Learning your own conlang (was Re: Now that I have it . . .)

(Sorry, changed the subject header to be more transparent.)

On Tuesday, December 4, 2001, at 09:06 , Heather Rice wrote:

> I have been working (slowly) on my conlang for some
> time now and I think I have the basics down.  But now
> I have this dilema that I thought I would ask all you.
>  Now that I have it, HOW DO I LEARN IT???  I have been
> doing some translation, which expands my vocabulary
> remarkably, but I don't like to translate from English
> (or any other language for that matter) to my conlang,
> because inevitably my conlang gets the flavor of the
> original language.  So, I have been just writting
> simple things in it, but this is rather slow.
What I find most useful, though others' mileage (or parsecage, or
kilometrage, or whatever) may vary, is to start writing a "teach yourself
[insert conlang here]" primer with plenty of examples.  As the only
language I'm actually *fluent* in is English, it forces me to figure out
what grammatical features might be trouble spots for a native speaker of
English (or otherwise), and in the process to uncover general grammatical
trouble spots ("Well, how *do* you say 'the man who petted the cat who ate
the mouse'?") and familiarize myself with what's going on.

Vocabulary's usually my worst failing...it wouldn't be hard to write a
brute-force vocabulary drill program.  Or if you're feeling artistic and
inspired you could do one of those picture dictionaries...if I had enough
vocabulary, time and artistic ability it'd be fun to try.  Not only would
you learn in the process of its creation, you'd have it as a reference
afterward.

Yoon Ha Lee [requiescat@cityofveils.com]
http://pegasus.cityofveils.com

Chain Lightning: you can't stop at one.

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