The Case of the Accusative -N

Credit to Cafe Press

   What attracted me to Esperanto language is its logic and its standardized structure.  Being and American English user and taking word order for granted I am having difficultly learning accusatives relating to the -n ending.  But I see it as a necessary tough learning curve I must master.  I see it as necessary so other speakers from other languages that use different word order than mine can under stand my sentences. Those from other languages that use different word order from my language must learn -n ending as well so I can understand them.  That is the whole idea of Esperanto to me.  As a new user I want standardization even if at first it is difficult to me.

   I defiantly need practice.  Right now I kludge around Esperanto sentences sounding like a cave man.  I defiantly need practice remembering words on the fly.  According to Memrise I know over 2923 words but I reality it must be 1/3 that that I really know.  Also consider that I am dong several decks that duplicate many of them.  I do cards a lot at Memrise, enough so that I have earned the badge of Memonist with over 2,500,000 pts almost exclusively spent trying to memorize Esperanto words.

   I am now going through the book 'Ni Parolu Espernaton Kune'  by Charlotte Kohrs, M,A.   It has been a great little starter book for me from Esperanto-usa.org it has all the basics of speaking Esperanto along with simple reading sentences.  The print quality is that of a printer on fast draft mode but is "good" enough to read comfortably.  I am using its simple sentences to help me learn the finer points (such as the accusative -n) and reading simple sentences.

  Off and on I also read a few sentences of Gerda Malaperis at ReadLang.com as the site helps with words I do not know by letting me click on them to get a translation only as needed.

   Travis, A helpful English language teacher is helping me with sentence structure via email.  By writing some basic sentences to him in EO and letting him edit them it will help me to put together better sentences. This will give me a Very Big head start for when the Duolingo course starts.

   He is learning Esperanto himself but is catching on quickly as seen here in his YouTube Pensoj en Esperanto (Journals) .  Being an English language teacher by trade and familiar with language structure it will be very helpful to him as he learns and continues on to help others like me.  I really appreciate his help.

So practice makes proficiency:

  Mi ankaŭ need al praktikan skribon.  Mi estas tre Novan studenton.  Mi koni that al skribi pli estas bonan ideon.  La vortoj mi koni on la flugi does ne allow mi tre multaj sentences sen krokodoli English mixed en.

   Lol.  Ouch that hurt trying to read that back to myself.  Don't worry I won't do any more of that to you.  Maybe by next post my attempt at making on the fly sentences will not be so painful and perhaps also will properly use the accusative -n as well.  No one will at least be able to accuse me of not trying. ;)

  This post brought to you by the letter -N and Cafe Press for the picture.

Continuing with Memrise

   I am continuing with Memrise while I wait for Duolingo course.  I have went through several packs at Memrise and according to it, I know well over 1500 words, but I am still having a hard time reading basic Esperanto texts.  The reason why is all the Memrise flash card decks are teaching me are the basic words without the and affixes that Esperanto uses (as any language does).  This has made it so that I am not recognizing words that I should already know. They have just been looking like new words that i have not learned yet to me.  So I am now doing an Esperanto - Affixes in Action! card pack that specifically is teaching me the affixes.  It is teaching me a LOT of the missing peaces of Esperanto for me.  I have been trying to listen to programs and read paragraphs of text that use these.  Even basic video programming and reading uses at least the simplest of these affixes.  I hope after doing this pack for a while I can try reading and listing to Esperanto some more and get better sense out of it.

   I have been having a hard time using lernu.net. I have found their courses hard to follow.  Perhaps with some suffixes under my ĉapelo I will be able to use lernu better.

The Duolingo course and my Memrise deck progress

Things are really coming along fast for the Duolingo course which is at 78% of opening up, the course writers have done quite a bit just since my previous post.  It also now has 12,000+ students waiting for the course to open up.

The course is at 78% since and now has 12,000+ students waiting for the course.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have been very busy as well.  I was in 6th place I believe for the high score of the "A complete grammar of Esperanto vocabulary" Memrise deck during my last post.  Now as of this post have gone through all 924 words,  now I just need to review the deck often to keep them all in my head as I continue to be exposed to these words further in the textbook at Google play Books of the same title.

