Friday 15 April 2011

Ghato mien prientin hoyd!!!!

Note: Scripim in Sambahsa. Ho paur! Ia maght sayge no! Olivier, ne tarjem!

Som masrour hoyd. Ghatim mien prientin hoyd. Ia est bell ed wey ghietam in id autobus station os mien urb Patiala. Wey ghietam pos quar yars. Meg lieubho iam. Mien nov prient Rishabh dahit mi courage. Is est un jamile anghen.

Hoyd, eiskwo sayge, aun paur:

Ho Prientin,
Iam meist bell gwen,
In ia mund ed universe,
Meg lieubho te!

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Easy Russian and Sambaha Texts (1)

I have begun learning Russian again and have almost completed the first 13 chapters of Learning Russian by Nina Potapova. I have got an old edition (1967) and it works great for me. As part of my revision, I'm posting here the Russian texts from the first five chapters in the book.

Also, because there aren't to be found any easy Russian texts online for beginners, I hope this will help them too. What's more, it is hard to find this amazing book. It appears to me Amazon offers only one of the four volumes the book was published in and there is only a single review on Open Library, which is written my none other than me.

As far as Sambahsa is concerned. My experience with constructed languages tells me you can learn them better when you get actively engaged with the language. So I've attempted to translate the same Russian texts into Sambahsa.

Lesson 1

Вот дом. Дом тут?
Her est un dom. Est her un dom?

Да, дом тут. Да, он тут.
Ya, id dom est her. Ya, id est her.

Вот мост. Мост там?
Her est un brigv. Est un brigv her?

Да, мост там. Да, он там.
Ya, id brigv est her. Ya, id est her.

Lesson 2

Вот дом и двор.
Her sont dom ed aula.

Вот дом, двор и забор.
Her sont dom, aula ed kagh.

Вот двор. Тут трава. Там ива.
Her est un aula. Her est trav. Ter est un salk.

Порт там? Да, он там.
Est id port ter? Ya, id est ter.

Мост тут? Да, он тут.
Est id brigv her? Ya, id est her.

Вот стол. Ваза и роза там.
Her est un meja. Vase ed rose sont ter.

Lesson 3

Вот фабрика. Вот станок.
Her est un fabric. Her est un jihase.

Вот комната. У нас тут урок.
Her est un kamer. Habmos un lection her.

У вас тут урок? Да, у нас тут урок. Вот карта СССР.
Habte yu un lection her? Ya, habmos un lection her. Her est id map os Soviet Union.

Вот бумага. Вот буква к и буква х. Вот буква х и буква г.
Her est papier. Her sont buksteiv к ed buksteiv х. Her sont buksteiv х ed buksteiv г

Там хор.
Id khor est ter.

Lesson 4 
Карта тут? Да, она тут.
Est her id map? Ya, id est her.

Это карта СССР? Да, это карта СССР.
Est tod un map os Soviet Union? Ya, tod est un map os Soviet Union.


Это Москва? Да, это Москва.
Est tod Moskva? Ya, tod est Moskva.

Вот двор. Фонтан там? Да, он там, направо.
Her est un aula. Est id fontan ter? Ya, id est ter, levtro.

Lesson 5


Вот мой брат Юрий.
Her est mien brater Yuri.

Я иду домой.
Gwahm kyant dom.

Вот мой дом.
Her est mien dom.

Направо моё окно.
Dextro est mien fenster.

Там моя комната.
Ter est mien kamer.

Я даю урок.
Dahm un lectionum.

Вот карта: это моя страна.
Her est un map: tod est mien land.

Твой брат поёт, и я пою.
Tien brater kant, ed ego kano.

Я еду домой.
Wehgho kyant dom.

Я знаю это.
Gnohm tod.

I faced two problems with translation.
  1. Russian has two words for Sambahsa her(here): вот and тут.
  2. I don't know how to translate Russian это (this), so I've used Sambahsa so.

Sunday 3 April 2011

Internet and Constructed Languages

One of the arguments you often hear from those who propagate Esperanto is that it has taken off from the drawing board and become a living language. To support their claim they often ask you to google Esperanto and look at the number of results you get. 

I've done the same just now. Today is 3 April, 2011 and at 09:54 am, Google came up with more than 78 million results to my search query Esperanto. In contrast, with merely 122,000 results, its closet competitor, Interlingua (IALA), doesn't stand anywhere near.

Impressive! But does it tell the whole story? The answer is no because if that were the case Google wouldn't have showed me about 140 million results for learn latin and just (relatively) 130 million for learn french. The number further drops to 81 million for learn spanish and doesn't even cross the 19 million mark when you type in learn portuguese.

Does that mean more people are studying Latin or speak it than any of these modern languages? I think... nah!

I'm a computer illiterate so I don't know what these numbers signify but I think they point towards one thing - these numbers don't reflect the reality as we understand it. And if that's true, it is time we took a serious look at other constructed languages.

By the way, history of mathematics has only 19 million results which is not even half of the 45 million you get when you google history of underwear. ;)