Esperanto Self-Taught with Phonetic Pronunciation

by William W. Mann

CONTENTS.

• Alphabet, with English Phonetic Pronunciation [5]
• Preliminary Notes.—Accents, Vowels, Diphthongs, etc. [7]
• Vocabularies.—Pages [9] to [76].
  • Amusement, Recreation and [41]
  • Animals, Vegetables, &c.:
    • Animals, Birds and Fishes [12]
    • Fruit, Trees, Flowers and Vegetables [15]
    • Reptiles and Insects [14]
  • Colours [17]
  • Commercial Terms [56]
  • Correspondence [61]
  • Countries and Nations [40]
  • Cycling [44]
  • Cooking and Table Utensils [29]
  • House and Furniture, The [34]
  • Legal Terms [54]
  • Mankind:
    • Relations [22]
    • Dress and the Toilet [30]
    • Food and Drink [27]
    • Health [26]
    • Human Body, The [23]
    • Physical and Mental Powers, Qualities, etc. [24]
  • Motoring [47]
  • Numbers: Cardinal, Ordinal, Collective and Fractional [62] to [64]
  • Parts of Speech.—Pages [64] to [76]
    • Adjectives [64]
    • Adverbs, Conjunctions, and Prepositions [72]
    • Verbs [68]
  • Photography [48]
  • Post, Telegraph and Telephone [60]
  • Professions and Trades [52]
  • Recreation and Amusement [41]
  • Religion [50]
  • Telegraph and Telephone (Post, —) [60]
  • Time and Seasons [17]
  • Town, Country, and Agriculture [20]
  • Travelling:
    • By Road and Rail [36]
    • By Ship [39]
  • Washing List [33]
  • World and its Elements, The [9]
    • Land and Water [10]
    • Minerals and Metals [11]
• Grammar.—Pages [77] to [88].
  • The Adjective [77]
  • " Adverb [83]
  • " Article [77]
  • " Conjunction [83]
  • " Noun [77]
  • " Preposition [83]
  • " Pronoun [78]
  • " Verb [81]
• The Formation of Words, etc.—Pages [84] to [88].
  • Prefixes and Suffixes [84] to [87]
  • Compound Words [87]
  • Correlatives [88]
• Conversations.—Pages [89] to [126].
  • Amusements [112]
  • Commercial and Trading [125]
  • Correspondence [122]
  • Custom House, At the [98]
  • Cycling [114]
  • Enquiries [93]
  • Expressions, (Useful and Necessary) [89]
    • Expressions of Emotion [93]
  • Health [105]
  • Legal and Judicial [123]
  • Meals [102] to [105]
    • Breakfast [102]
    • Dinner [103]
    • Tea [104]
  • Money Changing [126]
  • Motoring [115]
  • Photography [117]
  • Post and Telegraph [121]
  • Religion [118]
  • Shopping [108]
    • Dressmaker [110]
    • Laundress [111]
    • Shoemaker [110]
  • Telegraph (Post and) [121]
  • Time of Day, The [118]
  • Times, Seasons, and Weather [119]
  • Town, In [106]
  • Travelling:—
    • Arrival [99]
    • Bus and Tram [100]
    • Changing Money [126]
    • Hotel and Rooms [100]
    • Public Notices [94]
    • Railway, By [95]
    • Steamer, By [97]
  • Useful and Necessary Expressions [89]
• Money.—Equivalent Values [127]
• Weights and Measures; Postage [128]

THE ESPERANTO ALPHABET
(WITH PHONETIC PRONUNCIATION).

