Archive for March, 2009
Jokes in Esperanto, Part I Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 31, 2009
VIRO: “Cxu vi parolas Esperanton?” KNABO: “Jes, kiel landano!” Translated… (Man: Do you speak Esperanto? Boy: Yes, like a native!)
Typing Esperanto Characters Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 31, 2009
For the most part, Esperanto utilizes the standard Latinate character set. This means that the better fraction of its alphabet can be typed using your typical QWERTY keyboard. Unfortunately, you cannot type the entire alphabet using your normal keyset…There are a handful of straggler letters that are unique. If you’ve been following this blog, you…
Great Translated Works Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 29, 2009
At present, a large part of Esperanto literature consists of existing works that have been translated into Esperanto. A few gems can be found in e-text format from Project Gutenberg . There you can find Lewis Carroll’s nonsensical children’s story “Alice in Wonderland,” except it goes by “La Aventuroj de Alicio en Mirlando.” A good…
Confusing “De” and “Da” Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 29, 2009
Esperanto has two similar prepositions, “de” and “da,” that mean two different things but are similar enough to trip up students of other languages. Having studied Spanish as my first excursion into foreign language, “de” and “da” manage to confuse me on occasion. We shall have a look at them here today. “De” roughly means…
Solresol Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 27, 2009
Esperanto was not the first attempt at a universal language. There were a few ill-fated ventures throughout history. Mostly, they had the right idea, but simply did not connect with the human mindset. My favorite example was Solresol, a curious language that used the seven notes of the musical scale. It came into existence a…
Almost at the U.N. Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 27, 2009
At two salient points in world history, Esperanto came within a fraction of a hair of being globally embraced. Unfortunately, neither of those instances proved fruitful for our favorite secondary language. However, it is worth noting that Esperanto comes closer and closer to worldwide recognition with each consecutive try – so we should be there…
The World’s Most Expressive Language Posted by Transparent Language on Mar 25, 2009
Some critics of Esperanto have scoffed at the idea that a man-made language could possibly convey feeling, emotion, or “soul.” Perhaps they think that vortoj can only mean something if they have evolved out of centuries of human usage; if their linguistic roots express a rich tradition of language and the culture that uses it…