Posts from December 2009

Bonan Novjartagon!

Posted by Transparent Language 1 Comment
Dec 31 2009

In my part of the world, we have three hours left of the decade! Had I any semblance of forethought, I would have tried to find parties in multiple different time zones, so I could ring in the new year more than once.  As matters stand, there will only be one new year for me tonight – but that’s more than enough!

I wish all of you a Bonan Novjartagon. May your new year be everything you need it to be – healthful, profitable, amusing, or whatever else you wish!

…And, when and if you celebrate, be safe, have fun, and don’t overdo it with the cxampano!

Teaching and Research

Posted by Transparent Language 1 Comment
Dec 30 2009

The comprehensive website Edukado provides a huge repository of Esperanto teaching materials. I stress the “teaching” aspect, rather than “learning,” because the site is designed with a practiced Esperanto speaker in mind. If you know the language well enough, and would like to have some documents and lessons to help you teach others, Edukado is the place to go. They also feature news, book reviews, and plenty of other resources. Take a look, and help spread the word!

While Edukado is appropriate for small-scale Esperanto efforts, there is at least one organization that supports high-level Esperanto endeavors. If you’re planning a large academic undertaking in Esperanto, check out the Esperantic Studies Foundation. In addition to sustaining programs of their own, the ESF also sponsors research pertaining to Esperanto. Whether or not you plan to embark on such a demanding effort, a visit to the ESF’s site is an encouraging one – it reminds us that the world still takes Esperanto seriously!

*Unrelated Note*: Ironically, my last comment on being unseated as a Google result drew enough hits to render my findings obsolete over the course of one night. Thank you, Internet, for frequently proving me wrong! I still place a large stamp of approval on Mr. Alper’s blog, however – be sure to visit it, if you have the opportunity!

Dethroned At Last

Posted by Transparent Language 2 Comments
Dec 29 2009

Have you been looking for Transparent’s Esperanto Blog via a search engine? For a good, long while, this blog used to be the first result if one searched “Esperanto Blog” in Google. However, it seems that the more than capable Ted Alper has eclipsed this particular publication! Congratulations, Mr. Alper. I’m not certain whether or not one would consider it an achievement, but know that at least one person has noticed your climb to search-engine stardom!

In other trends, you may have noticed as of late that I’ve been managing fewer and fewer posts. Well, in part, it can be said that I’m a slacker. The other part of my excuse is that graduate studies may linger on the horizon, and as such, completing my undergraduate degree has claimed priority over our Esperanto discussions! You’ll still see periodic content updates – no fewer than five per month – but for the most part I won’t be quite as attentive until life becomes less hectic!

Thanks to all of you readers, and your candid commentary, this blog has been worth maintaining and exploring. I imagine the trend will continue, so in advance, dankon!

New Decade, New Resolutions!

Posted by Transparent Language 1 Comment
Dec 28 2009

It’s hard to believe that 2009 is winding to a close. La miljaro (millennium, literally “thousand-year”) has seen its first decade, and now we find ourselves in the thick of the 21st Century. We’re at a pretty momentous point in world history, I think, and it calls for some New Year’s Resolutions that are thorough enough to merit being made at the decade’s end.

Be careful of the misleading Esperanto cognate rezolucio. While it does in fact mean “resolution,” it means the kind of resolution that a legislative body would pass – it is a motion, or a law, or some similar action. If you plan on making a resolution for la nova jaro, you want to use the word decideco.

Unlike rezolucio, the Esperanto term decideco refers to a decision, or a vow. It’s more appropriate for our purposes. Take a look at how the word is built. We see the infix -ec-, which addresses a noun form of an action. Then, there is the root decid-. You might have seen it as decidi, meaning “to decide.” As such, we have a word that means what we’re looking for – a decision, a thing we resolve to do.

Classic Winter Toy

Posted by Transparent Language 2 Comments
Dec 21 2009

Do you have snow where you live yet? For me, winter began about two weeks ago with the first snowfall, and the snow continues to pile up all across my region of the States. Some people dislike the snow, since ili bezonos sxoveli, but I love all the fun activities that come with it. (And yes, I consider shoveling snow to be fun!)

A word for this chilly season that you can keep in the back of your mind is the term glitveturilo. Let’s take a look at what it could possibly mean. We have glit-, which connotes slipping (think glita, meaning “slippery,” or gliti, “to glide”). There is vetur-, which brings about the notion of riding or traveling. Lastly, we have -ilo, meaning “tool.” Any guesses as to what they mean when they combine?

A “glitveturilo” is a sled, or a sleigh. Makes sense in retrospect, right? It’s a tool you ride by sliding all over the place. (With luck, your auxtomobilo won’t fit that description during the winter months!) Now, you have a word to use when you’re atop a large, snowy hill, and need to think of how to reach the bottom quickly.

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