Showing posts with label occidental. Show all posts
Showing posts with label occidental. Show all posts

Micri liste de visas por laborar e viver in Korea

Wednesday, February 06, 2019

Hodie yo pensat que it vell esser util far un brevi explication pri li visas obtenibil in Korea. Korea es un land in quel li vive es facil por un forene, adminim si on have li visa necessi.

E-2: on obtene ti visa por docer foren lingues. Por obtener it on besona un graduation universitari. On pensa sovente que to vole dir 4 annus, ma in quelc universitás (e mult in li Unit Reyatu) solmen 3 annus es necessi! Lu important es haver un diploma quel porta li nómine Bachelor.

Por docer un foren lingue on deve esser un citean de un país quel usa it quam lingue national! In Korea to significa que solmen citeanes de 7 países posse obtener it por docer anglesi: Unit Reyatu, Unit States, Canada, Australia, Nov Zeland, Irland, e Sud Africa. Por li ultim on deve anc haver pruva har studiat in anglesi desde li scol medial in addition al diploma universitari.

Tre important: li lingue oficial del universitá! Mult Canadeses ha trovat se in un situation u su universitá, basat in Quebec, ha dat li impression al oficie de inmigration (ci bass Inmigration) ne saver anglesi! Yo ha mem audit pri li experientie de alqui qui havet problemas con su visa pro un certificate scrit in latin, quel es li custom in su universitá (yo crede que plu tard il ha successat obtener it ma li processe esset desfacil).

Con un tal visa on posse docer anglesi por un salarie de circa 2 - 2.5 million won. Mill won es circa 1 dollar, dunc on forprende tre zeros e to es li aproximativ salarie. Omni scolas deve dar al docente un loc a viver, o un stipendie mensual si li docente ne vole viver in it (si por exemple li docente ja have un). E quande li annu de servicie ha finit, li scola deve dar un mensu de salarie in plu. Finalmen li billete de avion (vade-retorn) es anc gratuit.

On posse vider pro quo in Korea trova se tam mult docentes de anglesi, nam pos esser ingageat li billete es gratuit, li dom, mem micri, es gratuit, e pos un semane on trova se in un nov land.

E-7: ti visa es por specialistes. Por obtener it on besona un masters (i.e. du annus de studies pos-graduatori), un bachelors con adminim un annu de experientie in su camp, o adminim quin annus de experientie. Li E-7 es dat solmen quande un firma ne posse trovar un Koreane qui posse plenar li exigenties del firma, e firmas sovente besona convicter Inmigration dar les it. Talmen, plu grand li firma, plu bon es li chances obtener it.

Alor quel persones posse obtener un tal visa con solmen annus de experientie? Precipue specialistes de IT. Yo ha audit pri persones qui simplicmen laborat quam programmatores sin education universitari, e pos plu quam 5 annus ha trovat un firma korean quel absolutmen volet ingagear les, e Inmigration comprendet que su habilitás esset desfacil trovar ci.

Li E-7 es usat anc por specialistes quam ingenieros. Li loc con li max grand númere de ingenieros nomina se Geoje-do, un insul in li lud proxim a Busan, li duesim max grand cité del país (tre proxim a Japan).

F-2: Li problema con un visa E es que on ne posse far altri labor quam to quel Inmigration ha permisset. It es ínlegal laborar in un altri loc sin permission de Inmigration. Consequentmen mult docentes fa letiones privat ma sempre cautmen, nam Inmigration vell posser descovrir les e expulser les del país. Li F visas es visas con queles on es licet laborar presc partú. Li F-2 (o plu precisimen li F-2-7 yo crede) es nominat li "visa de punctus" u pos un minimum de quelc annus de residentie Inmigration fa un calcul e si on supera li minimum, on obtene it. Inmigration fa li calcul secun li education, etá, conossentie de Korean, e quelc altri coses. Curtmen dit, si on have un masters, un bon certificate TOPIK (li exámine de competentie in korean), quelc annus de residentie on forsan posse obtener it.

F-6: Si on es maritat con un koreane, on posse obtener ti visa. Por que Inmigration va emisser it on deve monstrar que 1) on posse comunicar con su sponse, 2) on have un loc in quel vive, e que 3) on have un minimum de salarie. Ti 3 conditiones ne es desfacil, specialmen si on parla anglesi, nam presc omni koreane parla un poc anglesi. Li 3 conditiones esset fat por prevenir que un marita de un land quam Vietnam veni a Korea sin saver li lingue e devenir isolat e misusat. Por un mann quam yo it esset tre facil a obtener. (Yo retrovenit a Korea in 2018 con un E-7 e nu have en F-6).

F-5: Visa de long-terme residentie. Li F-6 visa, quam dit, es facil a obtener e renovar. Ma on deve restar maritat e usualmen on obtene it por un periode de 1 annu, quelcvez 2. P.ex. in junio yo va ear a Inmigration con un sol pezze de papere a monstrar a Inmigration quel yo es ancor maritat por obtener ancor un annu de permission. Li altri pruvas mentionat ci supra ja ne es besonat. Ma pos 2 annus con un F-6 on posse fa un aplication por un F-5, quel es un visa tre simil ma quel es *su propri* visa; divorciar fa nullcos a su statu legal quande on have un F-5. Con it on deve ear a Inmigration solmen unvez in 10 annus, e on posse votar. Ma in quant it acte se pri permission laborar, li F-6 e li F-5 es lu sam.

D-4 (o D-2? yo obliviat): visa universitari. Ante mult annus on ne esset licet ganiar moné con it ma nu it es possibil: 20 annus per semane, yo crede. Li un es por tis queles aprende korean, e li altri por tis queles studia un altri cose in un universitá korean.

H-1: Un working holiday visa. Solmen yunes posse obtener it, e it functiona por un annu. It es un poc strangi visa nam it ne permisse quel on doce anglesi con it, e quande on es yun e sin experientie it ne es facil trovar altri labor. Ma it sufice por laborar un poc durant un annu. Yo obtenet it du vezes. Yo ne crede que li americanes posse obtener it; ti visa besona un reciproc arangeament e li koreanes ne posse obtener un por li Unit States. Li maximum etá por obtener it es 30 o 31 annus, yo crede. Obtener it es (relativmen) vermen tre facil: on deve monstrar un minimum de 2500 dollares in su bank-conto e far un plan por li annu (li plan es solmen un formalitá e on posse scrir quocunc: on scri "in januar yo va visitar Busan, in april yo va esser in Gyeongju por un mensu por vider li sites historic...") E pos du semanes on obtene it.

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Occidental in 10 lessons now available in English

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Over the past two months I've been working on translating, modernizing and adding to the content of the 1929 course Okzidental-Kursus in 10 Lektionen by A.Z. Ramstedt. It is now done and can be viewed and downloaded here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gelftqO9zPPi0KUkqdjOjikax2O1GvBL/view

By modernized I mean changing the orthography to the current version, in which the Interlingue Spellchecker for Firefox (yes, one actually exists) was a big help.

