-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.langmaker.com/outpost/ido.htm
}}}>Begin
Ido
an international language
This is the text of a brochure distributed by the The International
Language (Ido) Society of Great Britain. The text was uploaded to
CompuServe by Ed. Robertson, and made into a web page by Rick
Harrison in May of 1996.
Background
It would be very useful if we could talk with people in other
countries, or correspond with them, as we can with people in our own
country. However, the language barrier often makes this difficult if
not impossible.
The answer to this problem given by many people is: let them (that
is, everyone else) learn English! Certainly English is the most
widely spoken language in the world, but it requires a lot of time
and some skill to learn it at all well, and it is far from
universally spoken. Moreover, because it is the language of certain
countries, it is not a neutral language. For those who speak English,
"let them learn English" may be an attractive answer, but the French,
for example, see things differently.
Therefore the UN has five official languages, and UNESCO has eight.
[Haisam K. Ido, who found this page while searching for his last
name, points out that the UN has six official languages: Arabic,
Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Russian.] The European
Community has a similar number, and spends vast amounts of money on
translation and interpreting. Although English and French predominate
in the EC, the Germans are now asking for German to be used more.
Using just one national language would give enormous political and
cultural advantages to the country or countries for which the chosen
language is the native tongue. Consequently this solution is often
unacceptable to the others, although the Universal Postal Union still
uses only French.
The answer to this situation is to use a neutral invented language
like Esperanto or Ido. Such a language would not replace natural
languages (that would be vandalism) but be used as a bridge between
people who otherwise could not communicate. In this way we can meet
each other half way, with little or no advantage for any one group.
The chosen language should not be too artificial. The vocabulary
should be based on existing languages (some of which already have
many words in common, apart from slight differences in spelling and
pronunciation). The grammar should be as simple as possible, without
all the exceptions and idiomatic uses which plague the learner of
national languages.
This idea inspired among others Father Schleyer, the inventor of
Volapuk, and Dr L. Zamenhof, the inventor of Esperanto, whose
language remains the best known of its type over a century since it
was first launched. After some years of trying it - and some earlier
and later inventions - out in practice, various improvements were
suggested.
For example, Zamenhof required adjectives in Esperanto to agree in
number and case with the nouns they qualify, so an adjective has four
possible endings. There is no real need for this complication, as
English and Hungarian - with their invariable adjectives - show, and
as Zamenhof later agreed. However, for various reasons no changes
were made to the rules of Esperanto.
It was on the basis of improvements such as this that a group of
scientists and linguists developed Ido. The committee included the
Danish linguist Professor Otto Jespersen and the French mathematician
and philosopher Professor Louis Couturat. They took the best from
Esperanto and from another invention, Idiom Neutral, added further
improvements, and developed a language which is almost certainly the
easiest in the world, yet at the same time one of the most precise.
Another improvement was one which again Zamenhof had pointed out
would be very logical and convenient. In Esperanto words for people
and animals (words such as 'actor' or 'lion') tend to be for the
male, with the word for the female being derived by using a suffix
(often '-ess' in English). The alternative Zamenhof later preferred,
but unfortunately did not implement, is to make such words neutral
(like 'cousin' and 'pilot' in English), and to derive both male and
female forms by use of appropriate suffixes.
Ido also has a useful pronoun, as does Finnish, which means either he
or she, and can therefore be used whenever it is irrelevant or
unnecessary to be more specific. Some people wish we had such a
pronoun in English so as to avoid saying 'he or she' or writing
'he/she' or 's/he'!
In Ido, therefore, but not in Esperanto, these and other improvements
were adopted, and the result is preferred by nearly everyone who has
studied equally these two semi-artificial international languages or
dialects which otherwise share much in common - including the
inspiration of Schleyer and in particular of Zamenhof.
