Post by Iac Marscheir on May 6, 2017 8:24:21 GMT -6
The Alphabet
Esperanto is a constructed language (wuhthet?) invented in the 1880s by this old fart called L. L. Zamenhof, a.k.a. Doktoro Esperanto (one of those L's stands for Lejzer, which sounds like "laser"). It has become known as Esperanto, but its first name was "la Internacia Lingvo" (the International Language). It was first shown to the outside world when he published the Unua Libro. Since then, it has grown in popularity to become the most spoken constructed language in the world, and the only one with native speakers.
Its alphabet is entirely phonetic. Every letter represents one sound and every sound belongs to one letter (except in the word "ekzemplo," where k is usually pronounced like g for convenience) (AND ABOUT TIME TOO, FUCK ENGLISH). It uses the basic Latin alphabet, minus q, w, x, and y (aww), plus six letters with circumflexes: ĉ ĝ ĥ ĵ ŝ and ŭ. In the event that these letters can't be accessed/typed, you can simply write the un-circumflexed letter followed by an x. This is called the x-system, and has replaced the h-system, which can be harder to interpret because h is another letter in the alphabet, while x isn't.
Alphabetical order: a b c ĉ d e f g ĝ h ĥ i j ĵ k l m n o p r s ŝ t u ŭ v z
| Letter | Sound (IPA) | English approximation |
| b | /b/ | Same |
| c | /t͡s/ | Like ts in bats |
| ĉ | /t͡ʃ/ | Like ch in check it for holes |
| d | /d/ | Same |
| f | /f/ | Same |
| g | /g/ | Same |
| ĝ | /d͡ʒ/ | Like j in junk |
| h | /h/ | Same |
| ĥ | /x/ | Say k, but keep air flowing as you say it (e-mail me a recording and I'll tell you how you sound) |
| j | /j/ | Like y in yes, ooh, right there |
| ĵ | /ʒ/ | Like g in ménage à trois |
| k | /k/ | Same |
| m | /m/ | Same |
| n | /n/ | Same |
| p | /p/ | Same |
| r | /r/ | ROLL YOUR R'S GODDAMMIT |
| s | /s/ | Same |
| ŝ | /ʃ/ | Like sh in shit |
| t | /t/ | Same |
| ŭ | /u̯/ or /w/ | Like w in wait a sec |
| v | /v/ | Same |
| z | /z/ | Same |
Vowels sound pretty much the same in English as in Esperanto. Y'know, ah, e, ee, oh, oo.
There you go, you got an alphabet. I'll make another one of these soon.
If my lesson is too "vulgar" for you, go away.
PRACTICE:
Oooooooooooh, yes, there's practice. Pronounce the words here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_common_words_in_Esperanto
