The Project Gutenberg eBook ofEsperanto Self-Taught with Phonetic PronunciationThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Esperanto Self-Taught with Phonetic PronunciationAuthor: William W. MannRelease date: December 23, 2007 [eBook #23984]Most recently updated: March 17, 2023Language: EnglishCredits: Jonathan Ingram, Laurent Vogel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESPERANTO SELF-TAUGHT WITH PHONETIC PRONUNCIATION ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Esperanto Self-Taught with Phonetic PronunciationAuthor: William W. MannRelease date: December 23, 2007 [eBook #23984]Most recently updated: March 17, 2023Language: EnglishCredits: Jonathan Ingram, Laurent Vogel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
Title: Esperanto Self-Taught with Phonetic Pronunciation
Author: William W. Mann
Author: William W. Mann
Release date: December 23, 2007 [eBook #23984]Most recently updated: March 17, 2023
Language: English
Credits: Jonathan Ingram, Laurent Vogel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESPERANTO SELF-TAUGHT WITH PHONETIC PRONUNCIATION ***
MARLBOROUGH'SSELF-TAUGHTSERIES
[ST Series--Trade Mark Registered]
THIRD EDITION
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
London:E. MARLBOROUGH & CO., LTD., 51Old Bailey, E.C. 4
[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]
The object of this volume is two-fold. It supplies very full and comprehensive vocabularies of the words required by the tourist or traveller, visitor or resident abroad, health or pleasure seeker, and professional or business man, together with a large number of conversational sentences of a typical and practical character. The words and phrases are classified according to subject, and the phonetic pronunciation of every word is added in accordance with Marlborough's simple and popular system of phonetics.
With the aid of this book anyone may undertake a trip to a foreign land, even if he know nothing of the language of the country he is going to, and, if he will put himself beforehand in communication with Esperantists in the various places he intends to visit, he will find them ready to help him in many ways, and his stay abroad will thus be made much more entertaining and instructive than if he had spent his time in the conventional manner of the ordinary tourist. A further great advantage of this international language is, that it opens up to the traveller, not merely one particular country, but the whole of Europe.
The book also aims at affording a practical guide to Esperanto for the student, who will find, in the section on Grammar, all that he needs to give him full insight into and grasp of the language, enabling him with very little effort to read, write and speak correctly.
By joining an Esperanto Group the learner may have frequent opportunity of conversational practice, and he will soon find that it is by no means a difficult matter to become as fluent in the auxiliary language as in his mother-tongue.1
Esperanto is not merely a language for tourists, but already possesses a rich literature of considerable extent, the beginnings of that "Weltlitteratur" foreseen by Goethe; it has a press of its own representing every country of importance in the world, and is constantly being made use of for professional purposes by doctors, scientists, teachers, lawyers, soldiers, sailors, merchants, etc., in every quarter of the globe. It is undoubtedly destined, ere many years have passed, to become a very important factor in the progress of the world.
WILLIAM W. MANN.
London, 1908.
PRINTED AND MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN.
Letchworth:The Garden City Press Ltd.
Fifth Impression
The Esperanto Alphabet has 28 letters—23 consonants, 5 vowels:—
In order to make the best progress in acquiring the words and sentences in the following pages, the student is recommended to learn a few at a time by repeating them aloud with the aid of the phonetic pronunciation in the third column.
Although the system of phonetics may seem a little cumbersome, practice will soon enable the student to pronounce the words easily and naturally. The following notes will be useful:—
1.Accent.—In Esperanto,every letter, whether vowel or consonant,is sounded.The accented syllable of a word is always the last but one.Thus,nobla(noh'blah),irado(ee-rah'do),telefono(teh-leh-foh'no),internacia(in-tehr-naht-see'ah),folio(fohlee'oh).
It should be borne in mind thatjandŭare consonants, and do not, like the vowels, of themselves constitute a syllable. Thus,tiu(tee'oo,twosyllables) andtiuj(tee'ooy, alsotwosyllables),rajdi(rah'y-dee,notrah-ĭ'dee),antaŭ(ahn'tahw,notahn-tah'ŏŏ).
2.The vowels,a,e,i,o,u, should in Esperanto be pronounced quite purely, and entirely without any drawling after-sound. Many English speakers diphthongizea,i,o, and pronouncelateas "la-it,"paleas "pa-il,"paperas "pa-y-per,"roadas "row-d," etc. This habit of drawling the vowels, when transferred to Esperanto, thus:Mi ne povas bone paroli, mee'y nay'ee poh'ŏŏ-vah(r)ss boh'ŏŏ-nehy pah(r)-roh'ŏŏ-leey, immediately reveals the nationality of the speaker.
There is also an inclination to interpose anr-sound betweenla("the") and a word beginning with a vowel, thus:la(r)eblecoinstead ofla ebleco,la(r)internacia lingvoinstead ofla internacia lingvo, etc. This should be avoided.
3.Combinations of Consonants.—There are a few consonantal combinations which offer a slight difficulty to English beginners, viz.,gv,kn,kv,sc. The combinationsgv,kn, andkv, as ingvidi(gvee'dee),knabo(knah'bo),kvieto(kvee-eh'toh), may be practised by first placing a vowel before thegork, and gradually suppressing it. Thus, first sayla knabo(lahk-nah'bo), and gradually drop the "lah," until finallyknabocan be said without difficulty.
The combinationsc, as insceno(stseh'no), may be learnt thus: Say "last sane" several times, very distinctly pronouncing thestand thes, then gradually "'st sane", and finallysceno(stseh'no) without any preceding vowel-sound. When this combination follows a vowel, as inmi scias, it should cause no difficulty, for thesis easily pronounced with the first syllable, thus: meess-tsee'ahss.
Varsovio, 14.9.08.Karaj Sinjoroj,—Kun plezuro kaj danko mi ricevis vian leteron de 10.9, kaj ankaŭ la presprovaĵon de"Esperanto Self-Taught."Ĉar Sro Mann estas tre kompetenta kaj sperta esperantisto, tial mi estas tute certa, ke la libro verkita de li estos tre bona kaj tre utila.Via,(Signed) ZAMENHOF.
Varsovio, 14.9.08.
Karaj Sinjoroj,—Kun plezuro kaj danko mi ricevis vian leteron de 10.9, kaj ankaŭ la presprovaĵon de"Esperanto Self-Taught."
Ĉar Sro Mann estas tre kompetenta kaj sperta esperantisto, tial mi estas tute certa, ke la libro verkita de li estos tre bona kaj tre utila.
Via,
(Signed) ZAMENHOF.
[TRANSLATION.]
Warsaw, 14.9.08.Dear Sirs,—I received your letter of Sept. 10, and the proofs of "Esperanto Self-Taught," with pleasure and thanks.As Mr. Mann is a very competent and experienced Esperantist, I am quite certain that the book written by him will be very good and very useful.Yours,(Signed)ZAMENHOF.
Warsaw, 14.9.08.
Dear Sirs,—I received your letter of Sept. 10, and the proofs of "Esperanto Self-Taught," with pleasure and thanks.
As Mr. Mann is a very competent and experienced Esperantist, I am quite certain that the book written by him will be very good and very useful.
Yours,
(Signed)ZAMENHOF.
(See Notes on the Article, p.77.)
(See Shopping, p.108.)
(For Shopping, see p.106.)