The Esperanto Alphabet has 28 letters—23 consonants, 5 vowels:—

Characters.	Name and English Pronunciation.	Phonetics used.
A, a	(ah) like a in father or pa; as patro (pah'troh). In unaccented syllables it should not be dwelt upon, and in all cases it should be pronounced quite purely, without the slight drawling r-sound which is sometimes added to the corresponding vowel in English	ah
B, b	(bo) as in English	b
C, c	(tsoh) like ts in gets, hits, and never as in English; as caro (tsah'roh)	ts
Ĉ, ĉ	(cho) like ch in church; as ĉasi (chah'see)	ch
D, d	(do) as in English, but with tip of tongue placed on back of teeth instead of on front ridge of roof of mouth	d
E, e	(eh) like e in bend pronounced broadly, or a in hate shortly pronounced, but quite pure, entirely without the slight drawling ee-sound often heard after the English vowel; as beno (beh'noh)	e, eh
F, f	(fo) as in English	f
G, g	(go) like g in go, give, as gasto (gah'stoh), and never like g in gem, allege	g
Ĝ, ĝ	(jo) like g in gem, general, and j in jovial; as ĝeni (jeh'nee)	j
H, h	(ho) as in English	h
Ĥ, ĥ	(ĥo) like ch in Scotch loch, ch in German hoch, j in Spanish mujer. This guttural sound is practically a very strongly aspirated h, and may be made by trying to pronounce "ho" with the throat arranged as for saying k:—ĥoro (khoro), ĥino (khino)	kh
I, i	(ee) like ee in seen, as li (lee). In unaccented syllables, and before two consonants together, this i practically becomes the i in it or in wind; as ferminte (fehrr-min'teh)	ee, i
J, j	(yo) always like y in yet, as jes (yehss), vojo (vo'yo), and never like j in judge, joke	y
	It should be remembered that j is always a consonant, with the sound of the English y in you. Of course, when j occurs at the end of a word or before a consonant, it practically unites with the preceding vowel to form a diphthong, and loses the full consonantal sound which it has before a vowel. Thus:
	Aj (ahy), like ah y in ah yes (almost like y in my); as kaj (kah'y), rajdi (rah'y-dee), krajono (krah-yo'no)	ahy
	Ej (ehy), like ay y in say yes; as plej (pleh'y, one syllable)	ehy
	Oj (oy), like oh y in oh yes (almost like oy in toy); as ranoj (rah'noy), kojno (koy'noh)	oy
	Uj (ooy), like oo y in too young; as tuj (too'y, one syllable), prujno (proo'yno, two syllables)	ooy
Ĵ, ĵ	(zho) like s in vision or pleasure, or j in French jeune, j'ai; as ĵeti (zheh'tee)	zh
K, k	(ko) as in English	k
L, l	(lo) as in English	l
M, m	(mo) as in English	m
N, n	(no) as in English	n
O, o	(oh) like o in horse, not diphthongized, but pronounced purely and rather shortly, as bona (boh'nah NOT bow'nah), quite without the short oo-sound frequently heard with the English vowel in such words as note, boat. Its sound is almost equivalent to aw in caw, pronounced shortly and with the lips placed roundly as if for saying oh; as estonta (ess-tohn'tah)	o, oh
P, p	(po) as in English	p
R, r	(ro) as in English, but sounded much more forcibly, and always with a trill as in singing; as korpo (kohr'po)	r
S, s	(so) like s in say, as suno (soo'noh), and never as s in rose; as pesi (peh'see)	s, ss
Ŝ, ŝ	(sho) like sh in show, she; as ŝipo (shee'poh)	sh
T, t	(to) as in English, but dentally—with tip of tongue placed on back of teeth instead of on front ridge of roof of mouth	t
U, u	(oo) like oo in boot, as nubo (noo'boh); and never as u in mute or but	oo
Ŭ, ŭ	(wo) is equivalent to the English w, and is produced by a partial bringing together of the lips. It practically only occurs after a or e	w, ŏŏ
	(1) Aŭ. To say antaŭ, for instance, say "ahn'tah," and finish by bringing the lips slightly together to pronounce the ŭ (w). Similarly for laŭta (lah'w-tah). This sound is not exactly the English ou in house, but is just the au in the German Haus. The phonetic sign for aŭ, therefore is	ahw
	(2) Eŭ, as in Eŭropo (ehw-ro'poh), is pronounced with a similar closing of the lips after the eh-sound	ehw
V, v	(vo) as in English	v
Z, z	(zo) as in English	z

PRELIMINARY NOTES.

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 that j and ŭ are consonants, and do not, like the vowels, of themselves constitute a syllable. Thus, tiu (tee'oo, two syllables) and tiuj (tee'ooy, also two syllables), rajdi (rah'y-dee, not rah-ĭ'dee), antaŭ (ahn'tahw, not ahn-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 diphthongize a, i, o, and pronounce late as "la-it," pale as "pa-il," paper as "pa-y-per," road as "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 an r-sound between la ("the") and a word beginning with a vowel, thus: la(r)ebleco instead of la ebleco, la(r)internacia lingvo instead of la 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 combinations gv, kn, and kv, as in gvidi (gvee'dee), knabo (knah'bo), kvieto (kvee-eh'toh), may be practised by first placing a vowel before the g or k, and gradually suppressing it. Thus, first say la knabo (lahk-nah'bo), and gradually drop the "lah," until finally knabo can be said without difficulty.

The combination sc, as in sceno (stseh'no), may be learnt thus: Say "last sane" several times, very distinctly pronouncing the st and the s, then gradually "'st sane", and finally sceno (stseh'no) without any preceding vowel-sound. When this combination follows a vowel, as in mi scias, it should cause no difficulty, for the s is easily pronounced with the first syllable, thus: meess-tsee'ahss.

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LETTER FROM DR. ZAMENHOF.
(Founder of Esperanto.)

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.