The content has remained the same, so get ready for lots of discussion about philosophy, German things, telegraphs and velocipeds.

And here it is embedded. Enjoy!

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Interlingua in 2005

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

INTERLNG has been rife with discussion the past week and a bit on particles in Interlingua, namely whether the Latin particles the language has (etiam, nunc, tunc, etc.) are sufficient or whether it should expand its scope to minor Romance languages like Catalan/Occitan/Romanian instead. These discussions are nostalgic, reminiscent of some others I saw in 2005 when I first became interested in the language, and they are the ones that entirely turned me off of the language after a few weeks of fervent support. Every IAL has discussions on new vocabulary and often the language itself (Ido is infamous for its in/ability to decide on a word for computer), but Interlingua always comes across as one step away from being pulled into a Romance-derived quicksand. Were the Latin particles to be removed in the name of internationality / pan-Romance mutual intelligibility the next step is to propose verbs that conjugate by person (which we can already see sometimes in son instead of es for the plural), then grammatical gender, subjunctive, and all the rest. Which would be a fine regional auxlang of its own, but not Interlingua.

In any case, Occidental followed by Mondial are still my two favourites.

Here's what the increasingly bitter and pedantic discussion looks like:



-----

Salutes amicos e Ado:

----- Original Message -----

> Io pensa, Ado, que tu ignora le facto que Stillman e Gode esseva
> facie a facie a un problema enorme que illes debe reducer in
> su labor si on pote facer lo. Illes voleva regulas pro practicas
> que non esseva onerose o duplicative, o redundante. Lor
> regulas non esseva absolutos mais heuristic. Gode multe vices
> ha indicate isto.
> Assi io diceva:

> >>Io pensa que il ha un altere ration proque in 1939 on
> >>decideva non a usar le linguas romance minor de catalano/occitano,
> >>o romaniano. Un decision ha essite facite a usar solmente 4
> >>linguas,
> >>anglese, francese, italiano, e espaniol/portugese mesmo quando Gode
> >>comenciava su studio del particulas in 1939. Plus tarde In breve,
> >>in INTERLINGUISTIC STANDARDIZATION de 1943 Stillman
> >>e Gode credeva que le cerca de iste linguas esserea labor
> >>redundant,
> Ado:
> >E clarmente quando illes reguardava le particulas illes videva que
> >iste
> >linguas romance minor no essearea redundante, si on voleva extraher
> >un
> >prototipo de tres linguas romance, nam un forma commun mancava al
> >linguas major.
> Stan:
> Isto pote occurre solmente si un sol lingua manca de un variante pro
> junger se con le resto a causa de alcun occurrentia accidental de
> historia. Le francos, un tribo germanic, cambiava le demonstrativos,
> per exemplo, per crear ce-ci, ce-la secundo un formula schematic
> non trovate in alcun altere lingua romance.
> >
> >Sed illes non persequeva iste linea de investigation. Illes se
> >tornava
> >al Latino.
> Tu vole arguer que le particulas latin seligite per Gode e Stillman,
> a un
> plus alte grado, ha radiate a altere linguas europee? Io rememora
> vider
> in le secunde volumine del INTERLINGUISTIC STANDARDIZATION
> que illes concludeva que particulas generalmente non es international
> ni radiate a altere linguas. Tu construe un impossibilitate pro
> particulas
> romance durante que tu non vide que le mesme occurre con particulas
> pur latin que tu favora, e a un grado plus sever.

> >
> >E proque non continuar le investigation intra le linguas romance
> >minor?
> >Le clar responsa es in le citation ad infra:
> >>
> >>proque le major parte de parolas contribuite per iste
> >>linguas a altere linguas jam esseva representate per le major
> >>linguas romance e anglese (que habeva absorbite alcun parolas de
> >>provencial/occitano).
> Illes se preoccupava con parolas in le vocabulario general e non
> grammatical. Illes diceva nihil super particulas in iste section.
> Il ha necun exemplos de particulas in lor discussion. Tu projice
> alque que non es la.

> Io diceva:
> >>Pro proba de mi assertion, isto es lo que Stillman e Gode diceva
> >>in 1943 in INTERLINGUISTIC STANDARDIZATION super le linguas
> >>romance minor:
> >>(Io traduce pro le beneficio de non anglophonos):
> Stillman e Gode:
> >>"41. Le function que nos vole assignar al gruppo romance de linguas
> >>es uno que illos es equippate a performar proque illos representa
> >>como
> >>un gruppo un unitate comparativemente compacte cultural de alte
> >>international potentia.
> >>
> >>Il es consequentemente apparente que le termino 'gruppo romance
> >>de linguas' non pote esser aqui intendite a servir in su senso
> >>historico-philologic le plus extendite. Inter le linguas
> >>plenmente constitute como national sovente coperite per le termino
> >>"romance", il ha al minus un, romaniano, que factores historic e
> >>geographic ha separate tanto plenmente a parte del altere membros
> >>del gruppo que illo debe esser segregate del consideration. {SAM:
> >>Isto me sembla alquanto exaggerate e superficial. Alcuno qui
> >>examina un dictionario romanian va vider milles de parolas
> >>romance}. Del altere latere un considerabile numero de plus o
> >>minus dialectos romance independente como Rheto-romance,
> >>corsicano, sardeniano, etc.. non pote poner se super un par con
> >>le linguas romance major.
> >
> >Tunc le linguas romance minor "non pote poner se super un par con le
> >linguas romance major".

> Solmente in radiar parolas a altere linguas directemente e non via le
> tres linguas romance major. Le particulas in qualcunque lingua
> rarmente
> se radia a altere linguas. E illes voleva un definition pro linguas
> romance pro le recerca. Mais illes pensava non de particulas
> mais de parolas in le vocabulario general de iste linguas.

> Stillman e Gode:
> >>Mesmo in le caso de provencial e
> >>catalano, con referentia a cuje classification como o real linguas
> >>o mer dialectos il esserea impossibile a attinger accordo general,
> >>il es un facto perfectemente obvie que lor contributiones al
> >>vocabulario international esseva facite indirectemente per o le
> >>francese o espaniol. Parolas como 'bastille, cable, cadet, cocoon,
> >>lime, nougat, ruffian,' etc, non gaude le currentia international
> >>como parolas provencial, que illes pote plus o minus monstrar se
> >>mesme a esser, mais plus tosto como parolas que ha radiate se de
> >>Francia.
> Stan: Tu vide alcun particulas como exemplos in le texto in alto?

> Ado:
> >Ecce un echo del parte in le introduction al IED que parla de
> >linguas
> >ques es centros de radiation de terminos international. Es a dicer
> >que
> >le linguas romance major radia parolas dum le linguas romance minor
> >-
> >non.
> Le fallacia de tu argument es que tu assume que 'radiar parolas'
> include in lor pensata, le particulas. Particulas non radia. Isto
> es lo que illes se mesme concludeva. Le particulas
> deveni a vices similar mais ancora formas mutate in descendentes
> de un lingua. Assi similar variantes de particulas in linguas es
> le resultato del commun causes de formas ancestral que ha
> supervivite intacte o con pauc cambios, e a vices con major
> cambios, mais ancora con characteristicas que suggere lor
> ancestria, quando on nota le cambios regular de phonemas
> a partir del ancestral al filial linguas.

