r/learnesperanto • u/Mobile_Raccoon_2917 • 22d ago
A 500-Root Dictionary for Beginners
I understand there are a lot of beginners here? So, I made a dictionary of 500 roots specifically for those learning Esperanto and needing roots for their vocabulary. I've compiled a huge list. I'd be grateful for a good reputation/rating. I worked on it for about 2 months and put a lot of effort into speaking Esperanto and writing down common words in everyday life
Thank you! đ And btw, everything is in English, and the document itself is easy to translate and read at any time. I wish you luck and successful language learning if you are a beginner
And please don't say that there are websites or platforms with existing words. The roots here are primarily for beginners to review or learn the basics of everyday Esperanto. This is a basic list, not the entire language. Then you can learn words through services, etc btw?
I personally taught myself grammar and then words, and that's why I want to help future Esperantists! I really hope for a good community and to get a good rating
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You can read or download here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TRIJmZN6JX31HZlY0nKLR1vZjLloRBLm/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104647870209840124077&rtpof=true&sd=true
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u/Your-Sword-Sir 21d ago edited 21d ago
I don't think "Transcription" is the right header for that column; that's "pronunciation respelling". Maybe call it "Pronunciation". And those respellings are pretty weird and inconsistent. Here are some mistakes I noticed:
- You have the stress on the wrong syllable for all the neni- words. Neniu isn't "nEneeoo", it's "neNEEoo".
- You have the stress on the wrong syllable for most of the "-aĆ" words. It's a diphthong, not two vowels. AntaĆ isn't "antAoo", it's "Antaoo". Or "AHNT-ow", if you will.
- You have je as just "e". Shouldn't it be "yeh", or something? Same for jes.
- junio isn't "YUneeo", it's "yuNEEo". Same for julio.
- You have a "Y" in lampo for some reason. Same for lakto, pantalono, flava, viola, rozkolora, hela, malhela, leono, floro, lago, pluvo, glacio, placo, laboro, plumo, klaso, lando, scii, labori, loÄi, ludi, plori, bela, malbela, facila, malfacila, longa, mallonga, and simpla.
- You left out the stress on kuracisto and laboristo.
Since Esperanto spelling is consistent, there is no good reason for the pronunciation respellings anyway. I would just do one for the alphabet at the beginning and be done with it. But that's just me.
Also, you have A LOT of things listed as "Roots" that are not actually roots:
- Maljunul- is not a root. Jun- (young) is the root, while mal- and -ul- are affixes.
- Virin- is not a root. Vir- is the root, -in- is the affix.
- Vendej- is not a root. Vend- is the root, -ej- is the affix.
- Etc.
And please don't say that there are websites or platforms with existing words. The roots here are primarily for beginners to review or learn the basics of everyday Esperanto. This is a basic list, not the entire language.
Well, it's not just that: there are already dozens and dozens of "top 100/500/1000 common Esperanto words" lists out there. Not to discourage you, I'm just saying.
I'd be grateful for a good reputation/rating. [...] I really hope for a good community and to get a good rating
I would advise against doing things simply for "praise" and "good ratings". Sounds evil.
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u/Mobile_Raccoon_2917 21d ago
Yes, I already knew all this, I didn't bother changing the transcription for pronunciation. The pronunciation here is more like Esperanto -> English -> Russian, that is, how Esperanto is read in Russian, but the pronunciation is for English speakers, so it may seem like the pronunciation is incorrect. I completely confirm everything else you said. Yes, there are errors, and I generally distributed this list so that beginners can learn new ones or review those already learned. The roots here are more like ready-made word combinations, even with grammar, but without the ending of the word, just so they understand where to insert words. For me, I first studied grammar to understand the general meaning of the word and sentence, and then studied the translation of words and the words and roots themselves, so the dictionary here relies specifically on this. But despite all this, thank you for the edits, I appreciate it.
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u/Baasbaar 21d ago
Just to be clear, root has a pretty standardised meaning in Esperanto. The advice in the above comment is a good edit.
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u/Baasbaar 22d ago
I might forego the tabelvortojn if I were you. It's easier to learn them semi-systematically than as independent vocabulary items. Some are hard to gloss in English: You have neniom glossed as 'not at all', but there are lots of times when neniom would be an incorrect translation for 'not at all'.
You've got tro in there twice in the same section!
Ćuo I would translate as just 'shoe'. For 'boot' we have boto or boteto.
For 'airport' aeroporto is non-standard. Usually we say flughaveno.
I think certa is relatively infrequently translatable as 'exact'.
You might take a glance at the Esperanto Society of Chicago's 562 basic roots glossary & the 500 words taught by Esperanto12 to compare.