kaŝperanto:Could someone Esperantize (or Englishize) some examples of how the contextual tense works?

Mi jam paroli, mi nun paroli, mi estonte paroli. If not just a temporal aspect of the future is to be be expressed (which is often the case), you can say mi think paroli, mi voli paroli etc.

Sounds tokiponish . I think Chinese looks and sounds cool, although I haven't the foggiest concept of how to, like, say anything in it or anything.

I do think that learning multiple different languages helps one to think about things a little differently; for example the Spanish distinction between "ser" and "estar" completely baffled me at first, but once I caught on to the idea (somewhat), I began to think more in terms of two sorts of "to be" (one seems to be more of 'being' in the sense of identity or attribute, and the other more of situation or condition; any Spanish speakers are welcome to clarify my impressions on this point; I never did learn it fluently), and then when I started learning Esperanto, it seemed a little lacking with only verb for "to be". Now I am studying Russian, and looking forward to seeing what amazing insights I can gain from that, lol. Maybe I'll study Chinese someday, but today is not that day.

Christa627:Sounds tokiponish . I think Chinese looks and sounds cool, although I haven't the foggiest concept of how to, like, say anything in it or anything.

I do think that learning multiple different languages helps one to think about things a little differently; for example the Spanish distinction between "ser" and "estar" completely baffled me at first, but once I caught on to the idea (somewhat), I began to think more in terms of two sorts of "to be" (one seems to be more of 'being' in the sense of identity or attribute, and the other more of situation or condition; any Spanish speakers are welcome to clarify my impressions on this point; I never did learn it fluently), and then when I started learning Esperanto, it seemed a little lacking with only verb for "to be". Now I am studying Russian, and looking forward to seeing what amazing insights I can gain from that, lol. Maybe I'll study Chinese someday, but today is not that day.

Yes, Spanish is one of the few languages, together with Portuguese where the verb to be has such beautiful yet complex nuances. You got it right though it isn't as crystal clear in real life. Especially when it comes to the colloquial language, the whole meaning can change if ser o estar is used. For example, in Venezuelan Spanish, 'ser arrecho' can mean 'to be shameless', ''to be the shit'' (talking about someone's abilities), ''to be hairy''(situation, difficult situation), ''to be damn cool'' (something), whereas 'estar arrecho' can mean ''to be furious'' (to go ballistic), ''to be ridiculously hard'', ''to be fucking cool'' (to praise something). And ser and estar can fill the role of the other depending upon context. It is a vulgar/colloquial word that's why I kept the same register in English. Though careful with the word ''arrecho'' in Colombia, Chile and Peru, there it only means ''to be horny'' when you say ''estar arrecho'' .

Russian and Ukranian don't use the verb to be in the present tense, so you're in for a treat!

Russian and Ukranian don't use the verb to be in the present tense, so you're in for a treat!

Yay for the zero copula ...

One thing I miss in Esperanto? Cases and "full" verb inflection. This is why I have a soft spot for Volapük.

Mandarin grammar is very simple and very easy (despite the Russian phrase китайская грамота that is used to refer to something inordinarily difficult). The only challenge is really the four tones, and memorising the characters. (This is, incidentally, what makes Malay/Indonesian quite easy for Westerners - grammar is much like Mandarin, but with Latin script and no tones.)

Actualy 5 tones counting the light tone, some say it's actually 6 tones because of the one used for foreign words pronounced à la chinoise. But Cantonese has from 6 to 9 tones, and its grammar is as simple as that of Mandarin though its hanzi are traditional and many hanzi from old Chinese are used and it uses many more than the basic 3k Mandarin hanzi. The tragic thing for Mandarin learners is that Cantonese is the most spoken Chinese language in the Americas, from Canada till Argentina because most Chinese immigrants speak Cantonese and not Mandarin. That's one way to put someone off learning Mandarin who think they could now understand those random Chinese folks speaking in the streets xD. Cantonese and Mandarin speakers don't understand each other at all so if you learned Mandarin thinking Cantonese would be like the Spanish-Portuguese case you're going to have a very bad time.

Suzumiya:Actualy 5 tones counting the light tone, some say it's actually 6 tones because of the one used for foreign words pronounced à la chinoise. But Cantonese has from 6 to 9, and its grammar is as simple as that of Mandarin though its hanzi are traditional and many hanzi from old Chinese are used and it uses many more than the basic 3k Mandarin hanzi. The tragic thing for Mandarin learners is that Cantonese is the most spoken language in the Americas, from Canada till Argentina because most Chinese immigrants speak Cantonese and not Mandarin. That's one way to put someone off learning Mandarin who think they could now understand those random Chinese folks speaking in the streets xD.

I can confirm that. If you want to create or maintain business ties between the Americas and China, then Cantonese is the way to go.

Suzumiya:Cantonese and Mandarin speakers don't understand each other at all so if you learned Mandarin thinking Cantonese would be like the Spanish-Portuguese case you're going to have a very bad time.

Pri tio-cxi, mi ne scias, ke kiel estas aliuloj Cxinaj aux ne-Cxinaj. Mi vidis jaro da Cantonese televidajn(Nur estas gxenerala. ), do mi komprenas Cantonese kaj mandarenon. (Kaj mian lokan lingvon mi komprenas. )

Suzumiya: Yes, Spanish is one of the few languages, together with Portuguese where the verb to be has such beautiful yet complex nuances....

Russian and Ukranian don't use the verb to be in the present tense, so you're in for a treat!

The verb to be does get tangly.

The version of English I learned has two conjugations for the verb to be that are not interchangeable in the pure vernacular. This is further complicated in that neighboring towns may have different versions of these parallel conjugations. Maybe some of your dialects do something similar, but you don't really notice.

For example: "I bes" or "I do be" is not the same as "I am", "I'n" or "I'se" I imagine the same might be found in other vulgar versions of this or that language.

Does Mandarin have a straight forward copula?

vejktoro:

Does Mandarin have a straight forward copula?

Not really. Wikipedia explains it pretty well

Tempodivalse:

Russian and Ukranian don't use the verb to be in the present tense, so you're in for a treat!

Yay for the zero copula ...

One thing I miss in Esperanto? Cases and "full" verb inflection. This is why I have a soft spot for Volapük.

I am quite fascinated by Volapük, but at present I don't have the time or motivation to actually learn it. I very likely will sometime, though.