> Stillman e Gode:
> > >Assi il sembla que non solmente Romaniano mais
> >>equalmente le minor dialectos romance e mesmo le provencial e
> >>catalano debe esser excludite de nostre restringite definition
> >>technical del gruppo romance de linguas."
> >
> >"Mesmo le provencal e catalano debe esser excludite..." Il es
> >difficile
> >de exprimer isto plus clarmente.
> Tu sembla incapace de vider le rationamento que ha ducite a
> iste conclusion. Nihil discussion concerneva le particulas in iste
> linguas.

> Stan:
> >>Nota que lor ration pro excluder iste minor linguas romance es
> >>pragmatic e non absolute, e non exclude lor uso in studios del
> >>particulas se mesme.
> >
> >Tu ha facite iste argumento plure vices. Sed claro le exlusion non
> >era
> >solo pragmatic nam le particulas monstrava a Gode e Stillman - tosto
> >o
> >plus tarde - que le linguas minor romance poterea esser utile si on
> >vole extraher un prototipo de tres linguas romance.
> Gode non jammais ha dicite a me quando nos discuteva iste
> problema a su bureau in Nove Yorkin 1961 que ille habeva alcun
> problema con cercar linguas romance minor. Io ha monstrate le
> un bon libro del etymologia del linguas romance (Bourciez,
> Élémentos de linguistique romane." Illo ha monstrate formas
> intermedie in le evolution de formas del latino a in le linguas
> filial. Illo monstrava que le demonstrativos in espaniol, portugese,
> catalano, e romaniano, e in parte italiano esseva derivate de un
> forma
> eccu+ille -> cu+ille -> quelle, e atque+ille -> accu+ille = aquelle.
> (Isto non es le final theoria que io favora, mais alora illo
> monstrava
> que formas in a- in le demonstrativos debe esser explicate, si on
> cerca le prototypo). Il esseva a iste puncto que ille ha date me
> su cartas de su studio del particulas in 1939-1940 a fin que io
> poteva facer un similar studio.

> Ado:
> >Tamen illes non cambiava curso post observar le manco de formas
> >commun
> >in le particulas del linguas romance major. Nimis tarde? A pena. Le
> >IED
> >no era publicate usque 1951.
> >
> >Stillman assere le ration de excluder le linguas romance minor
> > clarmente - illes non era par con le linguas romance major e illes
> > no
> >era centros de radiation de parolas international.
> Mais isto es lo que io argue: illes ha claudite lor mentes a un
> alternative
> solution per prejudicio contra le linguas romance minor--prejudicio
> basate super le analyse solmente del parolas del general vocabulario.

> >
> >Il pare que pro Stillman e Gode un prototipo basate super un lingua
> >de
> >fonte e duo linguas minor romance simplemente non habeva
> >internationalitate, al minus non le internationalitate que illes
> >cercava. A lor puncto de vista, un particula Latin vale plus que un
> >tal
> >prototipo.
> Il es un preferentia subjective pro le latino, que vale minus hodie.
> Le valuta de un lingua non es importante. On vole solutiones secundo
> le methodologia objective usate con le resto del vocabulario. E
> selectionar
> un gruppo de linguas con particulas similar, a causa de un ancestre
> commun, es natural, mais illo require al minus 4 o 5 linguas si on
> usa
> un regula de tres pro le selection pro facer bastante solutiones
> possibile. Isto es
> monstrate con le uso de germano e russo como linguas supplementari
> in le caso de parolas in le vocabulario general.

> Lor preferentia pro le latino esseva quando le latino esseva ancora
> un major subjecto in le curriculos de scholas in multe paises. Illo
> non
> es hodie, e esseva declinante in mesmo 1940 e certemente a 1951. Illo
> non es un lingua international in su grammatica ni su particulas.
> E su particulas non ha radiate multo a altere linguas como
> particulas usate in aquelle linguas.

> Nonobstante, Ado, le formas del latino, etiam, nam, nimis, quia,
> sed, illac, hic, olim, ex, ab, quare, unquam, nondum, etc. o se
> eclipsava
> del linguas filial, o cambiava multo lor forma in illos. Le
> particulas del
> latino es mesmo minus international que aquellos del linguas romance.

> Tu ha un tendentia de projicer lo que tu vole creder in le factos.

> Amicalmente,
> Stan

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Cosmoglotta 1922 - 1950 all done!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Success! I have now uploaded all the issues of Cosmoglotta up to the end of 1950. I originally went at a rate of one issue per day but we're getting on a plane in the next few days with cats and I wanted to finish everything up before leaving, so I did about one year per day over the past few days and quickly went from the late 1930s to 1950.

Cosmoglotta is a good example of what to do right and what to do wrong when promoting an IAL. Producing a magazine every month or two written entirely in the IAL is a good idea, as is creating literature in Occidental and writing about news at the time. Writing news in an IAL may seem to be an exercise in futility since it ends up just being a translation of something already available in another language, but after a few years or decades it actually becomes quite interesting and sheds a lot of light at the world at the time. On the other hand, writing about other auxiliary languages really comes across as a waste of time. Sometimes it seems that half of Cosmoglotta is about other IALs and why they aren't as good, and pretty much every year you can find an article or two about how Idists are all moving over to Occidental and Ido is pretty much done...and now in 2011 Ido is still one of the big three while Occidental is way, way below.

Occidental is still quite large compared to other IALs, mind you. It's kind of on 'tier three'. Tier one is Esperanto, two is Interlingua and Ido, and on tier three one finds some previously large languages (Occidental, maybe Novial) and some interesting new projects (Lingwa de Planeta, Lingua Franca Nova, maybe Sambahsa in two years at the rate Olivier is going).

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Linguistic complications in Korea: 1950

Old editions of Cosmoglotta are being uploaded at a good pace, and I should be done the final years (1949 and 1950) in just a few days. Today I was looking at the final year and came across a short blurb about interpretation between American and Korean soldiers during the Korean War. Back then it was no difficult matter to find a Korean fluent in Japanese, and because American soldiers involved in the region had devoted most of their efforts to learning Japanese, two interpreters were often required.


Linguistic complication in Korea

According to Robert Bennyhoff in "Le Monde" (Paris, 1950.09.14), one of the many difficulties in the relations between American and South Korean officers is the diversity of languages. Few Koreans speak English correctly and no Americans speak the Korean language. Most frequently one has to resort to using two interpreters, the first translating English to Japanese and the second retranslating Japanese to Korean, or vice versa. It is easy to imagine, says Bennyhoff, the errors in interpretation and the endless confusion that results from that, and, he adds, sometimes miscomprehension brings a dear price.

