Lidepla-ney un-ney Golde Medal

Over at the new Joy of Literature site which now accompanies this blog, an ongoing translation of the great French novel La Chartreuse de Parme is underway, starting with Chapter Four which features scenes from the Battle of Waterloo. By the way, I mean 'great' only in the sense of it being a great literary work, not in the sense of agreeing with any views expressed therein. But I digress.

Over at the new Joy of Literature site which now accompanies this blog, an ongoing translation of the great French novel La Chartreuse de Parme is underway, starting with Chapter Four which features scenes from the Battle of Waterloo. By the way, I mean 'great' only in the sense of it being a great literary work, not in the sense of agreeing with any views expressed therein. But I digress.

Bravo, Olivier!

Bravo, Olivier!

David Parke has kindly been making a Frenkisch translation from the French novel La Chartreuse de Parme. Hopefully I will soon find the time to contribute some tentative paragraphs there myself but first I thought it would be interesting to repeat the exercise I recently did with Sambahsa, but this time with Frenkisch. Let's take a paragraph of David's translation and translate it into English, then compare the result with Scott-Moncrieff's 1924 English translation. This tests the precision of Frenkisch. I have read the original paragraph before but not in the last few days.

David Parke has kindly been making a Frenkisch translation from the French novel La Chartreuse de Parme. Hopefully I will soon find the time to contribute some tentative paragraphs there myself but first I thought it would be interesting to repeat the exercise I recently did with Sambahsa, but this time with Frenkisch. Let's take a paragraph of David's translation and translate it into English, then compare the result with Scott-Moncrieff's 1924 English translation. This tests the precision of Frenkisch. I have read the original paragraph before but not in the last few days.

Okay, now I am going to attempt to translate into Sambahsa a paragraph from a famous French novel. This is just a learning exercise, since the paragraph has already been translated by an expert, but I have not yet read that translation. Let's see how well I can do. This is the original French:

Okay, now I am going to attempt to translate into Sambahsa a paragraph from a famous French novel. This is just a learning exercise, since the paragraph has already been translated by an expert, but I have not yet read that translation. Let's see how well I can do. This is the original French:

If only there were 48 hours in a day, I would gladly simultaneously learn all four of these languages to fluency! Each of them has so much to offer. Alas, time constraints prevent me from doing so.

If only there were 48 hours in a day, I would gladly simultaneously learn all four of these languages to fluency! Each of them has so much to offer. Alas, time constraints prevent me from doing so.

David Parke, the creator of the excellent Germanic international auxiliary language, Frenkisch, has updated the grammar of that language. This is big news for any writer interested in writing literature for readers who speak a Germanic language. If you were to write a simple short story in Frenkisch, chances are that such readers will mostly be able to read your story at first sight without prior knowledge of Frenkisch; or, at the very least, they will probably have a good idea of what the story is about.

David Parke, the creator of the excellent Germanic international auxiliary language, Frenkisch, has updated the grammar of that language. This is big news for any writer interested in writing literature for readers who speak a Germanic language. If you were to write a simple short story in Frenkisch, chances are that such readers will mostly be able to read your story at first sight without prior knowledge of Frenkisch; or, at the very least, they will probably have a good idea of what the story is about.

All right, let's see what I can do in a year of serious study.

All right, let's see what I can do in a year of serious study.

But only time shall tell. Onward....

But only time shall tell. Onward....

It's been just over one month since my last post, in which I declared my one-year study plan for languages. One month down, eleven months to go. So how has it been going? Good and bad.

It's been just over one month since my last post, in which I declared my one-year study plan for languages. One month down, eleven months to go. So how has it been going? Good and bad.

Ah, what a strange journey it is, to learn constructed languages. It is indeed a strange journey to learn unfamiliar natural languages when one is already an adult, but to learn constructed languages is doubly strange.  

Ah, what a strange journey it is, to learn constructed languages. It is indeed a strange journey to learn unfamiliar natural languages when one is already an adult, but to learn constructed languages is doubly strange.  

Kamis,  

Kamis,  

I have reached a major, happy milestone.

I have reached a major, happy milestone.

Something very weird has happened.

Something very weird has happened.

Update: As part of my New Year's resolution for 2012, I decided to cancel this change and to return to the previous revision of the plan which was made on 27 November 2011. That is, I will not be studying Esperanto but will only study a single auxlang: Lingwa de Planeta. There is only time for one.

