MARLBOROUGH'S SELF-TAUGHT SERIES

Esperanto Self-Taught
WITH
PHONETIC PRONUNCIATION.
BY
WILLIAM W. MANN.
(Member of the British Esperanto Association.)

THIRD EDITION

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

London:
E. MARLBOROUGH & CO., LTD., 51 Old Bailey, E.C. 4

[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]

PREFACE.

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

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:—

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.

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.

VOCABULARIES.

1. The World & its Elements.
(La Mondo kaj ĝiaj Elementoj.)

(See Notes on the Article, p. [77].)

2. Land and Water.
(La Tero kaj la Akvo.)

3. Minerals & Metals.
(Mineraloj kaj Metaloj.)

4. Animals, Birds & Fishes.
(Bestoj, Birdoj, kaj Fiŝoj.)

(See Shopping, p. [108].)

5. Reptiles & Insects.
(Rampuloj kaj Insektoj.)

6. Fruits, Trees[2], Flowers & Vegetables
(Fruktoj, Arboj, Floroj, kaj Legomoj.)

(For Shopping, see p. [106].)

7. Colours.
(Koloroj.)

8. Times & Seasons.
(La Tempoj kaj la Sezonoj.)

(For Conversations, see p. [119].)

9. Town, Country and Agriculture.
(La Urbo, la Kamparo, kaj la Terkulturo).

(For Conversations, see p. [106].)

10. Mankind: Relations.
(La Homaro: Parencoj).

11. The Human Body.
(La Homa Korpo).

12. Physical & Mental Powers, Qualities, etc.
(Korpaj kaj Mensaj Kapabloj, Ecoj, k.t.p.)

13. Health.
(La Sano.)

(For Conversations see p. [105].)

14. Food & Drink.
(Manĝaĵoj kaj Trinkaĵoj.)

(For Conversations see pp. [102]–[105].)

15. Cooking & Table Utensils.
(Kuiraj kaj Manĝaj Iloj.)

(For Conversations See pp. [102]–[105].)

16. Dress & the Toilet.
(La Vestoj kaj la Tualeto.)

(See also [Washing List], following, and Conversations pp. [108]–[112].)

17. Washing List.
(Lavlisto.)

(For Conversations see p. [111].)

18. The House and Furniture.
(La Domo kaj la Meblaro.)

(For Shopping see p. [108].)

19. Travelling: By Road & Rail.
(La Vojaĝado: per Vojo kaj Fervojo.)

(For Conversations, see p. [95].)

20. Travelling: by Ship.
(Marveturado.)

(For Conversations see p. [97].)

21. Countries & Nations.[4]
(Landoj kaj Nacioj.)

22. Recreation and Amusement.
(La Ludado kaj Amuzado.)

(For Conversations see p. [112].)

23. Cycling.
(Ciklismo.)

(See also [Motoring], following, and Conversations pp. [114] to [116].)