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The last edition of Cosmoglotta before World War II

Saturday, February 05, 2011

I just finished uploading the latest edition of Cosmoglotta, the last one to be published in 1939 and thus the edition released just before Germany invaded Poland and WWII took precedence to everything else in Europe for the next six years. The edition has nothing about the war until the very end, where it finishes up with this short statement of intent for 1940, with plans for a drastically decreased printing and hopes for a quick resolution to the war. Such hopes were unfounded though, and Cosmoglotta did not begin printing again until 1946.


COSMOGLOTTA AND THE OCCIDENTAL UNION IN 1940

The infernal war reached us in the beginning of September, just when various circumstances would have permitted us to carry out large projects that would have let us bring our movement forward with larger steps.

The current edition of Cosmoglotta, which should have appeared during the first half of September, contains completed reports on those projects (International reunion in Lausanne in 1940, SCOED, Edition with RALIN courses, Edition with Complete Grammar and Occidental Lexicon, etc.). Regrettably, all those projects have to be delayed momentarily, 1) because of the near impossibility for a large number of our co-idealists to make payments abroad; 2) due to the difficulties caused by military censorship on correspondence between many countries; 3) due to the great reduction of free time among the majority of our co-idealists, whether caused by military mobilization, or increase in personal work.

To maintain relations between all co-idealists, our intention is to continue editing Cosmoglotta during 1940 if we can receive a sufficient number of subscriptions from our co-idealists. Understandably, due to the impossibility of subscribing to our magazine in certain countries, we expect a large decrease in subscriptions. Thus we will reduce it to one 4-page magazine which will appear every trimester. If we receive sufficient money, we will publish it every two months, or eventually with 8 pages.




We have examined the possibility of continuing the edition of Cosmoglotta B, but the total lack of time impedes us in doing this work. We have thought about reducing it also to 8 or 4 pages, but that would make almost as much work as 16 pages and because of that we have abandoned that idea.

The edition of 4 printed pages offers a large advantage: it can be used as propaganda material in countries where there is still no war or where the circumstances permit.

To ensure the editing of our magazine, we will keep the price at Fr. 4 - Swiss. Each subscriber, who wishes it for propaganda, will receive 12 copies of each number if it appears 4 times in 1940 or 8 copies if it appears 6 times.

As Cosmoglotta has appeared only 9 times instead of 12 during 1939, each subscriber can ask the Institute Occidental to send the sum of Fr. 1 as compensation. Also in 1940, if circumstances impede us from printing 4 issues, we will compensate with literature the missing issues.

We remind our readers that in this difficult time, the buying of literature is a strong aid to our movement. We hope that all co-idealists who can pay those expenses will help up through that medium.

During 1940, the Occidental Union will continue its activity wherever possible and we warmly thank all members in advance who will pay their contribution.

The reelection of the Senate, which was not able to be organized during 1939, will be adjourned until after the war. In the meantime sr. A. Matejka has been selected as interim president of the Central Office.

We continue to recieve news of our main co-idealists and particularly of our dear and venerable sr. E. de Wahl, who is in good health (20 dec. 1939). He gives his best wishes to all co-idealists for 1940, which he regretfully deems a "dangerous year".

Dear co-idealists, we hope that it will be possible to maintain good relations with you during 1940 and that that year will bring us peace and tranquility which will permit us to take up again with strength the diffusion of our beautiful language.

Chapelle, 28 d.c 1939.

Fred LAGNEL, Director of the Occidental Union.

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Danish linguist Otto Jespersen on the evolution of languages towards simplicity

Saturday, January 29, 2011

One of the most recent issues of Cosmoglotta I've uploaded from 1937 features an article by Otto Jespersen, the Danish linguist and inventor of Novial. The article is not about constructed languages but is related, as it is about the simplification of languages over time. Apparently it was originally written in Danish, then translated into Occidental, and now I've translated it into English.



EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGES

by Professor Otto Jespersen

We have compared the oldest known states of our western European languages with their current form and we have found certain traits that, generally seen, are common to them, so that it was possible to find some large main lines showing the direction of evolution; and we have come to the opinion that the changes made in the course of centuries have as a whole been advantageous for the speakers, to the extent that we are justified if we speak of progress. The points in which the most recent languages have shown their superiority are as follows:

(1) Their forms are generally shorter, making them less strenuous on the muscles and spoken at a more rapid rate than their old forms.


(2) Their forms are reduced compared to before, resulting in a smaller burden on the memory.


(3) Their formation is much more regular.


(4) Their use in the composition of words (derivation) is much less irregular.


(5) Their more abstract and analytic character facilitate expression, making possible a multitude of combinations and constructions, which were impossible before or in conflict with linguistic use.


(6) Awkward repetitions that followed from the rules of accord of subordinate words with those that governed them have been made superfluous.


(7) Clear and unambiguous comprehension is guaranteed by a regular consequence of the words.


These advantages were not gained by a coup and languages have moved in the directions mentioned with a different speed for each. For example, High German is in many points slow compared to Low German; European Dutch is slower than South African (Afrikaans); Swedish in some areas compared to Danish, and all these languages compared to English. The Romance languages also have not marched at the same pace. Here we emphasize only that all these languages have in historic times moved in general in these directions, and that, from an anthropocentric point of view -- i.e., if we measure according to the needs of speaking people -- we should call that which has happened a welcome progress.


But are these tendencies general, or even perhaps absolute in the world of languages? All examples have been taken from a relatively small circle of languages, those that I myself and probably also the majority of my readers know the best. Do other languages show a similar evolution? Without claiming a deep knowledge of many languages I nevertheless dare to assert that the gained results are confirmed by all languages, of those of which their history is known: Irish today and spoken Scottish Gaelic are in many points simpler in their grammatical structure than the most ancient Irish. Russian has liberated itself from many complicated irregularities of ancient Slavic (Old Church Slavonic), and the same has been done to a greater extent by other Slavic languages: Bulgarian has greatly simplified the flexion of nouns and adjectives, and Serbian its conjugation. Modern Greek spoken is considerably more simply in its forms than the language of Homer and Demosthenes. Modern Persian is almost as simple in its structure as English, while Ancient Persian was a language of great complexity. In India we see a gradual simplification from Sanscrit through Pracrit and Pali to the languages spoken now: Hindi, Hindustani (Urdu), Bengali, etc. Outside our family of languages we see the same: Hebrew is more simple and more regular than Assyrian, spoken Arabic is simpler than the ancient written language. Coptic shows the same facility compared with Egyptian.

In short, even if we can clearly prove our theory only on a minority of languages spoken on the Earth, that minority still embraces all languages known during the era about which we can speak as having a history, and because of that we can dare to assert that the tendency towards simplification of grammatical structure is universal in the world of languages.

That this tendency is, in general, useful, lets us truly speak of progress; on that point all more ancient linguists were blind, because they saw a "cosmos", a magnificent and well-ordered world in the ancient, particularly in the classical languages and because of which modern languages lack a quantity of things that they had learned to admire in the ancients. It also cannot be denied that they to a certain extent were correct: each language presents, when one studies it in the right spirit, as much beauty in a systematically coherent structure, that it can be qualified as a "cosmos". But it is not in every concern a cosmos full of beauty: just as all things human it contains traits more or less beautiful, and a comparative evaluation should not be unilateral. Without a doubt there are things extraordinarily beautiful in the structure of Ancient Greek, and the ancient Greeks with their artistic talent were able to profit to the maximum extent from their magnificent literature. But there is also not less beauty in many modern languages, though the real evaluation of that is based on taste, which for the most part escapes scientific critique.

