Re: "Newbie"

On Sat, 10 Jan 2004, Marty Rosenberg wrote:

> Hello, everyone. My name is Marty Rosenberg, and I'm new to the list.
> I'm also what one might call a "newbie." I'm 15, and started
> conlanging (if, indeed, that is a word)
Ronud here it is, but you might not find it in the Oxford English
Dictionary :)

>  about two years ago. I don't know if anyone else here was that young
> when they started, so I'm not entirely sure what to expect, but I
> (usually) like surprises.
Welcome! There have been plenty of young conlangers here, and some not
here. The youngest has certainly been of single figures. So, in short,
don't fret, and just because you're young doesn't mean a biggening
conlanger aged 40 knows everything you don't.

> First of all, I would just like to say that I've heard great things
> about this list, and over the past few days, during which I have been
> skimming through the digests, the conversation has seemed interesting.
> I've also heard that you all are very welcoming and helpful, and I do
> hope that this is true.
Of course it is!

> Now that that's over with, on to my efforts - and I do mean "efforts,"
> not "successes" - at conlanging.
What, though, is a success at conlanging? I guess it depends on what
you're meaning to achieve. An interesting orthography? Or do you even care
about the written form? A language that appears impossible? or one that
seems as normal as any other? A language that proves a point? or is just
an interesting activity?

> So far I've tried three things, each one a failure, but teaching me a
> few things in that failure.
If you learnt something, I don't think it's entirely a failure.

> My second, Denyedergeo*, taught me that an interesting orthography
> does not make for an interesting language;
Oh bugger, someone forgot to tell me that :) Christophe should also be
listening :) Though I guess it depends on what's interesting. I personally
care more about my orthography (like hyphenation rules) than getting the
words up (which is a bit annoying, because having a lot of words is really
needed to really show the orthography), such a chore for me. Others are
the reverse. Bizarre people, them :)

> and that I wasn't crazy for attempting a semi-polysynthetic** language
> before I knew what polysynthetic meant. (My friend, another amateur
> conlanger,
I think there are very few conlangers who aren't amateurs. Marc Okrand of
Klingon and Atlantean fame is the notable exception, but there are, I
imagine, others.

But once again, welcome!

[Also, you have the Reply-To: header set. You'll probably find some option
to turn it off in your mail client. With it set, when people reply to your
messages, they go straight to you instead of the list, which is probably
not what is wanted. Additionally, you're sending HTML emails, but most
people on this list prefer plain text, especially when HTML is not needed.
You might find some instructions to turn it off at either
<http://www.icomm.ca/~dragon/posting.htm> or
<http://www.expita.com/nomime.html>. Thanks.]

--
Tristan

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