Re: [glosalist] Hi I'm new

Hi Bill,

At 09:16 AM 5/11/05, you wrote:

I just found out about Glosa starting from a book I just starting reading “The Loom of Language”. I’m interested in learning.

Where can I access a book for learning?

How long does it take most people to learn?

Regards, Bill Branch

Glad you found Glosa. A book for learning Glosa would be firstly a dictionary from Wendy Ashby, one of the two authors of Glosa. I’d recommend “Glosa 6000.” There is also “18 Steps to Fluency in Euro-Glosa” which is a progressive tutor. Write to Wendy to ask for the current list of available titles. Wendy Ashby Glosa Education Organisation PO Box 18 Richmond Surry TW9 2AU U.K.

 There is also a "Glosa Internet Dictionary" on the Net in various  places, and it has a wider vocabulary, with a wide list both Glosa to  English and English to Glosa.

  Use Google to find current listings on the Net.  I wrote Seminar #1  and Seminar #2, which are designed to help people get into the idea of  constructing sentences in Glosa.

NOTES Glosa uses the words as concepts, and, within reason, Glosa’s words can be used as any part of speech. So, Glosa uses a Syntax-Based Grammar. This is similar to the syntax (word order) of English - there being no inflections in Glosa. Word order tells you the function of the word. Good Glosa will translate more or less word for word into English, but the opposite is not true. The syntax of Glosa is Subject Verb Object, but this becomes a bit mixed with longer phrases and clauses. The rules of well-written English generally act as a guide. In phrases, the words follow one another in increasing importance ( a word is modified by its precedent ). In a Noun Phrase the word that functions as a noun comes last - the noun indicator , ~u~ or ~plu~ comes first, then modifier(s), and lastly the Noun. Linguists call this “head final” phrase structure. With Verb Phrases, a similar pattern occurs, with tense particles (if needed) coming first in the NP then modifier(s) followed by the Verb (word functioning as the verb). EG ‘the quickly-running dog’ ….. ‘was loudly barking’ ~u celero dromo kani~ ……… ~pa sono voko~ [did loud(ly) call out]

  If you order _Plu Glosa Nota_ magazine from Wendy, or at least a back  copy, you will see written Glosa.  On the Net you can find some children's  stories I retold in Glosa: Tri Ursus (Three Bears), Cinerala (Cinderella),  and Pusi Rubi-Roba (Little Red Riding-hood).

HINTS Think about the ideas you wish to express. Find the Glosa words to use to express the ideas. Construct simple sentences - at least at the start - and use punctuation to show the phrase and clause structure. Read out what you have written, and if it sounds clear, and the ideas come across, OK, otherwise recast the sentence. Avoid, if you can, thinking in English, and then trying to translate your English sentences into Glosa. Aim to ‘ ‘ think in Glosa.’ ‘

 Sadly, there is no good book on the way to practice your Glosa.  I was  planning to write one, but it didn't happen.  When wishing to write both  Glosa and English versions, it is far the easiest to compose your Glosa  version first, then to write an English version from this.  You will  understand the syntax/word-usage better if you do a word translation into  English from your Glosa, then a vernacular English version below that. EG  ~U celero bruno vulpe pa salta super u laxi kani.~
     [the fast brown fox did jump above the lazy dog]
      'The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.'

Your question about learning time is tricky. Ron Clark, now deceased, used to claim that once you had the principles explained to you, and that you had the vocabulary, you’d be using Glosa in a couple of hours. Many years later, it seems that the simplicity of Glosa is deceptive. There areno idioms or metaphors in Glosa, so the ‘right’ word is supposed to be used. But this takes the colour out of language, so I invented the use of the karet “^” to show the use of non-literal language, as in … It’s raining ^cats and dogs^.

Our Mailing List is a bit thin nowadays: the trouble was that people worried too much over the meanings of specific words, rather than using the language. I tried the children’s stories mainly to “test” the language, and it passed. Some have written longer works in Glosa, but there was a shock to our system when the prime author, Ron Clark, died, and we have not picked up a head of steam since. I am 68, and am concentrating on trying to earn extra cash in my retirement; as well as that, I am concentrating on my writing in English. While Glosa suits the way my brain works, Esperanto frustrates me in the way it works. For others, the Esperanto inflections work well.

I look forward to reading your first, brief Glosa sentences.

Robin Gaskell