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Article from 1935: why I don't want to see my mother tongue become the world's second language

Friday, January 21, 2011

Uploading Cosmoglotta magazines from 1922 to 1950, I've now reached 1935 and one article in the January - February edition perfectly encapsulates what is one of the best arguments for a universal second language that is not (at least in the beginning) the mother tongue of any one country. The article is on the right so click on that if you would like to read it in the original Occidental, which is quite easy to understand particularly if you know at least one Romance and Germanic language (English + French, English + Spanish, etc.). Otherwise, I've provided a translation of most of the article in English just below the images.




Translation:

Without fail, when I talk with a educated people about the necessity of an international language, their first instinctive response is: "Of course an auxiliary language is an urgent necessity, but why can't my mother tongue play that role?" And if the person I'm talking to is English, he will alledge the incontestible hegemony of English, its extraordinarily easy grammar, etc. If the person I'm talking to is French, he will remind me right away that his language was always the diplomatic language of Europe; if he is German, he will emphasize that German is today the most used language in science, etc. In short, everybody is convinced that his or her language is destined to reunite a divided Europe.

Even now, a large Swiss French journal recently published an article on its front page attacking the idea of an artificial language. "If you want an international language," it said, "you should adopt French, already known everywhere for its clarity, making it just the right language for commerce, science, and so on."

An extraordinary thing: in the same issue the editor published a long and vivid protestation against a German Swiss company writing in French; with indignation it cited the linguistic errors in the magazine and finished with the admonition: "By what right do you mutilate our beautiful language?" By what right? - I thought. By the right that the company followed the advice of the first page in the same journal and began using French as an international language!

Because the partisans of a national language demand the impossible, they impose a language full of irregularities, that one cannot truly use before many years of study; and at the same time, they do not allow foreigners to make errors in the use of that language! The linguist Michel Breal was much more perspicacious in his refusal of his own French language in the role of an auxiliary language: "When it plays such a role," he said, "it loses its finesse; international use will always tend to simplify and regularize a language, its grammar, its pronunciation. Finally, it will become another language, one that is not French, but a type of European." In this role, French would lose much more than it would gain.

Would not the adoption of a language already regularized like Occidental not be more advantageous for the French people themselves?

When I spoke about these questions with my neighbor, a professor of English, he objected straight away:

"Don't you know that English is already used all over the planet? It's without question: all peoples should adopt English as the international language."

"Well," I responded, "here is a circular that needs to be sent out to a number of American companies. Could you translate it into pure English?"

After an hour of work, my colleague returned with his translation, somewhat embarrassed, saying "I'm not sure if my English is entirely correct in a few places."

"And you studied English for seven years, and lived in England! If you, a professor of English, can't speak and write in pure English, how can we make other people use it when English is an international language, as you want it to be? Such a pidgin would ruin pure English, a pidgin that would horrify English people themselves. And speakers of UK English, which already protest against the evolved pronunciation of the Americans (for whom English is nevertheless their mother tongue) would be able to protest without end the mutilation of their language in the mouth of foreigners. If the French are indignant about Swiss Germans writing their language in magazines, it is self-evident that the same would occur with the usage of any international language."

Even in Switzerland where English is obligatory in secondary schools, very few people know the language well enough to use it without error. The easiest national language is still too hard to play the role of an international language. In order to make a national language one's own, one must study it for many years, and live in the land in which it is spoken.

In contrast to this, one should emphasize the extraordinary easy of a language like Occidental. Even after four years of studying English, I am still today unable to speak and write that language without referring to the dictionary and without making my listeners or readers laugh; but after only two months of studying Occidental, I was able to use it without any error or hesitation, and still understood as well as with English. In Occidental one is not afraid of errors and deformations because the language is already regularized and reduced to maximum simplicity. Believing it would please me, my correspondents often write to me in French, but what a French it is! And I should write to them thus: "Please do not write to me in my mother tongue anymore; write to me in Occidental, or even in Volapük; that would be easier for you and for me...less of an annoyance. I love my beautiful French language and precisely because of that, I hope that it will never be an international language."

Keep in mind this was written when French and German were somhewhat more influential compared to English than they are today; on the other hand, Spanish and Chinese are now much more influential now than they were in the 1930s.

Now, what does English look like when used as an L2? Look no farther than Asia for some of the best examples. Here's a song released in Korea just a few months back, containing a great deal of "English" in the lyrics.



The lyrics are as follows.

Let me see ya LaLaLaLa Love me hey YaYaYaYa
Shubidubi Sha LaLaLaLa 우리 둘이 YaYaYaYa
Let me see ya LaLaLaLa Love me hey YaYaYaYa
Shubidub Su Supa Nova

지글지글 불꽃처럼 뜨거워져 Hot Hot
빙글빙글 어지러워 눈이 부셔 Ah Ah
Yo ma Yo ma Lova Lova
Yo ma Yo ma Supa Nova
You Hee You You Hee

Let me see ya LaLaLaLa Love me hey YaYaYaYa
네 앞에선 (Oh) 너무 작아져서 (Oh) I like You
Shubidubi Sha LaLaLaLa 우리 둘이 YaYaYaYa 난 너만 보여
You Hee U U U U U U U U Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee

Oh Go it Go it Go it Go, Go it Go Go it Go
고이 접어 내 가슴에 꼭 담아 Ah Ah
우리 둘이 Do it Do Do it Do Do it Do
너를 위해 던져줄래 꽃다발 Ah Ah
Ah Ah Ah Go it Go it Ah Ah Ah Do it Do it
Ah Ah Ah Go it Go it, Go it Go Go it Go
Many Many Many 이따만큼 이따만큼 또
두근두근 두근대 또 떨리네 Go it Go it Go


Let me see ya LaLaLaLa Love me hey YaYaYaYa
Shubidubi Sha LaLaLaLa 우리 둘이 YaYaYaYa
Let me see ya LaLaLaLa Love me hey YaYaYaYa
Shubidub Su Supa Nova

이글이글 타오르는 내 눈을 봐 Hot Hot
흔들흔들 흐트러진 내 몸을 봐 Ah Ah
Yo ma Yo ma Lova Lova
Yo ma Yo ma Supa Nova You Hee You You Hee

Let me see ya LaLaLaLa Love me hey YaYaYaYa
빠져들어 (Oh) 정말 미치겠어 (Oh) My good boy
Shubidubi Sha LaLaLaLa 우리 둘이 YaYaYaYa 난 너만 보여
You Hee U U U U U U U U Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee

