Posts tagged with 'esperanto'

Kio la fiki!?

  • Posted on March 18, 2008 at 10:57 am

So I’ve been piddlefarting around with this Lost Ring deal. If you haven’t been keeping up with it, a huge huge huge part of the plot involves six athletes waking up in labyrinths with amnesia and weird tattoos in Esperanto, and an equally huge part of the plot involves finding strange documents, also in Esperanto. Well, you’ve got people who speak seven different languages here, so it makes sense.

And so, I thought “hey, you know, I’ve kind of thought Esperanto was interesting for some time but never really got around to learning anything about it, maybe this would be a good time?” and found this website called lernu.

And they have what is basically an Esperanto for Dummies course you can take via Interwebs, with sound clips and everything. That’s great. I go through the first couple lessons, no problem, Saluton, mi estas Sarah, mi fartas tre bone (although I felt bad about being twelve and giggling at the word “fartas,” I was glad to find out that just “kiel vi?” is an acceptable way to say “‘sup” and the state of being is an acceptable way to answer, except there’s still something about “tre bone” that makes me giggle a little)… and so on.

So in the lesson, there are two people you’re talking to and hearing from, and a few lessons in they’re joined by a third person who introduces herself as Lisa. Great! Saluton, Lisa! Kiel vi? Tre bone!

And then you click “next.”

The page says “And then Lisa says to you…” There is a sound player. There is no translation box for what that player is about to say to you.  Okay, well, it’s got to be something really elementary!

Me: *click*
Lisa: *MURO DE TEKSTO* (if there is a better way to say “wall of text” in Esperanto I’d love to have it)
Me: OH GOD WHAT oДo

I click “next,” still wondering what the fuck just happened here.

The page says: “Apparently Lisa doesn’t realize you’re new to Esperanto.”

“NO SHIT,” I say.

The next lesson: how to say “I don’t understand” and “I am a n00b.”

A lesson or so later, Lisa throws more words you don’t understand at you. That lesson covers how you ask someone what the hell they’re talking about.  Then Lisa gives you a form to fill out, takes you to a reception office, and just leaves you there.

Conclusion: Lisa is kind of a bitch.

But anyway, I am now as fluent in Esperanto as I am in Spanish and Japanese. That being, I can introduce myself, tell you I don’t understand what you’re saying, and insult you. GO TEAM ME ahahah oh god

(by the way: I’m guessing the subject there is a good approximation of “what the fuck,” yes, one of the first things I did was go straight to the swears, what of it)

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