2023-07-16

And here I am, a week later, not having engaged much with Korean. But I have been engaging with Toki Pona, and I am still hoping to work some more with Korean.

Toki Pona is used by people because they want to use the language. It is an end in itself, which is how language learning has been for me.

Trying to use French and Korean with native speakers organically has felt like punching bullet-proof glass. They have their own native world where they go about their lives, and an anglophone trying to break in for the sake of using the language is off putting. Maybe ve is novel, like an orangutan in clothing, but not worth engaging deeply with.

But there are few, if any at all, native speakers of Toki Pona. We use the language with one another because we enjoy using it. I have this burgeoning yearning for communities of language learners that use their target languages with one another, regardless of if they are conlangs or not. Maybe others have been satisfied by the welcome of native speakers and I am maladapted socially for organic langauge interaction with natives. Some might bemoan the risks of non-native input, but I feel such wind is nitpicking.

🚀 StanStani

2023-07-17 · 10 months ago · 👍 Ruby_Witch, aRubes, DocEdelgas

1 Comment

🔭 DocEdelgas · 2023-07-17 at 06:15:

What an interesting aspect of Toki Pona!