I now have (temporarily I am sure) the lead on this particular decks all time high Leader-board due to cramming all day long ever since my last post with 587,686 points.  I took a screenshot so it will last longer.  :) I expect the lead may disappear very quickly as there are several other active users of this deck that may wish to challenge my lead.  Its all part of the fun and motivation to keep ones studies up. i hope i have motivated them as much as they have motivated me. :)
EDIT: Noticed my score was passed on Feb, 15,2012 :)

1st

greenrish600,985

My temporary lead on this decks leader-board.

A Complete Grammar of Esperanto

I am going through the ebook:
A Complete Grammar of Esperanto with grades exercises for reading and translation together with full vocabularies by Ivy Kellerman, A.M., Ph. D.
As I have been studying the book I have also been using the 'Add Note' feature of Google Play Books to add all of my translations of the 'Reading Lessons' and 'Sentences for Translation' provided in the book.

Screen shot of the ebook along with a pop-up note of a translation.

Along with the book, I am using a Memrise flash card deck that includes all of the vocabulary from the book. I currently have 376,005 point that currently put me at 5th place on the all time leader board for this deck.  I am currently in position 1 for the weekly and monthly score position.  However, note that these scores are highly fluid for as soon as the next person sees my score, they will want to top it.  I have been bouncing back and fourth with the active deck users for the weekly and monthly position.  I find it rather fun and motivating.  It helps me to keep the vocabulary in my head in between my session with going through the book.

The Duolingo course is currently 77% done with 11,796 pre-registered.

I am finding it a useful combination to give me a head start while I wait for the Esperanto Duolingo course to start. The Duolingo course is currently at 77% near its completion with 11,796 students pre-registered for it.

Comedically Easy

Comically Easy by Paullen  - Monday February 2, 2015

With Esperanto one conversation is all it takes to get started

   I made this little comic at Pixton.com while on a brief language break.  I am currently mainly going through the A complete grammar of Esperanto vocabulary flashcard deck at Memrise.com.  I am just about to to start level 16 of 60 levels.  It reports I have gone though 243 of 923 words in the deck with 140 supposedly in long term memory.

Progress at Learning Esperanto

  

They don't give out gold stars but
all Esperantists do get a green one.

  My Progress.
  I am doing well with learning Esperanto words.  I have a few hundred words bouncing around somewhere in my head that I can recall with some prodding from flashcards at Memrise.com.  I need to work on creating my own sentences and doing some reading.  I see it being even more fun as My Wife and I continue to learn further.

  The Esperanto Duolingo course is really coming along and I am really looking forward to it starting around its estimated launch time of 3/21/15.  It already has 10,802 students pre-signed up.  It will be great time to start what is considered to be an excellent starter language for beginners.  Even though Duolingo is not a college course with a diploma, it is free and is commonly used by college students.  The greatest diploma you can show from learning a new skill is showing how well you are able to use the new skill itself.  While we wait for the duolingo class I am getting as much of a head start with the language as I can.

   Why learn Esperanto?
   In My Wife and I's case it is fun language that we can learn together as a family without the learning stress that other languages have. We are both loving that it is a VERY easy language to learn.  It follows ALL of its grammar and spelling rules without exception.  ALL words are spelled exactly as they are spoken, and spoken exactly as they are spelled.  It is a real breath of fresh air compared to English.

   Esperanto is taught in some schools as an introductory language.  It teaches language structure (nouns, pronouns, adjectives) without having at the same time to fight non-conforming spellings and pronunciations of a new language.  This builds confidence to learn another language.  Esperanto is especially easy to learn by English speakers at it uses many of the the same root words that English uses, root words that are common to many languages.   Once basic language learning skills are learned with Esperanto it may motivate and build a persons confidence to learn yet another language.  Even if a person chooses not to continue with another language after Esperanto, at least you have learned the one second language to use.