It is to the credit of the Esperanto movement that, through its
undoubted fervour, it has done so much to make the idea of a neutral
international language relatively well known. However, although
Esperanto is widely known about, and is a relatively easy language,
its special accented letters and unnecessary complications have put
off many who are attracted by the idea it represents. Ido carries
forward where Esperanto left off.
Those who have experienced Ido know how good it is being able to
concentrate on what you want to say and not having to think, at the
same time, about how you have to say it.
So much for the theory, but how does it work in practice?
International gatherings of people who speak Ido have taken place in
a number of countries and have demonstrated that the idea really
works in practice.
There are many publications in or about Ido, including vocabularies
and grammar books for speakers of a variety of languages from Swedish
to Japanese. There is even a surprising amount of poetry in Ido,
including a wonderful 'heroical-comical' story in verse (Andreas
Juste's 'La Serchado'). There is a new world waiting to be discovered
by anyone who makes the small effort required to understand this
remarkable language.
Using the language is a hobby in itself of course, as well as a way
of contributing to better understanding in the world.
Introduction
INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING
The idea of an international language is simply to enable people who
have no other language in common to understand one another. Ido
(pronounced 'ee-doh') was developed by linguists and scientists over
a number of years. It is the most practical language to be invented,
and its usability has been demonstrated many times, both in writing
and in speech. Books in and about Ido have been published in many
countries, but as yet few people know about it. So the purpose here
is to show how practical it is. As with many of the best inventions,
simplicity is the key. Since Ido is very much easier than any
national language, much less time and effort is needed if two people
both learn Ido than if either learns the other's mother tongue. Ido
is the solution waiting to be discovered. It cuts through the
language barriers which hinder international understanding.
Let's look now at some of Ido's features and discover a few of the
'secrets' of its amazing simplicity.
THE WORDS
The vocabulary of Ido is based on that of the major European
languages - English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish -
and therefore often indirectly on Latin.
Sometimes the words for a concept are very similar in most of these
languages, so it is not difficult to choose a common form. In other
cases the choice is not so obvious, but generally the form chosen is
based on as many languages as possible.
Here are some examples of words in Ido compared with the equivalents
in other languages where similar. In these examples Russian words
have been written using Latin letters. Often the word in Ido is not
similar to the most common equivalent in English but related to
another English word which can be used as an aid to memory. (These
'reminder' words are also given in the lists below.)
banko - E:bank, F:banque, G:Bank, I:banca, R:bank, S:banco
bona - E:good (but remember 'bonus'), F:bon, I:buono, S:bueno
donar - E:to give (but remember 'donor'), F:donner, I:dare, donare,
S:dar
filtrar - E:to filter, F:filtrer, G:filtrieren, I:filtrare, R:filtr,
S:filtrar
gardeno - E:garden, F:jardin, G:Garten, I:giardino, S:jardin
kavalo - E:horse (but remember 'cavalry'), F:cheval, I:cavallo,
S:cavalo
maro - E:sea (but remember 'marine'), F:mer, G:Meer, I:mare, S:mar
naciono - E:nation, F:nation, G:Nation, I:nazione, R:nacia, S:nacion
studiar - E:to study, F: etudier, G:studieren, I:studiare, S:estudiar
yuna - E:young, F:jeune, G:jung, R:yuniy.
SAYING THE WORDS
Ido uses the 26 letters of the 'Latin' alphabet, without any of the
accented letters which vary from language to language. So it can be
typed, printed or used with computers in most countries without any
difficulty. Many letters are pronounced as in English. Note the
following, however: c is always pronounced as ts (as in bits), never
as k or s. The letter s is always sharp as in song and bus, never
dull as in rose. The letter g is always hard as in get and brag,
never soft as in page. The letter j is pronounced as in French and
like the s in pleasure. The letter r should be slightly trilled and
never silent. As a pair of letters, ch is pronounced as in church and
sh as in shine.
