From lojbab@lojban.org Mon Jul 16 20:16:23 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: lojbab@lojban.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_2_0); 17 Jul 2001 03:16:23 -0000 Received: (qmail 59351 invoked from network); 17 Jul 2001 03:16:18 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by l9.egroups.com with QMQP; 17 Jul 2001 03:16:18 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO stmpy-4.cais.net) (205.252.14.74) by mta1 with SMTP; 17 Jul 2001 03:16:17 -0000 Received: from bob.lojban.org (47.dynamic.cais.com [207.226.56.47]) by stmpy-4.cais.net (8.11.1/8.11.1) with ESMTP id f6H3GG224119 for ; Mon, 16 Jul 2001 23:16:16 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <4.3.2.7.2.20010716225659.00c87b60@127.0.0.1> X-Sender: vir1036/pop.cais.com@127.0.0.1 X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3.2 Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 23:20:22 -0400 To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [lojban] Looking down: executive summary? In-Reply-To: <20010716182015.S27920@digitalkingdom.org> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed From: "Bob LeChevalier (lojbab)" At 06:20 PM 07/16/2001 -0700, Robin Lee Powell wrote: >On Mon, Jul 16, 2001 at 06:10:08PM -0700, Nick NICHOLAS wrote: > > OK, I'm enraged, but I know I'm enraged because of stuff going on with > > me much more than Lojban, and this has a risk of going around in > > circles, so let me see if I understand this. >[snip] > > And if the Lessons are pitched at the wrong level, then I'm happy to let > > someone else take them over; they've taken three months as is, and I don't > > have the time for a radical rewrite. > >I think you've done an amazing job, thank you so much for all your hard >work. > >[virtual hugs] Which I second as well (and some things I know pc has said places him in the Nick-hugging category as well). The work Nick has done is indeed amazing, as usual for him (his prodigious work in the past has been inspiring to me and many others and may be what has made possible where we are today). I certainly am not trying to suggest that Nick did something wrong, nor am I considering squelching his book. And I may not be phrasing things in my most diplomatic manner - pre-LogFest work crunches are my highest stress periods of the year. But if the lessons are at the wrong level for beginners, we can't call it a set of beginner's lessons, and that is what I thought he was working on (not having reviewed the lessons myself). If others who have reviewed the book feel that it is pitched at too high a level, we may have to consider publishing Nick's work on the Web for the short term, and doing something simpler for the introductory lesson book that is to be part of the beginners package. There may even be options that allow us to publish in print at two levels. The decision will almost certainly be made at LogFest, so it is critical that people speak up before then. What I had THOUGHT Robin's Turner's lessons were originally, was along the lines of the 10 lesson Esperanto Postal Course, and therefore I had presumed that was the level Nick was aiming his editing of those lessons at. This discussion, and one comment from Nora a couple nights ago were the first sign I had that this was not the case. An alternate hypothesis came up, which is that Nick was trying for something like one of the "Teach Yourself [language]" books, which are a bit more ambitious than the Esperanto lessons; part of this depends on how Nick himself sees Robin's work; his comments suggest that he is trying to work at the same level that Robin was, so he may have seen Robin's lessons as being more sophisticated than the Esperanto lessons. At which point, I throw the question open to *all* who have read some or all of Nick's lessons, with especial focus on the opinions of newer Lojbanists: is this the type of book YOU need or would like to read as a beginner in the language, or do we need something more basic, to which this book would be the follow-on. lojbab -- lojbab lojbab@lojban.org Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc. 2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA 703-385-0273 Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org