Update: As part of my New Year's resolution for 2012, I decided to cancel this change and to return to the previous revision of the plan which was made on 27 November 2011. That is, I will not be studying Esperanto but will only study a single auxlang: Lingwa de Planeta. There is only time for one.

Okay, I have made a New Year's Resolution!

Okay, I have made a New Year's Resolution!

Onward during 2012...

Onward during 2012...

I have for the first time finished reading a story written in Lingwa de Planeta (LdP). Today I finished reading Mey nocha, o Dronigina (May Night, or the Drowned Maiden); actually it is a fragment, about 1970 words in length. It is one of a number of literary short stories available at the LdP website.  

I have for the first time finished reading a story written in Lingwa de Planeta (LdP). Today I finished reading Mey nocha, o Dronigina (May Night, or the Drowned Maiden); actually it is a fragment, about 1970 words in length. It is one of a number of literary short stories available at the LdP website.  

I started this blog just over two years ago, on Friday 29 January 2010.

I started this blog just over two years ago, on Friday 29 January 2010.

This should be an interesting and useful post, I think.

This should be an interesting and useful post, I think.

Recently the inventor of Sambahsa, Dr Oliver Simon, announced that for the first time an entire novel has been translated into the language.

Recently the inventor of Sambahsa, Dr Oliver Simon, announced that for the first time an entire novel has been translated into the language.

I am quite happily translating Chapter 4 of La Chartreuse de Parme into Lingwa de Planeta, my current auxlang of choice. The translation has now reached 4200 words. I love LdP for its excellent worldlang features which make it accessible with relative ease to everyone, without requiring the student to have any prior knowledge of European languages. Lingwa de Planeta is welcoming to all and is remarkably expressive.

I am quite happily translating Chapter 4 of La Chartreuse de Parme into Lingwa de Planeta, my current auxlang of choice. The translation has now reached 4200 words. I love LdP for its excellent worldlang features which make it accessible with relative ease to everyone, without requiring the student to have any prior knowledge of European languages. Lingwa de Planeta is welcoming to all and is remarkably expressive.

Update: I've realised there is a better way and accordingly I've abandoned these attempts, as it is pretty clear that I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to designing an orthography. Therefore I've decided instead to turn to the experts for orthographical help. See my next post for details. Everything below can be ignored, since it represents a failed experiment. I've moved on.

Update: I've realised there is a better way and accordingly I've abandoned these attempts, as it is pretty clear that I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to designing an orthography. Therefore I've decided instead to turn to the experts for orthographical help. See my next post for details. Everything below can be ignored, since it represents a failed experiment. I've moved on.

The beauty of experimentation is that it can tell you when you are on the wrong path. Sometimes a failed experiment is more valuable than a successful one. And as the Turkish proverb says, "No matter how far you have gone down the wrong road, turn back." Excellent advice.

The beauty of experimentation is that it can tell you when you are on the wrong path. Sometimes a failed experiment is more valuable than a successful one. And as the Turkish proverb says, "No matter how far you have gone down the wrong road, turn back." Excellent advice.

Update: this approach has since been abandoned. Upon closer examination, using LdP vocabulary with Sambahsa grammar was found to be unsuitable since Sambahsa grammar demands an etymological orthography. Eventually I completely abandoned Indo-European grammar and settled upon using Swahili grammar with vocabulary from English, French and Swahili. The tentative name for this project became Lugha ya Afrika, which means "Language of Afrika" in Swahili.  

Update: this approach has since been abandoned. Upon closer examination, using LdP vocabulary with Sambahsa grammar was found to be unsuitable since Sambahsa grammar demands an etymological orthography. Eventually I completely abandoned Indo-European grammar and settled upon using Swahili grammar with vocabulary from English, French and Swahili. The tentative name for this project became Lugha ya Afrika, which means "Language of Afrika" in Swahili.  

Onward...

Onward...

Update: the Luqa ya Afrika project has been discontinued.

Update: the Luqa ya Afrika project has been discontinued.

  Please instead visit the Simpel project.

  Please instead visit the Simpel project.

The Auxlang 2012 project continues.

The Auxlang 2012 project continues.

More that two years ago, on Friday 29 January 2010, I wrote the first post of The Joy of Languages, which was entitled The journey begins...

More that two years ago, on Friday 29 January 2010, I wrote the first post of The Joy of Languages, which was entitled The journey begins...