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eeek!

av Evildela, 25 september 2010

Meddelanden: 22

Språk: English

Evildela (Visa profilen) 25 september 2010 09:38:21

I've got an Esperantist passing through my town here Singleton within the next 2 weeks, and I've never physical spoken Esperanto with another Esperantist before - Does anyone have any handy suggestions for things I should perhaps study or know? Perhaps some handy phrases... I don't want to look like some type of tool - standing there staring awkwardly into there eyes while trying figure out what to say and how.

ceigered (Visa profilen) 25 september 2010 09:54:18

Chillax is the best advice I think. My first conversation with someone who speaks Esperanto was in his car by accident, and we just slipped in and out of Esperanto and joked about it. On the odd occasion there was a pause trying to figure out what they said but that's normal even in English these loud and busy days.

Miland (Visa profilen) 25 september 2010 11:46:17

Surely you already know
Saluton! Bonvenon! Bonan vesperon!
Kiel vi fartas?
Tre bone, dankon. Kaj vi?

After that it depends on what you intend to do. I suggest you think of questions and answers that might come up with any other friend, for example

Ĉu ni iru al kafejo? Kiu restoracio? Kion plaĉus al vi fari? Ĉu vi havas ŝatokupojn krom Esperanto?

erinja (Visa profilen) 25 september 2010 12:15:40

Have you at least had a Skype conversation in Esperanto? If you haven't, then do so. It might help you gain some confidence.

Think of things that you will want to show to this person in your town or region, and learn the words for those things, and practice in your head what you will say when showing those things.

And +1 on the chillax part. You'll do fine!

3rdblade (Visa profilen) 25 september 2010 15:55:40

You won't look like a tool. Esperantists are very forgiving, partly because we've all been in your situation, and are usually very helpful, too! Learn plenty of vocab, and showing-people-around grammar like 'Let's _____." (Ni ___u.) Re what Erinja said; go to the world's largest sundial, and aren't the jacarandas pretty amazing in Singleton in mid-late-October? I wonder why the city council doesn't make more of a big deal about them, actually...

qwertz (Visa profilen) 25 september 2010 16:21:24

I like that Mi estas komencanto (English instructions) dive-into very much. In my opinion it gives a very nice entry into offline E-o conversation. I would focus on that. Apart Skype conversations like mentioned by erinja.

philodice (Visa profilen) 27 september 2010 01:24:34

I agree. Think about what you might talk about, or what you like to talk about, and prepare some phrases. If you have a smartphone you can load a file of phrases into it and practice.
Things around town, places you go, things to eat...those make good phrases.

Evildela (Visa profilen) 27 september 2010 06:59:57

I think my biggest problem is I'll hear a word and for some reason I just don't associate it with the written form. but if you write that same word I know instantly what’s being talked about. I've just started that Mi estas komencanto and I'm half way through and recognised nearly everything they say first time so starting to get excited >.<

The person im meeting says they are fluent in the language so at least I'll be hearing it spoken properly!

ceigered (Visa profilen) 27 september 2010 07:46:53

Evildela:I think my biggest problem is I'll hear a word and for some reason I just don't associate it with the written form. but if you write that same word I know instantly what’s being talked about.
I've had this with audio files from here on Lernu! and from podcasts, where you expect to understand the Esperanto but you don't, but in conversation it doesn't arise that way, since people often repeat the things they say, say them slowly, or look at the learner's confused face and go "Whoah, I think I better rephrase that".

In fact, the pace of a spoken conversation is really, REALLY slow compared to other forms of spoken communication. Even interviews are done very fast, often allowing errors to come up and be skimmed over, because the purpose is different. A conversation is more or less a 50/50 exchange of relaxed information, other forms of spoken or audio communication are more just torrents of information for the listener to absorb.

So you won't really have to worry. It's not unusual in any language at any fluency level in conversation to repeat things etc. Just don't tire yourself out with Esperanto otherwise you might feel really flat by the end of talking with them from concentrating too hard okulumo.gif.

erinja (Visa profilen) 27 september 2010 10:28:35

This may sound weird but a fluency with numbers will help you a lot. It's easier to become "fluent" with "The cat eats the fish" than with "In 1980, John was 47 years old". Numbers are something that in written text, you tend to "read out" in your mind in English, so it takes extra practice to become skilled with Esperanto numbers. I would practice with dictation of phone numbers, years, etc - maybe someone can help you with this over Skype, as far as listening comprehension. Or you could even record yourself saying numbers, and then play it back to yourself to see how well you understand.

With tourism, you sometimes want to talk about dates.

Fortunately they only fall into a couple of formats so it's not so hard. You should become "fluent" with saying "Du mil...", "Mil naŭcent..." "Mil okcent...", and perhaps "Mil sepcent..." (20__, 19__, 18__, 17__) and then all you have to fill in is the tens and ones place (dudek kvin, kvardek kvar, dek ok; those are easier to come up with fluently than some long number)

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