The vowels a, e, i, o, u are pronounced much as in Spanish and
Italian and as in the words fAther, Eight, machIne, tOtal, rUle. Now
practise saying the following words: pasas (pahsahs), paco (pahtsoh),
generaciono (gheneratsiohnoh), jetar (jairtahrr), libro (leebroh),
dum (doom). The accent or stress falls on the last syllable but one
for all words except infinitives which are stressed on the last
syllable. For example: generaciOno, mUri, universAla, telefOno,
Exter, mUlte; but klozAr (to close), pensAr (to think), dankAr (to
thank). When a word ends in a vowel preceded by i or u, the two
vowels at the end of the word count as one syllable. So, for example,
we say rAdio (not radIo), famIlio, mAnuo.
>>>Clip word list, vocabulary, grammar, et cetera @ site<<<
GAINING FLUENCY
Using the words listed, you can already put together very many short
phrases and sentences. Make a start with pronouns and verbs, varying
each in turn: me skribas, elu skribas; ni venas, li venas. Then take
some adjectives and nouns, again varying each in turn: granda domo,
granda pomi, granda hundo; bela domi, bela animalo, bela kozi.
Go on to make longer phrases: mea amiko venas a nia domo; la tablo e
la stuli esas en la chambro; la maro esas varma nun; olu ne esas
kolda; la mondo bezonas facila linguo; du personi sidas sur la muro;
ni savas ke ligno esas tre utila. Playing with words like this is an
excellent way of building confidence and fluency, and in Ido it is
exceptionally easy, as you can readily discover for yourself.
PAST AND FUTURE
What about saying something like "they came" instead of "they come"?
For the past tense, the ending to use is -is. So li venis means "they
came", and li dankis means "they thanked". For the future tense the
ending is -os. So li venos means "they will come", and li skribos
means "they will write". As there are no irregular verbs, you can
already understand the following: elu vidis bela flori en la gardeno;
vu trovos kelka pano sur la tablo.
CONCLUSION
You now have a good idea of how Ido works and how easy it is. It was
originally based largely on Esperanto (an earlier invention), but
with many improvements. The result is a simple yet effective language
which is easy to pronounce and sounds somewhat like Italian. You can
easily build on your knowledge and could soon be able to understand
much more. A useful knowledge of Ido can be acquired in a small
fraction of the time needed for any national language. Through Ido
you can correspond with people in other countries, and read books and
magazines written in this international language. Ido is the key that
opens the door to a wider world.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Details of books in and about Ido are available from the Ido Book
Service. The voluntary movement for this language is, of course,
itself international, and books about Ido are also available in a
variety of national languages. In addition to national societies
there is an international organisation, the Union for the
International Language (Ido), which publishes a periodical called
Progreso. To make contact with the network of people who use Ido,
write to one of the representatives who include the following.
Mr David Weston: 24 Nunn Street, Leek, Staffs. ST13 8EA, England, UK.
Ido Book Service: 44 Woodville Road, Cathays, Cardiff CF2 4EB, Wales,
UK.
Mr Donald Humphries, Box 121-L, GPO, Melbourne, Victoria 3001,
Australia.
Mr Jacques Bol, 80 chaussee des Gaulois, 1300 Wavre, Belgium.
Mr Kevin Ford, 192 Tu-Pelo Avenue, Winnipeg R2K 35B, Canada.
Mr Alfred Neussner, Thueringer Str. 3, 37284 Waldkappel, Germany.
Mr Jose Garcia, c/o Ingeniero Joaquin Benlloch 71-13a, Valencia 26,
Spain.
Mr R.C. Peries, 4 Sri Vijaya Road, Colombo 6, Sri Lanka.
Mr Axel Rylander, Olshammarsgatan 58, 124 48 Bandhagen, Suedia,
Sweden.
Mrs Cl. Kreis-Schneeberger, 57 avenue de Champel, 1206 Geneve,
Switzerland.
Mr Richard Earnhart, 405 Fry, Denton, TX 76201, USA.
End<{{{
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
