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A few questions about Esperanto

Parha :lta, 14. huhtikuuta 2015

Viestejä: 10

Kieli: English

Parha (Näytä profiilli) 14. huhtikuuta 2015 22.27.29

Hi guys, its-a-me Parhao! I have only been using the forum for about two weeks, but I have been learning about Esperanto for nearly a month. Anyway, I have a few Newbie questions
1)Say my name was Winston Heerman, when talking about my self in Esperanto, would I say "Mi Estas Wintsono Heerman", "Mi Estas Winston Heermano", or "Mi Estas Winstono Heermano"?
2)Are there any books that would help me learn the rules of Esperanto? Lernu is great, but I like to have a physical copy of something, no clue why lango.gif.
3) Are their any Esperanto traditions/holidays I should know about?
4) Where can I find a list of root words? Are there some that you guys believe to be most important that I should know?
5) What strategy would you guys recommend for learning root words? Flashcards?
Thank you guys SO much for reading and please comment to help me out!

Christa627 (Näytä profiilli) 14. huhtikuuta 2015 23.14.40

Hi guys, its-a-me Parhao! I have only been using the forum for about two weeks, but I have been learning about Esperanto for nearly a month. Anyway, I have a few Newbie questions
Welcome!
1)Say my name was Winston Heerman, when talking about my self in Esperanto, would I say "Mi Estas Wintsono Heerman", "Mi Estas Winston Heermano", or "Mi Estas Winstono Heermano"?
Well, there are a variety of approaches to this. One is just to leave the name the way it is, so, "Mia nomo estas Winston Heerman." But many recommend, and I agree that it is adviseable, altering the name to fit with the Esperanto rules of prononciation. A fully "Esperantized" name ends with o, because it is technically a noun, but not everyone does that. Also it is more common to Esperantize first names that last names. As the letter W doesn't exist in Esperanto, I would suggest Vinston or Vinstono for Winston, and for Heerman, maybe Herman or Hirman depending on the pronunciation, but probably just leave it like that. Some Esperantists actually go by a completely different name in Esperanto environments, to make things easier to pronounce. I myself don't change the spelling of my name, as I so far use Esperanto only online, so nobody really needs to pronounce it, only type it; although if someone spells it Krista instead of Christa, I don't mind.
2)Are there any books that would help me learn the rules of Esperanto? Lernu is great, but I like to have a physical copy of something, no clue why lango.gif.
As someone who learned Esperanto exclusively online, I can't say much about this. But one book that I think is helpful after learning the basics is Being Colloquial in Esperanto by David Jordan, which you can read online here or buy the paper version here.
3) Are their any Esperanto traditions/holidays I should know about?
The most-celebrated Esperanto holiday is certainly Zamenhof's Birthday, which is December 15. Esperantists use it as an excuse to get together and have a party, if they are fortunate enough to be able to do that...
4) Where can I find a list of root words? Are there some that you guys believe to be most important that I should know?
I picked up most of my vocab just doing courses and reading stuff, but there are word lists in the drop-menu at the top of the page: Learning --> Words --> Word learning --> [select category].
5) What strategy would you guys recommend for learning root words? Flashcards?
I think the Memrise "Speak Esperanto Like a Native" courses would be helpful for basic vocab, although by the time I tried them they were mostly words I already knew.
Thank you guys SO much for reading and please comment to help me out!
You're welcome! ridulo.gif

Christa627 (Näytä profiilli) 14. huhtikuuta 2015 23.17.30

Christa627:
5) What strategy would you guys recommend for learning root words? Flashcards?
I think the Memrise "Speak Esperanto Like a Native" courses would be helpful for basic vocab, although by the time I tried them they were mostly words I already knew.
Oh, and also practicing using the words in sentences is very important. Even if your grammar isn't perfect, using words in context helps for remembering them.

