suna pona tawa ale

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janSelosi
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: Santiago, Chile (ma Sile)

suna pona tawa ale

Post by janSelosi »

Hi all,
I just learned about toki pona last night, and I'm fascinated. I'm in the process of learning the language, and i certainly adhere to the philosophy behind it. A few words about myself: born in Russia, lived in North America for many years, now based in Santiago, Chile. Would love to join the toki pona community.
Kuti
Posts: 358
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2010 3:48 pm

Re: suna pona tawa ale

Post by Kuti »

kama pona jan Selosi
janMato
Posts: 1545
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:21 pm
Location: Takoma Park, MD
Contact:

Re: suna pona tawa ale

Post by janMato »

Hi all,
I just learned about toki pona last night, and I'm fascinated. I'm in the process of learning the language, and i certainly adhere to the philosophy behind it. A few words about myself: born in Russia, lived in North America for many years, now based in Santiago, Chile. Would love to join the toki pona community.
Here is what you said in toki pona:

jan ale o! toki!

tenpo lili la mi kama sona e toki pona. ni li musi kin. mi open kama sona e toki li pilin e ni: sona pona ona li pona kin. mi tan ma Losi li open sama lon ma Losi. tenpo mute la mi lon ma Mewika. tanso tenpo ni la mi lon ma Sile. mi wile kin kama jan pi kulupu pi toki pona.

If you haven't already, you may also want to check out http://tokipona.net where I have several toki pona tools.
janSelosi
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: Santiago, Chile (ma Sile)

Re: suna pona tawa ale

Post by janSelosi »

Kuti and janMato, thank you guys! I hope I'll be able to write this well in some time. How long does it commonly take to learn toki pona decently?
Was "suna pona tawa ale" correct?
janMato
Posts: 1545
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:21 pm
Location: Takoma Park, MD
Contact:

Re: suna pona tawa ale

Post by janMato »

janSelosi wrote:Kuti and janMato, thank you guys! I hope I'll be able to write this well in some time. How long does it commonly take to learn toki pona decently?
30 hours of study to begin producing anything. A few months of doing a little bit each day before you start to hit the limits of the language-- certain semantic areas are just too difficult to bother. Reading actually takes the longest, because efficient reading, imho, requires lexicalizing tons of collocations, (memorizing set phrases) and reading is difficult for other reasons as well. This is the reverse of my experience in other languages where reading ability came first and the ability to produce (at all) came far later.
janSelosi wrote:Was "suna pona tawa ale" correct?
Spelling error on suna/suno.

jan Kipo is exploring the syntax of sentence fragments at the moment, but I still think sentence fragments are to be avoided until they're described better. Vocatives are perfectly safe though, complete sentences are pretty safe.

o jan ale! Hey everyone!

suno pona! Good sun! Sentence fragment, again, not sure if that is a bad thing & many canonical greetings are sentence fragements.

o suno li pona tawa jan ale! Optative, "May the sun be good to every person!"

o suno li pona tawa sina! "May the sun be good to you (all)!" The plural markers are optional, so if you include them, then you are making some sort of contrast-- like maybe you thought there was someone in the audience who was expecting to be snubbed. I can't say I have much experience with languages with optional plurals, so I don't know what extra meaning can be inferred from marking an optional plural. In English marking a plural only means multiple people, and can't mean anything else because the number is obligatory.
janKipo
Posts: 3064
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:20 pm

Re: suna pona tawa ale

Post by janKipo »

jan Selosi o! kama pona tawa toki pona.
Please write a bit each day in some place where older hands can see it and comment. This probably the best way to learn. It is how most of us did.
Don't worry too much about idioms for a while; you'll get the ones you need and can often get new ones by context. And then you can ask the author.
Don't worry either about fragments. As long as it is a conventional expression (like 'kama pona' above) or the answer to a question or the rest of the sentence is otherwise obvious, no issues arise. And it is not easy to think of many other case. BUT I would try to use full sentences until your grip on the underlying language is a bit better.
janSelosi
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: Santiago, Chile (ma Sile)

Re: suna pona tawa ale

Post by janSelosi »

mi moku e kili. mute kili li telo nasa lon ma Sile. :)
Very limited vocabulary still...
janKipo
Posts: 3064
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:20 pm

Re: suna pona tawa ale

Post by janKipo »

I eat fruit. A quantity of fruit are alcohol in Chile. Not sure but maybe 'kili mute li kama telo nasa lon ma Sile' "A lot of fruit becomes alcohol in Chile" ?
janSelosi
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: Santiago, Chile (ma Sile)

Re: suna pona tawa ale

Post by janSelosi »

Well, I tried to say "[there's] lots of fruit and wine in Chile"
What's the correct way to say this please?
Kuti
Posts: 358
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2010 3:48 pm

Re: suna pona tawa ale

Post by Kuti »

kili en telo nasa li lon mute lon ma Sile
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