Posts from May 2009

The Less Common Pronoun

Posted by Transparent Language 1 Comment
May 30 2009

You might never encounter the pronoun “ci” in your adventures as an Esperantist, unless you happen to be reading some old-fashioned literature. “Ci” is much like the antequated English word “thou” (which would make “cia” the equivalent of “thine,” and the accusative “cin” something like “thee”). I have no idea how you could work that into your everyday parlance. Perhaps if you were among a bunch of medieval era enthusiasts?

Anyhow, it’s worth knowing that “ci” exists. If you ever translate pieces of older literature, you may find yourself in need of it. Also, if you happen to be translating from a language that differentiates between formal and informal address in its pronouns (like Spanish, with its varied “tu” and “usted” forms), you might want to consider using “ci” to preserve the authenticity of the original address. Of course, “ci” follows all the rules of Esperanto grammar, so you would apply all the same rules to it that you do your other pronouns.

Having trouble with correlatives?

Posted by Transparent Language 3 Comments
May 26 2009

In my opinion, the most difficult part about learning Esperanto is tackling all the correlatives. They are quite logical in their construction (as is all of Esperanto!), and you could easily form them if you had a small, pocket-sized table on you. But, there are still a good number of them, and sometimes they can be difficult to recall because of their similarity.

One trick I’ve used to help me remember the ki- correlatives is to place them with another word, to help with the question you’re trying to ask. By recalling these compound words, you can more easily remember the necessary correlative, as well as have a quick and useful phrase memorized. The two I use most often (and the only two I can recall off the top of my head right now) are “kiudirekte” and “kiamaniere.”

Kiudirekte estas la hospitalo? – Which way is the hospital?
Kiamaniere gxin vi faris? – How (what kind of way) did you do it?

Not only are these words nice and specific – they also can help you recall the ki- correlatives. “Kiu” more or less means “which one,” which we can easily deduce from “kiudirekte,” which at a glance might make you think “which direction.” Similarly, “kiamaniere” brings to mind “what kind of” and “manner.”

Maybe this trick will help you remember your correlatives, too!

Don’t Fear the Suffix

Posted by Transparent Language 4 Comments
May 21 2009

A pretty useful suffix to remember in Esperanto is “fobio.” On its own, it simply means “phobia.” It’s a little bit different than “timo,” which means “fear” (or “timi,” to fear) in that it denotes a more severe frightened response to a particular thing, and usually connotes irrationality. The difference is somewhat difficult to express in English, though, since we often use fear and phobia interchangeably.

It would be worth your time to remember -fobio, because it lets you describe specific phobias. All you need to do is tack a descriptive root in front of it, and suddenly you can explain perfectly what the phobia entails. It also allows you to be a bit less scientific in your explanations than what you might encounter in English. For example, the technical term for “fear of heights” in English is “batophobia,” which the average listener probably wouldn’t understand. In Esperanto, you can say “altfobio” (height-fear), and you’ll be understood.

Also, you can say “grandvortfobio” to express a fear of long words, rather than the technical English equivalent:

(Ready? This is kind of ridiculous. And mean-spirited, considering what it means.)

“Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.”

Aprilaj Dusxoj Alportas…

Posted by Transparent Language 2 Comments
May 20 2009

…Majajn florojn! I haven’t been able to think about anything but flowers today. My neighbors across the street have a beautiful gxardeno that they’ve worked hard to cultivate. The results are wonderful…They have so many different types of flowers, all colorful and healthy.

Similar to last week’s entry on insektoj, there are plenty of Esperanto words for specific types of floroj, as well. Here I’ll list a few of them, so when you find a particularly notable specimen in your neighbor’s garden, you can compliment them on it using the most descriptive word available to you!

Daffodil – Narciso (think of “Narcissus,” the flower’s genus)
Daisy – Lekanteto
Nasturtium – Tropeolo
Tulip – Tulipo
Crocus – Krokuso
Violet – Violo
Buttercup – Ranunkolo
Dandelion – Leontodo (not quite a flower, perhaps, but occupies most of my garden!)

Ni Prokrastu!

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
May 18 2009

Who says procrastination is a bad thing? It has the English prefix “pro-,” which usually connotes a good thing. We didn’t call it “concrastination” for a reason!

In Esperanto, we have the English cognate verb “prokrasti,” which means “to procrastinate.” (Don’t bother trying to break “prokrasti” into various parts – there is no word “krasti” yet, even if “pro-” is a valid Esperanto prefix.) For native English speakers, the use of “prokrasti” makes sense to us intuitively. But, for someone as lazy as myself, who considers procrastination a necessary part of life, I wonder if we could make an Esperanto word that means the same thing as “prokrasti” (to put off), but conveys all the “positive” aspects of the English verb.

So far, I’ve come up with these two possibilities:

“Bonatendi” – combining the adjective “bona,” meaning “good,” and the verb “atendi,” meaning “to wait.”

“Bonmalfruigxi” – here we have “bona” again, coupled with “fruigxi” (to become late, roughly), and the opposite-inducing “mal.”

How would you think to express the good side of procrastination?

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