lojbanist who is very skilled in the phonography so that we can
get a
definative pronunciation on the words, and (2) a list of the words that
would be
most useful on a tape (or tape set) like this, with definative one or
two word
meanings.

I am in the Denver, CO area.  The Lojbanist would need to be nearby, and
willing to
spend a about six to ten hours (not all at once) in front of the
microphone.  I'll
have to do some time trials to figure out how many words we can fit onto
a 30
minute side of a tape.  I could use some suggestions about what to do
with the
other 18 minutes of sound that a CD can hold.

So who wants to contribute?

Robert Rapplean
MythologicalBeast@tripod.net