So, my learning method for Esperanto, because I find it so simple and I learn best by context and stressful situations, is to translate random documents of Esperanto into English. I took this off of the Mythology page in Vikipedio. I'm wondering if I translated it correctly, which I probably didn't given that a lot of it sounds really choppy. :S

Mitologio (mitaro)

Mythology

Mitologio estas la tuto de sanktaj rakontoj pri dioj kaj aliaj supernaturaj estaĵoj de popolo: mitoj. Ili ne estas nur fikciaj, ĉar ofte ili klarigas iun aspekton de la realeco. En la greka lingvo, la vorto mito (mythos) simple signifas "rakonto". La ideo de mito kiel falsaĵo devenas ne de la vorto mem, sed de nia kredo pri greka religio.

Mythology is the collection of sacred stories about gods and other supernatural beings of people: myth. They are not just fictional, for often they display some aspect of the reality. In the Greek language, the word "myth" (mythos) simply signifies "story". The idea of myth as counterfeit derives not of the word itself, but of our belief about Greek religion.

Mito kontraste al fabelo...

Myth contrasting to fairy tale...

Sed la mitoj ne simple estas amaso de ĉarmaj rakontoj. Eĉ hodiaŭ, ekzemple, la grekaj mitoj estas rakontitaj spite de la delonga ruinigo de la antikvaj temploj kaj kosmologioj, ĉar la mitoj iamaniere tuŝas nian animon.

But the myths are not simply a mass of charming stories. Even today, for example, the Greek myth are tales in spite of the long ruin of the ancient temples and cosmology, for the myths in any way touch our soul.

Laŭ Carl Gustav Jung la mitoj malkaŝas la praŝablonojn de la kolektiva malkonscio.

According to Carl Gustav Jung the myths show the patterns of the collective conscience.

Laŭ J.R.R. Tolkien, la mito subkonscie komunikas verojn profundajn sub la supraĵo de la rakontoj pri la faroj de dioj kaj herooj. Al Tolkien, mito estas multe pli profunde vera ol historio; "mito" estas vorto de laŭdo, ne vorto de moko.

According to J.R.R. Tolkien, the myth subconsciously communicates profound truths below the surface of the stories about the actions of gods and heroes. To Tolkien, myth is a lot more profoundly true than history; "myth" is word of praise, not word of mockery.

Ekzemple la mitoj de Faŭsto, Prometeo, Amfitriono, ktp. Tiel eĉ parolatas kiel "mitoj", akiras tian mitan gravecon modernaj personoj de la literaturo, kiel Don Juan, aŭ Arseno Lupino, de bildliteraturo, kiel Tarzano, ankaŭ ideoj aŭ politikaj bildoj.

An example the myths of Faŭsto, Prometio, Amfitriono, etc. Thus even talking as "myth", obtains such a mythical concern, modern person of the literature, such an Don Juan or Arseno Lupino, of cartoon, such as Tarzan, also an idea or political picture.

That last paragraph really threw me off. What did I do wrong there?

Ekzemple la mitoj de Faŭsto, Prometeo, Amfitriono, ktp. Tiel eĉ parolatas kiel "mitoj", akiras tian mitan gravecon modernaj personoj de la literaturo, kiel Don Juan, aŭ Arseno Lupino, de bildliteraturo, kiel Tarzano, ankaŭ ideoj aŭ politikaj bildoj.

Well this paragraph is not very clear in Esperanto. But then I suspect that in Vikipedio there may be more than a few less than clear passages in the articles.

Ekzemple means for example. So, it begins with - For example Faust, Prometheus .....etc.

In the next bit the subject of the sentence is Modern individuals from literature such as DonJuan ..., Tarzan, ideas, political images.

The writer maintains that all these are spoken about as myths and have acquired mythical status.

But basically the original is so badly written, that one thows one hands up in despair.

Okay, that makes me feel better. Are there any websites containing folk tales or something in Esperanto that I could translate? And not something so badly written?

I'm studying from Fundamenta Krestomatio (available at Project Gutenberg) which has a lot of traditional texts translated to Esperanto. It was translated by Zamenhof himself so it's pretty much a model text, although Esperanto may have developed since this was written (I'm not sure about this).

The library section here at lernu has folk tales that you can translate.

Library > Stories > Vere aŭ Fantazie will probably be your best bet.

Okay, I'll try those out. Dankon.

I apologise if I've made a note of something you've already realised, but nonetheless:

Decae:Mitologio estas la tuto de sanktaj rakontoj pri dioj kaj aliaj supernaturaj estaĵoj de popolo: mitoj. Ili ne estas nur fikciaj, ĉar ofte ili klarigas iun aspekton de la realeco. (....)

Mythology is the collection of sacred stories about gods and other supernatural beings of people: myth. They are not just fictional, for often they display some aspect of the reality.

I'd say "Mythology is the entirety of sacred stories about gods and other supernatural beings of a population/ of a people: myths. They are not only/just fictional, for they often clarify/make clear/explain some aspect of reality.

ĉar la mitoj iamaniere tuŝas nian animon.

(...) for the myths in any way touch our soul.

Because/for myths in some way touch our soul. (in some way would be better - safe to say though EO doesn't really make the same distinction between any and some, unless using "ajn")

Ekzemple la mitoj de Faŭsto, Prometeo, Amfitriono, ktp. Tiel eĉ parolatas kiel "mitoj", akiras tian mitan gravecon modernaj personoj de la literaturo, kiel Don Juan, aŭ Arseno Lupino, de bildliteraturo, kiel Tarzano, ankaŭ ideoj aŭ politikaj bildoj.

An example the myths of Faŭsto, Prometio, Amfitriono, etc. Thus even talking as "myth", obtains such a mythical concern, modern person of the literature, such an Don Juan or Arseno Lupino, of cartoon, such as Tarzan, also an idea or political picture.

That should be "Thus even being talked of as a "myth", modern people of literature acquire/obtain that sort of mythological gravity/seriousness (concern too I guess, just put all those meanings together), such as Don Juan or Arsène Lupin, or of cartoons such as Tarzan, and also ideas and political pictures (symbols?).

That last paragraph really threw me off. What did I do wrong there?

That paragraph is just a poop as far as I'm concerned, very hard to follow (well, I find it easy to understand, but it doesn't feel precise and easy to read nonetheless). So I wouldn't be too disheartened

Basically, "paroli" = to speak, "parolata" = being spoken, "parolati" = to be being spoken.
Thus "mi parolatas kiel heroo, sed mi mem ne kredas ke mi estas tiun" (I am being spoken of as a hero. but I myself do not believe that I am that).

The bit where the word order got a bit wonky is where you have to look out for what has the accusative -n, and what part doesn't (yet isn't behind a preposition).

Thus when translating, you must put the accusative where it normally is in English (after the verb), and the subject (the unmarked by the accusative -n or by a preposition) before the verb. I believe the word order changed so they could add those examples at the end, although in the end it doesn't quite matter where those examples go, but some might find it easier if the examples which are talking about the subject (modernaj personoj) are next to the subject itself, otherwise what's to say the examples are referring to "mitan gravecon"?

Good work!