L17-00

Language consists of

1. Words

2. Combinations of words

3. Rules of grammar

4. Rules of usage of words anc their combinations in certain contexts

The list goes on and on ...

And here is where the concept of "dialect" comes into place.

Consider Lojbanic expression cerni coi (literally "It's morning, hello!"), which has been used by Lojbanists for "Good morning!"

I consider this a dialect.

One might wonder "But it uses pretty standard words (1.) and pretty standard grammar (3.) ! How is it a dialect?"

However, language is much more than the items 1. and 3. above.

In another community where greeting people is not popular people could use instead

ie pei pluka djedi (literally, "Isn't it, pleasant day") in similar situations.

And this would be another dialect of Lojban.

And The Crash Course teaches a modern dialect, the name of which is "Lojban used by people with ready solutions for conversations". It is a dialect because in previous periods people didn't use cerni coi and the reference grammar didn't mention it.

The Crash Course isn't going to describe every single aspect of the language. This course is just an introduction that is aimed at helping new students internalize the language so that they can study other parts of the language themselves.

There is also a question of the parser, the link to which was put onto the top of 'the Crash Course' page.

This parser is more like a marketing device. I don't know how it can help people learn Lojban since it doesn't explain the structure of even most basic sentences. To tell the truth any current parser must be forbidden to enter The Crash Course since up til now explanations in English have been doing a better job. Since people ask something like "How is Lojban is a speakable logic?" this parser was added to give new students this placebo medicine.

The course has had many mistakes resulting from the nature of the course development, namely, adding feedback from new students and answers from fluent speakers of Lojban.

Thank you everyone who has been providing or yet planning to provide any feedback on the course!

The number of issues to solve and integrate is still huge.

Your feedback is not forgotten and won't be forgotten. It's waiting its turn to become a part of this course.

— La Gleki, the one who is maintaining this course.