Oh Go it Go it Go it Go, Go it Go Go it Go
고이 접어 내 가슴에 꼭 담아 Ah Ah
우리 둘이 Do it Do Do it Do Do it Do
너를 위해 던져줄래 꽃다발 Ah Ah
Ah Ah Ah Go it Go it Ah Ah Ah Do it Do it
Ah Ah Ah Go it Go it, Go it Go Go it Go
Many Many Many 이따만큼 이따만큼 또
두근두근 두근대 또 떨리네 Go it Go it Go

Rap]
Let me see ya LaLaLaLa Love me hey YaYaYaYa
You make me go LaLaLaLa Baby boy You So Hot Hot Hot (Ha Ha)
You and Me 단둘 Yes We 우리만의 P.A.R.T.(Y)
두근거리는 심장이 계속 외쳐


Oh Go it Go it Go it Go, Go it Go Go it Go
고이 접어 내 가슴에 꼭 담아 Ah Ah
우리 둘이 Do it Do Do it Do Do it Do
너를 위해 던져줄래 꽃다발 Ah Ah
Ah Ah Ah Go it Go it Ah Ah Ah Do it Do it
Ah Ah Ah Go it Go it, Go it Go Go it Go
Let me see ya LaLaLaLa

We've also got Korea's official tourist logo for about a year (I think they're done with it now):


Then there's a type of luxury apartment complex put out by the Doosan company known as Doosan We've. That's right, Doosan We've.




Doosan itself says the following about their brand:

Doosan “We’ve the Zenith” in Haewoondae, PusanWith over 70 floors reaching into the sky, “We’ve the Zenith” is one of the tallest residential towers in Haewoondae, Pusan. The design is reminiscent of the waves at Haewoondae Beach and the outline of Jang Mountain.
This is not some backwater mom-and-pop operation that can't afford to hire a native speaker to check their English - the Doosan Group has a total of 38,000 employees. Correct or non-horrifying English simply isn't relevant much of the time. It's what happens when the L1 population is vastly outnumbered by the L2 population, and continues to shrink in relative terms. The native speaker then ceases to become the arbiter of the language and becomes more or less an annoyance, a grammar nazi that shows up every once in a while to change the subject and ruin the fun.

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Christmas day randomness

Saturday, December 25, 2010

It's Christmas day and there are a number of things worth mentioning so let's just put everything together and see what happens.

First of all, I've written two posts on 90 Years Ago Today since I last mentioned it here, as I don't always make a note of it on Page F30 when I do. The US has elected a new president and the League of Nations is shiny and new. It's Christmas 1920 and 1921 is just around the corner.

Over in Occidental land I've just finished uploading Cosmoglotta to 1930. I've never read old issues of Cosmoglotta before so I'm watching the progression of the language for the first time, and though by 1930 it mostly resembles the Occidental of today and the language went through quite a bit of fine tuning that year, it still has the apostrophe that denotes a very soft y sound here and there.

Cosmoglotta November - December 1930

In Sambahsa land Olivier has finished translating another movie, this one a fan-made Star Wars movie called Revelations. I watched it once back in 2006 or so and don't remember a great deal about the story. I believe this makes four movies that we have subtitles in Sambahsa for: The Hunt for Gollum, Born of Hope, The Man from Earth, and this one.



Dawn is now just 9 million km away from Vesta, or just 6% the distance from the Earth to the Sun (23 times that from the Earth to the Moon). The chief engineer updates at the end of every month and I had hoped he would mention when they expect to take and release their first images of Vesta during the last two but nothing so far. In under a week we should see the next update here, and maybe he'll bring up the subject. Because entering orbit with an ion engine requires a lot more finesse than your typical chemical engine, it will continue to slow down more and more compared to Vesta until it finally achieves the same orbit, when finally a tiny thrust will be enough to enter orbit. This is why it's still going to take seven months to 'arrive' even though it's already at an extremely close distance. Your average interplanetary probe flying by an object would cover this distance in just ten days or so.

More on Martin Gaskell, the astronomer who is suing the University of Kentucky for religious discrimination: for some debate and background on the case see these threads here and here.

Want to compare the altitude of two locations? You can do that here. Click on one location on the map, click on another, then to the right of that select draw profile and you'll end up with something like this.


It's potentially quite useful when looking for a place to live in a city with a varied topography, as lower generally = warmer and less windy. There's a world of difference between a house in the suburbs in the hills and away from downtown compared to a south-facing apartment by the river near downtown, which benefits not only from the lower altitude and less wind but also the heat island effect being near downtown brings. In the end this is only a couple of degrees, but when gardening this makes a huge difference:

A superb example of a unique microclimate is the Calgary Zoo and Botanical Gardens’ site on the flood plain of the Bow River which has become a resource to many Southern Alberta gardeners. The gardens benefit from river moisture and a high water table in well-drained sandy soil. There is a good canopy of mature trees and bushes designed in part to protect much of the area from the extremes of wind, hail, rain and sun; the soil has been cultivated and well mulched for decades by expert gardeners. Extra heat is provided because of the proximity to the downtown core and the nearby major traffic routes. A consequence of all these factors is an array of trees, shrubs, annuals and perennials that thrive in a few communities in Calgary, but can be replicated in some areas of many gardens, especially near downtown Calgary and within the Bow and Elbow flood plains. The Perennial Trial Gardens sites at the zoo, Olds College and at the Muttart Conservatory in Edmonton test and publicize plant varieties that should grow well over much of south-central Alberta. At the zoo, some of the more unusual trees include the Manchurian walnut, and linden, but some “exotics” like the Hick’s yew (Taxus x media ‘Hicksii’) can be susceptible to winter kill.

My favourite new Portuguese band: Madredeus.



I found out about them (and a number of other singers and bands) on Yahoo! Answers of all places.

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Putting old Cosmoglotta (Occidental) issues online for easy reference

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The other day the Occidental community was informed about a great resource here, the complete archives of Cosmoglotta from its inception until 1950, except the war years of course. It's still not the most user-friendly format though so about ten days ago or so I decided to create a blog that would have these issues - just a one-column blog, no widgets or anything else, and one page per issue. The blog is here:

http://cosmoglotta.blogspot.com/

I began by uploading them one image at a time per page, but that quickly began to use up the space allotted to me and in any case PDF is probably a better way to do it, so from about 1928 onward I've been uploading them to Scribd.com. Here's what the latest issue looks like:

Cosmoglotta March 1929


In the meantime you can see other issues typed up here, and coincidentally those issues are also done up to 1929, but that's over a much longer period of time. Simply turning them into a PDF and uploading them is quite a quick task, and if I didn't have so much else to do the whole archive would probably take only a week or so to finish. Now that it's 1929 Occidental is almost exactly the same as that seen today, except for some small points such as verbs like attin'er. Hopefully it'll soon begin to exactly resemble the Occidental of today as from that point onward they will serve as a good introduction to the language for new students.