Parha (Näytä profiilli) 14. huhtikuuta 2015 23.37.02

@Christa627 Thanks for all the tips, I think I will just try out a new name. How would one pronounce Daureo ? The story is a bit long behind that name, but it means 'To Continue' I believe. My regular name would have to have a pronunciation change, and I just think that would be a bit weird for me to handle, since it starts with a J. Thanks for the book link, I will check it out. I did not know about the Zamenhof's birthday part though, sounds interesting! Maybe I could recruit some of my friends to learn Esperanto and we could have a fiesta. Also thanks for the tips on Root words, would you recommend trying to maybe write short, one-page stories, incorporating words into sentences? Finally, a last question. If there are a few words I can not find Esperanto words for, would I just combine other Esperanto words that could describe it to make a word or would I just use an English/ Latin word for it?

Tempodivalse (Näytä profiilli) 14. huhtikuuta 2015 23.59.31

Parha:
4) Where can I find a list of root words? Are there some that you guys believe to be most important that I should know?
It's probably too big to swallow in a short time, but this is a useful list of the ~550 most common roots in Esperanto. Knowledge of that, plus the 30 or so most common prefixes/suffixes, will allow you to speak on almost any everyday topic.

The most important words, in my view, are: the correlatives, the conjunctions, the pronouns, the prefixes/suffixes, and the ~30 most common verbs (the most common of which are: esti, havi, devi, povi, scii, fari, iri).

Once you have this base, you can already talk about many simple things, and gradually add more roots (mostly noun roots) as you continue.
5) What strategy would you guys recommend for learning root words? Flashcards?
Flashcards are good. But there's no substitute for actively using the vocabulary in-context yourself - this is why I recommend spending some time in an Esperanto chat room. Lernu has one (visible as "Tujmesaĝilo" on the sidebar), there is also a sizeable chatroom at ##esperanto on the freenode.net network (accessible via this link if you don't have a chat client).

Just typing some simple sentences is enough to get familiarised with the vocab and grammar patterns. It doesn't have to be fancy, and nobody will judge you for mistakes ridulo.gif

Parha (Näytä profiilli) 15. huhtikuuta 2015 0.33.08

@Tempodivalse Thanks for the list! I will have to try out the chat once i can say something other than 'My name is Parha!' in Esperanto

Alkanadi (Näytä profiilli) 15. huhtikuuta 2015 8.15.19

Parha:What strategy would you guys recommend for learning root words? Flashcards?
1- I recommend Memrise. They have an app for your phone or you can use your computer. Some good courses:
-Speak Esperanto like a native 1
-Speak Esperanto like a native 2
-Speak Esperanto like a native 3
-Esperanto - Affixes in Action! (really good but a little mind numbing because there is a lot to remember)

2- The lernu courses are good. I recommend doing these in the following order:
-Bildoj kaj demandoj
-Ana Pana

3- Duolingo has an upcoming Esperanto course for English speakers. There is a lot of hype about it because, apparently, Duolingo is awesome.

Miland (Näytä profiilli) 15. huhtikuuta 2015 9.19.59

Parha:.. I have been learning about Esperanto for nearly a month. Anyway, I have a few Newbie questions..
To the good suggestions already made, I might add

1. Concerning books, a popular one in print is Richardson's Esperanto: Learning and using the international language. If you can find it on the used market, Sullivan and Hartley's Teach yourself Esperanto is also worthwhile. The two-part course Jen Nia Mondo by John Wells covers all the essential grammar. A suitable reference grammar is Montagu Butler's Step by step in Esperanto.

2. For learning root words I would recommend two resources: the classified lists on this webpage, which enable you to test yourself, and Mil Unuaj Vortoj where you can cover up the words and test yourself.

I would add that it may often be easier and cheaper buying books from Esperanto associations (especially events where used copies are often sold) than from general bookshops or vendors.

Velkro (Näytä profiilli) 16. huhtikuuta 2015 11.44.46

Parha:@Christa627 Thanks for all the tips, I think I will just try out a new name. How would one pronounce Daureo ? The story is a bit long behind that name, but it means 'To Continue' I believe.
da-oo-reh-oh. You'd have to say the 'oh' like a Canadian college student, rather than say Harry Styles (i.e. don't dipthong it). To continue, or to press on, to endure is 'daŭri', but since it's your name you can make it Daureo. Why not? The band Glay deliberately mispelled their name, and look how well they went.

Daŭro meanwhile means 'the duration (ot time).

Parha (Näytä profiilli) 16. huhtikuuta 2015 21.33.22

Thank you to all the posters, I think my questions are answered! ridulo.gif

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