The Ultimate Test for Toki Pona
Postby Corey » Fri Aug 13, 2004 10:01 pm
Hey everyone,
Well, I think I'll give a quick overview of my latest project, what
I think will be the ultimate test for Toki Pona's simplicity.
I have recently convinced my brother (11 years old) to study Toki
Pona with me for use in the countless times when we need to converse
without being understood. He absolutely loathes grammar in general,
and has never desired to study a foreign language despite all my
attempts to change his mind. I will admit that it took no small
amount of bribery (I'll play and enjoy your favorite video game with
you if...) and convincing (It's easy! I swear! And think of all the
insults we can hurl at people with them being none the wiser!) to
get him to accept.
I've given him a few lessons on pronunciation and slowly been spoon-
feeding him the lessons on Pije's site. The first phrase I taught
him was "toki pona li pona tawa mi". I told him it in passing, had
him repeat it for pronunciation practice, then forgot it. To my
complete surprise, ten minutes later he walked up to me, grinned,
and said, "toki pona li pona tawa mi!". If my brother can remember a
phrase like that for more than ten minutes, anyone can learn Toki
Pona.
I am very happy that he is actually enjoying the language, but it
has been a strong test of my patience as he constantly forgets
words. My dream is to someday be at a level where we can quickly and
fluently speak with each other about things that could otherwise be
overheard. Although I know this goal could be quite far away, I hope
that in the long run it will help us.
Anyways, that was just a quick report to show taht if my brother
wants to learn TP, then ANYONE should be able to do it easily. I may
decide to give a report in a few weeks about his progress.
mi tawa!
-jan Kowi
jan lawa pi lipu "www.tokipona.bravehost.com"
o lukin e lipu mi!
http://forums.tokipona.org/viewtopic.php?t=280
#TokiPona #experiment #pali_open #learning #kama_sona #jan_sama_lili #anno2004
