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How many root words are really in Esperanto?

de BradP, 2009-septembro-28

Mesaĝoj: 16

Lingvo: English

BradP (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-28 19:37:55

I know that Zamenhof's original publication contained around 900 words, but I feel like I've learned about 800 words so far and I don't feel very articulate. I looked at a list yesterday that contained 1,900 words and I also couldn't find the esperanto translations of random english words I typed into a translator. Like llama, bowl, skin, brass, etc.

What is the total number of root words? I am reading Gerda Malperis right now so I should have a good handle on the first 900-1000 most common ones when done, but how do I continue learning the less common vocabulary until the point of fluency?

I could look up words as I go but I really hate doing that. I would so much rather just sit and cram word lists, then read once I have them memorized. I don't like the stop-go action. Thanks.

Miland (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-28 19:57:47

After you have mastered the vocabulary in Gerda Malaperis!, Claude Piron's [url=http://en.lernu.net/biblioteko/rakontoj/vere_aŭ_fantazie/index.php]Vere aŭ Fantazie?[/url] is a good follow-up.

In parallel, study the classified lists on this website. That should give you a vocabulary of 1000-1500 words.

The next step will be a magazine for beginners like Juna Amiko, and you will find a selection of articles as well as the word list of 1500 items that they assume, on this website. There are mini-vortaroj after many articles with explanations of the words in terms of the "basic" vocabulary, and I would recommend studying these as an aid to learning to think in Esperanto.

That should be quite enough for now!

BradP (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-28 20:41:09

Dankon, those are very helpful suggestions. I am still curious, however, of the total number of root words if anyone is keeping track.

Oŝo-Jabe (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-28 21:48:42

There are about 5000 official roots in Esperanto.The largest Esperanto dictionary, the PIV, has nearly 15,000 head-words (maybe 10-20% of which are just Esperanto versions of names.) I might estimate that 6000-7000 roots are in common, standard usage.

I also don't like stop-and-go-action. I don't stop reading to look up a word I don't know. Instead I keep a notepad handy, and write words while I read. Afterwords, I look up all the words I wrote down, and (if I didn't understand the text sufficiently) read it a second time.

llama - lamo
bowl - bovlo
skin - haŭto
brass - latuno

Zafur (Montri la profilon) 2009-septembro-28 22:09:39

I don't mind looking words up while reading if it's just a few. Although I tend to try to figure it out with context clues and see if I get a precise enough meaning of the word before I go to a dictionary.
I'd rather learn as I go than get predetermined lists since it feels like the words/roots are more important, as they're actually in immediate use. Of course, there is the exception of the lists of most commonly used roots.

If a larger amount of words are unknown to me, I'd rather just study some more (hopefully in a way more fun than classic drills) then attempt it later when I feel I've progressed enough.

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2009-oktobro-01 23:36:56

BradP, may I recommend the lernu picture dictionary. You can learn words by category. (learning > words > picture dictionary).

But another suggestion - you will seldom talk about certain things. If you are not interested in sailing or boating, then you will probably not need to know terms most commonly used in these fields. If you are into computers, then you will want to know those terms, to be able to talk about it in Esperanto. I know that you would prefer to memorize a ready-made list, but I really encourage you to make your own lists to learn the words for things that you will talk about. There isn't much use in learning a lot of cooking terms if you hate to cook and you don't want to talk about it; just a couple of very basic words would likely suffice for you. By talking with other Esperanto speakers, writing a lot (and looking up the words you want to write about) you can start to develop your own personal vocabulary, that describes your life.

ceigered (Montri la profilon) 2009-oktobro-02 06:20:16

And following on from what Erinja said, if you ever do happen to end up talking about something that doesn't interest you (lets say the conversation moves onto horses), then the idea is to be capable enough in general to be able to ask what all this new terminology means. E.g. someone someone says 'selo' (according to the lernu dictionary that means saddle), then you can just ask 'kio estas selo?' and they can go 'aah, selo estas cxevala/rajdbesta sidajxo por homoj' or some other simple explanation like that. To tell the truth in English I barely know half the words for kitchen utensils/appliances despite English being my only fluent language, I just make up names for them (like the electric boiling jug!).

So just learn really generic everyday words and you can pretty much work around those kinds of obstacles, provided the conversation isn't going at a million kilometres per hour (normally though I assume speakers like to take it slow in casual conversation?)

Kattapa (Montri la profilon) 2009-oktobro-02 11:24:04

You could use this link, if you would like to learn the vocabulary of a certain topic.

http://www.reta-vortaro.de/revo/inx/_fak.html

The main page is also very practical:

http://www.reta-vortaro.de

Greyshades (Montri la profilon) 2009-oktobro-03 00:12:39

Personally I think there are a few too many root words, but I'm not complaining - I love the way there's always something new to learn in EO rideto.gif

gyrus (Montri la profilon) 2009-oktobro-03 21:12:19

erinja:BradP, may I recommend the lernu picture dictionary. You can learn words by category. (learning > words > picture dictionary).

But another suggestion - you will seldom talk about certain things. If you are not interested in sailing or boating, then you will probably not need to know terms most commonly used in these fields. If you are into computers, then you will want to know those terms, to be able to talk about it in Esperanto. I know that you would prefer to memorize a ready-made list, but I really encourage you to make your own lists to learn the words for things that you will talk about. There isn't much use in learning a lot of cooking terms if you hate to cook and you don't want to talk about it; just a couple of very basic words would likely suffice for you. By talking with other Esperanto speakers, writing a lot (and looking up the words you want to write about) you can start to develop your own personal vocabulary, that describes your life.
Smart.fm: http://smart.fm/home works amazingly well on this concept. It's basically a tool for testing you on vocabulary lists but it is very effective.

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