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Li Micri Prince (Le Petit Prince in Occidental) - Chapter 2

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Two weeks after the last chapter I've finally gotten around to finishing chapter 2 of Li Micri Prince. You may notice that I alternate back and forth between litt and micri for the French word petit, and that's on purpose - sometimes one feels better than the other. The reason I've gone with micri for the prince himself instead of litt is because:

- Li Litt Prince sounds a bit clumsy on the tongue, and
- assuming this translation gets used to promote Occidental later on, I don't want a title like Li Litt Prince to give the impression that Occidental is just some type of modified English.

I've also gone with the recommendations of Olivier and Robert to write omnicos as omnicós, since without the accent one could be led to believe that the -s here represents the plural, and pronounce it omnícos as a result.


Capitul 2. 2
Dunc yo vivet sol, sin person con qui yo posset vermen parlar, til un panne in li desert de Sahara, ante six annus. Alquó esset ruptet in mi motor. E pro que yo havet con me ni machinero, ni passageros, yo preparat me de acompleer, tot sol, un desfacil reparation. To esset por me un question de vive o morte. Yo havet con me aqua por apen ott dies.J'ai ainsi vécu seul, sans personne avec qui parler véritablement, jusqu'à une panne dans le désert du Sahara, il y a six ans. Quelque chose s'était cassé dans mon moteur. Et comme je n'avais avec moi ni mécanicien, ni passagers, je me préparai à essayer de réussir, tout seul, une réparation difficile. C'était pour moi une question de vie ou de mort. J'avais à peine de l'eau à boire pour huit jours.
Li unesim die yo dunc esset dormient sur li sable, mill milies de tot terre habitat. Yo esset vermen plu isolat quam un naufrageat sur un flottuore in li medie del ocean. Alor vu imagina mi surprise, al comense del die, quande un drolli litt voce avigilat me. It dit:Le premier soir je me suis donc endormi sur le sable à mille milles de toute terre habitée. J'étais bien plus isolé qu'un naufragé sur un radeau au milieu de l'océan. Alors vous imaginez ma surprise, au lever du jour, quand une drôle de petite voix m'a réveillé. Elle disait :
"Ples...dessinar me un agnelle!""S'il vous plaît... dessine-moi un mouton!"
"Quo?""Hein!"
"Dessina me un agnelle..." "Dessine-moi un mouton..."
Yo saltat sur mi pedes quam si yo esset frappat per fúlmine. Yo frottat bon mi ocules. Yo bon regardat. E yo videt un litt chap totmen extraordinari qui considerat me gravmen. Vi li max bon portrete quel, plu tard, yo posset far pri il.J'ai sauté sur mes pieds comme si j'avais été frappé par la foudre. J'ai bien frotté mes yeux. J'ai bien regardé. Et j'ai vu un petit bonhomme tout à fait extraordinaire qui me considérait gravement. Voilà le meilleur portrait que, plus tard, j'ai réussi à faire de lui.





Ma mi dessine, certmen, es mult min ravissent quam li modelle. To ne es mi culpa. Yo esset decorageat in mi cariera de pictor per li grand persones, al etá de six annus, e yo ne hat aprendet quocunc, ultra boas cludet e boas apert.Mais mon dessin, bien sûr, est beaucoup moins ravissant que le modèle. Ce n'est pas de ma faute. J'avais été découragé dans ma carrière de peintre par les grandes personnes, à l'âge de six ans, et je n'avais rien appris à dessiner, sauf les boas fermés et les boas ouverts.
Yo dunc regardat ti aparition con ocules tot rond de astonament. Ne oblivia que yo esset mill milies de tot region habitat. Nu, mi litt chap ne semblat a me ni perdit, ni mort de fatiga, ni mort de fame, ni mort de sete, ni mort de timore. Il ne havet null aparentie de un infante perdit in li medie del desert, mill milies de tot region habitat. Quande yo finalmen posset parlar, yo dit a il:Je regardai donc cette apparition avec des yeux tout ronds d'étonnement. N'oubliez pas que je me trouvais à mille milles de toute région habitée. Or mon petit bonhomme ne me semblait ni égaré, ni mort de fatigue, ni mort de faim, ni mort de soif, ni mort de peur. Il n'avait en rien l'apparence d'un enfant perdu au milieu du désert, à mille milles de toute région habitée. Quand je réussis enfin à parler, je lui dis :
Ma quo fa tu ta?"Mais qu'est-ce que tu fais là?"
E il repetit alor a me, tot lenimen, quam si pri un cose tre seriosi:Et il me répéta alors, tout doucement, comme une chose très sérieuse:
"Ples...dessinar me un agnelle...""S'il vous plaît... dessine-moi un mouton..."
Quande li misterie es tal impressiv, on ne trova li corage desobedir. Quantcunc absurd it semblat a me, a mill milies de omni locs habitat e in dangere de mort, yo retirat de mi tasca un pezze de papere e un plum. Ma yo alor rememorat que yo hat studiat precipue geografie, historie, calcul e grammatica e yo dit al litt chap (con un poc de mal humor) que yo ne posset dessinar. Il respondet a me:Quand le mystère est trop impressionnant, on n'ose pas désobéir. Aussi absurde que cela me semblât à mille milles de tous les endroits habités et en danger de mort, je sortis de ma poche une feuille de papier et un stylographe. Mais je me rappelai alors que j'avais surtout étudié la géographie, l'histoire, le calcul et la grammaire et je dis au petit bonhomme (avec un peu de mauvaise humeur) que je ne savais pas dessiner. Il me répondit :
"To ne importa. Dessina me un agnelle.""Ça ne fait rien. Dessine-moi un mouton."
Pro que yo nequande hat dessinat un agnelle yo refat, por il, li un del du sol dessines quel yo posset far. Li dessine del boa cludet. E yo esset stupefat escutar li micri chap responder a me:Comme je n'avais jamais dessiné un mouton je refis, pour loui, l'un des deux seuls dessins dont j'étais capable. Celui du boa fermé. Et je fus stupéfait d'entendre le petit bonhomme me répondre:
"No! No! Yo ne vole un elefant in un boa. Un boa es tre dangerosi, e un elefant es tre ponderosi. U yo vive omnicós es micri. Yo besona un agnelle. Dessina por me un agnelle.""Non! Non! Je ne veux pas d'un éléphant dans un boa. Un boa c'est très dangereux, et un éléphant c'est très encombrant. Chez moi c'est tout petit. J'ai besoin d'un mouton. Dessine-moi un mouton."
Alor yo dessinat:Alors j'ai dessiné:




Il regardat atentivmen, poy:Il regarda attentivement, puis:
"No! Ti ja es tre malad. Fa un altro."Non! Celui-là est déjà très malade. Fais-en un autre."
Yo dessinat:Je dessinai:



Mi amico subridet gentilmen, con indulgentie:Mon ami sourit gentiment, avec indulgence:
"Tu vide bon... to ne es un agnelle, es un agno. Il have cornes...""Tu vois bien... ce n'est pas un mouton, c'est un bélier. Il a des cornes..."
Yo refat un vez plu mi dessine:Je refis donc encore mon dessin:



Ma it esset refusat, quam li precedentes:Mais il fut refusé, comme les précédents:
"Ti es tro old. Yo vole un agnelle quel vive longmen.""Celui-là est trop vieux. Je veux un mouton qui vive longtemps."
Alor, mi patientie expenset, pro que yo devet urgentmen comensar demonter mi motor, yo scriachat ti-ci dessine:Alors, faute de patience, comme j'avais hâte de commencer le démontage de mon moteur, je griffonnai ce dessin-ci:




E yo lansat:Et je lançai:
"Vi li buxe. Li agnelle quel tu vole es intern.""Ça c'est la caisse. Le mouton que tu veux est dedans."
Ma yo es bon surprisat vider li iluminant visage de mi yun judico:Mais je fuis bien surpris de voir s'illuminer le visage de mon jeune juge:
"To es totmen qualmen yo volet! Crede tu que on besona mult grass por ti agnelle?""C'est tout à fait comme ça que je le voulais! Crois-tu qu'il faille beaucoup d'herbe à ce mouton?"
"Pro quo?""Pourquoi?"
"Pro u yo vive, omnicós es micri...""Parce que chez moi c'est tout petit..."
"To certmen va suficer. Yo dat a te un tre litt agnelle.""Ça suffira sûrement. Je t'ai donné un tout petit mouton."
Il inclinat su cap vers li dessine:Il pencha la tête vers le dessin:
"Ne es talmen litt... Oh! Il indormit...""Pas si petit que ça... Tiens! Il s'est endormi..."
E to esset qualmen yo fat li conossentie del micri prince.Et c'est ainsi que je fis la connaissance du petit prince.

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Li Micri Prince (Le Petit Prince in Occidental) - Chapter 1

Sunday, November 14, 2010

And now finished Chapter 1. My cats woke me up this morning so I went ahead and did the chapter now ahead of schedule; on the other hand sleepiness could have caused some errors.

Capitul 1. 1
Quande yo havet six annus yo videt, un vez, un magnific image, in un libre pri li virginal forest, nominat Histories Vivet. It representat un boa inglotinte un bestie. Vi li copie del dessine.Lorsque j'avais six ans j'ai vu, une fois, une magnifique image, dans un livre sur la forêt vierge qui s'appelait Histoires vécues. Ça représentait un serpent boa qui avalait un fauve. Voilà la copie du dessin.



In li libre esset scrit: "Li boa serpentes ingloti su preda tot integrimen, sin machar it. Poy ili ne posse mover se plu, e ili dormi durante li six mensus de su digestion."On disait dans le livre : « Les serpents boas avalent leur proie tout entière, sans la mâcher. Ensuite ils ne peuvent plus bouger et ils dorment pendant les six mois de leur digestion ».
Alor yo reflectet mult pri li aventuras del jungle e, respondente, yo successat, con un crayon de color, dessinar mi unesim dessine. Mi dessine numeró 1. It esset tal:J'ai alors beaucoup réfléchi sur les aventures de la jungle et, à mon tour, j'ai réussi, avec un crayon de couleur, à tracer mon premier dessin. Mon dessin numéro 1. Il était comme ça :


Yo monstrat mi mastre-ovre al grand persones e demandat a ili, ca mi dessine fat terrore in ili.J'ai montré mon chef-d'œuvre aux grandes personnes et je leur ai demandé si mon dessin leur faisait peur.
Ili respondet a me: "Pro quo un chapel vell far terrore?"Elles m'ont répondu : « Pourquoi un chapeau ferait-il peur ? »
Mi dessine ne representat un chapel. It representat un boa serpente qui digestet un elefant. Alor yo dessinat li interiore del boa serpente, por que li grand persones vell posser comprender. Ili sempre besona explicationes. Mi dessine numeró 2 esset tal:Mon dessin ne représentait pas un chapeau. Il représentait un serpent boa qui digérait un éléphant. J'ai alors dessiné l'intérieur du serpent boa, afin que les grandes personnes puissent comprendre. Elles ont toujours besoin d'explications. Mon dessin numéro 2 était comme ça :




Li grand persones consiliat que yo lassa ad-látere li dessines de boa serpentes apert o cludet, e que yo interessa me plutost in geografie, historie, calcul, e grammatica. Talmen yo abandonat, al etá de six annus, un magnific cariera de pictor. Yo hat esset decorageat del ínsuccesse de mi dessine numeró 1 e de mi dessine numeró 2. Totmen sol li grand persones ne comprende quocunc, e il es fatigant, por infantes, de sempre les dar explicationes...Les grandes personnes m'ont conseillé de laisser de côté les dessins de serpents boas ouverts ou fermés, et de m'intéresser plutôt à la géographie, à l'histoire, au calcul et à la grammaire. C'est ainsi que j'ai abandonné, à l'âge de six ans, une magnifique carrière de peintre. J'avais été découragé par l'insuccès de mon dessin numéro 1 et de mon dessin numéro 2. Les grandes personnes ne comprennent jamais rien toutes seules, et c'est fatigant, pour les enfants, de toujours leur donner des explications…
Dunc yo devet optar un altri mestiere e yo aprendet pilotar aeroplanes. Yo volat un poc partú tra li munde. E geografie, it es exact, servit me mult. Yo posse reconosser, al unesim regarda, China e Arizona. To es util, si on perdi li via durante li nocte.J'ai donc dû choisir un autre métier et j'ai appris à piloter des avions. J'ai volé un peu partout dans le monde. Et la géographie, c'est exact, m'a beaucoup servi. Je savais reconnaître, du premier coup d'œil, la Chine de l'Arizona. C'est utile, si l'on s'est égaré pendant la nuit.
Talmen yo havet, in li curse de mi vive, un amasse de contactes con un amasse de seriosi gente. Yo vivet mult con li grand persones. Yo videt ili de tre proxim. To ne mult ameliorat mi opinion pri ili.J'ai ainsi eu, au cours de ma vie, des tas de contacts avec des tas de gens sérieux. J'ai beaucoup vécu chez les grandes personnes. Je les ai vues de très près. Ça n'a pas trop amélioré mon opinion.
Quande yo incontrat un qui aparet un poc lucid, yo fat mi experiment pri il de mi dessine numeró 1, quel yo sempre conservat. Yo volet saver ca il esset vermen comprendent. Ma sempre il respondet a me: "To es un chapel." Alor yo ne parlat con il ni pri boa serpentes, ni pri virginal forestes, ni pri li stelles. Yo mettet me a su nivelle. Yo parlat pri bridge, golf, politica e cravattes. E li grand person esset tre content de conossentar un hom tal rasonabil...Quand j'en rencontrais une qui me paraissait un peu lucide, je faisais l'expérience sur elle de mon dessin n°1 que j'ai toujours conservé. Je voulais savoir si elle était vraiment compréhensive. Mais toujours elle me répondait : « C'est un chapeau. » Alors je ne lui parlais ni de serpents boas, ni de forêts vierges, ni d'étoiles. Je me mettais à sa portée. Je lui parlais de bridge, de golf, de politique et de cravates. Et la grande personne était bien contente de connaître un homme aussi raisonnable…

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