Planet Earth

Language learning: How to speak Toki Pona, translation problems, advice, memory aids, tools and methods to learn Toki Pona and other languages faster
Lingva lernado: Kiel paroli Tokiponon, tradukproblemoj, konsiloj, memoraj helpiloj, iloj kaj metodoj por pli rapide lerni Tokiponon kaj aliajn lingvojn
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jan Kiwie
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 11:42 am

Planet Earth

Post by jan Kiwie »

Hello everyone, first time posting here. I was wondering if there is a generally accepted way the kulupu has of saying 'Earth' (the proper noun of our planet)?
I've seen 'ma ale' used, but to me that is more a description than a name. I've also seen ma Elutu which I prefer. Is that in general use? Would a sentence like this (quoting a lyric of recent hit song) "mi mute olin e ma Elutu" be understood?

I'm someone with a massive environmentalist streak, so being able to talk about our planet in toki pona, would be great.

Many thanks
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janTepanNetaPelin
Posts: 224
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 5:14 pm
Location: Berlin

Re: Planet Earth

Post by janTepanNetaPelin »

toki, jan Kiwi o!

When trying to express yourself in a new language, it's rarely a good idea to rely on another language, like in this case "Elutu" for "Earth", because you assume that everybody understands that other language (in this case, English), which raises the question why we are trying to communicate in Toki Pona in the first place, instead of English. Tu ju no wa a min? I have also seen people tokiponizing Esperanto instead. But again, if everybody knows Esperanto, why are we talking in Toki Pona?

When you tokiponize an English word like "Earth", "r" becomes "w" (not "l"), and in "Earth" you can omit it anyway: "Esu", probably, or even "E" in order to preserve the amount of syllables. But I'm not advocating for a tokiponization anyway, and I wouldn't have understood "Elutu" either.

In the official Toki Pona book, "ma" is used for "planet", and for "earth", so "ma" is a good choice for "Earth". (Note that our moon or our sun don't have a name either.)

For other planets (as seen from far away (in the sky)), I would use "mun" or "sike ma" (or "sike kon", if it's a gas giant). Here are planets of our solar system, inspired by the Sino-Japanese way of naming them. (Nothing official.)

* mun Telo - Mercury (水星)
* mun Kiwen - Venus (金星)
* ma - Earth
* mun Seli - Mars (火星)
* mun Kasi - Jupiter (木星)
* mun Ma - Saturn (土星)
* mun Sewi/Lawa - Uranus (天王星)
* mun Laso - Neptune (海王星)
* mun Anpa/Noka - Pluto (冥王星)

They could be used in order to name the weekdays like so: (Also, nothing official.)

* tenpo suno Suno - Sunday
* tenpo suno Mun - Monday
* tenpo suno Seli - Tuesday
* tenpo suno Telo - Wednesday
* tenpo suno Kasi - Thursday
* tenpo suno Kiwen - Friday
* tenpo suno Ma - Saturday
https://github.com/stefichjo/toki-pona (mi sitelen e lipu ni pi toki pona)
mi jan Tepan. mi pu. mi weka e jan nasa Kipo e jan nasa Lope.
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janTepanNetaPelin
Posts: 224
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 5:14 pm
Location: Berlin

Re: Planet Earth

Post by janTepanNetaPelin »

janTepanNetaPelin wrote:toki, jan Kiwi o!

When trying to express yourself in a new language, it's rarely a good idea to rely on another language, like in this case "Elutu" for "Earth", because you assume that everybody understands that other language (in this case, English), which raises the question why we are trying to communicate in Toki Pona in the first place, instead of English. Tu ju no wa a min? I have also seen people tokiponizing Esperanto instead. But again, if everybody knows Esperanto, why are we talking in Toki Pona?

When you tokiponize an English word like "Earth", "r" becomes "w" (not "l"), and in "Earth" you can omit it anyway: "Esu", probably, or even "E" in order to preserve the amount of syllables. But I'm not advocating for a tokiponization anyway, and I wouldn't have understood "Elutu" either.

In the official Toki Pona book, "ma" is used for "planet", and for "earth", so "ma" is a good choice for "Earth". (Note that our moon or our sun don't have a name either.)

For other planets (as seen from far away (in the sky)), I would use "mun" or "sike ma" (or "sike kon", if it's a gas giant). Here are the planets of our solar system (plus Pluto), inspired by the Sino-Japanese way of naming them. (Nothing official.)

* mun Telo - Mercury (水星)
* mun Kiwen - Venus (金星)
* ma - Earth
* mun Seli - Mars (火星)
* mun Kasi - Jupiter (木星)
* mun Ma - Saturn (土星)
* mun Sewi/Lawa - Uranus (天王星)
* mun Laso - Neptune (海王星)
* mun Anpa/Noka - Pluto (冥王星)

They could be used in order to name the weekdays like so: (Also, nothing official.)

* tenpo suno Suno - Sunday
* tenpo suno Mun - Monday
* tenpo suno Seli - Tuesday
* tenpo suno Telo - Wednesday
* tenpo suno Kasi - Thursday
* tenpo suno Kiwen - Friday
* tenpo suno Ma - Saturday
https://github.com/stefichjo/toki-pona (mi sitelen e lipu ni pi toki pona)
mi jan Tepan. mi pu. mi weka e jan nasa Kipo e jan nasa Lope.
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