d@alice.UUCP (11/09/86)
The following is the first of ten lessons in the Esperanto Society
for North America's free postal course. Print this out, fill in the
answers, and mail it off to the address below with a SASE, and you
get the second course free. Mail that back with a SASE, you get the
third course, and so on...
I *strongly* encourage *all* sci.lang readers to do this! It takes
a minimal amount of time, and the ten lessons will give you a fairly
good grasp of the language. This first lesson is being posted by me
after having received several requests through the mail.
Dan
(You might want to cut here. You don't have to.)
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E S P E R A N T O lesson one
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Esperanto, the international language, has existed for about one
hundred years, and is thus the modern of all the 'modern languages.'
Incorrectly termed 'artificial' (the right word is 'planned'),
Esperanto offers a simple, 'no exceptions to the rules' introduction
to the study of second languages generally, and makes you think about
the exact meanings of words in your own language. 'Grammar-coded'
Esperanto can demonstrate the language structure lacking in many
English lessons in our schools today.
You may want to take this free course yourself, [and/or you could
also print out lots of copies and encourage everyone you know to
try it!] It is based on a very popular postal course in use today
in England.
Read through the lesson, and try your hand at the exercises. Then
send the whole [printed out, with answers] lesson, along with a
*self-addressed, stamped envelope* (SASE) to the correct address
below. We will be more than happy to correct your work, answer any
specific questions you have, and will return it along with lesson
two, and so on, to lesson ten.
SEND YOUR COMPLETED LESSON, WITH A S.A.S.E. TO:
Esperanto Society of New York City
c/o Universala Esperanto - Asocio
United Nations Liaison Office
777 U.N. Plaza
New York, NY 10017
(or)
Esperanto Information Center
410 Darrell Road
Hillsborough, CA 94010
For full details on your national Esperanto movement, contact:
Esperanto League for North America
Box 1129
El Cerrito, CA 94530
(or)
Canadian Esperanto Association
P.O. Box 2159
Sidney, B.C.
V8L 3S3 CANADA
(UseNET readers from other countries
should send for information from:)
Universala Esperanto-Asocio
Niewe Binnenweg 176
3015 BJ Rotterdam
NETHERLANDS
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LANGUAGE IS ABOUT ALL THINGS (nouns) AND THE ACTIONS (verbs) OF
ENERGETIC THINGS:
One thing... acts on... another thing
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Birdo... kaptas... insekton.
A bird... catches... an insect.
SUBJECT NOUN VERB OBJECT NOUN
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Esperanto is 'grammar-coded' -- you can tell what part each word
plays in a sentence from the word endings.
_________o ________on
SINGLE SUBJECT NOUN SINGLE OBJECT NOUN
If there is more than one of the same thing... (plural noun):
_______oj _______ojn
PLURAL SUBJECT NOUN PLURAL OBJECT NOUN
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To show *when* the action takes place, the verb TENSE (time) is
changed by putting these endings on the verb roots:
PRESENT TENSE _________as describes it as it happens
PAST TENSE _________is shows an action completed
FUTURE TENSE _________os action still to begin
Birdoj... kaptis... insektojn.
Birds caught insects.
Birdoj... kaptos... insektojn.
Birds will catch insects.
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EVERY NOUN AND EVERY VERB FOLLOWS THE ABOVE RULES
*WITHOUT EXCEPTION*.
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In Esperanto, things have no gender ( - they are not male or
female, as in many other languages.) There is only one word
for 'the', no matter if the noun is singular or plural, subject
or object. Therefore:
La birdoj kaptas la insektojn.
La birdo kaptas la insekton.
Here are some words in Esperanto (the apostrophe here indicates
an incomplete word; a ROOT):
NOUNS VERBS (roots) MORE NOUNS
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amiko (friend) far' (do, make) kafo (coffee)
filo (son) forges' (forget) kuko (cake)
frato (brother) hav' (have) lakto (milk)
instruisto (teacher) trink' (drink) pano (bread)
knabo (boy) vend' (sell) sukero (sugar)
patro (father) vid' (see) teo (tea)
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Each Esperanto letter has only one sound, *always*.
Here is a guide to some of the sounds. The stress is *always*
on the next-to-last syllable of a word.
A E I O U
pAlm thEre thrEE glOry tOO
C = ts (in loTS); OJ = oy (in bOY); G = g (in Go);
KN are always pronounced separately: K-Nabo.
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EXERCISES, LESSON ONE. [This is where you fill stuff in.]
Take your time and translate the following sentences into
Esperanto. Type or print, but *please write clearly.*
Example: THE MEN SOLD CAKES.
You write: La viroj vendis kukojn.
[Note: the word 'a' does not exist in Esperanto; the simple noun
is enough. Also, a dash indicates that the two English words
are translated by one Esperanto word.]
1. FATHER MAKES A CAKE.
2. THE BOY WILL-HAVE THE SUGAR.
3. THE SON FORGOT THE MILK.
4. THE BOYS DRINK TEA.
5. THE FRIEND SOLD THE BREAD.
6. THE TEACHER SEES A BOY.
7. THE SON HAS A FRIEND.
8. THE BROTHER MADE BREAD.
9. THE BOYS WILL-HAVE THE CAKE.
10. FATHER FORGOT THE SUGAR.
11. THE BOYS HAD FRIENDS.
12. THE SONS SAW THE BREAD.
13. THE BROTHERS SELL SUGAR.
14. THE TEACHER FORGETS THE BOY.
15. THE FRIEND WILL-DRINK MILK.
16. THE SONS ARE-MAKING CAKES.
17. FATHER WILL-SELL THE CAKE.
18. THE FRIEND HAD BREAD.
19. THE BOYS WILL-SEE THE TEACHERS.
20. THE TEACHERS DRINK COFFEE.
Well, we hope we haven't scared you off in this first meeting with Esperanto.
Just remember -- the language ability you used in the above exercises would
take months, possibly years to reach in secondary school French or Spanish.
BEWARE OF PICKING UP AN ESPERANTO BOOK TOO SOON --
Esperanto looks strange - like any other foreign language.
Go through these lessons first; you'll be ready for reading soon.
Please send in this whole sheet [printout] to one of the addresses in the first
section for correction. [Please also note that you got it from
UseNET or ARPA.] Remember to send a SASE, so we can send the corrected
lesson along with Lesson Two back to you.
Also, upon satisfactory completion of the series of ten lessons, you
will receive a 'Certificate of Completion'. Please clearly print your
name and address, and include your ZIP or postal code here:
_____________________________________
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