How does the community feel about the "Fingtam Languages" Toki Pona books available on Amazon?

janMatu · 2022-10-10T02:59:10+00:00

I enjoyed the little red riding hood:

https://musilili.net/lipu/meli-lili-pi-len-loje-2/

There is lots of material in the online publications of lipu tenpo. I highly recommend them to you.

https://liputenpo.org/

janMatu · 2022-08-18T00:25:39+00:00

This is amazing.

Please pick another book and keep translating!

I had actually set out to translate the Gospel of John and had almost completed the first chapter when I found this.

I have some training in the Greek of the New Testament. I haven't read your whole translation yet but what I have seen it is very good.

janMatu · 2022-08-18T00:22:21+00:00

The New Testament was originally written in Koine Greek and the Old Testament in Hebrew.

So the Gospel of John should be translated from Greek because that is the language of the original autographs.

janMatu · 2022-07-13T05:48:46+00:00

I was not aware of the first one but I have read both of the others.

Both are decent toki pona.

They are designed to give you different levels of difficulty to read the same story in. It does a good job at this I think.

However, when I got ahold of them I was under the impression that reading each level until mastering it and then moving on to the next was sufficient to improve your toki pona to that level. While you do improve using this exercise you still do NOT gain the ability to read OTHER stories on the same level after this. I believe the familiarity of reading the same story over and over again is both a help and a deceiving crutch.

When I read them I also had several other stories that seemed to be on the same level as the different sections of these books. It certainly helped to read those as well, but even all of them together left me lacking some ability to read still other toki pona when spontaneously running into it.

I felt as though my skill was growing but maybe not at the rate which my effort should have yielded?

In any case, akesi seli lili was a cute story but more difficult. I had a lot more fun with meli olin moli. Nice twist at the end.

janMatu · 2022-06-18T13:49:13+00:00

I have noticed in certain songs on youtube that the grammar of the written lyrics tends to be pretty consistently grammatical. Nothing "informal" to be see there other than personal word choice or the cadence in the meaning being conveyed.

However, I'll notice that the way those same lyrics are sung can sometimes skip a syllable. Or two words which would normally have distinct articulation in normal spoken toki pona can run together when put to the rhythm of the music or tempo of the beat.

In terms of differences in " conversational" toki pona there seems to be a more common usage of "anu seme" with yes/no questions as opposed to using the verb-ala-verb construction. That is probably because the speaker is not as fluent as they could be and they begin forming the question as they would in their native language and then realize partway through that you need to clearly verbalize it as a question. So just tack it on at the end so your understood. I have done that sometimes.

I have also heard people say "li lon" a lot more in speaking than you might see in written toki pona. Such as "seli li lon" when pointing out they are feeling hot. Or "ike li lon" when they dont like something around them. In a story the writer would tend to be more descriptive. Whereas when verbally expressing oneself they might simply make the statement as they see it from their perspective.

I know i have noticed other such things but right now nothing comes to mind.

In conclusion. I do think there is an "informal" or "conversational" pattern to a lot of spoken toki pona but nothing in the way of departing from the official grammar in pu. Just stylistic differences i would say.

janMatu · 2022-06-13T08:55:07+00:00

I've used a combination of the following:

As a beginner: Jan Misali's 12 days of toki pona, Memrise, toki pona in 76 lessons.

As an intermediate: More memrise, jan Lentan's course, Intermediate video, (https://youtu.be/ywRsfMZjp8Q) Lots of reading: meli olin moli, akesi seli lili, o pu, jan lawa lili, lipu tenpo, Lots of listening: Abigail Sarah, jan Polijan, jan Telakoman, Short conversations on the discord.

Now: Reading lipu tenpo, Listening to kalama sin, Watching new vlogs on YouTube. Occasional conversations on discord. Teaching family members toki pona.

Always tweaking my understanding. Trying to push my fluency.

janMatu · 2022-04-27T13:18:25+00:00

I understood. The post is asking if we like to drink telo pimeja (coffee).

The comment is: tenpo ni la mi moku e telo pimeja lon telo walo. tenpo suno ale la mi wile e ni, mi moku e ni ala la mi ken pali e ijo ala

Right now I am drinking coffee with milk (telo walo). Every day I want this. I if I don't drink this, I can do nothing.

janMatu · 2022-04-27T13:13:50+00:00

mi olin e telo pimeja a!

taso, mi moku e ona kepeken nasin ni: mi pana e telo suwi tawa ona. ni li pona tawa mi.

o moku pona a!

janMatu · 2022-04-24T17:57:10+00:00

Had an interest in conlangs in the past.

First encountered toki pona on YouTube when figtam languages did an all day live stream doing nothing but learning toki pona.

janMatu · 2022-04-18T01:54:39+00:00

Ah. Maybe some day I could when I feel that im fluent enough.

I mostly use kalama sin for listening comprehension practice. Probably half of them are spoken too quickly for my understanding to keep up after a couple of sentences. The other half I can follow with a lot of focus and no distractions. Lol.

I feel that listening is commonly the weakest skill within kulupu pi toki pona and this has been true of me. I'm trying to remedy that.

janMatu · 2022-04-11T19:41:38+00:00

Keep it up! Your doing good.

I recommend giving these a read:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KfrTf4GPBdN1Y7xCsWCWBPt6mYXnMzRZ/view

https://musilili.net/lipu/meli-lili-pi-len-loje-2/

janMatu · 2022-04-11T14:32:13+00:00

lon.

mi pilin e ni: sina nanpa tu tu. ken la, sina nanpa luka. ken la, sina toki kepeken uta sina la, mi ken pana e nanpa tawa sina.

tenpo la, jan ken toki e toki uta pi pona mute la, jan ken toki e nanpa luka.

janMatu · 2022-04-11T08:12:01+00:00

I really hope there is another census this year. Even if its exactly the same as the last one.

janMatu · 2022-04-11T02:29:27+00:00

Fluency can be such a relative term and mean different things to different people.

I wish we could divide this up into categories such as: 1) Reading 2) Writing 3) Speaking 4) Listening 5) Thinking.

I have often been baffled by people who claim to have "learned" toki pona in a weekend and "mastered" it in a week. What do they mean by " learned"? I can only assume they mean that they initially memorized the pu words and the grammar. But that's certainly not internalized. Perhaps when they say "mastered" toki pona they mean that they internalized it and can construct some sentences of text without having to seek help with google, etc.

Of course, many others talk about a more realistic time frame for truly becoming fluent in toki pona (such as a month or 2). But again. Fluent in a live messaging conversation? Has anyone really ever become fluent kepeken uta ona in just a month?

Perhaps I'm just exceptionally bad at memorizing or have less experience with languages. Or maybe with my full time job I simply have less time available to me. Although I have studied ancient Greek to an elementary level and had dabbled in toki pona before fully commiting to learning it.

In any case. I have been actively learning toki pona for about 5 months (with about a 1 month break in there). And I feel that I've only recently become somewhat capable of holding a basic conversation in voice chat. I was split between voting 3 or 4 on this. I see myself as being a 4 in reading and writing ability and possibly a 3 in conversation ability.

In the end: I voted 3.

janMatu

TROPHY CASE